Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Global perception of India's image
A UK think-tank ‘Royal Institute of International Affairs’ has listed India in ‘Difficult 4’; clubs India with China, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
This newscard helps analyse the Western esp. that of the EU’s perception of India and its global image under the present regime.
What is the news?
- A report called ‘Global Britain, Global Broker’ has warned the UK government to consider India as more of a rival that a cooperative partner.
- It accepts the fact that India is set to be the largest country in the world by population very soon and will have the third-largest economy and defence budget at some point in this decade.
- But it cautions that gaining direct national benefit from the relationship, whether economically or diplomatically, will be difficult for the UK government.
- The report also accepts India’s importance to the UK as being “inescapable”.
The ‘Difficult Four’
- Clubbing India with China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as the “difficult four”, the report says the Johnson government should be more realistic about developing deeper ties with India.
- They may be important to the UK’s commercial interests, but they will be rivals or, at best, awkward counterparts on many of its global goals, the report warns.
- India is now classed as a country, destined to count among the UK’s “rivals” or “awkward counterparts” as it pursues its global goals.
India has had bitter (colonial) past
- The think-tank strikes a note of caution over the two countries’ shared colonial history proving a stumbling block to the promise of a deeper relationship.
- India has a long and consistent record of resisting being corralled into a ‘Western’ camp.
- As a result, India is always on the list of countries with which a new UK government commits to engage.
- But it should be obvious by now that the idea of a deeper relationship with India always promises more than it can deliver.
- The legacy of British colonial rule consistently curdles the relationship.
Indian flaws
- The report points to India’s “complex, fragmented domestic politics”, which make it one of the countries resistant to open trade and foreign investment.
- It highlights concerns raised by domestic groups as well as the UN over a “crackdown on human rights activists and civil society groups” not being actively challenged by the judiciary.
- It raises concern over India’s pursuance of extreme right-winged policies. Indian domestic politics also has entered a more ethnic-nationalist phase, the report argues.
- Against this backdrop, the report reflects on the prospect of including India within any new Democratic 10 or D10 coalition of 10 leading democracies.
Try this question from 2019 CS Mains:
Q.What are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism? (150W)
UK’s resentment
- In a critique of India’s diplomatic behaviour, the report points out that despite border clashes with China, “India did not join the group of countries that criticized China at the UN in July 2019 over HR violations in Xinjiang.
- India has also been muted in its criticism of the passage of the new national security law in Hong Kong.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sect 497 of IPC
Mains level: Adultery Laws and the associated gender bias
The Supreme Court has admitted a petition filed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) seeking to exempt armed forces personnel from the ambit of a Constitution Bench judgment of 2018 that decriminalized adultery.
Q. Personnels of the Indian Armed Forces constitute a ‘Distinct Class’.
Discuss this statement in context to the extension of IPC section 497 to the Armed forces.
What was the 2018 historic Judgment?
- The Supreme Court had struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalized adultery.
- It also declared Section 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code as unconstitutional, which deals with the procedure for filing a complaint about the offence of adultery.
Important observations of the judgment
- Section 497 was unconstitutional and is violative of Article 21 (Right to life and personal liberty) and Article 14 (Right to equality).
- The court observed that two individuals may part if one cheats, but to attach criminality to infidelity is going too far. How married couples deal with adultery is absolutely a matter of privacy.
- Besides, there is no data to back claims that abolition of adultery as a crime would result in “chaos in sexual morality” or an increase of divorce.
- Any provision of law affecting individual dignity and equality of women invites the wrath of the Constitution.
- It’s time to say that a husband is not the master of the wife. Legal sovereignty of one sex over other sex is wrong, ruled the court.
- Marriage does not mean ceding autonomy of one to the other. Ability to make sexual choices is essential to human liberty. Even within private zones, an individual should be allowed her choice.
What about Armed forces?
- The judgment of 2018 created “instability”. It allowed personnel charged with carrying on an adulterous or illicit relationship to take cover under the judgment.
- The bench had then referred the case to the CJI to pass appropriate orders to form a five-judge Bench to clarify the impact of the 2018 judgment on the armed forces.
- This case is now being under the observation of the apex court.
Govt. stance over this
- The MoD has sought for an exemption to this decriminalization in the petition.
- It said that there will always be a concern in the minds of the Army personnel who are operating far away from their families under challenging conditions about the family indulging in untoward activity.
- The petition goes on to say that personnel of the Army, Navy and the Air Force were a “distinct class”. They were governed by special legislation, the Army Act, the Navy Act and the Air Force Act.
- Adultery amounted to unbecoming conduct and a violation of discipline under these three Acts.
- Unlike Section 497, the provisions of the three Acts did not differentiate between a man and a woman if they were guilty of an offence.
Constitutional backing for an exception
- These special laws imposed restrictions on the fundamental rights of the personnel, who function in a peculiar situation requiring utmost discipline.
- The three laws were protected by Article 33 of the Constitution, which allowed the government to modify the fundamental rights of the armed forces personnel.
The core idea behind govt. proposition
- One has to remember that the armed forces exist in an environment wholly different and distinct from civilians. Honour is a sine qua non of the service.
- The provisions of the Acts should be allowed to continue to govern the personnel as a “distinct class”, irrespective of the 2018 judgment.
- This is because, the discipline necessary for the performance of duty, crucial for national safety, would break down.
- It said the court would not, at the time, have been appraised of the different circumstances under which the armed forces operated.
Back2Basics: Article 33 of the Indian Constitution
- It deals with the power of Parliament to modify the rights conferred by this Part III in their application etc.
- Parliament may, by law, determine to what extent any of the rights conferred by this Part shall, in their application to-
(a) the members of the Armed Forces; or
(b) the members of the Forces charged with the maintenance of public order; or
(c) persons employed in any bureau or other organisation established by the State for purposes of intelligence or counterintelligence; or
(d) persons employed in, or in connection with, the telecommunication systems set up for the purposes of any Force, bureau or organisation referred to in clauses (a) to (c), be restricted or abrogated so as to ensure the proper discharge of their duties and the maintenance of discipline among them
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Curiosity rover, Martian Day
Mains level: Quest for extraterrestrial life
The Mars rover ‘Curiosity’ has completed 3,000 Martian days.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which region of Mars has a densely packed river deposit indicating this planet had water 3.5 billion years ago?
(a) Aeolis Dorsa
(b) Tharsis
(c) Olympus Mons
(d) Hellas
Curiosity Rover
- Curiosity is an SUV-sized Mars rover designed to explore the Gale crater on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission
- The main mission of Curiosity was “to search areas of Mars for past or present conditions favourable for life, and conditions capable of preserving a record of life.”
- It has a suite of instruments:
- A gas chromatograph, a mass spectrometer, a tunable laser spectrometer, X-ray diffraction, fluorescence instrument help study the rocks
- The Mars Hand Lens Imager (for close-up pictures) and a Mast Camera (to take photos of the surroundings)
- An instrument named ChemCam to vaporize thin layers of Martian rocks.
- Radiation Assessment Detector to study the radiation environment at the surface of Mars
- Rover Environmental Monitoring Station to measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, winds, plus ultraviolet radiation levels
- Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument to measure subsurface hydrogen
Back2Basics: Martian Day/ Sol
- Coincidentally, the duration of a Martian day aka ‘Sol’ is within a few per cent of that of an Earth day, which has led to the use of analogous time units.
- A sol is slightly longer than an Earth day. It is approximately 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 seconds long.
- A Martian year is approximately 668 sols, equivalent to approximately 687 Earth days.
- Mars has an axial tilt and a rotation period similar to those of Earth.
- Thus, it experiences seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter much like Earth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sulawesi Cave Paintings
Mains level: Not Much
A team of archaeologists in Indonesia has discovered what may be the world’s oldest known cave painting dating back to more than 45,000 years.
Try this PYQ:
Q.There are only two known examples of cave paintings of the Gupta period in ancient India. One of these is paintings of Ajanta caves. Where is the other surviving example of Gupta paintings?
(a) Bagh caves
(b) Ellora caves
(c) Lomas Rishi cave
(d) Nasik caves
Sulawesi Cave Paintings
- The cave painting depicts a wild boar endemic to the Sulawesi island of Indonesia, where the painting was found.
- The central Indonesian island, which occupies an area of over 174,000 sq. km, is situated between Asia and Australia.
- It has a long history of human occupation.
Significance of the painting
- The archaeologists’ note that the dated painting of the Sulawesi warty pig seems to be the world’s oldest surviving representational image of an animal.
- The painting was made using red ochre pigment and depicts a pig with a short crest of upright hairs and a pair of horn-like facial warts in front of the eyes.
- These pigs have been hunted by humans for tens of thousands of years and are the most commonly depicted animal in the ice age rock art of the island.
- It suggests that they have long been used as food and form a “focus of creative thinking and artistic expression” for people of that time.
Must read:
Chapter 1 | Stone Age – Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic
How did the archaeologists date it?
- The painting was first discovered in 2017 as part of surveys the team was carrying out with the Indonesian authorities.
- For these painting archaeologists used a method called U-series isotope analysis, which uses calcium carbonate deposits that form naturally on the cave wall surface to determine its age.
- They used a calcium carbonate deposit, also referred to as “cave popcorn” that had formed on the rear foot of one of the pig figures.
- They were able to figure out a minimum age for the painting at around 45,500 years, which means the painting was made before this.
Sulawesi: Oldest human habitat
Try memorizing these Islands of the Indo-Pacific in their East-West alternations.
- Sulawesi island contains some of the oldest directly dated rock art in the world and also some of the oldest evidence for the presence of hominins beyond the southeastern limits of the Ice Age Asian continent.
- Hominins include modern humans, extinct human species and our immediate ancestors.
- Homo sapiens are the first modern humans who evolved from their hominid predecessors between 200,000-300,000 years ago.
- It is estimated that these modern humans started migrating outside of Africa some 70,000-100,000 years ago.
- Even so, it is not yet clear as to when modern humans first colonised Sulawesi.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kashmiri papier-mache
Mains level: NA
This newscard is an excerpt of the original article published in The Hindu.
Tap to know about other Geographical Indicators in news.
Kashmiri papier-mache
- It is a handicraft of Kashmir that was brought by Muslims saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani from Persia in the 14th century to medieval India.
- It is based primarily on paper pulp, and is a richly decorated, colourful artefact; generally in the form of vases, bowls, or cups (with and without metal rims), boxes, trays, bases of lamps, and many other small objects.
- These are made in homes, and workshops, in Srinagar, and other parts of the Kashmir Valley, and are marketed primarily within India, although there is a significant international market.
- The product is protected under the Geographic Indication Act 1999 and was registered by the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks.
Back2Basics: Geographical Indication (GI)
- The World Intellectual Property Organisation defines a GI as “a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”.
- GIs are typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, handicrafts, industrial products, wines and spirit drinks.
- Internationally, GIs are covered as an element of intellectual property rights under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
- They have also covered under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vaccines for Covid-19
Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges in vaccination for Covid-19
The article explains the challenge in the vaccination program for the Covid-19 vaccine.
Issue of lack of data about the vaccine
- In the COVID vaccine roll out, there is no clear data for either of the two vaccines proposed for use in the programme.
- We do not know if they provide protection for life, for a year or six months, its efficacy among the elderly or the very sick or in stopping new infections.
- Getting such data requires at least three years and cannot be obtained in a few months.
Guidelines for implementing vaccine programme
- Given these limitations, the government has drawn up strategic guidelines for implementing an vaccine programme covering 30 crore people by July.
- The guidelines draw upon the knowledge of running national campaigns acquired over three decades of implementing the Universal Immunisation Programme.
- These guidelines detail the skills, roles and responsibilities of the required human resources, logistics for delivering vaccines at point of use, physical infrastructure, monitoring systems based on digital platforms and feedback systems for reporting adverse events.
- The approach involves 19 departments, donor organisations and NGOs at the national, state, district and block level.
- The guidelines also mention the priority criteria — caregivers, front line workers of the departments of health, defence, municipalities and transportation; persons above the age of 50 and those below 50 having diabetes, hypertension, cancers and lung diseases.
Issues with the guidelines
- Of the 28,932 cold chain points, half are in the five southern states, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
- Combined with poor human resources — doctors, nurses, pharmacists — a weak private sector, poor safety and hygiene standards, frequent power outages, poor infrastructure, the capacity to implement with the expected speed, quality and accuracy is daunting.
- The immunisation can disrupt routine health service delivery — antenatal care, national programmes like those pertaining to TB or other immunisation drives.
- While data for the above-50-year-olds is available in the electoral rolls, line listing of the under 50s with comorbidities can be challenging.
- Not only are urban-rural variations substantial, but urban areas have weak public health infrastructure and a multiple number of private providers due to the poor implementation of the Clinical Establishment Act, 2010.
- Patient tracking can be problematic.
- The non-availability of efficacy data could also impact the procurement and supply of vaccines, result in huge wastage, and can introduce scope for errors and duplication.
Way forward
- Central to the success of the roll out will be the confidence of the people in the vaccines.
- Coming out of this messy situation is necessary and one option — as adopted for the polio eradication programme — is to establish an independent team of experts under the aegis of the WHO to ensure the safety of the vaccine.
- This will create confidence in the community and international authorities as well.
Conclusion
it is important to understand that vaccination is an incomplete solution to ending the epidemic, since the virus is mutating. Adopting safe behaviour is.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kisan Credit Cards
Mains level: Paper 3- Enhancing credit flow to small and marginal farmers
The budget could be an opportunity to increase the consumption which has been impacted by the pandemic and still continues to show the declining trends.
Continuing decline in consumption
- The first advance estimates of GDP for 2020-21 are much better than the earlier market consensus.
- The demand side, however, continues to be in a decline with private consumption falling by 9.5 per cent and its share in the overall GDP reducing by full 100 basis points.
- Per capita private consumption has contracted by 10.4 per cent, while capital formation has contracted by 14.5 per cent, with imports and exports also contracting.
- Only government consumption remains in positive territory.
What should be the growth in nominal GDP for 2021-22?
- In terms of specific numbers, the average growth in nominal GDP for the decade ending in 2013-14 was 15 per cent, but the average GDP deflator at 7.6 per cent far outpaced average real GDP at 6.8 per cent.
- For the six year period ending in 2019-20, average nominal GDP growth was 10.4 per cent, with real GDP growth of 6.8 per cent far outpacing the GDP deflator at 3.6 per cent.
- It is thus extremely important that we ensure that the current inflation trajectory is kept under control through policy interventions.
Policy recommendations for the farmers
1) Changing condition for renewal of loan on Kisan Credit Cards
- Out of the outstanding bank credit of about Rs 12 lakh crore to the agriculture and allied activities sector, Rs 7 lakh crore is for Kisan Credit Cards.
- The KCC portfolio of banks is under stress over the years due to a variety of factors like crop losses, unremunerated prices, debt waivers and the rigidity of the KCC product.
- Currently, the renewal of KCC loans with payment of both principal and interest ensures interest subvention.
- It is proposed that for renewal of KCC loans of small and marginal farmers and for loans of other categories of farmers for amounts up to Rs 3 lakh, the payment of interest must be a sufficient condition for renewal as with other loans.
- The above measure has the potential to reduce the credit cost for banks considerably on KCCs as NPAs can be prevented more easily and the interest rate on KCC loans can be further reduced.
2) Formalise tenancy and provide credit to tenant farmers
- There are 11.5 crore farmers who are PM-KISAN beneficiaries — 6.5 crore farmers have KCC.
- Thus, the remaining 4-5 crore could be land owning cultivators and at least 3-4 crore of such could be tenants/lessees/landless.
- Currently, such tenant farmers are not formalised into the credit deliveries of scheduled commercial banks.
- As of now, it requires state interventions for tenancy certificates which is only available in Andhra Pradesh.
- Formation of a SHG model under the Deen Dayal Antodoya Yojana will formalise tenancy even without formal documentation of tenancy.
- This will enable formal lending to take place to three crore landless farmers.
3) Increasing investment in health and education
- For health, it government could introduce medical savings account with a defined scheme to deduct interest from the savings account and pay towards a Mediclaim policy.
- For the record, the size of the health insurance is Rs 32,000 crore and the savings bank interest is Rs 1.15 lakh crore.
- The government should also consider exempting all retail and health insurance products from GST.
Three suggestions on the fiscal situation
- First,Withdraw all tax appeals.
- Second, accept all domestic arbitration decisions against government departments/agencies.
- Third, clear all outstanding dues to all parastatal agencies within a stipulated time.
- This will be a milestone structural administrative change that could be even thought of as a one-time balance sheet entry recognising liabilities and paying them off.
- As a consequence, we could jump multiple positions on the Ease of Doing Business rankings.
Conclusion
By implementing these steps in the budget the government could use this opportnity to stimulate the economy and aid the economic recovery.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Digital Lending and associated issue
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a working group on digital lending to study all aspects of digital lending activities in the regulated financial sector as well as by unregulated players.
NPAs are rising in India. And one may find some irritating ads and texts on our smartphones, which desperately wants to disburse easy loans (that too in a limited offer period)!
Digital Lending
- Digital lending is the process of offering loans that are applied for, disbursed, and managed through digital channels, in which lenders use digitized data to inform credit decisions and build customer engagement.
- It consists of lending through web platforms or mobile apps, by taking advantage of technology for authentication and credit assessment.
Why in news?
- The move comes in the backdrop of the three borrowers in Telangana committing suicide over alleged harassment by personnel of such digital lenders.
- There were many more complaining of being subjected to coercive methods after defaulting on repayments.
Why regulate Digital Lending?
- Digital lending has the potential to make access to financial products and services more fair, efficient and inclusive.
- From a peripheral supporting role a few years ago, FinTech-led innovation is now at the core of the design, pricing and delivery of financial products and services.
- While penetration of digital methods in the financial sector is a welcome development, the benefits and certain downside risks are often interwoven.
- A balanced approach needs to be followed so that the regulatory framework supports innovation while ensuring data security, privacy, confidentiality and consumer protection.
Risks associated
- A growing number of unauthorized digital lending platforms and mobile applications are threats to consumers.
- Such lenders charge excessive rates of interest and additional hidden charges.
- They adopt unacceptable and high-handed recovery methods and in turn misuse agreements to access data on mobile phones of borrowers.
What will the working group do?
- The RBI working group will evaluate digital lending activities and assess the penetration and standards of outsourced digital lending activities in RBI regulated entities.
- They would thus identify the risks posed by unregulated digital lending to financial stability, regulated entities and consumers; and suggest regulatory changes to promote orderly growth of digital lending.
- It will also recommend measures for expansion of specific regulatory or statutory perimeter and suggest the role of various regulatory and government agencies.
- It will also recommend a robust fair practices code for digital lending players.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GGW Project
Mains level: Combating Desertification
The Great Green Wall (GGW) Project to address desertification, land degradation and climate change in the Sahel region of Africa has hit a new low due to funds crunch.
Note the countries swept by the GGW project on the African map.
GGW Project
- The Great Green Wall project is conceived by 11 countries located along the southern border of the Sahara and their international partners, is aimed at limiting the desertification of the Sahel zone.
- Led by the African Union, the initiative aims to transform the lives of millions of people by creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across North Africa.
- The initial idea of the GGW was to develop a line of trees from east to the west bordering the Saharan Desert.
- Its vision has evolved into that of a mosaic of interventions addressing the challenges facing the people in the Sahel and the Sahara.
Why was such project incepted?
- The project is a response to the combined effect of natural resources degradation and drought in rural areas.
- It aimed to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land by 2030; only four million hectares had been restored between 2007 and 2019.
- It is a partnership that supports communities working towards sustainable management and use of forests, rangelands and other natural resources.
- It seeks to help communities mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as improve food security.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MICE tourism
Mains level: Various initiaitves tourism promotion
Gujarat CM has announced the tourism policy for 2021-25, seeking to position the state as the country’s foremost tourist destination, with a focus on investment and livelihood opportunities.
The policy seeks to make Gujarat a hub of “MICE” tourism.
Q. Given the vital importance of the tourism industry in the Indian economy, there is a need to address underneath challenges and adopt a suitable policy for overall growth. Discuss the need for a comprehensive National Tourism Policy.
What is MICE tourism?
- The acronym “MICE” stands for “Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions”, and is essentially a version of business tourism that draws domestic and international tourists to a destination.
- The policy aims to make Gujarat one of the top five MICE tourism destinations in the country.
How does the policy proposals to attract MICE tourism?
- To incentivise international events, the government has announced an assistance of Rs 5,000 to the event organizer per foreign participant staying overnight, subject to an upper limit of Rs 5 lakh.
- For domestic events, the policy promises financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh per event, capped at three events per organizer per year.
- For Gujarat to emerge as a venue of big national and international conferences, large convention centres are required.
- The policy promises special incentives for building big convention centres, including 15% capital subsidy on the eligible capital investment.
- The government has also promised land on the lease if required.
- A precondition to avail the incentive is that the convention centre should have at least one hall that can seat a minimum of 2,500 persons.
Why is there a specific focus on MICE tourism?
- MICE events are major tourism generators, and there is significant scope to tap into it.
- By incentivizing the organising of MICE events and construction of convention centres in Gujarat, we are trying to plug the gaps.
- The organizer of an international event can prolong the stay of guests by one or two days, and visitors can visit tourist attractions, of which Gujarat has many.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mutual Funds
Mains level: Mutual Funds and associated market risks
The capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made it mandatory for mutual funds to assign a risk level to schemes, based on certain parameters.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following is issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who want to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly?
(a) Certificate of Deposit
(b) Commercial Paper
(c) Promissory Note
(d) Participatory Note
What are Mutual Funds?
- A Mutual Fund is a trust that collects money from a number of investors who share a common investment objective.
- Then, it invests the money in equities, bonds, money market instruments and/or other securities.
- Each investor owns units, which represent a portion of the holdings of the fund.
- The income/gains generated from this collective investment are distributed proportionately amongst the investors after deducting certain expenses, by calculating a scheme’s “Net Asset Value or NAV.
- It is one of the most viable investment options for the common man as it offers an opportunity to invest in a diversified, professionally managed basket of securities at a relatively low cost.
- All funds carry some level of risk. With mutual funds, one may lose some or all of the money invested because the securities held by a fund can go down in value.
What is the risk-o-meter?
- All mutual funds shall beginning January 1, assign a risk level to their schemes at the time of launch, based on the scheme’s characteristics.
- SEBI’s decision on the “risk-o-meter”, characterizes the risk level of the schemes on a six-stage scale from “Low” to “Very High”.
- The risk-o-meter must be evaluated on a monthly basis.
A compulsory mandate
- Fund houses are required to disclose the risk-o-meter risk level along with the portfolio disclosure for all their schemes on their own websites as well as the website of the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) within 10 days of the close of each month.
- Any change in the risk-o-meter reading with regard to a scheme shall be communicated to the unit-holders of that scheme.
How will the level of risk be assigned?
- Which one of the six risk levels — low, low to moderate, moderate, moderately high, high, and very high — would apply, would depend upon the risk value (less than 1 for low risk to more than 5 for very high risk) calculated for the scheme.
- So if the risk value of a scheme is less than 1, its risk level would be low, and if it is more than 5, the risk will be very high on the risk-o-meter.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LCA Tejas
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Cabinet has approved procurement of 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircraft and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer aircraft for Indian Air Force.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:
Q.What is “Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)”, sometimes seen in the news?
(a) An Israeli radar system
(b) India’s indigenous anti-missile programme
(c) An American anti-missile system
(d) A defence collaboration between Japan and South Korea
LCA Tejas
- The Tejas is an Indian single-engine, fourth-generation, multirole light fighter aircraft.
- It is designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in collaboration with the Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
- It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India’s ageing MiG-21 fighters.
- The indigenous content of the Tejas was 59.7% by value and 75.5% by a number of lines replaceable units.
Which are the procured variants?
- Light Combat Aircraft Mk-1A variant is an indigenously designed, developed and manufactured state-of-the-art modern 4+ generation fighter aircraft.
- It is the first “Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)” category procurement of combat aircraft.
Significance
- Tejas enable IAF to handle repairs or servicing at their base depot so that the turnaround time would get reduced for mission-critical systems.
- This would enable IAF to sustain the fleet more efficiently and effectively due to the availability of repair infrastructure at respective bases.
- It will give a further push to Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative and boost indigenization of defence production and the defence industry in the country.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Comprehensive Agreement of Investment between China and the EU
Mains level: Paper 2- Contours of the post-pandemic world order
Thought the article is not directly related to India, the conclusion of the investment treaty between the EU and China serves as the prelude to the post-pandemic world order which surely matters for India. The article explains the implications of the agreement.
Investment agreement between EU and China
- Recently, the EU and China announced the completion of a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) between the two.
- The CAI gives European firms enhanced access to the Chinese market, removes (or relaxes) Chinese government requirements on joint ventures and technology transfer in some sectors.
- The European Commission has claimed that the CAI allows the EU to maintain its “policy space”, especially in “sensitive” sectors such as energy, infrastructure, agriculture, and public services
- The deal also promises equal treatment with state enterprises and greater regulatory transparency in China.
- Moreover, the Chinese government has undertaken some obligations on environmental sustainability and labour rights, notably by agreeing to make “continued and sustained efforts” to ratify the Forced Labour Convention.
Reaction to the agreement
- The US reaction ranged from disappointment to outright hostility.
- The incoming Biden administration would have preferred a unified front against China, by striking an economic deal with Europe first.
- For others, it was the EU’s apparent misjudgement on China’s human rights promises.
Post-pandemic world order and role of democracies
- The Europe-China agreement underscores a fundamental question of the post-pandemic world order: Can democracies remain true to their values while engaging in trade and investment with China?
- To answer that, we must recognize two facts.
- First, it is impossible to decouple the economies of the West from the Chinese economy without causing an economic catastrophe.
- Second, there is little that Western countries can do to reshape China’s state-driven economic model or repressive human- and labour-rights regime.
What should be the approach in dealing with China
- The West should pursue more limited, more attainable, and ultimately more defensible goals.
- Two goals are paramount.
- First, trade and investment rules should be such that Western firms and consumers are not directly complicit in human-rights abuses in China.
- Second, such rules should safeguard democratic countries against Chinese practices that could undermine their domestic institutional arrangements on labour, environment, technology, and national security.
Lack of clarity over arbitration mechanism
- The agreement contains an arbitration scheme that enables the parties to bring violation complaints against each other.
- Arbitration scheme could serve as a means for the Chinese government to challenge specific entry barriers against Chinese firms.
- How much this mechanism will be sensitive towards the issues such as treatment given to workers or the environmental protection is not clear.
- Similarly, how much deference will panels show to exceptions to market access based on “national security” considerations is not clear.
Conclusion
We should not judge the CAI by whether it enables Europe to export its system and values. We should judge it by whether it allows Europe to remain true to its own.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Functions of the the judiciary
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with the Supreme Court order suspending the implementation of the Farm acts
The article deals with the recent Supreme Court order in which it suspended the implementation of the Farm Acts. This order gives rise to several issues. The article deals with these issues.
What is the issue
- The Supreme Court has suspended the implementation of the farm laws.
- The court created a committee to ascertain the various grievances of the farmers.
- But the Supreme Court has not clarified the legal basis of this suspension.
What are the issues with the suspension?
- The court’s action, at first sight, is a violation of separation of powers.
- It also gives the misleading impression that a distributive conflict can be resolved by technical or judicial means.
- It is also not a court’s job to mediate a political dispute.
- Its job is to determine unconstitutionality or illegality.
- Even in suspending laws there needs to be some prima facie case that these lapses might have taken place.
- It has set a new precedent for putting on hold laws passed by Parliament without substantive hearings on the content of the laws.
- Also in appointing the committee, the court has violated the first rule of mediation: The mediators must be acceptable to all parties and appointed in consultation with them.
Conclusion
The Supreme Court order has given the government a setback while not addressing the concerns of the protesting farmers. The court needs to consider these facts and mend its implications.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SAARC, USMCA, MERCOSUR, AfCFTA
Mains level: Paper 2- Revival of SAARC
The article examines the issues are making it difficult to function and suggests its revival.
Dysfunctional SAARC and its implications
- The year 2020 marked the sixth year since the leaders of the eight nations that make up SAARC were able to meet.
- India-Pakistan issues have impacted other meetings of SAARC as well.
- Inactive SAARC is making it easier for member countries, as well as international agencies, to deal with South Asia as a fragmented group.
- India’s refusal to allow Pakistan to host the SAARC summit is akin to giving Pakistan a ‘veto’ over the entire SAARC process.
- The events of 2020, particularly the novel coronavirus pandemic and China’s aggressions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) shone a new spotlight on this mechanism.
- This should make the government review its position and reverse that trend.
Reasons India should review its position on SAARC
1) India attend other forums with Pakistan
- India continued to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings along with their Pakistani counterparts.
- While China’s incursions in Ladakh constituted the larger concern in the year, India did not decline to attend meetings with the Chinese leadership at the SCO, the Russia-India-China trilateral, the G-20 and others.
- No concerns over territorial claims stopped the government from engaging with Nepal either.
2) Pandemic caused challenges
- Reviving SAARC is crucial to countering the common challenges brought about by the pandemic.
- Studies have shown that South Asia’s experience of the pandemic has been unique from other regions of the world.
- This experience needs to be studied further in a comprehensive manner in order to counter future pandemics.
- Such an approach is also necessary for the distribution and further trials needed for vaccines, as well as developing cold storage chains for the vast market that South Asia represents.
3) Impact of the pandemic on economies of South Asia
- Apart from the overall GDP slowdown, global job cuts which will lead to an estimated 22% fall in revenue for migrant labour and expatriates from South Asian countries.
- World Bank have suggested that South Asian countries work as a collective to set standards for labour from the region, and also to promoting a more intra-regional, transnational approach towards tourism, citing successful examples including the ‘East Africa Single Joint Visa’ system.
- In the longer term, there will be a shift in priorities towards health security, food security, and job security, that will also benefit from an “all-of” South Asia approach.
- While it will be impossible for countries to cut themselves off from the global market entirely, regional initiatives will become the “Goldilocks option”.
4) Dealing with the China challenge
- In dealing with the challenge from China too, both at India’s borders and in its neighbourhood, a unified South Asian platform remains India’s most potent countermeasure.
- At the border, tensions with Pakistan and Nepal amplify the threat perception from China, while other SAARC members (minus Bhutan), all of whom are Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partners of China will be hard placed to help individually.
- Significantly, from 2005-14, China actually wanted to join SAARC.
- Despite the rebuff, China has continued to push its way into South Asia.
Conclusion
Seen through Beijing’s prism, India’s SAARC neighbourhood may be a means to contain India, with the People’s Liberation Army strategies against India over the LAC at present, or in conjunction with Pakistan or Nepal at other disputed fronts in the future. New Delhi must find its own prism with which to view its South Asian neighbourhood as it should be: a unit that has a common future, and as a force-multiplier for India’s ambitions on the global stage.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Parental care and associated societal perspectives
Indian cricket captain has opted for paternity leave amidst an ongoing tournament. This has led to his criticism as well as praise for prioritizing family.
Q.Paternity leave is one of the solutions which can help in ending the “motherhood penalty”. Examine with context to working mothers.
What is Paternity leave?
- Paternity leave is a short period of leave for the father to take immediately following childbirth to help care for the child and assist the mother.
- Parental leave is a longer period of leave granted to look after the infant child, usually after the expiration of paternity/maternity leave.
Legal Aspects of Paternity Leave in India
There is no specific or explicit law for paternity leave in India.
- Maternity leave is governed by the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 which was last amended in 2017 to enhance the period of maternity leave to 26 weeks from the previous 12 weeks.
- The Central Civil Service (Leave Rules), 1972 allows for 15 days of paid paternity leave before childbirth or up to 6 months from the date of the delivery of the child.
- An attempt was made to introduce a pan India legislation on paternity leave in 2017 as a private member’s bill in Lok Sabha, but it was not successful.
- The Paternity Benefit Bill, 2017, provided for a paid leave of fifteen days which could be availed up to three months from the date when the child was born.
- It also included an adopted child below the age of three months and applied to men in the organised i.e. private as well as unorganised sectors.
Popular trends
- The longest leave –– six months –– is provided by Ikea, which extends rules from home country Sweden to India.
- Among Indian companies, Zomato made news in 2019 when it decided to give 26-week paternity leave to its employees.
Precursors in India
- The Central Government recently announced that male government employees who are ‘single parents’ which included widowers, divorcees, or unmarried men raising children single-handedly would now be entitled to “child care leave” (CCL).
- Here, they would receive 100% of the leave salary for the first 365 days of leave and 80% of leave salary for the next 365 days.
- This leave was previously only available to women employees.
Why paternity leave matters?
- Most working new mothers (for those who can make that choice) opt for maternity leave either just before the birth or after childbirth.
- It paves the way for at least their temporary, and sometimes their permanent exit from the workplace.
- On the other hand, not many fathers experience much difference in their employment and workplace situation after their child is born, which may either be voluntary by not taking time off or involuntary.
- This structural difference is one of the key components that influence gender dynamics both in the workplace and at home.
The gender dynamics behind
- Lack of paternity leave not only robs new fathers of the crucial chance to bond with their newborn child but also reinforces women’s role as the primary caregiver and underpins the belief that child care is predominantly the mother’s job.
- Paternity leave is a way to directly address the gender dynamic that prevails both at the workplace and at home.
- The undue burden of childcare that is placed on women at home is bound to and does, spill over into their workplace and professional lives.
- The natural effect of it is that it puts hurdles across women’s careers and might slow their growth prospects while some women might choose to quit altogether.
Way forward
- By only having maternity leaves and not giving due consideration to paternity leave, the stereotype that women belong at home, taking care of children is reinforced.
- By no means is the introduction of paternity leave a panacea for gendered workplaces, but it will be a significant step in combating and overcoming stereotype.
- For India, a decent way to begin would be to have a national policy on paternity leave that would include all fathers and would apply irrespective of whether they worked in the organised or unorganised sectors.
- Shifting from a purely maternity oriented care framework to a parental care framework which would involve both parents would be beneficial for all stakeholders and is what we need today.
Conclusion
- A major benefit that accrues from paternity leave is that it eases pressure and stigma from women at the workplace, as they no longer are the only ones who are taking leave for child care purposes.
- Paternity leave is also one of the solutions which can help in ending the “motherhood penalty”.
- The motherhood penalty is a term that describes the disadvantages that women with children face as compared to women who don’t in workplaces.
- Fathers need to be active co-parents and not just helpers to their female partners/wives.
- And for ones with feminist’s perspectives, they should not look paternity leave as a sole vacation for men.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Persecution of minorities in neighbouring countries
Pakistan’s Hazaras finally ended a protest and agreed to bury the bodies of 11 coal miners from the community killed by the IS.
Genocide and Pakistan are the two inseparable metaphors. Pakistan’s treatment of its minorities is the least highlighted global violation of Human Rights. Hindus, Sikhs and Christians are the most persecuted communities.
Who are the Hazaras?
- Around 1773, the mountainous region of Hazarajat in modern-day central Afghanistan was annexed and made a part of the territories of the Afghan Empire under Pashtun ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani.
- The Sunni Muslim majority under the Pashtun ruler resulted in further marginalization of the Shiite Hazara community, to the extent that in the 18th and 19th century.
- They were forced to leave fertile lowlands in central Afghanistan and make the dry, arid mountainous landscape their new home.
Their persecution
- Persecution of the Shiite Hazaras is nothing new in Pakistan or neighbouring Afghanistan.
- They have been frequently targeted by Taliban and IS militants and other militant groups in both countries.
Causes of persecution: Ethnicity and Religion
- Their unique identity, ethnicity and religion always made the Hazaras stand out among the other communities.
- Hazaras speak Hazaragi, which is close to Dari Persian, the official language of modern-day Afghanistan.
- The community also shares physical similarities with the Mongols and their speech, specific terms and phrases, reflect strong Central Asian Turkic influences.
- This sets them apart from their neighbours in Pakistan and other communities within Afghanistan.
An attempted ethnic cleansing
- In the 19th century, the Hazara community constituted approximately 67 per cent of Afghanistan’s total population.
- Since then, primarily due to violence, oppression and targeted massacres, that number has come down to a little as 10 to 20 per cent of the population now.
- The attacks reached a crescendo in 2013 when three separate bombings killed more than 200 people in Hazara neighbourhoods of Quetta.
- In the aftermath of this incident, the Shia community in Pakistan had erupted in anger over the Pakistani government’s lack of protection of its minorities.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PMFBY
Mains level: Success of PMFBY
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has completed 5 Years of successful operations.
It has become vital these days to remember and recognize every detail of government schemes.
What is PMFBY?
- 5 years ago, on 13th January 2016, the GoI took a historic step towards strengthening risk coverage of crops for farmers of India and approved the flagship crop insurance scheme – the PMFBY.
- The scheme was conceived as a milestone initiative to provide a comprehensive risk solution at the lowest uniform premium across the country for farmers.
- Premium cost over and above the farmer share is equally subsidized by States and GoI.
- However, GoI shares 90% of the premium subsidy for the North Eastern States to promote the uptake in the region.
- The average sum insured per hectare has increased from ₹15,100 during the pre-PMFBY Schemes to ₹40,700 under PMFBY.
Coverage of Risks and Exclusions:
Following stages of the crop and risks leading to crop loss are covered under the scheme.
- Prevented Sowing/ Planting Risk: The insured area is prevented from sowing/ planting due to deficit rainfall or adverse seasonal conditions
- Standing Crop (Sowing to Harvesting): Comprehensive risk insurance is provided to cover yield losses due to non-preventable risks, viz. Drought, Dry spells, Flood, Inundation, Pests and Diseases, Landslides, Natural Fire and Lightening, Storm, Hailstorm, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tempest, Hurricane and Tornado.
- Post-Harvest Losses: Coverage is available only up to a maximum period of two weeks from harvesting for those crops which are allowed to dry in cut and spread condition in the field after harvesting against specific perils of a cyclone and cyclonic rains and unseasonal rains.
- Localized Calamities: Loss/ damage resulting from the occurrence of identified localized risks of hailstorm, landslide, and Inundation affecting isolated farms in the notified area.
Try this question from CSP 2020:
Q.Under the Kisan Credit Card Scheme, short-term credit support is given to farmers for which of the following purposes? (CSP 2020)
- Working capital for maintenance of farm assets
- Purchase of combine harvesters, tractors and mini trucks
- Consumption requirements of farm households
- Construction of family house and setting up of village cold storage facility
- Construction of family house and setting up of village cold storage facility
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1,2 and 5 only
(b) 1,3 and 4 only
(c) 2,3,4 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Progress till date
- The Scheme covers over 5.5 crore farmer applications year on year.
- Till date, claims worth Rs 90,000 crores have already been paid out under the Scheme.
- Aadhar seeding has helped in speedy claim settlement directly into the farmer accounts.
- Even during COVID lockdown period, nearly 70 lakh farmers benefitted and claims worth Rs. 8741.30 crores were transferred to the beneficiaries.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Khadi Prakritik Paint
Mains level: KVIC and its success
Union Minister for MSMEs has launched an innovative new paint called Khadi Prakritik Paint – India’s first cow dung paint
It is very unlikely that an MCQ will be asked in Prelims. However one must know this from mains perspective.
Khadi Prakritik Paint
- It is developed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission at his residence.
- The eco-friendly, non-toxic paint, called “Khadi Prakritik Paint” is a first-of-its-kind product, with anti-fungal, anti-bacterial properties.
- Khadi Prakritik Paint is available in two forms – distemper paint and plastic emulsion paint.
- The project was conceptualized by Chairman KVIC in March 2020 and later developed by Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute, Jaipur (a KVIC unit).
- The paint is priced at only Rs. 120 per litre for the distemper, and Rs.225 per litre for the emulsion, almost half the price charged by big paint companies.
A no lesser brand
- Khadi Prakritik Emulsion paint meets BIS 15489:2013 standards; whereas Khadi Prakritik Distemper paint meets BIS 428:2013 standards.
- The paint has successfully passed various test parameters such as application of paint, thinning properties, drying time and finish, among others.
- It dries in less than 4 hours and has a smooth and uniform finish.
Why makes it competent?
- Based on cow dung as its main ingredient, the paint is cost-effective and odourless and has been certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
- The paint is free from heavy metals like lead, mercury, chromium, arsenic, cadmium and others.
- It will be a boost to local manufacturing and will create sustainable local employment through technology transfer.
- This technology will increase the consumption of cow dung as a raw material for eco-friendly products and will generate additional revenue to farmers and gaushalas.
- Utilization of cow dung will also clean the environment and prevent clogging of drains.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NAM, SAARC
Mains level: Paper 2- India's foreign policy challenges
The article highlights the challenges facing the India’s foreign policy and factors responsible for these challenging circumstances.
Stronger China in 2021 and Impact on India
- China is about the only major country which had a positive rate of growth at the end of 2020, and its economy is poised to grow even faster in 2021.
- Europe has recently revived its China links by ‘concluding in principle the negotiations for an EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment’.
- The China-EU Investment Treaty which is an indication that Europe values its economy more than its politics.
- In one swift move, Europe has thus shattered all hope that China would remain ostracised in 2021.
- India which has greatly curtailed its relations with China in the wake of Chinese aggression in Eastern Ladakh, will find itself in difficult position.
Major changes in West Asia and implications for India
- In West Asia, the Abraham Accords have sharpened the division between the Saudi Bloc and Iran-Turkey.
- Despite the hype surrounding the Abraham Accords the risk of a confrontation between Iran and Israel remains high.
- This does pose problems for India, since both have relations with it.
- Meanwhile, China demonstrates a willingness to play a much larger role in the region, including contemplating a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement with Iran.
Foreing policy challenges for India in 2021
- No breakthrough in Sino-Indian relations has, or is likely to occur.
- India-Iran relations today lack warmth.
- In Afghanistan, India has been marginalised as far as the peace process is concerned.
- While India’s charges against Pakistan of sponsoring terror have had some impact globally, it has further aggravated tensions between the two neighbours and pushed Pakistan closer to China.
- Hostility between India and Nepal appears to have reduced lately, relations continue to be strained.
- Through a series of diplomatic visits, India has made efforts to improve relations with some of its neighbours such as Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, but as of now worthwhile results are not evident.
- One key takeaway is that as India-China relations deteriorate, India’s neighbours are not averse to taking sides, increasing India’s isolation.
- India will serve as the president of the powerful UN Security Council for the month of August, 2021, but if it is to make a real impact, it must be seen to possess substantial weight to shape policies, more so in its traditional areas of influence.
Factors responsible for India’s foreing policy issues
- There is a perception that India’s closeness to the U.S. has resulted in the weakening of its links with traditional friends such as Russia and Iran.
- Perhaps the most relevant explanation could be the shifting balance of power in the region in which India is situated, notably the rise of China.
- The enlarging conflict between the two biggest powers in Asia is compelling many nations to pick sides in the conflict.
- Othe important factor is that India’s foreign policy suffers from an ideational vacuum.
- India remains isolated from two important supranational bodies of which it used to be a founding member, viz., the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Conclusion
As part of the ideational restructuring of India’s foreign policy, what is urgently required, apart from competent statecraft, is the adoption of prudent policies, pursuit of realistically achievable objectives, and, above all, a demonstration of continuity of policy, irrespective of changes in the nature of the Administration.
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