Current Affairs – November 28, 2024

{GS2 – IR – Middle East} Israel- Lebanon Ceasefire Deal

• Context (IE | IE): The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire builds on UNSC Resolution 1701, addressing hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah since 2006 came into effect.

Key Aspects of UNSC Resolution 1701 and Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire

Significance

• Aims to create lasting peace and stability in the Israel-Lebanon region.
• Provides a framework for international cooperation and conflict resolution.

Role of UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon)

• Deployment of up to 15,000 peacekeepers to monitor ceasefire and assist Lebanese troops.
• Ensures safe return of displaced persons and secures the buffer zone.

Challenges

• Implementation Gaps: Resolution 1701 remains partially implemented since 2006.
• Monitoring Difficulties: Compliance by Hezbollah and other militant groups is complex.
• Political Resistance: Lebanese institutions struggle to assert control over all armed groups.

Key Provisions of the Ceasefire under Resolution 1701

• Cessation of Hostilities: Both Israel and Hezbollah to halt military actions within 60 days.
• Buffer Zone: Lebanese Army designated as the sole military presence in South Lebanon, between the Blue Line and the Litani River.
• Hezbollah Withdrawal: Hezbollah fighters to retreat at least 40 kilometers from the Israeli border.
• Israeli Withdrawal: Israeli forces to vacate Lebanese territories occupied since October 2023.
• Oversight Mechanism: Implementation supervised by the United Nations, United States, France, Israel, and Lebanon.
• Limited Disarmament: Does not require Hezbollah’s complete disarmament north of the Litani River but restricts armed personnel in the buffer zone.
• Arms Control: Prohibits arms supply to Lebanon without the Lebanese government’s approval.
• Landmine Maps: Israel required to provide maps of landmines in Lebanon.
• Monitoring: Compliance ensured by UN Peacekeepers, Lebanese Military & Multinational Committee.
• Right to Retaliation: Israel reserves the right to strike if the agreement is breached.

Reasons Behind Israel’s Agreement

• Focus Shift: Prioritize threats from Iran.
• Resource Management: Replenish military stocks and provide relief to Israeli forces.
• Front Separation: De-escalate on the Hezbollah front to concentrate on Gaza and Hamas.

Implications of the Ceasefire Agreement

• Buffer Zone Renewal: Lebanese Army assumes control, resembling the 2006 ceasefire framework.
• Western Oversight: U.S. and France join monitoring efforts, offering stability but avoiding direct combat roles.
• Hezbollah’s Resilience: Retains socio-political influence in Lebanon despite military setbacks.
• Regional Dynamics: Iran supports U.S. presence in South Lebanon, strengthening its strategic position.
• Diplomatic Shifts: Iran bolsters ties with Arab neighbors & signals openness to Western engagement.
• Israeli Focus: Shifts military attention to Hamas and Iranian proxies in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
• Warning to Syria: Israel cautions President Assad against provocative actions.

Challenges and Limitations of the Ceasefire Agreement

• Civil-Military Divide: Internal discord among Israeli leadership and military affects cohesive strategy.
• Protracted Conflict: Risk of extended warfare with Hezbollah despite Israel’s tactical advantage.
• Strengthened Hezbollah: Prolonged Israeli presence could consolidate Hezbollah’s domestic support.
• Historical patterns show ceasefires often fail to resolve underlying tensions.
• Ongoing Threats: Continued hostility between Israel & Iran-backed groups sustains regional instability.
• Humanitarian Crisis: Persistent casualties and destruction in Lebanon and Gaza remain unresolved.

Way Forward

• Strengthen Oversight Mechanisms: Enhance international monitoring to ensure compliance.
• Strengthen UNIFIL Mandate: Boost peacekeeping capacity for effective oversight.
• Encourage Political Solutions: Involve regional players to negotiate sustainable peace.
• Mitigate Civilian Impact: Provide humanitarian aid and focus on rebuilding affected areas.

{GS2 – Polity – IC} Reflection on the Constitution of India

• Context (TH | TW): India marks 75 years of its Constitution, reflecting on its essence, strengths, and challenges of constitutional silences in governance and democracy.

Significance of the Constitution

• Legal Framework: Provides the foundation for governance and policy implementation.
• Aspirational Document: Represents collective dreams, struggles &aspirations of a diverse population.
• Empowerment Tool: Acts as a living framework for inclusivity, justice, and adaptability.

Issues with Constitutional Silences

Pocket Vetoes (Article 200)

• Allows governors to grant, withhold, return, or reserve bills for President without a specified timeline.
• Misuse: Indefinite delays by governors, especially in opposition-led states (e.g., Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling Bill).
• Federal Concerns: Undermines the balance between the Union and state governments.

Ambiguity in Article 201

• No timeline for the President to act on bills reserved for consideration.
• Leads to indefinite stalling of state legislation.

Article 356 and the Term “Otherwise”

• Allows President’s Rule based on vague recommendations.
• History of misuse during the 1970s-80s to dissolve opposition governments.

Broader Challenges

• Tool of Exclusion: Marginalization through constitutional mechanisms.
• Representation Gaps: Limited inclusion of women, minorities, and marginalized groups in framing and implementation.
• Private Sphere Impact: Extending constitutional principles to private domains remains a challenge.

Judicial Interventions

• Purushothaman Nambudiri v. State of Kerala: Governors’ powers upheld but emphasized acting on ministers’ advice.
• Shamsher Singh v. State of Punjab: Reaffirmed India’s Cabinet system of governance.
• SC interpreted “as soon as possible” in Article 200 to curb indefinite delays.

Benefits of Addressing Constitutional Silences

• Empowering Movements: Strengthened rights-based activism (e.g., Dalit movement leveraging Art 17).
• Framework for Justice: Enabled dignity, equality, and accountability.
  • Article 17: Abolition of untouchability, pivotal for Dalit emancipation.
  • Right to Information Act: Improved transparency and accountability.
  • Environmental Movements: Leveraged constitutional provisions for sustainability.
• Global Recognition: Demonstrates adaptability in diverse societies.

Way Forward

• Timelines for Decisions: Define reasonable timelines for Articles 200 and 201 to avoid misuse.
• Clarity in Provisions: Redefine ambiguous terms like “otherwise” in Article 356 to prevent political manipulation.
• Institutional Transparency: Regular reporting on pending bills and judicial oversight.
• Strengthen Federalism: Promote cooperative engagement between the Union and states.
• Inclusive Policies: Address systemic inequities and promote grassroots participation.
• Educational Initiatives: Incorporate constitutional literacy programs to empower citizens.

{GS2 – Social Sector – Health} Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2024

• Context (DTE): FSSAI introduced the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2024, which will take effect in 2025.

• It will regulate the use of antibiotics in “food animal” production to curb antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Background and Context

• Previous Regulations: Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins, and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2018, provided an antibiotic tolerance limit.
• Colistin Ban: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) prohibited using colistin in all food-producing animals.
  • Colistin is a last-resort antibiotic used to treat multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections.
• Draft Order on Streptomycin and Tetracycline: The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW) issued a draft order prohibiting the import, manufacture, or formulation of streptomycin and tetracycline for use in agriculture.
  • It is used in agriculture to control bacterial diseases in crops. However, their overuse can contribute to developing antibiotic-resistant bacteria, posing risks to plant and human health.

Key Provisions of the Amendment

• Prohibition of Antibiotics: The amendment prohibits using antibiotics at any stage of the production of milk and milk products, meat and meat products, poultry and eggs, and aquaculture and its products.
• Antibiotics Banned: Three classes of antibiotics (glycopeptides, nitrofurans, and nitroimidazoles) and five antibiotics (carbadox, chloramphenicol, colistin, streptomycin, and sulphamethoxazole) are banned.
• Revised Tolerance Limits: The amendment revises the list of antimicrobials and other veterinary drugs for their tolerance limits in food. Six new antibiotics (amoxicillin, cephalexin, gentamicin, penicillin G, sulfamethazine, and sulfadimethoxine) have been added.

{GS2 – Vulnerable Section – Women} Femicides in 2023

• Context (IE | DTE): The Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides report was released on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

• It was released by UN Women and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
• Femicide is the intentional killing of women and girls because of their gender. Factors like discrimination, unequal power relations, gender stereotypes, and harmful social norms drive it.

Key Findings of the Report

• Global Scenario: In 2023, 85,000 women and girls were intentionally killed worldwide, with 60% (approximately 51,100) killed by intimate partners or family members. On average, 140 women and girls per day were victims of femicide by intimate partners or close relatives.
  • Africa: Reported the highest number of victims (21,700) and the highest rate of femicide per population (2.9 per 100,000).
  • The Americas and Oceania: Followed, with rates of 1.6 and 1.5 per 100,000, respectively.
  • Asia and Europe: Reported significantly lower rates, at 0.8 and 0.6 per 100,000.
• Non-Domestic Femicide: This is increasingly recognised. For instance, 5% of femicides in France (2019–2022) and 9% in South Africa (2020–2021) occurred outside domestic settings.
• Male as Homicide Victims: An estimated 80% of all homicide victims in 2023 were men, while 20% were women. Lethal violence impacts women more than men, with nearly 60% of women intentionally killed in 2023 being victims of intimate partner or family member homicide.
• Preventability of Femicide: A significant number of women killed by intimate partners had previously reported violence, including 22–37% in France (2019–2022) and similar trends in South Africa.

Forms of Violence Against Women

• Domestic Violence: Actions by partner or family members that cause physical, sexual, or emotional harm. Examples include physical aggression, coercion, psychological abuse, and controlling behaviours.
• Cultural Abuse: Harmful social and cultural practices like female genital mutilation, witch-branding, child marriage, forced marriage, honour-based violence, and widowhood rituals.
• Psychological Abuse: It involves intimidation through looks, gestures, or shouting, humiliation, obscene or derogatory comments, and public ridicule. Includes practices like isolating menstruating women and female infanticide, which violate women’s rights and dignity.
• Sexual Violence: Involves unwanted sexual acts imposed without consent, disproportionately targeting women and girls. In India, over 31,000 rapes were reported in 2022, amounting to nearly 87 cases daily.
• Technology-Facilitated Violence: It involves online defaming, stalking, cyberbullying, distribution of morphed and deepfake videos, and doxing (release of private information about a woman publicly).

Key Facts Regarding Gender Violence in India

• Increase in Crimes Against Women: According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2022 data, crimes against women rose 4% in 2022 compared to 2021. Additionally, 13,479 cases were registered under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
• Filing of FIRs: The NCRB’s report reveals that over 4.45 lakh cases of crimes against women were registered in 2022, equivalent to nearly 51 FIRs (first information report) every hour.
• High Rape Cases: There were more than 31,000 reported rapes in 2022. Rapes peaked at nearly 39,000 in 2016. In 2018, on average, one woman reported a rape every 15 minutes across the country.

Laws for Women’s Safety in India

• The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
• Indecent Representation of Women Act, 1986
• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
• Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012
• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) (PoSH) Act, 2013

{GS3 – IE – Industry} Network Optimisation in the EV Industry

• Context (DTE): Network optimisation has become a critical focus for the EV (electric vehicle) industry, especially with the rise in EV sales and the need for a well-planned charging infrastructure.

Arguments in Favour of Network Optimisation

• The EV market is growing rapidly, with global market size reaching $255.54 billion in 2023, expected to grow at 23.42% CAGR by 2033.
• In India, EV sales surged by 20.88% to 1.39 million units in May 2024 alone.
• To handle the increased load of EVs and ensure smooth EV adoption.
• Delhi Transport Department: They are using network optimisation to plan the spatial distribution of EV charging stations in high-density areas.
• Global Case Studies: Researchers from the University of California have applied network optimisation strategies for electric fleets in Southern California to solve routing problems.

Challenges in Network Optimization

• Scaling Problem: The rapid increase in EV sales makes the scale of network optimisation challenging.
• Diverse Objectives: Location optimization, time constraints & resource allocation often conflict, creating a complex problem.
• Strategic Planning: Optimize public charger and swapping station placement based on user density and travel distances.
• Data Management: Lack of a structured database for EV sales and charging stations leads to inefficient planning and resource allocation.
• Fleet Renewal: The transition to electric fleets needs careful pre-emptive planning to ensure an adequate charging infrastructure.

Benefits of Network Optimisation

• Efficient Resource Utilisation: Ensures the efficient distribution of charging stations to meet demand, similar to solving the “travelling salesman problem.”

• Reduced Congestion: Helps in reducing the over-concentration of EVs in one geographic location by diversifying the distribution of chargers.
• Faster Adoption: Seamless adoption of EVs by ensuring charging stations are accessible & functional.

Way Forward

• Investment in Computational Resources: To handle the massive scale of the EV fleet, India needs to invest in computational systems that can analyse and optimise network operations.
• Battery Passport & Unified Energy Interface: Implementing the Battery Passport initiative for data capture & Unified Energy Interface project for data exchange will enhance efficiency of the EV network.
• Skilling Professionals: Training professionals in network optimisation, data management & analysis is crucial for building a robust EV infrastructure.
• Legislation for Data Security: Strengthening data protection laws to safeguard sensitive information related to EV sales and charging stations.

{GS3 – S&T – Space} India in Space: Six-Decade Journey & Current Developments

• Context (TH): November 2024 marked the 61st anniversary of India’s space program.

• Nike Apache was India’s first rocket launch from the TERLS (Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station) in Kerala, which helped ISRO master solid propellant technology.
• In parallel, this anniversary coincides with India launching its first satellite, GSAT-N2, via a SpaceX rocket and the emergence of multiple private sector companies gearing up for their space missions.

About Nike-Apache Rocket

• Also known as Argo B-13, was a two-stage sounding rocket developed by Aerolab, later Atlantic Research. The first launch of Nike-Apache was conducted by the US Air Force.
• It was used to carry various payloads and study a wide range of topics, including radio astronomy, meteorology, aeronomy, atmospheric conditions, plasma physics, and solar physics.

PSLV-C59 Mission

• Event: ISRO’s PSLV-C59 mission will launch the European Proba-3 mission.
• Configuration: The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will fly in its extended-length configuration (XL), last used for the Aditya-L1 launch.
• Payload: The mission will launch a twin Proba spacecraft to study the Sun.

Training for Human Spaceflight

• India’s astronaut-designate is training at the European Space Agency’s European Astronaut Centre.
• It focuses on familiarising astronauts with European International Space Station (ISS) modules. This initiative is part of India’s ambitious human spaceflight program 2025.

Private Sector Developments

• Pixxel’s ‘Fireflies’ Satellite: Pixxel, an Indian-American company, unveiled ‘Fireflies’, and its six hyperspectral satellites are expected to be launched. These satellites can provide data that can help detect crop diseases, water-stressed areas, real-time deforestation, and ocean pollution early.
• GalaxEye Space’s Tech Demo: “It’s not a Satellite, It’s Just a Tech Demo” to fly onboard the PSLV’s Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) platform. It is a test subsystem of a synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
• PierSight Space’s ‘Varuna’: Mission onboard a PSLV POEM to demonstrate a deployable reflectarray antenna and test SAR and aeronautical information service avionics in orbit.
• HEX20’s ‘Nila’ Satellite: Scheduled for SpaceX’s Transporter 13 mission. It is a 5-kg CubeSat capable of hosting different payloads and providing data-processing services. A ground station will be established in Thiruvananthapuram.
• Catalyx Space’s SR-0 Satellite: It Re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, completing all mission objectives within its three-month lifespan.
• AAKA Space Studio’s Analog Mission: India’s first Space Analog Mission was launched in Leh, Ladakh, in collaboration with ISRO Human Spaceflight Centre, IIT-Bombay, and the University of Ladakh. It tests habitat sustainability, life-support systems, and the human experience of isolation.

Advances in Space Science

• SatSure’s Collaboration: SatSure is working with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on automated image feature extraction models for various villages. It maps rural property using drones under the ‘Svamvita’ programme to capture high-resolution images.
• Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO): India celebrated its full membership in the SKAO, an effort to build the world’s most advanced radio telescope. India will provide cash and advanced electronics and engineering for telescope components.
• Bharatiya Antariksh Station: Departments of Space and Biotechnology signed agreements to conduct biological experiments on the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.

{Prelims – Envi – Species} Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva)

• Context (TH): Red-breasted Flycatcher migrates from Eastern Europe to Hyderabad’s Ameenpur lake.

• Once, Ameenpur Lake was famous for attracting migratory birds like flamingos. The lake’s environment deteriorated due to various factors, disappointing birdwatchers.
• The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protecting Agency (HYDRAA) is revitalising the lake, attracting migratory birds again.

About Red-breasted Flycatcher

Source: TH

• Habitat: Breeds in Eastern Europe and Central Asia migrate to South Asia for winter.
• Diet: Insects, caterpillars, and berries.
• Similar species: The Taiga flycatcher is very similar but has a more limited orange throat in breeding males and is more common in eastern and northeastern India.
• IUCN Status: Least Concern.

{Prelims – In News} E-Daakhil Portal

• Context (PIB): The Department of Consumer Affairs has successfully launched the E-Daakhil portal.

• It was first launched in 2020 during the COVID pandemic by the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, offering an inexpensive and speedy mechanism for complaint resolution.
• The E-Daakhil portal is an online platform designed to streamline the filing of consumer complaints.
• It ensures a paperless & transparent process, enabling users to track the status of their complaints online.

Read More > Consumer Protection Act, 2019, Initiatives for Consumer Protection