📰 India hopes to put down roots in Arctic
Nation aspires to have a permanent presence with more research and satellite stations in the region
•India aspires to have a permanent presence with more research and satellite ground stations in the Arctic region, suggests a perusal of its Arctic Policy document officially unveiled last week.
•India now has a single station, Himadri, in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago, where research personnel are usually present for 180 days. India is in the process of procuring an ice-breaker research vessel that can navigate the region.
•Through its existing satellites, India aspires to capture more detailed images to “assist in the development of the Arctic region”.
•Eight nations — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Russia, Sweden and the United States — make up the Arctic Council. The region is home to about four million, a tenth of them being indigenous tribes. India has had a research base in the region since 2008 and also has two observatories.
•Arctic weather influences the Indian monsoon and hence has been of interest to Indian researchers for decades. Climate change and the melting of ice caps imply changes to the Arctic weather. India has sent 13 expeditions to the Arctic since 2007 and runs 23 active science projects.
•Nearly 25 institutes and universities are currently involved in Arctic research in India and close to a hundred peer-reviewed papers have been published on Arctic issues since 2007, the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a statement.
•India has the status of ‘Observer’ member — 12 other countries have such a status — in the Arctic Council and participates in several meetings that are mostly themed around research. Beyond science, India also expects business opportunities.
•“Explore opportunities for responsible exploration of natural resources and minerals in the Arctic... identify opportunities for investment in Arctic infrastructure such as offshore exploration, mining, ports, railways, information technology and airports. It also expects Indian private industry to invest in the establishment and improvement of such infrastructure,” says the document.
📰 Boma technique adopted for translocating deer from Keoladeo
The move will improve prey base in Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve
•An uncommon experiment with Africa’s Boma technique undertaken at Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district for capturing and translocating spotted deer is set to improve the prey base in Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve, situated 450 km away. The move will lead to herbivores populating the forests ahead of the proposed shifting of two tigers to Mukundara.
•The Boma capturing technique, which is popular in Africa, involves luring of animals into an enclosure by chasing them through a funnel-like fencing. The funnel tapers into an animal selection-cum-loading chute, supported with grass mats and green net to make it opaque for animals, which are herded into a large vehicle for their transport to another location.
•This old technique was earlier utilised to capture wild elephants for training and service. Following its adoption in Madhya Pradesh in recent years, Boma has been put to practice for the first time in Rajasthan for sending the ungulates to the prey-deficient Mukundara reserve as the kills for tigers and leopards.
•The National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) technical committee has approved a proposal to shift two tigers from Ranthambhore National Park to Mukundara, which lost two tigers and two cubs in 2020 and is now left with an eight-year-old tigress. The reserve, spread across 759 sq. km area, was created with the portions of Darrah, Chambal and Jawahar Sagar wildlife sanctuaries in south-eastern Rajasthan.
Six deer shifted
•Keoladeo National Park’s director Mohit Gupta told The Hindu that six chitals or spotted deer were shifted with the Boma technique’s adoption in the second week of March. The herbivores were confined without any physical contact in the enclosure spread over 10 hectares for a few days with the management of grass feed and water and their movement was monitored from watch towers.
•“Since the spotted deer are weak-hearted animals susceptible to a sudden change in the environment, we modified a large truck for their translocation with the creation of waterbodies, fountain and grass carpet,” Mr. Gupta said. The herbivores reached their destination after a 10-hour-long journey without any casualties, he added.
•The national park’s authorities have received another big truck, which is being modified for carrying the spotted deer. Mr. Gupta said both the vehicles would be used for translocating about 150 chitals to Mukundara before the onset of summer by arranging three to four trips every week.
•The passive capture of ungulates with the first ever utilisation of Boma technique will make a significant contribution to the prey base management in the State. A similar translocation will be carried out for Kailadevi wildlife sanctuary in Karauli and Nahargarh wildlife sanctuary near Jaipur.
•Tourism & Wildlife Society of India (TWSI) secretary Harsh Vardhan said the inadequate prey base in the project tiger areas had led to less breeding success for the felines, while the attempts to center them around a new habitat would depend on the availability of prey. The translocation of herbivores would reduce preying upon rural cattle, sheep and goat around the tiger reserves, he said.
•Mr. Vardhan called for maintaining a healthy male-female ratio in the prey base, as the elimination of female animals would result in loss of productivity. “A deer takes six to eight months to give birth and adds to its numbers. Stepping up the prey base has emerged as one of the prime challenges before the wildlife authorities,” he said.
Why are environmentalists upset with the plan to bring vulnerable big cats from the African savanna to Kuno national park in M.P.?
•The story so far: The cheetah, which became extinct in India after Independence, is all set to return with the Union Government launching an action plan. According to the plan, about 50 of these big cats will be introduced in the next five years, from the Africa savannas, home to cheetahs, an endangered species.
What was the distribution of cheetahs in India? What were the habitats?
•Historically, Asiatic cheetahs had a very wide distribution in India. There are authentic reports of their occurrence from as far north as Punjab to Tirunelveli district in southern Tamil Nadu, from Gujarat and Rajasthan in the west to Bengal in the east. Most of the records are from a belt extending from Gujarat passing through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha. There is also a cluster of reports from southern Maharashtra extending to parts of Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The distribution range of the cheetah was wide and spread all over the subcontinent. They occurred in substantial numbers.
•The cheetah’s habitat was also diverse, favouring the more open habitats: scrub forests, dry grasslands, savannas and other arid and semi-arid open habitats. Some of the last reports of cheetahs in India prior to their local extinction are from edge habitats of sal forests in east-central India, not necessarily their preferred habitat.
•In Iran, the last surviving population of wild Asiatic cheetahs are found in hilly terrain, foothills and rocky valleys within a desert ecosystem, spread across seven provinces of Yazd, Semnan, Esfahan, North Khorasan, South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi and Kerman. The current estimate of the population of wild Asiatic cheetahs is about 40 with 12 identified adult animals. They occur in very low density spread over vast areas extending to thousands of square kilometres.
What caused the extinction of cheetahs in India? When did they disappear?
•The cheetah in India has been recorded in history from before the Common Era. It was taken from the wild for coursing blackbuck for centuries, which is a major contributor to the depletion of its numbers through the ages. Records of cheetahs being captured go back to 1550s. From the 16th century onwards, detailed accounts of its interaction with human beings are available as it was recorded by the Mughals and other kingdoms in the Deccan. However, the final phase of its extinction coincided with British colonial rule. The British added to the woes of the species by declaring a bounty for killing it in 1871.
•The consistent and widespread capture of cheetahs from the wild (both male and female) over centuries, its reduced levels of genetic heterogeneity due to a historical genetic bottleneck resulting in reduced fecundity and high infant mortality in the wild, its inability to breed in captivity, ‘sport’ hunting and finally the bounty killings are the major reasons for the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah in India.
•It is reported that the Mughal Emperor Akbar had kept 1,000 cheetahs in his menagerie and collected as many as 9,000 cats during his half century reign from 1556 to 1605. As late as 1799, Tipu Sultan of Mysore is reported to have had 16 cheetahs as part of his menagerie.
•The cheetah numbers were fast depleting by the end of the 18th century even though their prey base and habitat survived till much later. It is recorded that the last cheetahs were shot in India in 1947, but there are credible reports of sightings of the cat till about 1967.
What are the conservation objectives of introducing African cheetahs in India? Is it a priority for India? Is it cost effective?
•Based on the available evidence it is difficult to conclude that the decision to introduce the African cheetah in India is based on science. Science is being used as a legitimising tool for what seems to be a politically influenced conservation goal. This also in turn sidelines conservation priorities, an order of the Supreme Court, socio-economic constraints and academic rigour. The issue calls for an open and informed debate.
•Eminent biologist and administrator T.N. Khoshoo, first secretary of the Department of Environment, spoke out strongly against the cheetah project in 1995. “The reintroduction project was discussed threadbare during Indira Gandhi's tenure and found to be an exercise in futility,” he said, pointing out that it was more important to conserve species that were still extant such as the lion and tiger, rather than trying to re-establish an extinct species that had little chance of surviving in a greatly transformed country.
•Mr. Khoshoo’s views are in sync with the 2013 order of the Supreme Court which quashed plans to introduce African cheetahs in India and more specifically at Kuno national park in Madhya Pradesh.
•The officially stated goal is: Establish viable cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the cheetah to perform its functional role as a top predator and to provide space for the expansion of the cheetah within its historical range thereby contributing to its global conservation efforts.
•African cheetahs are not required to perform the role of the top predator in these habitats when the site (Kuno) that they have identified already has a resident population of leopards, transient tigers and is also the site for the translocation of Asiatic lions as ordered by the Supreme Court of India in 2013. In other open dry habitats in India there are species performing this role, e.g., wolf and caracal, both of which are highly endangered and need urgent conservation attention. Even the Government’s official estimate is expecting, at best only a few dozen cheetahs at a couple of sites (that too only after 15 years) which will require continuous and intensive management. Such a small number of cats at very few sites cannot meet the stated goal of performing its ecological function at any significant scale to have real on ground impact. Clearly, there are far more cost-effective, efficient, speedier and more inclusive ways to conserve grasslands and other open ecosystems of India.
•Apart from establishing a cheetah population in India, the stated objectives include: To use the cheetah as a charismatic flagship and umbrella species to garner resources for restoring open forest and savanna systems that will benefit biodiversity and ecosystem services from these ecosystems.
•Asiatic lions and a variety of species already found in these ecosystems can very well perform this role and more. If the government is serious about restoration and protection of these habitats, it first needs to remove grasslands from the category of wastelands and prevent further degradation, fragmentation and destruction of these habitats. Investing directly in science-based restoration and inclusive protection of these ecosystems will yield results much more quickly and sustainably than the introduction of African cheetahs.
•Another goal is to enhance India’s capacity to sequester carbon through ecosystem restoration activities in cheetah conservation areas and thereby contribute towards the global climate change mitigation goals. Experts contend that this objective does not require the introduction of African cheetahs, at a cost of ₹40 crore, with the attendant risks of diseases which haven’t really been dealt with.
What is the current status of this project? What are the chances of it succeeding?
•According to the Government, Kuno is ready to receive the cheetahs. About a month ago a team of government officials visited Namibia to inspect the cheetahs that would be sent to India, review the arrangements and to reach an agreement for the transfer of the cats. It is being reported that Namibia wants India’s support for lifting the CITES ban on commercial trade of wildlife products, including ivory. The draft memorandum of understanding shared by Namibia reportedly contains a condition requiring India to support Namibia for “sustainable utilisation of wildlife”. Negotiations are currently underway to finalise the MoU and it is expected to be signed by the end of March.
•The cheetahs are to be provided by the Cheetah Conservation Fund, an NGO, and not the Namibian government. Three to five cheetahs are expected to be part of the first group of cats and these are expected to arrive as early as May 2022 and released in the wild by August 15.
•Given all the challenges, especially the lack of extensive areas extending in hundreds if not thousands of square kilometres with sufficient density of suitable prey, it is very unlikely that African cheetahs would ever establish themselves in India as a truly wild and self-perpetuating population. A likely unfortunate consequence of this initiative will be the diversion of scarce conservation resources, distraction from the real conservation priorities and a further delay in the translocation of lions to Kuno.
📰 Two freedoms and the hijab in our midst
The discourse of the essential religious practice needs to be re-thought in a largely pagan context
•Upon hearing the petitions of Muslim students seeking permission to wear the hijab inside educational institutions, the Karnataka High Court recently ruled that wearing the hijab is not an essential practice in Islam. The judges also held that neither the prescription of a uniform in schools nor the Karnataka government’s order of February 5 disallowing the wearing of the hijab in schools where there was a uniform were violative of Article 25 of the Constitution.
Two concepts of freedom
•In the debates around the hijab issue, two concepts of freedom emerge. One is whether Muslim women ‘freely’ choose to wear the hijab or do so because they are socially conditioned to believe that al haya (modesty) is a womanly virtue. However, this question can be asked of any of the choices we make, as women, men or transgender people. For instance, one can also ask whether women freely choose to wear high heels or are brainwashed by societal discourses about feminine beauty.
•The other is the question of the freedom of the individual or of a community vis-à-vis the state. Consider the following set of questions that help explicate this: Am I free to eat whatever I choose or have I given up this freedom to the state? (Think of the ban on beef in parts of India.) Am I free to have sexual relations with whomsoever I choose or can the state interfere and tell me whom I can or cannot have such relations with? (Laws prohibiting homosexuality come to mind.) Am I free to have as many children as I want or can the state impose a one-child policy, as China did?
•Each of these freedoms is also a right: My right to eat whatever I want, my sexual rights, my reproductive rights. At the heart of ‘liberalism’ is the question of liberty or freedom posed as the freedom of the individual (the ‘I’) vis-à-vis the state/social contract (the ‘we’). How much of my freedom do I give up to the state when I enter the social contract, and how much do I keep for myself? In social contract theory, this maps on to the distinction between the public and the private spheres. The freedom that I keep for myself, I exercise in the private sphere. When I enter the public sphere, I am a citizen, not a private person. I cannot do as I will.
•And hence we have the distinction between a liberal state and an illiberal state. In a liberal state, the sphere of individual freedom is at a maximum. The state is minimalist. In an illiberal state, the private sphere is kept to a minimum. Citizens have given up most their freedom to the state and have few rights.
•In a secular state, religion is in the private sphere. This means two things. One, I am free to practise my religion; I have not given up this freedom to the state. The state cannot interfere in my practice of religion. Two, the state itself does not profess any religion. The juxtaposition of A and B, as defined above, can create logical contradictions. Let me illustrate this with an example: Namaz is an Islamic practice. A Muslim must offer namaz five times a day. What if a Muslim happens to be at a public place, such as a railway platform, at the time when namaz needs to be offered? Should there be spaces for namaz in all public spaces such as schools, airports and train stations? But then, public spaces are supposed to be free of religion in a secular state. Where does the private sphere end and the public begin? Likewise, if a Muslim student is made to remove the hijab at the school, does this uphold the secular nature of the school or trample on her religious right to wear the hijab?
•A further criticism is that the public sphere in India is implicitly Hindu. Sikhs are allowed to wear turbans, Hindu girls are allowed to wear the bindi or bangles, and these don’t stand out as aberrations; the hijab does. I would like to counter this argument in two ways: First, the hijab is not banned in the public sphere in India, as it is in some Western liberal democracies such as France. The issue at hand pertains to the uniform of schools. As discussed above, when a citizen enters the social contract, she/he gives up some freedom in the process. Something similar happens when one voluntarily enters into a contract with an institution, such as a school or a club. For instance, a school can have an attendance policy for students and require them to attend at least 80% of the classes. If a student voluntarily takes admission in the school, she/he gives up her freedom to attend classes as per her will. She must attend 80% of the classes. The uniform issue is similar.
Essential religious practice
•Second, it may still be argued that schools allow turbans, bindis and bangles. Why not the hijab? The debate here meanders into the question of which of these is an essential religious practice. Is wearing the turban an essential practice of the Sikhs? Harjot Oberoi’s historiographical work on Punjab in the 18th-19th centuries reveals something curious: The doli (palanquin) bearers in Dalhousie, though Sikh, smoked tobacco during their months of hard labour away from home. During these summer months, they also cut their hair and kept it short. When they returned home for the winter, they paid a few annas and were ‘reinitiated’ into ‘Sikhism’. This is but one example. Oberoi gives several such instances of the amorphous nature of religious practices in 19th century Punjab.
•From this apparent amorphous fluidity, how did we reach a point where the keeping of body hair ( kesh) has become one of the ‘essential practices’ of Sikhism? Clearly, something happened between the 19th century and now: The Khalsa movement rose, and so did the Singh Sabha. The Singh Sabha identified a pure, authentic Sikhism, which was based on the texts/scripture, i.e. the Adi Granth. All those practices that were not in keeping with the Adi Granth were seen as corrupt accretions. Hence, Sikhism needed to be ‘reformed’ to remove these corruptions and bring it back in line with the texts/scriptures. Hindu reform movements like the Arya Samaj did something similar: They identified a pure Hinduism, as specified in the Vedas.
•This equation of a religious community with a scripture or text is a feature of the Abrahamic religions. To ask whether there are essential religious practices in Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism is to ask the wrong question, and to do harm to these non-Abrahamic traditions. I would go a step further and assert that the practice of Islam and Christianity in the Indian context too is characterised by a fluidity that defies essence. Mother Mary wears a saree in churches in Bengaluru. Diwali is celebrated in the Nizamuddin Dargah. Hence, the discourse of the essential religious practice needs to be re-thought in a largely pagan context such as the Indian.
📰 Get these wrinkles out of the South Asian textile story
Ensuring government support for financial incentives, upgrading technologies and reskilling labour are key challenges
•South Asia became a major player in the global textiles and clothing market with the onset of the third wave of global production. Bangladesh joined the league in the 1980s, owing to the outbreak of the civil war in Sri Lanka. Supportive industrial policy was an instrumental factor in the 1990s, with zero duty on raw material and capital machinery, as access to global markets led to the industry’s boom. Bangladesh overtook India in exports in the past decade as Indian labour costs resulted in products becoming 20% more expensive.
Standing of countries
•Lower production costs and free trade agreements with western buyers are what favour Bangladesh, which falls third in the line as a global exporter. The progress of India and Pakistan in readymade garments is recent when compared to their established presence in textiles. India holds a 4% share of the U.S.$840 billion global textile and apparel market, and is in fifth position. India’s exports later witnessed a larger volume of business, following a 0.8% dip in 2019. Pakistan saw a 24.73% rise in textile exports (2021-22), bagging an amount of U.S.$10.933 billion.
•India has been successful in developing backward links, with the aid of the Technical Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), in the cotton and technical textiles industry. However, India is yet to move into man-made fibres as factories still operate in a seasonal fashion. Pakistan remains very focused on cotton products; it falls behind due to skilling and policy implementation issues. Bangladesh has been ahead of time in adopting technology. Bangladesh also concentrates on cotton products, specialising in the low-value and mid-market price segment. The country faces the challenge of high attrition and skilling which results in higher costs. Sri Lanka attained the most progress in ascending the value chain. Progress in training, quality control, product development and merchandising are attracting international brands to Sri Lanka.
In leap ahead, the hurdles
•The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has been shifting focus from production machinery to integrating technology in the entire production life cycle. The production cycle incorporates all digital information and automation including robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, 3D printing, etc. Robotic automation exemplifies production efficiency, especially in areas such as cutting and colour accuracy. In the days ahead, comprehensive restructuring can be expected in systems’ adaptation to human and market needs. With change comes opportunities as well as challenges. The Asian Development Bank anticipates the challenges of job losses and disruption, inequality and political instability, concentration of market power by global giants and more vulnerability to cyberattacks.
•India’s production centres are operational at near full capacity, with companies contemplating business and production capacity expansions. With a 7% unemployment rate, India faces the challenge of job creation in the wake of increased automation. The World Bank expects this trend to accelerate in the post-COVID-19 market. The 4IR may result in unemployment or poor employment generation, primarily affecting a low skill workforce. The integration of skilling and technological investments will play a vital role in phasing out obsolete jobs, and adapting to new ones. It is imperative to ensure living wages and ease of access to education. The market switched from ‘seasonal fashion’ to ‘fast fashion’, and later to ‘accurate fashion’, reducing lead time. Digitalisation and automation in areas such as design, prototyping, and production are key in order to stay abreast, and in controlling production quality and timely delivery. Quick transportation becomes important in costing control, as reshoring and near-shoring gain currency. While a transition may be easier for large factories, medium and small-scale entities may suffer. Adoption of new technology and automation is closely linked to in-product basket diversity creation too.
On sustainability
•Sustainability is also an important consideration for foreign buyers. Bangladesh’s readymade garments initiated ‘green manufacturing’ practices to help conserve energy, water, and resources. Textile and apparel effluents account for 17%-20% of all water pollution. Many Indian players are focusing on input management over tailpipe management. Sustainable practices such as regenerative organic farming (that focuses on soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness), sustainable manufacturing energy (renewable sources of energy are used) and circularity are being adopted. The Indian government is also committed to promoting sustainability through project sustainable resolution.
•Tax exemptions or reductions in imported technology, accessibility to financial incentives, maintaining political stability and establishing good trade relations are some of the fundamental forms of support the industry needs from governments.
The labour lead
•Access to affordable labour continues to be an advantage for the region. In addition, a country such as India with a very high number of scientists and engineers could lead, as is evident in the areas of drones, AI and blockchain. India’s potential lies in its resources, infrastructure, technology, demographic dividend and policy framework. The creation of a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is indicative of India’s intent. The U.S. trade war on China owing to human rights violations along with its economic bottlenecks, opens doors for India and Pakistan as they have strong production bases. Similar to China, India has a big supply — from raw material to garments. Bangladesh has also risen as a top exporter in a cost competitive global market.
•Bangladesh’s investments in technology in the past decades are an added advantage. On gaining significant knowledge and advanced technologies over the last 30 years, it is in prime position. Bangladesh has envisioned the year 2041 for technological advancement, especially in ICT. Pakistan imported machinery (+77.5%) worth U.S.$504 million by the first half of 2019-2020. India’s proposed investments of US$1.4 billion and the establishment of all-in-one textile parks are expected to increase employment and ease of trade. India extended tax rebates in apparel export till 2024, with the twin goals of competitiveness and policy stability. Labour law reforms, additional incentives, income tax relaxations, duty reductions for man-made fibre, etc. are other notable moves.
A map out
•Cotton product dependency and a focus on only major export destinations may diminish the market scope for South Asia. Diversification with respect to technology, the product basket and the client base are to be noted. Adaptability in meeting the demands of man-made textiles, other complex products and services are also important. Newer approaches in the areas of compliance, transparency, occupational safety, sustainable production, etc. are inevitable changes in store for South Asia to sustain and grow business. Reskilling and upskilling of the labour force should also be a priority for the region to stay aloft in the market. Finally, there is a need for governments’ proactive support in infrastructure, capital, liquidity and incentivisation.
