Changing environment caused the demise of largest primate (GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- The extinction of the largest known primate, a giant ape from China, resulted from its struggle to adapt to environmental changes.
- These findings fill a key gap in understanding of why this species failed to survive where other, similar primates persisted.
Gigantopithecus blacki:
- Gigantopithecus blacki was a species of great ape found in China between 2 million and 330 thousand years ago, after which the species became extinct.
- With an estimated height of 3 m and weight of 200–300 kg, it is thought to be the largest primate to ever exist on Earth.
- The distribution of the most recent fossils suggests that the geographical range of G. blacki markedly reduced before their extinction. An exact timeline and reason for this decline has yet to be established.
Key Observations:
- The researchers collected and dated fossil samples from 22 caves in southern China. Analyses of the teeth of G. blacki and Pongo weidenreichi (their closest primate relative) were used to determine changes in diet or behaviour of the species within the extinction window, in conjunction with pollen and stable isotope analysis to reconstruct the environment.
- Pollen analysis indicates that 2.3 million years ago, the environment was composed of dense forests with heavy cover, conditions to which G. Blacki was well-suited.
- Before and during the extinction window (295–215,000 years ago), changes in forest plant communities led to a transition in the environment with open forests dominating the landscape.
- The transition to open forest is reflected in the dental analyses, which suggest that the diet of G. Blacki became less diverse and with less regular water consumption; accompanied by indications of increased chronic stress among G. blackiover this period.
- This is in contrast to P. weidenreichi, which shows much less stress and better adaption of its dietary preferences to changing conditions over this same period.
- The fossil numbers support these hypotheses, showing a decline in the number and geographical spread of G. blackifossils in the record relative to P. weidenreichi by 300 thousand years ago.
Conclusion:
- The authors present a precise timeline for the demise of G. blacki that suggests it struggled to adapt to a changing environment compared to its primate peers.
What are the complaints about Digi Yatra?
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- In December 2023, as air travel peaked in the holiday season, it was found that security personnel and private staff were collecting facial biometrics at airport entry gates without the consent or knowledge of passengers for the Digi Yatra app.
What are the complaints from air travellers?
- There was a surge in complaints from passengers using various airports about the “coercive and deceptive” manner in which both private staff and CISF personnel were enrolling them for Digi Yatra.
- CISF personnel at the entry gate of passenger buildings were asking travellers to scan their boarding pass and capturing their photos, following which they would provide consent on behalf of the passengers for registering for Digi Yatra without seeking permission or even informing them.
What is Digi Yatra? What are its objectives?
- The Digi Yatra initiative aims to promote digital processing of passengers for paper-less and seamless movement through various checkpoints at airports such as the entry gate, security check area and boarding gate.
- The Digi Yatra policy was unveiled by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2018 as an entirely voluntary programme.
- After some delay, it was rolled out from December 2022 at three airports, including Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Today, it is present at 13 airports, and will be expanded to 24 more airports in 2024.
Digi Yatra app:
- The Digi Yatra app is not owned by the government, but by a consortium called the Digi Yatra Foundation whose shareholders comprise the Airports Authority of India and five private airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.
- The government does not provide any funding for its implementation, and airports are required to spend from their kitty.
- The implementation involves an app that passengers can download. They need to provide their name, mobile, email address and Aadhaar document to register. They also have to upload a selfie so that their image can be matched with the one on the Aadhaar.
- These two steps lead to the creation of a digi yatra travel id. When passengers upload their air tickets, the digi yatra id gets updated with their travel details.
- At airports, passengers scan their boarding pass at an e-gate and look into a camera that captures their image. Once the face verification is successful, the e-gate opens. This also creates the passenger data-set which is a combination of their facial scan and PNR.
- This data is then used as a single token at the remaining check points so that a passenger can simply zip through them with a mere facial scan without the need to produce a boarding pass.
What are the issues about implementation?
- The government maintains that there is no central storage of a passenger’s data, which is encrypted and stored in a secure wallet on his or her mobile device. Though the data is shared with the departure airport on the day of travel, it is purged within 24 hours.
- According to a detailed analysis by the Internet Freedom Foundation, the Digi Yatra policy states that the airports using the Digi Yatra Biometric Boarding System will adhere to the data protection law as mandated by the Government of India.
- But the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 was passed by Parliament in August 2023 and the rules are yet to be framed.
- The Bill has also been criticised for giving the government broad powers to exempt any of its agencies from all its provisions. Additionally, these exemptions are also granted in the Digi Yatra policy.
