What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What are Millets?
• Status of millets in India
• Where do millet lag?
• Steps taken in India to promote millets
• Way ahead for India
• Conclusion

 

Why in News?

• Recently, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM), a proposal sponsored by the Government of India to promote these "nutri-cereals." 
• The declaration will be helpful to the Government of India in articulating its goal of making IYM 2023 a "People's Movement" as well as presenting India as the "Global Hub for Millets," as India produces one-fifth of the world's millets.

 

What are Millets?

• Millets are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. 
• This crop is favoured due to its productivity and short growing season under dry, high-temperature conditions (hardy and drought-resistant crops).
• Millets are a powerhouse of nutrients, which score over rice and wheat in terms of minerals, vitamins, and dietary fibre content, as well as amino acid profile. 
• Though rich in both iron and zinc, wheat’s protein content comprises glutens, known to trigger gastrointestinal and autoimmune disorders in many people.
• Bajra (pearl millet), on the other hand, has iron, zinc, and protein levels comparable to that of wheat, but it’s gluten-free and has more fibre and which significantly addresses the problem of “hidden hunger.” 

 

Status of millets in India

 

Image Caption: Production of Millets in India

• They were among the first crops to be domesticated in India with several evidence of its consumption during the Indus valley civilization. 
• In India, millets are primarily a kharif crop, requiring less water and agricultural inputs than other similar staples. 
• The main millet-growing states in India are Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh 

 

Where do millets lag?

• Rice and wheat no longer remain aspirational foods. Thanks to the Green Revolution and the National Food Security Act of 2013. 
• Millets are not the first choice either of consumers or of farmers. 
  • For farmers, low per-hectare yields (1 tonne for jowar, 1.5 for bajra and 1.7 for ragi, as against 3.5 tonnes for wheat and 4 tonnes for paddy) are a disincentive. 
  • Also, access to assured irrigation, made farmers switch to rice, wheat, sugarcane, or cotton.
  • For consumers, the gluten proteins make the wheat dough more cohesive and elastic and the resultant breads come out light and fluffy, which isn’t the case with bajra or jowar.

 

Steps taken in India to promote millets

• Pusa-1201: A hybrid bajra that gives an average grain yield of over 2.8 tonnes and potential of 4.5 tonnes per hectare. 
  • It matures in 78-80 days and is resistant to downy mildew and blast, both deadly fungal diseases. 
• Recognising the enormous potential of Millets, which also aligns with several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Government of India (in 2018), 
  • Rebranded Millets as “Nutri Cereals” 
  • Declared 2018 as the National Year of Millets, aiming at larger promotion and demand generation

 

Way ahead for India

• Millets could be made a staple part of children’s diets:
  • Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman and Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 can be better leveraged by making them more millet-focused.
  • Besides midday meals, millets could be served in the form of ready-to-eat foods such as cookies, laddu, etc.
• Minimum support price (MSP) procurement of millets should be part of a decentralised nutritional programme specifically targeting tomorrow’s citizens.
• The push to distribute coarse grains under the public distribution system (PDS) has to gain momentum. 
• Best practice: Odisha already has a dedicated millet mission that undertook procurement of 32,302 tonnes worth Rs 109.08 crore, mainly of ragi, in 2021-22. 

 

Conclusion

• A combination of government finance and decentralised procurement connected to nutrition goals, specifically the eradication of hidden hunger among school-age children, has the potential to do for millets what the Food Corporation of India has done for rice and wheat.

 

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Source: The International Year of Millets: How India’s govt can promote the cereals in 2023  |  PIB

 

What’s in today’s article? 

• Why in News?  
• Background (About the study published in Science.org) 
• What is a Polar Vortex?
• What are the major findings of the Study?

   

Why in news?  

• A deadly blizzard (snowstorm) has gripped the United States & Canada, leading to multiple deaths and complete disruption of normal life. 
• Scientists have once again started to discuss if the rising temperatures of the Arctic are responsible for extreme cold conditions in some of the areas of the Northern Hemisphere.  

 

Background    

• Recently, a study was published in Science.org, revealing that the rapid warming of the Arctic might be allowing frigid air in the region to move southward more frequently than ever before. 
• However, scientists said they need more data to arrive at a consensus about the claim.
• The study largely focused on something called the polar vortex, which is a mass of cold, low-pressure air that consistently hovers over the Arctic region.

 

What is a Polar Vortex?

 

Image Caption: Polar Vortex Phenomenon

• The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the Earth’s poles. 
• It ALWAYS exists near the poles, but weakens in summer and strengthens in winter. 
• The term "vortex" refers to the anti-clockwise flow of air that helps keep the colder air near the Poles. 
• Many times, during winter in the northern hemisphere, the polar vortex will expand, sending cold air southward with the jet stream. 
  • Jet stream is the area of fast-moving air high in the atmosphere that surrounds the polar vortex.
• This occurs fairly regularly during wintertime and is often associated with large outbreaks of Arctic air in the United States & Canada.
• Portions of Europe and Asia also experience cold surges connected to the polar vortex.

 

Is it a new climatic phenomenon?

• Polar vortexes are not something new. 
• The term “polar vortex” has only recently been popularized, bringing attention to a weather feature that has always been present.
• By itself, the only danger to humans is the magnitude of how cold temperatures will get when the polar vortex expands, sending Arctic air southward into areas that are not typically that cold.

 

What are the major Findings of the Study? 

• In the study published in the Science.org, the researchers found that the expansion of the polar vortex has been occurring more than twice as often in recent years and the reason for it is the rapidly warming Arctic.
• With the help of observational analysis and numerical modelling, the study came to the following conclusion. 
  • The melting sea ice in Barents and Kara seas north of Russia and Scandinavia and increasing Siberian snowfall create larger and more energetic atmospheric waves.
• These waves ultimately stretch the polar vortex, causing extreme winter weather in the US and other places.

 

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Q1) What causes a polar vortex? 

The waxing and waning of the polar vortex is driven by the movement of mass and the transfer of heat in the polar region. In the autumn, the circumpolar winds increase in speed and the polar vortex rises into the stratosphere. The result is that the polar air forms a coherent rotating air mass: the polar vortex.

 

Q2) How is polar vortex related to climate change? 

While the polar vortex is well documented, its behavior has become more extreme as a result of climate change. Warming of the Earth has led to the loss of Arctic sea ice, transforming a highly reflective icy surface to a dark absorptive surface.

 

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Source: Rapidly warming Arctic linked to extreme cold weather in the US: What a new study says  |  Indian Express  |  Weather.gov

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• What Is the Eurozone?
• What are the requirements for joining the eurozone?
• What is Schengen area?
• News Summary

 

Why in news?

• Croatia adopted the European Union’s common currency, the euro, and joined the Schengen Area, Europe’s visa-free travel area, on January 1.
• With this, Croatia became the fully integrated member of EU. The country had joined the EU in 2013. 
  • It was the last time a country was admitted as a new member nation of EU.

 

What Is the Eurozone?

• All European Union Member States are part of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and coordinate their economic policy-making to support the economic aims of the EU.
• However, a number of Member States have taken a step further by replacing their national currencies with the single currency – the euro.
• These Member States form the euro area, also known as eurozone.
• In other words, it is a geographic and economic region that consists of all the European Union countries that have fully incorporated the euro as their national currency.
• As of January 2023, the eurozone consists of 20 countries in the European Union (EU): 
  • Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

 

What are the requirements for joining the eurozone?

• In order to join the eurozone and use the euro as their currency, EU nations must meet certain criteria consisting of four macroeconomic indicators that focus on: 
  • Price stability.
  • Sound and sustainable public finances.
  • The durability of convergence.
  • Exchange rate stability

 

What is Schengen area?

• Schengen Area signifies a zone where 27 European countries, abolished their internal borders, for the free and unrestricted movement of people.
  • Croatia became the 27^th nation in the passport free Schengen zone.
• Member of this area include: 23 of the 27 EU member states and all members of the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
• Being part of this area means that countries:
  • do not carry out checks at their internal borders, except in cases of specific threats;
  • carry out harmonised controls at their external borders, based on clearly defined criteria.

 

News Summary

• On January 1, 2023, Croatia switched to the shared European currency, the euro, and removed dozens of border checkpoints to join the world’s largest passport-free travel area.

 

How will this move help Croatia?

• Joining Europe's ID-check-free Schengen zone means Croats will now be able to roam its 27 member countries without passports for work or leisure.
• Adopting the euro will offer Croatia the benefits stemming from deeper financial ties with the currency’s 19 other users and with the European Central Bank. 
• It will also make traveling and doing business easier, removing the hassle of currency exchange for Croats going abroad and for tens of thousands of tourists.
• Experts also believe that the adoption of the euro will help protect Croatia’s economy at a time when inflation has been soaring globally due to Russia-Ukraine war.
• It will also provide a boost to tourism industry, which accounts for 20% of the country’s GDP.

 

What are the challenges?

• The country is entering the eurozone at a time when the bloc itself is in turmoil as the European Central Bank (ECB) tries to tame inflation.
• Before this, ECB was busy in rekindling the growth which was exceptionally low following the 2008 financial crisis.
• Also, Croatia will have to apply strict border control on its eastern frontier with non-EU neighbours. 
• The fight against illegal migration remains the key challenge in guarding the EU’s longest external land border at 1350 km.

 

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Q1) What is eurozone?

Eurozone is a geographic and economic region that consists of all the European Union countries that have fully incorporated the euro as their national currency.

 

Q2) What is Schengen area?

Schengen Area signifies a zone where 27 European countries, abolished their internal borders, for the free and unrestricted movement of people.

 

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Source: Croatia rings in New Year as fully integrated EU member  |  European Council of the European Union  |  European Commission

 

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• What is the importance of Koregaon Bhima?
• What happened in Battle of 1818?
• What is Koregaon Pillar (Jaystambh)?
• What is the significance of the battle of 1818?
• What happened at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018?

 

Why in news?

• The 205^th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima was celebrated at the Jaystambh in Pune’s Perne village amidst heavy police deployment.

 

What is the importance of Koregaon Bhima?

• A small village in Pune district of Maharashtra, Bhima-Koregaon is associated with an important phase of Maratha history.
• The people of Dalit communities gather in Bhima Koregaon on 1 January every year to pay tribute to the Dalit heroes who died in the war between the British and the Peshwas on 1 January 1818. 
• The Peshwas were defeated in this battle of Bhima Koregaon.

 

What happened in Battle of 1818?  

• The battle of Bhima Koregaon was fought on January 1, 1818, between Peshwa Bajirao II and British army commanded by Captain FF Staunton of the East India Company.
  • The battle was a part of the Third Anglo-Maratha War.
• The British army was largely dominated by Mahars - the most populous of the Dalit sub-castes in Maharashtra.
• The Dalit-dominated British Army had defeated a Peshwa army, led by Peshwa Bajirao II, in Koregaon.
• It resulted in losses to the Maratha empire, then under Peshwa rule, and control over most of western, central and southern India by the British East India Company.

 

What is Koregaon Pillar (Jaystambh)?  

• In the memory of Battle, the British built squared-pillar to pay homage to the martyr soldiers, which is popularly known as ‘Koregaon Pillar’.
• The pillar symbolises the courage of Mahar Regiment.
• The names of the martyred soldiers were engraved on the pillars and soldiers were honoured with a medal by the British in 1851.

 

 What is the significance of the battle of 1818?  

• Mahar relates this battle to their self-respect because they were insulted by the Peshwa Baji Rao II on their identity and caste when they offered their services to the Peshwa.
• Many historians have termed this incident as the first historic step towards making India free of caste, which happened almost two hundred years ago.
• After Dr. Ambedkar visited the site on January 1, 1927, it became a place of pilgrimage for Dalits, an assertion of pride. In recent years, attendance has been in the lakhs, with Dalits coming from all over India.

 

What happened at Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018?

• 2018 marked the 200th year of battle and hence there was a larger gathering at Bhima Koregaon as compared to previous years. 
• During the celebrations there were violent clashes between Dalit and Maratha groups, resulting in the death of at least one person and injuries to several others.

 

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Q1) Who won the Bhima Koregaon Battle?

The Dalit-dominated British Army had defeated a Peshwa army, led by Peshwa Bajirao II, in Koregaon.It resulted in losses to the Maratha empire, then under Peshwa rule, and control over most of western, central and southern India by the British East India Company.

 

Q2) What happened in 2018 clash at Bhima Koregaon?

2018 marked the 200th year of battle and hence there was a larger gathering at Bhima Koregaon as compared to previous years. During the celebrations there were violent clashes between Dalit and Maratha groups, resulting in the death of at least one person and injuries to several others.

 

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Source: 

Bhima-Koregaon battle anniversary passes peacefully amid heavy security with lakhs in attendance  |  Jagaranjosh  |  Business-Standard