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The temple town of Ayodhya was decked with flowers, filled with bhajans, and covered with a multi-layered security blanket on the eve of the pran pratishtha, or consecration ceremony, to be held at the Ram Temple.
In the culmination of a decades-long religious and political movement to restore the worship of Lord Ram in a new temple at what is considered his birthplace, the rituals to consecrate the idol are expected to begin at 20 minutes past noon in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and almost 8,000 invited guests, and will be watched by lakhs of devotees via live telecast across the world. The temple will be opened to the public the day after the function.
More than 13,000 security personnel have been deployed in Ayodhya. Officers from the National Security Guard and Special Protection Group, commandos of the Central Reserve Police Force, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad, and the Provincial Armed Constabulary are camping in the district, along with Intelligence Bureau personnel.
States
With just two speakers, a language in Kerala with no script is on the brink of extinction (Page no. 4)
(GS Paper 1, Culture)
In the remote colony of Kookanam, near Karivellur grama panchayat in Kerala’s Kannur district, the Chakaliya community is grappling with the imminent loss of its unique language Madhika.
K.P. Narayanan, 87, and his niece Rajputhri, the last fluent speakers of Madhika, fear that after them, the language, which has no script, will be lost to the world. Narayanan gives voice to his concern in Madhika, “Ee bhasha namiki matra hothidanthi (We are the only ones who know this language).”
Despite sounding similar to Kannada, Madhika can still bewilder listeners due to its diverse influences. It is a blend of Telugu, Tulu, Kannada, and Malayalam.
The younger generation, drawn to mainstream languages like Malayalam, shows little interest in learning this linguistic relic.
The duo acquired the language from their forebears, but with the passing of older speakers, they find themselves the last living link to the past.
People of our community, especially youngsters, are not interested in learning the language. They prefer Malayalam, which is taught in schools and is spoken here.
Editorial
Post Office Act, its unbridled powers of interception (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
On December 24, 2023, the President of India gave assent to the Post Office Bill, 2023 which will replace the colonial-era Indian Post Office Act, 1898, as and when a notification to this effect is issued by the central government.
During the debate in the Parliament, the Opposition expressed fears about the provision on unchecked powers of interception of any item by the post office authorities, including the conditions of such interception, i.e., (occurrence of any) ‘emergency’ which is not defined under the Act.
Another point is that there are also no procedural safeguards in the Act to check arbitrary use by the authorities or any liability in case the power of interception is misused.
On December 24, the Telecommunications Bill, 2023 also received the President’s assent which will replace two Central acts namely; the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933.
The Telecommunication Act has a provision, i.e., section 20(2) on interception of messages, which is similar to section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act of 1885 except that the contents of section 7(2)(b) of the Act of 1885 which empower the central government to notify rules on the precautions to be taken for preventing the improper interception or disclosure of messages are now included in section 20(2).
Apparently, unless such procedure and safeguards are prescribed, section 20(2) cannot be brought into operation. This is significant because though the 1885 Act provided for making rules, the relevant rule (section 419A) was notified only in March 2007.
A revival of the IMEC idea amid choppy geopolitics (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The Yemen conflict has seen an alarming erosion in the shipping industry’s confidence in the Suez Canal continuing to be the backbone of east-west trade. Shippers are not baulking at taking the long, circuitous voyage around Africa.
The Yemen conflict has beefed up the case for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) which the Gaza war has seemingly dealt a major, if not fatal, blow.
Seshadri Vasan, Director-General of the Chennai Centre for China Studies, says that even if the Yemen conflict — ironically, an offshoot of the Gaza war — abates soon, it has made the case for viable alternatives to the Suez Canal stronger.
Critics of IMEC say the Arab Street would simply not allow any major trade link between Saudi Arabia and Israel many years after the Gaza war ends.
A United States government press release of September 9 on the IMEC memorandum of understanding promised that stakeholders would meet within 60 days to flesh out the details, but the Gaza war has ensured that no such meeting could possibly happen.
Opinion
Better use of technology needs free access (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Data from the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2023 report, that was released recently, confirms that the story of widening access to smartphones across the country continues.
The results show that 92% of the 14-18 year olds who were surveyed reported knowing how to use a smartphone. What does this access mean in terms of education or learning?
First, although over 90% of boys and girls reported knowing how to use a smartphone, almost half of them, or 44% of the boys, owned their own smartphone. Among girls, only 20% owned one.
The difference in ownership of devices, gender-based or otherwise, can limit what these devices can be used for and can affect some abilities but not others.
For example, the ability to browse for information is equal among either boys or girls, regardless of whether they own the device or simply have access to one at home. Finding a YouTube video, which also falls under the category of browsing, is equally easy among boys who own or do not own their phones. But the skill of finding a video and sharing it depends on ownership of the device.
India among nations overusing “Watch” group antibiotics (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
In the Data Point published last week (“Over 38% patients on more than one antibiotic”, January 17), results from a government survey showed that an overwhelming number of inpatients are prescribed antibiotics by hospitals across India.
Findings also showed that many patients were on more than one antibiotic. Further, the data showed that over 55% of such antibiotic prescriptions belonged to the “Watch” group as classified by the World Health Organization (WHO), i.e., medicines reserved for only severe infections.
Data show that resistance among Indian patients to certain types of antibiotics is among the highest in the world. In India, for many antibiotic-bacterium combinations, over 75% of infections were from resistant bacteria.
For instance, in the ceftriaxone antibiotic-Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria combination, over 87.4% of infections were from resistant bacteria.
It also lists the broader antibiotic group these drugs belong to and the best and the worst countries in terms of resistance to various antibiotic-bacterium combinations. For instance, the ceftriaxone antibiotic belongs to the group called third-generation cephalosporins.
Text & Context
The growth of India-Bangladesh ties (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned to power in Bangladesh for a historic fourth straight term earlier this month after her party, the Awami League, secured two-thirds of the seats in the January 7 national elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first world leaders to congratulate Ms. Hasina, illustrating the close bilateral relationship between the two countries.
The foundation of India’s relationship with Bangladesh was laid in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. India provided critical military and material support to assist Bangladesh in its fight for independence from Pakistan.
Despite this, relations soured within a few years as military regimes took control. There was a rise in anti-India sentiment in the mid-1970s over issues ranging from boundary disputes and insurgency to the sharing of water.
The instability continued for a few decades until Sheikh Hasina came to power in 1996 and scripted a new chapter in bilateral ties with a treaty on the sharing of Ganga waters. Since then, India and Bangladesh have built cooperation in trade, energy, infrastructure, connectivity and defence.
News
NISAR Mission on track for a launch soon: NASA official (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Mission, designed to observe natural processes and changes in earth’s complex ecosystems, is on track for an “early 2024” launch, a senior official at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said on Sunday.
The final tests on the earth-observing mission are scheduled for this week, Paul A. Rosen, Project Scientist for NISAR at JPL, told The Hindu. “As we speak, everything except the acoustic tests has been completed.
The vibration test was completed yesterday [January 20]. Final tests are planned this week. We are on track,” Dr. Rosen said.
Dr. Rosen and several of his NASA-JPL colleagues associated with NISAR are scheduled to speak at the Global Science Festival Kerala under way here on Monday.
Designed as a low-earth orbit observatory, the NISAR Mission is unique in several respects, not least the enormous amount of reliable, high-resolution data expected from it over a three-year mission life.
The volume of data will be enormous, and it helps us to have a reliable set of measurements over any spot on the earth where we want to do science or monitoring applications, forest management, agriculture monitoring or even just looking at an approaching hurricane.
World
‘Palestinian tax funds to be held by third country’ (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Israel’s Cabinet on Sunday approved a plan for frozen Palestinian tax funds to be held by a third-party country, and reserved the right to decide when the money will be transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Under interim peace accords, Israel’s Finance Ministry collects tax on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to the PA.
But there have been constant wrangles over the arrangement, and the Palestine Liberation Organisation said it wanted the money in full and would not accept conditions that prevent it from paying its staff, including in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Cabinet decision was supported by Norway and the U.S., which will be a guarantor that the framework holds.
Science
Mosquitofish, used to fight mosquitoes, has become invasive in India (Page no. 22)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
In the last few months, various government and non-governmental organisations in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Punjab have released mosquitofish into local water bodies to address a mosquito menace that locals have complained about.
In fact, officials in Visakhapatnam are set to release an additional six lakh mosquitofish after having released some 20 lakh a few months ago.
The world’s climate and habitats have changed noticeably in the last century, accelerating the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
Today, these diseases prevail in more than 150 countries worldwide, affecting more than 500 million people. In India alone, around 40 million individuals contract mosquito-borne diseases every year, and mosquito-borne illnesses have remained a persistent public health concern for many decades.
In this milieu, the biological control of mosquitoes assumes importance. In the 1960s, such approaches – including introducing mosquitofish in freshwater ecosystems to feed on mosquito larvae – became prominent as alternatives to chemical solutions like pesticides, which were found to have dire adverse effects on both human health and the ecosystem. The uptake of these alternatives increased in the 1980s and 1990s.