GS-I: Origin of Urdu

Context

Recently Punjab University had proposed to merge Department of Urdu language with school of foreign languages to be set up after merging departments of French, Russian, German, Chinese and Tibetan.

The move earned huge criticism and Punjab CM objected to this move of PU and said that Urdu is an Indian language like any other Indian language.

Origin of Urdu Language

• The origin of Urdu language had taken place in India several centuries back and the names of three places-all in India- are quoted in the historical references.
• All the historical references indicate that origin of Urdu had taken place in Punjab state of India.
• The great poet Ameer Khusro, in his book ‘Ghurrat-ul- Kamal’ had written that Masood Lahori a renowned poet born in Lahore in 11th century had composed poetry in Hindvi (Urdu) which is also called Dehlavi.
• This shows that Urdu was very much originated from Punjab as Lahore was the part of greater Punjab only before partition.
• Even if it has derived some root words from Persian and Arabic languages then they were changed into Urdu language in India.
• Before it is called Urdu, it was familiar with other names including Hindustani, Hindavi, Dehlavi and Rekhta.
• The subject, object, auxiliary, verb, grammar, tenses of Urdu are very much Indian and like the Hindi language.

How it got developed and flourished and where?

• As per the historical references after its origin in Punjab, Urdu got developed and flourished in Delhi along with part of Haryana state and some states in South where it was developed in the form of ‘Dakhni (Deccani) language’.
• Historians said that it had developed and flourished in Delhi during the period of ‘Delhi Sultanate’ from 12th to 16th century and then during the period of ‘Mughal Empire’ in Delhi from 16th century to 19th century.
• It flourished as several court poets used this language in their great poetry and writings. And then it was also developed in Deccan states.

Connection with Deccan India

• When Delhi Sultanate and then Mughal Empire spread its wings towards the Deccan, Urdu speaking people of Delhi spread the language in South.
• There it got developed and flourished in Dakhan (Deccan) states mainly in Karnataka, nowadays Telangana, part of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
• The language derived even local words of the local languages of those states and developed it as a ‘Dakhni’ language which was a bit distinctive of Urdu language in North.
• It was during the reign of Delhi Sultanate emperor Muhammad –bin-Tughlaq who had decided to move his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad or Devagiri or Deogiri ( a present-day Aurangabad) in 1327 in Maharasthra.
• With the migration of Delhi’s people, the several Urdu speaking people of Delhi spread its usage in Maharashtra for seven years till the capital of Delhi Sultanate was not reversed to Delhi in 1334.

A welcome move, but it’s unlikely to spur demand

News

With the 25 basis points (bps) rate cut, RBI returned to the conventional wisdom of a rate change in multiples of 25bps.

RBI statement

• MPC decided to continue with an accommodative stance as long as it is necessary to revive growth while ensuring that inflation remains within the target.
• RBI’s decision to increase the household income limit for borrowers of NBFCs and MFIs is welcome. It will enhance credit delivery to a larger customer base at the bottom of the pyramid.
• There is an attempt to boost the domestic forex derivatives market. RBI has decided to allow domestic banks to offer foreign exchange prices to non-residents on a 24-hour basis.

Efficacy of rate cuts:

• This may push the debt markets to take a cue from the second-generation policy signals and yields may soften from the current level.
• Efficacy of rate cuts is questionable against elevated household leverage, deteriorating company fundamentals, and weak demand.
• The number of downgrades in H1FY20 grew by 66% vis-à-vis a 20% de-growth for the number of upgrades. The pace of downgrades has been increasing.
• Financial flows to the commercial sector in H1FY20 are significantly lower due to a decline in funding from banks and non-bank sources.
• Despite a rising interest scenario, credit had expanded by over 1.65 trillion but contracted by 93,700 crores even as we are in an aggressive rate cut cycle. This indicates credit risk aversion continues to play centre stage for the non-bank sector.

Fiscal policy:

• Centre has done a remarkable job in maintaining fiscal consolidation.
• We are increasingly concerned about the fiscal position of the states.

• Way ahead

  More clarity is needed to crystallize the KYC requirements for off-shore entities as also their tax implications.

  In the current context, only monetary policy rate cuts would not work in isolation. It must be complemented by fiscal expansion

GS-III: Planet Nine.

News

Planet Nine

• Hidden in the outer Solar System lurks a presence, believed to be a gigantic planet orbiting the same Sun and casting a visible influence on the behaviour of a number of other objects.
• Although it has not yet been spotted, this behaviour would be difficult to explain if such a presence did not exist.
• It is popularly referred to as Planet Nine, the presumed ninth planet of the Solar System, and occasionally as Planet X.

Planet of tiny black hole?

• Scientists have proposed that this could be a tiny black hole instead.
• They have shown that the behaviour of certain Trans-Neptunian Objects like a primordial black hole.

Primordial black hole

• A primordial black hole is one that is believed to have formed immediately after the creation of the universe.
• Like Planet Nine, primordial black holes too have been predicted to exist including by the late Stephen Hawking but none has been spotted as yet.

What do we know of Planet Nine so far?

Over the years, scientists have sought to explain several puzzling aspects of the Solar System by attributing these to the influence of Planet Nine.

In a 2016 paper made out a case for Planet Nine’s existence by arguing that it could be responsible for the peculiar alignment of icy objects on the outskirts of the Solar System.

What, then, is the basis of the new suggestion about a black hole?

• Researchers based their theory proposed two gravitational anomalies.
• One is the unusual orbits of asteroids beyond the orbit of Neptune, which have fed the prediction of Planet Nine, estimated to be somewhere between 5 and 20 times the mass of the Earth.
• The other anomaly was observed thousands of light years away, by a project called the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE).
• In six observations, an object bent the light of a star like black holes do. This is called microlensing.

Can the black hole be found?

• The catch is that it is much harder to look for a black hole than to look for a planet, especially when the black hole is predicted to be of small dimensions.
• However, it is reasonable to expect a dark matter halo surrounds this black hole.
• If dark matter can annihilate into particles we know, the halo surrounding the black hole would radiate high energy photons and the halo would be visible in X-rays and gamma rays.