21 September 2023 The Hindu Newspaper Analysis

Prelims Specific Questions

Consider the following statements regarding Jainism:

1. It gave the ashtangika marg
2. Unlike Buddhism, it condemned the
   Varna system.
3. It mainly aims at the attainment of
   freedom from worldly bonds.
   How many of the above statements is/are correct?
   (a) only 1
   (b) only 2
   (c) All 3
   (d) None

2. The term “Startup20 Engagement group (SUMup)” is often seen in news in the context of:
(a) BRICS
(b) World Bank

(c) OECD
(d) G20

3. In the context of ancient India, the terms bhuktis, vishayas and vithis refer to
(a) coins
(b) administrative divisions
(c) administrative officials

(d) books

The Guptas organized a system of provincial and local administration. The empire was divided into divisions (bhuktis), and each bhukti was placed under the charge of an uparika. The bhuktis were divided into districts (vishayas), which were placed under the charge of vishayapati. In eastern India, the vishayas were divided into vithis, which again were divided into villages.

Prelims specific news items

Segur Elephant Corridor

Context: A Supreme Court-appointed committee recently declared 12 private resorts, along the Segur elephant corridor, illegal.

Background:-

• The committee’s ruling highlighted that the resorts had constructed unlawful structures that impeded the natural movement of elephants.
• Despite assertions from resort owners who disputed the corridor’s designation as an elephant habitat, the committee ultimately sided with preserving the corridor’s integrity.
• While this decision secures the protection of the corridor, it carries economic implications for the local communities that depend on employment opportunities provided by these resorts.

About Segur elephant corridor:-

IMAGE SOURCE: downtoearth.org.in

• The Segur elephant corridor serves as a crucial passageway for the movement of elephants and various other wildlife species between different habitats within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. ( Endangered Asian elephant in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve)
• The corridor is situated in the ecologically fragile Sigur plateau.
• Sigur plateau connects the Western and the Eastern Ghats.
• It facilitates easy movement of about 6,300 Asiatic elephants from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
• It sustains elephant populations and their genetic diversity. (Elephant Conservation)
• The elephants cross the plateau in search of food and water.
• It has the Nilgiri Hills on its southwestern side.
• Moyar River Valley is on its northeastern side.
• The plateau is a low-rainfallmarginal land.
• It has poor soils and in recent times, also had a low population density.
• There are five major streams in the Sigur plateau: Moyar River, Sigur River, Avarahalla River, Kedarhalla River, and Gundattihalla River.
  • All these rivers originate in the Nilgiris plateau.

UN Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships

Context: Recently, 15 countries joined the UN Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships.

Background:-

• The convention was opened for signatures at a ceremony in Beijing on September 5, 2023, according to the United Nations.
• 15 countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Switzerland, signed the UN Convention.

About the UN Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships:-

• Date of adoption: 7 December 2022.
• Objective: to promote legal certainty and predictability at the international level by creating a uniform regime for the international effects of ‘judicial’ sales of ships.
• Background:-
• It was developed by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
• It was to address the problem of bona fide new owners and those financing the purchase of vessels who, for instance, find themselves dealing with previous creditors laying claim to the ship as security for a loan.
• The convention is also known as the Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships.
• It establishes a harmonized regime for giving international effect to judicial sales while preserving domestic law governing the procedure of judicial sales and the circumstances in which judicial sales confer clean title.
• By ensuring legal certainty as to the title that the purchaser acquires in the ship as it navigates internationally, the Convention is designed to maximize the price that the ship is able to attract in the market and the proceeds available for distribution among creditors and to promote international trade.

Key Provisions:-

• Basic rule of the Convention:-
• A judicial sale conducted in one State Party which has the effect of conferring clean title on the purchaser has the same effect in every other State Party (article 6).
• The basic rule is subject only to a public policy exception (article 10).
• Additional rules of the Convention:-
• The first is a requirement that the ship registry deregister the shipor transfer registration at the request of the purchaser (article 7). (UN biodiversity Summit)
• The second is a prohibition on arresting the ship for a claim arising from a pre-existing right or interest (i.e. a right or interest extinguished by the sale) (article 8).
• The third is the conferral of exclusive jurisdiction on the courts of the State of judicial sale to hear a challenge to the judicial sale (article 9).
• The Convention provides for the issuance of two instruments: a notice of judicial sale (article 4) and a certificate of judicial sale (article 5).
• It also establishes an online repository of those instruments which is freely accessible to any interested person or entity (article 11).
• The Convention regime is “closed”, in the sense that it applies only among States Parties (article 3), but “not-exclusive”, in the sense that it does not displace other bases for giving effect to judicial sales, for instance under more favourable domestic law regimes (article 14).