Month: November 2022

Environment & Biodiversity

FSSAI classifies Himalayan yak as a food animal

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 30, 2022

Recently, the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India classified Himalayan yak as an animal used for food (FSSAI).

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy recommended it (DAHD).
Categorization will stop the yak population’s decrease and promote its rearing.

Himalayan Yak

The Himalayan Yak is a long-haired, short-legged, ox-like mammal and high-altitude bovine animal that is primarily found in Tibet and India.
In India, it can be found in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, and West Bengal. Yak rearing is unorganised, primitive, and difficult because it is raised for transportation, meat, milk, wools, and dung that
Yak milk is nourishing, high in fat, and has medical benefits.
Yaks use snow to gain water, and calves are born about nine months later.
Yak can survive in very cold temperatures up to minus 40 degrees.
In Ladakh, Sikkim, and Himachal Pradesh, there are Changpas and Dokpas, nomadic communities that raise yak.
The 2019 census shows that India has 58,000 yaks.
From the 2012 livestock census, it has decreased by 25%.
Less compensation from yaks may be contributing to the decline in yak numbers.
It dissuades people from continuing to rear yaks in a nomadic fashion. The domesticated yak is known as Bos grunniens, whereas the wild kind is known as Bos mutus.

Conservation status

IUCN: Vulnerable
CITES- Appendix I
Indian WildLife (Protection) Act of 1972: Schedule II

The Government of India established the ICAR-National Research Centre on Yak in Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh, as a specialised centre for yak husbandry research in 1989.

International Relations

‘Austra Hind-22’ is a joint military drill between Australia and India

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 30, 2022

There will be an exercise called “Austra Hind 22” from November 28 to December 11. The Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Rajasthan will host the bilateral training exercise “AUSTRA HIND 22” involving contingents of the Indian Army and the Australian Army.

Exercise AUSTRA HIND 22

Exercise AUSTRA HIND is a yearly event that alternates between Australia and India and is a bilateral training exercise between the Australian Army and the Indian Army.
Goal: To forge strong military ties, learn from one another’s best practises, and foster cooperation while conducting multi-domain operations in semi-desert terrain in accordance with a UN peace enforcement mission.

Significance

The combined exercise will further contribute to the building of ties between Australia and India since it is the first in the series of Austra Hind exercises to include all weapons and services personnel from both armies.

Other exercises between India and Australia:

Exercise Pitch Black: Since 1981, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has staged this biennial multilateral air combat exercise. In 2018, the Indian Air Force participated in the exercise for the first time.
AUSINDEX: This bilateral maritime exercise takes place every two years between the Royal Australian Navy and the Indian Navy (RAN). The exercise’s initial iteration happened in 2015.

Security Issues

China secretly hosts the first forum for the China-Indian Ocean region without India

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 30, 2022

The first “China-Indian Ocean Region Forum,” which brought together 19 nations from the region with the exception of India, was recently held in China.

Key Highlights

Kunming, China, hosted the inaugural Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation (IORFDC).
Attendees included representatives from 19 nations, all of whom were from South Asia (with the exception of India).
The China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), China’s new development assistance organisation, organised the meeting.
China made the suggestion in this forum to create a mechanism for cooperation between China and nations in the Indian Ocean region in the prevention and mitigation of marine disasters (IOR).
China also suggested creating a network of blue economy think tanks for itself and the nations of the IOR.
The new forum organised by China could be seen as a response to India’s IORA.

Indian Ocean Rim Association

The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is a vibrant intergovernmental organisation that includes 22 Member States and 10 Dialogue Partners and aims to improve regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean region.
The Council of Foreign Ministers (COM), IORA’s highest authority, convenes once a year.

Governance

Managing Mature Adolescent Delinquency

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 30, 2022

In its ruling on November 16 in the infamous Kathua rape-murder case, the Supreme Court (SC) noted that India’s rising juvenile delinquency rate is a matter of concern and necessitates immediate attention.

The current strategy and its effects on juvenile crime

Goal of reformation: There is a school of thought that firmly thinks that if the accused is a juvenile, he should be handled with with just one thing in mind, which is the goal of reformation, regardless of how horrific the crime may be, whether it be single rape, gangrape, drug dealing, or murder.
The continuation of crime The school of thinking we are discussing regards reformation as the ideal end-state. We question whether the [Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)] Act, 2015 has accomplished its purpose given how terrible and heinous crimes have been and are still being committed throughout time by juveniles.
Without reformation, crime increases: We have begun to get the idea that the leniency with which minors are treated in the name of reformation is giving them more and more confidence to commit such horrible acts.

The issue of juvenile offenders’ maturity

Help from experts to determine maturity: It is well established that the court, with the assistance of experts, is to determine whether or not an offender has attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of his or her conduct. This is exemplified by Section 83 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
A person under the age of 18 who commits an offence cannot be tried or punished by a criminal court because they lack the maturity to understand the nature and repercussions of their actions, according to the JJ Act 2000. This encroachment on the judicial domain made the JJ Act 2000 unconstitutional.
The 2015 JJ Act did not affect anything about maturity: With the exception of the age of criminal responsibility for serious offences being lowered to 16 years, the current JJ Act, 2015, has the same flaw.
It has been forgotten that a juvenile offender who lacks such maturity should not be brought to a criminal court to be tried for the conduct of an offence, but rather should be committed to a correctional facility for reform and rehabilitation. This is the core basis of juvenile justice law.
Juvenile who has reached adulthood must be punished. On the other hand, if the perpetrator has reached adulthood, he or she must be brought before a criminal court, tried, and, if found guilty, punished. Therefore, a juvenile offender’s age alone cannot support a general immunity from the criminal process; rather, the issue of such immunity must be determined case by case depending on the maturity of the offender.

Trying the mature juvenile as adult

Adults are not the same as mature juveniles: In fact, Section 23 of the JJ Act, 2015 stipulates that “there shall be no joint proceedings of a child alleged to be in conflict with the law, with a person who is not a child,” regardless of anything stated in Section 223 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973 or in any other law currently in effect.
Separate care for older young people: The JJ Act, 2015 already includes provisions regarding how a child who has reached the age of 16 may be prosecuted and punished for a heinous crime.
Considering the maturity of all juvenile offenders, regardless of age: Once the competent court determines that any such offender had sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of his/her actions, the same provisions may be applied to all juvenile offenders, regardless of age or the type of crime.

Conclusion

Government should update the 2015 JJ Act. Such an amendment would go a long way toward achieving the goals both the juvenile justice system and the criminal justice system profess to have as well as the necessary balance between them.

Economics

Industry calls on the government to create the ‘India Rare Earths Mission’

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 30, 2022

Industry has encouraged the government to create the “India Rare Earths Mission” in order to reduce India’s dependence on China for imports of vital rare earth minerals.

Rare Earth Metals

A group of seventeen metallic elements is known as the rare earth elements (REE). These comprise the 15 lanthanides listed on the periodic table, in addition to scandium and yttrium.
Numerous high-tech equipment depend on rare earth elements.
Particularly high-tech consumer goods like cellular phones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid cars, flat-screen monitors, and televisions have a wide range of uses for them.
Electronic displays, navigational aids, lasers, radar, and sonar systems are all used extensively in defence.
Future industries like wind turbines and electric vehicles depend on magnets made from rare earth minerals with names like neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium.

India Rare Earths Mission

Industries in India have urged to set up a Mission, manned by professionals, making their exploration a key part of the government’s Deep Ocean Mission agenda, much as the India Semiconductor Mission.
In addition to diversifying sources of supply for these strategic raw materials, it would aim to promote private sector mining in the industry.
In reference to China’s “Made in China 2025” effort, which focuses on novel materials and employs rare earth minerals to create permanent magnets, the business group has proposed adding rare earth minerals in the “Make in India” campaign.

Reasons for this

Despite having 6% of the world’s rare earth reserves, India barely contributes 1% to global production, and it imports the majority of the rare earth minerals it needs from China.
For instance, 92% of imports of rare earth metals by value and 97% by quantity came from China in 2018–19.

Way Forward

Utilizing the potential of the nation’s own rare earth reserves is necessary.
For such an essential and strategic raw material, this would support the development of domestic capability and a wide-range of supply sources.

Science & Tech

The third of the four Survey Vessels (Large) (SVL) Project vessels, “Ikshak”

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 30, 2022

At Kattupalli in Tamil Nadu, the Indian Navy recently debuted “Ikshak,” the third of the four survey vessels (Large) project.

‘Ikshak’ vessel

Ikshak, which translates to “Guide,” is the name of the ship being constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) and Larson and Toubro (L&T).
The first ship in the class, Sandhayak, was launched on December 5, 2021 at GRSE, Kolkata.
The ship’s name honours the role that Survey ships have played in guaranteeing mariner safety at sea. In order to collect oceanographic data, SVL ships will take the place of the current Sandhayak Class survey ships.

The ship

The Survey Vessel (Large) ships are 110 m long, 16 m wide, and have a crew complement of 231 people. They can carry 3400 tonnes of cargo.
Two main engines with dual shafts, each capable of a top speed of 18 knots and a cruise speed of 14 knots, make up the ship’s propulsion system.

Environment & Biodiversity

Population decline warning

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 29, 2022

When the world population reached eight billion people recently, multiple news stories highlighted how India contributed the most to the most recent billion people and is expected to overtake China as the most populated country by 2023. However, the true threat of depopulation that some areas of India also face, and the nation’s total lack of preparedness to cope with it, are absent from this discussion.

India’s Population trend

India currently has a total population of 1.37 billion people, or 17.5% of the world’s population.
India’s total fertility rate (TFR) decreased from 3.4 to 2.2 between 1992 and 2015, a 35% decrease.
In 2021, youth (15-29 years of age) will make up 27.2% of the population. India thus entered the Demographic Dividend stage as a result.
From 6.8% in 1991 to 9.2% in 2016, the proportion of the elderly population has been rising.

Depopultion

A drop in the size of the human population is referred to as depopulation decline (also known as population decline, underpopulation, or population collapse).
The total human population on Earth has increased over a lengthy period, from prehistory to the present; however, current forecasts indicate that this long-term trend of continuous population expansion may be coming to an end.

The missing links

Declining reproductive rate and talking about reversal In nations like Japan, South Korea, and Europe that are witnessing declining fertility and are getting close to the inflection point of population losses, demographers, policy experts, and politicians are starting to discuss what the future holds and whether reversal is feasible.
Speaking about an equitable childcare system that enables women to have families and successful careers, as well as lowering immigration restrictions to allow working-age people from nations not yet experiencing population decline, are some of the crucial topics that are missing from the conversation.

Fertility: India

Falling fertility rate: It is now widely accepted that India’s fertility is declining as expected as a direct effect of increased earnings and improved access for women to health care and education. India’s overall fertility rate is currently lower than the fertility replacement rate.
Numerous states are on the cusp of experiencing real population declines because parts of India have not only reached replacement fertility but have also consistently been below it. Kerala, where replacement fertility was attained in 1998, and Tamil Nadu, where it was attained in 2000, are two examples.
Population of working age declining: Over the next four years, the working-age populations of Tamil Nadu and Kerala will both experience the first absolute reductions in their histories. For the foreseeable future, these States’ overall population will expand due to declining mortality (barring a pandemic), which implies fewer people of working age will be required to care for more elderly people than ever before.

Replacement Level Fertility (RLF)

The fertility rate at which a population precisely replaces itself from one generation to the next is known as replacement level fertility.
In plainer terms, it refers to the fertility rate necessary to keep a country’s population constant over a certain amount of time.
In affluent nations, replacement level fertility is assumed to require 2.1 children on average per woman.
However, in nations with high rates of infant and child mortality, the average birthrate may need to be significantly higher.
Only in the case of constant mortality rates and no impact from migration can RLF result in negative population growth.

Challenges

Unnoticeable trend brought on by the influx of migrants: Working-age population access is significantly different from that in other low-fertility states. For instance, Delhi and Karnataka, both of which are net migrant recipients, won’t experience population drop anytime soon.
The risk of a skewed sex ratio still exists: Those with at least one male are less likely to want more children than families with just one daughter, according to the most recent NFHS round.
Education disparity: Workers from the southern States won’t be easily substituted due to the huge inequalities between the northern and southern States in terms of basic literacy and enrollment in higher education, notably in technical disciplines.

Conclusion

The discussion in India has been stagnant because to decades of attention on reducing fertility. The southern States should abandon this antiquated, fact-free discourse and participate in the global discussion on depopulation. In order to meet its existing labour demands, India cannot overlook the depopulation in the name of migration.

Environment & Biodiversity

Climate justice entails wealthy countries assisting migrants

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 29, 2022

According to UNHCR predictions, 23.7 million new internally displaced persons—those affected by natural disasters—emerged globally in 2021, with the highest numbers occurring in China, the Philippines, and India.

Impact

As a result of the growing frequency of climate disasters, individuals are becoming “climate refugees,” or moving from one location to another. Examples of these refugees come from South Asia and the US.
The issue becomes more serious when individuals move across borders as a result of climate change, as their entire nation is predicted to be buried in the sea due to rising sea levels.
The protection gap refers to this. Since there are no legal protections for climate refugees, this will pose a humanitarian dilemma.

Current laws

Only political refugees are covered by the Geneva Convention on Refugees; climatic refugees are not.
The Nansen Initiative is a framework that is optional and non-binding. Although some states have approved it, it only applies to cross-border movements related to disasters. The displacement brought on by global warming is excluded.

Concerns for climate refugees

When transferring to another country, climate refugees will have difficulties with border crossing, security, healthcare, and other necessities.
In addition, the nations where they are relocating have their own issues, making it challenging for those nations to care for the refugees.
Due to extreme poverty, a disability, gender, cultural standards, etc., some people won’t be able to move. Because they will be the most impacted by climate change and will be stranded there, there is a need for the entire globe to pay attention to this issue.

Who will bear the cost of climate change?

Because industrialised nations and fossil fuel producers produce the most emissions, they have a greater obligation to assist climate refugees. One effort to deal with the problem is the loss and damage mechanism adopted at CoP 27.
As a result, individuals who caused the issue should pay reparations and contribute to a fund to aid climate refugees, and a global framework is required to safeguard them.

Science & Tech

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 29, 2022

India was recently elected to serve as the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) vice president for the years 2023–25.

About

Objective: To prepare and publish worldwide standards for all electrical, electronic, and associated technologies. It is the foremost organisation in the world for this purpose. These are referred to as “electrotechnology” as a whole.
Type: It is an international, non-profit membership organisation that unites 173 nations and organises the efforts of 20,000 experts worldwide.
Administrative: Geneva, Switzerland
It is a membership organisation that is not for profit.
Its supreme governance entity, the Standardization Management Board (SMB), is in charge of all technical policy issues.
There are 170 member nations in it.
It contributes to achieving all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals;
It played a key role in the development of various units of measurement, including the gauss, hertz, and weber;
It also first proposed the Giorgi System, a set of standards that later evolved into the SI system.

Polity

On Constitution Day, the Prime Minister unveiled 4 E-Court initiatives

Post author By balancedreport
Post date November 29, 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled many e-court project projects on the occasion of Constitution Day at the Supreme Court of India.

The “Virtual Justice Clock,” “JustIS mobile App 2.0,” “Digital court,” and “S3WaaS Websites” are among the items included. The goal of this article is to briefly describe the aforementioned projects.

Virtual Justice Clock

The goal of the initiative is to make the functioning of the courts accountable and transparent by sharing with the public the status of case dispositions by the court. The public can access the Virtual Justice Clock of any court establishment on the District Court’s website.

JustIS Mobile App 2.0

It is a tool that judicial officers have at their disposal for efficient case and court management by keeping track of the cases that are pending and being dismissed in both his court and the judges who serve under him.
High Court and Supreme Court Judges can now monitor the status of every State and District under their jurisdiction by using this App, which is also made available to them.

Digital Court

It is a project to digitise court records and make them available to judges so that Paperless Courts can be implemented.

S3WaaS Websites

It is a framework for creating, setting up, deploying, and managing websites for disseminating particular data and services pertaining to district judiciary.
A cloud service called S3WaaS was created for use by government organisations to create websites that are secure, scalable, and sugamya (accessible). It is accessible to all citizens, multilingual, and disability-friendly.