Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Fifth Science Policy
The article elaborates on the various aspect of the 5th Science Policy.
Scientific publication from India and issues with it
- From the report published by the National Science Foundation of the U.S. in December 2019, India was the third-largest publisher of peer-reviewed science and engineering journal articles and conference papers, with 135,788 articles in 2018.
- This milestone was achieved through an average yearly growth rate of 10.73% from 2008, which was greater than China’s 7.81%.
- However, China and the United States had about thrice and twice the number, respectively, of India’s publications.
- Also, the publications from India are not impactful.
- From the report, in the top 1% of the most cited publications from 2016 (called HCA, or Highly Cited Articles), India’s index score of 0.7 is lower than that of the U.S., China and the European Union.
- An index score of 1 or more is considered good.
- The inference for India is that the impact, and hence the citation of publications from India, should improve.
Patents filed by India
- The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) through their Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is the primary channel of filing international patent applications.
- In its report for 2019, WIPO says India filed a modest number of 2,053 patent applications.
- Compared to the 58,990 applications filed by China and 57,840 by the U.S., India has a long way to go.
- The Indian Government put in place the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy in 2016 to “stimulate a dynamic, vibrant and balanced intellectual property rights system”.
- One of the objectives is human capital development.
- The mission to foster innovation, replicate it at scale and commercialise it is a work in progress consequent to the policy.
India’s Science Policies
- There have been four science policies till now, after 1947, with the draft of the fifth policy having been released recently.
- India’s first science policy adopted in 1958.
- It led to the establishment of many research institutes and national laboratories, and by 1980.
- The focus in the second science policy, Technology Policy Statement, in 1983, was technological self-reliance and to use technology to benefit all sections of the society.
- The Science and Technology Policy 2003, the first science policy after the economic liberalisation of 1991, aimed to increase investment in research and development and brought it to 0.7%.
- The Scientific and Engineering Research Board (SERB) was established to promote research.
- In 2013, India’s science policy included Innovation in its scope and was called Science, Technology and Innovation Policy.
- The focus was to be one of the top five global scientific leaders, which India achieved.
What 5th science policy seeks to achieve
- The draft of the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP2020) has an ambitious vision to “double the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers, Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) and private sector contribution to the GERD every 5 years” .
- It also aims to “position India among the top three scientific superpowers in the next decade”.
- It also defines strategies to improve funding for and participation in research. India’s Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) is currently around 0.6% of GDP.
- This is quite low when compared to the investments by the U.S. and China which are greater than 2% and Israel’s GERD is more than 4%.
- The policy seeks to define strategies that are “decentralized, evidence-informed, bottom-up, experts-driven, and inclusive”.
Solutions to improve funding
- STIP2020 defines solutions to improve funding thus: all States to fund research, multinational corporations to participate in research, fiscal incentives and support for innovation in medium and small scale enterprises.
- The new measures should not become a pretext to absolve the Union and State governments of their primacy in funding research; the government should invest more into research.
Other critical focus areas
- 1) Other critical focal areas ar inclusion of under-represented groups of people in research.
- 2) Support for indigenous knowledge systems.
- 3) Using artificial intelligence.
- 4) Reaching out to the Indian scientific diaspora for collaboration.
- 5) Science diplomacy with partner countries.
- 6) Setting up a strategic technology development fund to give impetus to research.
Conclusion
More specific directives and implementation with a scientific temper without engaging in hyperbole will be key to the policy’s success; and its success is important to us because, as Carl Sagan said, “we can do science, and with it we can improve our lives”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with the challenges of Big Tech
The article highlights the challenges in regulating the Big Techs.
Controlling Big Tech
- Recently, the Indian government announced a sweeping array of rules reining-in social media.
- Specifically, social media platforms are required to become “more responsible and more accountable” for the content they carry.
- India is by no means alone in taking steps to regulate at Big Tech.
- The social media companies would argue that they are self-regulating.
- The problem is that their actions are ad hoc, inconsistent and reactive
Issues
- A user can be removed from the platform if his post threatens the “unity, integrity, defence, security or Sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any foreign States”.
- In other words, the government is giving itself plenty of room to cut Big Tech down to size.
Why the issue needs government intervention: 3 arguments
1) Conflict of interest
- The government intervention rests on the presumption that it is never in the commercial interest of Big Tech to remove offensive speech.
- This is because as such content goes viral more readily, bringing in more eyeballs, more data and more advertising revenue.
- Big Tech proponents would contend that the companies are getting smarter about the risks of allowing such content on their systems and will inevitably find it in their self-interest to pre-emptively kill it.
2) State is the guardian of public interest
- A second argument in favour of government would be as follows: States are the guardians of the public interest.
- In democratic societies, governments are elected to represent the will of the people.
- So if there is a hard choice to be made about curtailing speech or permitting it, it seems only natural to turn to the public guardian.
- The counter to this theory would be that, in practice, even democratically elected governments are far from perfect.
- In fact according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, both India (ranked 53rd ) and the US (ranked 25th) are “flawed democracies”.
- In parallel, the argument for Big Tech to be the upholder of the public interest could rest on the theory that well-functioning markets are superior to flawed democracies in optimising social welfare.
- The counter-argument to this view would be that the tech industry is itself deeply flawed.
- There is a lack of sufficient choice of platforms; there are asymmetries in power between the companies and users and Big Tech is amassing data on the citizens and using this information for its own purposes, which makes the disparity even greater.
3) Bargaining power of BigTech
- A third perspective is to acknowledge it doesn’t matter who is the “true” upholder of the public interest.
- For all practical purposes, the outcome of the struggle between Big Government and Big Tech will be determined by relative bargaining power.
- While governments technically have the ability to take entire platforms offline within the borders of their countries, these platforms are now so enormous that their users would revolt.
- This is why we witnessed the audacity, recently, of Google and Facebook, threatening to de-platform Australia.
Consider the question “What are the challenges in the regulation of Big Techs? Suggest ways to deal with these challenges.”.
Conclusion
While governments technically have the ability to take entire platforms offline within the borders of their countries, these platforms are now so enormous that their users would revolt. This is why we witnessed the audacity, recently, of Google and Facebook, threatening to de-platform Australia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Buddha's Mudra, Vajrayana Sect
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has unearthed a Buddhist monastery, believed to be at least 900 years old, buried under a mound in a village situated in a hilly area of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.
Details of the excavation
- The findings were significant since the monastery is on the old route to Varanasi, 10 km from Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon.
- Archaeologists found four statues of the deity Tara in Varad Mudra and six statues of the Buddha in bhumisparsa Mudra
- So it is a significant finding as deity Tara’s statues mean this was an important centre of the Vajrayana sect of Buddhism.
- Vajrayana is a form of Tantric Buddhism, which flourished in India from the 6th to 11th century.
Tap to read more about Buddhism at:
Chapter 5 | Mauryan Period (400BC – 200BC)
Learning: Various Mudra of Buddha
PC: Pinterest
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: E-Daakhil
Mains level: Consumer greivances redressal mechanisms
The Union Government has informed that the ‘E-Daakhil’ portal for consumer grievance redressal is now operational in 15 states and Union Territories (UTs).
Try this question from our AWE initiative:
What are the objectives sought to be achieved through The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 to regulate commercial transactions? What are the issues with the rules? 10 marks
E-Daakhil
- The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which came into force on July 20, 2020, has a provision for e-filing of consumer complaints in the consumer commissions and online payment of the fees for filing a complaint.
- A web application for e-filing of consumer complaints named ‘edaakhil.nic.in’ has been developed by NIC for the purpose.
- E-filing was launched by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) on September 7, 2020.
- Delhi was the first state to implement it on September 8, 2020.
Features of the portal
- The E-Daakhil portal empowers the consumer and their advocates to file the consumer complaints along with payment of requisite fees online from anywhere for the redressal of their complaints.
- It facilitates the consumer commissions to scrutinise the complaints online to accept, reject or forward the complaint to the concerned commission for further processing.
- The digital software for filing consumer complaints has many features like e-notice, case document download link and virtual hearing link, filing written response by the opposite party, fling rejoinder by complainant and alerts via SMS/e-mail.
- To facilitate the rural consumers for e-filing, it has been decided to integrate the common service centres (CSC) with the E-Daakhil portal.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Krishnadevaraya
Mains level: Vijayanagara empire
The first-ever epigraphical reference to the date of death of Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya has been discovered in the Tumakuru district of Karnataka.
Try this question from CS Mains 2016:
Q.Krishnadevaraya, the King of Vijayanagara was not only an accomplished scholar himself, but was also a great patron of learning and literature. Discuss.
Who was Krishnadevaraya?
- Krishna Devaraya was the emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire during 1509–1529. He was the third ruler of the Tuluva Dynasty and is considered to be its greatest ruler.
- He possessed the largest empire in India after the decline of the Delhi Sultanate.
- Krishnadevaraya earned the titles Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana (lit, “Lord of the Kannada empire”), Andhra Bhoja (lit, “Andhra Bhoja(Scholar) King”) and Mooru Rayara Ganda (lit, “King of Three Kings”).
- He became the dominant ruler of the peninsula of India by defeating the Sultans of Bijapur, Golconda, the Bahmani Sultanate and the Gajapatis of Odisha, and was one of the most powerful Hindu rulers in India.
- Indeed, when the Mughal Emperor Babur was taking stock of the potentates of north India, Krishnadevaraya was rated the most powerful and had the most extensive empire in the subcontinent.
- Portuguese travellers Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz also visited the Vijayanagara Empire during his reign.
His literary work
- The rule of Krishnadevaraya was an age of prolific literature in many languages, although it is also known as a golden age of Telugu literature.
- He was fluent in many languages like Kannada, Marathi, Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil.
- Eight Telugu poets were regarded as eight pillars of his literary assembly and known as Ashtadiggajas. He himself composed an epic Telugu poem Amuktamalyada.
- He took the title of Abhinava-Bhoja and Sakala-Kala-Bhoja (“Bhoja of all the arts”) in honour of Parmara emperor Bhoja who was a polymath, a master of 64 arts and a military genius.
What does the inscription say?
- As per the inscription, Krishnadevaraya died on October 17, 1529, Sunday.
- Incidentally, this day was marked by a lunar eclipse.
- The inscription also registers the gift of village Honnenahalli in Tumakuru for conducting worship to the god Veeraprasanna Hanumantha of Tumakuru.
- The Kalahasti inscription refers to the date of Achyutaraya’s (his successor) coronation as October 21, 1529 AD.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Caracal and its IUCN status
Mains level: Species Recovery Programme of NBWL
The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and MoEFCC last month included the caracal, a medium-sized wildcat found in parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, in the list of critically endangered species under the Species Recovery Programme.
Caracal in India
IUCN status: Least Concerned
- The wildcat has long legs, a short face, long canine teeth, and distinctive ears — long and pointy, with tufts of black hair at their tips.
- The iconic ears are what give the animal its name — caracal comes from the Turkish karakulak, meaning ‘black ears’.
- In India, it is called siya gosh, a Persian name that translates as ‘black Ear’.
- A Sanskrit fable exists about a small wild cat named deergha-karn or ‘long-eared’.
- While it flourishes in parts of Africa, its numbers in Asia are declining.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Wildlife: Naturally found in
- Blue-finned Mahseer: Cauvery River
- Irrawaddy Dolphin: Chambal River
- Rusty-spotted Cat: Eastern Ghats
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched? (CSP 2018)
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
In history and myth
- The earliest evidence of the caracal in the subcontinent comes from a fossil dating back to the civilization of the Indus Valley c. 3000-2000 BC.
- The caracal has traditionally been valued for its litheness and extraordinary ability to catch birds in flight; it was a favourite coursing or hunting animal in medieval India.
- Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351-88) had siyah-goshdar khana, stables that housed large numbers of coursing caracal.
- It finds mention in Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama, like a hunting animal in the time of Akbar (1556-1605).
- Descriptions and illustrations of the caracal can be found in medieval texts such as the Anvar-i-Suhayli, Tutinama, Khamsa-e-Nizami, and Shahnameh.
- The East India Company’s Robert Clive is said to have been presented with a caracal after he defeated Siraj-ud-daullah in the Battle of Plassey (1757).
Back2Basics: Species Recovery Programme of NBWL
- The programme is one of the three components of the centrally funded scheme, Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH).
- Started in 2008-09, IDWH is meant for providing support to protected areas, protection of wildlife outside protected areas and recovery programmes for saving critically endangered species and habitats.
- So far, the recovery programme for critically endangered species in India now includes 22 wildlife species.
- The NBWL in 2018 has added four species- the Northern River Terrapin, Clouded Leopard, Arabian Sea Humpback Whale, Red Panda- to the list.
- Other species include the Snow Leopard, Bustard (including Floricans), Dolphin, Hangul, Nilgiri Tahr, Marine Turtles, Dugongs, Edible Nest Swiftlet, Asian Wild Buffalo, Nicobar Megapode, Manipur Brow-antlered Deer, Vultures, Malabar Civet, Indian Rhinoceros, Asiatic Lion, Swamp Deer and Jerdon’s Courser.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mannathu Padmanabhan
Mains level: Not Much
The Prime Minister has tweeted tributes to Sri Mannathu Padmanabhan on his death anniversary.
UPSC is digging deeper in the regional freedom movements to get such questions beyond our knowledge base.Try this question from CSP 2020
Q.The Vital Vidhvansak, the first monthly journal to have the untouchable people as its target audience was published by:
(a) Gopal Babu Walangkar
(b) Jyotiba Phule
(c) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
(d) Bhimarao Ramji Ambedkar
Here, we know something about options b, c and d. So it is less dicey to pull the odd man out.
Mannathu Padmanabhan
- Padmanabhan was an Indian social reformer and freedom fighter from the south-western state of Kerala.
- He is recognised as the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS), which claims to represent the Nair community that constitutes 12.10% (From KMS 2011) of the population of the state.
- He fought for social equality, the first phase being the Vaikom Satyagraha, demanding the public roads near the temple at Vaikom be opened to low caste Hindus.
- He took part in the Vaikom (1924) and Guruvayoor (1931) temple-entry Satyagrahas; the anti-untouchability agitations. He opened his family temple for everyone, irrespective of caste distinction.
- He became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1946 and took part in the agitation against Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer’s administration in Travancore.
- As the first president of the Travancore Devaswom Board, he revitalised many temples which had almost ceased to function.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Regulating social media companies
The Digital Media Code seeks to balance the priorities and interests of several stakeholders. The article explains the various aspects of the code.
Guidelines and ethics code
- The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (MeitY) has announced the proposed Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code.
- The guidelines will cover social networks, digital media companies, and OTT platforms.
- The guidelines will also make the nation’s sovereign stance clear on matters of ethics and the protection of freedom of expression of creators, publishers, and digital platform companies.
- The guidelines and ethics code seek to balance the questions of accountability and grievance redressal that are posed by the citizens of the country.
Balancing many priorities
- The ministry’s announcement reveals an approach that is aligned with the thinking of today without imposing unreasonable boundaries on the innovation and expression.
- The guidelines are designed to carefully balance the many priorities and contexts of all stakeholders.
- With this move, India continues to deepen its position as a leader in digital policy and technological innovation.
- These guidelines have been intentionally designed so that India’s next-gen digital media innovators can propel the acceleration of value generation and inclusive empowerment of their local users.
- Global companies that have large user bases in the country can also align with a common framework that protects creators and consumers alike.
Grievance redressal mechanism
- The proposal has mechanisms that empower every social and digital media intermediary to self-enforce effective mechanisms to address complaints from users.
- With a special focus on protecting the online safety and dignity of users, especially women, the guidelines have prioritised affirmative addressal of the most serious issues that have affected India’s digital population.
- The digital platform companies are empowered to report the first originator of the grievance-causing information.
- This will ensure that liability is limited while the country’s laws can be fully and effectively enforced on the actual perpetrators.
Addressing the arbitrary censorship
- Guidelines provide users with an opportunity to be heard — a vital defence against the arbitrary censorship that several social media platforms are increasingly embracing globally.
- The need of the hour is for every country to have a body of clearly-defined policy that is consistent with the principles of their democracies.
- The country’s guidelines will ensure that unlawful information has clear boundary conditions, liability is defined, the process for enforcement of orders is transparent.
- The guidelines will also ensure that all social and digital media companies can rely on a consistent definition of the ethics code that protects all participants in the digital ecosystem.
Conclusion
This light-touch, empowering, and inclusive regulatory architecture is exactly what the country was hoping for, and India’s citizens will applaud this move as a foundational pillar towards an Atmanirbhar India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Schedule 10
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with anti-defection law
The article highlights the shortcomings of the anti-defection law and its failure in ensuring the stability of the government.
Background of anti-defection law
- The anti-defection law was included in the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule in 1985.
- The main purpose was to preserve the stability of governments and insulate them from defections of legislators from the treasury benches.
- The law stated that any Member of Parliament (MP) or that of a State legislature (MLA) would be disqualified from their office if they voted on any motion contrary to the directions issued by their party.
Issues with the anti-defection law
1) Against the concept of representative democracy
- The provisions of the anti-defection law is not limited to confidence motions or money bills.
- It applies to all votes in the House, on every Bill and every other issue.
- It even applies to the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils, which have no say in the stability of the government.
- Therefore, an MP (or MLA) has absolutely no freedom to vote their judgement on any issue.
- They have to blindly follow the direction of the party.
- This provision goes against the concept of representative democracy.
2) The act turns legislator to be an agent of the party
- There are two broadly accepted roles of a representative such as an MP.
- One is that they are agents of the voters and are expected to vote according to the wishes and for the benefits of their constituents.
- The other is that their duty to their constituents is to exercise their judgement on various issues towards the broader public interest.
- In this, they deliberate with other MPs and find a reasonable way through complex issues.
- The anti-defection law makes the MP neither a delegate of the constituency nor a national legislator but converts them to be just an agent of the party.
3) Broken chain
- The legislator is accountable to voters, and the government is accountable to legislators.
- In India, this chain of accountability has been broken by making legislators accountable primarily to the party.
- This means that anyone from the party having a majority in the legislature is unable to hold the government to account.
- This negates the concept of them having to justify their positions on various issues to the people who elected them to the post.
4) No incentive for MPs to understand policy choices
- If an MP has no freedom to take decisions on policy and legislative proposals, there would be no incentive to put in the effort to understand the different policy choices and their outcomes.
- The MP becomes just another number to be tallied by the party on any vote that it supports or opposes.
5) Weakening of the accountability mechanism
- While introducing the draft Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said that the presidential form (such as in the United States) had higher stability but lower accountability.
- This is because the President is elected for four years, and cannot be removed except for proven misdemeanour.
- In the parliamentary form, the government is accountable on a daily basis through questions and motions and can be removed any time it loses the support of the majority of members of the Lok Sabha.
- The drafting committee believed that India needed a government that was accountable, even at the cost of stability.
- The anti-defection bill weakens the accountability mechanism.
6) The act fails to provide stability
- The political system has found ways to topple governments by reducing the total membership through resignations.
- In other instances, the Speaker — usually from the ruling party — has delayed taking a decision on the disqualification.
- The Supreme Court has tried to plug this by ruling that the Speaker has to take the decision in three months, but it is not clear what would happen if a Speaker does not do so.
- The premise that the anti-defection law is needed to punish legislators who betray the mandate given by the voters also seems to be flawed.
- We have seen many of the defectors in States such as Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh being re-elected in the by-polls, which were held due to their disqualification.
Way forward
- The problem arises from the attempt to find a legal solution to what is essentially a political problem.
- If stability of government is an issue due to people defecting from their parties, the answer is for parties to strengthen their internal systems.
- If parties attract members on the basis of ideology, and they have systems for people to rise within the party hierarchy on their capabilities rather than inheritance, there would be a greater exit barrier.
Consider the question “How far has the anti-defection law succeeded in preventing the destabilisation of the governments? Give reasons in support of your argument.”
Conclusion
The anti-defection law has been detrimental to the functioning of our legislatures as deliberative bodies which hold the executive to account on behalf of citizens. It has turned them into fora to endorse the decision of the government on Bills and budgets. And it has not even done the job of preserving the stability of governments. The Tenth Schedule to the Constitution must be repealed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Regulation of social media
The article examines the issues with Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Change in the immunity for social media platforms
- With the social media platforms amassing tremendous power, the Government of India and has over time sought to devise a core framework to governs social media.
- This framework known as the “intermediary liability” has been made legally through Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
- This framework has been supplemented by operational rules, and the Supreme Court judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India.
- All this legalese essentially provides large technology companies immunity for the content that is transmitted and stored by them.
- Recently, the Government of India announced drastic changes to it through the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Issues with the Rules
1) Privacy concern
- The regulations do contain some features that bring accountability to social media platforms.
- For instance, they require that prior to a content takedown, a user should be provided adequate notice.
- However, there are several provisions in the rules that raise privacy concerns.
- Take traceability, where instant messaging platforms which deploy end-to-end encryption that helps keep our conversations private will now effectively be broken.
- This is because now the government may require that each message sent through WhatsApp or any other similar application be tied to the identity of the user.
- When put in the larger context of an environment that is rife with cybersecurity threats, an inconsistent rule of law and the absence of any surveillance oversight, this inspires fear and self-censorship among users.
- The core of the traceability requirement undermines the core value of private conversations.
2) Regulation without clear legal backing
- The rules seek to regulate digital news media portals as well as online video streaming platforms.
- Rules will perform functions similar to those played by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for TV regulation.
- For instance, as per Rule 13(4), this also now includes powers of censorship such as apology scrolls, but also blocking of content.
- All of this is being planned to be done without any legislative backing or a clear law made by Parliament.
- A similar problem exists with digital news media portals.
- The purview of the Information Technology Act, 2000, is limited.
- It only extends to the blocking of websites and intermediary liabilities framework, but does not extend to content authors and creators.
- Hence, the Act does not extend to news media despite which it is being stretched to do so by executive fiat.
- The oversight function will be played by a body that is not an autonomous regulator but one composed of high ranking bureaucrats.
- This provides for the discretionary exercise of government powers of censorship over these sectors.
Way forward
- This could have ideally been achieved through more deliberative, parliamentary processes and by examining bodies in other democracies, which face similar challenges.
- For instance, OFCOM, a regulator in the United Kingdom, has been studying and enforcing regulations that promise higher levels of protection for citizens’ rights and consistency in enforcement.
- Instead, the present formulation increases government control that suffers from legality and core design faults.
- It will only increase political control.
Consider the question “What is the purpose of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and what are the concerns with these rules?”
Conclusion
While every internet user in India needs oversight and accountability from big tech, it should not be at the cost of increasing political control, chilling our voices online and hurting individual privacy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Uighurs
Mains level: Uighur's genocide
Canada’s House of Commons has voted to declare that China is committing genocide against more than 1 million Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region.
See the hypocrisy of so-called social activists who see farmers protest, anti-terror operations as a crackdown on human rights, while cases like that of Uighurs, Kurds go unnoticed in the global arena!
Who are the Uighurs?
- There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly Muslim, living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang, officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
- The Uighurs speak their own language, similar to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations.
- They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population.
- In recent decades, there’s been a mass migration of Han Chinese (China’s ethnic majority) to Xinjiang, and the Uighurs feel their culture and livelihoods are under threat.
- In the early 20th Century, the Uighurs briefly declared independence, but the region was brought under complete control of mainland China’s new Communist government in 1949.
Where is Xinjiang?
- Xinjiang lies in the north-west of China and is the country’s biggest region.
- Like Tibet, it is autonomous, meaning – in theory – it has some powers of self-governance. But in practice, both face major restrictions by the central government.
- It is a mostly desert region, producing about a fifth of the world’s cotton.
- It is also rich in oil and natural gas and because of its proximity to Central Asia and Europe is seen by Beijing as an important trade link.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Very recently, in which of the following countries have lakhs of people either suffered from severe famine/acute malnutrition or died due to starvation caused by war/ethnic conflicts?
(a) Angola and Zambia
(b) Morocco and Tunisia
(c) Venezuela and Colombia
(d) Yemen and South Sudan
What was the build-up to the crackdown?
- Anti-Han and separatist sentiment rose in Xinjiang from the 1990s, flaring into violence on occasion.
- In 2009 some 200 people died in clashes in Xinjiang, which the Chinese blamed on Uighurs who want their own state.
- Xinjiang is now covered by a pervasive network of surveillance, including police, checkpoints, and cameras that scan everything from number plates to individual faces.
- According to Human Rights Watch, police are also using a mobile app to monitor peoples’ behaviour, such as how much electricity they are using and how often they use their front door.
- Since 2017 when President Xi Jinping issued an order saying all religions in China should be Chinese in orientation, there have been further crackdowns.
What does China say?
- China says the crackdown is necessary to prevent terrorism and root out Islamist extremism and the camps are an effective tool for re-educating inmates in its fight against terrorism.
- It insists that Uighur militants are waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest.
- China has dismissed claims it is trying to reduce the Uighur population through mass sterilizations as “baseless”, and says allegations of forced labour are “completely fabricated”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: LGBTQ Rights
The Centre has opposed any changes to the existing laws on marriage to recognise same-sex marriages, saying such interference would cause “complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws in the country”.
What is the case?
- A petition had sought to recognize same-sex marriage.
- Despite the decriminalization of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the petitioners cannot claim a fundamental right for same-sex marriage being recognised under the laws of the country”.
What did the Centre say?
- Living together as partners and having a sexual relationship with same-sex individuals is not comparable with the Indian family unit concept.
- The Indian concept of family constitutes a husband, a wife and children which necessarily presuppose a biological man as a ‘husband’, a biological woman as a ‘wife’ and the children born out.
- It said the 2018 landmark judgment of the Supreme Court decriminalizing consensual homosexual sex in India was “neither intended to nor did it in fact, legitimize the human conduct in question”.
Why such a move by the Centre?
- The registration of marriage of same-sex persons also results in a violation of existing personal as well as codified law provisions — such as ‘degrees of prohibited relationship’; ‘conditions of marriage’; ‘ceremonial and ritual requirements’ under the personal laws governing the individuals”.
- Any other interpretation except treating ‘husband’ as a biological man and ‘wife’ as a biological woman will make all statutory provisions unworkable, the government cautioned.
- In a same-sex marriage, it is neither possible nor feasible to term one as ‘husband’ and the other as ‘wife’ in the context of the legislative scheme of various personal laws.
Back2Basics: Article 377 of IPC
- Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is an act that criminalizes homosexuality and was introduced in the ear 1861 during the British rule of India.
- Referred to ‘unnatural offences’ and says whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life.
- However, in a historic verdict, the Supreme Court of India on September 6, 2018, decriminalized Section 377 of the IPC and allowed gay sex among consenting adults in private.
- The SC ruled that consensual adult sex is not a crime saying sexual orientation is natural and people have no control over it.
- It also said that Section 377 remains in force relating to sex with minors, non-consensual sexual acts, and bestiality.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FATF
Mains level: Money laundering and terror financing
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to retain Pakistan on the “greylist” till the next review of its performance.
Practice question for mains:
Q.What is FATF? Discuss its role in combating global financial crimes and terror financing.
What is the FATF?
- FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
- The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
- It holds three Plenary meetings in the course of each of its 12-month rotating presidencies.
- As of 2019, FATF consisted of 37 member jurisdictions.
- India became an Observer at FATF in 2006. Since then, it had been working towards full-fledged membership. On June 25, 2010, India was taken in as the 34th country member of FATF.
What is the role of FATF?
- The rise of the global economy and international trade has given rise to financial crimes such as money laundering.
- The FATF makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.
- Because money launderers and others alter their techniques to avoid apprehension, the FATF updates its recommendations every few years.
What is the Black List and the Grey List?
- Black List: The blacklist, now called the “Call for action” was the common shorthand description for the FATF list of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories” (NCCTs).
- Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
Consequences of being in the FATF grey list:
- Economic sanctions from IMF, World Bank, ADB
- Problem in getting loans from IMF, World Bank, ADB and other countries
- Reduction in international trade
- International boycott
Pakistan and FATF
- Pakistan, which continues to remain on the “grey list” of FATF, had earlier been given the deadline till the June to ensure compliance with the 27-point action plan against terror funding networks.
- It has been under the FATF’s scanner since June 2018, when it was put on the Grey List for terror financing and money laundering risks.
- FATF and its partners such as the Asia Pacific Group (APG) are reviewing Pakistan’s processes, systems, and weaknesses on the basis of a standard matrix for anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Regulation of social media and ott platforms
For the first time, the union government, under the ambit of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, has brought in detailed guidelines for digital content on both digital media and Over The Top (OTT) platforms.
Try answering this
Q.What is Over the Top (OTT) media services? Critically analyse the benefits and challenges offered by the OTT media services in India.
Guidelines Related to Social Media
- Due Diligence To Be Followed By Intermediaries: The Rules prescribe due diligence that must be followed by intermediaries, including social media intermediaries. In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.
- Grievance Redressal Mechanism: The Rules seek to empower the users by mandating the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the users or victims.
- Ensuring Online Safety and Dignity of Users, Especially Women Users: Intermediaries shall remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that erodes individual privacy and dignity.
Additional Due Diligence to Be Followed by Significant Social Media Intermediary:
- Appoint a Chief Compliance Officer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and Rules. Such a person should be a resident of India.
- Appoint a Nodal Contact Person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
- Appoint a Resident Grievance Officer who shall perform the functions mentioned under the Grievance Redressal Mechanism. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
- Publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken on the complaints.
- Significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable identification of the first originator of the information.
Digital Media Ethics Code Relating to Digital Media and OTT Platforms
This Code of Ethics prescribes the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.
(a) Self-Classification of Content
- The OTT platforms, called the publishers of online curated content in the rules, would self-classify the content into five age-based categories– U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).
- Platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as “A”.
- The publisher of online curated content shall prominently display the classification rating specific to each content or programme together with a content descriptor.
(b) Norms for news
- Publishers of news on digital media would be required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act.
(c) Self-regulation by the Publisher
- Publisher shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by it.
- The officer shall take a decision on every grievance received it within 15 days.
(d) Self-Regulatory Body
- There may be one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers. Such a body shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, a High Court or independent eminent person and have not more than six members.
- Such a body will have to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
- This body will oversee the adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics and address grievances that have not to be been resolved by the publisher within 15 days.
(e) Oversight Mechanism
- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall formulate an oversight mechanism.
- It shall publish a charter for self-regulating bodies, including Codes of Practices.
- It shall establish an Inter-Departmental Committee for hearing grievances.
Back2Basics: Social Media usage in India
- The Digital India programme has now become a movement that is empowering common Indians with the power of technology.
- The extensive spread of mobile phones, the Internet etc. has also enabled many social media platforms to expand their footprints in India.
- Some portals, which publish analysis about social media platforms and which have not been disputed, have reported the following numbers as the user base of major social media platforms in India:
- WhatsApp users: 53 Crore
- YouTube users: 44.8 Crore
- Facebook users: 41 Crore
- Instagram users: 21 Crore
- Twitter users: 1.75 Crore
- These social platforms have enabled common Indians to show their creativity, ask questions, be informed and freely share their views, including constructive criticism of the government and its functionaries.
- The govt acknowledges and respects the right of every Indian to criticize and disagree as an essential element of democracy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: City Innovation Exchange (CiX)
Mains level: Urban transformation initiatives
The City Innovation Exchange (CiX) platform was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
City Innovation Exchange (CiX)
- The CiX will connect cities to innovators across the national ecosystem to design innovative solutions for their pressing challenges.
- The platform will ease the discovery, design & validation of solutions through a robust, transparent and user-centric process that will reduce barriers for innovators and cities to discover fitting solutions.
- Built on the concept of ‘open innovation’, the platform will help in the flow of ideas ‘outside in and inside out, enhancing the skills and capacity required to deliver smart urban governance.
- Through interaction with Academia and Businesses/Startups, the platform will benefit cities in the transfer of ideas from ‘labs’ to the real environment.
- Similarly, by helping urban governments interact with citizens, the platform will ensure the adoption of tested solutions that will be impactful and sustainable.
Benefits of CiX
- The CiX platform will be a significant addition to the growing innovation ecosystem of India and focuses on fostering innovative practices in cities.
- CiX, through an ‘open innovation’ process, engages with innovators to design-test-deliver on solutions to pressing urban challenges.
- This initiative is among the ongoing efforts to realize PM’s vision of New and AtmaNirbhar Bharat, by making cities more self-reliant and enabled to meet the needs of and provide services to their citizens.
- The platform in due time will help our cities in adopting solutions that will enhance the quality of life for their residents and significantly improve the Ease of Doing Business.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The Constitution (Seventy-Third Amendment) Act, 1992, which aims at promoting the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the country, provides for which of the following?
- Constitution of District Planning Committees.
- State Election Commissions to conduct all panchayat elections.
- Establishment of State Finance Commissions.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) Only 1
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 239A
Mains level: Paper 2- Structural flaws in the composition of legislature of UTs
There are structural flaws in the provisions of the composition of legislature and the relationship between the council of ministers and the Administrator in the UTs.
Pattern in the resignations of MLAs
- Recently, the resignations of MLAs from the Puducherry Assembly led to the fall of government there.
- The same had happened in 2019 in Karnataka.
- Resigning from the membership of the House is every member’s right.
- But according to Article 190 of the Constitution, the resignation should be voluntary or genuine.
- If the Speaker has information to the contrary, he or she is not obliged to accept the resignation.
- But there is by now a familiar pattern to the resignations of Members of the Legislative Assembly.
- Such resignations invariably lead to the fall of the government.
Purpose of providing legislature to UTs
- The Constitution-makers/ Parliament provided a legislature and Council of Ministers to some of the UTs to fulfil the democratic aspirations of the people of these territories.
- There was a realisation that the administration of these territories directly by the President through the administrators under Article 239 does not meet the democratic aspirations of the people.
- The creation of a legislature and a Council of Ministers is logical and in consonance with the policy of the state to promote democracy.
Structural issues with legislature in UTs
1) Nomination of members and issues with it
- A closer look at the relevant provisions in the Constitution reveals that this professed aim has often been sought to be defeated by the Union.
- Article 239A was originally brought in, in 1962, to enable Parliament to create legislatures for the UTs.
- A legislature without a Council of Ministers or a Council of Ministers without a legislature is a conceptual absurdity.
- Similarly, a legislature that is partly elected and partly nominated is another absurdity.
- The issue of nomination of members to the Puducherry Assembly had raised a huge controversy.
- The Government of Union Territories Act provides for a 33-member House for Puducherry of whom three are to be nominated by the Central government.
- So, when the Union government nominated three BJP members to the Assembly without consulting the government, it was challenged in the court.
- Finally, the Supreme Court (K. Lakshminarayanan v. Union of India, 2019) held that the Union government is not required to consult the State government for nominating members to the Assembly and the nominated members have the same right to vote as the elected members.
- There is provision for nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha [Article 80 (i)(a)].
- But clause (3) of the Article specifies the fields from which they will be nominated.
- But in the case of nomination to the Puducherry Assembly, no such qualification is laid down either in Article 239A or the Government of Union Territories Act.
- This leaves the field open for the Union government to nominate anyone irrespective of whether he or she is suitable.
- As things stand, the law invites arbitrariness in dealing with the nomination of members to the UT legislature.
2) Administrator’s powers
- The administrator has the right to disagree with the decisions of the Council of Ministers and then refer them to the President for a final decision.
- The President decides on the advice of the Union government.
- So, in effect, it is the Union government which finally determines the disputed issue.
- Although in NCT of Delhi v. Union of India (2019), the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had said that the administrator should not misuse this power.
- The bench also said that the Administrator should use it after all methods have failed to reconcile the differences between him/her and the Council of Ministers.
- As a matter of fact, such conflicts between the administrator, who is the nominee of the President, and the elected government is inherent in the constitutional arrangement created for the UTs.
Consider the question “The conflicts between the administrator, who is the nominee of the President and the elected government is inherent in the constitutional arrangement created for the UTs. Comment.”
Conclusion
Experience shows that the UTs having legislatures with ultimate control vested in the central administrator are not workable. So far as the conspiratorial resignation by legislators to bring down their own government is concerned, the political class will have to get the better of the predatory instincts of political parties through constitutional or other means.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 73rd and 74th Amendments
Mains level: Paper 3- Decentralisation and its relationship with human capital
The article argues for recognising the correlation between human capital and decentralisation in India.
Low human capital indicators
- In the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, the country ranked 116th.
- The National Family Health Survey-5 for 2019-20 shows that malnutrition indicators stagnated or declined in most States.
- The National Achievement Survey 2017 and the Annual Status of Education Report 2018 show poor learning outcomes.
- In addition, there is little convergence across States.
- India spends just 4% of its GDP as public expenditure on human capital:1% and 3% on health and education respectively— one of the lowest among its peers.
Initiatives to address these issues
- Investing in human capital through interventions in nutrition, health, and education is critical for sustainable growth.
- The National Health Policy of 2017 highlighted the need for interventions to address malnutrition.
- On the basis of NITI Aayog’s National Nutrition Strategy, the Poshan Abhiyaan was launched, as part of the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Scheme.
- The latest Union Budget has announced a ‘Mission Poshan 2.0’ and the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan has been the Centre’s flagship education scheme since 2018.
Relation between decentralisation and human capital
- International experience suggests that one reason why these interventions are not leading to better outcomes may be India’s record with decentralisation.
- Globally, there has been a gradual shift in the distribution of expenditures and revenue towards sub-national governments.
- These trends are backed by studies demonstrating a positive correlation between decentralisation and human capital.
Issues with decentralisation in India
1) Letting states decide the way of empowerment
- The 73rd and 74th Amendments bolstered decentralisation by constitutionally recognising panchayats and municipalities as the third tier.
- The Amendment also added the Eleventh and Twelfth schedules containing the functions of panchayats and municipalities.
- These include education, health and sanitation, and social welfare for panchayats, and public health and socio-economic development planning for municipalities.
- However, the Constitution lets States determine how they are empowered.
- In effect, three tiers of government are envisaged in the Constitution it divides powers between the first two tiers — the Centre and the States
- This has resulted in vast disparities in the roles played by third-tier governments.
2) Centralised nature of fiscal architecture
- While the Constitution assigns the bulk of expenditure responsibilities to States, the Centre has major revenue sources.
- To address this vertical imbalance, the Constitution provides for fiscal transfers through tax devolution and grants-in-aid.
- In addition, the Centre can make ‘grants for any public purpose’ under Article 282 of the Constitution.
- While fiscal transfers that are part of tax devolution are unconditional, transfers under grants-in-aid or Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) can be conditional.
- Therefore, the increase in the States’ share of tax devolution represents more meaningful decentralisation.
- Despite some shifts towards greater State autonomy in many spheres, the centralised nature of India’s fiscal architecture has persisted.
- Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) have formed a sizeable chunk of intergovernmental fiscal transfers over the years, comprising almost 23% of transfers to States in 2021-22.
- But its outsized role strays from the intentions of the Constitution.
- There are issues in the design of CSSs as well, with the conditions being overly prescriptive and, typically, input-based.
- Against this, international experience reveals that schemes with output-based conditions are more effective.
- Moreover, CSSs typically have a cost-sharing model, thereby pre-empting the States’ fiscal space.
3) Lack of fiscal empowerment
- Third-tier governments are not fiscally empowered.
- The collection of property tax, a major source of revenue for third-tier governments, is under 0.2% of GDP in India, compared to 3% of GDP in some other nations.
- The Constitution envisages State Finance Commissions (SFCs) to make recommendations for matters such as tax devolution and grants-in-aid to the third tier.
- However, many States have not constituted or completed these commissions on time.
Solution
- The Centre should play an enabling role, for instance, encouraging knowledge-sharing between States.
- For States to play a bigger role in human capital interventions, they need adequate fiscal resources.
- To this end, States should rationalise their priorities to focus on human capital development.
- The Centre should refrain from offsetting tax devolution by altering cost-sharing ratios of CSSs and increasing cesses.
- Concomitantly, the heavy reliance on CSSs should be reduced, and tax devolution and grants-in-aid should be the primary sources of vertical fiscal transfers.
- Panchayats and municipalities need to be vested with the functions listed in the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules.
Consider the question “There is a positive correlation between decentralisation and human capital. This in part explains India’s low human capital indicators. In light of this, examine the issues with the decentralisation in India and suggest the measures to deal with it.”
Conclusion
Leveraging the true potential of our multi-level federal system represents the best way forward towards developing human capital.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNHRC
Mains level: Sri Lanka at the UN Rights Council
Sri Lanka is facing another UNHRC resolution for its war crimes that took place during the military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
UNHRC report on Sri Lanka
- The report warned that Sri Lanka’s failure to address human rights violations and war crimes committed in the past had put the country on a “dangerous path”.
- It rose that this could lead to a “recurrence” of policies and practices that gave rise to the earlier situation.
- It flagged the accelerating militarization of civilian governmental functions, a reversal of important constitutional safeguards, political obstruction of accountability, intimidation of civil society, and the use of anti-terrorism laws.
- The shrinking space for independent media and civil society and human rights organisations are also themes in the report.
Try this question:
Q.The triangulation in the ties between Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan is an emerging threat in the Indian Ocean Region. Discuss.
The Resolution 30/1
- The resolution 30/1 launched in 2015 deals with promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.
- It extended an opportunity to make good on its promises for justice and offered extensive support to accomplish that objective.
Sri Lanka’s intention
- It is more than Sri Lanka has failed to – and doesn’t intend to — take the necessary, decisive, and sustainable steps necessary to achieve domestic justice and reconciliation.
- Sri Lanka has officially sought India’s help to muster support against the resolution, which it has described as “unwanted interference by powerful countries”.
Where India comes in
- The UNHRC is scheduled to hold an “interactive” session on Sri Lanka where the report was to be discussed, and member countries were to make statements. India is expected to make a statement too.
- Country-specific resolutions against Sri Lanka have regularly come up at the UNHRC in the last decade.
- New Delhi voted against Sri Lanka in 2012 and abstained in 2014. It was spared the dilemma in 2015 when Sri Lanka joined resolution 30/1.
- With elections coming up in Tamil Nadu, and PM declaring on a recent visit that he was the first Indian leader to visit Jaffna, Sri Lanka has begun reading the tea leaves.
- Whichever way it goes, the resolution is likely to resonate in India-Sri Lanka Relations and for India internally, in the run-up to the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Puducherry, President's Rule
Mains level: Presidents' Rule
The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal by the Home Ministry to dissolve the Puducherry Assembly and impose President’s Rule in the Union Territory.
Try this question from CSP 2017:
Q.Which of the following is not necessarily the consequences of the proclamation of the President’s Rule in a State?
- Dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly
- Removal of the Council of Ministers in the State
- Dissolution of the local bodies
Select the correct answer using the code given below
(a) 1 & 2 only
(b) 1 & 3 only
(c) 2 & 3 only
(d) 1, 2 & 3
What is President’s Rule?
- President’s rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct central government rule in a state.
- This is achieved through the invocation of Article 356 of the Constitution by the President on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers.
- Under Article 356, this move can be taken “(1) If the President, on receipt of the report from the Governor of the State or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution…”
How long President’s Rule can last?
- A proclamation of President’s Rule can be revoked through a subsequent proclamation in case the leader of a party produces letters of support from a majority of members of the Assembly and stakes his claim to form a government.
- The revocation does not need the approval of Parliament.
- Any proclamation under Article 356 —which stands for six months — has to be approved by both Houses in the Parliament session following it.
- This six-month time-frame can be extended in phases, up to three years.
Conditions for Prez Rule
- Where after general elections to the assembly, no party secures a majority, that is, Hung Assembly.
- Where the party having a majority in the assembly declines to form a ministry and the governor cannot find a coalition ministry commanding a majority in the assembly.
- Where a ministry resigns after its defeat in the assembly and no other party is willing or able to form a ministry commanding a majority in the assembly.
- Where a constitutional direction of the Central government is disregarded by the state government.
- Internal subversion where, for example, a government is deliberately acting against the Constitution and the law or is fomenting a violent revolt.
- Physical breakdown where the government willfully refuses to discharge its constitutional obligations endangering the security of the state.
Notable judgements: The S.R. Bommai Case
Bommai v. Union of India (1994) was a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India, where the Court discussed at length provisions of Article 356 of the Constitution of India and related issues.
- The judgement attempted to curb blatant misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution of India, which allowed the President’s rule to be imposed over state governments.
- Article 356 (1) has been deliberately drafted in a narrow language by the Founding Fathers so that political parties in the Centre does not misuse it to subvert federalism, it had noted.
- The President has to be convinced of or should have sufficient proof of information with regard to or has to be free from doubt or uncertainty about the state of things indicating that the situation in question has arisen.
- The court had stated that although the sufficiency or otherwise of the material cannot be questioned, the legitimacy of inference drawn from such material is “certainly open to judicial review”.
What was its verdict?
- The judgment had explained that in a multi-party political system, chances are high that the political parties in the Centre and the State concerned may not be the same.
- Article 356 cannot be used for the purpose of political one-upmanship by the Centre.
- Hence there is a need to confine the exercise of power under Article 356[1] strictly to the situation mentioned therein which is a condition precedent to the said exercise,” the court had said.
Fouling factors
The imposition of President’s Rule in a state would be improper under the following situations:
- Where a ministry resigns or is dismissed on losing majority support in the assembly and the governor recommends imposition of President’s Rule without probing the possibility of forming an alternative ministry.
- Where the governor recommends imposition of President’s Rule without allowing the ministry to prove its majority on the floor of the Assembly.
- Maladministration in the state or allegations of corruption against the ministry or stringent financial exigencies of the state.
- Where the state government is not given prior warning to rectify itself except in case of extreme urgency leading to disastrous consequences.
- Where the power is used to sort out intra-party problems of the ruling party.
Back2Basics: Puducherry
- Puducherry is a union territory formed out of four territories of former French India, namely Pondichéry (Pondicherry; now Puducherry), Karikal (Karaikal), Mahé and Yanaon (Yanam), excluding Chandannagar.
- It is named after the largest district, Puducherry.
- The areas of Puducherry district and Karaikal district are bound by the state of Tamil Nadu, while Yanam district and Mahé district are enclosed by the states of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, respectively.
- It is entitled by a special constitutional amendment act of 1962 to have an elected legislative assembly and a cabinet of ministers, thereby conveying partial statehood similar to the UT of Delhi.
- It is administered by a Lieutenant Governor.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sun’s Rotation
Mains level: Not Much
Scientists at Kodaikanal Solar Observatory have estimated how the Sun has rotated over a century from data extracted from old films and photographs that have been digitized.
Try this PYQ:
Q.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
Sun’s Rotation
- The Sun rotates around an axis that is roughly perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic; the Sun’s rotational axis is tilted by 7.25° from perpendicular to the ecliptic.
- It rotates in the counterclockwise direction (when viewed from the north), the same direction that the planets rotate (and orbit around the Sun).
- The Sun’s rotation period varies with latitude on the Sun since it is made of gas.
- Equatorial regions rotate faster than Polar Regions.
- The equatorial regions (latitude = 0 degrees) rotate in about 25.6 days. The regions at 60 degrees latitude rotate in about 30.9 days. Polar Regions rotate in about 36 days.
Key observations of the study
- The Sun rotates more quickly at its equator than at its poles.
- Over time, the Sun’s differential rotation rates cause its magnetic field to become twisted and tangled.
- The tangles in the magnetic field lines can produce strong localized magnetic fields.
- When the Sun’s magnetic field gets twisted, there are lots of sunspots.
- The sunspots which form at the surface with an 11-year periodicity are the only route to probe the solar dynamo or solar magnetism inside the Sun and hence measure the variation in solar rotation.
Benefits offered
- This estimation would help study the magnetic field generated in the interior of the Sun, which causes sunspots and results in extreme situations like the historical mini-ice age on Earth (absence of sunspots).
- It could also help predict solar cycles and their variations in the future.
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