GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

The 20-member group is going to perform Seethakali folk art, outside Kerala for the first time as to revive one of the fading dance forms of Kerala.

• In the early times, Seethakali was performed as part of the harvest festival Onam.
• From Atham star till the 28th day after Onam, the performers who belong to the subaltern communities go from one house to another performing this art.

Key Features of Seethakali:

• Folk Dance Drama: Seethakali is a traditional folk dance drama that was once performed during the festival days in erstwhile Desinganad (Kollam, Kerala), primarily during the Onam festivities.
• Dalit Artists: The performance was carried out by Dalit artists belonging to the Veda and Pulaya communities, focusing on presenting episodes from the Ramayana from Sita’s perspective.
• Vanayatra to Andardhanam: Seethakali portrays the journey from “vanayatra” (exile to the forest) to “andardhanam” (descend into the earth) of Sita, featuring a blend of songs, storytelling, and fast movements.
• Instruments: The dance drama is accompanied by instruments such as ganjira, manikatta, chiratta, and kaimani.
• Narrative through Songs: Seethakali’s story is conveyed through songs, with 28 collected over three years, featuring a folk style influenced by Vallappaattu, Kuthirappaattu, and Rakshasappattu.
• Oral Tradition: Seethakali songs were orally transmitted from one generation to the next, which led to a pause in the tradition.
• Basic Movements: The dance involves basic steps, striving to preserve the original essence of the art form.
• Character Ensemble: The performance includes key characters such as Sita, Ram, Lakshman, Ravan, and Hanuman.

The current month remained the driest ever August which indicates strengthening El Niño and its related serious food inflation challenge.

• As a result of El Nino the Crop growth has turned into a cumulative 6% deficit in August 2023.
• The India Meteorological Department anticipates no significant monsoon revival during the next five days, while surpassing the record of 1965 and 1920.

El Nino and Impact on India:

• El Niño is characterized by the warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
• El Niño tends to weaken the Indian monsoon, which is crucial for India's agriculture and water supply.
• During El Niño events, the normally moisture-laden winds that bring the monsoon rains to India are weakened, leading to reduced rainfall and sometimes drought conditions in various parts of the country.
• This can lead to heatwaves, water shortages, crop failures, and impacts on water resources for both agriculture and daily consumption.
• Crop yields can be affected, leading to food price inflation and economic losses for farmers.

Why such intense effects are seen this year?

• The Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) – which measures the average sea surface temperature deviation from the normal in the east-central equatorial Pacific region – touched 1 degree Celsius.
• This was twice the El Niño threshold of 0.5 degrees.
• The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have predicted a 66% probability of the ONI exceeding 5 degrees Celsius during October-December and a 75% chance of it remaining above 1 degree in January-March 2024.
• El Niño is, thus, projected to not only persist, but strengthen through the 2023-24 winter.

What are the implications?

• Lack of Monsoon rains leads to kharif crop losses: The southwest monsoon rain is crucial for not just the kharif season crops, mostly sown in June-July and harvested over September-October.
• Shortage of Crops: As the rice and wheat stocks in government warehouses at 5 million tonnes (mt), a six-year-low.
• Increasing Retail inflation: The retail food inflation in July at 11.5% year-on-year, which is a cause for worry.
• Rising prices of commodities: Due to shortage of supplies, there is an automated rise in prices for Tomatoes, Onion and Rice too.
• Hindering Exports: The recent export ban on basmati rice by India seems to be one of the effects of increasing food prices and shortage.

Other Global factors aggravating situation:

• There were four major supply-side shock drivers of the great global food inflation from around October 2020: weather, pandemic, war, and export controls.
  • Weather: The weather-related shocks included droughts in Ukraine (2020-21)and South America (2021-22), which especially impacted sunflower and soybean supplies, and the March-April 2022 heat wave that devastated India’s wheat crop.
  • Pandemic: The pandemic’s supply-side impactwas felt the most in Malaysia’s oil palm plantations

• During the pandemic many migrant labours flew back, they were engaged in the harvesting of fresh fruit bunches, and no new work permits were issued, resulting in low output, translating into a decline in exports.
  • War: The Russo-Ukrainian Warled to supply disruptions from the two countries that, in 2019-20 (a non-war, non-drought year), accounted for 5% of the world’s wheat, 18.8% of corn, 34.4% of barley, and 78.1% of sunflower oil exports.
  • Export Controls: Export controls were first imposed by Russia in December 2020, prompted by domestic food inflation fears arising from record hot temperatures.

According to the latest update, India is going to open a climate change and health hub in New Delhi in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

• The new hub for climate change and health will facilitate knowledge sharing, promote partnerships and innovations, and also help countries beyond the G-20, especially developing countries.
• In its recently released G-20 outcome document, India also noted that climate change will continue to drive health emergencies, including the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases, and by increasing the severity and frequency of natural disasters, thereby threatening to overwhelm health systems’ ability to deliver essential services.
• The outcome document committed to:
  • prioritize climate-resilient health systems development,
  • build sustainable and low-carbon/low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission health systems and healthcare supply chains that deliver high-quality healthcare,
  • mobilize resources for resilient, low-carbon sustainable health systems, and
  • Facilitate collaboration, including initiatives such as the WHO-led Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH).
• The new Climate Change and Health Hub in New Delhi will help countries all over the world to address to identify new drivers and address the existing drivers using a science and risk-based approach, and to strengthen existing infectious disease surveillance systems.

• Climate change affects all and this centre will give an opportunity to have different partners discussing this important issue and learning from each other.
• In its recently released G-20 outcome document, India noted that climate change will continue to drive health emergencies, including the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases.
• It will also increase the severity and frequency of natural disasters, thereby threatening health systems’ ability to deliver essential services.
• Against this backdrop, there is need to enhance the resilience of health systems against the impact of climate change.

As per the data published on State of India’s Birds (SoIB) report 2023, a large number of bird species in India are either currently declining or projected to decline in the long term.

• While raptors, migratory shorebirds, and ducks have declined the most, birds living in habitats like open ecosystems, rivers, and coasts are among the worst affected.
• The key factors responsible for the decline are urbanisation, infrastructural development, environmental pollutants, and climate change.
• Raptors are also in decline globally due to loss of habitat, pesticide accumulation as well as targeted killing.
• The report advised, there is an immediate need for research to diagnose specific threats and measure their impact so that policies can be developed for raptors as a group.

Who are Raptors?

• A raptor is a special type of bird which captures live prey.
• The word “raptor” means “to seize or grasp” in Latin.
• Raptors use their powerful, sharp talons to capture their prey and to defend themselves.
• Several bird species are considered raptors are Eagles, hawks, kites, falcons, and owls.
  
  

Why they are significant?

• Raptors are at the top of the food web and are therefore highly vulnerable to changes in the environment such as declines in insects, mammals, small birds, fishes, and increases in contaminants and other environmental conditions.
• Changes in the health of raptor populations can indicate changes in the environment, and by monitoring such shifts we hope to proactively protect the birds as well as other wildlife and the habitats humans share with them.

What are the major threats to birds in India?

• Climate change:
  • The average global temperature has risen by over 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times, resulting in catastrophic consequences other living beings, like birds.
  • It affects bird reproduction and survival through the disruption of species interactions by phenological mismatches.
• Urbanisation:
  • Urbanisation results in loss of natural habitat for birds and it expose them to more air pollution and high temperatures.
  • Lack of food supplies in urban areas leads to the homogenisation of bird communities as only behaviourally dominant species such as House Crows and feral Rock Pigeons are able to survive.
• Monocultures:
  • In India, commercial monoculture plantations of rubber, coffee, and tea have been rapidly expanding in recent years.
  • Such plantations are detrimental to the well-being of birds.
• Energy infrastructure:
  • Countries have started to generate power using renewable resources instead of depending on conventional methods like coal-fired power plants.
  • It has led to an increase of wind turbines in a country like India, where they have been installed in a wide range of landscapes including coastal areas, Western Ghats mountaintops, open arid lands, agricultural lands, and grasslands.
  • The major impacts of wind turbines on birds include:
    • Direct collision of birds with the rotating wind turbine blades
    • Displacement (loss of habitat) of birds from the turbine area due to disturbance
    • Barrier effects within habitats (obstacle to migration, or to other regular movements across feeding and roosting areas and breeding colonies)

• Exposure to toxic chemicals during reproductive stages can affect fertility, egg formation, and eggshell thickness. Hence, can lead to impaired incubation and chick-rearing behaviours.
  • All of this decreases hatching success and fledgling survival and increases the possibility of reproductive failure.
• Increasing avain diseases: The avian influenza outbreaks in 2020-2021 swept through many Indian States, causing mass mortality of wild birds.

Polity and Governance (GS-II)

‘Vote from home’ in Chhattisgarh

In the coming assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, people aged above 80 and persons with disability (PwD) with 40 or more disabilities can vote from their homes.

About the initiative:

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that it will provide a postal ballot facility at home for citizens above 80 years of age and those with more than 40 per cent disability during the upcoming Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh.
• There are over 200,000 voters in Chhattisgarh, who are above 80 years old.
• As well as people with disabilities exceeding 40 per cent, will have the option to cast their votes from home.
• To avail of this service, they need to complete form 12D within five days of the election notification.
• Also, a campaign has been initiated to register citizens previously not included in the electoral rolls. This will particularly focus on five Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) during the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SSR)-2.
• To ensure fair elections, administrative and law enforcement agencies will operate 105 check posts throughout the state, all equipped with Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV).

Science and Technology (GS-III)

Who names sites on the Moon?

Recently, the Prime Minister has announced that the point where the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the lunar surface would be named Shiv Shakti.

Who can give names on moon?

• The International Astronomical Union (IAU) determines some other rules for Space activities.
• The IAU’s Working Groups handle the process of naming lunar spots, though its decisions and recommendations are not enforceable by any international law.
• India is among its 92 members.
• The IAU has been the arbiter of planetary and satellite nomenclature since its inception in 1919.
• Many countries have been giving informal names to the spots on moon during lunar missions.
• The United States gave informal names to lunar sites during Apollo missions.

Does any country can own moon?

• Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.

Science and Technology (GS-III)

Japan’s H-IIA rocket

Japan’s space agency has recently suspended the scheduled rocket launch, which was intended to carry the nation’s first spacecraft to land on the moon.

About H-IIA rocket:

• The H-IIA rocket being Japan’s primary launch vehicle with an impressive 98 per cent success rate, unfavorable wind conditions in the upper atmosphere led to the decision to halt the launch.
• H-IIA, jointly developed by JAXA and MHI, has been Japan’s flagship space launch vehicle, with 45 successful launches in 46 tries since 2001.
• The rocket is carrying JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), which would be the first Japanese spacecraft to land on the moon.
• The rocket is also carrying an X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) satellite, a joint project of JAXA, NASA and the European Space Agency.