Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
States
The Army may help build Bailey bridges in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve for faster movement of forest guards in strategic, vulnerable pockets of the one-horned rhino domain.
Lt. Gen. Rana Pratap Kalita, the Eastern Command chief, said that the Army has received a request from the Kaziranga authorities for setting up three Bailey bridges within the park.
Park Director Jatindra Sarma said the Bailey bridges sought would essentially replace wooden structures in flood-prone vulnerable pockets of the 889.51-sq.km park, also a UN World Heritage Site. The proposal was submitted when the Eastern Command chief visited Kaziranga a few days ago.
These bridges would be at Mihi in Kohora, Kathparaghat in Bagori, and Rongamotia in the Agoratoli sector of the park. All the bridges would be 4 metres wide and between 30 metres and 100 metres in length.
Apart from two boats for patrolling on the Brahmaputra river (adjoining the park) and navigable streams within Kaziranga, we sought the Bailey bridges as a permanent solution to a communication problem, specifically during the floods.
The bridges, off the tourist circuit tracks, are required for better connectivity in primarily inaccessible areas where wooden structures are often washed away during the monsoon.
The bridges are expected to shorten the routes to the vulnerable pockets and facilitate better coordination among the forest guards manning the anti-poaching camps. Kaziranga has a total of 223 anti-poaching camps. Many of them are inundated during the floods.
Editorial
Diplomacy, with a change in terms of reference (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Mediation is rarely a spontaneous act; more often than not it is preceded by quiet efforts to seek a meeting point between differing viewpoints of individuals or organisations.
It figures in Article 33 of the United Nations Charter among means of ‘Pacific Settlement of Disputes’. but in legal terms is different from Good Offices and Arbitration.
In a joint statement on March 10, 2023, by Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China (sitting at a table in the shape of an isosceles triangle), the three countries announced that an agreement has been reached between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran covering a resumption of diplomatic relations between them and a re-opening of their embassies and missions within a period not exceeding two months.
The agreement affirmed their respect for the sovereignty of states, non-interference in the internal affairs of states and said the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries shall meet to implement this, arrange for the return of their Ambassadors, and discuss means of enhancing bilateral relations.
Iranian National Security Adviser Ali Shamkhani (who is seen in the official photograph of the ceremony) is from the Office of the Supreme Leader in Iran and lends credibility to the accord.
A commentary in an Iranian newspaper on March 11 depicted the event as ‘One agreement and seven achievements’; it listed the latter as Tehran’s willingness to engage in dialogue; failure of U.S.’s effort to isolate Iran; strengthening of the alliance of Islamic Countries; failure of Israeli efforts against this agreement; failure of U.S. effort to show the Iranian public that it has no choice but to agree to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with America; Beijing’s successful entry in West Asian relations, and failure of dreams of ‘regime change’.
U.S. reactions, apart from unconcealed surprise, reflected the change in terms of reference in international diplomacy. Equally surprised was Israel, the other major player in the region, which saw it as a fatal blow to the effort to build a regional coalition against Iran.
One commentator said ‘China brought Saudi Arabia together with Iran at a time when Israel had hoped that the United States would bring it together with Saudi Arabia’.
Text & Context
On democratising tiger conservation (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
It is like a big safari park,” a Russian scientist working on Siberian tigers whispered conspiratorially to us after his first visit to the Ranthambore National Park in 1996.
From his point of view, the Russian far-east was “real” wilderness. To him, all our National Parks and Tiger Reserves were little more than glorified zoos or safari parks.
A country that still boasts of having a remarkable conservation history, with robust populations of large carnivores such as tigers and leopards, the only populations of the Asiatic lion and greater one-horned rhinoceros, and the largest population of Asian elephants.
Much of the success of wildlife conservation in India has been attributed to the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WLPA), enacted 50 years ago by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to arrest the alarming decline of wildlife across the country.
But as we celebrate 50 years of the Act, and of the marquee Project Tiger that helped bring back our national animal from the brink of extinction, we also need to reflect on what needs to change with respect to conservation practices in India, so that we can preserve these wins and plan ahead for challenges in the next 50 years.
The tiger number released, on April 11, 2023, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the minimum estimate based on the tigers photographed during the survey.
The final numbers will come in the next few months; authorities have indicated a 6% annual growth rate, so the expected number would be approximately 25-30% above the previous 2018-2019 estimate of 2,967 tigers.
Fifty years ago, India’s alarming revelation that tiger numbers had dropped below 3,000 shocked the world. India reacted by banning hunting and drafting one of the world’s strongest legal frameworks to protect its natural heritage. Fifty years later, more or less the same number is now met with celebration.
Why did Twitter allegedly block access to tweets with Substack links? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
On April 8, users of the digital newsletter platform Substack reported they could not like or retweet Twitter posts with Substack links.
Users complained they could not add tweets to their Substack newsletter unless they were added as screenshots. Twitter also stopped returning searches for Substack on the platform.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk denied claims of blocking access to tweets embedded with Substack links. Mr. Musk’s denial came after independent journalist and author Matt Taibbi blamed Twitter for blocking the sharing of links to his articles on Substack. Twitter later removed the restriction on Substack links, and stopped censoring searches for the term ‘Substack.’
Substack, launched in 2017, is an online publishing platform that lets writers and podcasters publish and share content directly with their target audience.
The platform allows content creators to generate income directly from subscribers on their terms. For readers and listeners, the platform provides an easy way to access content and support individual creators based on users’ needs and preferences.
Susbtack content creators look to social media platforms to create additional engagement with readers and listeners. It also helps them grow their audience base.
Creators post links on Twitter, Facebook, and other prominent social media for interested users to subscribe to and follow posts regularly.
These links are used to redirect users to content published on Substack, driving online traffic toward the original content published on the platform.
Substack alleged that embeds and authentication of links had stopped working on Twitter. Meanwhile, users on Twitter complained that Substack links on Twitter were marked as possibly “unsafe.”
Users also raised complaints that they struggled to like or retweet Twitter posts that had Substack links. Some users said they could not add tweets to their Substack newsletters unless they took screenshots. Twitter users also reported seeing results with “newsletter” when searching for Substack on the platform.