07 DECEMBER 2023

Topic 1 : At least 241 invasive plants mapped in 7 South Asian countries

Why in news: Scientists from India and six other countries have come up with an inventory of 241 plants, which were introduced in south Asian countries and have over the years become Invasive Alien Species (IAS).
 

Key details:

• This is the first such attempt to come up with an integrated inventory of invasive alien flora of South Asia.
• India tops the list with 185 such plant species.
• India is followed by:
  • Bhutan with 53 invasive alien plant species,
  • Sri Lanka with 45 invasive alien plant species
  • Bangladesh with 39 invasive alien plant species
  • Nepal has 30 invasive alien plant species
  • Pakistan has 29 such invasive alien plant species.
  • Maldives has the lowest invasive plants with just 15 species
• What are Invasive Alien Species(IAS)?
  • IAS are animals and plants that are introduced into places outside their natural range, negatively impacting native biodiversity, ecosystem services or human well-being.
  • They are one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and are also a global threat to food security.
• The highest number of invasive plants were introduced in south Asia from:
  • Southern America (142),
  • Northern America (66),
  • Africa (42) and
  • Europe.
• Around 40% of the plants were introduced by chance through the escape pathway.
• Around 24% came as stowaway, such as in ballast water of ships, and around 21% were released.
• Lantana Camara:
  • One plant Lantana camara which is a native of south and central America and was introduced by the British in this part, is now invasive in all the seven countries in South Asia.
• Other species:
  • Three species — Parthenium hysterophorus, Pontederia crassipes and Leucaena leucocephala were found to have become invasive in six countries.
  • Two other species — Ageratum conyzoides and Sphagneticola trilobata were distributed in at least five countries.
• Impact of IAS:
  • IAS are compounded by climate change.
  • Climate change facilitates the spread and establishment of many alien species and creates new opportunities for them to become invasive.
  • They can reduce the resilience of natural habitats, agricultural systems and urban areas to climate change.
  • Conversely, climate change reduces the resilience of habitats to biological invasions, security and livelihoods.
• Details of various invasive plants:
  • The plant family, which accounts for the highest number of invasive species, in the region is Asteraceae.
    • Plants like sunflower, marigold, dahlia, dandelion and lettuce come from this family.
  • It is followed by families like Fabaceae (36) and Solanaceae (18).
    • The genera Acacia has the highest invasive species.
    • The vilayti kikar (Prosopis juliflora) which is found in Delhi belongs to the family Fabaceae.Topic 2 : Ladakh Green House

Why in news: Ladakh introduced new technology to cultivate vegetables in harsh conditions.
 

Key details:

• Union Territory of Ladakh has introduced a new technology namely “Ladakh Green House” to cultivate vegetables in limited quantities in controlled conditions throughout the year.
• Researchers at the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) have developed this new model of the Ladakh Greenhouse, a passive solar greenhouse, for local farmers.
• Ladakh is a cold region, so it is challenging to grow crops and vegetables during the winter season as the temperature often drops below -20° Celsius.
• With the introduction of this new technology, farmers in the region can grow vegetables even during the peak winter season when the temperature plummet below -30 degrees Celsius.
• As on date Ladakh has constructed 1,875 units of such greenhouses at a cost of ₹43.78 crore where farmers can grow vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, and various types of green leafy vegetables during harsh winter months.

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Topic 3 : Special inquiry committees of Parliament

Why in news: The ethics committee of the Lok Sabha is believed to have recommended the expulsion of a Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament (MP) from the Lok Sabha for her unethical conduct and breach of privileges.

The role of ethics committee:

• The ethics committee was constituted in 2000, to oversee the moral and ethical conduct of members and examine cases of ‘unethical conduct’ referred to it.
• The Committee examines complaints filed against members of the House by:
  • other members;
  • outsiders through a member; or
  • referred by the Speaker.
• The Committee makes a prima facie inquiry before deciding to examine a complaint and presents its report to the Speaker, who places it before the House for consideration.
• The term ‘unethical’ is not defined.
• It is left to the Committee to decide whether any act is unethical or not.

Privileges committees:

• The privileges committee or special inquiry committee examines the more serious accusations against a member.
• In 1951, a special committee found a member guilty of promoting a business interest by putting questions in return for financial benefits.
• It was again a special committee that inquired into the ‘cash for query’ scam of 2005 where 10 MPs of Lok Sabha were recommended for expulsion.

Is an expulsion constitutional?

• The Constitution under Article 101 lists down the grounds for vacation of a seat by an MP.
• It includes:
  • voluntary resignation,
  • disqualification and
  • continuous absence from the House for 60 sittings.
• Expulsion is not mentioned explicitly in the Constitution.
• Supreme Courtjudgments in this regard:
  • In Raja Ram Pal versus Hon’ble Speaker (2007), it upheld the power of Parliament to expel its members for breach of privilege by interpreting Article 101 to include expulsion as a ground.
  • In Amarinder Singh versus Special committee, Punjab Vidhan Sabha (2010), the Supreme Court held expulsion by the State Assembly as unconstitutional.

Reconciliation of privileges of the House and democratic representation:

• The privileges of the House developed in medieval Britain to protect the House of Commons from an authoritarian King.
• It is important to preserve the dignity and privilege of the House.
• It is equally imperative to ensure that democratic representation is not prejudiced for political reasons.
• It must be noted that Parliamentary Committee proceedings are not as detailed as a judicial case that is conducted as per the Evidence Act.
• Even in this case, the ethics committee is believed to have recommended legal inquiry and the CBI has already registered a preliminary inquiry.
• It would be prudent to set up fast track courts to conduct trials for such cases in a time bound manner of say 60 days.
• If they are convicted in such a trial, it would result in their disqualification under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
• Otherwise, they should continue to be a member of the House.Topic 4 : Google Gemini

Why in news: Google Gemini, a new multimodal general AI model is now available to users across the world.
 

What is Google Gemini?

• Google Gemini comes in three sizes:
  • Ultra,
  • Pro and
  • Nano
• It is being seen as Google’s answer to ChatGPT which has been ahead of the game so far when it comes to GenAI.ChatGPT
• ChatGPT is an AI chatbot capable of natural language generation, translation, and answering questions.
• GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer.
• GPT-3 was the largest language model in existence at the time of its 2020 launch, with 175 billion parameters.
• The latest version, GPT-4, accessible through ChatGPT Plus or Bing Chat, has one trillion parameters. 
• Gemini is multimodal, which means it is not limited to the type of information it can process and can work understand and operate across text, code, audio, image and video.
  • In contrast, ChatGPT cannot work on video at the moment.
• It is also much more powerful than existing models.
• Gemini can understand, explain and generate high-quality code in the world’s most popular programming languages, like Python, Java, C++ and Go.

Why does Gemini come in three sizes?

• Gemini will be available in different sizes to scale it as per the need.
• Gemini Ultra, the largest and most capable model, will be meant for highly complex tasks.
• Gemini Pro will be best at scaling across a wide range of tasks for regular users across the world.
• Gemini Nano will manage on-device tasks.Topic 5 : Vitamin B 12 deficiency

Why in news: There were news reports about how Vitamin B12 deficiency was emerging as a silent epidemic in India, among both men and women.
 

Key details:

• Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, plays a crucial role in numerous body functions, including:
  • red blood cell formation,
  • DNA synthesis and
  • neurological health.
• Its deficiency can result in a spectrum of symptoms and health complications, ranging from mild fatigue and weakness to severe neurological disorders and anaemia.

What causes Vitamin B12 deficiency?

• Dietary Patterns:
  • A shift towards more plant-based diets and a decrease in animal product consumption can lead to lower B12 intake.
  • Vitamin B12 is primarily found in animal-derived foods like meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products.
  • Vegan or vegetarian diets without sufficient supplementation or fortified foods may lack an adequate B12 supply, increasing the risk of deficiency.
• Ageing Population:
  • As individuals age, the ability to absorb B12 from food diminishes.
  • Older adults often experience decreased stomach acid production, which is essential for releasing B12 from food.
  • This can lead to poor absorption of the vitamin, contributing to deficiency among the elderly population.
• Gastrointestinal Disorders:
  • Certain gastrointestinal conditions, such as Crohn’s disease, Celiac disease and atrophic gastritis, can impair the body’s ability to absorb B12.
  • These disorders affect the digestive tract, inhibiting the absorption of nutrients, including B12, leading to deficiencies even in individuals with sufficient dietary intake.
• Medications:
  • Long-term use of certain medications, such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) used to treat acid reflux, and metformin, commonly prescribed for diabetes, can interfere with vitamin B12 absorption.
  • PPIs reduce stomach acid production, which is necessary for releasing B12 from food, while metformin may affect B12 absorption in the intestines.

How to tackle Vitamin B12 deficiency?

• Dietary Modifications:
  • Encouraging a well-balanced diet that includes B12-rich foods or fortified products can help prevent deficiencies, especially among individuals following vegetarian or vegan diets.
  • Educating the public about food sources and the importance of adequate B12 intake is crucial.
• Supplementation:
  • For individuals at risk of deficiency, including older adults, strict vegetarians/vegans and those with malabsorption issues, supplementation is recommended on a monitoring basis.
• Routine Screening and Testing:
  • Healthcare providers should consider screening individuals at risk of vitamin B12 deficiency, such as older adults, individuals with gastrointestinal disorders or those on long-term medications affecting B12 absorption.
  • Timely testing can facilitate early detection and appropriate intervention.
• Public Health Campaigns:
  • Raising awareness about the symptoms, risk factors and consequences of B12 deficiency through public health campaigns can help promote early recognition and encourage proactive measures to prevent deficiency-related complications.
• Medical Education and Training:
  • Healthcare professionals need continued education on recognising and managing B12 deficiency to facilitate timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment for affected individuals.

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Topic 6 : Garba dance

Why in news: Gujarat’s traditional dance form ‘Garba’ was included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
 

Key details:

• The popular dance form is the 15^th cultural item from India to make it to the UNESCO list.
• Kolkata’s Durga Puja was the last one added two years ago.
• The inclusion has been made under the provisions of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
• The international cultural body described the ‘Garba’ as a ritualistic and devotional dance performed India.
• Traditions or cultural phenomena from India such as Ramlila, Vedic Chants, Kumbh Mela and Durga Puja have already been recognised by the UNESCO list.

About the Dance:

• Garba is a “ritualistic and devotional dance” that is performed on the occasion of the festival of Navratri which is dedicated to the worship of the feminine energy or ‘Shakti’.
• The dance takes place around a perforated earthenware pot lit with an oil lamp, or an image of the mother goddess Amba.
• The dancers move around the centre in a counter-clockwise circle, using simple movements while singing and clapping their hands in unison, it further said.
• Starting with slow circular movements, the tempo slowly builds up to a frenzied whirling.
• Garba fosters social equality by diluting socio-economic, gender and religious structures.

• Origin of Garba
  • The term “Garba” comes from the Sanskrit word meaning “womb” or “deep” and bears a deep symbolic interpretation.
  • Garba is also known as Garbha, Garbha Deep and Garbhi, varying with local dialects of language.
  • The dance celebrates fertility and is performed as a tribute to womanhood.
• Garba in Indian Mythology
  • In Hindu mythology, when Goddess Durga defeated Evil, Navaratri was celebrated to commemorate her victory and Garba was an integral part of expressing the deity’s power.
  • Dandiya sticks used in Garba signify the goddess’ sword and invincibility.
• Types of Garba Dance
  • According to the Gujarati language, taali Garba and tran taali Garba are the two types of the dance forms meaning 2-clap Garba and 3-clap Garba respectively.
  • It is mandatory to perform Garba barefoot and dancers do it on all kinds of surfaces.
• Traditional Costumes of Garba
  • The traditional costume for males is kediyu which consists of a kafni pajama, a round kurta and a turban embellished with sequins for the head. 
  • Women wear chaniya choli which is a three-piece dress.UNESCO World Heritage tag
  • The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) identifies World Heritage Sites that have been nominated by nations that have signed the UNESCO World Heritage Convention 1972.
  • The sites includes:
    • Monuments such as:
      • architectural works,
      • monumental sculptures,
      • inscriptions,
      • groupings of structures, and
      • places comprise cultural heritage including archaeological sites.
    • Natural heritage:
      • physical and biological formations,
      • geological and physiographical formations – including habitats of vulnerable species of animals and plants, and
      • natural locations that are valuable for science, conservation, or natural beauty.
  • India signed the treaty in 1977.
  • In India, there are now 40 World Heritage Sites:
    • 32 are cultural,
    • 7 are natural, and
    • 1 is mixed.
  • India has the world’s sixth-highest number of sites.Topic 7 : Farming’s impact on the environment

Why in news: The ever-increasing demand for agricultural products is leading to significant social and environmental consequences worldwide.
 

Key details:

• The expansion of international trade has created global supply chains, directly linking consumers to geographically-distant impacts, including:
  • carbon emissions,
  • biodiversity loss,
  • freshwater depletion,
  • soil degradation and
  • labour-rights issues.
• India’s position:
  • Due to its vast size and consumer market, India is a global anchor of the trade in agricultural products.
  • It has also undergone remarkable social and economic development over the last several decades.
  • This has led to an increasing demand as well as supply of these products.
  • Large land areas in India are used to service the international demand for grains, fruits, and vegetables, among other products, which puts pressure on national soil and water resources.
  • At the same time, India’s vast consumer market means that large amounts of land, even outside its borders, are used to satisfy domestic demand.

Food-based impact accounting

• The expansion of such imports has contributed to increasing the environmental pressure in the exporting countries.
• Recent studies have shown that a substantial share of the total ecological impact is due to the displacement of environmental damage through international trade.
• Tackling these demand-supply dynamics is now a key aspect of international environmental governance and represents a great challenge in achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and other climate action and biodiversity conservation goals.
• The current paradigm in measuring impacts and allocating responsibility is based on a production-based accounting method.
  • It measures impacts in the place where the products are produced.
• There are concerns about its limitations in:
  • managing ‘leaks’,
  • fixing accountability, and
  • ensuring equity and justice among producers and consumers.
• One alternative that has emerged is consumption-based accounting.

Consumption-based accounting

• Consumption-based accounting accounts for impact at the point of consumption, attributing all the social and environmental impact that occurred during production and trade to the final products and to the eventual consumers.
• The approach urges the consumer (whether social groups or countries) to accept responsibility for the embodied or ‘virtual’ impacts of the product that is being consumed.
• The approach has also sparked calls to adopt sustainable consumption practices as a form of environmental action.
• This has important implications for the coverage of impacts and to determine who has the primary responsibility to act.
• There are two perspectives under this:
  • Demand perspective:
    • From a demand perspective, the basis for this approach is straightforward:
      • Since the pressure on natural and human resources is largely the direct result of consumption practices in developed economies, the responsibility for any consequences due to the production process should fall on those consumers as well.
    • This also reflects arguments of equity and justice surrounding the issue of historical responsibility.
    • Studies suggest that developing economies like India have contributed only 23% of global cumulative emissions and are responsible for about 20-40% of the global average temperature rise since the preindustrial era.
    • So the approach acts to further decouple population and emissions by shifting substantial impacts from emerging markets like India to the much-less-populous economically developed countries.
    • A consumption-based approach thus highlights the responsibility of industrialised states to mitigate impact and the rights of developing economies to not carry an excessive burden.
    • This is an extension of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities that make up global climate governance.
    • This approach also accounts for a growing element of international trade:
      • The existence of trilateral supply chains, where products are produced in one country, processed in a second country, and consumed in a third country.
      • By tracing the flow of intermediate and final products through a global supply chain, it can establish links between where the product is eventually consumed and where its environmental impact is manifesting.
  • Supply perspective:
    • From a supply perspective, the proponents of consumption-based accounting claim that it can encourage cleaner production since producer countries are implicitly encouraged to implement strategies that lower the environmental footprint of their exports.
    • They also have an incentive to raise the living standards of actors in agricultural supply chains to safeguard their access to foreign markets.
    • The approach can also go a long way to fix ‘leaks’ in production systems, where production is often taken to jurisdictions that are relatively lenient about production standards (including India).

Way forward:

• An opportunity for unified agreement:
  • Since consumption-based emissions-accounting can identify the consequences of domestic and foreign demand for agricultural products, it may also be able to facilitate an agreement on global environmental action based on producers and consumers sharing responsibilities.
  • Current agreements are hampered by a lack of agreement on the historical and current role of developed and developing economies in the climate, pollution, and biodiversity loss crises.
• Coordinated action:
  • Having developed economies take responsibility for some of the impact presents an opportunity for coordinated action, while allowing developing economies like India the space to grow and improve their agricultural systems.
• An important tool for measuring impact of consumption patterns:
  • Consumption-based accounting is not easy to implement thanks to liability, monitoring and compliance concerns, but it is useful as a tool with which to voluntarily diagnose impact-intensive consumption patterns.
  • The approach can be applied domestically as well, since it helps shift focus from producers to consumers, and encourages individual and collective changes in consumption behaviour.