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

This strategic-economic bloc will only tighten the leash

News- India is negotiating the U.S.-driven Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).

Why is India prioritising free trade bloc that include the US rather than China?

The one clear difference is China versus the U.S. India’s top foreign policy priority is developing a strategic partnership with the US. Its relationship with China has further deteriorated.

The big economic fear in the case of Chinja is the free trade deal’s impact on India’s manufacturing sector due to cheap Chinese goods.

What are issues related to IPEF?

The economic issues with the U.S. have been no less problematic. These are related to agriculture, intellectual property, labour and environment standards, and the digital economy.

Strategic partnership is not about accepting a completely U.S. self-interest-driven economic framework that does not suit India’s current economic interests.

Traditionally, trade deals used to be mostly about tariffs. But issues related to intellectual property, services, investment, domestic regulation, digital, and labour and environmental standards, are becoming more important.

The U.S. ‘s IPEF proposal is entirely about all these other areas. The U.S. has also found a tariffs-free trade deal as a good way to deal with the resistance of many countries to free trade agreements.

IPEF’s ‘new age’ language itself is the biggest trap. As per experts, the IPEF would result in a complete control over the economic systems of the participating countries by the US.

The IPEF is about developing a strategic-economic bloc. It is about an integrated economic system centred on the U.S. that excludes China.

The systemic integration caused by the IPEF’s will leave little room for domestic policies to help a country’s own industrialisation.

Developing country trade negotiators are used to the traditional language of free trade agreements. They find it quite difficult to understand and respond to the IPEF’s language.

IPEF is proposed to be concluded by November 2023, and real engagements only began late last year. Traditional free trade agreements take years to conclude. The US is rushing through IPEF.

What are the long-term economic implications of IPEF?

In the long run, IPEF will have a stronger effect on economic and trade flows. In the digitalising world, giving up policy spaces in key areas such as digital, labour and environment, and export constraints, would take the form of an economic dependency.

The IPEF can have implications in agriculture, in terms of genetically modified seeds and food. It could mean surrendering policy space for regulating Big Tech.

The country can compromise a comparative advantage in manufacturing due to unfair labour and environment standards.

It will also seriously affect India’s ability to create a vibrant domestic ecosystem in emerging areas such as a digital economy and green products.

GS Paper 3

Information warfare and its limitations

News: The article discusses the concerns associated with the advancement of social media and technology.

What are the concerns with the advancement of technology?

Technological advancement has created a whole new world of possibilities for information warfare.

Authoritarian countries are employing technology to intervene in other countries without directly interfering with them.

This information warfare has made people believe false information while it is also being misused for one’s national interest.

For example, a Russian firm named “Internet Research Agency” (IRA) and other Russian agents have run campaigns to push the Brexit referendum in favour of Russia and to push US presidential elections in favour of Donald Trump, etc.

In both the above cases, Russia used information warfare for its own benefit without involving both countries. These information warfare methods have scaled up and industrialized.

Even in India information warfare is used to run internet-based campaigns. These campaigns influence the people over certain political parties and gain trust in them.

What does the future of information warfare look like, and how can people protect themselves against it?

The media has split into two – an elite media supported by subscriptions versus a mass market based on clickbait. The elite media is more immune to information warfare.

Therefore, it lies in the hands of people to opt for the type of media they want.

If they are looking for trusted information, they should buy subscriptions of elite media and stop using mass and social media to gather information. Otherwise, there are chances that people will get trapped into the conspiracy theories of social media.

Moreover, with the improvements in machine learning and large language models (LLM), information warfare is becoming worse.

Further, hiring someone who could produce convincing fake news used to be expensive in India and a lot of the fake information was identifiable through the embedded cultural markers. However, these protections have declined in India.

What lies ahead?

Information warfare might become less disruptive in the coming time because there has been a rise in trustable sources along with a rise in awareness amongst the people.

Further, with the rise of LLM-free knowledge and people becoming skeptical about the news on social media, information warfare might have less influence on the people in the future.

The nutritional value of millets

News: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has declared 2023 to be the ‘International Year of Millets’.

What are millets?

Read Here: India’s Wealth: Millet For Health – Explained

In 2021-2022, India accounted for 40.51% of the world’s pearl millet production and 8.09% of sorghum.

Why are millets preferred?

Read Here: Millet Production in India – Explained

What are the types of nutrition present in the millets?

Click here to Read

Foxtail millet is rich in the amino acid lysine; finger millet has more crude fibre than wheat and rice; proso millet has a significant amount of the amino acids’ leucine, isoleucine, and methionine.

Where are these nutrients stored?

Each millet kernel consists of three major parts, called pericarp, endosperm, and germ.

The pericarp has an outer covering called the husk. The husk and pericarp together protect the kernel from bad weather, disease, and physical injury.

The endosperm is the largest part of the kernel and its storage centre. It has a protein covering called aleurone.

The endosperm is relatively poor in mineral matter, ash and oil content but a major contributor to the kernel’s protein (80%), starch (94%) and B-complex vitamins (50-75%).

Similarly, pearl millet has a relatively larger germ, which is rich in oil (32%), protein (19%) and ash (10.4%), with over 72% of the total mineral matter.

How does processing affect the nutrients?

Processing and preparing millets for consumption can affect nutrients in three ways — enhance them, suppress/remove them, and ignore them.

Removing the Husk: The husk is removed from the grains because it is composed of cellulosic matter that the human body cannot digest. However, according to one study when husk was removed from pearl millets, their phytic acid and polyphenol contents dropped.

Decorticating the grain: Decorticating refers to removal of any other outer covering which exposes the seed. Studies have found mechanical and hand-worked decortication removed crude and dietary fibre from the grain.

However, decortication makes the grain more edible and visually attractive.

Milling and Sieving: While milling grind the grains into flour, sieving removes large impurities, including bran. Studies have found the longer the grains were milled, the more protein, fat, and fibre contents were removed.

Sieving made the flour more digestible and its nutrients more accessible to the body. However, it also reduced nutrient content due to the loss of bran.

Germination and fermentation: These refer to soaking grains in water for an extended duration. It showed a positive improvement in the overall nutritional characteristics of millets.

Polishing: Polishing is the process of transforming brown rice into white rice by rubbing off the bran and germ. Studies have found that polishing removed 8-10% of grain weight and also removed 60-80% of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and manganese.

However, rice polishing is considered desirable because most consumers favour the resulting taste and texture and prefer the shorter cooking time while it benefits retailers with longer shelf-life.

How to weather-proof food security

News – There is a degree of comfort in the corridors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the consumer price index (CPI) inflation figure for April 2023 slid to 4.7 percent, and food price inflation has fallen to even lower, 3.84 percent.

What is the inflation scenario of the country?

The food and beverages component in the Indian CPI has a weightage of 45.86%. Managing this component to around 4% is critical to control overall inflation.

This component of inflation cannot be managed only through monetary policy, nor even by fiscal policy. It is often triggered by external shocks, such as droughts and breakdown of supply chains.

There is a possibility of El Nino, and it could cause below-normal rainfall, even a drought. All droughts since 1947 have been El Nino years, but all El Nino years are not necessarily drought years. IMD’s revised forecast about the monsoon will clear the picture.

The unseasonal rains are also not good for agriculture.

The biggest crop of the kharif season is rice. Rice inflation for April was 11.4% Wheat inflation is still very high at 15.5%. The overall cereal and products inflation is still at an uncomfortable level of 13.7%.

There is a concern about milk and milk products. Inflation in this category in is also high. It has the highest contributions amongst all commodities.

Experts give two reasons for this inflation. Lumpy skin disease had its impact. The milk production growth rate collapsed to almost zero in FY23.

The fodder price inflation has been very high, between 20 and 30%, in recent months. Both these factors have been straining milk prices. These are not likely to come down this fiscal in the business-as-usual scenario.

How high inflation in rice and wheat can be easily managed by the government?

More than 800 million people are getting free rice and wheat under the PM-Garib Kalyan Yojana. So, they are well protected from cereal inflation.

The rice stocks with the FCI are more than three times the buffer stock norms for rice.

If the government wants to control rice price inflation, it can unload 5 million tonnes of rice from the Central Pool in open market operations, and easily bring down the rice inflation to around 4%.

What is the way forward to control the food and beverages inflation?

There is a need to focus on cereal and milk inflation. Both have high weights in CPI. The policy instruments to keep their inflation around 4% are the buffer stocking policy and import policy.

There is a need to lower import duties on fat and skimmed milk. These are currently at 40% for fat and 60% for skimmed milk powder. Indian prices of SMP and fat are much higher than the global prices. That could help in reining milk and milk product prices.

These policy actions must be pre-emptive in nature and not reactive to the event. There is a lag of two to three months for these policy actions to show their results.

India’s Quantum dreams: The impact of tech on economy could be significant

News– National Quantum Mission was approved by the Union Cabinet in April, with a total outlay of ~6,003 crore over the next six years. The investments will be directed towards research and development and creating an innovative ecosystem in quantum technology.

What is the progress of the country in the field of quantum technology?

As per Nasscom, numerous players are actively engaged in this field. It includes 10-15 government agencies, 20-30 service providers, 15-20 start-ups, and 40-50 academic institutions.

About 92% of 100 projects initiated in India as of February 2022 are government-sponsored. The projects are operated by remote access to quantum computers through cloud platforms provided by companies like IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.

IBM was the first company to make an actual quantum computer available on the cloud in 2016. IBM has been playing a pivotal role in India’s quantum computing journey.

Since 2021, IBM has prioritised access to quantum computing to boost quantum programming skills in India. By installing Qiskit and some Application Programming Interfaces, anyone can start programming.

BosonQ Psi became the first start-up from India to join the IBM Quantum Network.

What is the potential of quantum technology for India?

India may achieve quantum advantage where quantum computers outperform classical supercomputers within the next year or two.

This can solve many problems at the scale of India’s population. It can identify fraudulent transactions from billions of digital transactions.

The impact of quantum technologies on India’s economy could be significant. Nasscom’s study suggests that widespread adoption of quantum technology across industries could contribute $280-310 billion to the Indian economy by 2030.

The technology may reach critical maturity by 2026–2027. It can lead to an increase in enterprise adoption.

What can be various potential uses of quantum technology?

Quantum technology can solve crucial problems in finance, chemistry, life sciences, and

logistics. It is already helping enterprises.

Quantum computing can provide better solutions to complex optimization problems. It can explore problems in chemistry and pharma related to protein folding and drug design.

The next-generation computing methods can unlock new scientific possibilities in areas like computational chemistry for new materials and energy solutions to address climate change.

Quantum computing can have application in currency arbitrage, credit scoring and portfolio optimisation for a client in the financial services domain.

What is the way forward for India in the field of quantum technology?

Quantum computing is still in its early stages globally, but India cannot afford to ignore its role in it.

Countries across the world are going to have quantum encryption. India cannot afford to be without it. India will have to develop them indigenously.

A quantum industry is going to develop all over the world. It is important to have a partnership with that industry.

Digital India’s two realities: A yawning gap between tech use & tech skills

News– The article explains the issues of digital divide and skilling in digital technology in India

What are major insights from Multiple Indicator Surveys for 2020-21, published by the NSSO about the digital divide in India?

More than 70% of Indian youth aged between 15 and 29 cannot send emails with files

attached. Nearly 60 per cent cannot copy and move a file or folder. Over 80% cannot transfer files between a computer and other devices.

Only 8.6% can create electronic presentations with presentation software. The data shows that the Indian youth fares poorly in most of the basic ICT skills.

How has digital technology impacted the job market in India?

As per a recently published report by the WEF, in the next five years, the churn in Indian labour markets will be led by technology-driven sectors.

Jobs in fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, data analysts and scientists, and data entry clerks will lead to this labour churn.

“Labour-market churn” refers to the expected job movement being created, and existing roles destroyed as a proportion of current employment.

Generative artificial intelligence is emerging as the next frontier in tech and IT skills. Firms have already begun hiring for new roles such as prompt engineers, AI trainer, ethics coach.

Job roles involving generative AIs will not require candidates to be trained in hardcore computer engineering skills. Instead, candidates from the humanities stream, with English or history as their majors, will be better able to use these natural language tools.

Technology has influenced our daily lives and we have become used to technology. The use of personal tech has become second nature to those born between the late 2000s and early 2010s.

What are the challenges related to skilling in digital technology?

There remains a massive demand-and-supply gap for computer skills. There exists a wide gap in tech-skilling in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

Only about 40 to 45% of Indian graduates are readily employable. Many technology companies have created large training infrastructures and have also worked with engineering schools to develop the curriculum and pedagogy.

On the government front, challenges persist. One of the biggest challenges of the Skill India Mission is that the government is organized in verticals. The issues around employment and skills are horizontal and involve different ministries.

What are some positive things about India’s future in IT skill development?

Mobile and internet penetration in the hinterland has been a harbinger of change by democratising access to information.

It is easier to make available educational content for consumers from every background. Country is moving forward to close the demand-supply gap.

Why India went nuclear 25 years ago

News: This year marks the 25th year of Pokhran nuclear test.

About the Pokhran nuclear test

India carried out a series of three nuclear detonations. These included a 45 KT (kiloton) thermonuclear device, a 15 KT fission device and a 0.2 sub KT device.  India declared itself a nuclear weapon state on May 11, 1998. A second test followed two days later and having attained the requisite degree of techno-strategic capability. Following that, India announced a self-imposed moratorium on further testing.

The US denounced India for refusing to be bounded as a non-nuclear weapon state under the strictures of the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty). The US and most of its allies imposed sanctions on India. South Asia was described as the “most dangerous” place in the world and humiliation was poured on India.

Why India became a nuclear power?

China as nuclear power: China acquired its nuclear weapon in October 1964 to address its insecurity in relation to the US and the former USSR.

China – Pakistan coalition: Soon, in the mid-1960s, China and Pakistan entered into an opaque strategic partnership focused on nuclear weapons to advance their shared security interests that were hostile to India. Pakistani scientists who had access to Western nuclear technology shared their designs and blueprints with their Chinese counterparts.

Experts maintain that Pakistan acquired the nuclear weapon in the late 1980s, courtesy to China. This enabled a secret test to validate the warhead design in Lop Nor in May 1990.

How does India view a nuclear-powered state?

The US and USSR in the Cold War envisaged nuclear power as a counterforce strategy. But, India, on the other hand, sees the nuclear weapon has a single purpose — the core mission — to deter the use of a similar capability. This is visible in India’s No First Use policy.

At a time when the nuclear policies of other countries rattling and becoming more pronounced, India’s commitment to pristine deterrence and nuclear restraint should remain persistent.

India’s nuclear policy aids the extended southern Asian region and brings China and Pakistan to the negotiation table. This will be a test of Indian acumen.

What should be done?

The introduction of the CDS (chief of defence staff) is a work in progress. So, the civil-military command and control needs to be regularly reviewed and simulation exercises conducted.

The role of the Defence Minister in the Indian nuclear ladder needs to be reviewed as part of the rewiring of the higher defence management pyramid.

Women-dependency of Indian agriculture: Gender discrimination in farms

News: Indian agriculture is becoming increasingly women-dependent.

About the women-dependency of Indian agriculture

Various research studies and data compiled through agriculture censuses and various surveys found that,

-About 80% of the country’s economically active female population is employed in the farm sector. Women comprise about one-third of the agricultural labour force, and nearly 48% of self-employed farmers.

-Nearly 95% of animal husbandry-related work is performed by women. Their involvement in the production of field crops is 75%, and that of horticultural crops 79%. More than 50% of post-harvest activities are carried out by women.

On the whole, the work participation rate for women is 41.8% in rural areas against 35.31% in urban areas.

What are the various reasons for increasing women-dependency in Indian agriculture?

Migration of men: More men are migrating from villages in search of paid employment because of the fragmentation and shrinking of land holdings. So, the management of small and marginal farms is becoming the responsibility of women. For example, the Economic Survey 2017-18 maintained that growing rural-to-urban migration by men was leading to “feminisation” of the agriculture sector.

Low payment: Typically, female labour is employed in farms for low-skilled but labour-intensive jobs. Besides being hard-working, women are generally preferred over men because they are willing to accept low-paid irregular employment.

Nature of jobs: Women are deemed ideally suited for work like grass cutting, weeding, collecting cotton sticks, detaching fibre from cotton seeds, and de-husking grains. They also look after domestic animals and make value-added products like curd, butter, and ghee, and dealing with gobar (cowdung).

Significantly, there are a few intricate farm operations which require some training, for which women are deemed more suitable than men. For instance, producing hybrid cotton seeds, transplanting paddy, etc.

What are the challenges associated with women-dependency in Indian agriculture?

a) The ownership of farms in official land records is mostly in the names of males, b) The bulk of the benefits of government welfare schemes tend to accrue to men — as land pattas (titles) are in their names, c) Women are often denied access to credit because of lack of ownership of land, property, or other assets to serve as collateral, d) Women face difficulties in getting membership of cooperative societies or farmers producer organisations (FPOs), e) Women labourers are paid lower wages than men for doing the same kind of work, f) Women are not considered for decision-making in agri activities.

What should be done to utilise women-dependency in Indian agriculture?

Women’s empowerment through enhanced access to resources like land, property, credit, technology, and training is essential to ameliorate the plight of rural women and improve their calibre to serve as engines of agricultural growth lies.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), farm output in developing countries can be raised by 2.5 to 4% by ensuring men and women equal access to resources, skill development, and opportunities in agriculture. So, the role played by women in the agricultural value chain farm development policies needs to be gender-sensitive.

Specialised farm implements and equipment, designed with female ergometry in view, are needed to reduce the physical strain of strenuous work on farm women.

Incentivising ownership of land and property in the name of women by offering concessions in registration fees and other charges can help in empowering women. The government should facilitate access to benefits in government welfare programmes.

Is there room for a dairy behemoth?

News: Many cooperatives are struggling financially. In this situation, creating a pan-India mega-brand will be hard.

About India’s milk revolution

Operation Flood was launched in 1970. Various successful dairy cooperatives emerged in different states. Amul is the largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brand, surpassing the turnover of giants like Hindustan Unilever. Besides Amul, there’s Nandini in Karnataka (the second-largest dairy cooperative), Aavin in Tamil Nadu, Milma in Kerala, Gokul in Maharashtra, Verka in Punjab, Saras in Rajasthan, and Sudha in Bihar (the largest cooperative in eastern India).

What is the success of India’s milk revolution?

The other success of the operation are,

-India is the largest producer of milk in the world—accounting for a fifth of global output—even though productivity per animal is low.

-Milk is the largest farm product valued at close to ₹10 trillion annually and produced by over 80 million rural families.

-Per capita milk availability grew over four-fold, from 107 gm per day in the 1970s to 427 gm in 2021, despite a growing population.

-Farmer members of cooperatives receive between 75-85% of what the consumer pays for dairy products. This compares with 25-50% share in other farm products.

-Multinational dairy giants were unable to crack India’s dairy market due to the strength of successful cooperatives.

Due to its success, the cooperation ministry (set up in July 2021) will help usher in the White Revolution 2.0 by setting up cooperative societies in 200,000 of the 500,000 uncovered villages.

What are the challenges faced by the dairy cooperatives in India today?

Financial struggles: A 2020 research paper on farm value chains found that 95 of the 175 milk unions it studied were in loss. The bulk of loss-making cooperatives—55 out of 95 unions—were from Uttar Pradesh, the largest milk-producing state.

Issues with the expansion of Amul: Since farmers from other states cannot be members of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), Amul behaved like a private sector entity outside Gujarat. In short, Amul entered other states, but it did not follow the Anand model (Anand dairy was owned by farmers and elected farmer representatives managed it).

Issues with the expansion of other dairy cooperatives: The expansion might create benefits like regional balancing (of supply and demand) and logistical benefits. But, the expansion of dairy cooperatives might increase unfair competition that will ultimately hurt farmers. Further, they will destroy local cooperatives by predatory pricing.

State funds are used to support local dairies (for fodder, artificial insemination, and veterinary services). So, the expansion of cooperatives directly waste the investment of state funds.

Issues with One India one model: One India-one Brand is a thought process aligned with present-day political realities. Dairy cooperatives entering another state may increase competition, transparency and efficiency in the dairy value chain. But the larger the cooperative, the lesser its accountability to members. Further, they become more vulnerable to a technocratic capture with a select few taking all decisions.

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

Explaining mitochondrial donation treatment: how a baby has three parents

Source: The post is based on the article “Explaining mitochondrial donation treatment: how a baby has three parents” published in The Hindu on 15th May 2023

What is the News?

A baby has been born in the UK using a technique called Mitochondrial Donation Treatment (MDT) (popularly called ‘Three Parents Baby’).

Why do parents go for Mitochondrial Donation Treatment (MDT)?

Mitochondria are basically the powerhouses of the cells. They generate energy and thus are also responsible for cell function in the human body. 

Certain defects might occur impacting the way the mitochondria produce energy for the cells (especially in the ‘energy-hungry’ tissues of the brain, nerves, muscles, kidneys, heart, liver), and thereby impacting cell function. The diseases that arise out of such mitochondrial mutations are called mitochondrial diseases. 

Some estimates put the incidence of mitochondrial diseases as one in 5,000 people.

Mitochondrial diseases are only passed on by the mother to their children.

In this case, the mother had mitochondrial disease, and she was intent on not passing it on to her baby. She also did not want to have a donor egg, for the baby would carry the genetic material of the donor.

So, they went for Mitochondrial Donation Treatment (MDT).

How does Mitochondrial Donation Treatment (MDT) work?

Firstly, through an advanced in vitro fertilisation technique, the baby’s biological father’s sperm was used to fertilize the eggs from the biological mother, who has mitochondrial disease and a third, female donor with clear mitochondria, separately.

Then, the nuclear genetic material from the donor’s egg is removed and replaced with the genetic material from the biological parents.

The final product — the egg — which has the genetic material (DNA) from the parents and the mitochondria from the female donor, is implanted in the uterus and carried to full term to yield a baby who will be free from the mother’s mitochondrial disease. This process is termed Mitochondrial Donation Treatment (MDT).

Are there any side effects to the MDT procedure?

Sometimes it is possible that a small amount of the maternal mitochondria with errors may get passed on during the procedure. However, more data is needed to establish consensus on this.

Central Equipment Identity Register(CEIR): From May 17, you will be able to track down your lost phone

Source: The post is based on the article “From May 17, you will be able to track down your lost phone” published in TOI on 15th May 2023

What is the News?

Mobile phone users will be able to block and track their lost or stolen mobile phones across India with the rollout of the Central Equipment Identity Register(CEIR).

What is the Central Equipment Identity Register(CEIR)?

CEIR is the citizen-centric portal of the Department of Telecommunications for tracing lost/stolen mobile devices. 

The portal facilitates the blocking of lost/stolen mobile devices in the network of all telecom operators so that lost/stolen devices can not be used in India. 

If anyone tries to use the blocked mobile phone, its traceability is generated. Once a mobile phone is found it may be unblocked on the portal for its normal use by the citizens.

How to block a stolen/lost phone?

The user can block the phone’s IMEI by reporting it to State Police or by filling out a form submitted on this portal. The procedure to file through the portal is as follows: –

– File a report with the police and keep a copy of it.

– Get a duplicate SIM Card for the lost number from the telecom service provider. This is essential because one needs to provide this as the primary mobile number (OTP will be sent on this number) while submitting the request for blocking theIMEI.

– Fill out the request registration form for blocking the IMEI of lost/stolen phone, and attach the required documents.

– After the successful submission of a blocking request, the user’s phone is blocked within 24 hours. After the phone has been blocked, it cannot be used on any network across India.

– To unblock a lost/stolen phone’s IMEI, the user has to report to local Police that it is found.

MP: Forest dept can’t permit translocation of Baobab tree

Source: The post is based on the article “MP: Forest dept can’t permit translocation of Baobab tree” published in The Hindu on 15th May 2023

What is the News?

The Madhya Pradesh government has decided that the forest department cannot give permission to translocate Dhar’s famed Baobab trees.

What are Baobab Trees?

Baobabs are long-lived deciduous, small to large trees from 20 to 100 ft tall with broad trunks and compact tops.

The trees have a distinctive appearance. All baobabs look like they have been turned upside down, with their roots reaching for the sky. 

Baobab trees can live for more than a thousand years and are perhaps among the oldest living things on the planet.

Distribution of Baobab Trees: Baobab trees are native to mainland Africa and the island country of Madagascar.

Mandu, in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, is perhaps the only place in India where baobab trees are found in abundance.

Aside from Mandu where it is most abundant, baobab trees have also been recorded in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, Wai in Maharashtra and some other places.

Uses: The tree has medicinal properties and provides some income for the Bhil community, which sells its fruits and seeds to local traders.

Significance: Baobabs are known as the tree of life because it is able to store water from the rains in their vast trunk and produce a nutrient-dense fruit in the dry season when the land turns arid

Report on Currency and Finance: RBI, green finance and the blue planet

Source: The post is based on the article “RBI, green finance and the blue planet” published in Business Standard on 15th May 2023

What is the News?

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a report titled “Report on Currency and Finance: Towards a Greener Cleaner India”.

The report has highlighted the impact of climate-change-induced risks on macro-financial prospects and the need for dedicated research to draw up a range of policy options to address them.

How do Climate change-induced risks impact Financial stability?

Financial stability, the core mandate of central banks around the world, can face risks due to climate change.

The pressure of currency depreciation in countries frequently affected by climate disasters can cause financial instability, higher import costs, and negative terms of trade.

Giving other examples of how climate change can affect inflation and financial assets, the report says that climate change can affect price stability through supply shocks such as food and energy shortages.

Additionally, demand shocks can arise when firms and households lose wealth on account of frequent natural disasters.

Further, climate-induced uncertainty can make households save more for precautionary purposes, bringing down the real equilibrium interest rate, which is the interest rate at which the demand for money matches the supply.

What does the other report say about the impact of climate change on financial stability?

The International Monetary Fund’s INFORM Climate Risk Index — an open-source risk assessment for crises and disasters— has stated that within BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) economies and the major advanced economies(AEs), India is the most vulnerable to physical risks arising from climate change.

In terms of preparedness and resilience to transition risks, while most AEs have high resilience and low exposure, BRICS is less resilient and highly exposed. India is the least resilient within it,

But on the greener side, the country is also the highest ranked by the G-20 in climate protection performance, according to the Climate Change Performance Index 2023.

What are the steps taken by banks in India to face the impact of climate change on financial stability?

A January 2022 survey by the Sustainable Finance Group (in the RBI’s Department of Regulation) said that although banks have begun taking steps in climate risk and sustainable finance, concerted effort and further action are needed.

For instance, a majority of banks surveyed did not have a separate business unit, or vertical for sustainability and ESG (environment, social and governance) related initiatives. 

Only a few had a strategy for embedding ESG principles in their businesses, scaling up their sustainable finance portfolios, and incorporating climate change risks into their existing risk-management framework. 

As for board-level engagement on these issues, a third of the banks said, responsibility for overseeing such initiatives was yet to be assigned. 

Only a few had factored in ESG-linked “Key Performance Indicators” in the performance evaluation of their top management.

Studies on migration patterns of milkweed butterflies and their feeding habits can help protect them, say researchers

Source: The post is based on the article “Studies on migration patterns of milkweed butterflies and their feeding habits can help protect them, say researchers” published in The Hindu on 15th May 2023

What is the News?

Researchers have found that millions of Milkweed butterflies undertake a migration between the Eastern and Western Ghats in southern India, seeking refuge from the harsh summer.

What are Milkweed Butterflies?

Milkweed Butterflies are a diverse group of butterflies belonging to the brush-footed butterfly family (Nymphalidae).

There are some 300 species in the group, including the well-known Monarch butterfly.

Distribution: Most milkweed butterfly species are found in the tropical regions of both the Old World (Europe, Africa, and Asia) and the New World (North America, South America, and the Caribbean). 

– However, some well-known members of the group, such as the monarch butterfly and the queen butterfly, live in temperate regions.

Characteristics: These birds fly slowly, and some, such as the monarch butterfly, migrate great distances.

– They feed chiefly on milkweed plants and sometimes on nightshade. These milkweed plants contain acrid, milky juices that probably make the larva and its subsequent stages distasteful to predators. This, combined with a conspicuous colouration, protects them.

What does the study find about the migration patterns of Milkweed Butterflies?

Between October and April, most of the Milkweed butterflies in the Western Ghats congregate in large numbers at specific sites during winter and dry seasons. When the summer rain cools southern India, the butterflies migrate eastwards into the Eastern Ghats and the plains.

This migration of Milkweed butterflies plays a vital ecological role because as pollinators, their movements can impact entire ecosystems.