100 Years of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

13th April 2019 marks the hundredth anniversary of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in Amritsar.

How Events Unfolded

• Both Extremists and the moderate faction of the Indian National Congress supported the British efforts during World War 1 in hope that, British will grant self-government to India after the war.
• The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms 1919 proved to be a mere eyewash in the name of self-government. Congress said that the reforms are “disappointing” and “unsatisfactory”.
• The government now armed itself with extraordinary powers to suppress any voice against the reforms and passed Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly known as the Rowlatt Act.

Rowlatt Act

• This act was passed on the recommendations of Sedition Committee chaired by Sir Sidney Rowlatt.
• This act had been hurriedly passed in the Imperial Legislative Council despite the united opposition of the Indian members.
• It gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.

Impact Of World War I On India

Response to Gandhi's Call

• Mahatma Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws, which would start with a hartal on 6 April 1919.
• But before it could be launched, there were large-scale violent, anti-British demonstrations in Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Ahmedabad, etc. '
• Especially in Punjab, the situation became explosive due to wartime repression, forcible recruitments, and ravages of disease.
• In towns across North and West India, life came to a standstill, as shops shut down and schools closed in response to the bandh call.
• During the intense anti-British demonstrations, Punjab also witnessed the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

• On April 9, 1919, two nationalist leaders, Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satyapal, were arrested by the British officials without any provocation except that they had addressed protest meetings, and taken to some unknown destination.
• This caused resentment among the Indian protestors who came out in thousands on April 10 to show their solidarity with their leaders.
• Soon the protests turned violent because the police resorted to firing in which some of the protestors were killed. To curb any future protest government put martial law in place and law and order in Punjab was handed over to Brigadier-General Dyer.
• On 13th April, Baisakhi day, a large crowd of people mostly from neighboring villages, unaware of the prohibitory orders in the Amritsar gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh.
• Brigadier- General Dyer arrived on the scene with his men. The troops surrounded the gathering under orders from General Dyer and blocked the only exit point and opened fire on the unarmed crowd killing more than 1000 unarmed men, women, and children.

Hunter Commission

• The government formed a committee of inquiry to investigate the Jallianwala Bagh shootings.
• On October 14, 1919, the Government of India announced the formation of the Disorders Inquiry Committee.
• The committee was commonly known as Hunter Commission after the name of chairman, Lord William Hunter. It also had Indian members.
• In the final report submitted in March 1920, the committee unanimously condemned Dyer’s actions.
• However, the Hunter Committee did not impose any penal or disciplinary action against General Dyer.

Nationalist Response

• Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest.
• Mahatma Gandhi gave up the title of Kaiser-i-Hind, bestowed by the British for his work during the Boer War.
• Gandhi was overwhelmed by the atmosphere of total violence and withdrew the movement on April 18, 1919.
• The Indian National Congress appointed its own non-official committee that included Motilal Nehru, C.R. Das, Abbas Tyabji, M.R. Jayakar, and Gandhi to look into the shootings.
  • Congress put forward its own view. This view criticized Dyer’s act as inhuman and also said that there was no justification in the introduction of the martial law in Punjab.

British Apology

• Britain has never officially apologized for the massacre.
• Recently, British prime minister Theresa May described the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar as a "shameful scar" on British Indian history but stopped short of a formal apology.
• The Labour Party in Britain has been asking for a formal apology saying that those who lost their lives in the massacre deserve a "full, clear and unequivocal apology for what took place".

Agreement to Save Coastal Wetlands

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to map, validate and protect smaller wetlands in coastal regions.

• It is an attempt to build resilience against the impact of climate change.
• MoU signed between the CMFRI and the Space Applications Centre of ISRO includes:
  • Identify and demarcate wetlands, and restore them through suitable livelihood options such as coastal aquaculture.
  • Develop a mobile app and a centralized web portal that will have a comprehensive database of wetlands that are smaller than 2.25 hectares in the country.
• The collaborative move is part of a national framework for fisheries and wetlands, developed recently by the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project of CMFRI.
  • National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is a network project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched in February 2011.
  • The project aims to enhance the resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate vulnerability through strategic research and technology demonstration.
  • The research on adaptation and mitigation covers crops, livestock, fisheries, and natural resource management.

Important Facts For Prelims (13th April 2019)

Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation

• The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has asked manufacturers to ensure that information be made available to the general public about the adverse reactions of some commonly-used antibiotics.
• The CDSCO is the Central Drug Authority for discharging functions assigned to the Central Government under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
• It is under Directorate General of Health Services,Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
• It is headquartered in New Delhi and also has six zonal offices.
• Major Functions:
  • Regulatory control over the import of drugs, approval of new drugs and clinical trials.
  • Approval of certain licences as Central Licence Approving Authority.
• CDSCO along with state regulators, is jointly responsible for grant of licenses of certain specialized categories of critical Drugs.
• In 2016, the government launched an online licensing portal of Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) named “SUGAM”.
  • SUGAM enables online submission of applications requesting for permissions related to drugs, clinical trials, ethics committee, medical devices, vaccines and cosmetics. The system also builds up the database of approved drugs, manufacturers & formulations, retailers & wholesalers in India.
  • It is the project of national importance that directly reflects the Government's DIGITAL INDIA initiatives and is a major influence in bringing reforms in the Indian Pharma Industry.

Foreign Exchange Reserves

• India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $1.876 billion to $413.781 billion, aided by a rise in foreign currency assets.
• This surge in reserves was aided by the recent maiden dollar-rupee swap conducted by the RBI.
• Foreign exchange reserves are assets held on reserve by a central bank in foreign currencies. These reserves are used to back liabilities and influence monetary policy.
• These assets serve many purposes but are most significantly held to ensure that a central government agency has backup funds if their national currency rapidly devalues or becomes all together insolvent.
• The Foreign exchange reserves of India consists of:
  • Foreign Currency Assets
  • Gold
  • Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
  • Reserve Position in the IMF/ Reserve Tranche

Hyperloop

• The first Virgin Hyperloop One (VHO) commercial project in the world may start between Mumbai and Pune by 2025.
• Hyperloop is a system where magnetically levitating capsules are sent at high speeds through low-pressure tubes, thereby potentially reducing transport time — of people and goods — by more than 80%.
• The system consists of pods or capsules travelling at high speeds through low-pressure tubes erected on columns or tunneled underground.
• The system is fully autonomous and sealed, so no driver-related error is anticipated. In a sealed environment with almost no air resistance, the pods are expected to reach very high speeds.
• The vehicle uses magnetic levitation, and is propelled by a electric propulsion system. Motion will not involve contact, so the vehicle will be virtually noiseless.
• It can draw power from multiple energy sources; can be even 100% carbon free if the source is wind or solar.
• The Hyperloop technology can act as a beacon for the Mission 350 Plus initiative announced by Government of India in July 2016 which aims to gradually introduce levitation based technology that can reach speeds of more than 350 kmph, in order to accommodate India’s growing infrastructure demands.

Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First

• The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi has been conferred with the “Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First,” the highest civilian award of Russia.
• The order was presented to the Prime Minister of India for his distinguished contribution to the development of a privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and friendly ties between the Russian and Indian people.
• The Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First is awarded to prominent government and public figures, prominent representatives of science, culture, art and various sectors of the economy for “exceptional services that contribute to the prosperity, greatness, and glory of Russia”.
• It was first awarded by former Russian Tsar ‘Peter the Great’ in 1698 and subsequently discontinued. In 1998, former President Boris Yeltsin reinstated the honor by a presidential decree.
• Previous recipients include Chinese President Xi Jinping, and presidents of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn