Army Project Udbhav to rediscover Indic heritage of statecraft from ancient texts (GS Paper 3, Defence)
Why in news?
- The Indian Army has started an initiative, named Project Udbhav.
- It aims to rediscover the “profound Indic heritage of statecraft and strategic thoughts” derived from ancient Indian texts of “statecraft, warcraft, diplomacy and grand strategy” in collaboration with the United Service Institution of India (USI), a defence think-tank.
Military Heritage Festival:
- In connection with this, USI will conduct a Military Heritage Festival on October 21 and 22, to acquaint future thought leaders with the dynamics of comprehensive national security with special emphasis on India’s strategic culture, military heritage, education, modernisation of security forces and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Key Highlights:
- The project endeavours to explore India’s rich historical narratives in the realms of statecraft and strategic thoughts.
- It focuses on a broad spectrum including indigenous military systems, historical texts, regional texts and kingdoms, thematic studies, and intricate Kautilya Studies.
- The initiative stands testimony to the Army’s recognition of India’s age-old wisdom in statecraft, strategy, diplomacy, and warfare. It seeks to bridge the historical and the contemporary.
- The aim of Project Udbhav is not limited to just rediscovering these narratives, but also to develop an “indigenous strategic vocabulary”.
Way Forward:
- The overall aim is to integrate age-old wisdom with modern military pedagogy.
Chennai top node in tortoise trafficking network
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- Chennai is the highest-ranked node in the tortoise and hard-shell turtle trafficking network, fuelling the global pet trade, a new study has found.
Details:
- Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, Agra, and North 24 Parganas and Howrah in West Bengal also rank high.
- The trafficking of soft-shell turtles for meat was predominantly domestic in nature, with the international trafficking of the reptile from or to India almost restricted to Bangladesh.
Key Findings:
- The researchers conducted a systematic online search for media reports on seizures of tortoises and freshwater turtles originating from India from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2019.
- The identified nodes in the network represented districts (for locations within India) or cities (for locations outside India), and each link represented a trafficking connection between the nodes.
- Chennai was identified as the most central node in the tortoise/hard-shell turtle trafficking network. Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Bangkok (Thailand), and unspecified districts in Bangladesh were identified as the most important importing nodes.
Asian turtle crisis:
- “Asian turtle crisis” is a term often used to describe the current state of tortoises and freshwater turtles (TFTs) on the largest continent on earth.
- Wild populations of TFTs have suffered immensely due to the onslaught of habitat destruction and illegal and unsustainable harvest, the researchers said.
- The TFTs are under tremendous pressure from illegal trade, as pets, food, and medicines across the world. In India, at least 15 of the 30 TFT species, including those threatened by extinction, are illegally traded. Tens of thousands of TFTs are seized across India annually by law enforcement agencies.
- The study was aimed at examining the similarities and differences in the operation of illegal trade in tortoises and freshwater turtles that are in demand for different illegal markets, towards designing targeted interventions.
