18 June 2024, The Hindu
Constitutional respect should not be reduced to optics
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GS 2: Indian Constitution: features, amendments, significant provisions
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi never stops surprising the nation with optics. On June 7, 2024, at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance meeting of newly elected Members of Parliament, Mr. Modi, upon his arrival, paid his respects to the Constitution of India by touching the book to his forehead.
- Interestingly, the setting of the meeting was the Samvidhan Sadan of the newly built Parliament.
- But does Mr. Modi respect the Constitution of India in letter and spirit?
- His actions so far as the Prime Minister since 2014, or for that matter as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, show otherwise.
The last continent must remain a pristine wilderness
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Prelims syllabus: General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change
- The 46th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM-46), that was held in Kochi, Kerala last month, highlighted the ongoing debate on Antarctic tourism.
- While the meeting sought to bring in a regulatory framework, it ultimately fell short of a definitive solution.
- This reflects the complex challenges of managing tourism in a region governed by international consensus and where the environment is rapidly changing.
- Since the early 1990s, Antarctic tourism has witnessed a dramatic surge in tourist numbers, which have exploded from a few thousand to over 1,00,000 in the 2022-23 season.
- The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) estimates a figure of 1,18,089 tourists in 2023-2024. The United States and China account for more than 40% of tourists to the Antarctic.
Trade trapeze
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GS 3: Indian Economy (international trade)
- After a rough 2023-24, when India’s merchandise exports tanked 3.1% to around $437 billion, trade tides appear to be turning.
- The last two months have recorded an expansion in outbound shipments with the momentum picking up from a 1.1% rise in April to a 9.1% uptick in May.
- Some of this reversal had begun in the January to March quarter, when exports grew 4.9% to a seven-quarter high of over $120 billion, belying worries about the disruptions in the Red Sea route since late 2023.
- Imports as well as exports have risen in four of the last five months now.
- With the European Central Bank slashing interest rates this month after a long hawkish stance post-COVID-19, exporters and trade officials are hopeful that its peers in key markets would follow suit and help shore up demand for their produce.
- But with prices of some industrial commodities such as metals as well as food items rising in recent months, those hopes need to be tempered.
- The U.S. Federal Reserve has scaled back expectations, stating that only one rate cut is likely through this calendar year.
Negotiating for peace
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GS 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting the Indian interests
- The two-day “Summit on Peace”, that ended on Sunday in Burgenstock, met with mixed outcomes. Switzerland was able to bring together more than 90 countries, at least 56 were represented by leaders, and the final joint communiqué was signed by about 82 countries and organisations, with the exception of a few including India.
- The document made a strong call for an end to the “ongoing war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine” and a pitch for sovereignty, territorial integrity and adherence to international law.
- It cited three areas of broad understanding: nuclear safety, food security and the exchange of all prisoners of war, displaced and detained Ukrainians.
- The statement was not very ambitious in its scope, as the organisers were keen to bring as many countries, particularly from the ‘Global South’ on board — which they managed to do to some extent.
- However, despite all these areas where Ukrainian President Zelenskyy hailed a “historic victory”, there were shortcomings.
The vulnerabilities of India’s elderly
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GS 2: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and the States and the performance of these schemes
- The ageing phenomenon is the most notable experience of this century with remarkable improvement in human longevity complemented by the lowest levels of reproduction.
- While its magnitude and multiplication may appear threatening, there are attempts at redefining this domain not merely in terms of age but other related functioning conditioned by the evolving expansion in longevity on one hand and evolving scenario of vulnerabilities on the other.
- In Indian conditions, in particular, the four vulnerabilities of later ages in life course are in terms of restrictions in activities of daily living, multi-morbidity, poverty and absence of any income.
- On these counts, the Longitudinal Ageing Survey of India (LASI, 2017-18) reports that about 20% of the elderly population experience each of these vulnerabilities with widespread variation across the States.
- The remedial approach to address these vulnerabilities requires a multi-pronged approach involving the principles of inclusion and adoption of social security measures.
Laws on mercenaries in war zones
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GS 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting the Indian interests
- On June 11, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) acknowledged the tragic loss of two Indian nationals who were recruited by the Russian Army amidst the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
- The MEA in a press statement said that the Indian Embassy in Moscow has strongly raised this issue with the Russian Ambassador in New Delhi and authorities in Moscow, urging for the swift release and return of all Indian nationals currently serving with the Russian Army.
- In February, The Hindu reported for the first time that Indians were getting killed while fighting on behalf of Russia in the Ukraine war.
- Over the past year, nearly 100 Indians have been recruited by the Russian Army after being reportedly duped by agents with the lure of money and a Russian passport.
- Contracts signed by these recruits stipulate a “no leave or exit policy” before six months of service, with salaries amounting to ₹1.5 lakh to ₹ 2 lakh per month.
- In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree simplifying the process of obtaining Russian citizenship for foreigners who sign a minimum one-year contract with the Army.
Surge in gold, silver imports from the UAE in 2023-24
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GS 3: Indian Economy (international trade)
- “India’s gold and silver imports from its free trade agreement (FTA) partner UAE have skyrocketed 210% to $10.7 billion in 2023-24 and there is a need to potentially revise the concessional customs duty rates under the pact to mitigate the arbitrage driving this surge,” a report said on June 17.
- Economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said this sharp rise in gold and silver imports is primarily driven by import duty concessions granted by India to the UAE under the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
How diapers use quantum physics to attend to nature’s call
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GS 3: Science and Technology- Recent developments and their applications and effects in everyday life
- Still wondering what you should gift your friends who have just turned parents? Think no more and buy a bunch of diapers.
- This sleep-giving, time-relieving, and peace-conferring machinery has been providing the only solace young parents can often find between all the screaming and food-throwing their adorable babies are doing.
- Just wrap this soft, powdery white packet around the baby’s bum, and from a few hours to even a whole night it will make sure the baby — and consequently you — will be able to get some more sleep.
- But have you ever wondered how it is that a diaper is able to soak so much liquid? We all know a few things can soak water around us, such as our cotton clothes, and a few things that don’t, such as our rubber shoes. What is in that diaper that it seems to be able to absorb so much more?
A ‘universal’ equation predicts how often bird, bat, insect wings beat
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GS 3: Science and Technology- Recent developments and their applications and effects in everyday life
- Almost all animals that fly through the air and many that swim through water have evolved to flap their wings (or fins) at a frequency given by a simple formula, three scientists at Roskilde University in Denmark have found.
- The formula relates the flapping frequency at which a winged entity bats its wings to hover in the air (or stay submerged in the water) to the entity’s mass and the size of the wings.
