[Mission 2024] INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY 27 July 2023

GS Paper 1

 Syllabus: World History

Source: IE

 Context: Amitav Ghosh’s new book “Smoke and Ashes” explores the historical significance of opium as a powerful agent that has shaped and continues to shape the world’s history.

• The book focuses on the Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60), which were waged by European colonial powers on China.

The Opium Wars:

The wars were a result of Britain’s increasing consumption of tea, which led to a trade deficit with China. To address this, the British East India Company promoted the opium trade, leading to a significant increase in opium production in India for export to China.

As opium addiction spread in China, it caused severe socio-economic crises and weakened the Qing dynasty’s governance. The Chinese attempts to crack down on opium smuggling resulted in conflict with the British, leading to two Opium Wars.

About Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60):

Impacts on India during the 19th century:

• Increased Opium Cultivation: With the success of the opium trade in China during and after the Opium Wars, there was a significant rise in opium cultivation in India.
  • This led to the exploitation of Indian farmers and increased dependence on opium cultivation, often to the detriment of other crops.
• Economic Repercussions: As opium production grew, it diverted resources and labour away from other productive activities. The emphasis on opium also had adverse effects on India’s trade and led to a distortion of the Indian economy.
• Social Consequences: The increased cultivation and trade of opium contributed to the addiction and widespread use of opium within certain regions of India, leading to social problems and health issues.
• British Control: As Britain emerged victorious in the Opium wars, it further solidified British control over its colonies, including India.
• Shift in British Policies: The revenue generated from the opium trade played a significant role in financing British colonial activities in India, including the maintenance of their military and administrative apparatus.

Charter Act Regulations:

• Charter Act of 1813: The Act granted a monopoly of the opium trade to the British East India Company, allowing the Company to control and regulate the opium business in India.
• Charter Act of 1833: The Company continued to maintain its monopoly on the production and sale of opium in India, particularly for export to China.
• Charter Act of 1853: It did not address the opium trade directly. The British East India Company still retained control over opium cultivation and trade in India during this period.

Amitav Ghosh’s argument:

Opium played a central role in sustaining colonialism in Asia, bringing immense profits to colonial powers at the expense of Indian labour and the well-being of the Chinese population. The book suggests that opium, with its addictive properties, has had a profound impact on societies across classes and continues to shape history.

Mains Links:

1. At the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese nationalism took a more definite shape and centred primarily on two issues – anti-Manchuism and anti-imperialism which became the primary causes of the revolution. Elucidate. (250 words)

GS Paper 2/ 3

 Syllabus: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation/ Environment and Conservation

Source: HT

 Context: The Lok Sabha passed the contentious Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021.

Background:

• Biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms that exist on the planet.
• Human activities have created challenges for biodiversity such as loss of habitat, and deterioration of ecological systems, and there have also been concerns around bio-piracy.
  • Bio-piracy involves the unauthorised appropriation of biological resources and related knowledge belonging to indigenous communities.
• A key multilateral treaty to address these concerns is the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 1992. India became a signatory to CBD in 1994.
  • The CBD recognises sovereign rights over biological resources.
  • It permits countries to regulate access to these resources as per their national legislation.
  • It recognises the contributions of local communities to conservation and sustainable use through traditional knowledge.
  • It provides for equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of these resources with such people.
• In light of India’s commitments under CBD, the Biological Diversity Act 2002 was passed by Parliament.

About the Biological Diversity Act 2002:

• It regulates access to biological resources and associated traditional knowledge. It specifies distinct frameworks for regulating access by foreign and domestic entities.
• It sets up a 3-tier structure for regulation:
  • National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) at the national level,
  • State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) at the state level, and
  • Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the local body level.
• The Act provides for sharing of benefits (through monetary compensation, sharing of IPRs or technology transfer) with conservers of biodiversity and holders and creators of associated knowledge.

Significance of the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021: The Bill seeks to amend the 2002 Act to:

• Simplify compliance requirements for domestic companies.
• Encourage the Indian system of medicine and cultivation of wild medicinal plants,
• Facilitate fast-tracking of processes for research, patent application, and transfer of research results,
• Decriminalise offences, and
• Encourage foreign investment in the sector.

Key issues:

• The term codified traditional knowledge has not been defined. A broad interpretation might exempt all local traditional knowledge from benefit-sharing requirements.
• The Bill removes the direct role of local communities in determining benefit-sharing provisions.
• The Bill decriminalises offences under the Act and instead provides for a wide range of penalties.
• The Bill confers discretion to government officials, as they can hold inquiries and determine penalties.
• A review of the law was necessary, however, the present bill can appear to be limited and selective, especially to favour specific bio resources-based industries.

Way ahead: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (to which the Bill was referred) recommended that the penalty structure (should not be too meagre) should be proportionate to the gains obtained by entities using biological resources.

Content for Mains Enrichment

Source: TH

 Context: UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report 2023 warns against the uncritical adoption of digital technology in educational settings, as there is little robust evidence of its added value in education.

Negative impact of mobile devices on children’s learning:

Recommendations:

• The report endorses banning smartphones in schools when technology integration does not improve learning or worsens student well-being.
• Excessive screen time has been linked to poorer well-being, less curiosity, self-control, emotional stability, and higher anxiety and depression diagnoses in children.
• Advocates for data privacy laws to protect children’s information

Use: The issues and recommendations can be used in question-related to education/learning at school/Screen addiction among children.

Source: HT

Context: At least 25 families in Odisha’s Kendrapara district have donated over 25 acres of their land near Bhitarkanika National Park (BNP) for mangrove plantation under the Mangrove Mitra Programme. The park has 82 mangrove species, but the expansion of aquaculture and agriculture has degraded the mangrove habitats in the region.

The land donation is aimed at regenerating mangrove forests during the monsoon season. The Bhitarkanika mangrove ecosystem is India’s second-largest, but it has suffered losses due to deforestation caused by resettlement and human activities. Activists emphasize that mangrove forests offer the best insurance against such natural calamities.

The 2021 Forest Survey of India report said the mangrove forest cover in the country increased by 17 square km over the previous two years.

Use: The initiative shows the values of  Environmental stewardship and conservation, Community solidarity and collaboration,  and Recognition of the importance of natural ecosystems for protection against calamities.

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

Source: The Conservation

 Context: Approximately 400,000 years ago, large parts of Greenland were ice-free, and evidence suggests it was covered in spruce trees and scrubby tundra.

• Scientists have now determined the precise date of this ice-free period to be around 416,000 years ago, lasting for about 14,000 years.
• Researchers extracted frozen soil from beneath the Greenland ice sheet, collected during the Cold War from Camp Century, a unique nuclear-powered base dug into the ice sheet.

The findings have implications for our understanding of climate change and the consequences of rising carbon dioxide levels. During the interglacial period similar to today’s conditions, CO2 levels were much lower, yet they triggered enough warming to melt a significant portion of Greenland’s ice.

To prevent a future of largely ice-free Greenland, it is crucial to take immediate and significant action to reduce carbon emissions and sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

Source: NewsOnAir

 Context: The Parliament has passed the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Fifth Amendment)

Bill, 2022, with the Rajya Sabha giving its approval after the Lok Sabha had already passed the Bill.

The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order of 1950. It aims to make several changes:

• Inclusion of Communities: The Bill includes the Dhanuhar, Dhanuwar, Kisan, Saunra, Saonra, and Binjhia communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh.
• Synonyms Inclusion: The Bill adds Bhuinya, Bhuiyan, and Bhuyan communities as synonyms for the Bharia Bhumia community.
• Devanagari Versions: Three Devanagari versions of the name of the Pando community are also included.

Source: IE

 Context: The current No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against the Indian government was brought by the opposition to demand a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Manipur. However, given the government’s significant majority in the Lok Sabha, the motion is unlikely to succeed.

Source: TH

 Context: Research on the early stages of human embryonic development and the role of specific cells known as the inner cell mass has gained importance recently.

• The inner cell mass contains pluripotent cells, meaning they have the potential to differentiate into all the different cell types that make up the human body. These cells are of great interest to scientists as they are responsible for shaping the entire human body.
• In a study conducted in 2016, researchers discovered a subset of non-committed cells within the inner cell mass. Unlike the majority of cells in the inner cell mass that go on to contribute to the developing embryo, these non-committed cells seem to die off early in the development process.
• Further investigation revealed that the non-committed cells lack the expression of a gene called HERVH, which is critical for maintaining pluripotency in human embryonic stem cells.
• Instead, these cells express transposons, also known as “jumping genes,” which can insert themselves into different parts of the genome, potentially causing DNA damage and leading to cell death.

HERVH, despite being a type of transposon itself, appears to protect the pluripotent cells from the harmful effects of other transposons. By the end of this early developmental stage, the cells that express HERVH survive and become the “good” cells that will form the embryo, while the non-committed cells that lack HERVH expression die through cell death.

The study refers to the early human embryo as a “selection arena,” where cells compete to survive based on their gene expression patterns.

Mapping

 Source: IE

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has succeeded in pushing through a judicial reform bill that curtails the judiciary’s power to check his far-right coalition government. The victory, however, has deepened divisions in Israeli society. Critics fear that the reform may lead to a religious autocracy, erode democracy, and pose risks to Israel’s alliance with the United States.

Israel, a Middle Eastern country on the Mediterranean Sea, is regarded by Jews, Christians and Muslims as the biblical Holy Land. Its most sacred sites are in Jerusalem.