DAILY ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME (DEP _0064)
Today’s Topics List:
London’s India Club is closing
UNESCO World Heritage sites
The Cauvery River
The Women’s Reservation Bill
Indo – Canada relations: The Building up rift
Bima Sugam: Insurance sector:
Need for reliable crop yield estimates
Lagrange points
WHO red flags: Hypertension
INDIAN HISTORY HERITAGE & CULTURE
London’s India Club is closing
- News: India club in London is set to close permanently on September 17 after decades of operations.
- Why closing?
- After the coronavirus and exponential hike in cost of living made owners unsustainable in running the India Club.
- About Club
- It is a rest stop for Indians in the United Kingdom during the independence movement
- Established in
- Started in 1951 by the India League, a British organisation that started out as an advocate for Indian independence and self-rule (swaraj) and included members of the elite in British society
- Founding members
- Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, Krishna Menon and Countess Mountbatten of Burma, the wife of the country’s last viceroy.
- Club Walls
- club’s walls are “lined with portraits of prominent Indian and British personalities who visited the club, including former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the first British Indian MP Dadabhai Naoroji, philosopher Bertrand Russell, artist MF Hussain… and more.
UNESCO World Heritage sites
News:
- The Hoysala Temples will be India’s 42nd UNESCO World Heritage Site
The three temples include
- The Chennakeshava temple, the main temple in the complex at Belur (Hassan district), located at the centre of the traditional settlement which is surrounded by the remnants of a mud fort and a moat;
- The Hoysaleswara Temple on the banks of Dwarasamudra tank in Halebidu (Hassan district), a town which has many protected and unprotected temples, archaeological ruins and mounds; and
- The Keshava Temple at the centre of Somanathapura village (Mysore district).
Hoysala Architecture
- Style: Hybrid or Vesara
- Building Stone: Soft stone
- Temple deities: Usually dedicated their temples to Lord Shiva or to Lord Vishnu
- Architectural elements
- Mantapa – serves as prayer halls
- Vimana – also called the cella, contains the most sacred shrine wherein resides the image of the presiding deity.
- Sculpture – depict scenes of Ramayana, Mahabharata & Bhagavata Purana
Architecture | Chennakeshava temple | Exterior sculpture narrates scenes from life of Vishnu and his reincarnations and the epics, Ramayana, and Mahabharata. Garbha griha contains image of Krishna |
Hoysaleswara Temple | Sculptures inside the temple depict scenes from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana. | |
Keshava Temple | It is known for its lathe turned pillars, symmetrical architecture, and intricate sculptures. Sculptures found are that of Lord Vishnu, Lord Ganesha, Goddess Lakshmi and Saraswati | |
Dedicated to | Chennakeshava temple | Vaishnavism |
Hoysaleswara Temple | Shiva | |
Keshava Temple | Lord Krishna | |
Shrine | Chennakeshava temple | Ekakuta |
Hoysaleswara Temple | Dvikuta – King Vishnuvardhan and his Queen Shantala | |
Keshava Temple | Trikuta – Janardhana, Keshava and Venugopala. | |
Built by | Chennakeshava temple | King Vishnuvardhana |
Hoysaleswara Temple | King Vishnuvardhana | |
Keshava Temple | King Narasimha III |
- Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan, the university town in West Bengal, was also included as a world heritage site.
- The other heritage sites in Karnataka which got into the UNESCO list are Hampi (1986) and Pattadakal (1987).
Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan
- It was established in rural West Bengal in 1901 by the renowned poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore
- Santiniketan was a residential school and centre for art based on ancient Indian traditions and a vision of the unity of humanity transcending religious and cultural boundaries.
- A ‘world university’ was established at Santiniketan in 1921, recognizing the unity of humanity or “Visva Bharati”.
- Santiniketan represents approaches toward a pan-Asian modernity, drawing on ancient, medieval and folk traditions from across the region.
B) GEOGRAPHY & DISASTER MANAGEMENT
The Cauvery River
Cauvery River:
- The Kaveri is an interstate basin that originates in Karnataka and passes through Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry before draining into the Bay of Bengal.
- The total watershed of the Kaveri basin is 81,155 sq. km.
- The river’s catchment area is about 34,273 sq. km in Karnataka,
- 2,866 sq. km in Kerala and the remaining 44,016 sq. km in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
Left Hand Tributaries | Right Hand Tributaries |
The Harangi | The Lakshmana tirtha |
The Hemavati | The Kabbani |
The Shimsha | The Suvarnavati |
The Arkavati | The Bhavani |
| The Noyil |
| The Amaravati |
Dams and Reservoirs on the River Cauvery:
- The Harangi and Hemavati dams in Karnataka have been constructed on the Harangi and Hemavati rivers which are tributaries of the rivers Kaveri.
- The Krishna Raja Sagar Dam has been constructed downstream of these two dams on the main Kaveri River in Karnataka.
- The Kabini Reservoir in Karnataka is constructed on the Kabini River, a tributary of the Kaveri River, which joins the Krishna Sagar Reservoir.
- The Mettur Dam has been constructed across the main stream of Kaveri in Tamil Nadu.
- The Central Water Commission has established two G&D sites namely Kollegal and Billigundlu on the main Kaveri River between the confluence of Kabini and Mettur dam with Kaveri.
- The Billigundlu G&D site is about 60 km below the Mettur Dam where the Kaveri River forms the border with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
POLITY, GOVERNANCE & LAWS AND SCHEMES
The Women’s Reservation Bill
- News:
- The women reservation bill, which has been pending for 27 years is said to have been clear by the Central Government through the 128th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2023.
- Women’s Reservation Bill aims to Reserve 33% of seats for women in both Parliament and legislative assemblies.
Status of the Women in the Legislature:
- India ranks 144 out of 193 countries in the representation of women in parliament according to Inter-Parliamentary Union’s report.
- In the first Lok Sabha election in 1951 only 22 Women MP’s were elected out of 489. in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the highest number ever representing 14.36 % of the total.
- The number of women candidates contested the Lok Sabha elections has increased over the years from 45 in 1957 to 726 in 2019 however the proportion of women among the parliamentarians has not seen a similar increase.
Significance of the Bill:
- Increase women’s participation in politics: The bill aims to enhance the participation of women in the political process are the highest level of government.
- By reversing seats for women, it seeks to provide them with a more significant and direct role in decision-making.
- Empower women: Through increased participation in politics the bill aims to empower women economically, socially and politically.
- It recognises that the political empowerment is a crucial step towards achieving the broader gender equity and women’s rights.
- Promote women’s issues: By having a greater presence of women in Legislative bodies, the bill aims to bring the attention to and address women-specific issues, concerns and policies that may have been overlooked in the past.
- Address general Disparities: It seeks to address historical Gender disparities and underrepresentation of women in Indian political landscape.
- By providing the Reserve reserved seats, the bill intends to rectify this imbalance and create more inclusive and representative political system.
Challenges associated with the Bill:
- Political opposition: One of the primary challenges is political opposition from various parties and leaders.
- some politicians have been reluctant to support the bill, fearing that it might impact the existing power dynamics within their parties and constituencies.
- Reservation rotation: the concept of rotating reserved constituencies in every election has been met with resistance.
- some argue that this rotation could this disrupt local development initiatives and reduce the initiatives for sitting MPs to work for their constituencies
- Regional political factors: Regional political dynamics, including regional parties’ concerns about the bills impact on the power and influence have added complexity to the issue.
- Complex legislative process: the bill requires a Constitutional Amendment, which involves a complex legislative process. T
- The amendments to the constitution require a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament, which can be challenging to achieve.
Key Points:
- Implementation timing: Resources semester the bill is likely to be implemented in day 2024 Lok Sabha elections. instead, it is expected to be rolled out after the limitation process most probably in 2029.
- Delimitation process: The implementation of Women’s Reservation Bill is contingent upon of the day limitation process which is expected to take place in 2026.
Way Forward:
- This is one of the oldest pending political reforms in the country, which requires both the political will along with the participation of the citizenry. It is simply not sufficient to provide reservations but political literacy among masses brings more meaning to any political reform to the democratic functioning of the polity in the country, which requires a reasonable representation to the half of the Population.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Indo – Canada relations: The Building up rift
Context:
- A diplomatic stand off erupted between India and Canada on Tuesday as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a “potential link” between the Indian government and the killing of Pro- Khalistan leader in Canada earlier this year.
- There was a tit for tat expulsion of diplomats, which marks a new low in India – Canada ties.
- This is not the first but, there are a series of diplomatic face offs between the two countries over the last few years.
What is the reason:
- The issues have been more pronounced over the last few years especially after Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister in 2015.
- While India has alleged inaction by Canadian government against Pro-Khalistan supporters, seen as Government’s attempt to woo the Canadian – Sikh Community.
- Even at the G20 this month, India expressed “strong concerns about continuing anti India activities of extremist elements in India.
Some troubled events in the relations: in the recent past:
- In February 2018, Trudeau’s week-long trip to India ran into trouble after it was revealed that Jaspal Atwal—a former member of the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), a pro-Khalistan outfit that was banned in Canada and designated a terrorist organisation in 2003 – was invited to two events organised for Trudeau, in Mumbai and Delhi.
- In December 2020, Trudeau expressed support for the farmers protesting against the farm Bills.
- India responded sharply against the “ill-informed comments” on the “internal affairs of a democratic country.”
- In February-March this year, India lodged a protest with Canada over actions of “separatist and extremist elements” against Indian diplomatic missions and consulates.
- India also reminded the Canadian government of its obligations under the Vienna Convention, and asked it to arrest and prosecute the individuals “who have already been identified as being involved in such acts”.
- In July this year, India sent out a strongly-worded message to the Canadian government on posters by pro-Khalistan groups inciting violence against senior Indian diplomats.
- The posters had surfaced ahead of a “rally” organised by Khalistan groups.
ECONOMY
Bima Sugam: Insurance sector:
Context:
- The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) claims the proposed Bima Sugam is a “game changer” and an “UPI moment” for the insurance segment.
- It aims to become the largest online market for insurance products and services which has not been practiced anywhere in the world.
What is Bima Sugam.
- It is an online platform where customers can choose their suitable schemes offered by various companies.
- All insurance requirements, including those for life, health, and general insurance (including motor and travel) will be met by Bima Sugam.
- This platform will help in the settlement of claims, whether it is health cover or death claim, in a paperless manner on the basis of policy numbers.
What does the portal hold?
- Details about insurance schemes are expected to be stored in the platform through the insurance repository initially. This will be followed by listing of policies
Support to the Scheme:
- The overall budget for Bima Sugam has been hiked to Rs 200 crore from around Rs 85 crore.
- IRDAI has appointed a committee for the creation of the platform and now plans to go for requests for proposals (RFPs) soon to appoint a service provider for the platform.
- The service providers will be the technological partner for creating and running a platform to provide all the services in one place.
Role and Utility for customers:
- The proposed platform would act as a single window for the policyholder to manage his/her insurance coverage.
- It will provide end-to end solutions for customers’ insurance needs i.e., purchase, service, and settlement in a seam less manner.
- It will facilitate insurance companies to access the validated and authentic data from various touchpoints on a real-time basis.
- The platform will interface for the intermediaries and agents to sell policies and provide services to policy holders, among others, and reduce paperwork.
- Commissions on policies are expected to come down, benefiting the customers. The cost of buying policies will come down.
- Customers will open an insurance account and the policies will be stored in this account, thus obviating the need for physical documents.
- The paperwork involved in buying a policy will also come down.
- Settlement of claims and renewal of policies will also become faster as paperwork is reduced drastically, making it easier for the customers.
- Currently, there are hundreds of insurance schemes in life and non-life sectors.
- Customers have no idea who is offering the best deal and the pros and cons of different schemes.
- Bima Sugam will enable them to identify the suitable scheme for the customers in a single platform.
- They have to spend time talking to agents and visiting websites of different insurers to select a suitable scheme. This will be cut down drastically.
Need for reliable crop yield estimates
Context:
- Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman o made a strong pitch for generating real-time assessments of likely yields for all essential crops.
- India often needs to import important pulses and oil seeds.
- So, she says country suffers for want of such reliable farm output estimates.
Need for it:
- We can estimate the extent of land which is getting covered under a certain crop, but we exactly do not know know what will be the output.
- A real time assessment estimate of the crop is the need of the hour.
- Country has been importing pulses and we scramble sometimes when the shortages come before us late in the day.
- If only we have a real time assessment, we will be much better placed to plan that if there is going to be a shortfall.
- That would help the economy much better so that we can plan our imports if we still need, ensure that the farmer does not suffer because of our policy to import or export.
- It often happens that the price of the farmer for his produce in the last minute gets impacted, after he sows his crop and is about to harvest, just because at that time we get an assessment of a shortfall and we need to get it imported.
- Imports often coincides with the price crash of the produce.
- Real time estimates would help such “unpleasant inevitability.”
- It will also help in policy making, to know how much we will have to give for the farmer’s toil in terms of Minimum support price or in terms of procurement
Yes Tech:
- It is a new automated real-time yield estimation system called Yes-Tech was put in place from this kharif season for the wheat and rice crop.
- This system was created with the assistance from ISRO and ICAR – Indian Council of Agricultural research.
- This must be ramped up to cover other crops as soon as possible, particularly pulses and oils for better outcomes.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY & HEALTH
Lagrange points
Context:
- The PSLV will initially place the Aditya L-1 in a lower Earth orbit. Subsequently, the spacecraft’s orbit around the Earth will be raised multiple times before it is put on a path to a halo orbit around the L1 Lagrange point.
What are the Lagrange points:
- Lagrange points, are special points in space where the gravitational forces of two large bodies, such as the Earth and the Moon or the Earth and the Sun, produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion.
- There are five Lagrangian points in a two-body system, and they are designated as L1, L2, L3, L4, and L5.
Significance of The Lagrange points:
- Stable Orbital Positions: Lagrange points represent stable positions in space where the gravitational forces of two massive bodies balance each other.
- Objects placed at these points can maintain a relatively fixed position relative to the two massive bodies without requiring significant energy input
- Reduced Fuel Consumption: Reaching Lagrange points requires less fuel compared to other orbits, making them cost-effective for space missions.
- This fuel efficiency is particularly advantageous for long-duration missions.
- Inspiration for Future Missions: The successful utilization of Lagrange points in space missions continues to inspire and pave the way for future exploration endeavours, both within the solar system and beyond.
- Efficient Resource Utilization: Spacecraft positioned at Lagrange points can efficiently utilize resources like solar energy since they remain exposed to the Sun for extended periods.
- This is crucial for missions that require a stable power source, such as solar-powered observatories
WHO red flags: Hypertension
News:
- World Health Organisation (WHO) has released its first ever report on the global impact of hypertension:
Important take away from the report:
- Hypertension Prevalence: The report estimates that 31% of India’s population, or approximately 188.3 million people, are living with hypertension, a condition characterized by high blood pressure.
- Preventable Health Issue: Hypertension can lead to serious health problems such as stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney damage, and more.
- Importantly, it is a preventable condition.
- Diagnosis and Treatment: The report highlights that only 37% of Indians with hypertension are diagnosed, and only 30% have access to treatment.
- Currently, only 15% of individuals with hypertension in India have their condition under control.
- Cardiovascular Disease Impact: High blood pressure is a significant contributor to cardiovascular diseases, with 52% of cardiovascular disease-related deaths, including heart attacks, attributed to hypertension.
- Global Impact: Hypertension affects one in three adults globally, totalling 1.3 billion people at risk, according to the report’s data collected from the 30 to 79 age group.
What are the significant health issues caused by Hypertension / High BP:
- Prevalence and Impact: Hypertension is a common and serious health condition that affects one in three adults worldwide.
- It is a major risk factor for various life-threatening conditions such as stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney damage, and more.
- Global Awareness: Nearly half of the people with hypertension globally are unaware of their condition.
- This lack of awareness is a significant challenge in addressing the problem.
- Health Disparities: The prevalence of hypertension and its management vary across regions and countries.
- In India, for example, hypertension is a leading risk factor for death and disability, but less than one-fourth of hypertensive patients had their blood pressure under control during a specific period.
- Potential Impact of Treatment: The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes that scaling up the treatment and management of hypertension could potentially avert millions of deaths between 2023 and 2050