Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 370
Mains level: Paper 2- J and K issue
Context
The article deal with the impact of the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019 on Ladakh’s autonomy or participatory democracy.
What has changed?
- Hill Councils: The Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh and Kargil read along with the framework of J&K’s special status and its bicameral legislative system gave Ladakh autonomy and participatory democracy.
- The Hill Councils had the powers over land in Ladakh while the majority of the bigger concerns regarding land remained protected under Article 370 and J&K’s robust land protection laws.
- Power to recruit the officers: Gazetted officers were recruited through the State Public Service Commission.
- The District Service Selection Board made recruitments at the district level.
- But today, there is no Public Service Commission in Ladakh and the Hill Councils’ power to make recruitments at the district level has also been affected by the Lieutenant Governor (LG)’s presence.
- No law to protect the jobs: Technically, there also exists no law in Ladakh now that protects the land or even the jobs.
- Loss of representation: the Reorganisation Act has taken away the six seats of the Members of Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council and wakened the functioning of the Hill Councils.
- The only elected representation from Ladakh outside of Ladakh is a lone MP.
Conclusion
Steps need to be taken to address the issues related to the lack of representation in Ladakh in the wake of the passage of the Reorganisation Act of 2019.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India's relations with Central Asian countries
Context
The government is inviting the leaders of the five Central Asian countries — Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan — as guests for Republic Day on January 26.
Significance of Central Asian region for India
- Return of Taliban in Afghanistan: The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has made Central Asia a region where great contestations for influence are unfolding.
- There is a growing awareness that for leveraging influence in Kabul and harvesting that influence in the form of material gains, a firm footing in Central Asia is a prerequisite.
- Economic dimension: Given the vast untapped mineral wealth of the region encompassing the five Central Asian countries and Afghanistan — estimated to be worth a few trillion dollars — there is a significant economic dimension to the unfolding saga.
- Geopolitical angle: Washington hopes to create in Central Asia a vector of its Indo-Pacific strategy to contain China and Russia. At the same time, governments in Moscow and Beijing are circling the wagons.
Suggestions for India
- India needs to work on an intricate network of relationships with the regional states while remaining mindful of the “big picture”.
- Delhi’s non-aligned mindset needs to be turned into a strategic asset to navigate its long-term interests.
- India’s membership of the BRICS and SCO will help.
- Cooperation of Russia and China: The deepening of the traditional Indo-Russian mutual understanding has injected dynamism into Delhi’s regional strategy on the whole.
- It is bound to have a calming effect on India’s tensions with China.
- Delhi cannot have an effective Central Asia strategy without the cooperation of these two big powers.
- Regional connectivity: India can use the card of regional connectivity to stimulate partnerships.
- The time may have come to reopen the files on the TAPI and IPI gas pipeline projects. Both involve Pakistan.
- Normalisation of India-Russia ties: Russia is well-placed to act as guarantor and help build both these pipelines, while China too will see advantages in the normalisation of India-Pakistan ties.
New geoeconomic partnership
- Recently concluded third meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue in Delhi served a purpose to sensitise the Central Asian interlocutors that it attaches primacy to geoeconomics.
- But India will have a challenge on its hands to flesh out the “4Cs” concept that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar presented at the event — commerce, capacity enhancement, connectivity, and contact being the four pillars of a new geoeconomic partnership.
- The key areas are transit and transport, logistics network, regional and international transport corridors, free trade agreements, manufacturing industry and job creation.
- They ought to be front-loaded into India’s Central Asian strategy.
- Certainly, the EAEU integration processes must be speeded up.
Consider the question “With changing geopolitical scenario, India’s stake in Central Asia has drastically increased. In the context of this, examine India’s outreach efforts toward the region and the challenges it faces in it.”
Conclusion
A host of new possibilities open up if India’s initiative on Central Asia runs on a parallel track with an improvement in relations with China.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Rising inequality and its implications
Context
In the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic, evaluating the state of inequality serves as an eye-opener on the income/wealth divides prevailing across regions.
Income and wealth inequality in the world
- The top 10% of the global population share 52% of the total income, while the bottom half survives with a mere 8.5% of it.
- This leaves the 40% in the middle with 40% of the income.
- This distribution shows the tendency of a rising middle class with lower disparity in income, but it also shows that the status of the poor is worsening day by day.
- Inequality of wealth: In terms of wealth, the top 10% of the global population own 76% of the total wealth, while the bottom 50% share a mere 2%.
- Some additional features of this exposition of inequality also relate to imbalance of women’s share in income as well as the ecological inequities indicated by the differential carbon emission levels.
Factors responsible for rising inequality
[1] Absence of effective measures of redistribution
- Inequality varies across regions. It is moderate in Europe and sharp in Africa.
- The top 10% have an income share of 36% in Europe vis-à-vis the top 10% with a share of 58% of the total income in West Asia and North Africa.
- Measures for redistribution: This disparity shows that worsening inequalities are avoidable with appropriate measures in place.
[2] The absence of measures discouraging undue accumulation
- Kuznet’s curve not follower everywhere: While there is an argument in literature that inequalities are a manifestation of the average level of income, as explained by the Kuznets’ theory, the prevailing pattern across countries does not follow the same.
- Average income level is poor predictor of inequality: The average income levels seem to be poor predictors of the levels of inequality, with high-income countries such as the U.S. having higher levels of inequality as against countries such as Sweden, which have moderate levels of inequality.
- Similar contradictions are also seen when we contrast middle-income nations such as Brazil, India and China as against Malaysia and Uruguay.
- Hence, emerging inequalities are not necessarily an outcome of rising levels of income in the post-liberalisation era, but a depiction of poor redistributive policies towards discouragement of accumulation by governments with due sensitivity towards inequalities.
How inequality hurts government finances
- This prevailing pattern of wealth concentration and differential levels of income around the world has also resulted in rich nations having poor governments.
- Such a situation has two underpinnings: one, governments have a limited capacity to act on inequality aversion measures and two, private interests overshadow the distributional fairness of wealth.
Way forward
- Focus also needs to be placed on reducing disparities in capability domains like education and differential endowments (tangible and intangible) that have the potential to sustain inequalities.
Consider the question “How rising income and wealth inequality could harm us in various ways? What are the factors responsible for the rising inequality? Suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
The rising levels of income and wealth need to be addresses by policy measures and reducing disparity in capacity domains.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Logistcs and Supply chain management in India
In order to reduce transportation and logistic cost, the union government along with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is working on warehouse policy.
What are Warehouses?
- A warehouse is a building for storing goods.
- Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc.
- They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, towns, or villages.
Objectives of the New Warehousing Policy
- Logistics boost: The new policy is aimed at improving logistics throughout the country.
- Supply chain management: The modern warehouses will house cold-storage chains and will be able to store all kinds of cargo—wet and dry.
- De-congesting cities: These facilities are expected to come up outside city centres so that large trucks carrying the cargo do not need to enter the city to unload their goods.
- Fuel efficiency: This will also help boost bulk carrying capacity and save fuel.
- Curbing air pollution: The idea is to minimize pollution and traffic congestion in major cities.
Who will frame and implement the policy?
- NHAI: The policy will be framed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). It will also be the implementing agency.
How?
- Through Land Banks: There are land banks along the highways and expressways of the country with the NHAI.
- PPP mode: Tenders will be floated for such land parcels, inviting private players to develop warehousing zones in PPP mode on a revenue-sharing basis or for a fixed fee.
What will be the impact on logistic costs?
- Logistics cost-saving: Warehousing zones will help cut India’s logistics cost, which is 14%-16% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to 8%-10% of GDP in China and 12%-13% in the US.
- Establishment of MMLPs: The warehousing zones and multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs) are being set up by the NHAI.
- FMCG sector boost: This will help Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms, steel and cement makers stock inventory near major hubs.
How will MMLPs aid warehousing policies?
- Integration of multi-modal transport includes the development of 35 MMLPs.
- The MMLPs are aimed at fostering inter-modal connectivity through dedicated railway lines and access from highways to provide connectivity to an airport or a seaport or an inland waterway terminal.
- The aim is to:
- Remove deficiencies related to logistics
- Draw the associated costs down, and
- Strategically integrate highway projects and other connectivity initiatives
Why such move?
Ans. E-commerce boom
- The e-commerce sector has been driving the demand for logistics and warehousing across global markets.
- It has emerged as the most prominent driver of Indian warehousing market volumes along with the third party logistics sector.
- This sector’s share in transactions has grown from 18% in FY17 to 31% in FY21.
- The Indian market is on the verge of its next phase of growth with domestic groups such as Tatas and Reliance entering the business.
- Thus far, Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc. have driven the market.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Delimitation of constituencies
Mains level: Jammu and Kashmir after reorganization
The J&K Delimitation Commission has proposed to increase six seats for the Jammu division and one for the Kashmir division evoking sharp reactions from the regional parties.
What is Delimitation and why is it needed?
- Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of an Assembly or Lok Sabha seat to represent changes in population over time.
- This exercise is carried out by a Delimitation Commission, whose orders have the force of law and cannot be questioned before any court.
- The objective is to redraw boundaries (based on the data of the last Census) in a way so that the population of all seats, as far as practicable, be the same throughout the State.
- Aside from changing the limits of a constituency, the process may result in a change in the number of seats in a state.
Delimitation in J&K
- Assembly seats in J&K were delimited in 1963, 1973 and 1995.
- Prior to August 5, 2019, carving out of J&K’s Assembly seats was carried out under the J&K Constitution and Jammu and Kashmir Representation of the People Act, 1957.
- Until then, the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats in J&K was governed by the Constitution of India.
- However, the delimitation of the state’s Assembly was governed by the J&K Constitution and J&K Representation of the People Act, 1957.
- There was no census in the state in 1991 and hence no Delimitation Commission was set up by the state until 2001 census.
Why is it in the news again?
- After the abrogation of J&K’s special status in 2019, the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in the newly-created UT would be as per the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
- On March 6, 2020, the government set up the Delimitation Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, which was tasked with winding up delimitation in J&K in a year.
- As per the J&K Reorganization Bill, the number of Assembly seats in J&K would increase from 107 to 114, which is expected to benefit the Jammu region.
Factors considered during Delimitation
- The number of districts had increased from 12 to 20 and tehsils from 52 to 207 since the last delimitation.
- The population density ranged from 29 persons a square km in Kishtwar to 3,436 persons a square km in Srinagar.
- The remoteness of the place, inaccessibility etc are also considered during the exercise.
What’s new?
Ans. Reserved constituencies for SC/STs
- For the first time, in Jammu and Kashmir, nine seats are proposed to be allocated for Scheduled Tribes out of 90 seats on the basis of population.
- Seven seats are proposed for Scheduled Castes.
Concerns raised over Delimitation
- Jammu vs. Kashmir: Concerns had been expressed over how the delimitation process may end up favoring the Jammu region over Kashmir in terms of the seats.
- Under-representation of Ladakh: Arguments have been made on how Ladakh has been underrepresented, with demands for statehood/sixth schedule.
- Non-proportionate reservations: It is argued that seats for STs should’ve been divided in both Jammu province & Kashmir province, as the ST population is almost equal.
Do not forget to answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.With reference to the Delimitation Commission, consider the following statements:
- The orders of the Delimitation Commission cannot be challenged in a Court of Law.
- When the orders of the Delimitation Commission are laid before the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly, they cannot affect any modifications in the orders.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UDAN Scheme
Mains level: Aviation infrastructure in India
PM launched the UDAN scheme nearly five years back with the aim to take flying to the masses. However, many routes have launched by airlines have been discontinued.
UDAN Scheme
- The Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme is a low-cost flying scheme launched with the aim of taking flying to the masses.
- The first flight under UDAN was launched by the PM in April 2017.
- It is also known as the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) as it seeks to improve air connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities through revival of unused and underused airports.
Working of the Scheme
- Airlines are awarded routes under the programme through a bidding process and are required to offer airfares at the rate of ₹2,500 per hour of flight.
- At least 50% of the total seats on an aircraft have to be offered at cheaper rates.
- In order to enable airlines to offer affordable fares they are given a subsidy from the govt. for a period of three years.
Present status of working
- A total of nine rounds of bidding have taken place since January 2017.
- The Ministry of Civil Aviation has set a target of operationalizing as many as 100 unserved and underserved airports and starting at least 1,000 RCS routes by 2024.
- So far, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has awarded 948 routes under UDAN, of which 403 routes have taken off that connect 65 airports.
- Out of the total 28 seaplane routes connecting 14 water aerodromes, only two have commenced.
Issues with the working
- Discontinuance: In reality, some of the routes launched have been discontinued as most of the routes awarded under UDAN are not active.
- On-paper Ambitions: UDAN was expanded to provide improved connectivity to hilly regions and islands through helicopters and seaplanes. However, they mostly remain on paper.
- The reasons include:
- Failure to set up airports or heliports due to lack of availability of land
- Airlines unable to start flights on routes awarded to them or finding the routes difficult to sustain
- Adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Various challenges
- Lack of funds: Many small airlines await infusion of funds, to be able to undertake maintenance of aircraft, pay rentals to lessors, give salaries to its staff, etc.
- Maintenance issue: Many players don’t have more than one or two planes and they are often poorly maintained. New planes are too expensive for these smaller players.
- Availability of pilots: Often, they also have problems with the availability of pilots and are forced to hire foreign pilots which costs them a lot of money and makes the business unviable.
- Competition: Only those routes that have been bagged by bigger domestic players such as IndiGo and SpiceJet have seen a better success rate.
Way forward
- The govt offers subsidies for a route for a period of three years and expects the airline to develop the route during this time so that it becomes self-sufficient.
- Airlines need an extension of the subsidy period for their operational continuity.
- Due to the rise in COVID cases, travel restrictions and passenger safety too needs to be taken into consideration in the loss-making of such airlines.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Press Freedom Index
Mains level: Freedom of press in India
The Centre has shown its disagreement with the conclusions drawn by Reporters Without Borders about press freedom in India for various reasons.
World Press Freedom Index
- The PFI is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders since 2002.
- It is based upon the organization’s own assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year.
- It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom.
- It is careful to note that the index only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism in the countries it assesses, nor does it look at human rights violations in general.
India’s ranking
- India is ranked at 142 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index 2021.
- In the South Asian neighborhood, Nepal is at 106, Sri Lanka at 127, Myanmar (before the coup) at 140, Pakistan at 145 and Bangladesh at 152.
- China is ranked 177, and is only above North Korea at 179 and Turkmenistan at 178.
What the report said about India
- Targeting women: It has been highlighted that the “campaigns are particularly violent when the targets are women”.
- Criminal prosecutions: Often used to gag journalists critical of the authorities.
- Draconian laws: It termed various Indian laws such as – laws on ‘sedition,’ ‘state secrets’ and ‘national security’, draconian.
- Curb on freedom of expression: The report has also highlighted the throttling of freedom of expression on social media.
- Censorship on social media: It specifically mentioned that in India the “arbitrary nature of Twitter’s algorithms also resulted in brutal censorship”
Reservations held by India
- India along with many nations has reportedly disgusted the outcomes of this report. It stated that media in India enjoy absolute freedom.
- The government does not subscribe to its views and country rankings and does not agree to the conclusions drawn by this organization for various reasons:
- Non-transparent methodology
- Very low sample size
- Little or no weightage to fundamentals of democracy
- Adoption of a methodology that is questionable and non-transparent
- Lack of clear definition of press freedom, among others
Why is the report biased?
- The report is a subjective measure computed through the prism of western liberals.
- It tends to default to a homogenous view of mass media which then facilitates comparison between countries.
- There are no questions about media ownership or about their economic concentration in private hands.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UAPA
Mains level: Anti-national activities
The phrase ‘anti-national’ has not been defined in statutes, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the Parliament.
Defining Anti-national Activities
(1) Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
- The UAPA is aimed at the prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
- Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.
(2) Sedition Law
- Section 124A IPC deals with attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India.
- This law was enacted by the British colonial government in 1870 with the sole object of suppressing all voices of Indians critical of the government.
(3) NCRB Reports
- In 2019, when the National Crime Records Bureau released the annual Crime in India report for year 2017, it included for the first time a new chapter on “Crime Committed by Anti National Elements.”
- The chapter listed – “North East insurgents, Left Wing Extremists and Terrorists (including Jihadi terrorists)” as the three anti-national elements.
Attempts for defining
- There are criminal legislations and various judicial pronouncements deal with unlawful and subversive activities which are detrimental to the unity and integrity of the country.
- In this regard, it is relevant to mention that the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 inserted in the Constitution Article 31D (during Emergency) which defined “anti-national activity”.
- This Article 31D was, later, omitted by the 43rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1977.
Supreme Court guidelines
- In the ultimate analysis, the judgment in Kedar Nath (1962) read down Section 124A and held that without incitement to violence or rebellion there is no sedition.
- It says that ‘only when the words written or spoken etc. which have the pernicious tendency or intention of creating public disorder the law steps in.
Who maintains the data of such individuals?
- The onus of maintenance of such data lies with the respective states.
- ‘Public Order’ and ‘Police’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
- Hence the data about the number of people arrested for indulging in anti-national activities are not maintained centrally.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chillai Kalan
Mains level: Not Much
Kashmir is in a deep freeze as the 40-day harshest spell of winter, locally called ‘chillai kalan’ has started with the minimum temperature already sub-zero in the entire Valley.
Chillai Kalan
- Chillai Kalan is the coldest 40-day period of harsh winter of winter in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
- It is traditionally defined as a seasonal period of harsh winter accompanied by a change in increase in both frequency and quantity of precipitation usually snow.
- It begins from December 21 and ends on January 31 next year.
- It is followed by a 20-day long Chillai-Khurd (small cold) that occurs between January 31 and February 19 and a 10-day long Chillai-Bachha (baby cold).
- According to Persian tradition, the night of 21st December is celebrated as Shab-e Yalda-“Night of Birth”, or Shab-e Chelleh “Night of Forty”.
Its’ celebration
- In the Persian tradition, the night of December 21, the longest of the year, is celebrated as Shab-e-Yalda (night of birth) or Shab-e-Chelleh.
- Dozens of netizens from Kashmir named it the ‘Pheran Day’, after the long woollen gown worn during the winters in Kashmir.
- Use of a traditional firing pot called Kangri increases.
- Tap water pipelines partially freeze during this period. The Dal Lake also freezes.
- The famous tourist resort of Gulmarg receives heavy snow which attracts skier’s from every part of the world.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Seed Village Concept
Mains level: Not Much
The govt is implementing Seed Village Programme (Beej Gram Yojana) since 2014-15 to upgrade the quality of farmers’ saved seeds.
What do you mean by Seed Village?
- It is a village, wherein a trained group of farmers are involved in the production of seeds of various crops and cater to their needs themselves.
Seed Village Programme
- This program aims at upgrading the quality of farm-saved seeds.
- Under this, financial assistance is available for up to one acre per farmer for distribution of foundation/certified seeds at:
- 50% of seed cost for cereal crops
- 60% for pulses, oilseeds, fodder, and green manure crops
Objectives of the program
- Increasing the seed production
- Increasing the seed replacement rate
- Organizing seed production in cluster (or) compact area replacing existing local varieties with new high yielding varieties
- Self-sufficiency and self-reliance of the village
Implementation
The present program of seed village scheme is having two phases:
- Seed production of different crops: The area which is suitable for raising a particular crop will be selected, and raised with a single variety of a kind.
- Establishing seed processing unit: If the seeds are not processed and handled properly, all the past efforts in production may be lost. Thus seed processing and packaging is a very important aspect of seed production.
Benefits offered
- Seed is available at the doorsteps of farms at an appropriate time.
- Seeds are available at affordable costs even lesser than the market price.
- It has increased the confidence among the farmers about the quality because of known sources of production.
- It facilitates the fast spread of new cultivars of different kinds.
Back2Basics: Seed Replacement Rate
- It is the percentage of area sown out of the total area of the crop planted in the season by using certified/quality seeds other than the farm-saved seed.
- In simple terms, it is a measure of the cropped area covered with quality seed.
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