14 July 2022

14 July 2022 – Mains Questions à Daily Questions & Model Answers

Q1. Our old historical traditions range from the most accurate and factual, such as public epigraphs, to literary depictions of human history. Assess the value of Rajatarangini as a source of early Kashmir information. (250 words)

• Paper & Topic: GS I àIndian Culture
• Model Answer:
• Introduction:
• “Availability and decipherment” are the two fundamental limits of ancient Indian history sources. The accessible sources can be split into two categories: literary/written sources and material/archaeological sources.
• The literary source contains Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and other Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and other Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, and other Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali, Pra Epigraphic, numismatic, and other architectural relics are among the archaeological finds.

Body:

The significance of Rajatarangini as a historical source in Kashmir:

• The Rajatarangini (RT) of the 12th century distinguishes out among regional histories.
• It provides a continuous chronology for early Kashmir, employing traditional Indic calendars such as kaliyuga and shaka samvat to record the reigns of every monarch of every ruling dynasty.
• It also examines a variety of historical causes and explanations for events that occurred throughout these regimes, as well as their policies, deeds, and fights.
• Intriguingly, the poet Kalhana claims to have written his history using local land grant inscriptions (shashana) and older literature, providing insight into the practice’s sources and procedures.
• One of the RT’s most notable qualities is that it begins with a prolegomenon that explicitly states the book’s goal (prayojana) and philosophy.
• According to Kalhana, “the poet’s voice should be unflinching when retelling issues of the past, eliminating both attachment and aversion.”
• This has been seen by modern scholars as a remark recognising objectivity as a virtue in historians.
• The Rajatarangini myths—which are based on local Kashmiri legends about wrongdoing kings and their cities being catastrophically destroyed by the anger of tutelary deities (nagas), or about the origins of the land of Kashmir in an act of the great Gods—display precisely this meaning and function in this ethicised commentary.
• Rather than being a flaw in critical judgement, the inclusion of myths was vital to the text’s overall structure.
• It supplied the synergistic framework for the revealing of ethical governance, which appears to have been the greater objective of compiling the Rajatarangini, by sanctifying the land and alerting unjust social actors about the consequences of their conduct.

Conclusion:

• Thus, our old historical traditions range from the exceedingly exact and factual, such as public epigraphs, to the ethical and instructive, such as literary portrayals of human history as a dharma and karma laboratory. In this perspective, the sacred and profane, the transcendent and contingent, were all linked. Indic history-writing is best understood in this larger sense, sensitive to the culturally specific roles this civilisation gave to the genre, rather than inflicting ineffective imperialist restrictions.

Q2. What are the different variables that influence the establishment of the Savanna climate? Investigate the different threats that the Savanna biome faces. (250 words)

• Paper & Topic: GS I àSalient Features of World’s Physical Geography
• Model Answer:
• Introduction:

• There are two separate seasons in savanna regions: a wet season and a dry season.
• During the dry season, there is extremely little rain. During the rainy season, plants such as lush green grasses and woodland areas flourish. The grassland becomes dryer and drier as you move further away from the equator and its abundant rainfall – especially during the dry season.

Body:

Biomes of the savanna:

• Tropical grasslands, also known as savannas, can be found to the north and south of tropical rainforest biomes. The world’s largest savannas may be found in Africa, where tropical grassland covers much of the continent’s central region, such as Kenya and Tanzania. In South America, savanna grasslands can also be found in Brazil.

There are a number of elements that influence the establishment of the Savanna climate:

• Between 5° and 20° latitudes on each side of the equator, the savanna climate can be found.
• As a result, the savanna climate falls in between the equatorial climate (Af) and the semi-arid and subtropical humid climates.
• In other words, this climate is sandwiched between the equatorial low pressure zone, which produces rain, and the subtropical high pressure belt.
• Low and high pressure systems affect the Savanna climate throughout the year.
• The equatorial low pressure band and doldrum are displaced northward due to the sun’s northward movement at the summer solstice (21 June), and the Savanna climate is influenced by Inter Tropical Convergence (ITC), which is associated with atmospheric disturbances (cyclones) that produce rainfall.
• Because of the sun’s southward journey during the winter solstice (December 23), the Savanna climatic zone is influenced by a subtropical high pressure system, and anticyclonic conditions dominate the weather, bringing dry conditions.
• Dry conditions are caused by falling steady breezes in anticyclonic conditions.
• Furthermore, local winds and sea breezes affect coastal areas.
• Trade winds have an impact on the east coast. During the summer, strong and fast-moving tropical cyclones dominate the weather.
• The Savanna climate is clearly generated by the introduction of rainy summer and dry winter seasons as a result of the sun’s northward and southern migration, respectively.
• Because the Savanna climate is sandwiched between equatorial wet and tropical dry climates, weather conditions gradually change away from the equator as aridity rises poleward.

Savanna biomes are under threat from a variety of factors:

Activities that are anthropogenic:

• Unsustainable water use and irrigation methods may cause life-giving rivers and water holes to dry up.
• Ugulate populations have declined noticeably in areas where indigenous people consume bushmeat (wild meat) on a regular basis.
• Some savanna species is killed for trophies, including black rhinoceroses, which are sought for their valuable horns.
• Because of their commercial worth, several plant species are over-harvested.
• Tourist markets frequently sell carvings carved from African Blackwood, a savanna tree.
• Drought, agriculture, and intensive grazing
• Agriculture is another hazard to the savanna’s ecosystem. Large swaths of land are being cleared in order to cultivate crops and raise livestock. Livestock competes for grazing with indigenous animals, potentially destroying the natural ecology.
• A savanna ecosystem is threatened by prolonged, severe drought, which is exacerbated by grazing practises.
• Drought and grazing can transform a grassland characterised by edible perennial grasses into a savanna dominated by non-edible grasses and plants.

Desertification:

• Desertification is the expansion of desert-like conditions into dry grassland areas, which occurs frequently in tropical savannas.
• Climate change, farming methods, overgrazing, aggressive agricultural irrigation, which lowers the level of the water table away from plant roots, deforestation, and erosion are all threats to the savanna environment.
• Over 46,000 square kilometres of African savanna being turned into desert each year.
• Emissions of carbon dioxide
• The “CO2 fertilisation effect,” according to a 2012 survey, is responsible for considerable increases in woody plant mass. The scientists theorised that rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere caused the rise in the pace of woody plant development.
• Because trees and shrubs consume more water than grasses, a significant rise in their number could endanger the entire savanna ecosystem.

Conclusion:

• While woods are unquestionably excellent carbon sinks, grasslands aren’t far behind. According to studies, restoring grasslands is a very effective and cost-effective strategy to mitigate climate change since these landscapes store a lot of carbon below ground. It will be a win-win situation for pastoralists, grassland biodiversity, and the planet when a nuanced and informed knowledge of the importance of grasslands seeps into conservation and climate change strategies.