Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gati Shakti plan
Mains level: Paper 2- Gati Shakti plan's impact beyond border
Context
The Gati Shakti National Master Plan will have an important economic multiplier effect at home, it must also be leveraged to have an external impact by aligning it with India’s regional and global connectivity efforts.
Main components of the Gati Shakti National Master Plan
- The Gati Shakti plan has three main components, all focused on domestic coordination.
- Increase information sharing: The plan seeks to increase information sharing with a new technology platform between various ministries at the Union and state levels.
- Reduce logistics’ costs: It focuses on giving impetus to multi-modal transportation to reduce logistics’ costs and strengthen last-mile connectivity in India’s hinterland or border regions.
- Analytical tool: The third component includes an analytical decision-making tool to disseminate project-related information and prioritise key infrastructure projects.
- This aims to ensure transparency and time-bound commitments to investors.
How Gati Shakti Plan can strengthen India’s economic ties with its neighbours
- The plan will automatically generate positive effects to deepen India’s economic ties with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, as well as with Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
- India’s investment in roads, ports, inland waterways or new customs procedures generate positive externalities for these neighbours, who are keen to access the growing Indian consumer market.
- Any reduction in India’s domestic logistics costs brings immediate benefits to the northern neighbour, given that 98 per cent of Nepal’s total trade transits through India and about 65 per cent of Nepal’s trade is with India.
- In 2019, trade between Bhutan and Bangladesh was eased through a new multimodal road and waterway link via Assam.
- The new cargo ferry service with the Maldives, launched last year, has lowered the costs of trade for the island state.
- And under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation Programme, India’s investments in multimodal connectivity on the eastern coast is reconnecting India with the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia through integrated rail, port and shipping systems.
- Whether it is the alignment of a cross-border railway, the location of a border check post, or the digital system chosen for customs and immigration processes, India’s connectivity investments at home will have limited effects unless they are coordinated with those of its neighbours and other regional partners.
- While India recently joined the Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) convention, which facilitates cross-border customs procedures, none of its neighbouring countries in the east has signed on to it.
Suggestions for Gati Shakti Plan to have maximum external effect
- First, India will have to deepen bilateral consultations with its neighbours to gauge their connectivity strategies and priorities.
- Given political and security sensitivities, India will require diplomatic skills to reassure its neighbours and adapt to their pace and political economy context.
- A second way is for India to work through regional institutions and platforms. SAARC’s ambitious regional integration plans of the 2000s are now defunct, so Delhi has shifted its geo-economic orientation eastwards.
- The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has got new momentum, but there is also progress on the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) Initiative.
- Finally, India can also boost the Gati Shakti plan’s external impact by cooperating more closely with global players who are keen to support its strategic imperative to give the Indo-Pacific an economic connectivity dimension.
- This includes the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, but also Japan, the US, Australia, EU and ASEAN.
Conclusion
Gati Shakti plan must also leveraged to have an external impact by aligning it with India’s regional and global connectivity efforts.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Net-Zero
Mains level: Roadmap for net-zero targets
India has joined a high-profile group of countries pledging for net-zero target by 2070.
What does Net-Zero mean?
- Net-zero, which is also referred to as carbon-neutrality, does not mean that a country would bring down its emissions to zero.
- That would be gross-zero, which means reaching a state where there are no emissions at all, a scenario hard to comprehend.
- Therefore, net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
What’s the difference between gross zero and net-zero?
- Gross zero would mean stopping all emissions, which isn’t realistically attainable across all sectors of our lives and industry.
- Even with best efforts to reduce them, there will still be some emissions.
- Net-zero looks at emissions overall, allowing for the removal of any unavoidable emissions, such as those from aviation or manufacturing.
- Removing greenhouse gases could be via nature, as trees take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or through new technology or changing industrial processes.
What is carbon negativity?
- It is even possible for a country to have negative emissions if the absorption and removal exceed the actual emissions.
- *Bhutan has negative emissions because it absorbs more than it emits.
What is the outlook for India’s emissions?
- Analysis of India’s growth path points to rising GDP per capita, with a rise in carbon emissions in the short term, primarily from energy.
- There is pressure from absolute increase in population and consumption, but population growth is slowing.
India’s major emission sources
- In terms of sectoral GHG emissions, data from 2016 show that electricity and heat account for the highest share (1.11 billion tonnes).
- It is followed by agriculture (704.16 million tonnes), manufacturing and construction (533.8 million tonnes), transport (265.3 million tonnes), industry (130.61 million tonnes).
- Land-use change and forestry (126.43 million tonnes) is also a major source.
- Other fuel use (119.04 million tonnes), buildings (109.2 million tonnes), waste (80.98 million tonnes), fugitive emissions (54.95 million tonnes) accounts for major urban sources.
- Aviation and shipping (20.4 million tonnes) accounts for the least source of emission.
Immediate interventions that can be made
- Legal mechanism: India needs to create a legal mandate for climate impact assessment of all activities.
- Investment: This can facilitate investment by dedicated green funds.
- Wholistic participation: Public sector institutions promoted by the government, co-operatives and even market mechanisms will participate.
- Renewable energy: The 500 GW renewables target needs a major boost, such as channeling more national and international climate funding into decentralized solar power.
- Hydrogen economy: Another emerging sector is green hydrogen production because of its potential as a clean fuel. India has a National Hydrogen Mission now in place.
- Waste Management: India’s urban solid waste management will need to modernise to curb methane emissions from unscientific landfills.
- Stored carbon mitigation: Preventing the release of stored carbon in the environment, such as trees and soil, has to be a net zero priority.
Role of developed countries
- India’s argument is that it has historically been one of the lowest emitters of GHGs.
- The impetus has to come from the developed economies that had the benefit of carbon-intensive development since the Industrial Revolution.
Way forward
- These plans need a political consensus and support from State governments.
- Net-zero will involve industrial renewal using green innovation, green economy support and supply chains yielding new jobs.
- It also needs low carbon technologies, zero-emission vehicles, and renewed cities promoting walking and cycling.
- The industry will need to make highly energy-efficient goods that last longer, and consumers should be given a legal right to repair goods they buy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: India's quest for Afghan Peace
India is hosting the National Security Advisors (NSAs) level ‘Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan’ this week.
About the dialogue
- It will be headed by NSA Ajit Doval.
- It aims to organise a conference of regional stakeholders and important powers on the country’s current situation and the future outlook.
- Invitations are sent to Afghanistan’s neighbours such as Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and other key players including Russia, and China.
Pakistan’s response
- Not surprisingly, Pakistan has denounced India’s invitation. China too followed Pakistan’s footsteps.
- Had Pakistan consented to come, it would have been the first high-level visit to India from Pakistan since 2016.
- Pakistani position reflects its mindset on Afghanistan, where it has played a conspiring role.
- It reflects its mindset of viewing Afghanistan as its protectorate.
Response from the other countries
- India’s invitation has seen an overwhelming response.
- Central Asian countries as well as Russia and Iran have confirmed participation.
Significance of the dialogue
- This will be the first time that all Central Asian countries, and not just Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours, would be participating in this format.
- The enthusiastic response is a manifestation of the importance attached to India’s role in regional efforts to promote peace and security in Afghanistan.
- If peace is established in Afghanistan, it could become a major trading hub as a corridor of connectivity in the heart of Asia.
When you are not at the table, you are on the menu… this conference is India’s attempt to set the table, be on the table, and decide the agenda.
India’s motive for the conference
- This is India’s attempt to secure for itself a seat at the table to decide the future course of action on Afghanistan.
- It underlines the need to actively engage with the world to protect India’s security interests.
- Until the fall of Kabul, India had not engaged with the Taliban through publicly-announced official channels.
India’s expectations form Taliban Govt
- Taliban should not allow safe havens for terror on its soil.
- The administration should be inclusive, and the rights of minorities, women, and children must be protected.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Freedom of Air
Mains level: Not Much
A flight from Srinagar to Sharjah had to avoid flying over Pakistan after the country denied permission to use its airspace for the said flight. With this refusal, Pakistan has violated the first freedom of air.
Freedom of Air
- Following the Chicago Convention in 1944, the signatories decided to set rules that would act as fundamental building blocks to international commercial aviation.
- As a part of these rules, initially, six ‘freedoms of air’ were decided.
- These freedoms or rights still operate within the ambit of multilateral and bilateral treaties.
- It allows to grant airlines of a particular country the privilege to use and/or land in another country’s airspace.
‘Freedoms’ accorded
- Flying over a foreign country without landing
- Refuel or carry out maintenance in a foreign country without embarking or disembarking passengers or cargo
- Fly from the home country and land in a foreign country
- Fly from a foreign country and land in the home country
- Fly from the home country to a foreign country, stopping in another foreign country on the way
- Fly from a foreign country to another foreign country, stopping in the home country on the way
- Fly from a foreign country to another foreign country, without stopping in the home country
- Fly from the home country to a foreign country, then on to another destination within the same foreign country
- Fly internally within a foreign country
Why did Pakistan deny use of its airspace?
- There has been no official explanation given by Pakistan authorities.
- Indian has approached Pakistan to raise the issue of the refusal to use its airspace for the said flight.
- Notably, other Indian airlines flying to west Asia from airports such as Delhi, Lucknow, etc have not been barred from using Pakistan airspace.
- This also raises the concern of Pakistan violating the first freedom of air.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Financial inclusion in India
India is now ahead of China in financial inclusion metrics, with mobile and Internet banking transactions rising to 13,615 per 1,000 adults in 2020 from 183 in 2015.
What does one mean by Financial Inclusion?
- Financial inclusion is defined as the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services.
- It refers to a process by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate, affordable, and timely financial products and services.
- These include banking, loan, equity and insurance products etc.
Key highlights of the Report
- Boosted by PM Jan-Dhan Yojana, the number of bank branches per 100,000 adults in India rose to 14.7 in 2020 from 13.6 in 2015.
- It is higher than Germany, China and South Africa.
- Data shows that states with higher Jan-Dhan accounts balances have seen a perceptible decline in crime.
How did India achieve financial inclusion?
- Financial inclusion policies have a multiplier effect on economic growth, reducing poverty and income inequality, while also being conducive for financial stability.
- India has stolen a march in financial inclusion with the initiation of PMJDY accounts since 2014.
- It was enabled by a robust digital infrastructure and also careful recalibration of bank branches and thereby using the BC model judiciously.
- Such financial inclusion has also been enabled by use of digital payments.
What is the BC Model?
- The report highlighted that the Banking Correspondent (BC) model in India is enabled to provide a defined range of banking services at low cost.
- The new branch authorisation policy of 2017 –recognises BCs that provide banking services for a minimum of 4-hours per day and for at least 5-days a week as banking outlets.
- The BCs are enabled to provide a defined range of banking services at low cost and hence are instrumental in promoting financial inclusion.
- This has progressively done away the need to set up brick and mortar branches.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UCCN
Mains level: Not Much
The UNESCO has picked up Srinagar among 49 cities as part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) under the Crafts and Folk Arts category.
What is UCCN?
- UCCN created in 2004, is a network of cities that are thriving, active centers of cultural activities in their respective countries.
- These cities can be from all continents with different income levels or with different levels of populations.
- UCCN believes that these cities are working towards a common mission by placing creativity at the core of their urban development plans to make the region resilient, safe, inclusive and sustainable.
- Ministry of Culture is the nodal Ministry of the Government of India for all matters in UNESCO relating to culture.
Objective of UCCN
- Placing creativity and the creative economy at the core of their urban development plans to make cities safe, resilient, inclusive and sustainable, in line with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
The 7 categories for recognition under UCCN are as follows:
- Crafts and Folk Arts
- Design
- Film
- Gastronomy (food)
- Music
- Media Arts
- Literature
Previously, 3 Indian cities were recognized as members of UCCN namely-
- Jaipur-Crafts and Folk Arts (2015)
- Varanasi-Creative city of Music (2015)
- Chennai-Creative city of Music (2017)
- Mumbai-Film (2019)
- Hyderabad- Gastronomy (2019)
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: RIMPAC
Mains level: Paper 2- AUKUS
Context
The trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) continues to be in the news.
Implications for ASEAN
- There is also the matter of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) disunity over the emergence of AUKUS.
- While AUKUS is clearly an attempt by the U.S. to bolster regional security, including securing Australia’s seaborne trade, any sudden accretion in Australia’s naval capabilities is bound to cause unease in the region.
- Even though Australia has denied that AUKUS is a defence alliance, this hardly prevents China from exploiting ASEAN’s concerns at having to face a Hobson’s choice amidst worsening U.S.-China regional rivalry.
- AUKUS is based on a shared commitment of its three members to deepening diplomatic, security and defence cooperation in the Indo-Pacific to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
- Even though this has not been stated explicitly, the rise of China, particularly its rapid militarisation and aggressive behaviour, is undoubtedly the trigger.
Relations of AUKUS members with China
- The AUKUS joint statement clearly acknowledges that trilateral defence ties are decades old, and that AUKUS aims to further joint capabilities and interoperability.
- For three nations, their relations with China have recently been marked by contretemps.
- Australia, especially, had for years subordinated its strategic assessment of China to transactional commercial interests.
- Much to China’s chagrin, its policy of deliberately targeting Australian exports has not yielded the desired results.
- Instead of kow-towing, the plucky Australian character has led Canberra to favour a fundamental overhaul of its China policy.
- The transfer of sensitive submarine technology by the U.S. to the U.K. is a sui generis arrangement based on their long-standing Mutual Defence Agreement of 1958.
- Elements in the broader agenda provide opportunities to the U.S., the U.K. and Australia to engage the regional countries.
AUKUS engagement with regional countries
- All three nations will also play a major role in U.S.-led programmes such as Build Back Better World, Blue Dot Network and Clean Network, to meet the challenge of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
- The Quad and AUKUS are distinct, yet complementary. Neither diminishes the other.
- Whereas the Quad initiatives straddle the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, a Pacific-centric orientation for AUKUS has advantages.
- Such a strategy could potentially strengthen Japan’s security as well as that of Taiwan in the face of China’s mounting bellicosity.
- Shifting AUKUS’s fulcrum to the Pacific Ocean could reassure ASEAN nations.
- It could also inure AUKUS to any insidious insinuation that accretion in the number of nuclear submarines plying the Indo-Pacific might upset the balance of power in the Indian Ocean.
Conclusion
There are limited options in the economic arena with China already having emerged as a global economic powerhouse. AUKUS, though, provides an opportunity to the U.S. to place proxy submarine forces to limit China’s forays, especially in the Pacific Ocean.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issue of misuse of UAPA
Context
In Thwaha Fasal vs Union of India, the Court has acted in its introspective jurisdiction and deconstructed the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) with a great sense of legal realism. This paves the way for a formidable judicial authority against blatant misuse of this law.
Background of the case
- In this case from Kerala, there are three accused.
- The police registered the case and later the investigation was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
- During the investigation, some materials containing radical literature were found, which included a book on caste issues in India and a translation of the dissent notes written by Rosa Luxemburg to Lenin.
- Thus, the provisions of the UAPA were invoked.
- After initial rejection of the pleas, the trial judge granted bail to both the accused in September 2020.
- The Supreme Court was emphatic and liberal when it said that mere association with a terrorist organisation is not sufficient to attract the offences alleged.
- Unless and until the association and the support were “with intention of furthering the activities of a terrorist organisation”, offence under Section 38 or Section 39 is not made out, said the Court.
Issues with UAPA
- Section 43D(5) of the UAPA says that for many of the offences under the Act, bail should not be granted, if “on perusal of the case diary or the report (of the investigation), there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation is prima facie true”.
- Thus, the Act prompts the Court to consider the version of the prosecution alone while deciding the question of bail.
- Unlike the Criminal Procedure Code, the UAPA, by virtue of the proviso to Section 43D(2), permits keeping a person in prison for up to 180 days, without even filing a charge sheet.
- Prevents examination of the facts: The statute prevents a comprehensive examination of the facts of the case on the one hand, and prolongs the trial indefinitely by keeping the accused in prison on the other.
- Instead of presumption of innocence, the UAPA holds presumption of guilt of the accused.
- In Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, the Court said that by virtue of Section 43D(5) of UAPA, the burden is on the accused to show that the prosecution case is not prima facie true.
- The proposition in Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali is that the bail court should not even investigate deeply into the materials and evidence and should consider the bail plea, primarily based on the nature of allegations, for, according to the Court, Section 43D(5) prohibits a thorough and deeper examination.
- The top court has now altered this terrible legal landscape.
Key takeaways from the judgement
- The text of the laws sometimes poses immense challenge to the courts by limiting the space for judicial discretion and adjudication.
- The courts usually adopt two mutually contradictory methods in dealing with such tough provisions.
- One is to read and apply the provision literally and mechanically which has the effect of curtailing the individual freedom as intended by the makers of the law.
- In contrast to this approach, there could be a constitutional reading of the statute, which perceives the issues in a human rights angle and tries to mitigate the rigour of the content of the law.
Conclusion
The judgment should be invoked to release other political prisoners in the country who have been denied bail either due to the harshness of the law or due to the follies in understanding the law or both.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Greater global cooperation
Context
Our thinking about the international system is focussed on a new era of great power competition. An assertive China is seeking to refashion the international order and exercise greater regional hegemony.
Refashioning the international order
- Recently, Secretary Antony Blinken outlined the US approach to China: “Competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be, and adversarial when it must be.”
- This pretty much describes the approach of every country in the world to this geopolitical moment.
- The big question is whether the competitive and adversarial dynamics are now so deep that the space for “collaboration” is diminishing fast.
- There is now bipartisan consensus in the US that China needs to be contained; just as China is convinced that the US will not only not tolerate China’s further rise.
Great power competition between the US and China
- Two dynamics were supposed to counteract the risks of great power competition.
- Global economic interdependence: The first was global economic interdependence.
- Global trade has rebounded to its pre-pandemic levels.
- The logic of interdependence is now under severe ideological stress.
- Interdependence has not led to greater convergence on political values or a more open global political order.
- Common challenges fostering global cooperation: The second dynamic counteracting competition was the idea that common challenges like climate change, the pandemic and the risks posed by technology will foster greater global cooperation.
- All the global crises that should have been occasions for global cooperation have become the sites for intensifying global competition.
Climate and global health: Indicator of lack of global cooperation
- It is hard to convince anyone that most countries of the world were willing to treat the pandemic as a global public health crisis.
- The shift in the climate change discourse is about intensifying technological competition and maintaining national economic supremacy, rather than solving a global problem.
- It is not entirely clear that all the innovations induced by this competitive dynamic will, in fact, limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- It also leaves the question of a modicum of justice in the international order entirely unresolved.
- We have also learnt over the last couple of decades that the international system, and all global public goods, including security, can be made extremely vulnerable even by small groups carrying a sense of grievance.
- So, the distribution of technology, finance, and developmental space will matter.
- India, in the context of what other countries are doing, takes a very well-judged stance at the international level.
- But it is difficult not to wonder whether a country that lets its citizens breathe the foulest air, and cannot get its head around a solvable problem of stubble burning, can project seriousness.
- So, climate and global public health, rather than acting as a spur to global cooperation are going to be symptoms of a deep pathology.
Global risks and declining multilateral institutions
- Areas where global risks are increasing include-Cyber threats, the possible risks of unregulated technology, whether in artificial intelligence or biological research, competition in space, a renewed competition in nuclear weapons and an intensifying arms race.
- In not a single one of these areas is there a serious prospect of any country thinking outside of an adversarial nationalist frame.
- The old multilateral system was undergirded by, and partially an instrument for, US power.
- The term multilateral has also been deeply damaged by a cynical use, where it simply refers to a group of countries rather than a single or a couple of countries acting together.
- It is high time the term be used only in a context where there is agreement on global rules or an architecture to genuinely solve a global public goods problem.
- These may still reflect power differentials, but at least they are oriented to problem-solving at a global level.
- In this sense, one would be hard-pressed to find any genuinely multilateral institutions left.
Consider the question “What are the challenge facing global order in the present context? Suggest the measures to preserve the global order aimed towards greater global cooperation.”
Conclusion
The real choice for the world is not just navigating between China and the United States. It is fundamentally between an orientation that is committed to global problem-solving rather than just preserving national supremacy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Poverty estimates in India
Mains level: Poverty in India
Poverty in India had increased between 2012 and 2020.
What is Poverty?
- Fundamentally, the concept of poverty is associated with socially perceived deprivation with respect to basic human needs (Tendulkar, 2009).
- This is a crucial definition to consider since the Tendulkar committee’s estimation method is the last officially recognized method for arriving at poverty numbers in India.
A relative term
- If you think about it for a moment, poverty is a “relative” concept.
- Poverty is essentially about how you are “relative” to those in your surroundings.
- For example, with Rs 1,000 in your pocket, you may be “rich” if those around you have no more than Rs 100 with them.
- But, in another setting, say around those who have no less than Rs 10,000 with them, you will come across as “poor”.
- As such, as long as there are variations in the income and/or wealth levels in a society, there will be “poverty”.
What is abject poverty?
- Apart from the relative nature of poverty, there is such a thing as abject poverty.
- It typically refers to a state where a person is unable to meet its most basic needs such as eating the minimum amount of food to stay alive.
What is a Poverty Line?
- From the point of view of policymaking, poverty levels typically refer to some level of income or expenditure below which one can reasonably argue that someone is poorer than the rest of the society.
- The whole point of the bulk of policymaking is to improve the living standards of the poorest in the country.
- But to design policies, one must first know what the target group is, how much does it earn (or spend, since robust data on income is not easily available).
- This is done by choosing a “poverty line” — or a level of income or consumption expenditure that divides the population between the poor and non-poor.
Why define a Poverty Line?
The purpose behind choosing a poverty line is two-fold.
(A) To accurately design policies for the poor
- Doing so allows you to target your policies towards the two poorest people in the country.
- Often such policies are redistributive in nature — such as giving subsidised food grains or providing some kind of social security like MGNREGA.
- In an ideal world a government would have the resources to help everyone in the economy but in reality, even the government’s works within some financial or budgetary constraints.
(B) To assess the success or failure of government policies over time
- Over time the overall GDP doubles but the income of the general public falls.
- Hence the government would know that its policies are not bearing fruit.
Poverty Estimation in India
- Planning Commission Expert Group (1962): It formulated the separate poverty lines for rural and urban areas at ₹20 and ₹25 per capita per year respectively.
- VM Dandekar and N Rath (1971): They made the first systematic assessment, based on National Sample Survey (NSS) data. They suggested providing 2250 calories per day in both rural and urban areas.
- YK Alagh Committee (1979): It constructed a poverty line for rural and urban areas on the basis of nutritional requirements and related consumption expenditure.
- Lakdawala Committee (1993): It suggested that consumption expenditure should be calculated based on calorie consumption as earlier. State specific poverty lines should be constructed. It asked for discontinuation of scaling of poverty estimates based on National Accounts Statistics.
- Tendulkar Committee (2009): The current official measures of poverty are based on the Tendulkar poverty line, fixed at daily expenditure of ₹27.2 in rural areas and ₹33.3 in urban areas is criticised by many for being too low.
What has happened in India’s fight against poverty?
- There are two ways to assess India’s performance.
- One is to look at the headcount ratio of poverty which is the percentage of India’s population that was designated to be below the poverty line
- The other variable to look at is the absolute number of poor people in the country
- If one looks at the headcount ratio then India made rapid strides since 1973.
- Even though India is home to possibly the largest number of poor people in the world, there has been no official update on India’s poverty levels since.
Who oversees the Poverty Level?
- Poverty levels are updated by using the Consumer Expenditure Survey, which is conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) once every five years.
- The last such survey was conducted in 2017-18.
- That survey reportedly showed that for the first time in four decades consumer expenditure in India had fallen.
What are the latest findings?
- Poverty levels, as well as the absolute number of poor, had risen between 2011-12 and 2017-18.
- The government claimed that the survey suffered from “data quality” issues.
- The next round of the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) was supposed to be conducted in 2021.
Causes of rise in Poverty
- GDP growth decline: It is a fact that India’s GDP growth rate had registered a secular deceleration between the start of 2017 and 2020.
- Jobless growth: The second and related factor is the unprecedented rise in joblessness.
- Wages decline: Millions were pulled out of poverty between 2004 and 2011 due to sharp rise in non-farm employment and associated wages. But for many of those workers, real wages have either fallen or stagnated.
- Pandemic impact: Covid induced lockdown sent millions of workers back to villages, seeking MGNREGA work at minimum wages.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Turmeric
Mains level: Not Much
Turmeric (Curcuma longa), native to India, has been studied extensively for its effects against viral diseases in recent decades, but the COVID-19 pandemic has renewed interest.
About Turmeric
- Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is used as a condiment, dye, drug and cosmetic in addition to its use in religious ceremonies.
- India is a leading producer and exporter of turmeric in the world.
- The top five turmeric-producing states of India in 2020-21 are Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Climate and Soil
- Turmeric can be grown in diverse tropical conditions from sea level to 1500 m above sea level.
- It requires a temperature range of 20-35 C with an annual rainfall of 1500 mm or more, under rainfed or irrigated conditions.
- Though it can be grown on different types of soils, it thrives best in well-drained sandy or clay loam soils with a pH range of 4.5-7.5 with good organic status.
Varieties
- A number of cultivars are available in the country and are known mostly by the name of locality where they are cultivated.
- Some of the popular cultivars are Duggirala, Tekkurpet, Sugandham, Amalapuram, Erode local, Salem, Alleppey, Moovattupuzha and Lakdong.
Preparation of land
- The land is prepared with the receipt of early monsoon showers.
- The soil is brought to a fine tilth by giving about four deep ploughings.
- Planting is also done by forming ridges and furrows.
Plantation
- Whole or split mother and finger rhizomes are used for planting and well-developed healthy and disease-free rhizomes are to be selected.
Why turmeric?
- Post pandemic, turmeric is one of the fastest-growing dietary supplements.
- The global curcumin market, valued at $58.4 million in 2019, is expected to witness a growth of 12.7 percent by 2027.
- As the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of turmeric, India stands to gain from this.
Global standing
- India produces 78 per cent of the world’s turmeric.
- The country’s turmeric production saw a near consistent growth since Independence till 2010-11 after which it started fluctuating.
- The pandemic has given a boost to the crop, with the production witnessing a rise of 23 per cent.
- Though the production and export of turmeric has risen, farmers have not benefitted from its pricing.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:
With reference to the current trends in the cultivation of sugarcane in India, consider the following statements:
- A substantial saving in seed material is made when ‘bud chip settlings are raised in a nursery and transplanted in the main field.
- When direct planting of setts is done, the germination percentage is better with single-budded setts as compared to setts with many buds.
- If bad weather conditions prevail when setts are directly planted, single-budded setts have better survival as compared to large setts.
- Sugarcane can be cultivated using settlings prepared from tissue culture.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 4 only
(d) 2,3 and 4 only
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Species Extinction
Mains level: Mass Extinction
A paper published recently has come up with a new reason behind the first mass extinction, also known as the Late Ordovician mass extinction.
Species Extinction
- Extinction is a part of life, and animals and plants disappear all the time. About 98% of all the organisms that have ever existed on our planet are now extinct.
- When a species goes extinct, its role in the ecosystem is usually filled by new species, or other existing ones.
What is Mass Extinction?
- Earth’s ‘normal’ extinction rate is often thought to be somewhere between 0.1 and 1 species per 10,000 species per 100 years.
- This is known as the background rate of extinction.
- A mass extinction event is when species vanish much faster than they are replaced.
- This is usually defined as about 75% of the world’s species being lost in a ‘short’ amount of geological time – less than 2.8 million years.
How many mass extinctions have there been?
Five great mass extinctions have changed the face of life on Earth. We know what caused some of them, but others remain a mystery:
[I] Ordovician-Silurian ME
- It occurred 443 million years ago and wiped out approximately 85% of all species.
- Scientists think it was caused by temperatures plummeting and huge glaciers forming, which caused sea levels to drop dramatically.
- This was followed by a period of rapid warming. Many small marine creatures died out.
[II] Devonian ME
- It took place 374 million years ago and killed about three-quarters of the world’s species, most of which were marine invertebrates that lived at the bottom of the sea.
- This was a period of many environmental changes, including global warming and cooling, a rise and fall of sea levels and a reduction in oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
- We don’t know exactly what triggered the extinction event.
[III] Permian ME
- It happened 250 million years ago, was the largest and most devastating event of the five.
- Also known as the Great Dying, it eradicated more than 95% of all species, including most of the vertebrates which had begun to evolve by this time.
- Some scientists think Earth was hit by a large asteroid which filled the air with dust particles that blocked out the Sun and caused acid rain.
- Others think there was a large volcanic explosion that increased carbon dioxide and made the oceans toxic.
[IV] Triassic ME
- It took place 200 million years ago, eliminating about 80% of Earth’s species, including many types of dinosaurs.
- This was probably caused by colossal geological activity that increased carbon dioxide levels and global temperatures, as well as ocean acidification.
[V] Cretaceous ME
- It occurred 65 million years ago, killing 78% of all species, including the remaining non-avian dinosaurs.
- This was most likely caused by an asteroid hitting the Earth in what is now Mexico, potentially compounded by ongoing flood volcanism in what is now India.
What caused first ME?
- The cooling climate likely changed the ocean circulation pattern.
- This caused a disruption in the flow of oxygen-rich water from the shallow seas to deeper oceans, leading to a mass extinction of marine creatures.
- Ordovician Sea has familiar groups like clams and snails and sponges.
- Many other groups are now very reduced in diversity or entirely extinct like trilobites, brachiopods, and crinoids.
The sixth mass extinction
- We are currently experiencing a sixth mass extinction as the result of human-induced climate change.
- There have been several theories behind each mass extinction and with advances in new technologies, researchers have been uncovering more intricate details about these events.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2018
The term “sixth mass extinction/sixth extinction” is often mentioned in the news in the context of the discussion of:
(a) Widespread monoculture Practices agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals in many parts of the world that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems.
(b) Fears of a possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs.
(c) Large scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivation in other Parts of the world may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss of food biodiversity.
(d) Mankind’s over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss, natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution and global climate change.
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Principles of Responsible Banking (PRBs)
Mains level: Not Much
Global banks are pledging to report annually on the carbon emissions linked to the projects they lend to in an extension to the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRBs).
What are PRBs?
- The PRBs are a unique framework for ensuring that signatory banks’ strategy and practice align with the vision society has set out for its future in the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement.
- It was created in 2019 through a partnership between founding banks and the United Nations.
- The framework consists of 6 Principles designed to bring purpose, vision and ambition to sustainable finance.
- Signatory banks commit to embedding these 6 principles across all business areas, at the strategic, portfolio and transactional levels:
Note: India’s YES BANK Limited is the only Indian signatory to this framework.
Significance of the PRBs
- Banks can contribute to solving the climate crisis from two angles: their lending and their investments.
- Many bank policies concentrate their investments on securities that were focused on sustainability.
Issues with PRB
- Being a signatory to the PRBs is a limited commitment.
- Signatories have four years to comply with the principles.
- Even then, everything is voluntary and non-binding, so signatories are not penalized or even named and shamed for failing to live up to the principles.
Way forward
- When signatories to the PRBs are lending money, they are supposed to carry out environmental impact assessments and to measure the greenhouse gas emissions of projects.
- This is not a minor issue considering that such work is beyond the traditional competencies of banks and will significantly affect their operational costs.
- Signatories are also supposed to ensure that loans go to projects that are carbon neutral.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SECI
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges facing discoms
Context
The power sector in India is at an inflection point. Three developments are triggering a shift across the power chain, generation and distribution in particular, and are in the process deepening existing faultlines, and exacerbating the distress.
Three changes driving the shift in power sector
1) Central government’s approach towards distribution segment
- Till recently, the Centre had preferred to incentivise states, nudging them to address the issue that lies at the heart of the power sector’s woes — turning around the operational performance and financial position.
- However, despite multiple attempts, not much has changed.
- But over the past few months, the Centre appears to have changed tack.
- The Centre no longer appears content to simply nudge states into acting.
- This change in stance is evident from enforcing the tripartite agreement to recover the dues owed to power producers like NTPC by discoms in Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to now regulating coal supplies to states where power generating companies have been delaying payments.
2) Covid impact on government finances and ability to support discoms
- Notwithstanding buoyant tax revenues this year, Covid has wreaked havoc on government finances.
- The general government debt stands at 90 per cent of GDP.
- Add to this demands for greater welfare spending, uncertainty over state government finances once the five year GST compensation period ends next year, and the limits to which states can continue to support discoms will increasingly be tested.
- To what extent accounting jugglery can be used once again to clean up discom debt is debatable.
- After all, even the liquidity facility arranged by the Centre to help discoms pay off their obligations will have to be paid back.
3) Loss of monopoly and shift towards renwable
- Until now, consumers had little recourse to alternate sources of supply.
- Consequently, discoms, which are essentially geographical monopolies, were able to charge higher tariffs from commercial and industrial consumers to cross-subsidise agricultural and low-income households.
- But the situation appears to be changing.
- Migration of high tariff paying consumers through open access and investments in captive power plants is gaining traction, driven in large part by the emergence of solar as an alternative at seemingly competitive tariffs.
- This reduced reliance of high tariff paying consumers on discoms will only exacerbate their already precarious financial position.
- The pace at which this transition is occurring will only accelerate in the coming years.
- On the supply side, at the global and the national level, there is a push towards cleaner fuel, solar in particular.
- Flowing from this — though with debatable relevance given the current levels of per capita emissions — is the domestic policy thrust towards renewables.
- Solar, in particular, benefits from both explicit and implicit subsidies — land at concessional rate, exemption from interstate transmission charges, discounted wheeling charges, cross-subsidies for open access, SECI taking on counterparty risk, and others.
- It also enjoys “Must Run” status.
- On the demand side, at current tariffs, solar is emerging as an attractive alternative for the high tariff paying commercial and industrial consumers.
- On their part, discoms are trying to salvage a losing situation.
- To stem the flow of high paying customers, some have begun levying an additional surcharge on whoever opts for open access to lower the cost differential.
- Others are shifting from net metering to gross metering — essentially charging consumers higher tariffs — above particular consumption levels.
Conclusion
Continuously subsidising discoms for their AT&C losses (operational inefficiencies), and for not supplying power at commensurate tariffs to low-income households and agricultural customers (for political considerations) will become fiscally untenable.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: COP26
Mains level: Paper 3- India needs climate laws
Context
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26, from October 31 to November 12, 2021), at Glasgow, Scotland is important as it will call for practical implementation of the 2015 Paris Accord, setting the rules for the Accord.
Indian proposals
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced, on November 1 at Glasgow, a ‘Panchamrit solution’ which aims at reducing fossil fuel dependence and carbon intensity.
- This also includes ramping up India’s renewable energy share to 50% by 2030.
- Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav has reasserted the call for the promised $100 billion a year as support (from the developed world to the developing world).
- But as we consider new energy pathways, we must also consider the question of climate hazard, nature-based solutions and national accountability.
- This is the right time for India to mull setting up a climate law while staying true to its goals of climate justice, carbon space and environmental protection.
Why India needs climate law
- There are a few reasons for this.
- Existing laws not adequate: Our existing laws are not adequate to deal with climate change.
- We have for example the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA), 1986, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
- Yet, climate is not exactly water or air.
- The Environment (Protection) Act is grossly inadequate to deal with violations on climate. Clause 24 of the Act, “Effect of Other Laws”, states that if an offence is committed under the EPA or any other law, the person will be punished under the other law (for example, Code of Criminal Procedure).
- This makes the EPA subordinate to every other law.
- There is a need to integrate climate action: Integration includes adaptation and mitigation — and monitoring progress.
- Comprehensive climate action is not just technological such as changing energy sources or carbon intensity, but also nature-based such as emphasising restoration of ecosystems.
- India’s situation is unique: Climate action cannot come by furthering sharpening divides or exacerbating poverty, and this includes our stated renewable energy goals.
- The 500 Gigawatt by 2030 goal for renewable can put critically endangered grassland and desert birds such as the Great Indian Bustard at risk, as they die on collision with wires in the desert.
Suggestions on climate law
- A climate law could consider two aspects.
- Commission on climate change: Creating an institution that monitors action plans for climate change.
- A ‘Commission on Climate Change’ could be set up, with the power and the authority to issue directions, and oversee implementation of plans and programmes on climate.
- The Commission could have quasi-judicial powers with powers of a civil court to ensure that its directions are followed in letter and spirit.
- System of liability and accountability: We need a system of liability and accountability at short-, medium- and long-term levels as we face hazards.
- This also means having a legally enforceable National Climate Change Plan that goes beyond just policy guidelines.
- A Climate Commission could ideally prevent gross negligence in fragile areas and fix accountability if it arises.
Conclusion
We have an urgent moral imperative to tackle climate change and reduce its worst impacts. But we also should Indianise the process by bringing in a just and effective law — with guts, a spine, a heart, and, most importantly, teeth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Marrakesh Agreement
Mains level: Paper 3- MC12
Context
The World Trade Organization (WTO)’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) is being convened in Geneva, Switzerland at the end of this month.
Ministerial Conferences
- The topmost decision-making body of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which usually meets every two years. It brings together all members of the WTO, all of which are countries or customs unions.
- The Ministerial Conference can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements
The task ahead for MC12
- Recent WTO estimates show that global trade volumes could expand by almost 11% in 2021, and by nearly 5% in 2022, and could stabilise at a level higher than the pre-COVID-19 trend.
- The MC12 needs to consider how in these good times for trade, the economically weaker countries “can secure a share in the growth in international trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development’, an objective that is mandated by the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization.
- Some of the areas are currently witnessing intense negotiations, these include adoption of WTO rules on electronic commerce, investment facilitation, and fisheries subsidies.
Following issues will form the basis of MC12 discussions
1) IPR waiver for Covid-19 related technologies
- Pharmaceutical companies have used monopoly rights granted by their IPRs to deny developing countries access to technologies and know-how, thus undermining the possibility of production of vaccines in these countries.
- To remedy this situation, India and South Africa had tabled a proposal in the WTO in October 2020, for waiving enforcement of several forms of IPRs on “health products and technologies including diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, medical devices.
- This proposal, supported by nearly two-thirds of the organisation’s membership, was opposed by the developed countries batting for their corporates.
- The unfortunate reality of the current discussions is that an outcome supporting affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines and medicines looks distant.
2) Fisheries subsidies
- Discussions on fisheries subsidies have been hanging fire for a long time, there is considerable push for an early conclusion of an agreement to rein in these subsidies.
- The current drafts on this issue do not provide the wherewithal to rein in large-scale commercial fishing.
- Large scale commercial fishing is depleting fish stocks the world over, and at the same time, are threatening the livelihoods of small fishermen in countries such as India.
3) E-commerce
- Discussions on e-commerce are being held in the WTO since 1998, wherein WTO members agreed to “continue their practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions”.
- The more substantive outcome was the decision to “establish a comprehensive work programme” taking into “account the economic, financial, and development needs of developing countries”.
- However, in 2021, a key focus of the 1998 e-commerce work programme, namely “development needs of developing countries”, is entirely missing from the text document that is the basis for the current negotiations.
- On the negotiating table are issues relating to the liberalisation of the goods and services trade, and of course guarantee for free flow of data across international boundaries, all aimed at facilitating expansion of businesses of e-commerce firms.
- In fact, the decision on a moratorium on the imposition of import duties agreed to in 1998 has become the basis for a push towards comprehensive trade liberalisation — a perfectly logical way forward, given that the sole objective of the negotiations on e-commerce is to facilitate expansion of e-commerce firms.
4) Investment facilitation
- Inclusion of substantive provisions on investment in the WTO has been one of the more divisive issues.
- In 2001, the Doha Ministerial Declaration had included a work programme on investment, but developing countries were opposed to its continuation because the discussions were geared to expanding the rights of foreign investors through a multilateral agreement on investment.
- An investment facilitation has reintroduced the old agenda of concluding such an investment agreement.
Issues with the negotiations
- The negotiations on e-commerce and investment facilitation are being conducted not by a mandate given by the entire membership of the WTO in a transparent manner.
- Instead, these negotiations owe their origins to the so-called “Joint Statement Initiatives” (JSI) in which a section of the membership has developed the agenda with a view to producing agreements in the WTO.
- This entire process is “detrimental to the very existence of a rule-based multilateral trading system under the WTO”, as India and South Africa have forcefully argued in a submission against the JSIs early this year.
Conclusion
Current favourable tidings provide an ideal setting for the Trade Ministers from the WTO member-states to revisit trade rules and to agree on a work programme for the organisation, which can help maintain the momentum in trade growth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Adi Shankaracharya, Advaita Vedanta Philisophy
Mains level: Indian Schools of Philosophy
PM has unveiled a 12-foot statue of Adi Shankaracharya at Kedarnath, where the acharya is believed to have attained samadhi at the age of 32 in the ninth century.
Adi Shankaracharya (788-820 AD)
- Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian philosopher and theologian whose works had a strong impact on the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta.
- He founded mathas, which are believed to have helped in the historical development, revival and propagation of his philosophy.
- The story recounted today has been reconstructed from multiple Shankaravijayas (Conquests of Shankara) written over the centuries.
Birth and death
- He is said to have been born in Kaladi village on the bank of the Periyar, the largest river in Kerala.
- He is believed to have attained samadhi at Kedarnath; however, Kanchi and Thrissur are also talked about as places where Adi Shankara spent his last days.
His literary works
- Adi Shankara is generally identified as the author of 116 works.
- Among them the celebrated commentaries (bhashyas) on 10 Upanishads, the Brahmasutra and the Gita, and poetic works including Vivekachudamani, Maneesha Panchakam, and Saundaryalahiri.
- He composed the Kanakadhara Stotram, following which there was a rain of golden amlas, which brought prosperity to the household.
- It has also been claimed that Adi Shankara composed texts like Shankarasmrithi, which seeks to establish the social supremacy of Nambuthiri Brahmins.
- His great standing is derived from his commentaries of the prasthanatrayi (Upanishads, Brahmasutra and Gita), where he explains his understanding of Advaita Vedanta.
His philosophy: Advaita Vedanta
- Advaita Vedanta articulates a philosophical position of radical nondualism, a revisionary worldview which it derives from the ancient Upanishadic texts.
- According to this, the Upanishads reveal a fundamental principle of nonduality termed ‘brahman’, which is the reality of all things.
- Advaitins understand brahman as transcending individuality and empirical plurality.
- They seek to establish that the essential core of one’s self (atman) is brahman. It is pure non-intentional consciousness.
- It is one without a second, nondual, infinite existence, and numerically identical with brahman.
- This effort entails tying a metaphysics of brahman to a philosophy of consciousness.
Do you know?
There are six major schools of Vedic philosophy—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta, and five major heterodox (sramanic) schools—Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajñana, and Charvaka.
Shankara’s contested legacy
- Custodians of the caste system cite from Shankara’s commentaries to justify the unequal and unjust social order.
- It is argued that the Advaita Vedanta borrowed the categories of Buddhist thinkers and called him the Prachhanna Buddha (Buddha in disguise).
- Sri Narayana Guru offered a radical reading of Advaita Vedanta to dismantle the theory and praxis of caste.
His political appropriation
- His works transcends the political boundaries of his time.
- The mathas are believed to have established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri, and Joshimath for the spread of Advaita Vedanta.
- They are seen as custodians of Hinduism, and Shankara’s digvijaya (conquest) often interpreted as a near nationalistic project where faith, philosophy and geography are yoked together to imagine a Hindu India.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Which one of the following pairs does not form part of the six systems of Indian Philosophy?
(a) Mimamsa and Vedanta
(b) Nyaya and Vaisheshika
(c) Lokayata and Kapalika
(d) Sankhya and Yoga
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: InvITs
Mains level: Not Much
The National Highway Authority of India’s first infrastructure investment trust has raised more than Rs 5,000 crore, informed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India.
What are InvITs?
- InvITs are like a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of small amounts of money from possible individual/institutional investors in infrastructure to earn a small portion of the income as return.
- They work like mutual funds or real estate investment trusts (REITs) in features.
- They can be treated as the modified version of REITs designed to suit the specific circumstances of the infrastructure sector.
How are they notified in India?
- SEBI notified the Sebi (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014 on September 26, 2014, providing for registration and regulation of InvITs in India.
- The objective of InvITs is to facilitate investment in the infrastructure sector.
Their structure
- InvITS are like mutual funds in structure. InvITs can be established as a trust and registered with Sebi.
- An InvIT consists of four elements:
- Trustee: He inspects the performance of an InvIT is certified by Sebi and he cannot be an associate of the sponsor or manager.
- Sponsor(s): They are people who promote and refer to any organisation or a corporate entity with a capital of Rs 100 crore, which establishes the InvIT and is designated as such at the time of the application made to SEBI, and in case of PPP projects, base developer.
- Investment Manager: It is an entity or limited liability partnership (LLP) or organisation that supervises assets and investments of the InvIT and guarantees activities of the InvIT.
- Project Manager: It is the person who acts as the project manager and whose duty is to attain the execution of the project and in case of PPP projects.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Uranium enrichment
Mains level: Not Much
Iran’s atomic agency has said that its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium has reached over 210 kilograms, the latest defiant move ahead of upcoming nuclear talks with the West.
What is Uranium Enrichment?
- It is a process that is necessary to create an effective nuclear fuel out of mined uranium.
- It involves increasing the percentage of uranium-235 which undergoes fission with thermal neutrons.
- Nuclear fuel is mined from naturally occurring uranium ore deposits and then isolated through chemical reactions and separation processes.
- These chemical processes used to separate the uranium from the ore are not to be confused with the physical and chemical processes used to enrich the uranium.
Why is enrichment carried out?
- Uranium found in nature consists largely of two isotopes, U-235 and U-238.
- Natural uranium contains 0.7% of the U-235 isotope.
- The remaining 99.3% is mostly the U-238 isotope which does not contribute directly to the fission process (though it does so indirectly by the formation of fissile isotopes of plutonium).
- The production of energy in nuclear reactors is from the ‘fission’ or splitting of the U-235 atoms since it is the main fissile isotope of uranium.
- Naturally occurring uranium does not have a high enough concentration of Uranium-235 at only about 0.72% with the remainder being Uranium-238.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Articles 233 and 234
Mains level: All India Judicial Services
The central government is preparing to give a fresh push to the establishment of an All India Judicial Service (AIJS) on the lines of the central civil services.
All India Judicial Service (AIJS)
- The AIJS is a reform push to centralize the recruitment of judges.
- It would work at the level of additional district judges and district judges for all states.
- In the same way that the UPSC conducts a central recruitment process and assigns successful candidates to cadres, judges of the lower judiciary are proposed to be recruited centrally and assigned to states.
- This idea has been debated in legal circles for decades, and remains contentious.
How are district judges currently recruited?
- Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution of India deal with the appointment of district judges, and place it in the domain of the states.
- The selection process is conducted by the State Public Service Commissions and the concerned High Court since High Courts exercise jurisdiction over the subordinate judiciary in the state.
- Panels of High Court judges interview candidates after the exam and select them for an appointment.
- All judges of the lower judiciary up to the level of district judge are selected through the Provincial Civil Services (Judicial) exam.
Why has the AIJS been proposed?
The idea was to ensure:
- Efficient subordinate judiciary
- Address structural issues such as varying pay and remuneration across states
- Fill vacancies faster
- Ensure standard training across states
Beginning of the debate
- The idea of a centralized judicial service was first proposed in the Law Commission 1958 ‘Report on Reforms on Judicial Administration’.
- It was proposed again in the Law Commission Report of 1978, which discussed delays and arrears of cases in the lower courts.
- In 2006, the Parliamentary Standing Committee backed the idea of a pan-Indian judicial service, and also prepared a draft Bill.
What is the judiciary’s view on the AIJS?
- 1992: the Supreme Court directed the Centre to set up an AIJS in All India Judges’ Assn. vs Union of India
- 1993: In review of the judgment, the court left the Centre at liberty to take the initiative on the issue.
- 2017: The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the issue of appointment of district judges, and mooted a “Central Selection Mechanism”.
What is the opposition to the AIJS?
- Blow to federalism: AJIS is seen as an affront to federalism and an encroachment on the powers of states granted by the Constitution.
- Language of Business: Language and representation, for example, are key concerns highlighted by states. Judicial business is conducted in regional languages, whi ch could be affected by central recruitment.
- Quotas: Also, reservations based on caste, and even for rural candidates or linguistic minorities in the state, could be diluted in a central test, it has been argued.
- Separation of power: The opposition is also based on the constitutional concept of the separation of powers.
- Not a complete remedy: Additionally, legal experts have argued that the creation of AIJS will not address the structural issues plaguing the lower judiciary.
Why is the government seeking to revive the idea of AIJS?
- The government has targeted the reform of the lower judiciary in its effort to improve India’s Ease of Doing Business ranking.
- It will act as efficient dispute resolution is one of the key indices in determining the rank.
- AIJS is a step in the direction of ensuring an efficient lower judiciary.
Centre’s argument for AJIS
- The government has cited IAS officers’ examples.
- It has argued that if a central mechanism can work for administrative services — IAS officers learn the language required for their cadre — it can work for judicial services too.
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