Civilsdaily

Subject: Trivia

  • Pulitzer Prize and the Indians who have won it

    A team of four Indian photographers have won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their coverage of the Covid-19 crisis in India.

    About Pulitzer Prize

    • The Pulitzer is the most coveted award for journalists from across the world.
    • It is announced by America’s Columbia University and bestowed on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board.

    Who was Joseph Pulitzer, after whom the awards are named?

    • Born to a wealthy family of Magyar-Jewish origin in Mako, Hungary, in 1847, Joseph Pulitzer had a stint in the military before he built a reputation of being a “tireless journalist”.
    • In the late 1860s he joined the German-language daily newspaper Westliche Post, and by 25 he had become a publisher.
    • In 1884, he was elected to the US House of Representatives from New York’s ninth district as a Democrat.

    When were the Pulitzer awards instituted?

    • The awards were instituted according to Pulitzer’s will, framed in 1904, where he made a provision for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prizes as an incentive to excellence.
    • Pulitzer specified solely four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one for education, and five travelling scholarships.
    • After his death in 1911, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded in June, 1917.

    Indians who have won the Pulitzer

    • A member of the Ghadar Party in America, journalist Gobind Behari Lal, was the first from India to win the Prize in 1937.
    • In 2000, London-born Indian-American writer Jhumpa Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her debut short story collection Interpreter of Maladies.
    • In 2003, Mumbai-born Geeta Anand was part of the team at Wall Street Journal that won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on corporate corruption.
    • In 2016, Indian-American Sanghamitra Kalita, then managing editor of Los Angeles Times, won the Pulitzer.

    The list goes on to date ….

     

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  • Literacy and delivery of services, not religion, influences fertility

    Context

    The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 5 report that was awaited for nearly six months is finally out. And it provides a heartening outlook.

    About NHFS

    • Started in 1992-93, it has culminated in the fifth round 2019-21.
    • The NFHS is a large, multi-round survey that, inter alia, provides information on fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, reproductive health, nutrition, anaemia, quality and utilisation of health and family planning services.
    • The surveys provide essential data needed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and other agencies for policy and programme purposes.
    • The Ministry assigned the nodal responsibility for the task to the International Institute for Population Sciences(IIPS), Mumbai.
    • Several international agencies are involved in providing technical and financial assistance, mainly USAID, DFID, UNICEF, and UNFPA.

    Replacement rate achieved

    • Replacement rate achieved: The report shows that India has finally achieved the replacement rate of 2.1TFR (Total Fertility Rate is the total number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime).
    • In fact, it has gone below the mark to 2.0.
    • There are, of course, large interstate variations.
    • The lagging states are UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur and Meghalaya.
    • Significantly, there were four states which were keeping the figures poor, namely, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
    • Two states, Rajasthan and MP, have struggled to get out of this group, while Jharkhand and the two northeastern states have replaced them.
    • UP and Bihar because of their sheer size are pulling down the national average.
    • Rajasthan and MP have reached the TFR of 2, which shows the success of their efforts.

    Influencing factors

    • It is not religion as commonly propounded but literacy, especially of girls, income and delivery of family planning, and health services.
    • 1] Delivery of services: The figures would have been even better if all those who have been made aware of the benefits of family planning had received the services they desire.
    • Making people informed of the need and methods of family planning and motivating them to adopt family planning is difficult enough.
    •  Having achieved the difficult task, we are not able to provide the services communities need — the “unmet need” — which is still very high at 9.4 per cent.
    • If we focus on this issue in a mission mode, the family planning performance will dramatically improve.
    • 2] Male attitude towards family planning: They tend to put the onus for birth control on women.
    • As many as 35 per cent men believe that using contraceptives is a woman’s responsibility. They ignore the fact that male vasectomy is a much simpler procedure than female tubectomy.
    • 3] Acceptance of family planning:  Muslim acceptance of family planning has continued through the five surveys spread over three decades at a rate faster than all other communities.
    • Though birth control practice among Muslims is still the least – 47.4 per cent (up from 45 per cent in NFHS-4).
    • Other communities — for example, Hindus — are not far behind with 58 per cent (up from 56 per cent).
    • This means that 42 per cent of the 80 per cent of the population are not practising family planning.
    • Education:  Women who have not attended school have 2.8 TFR as against 1.8 for those who have completed class XII.
    • Poverty: Similar gap of figure one is visible in the context of poverty with the poorest segment having higher TFR than the richest.

    Conclusion

    The time has come to leave politics behind and work together for achieving the goals set by National Population Policy 2000. Instead of misleading narratives, we need to address the real determinants of fertility behaviour – literacy, income generation and improvement of health and family planning services.

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  • Places in news: East Timor

    Asia’s youngest nation, East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, holds the second and final round of its presidential election.

    About East Timor

    • The territory was colonized by Portugal in the 18th century and remained under is control until 1975.
    • When the Portuguese withdrew, troops from Indonesia invaded and annexed East Timor as its 27th province.
    • A long and bloody struggle for independence ensued, during which at least 100,000 people died.
    • The East Timorese voted for independence in a 1999 U.N.-supervised referendum, but that unleashed even more violence until peace-keeping forces were allowed to enter.
    • The country was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2002.
    • East Timor has applied to be a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It currently holds observer status.

    Its geography

    • East Timor comprises the eastern half of Timor Island, the western half of which is part of Indonesia.
    • It spans a 15,000 square km (5,792 square mile) land area – slightly smaller than Israel – and it’s 1.3 million people are predominantly Roman Catholic.

    Politics and economy

    • In nearly 20 years since independence, East Timor’s presidential and parliamentary elections have been dominated by many of the same faces.
    • Its revolutionary have run for and held various positions of power and continue to feature prominently in the running of the country.
    • East Timor depends on revenues from its offshore oil and gas reserves which account for 90% of its gross domestic product.
    • Its main revenue stream, the Bayu Undan gas field, is set to dry up by 2023 and the country is now planning to collaborate with companies like Australia’s Santos to turn it into carbon capture facilities.

     

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  • Abel Prize awarded to American Mathematician

    The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the Abel prize for the year 2022 to American Mathematician Dennis Parnell Sullivan, for his contributions to topology in its broadest sense, and in particular its algebraic, geometric and dynamical aspects.

    Abel Prize

    • The Abel Prize is a prize awarded annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians.
    • It is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) and directly modeled after the Nobel Prizes.
    • It comes with a monetary award of 7.5 million Norwegian kroner (NOK) (increased from 6 million NOK in 2019).
    • Its establishment was proposed by the Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie when he learned that Alfred Nobel’s plans for annual prizes would not include a prize in mathematics.
    • The laureates are selected by the Abel Committee, the members of which are appointed by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

    Has any Indian won this prestigious prize?

    • R. Srinivasa Varadhan, an Indian-American citizen won the Abel Prize in the year 2007 for his valuable contribution in “probability theory and in particular for creating a unified theory of large deviation”.

     

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  • India ranks 136th in the World Happiness Report 2022

    India ranks 136th in the World Happiness Report 2022, while Finland becomes the happiest country for the fifth consecutive year.

    One can definitely question the credibility of such reports whenever India is being grouped with some African countries that too below Pakistan.

    World Happiness Report

    • The WHR is an annual publication of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
    • It measures three main well-being indicators: life evaluations, positive emotions, and negative emotions (described in the report as positive and negative affect).
    • Since 2011, the World Happiness Report (WHR) is released every year around the time of International Day of Happiness on March 20.
    • It was adopted by the UN General Assembly based on a resolution tabled by Bhutan.

    How is the WHI derived?

    • The ranking is done on a three-year average based on surveys of ‘Life Evaluation’ conducted by Gallup World Poll which surveys around 1000 people from each country to evaluate their current life on a scale of 0-10.
    • On this scale, 10 marks the best possible and 0 as the worst possible life.
    • Further, six key variables GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption contribute to explaining life evaluations.

    Top performers this year

    • The top five countries in the list are from Europe.
    • While the United States held the 16th spot in the happiest countries list.
    • Following Finland, Denmark bagged the second rank, while Iceland and Switzerland stood at third and fourth rank.
    • The Netherlands was at the fifth rank in the list.
    • Meanwhile, Luxembourg, Norway, Israel, and New Zealand were the remaining countries in the top 10.

    Dismal performers

    • Afghanistan held the last position of 146th in the list, with Lebanon (145th), Zimbabwe (144th), Rwanda (143rd), and Botswana (142nd) following.
    • Bangladesh has improved its ranking by seven notches on the WHI from 101 last year to 94 in 2022 out of 146 countries included in the report.

     

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  • Who is a Chess Grandmaster?

    India’s teenage chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has won praise for a stunning victory over world number one Magnus Carlsen in an online championship.

    Why are we reading this?

    • UPSC had asked three questions on sports in CSP 2021. They were based on Laureus World Sports Award, Summer Olympics, and ICC World Test Championship.
    • Try to ace uncertainties. No one can memorize such facts.

    Grandmaster: Behind the Title

    • Grandmaster is the highest title or ranking that a chess player can achieve.
    • The Grandmaster title — and other chess titles — is awarded by the International Chess Federation, FIDE (acronym for its French name Fédération Internationale des Échecs).
    • It is the Lausanne-Switzerland-based governing body of the international game.
    • The title is the badge of the game’s super elite, a recognition of the greatest chess talent on the planet, which has been tested and proven against a peer group of other similarly talented players.

    Other (lesser) titles

    Besides Grandmaster, the Qualification Commission of FIDE recognises and awards seven other titles:

    1. International Master (IM)
    2. FIDE Master (FM)
    3. Candidate Master (CM)
    4. Woman Grandmaster (WGM), Woman International Master (WIM), Woman FIDE Master (WFM), and Woman Candidate Master (WCM) and so on .

    Titles are for life

    • All the titles, including that of Grandmaster, are valid for life, unless a player is stripped of the title for a proven offence such as cheating.

    Qualifications for Grandmaster

    • The qualifications for Grandmaster were changed several times, including in 1957, 1965, and 1970.
    • Currently, FIDE awards chess’s highest honour to a player who is able to achieve a FIDE Classical or Standard rating of 2,500, plus three Grandmaster norms.
    • Grandmaster norms are defined by a set of complex and rigorous rules regarding tournaments, games, and players, that are set out in the FIDE Title Regulations.
    • The current regulations were approved by the FIDE Council on October 27, 2021, and came into effect on January 1, 2022.
    • Each norm is very difficult to attain.
    • Broadly, a player must have a performance rating of 2,600 or higher in a FIDE tournament that has nine rounds.

    Who holds maximum titles?

    • FIDE has so far recognized fewer than 2,000 Grandmasters out of the millions who play the game around the world.
    • A vast majority of Grandmasters have been male. Russia (and the erstwhile USSR) has produced the most Grandmasters in the world, followed by the United States and Germany.

    Grandmasters in India

    • India became a chess powerhouse in the 2000s, and now has more than 70 Grandmasters.
    • In 2016, Praggnanandhaa had become the world’s youngest IM at age 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days.

    Try this question from CSP 2021:

    Q. Consider the following statements in respect of the Laureus World Sports Award which was instituted in the year 2000:

    1. American golfer Tiger Woods was the first winner of this award.
    2. The award was received mostly by ‘Formula One’ players so far.
    3. Roger Federer received this award maximum number of times compared to others.

    Which of the above statements are correct?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

    Post your answers here.

     

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  • World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends, 2022

    Global unemployment is projected to stand at 207 million in 2022 (21 million more than in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic began) says ILO World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2022.

    World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2022

    • The report examines the impacts of the crisis on global and regional trends in employment, unemployment and labour force participation, as well as on job quality, informal employment and working poverty.
    • It also offers an extensive analysis of trends in temporary employment both before and during the COVID-19 crisis.

    Key highlights

    (1) Job Losses in 2022

    • It is estimated that in 2022 around 40 million people will no longer be participating in the global labour force.
    • The downgrade in the 2022 forecast reflects the impact of ever new variants of COVID-19 on the world of work.
    • Global working hours in 2022 will be almost two per cent below their pre-pandemic level.
    • This is equivalent to the loss of 52 million full-time jobs.

    (2) Pauperization

    • The pandemic has pushed millions of children into poverty.
    • It is estimated that in 2020, an additional 30 million adults fell into extreme poverty (living on less than $1.90 per day in purchasing power parity) while being out of paid work.
    • The number of extreme working poor — workers who do not earn enough through their work to keep themselves and their families above the poverty line — rose by eight million.

    (3) Impact on women

    • Women have been worse hit by the labour market crisis than men and this is likely to continue.
    • The closing of education and training institutions will have long-term implications for young people, particularly those without internet access.

    Key suggestions

    • There is the need for a broad-based labour market recovery — the recovery must be human-centred, inclusive, sustainable and resilient.
    • The recovery must be based on the principles of decent work — including health and safety, equity, social protection and social dialogue.

    Back2Basics: International Labour Organization (ILO)

    • The ILO is a UN agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards.
    • Founded in 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and oldest specialised agency of the UN.
    • The ILO has 187 member states: 186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands.
    • The ILO’s international labour standards are broadly aimed at ensuring accessible, productive, and sustainable work worldwide in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity.

    Its Governing Body

    • The Governing body is the apex executive body of the ILO which decides policies, programmes, agenda, budget and elects the Director-General.
    • It meets three times a year, in March, June and November.

    Major reports released:

    1. World Employment and Social Outlook
    2. World Social Protection Report
    3. Global Wage Report

     

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  • Places in news: Carmichael Mine in Australia

    The Adani Group will begin exporting high quality, low sulphur coal from its Carmichael mine in Australia as early as this week, tapping a new multi-decade source to meet energy needs.

    Carmichael Mine

    • The Carmichael mine is located in the North Galilee Basin, more than 300 kilometers from the Queensland coastline and approximately 160 km north-west of Clermont in regional Queensland.
    • The Carmichael project, proposed in 2010, had provoked a sustained campaign by climate activists in Australia and other places globally, forcing banks and insurers not to work with the Adani group.
    • The conglomerate run by India’s second-richest man Gautam Adani has planned an initial production of 10 million tonnes a year from the mines in the Galilee Basin.
    • The Coal mined here has low sulfur content and high calorific value.

     

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  • Langtang Project: Nepal’s first hydropower from a glacial lake

     

    Langtang Microhydro Electricity Project, Nepal’s first hydropower from a glacial lake has become functional recently.

    Langtang Microhydro Electricity Project

    • The Project was built three years after the 2015 earthquake-avalanche that devastated the valley, with help from the Hong Kong-based Kadoorie Charitable Foundation.
    • It has a weir and spillway at the moraine, and the water is taken through a fibre glass-insulated penstock pipe to a powerhouse that generates 100kW of electricity.
    • It seeks to provide 24 hours of electricity to 120 households and tourist lodges in Kyanjin and Langtang.

    Uniqueness of the project

    • The project is the first-of-its-kind in Nepal to power a village and holds promise for other remote Himalayan valleys where the risk posed by expanding glacial lakes can be mitigated.
    • At the same time, it provides electricity to tourism-dependent families.

     

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  • Economics Nobel for Natural Experiments

    The 2021 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to three US-based economists.

    Do you know?

    The Nobel Prize is officially called as Sveriges Riksbank Prize!

    Who are the awardees?

    • Nobel Committee awarded half the Prize to David Card for his “empirical contributions to labour economics”
    • Other half to Guido Imbens and Joshua Angrist “for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships”

    What makes this year’s award special?

    • This is the first time the economic prize has been divided in this fashion with one half going to one awardee and other half divided across two awardees.
    • In the past, prize money was divided equally between the awardees even if the prize was for different topics as is the case this time around.
    • It may appear that the Nobel Prize has been given for two different contributions, but there is a common theme: “natural experiments.”

    What are Natural Experiments?

    • Economists are often interested in causal questions such as the impact of education on incomes, impact of COVID-19 on poverty and so on.
    • They are also interested is understanding the direction of causality.
    • Economists have used two kinds of experiments to study these causality and direction of causality questions: random experiments and natural experiments.

    (I) Random experiments

    • Under randomized experiments, the researchers allocate say medicines to a treatment group and compare the effect of the medicine with the control group which is not given the medicine.
    • In 2019, the Nobel Committee gave awards to three scholars for their contribution to the field of randomized experiments.
    • However, one cannot randomize experiments to study issues such as why certain people and regions are more unequal or have fewer educational opportunities and so on.

    (II) Natural experiments

    • In natural experiments, economists study a policy change or a historical event and try to determine the cause and effect relationship to explain these developments.
    • The trio used such natural experiments to make some landmark contributions to economic development.
    • Natural experiments are more difficult for two reasons. The first is to identify what will serve as a natural experiment.
    • Second, in a random experiment, the researcher knows and controls the treatment and control groups which allows them to study the cause and effect of medicine.
    • But in natural experiments, such clear differentiation is not possible because people choose their groups on their own and even move between the two groups.
    • Despite the limitations, the researchers could use the natural setting to answer some big policy questions.

    Natural experiments conducted by David Card

    • One question of interest for policymakers is to understand the impact of higher minimum wages on employment.
    • Earlier studies showed that increasing minimum wages leads to lower unemployment.
    • Economists were also not sure of the direction of causation between minimum wages and employment.
    • Say a slowdown in the economy leads to higher unemployment amid lower income groups.
    • This could lead to lower income groups demanding higher minimum wages. In such a case, it is higher unemployment which leads higher minimum wages.

    Contribution of Angrist and Imbens

    • Angrist and Imbens showed how natural experiments can be used to identify cause and effect precisely.
    • We have discussed above how natural experiments make it difficult to separate control and treatment groups. This makes it difficult to establish causal relations.
    • In the 1990s, the duo developed a methodology – Local Average Treatment Effect (or LATE) – which uses a two-step process to help grapple with these problems of natural experiments.
    • Say, one is interested in finding the impact of an additional year of schooling on the incomes of people.
    • By using the LATE approach, they showed that effect on income of an additional year of education is around 9%.
    • While it may not be possible to determine individuals in the group, one can estimate the size of the impact.

    What is the importance of the award today?

    • Earlier it was difficult to identify natural experiments and even if one identified them, it was difficult to generate data from these experiments.
    • With increased digitalization and dissemination of archival records, it has not just become easier to identify natural experiments but also get data.
    • Economists have been using natural experiments to help us understand the impact of past policies.
    • As the 2020 pandemic struck, economists used the natural experiments approach extensively to analyse how previous pandemics impacted different regions and tried to draw policy lessons.

    India context

    • The methodology date back to the early and mid-90s and they have already had a tremendous influence on the research undertaken in several developing countries such as India.
    • For instance, in India, too, it is commonly held that higher minimum wages will be counterproductive for workers.
    • It is noteworthy that last year, in the wake of the Covid-induced lockdowns, several states, including UP, had summarily suspended several labour laws.
    • This included the ones regulating minimum wages, arguing that such a move will boost employment.
    • The main learning is that minimum wages can be increased in India without worrying about reducing employment.

     

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  • The Atlantic Niño’s role in India’s erratic monsoon

    Context

    Last month, farmers from Madhya Pradesh threatened to take IMD to court for the inaccurate monsoon forecast this year. A question was also raised in Parliament about whether the Arctic warming had led to an erratic monsoon this year.

    Understanding the role of Atlantic Niño in monsoon prediction

    • Monsoon predictions are a monumental challenge, especially when it comes to the spatial distribution and the northward migration of the monsoon trough.
    • Forecast models tend to rely heavily on El Niño for monsoon predictions.
    • But only about 50 per cent of the dry years are explained by El Niño.
    • Clearly, Atlantic Niño is a significant player in monsoon evolution and models and forecasters must pay attention to this Atlantic teleconnection.
    • Atlantic Niño is El Niño’s little cousin in the Atlantic, also known as the Atlantic Zonal Mode.
    • Indian scientists from INCOIS have argued that the Atlantic Niño is in fact predictable up to three months in advance.
    • Every few years, from June to August, there is a warming in the eastern equatorial Atlantic, which does not get as much attention as its big brother El Niño.
    • The biggest rainfall deficits from the Atlantic Niño tend to occur over the Western Ghats and the core monsoon zone.

    How Atlantic Niño plays a role if Indian and Atlantic Oceans are not connected?

    • The Atlantic and Indian Oceans are not directly connected in the tropics via the ocean.
    • The Atlantic Niño affects the monsoon by producing atmospheric waves, which propagate into the Indian Ocean.
    • These waves affect air temperatures over the Indian Ocean and influence the land-ocean thermal contrast as well as Low Pressure Systems (LPS).

    Way forward

    • Overall, monsoon prediction skill has gone up in the IMD but even a 70 per cent accuracy means the forecasts will be wrong 30 per cent of the time.
    • Many of the Atlantic Niños occur during non-El Niño years and this offers a window of opportunity to increase forecast skills based on the accurate prediction of the Atlantic Niño.

    Conclusion

    No forecasts will ever be 100 per cent accurate. Climate scientists are also aware of the monsoon prediction challenge and they will continue to try to improve monsoon forecasts.

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    Back2Basics:  El Niño and La Niña

    • These periodic weather patterns occur as a result of fluctuating ocean temperatures in one part of the world, namely the east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean.
    • This can lead to extreme weather.
    • When warm water builds up along the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, an El Niño occurs.
    • Conversely, when cool water builds up along the same region, a La Niña occurs with the opposite impact.

  • What is Vishnuonyx?

    Between 12.5 million and 14 million years ago, members of a genus of otters called Vishnuonyx lived in the major rivers of southern Asia.

    Vishnuonyx neptuni

    • Vishnuonyx were mid-sized predators that weighed, on average, 10-15 kg.
    • Before this, the genus was known only in Asia and Africa (recent findings show that Vishnuonyx reached East Africa about 12 million years ago, according to the release).
    • Vishnuonyx depended on water and could not travel long distances over land.

    Why in news?

    • German researchers have discovered the fossil of a previously unknown species, which they have named Vishnuonyx neptuni, meaning ‘Neptune’s Vishnu’.
    • Fossils of these now extinct otters were first discovered in sediments found in the foothills of the Himalayas.
    • Now, a newly found fossil indicates it had travelled as far as Germany. ‘
    • The dispersal of Vishnuonyx otters from the Indian subcontinent to Africa and Europe about 13 million years ago. ‘
    • This is the first discovery of any member of the Vishnuonyx genus in Europe; it is also its most northern and western record till date.

    How did it travel as far as Europe?

    • According to the researchers, its travels over 6,000 km were probably made possible by the geography of 12 million years ago, when the Alps were recently formed.
    • These Alps and the Iranian Elbrus Mountains were separated by a large ocean basin, which would have made it easier for the otters to cross it.
    • Researchers believe ‘Neptune’s Vishnu’ first reached southern Germany, followed by Ancient Guenz and eventually, the Hammerschmiede.

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  • General Sherman: World’s largest tree

    Two wildfires in California are burning through the Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada that is home to some of the largest trees in the world.

    Among these trees is the world’s largest tree popularly known as General Sherman, which firefighters are now trying to protect from the blaze.

    About General Sherman

    • The General Sherman tree is the world’s largest in terms of volume and exists in the Giant Forest sequoia grove of the national park.
    • As per recent estimates, General Sherman is about 2,200 years old.
    • It stands at a height of 275 feet (taller than the leaning tower of Pisa) and has a diameter of 36 feet at the base.
    • Even 60 feet above the base, the tree has a diameter of 17.5 feet.
    • Giant sequoia trees have existed in the national park for thousands of years and there are an estimated 2,000 such trees in the park.

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  • Making of the Modern City of Kolkata

    A 2003 judgment by the Calcutta High Court generates discussion of the city’s age, its date of founding, and Job Charnock, whom many credits for having “found” the city of Calcutta.

    Calcutta: Who founded the city?

    Nobody.

    • A place then called Kalikatah was an important religious centre due to the existence of the Kali temple in the adjacent village of Kalighat.
    • The first literary reference to the site is found in Bipradas Pipilai’s magnum opus Manasa Mangala which dates back to 1495.
    • Abul Fazl’s Ain-I-Akbari dating 1596 also mentions the place.
    • The Sabarna Roy Choudhury family was granted the Jagirdari of Kalikatah by Emperor Jehangir in 1608.

    Who was Job Charnock?

    • Job Charnock (1630–1693) was an English administrator with the East India Company.
    • He was once regarded as the founder of the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).
    • However, this view is challenged, and in 2003 the Calcutta High Court declared that he ought not to be regarded as the founder.
    • Charnock was entrusted with procuring the Company’s saltpetre and appointed to the centre of the trade, Patna in Bihar in1659.

    Beginning of Urbanization

    • The establishment of the Government House in 1767 and the Lottery Commission in 1817 were the other important developments in the city’s history that gave its urban landscape more defined contours.
    • This commission was entirely responsible for the setting up of the city’s roads, streets and lanes.
    • Some markers of urban settlements include planned roads, water supply and transport.
    • The establishment of these in the early 19th century was responsible for making Calcutta the great city that it eventually became.

    Significance of Kolkata

    One of the most significant developments that gave the city a semblance of urban formation occurred in 1756 when the Nawab of Bengal Siraj ud-Daulah lay siege to Calcutta.

    • This was in retaliation for the British East India Company engaging in unauthorized development of the structure that is now known as Fort William.
    • The East India Company was defeated in a decisive battle, making them realise the vulnerability of the fort.
    • Post 1757 the fort was remade and fortified with enhanced protection, the construction was exceptionally well done.
    • It was really this attack on Fort William, a bastion of the British and other Europeans living there, that changed the map of Calcutta.
    • The Europeans who used to primarily lived inside the fort—the European merchants, the administrators etc—started moving out.
    • They knew that if there was an attack, there was infrastructure to save them. That was European Calcutta, what we call ‘White Town’.

    Hey! We won’t let you move away without answering this PYQ:

    Wellesley established the Fort William College at Calcutta because (CSP 2020):

    (a) He was asked by the board of directors at London to do so

    (b) He wanted to revive interest in oriental learning in India

    (c) He wanted to provide William Carey and his associates with employment

    (d) He wanted to train British civilians for administrative purposes in India.

     

    Post your answers here:

  • Places in news: Indira Point

    The Swarnim Vijay Varsh Victory Flame was taken to Indira Point, the southernmost tip of the country on August 22, 2021, as part of its voyage to the Nicobar Group of Islands.

    Indira Point

    • Indira Point is the southernmost point of Indian Territory.
    • It is a village in the Nicobar district at Great Nicobar Island of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India.
    • Rondo Island, Indonesia’s northernmost island in Sabang district of Aceh province of Sumatra, lies 163 km south of Little Andaman Island and 145 km or 80 nautical miles from Indira point.
    • The point was formerly known as Pygmalion Point and Parsons Point. It was renamed in honour of Indira Gandhi during mid-1980s.
    • Galathea National Park and Lighthouse are the major attractions here.

    India and Indonesia are upgrading the deep sea port Sabang under the strategic military and economic collaboration to protect the channel between Great Nicobar Island and Rondo Island which is 612 km or 330 nautical miles from Indira Point.

    What is Swarnim Vijay Varsh?

    • It marks the 50th anniversary of the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
    • Vijay Diwas is celebrated every year on December 16 to mark India`s triumph in liberating Bangladesh.
    • The journey of the Victory Flame is taken from north to south corners of India.

  • Water shortage in Colorado River Basin

    The federal government in the US has declared a water shortage for the Colorado river basin due to a historic drought.

    Try this PYQ

    Q. Consider the following pairs

    River – Flows into

    1. Mekong — Andaman Sea
    2. Thames — Irish Sea
    3. Volga — Caspian Sea
    4. Zambezi — Indian Ocean

    Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?(CSP 2020)

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 only

    (c) 3 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 4 only

     

    Post your answers here (you need to sign-in for that).

    Colorado River

    • The Colorado River flows from the Rocky Mountains into the southwestern US and into Mexico.
    • The river is fed by snowmelt from the Rocky and Wasatch mountains and flows a distance of over 2,250 km (river Ganga flows through a distance of roughly 2,500 km) across seven states and into Mexico.
    • The Colorado River Basin is divided into the Upper (Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and northern Arizona) and Lower Basins (parts of Nevada, Arizona, California, southwestern Utah and western New Mexico).
    • In the Lower Basin, the Hoover Dam controls floods and regulates water delivery and storage.
    • Apart from the Hoover dam, there is the Davis Dam, Parker Dam and the Imperial Dam that regulate the release of water from the Hoover Dam.

    Major lakes in its basin

    • Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of volume and was formed in the 1930s by the Hoover Dam in Southern Nevada.
    • Its main source of water is obtained from the Rocky Mountain snowmelt and runoff.
    • The other is Lake Powell, the reservoir created by the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona.

    Reasons for shortage

    • Since the year 2000, this river basin has been experiencing a prolonged drought.
    • This persistent drought has led to a lowering down of the water levels in the basin’s reservoirs to meet the demand over the years.
    • But even with great water storing capacity, over the years the demand for water from the basin has increased whereas supply is restricted.

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  • Person in news: Abanindranath Tagore

    Year-long celebrations marking 150 years of Abanindranath Tagore have been kicked off in Kolkata.

    Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951)

    • Tagore CIE was the principal artist and creator of the “Indian Society of Oriental Art”.
    • A nephew of Rabindranath Tagore and a decade younger to the poet, he helped shape modern Indian art and was the creator of the iconic ‘Bharat Mata’ painting.
    • He was also the first major exponent of Swadeshi values in Indian art, thereby finding the influential Bengal school of art, which led to the development of modern Indian painting.
    • He was also a noted writer, particularly for children.
    • Tagore sought to modernize Mughal, Rajput styles to counter the influence of Western models of art, as taught in art schools under the British Raj.
    • Along with other artists from the Bengal school of art, Tagore advocated in favor of a nationalistic Indian art derived from Indian art history, drawing inspiration from the Ajanta Caves.

    Q. Which among the following event happened earliest? (CSP 2018)

    (a) Swami Dayanand established Arya Samaj.

    (b) Dinabandhu Mitra wrote Neeldarpan.

    (c) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Anandmath.

    (d) Satyendranath Tagore became the first India to succeed in the Indian Civil Services Examination.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

     

  • [pib] Exercise Cutlass Express 2021

    Indian Naval Ship Talwar is participating in Exercise Cutlass Express 2021, being conducted along the East Coast of Africa.

    Exercise Cutlass Express

    • The exercise is an annual maritime exercise conducted to promote national and regional maritime security in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.
    • Indian Navy is participating in the exercise in a ‘trainer role’.

    The 2021 edition of the exercise involves the participation of:

    • 12 Eastern African countries, US, UK, India
    • Various international organizations like International Maritime Organization (IMO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), Critical Maritime Routes Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO), and EUCAP Somalia

    Focus of the exercise

    • The exercise focuses on East Africa’s coastal regions.
    • It is designed to assess and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity, promote national and regional security and increase interoperability between the regional navies.
    • As part of the exercise, the Indian Navy, together with other partners, shall undertake the training of contingents from various participating countries in various fields across the spectrum of maritime security operations.

    Must read:

    [Prelims Spotlight] Defence Exercises

  • Sainath awarded 2021 Fukuoka Prize

    Noted journalist P. Sainath has been selected as one of the three recipients of the Fukuoka Prize for 2021.

    Fukuoka Prize

    • The Fukuoka Prize is given annually to distinguished people to foster and increase awareness of Asian cultures, and to create a broad framework of exchange and mutual learning among the Asian people.
    • The Prize was established in 1990 by the city of Fukuoka in Japan and the Fukuoka City International Foundation.
    • The Grand Prize has earlier been awarded to Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh, historian Romila Thapar, and sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan. Eleven Indians have received the Fukuoka Prize so far.
    • 115 people from 28 countries and areas have received the Prize in the past 30 years.

    Citation for the award

    • In a statement issued Mr. Sainath was described as a “very deserving recipient of the Grand Prize of Fukuoka Prize”.
    • The Secretariat noted his work for creating a new form of knowledge through his writings and commentaries on rural India and for “promoting civil cooperation”.

  • Skull found in China represents a new human species

    Scientists have announced that a skull discovered in northeast China represents a newly discovered human species they have named Homo longi, or “Dragon Man”.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.The word ‘Denisovan’ is sometimes mentioned in media in reference to (CSP 2019):

    (a) fossils of a kind of dinosaurs

    (b) an early human species

    (c) a cave system found in North-East India.

    (d) a geological period in the history of Indian subcontinent

    Who is the “Dragon Man”, the latest Chinese discovery?

    • The cranium found in China has been dubbed the “Dragaon Man” or Homo longi, a name that has been derived from the Long Jiang or Dragon River in the Heilongjiang province of China where the city of Harbin is located.
    • The skull was reportedly discovered back in 1933, when a bridge was built over the Songhua River.
    • For thousands of years, the skull remained buried in sediments.
    • Because of the distinctive shape of the skull, which was found almost complete, some members of the team have suggested that it be declared a part of a new species of the genus Homo.
    • Significantly, the size of the skull, which has a considerable brain capacity, is comparable to that of modern humans and Neanderthals.

    Why is this discovery being considered significant?

    • For one, it brings new knowledge about the evolution of Homo sapiens.
    • It might help to bridge the gaps between our ancient ancestors called Homo erectus and us.
    • This knowledge is important because there is very little consensus in the scientific community about how different human species are related, and which species are our immediate ancestors.
    • Smithsonian for instance notes that some palaeontologists believe Homo heidelbergensis to be our immediate ancestors.
    • This species was discovered in 1908, and lived about 700,000 to 200,000 years ago in Europe and possibly China and some parts of Africa.

    Back2Basics: Species of Humans

    • Modern humans are the only human species that exist in the world today.
    • While the exact number of human species is a matter of debate, most scientists believe that there are at least 21 of them.

    As per the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, there are over 21 human species.  Major among these are:

    (1) Sahelanthropus tchadensis

    • Sahelanthropus tchadensis is believed to be the oldest member of the human family tree.
    • It lived about 7-6 million years ago somewhere around present-day Chad in Africa.
    • It had both ape-like and human-like features and was bipedalled, an ability that may have increased its chances of survival.

    (2) Homo erectus

    • Homo erectus lived about 1.89 million-110,000 years ago, in Northern, Eastern, and Southern Africa and Western and East Asia.
    • ‘Turkana Boy’ is the most complete fossil belonging to this species and is dated to be around 1.6 million years old.

    (3) Modern man

    • Homo neanderthalensis lived about 400,000-40,000 years ago and co-existed with Homo sapiens for a few thousand years.
    • They lived in Europe and in southwestern and central Asia.
    • Homo sapiens evolved about 300,000 years ago, and are found worldwide.