Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cannabis
Mains level: Cannabis and its de-regulation
The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) voted to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, decades after they were first placed on the list.
Q. Too much de-regulation of Cannabis could lead to its mass cultivation and a silent economy wreaking havoc through a new culture of substance abuse in India. Critically analyse.
What is Cannabis?
- Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant used primarily for medical or recreational purposes.
- The main psychoactive component of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is one of the 483 known compounds in the plant, including at least 65 other cannabinoids, including cannabidiol (CBD).
- It is used by smoking, vaporizing, within the food, or as an extract.
UN’s decision and India
- Currently in India, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, illegalizes any mixture with or without any neutral material, of any of the two forms of cannabis – charas and ganja — or any drink prepared from it.
- The WHO says that cannabis is by far the most widely cultivated, trafficked and abused illicit drug in the world. But the UN decision could influence the global use of medicinal marijuana,
- India was part of the voting majority, along with the US and most European nations.
- China, Pakistan and Russia were among those who voted against, and Ukraine abstained.
Cannabis in India
In India, cannabis, also known as bhang, ganja, charas or hashish, is typically eaten (bhang golis, thandai, pakoras, lassi, etc.) or smoked (chillum or cigarette).
Under international law
- The Vienna-based CND, founded in 1946, is the UN agency mandated to decide on the scope of control of substances by placing them in the schedules of global drug control conventions.
- Cannabis has been on Schedule IV–the most dangerous category– of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs for as long as the international treaty has existed.
Fuss over Cannabis
- Cannabis has various mental and physical effects, which include euphoria, altered states of mind and sense of time, difficulty concentrating, impaired short-term memory and body movement, relaxation, and an increase in appetite.
- But global attitudes towards cannabis have changed dramatically, with many jurisdictions permitting cannabis use for recreation, medication or both, despite it remaining on Schedule IV of the UN list.
- Currently, over 50 countries allow medicinal cannabis programs, and its recreational use has been legalized in Canada, Uruguay and 15 US states.
Impact of the decision
- The reclassification of cannabis by the UN agency, although significant, would not immediately change its status worldwide as long as individual countries continue with existing regulations.
- The decision would add momentum to efforts for decriminalizing cannabis in countries where its use is most restricted, while further legalizing the substance in others.
- Scientific research into marijuana’s medicinal properties is also expected to grow.
- Legalising and regulating cannabis will “undermine criminal markets” as well as its smuggling and cultivation.
Risks of Legalizing Cannabis
(1) Health risks continue to persist
- There are many misconceptions about cannabis. First, it is not accurate that cannabis is harmless.
- Its immediate effects include impairments in memory and in mental processes, including ones that are critical for driving.
- Long-term use of cannabis may lead to the development of addiction of the substance, persistent cognitive deficits, and of mental health problems like schizophrenia, depression and anxiety.
- Exposure to cannabis in adolescence can alter brain development.
(2) A new ‘tobacco’ under casualization
- A second myth is that if cannabis is legalized and regulated, its harms can be minimized.
- With legalization comes commercialization. Cannabis is often incorrectly advertised as being “natural” and “healthier than alcohol and tobacco”.
- Tobacco, too, was initially touted as a natural and harmless plant that had been “safely” used in religious ceremonies for centuries.
Way ahead
- It’s important to make a distinction between legalization, decriminalization and commercialization.
- While legalization and decriminalization are mostly used in a legal context, commercialization relates to the business side of things.
- For India to liberalise its policy on cannabis, it should ensure that there are enough protections for children, the young, and those with severe mental illnesses, who are most vulnerable to its effects.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Municipal Bonds
Mains level: Fund raising mechanisms for local bodies
Bonds issued by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. It’s the ninth city in the country to raise capital through municipal bonds.
Find out the rest eight cities issuing Municipal Bonds in India. Do let us know in the comment box.
What are Municipal Bonds?
- A municipal bond or muni bond is a debt instrument issued by municipal corporations or associated bodies.
- These local governmental bodies utilise the funds raised through these bonds to finance projects for socio-economic development through building bridges, schools, hospitals, providing proper amenities to households, et al.
- Such bonds come with a maturity period of three years, whereby municipal corporations provide returns on these bonds either from property and professional tax collected or from revenues generated from specific projects or both.
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) revised the guidelines related to the issuance of municipal bonds in 2015 in an attempt to enable ULBs or local government bodies to raise finances from such sources.
- Following this measure, different cities have capitalized on the new guidelines to fund initiatives such as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urbanisation Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart Cities Mission.
Their types
There are primarily two types of municipal bonds in India, categorised as per their usage. These are –
(1) General Obligation Bonds
- These are issued to raise finances for general projects such as improving the infrastructure of a region.
- Repayment of the bond, along with interest, is processed through revenue generated from different projects and taxes.
(2) Revenue Bonds
- These are issued to raise finance for specific projects, such as the construction of a particular building.
- Repayment of such bonds (principal and accrued interest) shall be paid through revenues explicitly generated from the declared projects.
Advantages of such Bonds
There are multiple advantages of investing in municipal bonds which include –
(1)Transparency
Municipal bonds that are issued to the public are rated by renowned agencies such as CRISIL, which allows investors transparency regarding the credibility of the investment option.
(2)Tax benefits
In India, municipal bonds are exempted from taxation if the investor conforms to certain stipulated rules. In addition to such conformation, interest rates generated on such investment tools are also exempt from taxation policy.
(3) Minimal risk
Municipal bonds are issued by municipal authorities, implying involvement of minimal risk with these securities.
Their limitations
The disadvantages of municipal bonds are enumerated below –
(1) Long maturity period
- Municipal bonds come with a lock-in period of three years, imposing a burden on the liquidity requirements of investors.
(2) Low-interest rates
- Even though interest rates on municipal bonds, in some cases, are higher than other debt instruments, these rates are considerably low when compared to returns from market-linked financial instruments such as equity shares.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: HL-2M Tokamak, Nuclear fusion and fission
Mains level: Artificial Sun
China successfully powered up its “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor for the first time marking a great advance in the country’s nuclear power research capabilities.
Scratch your school basics to answer this PYQ:
Q.The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz, gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force.
With reference to them, which one of the following statements is not correct? (CSP 2012)
(a) Gravity is the strongest of the four
(b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge
(c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity
(d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.
HL-2M Tokamak
- The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device.
- The mission is named Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST).
- Located in Sichuan province and completed late last year, the reactor is often called an “artificial sun” on account of the enormous heat and power it produces.
- It uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and can reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius- approximately ten times hotter than the core of the sun.
- Scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a powerful clean energy source.
Back2Basics: Nuclear Fusion
- Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles (neutrons or protons).
- Fusion is the process by which the sun and other stars generate light and heat. It is a nuclear process, where energy is produced by smashing together light atoms.
- It is the opposite reaction of fission, where heavy elements like Uranium and Thorium are split apart.
Nuclear Fusion Reaction
- For a nuclear fusion reaction to occur, it is necessary to bring two nuclei so close that nuclear forces become active and glue the nuclei together.
- Nuclear forces are small-distance forces and have to act against the electrostatic forces where positively charged nuclei repel each other.
- This is the reason nuclear fusion reactions occur mostly in high density, high-temperature environment (millions of degree Celsius) which is practically very difficult to achieve under laboratory conditions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian Cancer Genome Atlas (ICGA)
Mains level: Burden of non-communicable diseases on India
The Ministry of Science & Technology has inaugurated the 2nd Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) 2020 Conference.
Do you know?
According to the World Cancer Report by the WHO, one in 10 Indians develops cancer during their lifetime and one in 15 dies of the disease!
The Cancer Genome Atlas
- The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is a landmark project started in 2005 by the US-based National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).
- The idea was to make a catalogue of the genetic mutations that cause cancer.
- This meant collecting tumour samples and blood samples (known as the germline) from patients and processing them using gene sequencing and bioinformatics.
- The TCGA is a continuing effort even after fifteen years and has generated over 2.5 petabytes of data for over 11,000 patients.
- This data is available to researchers all around the world and has been used to develop new approaches to diagnose, treat and prevent cancer.
Indian Cancer Genome Atlas (ICGA)
- On similar lines, the establishment of an ICGA has been initiated by a consortium of key stakeholders in India led by CSIR in which several government agencies, cancer hospitals, academic institutions and private sector partners.
- It is aimed at improving clinical outcomes in cancer and other chronic diseases.
Why need such Atlas?
- Diverse molecular mechanisms- including genetic and lifestyle factors contribute to cancer, posing significant challenges to treatment.
- Therefore, it is necessary to better understand the underlying factors- patient by patient.
- In this context, it is important to create an indigenous, open-source and comprehensive database of molecular profiles of all cancer prevalent in Indian population.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Operation Trident
Mains level: Liberation of Bangladesh
Every year, India celebrates December 4 as Navy Day to commemorate Operation Trident – a key offensive during the 1971 India-Pakistan War. This year, it is the 50th anniversary of the victory in the 1971 War.
This newscard is crucial for the CAPF aspirants. It hardly holds any importance for CS prelims. But the grit, glory and honour of our armed forces is a matter of pride that every CS aspirants should know.
Operation Trident
- The India-Pakistan War of 1971 had begun on December 3, when the Pakistan Air Force launched pre-emptive strikes on airfields in Western India.
- Following the Battle of Longewala, the Indian Navy inflicted heavy damage on Pakistani vessels in Karachi harbour.
- India responded by formally declaring war in the wee hours of December 4.
- On December 4, under Operation Trident, the Indian Navy sank three vessels near the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
- The Indian Air Force also played a crucial role, when Karachi’s Kemari oil tanks were strafed by the IAF on the same day in an independent operation which it did not claim.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bhashan Char Island and its location
Mains level: Rohingya Crisis
Bangladesh has transported more than 1,600 Rohingya refugees to a low-lying island in the first phase of a controversial planned relocation of 1,00,000 people.
Can you see, what the so-called champions of tolerance and human rights doing to the refugees in their own country!
Bhashan Char Island
- Bhasan Char also known as Char Piya, is an island in Hatiya, Bangladesh.
- Located 34 kilometres (21 miles) from the mainland, its name in Bengali means “floating island.”
- The island was formed with Himalayan silt in 2006 spanning 40 square kilometres.
- It is underwater from June to September annually because of the monsoon, and it has no flood fences.
- In June 2015, the Bangladeshi government suggested resettling Rohingya refugees on the island under its Ashrayan Project.
- The proposal was characterized by the UN Refugee Agency as “logistically challenging”.
Extraditing to another hell
- Bhashan Char is a flood-prone island that emerged from the sea 20 years ago.
- The refugees had been coerced into going to this flood-prone island which is also vulnerable to frequent cyclones.
- This compact island is too small to occupy and nurture the Rohingya population and there is chronic overcrowding in camps.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Food Security Act 2013
Mains level: Paper 3- Farmers apprehension over MSP
Context
- Farmers’ protests have erupted once again in north India, their main worry is about a possible withdrawal of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and a dismantling of the public procurement of grains.
Why farmers in Punjab and Haryana are protesting
- Farmers in Punjab and Haryana are heavily dependent on public procurement and assured price through MSP.
- Nearly 88% of the paddy production and 70% of the wheat production in Punjab and Haryana (in 2017-18 and 2018-19) has been absorbed through public procurement [Food Grains Bulletin and Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Government of India].
- In contrast, in the other major paddy States such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, only 44% of the rice production is procured by public agencies.
- In the major wheat States of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, only 23% of the production is procured by public agencies.
Government needs to continue procurement
- If farmers of Punjab and Haryana need the procurement system, the government needs it even more.
- This is because of its obligations under the PDS and the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
- Support under the NFSA is a legal and rights-based entitlement.
- There are nearly 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries and an additional eight crore migrants who need to be supported under the PDS.
- In the last three years, nearly 40% of the total paddy production in the country and 32% of wheat production has been procured by public agencies to supply the PDS.
- Thus, the government has little option but to continue its procurement from these States in the foreseeable future.
Way forward
- Therefore, it is imperative that the government reaches out to the farmer groups and assures them of the indispensability of MSP-procurement system.
- The government needs to start this initiative immediately to allay their legitimate concerns.
- Two of the major limitations in the laws that need to be addressed immediately:
- 1) The absence of a regulatory mechanism to ensure fair play by private players vis-à-vis farmers.
- 2) The lack of transparency in trade area transactions.
Conclusion
The severe trust deficit that resulted from the way the Farm Bills have been rushed through needs to be addressed by adopting a conciliatory approach towards farmers and the States.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Scope of Article 25
Mains level: Paper 2- Freedom of conscience under Article 25
The order delivered by the Allahabad High Court underlines the most cherished values of our Constitution. The order examines the scope of individual choice and personal liberty on the touchstone of constitutional values.
Background
- The Allahabad High Court declared last month that religious conversions, even when made solely for the purposes of marriage, constituted a valid exercise of a person’s liberties.
- The petitioners had approached the High Court seeking orders to quash a First Information Report (FIR) that was lodged against them.
- The petitioners claimed that they were both adults competent to contract a marriage, and had, in fact, wedded in August 2019, as per Muslim rites and ceremonies, only after the girl had converted to Islam.
- The State argued that petitioner’s partnership had no sanctity in the law, because a conversion with a singular aim of getting married was illegitimate.
- In making this argument, the government relied on a pair of judgments of the Allahabad High Court, in particular on the judgment in Noor Jahan v. State of U.P. (2014).
- There, the High Court had held that a conversion by an individual to Islam was valid only when it was predicated on a “change of heart” and on an “honest conviction” in the tenets of the newly adopted religion.
- Additionally, the High Court had ruled that the burden to prove the validity of a conversion was on the party professing the act.
Major takeaways from the High Court order
- The Allahabad High Courtruled that the freedom to live with a person of one’s choice is intrinsic to the fundamental right to life and personal liberty.
- It order recognises that a person’s freedom is not conditional on the caste, creed or religion that her partner might claim to profess.
- And also that every person had an equal dominion over their own senses of conscience.
- The High Court’s order makes it clear that it is neither the province of the state nor any other individual to interfere with a person’s choice of partner or faith.
- By invoking the Supreme Court’s judgment in Puttaswamy, the High Court held that an individual’s ability to control vital aspects of her life inheres in her right to privacy.
- Term privacy includes the preservation of decisional autonomy, on matters, among other things, of “personal intimacies, the sanctity of family life, marriage, procreation, the home, and sexual orientation”.
- It Court that the judgment in Noor Jahan was incorrectly delivered.
- Marriage, the High Court said, is a matter of choice, and every adult woman has a fundamental right to choose her own partner.
Freedom of conscience under Article 25
- Article 25 of the Constitution expressly protects the choices that individuals make.
- In addition to the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion, it guarantees to every person the freedom of conscience.
- The idea of protecting one’s freedom of conscience goes beyond mere considerations of religious faith.
Conclusion
When we fail to acknowledge and respect the most intimate and personal choices that people make — choices of faith and belief, choices of partners — we undermine the most basic principles of dignity. Our Constitution’s endurance depends on our ability to respect these decisions, to grant to every person an equal freedom of conscience.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Current account and capital account
Mains level: Paper 3- Policy options to revive the Indian economy
The article weighs in the policy options with the Indian policymakers to revive the India economy. This leads to the trilemma of managing the exchange rate, controlling the inflation and maintaining the capital account open all at the same time.
A brief overview of 1991 economic reforms
- The crisis in 1991 was centred on the balance-of-payments.
- Allowing the Indian rupee to fall from an artificially high level was a key part of the solution.
- Since the reforms, the Indian rupee has steadily depreciated, roughly according to a market-determined equilibrium.
- Extraordinarily high tariff barriers were reduced, allowing for welfare gains from greater international trade.
- Reforms of the domestic economy that increased market orientation was, in some sense, opportunistically combined with these externally-oriented measures.
What should be India’s foreign economic policy
- In terms of connections to the rest of the world, however, it is less clear what the right policy mix should be.
- We can think of three types of international flows: labour, goods and services, and capital.
1) Internation flow of Indian labour
- India has benefited from being able to send workers with a variety of skills to different types of economies: construction workers and nurses in the Persian Gulf, software engineers in the US, and so on.
- Direct benefits came from large remittances back to India.
- The pandemic and US immigration policy, have had some major impacts on this international connectivity, but new vaccines and a change in the US president are likely to reverse these shocks.
- In any case, there is not much that Indian policymakers can do or need to do on this front.
2) Trade in Goods and Service
- India has been able to grow its exports, both in a variety of agricultural and manufactured commodities and in services, from software services to tourism.
- It has been reasonably competitive in a range of goods and services.
- It was only in the last few years, even before the pandemic, have Indian exports struggled to register growth.
- Whereas the export powerhouses of East Asia consistently ran surpluses on the current account of the balance of payments, India has mostly run deficits, albeit manageable ones.
3) Capital Flow: Area where policymakers have option
- Current account deficits have to be covered somehow, though various forms of foreign capital.
- Whereas economic theory and economic policymakers mostly agree on the benefits of international trade in goods and services there is less of a consensus on the benefits of international capital flows.
- Capital flows can raise fears of instability if they are reversed, or make exports less competitive if they push up the value of the rupee.
- The country is a relatively attractive destination for foreign capital, both FDI and portfolio investment.
- But, these flows can make Indian exports less competitive if the rupee appreciates too much, requiring domestic demand to do more of the work of absorbing increased output.
Lesson from Japan
- Right now, India is trying to build its manufacturing capacity by raising tariffs, in an old-style push for import substitution.
- It is also providing direct incentives, such as the new scheme rewarding increases in production.
- Arguably, this did work in Japan in the 1960s, but it is not clear if India is well-off enough to sustain that domestic strategy.
- In addition, the lack of competitive discipline exporting can hinder the achievement of acceptable quality levels.
Way forward
- Capital controls to some extent can help mitigate the risk in this situation.
- The Reserve Bank of India do more to keep the rupee at competitive levels, by accumulating foreign exchange reserves.
Consider the question “In terms of links with the rest of the global economy, it is less clear what the right policy mix should be. Do you agree with the view that focus on simultaneously managing the exchange rate and domestic inflation while maintaining an open capital account would help in the revival of India’s economic growth
Conclusion
Lurking under the surface of these issues is the trilemma of being unable to simultaneously manage the exchange rate and domestic inflation while maintaining an open capital account, although foreign exchange reserves provide a way of softening the trade-offs. These are not new challenges, but they will need to be a focus for India’s policymakers as they seek renewed economic growth.
Source:-
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/trade-offs-for-growth-revival-why-indias-policymakers-need-a-new-roadmap/2142900/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Disability in India
December 3 is marked by the UN as International Day of Persons with Disabilities in a bid to promote a more inclusive and accessible world for the differently-abled and to raise awareness for their rights.
Try this question from our AWE initiative:
What are the legal provisions and policy initiatives in India for the welfare of persons with disabilities? What are the challenges faced by persons with disabilities in India? 10 marks
Disability in India
- About 2.2% of India’s population lives with some kind of physical or mental disability, as per the National Statistics Office report on disability released last year.
How are the disabled identified?
- Until the 2011 census, there were questions on seven kinds of disabilities in the questionnaire.
- This list of disabilities was expanded to 21 when the Rights of People with Disabilities was introduced in 2016.
- Accordingly, the 2019 report included questions to identify people with temporary loss of ability as well as neurological and blood disorders in addition.
- The earlier definition included mental retardation and permanent inability to move, speak, hear and see.
- Significantly, the revised definition recognizes deformities and injuries of acid attack victims as disabilities, entitling them to various relief measures.
Who are disabled and in what way?
- Rural men had the highest prevalence of disability in India, according to the NSO report.
- A higher proportion of men were disabled in India compared with women, and disability was more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas.
- Inability to move without assistance was the most common disability. More men experienced locomotor disability than women.
- These numbers were self-reported. In other words, the respondents were asked if they experienced any difficulty in performing tasks like moving, talking, etc.
Are these measures in line with those from other surveys?
- The 2011 census estimated that the number of people with disabilities in India is close to 2.68 crore (or 2.2% of the population) — that is more than the entire population of Australia.
- This number was based on the older definition of disability, yet the proportion of disabled people in the population is not different from the 2019 NSO report, which used the expanded definition of disability.
- Other metrics for evaluating disability have provided different estimates.
- A group of doctors from AIIMS found that alternate questionnaires like the Rapid Assessment of Disability have resulted in a prevalence ranging from 1.6%-43.3%.
How can the range be so wide?
- The proportion of population facing disability becomes bigger as one move from a narrow definition to a broader one.
- For instance, if one defines disability as the difficulty in accessing public services for all kinds of reasons, even social or economic, then the proportion goes up.
Why is it important to map disabled people?
- Like other disadvantaged groups, the disabled in India are entitled to some benefits, ranging from reservation in educational institutes to concessions on railway tickets.
- To claim these benefits, they have to furnish certificates as proof of disability.
- At the macro level, data on the prevalence and type of disability is useful while making allocations for welfare schemes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST
Mains level: Not Much
The Supreme Court has held that lottery, gambling and betting are taxable under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act.
Try this question from CSP 2018:
Q.Consider the following items:
- Cereal grains hulled
- Chicken eggs cooked
- Fish processed and canned
- Newspapers containing advertising material
Which of the above items is/are exempt under GST (Goods and Services Tax)?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
What did the court say?
- A three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan said the levy of GST on lotteries does not amount to “hostile discrimination”.
- The court held that lottery, betting and gambling are “actionable claims” and come within the definition of ‘goods’ under Section 2(52) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
- Lottery, betting and gambling are well known concepts and have been in practice in this country since before Independence and were regulated and taxed by different legislations.
Parliament to decide
- The court said that the Parliament had an absolute power to go for an “inclusive definition” of the term ‘goods’ to include actionable claims like lottery, gambling and betting.
- The court accepted the government’s stand that the Parliament has the competence to levy GST on lotteries under Article 246A (inserted after GST Act) of the Constitution.
- The power to make laws as conferred by Article 246A fully empowers the Parliament to make laws with respect to GST and expansive definition of goods given in Section 2(52).
Must read:
Goods and Services Tax
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Surveyor-2
Mains level: Not Much
NASA has confirmed that the Near-Earth Object called 2020 SO is the rocket booster that helped lift the space agency’s Surveyor spacecraft toward the Moon in 1966.
Try this PYQ:
Consider the following phenomena:
- Size of the sun at dusk
- Colour of the sun at dawn
- Moon being visible at dawn
- Twinkle of stars in the sky
- Polestar being visible in the sky
Which of the above are optical illusions?
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 3, 4 and 5
(c) 1, 2 and 4
(d) 2, 3 and 5
What is Surveyor-2?
- The Surveyor-2 spacecraft was supposed to make a soft landing on the Moon’s surface in September 1966, during which time one of the three thrusters failed to ignite.
- As a result of this the spacecraft started spinning and crashed on the surface.
- The aim of the mission was to reconnoiter the lunar surface ahead of the Apollo missions that led to the first lunar landing in 1969.
- While the spacecraft crashed into the Moon’s surface, the rocket booster disappeared into an unknown orbit around the Sun.
How was the object determined to be the rocket booster?
- Astronomers track asteroids using telescope to determine if there are potentially hazardous asteroids that pose a threat to the planet.
- Therefore, it is also important for them to be able to distinguish between natural and artificial objects that orbit around the Sun.
- The rocket booster has come “somewhat close” to the Earth in the past few decades.
- One approach to the Earth in late 1966 was so close that the object was thought to have originated from Earth.
- In September, the NASA-funded telescope detected it.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Arecibo Radio Telescope
Mains level: Not Much
A massive radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory — one of the world’s largest — collapsed on after sustaining severe damage, following 57 years of astronomical discoveries.
Try this PYQ:
Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidence for the continued expansion of the universe?
- Detection of microwaves in space
- Observation of redshirt phenomenon in space
- Movement of asteroids in space
- Occurrence of supernova explosions in space
Codes:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4
(d) None of the above can be cited as evidence.
Arecibo Telescope
- The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), was an observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
- It was the world’s largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years, surpassed in July 2016 by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China.
- The second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world, it had withstood many hurricanes and earthquakes since it was first built in 1963.
Its contributions
- Being the most powerful radar, scientists employed Arecibo to observe planets, asteroids and the ionosphere.
- It made several discoveries over the decades, including finding prebiotic molecules in distant galaxies, the first exoplanets, and the first millisecond pulsar.
- In 1967, Arecibo was able to discover that the planet Mercury rotates in 59 days and not 88 days as had been originally thought.
- In the following decades, it also served as a hub in the search for extraterrestrial life, and would look for radio signals from alien civilizations.
- In 1993, scientists Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the observatory in monitoring a binary pulsar.
- It provided a strict test of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and the first evidence for the existence of gravitational waves.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ASKAP telescope
Mains level: Not Much
A powerful new telescope ASKAP, in Australia has mapped vast areas of the universe in record-breaking time, revealing a million new galaxies and opening the way to new discoveries.
Note all important telescopes in news and their features. Some of them are – Thirty Meter Telescope, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, Spitzer, Chandra etc.
What is ASKAP?
- ASKAP is a telescope designed over a decade ago and located about 800 km north of Perth.
- It became fully operational in February 2019 and is currently conducting pilot surveys of the sky before it can begin large-scale projects from 2021 onward.
- ASKAP surveys are designed to map the structure and evolution of the Universe, which it does by observing galaxies and the hydrogen gas that they contain.
- One of its most important features is its wide field of view, because of which it has been able to take panoramic pictures of the sky in great detail.
- The telescope uses novel technology developed by CSIRO- the Australian space agency, which is a kind of a “radio camera” to achieve high survey speeds and consists of 36 dish antennas, which are each 12m in diameter.
- The survey team has been able to observe over 83 per cent of the sky visible from ASKAP’s site in Western Australia.
Significance of the results
- The present Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) taken by the ASKAP telescope is like a “Google map” of the Universe.
- Mapping the Universe on such a scale enables astronomers to study the formation of stars and how galaxies and their supermassive black holes evolve and interact with each other.
- Significantly, the images the telescope has taken are on average deeper and have better spatial resolution compared to those taken during other surveys of the sky.
- The aim of the RACS survey is to generate images that will aid future surveys undertaken using the telescope.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Mains level: Paper 2- Provisions for persons with disability
Legal provisions not turning into reality through their implementation adds to the difficulties faced by persons with disabilities. The article deals with the idea of enabling persons with disability to contribute to society.
Context
- December 3 is the annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities, it is also a stark reminder of how far we in India need to go in meeting the needs of the disabled.
Lack of implementation of provisions
- The World Bank estimates that there may be well over 40 million Indians living with disabilities.
- The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act was passed in 2016 but our country is still largely devoid of ramps on its footpaths or government buildings.
- The law promises them equality of opportunity and accessibility. Our practices deny them what the law promises.
Challenges faced by persons with disabilities
- Indians with disabilities are far more likely to suffer from poor social and economic development.
- 45 per cent of this population is illiterate, making it difficult for them to build better, more fulfilled lives.
- This is compounded by the community’s lack of political representation:
- In our seven decades of independence, we have had just four parliamentarians and six state assembly members who suffer from visible disabilities.
- This lack of representation, and these general attitudes, translate directly into policy that undermines the well-being of people with disabilities.
- Last year, for example, the government inexplicably decided to depart from convention and render people suffering from cerebral palsy ineligible for the Indian Foreign Service.
Initiatives and steps taken by the government
- The government has had some admirable initiatives to improve the lot of Indians with disabilities, such as the ADIP scheme for improving access to disability aids.
- The Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, or Accessible India Campaign, has aimed to make public transport, buildings and websites more accessible.
- In 2017, the Mental Healthcare Act recognised and respected the agency of persons with mental-health conditions, expanding the presence of mental-health establishments across the country, restricted the harmful use of electroshock therapy, clarified the mental-health responsibilities of state agencies such as the police, and effectively decriminalised attempted suicide.
- In 2007, the UN passed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- India is a state party to the convention.
Conclusion
It is critical that the government work with civil society and individuals with disabilities to craft an India where everyone feels welcome and treated with respect, regardless of their disabilities. Only then can we welcome the next International Day of Persons with Disabilities without a sense of shame.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Freedom of conscience and conversion to other religion
The U.P. government’s ordinance seeking the prevention of illegal conversion has several provisions that go against the Constitution and restricts the freedom of conscience.
Objective of the ordinance
- The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 seeks to prevent “love jihad” in the state
- The ordinance makes it a criminal offence for a person to convert another by coercion, misrepresentation, fraud etc, which is unobjectionable.
- A marriage solemnised for the “sole purpose” of unlawfully converting the bride or the groom is required to be declared void by the competent court.
- There can be no objection to ordinance’s premise that converting somebody by fraud or misrepresentation is wrong.
- In fact, though the members of the Constituent Assembly included the right to “propagate” one’s religion they considered it a “rather obvious doctrine” that this would not include forcible conversions.
- However, the UP ordinance goes beyond this principle and does something quite strange.
Unconstitutional provisions and issues with the ordinance
1) Lack of clarity
- The ordinance makes it a criminal offence to convert a person by offering her an “allurement”.
- The term “allurement” is defined very broadly, to include even providing a gift to the person who is sought to be converted.
- The use of the words “or otherwise” in the definition of allurement is puzzling.
- The essential prerequisite of a criminal law is that it has to be precise.
- A person cannot be put behind bars for doing something that a penal law does not clearly and unequivocally prohibit.
- On this touchstone, the definition of “allurement” leaves much to be desired.
2) Reconversion to a person’s previous religion is not illegal
- It says that “reconversion” to a person’s previous religion is not illegal, even if it is vitiated by fraud, force, allurement, misrepresentation and so on.
- In other words, if a person converts from Religion A to Religion B of her own volition, and is then forced to reconvert back to Religion A against her will, this will not constitute “conversion” under the ordinance at all.
3) Unfairly treating all women in the same way
- Illegal conversion under the ordinance attracts a punishment of 1-5 years in prison.
- However, if the victim of the illegal conversion is a minor, a member of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or, strangely, a woman, the punishment is doubled — at 2-10 years behind bars.
- In other words, it does not matter who the woman is, if somebody converts her against her will, the punishment can go up to 10 years in prison.
- The ordinance unfairly paints all women with the same brush — assuming that all women are gullible, vulnerable and especially susceptible to illegal conversion.
4) Buden of proof
- The burden of proof in criminal cases is on the prosecution, and the presumption is that a person accused of committing an offence is innocent until proven guilty.
- The Uttar Pradesh ordinance turns this rule on its head.
- Every religious conversion is presumed to be illegal.
- The burden is on the person carrying out the conversion to prove that it is not illegal.
- The offence of illegal conversion is also “cognisable” and “non-bailable”, meaning that a police officer can arrest an accused without a warrant, and the accused may or may not be released on bail, at the discretion of the court.
Time to revisit the past judgement
- In Rev Stainislaus v State of Madhya Pradesh (1977), the Supreme Court held that the fundamental right to “propagate” religion does not include the right to convert a person to another religion.
- In that case, the court had upheld anti-conversion statutes enacted by the states of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.
Conclusion
The ordinance puts an incredible chilling effect on the freedom of conscience and state must reconsider it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Factors responsible for AMR
Mains level: Paper 3- Link between pollution and AMR
Rapidly rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses the threat of the next health crisis if not addressed with urgency. The article examines the severity of the issue.
The severity of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
- Globally, about 35% of common human infections have become resistant to available medicines.
- About 700,000 people die every year because available antimicrobial drugs — antibiotics, antivirals, antiparasitic and antifungals — have become less effective at combating pathogens.
- Resistance to second- and third-line antibiotics — the last lines of defence against some common diseases — are projected to almost double between 2005 and 2030.
- In India, the largest consumer of antibiotics in the world, this is a serious problem.
Responsible factors
- Microorganisms develop resistance to antimicrobial agents as a natural defence mechanism.
- Human activity has significantly accelerated the process.
- The misuse and overuse of antimicrobials for humans.
- Livestock and agriculture but other factors also contribute.
Research points to role of environment and pollution
- Once consumed, up to 80% of antibiotic drugs are excreted un-metabolised, along with resistant bacteria.
- Their release in effluents from households and health and pharmaceutical facilities, and agricultural run-off, is propagating resistant microorganisms.
- Wastewater treatment facilities are unable to remove all antibiotics and resistant bacteria.
- In India, there is capacity to treat only about 37% of the sewage generated annually.
- Water, then, may be a major mode for the spread of AMR, especially in places with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene.
- Wildlife that comes into contact with discharge containing antimicrobials can also become colonised with drug-resistant organisms.
Initiative to tackle the AMR
- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) identified antimicrobial resistance as one of six emerging issues of environmental concern in its 2017 Frontiers Report.
- UN agencies are working together to develop the One Health AMR Global Action Plan (GAP) that addresses the issue in human, animal, and plant health and food and environment sectors.
- The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued draft standards which set limits for residues of 121 antibiotics in treated effluents from drug production units.
- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and MoEF&CC constituted the inter-ministerial Steering Committee on Environment and Health, with representation from WHO and UNEP.
Way forward
- The Centre and State governments in India can strengthen the environmental dimensions of their plans to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
- It is important to promote measures that address known hotspots such as hospitals and manufacturing and waste treatment facilities.
Consider the question “Being the largest consumer of antibiotics in the world, India faces a grave threat from growing anti-microbial resistance. What are the factors responsible for it? Suggest the ways to deal with it.”
Conclusion
We saw how quickly a pandemic can spread if we are not ready. This is an opportunity to get ahead of the next one.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Women in Judiciary
Attorney-General has told the Supreme Court that more women judges in constitutional courts would certainly improve gender sensitivity in the judiciary.
Q.Women judges could bring a more comprehensive and empathetic perspective of gender sensitivity in the judiciary. Discuss.
Women in Judiciary: A dismal figure
- The Supreme Court has only two women judges as against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges.
- There has never been a female Chief Justice. This figure is consistently low across the higher judiciary.
- There are only 80 women judges out of the sanctioned strength of 1,113 judges in the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
- Only two of these 80 women judges are in the Supreme Court and the other 78 are in various High Courts, comprising only 7.2% of the number of judges.
- There are six High Courts — Manipur, Meghalaya, Patna, Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand — where there are no sitting women judges.
A short timeline
- The first female Judge appointed in Supreme Court was Justice M. Fathima Beevi from Kerala in 1987.
- She was later followed by Justice Sujata V. Manohar from Maharashtra in 1994 and in the year 2000, Justice Ruma Pal was appointed from West Bengal.
- And in the year 2010, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra from Bihar was appointed.
- In 2014, Justice Ranjana Desai from Mumbai was appointed and currently, Justice R. Banumathi from Tamil Nadu is the only woman judge in Supreme Court.
(Note: This data might be useful for State PSCs or other exams. UPSC aspirants need not remember this.)
What did the A-G say?
- Improving the representation of women could go a long way towards a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving sexual violence.
- Judges need to be trained to place themselves in the shoes of the victim of sexual violence while passing orders, said the AG.
- There is a dearth of compulsory courses in gender sensitization in law schools.
- Certain law schools have the subject either as a specialization or as an elective.
Why need more women in Judiciary?
- The entry of women judges into spaces from which they had historically been excluded has been a positive step in the direction of judiciaries being perceived as being more transparent, inclusive, and representative.
- By their mere presence, women judges enhance the legitimacy of courts, sending a powerful signal that they are open and accessible to those who seek recourse to justice.
- They could contribute far more to justice than improving its appearance: they also contribute significantly to the quality of decision-making, and thus to the quality of justice itself.
- Women judges bring those lived experiences to their judicial actions, experiences that tend toward a more comprehensive and empathetic perspective.
- By elucidating how laws and rulings can be based on gender stereotypes, or how they might have a different impact on women and men, a gender perspective enhances the fairness of the adjudication.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Art. 21
Mains level: Interfaith marriage and associated issues in India
An individual’s right to marry a person of his or her choice is a fundamental right that cannot be denied on the basis of caste or religion by anybody, re-iterated the Karnataka High Court.
Discuss the various ethical and rights issues involved in interfaith marriages.
Right to Marriage
- The right to marry is a part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
- The right to marriage is also stated under Human Rights Charter within the meaning of the right to start a family.
- The right to marry is a universal right and it is available to everyone irrespective of their gender.
- Various courts across the country have also interpreted the right to marry as an integral part of the right to life under Article 21.
- A forced marriage is illegal in different personal laws on marriage in India, with the right to marry recognized under the Hindu laws as well as Muslim laws.
Other laws that lay down a person’s right to marry in India are:
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
- The Guardians and Wards Act, 1890
- The Majority Act, 1875
- The Family Courts Act, 1984
- The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
Back2Basics: Scope of Article 21
- Article 21, considered the heart and soul of the Constitution, states, ‘No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law.
It has a much more profound meaning that signifies the:
- Right to live with human dignity
- Right to livelihood
- Right to health
- Right to pollution-free air
- Right to live a quality life
- Right to go abroad
- Right to privacy
- Right against delayed execution,
And anything and everything that fulfils the criteria for a dignified life.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Apiculture and its benefits for farmers
10 out of 13 popular honey brands failed a key test of purity, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has claimed in an investigation.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following kinds of organisms:
- Bat
- Bee
- Bird
Which of the above is/are pollinating agent/agents?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Adulteration in honey
- The CSE has resorted to the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) testing to ascertain the composition of a product at the molecular level.
- The NMR test is not required by Indian law for honey that is being marketed locally but is needed for export.
- Current regulations specify around 18 parameters that honey must comply with for producers to label it ‘pure honey.
- Among the tests employed as per Indian regulations is one to check whether the honey is adulterated with C4 sugar (cane sugar) or C3 sugar (rice sugar).
- Most samples cleared these tests but failed another test called the Trace Marker for Rice test, to test for rice syrup adulteration.
Significance of the CSE study
- Adulteration of honey is a global problem with several countries, including India, devising regulations and new tests to check it.
- It also destroys the livelihoods of bee-keepers who found it unprofitable to make pure honey because sugar-syrup honey was often available at half the price.
- Some Indian companies in the honey business were importing synthetic sugar syrups from China to adulterate honey.
- This shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India.
Back2Basics: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
- NMR spectroscopy is a crucial analytical tool for organic chemists.
- It is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are perturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with a frequency characteristic of the magnetic field at the nucleus.
- It is widely used to determine the structure of organic molecules in solution and study molecular physics and crystals as well as non-crystalline materials.
- It is also routinely used in advanced medical imaging techniques, such as in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
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