No foreign dignitary as chief guest at Republic Day event_nbsp;
GS-3
RP2041 can spell doom for Aravalis, fear environmentalists
Dip in eastern swamp deer numbers
No word from PMO on SilverLine project
Miss Kerala not endangered: aquarists
India’s oil production continues to decline
What Vladimir Putin really wants
Catherine the Great, the 18th century Empress Regnant of Russia, once famously said, “I have no way to defend my borders but to extend them.” Under her reign, the empire continued to grow, encompassing New Russia (the region north of the Black Sea, now part of Ukraine), Crimea, the Caucasus, Belarus and the Baltic region.
Next leaders too applied the same Philosophy like Joseph Stalin, who defeated the Nazis and expanded the Soviet boundaries, to Vladimir Putin, who annexed Crimea in 2014 and has now mobilised some 100,000 troops on the Ukraine border.
Russia, the world’s largest country by land mass, lacks natural borders except the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Pacific in the far east. Its vast land borders stretch from northern Europe to Central and north east Asia. The country’s heartland that runs from St. Petersburg through Moscow to the Volga region lies on plains and is vulnerable to attacks.
There are practically no natural barriers that stop an invading army from its western borders (Europe) reaching the Russian heartland. In the last two centuries, Russia saw two devastating invasions from the west — the 1812 attack by Napoleonic France and the 1941 attack by Nazi Germany. Russia defeated them both, but after suffering huge material and human losses.
After the Second World War, Russia re-established its control over the rim land in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which it hoped would protect its heartland. But the disintegration of the Soviet Union threw its security calculations into disarray, deepening its historical insecurity.
This insecurity is the source of what historian Stephen Kotkin calls the “defensive aggressiveness” of Russian President Putin.
Insight in Gist:_nbsp;
Russia is a vast country with no natural borders except for two sides, has had multiple invasions on its territory and so the natural mindset through ages is can’t defend so expand._nbsp;_nbsp;
Now the question comes, Defend from whom?_nbsp;
NATO comes into play here.
NATO’s endless expansion
When the Soviet Union collapsed, which Mr. Putin termed “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”, Russia lost over three million square kilometres of sovereign territory.
The entire rim land was gone, and the heartland lay vulnerable to future threats. In the last months of the Soviet Union, to calm the nerves of a badly hurt but still breathing Russian bear, the West promised that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would not “expand an inch to the east”.
The United States and the United Kingdom repeated the pledge after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But despite the promises, NATO continued expansion. In March 1999, in the first enlargement since the end of the Cold War, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (all were members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact) joined NATO. Five years later, seven more countries — including the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all of which share borders with Russia — were taken into the alliance. Russia saw this as a direct challenge to its security. If in the early 1990s, NATO’s border with Russia was limited to the northern strip of Norway, now, the distance from NATO’s Estonian border to St. Petersburg, the second most populous city in Russia that was the Tsarist capital, is less than 160 kilometres.
Russia felt threatened but was not able to respond. For Mr. Putin, who inherited a weak state with a crumbling economy and a directionless foreign policy in 2000, the first job was to fix the state.
But in 2008, when the U.S. promised membership to Georgia and Ukraine in the Bucharest summit, Russia, which was coming out of the post-Soviet retreat, responded forcefully.
For the Kremlin, both Ukraine and Georgia are critical for its national security calculations. The distance from the Ukrainian border to Moscow is less than 500 kilometres. NATO has already come close to St. Petersburg. And if Ukraine joins the alliance, the heartland would come further under threat.
Moreover, take a look at the Black Sea, which traditional Russian rulers saw as a Russian lake. Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania, all Black Sea basin countries, are NATO members. Ukraine and Georgia are the other countries that share the Black Sea coast, besides Russia.
Russia was already feeling squeezed on the Black Sea front, its gateway to the Mediterranean Sea. If Ukraine and Georgia also join NATO, Russia fears that its dominance over the Black Sea would come to an end. So, in 2008, Mr. Putin sent troops to Georgia over the separatist conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia; and in 2014, when the Kremlin-friendly regime of Ukraine was toppled by pro-western protesters, he moved to annex the Crimean Peninsula, expanding Russia’s Black Sea coast, thereby protecting its fleet based in Sevastopol in Crimea. That was the loudest statement from Mr. Putin that Russia was ready to take unconventional measures to stop further NATO expansion into its backyard.
Insight:
Note: Note down names of countries surrounding the Baltic Sea.
The Black Sea is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine
Restoring the rim land (Outside borders basically)
In recent years, Mr. Putin has tried to turn every crisis in the former Soviet region into a geopolitical opportunity for Russia. South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the self-proclaimed republics that broke away from Georgia, are controlled by Russia-backed forces.
In Ukraine, the eastern Donbas region is in the hands of pro-Russian rebels. In 2020, when protests erupted in Belarus after a controversial presidential election, Mr. Putin sent assistance to the country to restore order.
In the same year, Russia sent thousands of “peacekeepers” to end the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, re-establishing its strategic dominance in the Caucasus.
Earlier this year, Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, with Mr. Putin’s backing, manufactured a migrant crisis on the Polish border of the European Union.
And this month (January 2022), when violent unrest broke out in Kazakhstan, the largest and wealthiest country in Central Asia, its leader turned to Russia for help and a willing Mr. Putin immediately dispatched troops (under the banner of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO) to quell the protests.
So how does Russia have so much Influence?
The geopolitical realities of the present also favour Russia. The U.S.’s ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan has left the Central Asian republics deeper in the Russian embrace. While Europe is vocal in its rhetorical opposition to Russia’s aggressive moves, it is very much dependent on Russian gas, which limits its response. Moreover, the West’s inability to inflict any serious damage on Russia over its Crimea annexation appears to have emboldened Mr. Putin further.
Defensive aggression
For years, the West, the winner of the Cold War, discounted Mr. Putin as a thuggish tactician who does not understand strategy. Mr. Biden called him a “killer” after taking office last year.
But when the West’s response to Russia was lost in what academic Walter Russell Mead called “a narcissistic fog of grandiose pomposity”, Mr. Putin was steadily rebuilding the lost Russian influence in the rim land.
By destabilising Georgia and Ukraine and re-establishing Russia’s hold in Belarus, Caucasus and Central Asia, Moscow has effectively stalled NATO’s further expansion into its backyard. The West cannot ignore him anymore. Rather, it faces an urgent question of how to deter him as Russia is preparing for its next act on Ukraine.
Having failed to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, NATO is unlikely to pick a war with Russia over Ukraine. The Kremlin also knows this. One weapon that is readily available to western policymakers is more economic sanctions. But Mr. Putin, who has already deepened Russia’s ties with China, a Cold War rival, to balance against the West’s economic coercion, seems to be ready to pay the economic price, whatever little it is, to meet his strategic goals. This sets the stage for a perpetual crisis in the Russian rim land. Unless the West re-establishes its deterrence, Mr. Putin’s defensive aggression would continue.
Gist: Russian aggression is basically defensive insecurity, based upon geographical and geopolitical happening. It has deepened ties with China and Other Central Asian countries and is not afraid of Economic sanctions or such actions from west. It may or may not attack Ukraine but for the now the border standoff will continue unless NATO gives a Russia acceptable statement.
What else to read?
Cold War
USSR
World War II
2014 Crimean Annexation
NATO expansion
No foreign dignitary as chief guest at Republic Day event
(Focus on Highlighted Part)_nbsp;
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host a meeting with five Central Asian leaders virtually next week.
Insight:
(No real meetings. Possibly because of recent Kazakhstan Incidents)
An official also confirmed that there will be no foreign dignitary as chief guest during the events around January 26.
The MEA had not officially confirmed their presence, but sources said the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan had in December accepted an invitation to jointly attend the parade and Republic Day reception.
They were due to also participate in the first India-Central Asia summit meeting during their visit to Delhi.
Sources said proposals to this effect had been sent out to Presidents
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (Kazakhstan)
Sadyr Japarov (Kyrgyzstan)
Emomali Rahmon (Tajikistan)
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov (Turkmenistan)
Shavkat Mirziyoyev (Uzbekistan)
suggesting changing the summit to the virtual format.
No guest for the second time in a row
This is the second year in a row the government has had to cancel invitations to chief guests due to the COVID-19 pandemic after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was unable to attend the celebrations in 2021.
In 2020, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was the chief guest.
In 2018, the entire Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leadership comprising 10 heads of states were present at the Republic Day parade.
RP2041 can spell doom for Aravalis, fear environmentalists
Large chunks of forests and the Aravalis in Gurugram and Faridabad could lose protection from construction under the National Conservation Zone as defined in the Regional Plan-2021, if the provisions in the Draft Regional Plan-2041 are implemented, fear environmentalists, urban planners and analysts.
What is a Natural Zone
According to the DRP- 2041, the ‘Natural Zone’ (NZ) “is a zone comprising any natural features such as mountains, hills, rivers, water bodies created by the action of nature.” In the previous Plan, this was defined as the Natural Conservation Zone (NCZ). In the new draft, the definition of the natural features has been tweaked and restricted to only those that are notified under certain acts and recognised in land records.
Insight: So basically, definition has changed and it delists some zones which were previously protected
Environmentalists are worried that this new definition would expel large sections of the forest land in Gurugram and Faridabad out of the ambit of protected zone for not meeting the criteria proposed in DRP.
Most Aravali hill areas in Haryana are not notified but find a mention in the revenue records as ‘gair mumkin pahar’(uncultivable wasteland), and ‘bhood’ (sandy foothills), while the forest cover is neither notified nor mentioned as forest in the revenue record.
_nbsp;Also, it is not clear whether rivers such as the Yamuna and Hindon, are notified and included in revenue records. Environmentalist Chetan Agarwal told The Hindu, such restrictive eligibility criterion would lead to the exclusion ofnatural features from the Natural Zone to the detriment of the region’s biodiversity. “This is in total contradiction to the objective of the Regional Plan and the National Capital Region Planning Board Act,” he said.
Floodplains excluded
The RP-2021 included rivers such as Yamuna, Ganga, Kali, Hindon and Sahibi; their tributaries, flood plains and flood prone areas in the NCZ but the draft RP-2041 excluded tributaries and flood plains from the newly defined NZ. The rivers, the tributaries and their flood plains are crucial for the water security and protection of the riverine floodplain habitat, which in turn is critical for protection of riverine biodiversity.
The environmentalists want the RP-2041 to declare the 500 metres Mangar Bani sacred grove hill in Faridabadas “No construction” zone for its wildlife presence. Located on a narrow ridge, it is part of an important inter-state wildlife corridor with animals including leopards, hyenas, and foxes moving between the Asola Wildlife Sanctuary in Delhi and Damdama lake catchment area in Gurgaon.
Another point of worry
Yet another point of worry is Section 6.3.3 of DRP-2041 which seeks “the interlinking of all green trails of the Aravali range and river Yamuna running in the region to become a part of integrated cycle trails and drive corridors in the region”.
It is feared that the provision of ‘drive corridors’ in the Aravalis will lead to motorised traffic and adversely impact the wildlife habitat. It could also open up the proposed construction of a road cutting through the Bio-Diversity Park in Gurugram, which the citizens are opposing.
Dip in eastern swamp deer numbers
The population of the vulnerable eastern swamp deer, extinct elsewhere in South Asia, has dipped in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.
Officials attributed the decrease from 907 individuals in 2018 to 868 during the Eastern Swamp Deer Estimation on January 10 and 11 to two high floods in 2019 and 2020. On the brighter side, they said the animal is now distributed to areas beyond the park known as the world’s best address of the one-horned rhinoceros.
“The eastern swamp deer is endemic to Kaziranga and is not the primary prey of the park’s carnivores, primarily the tiger.
But its population is crucial for the ecological health of the tiger reserve and the encouraging sign is the animal has now moved to other areas such as Orang National Park and Laokhowa-Burachapori wildlife sanctuaries.
No word from PMO on SilverLine project
Political News don’t focus much, just keep in mind that centre has not yet approved
Amid mounting protests from Opposition parties and organisations in Kerala, the BJP-led government at the Centre is weighing its options before giving a green signal to the SilverLine project of the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (K-Rail).
While the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front government is aggressively pushing the proposed ?63,941 crore semi-high speed rail project, the Prime Minister’s Office ( PMO) has still not favourably responded to the ambitious initiative in Kerala.
Miss Kerala not endangered: aquarists
A section of aquarists and ornamental fish breeders are surprised that the Denison barb (Miss Kerala), a native freshwater fish species commonly found in parts of Karnataka and Kerala, has been included in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December last.
‘A ban, literally’
He says the scientific name Puntius denisonii, given against the common name Denison barb, is wrong; it should have been Sahyadria denisonii. Even then, the species is found in the States of Kerala and Karnataka. He doubts whether the species can be considered endangered based on the available data. “Inclusion in Schedule I is literally a ban. It is like how you cannot keep a tiger at home,” he argues.
Ornamental fish breeder and exporter Nikhil Sood of Bengaluru contends that the trade of ornamental fish is being vilified unnecessarily, though it has contributed immensely to the discovery of many species of native fish over the past 25 years. Denisonii itself is a re-discovery because of the ornamental aquatic trade.
“This campaign to ban Sahyadria denisonii is old and sadly outdated. This rule would have been applicable around 10-12 years ago when the fish was discovered,” Mr. Sood says. Sahyadria denisonii is found in almost 11 rivers of Kerala and Karnataka with some of the highest endemic aquatic fauna in the country.
The income from the collection of denisonii for the ornamental fish trade acts as an incentive for fishermen to protect habitats, he contends.
“It would have been preferable to better regulate the trade in wild collected fishes and promote captive bred fish perhaps by including the species in Schedule IV instead of Schedule I.”
Various Schedules of WPA 1972
The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 has divided the protection status of various plants and animals under the following six schedules:
Schedule I:
It covers endangered species that need rigorous protection. The species are granted protection from poaching, killing, trading etc.
A person is liable to the harshest penalties for violation of the law under this Schedule.
Species under this Schedule are prohibited to be hunted throughout India, except under threat to human life or in case of a disease that is beyond recovery.
Some of the animals granted protection under the Schedule I include:
The Black Buck
Bengal Tiger
Clouded Leopard
Snow Leopard
Swamp Deer
Himalayan Bear
Asiatic Cheetah
Kashmiri Stag
Fishing Cat
Lion-tailed Macaque
Musk Deer
Rhinoceros
Brow Antlered Deer
Chinkara (Indian Gazelle)
Capped Langur
Golden Langur
Hoolock Gibbon
Schedule II:
Animals under this list are also accorded high protection with the prohibition on their trade.
They cannot be hunted except under threat to human life or if they are suffering from a disease/ disorder that goes beyond recovery.
Some of the animals listed under Schedule II include:
Species that are not endangered are included under Schedule III and IV.
This includes protected species with hunting prohibited but the penalty for any violation is less compared to the first two schedules.
Animals protected under Schedule III include:
Chital (spotted deer)
Bharal (blue sheep)
Hyena
Nilgai
Sambhar (deer)
Sponges
Animals protected under Schedule IV include:
Flamingo
Hares
Falcons
Kingfishers
Magpie
Horseshoes Crabs
Schedule V:
This schedule contains animals that are considered as vermin (small wild animals that carry disease and destroy plants and food). These animals can be hunted.
It includes only four species of wild animals:
Common Crows
Fruit Bats
Rats
Mice
Schedule VI:
It provides for regulation in cultivation of a specified plant and restricts its possession, sale and transportation.
Both cultivation and trade of specified plants can only be carried out with prior permission of competent authority.
Plants protected under Schedule VI include:
Beddomes’ cycad (Native to India)
Blue Vanda (Blue Orchid)
Red Vanda (Red Orchid)
Kuth (Saussurea lappa)
Slipper orchids (Paphiopedilum spp.)
Pitcher plant (Nepenthes khasiana)
India’s oil production continues to decline
India’s production of crude oil, which is refined to produce petrol and diesel, continued to decline in December, with lower output from the State-owned ONGC leading to an almost 2% drop, official data showed on Wednesday.
Oil production in December was 2.51 million tonnes, down from 2.55 million tonnes a year earlier and a target of 2.6 million tonnes. The output was, however, higher than 2.43 million tonnes produced in November 2021.
ONGC, India’s biggest producer, produced 3% less crude oil at 1.65 million tonnes in December due to delays in mobilising equipment at western offshore fields. Oil India Ltd. (OIL) produced 5.4% more crude oil at 2,54,360 tonnes.
India is 85% reliant on imports to meet its crude oil needs as domestic output is insufficient to meet the demand. Natural gas production, however, rose by almost a fifth to 2.89 billion cubic metre (bcm) in December 2021.
