25 February 2023

• Internal security: Khalistan movement history and Amritpal Singh's Waris Punjab De reviewed. Section 153A IPC (promoting enmity between groups) and its low conviction rate highlighted.
• Education: Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) report: NIPUN Bharat targets universal Grade 3 reading and arithmetic by 2026-27. MGNREGS digital attendance gap.
• Environment: COP-28 preview. India advocates adaptation over mitigation as the priority for vulnerable countries. "Sponge cities" concept introduced for urban flood management.
• MPLADS: Revised guidelines for the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) 2023 broadened the scheme's scope and introduced a real-time monitoring portal.

GS area: Internal Security

The Khalistan movement and its current manifestation through Amritpal Singh and Waris Punjab De were examined:

• Origins: rooted in the pre-independence demand for a separate Sikh state in Punjab. The Akali Dal's Anandpur Sahib Resolution (1973) is the reference document for Sikh political aspirations.
• 1984 escalation: Operation Blue Star (June 1984) was the Indian Army's action to remove armed militants from the Golden Temple, Amritsar. The temple had been occupied by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers.
• Consequences of Operation Blue Star: Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31 October 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards. Anti-Sikh riots followed in Delhi and other cities.
• Operation Black Thunder: two operations (1986 and 1988) cleared the Golden Temple of militants a second time.
• Suppression: the militancy was effectively suppressed by the early 1990s through a combination of police action and political accommodation.
• Section 153A, IPC: criminalises promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community. Punishable with up to 3 years imprisonment. NCRB data shows a conviction rate of only 2 per cent despite 1,804 cases in 2020.
• Arnesh Kumar guidelines (2014): Supreme Court guidelines to prevent arbitrary arrest in cases where the offence carries under 7 years imprisonment. Requires magistrate review before arrest for such offences.

Static linkage: Internal Security (Khalistan, Punjab, Section 153A IPC, UAPA).

GS area: Governance

The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme received revised guidelines:

• MPLADS basics: each Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MP gets Rs 5 crore annually to recommend development works in their constituencies (or across India for Rajya Sabha members).
• New portal: a web portal enabling real-time monitoring of MPLADS project status and transparency in fund utilisation.
• Broadened scope: the revised guidelines expand eligible categories to address a wider range of community needs identified by MPs.
• Fund flow: funds go directly from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation to the District Authority, which implements the works. MPs recommend; they do not disburse.
• Constitutional basis: MPLADS has been challenged as unconstitutional (MPs are legislators, not implementors of development works). The Supreme Court upheld it in 2010.
• Suspension record: MPLADS was suspended during COVID-19 in 2020-21, with Rs 7,900 crore diverted to the PM CARES Fund.

Static linkage: Governance (MPLADS, parliamentary democracy, local development).

GS area: Environment, International Relations

As COP-28 approached (scheduled for Dubai, November-December 2023), India articulated its position:

• Adaptation: measures to adjust to the current and projected impacts of climate change. Examples: flood-resistant crops, coastal defences, heat-resistant urban design.
• Mitigation: measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Examples: renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon capture.
• India's argument: developing countries are already experiencing climate impacts (floods, droughts, heat waves). Mitigation benefits take decades to materialise. Adaptation funding is needed now, not deferred until mitigation is complete.
• Sponge city concept: an urban planning approach that absorbs, stores and gradually releases rainwater through permeable surfaces, wetlands, parks, and underground cisterns. Reduces urban flooding risk. China has implemented sponge city pilots.
• Loss and Damage Fund: established at COP27 (Sharm el-Sheikh, November 2022). The first fund specifically for countries that have already suffered climate damages. A major win for the developing world.
• India's climate commitments: net zero by 2070. 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030. 50 per cent electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Static linkage: Environment (climate change, COP, adaptation, Loss and Damage).

GS area: Environment, International Relations

The environmental toll of the Russia-Ukraine war was quantified:

• Forest destruction: over 2 million hectares of Ukrainian forest destroyed.
• Carbon emissions from conflict: approximately 33 million tonnes of CO2 from the conflict and approximately 23 million tonnes from fires. Total war-related emissions comparable to a mid-sized industrial country's annual output.
• Nuclear risk: the Russian occupation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone disrupted nuclear radiation monitoring in the first weeks of the invasion.
• Post-war restoration: substantial investment needed in ecosystem restoration, landmine clearance (which makes agricultural land inaccessible), and rebuilding energy infrastructure with clean technology.
• Precedent: post-conflict environmental rehabilitation is a new field of international law. The UNEP oversees principles for environmental protection in armed conflict.

Static linkage: Environment (conflict and environment, climate emissions, ecosystem restoration).

GS area: Governance (rural development)

MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) digital attendance data:

• NMMS (NaMo Mobile Monitoring System): captures real-time worker attendance with geo-tagged photographs at work sites. Aims to prevent fake attendance records.
• Adoption rate: 85 per cent average adoption of NMMS across panchayats.
• Gap: more than 40 per cent of gram panchayats lack the ability to record digital attendance in real time due to connectivity and device issues.
• eShram integration: MGNREGS beneficiary data is being matched with ration card data from the National Food Security Act to ensure eligible workers receive food security benefits.

Static linkage: Governance (MGNREGS, digital governance, rural employment).

GS area: Science and Technology

Researchers grew electrodes inside living zebrafish tissues:

• Method: an injectable gel transforms via body sugars (glucose and lactate) into a conductive electrode material inside tissue.
• Zebrafish: used in biomedical research because their bodies are transparent, allowing observation, and they share many genes with humans.
• Applications: in future medical devices for Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and spinal cord injuries where precisely placed electrodes in living tissue would deliver targeted electrical stimulation.
• Significance: conventional metallic electrodes are rigid and cause inflammation. Biocompatible electrodes that form inside tissue could revolutionise neural interfaces.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (biomedical research, materials science, neural interfaces).

• Mulethi (liquorice): Himachal Pradesh began India's first organised commercial cultivation of mulethi (Glycyrrhiza glabra). Anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Known in Ayurveda as "Yashtimadhu." CSIR-IHBT (Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology) distributing planting material.
• Chicago Convention protocols: India cleared three amendments to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. India is a founding member of ICAO; 193 states are parties to the Convention.
• IREDA in GIFT City: the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency is establishing an office in GIFT City, Gandhinagar (Gujarat) to access foreign currency financing for renewable energy projects without foreign exchange hedging costs.