From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Jammu and Kashmir;
Mains level: Democratic Governance; Significance of Assembly Election;
Why in the News?
The ongoing first phase of polling for the J&K Assembly significantly marks the first assembly election since 2019’s (Article 370 abrogation), resulting in a fundamentally changed Assembly.
Structural changes made during the J&K Reorganisation Act of 2019:
Statehood to Union Territory: The Act downgraded Jammu and Kashmir from a state to a Union Territory (UT) with a legislature, while Ladakh became a UT without a legislature.
Abrogation of Article 370: The special status granted under Article 370 was removed, extending the Indian Constitution and laws to Jammu and Kashmir in their entirety.
Importance of Election in Jammu and Kashmir:
Restoration of Democratic Governance: After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, Jammu and Kashmir lost its statehood and was reorganized as a Union Territory. Elections are crucial to restore democratic governance and allow people to elect their representatives.
Political Representation: The elections offer citizens the opportunity to choose their leaders and voice their concerns, ensuring political representation at a regional level within the framework of the Union Territory.
Restoring Normalcy and Stability: Conducting elections in the region is seen as a step toward restoring political stability and normalcy after a period of uncertainty and tension following the constitutional changes in 2019.
Powers of the J&K Assembly:
Legislative Powers: The J&K Legislative Assembly can make laws on subjects in the State List, except for public order and police, which are under the LG’s jurisdiction. It can also legislate on subjects in the Concurrent List, provided the laws are not repugnant to central legislation.
Financial Bills: Any financial bill or amendment in J&K requires the prior recommendation of the LG before being introduced in the Assembly. This ensures that significant financial decisions are under the control of the central government.
Powers of the Lieutenant Governor of J&K:
Discretionary Powers: The LG has the authority to act independently on subjects outside the Assembly’s purview, such as public order, police, bureaucracy, and the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Final Authority: The LG’s decisions on whether a subject falls under his discretion are final and cannot be challenged in court. This gives the LG significant control over governance in the UT.
Appointment Powers: The LG has the power to appoint the Advocate General, law officers, and approve prosecutions, further enhancing his administrative role.
Conclusion: The structural changes in Jammu and Kashmir post-2019 have reshaped its governance, enhancing the Lieutenant Governor’s powers. Elections are essential for restoring democratic representation, ensuring regional participation, and promoting stability after the abrogation of Article 370 and state reorganization.
Mains PYQ:
Q To what extent is Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, bearing marginal note “Temporary provision with respect to the State of Jammu and Kashmir”, temporary? Discuss the future prospects of this provision in the context of Indian polity. (UPSC IAS/2016)
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Impact of deepening Russia-China relations;
Why in the News?
Due to sanctions put by the USA, affected Russia’s usual supply and pressured its domestic production eventually led to China’s share of Russia’s imports surged from 32% in 2021 to 89% in 2023.
What is the issue over the dual hegemony of the dollar and the SWIFT messaging system?
Effect of Ukraine War: Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. and its allies froze $300 billion of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves and imposed a SWIFT ban on Russian banks involved in dual-use goods. This showed the weaponization of the U.S.-led financial system.
China’s Fears: China, with about $770 billion of its reserves held in U.S. treasuries, fears similar financial penalties if tensions with the West escalate.
Dual Hegemony: Both Russia and China share concerns over the dominance of the U.S. dollar in global transactions and the influence of the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) system, which is integral to cross-border payments.
Both countries have tried to de-dollarize their economies and promote alternative payment systems like China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS).
However, CIPS is still far from challenging the dominance of SWIFT, and their efforts to create alternative financial frameworks have not seen significant global success.
About SWIFT system:
Founded in Belgium (1973), SWIFT is overseen by the G-10 central banks.
The SWIFT system is a globalfinancial messaging system used by banks and financial institutions to send and receive information about financial transactions securely.
Russia and China have both developed alternative systems to SWIFT.
What is the issue over the dual hegemony of the dollar and the SWIFT messaging system?
Trade Dependence: Russia has a minor trade surplus with China, but the trade relationship is imbalanced: China represents 30.4% of Russia’s exports and 36% of its imports, while Russia is only 3% of China’s exports.
Energy Dominance: Over 70% of Russia’s exports to China are fossil fuels, making it vulnerable to changes in China’s energy needs.
High-priority goods: In 2023, 89% of Russia’s high-priority goods were imported from China, compared to 32% in 2021.
What does it mean for India?
Strategic Implications: The deepening partnership between China and Russia has raised concerns in India. Russia, traditionally a close partner to India, now shares a strong relationship with China, India’s primary geopolitical adversary.
Trade Disparity: India’s trade with Russia remains relatively small compared to the rapidly growing China-Russia trade. This economic disparity limits Moscow’s autonomy in maintaining a balanced relationship between India and China.
Russia’s Diminishing Autonomy: Given the economic asymmetry and Russia’s increasing reliance on China, especially for critical goods and financial support, it has less leverage to act independently in its relations with India.
Way forward:
Diversify Strategic Partnerships: India should strengthen its ties with other global powers, including the U.S., the EU, and emerging economies, to reduce over-reliance on Russia for defense and energy.
Expand Domestic Capabilities: India must invest in boosting its indigenous defence and energy sectors to minimize dependence on foreign partners. Strengthening self-reliance will help India maintain strategic autonomy amid shifting global alliances.
Mains PYQ:
Q The USA is facing an existential threat in the form of China, that is much more challenging than the erstwhile Soviet Union.” Explain. (UPSC IAS/2021)
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Challenges due to climate change;
Why in the News?
Although voters voiced concerns about the climate crisis, it was overlooked during the Lok Sabha election campaign.
2023 Climate Targets of Indian Government
Renewable Energy Goals: India aims to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based energy capacity by 2030, with a target for 50% of its total energy needs to come from renewable sources.
Emissions Goals: The updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) set a goal to reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 45% compared to 2005 levels by 2030.
Carbon Sink Targets: India plans to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5–3 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent through enhanced forest and tree cover by 2030.
Net Zero Commitment: Aiming for net zero emissions by 2070, India has committed to significant reductions in projected emissions, including a pledge to reduce one billion tonnes of emissions from now until 2030.
As of late 2023, India has already achieved a cumulative electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel sources at approximately 43.81%, ahead of its initial targets.
Why is addressing the climate crisis an urgent priority for policymakers and the global community?
The Paris Agreement includes a commitment for developed countries to mobilize $100 billion per year by 2020 to support climate action in developing countries. This target was extended until 2025, with new financial goals.
The next five years are crucial for India’s climate action to meet its ambitious 2030 targets, as the Roadmap for 2025 Climate Change Funds are about to end.
India’s heavy dependence on coal, with clean energy contributing only 22% of the electricity mix, underscores the need for an urgent transition.
Immediate attention is required to manage heat stress, improve air quality, handle waste, and enhance energy efficiency.
What specific actions or policies can be implemented?
Enhanced Carbon Markets: Launching the ‘India Carbon Market’ in 2026 aims to help achieve Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and could become the world’s largest emissions trading system by 2030.
Mitigating Pollutants: Focus on reducing CO2 and short-lived superpollutants like methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons, which have significant short-term warming effects.
Integrating specific treaties into the Paris Agreement, similar to the Montreal Protocol, with a new treaty targeting methane reductions by 2030 would be helpful.
Financial Incentives: Developing financial mechanisms and nuanced carbon trading approaches to encourage faster climate action and effective pollutant management.
What challenges or barriers exist in the implementation of a comprehensive climate crisis agenda?
Governance and Coordination: Need for a Constitutional nodal authority to ensure coordinated climate action across various government levels and stakeholders.
Economic and Social Factors: Rising temperatures and associated crises like unemployment and high living costs contribute to public disengagement from climate issues.
Political and Voter Engagement: The 2024 Lok Sabha election’s lack of focus on climate issues highlights the challenge of integrating climate action into mainstream political agendas and addressing voter concerns.
Way forward:
Create a Constitutional Nodal Authority: Form a central body with the authority to oversee, coordinate, and enforce climate policies across various government levels, ensuring effective and unified action.
Prioritize Climate Issues in Political Platforms: Make climate action a central theme in political campaigns and public discussions to boost awareness, engagement, and support for climate policies and initiatives.
Mains PYQ:
Q ‘Climate change’ is a global problem. How India will be affected by climate change? How Himalayan and coastal states of India will be affected by climate change? (UPSC IAS/2017)
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: COP29
Why in the News?
COP29 is set to be hosted by Azerbaijan from November 11 to 22. It has a central focus on finalising a agreement on Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF) particularly for the post-2025 period.
Proposals by Azerbaijan:
Azerbaijan has included key proposals in the COP29 Action Agenda, such as:
Increasing global energy storage capacity by six times by 2030.
Promoting a global market for green hydrogen.
Ensuring the carbon footprint from digitisation and data centres is kept to a minimum.
About the Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF):
The CFAF will be capitalised with contributions from fossil fuel producing countries
It will be headquartered with its secretariat in Baku, Azerbaijan.
It will rely on voluntary contributions from fossil-fuel producing countries and companies.
Azerbaijan, a major petroleum economy, will make the first contribution to kickstart the fund.
Fossil-fuel producing countries and companies will have the option to make annual contributions, either as a fixed sum or based on production volumes.
The funds will be divided equally:
50% will go toward climate projects in developing countries.
50% will support developing nations in implementing national climate action plans.
The fund will become operational once it reaches a minimum corpus of $1 billion.
At least 10 countries must commit to being shareholders for the fund to start.
20% of the revenues generated from investments will be deposited in a Rapid Response Funding Facility (2R2F) providing highly concessional and grant-based support.
What did Paris Agreement of 2015 said on Climate Finance?
Under the Paris Agreement (2015), developed countries are obligated to raise at least $100 billion annually to aid developing nations in their fight against climate change.
This amount is expected to increase after 2025.
Negotiations have been slow, and countries are still debating the quantum of finance that industrialised nations should provide.
PYQ:
[2016] With reference to the Agreement at the UNFCCC Meeting in Paris in 2015, which of the following statements is/are correct?
The Agreement was signed by all the member countries of the UN, and it will go into effect in 2017.
It aims to limit the greenhouse gas emissions so that the rise in average global temperature by the end of this century does not exceed 2ºC or even 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels.
Developed countries acknowledged their historical responsibility in global warming and committed to donate $1000 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries to cope with climate change.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Prelims Only | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian Flag Code
Why in the News?
The Bihar Police arrested some miscreants for waving India’s national flag with distorted Ashok Chakra/Dhammachakra.
Significance of Ashok Chakra:
Symbolism: Represents righteousness, justice, and the path of virtue, urging citizens to uphold moral values.
Legacy of Dhamma: Reflects Emperor Ashoka’s principles of peace, non-violence, and welfare, after his embrace of Buddhism.
Compassion for all: Derived from the Dhammachakra, it represents the Buddhist philosophy of ethical living and compassion.
Unity and Progress: The circular design symbolizes unity and continuous development, emphasizing national harmony and forward movement.
About Flag Code of India, 2002:
Details
Objective
To regulate the display, usage, and respect for the Indian National Flag by citizens, organizations, and the government.
Basisi
Article 51 ‘A’ contained in Part IV A i.e. Fundamental Duties asks: To abide by the constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem in clause (a).
Structure
The Flag Code is divided into three parts:
Part I: General provisions related to the display of the national flag by all.
Part II: Display of the flag by government bodies.
Part III: Display of the flag by public, private organizations, and educational institutions.
Material of Flag
The national flag should be made of hand-spun and hand-woven wool, cotton, silk, or khadi bunting.
However, polyester and machine-made flags were allowed under amendments in 2021.
Prohibitions (Section 2.2)
Not be used as a drapery, costume, or uniform.
Not be used for commercial purposes or as a receptacle.
Display Guidelines (Section 2.1)
Must be hoisted respectfully, always ensuring that the saffron band is on top when displayed vertically.
Should never touch the ground or be used as decoration.
Amendments
In 2022, rules were amended to allow the national flag to be flown both during the day and night, as long as it is hoisted in a dignified manner.
Penalties
Disrespect or misuse of the national flag is punishable under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.
PYQ:
[2008] What is the number of spokes in the Dharmachakra in the National Flag of India?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Telescopes
Why in the News?
Modern telescopes, both on Earth and in space, expand our understanding of the universe by gathering and focusing light from distant celestial bodies, revealing cosmic secrets.
ModernTelescopes: Everything you need to know
Primary Functions and Features
Purpose
• Telescopes serve as windows into space, revealing distant celestial bodies and helping explore the universe.
• Their primary function is to gather more light than the human eye can, making faint objects visible.
Types
1. Reflecting Telescopes:
• Use mirrors to focus light and create images.
• Most common in large observatories due to the use of parabolic mirrors, which prevent light scattering and offer clear images. 2. Refracting Telescopes:
• Use lenses to bend and focus light (Concave and Convex lenses used)
• Limited by lens size, with a maximum of about 1 meter (e.g., Yerkes Observatory). Large lenses may sag, distorting the image.
Primary purpose
• Telescopes are designed to collect more light than the human eye.
• The light-gathering ability is proportional to the size of the aperture (opening).
• Example: A small 70mm telescope collects 118 times more light than the human eye.
Features of Telescopes
Brightness and Magnitude
• Celestial objects’ brightness is measured in apparent magnitude (lower numbers = brighter).
• Examples: Sun (-26.78), Venus (-4.92), Sirius (-1.46), Andromeda Galaxy (+3.44).
• Small telescopes can detect objects with magnitudes up to +11.2, which are 100 times fainter than what the human eye can see.
Resolution and Detail
• The resolution of a telescope determines how much detail it can show.
• A small telescope can resolve details 1.47 arcseconds apart (40 times more detail than the human eye, which resolves details 60 arcseconds apart).
Why are Telescopes set up on Mountains?
Mountaintop benefits
• High-altitude observatories are set up to reduce atmospheric distortion, which affects image quality (e.g., stars twinkling).
• Space telescopes, like Hubble, are entirely above the atmosphere and provide clear, undistorted images.
Adaptive Optics
• Ground-based telescopes use adaptive optics to correct atmospheric distortions.
• Lasers create artificial stars, and the telescope adjusts its mirrors to reduce twinkling.
About the New Segmented Mirrors
Overcoming Mirror Limitations
• Large mirrors (over 8.5 meters) can sag under their own weight.
• Segmented mirrors solve this by using smaller sections to create larger, effective mirrors (e.g., Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) with a 39.3-meter aperture).
Notable Telescopes
• Large Binocular Telescope (LBT): Two 8.4-meter mirrors, combined aperture of 11.9 meters.
• Extremely Large Telescope (ELT): Under construction in Chile, it will have a 39.3-meter aperture.
• Subaru Telescope (Hawaii): Captured objects with a magnitude of +27.7, 100 million times fainter than what the human eye can see.
PYQ:
[2015] In the context of modern scientific research, consider the following statements about ‘IceCube’, a particle detector located at South Pole, which was recently in the news:
1. It is the world’s largest neutrino detector, encompassing a cubic kilometre of ice.
2. It is a powerful telescope to search for dark matter
3. It is buried deep in the ice.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Windfall Tax
Why in the News?
The Government of India has scrapped the windfall tax on crude oil, which was previously set at ₹1,850 per tonne.
What is Windfall Tax?
Details
Definition
A higher tax levied on companies that earn unexpected and extraordinary profits due to external factors.
Purpose
To capture a portion of excess profits from industries benefiting from global price surges, such as oil.
Imposition in India
Imposed as a Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on crude oil production and exports of diesel, petrol, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
Dynamic Tax Rate
Revised every 15 days based on international oil prices in the preceding fortnight.
First Imposed
July 1, 2022, during the Russia-Ukraine conflict and post-COVID recovery.
Application
Applies to domestically produced crude oil and exports of diesel, petrol, and ATF.
Reasons for Imposing
Sharp rise in global oil prices due to external factors like the Russia-Ukraine war.
Capture supernormal profits of energy companies for public welfare.
Benefits
Generates revenue for public welfare schemes.
Ensures fair distribution of profits from market volatility.
Stabilizes fuel prices during inflation or supply chain disruptions.
India’s Crude Oil Trade:
India is the 3rd largest oil consumer globally, following the US and China.
The country relies on imports for 85% of its oil needs, with this dependence expected to increase due to declining domestic production.
Russia has become India’s top oil supplier, with imports surging to 1.53 million barrels per day (bpd) in January 2024.
Russia (1st) > Iraq (2nd) > Saudi Arabia (3rd)> UAE (4th) – Crude oil export to India
PYQ:
[2020] The term ‘West Texas Intermediate’, sometimes found in news, refers to a grade of:
(a) Crude oil
(b) Bullion
(c) Rare earth elements
(d) Uranium
[2017] Petroleum refineries are not necessarily located nearer to crude oil producing areas, particularly in many of the developing countries. Explain its implications. (250 words)
