Prelim Bits 18-11-2022 | UPSC Daily Current Affairs

Siberian Rubythroat

A rare winter migrant, Siberian rubythroat has been recorded in the Nilgiris.

• Siberian rubythroat (Calliope calliope) is a ground-loving songbird.
• The male has a red throat edged with a narrow black border and a broad white border.
• Females lack brightly coloured throat and borders.

• Distribution - During the breeding season the species is found in lowland taiga and subalpine shrubbery.

• The bird breeds in the coniferous forests of Siberia.
• The species is migratory, wintering in south-east Asia (Thailand, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh)
• Food - Insectivorous. Eats flies and their larvae, ants, wasps and beetles.

• Conservation

1. IUCN - Least Concern
2. CMS - Appendix II

References

1. The Hindu - Siberian Rubythroat recorded in the Nilgiris
2. IUCN – Siberian rubythroat
3. India Biodiversity Portal - Calliope calliope

Lab Grown Meat

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time cleared a meat product grown from animal cells for human consumption.

• Cell-grown meat is nutritionally equivalent to conventional meat and tastes, smells, looks and feels exactly the same but are lab grown.
• They are also called as clean meat or cultured meat.
• Procedure - Animal cell culture technology is used to make cultured animal meat.
• Living cells (stem cells) from chickens are taken and are grown in a controlled environment.
• Cultivated meat is often grown in a vat where stem cells are duplicated.
• The vat is filled with serum containing amino acids, sugars and other nutrients needed for cells to grow.
• Then the vat is put in a bio-reactor, a lab device for growing organisms.

Singapore was the first country to allow the sale of cultured meat. It granted approval in 2020 to sell its laboratory-grown chicken in Singapore.

• Advantages of lab-grown meat - Cultivated meat helps save animal slaughter.
• Provides food accessibility to the population living in under-developed and strife-torn areas.
• Lab-grown meat is high in protein, vitamins, and minerals and can be lower in fat and cholesterol than conventional animal meat.

References

1. The Hindu - Lab-grown meat receives approval by F.D.A.
2. Times Now - It is okay to eat lab-grown meat
3. Business Standard - FDA approval for lab-grown meat

Baliyatra

In G20 summit, the Prime Minister mentioned Baliyatra which celebrates cultural links between ancient Kalinga and Southeast Asia.

The Baliyatra  festival is similar to the ‘Masakapan Ke Tukad’ festival of Bali.

• Baliyatra, literally means ‘voyage to Bali’, is one of the country’s largest open-air fairs.
• The annual Baliyatra celebrates the ancient trade relations between India and Indonesia.
• It commemorates the 2,000-year-old maritime and cultural links between ancient Kalinga (Odisha) and Bali and other regions like Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
• The week-long festival begins on Kartik Purnima (full moon night in the month of Kartik).
• The festival celebrated on the banks of the River Mahanadi in Cuttack, can be traced back more than 1,000 years.
• The sadhavas (traders) traditionally began their voyage across the sea on this auspicious day, when the winds were favourable for the boats, known as boita, to sail.
• Even today, thousands of people across Odisha sail decorative miniature boats made of banana stems, paper, or thermocol to celebrate boita bandana (the worshipping of the boats).

This year’s Baliyatra (2022) entered the Guinness World Records for achieving an impressive feat of origami, with over 2,100 students making 22,000 paper boats in just 35 minutes.

References

1. The Indian Express - Celebrating Odisha’s ancient links
2. The New Indian Express - Baliyatra ends

Review Petition

The Government filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against the court’s verdict on freeing all 6 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts.

• The Constitution under Article 137, gives the Supreme Court the power to review its judgments or orders.

• This provision forms the legal basis for the filing of a ‘review petition’.
• Rules for Review Petition - The Article 145(e) authorizes the Supreme Court to make rules for review petition.
• Under the Article 145(e), the Supreme Court Rules, 1966 mandate certain rules for review petition.
• A review petition must be filed within 30 days of pronouncement of the judgment.
• Except in cases of death penalty, review petitions are heard through ‘circulation’ by judges in their chambers and are usually not heard in open court.
• Lawyers in review petitions usually make their case through written submissions, and not oral arguments.
• The same judges who passed the original verdict usually also hear the review petition.
• Grounds for filing review petition – The Supreme Court entertains Review petition on narrow and specific grounds.
• In a 2013 ruling, the Supreme Court laid down 3 grounds for seeking a review of a verdict it has delivered

1. The discovery of new and important matter or evidence which, after the exercise of due diligence, was not within the knowledge of the petitioner or could not be produced by him;
2. A mistake or error apparent on the face of the record; or
3. Any other sufficient reason (In subsequent rulings, the court specified that “any sufficient reason” means a reason that is analogous to the other two grounds)

References

1. The Indian Express - Rajiv Gandhi case convicts’ release reviewed
2. Legal Service India – Review Petitions

Uda Devi

Several events were held at various places in Uttar Pradesh to commemorate the martyrdom of Uda Devi, a freedom fighter from the Pasi community.

• Uda Devi was born in Ujirao, Lucknow in Pasi community.
• She was part of the royal guard of Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh.
• Her husband, Makka Pasi, worked as a foot soldier in the army of Awadh’s Nawab, Wajid Ali Shah.
• Amid the revolt of 1857, a battle was fought between the army of Lucknow and the British troops led by Henry Lawrence, in which Makka Pasi lost his life.  
• The death of her husband spurred Uda Devi on to take up a more active role in the mutiny.

• Role in 1857 Revolt - Uda Devi was among the soldiers who clashed with the British regiment stationed near the Gomti River in the revolt.
• She climbed the peepal tree that provided shelter from the sun to the British Sepoys and killed 36 of them.
• The Commander Colin Campbell ordered firing at the hidden snipper and found out that it was Uda Devi, a Dalit woman dressed in men’s clothing.
• Uda Devi is remembered for valour and also for her skill as a leader who managed to mobilise people especially Dalit women.
• She formed an all-women battalion, today called the Dalit Veeranganas, to take part in armed uprisings against the British.

A statute of Uda Devi exists in Sikandar Bagh, Lucknow and Uda Devi Martyrdom Day is celebrated among Pasis every year.

References

1. The Indian Express - Death anniversary of Uda Devi
2. The Print - Uda Devi, a Dalit freedom fighter was an icon for Pasis