Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: India-Europe Trade and Technology Council
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Europe engagement
Context
As Russia, isolated by unprecedented Western sanctions, deepens its alliance with China, Europe has begun to loom larger than ever before in India’s strategic calculus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Berlin, Copenhagen, and Paris this week could give us a glimpse of India’s post-Russian strategic future in Europe.
Engagement with collective Europe
- In her visit to Delhi, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von Der Leyn, unveiled the new contours of the EU’s strategic partnership with India by launching the India-Europe Trade and Technology Council.
- This week, the focus is on India’s key bilateral partnerships with European majors — Germany and France — as well as a critical northern corner of Europe, the so-called Norden.
- Having built up a significant engagement with Moscow over the decades, India and Germany are under pressure to disentangle from the Russian connection.
- Modi and Scholz could also exchange notes on how their long-standing illusions about China came crashing down.
- Macron’s return to power in France offers a good moment for Modi to imagine the next phase in bilateral relations.
- For some time now it has been said that France is India’s “new Russia” — Delhi’s most important strategic partner.
- In recent years, France has emerged as a strong defender of India’s interests in the United Nations Security Council and a regional ally in the vast Indo-Pacific theatre.
- France has also been a major supplier of advanced arms to India.
- But Delhi and Paris have been some distance away from demonstrating full possibilities of their defence partnership.
- There is no doubt that Western Europe has moved from the margins to the centre of India’s foreign and security policies.
- The crisis in Ukraine, which has shattered the regional order that emerged in 1991, intensifies the imperatives for deeper strategic cooperation between India and its European partners.
India’s engagement with smaller European countries
- In Copenhagen, the bilateral talks with Danish leadership are about Delhi finally finding time for the smaller European countries.
- The Nordic summit hosted by Denmark underlines India’s discovery of the various sub-regions of Europe — from the Baltics to the Balkans and from Iberia to Mittleuropa.
- The Nordic Five — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden — have a population of barely 25 million but their GDP at $1.8 trillion is greater than that of Russia.
- Two members of the Nordic five — Sweden and Finland — are now rushing to end their long-standing neutral status and join NATO.
- The other three — Denmark, Iceland, and Norway — have been founding members of NATO, set up in 1949.
- Listening to the Nordic leaders might help Delhi appreciate the deeply-held fears about Russia among Moscow’s smaller neighbours.
- In Copenhagen, Modi would want to build on the unique bilateral green strategic partnership with Denmark.
Germany and India’s engagement with Russia
- Berlin is tied far more deeply to Russia than India.
- Germany’s annual trade with Russia is about $60 billion while India’s is at $10 bn.
- Germany relies heavily on Russian natural gas, while Russian arms dominate India’s weaponry.
- Irrespective of their Russian preferences, Germany and India have no option but to live with circumstances over which they have no control.
- Opportunity for India: Making India an attractive new destination for German capital, now under pressure to reduce its exposure to Russian and Chinese markets, should be the highest priority for PM Modi.
- Germany is one of India’s oldest economic partners, but the full potential of the commercial relationship has never been realised.
- If there ever was a moment to think big about the future of German trade and investment in India, it is now.
Conclusion
A new paradigm is beckoning India — strong commercial and security partnerships with Europe that stand on their own merit and bring the many synergies between them into active play.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Power generation in India
Mains level: Paper 3- Coal shortage crisis
Context
The power sector in India is going through a crisis. Peak shortages in some states have reached double digits.
Chronology of the crisis
- First, with summer approaching before time, power demand has shot up to record levels.
- The second reason for the rise in power demand is that the economy is recovering, and demand from the industrial sector is going up.
- All things put together, power demand crossed 207 GW on April 29, which is about 14 per cent higher than what it was a year ago.
- Experts feel that the peak demand may even touch 215 GW in the coming months.
Coal shortage crisis
- On average, coal stocks available are only good enough for about eight days’ generation against a norm of 24 days.
- In some plants, the stocks available are just about enough to run the plant for a day or two more.
- Part of the problem of poor coal stock is also rumoured to be on account of the non-payment of dues of coal companies.
- But this is not the major cause of the shortage.
Reasons for coal shortage and fall in generation
- The fall in coal stock in power stations is because of two main reasons.
- 1] Rise in international price of coal: The first is that due to a rise in the international price of coal on account of the Ukraine crisis, all plants that were importing coal have either stopped generating completely or are generating at much lower levels.
- We have a sizeable generating capacity based on imported coal, estimated at about 16 GW to 17 GW.
- All these plants after stopping imports are now looking for domestic coal, creating pressure on domestic coal.
- 2] Non-availability of rakes with Indian railways for transporting coal: Though about 22 MT of coal may be available in power stations, if one includes the stocks available with mining companies, the figure is well over 70 MT.
- So, it is all a question of transporting the coal to the power stations.
- 3] Fall in generation from gas-based plants: To make matters worse, generation from gas-based plants has also fallen due to high gas prices in the world market.
- 4] Impact on hydro generation: Reservoirs, too, are drying up due to intense heat which will adversely affect hydro generation.
Transportation problem faced by Indian railways
- The railways have about 2,500 rakes which can be used for coal transportation.
- With a turn-around time of about four-and-a-half days which goes up to nine days for coastal regions, the railways can provide only about 525 rakes on any single day.
- Of this, about 100 rakes are used for transporting imported coal and therefore, only about 425 rakes are available on a daily basis for transporting domestic coal.
- But only 380 rakes were being provided in the first half of April this year, though efforts are on to increase this to about 415 rakes.
- The railways prefer to transport coal over short distances in order to save on the turn-around time.
- There is also the issue of availability of tracks since they are being used on a back-to-back basis.
- Thus production has to be enhanced so that the replenishment rate is higher than consumption.
- Unless we do that, the total stock of coal in the country will deplete further and it will no longer be a mere transportation problem as it is now, but a general lack of supply of coal.
Conclusion
This is the right time to enhance coal production and build adequate stocks because once the monsoon sets in, production will fall.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Official language , Eight schedule
Mains level: Hindi imposition debate
Remarks by a Hindi actor to the effect that Hindi is the national language of India has sparked controversy recently over the status of the language under the Constitution.
What is the status of Hindi?
- Under Article 343 of the Constitution, the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.
- The international form of Indian numerals will be used for official purposes.
The debate
- Inherent opposition to Hindi: The Constituent Assembly was bitterly divided on the question, with members from States that did not speak Hindi initially opposing the declaration of Hindi as a national language.
- Colonial footprints of English: Proponents of Hindi were insistent that English was the language of enslavement and that it should be eliminated as early as possible.
- Fear of Hindi imposition: Opponents were against English being done away with, fearing that it may lead to Hindi domination in regions that did not speak the language.
- Inefficacy of Sanskrit: There were demands to make Sanskrit the official language, while some argued in favour of ‘Hindustani’.
- Issue over Script: There were differences of opinion over the script too. When opinion veered towards accepting Hindi, proponents of the language wanted the ‘Devanagari’ script to be adopted both for words and numerals.
Major outcome: No national language
- It was decided that the Constitution will only speak of an ‘official language’.
- And that English would continue to be used for a period of 15 years.
- The Constitution said that after 15 years, Parliament may by law decide on the use of English and the use of the Devanagari form of numbers for specified purposes.
What is the Eighth Schedule?
- The Eighth Schedule contains a list of languages in the country. Initially, there were 14 languages in the schedule, but now there are 22 languages.
- There is no description of the sort of languages that are included or will be included in the Eighth Schedule.
Constitutional position of Eighth Schedule
There are only two references to these languages in the text of the Constitution.
(i) Article 344(1):
- It provides for the formation of a Commission by the President, which should have a Chairman and members representing these scheduled languages.
- The purpose of the Commission is to make recommendations for the progressive use of Hindi for official purposes of the Union and for restricting the use of English.
(ii) Article 351:
- It says it is the Union government’s duty to promote the spread of Hindi so that it becomes “a medium of expression for all elements of the composite culture of India”.
- It also aims to assimilate elements of forms and expressions from Hindustani and languages listed in the Eighth Schedule.
What were the 1965 protests about?
- The Official Languages Act, 1963 was passed in anticipation of the expiry of the 15-year period during which the Constitution originally allowed the use of English for official purposes.
- Its operative section provided for the continuing use of English, notwithstanding the expiry of the 15-year period.
- Jawaharlal Nehru had given an assurance in 1959 that English would remain in official use and as the language of communication between the Centre and the States.
- The Official Languages Act, 1963, did not explicitly incorporate this assurance, causing apprehensions in some States as the January 1965 deadline neared.
- At that time, PM Lal Bahadur Shastri reiterated the government’s commitment to move towards making Hindi the official language for all purposes.
TN loops in the agitation
- In Tamil Nadu, then known as Madras, the prospect of the use of Hindi as the medium of examination came due to recruitment examination of union.
- It created an apprehension that Hindi would be imposed in such a way that the future employment prospects of those who do not speak Hindi will be bleak.
Creating an exception for Tamil Nadu
- With the Congress government in the State taking the view that the people had nothing to fear about, protests broke out in January 1965.
- It took a violent turn after more and more student activists joined the protest, and continued even after key Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leaders were arrested.
- More than 60 people died in police firing and other incidents as the protests went on for days.
- The agitation died down later, but by then the Congress at the Centre realised the sensitivity of the language issue among Tamil-speaking people.
- When the Official Language Rules were framed in 1976, it was made clear that the Rules apply to the whole of India, except Tamil Nadu.
What is the three-language formula?
- Since the 1960s, the Centre’s education policy documents speak of teaching three languages — Hindi, English and one regional language in Hindi-speaking States, and Hindi, English and the official regional language in other States.
- In practice, however, only some States teach both their predominant language and Hindi, besides English.
- In States where Hindi is the official language, a third language is rarely taught as a compulsory subject.
- Tamil Nadu has been steadfastly opposing the three-language formula and sticks to teaching Tamil and English.
- It argues that those who need to know Hindi can learn on their own.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Federal and Unitary features
Mains level: India's quasi-federalism
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the TH.
Why in news?
- The contemporary discourse on federalism in India is moving on a discursive across multiple dimensions, be it economic, political and cultural,
- It is argued that India is at an inflection point vis-a-vis Centre-State relations owing to increasing asymmetry.
What is Federalism?
- Federalism is a system of government in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country.
- This vertical division of power among different levels of governments is referred to as federalism.
- Federalism is one of the major forms of power-sharing in modem democracies.
Indian case: Federal, quasi-federal or hybrid?
- India consciously adopted a version of federalism that made the Union government and State governments interdependent on each other (latter more vis-a-vis the former).
The federal features of the Constitution of India are:
- Written Constitution: Features of the Indian Constitution is not only a written document but also the longest constitution in the world. Originally, it included a Preamble, 395 articles (22 parts), and 8 schedules.
- Dual Polity: The constitution establishes a dual polity that includes the union at the periphery. Each is endowed with sovereign powers to be exercised in the field assigned to them respectively by the Constitution.
- Bicameralism: The constitution provides for a bicameral legislature in which an upper house (Rajya Sabha) and a lower house (Lok Sabha). Rajya Sabha represents the states of the Indian Union, whereas The Lok Sabha represents the people of India as a whole.
- Division of Powers: The Constitution divided the powers between the Center and the states in terms of the Union List, State List, and Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule.
- Supremacy of the Constitution: The Constitution is the supreme law of the country. The laws made by the Center and the states should be in conformity with Provision. Otherwise, they may be declared invalid by the Supreme or High Court through its power of judicial review.
- Rigid Constitution: The division of powers established by the Constitution as well as supremacy of the constitution can be maintained only if the method of its amendment is rigid. It is necessary for both houses to agree to amend the constitution.
- Independent judiciary: The constitution establishes an independent judiciary headed by the Supreme Court for two purposes: one, to protect the supremacy of the constitution, and two, to settle the disputes between the Centre and states or between the states.
Besides the above federal features, the Indian constitution also possesses the following unitary features:
- Strong Centre: The division of powers is in favour of the centre and unequal from a federal point of view. Firstly, the Union list contains more subjects than the state list, secondly, the more important subjects have been included in the union list and the Centre has overriding authority over the concurrent list.
- Single constitution: The constitution of India embodies not only the constitution of the Centre but also those of the states. Both the Centre and the States must operate within this single frame.
- Destructible nature of states: Unlike in other federations, the states in India have no right to territorial integrity. The parliament can change the area, boundaries, or name of any state.
- Emergency provisions: The emergency provisions are contained in Part XVIII of the Constitution of India, from Articles 352 to 360. In the emergency provisions, the central government becomes all-powerful and the states go into total control of the Centre.
- Single citizenship: Single citizenship means one person is the citizenship of the whole country. The constitution deals with citizenship from Articles 5 and 11 under Part 2.
- All India services: In India, there are all India services (IAS, IPS and IFS) which are common to both the Centre and the states. These services violate the principle of federalism under the constitution.
- Appointment of governor: The governor is appointed by the president. He also acts as an agent of the Centre. Through him, the Centre exercises control over the states.
- Integrated election machinery: The election commission conducts elections for central and state legislatures. But the Election commission is constituted by the president and the states have no say in this matter.
- Equality (= Equity) of representation: The states are given representation in the upper house on the basis of population. Hence, the membership varies from 1 to 31.
- Integrated Judiciary: The term Integrated Judiciary refers to the fact that rulings made by higher courts bind lower courts. The Supreme Court of India incorporates all lower courts, from the Gram Panchayat to the High Courts. The Supreme Court is at the very top.
- Union veto over State Bills: The governor has the authority to hold certain sorts of laws passed by the state legislature for presidential consideration. The President has the authority to refuse to sign such bills not only in the first instance but also in the second.
Reasons for a centralised federal structure
There are at following reasons that informed India’s choice of a centralised federal structure.
- Partition of India and the concomitant concerns: The 1946 Objectives Resolution introduced by Nehru in the Assembly were inclined towards a decentralised federal structure wherein States would wield residuary powers.
- Reconstitution of social relations in a highly hierarchical and discriminatory society: The centralised structure would unsettle prevalent trends of social dominance, help fight poverty better and therefore yield liberating outcomes.
- Building of a welfare state: In a decentralised federal setup, redistributive policies could be structurally thwarted by organised (small and dominant) groups. Instead, a centralised federal set-up can prevent such issues and further a universal rights-based system.
- Alleviation of inter-regional economic inequality: Provincial interventions seemed to exacerbate inequalities. India’s membership in the International Labour Organization, the Nehru Report (1928), and the Bombay Plan (1944) pushed for a centralised system to foster socio-economic rights and safeguards for the working and entrepreneurial classes.
- Linguistic reorganization: It would not have been possible if India followed a rigid or conventional federal system. In other words, the current form of federalism in the Indian context is largely a function of the intent of the government of the day and the objectives it seeks to achieve.
- From the above, it is clear that India has deviated from the traditional federal systems like the USA and incorporated a large number of unitary features, tilting the balance of power in favor of the Centre.
- Hence K C Wheare described the constitution of India as “quasi-federal”.
Conclusion
- The majoritarian tendencies sometimes are subverting the unique and indigenised set-up into an asymmetrical one.
- Inter alia, delayed disbursal of resources and tax proceeds, bias towards electorally unfavourable States, evasion of accountability, imposition of language, weakening institutions, proliferation of political ideologies all signal towards the diminishing of India’s plurality or regionalisation of the nation.
- While it would be safe to argue that our federal set-up is a conscious choice, its furthering or undoing, will depend on the collective will of the citizenry and the representatives they vote to power.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Office of Profit
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Election Commission (EC) has sent a notice to Jharkhand CM over an office-of-profit charge against him for allotment of a mining lease in his name last year.
Why in news?
- Under Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the CM could face disqualification for entering into a government contract.
- The Constitution of India does not define the Office of Profit. It has only mentioned it under Article 102 (1) and Article 191 (1).
What is ‘Office of Profit’?
- MPs and MLAs, as members of the legislature, hold the government accountable for its work.
- The essence of disqualification is if legislators hold an ‘office of profit’ under the government, they might be susceptible to government influence, and may not discharge their constitutional mandate fairly.
- The intent is that there should be no conflict between the duties and interests of an elected member.
- Hence, the office of profit law simply seeks to enforce a basic feature of the Constitution- the principle of separation of power between the legislature and the executive.
What governs the term?
- At present, the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, bars an MP, MLA or an MLC from holding any office of profit under the central or state government unless it is exempted.
- However, it does not clearly define what constitutes an office of profit.
- Legislators can face disqualification for holding such positions, which bring them financial or other benefits.
- Under the provisions of Article 102 (1) and Article 191 (1) of the Constitution, an MP or an MLA (or an MLC) is barred from holding any office of profit under the Central or State government.
An undefined term
- The officials of the law ministry are of the view that defining an office of profit could lead to the filing of a number of cases with the Election Commission and the courts.
- Also, once the definition is changed, one will also have to amend various provisions in the Constitution including Article 102 (1) (a) and Article 109 (1) (a) that deal with the office of profit.
- It will have an overarching effect on all the other sections of the Constitution.
Factors constituting an ‘office of profit’
- The 1959 law does not clearly define what constitutes an office of profit but the definition has evolved over the years with interpretations made in various court judgments.
- An office of profit has been interpreted to be a position that brings to the office-holder some financial gain, or advantage, or benefit. The amount of such profit is immaterial.
- In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled that the test for determining whether a person holds an office of profit is the test of appointment.
What is the ‘test of appointment’?
Several factors are considered in this determination including factors such as:
- whether the government is the appointing authority,
- whether the government has the power to terminate the appointment,
- whether the government determines the remuneration,
- what is the source of remuneration, and
- the power that comes with the position.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Aspects of Article 21
Mains level: Vaccine hesitancy
The Supreme Court has upheld the right of an individual against forcible vaccination and the government’s COVID-19 vaccination policy to protect communitarian health.
What is the news?
- Vaccine hesitancy has been on rise these days.
- The SC has found certain vaccine mandates imposed by the State governments and Union Territory administrations disproportionate.
- They tend to deny access to basic welfare measures and freedom of movement to unvaccinated individuals.
Right not to get vaccinated
- The bench upheld the right to bodily integrity and personal autonomy of an individual in the light of vaccines and other public health measures.
- Bodily integrity is protected under Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution and no individual can be forced to be vaccinated.
- The court struck a balance between individual right to bodily integrity and refuse treatment with the government’s concern for public health.
Subject to scrutiny
- When the issue is extended to “communitarian health”, the government was indeed “entitled to regulate issues”.
- But its right to regulate by imposing limits to individual rights was open to judicial scrutiny.
What is Vaccine Hesitancy?
- The reluctance of people to receive safe and recommended available vaccines is known as ‘vaccine hesitancy’.
- This was already a growing concern before the COVID-19 pandemic.
- A framework developed from research done in high-income countries, called ‘the 5C model of the drivers of vaccine hesitancy’, provides five main individual person–level determinants for vaccine hesitancy:
- Confidence
- Complacency
- Convenience (or constraints)
- Risk calculation
- Collective responsibility
Questions raised by vaccine hesitancy
- To end the pandemic, wherein no one is safe until everyone is safe, how relevant and strong are the arguments on freedom of choice?
- How is the fight against this global crisis impacted when prominent personalities assert on making a choice contrary to global good?
- Amid the raging pandemic and the persistent threat of future waves, how can vaccine scepticism and hesitancy be addressed worldwide?
Why is it a cause of concern?
- Re-surging of covid cases: Amid the ongoing Omicron surge, there have been reports pointing to the unvaccinated population driving the current surge in COVID-19 cases in Europe and US.
- Risk of future waves and danger mutations: Large scale vaccine hesitancy could drag the pandemic longer by ensuring sustained continuance of the COVID-19 diseases and emergence of newer and deadlier variants.
Various causes for vaccine hesitancy
- Scepticism: There are many reasons for vaccine scepticism. Vaccine hesitancy is complex and context specific varying across time, place and vaccines.
- Fake news: The conspiracy theories on social media have brought negative publicity for vaccination. These seem to have created propaganda against the vaccines.
- Malfunctions: The sensational highlighting of vaccine fatalities event by the media is driving vaccine hesitancy to some extent.
- Myths and beliefs: In some places radical religious factors have driven vaccine hesitancy resulting in myth against vaccines. This is also a leading factor of prevalence of Polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- Policy fluctuations: The frequent flip-flops by governments on the vaccination issue have resulted in a low trust among the general populace regarding vaccination.
- Public trust: Vaccine hesitancy is also influenced by factors such as complacency, convenience and confidence.
Way forward
With no “one-size-fits-all” solution to vaccine hesitancy, contextualised and curated approaches are crucial.
- Dispelling misinformation: There is the need to dispel all misinformation – unscientific, incorrect and unsubstantiated.
- Counselling: WHO has put forth the BeSD (behavioural and social drivers) vaccination model, which emphasises “motivation” as the vanguard of human psychology during a vaccination drive.
- Standard safeguards: The fact that vaccines meet the necessary safety standards set by the various organizations needs to be highlighted.
- Vaccine equality: There is the need to ensure access of affordable, quality and timely vaccines to all.
- Highlighting success: Countries must highlight the success observed due to the vaccination programmes, wherein despite rapid rise in cases the hospitalization and death rates remain within controllable limits.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Open Access Registry (NOAR)
Mains level: Not Much
National Open Access Registry (NOAR) has successfully gone live from 1st May 2022.
What is NOAR?
- NOAR is a centralized online platform through which the short-term open access to the inter-state transmission system is being managed in India.
- It is an integrated platform accessible to all stakeholders in the power sector, including open access customers (both sellers and buyers), power traders, power exchanges, National/Regional/State LDCs and others.
- The platform provides automation in the workflow to achieve shorter turnaround time for the transactions.
- NOAR platform also has a payment gateway integrated for making payments related to interstate short-term open access transactions.
- NOAR platform provides transparency and seamless flow of information among stakeholders of open access.
Key features
- Centralized System: Single point electronic platform for all the stakeholders
- Automated Process: Automated administration process of the short-term open access
- Common Interface: Interface with the RLDCs scheduling applications and Power Exchanges (s)
- Payment Gateway: Make payments related to STOA transactions
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Opening of insurance sector in India
Mains level: Paper 3- LIC and insurance sector in India
Context
LIC is now at a transformational moment. Its listing on the bourses should lift LIC to be a part of the elite corporate community in India.
Insurance sector in India
- Opening of the insurance sector: A milestone in the history of India’s insurance industry was the opening of the sector for private participation in the year 2000 and this caused widespread concern that LIC will find the competition tough and could very well be marginalised.
- Today, there are 24 private players in the life insurance space and many of them have foreign collaborations.
- LIC has steadily grown in the past six decades and today with over 290 million policyholders and an asset value of ₹38 lakh crore ($520 billion), it ranks as one of the largest insurance companies in the world.
- Yet, LIC remains a colossus capturing 75% of the life insurance business in the country.
- Its claim settlement at 99.87% is far above the industry average of 84%.
Role of LIC in skilling and women’s employment
- LIC created large scale employment for women right from its inception in 1956.
- Thousands of women became LIC agents in the 1950s and 60s, when job opportunities were scarce.
- There was no entry barrier in terms of age or fixed time for work.
- Education requirement was a mere high school pass.
- Many of these women were housewives who could earn an extra income by selling LIC policies.
- This was a period before the arrival of digital technologies and mobile phones.
- Skill development program: LIC’s training programme with its mix of online education and real-life case studies offer the best model for India’s skill development programmes.
- LIC’s relevance comes from its track record of creating vast number of employment opportunities for ordinary Indians, male and female, urban and rural.
Policies focused on savings
- In a country of vast poverty and low income, LIC recognised from the beginning that it cannot sell insurance as a risk cover on premature death.
- It, therefore, devised policies focussing on savings and the need for children’s education and daughter’s marriage which are fundamentals to family values in India.
- These policies also ensured that a part of the premium paid was returned at regular intervals before the maturity period, providing liquidity for emergencies.
- They simultaneously covered risk caused by death.
- People-centric approach: While the private players concentrated on technology-driven marketing, LIC’s approach was significantly people-centric.
- When Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched for financial inclusion of over 300 million of the rural population on August 15, 2014, LIC was already there with its policies covering a rural population of 200 million.
Conclusion
The nation must not forget the fact that LIC was built on sweat and tears, pain and sacrifice of ordinary Indians. It is these democratic credentials that remain LIC’s most valuable asset.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Energy Outlook Report
Mains level: Paper 3- Carbon tax
Context
Climate change is bound to impact human lives and the global economy at an exceptionally high scale in the not-so-distant future. The solution to the problem calls for government intervention.
Carbon intensive nature of India’s energy ecosystem
- After China and the United States, India, which releases 2.44 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, is the third-largest emitter of this GHG, making it a key player in emissions reduction.
- The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2017 Report estimates that India will account for nearly one-fourth of the global energy demand by 2040.
- As per the IEA’s India Energy Outlook 2021 Report, India’s energy system is highly dependent on fossil fuels — coal, oil and bioenergy — that supply about 90 per cent of the country’s demand.
- Low electrification: About 38 per cent of primary energy is consumed for power generation, implying that the level of electrification is still low in the country.
- Power generation is highly dependent on coal — about 78 per cent of it comes from this fossil fuel — and, transportation is almost entirely dependent on oil.
- The Indian energy ecosystem is, thus, highly carbon-intensive.
Climate change as a feature of market failure
- Market failure due to climate change: Economic activities by consumers (driving or air-conditioning, for instance) and by producers (such as electricity generation and manufacturing) cause emissions, leading to pollution and global warming.
- Negative externalities: These negative externalities, causing outcomes that are not efficient, are not reflected in the costs incurred by consumers or producers.
- The true costs to the consumers, producers and society are not reflected in the market interactions.
- This leads to an uncontrolled rise in emissions and also breeds apathy towards mitigation efforts.
Way forward
- Government intervention: Achieving economic growth sustainably requires a strategy for reducing carbon emissions aggressively while also focusing on efficiency, equity, fairness and behavioural aspects.
- The solution to the problem of market failure calls for government intervention.
- Limits of emission: The most natural option of government intervention for reducing emissions is by fixing limits of emissions through regulation, taking into consideration the Nationally Determined Contribution targets set by the country under the Paris Agreement.
- Experts have shown that the wrongly set emission levels could lead to cost-inefficient outcomes.
- It makes it difficult for the regulator to obtain the information about each firm’s abatement-cost and damage-cost schedules in advance.
- Therefore, setting emission targets and regulating emissions through command and control might be good only during the initial phase of the mitigation strategy.
- Why Carbon tax is a better option? The carbon tax is a better option than regulating the pre-fixed levels of emissions.
- The marginal cost of abatement rises as the firms keep on reducing the emissions further, and the firm will stop reducing emissions and choose to pay tax at the point when the cost of abatement becomes higher than the rate of tax.
- This option will lead to near-efficient outcomes.
- The trading scheme will bring in higher efficiency as the price of certificates will be determined by allowing firms facing low and high abatement costs to compete in the free market as per their own abatement and damage cost schedules.
- The emissions trading scheme will determine the optimal and cost-efficient levels of emissions reduction by providing a choice to the firms to either mitigate or trade — the net effect of this will be a reduction in emissions.
- The low abatement-cost firms will keep reducing emissions as they would profit by trading the certificates.
- Equity in energy access: The issue of equity in energy access must be addressed by channelling the revenues generated from carbon pricing to households and firms impacted by the carbon trading and carbon tax — these could be through incentives or lump-sum transfers.
Conclusion
The socio-economic impact of decarbonising the economy and the way humans live would be crucial in setting our priorities. We have limited time and our resources are scarce.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PMGKAY
Mains level: Paper 3- Significance of PDS and challenges ahead
Context
2020-21 was one of Indian agriculture’s finest moments, as memorable as 1967-68 that inaugurated the Green Revolution. Agriculture was the only sector to grow 3.3 per cent in 2020-21, even as the economy overall contracted by 4.8 per cent.
Increase in grain offtake under PDS
- NFSA along with PMGKAY has led to a massive jump in grain offtake through the PDS.
- More importantly, this increase has largely taken place in the poorer states.
- UP, Bihar and Jharkhand together accounted for 21.6 per cent of national grain offtake in 2012-13, which was pre-NFSA.
- Sales of rice and wheat under various government schemes totalled 92.9 million tonnes (mt) in 2020-21 and 105.6 mt in 2021-22.
- This was as against an average offtake of 62.5 mt during the first seven years after the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013-14 and 48.4 mt in the seven years preceding the legislation.
Provisions under NFSA
- The NFSA legally entitles up to 75 per cent of India’s rural and 50 per cent of the urban population — translating into some 813.5 million people — to receive 5 kg of grain per person per month at highly subsidised rates of Rs 2/kg for wheat and Rs 3/kg for rice.
- In the wake of the Covid-induced economic disruptions, a new Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) scheme was launched giving NFSA beneficiaries an extra 5 kg grain per person per month free of cost.
- PMGKAY was implemented for eight months (April-November) in 2020-21 and 11 months (May-March) of 2021-22.
PDS reforms in states
- Only a handful of states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh — had well-functioning PDS till the early 2000s.
- In the late-2000s, Chhattisgarh initiated reforms to curb diversion/leakages by entrusting the running of fair price shops to cooperatives and local bodies (as against private licensees), making timely allocation and supplying grain directly to PDS outlets (bypassing middle-level distribution agencies), and using IT to track dispatches right from procurement centres to points of sale.
- Chhattisgarh’s example was emulated by Odisha, followed by Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal — all by 2015-16.
- The three poorest states are the latest entrants to the list.
- The accompanying charts show the offtake of rice and wheat both at the all-India level and for the three poorest states as per the NITI Aayog’s National Multidimensional Poverty Index — Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh (UP).
- UP particularly has seen its grain offtake soar from 9.5 mt to 17.3 mt in the last two years.
- Out of the 17.3 mt (10.7 mt wheat and 6.6 mt rice) distributed in 2021-22, 7.8 mt comprised free grains under PMGKAY.
- The PDS, indeed, turned out to be the only effective social safety net during the pandemic.
- Some states went beyond rice and wheat.
Challenges
- The expansion of the PDS, especially post-NFSA, was underwritten by the superabundance of rice and wheat in government granaries.
- Official wheat procurement is likely to halve this time from last year’s record 43.3 mt, because of a poor crop singed by the abnormal spike in March temperatures.
- Rice stocks are far more comfortable, though the precarious supply situation in fertilisers raises questions about the prospects for the coming kharif season.
- Looking ahead, the Food Corporation of India’s stocks can probably sustain the pre-2020-21 annual offtake levels of 60-65 mt – enough for NFSA, but certainly not schemes such as PMGKAY.
Conclusion
The PDS was originally meant to protect ordinary people from extraordinary price rises. Whether it can do that at a time of renewed global inflation remains to be seen.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Confidentiality ring
Mains level: Paper 3- CCI
Context
Amazon (the defendant) decided to take the confidentiality route towards its submissions in an order dated March 7 passed by the DG-CCI on the Amazon dispute.
About the Confidentiality Ring
- In 2015, the EU mandated the creation of a data room to respect the confidentiality of certain documents.
- The EU has to protect this mandate to ensure that the right of defence is not prejudiced.
- Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty of the European Union, which states: “Through confidentiality rings, DG Competition (EU) can safeguard the rights of defence while respecting the legitimate interests in the confidentiality of the information providers.
- In addition, confidentiality rings remove or reduce the burden of preparing non-confidential versions of documents.”
Adoption of Confidentiality ring by CCI
- CCI’s investigation under Sections 3, 4 or 5 of the Competition Act are related to the suo motu powers given to the director-general of the commission, which have now extended toward establishing a confidentiality ring.
- The CCI has taken an alternative view by vaguely replacing the intent with the regulation.
- The commission may provide the Confidentiality ring after providing a reasonable opportunity to the informant to represent its case before the Commission.
- This casts an onus on the informant.
- Turning to the provider of confidential information, the party seeking confidentiality has to submit reasons and the same must be rebutted by the informant, CCI or any other parties, largely driven by the CCI.
Issues with the CCI adoption of the Confidentiality Ring
1] Indiscriminate use of defendant’s reputation ground
- What would happen if the informant seeks additional documents so that the agency is not prejudiced?
- By hearing parties out, through redacted information the CCI is bound to be questioned as to the reasons for deciding in a certain manner and worse, could stifle the process at the start.
- This is likely because the CCI has to hear the objections that the informant may have regarding the reasons for keeping information confidential.
- The usual ground for seeking this protection is the defendant’s reputation.
- However, this defence can be used to indiscriminately to subdue any counter that may arise from the informant, who may not possess the intricate details of how a cartel works.
2] Rejection of informant’s right to know the information
- The second question is about the relief under Section 35 of the Act that empowers the CCI to establish a confidentiality ring including the parties in dispute to disseminate the information for which the confidentiality clause is invoked.
- However, this is immediately caveated by Regulation 8 of the “Confidentiality Ring” Amendment of April 8, which states that the informant shall not be part of the ring.
- This will essentially lead the CCI to gather more information surreptitiously for the determination of the case.
- Void the informant’s right to know information: It has also effectively rejected the informant’s right to know the information, which would be necessary to establish their claim.
- Brings secrecy: This not only empowers the CCI to further its cause of suo motu investigation but also brings secrecy to cases of high-value disputes.
3] It protects the defendant
- The reason the CCI decided to establish a confidentiality ring is the opposite of the EU directive.
- The EU would like to protect the information provider, but the CCI seems to want to protect the documents of the defendant.
- This contradicts the intent in regulation 1 wherein the CCI intends to protect the informant and regulation 2, which gives unfettered rights to “parties” in the dispute to summarily drop the confidentiality card which, according to any reasonable person, includes the defendant.
Conclusion
The protection provided to the informants, unfortunately, turns out to be to the advantage of the defendants, who are usually large multi-billion dollar entities. It enables the CCI to ringfence its investigation creating legal immunity for “all” involved.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chittagong Port
Mains level: India-Bangladesh connectivity
In a major development in India-Bangladesh ties, India has now gained access to the crucial Chittagong Port after it was offered by Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina.
About Chittagong Port
- The Chittagong/Chattogram Port is the main seaport of Bangladesh.
- It is located in the port city of Chittagong and on the banks of the Karnaphuli River,
- The port handles eighty percent of Bangladesh’s export-import trade, and has been used by India, Nepal and Bhutan for transshipment.
- According to Lloyd’s, it ranked as the 58th busiest container port in the world in 2019. The port is one of the oldest in the world.
- Chittagong Port is now being developed and modernized with Chinese investment and help.
- It was widely believed that China will retain the right to use this port according to its plans and needs.
Significance of the port
- The use of Chattogram port was made possible under an agreement that allows the use of Chattogram and Mongla ports as transhipment hubs.
- The port is significance for north-eastern states for enhancing connectivity between the neighboring countries.
- This will reduce the distance, time and cost of logistics for transporting goods.
- Currently, the road route between West Bengal to the northeast covers a distance of over 1,200 km.
Some of the benefits India hopes from this new and shorter route are:
- An additional connectivity route that’s economical and environment-friendly
- States like Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya to get access to a port for transportation of goods
- Lend a fillip to multi-modal connectivity between India and Bangladesh
- Ease stress on supply chains that have been disrupted by the pandemic
- Important bridge for India to reach Southeast Asia, East Asia and beyond
Benefits for Bangladesh
- Fresh investment flow in the logistics sector
- New trade routes are expected to generate employment and give a fillip to transport, finance and insurance.
- Generate revenue by way of administrative and port-related fees
- Lead to economic transformation of cities such as Cumilla, Tamabil and Akhaura as well.
Conclusion
- India has settled the four-decade-old land boundary issue and also showing positive attitude towards Teesta water sharing issue.
- At this moment, it is normal that Bangladesh would show some liberality towards use of ports.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Contempt of Court
Mains level: Read the attached story
The CJI pointed to how courts had to deal with the new problem of “contempt petitions” triggered by the “deliberate inaction” of governments that chose to ignore judgments and orders.
What did the CJI say?
- The contempt petitions are a new category of burden on the courts, which is a direct result of the defiance by the governments.
- Such actions show sheer defiance of governments towards judicial pronouncements.
- There is visible inclination to pass off the responsibility of decision-making to courts.
- The legislature’s work show ambiguity, lack of foresight and public consultation before making laws have led to docket explosion.
What is Contempt of the Court?
- Contempt of court is the offense of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behaviour that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the court.
- There are broadly two categories of contempt: being disrespectful to legal authorities in the courtroom, or wilfully failing to obey a court order.
How did the concept came into being?
- The concept of contempt of court is several centuries old.
- In England, it is a common law principle that seeks to protect the judicial power of the king, initially exercised by him, and later by a panel of judges who acted in his name.
- Violation of the judges’ orders was considered an affront to the king himself.
- Over time, any kind of disobedience to judges, or obstruction of the implementation of their directives, or comments and actions that showed disrespect towards them came to be punishable.
What is the statutory basis for contempt of court?
- There were pre-Independence laws of contempt in India. Besides the early High Courts, the courts of some princely states also had such laws.
- When the Constitution was adopted, contempt of court was made one of the restrictions on freedom of speech and expression.
- Separately, Article 129 of the Constitution conferred on the Supreme Court the power to punish contempt of itself.
- Article 215 conferred a corresponding power on the High Courts.
- The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, gives statutory backing to the idea.
What are the kinds of contempt of court?
The law codifying contempt classifies it as civil and criminal.
- Civil contempt is fairly simple. It is committed when someone wilfully disobeys a court order or wilfully breaches an undertaking given to the court.
- However, Criminal contempt is more complex.
- It consists of three forms: (a) words, written or spoken, signs and actions that “scandalise” or “tend to scandalise” or “lower” or “tends to lower” the authority of any court (b) prejudices or interferes with any judicial proceeding and (c) interferes with or obstructs the administration of justice.
- The rationale for this provision is that courts must be protected from tendentious attacks that lower its authority, defame its public image and make the public lose faith in its impartiality.
- The punishment for contempt of court is simple imprisonment for a term up to six months and/or a fine of up to ₹. 2,000.
What does not account to contempt?
- Fair and accurate reporting of judicial proceedings will not amount to contempt of court.
- Nor is any fair criticism on the merits of a judicial order after a case is heard and disposed of.
Is truth a defence against a contempt charge?
- For many years, the truth was seldom considered a defence against a charge of contempt.
- There was an impression that the judiciary tended to hide any misconduct among its individual members in the name of protecting the image of the institution.
- The Act was amended in 2006 to introduce truth as a valid defence if it was in the public interest and was invoked in a bonafide.
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The Union government has constituted an expert panel to probe the recent series of battery explosions in electric vehicles (EVs).
Why is the world poised to transition to electric vehicles?
- The growing concern over climate change has led to global efforts to electrify the transportation sector.
- In parallel, cost of Li-ion (Lithium-ion) battery technology has decreased by a staggering order of magnitude in the past decade.
- The convergence of these two factors has resulted in a unique time in our history where we are at the cusp of a dramatic transition in the transportation sector.
- There are multiple trade-offs in this complex ecosystem: engineering higher safety often results in higher costs and lower driving range.
- In this competitive landscape where companies are vying for market share, a race to the bottom can compromise safety.
A race to nowhere
- The world has taken note of this moment with governments providing incentives to usher in the transition and private industry ramping up plans for capturing the market.
- There is a worldwide race emerging, with vehicle companies, battery manufacturers, and material suppliers vying with each other for market share.
- However, Li-ion batteries are complex devices requiring a level of sophistication that can takes years to perfect.
- Hurrying the development of this complex technology without careful safeguards are leading to increasing safety incidents, as evidenced recently on Indian roads.
What goes into a Li-ion battery?
- Every Li-ion battery consists of three active components:
- Anode: typically graphite
- Cathode: based on a nickel, cobalt, and manganese-based oxide; and
- Electrolyte: A salt of lithium in an inorganic solvent
- Battery cells are assembled into modules and then further assembled into packs.
- Li-ion batteries require tight control on the state of charge and the temperature of operation to enhance safety and increase usable life, achieved by adding multiple sensors.
- Packs are designed to ensure uniform temperature profile with minimal thermal variation during operation.
What is the level of precision involved?
- Battery manufacturing is a complex operation involving forming sheets of the anode and cathode and assembling them into a sandwich structure held apart by a thin separator.
- Separators, about 15 microns in thickness — about a fifth of the thickness of the human hair — perform the critical function of preventing the anode and cathode from shorting.
- Accidental shorting of the electrodes is a known cause of fires in Li-ion cells.
- It is important that the various layers are assembled with high precision with tight tolerances maintained throughout the manufacturing process.
- Safety features, such as thermal switches that turn off if the battery overheats, are added as the sandwich is packaged into a battery cell.
What causes battery fires?
- Battery fires, like other fires, occur due to the convergence of three parts of the “fire triangle”: heat, oxygen, and fuel.
- If an adverse event such as a short circuit occurs in the battery, the internal temperature can raise as the anode and cathode release their energy through the short.
- This, in turn, can lead to a series of reactions from the battery materials, especially the cathode, that release heat in an uncontrolled manner, along with oxygen.
- Such events also rupture the sealed battery further exposing the components to outside air and the second part of the fire triangle, namely, oxygen.
- The final component of the triangle is the liquid electrolyte, which is highly flammable and serves as a fuel.
- The combination leads to a catastrophic failure of the battery resulting in smoke, heat, and fire, released instantaneously and explosively.
What triggers battery fire?
- The trigger for such events can be a result of internal shorts (like a manufacturing defect that results in sharp objects penetrating the separator).
- The external events may be accident leading to puncture of the cell and shorting of the electrodes, overcharging the battery.
- Any of these triggers may cascade into a significant safety incident.
Are battery fires inevitable?
- Over the past three decades, Li-ion batteries have proved to be extremely safe, with the industry increasing controls as safety incidents have surfaced.
- Safety is a must and is an important consideration that battery and vehicle manufacturers can design for at multiple levels from the choice of battery material to designs at the cell, pack, and vehicle level.
- Protecting the cell with robust thermal management is critical, especially in India where ambient temperatures are high.
- Finally, battery packs need to be protected from external penetration.
- Any large-scale manufacturing process inevitably has a certain percentage of defects; therefore, such steps are needed to minimise the number of adverse events.
Why battery safety matters?
- Safety remains a concern for Li-ion manufacturers worldwide especially as cell sizes become larger for applications such as solar-connected storage.
- There is a need to remove the threat of battery fires as the roll out of mass electrification takes place.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Jute cultivation in India
Mains level: Read the attached story
Member of Parliament (MP) from Barrackpore constituency in West Bengal met the Union Textile about issues concerning jute farmers, workers and the overall jute industry.
What is the news?
- The Barrackpore MP had earlier written to West Bengal CM, seeking her intervention into the “arbitrary decision” of capping the price for procuring raw jute from the mills.
- He was referring to the Office of the Jute Commissioner (JCO)’s September 30 notification mandating that no entity would be allowed to purchase or sell raw jute at a price exceeding ₹6,500 per quintal.
What is Jute?
- Jute is the only crop where earnings begin to trickle in way before the final harvest.
- The seeds are planted between April and May and harvested between July and August.
- The leaves can be sold in vegetable markets for nearly two months of the four-month jute crop cycle.
- The tall, hardy grass shoots up to 2.5 metres and each part of it has several uses.
- The outer layer of the stem produces the fibre that goes into making jute products.
- But the leaves can be cooked, the inner woody stems can be used to manufacture paper and the roots, which are left in the ground after harvest, improve the yield of subsequent crops.
- A ‘Golden Fibre Revolution’ has long been called for by various committees, but the jute industry is in dire need of basic reforms.
Jute production in India
- India is the world’s biggest producer of jute , followed by Bangladesh.
- Jute is primarily grown in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh.
- The jute industry in India is 150 years old.
- There are about 70 jute mills in the country, of which about 60 are in West Bengal along both the banks of river Hooghly.
- Jute production is a labour-intensive industry. It employs about two lakh workers in the West Bengal alone and 4 lakh workers across the country.
Significance of Jute
- Compared to rice, jute requires very little water and fertiliser.
- It is largely pest-resistant, and its rapid growth spurt ensures that weeds don’t stand a chance.
- Jute is the second most abundant natural fibre in the world.
- It has high tensile strength, acoustic and thermal insulation, breathability, low extensibility, ease of blending with both synthetic and natural fibres, and antistatic properties.
- Jute can be used: for insulation (replacing glass wool), geotextiles, activated carbon powder, wall coverings, flooring, garments, rugs, ropes, gunny bags, handicrafts, curtains, carpet backings, paper, sandals, carry bags, and furniture.
Why in news now?
- Mills are now procuring raw jute at prices higher than what they are selling them at after processing.
- The government has a fixed Minimum Support Price (MSP) for raw jute procurement from farmers, which is ₹4,750 per quintal for the 2022-23 season.
- However, as the executive stated, this reached his mill at ₹7,200 per quintal, that is, ₹700 more than the ₹6,500 per quintal cap for the final product.
- Though the Union government has come up with several schemes to prevent de-hoarding, the executive believes the mechanism requires a certain “systematic regulation”.
What happened to supply?
- What made the situation particularly worrisome recently was the occurrence of Cyclone Amphan in May 2020 and the subsequent rains in major jute producing States.
- These events led to lower acreage, which in turn led to lower production and yield compared to previous years.
- Additionally, as the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) stated in its report, this led to production of a lower quality of jute fibre in 2020-21 as water-logging in large fields resulted in farmers harvesting the crop prematurely.
- Acreage issues were accompanied by hoarding at all levels – right from the farmers to the traders.
Where does India stand in comparison to Bangladesh?
- As per the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), India is the largest producer of jute followed by Bangladesh and China.
- However, in terms of acreage and trade, Bangladesh takes the lead accounting for three-fourth of the global jute exports in comparison to India’s 7%.
- This can be attributed to the fact that India lags behind Bangladesh in producing superior quality jute fibre due to infrastructural constraints and varieties suitable for the country’s agro-climate.
- Further, as the CACP report stated, Bangladesh provides cash subsidies for varied semi-finished and finished jute products.
- Hence, the competitiveness emerges as a challenge for India to explore export options in order to compensate for the domestic scenario.
What is at stake?
- The jute sector provides direct employment to 3.70 lakh workers in the country.
- It supports the livelihood of around 40 lakh farm families, closure of the mills is a direct blow to workers and indirectly, to the farmers whose production is used in the mills.
- West Bengal, Bihar and Assam account for almost 99% of India’s total production.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 239AA
Mains level: Centre vs. Delhi Govt
New Delhi has been at the flashpoint of innumerable power struggles these days.
Why in news?
- In the absence of statehood for Delhi, there has been a prolonged confrontation on the relative powers of the territorial administration and the Union government.
Dilemmas of Dual Governance
- Article 239AA of the Constitution of India granted Special Status to Delhi among Union Territories (UTs) in the year 1991 through the 69th constitutional amendment.
- It provided a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers responsible to such Assembly with appropriate powers.
- That’s when Delhi was named as the National Capital Region (NCT) of Delhi.
- As per this article – Public Order, Police & Land in NCT of Delhi fall within the domain and control of Central Government which shall have the power to make laws on these matters.
- For remaining matters of State List or Concurrent List, in so far as any such matter is applicable to UTs, the Legislative Assembly shall have the power to make laws for NCT of Delhi
[a] Centre-State Dispute
- Delhi was given a fully elected legislative assembly and a responsible government through an amendment in the constitution in 1991.
- Since 1991, Delhi had been made a UT with an assembly with “limited legislative powers”.
- Cordial relations have prevailed between the Central and Delhi governments since 1996 and all differences have been resolved through discussions – with a few exceptions.
[b] Lt. Governor vs the CM
- The Article 239AA while conferring on the assembly the power to legislate on all matters in the state list as well as the concurrent list except land, police and public order – contained one sore point.
- It said that in case of a difference between the L-G and the council of ministers, the matter shall be referred to the president by the LG for his decision and pending such decision the LG can take any action on the matter as he thinks fit.
- It is this issue that the constitution bench of the Supreme Court resolved in 2018, when it said that the government does not have to seek the concurrence of the L-G on its decisions.
- Any differences between them should be resolved to keep in view the constitutional primacy of representative government and co-operative federalism.
It is after this judgement, the Centre brought up this Bill.
[c] NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021
- Among the major proposed amendments, one makes it explicitly clear that the term “government” in any law made by the Legislative Assembly shall mean the L-G.
- This, essentially, gives effect to the former L-G 2015 assertion that “Government means the Lieutenant Governor of the NCT of Delhi appointed by the President under Article 239 and designated as such under Article 239 AA of the Constitution”.
- The Bill adds that the L-G’s opinion shall be obtained before the government takes any executive action based on decisions taken by the Cabinet or any individual minister.
[d]
Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India as a key architects of a new international order
Context
India has witnessed a flurry of diplomatic activity during the past week with a long line of ministers, senior military officers and diplomats from a number of countries visiting Delhi and engaging with their Indian counterparts.
Highlights of this year’s Raisina Dialogue
- The senior-most official and inaugural speaker was Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
- The European presence was prominent.
- China and Russia were absent from among official delegates, which is a pity.
- The European presence was prominent. China and Russia were absent from among official delegates.
- The focus narrowed down to the Ukraine war and, more specifically, India’s posture on Russia’s increasingly brutal assault on the hapless people of Ukraine.
- It fell to the external affairs minister to deflect the expectations of India on this score.
What should be India’s approach toward West?
- India will need the West more than it has in the recent past, whether in building up its deterrent capabilities or accelerating its own economic and technological transformation.
- India’s Quad partners the US, Japan, Australia, its partners in Europe and several ASEAN countries, see India as an anchor that could help stabilise the international situation.
- They have a stake in India emerging as an influential power and are willing to contribute to that end.
- The temptation to indulge in criticising each other should be avoided.
Why India should recalibrate its ties with Russia?
- Assumptions about Russia-China ties: A key assumption in India’s Russia policy has been that as a great power, Moscow would be unlikely to accept a junior partnership with China.
- It was also assumed that in the long run, Russian and Chinese interests would not be aligned and, therefore, India should maintain a close relationship with Moscow.
- Even if the Ukraine war had not erupted, the February 4 Sino-Russian Joint Declaration should have led India to question the continuing validity of these assumptions.
- There are valid legacy reasons for maintaining positive ties with Russia just as some European countries have had to do.
- The reality is that India-Russia relations are not a continuation of the old Indo-Soviet ties.
- That strategic partnership that helped India cope with the Cold War and the Chinese and Pakistani threats evaporated with the end of that war and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- Moscow no longer saw Beijing as its main security challenge but for India, China became a bigger challenge.
- Marginal economic and trade relations: India’s economic and trade relationship with Russia has become increasingly marginal.
- Defence relationship diminishing progressively: Even the defence hardware relationship has diminished progressively as India has rightly tried to diversify its sources of supply.
- The legacy in this respect, too, is of diminishing relevance.
- India may have its issues with the existing order but what is envisaged in the Joint Declaration is not the alternative which would enhance India’s interests.
Way forward for India
- Remain engaged with Russia and China: In a shifting geopolitical landscape, it is in India’s interest to remain engaged with Russia and China as two leading powers in the world.
- Such engagement is important to gauge how these powers are themselves adjusting to the changing geopolitical equations across the world.
- The US has shaken off the taint of its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan but its domestic politics is unpredictable and this calls for caution.
- Europe will likely emerge as a more coherent and cohesive entity, anchored in German power, and playing a role more independent of the US than hitherto.
- Deepen partnership with Europe: All the more reason why India must deepen its all-round partnership with Europe, build a shared vision of an altered geopolitical landscape and encourage Europe to play a greater role in the Indo-Pacific.
Conclusion
The attention being paid to India is substantive. A rare but perishable opportunity has presented itself to significantly advance India’s long-term prospects. It must be grasped with single-minded tenacity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Noise Pollution
Mains level: Crackdown on noise pollution
Illegal and unauthorized loudspeakers had been taken down across the Uttar Pradesh and their loudness had been capped, under “an existing government order of 2018, and set rules for sound decibel limits and court directions”.
What is the news?
- The UP state authorities have taken action since the loudspeaker crackdown began in our country.
- Notices were served to alleged violators by local police stations citing the order of Allahabad High Court of 2017, and centre’s the Noise Pollution Rules, 2000.
- The recent UP order asked officials to remove illegal loudspeakers after dialogue and coordination with religious leaders, and to ensure that decibel levels are kept within laid down limits.
Legal basis of loudspeaker crackdowns
(a) Orders of 2022, 2018
- The April 23 order said that two earlier orders passed by the government in 2018 were not being followed, and the situation needed to be rectified.
- Those earlier orders had been passed to ensure implementation of The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000.
- However, it had come to knowledge that many religious institutions are violating the standard decibel norms and are using loudspeakers in large numbers.
(b) The Noise Pollution Rules, 2000
- The 2000 Rules define “Ambient Air Quality Standards in Respect of Noise”, i.e., Industrial, Commercial, Residential, and Silence Zones.
- It asked officials to demarcate these areas and to ensure that the correct norms were followed.
- Each police station has been asked to prepare a list of religious institutions using loudspeakers under their jurisdiction.
What is noise pollution?
- Noise is defined as unwanted sound. A sound might be unwanted because it is loud, distracting, or annoying.
- Noise pollution is manmade sound in the environment that may be harmful to humans or animals.
Objective of the NPR, 2000: To regulate and control noise producing and generating sources with the objective of maintaining the ambient air quality standards in respect of noise
Important compliance’s under NPR, 2000
- What are the restrictions on using loud speaker or musical system at night?
: A person cannot play a loud speaker, public address system, sound producing instrument, musical instrument or a sound amplifier at night time except in closed premises like auditorium, conference rooms, community halls or banquet halls.
- What is the noise level for using loudspeakers or the public address?
: The persons using loudspeakers or public address shall maintain the noise level and restrain it from exceeding 10 dB (A) above the ambient noise standards for the area specified or 75 dB (A) whichever is lower.
- What is the Noise level for a private sound system?
: The persons owning a private sound system or a sound producing instrument shall not, exceed the noise above 5 dB (A) the noise standards specified for the area in which it is used.
- What are the prohibitions on violating the silence zone areas?
A person shall not do the following acts in silence zone
- Playing any music or uses any sound amplifiers,
- A drum or tom-tom or blows a horn either musical or pressure, or trumpet or beats or sounds any instrument, or
- Playing any musical or other performance of a to attract crowd
- Bursting sound-emitting firecrackers
- Using a loudspeaker or a public address system.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Autism
Mains level: Mental healthcare in India
The Centre for Autism and Other Disabilities Rehabilitation Research and Education (CADRRE), a not-for-profit organization will launch “Pay Autention — a different mind is a gifted mind”, India’s first bridgital autism support network.
Pay ‘Autention’
- The initiative shall pave the way for small towns and rural India to access specialised care and support and help create an auxiliary network of champions for the differently-abled.
- This platform shall also enable mentoring, skilling and meaningful livelihoods for people with autism.
- In the first phase, the initiative will primarily focus on supporting children with autism, and subsequently, in the second stage, it will focus on young adults, empowering them with life skills and career readiness.
- The content is designed and delivered in collaboration with specialists from CADRRE who have expertise in training children with autism.
- The project aims to create a network of grassroots champions, enable early identification, first-level care, teach social skills, ways to ease activities of daily living, hold workshops for sensory and motor development.
- It also focuses on art and craft, dance, music therapy, physical and mental fitness, communication skills and enable support for academics.
What is Autism?
- Autism, also called autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a complicated condition that includes problems with communication and behaviour.
- It can involve a wide range of symptoms and skills.
- ASD can be a minor problem or a disability that needs full-time care in a special facility.
- People with autism have trouble with communication. They have trouble understanding what other people think and feel.
- This makes it hard for them to express themselves, either with words or through gestures, facial expressions, and touch.
- People with autism might have problems with learning. Their skills might develop unevenly.
- For example, they could have trouble communicating but be unusually good at art, music, math, or memory.
What are the signs of Autism?
Symptoms of autism usually appear before a child turns 3. Some people show signs from birth. Common symptoms of autism include:
- A lack of eye contact
- A narrow range of interests or intense interest in certain topics
- Doing something over and over, like repeating words or phrases, rocking back and forth, or flipping a lever
- High sensitivity to sounds, touches, smells, or sights that seem ordinary to other people
- Not looking at or listening to other people
- Not looking at things when another person points at them
- Not wanting to be held or cuddled
- Problems understanding or using speech, gestures, facial expressions, or tone of voice
- Talking in a sing-song, flat, or robotic voice
- Trouble adapting to changes in routine
What causes Autism?
- Exactly why autism happens isn’t clear. It could stem from problems in parts of your brain that interpret sensory input and process language.
- Autism is four times more common in boys than in girls. It can happen in people of any race, ethnicity, or social background.
- Family income, lifestyle, or educational level doesn’t affect a child’s risk of autism. But there are some risk factors:
- Autism runs in families, so certain combinations of genes may increase a child’s risk.
- A child with an older parent has a higher risk of autism.
- Pregnant women who are exposed to certain drugs or chemicals, like alcohol or anti-seizure medications, are more likely to have autistic children
- Other risk factors include maternal metabolic conditions such as diabetes and obesity.
Prevalence of Autism in India
- Prevalence and incidence statistics about autism in India is 1 in 500 or 0.20% or more than 2,160,000 people.
- According to a study, an estimated three million people live with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) on the Indian subcontinent.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Health Star Rating System, FOPL
Mains level: Not Much
The “health star rating” system that the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) plans to adopt in order to help consumers reduce their intake of unhealthy foods has been opposed by close to a dozen consumer and health advocacy groups.
What is the Health Star Rating System?
- In February, the FSSAI decided to adopt the “health-star rating system”, which gives a product 1/2 a star to 5 stars, in its draft regulations for front of package labelling (FOPL).
- The HSR format ranks a packaged food item based on salt, sugar, and fat content and the rating will be printed on the front of the package.
- The underlying premise of the HSR is that positive ingredients such as fruits and nuts can offset negative nutrients such as calories, saturated fat, total sugar, sodium to calculate the number of stars ascribed to a product.
- The decision was based on the recommendations of a study by the IIM-Ahmedabad the regulator had commissioned in September 2021.
- In the same meeting, the regulator decided that FOPL implementation could be made voluntary for a period of four years.
What is FoPL?
- In India, packaged food has had back-of-package (BOP) nutrient information in detail but no FoPL.
- Counter to this, FoPL can nudge people towards healthy consumption of packaged food.
- It can also influence purchasing habits.
- The study endorsed the HSR format, which speaks about the proportions of salt, sugar, and fat in food that is most suited for consumers.
- Countries such as the UK, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Hungary, and Australia have implemented FoPL systems.
What warranted the HSR rating in India?
- Visual bluff: A lot of Indian consumers do not read the information available at the back of the packaged food item.
- Burden of NCDs: Also, India has a huge burden of non-communicable diseases that contributes to around 5.87 million (60%) of all deaths in a year.
- Healthy dietary choices: HSR will encourage people to make healthy choices and could bring a transformational change in the society.
- Supreme Court order: A PIL seeking direction to the government to frame guidelines on HSR and impact assessment for food items and beverages was filed in the Supreme Court in June 2021.
Which category of food item will have HSR?
- All packaged food items or processed food will have the HSR label.
- These will include chips, biscuits, namkeen, sweets and chocolates, meat nuggets, and cookies.
- However, milk and its products such as chenna and ghee are EXEMPTED as per the FSSAI draft notified in 2019.
Will there be pushback from food industry?
- Negative warning: Some experts opposed the use of the HSR model in India, suggesting that consumers might tend to take this as an affirmation of the health benefits rather than as a negative warning of ill effects.
- Lack of awareness: This is significant because there is lack of awareness on star ratings related to consumer products in India.
- Impact on Sale: Certain organisations fear it might affect the sale of certain food products.
Arguments against health star rating
- Experts argue that “warning labels” instead have been most effective in various countries.
- They said the HSR system adopted in countries like Australia and New Zealand has not resulted in any meaningful behavior change.
- Even after eight years of their implementation, there is still no evidence of HSRs having a significant impact on the nutritional quality of people’s food and beverage purchases.
- Also, the HSR system “misrepresents nutrition science”.
- The algorithm of adding and subtracting nutrients does not fit with our understanding of biology.
- For example, the presence of fruit in a fruit drink juice does not offset the impacts of added sugar in the body.
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