3 June 2024

• International: UN Peacekeepers Day 2024 on 29 May; Dag Hammarskjöld Medals awarded to Indian peacekeepers. India is the second-largest UN peacekeeping contributor.
• Economy: Banking sector running a liquidity deficit. RBI uses Variable Rate Repo tools to inject short-term funds.
• Environment: India Meteorological Department under scrutiny after an AWS sensor error in Delhi produced a false record temperature.
• Ecology: Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in Assam building canopy bridges to reconnect gibbon habitat fragmented by a railway line.

GS area: International Relations, International Organisations

The UN International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers was observed on 29 May. The Dag Hammarskjöld Medal is awarded posthumously to UN peacekeeping personnel killed in service during the preceding year.

• Dag Hammarskjöld: the second UN Secretary-General, serving from 1953 until his death in a plane crash in 1961 while on a peace mission to the Congo. The medal named after him was first awarded in 1998.
• India's peacekeeping record: India is the second-largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping missions, with over 6,000 troops deployed. Approximately 180 Indian peacekeepers have died in service.
• MONUSCO: the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It employs around 16,300 personnel and was the first UN mission authorised to use unmanned aerial vehicles for monitoring. Its intervention brigade, authorised in 2013, can conduct offensive operations against armed groups. MONUSCO transitioned from MONUC in 2010.
• 2024 UN Peacekeepers Day theme: "Fit for the future, building better together."
• India and UN peacekeeping mandate: Article 43 of the UN Charter asks member states to make armed forces available for maintaining peace. India participates under this framework.

Static linkage: international organisations (UN), international relations.

GS area: Environment and Ecology, Biodiversity

The Northeast Frontier Railway is constructing canopy bridges over the railway track that bisects Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in Assam. The Wildlife Institute of India designed the bridges.

• Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary: located in Jorhat district, Assam. The area was first reserved in 1881 and formally established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1997. It covers about 20 square kilometres.
• Population: approximately 125 Hoolock Gibbons and Bengal Slow Lorises share the sanctuary. The Bengal Slow Loris is a nocturnal primate listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
• Forest structure: three canopy layers. The upper canopy is dominated by hollong trees (Dipterocarpus macrocarpus). Nahar trees occupy the middle tier. Evergreen shrubs form the lower understorey.
• Fragmentation problem: the railway line cuts the sanctuary in two. Gibbons are strictly arboreal and cannot cross open ground safely. Canopy bridges restore aerial connectivity without requiring the railway to close.
• Wildlife Institute of India: an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It conducts research on wildlife science, ecology and conservation planning.

Static linkage: biodiversity, environment and ecology.

GS area: Science and Technology, Geography

The IMD's role in measuring and forecasting extreme heat came under the spotlight after the Mungeshpur AWS reading controversy.

• IMD founding: 1875. It is India's principal government agency for meteorology and operates under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• WMO status: one of six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres designated by the World Meteorological Organisation. The WMO is the UN specialised agency for weather, climate and water.
• Six regional centres: India has six regional meteorological centres across the country; the headquarters is in New Delhi.
• AWS network: the IMD operates a network of Automatic Weather Stations that transmit data in real time. Sensors measure wind, temperature, humidity, pressure and rainfall.
• Stevenson Screen standard: the reference enclosure for temperature measurement. Its double-louvred wooden design protects the thermometer from direct solar radiation while allowing natural air flow.
• Heatwave threshold: the IMD defines a heatwave as a condition where the maximum temperature is at least 40 degrees Celsius (or 30 degrees Celsius for hilly stations) and is at least 4.5 degrees above the normal for that date.

Static linkage: science and technology, physical geography.

GS area: Economy, Governance

The Open Network for Digital Commerce reported 8.9 million transactions in May 2024, a 23 per cent increase from April.

• ONDC: the Open Network for Digital Commerce is a non-profit body that operates an open protocol for e-commerce. It aims to democratise digital commerce by connecting buyers and sellers across different apps using a common protocol, similar to how UPI works for payments.
• Contrast with proprietary platforms: Amazon and Flipkart are walled gardens. ONDC is open infrastructure. A buyer on one app can transact with a seller registered on a different app.
• Operator model: ONDC is not itself an app. Seller apps and buyer apps register on the network. ONDC sets the protocol standards.
• Policy goal: to bring small retailers, local kirana stores, artisans and service providers onto digital commerce without requiring them to deal directly with a large platform.
• 23 per cent monthly growth: indicates uptake is accelerating from a low base. The transaction volumes remained well below the dominant platforms at this stage.

Static linkage: digital economy, governance.

GS area: Economy, Polity

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs released a draft Central Excise Bill 2024 for stakeholder consultation, with a comment deadline of 26 June 2024.

• Purpose: to replace the Central Excise Act 1944. The new bill aims to modernise central excise law, align it with GST-era structures and promote ease of doing business.
• CBIC: the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs operates under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. It formulates policy for customs duty, GST and central excise.
• Residual excise: after GST's introduction in 2017, central excise is now levied only on products outside GST, mainly petroleum products and alcohol. These are significant revenue items that remain under the older framework.
• Ease of doing business: the bill proposes digitising compliance processes, simplifying dispute resolution and removing outdated provisions.

Static linkage: economy (taxation), governance.

GS area: Science and Technology, Environment

A discovery of modern stromatolites was reported at Sheybarah Island in the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. This added to the global inventory of living stromatolite sites.

• Stromatolites: layered rock-like structures formed by microbial communities, mainly cyanobacteria. The bacteria trap sediment and secrete calcium carbonate, building up layers over thousands of years.
• Significance for Earth science: stromatolites are among the oldest evidence of life on Earth, dating back over 3.5 billion years. They are how scientists know cyanobacteria existed before complex life evolved.
• Cyanobacteria and oxygen: ancient cyanobacteria were responsible for the Great Oxidation Event approximately 2.4 billion years ago, releasing oxygen that transformed the Earth's atmosphere.
• Modern examples: rare. Shark Bay in Western Australia is the world's most famous modern stromatolite site. Hamelin Pool there hosts stromatolites in extremely saline, shallow water.
• Mars relevance: scientists study stromatolites to understand biosignatures. If life ever existed on Mars, it might have left stromatolite-like structures in ancient lake beds.

Static linkage: science and technology, environment.

• Dag Hammarskjöld Medal 2024 theme: UN Peacekeepers Day (29 May) centred on future readiness. India's contribution of over 6,000 peacekeepers makes it the second-largest contributor among member states.
• Variable Rate Repo auction: RBI attracted bids of 1,13,915 crore rupees against an offering of 50,000 crore rupees, reflecting acute bank demand for short-term liquidity.