25 March 2023

• Environment: Western Disturbances trigger hailstorms in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Punjab in March, destroying standing wheat and mustard crops.
• Regulation: Draft amendments to IT Rules 2021 propose compulsory Random Number Generation certification for online gaming platforms.
• Energy: DGFT amends export rules to let SEZ units export biofuels made from imported feedstock for the first time.
• Culture: The Sharada Peeth temple-university in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir remains inaccessible to Hindu and Sikh pilgrims despite its status as one of the oldest centres of Sanskrit learning.
• Awards: Luis Caffarelli wins the 2023 Abel Prize for his contributions to the theory of nonlinear partial differential equations.

GS Paper I / III: Physical geography; agriculture and food security.

Hailstorms struck parts of Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Punjab in the third week of March 2023, damaging standing Rabi crops just weeks before the wheat harvest. Meteorologists attributed the events to unusually active Western Disturbances interacting with warm, moisture-laden air from the Bay of Bengal.

• What a Western Disturbance is: A Western Disturbance is an extratropical cyclone that originates over the Mediterranean Sea and the Caspian Sea region. It travels eastward along high-altitude westerly jet streams at roughly 9 to 12 km above sea level and brings rain and snow to northwest India during winter.
• March timing: Western Disturbances are expected through February. An active system in late March is anomalous and reflects a broader pattern of warming that is extending the jet-stream season.
• Moisture amplifier: As a Western Disturbance passes, it draws in moisture from the Arabian Sea (warmer than average in 2023) and from Bay of Bengal low-level winds. This additional moisture turns what would have been light rain into convective hailstorms.
• Crop impact: Wheat in Rajasthan and Punjab and mustard in Haryana and Rajasthan were at the grain-filling stage. Hail at this stage flattens the standing crop and shatters the grain head, making mechanical harvesting difficult and reducing yields by 30 to 80 per cent in affected patches.
• Climate link: Warming of the Arabian Sea reduces the temperature gradient that normally weakens Western Disturbances as they move east. Stronger late-season systems are now observed more frequently.

Revises: Physical geography of India; Agriculture; Climate change impacts.

GS Paper II / III: Governance; technology regulation.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology released draft amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 to create a regulatory framework for online gaming.

• Key requirement: Online gaming companies offering games involving real money must obtain a Random Number Generation (RNG) certificate from an accredited testing laboratory. RNG certification verifies that the outcome of a game is genuinely random and not pre-determined in favour of the platform.
• Self-regulatory bodies: The amendment envisages the notification of self-regulatory bodies for online gaming. Platforms must register with a notified body and comply with a code of conduct covering user verification, grievance redress and advertising standards.
• State restrictions: Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have attempted to ban online real-money gaming under state police powers. The Supreme Court stayed the Karnataka ban, holding that online gaming regulation is a Union subject under List I of the Seventh Schedule (communications and broadcasting).
• GST controversy: A separate proposal before the GST Council would impose 28 per cent GST on deposits made into gaming platforms. The industry argues this would effectively kill legal real-money gaming by making it uncompetitive with offshore platforms.
• Casino states: Goa, Daman and Diu and Sikkim regulate physical and online casinos through state legislation under the residuary powers of the Constitution.

The distinction the Rules try to draw, between a game of skill and a game of chance, is legally significant because the Supreme Court has held that skill-based games fall outside the scope of gambling laws. The draft rules do not settle this question definitively.

Revises: IT Act 2000; Seventh Schedule; GST Council.

GS Paper III: Energy; trade policy.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade amended its 2018 notification to permit export-oriented units and special economic zone units to export biofuels produced using imported feedstock.

• What changed: The earlier policy reserved biofuel exports for domestically produced biofuels only. SEZ and EOU units, which import raw material under duty-free schemes, were barred from the export market. The amendment lifts that restriction.
• Rationale: India is a net exporter in the biofuel space in certain categories. Allowing SEZ units to use cheaper imported feedstock (sugarcane molasses, used cooking oil, agricultural waste) while exporting the finished biofuel increases the commercial viability of these facilities and earns foreign exchange.
• National Policy on Biofuels 2018: Sets a target of 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol and 5 per cent biodiesel blending in diesel by 2030. The 2018 policy was amended in 2022 to advance the E20 (20 per cent ethanol) target to 2025-26.
• PM JI-VAN Yojana (2019): Promotes second-generation (2G) ethanol production from agricultural residue such as rice straw and wheat straw, reducing stubble burning. Full name: Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana (Jaiv Indhan Vatavaran Anukool fasal abhiyaan Yojana).
• GOBAR-DHAN (2018): Converts cattle dung and solid waste into biogas and bio-CNG. Operated by the Ministry of Jal Shakti under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen).
• RUCO initiative: Repurpose Used Cooking Oil collects used cooking oil from food outlets and large kitchens to convert it into biodiesel, reducing both food adulteration (cooking oil is often recycled illegally into the food chain) and fossil fuel consumption.

Revises: National Policy on Biofuels 2018; SEZ Act; International trade; Energy security.

GS Paper I: Culture; modern history; India-Pakistan relations.

The Sharada Peeth temple-university in the Neelum Valley of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir remained in the news as Hindu and Sikh groups renewed demands for a pilgrimage corridor to access the site.

• Historical significance: Sharada Peeth was active from approximately the 6th to the 12th centuries CE. It was one of the foremost centres of Sanskrit learning in the ancient world and a seat of Kashmiri Shaivism. Scholars from across the subcontinent visited to study philosophy, astronomy and grammar.
• The Sharada script: The site is closely associated with the Sharada script, an abugida (syllabic alphabet) that evolved from the Brahmi script and was used to write Sanskrit, Kashmiri and other north Indian languages. It is the precursor of several scripts still used in the Himalayan region.
• Religious importance: The site is considered one of the 18 Shakti Peethas. The presiding deity is Sharada, a form of Saraswati, goddess of learning.
• Access denial: Pakistan does not permit Hindu or Sikh pilgrims to visit Sharada Peeth. The site is in territory that India considers integral to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Both governments would need to agree on a pilgrimage corridor, similar to the Kartarpur Corridor (operational since 2019) that allows Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.

Revises: Ancient Indian culture; Kashmiriyat; India-Pakistan relations.

GS Paper II: Fundamental rights; judiciary.

India's continued ranking near the bottom of international press freedom indices prompted fresh discussion of the constitutional and judicial architecture around media freedoms.

• Ranking: India was placed at 150 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2022 published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This places India below several neighbouring countries in South Asia.
• Constitutional basis: Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression. The Supreme Court has held that freedom of the press is implicit in this right, not a separately enumerated guarantee.
• Reasonable restrictions: Article 19(2) permits the state to impose reasonable restrictions on speech on grounds including sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, contempt of court, defamation and incitement to offence.
• Romesh Thappar v. State of Madras (1950): The Supreme Court struck down a Madras order banning a political weekly, holding that prior restraint on speech and press publication requires a ground listed in Article 19(2). This judgment established the doctrine that freedom of the press is co-extensive with freedom of speech and cannot be restricted on grounds not listed in that Article.

Revises: Fundamental rights (Part III); Landmark Supreme Court cases.

GS Paper III: Achievements of Indians and scientists in science; international awards.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters awarded the 2023 Abel Prize to Luis Caffarelli for his work on nonlinear partial differential equations, which underpin models of fluid dynamics, financial markets and heat transfer.

• The Abel Prize: Established in 2003 by the Norwegian government and named after mathematician Niels Henrik Abel. It is awarded annually to one or more mathematicians for outstanding scientific work. The prize carries a monetary award of approximately 7.5 million Norwegian Krone (roughly USD 720,000 in 2023).
• Why it matters: The Abel Prize is widely regarded as the closest equivalent to a Nobel Prize in mathematics (which does not have a Nobel category). Unlike the Fields Medal, which is restricted to mathematicians under 40, the Abel Prize has no age limit.
• Caffarelli's work: Caffarelli is an Argentine-born mathematician working at the University of Texas at Austin. His breakthrough was developing regularity theory for free boundary problems in nonlinear partial differential equations, which describe physical surfaces where a boundary location is itself part of the solution (such as the boundary of a melting ice cube).

Revises: International awards; Science and technology.

GS Paper III: Environment; biodiversity.

Two migratory duck species were sighted in the Kashmir Valley after gaps of more than 80 years, raising both conservation hope and questions about what changed in their migratory routes.

• Long-tailed Duck: Sighted in Kashmir after an 84-year gap. The Long-tailed Duck breeds in the Arctic tundra and typically winters in northern Europe, the North Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of North America. Its appearance in Kashmir suggests a significant route deviation. IUCN status: Vulnerable, with a declining population driven by oil spills and bycatch in fishing nets.
• Smew Duck: Sighted after a 116-year gap. The Smew breeds in the boreal forests of northern Eurasia and winters in northwest Europe and parts of Central Asia. IUCN status: Least Concern, though numbers are declining in parts of its European wintering range.
• What the sightings indicate: Unusual sightings can reflect habitat loss at traditional stopover sites, shifting weather systems that reroute migrating birds, or simply the effect of more systematic bird-watching with better optics and a larger volunteer network.

Revises: Biodiversity; IUCN; Migratory birds.

GS Paper II: Parliament; legislative procedure.

The conclusion of the Budget session in the Lok Sabha brought the parliamentary guillotine into use on the Demands for Grants, raising perennial questions about parliamentary accountability over public spending.

• What the guillotine is: The parliamentary guillotine is a procedure by which the Speaker of the Lok Sabha sets a deadline for voting on financial business. When the deadline arrives, all pending Demands for Grants that have not been discussed are put to vote simultaneously without debate.
• Constitutional basis: Article 113 requires that the annual financial statement (Budget) and Supplementary Demands for Grants be presented to the Lok Sabha. Article 114 requires an Appropriation Bill to authorise spending from the Consolidated Fund. The Demands for Grants are the mechanism by which Parliament authorises expenditure ministry by ministry.
• Why it happens: Parliament has insufficient sitting days to debate every ministry's Demands for Grants. The Business Advisory Committee allocates time, but budget constraints and disruptions routinely mean that most Demands are guillotined.
• Accountability deficit: The guillotine means that the bulk of central government expenditure is authorised without scrutiny in the House. Parliamentary Standing Committees, which examine departmental Demands in detail, are the practical substitute.

Revises: Parliament of India; Budget process; Appropriation Bill.

• Canalised commodities: Urea imports are canalised through Indian Potash Limited (IPL) as the State Trading Enterprise. Canalisation routes imports of sensitive commodities through designated government-owned bodies to manage price, quality and supply.
• Long-tailed Duck IUCN: The Long-tailed Duck is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with oil pollution and climate change altering its Arctic breeding habitat.