GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

According to the latest information provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to the Lok Sabha, over 1.6 lakh Indians renounced their citizenship in 2021, highest in the past five years.

Key-highlights of the development

• US remain the highest among all countries for acquisition of its citizenship by other Nationals.
  • Over 78,000 Indians acquired S. citizenship by giving up Indian citizenship.
• As many as 362 Indians living in China also acquired Chinese citizenship.
• Others: Australia- 23,533, Canada- 21,597, U.K.-14,637, Italy-5,986, Netherlands- 2187, New Zealand- 2643, Singapore- 2516, U.S.A.- 78284, Pakistan-41 and Nepal-10.

The idea of citizenship

• Citizenship signifies the relationship between’ individual’ and ‘state’.
• India has two kinds of people—citizens and aliens. Citizens are full members of the Indian State and owe allegiance to it. They enjoy all civil and political
• Citizenship is an idea of exclusion as it excludes non-citizens.

What are the provisions for renunciation of the Citizenship in India?

The citizenship act, 1955 prescribes three ways of losing citizenship:

• After Renunciation of Indian Citizenship, it is necessary to apply for Surrender or a Renunciation certificate.
• However, such persons can get Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) status after acquiring foreign citizenship.

Prime Minister has recently given the nation a first look of the national emblem atop the new Parliament House coming up as part of the Central Vista Project.

• On January 26, 1950, the Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath officially became the national emblem of India.
• Five students of renowned artist Nandalal Bose created the emblem.
• It represents courage, power and pride.
• It was built in 250 BC to commemorate the first sermon of Gautama Buddha, where he is said to have shared the Four Noble Truths of life.

The Original Structure

• There are Four Asiatic lions which are part of the national emblem with three lions being visible to the naked eye and the fourth one always hidden.
• They are taken from the Sarnath Lion Capital of the Mauryan emperor
• The existing one is seven feet tall sculpture made of polished sandstone.
• It was mounted on a base of a frieze of smaller sculptures, including a horse (under fire in the new replica for its tail supposedly resembling that of a dog), a lion, a bull and an elephant moving in a clockwise direction.
• They are separated by a wheel, representing the Dharmachakra of Buddhism, on all four sides. 
• Each chakra or wheel has 24 spokes. The chakra was later adopted as part of the national flag.
• This abacus was mounted on an inverted lotus which is a symbol of Buddhism.
• Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang has left a detailed account of Asoka’s lion pillar in his writings.
  
  

About the New Emblem

• It is a 5 metre bronze emblem designed by Sunil Deore and Romiel Moses.
• The four animals are said to be guardians of the four directions — north, south, east and west. 
• The latest has a steel pillar support of 6,500 kgs.
• The concept sketch and process of casting the national emblem on the roof of the new Parliament building have gone through eight stages of preparation, from clay modelling and computer graphics to bronze casting and polishing.

Why Sarnath Pillar was embraced as the National emblem?

• After Independence, it was felt that the pillar epitomised the power, courage and confidence of the free nation.
• The emblem depicts a two-dimensional sculpture.
• It contains the words Satyameva Jayate (truth alone triumphs) written below it, taken from the Mundaka Upanishad, written in Devanagari script.
• The emblem represents the seal of the Republic of India.

What is the issue in the current replica?

• The lions in the latest replica looked “too aggressive”, which amounted to tampering with the original in a hurry to meet the deadline of the Central Vista Project.

The Indian government has cut the recently imposed cesses and levies on diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and removed the cess on exports of petrol.

Background

• Due to the Global crude prices are rising and domestic crude producers were making windfall gains, the government is trying to back the economy from recession.
• Private oil marketing companies were exporting petrol and diesel to foreign countries like Australia for better realisation.
• The shortage of fuel at retail outlets because of the oil marketing companies were not willing to sell the commodity at a loss since prices had not increased despite rising crude and depreciating rupee.

Reason for Duty cuts on fuel

• Addressing Fuel Shortage: With an aim to address the issue of fuel shortage in the country, the government had imposed special additional excise duty on export of petrol and diesel.
• Cesses equal to 6 per litre on petrol and Rs.13 per litre on diesel were imposed on their exports.
• Global Recession: The government also imposed a cess of Rs.23, 250 per tonne (by way of special additional excise duty) or windfall tax on domestic crude being sold to domestic refineries at international parity prices.
• The government has also exempted petrol, diesel and ATF from levy of duties when exported from refinery units located in Special Economic Zones.

Impacts of Windfall tax

• On External Trade: For India, which imports 85% of its requirements, costlier oil implies a higher import bill and inflation, besides straining the current account, the broadest measure of India’s goods and services transactions with the rest of the world.
• Less Investment: Investments in the Oil sector and related industry hit hard after the spur in Windfall tax.

Government Interventions

• Incentivise the oil production: To incentivise higher domestic output, the cabinet committee on economic affairs has decided to provide greater pricing power to domestic oil producers to enable market-determined price discovery.
• CCEA’s decision thus could result in ONGC gaining by 7-8% from its crude and spur more investments in exploration and drilling, resulting in higher output. 
• Inclusion of Oil producers: They deregulate the crude sales and the waiver from allocating domestically produced oil only to government-owned refineries.
• PPP model: The largest state-owned producer, ONGC, thus can auction its output from Mumbai High to any refinery in the public and private sector. 

GM crops represent a potentially important tool for the Ghana’s food security strategy and harnessing it is a challenge now for many.

What is Cowpea?

• Cowpea, a black-eyed pea in some parts of the world – is a major source of protein in Ghana and the rest of the sub-continent.
• It is a staple and is integral to Ghana’s food security.
• Ghana is the fifth largest producerof cowpea in Africa.
• Especially in the northern part of Ghana, where it is second to groundnut in terms of area cultivated.
• Farmers of the area face many challenges, including an array of pests.
• The GM cowpea has been genetically engineered to resist the ‘Maruca pod borer’- the major pest in the region.
• The GM resistance will help decrease the amount of insecticide farmers have been using to control pests and increase yields.
• Insecticides are known to be deleterious to human health, but their use is on the rise throughout Africa.

What are the hurdles to commercialise it in Africa?

• The complex partnerships in developing GM crops and ownership rights.
• The appropriateness of the technology.
• Pricing and accompanying intellectual property rights.
• The Ghanaian government’s ability to regulate GM seeds and crops.
• GM cowpea could cost as much as 50% more than conventional seed.

The Indian rupee breached the exchange rate level of 80 to a US dollar with growing concerns about a weaker rupee affecting the broader economy.

• Since a country interacts with many other countries, it wants to see the movement of the domestic currency relative to all other currencies in a single number rather than by looking at bilateral rates.
• For its measurement the country wants a tool called exchange rate to keep a record on its exports and imports.
• Rising Covid-19 cases and pandemic has started this scenario and pushed by Russia-Ukraine war with Global oil price rises.
• These factors have contributed for rupee depreciation, which means that value of rupee is less against a single dollar.

What is the rupee exchange rate?

• The price of one currency in terms of the other is known as the exchange rate.
• A currency’s exchange rate vis-a-vis another currency reflects the relative demand among the holders of the two currencies.
• For e.g. If the US dollar is stronger than the rupee (implying value of dollar is higher with respect to rupee), then it shows that the demand for dollars (by those holding rupee) is more than the demand for rupees (by those holding dollars).
• This demand in turn depends on the relative demand for the goods and services of the two countries.

Why are the rupee-dollar exchange rate and Forex reserves falling?

• Due to Balance of payment: The BoP is essentially a ledger of all monetary transactions between Indians and foreigners. A weaker rupee will consequently impact on the high pay for each dollar for foreign trade.
• Twin deficit: The current and capital account deficits are among the major reasons for the imbalances in the economic situation in India.

Impacts on the Economy

• Costlier Imports in terms of a single dollar
• Trade deficit due to costlier imports and less money in hands of people of the country.
• Higher exchange rates

A Position paper by the Karnataka government on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has revived discussion that what we call the Pythagoras theorem was already known to Indians from the Vedic times.

Historical Background

• The Pythagoras theorem describes the relationship connecting the three sides of a right triangle (one in which one of the angles is 90°).
• There are similar references in the sulbasutras, which are texts pertaining to fire rituals (yajnas) performed by Vedic Indians. The oldest of these is the ‘Baudhayana Sulbasutra’.
• Baudhayana Sulbasutra contains a statement of what is called Pythagoras theorem.
• The earliest evidence of a proof comes from a period after the sulbasutras.
• The oldest surviving axiomatic proof of the theorem is in the Elements of Euclid from around 300 BCE.
• It was mentioned in a paper describing geometry in the sulbasutras in ‘Studies in History of Mathematics, Proceedings of Chennai Seminar’ in

What is the evidence that Sulbasutra contains?

• In the first chapter in the Baudhayana Sulbasutra contains, the (areas of the squares) produced separately by the length and the breadth of a rectangle together equal the area (of the square) produced by the diagonal.
• This is observed in rectangles having sides 3 and 4, 12 and 5, 15 and 8, 7 and 24, 12 and 35, 15 and 36.
• Uses:
• The yajna rituals involved construction of altars (vedi) and fireplaces (agni) in a variety of shapes such as isosceles triangles, symmetric trapezia, and rectangles.
• The sulbasutras describe steps towards construction of these figures with prescribed sizes.
  
  

What Pythagoras theorem says?

• The Pythagoras theorem describes the relationship connecting the three sides of a right triangle (one in which one of the angles is 90°): a² + b² = c², where a and b are the two perpendicular sides, and c is the length of the diagonal side.
• If any two sides of a right triangle are known, the theorem allows you to calculate the third side.
• Extended to the sides of squares and rectangles and their diagonals, the equation is of immense importance in construction, navigation and astronomy.

What is the similarity between Sulbasutra’s equation and Pythagoras?

• The Pythagorean equation comes into play in these procedures, which involve drawing perpendiculars.
• These perpendiculars were based on triangles whose sides were in the ratio 3:4:5 or 5:12:13.
• These sides follow the Pythagorean relation, because 3² + 4² = 5², and 5² + 12² = 13². Such combinations are called Pythagorean triples.

Did Indian mathematicians prove the equation?

• The idea of a mathematical proof based on an axiomatic structure is unique to the Greeks.
• Thus in respect of the other cultures, ‘proof’ of a geometrical statement only meant some means of various cultures like one India has in its Vedic times.