Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Provisions related to sessions of legislatures
Mains level: Paper 2- Declining number of sittings of state legislature
Recently, Governor turned down the recommendation of the Kerala government to convene the session of the state legislature. It also points to the trend of declining seating of the state legislature and issues with it.
Governor-Government conflict
- The Kerala government made a recommendation to the governor for summoning the state’s legislature for a one-day session.
- The government wanted to discuss the situation arising out of the farmers’ protest in the legislative assembly.
- Media reports suggest that the governor turned down the government on the grounds that there is no emergent situation for which the state assembly should be called to meet at short notice.
- Earlier this year, the Rajasthan governor had rejected the recommendation of the government to call a session.
- The chief minister wanted a session of the legislature called so that he could prove his majority on the floor of the house.
Constitutional provisions
- The Constitution is clear: The government has the power to convene a session of the legislature.
- The council of ministers decides the dates and the duration of the session.
- Their decision is communicated to the governor, who is constitutionally bound to act on most matters on the aid and advice of the government.
- The governor then summons the state legislature to meet for a session.
- The refusal of a governor to do so is a matter of concern.
Declining sittings of the state legislature
- In the last 20 years, state assemblies across the country, on average, met for less than 30 days in a year.
- But states like Kerala, Odisha, Karnataka are an exception.
- The Kerala Vidhan Sabha, for example, has on average met for 50 days every year for the last 10 years.
- The trend across the country is that legislatures meet for longer budget sessions at the beginning of the year.
- Then for the rest of the year, they meet to fulfill the constitutional requirement that there should not be a gap of six months between two sessions.
Why is it a matter of concern
- Close scrutiny: Continuous and close scrutiny by legislatures is central to improving governance in the country.
- Voice to public opinion: Legislatures are arenas for debate and giving voice to public opinion.
- Accountability institutions: As accountability institutions, they are responsible for asking tough questions of the government and highlighting uncomfortable truths. So, it is in the interest of a state government to convene lesser sittings of the legislature and bypass their scrutiny.
- Prevent ordinance: Lesser number of sitting days also means that state governments are free to make laws through ordinances. And when they convene legislatures, there is little time for MLAs to scrutinize laws brought before them.
Way forward
- Convening legislatures to meet all around the year.
- In many mature democracies, a fixed calendar of sittings of legislatures, with breaks in between, is announced at the beginning of the year.
- It allows the government to plan its calendar for bringing in new laws.
- It also has the advantage of increasing the time for debate and discussion in the legislative assembly.
- And with the legislature sitting throughout the year, it gets rid of the politics surrounding the convening of sessions of a legislature.
Conclusion
Continuous and close scrutiny by legislatures is central to improving governance in the country. Increasing the number of working days for state legislatures is a first step in increasing their effectiveness.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Positive Pay System
Mains level: Positive Pay System
With the New Year, a new concept of Positive Pay System for Cheque Truncation System (CTS) will be introduced by the Banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking to further augment customer safety in cheque payments.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following is the most likely consequence of implementing the ‘Unified Payments Interface (UPI)’?
(a) Mobile wallets will not be necessary for online payments.
(b) Digital currency will totally replace the physical currency in about two decades.
(c) FDI inflows will drastically increase.
(d) Direct transfer of subsidies to poor people will become very effective.
Positive Pay System
- The concept of Positive Pay involves a process of reconfirming key details of large-value cheques.
- Put simply, cheques will be processed for payment by the drawee bank based on information passed on by its customer at the time of issuance of the cheque.
- When the beneficiary submits the cheque for encashment, the cheque details are compared with the details provided to the drawee bank through Positive Pay.
- If the details match, the cheque is honoured. In case of mismatch in cheque details, the discrepancy is flagged by CTS to the drawee bank and the presenting bank, which would take redress measures.
For cheques above 50k
- The banks are advised to enable it for all account-holders issuing cheques for amounts of ₹50,000 and above.
- While availing of this facility is at the discretion of the account-holder, banks may consider making it mandatory in case of cheques for amounts of ₹5 lakh and above, the RBI had said.
Benefits of the system
- Under the Positive Pay system, the drawee bank is already aware of the issuer the details of the high-value cheque (above ₹50,000) he has issued.
- Without this intimation, if a cheque gets presented, then the drawee bank can reject payment and examine the case. Positive Pay is going to benefit both the issuer and the beneficiary.
- For the issuer, the benefit from this concept is that there cannot be fraudulent cheques encashed out of issuer’s account.
- For the beneficiary, the benefit is that the cheques handed out to him will mostly get honoured.
Is Positive Pay the same as ‘certified cheque’?
- The concept of ‘certified cheque’ was there long back — about 30 years back, long before technology swept across the Indian banking landscape.
- Whenever anybody issued a cheque, banks used to certify that money is there in their customer’s bank account and, therefore, the cheque will get honoured.
- This provided comfort to a beneficiary that cheque payment will get honoured and therefore did not insist on a pay order or demand draft.
- Drawee banks used to earmark the amount in the account of the issuer and then certify the cheque.
- This was adopted in an era when the cheque instrument used to travel physically for clearing.
Why need such a system?
- The RBI says the Positive Pay system is to augment customer safety in cheque payments and reduce instances of fraud occurring on account of tampering of cheque leaves.
- Banks had recently witnessed a rise in frauds involving high-value cheques.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Visva-Bharati University
Mains level: Nationalist education during freedom struggle
The Visva-Bharati University established by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore has completed its centenary.
Do you remember the scheme of education by Gandhi Ji, called Nai Talim?
Visva-Bharati University
- The university was set up by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1921 at Santiniketan, Bolpur in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
- It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
- Until independence, it was a college. Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.
Its establishment
- The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, the zamindar of Kirnahar.
- He set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town.
- The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya.
- It was established with a view to encouraging people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate.
- In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.
What makes it special?
- Rabindranath Tagore believed in open-air education and had reservations about any teaching done within four walls.
- This was due to his belief that walls represent the conditioning of the mind.
- Tagore did not have a good opinion about the Western method of education introduced by the British in India; on this subject, Tagore and Gandhiji’s opinion matched.
- So he devised a new system of learning in Visva-Bharati. He allowed students to continue their course till the student and his teacher both are satisfied.
- At Visva-Bharati, if a course demanded by a student is not available, then the university will design a course and bring teachers for that course.
- The university would not be bothered by the consideration of whether there is a demand for the course.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fastag
Mains level: RFID technology
From January 1, all lanes of National Highways will accept only electronic payments through FASTag.
Fastags work on a unique technology called RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). This has gone unnoticed in several competitive exams. Hence it is still relevant for the aspirants.
Also read
Fastags
- As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since 1st December 2017, the FASTag had been made mandatory for all registered new four-wheelers and is being supplied by the Vehicle Manufacturer or their dealers.
- It has been mandated that the renewal of fitness certificate will be done only after the fitment of FASTag.
- For National Permit Vehicles, the fitment of FASTag was mandated since 1st October 2019.
What is ‘FASTag’?
- FASTags are stickers that are affixed to the windscreen of vehicles and use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to enable digital, contactless payment of tolls without having to stop at toll gates.
- The tags are linked to bank accounts and other payment methods.
- As a car crosses a toll plaza, the amount is automatically deducted, and a notification is sent to the registered mobile phone number.
How does it work?
- The device employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it.
- It is affixed on the windscreen, so the vehicle can drive through plazas without stopping.
- RFID technology is similar to that used in transport access-control systems, like Metro smart card.
- If the tag is linked to a prepaid account like a wallet or a debit/credit card, then owners need to recharge/top up the tag.
- If it is linked to a savings account, then money will get deducted automatically after the balance goes below a pre-defined threshold.
- Once a vehicle crosses the toll, the owner will get an SMS alert on the deduction. In that, it is like a prepaid e-wallet.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tso Kar Wetland Complex
Mains level: Ramsar wetlands in India
India has added Tso Kar Wetland Complex in Ladakh as its 42nd Ramsar site, which is a second one in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. With this, India now has forty-two Ramsar sites.
Try this PYQ:
In which one among the following categories of protected areas in India are local people not allowed to collect and use the biomass?
(a) Biosphere reserves
(b) National parks
(c) Wetlands declared under Ramsar convention
(d) Wildlife sanctuaries
Tso Kar Wetland Complex
- It is a high-altitude wetland complex, consisting of two principal waterbodies, Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake of about 438 hectares to the south, and Tso Kar itself, a hypersaline lake of 1800 hectares to the north.
- It is situated in the Changthang region of Ladakh.
- It is called Tso Kar, meaning white lake, because of the white salt efflorescence found on the margins due to the evaporation of highly saline water.
Ecological significance
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.
- They are, in fact, a major source of water and our main supply of freshwater comes from an array of wetlands which help soak rainfall and recharge groundwater.
- The Tso Kar Basin is an A1 Category Important Bird Area (IBA) as per BirdLife International and a key staging site in the Central Asian Flyway.
- The site is also one of the most important breeding areas of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) in India.
Back2Basics: Wetlands
- A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail.
- The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other landforms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.
What is the Ramsar Convention?
- The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is a treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of such sites.
- The convention, signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accords for preserving the ecological character of wetlands.
- Also known as the Convention on Wetlands, it aims to develop a global network of wetlands for the conservation of biological diversity and for sustaining human life.
- Over 170 countries are party to the Ramsar Convention and over 2,000 designated sites covering over 20 crore hectares have been recognised under it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Caspian Sea
Mains level: Ecocides and their impact
The Caspian is actually a lake, the largest in the world and it is experiencing a devastating decline in its water level that is about to accelerate.
Note the countries bordering the Caspian Sea: Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Or else remember the acronym ‘TARIK(h)’ (Hindi word for date).
You can frame a mnemonic statement of your choice. Do similarly for major lakes and inland seas. But dont let it move over TARIK pe TARIK!
Caspian Sea
- The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
- As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia.
- An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal that equilibrates through evaporation
- Its level is the product of how much water is flowing in from rivers, mostly the mighty Volga to the north, how much it rains and how much evaporates away.
- At the end of the century, the Volga and other northern rivers will still be there.
- However, a projected temperature rise of about 3℃ to 4℃ in the region will drive evaporation through the roof.
Now try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/ dried up in the recent past due to human activities?
- Aral Sea
- Black Sea
- Lake Baikal
Select the correct option using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 and 3 only
Why in news?
- By the end of the century, the Caspian Sea will be nine metres to 18 metres lower. That’s a depth considerably taller than most houses.
- The Caspian’s surface is already dropping by 7 cm every year, a trend likely to increase.
- It means the lake will lose at least 25 per cent of its former size, uncovering 93,000 sq km of dry land.
- If that new land were a country, it would be the size of Portugal.
Past strides in its level
- The Caspian Sea has a history of violent rises and falls.
- In Derbent, on the Caucasus coast of Russia, submerged ancient city walls testify to how low the sea was in medieval times.
- Around 10,000 years ago, the Caspian was about 100 metres lower.
- A few thousand years before that it was about 50 metres higher than today and even over spilt into the Black Sea.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Essential Commodities Act
Mains level: Paper 2- Importance of parliamentary procedure in the passage of laws
A key lesson from the farmers’ opposition to the farm laws is that following the parliamentary procedure in the passage of legislation always pays dividend more so if the changes introduced by the legislation bring substantial changes.
Vested interests resulting in opposition to legislation
- There are strong indications that the new legislation is desirable and will bring in much-needed market reforms in the overregulated farm sector.
- There is no contrary evidence that the new proposals will adversely affect farmers in the long run.
- There is no justification for a minimum support price regardless of demand and supply.
- Legislation that benefits the nation but hurts vested interests will always meet with vehement opposition.
How liberalisation helps: Lessons from non-agricultural sector
- The benefits of liberalising the non-agricultural sector of the economy in 1991 established that market forces cannot be ignored.
- For the first 30 years, under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, several control orders were passed.
- Orders under ECA were passed on products such as cement and steel, and these were intended to ensure their availability at fair prices.
- The result was just the opposite: Severe shortages, a huge black market and massive corruption.
- Equally disastrous were laws relating to monopolies and industrial development.
Importance of parliamentary procedures
- At the heart of a constitutional democracy based on the Westminster model is the importance of Parliament, which is the fountainhead of all laws.
- But, Parliament includes the Opposition as well and even though a bill may be certain to become the law, it is necessary that the established procedure is followed.
- In the face of opposition to the farm laws, it is necessary that the benefits of a new law are demonstrated through debate and discussion.
- There must be empirical or other evidence that shows the deleterious economic consequences of continuing with the status quo.
- As the farm bills marked a radical departure from the existing system of selling agricultural produce, the least that could have been done was to refer them to a Select Committee.
- It is a matter of concern that fewer and fewer bills are being referred to Select Committees or even deliberated upon.
- While 71 per cent of the bills were referred to a Select Committee in the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-14), only 25 per cent were so referred in the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19).
Way forward
- A new law can always come into force at a later date and can even be made applicable piecemeal.
- It is also possible to notify it to apply to select states or districts.
- If laws are likely to meet with opposition by vested interests, the best way to demonstrate their beneficial effects is to implement the laws in select states or districts for a year.
- It is worthwhile considering the implementation of a controversial law on a trial basis.
Consider the question “Describe the important role played by the Select Committee in the passage of the bill. Why the decline in the number of bills referred to the Select Committees is the matter of concern?”
Conclusion
The biggest lesson for the goverment is that following constitutional conventions always pays dividends — it benefits the nation and preserves the dignity of Parliament.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Labour codes
Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges of contractual labour despite the provision of fixed-term employment
The recent incident of violence at the iPhone manufacturing factory brought into focus the issue of contract labour. The article explains the reasons for its persistence despite the provision of fixed-term employment.
Difference between a contract worker and fixed-term worker
- Contract workers, who are hired via an intermediary (contractor) and are not on the payrolls of the company on whose shop floors they work.
- Fixed-term employees can be directly hired by employers without mediation by a middleman.
- They are ensured of the same work hours, wages, allowances, and statutory benefits that permanent workers in the establishment are entitled to.
- Employers are not required to provide retrenchment benefits to fixed-term employees.
- With an aim to discourage the use of contract workers the government introduced the option of fixed-term employment in the Code on Industrial Relations (2020).
Issues with the provision of fixed-term employment
- Fixed-term employment in India is indeed quite open-ended.
- The Code does not specify a minimum or maximum tenure for hiring fixed-term employees.
- Nor does it specify the number of times the contract can be renewed.
- The absence of such safeguards can lead to an erosion of permanent jobs.
- Workers may find themselves moving from one fixed-term contract to another, without any assurance of being absorbed as permanent workers by their employer.
So, why firms still hire contract workers?
- The cost of hiring contract workers continues to remain lower than the cost of hiring fixed-term employees. who are required to be paid pro-rata wages and social security including gratuity.
- In addition, the monitoring, legal compliance, and litigation costs are shifted onto the contractor in case of contract workers, thereby reducing the transaction costs of recruitment to firms.
- To encourage a shift away from contract workers to fixed-term employees, the government should have completely prohibited the use of contract labor in core activities
- Instead of completely prohibiting contract workers in core activities the Labour Code on Occupational Safety and Health has allowed it under certain conditions.
- Such a provision encourages the use of contract workers, undermining the initiative of introducing fixed-term employment.
Using PLI and Atmanirbhar Bharat to boost formal job creation
- The production linked incentive scheme (PLI) offers government subsidies for a limited period which is five years for mobile handsets.
- The objective of the PLI scheme is to create “good jobs”.
- It may have been more useful to link these incentives for which a financial outlay of Rs 1.45 lakh crore has been approved over five years for 10 sectors explicitly to job creation.
- Significantly, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, the government is offering provident fund subsidies to employers for hiring new formal workers.
- Both these programs could jointly be leveraged to give a big boost to formal job creation in the manufacturing sector.
Consider the question “Examine the reasons for the persistence of contractual labour despite the option of fixed-term employment. Also suggest the ways to increase the employment opportunities that are secure.”
Conclusion
The government should focus on the creation of employment opportunities that are secure through policies and laws.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Debate over Jallikattu
The Tamil Nadu government has permitted Jallikattu to be held across the state during the upcoming Pongal season.
51A (g) of the Constitution of India mandates every citizen to protect forests, lakes, rivers, wild animals etc. Apart from that, the Constitution also reminds us to show compassion towards birds and animals.
What is Jallikattu?
- It is a bull-taming sport and a disputed traditional event in which a bull such is released into a crowd of people.
- Multiple human participants attempt to grab the large hump on the bull’s back with both arms and hang on to it while the bull attempts to escape.
- Participants hold the hump for as long as possible, attempting to bring the bull to a stop. In some cases, participants must ride long enough to remove flags on the bull’s horns.
- It is typically practised in the state of Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal (harvest) celebrations in January.
A historic sport
- Jallikattu has been known to be practised during the Tamil classical period (400-100 BCE).
- It was common among the Ayar people who lived in the ‘Mullai (pastoral)’ division of the ancient Tamil country.
- Later, it became a platform for the display of bravery, and prize money was introduced for participation encouragement.
- A seal from the Indus Valley Civilization depicting the practise is preserved in the National Museum, New Delhi.
Why it is disputed?
- As there were incidents of injury and death associated with the sport, both to the participants and to the animals forced into it, animal rights organizations have called for a ban to the sport.
- This has resulted in the court banning it several times over the past years.
- However, with protest from the people against the ban, a new ordinance was made in 2017 to continue the sport.
Various concerns
- The event has caused several human deaths and injuries and there are several instances of fatalities to the bulls.
- Animal welfare concerns are related to the handling of the bulls before they are released and also during the competitor’s attempts to subdue the bull.
- Practices, before the bull is released, include prodding the bull with sharp sticks or scythes, extreme bending of the tail which can fracture the vertebrae, and biting of the bull’s tail.
- There are also reports of the bulls being forced to drink alcohol to disorient them, or chilli peppers being rubbed in their eyes to aggravate the bull.
- During attempts to subdue the bull, they are stabbed by various implements such as knives or sticks, punched, jumped on and dragged to the ground.
Why activists seek a ban over it?
- Animal rights activists argue that Jallikattu exploits the bull’s natural nervousness as prey animals by deliberately placing them in a terrifying situation.
- They are forced to run away from the competitors whom they perceive as predators and the practice effectively involves catching a terrified animal.
- Along with human injuries and fatalities, bulls themselves sometimes sustain injuries or die, which people may interpret as a bad omen for the village.
- An investigation by the Animal Welfare Board of India concluded that “Jallikattu is inherently cruel to animals”.
Arguments in favour of the sport
- According to its protagonists, it is not a leisure sport available but a way to promote and preserve the native livestock.
- Some believe that the sport also symbolizes a cordial man-animal relationship.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GCM, Cancun COP
Mains level: 1.5 C debate
The planet will breach the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels between 2027 and 2042 according to new research.
Ever wondered why is there so much of hue to halt the temperature rise at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and why not 2°C? Read this newscard to get aware….
What does that mean?
- The world will heat up more than it can take much earlier than anticipated.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had estimated that breach to occur between now and 2052.
- But researchers have now claimed to have introduced a more precise way to project the Earth’s temperature based on historical climate data.
The fuss over 1.5°C threshold
- For decades, researchers argued the global temperature rise must be kept below 2C by the end of this century to avoid the worst impacts.
- The idea of two degrees as the safe threshold for warming evolved over a number of years from the first recorded mention by economist William Nordhaus in 1975.
- By the mid-1990s, European ministers were signing up to the two-degree limit, and by 2010 Cancun COP it was official UN policy.
- However, small island states and low-lying countries were very unhappy with this perspective, because they believed it meant their territories would be inundated with sea-level rise.
- They commissioned research which showed that preventing temperatures from rising beyond 1.5C would give them a fighting chance.
Why 1.5°C is preferred over 2°C?
- Global warming is already impacting people and ecosystems. The risks at 1.5°C and 2°C are progressively higher.
- There will be worse heatwaves, drought and flooding at 2°C compared to 1.5°C. It is characterized as “substantial differences in extremes”.
- Sea levels are expected to rise 10cm higher this century under 2°C of warming than 1.5°C.
- The collapse of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica could lead to rises of several metres.
- The quantity and quality of staple crops suffer under 2°C warming compared to 1.5C, as do livestock. That is bad for the availability of food in many parts of the world.
New model shows the breach in threshold
- The study according to which prediction model deployed reduced uncertainties by half compared to the approach used by the IPCC.
- The IPCC uses the General Circulation Models (GCM) to express wide ranges in overall temperature projections.
- This makes it difficult to circle outcomes in different climate mitigation scenarios.
What is the General Circulation Model (GCM)?
- GCM represents physical processes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and land surface.
- It is the most advanced tool currently available for simulating the response of the global climate system to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.
- GCMs depict the climate using a three-dimensional grid over the globe, typically having a horizontal resolution of between 250 and 600 km.
- Many physical processes, such as those related to clouds, also occur at smaller scales and cannot be properly modelled.
Why GCM is tricky?
- Climate models are mathematical simulations of different factors that interact to affect Earth’s climate, such as the atmosphere, ocean, ice, land surface and the sun.
- The data is tricky, and predictions can more often than not be inaccurate.
- For example, an IPCC model would predict a temperature increase of a massive range — between 1.9oC and 4.5oC — if carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is doubled.
Back2Basics: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- The IPCC is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations that is dedicated to providing the world with an objective, scientific information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of the risk of human-induced climate change.
- It was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
- Its membership is open to all members of the WMO and UN.
- The IPCC produces reports that contribute to the work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the main international treaty on climate change.
- The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report was a critical scientific input into the UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement in 2015.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Farmers’ Day
Mains level: Not Much
National Farmers’ Day, or Kisan Diwas, is celebrated across the country on December 23 to honour India’s farmers.
Do you think that the extraordinary haste with which the farm bills were pushed through both the Houses has created the present crisis?
National Farmers’ Day
- It marks the birth anniversary of the nation’s fifth PM Choudhary Charan Singh.
- In 2001, the government decided to recognise Choudhary Charan Singh’s contribution to the agriculture sector and welfare of farmers by celebrating his birth anniversary as Kisan Diwas.
- Since then, December 23 has been observed as National Farmers’ Day.
- Generally, awareness campaigns and drives are organised across the country to educate people on the role of farmers and their contribution to the economy.
Who was CCS and what was his connection with farmers?
- Chaudhary Charan Singh, who briefly served as PM between 1979 and 1980, is widely regarded as one of the country’s most famous peasant leaders.
- He was known for his pioneering work to promote the welfare of farmers and the agricultural sector.
- Charan Singh was no stranger to the struggles faced by the Indian farmer. He was born into a middle-class peasant family in Uttar Pradesh on December 23, 1902.
- Greatly influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, he took an active part in the fight for independence.
- After that, his political career largely focused on socialism in rural India.
Major legislations
- He was behind several major farmer-forward Bills, including the Land Utilization Bill of 1939 and the Debt Redemption Bill in 1939.
- While serving as agriculture minister in 1952, he led UP in its efforts to abolish the Zamindari system.
- In fact, he went on to draft the UP Zamindari and Land Reforms Bill himself.
- On 23 December 1978, he founded the Kisan Trust — a non-political, non-profit making body — with the aim of educating India’s rural masses against injustice, and fostering solidarity among them.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Welfare schemes for various vulnerable sections of population
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved changes to the post-matric scholarship scheme for students from the Scheduled Castes (SCs), including a new funding pattern of 60-40 for the Centre and States.
Note:
Equality enshrined in the Constitution is not mathematical equality and does not mean all citizens will be treated alike without any distinction.
To this effect, the Constitution underlines two distinct aspects which together form the essence of equality law:
1) Non-discrimination among equals, and
2) Affirmative action to equalize the unequal
About the Scholarship
- It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and implemented through State Government and UT administration.
- Under the scheme, the government provides financial assistance to students from SCs for higher education at post-matriculation and post-senior-secondary stages, which means Class XI onwards.
- It can be availed by those, whose household incomes are less than Rs 2.5 lakh annually.
What are the new changes?
- States would carry out verification of the students’ eligibility and caste status and collect their Aadhaar and bank account details.
- Transfer of financial assistance to the students under the scheme shall be on DBT [direct benefit transfer] mode, and preferably using the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System.
- Starting from 2021-22, the Central share [60%] in the scheme would be released on DBT mode directly into the bank accounts of the students as per a fixed time schedule.
Why such changes now?
- The changes were aimed at enabling four crore students to access higher education over the next five years.
- Switching from the existing “committed liability” formula, the new funding pattern would increase the Centre’s involvement in the scheme.
Benefits of the scheme
- The changes approved by the Cabinet were aimed at enrolling the poorest students, ensuring timely payments, and maintaining accountability.
- An estimated 1.36 crore students who would otherwise drop out after Class 10 would be brought into the higher education system under the scheme in five years.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Food Security Act
Mains level: Paper 3- Problem of food subsidy and excess grain stocks
The article highlights the challenge of managing the procurement of wheat and rice at MSP by the FCI and maintaining its financial health.
The problem of surplus in wheat and rice procurement
- While MSP is declared for 23 crops, the biggest financial burden comes from wheat and rice.
- Procurement has increased significantly with states like MP, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Odisha stepping up their efforts.
- Overall procurement of rice and wheat has gone up to 52 million tonnes and 39 million tonnes, respectively.
- The requirement of PDS and welfare schemes is about 60 million tonnes.
- This leaves a surplus of about 30 million tonnes, in addition to the carry-over stock of about 42 million tonnes (current)—far above the buffer and strategic reserve norms.
Cost of the surplus and its significance
- The subsidy burden for rice and wheat (2020-21) is estimated to be Rs 1.8 lakh crore.
- FCI procures wheat and rice at MSP (some states do so under the decentralised procurement & distribution scheme).
- They incur costs like market fees, labour charges, packing costs, transport, storage charges, etc.
- These are of the order of 9% for procurement, 9-11% for labour and transport, and 15-17% for distribution.
- The sale price is fixed at Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg for wheat and rice, respectively, under the National Food Security Act.
- In addition, there are releases under LEAN (lower entitlements and higher costs compared to NFSA cards, but subsidised nonetheless) and Open Market Sales (OMSS).
- Cost of holding the buffer for a year is about Rs 5,500 per tonne.
- FCI is holding 39 million tonnes of rice and 55 million tonnes of wheat (July 2020) against the buffer/strategic reserve norm of 13.5 million tonnes of rice and 27.6 million tonnes of wheat, i.e., a surplus of 52 million tonnes.
- The cost of holding this stock works out to Rs 29,000 crore per year.
Financial burden on FCI
- The finance ministry has not been able to allocate adequate funds to meet the full requirement of food subsidy.
- Under-provisioning on this account has been going on, and FCI was being given loans at 8% interest from the National Savings Scheme Fund (NSSF) since 2016-17.
- The outstanding loan on this account (October 31, 2020) is Rs 2,93,000 crore.
- This has meant FCI getting zero budgetary support against current subsidy claims since 2017, thereby, postponing the problem year after year.
- The subsidy burden is rising (with MSP increasing every year, quantities going up and prices under PDS fixed), and is likely to cross Rs 2 lakh crore.
Conclusion
Government need to bring in the reforms in the PDS and MSP regime to stop both the systems from collapsing under their own weights.
Source:-
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/union-budget-2021-22-the-burgeoning-food-subsidy-bill-will-be-a-key-budget-worry/2155584/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Targets under the Paris Agreement
Mains level: Paper 3- 5 years of Paris Agreement and actions of EU and India
This article by the Ambassador of the European Union underscores the need for implementation and action on the commitments made in the Paris Agreement to deal with climate change.
EU’s commitment to implement Paris Agreement
- In December 2019, the European Commission launched the European Green Deal — roadmap to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050.
- “Next Generation EU” recovery package and our next long-term budget earmark more than half a trillion euros to address climate change.
- Recently EU leaders unanimously agreed on the 2030 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% compared to 1990 levels.
Impact on low carbon technologies
- These actions and commitments of the EU towards Paris Agreement will further bring down the costs of low carbon technologies.
- The cost of solar photovoltaics has already declined by 82% between 2010 and 2019.
- Achieving the 55% target will even help us to save €100 billion in the next decade and up to €3 trillion by 2050.
EU working with India on climate actions
- No government can tackle climate change alone.
- India is a key player in this global endeavour.
- The rapid development of solar and wind energy in India in the last few years is a good example of the action needed worldwide.
- India has taken a number of very significant flagship initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Leadership Group for Industry Transition.
- India and Team Europe are engaged to make a success of the forthcoming international gatherings: COP 26 in Glasgow on climate change and COP 15 in Kunming on biodiversity.
Way forward
- The international community should come forward with clear strategies for net-zero emissions and to enhance the global level of ambition for 2030.
- Our global, regional, national, local and individual recovery plans are an opportunity to ‘build back better’.
- We will also need to foster small individual actions to attain a big collective impact.
Conclusion
With climate neutrality as our goal, the world should mobilise its best scientists, business people, policymakers, academics, civil society actors and citizens to protect together something we all share beyond borders and species: our planet.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: League of Nations
Mains level: Paper 2- Changing global order and opportunities for India
Despite China’s rise, the world will remain committed to multi-polar order. The article highlights the emerging trends in the global order against the backdrop of a pandemic and explains how there could be an opportunity for India.
Changing geopolitical landscape and choices India face
- As the world is slowly recovering from the disruption caused by the pandemic, there are worrying intimations of other crises looming round the corner.
- Geopolitics has been transformed and power equations are being altered.
- There are a new set of winners and losers in the economic changes.
- Technological advancement will magnify these changes.
- India will need to make difficult judgements about the world that is taking shape and find its place in a more complex and shifting geopolitical landscape.
- As the pandemic recedes, the world could draw the right lessons and proceed on a more hopeful trajectory.
Unlearnt lessons: lack of international cooperation
- Most challenges the world faces are global, like the pandemic.
- However, international cooperation in either developing an effective vaccine or responding to its health impacts has been minimal.
- The pre-existing trend towards nationalist urgings, the weakening of international institutions and multilateral processes continues.
- Even in the distribution of vaccines, we are witnessing a cornering of supplies by a handful of rich nations.
Need for a collaborative solution
- Global challenges such as climate change, cybersecurity, space security, terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and ocean and terrestrial pollution demand collaborative, not competitive solutions.
- The challenges require some display of statesman-like leadership to mobilise action on a global scale.
- The nation-state will endure but its conduct will need to be tempered by a spirit of internationalism and a sense of common humanity.
Role of China and Asia
- The pre-pandemic shift in the centre of gravity of the global economy and political power and influence, from the trans-Atlantic to the trans-Pacific, has been reinforced under the impact of the crisis.
- East Asian and South-East Asian countries are the first to register the green shoots of recovery.
- China has been the first large economy to witness a significant rebound in its growth rate.
- The regional supply chains centred on China have been reinforced rather than disrupted.
- China will emerge in pole position in the geopolitical sweepstakes commencing in 2021.
- The power gap with its main rival, the US, will shrink further.
Why should India prefer multi-polar world order
- As the power gap between India and China is expanding, the threat from China will intensify and demand asymmetrical coping strategies.
- Despite China emerging a relative gainer from the pandemic the trend towards multi-polarity is here to stay.
- Neither the US nor China can singly or as a duopoly manage a much more diffused distribution of economic and military capabilities across the globe.
- This is only possible through multilateral approaches and adherence to the principle of equitable burden-sharing.
- But a multipolar order can only be stable and keep the peace with a consensus set of norms, managed through empowered institutions of international governance and multilateral processes.
- India’s instinctive preference has been for a multipolar order as the best assurance of its security and as most conducive to its own social and economic development.
- India now has the opportunity to make multipolar order as its foreign policy priority as this aligns with the interests of a large majority of middle and emerging powers.
- This will be an important component of a strategy to meet the China challenge.
The favourable geopolitical moment for India
- Due to China’s aggressive posture across the board and its unilateral assertions of power, there is a significant push-back even from smaller countries, for example, in South-East Asia and Africa.
- China’s blatant “weaponisation of economic interdependence” such as action against Australia, has made its economic partners increasingly wary.
- In this context, India is seen as a potential and credible countervailing power to resist Chinese ambitions.
- The world wants India to succeed because it is regarded as a benign power wedded to a rule-based order.
- India can leverage this propitious moment to encourage a significant flow of capital, technology and knowledge to accelerate its own modernisation.
Consider the question “Though it may sound counterintuitive, India which is dealing with pessimism about its economic prospect in the wake of the pandemic, may be located at favourable geopolitical moment” Comment.
Conclusion
India should seize the opportunity and make multi-polar world order a pillar of its foreign policy to counter China threat while trying to leverage the moment to attract the flow of capital, technology and knowledge to accelerate its own modernisation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: TIbetan issue
The US and China sparred over Tibet and the South China Sea over the passing of the Tibetan Policy and Support Act (TPSA).
Do you think that India’s support for the Tibetan cause is the root cause of all irritants in India-China relations?
About TPSA
- The TPSA once signed into law would make it the official policy of the US Government to oppose any effort by the govt. of the People’s Republic of China to select, educate, and venerate Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders in a manner inconsistent with Tibetan Buddhism.
- The proposed legislation will empower the US Government to impose sanctions on China who might try to interfere in the process of selecting the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama.
Why such a law?
- Tibetans were concerned over the possibility of the Chinese Government making an attempt to install someone loyal to it as the 15th Dalai Lama after the death of the incumbent.
- The PRC could use him as a puppet to fizzle out the global campaign against its occupation of Tibet.
- The incumbent and the 14th Dalai Lama have been living in exile in India ever since his 1959 escape from Tibet, which had been occupied by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in 1950-51.
- He has been leading the movement for “genuine autonomy” for Tibet and the Tibetans.
Significance of TPSA
- The TPSA acknowledged the legitimacy of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile elected by the exiled community as well as the CTA.
- It seeks to introduce key provisions aimed at protecting the environment and water resources on the Tibetan Plateau.
- In an aggressive move, the PRC government has forced resettlement of the nomads from grasslands.
- TPSA recognizes the importance of traditional Tibetan grassland stewardship in mitigating the negative effects of climate change in the region.
- In addition, it calls for greater international cooperation to monitor the environment on the Tibetan plateau.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: India's population boom
The latest data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) proves that the country’s population is stabilizing and fears over a “population explosion” and calls for a “two-child policy” is misguided.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Economic growth in country X will necessarily have to occur if
(a) There is technical progress in the world economy
(b) There is population growth in X
(c) There is capital formation in X
(d) The volume of trade grows in the world economy
Two-Child Policy
- The two-child policy is a state-imposed limit of two children allowed per family or the payment of government subsidies only to the first two children.
- A two-child policy has previously been used in several countries including Iran, Singapore, and Vietnam.
- In British Hong Kong in the 1970s, citizens were also highly encouraged to have two children as a limit (although it was not mandated by law), and it was used as part of the region’s family planning strategies.
- Since 2016, it has been re-implemented in China replacing the country’s previous one-child policy.
Present status in India
- There is no national policy mandating two children per family.
- A parliamentarian had tabled a Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2019 on the matter, proposing incentives for smaller families.
- PM in 2019 had appealed to the country that population control was a form of patriotism.
- Months later, the NITI Aayog called various stakeholders for a national-level consultation on the issue, which was subsequently cancelled following media glare on it.
- In 2020, the PM spoke about a likely decision on revising the age of marriage for women, which many stakeholders view as an indirect attempt at controlling the population size.
Why doesn’t India need it?
- The survey provides evidence of uptake in the use of modern contraceptives in rural and urban areas.
- It gives an improvement in family planning demands being met and a decline in the average number of children borne by a woman.
- The report stated that most States have attained replacement level fertility, i.e., the average number of children born per woman at whom a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Matter, Anti-matter
Mains level: Formation of the universe and the Big Bang
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in DownToEarth.
Try 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?
(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.
What is Antimatter?
- Antimatter is the opposite of normal matter. More specifically, the sub-atomic particles of antimatter have properties opposite those of normal matter.
- The electrical charge of those particles is reversed.
- Antimatter was created along with matter after the Big Bang, but antimatter is rare in today’s universe.
- To better understand antimatter, one needs to know more about the matter.
- The matter is made up of atoms, which are the basic units of chemical elements such as hydrogen, helium or oxygen.
Their existence
- The existence of antimatter was predicted by physicist Paul Dirac’s equation describing the motion of electrons in 1928.
- At first, it was not clear if this was just a mathematical quirk or a description of a real particle.
- But in 1932 Carl Anderson discovered an antimatter partner to the electron — the positron — while studying cosmic rays that rain down on Earth from space.
- Over the next few decades’ physicists found that all matter particles have antimatter partners.
- Scientists believe that in the very hot and dense state shortly after the Big Bang, there must have been processes that gave preference to matter over antimatter.
- This created a small surplus of matter, and as the universe cooled, all the antimatter was destroyed, or annihilated, by an equal amount of matter, leaving a tiny surplus of matter.
- And it is this surplus that makes up everything we see in the universe today.
Studying the difference between matter and antimatter
- A Quark is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter.
- Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei.
- The behaviour of quarks, which are the fundamental building blocks of matter along with leptons, can shed light on the difference between matter and antimatter.
- Since they are unstable, they will “decay” — fall apart — into other more stable particles at some point during their oscillation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Great Indian Bustard
Mains level: Not Much
The Environment Ministry along with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India has come up with a unique initiative a “firefly bird diverter” for overhead power lines in areas where Great Indian Bustard (GIB) populations are found in the wild.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?
(a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda, Asiatic Wild Ass
(b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetah, Blue Bull, Great Indian Bustard.
(c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey, Saras (Crane)
(d) Lion Tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur, Cheetah
Great Indian Bustard
- The GIB is one of the heaviest flying birds and can weigh up to 15 kg which grows up to one metre in height.
- In July 2011, the bird was categorised as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- It is considered the flagship grassland species, representing the health of the grassland ecology.
- For long, conservationists have been demanding to secure this population, warning that the bird might get extinct in the coming decades.
- It would become the first mega species to disappear from India after Cheetah in recent times.
- Till the 1980s, about 1,500-2,000 Great Indian Bustards were spread throughout the western half of India, spanning eleven states.
- However, with rampant hunting and declining grasslands, their population dwindled.
Bird Diverters
- The diverters are called fireflies because they look like fireflies from a distance, shining on power lines in the night.
- GIBs are one of the heaviest flying birds in India. Therefore, when they encounter these wires, they are unable to change the direction of their flight.
- Death is most cases is due to impact with the wires and not due to electrocution.
- The diverter will not only save GIB but other species of large birds, including migratory birds.
Why such a move?
- GIB is one of the most critically threatened species in India, with less than 150 birds left in the wild.
- A report has pointed out that power lines, especially high-voltage transmission lines with multiple overhead wires, are the most important current threat for GIBs in the Thar region.
- They are causing unsustainably high mortality in about 15% of their population.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Coalition with the European middle powers
The article explains the shift in India’s foreign policy in its relations with the European middle powers against the backdrop of churn in the geopolitics.
India’s changing perception of Europe
- Three recent developments underline India’s changing perceptions of Europe.
- 1) India’s support for France’s membership of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
- 2) India’s backing for a larger European role in the Indo-Pacific.
- Delhi has welcomed the interest of Germany and the Netherlands in building a new geopolitical architecture in the Indo-Pacific.
- 3) Security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific is also emerging as an important theme in partnership between India and the U.K.
Reasons for India’s shift
- India is looking beyond the bipolar geopolitical competition between the US and China.
- Delhi also wants to insure against the inevitable volatility in the complex dynamic between Washington and Beijing.
- To cope with the uncertain political trajectory of the US, Delhi is already supplementing its American partnership with a network of multilateral groups with other middle powers, such as the India-Australia-Japan forum and the trilateral dialogue with France and Australia.
Rebuilding ties with Europe and challenges
- Rebuilding ties with Europe needs a significant corrective to Delhi’s traditional strategic neglect of the continent.
- The bipolar Cold War dynamic and the North-South framework developing world versus the developed prevented Delhi from taking a more nuanced view of Europe’s political agency after WWII.
- Attempts to impart strategic momentum after the Cold War did not really succeed.
- As the economic gap between China and India widened, so did the scale of European interest in both countries.
- It is also true that the European ability to project military power into the Indo-Pacific is limited.
- But in combination with Asian democracies, Europe can certainly make a difference.
- It can mobilize massive economic resources, wield political influence, and leverage its significant soft power to shape the Indo-Pacific discourse.
An exceptional relationship with Frace
- France has been an exception in Europe in its connection with India.
- India’s partnership with France now has a strong regional anchor — the Indo-Pacific as it has its territories in the Western Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.
- France and Britain have lingering disputes leftover from the era of decolonization in parts of the Western Indian Ocean.
- India will have to contribute to the amicable resolution of those problems.
Consider the question “A strong coalition with the European middle powers should be the indispensable element of India’s foreign policy in the face of changing geopolitical circumstances. Comment.”
Conclusion
As China transforms the Eurasian landmass as well as the Indo-Pacific, it is abundantly clear that the US alone cannot redress the imbalance. A strong coalition of Asian and European middle powers must now be an indispensable element of the geopolitics of the East. Such a coalition can’t be built overnight. But India could push for a solid start in 2021.
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