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Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, popularly known as M.S. Swaminathan, the legendary agricultural scientist and a key architect of the country’s Green Revolution, passed away at his residence in Chennai on Thursday, following age-related issues. He was 98.
It was the back-to-back severe drought in the mid-1960s that compelled the political leadership and scientific fraternity to look for solutions to overcome the “ship-to-mouth” existence.
The country was dependent on foodgrains imported from the U.S. then. Dr. Swaminathan worked closely with two Agriculture Ministers, C. Subramaniam (1964-67) and Jagjivan Ram (1967-70 & 1974-77) for the success of the Green Revolution, a programme that paved the way for a quantum jump in productivity and production of wheat and rice through adoption of chemical-biological technology.
A spokesperson for the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) said the funeral will take place on Saturday. His mortal remains will be kept on the MSSRF campus in Taramani for the public to pay respects.
Editorial
A milestone in Hindu marriage reform in India (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
Nearly 56 years after the enactment of the Hindu Marriage (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act 1967, young Illavarasan, from Tamil Nadu, never thought that his Suyamariyathai marriage that was performed and validated under this Act could be invalidated and criminalised by the same Madras High Court which, in 1953, in Chidambaram Chettiar vs Deivanai Achi, had declared such marriages to be null and void since they did not follow the Hindu marriage rituals.
Of course, the ground on which resistance to Suyamariyathai thirumanam (marriage) came up is different today than it was in 1953 when Madras did not have a law to support such radically reformed no-ritual marriages among Hindus.
On August 28, 1953, quoting Manusmriti, the judges observed that solemnisation by a priest and Saptapadi was required for a lawful Hindu marriage, and declared that self-respect marriages among professed Hindus were invalid: they were not in conformity with marriages recognised under Hindu Law, and the children born were not legitimate under the law.
In another case, in 1958, when Rajathi, who had a self-respect marriage with Chelliah, sought court intervention for restitution of conjugal rights, a district court in Tiruchi denied her the right on the ground that her marriage was invalid under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
Instead, the court castigated the self-respect movement for the plight of young women in such ‘illegal’ marriages, which, in the judiciary’s view, had led to the denial of their conjugal rights.
These interpretations were aimed at discrediting reformed marriages, which were typically inter-caste weddings performed with the objective of protecting women’s rights and promoting ideals of companionate marriage.
These judgments led the judiciary and Brahminic Hindus to demean the self-respect marriage practice, labelling women in such marriages as concubines and children born as illegitimate.
They revealed how some in the judiciary mobilised commonly held hegemonic ideals of Hindu marriage practices to counter Dravidian notions of alternative non-Brahminic marriage practices.
Reform can address India’s kidney transplant deficit (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
India’s organ shortage when it comes to kidneys is alarming. In 2022, over two lakh patients needed a transplant, but there were only about 7,500 transplants (about 3.4%).
Due to the prevalence of diabetes, malnourishment, overcrowding and poor sanitation, there is a high prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in India, affecting about 17% of the population.
CKD often leads to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). A kidney transplant is often the best treatment for ESRD.
Specifically, transplant is often better than alternatives on almost all dimensions that matter: quality of life, patient convenience, life expectancy, as well as cost-effectiveness.
In contrast to India, the United States and other developed countries could carry out about 20% transplants. Notably, a significant portion of this gap is on account of more stringent regulations in India than a lack of medical facilities.
These are four main ways a patient can obtain a kidney. The first is to get a kidney from a deceased person. This is constrained due to a lack of donations, the particular conditions required on the nature of death, and the infrastructure needed to collect and store kidneys.
The second is to request a relative or friend to donate. However, donor and recipient have to be compatible in terms of blood type and tissue type; such relative/friend donors are often incompatible.
Thus, regulations for kidney exchange are needed as kidney exchange must often occur across family units. But we argue that these regulations need urgent reform to unshackle two innovative kidney exchange methods: kidney ‘swaps’ and kidney ‘chains’.
In kidney swap, let us take the example of two strangers, Sunita and Zoya, who need kidneys. Sunita’s spouse is incompatible with her, and Zoya has the same problem.
However, if Sunita’s spouse is compatible with Zoya, and Zoya’s spouse is compatible with Sunita, swap donations are possible.
Opinion
Should generative Artificial Intelligence be regulated? (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is like the proverbial genie out of the bottle. In less than a year, chatbots like ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, and Pi have shown what gen AI-powered applications can do.
These tools have also revealed their vulnerabilities, which has pushed policymakers and scientists to think deeply about these new systems.
This is an issue being discussed in jurisdictions across the globe, and different jurisdictions may eventually take different positions on it. So, let’s start from a jurisdiction that has most clarity on it, which is the U.S.
If you look at practices of the U.S. Copyright Office, as well as the approach taken by one of the U.S. courts in a recent decision, only human beings can own copyright.
This means that most of the output generated by AI tools today is outside copyright protection. There is some noise around the need for copyright protections being given to companies involved in generative AI.
But the position that the U.S. Copyright Office has taken is that there will be no copyright over these [AI-developed] works when it is not authored by a human.
This is in contrast with India’s position. A couple of months ago, an intellectual property lawyer in India filed a copyright registration application for a painting.
The initial application, claiming that the painting was generated by AI alone, was rejected. Subsequently, when he filed it as a jointly authored work, the copyright office accepted the application.
This is a bizarre situation because we have not had any in-depth deliberations on whether AI-generated works are subject to copyright protection.
So, the copyright office was jumping the gun when they granted joint authorship to a work which was generated by AI.
Explainer
Inside the digital world of cookies (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The digital world of cookies plays a significant role in any online experience. In the digital realm, cookies help in personalisation and user convenience.
These unassuming bits of code, stored on a device when one visits websites, play a pivotal role in shaping any online experience.
Think of cookies as the key to a secure, members-only club. Just like the club bouncer recognises regular patrons and grants them seamless access, cookies remember a person’s login information on websites.
This means you do not have to repeatedly enter the credentials every time you revisit a site, making it convenient for use.
On websites like Amazon, cookies remember customer’s previous interactions; from products they have browsed to purchases they have made.
Armed with this knowledge, Amazon serves up tailored product recommendations and content, making the online shopping feel like a personalised boutique experience.
Consider an enchanted grocery cart that never empties, no matter how many times you step away. Online shopping carts, fuelled by cookies, offer a similar enchantment.
What is the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance? (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The recent allegations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau linking the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil to the Indian government have put the spotlight on the intelligence-sharing alliance ‘Five Eyes’, which is believed to have provided the information that “helped” Canada.
The ‘Five Eyes’ is a multilateral intelligence-sharing network of five countries, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. It is both surveillance-based and tracks signals intelligence (SIGINT).
Intelligence documents shared between the member countries are classified ‘Secret—AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US Eyes Only,’ which gave the group its title ‘Five Eyes.’
The alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. evolved around the Second World War to counter the Cold War Soviet threat.
The two countries, which had successfully deciphered German and Japanese codes during the war, forged a collaboration to share intelligence related to signals such as radio, satellite and internet communications. In 1946, the alliance was formalised through an agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence.
The treaty called the British-U.S. Communication Intelligence Agreement, or BRUSA (now known as the UKUSA Agreement), was signed between the State-Army-Navy Communication Intelligence Board (STANCIB) of the U.S. and the London Signal Intelligence Board (SIGINT) of Britain.
Its scope was limited to “communication intelligence matters only” related to the “unrestricted” exchange of intelligence products in six areas: a collection of traffic; acquisition of communication documents and equipment; traffic analysis; cryptanalysis; decryption and translation; and acquisition of information regarding communication organisations, practices, procedures, and equipment.
The arrangement was later extended to ‘second party’ countries —Canada joined in 1948, while Australia and New Zealand became part of the alliance in 1956.
News
Indian, French Army Chiefs share lessons from Ukraine war, discuss deepening ties (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
Pointing to the strategic partnership between India and France and the close cooperation between the two Navies and Air Forces, French Army chief General Pierre Schill said the two Armies were also looking to deepen cooperation with more exercises and sharing best practices among others.
On his bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart, General Manoj Pande, he said they exchanged the lessons learnt from the war in Ukraine and how they could manage to increase their capabilities in the future looking at conclusions from the war.
He was in India to participate in the 13th Indo-Pacific Army Chiefs Conference (IPACC) hosted by India jointly with the U.S. from September 25 to 27, as well as the 47th Indo-Pacific Armies Management Seminar (IPAMS) and 9th Senior Enlisted Leaders Forum (SELF).
To a question on what the discussion was with Gen. Pande over China, Gen. Schill told The Hindu, “Once again, I think there is the strategic question of the position of our two countries to balance state power competition, including military but also technological, economic power and how this changes the situation in the area.”
On the discussions at the IPACC over Chinese expansion, Gen. Schell said that at their level, as Army Chiefs, the question is not whether “to be against or with” China.
But [it is] rather about the ability of our armies to increase deterrence to preserve peace and regional stability, and also our ability to cooperate with partners in order to be able to have a multilateral approach to support and solve challenges and issues of this area, including the question of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief [HADR].
MGNREGS social audit unit in a state of paralysis in many States (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
An enduring criticism against the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is its alleged high rate of corruption. But the scheme’s inbuilt mechanism to combat it, the social audit units meant to detect any cases of malpractice, seems to have failed.
As per the statistics available with the Union Rural Development Ministry in the ongoing financial year, less than 14% of the amount flagged by the auditors has been recovered so far.
In the ongoing financial year, the social audit units have flagged misappropriation of ₹27.5 crore. After action was taken in some of these cases, the amount came down to ₹9.5 crore out of which only ₹1.31 crore has been recovered so far, a mere 13.8% of the total.
The financial year 2022-23 has a similar story; after taking rectifying measures, the recoverable amount was pegged at ₹86.2 crore but the recovery amounted to only ₹18 crore, just 20.8% of the total.
In 2021-22, one of the social audit units flagged one of the highest amounts of misappropriation at ₹171 crore but only ₹26 crore, 15% of the total, was recovered.
Section 17 of the Act governing the scheme says that the gram sabha “shall monitor the execution of works”. Each State has social audit units that are supposed to work independently of the implementing authorities.
To take stock of the situation, the Ministry on Tuesday held a seminar for the social audit units from the States, MGNREGA commissioners, civil society, and other stakeholders.
Business
Current account deficit widens QoQ to $9.2 bn on trade gap (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India’s current account deficit (CAD) widened to $9.2 billion (1.1% of GDP) in the April-June quarter, from $1.3 billion (0.2% of GDP) in the preceding three months, as exports of goods shrank even as imports rose and net receipts from services also declined sequentially, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) show.
The CAD was $17.9 billion in the year-earlier quarter of fiscal 2022-23. The widening of CAD on a quarter-on-quarter basis was primarily on account of a higher trade deficit coupled with a lower surplus in net services and decline in private transfer receipts.
Net services receipts fell sequentially, primarily due to a decline in exports of computer, travel and business services, though they remained higher on a year-on- year (y-o-y) basis, the central bank noted.
Private transfer receipts, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, moderated to $27.1 billion in the last quarter, from $28.6 billion in Q4 of FY23.
The fall in remittances... is worrisome and will bear watching, more so because of slowing global growth,” said Dharmakirti Joshi, Chief Economist, CRISIL Ltd. “This can have a bearing on CAD, which was anyway expected to rise sequentially in the first quarter of this fiscal because of higher merchandise trade deficit and softening in services trade surplus.
To boot, the recent uptick in oil prices will weigh on merchandise trade deficit. Together, these have put upside pressure on our estimate of CAD for this fiscal, which stands at 1.8% of GDP.
World
Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist govt. says it will dissolve itself as people flee (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh said it will dissolve itself and the unrecognised republic will cease to exist by year’s end after a three-decade bid for independence, while Armenian officials said over half of the region’s population has already fled.
The moves came after Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive last week to reclaim full control over the region and demanded that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh disarm and the separatist government dissolve itself.
A decree signed by the region’s separatist President Samvel Shakhramanyan cited an agreement reached September 20 to end the fighting under which Azerbaijan will allow the “free, voluntary and unhindered movement” of Nagorno-Karabakh residents to Armenia.
Some of those who fled the regional capital of Stepanakert said they had no hope for the future. The mass exodus of ethnic Armenians from the mountainous region inside Azerbaijan began.
By Thursday morning, over 70,000 people — more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population of 1,20,000 — had fled to Armenia, and the influx continued with unabating intensity.
After separatist fighting ended in 1994 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenia.
Then, during a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of the region in the south Caucasus Mountains along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed earlier.
Science
Nipah virus outbreak: What are monoclonal antibodies? (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
India reached out to Australia to procure monoclonal antibody doses to combat the Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala. India is expecting 20 more doses soon, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) head Dr. Rajiv Bahl has said.
The virus has killed two people so far and has infected at least five others in the Kozhikode district.The current Nipah outbreak is Kerala’s fourth since 2018.
India currently has the antibody doses available for ten persons only. Addressing the press, Dr. Bahl said that no one in the country has been administered the dosage so far since it needs to be given at an early stage of infection.
Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the behaviour of antibodies produced by the immune system to protect against diseases and foreign substances.
An antibody attaches itself to an antigen – a foreign substance, usually a disease-causing molecule – and helps the immune system eliminate it from the body.
Monoclonal antibodies are specifically designed to target certain antigens.
Understanding the ABCs of dengue for control and better management (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Dengue season is here. While prevention is key, seeking medical help on time once you notice symptoms, prompt diagnosis and treatment, and understanding warning signs play a crucial role in management of the vector-borne disease.Data updated till September 17 on the National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control website shows the country reported 94,198 cases of dengue and 91 deaths. Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra reported the most cases.
“We look for classic symptoms. If they seek treatment during the acute viremic phase - one to three days, we do not admit them,” says E. Theranirajan, dean, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), in Chennai. “We inform them of the warning signs and when to seek medical help.
If they come to the hospital at the end of the third or fourth day, we admit them unless they are stable or have primary dengue. This is because day four to six is the critical phase in dengue and they need to be closely monitored. Their vital signs and haematocrit levels are closely watched,” he adds.
In dengue, day one to three are called the acute viremic phase, while day four to six are the critical phase followed by recovery, he added.
Patients will experience varying levels of headache, severe myalgia and maculopapular rash that typically begins on the third day.
Fever and two of the following nausea and vomiting, rash, aches and pains, positive tourniquet test, leukopenia, any warning signs and laboratory confirmed dengue - are probable dengue.
The warning signs are intense abdominal pain or tenderness, persistent vomiting, clinical fluid accumulation, mucosal bleed, lethargy and restlessness, liver enlargement and laboratory findings of increase in haematocrit with concurrent rapid decrease in platelet count.