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14th July 2022

  • Published
    14 July 2022

What is I2U2 that is holding its first-ever leader’s summit today?

Context

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the first-ever I2U2 Virtual Summit.

About

I2U2:

  • I2U2 stands for India, Israel, the UAE, and the US.
  • Moreover, the Ambassador of UAE to India, Ahmed Albanna, had referred to the new grouping as the ‘West Asian Quad’.
  • The genesis of this group took place in middle-east to harness the maritime traffic of the Strait of Hormuz, Bab Al Mandab and Suez Canal region.
  • Out of the 8 maritime choke points in the world, these three lie closer to each other around Israel and UAE.

Purpose of I2U2:

  • Strait of Hormuz: The strait is approximately 167 km long, with a width of about 96 km at its widest to 39 km at its narrowest point.
  • One third of the world’s liquefied natural gas and almost 25% of total global oil consumption passes through the strait making it a strategic choke point.
  • Bab Al Mandab Strait: This is a vital strategic link in the maritime trade route between Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean via Red Sea and Suez Canal.
  • On an average 60 ships pass through this strait each day. But unfortunately, this region has been infested with pirates and plagued by instability. This is another example of a choke point.




  • Suez Canal: This is one of the more famous names of the three straits.
  • This is an artificial sea level trade route via Egypt, a vital trade link between Europe and Asia.
  • Statistics suggest 56 ships cross this canal each day.
  • One block in the canal in April 2021 had caused a lot of monetary loss to myriads of countries.

Aim of I2U2 grouping

  • The aim is to discuss “common areas of mutual interest, to strengthen the economic partnership in trade and investment in our respective regions and beyond”.
  • Six areas of cooperation have been identified by the countries mutually, and the aim is to encourage joint investments in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
  • With the help of “private sector capital and expertise”, the countries will look to modernise infrastructure, explore low carbon development avenues for industries, improve public health, and promote the development of critical emerging and green technologies.
  • US President Biden’s recent visit to the Middle East will also focus on Israel’s increasing integration into the region, both through the Abraham Accords with UAE, Morocco and Bahrain.
  • The Abraham Accords of 2020 had led to Israel formally normalising diplomatic ties with the UAE and two other countries in the region, marking an important shift in the stance of West Asian countries on Israel.

Significance of I2U2 Grouping:

  • The grouping of the four nations- India, Israel, United Arab Emirates, and the United States met for the first time under a new framework in October 2021. 
  • At that time, the grouping of the four-nation was called ‘International Forum for Economic Cooperation’.
  • India will receive the benefit of the Abraham Accords to deepen engagement with Israel without risking its ties with the UAE and the other Arab states.
  • India will benefit from this grouping as India is a massive consumer market and an immense producer of high-tech and highly sought-after goods as well.

Abraham Accords

  • The Israel–UAE normalization agreement is officially called the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement.
  • It was initially agreed to in a joint statement by the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in August, 2020.
  • The UAE thus became the third Arab country, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, to agree to formally normalize its relationship with Israel as well as the first Persian Gulf country to do so.
  • Concurrently, Israel agreed to suspend plans for annexing parts of the West Bank. The agreement normalized what had long been informal but robust foreign relations between the two countries.

 

Tuna export case - Lakshadweep

Context

CBI has booked Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal P.P for allegedly colluding with a Colombo-based company to cheat fishermen in Lakshadweep.

About

What is the case?

  • According to the CBI, some public servants of Lakshadweep Co-operative Marketing Federation (LCMF) in collusion with Faizal caused loss to LCMF by not following the requisite tender process and other formalities in theexport of tuna fish to a Sri Lankan company.

Lakshadweep Co-operative Marketing Federation (LCMF):

  • LCMF, which was established in 1966, is the apex society of all cooperative supply & marketing societies in Lakshadweep.
  • The federation also acts as the nodal agency of the Lakshadweep Administration in the marketing of agricultural products (copra) and fishery products (mass tuna).

Tuna:

  • Tuna and tuna-like species include approximately 40 species occurring in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans and in the Mediterranean Sea.
  • Tuna species account for 20 percent of the value of all marine capture fisheries and over eight percent of all globally traded seafood.

About Lakshadweep:

  • The name Lakshadweep in Malayalam and Sanskrit means ‘a hundred thousand islands’. ”
  • India’s smallest Union Territory Lakshadweep is an archipelago consisting of 36 islands with an area of 32 sq km.
  • It is a uni-district Union Territory and comprises of 12 atolls, three reefs, five submerged banks and ten inhabited islands.
  • There are three main group of islands:
  • Amindivi Islands
  • Laccadive Islands
  • Minicoy Island.
  • Amindivi Islands are the northernmost while the Minicoy Island is the southernmost.
  • All are tiny islands of coral origin (Atoll) and are surrounded by fringing reefs.
  • The Capital is Kavaratti and it is also the principal town of the UT.
  • All Islands are 220 to 440 km away from the coastal city of Kochi in Kerala, in the emerald Arabian Sea. 

FCRA, the law related to NGO funding

Context

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has removed some crucial data from the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) website.

About
  • The information removed includes the annual returns of NGOs and a list of NGOs whose licences have been cancelled.
  • The FCRA website used to
    • maintain detailed data on NGOs granted licences;
    • NGOs granted prior permission for receiving foreign contribution;
    • NGOs whose licences have been cancelled, and
    • the ones whose licences are deemed to have expired
    • It also had the annual returns of NGOs.

What is the FCRA?

Foreign contribution

  • A donation, delivery or transfer or any article, currency or foreign security by any person who has received it from any foreign source, either directly or through one or more persons refers to foreign contribution.
  • The FCRA was enacted during the Emergency in 1976 in an atmosphere of apprehension that foreign powers were interfering in India’s affairs by pumping in funds through independent organisations.
  • These concerns had been expressed in Parliament as early as in 1969.
  • The law sought to regulate foreign donations to individuals and associations so that they functioned “in a manner consistent with the values of a sovereign democratic republic”.
  • An amended FCRA was enacted under the UPA government in 2010 to “consolidate the law” on utilisation of foreign funds, and “to prohibit” their use for “any activities detrimental to national interest”.
  • The law was amended again by the current government in 2020, giving the government tighter control and scrutiny over the receipt and utilisation of foreign funds by NGOs.
  • Broadly, the FCRA requires every person or NGO wishing to receive foreign donations to be registered under the Act, to open a bank account for the receipt of the foreign funds in State Bank of India, Delhi, and to utilise those funds only for the purpose for which they have been received and as stipulated in the Act.
  • They are also required to file annual returns, and they must not transfer the funds to another NGO.
  • The Act prohibits receipt of foreign funds by candidates for elections, journalists or newspaper and media broadcast companies, judges and government servants, members of legislature and political parties or their office-bearers, and organisations of a political nature.

What is the process of granting of FCRA registration?

  • Online application: NGOs that want to receive foreign funds must apply online in a prescribed format with the required documentation.
    • FCRA registrations are granted to individuals or associations that have definite cultural, economic, educational, religious, and social programmes.
  • Inquiry through IB: Following the application, the MHA makes inquiries through the Intelligence Bureau (IB) into the antecedents of the applicant, and accordingly processes the application. Under the FCRA, the applicant (should not):
    • should not be fictitious or benami
    • should not have been prosecuted or convicted for indulging in activities aimed at conversion through inducement or force, either directly or indirectly, from one religious faith to another
    • should not have been prosecuted for or convicted of creating communal tension or disharmony
    • should not have been found guilty of diversion or misutilisation of funds
    • should not be engaged or likely to be engaged in the propagation of sedition
  • Approval or rejection: The MHA is required to approve or reject the application within 90 days.
    • In case of failure to process the application in the given time, the MHA is expected to inform the NGO of the reasons for the same.

For how long is approval granted?

  • Validity: Once granted, FCRA registration is valid for five years.
  • Renewal: NGOs are expected to apply for renewal within six months of the date of expiry of registration.
    • In case of failure to apply for renewal, the registration is deemed to have expired, and the NGO is no longer entitled to receive foreign funds or utilise its existing funds without permission from the ministry.

Dhammacakka Day 2022

Context

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind addressed the Dhammacakka Day 2022 celebrations at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh.

About
  • Dhammacakka Day 2022, Ashadha Purnima is the second most important sacred day of observance for Buddhists after Vaishakha Buddha Purnima.
  • It commemorates Buddha's First Sermon or the First Turning of the Wheel of Dhamma, when he taught the Dhammacakka-pavattana Sutta (Pali) or Dharmacakra pravartana S?tra (Sanskrit).
  • Seven weeks after his Enlightenment, he gave this discourse to pañcavargiya - the first five ascetic disciples- at the ‘Deer Park', Rsipatana Mrigadaya in the current day Sarnath, which is in Varanasi.
  • It is here that the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Paths and the Middle Path: avoiding the two extremes, i.e., life of extreme indulgence and the life of extreme penance.
  • The International Buddhist Confederation, New Delhi has organised Dhammacakka Day 2022 (The Turning of the Wheel of Dharma), Ashaaha Purnima on 13 July 2022 in Sarnath, U.P. (India).

International Buddhist Confederation:

  • It was formed in 2013 as an international Buddhist umbrella body to serve as a common platform for Buddhists worldwide.
  • Headquarters: New Delhi.
  • IBC represents the rich diversity of Buddhism and provides a platform for the global Buddhist community to share its wisdom and meaningfully participate in the on-going global social and political discourse, while at the same time preserving and promoting its shared heritage.

Guru Purnima

  • According to the Hindu calendar, Guru Purnima generally falls on a full-moon day in the Hindu month of Ashadh.
  • It is dedicated to Maharshi Veda Vyasa, the sage who is believed to have edited the sacred Hindu text, the Vedas and created the 18 Puranas, Mahabharata and the Srimad Bhagavatam.
  • For Buddhists, the festival marks the first sermon of Lord Buddha, which is said to have been delivered at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, on this very day.
  • It is also believed to mark the onset of monsoons.

Supreme Court to hear plea seeking declaration of 'Ram Sethu' as national heritage monument

Context

The Supreme Court recently agreed to list a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to declare the 'Ram Sethu' a national heritage monument.

About
  • The BJP leader had earlier raised the issue of declaring the Ram Sethu as a national monument in his public interest litigation (PIL) petition against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel project, initiated by the UPA-I government.
  • The matter had reached the apex court, which in 2007 had stayed the work for the project on the Ram Sethu.

About Ram Sethu:

  • The Ram Sethu, also known as Adam's bridge, is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban Island or Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka.
  • The petition was filed against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Canal project, which will pass through the shoals on Ram Sethu.
  • The project had faced protests from some political parties, environmentalists and certain Hindu religious groups.
  • Under the project, a 83-kilometre-long deep water channel was to be created, linking Mannar with Palk Strait, by extensive dredging and removal of the limestone shoals.

Kelp forests

Context

A research team has been set out to investigate what prompts urchins to munch their way out of a home. They discovered that the availability of kelp scraps, or detritus, might be the deciding factor.

About

Kelp Forests:

  • Kelp forests are large brown algae that live in cool, relatively shallow waters close to the shore. They grow in dense groupings much like a forest on land. These underwater towers of kelp provide food and shelter for thousands of fish, invertebrates, and marine mammal species.
  • Kelp forests harbor a greater variety and higher diversity of plants and animals than almost any other ocean community. Many organisms use the thick blades as a safe shelter for their young from predators or even rough storms.
  • Among the many mammals and birds that use kelp forests for protection or feeding are seals, sea lions, whales, sea otters, gulls, terns, snowy egrets, great blue herons, cormorants, and shore birds.
  • These dense canopies of algae generally occur in cold, nutrient-rich waters. Because of their dependency upon light for photosynthesis, kelp forests form in shallow open waters and are rarely found deeper than 49-131 feet.
  • In ideal conditions, kelp can grow up to 18 inches per day, and in stark contrast to the colorful and slow-growing corals, the giant kelp canopies tower above the ocean floor.
  • Like trees in a forest, these giant algae provide food and shelter for many organisms.
  • Also like a terrestrial forest, kelp forests experience seasonal changes.

Importance of Kelps:

  • Kelp is a type of large, brown seaweed that grows in shallow, nutrient-rich saltwater near coastal fronts around the world.
  • Seaweed farming is a sustainable practice, mainly because these farms help improve water quality.
  • Kelp also produces a compound called sodium alginate
  • They are high in iodine, potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium which are all nutrients your body needs to stay healthy.
  • Kelp forests harbor a greater variety and higher diversity of plants and animals.
  • Kelp is low in fat and calories.
  • Seaweed also has the ability to use carbon dioxide to grow, which also helps balance out high nutrient levels in surrounding waters.

Sea Urchin:

  • The marine animals known as sea urchins look something like globe-shaped pincushions.
  • They are members of the scientific group Echinodermata, meaning “spiny skinned.”
  • Sea urchins are covered with long, movable spines.
  • These spines help the slow-moving animal to “walk” and are also used to keep away enemies.
  • There are more than 900 species, or types, of sea urchin. They live in all seas except those of the Polar Regions. They are found on the ocean floor, usually on hard surfaces.
  • Physical Features:
    • Sea urchins are often shades of red or purple. They vary greatly in size. 
    • Sea urchins are invertebrates, which mean they do not have a backbone. They do, however, have an internal skeleton known as a test.
      • Sticking out of the test are the spines and some pincer like organs known as pedicellariae, both of which may be poisonous.
    • Like its close relative the sea star, a sea urchin has tube feet to help with movement. These feet are often tipped with suckers. Along with the spines and pedicellariae, the tube feet help the sea urchin to grab food and bring it into its mouth.
  • Sea urchins mainly eat plant material. The mouth contains a strong jaw piece called Aristotle’s lantern, which is made up of five bony teeth.
  • The teeth can be pushed out of the mouth to scrape algae and other substances off rocks.

Editorial

Gender Gap Index

Context:

World Economic Forum has released the ‘Global Gender Gap Index’ for 2022. India ranked at 135 out of 146 nations.

About gender gap Index:

  • Published by: The Global Gender Gap Index is published by World Economic Forum (WEF) since the year 2006.
  • Objectives: According to the WEF it is the long standing Index that tracks the performance and progress of the nation towards narrowing down the gaps between genders.
  • Parameters: The Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions:
    • Political Empowerment
    • Economic Participation and opportunity
    • Educational attainment
    • Health and survival
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ThinkQ

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QUIZ - 14th July 2022

Mains Question:

Q1. Discuss the scope of I2U2 in exploring security cooperation and technological cooperation expansion. What importance does this alliance hold for India? (150 words)

 

Approach 

  • Introduction- define I2U2 and its origin
  • Aims and objectives (technology hub)
  • Importance of the alliance for India
  • Suggest a way forward 
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