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International travellers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and South Korea will have to bring RT-PCR test reports when they travel to India, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya announced on December 24, 2022.
Filling up of Air Suvidha forms for declaring COVID-19 status will also be made mandatory for these passengers. Those who are found to be symptomatic or test positive for COVID-19 on their arrival in India will be put under quarantine, the Minister said.
Random testing of 2% of passengers on every international flight also started from Saturday morning. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has also written to States and Union Territories to conduct mock drills at all health facilities across the country on December 27 in order to ensure operational readiness for management of COVID-19.
The focus of the drill will be to ensure adequate bed capacities including oxygen supported isolation beds and ventilator supported beds, availability of doctors, nurses, paramedics, AYUSH doctors, ASHA and anganwadi workers, as well as preparedness of testing laboratories.
Availability of essential drugs, ventilators, bilevel positive airway pressure machines or BIPAPs, SPO2 kits, personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and N-95 masks as well as medical oxygen infrastructure such as oxygen concentrators, cylinders, PSA plants, liquid medical oxygen storage tanks, medical gas pipeline systems will also have to be ensured.
The mock drill will be done under the supervision of District Collectors or Magistrates along with officers of the health department of the State. The facility-wise data for all districts will have to be uploaded by the District Surveillance Officer in coordination with the the Chief Medical Health Officers.
Purse seines come with a divisive catch (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
An ongoing case in the Supreme Court, to decide whether the ban that several States have imposed on purse seine fishing is justified or not, has revealed the faultlines between small, marginal and large fishers, with the Centre and States also taking different sides on the issue.
Purse seine fishing, deployed widely on India’s western coasts, uses a large vertical net to surround dense shoals of pelagic or midwater fish in the open ocean, and then draws in the edges like tightening the cords of a drawstring purse. In some States, it is linked to concerns about the decreasing stock of small, pelagic shoaling fish such as sardines, mackerel, anchovies and trevally on the western coasts.
The scientific community argues that climatic conditions, including the El Nino phenomenon, are responsible for the declining catch of such fish in the last ten years.
However, fishermen using traditional methods have placed the blame squarely on the rise of purse seine fishing, and fear a further fall in the availability of these small fish if the ban is lifted.
They have also demanded that, as the Centre has supported the lifting of the ban, it should publish the expert committee report it has based its stance on.
A major concern is the dwindling availability of oil sardines, a favourite of Kerala fish eaters. In 2021, Kerala recorded a catch of just 3,297 tonnes of sardine, a sharp decrease from the haul of 3.9 lakh tonnes in 2012.
While traditional fish workers blame purse seines as a reason for the decrease in sardines in Indian waters, those using big boats with purse seine fishing nets claim that it is simply a more scientific way to catch fish, particularly from the first layer of the sea.
It is the best and most efficient gear to catch small, shoaling, sea fish. The controversy against using this gear is due to jealousy in certain quarters.
On the eastern coast, this method was not used earlier. A boat which uses purse seine gear will be full of fish and this may have created some jealousy and concern among others that if this continues, the fish stock availability will end very soon.
News
Mathura court orders survey of Shahi Idgah mosque premises (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
A civil court in Mathura has ordered a survey of the Shahi Idgah Masjid and sought a report on the same by January 20, in one of the petitions related to the Shahi Idgah mosque-Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple dispute.
Civil Judge (Senior Division) Sonika Verma passed the order earlier this week on a civil suit filed by Hindu Sena president Vishnu Gupta and vice president Surjit Yadav.
The suit was filed on December 8 this year, and sought possession of the site at which the mosque stands and the removal of the Shahi Idgah mosque.
The Mathura court has now directed the Court Amin (court officers) to visit the disputed premises and conduct a survey of the area.
The court officers have been asked to submit a report with site plans and maps before the court by January 20, 2023 when the petition will be taken up next.
The Hindu Sena chief’s suit claimed that the mosque was built allegedly on the site where Lord Krishna was purportedly born and sought that the agreement between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh and the Shahi Idgah Masjid Committee in 1968 be cancelled, calling it illegal.
The argument presented is that the temple trust did not have the power to act against the interest of the people belonging to the faith and against the interest of the deity.
This is one of over a dozen petitions pending in the civil courts of Mathura with regards to the Shahi Idgah-Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi dispute.
The order comes on the backs of Varanasi courts deciding on more than occasion that the Hindu plaintiffs’ suit in the Gyanvapi dispute was maintainable.
Reacting to the order in Mathura, Alok Kumar, working president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said, “Similarly, in the Gyanvapi case, the survey was ordered and carried out.
Even the Supreme Court had not granted them a stay on it. So, we believe this order will now be complied with. I would say that all those who have nothing to hide and who do not fear the truth would support this.
Instability in Myanmar has fallout on our side’ (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Mizoram which shares a long porous border with Myanmar has received an influx of Myanmar nationals crossing the border since the coup, has also seen a major spike in smuggling of narcotics and other materials.
Mizoram shares a 510 Km long border and ethnic ties with the people of Chin State in Myanmar. After the coup in Myanmar in February 2021, there has been a continuous influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar and is steadily increasing. With the Free Movement Regime (FMR) clause also effective in Mizoram, tracking of these illegal immigrants is difficult but still Assam Rifles keeps a record of all those coming in and going back to Myanmar.
The figures of State Government and Assam Rifles do not tally since many of the illegal immigrants have returned back to their country. But still a considerable number are staying in Mizoram.
Because of the illegal immigrants, the pressure on the state has considerably increased with various NGO/CSO’s coming out to help the displaced Myanmarees.
But it has been more then a year and the situation in Myanmar is still unstable. This instability has fallouts on to our side too.
The recoveries were mainly of methamphetamine tablets which is a growing new trend as there is easy money involved since manufacturing cost amounts to ₹5-10 where as market value is approximately ₹3000 in major cities.
The increase in recoveries can be attributed to instability in Myanmar and number of armed groups getting involved in smuggling activities to sustain their operations against Myanmar Army.
Recoveries show an increasing trend in the inflow of narcotics which has shown a sudden surge in the last two months with huge recoveries of Meth tablets.
It could be the result of increase in the demand or the easy money it brings along with it. Till date we have apprehended 31 Myanmar nationals involved in illegal activities.
A 225-km yatra to save the endangered sacred groves of Rajasthan (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A unique 225-km-long yatra taken out through remote villages and hamlets in western Rajasthan, which culminated at the Jaisalmer district headquarters earlier this week, added a powerful voice to the demand for protection of orans or sacred groves facing the threat of destruction with their land being allotted for renewable energy infrastructure and high-tension power lines.
Orans also form the natural habitat for India’s most critically endangered bird, the Great Indian Bustard (GIB), a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act, which is also the State bird of Rajasthan.
GIBs have died during the last few years because of collision with power lines, making this the most significant threat to the majestic birds.
The participants in the march on foot, who were mostly environmental activists and wildlife enthusiasts, highlighted the significance of orans, which are groves of trees with a rich diversity of traditional flora and fauna and water bodies, considered sacred and preserved by the locals.
Named after local deities and medieval warriors, orans hold religious and social significance as small forest patches in the middle of the mighty Thar desert.
Environmental activist Sumer Singh Bhati, who led the yatra, told The Hindu that while orans ensured food and fodder for the community and the herds of camels, sheep and goats during drought, the allotment of their land to solar and wind energy, mining and other industries was affecting the ecology of the region. The land was also diverted for agriculture and other projects of the administration, Mr. Bhati said.
Tradition dictates that no tree or plant in the groves is cut and only seasonal grazing of livestock is allowed. However, solar power companies have resorted to arbitrary action and felled khejri and other trees to install their big projects.
World
Chinese city seeing half a million COVID cases a day (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Half a million people in a single Chinese city are being infected with COVID-19 every day, a senior health official has said, in a rare and quickly censored acknowledgement that the country's wave of infections is not being reflected in official statistics.
China this month has rapidly dismantled key pillars of its zero-COVID strategy, doing away with snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and travel curbs in a jarring reversal of its hallmark containment strategy.
Cities across the country have struggled to cope as surging infections have emptied pharmacy shelves, filled hospital wards and appeared to cause backlogs at crematoriums and funeral homes.
But the end of strict testing mandates has made caseloads virtually impossible to track, while authorities have narrowed the medical definition of a COVID death in a move experts have said will suppress the number of fatalities attributable to the virus.
A news outlet operated by the ruling Communist Party in Qingdao on Friday reported the municipal health chief as saying that the eastern city was seeing "between 490,000 and 530,000" new COVID cases a day.
The coastal city of around 10 million people was "in a period of rapid transmission ahead of an approaching peak", Bo Tao reportedly said, adding that the infection rate would accelerate by another 10% over the weekend.
The report was shared by several other news outlets but appeared to have been edited by Saturday morning to remove the case figures.
China's National Health Commission said Saturday that 4,103 new domestic infections were recorded nationwide the previous day, with no new deaths.
In Shandong, the province where Qingdao is located, authorities officially logged just 31 new domestic cases.
China's government keeps a tight leash on the country's media, with legions of online censors on hand to scrub out content deemed politically sensitive.
Science
Scientists freeze Great Barrier Reef coral in world-first trial (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Scientists working on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have successfully trialled a new method for freezing and storing coral larvae they say could eventually help rewild reefs threatened by climate change.
Scientists are scrambling to protect coral reefs as rising ocean temperatures destabilise delicate ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef has suffered four bleaching events in the last seven years, including the first-ever bleach during a La Niña phenomenon, which typically brings cooler temperatures.
Cryogenically frozen coral can be stored and later reintroduced to the wild but the current process requires sophisticated equipment including lasers. Scientists say a new lightweight “cryomesh” can be manufactured cheaply and better preserves coral.
In a December lab trial, the world’s first with Great Barrier Reef coral, scientists used the cryomesh to freeze coral larvae at the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS). The coral had been collected from the reef for the trial, which coincided with the brief annual spawning window.
The cryomesh was previously trialled on smaller and larger varieties of the Hawaiian corals. A trial on the larger variety failed. Trials are continuing with larger varieties of Great Barrier Reef coral.
The trials involved scientists from the AIMS, the Smithsonian National Zoo and the Conservation Biology Institute, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and the Taronga Conservation Society Australia as part of the Reef restoration and adaptation programme.
Nutrient supplements alone will not make children smarter (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
There are many holy grails for parents with respect to their children’s development and accomplishments, but the holiest must be their growing into adults with high Intelligent Quotient (IQ) and earning capacity.
IQ, in turn, is tied closely to cognitive development, or the increasing ability of the growing child to think and reason.
Growth faltering, as an easily measurable outcome of poor nutrition, was shown in many cross-sectional studies to be associated with poor cognitive development. However, this was not simple and was confounded by poverty.
Some scholars naively linked stunting, as an indicator of poor nutrition, to poor cognitive development and a diminution of the child’s eventual adult capital, an intangible human asset linked to their knowledge, talents, skills, and abilities, among other qualities.
However, this single-cause interpretation lacked consideration of important mediators like schooling and its quality, which varies substantially with wealth and the home environment.
A second interpretation was that if an early, nutritionally induced cognitive decline occurred, it would ‘track’ like a scar into adulthood, leaving its negative stigmata on the individual’s capital, and indeed collectively, on the GDP of a nation. But this problem is far more complex.
In a biological framework, micronutrients such as iron, iodine, and vitamin B12 are essential for normal brain development and functioning, as shown when profound deficiency is created in experimental animals, or clinically, in patients with severe nutrition deficiency diseases.
Supplements helped in these cases, resulting in an enthusiastic push for macro- and micronutrient supplements in early childhood, eventually tying solely into stunting prevention. But this is an unbalanced approach, as a recent Lancet Global Health paper shows.
The study rigorously evaluated four adult cohorts from birth, from Brazil, Guatemala, Philippines and South Africa. The relative contributions of early-life height and schooling to adult IQ were assessed, and the study found that schooling and early cognitive development were most important for the attained adult IQ.
Importantly, child height was not independently associated with adult IQ. Thus, arguments for nutritional interventions to reduce stunting in early childhood, to improve their adult IQ, earnings, and human capital, are simplistic — such claims are vastly exaggerated.
FAQ
Is the economy driving with the brakes on? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
At this time last December, India’s economy was on the cusp of a fledgling recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, though the Omicron variant posed fresh speed bumps for the rebound.
With oil prices escalating, commodity prices volatile and shipping disruptions hitting supply chains, the U.S. had recorded a 40-year high inflation rate in November 2021 and ripple effects were expected to flare up around the world. That Russia’s brewing tensions with Ukraine could come to a head, was a worry too. Broadly, however, economists and the government were hopeful that Indian households’ consumption spending would return to pre-pandemic normalcy in 2022 and help fuel a virtuous private investment revival spurring job creation.
While the Omicron wave was less fatal than the pandemic’s preceding waves, it also didn’t take as much of a toll on the economy in 2022 as the previous two years.
However, some of the other fear factors at the turn of the year did materialise and ended up manifesting themselves into more shocks across the globe.
As we were preparing for the 2022-23 Budget (presented on February 1), there was a clear understanding across the globe that the pandemic is waning and recovery measures by different countries were all probably taking us to a good road to recovery.
The IMF projected that the Indian economy will grow at a high rate of 9%... But then came in late February, the Russia-Ukraine war and the complete disruption in supply chains, particularly for food and energy.
Amounting to 8% over the Budget expenditure estimates, the supplementary funds were sought largely for food subsidies for the poor that were initiated in the pandemic and recently extended till December 31, and an escalation in the fertilizer subsidy bill due to higher global prices.
As JP Morgan managing director and India chief economist Sajjid Chinoy explained at a CII economic policy summit last week, 2022 was expected to see a pick-up in growth as well as inflation, but by the middle of the year, there was a real concern that the global economy would slip and slide into recession thanks to supply shocks.
Have there been changes in India’s foreign policy? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Policy)
By all standards, 2022 was a difficult year on the geopolitical and diplomatic stage, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
For India, the choices grew more difficult, given its strategic ties with the U.S. and Europe and traditional ties with Russia.
The most significant defence of India’s foreign policy was made by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who won accolades back home for calling out western “hypocrisy” on Russian oil flows to India.
However, the government continues to take criticism over its China policy and the stand-off at the Line of Actual Control.
The war in Ukraine saw the government spell out its version of “non-alignment”, as it sought to keep a balance in the growing polarisation between the U.S. and the European Union on one side, and Russia on the other.
In the past 10 months, the war has led to thousands of deaths, and nearly 8 million refugees fleeing the country. Meanwhile, a slew of sanctions by the West meant to target the Russian economy led to food and fuel shortages and price increases, which worried India.
Most significantly, in more than a dozen resolutions at the UNSC, UNGA, IAEA, Human Rights Commission, and other multilateral platforms seeking to censure Russia for the invasion and humanitarian crisis, India chose to abstain. Mr. Jaishankar said India’s stand was guided by its national interests, telling those who expected India to take sides, “Tough luck if [our policy] doesn’t meet your expectations”.
The year was marked in many ways for Indian diplomacy, which will be at the forefront in 2023, during India’s presidency of the G-20 and chairship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which will bring all the major leaders of the world to Delhi for summits.
In 2022, India returned to Free Trade Agreements, after a hiatus of several years when the Modi government had called for a review of all FTAs, scrapped all Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and walked out of the 15-nation Asian Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
In 2022, India signed trade agreements with the UAE and Australia, and hopes to progress on talks with the EU, Gulf Cooperation Council and Canada for others.
India also joined the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF), although it later decided to stay out of trade talks. At the G-20, India is expected to highlight climate change transitions, “women-led” development and multilateral reform, among other key issues.