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The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has ordered all major airports in the country to upgrade baggage X-ray machines by end of 2023 so that passengers won’t have to remove electronic devices during screening of handbags.
The move comes after airports such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru witnessed overcrowding in December when the country recorded the highest number of domestic flyers since the outbreak of COVID-19, and government officials found flaws in the security infrastructure that led to longer queues.
The BCAS has made adoption of CTX, an X-Ray baggage inspection system based on computed tomography (CT), mandatory for all airports with over 50 lakh annual passenger traffic by December 31. Nearly 25 airports fall in this category.
We need the CT machines to upgrade security at airports. The technology it uses is superior as it can discover more prohibited items and the bonus is that it can also ensure better passenger experience because they don’t have to take out their electronic devices.
While X-ray machines used at airports produce a 2D image, newer technologies produce a 3D image and have better automated detection of explosives.
The BCAS has also made deployment of full body scanners mandatory at airports with more than one crore passengers per annum. This will do away with strip searches.
Editorial
The LoC agreement of 2007 deserves a relook (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
While the contours of the agreement (one that would seek “not to redraw borders, but make borders irrelevant”) have been recorded by Pakistani leaders including Gen. Musharraf (in his memoir, In The Line of Fire) and former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri (in his insider account, Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove), there has only been a fleeting description in India thus far.
Lambah first referred to the settlement publicly in 2014, while addressing a university audience in Srinagar, making it clear that India would never agree to giving away any territory.
In his memoir, he expands on the agreement, drawing the progression of the original “4-point solution” to a “14-point set of guidelines” for any settlement between the two countries.
The list that refers to a free flow of trade, ending cross-border terrorism, respect for human rights, and bringing down military presence (but not demilitarisation) on both sides of the LoC, hinges on one simple idea: that the “Line of Control has to be respected like a normal border between the two countries”. It is an idea that has stood the test of time, circumstances and radical shifts in the India-Pakistan equation.
A reality check is important before going any further in discussing the validity of that solution. Two decades after the process began, nearly everyone involved in the talks from 2003-2008 in India and Pakistan has either passed away, is out of power, or would find it politically inconvenient to discuss a resolution with the other side.
A series of terror attacks, from Mumbai to Pathankot and Pulwama, have run a veto over any Indian initiative to restart dialogue, while the Narendra Modi government’s reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in August 2019, and amendment to Article 370 have made it difficult for any Pakistani leader to propose a restoration of ties.
As a result, the optics are grim for the two land neighbours: no political contact at any level, no trade, no direct travel links by air, road or rail, and no High Commissioners in each other’s countries.
The present scenario, after the terror attack in Poonch this week, will no doubt rend relations further apart, just days before Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto arrives in India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Foreign Ministers Meeting, in Goa.
However, as the book records, no matter how much India-Pakistan ties rupture, the long arc of the relationship always veers towards engagement.
Botanical gardens and life on earth (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
On this Earth Day (April 22), we should celebrate the recent decision of the Tamil Nadu government to establish a large botanical garden (the Chengalpattu Botanical Garden) in the State as an important and welcome piece of news. Plants form the basis of civilisation. Humanity has had a long association with gardens ever since man learned to cultivate plants more than 11,000 years ago, marking the dawn of agriculture.
The tradition of home gardens — planned spaces around homes to grow edible and medicinal plants — has been noted in ancient texts and depicted in cave paintings, showing the antiquity of gardening.
Gardens capture a part of earth’s biodiversity for our enjoyment; modern academic gardens often have hundreds and thousands of dried plant specimens for research.
Rulers, from ancient civilisations to modern ones, owned botanical gardens rich in native plants and plants collected from distant places.
These patrons of botanical gardens not only funded but also oversaw botanical collections; a beautiful garden was an important metric of one’s prosperity and eclectic administration.
Between the 15th to 17th centuries, European explorations led to the establishment of several academic botanical gardens, where both plant curiosities and research on plants were used to justify their establishment.
The oldest of these, Orto Botanico di Padova in Italy, was founded in 1545, and the most well-known, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew near London, was formally consolidated in 1840.
Today, these botanical gardens are major centres of research and education on plants as well as famous tourist destinations.
News
New IT Rules allowing system of fact-checking with proof are in ‘public interest’: govt. (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology termed as “premature” political satirist Kunal Kamra’s plea challenging the constitutional validity of the Information Technology (IT) Amendment Rules, 2023 and said the Rules are in “public interest” and provide an evidence-based-fact-checking system for a mechanism to deal with fake or false or misleading information resulting in riots, mob lynching and other heinous crimes.
On April 10, Mr. Kamra through Internet Freedom Foundation filed a petition in the Bombay Hight Court against the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023, calling them “arbitrary, violating fundamental rights of speech and expression and vague”. The next day, a Division Bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale directed the Ministry to file a response on April 21.
The Ministry filed an affidavit stating that the Central government will only direct the removal of false or misleading information pertaining to government policies and programmes as false news travelled six times faster than truth.
With access to smartphones, cheap internet data and social media accounts, users can not only have information related to their personal experiences, activities, beliefs and opinions but also information related to various factual matters related to the functioning of the democratic governments, thereby adversely impacting democratic discourse.
Majority of news-related information consumed on social media platforms in India is produced by common users who may not possess the capabilities, resources and time to verify the information before publishing.
Because of which anti-social and anti-India organisations have been using this feature of social media to deliberately publish and amplify false information. It would be appropriate that such a mechanism should not be viewed as being in conflict with fundamental rights.
The new Rules have amended some rules in the 2021 IT Rules as a result of which social media intermediaries are directed to make “reasonable efforts” to protect their users — through rules, regulations and other policies — and not to “host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information” which is “identified as fake or false or misleading by a fact check unit of the Central government” in respect of “any business of the Central government.
India to prepare evacuation plans for its citizens in Sudan (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India is preparing contingency plans to evacuate its 3,000-odd citizens stuck in Sudan, where a major conflict has broken out between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed officials to prepare such plans at a high-level meeting on Friday to discuss the condition of Indians trapped in the African nation.
The meeting, chaired by the PM, was attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Indian ambassador to Sudan B.S. Mubarak, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Secretary in charge of Overseas Indian Affairs Ausaf Sayeed, and high level officials from the air force and navy.
Prime Minister Modi instructed all relevant officials to remain vigilant, closely monitoring developments and continuously evaluating the safety of Indian nationals in Sudan and extending them all possible assistance.
The Prime Minister further directed the preparation of contingency evacuation plans, accounting for the rapidly shifting security landscape and the viability of various options.
Earlier, Mr. Jaishankar — who stopped at New York en route to Latin America — met with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and discussed the evolving situation in Sudan, among other issues.
The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday cautioned Indians in Sudan about the active fighting raging near the Indian mission in Khartoum and urged them to avoid the embassy for the time being.
The Prime Minister was informed about the latest situation on the ground in Sudan where at least 3,000 Indians are caught in a difficult situation without electricity, food and water.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Modi assessed the most recent developments in Sudan and received a first-hand report of the conditionson the ground, with specific focus on the safety of over 3,000 Indian citizens presently located throughout the country.
The situation in Sudan is difficult as a fragile ceasefire announced by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began earlier today on the occasion of Eid. But latest reports suggest that fighting has continued even after the announcement of the ceasefire.
Millions of olive ridleys make it to sea after Odisha beach hosts record turtle nesting (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Millions of baby Olive Ridley sea turtles crawled towards the Bay of Bengal after emerging from eggshells along Odisha’s Rushikulya beach in Ganjam district, recording one of the most successful mass nesting and hatchings in past few decades.
This year, the Rushikulya beach has hosted 6.37 lakh turtles — highest ever congregation — due to favourable weather conditions from February 23 to March 3. Usually mass nesting takes place for three to four days.
However, turtles had come to lay their eggs over a period of nine days this year. After laying eggs, they had disappeared into the sea.
After 50 days, baby turtles have emerged from eggs themselves, without mother turtles and started their journey towards unknown destination using vast sea water route.
This year, mass nesting and hatching have been smooth. There was no adverse weather condition that could have hampered the nesting and hatching processes.
On part of the forest department, we have provided best possible protection for turtles to lay eggs and prevent damage of eggs during their incubation period,” said Sunny Khokkar, Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer.
Generally, an Olive Ridley turtle lays 100-150 eggs in a cavity created by them with their front flippers. They scoop out sand for hours to create the void.
After laying eggs at one go, these creatures cover it again with sand. Before sunrise, the turtles return to the sea, leaving behind the eggs to hatch after 40-60 days.
Sometime, a turtle lays eggs in a pit at a place which was previously used by another turtle, leading to loss of thousands of eggs.
The Rushikulya beach is a unique phenomenon, which is not a wildlife sanctuary, yet turtles feel safe to carry out mass nesting. Baby turtles started coming out from egg shells from the second week of April this year.
A record number of hatchlings might have entered the sea this year as 6.37 lakh turtles had laid eggs. “The forest department and villagers kept close a watch on hatching so that dogs, hyenas and other natural predators cannot destroy eggs and hatchlings.
World
UN reports ‘off the charts’ melting of glaciers (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The world's glaciers melted at dramatic speed last year and saving them is effectively a lost cause, the United Nations reported Friday, as climate change indicators once again hit record highs.
The last eight years have been the warmest ever recorded, while concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide hit new peaks, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said.
Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting of some European glaciers was, literally, off the charts.
Sea levels are also at a record high, having risen by an average of 4.62 millimetres per year between 2013 and 2022 — double the rate it was between 1993 and 2002.
Record high temperatures were recorded in the oceans — where around 90% of the heat trapped on Earth by greenhouse gases ends up.
The 2015 Paris Agreement saw countries agree to cap global warming at "well below" two degrees Celsius above average levels measured between 1850 and 1900 — and 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible.
The global mean temperature in 2022 was 1.15 C above the 1850-1900 average. Record global mean temperatures over the past eight years came despite the cooling impact of a drawn-out La Nina weather phenomenon that stretched over nearly half that period.
Chunks of ice break off the Perito Moreno Glacier, in Lake Argentina, at Los Glaciares National Park, near El Calafate, in Argentina’s Patagonia region, March 10, 2016.
The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached 415.7 parts per million globally, or 149% of the pre-industrial (1750) level, while methane reached 262% and nitrous oxide hit 124%.
The world's reference glaciers — those for which long-term observations exist — saw an average thickness loss of more than 1.3 metres between October 2021 and October 2022 — a loss much larger than the average over the last decade.
In Europe, the Alps smashed records for glacier melt due to a combination of little winter snow, an intrusion of Saharan dust in March 2022 and heatwaves between May and early September.