Adopt a Heritage project and Monument Mitras

Central Idea

• Businesses that enter agreements with ASI to adopt sites are going to be known as Monument Mitras. The tenfold increase in the number of sites being brought under the ambit of the controversial ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme of 2017 raises concerns. Unless the ‘revamped’ scheme is suspended, the nation’s precious pluralistic heritage stands at the threshold of obliteration.

All you need to know about Adopt a Heritage project

• Initiative of Ministry of Tourism: The ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme was launched by the Indian government in September 2017 under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• Objective: The main objective of the scheme is to provide world class tourist facilities at the various natural/cultural heritage sites, monuments and other tourist sites to make them tourist friendly, enhance their tourist potential and cultural importance in a planned and phased manner across the country.
• Primary focus: The project primarily focuses on providing basic amenities that include cleanliness, public convenience, drinking water, ease of access for tourists, signage etc. and advanced amenities like TFC, Souvenir shop, Cafeteria etc.
• Monument Mitra: The public, private sector companies and individuals will develop tourist amenities at heritage sites. They would become ‘Monument Mitra’ and adopt the sites essentially under their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity.

What are the concerns?

• Current plan side-lines the ASI mandate: The current plan also side-lines the mandate of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and abandons The Sarnath Initiative, guidelines devised by the ASI, the Getty Trust, U.S., the British Museum, and National Culture Fund to safe keep excavated objects and present them to visitors in an engaging manner.
• Undermine local communities and their relationships with historical sites: Guided tours led by employees of large businesses who have received permission to adopt a monument may endanger livelihoods of those who have lived near the site and made a living by regaling visitors with stories of its colourful past.
• Excessive wear and tear: The potential of big businesses to underwrite a monument’s illumination is also troubling. Night tourism will also pull electricity away from rural homesteads and hospitals.
• It may alter historical character of monuments which are not under ASI: There are some monuments selected for the scheme that are not protected by the ASI and are in States without Archaeology Directorates. One fears that businesses that sign agreements with the Union Ministry of Culture to adopt these monuments will be able to alter their historical character without much opposition.

What might Corporate India instead do to look after the nation’s-built heritage?

• Businesses can help citizens understand why monuments matter: This can be done by earmarking CSR funds for grants for researching, writing, and publishing high quality textbooks, and developing imaginative and effective ways of teaching history.
• For instance: Corporates might also follow the lead taken by Sudha Murthy and N.R. Narayana Murthy in giving gifts to organizations such as the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune to continue their missions of writing history by rationally coordinating the textual record and the archaeological evidence.
• Skillful conservation: Industrial houses can support the meaningful conservation of heritage buildings by looking within. Their CSR funds can be used to purchase new equipment that release fewer noxious gases that darken and corrode marble buildings and discharge fewer effluents into rivers, thus making these water bodies less likely to serve as breeding grounds of microbes that gather on the walls of ancient buildings erected on riverbanks and cause their decay.
• For instance: In the past, Tata Sons, ONGC, and other companies have regularly contributed funds to organisations training individuals in much needed restoration skills and creating jobs for them.
• Collaborative efforts: The private sector’s resources and expertise may also help the ASI and State Archaeology Directorates to secure monuments from dams, mining projects, defacement, and looting.

Climate change: Significant threat to India’s historical monuments

• Sanchi Stupa: The 3rd-century BC Buddhist monument in Madhya Pradesh is facing a threat from increasing rainfall and humidity. The stone is deteriorating due to the changes in weather patterns, leading to the loss of carvings and sculptures.
• Mahabalipuram Monuments: The 7th-century rock-cut monuments in Tamil Nadu are facing a threat from sea-level rise and erosion. The monuments, which are located close to the shore, are being battered by the waves, leading to the loss of sculptures and carvings.
• Sun Temple, Konark: The 13th-century temple, made of Khondalite stone, is facing a threat from rising temperatures and humidity. The stone is expanding and contracting due to the changes in temperature, leading to cracks and erosion.
• Hampi Monuments: The 14th-century monuments in Karnataka are facing a threat from heavy rainfall and flooding. The monuments, which are made of granite, are being eroded by the rainwater, leading to the loss of carvings and sculptures.
• Rajasthan’s Shekhawati’s murals: Shekhawati is known for its beautifully painted havelis with intricate frescoes and murals. Greater fluctuations in temperature are peeling away Shekhawati’s murals.
• Ladakh’s stucco houses: Higher rainfall is leading Ladakh’s stucco houses to crumble. The traditional way of building houses in Ladakh is under threat due to climate change, which is affecting the durability of the structures.
• Taj Mahal: The monument built in the 17th century, is facing a threat from rising pollution and changing weather patterns. The white marble is turning yellow due to air pollution.
• Sea forts in Maharashtra: Rising sea levels are leading to water percolation into forts along Maharashtra’s coast. Salination is eating into their foundations.

Conclusion

• Currently, India’s progress in diverse fields is being projected at G-20 events across the nation. By embracing forward-thinking principles of historical preservation, businesses, government agencies, and civil society groups can showcase India’s genuine progress in this arena. Maybe their efforts will inspire more citizens to participate in the pressing task of safeguarding India’s pluralistic heritage.

 One Nation, One Challan initiative

The Gujarat government told the High Court, which was hearing a public interest litigation seeking setting up of virtual traffic courts in the state, that it was already in the process of doing so under the ‘One Nation One Challan’ initiative.

What is the One Nation, One Challan initiative?

1. One Nation, One Challan is an initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to bring all related agencies, such as the traffic police and the Regional Transport Office (RTO), on one platform, to enable seamless collection of challans as well as data transfer.
2. The integrated system involves detection of traffic violations through the CCTV network and getting the registration number of the erring vehicle from applications like VAHAN (detecting the vehicle’s ownership details) and SARATHI (compilation of driving licenses).
3. An e-challan is then generated with the relevant penalty amount, and sent to the mobile number linked with the vehicle.

How do virtual traffic courts work?

1. If someone doesn’t pay the challan amount within 90 days, the challan will be automatically forwarded to a virtual court and proceedings will be initiated. Summons will be sent on the mobile phone of the offender. If the fine is still not paid, further legal proceedings will follow.
2. Virtual courts are aimed at eliminating the presence of litigants in the court. An accused can search their case on the virtual court’s website. Upon successful payment of fine, the case will be shown as disposed.
3. For now, one court is in the process of being designated as a virtual court for the whole of Gujarat — court number 16 of Ahmedabad city sessions court, which will deal dedicatedly with the ‘One Nation, One Challan’ cases. Gradually, more jurisdictional courts may be added.

Judicial custody and Police custody

Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court sent former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to judicial custody till 20 March 2023 in connection with a corruption case related to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy. Sisodia was arrested on 26 February 2023 and has been in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) since then.

What is judicial custody?

1. Judicial custody means that the person detained by a judicial magistrate is lodged in central or state prison.
2. In some cases, investigation agencies may not seek police custody immediately and one of the reasons can be the judicious use of the maximum of 15 days at their disposal.
3. In some cases, courts may directly remand a person to judicial custody, if the court concludes that there is no need for police custody or extension of police custody.
4. The judicial custody can extend up to 60 or 90 days as a whole, depending upon the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense.
5. According to Section 436A of CrPC, a person in judicial custody, who has served half the maximum punishment that can be given for an offense, can apply for default bail, if their trial is pending.

How is judicial custody different from police custody?

1. Police custody refers to when a person is detained in a police station or lock-up when he is believed to have committed a crime.
2. However, unlike judicial custody, police custody requires the accused to be furnished before the magistrate in 24 hours.
3. Apart from differing in the purview and place of detention, there are some distinctions between the two forms of custody.
4. In police custody, the investigating authority can interrogate a person while in judicial custody; officials need the permission of the court for questioning. In police custody, the person has the right to legal counsel, and the right to be informed of the grounds which the police have to ensure.
5. In judicial custody, the person is under the responsibility of the magistrate, while the Prison Manual comes into the picture for the routine conduct of the person.

‘Bio-computers’ and about the human brain

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) recently outlined a plan for a potentially revolutionary new area of research called “organoid intelligence”, which aims to create “bio-computers”: where brain cultures grown in the lab are coupled to real-world sensors and input/output devices.

More about the news:

The scientists expect the technology to harness the processing power of the brain and understand the biological basis of human cognition, learning, and various neurological disorders.

What is the premise of this technology?

• To understand how the human brain works has been a difficult challenge. Traditionally, researchers have used rat brains to investigate various human neurological disorders.
• While rats provide a simpler and more accessible system to study the brain, there are several differences in structure and function and obvious differences in the cognitive capacities of rodents and humans.
• In a quest to develop systems that are more relevant to humans, scientists are building 3D cultures of brain tissue in the lab, also called brain organoids.
• These “mini-brains” (with a size of up to 4 mm) are built using human stem cells and capture many structural and functional features of a developing human brain.
• Researchers are now using them to study human brain development and test drugs to see how they respond.
• The organoids currently also don’t have blood circulation, which limits how they can grow.

Other ways to study the human brain:

v  Scientists transplanted these human brain organoid cultures into rat brains, where they formed connections with the rat brain, which in turn provided circulating blood.

v  Since the organoids had been transplanted to the visual system, when the scientists showed the experimental rats a light flash, the human neurons were activated, too, indicating that the human brain organoids were also functionally active.

v  Scientists have touted such a system as a way to study brain diseases in a human context.

What is the new ‘bio-computer’?

v  The JHU researchers’ scheme will combine brain organoids with modern computing methods to create “bio-computers”.

v  They have announced plans to couple the organoids with machine learning by growing the organoids inside flexible structures affixed with multiple electrodes (similar to the ones used to take EEG readings from the brain).

v  These structures will be able to record the firing patterns of the neurons and also deliver electrical stimuli, to mimic sensory stimuli.

v  The response pattern of the neurons and their effect on human behaviour or biology will then be analysed by machine-learning techniques.

Opportunities for ‘bio-computers’:

Ø  Human brains are slower than computers at, say, simple arithmetic; they outshine machines at processing complex information.

Ø  Brain organoids can also be developed using stem cells from individuals with neurodegenerative diseases or cognitive disorders.

Ø  Comparing the data on brain structure, connections, and signalling between ‘healthy’ and ‘patient-derived’ organoids can reveal the biological basis of human cognition, learning, and memory.

Ø  They could also help decode the pathology and drug development for devastating neurodevelopmental and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and microcephaly.

Qualified Stock Brokers

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) issued a list of 15 designated Qualified Stock Brokers (QSBs), including Zerodha Broking, 5paisa Capital, HDFC Securities, and ICICI Securities etc. This list was announced following a February 2023 direction by the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

About Qualified Stock Brokers:

• Sebi defines QSBs as entities who, because of their size and scale of operations, can likely impact investors and the securities market, as well as governance and service standards.
• These stock brokers cater to the needs of a large number of investors.

QSBs significance:

v  QSBs occupy a significant position in the Indian securities market, due to their size, trading volumes, and amount of clients’ funds handled by them.

v  The stock market activity is concentrated to these designated stock brokers.

v  The failure of such stock brokers has the potential to cause disruption in the services they provide to large numbers of investors, causing widespread impact in the securities market.

How are Qualified Stock Brokers designated?

Ø  A stock broker will be designated as QSB on the basis of four parameters:

• Number of active clients
• Total available assets of clients
• Trading volumes
• End-of-day margin obligations

Ø  All stock brokers with a total score greater than or equal to five on these four parameters are identified as QSBs.

Ø  The capital markets regulator said it may include more stock brokers in its list of designated QSBs by considering additional parameters such as compliance, grievance redressal scores and proprietary trading volumes.

Ø  The scores are to be calculated on an annual basis (financial year) and the revised list of QSBs will be released jointly by stock exchanges, in consultation with Sebi.

Additional regulatory requirements for QSBs:

• A stock broker designated as a QSB is required to meet enhanced obligations and discharge responsibilities to ensure appropriate governance structure, appropriate risk management policy and processes, scalable infrastructure and appropriate technical capacity, framework for orderly winding down, robust cyber security framework, and investor services including online complaint redressal mechanism.
• The risk management framework of QSBs should have measures for carrying out surveillance of client behaviour through analysing the pattern of trading done by them and detection of any unusual activity.
• QSBs will have to red flag any unusual client behaviour to stock exchanges and take necessary measures to prevent fraudulent activity in the market.