Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Software licensing
Mains level: Read the attached story
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in The Hindu.
Does software have copyright? Even more specifically, is the Internet free inspite of software copyright? Are software programming languages free of cost? How does copyright apply to software?
Software licensing
- A copyright gives a creator the legal right to own, distribute and profit from his or her creative work.
- There are different kinds of software licences that allow free use of software:
(1) Proprietary License
- There is proprietary software which is to be purchased as a one-time transaction or as yearly licences.
- A popular example is Microsoft Windows which is purchased along with the computer or Microsoft Office which typically has a yearly licence that has to be renewed upon payment.
(2) Creative Commons licence (CC)
- There is the Creative Commons licence (CC) which is public domain: any software or work that is in CC can be used and distributed free of cost.
- For example, Wikipedia is under CC and hence its contents can be used freely with the condition that attribution is made to Wikipedia (this is called ‘Creative Commons – Attribution-ShareAlike).
(3) Permissive Software licence
- Another form of free software licence is Permissive Software licence which is popular in the software developer community and in the commercial world.
- This licence allows free use and modification of software. There are further specific licences under this category, like the Apache licence and MIT licence.
(4) Apache licence
- The Apache licence is maintained by the Apache Software Foundation which is a non-profit entity.
- Many popular and powerful softwares like Spark (used in Big Data) have been developed under Apache licence.
- MIT licence is maintained by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and it covers hundreds of software packages including GitLab and Dot NET.
What are Open Software?
- All free and permissive software licences are similar to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).
- This is a set of rules and free software brought under one umbrella in the 1980s by Richard Stallman, a famous computer scientist and activist.
- FOSS maintains its own licence, called GNU GPL (Gnu’s Not Unix General Public Licence) to govern and distribute free software but it comes with restrictions that its adoption and modification be for free use.
- In the software community, ‘open source’ means any of the above non-proprietary licences.
Who maintains open source softwares?
- Open source software packages are developed and maintained by programmers from around the world.
- Until the mid-1990s, the idea of the general public collaborating to create software for free seemed to be unrealistic and confined to small, elite communities.
- However, with the success of a free operating system like Linux (which is under GNU GPL licence), many were convinced that open source could create sophisticated solutions because of access to top programmers around the world.
Is the Internet free?
- To access and to create content on the internet, there are costs involved such as infrastructure costs like network cost and the cost to host and maintain the content.
- However, the core of the internet itself is free: it is free to use ideas like linking contents on the internet, transferring them with a network software protocol and adopting the associated standards like maintaining the website address (Uniform Resource Locator-URL).
Are programming languages free of cost?
- Until the 1980s, popular programming languages had a price but with the advent of Java in the 1990s and thanks to the initiatives of Richard Stallman and his Free Software Foundation in the 1980s, many languages, especially modern ones like Go or popular ones like Python are free.
- Java is somewhere in the middle where there are free implementations of the language that most software developers use but there are also paid implementations provided by Oracle.
- In general, the realisation in the software community is that a free language has widespread adoption and leads to the availability of an expert pool of programmers.
- The last two decades have seen a proliferation of open source software and the future is even more exciting.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: El-Nino, La-Nina
Mains level: ENSO impact on Indian Monsson
The southwest monsoon is likely to be “normal” in 2022, though rainfall in August, the second rainiest month, will likely be subdued, according to the private weather company Skymet.
El Nino and La Nina
- While El Niño (Spanish for ‘little boy’), the more common expression, is the abnormal surface warming observed along the eastern and central regions of the Pacific Ocean (the region between Peru and Papua New Guinea).
- The La Niña (Spanish for ‘little girl’) is an abnormal cooling of these surface waters.
- Together, the El Niño (Warm Phase) and La Niña (Cool Phase) phenomena are termed as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
- These are large-scale ocean phenomena which influence the global weather — winds, temperature and rainfall. They have the ability to trigger extreme weather events like droughts, floods, hot and cold conditions, globally.
- Each cycle can last anywhere between 9 to 12 months, at times extendable to 18 months — and re-occur after every three to five years.
- Meteorologists record the sea surface temperatures for four different regions, known as Niño regions, along this equatorial belt.
- Depending on the temperatures, they forecast either as an El Niño, an ENSO neutral phase, or a La Niña.
Impact on India
- El Nino during winter causes warm conditions over the Indian subcontinent and during summer, it leads to dry conditions and deficient monsoon.
- Whereas La Nina results in better than normal monsoon in India.
- It has been established that Indian summer monsoon is a fully coupled land-atmosphere-ocean system and that it is linked to ocean temperature variability.
- In an agricultural country like India, the extreme departure from normal seasonal rainfall seriously affects the agricultural output and thus the economy of the country.
Try this PYQ:
Q. La Nina is suspected to have caused recent floods in Australia. How is La Nina different from El Nino?
- La Nina is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperature in equatorial Indian Ocean whereas El Nino is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperature in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
- El Nino has an adverse effect on south-west monsoon of India, but La Nina has no effect on monsoon climate.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nadabet, Seema Darshan Project
Mains level: Promoting Border Tourism
As part of the Seema Darshan project, Union Home Minister inaugurated an Indo-Pakistan border viewing point in Nadabet in Gujarat, around 188 km from Ahmedabad.
Where is Nadabet?
- Located in the Rann of Kutch region, Nadabet is also known as the ‘Wagah of Gujarat’.
- It is connected by a narrow bitumen road cutting across mudflats that get inundated during high-tide.
- The biggest attraction of the Seema Darshan Project is the access provided to civilians to view the fenced international border with Pakistan at ‘Zero Point’.
- This is guarded round the clock by the Border Security Force (BSF) in Banaskantha district of Gujarat.
- Pakistan is around 150 metres from the border pillar 960 at Nadabet.
- Though the BSF conducts a parade similar to the one held at Attari-Wagah border in Punjab every evening during sunset, there won’t be anyone present across the border on the Pakistani side.
What is the Seema Darshan Project?
- The Seema Darshan project is a joint initiative of the tourism department of the Gujarat state government and the BSF Gujarat Frontier.
- The focus is to develop border-tourism in the region which has a sparse population and even sparser vegetation.
- The project aims to boost tourism as well as restrict migration from the villages across the border to the Indian side.
Role of Nadabet in 1971 Indo-Pak War
- Nadabet played a key role in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War.
- It was in this region that the BSF not only stalled the enemy trying to invade from the west, but also captured 15 enemy posts.
- During the war, the BSF had captured 1,038 square km of Pakistan territory in Nagarparkar and Diplo areas.
- The area was returned to Pakistan after the Shimla Agreement was signed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Implications of Pakistan's internal crisis
Context
As Pakistan goes through a major political convulsion, India must resist the temptation to see the changes across our western frontiers through the narrow prism of bilateral relations.
Why Pakistan matters
- Pakistan is an important regional piece in the power play between the US, China and Russia.
- Given its location at the crossroads of the Subcontinent, Middle East, Eurasia, and China, Pakistan has always been a vital piece of real estate that was actively sought by contending geopolitical blocs.
- The internal and external have always been tightly linked in Pakistan.
- Today, Pakistan’s internal battles are tied to external geopolitical rivalry.
Two important factors in the political trajectory of Pakistan
- Any Indian strategy in dealing with the new government in Islamabad would depend on an assessment of Pakistan’s post-Imran political trajectory.
- Two important factors stand out.
- 1] First is the changing nature of civil military relations in Pakistan.
- It is part of a serious intra-elite struggle that transcends the well-known military dominance over Pakistan’s polity.
- One of the more interesting questions to come out of the current episode is whether the army’s famed internal coherence and unity of command might endure the crisis.
- 2] Second is the growing fragility of Pakistan’s polity triggered by the deepening economic crisis and sharpening social contradictions.
- There is no guarantee that the army’s ties with new civilian rulers will be smooth nor can we assume that the civilian coalition against Imran Khan will survive the many challenges ahead as it confronts difficult policy challenges on multiple fronts.
Geopolitical challenges of Pakistan
- Engaging India is unlikely to be a high priority for the new government in Islamabad.
- Today, Pakistan has many other things to worry about — reviving its flagging economic fortunes, stabilising the Durand Line with Afghanistan, and rebalancing its ties with the major actors in the Middle East, including Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
- Pakistan, which traditionally enjoyed good relations with the West as well as China, is finding it hard to maintain a balance in its great power relations.
- While the army and the new government are eager to restore ties with the US, Imran Khan has made it hard for them.
- Imran Khan’s repeated praise for India’s independent foreign policy was in essence a critique of the Pakistan army that has long steered Islamabad’s international relations.
Way forward
- Delhi should focus on the potential shifts in Pakistan’s strategic orientation triggered by the current crisis.
- The good news from Pakistan is that India is not part of the argument between the political classes or between Imran Khan and the “deep state” represented by the army.
Conclusion
An India that gets an accurate sense of Pakistan’s changing geopolitics will be able to better deal with Islamabad.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Liquidity Adjustment Framework
Mains level: Paper 3- Standing Deposit Facility
Context
The first bi-monthly meeting of the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) for the current financial year reaffirmed its focus on inflation management.
Towards the normalisation of monetary policy
- The MPC voted to keep the policy rate unchanged at 4 per cent and retained its accommodative stance.
- However, the wording was changed to “remain accommodative while focusing on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth.”
- This statement sets the stage for a shift to a neutral stance in the next meeting and policy rate hikes in subsequent meetings.
- RBI has announced the withdrawal of some of the steps taken during the pandemic to support the economy.
- These will foster the normalisation of monetary policy.
Inflation challenge
- The central bank has acknowledged that the disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine crisis have upended their growth and inflation outlook.
- It has steeply revised its inflation projection from 4.5 per cent earlier to 5.7 per cent now for the current financial year.
- The projection is based on an average global crude oil price of $100 per barrel.
- The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) Food Price Index, a gauge of global food prices, posted a record growth of 12.6 per cent from February.
Formalisation of Liquidity Adjustment Framework (LAF)
- The RBI has been managing liquidity infused into the system during the pandemic through the Variable Rate Reverse Repo Auctions (VRRR) to withdraw liquidity and Variable Rate Repo auctions to inject liquidity.
- RBI has now formalised the Liquidity Adjustment Framework (LAF).
- The LAF is a framework to absorb and inject liquidity into the banking system.
- The LAF is now a symmetric corridor with a width of 50 basis points.
- The policy repo rate is at the centre of the corridor, with the MSF 25 basis points above the policy rate and the SDF 25 basis points below the policy rate.
What is a Standing Deposit Facility
- The RBI has introduced the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) as the lower bound of the LAF corridor to absorb liquidity.
- The idea of the SDF was first mooted by the Urjit Patel Committee report on the monetary policy framework.
- The RBI Act was amended through the Finance Act of 2018 to allow RBI to use this instrument.
- The SDF will be a facility available to banks to park their funds.
- The SDF will serve as the standing liquidity absorption facility at the lower end of the LAF corridor.
- At the upper end of the corridor is the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) to inject liquidity.
- Through the SDF, the RBI can absorb liquidity without placing government securities as collateral, hence it will give greater flexibility to the central bank.
- The change also marks a shift away from reverse repo being the effective policy rate.
Key takeaways
- While on the face of it, there are no rate hikes, the shift from the reverse repo rate to the SDF signals a tightening of monetary policy.
- There is a 40 basis points increase in the floor rate.
- In the medium run, the call money rate would move towards the new LAF corridor, thus bringing orderly conditions in the money market.
- As RBI begins to normalise liquidity in a calibrated manner, its ability to manage bond yields will likely be limited.
- Yields on bonds are likely to inch up and remain above the 7 per cent mark.
- Going forward, the trade-off between managing inflation and the borrowing programme of the government will become challenging.
Conclusion
For now the RBI has rightly decided to place top priority on inflation management. This will help in maintaining the credibility of the inflation targeting framework.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CARA
Mains level: Child Adoption
The Supreme Court has decided to examine a plea to simplify the legal process for the adoption of children in the country.
Why in news?
- The petition filed said that there were only 4,000 child adoptions annually though there were 3 crore orphan children in the country.
- The Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance (CARING) System ought to appoint trained “adoption preparers” who could help the prospective parents to complete the cumbersome paperwork required for adoption.
What is Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)?
- CARA is an autonomous and statutory body of Ministry of Women and Child Development set up in 2015.
- It functions as the nodal body for the adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
- It is designated as the Central Authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the 1993 Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, ratified by India in 2003.
Why was CARA established?
- Some people are offering infants for instant adoption by stating how the children have lost their parents to pandemic.
- However, such adoptions are illegal.
- The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) law was enacted in 2015.
- The Juvenile Justice Act is a secular law, all persons are free to adopt children under this law.
- The Juvenile Justice Rules of 2016 and the Adoption Regulations of 2017 followed to create the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).
Adoption Process
- The eligibility of prospective adoptive parents living in India, duly registered on the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS), irrespective of marital status and religion, is Procedure for adoption adjudged by specialised adoption agencies preparing home study reports.
- The specialized adoption agency then secures court orders approving the adoption.
- All non-resident persons approach authorized adoption agencies in their foreign country of residence for registration under CARINGS.
- Their eligibility is adjudged by authorised foreign adoption agencies through home study reports.
- CARA then issues a pre-adoption ‘no objection’ certificate for foster care, followed by a court adoption order.
- A final ‘no objection’ certificate from CARA or a conformity certificate under the adoption convention is mandatory for a passport and visa to leave India.
Harmonization created by CARA
- India has multiple adoption laws.
- Traditionally, the 1956 Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA), adoption, subject to the requirements and rigors of the Act, is available in India to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, and others subject to Hindu family law or custom.
- For others, the 1890 Guardians and Wards Act applies, but which provides only guardianship, not adoption, for those not subject to Hindu family law or custom.
- CARA primarily deals with the adoption of “orphaned, abandoned and surrendered” children through recognised adoption agencies.
- In 2018, CARA has allowed individuals in a live-in relationship to adopt children from and within India.
Preference Controversy
- As required by the 1993 Hague Convention, Article 4(b), children residing in India are always offered to Indian families before any foreigner.
- However, after taking office in 2014, PM Modi changed the law to put Non-Resident Indian (NRI) citizens and couples on par with Indians residing in India.
- From this point on, all adoptable children are offered to Indian families in order of seniority instead of distinguishing between resident and non-resident Indians.
Way forward
- CARA must conduct an outreach programme on social media, newspapers and TV, warning everyone not to entertain any illegal adoption offers under any circumstances whatsoever.
- The National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights must step up their roles as vigilantes.
- Social activists, NGOs and enlightened individuals must report all the incidents that come to their notice.
- Respective State Legal Services Authorities have the infrastructure and machinery to stamp out such unlawful practices brought to their attention.
- The media must publicise and shame all those involved in this disreputable occupation.
- At the same time, the police authorities need to be extra vigilant in apprehending criminals.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: WMD Bill
Mains level: WMD terrorism
Recently the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 was passed in the Lok Sabha.
What is the WMD Bill?
- The Bill amends the WMD and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005 which prohibits the unlawful manufacture, transport, or transfer of WMD (chemical, biological and nuclear weapons) and their means of delivery.
- It is popularly referred to as the WMD Act.
- The recent amendment extends the scope of banned activities to include financing of already prohibited activities.
- The WMD and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act came into being in July 2005.
What was the purpose of the original WMD Act?
- Its primary objective was to provide an integrated and overarching legislation on prohibiting unlawful activities in relation to all three types of WMD, their delivery systems and related materials, equipment and technologies.
- It instituted penalties for contravention of these provisions such as imprisonment for a term not less than five years (extendable for life) as well as fines.
- The Act was passed to meet an international obligation enforced by the UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1540 of 2004.
What is the UNSCR 1540?
- In April 2004 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1540 to address the growing threat of non-state actors gaining access to WMD material, equipment or technology to undertake acts of terrorism.
- In order to address this challenge to international peace and security, UNSCR 1540 established binding obligations on all UN member states under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
- Nations were mandated to take and enforce effective measures against proliferation of WMD, their means of delivery and related materials to non-state actors.
- It was to punish the unlawful and unauthorised manufacture, acquisition, possession, development and transport of WMD became necessary.
UNSCR 1540 enforced three primary obligations upon nation states —
- To not provide any form of support to non-state actors seeking to acquire WMD, related materials, or their means of delivery;
- To adopt and enforce laws criminalising the possession and acquisition of such items by non-state actors;
- To adopt and enforce domestic controls over relevant materials, in order to prevent their proliferation.
What has the Amendment added to the existing Act?
- The Amendment expands the scope to include prohibition of financing of any activity related to WMD and their delivery systems.
- To prevent such financing, the Central government shall have the power to freeze, seize or attach funds, financial assets, or economic resources of suspected individuals (whether owned, held, or controlled directly or indirectly).
- It also prohibits persons from making finances or related services available for other persons indulging in such activity.
Why was this Amendment necessary?
- India echoes these developments for having made the Amendment necessary.
- Two specific gaps are being addressed-
- As the relevant organisations at the international level, such as the Financial Action Task Force have expanded the scope of targeted financial sanctions and India’s own legislation has been harmonised to align with international benchmarks.
- With advancements in technologies, new kinds of threats have emerged that were not sufficiently catered for in the existing legislation.
- These notably include developments in the field of drones or unauthorised work in biomedical labs that could maliciously be used for terrorist activity.
- Therefore, the Amendment keeps pace with evolving threats.
What more should India do?
- India’s responsible behaviour and actions on non-proliferation are well recognised.
- It has a strong statutory national export control system and is committed to preventing proliferation of WMD.
- This includes transit and trans-shipment controls, retransfer control, technology transfer controls, brokering controls and end-use based controls.
- Every time India takes additional steps to fulfil new obligations, it must showcase its legislative, regulatory and enforcement frameworks to the international community.
- It is also necessary that India keeps WMD security in international focus.
Setting up a precedence
- There is no room for complacency.
- Even countries which do not have WMD technology have to be sensitised to their role in the control framework to prevent weak links in the global control system.
- India can offer help to other countries on developing national legislation, institutions and regulatory framework through the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) or on bilateral basis.
Could the Amendment become troublesome to people on account of mistaken identity?
- In the discussion on the Bill in Parliament, some members expressed concern on whether the new legislation could make existing business entities or people in the specific sector susceptible to a case of mistaken identity.
- The External Affairs Minister, however, assured the House that such chances were minimal since identification of concerned individuals/entities would be based on a long list of specifics.
What is the international significance of these legislation?
- Preventing acts of terrorism that involve WMD or their delivery systems requires building a network of national and international measures in which all nation states are equally invested.
- Such actions are necessary to strengthen global enforcement of standards relating to the export of sensitive items and to prohibit even the financing of such activities.
Way forward
- Sharing of best practices on legislations and their implementation can enable harmonization of global WMD controls.
- India initially had reservations on enacting laws mandated by the UNSCR.
- This is not seen by India as an appropriate body for making such a demand.
- However, given the danger of WMD terrorism that India faces in view of the difficult neighbourhood that it inhabits, the country supported the Resolution and has fulfilled its requirements.
Conclusion
- It is in India’s interest to facilitate highest controls at the international level and adopt them at the domestic level.
- Having now updated its own legislation, India can demand the same of others, especially from those in its neighbourhood that have a history of proliferation and of supporting terrorist organisations.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Collegium system, NJAC
Mains level: Collegium system
The impression that “judges appoint judges” in India is wrong. It is the government which “finally appoints the judges in the name of the President of India, the head of our state”, Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana said in conversation with US Supreme Court judge.
What did the CJI say??
- There is an impression that in India judges appoint judges. It is a wrong impression.
- The appointment is done through a lengthy consultative process known as collegium system. Many stakeholders are consulted.
What is Collegium System?
- The Collegium of judges is the Indian Supreme Court’s invention.
- It does not figure in the Constitution, which says judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are appointed by the President and speaks of a process of consultation.
- In effect, it is a system under which judges are appointed by an institution comprising judges.
- After some judges were superseded in the appointment of the CJI in the 1970s, and attempts made subsequently to effect a mass transfer of High Court judges across the country.
- Hence there was a perception that the independence of the judiciary was under threat. This resulted in a series of cases over the years.
Evolution: The Judges Cases
- First Judges Case (1981) ruled that the “consultation” with the CJI in the matter of appointments must be full and effective.
- However, it rejected the idea that the CJI’s opinion, albeit carrying great weight, should have primacy.
- Second Judges Case (1993) introduced the Collegium system, holding that “consultation” really meant “concurrence”.
- It added that it was not the CJI’s individual opinion, but an institutional opinion formed in consultation with the two senior-most judges in the Supreme Court.
- Third Judges Case (1998): On a Presidential Reference for its opinion, the Supreme Court, in the Third Judges Case (1998) expanded the Collegium to a five-member body, comprising the CJI and four of his senior-most colleagues.
The procedure followed by the Collegium
Appointment of CJI
- The President of India appoints the CJI and the other SC judges.
- As far as the CJI is concerned, the outgoing CJI recommends his successor.
- In practice, it has been strictly by seniority ever since the supersession controversy of the 1970s.
- The Union Law Minister forwards the recommendation to the PM who, in turn, advises the President.
Other SC Judges
- For other judges of the top court, the proposal is initiated by the CJI.
- The CJI consults the rest of the Collegium members, as well as the senior-most judge of the court hailing from the High Court to which the recommended person belongs.
- The consultees must record their opinions in writing and it should form part of the file.
- The Collegium sends the recommendation to the Law Minister, who forwards it to the Prime Minister to advise the President.
For High Courts
- The CJs of High Courts are appointed as per the policy of having Chief Justices from outside the respective States. The Collegium takes the call on the elevation.
- High Court judges are recommended by a Collegium comprising the CJI and two senior-most judges.
- The proposal, however, is initiated by the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned in consultation with two senior-most colleagues.
- The recommendation is sent to the Chief Minister, who advises the Governor to send the proposal to the Union Law Minister.
Does the Collegium recommend transfers too?
- Yes, the Collegium also recommends the transfer of Chief Justices and other judges.
- Article 222 of the Constitution provides for the transfer of a judge from one High Court to another.
- When a CJ is transferred, a replacement must also be simultaneously found for the High Court concerned. There can be an acting CJ in a High Court for not more than a month.
- In matters of transfers, the opinion of the CJI “is determinative”, and the consent of the judge concerned is not required.
- However, the CJI should take into account the views of the CJ of the High Court concerned and the views of one or more SC judges who are in a position to do so.
- All transfers must be made in the public interest, that is, “for the betterment of the administration of justice”.
Loopholes in the Collegium system
- Lack of Transparency: Opaqueness and a lack of transparency, and the scope for nepotism are cited often.
- Judges appointing Judge: The attempt made to replace it with a ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission’ was struck down by the court in 2015 on the ground that it posed a threat to the independence of the judiciary.
- Criteria: Some do not believe in full disclosure of reasons for transfers, as it may make lawyers in the destination court chary of the transferred judge.
Way ahead
- In respect of appointments, there has been an acknowledgment that the “zone of consideration” must be expanded to avoid criticism that many appointees hail from families of retired judges.
- The status of a proposed new memorandum of procedure, to infuse greater accountability, is also unclear.
- Even the majority opinions admitted the need for transparency, now Collegiums’ resolutions are now posted online, but reasons are not given.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Scheduled languages
Mains level: Hindi imposition row
Last week, Home Minister Amit Shah suggested that states should communicate with each other in Hindi rather than English, while stressing that Hindi should not be an alternative to local languages.
This again sparked the debate of “Hindi imposition”.
How widely is Hindi spoken in India?
- The 2011 linguistic census accounts for 121 mother tongues, including 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
- Hindi is the most widely spoken, with 52.8 crore individuals, or 43.6% of the population, declaring it as their mother tongue.
- The next highest is Bengali, mother tongue for 97 lakh (8%) — less than one-fifth of Hindi’s count (Chart 2).
- In terms of the number of people who know Hindi, the count crosses more than half the country.
- Nearly 13.9 crore (over 11%) reported Hindi as their second language, which makes it either the mother tongue or second language for nearly 55% of the population.
Has it always been this widespread?
- Hindi has been India’s predominant mother tongue over the decades, its share in the population rising in every succeeding census.
- In 1971, 37% Indians had reported Hindi as their mother tongue, a share that has grown over the next four censuses to 38.7%, 39.2%, 41% and 43.6% at last count (Chart 1).
- This begs the question as to which mother tongues have declined as Hindi’s share has risen.
- A number of mother tongues other than Hindi have faced a decline in terms of share, although the dip has been marginal in many cases.
- For example, Bengali’s share in the population declined by just 0.14 percentage points from 1971 (8.17%) to 2011 (8.03%).
- In comparison, Malayalam (1.12 percentage points) and Urdu (1.03 points) had higher declines among the mother tongues with at least 1 crore speakers in 2011.
- Punjabi’s share, on the other hand, rose from 2.57% to 2.74%.
- At the other end of the scale (among the 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution) were Malayalam, whose numbers rose by under 59% in four decades, and Assamese, rising just over 71% (Chart 3).
What explains Hindi’s high numbers?
- One obvious explanation is that Hindi is the predominant language in some of India’s most populous states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
- Another reason is that a number of languages are bracketed under Hindi by census enumerators.
- In 2011, there were 1,383 mother tongues reported by people, and hundreds were knocked out.
- These mother tongues were then grouped into languages.
- You will find that under Hindi, they have listed nearly 65 mother tongues.
- Among them is Bhojpuri, and 5 crore people have reported Bhojpuri as their mother tongue, but the census has decided that Bhojpuri is Hindi.
- If one were to knock out the other languages merged with Hindi, the total figure goes down to 38 crore.
And how widely is English spoken?
- Although English, alongside Hindi, is one of the two official languages of the central government, it is not among the 22 languages in the 8th Schedule; it is one of the 99 non-scheduled languages.
- In terms of mother tongue, India had just 2.6 lakh English speakers in 2011 — a tiny fraction of the 121 crore people counted in that census.
- That does not reflect the extent to which English is spoken.
- It was the second language of 8.3 crore respondents in 2011, second only to Hindi’s 13.9 crore.
- If third language is added, then English was spoken — as mother tongue, second language or third language — by over 10% of the population in 2011, behind only Hindi’s 57%.
- It is still not a scheduled language in India, when it should be.
Where is English most prevalent?
- As mother tongue, Maharashtra accounted for over 1 lakh of the 2.6 lakh English speakers.
- As second language, English is preferred over Hindi in parts of the Northeast.
- Among the 17.6 lakh with Manipuri (an 8th Schedule language) as their mother tongue in 2011, 4.8 lakh declared their second language as English, compared to 1.8 lakh for Hindi.
- Among the non-scheduled languages spoken in the Northeast, Khasi, predominant in Meghalaya, was the mother tongue of 14.3 lakh, of whom 2.4 lakh declared their second language as English, and 54,000 as Hindi.
- The trends were similar for Mizo, and for various languages spoken in Nagaland, including Ao, Angami and Rengma.
- Beyond the Northeastern languages, among 68 lakh with Kashmiri as their mother tongue, 2.8 lakh declared their second language as English, compared to 2.2 lakh who declared Hindi.
Back2Basics: Eighth Schedule to the Indian Constitution
- The Eighth Schedule lists the official languages of the Republic of India.
- At the time when the Constitution was enacted, inclusion in this list meant that the language was entitled to representation on the Official Languages Commission.
- This language would be one of the bases that would be drawn upon to enrich Hindi and English, the official languages of the Union.
- The list has since, however, acquired further significance.
- In addition, a candidate appearing in an examination conducted for public service is entitled to use any of these languages as the medium in which he or she answers the paper.
- As per Articles 344(1) and 351 of the Indian Constitution, the eighth schedule includes the recognition of the 22 languages.
‘Classical’ languages in India
Currently, six languages enjoy the ‘Classical’ status: Tamil (declared in 2004), Sanskrit (2005), Kannada (2008), Telugu (2008), Malayalam (2013), and Odia (2014).
How are they classified?
According to information provided by the Ministry of Culture in the Rajya Sabha in February 2014, the guidelines for declaring a language as ‘Classical’ are:
- High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years;
- A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers;
- The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community;
- The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms o
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: State Energy and Climate Index
Mains level: Costs of cleaner energy alternatives
Gujarat has topped the list for larger States in the NITI Aayog’s State Energy and Climate Index–Round 1 that has ranked States and Union Territories (UTs) on certain parameters.
State Energy and Climate Index
- The States have been categorized based on size and geographical differences as larger and smaller States and UTs.
- The index is based on 2019-20 data.
- It ranks the states’ performance on 6 parameters, namely
- DISCOM’s Performance
- Access, Affordability and Reliability of Energy
- Clean Energy Initiatives
- Energy Efficiency
- Environmental Sustainability; and
- New Initiatives
- The parameters are further divided into 27 indicators. Based on the composite SECI Round I score.
- The states and UTs are categorized into three groups: Front Runners, Achievers, and Aspirants.
Performance by the states
- Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger States, while Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were the bottom three States.
- Goa emerged as the top performer in the smaller States category followed by Tripura and Manipur.
- Among UTs, Chandigarh, Delhi and Daman & Diu/Dadra & Nagar Haveli are the top performers.
- Punjab was the best performer in discom performance, while Kerala topped in access, affordability and reliability category.
- Haryana was the best performer in clean energy initiative among larger States and Tamil Nadu in the energy efficiency category.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Megalithic Burials in India
Mains level: Not Much
The discovery of a number of megalithic stone jars in Assam’s Dima Hasao district has brought to focus possible links between India’s Northeast and Southeast Asia, dating back to the second millennium BC.
What is the news?
- According to a study in Asian Archaeology, the jars are a “unique archaeological phenomenon”.
- It calls for more research to understand the “likely cultural relationship” between Assam and Laos and Indonesia, the only two other sites where similar jars have been found.
About the Megalithic Jars
- The jars of Assam were first sighted in 1929 by British civil servants James Philip Mills and John Henry Hutton.
- They recorded their presence in six sites in Dima Hasao: Derebore (now Hojai Dobongling), Kobak, Kartong, Molongpa (now Melangpeuram), Ndunglo and Bolasan (now Nuchubunglo).
- More such sites were later discovered in 2016 and 2020.
- Researchers documented three distinct jar shapes (bulbous top with conical end; biconcial; cylindrical) on spurs, hill slopes and ridge lines.
Their significance
- While the jars are yet to be scientifically dated, the researchers said links could be drawn with the stone jars found in Laos and Indonesia.
- There are typological and morphological similarities between the jars found at all three sites.
- Dating done at the Laos site suggests that jars were positioned at the sites as early as the late second millennium BC.
- The other takeaway is the link to mortuary practices with human skeletal remains found inside and buried around the jars.
- In Indonesia, the function of the jars remains unconfirmed, although some scholars suggest a similar mortuary role.
Back2Basics: Megalithic Burials in India
- Megaliths were constructed either as burial sites or commemorative (non-sepulchral) memorials.
- The former are sites with actual burial remains, such as dolmenoid cists (box-shaped stone burial chambers), cairn circles (stone circles with defined peripheries) and capstones (distinctive mushroom-shaped burial chambers found mainly in Kerala).
- The urn or the sarcophagus containing the mortal remains was usually made of terracotta.
- Non-sepulchral megaliths include memorial sites such as menhirs. (The line separating the two is a bit blurry, since remains have been discovered underneath otherwise non-sepulchral sites, and vice versa.)
- Taken together, these monuments lend these disparate peoples the common traits of what we know as megalithic culture, one which lasted from the Neolithic Stone Age to the early Historical Period (2500 BC to AD 200) across the world.
- In India, archaeologists trace the majority of the megaliths to the Iron Age (1500 BC to 500 BC), though some sites precede the Iron Age, extending up to 2000 BC.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ILO
Mains level: Paper 2- Supporting care economy
Context
The importance of care work is now widely acknowledged and covered in various international commitments such as the SDGs. However, the investment in the care economy has not matched the pace.
Significance of care work
- Care work encompasses direct activities such as feeding a baby or nursing an ill partner, and indirect care activities such as cooking and cleaning’.
- Whether paid or unpaid, direct or indirect, care work is vital for human well-being and economies.
- Unpaid care work is linked to labour market inequalities, yet it has yet to receive adequate attention in policy formulation.
- Paid care workers, such as domestic workers and anganwadis in India, also struggle to access rights and entitlements as workers.
- Greater investment in care services can create an additional 300 million jobs globally, many of which will be for women.
- In turn this will help increase female labour force participation and advance Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.
- This year, to commemorate International Women’s Day, the ILO brought out its new report titled, ‘Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender-equal world of work’.
- The report highlights the importance of maternity, paternity, and special care leave, which help balance women’s and men’s work and family responsibilities throughout their lives.
Gaps in the current policies
- Bridging the gaps in current policies and service provisions to nurture childcare and elderly care services will deliver the benefits of child development, aging in dignity and independent living as the population grows older and also generate more and better employment opportunities, especially for women.
- Maternity leave: Maternity leave is a universal human and labour right.
- Yet, it remains unfulfilled across countries, leaving millions of workers with family responsibilities without adequate protection and support. India fares better than its peers in offering 26 weeks of maternity leave, against the ILO’s standard mandate of 14 weeks that exists in 120 countries.
- However, this coverage extends to only a tiny proportion of women workers in formal employment in India, where 89% of employed women are in informal employment (as given by ILOSTAT, or the ILO’s central portal to labour statistics).
- While paternity leave is recognised as an enabler for both mothers and fathers to better balance work and family responsibilities, it is not provided in many countries, including India.
- Access to quality and affordable care services such as childcare, elderly care and care for people with disabilities is a challenge workers with family responsibilities face globally.
- Limited implementation: While India has a long history of mandating the provision of crèches in factories and establishments, there is limited information on its actual implementation.
- Domestic workers, on whom Indian households are heavily reliant, also face challenges in accessing decent work.
- According to the Government’s 2019 estimates, 26 lakh of the 39 lakh domestic workers in India are female.
- Ensure decent work for domestic workers: While important developments have extended formal coverage to domestic workers in India, such as the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act and the minimum wage schedule in many States, more efforts are required to ensure decent work for them.
Way forward
- Increase spending: India spends less than 1% of its GDP on the care economy; increasing this percentage would unfurl a plethora of benefits for workers and the overall economy.
- Strategy: In consultation with employers’ and workers’ organisations and the relevant stakeholders, the Government needs to conceptualise a strategy and action plan for improved care policies, care service provisions and decent working conditions for care workers.
- 5R Framework: The ILO proposes a 5R framework for decent care work centred around achieving gender equality. The framework urges the Recognition, Reduction, and Redistribution of unpaid care work, promotes Rewarding care workers with more and decent work, and enables their Representation in social dialogue and collective bargaining.
Conclusion
A human-centred and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that benefits workers, employers, and the government, requires a more significant investment in and commitment to supporting the care economy, which cares for the society at large.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with disinformation problem
Context
Social media platforms have adopted design choices that have led to a proliferation and mainstreaming of misinformation while allowing themselves to be weaponised by powerful vested interests for political and commercial benefit.
Problems created by social media and issues with response to it
- The consequent free flow of disinformation, hate and targeted intimidation has led to real-world harm and degradation of democracy in India: Mainstreamed anti-minority hate, polarised communities and sowed confusion have made it difficult to establish a shared foundation of truth.
- Political agenda: Organised misinformation (disinformation) has a political and/or commercial agenda.
- Apolitical and episodic discourse in India: The discourse in India has remained apolitical and episodic — focused on individual pieces of content and events, and generalised outrage against big tech instead of locating it in the larger political context or structural design issues.
- Problematic global discourse: The evolution of the global discourse on misinformation too has allowed itself to get mired in the details of content standards, enforcement, fact-checking, takedowns, de-platforming, etc.
- Moderating misinformation vs. safeguarding freedom of expression: Such framework lends itself to bitter partisan contest over individual pieces of content while allowing platforms to disingenuously conflate the discourse on moderating misinformation with safeguards for freedom of expression.
- The current system of content moderation is more a public relations exercise for platforms than being geared to stop the spread of disinformation.
Framework to combat disinformation
- Consider it as a political problem: The issue is as much about bad actors as individual pieces of content.
- Content distribution and moderation are interventions in the political process.
- Comprehensive transparency law: There is thus a need for a comprehensive transparency law to enforce relevant disclosures by social media platforms.
- Bipartisan political process for content moderation: Content moderation and allied functions such as standard setting, fact-checking and de-platforming must be embedded in the sovereign bipartisan political process if they are to have democratic legitimacy.
- Regulatory body should be grounded in democratic principles: Any regulatory body must be grounded in democratic principles — its own and of platforms.
- Three approaches to distribution that can be adopted by platforms: 1) Constrain distribution to organic reach (chronological feed);
- 2) take editorial responsibility for amplified content;
- 3) amplify only credible sources (irrespective of ideological affiliation).
- Review of content creator: The current approach to misinformation that relies on fact-checking a small subset of content in a vast ocean of unreviewed content is inadequate for the task and needs to be supplemented by a review of content creators itself.
Conclusion
Social media cannot be wished away. But its structure and manner of use are choices we must make as a polity after deliberation instead of accepting as them fait accompli or simply being overtaken by developments along the way.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016
Mains level: Paper 2- Reservation for disabled
Context
In a case that the SC is currently hearing, the petitioner has challenged a notification issued by the Department of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities (Department).
About the notification
- The impugned notification exempts all categories of posts in the Indian Police Service, the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Police Service, as well as the Indian Railway Protection Force Service from the mandated 4 per cent reservation for persons with disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 [RPwD Act].
Issues with the notification
1] Against combat and non-combat classification
- On the same day as the issuing of the impugned notification, the Department also issued another notification exempting from the purview of reservation under the RPwD Act posts only of “combatant” nature in the paramilitary police.
- This classification between combat and non-combat posts was premised on a clear recognition of the fact that persons with disabilities are capable of occupying non-combat posts in the central forces.
- The Department has offered no justification as to why this classification would not hold good as regards the services covered in the impugned notification.
2] Against the identification of posts suitable for reservation for the disabled
- The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had identified a range of ministerial/civilian posts as being suitable for reservation for the disabled.
- The impugned notification goes against this identification exercise, by virtue of its blanket character.
- Further, on November 22, 2021, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs released Draft Accessibility Standards/Guidelines for built infrastructure under its purview (police stations, prisons and disaster mitigation centres) and services associated with them.
- These Draft Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
3] Exercise of power
- As per the RPwD Act, the grant of any exemption has to be preceded by consultation with the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.
- However, the office of the chief commissioner has been lying vacant for many years, with the secretary in the Department officiating in that role.
Conclusion
This case presents the SC with the opportunity to rule that the disabled are not a monolithic entity. Every disabled person is different, and it is unfair to paint all disabled people with the same broad brush, based on a stereotypical understanding of what they can do.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UAPA, POTA
Mains level: Counter-terrorism ops and security agencies
The Union Home Ministry has designated Hafiz Talha Saeed, son of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, chief of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), as a terrorist under the Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA).
About Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act (UAPA)
- The UAPA is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
- Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India
- It is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA, which was allowed to lapse in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.
- It was originally passed in 1967 under the then Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
- Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory. Following the 2004 amendment, “terrorist act” was added to the list of offences.
Designation of Terrorists
- The Centre had amended UAPA, 1967, in August 2019 to include the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.
- Before this amendment, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits.
- Section 15 of the UAPA defines a “terrorist act” as any act committed with intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security, economic security, or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country.
- The original Act dealt with “unlawful” acts related to secession; anti-terror provisions were introduced in 2004.
Who makes such designation?
- The UAPA (after 2019 amendment)seeks to empower the central government to designate an individual a “terrorist” if they are found committing, preparing for, promoting, or involved in an act of terror.
- A similar provision already exists in Part 4 and 6 of the legislation for organizations that can be designated as a “terrorist organisations”.
How individuals are declared terrorists?
- The central government may designate an individual as a terrorist through a notification in the official gazette, and add his name to the schedule supplemented to the UAPA Bill.
- The government is not required to give an individual an opportunity to be heard before such a designation.
- At present, in line with the legal presumption of an individual being innocent until proven guilty, an individual who is convicted in a terror case is legally referred to as a terrorist.
- While those suspected of being involved in terrorist activities are referred to as terror accused.
What happens when an individual is declared a terrorist?
- The designation of an individual as a global terrorist by the United Nations is associated with sanctions including travel bans, freezing of assets and an embargo against procuring arms.
- The UAPA, however, does not provide any such detail.
- It also does not require the filing of cases or arresting individuals while designating them as terrorists.
Removing the terrorist tag
- The UAPA gives the central government the power to remove a name from the schedule when an individual makes an application.
- The procedure for such an application and the process of decision-making will is decided by the central government.
- If an application filed by an individual declared a terrorist is rejected by the government, the UAPA gives him the right to seek a review within one month after the application is rejected.
- The central government will set up the review committee consisting of a chairperson (a retired or sitting judge of a High Court) and three other members.
- The review committee is empowered to order the government to delete the name of the individual from the schedule that lists “terrorists”, if it considers the order to be flawed.
- Apart from these two avenues, the individual can also move the courts challenging the government’s order.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Features of UPI
Mains level: Success of UPI payments
The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has proposed to make cardless cash withdrawal facility available at all ATMs, irrespective of banks, through the Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
What is UPI?
- UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) facilitating inter-bank transactions.
- The interface is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.
How will cash withdrawals via UPI work?
- While the RBI did not disclose specific details on how the process will work, a person having knowledge about the matter said ATMs soon will show an option to withdraw cash using UPI.
- Upon selecting that option, a user would have to add the amount they wish to withdraw following which a QR code would be generated on the ATM machine.
- The user would then have to scan that code on their UPI app and enter their pin following which the ATM will dispense cash.
Why such move?
- Allowing cash withdrawals through UPI would increase the security of such transactions.
- The absence of the need for physical cards for such transactions would help prevent frauds such as card skimming and card cloning, among others.
What are the current ways of cardless cash withdrawals at ATMs?
- At the moment, a few banks such as ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI, allow their users to withdraw cash from their ATMs without a card.
- This was a feature introduced in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- However, it is a long-drawn process.
- Users have to install apps of their respective banks and first select the option of cardless cash withdrawal on the app, followed by adding beneficiary details and the withdrawal amount.
- After confirming the mobile number of a user, the bank will send an OTP and a nine-digit order ID to the beneficiary’s phone.
- Post that, the beneficiary would have to visit an ATM and key-in the OTP, order ID, amount for transaction and mobile number to get the cash.
Could this impact debit card usage?
- Debit cards are currently the most popular way of cash withdrawals at ATMs.
- As of now, there are more than 900 million debit cards in the country, and experts have cautioned that allowing cash withdrawals through UPI could negatively impact debit card usage.
- There could be a potential first-order impact on debit cards as this step would reduce the need to carry debit cards.
What’s next in the UPI pipeline?
- It is projected that in the next 3-5 years, UPI would be processing a billion transactions a day, and to enable that, a number of initiatives have been introduced.
- Chief among these is UPI’s AutoPay feature, which has already seen increased adoption owing to RBI’s disruptive guidelines on recurring mandates.
- According to industry experts, the AutoPay feature will be crucial to increasing daily transactions on the platform.
- The RBI has also announced UPI123 on feature phones without an Internet connection, which is expected to open up the payments system to more than 40 crore individuals who use such devices.
- This will expand digital financial inclusion and add to the number of transactions made on the platform.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SSLV, PSLV, GSLV
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with improvements added to its cryogenic upper stage (CUS) is expected to be ready in the second half of this year.
What is GSLV?
- GSLV is an expendable space launch vehicle designed, developed, and operated by the ISRO to launch satellites and other space objects into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits.
- GSLV is 49.13 m tall and tallest among all other vehicles of ISRO.
- It is a three-stage vehicle with a lift-off mass of 420 tonnes.
- ISRO first launched GSLV on April 18, 2001 and has made 13 launches since then.
Stages in GSLV
- The first stage comprises S139 solid booster with 138-tonne propellant and four liquid strap-on motors, with 40-tonne propellant.
- The second stage is a liquid engine carrying 40-tonne of liquid propellant.
- The third stage is the indigenously built Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) carrying 15-tonne of cryogenic propellants.
Variants in GSLV
- GSLV rockets using the Russian Cryogenic Stage (CS) are designated as the GSLV Mk I while versions using the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) are designated the GSLV Mk II.
- All GSLV launches have been conducted from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Difference between PSLV and GSLV
- GSLV has the capability to put a heavier payload in the orbit than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
- PSLV can carry satellites up to a total weight of 2000 kg into space and reach up to an altitude of 600-900 km.
- GSLV can carry weight up to 5,000 kg and reach up to 36,000 km.
- PSLV is designed mainly to deliver earth observation or remote sensing satellites, whereas, GSLV has been designed for launching communication satellites.
- GSLV delivers satellites into a higher elliptical orbit, Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).
Back2Basics: ISRO’s transportation modules
(1) SLV
- In the space transportation domain, the commissioning of the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3) project in the early 1970s was the first indigenous experimental satellite launch vehicle.
- As a four stage, all solid, launch vehicle, SLV-3 had its successful launch in July 1980, thrusting India into the select league of six countries with the capability to launch satellites on their own.
- The ASLV- Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle project, in the early 1980s, was the next step of evolution in launch vehicle technology.
(2) PSLV
- In mid 80s came the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project. PSLV was successfully launched in 1994.
- The vehicle has proven to be a workhorse of ISRO, logging over 50 successful missions, launching national as well as foreign satellites.
- On 15 February 2017, PSLV created a world record by successfully placing 104 satellites.
- The nation embarked upon a highly challenging quest to master the complex cryogenic technology.
(3) GSLV
Discussed above.
(4) SSLV
- 600 kg to Low Earth Orbit (500 km) or
- 300 kg to Sun-synchronous Orbit (500 km)
- It would help launching small satellites, with the capability to support multiple orbital drop-offs.
- In future a dedicated launch pad in Sriharikota called Small Satellite Launch Complex (SSLC) will be set up.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Yakshagana
Mains level: Not Much
Many students from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Rajasthan are enrolling for training of Yakshagana theatre.
What is Yakshagana?
- Yakshagana is a traditional theater, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala.
- It emerged in the Vijayanagara Empire and was performed by Jakkula Varu.
- It combines dance, music, dialogue, costume, make-up, and stage techniques with a unique style and form.
- Towards the south from Dakshina Kannada to Kasaragod of Tulu Nadu region, the form of Yakshagana is called as ‘Thenku thittu’ and towards north from Udupi up to Uttara Kannada it’s called as ‘Badaga Thittu‘.
- It is sometimes simply called “Aata” or āṭa (meaning “the play”). Yakshagana is traditionally presented from dusk to dawn.
- Its stories are drawn from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata and other epics from both Hindu and Jain and other ancient Indic traditions.
Try this question from CSP 2017:
Q.With reference to Manipuri Sankirtana, consider the following statements:
- It is a song and dance performance.
- Cymbals are the only musical instruments used in the performance.
- It is performed to narrate the life and deeds of Lord Krishna.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 3.
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1 only
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Microbots for drug delivery
Mains level: NA
An Indian researcher has found that it is possible to use light as a fuel to move microbots in real-body conditions with intelligent drug delivery that is selectively sensitive to cancer cells
Microswimmers for drug delivery
- Made from the two-dimensional compound poly (heptazine imide) carbon nitride (aka PHI carbon nitride), these microbots are nothing like the miniaturised humans.
- They range from 1-10 micrometre (a micrometre is one-millionth of a metre) in size, and can self-propel when energised by shining light.
- While carbon nitride is an excellent photo-catalyst, the two-dimensional PHI has a sponge-like structure full of pores and voids and charge storage properties.
- The researchers found that the ions in the salty solution passed through the pores of PHI carbon nitride.
- Thus, there was little or no resistance from the salt ions.
How do they swim across the blood?
- The PHI carbon nitride microparticles are photocatalytic.
- Like in a solar cell, the incident light is converted into electrons and holes.
- These charges drive reactions in the surrounding liquid. The charges react with the fluid surrounding them.
- This reaction, combined with the particle’s electric field, makes the microbots (micro-swimmers) swim.
- As long as there is light, electrons and holes are produced on the surface of the swimmers, which in turn react to form ions and an electric field around the swimmer.
- These ions move around the particle and cause fluid to flow around the particle.
- So this fluid flow causes the micro-swimmers to move.
How does the ion movement occur?
- The ions move from the bright surface of the micro-swimmer to the rear end.
- The diffusion of the swimming medium in one direction propels the micro-swimmer in the opposite direction.
- This is like a boat moving in the direction opposite to the oar strokes.
- The particles are nearly spherical, and the incident light illuminates one-half of the sphere, leaving the other dark.
- As photocatalysis is light-driven, it occurs only on the brightened hemisphere.
- As the ions move from the bright side to the dark side, micro-swimmers march in the direction of the light source.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SWIFT
Mains level: Paper 2- Implications of Ukraine crisis for BRICS
Context
The current crisis in Ukraine will consolidate BRICS as the group will make further efforts to become a real alternative to the West to create a real multipolar world.
BRICS’ efforts to change world economic system
- The group was brought together by geopolitical rather than economic considerations and this can be seen in the strategic interests shared by Russia and China.
- Inclusion of non-Western states in international financial institutions: BRICS is actively involved in the efforts to change the world economic system by increasing the number of non-Western states in international financial institutes.
- The BRICS countries decided to create the $100 billion BRICS Development Bank and a reserve currency pool worth over another $100 billion to offer an alternative to countries in the non-Western world when it comes to choosing the sources of funding for development or coping with serious economic crises.
Consequences of Ukraine crisis for BRICS
- It demonstrates that the West has not abandoned the idea of a unipolar world and will continue building it up by drawing into its foreign policy orbit issues it calls “international” or even “common to mankind.”
- Many non-Western states look at this as a new wave of colonialism.
- This will increase the desire of non-Western countries to enhance their coordination and perhaps the current conflict is already showing signs in this respect.
- The BRICS states are different in many respects and their disagreements with the West are rooted in different historical and political circumstances.
- The current crisis in Ukraine will consolidate BRICS as the group will make further efforts to become a real alternative to the West to create a real multipolar world.
- RIC controls 22 per cent of the global GDP and 16 per cent of global exports of goods and services.
- The fallout from Russia’s alienation from the G-8 group of nations, raises the prospect that — tactically at least — Russia, India, and China might be playing their own triangular integrationist card within BRICS at Moscow’s initiative.
- Eurasian integrationist core: This will create a north Eurasian integrationist core within BRICS, whichever way Moscow’s relations with the US and Europe play out.
Implications for India
- Both the Asian giants — India and China — may stand to reap the “best of both worlds” as the Ukraine imbroglio plays out.
- Investment: This could mean greater industrial and energy cross investments between Russia and India as well as between Russia and China.
- Additionally, the proposed arrangement for rupee-ruble cross currency pairing could result in settlement of payments in non-dollar currencies with more countries looking at India’s sovereign Financial Messaging Systems (SFMS), while also remaining connected with a central system like SWIFT.
- Dedicated payment mechanism: This should also anchor India’s quest to build a dedicated payment mechanism for energy-related payments and settlements as a long-haul measure.
- This could change the contours of the global payments landscape and benefit the rupee immensely.
Spotlight on India
- As the war progresses, New Delhi has been receiving a stream of high-profile visitors from around the world.
- This has included delegations from the US, Australia and Japan, India’s partners in the Quad.
- The foreign minister of Greece has also been to India and the Israeli prime minister is scheduled to visit soon.
- Even traditional rival China is making overtures to India at this time, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit.
- Another suitor is Russia, which is now also becoming a supplier of discounted crude oil to India as Moscow recoils from sanctions enforced by western consumers of its natural gas.
Conclusion
New Delhi is basking in its well-deserved spotlight with well-crafted diplomacy. India could be looking at a new dawn.
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