Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: India Development Initiative (IDI)
Mains level: Paper 2- India’s development cooperation
Context
Enhancing the efficacy of India’s development cooperation endeavours has been a challenging issue for the past several decades. The country, therefore, needs to expedite work on a specialised agency for proficient delivery of outcomes.
Development assistance and lack of institutional foundation
- In the last couple of years, India’s assistance to other developing countries has multiplied several times.
- India’s development cooperation has converged to an all-encompassing integrated framework, a development compact that has five modalities — capacity building, concessional finance, technology sharing, grant and trade wherein duty-free and quota-free access to the Indian market is provided.
- India’s benevolent image does yield tremendous goodwill globally, but quality project delivery is yet to become the country’s USP.
- On average, India provides development assistance of $6.48 billion and receives assistance of $6.09 billion annually from key partners as Official Development Assistance (ODA).
- Under Indian Cooperation Mission (ICM) — India partners for development cooperation and does not give aid like OECD members.
- India has been supporting the developmental endeavours of several partner countries in Africa and Asia, even before Independence.
- However, this process lacks a firm institutional foundation.
Efforts to form an institutional framework
- The first effort by India to shape a framework was in 2003 with the announcement of the India Development Initiative (IDI).
- Subsequently, the Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS) was launched in 2005 for managing credit lines.
- The IDI was suspended in 2007 and the announcement about the setting up of the India International Development Cooperation Agency (IIDCA), which never took off.
- Meanwhile, in 2018, China founded its international development cooperation agency.
Changes in concessional financing
- At this point, concessional financing in India’s development cooperation portfolio is close to 70 per cent.
- So any major change would require alterations in the way LOCs (Line of Credit) have been working.
- In 2015, the government made efforts to bring in operational changes in the way credit lines work.
- As of now, the EXIM Bank raises global resources and the Government of India absorbs the interest differential.
Way forward
- Countries have sovereign and non-sovereign windows for promoting infrastructure financing abroad — both have their own place.
- A non-sovereign window would provide greater flexibility and bandwidth.
- To become a leading strategic investor in commercially viable and financially attractive public-private partnership infrastructure projects, the fund may build an investment ecosystem in Africa with support from leading Indian firms.
- The proposed new entity may also provide handholding to select performing Indian social enterprises to operate in other countries as well.
- Besides making an immediate economic impact, these enterprises can facilitate development partnerships between India and other countries.
- Post-pandemic, countries worldwide are exploring ways to reinvigorate their development cooperation efforts.
- India’s own development experience is also evolving with programmes like the JAM trinity, Ayushman Bharat and other initiatives like Gati Shakti — the learnings from which should be absorbed in the portfolio to be shared with fellow developing countries.
Conclusion
It is high time India restructures its development finance apparatus for deeper and effective engagement and to address the rapidly evolving newer competitive development financing landscape.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Places associated with Buddhism
Mains level: Not Much
The Prime Minister has inaugurated the Kushinagar International Airport in Uttar Pradesh, which will help connect key Buddhist pilgrimage sites.
About Kushinagar
- Kushinagar is a town in the Kushinagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
- It is an important Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautam Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana after his death.
- It is an international Buddhist pilgrimage centre.
- It is also at the centre of a Buddhist tourist circuit, which includes Lumbini (Nepal), Sarnath and Bodhgaya.
- Other Buddhist destinations nearby include Nalanda, Sravasti and Kapilavastu.
History of Kushinagar
The present Kushinagar is identified with Kusavati (in the pre-Buddha period) and Kushinara (in the post-Buddha period).
[A] Ancient
- Kushinara was the capital of Mallas which was one of the sixteen mahajanpada of the 6th century BCE.
- Since then, it remained an integral part of the erstwhile empires of Maurya, Shunga, Kushana, Gupta, Harsha, and Pala dynasties.
[B] Medieval
- In the medieval period, Kushinagar had passed under the suzerainty of Kultury Kings.
- Kushinara continued to be a living city till the 12th century CE and was thereafter lost into oblivion.
- It was believed to be ruled over by a Rajput adventurer, Madan Singh, in the 15th century CE.
[C] Modern
- Kushinagar came into prominence in the 19th century with archaeological excavations carried out by Alexander Cunningham, the first Archaeological Surveyor of India.
- It was later followed by C.L. Carlleyle who exposed the main stupa and also discovered a 10 meters long statue of reclining Buddha in 1876.
- Excavations continued till 1907 under J. Ph. Vogel, uncovering a wealth of Buddhist materials.
- Chandra Swami, a Burmese monk, came to India in 1903 and made Mahaparinirvana Temple into a living shrine.
What is the Buddhist Tourist Circuit?
- In 2016, the Ministry of Tourism announced the Buddhist Circuit as the country’s first transnational tourism circuit, covering sites in Nepal and Sri Lanka alongside those in India.
- The map of the Buddhist Circuit includes Bodh Gaya, Vaishali, and Rajgir in Bihar, Kushinagar, Sarnath, and Shravasti in UP, and Lumbini in Nepal.
Significance of these places
- The Buddha was born as the prince Siddhartha Gautama in c. 563 BC in Lumbini, and he lived until the age of 29 with his parents in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu.
- He attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, and gave his first sermon at Sarnath near Varanasi.
- He taught in the area around Rajgir, where he was built a forest monastery by king Bimbisara of Magadha, and he lived the largest part of his life as the Buddha in Shravasti.
- He delivered his last sermon in Vaishali and got parinirvana at Kushinagar.
Significance of this Circuit
Ans. Cultural Diplomacy
- Look East: There is an awareness in the government that the absence of tourist infrastructure is a major reason why India loses out to Southeast Asian nations such as Indonesia and Thailand.
- Employment through Tourism: The hope is that world-class facilities will be able to attract Buddhist tourists to India, and boost revenues and employment generation.
- Gaining soft power: The push is intended to assert and consolidate India’s position as the original centre of Buddhism, against the claims from China.
Questions based on either Buddhism or Jainism, are all-time favourite of UPSC and are equally invincible.
They no more seem to be based on NCERT or other standard references available in market.
Stay connected if you expect us to resolve this issue. Do let us know in the comment box.
Meantime, try this PYQ:
Which of the following kingdoms were associated with the life of the Buddha?
- Avanti
- Gandhara
- Kosala
- Magadha
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4
(d) 3 and 4 only
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Speaker and Dy Speaker of Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies
Mains level: Issues related to their elections
There is an ongoing row in Uttar Pradesh Assembly over the election of Dy Speaker, the post which was lying vacant for two years.
Read each and every bit of this newscard. It can source you many MCQs.
Constitutional mandate for Deputy Speaker
- Article 93 talks about the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker for Lok Sabha and the case for their vacancies.
- Article 178 contains the corresponding position for Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of a state.
Is it mandatory under the Constitution to have a Deputy Speaker?
- Constitutional experts point out that both Articles 93 and 178 use the words “shall” and “as soon as may be”.
- This indicates that not only is the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker mandatory, it must be held at the earliest.
- All that the Constitution says is the election must be held as soon as possible.
Time-frame and rules for their Election
- Generally speaking, the practice in both Lok Sabha and the state Legislative Assemblies has been to elect the Speaker during the first session of the new House.
- This usually falls on the third day after oath-taking and affirmations take place over the first two days.
- The election of the Deputy Speaker usually takes place in the second session, even though there is no bar on having this election too in the first session.
- However, the election of Deputy Speaker is generally not delayed beyond the second session without genuine and unavoidable constraints.
Rules for the elections
- In Lok Sabha, the election of Deputy Speaker is governed by the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
- According to the Rule, the election “shall be held on such date as the Speaker may fix”, and the Deputy Speaker is elected once a motion proposing his name is carried.
- There are similar provisions in the State Legislative Assembly Rules.
Their tenure
- Once elected, the Deputy Speaker usually continues in office until the dissolution of the House.
- Under Article 94 (Article 179 for state legislatures), the Speaker or Dy Speaker “shall vacate his office if (S)he ceases to be a member of the House”.
- They may also resign (to each other), or “may be removed by a resolution of the House of the People passed by a majority of all the then members of the House”.
Do the powers of the Speaker extend to the Deputy Speaker as well?
- Article 95(1) says: While the office of Speaker is vacant, the duties of the office shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker.
- After the first Speaker, G V Mavalankar died, M Ananth Ayyangar officiated as Acting Speaker for the remaining tenure of the House and was then elected Speaker of the second Lok Sabha.
- There is another such incident.
- In general, the Deputy Speaker has the same powers as the Speaker when presiding over a sitting of the House.
- All references to the Speaker in the Rules are deemed to be references to the Deputy Speaker when he presides.
- It has been repeatedly held that no appeal lies to the Speaker against a ruling given by the Deputy Speaker or any person presiding over a sitting of the House in the absence of the Speaker.
Note: UPSC has now gone person-specific in these matters. Kindly refer this PYQ:
Consider the following statements:
- In India, there is no law restricting the candidates from contesting in one Lok Sabha election from three constituencies.
- In 1991 Lok Sabha Election, Shri Devi Lal contested from three Lok Sabha constituencies.
- As per the existing rules, if a candidate contests in one Lok Sabha election from many constituencies, his/her party should bear the cost of bye-elections to the constituencies vacated by him/her in the event of him/her winning in all the constituencies.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2021)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
Does being Deputy Speaker protect an MP or MLA from the law of disqualification?
Ans. No- with one specific exemption.
- The Tenth Schedule says that a person who has been elected Speaker/ Deputy Speaker shall NOT be disqualified if he voluntarily gives up the membership of the political party to which he belonged.
- This exemption applies to the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman, Chairman/ Deputy Chairman of a state Legislative Council, and Speaker/ Deputy Speaker of a state Legislative Assembly as well.
Can courts intervene in cases of a delay in electing the Deputy Speaker?
- In general, the courts do not intervene in the procedural conduct of Parliament.
- Article 122(1) says: The validity of any proceedings in Parliament shall not be called in question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure.
- A petition before the Delhi High Court has argued that the delay in the election of the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker violates Article 93 of the Constitution.
- There is no precedent of a court forcing the legislature to elect the Deputy Speaker.
- However, the courts do have jurisdiction to at least enquire why there has been no election to the post of Deputy Speaker since the Constitution does envisage an election “as soon as maybe”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BSF
Mains level: Paper 3- Issue of extending BSF's jurisdiction
Context
The Union home ministry’s order to extend the jurisdiction of the Border Security Forces (BSF) has caused furore.
Justification for the order
- Increased threats: The Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan has revived serious threats of cross-border infiltration from Pakistan, while China, our other tense neighbour, has been increasingly aggressive over the past year.
- Change in the jurisdiction: The BSF’s powers have not altered, only its jurisdiction has changed from 15 to 50 kilometres and that is for the purposes of uniformity.
Issues raised by the order
- Lack of clarity: That India is facing heightened security threats is undeniable.
- What is unclear is how the BSF’s extended jurisdiction helps counter these threats.
- The recent drug seizures in Gujarat’s Adani port were successfully conducted by the customs department and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence — not by the BSF, despite their jurisdiction depth of 80 kilometres in the state.
- No need for uniformity: In the security context, arguments about uniformity are patently absurd.
- There is no uniformity between coastal smuggling in Gujarat, cross-border infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir, smuggling and drone drops in Punjab.
- Risk of civilian resentment: The order raises the risk of civilian resentment, even clashes, given that the BSF is not trained to operate in residential and/or market areas, it will also undermine the state police forces’ morale even further.
- Overstretching BSF: The BSF is likely to be overstretched by its new tasks.
- Once again, that could weaken rather than strengthen the BSF’s security capabilities.
Tackling illegal migration
- Curbing illegal migration requires coordinated action between India and its neighbours, first at the political and then at the security level.
- The administration’s migration policies — the Citizenship Amendment Act, deporting Myanmar refugees even when they were locally welcomed, cancelling Afghan visas have made cooperation more difficult and impacting negatively on border security.
- To think that the BSF can plug what is a government-to-government policy gap is prone to failure.
Way forward
- Coordination: The underlying issue when it comes to tackling both smuggling and infiltration threats is coordination between our security agencies.
- Police reform: The state police forces have weakened, therefore, the solution lies in putting police reforms on an emergency footing, not in extending the BSF’s jurisdiction.
- That we have a grave policing problem across India is undeniable.
- But the answer is not to write them off; it is to insulate them from political misuse while holding them accountable for rule of law lapses.
- Moreover, to strengthen police capabilities it is vital that other security forces cooperate with local police forces, not bypass them.
- The BSF has had a relatively good record of local police cooperation thus far.
- When it comes to cross-border infiltration, intelligence is the key.
Conclusion
Strengthening police capabilities, improving coordination between security agencies and cooperation with state law enforcement are needed to address these issues.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bio-Enzymes
Mains level: Not Much
Some farmers in Punjab, especially in the Kinnow belt, have started making Bio-Enzymes (BEs) from this waste fruit — peel and ‘D’ grade, very small kinnows.
What is a Kinnow?
- The ‘Kinnow’ is a high yield citrus fruit cultivated extensively in the wider Punjab region of India and Pakistan.
- It is a year-long duration crop and the main harvesting period is from November-end to March.
- It looks similar to orange but is smaller in size.
Agricultural significance of Kinnows
- Fallen fruit is a major challenge for kinnow farmers in the state as one needs to dig up small pits to bury them, otherwise the fallen fruit rot and invite a fly attack on the healthy fruit still on the plants.
- But now, some farmers are using this waste kinnow to improve the pH level and soil fertility of their land by making BEs from this waste fruit.
What are Bio-Enzymes?
- Chemically, the Bio Enzymes are a mixture of complex organic substances such as proteins, salts and other materials that are by-products of the bacteria/yeast.
- They produced through fermentation of organic waste including various fruits, vegetable peels and flowers, by mixing in sugar, jaggery/molasses and water.
- BE’s also have a lot of usage in our daily lives. They can be used as natural cleansers.
Benefits offered by BEs
- BEs have a lot of good microbes and one of the major methods which helps overall improvement of our ecology.
- It helps in mitigating the imbalance occurred due to overuse of chemicals, in our soil, air and water.
- In a state like Punjab where water table is depleting fast and water contamination is also major issue, BEs can bring the soil back to life.
- It helps in better water recharging and also stops the contamination of water by improving the health of soil.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lagrange Points, Lucy Mission
Mains level: Not Much
The NASA has launched Lucy, the spacecraft on a 12-year cruise to look back into the origins of the solar system through Trojans.
Lucy Mission
- Lucy will fly by eight Jupiter asteroids—seven Trojans and one main-belt asteroid — over the next 12 years.
- It is NASA’s first single spacecraft mission in history to explore so many different asteroids.
- Lucy will run on solar power out to 850 million kilometers away from the Sun.
- This makes it the farthest-flung solar powered spacecraft ever, according to NASA.
What is Jupiter Trojan Asteroids?
- Simply known as Trojans, they are a large group of asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun.
- Thousands of such asteroids exist in a gravitationally stable space.
- The swarms lead and follow the planet Jupiter along its orbit around the Sun.
What exactly are Trojans?
- Lucy’s Trojan destinations are trapped near Jupiter’s Lagrange (L) points, which are gravitationally stable locations — it is where the gravity from the Sun and from Jupiter cancel each other out.
- This means their orbits are stable and the Trojans are trapped in the space between.
- This also means that asteroids are as far away from Jupiter as they are from the Sun.
- Jupiter’s leading and trailing Lagrangian points (L4 and L5) have been stable over the age of the solar system.
- This means that their orbits have accumulated many, many asteroids.
- It makes sense to call a Trojan a co-orbital object, which moves around one of the two stable Lagrangian points.
When and how were they discovered?
- It took many a scientist to understand Trojans, and subsequently, name them so.
- A German astro-photographer in 1906 made an important discovery: An asteroid with a particularly unusual orbit. As Jupiter moved, this asteroid remained ahead of Jupiter.
- It was observed that the asteroid was nearly 60 degrees in front of Jupiter.
Students with engineering background would better understand who Lagrange was. Rest need not care.
Lagrange’s propositions
- This specific position of a peculiar behaviour was predicted by the Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange over 100 years earlier.
- Lagrange had argued that if a small celestial body is placed at one of two stable points in a planet’s orbit around the Sun (the L4 and L5), the asteroid would remain stationary from the planet’s perspective.
- This is due to the combined gravitational forces of the planet and the Sun.
- Thus, Lagrange’s prediction acquired credibility. More such asteroids were discovered over subsequent months in Jupiter’s Lagrange point L5.
Behind the name: Lucy
- It is the fossil of a hominin that lived 3.2 million years ago.
- She is known to be one of the most famous pre-human fossil in history.
- Nearly 40 per cent of the fossilised skeleton of this hominin was discovered in 1974 by a team of paleoanthropologists led by Donald Johanson.
- The name was inspired from the famous Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” which Johanson’s team listened to at camp the night of their discovery.
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Back2Basics: Lagrange Points
- Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put.
- They are named after Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.
- At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
- These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce the fuel consumption needed to remain in position.
- There are five special points where a small mass can orbit in a constant pattern with two larger masses.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mawsmai Cave
Mains level: Not Much
A micro snail species named Georissa mawsmaiensis has recently been discovered from Mawsmai, a limestone cave in Meghalaya, 170 years after the last such discovery was made.
Georissa mawsmaiensis
- Georissa is found in soil or subterranean habitats in lowland tropical forest as well as high altitude evergreen forests or on rock surfaces rich in calcium.
- The members of the Georissa genus are widely distributed across and reported from Africa, Asia, and the Pacific.
- However, they are confined to microhabitats consisting of limestone caves or karst landscapes formed by the dissolution of limestone.
About Mawsmai Cave
- The Mawsmai cave is situated in the small village of Mawsmai, around four kilometres from Cherrapunjee (Sohra) in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya.
- It is located at an altitude of 1,195 metres above sea level and is indirectly influenced by the streams of the Kynshi river originating from the East Khasi Hills.
- The term ‘Mawsmai’ means ‘Oath Stone’ in the Khasi language. The Khasi people use the local term ‘Krem’ for the cave.
- It is famous for its fossils, some which can be spotted looking at the walls and formations inside.
- The longest is Krem Liat Prah in the Jaintia Hills, which is 30,957 m (31 km approx.)
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Dimensions of national security policy in 21st century
Context
National security concepts have, in the two decades of the 21st century, undergone fundamental changes. Cyberwarfare has vastly reduced the deterrent value of conventional deterrents.
Emergence of cyberwarfare
- In the 21st century, after cybertechnology enters as an important variable in nations’ defence policies.
- Geographical land size or GDP size will be irrelevant in war-making capacity or deterrence.
- These fundamental changes are entirely due to the earlier 20th century innovations in cybertechnology and software developments.
- Drones, robots, satellites and advanced computers as weapons are already in use.
- Some examples of further innovations are artificial intelligence and nanotechnology.
- Tracking those cyber warfare threat will need a new national security policy.
- By credible accounts, China, recently, publicly cautioned Indians to sit up and take notice by using cybertechnology to shut down Mumbai’s electric supply in populated areas of the city, for a few hours.
Four dimensions of national security policy
- Objectives: the objective of the National Security Policy in the 21st century is to define what assets are required to be defended, the identity of opponents.
- Although the novel coronavirus is perhaps accidental, it has completely destabilised peoples globally and their governments in all nations of the world over.
- This is a preview of the kinds of threats that await us in the coming decades which a national security policy will have to address by choosing a nation’s priorities.
- Priorities: National security priorities will require new departments for supporting several frontiers of innovation and technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells, desalination of seawater, thorium for nuclear technology, anti-computer viruses, and new immunity-creating medicines.
- This focus on a new priority will require compulsory science and mathematics education, especially in applications for analytical subjects.
- Strategy: The strategy required for this new national security policy will be to anticipate our enemies in many dimensions and by demonstrative but limited pre-emptive strikes by developing a strategy of deterrence of the enemy.
- For India, it will be the China cyber capability factor which is the new threat for which it has to devise a new strategy.
- Resource mobilisation: The macroeconomics of resource mobilisation depends on whether a nation has ‘demand’ as an economic deficit or not.
- If demand for a commodity or service is in deficit to clear the market of the available supply of the same, then liberal printing of currency and placing it in the hands of consumers is recommended for the economy to recover the demand-supply parity.
- A way to increase demand is by lowering the interest rate on bank loans or raising the rates in fixed deposits which will enable banks to obtain liquidity and lend liberally for enhancing investment for production.
- If it is ‘supply’ that is short or in deficit compared to demand, then special measures are required to incentivise to encourage an increase in supply.
Conclusion
National security at its root in the 21st century will depend on mind-boggling skills in the four dimensions mentioned above.
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