7 October 2023

• Nobel Peace Prize: Narges Mohammadi, the imprisoned Iranian human rights activist, was named the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her fight against women's oppression.
• Female LFPR: the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2022-23 showed India's female labour force participation rate rising to 35.6 per cent, but rural-urban and gender gaps remain stark.
• GI tags: Basohli Pashmina from Kathua district (J&K) and Kalari cheese from Udhampur (J&K) received GI tags.
• Israel-Hamas war: Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from Gaza on October 7; Prime Minister Netanyahu declared war the next day. This begins the dominant international story of October 2023.

GS area: International Relations, World History

In the early morning of October 7, Hamas launched a multi-pronged assault on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. This was the deadliest attack on Israel since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

• Hamas: the Islamic Resistance Movement, founded in 1987 during the first Palestinian intifada against Israeli occupation. Its military wing was established around 1991. Founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Hamas governs the Gaza Strip after winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 and seizing control from Fatah in 2007.
• Fatah: the secular nationalist Palestinian faction controlling the West Bank, led by the Palestinian Authority. Fatah pursues a two-state solution and renounced violence; Hamas rejects the Oslo Accords.
• October 7 attack: coordinated rocket barrages and armed infiltrators breached the Gaza barrier. Israeli communities near Gaza were targeted. Initial casualties exceeded 1,400 Israelis killed.
• Oslo Accords (1993): the peace framework signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Hamas rejected the Accords. Fatah is the dominant faction within the PLO.
• Six-Day War (1967): Israel captured the Gaza Strip (from Egypt), Sinai Peninsula (from Egypt), West Bank (from Jordan), Golan Heights (from Syria), and East Jerusalem. Gaza and the West Bank became the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
• Yom Kippur War (1973): fought October 6-25 between Israel on one side and Egypt and Syria on the other. Egypt and Syria sought to recover territory lost in 1967. Led to the Camp David Accords (1978) under which Egypt recognised Israel and Israel returned the Sinai.
• UN Resolution 181 (1947): proposed the partition of the British Mandate of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Israel declared independence in 1948. The Arab-Israeli wars followed.

Critical note. The Gaza Strip is about 365 sq km, governed by Hamas, and under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since 2007. The West Bank is governed by the Palestinian Authority under a complex division with Israeli security control. Jerusalem's status is the central unresolved dispute: Israel declared it its unified capital; international consensus does not recognise this.

Static linkage: World history, India's foreign policy, international relations.

GS area: International Relations, Human Rights, Society

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi.

• Background: Iranian human rights activist, born 1972. Vice President of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (founded by 2003 Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi).
• Activism: campaigns against women's oppression in Iran, particularly mandatory hijab laws; fights against the death penalty; advocates for civil disobedience.
• Imprisonment: sentenced to 31 years' imprisonment and 154 lashes on charges of "spreading anti-state propaganda" and defamation. Received the prize while in Evin Prison, Tehran.
• "Woman Life Freedom" movement: the Persian phrase "Zan Zendegi Azadi" became the rallying cry after the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody.
• Second Iranian: Shirin Ebadi was the first Iranian to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2003). Ebadi is also the first Muslim woman to win the Peace Prize.
• Mohammadi's other awards: PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award; UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize (both 2023).
• Publications: The Reforms, the Strategy, and the Tactics; White Torture (2022) about the torture of political prisoners.

Static linkage: Human rights, international relations.

GS area: Economy, Society

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2022-23 annual report was released.

• Female LFPR (15+ years): 35.6 per cent at the national level. Rural: 39.3 per cent; Urban: 26.6 per cent.
• Trend: rural female LFPR has been rising sharply from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18. The improvement is partly attributed to post-COVID agricultural employment and women engaged in MGNREGA.
• Over 50 per cent of rural women work as unpaid family helpers on their households' agricultural land. They are classified as workers but earn nothing independently.
• Gender wage gap: self-employed women earn less than half of men's earnings on average.
• Agricultural land ownership: only 14.7 per cent of operational agricultural landholdings are owned by women (2015-16 census data).
• Urban LFPR contrast: urban female LFPR is lower than rural because urban areas have fewer informal sector opportunities accessible to women with low education.
• ILO 5R Framework for care economy: Recognise, Reduce, Redistribute, Regulate, and Represent. This framework guides policy to shift the burden of unpaid care work.
• Tamil Nadu scheme: Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai Thittam provides Rs 1,000 per month as basic income to women.

Static linkage: Economy, society, social welfare schemes.

GS area: Economy, Culture

Two products from Jammu and Kashmir received Geographical Indication (GI) tags.

Basohli Pashmina:

• Origin: Kathua district, Jammu and Kashmir. Over 100 years of tradition.
• Material: fine wool from the undercoat of the Changthangi goat (also called Pashmina goat), which grazes in the high-altitude Changthang plateau of Ladakh.
• Properties: extremely soft, fine, lightweight. Distinguished from ordinary Pashmina by its specific geographical origin in Basohli.
• GI significance: protects it from imitation by products from other regions.

Udhampur Kalari:

• Origin: Udhampur district, Jammu and Kashmir.
• Description: a traditional Dogra cheese. Milk is boiled and curdled; the dense cheese is cooked in its own fat with salt. Served hot, typically with bread.
• Cultural significance: popular street food in J&K; ties to Dogra culinary heritage.

GI framework:

• Legal basis: Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
• Validity: 10 years, renewable.
• Administered by: the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks under the Ministry of Commerce.

Static linkage: Economy (GI tags), culture.

GS area: Governance, Education

Veer Gatha Project 3.0 was launched, with participation from 1.36 crore school students across 36 states and UTs.

• Launched: 2021 under the Gallantry Awards Portal (GAP).
• Objective: honour the bravery of armed forces personnel through stories and artwork by school students. Instil patriotism.
• Awards: 100 national winners receive Rs 10,000 each. District-level and state/UT-level winners also receive awards.
• Ministries involved: Ministry of Education and Ministry of Defence jointly run the programme.
• Gallantry Awards Portal: a digital platform that documents the stories of gallantry award recipients; launched in 2021.

Static linkage: Governance, defence.

• Shyamji Krishna Varma: born October 4, 1857 in Mandvi, Gujarat. First Indian to earn an MA; founded the Indian Home Rule Society and India House in London; published The Indian Sociologist; first President of Bombay Arya Samaj.
• Dalit conversions to Sikhism in Bihar: in Araria district, Dalit families who had migrated to Punjab and converted to Sikhism for escape from caste discrimination are seeking recognition of minority status in Bihar.