DAILY NEWS ARTICLES/EDITORIALS 12TH FEBRUARY 2021
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Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Daily News Articles/Editorials 12th February 2021
Shiksha IAS https://iasshiksha.com/daily-news-article/daily-news-articles-editorials-12th-february-2021/
DAILY NEWS ARTICLES/EDITORIALS 12TH FEBRUARY 2021
Posted on February 12, 2021 by admin
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Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Daily News Articles/Editorials 12th February 2021
Shiksha IAS https://iasshiksha.com/daily-news-article/daily-news-articles-editorials-12th-february-2021/
The agonising cost of ham-handed development.
India’s leaders must recommit themselves to the ideas and activism of environmentalists
involved with Uttarakhand.
CONTEXT:
1. The flash floods at Chamoli (Uttarakhand), NDRF and defence personnel are looking for
missing persons in rock, mud, water, and debris, airlifting rations to inaccessible villages, and
repairing bridges and telecommunication networks.
2. The Social scientists work on assessing the disaster’s impact on region’s economy. Scientists
and policy makers are debating whether climate change or unchecked development in an
ecologically fragile region was primarily responsible for the Uttarakhand disaster and the death
toll.
3. The News reports of ancient temples having been swept away in the Alakananda’s
raging raises the question impotence of Uttarakhand and how did the Uttarakhand Himalayas
emerge as a deva bhumi and how did it develop into a focus of Hindu pilgrimage,
History of Borderland to sacred place:
1. The learning from archaeological record and inscriptional evidence that many and varied
agents and processes played important roles in gradually transforming this borderland into a
sacred landscape.
2. The Artefacts found in the Himalayan foothills are datable to the period extending from 300
BCE and 600 CE include an Ashokan rock edict (at Kalsi), brick altars for conducting
ashvamedha yagnas, coin hoards, and sculptures.
3. The artefacts and its find-spots indicate deepening contact between communities living in the
Gangetic plains and in the foothills.
4. These developments fostered the growth of Haridwar and Kalsi as cosmopolitan towns and as
“gateways” into the Himalayas.
5. Initially, mendicants in search for retreats, merchants eager to enlarge trading networks,
adventurous princes in their quest to establish principalities, and artisans in search of
employment passed through these gateway towns.
6. Eventually, in the seventh century, a regional tradition of stone temple architecture
commenced in the Uttarakhand Himalayas.
7. The earliest shrines in this tradition were built at Palethi and Lakhamandal, just upstream
from Haridwar and Kalsi,by visiting sovereigns.
Early developments of Cultural site in Uttarakhand:
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1. The Palethi and Lakhamandal with royal patronage never became major tirthas. Instead,
Jageshwar, situated well east of Lakhamandal and Palethi attained this stature.
2. Between 7th and 10th centuries, builders at Jageshwar modified local geography and ecology
to encourage comparisons between it and celebrated locales such as Kashi and
Devadarunavana, Shiva’s legendary deodar forest. Eventually, Jageshwar came to have 150
stone temples.
3. These early developments at Jageshwar are relatable to the sway of the Pashupatas and
other Shaiva ascetics and not to the rise of local dynasties.
4. The 12th century, architects, master-masons, and sculptors from lands as far away as Gujarat
travelled to Uttarakhand to build temples in elaborate typologies associated with their
homelands.
5. The thirteenth century, larger entourages of ascetics, and occasionally rulers from distant
lands began undertaking pilgrimages to established and emerging tirthas in this mountainous
region. Their journeys paved the way for the Char Dham Yatra.
The pilgrimage circuit:
1. The Char Dham Yatra today consists of a pilgrimage to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and
Yamunotri.
2. The Badrinath and Kedarnath have long been associated with gods and sages, like the
Mahabharata, Badrinath are described as the site of Narayana’s discourse to Nara.
3. The Kedarnath is mentioned in the Skanda Purana, in medieval lists of jyotirlingas, and in the
names of temples built as far away as Karnataka.
4. The both Badrinath and Kedarnath are associated with Adi Shankara who is said to have visited
them in the eighth century. Possibly his followers played a role in constructing temples at
Pandukeshwar (Dravida and Nagara style).
5. The charter instructs priests living at nearby villages of Joshimath and Pandukeshwar to help
brahmacharis upstream at Badrinath.
6. The Badrinath temple has been built and rebuilt several times in its history. Like the present
Badrinath temple, the temple standing at Kedarnath today, dates to the early modern period.
7. As sites located close to the glacial sources of the Ganga and the Yamuna, Gangotri and
Yamunotri have also been given sacred associations.
8. In 20th century, the Jaipur royal family supported the construction of a temple at Gangotri. The
shrines at Yamunotri today are ever newer.
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The Shifts, ecopressures:
1. Demographic, political, social and economic shifts that have occurred in the past six decades
have led to an increase in the number of pilgrims visiting sacred centres in Uttarakhand.
2. After 1962, the Indian government recognised that the world’s highest and loftiest mountain
range no longer served as an insurmountable wall.
3. The Agencies like Border Roads Organization, the Indo Tibetan Border Police, and the THDC
India Limited, established. Charged with construction of roads, tunnels, bridges, cantonments,
hospitals, dams, and telecommunication pylons.
4. After 2000 when owing to regional demands for greater political autonomy, Uttarakhand
separated from Uttar Pradesh. Recognizing religious tourism as an important source of income.
Conclusion:
1. Now is the time for our leaders to recommit themselves to the ideas and activism of Chandi
Prasad Bhatt, Gaura Devi, Guru das Agrawal, Ravi Chopra, Sunderlal Bahuguna, Vandana
Shiva, and other Gandhian environmentalists and social workers.
2. The mobilised local communities to protect Uttarakhand’s forests, created local employment,
and questioned the wisdom of constructing large hydroelectric projects in a seismically
sensitive sacred landscape.
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In Biden’s policy pursuit, the world order challenge.
Uncertainties around the Iran nuclear agreement could lead to tectonic changes in the new
global and regional order.
Context:
1. The U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, formally the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA). U.S promised that, subject to Iran’s compliance with its obligations, the
U.S. would re-enter the agreement.
2. Biden of his commitment and called on him to end the “failed policies” of the earlier
administration on West Asia “the most militarized region in the world.
3. Israel and the U.S.’s Gulf allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have also insisted
that they be involved with the discussions with Iran on the revival of the agreement.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA):
1. Signed in 2015 by Iran and several world powers, including the United States, the JCPOA
placed significant restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
2. President Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018, claiming it failed to curtail
Iran’s missile program and regional influence. Iran began ignoring limitations on its nuclear
program a year later.
3. President-Elect Biden has pledged to return the United States to the JCPOA if Iran resumes
compliance, but it is unclear whether Iran will agree to new negotiations.
The Regional concerns/challenge:
1. The sanctions, Iran’s regional influence remains significant, based on the backing of Shia
militia in such diverse locales as Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Syria.
2. The Iranian ability to mobilise militants across the region is viewed by Israel and some the Gulf
Arab states as threatening their security, the latter being concerned about Iran’s influence with
their Shia populations as well.
3. The capabilities of Iran’s precision missiles and drones are also a matter of regional anxiety.
Iran has focused on the domestic development of missiles due to international sanctions on
defence supplies.
4. The advanced air and missile power available with Israel, Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf
states, there is no prospect of Iran curtailing its missiles and drone programmes.
5. Biden in office has already revealed that despite some differences in policy content and
diplomatic style, his term is likely to show more continuity than change where the U.S.’s core
interests are concerned, specifically in its ties with Russia, China and Iran.
Biden’s policy approaches:
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1. The U.S said that, in his conversation with Russian President on January 26, the U.S. “will act
firmly in defence of our national interests in response to actions by Russia” and brought up
Ukraine, the cyber attacks and the poisoning of Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
2. Biden’s Iran policy is likely to match Mr. Trump’s hardline approach on substantive matters, but
without the bravado and crude brinkmanship of the former President.
3. The Iran’s “active ballistic missiles” programmes, the fact that it is still “re-spinning
centrifuges”, and highlighted the need to protect the U.S.’s regional partners from Iran’s “acts of
terrorism”.
The suggestion for U.S:
1. The suggestion for U.S. is looking at long-term diplomatic engagement not just on nuclear
issues but on all matters that have security implications for the U.S. and its regional partners.
2. To encourage this dialogue, the U.S. could offer some palliatives to Iran, such as International
Monetary Fund providing funds to combat the novel corona virus pandemic,
3. The no early easing of sanctions on oil sales, Iran may quickly find that it has to largely depend
on its own resources to manage its interests at home and in the region.
The international lines:
1. The Central Asia region Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be in a face-off
with Iran and its allies, Iraq, Syria and its Shia militia in a prolonged war of attrition that does not
resolve any issue, but continues to wreak death and destruction.
2. Qatar’s Foreign Minister has already proposed direct engagement with Iran Perhaps, Saudi
Arabia and the UAE, already facing heat from USA, will see the value of this approach as they
had done during heightened tensions in the Gulf waters in 2019.
3. The UAE had then discussed maritime security with Iran, while Saudi Arabia had encouraged
mediation efforts by regional states.
The outlook for India:
1. Hope for under a Biden Administration, defence and security cooperation between India and
the U.S. are likely to be further stepped up.
2. Regional security cooperation is also likely to be further enhanced, at least till such time as
U.S.-China relations improve.
3. The emphasis on a free and open Indo-Pacific region will continue countries such as Japan,
South Korea and Taiwan are likely to have a far more critical role to play than India in achieving
security in the Indo-Pacific.
Conclusion:
1. Biden will find that much has changed in West Asia andthe world since he was last in office.
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Not only is Russia now an influential player in the region, China, too, with its Belt and Road
Initiative, has high stakes in regional stability.
2. The Sino-Iran 25 year’s agreement, last year, envisagestheir substantial and long-term
cooperation in political, security, military, economic, energy and logistical connectivity areas.
3. Its formal finalization was deliberately postponed by both sides to see what the U.S. elections
would throw up. With Mr. Biden being confrontational, they are likely to pursue this
partnership more openly and robustly.
“The Tender cut”
Instead of shutting out crypto currencies, the government must ensure smart regulation.
CONTEXT:
1. The government’s plane to bringing law on crypto currencies is welcome, as it could put an
end to the existing ambiguity over the legality of these currencies in India.
2. Earlier the government has, from time to time, suggested that it does not consider them to be
legal tender and cannot put in use.
3. the understandable disapproval arising out of the fact that such currencies are highly volatile,
used for illicit Internet transactions, and wholly outside the ambit of the state into any sort of
regulation.
The crypt currency:
1. It is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein individual coin
ownership records are stored in a ledger existing in a form of computerized database using
strong cryptography to secure transaction records, to control the creation of additional coins,
and to verify the transfer of coin ownership.
2. It typically does not exist in physical form and is typically not issued by a central
authority. Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control as opposed to centralized
digital currency and central banking systems.
3. When a cryptocurrency (block chain) is minted or created prior to issuance or issued by a
single issuer, it is generally considered centralized.
4. When implemented with decentralized control, each cryptocurrency works through distributed
ledger technology, typically a block chain that serves as a public financial transaction
database.
5. Bitcoin, first released as open-source software in 2009, is the first decentralized
cryptocurrency. Since the release of bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies have been created.
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The Earlier effort:
1. In 2018, the RBI did send a circular to banks directing them not to provide services for those
trading in cryptocurrencies
2. The Supreme Court in 2018, which found the circular to be “disproportionate,” given that the
central bank had consistently maintained that virtual currencies were not banned in India.
3. The fledgling cryptocurrency exchanges industry in India and went against their
entrepreneurial right to operate a business enshrined in Article 19(1)(g).
4. Bitcoin, has hit new peaks in price and is gaining influential followers such as Tesla founder
Elon Musk.
So, what will the Bill seek to do?
1. The new bill associated with this niche but growing ecosystem will be worried about this
question the most.
2. The Cryptocurrency exchanges, which have sprung up, are reportedly lobbying with the
government to make sure these currencies are regulated rather than banned outright.
3. The Smart regulation is preferable, as a ban on something that is based on a technology of
distributed ledger cannot be implemented for all practical purposes.
4. The China, where cryptocurrencies have been banned and the Internet is controlled, trading
in cryptocurrencies has been low but not non-existent, as an India inter-ministerial committee
found out.
Issues for India:
1. The Regulatory bodies like RBI and Sebi etc also don’t have a legal framework to directly
regulate cryptocurrencies as they are neither currencies nor assets or securities or
commodities issued by an identifiable user.
2. That the Supreme Court struck down as “disproportionate” a 2018 circular by the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) that directed entities not to provide services to those trading in “virtual
currencies” (crypto currencies) is understandable.
The Deferent way lose Crypto currency and Solution:
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Conclusion:
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1. For an official digital currency (Cryptocurrencies) as well as for the promotion of the
underlying blockchain technology. The government must resist the idea of a ban and push for
smart regulation.
2. The Cryptocurrencies have now been adopted by international trading firms for use in lending,
raising funds for other cryptoprojects besides facilitating easier cross-border payments.
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