Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2-Judiciary and relations with executive
The relations between the judiciary and executive have always been tumultuous. This article analyses the changes in the judiciary’s relations with the executive after 2014.
Relations with executive
- In 2014 government blocked the elevation of Gopal Subramanium as a judge of the apex court.
- A month later, the government introduced a bill to create the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
- The NJAC Act was passed by Parliament in December 2014.
- In October 2015, the SC struck down the NJAC Act, ruling that it would affect the independence of the judiciary vis-à-vis the executive.
- Following striking down of the NJAC Act, the SC directed the government to propose a new memorandum of procedure (MoP) for appointments to the higher judiciary.
- The draft government sent to the Court allowed the government to reject any name recommended by the Collegium on grounds of national security and made it compulsory for the Collegium to justify its selection.
- The Collegium rejected these clauses and the MoP could never be finalised.
- The government sat on the appointments that the Collegium had recommended months ago.
- In April 2016, 170 proposals for appointments to the high courts were pending at that time.
SC’s perceived reluctance to question executive after 2017
- Appointments and transfers ceased to be a problem because the Collegium accepted the appointments and transfers.
- The Court considered that the Aadhaar Bill could be passed as a Money Bill, validated the Electoral Bonds Act.
- The SC also abstained from dealing with sensitive issues like the abolition of Article 370 or the Citizenship Amendment Act.
- This modus operandi of the court, when applied to Aadhaar, created a fait accompli.
3 questions over the SC’s role
- 1) The court’s reluctance to question the government on contentious issues — from J&K to misuse of sedition law or the NRC — is disturbing.
- 2) The manner in which the judiciary has addressed allegations against itself — Kalikho Pul or Prasad Education Trust or on sexual harassment — gives a handle to those in power.
- 3) The independence of the judiciary is inevitably affected by the acceptance of post-retirement jobs.
Consider the question “While playing its role, judiciary faces several challenges from the other organs of the democracy. In light of this, examine the challenges judiciary in India faces from the executive.”
Conclusion
Supreme Court’s apparent reluctance to question government on consequential issues affects its moral authority.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Features of Basic structure doctrine
Mains level: Evolution of the basic structure doctrine
Kesavananda Bharati (80), the sole unwitting petitioner in the historic Fundamental Rights case which prevented the nation from slipping into a totalitarian regime has passed away.
Who was Kesavananda Bharati?
- Kesavananda Bharati was the head seer of the Edneer Mutt in Kasaragod district of Kerala since 1961.
- He left his signature in one of the significant rulings of the Supreme Court when he challenged the Kerala land reforms legislation in 1970.
What was his case?
- A 13-judge bench was set up by the Supreme Court, the biggest so far, and the case was heard over 68 working days spread over six months.
- The Bench gave 11 separate judgments that agreed and disagreed on many issues but a majority judgment of seven judges were stitched together by then CJI SM Sikri on the eve of his retirement.
- However, the basic structure doctrine, which was evolved in the majority judgment, was found in the conclusions of the opinion written by one judge — Justice H R Khanna.
What was the case about?
- The case was primarily about the extent of Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution.
- First, the court was reviewing a 1967 decision in Golaknath v State of Punjab which, reversing earlier verdicts, had ruled that Parliament cannot amend fundamental rights.
- Second, the court was deciding the constitutional validity of several other amendments.
- Notably, the right to property had been removed as a fundamental right, and Parliament had also given itself the power to amend any part of the Constitution and passed a law that it cannot be reviewed by the courts.
- The executive vs judiciary manoeuvres displayed in the amendments ended with the Kesavananda Bharati case, in which the court had to settle these issues conclusively.
- Politically, the case represented the fight for supremacy of Parliament led by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
What did the court decide?
- In its majority ruling, the court held that fundamental rights cannot be taken away by amending them.
- While the court said that Parliament had vast powers to amend the Constitution, it drew the line by observing that certain parts are so inherent and intrinsic to the Constitution that even Parliament cannot touch it.
- However, despite the ruling that Parliament cannot breach fundamental rights, the court upheld the amendment that removed the fundamental right to property.
- The court ruled that in spirit, the amendment would not violate the “basic structure” of the Constitution.
- Kesavananda Bharati, in fact, lost the case. But as many legal scholars point out, the government did not win the case either.
What is the basic structure doctrine?
- The origins of the basic structure doctrine are found in the German Constitution which, after the Nazi regime, was amended to protect some basic laws.
- The original Weimar Constitution, which gave Parliament to amend the Constitution with a two-thirds majority, was in fact used by Hitler to his advantage to made radical changes.
- Learning from that experience, the new German Constitution introduced substantive limits on Parliament’s powers to amend certain parts of the Constitution which it considered ‘basic law’.
- In India, the basic structure doctrine has formed the bedrock of judicial review of all laws passed by Parliament. No law can impinge on the basic structure.
- What the basic structure is, however, has been a continuing deliberation. While parliamentary democracy, fundamental rights, judicial review, secularism are all held by courts as the basic structure, the list is not exhaustive.
What was the fallout of the verdict?
- Politically, as a result of the verdict, the judiciary faced its biggest litmus test against the executive.
- Then government did not take kindly to the majority opinion and superseded three judges —J M Shelat, A N Grover and K S Hegde — who were in line to be appointed CJI after Justice Sikri.
- The supersession resulted in a decades-long continuing battle on the independence of the judiciary and the extent of Parliament’s power to appoint judges.
- But the ruling has cemented the rejection of majoritarian impulses to make sweeping changes or even replace the Constitution and underlined the foundations of modern democracy.
Significance of the Judgement
- The judgment introduced the Basic Structure doctrine which limited Parliament’s power to make drastic amendments that may affect the core values enshrined in the Constitution like secularism and federalism.
- The verdict upheld the power of the Supreme Court to judicially review laws of Parliament.
- It evolved the concept of separation of powers among the three branches of governance — legislative, executive and the judiciary.
- The Emergency was proclaimed shortly after the judgment was delivered on April 24, 1973.
- It proved timely and thwarted many an attempt on democracy and dignity of an individual during those dark years.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Sri Lankan constitutional issues
After the Rajapaksas’ win in the November 2019 presidential polls and the August 2020 general election, the spotlight has fallen on two key legislations in Sri Lanka’s Constitution.
Sri Lankan amendments in news
- One, the 19th Amendment was passed in 2015 to curb powers of the Executive President, while strengthening Parliament and independent commissions.
- The Rajapaksa government has already drafted and gazetted the 20th Amendment.
- The other legislation under sharp focus is the 13th Amendment passed in 1987, which mandates a measure of power devolution to the provincial councils established to govern the island’s nine provinces.
What is the 13th Amendment?
- It is an outcome of the Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987, signed by the then PM Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayawardene, in an attempt to resolve the ethnic conflict and civil war.
- The 13th Amendment, which led to the creation of Provincial Councils, assured a power-sharing arrangement to enable all nine provinces in the country, including Sinhala majority areas, to self-govern.
- Subjects such as education, health, agriculture, housing, land and police are devolved to the provincial administrations.
- But because of restrictions on financial powers and overriding powers given to the President, the provincial administrations have not made much headway.
- In particular, the provisions relating to police and land have never been implemented.
Why is it contentious?
- The 13th Amendment carries considerable baggage from the country’s civil war years. It was opposed vociferously by both Sinhala nationalist parties and the LTTE.
- The opposition within Sri Lanka saw the Accord and the consequent legislation as an imprint of Indian intervention.
- It was widely perceived as an imposition by a neighbour wielding hegemonic influence.
- The Tamil polity, especially its dominant nationalist strain, does not find the 13th Amendment sufficient in its ambit or substance. However, some find it as an important starting point, something to build upon.
Why is it significant?
- Till date, the Amendment represents the only constitutional provision on the settlement of the long-pending Tamil question.
- In addition to assuring a measure of devolution, it is considered part of the few significant gains since the 1980s, in the face of growing Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism.
Its criticism
- Critics argue that in a small country, the provinces could be effectively controlled by the Centre.
- The opposition camp also includes those fundamentally opposed to sharing any political power with the Tamil minority.
- All the same, all political camps that vehemently oppose the system have themselves contested in provincial council elections.
- The councils have over time also helped national parties strengthen their grassroots presence and organisational structures.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Criminal Court
Mains level: Not Much
The U.S. has announced sanctions including asset freezes and visa bans against two officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.
International Criminal Court
- The ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague, Netherlands.
- It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
- It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals.
- The ICC lacks universal territorial jurisdiction, and may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed within member states, crimes committed by nationals of member states, or crimes in situations referred to the Court by the UNSC.
Issues with ICC
The ICC has faced a number of criticisms from states and society, including objections about-
- its jurisdiction, accusations of bias, questioning of the fairness of its case-selection and trial procedures, and doubts about its effectiveness
Implications of US sanction
- The US action is perceived as a setback to the international rules-based multilateral order, and the decision to sanction anybody assisting the ICC will deter victims of violence in Afghanistan from speaking out.
- The unilateral sanctions would encourage other regimes accused of war crimes to flout the ICC’s rulings.
B2BASICS
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Assam Rifles
Mains level: India's paramilitary forces
The Delhi High Court has granted 12 weeks to the Union government to decide on whether to scrap or retain the dual control structure for Assam Rifles. Presently it comes under both the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
What is the Assam Rifles?
- Assam Rifles is one of the six central armed police forces (CAPFs) under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
- The other forces being the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
- It is tasked with the maintenance of law and order in the North East along with the Indian Army and also guards the Indo-Myanmar border in the region.
- It has a sanctioned strength of over 63,000 personnel and has 46 battalions apart from administrative and training staff.
Making of the regiment
- Assam Rifles is the oldest paramilitary force raised way back in 1835 in British India with just 750 men.
- Since then it has gone on to fight in two World Wars, the Sino-Indian War of 1962 and used as an anti-insurgency force against militant groups in the North East.
- Raised as a militia to protect British tea estates and its settlements from the raids of the NE tribes, the force was first known as Cachar Levy.
- It was reorganized later as Assam Frontier Force as its role was expanded to conduct punitive operations beyond Assam borders.
How is it unique?
- It is the only paramilitary force with a dual control structure. While the administrative control of the force is with the MHA, its operational control is with the Indian Army, which is under the MoD.
- This means that salaries and infrastructure for the force is provided by the MHA, but the deployment, posting, transfer and deputation of the personnel is decided by the Army.
- All its senior ranks, from DG to IG and sector headquarters, are manned by officers from the Army. The force is commanded by Lt. General from the Indian Army.
- The force is the only central paramilitary force (CPMF) in a real sense as its operational duties and regimentation are on the lines of the Indian Army.
- However, its recruitment, perks, promotion of its personnel and retirement policies are governed according to the rules framed by the MHA for CAPFs.
Why do both MHA and MoD want full control?
- MHA has argued that all the border guarding forces are under the operational control of the ministry and so Assam Rifles coming under MHA will give border guarding a comprehensive and integrated approach.
- MHA sources also say that Assam Rifles continues to function on the pattern set during the 1960s and the ministry would want to make guarding of the Indo-Myanmar border on the lines of other CAPFs.
- The Army, for its part, has been arguing that there is no need to fix what isn’t broken.
- Sources say the Army is of the opinion that the Assam Rifles has worked well in coordination with the Army and frees up the armed forces from many of its responsibilities to focus on its core strengths.
- It has argued that giving the control of the force to MHA or merging it with any other CAPF will confuse the force and jeopardize national security.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: State Reforms Action Plan Rankings 2019
Mains level: Ease of Doing Business
Andhra Pradesh has bagged the first rank among all the states in the country in the state business reforms action plan-2019 (BRAP-2019), representing ease of doing business for Atmanirbhar Bharat.
About the Ranking
- It is the annual ease of doing business index of states and UTs of India based on the completion percentage scores of action items points of annual Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) under the Make in India initiative.
- This ranking is based on the implementation of the business reform action plan.
- Some of the key focus areas are access to information and technology, the setting up of a single-window system, construction permit enablers and land administration, according to DPIIT.
- It based on the progress of states in completing annual reform action plan covering 8 key areas.
The top ten states under the State Reform Action Plan 2019 are:
- Andhra Pradesh
- Uttar Pradesh
- Telangana
- Madhya Pradesh
- Jharkhand
- Chhattisgarh
- Himachal Pradesh
- Rajasthan
- West Bengal
- Gujarat
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Tax reforms
The article discusses two recent measures announced by the government to bring in the transparency in the tax system.
Issue of lower tax collection and way out
- An economic contraction this year will severely impact tax collections.
- Changing tax rates or the tax base in response is difficult and a hurried approach can have wider consequences.
- So, the only tool available is to urge voluntary compliance.
- Compliance is achieved through a fine balance between enforcement and encouragement.
- Despite enforcement-driven measures in the past the taxpaying population has remained at only 6 per cent.
- Thus, the only way to boost collections is to build trust between the administration and the taxpayer.
Relation between complexity of system and compliance
- A taxpayer has to interact with the tax system at numerous instances.
- While interacting, if the taxpayer perceives the system to be complex, such perception affects compliance.
- Perceived complexity can discourage individuals from filing returns.
- This could reflect simply in the difference between the number of taxpayers and the returns filed: which is around 20 million.
- Such behaviour is bound to impact tax collection.
Recent government measures to bring transparency
1) New taxpayer’s charter with some new features
- The charter is a document that lists a taxpayer’s rights and obligations.
- A taxpayer’s charter is often perceived as a means to build taxpayer’s trust.
- The rights and obligations mentioned in India’s new charter are in line with global practices.
- There are 3 interesting additions in the new charter: 1) commitment to reducing compliance costs 2) holding its authorities accountable 3) publishing a periodic report of service standards.
- A tax ombudsman can ensure that some of these standards are met, however, in 2019, the cabinet approved the abolition of the quasi-judicial post.
2) Faceless assessment
- This relates to the frequent complaint of taxpayers about corruption and delay.
- To end personal interface, e-assessment was introduced in 2019.
- Developing this idea further, faceless assessment now seeks to further automate the case selection and the distribution function of the assessing officer.
- The intent is to divest and distribute the functions of a single assessing officer so that assessment is carried out in a fair manner.
Consider the question “What are the factors responsible for low tax compliance in India? What are the steps taken by the government to increase compliance?
Conclusion
If the commitment to a fair and impartial system and a time-bound resolution of matters is to be met, the new processes, with reviews and anonymity, must ensure efficiency in case selection and consistency in assessment.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission Karmayogi
Mains level: Paper 2- Mission Karmayogi
The Mission Karmayogi seeks to overhaul the bureaucracy in the country. The article discusses its aims and the challenges it could face.
Context
- The Union cabinet’s approval of Mission Karmayogi has raised the hope of a national bureaucracy that is adequately responsive to the country’s needs.
Need for the overhaul
- The system’s focus needs to be role- rather than rule-specific,
- Coordination should prevail over battles for control, and IAS officers ought to be enablers instead of red-tape wrappers.
- There has been a near consensus in the country that our system of policy implementation needs an overhaul.
What is Mission Karmayogi
- It is an upskilling initiative for government officials that aims to fix and galvanize India’s administration.
- As envisaged, the Karmayogi training mechanism will cover an estimated 4.6 million officials at all levels.
- Due to the scale of the exercise elaborate multi-tier command structure is expected to be put in place for it.
- At its apex would be a Human Resource Council, headed by the Prime Minister.
- Human Resource Council shall approve and monitor various skill-enhancing programmes as well as review the performance of employees routinely.
Challenges
- Given the way our bureaucracy has operated for decades, Mission Karmayogi is likely to prove disruptive.
- The idea of being subject to continuous evaluation by a central authority could unsettle some officers.
- There has been some disquiet within IAS ranks over the Centre’s lateral induction of people for senior roles, perhaps the new mission will resolve such disgruntlement.
Conclusion
Gentralized supervision of such large numbers does not promise to be easy. Globally, centralization has been observed to militate against diversity of thought. And that’s vital to the governance of a country like India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Role and accountability of legislature
Mains level: Paper 2- Role of key organs of democracy during pandemic
The article analyses the impact of pandemic on the functioning legislatures and issues its implications.
Context
- Due to coronavirus pandemic, several States have held very short sessions in which they ratified a number of ordinances and hardly questioned any executive action over the last few months.
Role of Parliament and Court
- The government has the mandate to take decisions and perform various public tasks.
- Government in turn is accountable to the legislature which can question it, and, as an extreme step, even replace it.
- The legislature is accountable to citizens through regular elections.
- Finally, constitutional courts are expected to ensure that all actions are made within the boundaries of the Constitution and laws made by the legislature.
Dilution of the role of Parliament in India
- Indian Parliament has allowed its role to be diluted over the last few decades.
- It has not questioned and monitored the activity of the executive.
- Comparison with British Parliament: The United Kingdom’s joint parliamentary committee on human rights examined the proposals of a contact tracing app.
- The committee recommended that an app could be used only if there was specific primary legislation to enable it.
- India, in contrast, rolled out Aarogya Setu through executive decision, and has created a grey zone on whether it is mandatory or not.
- Parliament should recover lost ground by fulfilling its constitutionally mandated role.
Lack of parliamentary oversight during pandemic
- Parliament will be meeting after 175 days.
- 175 days’ is the longest gap without intervening general elections and just short of the six-month constitutional limit.
- During the pandemic, over 900 central and nearly 6,000 State government notifications have been issued
- Parliamentary committees did not meet for about four months.
- This is unlike many other countries where both the plenary and committees have adopted technology to enable members to participate from home.
Judicial intervention in policy issues
- The lack of parliamentary oversight has been compounded by judicial intervention in many policy issues.
- For example, the government’s actions related to the lockdown should have been questioned by Parliament.
- However, this was taken to the Supreme Court, which is not equipped and mandated to balance policy options.
- Directions of the Court have to be followed which removes flexibility needed to tackle evolving issues with implementation.
- Consider another case, Court decided to limit the period in which telecom companies have to pay their dues to the government, and overruled a cabinet decision.
- This is a policy matter that balances interests of telecom companies, consumers and banks.
- This issue is best judged by the government with oversight by Parliament.
- And court should step in if there is an illegality.
Way forward
- Several events have taken place over the last six months that need thorough discussion.
- This includes ways to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, economic growth which has had a sharp fall in the first quarter of this fiscal year.
- This has far-reaching implications for creating jobs, stability of the banking system, and government finances.
- The government is likely to bring in a supplementary budget; indeed, a fresh look at the Union Budget may be required given the changes in basic assumptions since January.
- The situation at the China border also needs to be discussed.
Consider the question “Anlyse the impact of pandemic on the key organs of the democracy.”
Conclusion
Parliamentarians have a duty towards Indian citizens to fulfil their role in scrutinising the work of the government and guiding policy. Despite the curtailed session and the constraints due to the coronavirus, they should make the best of the limited time to do so. They need to wrest back their rightful role in our democracy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PSL
Mains level: PSL
The RBI has released a revised priority sector lending guidelines to augment funding to segments including start-ups and agriculture.
New Priority Sector Lending (PSL) guidelines
- Bank finance of up to ₹50 crores to start-ups, loans to farmers both for installation of solar power plants for Solarization of grid-connected agriculture pumps and for setting up compressed biogas (CBG) plants have been included as fresh categories eligible for finance under the priority sector.
- This has come to align it with emerging national priorities and bring a sharper focus on inclusive development, after having wide-ranging discussions with all stakeholders.
- It will enable better credit penetration to credit deficient areas, increase the lending to small and marginal farmers and weaker sections, boost credit to renewable energy, and health infrastructure
- The targets prescribed for ‘small and marginal farmers’ and ‘weaker sections’ are being increased in a phased manner.
- Higher credit limit has been specified for farmer producer organisations (FPOs)/farmers producers companies (FPCs) undertaking farming with assured marketing of their produce at a pre-determined price.
Back2Basics: Priority Sector Lending
- PSL is an important role given by the (RBI) to the banks for providing a specified portion of the bank lending to few specific sectors like agriculture and allied activities, micro and small enterprises, poor people for housing, students for education and other low-income groups and weaker sections.
- This is essentially meant for an all-round development of the economy as opposed to focusing only on the financial sector.
- The broad categories of priority sector for all scheduled commercial banks are as under:
- Agriculture and Allied Activities (Direct and Indirect finance)
- Small Scale Industries (Direct and Indirect Finance)
- Small Business / Service Enterprises
- Micro Credit
- Education loans
- Housing loans
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Act of God , Force Majeure clause
Mains level: Not Much
Amid disruptions caused by Covid-19, the Finance Minister has referred to an Act of God while businesses are looking at a legal provision, force majeure, to cut losses.
Note the key differences between the Act of God and Force Majeure.
Evoking “Act of God”
- The force majeure or “Act of God” clause has its origins in the Napoleonic Code.
- The finance ministry had issued an office memorandum inviting attention to the force majeure clause (FMC) in the 2017 Manual for Procurement of Goods issued by the Department of Expenditure.
- It clarified that the pandemic should be considered a case of natural calamity and FMC may be invoked, wherever considered appropriate.
What is a force majeure clause?
- The law of contracts is built around a fundamental norm that the parties must perform the contract.
- When a party fails to perform its part of the contract, the loss to the other party is made good.
- However, the law carves out exceptions when the performance of the contract becomes impossible for the parties.
- A force majeure clause is one such exception that releases the party of its obligations to an extent when events beyond their control take place and leave them unable to perform their part of the contract.
- FMC is a clause that is present in most commercial contracts and is a carefully drafted legal arrangement in the event of a crisis.
- When the clause is triggered, parties can decide to break from their obligations temporarily or permanently without necessarily breaching the contract.
- Companies in such situations use the clause as a safe exit route, sometimes in opportunistic ways, without having to incur the penalty of breaching the contract.
Difference between the two
- Both concepts elicit the same consequences in law.
- Generally, an “Act of God” is understood to include only natural unforeseen circumstances, whereas force majeure is wider in its ambit and includes both naturally occurring events and events that occur due to human intervention.
What situations legally qualify for use of force majeure?
- While some contracts have clauses with standard circumstances, some contracts would have specific circumstances that are more focused.
- For example, a shipping contract would have a force majeure clause that could cover a natural disaster like a tsunami.
- If an event is not described, then it is interpreted in a way that it falls in the same category of events that are described.
- An FMC is negotiated by parties, and events that could potentially hamper the performance of the contract are catalogued.
- It is not invoked just by expressing that an unforeseen event has occurred.
- In case a contract does not have a force majeure clause, there are some protections in common law that can be invoked by parties.
- For example, the Indian Contract Act, 1872 provides that a contract becomes void if it becomes impossible due to an event after the contract was signed that the party could not prevent.
Global precedents dealing with COVID-19 pandemic
- In China, where the Covid-19 outbreak originated, the Council for Promotion of International Trade is issuing force majeure certificates to businesses.
- China’s Supreme People’s Court had recognised the 2002 SARS outbreak as a force majeure event.
- Singapore enacted the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act in April to provide relief to businesses that could not perform their contractual obligations due to the pandemic.
- The Paris Commercial Court in July ruled that the pandemic could be equated to a force majeure event.
- In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority has brought in a test case before the High Court to look into business insurance contracts and interpret the standard wordings in such contracts.
- The International Chamber of Commerce has developed a Model Code on the force majeure clause reflecting current international practice.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Project Dolphin
Mains level: NA
In his Independence Day Speech this year, PM has announced the government’s plan to launch a Project Dolphin. The proposed project is aimed at saving both river and marine dolphins.
Project Dolphin
- The Project will be on the lines of Project Tiger, which has helped increase the tiger population.
- So far, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), which implements the government’s flagship scheme Namami Gange, has been taking some initiatives for saving dolphins.
- Now, Project Dolphin is expected to be implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
About Gangetic Dolphin
- The Gangetic river system is home to a vast variety of aquatic life, including the Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica).
- It is one of five species of river dolphin found around the world.
- It is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems.
- An adult dolphin could weigh between 70 kg and 90 kg. The breeding season of the Gangetic dolphin extends from January to June.
- They feed on several species of fishes, invertebrates etc.
Why is it important to save dolphins?
- The construction of dams and barrages and increasing pollution has led to a decline in the population of aquatic animals in the rivers in general and of dolphins in particular.
- Aquatic life is an indicator of the health of river ecosystems.
- As the Gangetic dolphin is at the top of the food chain, protecting the species and its habitat will ensure
Aquatic life as an indicator of the health of a river system
- Globally, there have been such examples. For instance, the Rhine Action Plan (1987) of the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) brought back the salmon.
- The return of the migratory fish is taken as an indicator of the river’s improved health.
- Salmon used to migrate from the North Sea to the Rhine every year and reproduce, but this stopped when pollution increased in the river.
- After a chemical accident in 1986 that caused the death of fish and microorganisms, the Action Plan was launched.
- This led to an improvement in the quality of the river water, and the salmons began to return.
What has been done to save Gangetic dolphins so far?
- Although efforts to save them were started in the mid-1980s, the estimates suggest the numbers have not risen as a result.
- The Gangetic dolphin remains listed as Endangered by the IUCN.
- After the launch of Ganga Action Plan in 1985, the government on November 24, 1986, included Gangetic dolphins in the First Schedule of the Indian Wildlife (Protection), Act 1972.
- This was aimed at checking hunting and providing conservation facilities such as wildlife sanctuaries. For instance, Vikramshila Ganges Dolphin Sanctuary was established in Bihar under this Act.
Conservation so far
- The government has prepared The Conservation Action Plan for the Ganges River Dolphin 2010-2020.
- It identified threats to Gangetic Dolphins and impact of river traffic, irrigation canals and depletion of prey-base on Dolphins populations.
- On October 5, 2009, the then PM declared the Gangetic river dolphin as the national aquatic animal.
- A notification was issued by the MoEFCC the following year. Now, the National Mission for Clean Ganga celebrates October 5 as National Ganga River Dolphin Day.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vitamin D
Mains level: Not Much
The pandemic-induced lockdown has confined people to their houses for five months now. The resultant lack of sunlight, followed by rains, has brought down the vitamin D levels to the lowest.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2014:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Vitamin Deficiency:: Disease
- Vitamin C::Scurvy
- Vitamin D:: Rickets
- Vitamin E:: Night blindness
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) None
What is Vitamin-D?
- Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that has myriad positive effects on several systems in the body.
- Unlike other vitamins, it functions like a hormone and every cell in your body has a receptor for it.
- It is sparsely found in certain fatty fish and fortified dairy products, and it is extremely difficult to get the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of 600-800 IU from diet alone.
There are two main forms of vitamin D in the diet:
– Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol) — found in plant foods like mushrooms.
– Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) — found in animal foods like salmon, cod and egg yolks.
Common signs and symptoms of the deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency is incredibly common and most people are unaware of it, as the symptoms are subtle and nonspecific.
– Getting sick or infected often with common cold and flu, because of a weak immune system.
– Fatigue and tiredness
– Bone and muscle pains
– Depression
– Impaired wound healing
– Bone loss and osteoporosis
Sources of Vit. D
- Sunlight is the best natural source of vitamin D. Sunlight synthesizes cholesterol into Vitamin D3.
- Usually, 20 to 30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 am and 3 pm is adequate to meet daily requirements, in places with minimum pollution levels.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: India-China Relations
An annual report from the U.S. Department of Defense describes Chinese leaders’ use of tactics short of armed conflict to further the country’s objectives, citing border conflicts with India and Bhutan among the examples.
Try this question:
Q. What are Non-War Military Activities (NWMA)? Discuss how China is using NWMA as a tool for its overtly ambitious expansionist policy.
Various non-war military tactics
The report describes Non-War Military Activities (NWMA) as one of two kinds of military operations (the other is war) used by the PLA. NWMA can be conducted internationally or domestically and encompass activities in multiple domains.
(1) Provoking armed conflict
- China calibrates its coercive activities to fall below the threshold of provoking conflict with the United States, its allies and partners, or others in the Indo-Pacific region.
- It can notably include operations in which the PLA uses coercive threats and/or violence below the level of armed conflict against states and other actors to safeguard its expansionism.
- These tactics are particularly evident in China’s pursuit of its territorial and maritime claims in the South and East China Seas as well as along its border with India and Bhutan.
(2) Neo-imperialist tools
- China also employs non-military tools coercively, including economic tools during periods of political tensions with countries that China accuses of harming its national interests.
- The Belt and Road Initiative is leading to a greater overseas military presence for China in the guise to protect its economic interests.
(3) Multilateralism as a strategic messaging tool
- The report says that China uses multilateral forums and international organisations to generate new opportunities to expand its influence, strengthen its political influence.
- It promotes strategic messaging that portrays China as a responsible global actor, advances its development interests, and limit outside interference in and criticism of its initiatives.
- The Brazil Russia India China South Africa (BRICS) grouping and Shanghai Cooperation Organization are among those cited as examples of this alleged phenomenon.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Official languages
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Cabinet has approved a Bill to introduce Hindi, Kashmiri and Dogri as official languages in Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to Urdu and English. As of now, the official language is Urdu and Kashmiri is recognised as a regional language.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following languages:
- Gujarati
- Kannada
- Telugu
Which of the above has/have been declared as ‘Classical Language/ Languages’ by the Government?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Languages in J&K
- In the undivided Jammu and Kashmir state, various ethnicities spoke Kashmiri, Pahari, Gojri, Ladakhi, Dogri, Balti and Punjabi as their mother tongues.
- Urdu and Hindi had become a means for inter-community communication.
- In 1889, Maharaja Pratap Singh, the third ruler of the Hindu Dogra dynasty, replaced Persian with Urdu as the court language.
- It was an anomaly that the three languages — Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri — which are spoken by nearly 70 per cent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir were not approved for use in official business.
Official languages in India
- Article 343 of the Indian constitution stated that the official language of the Union is Hindi in Devanagari script instead of the extant English.
- Later, a constitutional amendment, The Official Languages Act, 1963, allowed for the continuation of English alongside Hindi in the Indian government indefinitely until legislation decides to change it.
- The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union is “the international form of Indian numerals”, which are referred to as Arabic numerals in most English-speaking countries.
- Despite the misconceptions, Hindi is not the national language of India; the Constitution of India does not give any language the status of the national language.
- The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 22 languages, which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement.
Other classical languages
- In addition, the Government of India has awarded the distinction of classical language to Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu.
- Classical language status is given to languages which have a rich heritage and independent nature.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Black Holes
Mains level: Black holes merger
Billions of years ago, a collision between two black holes sent gravitational waves rippling through the universe. In 2019, signals from these waves were detected at the gravitational wave observatory LIGO (United States) and the detector Virgo (Italy).
Try this PYQ:
Q.Recently, scientists observed the merger of giant ‘blackholes’ billions of light-years away from the Earth. What is the significance of this observation?
(a) ‘Higgs boson particles’ were detected.
(b) ‘Gravitational waves’ were detected.
(c) Possibility of inter-galactic space travel through ‘wormhole’ was confirmed.
(d) It enabled the scientists to understand ‘singularity’.
Why in news?
- The cause of curiosity is the mass of one of the parent black holes, which defies traditional knowledge of how black holes are formed.
What exactly was detected?
- It was a signal from a gravitational wave, a relatively new field of discovery.
- Gravitational waves are invisible ripples that form when a star explodes in a supernova; when two big stars orbit each other; and when two black holes merge.
- Travelling at the speed of light, gravitational waves squeeze and stretch anything in their path.
Detecting gravitational waves
- Gravitational waves were proposed by Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity over a century ago.
- It was only in 2015, however, that the first gravitational wave was actually detected — by LIGO. Since then, there have been a number of subsequent detections of gravitational waves.
- The signal detected at LIGO and Virgo, as described by the LIGO Collaboration, resembled “about four short wiggles” and lasted less than one-tenth of a second.
Where did it come from?
- Subsequent analysis suggested that GW190521 had most likely been generated by a merger of two black holes. The signal likely represented the instance that the two merged.
- It was calculated to have come from roughly 17 billion light-years away, and from a time when the universe was about half its age.
Some questions to verify
- The findings led to further questions.
- One of the two merging black holes falls in an “intermediate-mass” range — a misfit that cannot be explained by traditional knowledge of how black holes form.
Why is it unusual?
- All the black holes observed so far belong to either of two categories.
- One category ranges between a few solar masses (one solar mass is the mass of our Sun) and tens of solar masses. These are thought to form when massive stars die.
- The other category is of supermassive black holes. This range from hundreds of thousands, to billions of times that of our sun.
- According to traditional knowledge, stars that could give birth to black holes between 65 and 120 solar masses do not do so — stars in this range blow themselves apart when they die, without collapsing into a black hole.
Observing for the first time
- In the merger leading to the GW190521 signal, the larger black hole was of 85 solar masses —well within this unexpected range, known as the pair-instability mass gap.
- It is the first “intermediate-mass” black hole ever observed. (In fact, the smaller black hole to is borderline, at 66 solar masses.)
- The two merged to create a new black hole of about 142 solar masses. Energy equivalent to eight solar masses was released in the form of gravitational waves, leading to the strongest ever wave detected by scientists so far.
Possible reasons for its formation
- The researchers suggest that the 85-solar-mass black hole was not the product of a collapsing star, but was itself the result of a previous merger.
- Formed by a collision between two black holes, it is likely that the new black hole then merged with the 66-solar-mass black hole — leading to gravitational waves and the signal received by LIGO and Virgo.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kalasa-Banduri Dam Project
Mains level: Inter-state water disputes
India is on the brink of an acute water crisis, which has, to an extent, fabricated a looming threat of trans-boundary water conflicts. The conflict on the Mandovi / Mahadayi River— flowing through Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra— is one such example.
Try this PYQ:
What is common to the places known as Aliyar, Isapur and Kangsabati?
(a) Recently discovered uranium deposits
(b) Tropical rain forests
(c) Underground cave systems
(d) Water reservoirs
Kalasa-Banduri Project
- The project undertaken by the Karnataka government proposes to divert Mandovi river water from Kalasa and Banduri canals into the Malaprabha river in the state.
- The project received clearance from the Centre in 2002. It aims to construct a total of 11 dams on the river Mandovi.
- The diversion of water from Kalasa and Banduri nullahs, however, has been the point of contention between Karnataka and Goa, with the latter claiming it would strip the state of its flora and fauna.
The conflict
- The Mandovi originates from Karnataka’s Belgaum district.
- The Mandovi river basin falls into the states of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
- The river is 81 kilometres (km) in length; 35 km of which flows in Karnataka, 1 km in Maharashtra and 45 km in Goa.
- The seeds of the conflict were sowed over 40 years ago: In 1985, Karnataka initially explored a 350 megawatt-hydro-electric project to divert 50 per cent of the Mandovi river water in Karnataka for irrigation.
- The plan was also to allow a steady flow of water from the power project’s storage dam after using the water for irrigation purposes in Karnataka.
- This would have served to drinking water and irrigation purposes in Goa as well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NIDHI EIR
Mains level: Not Much
A brochure featuring Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) under the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) programme was launched by Dept. of Science and Technology (DST).
Try this MCQ:
Q.The NIDHI-EIR Programme sometimes seen in news functions under the:
a)Ministry of Science & Technology
b)Ministry of Commerce and Industry
c)Ministry of Finance
d)Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
About NIDHI-EIR
- DST has announced a National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) is an umbrella programme for nurturing ideas and innovations into successful startups.
- EIR programme is one of the programs introduced under NIDHI to inspire the best talents to be entrepreneurs, to minimise the risk involved in pursuing start-ups, and to partially set off their opportunity costs of high paying jobs.
- It provides tremendous opportunities for innovative entrepreneurs to expand their networks and get critical feedback on their ventures in order to promote their entrepreneurial career goals and aspirations.
The opportunities under NIDHI-EIR program include:
- Guidance from experienced, innovative and highly successful entrepreneurs on the business concept, strategy or venture and insight into specific industries or markets.
- Best practices for starting a business and broaden the professional network.
- Co-working spaces for developing the idea into a marketable product.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Innovation Index
Mains level: Innovation ecosystem in India
India has climbed 4 spots and has been ranked 48thby the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the Global Innovation Index 2020 rankings.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2016:
Q.India’s ranking in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ is sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following has declared that ranking?
a) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
b) World Economic Forum
c) World Bank
d) World Trade Organization (WTO)
About the Global Innovation Index
- The GII is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business a British magazine.
- It is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the WIPO, in partnership with other organisations and institutions.
- It is based on both subjective and objective data derived from several sources, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
- The GII is commonly used by corporate and government officials to compare countries by their level of innovation.
- The theme of the 2019 GII is Creating Healthy Lives – The Future of Medical Innovation, which aims to explore the role of medical innovation as it shapes the future of healthcare.
Components of GII
Five input pillars capture elements of the national economy that enable innovative activities under GII are:
- Institutions,
- Human capital and research,
- Infrastructure,
- Market sophistication, and
- Business sophistication.
Two output pillars capture actual evidence of innovation outputs:
- Knowledge and technology outputs and
- Creative outputs
India’s performance this year
- In midst of the COVID -19 pandemic, it comes as uplifting news for India and is a testament of its robust R&D Ecosystem.
- India was at the 52nd position in 2019 and was ranked 81st in the year 2015.
- The WIPO had also accepted India as one of the leading innovation achievers of 2019 in the central and southern Asian region, as it has shown a consistent improvement in its innovation ranking for the last 5 years.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Long term prospects for Indian economy and reforms needed
The article discusses the long term and short term strategy to deal with the disruption caused by the pandemic and using it to bring about the reform in various sectors.
Context
- The pain of COVID is real, GST shortfall of Rs 3 lakh crore, expected new bad loans of Rs 3 lakh crore, and a 25 per cent first quarter contraction of GDP.
- COVID will end, the last quarter was unique, and COVID has created a policy window for overdue reform.
3 Questions to be answered to determine short term measures
- 1) Are we at the start, middle, or end of the virus?
- This matters because life will be tentative until companies and individuals know where we are.
- 2)Will companies will they save for a rainy day or live for today?
- This matters because lower demand is fantastic for the environment but fatal for the economy (the paradox of thrift).
- 3) Do we have an effective solution for professions that can’t be done without social distancing until the vaccine arrives?
- All policy can do in the short run is ensure that disease doesn’t lead to death, unemployment doesn’t lead to hunger, and working capital problems don’t lead to bankruptcy.
Factors in favour of India in the long run
- Our post-COVID, post-Trump, post-China, post-GST, and post US Federal Reserve economic strategy must recognise factors in our favour.
- China’s territorial arrogance may be premature.
- China’s credit to GDP is an unsustainable 300 per cent, many of its big companies will not survive when faced with open market, and its domestic consumption is not sufficient to substitute for global trade.
- China’s military overreach is unifying the region and creating coalitions and alliances that they will regret but India will enjoy.
- Muted global growth means oil prices will remain low; this is a huge macroeconomic gift for a country like India.
- The global digitisation supercycle creates insatiable demand for software talent which would be big advantage for India.
- Over the next few decades, most rich countries will struggle to grow.
- This forces investors to overprice growth. And because of our past sins, India is the only big country with decades of growth left.
Reforms India need
- Our problem is not jobs but productivity.
- This needs compliance reform-taking an axe through our 67,000 compliances and 6,700 filings.
- Labour law reform.
- Banking reform: raising our credit to GDP ratio from 50 per cent to 100 per cent by licensing more banks and fixing existing ones.
- Education reform.
- Ease-of-doing-business reforms: reduce the number of ministries from 52 to 15.
- Civil service reform:cut the number of people in Delhi with the rank of Secretary from 250+ to 50, a risk-averse bureaucracy must be sidestepped or overruled.
Consider the question “The disruption caused by the pandemic offers a window for India to create enduring change through economic reforms to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the pandemic. Discuss.”
Conclusion
We should focus on creating climate change for our entrepreneurs, firms, and citizens with reforms that will give them economic Poorna Swaraj. And take our per capita income of $2,500 to $10,000 in five years. If not now, then when?
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