Daily News Analysis - by Jatin Verma 12Th February, 2020

Summary of Daily News Analysis - by Jatin Verma 12th February, 2020

https://www.jatinverma.org P a g e | 1

Important News Articles Polity & Governance related issues G.S. Mains Paper-2 ❏ Page 9: Agri zone may not affect ongoing T.N. projects Officials say government only intends to bar fresh attempts at exploration of gas, minerals ❏ Page 14: Coronavirus poses a challenge to China’s place in global affairs, its political leadership ❏ Indian Express: SC to consider questions of law: May push the envelope on personal law reform, UCC ❏ Indian Express: Fine-tuning the Surrogacy Bill

Important News Articles Environment & Ecology & Sci-Tech G.S. Mains Paper-3 ❏ Down to Earth: New Solar Orbiter Mission Launched Successfully ❏ a collaborative mission between the European Space Agency and NASA

PIB ❏ 13th COP of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) ❏ National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage ❏ Godavari and Cauvery River Linking Project

Page 10: Important Editorials ● First call India and Sri Lanka share close ties, but distrust and differences remain

Page 11: Important Editorials ● A new approach on investment For India and the U.S., this will be critical to sustain momentum coming out of a first trade deal ● Six years on, Lokpal is a nonstarter The necessary rules, regulations and machinery are still not in place

Page 11: Editorial Analysis

Context ● The preambular statement of The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 notes that the law has been enacted to ensure prompt and fair investigation and prosecution in cases of corruption against public servants. ● The Lokpal was envisioned to be independent. It was accorded a high stature and given extensive powers including the power to inquire, investigate and prosecute acts of corruption. ● More than six years after the Lokpal law received the President’s assent, the institution of the Lokpal is yet to play any significant role in tackling corruption in the country. ● The manner in which the Lokpal has been emasculated by the current regime closely mirrors the undermining of other institutions of oversight and accountability. ● Background: ✓ The massive public campaign in 2011 demanding an independent anti-corruption ombudsman resulted in the passage of the Lokpal law. ✓ The political dividend of the agitation was reaped at the national level by the BJP, which vociferously supported the demand for an effective Lokpal and rode to power in 2014 on the plank of anti-corruption.

Delay in appointments ● For more than five years, the chairperson and members of the Lokpal were not appointed. ● The government claimed that since no one could be recognised as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) after the 2014 general election, the committee responsible for selecting members of the Lokpal could not be constituted. ● The chairperson and members of the Lokpal were appointed only in March 2019 after a contempt petition was filed in the Supreme Court following the failure of the government to comply with the 2017 ruling of the court to initiate the process of making appointments. ● The Lokpal was empowered under the law to set up its own inquiry wing headed by a Director of Inquiry and its own prosecution wing headed by a Director of Prosecution. ● The Lokpal has also not appointed the Director of Inquiry or Prosecution. ● However, information accessed under the Right to Information Act has confirmed that the inquiry and prosecution wings of the anti-corruption ombudsman are yet to be set up.

JV’s Backgrounder Lokpal and Lokayukta ➔ The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 provided for the establishment of Lokpal for the Union and Lokayukta for States. ➔ These institutions are statutory bodies without any constitutional status. ➔ They perform the function of an "ombudsman” and inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public functionaries and for related matters.

Structure of Lokpal ➔ Lokpal is a multi-member body, that consists of one chairperson and a maximum of 8 members. ➔ Chairperson of the Lokpal should be either the former Chief Justice of India or the former Judge of Supreme Court or an eminent person with impeccable integrity and outstanding ability, having special knowledge and expertise of minimum 25 years in the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance including insurance and banking, law and management. ➔ Out of the maximum eight members, half will be judicial members and minimum 50% of the Members will be from SC/ ST/ OBC/ Minorities and women. ➔ The judicial member of the Lokpal either a former Judge of the Supreme Court or a former Chief Justice of a High Court. ➔ The non-judicial member should be an eminent person with impeccable integrity and outstanding ability, having special knowledge and expertise of minimum 25 years in the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance including insurance and banking, law and management. ➔ The term of office for Lokpal Chairman and Members is 5 years or till the age of 70 years. ➔ The members are appointed by the president on the recommendation of a Selection Committee. ➔ The selection committee is composed of ◆ The Prime Minister who is the Chairperson; ◆ Speaker of Lok Sabha, ◆ Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, ◆ Chief Justice of India or a Judge nominated by him/her and ◆ One eminent jurist. ➔ For selecting the chairperson and the members, the selection committee constitutes a search panel of at least eight persons.

Polity & Governance related issues G.S. Mains Paper-2

Page 9: Agri zone may not affect ongoing T.N. projects ● Chief Minister’s announcement that the Cauvery delta region would be declared ‘Protected Special Agricultural Zone’ (PSAZ) may not affect various ongoing projects in the districts, including hydrocarbon exploration. ● No “new projects such as the hydrocarbon project” would be allowed in delta districts. ● The primary intention of the government is to prohibit any “fresh” attempts at exploration of gas and minerals in the Cauvery delta region, senior bureaucrats indicated. ● This is wet-land ecology and such explorations would affect agriculture severely. Moreover, such explorations would also lead to seawater intrusion. ● Since the ongoing projects in the Cauvery delta have already obtained necessary permission from the authorities concerned, they may not be affected by the announcement. ● The Chief Minister has so far not clarified about the fate of the ongoing projects in the region. The proposed PSAZ would cover the entire Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts. ● The remaining five districts would be covered only partially.

● The declaration was to primarily to stop “local exploitation of underground minerals and gas.That way, refineries could be allowed since they would only use imported oil. ● Though the contours of the policy are yet to be outlined, sources hinted that infrastructure projects such as laying of roads and railways and construction of bridges would not be affected. ● The State government is actively pursuing a proposal to set up a food processing park in Tiruvarur district, as such projects are needed for job creation for local youth.

JV’s Analysis ➔ Tamil Nadu CM declares Cauvery Delta as Protected Special Agriculture Zone. A law in this regard will be enacted soon. ➔ The protected zone will include - ◆ Thanjavur, ◆ Tiruvarur, ◆ Nagapattinam districts and ◆ delta regions of Trichy, Ariyalur, Cuddalore and Pudukkottai. ➔ A Special Agricultural Zone is one where agricultural land is preserved for posterity because of its importance to increasing agriculture production and promoting livelihood security for a large number of farm families.

Significance ● PSAZ is aimed at protecting the Cauvery delta region for the future, fulfilling TN’s food requirements and ensuring the welfare of delta farmers. ● It has recognised farmer concerns about hydrocarbon exploration and accorded primacy to food security.

Need for ● The delta, which produces 33 lakh tonnes of grains in 28 lakh acres, has seen multiple protests for a decade over methane, hydrocarbon, oil and natural gas projects, which required acquisition of fertile lands and well drilling — proposals which triggered fears of groundwater contamination.

Challenges ahead ● Tamil Nadu now has to enact legislation to protect a vast region, largely in the coastal area, from industries that would affect farming.

The State has its challenges ● In 2017, a government notification delineated 45 villages covering about 23,000 hectares in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts in the delta, as a Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region, with an eye on over ₹90,000 crore in investments.

● The proposed PSAZ raises a question mark on this ambitious scheme. ● The government may have to brave central pressure and litigation from companies which pumped in money for exploration. ● The decision may also have implications for the State’s investment climate.

Background ● The Central government recently amended the Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2006, exempting prior environmental clearance and public consultations for oil and gas exploration. ● In 2019, the Centre had relaxed rules that incentivise companies conducting oil exploration surveys in less-explored oil fields. ● The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and the Vedanta group were granted permission to conduct exploratory oil surveys in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. ● The Cauvery delta, which produces 33 lakh tonnes of grains in 28 lakh acres, has seen multiple protests for a decade over methane, hydrocarbon, oil and natural gas projects, which required acquisition of fertile lands and well drilling. ● Offshore drilling operations can also hamper fish, build up heavy water contaminants, disorient whales and sea life and increase the risk of oil spills.

About EIA exemption ● Firms seeking to conduct exploratory surveys had to prepare an environment impact assessment plan, which had to be scrutinised by a centrally-constituted committee of experts. ● Then the proposal had to be subjected to a public hearing involving the local residents of the proposed project site. However, public hearings were often exempted. ● The new amendments demote exploratory projects from the highest level of environmental scrutiny, called category ‘A’, to the ‘B2’ category. This means it will be conducted by the states concerned and will not require an environment impact assessment plan. It has made it easier to dig deeper for unconventional oil and gas. ● Developing an offshore or onshore drilling site as a hydrocarbon block will, however, continue to merit a “category A” scrutiny. ● Also under Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), the requirement for separate licences to explore and extract conventional as well as unconventional oil and gas resources, including CBM (coal-bed methane), shale gas/oil and gas hydrates, was replaced by a single licence.

JV’s Backgrounder Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) ● India is the 3rd largest consumer of crude oil and petroleum products. India's oil import bill is subject to global prices swings as the country is dependent on imports for around 80% of its crude demand. ● HELP was approved by government in March 2016 replacing New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). ● The new policy promises simpler rules, tax breaks, pricing and marketing freedom and is part of a government strategy to double oil and gas output by 2022-23. ● Advantages ✓ HELP provides for marketing freedom for crude oil and natural gas produced from these blocks. This is in tune with Government’s policy of “Minimum Government – Maximum Governance”. ✓ Under the earlier profit-sharing methodology (NELP), it became necessary for the Government to scrutinize cost details of private participants and this led to many delays and disputes. HELP is in tune with Government’s efforts to promote ‘Ease of Doing Business’. ✓ The policy is also aimed at enhancing transparency and reducing administrative discretion. ✓ HELP marks the biggest transition from an era of government control to government support for upstream E&P in India. ✓ Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) removes restrictions on exploration by giving companies both the data and the discretion to explore areas of their choice.

Page 14: Coronavirus poses a challenge to China’s place in global affairs, its political leadership ● The coronavirus epidemic poses a challenge to China’s place in global affairs, its political leadership.

The possible implications of coronavirus crisis ● The Chinese leadership might not be able to escape the blame: If the epidemic turns into a pandemic, as some analysts bet, China’s all-powerful leader Xi Jinping might not be able to escape the blame. ✓ And will likely come under considerable political pressure. ● It could also turn into a systemic threat: Some also speculate that the backlash against the government’s mishandling of the crisis could turn into a systemic threat against the dominance of the Chinese Communist Party. ● Speculations as perennial hope among China’s critics: Sceptics, however, dismiss above speculation as merely reflecting the perennial hope among Beijing’s harshest critics who can’t wait to see a China without the CCP. ● Realist’s stand: Realists point to the massive mobilisation of state power by President Xi in limiting the spread of the virus.

Handling of the crisis by China ● Initial faltering response: To be sure, there were major failures in the initial faltering response to the crisis. ● Cover-up attempts from lover level: The attempts at the lower levels to cover-up or underplay the crisis and the inadequate appreciation at the higher levels of the potential consequences are common to all large bureaucracies. The party-state in China is not an exception. ● Praise for handling the crisis: China’s handling of the crisis had drawn much respect, grudging or otherwise, from the international community. ● Whether it is the lockdown of Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, from where the virus began to spread. ● Or in deploying thousands of doctors and health workers in the province and building massive hospitals for treating the infected. ● Possibility of some political impact: Yet, there is no question that a crisis of this magnitude will have some political impact. ● The party-state is certainly having some difficulty in containing the public outrage against the initial failures. ● Efforts to shield top leadership from blame: The CCP, however, is bound to shield the supreme leader from any damaging criticism and in fact, celebrate a triumph in containing the spread through a determined effort.

● Responsibility will be affixed on provincial officials in Hubei and a purge of some kind may have already begun.

Addressing the economic consequences of the crisis ● International dimension: Nearly two decades after the SARS epidemic -China is now a much larger economy and its interdependence with the world has only deepened. ● This interdependence, in turn, lends a strong international dimension to China’s crisis. ● Optimist’s hope of future uptick: Optimists hope that a sharp drop in economic activity in the current quarter will be followed by a steep uptick in growth in the next when the virus is contained and normalcy returns. ● Pessimist’s fear of economic disruption: Pessimists suggest that the economic disruption — in terms of the impact on internal and external trade and the breakdown of the global supply chains- could have lasting effects. ● Reinforcing the disruption: Some suspect that the disruption could reinforce the slowdown driven by a number of other internal and external factors including the trade war with the US.

China’s response to the rest of the world ● Channelling of resentment against the West: Some in the West hope that a prolonged economic crisis might turn the people against the CCP. For now, though, Beijing is channelling the resentment against the West. ● Terming evacuation as a over-reaction: Beijing has criticised the advisories from various countries against travel to China and the cancellation of flights as over-reaction. ● Lukewarm response to evacuation efforts: China has also been lukewarm to efforts of various countries to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan and Hubei. ● India evacuated students: India has managed to convince Beijing to let India airlift its students from Wuhan. ● Pakistan has declared that it will not evacuate its students as a gesture of political solidarity with China in a time of crisis. ● South Asian neighbour’s response: Many of India’s other South Asian neighbours are torn between the reluctance to offend Chinese sentiment and the mounting domestic pressures to bring students back. ● Cooperation with the US: While being critical of the US travel restrictions against China, Beijing has certainly been open to cooperation with the US in dealing with the crisis. ● India’s offer to help other countries in evacuation: The external affairs minister said last week that India has been willing to bring back students from all the neighbouring countries. ● Balancing between Delhi and Beijing: The logic of balancing between Delhi and Beijing has prevented most of the smaller neighbours from requesting Indian assistance. ✓ The Maldives has been the only exception. ● The response of the East and Southeast Asia: Beyond South Asia, many countries in East and Southeast Asia have been hesitant to be seen as rushing to cut themselves from China.

● What is making these countries hesitant: Deep economic interdependence and massive flows of Chinese tourists led to much dithering among the East Asian countries in their early responses to the crisis.

Indian Express: SC to consider questions of law: May push the envelope on personal law reform, UCC ● Last week, while hearing a matter relating to properties of a Goan, the Supreme Court described Goa as a “shining example” with a Uniform Civil Code, observed that the founders of the Constitution had “hoped and expected” a UCC for India but there has been no attempt at framing one.

What is a Uniform Civil Code? ● A UCC is one that would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc. ● Article 44 of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a UCC for the citizens throughout the territory of India. ● Article 44 is one of the directive principles. These, as defined in Article 37, are not justiciable (not enforceable by any court) but the principles laid down therein are fundamental in governance. ● Fundamental rights are enforceable in a court of law. While Article 44 uses the words “state shall endeavour”, other Articles in the ‘Directive Principles’ chapter use words such as “in particular strive”; “shall in particular direct its policy”; “shall be obligation of the state” etc. ● Article 43 mentions “state shall endeavour by suitable legislation” while the phrase “by suitable legislation” is absent in Article 44. ● All this implies that the duty of the state is greater in other directive principles than in Article 44.

What are more important — fundamental rights or directive principles? ● There is no doubt that fundamental rights are more important. ● The Supreme Court held in Minerva Mills (1980): “Indian Constitution is founded on the bed-rock of the balance between Parts III (Fundamental Rights) and IV (Directive Principles). ● To give absolute primacy to one over the other is to disturb the harmony of the Constitution”. ● Article 31C inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, however, lays down that if a law is made to implement any directive principle, it cannot be challenged on the ground of being violative of the fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 19.

Does India not already have a uniform code in civil matters? ● Indian laws do follow a uniform code in most civil matters – Indian Contract Act, Civil Procedure Code, Sale of Goods Act, Transfer of Property Act, Partnership Act, Evidence Act etc. ● States, however, have made hundreds of amendments and therefore in certain matters, there is diversity even under these secular civil laws. ● Recently, several states refused to be governed by the uniform Motor Vehicles Act, 2019. ● If the framers of the Constitution had intended to have a Uniform Civil Code, they would have given exclusive jurisdiction to Parliament in respect of personal laws, by including this subject in the Union List. ● But “personal laws” are mentioned in the Concurrent List. Last year, the Law Commission concluded that a Uniform Civil Code is neither feasible nor desirable.

Is there one common personal law for any religious community governing all its members? ● All Hindus of the country are not governed by one law, nor are all Muslims or all Christians. ● Not only British legal traditions, even those of the Portuguese and the French remain operative in some parts. ● In Jammu and Kashmir until August 5, 2019, local Hindu law statutes differed from central enactments. ● The Shariat Act of 1937 was extended to J&K a few years ago but has now been repealed. ● Muslims of Kashmir were thus governed by a customary law, which in many ways was at variance with Muslim Personal Law in the rest of the country and was, in fact, closer to Hindu law. ● Even on registration of marriage among Muslims, laws differ from place to place. It was compulsory in J&K (1981 Act), and is optional in Bengal, Bihar (both under 1876 Act), Assam (1935 Act) and Odisha (1949 Act). ● In the Northeast, there are more than 200 tribes with their own varied customary laws. ● The Constitution itself protects local customs in Nagaland. Similar protections are enjoyed by Meghalaya and Mizoram. Even reformed Hindu law, in spite of codification, protects customary practices.

How does the idea of a UCC relate to the fundamental right to religion? ● Article 25 lays down an individual’s fundamental right to religion; Article 26(b) upholds the right of each religious denomination or any section thereof to “manage its own affairs in matters of religion”; Article 29 defines the right to conserve distinctive culture. ● An individual’s freedom of religion under Article 25 is subject to “public order, health, morality” and other provisions relating to fundamental rights, but a group’s freedom under Article 26 has not been subjected to other fundamental rights ● In the Constituent Assembly, there was division on the issue of putting Uniform Civil Code in the fundamental rights chapter.

● The matter was settled by a vote. By a 5:4 majority, the fundamental rights sub-committee headed by Sardar Patel held that the provision was outside the scope of fundamental rights and therefore the UCC was made less important than freedom of religion.

What was the view of Muslim members in the Constituent Assembly? ● Some members sought to immunise Muslim Personal Law from state regulation. ● Mohammed Ismail, who thrice tried unsuccessfully to get Muslim Personal Law exempted from Article 44, said a secular state should not interfere with the personal law of people. ● B Pocker Saheb said he had received representations against a common civil code from various organisations, including Hindu organisations. ● Hussain Imam questioned whether there could ever be uniformity of personal laws in a diverse country like India. ● B R Ambedkar said “no government can use its provisions in a way that would force the Muslims to revolt”. ● Alladi Krishnaswami, who was in favour of a Uniform Civil Code, conceded that it would be unwise to enact Uniform Civil Code ignoring strong opposition from any community. ● Gender justice was not mentioned in these debates.

How did the debate on a common code for Hindus play out? ● In June 1948, Rajendra Prasad, President of the Constituent Assembly, warned Jawaharlal Nehru that to introduce “basic changes” in personal law was to impose “progressive ideas” of a “microscopic minority” on the Hindu community as a whole.

● Others opposed to reforms in Hindu law included Sardar Patel, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, M A Ayyangar, M M Malaviya and Kailash Nath Katju. ● When the debate on the Hindu Code Bill took place in December 1949, 23 of 28 speakers opposed it. ● On September 15, 1951, President Prasad threatened to use his powers of returning the Bill to Parliament or vetoing it. ● Ambedkar eventually had to resign. Nehru agreed to trifurcation of the Code into separate Acts and diluted several provisions.

Indian Express: Fine-tuning the Surrogacy Bill ● In a recent report, a Select Committee of Parliament has recommended that the contentious clause limiting surrogacy only to “close relatives” to be removed from the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019. ● These recommendations aim to make the benefits of modern technology more easily available to infertile couples.

What are the provisions of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill? ● The Surrogacy Bill proposes to allow altruistic ethical surrogacy to intend infertile Indian married couples in the age groups 23-50 years (women) and 26-55 years (men). ● It was first mooted in 2016 in the wake of repeated reports of exploitation of women who were confined to hostels, not provided adequate post-pregnancy medical care and paid a pittance. ● The couple should have been legally married for at least five years and should be Indian citizens. ● They cannot have a surviving child, either biological or adopted, except when they have a child who is mentally or physically challenged or suffers from a life-threatening disorder with no permanent cure. ● It requires surrogacy clinics to be registered, and national and state surrogacy boards to be formed. ● It makes commercial surrogacy, and abandoning or disowning a surrogate child punishable by imprisonment up to 10 years and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh.

What changes has the Select Committee suggested? ● The Select Committee recommended that the “close relatives” clause should be removed, and any “willing” woman should be allowed to become a surrogate mothe. ● It has strongly backed the ban on commercial surrogacy. ● It has also recommended that divorced and widowed women aged between 35 and 45 years should be able to be a single commissioning parent. ● It has emphasised the need for a five-year waiting period for childless married couples could be waived if there is a medical certificate that shows that they cannot possibly conceive.

● It has recommended that persons of Indian origin should be allowed to avail surrogacy services. ● It has not, however, recommended expanding the definition of commissioning parent to include singles, either men or women. ● It also recommended that the ART Bill (which deals with assisted reproductive technologies) should be brought before the Surrogacy bill so that all the highly technical and medical aspects could be properly addressed.

What is the ART Bill? ● The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill has been in the making since 2008. ● It aims to regulate the field through registration of all IVF clinics and sperm banks, segregation of ART clinics and gamete banks etc. ● It also requires national and state boards to be established for the purpose of regulation of the fertility market. ● The Select Committee report says: “Surrogacy is a part and parcel of ART and hence the Surrogacy Bill should come into force only after the enactment of ART Bill. ● Bringing Surrogacy Bill before the ART will be irrelevant and also create duplication of Boards. ● The Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, too has “strongly recommended” to the government that the two Bills should be brought together and not in isolation.

How big is India’s surrogacy market? ● Estimations by the ICMR put it around 2,000-odd babies per year through commercial surrogacy — when a woman is paid an agreed sum for renting her womb. ● CII figures say surrogacy is a $2.3-billion industry fed by a lack of regulations and poverty.

What happened the last time the Bill was scrutinized by a parliamentary panel? ● The Bill was earlier scrutinized by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare. ● That committee had recommended that compensation should be the norm and the word “altruistic” should be replaced with “compensated”. ● Couples — including those in live-in relationships — should be allowed to choose surrogates from both within and outside the family. Altruistic surrogacy, it observed, is tantamount to exploitation. ● The “close relative” condition is open to misuse in a patriarchal setup, the committee had observed. ● Given the patriarchal familial structure and power equations within families, not every member of a family has the ability to resist a demand that she be a surrogate for another family member. ● A close relative of the intending couple may be forced to become a surrogate which might become even more exploitative than commercial surrogacy. ● These recommendations were not accepted by the government.

Surrogacy in India and Need for Regulation ● Surrogacy means the process of carrying and delivering a child for another person. ● Thus, a surrogate mother is a woman who bears a child on behalf of another woman, either from her own egg or from the implantation in her womb of a fertilized egg from another woman. ● The world's second and India's first IVF (in vitro fertilization) baby, Kanupriya alias Durga was born in Kolkata on October 3, 1978. Since then, the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART) has developed rapidly. ● Increasing infertility as a medical condition is a huge impediment in the overall well- being of couples and cannot be overlooked especially in a patriarchal society like India. Herein, surrogacy comes as a supreme saviour. ● In India, while the parents construct the child biologically, the child constructs the parents socially. ● Woman in India is respected as a wife if she is the mother of a child so that her husband's masculinity and sexual potency are proved and the lineage continues. ● That's why surrogacy in India rather being a choice but is also a compulsion in Indian society.

● Low cost: Surrogacy cost in India is around 1/3rd of that in developed countries like the USA. ✓ This had made India a favourable destination for foreign couples who look for cost-effective treatment for infertility and a whole branch of medical tourism has flourished on the surrogate practice. ✓ Citing this malpractice of “renting the womb”, the government of India banned the surrogacy for foreign nationals in 2015. ● Due to all these factors surrogacy leads to commoditization of the child. Renting of the womb breaks the bond between a mother and the child, interferes with nature and in many cases leads to exploitation of both poor women and the child Born. ● Middlemen and clinics: Surrogates have been reported to be exploited by the agents or the middlemen. There has not been any process to monitor the clinics or any law to ensure that the mothers are not defrauded by the clinics or the intending couples. ● Negligence and lack of care: The surrogates mothers are not given good food or medical treatment and postpartum care are non-existent.

PIB

13th COP of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) ● The 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) is going to be hosted by India at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

13th COP of CMS ● The theme of CMS COP13 in India is, “Migratory species connect the planet and we welcome them home”. ● The CMS COP 13 logo is inspired by ‘Kolam’, a traditional artform from southern India. ● In the logo of CMS COP-13, Kolam art form is used to depict key migratory species in India like Amur falcon, humpback whale and marine turtles. ● The mascot for CMS COP13, “Gibi – The Great Indian Bustard” is a critically endangered species which has been accorded the highest protection status under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

About CMS ● CMS is an international treaty concluded under aegis of UN Environment Programme (UNEP), concerned with conservation of wildlife and habitats on a global scale. ● It is commonly abbreviated as Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) or the Bonn Convention.

● It aims to conserve terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species throughout their range. ● It was signed in 1979 in Bonn (hence the name), Germany and entered into force in 1983. ● Its headquarters are in Bonn, Germany. ● CMS is only global and UN-based intergovernmental organization established exclusively for conservation and management of terrestrial, aquatic and avian migratory species throughout their range.

Prospects for India ● As the host, India shall be designated the President for the next three years. ● India is Signatory to the CMS since 1983. ● India has been taking necessary actions to protect and conserve migratory marine species. ● Seven species that include Dugong, Whale Shark, Marine Turtle (two species), have been identified for preparation of Conservation and Recovery Action Plan.

Other facts ● The Indian sub-continent is also part of the major bird flyway network, i.e, the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) that covers areas between the Arctic and Indian Oceans, and covers at least 279 populations of 182 migratory water bird species, including 29 globally threatened species. ● India is home to several migratory species of wildlife including snow leopard, Amur falcons, bar headed Geese, black necked cranes, marine turtles, dugongs, humpback whales, etc.

● It has signed non legally binding MOU with CMS on the conservation and management of Siberian Cranes (1998), Marine Turtles (2007), Dugongs (2008) and Raptors (2016).

National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage ● Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) is preparing the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage ● SNA is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture is the nodal agency for the Scheme for ‘Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage and Diverse Cultural Traditions of India’. ● As of now, SNA is collaborating with Zonal Cultural Centers of Ministry, collating and preparing a list of ICH elements for National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. ● List of ICH elements is being compiled and at least 100 elements will be documented by March, 2020 and the aim is to document at least 20 new elements in ICH list every year. ● Along with this establishment of an ‘Indian Institute for Culture’ is at conceptual stage and a mission called National Culture Mapping portal is being conceptualized for aggregating art forms and artists. It is in pilot phase.

About The Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) – ● Founded in 31st May 1952. ● Headquarter - New Delhi ● The Sangeet Natak Akademi – India’s national academy for music, dance and drama – is the first National Academy of the arts set-up by the Republic of India. ● It is presently an Autonomous Body of the Ministry of Culture, and is fully funded by the Government for implementation of its schemes and programmes. ● It is the nodal agency of the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India to coordinate the matters related to Intangible Cultural Heritage and various UNESCO Conventions addressing Cultural Diversity and promotion and dissemination of multifarious cultural traditions and expressions of the country.

Intangible Cultural Heritage ● The term ‘cultural heritage’ has changed content considerably in recent decades, partially owing to the instruments developed by UNESCO. ● Cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. ● It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

Godavari and Cauvery River Linking Project ● The draft Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Godavari and Cauvery River Linking Project has been completed by National Water Development Agency (NWDA).

Godavari– Cauvery Link Project ● The project consists of 3 links - ✓ Godavari (Inchampalli/Janampet) – Krishna (Nagarjunasagar), ✓ Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) – Pennar (Somasila) and ✓ Pennar (Somasila) – Cauvery (Grand Anicut). ● This proposal to link Godavari, which is prone to flooding, and Krishna, which doesn’t have enough water, has been around for several decades. ● While river-interlinking for the purposes of navigation as an idea was mooted by the British in India, in 1972, engineer and a Union Minister proposed the linking of Godavari and Krishna for irrigation. ● The decades-old proposal finally took shape in the 2000s, and in 2016, the Andhra government linked the two rivers with the Pattiseema-Polavaram Lift Irrigation project, in Andhra’s West Godavari district.

Environment & Ecology & Sci & Tech. G.S. Mains Paper-3

Down to Earth: New Solar Orbiter Mission Launched Successfully ● The Solar Orbiter, a collaborative mission between the European Space Agency and NASA to study the Sun, took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

What is the Solar Orbiter? ● Carrying four in situ instruments and six remote-sensing imagers, the Solar Orbiter (called SolO) will face the sun at approximately 42 million kilometres from its surface. ● Before SolO, all solar imaging instruments have been within the ecliptic plane, in which all planets orbit and which is aligned with the sun’s equator. ● The new spacecraft will use the gravity of Venus and Earth to swing itself out of the ecliptic plane, passing inside the orbit of Mercury, and will be able to get a bird’s eye view of the sun’s poles for the first time.

Objectives of the mission ● The Orbiter will take pictures using telescopes through a heat shield that is partly made of baked animal bones, to help it withstand temperatures of up to 600 degree Celsius. ● By understanding the behaviour of the sun, the Orbiter aims to provide information on how the former would affect technology such as satellites, navigation systems, power grids, and telecommunication services. ● The Orbiter will help scientists understand the sun’s dynamic behaviour, and solve mysteries such as the sunspot cycle, or why the star spews out high velocity charged particles through the solar system. ● With more data on the global magnetic field of the star, scientists would be able to forecast space weather events.

Earlier missions ● In 1990, NASA and ESA had sent the Ulysses mission, which also passed over the sun’s poles but at much farther distances, and did not carry a camera.