PM IAS JANUARY 17 18 CURRENT EVENTS – Plover Minds Institute LLP

Marital Rape

Context:

The court is hearing multiple petitions challenging the exception to Section 375 of the IPC, which exempts forcible sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife from the offence of rape, provided the wife is above 15 years of age.

Relevance:

GS-II: Social Justice (Issues related to Women, Government Policies and Initiatives), GS-II: Polity and Governance (Important Judgements and Committees)

Dimensions of the Article:

About Marital Rape
Status of Marital Rape in India
Criticism of India’s Legal regime on Marital Rape
On courts differing in views on marital rape

About Marital Rape

According to Justice Verma committee recommendations, The IPC differentiates between rape within marriage and outside marriage. Under the IPC sexual intercourse without consent is prohibited. However, an exception to the offence of rape exists in relation to un-consented sexual intercourse by a husband upon a wife.
The Committee recommended that the exception to marital rape should be removed. Marriage should not be considered as an irrevocable consent to sexual acts.
Therefore, with regard to an inquiry about whether the complainant consented to the sexual activity, the relationship between the victim and the accused should not be relevant.

Status of Marital Rape in India

The definition of rape codified in Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) includes all forms of sexual assault involving non-consensual intercourse with a woman.
Non-Criminalization of marital rape in India emanates from Exception 2 to Section 375.
However, Exception 2 to Section 375 exempts unwilling sexual intercourse between a husband and a wife over fifteen years of age from Section 375’s definition of “rape” and thus immunizes such acts from prosecution.
As per current law, a wife is presumed to deliver perpetual consent to have sex with her husband after entering into marital relations.
The concept of marital rape in India is the epitome of what we call an “implied consent”. Marriage between a man and a woman here implies that both have consented to sexual intercourse and it cannot be otherwise.

Criticism of India’s Legal regime on Marital Rape

Marital rape is criminalized in more than 100 countries but, unfortunately, India is one of the only 36 countries where marital rape is still not criminalized.
The Supreme Court has included sanctity of women, and freedom to make choices related to sexual activity under the ambit of Article 21. Therefore, this exception clause is violative of Article 14 and Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
Rape laws in our country continue with the patriarchal outlook of considering women to be the property of men post marriage, with no autonomy or agency over their bodies. They deny married women equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Indian constitution.
A married woman has the same right to control her own body as does an unmarried woman. Unfortunately, this principle is not upheld in Indian rape laws.
Our penal laws, handed down from the British, have by and large remained untouched even after 73 years of independence. But English laws have been amended and marital rape was criminalised way back in 1991. No Indian government has, however, so far shown an active interest in remedying this problem.

On courts differing in views on marital rape

Kerala High Court backed marital rape as a valid ground for divorce.
A court in Maharashtra gave anticipatory bail to a man while concluding that forcible sex with his wife was not an “illegal thing” though she said it left her paralysed.
In 2017, the Supreme Court highlighted that legislative immunity given to marital rape stemmed from the “outdated notion that a wife is no more than a subservient chattel of her husband”.
Gujarat High Court has held that “a law that does not give married and unmarried women equal protection creates conditions that lead to the marital rape”.
In the Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration case, the SC backed a “woman’s right to refuse participation in sexual activity or alternatively the insistence on use of contraceptive methods”. The court has held that “rape is not only a crime against the person of a woman, it is a crime against the entire society”.

-Source: The Hindu

Special Marriage Act (SMA), 1954

Context:

The law that governs inter-faith marriages in the country, the Special Marriage Act (SMA), 1954, is being challenged for endangering the lives of young couples who seek refuge under it.

More than a year after a writ petition was moved before the Supreme Court, seeking striking down of several of its provisions, the Union government is yet to submit its response.

Relevance:

GS-II: Polity and Governance

Dimensions:

About Special Marriage Act, 1954
Applicability of the Act
The Section of SMA which is being contested

About Special Marriage Act, 1954

The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to provide a special form of marriage for the people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrespective of the religion or faith followed by either party.
Marriages solemnized under Special Marriage Act are not governed by personal laws.

The Act has 3 major objectives:

to provide a special form of marriage in certain cases,
to provide for registration of certain marriages and,
to provide for divorce.

Applicability of the Act

Any person, irrespective of religion.
Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, or Jews can also perform marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
Inter-religion marriages are performed under this Act.
This Act is applicable to the entire territory of India and extends to intending spouses who are both Indian nationals living abroad.
Indian national living abroad.

Succession to the property

Succession to the property of person married under this Act or customary marriage registered under this Act and that of their children, are governed by Indian Succession Act.
However, if the parties to the marriage are Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain religion, the succession to their property will be governed by Hindu succession Act.
The Hindu Marriage Act is pertinent to Hindus, though the Special Marriage Act is appropriate to all residents of India regardless of their religion applicable at Court marriage.

The Section of SMA which is being contested

Under Sections 5 and 6 of the SMA, the parties wishing to marry are supposed to give a notice for their marriage to the Marriage Officer in an area where one of the spouses has been living for the last 30 days. Then, the marriage officer publishes the notice of marriage in his office.
Anyone having any objection to the marriage can file against it within a period of 30 days. If any such objection against the marriage is sustained by the marriage officer, the marriage can be rejected.

Suspension of MLAs

Context:

Recently, 12 MLAs from Maharashtra’s legislative assembly have gone to Supreme Court to challenge their one-year suspension from the Assembly. The Supreme Court held that the one-year suspension was unconstitutional and created a constitutional void for these constituencies.

Relevance

GS II- Parliament

Dimensions:

About the Suspension of MLAs:
What are the arguments by Maharashtra Assembly?
What are the arguments by the Supreme Court?

About the Suspension of MLAs:

The MLAs were suspended for misbehaviour in the Assembly regarding the disclosure of OBC data.
The challenge to suspension is based primarily on grounds of denial of natural justice principles and violation of established procedure.
The 12 MLAs claim they were not given an opportunity to present their case and the suspension violated their fundamental right to equality before the law, as guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution.
According to Rule 53 of the Maharashtra Assembly, the “Speaker may direct any member who refuses to obey his decision or whose behaviour is, in his judgement, grossly disorderly, to withdraw immediately from the Assembly.”
The member is required to “absent himself for the remainder of the day’s meeting.”
If a member is ordered to withdraw for the 2ndtime in the same session, the Speaker may direct the member to be absent “for any duration not exceeding the remainder of the Session.

What are the arguments by Maharashtra Assembly?

According to Article 212, the House acted within its legislative competence, and courts lack jurisdiction to inquire about legislative procedure.
According to Article 212 (1), “the validity of any proceedings in the Legislature of a State shall not be called into question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure.”
The state has also highlighted Article 194 on the powers and privileges of the House, arguing that any member who violates these privileges can be suspended using the House’s inherent powers.
It has denied the power to suspend a member can be exercised only under Assembly Rule 53.

What are the arguments by the Supreme Court?

Violation of the Basic structure of the Constitution: The Constitution’s basic structure would be violated if the constituencies of the suspended MLAs were unrepresented in the Assembly for a full year.
The bench cited Article 190 (4) of the Constitution, which states that “if a member of a House of the Legislature of a State is absent from all meetings thereof without permission of the House for a period of sixty days, the House may declare his seat vacant.”
Statutory Requirement: Section 151 (A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 states that “a bye-election for filling any vacancy shall be held within six months of the date of the occurrence of the vacancy.”
This means that, with the exceptions specified in this section, no constituency can go more than six months without a representative.
Punishing the Constituency as a Whole: The Supreme Court ruled that the one-year suspension was unconstitutional because it exceeded the six-month limit and amounted to “punishing the constituency as a whole” rather than “punishing the member.”
The Supreme Court is anticipated to rule on whether the judiciary has the authority to intervene in House proceedings.
According to constitutional experts, the court has clarified in prior rulings that the judiciary can intervene in the case of an unconstitutional act committed by the House.

Carbon Footprints of Bitcoins

Context:

Bitcoin prices are rising these days and so will be its mining. As cryptocurrency will become mainstream, its carbon footprint cannot be ignored.

Relevance:

GS-III: Indian Economy (Banking, Money, Monetary Policy), GS-III: Science and Technology (Developments in Science and Technology, Application of Technology in Daily life, Blockchain technology), GS III- Environment & Ecology

Dimensions of the Article:

What are cryptocurrencies?
How do cryptocurrencies create such a footprint?
How are they different from actual currency?
How do cryptocurrencies derive their value?
Reasons For Adoption of Crypto in India
RBI’s views on Cryptocurrency

What are cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies are e-currencies that are based on decentralized technology and operate on a distributed public ledger called the blockchain.
Blockchain records all transactions updated and held by currency holders.
The technology allows people to make payments and store money digitally without having to use their names or a financial intermediary such as banks.
Cryptocurrency units such as Bitcoin are created through a ‘mining’ process which involves using a computer to solve numerical problems that generate coins.
Bitcoin was one of the first cryptocurrencies to be launched and was created in 2009.

How do cryptocurrencies create such a footprint?

Increasing popularity of cryptocurrency has environmentalists on edge, as the digital “mining” of it creates a massive carbon footprint due to the staggering amount of energy it requires.
Unlike mainstream traditional currencies, bitcoin is virtual and not made from paper or plastic, or even metal.
Bitcoin is virtual but power-hungry as it is created using high-powered computers around the globe.
Bitcoin is created when high-powered computers compete against other machines to solve complex mathematical puzzles.
This is an energy-intensive process that often relies on fossil fuels, particularly coal, the dirtiest of them all.

How are they different from actual currency?

The Main difference is that unlike actual currencies cryptocurrencies are not issued by Governments.
Actual money is created or printed by the government which has a monopoly in terms of issuing currency. Central banks across the world issue paper notes and therefore create money and assign paper notes their value.
Money created through this process derives its value via government fiat, which is why the paper currency is also called fiat currency.
In the case of cryptocurrencies, the process of creating the currency is not monopolized as anyone can create it through the mining process.

How do cryptocurrencies derive their value?

Any currency has its value if it can be exchanged for goods or services and if it is a store of value (it can maintain purchasing power over time).
Cryptocurrencies, in contrast to fiat currencies, derive their value from exchanges.
The extent of involvement of the community in terms of demand and supply of cryptocurrencies helps determine their value.

Reasons For Adoption of Crypto in India

Establishing India as an Integral Part of the New Financial Ecosystem: Large global financial institutions and investors are adding crypto assets to their portfolios. Finance firms, banks, fintech and crypto startups can tap into the huge growth of the industry. Software technology parks (STPs) and special economic zones (SEZs) enabled the IT services boom. Creative ‘crypto export zone’ schemes can incubate clusters of excellence and create world-class financial services firms and unicorns.
Capitalizing on New Technology and Services Opportunities: Blockchain application development, its scalability, security and analytics are their next growth opportunities. To cater to this demand, there is a need for a large talent pool with expertise in the crypto tech stacks.
Scope of Financial Innovation: There is a burst of technology innovation and business models around blockchains. There are several interesting applications, but new killer apps will emerge. The impact of new technologies is overestimated in the short term, but underestimated in the long term.

RBI’s views on Cryptocurrency

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) informed the Supreme Court that dealing in cryptocurrency will encourage illegal transactions.
According to the RBI, Cryptocurrencies are “a stateless digital currency” in which encryption techniques are used for trading and these ‘currencies’ operate independently of a Central bank, rendering it immune from government interference.
An interdisciplinary committee headed by secretary of economic affairs Subhash Garg was set-up in 2017 to examine virtual currencies and recommend the regulatory framework for crypto currencies.
The RBI had already issued a circular prohibiting use of these virtual currencies.

Web 3.0: A vision for the future

Context:

The concept of Web3, also called Web 3.0, used to describe a potential next phase of the internet, created quite a buzz in 2021.

Relevance

GS III- Awareness In The Fields Of It, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-Technology, Bio-Technology

Dimensions:

About Web 1
About Web 2
About Web 3
What are some of the concerns?
How will Web3 address the problems of data monopoly?
About Decentralized Autonomous Organization
Will it take off?

About Web 1

Web 1.0 is the world wide web or the internet that was invented in 1989.
It became popular from 1993.
The internet in the Web 1.0 days was mostly static web pages where users would go to a website and then read and interact with the static information.
Even though there were ecommerce websites in the initial days it was still a closed environment and the users themselves could not create any content or post reviews on the internet. Web 1.0 lasted until 1999.

About Web 2

Web 2.0 started in some form in the late 1990s itself though 2004 was when most of its features were fully available.
It is still the age of Web 2.0 now.
The differentiating characteristic of Web 2.0 compared to Web 1.0 is that users can create content.
They can interact and contribute in the form of comments, registering likes, sharing and uploading their photos or videos and perform other such activities.
Primarily, a social media kind of interaction is the differentiating trait of Web 2.0.

About Web 3

The model, a decentralized internet to be run on blockchain technology, would be different from the versions in use, Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.
In Web3, users will have ownership stakes in platforms and applications unlike now where tech giants control the platforms.
Gavin Wood, founder of Ethereum, a block chain technology company, used the term Web3 first in 2014 and in the past few years many others have added to the idea of Web3.
In 2021, owing to the popularity of crypto-currency, more discussions happened on Web3.

What are some of the concerns?

In Web 2.0, most of the data in the internet and the internet traffic are owned or handled by very few behemoth companies ex. Google.
This has created issues related to data privacy, data security and abuse of such data.
There is a sense of disappointment that the original purpose of the internet has been distorted.
It is in this context that the buzz around Web3 is significant.

How will Web3 address the problems of data monopoly?

Web3 will deliver decentralized and fair internet where users control their own data.
Currently if a seller has to make a business to the buyer, both the buyer and seller need to be registered on a “shop” or “platform” like Amazon or Ebay or any such e-commerce portal.
What this “platform” currently does is that it authenticates that the buyer and seller are genuine parties for the transaction.
Web3 would try to remove the role of the “platform”.
For the buyer to be authenticated, the usual proofs aided by block chain technology will be used. The same goes for the seller.
With block chain, the time and place of transaction are recorded permanently.
Thus, Web3 enables peer to peer (seller to buyer) transaction by eliminating the role of the intermediary. This concept can be extended to other transactions also.
Consider a social media application where you want to share pictures with your followers. It could be a broadcast operation from you aided by blockchain and you don’t need social media accounts for all the participants to be able to perform this.

About Decentralized Autonomous Organization

The key concepts in Web3 seen so far are peer to peer transaction and block chain.
The spirit of Web3 is Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
DAO is all about the business rules and governing rules in any transaction are transparently available for anyone to see and software will be written conforming to these rules.
Crypto-currency and block chain are technologies that follow the DAO principle.
With DAO, there is no need for a central authority to authenticate or validate.

Will it take off?

Web3 is in its very initial days and there is no consensus if it will take off like Web 1.0 or Web 2.0 did.
There is much scepticism from top tech brains in the industry and the academic community that Web3 does not solve the problems it purports to solve.
We don’t know yet if Web3 will become the dominant mode of handling the internet but the questions it raises are relevant.

JANUARY 18:

PM Gati Shakti

Context:

Union minister for road transport and highways said that state governments will have to cooperate, coordinate and communicate with the Center to fast-track the implementation of the ambitious Prime Minister Gati Shakti National Mission Plan to achieve the USD 5 trillion target by 2025.

Relevance:

GS-III: Industry and Infrastructure (Industrial Policy, Government Policies and Initiatives), GS-III: Indian Economy (Growth and Development of Indian Economy)

Dimensions of the Article:

About PM Gati Shakti Yojana 2021
Significance of PM Gati Shakti

About PM Gati Shakti Yojana 2021

PM Gati Shakti Yojana 2021 is a 100 lakh crore national infrastructure master plan that would provide a leap to Atmnirbhar Bharat and provide multimodal connectivity to boost the infrastructure development of the country.
This Masterplan will bring together 16 Ministries and seven core infrastructure sectors, on a single platform in order to synergise project planning across stakeholder ministries for avoiding duplication, plug gaps and expedite clearances at the right time.
Gati Shakti Scheme was launched with the aim of achieving three basic goals namely:
1. Seamless multimodal connectivity for facilitating easy movement of goods & people,
2. Improved prioritisation, optimal usage of resources, timely creation of capacities, and
3. Resolution of issues like disjointed planning, standardisation & clearances. This project would help in the improvement of National Infrastructure by lending them more money and providing them with more speed.
It seeks to attract investment from worldwide to improve the infrastructure in India and will provide new direction & fresh momentum for overall infrastructure development in India and the scheme will also create employment opportunities for the youth.
The projects under the $1.5 Trillion National Infrastructure Pipeline would be included under PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan.
Private players would also get a boost to invest in National infrastructure as easy clearances and monetary help would be available to them.
This project would also provide last-mile connectivity to economic zones in a definite timeframe.

Significance of PM Gati Shakti

India’s projects were earlier a victim of interministerial delays, multiple stakeholders and a culture to work in silos. This led to cost overruns and hampered decision making, in turn, delaying the projects and development for good. The Gati Shakti Master Plan would cut down such loopholes and consolidate the infrastructure projects in some specific corridors without getting into various long timed approval processes.
There would also be a geographic information system (GIS) enabled digital platform under Gati Shakti that would be useful for gathering relevant information on any regions topography, satellite images and physical features. This would help the ministries to save funds and approve projects timely as well.

World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda 2022 summit

Context:

PM delivered State of the World special address at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda

Relevance:

GS II- International relations, Important International institutions.

Dimensions:

Highlights of State of the World special address
About Davos Agenda 2022
About World Economic Forum (WEF)

Highlights of State of the World special address :

Delivering a special address to the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda 2022 summit, PM said Indian doctors and health professionals are winning the confidence of the world with their excellence.
He highlighted that, In COVID times, India being third largest pharma producer in the world, followed the vision of ‘One Earth, One Health’, is saving crores of lives by giving essential medicines and vaccines to many countries.
He added that India has utilised the period of the pandemic for introducing “reforms”, stating that India’s actions have placed a major example before the world. India is trying to conclude Free Trade Agreements with many countries in the world and claimed that the spirit of entrepreneurship is at a high among the youth.
He stressed for Zeroing-in on to the consumerist tendency of “use and dispose” for changing this trend by launching a global peoples movement.
He also spoke about the values that the Indian democracy has brought to the world which is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic for more than two years.
India, he said is committed to reducing interference by the government in business and new areas are emerging for investment. “India has deregulated several sectors like drones, space, geospatial mapping. India has carried out big reforms in the outdated telecom sector,”
Referring to the principles of Mission Life that he had presented at the COP26 summit, He highlighted the throw away culture and consumerism have made climate challenge even more serious. It is very essential that we move from today’s take, make, use and dispose economy and move towards a circular economy

About Davos Agenda 2022

The WEF summit, often referred to as the congregation of the rich and powerful, is an annual event held at the ski resort of Davos in Switzerland, which sees the participation of world leaders, politicians, economists and business leaders.
The forum originally set out to promote this idea that businesses should serve society as a whole.
The WEF said ‘Davos Agenda 2022’ will be the first global platform for key world leaders to share their visions for 2022 and it is being convened on the theme of ‘The State of the World’.
The gathering of the world’s rich and powerful, held every year in Davos, the Swiss ski resort town, will also open its doors virtually for everyone across the world online and through a network of more than 400 hubs globally.

About World Economic Forum (WEF)

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests.
The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance.

Reports published by WEF:

Energy Transition Index.
Global Competitiveness Report.
Global IT Report (WEF along with INSEAD, and Cornell University)
Global Gender Gap Report.
Global Risk Report.
Global Travel and Tourism Report.

Inequality Kills: A study of the new OxFam report

Context:

“Inequality Kills: The unparalleled action needed to combat unprecedented inequality in the wake of COVID-19” is a report released in January 2022 by Oxfam, a U.K.-based consortium of 21 charitable organisations that have a global presence.

Relevance:

GS-II: Social Justice (Issues Related to Poverty, Hunger and Employment, Important reports regarding those issues)

Dimensions:

Highlights of the report
What is the “Inequality Kills” report?
Why does the report say that inequality kills?
How does the report propose to rectify global inequality?

Highlights of the report:

The report points out a startling statistic: 160 million people were rendered poor during the pandemic, while the ten richest people doubled their fortunes since the start of the pandemic. Therefore, extreme inequality should be seen as a form of ‘economic violence’.
The report also argues that the climate crisis is undergirded by inequality between countries. It points out that the “wealthiest 1% of humanity are responsible for twice as many emissions as the poorest 50%”.

What is the “Inequality Kills” report?

The report argues for sustained and immediate action to end the pandemic, address global inequality and initiate concerted measures to tackle the climate emergency.
The central argument of the report is that inequality is a death sentence for people that are marginalised by social and economic structures and removed from political decision making.
Holding governments to account the report identifies “vaccine apartheid” (unequal access to vaccines between countries) and the lack of universal vaccination programs in many countries as a cause of the emergence of multiple new strains of the coronavirus that has led to the continuation of the pandemic.
It also demonstrates how emergency government expenditure (estimated at $16 trillion) that was meant to keep economies afloat during this crisis, inflated stock prices.
This resulted in billionaires’ collective wealth increasing by $5 trillion during the pandemic. Identifying this process as “the billionaire variant”, the report says that this vertical aggregation of global wealth into the hands of a few is “profoundly dangerous for our world.

Why does the report say that inequality kills?

For the writers of the report inequality is not an abstract theory. Instead, they see it as institutionalised violence against poorer people.
The report categorically states, “Extreme inequality is a form of ‘economic violence’—where structural and systemic policy and political choices that are skewed in favor of the richest and most powerful people result in direct harm to the vast majority of ordinary people worldwide.”
The report identifies higher inequality with more crime and violence and less social trust.
The report demonstrates how lockdowns led to an increase in violence against women worldwide. However, the report says that the problem runs a lot deeper as 13 million women have not returned to the workforce and 20 million girls are at risk of losing access to education.
This means that the goal of gender equality has suffered a huge set back which will take at least 135 years to correct. To summarise, women who were already unequal before the pandemic are now more unequal because of increased economic inequality.
The report also argues that the climate crisis is undergirded by inequality between countries. Extreme neoliberal models of economic growth have led to a skewed system of carbon-intensive production, that favours richer countries while shifting the risk onto poorer countries.
The report shows how poverty, caused by rising inequality, also leads to hunger and deaths due to hunger. For instance, 369 million children have reportedly lost access to school meals during the pandemic. For millions of these children this was their most nutritious meal of the day.

How does the report propose to rectify global inequality?

It urgently asks for “vaccine recipes” to be made open-source so that every qualified vaccine manufacturer can manufacture them.
In doing so the monopolies over vaccines held by pharmaceutical giants and anchored in place through the World Trade Organisation, to end.
The report then asks for governments to “claw” back the wealth from billionaires by administering solidarity taxes higher than 90% especially on the billionaires that have profited during and because of the pandemic.
In addition to this, the report asks for permanent cancellation of tax havens, progressive taxation on corporations and an end to tax dodging by corporations.
The report then suggests that all of this regained wealth be redirected towards building income safety nets, universalising healthcare for everyone, investing in green technologies and democratising them, and, investing in protecting women from violence.
The report advocates for redistributing power along with wealth by strengthening workers’ unions, boosting political representation of marginalised groups, and asserting human rights.

Volcanic Eruption in Tonga

Context:

Recently, a volcano erupted in the southern Pacific Island of Tonga, which triggered Tsunami waves around the Pacific.

Relevance:

GS – II, Physical Geography, Volcanoes

Dimensions:

About Volcanic eruption in Tonga:
About Undersea Volcano
About Tonga Island
About the Ring of Fire
Why are there so many volcanoes in the Ring of Fire?

About Volcanic eruption in Tonga:

It is an Undersea Volcanic Eruption consisting of two small uninhabited islands, Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga.
The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano has erupted regularly over the past few decades.
Huge volcanic eruptions can sometimes cause temporary global cooling as sulfur dioxide is pumped into the stratosphere. But in the case of the Tonga eruption, initial satellite measurements indicated the amount of sulfur dioxide released would only have a tiny effect of perhaps 0.01 Celsius global average cooling.
The eruption altered atmospheric pressure that may have briefly helped clear out the fog in Seattle, in the United States.
The waves crossed the Pacific, drowning two people in Peru and causing minor damage from New Zealand to Santa Cruz, California.
The US Geological Survey estimated the eruption caused the equivalent of a magnitude 5.8 earthquake.

About Undersea Volcano

The undersea volcanic eruption happens in a volcano which is located under the ocean surface. There are an estimated one million undersea volcanoes, and most of them are located near the tectonic plates.
Apart from lava, these openings also spew out ash. These deposit on the ocean’s floor and lead to the formation of sea mounds – underwater mountains that are formed on the ocean floor but do not reach the water surface.

Fuel-Coolant Interaction

If magma rises into sea water slowly, even at temperatures of about 1200 degrees Celsius, a thin film of steam forms between the magma and water. This provides a layer of insulation to allow the outer surface of the magma to cool. But this process doesn’t work when magma is blasted out of the ground full of volcanic gas.
When magma enters the water rapidly, any steam layers are quickly disrupted, bringing hot magma in direct contact with cold water.
It is akin to weapons-grade chemical explosions.
Extremely violent blasts tear the magma apart.
A chain reaction begins, with new magma fragments exposing fresh hot interior surfaces to water, and the explosions repeat, ultimately jetting out volcanic particles and causing blasts with supersonic speeds.

About Tonga Island

The Tonga Islands occur along the Ring of Fire, a perimeter of heightened volcanic and seismic activity that encircles the Pacific Ocean basin.
Geologically the Tongan islands are of two types: most have a limestone base formed from uplifted coral formations; others consist of limestone overlaying a volcanic base.
Tonga is a Polynesian country and also an archipelago consisting of 169 islands, of which 36 are inhabited.
In 2010, Tonga took a decisive step away from its traditional absolute monarchy and towards becoming a fully functioning constitutional monarchy, after legislative reforms paved the way for its first partial representative elections.

About the Ring of Fire

Many volcanoes in the Ring of Fire were created through a process of subduction. And most of the planet’s subduction zones happen to be located in the Ring of Fire
It is a string of at least 450 active and dormant volcanoes that form a semi-circle, or horse shoe, around the Philippine Sea plate, the Pacific Plate, Juan de Fuca and Cocos plates, and the Nazca Plate.
There is a lot of seismic activity in the area.
90 per cent of all earthquakes strike within the Ring of Fire

Why are there so many volcanoes in the Ring of Fire?

The tectonic plates move non-stop over a layer of partly solid and partly molten rock which is called the Earth’s mantle.
When the plates collide or move apart, for instance, the Earth moves, literally.
Mountains, like the Andes in South America and the Rockies in North America, as well as volcanoes have formed through the collision of tectonic plates.
Many volcanoes in the Ring of Fire were created through a process of subduction. And most of the planet’s subduction zones happen to be located in the Ring of Fire

What is subduction?

Subduction happens when tectonic plates shift, and one plate is shoved under another.
This movement of the ocean floor produces a “mineral transmutation,” which leads to the melting and solidification of magma – that is, the formation of volcanoes.
Basically, when a “downgoing” oceanic plate is shoved into a hotter mantle plate, it heats up, volatile elements mix, and this produces the magma.
The magma then rises up through the overlying plate and spurts out at the surface.

2021 sixth warmest year since 1880

Context:

The global surface temperature for 2021 was the sixth-highest since record keeping began in 1880, according to scientists from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Relevance:

Facts for prelims

Details:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in a separate analysis of global temperature data, said 2021 is at par with 2018 as the sixth warmest year on record.
December 2021 global surface temperature tied with 2016 as the fifth-highest in the 142-year record.
The average temperature across global surfaces was 0.84 degrees Celsius (°C) above the 20th century average. This was the sixth highest among all years in the 1880-2021 record.

The annual global surface temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.08°C per decade since 1880. Since 1981, the average rate of increase is more than twice that rate (0.18°C).
The year 2021 began in the midst of a cold phase El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) episode across the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, which developed in August 2020.
Record-high temperatures over land surfaces were measured across parts of northern Africa, southern Asia and southern South America in 2021.
Record-high sea surface temperatures were observed across parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The upper ocean heat content (the amount of heat stored in the 0-2,000 metres depth of the ocean) was record high in 2021, surpassing the previous record set in 2020.
Antarctic sea ice extent during December 2021 was 3.55 million square miles, according to an analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

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