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27th October 2022

Significance of Tamil Month ‘Margazhi’

Context

The Margazhi Masam is the ninth month in the traditional Tamil Calendar which is meant to be an auspicious month for worshippers of both Shiva and Vishnu.

About

The Margazhi Masam:

  • This month according to the Tamil Calendar falls from 16 December 2022 to 14 January 2023.
  • The month of Margazhi is special to both Vaishnavites and Saivites.
  • Andal’s Thiruppavai is recited in Vishnu temples in Margazhi. During this month, in the Arudra star, that Lord Nataraja showed his divine dance to sages Vyagrapada and Patanjali.
  • Thiruvempavai and Thirupalliezhuchi are recited by Saivites in Margazhi. Mancikavachagar composed Thiruvempavai in Thiruvannamalai.
  • Five temples are of significance to each of the five elements. Of these, the temple at Thiruvannamalai is for
  • The auspicious month of Margasheersha, also known as Margazhi in Tamil, is considered auspicious for putting efforts into one's own spiritual growth- be it Sadhana, Vrata, Bhajan, or Pooja - for the Upasakas of Shiva, Shakti, Vishnu as well as others.

Celebrations in the Masam:

  • The kolam is drawn to welcome Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity, into the home and drives away the evil spirits.

What is Kolam? A kolam or muggu is a geometrical line drawing composed of straight lines, curves, and loops, drawn around a grid pattern of dots. In Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, it is widely practiced by female family members in front of their house entrances.

  • Early morning pujas are to be conducted in every household during the month.

Pan-India significance:

  • Margahzi or Margali Masam is a corresponding month to Margashira Masam and Poush month of other Hindu calendars. It also corresponds to the Bengali month of Agrahayan and Poush mash.
  • According to the Malayalam calendar, it coincides with Dhanur Masam.

Hindu calendar vs. Gregorian calendar

  • The ancient Hindu calendar conceptual design is also found in the Hebrew calendar, the Chinese calendar, and the Babylonian calendar, but different from the Gregorian calendar.
  • Unlike the Gregorian calendar which adds additional days to the month to adjust for the mismatch between twelve lunar cycles (354 lunar days) and nearly 365 solar days, the Hindu calendar maintains the integrity of the lunar month, but inserts an extra full month by complex rules, once every 32–33 months, to ensure that the festivals and crop-related rituals fall in the appropriate season.

 

Months of the Indian Civil Calendar

Days

Correlation of Indian/Gregorian

 

1. Caitra

30*

Caitra 1

March 22*

 

2. Vaisakha

31

Vaisakha 1

April 21

 

3. Jyaistha

31

Jyaistha 1

May 22

 

4. Asadha

31

Asadha 1

June 22

 

5. Sravana

31

Sravana 1

July 23

 

6. Bhadra

31

Bhadra 1

August 23

 

7. Asvina

30

Asvina 1

September 23

 

8. Kartika

30

Kartika 1

October 23

 

9. Agrahayana

30

Agrahayana 1

November 22

 

10. Pausa

30

Pausa 1

December 22

 

11. Magha

30

Magha 1

January 21

 

12. Phalguna

30

Phalguna 1

February 20

The Laws leaving behind the Reproductive rights and Freedom of Choice

Context

Recently, Petitions against the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021 and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act 2021 (ART Act) have been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the Acts as being discriminatory and violative of reproductive autonomy and choice by denying access to Assistant Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) to single persons and people in live-in and same-sex relationships.

Let us assess the provisions of both laws.

About

What is Surrogacy?

Surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman (the surrogate) agrees to carry and give birth to a child on behalf of another person or couple (the intended parent/s).

A surrogate, sometimes also called a gestational carrier, is a woman who conceives, carries, and gives birth to a child for another person or couple (intended parent/s).

  • Altruistic surrogacy: It involves no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance coverage during the pregnancy.
  • Commercial surrogacy: It includes surrogacy or its related procedures undertaken for a monetary benefit or reward (in cash or kind) exceeding the basic medical expenses and insurance coverage.

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021:

  • Under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, a woman who is a widow or a divorcee between the age of 35 to 45 years or a couple, defined as a legally married woman and man, can avail of surrogacy if they have a medical condition necessitating this option.
  • It also bans commercial surrogacy, which is punishable with a jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs.10 lakhs.
  • The law allows only altruistic surrogacy where no money exchanges hands and where a surrogate mother is genetically related to those seeking a child.

Assisted Reproductive Technology Act, 2021

  • The act defines ART to include all techniques that seek to obtain a pregnancy by handling the sperm or the oocyte (immature egg cell) outside the human body and transferring the gamete or the embryo into the reproductive system of a woman.

Oocytes are cells in an ovary that may undergo meiotic division to form an ovum.

  • ART services will be provided through:
  • ART clinics, which offer ART-related treatments and procedures, and
  • ART banks, which store and supply gametes.
  • Rights of a child born through ART:
  • A child born through ART will be deemed to be a biological child of the couple (commission couple) and will be entitled to the rights and privileges available to a natural child of the commissioning couple.
  • A donor will not have any parental rights over the child.
  • The National Registry will be established under the act and will act as a central database with details of all ART clinics and banks in the country.
  • The State governments will appoint registration authorities for facilitating the registration process. The Clinics and banks will be registered only if they adhere to certain standards (specialized manpower, physical infrastructure, and diagnostic facilities).

Need for the regulated industry in India:

  • In India, ARTs are offered by an expensive privatized medical industry that was unregulated for decades.
  • The technologies can be used to transform traditional notions of family and strengthen the status of same-sex and other queer couples by expanding the ability to reproduce beyond heterosexual marital unions.
  • The use of ARTs can also entrench notions of genetic parenthood as the “true” form of parenthood.
  • ARTs provoke complex legal, ethical and social dilemmas, and their regulation requires consideration and balancing of conflicting interests and values.
  • Therefore, the law has been introduced for the related issues.

What are the loopholes identified?

  • Leaving the other stakeholders’: The Acts allow only married infertile couples and certain categories of women to avail of ARTs and surrogacy.
  • No Compensatory Allowance to the Surrogate mother: The sale of gametes and any payment to the surrogate mother, other than insurance coverage and medical expenses, has been prohibited. Clinics and banks offering ART procedures have to be registered.
  • Health issues associated: The availability of donor oocytes, considered fundamental for many ART procedures, is also in question since a limited number of oocytes can be retrieved and women can be oocyte donors only once. Such stipulations have been imposed to protect oocyte donors from health risks and exploitation. Shortage of oocytes due to regulatory pressures may lead to a shadow market of gametes.
  • Privacy issues: The ART Act also requires the oocyte donor to share their Aadhaar number, which threatens the donors’ privacy.

Arguments in favor of Compensatory Surrogacy:

  • A Parliamentary Standing Committee in 2017 recommended compensated surrogacy and stated that mandating altruistic surrogacy was based on moralistic and paternalistic assumptions, and expecting free reproductive labor from women was “grossly unfair and arbitrary”.

Against Commercial surrogacy:

A Parliamentary Select Committee which examined the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2019 took the stand that commercial surrogacy was unethical and antithetical to the “noble” and “selfless” instinct of motherhood.

India and the Blue Economy: Synergies in the neighbourhood

Context

Recently, Seychelles hosted the ‘BlueInvest Africa conference ‘(September 7-9, 2022), where European and African companies met to exchange ideas, business strategies and investments related to Blue Economy. This has brought the discussions highlighting the countries quest for harnessing the blue economy including India.

About

What is Blue Economy?

  • The Indian Blue Economy Task Force defines it as: The Blue Economy encompasses a wide range of economic activities pertaining to the sustainable development of resources and assets in the oceans, related rivers, water bodies, and coastal regions – in a manner that ensures equity, inclusion, innovation and modern technology.

India and the Blue Economy:

  • India’s engagement in the Blue Economy is rising, as the country issues policy proposals, and actively participates in international and regional dialogues on the Blue Economy, maritime and marine cooperation.
  • The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) published the Blue Economy Vision 2025, which states that the Blue Economy’s impacts are not limited to the ocean but are crucial for countries’ food security, poverty, resilience against dangerous consequences of climate change, maritime cooperation, job opportunities, and countries’ socio-economic growth.

India’s Vision:

  • India has greater potential to foster cooperation in the Indian Ocean to design blue economic strategies.
  • Since sustainability and climate are on top of the international agendas and in the vision of the upcoming G20 presidency, India looks forward to ideating concrete Blue Economy policies.
  • The Indian ministry of earth sciences plans to publish a National Policy on the Blue Economy which is still in its draft form.
  • The proposal identifies the great contribution the Blue Economy can make to India’s Gross Domestic Product.
  • With the ocean's economic activities and governance, the preservation of marine biodiversity and resources is stressed.

India and Regional Cooperation for Blue Economy:

  • The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is the principal regional body to bring 21 members, seven dialogue partners, and two observers for roundtables on Ocean activities.
  • The organization has six priority areas:
    • Maritime safety and security,
    • trade and investment facilitation,
    • fisheries management,
    • disaster risk reduction,
    • academic and scientific cooperation,
    • Tourism and cultural exchanges.
  • IORA’s summits successfully enhanced the agenda on the Blue Economy, sustainable employment, and economic growth.
  • Moreover, two programs are largely contributing to advancing ocean cooperation and the Blue Economy in the Indian Ocean: The Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).


Government Initiatives:

  • Sagarmala Project: The Sagarmala project is the strategic initiative for port-led development through the extensive use of IT-enabled services for the modernization of ports.
  • O-SMART: India has an umbrella scheme by the name of O-SMART which aims at the regulated use of oceans, and marine resources for sustainable development.
  • Integrated Coastal Zone Management: It focuses on the conservation of coastal and marine resources, and improving livelihood opportunities for coastal communities, etc.
  • National Fisheries Policy: India has a National Fisheries policy for promoting the 'Blue Growth Initiative' which focuses on the sustainable utilization of fisheries wealth from marine and other aquatic resources.

India to expand NaVIC, make signals more secure: ISRO

Context

In a recent statement came, by the ISRO chairman that India plans to expand its regional satellite navigation system NaVIC in a bid to increase its use in the civilian sector and also by ships and aircraft traveling far from the country’s borders. This makes it essential to understand the vision of the project.

About

The Need for the such initiative:

  • The Navigation with Indian Constellation (NaVIC) uses seven satellites to provide real-time positioning and timing services in India and an area extending up to 1,500 km from the country’s borders.
  • However, several satellites of the constellation are over-utilized and outlived their lives and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) now plans to replace at least five of these with the improved L-Band, which would enable it to offer better global positioning services to the public.
  • This will be achieved by using the other five satellites which are in production and as they have to be launched periodically to replace the existing defunct satellites. The new satellites will have L-1, L-5, and S Bands.

Navigation through L1, L5, and S bands:

  • Satellites are a common way to enable location-based services (LBS). IRNSS/NavIC has two signals: one co-located with GPS L5 at 1176.75 MHz and the other at 2492.028 MHz.
  • This latter signal (in S-band) is currently unique among positioning systems.
  • Receivers can use the L5 signal — along with GPS, GALILEO, BDS, or GLONASS signals in the L1 band — to provide the benefits of the dual-frequency operation.
  • Both signals can be used independently to provide a single-frequency position.
  • The NavIC system also plans to transmit ionospheric correction data for the coverage region, providing improved accuracy.

Details of the existing satellites:

  • Among the seven satellites used by NaVIC at present, three are in the geostationary orbit, and four are in the geosynchronous orbit.
  • The current constellation of satellites operates in L-5 Band and S Band, which are used for transportation and aviation sectors.

Satellites in various Orbits:

  • Geostationary Orbits: It is a circular orbit 35,785 km (22,236 miles) above Earth's Equator in which a satellite's orbital period is equal to Earth's rotation period of 23 hours and 56 minutes. A spacecraft in this orbit appears to an observer on Earth to be stationary in the sky.
  • Geosynchronous Orbits: A geosynchronous orbit (GEO) is a prograde, low inclination orbit about Earth having a period of 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds. A spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit appears to remain above Earth at a constant longitude, although it may seem to wander north and south.

While geosynchronous satellites can have any inclination, the key difference from geostationary orbit is the fact that they lie on the same plane as the equator. Geostationary orbits fall in the same category as geosynchronous orbits, but it's parked over the equator.


Role OF NavIC:

  • The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System(IRNSS), with an operational name of NavIC (an acronym for Navigation with Indian Constellation is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system that provides accurate real-time positioning and timing services.
  • NavIC-based trackers are compulsory on commercial vehicles in India and some consumer mobile phones with support for it have been available since the first half of 2020.
  • There are plans to expand the NavIC system by increasing its constellation size from 7 to 11.

Interventions required further:

  • Privatization of the satellite sectors for economic inclusion and to facilitate launches.
  • Global cooperation for modern technologies is important.

Understanding Genetically Modified mustard for India

Context

Recently, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recommended the “environmental release” of the transgenic hybrid mustard DMH-11 for seed production and ordered to conduct the field demonstration studies with respect to its effects on honey bees and other pollinating insects.

Let us understand exactly about the GM Mustard crops in India.

About

What is the Hybridisation of crops?

  • Hybridization involves crossing two genetically dissimilar plant varieties that can even be from the same species.
  • The first-generation (F1) offspring from such crosses tend to have higher yields than what either parent can individually give.

Is it possible to produce hybrids of all crops?

  • Hybridization is not easy for all crops including mustard, as its flowers have both female (pistil) and male (stamen) reproductive organs, making the plants largely self-pollinating.
  • Since the eggs of one plant cannot be fertilized by the pollen grains from another, it limits the scope for developing hybrids — unlike in cotton, maize, or tomato, where this can be done through the physical removal of anthers.

The barnase-barstar system enables the breeding of hybrids from a wider range of mustards, including those of East European origins such as ‘Heera’ and ‘Donskaja’.

How has hybridization been achieved in mustard?

  • The hybrid mustard DMH-11 has been produced which contains two alien genes isolated from a soil bacterium called Bacillus ‘amyloliquefaciens’.
  • The first gene (‘barnase’) codes for a protein that impairs pollen production and renders the plant into which it is incorporated male-sterile.
  • This plant is then crossed with a fertile parental line containing, in turn, the second ‘barstar’ gene that blocks the action of the barnase gene.
  • The resultant F1 progeny is both high-yielding and also capable of producing seed/ grain.
  • This system was used to develop DMH-11 by crossing a popular Indian mustard variety ‘Varuna’ (the barnase line) with an East European ‘Early Heera-2’ mutant (barstar).

Significance:

DMH-11 is claimed to have shown an average 28% yield increase over Varuna in contained field trials carried out by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Role of GEAC:

  • GEAC is a body responsible for the appraisal of proposals relating to the release of GM organisms and products (ordinarily considered hazardous) into the environment.
  • The GEAC is the apex biotech regulatory body in India. It is a statutory body.
  • The functions of the GEAC are:
    • It is responsible for the appraisal of activities that involve the large-scale use of hazardous microbes and recombinants in research and industrial production from the point of view of the environment.
    • The GEAC also assesses proposals regarding the release of genetically engineered products and organisms into the environment, and this includes experimental field trials as well.
    • The body also looks into proposals regarding the use of living modified organism that comes in the risk category III and above in the import/manufacture of recombinant pharma products, or where the end-product of the recombinant pharma product is a modified living organism.
    • The Committee has the power to take punitive action against people/bodies under the Environment (Protection) Act.
    • The approval of the GEAC is mandatory before genetically modified organisms and products derived from them can be used commercially.

Concerns associated:

  • The presence of a third ‘bar’ gene, makes GM mustard plants tolerant to the spraying of glufosinate ammonium, a chemical used for killing weeds. This will cause displacement of manual labor engaged in weeding by promoting the use of chemical herbicides.
  • The GM mustard can threaten the population of honey bees as the Mustard flowers are a source of nectar for honey bees and many other pollinator insects.

Editorial

A Misleading Exit

Context:

Recently, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced the removal of Pakistan from its “Grey List.”

Role of FATF:

  • A Global Watchdog: The FATF sets global standards for countering the menace of money laundering to further counter the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
  • Works under a rules-based order: The FATF seeks to fulfill its three-pronged mandate by drawing up a list of guidelines (“FATF Recommendations” or “FATF Standards”) to ensure a coordinated global response to prevent organized crime, corruption, and terrorism.
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ThinkQ

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QUIZ - 27th October 2022

Mains Question:

Question: “In the Indian agriculture, adoption of technology can bring about a paradigm shift. However, adoption of new technology in the agriculture space has been far behind the curve compared to other sectors.” In the light of this statement, disused the challenges faced by the sector and also suggest measures to improve the technological rigour and resilience of the sector. (150 words)

Question Mapping

  • Subject: Economy (GS-III)
  • Sub-topic: Agriculture

Approach 

  • Introduction- brief about agriculture sector and its contribution to the economy 
  • Challenges 
  • Discuss how technology can bring revolution 
  • Suggest policy intervention 
  • Conclude accordingly 
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