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The Union government has embarked on a mission to promote tourism at ecologically sensitive wetlands, better known as Ramsar sites, such as the Chilika lake in Odisha and Sultanpur bird sanctuary in Haryana.
The focus of the initiative would be to shift these fragile wetlands from high-value tourism to nature tourism by directly supporting conservation action and letting local communities and economies take the lead.
As of now, 16 Ramsar sites have been identified under the initiative and five of them have been taken up as a pilot project for skill development of the facilitators, tourism service providers, and stakeholders in and around these sites.
These five wetlands are Sultanpur National Park (Haryana), Bhitarkanika Mangroves (Odisha), Chilika lake (Odisha), Sirpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Yashwant Sagar (Madhya Pradesh).
The initiative to develop these sites has been taken by the Union Tourism Ministry and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under the Amrit Dharohar Capacity Building Scheme, 2023.
From Kausalya’s land, Ram Setu sari unfolds rare weave (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 1, Culture)
Sometime last year, when Ayodhya was being decked out for the Ram Temple inauguration, almost 900 km away in Odisha’s remote Katapali village in Bargah district, Ishwar Meher worked on a sari depicting Ram Setu (bridge).
A 2015 National Award-winning master craftsperson, Mr. Ishwar Meher worked with handwoven cotton yarn for five months, using natural dyes from flowers, jaggery, gram flour, iron rust, and indigo.
The sari will now be showcased at the Jagannath Temple in Delhi on January 22, since Hindus believe Ram is one of the 10 avatars of Jagannath.
The temple is receiving lots of gifts from devotees across India at the moment and we do not want the importance of our exquisite sari to be lost in the mega event.
It is our heirloom,” said Dushyant Meher, whose father, Kailash Meher, was one of Mr. Ishwar Meher’s five gurus. Mr. Dushyant Meher, who promotes the craft, has brought the sari for display to Delhi, and has sought permission to do so in the Rashtrapati Bhavan as well.
Artists often rely on religion, because their work depicts scenes from mythology. Sambalpur is part of Odisha’s Koshal region, believed to be the land of Kausalya, Ram’s mother. Sambalpur weavers regard Ram as their nephew and he is an integral part of our spiritual consciousness.
News
World Vision India loses FCRA registration (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Union Home Ministry has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of World Vision India (WVI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that focuses on children’s issues.
The U.S.-based World Vision is one of the world’s largest Christian voluntary groups with a presence in over 100 countries. It has been operational in India for the past 70 years.
According to the Ministry’s order, the Indian NGO is no longer eligible to receive foreign donations, including from its parent organisation, as its registration has been cancelled on account of “violation” of FCRA rules.
The WVI had been registered under the FCRA since 1986, to receive money used to conduct “social and educational” programmes.
The NGO has signed agreements with several government departments in the past. In 2016, amid an uproar on social media, the Rajasthan government had to cancel a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the WVI on Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).
The NGO’s registration was first suspended in November 2022, a year after it applied for the renewal of its FCRA registration, which must be done every five years.
The Ministry initially suspended the registration for 180 days for alleged non-compliance with the FCRA’s provisions. The suspension was extended in May 2023.
IT Ministry issues draft road maps for critical tech sectors (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has put out draft road maps for conducting indigenous research and development for cyberforensics, quantum computing technologies, mobile security, cryptography, and Internet of Things (IoT) security.
The road maps, prepared by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), aim to solve a series of issues in different time spans between now and 2047, the centenary of Indian independence.
The cybersecurity road map, for instance, seeks to develop “social media analytics” by 2026, while “Dark Web forensics” has until 2030 for completion.
Detection of child exploitation and human trafficking is marked as ongoing efforts that will start in 2027 and continue beyond 2047.
GPS and vehicle forensics will be completed by 2027 and 2029, respectively, while banking fraud and UPI payment forensics solutions have until 2029 and 2030, respectively.
World
Nepal requests Russia not to recruit its nationals into Army (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Nepal has requested Russia not to admit Nepalese nationals into the Russian Army and help repatriate those who have already joined the country’s forces to fight the war in Ukraine.
At least 200 Nepalese youth have joined the Russian Army through illegal channels and 12 of them have already lost their lives while fighting against Ukraine.
Nepalese Foreign Minister N. P. Saud, during his meeting with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vershinin Sergey Vasilievich on the sidelines of the ongoing Non-Aligned Summit in Kampala, Uganda, asked Russia “not to recruit Nepalese nationals into the country’s Army and to help repatriate those who have already joined the forces”.
Mr. Saud clarified that “Nepal has no policy to send its nationals to foreign Army except those few countries with which it has traditional arrangements.
Therefore, I have asked the Russian Minister not to recruit our nationals into its Army,” Mr. Saud was quoted as saying by his personal secretariat.
Science
Urbanisation in Bhubaneswar impacts winter temperatures (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
More than half of the world’s population now resides in the cities and are thus vulnerable to urban climate change such as increased heat stress and extremes.
Globally, cities contribute to more than 80% of the global GDP and 75% of all greenhouse gases/carbon emissions. Thus, they are both contributors to climate change and also potential agents for tackling it.
However, their representation in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans is inadequate.
Nevertheless, in recent times, the inclusion of the 11th sustainable development goal (SDG) exclusively focusing on cities and the formation of groups like the U-20 under the G-20 umbrella have acknowledged the need for city-level action plans.
The ministerial meeting on urbanisation and climate change at COP-28 stressed the importance and role of cities in achieving climate change mitigation and adaptation targets.
These initiatives show the importance attached to cities and their role in global affairs including climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Bhubaneswar, a tier-II city in the eastern State of Odisha, is rapidly urbanising in recent times. For example, the built-up area in the city increased by about 166% during the period 2004-2015.
Studies using satellite-based observations showed a nighttime heat dome over the city with an elevated temperature (about 1C).
Additionally, Bhubaneswar has warmed at a faster rate, with almost about 0.68C enhancement in the last two decades.
Such warming is particularly higher in the newly urbanising areas in the periphery of the city, experiencing almost doubled warming over the same period.
FAQ
Why are conflicts spreading in West Asia? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
West Asia is in flux. What started as a direct military confrontation between Israel and Hamas has snowballed into a regional security crisis. Hezbollah, Kataib Hezbollah, Hashad al-Shabi, Houthis, Iran, Pakistan and the United States are all now part of an expanding conflict theatre.
As Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 24,000 people in 100 days, is continuing with no foreseeable end, the related security crisis in the region is widening.
When Israel launched its war on Gaza, after Hamas’s October 7 cross-border attack in which at least 1,200 Israelis were killed, there were fears that the conflict could spill over beyond Palestine.
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia group that’s backed by Iran, fired rockets at Israeli forces in the Shebaa Farms, an Israeli-controlled territory which Lebanon claims as its own, in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Ever since, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire many times, though both were careful not to let tensions escalate into a full-blown war.
While Arab countries, upset with Israel’s indiscriminate bombing, stuck to the path of diplomacy to turn up pressure on the Jewish state, Iran-backed militias elsewhere opened new fronts.
Houthis, the Shia militias of Yemen, started attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea from mid-November, again in “solidarity with the Palestinians”.
Houthis, who control much of Yemen, including its Red Sea coast, has used sea denial tactics to target dozens of ships ever since, forcing several shipping giants to suspend operations in the Red Sea, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Arabian Sea (and the Indian Ocean) through the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
What are labour rules for workers abroad? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments, with the help of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), have started the process of recruiting about 10,000 workers to go to Israel, primarily for construction activities.
The NSDC website describes it as a “passport to dreams abroad”, and a chance to “discover new horizons in Israel”. There are 2,000 openings for plastering workers, 2,000 for ceramic tile workers, and 3,000 each for iron bending and frame workers with monthly salaries of about ₹1.37 lakh (6,100 Israeli shekels). Screenings have started in various locations in Haryana and U.P. with the help of State governments.
Trade unions have opposed this move, citing the Emigration Rules under the Emigration Act. They are planning to challenge this employment drive legally.
The central trade unions told the media that such a move is against the Indian ethos of bringing back citizens from conflict zones.
The trade union leaders alleged that the BJP-led government was using unemployment among the youth and workers to further their “politics of hate” to please Israel. Several hundreds of people, meanwhile, turned up at the screening centres in Haryana.