Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fundamental right to freedom of religion
Mains level: Isuues of forced religious conversion and Fundamental right to freedom of religion
Context
- While hearing a petition seeking a ban on forced conversions, Division Bench judge of the apex court said, “The purpose of charity should not be conversion. Every charity or good work is welcome, but what is required to be considered is the intention,” The observation, loaded with significant implications, is to be considered in the light of the provisions of the Constitution relating to people’s fundamental right to freedom of religion, its legislative history and judicial interpretation.
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Fundamental right to freedom of religion
- Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion before the constitution of India: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, which was before the makers of the future Constitution for independent India had proclaimed: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance” [Article 18].
- Extensive debate on religious freedom as a people’s right in the Constituent Assembly: Keeping this in mind, religious freedom as a people’s right was repeatedly debated in the Constituent Assembly. In cognisance of Christianity’s traditions of evangelism and proselytisation, it was to include the right to propagate religion.
Journey of a Right to freedom of religion before and after The Constitution
- British rulers facilitated conversion to their religion: The British rulers of India, who were never shy of introducing measures to facilitate the conversion of others to their faith.
- British rulers enacted Native Converts Marriage Dissolution Act in 1866: They had enacted in 1866 a Native Converts Marriage Dissolution Act to provide the facility of divorce to married Indians who converted to Christianity and were thereupon deserted by their non-converting spouses.
- The Act recently dropped which was once thought to by the law commission of India: After Independence, the Law Commission of India recommended that this Act be revised to make it a general law on the effect of post-marriage change of religion, but the government did not take any action on it. The original Act remained in force till recently but was eventually dropped from the statute book by the Repealing and Amending Act of 2017.
- Alerted by the missionaries’ princely states enforced anti conversion laws: Alerted by the missionaries’ evangelistic activities, several princely states of the pre-Independence era had enforced anti-conversion laws Raigarh, Udaipur and Bikaner among them.
- Constitution Bench in case where state freedom of religion Acts was challenged: During 1967-68, state legislatures in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh enacted similar laws, both ostensibly titled as Freedom of Religion Act. Christian leaders lost no time in challenging their constitutional validity in the Supreme Court. Heading a Constitution Bench, Chief Justice of the time AN Ray, argued that converting people interfered with their religious freedom and held that Article 25 granted “not the right to convert another person to one’s own religion but (only) to transmit and spread one’s religion by an exposition of its tenets” .
- The Constitution Bench decision inspired some other states to enact similar laws: Beginning with the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 1978. Today there are such laws in about half of our states. Some of these have been either newly enacted or made more stringent, since the beginning of the present political dispensation in 2014. All of them prohibit converting people from one to another religion without their free will and, to indicate this, use various expressions like force, fraud, inducement and allurement.
- Drafts on the conversion: While the first draft of the future Constitution proposed to restrain conversion except by one’s own free will, the second was to recognise the “right to preach and convert within limits compatible with public order and morality.”
- Constitution recognised the right to propagate: Eventually, the Constitution recognised the right to propagate, along with freedom of conscience and the right to profess and practice, one’s religion as people’s fundamental right. Prima facie, individuals’ right to forsake their religion by birth and embrace another faith was integral to freedom of conscience
- Supreme Courts observations regarding the right to propagate: As regards the propagation of religion, in two cases decided in 1954, the apex court observed that Article 25 covered every individual’s right “to propagate his religious views for the edification of others” (RP Gandhi) and that “it is the propagation of belief that is protected, no matter whether the propagation takes place in a church or monastery, or in a temple or parlour meeting” (Shirur Math).
Do you know this interesting news?
- The Bombay High Court has recently held that the freedom of conscience of a person “includes a right to openly say that he does not believe in any religion”
Mahatma Gandhi’s view on freedom of religion
- Mahatma Gandhi once said that “all faiths are equally true though equally imperfect”
- He had pleaded that, instead of converting others to one’s own faith, “our innermost prayer should be that a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Christian a better Christian” (Young India, 1924).
- He had also once said: “If I had power and could legislate I should stop all proselytising” (Harijan, 1935).
- Article 25(1) of the Constitution guarantees the “freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”.
- It is a right that guarantees a negative liberty — which means that the state shall ensure that there is no interference or obstacle to exercise this freedom.
- However, like all fundamental rights, the state can restrict the right for grounds of public order, decency, morality, health and other state interests.
Conclusion
- An observation made by the Supreme Court on “forced conversions” is to be considered in the light of the provisions of the Constitution relating to people’s fundamental right to freedom of religion, its legislative history and judicial interpretation and set the future roadmap to make. Pluralism and inclusiveness are characterized by religious freedom. Its purpose is to promote social harmony and diversity.
Mains question
Q. What is Fundamental right to freedom of religion? What was Mahatma Gandhi’s view on religion? How it is interpreted in the constitution of India?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National food security Act (NFSA)
Mains level: Food security, public distribution system and the problem
Context
- The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, through the Public Distribution System (PDS), provides a crucial safety net for roughly 800 million people. Even critics of the PDS appreciated its services during the COVID-19 lockdown.
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Background: COVID-19 lockdown and policy gaps in ensuring food security
- Too many still excluded from the PDS: The humanitarian crisis resulting from the COVID-19 lockdown, made it apparent that too many were still excluded from the PDS.
- Governments decision: In response to the humanitarian crisis, the Government made one sensible policy decision swiftly. It doubled the entitlements of the 800 million who were already covered by the PDS (from five kilograms per person per month, to 10kg). But that does nothing for those without ration cards.
National food security Act (NFSA)
- Aims to provide subsidized food grains: The NFS Act, 2013 aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India’s 1.2 billion people.
- Legal entitlements for existing food security programs: It was signed into law on 12 September 2013, retroactive to 5 July 2013. It converts into legal entitlements for existing food security programmes of the GoI.
- Integrating various government schemes: It includes the Midday Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and the Public Distribution System (PDS). The Midday Meal Scheme and the ICDS are universal in nature whereas the PDS will reach about wo-thirds of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas).
- It recognizes maternity entitlement: Pregnant women, lactating mothers, and certain categories of children are eligible for daily free cereals.
- Key provisions: The NFSA provides a legal right to persons belonging to “eligible households” to receive foodgrains at a subsidised price. It includes rice at Rs 3/kg, wheat at Rs 2/kg and coarse grain at Rs 1/kg under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). These are called central issue prices (CIPs).
How Public Distribution System (PDS) is determined?
- PDS coverage is determined by Section 3(2) of the NFSA 2013.
- It states that the entitlements of eligible households “shall extend up to seventy-five per cent of the rural population and up to fifty per cent of the urban population.”
- Section 9 of NFSA required that the total number of persons to be covered “shall be calculated on the basis of the population estimates as per the census of which the relevant figures have been published.”
- Coverage ratio is too low: The exclusion problem could be because the NFSA coverage ratios were too low to start with, or due to the ‘freeze’ in coverage in absolute terms (around 800 million).
- Population increase has not been accounted: Between the last Census in 2011 and today, population increase has not been accounted for in determining the number of ration cards. No one could have anticipated that the 2021 Census would be postponed indefinitely. This means that even a decadal update has not happened.
- Lack of sensitivity to understand the problem: There is no attempt at understanding or addressing the hardships of people who are deprived of the food security net that the PDS provides.
- Court’s observation and a suggestion: Government inaction led to the matter being taken to the Supreme Court of India in the Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers case. The Court agreed that the prayer to increase coverage “seems to be genuine and justified”. It directed the Union of India to “come out with a formula and/or appropriate policy/scheme, if any, so that the benefits under NFSA are not restricted as per the census of 2011 and more and more needy persons/citizens get the benefit under the National Food Security Act”. Going further, the Court said that the Government could consider “projection of population increase” to resolve this issue.
- Burdening the states: In its response, the Government attempts repeatedly to shift the blame to State governments. But States are responsible for identifying people for PDS ration cards, once they are given the numbers to be covered by the central government.
Way ahead
- Several State governments have used their own resources this includes poor States such as Chhattisgarh and Odisha to expand coverage beyond the centrally determined quotas.
- Robust procurement trends and a comfortable food stocks position are what make an expansion affordable.
- Adjusting for population increase, as directed by the Supreme Court, will increase coverage by roughly 10% (from 800 million to 900 million).
- Any sensible policy should have an in-built mechanism for updating coverage annually to account for population increase.
Conclusion
- Instead of allowing the Government to delay this any further (the matter has been in Court since 2020), the Supreme Court should be firm, directing the Government to get on with apportioning the additional coverage of roughly 100 million across States, so that the States can start identifying new ration card beneficiaries.
Mains Question
Q. What is food security? What is National food security Act? There is number some problems for expanding food security net through PDS. Analyse and suggest way forward.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: India-China trade imbalance
The trade deficit, difference between import and exports, between India and China has touched $51.5 billion during April-October this fiscal.
Widening deficit
- The deficit during 2021-22 had jumped to $73.31 billion as compared to $44.03 billion in 2020-21.
- According to the data, imports during April-October this fiscal stood at $60.27 billion, while exports aggregated at $8.77 billion.
- The merchandise exports from India to China had increased from $11.93 billion in 2014-15 to $21.26 billion in 2021-22.
India-China bilateral trade
- In 2021, annual two-way trade crossed $100 billion for the first time, reaching $125.6 billion, with India’s imports accounting for $97.5 billion, pegging the imbalance at close to $70 billion.
- This is certainly a healthy deficit compared to the industrial development in both nations.
A quick backgrounder
- Trade ties began to boom since the early 2000s.
- This was driven largely by India’s imports of Chinese machinery and other equipment.
- It rose up from $3 billion in the year 2000 to $42 billion in 2008, the year China became India’s largest trading partner.
The Hindi-Chini buy buy
- A third of machinery and almost two-fifths of organic chemicals that India purchases from the world come from China.
- Automotive parts and fertilizers are other items where China’s share in India’s import is more than 25 per cent.
- Several of these products are used by Indian manufacturers in the production of finished goods, thus thoroughly integrating China in India’s manufacturing supply chain.
- For instance India sources close to 90 per cent of certain mobile phone parts from China.
India’s export to China
- Even as an export market, China is a major partner for India.
- China is the third-largest destination for Indian shipments.
- At the same time, India only accounts for a little over two percent of China’s total exports, according to the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO).
Should we worry about this?
- Trade deficits/surpluses are just accounting exercises and having a trade deficit against a country doesn’t make the domestic economy weaker or worse off.
- In this light, India’s trade imbalance with China should not be viewed in isolation.
- For instance, pharmaceuticals that India exports to the world require ingredients that are imported from China.
- Chinese imports of Indian seafood are one area that has recently shown robust growth and carries scope to grow in future.
So, having a trade deficit is good?
- Of course NOT. Running persistent trade deficits across all countries raises two main issues.
- Availability of foreign exchange reserves to “buy” the imports.
- Lack of domestic capacity to produce most efficiently.
Can we ban trade with China?
Ans. Certainly NOT!
- It will hurt the Indian poor the most: This is because the poor are more price-sensitive. For instance, if Chinese TVs were replaced by either costlier Indian TVs or less efficient ones, unlike poor, richer Indians may buy the costlier option.
- It will punish Indian producers and exporters: Several businesses in India import intermediate goods and raw materials, which, in turn, are used to create final goods — both for the domestic Indian market as well as the global market (as Indian exports).
- Pharma sector could be worst hit: For instance, of the nearly $3.6 billion worth of ingredients that Indian drug-makers import to manufacture several essential medicines, China catered to around 68 percent.
- Ban will barely hurt China: According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) data for 2018, 15.3% of India’s imports are from China, and 5.1% of India’s exports go to China.
- Chinese money funds Indian unicorns: India and China have also become increasingly integrated in recent years. Chinese money, for instance, has penetrated India’s technology sector, with companies like Alibaba and Tencent strategically pumping in billions of dollars into Indian startups such as Zomato, Paytm, Big Basket and Ola.
- India will lose policy credibility: It has also been suggested that India should renege on existing contracts with China. This can be detrimental to India’s effort to attract foreign investment.
China is our Frenemy. Here is why.
- The first thing to understand is that turning a border dispute into a trade war is unlikely to solve the border dispute.
- Worse, given India and China’s position in both global trades as well as relative to each other, this trade war will hurt India far more than China.
- Again, these measures will be most poorly timed since the Indian economy is already at its weakest point ever — facing a sharp GDP contraction.
Way forward
- In the long term, under the banner of self-reliance, India must develop its domestic capabilities and acquire a higher share of global trade by raising its competitiveness.
- But no country is completely self-sufficient and that is why trade is such a fantastic idea.
- For the long run, a more effective strategy needs to be built to provide an ecosystem that addresses the cost disability of Indian manufacturing leading to such imports.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Singapore Declaration
Mains level: Labour reform
CONTEXT: The 17th Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) set ten-point priorities of national action under the Singapore Declaration.
Singapore Declaration
- It seeks to draw attention for the member countries to deal with the issue of dwindling wages of workers, inflation and unemployment.
- It was adopted by the delegates representing governments, employers and workers’ governments, employers and workers in the regions.
- Members agreed that social dialogue is essential to address labour market challenges and finding solutions in crisis situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, and economic uncertainty.
Key point priorities
- Ensure labour protection for all through the promotion of freedom of association
- Recognition of the right to collective bargaining, including for workers in vulnerable situations and workers in the informal economy, as enabling rights for decent work
- Closing gender gaps, increase women’s labour force participation, promote equal pay for work of equal value, balance work and responsibilities, and promoting women’s leadership.
- Develop and implement inclusive labour market programmes and policies that support life transitions and demographic shifts.
- Pursue collective and determined efforts to promote and accelerate a smooth and sustained transition from the informal to formal economy
- Strengthen governance frameworks and respect for freedom of association for migrant workers
- Strengthen the foundation for social and employment protection and resilience
- Expanding social protection to all workers, guaranteeing universal access to comprehensive, adequate and sustainable social protection for all
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramjet, Scramjet Engine
Mains level: Not Much
The ISRO successfully conducted test for credible next-generation air-breathing scramjet engines, in order to launch satellites in a predetermined orbit at a low cost.
What is a jet engine?
- A jet engine is a machine that converts energy-rich, liquid fuel into a powerful pushing force called thrust.
- The thrust from one or more engines pushes a plane forward, forcing air past its scientifically shaped wings to create an upward force called lift that powers it into the sky.
Ramjet vs. Scramjet Engine
- Both scramjet and Ramjet are types of jet engines.
- A ramjet is an air breathing jet engine which is usually associated with supersonic transport.
- Ramjets can start at supersonic speeds only, so as a result they cannot be started at zero velocity and cannot produce thrust as there is a lack of airspeed.
- Hence assisted take off flights or rockets are needed to or accelerate it to a supersonic speed from which it starts producing thrust.
- This makes ramjet engine to be efficient only at supersonic speeds as it can accelerate to speeds of about Mach 6.
- Ramjet has revolutionized Rocket Propulsion and Missile Technology over the years.
How different is Scramjet?
- The Scramjet or the Supersonic Combustion Ramjet is a further complex model and is efficient at hypersonic speeds, usually upwards of Mach 6.
- They do not have any moving parts to compress the air as the air entering is already at high pressure.
- Scramjets have a very similar working to that of the ramjet except the fact that combustion also takes place at supersonic speed.
- This means that the air being compressed does not slow down as it enters the combustion chamber.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Trisonic Wind Tunnel
Mains level: Not Much
The new trisonic wind tunnel at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) was inaugurated by conducting the first blow-down test successfully.
What is a Wind Tunnel?
- Wind tunnels are large tubes with air moving inside.
- The tunnels are used to copy the actions of an object in flight.
- Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft will fly.
- Space agencies uses wind tunnels to test scale models of aircraft and spacecraft. Some wind tunnels are big enough to hold full-size versions of vehicles.
- The wind tunnel moves air around an object, making it seem like the object is really flying.
How do Wind Tunnels work?
- Most of the time, powerful fans move air through the tube.
- The object to be tested is fastened in the tunnel so that it will not move.
- The object can be a small model of a vehicle. It can be just a piece of a vehicle.
- It can be a full-size aircraft or spacecraft. It can even be a common object like a tennis ball.
- Smoke or dye can be placed in the air and can be seen as it moves. Threads can be attached to the object to show how the air is moving.
- Special instruments are often used to measure the force of the air on the object.
About Trisonic Wind Tunnel at VSCC
- ‘Trisonic’ refers to the tunnel’s capability to test in three speed regimes—below the speed of sound (subsonic), at the speed of sound (transonic), and above the speed of sound (supersonic).
- Its parts include air storage vessels, a settling chamber where the airflow is ‘smoothened’ out, and nozzles for releasing the air into the test section.
- It is about 160 metres long and measures 5.4 metres at its widest part.
- In a ‘blow down test’, stored gases are released and blown through the tunnel’s test section, simulating flight conditions.
- The tunnel can simulate flight conditions from 0.2 times the speed of sound (68 metres per second) to four times the speed of sound (1,360 metres per second), according to the space agency.
- Commissioned in 2017, this tunnel can simulate flow speeds up to Mach 12.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IUCN
Mains level: Not Much
Three medicinal plant species found in the Himalayas have made it to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species following a recent assessment.
Species assessed-
- Meizotropis pellita : ‘Critically Endangered’
- Fritilloria cirrhosa : ‘Vulnerable’
- Dactylorhiza hatagirea : ‘Endangered’
(1) Meizotropis pellita
- Commonly known as Patwa, is a perennial shrub with restricted distribution that is endemic to Uttarakhand.
- The species is listed as ‘critically endangered’ based on its limited area of occupancy (less than 10 sq. km)
- The species is threatened by deforestation, habitat fragmentation and forest fires.
- The essential oil extracted from the leaves of the species possesses strong antioxidants and can be a promising natural substitute for synthetic antioxidants in pharmaceutical industries.
(2) Fritillaria cirrhosa
- Also called, Himalayan fritillary, it is a perennial bulbous herb.
- It is reasonable to conclude a decline of at least 30% of its population over the assessment period (22 to 26 years).
- Considering the rate of decline, long generation length, poor germination potential, high trade value, extensive harvesting pressure and illegal trade, the species is listed as ‘vulnerable’.
- In China, the species is used for the treatment of bronchial disorders and pneumonia.
- The plant is also a strong cough suppressant and source of expectorant drugs in traditional Chinese medicine.
(3) Dactylorhiza hatagirea
- Known as Salampanja, it is threatened by habitat loss, livestock grazing, deforestation, and climate change.
- It is extensively used in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and other alternative systems of medicine to cure dysentery, gastritis, chronic fever, cough and stomach aches.
- It is a perennial tuberous species endemic to the Hindu Kush and Himalayan ranges of Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.
Back2Basics: IUCN Red List
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species founded in 1964, has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species.
- It uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of all species and subspecies.
- A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, which assess the risk of extinction to species within a political management unit.
- The IUCN aims to have the category of every species re-evaluated every five years if possible, or at least every ten years.
- For plants, the 1997 Red List is the most important source.
- The formally stated goals of the Red List are-
- to provide scientifically based information on the status of species and subspecies at a global level,
- to draw attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity,
- to influence national and international policy and decision-making, and
- to provide information to guide actions to conserve biological diversity.
Red List Categories of IUCN
Species are classified by the IUCN Red List into nine groups specified through criteria such as rate of decline, population size, area of geographic distribution, and degree of population and distribution fragmentation. They are:
- Extinct (EX) – beyond reasonable doubt that the species is no longer extant.
- Extinct in the wild (EW) – survives only in captivity, cultivation and/or outside native range, as presumed after exhaustive surveys.
- Critically endangered (CR) – in a particularly and extremely critical state.
- Endangered (EN) – very high risk of extinction in the wild, meets any of criteria A to E for Endangered.
- Vulnerable (VU) – meets one of the 5 red list criteria and thus considered to be at high risk of unnatural (human-caused) extinction without further human intervention.
- Near threatened (NT) – close to being at high risk of extinction in the near future.
- Least concern (LC) – unlikely to become extinct in the near future.
- Data deficient (DD)
- Not evaluated (NE)
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