Syllabus:

• Prelims & Mains – POLITY

Context: Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that delimitation will not lose any Parliamentary seat to the Southern states. The statement came after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin Tuesday announced an all-party meeting to discuss the issue of delimitation.

Background: –

• In Independent India’s history, delimitation has taken place four times – 1952, 1963, 1973, and 2002.

Key takeaways

• The Election Commission defines delimitation as the process of drawing constituency boundaries for elected bodies based on the population in the most recent Census. 
• Article 82 of the Constitution states that after every Census is completed, the allocation of Lok Sabha seats to each state must be adjusted based on population changes.
• Article 81 states there can be no more than 550 members in the Lok Sabha – 530 from states and 20 from Union Territories. It also says that “the ratio between (the number of seats) and the population of the state is, so far as practicable, the same for all states”. So, each constituency across the country should ideally have the same population.
• The Constitution has provided for an independent Delimitation Commission to reapportion seats among states. The Commission is appointed by the President of India and comprises a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a high court, the Chief Election Commissioner, and the State Election Commissioner.
• The Commission examines the changes in the population to redraw the constituencies or redraw a new one where it is necessary. The draft report is published in the Gazette which is open for feedback. The final report is published after accounting for the public feedback. 
• Once published, the Commission’s orders are final and, as per the Delimitation Commission Act 1952 and Article 329A of the Constitution, has the “full force of law and shall not be called into question in any court”.
• The required amendment in the Constitution for the implementation of delimitation process includes changes to Article 81 (which defines the composition of the Lok Sabha), Article 170 (composition of Legislative Assemblies), Article 82, Article 55 (deals with the presidential election process for which value of each vote in the electoral college is decided on the population basis), Articles 330 and 332 (covering reservation of seats for the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies, respectively).

Changes in the composition of Lok Sabha as a result of delimitation

• Delimitation has taken place four times – 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002, with the number of seats fixed and readjusted during the first three exercises.
• The number of seats in the Lok Sabha based on the 1951, 1961 and 1971 Census was fixed at 494, 522 and 543, when the population was 36.1, 43.9 and 54.8 crore respectively. This broadly translated to an average population of 7.3, 8.4 and 10.1 lakh per seat respectively.
• In 1976, the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution froze the number of Lok Sabha seats and put off delimitation for 25 years until the 2001 Census under Article 82. 
• The Indira Gandhi-led government said it did not want to punish states with effective population control measures, as their representation in the Lok Sabha would fall compared to states with high populations.
• In 2002, another amendment was made under the Vajpayee-led government. This 84th Amendment further delayed delimitation for another 25 years. Though constituency boundaries were redrawn to account for changes in population according to the 2001 Census, the total number of Lok Sabha seats and the number of seats allotted to each state remained unchanged.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus:

• Prelims & Mains -CURRENT EVENT

Context: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the Time Use Survey (TUS) for 2024.

Background: –

• Time Use Survey (TUS) measures time dispositions by the population on different activities. The primary objective of the Survey is to measure the participation of men and women in paid and unpaid activities.

Key takeaways

• During 2024, 75 percent of the males and 25 per cent of the females in the age group 15-59 years, participated in employment and related activities during the reference period of 24 hours. Such participation was 70.9 percent for males and 21.8 percent for females in the age group 15-59 years during 2019.
• Female participants aged 15-59 years in unpaid domestic services spent about 315 minutes during 2019 in those activities, which has come down to 305 minutes during 2024 signifying the shift from unpaid to paid activities.
• 41 per cent of females aged 15-59 years participated in caregiving for their household members, male participation in this age group in such caregiving was 21.4 per cent. 
• Also, female participants in caregiving activities spent about 140 minutes in a day, compared to 74 minutes spent by male participants aged 15-59 years. This corroborates the Indian social fabric wherein most of the caregiving responsibilities for household members are borne by the females of the household.
• 24.6 per cent of the rural population aged 15-59 years participated in producing goods for own final use and they spent 121 minutes a day doing such activities.
• 89.3 per cent of children aged 6-14 years participated in learning activities and they spent around 413 minutes in a day for such activities.
• People aged 6 years and above spent 11 per cent of their days’ time in culture, leisure, mass media and sports practices during 2024, compared to 9.9 per cent of the days’ time spent during 2019.
• 708 minutes in a day was spent on self-care and maintenance activities by persons aged 6 years and above. Females of this age group spent 706 minutes while males spent 710 minutes in such activities.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus:

• Prelims – SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Context: Over 14,000 new samples of food crop seeds are being added this week to a “doomsday” vault located on an island in Svalbard, Norway.

Background:

• These seeds are part of an effort launched in 2008 to back up thousands of the planet’s essential plant species, ensuring a biodiverse future food supply. 

Key takeaways

• The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (also known as the Doomsday Vault) is a secure seed bank located on the Svalbard archipelago, Norway. It serves as a global backup facility for preserving the genetic diversity of the world’s crops, ensuring food security in case of natural or man-made disasters.
• Situated inside a mountain on Spitsbergen Island in the Arctic Circle (Norway).
• Chosen for its geopolitical stability, low seismic activity, and permafrost, which ensures natural preservation of seeds.
• The permafrost acts as a natural refrigerator, keeping the seeds viable for hundreds of years.
• The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is owned by Norway and managed in partnership between the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the regional genebank NordGen and the Crop Trust. 
• Purpose and Objectives – 
  • To safeguard global food security in case of:
    • Climate change
    • Natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, etc.)
    • War and conflicts
    • Biodiversity loss
  • To store duplicates of seeds from national, regional, and international gene banks.
  • To prevent the extinction of plant species essential for agriculture and food production.
• The vault can store 4.5 million seed samples, with a current storage of over 1.2 million seed varieties from over 100 countries.
• Seeds are stored in sealed three-layered foil packets inside temperature-controlled chambers at –18°C.

Source: IFLSCIENCE

Syllabus:

• Prelims & Mains – CURRENT EVENT

Context: Accredited Social Activists (ASHA) from across Kerala congregated in front of the Kerala Secretariat in a show of strength, demanding that they be paid a decent honorarium and incentive for the stellar work they were doing for the Health department at the grassroots.

Background: –

• ASHAs have been on agitation in front of the Secretariat since the past 11 days, demanding the pending payment of their meagre honorarium and incentives and also bringing into public focus the fact that they were an underpaid and overworked workforce of the Health department.

Key takeaways

• Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) are community health workers instituted by the Government of India in 2005 under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). 
• They serve as a crucial link between the healthcare system and rural populations, aiming to improve health outcomes by promoting access to healthcare services.

Selection and Training:

• Selection Process: ASHAs are selected through a rigorous process involving community groups, self-help groups, Anganwadi institutions, and local health officials. The selection emphasizes community involvement to ensure that ASHAs are trusted and effective in their roles.
• Training: Once selected, ASHAs undergo continuous capacity building through a series of training sessions designed to equip them with the necessary knowledge, skills, and confidence to perform their roles effectively.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Health Education and Awareness: Educate the community on health issues such as maternal and child health, nutrition, sanitation, and immunization.
• Maternal and Child Health:
  • Encourage institutional deliveries and assist pregnant women in accessing antenatal and postnatal care.
  • Ensure immunization of children and pregnant women.
  • Provide basic care for newborns and counsel mothers on breastfeeding and nutrition.
• Family Planning and Reproductive Health:
  • Distribute contraceptives and provide information on family planning methods.
  • Counsel women and couples on reproductive health.
• Disease Prevention and Control:
  • Facilitate the detection and management of infectious diseases like tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and HIV/AIDS.
  • Support national health programs.
• Community Mobilization: Mobilize the community to participate in health programs and utilize healthcare services.
• Record Keeping and Reporting: Maintain records of health-related activities and disease outbreaks in their area.

Impact and Recognition:

• Scale: As of recent estimates, there are nearly one million ASHAs working across India, making it one of the largest community health worker programs globally.
• Global Recognition: In 2022, ASHAs were among the recipients of the WHO Director-General’s Global Health Leaders Award, acknowledging their significant contributions to advancing global health. 

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus:

• Prelims – SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Context: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will launch its new megaphone-shaped space telescope SPHEREx on February 28 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Background: –

• During its short two-year mission, the observatory will help better understand things about the formation of the universe, the growth of all galaxies across cosmic history, and the location of water and life-forming molecules in the Milky Way galaxy.

Key takeaways

• SPHEREx will map the universe while detecting two kinds of cosmic light, optical and infrared. 
• While the human eye can see optical light, infrared light is invisible to it. Infrared light contains crucial data about distant space, star formation, and galactic structures. 
• Scientists use specialised cameras and telescopes to study infrared which has a heat signature. One such is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) whose speciality is infrared observation.
• While JWST is great at observing highly localised regions of the universe, SPHEREx will image the entire sky as seen from Earth.

Understanding Cosmic Inflation:

• SPHEREx will measure cosmic inflation, a phase 14 billion years ago when the universe expanded faster than light for a fraction of a second.
• The telescope will use spectroscopic images to measure the 3D positions of about 450 million galaxies across cosmic history.

Biogenic Molecules & Life Formation:

• SPHEREx will identify water and biogenic molecules (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen) in the Milky Way and nearby systems.
• These molecules, frozen in icy particles, exist in cold galactic regions but their journey to Earth remains unknown.
• The telescope will map these molecules, offering insights into their role in life formation.

Source: Indian Express

Q1.) Consider the following statements regarding the Svalbard Global Seed Vault:

1. It is located in the Arctic Circle on an island in Norway.
2. It serves as a backup storage facility for seed banks worldwide.
3. Only the United Nations can access the seeds stored in the vault.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, and 3

Q2.) Consider the following statements regarding NASA’s SPHEREx telescope:

1. SPHEREx is designed to study the universe using both optical and infrared light.
2. One of its primary objectives is to investigate cosmic inflation, a period of rapid expansion of the universe.
3. SPHEREx will help identify biogenic molecules, such as water and carbon-based compounds, in the Milky Way galaxy.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1, 2, and 3
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1 and 2 only

Q3.) Where is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault located?

(a) Greenland
(b) Iceland
(c) Norway
(d) Canada

Comment the answers to the above questions in the comment section below!!

ANSWERS FOR ’  Today’s – Daily Practice MCQs’ will be updated along with tomorrow’s Daily Current Affairs

Q.1) – a

Q.2) – b

Q.3) – b