10 November 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Process of Extradition in India: GS II – Topic International Relations

Context:

• A UK Magistrate court has granted the request for intermediary Sanjay Bhandari’s extradition to India in connection with the money axes, subject to the Secretary of State’s final judgement. The defendant may appeal the decision to a higher court of appeals.

About:

• In order to stand trial for a crime that was committed outside the state of refuge and is punishable under the laws of the requesting state, an extradited individual is sent back at the request of the other state.
• The Supreme Court defined extradition as the act of transporting a person from one state to another so they can face justice for crimes they have already been accused of or found guilty of by the legal systems of the other state.
• You can extradite people who have been charged with a crime but have not yet been brought to justice, people who have been tried and convicted but have escaped from jail, and people who have been judged guilty in absentia.

The extradition laws of India:

• The extradition of a wanted criminal from India is governed by the Indian Extradition Act, 1962.
• This includes sending people back to India as well as sending them elsewhere.
• The extradition could be justified by a treaty India and another country have.
• India now has extradition treaties with more than 40 foreign countries, in addition to agreements with 11 other countries.
• According to Section 2(d) of The Indian Extradition Act 1962, a “Tradition Treaty” is a Treaty, Agreement, or Arrangement established by India with a Foreign State relating to the extradition of Fugitive Criminals that extends to and is required of India. Extradition agreements typically have a bilateral nature.

Guidelines Adopted:

• Only those crimes that are mentioned in the treaty are extradited.
• It makes use of the idea of dual criminality, which states that the offence must be regarded as illegal under both the national laws of the requesting and the requested countries.
• The only crime for which extradition should be sought is the one for which it is asked; the accused must, therefore, be made to appear guilty, at least in theory, to the desired nation.
• The defendant must receive a fair trial.

Source The Hindu

2 – Pashmina Shawls: GS I – Topic Indian Culture

Context:

• As a result of “outdated testing methodologies,” several of the traders of the highly sought-after Pashmina shawls have had their export shipments flagged for the presence of “Shahtoosh” guard hair, which is collected from endangered Tibetan antelopes. The dealers assert that a number of “false positive” incidents and their unfair conviction resulted from the government’s employment of outdated techniques, such as “Light Microscopy.”

About:

• Two distinct processes are used to create pashmina shawls: loom weaving (also known as kani shawls) and needle embroidery (also known as sozni shawls).
• The three fundamental fabric types are shamtush, pashmina, and raffal.
• Shah Tush, also referred to as the “King of Wool,” goes by the moniker Ring Shawl. It derives from a rare variety of Tibetan antelope that dwells at altitudes above 14000 feet in the Himalayan highlands.
• An uncommon breed of goat named Capra hircus, which lives between 12000 and 14000 feet above sea level, produces the wool required to make pashmina, or cashmere.
• A typical design of shawl made from merino wool tops are raffals.

About Geographical Indication Certification (GI):

• GI is a classification used to identify goods having unique characteristics that originate in a certain area.
• It is used in industrial, agricultural, and organic products.
• By enabling their registration, the Geographical Indications of Commodities (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 seeks to better protect geographical indications used in connection with items in India.
• Additionally, it is protected under the World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS).

Source The Hindu

3 – Groundwater pollution in India:  GS III – Topic Environmental Conservation

Context:

• Groundwater extraction in India has decreased by 18 years, according to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), which made this news on Wednesday.
• According to the 2022 assessment research, the total annual groundwater recharge for the entire country is 437.60 billion cubic metres (bcm), whereas the total annual groundwater extraction for the entire country is 239.16 bcm.

About:

• Pesticides, fertilisers, poisonous byproducts of mining activities, untreated sewage from septic tanks, dangerous chemicals, and leaking landfills are a few examples of pollutants that may pollute groundwater through soil penetration and render it unfit for human use. As groundwater seeps into streams, lakes, and oceans, contamination can travel far beyond the initial contaminating source.

About Groundwater:

• The underground holds the water that permeates the rocks and the earth.
• Groundwater is created when rainwater seeps into the earth and fills any fissures, holes, or porous areas of an aquifer (essentially, an underground store of water).
• About 22% of the world’s total water volume is subsurface water.
• Around 25% of the freshwater on Earth, including that found in the oceans and permanent glaciers, comes from groundwater.

How Does Contamination Affect Groundwater?

• Depending on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the aquifer, contaminants may move through it in a manner similar to how groundwater does.
• Following the contours of the earth, water and other pollutants travel from recharge areas to discharge areas.
• When the soil is porous and permeable, water and some forms of toxins can easily enter the aquifers underneath.
• Because groundwater moves slowly, contaminants can remain concentrated and seep through rock crevices as a plume, contaminating the water table through dilution.

Sources of contamination for groundwater:

• Natural disasters or a range of human activities, including residential, governmental, commercial, industrial, and agricultural ones, may cause groundwater contamination.
• Biodiversity’s sources Natural elements like iron, manganese, arsenic, chlorides, fluorides, sulphates, and radionuclides that are found in rocks and soils, as well as organic waste that is decomposing, may dissolve in groundwater and offer health risks or unpleasant odours or colours.
• Agriculture: High groundwater nitrate concentrations are the result of excessive and inefficient irrigation practises that let leftover nitrogen from crops leach into the water table.
• Chemical spills, petroleum product spills, and improper hazardous waste disposal are all examples of industrial waste.
• Municipal trash includes, among other things, degraded sewage lines, inadequate on-site sanitary facilities, and the unauthorised dumping of human and animal waste on private property. Pollution from landfills and septic tanks is also covered.
• A salinity issue is being experienced in some areas of Punjab and Haryana as a result of unregulated groundwater extraction for agriculture.
• Seawater intrusion is caused by groundwater pollution from excessive groundwater removal from coastal aquifers.
• In Kachchh, Gujarat, uranium pollution has gotten worse as a result of falling groundwater levels.
• Increased oxidative conditions occur with a decrease in groundwater levels. Uranium concentrations in shallow groundwater therefore increase.
• Pipelines and Sewers Leakage: Sewer systems that transport waste may leak fluids into nearby groundwater and land. dirty conditions.
• Among the numerous elements discovered in sewage and pipelines are organic molecules, inorganic salts, heavy metals, bacteria, viruses, industrial chemicals, and nitrogen.
• utilised to aid in the drainage of water into deeper soils from moist areas. These wells could contain agricultural chemicals as well as bacteria.
• Groundwater is one of the components of the conventional hydrologic cycle, in which water continuously flows from one source to another. contamination of the atmosphere.
• Toxins from surface water or even the atmosphere may enter groundwater supplies because water cycles in a cycle.
• For instance, surface water runoff into streams can contaminate groundwater.
• Groundwater that has been contaminated by acid rain, a byproduct of power plants, is unsafe for irrigation and drinking.
• health hazards brought on by the effects of groundwater pollution If you consume water that has been contaminated with bacteria and viruses, your risk of contracting hepatitis, cholera, giardiasis, blue baby syndrome, learning difficulties in children, issues with your nerves, kidneys, or liver, as well as troubles during pregnancy, increases.
• Agriculture and soil: Groundwater contamination leads to decreased agricultural productivity and poor soil quality. Agriculture has produced significantly less as salinity has risen. For example, in Punjab and Haryana.
• Economic: As a result of expensive cleanup expenses and modifications to other water sources, the burden of illness and the price of providing healthcare increased.
• Environment: Toxic surface water is eventually produced by contaminated groundwater that feeds lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, and marshes.

Government programmes:

• In overpopulated and water-stressed areas, the Atal Bhujal-founded programme seeks to develop community-based sustainable groundwater management.
• Protecting or restoring water resources as well as preventing, controlling, and reducing water pollution are the main objectives of the 1974 Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act. The Act outlaws the direct or indirect disposal of any dangerous or unclean material into any stream, well, sewer, or land.
• 2012 National Water Policy In order to increase water supply, water efficiency, and rainwater collection, the law encourages direct use of precipitation. It also advocates constructing river bodies, infrastructure, and conservation projects utilising scientific planning and community involvement.
• Initiative for urban renewal under the Atal Mission (AMRUT) The Mission’s goal is to provide AMRUT communities with access to non-motorized urban transit as well as essential urban infrastructure, including water supply, sewage and septic system management, storm water drainage, green spaces, and parks.

Source The Hindu

4 – Demonetisation: GS III – Topic Indian Economy

Context:

• Rahul Gandhi, the senior leader of the Congress Party, criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday for his decision to demonetize physical cash and claimed that it was an intentional action to ensure that the Indian economy was controlled by two or three of his affluent cronies.

About:

• The demonetization of all 500 and 1,000 rupee notes from India’s Mahatma Gandhi Series was announced on November 8th, 2016.
• It also disclosed the launch of fresh 500 and 2,000 pound banknotes to replace the demonetized currency.

Demonetization sought to accomplish three key economic goals:

• Preventing drug trafficking
• Fake currency and
• Promoting online transactions in an effort to eliminate cash from society.

The results of the activity were as follows:

Illicit funds:

• The biggest of these was dealing with dark money.
• Currency that is not recorded in the financial system or for which no taxes have been paid to the government is referred to as “black money.”
• More than 99 percent of the money that was invalidated later entered the financial system, according to data from the RBI.
• Along with the invalidated notes, notes worth Rs. 15.31 trillion and Rs. 15.41 trillion were returned.
• The available statistics show that demonetisation did not uncover any hidden funds in the system. While this is going on, black money is still being seized.

How much money has been demonetized in total?

• The RBI’s annual report included 15.44 lakh crore.
• 4% of the total amount on hand at the time of the withdrawal was used. Out of the 15.44 lakh crore, only $16,000 crore was not repaid.
• After demonetisation, only.0027% of false cash was “discovered”.

The financial sector has transitioned to digital:

• According to a study by the RBI, cash is no longer as important to India’s economy.
• An increasing number of organisations were forced to make the switch to doing business digitally during the early stages of their fight to sustain operations due to a severe financial crisis.
• When the cash was reintroduced, the number of digital payments had barely grown.

The demonetization method has several flaws:

 No particular statute to enforce demonetisation:

• Between 1946 and 1978, demonetization was put into effect through a variety of Acts that were the subject of parliamentary debate.
• It was finished in 2016 with the issuance of a straightforward notification in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• A number of significant defences has been rejected by the Central Bank, including:
• Although the Central Board of the RBI approved the idea, the two principal defenses—black money and counterfeit money—were vehemently denied.

Other issues:

• To exchange their own money, there were 11 billion individuals in line.
• The farmers in the area lacked power. It is now appropriate to plant.
• The retail markets are shut down. Prices were lowered Retail sales fell “catastrophically.”
• 15 crore everyday labourers lost their jobs when firms faltered.
• Some claim that the demonetisation shattered the back of the rural cash economy and disrupted supply lines.
• According to reports, 1.5 million jobs have been lost.

Way Forward:

• Given the fragility of the Indian economy, it is still arguable whether the note ban was a wise decision.
• Data research shows that demonetization hasn’t achieved its intended outcomes, with the exception of a few, like promoting more digital transactions and formalising the financial system.
• The negative effects of the activity far outweigh any positive effects:
• While it is undeniable that there has been a large rise in digital payments, it is questionable whether the massive effort to find illicit currency, which was the claimed and primary goal of demonetisation, was successful.

 Source The Hindu