Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Iron Age
Mains level: Ancient Indian Civilizations
Carbon dating of excavated finds in Tamil Nadu pushes evidence of iron being used in India back to 4,200 years ago, the Tamil Nadu government announced this week on the basis of an archaeological report.
What is the news?
- Before this, the earliest evidence of iron use was from 1900-2000 BCE for the country, and from 1500 BCE for Tamil Nadu.
- The latest evidence dates the findings from Tamil Nadu to 2172 BCE! Much older.
- The results of dating, used accelerator mass spectroscopy.
Where were these objects found?
- The excavations are from Mayiladumparai near Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu, about 100 km south of Bengaluru.
- Mayiladumparai is an important site with cultural material dating back between the Microlithic (30,000 BCE) and Early Historic (600 BCE) ages.
- The site is situated in the midst of several archaeological sites such as Togarapalli, Gangavaram, Sandur, Vedarthattakkal, Guttur, Gidlur, Sappamutlu and Kappalavadi.
Outcome: Varying span of Iron Age
- The dates when humans entered the Iron Age vary from one region of the world to another.
- In India, too, the date has been revised with successive findings over the decades.
When the Iron Age is considered in India?
- In 1979, use of iron was traced to 1300 BCE at Ahar in Rajasthan. This is what we have been reading in NCERTs.
- Later, samples at Bukkasagara in Karnataka, indicating iron production, were dated back to 1530 BCE.
- The date was subsequently pushed back to 1700-1800 BCE with excavations finding evidence of iron smelting at Raipura in the Mid-Ganga valley.
- It was then to 1900-2000 BCE based on investigations in sites at Malhar near Varanasi and Brahmagiri in North Karnataka.
- A series of dating results on finds from various parts in India have shown evidence of iron-ore technology before 1800 BCE.
- Before the latest discovery, the earliest evidence of iron use for Tamil Nadu was from Thelunganur and Mangadu near Mettur, dating back to 1500 BCE.
Historical significance
- Iron is not known to have been used in the Indus Valley, from where the use of copper in India is said to have originated (1500 BCE).
- But non-availability of copper for technological and mass exploitation forced other regions to remain in the Stone Age.
- When iron technology was invented, it led to the production of agricultural tools and weapons, leading to production required for a civilisation ahead of economic and cultural progress.
- While useful tools were made out of copper, these were brittle and not as strong as iron tools would be.
- With the latest evidence tracing our Iron Age to 2000 BCE from 1500 BC, we can assume that our cultural seeds were laid in 2000 BCE.
- And the benefit of socio-economic changes and massive production triggered by the iron technology gave its first fruit around 600 BCE — the Tamil Brahmi scripts.
Culture and politics
- The Tamil Brahmi scripts were once believed to have originated around 300 BCE, until a landmark finding in 2019 pushed the date back to 600 BCE.
- This dating narrowed the gap between the Indus Valley civilisation and Tamilagam/South India’s Sangam Age.
- This, and the latest findings, are politically significant.
- The dating of the scripts, based on excavations from sites including Keeladi near Madurai, became controversial when the ASI did not go for advanced carbon dating tests.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Data andAnalytics Platform (NDAP)
Mains level: Not Much
NITI Aayog has launched the NDAP for open public use.
Note: This portal has much useful data. We can use these to substantiate our answers in mains exam.
What is NDAP?
- The platform aims to democratize access to public government data by making data accessible, interoperable, interactive, and available on a user-friendly platform.
- It hosts foundational datasets from various government agencies, presents them coherently, and provides tools for analytics and visualization.
- NDAP follows a use-case-based approach to ensure that the datasets hosted on the platform are tailored to the needs of data users from government, academia, journalism, civil society, and the private sector.
- All datasets are standardized to a common schema, which makes it easy to merge datasets and do cross-sectoral analysis.
Types of datasets available
- Internal & External Affairs
- Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry
- Socio-Economic development
- Power & Natural Resources
- Industries
- Finance
- Health
- Human Resources Development
- Science and Technology
- Consumer Affairs
- Transport
- Housing
- Culture and Tourism
- Communications
Why need such data?
- The rise of data and digital technologies are rapidly transforming economies and societies, with enormous implications for governments’ daily operations.
- NDAP is a critical milestone – which aims to aid India’s progress by promoting data-driven disclosure, decision making and ensuring the availability of data connecting till the last mile.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: INSACOG
Mains level: NA
The PM has announced that the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) would be extended to India’s neighbouring countries.
What is INSACOG?
- INSACOG was established in December 2020 as a joint initiative of the Union Health Ministry of Health and Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
- It aims to expand the whole-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease, across India with the aim of understanding how the virus spreads and evolves.
- It functions under the Ministry of Science and Technology with the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Composition of INSACOG
- INSACOG started out with the participation of 10 national research laboratories of the central government, and gradually expanded to a network of 38 labs.
- It now includes private labs operating on a hub-and-spoke model.
- These works to monitor genomic variations in SARS-CoV-2 by a sentinel sequencing effort which is facilitated by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
- It now involves the Central Surveillance Unit (CSU) under the central government’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP).
Working of the INSACOG
- The data from the genome sequencing laboratories is analysed as per the field data trends to study the linkages, if any, between the genomic variants and epidemiological trends.
- INSACOG helps to understand super spreader events and outbreaks, and strengthen public health interventions across the country to help break chains of transmission.
- Linking this data with IDSP data and the patient’s symptoms helps to better understand viral infection dynamics, and trends of morbidity and mortality.
- The data can be linked with host genomics, immunology, clinical outcomes, and risk factors for a more comprehensive outlook.
- Sequencing assumes added significance as the incidence of reinfections and vaccine breakthroughs increases.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 19
Mains level: Paper 2- Misuse of sedition law
Context
On May 11, the Supreme Court directed the Union government and the states to refrain from using the law of sedition and keep all previous cases under 124A in abeyance till the matter is reconsidered in a comprehensive way.
Data on Section 124A and UAPA about pendency and conviction rates
- The data on draconian laws like 124A or UAPA exposes their untenability.
- According to the National Crime Records Bureau data, a total of 156 cases of sedition were pending in 2017.
- In that year, only 27 cases could be disposed of at the police level by withdrawing the case or submitting a chargesheet.
- In courts, out of the 58 cases on trial, only one conviction could be obtained and the pendency rate for the cases of sedition was close to 90 per cent.
- The number of cases increased in 2020, the year for which the latest NCRB data is available, but with the same results.
- Of the total 230 cases registered, only 23 were chargesheeted.
- Pendency in court reached close to 95 per cent for the sedition cases in 2020.
- The abysmally low rate of conviction and disposal of these cases make it clear that these charges are slapped with very flimsy or no evidence to intimidate or harass those who question the government’s fiat.
- The picture is no different for the UAPA.
- Cases under it have increased by about 75 per cent between 2017-2020.
- A total of 4,827 UAPA cases were pending in 2020 —of them, only 398 could be chargesheeted in that year.
- The pendency rate in court remained 95 per cent, indicating harassment and violation of the right to life and liberty for a great number of people who are suffering because of the diabolical prison conditions in India.
Recommendations and measures
- A consultation paper on sedition circulated by the Law Commission of India on August 30, 2018, found many issues that need addressing around the working of Section 124A.
- Most recently, on May 11, the Supreme Court directed the Union government and the states to refrain from using the law of sedition.
Conclusion
Dissent, criticism and differences of opinion are vital for the functioning of any democracy. The witch-hunting of those who question the government of the day reminds us of medieval times and totalitarian rulers. It is time we usher in an era of free speech. For that, the sedition law must go.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Impact of rate hike on inflation
Mains level: Paper 3- Effectiveness of monetary policy in dealing with the inflation
Context
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week raised both policy rates and cut back liquidity in a surprise inter-meeting decision. The forcefulness and urgency of the policy shift have been seen as a signal of the RBI’s renewed commitment to fighting inflation via aggressive monetary tightening in the coming months.
How do higher inflation rates slow inflation?
- It is true that a large swathe of the global economy is in the throes of runaway inflation and that in many of these economies tightening monetary and fiscal policies is the right response.
- Initial conditions: But initial conditions matter as do the specific drivers of inflation.
- There are typically three ways in which higher inflation rate slows inflation.
1] Lowering inflationary expectations
- Suppose one believes that because a central bank has not tightened enough, future inflation will be higher.
- In that case, the obvious response is to bring forward future consumption and investment to the present, thereby adding to demand and fueling current inflation further.
- So, in principle, the central bank by credibly committing to bringing down inflation through aggressive current actions can bring down expectations of future inflation.
- It won’t work in India: This is a very potent conduit of monetary transmission in developed markets, where there is a wide variety of inflation-hedging instruments, as well as in some emerging markets — Brazil, for instance —where inflation-indexation is widespread.
- However, there is little empirical evidence that this channel works in India, even weakly.
2] Exchange rate channel
- Higher interest rates attract foreign capital that appreciates the currency, lowering import prices and, in turn, inflation.
- Again, this is a powerful mechanism in Latin America and Central Europe, where bond flows — that are sensitive to interest rate differential —dominate capital movements and the import content of the consumer basket is large.
- Will it work in India? This is not the case in India and, in any event, for this to work it would require extreme rate hikes in the country, given the anticipated aggressive tightening by the US Fed.
3] Curbing credit growth
- Raising both the cost of borrowing as well as its availability (for example, by increasing the cash reserve ratio) reduces credit growth, lowering demand, GDP growth and, eventually, inflation.
- It works well in India: This is the credit transmission by which higher interest rates dampen inflation and it works well in India.
- How much of today’s price increase is credit-driven? Even a cursory glance at bank balance sheets would suggest that credit growth is just treading water.
- Having recovered from being negative in mid-2021, real credit growth is running just around 2 per cent.
Comparison with inflation-monetary policy dynamics of 2010-11
- Back then, real GDP growth was clocking over 10 per cent per quarter, nominal credit growth 20-25 per cent, and real credit growth over 10 per cent.
- Inflation was unambiguously driven by an overheated economy and fueled by runaway credit.
- In the event, the RBI assessed the drivers of inflation to be originating from the supply side — higher food and commodity prices — and moved at a glacial pace, such that even after 12 rate hikes inflation remained in double digits for much of that period.
- Faced with a potential US Fed tightening in 2013, India found itself in a near-crisis situation.
- Today things are different. Much of the inflation is driven by global food and commodity prices.
- Despite the languishing private demand, core inflation remains high.
- But this has been the case for much of the last two years, strongly suggesting that the domestic supply chain disruptions in manufacturing and services, especially at the informal level, haven’t been repaired fully.
- The reason why firms locate in the informal sector in the first place is because of lower transaction costs, so when parts of the supply chain shift to the higher-cost formal sector, it shows up as inflation during the transition before increased scale of production and efficiency bring down the cost over time.
- None of these factors is affected much by higher lending rates.
- So the burden of taming inflation by tightening monetary policy will fall largely on lower credit.
- There is clearly a case to remove the extraordinary monetary support provided during the pandemic.
Conclusion
The RBI had misread the drivers of inflation badly in 2010-11. Hopefully, it won’t repeat that mistake this time.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), Black Hole, Saggitarious A*
Mains level: Read the attached story
Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) facility revealed the first image of the black hole at the centre of our galaxy i.e. the Milky Way.
The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy that contains at least 100 billion stars. Viewed from above or below it resembles a spinning pinwheel, with our sun situated on one of the spiral arms and Sagittarius A* located at the centre.
What is Sagittarius A*?
- Pronounced Sagittarius ‘A’ star, it refers to the believed location of the supermassive black hole in the centre of our galaxy.
- About 50 years ago, astronomers identified an area within the constellation of Sagittarius that was the strongest region of radio emission – thus making it the likely centre of the Milky Way.
- It possesses 4 million times the mass of our sun and is located about 26,000 light-years—the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km)—from Earth.
What is an event horizon?
- Black holes are extraordinarily dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape, making viewing them extremely challenging.
- A black hole’s event horizon is the point of no return beyond which anything—stars, planets, gas, dust and all forms of electromagnetic radiation—gets dragged into oblivion.
- The closer someone came to a black hole, the greater the speed they would need to escape that massive gravity.
- The event horizon is the threshold around the black hole where the escape velocity surpasses the speed of light.
What are the recent observations?
- The image of Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) gave support to the idea that the compact object at the centre of our galaxy is indeed a black hole, strengthening Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
- The image was obtained using the EHT’s global network of observatories working collectively to observe radio sources associated with black holes.
- It showed a ring of light —super-heated disrupted matter and radiation circling at tremendous speed at the edge of the event horizon—around a region of darkness representing the actual black hole.
- This is called the black hole’s shadow or silhouette.
How did Einstein’s theory found its proof here?
- According to Einstein’s theory, nothing can travel faster through space than the speed of light.
- This means a black hole’s event horizon is essentially the point from which nothing can return.
- The name refers to the impossibility of witnessing any event taking place inside that border, the horizon beyond which one cannot see.
About EHT Facility
- EHT project is a large telescope array consisting of a global network of radio telescopes.
- It combines data from several very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) stations around Earth, which form a combined array.
- It provides an angular resolution sufficient to observe objects the size of a supermassive black hole’s event horizon.
- In 2019, the eHT facility made history by releasing the first-ever image of a black hole, M87* — the black hole at the centre of a galaxy Messier 87, which is a supergiant elliptic galaxy.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ASEAN, IPEF
Mains level: Read the attached story
US President Joe Biden will host leaders and top officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Washington DC.
About ASEAN
- ASEAN is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia.
- It brings together ten Southeast Asian states – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – into one organisation.
- It was established on 8th August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration by the founding fathers of the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines.
- The preceding organisation was the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) comprising of Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
- Five other nations joined the ASEAN in subsequent years making the current membership to ten countries.
Why in news?
(A) Political purpose
- ASEAN’s ‘Five Point Consensus’ to end the turmoil in Myanmar has not progressed since it was released in April last year.
- In addition to discussing Myanmar, leaders are also expected to discuss Ukraine as well as regional issues.
(B) Economic purpose
- It is expected to discuss his administration’s economic plan for the region — the Indo Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) — during this week’s summit.
- The framework will structure cooperation across several pillars from infrastructure and supply chains to taxation.
What is Indo Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)?
- The proposed IPEF is the Biden administration’s answer to questions about the United States’ economic commitment to the vital Indo-Pacific region.
- IPEF will consist of four “pillars” of work:
- Fair and resilient trade (encompassing seven subtopics, including labor, environmental, and digital standards)
- Supply chain resilience
- Infrastructure, clean energy, and decarbonization
- Tax and anti-corruption
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI)
Mains level: Non-communicable diseases burden on India
A project called the India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) finds that nearly 23% out of 2.1 million Indians have uncontrolled blood pressure.
What is the IHCI?
- Recognizing that hypertension is a serious, and growing, health issue in India, the Health Ministry, the ICMR, State Governments, and WHO-India began a five-year initiative to monitor and treat hypertension.
- The programme was launched in November 2017.
- In the first year, IHCI covered 26 districts across five States — Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra.
- By December 2020, IHCI was expanded to 52 districts across ten States — Andhra Pradesh (1), Chhattisgarh (2), Karnataka (2), Kerala (4), Madhya Pradesh (6), Maharashtra (13), Punjab (5), Tamil Nadu (1), Telangana (13) and West Bengal (5).
What is Hypertension?
- Hypertension is defined as having systolic blood pressure level greater than or equal to 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure level greater than or equal to 90 mmHg.
- The definition also assumes taking anti-hypertensive medication to lower his/her blood pressure.
Why need IHCI?
- India has committed to a “25 by 25” goal, which aims to reduce premature mortality due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by 25% by 2025.
- To achieve India’s target of a 25%, approximately 4.5 crore additional people with hypertension need to get their BP under control by 2025.
What has the IHCI found so far?
- Its most important discovery so far is that nearly one-fourth of (23%) patients under the programme had uncontrolled blood pressure, and 27% did not return for a follow-up in the first quarter of 2021.
- There were an estimated 20 crore adults with hypertension in the country.
- There weren’t enough validated high-quality digital blood pressure monitors in several health facilities, which affected accuracy of hypertension diagnosis.
How prevalent is the problem of hypertension?
- About one-fourth of women and men aged 40 to 49 years have hypertension.
- Southern States have a higher prevalence of hypertension than the national average, according to the latest edition of the National Family Health Survey.
- While 21.3% of women and 24% of men aged above 15 have hypertension in the country, the prevalence is the highest in Kerala where 32.8% men and 30.9% women have been diagnosed with hypertension.
- Kerala is followed by Telangana where the prevalence is 31.4% in men and 26.1% in women.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PM UJJWALA Scheme
Mains level: Not Much
In the financial year 2021-22, 90-lakh beneficiaries of the flagship welfare scheme, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), did not take refill gas cylinders. And over one crore beneficiaries got their refills only once.
About the PM Ujjwala Yojana
- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched in 2016, with the aim to provide Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to five crore women members of below poverty line (BPL) households in the first phase.
- he scheme was expanded in April 2018 to include women beneficiaries from seven more categories (SC/ST, PMAY, AAY, Most backward classes, tea garden, forest dwellers, Islands).
- In the second phase the target was expanded to eight crore LPG connections.
Why was this scheme launched?
- Indoor air pollution is also responsible for a significant number of acute respiratory illnesses in young children.
- Providing LPG connections to BPL households will ensure universal coverage of cooking gas in the country.
- This measure has empowered women and protected their health. It reduced drudgery and the time spent on cooking.
- It will also provide employment for rural youth in the supply chain of cooking gas.
Ujjwala 2.0
- Now migrant workers would only be required to submit a self-declaration of their residential address to get the gas connection.
- Along with a deposit-free LPG connection, Ujjwala 2.0 will provide the first refill and a hotplate free of cost to the beneficiaries.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cap on cash withdrawal
Mains level: Tax evasion
The government has made requirement of a Permanent Account Number (PAN) or Aadhaar number for depositing or withdrawing Rs 20 lakh or more in a financial year or for opening a current account mandatory.
Regulating high-value transactions
- The Central Board of Direct Taxes, in a notification, said furnishing PAN or biometric Aadhaar will be mandatory for such high-value cash deposits or withdrawals from banks in a financial year.
- The same will be applied for opening of a current account or cash credit account with a bank or post office.
- Banks, post offices and co-operative societies would be required to report the transactions of deposits and withdrawals aggregating to Rs 20 lakh or more in a financial year.
- As of now, PAN is required to be furnished for cash deposits of Rs 50,000 or more in a day.
- With these rules, a threshold of Rs 20 lakh has been defined for the full financial year.
How will this help tax department?
- This move will help the government in tracing the movement of cash in the financial system.
- It is expected to help the income tax department monitor deposits/withdrawals where tax would not be getting paid by the individual otherwise on his or her income.
Why PAN-Aadhaar interoperability?
- The PAN-Aadhaar interoperability will help banks to record details for those who don’t have PAN.
- The interchangeable provision in the rules would allow a bank or financial institution to ask for Aadhaar in case an individual states that he or she doesn’t have PAN.
- The Finance Act, 2019, has provided for the interchangeability of PAN with Aadhaar.
- It has been provided that every person who is required to furnish or intimate or quote his PAN under the Income-tax Act.
- Those who, has not been allotted a PAN but possesses the Aadhaar number, may furnish or intimate or quote his Aadhaar in lieu of PAN.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 351
Mains level: Paper 1- Diversity and complexity of India
Context
Given the diversity and complexity of India, the only constitutionally valid common denominator is citizenship.
Social security
- An eminent sociologist and former president of the International Sociological Association, T.K. Oommen, has written extensively on the concept of social security.
- Evolution of nation: He says the principal challenges to the evolution of a nation lie in minimising disparity, eradicating discrimination, and avoiding alienation.
- Excluded groups in our society: He has listed nine categories of socially and/or politically and/or excluded groups in our society: “Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, cultural minorities — both religious and linguistic, women, refugees-foreigners-outsiders, people [of] Northeast India, the poor and the disabled”.
- Sources of exclusion in India: He has suggested that “the three sources of exclusion in India — stratification, heterogeneity and hierarchy — create intersectionality.”
- This insecurity manifests itself in genocide, culturocide and ecocide and in its absence, a society may be conceptualised as secure.
- The Indian polity, he says, “has the most elaborate set of identities based on class, religion, gender, caste, region, language and their intersectionalities as well as consequent permutations and combinations.
- Citizenship as a common denominator: Given the diversity and complexity of India, the only constitutionally valid common denominator is citizenship.
- This is the point at which fraternity can and should be practiced among equals.
- Prof. Oommen opines that it is “only through the conflation of state and nation” can our Republic be considered a nation.
Conclusion
Cultural monoism and secularism are insufficient, Prof. Oommen says; instead, “the idea of conceptualizing India as a multicultural polity is more amenable than a secular India.” The sheet anchor of this has to be citizenship.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Termination of pregnancy as an unconditional right
Context
The issue of abortion is in the news again, internationally.
Criminal law provisions related to termination of pregnancy
- Under the general criminal law of the country, i.e. the Indian Penal Code, voluntarily causing a woman with child to miscarry is an offence attracting a jail term of up to three years or fine or both, unless it was done in good faith where the purpose was to save the life of the pregnant woman.
- A pregnant woman causing herself to miscarry is also an offender under this provision apart from the person causing the miscarriage, which in most cases would be a medical practitioner.
Background of the MTP Act
- In 1971, after a lot of deliberation, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act was enacted.
- This law is an exception to the IPC provisions above.
- Who, when, where, why and by whom? The law sets out the rules — of when, who, where, why and by whom — for accessing an MTP.
- This law has been amended twice since, the most recent set of amendments being in the year 2021 which has, to some extent, expanded the scope of the law.
- The law does not recognise and/or acknowledge the right of a pregnant person to decide on the discontinuation of a pregnancy.
- The law provides for a set of reasons based on which an MTP can be accessed.
Reasons allowed for MTP
- Reasons: The continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or result in grave injury to her physical or mental health.
- The law explains that if the pregnancy is as a result of rape or failure of contraceptive used by the pregnant woman or her partner to limit the number of children or to prevent a pregnancy, the anguish caused by the continuation of such a pregnancy would be considered to be a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman.
- The other reason for seeking an MTP is the substantial risk that if the child was born, it would suffer from any serious physical or mental abnormality.
- A pregnant person cannot ask for a termination of pregnancy without fitting in one of the reasons set out in the law.
- Gestational age of pregnancy: The other set of limitations that the law provides is the gestational age of the pregnancy.
- The pregnancy can be terminated for any of the above reasons, on the opinion of a single registered medical practitioner up to 20 weeks of the gestational age.
- From 20 weeks up to 24 weeks, the opinion of two registered medical practitioners is required.
- Any decision for termination of pregnancy beyond 24 weeks gestational age, only on the ground of foetal abnormalities can be taken by a Medical Board as set up in each State, as per the law.
- The law, as an exception to all that is stated above, also provides that where it is immediately necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman, the pregnancy can be terminated at any time by a single registered medical practitioner.
Issues with the MTP Act provisions
- While India legalised access to abortion in certain circumstances much before most of the world did the same, unfortunately, even in 2020 we decided to remain in the logic of 1971.
- Right to health and right to life: By the time the amendments to the MTP Act were tabled before the Lok Sabha in 2020, a number of cases came before the courts.
- In these cases, the courts had articulated the right of a pregnant woman to decide on the continuation of her pregnancy as a part of her right to health and right to life, and therefore non-negotiable.
- Violation of right to privacy: In right to privacy judgment of the Supreme Court of India it was held that the decision making by a pregnant person on whether to continue a pregnancy or not is part of such a person’s right to privacy as well and, therefore, the right to life.
- The standards set out in this judgment were also not incorporated in the amendments being drafted.
- Not in sync with central laws: The new law is not in sync with other central laws such as the laws on persons with disabilities, on mental health and on transgender persons, to name a few.
- In conflict with other laws: The amendments also did not make any attempts to iron out the conflations between the MTP Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act or the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, to name a few.
Conclusion
While access to abortion has been available under the legal regime in the country, there is a long road ahead before it is recognised as a right of a person having the capacity to become pregnant to decide, unconditionally, whether a pregnancy is to be continued or not.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Persistence of marital rape and need for its criminalization
Two judges of the Delhi High Court gave a split verdict on the question of criminalising rape within marriage, leaving the law unchanged.
Seems like the matter will now be referred to a larger bench.
What is Marital Rape?
- Marital rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without her consent.
- It is no different manifestation of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
- It is often a chronic form of violence for the victim which takes place within abusive relations.
What is the news?
- One of the Judge struck down as unconstitutional the exception to Section 375 of the IPC, which says that sexual intercourse by a man with his wife aged 18 and above is not rape even if it is without her consent.
- However, another Judge said that issue requires consideration of social, cultural and legal aspects.
Outcome of the split verdict: Preserving the institution of marriage
The Centre’s concern that criminalising marital rape may destabilise the institution of marriage is a “legitimate” one, said the HC.
- Spousal intimacy: In a marriage, conjugal expectation is a two-way street, where “consent is given as a part of spousal intimacy although the will to engage may be absent”.
- Need for written agreement: If every such case is treated as marital rape, then the only way partners in a marriage may survive would be by drawing up a detailed written agreement.
- Burden of evidentiary record: This would lead to creating a detailed evidentiary record of every act of intimacy and/or by inviting a third party to act as a witness.
- Defying marital obligations: The HC said that marriage was accompanied by obligations that the partners had to bear, including conjugal expectations, financial obligations and, finally, duty towards progeny.
- Sexual liberty of spouses: The bench also underlined the signs of injury on a partner need not necessarily mean there had been non-consensual sex as “in the age of sexual liberation”, injuries could be a sign of “passion”.
- Cruelty not rape: Forced sexual intercourse between a husband and wife cannot be treated as rape. At worst, it can be treated as sexual abuse found in Section 3 of the Domestic Violence Act.
- Clash of ego: A wife cannot prescribe a particular punishment that can be imposed on the husband ‘to satisfy her ego’,” the judge said.
Then what is the remedy for such ‘Marital Rapes’?
- Section 3 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 provides a definition for domestic violence, which includes physical, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse.
General reasons for disapproval of this concept
- The reluctance to define non-consensual sex between married couples as a crime and to prosecute has been attributed to:
- Traditional views of marriage
- Interpretations of religious doctrines
- Ideas about male and female sexuality
- Cultural expectations of subordination of a wife to her husband
- It is widely held that a husband cannot be guilty of any sexual act committed by himself upon his lawful wife their on account of their mutual matrimonial consent.
Why it must be a crime?
- Associated physical violence: Rape by a spouse, partner or ex-partner is more often associated with physical violence.
- Mental harassment: There is research showing that marital rape can be more emotionally and physically damaging than rape by a stranger.
- Compulsive relationship: Marital rape may occur as part of an abusive relationship.
- Revengeful nature: Furthermore, marital rape is rarely a one-time event, but a repeated if not frequent occurrence.
- Obligation on women: In the case of marital rape the victim often has no choice but to continue living with their spouse.
Violation of fundamental rights
- Marital rape is considered as the violation of FR guaranteed under Article 14 of the Indian constitution which guarantees the equal protection of laws to all persons.
- By depriving married women of an effective penal remedy against forced sexual intercourse, it violates their right to privacy and bodily integrity, aspects of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.
Global examples
- Marital rape immunity is known in several post-colonial common law countries.
- Australia (1981), Canada (1983), and South Africa (1993) have enacted laws that criminalise marital rape.
- The UK in 1991 arrived at a consensus that a rapist remains a rapist subject to the criminal law, irrespective of his relationship with his victim.
- However, in 2003 marital rape was outlawed by legislation in the UK.
Problems in prosecuting marital rape
- Lack of awareness: A lack of public awareness, as well as reluctance or outright refusal of authorities to prosecute is common globally.
- Gender norms: Additionally, gender norms that place wives in subservient positions to their husbands, make it more difficult for women to recognize such rape.
- Acceptability of the concept: Another problem results from prevailing social norms that exist.
Present regulations in India
- Indian Penal Code criminalizes rape in most cases, although marital rape is not illegal when the woman is over the age of 18.
- However, until 2017, men married to those between 15 and 18 could not be convicted of rape.
- Marital rape of an adult wife, who is unofficially or officially separated, is a criminal offence punishable by 2 to 7 year in prison; it is not dealt by normal rape laws which stipulate the possibility of a death sentence.
- According to the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act (2005), other married women subject to such crime by their husband may demand for financial compensation.
- They also have the right to continue to live in their marital household if they wish, or may approach shelter or aid homes.
However, marital rape is still not a criminal offence in this case and is only a misdemeanour.
Arguments against criminalization
- Subjective: It is very subjective and intricate to determine whether consent was acquired or not.
- Prone to Misuse: If marital rape is criminalized without adequate safeguards it could be misused like the current dowry law by the dissatisfied wives to harass and torture their Husbands.
- Burden on Judiciary: It will increase the burden of judiciary which otherwise may serve other more important causes.
Way forward
- Sanctioning marital rape is an acknowledgment of the woman’s right to self-determination (i.e., control) of all matters relating to her body.
- In the absence of any concrete law, the judiciary always finds it difficult to decide the matter of domestic rape in the absence of solid evidence.
- The main purpose of marriage is procreation, and sometimes divorce is sought on the ground of non-consummation of marriage.
- Before giving a final interpretation, the judiciary must balance the rights and duties of both partners.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green Manure
Mains level: Soil Health Management
The Punjab agriculture department is promoting the cultivation of green manure these days.
What is the news?
- Punjab Agro is providing subsidy on the seed at the rate of Rs 2,000 per quintal, which costs Rs 6,300 per quintal without subsidy
- The farmers can avail its seed from the block level offices of the agriculture department as limited stock is available.
What is Green Manure?
- Green manures are crops grown specifically for maintaining soil fertility and structure.
- It is done by leaving uprooted or sown crops parts, allowing them to wither onto the field and serve as mulch and soil fertilizers.
- They are normally incorporated back into the soil, either directly, or after removal and composting.
- There are three main varieties of green manure, including
- Dhaincha
- Cowpea
- Sunhemp
- Also some crops such as summer moong, mash pulses and guar act as green manure.
- They can be sown after wheat cultivation
Characteristics of green manure
- Green manure must be leguminous in nature
- They must bear maximum nodules on its roots to fix large amount of atmospheric nitrogen in the soil.
Various policy initiatives
- Under Sub- Mission on Seed and Planting Material (SMSP), the govt. provides 50% cost assistance for the distribution of green manure required for a one-acre area per farmer.
- The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) promotes cluster-based organic farming with PGS (Participatory Guarantee System) certification.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pantanal Wetlands
Mains level: Not Much
The world’s largest wetland, the Pantanal in South America, is at the risk of collapse due to legal land-use decisions and proposals.
About Pantanal
- The Pantanal is a natural region encompassing the world’s largest tropical wetland area, and the world’s largest flooded grasslands.
- It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and portions of Bolivia and Paraguay.
- It sprawls over an area estimated at between 140,000 and 195,000 square kilometres.
- Various subregional ecosystems exist, each with distinct hydrological, geological and ecological characteristics; up to 12 of them have been defined.
- Roughly 80% of the Pantanal floodplains are submerged during the rainy seasons, nurturing a biologically diverse collection of aquatic plants and helping to support a dense array of animal species.
Significance of Pantanal
- The Pantanal is a refuge for iconic wildlife. This massive wetland has the largest concentration of crocodiles in the world, with approximately 10 million caimans.
- Jaguars, the largest feline in the Americas, hunt caiman in the Pantanal, which has one of the highest density of jaguars anywhere the world.
Threats
- Around 95% of the Pantanal is under private ownership, the majority of which is used for cattle grazing.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Marital rape
Context
On May 10, 2022, a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court gave a split ruling on marital rape, thus ensuring a future hearing in the Supreme Court.
Why rape and marriage were seen as mutually exclusive
- The concepts of rape and marriage were seen as mutually exclusive – they could not be brought together.
- Across the world, and till very recently, marriage has been explicitly treated as being outside the purview of rape.
- Even in the Western countries that we associate with the more “advanced” practices of gender equality, marital rape was treated as an exception to the crime of rape till the early 1990s.
- In the absence of a universal definition, several scholars take marriage to be an institution where a man and a woman live together, have sexual relations and engage in cooperative economic activity.
- Link between marriage and property: Others have emphasised the link between marriage and property.
- The dominant form of marriage in the modern West became quite distinctly patriarchal, visible in late 18th-century British law, for instance, whereby a wife became the property of her husband upon marriage.
- Husbands, therefore, had the right to access their wives sexually, without the question of coercion or consent being on the horizon in the first place.
- As property, wives had to be protected from the (illegal) sexual access of other men, and here too, their consent was irrelevant.
Introduction of marital rape
- If what distinguishes the relationship of husband and wife from other relations between men and women is the legitimate expectation of sexual relations, then the introduction of marital rape signals the entry of a new and equally legitimate expectation: A wife’s consent to sexual relations is essential, and in this, she is no different from other women.
- Husbands no longer enjoy unquestioned rights over the bodies of their wives — this is what it means for a wife to be a person with bodily integrity.
Conclusion
It is strange, indeed, that most parts of the world, India included, became modern while continuing to believe that wives are the property of husbands.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Lesson from the power shortage crisis
Context
The power crisis has taken us by surprise. The question in everyone’s mind is: where did we go wrong? And who slipped up?
Responsibilities in supply chain
- Under the Electricity Act, it is the responsibility of the Distribution Licensee/Company (Discom) to provide reliable quality and round-the-clock electricity to all consumers to meet full demand.
- To do so, they enter into contracts with a number of generating companies in order to ensure adequate supply.
- These Discoms work under the oversight of the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions.
Suggestions
1] Dealing with the challenge of demand prediction
- Qualitative transformation in demand: With higher incomes and the consequent increase in the use of air-conditioners and other electrical appliances, the nature of electricity demand is undergoing a qualitative transformation with rising daily and seasonal peaks, and spikes on very hot or cold days.
- While demand prediction is inherently uncertain, the questions to ask are whether Discoms have been making and updating their demand growth projections and scenarios over the medium term with adequate supply arrangements in a robust manner.
- This needs to become central to the regulatory process.
- Ensuring reliable supply to meet unanticipated peaks, as have occurred now, requires making supply arrangements with reserve margins that are adequate.
- The Regulatory Commissions need to provide for such expensive peaking power arrangements in the tariffs they approve.
- It is also time to move towards separate peaking power procurement contracts in addition to the present system of long-term thermal power contracts.
2] Demand-based time of day rates of electricity
- A transition to demand-based time of day rates of electricity for generators as well as consumers would help.
- These should be brought in by the Regulatory Commissions.
- Flattening of demand curve: Peak demand moderation and flattening of the demand curve through a change in consumer behaviour is feasible with smart meters.
- But this would take place only with a strong price signal, a large differential in peak and off-peak rates.
3] Subsidies and politics
- Free supply of electricity to farmers and households up to a specified level is not a problem as long as State governments pay for it as provided in the Act, and the Regulatory Commissions do not at the same time act from a political point of view and shy away from determining cost-reflective tariffs.
- While the problem of delayed payments by Discoms is getting highlighted and needs to be resolved with a sense of urgency, the coal supply problem is not due to this.
- Coal India needs to create capacities to rapidly ramp up production; and the Railways need to carry larger quantities of coal when demand surges, as has happened now.
- Imported coal and gas generated electricity: There is idle but expensive generating capacity available — about 15-20 GW of gas-based power plants which can run on imported liquefied natural gas, and 6 GW-8 GW of thermal plants which can run on imported coal.
- Consumers who are willing to pay more could be kept free of power cuts with purchase and supply of more expensive electricity generated from imported coal and gas.
- To improve reliability, Discoms, with the approval of the Regulatory Commissions, need to go in for bids for storage.
Conclusion
A lesson is that demand growth projections and supply arrangements need to become central to the regulatory process.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CRR
Mains level: Paper 3- Dealing with inflation challenge through liquidity measures
Context
The recent action of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise the repo rate by 40 basis points and cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points is a recognition of the serious situation with respect to inflation in our country and the resolve to tackle inflation.
Inflation in India and role of government expenditure
- India’s CPI inflation has been fluctuating around a high level.
- As early as October 2020, it had hit a peak of 7.61%.
- It had remained at a high level of over 6% since April 2020.
- It did come down after December 2020 but has started rising significantly from January 2022.
- On the other hand, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation had remained in double digits since April 2021. The GDP implicit price deflator-based inflation rate for 2021-22 is 9.6%.
- Even though the RBI’s mandate is with respect to CPI inflation, policymakers cannot ignore the behaviour of other price indices.
- After the advent of COVID-19, the major concern of policymakers all over the world was to revive demand.
- Keynesian prescription: This was sought to be achieved by raising government expenditure.
- Thus, the expansion in government expenditure did not immediately result in increased production in countries where the lockdown was taken seriously.
- However, the Keynesian multiplier does not work when there are supply constraints as in developing countries.
- That is why the multiplier operates in nominal terms rather than in real terms in such countries.
- Something similar has happened in the present case where the supply constraint came from a non-mobility of factors of production.
- Nevertheless, the prescription of enhanced government expenditure is still valid under the present circumstances.
- Perhaps the increase in output could happen with a lag and also with the relaxation of restrictions.
Role of monetary policy
- Why lover money multiplier rate? Initially, the focus of monetary policy in India has been to keep the interest rate low and increase the availability of liquidity through various channels, some of which have been newly introduced.
- However, the growth rate of money was below the growth rate in reserve money.
- This is because of lower credit growth which also depends on business sentiment and investment climate.
- Thus the money multiplier is lower than usual.
- The Government’s borrowing programme which was larger went through smoothly, thanks to abundant liquidity.
- Even as the economy picked up steam in 2021-22, inflation also became an issue, this is a worldwide phenomenon.
- In India too there is a shift in monetary policy.
Analysing the cause of inflation
- While discussing inflation, analysts focus almost exclusively on the increases in the prices of individual commodities such as crude oil as the primary cause of inflation.
- General price level: Supply disruptions due to domestic or external factors may explain the behaviour of individual prices but not the general price level which is what inflation is about.
- Given a budget constraint, there will only be an adjustment of relative prices.
- Besides the fact that any cost-push increase in one commodity may get generalised, it is the adjustment that happens at the macro level which becomes critical.
- It is the adjustment in the macro level of liquidity that sustains inflation.
Inflation and growth
- The possible trade-off between inflation and growth has a long history in economic literature.
- The Phillip’s curve has been analysed theoretically and empirically.
- Tobin called the Phillip’s curve a ‘cruel dilemma’ because it suggested that full employment was not compatible with price stability.
- The critical question flowing from these discussions on trade-off is whether cost-push factors can by themselves generate inflation.
- In the current situation, it is sometimes argued that inflation will come down, if some part of the increase in crude prices is absorbed by the government.
- If the additional burden borne by the government (through loss of revenue) is not offset by expenditures, the overall deficit will widen.
- The borrowing programme will increase and additional liquidity support may be required.
Concomitant decisions on CRR and repo rate
- These are concomitant decisions. Central banks cannot order interest rates.
- For a rise in the interest rate to stick, appropriate actions must be taken to contract liquidity.
- That is what the rise in CRR will do.
- In the absence of a rise in CRR, liquidity will have to be sucked by open market operations.
Conclusion
Beyond a point, inflation itself can hinder growth. Negative real rates of interest on savings are not conducive to growth. If we want to control inflation, action on liquidity is very much needed with a concomitant rise in the interest rate on deposits and loans.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Religious and linguistic minorities
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Union government will initiate a wide consultation with states and other stakeholders to examine a plea as to whether Hindus can be granted minority status in states where their numbers are comparatively less.
Why such move?
- Hindus are merely 1% in Ladakh, 2.75% in Mizoram, 2.77% in Lakshadweep, 4% in Jammu & Kashmir, 8.74% in Nagaland, 11.52% in Meghalaya, 29% in Arunachal Pradesh, 38.49% in Punjab, and 41.29% in Manipur.
Who are the Minorities?
- Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain and Zorastrians (Parsis) have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
- As per the Census 2011, the percentage of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population of the country.
- The population of Muslims are 14.2%; Christians 2.3%; Sikhs 1.7%, Buddhists 0.7%, Jain 0.4% and Parsis 0.006%.
- Minority Concentration Districts (MCD), Minority Concentration Blocks and Minority Concentration Towns, have been identified on the basis of both population data and backwardness parameters of Census 2001 of these areas.
Who are linguistic minorities?
- Linguistic Minorities are group or collectivities of individuals residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language or script of their own.
- The language of the minority group need not be one of the twenty-two languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
- In other words, linguistic minorities at the State level mean any group or groups of people whose mother tongues are different from the principal language of the State, and at the district and taluka/tehsil levels, different from the principal language of the district or taluka/tehsil concerned.
- The linguistic minorities are therefore identified by the respective States/UTs.
Defining Minorities
- The Constitution recognizes Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India through Article 29 and Article 30.
- But Minority is not defined in the Constitution.
- Currently, the Linguistic minorities in India are identified on a state-wise basis thus determined by the state government whereas Religious minorities in India are determined by the Central Government.
- The Parliament has the legislative powers and the Centre has the executive competence to notify a community as a minority under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992.
Article 29: It provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script, or culture of its own, shall have the rights of minorities in India to conserve the same. Article 29 is applied to both minorities (religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India) and also the majority. It also includes – rights of minorities in India to agitate for the protection of language.
Article 30: All minorities shall have the rights of minorities in India to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Article 30 recognises only Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India (not the majority). It includes the rights of minorities in India to impart education to their children in their own language.
Article 350-B: Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic minorities in India. However, the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 inserted Article 350-B in the Constitution. It provides for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President of India. It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under the Constitution.
Laws specifying minorities
- 1992 National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act and
- 2004 National Commission for Minorities Educational Institutions (NCMEI) Act
- Under the NCM Act, the central government has notified only six communities, namely Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains, as minorities as the national level.
- The NCMEI Act entitles the six communities notified under the NCM Act to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IBG
Mains level: Significance of Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs)
The Indian Army is in advanced stages of putting together Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) by reconfiguring its combat formations.
What are IBGs?
- IBGs are brigade-sized, agile, self-sufficient combat formations, which can swiftly launch strikes against an adversary in case of hostilities.
- Each IBG would be tailor-made based on Threat, Terrain and Task and resources will be allotted based on the three Ts.
- They need to be light so they will be low on logistics and they will be able to mobilise within 12-48 hrs based on the location.
- An IBG operating in a desert needs to be constituted differently from an IBG operating in the mountains.
- The key corps of the Army is likely to be reorganized into 1-3 IBGs.
Objective of IBG
- Holistic integration to enhance the operational and functional efficiency, optimize budget expenditure, facilitate force modernization and address aspirations
Structure of the IBG
- While a command is the largest static formation of the Army spread across defined geography, a corps is the largest mobile formation.
- Typically each corps has about three brigades.
- The idea is to reorganise them into IBGs which are brigade-sized units but have all the essential elements like infantry, armoured, artillery and air defence embedded together based on the three Ts.
- The IBGs will also be defensive and offensive. While the offensive IBGs would quickly mobilise and make a thrust into enemy territory for strikes, defensive IBGs would hold ground at vulnerable points or where enemy action is expected.
Why need IBGs?
- After the terrorist attack on the Parliament, the Indian military undertook massive mobilization but the Army’s formations which deep inside took weeks to mobilise losing the element of surprise.
- Following this, the Army formulated a proactive doctrine known as ‘Cold Start’ to launch swift offensive but its existence was consistently denied in the past.
- Its existence was acknowledged for the first time by (Late) Gen Rawat in January 2017.
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