Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 239AA and 239AB
Mains level: Paper 2- Amendments to NCT Act
The article highlights the objectives of amendments to the Government of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Act.
Background of Article 239AA and 239AB
- On December 20, 1991, Home Minister S B Chavan tabled the Constitution Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha to add Article 239AA and 239AB to our Constitution.
- The Bill was passed unanimously with all 349 members in the Lok Sabha supporting the bill.
- The amendment paved the way for setting up a legislative assembly and a council of ministers for the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.
What the recent amendment to NCT Act seeks to achieve
- The amendments aimed to clear ambiguities in the roles of various stakeholders.
- It also seeks to provide a constructive rules-based framework for stakeholders within the government of Delhi to work in tandem with the Union government.
- The amendment that was passed by Parliament aims to bring in consistency that the Delhi government has acknowledged and course-corrected on.
- As the Act now has the President’s assent, we also need to ensure that the LG is made more accountable.
- This can be done by stipulating a maximum time limit to decide on matters that are referred to the LG in the case of legislative proposals and administrative matters in the rules.
- The constitutional amendment passed in 1991 empowers the Parliament to enact laws supplementing constitutional provisions.
- Similarly, the Government of NCT of Delhi also has the power to enact laws regarding matters specified under the state list and concurrent list, to the extent these apply to a Union territory.
- In the case of the Government of NCT of Delhi, it has no legislative competence in matters pertaining to the police, public order, and land, which are in the state list but do not apply to Union Territories.
- The risk of incremental encroachments on these subjects by the Delhi Legislative Assembly can have severe ramifications for Delhi.
- Similarly, making the Delhi assembly rules consistent with the rules of the Lok Sabha or ensuring that the opinion of the LG is taken can only ensure clarity and foster an environment of co-operation.
Promoting cooperative federalism
- The government has been promoting cooperative federalism, which is evident from the tangible steps that have been taken.
- The creation of NITI Aayog, the establishment of the GST council, and the restructuring of central schemes are clear examples of promoting fiscal federalism.
- Cooperative federalism requires an environment of trust and mutual cooperation.
- A necessary condition for such an environment is the distinct delineation of roles and responsibilities, the removal of ambiguities, and the definition of a clear chain of command among stakeholders.
- In this regard, it was important to define, without a doubt, who represents the government in the unique case of Delhi.
Consider the question “What are the objectives of the recent amendment to the NCT Act? What will be its implications for governance in Delhi?”
Conclusion
Our national capital hosts the country’s legislature, the seat of the Union government, the judiciary, diplomatic missions, and other institutions of national importance. It deserves smooth functioning and cannot be subject to misadventures arising from the ambiguities in the roles and responsibilities of its stakeholders.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process
Mains level: Afghan peace process
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has attended the Heart of Asia Conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
The 9th Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process (HoA-IP) ministerial conference is part of the Istanbul Process – a regional initiative on security and cooperation for a stable and peaceful Afghanistan – that was launched on November 2, 2011, in Turkey.
Note the participating countries from the logo itself.
Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process
- The Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process (HoA-IP) is an initiative of Afghanistan and Turkey, which was officially launched at a conference hosted by Turkey in Istanbul on 2 November 2011.
- Since then, Afghanistan supported by fourteen participating countries and supporting countries beyond the region as well as 12 Regional and International Organizations is leading and coordinating this Process.
Goals of the Process
- The HoA-IP aims at promoting and strengthening peace, security, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan and in the region.
- The HoA-IP has become one of the most interactive voluntary state-groupings in the HoA Region.
- It brings Afghanistan’s immediate and extended neighbours as well as international supporters together through the following focus areas:
- Political Consultations
- Implementation of the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs)
- Cooperation with Regional Organizations
Note: India too, has held the Ministerial Conferences of HoA-IP back on 4 December 2016 at Amritsar.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UCC
Mains level: Secularism debate
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) has lauded Goa’s Uniform Civil Code and encouraged “intellectuals” indulging in “academic talk” to visit the state to learn more about it.
Again a controversial, conventional yet contested topic has come at our dispense! Save such articles for general idea esp. for essays.
What is a Uniform Civil Code?
- A Uniform Civil Code is one that would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.
- Article 44, one of the directive principles of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
- These, as defined in Article 37, are not justiciable (not enforceable by any court) but the principles laid down therein are fundamental in governance.
Greater role for State
- Fundamental rights are enforceable in a court of law.
- While Article 44 uses the words “the state shall endeavour”, other Articles in the ‘Directive Principles’ chapter use words such as “in particular strive”; “shall, in particular, direct its policy”; “shall be the obligation of the state” etc.
- Article 43 mentions “state shall endeavour by suitable legislation” while the phrase “by suitable legislation” is absent in Article 44.
- All this implies that the duty of the state is greater in other directive principles than in Article 44.
What are more important — fundamental rights or directive principles?
- There is no doubt that fundamental rights are more important.
- The Supreme Court held in Minerva Mills (1980): Indian Constitution is founded on the bedrock of the balance between Parts III (Fundamental Rights) and IV (Directive Principles).
- To give absolute primacy to one over the other is to disturb the harmony of the Constitution.
- Article 31C inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, however, lays down that if a law is made to implement any directive principle, it cannot be challenged on the ground of being violative of the FRs under Articles 14 and 19.
Does India not already have a uniform code in civil matters?
- Indian laws do follow a uniform code in most civil matters – Indian Contract Act, Civil Procedure Code, Sale of Goods Act, Transfer of Property Act, Partnership Act, Evidence Act etc.
- States, however, have made hundreds of amendments and therefore in certain matters, there is diversity even under these secular civil laws.
- Recently, several states refused to be governed by the uniform Motor Vehicles Act, 2019.
What about personal laws?
- If the framers of the Constitution had intended to have a Uniform Civil Code, they would have given exclusive jurisdiction to Parliament in respect of personal laws, by including this subject in the Union List.
- But “personal laws” are mentioned in the Concurrent List.
- Last year, the Law Commission concluded that a Uniform Civil Code is neither feasible nor desirable.
Is there one common personal law for any religious community governing all its members?
- All Hindus of the country are not governed by one law, nor are all Muslims or all Christians.
- Not only British legal traditions, even those of the Portuguese and the French remain operative in some parts.
- In Jammu and Kashmir until August 5, 2019, local Hindu law statutes differed from central enactments.
- The Shariat Act of 1937 was extended to J&K a few years ago but has now been repealed.
Various customary laws
- Muslims of Kashmir were governed by a customary law, which in many ways was at variance with Muslim Personal Law in the rest of the country and was, in fact, closer to Hindu law.
- Even on the registration of marriage among Muslims, laws differ from place to place. It was compulsory in J&K (1981 Act), and is optional in Bengal, Bihar (both under 1876 Act), Assam (1935 Act) and Odisha (1949 Act).
- In the Northeast, there are more than 200 tribes with their own varied customary laws.
- The Constitution itself protects local customs in Nagaland. Similar protections are enjoyed by Meghalaya and Mizoram.
- Even reformed Hindu law, in spite of codification, protects customary practices.
How does the idea of a Uniform Civil Code relate to the fundamental right to religion?
- Article 25 lays down an individual’s fundamental right to religion;
- Article 26(b) upholds the right of each religious denomination or any section thereof to “manage its own affairs in matters of religion”;
- Article 29 defines the right to conserve distinctive culture.
- An individual’s freedom of religion under Article 25 is subject to “public order, health, morality” and other provisions relating to FRs, but a group’s freedom under Article 26 has not been subjected to other fundamental rights
- In the Constituent Assembly, there was division on the issue of putting UCC in the fundamental rights chapter. The matter was settled by a vote.
- By a 5:4 majority, the fundamental rights sub-committee headed by Sardar Patel held that the provision was outside the scope of FRs and therefore the UCC was made less important than freedom of religion.
Minority opinion in the Constituent Assembly
- Some members sought to immunize Muslim Personal Law from state regulation.
- Mohammed Ismail, who thrice tried unsuccessfully to get Muslim Personal Law exempted from Article 44, said a secular state should not interfere with the personal law of people.
- B Pocker Saheb said he had received representations against a common civil code from various organisations, including Hindu organisations.
- Hussain Imam questioned whether there could ever be uniformity of personal laws in a diverse country like India.
- B R Ambedkar said, “no government can use its provisions in a way that would force the Muslims to revolt”.
- Alladi Krishnaswami, who was in favour of a UCC, conceded that it would be unwise to enact UCC ignoring strong opposition from any community.
- Gender justice was never discussed in these debates.
How did the debate on a common code for Hindus play out?
- In June 1948, Rajendra Prasad, President of the Constituent Assembly, warned Nehru that to introduce “basic changes” in personal law was to impose “progressive ideas” of a “microscopic minority” on the Hindu community as a whole.
- Others opposed to reforms in Hindu law included Sardar Patel, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, M A Ayyangar, M M Malaviya and Kailash Nath Katju.
- When the debate on the Hindu Code Bill took place in December 1949, 23 of 28 speakers opposed it.
- On September 15, 1951, President Prasad threatened to use his powers of returning the Bill to Parliament or vetoing it. Ambedkar eventually had to resign.
- Nehru agreed to trifurcation of the Code into separate Acts and diluted several provisions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Happiness Curriculum
Mains level: Education reforms
The Delhi Deputy CM has said that during the pandemic, the Happiness Curriculum immensely helped them to apply life skills to deal with stressful situations.
Try this question:
Q.What is Happiness Curriculum? Discuss the scope of introducing happiness curriculum supplementary to the regular curriculum across the country.
What is Delhi’s ‘happiness curriculum’?
- The curriculum calls for schools in India to promote development in cognition, language, literacy, numeracy and the arts along with addressing the well-being and happiness of students.
- It further says that future citizens need to be “mindful, aware, awakened, empathetic, firmly rooted in their identity…” based on the premise that education has a larger purpose, which cannot be in isolation from the “dire needs” of today’s society.
- For the evaluation, no examinations are conducted, neither will marks be awarded.
- The assessment under this curriculum is qualitative, focusing on the “process rather than the outcome” and noting that each student’s journey is unique and different.
Objectives of the curriculum
The objectives of this curriculum include:
- developing self-awareness and mindfulness,
- inculcating skills of critical thinking and inquiry,
- enabling learners to communicate effectively and
- helping learners to apply life skills to deal with stressful and conflicting situations around them
Learning outcomes of this curriculum
The learning outcomes of this curriculum are spread across four categories:
- becoming mindful and attentive (developing increased levels of self-awareness, developing active listening, remaining in the present);
- developing critical thinking and reflection (developing strong abilities to reflect on one’s own thoughts and behaviours, thinking beyond stereotypes and assumptions);
- developing social-emotional skills (demonstrating empathy, coping with anxiety and stress, developing better communication skills) and
- developing a confident and pleasant personality (developing a balanced outlook on daily life reflecting self-confidence, becoming responsible and reflecting awareness towards cleanliness, health and hygiene).
How is the curriculum implemented?
- The curriculum is designed for students of classes nursery through the eighth standard.
- Group 1 consists of students in nursery and KG, who have bi-weekly classes (45 minutes each for one session, which is supervised by a teacher) involving mindfulness activities and exercise.
- Children between classes 1-2 attend classes on weekdays, which involves mindfulness activities and exercises along with taking up reflective questions.
- The second group comprises students from classes 3-5 and the third group is comprised of students from classes 6-8 who apart from the aforementioned activities, take part in self-expression and reflect on their behavioural changes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PRISM Scheme
Mains level: Not Much
The Ministry of Science & Technology has inaugurated an Alignment and Awareness Event for the publicity of the DSIR-PRISM Scheme.
Crux lies in the acronym. Remember the primary aim and objectives. UPSC can also go with numbers esp. the grants.
PRISM Scheme
- PRISM stands for Promoting Innovations in Individuals, Start-ups and MSMEs.
- It is an initiative of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).
- It is aimed at transforming an individual innovator into a successful technopreneur by promoting, supporting, and funding implementable and commercially viable innovations created for society.
- Under the initiative, an Indian innovator- student, professional and common citizen – is provided technical, strategic, and financial assistance by DSIR for idea development, prototype development and pilot scaling, and patenting.
- The programme is implemented across various sectors from energy to healthcare to waste management and others.
Grants under the scheme
The grant is given in two phases:
- Phase I and Phase II, catering to both the initial innovation stage and the advanced enterprise setup phase through DSIR outreach-cum-cluster innovation centres available throughout India.
- The grant amount in Phase I is around Rs. 2.0 lakhs to Rs. 20.00 lakhs and in Phase II maximum of Rs. 50.00 lakhs.
Success of the scheme
- The scheme has been instrumental in supporting individual innovators enabling inclusive development of India.
- It has extended its support to any citizen through direct benefit transfer in the core technology areas such as-
Affordable Healthcare, Water, Sewage Management, Green Technology, Clean Energy, Industrially Utilizable Smart Materials, Waste to Wealth aligned with our national objectives
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nacaduba sinhala ramaswamii Sadasivan
Mains level: NA
The discovery of the species Nacaduba sinhala ramaswamii Sadasivan in the Agasthyamalais in the Western Ghats a decade ago has now found a place in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
William Shakespeare’s words hold true! Really “Whats in a name!”
Nacaduba sinhala ramaswamii Sadasivan
- The new taxon of Lycaenid butterflies belonging to the Nacaduba genus had been first sighted by a team of Bombay Natural History Society.
- Line Blues are small butterflies belonging to the subfamily Lycaenidae and their distribution ranges from India and Sri Lanka to the whole of southeastern Asia, Australia and Samoa.
- It is the first time that a butterfly species was discovered by an all-Indian research team from the Western Ghats.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:
Q.With reference to India’s Biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith barbet, Gray-chinned minivet and White-throated redstart are
(a) Birds
(b) Primates
(c) Reptiles
(d) Amphibians
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Lessons from the past for the success of NBFID
The article explains the factors that resulted in the failure of several financial institutions created by the government.
Establishment of Development Finance Institution
- As promised in the Budget, the Lok Sabha recently passed The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID) Bill, 2021.
- The Bill seeks to establish a development finance institution (DFI) to fund infrastructure.
Providing finance to NBFID
- The government will initially own 100% of the proposed NBFID’s ₹20,000-crore share capital.
- The government’s stake will be reduced later to 26%.
- The government will also support NBFID in raising cheap, long-term finance.
- Apart from the initial share capital, the government will also provide a ₹5,000-crore grant at the end of its first financial year, presumably to defray initial costs.
- The government has also committed to guarantee NBFID’s borrowings and bond issuances in the domestic and overseas markets.
- In addition, the government will underwrite NBFID’s foreign exchange hedging costs.
Concerns and lessons from the past
- Studying the performance of IL&FS Ltd and IDFC Ltd, two infrastructure financing institutions, set up in the public sector, will be instructive.
- IL&FS had borrowed short-term loans to finance long-term infrastructure assets.
- Sustaining this became difficult when a slowing economy and political interference forced infrastructure borrowers to stop repaying loans.
- Also, it had grown unwieldy, was mismanaged, and escaped scrutiny for too long by handing out plum postings to select bureaucrats.
- Similarly, 1996 budget speech announced the setting up of IDFC to address the lack of long-term infrastructure financing.
- In 2004, interference by the bureaucrats to tackle slow growth of loan led to the resignation of several senior executives in IDFC.
- IDFC, created originally to finance infrastructure projects, has since then wound down its project finance book.
- 2021-22 Budget speech also mentioned the creation of another institution that will acquire the banking sector’s stressed assets.
- On the similar lines, Industrial Reconstruction Corporation of India was create in 1971.
- Mandated with nursing sick and weak companies, it collapsed under this onerous burden.
- The institution was eventually shut down in 2012.
Consider the question “Examine the role the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development will play in the infrastructure development in the country. Also, examine the factors that led to the failure of development finance institutions in the past.”
Conclusion
The short lesson is this: Fix the distorted demand side before increasing supply. Any number of institutions can be launched, but cannot be expected to work miracles in a corroded system.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Vulnerabilities in global trade
The recent closure of the Suez Canal highlights the inherent flaw in the global supply chains. Choking of one of the many such points leads to disruption in the global trade.
Points of vulnerability
- Suez Canal was blocked this week by a container ship named Ever Given when a gust of wind moved the ship out of the course and grounded it.
- Egypt has expanded parts of the canal to enable two-way traffic and accommodate larger carriers.
- The Ever Given ship went off course and got stuck in a part of the waterway that’s still narrow.
- But it’s also a reminder that even an advanced civilization like ours has points of acute vulnerability.
Avoiding single points of failures
- Systems designers strive to avoid these single points of failure, so that transport, energy and communication networks are able to withstand attacks or unexpected calamities.
- Technological advances and globalization were also supposed to make us less susceptible to this type of problem.
- The internet, for example, was conceived as a decentralized system that’s pretty difficult to break, as was Bitcoin.
- But global infrastructure, defined broadly, still has a surprising number of pinch points.
- These can be difficult to remedy, as creating back-up options is expensive and counteracts economies of scale.
- In some cases, the problem is even getting worse:
- Industries are becoming more concentrated due to corporate takeovers.
- Big chunks of our lives are now mediated by a just handful of technology companies.
- The governments are now more cognizant of the political and economic power held by those who control choke points.
How canal can disrupt the global trade
- The Panama Canal, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz are places where container ships and oil tankers are forced to navigate narrow passages.
- The alternative is a long detour or more expensive air freight.
- For decades these waterways have been recognized as areas of huge strategic importance and as being susceptible to military or terror attacks.
- Various back-up routes have been mooted but most haven’t materialized.
Vulnerabilities in economic sphere
- In seeking to rid itself of one pinch point — pipelines that traverse Ukraine provides gas to Europ — Germany has created another: the twin Nord Stream gas pipelines that connect Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea.
- The U.S. worries these will weaken eastern Europe and increase Germany’s dependence on Russia.
- In the realm of finance, trillions of dollars of financial instruments are tied to the London interbank offered rate.
- This rate was easy to manipulate until they were exposed in the years following the 2008 financial crisis.
- Libor is now being replaced.
- Similarly, Europe has long relied on the Swift payments system and the U.S. dollar, but that dependence came into question in 2018 as it disagreed with the U.S. over Iran sanctions.
- In technology, people have warned for years that the U.S. needs a back-up for the Global Positioning System.
- The system can be spoofed or otherwise disrupted.
- Semiconductors are where the clearest pinch points are emerging.
- A global computer chip shortage during Covid has forced auto manufacturers to tear up production plans.
- Very few companies are able to produce the most advanced chips, due to the technical challenges and vast cost of constructing foundries.
- The most important of these, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., is based on an island that’s under constant threat of invasion by Beijing.
- ASML Holding NV of the Netherlands has a monopoly on the machines needed to fabricate the best chips.
- Now China’s inability to buy the most cutting edge gear from ASML is holding back its own semiconductor ambitions.
Way forward
- None of these choke-point problems are easy to resolve.
- Not only are there geopolitical ambitions at work here but there are also usually trade-offs between building greater resilience and efficiency.
- But because redundancy offers protection and is therefore a public good, there’s an argument that governments should play a role in providing it.
- Antitrust polies can be used to challenge monopolies and foster more competition.
Consider the question “What are the threat emanating from the various forms of choke points to the global trade? Suggest the ways to deal with it.”
Conclusion
Having a back-up is a good idea. We learn that when the roof falls in, or when a ship called the Ever Given snarls up the Suez Canal.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Using technology to use water sustainably in agriculture
The article examine the use of water for sugarcane and rice cultivation in India and its impact.
Water availability and usage in India
- As per the Central Water Commission’s reassessment of water availability, India receives a mean annual precipitation of about 3,880 billion cubic meters (BCM) but utilises only 699 BCM (18 percent) of this; the rest is lost to evaporation and other factors.
- The demand for water is likely to be 843 BCM in 2025 and 1,180 BCM by 2050.
- As per the UN’s report on Sustainable Development Goal-6 (SDG-6) on “Clean water and sanitation for all by 2030”, India achieved only 56.6 per cent of the target by 2019.
- Further, as per the Niti Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index (2019), 75 per cent households in India do not have access to drinking water on their premises.
- India ranks 120th amongst 122 countries in the water quality index.
- India is identified as a water-stressed country with its per capita water availability declining from 5,178 cubic metre (m3)/year in 1951 to 1,544 m3 in 2011 — this is likely to go down further to 1,140 cubic metre by 2050.
How free or highly subsidised electricity skews water use pattern
- Despite decades of large public and private investments in irrigation, only about half of India’s gross cropped area:198 million hectares is irrigated.
- Groundwater contributes about 64 per cent, canals 23 per cent, tanks 2 per cent and other sources 11 per cent to irrigation.
- This results primarily from incentive policy of free or highly subsidised power, particularly in the country’s north-west, the site of the erstwhile Green Revolution.
- Overexploitation of groundwater has made this region amongst the three highest water risk hotspots.
- Overall, about 1,592 blocks in 256 districts in India are either critical or overexploited.
Need to focus on rice and sugarcane
- Agriculture uses about 78 per cent of fresh water resources.
- As per a NABARD-ICRIER study on Water Productivity Mapping, these crops alone consume almost 60 per cent of India’s irrigation water.
- We need a paradigm shift to increase land productivity measured as tonnes per hectare (t/ha), and to maximise applied irrigation productivity measured as kilogrammes, or Rs, per cubic metre of water (kg/m3).
- Figure 1 shows applied irrigation water productivity against land productivity for rice and sugarcane in important growing states.
- Note that while Punjab scores high on land productivity of rice, it is at the bottom with respect to applied irrigation water productivity.
- In the case of sugarcane, irrigation water productivity in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu is only 1/3rd of that in Bihar and UP (Figure 2).
- There is, thus, a need to realign cropping patterns based on per unit of applied irrigation water productivity.
Use of technology
- There are technologies to produce the same output of rice and sugarcane with almost half the irrigation water.
- Jain Irrigation, for instance, has set up drip irrigation pilots for paddy and sugarcane.
- The results of these pilots indicate while it takes 3,065 litres of water to produce 1 kg of paddy grain (yield level 7.75 t/ha) under traditional flood irrigation, under drip, it can be reduced to just 842 litres.
- The benefit cost ratio of drip with fertigation in case of sugarcane in Karnataka is observed to be 2.64.
- An extension to this is the “Family Drip System” innovated by Israel-based — Netafim.
- The company has also launched its largest demonstration project in Asia at Ramthal, Karnataka.
- Technologies like Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) and System of Rice Intensification (SRI) can also save 25-30 per cent of water compared to traditional flood irrigation.
Need for right pricing policies
- Technological solutions cannot make much headway unless pricing policies of agri-inputs are put on the right track and farmers are incentivised for saving water.
- The Punjab government, along with the World Bank and J-PAL, has started some pilots with an innovative policy of “Paani Bachao Paise Kamao” to encourage rational use of water among farmers.
Consider the question “Examine the impact of rice and sugarcane cultivation on the groundwater table in India. How technological solutions can help use water more sustainably for agriculture?”
Conclusion
Overall, it seems it is time to switch from the highly subsidised price policy of water/power (and even fertilisers) to direct income support on a per hectare basis, and investment policies that help with newer technologies and innovations.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Taliban Peace Deal
Mains level: Restoration of democracy in Afghanistan
As the May 1 deadline for pulling out all American troops from Afghanistan nears, US President Joe Biden faces some difficult decisions.
Key tasks for the US before they exit
- The U.S. could abide by the promise made in the U.S.-Taliban agreement signed in February 2020 to withdraw the last of the around 2,500 American Marines stationed in Afghanistan.
- However, Mr Biden has said it would be tough given the levels of violence there.
- The US could negotiate with the Taliban for an extension of the agreement, offering other incentives like the release of more prisoners and the delisting of sanctioned Taliban terrorists.
- The other option is to scrap the 2020 agreement and back the Ashraf Ghani government to continue towards a negotiated settlement, even as US troops remain in Afghanistan to stabilize the security situation.
What is the US likely to do?
- The US exit plan is still underway and that no decision on the length of stay or troop numbers have been made to this point, cleared the US Secy of Defence.
- No U.S. troops have been targeted by Taliban militants in the past year, but violence against Afghan civilians, particularly women, journalists, students and activists has gone up manifold despite the peace agreement.
- More than 3,000 civilians were killed in 2020.
- The US has shown some impatience with the Ghani government as well, believing that it is dragging its feet on intra-Afghan negotiations that began last year in Doha but have stalled for the moment.
Plans for Ashraf Ghani
- A US plan proposes that Mr Ghani step up negotiations with the Taliban for “power-sharing”, discuss principles of future governance and step aside eventually for a “more inclusive” or interim government. The
- The tone of the letter seems to make it clear that the US is not in favour of completely scrapping the 2020 agreement.
- Therefore, it is most likely to pursue the option of negotiating for an extension of the agreement, according to experts, as it builds other dialogue platforms.
Try this question from our AWE Initiative:
What is President Ghani’s plan?
- Ghani has proposed his own peace plan.
- It would involve a full ceasefire, inviting the Taliban to participate in early elections in Afghanistan, and then for Mr Ghani to hand over power to the elected government.
- He also said no regional talks could be successful if they did not include India, which is a development partner and a stakeholder.
Where does India stand?
- India’s position has been to back an “Afghan-owned, Afghan-led, Afghan-controlled” peace process, backing the elected government in Kabul, and it has not yet held talks with the Taliban directly.
- As a result, its option remains to stand with the Ghani government and support the constitution that guarantees a democratic process and rights of women and minorities, over any plans the Taliban might have if they come to power.
- At the same time, India has not foreclosed on the option of talking to the Taliban if it does join the government in Afghanistan.
- India too has made it clear that it seeks to be an integral part of the process, as the outcomes will have a deep impact on India’s security matrix as well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ULPIN Scheme
Mains level: Land records management in India
The Centre plans to roll out the Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) Scheme.
ULPIN Scheme
- The ULPIN scheme has been launched in ten States this year and will be rolled out across the country by March 2022, the Department of Land Resources told the Standing Committee on Rural Development.
- It would allot a 14-digit identification number to every plot of land in the country within a year’s time.
- It will subsequently integrate its land records database with revenue court records and bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis.
- The scheme will enhance the service deliveries to the citizen of the country and will also function as inputs to the schemes of the other sectors like Agriculture, Finance Disaster Management etc.
“Aadhaar number” for Land
- Officials described it as “the Aadhaar for land”, a number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in the hinterlands of rural India, where land records are outdated and often disputed.
- The identification will be based on the longitude and latitude coordinates of the land parcel and is dependent on detailed surveys and geo-referenced cadastral maps, according to a presentation the Department made to States in September 2020.
- This is the next step in the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP), which began in 2008 and has been extended several times as its scope grew.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- Aadhaar card can be used as proof of citizenship or domicile.
- Once issued, the Aadhaar number cannot be deactivated or omitted by the Issuing Authority.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
A cost-effective approach
- Linking Aadhaar with land records through ULPIN would cost ₹3 per record while seeding and authentication of landowner Aadhaar data would cost ₹5 each.
- It added that the integration of the Aadhaar numbers with the land record database would be done on a voluntary basis.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Polling agent, ECI
Mains level: Free and fair elections
The Election Commission’s recent decision to change the rules for appointing polling agents has sparked off a debate in West Bengal.
Who is a Polling Agent?
- A polling agent is a person appointed as a representative of a political party as it is not possible for a candidate to be physically present at every polling booth on the day of the elections.
- Therefore, the Election Commission allows a candidate to appoint a polling agent who keeps an eye on the voting process.
What is his/her role?
- As per the EC’s rules, a polling agent should be familiar with the rules and procedures to conduct elections using EVMs and VVPATs, and with the working of these machines.
- Towards this end, a polling agent attends the demonstrations arranged by the Returning Officer, where the functioning and operation of these machines are explained.
How were they appointed earlier?
- As per the earlier practice, polling agents had to be voters of the same polling stations or at least the neighbouring polling stations of the booth where she has been posted at.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2017:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- The Election Commission of India is a five member body.
- Union Ministry of Home Affairs decides the election schedule for the conduct of both general elections and bye-elections.
- Election Commission resolves the disputes relating to splits/mergers of recognized political parties.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 3 only
Answer: D
What does the new rule say?
- The ECI, revising the rule, has allowed a party to nominate a polling agent for any booth within the assembly segment where the person is an electorate of.
- So, any voter from within an Assembly constituency can be a polling agent of any booth within that constituency.
Issues with the rule
- The political parties are opposing the change in rules, calling it “arbitrary, motivated and biased”.
- They have also written to the Election Commission seeking withdrawal of the order.
What is the EC’s stand?
- The poll body has defended the change in a rule saying that the new norms have been formulated so that every political party gets to appoint polling agents.
- It is difficult to convince people to sit at the booths amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Back2Basics: Election Commission of India (ECI)
- ECI is an autonomous and permanent constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India at national and state level.
- The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, State Legislative Councils and the offices of the President and Vice President of the country.
- It operates under the authority of the Constitution per Article 324 and subsequently enacted the Representation of the People Act.
- The commission has the powers under the Constitution, to act in an appropriate manner when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct of an election.
- Being a constitutional authority, Election Commission is amongst the few institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher judiciary, the UPSC and the CAG.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sabarmati River
Mains level: Riverfront development and its economic potential
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, in its draft budget for 2021-22, has set aside Rs 1050 crore for the Sabarmati River Front Development phase 2, work on which is to begin soon.
Rs 1050 crore fund! See how rich even the Municipal Corporations in India are!
Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project
- The SRDP is an environmental improvement, social uplift and urban rejuvenation project that will renew Ahmedabad.
- The project is being developed by the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Ltd. (SRFDCL), a company wholly owned by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
- The project will reclaim approximately 200 hectares of land from the riverbed.
- To reclaim the land, protect low lying developments from floods, and prevent erosion of the river banks, retaining walls have been built on both sides of the river.
- Since Sabarmati is a seasonal river, water is channelled into the river from the Narmada canal, which intersects the river upstream from Ahmedabad and is retained in the river using the Vasna Barrage which is located downstream.
Significance of the project
- The reclaimed land will make Ahmadabad’s riverfront, a public asset.
- The project will provide Ahmedabad with 11.5 km long pedestrian promenades at the water’s edge along both the banks of the river.
- In addition, many new public facilities will be built on the reclaimed land: cultural centres, museums, sports facilities, trade fair grounds and open-air markets.
- A small portion of the reclaimed land will be sold for private commercial and residential developments.
- The project has won Prime Minister’s National Award for Excellence in Urban Planning and Design in the year of 2003.
Also, revise the concept of Water Divide from your NCERTS or refer to this link: https://www.ncert.nic.in/ncerts/l/iess103.pdf
Back2Basics: Sabarmati River
- Sabarmati is one of the major west-flowing rivers in India. Being a rain-fed river it runs dry most of the year.
- It originates in the Aravalli Range of the Udaipur District of Rajasthan and meets the Gulf of Khambhat of the Arabian Sea after travelling 371 km in a south-westerly direction across Rajasthan and Gujarat.
- 48 km of the river length is in Rajasthan, while 323 km is in Gujarat.
- There are several reservoirs on Sabarmati and its tributaries. The Dharoi dam is located on the main river. Hathmati dam, Harnav dam and Guhai dam are located on the tributaries.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lehman Crisis
Mains level: Not Much
The fire sale of about $20 billion of Archegos assets, comprising Chinese and US stocks, has sent jitters in the global financial markets, raising worries that the event could be a possible “Lehman moment”.
What is the Lehman Crisis?
- The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, was the climax of the subprime mortgage crisis.
- After the financial services firm was notified of a pending credit downgrade due to its heavy position in subprime mortgages, the Federal Reserve summoned several banks to negotiate to finance for its reorganization.
- These discussions failed, and Lehman filed a petition that remains the largest bankruptcy filing in US history, involving more than US$600 billion in assets.
Note: The subprime mortgage crisis occurred when the real estate market collapsed and homeowners defaulted on their loans.
What defines the moment?
- It signalled a limit to the government’s ability to manage the crisis and prompted a general financial panic.
- Money market mutual funds, a key source of credit, saw mass withdrawal demands to avoid losses, and the interbank lending market tightened, threatening banks with imminent failure.
- The government and the Federal Reserve system responded with several emergency measures to contain the panic.
Other terminologies:
Margin Call
- Typically, a margin call occurs when the value of an investor’s margin account falls below the broker’s required amount during a market correction or sell-off.
- As the margin account contains securities bought with borrowed money, a margin call occurs when lenders demand that an investor deposit additional money or securities into the account so that it is brought up to the minimum value.
- A margin call is usually an indicator that the securities held in the margin account have decreased in value.
- When a margin call occurs, the investor must choose to either deposit more money in the account or sell some of the assets held in their account.
- If the investor fails to pay up the margin amount, the lender will resort to the sale of assets lying in the investor’s account.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LHCb experiments and its findings
Mains level: Formation of the universe and the Big Bang
The LHCb experiment at CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research) has announced the results of their latest analysis of data.
LHCb Experiment: An easy explanation
- LHCb is an experiment set up to explore what happened after the Big Bang that allowed the matter to survive and build the Universe we inhabit today.
- Fourteen billion years ago, the Universe began with a bang.
- Crammed within an infinitely small space, energy coalesced to form equal quantities of matter and antimatter.
- But as the Universe cooled and expanded, its composition changed.
- Just one second after the Big Bang, antimatter had all but disappeared, leaving the matter to form everything that we see around us — from the stars and galaxies to the Earth and all life that it supports.
What is the new finding?
- CERN scientists are excited enough to reveal that if the anomaly they had detected was confirmed.
- Because, if confirmed, it would require a new physical process, such as the existence of new fundamental particles or interactions.
What is this excitement all about?
It is necessary to delve into the world of elementary particles to understand this.
(1) Particle zoo
Until now it is believed that the electron, muon and tauon and their antiparticles, though they differ in mass, behave similarly in particle interactions.
- Broadly speaking, elementary particles are classified into the particles called baryons – which include protons, neutrons and their antiparticles the antiprotons etc.
- The “middle mass” particles, roughly speaking, are called the mesons and they include members such as the K and B particles.
- We then have the leptons, which include the electron and its cousins the muon and tau particles and the anti-particles.
- At a still smaller scale, there are tiny particles called quarks and gluons.
- There are six flavours of quarks: up, down, truth, beauty, charm and strange. They too have antiquarks associated with them.
In this particle zoo, while the baryons are made up of combinations of three quarks, the mesons contain two quarks, more accurately a quark and antiquark pair, and the leptons are truly fundamental and are thought to be indivisible.
Do you know?
Higgs Boson is called the god particle.
(2) Colliding particle beams
By interactions here, is meant the following:
- If a huge particle accelerator such as the LHC were to accelerate beams of hadrons (such as protons) to very high speeds, a fraction of that of light, and then cause them to collide.
- Basically, smash through the repulsive nuclear forces and shatter them, the hadrons would break up into constituents which would recombine to form short-lived particles, which would decay into stabler states.
- Roughly speaking, during this process, they are imaged in a huge multistorey detector and the number of specific processes and particles are counted.
(3) Lepton universality principle
- One such process that was measured was the decay of a meson B (which contained the beauty quark) into K-meson (which contains the strange quark) and a muon-antimuon pair, and this was compared with the decay of B into K and an electron-antielectron pair.
- The expectation is that the ratio of the strengths of these two sets of interactions would be just one.
- This is because the muons are not essentially different from the electrons as per the Standard Model, the presently accepted theoretical model of all elementary particle interactions.
- This is called the lepton universality principle.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Red algae
Mains level: Seaweeds and their significance
Two new species of seaweed have been discovered by a group of marine biologists from the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda.
What are the species?
- Named Hypnea indica (after India) and Hypnea bullata (because of the blisterlike marks on its body – bullate), the seaweeds are part of the genus Hypnea or red seaweeds.
- They grow in the intertidal regions of the coast, namely the area that is submerged during the high tide and exposed during low tides.
Do you know?
Red Algae have great ecological importance. They form a vital part of the food chain and are also involved in producing about 40 to 60 per cent of the total global oxygen for both terrestrial habitat and other aquatic habitats.
Details of the genus
- The genus Hypnea consists of calcareous, erect, branched red seaweeds.
- While Hypnea indica was discovered Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, and Somnath Pathan and Sivrajpur in Gujarat, Hypnea bullata was discovered from Kanyakumari and Diu island of Daman and Diu.
- There are 61 species of which 10 were reported in India.
Significance for the food industry
- Species of Hypnea contain the biomolecule carrageenan, which is widely used in the food industry.
- As the two species have been found on the west and south-east coasts of India, it suggests good prospects for their cultivation which can be put to good use economically.
- The extensive calcareous deposit on the body that has been observed also provides room for thought.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ex Desert Flag
Mains level: NA
Exercise Desert Flag –VI has successfully culminated with the de-induction of the Indian contingent from the UAE.
Ex Desert Flag
- It is an annual multi-lateral large force employment exercise hosted by UAE.
- The sixth edition of the exercise was conducted at Air Force Base Al Dhafra, UAE.
- IAF participated in the exercise for the first time, fielding Su-30MKI fighter aircraft.
- Six countries; UAE, USA, France, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain apart from India participated with aerial assets. Jordan, Greece, Qatar, Egypt and South Korea participated as observer forces.
Objective of the exercise
- The aim for the participating crew and specialist observers was to expose them to operational environment in scenarios requiring multinational forces working together.
- A multinational exercise in UAE with friendly forces afforded a unique opportunity to gain valuable learning to all the participating forces.
Must read:
[Prelims Spotlight] Defence Exercises
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Space weather preparedness
The article suggests the need for space weather preparedness to protect the satellite constellations in the future.
Satellite constellations
- By 2030, the global space industry could add almost 50,000 new commercial satellites to the existing 5,000.
- These would include earth-observation satellites selling commercial imagery, telecom orbiters providing 5G and next-in-line 6G data services, and meteorological ones selling weather-forecasts and datasets.
- The increasing dependence of the digital economy on satellite constellations is spurring investment in this area.
Risks involved
- The most important threat to the constellation of satellites will be the collisions between satellites.
- Such collision could result in massive free-floating space debris.
- A 2020 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report estimates that protecting satellites from space debris could cost 5-10% more per space mission.
- Another threat to satellite constellations is that of extreme space weather events, and this cannot be addressed by space and digital players alone.
- It demands the attention of governments.
Improving space weather forecasting ability
- Last October, the US Congress passed an Act that directs civilian and military agencies to reinforce national space weather forecasting abilities.
- China transferred its meteorological, hydrological and space weather command from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general staff department to the PLA strategic support force, the latter being its new branch for cyber, space and e-warfare.
Lessons for India
- India’s economy is expected to become increasingly dependent on space- and ground-based commercial, civilian and military assets.
- These will be vulnerable to extreme space weather events.
- India is progressing with its capital-intensive planetary exploration and human space-flight projects.
- we must deploy across-the-board space-weather monitoring, forecasting and response systems designed to safeguard deep-space assets and protect our gaganauts.
- Consequently, it is imperative for the government to develop and adopt space weather forecasts before initiating outer space activities.
- India, therefore, needs legislation like America’s to issues cross-ministerial directions.
- The Indian scientific community operates numerous ground-based ‘sun observing’ telescopes across India, and is well connected with its international peers.
- In the coming months India is expected to launch Aditya-L1, a space-based solar observatory, with assistance from the Indian Space Research Organisation.
- The data generated by it will be crucial for India’s space weather monitoring ambitions.
- But without a national policy backed by legislation, the scientific community would find it difficult to meet the strategic demands of the conjoined space and digital economies.
Consider the question “The increasing dependence of the digital economy on satellite constellations is spurring investment in this area. But it is not risk-free. In light of this, examine the risks involved and suggest the measures to deal with the risks.”
Conclusion
The enactment of a space weather law could help the country protect its digital and telecom systems that extend to outer space from destructive solar storms and intense solar and galactic radiation whiplashes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Election of the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha
Mains level: Paper 2- Deterioration in functioning of the Parliament and way forward
The article highlight the deterioration in the function of Parliament and its implications.
Declining seating of houses of Parliament
- The current Budget session of Parliament ended on Thursday, two weeks ahead of the original plan.
- This follows the trend of the last few sessions:
- The Budget session of 2020 was curtailed ahead of the lockdown.
- A short 18-day monsoon session ended after 10 days as several Members of Parliament and Parliament staff got affected by COVID-19.
- The winter session was cancelled.
- As a result, the fiscal year 2020-21 saw the Lok Sabha sitting for 34 days (and the Rajya Sabha for 33), the lowest ever.
- This has implications for the proper legislative scrutiny of proposed legislation as well as government functioning and finances.
- There is no reason why Parliament could not adopt remote working and technological solutions, as several other countries did.
Passage of important bills without scrutiny
- During this session, 13 Bills were introduced, and not even one of them was referred to a parliamentary committee for examination.
- The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed by the Parliament.
- This bill shifts governance from the legislature and the Chief Minister to the Lieutenant Governor.
- The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2021, amends the Mines and Minerals Act, 1957 to remove end-use restrictions on mines and ease conditions for captive mines.
- This Bill was passed by both Houses within a week.
- The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) Bill, 2021 — to create a new government infrastructure finance institution and permit private ones in this sector was passed within three days of introduction.
- The Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which increases FDI in insurance companies from 49% to 74% also took just a week between introduction and passing by both Houses.
- In all, 13 Bills were introduced in this session, and eight of them were passed within the session.
- This quick work should be read as a sign of abdication by Parliament of its duty to scrutinise Bills, rather than as a sign of efficiency.
- Also, the percentage of Bills referred to committees declined from 60% and 71% in the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-09) and the 15th Lok Sabha, respectively, to 27% in the 16th Lok Sabha and just 11% in the current one.
Money Bill classification issue
- The Finance Bills, over the last few years, have contained several unconnected items such as restructuring of tribunals, introduction of electoral bonds, and amendments to the foreign contribution act.
- Some of the earlier Acts, including the Aadhaar Act and Finance Act, have been referred to a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.
- It would be useful if the Court can give a clear interpretation of the definition of Money Bills and provide guide rails within which Bills have to stay to be termed as such.
Passage of Budget without discussion
- The Constitution requires the Lok Sabha to approve the expenditure Budget of each department and Ministry.
- The Lok Sabha had listed the budget of just five Ministries for detailed discussion and discussed only three of these; 76% of the total Budget was approved without any discussion.
- This behaviour was in line with the trend of the last 15 years.
No Deputy Speaker
- Article 93 of the Constitution states that “… The House of the People shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the House to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker….”
- A striking feature of the current Lok Sabha is the absence of a Deputy Speaker.
- By the time of the next session of Parliament, two years would have elapsed without the election of a Deputy Speaker.
Way forward
- In order to fulfil its constitutional mandate, it is imperative that Parliament functions effectively.
- This will require making and following processes:
- 1) Creating a system of research support to Members of Parliament.
- 2) Providing sufficient time for MPs to examine issues.
- 3 )Requiring that all Bills and budgets are examined by committees and public feedback is taken.
Consider the question “Parliament as a representative body is expected to examine all legislative proposals, understand their nuances and implications and decide on the appropriate way forward. Yet, more and more Bills are passed without enough deliberations. What are the implications of it? Suggest the measures to deal with it.”
Conclusion
In sum, Parliament needs to ensure sufficient scrutiny over the proposals and actions of the government.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Teesta River
Mains level: Teesta dispute
PM while on his tour of Bangladesh assured his best to ink the long-awaited deal over the Teesta and other common rivers. On at least two occasions—2011 and 2017—Bangladesh and India came close to signing a deal on the Teesta.
Teesta River
- Teesta River is a 315 km long river that rises in the eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Bangladesh and enters the Bay of Bengal.
- It is a tributary of the Brahmaputra (known as Jamuna in Bangladesh), flowing through India and Bangladesh.
- It originates in the Himalayas near Chunthang, Sikkim and flows to the south through West Bengal before entering Bangladesh.
- Originally, it continued southward to empty directly into the Padma River but around 1787 the river changed its course to flow eastward to join the Jamuna river.
- The Teesta Barrage dam helps to provide irrigation for the plains between the upper Padma and the Jamuna.
What is the dispute about?
- The point of contention between India and Bangladesh is mainly the lean season flow in the Teesta draining into Bangladesh.
- The river covers nearly the entire floodplains of Sikkim while draining 2,800 sq km of Bangladesh, governing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
- For West Bengal, Teesta is equally important, considered the lifeline of half-a-dozen districts in North Bengal.
- Bangladesh has sought an “equitable” distribution of Teesta waters from India, on the lines of the Ganga Water Treaty of 1996, but to no avail.
- The failure to ink a deal had its fallout on the country’s politics, putting the ruling party of PM Sheikh Hasina in a spot.
The hydrological linkages between India and Bangladesh are a product of geography and a matter of shared history. Discuss this statement in line with the Teesta water sharing dispute.
The deal
- Following a half-hearted deal in 1983, when a nearly equal division of water was proposed, the countries hit a roadblock. The transient agreement could not be implemented.
- Talks resumed after the Awami League returned to power in 2008 and the former Indian PM Manmohan Singh visited Dhaka in 2011.
- In 2015, PM Modi’s visit to Dhaka generated more ebullient lines: deliberations were underway involving all the stakeholders to conclude the agreement as soon as possible.
Issues from the Indian side
- It remains an unfinished project and one of the key stakeholders — West Bengal CM is yet to endorse the deal.
- Her objection is connected to “global warming. Many of the glaciers on the Teesta basin have retreated.
- The importance of the flow and the seasonal variation of this river is felt during the lean season (from October to April/May) as the average flow is about 500 million cubic metres (MCM) per month.
- The CM opposed an arrangement in 2011, by which India would get 42.5% and Bangladesh 37.5% of the water during the lean season, and the plan was shelved.
Why does it matter?
- India witnessed a surge in the insurgency in the northeast during the rule of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) from 2001 to 2005.
- Bangladesh allegedly sheltered insurgents engaged in anti-India activities, and nearly all the Home Ministry-level talks ended without agreement, and India had to increase the security budget for the northeast.
- In a couple of years of assuming office in 2008, the Awami League targeted insurgent camps and handed over the rebels to India.
- As India’s security establishment heaved a sigh of relief, the relationship improved on multiple fronts.
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