Hakki Pikkis caught in Sudan conflict

GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)

More than 181 members of the Hakki Pikki tribal community from Karnataka are stuck in violence-hit Sudan, even as the government is making efforts to bring them back.

Who are the Hakki Pikki?

1. The Hakki Pikki is a tribe that lives in several states in west and south India, especially near forest areas.
2. Hakki Pikkis (Hakki in Kannada means ‘bird’ and Pikki means ‘catchers’) are a semi-nomadic tribe, traditionally of bird catchers and hunters.
3. According to the 2011 census, the Hakki Pikki population in Karnataka is 11,892, and they live majorly in Davangere, Mysuru, Kolar, Hassan and Shivmogga districts.
4. In different regions, they are known by different names, such as Mel-Shikari in northern Karnataka and Maharashtra.
5. The Hakki Pikki move in groups from place to place in search of livelihood. They are divided into four clans, called Gujaratia, Panwar, Kaliwala and Mewaras.
6. These clans can be equated with castes in the traditional Hindu society. In the olden days, there was a hierarchy among the clans, with the Gujaratia at the top and the Mewaras at the bottom. The forest is the main natural resource of the Hakki Pikki.

Where do they live?

1. Hakki Pikki people are believed to hail originally from the bordering districts of Gujarat and Rajasthan. They came to the south in search of a game.
2. To Karnataka, they seem to have arrived via Andhra Pradesh, as they still remember a place called Jalapally near Hyderabad as their ancestral home, where their forefathers lived for a considerable period. They are now spread across south India.
3. Till a few years ago, women used to wear the ghagra (skirt) common in Rajasthan, although now they wear saris and other garments.

What were their traditional jobs, and what do they do now?

1. Traditionally, Hakki Pikkis lived in forest areas, leading a nomadic life for nine months a year and coming back to their permanent camps for three.
2. The wildlife protection laws became stricter, the Hakki Pikkis in Karnataka started selling spices, herbal oils, and plastic flowers in local temple fairs.
3. The herbal oil business took off, and now the tribe members go to many places across the globe to sell their products.
4. Education levels among the Hakki Pikkis are still low. For example, in the 2,000-strong population of Pakshirajapura, only eight people have completed graduation-level courses and one person works as a police constable.

What are their rituals and customs?

1. Hakki Pikkis in Karnataka follow Hindu traditions and celebrate all Hindu festivals. They are non-vegetarians.
2. The eldest son in a family is not supposed to cut his hair so that he can be identified easily.
3. The tribe prefers cross-cousin marriages. According to locals, the usual age of marriage is 18 for women and 22 for men.
4. The society is matriarchal, where the groom gives dowry to the bride’s family. D evaraj, 28, a Pakshirajapura resident, said he paid Rs 50,000 to his in-laws as dowry to get married to his wife. Monogamy is the norm.

Endo-atmospheric interceptor missile tested

GS Paper - 3 (Defence Technology)

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy successfully conducted the maiden flight trial of sea-based endo-atmospheric interceptor missile off Odisha in the Bay of Bengal.

What

1. The purpose of the trial was to engage and neutralise a hostile ballistic missile threat thereby elevating India into the elite club of nations having naval ballistic missile defence (BMD) capability.
2. Earlier, the DRDO had successfully demonstrated land-based BMD system with capability to neutralise ballistic missile threats, emerging from adversaries.
3. Defence minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, Indian Navy and all others involved in the successful demonstration of the trial.
4. Nation has achieved self-reliance in developing highly-complex network-centric anti-ballistic missile systems.

China’s diplomacy in Central Asia and India

GS Paper -2 (International Relations)

China convened an online meeting of trade ministers of the grouping known as C+C5 — China and the five Central Asian republics, namely Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan. It was the latest in a series of diplomatic engagements by Beijing with the region since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

More about the news:

The first C+C5 summit was held in virtual format on January 25 last year, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Two days later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a virtual summit of the C5 — India’s first engagement with the Central Asian nations collectively at the highest level.

China and Central Asia:

• China shares a long history of trade, cultural, and people-to-people links with the Central Asian region, which lies on the ancient Silk Route.
• Modern China’s involvement with the region began with the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, when it moved deftly to formalise its boundaries with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan, as well as Russia.
• Diplomatic relations were established in January 1992, and China’s relationship with the region was institutionalised as the Shanghai Five, the forerunner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
• Over the next two decades, China’s interest in the region grew rapidly, because Central Asia was a readymade market for cheap exports, and gave China overland access to markets in Europe and West Asia.
• Central Asia region is resource-rich, with massive gas and oil reserves, and strategic minerals such as uranium, copper, and gold. It grows food-grains and cotton.
• China also had another priority in its relationship with these countries — to ensure peace in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, which forms its frontier with Central Asia.

China Belt and Road initiative impact on landlocked countries:

• China offered access to the Pacific Ocean and East Asia. President Xi launched his Belt and Road Initiative, a modern version of the Silk Road, during his 2013 visit to the Kazakh capital Almaty.
• As many as 51 BRI projects are said to be located in the country, which plays a critical role as a transit hub for China’s trade with Europe.
• Beijing has also pumped billions of dollars into Uzbekistan and the other three smaller countries in the region.
• These investments cover projects from oil and gas exploration, processing and manufacturing, and rail, road and seaport connectivity to digital technologies and green energy including solar power.
• The trade between China and the five countries had reached $70.2 billion in 2022, “a historic high” and a reported increase of 40 per cent over the previous year. China’s direct investment in the five countries is now almost $15 billion.
• According to reports, talks are on for transport projects and logistics linking all countries in the Central Asian region to Lianyungang seaport on the Yellow Sea in China’s Jiangsu province.

India and Central Asia

• New Delhi made its biggest outreach to Central Asia with last year’s summit, but its relationships in the region, including in the SCO, remain security-driven.
• While India has trading ties with these countries, it is hobbled by the absence of a land route to Central Asia, with Pakistan denying its passage and Afghanistan being an uncertain territory after the Taliban takeover. The Chabahar port in Iran offers an alternative route, but it is not fully developed yet.
• There have been suggestions that India should provide connectivity for people and trade in Central Asia through “air corridors”, as it had done for Afghanistan.
• New Delhi’s leadership of the SCO this year may provide it an opportunity to diversify relations with this strategic region.

Quality, contamination levels in Groundwater

GS Paper -2 (Social sectors)

The Jal Shakti Ministry is working on an ambitious plan to deploy a vast network of groundwater sensors that will continuously relay information on groundwater levels as well as the degree of contamination down to the taluk level.

More about the news:

• Currently, such information is only measured a handful of times a year and communicated via reports of the Central Groundwater Board.
• By establishing a network that will continuously measure groundwater quality, feed it into a centralised network such as that of the National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC).
• The data available for monitoring would make groundwater visible much the same way as air quality, meteorological variables –air pressure, moisture, precipitation.
• It can potentially provide groundwater forecasts to farmers that would be useful for sowing, and updated advisories that can influence groundwater extraction policies by States.
• Except for information on water flow governed by international treaties, most of this information will be publicly accessible.

Progress of the project in future:

• The Central Groundwater Board currently relies on a network of about 26 thousand groundwater observation wells that require technicians to manually measure the state of groundwater in a region.
• Under the new initiative, around 16,000-17,000 digital water level recorders will be connected to piezometers in the wells. Piezometers measure groundwater levels; the recorders will transmit the information digitally.
• In the next three years, the CGWB aims to increase its network from the existing 26,000 to about 40,000.
• When combined with similar networks possessed by other institutions – State bodies, agriculture and meteorology departments – India will have about 67,000 digitally recordable units to monitor groundwater dynamics.
• The CGWB is in charge of the National Aquifer Mapping Program (NAQUIM) that has mapped the country’s aquifers at a resolution of 1:50000.
• Under the second phase of the programme – expects to improve the resolution by five times in the country. So far, an area of 25.15 lakh square km has been covered under the NAQUIM studies.

Latest assessment data:

• In the latest Ground Water Resource Assessment-2022, the total annual groundwater recharge in the country has been assessed as 437.60 billion cubic metres (BCM).
• The annual extractable groundwater resource has been assessed as 398.08 bcm, with actual extraction of 239.16 bcm.
• The average stage of groundwater extraction for the country as a whole works out to be about 60.08%. Anything above 70% is considered “critical” though there are regions in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan with groundwater blocks with over 100% extraction.
• Reports over the years suggest that 85% of rural India uses groundwater for drinking and domestic purposes. In cities with a population of over 10 lakh, about 40% have seen water levels in monitored wells either stay stable or drop.
• Groundwater contamination, the CGWB says, is mostly “geogenic” (natural) and hasn’t significantly changed over the years, nitrate contamination – a result of the use of nitrogenous fertilisers—has been observed.
• Nearly 409 districts have been confirmed with fluoride contamination and parts of 209 districts have noted arsenic contamination.
• Those regions and States that are known to have groundwater contamination, for instance, coastal salinity or excessive depletion, will be monitored more intensely for action by States.