Prelims Specific Question

1) Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary is located in which of the following states?

1. Uttar Pradesh
2. Haryana
3. Gujarat
4. Rajasthan

2) Consider the following statement regarding Abanindranath Tagore:

1. He was associated with Indian Society of Oriental Art
2. His work was majorly inspired from Western models of Art
3. He was the creator of the iconic “Bharat Mata” painting

Which of the following is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

3) Consider the following statements about UNCLOS

1. It is the only international convention which provides framework for state jurisdiction in maritime spaces.
2. India is not the member of UNCLOS

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

About UNCLOS

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, also known as Law of the Sea divides marine areas into five main zones namely- Internal Waters, Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the High Seas.

• UNCLOS is the only international convention which stipulates a framework for state jurisdiction in maritime spaces. It provides a different legal status to different maritime zones.
• It provides the backbone for offshore governance by coastal states and those navigating the oceans. It not only zones coastal states’ offshore areas but also provides specific guidance for states’ rights and responsibilities in the five concentric zones.

Important News Items of the Day

1) Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana

The Delhi government announced to add Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan and Velankanni Church in Tamil Nadu to its pilgrimage scheme called “Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana” on November 26, 2021

Economy

1) Wage Rate Index

Recently, Ministry of Labour released a new series of Wage Rate Index (WRI) with base year 2016. Key Points The Wage Rate Index (WRI) is being compiled and maintained by the Labour Bureau. New series of WRI with base 2016=100 is going to replace old series with base 1963-65.

Why base year was revised?

Central government periodically revises base year for major economic indicators for reflecting the changes in economy and for capturing wage pattern of workers. This time, the WRI base year has been revised on the recommendations of National Statistical Commission, International Labour Organization etc. in order to enhance the coverage and to make index more representative.

DATA POINT

Editorials of the Day

Editorial 1 – COP26 pledges need a new climate of cooperation

There was cautious optimism when India finally announced its net zero target, even though India’s pledged deadline is 2070 – two decades after than the desired deadline of the year 2050.

• ·         After the net zero target, the United States and Europe led the next biggest climate goal, the Global Methane Pledge, to bring down global methane levels significantly by 2030; this was signed by as many as 104 countries. Despite being the third-largest methane emitter, India was not signatory.
• ·         India also was not part of the pledge to deforestation despite hosting the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest: the Sundarbans.

Initiatives by India

• India has been a promoter of green energy to reduce carbon emission. Although the country is yet to significantly transit to renewable energy, accounting only 22.5% of nationwide electricity production, India has been leading the global movement towards solar power.
• The country cofounded the International Solar Alliance (ISA) along with France – an alliance with more than 120 countries to promote solar energy.
• To strengthen India’s stand for renewable energy like solar energy, India has signed to the Glasgow Breakthrough Agenda in this year’s COP26 along with over 35 other nations to promote clean energy and make it more affordable.
• Initiative for the Resilient Island States (IRIS) for developing infrastructure of small island nations.
• India and the UK has announced a joint declaration on “one sun, one world, one grid” — or OSOWOG at the  Conference of Parties (COP26).

However, there are two key struggles that India has to deal with when transitioning to green energy: the consumption of the world’s second largest population base and the lack of adequate available renewable energy options. 

The country is going through a resource constraint, having to choose between priorities.

Meeting climate goals with a population of 1.3 billion while combating the novel coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge for the world’s largest democracy. 

The annual $100 billion pledge by developed countries to the developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) back in COP16 is yet to be disbursed.

If powerful developing economies such as India are to play a constructive role in tackling climate change and achieving net zero target, the developed North needs to shore up its support by taking a common responsibility to help developing countries and LDCs to pursue climate goals as they already face the daunting tasks of fighting poverty, providing basic health-care services, and ensuring access to education. 

Editorial 2 – Gerrymandering, a challenge to U.S. democracy?

The story so far: Redistricting, the process of redrawing electoral boundaries, is conducted across U.S. Congressional and State legislative districts every decade, following the publication of the results of the population census. The principle behind redistricting is to ensure that the election of public officials embodies the ideal of genuine democratic representation, by factoring in changes in the geographic distribution of population.

Gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish an arguably unfair political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts, which is most commonly used in first-past-the-post electoral systems.

Editorial 3 – Running business on Cloud

What is Cloud computing –

Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over multiple locations, each location being a data center.

With Cloud Computing, you only have to subscribe to a service provider to obtain the hardware and operating system that your software needs. This lets you focus on the core business problem and not worry about computer infrastructure which will reside in a datacentre in your country or somewhere else. And the pricing for this mix of hardware product and service is based on how long the computers are used, the type of hardware and how much data is stored etc.. In other words, Cloud Computing brings the utility model to computer infrastructure: like electricity, we only pay for how much we use. Cloud computing business had a valuation of $370 billion in 2020 and it reflects how critically important Cloud Computing is to any business that uses software. Almost 50% of all corporate data is stored in the Cloud.

The tech behind the Cloud

At the heart of Cloud computing are two vital technologies: “virtualisation” which lets computer resources be shared through multiple virtual machines; and “network” that lets data requests flow to and from the datacentre or the Cloud through the Internet. It needs to be noted that resource sharing and utility computing have existed in some form for many years.