30 June 2023

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Flash floods: GS I – Geography-related issues

Context:

• Recently, the Chandigarh-Manali motorway was stopped due to flash floods and landslides.

In relation to flash floods:

• Water stagnation brought on by excessive or continuous rain that falls over a number of days or during particular seasons can result in flooding.
• A flash flood is a condition like this that is relatively localised and lasts for a much shorter amount of time.
• Flash floods happen when rain falls within less than six hours and causes flooding.

Causes of flash floods include the following:

• Flash floods can also occur in the absence of rain, for example, when a dam’s water level is exceeded.
• Cloudbursts and flash floods are frequently associated in India.
• Cloudbursts are short bursts of unexpectedly heavy rain.
• The overflowing glacial lakes that have been developing more regularly recently as a result of glaciers melting complicate issues for Himalayan administrations even more.
• Where rivers are narrow and rocky, they flow more quickly, which increases the likelihood of flash flooding.
• They can occur in urban locations close to small rivers because concrete and other hard surfaces, such highways, prevent water from penetrating the ground.

Landslides and unexpected flooding:

• Flash floods and landslides frequently coexist.
• A landslip is an unanticipated slide of rock, boulders, dirt, or other material down a hill.
• Since the soil, rock, geology, and slope in mountainous places are suited for it, it is common there.
• Excessive rainfall, earthquakes, melting snow, slope undercutting from flooding, and heavy snowfall are all potential triggers for landslides.
• Landslides can also be caused by human activity including excavation, removing trees and hills, creating too much infrastructure, and overgrazing by animals.

How frequently do flash floods happen?

• The fact that India’s yearly rainfall is mostly accounted for by a brief monsoon season lasting only four months (June to September) is one of the factors contributing to the country’s high frequency of floods.
• As a result, there is a sizable flow into the rivers throughout these months.
• Out of the 40 million hectares of land that are vulnerable to flooding in the country, 18.6 million hectares are typically affected each year.
• Flash floods could be brought on by future wildfires because they have been occurring more frequently lately.
• This is because wildfires destroy forests and other types of vegetation, weakening the soil and reducing its capacity to enable water to permeate.

Source The Hindu

2 – Hajj quota: GS I – Indian Culture

Context:

• For the Hajj pilgrimage, which will allow them to circle the Kaaba, the most sacred place in Islam, over 2.5 million Muslims from around the world are expected to go to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The Hajj:

• The Hajj is one of the biggest religious gatherings in the world.
• It lasts for six days in the 12th month of the Islamic calendar each year.
• Saudi Arabia sets quotas for each country that determine the maximum number of pilgrims that may leave from that country.

Amounts allotted for the Hajj:

• The distribution of these quotas frequently depends on the country’s Muslim population.
• In countries where Muslims make up the majority, there is roughly one pilgrim for every 1,000 Muslims.
• This was resolved upon by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in 1987.

The distribution of Hajj spaces for pilgrims in India:

• The bilateral agreement for Haj 2023 was signed by Saudi Arabia and India.
• 1,75,025 Indians in all will be permitted to perform the Hajj this year.
• The quota granted to India (by Saudi Arabia) is subsequently divided among other parties by the Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Haj Committee of India (HCoI).
• A total of 70% of the quota given to India goes to the Haj Committee of India, with the remaining 30% going to private operators.
• The majority of pilgrims normally travel with the HCoI, which runs a government-sponsored tour (though the subsidy is being phased out), despite the fact that private tour operators are free to charge whatever they choose and accept anyone who has the money.
• If there are more candidates than openings, a lottery is held in each state to choose who travels.
• In the past, 500 of the total HCoI spaces were held under the “Government discretionary quota,” while the remaining spots were distributed to other states based on their Muslim population.
• However, the Centre suddenly removed the seats from the public pool and reinstated the discretionary quota.

Source The Hindu

3 – Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework: GS III – Environmental Conservation related issues

Context:

• The question of whether the Global Environment Facility (GEF) will receive the funding necessary to achieve the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework looms big as the GEF Council gets ready to convene in Brazil.

Regarding the structure:

• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was adopted by attendees of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference COP15 in Montréal, Canada.
• This framework consists of global goals and targets designed to encourage investments in a green economy while simultaneously preserving and regenerating the environment for both current and future generations.

We need a framework because:

• A significant portion of the global GDP is made up of ecosystem services.
• Around the world, 70% of the most vulnerable people depend on wild animals directly.
• According to the Living Planet Report (LPR) 2022 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), observed wildlife populations have had a terrible 69% average decline since 1970.

It provides targets for 2030 in relation to:

• preserving places that have deteriorated
• resource mobilisation for conservation
• Countries will be compensated for protecting biodiversity,
• halting human actions that cause species extinction,
• reducing by a factor of two the spread of invasive alien species, introduced plants and animals that pose a threat to endemic biodiversity,
• bringing down pollution to safe levels and
• minimising the consequences of climate change and ocean acidification.

The four GBF goals are as follows:

• protecting the environment’s health and integrity to stop extinctions.
• monitoring and assessing the ecosystem services provided by biodiversity.
• Genetic resources’ financial and non-financial benefits, as well as their digital sequencing, should be shared.
• generating money to fill the estimated $700 billion funding shortfall for global biodiversity.

Additional features of the GBF:

• Instead of overtly prohibiting their usage, the GBF’s goals and objectives promote the sustainable use of genetic resources and the sharing of their advantages.
• Respecting the rights of indigenous peoples, who historically have safeguarded forests and biodiversity as well as their involvement in conservation efforts, is a priority for the GBF.
• It favours assigning women and local communities tasks that are comparable.
• The pact requires members to put practises like agroecology and sustainable intensification—which support biodiversity—into practise.
• According to the GBF, local communities and indigenous peoples shall have access to justice as well as knowledge about biodiversity.
• The Global Balance Sheet aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The following sentences outline the main findings of biodiversity:

30 x 30 deal:

• Delegates decided to protect 30% of land and 30% of coastal and marine areas by 2030, reaching the deal’s most well-known goal, the “30-by-30” goal.
• Indigenous and traditional regions will count towards reaching this goal, as several nations and campaigners argued for during the discussions.
• The agreement also raises the target for restoring degraded lands and rivers from 20% to 30% over the following ten years.
• The globe aims to have “close to zero” losses to unaltered landscapes and places with a variety of species by the year 2030.

Investing in nature:

• The signatories want to guarantee that $200 billion in yearly financing from the public and commercial sectors be used for conservation activities.

Effects on biodiversity are documented by large corporations:

• Businesses should assess and record how their operations have an influence on biodiversity issues. The parties agreed to “requirements” that large corporations and financial institutions submit data about their operations, supply chains, and portfolios.
• This reporting aims to encourage sustainable production, reduce the risks that the natural world poses to industry, and progressively increase biodiversity.

Detrimental subsidies:

• The participating countries committed to identifying and eliminating, phasing out, or reforming any subsidies that threaten biodiversity by 2025.
• They made a commitment to lower those incentives by at least $500 billion every year by 2030 while increasing the ones that promote conservation.

Pollution and pesticides:

• Reduce the risk posed by pesticides by at least 50% by the year 2030.
• The agreement will focus on reducing the adverse effects of pollution to levels that are not considered to be hazardous to the environment, notwithstanding the lack of a quantifiable goal in the accord’s text.

Additional areas of focus:

• By 2050, we want to halt the extinction of known species and lower the risk and pace of extinction for all species, even those we don’t yet know about.
• Reduce nutrient loss to the environment by at least 50% by the year 2030.
• Reduce the global consumption footprint by 2030, which includes making significant reductions in waste generation, excessive consumption, and food waste.
• Grow agroecology and other practises that support biodiversity, and sustainably manage forestry, aquaculture, fisheries, and agricultural regions.
• Natural methods can be used to combat climate change.
• At least 50% fewer foreign invasive species will be introduced and established by 2030.
• Assure the safe, ethical, and sustainable use of wild animals by the year 2030.

Clean-up of urban areas:

Challenges:

Use of GDP effectively:

• Maintaining and improving biodiversity conservation will be significantly hampered by GDP being used as the major indicator of growth.
• GDP is based on a flawed economic theory that downplays the depreciation of assets like nature, which is damaged by relentless resource extraction.

GDP and inclusive wealth comparison:

• Inclusive wealth also encompasses natural, social, and human capital in addition to financial and manufactured capital.
• According to the UN’s efforts to analyse wealth more broadly through its “Inclusive Wealth” report, even while 135 countries did better on inclusive wealth in 2014 compared to 1990, the global GDP growth rate greatly outpaced IW in 2018.
• Over that time, IW expanded by an average of 1.8% annually, whereas GDP grew by an average of 3.4% annually.

Conclusion:

• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), an initiative of the UN to save and sustainably utilise the planet’s biodiversity, benefited from the Kunming-Montreal framework.
• The “web of life,” which refers to the variety of species on earth, keeps ecosystems in balance and permits human coexistence.
• Respecting the rights of indigenous peoples, who historically have safeguarded forests and biodiversity as well as their involvement in conservation efforts, is a priority for the GBF.
• It favours assigning women and local communities tasks that are comparable.

Source The Hindu

4 – Greedflation: GS III – Economy-related issues

Context:

• There is broad consensus worldwide that corporate greed is raising inflation.

In relation to greedflation:

• Greedflation is the term for inflation brought on by business greed.
• Instead of the wage-price spiral, the profit-price spiral is in play here.
• According to greedflation, corporations raised their prices well above what was required to meet their rising costs in order to take advantage of the inflation that consumers were feeling and then used this to increase their profit margins.
• This then increased inflation further.

Greedflation in India:

• According to a recent analysis of business profits by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), profitability is at an all-time high.
• The corporate sector in India has made unprecedented profits in the years since the outbreak.
• In recent years, corporate profits have almost tripled compared to prior times.

Higher profits can only result from:

• growth in revenue with preserved profit margins.
• with the same sales volume, higher profit margins.
• or a combination of improved sales and profit margins.

What elements are driving rising profits?

• 60% of the rise in net profit is entirely attributable to the higher profit margin.
• The increase in sales contributed 36% more, while a combination of the two factors contributed the final 10%.
• Do these increasing profits suggest that there is greedflation in India?
• Data shows that profits have sharply surged recently.
• Therefore, it initially seemed plausible that corporate greed also played a role in the increase in India’s inflation rate.

Inflation:

• Inflation (sometimes known as the inflation rate) is the rate of growth in the overall price level.
• Price increases, sometimes known as inflation, are essentially the progressive decline in purchasing power.

Disinflation:

• When the rate of inflation slows, a tendency known as disinflation develops.
• Disinflation is the term used to describe a situation where prices are rising (or inflation is occurring), but doing so more slowly each month.

Deflation:

• Deflation is the exact opposite of inflation.
• Deflation is a broad drop in pricing for goods and services, and it frequently happens in tandem with a decrease in the amount of credit and cash accessible to the economy.

Reflation:

• Reflation typically follows a period of deflation as policymakers work to boost economic activity through higher government spending or lower interest rates.

Wage-price spiral:

• Naturally, if prices rise, workers will want higher pay.
• Salary increases, however, merely boost overall demand without boosting supply.
• The result, known as a wage price spiral, is higher inflation as a result.

How can it be handled?

• Interest rate increases reduce demand and the overall economy, which typically leads to job losses.
• By doing this, central banks prevent an inflationary spiral in the wage-price connection.

Source The Hindu

5 – Crisis of Conscience: GS IV – Ethics-related issues

Context:

• When we are unable to accurately differentiate the voice of conscience when faced with ethical challenges, a “Crisis of Conscience” frequently results.

What is conscience?

• Conscience is a form of faculty that is continuous, innate, and unalterable, and it exists in all humans.
• Conscience is the moral sense of right and wrong that a person possesses that acts as a compass or guide for their behaviour.
• A person’s conscience, which also acts as a source of guidance, is their genuine selves.
• It is a trustworthy source with a voice.
• When someone hears a sermon, advice, or admonition from their conscience, they are referring to their conscience’s voice.

Crisis of conscience:

• We frequently lack the ability to accurately distinguish the voice of conscience when faced with moral dilemmas or discover it jumbled with other external factors.
• Then, a “crisis of conscience” develops.
• An internal dilemma or conflict is the clash between the voice of conscience and the pressure from outside causes that urge a person to choose a different option.
• As a result, there is more internal conflict or tension, which makes it challenging to accept oneself or solve the issue.
• A person’s capacity to manage such a circumstance depends on their inner development, emotional intelligence, etc.
• Sometimes the circumstances are so gloomy that the person finds themselves in a crowded setting and is unable to distinguish between good and bad.

Crisis in democracy and morality:

• The hope of every democratic citizen is dashed as a result of this issue, which develops into a crisis of governance.
• Furthermore, it promotes a culture in which no one wants to accept accountability for errors or impasses in decision-making.
• The lack of conscience is what creates that void and the loss of voice.
• When people look to bureaucrats to solve their issues or understand their sorrow and anguish, a crisis—a crisis of conscience—occurs.

Conscience crisis versus voice crisis:

• During the epidemic, people from all across the world made an effort to preserve the world.
• Crisis of conscience was inappropriate.
• One Voice of Conscience was all that was present.
• Humanity’s higher levels of consciousness could be made out among the hubbub.

Source The Hindu

6 – Tughlaqabad Fort: GS III – Biotechnology-related issues

Context:

• The more than 700-year-old Tughlaqabad Fort’s history is as fascinating as what is left of the structure.

With regards to Tughlaqabad Fort:

• The crumbling Tughlaqabad Fort in Delhi is a fort.
• In 1321, Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq built it.
• In the Indian Delhi Sultanate, he founded the Tughlaq dynasty.
• Ghiyasuddin constructed the Tughlaqabad, Delhi’s third mediaeval city.
• This fort was built in Tughlaqabad, which was abandoned in 1327.
• It was built in 1321 by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty, which went on to rule for almost a century.

Architecture:

• The fort, which is between 10 and 15 metres tall, was built at the summit of the fighting parapet fort.
• It is also clear that the fort was built with granite stones, which fortified it on all sides.
• Legend has it that this fort originally had 52 gates and was known as the “city of gates,” but currently only 13 gates are still in place.

At the time, there were three main sections:

• The original part of the city has remained vast since the homes were built with a rectangular space between their gates.
• The second part, which includes the Bijai-Mandal tower, assumes the shape of a citadel as it approaches its highest point.
• The last part is the vicinity of the palace, where the royal residence is located.

There are tombs within the fort:

• Within this fort lies the Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq mausoleum, which is designed as a square tomb with a single dome.
• There are three tombs close to Ghiyath al-Din’s grave.
• There are also the graves of his spouse, son, and heir Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
• Seven cities around Delhi

The Pithora Qila Rai:

• The first of Delhi’s seven cities, it was.
• It was established under the reign of Prithviraj Chauhan, whose ancestors seized control of Delhi by overthrowing the Tomar Rajputs in the tenth century.

Mehrauli:

• Qutubuddin Aibak built Mehrauli, the second of Delhi’s seven mediaeval cities.

Siri Fort:

• Siri Fort was built by Allauddin Khilji using craftsmen from the Saljuqian kingdom in West Asia who had fled the Mongols and sought refuge at his court.

Tughlaqabad:

• The fourth-ranked city in the Delhi State is Tughlaqabad, which Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq built.
• Mohammed bin Tughlaq originally moved the capital to Daulatabad and then moved it back, building a little city known as Jahanpannah between Qila Rai Pithora and Siri Fort.

Firozabad:

• Firoze Tughlaq founded Firozabad, which is near to the Yamuna river and is the fifth-largest city in Delhi.
• The palaces include mosques, pigeon towers, water tanks, pillared rooms, towering walls, and an Ashokan pillar that is more than 1500 years old.

Shergarh:

• In order to build the ornate Purana Qila, Sher Shah had to destroy Dinpanah, the seat of Humayun.
• Following his conquest of Delhi in 1555, Humayun constructed Sher Shah’s Qila and ruled from Shergarh till his demise in 1556.

Shajahanabad:

• Shahjahan, the king who also erected the Taj Mahal, founded Shajahanabad, one of Delhi’s seven cities, in Old Delhi.

Source The Hindu