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The City
The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court has recommended for approval the construction of underground twin tunnels beneath the southern ridge in Delhi, a protected forest area.
The project will involve felling of around 685 trees on non-forest land, and trees in the ridge area are not expected to be affected, according to the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) proposal for the tunnels.
The twin tunnels are expected to be around 4.3-km long, and around 30 m wide. It will cover an area of 5.82 hectares under the southern ridge, which is notified as a reserved forest, and one hectare under what is ‘deemed’ forest, or an area that has not been notified but is recorded as forest. The tunnels will cover a length of around 2.03 km under the ridge.
An official of the forest department said the NHAI would now require clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act even if the proposal does not involve felling trees or disturbing wildlife in the protected forest area.
The Delhi Ridge Management Board has granted its approval for the project, with one of the conditions being that construction will not involve breaking of forest land on the surface.
Editorial
No textbook conspiracy (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
Recently, the alarmist news was circulated that key concepts and segments, notably the theory of evolution and the periodic table, have been dropped from science textbooks by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
The usual suspects took to social media to declare the death of secularism and scientific temper in India. The story received widespread global attention, including from Al-Jazeera, Deutsche Welle and the noted scientific journal Nature.
What was particularly concerning, in this case, was the circulation of unverified information on social media, which was further amplified by mainstream media. From one news outlet to another, the story expanded, sowing disinformation and confusion.
This not only had an adverse impact on the reputation of the NCERT but also created scepticism about the country’s education system.
The government had already been working to dispel the negative image of the country’s education system. No scientific theory is absolute — it can be contested. The latest debates that have questioned Darwin’s theory of evolution need to also be a part of the curriculum.
Govt & Politics
At meet with officers PM stresses capacity building ending silos (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Stating that it is the responsibility of each government official to increase people’s faith in the system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted bureaucrats to break the “shackles of hierarchy” and use the experience of every person in the organisation.
Launching the inaugural ‘National Training Conclave’, Modi emphasised the significance of strengthening expertise, promoting collaboration, and improving service provision.
In his address at the conclave, the Prime Minister “emphasised the importance of aspects like service orientation of government work, ownership in realising the aspirations of common man, need to break hierarchy and using experience of every person in organisation, importance of Jan Bhagidari, the zeal to improve and innovate the system, among other things,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Modi addressed more than 1,500 bureaucrats, drawn from training and research institutes across the country. The event was held at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan.
He later tweeted, “Attended the National Training Conclave today, a part of our efforts to learn and serve better. Highlighted the importance of capacity building, ending silos and enhancing service delivery. We shall keep transforming challenges into opportunities for a New India.”
Like the institution of the Army has built credibility in the eyes of the public, it is the responsibility of all government officials to further increase people’s faith in the government system, Modi told the participants, according to the statement.
Explained
Why the collapse of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam is an ecological disaster (Page no. 17)
The collapse of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam marks an escalation in its war with Russia. While both sides have blamed each other for the blast at the hydroelectric dam in Kherson, which has brought widespread destruction and loss of lives, experts note that the act amounts to a war crime.
Being billed as an ‘ecocide’, the damage from the dam collapse is multifold. Not only are the areas around the Dnipro River inundated with at least 18 feet of water, but the flooding also runs the risk of contaminating freshwater sources and the Black Sea basin and spreading diseases.
The dwindling water level of the Kakhovka reservoir also threatens the agricultural lands of southern Ukraine that depend on the reservoir to feed into the canals used for irrigation.
The damage to a hydroelectric power plant is not only a blow to a renewable energy resource but also adds to the already strained power generation capacity of Ukraine.
Compounding the troubles, concerns have also been raised over the risks to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which relied on the reservoir for cooling its reactor. Breaching required temperatures could have disastrous results.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal pegs the preliminary environmental damage at $1.5 billion. We take a look at the ecological impact of the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, even as the aftermath continues to unfold.
World
China has had a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019: US official (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019, part of a global effort by Beijing to upgrade its intelligence-gathering capabilities, according to a Biden administration official.
The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the U.S. intelligence community has been aware of China's spying from Cuba and a larger effort to set up intelligence-gathering operations around the globe for some time.
The Biden administration has stepped up efforts to thwart the Chinese push to expand its spying operations and believes it has made some progress through diplomacy and other unspecified action, according to the official, who was familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter.
The U.S. intelligence community had determined Chinese spying from Cuba has been an “ongoing” matter and is “not a new development,” the administration official said.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío also refuted the report in a Twitter post Saturday.
Economy
RBI allows compromise settlement with wilful defaulters, fraud accounts (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Wilful defaulters and companies involved in fraud can go for a compromise settlement or technical write-offs by banks and finance companies, as per a circular by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Banks can undertake compromise settlements or technical write-offs regarding accounts categorised as wilful defaulters or fraud without prejudice to the criminal proceedings against such debtors, the RBI said.
The central bank has also directed banks to fix a minimum cooling period of at least 12 months before making fresh exposures to borrowers who had undergone compromise settlements.
This means a wilful defaulter or a company involved in fraud can get new loans after 12 months of executing a compromise settlement.
The cooling period for exposures other than farm credit exposures should be subject to a floor of 12 months. Regulated entities like banks and finance companies are free to stipulate higher cooling periods in terms of their board-approved policies.
Banks had approved several compromise settlements running into hundreds of crores with huge haircuts – or the reduction of outstanding payments or loans that will not be repaid by the borrowers – leading to huge losses for banks.
NHAI aims to build 5,060 km of highway stretches in FY24 (Page no. 19)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The National Highways Authority of India has set a target to construct highway stretches with combined length of 5,060 kilometres in the current financial year, up from a record 4,882 km built last year.
The pace of construction increased by 13% in 2022-23. The target for this year has been set even higher. Similarly, the NHAI aims to award highway projects of 6036 kilometres, up from 6003 km awarded in the previous financial year.
In 2022-23, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) also launched 167 projects with a total length of 5,213 km. In all, 55,000 km of roads are under various stages of execution.
In the first two months of this financial year, the NHAI has constructed 655.31 km of highways and awarded only one project of 22.42 km.
Capital expenditure by the NHAI for the development of the national highway infrastructure touched an all-time high of Rs 1.74 trillion in FY23, significantly more than Rs 1.58 trillion provided by the government. The extra of around Rs 15,000 crore came from project-based financing.