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Former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, helmsman of the Rath Yatra that catapulted the movement for the Ayodhya Ram Temple to national prominence, will be given the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.
In 2015, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour. The Prime Minister called Mr. Advani after the decision was made and congratulated him.
One of the most respected statesmen of our times, his contribution to the development of India is monumental. His is a life that started from working at the grassroots to serving the nation as our Deputy Prime Minister,” Mr. Modi posted on X.
The announcement comes 10 days after socialist leader Karpoori Thakur was accorded the same honour posthumously, completing the circle from the politics of the 1990s, which were dominated by the social justice and Ram Temple movements.
News
Dusted Apollo sighted for first time in Himachal’s Chamba (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technlogy)
Dusted Apollo (Parnassius stenosemus), a rare high-altitude butterfly, has been sighted and photographed for the first time in Himachal Pradesh, indicating the flourishing diversity of Apollo butterflies in the region, bringing cheers to butterfly enthusiasts.
The butterfly was sighted and photographed in September 2023, during a trek to Manimahesh Lake in Chamba by Gajinder Verma and Abinash Thakur, both forest guards of Chamba Forest Circle, Himachal Pradesh Forest Department. The species was discovered in 1890.
The distribution range of Dusted Apollo extends from Ladakh to west Nepal and it flies between 3,500 to 4,800 metres in the inner Himalayas.
Dusted Apollo is extremely rare and has never been photographed before in Himachal Pradesh.
World
Maldives asks India to share details about Coast Guard’s actions in EEZ (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Maldives’ government has formally requested the Indian government to provide “comprehensive details” of an incident in which its Coast Guard personnel allegedly boarded three Maldivian fishing vessels operating within its economic zone.
The development is the latest in the diplomatic row between the two nations that led to the strain in ties after President Mohamed Muizzu, widely seen as a pro-China leader, came to power in November last year in the Maldives.
On January 31, the Indian Army intercepted a Maldivian fishing boat engaged in fishing activities within the Maldives’ Special Economic Zone (EEZ), located 72 nautical miles northeast of Dhidhdhoo, Haa Alifu Atoll, the Maldives’ Defence Ministry claimed in a statement.
Science
Reducing ammonia emissions through fertilizer management (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Based on machine learning, researchers have come up with detailed estimates of ammonia emissions from rice, wheat and maize crops.
The dataset enabled a cropland-specific assessment of the potential for emission reductions, which indicates that effective management of fertilizer in the growing of these crops could lower atmospheric ammonia emissions from farming by up to 38%.
Atmospheric ammonia is a key environmental pollutant that affects ecosystems across the planet, as well as human health.
Around 51-60% of anthropogenic ammonia emissions can be traced back to crop cultivation, and about half of these emissions are associated with three main staple crops: rice, wheat and maize.
India-made typhoid vaccine efficacy lasts for 4 years: study (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
A phase-3 trial in children aged between nine months and 12 years carried out in Malawi, Africa, which is a typhoid fever-endemic setting, has shown that efficacy of the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s conjugate typhoid toxoid vaccine — Typbar — lasts for at least four years.
The efficacy of the vaccine was seen in children of all age groups studied.Children were vaccinated with a single dose of the vaccine during the period February to September 2018.
In 2019, there were an estimated 9·24 million typhoid cases and 1,10,000 deaths across the world. The majority of the typhoid cases and deaths in 2019 occurred in South-East Asia and Africa.
Healthy children aged nine months to 12 years were randomly assigned to receive either Bharat Biotech’s conjugate typhoid vaccine (intervention group) or meningococcal.
FAQ
Why is fiscal consolidation so important? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced during her Budget speech that the Centre would reduce its fiscal deficit to 5.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024-25. She further added that the fiscal deficit would be pared to below 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26.
The FM’s projections surprised most analysts who expected the government’s fiscal deficit target would be slightly higher, at about 5.3% or 5.4% of GDP. The government’s revised estimates also lowered the fiscal deficit projection for 2023-24 to 5.8% of GDP.
Fiscal deficit refers to the shortfall in a government’s revenue when compared to its expenditure. When a government’s expenditure exceeds its revenues, the government will have to borrow money or sell assets to fund the deficit.
Taxes are the most important source of revenue for any government. In 2024-25, the government’s tax receipts are expected to be ₹26.02 lakh crore while its total revenue is estimated to be ₹30.8 lakh crore. The Union government’s total expenditure, on the other hand, is estimated to be ₹47.66 lakh crore.
The dispute over Varanasi, Mathura mosques (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, is once again in focus, albeit in a context in which its objectives are being ignored.
Civil suits questioning the religious character of mosques at Varanasi and Mathura are progressing apace. These developments show that legislation freezing the status of places of worship is inadequate to stop Hindu claimants from making determined legal efforts to achieve their goal of replacing them with temples.
When the Babri-Masjid Ram Janmabhoomi dispute gained momentum, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Hindu organisations took up the case of two other mosques — the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah in Mathura.
In September 1991, the P.V. Narasimha Rao government enacted a special law to freeze the status of places of worship as they were on August 15, 1947. The law kept the disputed structure at Ayodhya out of its purview as it was then an ongoing litigation.
Why are nations revising rules for foreign students? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Migrating abroad, especially to English- speaking countries, is set to become harder for Indian students aspiring to pursue a higher education, what with countries such as Canada and the U.K. tightening rules to seek admissions to universities.
Following the political turmoil between India and Canada in December last year, the Canadian government issued revised requirements that it said are ‘to better protect international students.’
The foremost of these was to upwardly revise the Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) amount from 10,000 Canadian dollars, which amounts to ₹6.15 lakh, to over double at 20,635 Canadian dollars, close to ₹12.7 lakh.
In another instance, the U.K. announced that come 2024, international students will be restricted from bringing in dependant family with them as they pursue their studies.
Countries such as Germany and Australia too have gradually increased the GIC amount by approximately 10% annually.
As on May 2023, the amount required to apply for a German visa is 11,208 euros which is ₹10 lakh, up from the earlier cap of 10,000 euros.
Profiles
Quest for credibility (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Hours after the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled on January 26 that Israel must do everything in its capacity to prevent “genocidal acts” from happening in Gaza, news broke of the complicity of a few UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff members in the cross-border attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel on October 7.
The Benjamin Netanyahu-led government collated its charges into a dossier and presented it to the U.S. government on the same day as the ICJ ruling.
The file stated that of the 12,000-strong UNRWA staff working in the Gaza Strip, 12 had direct involvement in the attacks that saw more than 1,100 Israelis killed and close to 250 taken hostage.
Business
‘Expect GST Appellate Tribunals by July-Aug.’ (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The much-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) Appellate Tribunals, intended to resolve taxpayer disputes under the six-and-a-half years old indirect tax regime, may begin operations around July or August, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said in an interview.
The process has been initiated. Very soon, you are going to see an advertisement in the media for the process of selection of the members and the president. And we hope that, quickly, in a period of six months or so from now, we are able to put some of the tribunals in place.
There are 31 benches spread over about 50 locations, most of which should become operational by July-August… so we should be in a position to do this soon after the new government takes charge.