Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Reservation issues
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the TH.
Reservation in Promotion
- The jurisprudence of reservation relies on the symbiotic coexistence of constitutionally guaranteed equality of opportunity in public employment under Article 16 (1) of the Constitution of India.
- The classifications were various clauses of the same article, especially Article 16(4) and Article 16 (4 A).
- It specifically aimed to provide reservation in promotion to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, respectively.
- These articles vested a discretion on the government to consider providing reservations for the socially and educationally backward sections of the society.
Reservation not a fundamental Right
- It is a settled law, time and again reiterated by the Supreme Court, that there is no fundamental right to reservation or promotion under Article 16(4) or Article 16(4 A) of the Constitution.
- Rather they are enabling provisions for providing reservation, if the circumstances so warrant (Mukesh Kumar and Another vs State of Uttarakhand & Ors. 2020).
- However, these pronouncements no way understate the constitutional directive under Article 46.
- Article 46 mandates that the state shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and in particular SCs and STs.
- However such provisions resulted in the ever-evolving jurisprudence of affirmative action in public employment.
Major events
(1) Mandal storm
- Reservation in employment which was otherwise confined to SC and STs got extended to new section called the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
- This was the basis of the recommendations of the Second Backward Class Commission as constituted, headed by B.P. Mandal.
- The Mandal Commission (1980) provided for 27% reservation to OBC in central services and public sector undertakings.
- This was over and above the existing 22.5% reservation for SCs and STs, was sought to be implemented by the V.P. Singh Government in 1990.
- The same was assailed in the Supreme Court resulting in the historic Indra Sawhney Judgment.
(2) Indra Sawhney Judgment (1992)
- In the judgment, a nine-judge bench presided by CJI MH Kania upheld the constitutionality of the 27% reservation.
- But it put a ceiling of 50% unless exceptional circumstances warranting the breach, so that the constitutionally guaranteed right to equality under Article 14 would remain secured.
- While Article 16(1) is a fundamental right, Article 16(4) is an enabling provision and not an exception.
- Further, the Court directed the exclusion of creamy layer by way of horizontal division of every other backward class into creamy layer and non-creamy layer.
(3) The Constitution (Seventy-seventh Amendment) Act, 1995
- In Indra Sawhney Case, the Supreme Court had held that Article 16(4) of the Constitution of India does not authorise reservation in the matter of promotions.
- However, the judgment was not to affect the promotions already made and hence only prospective in operation, it was ruled.
- By the Constitution (Seventy-seventh Amendment) Act, 1995, which, Article 16(4-A), was inserted.
- It aimed to provide the State for making any provision for reservation in matters of promotion to any class or classes of posts in the services under the State.
- This was to be in favour of the SCs and the STs which, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State.
- Later, two more amendments were brought, one to ensure consequential seniority and another to secure carry forward of unfilled vacancies of a year.
(4) M. Nagaraj (2006) Case
- A five-judge bench of Supreme Court declared the 1995 amendment as not vocative of basic structure of the Constitution.
- It laid down ceratin conditions which included the collection of quantifiable data showing backwardness of the class and inadequacy of representation of that class in public employment.
- The bench held that the creamy layer among SCs and STs is to be excluded from reservation.
(5) Jarnail Singh vs Lachhmi Narain Gupta (2018)
- It was authored by Justice Rohinton Nariman and indicates a critical turn in the jurisprudence of reservation.
- In this case, a constitution bench of Supreme Court was called on to examine wisdom of the 2006 judgment.
- This task was to examine the constitutionally recognised socio-economic backwardness of the SCs and STs which may not require any further substantiation.
- It was also contended that the requirement to identify creamy lawyer among SC and STs fell foul of Indra Sawhney decision.
- The constitution bench invalidated the requirement to collect quantifiable data in relation to SCs and STs.
- It upheld the principle of applicability of creamy lawyer in relation to SCs and STs.
(6) The Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019
- The 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) other SCs, STs and backward classes for government jobs and admission in educational institutions.
- This is currently under challenge before the Supreme Court which has referred the same to a constitution bench.
- This was a critical milestone to specifically include economic backwardness without social backwardness as is traditionally seen.
(7) Dr. Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil vs Chief Minister (2021)
- Despite the Indra Sawhney ruling, there have been attempts on the part of many States to breach the rule by way of expanding the reservation coverage.
- The Maharashtra Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act 2018, (Maratha reservation law) came under challenge before the Supreme Court.
- This case was referred to a bench of five judges to question whether the 1992 judgment needs a relook.
- Interestingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the Indra Sawhney decision, and struck down Section 4(1)(a) and Section 4(1)(b) of the Act which provided 12% reservation for Marathas in educational institutions and 13% reservation in public employment respectively.
- This judgment gave out a strong message that some State governments blatantly disregard the stipulated ceiling on electoral gains rather than any exceptional circumstances.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST slabs, Inverted Duty Structure
Mains level: Read the attached story
The GST regime is due for an overhaul in tax rates levied on different products because of structural anomalies and to reduce the multiple tax slabs.
What is GST?
- GST launched in India on 1 July 2017 is a comprehensive indirect tax for the entire country.
- It is charged at the time of supply and depends on the destination of consumption.
- For instance, if a good is manufactured in state A but consumed in state B, then the revenue generated through GST collection is credited to the state of consumption (state B) and not to the state of production (state A).
- GST, being a consumption-based tax, resulted in loss of revenue for manufacturing-heavy states.
What are GST Slabs?
- In India, almost 500+ services and over 1300 products fall under the 4 major GST slabs.
- There are five broad tax rates of zero, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%, plus a cess levied over and above the 28% on some ‘sin’ goods.
- The GST Council periodically revises the items under each slab rate to adjust them according to industry demands and market trends.
- The updated structure ensures that the essential items fall under lower tax brackets, while luxury products and services entail higher GST rates.
- The 28% rate is levied on demerit goods such as tobacco products, automobiles, and aerated drinks, along with an additional GST compensation cess.
Why rationalize GST slabs?
- From businesses’ viewpoint, there are just too many tax rate slabs, compounded by aberrations in the duty structure through their supply chains with some inputs are taxed more than the final product.
- These are far too many rates and do not necessarily constitute a Good and Simple Tax.
- Multiple rate changes since the introduction of the GST regime in July 2017 have brought the effective GST rate to 11.6% from the original revenue-neutral rate of 15.5%.
- Merging the 12% and 18% GST rates into any tax rate lower than 18% may result in revenue loss.
Haven’t GST revenues been hitting new records?
- Yes, they have – GST revenues have scaled fresh highs in three of the first four months of 2022, going past ₹1.67 lakh crore in April.
- But there is another key factor — the runaway pace of inflation.
- Wholesale price inflation, which captures producers’ costs, has been over 10% for over a year and peaked at 15.1% in April.
- Inflation faced by consumers on the ground has spiked to a near-eight year high of 7.8% in April.
- The rise in prices was the single most important factor for higher tax inflows along with higher imports.
Can we expect the rate reset this year?
- Any re-arrangement of GST rates will entail some products being taxed higher, with concomitant ripple effects on prices.
- The Centre and the States are not unmindful of the desperate need to rationalise the rate slabs and structure but we just need to get the timing right.
- Presently inflation is the top worry.
- With inflation, much of it imported through pricier fuels, commodities and food items, expected to hover high through the year, the GST rate reset hopes appear bleak in 2022-23.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various terms related to Monsoon
Mains level: Indian Monsoon
The monsoon has reached Kerala, the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
What does the “Onset of Monsoon” mean?
- The onset of the monsoon over Kerala marks the beginning of the four-month — June-September — southwest monsoon season over India.
- It brings more than 70 per cent of the country’s annual rainfall. This marks a significant day in India’s economic calendar.
- IMD announces it only after certain newly defined and measurable parameters, adopted in 2016, are met.
- Broadly, the IMD checks for the consistency of rainfall over a defined geography, its intensity, and wind speed.
(1) Rainfall
- The IMD declares the onset of the monsoon if at least 60% of 14 designated meteorological stations in Kerala and Lakshadweep.
- The 14 enlisted stations are: Minicoy, Amini, Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Kollam, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Thalassery, Kannur, Kasaragod, and Mangaluru.
- It records at least 2.5 mm of rain for two consecutive days at any time after May 10.
- In such a situation, the onset over Kerala is declared on the second day, provided specific wind and temperature criteria are also fulfilled.
(2) Wind field
- The depth of westerlies should be up to 600 hectopascal (1 hPa is equal to 1 millibar of pressure) in the area bound by the equator to 10ºN latitude, and from longitude 55ºE to 80ºE.
- The zonal wind speed over the area bound by 5-10ºN latitude and 70-80ºE longitude should be of the order of 15-20 knots (28-37 kph) at 925 hPa.
(3) Heat
- According to IMD, the INSAT-derived Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) value (a measure of the energy emitted to space by the Earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere) should be below 200 watt per sq m (wm2).
- This is measured in the box confined by 5-10ºN latitude and 70-75ºE latitude.
Is it unusual for the monsoon to hit the Kerala coast early?
- Neither early nor late onset of the monsoon is unusual.
- In 2018 and 2017, the onset over Kerala occurred on May 29 and May 30, respectively.
- In 2010, onset was realised on May 31.
- In 2020 and 2013, the monsoon was exactly on time, hitting the Kerala coast on June 1.
Does an early onset foretell a good monsoon?
- No, it does not — just as a delay does not foretell a poor monsoon.
- The onset is just an event that happens during the progress of the monsoon over the Indian subcontinent.
- A delay of a few days, or perhaps the monsoon arriving a few days early, has no bearing on the quality or amount of rainfall.
How does the monsoon spread across the country after hitting Kerala coast?
- The northward progression of the monsoon after it has hit the Kerala coast depends on a lot of local factors, including the creation of low pressure areas.
- Though this year monsoon has arrived early, it is possible that despite a late onset over Kerala, other parts of the country start getting rain on time.
- After its onset over Kerala, the monsoon spreads over the entire country by July 15.
Back2Basics:
Various terms related to Indian Monsoon
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: West Nile Virus
Mains level: Vector borne diseases
The Kerala health department is on alert after the death occurred due to the West Nile Virus.
West Nile Virus
- The West Nile Virus is a mosquito-borne, single-stranded RNA virus.
- According to the WHO, it is a member of the flavivirus genus and belongs to the Japanese Encephalitis antigenic complex of the family Flaviviridae.
How does it spread?
- Culex species of mosquitoes act as the principal vectors for transmission.
- It is transmitted by infected mosquitoes between and among humans and animals, including birds, which are the reservoir host of the virus.
- Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds, which circulate the virus in their blood for a few days.
- The virus eventually gets into the mosquito’s salivary glands.
- During later blood meals (when mosquitoes bite), the virus may be injected into humans and animals, where it can multiply and possibly cause illness.
- WNV can also spread through blood transfusion, from an infected mother to her child, or through exposure to the virus in laboratories.
- It is not known to spread by contact with infected humans or animals.
Symptoms of WNV infection
- The disease is asymptomatic in 80% of the infected people.
- The rest develop what is called the West Nile fever or severe West Nile disease.
- In these 20% cases, the symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, body aches, nausea, rash, and swollen glands.
- Severe infection can lead to encephalitis, meningitis, paralysis, and even death.
- It is estimated that approximately 1 in 150 persons infected with the West Nile Virus will develop a more severe form of the disease.
- Recovery from severe illness might take several weeks or months.
- It usually turns fatal in persons with co-morbidities and immuno-compromised persons (such as transplant patients).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Chhattisgarh government has become the only second state in the country to recognize the Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights of a village inside a national park.
What is the news?
- The CFR rights of tribals living in a hamlet inside the Kanger Ghati National Park in Bastar district, were recognised.
- It gave the community the power to formulate rules for forest use.
Try this PYQ first:
Q.Under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, who shall be the authority to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights or both?
(a) State Forest Department
(b) District Collector/Deputy Commissioner
(c) Tahsildar/Block Development Officer/Mandal Revenue Officer
(d) Gram Sabha
Post your answers here.
What is a Community Forest?
- The community forest resource area is the common forest land that has been traditionally protected and conserved for sustainable use by a particular community.
- The community uses it to access resources available within the traditional and customary boundary of the village; and for seasonal use of landscape in case of pastoralist communities.
- Each CFR area has a customary boundary with identifiable landmarks recognised by the community and its neighboring villages.
- It may include forest of any category – revenue forest, classified & unclassified forest, deemed forest, DLC land, reserve forest, protected forest, sanctuary and national parks etc.
Legal basis for Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights
- The CFR rights are acknowledged under the Section 3(1) (i) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act.
- This is commonly referred to as the Forest Rights Act or the FRA.
- It aims to provide for recognition of the right to “protect, regenerate or conserve or manage” the community forest resource.
- These rights allow the community to formulate rules for forest use by itself and others and thereby discharge its responsibilities under Section 5 of the FRA.
Nature of rights included
- CFR rights, along with Community Rights (CRs) under Sections 3(1)(b) and 3(1)(c), which include: nistar rights and rights over non-timber forest products, ensure sustainable livelihoods of the community.
- ‘Nistar’ means the concession granted for removal from forest coupes (small trees) on payment at stipulated rates, specified forest produce for bonafide domestic use, but not for barter or sale.
- These rights give the authority to the Gram Sabha to adopt local traditional practices of forest conservation and management within the community forest resource boundary.
Why is the recognition of CFR rights important?
- Aimed at undoing the “historic injustice” meted out to forest-dependent communities due to curtailment of their customary rights over forests, the FRA came into force in 2008.
- It is important as it recognises the community’s right to use, manage and conserve forest resources, and to legally hold forest land that these communities have used for cultivation and residence.
- It also underlines the integral role that forest dwellers play in the sustainability of forests and in the conservation of biodiversity.
- It is of greater significance inside protected forests like national parks, sanctuaries and tiger reserves as traditional dwellers then become a part of management of the protected forests.
How many CFR certificates have been given in Chhattisgarh?
- According to state government officials, Chhattisgarh has recognised nearly 4,000 CFR rights in the state.
- Kanger Ghati National Park is the second national park, after Simlipal in Odisha, where CFR rights have been recognised.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021
Mains level: Issues with Surrogacy Laws
The Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Union government on a petition challenging some provisions of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act.
Issues raised by the petition
- Currently, the laws does not allow single men to have child through surrogacy.
- Married women can only avail surrogacy services if they are unable to produce a child due to medical conditions.
- Otherwise, for women to avail of surrogacy services, they must be aged between 35 and 45 and widowed or divorced.
- Women can only offer surrogacy if they are aged between 25 and 35 and married with at least one biological child.
- The laws also require a surrogate to be genetically related to the couple who intend to have a child through this method, their petition said.
Basis of the Petition
- The personal decision of a single person about the birth of a baby through surrogacy, i.e., the right of reproductive autonomy is a facet of the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- Thus, the right to privacy of every citizen or person affecting a decision to bear or beget a child through surrogacy cannot be taken away.
Distinct features of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021
- Definition of surrogacy: It defines surrogacy as a practice where a woman gives birth to a child for an intending couple with the intention to hand over the child after the birth to the intending couple.
- Regulation of surrogacy: It prohibits commercial surrogacy, but allows altruistic surrogacy which involves no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance.
- Purposes for which surrogacy is permitted: Surrogacy is permitted when it is: (i) for intending couples who suffer from proven infertility; (ii) altruistic; (iii) not for commercial purposes; (iv) not for producing children for sale, prostitution or other forms of exploitation; and (v) for any condition or disease specified through regulations.
- Eligibility criteria: The intending couple should have a ‘certificate of essentiality’ and a ‘certificate of eligibility’ issued by the appropriate authority ex. District Medical Board.
Eligibility criteria for surrogate mother:
- To obtain a certificate of eligibility from the appropriate authority, the surrogate mother has to be:
- A close relative of the intending couple;
- A married woman having a child of her own;
- 25 to 35 years old;
- A surrogate only once in her lifetime; and
- Possess a certificate of medical and psychological fitness for surrogacy.
- Further, the surrogate mother cannot provide her own gametes for surrogacy.
Also read
[Burning Issue] Surrogacy in India
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rice cultivation
Mains level: Sustainable agricultural practices
Experts in Punjab has said that System of Rice Intensification (SRI) Technique is beneficial for the soil, environment and farmers at par with the Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) technique.
What is SRI technique?
- SRI was first developed in Madagascar in the 1980s and since then several countries in the world have been practising it, including India.
- It promises to save 15 to 20% ground water, improves rice productivity, which is almost at a stagnant point now.
- Experts said that it gives equal or more produce than the conventional rice cultivation, with less water, less seed and less chemicals.
- The net effect is a substantial reduction in the investments on external inputs.
How does it take place in the field and in which soil?
- First, the field is prepared by ploughing.
- It should be laser levelled before transplanting for proper water management and efficiency for a good crop stand.
- Then irrigation is applied in the field which is not a flooding of field like traditional methods but less than that of a well irrigated field.
- Then 10-12 days old nursery (young paddy plants) along with soil particles around the root with minimum disturbance to the roots are transplanted in lines.
- They are marked at a distance of 10 inches from each other with the help of a rope meter.
Benefits over DSR technique
- Unlike DSR, which is suitable only for mid to heavy textured soils, SRI is suitable in all types of soil including less fertile soil as in such soil the number of seedlings can be increased to double.
- Under SRI 2kg seed is required to grow a nursery for one acre against 5kg seed required in the traditional method.
Does the SRI method require continuous flooding after transplantation of nursery?
- In traditional sowing from the day of transplanting till the crop turns 35-40 days fields are kept under flood-like conditions.
- And then fields are filled every week till a few weeks before harvesting.
- But SRI doesn’t require continuous flooding, it needs intermittent irrigation.
- Indeed the plants’ roots should not be starved for oxygen through flooding.
- Irrigation is given to maintain soil moisture near saturation initially, and water is added to the field when the surface soil develops hairline cracks.
What are the limitations of SRI?
- If unchecked, greater weed growth will cause substantial loss of yield.
- In Punjab, it is not promoted by the government except demonstration plots sown over a decade ago.
- It can be sustainable if organic inputs in the soil structure are maintained.
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to the current trends in the cultivation of sugarcane in India, consider the following statements:
- A substantial saving in seed material is made when ‘bud chip settlings are raised in a nursery and transplanted in the main field.
- When direct planting of setts is done, the germination percentage is better with single-budded setts as compared to setts with many buds.
- If bad weather conditions prevail when setts are directly planted, single-budded setts have better survival as compared to large setts.
- Sugarcane can be cultivated using settlings prepared from tissue culture.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 4 only
(d) 2,3 and 4 only
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Man Booker Price
Mains level: NA
Author Geetanjali Shree’s translated Hindi novel, Tomb of Sand, became the first Indian language book to win the International Booker Prize.
Note: Such topics hold very little relevance for CSE prelims. However, last year experience make such topics more uncertain. Still such topics hold relevance for other exams such as CAPF and state PSCs.
What is the Booker Prize?
- The Booker Prize is one of the best-known literary awards for fiction writing in English, including both novels and collections of short stories.
- It was first awarded in 1969.
- Every year a panel of judges decides the best work of the year, with the criteria being that it must be written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.
- This panel of judges is picked from among eminent cultural historians, writers, professors, and novelists, and others from related fields.
- For the Booker Prize, the winner receives £50,000.
About the book
- The 2018 novel titled ‘Ret Samadhi’ was translated by Daisy Rockwell and published as ‘Tomb of Sand’ in 2021.
- The prize is one of two literary awards given out annually by the Booker Prize Foundation, a charity whose stated aim is to “promote the art and value of literature for the public benefit”.
What about the International Booker Prize?
- The International Booker Prize began in 2005.
- A biennial prize initially, it was then awarded for a body of work available in English, including translations, with Alice Munro, Lydia Davis and Philip Roth becoming some of the early winners.
- In 2015, the rules of the International prize changed to make it an annual affair.
- The new rules stipulated that it will be awarded annually for a single book, written in another language and translated into English.
- The £50,000 prize money is divided equally between the author and translator each year.
Why is it called the ‘Booker’?
- The Booker Prize, from 1969 to 2001, was named simply after the Booker Group Limited – a British food wholesale operator that was its initial sponsor.
- The Man Group, an investment management firm based in the UK, began to sponsor the prize in 2002 and it thus came to be known as The Man Booker Prize.
- The Man Group ended their sponsorship in 2019.
- Crankstart, an American charitable foundation, has been the sponsor after that. The prize name has changed back to the ‘Booker’ since then.
Who have been some prominent winners?
- Prominent winners of the coveted prize include Margaret Atwood (‘The Testaments’), Yann Martel (‘Life of Pi’), and Julian Barnes (‘The Sense of an Ending’).
- Many Indian-origin writers have won the Booker in the past, such as Arundhati Roy (‘The God of Small Things’), Salman Rushdie (‘Midnight’s Children’), Kiran Desai (‘The Inheritance of Loss’), and Aravind Adiga (‘The White Tiger’).
- Shree is the first Indian to win an international prize.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sela Macaque, Sela Pass
Mains level: Not Much
A new species of old world monkey recorded from Arunachal Pradesh has been named after a strategic Sela pass at 13,700 ft above sea level.
Sela macaque (Macaca selai).
- This new primate was identified and analysed by a team of experts from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the University of Calcutta.
- Earlier it was called as White- Cheeked Macaque displaying white cheeks, long and thick hairs on the neck area, and a longer tail.
- Their study has been published in the latest edition of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
- Phylogenetics relate to the evolutionary development and diversification of a species or group of organisms.
- The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Sela macaque was geographically separated from the Arunachal macaque (Macaca munzala) of Tawang district by Sela.
- This mountain pass acted as a barrier by restricting the migration of individuals of these two species for approximately two million years.
Protection status
- It has NOT been yet included in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 of India.
- The potential threat to all species of macaques in the landscape is due to hunting by locals for consumption and habitat degradation due to urbanization and infrastructure development.
About Sela Pass
- The Sela Pass is a high-altitude mountain pass located on the border between the Tawang and West Kameng districts in Arunachal Pradesh.
- It has an elevation of 4170 m and connects the Indian Buddhist town of Tawang to Dirang and Guwahati.
- The pass supports scarce amounts of vegetation and is usually snow-covered to some extent throughout the year.
- While Sela Pass does get heavy snowfall in winters, it is usually open throughout the year unless landslides or snow require the pass to be shut down temporarily.
- The strategically-significant Sela Tunnel project is now nearing completion well before the deadline.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AKRUTI Program
Mains level: NA
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is all set to launch AKRUTI programme in the villages surrounding Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).
AKRUTI Program
- The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is assisting unemployed youth living near the Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) through AKRUTI.
- AKRUTI stands for Advanced Knowledge and Rural Technology Implementation (AKRUTI) program.
- Areas of water, food processing, agriculture and waste management in rural areas are covered under the AKRUTI program.
- The scheme aims at empowering villages through implementing different technologies for usage.
- This scheme will lead to sustainable growth of the rural sector across the country.
What is the objective?
- To provide information and mechanism for implementation of BARC technologies in rural areas thereby aiming at overall rural development.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lok Adalat
Mains level: Paper 2- Use of technology by judiciary
Context
The Indian judiciary has increasingly started using technology and the change is reflected in the legal profession in general as well.
Increasing use of digital technology in the judiciary
- With the digitisation of judicial records and the establishment of e-courts, significant developments had taken place in 2020.
- Use of technology to better utilise potential: It is imperative that the use of digital technology be discussed to better utilise its potential, particularly in terms of digitisation of court records, e-filing of cases and their virtual hearing, live streaming of court proceedings.
Background
- In India, e-governance in the field of administration of justice began in the late 1990s, but it accelerated after the enactment of the Information and Technology Act, 2000.
- In the year of 2006, e-courts were launched as a part of the National e-Governance Plan (NEGP).
Digitisation of case files
- When he was the Chief Justice of Allahabad HC, Justice D Y Chandrachud had conceptualised and initiated the project to digitise approximately one crore case files in one year.
- Saving of space and preservation of old documents: This was necessary as not only was a large space required to store so many files, it was also becoming difficult to manually preserve the decades-old documents.
- Traceability: Another purpose was to ensure that these files are traceable electronically as and when required.
- It has also been observed that cases are adjourned simply because affidavits filed several years ago were not restored with the record or were not traceable.
- Once the documents are digitised and e-filed by counsels, at least the cases would not get adjourned by the courts on this account.
- Reducing the risk of missing court records: In State of Uttar Pradesh v. Abhay Raj Singh, it was held by the Supreme Court that if court records go missing and re-construction is not possible, the courts are bound to set aside the conviction.
- Saving of time: With digitisation, it will take much less time for the lower courts to transmit the records as and when called for.
- The lawyers benefit because they or their staff are no longer required to visit the reporting sections or other sections of the court to know about the status of their cases.
- This has been sought to be implemented by the e-Committee of the Supreme Court by issuing directions to ensure that e-filing of cases/petitions by state governments in all matters be made mandatory from January 1, 2022.
Scope for virtual hearing in certain cases
- Cases related to matrimonial issues and domestic violence bounced cheques, motor accident compensation referred to mediation centres and lok adalats could be included in the list of cases fit for disposal through the virtual hearing.
- The hearing of matrimonial cases through video-conferencing was approved by the Supreme Court in the matter of Krishna Veni Nagam v Harish Nagam (2017).
- The direction was short-lived and a coordinate bench of the Supreme Court in the case of Santhini v Vijaya Venkatesh (2018) referred the matter for reconsideration before a larger bench.
- Virtual hearings cannot be a substitute for physical court hearings in all cases.
- However, in appropriate cases and certain categories of cases as identified by the court administration in consultation with the members of the Bar, virtual hearing should be made mandatory.
Live streaming of cases
- In 2018, the Supreme Court allowed the live-streaming of cases of constitutional and national importance on the basis of the judgment in Swapnil Tripathi.
- Step towards transparency: The livestreaming of court proceedings is a step towards ensuring transparency and openness.
- While several reservations were expressed against it, the Gujarat HC in July 2021 became the first court in the country to livestream its proceedings.
- Its example was followed by other HCs like Karnataka, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Patna.
Challenges
- Internet connectivity issues and the need for a well-equipped space where lawyers can conduct their cases are some of the major problems requiring attention.
- Political will and the support of judges and lawyers are also necessary.
- Awareness and training: Judges, court staff and lawyers are not well-versed with digital technology and its benefits.
- The need of the hour is for them to be made aware of these and receive adequate training.
Conclusion
Adoption of technology will bring drastic changes in the field of law and will transform the Court system.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Criminal justice system
Context
The key to an improved criminal justice system is quality forensic labs and well-trained staff, not more legislation and harsher punishments.
About forensic science
- Forensic science is the application of scientific perspectives and techniques to the legal process, including investigations and courtroom protocol.
- It is the use of scientific data and procedures specifically for the legal system.
- There is rigorous procedure involved, including controlled conditions, reliable data collection and the attempt to disprove hypotheses.
- Methodologies like the autopsy procedures, fingerprinting, testing and matching for poisons, blood spatter analysis, matching guns to bullets fired (ballistics), voice sample matches, handwriting assessments and DNA analysis are all facets of forensic science.
Inadequate state forensic facilities
- We have a woefully inadequate number of forensic science laboratories (FSL).
- There are seven central forensic laboratories in India at Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Guwahati, Bhopal and Pune.
- Six of these laboratories, barring Delhi, are under the control of the Directorate of Forensic Science Services (DFSS), and its mission is to render high quality and credible forensic services to the justice delivery system.
- A National Forensic Sciences University was established in Gandhinagar, Gujarat in 2020.
- The existing National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science in Delhi has been integrated into this new university.
- There are 32 state FSLs and about 529 mobile FSL units, of which Delhi has one state FSL and six mobile units.
- The DNA tests discovered in 1985 are used to identify individuals involved in alleged crimes.
- In 2017, The Hindu reported that while the United Kingdom completes DNA testing on over 60,000 crimes annually, India with over 13 times the population completes such tests on less than 7,500 cases.
- The average pendency at each lab is huge.
- In all states, there were over 50 per cent vacancies in personnel at their facilities.
Way forward
- More investment: We certainly need more investment in the establishment of FSL laboratories, the training and appointment of personnel adept at forensic methodologies and reforms within our police to establish a trained and skilled detective cadre tasked with solving complex and heinous crimes.
- Quality training and accreditation: There is a desperate need for good quality training facilities, standards of accreditation and continuous education programmes for our forensic experts.
Conclusion
It is not more legislation and harsher punishments that will solve crimes, but well-trained forensic staff plying their craft in good quality laboratories that will aid our criminal justice system.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 101st Constitutional Amendment Act
Mains level: Paper 2- Fiscal federalism
Context
On May 19, in Union of India vs Mohit Minerals, the Supreme Court of India delivered a ruling which is likely to have an impact far wider than what the Centre might have imagined when it brought the case up on appeal.
Background
- At stake was the validity of a levy imposed on importers, of Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) on ocean freight paid by foreign sellers to foreign shipping lines.
- The Gujarat High Court had declared the tax illegal.
- The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling and held that the levy constituted double taxation — that is, that the importer, which was already paying tax on the “composite” supply of goods, could not be asked to pay an additional tax on a perceived “service” that it may have received.
Why the ruling could transform the future of fiscal federalism in India
- Equal powers to legislate on GST: While delivering the judgement, the Supreme Court held that both Parliament and the State legislatures enjoy equal power to legislate on Goods and Services Tax (GST).
- The Court said that the Goods and Services Tax Council’s recommendations were just that: recommendations that could never be binding on a legislative body.
- Until now, governments across India have treated the GST Council’s recommendations — even where they disagreed with them — as sacrosanct, because they believed that this was indeed the law.
- According to the Court, State legislatures possess the authority to deviate from any advice rendered by the GST Council and to make their own laws by asserting, in the process, their role as equal partners in India’s federal architecture.
- Conflicting taxation regimes: Because of the ruling, the State governments will be free to exercise independent power to legislate on GST.
- It is possible that this might lead to conflicting taxation regimes, with the idea of ‘One Nation One Tax’ rendered nugatory.
- Constitutional power cannot be limited through statute: The Court’s ruling does not mean that a legislature — whether Parliament or the States’ — cannot through statutory law make the Council’s recommendations binding on executive bodies.
- But a constitutional power, in the Court’s ruling, can never be limited through statute. Such curbs must flow only from the Constitution.
- And in this case, in the Court’s analysis, no restrictions on legislative power can be gleaned on a meaningful reading of the Constitution.
Background of 101st constitutional Amendment
- Unification of tax administration: When, in July 2017, the Union government introduced the GST regime through the 101st constitutional Amendment, it did so based on an underlying belief that tax administration across India needed unification.
- To give effect to this idea, many entries in the State list of Schedule VII of the Constitution were either deleted or amended.
- A power to legislate on GST was inserted through a newly introduced Article 246A.
- No longer could State governments legislate on sale or purchase of goods barring a few exceptions, such as petroleum and liquor through the ordinary legislative route.
- GST Council: In addition, the 101st Amendment also established, through Article 279A, a GST Council.
- The Council was given the power to “make recommendations to the Union and States” on several different matters.
Implications of the judgement
- The use of the word “recommendations” suggested on the one hand that its decisions would be advisory, at best.
- But, at the same time, the fact that Article 279A directed the establishment of a mechanism to adjudicate disputes between governments on decisions taken by the Council suggested that those governments would, in fact, be bound by any advice rendered to them.
- GST would be in jeopardy: If the former reading was to be deployed, the purpose behind the introduction of a common GST would be in jeopardy.
- But the latter interpretation effectively entailed the destruction of the well-laid plans of the Constituent Assembly.
- Fiscal responsibilities that had been divided with much care and attention between the Union and the States would now stand dissolved.
Federal compact
- Although States had until now proceeded on a tacit belief that the GST Council’s recommendations were binding, such an approach, in Justice Chandrachud’s words, would run counter both to the express words of the Constitution and the philosophical values underlying the language deployed.
- Article 246A, which was introduced by the 101st Amendment provides concomitant power both to the Union and to the State governments to legislate on GST.
- It does not discriminate between the two in terms of its allocation of authority.
- That allocation, according to the Court, cannot be limited by a reading of Article 279A, which establishes a GST Council, and which treats the Council’s decisions as “recommendations”.
Conclusion
GST was conceived as a product of what some described as “pooled sovereignty”. But perhaps it is only in an administrative area, animated by contestation, where we can see synergy between different sovereign units, where our nation can take a genuine turn towards a more “cooperative federalism”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST collection
Mains level: Paper 3- Increased GST collection
Context
There has been a remarkable upswing in GST collections in recent months. Collections touched a record high of Rs 1.67 lakh crore in April.
GST
What are the reasons for increased collection?
- 1] Inflation: First, the sharp rise in inflation has played a significant role.
- Notwithstanding concerns over the unevenness of the economic recovery, in nominal terms, the economy grew by 19.4 per cent in 2021-22 as per the second advance estimates.
- Deflating GST collection suggests that a large part of the recent increase in collections is driven by rising prices.
- 2] Higher imports: Part of the overall increase in collections can be traced to higher imports.
- Higher buoyancy: Even if one is to exclude the revenue accruing from imports, the rise in GST collections has outstripped GDP growth, indicating higher buoyancy.
- 3] Tightening of the rules: In order to improve compliance levels, the GST Council has been tweaking the rules to tighten the system.
- Returns filed have gone up, while the number of non-filers and those who delay filing have fallen.
- Alongside, the administration has also taken steps to tackle the menace of fake invoices by placing restrictions on the quantum of input tax credit that can be used to pay of tax obligations.
- The introduction of e-invoicing has also played a role.
- Until recently, this was being implemented for firms with a turnover of more than Rs 50 crore.
- From April, this process has been extended to firms above Rs 20 crore.
- The incremental gains from bringing smaller firms into its ambit, while consequential, are unlikely to be of the same order.
- 4] Industrial activity: The higher collections in April 2022 seem to be led by increase in industrial activity. This is borne by strong growth in collections in states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Odisha which house lot of industries. Relatively tepid growth in more populous states such as Bihar (-2.47 per cent), West Bengal (7.80 per cent) and Jharkhand (4.86 per cent) shows that the GST collections was not propelled by revival in private consumption.
- The real challenge lies in improving compliance levels across the entire spectrum of industries where inputs/raw materials are sourced largely from the informal sector.
- 5] Changing the structure of the economy: The formalisation of firms, the growing concentration of economic power in the hands of a few, imply that for the same level of output, the tax paid will be higher.
Suggestion
- Increase tax rate: Around two-fifths of the taxable value (or turnover) falls under the 18 per cent slab as per research by some analysts.
- This implies that simply merging the 12 per cent and the 18 per cent slab as some have been suggesting would lead to a revenue loss.
- Before opting for such adjustments, the GST Council must first ascertain the potential revenue (net of cess and refunds) at varying levels of compliance, tax rates and exemptions afforded.
- Now, as per some estimates presented to the 15th Finance Commission, with existing exemptions in place, the current tax regime should ideally yield revenues equivalent to 8.23 per cent of GDP.
- In another scenario, even if existing exemptions are kept in place, and if a single rate of 14 per cent is levied, then collections should rise to 8.93 per cent.
Conclusion
Considering the current economic situation, now may not be an opportune moment to raise taxes. But there is no getting around it. Both the Centre and the states need to work towards this.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Plight of the sex workers in India
In a significant order recognising sex work as a “profession”, the Supreme Court has directed that police should neither interfere nor take criminal action against adult and consenting sex workers.
What did the Supreme Court say?
- Sex Work is a profession whose practitioners are entitled to dignity and equal protection under law.
- Criminal law must apply equally in all cases, on the basis of ‘age’ and ‘consent’.
- It need not be gainsaid that notwithstanding the profession, every individual in this country has a right to a dignified life under Article 21 of the Constitution, the court observed.
- The order was passed after invoking special powers under Article 142 of Constitution.
A caution to the police
- It is clear that the sex worker is an adult and is participating with consent, the police must refrain from interfering or taking any criminal action.
- The Bench ordered that sex workers should not be “arrested or penalised or harassed or victimised” whenever there is a raid on any brothel.
- Since voluntary sex work is not illegal and only running the brothel is unlawful.
- Basic protection of human decency and dignity extends to sex workers and their children, the court noted.
- A child of a sex worker should not be separated from the mother merely on the ground that she is in the sex trade, the court held.
- Further, if a minor is found living in a brothel or with sex workers, it should not be presumed that the child was trafficked.
Sexual crimes against sex workers
- The court ordered the police to not discriminate against sex workers who lodge a criminal complaint of offence committed against them is of a sexual nature.
- Sex workers can also be victims of sexual assault should be provided every facility including immediate medico-legal care.
- The court said media should take “utmost care not to reveal the identities of sex workers, during arrest, raid and rescue operations.
Sex work in India
- According to the Indian Penal Code (IPC), prostitution in its broader sense is not really illegal per se.
- But there are certain activities which constitute a major part of prostitution that are punishable under certain provisions of the act, which are:
- Soliciting prostitution services in public places
- Carrying out prostitution activities in hotels
- Indulging in prostitution by arranging for a sex worker
- Arrangement of a sexual act with a customer
Various issues faced by Sex Workers
- Stigma and Marginalization: This is experienced as the major factor that prevents women in sex work from accessing their rights.
- Denial of basic amenities: Due to this discrimination, women in sex work have been denied safety, proper healthcare, education and, most importantly, the right to practice the business of making money from sex.
- Risks of violence: People in sex work are not only at a higher risk for violence, but they are also less likely to get protection from the police—often the very perpetrators of this violence.
- Backwardness: Illiteracy, ignorance and fear of the medical establishment make it difficult for women to access healthcare.
- Health hazards: Current discourse on HIV/AIDS has served to further stigmatize sex workers by labeling them as “vectors” and “carriers” of the disease.
Protection against forceful sex work
- The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1986 is an amendment of the original act.
- As per this act, prostitutes are to be arrested if they are found soliciting their services or seducing others.
- Furthermore, call girls are prohibited from making their phone numbers public.
- They can be punished for up to 6 months along with penalties if found doing so.
Constitutional protection
Article 23 of the Indian Constitution, amended in 2014, includes the following provisions:
- Prohibition of human trafficking and forced labour.
- Traffic in human beings and bears and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with the law.
- Nothing in this article precludes the State from imposing compulsory service for public purposes, and the State shall not discriminate solely on the basis of religion, race, caste, or class, or any combination thereof, in imposing such service.
So, where does India stand?
- Prostitution is not illegal in our country, but soliciting and public prostitution are.
- Owning a brothel is also illegal, but because places like GB Road are already in place, these laws are rarely enforced.
What will change in India if the Centre accepts the court’s direction?
- Sex workers will be accorded equal legal protection.
- If a sex worker reports a criminal/sexual or other type of offence, the police will take it seriously and act in accordance with the law.
- If a brothel is raided, the sex workers involved will not be arrested, penalised, harassed, or victimised.
- Any sex worker who is a victim of sexual assault will be given all of the same services as a survivor of sexual assault, including immediate medical attention.
- Police will be required to treat all sex workers with dignity and not verbally or physically abuse them, subject them to violence, or coerce them into any sexual activity.
Where do other countries stand?
Some countries choose to outright ban the practice, while others have attempted to regulate prostitution and provide health and social benefits to sex workers.
Here are a few examples of countries where prostitution is legal:
- New Zealand: Prostitution has been legal since 2003. There are even licenced brothels operating under public health and employment laws, and they get all the social benefits.
- France: Prostitution is legal in France, though soliciting in public is still not allowed.
- Germany: Prostitution is legalised and there are proper state-run brothels. The workers are provided with health insurance, have to pay taxes, and they even receive social benefits like pensions.
- Greece: The sex workers get equal rights and have to go for health checkups as well.
- Canada: Prostitution in Canada is legal with strict regulations.
Conclusion
- While sex worker collectives have shown tremendous progress in asserting the rights of sex workers across India, they face an uphill battle as the country continues to foster a globalized economy.
- In the globalized world, sex work will become more institutionalized, functioning through escort services, and will no longer need traditional street brothels.
- Legislators needs to ensure all rights to the sex workers at par with citizens.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: RTI Act
Mains level: Exemptions to the RTI
Veterans of the Indian Armed Forces have urged PM against exempting defense services from purview of RTI (Right to Information) Act, 2005.
Why in news?
- Last year, late CDS Rawat had urged the government making a pitch for defence services to be exempted from the RTI Act.
- He had stated that none of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) are under its purview and defence services, being even more sensitive, should be fully exempted too.
What is RTI?
- RTI is an act of the parliament which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
- It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
- Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30.
- In case of the matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours.
- The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.
Constitutional status of RTI
- Since RTI, is implicit in the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, it is an implied FR.
- These are backed by the right to constitutional remedies that is, the right to approach the supreme court and high court under Article 32 and 226 respectively in case of infringement of any of FRs.
Benefits of RTI
- Greater accessibility of information: A person can seek information from any public authority in the form of copies, floppy disks, sample material etc under RTI.
- Efficient governance: RTI Act helps us in knowing the efficiency of the government’s functioning.
- Citizen’s participation: Information under RTI can be sought easily by requesting the public officer and assistant public officer in any public authority.
- Government obligation: Obtaining information from any public authority is obligatory for them.
- Maintenance of public record: Under RTI Act, it is the duty of public authorities to maintain records for easy access and to publish within 120 days the name of the particular officers who should give the information and in regard to the framing of the rules, regulations etc.
- Empowerment of Citizens: Every citizen has been empowered to be informed about anything that affects their life directly or indirectly.
Why do Veterans want RTI?
- The RTI has remained a powerful tool with the veterans and serving community to obtain information and documents concerning their service and pensioner issues.
- RTI Act has ensured maximum transparency in official establishments dealing with such cases.
- Even innocuous documents such as medical board proceedings concerning disabled soldiers and old service records of veterans are only made available through the RTI Act.
- Requesting that defence services are not be placed in Schedule 2 of the RTI Act, 2005, the lobby said that adequate protection is already available in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act.
- Armed forces can hold back information related to operational and security-related issues.
Necessity for RTI in armed forces
- Any such move will be a blow to transparency and will lead to an exponential increase in litigation and grievances.
- And any irregularities in defence procurements would also go under the carpet, besides massive discrepancies in promotions.
- Already they are so opaque and have faced so many strictures by the courts.
- Denying such a right of a powerful public-oriented tool to military personnel, veterans, military widows and their families would place them at a sharp disadvantage compared to citizens.
- This would also result in litigation blast with affected persons approaching judicial forums for minor issues.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green Hydrogen
Mains level: National Hydrogen Mission
India aspires to emerge as the leader of green hydrogen by taking advantage of the current energy crisis across the globe.
Why in news?
- Oil India Limited (OIL) has commissioned India’s first 99.99% pure green hydrogen plant in eastern Assam’s Jorhat.
- Powered by a 500 KW solar plant, the green hydrogen unit has an installed capacity to produce 10 kg of hydrogen per day and scale it up to 30 kg per day.
What is Hydrogen?
- Hydrogen is the lightest, simplest and most abundant member of the family of chemical elements in the universe.
- It is colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic and highly combustible gaseous substance.
What is Green hydrogen?
- Green hydrogen is the one produced with no harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
- It is made by using clean electricity from surplus renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to electrolyse water.
- Electrolysers use an electrochemical reaction to split water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen, emitting zero-carbon dioxide in the process.
- Green hydrogen currently makes up a small percentage of the overall hydrogen, because production is expensive.
Why is India pursuing green hydrogen?
- Under the Paris Agreement of 2015, India is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 33-35% from the 2005 levels.
- It is a legally binding international treaty on climate change with the goal of limiting global warming to below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels.
- At the 2021 CoP in Glasgow, India reiterated its commitment to move from a fossil and import-dependent economy to a net-zero economy by 2070.
- India’s average annual energy import bill is more than $100 billion .
- The increased consumption of fossil fuel has made the country a high CO2 emitter which accounts for nearly 7% of the global CO2 burden.
Various policy moves
- In order to become energy independent by 2047, the government stressed the need to introduce green hydrogen as an alternative fuel that can make India the global hub and a major exporter of hydrogen.
- The National Hydrogen Mission was launched on August 15, 2021, with a view to cutting down carbon emissions and increasing the use of renewable sources of energy.
How much green hydrogen is India producing?
- India has just begun to generate green hydrogen with the objective of raising non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030.
- It was on April 20, 2022 that the public sector OIL, which is headquartered in eastern Assam’s Duliajan, set up India’s first 99.99% pure green hydrogen pilot plant.
- Research and development efforts are ongoing for a reduction in the cost of production, storage and the transportation of hydrogen.
What are the advantages of hydrogen as a fuel?
- Hydrogen can be used to produce electricity using fuel cells.
- Hydrogen, thus, can act as an energy storage device and contribute to grid stability.
- The oxygen, produced as a by-product (8 kg of oxygen is produced per 1 kg of hydrogen), can also be monetised by using it for industrial and medical applications or for enriching the environment.
Limitations to Hydrogen
- Despite being the most abundant element in the Universe, hydrogen does not exist on its own so needs to be extracted from water via electrolysis or separated from carbon fossil fuels.
- Hydrogen fuel cells need huge investment to be developed to the point where they become a genuinely viable energy source.
- This will also require the political will to invest the time and money into development in order to improve and mature the technology.
- Precious metals such as platinum and iridium are typically required as catalysts in fuel cells meaning unfeasibly high cost.
- There are also barriers around regulatory issues concerning the framework that defines commercial deployment models.
- Storage and transportation of hydrogen is more complex than that required for fossil fuels due to its high inflammability.
Back2Basics: Colours spectrum of Hydrogen
(1) Green hydrogen
(2) Blue hydrogen
- It is produced mainly from natural gas, using a process called steam reforming, which brings together natural gas and heated water in the form of steam.
- The output is hydrogen – but also carbon dioxide as a by-product.
- That means carbon capture and storage (CCS) is essential to trap and store this carbon.
- Blue hydrogen is sometimes described as ‘low-carbon hydrogen’ as the steam reforming process doesn’t actually avoid the creation of greenhouse gases.
(3) Grey hydrogen
- Currently, this is the most common form of hydrogen production.
- Grey hydrogen is created from natural gas, or methane, using steam methane reformation but without capturing the greenhouse gases made in the process.
(4) Black and brown hydrogen
- Any hydrogen made from fossil fuels through the process of ‘gasification’ is sometimes called black or brown hydrogen interchangeably.
- They are the most environmentally damaging.
(5) Pink hydrogen
- Pink hydrogen is generated through electrolysis powered by nuclear energy.
- Nuclear-produced hydrogen can also be referred to as purple hydrogen or red hydrogen.
- In addition, the very high temperatures from nuclear reactors could be used in other hydrogen productions by producing steam for more efficient electrolysis or fossil gas-based steam methane reforming.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Semiconductor industry
CEOs of AMD, Nvidia and Intel have said at different forums last year that the chip situation will remain tight for the rest of 2022.
Genesis of shortage
- After reaching its peak in 2011, the laptop market growth slowed down with the rise of alternatives such as smartphones and tablets.
- Then, the pandemic hit.
- People switched to work from home, children connected to schools through laptops, and get-togethers happened over video calls.
- This shift led to a surge in demand for laptops and tablets.
- The stay-at-home rules also made several people pick up console-based learning and gaming.
- Each of these devices were in high demand and are run on thumbnail-sized semiconductors, performing various functions on a single device.
Also read:
[Sansad TV] Perspective: Semiconductor Industry & India
What led to the production anomaly?
- Manufacturers produce them as 200mm or 300mm wafers. These are further split into lots of tiny chips.
- While the larger wafers are expensive and mostly used for advanced equipment, the devices that were in high demand needed smaller diameter wafers.
- But the manufacturing equipment needed to make them were in short supply even before the pandemic began.
- Industry is moving in the direction of 5G and advanced communication, which requires expensive wafers.
- High consumer demand for low-end products, coupled with large orders from tech firms chocked chip makers whose factories were also closed during lockdowns.
- As the industry gradually tried to pull itself out of the supply crunch, and logistical complexities have exacerbated the problem.
Impact of Ukrainian War
- Separately, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has strained exports of essential commodities used to make chip sets.
- Moscow supplies rare materials like palladium, and Kyiv sells rare gases to make semiconductor fab lasers.
- This combination is required to build chipsets that power a range of devices, from automobiles to smartphones.
Global supply chain
- About a decade and half back, semiconductors barely drew attention from large companies that have now come to rely on the thumbnail-sized semiconductor piece.
- During this period, firms developed a system to make chip sets.
- The system was made by interconnecting several parts of the world to make a single device.
- It is what we now call as the global supply chain.
How intricate is this network?
- Semiconductor manufacturing involves roughly 25 countries in the direct supply chain, and 23 countries in allied functions, according to a joint study by Global Semiconductor Alliance and Accenture.
- The report estimates a semiconductor-based product could cross international borders about 70 times before finally making it to the end customer.
- Wafer fabrication is the most globally dispersed, with 39 countries directly involved in the supply chain and 34 involved in allied activity.
- They provide services like photolithography, etching and cleaning.
- Designing happens across 12 countries; product testing and manufacturing each are done across 25 countries.
COVID is the only raison d’être
- Supply chain dynamics back fired due to the pandemic, and the recent geopolitical events.
- When the pandemic began, carmakers stopped requesting chips from suppliers due to low demand for new vehicles.
- And now, as they ramp up production to meet consumer demand, chip makers are down on supply because they have cut deals with other industries.
- As the geopolitical events in Central Europe and production shutdowns in China continue to add pressure to the already complicated semiconductor supply chain.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991
Mains level: Paper 2- Lower judiciary
Context
The Supreme Court order of May 20, transferring the suit on the Gyanvapi Masjid dispute from the civil judge (senior division) Varanasi to the district judge casts aspersion, though unintended, on the competence of civil judges in general.
Background
- The matter had reached the Supreme Court on a petition filed by the Mosque Management Committee, which challenged the civil judge’s orders.
- The order permitted inspection, survey, and videography of the mosque’s complex to collect evidence about the alleged existence of idols of Hindu deities inside the mosque, which is adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
- The Mosque Management Committee had filed an application before the civil judge seeking the rejection of the plaint on the ground that it was barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
- Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 prohibits individuals and groups of people from converting, in full or in part, a place of worship of any religious denomination into a place of worship of a different religious denomination, or even a different segment of the same religious denomination.
- It was argued before the SC that given the said Act, the suit was liable to be rejected at the threshold as the civil judge had no jurisdiction to entertain the same, much less to pass the aforesaid interim orders.
- The SC has not found any fault with the order of the civil judge, though there is also a view that it was mandatory on the part of the civil judge to have first passed an order on whether he had the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
- However, it appears that in the SC’s view, this was not a serious infraction.
- So, in a way, the SC has affirmed the orders of the civil judge.
- The civil court had territorial and pecuniary jurisdiction to deal with the matter.
- The question that arises is: Why has the Supreme Court transferred the matter to the court of the district judge?
Issues with the SC transferring the case to the district judge
- The SC has seemingly declared civil judges to be not competent to decide a matter alleged to be complex.
- When the Civil Procedure Code, the High Court Rules and Orders invest a civil judge with jurisdiction, why take it away merely on the plea that the matter is complex?
- Unhealthy precedent: Fransfer of the case to the district judge has set an unhealthy precedent and will have a demoralising effect on the subordinate judiciary.
- In the recent past, many lower-level judicial officers have passed outstanding orders in matters concerning the liberties of the citizens, which are under threat as never before.
- The subordinate judiciary provides the foundation of our judicial system.
Conclusion
Supreme Court order inadvertently casts aspersions on competence of subordinate judiciary. District court should not be weighed down by SC observation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Implications of Supreme Court's ruling for GST regime
Context
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the decisions taken by the GST Council are merely recommendations with “persuasive value” and are not binding.
GST as a advisory body
- The court has rejected the Centre’s contention that the entire structure of GST would crumble if the Council’s decisions were not treated as enforceable.
- In some ways, the verdict states the obvious.
- Article 246-A inserted after the 122nd constitutional amendment states, “Notwithstanding anything contained in articles 246 and 254, Parliament, and, subject to clause (2), the Legislature of every state, have the power to make laws with respect to the GST imposed by the Union or by such state.”
- Thus, the power to levy the central GST (CGST) vests with Parliament, the power to levy state GST (SGST) vests with state legislatures and Parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to the GST on items that are part of inter-state trade or commerce.
- Thus, the GST Council is only an advisory body and the actual decisions regarding model GST levies, principles of levy, apportionment of GST levied on inter-state supplies, principles relating to place of supply, exemptions and rate structure and any special provisions will have to be taken by either Parliament in the case of CGST and IGST or the states in the case of SGST.
- In effect, decisions on the structure and operation of the tax can be made by the Centre and individual states without discussion and deliberation in the Council and both can ignore any recommendation made by the Council.
- The judgment reiterates that the sovereign right to levy the tax still exists with the Union and state governments and it is for them to consider the recommendations of the Council.
- The chance of having a harmonised GST and reforms in the tax regime will crucially depend upon continued negotiation and bargaining between the Union and states.
- Intergovernmental cooperation has been kept alive to ensure a harmonised GST and unless both the Centre and the states see the gains, reforms will be hard to come by and if the Centre desires the reforms more than the states, it will have to ensure a “buy in” from the states to agree for the reform.
Implications of the judgement
- Given that the GST Council has been declared as only an advisory body with a persuasive value, what happens to the dream of having a harmonised one nation, one tax, if a state or a group of states decides to deviate?
- But the judgment paves the way for more intensive bargaining and negotiations, placing states on an equal footing with the Centre in taking decisions on the structure and operations of the tax.
- At present, decisions get approved in the GST Council when passed by a majority of three-fourths of the weighted votes of the members present and voting, with the Centre having one-third weight and individual states (and UTs) having an equal share of the remaining two-thirds weight.
- However, in the past, all decisions in the Council have been taken by consensus (except in the case of determining the rate on lotteries), and the Supreme Court decision reinforces this convention.
- The immediate impact of this will be bargaining by states for extending the period of compensation for the loss of revenue.
- As the five-year period of compensation gets over at the end of June, this decision will now help the states to bargain hard for the extension.
Way forward
- Though the period of collecting compensation cess has been extended till March 2026 to meet the interest and repayment requirements of the funds borrowed from the RBI to meet the compensation requirements, the lasting solution lies in increasing the revenue productivity of the tax by pruning the list of exempted items, rationalising the rates and taking administrative measures.
- These reforms will require strengthening the cooperative spirit.
Conclusion
This has come at a time when reforms have to be set in motion and hopefully, the Court’s decision will strengthen the cooperative spirit in reforming the domestic consumption tax system in the country.
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