Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Women in Indian army
Context
Last year, the Supreme Court threw open the hallowed portals of the National Defence Academy for women. Something to truly celebrate on January 15, Army Day, this year.
Background
- The first batch of women officers was inducted into the Indian Army in non-medical roles via the Short Service Commission in 1992.
- Since 2008, women were inducted as permanent commissioned officers in the legal and education corps and as permanent commissioned officers in eight more non-combative corps in 2020.
The low number of women in Army
- As recent as 2020, women officers in the Indian army (excluding the medical corps) numbered just about three per cent.
- Compare this to 16 per cent in the US, 15 per cent in France and 10 per cent in both Russia and the UK.
Significance of allowing women to NDA
- When in February 2020, the Supreme Court decreed that women officers should get command positions on par with male officers, it also effectively dismissed the military’s earlier objection that it would lead to “operational, practical and cultural problems”.
- The SC went on to say that denying women commands based on the above argument was discriminatory and reinforced stereotypes.
- Last year, the Supreme Court threw open the National Defence Academy for women to compete for the seats and subsequent permanent commission in the Indian army in any corps they desire, including the combat ones.
- Addressing the shortage of officers: This may effectively address the long-standing shortage of officers in the Indian army in general. In response to a question in Rajya Sabha a month ago, the Minister of State for Defence said the Army has a shortage of 7,476 officers.
- This torch may also help confront the chauvinism, often misspelt as chivalry, that indisputably exists in the Army.
Conclusion
The move promises to change the composition of this arm of the defence force not just quantitatively, but also qualitatively — both dire requirements of the force at present.
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Back2Basics: Permanent Commission (PC) Vs. Short Service Commission (SSC)
- SSC means an officer’s career will be of a limited period in the Indian Armed Forces whereas a PC means they shall continue to serve in the Indian Armed Forces, till they retire.
- The officers inducted through the SSC usually serve for a period of 14 years.
- At the end of 10 years, the officers have three options.
- A PC entitles an officer to serve in the Navy till he/she retires unlike SSC, which is currently for 10 years and can be extended by four more years, or a total of 14 years.
- They can either select for a PC or opt-out or have the option of a 4-years extension.
- They can resign at any time during this period of 4 years extension.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MSP
Mains level: Paper 3- Making farming viable through legal MSP
Context
There has been debate on the issue of MSP with some arguing against it while some favouring it.
The issues with MSP
- The broad strands of argument against MSP are:
- MSP hinders the price discovery: Providing MSP does not allow the market to discover the prices; if market cleared prices are less than MSP, then the only buyer would be the government; this would render the government bankrupt.
- FPO as a mechanism to deal with markets: If markets have any distortions, the way to negotiate it is through Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) — as demonstrated by Amul.
- Provide income support through DBT: A better way to address the possible income gap is to give an income support-based direct benefit transfer (DBT).
Why MSP is necessary?
1] Barriers in agri-markets
- Through tariffs and other measures, we have built a national barrier on markets, where gates are opened on the basis of strategic intent.
- If we were to open our borders for free movement of grains from elsewhere, we may even argue for unlocking agricultural land for more lucrative purposes without worrying about food self-sufficiency, buffer stocking and domestic food safety.
- We may have to accept a national food safety for at least the essential foodgrains and pulses.
2] Role of MSP as price signalling and why it needs to be given as legal guarantee
- Disproportionate risk: If we were to look at farming, we realise that this exposes itself to disproportionate risks.
- First, there is no stop-loss mechanism after sowing the seed, except for destroying the crop for the season.
- This enterprise not only has the usual business risks but also has the enhanced risk of the force majeure elements that destroy the enterprise — a sudden hail storm, drought, unseasonal showers, a pest attack, a locust attack — there are too many things that the farmer cannot control.
- Therefore, an MSP provides a powerful signal to the farmer to exercise the choice of sowing a particular crop because the farmer can back-calculate the expected margin.
- If MSP is a signal that helps the farmer to choose a crop, then it must remain a choice at the harvest time as well.
- The significance of MSP is only when the markets do not clear the price.
- In such a situation, the farmer gets a return less than the MSP and by this argument we are escorting the farm fraternity towards bankruptcy.
- A legal guarantee is, therefore, needed.
- The argument that the state will have to procure all the floating stock in the market and may become bankrupt is fallacious.
- The intervention of the state in the markets usually covers information asymmetry, arbitrage and cools the markets when they get overheated.
3] Why not opt for income support instead of MSP?
- Income support does not address the issue of viability of the farming operations.
- There is no doubt that we need to make farming viable.
- It is important to address the prices of each crop as a strategic signalling mechanism: For crops that would be encouraged and those that would be discouraged.
4] Issues with drawing parallels with AMUL
- While the Amul model recognised the inherent power of markets, it took about five decades to make the system competitive — the investments were made in breed improvement, free veterinary services, better cattle feed, capital subsidy for processing plants, and return-free capital as investments.
- The nature of subsidies was smart and innovative.
- Dairying was the last bit to be liberalised, and it enjoyed protection even when we opened up in 1991.
Way forward
- Modernise the markets: We need to modernise the markets and storage and processing facilities.
- There is no point in conflating modernisation with liberalisation.
- Investment: If we need to take Indian agriculture on the path of Amul, we need to start making those investments now.
Consider the question “What are the objectives of providing MSP? How legal basis to MSP could help in making agriculture viable in India?”
Conclusion
Let us use the MSP framework smartly on diversified crops, on a decentralised basis while we develop the markets. A legal guarantee will only assure the farmers that they will not be bankrupted.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AUKUS
Mains level: Paper 2- Indo-Pacific challenge
Context
The geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific, which is changing fast. As it moves into 2022, the region will carry the imprint of the past five years, and will have to chart a course through inter-state tensions and crises, using both diplomacy and military preparedness.
What will shape the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the Indo-Pacific?
- Key players in the region: The region is central to world economy and peace, and nine countries are key players: the US, China, Japan, India, Germany, the UK, Russia, Australia and France.
- The geopolitics and geo-economics of the Indo-Pacific will be largely shaped by the interplay of relations among these nations.
- US-China relations: Of paramount importance is the US-China equation.
- Expect this relationship to be marked by continually adversarial, competitive and cooperative traits.
- Beijing’s south/east China policy, aggressive postures towards Taiwan, human rights violations in Xinjiang, the subjugation of Hong Kong’s citizenry and assertive economic outreach in the Indo-Pacific — these will weigh heavily on US-China relations.
A significant role of groupings and individual nations
- In this standoff, the role of new groupings and individual nations is significant.
- Role of Quad: Foremost are the Quad, a strategic partnership between the US, India, Japan and Australia and the militaristic AUKUS (Australia, UK, US).
- India-Australia ties: Meanwhile, India and Australia are on track to deepen ties, not only bilaterally but also with the other two Quad powers.
- The next Quad summit, probably hosted by Japan, will cement the grouping.
- EU’s role: The EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy, announced last September, aims at increasing its economic and security profile in, and linkages with, the region.
- UK’s role: Only by being more strategic and less mercantilist, more candid and assertive with China, and more cooperative with partners such as India, can the EU — and its former member the UK — hope to become vital players in the Indo-Pacific.
- ASEAN, located in the middle of the Indo-Pacific waters, faces the heat of China’s aggression and the sharpening great power rivalry.
- It must enhance its realism and shed its tendency of wishing away problems.
Suggestions for India
- 1]Strengthen the Quad – especially by ensuring that the grouping fulfils its commitment to deliver at least one billion vaccine doses to Indo-Pacific nations by December 2022.
- India must protect its established relationship with Russia, and show some resilience in dialogue with Beijing.
- 2] Enhance relations with ASEAN nations: It must enhance cooperation with key Southeast Asian partners —Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand — while humouring ASEAN as a grouping.
- 3] Give attention to African and Indian Ocean island states: The eastern and southern planks of Africa and the Indian Ocean island states need continued high policy attention and financial resources.
- A clear economic and trade agenda to follow the flag in this vital region, is certain to yield long-term dividends.
Consider the question “Indo-Pacific will present India strategic and economic opportunities that India must not miss. However, the region will have to chart a course through inter-state tensions and crises. Comment.”
Conclusion
India has done well by fulfilling its humanitarian duties during the pandemic. Learning how to convert them smartly into economic and strategic opportunities in its periphery is the focused task for the nation in 2022.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Countries involve in South China sea dispute
Mains level: Paper 2- South China sea issue
Context
South-East Asian countries are increasingly wary of their giant neighbour.
Background of dispute
- Disputes in the South China Sea go back decades.
- But it was only ten years ago that China, which makes maritime claims for nearly the whole sea, greatly upped the ante.
- Countries involved: They involve Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, all with contesting claims.
- China provoked a stand-off that left it in control of an uninhabited atoll, Scarborough Shoal, which under un maritime law clearly belongs to the Philippines.
- Then China launched a massive terraforming exercise, turning reefs and rocks into artificial islands hosting airstrips and bases.
China’s strong-arm tactics
- China’s long-term aim is to project Chinese power deep into the South China Sea and beyond, and to hold the Americans away during any conflict.
- The immediate aim, though, is to dominate politically and economically as much as militarily.
- China has challenged oil-and-gas activity by both Indonesia and Malaysia, and sent drilling rigs to both countries’ eezs and continental shelves.
- It has bullied foreign energy companies into dropping joint development with Vietnam and others.
Implications
- China has paid a diplomatic price.
- Impact on relations with ASEAN: Had Mr Xi engaged in none of the terraforming and bullying, China would be better admired among members of the ten-country Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
- Naval presence of the US: The United States and its Western allies have upped their naval presence in the sea, welcomed by most ASEAN members.
Negotiation on Code of conduct on South China Sea
- For years China dragged its feet on agreeing with ASEAN a code of conduct on the South China Sea, a principle agreed on 20 years ago in order to promote co-operation and reduce tensions.
- These days, China likes to play willing.
- China is demanding, in effect, the right of veto over ASEAN members’ naval exercises with foreign powers.
- It also wants to keep out foreigners from joint oil-and-gas development.
- Such demands are unacceptable to members.
Conclusion
Despite China’s efforts to establish its wild claims of sovereignty, China has been facing sustained resistance from the ASEAN countries.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Need for democratic socialism based on cooperative economic enterprises
Context
Inequalities of wealth have increased around the world and India is becoming one of the world’s most unequal countries.
Role of globalisation and privatisation in increasing economic distress
- Economic despair is feeding the rise of authoritarianism, nationalism, and identity politics.
- Role of Globalisation: Opening national borders to free trade became an ideology in economics in the last 30 years.
- Taxes of incomes and wealth at the top were also reduced.
- The ideological justification was that the animal spirits of ‘wealth creators’ must not be dampened.
- With higher taxes until the 1970s, the U.S. and many countries in Europe had built up their public health and education infrastructure and strengthened social security systems.
- The rich are now being taxed much less than they were.
- The pie has grown larger but the richest few have been eating, and hoarding, most of it themselves.
- Role of privatisation: ‘Privatisation’ of everything became another ideological imperative in economics by the turn of the century.
- Selling off public enterprises raises resources for funds-starved governments.
- Another justification is efficiency in delivery of services, setting aside ethical questions of equity.
- When ‘public’ is converted to ‘private’, rich people can buy what they need.
- The gaps between the haves and the have-nots become larger.
How liberal economic policies are creating illiberal societies
- Liberal economists, promoting free markets, free trade, and privatisation, are worried by nationalism and authoritarian governments.
- They rail against “populist” policies of governments that subsidise the poor and adopt industrial strategies for self-reliance and jobs for their citizens.
- Liberals must re-examine their ideas of economics, to understand their own culpability in creating authoritarian and identitarian politics.
The failure of capitalism and communism
- While communism had lifted living standards, and the health and education of masses of poorer people faster than capitalism could, communism’s solution to the “property” question — that there should be no private property — was a failure.
- It deprived people of personal liberties.
- Capitalism’s solution to the property problem — replacing all publicly owned enterprises with privately owned ones (and reducing taxes on wealth and high incomes) has not worked either.
- It has denied many of their basic human needs of health, education and social security, and equal opportunities for their children.
- The private property solution has also harmed the natural environment.
Way forward
- Climate change and political rumblings around the world are both warnings that capitalism needs reform.
- Economic policies must be based on new ideas.
- Thought leaders and policymakers in India must lead the world out of the rut of ideas in which it seems to be trapped.
- Principles of human rights must not be overpowered by property rights.
- A new form of “Gandhian” democratic socialism, powered by cooperative economic enterprises, is required in the 21st century, to create wealth at the bottom, not only at the top, and save humanity and the planet.
Conclusion
A new form of ‘Gandhian’ democratic socialism powered by cooperative economic enterprises is required.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with hate speech
Context
On January 12, 2022 , the Supreme Court of India agreed to hear petitions asking for legal action to be taken against the organisers of, and speakers at, the “Hardwar Dharma Sansad”.
What constitutes hate speech
- Hate speech is speech that targets people based on their identity, and calls for violence or discrimination against people because of their identity.
- There is an absence of any legal or social consensus around what constitutes “hate speech.”
- As societies around the world have long understood, the harm in hate speech is not restricted to direct and proximate calls to violence.
- Inciting discrimination is part of hate speech: Hate speech works in more insidious ways, creating a climate that strengthens existing prejudices and entrenches already-existing discrimination.
- This is why – with the exception of the United States of America – most societies define hate speech in terms of both inciting violence, but also, inciting discrimination.
Challenges in dealing with hate speech
- Legal challenge: Our laws – as they stand – are unequipped to deal with the challenges of hate speech.
- The laws commonly invoked in such cases are section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (blasphemy) and section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (creating enmity between classes of people).
- Hate speech will not always be self-evident: Hate speech, by its very nature, will not always trumpet itself to be hate speech.
- Rather, it will often assume plausible deniability – as has been seen in the Hardwar case, where statements, worded with the right degree of ambiguity, are now being defended as calls to self-defence rather than calls to violence.
- Any comprehensive understanding of hate speech is a matter of judgment, and must take into account its ambiguous and slippery nature.
- Lack of social consensus against hate speech: No matter how precise and how definite we try to make our concept of hate speech, it will inevitably reflect individual judgment.
- If, therefore, social and legal norms against hate speech are to be implemented without descending into pure subjectivity, what is needed – first – is a social consensus about what kind of speech is beyond the pale.
- In Europe, for example, holocaust denial is an offence – and is enforced with a degree of success – precisely because there is a pre-existing social consensus about the moral abhorrence of the holocaust.
Conclusion
Achieving this social consensus is an immense task, and will require both consistent legal implementation over time, but also daily conversations that we, as a society need to have among ourselves.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IPC section 375
Mains level: Persistence of marital rape and need for its criminalization
The Delhi High Court has told the Centre that it will continue hearing the petitions challenging the legal exception to marital rape and not wait for the government’s ongoing process of initiating reform in the criminal laws.
What is Marital Rape?
- Marital rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without her consent.
- It is no different manifestation of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
- It is often a chronic form of violence for the victim which takes place within abusive relations.
Status in India
- Historically considered as right of the spouses, this is now widely classified as rape by many societies around the world.
- In India, marital rape is not a criminal offense (as protected under IPC section 375).
- India is one of fifty countries that have not yet outlawed marital rape.
Reasons for disapproval of this concept
- The reluctance to define non-consensual sex between married couples as a crime and to prosecute has been attributed to:
- Traditional views of marriage
- Interpretations of religious doctrines
- Ideas about male and female sexuality
- Cultural expectations of subordination of a wife to her husband
- It is widely held that a husband cannot be guilty of any sexual act committed by himself upon his lawful wife their on account of their mutual matrimonial consent.
Why it must be a crime?
- Associated physical violence: Rape by a spouse, partner or ex-partner is more often associated with physical violence.
- Mental harassment: There is research showing that marital rape can be more emotionally and physically damaging than rape by a stranger.
- Compulsive relationship: Marital rape may occur as part of an abusive relationship.
- Revengeful nature: Furthermore, marital rape is rarely a one-time event, but a repeated if not frequent occurrence.
- Obligation on women: In the case of marital rape the victim often has no choice but to continue living with their spouse.
Violation of fundamental rights
- Marital rape is considered as the violation of FR guaranteed under Article 14 of the Indian constitution which guarantees the equal protection of laws to all persons.
- By depriving married women of an effective penal remedy against forced sexual intercourse, it violates their right to privacy and bodily integrity, aspects of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.
Problems in prosecuting marital rape
- Lack of awareness: A lack of public awareness, as well as reluctance or outright refusal of authorities to prosecute is common globally.
- Gender norms: Additionally, gender norms that place wives in subservient positions to their husbands, make it more difficult for women to recognize such rape.
- Acceptability of the concept: Another problem results from prevailing social norms that exist.
Present regulations in India
- Indian Penal Code criminalizes rape in most cases, although marital rape is not illegal when the woman is over the age of 18.
- However, until 2017, men married to those between 15 and 18 could not be convicted of rape.
- Marital rape of an adult wife, who is unofficially or officially separated, is a criminal offence punishable by 2 to 7 year in prison; it is not dealt by normal rape laws which stipulate the possibility of a death sentence.
- According to the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act (2005), other married women subject to such crime by their husband may demand for financial compensation.
- They also have the right to continue to live in their marital household if they wish, or may approach shelter or aid homes.
However, marital rape is still not a criminal offence in this case and is only a misdemeanour.
Arguments against criminalization
- Subjective: It is very subjective and intricate to determine whether consent was acquired or not.
- Prone to Misuse: If marital rape is criminalized without adequate safeguards it could be misused like the current dowry law by the dissatisfied wives to harass and torture their Husbands.
- Burden on Judiciary: It will increase the burden of judiciary which otherwise may serve other more important causes.
Way forward
- Sanctioning marital rape is an acknowledgment of the woman’s right to self-determination (i.e., control) of all matters relating to her body.
- In the absence of any concrete law, the judiciary always finds it difficult to decide the matter of domestic rape in the absence of solid evidence.
- The main purpose of marriage is procreation, and sometimes divorce is sought on the ground of non-consummation of marriage.
- Before giving a final interpretation, the judiciary must balance the rights and duties of both partners.
Must read:
[RSTV Archive] Sexual Crime – Fast-tracking Justice
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: India State of Forest Report, 2021
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has released the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021.
About India State of Forest Report
- ISFR is an assessment of India’s forest and tree cover, published every two years by the Forest Survey of India under the MoEFCC.
- The first survey was published in 1987, and ISFR 2021 is the 17th.
- It compiles data computed through wall-to-wall mapping of India’s forest cover through remote sensing techniques.
Why need ISFR?
- It is used in planning and formulation of policies in forest management as well as forestry and agroforestry sectors.
How are forests categorized?
The Forest Survey of India has listed four categories of forests. They are:
- Very Dense Forest (with tree canopy density of 70 per cent or above)
- Moderately Dense Forest (tree canopy density of 40 per cent or above but less than 70 per cent)
- Open Forest (tree canopy density of 10 per cent or above but less than 40 per cent)
- Scrub (tree canopy density less than 10 per cent)
Highlights of the ISFR, 2021
[1] Forest cover is increasing
- ISFR 2021 has found that the forest and tree cover in the country continues to increase with an additional cover of 1,540 square kilometres over the past two years.
- India’s forest cover is now 7,13,789 square kilometres, 21.71% of the country’s geographical area, an increase from 21.67% in 2019.
- Tree cover has increased by 721 sq km.
- Bamboo forests have grown from 13,882 million culms (stems) in 2019 to 53,336 million culms in 2021.
[2] State-wise gain/losses
- The states that have shown the highest increase in forest cover are Telangana (3.07%), Andhra Pradesh (2.22%) and Odisha (1.04%).
- The Northeast states account for 7.98% of total geographical area but 23.75% of total forest cover.
- Five states in the Northeast – Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland have all shown loss in forest cover.
- The report has attributed the decline in the NE states to a spate of natural calamities, particularly landslides and heavy rains, in the region as well as to anthropogenic activities.
[3] Increase in Mangrove cover
- Mangroves have shown an increase of 17 sq km. India’s total mangrove cover is now 4,992 sq km.
[4] Increase in carbon stock
- The total carbon stock in country’s forests is estimated at 7,204 million tonnes, an increase of 79.4 million tonnes since 2019.
[5] Big cats population
- ISFR 2021 has some new features. It has for the first time assessed forest cover in tiger reserves, tiger corridors and the Gir forest which houses the Asiatic lion.
- The forest cover in tiger corridors has increased by 37.15 sq km (0.32%) between 2011-2021, but decreased by 22.6 sq km (0.04%) in tiger reserves.
- Buxa, Anamalai and Indravati reserves have shown an increase in forest cover while the highest losses have been found in Kawal, Bhadra and the Sunderbans reserves.
- Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh has the highest forest cover, at nearly 97%.
[6] Impact of climate change
- The report estimates that by 2030, 45-64% of forests in India will experience the effects of climate change and rising temperatures, and forests in all states will be highly vulnerable climate hot spots.
- Ladakh (forest cover 0.1-0.2%) is likely to be the most affected.
- India’s forests are already showing shifting trends of vegetation types, such as Sikkim which has shown a shift in its vegetation pattern for 124 endemic species.
[7] Forest fires
- The survey has found that 35.46 % of the forest cover is prone to forest fires.
- Out of this, 2.81 % is extremely prone, 7.85% is very highly prone and 11.51 % is highly prone
- The highest numbers of fires were detected in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Concerns with the declining trends
- It is worrying that a 1,582 sq km decline was in moderately dense forests, or “natural forests”.
- This decline shows a degradation of forests in the country, say experts, with natural forests degrading to less dense open forests.
- Also, scrub area has increased by 5,320 sq km – indicating the complete degradation of forests in these areas.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Asian Clearing Union (ACU), Currency Swaps
Mains level: India's financial assitances to SL
India has confirmed a $400 million currency swap with Sri Lanka while deferring another $500 million due for settlement to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU).
What is the news?
- Sri Lanka is facing a severe dollar crunch that economists say might lead to a default on external debt and create a food shortage in the imports-reliant island nation.
- In this regard, the Reserve Bank of India has extended currency swap facilities of $900 million to Sri Lanka.
What are Currency Swaps?
- A currency swap, also known as a cross-currency swap, is an off-balance sheet transaction in which two parties exchange principal and interest in different currencies.
- Currency swaps are used to obtain foreign currency loans at a better interest rate than could be got by borrowing directly in a foreign market.
Practice question for mains:
Q. What are Currency Swaps? Discuss the efficacy of Currency Swap Agreements for enhancing bilateral cooperation in Indian context.
How does it work?
- In a swap arrangement, RBI would provide dollars to a Lankan central bank, which, at the same time, provides the equivalent funds in its currency to the RBI, based on the market exchange rate at the time of the transaction.
- The parties agree to swap back these quantities of their two currencies at a specified date in the future, which could be the next day or even three months later, using the same exchange rate as in the first transaction.
- These swap operations carry no exchange rate or other market risks, as transaction terms are set in advance.
Why does one need dollars?
- FPIs investors look for safer investments but the current global uncertainty over COVID outbreak has led to a shortfall everywhere in the global markets.
- This has pulled down foreign exchange reserves of many small and developing countries.
- This means that the government and the RBI cannot lower their guard on the management of the economy and the external account.
Benefits of currency swap
- The absence of an exchange rate risk is the major benefit of such a facility.
- This facility provides the flexibility to use these reserves at any time in order to maintain an appropriate level of balance of payments or short-term liquidity.
- Swaps agreements between governments also have supplementary objectives like the promotion of bilateral trade, maintaining the value of foreign exchange reserves with the central bank and ensuring financial stability (protecting the health of the banking system).
Back2Basics: Asian Clearing Union (ACU)
- The ACU with headquarters in Tehran, Iran, was established on December 9, 1974, at the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
- The primary objective of ACU was to secure regional co-operation as regards the settlement of eligible monetary transactions among the members of the Union/
- It now aims to provide a system for clearing payments among the member countries on a multilateral basis.
- The unit of settlement of ACU transactions is a common unit of account of ACU, and the unit is equivalent to one USD, and the Asian Monetary Unit may be denominated as ACU dollars and Euro.
Must read:
[Burning Issue] India – Sri Lanka relations in recent times
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 5G technology
Mains level: Delay in roll-out of 5g
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked for views on band plan, block size, and conditions for auction of spectrum in 5G bands, which includes Millimetre (mm) Wave band of 24.25-28.5 GHz.
Must read:
Status of 5G Rollout in India
What is 5G technology?
- 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
- It’s a unified platform that is much more capable than previous mobile services with more capacity, lower latency, faster data delivery rate and better utilisation of spectrum.
5G spectrum
5G mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high-frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.
(1) Low band spectrum
- It has a great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange but the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
- So Telcos can use and install it for commercial cell phone users who may not have specific demands for very high speed internet, the low band spectrum may not be optimal for specialized needs of the industry.
(2) Mid-band spectrum
- It offers higher speeds compared to the low band, but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
- This band may be used by industries and specialized factory units for building captive networks that can be moulded into the needs of that particular industry.
(3) High-band spectrum
- It offers the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
- Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G has been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (giga bits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.
What is Millimetre (mm) Wave Band?
- Millimetre Wave band or mmWave is a particular segment of radio frequency spectrum that range between 24 GHz and 100 GHz.
- This spectrum, as the name suggests, has a short wavelength, and is apt to deliver greater speeds and lower latencies.
- This in turn makes data transfer efficient and seamless as the current available networks work optimally only on lower frequency bandwidths.
Significance of this mm band
- 5G services can be deployed using lower frequency bands.
- They can cover greater distances and are proven to work efficiently even in urban environments, which are prone to interference.
- But, when it comes to data speeds, these bands fail to hit peak potential needed for a true 5G experience.
- So, mmWave is that quintessential piece in the 5G jigsaw puzzle for mobile service providers.
Concerns with inclusion of mm-band
- The mm bands have been preserved for satellite-based broadband services as per the decision taken by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
- Providing excess spectrum could pose a downside risk of the bands going unsold, or even worse, underutilised by terrestrial players at the expense of satellite-based service providers.
- Offering excessive spectrum will result in Indian citizens being denied the benefits of high-demand, advanced satellite broadband services.
- In addition to this, it will result in a massive loss to the Indian economy of up to $184.6 billion by 2030, along with the loss of foreign direct investment (FDI) and employment generation benefits.
How could this disrupt the satellite communication industry?
- Internet has largely been provided to users via fibre-optic based broadband connectivity or mobile network.
- Of late, another class of Internet vendors is showing up. These are satellite-based communication service providers.
- For example, SpaceX’s Starlink and Bharti Airtel’s OneWeb are some of the players in this market.
- This segment uses Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to provide broadband to both urban and rural users. Their service could also be used for weather predictions.
- The mm band had been the subject of controversy due to out-of-band emissions into the passive satellite band used for weather satellites at 23.6-24 GHz.
HeaWay ahead
- The allocation of mmWave band is critical to the satellite communication industry, which needs a stronger regulatory support to ensure that 5G operations don’t interfere with their existing operations.
- The industry body pointed to Europe’s “5G Roadmap”, which is built on the ITU’s decision to hold these bands for satellite-based broadband services.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dravidian Model, Justice Party
Mains level: Socio-economic model of economic development
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is pushing for a ‘Dravidian Model’ where economic development is inclusive.
What is the Dravidian Model?
- The goal is equal economic development that will be in tune with social justice.
- It has taken root since the days of the Justice Party government [in pre-Independent India].
- TN polity has divided the task into short-term and long-term, and travels with the objective of improving the economy by implementing them within the time frame.
Note: The Government of India Act 1919 implemented the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, instituting a Diarchy in Madras Presidency. The diarchial period extended from 1920 to 1937, encompassing five elections. Justice party was in power for 13 of 17 years.
Unique features of this developmental approach
(1) Financial planning
- TN has constituted an Economic Advisory Council comprising internationally renowned economists since there is a need to evolve an economic development to suit the current situation.
- It has emerged out higher as comparatively high levels of human development with economic dynamism.
(2) Health and education
- It sought and ensured opportunity-equalizing policies in the expanding modern sectors through affirmative action policies and investments in education and health.
- Tamil Nadu has been a pioneer in broad-basing entry into school education through a slew of incentives, the noon meal scheme being the most well-known.
(3) Social Harmony
- It also succeeded in building a bloc of lower caste groups under a Dravidian-Tamil identity that subsumed and sought to transcend individual caste identities.
- It has distinct political mobilization against caste-based inequalities in the state.
- Mobilization built an ethos that questioned the privileges of caste elites and the naturalness of merit in a caste society.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 246
Mains level: Paper 2- Need for review of the Seventh Schedule
Context
Without delegation of funds, functions and functionaries, local governments are unable to respond to pressure from citizens who demand greater efficiency.
Background of the Seventh Schedule
- Article 246 of the Constitution mentions three lists in the Seventh Schedule — union, state and concurrent lists.
- The present Seventh Schedule and union (at that time Federal) list, state (at that time Provincial) list and concurrent lists are inherited from that 1935 piece of legislation.
- It states that “Notwithstanding anything in the two next succeeding subsections, the Federal Legislature has, and a Provincial Legislature has not, power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List I in the Seventh Schedule to this Act.”
Delivery of public goods
- Ignoring that narrow and technical definition of public good, loosely, we understand “public good” as something that must be delivered by the government.
- It cannot, or should not, be delivered by the private sector.
- Notwithstanding the use of private security guards, most people will agree “law and order” is a public good.
- Most public goods people will think of are efficiently delivered at the local government level, not Union or state level.
- There is a Seventh Schedule issue that is thus linked to the insertion of a local body list.
- Countervailing pressure by citizens increasingly demands efficient delivery of such public goods.
- But without delegation of funds, functions and functionaries, presently left to the whims of state governments, local governments are unable to respond.
Need for the review of the Seventh Schedule Lists
- No local body list: Most public goods people will think of are efficiently delivered at the local government level, not Union or state level.
- There is a Seventh Schedule issue that is thus linked to the insertion of a local body list.
- But without delegation of funds, functions and functionaries, presently left to the whims of state governments, local governments are unable to respond.
- The Rajamannar Committee — formally known as Centre-State Relations Inquiry Committee suggested constitution of a High Power Commission to examine the entries of Lists I and III in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution and suggest redistribution of the entries,”.
- Changes in the past led to greater centralisation: Items have moved from the state list to the concurrent list and from the concurrent list to the union list.
- Such limited movements have reflected greater centralisation, such as in 1976.
- N K Singh, Chairman of 15th Finance Commission has also often made this point, in addition to scrutiny of Article 282.
Conclusion
For the sake of better governance, it’s not an issue that should be ducked and the basic structure doctrine doesn’t stand in the way.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Restoration and normalization of India-Pak ties
Peace with India and its immediate neighbors is set to be the central theme of Pakistan’s first-ever National Security Policy.
Why has this news made headlines?
- Pakistan’s (official) policy now leaves the door open for trade with India even without the settlement of the Kashmir issue – provided there is headway in bilateral talks.
- Earlier, Kashmir used to be at the centre-stage of all Pakistani outcry.
New Security Policy
- The country’s new policy would act as an umbrella document, to be used as a guideline for Pakistan`s foreign, international and defence related policies.
- The five-year-policy document, which will span 2022-26, is being touted by the Pakistan government as the country’s first-ever strategy paper of its kind.
Key highlights
- Focus on trade: The 100-page policy document has also put out elaborate plans to open trade and business ties with India.
- Silent on Kashmir: Kashmir issue with India has been identified as a ‘vital national policy’ issue for Pakistan.
- No public discussion: Only a part of the national security policy will be made public.
- Defying hostility with India: The document states that Pakistan is not seeking hostility with India for the next 100 years.
- Curbing militancy: The new policy also deals with the issue of militant and dissident groups and advocates dialogue with ‘reconcilable elements.’
- No re-conciliation with India: There are no prospects of rapprochement with India under the current government.
- Others: On the internal front, the new policy identifies five key areas of population/migration, health, climate and water, food security and gender mainstreaming.
Significance of such policy
- Pakistan and India have mostly been at loggerheads with each other throughout history.
- During the first term of Narendra Modi in 2014, the relations took a positive turn when he announced his intentions to have cordial relations with Pakistan.
- He had also visited Islamabad in 2015 unannounced to attend a marriage ceremony in Ex-PMs family.
- However, the relations deteriorated following the horrific 2016 Uri attacks.
Way ahead
- Pivotal equations between India and Pakistan will continue to be dominated by Kashmir, the ongoing proxy war and terrorism.
- It is unlikely that this prevailing equilibrium is likely to be reset by this classified policy document. That too overnight.
- The India-centric security obsession will remain the core of this policy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Freedom of Speech and Expression, Its many aspects
Mains level: Hate speech and related issues
The Supreme Court has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the police to respond to petitions that people accused of delivering hate speeches at a religious conference in Haridwar have not been arrested yet.
What is ‘Hate Speech’?
- There is no specific legal definition of ‘hate speech’.
- The Law Commission of India, in its 267th Report, says: “Hate speech generally is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief and the like …
- Thus, hate speech is any word written or spoken, signs, visible representations within the hearing or sight of a person with the intention to cause fear or alarm, or incitement to violence.”
- In general, hate speech is considered a limitation on free speech that seeks to prevent or bar speech that exposes a person or a group or section of society to hate, violence, ridicule or indignity.
How is it treated in Indian law?
- Provisions in law criminalize speeches, writings, actions, signs and representations that foment violence and spread disharmony between communities and groups and these are understood to refer to ‘hate speech’.
- Sections 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code are generally taken to be the main penal provisions that deal with inflammatory speeches and expressions that seek to punish ‘hate speech’.
[I] Section 153A:
- Promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony’, is an offence punishable with three years’ imprisonment.
[II] Section 505:
505(1): Statements conducing to public mischief
- The statement, publication, report or rumour that is penalized under Section 505(1) should be one that promotes mutiny by the armed forces, or causes such fear or alarm that people are induced to commit an offence against the state or public tranquility.
- This attracts a jail term of up to three years.
505(2): It is an offence to make statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes.
505(3): Same offence will attract up to a five-year jail term if it takes place in a place of worship, or in any assembly engaged in religious worship or religious ceremonies.
What has the Law Commission proposed?
The Law Commission has proposed that separate offences be added to the IPC to criminalize hate speech quite specifically instead of being subsumed in the existing sections concerning inflammatory acts and speeches.
[A] Inserting two sections
- It has proposed that two new sections, Section 153C and Section 505A, be added.
Section 153C
It is an offence if anyone-
- Uses gravely threatening words, spoken or written or signs or visible representations, with the intention to cause fear or alarm OR
- Advocates hatred that causes incitement to violence, on grounds of religion, race, caste or community, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, place of birth, residence, language, disability or tribe
Section 505A
- It proposes to criminalize words, or display of writing or signs that are gravely threatening or derogatory, within the hearing or sight of a person, causing fear or alarm or, with intent to provoke the use of unlawful violence against that person or another”.
[B] Imprisonment
- Section 153C: two-year jail term for this and/or a fine of ₹5,000 or both
- Section 505A: prison term of up to one year and/or a fine up to ₹5,000
Other committees’ recommendations
- Similar proposals to add sections to the IPC to punish acts and statements that promote racial discrimination or amount to hate speech have been made by the M.P. Bezbaruah Committee and the T.K. Viswanathan Committee.
- At present, the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws, which is considering more comprehensive changes to criminal law, is examining the issue of having specific provisions to tackle hate speech.
Why regulate hate speech?
- Creates social divide: Individuals believe in stereotypes that are ingrained in their minds and these stereotypes lead them to believe that a class or group of persons are inferior to them and as such cannot have the same rights as them.
- Threat to peaceful co-existence: The stubbornness to stick to a particular ideology without caring for the right to co-exist peacefully adds further fuel to the fire of hate speech.
Issues in regulating hate speech
- Powers to State: Almost every regulation of speech, no matter how well-intentioned, increases the power of the state.
- Hate speeches are Political: The issue is fundamentally political and we should not pretend that fine legal distinctions will solve the issue.
- Legal complications: An over-reliance on legal instruments to solve fundamentally social and political problems often backfires.
Way ahead
- Subjects like hate speeches become a complex issue to deal with, in a country like India which is very diverse, as it was very difficult to differentiate between free and hate speech.
- There are many factors that should be considered while restraining speeches like strong opinions, offensive comments towards certain communities, the effect on values like dignity, liberty and equality.
- We all have to work together and communicate efficiently for our country to be a healthy place to live in.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Chinese scramble in Africa
Chinese Foreign Minister has visited Eritrea, Kenya, and Comoros in the first week of January as part of a five-nation tour.
Why in news?
- Chinese FM was observing a 32-year-old Beijing ritual of visiting Africa at the beginning of every year.
- In fact, China’s links with the continent go back farther than the last three decades.
China-Africa Ties: A backgrounder
- In the Cold War years, as the US and Soviet Union jousted for influence over Africa, China maintained an ideological presence on the continent.
- In 1966, after Kwame Nkrumah was ousted in a coup while he was in Beijing, the Chinese put up the Ghananian independence leader for a few days before he decided to leave for Guinea.
- Since the 1990s, China has successfully used its old ties with several African countries to remodel the relationship, using the abundant natural resources of the continent to service its own massive growth.
[A] Strategic gestures
- Diplomatic establishments: China has a special envoy to the Horn of Africa where Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya are located. It shows the strategic importance of this Indian Ocean region for China.
- Military bases: Since 2017, Beijing has had a military base in Djibouti with 400 soldiers of the PLA, in close proximity to French and an American base.
- Railway lines: A Chinese-built railway line connects Djibouti to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
[B] Infrastructure Projects
- Tanzania: The first Chinese infrastructure project on the continent was the 1,860-km Tanzania-Zambia railway in the 1970s — the first transnational railway in Africa.
- Zambia: In addition to carrying passengers, it transported ore from Zambian copper mines to the port city of Dar-es-Salam in Tanzania.
- Kenya: China has undertaken major Belt and Road initiatives in Kenya. Recently, there was held completion ceremony of the Chinese-built oil terminal at the port city of Mombasa.
- Comoros Islands: In the Comoros Islands, off Mozambique, China has made many development assistance.
[C] Loans and trade
- For a dozen years, China has been Africa’s biggest trading partner. Undoubtedly, the balance of trade is heavily in favour of China.
- Two-way trade in 2020 was $ 187 billion, according to the ‘China-Africa Annual Economic and Trade Relationship Report 2021’.
- The top five African recipients of Chinese investments are South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Ethiopia, and Zambia.
- While the main investments in countries across Africa are in infrastructure construction projects and mining, China is also investing in transport, scientific research, and the services sector.
[D] Others
- China has huge demand for African ivory, abalone, rhinoceros tusk and materials from other endangered species.
- This has taken a significant toll on conservation efforts.
Major Chinese accomplishments
- The question of Taiwan has been a key political issue for China these days.
- In 1971, the support of African nations was crucial in China’s joining the United Nations (UN), taking over the seat on Taiwan.
- Many African countries, such as Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Zambia have stressed their support for a “one-China policy”.
Criticisms of Chinese Scramble in Africa: A neo-colonialism in making
- There are a variety of critical perspectives scrutinizing the balance of power relationship between China and Africa, and China’s role concerning human rights in Africa.
- Increasingly, concerns have been raised by Africans and outside observers that China’s relationship with Africa is neocolonialist in nature.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Formation of NE states
Mains level: Boundary issues in India
Union Home Minister is expected to seal the final agreement to end the dispute in six areas of the Assam-Meghalaya boundary ahead of Meghalaya’s 50th Statehood Day celebration on January 21.
Can you recall the chronology of reorganization of the entire North-East region?
Assam- Meghalaya Boundary Dispute
- Assam has had a boundary dispute with Mizoram for decades and several rounds of talks have been held since 1994-95 to solve the issue.
- Till 1972, Mizoram was a part of Assam and acquired full statehood in 1987.
- The 164.6 km-long border between the States runs along with Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts in Assam and Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl districts in Mizoram.
- There are several border areas where violence have been reported.
Roots of the dispute
- In the Northeast’s complex boundary equations, showdowns between Assam and Mizoram residents are less frequent than they are.
- The boundary between present-day Assam and Mizoram, 165 km long today, dates back to the colonial era when Mizoram was known as Lushai Hills, a district of Assam.
- The dispute stems from a notification of 1875 that differentiated Lushai Hills from the plains of Cachar, and another of 1933 that demarcates a boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur.
- Mizoram believes the boundary should be demarcated on the basis of the 1875 notification, which is derived from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873.
- Mizo leaders have argued in the past argued against the demarcation notified in 1933 because Mizo society was not consulted.
Other boundary disputes in North-East
The states of the Northeast were largely carved out of Assam, which has border disputes with several states.
During British rule, Assam included present-day Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya besides Mizoram, which became separate state one by one. Today, Assam has boundary problems with each of them.
- Nagaland shares a 500-km boundary with Assam.
- In two major incidents of violence in 1979 and 1985, at least 100 persons were killed. The boundary dispute is now in the Supreme Court
- On the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary (over 800 km), clashes were first reported in 1992, according to the same research paper.
- Since then, there have been several accusations of illegal encroachment from both sides, and intermittent clashes. This boundary issue is being heard by the Supreme Court.
- The 884-km Assam-Meghalaya boundary, too, witnesses flare-ups frequently. As per Meghalaya government statements, today there are 12 areas of dispute between the two states.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TRP
Mains level: Read the attached story
Ratings by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) for the news channels will resume, after the organisation revised its procedures and protocols.
The ratings were suspended after the Mumbai police busted a racket involving a private channel’s efforts to tamper the TRPs.
Try this question:
Q.What do you mean by “TRP Journalism”? Discuss the loopholes in the present system of self-regulation in Indian media.
What is TRP?
- In simple terms, anyone who watches television for more than a minute is considered a viewer.
- The TRP or Target Rating Point is the metric used by the marketing and advertising agencies to evaluate this viewership.
- In India, the TRP is recorded by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) using Bar-O-Meters that are installed in televisions in selected households.
- As on date, the BARC has installed these meters in 44,000 households across the country. Audio watermarks are embedded in video content prior to broadcast.
- These watermarks are not audible to the human ear, but can easily be detected and decoded using dedicated hardware and software.
- As viewing details are recorded by the Bar-O-Meters, so are the watermarks.
What is BARC?
- It is an industry body jointly owned by advertisers, ad agencies, and broadcasting companies, represented by The Indian Society of Advertisers, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Advertising Agencies Association of India.
- Though it was created in 2010, the I&B Ministry notified the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India on January 10, 2014, and registered BARC in July 2015 under these guidelines, to carry out television ratings in India.
How are the households selected?
- Selection of households where Bar-O-Meters are installed is a two-stage process.
- The first step is the Establishment Survey, a large-scale face-to-face survey of a sample of approximately 3 lakh households from the target population. This is done annually.
- Out of these, the households which will have Bar-O-Meters or what the BARC calls the Recruitment Sample are randomly selected. The fieldwork to recruit households is not done directly by BARC.
- The BARC on its website has said that the viewing behaviour of panel homes is reported to BARC India daily. Coincidental checks either physically or telephonically are done regularly.
Vigilance activities by BARC
- Certain suspicious outliers are also checked directly by BARC India.
- BARC India also involves a separate vigilance agency to check on outliers that it considers highly suspicious.
- And as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, these households rotate every year.
- This rotation is in such a manner that older panel homes are removed first while maintaining the representativeness of the panel.
- The Ministry guidelines further say that the secrecy and privacy of the panel homes must be maintained, and asked the BARC to follow a voluntary code of conduct.
What are the loopholes in the process?
- Several doubts have been raised on many previous occasions about the working of the TRP.
- As per several reports, about 70% of the revenue for television channels comes from advertising and only 30% from subscriptions.
- It is claimed that households were being paid to manipulate the TRP.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Makar Sankranti
Mains level: NA
The President has greeted the people of India on the occasion of Makar Sankranti and Pongal festivals.
Makar Sankranti
- Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan or Maghi or simply Sankranti is considered as the transition day of Sun into the Capricorn.
- Now the sun moves northwards in the Hindu calendar.
- Dedicated to the deity Surya, many native festivals are organized all over India.
- It mostly falls at the end of Kharif harvests.
Statewise festivals celebration
- Pongal: In South India and particularly in Tamil Nadu, it’s the festival of Pongal which is being celebrated over 4 days at harvest time.
- Lohri: It is celebrated in North India particularly in Punjab as a traditional winter folk festival or as a popular harvest festival of farmers.
- Bhogi: In Andhra Pradesh, it is celebrated as a four day festival with a bonfire with logs of wood, other solid-fuels, and wooden furniture at home that are no longer useful.
- Magha Bihu: In Assam and many parts of the North East, the festival of Magha Bihu is celebrated. It sees the first harvest of the season being offered to the gods along with prayers for peace and prosperity.
- Uttarayan: Gujarat celebrates it in the form of the convivial kite festival of Uttarayan.
- Saaji: In Shimla District of Himachal Pradesh, Makara Sankranti is known as Magha Saaji. Saaji is the Pahari word for Sankranti, start of the new month. Hence this day marks the start of the month of Magha.
Try this question from our AWE initiative:
Do we have cultural pockets of small India all over the nation? Elaborate with examples. (15 Marks)
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 324
Mains level: Paper 2- Need to change the selection process of Election Commissioners
Context
The attendance of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and his Election Commissioner (EC) colleagues at an “informal” meeting with the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister has brought renewed focus on the independence and impartiality of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Need for changes in the appointment process
- The changes in the appointment process for ECs can strengthen ECI’s independence, neutrality and transparency.
- The appointment of ECs falls within the purview of Article 324(2) of the Constitution, which establishes the institution.
- Article 324(2) contains a ‘subject to’ clause which provides that both the number and tenure of the ECs shall be “subject to provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament, be made by the President.”
- Apart from enacting a law in 1989 enlarging the number of ECs from one to three, Parliament has so far not enacted any changes to the appointment process.
- In 1975 itself, the Justice Tarkunde Committee recommended that ECs be appointed on the advice of a Committee comprising the Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Opposition Leader and the Chief Justice.
- This was reiterated by the Dinesh Goswami Committee in 1990 and the Law Commission in 2015.
- The 4th Report (2007) of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission additionally recommended that the Law Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha be included in such a Collegium.
- Violation of Article 14 and 324: Three Writ Petitions, with one pending since 2015, are urging the Supreme Court to declare that the current practice of appointment of ECs by the Centre violates Article 14, Article 324(2), and Democracy as a basic feature of the Constitution.
- Precedent does exist in the case of Rojer Mathew v South Indian Bank Ltd, to argue against the Executive being the sole appointer for a quasi-judicial body.
- The Supreme Court had recognised that “Election Commission is not only responsible for conducting free and fair elections but it also renders a quasi-judicial function between the various political parties including the ruling government and other parties.”
- In such circumstances, the executive cannot be a sole participant in the appointment of members of Election Commission as it gives unfettered discretion to the ruling party.
Way forward
- Establishing a multi-institutional, bipartisan committee for fair and transparent selection of ECs can enhance the perceived and actual independence of ECI.
- Such a procedure is already followed with regard to other Constitutional and Statutory Authorities such as the Chief Information Commissioner, Lokpal, Vigilance Commissioner, and the Director of the Central Bureau of Intelligence.
Consider the question “What is the procedure for the appointment of Election Commissioners? What are the issues with this procedure? Suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
ECI’s constitutional responsibilities require a fair and transparent appointment process that is beyond reproach, which will reaffirm our faith in this vital pillar of our polity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 1- Demographic dividend
Context
Countries like Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have already shown us how demographic dividend can be reaped to achieve incredible economic growth by adopting forward-looking policies and programmes.
The window of demographic opportunity
- With falling fertility (currently 2.0), rising median age (from 24 years in 2011, 29 years now and expected to be 36 years by 2036), a falling dependency ratio (expected to decrease from 65% to 54% in the coming decade taking 15-59 years as the working age population), India is in the middle of a demographic transition.
- This provides a window of opportunity towards faster economic growth. India has already begun to get the dividend.
- As fertility declines, the share of the young population falls and that of the older, dependent population rises.
- If the fertility decline is rapid, the increase in the population of working ages is substantial yielding the ‘demographic dividend’.
- The smaller share of children in the population enables higher investment per child.
- Therefore, the future entrants in the labour force can have better productivity and thus boost income.
- With the passage of time, the share of the older population rises and that of the working age population begins to fall and hence the dividend is available for a period of time, ‘the window of demographic opportunity’.
Need for forward-looking policies
- Without proper policies, the increase in the working-age population may lead to rising unemployment, fueling economic and social risks.
- This calls for forward-looking policies incorporating population dynamics, education and skills, healthcare, gender sensitivity, and providing rights and choices to the younger generation.
Lessons for India
- Countries like Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have already shown us how demographic dividend can be reaped.
- There are important lessons from these countries for India.
- 1) NTA data: The first is to undertake an updated National Transfer Accounts (NTA) assessment.
- Using NTA methodologies, we find that India’s per capita consumption pattern is way lower than that of other Asian countries.
- A child in India consumes around 60% of the consumption by an adult aged between 20 and 64, while a child in China consumes about 85% of a prime-age adult’s consumption.
- The NTA data for India needs to be updated to capture the progress made on such investments since 2011-12.
- 2) Invest more in children and adolescents: India ranks poorly in Asia in terms of private and public human capital spending.
- It needs to invest more in children and adolescents, particularly in nutrition and learning during early childhood.
- 3) Make health investments: Health spending has not kept pace with India’s economic growth.
- The public spending on health has remained flat at around 1% of GDP.
- Evidence suggests that better health facilitates improved economic production.
- Hence, it is important to draft policies to promote health during the demographic dividend.
- 4) Make reproductive healthcare services accessible on a rights-based approach: We need to provide universal access to high-quality primary education and basic healthcare.
- The unmet need for family planning in India at 9.4% as per the latest National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) is high as compared to 3.3% in China and 6.6% in South Korea, which needs to be bridged.
- 5) Bridge gender differentials in education: The gender inequality of education is a concern.
- In India, boys are more likely to be enrolled in secondary and tertiary school than girls. This needs to be reversed.
- 6) Increase female workforce participation: As of 2019, 20.3% of women were working or looking for work, down from 34.1% in 2003-04.
- New skills and opportunities for women and girls befitting their participation in a $3 trillion economy is urgently needed.
- It is predicted that if all women engaged in domestic duties in India who are willing to work had a job, female labour force participation would increase by about 20%.
- 7) Address the diversity between StatesWhile India is a young country, the status and pace of population ageing vary among States.
- Southern States, which are advanced in demographic transition, already have a higher percentage of older people.
- These differences in age structure reflect differences in economic development and health – and remind us of States’ very different starting points at the outset of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda.
- But this also offers boundless opportunities for States to work together, especially on demographic transition, with the north-central region as the reservoir of India’s workforce.
- 8) Governance reform: A new federal approach to governance reforms for demographic dividend will need to be put in place for policy coordination between States on various emerging population issues such as migration, ageing, skiling, female workforce participation and urbanisation.
Conclusion
In India, the benefit to the GDP from demographic transition has been lower than its peers in Asia and is already tapering. Hence, there is an urgency to take appropriate policy measures.
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