GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

The Government has now planned to revive a section of the body of literature to mark the 75th year of Independence, as those were banned by the Britishers before Independence to secure their rule in India.

• Art and literature played an important role in India’s freedom struggle.
• Both art and literature acted as a tool in India’s freedom struggle against colonialism.
• As part of the freedom movement, many indigenous industries and enterprises were set up.
• Indian art and literature flourished, and soon became a source of national pride. For example, Abanindranath Tagore through his paintings helped raise the consciousness of many.
• Through various journals, newspapers like Harijan freedom fighters like Gandhiji, Rabindranath Tagore raised important issues on the national platform.

About

• The Ministry of Culture, the nodal ministry for the 75-week-long Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, has identified poems, writings and publications that the British Raj banned and put them together as
• They have been published on the website by the National Archives of India.
• These works are in nine regional languages — Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Odiya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Telugu, Tamil and Urdu.
• A section of the Amrit Mahotsav website, called ‘Swatantra Swar’, showcases some of these poems written before 1947.
• These are mostly revolutionary pieces penned during India’s struggle for Independence and were considered “dangerous” to the “security” of the British rule in India.

‘Amrit Mahotsav’- 75 years of Independence Celebration

• Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is a Government of India initiative to honour and celebrate 75 years of advanced India and the magnificent history of its culture, people, and accomplishments.
• On 12th March 2021, Indian Prime Minister launched ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.’
• The event happened in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and the Mahotsav is getting launched from cities that were prominent hubs of India’s freedom battle.
• It included Sabarmati Ashram, Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab, Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, etc. ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ started with the Prime Minister flagging off Dandi March from Sabarmati Ashram.
• In the 66 weeks of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, more than 47,000 programmes have been organised — from commemorating unsung heroes of freedom struggle to documenting local history from spotlighting states and their contribution to the freedom struggle to poetry based on banned literature.
  
  
  

About 

Some literatures written during struggle

• Poem named Rashtriya Pataka from the book “Azaadi ki Bansuri”.
• Poem “Bharatha Matha Geetham” written by Vaddadhi Seetharaamanjaneyulu and Pudipeddhi Kashi Viswanatha Sashtri.
• Daridra Nian- Odia poet Gangadhar Mishra, and
• Kasumbi No Rang- a Gujrati poem from the book Sindhudo by poet Jhaverchand Meghani.sn

Role of art and literature in India’s freedom struggle

• Evoking emotions
• Raising nationalist sentiments
• Overcoming linguistic barriers
• Spreading awareness
• Encouraging Women participation
• Revival of cultural identities
• Spread patriotic feelings

Thus, art and literature played an immense role in India’s freedom struggle. It gave birth to many nationalist artists who tried to influence public psyche through their work. It not only led to a silent criticism of colonial atrocities but also acted as a force to unite mass against colonial forces.

The bid to provoke the Pasmanda Muslims support, the political parties in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar comes to prepared to face the crucial 2024 general elections.

• Communal Politics in the country is widespread, and Muslims are no other to left out over the community divisions among their community in India.

How Muslims categorizes themselves?

• Muslim society in India consists of several status groups or ‘biradaris’ that are broadly sorted in three categories:
  • the Ashrafs (the ‘noble’ elite or the ‘honourable ones’)
  • the Ajlafs (backward Muslims)
  • the Arzals (Dalit Muslims)
• Ashrafs in India are Muslims who either claim to have a foreign pedigree — descendants of Muslims from Arabia, Persia, Turkey, Afghanistan (Syeds, Sheikhs, Mughals and Pathans,) — or who are upper-caste converts from Hinduism (Rajput, Gaur, Tyagi Muslims among others).

Pasmanda Muslims

• India has a history of caste associations across communities. Among Pasmanda Muslims, such caste associations started emerging from 1910 onwards.
• There were caste collectives of weavers (julahas), butchers (qureshis), cotton carders (mansooris), saifis, rayeens, etc.
• These were reformist in nature, but also acted like pressure groups led by upwardly mobile lower caste communities.
• These outfits manifested the new kinds of demands from within the Muslim community.

Who are exactly the Pasmanda Muslims?

• The term ‘Pasmanda Muslims’ was first used in 1998 by Ali Anwar Ansari when he founded the ‘Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz’.
• A Persian word, ‘Pasmanda’, means the ‘ones left behind’, and is used to describe depressed classes among the Muslims, while underlining their deliberate or conscious exclusion.
• Pasmanda has become an umbrella identity used by backward, Dalit, and tribal Muslims to push back against caste-based discrimination against them within the community.

Does Islam support caste-based classifications?

• While Islam does not mandate the creation of such groups, these caste categories are a lived reality for Muslims across the country.

How Indian Muslims can classify according to Reservation status- as a backward community?

• In the absence of a caste census, a clear estimate of the present-day numbers and demographic distribution of Pasmanda Muslims is not available.
• The tallies with the 1871 census that said only 19% of Muslims in India were upper caste, while 81% were made up of the lower castes.

About their Revolt Movement

• In the 1980s, the All India Muslim OBC Organisation (AIMOBCO) from Maharashtra started spearheading the fight for the rights of Pasmandas, and went on to enlist the unwavering support of Bollywood thespian Dilip Kumar, a Pathan.
• The 1990s saw the rise of two outfits:

• • The All-India Backward Muslim Morcha (AIBMM) set up by Dr Ejaz Ali, and
  • The Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz founded by Ali Anwar.

• This marked the phase of getting small caste-based outfits among Muslims to close ranks.
• Several other outfits started to work for the uplift of Pasmanda Muslims across states.

What are the reasons of their concerns as a community?

• Lack of Representation: Pasmanda Muslims say that despite their overwhelming numerical strength within the community, they are under-represented in jobs, legislatures and government-run minority institutions, as well as community-run Muslim organisations.
• Facing Discrimination: The Pasmanda versus Ashraf divide stems from a feeling of being deliberately ignored amid the ruling elites’ focus on “Muslimness”. They are also opposed to the demand for giving religion-based reservation to the entire Muslim population, arguing that it ignores unequal access to state resources within the community.

What can be done to support them?

• Caste-based Census: The major Pasmanda demands include conducting a caste census, restructuring of the existing reservation categories, and state support for artisans, craftspersons, and agricultural labourers, who are among the most impoverished groups in the community.
• Categorising them into MBCs: As an example, the Pasmandas hold up the Bihar model, where a separate MBC category was carved out within the OBC list and most backward Muslim castes — 27 according to the Sachar committee — placed in that category.
• Including under Reservation: Also, Dalit Muslims should be taken into the SC category but after increasing the quota limit, so that it does not create any confrontation with Hindu Dalits.

The unfortunate demise of Japan former PM and India’s ally Shinzo Abe has shocked the world. India remembered its friend, who has led the India-Japan relations to the new heights, announced one day of state mourning. 

Mapping the evolving relations

• The friendship between India and Japan has a long history rooted in spiritual affinity and strong cultural and civilization ties.
• India and Japan established diplomatic relations on 28 April 1952. Japan is regarded as a key partner in India’s economic transformation.
• In the recent past, the India Japan relationship has transformed to a partnership of great substance and purpose.
• Japan’s interest in India is increasing due to a variety of reasons including India’s large and growing market and its resources, especially the human resources.
  
  

Shinzo Abe’s Vision for India

Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022), was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020.

• He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history.
• Abe sees India as the key to expanding Japan’s security options beyond its current US-centric framework, while Modi views Japan as central to the success of India’s ‘Look East’
• ‘Abenomics’ and ‘Modinomics’ are both geared to the same goal – reviving laggard growth — yet they need each other’s support for success.
• Economic strategy for Japan: Whereas Tokyo sees New Delhi as important to its own economic-revival strategy; India looks at Japan as a critical source of capital and commercial technology and a key partner to help upgrade its infrastructure and manufacturing base.
• Abe’s reassertion of the right of collective self-defence and his relaxation of Japan’s self-imposed arms export ban have opened the path to closer military cooperation with India, including co-production of weapon systems.
• Foreign investments: India — the biggest recipient of Japanese aid — has already become one of the largest destinations for Japanese FDI among major economies. Japan has a solid heavy manufacturing base, while India boasts services-led growth. India is a leader in software and Japan a leader in hardware.
• Attracting Demographic dividend: India has the world’s largest youthful population, while Japan is aging more rapidly than any other major developed country. Whereas Japan has financial and technological power, India has human capital and a huge market.
  

India Japan – Major Diplomatic Initiatives

• A Social Security Agreement (SSA)
• A bilateral swap agreement between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Bank of Japan (BoJ).
• Political and security cooperation as mandated by the Action Plan of 2009 witnessed steady progress in 2012.
• A new Cyber Security Dialogue was held at Tokyo on 5 November 2012, while a newly established Maritime Dialogue.
• The 60th Anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Japan was celebrated through various events both in India and Japan.
• QUAD grouping initiated by Japan.

A report released by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has stated that about 50,000 wild species globally can meet the needs of billions of people.

• The global assessment stressed that the sustainable use of wild species needed constant negotiation and adaptive management.

Key Highlights

Delegates from 140 countries came together to discuss and reach an outcome on the sustainable use of wildlife. The report is the first of its kind and has been conceived after a period of four years.

However, the Report highlighted the following points:

• Overdependence: According to the Report 70 per cent of the world’s poor population was directly dependent on wild species.
• Used for survival: One out of five sources their food from wild plants, algae and fungi, while 2.4 billion depend on firewood for cooking and around 90 per cent of the 120 million population pursuing fisheries rely on small-scale fishing.
• Cultural significance: The use of wild species defines identities and livelihoods and also holds cultural significance.
• Primitive Conservation Practices: The report noted that the indigenous people and local communities used local knowledge, practices and spirituality for the sustainable use of wild species.
• The assessment shortlisted five categories of practices used for wild species —
• Fishing,
• Gathering,
• Logging,
• Terrestrial animal harvesting which includes hunting and
• Non-extractive practices such as observing.
• Illegal Trade: It also cited illegal use and illegal trade in wild species which is estimated to be about $199 billion (Rs 150,000,000 lakh).

Causes of biodiversity losses:

• Habitat loss and fragmentation: The most dramatic examples of habitat loss come from tropical rain forests. Once covering more than 14 per cent of the earth‘s land surface, these rain forests now cover no more than 6 per cent.
• Over-exploitation: Humans have always depended on nature for food and shelter, but when need turns to ‘greed‘, it leads to overexploitation of natural resources. Many species extinctions in the last 500 years (Steller‘s sea cow, passenger pigeon) were due to overexploitation by humans.
• Alien species invasions: When alien species are introduced unintentionally or deliberately for whatever purpose, some of them turn invasive, and cause the decline or extinction of indigenous species.
• Ex: The Nile perch introduced into Lake Victoria in east Africa led eventually to the extinction of an ecologically unique assemblage of more than 200 species of cichlid fish in the lake.
• Co-extinctions: When a species becomes extinct, the plant and animal species associated with it in an obligatory way also become extinct. When a host fish species becomes extinct, its unique assemblage of parasites also meets the same fate.
  
  

Steps for Conservation

• In-situ Conservation:
  • Sanctuaries
  • National Parks
  • Protected areas
• Ex-situ Conservation:
  • Gene Banks
  • Zoos
  • Cryopreservation Technique

Three Indian skimmers, an endangered bird species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list, were spotted in Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary (NSBL)—the famous wetland near Ahmedabad.

About Indian Skimmers

• Indian Skimmer (Rynchops albicollis) is a waterbird species.
• In India, the species can be sighted near the Chambal River in Central India, in few parts of Odisha and in Andhra Pradesh.
• IUCN Red List Status- Endangered
• CITES Status: Not listed.
• The Indian skimmer grows to a length of 40-43 cm.
  
  
  
• It has black upper parts, white forehead, collar and lower parts, long, thick, deep orange bill with a yellow tip and longer lower mandible.
• In flight, it has a white trailing-edge to wing and a short forked tail with blackish central feathers.
• It breeds colonially on large, exposed sand-bars and islands between February and May.
• It feeds on surface-dwelling fish, small crustaceans and insect larvae.
• It emits a nasal kapor kip notes, particularly in flight and when disturbed.
• They have last been recorded in areas of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and Porbandar, Jamnagar and Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
• The bird’s range includes the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

Major threats

• Habitat degradation. Exploitation and degradation of rivers and lakes through fishing, transportation, domestic use, irrigation schemes and pollution from agricultural and industrial chemicals are largely responsible for the decline of this species as these factors have reduced reproductive and foraging success.
• Excessive and widespread increases in disturbance. The damming of the Chambal River, in upstream Rajasthan, has adversely affected its population at National Chambal Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh, due to the dropping water levels allowing predators and livestock access to breeding islands (Sundar, 2004).
• Predation by corvids like House crows (Corvus splendens), presence of stray and domestic dogs has been known to decimate breeding colonies.

International union for Conservation of nature (IUCN)

• IUCN is a membership union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations.
• Created in 1948,it is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.
• It is headquartered in 
• TheIUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
  
  
• It uses a set of quantitative criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of species. These criteria are relevant to most species and all regions of the world.
• The IUCN Red List Categories define the extinction risk of species assessed.Nine categories extend from NE (Not Evaluated) to EX (Extinct). Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU) species are considered to be threatened with extinction.
• It is recognized as the most authoritative guide to the status of biological diversity.
• It is also a key indicator for the SDGsand Aichi Targets.
  
  

Pokkali rice farming in Ernakulam district of coastal Kerala is under threat due to ‘mismanaged’ infrastructure.

About

• Pokkali is a variety of rice endemic to coastal Kerala, and is unique because it can grow in
• It is endemic to coastal regions of three Kerala districts—Ernakulam, Thrissur and Alappuzha.
• However, while this variety of rice seems ideal to farm, several Pokkali farmers allege that they are not receiving adequate support to keep up with the crop cycle, which is vital to pokkali farming.
  
  

Key Features

• Pokkali rice is famous for their salinity tolerance gene SalTol QTL and is significant for the International rice improvement programmes for salinity tolerance.
• The rice is cultivated once a year from April to November, in the low-lying fields adjacent to Kerala’s backwaters and the Arabian Sea.
• The fields are mostly submerged in salt water for a major portion of the year, and are used for the cultivation of shrimp during this time.
• Shrimp cultivation aids the Pokkali rice in providing nutrition, since the paddy does not require any artificial fertilisers or pesticides to grow.
• Pokkali farms are supposed to adhere to a double crop calendar — paddy between April and October during the low saline phase of monsoon and saline aquaculture between November and March when salinity soars.  
• It has got Geographical Indication Certificate (GI) and Genome Community Award.

What is Aquaculture?

• Aquaculture refers to the production of aquatic animals and plants under controlled conditions
• According to Food and Agriculture organisation(FAO), aquaculture is understood to mean the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants
• It can be classified into following categories;
  • Freshwater aquaculture
  • Coastal aquaculture
  • Sea farming
  • Brackish water aquaculture

Shrimp farming: A type of Aquaculture

• In this marine shrimps are produced for human consumption.
• The formation of Brackishwater Fish Farmers’ development Authority, in marine states proved to be of great help to shrimp farming
• Andhra pradesh, Odisha, Tamilnadu, Kerala and West Bengal have developed shrimp farming in a big way
• Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh is a prolific producer of shrimp, that it has earned the distinct name of Shrimp capital of India

Why Farmers are facing issues in cultivating these varieties?

• Due to Backwaters: Pokkali farmers are finding it difficult to keep up with this cycle is because the salt water from their fields is not being pumped out in a timely fashion.
• Pumps required: Since their fields touch the backwaters, huge pumps are required to drain them of the saltwater.
• Centre- State disputes: While the machinery has been provided by the state government, it is the farmers’ union in the region, ‘Maruvakkad Padasekhara Karshaka ‘Union that controls it. And they are not doing an effective job.