Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Particulars of Republic day parade
Mains level: Women in combat, advantages and challenges
Context
- Watching women lead many of the contingents in the 74th Republic Day parade in New Delhi was encouraging. Their presence was heartening and something for future generations of girls to emulate. While much was made about the induction of women fighter pilots, we need to see how many more have been inducted since then.
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- Nari shakti dominated the parade: Nari Shakti dominated the 74th Republic Day parade as women officers led the marching contingents of the armed forces, CRPF, Akash missile system and Army’s Daredevil team
- first ever women armed police battalion: In a first, the marching contingent of the CRPF, which has the distinction of raising the first-ever women-armed police battalion in the world, had all women personnel this time.
- BSF women on the borders: Also, for the first time, BSF women soldiers in colorful uniforms who have been deployed along the desert border with Pakistan joined the parade as part of the camel contingent.
Light on whether induction of women is mere tokenism?
- Opening up of opportunities for women: Among the best developments of recent times is the opening of opportunities for girls and young women in Sainik schools and the National Defence Academy.
- As more women on the field, less logistical issues: Once they don the uniform and there are many more women on the field, then the logistical issues will become less relevant.
- Promotion for the rank of colonel: The recent news about women being considered in the promotion board for the rank of colonel and subsequently, to command units is tremendously empowering.
- Military remains an excellent example: The military is an excellent place for women to work in and it is the military’s responsibility to not break that faith.
Women in commands: Significance
- Leadership opportunity: Despite working at the grassroots level as junior officers, women officers hitherto did not get an opportunity to prove their leadership skills as they were not eligible to command a unit.
- Gender parity: Most importantly, it grants women officer’s parity with their male counterparts.
- Higher ranks: Earlier promotions were staff appointments which are more administrative in nature and not purely command appointments in which an officer commands troops on ground.
- Benefits after permanent commission: With a longer career in the Army, women officers will be considered for promotions, including to the rank of Colonel and beyond.
How are women still discriminated?
- Women are still not eligible in core combat arms such as Infantry, Mechanised Infantry and Armoured Corps.
- Indian Army is not open to women fighting wars at the borders as foot soldiers.
- Much of this resistance stems from past instances of male soldiers being taken as prisoners of war and tortured by the enemy.
- However, the Army has recently decided to open the Corps of Artillery, a combat support arm, to women.
What more needs to be done?
- Promoting gender equality at the Parade: It is a great idea to have women’s contingents, with the theme of Nari Shakti, at the parade. However, we must refrain from describing this as an opportunity that has been given to them.
- Challenges in achieving gender equality in frontline forces: The slow and steady induction of women in ranks below the officer level in a paramilitary force like the Assam Rifles is a far cry from enabling women to be part of the frontline force, as part of the Kumaon Regiment, for example. The regiment’s war cry may be Kalika mata ki jai, but it stops there.
Way ahead
- The military, just like any other institution, is but a reflection of society and, like the other institutions, it is also subject to reform and change for the advancement of society as a whole.
- We must push for this alongside cheering for Captain Shikha Sharma, the first woman in the Daredevil squad, who so effortlessly displayed her skills at the parade.
Conclusion
- Republic Day parade did well to celebrate Nari Shakti. But the day after R-Day, much more needs to be done on inclusion of women in the force.
Mains question
Q. Nari shakti said to be dominated the India’s 74th republic day parade. In this context highlight the Significance Women in commands and discuss the challenges.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian Constitution
Mains level: Constitutional morality and features of Indian constitution a
Context
- This Republic Day, as India marks the completion of 74 years of its constitutional functioning, the moral and ethical spirit of the Constitution that has phenomenally shaped the trajectory of constitutional democracy, needs to be delved into. To adequately comprehend the promise and practice of the Indian Constitution, it is crucial to unpack its underlying moral or ethical tenets that have shaped or has been shaping the discourse of constitutionalism in India.
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- Constitution for governance: Constitutions are primarily seen as the legal edifice that prescribes the fundamental principles and rules crucial for governing a nation.
- Legal guiding document: The Indian Constitution, as the revered guiding document, for governing the post-colonial independent nation, consists of the prescription, pronouncements, and provisions that gave shape to India’s legal-political system of governance.
- Contains ethical values: Beyond the legal directives and provisions, the document reflects a set of normative ethical values which the Indian Constitution makers perceived as integral for laying the foundation of the Indian Republic.
- Basic premise of Constitutional morality: Such constitutional predilection towards a set of ‘substantive moral entailments’ that goes beyond the legal-doctrinal reading of the Constitution entails the basic premise of constitutional morality.
What is mean by Constitutional morality?
- Constitutional morality refers to the set of moral principles and values that are reflected in the Indian Constitution and considered important for the proper functioning of Indian society.
- This includes not only legal rules but also broader ethical guidelines for how the country should be governed.
Contextualizing constitutional morality
- Constitutional Morality to Understand Democracy in India: The premise of constitutional morality needs to be extrapolated to better understand the larger ethical dynamics that have consolidated the form and substance of democracy in India.
- Two dimensions of representative democracy: The practise of representative democracy is constituted by two dimensions procedural democracy as well as substantive democracy. The former encapsulates the practise of electoral democracy while the latter also includes the larger substantive or qualitative impact of electoral democracy on the lives of the people.
- The resilience of constitutional democracy in India: Despite the apprehensions raised at the time of independence as India was dubbed as an ‘improbable democracy’, constitutional democracy in India undoubtedly remains stable and durable, manifesting its unflinching resilience in the last seven decades.
- The ethical drivers of India’s vibrant democratic continuity: The success of India’s vibrant democratic continuity, in spite of the humongous challenges of multi-dimensional diversity, geographical, and demographic expanse and other socio-economic hindrances can be attributed to the moral and ethical drivers of the Indian Constitution that needed to be deciphered further.
Ethical motivation and democracy
- The Democratic Ethic of the Indian Republic: The book, Politics and Ethics of Indian Constitution, notes that the Constitution at its very inception identified itself to belong to the ‘people’ underlining the democratic ethic of the Indian Republic. The Constitution’s genuinely egalitarian project got manifested in the granting of the universal adult franchise to all sections of people in India.
- Right to vote: India, by virtue of its constitutional inclination towards inclusivity, commenced universal political enfranchisement immediately after the independence while the right to vote has been granted to women in stable western democracies much later after their independence.
- The autonomous election commission and free and fair elections: The constitutionally designated Election Commission in India functions as an autonomous body and has remained successful in conducting largely free and fair elections. Voter turnout has remarkably increased since then specially women to be mentioned. Also, the instances of major electoral violence have also declined with time.
- Political participation and equal opportunity: In tandem with the principle of inclusiveness based on the idea of equal political opportunity that the Indian constitution espoused, India witnessed a gradual increase in the political participation and representation of the hitherto marginalised and weaker sections of people.
- Strengthening democratic credentials through fundamental rights: The fundamental rights rolled out by the Constitution have acted as an extremely helpful instrument for strengthening India’s democratic credentials by making the ‘modern citizen’ aware of their political, legal and civic rights based on the inalienable principle of individual liberty.
- Welfare state by Directive Principles of State Policy: The Indian Constitution includes important but non-enforceable provisions for welfare in the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP). These provisions have helped to expand welfare and development programs in electoral politics, and have given many people access to basic necessities for a decent life, in line with the democratic ideal of a better life for all.
Conclusion
- The values of freedom, fraternity, equality and social justice in the Indian Constitution have enabled inclusive participation and given citizens the power to demand welfare and development. Thus, the inextricably embedded values of India’s constitutional morality have played a pivotal role in strengthening the ethical vision of democracy, despite challenges, further enhancing India’s democratic resilience.
Mains question
Q. What do you understand by mean constitutional morality? Despite of challenges India’s constitution showed remarkable democratic resilience. Discuss.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: C+1 strategy
Mains level: C+1 strategy and India's adavtages
Context
- In January 2023, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country with a population count of approximately 1.417 billion as against China’s 1.412 billion, as estimated by the World Population Review (WPR). This creates both opportunities and challenges for India.
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The global turmoil and China as enablers of the Indian growth story
- There are three factors that have enabled the Indian growth story.
- Overdependence on specific economies: If the pandemic had had one crucial lesson for the global economy, it must be reducing the overdependence on China-specific Global Value Chains (GVCs). As is evident from the pandemic, the subsequent Ukraine-Russia war or the recent disastrous COVID-19 surge in China the overdependence on specific economies is bound to have cascading effects on the world economy because of the macroeconomic shocks they produce.
- Glocalised models of economic partnerships: Countries now strive to strike the right balance between globalisation and localisation, through bilateral and multilateral platforms characterised by leveraging sub-regional comparative advantages. To a large extent, these emerging forms of glocalised models are also based on controlling Beijing’s political and economic prowess in the Indo-Pacific and beyond, where India plays an active role.
- Use of technology: There is no doubt that the pandemic has provided an uptick in the use of technology ranging from the provision of social security payments at the grassroots to government-level conferences.
China plus one (C+1) strategy
- The US-China trade war and the pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions emanating from China have indeed paved the way for many western corporates to consider a China Plus One (C+1) strategy.
- The strategy would entail diversifying investments from China to other countries, to mitigate the economic and geopolitical risks associated with the former.
- While many also hail Vietnam as another economy to be in the race of attracting investments fleeing China, India could be the potential frontrunner in the C+1 game.
- India’s economic advancement: India has a demographic advantage over China, with a larger percentage of its population under 30. This young population is expected to drive consumption, savings, and investments, leading to India’s goal of a multi-trillion dollar economy.
- Low cost of labour is an advantage: India has a low cost of labor and other forms of capital, making production costs lower and increasing competitiveness in international markets. India’s labor cost is also half that of Vietnam, making it a strong player in electronics and semiconductor manufacturing.
- India’s heavy infrastructure investment: A heavy investment in physical infrastructure through the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is expected to reduce costs in manufacturing sectors and cut transportation time and costs by 20%. This is in contrast to China, where multiple companies handle different parts of the transportation process, increasing costs
- India’s conducive business environment: Recent policy interventions in India such as the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, tax reforms, liberalization of FDI policies, setting up of land pools and organizing business summits have helped attract investments to the domestic economy. These efforts, driven by the Make in India initiative, have also been supported by efforts to promote competitive federalism and reduce transaction costs of doing business.
- India’s digital advantage: India’s high internet penetration at 43% allows for digital skilling initiatives to bring returns across various economic sectors, particularly services. A combination of home-grown technologies and greater access to Google and Facebook, which are banned in China, gives Indian youth a digital edge.
- As English is the second language provides ease of communication: the prevalence of the English language skill set in the young Indian populace undoubtedly puts India ahead of China. As English is the second official language in the Indian states, it provides business executives with ease of communication in conducting business with North American and European clients.
- Well balanced economic partnerships: India’s economic partnerships are characterized by utilizing sub-regional comparative advantages and controlling Beijing’s political and economic power in the Indo-Pacific. India’s decision to not join the RCEP in 2020 to protect its domestic market and curb trade deficits sends a strong signal of its disassociation with Beijing in trade partnerships. The CEPA signed with the UAE in 2022 is expected to increase two-way trade to $100 billion in five years by opening access for Indian exporters to Arab and African markets.
- Dynamic Indian diplomacy: India has strengthened its economy through diplomatic partnerships and trade agreements, such as the QUAD, I2U2, and agreements with Australia, Canada, the European Union, and African countries. These partnerships have provided Indian businesses with greater access to finance, technology, and new markets. As India assumes the presidency of the G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization this year, it is well-positioned to navigate changing globalisation trends and be a strong voice for the Global South.
- Most important is the large domestic market: India’s large domestic market with a population of 1.3 billion and increasing incomes at 6.9 percent per annum offers a competitive alternative to China’s massive domestic market. With a population base of 98 million, Vietnam’s market is much smaller in comparison.
Conclusion
- Indian economy that has risen from the ashes like a phoenix after a year of negative growth caused by the pandemic-led lockdown. India’s 74th Republic Day, therefore, should not merely mark a remembrance of the past or a celebration of adoption of the world’s largest and most comprehensive constitution, but should also be a celebration of the dazzling future of a roaring economy that will show light to a dreary world.
Mains question
Q. What is China plus one (C+1) strategy? Discuss why it is said that India will surge ahead in C+1?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: India-Saudi Arabia bilateral trade and relationship
Context
- Saudi Arabia and India ties have undergone a significant transformation in recent years. The camaraderie between the two nations is rooted in our cultural and civilisational ties. The Kingdom and India share mutual respect and appreciation which opens doors for our collaboration and partnership. These ties have been cemented by diplomatic visits made by leaders from both countries.
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Recent visits by the leaders of India and Saudi Arabia
- Visit by Prince: The visit of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister then, to New Delhi in February 2019
- PM Modis visit to Saudi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Riyadh in October of the same year are two watershed moments in our journey of strategic ties.
Outcome of such visits
- Number of MoU’s for multiple sectors: During these visits, both nations concluded a number of MoUs for multiple sectors including energy, civil aviation, security, defence production, regulation of medical products, strategic petroleum reserves, small and medium scale industries, and the training of diplomats in our respective academies.
- Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) and working group: These two high-level visits anchored the historic formation of Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) at the leadership level. The SPC also saw the formation of working groups in multiple sectors significant to both nations.
- Comprehensive review of agreements and new opportunities: Since 2019, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and India have taken a comprehensive review of the agreements and have explored opportunities to work together.
- Trade extended to other sectors apart from energy: While our ties stem from energy security, over the years they have percolated into many other sectors, including pharma, IT and telecommunications. The Kingdom alone accounts for 18 per cent of India’s crude oil import.
- India is the second largest trading partner: Saudi Arabia is also the fourth largest trading partner of India while India is the second largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia with our bilateral trade close to $43 billion.
- Conducive business environment in the Kingdom: A number of leading Indian companies have also set up a base in Saudi Arabia, signifying the conducive business environment in the Kingdom.
- Joint ventures signifies trust and strong relationship: There are close to 750 Indian companies registered as joint ventures or 100 per cent owned companies based in Saudi Arabia, further indicating the strong relationship and trust between the nations.
- Huge investment via Public Investment fund: Since the formation of our SPC, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) has made investments of about $2.8 billion in digital and retail sectors of India. Similarly, Indian investments in Saudi Arabia have also reached $2 billion which are distributed amongst different sectors.
- Shared vision of the two: Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and its 13 vision realisation programmes are closely aligned with India’s flagship initiatives of Make in India, Start-up India, Smart Cities, Clean India, and Digital India. Both economies have seen robust growth in the last decade.
- Close cooperation in important fields: Both nations have now been working closely together in important fields to achieve mutual and strategic objectives. This was in part achieved by allocating funds to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation (CEPI), The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI), and other international and regional health organisations and programmes.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030
- Economic and social reforms: Under the aegis of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia aims to transform its economy and society. Saudi Arabia is undergoing path-breaking economic and social reforms. The Kingdom has been working towards fostering its growing investment sector that will stimulate the economy.
- Cultural investment: The Kingdom, as part of Vision 2030, has also been investing in its culture with events such as the Red Sea Film Festival, which is dedicated to celebrating excellence in cinema and fostering the resurgent creative energy of Saudi and Arab filmmakers.
- Investment for sustainable infrastructure: The launch of the Events Investment Fund (EIF) by HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to develop a sustainable infrastructure for the culture, tourism, entertainment, and sports sectors across the Kingdom. The fund seeks to develop world-class sustainable infrastructure including indoor arenas, art galleries, theatres, conference centres, horse-racing tracks, auto racing tracks, and other facilities across the Kingdom.
Way ahead
- The opportunities presented under Vision 2030 can be leveraged by India to invest in the Kingdom.
- With India assuming the G20 presidency, it paves the way for the perfect opportunity to sustain meaningful dialogue around accelerated and inclusive growth while achieving Sustainable Development Goals as the global economy navigates through the post-Covid era.
Conclusion
- Amidst current global circumstances, India continues to successfully manoeuvre itself towards greater economic progress, built on strong foundations of sustainability and a thriving local community a feat and vision that it shares with its close partner Saudi Arabia. As India celebrates its 74th Republic Day with a vision of progress and prosperity, strengthening collaboration between India and Saudi Arabia will drive both economies and promote peace and stability in the region and the world.
Mains question
Q Discuss the key developments in the strategic relationship between Saudi Arabia and India. Highlight the growing bilateral trade.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NAM
Mains level: Read the attached story
India and Egypt reiterated their support for the Non-Aligned Movement.
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
- NAM is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.
- After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.
- Drawing on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference in 1955, the NAM was established in 1961 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, and Yugoslavia.
- It was an initiative of then PM Jawaharlal Nehru, Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, Indonesian President Sukarno, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito.
- The countries of the NAM represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations’ members and contain 55% of the world population.
Reasons behind NAM creation
- Balancing the US and USSR: Non-alignment, a policy fashioned for the Cold War, aimed to retain the autonomy of policy (not equidistance) between two politico-military blocs i.e. the US and the Soviet Union.
- Platform beyond UN: The NAM provided a platform for newly independent developing nations to join together to protect this autonomy.
Relevance TODAY
- Changing with emerging scenarios: Since the end of the Cold War, the NAM has been forced to redefine itself and reinvent its purpose in the current world system.
- Focus towards development: It has focused on developing multilateral ties and connections as well as unity among the developing nations of the world, especially those within the Global South.
Fading significance of the NAM
- Loosing relevance: The policy of non-alignment lost its relevance after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence of unipolar world order under the leadership of the US since 1991.
- De-colonization was largely complete by then, the apartheid regime in South Africa was being dismantled and the campaign for universal nuclear disarmament was going nowhere.
- Freed from the shackles of the Cold War, the NAM countries were able to diversify their network of relationships across the erstwhile east-west divide.
India and the NAM
- Important role played by India: India played an important role in the multilateral movements of colonies and newly independent countries that wanted into the NAM.
- India as a leader: Country´s place in national diplomacy, its significant size and its economic miracle turned India into one of the leaders of the NAM and upholder of the Third World solidarity.
- The principle of ‘acting and making its own choices’ also reflected India’s goal to remain independent in foreign policy choices, although posing dilemmas and challenges between national interests on international arena and poverty alleviation.
- Preserving the state’s security required alternative measures: Namely, the economic situation with the aim to raise the population’s living standards challenged the country’s defense capacity and vice versa.
- Fewer choices: Wars with China and Pakistan had led India to an economically difficult situation and brought along food crisis in the mid-1960s, which made the country dependent on US food.
What dictates India’s alignment now?
- National security: China’s rise and assertiveness as a regional and global power and the simultaneous rise of middle powers in the region mean that this balancing act is increasing in both complexity and importance, simultaneously.
- Global decision-making: Another distinctive feature of India’s foreign policy has been the aim to adjust international institutions consistent with changes in international system.
- Prosperity and influence: India’s 21st century’s strategic partnerships aims for India becoming the voice of global South.
- Multi-polarism: Another means to execute India’s foreign policy strategy of autonomy has been forming extensive partnerships with other emerging powers.
Why NAM still matters?
- Global perception of India: India’s image abroad has suffered as a result of allegations that creep into our secular polity and a need arises to actively network and break out of isolation.
- For the Impulsive US: For India complete dependence on the U.S. to counter China would be an error.
- Ukrainian invasion has revitalized Cold War: Critics of NAM who term it as an outcome of the Cold War must also acknowledge that a new Cold War is beginning to unfold, this time between the US and China.
- NAM provides a much bigger platform:NAM becomes relevant to mobilize international public opinion against terrorism, weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), nuclear proliferation, ecological imbalance, safeguarding interests of developing countries in WTO etc.
- NAM as a tool for autonomy:NAM’s total strength comprises 120 developing countries and most of them are members of the UN General Assembly. Thus, NAM members act as an important group in support of India’s candidature as a permanent member in UNSC.
- NAM for multilateralism:Though globalization is facing an existential crisis, it is not possible to return to isolation. In the world of complex interdependence, countries are linked to each other one way or another.
- NAM as a source for soft power:India can use its historic ties to bring together the NAM countries. India’s strength lies in soft power rather than hard power.
Way forward
- Strategic autonomy: India is showing signs of pursuing strategic autonomy separately from non-alignment.
- Bilateralism: Indo-US ties are complementary, and a formal alliance will only help realize the full potential of these relations.
- Non-alliance: India interacts with other states in expectations to change the international system, but without expectations to ‘ally or oppose.’
- Deep engagement: India needs deeper engagement with its friends and partners if it is to develop leverage in its dealings with its adversaries and competitors.
Conclusion
- A wide and diverse range of strategic partners, including the U.S. as a major partner is the only viable diplomatic way forward in the current emerging multipolar world order.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Living Will
Mains level: Passive Euthanasia in India
A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice K M Joseph agreed to significantly ease the procedure for passive euthanasia in the country by altering the existing guidelines for ‘living wills’.
What is Living Will?
- A living will is a legal document detailing the type and level of medical care one wants to receive if they are unable to make decisions or communicate their wishes when care is needed.
- A living will addresses many life-threatening treatments and procedures, such as resuscitation, ventilation, and dialysis.
- A person can appoint a healthcare proxy to make decisions regarding care when they are unable to do so.
- A living trust is a legal document that addresses how the assets of the incapacitated person should be managed.
- People can enlist the services of an estate planner or an attorney to help draft or review a living will.
Living Will in India
- It was first laid down in its 2018 judgment in Common Cause vs. Union of India & Anr, which allowed passive euthanasia.
- It was in response to the Aruna Shanbaug Case where protagonists were arguing in favor of mercy killing to Aruna.
- The guidelines pertained to questions such as who would execute the living will, and the process by which approval could be granted by the medical board.
- It declared that an adult human being having mental capacity to take an informed decision has right to refuse medical treatment including withdrawal from life-saving devices.
What is Euthanasia?
- Euthanasia refers to the practice of an individual deliberately ending their life, oftentimes to get relief from an incurable condition, or intolerable pain and suffering.
- Euthanasia, which can be administered only by a physician, can be either ‘active’ or ‘passive’.
- Active euthanasia involves an active intervention to end a person’s life with substances or external force, such as administering a lethal injection.
- Passive euthanasia refers to withdrawing life support or treatment that is essential to keep a terminally ill person alive.
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What is the legal history of this matter?
- Passive euthanasia was legalized in India by the Supreme Court in 2018, contingent upon the person having a ‘living will’.
- It must be a written document that specifies what actions should be taken if the person is unable to make their own medical decisions in the future.
- In case a person does not have a living will, members of their family can make a plea before the High Court to seek permission for passive euthanasia.
What did the SC rule in 2018?
- The Supreme Court allowed passive euthanasia while recognising the living wills of terminally-ill patients who could go into a permanent vegetative state.
- It was required to be signed by an executor (the individual seeking euthanasia) in the presence of two attesting witnesses and to be further countersigned by a Judicial Magistrate of First Class (JMFC).
- The court issued guidelines regulating this procedure until Parliament passed legislation on this.
- However, this has not happened, and the absence of a law on this subject has rendered the 2018 judgment the last conclusive set of directions on euthanasia.
What was the situation before 2018?
- P Rathinam vs Union Of India, 1994: In a case challenging the constitutional validity of Section 309 of the IPC — which mandates up to one year in prison for attempt to suicide the Supreme Court deemed the section to be a “cruel and irrational provision”.
- Gian Kaur vs The State Of Punjab, 1996: Two years later, a five-judge Bench of the court overturned the decision in P Rathinam, saying that the right to life under Article 21 did not include the right to die, and only legislation could permit euthanasia.
- Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug vs Union Of India & Ors, 2011: SC allowed passive euthanasia for Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse who had been sexually assaulted in Mumbai in 1973, and had been in a vegetative state since then. The court made a distinction between ‘active’ and ‘passive’, and allowed the latter in “certain situations”.
Key observations by Law Commission
- Earlier, in 2006, the Law Commission of India in its 196th Report’ had said that a doctor who obeys the instructions of a competent patient to withhold or withdraw medical treatment does not commit a breach of professional duty and the omission to treat will not be an offence.
- It had also recognised the patient’s decision to not receive medical treatment, and said it did not constitute an attempt to commit suicide under Section 309 IPC.
- Again, in 2008, the Law Commission’s ‘241st Report On Passive Euthanasia: A Relook’ proposed legislation on ‘passive euthanasia’, and also prepared a draft Bill.
What was the old cumbersome process?
- The treating physician was required to constitute a board comprising three expert medical practitioners from specific but varied fields of medicine, with at least 20 years of experience.
- They would decide whether to carry out the living will or not.
- If the medical board granted permission, the will had to be forwarded to the District Collector for his approval.
- The Collector was to then form another medical board of three expert doctors, including the Chief District Medical Officer.
- Only if this second board agreed with the hospital board’s findings would the decision be forwarded to the JMFC, who would then visit the patient and examine whether to accord approval.
- This cumbersome process will now become easier.
Recent changes after the SC’s order this week
- Medical board: Instead of the hospital and Collector forming the two medical boards, both boards will now be formed by the hospital.
- 5 year experienced doctor: The requirement of 20 years of experience for the doctors has been relaxed to five years.
- Magistrate approval not required: The requirement for the Magistrate’s approval has been replaced by an intimation to the Magistrate.
- No witness required: The 2018 guidelines required two witnesses and a signature by the Magistrate; now a notary or gazetted officer can sign the living will in the presence of two witnesses instead of the Magistrate’s countersign.
- HC for appeal: In case the medical boards set up by the hospital refuses permission, it will now be open to the kin to approach the High Court which will form a fresh medical team.
Different countries, different laws
- NETHERLANDS, LUXEMBOURG, BELGIUM allow both euthanasia and assisted suicide for anyone who faces “unbearable suffering” that has no chance of improvement.
- SWITZERLAND bans euthanasia but allows assisted dying in the presence of a doctor or physician.
- CANADA had announced that euthanasia and assisted dying would be allowed for mentally ill patients by March 2023; however, the decision has been widely criticised, and the move may be delayed.
- UNITED STATES has different laws in different states. Euthanasia is allowed in some states like Washington, Oregon, and Montana.
- UNITED KINGDOM considers it illegal and equivalent to manslaughter.
Justification for Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide
- It provides a way to relieve extreme pain.
- Euthanasia can save life of many other people by donation of vital organs.
Conclusion
- India officially recognizes that- “every single citizen is entitled to and reserves the right to die with dignity.”
- Hon’ble Supreme Courts’ recent updated guidelines are a major move in this direction.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Earth's interior
Mains level: Read the attached story
Earth’s inner core, a hot iron ball the size of Pluto, has stopped spinning faster than the planet’s surface and might now be rotating slower than it, research suggested.
A quick recap of Earth’s Interior
Structure of earth’s interior is fundamentally divided into three layers – crust, mantle and core.
[A] Crust
- It is the outermost solid part of the earth, normally about 8-40 kms thick.
- It is brittle in nature.
- Nearly 1% of the earth’s volume and 0.5% of earth’s mass are made of the crust.
- The thickness of the crust under the oceanic and continental areas are different. Oceanic crust is thinner (about 5kms) as compared to the continental crust (about 30kms).
- Major constituent elements of crust are Silica (Si) and Aluminium (Al) and thus, it is often termed as SIAL(Sometimes SIAL is used to refer Lithosphere, which is the region comprising the crust and uppermost solid mantle, also).
- The mean density of the materials in the crust is 3g/cm3.
- The discontinuity between the hydrosphere and crustis termed as the Conrad Discontinuity.
[B] Mantle
- The portion of the interior beyond the crust is called as the mantle.
- The discontinuity between the crust and mantleis called as the Mohorovich Discontinuity or Moho discontinuity.
- The mantle is about 2900kms in thickness.
- Nearly 84% of the earth’s volume and 67% of the earth’s mass is occupied by the mantle.
- The major constituent elements of the mantle are Silicon and Magnesium and hence it is also termed as SIMA.
- The density of the layer is higher than the crust and varies from 3.3 – 5.4g/cm3.
- The uppermost solid part of the mantle and the entire crust constitute the Lithosphere.
- The asthenosphere (in between 80-200km) is a highly viscous, mechanically weak and ductile, deforming region of the upper mantle which lies just below the lithosphere.
- The asthenosphere is the main source of magma and it is the layer over which the lithospheric plates/ continental plates move (plate tectonics).
- The discontinuity between the upper mantle and the lower mantleis known as Repetti Discontinuity.
- The portion of the mantle which is just below the lithosphere and asthenosphere, but above the core is called as Mesosphere.
[C] Core
- It is the innermost layer surrounding the earth’s centre.
- The core is separated from the mantle by Guttenberg’s Discontinuity.
- It is composed mainly of iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni) and hence it is also called as NIFE.
- It constitutes nearly 15% of earth’s volume and 32.5% of earth’s mass.
- It is the densest layer of the earth with its density ranges between 9.5-14.5g/cm3.
- It spins independently because it floats in the liquid metal outer core. One cycle of the swing is about seven decades approximately.
- It consists of two sub-layers: the inner core and the outer core.
- The inner core is in solid state and the outer core is in the liquid state (or semi-liquid).
- The discontinuity between the upper core and the lower core is called as Lehmann Discontinuity.
- Barysphere is sometimes used to refer the core of the earth or sometimes the whole interior.
What should one understand about the interior of the earth?
- It is not possible to know about the earth’s interior by direct observations because of the huge size and the changing nature of its interior composition.
- It is an almost impossible distance for the humans to reach till the centre of the earth (The earth’s radius is 6,370 km).
- The rapid increase in temperature below the earth’s surface is mainly responsible for setting a limit to direct observations inside the earth.
Sources of Information about the interior of the earth
Direct Sources:
- Rocks from mining area
- Volcanic eruptions
Indirect Sources
- By analyzing the rate of change of temperature and pressurefrom the surface towards the interior.
- Meteors, as they belong to the same type of materials earth is made of.
- Gravitation, which is greater near poles and less at the equator.
- Gravity anomaly, which is the change in gravity value according to the mass of material, gives us information about the materials in the earth’s interior.
- Magnetic sources.
- Seismic Waves: the shadow zones of body waves (Primary and secondary waves) give us information about the state of materials in the interior.
What is the new study about?
- Exactly how the inner core rotates has been a matter of debate between scientists— and the latest research is expected to prove controversial.
- A new research has analyzed seismic waves from repeating earthquakes over the last six decades.
- It shows that- the inner core started rotating slightly faster than the rest of the planet in the early 1970s, the study said.
- But it had been slowing down before coming in sync with Earth’s rotation around 2009.
What made the core spin slower?
- So far there is little to indicate that what the inner core does has many effects on surface dwellers.
- The researchers said this rotation timeline roughly lines up with changes in what is called the “length of day”— small variations in the exact time it takes Earth to rotate on its axis.
- But the researchers said they believed there were physical links between all of Earth’s layers, from the inner core to the surface.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Aditya L1 mission
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch the Aditya-L1 mission by June or July this year.
What is Aditya-L1 Mission?
- ISRO categorizes Aditya L1 as a 400 kg-class satellite that will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in XL configuration.
- It will observe the Sun from a close distance, and try to obtain information about its atmosphere and magnetic field.
- The space-based observatory will have seven payloads (instruments) on board to study the Sun’s corona, solar emissions, solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and will carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun.
L1: Behind the name
- L1 refers to Lagrangian/Lagrange Point 1, one of five points in the orbital plane of the Earth-Sun system.
- Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange, are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system (like the Sun and the Earth) produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion.
- The L1 point is about 1.5 million km from Earth, or about one-hundredth of the way to the Sun.
Major payloads
- In total Aditya-L1 has seven payloads, of which the primary payload is the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), designed and fabricated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru.
- The satellite carries additional six payloads-
- SUIT, the solar ultraviolet imaging telescope
- ASPEX (Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment),
- PAPA (Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya),
- SoLEXS (Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer),
- HEL1OS (High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray spectrometer) and
- Magnetometer — with enhanced science scope and objectives possible by extensive remote and in-situ observation of the sun.
Why is studying the Sun important?
(1) To understand space weather
- To learn about and track Earth-directed storms, and to predict their impact, continuous solar observations are needed.
- Every storm that emerges from the Sun and heads towards Earth passes through L1, and a satellite placed in the halo orbit around L1 of the Sun-Earth system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses.
(2) Observing corona
- The VELC payload will be able to observe the corona continuously and the data provided by it is expected to answer many outstanding problems in the field of solar astronomy.
- No other solar coronagraph in space has the ability to image the solar corona as close to the solar disk as VELC can.
- It can image it as close as 1.05 times the solar radius.
- It can also do imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry at the same time, and can take observations at a very high resolution (level of detail) and many times a second.
Why are solar missions challenging?
- Distance: What makes a solar mission challenging is the distance of the Sun from Earth (about 149 million km on average, compared to the only 3.84 lakh km to the Moon).
- Heat: More importantly the super-hot temperatures and radiations in the solar atmosphere make it difficult to study.
Major missions to Sun till now
- NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has already gone far closer — but it will be looking away from the Sun.
- The earlier Helios 2 solar probe, a joint venture between NASA and space agency of erstwhile West Germany, went within 43 million km of the Sun’s surface in 1976.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Account settlement, T+1
Mains level: Not Much
After China, India will become the second country in the world to start the ‘trade-plus-one’ (T+1) settlement cycle in top-listed securities today.
What’s the T+1 settlement plan?
- The T+1 settlement cycle means that trade-related settlements must be done within a day, or 24 hours, of the completion of a transaction.
- For example, under T+1, if a customer bought shares on Wednesday, they would be credited to the customer’s demat account on Thursday.
- This is different from T+2, where they will be settled on Friday.
- As many as 256 large-cap and top mid-cap stocks, including Nifty and Sensex stocks, will come under the T+1 settlement from Friday.
What was the earlier settlement system?
- Until 2001, stock markets had a weekly settlement system.
- The markets then moved to a rolling settlement system of T+3, and then to T+2 in 2003.
- In 2020, Sebi deferred the plan to halve the trade settlement cycle to one day (T+1) following opposition from foreign investors.
What are the benefits of T+1?
- T+1 system brings operational efficiency, faster fund remittances, share delivery, and ease for stock market participants.
- In the T+1 format, if an investor sells a share, she will get the money within a day, and the buyer will get the shares in her demat account also within a day.
- The shorter trade settlement cycle augurs well for the Indian equity markets from a liquidity perspective.
- This will also help investors in reducing the overall capital requirements with the margins getting released on T+1 day, and in getting the funds in the bank account within 24 hours of the sale of shares.
- The shift will boost operational efficiency as the rolling of funds and stocks will be faster.
Issues with T+1 system
- T+1 is being implemented despite opposition from foreign investors.
- The United States, United Kingdom and Eurozone markets are yet to move to the T+1 system.
Why are foreign investors opposed?
- Foreign investors have some operational issues as they operate from different geographies.
- Among the issues raised by them were time zone differences, information flow processes, and foreign exchange problems.
- Foreign investors said they would also find it difficult to hedge their net India exposure in dollar terms at the end of the day under the T+1 system.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ideal Train Profile
Mains level: AI, Machine Learning
The Indian Railways has concluded the trial of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) program it built to fix a perennial issue — long waiting lists for tickets.
Ideal Train Profile
- Ideal Train Profile was made by Railways’ in-house software arm Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).
- It was fed with information like how millions of passengers booked tickets on these trains, which origin-destination pairs were a hit and which were flops at what time of the year, which seats remained vacant for what portion of a journey, etc.
- This project has been in the works for the past two years, wherein the AI has been “taught” ticket booking data and trends of the past few years.
- It has come up with the best possible combination of how many berths to keep for which sectors and at what time.
- The combination of “training data” the AI has been fed goes back three years.
Significance of the project
- The AI-driven program has, for the first time, allocated vacant berths in over 200 trains in such a way that fewer people need to turn away without a confirmed ticket.
- The waiting lists on these trains, as a result, have seen a curtailment.
Need for AI in ticket booking
- Currently, the passenger is handed out a wait-listed ticket and asked to wait until four hours prior to departure, when the final seat chart is prepared, to see if she made the list.
- This is because a large number of berths are earmarked for various quotas and various origin-destination combinations of the train’s routes.
- If there are 60 halts in a long-distance train, then there are 1,800 possible ticket combinations of origin and destination.
- If there are 10 halts, there are typically about 45 ticket combinations and so on.
- The Ideal Train Profile’s AI tells the Passenger Reservation System how best to give out confirmed tickets and for which sectors.
Way forward
- The AI does data-driven remote location selection, completely automates the process of quota distribution, and suggests optimal quota for different ticket combinations based on historical demand.
- The project has got the Railway Board excited about the possibility of how it can manage busy season rush, when the demands of confirmed tickets are at a peak.
- So the coming summer vacation season will be the first big test for the new system.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Etikoppaka Toy
Mains level: NA
The Union conferred Padma Shri to Mr. Raju in the art category as an honour to the Etikoppaka wooden toy craft.
Etikoppaka Toys
- Etikoppaka is a small village on the banks of Varaha River at a distance of 64 Kms away from the Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.
- The name Etikoppaka is synonymous with beautiful wooden artifacts and lacquer colours.
- The toys are made with lacquer color and are traditionally known as Etikoppaka toys or Etikoppaka Bommalu.
- The village is very famous for its toys made of wood. The toys are also called as lacquer toys because of application of lacquer coating.
- Etikoppaka Toys have obtained their GI tag under the Handicrafts category in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
How are they made?
- The toys are made out of wood and are coloured with natural dyes derived from seeds, lacquer, bark, roots and leaves.
- The wood used to make the toys is soft in nature and the art of toy making is also known as Turned wood Lacquer craft.
- While making the Etikoppaka toys, lac, a colourless resinous secretion of numerous insects, is used.
- The already prepared vegetable dyes are further mixed to the lac, during the process of oxidation.
- After this process, the end product obtained is rich and colored lacquer.
- The lac dye is used for decorating the Etikoppaka toys, which are exported all over the world.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SCO
Mains level: SCO and India- Pakistan relation
Context
- A meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) that India will host in May is expected to bring together foreign ministers of the regional grouping, which includes China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Bilateral ties with Pakistan and China are at a new low. But multilateral settings are often viewed as opportunities for countries with problematic relations to find a way forward.
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The crux
- India has invited Pakistan’s foreign minister to a meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) that India is hosting in May this year.
- Background: After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the then security and economic architecture in the Eurasian region dissolved and new structures had to come up.
- Original shanghai five: The original Shanghai Five were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
- SCO formation: The SCO was formed in 2001, with Uzbekistan included. It expanded in 2017 to include India and Pakistan.
- Security is the priority: Since its formation, the SCO has focused on regional non-traditional security, with counter-terrorism as a priority.
- Three evils: The fight against the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism and extremism has become its mantra.
- Expanded areas of cooperation: Today, areas of cooperation include themes such as economics and culture.
Do you know SCO RATS?
- Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism.
- It is headquartered in Tashkent.
- Its head is elected to three-year term.
- Each member state of SCO sends permanent representative to RATS.
Where India and Pakistan stand today?
- Changed terms of engagement: Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has begun to reset the terms of the engagement agenda.
- India’s improved diplomatic position: India’s transformed relations with the US, the resolution of Delhi’s dispute with the global nuclear order, and getting the West to discard its temptation to mediate on Kashmir enormously improved India’s diplomatic position.
- Economic growth: The most consequential change has been in the economic domain. India has recently overtaken the UK to become the fifth largest economy in the world.
- Broken Pakistan: The persistent neglect of economic challenges left Pakistan in an increasingly weaker position in relation to India. If India has inched its way into the top five global economies, Pakistan today is broken.
India’s position on engagement with Pakistan
- India’s approach in dealing with Pakistan today: The Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi recently said “We we have always wanted normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan. But there should be a conducive atmosphere in which there is no terror, hostility or violence. That remains our position.”
- What Pakistan says: Deputy Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said in Davos that she does not see a partner currently in the Prime Minister of India to take this project of peace-building forward.
Conclusion
- When the multilateral meeting is to be hosted by a country that is on one side of the rift, the first step is for the other side to accept the invitation. An election is upcoming in Pakistan, and having committed themselves to a position, both Bhutto and Khar would be mindful that their actions must match their words. But despite this, if there is an opportunity for a thaw, India must not be the one to miss it. India need handle the hostile neighbor with the right approach.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: particulars of G20
Mains level: G20 and India's opportunity and global governance
Context
- The G20, or Group of 20, has emerged as the primary venue for international economic and financial cooperation. India assumed the presidency of the powerful grouping G20 on 1 December 2022, symbolising the motto and showcasing its philosophies of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, or “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.
What One Earth, One Family, One Future suggests?
- India committed to making India’s year of chairmanship one that will focus on “healing our ‘One Earth’, creating harmony within our ‘One Family’, and giving hope for our ‘One Future’ and LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment).
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What is Troika?
- The troika means previous, current, and incoming presidency which comprise Indonesia, India, and Brazil, respectively.
- The troika is leading the global agenda at G20 in the current turbulent economic times.
- Beyond being a forum for policy discussions, the G20 plays the role of reconciling the irreconcilable.
- The number of talks and years the group has been together has resulted in a mixed bag of success.
- Democratising the process of setting the agenda: While setting up the global agenda, it is critical to bring together all the partner nations to understand their priorities. It will ensure diversity, equity, inclusivity, sustainability, transparency, and long-term commitment. This can also help ensure that the domestic policies are aligned and support global priorities.
- Strike a balance between the needs of developing and developed countries: Since India has a greater responsibility to shoulder, it should not work and seem biased. Similarly, developed nations should instead exercise greater caution with their rich resource pools. To create a win-win scenario rather than a zero-sum game, we must think in terms of multilateralism.
- Critical to focus on determined priorities: It is critical to prevent the G20 from suffering as other multilateral forums such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) do from an over-expansion of its mandate. While being ambitious in their approach, it is crucial to set defined, limited long-term priorities.
- Set concrete, measurable, and tangible goals: Measurable outcomes with short, medium, and long-term objectives are crucial. Financial considerations must be made in addition to ensuring inclusivity, sustainability, and accountability.
- Prevent reinventing the wheels: To encourage faster mutual growth, it is necessary to prevent duplication of efforts. It is important to prevent duplication of existing international institutions, fragmentation of financial resources, and the weakening of the coordinating role of the existing multilateral organisations. The ‘cooperative and collaborative frameworks are key to successful outcomes.
- Prejudice-free dialogues are required to promote solidarity: Prejudices on international platforms can pose a threat to global security. Dialogue as an antidote is a force for conflict prevention, management, and resolution.
- Mutual safeguarding is necessary: Mutual safeguarding from disguised elements of neo-colonialism and hegemony is essential for cutting through the socio-cultural and geopolitical barriers between the Global South and the Global North.
- The principle of Antyodaya (rise of the last person:): The global lens must capture every aspect of a community through inclusive dialogues, from the most marginalised to the most privileged. It is crucial to set the vertical and horizontal plans on a global and national level with the ‘last person standing in line’ in mind.
India’s current global Image
- India for global governance: While India’s successes are being assessed and unprecedented hopes are being expressed about our future, the country’s trust in the global governance architecture is evident through several examples from the recent past, like the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines in India as well as remarkable vaccine diplomacy initiative ‘Vaccine Maitri’.
- Fastest growing economy: With one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies, the country has earned its stripes during tough external and internal times.
- India among the tops in global climate change performance index: Similarly, India has been ranked among the top five countries under the global Climate Change Performance Index. Moreover, it has taken the lead in spearheading the transition towards cleaner energy sources.
- Social capitalism nature of economy: With its social capitalism, India has earned a geopolitical sweet spot in the world.
Conclusion
- India can lead the G20 agenda in a unique way the global community has never witnessed. Keeping the essential principles in mind when developing agendas, action-oriented plans, and decisions through collaborative efforts have the potential to yield revolutionary and positive results. The vision of shaping a new paradigm of human-centric globalisation is promising, provided the Global North and South communities provide equal support.
Mains question
Q. India assumed the presidency of the powerful grouping G20 with a motto One Earth, One Family, One Future. In this backdrop how India can set up an agenda for future and not only for a period of presidentship.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ken-Betwa Interlink
Mains level: River interlinking projects
The Steering Committee of the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) held its third meeting in New Delhi.
What is the Ken Betwa Link Project?
- The Ken-Betwa Link Project is the first project under the National Perspective Plan for the interlinking of rivers.
- Under this project, water from the Ken River will be transferred to the Betwa river.
- Both these rivers are tributaries of the river Yamuna.
The Project has two phases:
- Under Phase-I, one of the components — Daudhan dam complex and its appurtenances like Low Level Tunnel, High Level Tunnel, Ken-Betwa link canal and Power houses — will be completed.
- While in the Phase-II, three components — Lower Orr dam, Bina complex project and Kotha barrage — will be constructed.
Utility of the Project
- Irrigation: The project is slated to irrigate 10.62 lakh hectares annually, provide drinking water supply to 62 lakh people and generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar power.
- Water supply: The project will be of immense benefit to the water-starved Bundelkhand region, spread across Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
- Agricultural boost: The project is expected to boost socio-economic prosperity in the backward Bundelkhand region on account of increased agricultural activities and employment generation.
- Addressing Rural Distress: It would also help in arresting distress migration from this region.
Ecological issues with the project
- The government’s plan is based on a ‘surplus and deficit’ model that have little basis in science.
- There may not even be enough water in the Ken, a non-perennial river, to meet the projected needs of the Betwa – forget the needs of the Bundelkhand region.
- UP and MP could not agree on how water would be shared, particularly in the non-monsoonal months.
- The project plans to create a high reservoir-dam on the Ken River in the Panna National Park and Tiger Reserve for the KBLP.
- Downstream of the national park lies the Ken Gharial Sanctuary, created to protect the critically endangered Gangetic gharial (Gavialis gangeticus).
What are the legal problems?
- Approval by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife to the Ken-Betwa link Project has not been proved.
- This is necessary for the improvement and better management of the wildlife therein as provided in Section 35(6) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Issues with the projects
- Migration: It will lead to massive displacement of people
- Topography change: Since the Ganga basin topography is flat, building dams would not substantially add to river flows.
- Inundation: The transfer of such enormous amounts of water will inundate forests and land for reservoirs.
- Seismic hazards: The weight of billions of liters of water can have seismic implications in the Himalayan region.
- Financial expense: River inter-linking is an expensive business from building the link canals to the monitoring and maintenance of infrastructure.
- Political will: Implementation of the project not only needs a huge financial capital but also political support both is scarce commodities as of now.
- Consensus building for land acquisition: Another important issue is building consensus among states and Land acquisition.
- Ecological feasibility: Once the project is implemented it would lead to large-scale displacement of people and animals.
Criticisms of such projects
- Bad Science: Such projects are built on bad science and an outdated understanding of water systems and water management.
- Human determinism: Such projects go in contravention with natural process thereby generating more scope for threat than any opportunity.
Way forward
- Due diligence: Expert scrutiny during the project-approval stage are cornerstones of sound environmental governance.
- Independent hydrological study: of these rivers is necessary.
Conclusion
- No developmental project should destroy the ecology of remnant fragile ecosystems and an important tiger habitat in the country.
- Destructive impact of the proposed dam on the flow of water into and outside of this sanctuary should be immediately clear, as also its violation of the requirement under the Act for a sanctuary
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green Comet
Mains level: Not Much
The rare green comet that last came to Earth about 50,000 years ago has returned to the skies of Earth. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) can be seen with the naked eye if the conditions in the sky are just right.
What are Comets?
- Comets are frozen rocky or gas-filled objects that are remnants of the formation of the solar system.
- Due to their composition, characteristics and the path they move in, they tend to leave a light “behind them”.
- Here, the comet itself is green (called the head of the comet) and emits a whitish light behind it (often called the tail of the comet).
- Just like other bodies in space, comets also have orbits.
- They are sometimes pulled in close to the sun because of the sun’s gravity acting on them.
- As they orbit near the Sun, they heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet.
- The remains of dust following this burning up, from a distance, look like a trail of light to humans on Earth.
What is Green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)?
- Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was first discovered in March last year by the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility when it was already inside the orbit of Jupiter.
- While it was initially believed to be an asteroid, it began developing a tail as the Sun’s influence began vapourising the ice.
- At the time of its discovery, it was shining with a magnitude of 17.3.
Why is it green in colour?
- Comets have often been seen giving out blue or whitish light, or even green.
- In this case, the green glow “is thought to arise from the presence of diatomic carbon – pairs of carbon atoms that are bound together – in the head of the comet.
- The molecule emits green light when excited by the ultraviolet rays in solar radiation.
When and where can the green comet be seen?
- Observers in the Northern Hemisphere will find the comet in the morning sky, as it moves swiftly toward the northwest during January.
- It’ll become visible in the Southern Hemisphere in early February.
- In Indian skies, when looking in the northwest direction, one might spot it 16° above the horizon in the Bootes constellation.
- But with lights from buildings and streetlights on, it can be difficult to make it out without equipment.
Is the green comet rare?
- It last came in the skies above Earth during the Upper Paleolithic period, a time when Neanderthals roamed the planet and early homo sapiens had just come around.
- Coming under the category of long-period comets, which take more than 200 years to orbit the Sun, the green comet is not easily spotted.
- With a highly elliptical orbit, the comet will head back to the Oort cloud and make its next appearance roughly 50,000 years later.
- But given their orbits, it’s not unique for comets to reappear close to Earth only after many, many years.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Norovirus
Mains level: Not Much
The Kerala Health Department confirmed two cases of the gastrointestinal infection norovirus in class 1 students in Ernakulam district.
What is Norovirus?
- Norovirus is an important cause of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis in children as well as adults worldwide.
- It leads to diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea, and abdominal pain. Being a diarrhoeal disease, it can lead to dehydration, so drinking plenty of fluids is recommended.
- The virus was first discovered in connection with an outbreak of acute diarrhoeal disease in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1968 and was called the Norwalk Virus.
- Later, several stomach flu viruses closely linked to the Norwalk virus were found and together, these are now called Noroviruses.
- Many stomach flu outbreaks typically in cruise ships have been traced to NoV.
How deadly is this?
- Norovirus is not new; it has been circulating among humans for over 50 years and is thought to be one of the primary causes of gastroenteritis.
- The virus is estimated to kill 200,000 persons globally every year, with most deaths occurring among those below the age of five years and those over the age of 65 years.
- The virus is capable of surviving low temperatures, and outbreaks tend to be more common during the winter and in colder countries — that is why it is sometimes referred to as “winter vomiting disease”.
What is the incidence of infection in India?
- Cases of norovirus are not as common in India as in many other places — at the same time.
- The infection has been reported in previous years as well, mainly from Southern India, and especially from Kerala.
- A 2021 study from Hyderabad reported that norovirus was detected in 10.3% samples of children who came in with acute gastroenteritis.
Can norovirus infection cause a large-scale outbreak?
- Even though more cases of norovirus are being detected, experts say that this is unlikely to lead to a large-scale outbreak.
- There is no epidemiological study to co-relate of these cases.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Olive RIdley Turtles
Mains level: NA
Hundreds of vulnerable Olive Ridley Turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) have washed ashore along the coastline between Kakinada and Antarvedi in the Godavari region during the ongoing annual breeding season on the east coast.
Why in news?
- The wastewater from the aqua ponds is also being released into the sea.
- This is suspected to be one of the reasons for the mortality of turtles
Olive Ridley Turtles
- The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a medium-sized species of sea turtle found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
- In the Indian Ocean, the majority of olive ridleys nest in two or three large groups at Rushikulya rookery near Gahirmatha in Odisha.
- The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.
- The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, Appendix 1 in CITES, and Schedule 1 in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Special feature: Mass nesting
- They are best known for their behavior of synchronized nesting in mass numbers, termed Arribadas.
- Interestingly, females return to the very same beach from where they first hatched, to lay their eggs.
- They lay their eggs in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers.
- They hatch in 45 to 60 days, depending on the temperature of the sand and atmosphere during the incubation period.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Uniform Civil Code analysis
Context
- Once again there is a clamour to replace diverse personal laws with a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), applicable to all Indians, irrespective of religion, gender or caste. Some states (for example, Uttarakhand) are already drafting one.
- A Uniform Civil Code is one that would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, etc.
- Article 44, one of the directive principles of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavor to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
- These, as defined in Article 37, are not justiciable (not enforceable by any court) but the principles laid down therein are fundamental in governance.
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Inheritance laws at present
- Hindus are governed by the 2005 Hindu Succession Amendment Act (HSAA);
- Muslims by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937;
- Christians and Parsis by the Indian Succession Act 1925 (amended by both communities subsequently), and
- Tribal groups are still subject to custom.
What makes unification difficult?
- Distinction in Hindu inheritance laws: Hindu inheritance distinguishes between separate property and coparcenary joint family property, giving coparceners rights by birth. No other personal law makes this distinction.
- Within Hindu law itself, states diverge: Kerala abolished joint family property altogether in 1976, but other states retained it, and matrilineal Hindus (as in Meghalaya and Kerala) have different inheritance rules from patrilineal Hindus. Even among the latter, Hindus historically governed by Dayabhagha (West Bengal and Assam) differ from those in the rest of India who were governed historically by Mitakshara.
- unrestricted right to will: The right to will is unrestricted among Hindus, Christians and Parsis, but Muslim law restricts wills to one-third of the property; and Sunni and Shia Muslims differ on who can get such property and with whose consent.
- Complex gender equal laws specifically in Muslims: for while the inheritance laws of Hindus, Christians and Parsis are largely gender equal today, under Muslim personal law, based on the Shariat, women’s shares are less than men’s, generically. Being embedded in the Koran, this complex structure of rules leaves little scope for reform towards gender equality.
- Land is treated differently from other property: The HSAA 2005, for instance, deleted the clause which discriminated against women in agricultural land, but the 1937 Shariat Act governing Muslims continues to exclude agricultural land from its purview, leaving a major source of gender inequality intact. Although Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala later amended the Shariat Act to include agricultural land, in many other states, landed property is still subject to tenurial laws which exclude Muslim women from inheriting it, contrary to their rights under the Shariat.
- Social justifications on who deserves to inherit differ: Hindus emphasise sapinda (“shared body particles” in Mitakshara and religious efficacy in Dayabhaga); other communities privilege blood or marital ties; and yet others favour proximity of children’s post-marital residence to provide parents care in old age.
Main concern: Deflection from the original aim of Gender equality
- Today, the UCC debate has become enmeshed with identity politics, deflecting it from the original aim of gender equality. And the mingling of legal reform with religious identity has sharpened political divisiveness.
Answer probably lies in: The discussions among women’s groups in the 1990s
- Encourage each religious community to pursue its own reform for gender equality.
- Constitute a package of gender-just laws which would coexist with personal laws, and a person could choose one or the other upon reaching adulthood.
- Constitute a gender-equal civil code applicable to all citizens without option, based on the constitutional promise of gender equality, rather than on religious decree or custom.
Conclusion
- For a start, rather than one code covering inheritance, marriage, etc., we should discuss each separately. On inheritance, which is the most complex, a secular law based on constitutional rights will clearly go the farthest towards gender equality. Whether this is possible in today’s divisive political environment remains an open question. But at least we should restart the conversation.
Mains question
Q. What is Uniform civil code? Highlight some of the major points which makes the unification difficult.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
Mains level: Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, shortcomings and proposals to address the gaps
Context
- The introduction of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in 2016 brought about a structural change in the resolution architecture in the country. However, despite its promise, the IBC, in its functioning, has fallen short of expectations. Last week, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs invited comments on a fresh set of changes it is considering to bring about in the Code. This is a welcome step.
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What is Insolvency?
- Simply speaking, insolvency is a financial state of being one that is reached when you are unable to pay off your debts on time.
- Insolvency is essentially the state of being that prompts one to file for bankruptcy. An entity a person, family, or company becomes insolvent when it cannot pay its lenders back on time.
What is Bankruptcy?
- Bankruptcy, on the other hand, is a legal process that serves the purpose of resolving the issue of insolvency.
- Bankruptcy is a legal declaration of one’s inability to pay off debts. When one files for bankruptcy, one obliges to pay off what is owed with help from the government.
What is the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (IBC)?
- The IBC was enacted in 2016 to simplify insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings, safeguard interests of all stakeholders (the firm, employees, debtors and especially creditors), and resolve non-performing assets.
- From a ‘debtor in possession’ regime, it was a shift to a ‘creditor in control’ one.
- IBC provides for a time-bound process for resolving insolvencies.
- The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) is the regulator implementing the code and overseeing the functioning of stakeholders.
Why the IBC introduced?
- Increasing Non-Performing Assets: In 2016, at a time when India’s Non-Performing Assets and debt defaults were piling up, and older loan recovery mechanisms were performing badly, the IBC was introduced to overhaul the corporate distress resolution regime in India.
- Time bound mechanism: To consolidate previously available laws to create a time bound mechanism with a creditor in control model as opposed to the debtor in possession system.
- Two positive outcomes: When insolvency is triggered under the IBC, there can be just two outcomes: resolution or liquidation. liquidation means the process of winding up a corporation or incorporated entity
What are the shortcomings in the code’s functioning?
- Timelines are not followed: Realizations of creditors have been lower than expectations, and the strict timelines prescribed in the Code for resolving cases have not been adhered to.
- Less realizable value: According to the most recent data, the total realisable value in cases resolved till September 2022 stood at only 30.8 per cent of the admitted claims.
- Average time is rising: The data also shows that 64 per cent of the ongoing cases have crossed 270 days. In fact, as per reports, the average time taken for cases to be resolved has risen, driven in part by more time being spent on associated litigation.
- Removing ambiguity and bringing the predictability: The changes aim to reduce the time for admitting cases and streamline the process by pushing for greater reliance on data with Information Utilities. Considering the delays in admitting cases, and the implications of recent judicial interventions, this proposal seeks to remove ambiguity, and bring about predictability in the process.
- Extending the pre-packed resolution to other firms: It has also been proposed that the pre-packaged insolvency resolution process that was introduced for micro, small and medium enterprises now be extended to other firms as well. While such a proposal should be appealing, so far very few cases have been admitted under this.
- A clear distinction between the real estate projects: A distinction is now being made between a particular real estate project and the larger corporate entity. The government’s rationale for doing so is that this could allow the corporate entity to continue on other projects, while the stressed project can be tackled separately.
- Changes to the manner in which proceeds will be distributed: Creditors will receive proceeds up to the liquidation value in line with the priority as prescribed under section 53 of the Code, and any surplus over such liquidation value will be rateably distributed between all creditors in the ratio of their unsatisfied claims.
Conclusion
- Attempts to improve IBC’s functioning are welcome. But some of the proposals need more careful examination. Changes to the Code should, after all, be driven by the objective of improving its functioning, and outcomes. This should be done keeping in mind the incentive structures of all stakeholders.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Menstruation
Mains level: Menstruation a biological process and the debate over the mandatory leaves
Context
- On January 19, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on social media that the state government will grant menstrual leave for female students in all state universities under the Department of Higher Education.
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Background
- The announcement came shortly after the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) decided to provide menstrual leave to all its female students after a representation made by the students’ union.
- Vijayan has described the government’s decision as part of its commitment to realising a gender-just society. The government’s claim should inaugurate a wider conversation.
What is Menstruation?
- Menstruation, or period, is normal vaginal bleeding that occurs as part of a woman’s monthly cycle.
- It is a normal process for girls and women who have reached puberty.
- Every month, girl or women’s body prepares for pregnancy.
- If no pregnancy occurs, body gets rid of the lining in the uterus.
- The menstrual blood is partly blood and partly tissue from inside the uterus.
- The length of a period can be different for each person, but usually lasts for 3-7 days.
What is the idea behind the Menstrual leave?
- Paid leaves: Menstrual leave is a Policy of allowing women to take paid leave from work or school during their menstrual period.
- Allows to rest: This leave is specifically for the days when a woman is menstruating and is intended to allow her to rest and manage symptoms such as cramps and fatigue, which can be particularly severe for some women.
- Reducing the stigma: The idea behind menstrual leave is to help reduce the stigma associated with menstruation and acknowledge that it is a normal and natural bodily process.
- The menstrual cycle can be affected by external factors such as stress, changes in temperature and altitude, and even exposure to certain chemicals and toxins.
- This can cause changes in the length of the cycle, the intensity of bleeding, and the severity of symptoms.
- There is also a small percentage of women who experience menorrhagia, which is an excessive bleeding during menstruation. This can be caused by hormonal imbalances, fibroids, endometriosis, and other underlying medical conditions.
Debate over the mandatory Period leave
Advantages:
- Acknowledging the pain and discomfort: Making period leave available to students and, going forward, to women in the workforce, perhaps would be an important step towards acknowledging and addressing the often-debilitating pain and discomfort that so many are often forced to work through.
- Will help create workplaces more inclusive: Instituting period leave would help create workplaces and classrooms that are more inclusive and more accommodating.
- Reducing the stigma associated with menstruation: By making menstrual leave official leaves can help to reduce the stigma associated with menstruation and acknowledge that it is a normal and natural bodily process.
- Increase productivity: By allowing women to take time off during their menstrual period, they can return to work or school more refreshed and better able to focus on their responsibilities, which can lead to increased productivity.
Concerns:
- Context within which such policy decisions are taken matters: In a traditional society like India, where menstruation remains a taboo topic, it is possible that a special period leave could become another excuse for discrimination.
- The examples of similarly traditional societies like South Korea and Japan are not encouraging: Both countries have laws granting period leave, but recent surveys showed a decline in the number of women availing of it, citing the social stigma against menstruation.
- Medicalising normal biological process: There is also the risk of medicalising a normal biological process, which could further entrench existing biases against women.
- Mandatory leaves may hamper women hiring: There is a possibility that the perceived financial and productivity cost of mandatory period leaves could make employers even more reluctant to hire women.
- Reinforcing gender stereotypes: Implementing menstrual leave could reinforce the stereotype that women are weaker and less capable than men, which could have negative consequences for women in the long term.
Conclusion
- The ongoing conversation around menstrual leave and menstrual health is crucial and welcoming. It is also encouraging to see the governments are recognizing the importance of this issue. However, implementing menstrual leave as a legal requirement comes with its own set of challenges. It’s important for governments to navigate these challenges while ensuring that the ultimate goal of gender justice and equality is met.
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