Neutral Citation System+MP’s Van Mitra portal+Conditions for Indian Farmers+The environmental costs+HIV-resistant mutation

24
FEBRUARY
2023
GS ANALYST
CURRENT AFFAIRS Daily
NEWS HEADLINE
Neutral Citation
System
MP’s Van Mitra Portal
and Forest Rights
Claims
Conditions for Indian
Farmers in 2023
The Environmental
Costs of the Russia-
Ukraine War
SHORT NEWS
Linking Aadhaar to
Voter ID
Sangeet Natak
Akademi awards
Indians’ Spending
on Foreign Property
Cyclone Freddy
Join our Telegram Channel
for DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS
HIV-Resistant
Mutation
EDITORIAL
Safe across Borders
iasscore.in

CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY 24 FEBRUARY, 2023
EDITORIAL
SAFE ACROSS BORDERS
CONTEXT:
India and Singapore have recently announced to link their payment apps, namely UPI and PayNow which
will allow instantaneous and low-cost money transfers between the two countries and is set to ease financial
transactions for the Indian diaspora.
NEED TO DIVERSIFY:
To link cross border citizens: The linkage marked the start of a cross-border link for realtime
person-to-person money transfers between South Asia’s largest economy and its littoral
neighbour across the Malacca Strait.
To facilitate payment for Indian Diaspora: A sizeable Indian diaspora with thousands of
migrant workers employed in Singapore’s construction industry, marine shipyard and services
sectors.
To enhance currency exchange: The link now enables individuals wishing to remit either
Singapore dollar (SGD) or Indian rupee funds for the ‘maintenance of a relative’ or as a
‘gift’ to transfer the money seamlessly using the UPI at the Indian end and the PayNow app
at the Singapore end.
BANKS SUPPORTING LINKAGE:
Banking system involved: Six banks in India including three state-run, two private and
the Indian unit of Singapore’s DBS Bank will be facilitating inbound remittances to their
account holders.
For Indian customers: One private lender and the three public sector banks would enable
their Indian customers to send money using the link.
In Singapore: Customers of DBS Bank and the non-bank lender Liquid Group can avail of the
transfer facility.
CREDIBILITY OF THE PAYMENT LINKAGE:
Daily Transaction limit: the daily transaction limit is set at ₹60,000 or about SGD 1,000; the
link is significant in that it enables individuals to quickly and safely remit money.
Real-time money transfers: It will also facilitate cross-border real-time money transfers in a
manner that reduces operational costs for individuals and merchants, while at the same time
reducing the reliance on an external settlement currency, predominantly been the U.S. dollar.
Boosting economy: Such a network would help India to further formalise the flow of inbound
remittances.
********
www.iasscore.in
3

24 FEBRUARY, 2023
DAILY
4 www.iasscore.in

CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY 24 FEBRUARY, 2023
NEUTRAL CITATION SYSTEM
SYLLABUS MAPPING
Subject: Polity and Governance (GS-II) Sub-topic: Judiciary
CONTEXT:
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) has announced that the Supreme Court will adopt a “neutral citation system” for
its judgments.
What is a “citation”?
A case citation is essentially an identification tag for a judgment. Typically, it would contain a reference
number, the year of the judgment, the name of the court that delivered that judgment, and shorthand
for the journal publishing the judgment.
What is a neutral citation?
Neutral citation is a form of citation where courts assign a unique sequential number to each of their
decisions.
! This would assign its own citation — distinct from those given by traditional Law Reporters.
Law Reporters are periodicals or annual digests that publish judgments, often with an editorial note to
make it accessible for lawyers to refer to precedents.
Why is a neutral system good or necessary?
Judgments mention citations while referring to precedents and often use citations from different Law
Reporters.
With artificial intelligence (AI) enabled translation of judgments and transcribing of court
proceedings, a uniform citation is necessary.
Several High Courts including Delhi High Court have started a neutral citation format.
The Delhi HC neutral citation is, for example, in this format: No-YEAR/DHC/XXXXXX.
Significance:
The objective is to enable people to identify cases and text in them by reference to a single, unvarying
reference, no matter the medium of publication.
MP’S VAN MITRA PORTAL AND FOREST RIGHTS CLAIMS
SYLLABUS MAPPING
Subject: Polity and Governance (GS-II) Sub-topic: Acts and Amendments
CONTEXT:
An activist working for the rights of the tribals with Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS) in Burhanpur Madhya
Pradesh, during a field visit has highlighted the misuse of the Van Mitra portal — which was created to facilitate
the review of rejected claims, has now become a tool to fraudulently reject claims of Tribals.
About the scenario:
On February 13, 2019, in a matter pertaining to the constitutionality of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA),
the Supreme Court of India (SC) directed the states to evict those FRA claimants whose Individual
Forest Rights (IFR) claims were rejected.
www.iasscore.in
5

24 FEBRUARY, 2023
CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY
The apex court had ordered the eviction of 1,191,273 tribals across 20 states of the country.
Concerns highlighted:
The individuals who file the claims through the Van Mitra portal are generally illiterate or have little
formal schooling with no familiarity with the world of the internet.
They approach the MP Online kiosk operators to help them fill up the application. These kiosk operators
charge Rs.200-Rs 500 to fill up their forms when the state government already pays them Rs.60 just to fill
up the form to help the ST and OTFDs file the claims.
Secondly, they upload documents without properly
reading them, often mixing up different individuals’
documents and printing out the receipt.
Van-Mitra Portal:
It is an online portal launched by Madhya Pradesh government in 2015.
Role of Forest Rights Committee (FRC):
The FRC is supposed to verify the claim and then ask for Gram Sabha’s recommendation before
forwarding it to the sub divisional level committee (SDLC).
But what is happening on the ground is far from the set guidelines.
The Forest Rights Act:
The Act seeks to act as an extension to the mandate under the Fifth and Sixth Schedule of the Constitution
of India that seeks to protect the ingenious communities.
It also envisages encouraging local self-governance at the level of the inhabitants.
The Act guarantees rights for forest dwellers within different categories. Firstly, for the usage of forest
resources – Section 3(1) (c) guarantees the forest dwellers the right to use minor traditionally obtained
forest resources like tendu or herbs.
Who is a forest dweller?
The Act also explains what it categorizes as a forest dweller. There are two important stages for the
determination of the definition.
The first stage involves conditions that are supposed to be satisfied to qualify as a forest dweller –
! The person(s) should inhabit forests or forest lands.
! The person should be bonafide dependent on the forest, its land, and resources for their livelihood.
6 www.iasscore.in

CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY 24 FEBRUARY, 2023
The second stage involves proving the following –
! Section 2 (o) of the Act stipulates that the aforementioned conditions of stage 1 need to be true for
seventy-five years, a period of which will deem a person as an Other Traditional Forest Dweller.
! Section 2 (c) of the Act provides that the person is a member of the Scheduled Tribe.
! Section 4 (1) of the Act provides that the person is a resident of an area where they are scheduled. In
the latter case, the person is deemed to be a Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribe. These sections make it
very clear as to whom these rights are for and who can be called a forest dweller in order for the rights
to be guaranteed to them.
Issues faced by forest dwellers:
Poor implementation remains
A large number of tribal communities still have not been granted their traditional rights over the forests.
Lack of awareness among the forest dwellers
Unfair rejection of claims
Lack of intent and cooperation on the part of the bureaucracy to transfer authority to the forest dwellers.
Lack of official and credible data available about the forest dwellers and resources
Illegal encroachments and seizure of forest lands by the administration
Forced eviction
Majority of the forest dwellers claimed land measuring not more than one acre (Ceiling under FRA- 4
hectares)
Severe restrictions:
! Farming is not allowed in a normal way, a slight sound is demurred
! The use of fertilizers is banned, and even a small knife is not allowed to be carried into the forest.
! People are prohibited from cutting trees falling
CONDITIONS FOR INDIAN FARMERS IN 2023
SYLLABUS MAPPING
Subject: Geography (GS-I)
Subject: Economy (GS-III)
Sub-topic: Weather phenomenon
Sub-topic: Agriculture
CONTEXT:
The increasing Farmer distress due to abnormal climatic conditions, since last few years have continuously
hurting food security and leaving farmers in a bad condition.
ABOUT:
The three-year La Nina with El Nino makes an entry in 2023 by July.
In the beginning of 2022, extreme rainfall and coldwaves dashed that hope by damaging standing crops.
While the world was entering into a severe food crisis as the Russia-Ukraine war started, Indian farmers
had their own battles to fight.
With the early heat hitting in the month of February has destroyed the Rabi crops, further deteriorating
the condition.
Impacts:
www.iasscore.in
7

24 FEBRUARY, 2023
CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY
During El Nino Year:
El Niño resulting in deficit rainfall which tends to lower
the summer crops production such as rice, sugarcane,
cotton and oilseeds and therefore the outcome might
be seen in form of high inflation rates and lower GDP
due to high contribution of agriculture sector in Indian
economy.
El Niño events are mostly associated with warm and
dry conditions in southern and eastern inland areas
of Australia, as well as Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia
and central Pacific islands such as Fiji, Tonga and Papua
New Guinea.
Previously El Niño had a strong association with
droughts in India but this relationship has been
weekend in recent years.
El Niño conditions mostly coincide with a period of
weak monsoon and rising temperatures in India
and thus the probability of drought occurrence surges
during El Nino events that could be disturbing for
Indian crop production and water supply.
During La Nina Year:
The La Nina could have negative impacts
on Indian agriculture. Farmers will be at
risk of losing their standing kharif crops
if it rains during this period.
The harvesting of the kharif crops begins
from September-end or early October.
La Niñas normally raises crop prices
and create more fluctuations in
energy markets, especially with the
record-breaking prices
Spring freezes are more common
during La Niña, especially in the Great
Lakes region, thanks in large part to
cooler Great Lakes temperatures and
fluctuating jet stream patterns
During winter, the corn belt will have
some very strong, severe storms
In general, more rainfall can be expected.
Other impacts of La Nina:
Ocean temperatures of 4˚ to 6˚ F below average are observed in the eastern Pacific Ocean
Cold water in the eastern Pacific shifts the location of thunderstorms, rising air, and lower pressure to
the western Pacific.
Cold water from the deep ocean provides increased nutrients for fish and plankton, leading to
improved fishing and to sustenance for birds and other predators in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Where is the safety net for farmers?
Marginal and small farmers, as per the 2015-16 agriculture censuses, account for 86% of total farmers in
India and are the most vulnerable to extreme weather events.
A senior leader of Sanykt Kisan Morcha (SKM), Darshan Pal says that climate vulnerability is the new
distressed factor, especially among marginal and small farmers because their shock absorbing capacity is
far less than big farmers.
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has also underlined the poor
performance of crop insurance.
! In a book published recently, NABARD has argued that crop insurance is no longer a “perfect
medication” for farmers hit by natural calamities.
Government Interventions:
PRADHAN MANTRI FASAL BIMA YOJANA (PMFBY):
Launched in 2016 and is being administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural
Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
Aim: To provide a comprehensive insurance cover against the failure of the crop thus helping in
stabilising the income of the farmers.
Scope: All food & oilseed crops and annual commercial/horticultural crops for which past yield data
is available.
8 www.iasscore.in

CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY 24 FEBRUARY, 2023
Premium: The prescribed premium is 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all rabi
crops. In the case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium is 5%.
! Premium cost over and above the farmer share was equally subsidized by States and GoI.
! However, GoI shared 90% of the premium subsidy for North Eastern States to promote the uptake
in the region.
Implementation: By empanelled general insurance companies. The selection of the Implementing Agency
(IA) is done by the concerned State Government through bidding.
PMFBY 2.0: The revamped PMFBY is often called PMFBY 2.0, it has the following features:
! Completely Voluntary: Enrolment 100% voluntary for all farmers from 2020 Kharif.
! Earlier, it was compulsory for loanee farmers availing Crop Loan/Kisan Credit Card (KCC) account for
notified crops.
! Limit to Central Subsidy: The Centre has decided to limit the PMFBY premium rates - against which
it would bear 50% of the subsidy - to a maximum of 30% in un-irrigated and 25% in irrigated areas.
! More Flexibility to States: The government has given the flexibility to states/UTs to implement PMFBY
and given them the option to select any number of additional risk covers/features.
! Investing in ICE Activities: Insurance companies have to now spend 0.5% of the total premium
collected on information, education and communication (IEC) activities.
Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme:
Launched in 2016 and is being administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Aim: To mitigate the hardship of the insured farmers against the likelihood of financial loss on account
of anticipated crop loss resulting from adverse weather conditions relating to rainfall, temperature, wind,
humidity etc.
Parameter: WBCIS uses weather parameters as “proxy‟ for crop yields in compensating the cultivators for
deemed crop losses.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF
THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
SYLLABUS MAPPING
Subject: Environment (GS-III) Sub-topic: Pollution
CONTEXT:
With the first anniversary of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the environmental cost of War has raged across
the countries and claimed by Ukraine as over 50 Billion Dollars.
BACKGROUND:
The war has killed thousands, displaced many more, left many with debilitating injuries, flattened towns
and caused immeasurable suffering.
The machinations of modern war impact the environment in more ways than one.
From sky-high fuel consumption and a ginormous carbon footprint to degradation of thriving ecosystems
caused by the fighting, the conflict in Ukraine has racked up environmental costs that will far outlive the
actual fighting.
What are the Environmental losses that occurred?
Fighting-induced destruction: According to UN Environment Programme data, the conflict has seen
damage across many regions of the country, with incidents at nuclear power plants and facilities, energy
infrastructure, including oil storage tankers, oil refineries, drilling platforms and gas facilities and
distribution pipelines, mines and industrial sites and agro-processing facilities.
www.iasscore.in
9

24 FEBRUARY, 2023
CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY
! The result has been multiple air pollution incidents and potentially serious contamination of ground
and surface waters.
According to claims by the Ukraine’s environment ministry, altogether the losses from land, water and air
pollution amounted to $51.4 billion.
Astronomic carbon footprint: The war has an extremely large carbon footprint. Ukraine estimates the
emissions from Russia’s invasion to be roughly around 33 million tonnes of CO2 from the conflict and 23
million tonnes CO2 from fires caused by the conflict.
! It predicts that reconstruction of infrastructure and buildings destroyed or damaged during the war
could emit 49 million tonnes of CO2.
! The monster machines used during the war, consume roughly between 3.5-5.5 litres of fuel per km.
For comparison, a modern car can travel well over 15 km per litre of fuel consumed.
Violation of Environmental conventions: Russia has violated several environmental conventions in
terms of destroying nuclear and radioactive elements, pollution and carbon emissions.
War against Environment:
Military activity has significant impacts on the environment. Not only can war be destructive to the socioenvironment,
but military activities produce extensive amounts of greenhouse gases (that contribute
to anthropogenic climate change), pollution, and cause resource depletion, among other environmental
impacts.
Greenhouse gas emissions and pollution
Land and resource use
Global Conventions:
From a legal standpoint, environmental protection during times of war and military activities is addressed
partially by international environmental law.
Several United Nations treaties, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, the 1972 World Heritage
Convention and the 1977 Environmental Modification Convention have provisions to limit the
environmental impacts of war.
The Environmental Modification Convention is an international treaty prohibiting the military or other
hostile use of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects.
! The Convention bans weather warfare, which is the use of weather modification techniques for the
purposes of inducing damage or destruction. This treaty is in force and has been ratified (accepted as
binding) by leading military powers.
HIV-RESISTANT MUTATION
SYLLABUS MAPPING
Subject: Science and Technology (GS-III) Sub-topic: Health and related issues
CONTEXT:
Recently a Dusseldorf patient, has become have been “cured of HIV” achieved with a bone-marrow transplant
from people carrying a specific HIV-resistant genetic mutation.
About HIV:
HIV/AIDS is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),
a retrovirus.
10 www.iasscore.in

CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY 24 FEBRUARY, 2023
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) targets the immune system and weakens people’s defense
against many infections and some types of cancer that people with healthy immune systems can fight off.
The most advanced stage of HIV infection is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which can
take many years to develop if not treated, depending on the individual.
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks cells that help the body fight infection,
making a person more vulnerable to other infections and diseases.
Spread and causes: It is spread by contact with certain bodily fluids of a person with HIV, most commonly
during unprotected sex (sex without a condom or HIV medicine to prevent or treat HIV), or through
sharing injection drug equipment.
If left untreated, HIV can lead to the disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
Treatment: The human body can’t get rid of HIV and no effective HIV cure exists.
AIDS is the late stage of HIV infection that occurs when the body’s immune system is badly damaged
because of the virus.
What is CCR5 mutation and how does it fight off HIV?
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) mainly attacks the CD4 immune cells in the human body, thereby
reducing a person’s ability to fight off secondary infections.
The CCR5 receptors on the surface of the CD4 immune cells act as a doorway for the HIV virus.
However, the CCR5-delta 32 mutation prevents these receptors used by the HIV virus from forming on
the surface, effectively removing the doorway.
Only 1 per cent of the people in the world carry two copies of the CCR5-delta 32 mutation – meaning
they got it from both their parents – and another 20 per cent carry one copy of the mutation, mainly those
of European descent.
Effectiveness of CCR5 mutation against HIV:
With the mutation existing in very few people and nearly 38.4 million people living with HIV across the
world, it would be very difficult to find a matching donor in the first place.
The mutation occurs mainly among Caucasians, and the donor pool shrinks further for many, especially
those from countries with high HIV burden.
However, even if donors were to become available, experts believe it is highly unlikely that bone marrow
transplants can be rolled out for all those with HIV.
This is because it is a major procedure with high risks associated, especially that of the person rejecting
the donated marrow.
There is also the likelihood of the virus mutating to enter the cells through other mechanisms in such
persons.
**********
www.iasscore.in
11

CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY 24 FEBRUARY, 2023
NEWS IN SHORT
Linking Aadhaar to Voter ID
As per the response from the Election Commission
(EC) through RTI has disclosed that over 60% of
India’s 94.5 crore voters in India have linked their
Aadhaar number to their voter IDs.
Background:
The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 was
passed to deduplicate electoral rolls by allowing
election authorities to collect the 12 digit number
from voters.
Key findings:
The total number of voters who have their Aadhaar
linked is 56, 90, 83,090.
Tripura has the highest rate of Aadhaar linking; over
92% of voters in the State.
The per-State percentages given here are based
on total voter enumerations released by States and
Union Territories in the past three years.
After Tripura, Lakshadweep and Madhya Pradesh
occupy the second and third spots, with over 91%
and 86% of voters having provided the number
respectively.
Voters in southern States have not provided their
Aadhaar in such proportions, even though they are
above the national average.
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka both fell to 71%,
whereas the number stands around 63% and 61%
for Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The State with the lowest Aadhaar registration by
voters is Gujarat, where only 31.5% of voters have
linked the document to their voter registration.
Less than 34% of voters in the Delhi had their
Aadhaar linked.
Sangeet Natak Akademi awards President Droupadi Murmu has presented the
Sangeet Natak Akademi awards and fellowships for
the years 2019, 2020 and 2021.
About:
On the occasion, eight eminent personalities were
given Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships in the
field of performing arts
A total of 128 artists from the field of music,
dance, theatre, traditional, folk, and puppetry
were given the Awards.
The Akademi also honoured 86 artistes with special
one-time awards commemorating 75 years of
India’s Independence.
www.iasscore.in
13

24 FEBRUARY, 2023
CURRENT AFFAIRS
DAILY
The Awards:
The awards are given to the artists from the field of
Music, Dance, Theatre, Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/
Dance/Theatre, Puppetry and Overall contribution/
scholarship in the Performing Arts etc.
The Akademi Awards carries purse money of Rs.
1.00 lakh, a Tamrapatra and an Angavastram.
Indians’ Spending on Foreign
Property
Indians spent the most money in a decade on foreign
securities, property and a deposit in 2022, Business
Standard has reported.
Findings of the report:
A record of $ 2.1 billion, invested by Indians on
foreign stocks and property in the 10-year period
for which the Reserve Bank of India has mentioned.
In each of the categories – foreign deposits,
property, shares and other investments – the figures
were the highest in record.
Indians’ investments in 2022 in foreign equity or
debt were at $969.5 million, also a record high.
The liberalised remittance scheme:
The Union government allows Indian individuals
to spend up to $250,000 for various purposes
including education, medical expenses, gifts,
donations, travel and maintenance of close relatives
and so on, in addition to investments in deposits,
property, and share and in other avenues.
Under this scheme Indians can open a foreign
currency account abroad, acquire immovable
property, extend loans to non-resident Indians, buy
art and so on.
Cyclone Freddy
Cyclone Freddy has hitted in Madagascar by
travelling 7200 km from Australian Coast to Southwestern
coast.
About:
Freddy travelled around 7,200 km from the southeast
Indian Ocean to Madagascar in 15 days, according
to the United Kingdom Met Office.
This is the first time since 2000 that a cyclone has
moved such a long distance from the south-eastern
parts to the south-western parts of the Indian Ocean.
The storm carried winds of 130 kilometres per
hour at landfall and has brought torrential rainfall
for south-eastern Madagascar, killing five people.
**********
14 www.iasscore.in