| Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: AFSPA

Mains level: Read the attached story

A committee constituted by the Union Home Ministry to study the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA, from Nagaland, slated to submit a report within 45 days is yet to conclude its findings.

AFSPA: A Backgrounder

The AFSPA, 1958 came into force in the context of insurgency in the North-eastern States decades ago.
It provides “special power” to the Armed Forces applies to the Army, the Air Force and the Central Paramilitary forces etc.
It has been long contested debate whether the “special powers” granted under AFSPA gives total immunity to the armed forces for any action taken by them.

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

Armed Forces Special Powers Act, to put it simply, gives armed forces the power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas.”
AFSPA gives armed forces the authority use force or even open fire after giving due warning if they feel a person is in contravention of the law.
The Act further provides that if “reasonable suspicion exists”, the armed forces can also arrest a person without warrant; enter or search premises without a warrant; and ban the possession of firearms.

What are the Special Powers?

The ‘special powers’ which are spelt out under Section 4 provide that:

(a) Power to use force, including opening fire, even to the extent of causing death if prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more persons or carrying arms and weapons, etc are in force in the disturbed area;

(b) Power to destroy structures used as hide-outs, training camps, or as a place from which attacks are or likely to be launched, etc;

(c) Power to arrest without warrant and to use force for the purpose;

(d) Power to enter and search premises without a warrant to make arrest or recovery of hostages, arms and ammunition and stolen property etc.

What are the Disturbed Areas?

A disturbed area is one that is declared by notification under Section 3 of the AFSPA.
As per Section 3, it can be invoked in places where “the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary”.

Who can declare/notify such areas?

The Central Government or the Governor of the State or administrator of the Union Territory can declare the whole or part of the State or Union Territory as a disturbed area.
A suitable notification would have to be made in the Official Gazette.

Presently ‘Disturbed Areas’

AFSPA is currently in force in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, 3 districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and areas falling within the jurisdiction of 8 police stations in Arunachal Pradesh bordering Assam.
In Jammu and Kashmir, a separate law Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 has been in force.

Is it a License to Kill?

While the operation of the Section has been controversial in itself, it has attracted much criticism when actions have resulted in the death of civilians.

Power to kill: Section 4 of the Act granted officers the authority to “take any action” even to the extent to cause the death.
Protection against prosecution: This power is further bolstered by Section 6 which provides that legal can be instituted against the officer, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government.

Supreme Court’s Observations over AFSPA

These extra-judicial killings became the attention of the Supreme Court in 2016.
It clarified that the bar under Section 6 would not grant “total immunity” to the officers against any probe into their alleged excesses.
The judgment noted that if any death was unjustified, there is no blanket immunity available to the perpetrator(s) of the offense.
The Court further noted that if an offense is committed even by Army personnel, there is no concept of absolute immunity from trial by the criminal court constituted under the CrPC.

Constitutionality of AFSPA

Attempts have been made to examine the constitutionality of the Act on the grounds that it is contravention to the:

Right to Life and Personal Liberty (Article 21) and
Federal structure of the Constitution since law and order is a State subject

Recommendations to repeal AFSPA

(1) Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy Commission

The 2004 Committee headed by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, the content of which has never officially been revealed by the Government, recommended that AFSPA be repealed.
Additionally, it recommended that appropriate provisions be inserted in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 (UAPA) instead.
It also recommended that the UAPA be modified to clearly specify the powers of the armed forces and paramilitary forces and grievance cells should be set up in each district where the armed forces are deployed.

(2) ARC II

The Administrative Reforms Commission in its 5th Report on ‘Public Order’ had also recommended that AFSPA be repealed.
It recommended adding a new chapter to be added to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.
However, the recommendation was considered first and then rejected.

Controversies with AFSPA

(1) Sexual Misconduct by Armed Forces

The issue of violation of human rights by actions of armed forces came under the consideration of the Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law (popularly known as Justice Verma Committee) set up in 2012.
It observed that- in conflict zones, legal protection for women was neglected.

(2) Autocracy

The reality is that there is no evidence of any action being taken against any officer of the armed forces or paramilitary forces for their excesses.

Caution given by the Supreme Court

A July 2016 judgment authored by Justice Madan B. Lokur in Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association quoted the “Ten Commandments” issued by the Chief of the Army Staff for operations in disturbed areas:

Definite circumstances: The “power to cause death is relatable to maintenance of public order in a disturbed area and is to be exercised under definite circumstances”.
Declaration preconditions: These preconditions include a declaration by a high-level authority that an area is “disturbed”.
Due warning: The officer concerned decides to use deadly force on the opinion that it is “necessary” to maintain public order. But he has to give “due warning” first.
No arbitrary action: The persons against whom the action was taken by the armed forces should have been “acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area”.
Minimal use of force: The armed forces must use only the “minimal force required for effective action against the person/persons acting in contravention of the prohibitory order.”
Empathy with perpetrators: The court said that: the people you are dealing with are your own countrymen. All your conduct must be dictated by this one significant consideration.
People friendliness: The court underscored how the Commandments insist that “operations must be people-friendly, using minimum force and avoiding collateral damage – restrain must be the key”.
Good intelligence: It added that “good intelligence is the key to success”.
Compassion: It exhorted personnel to “be compassionate, help the people and win their hearts and minds. Employ all resources under your command to improve their living conditions”.
Upholding Dharma (Duty): The judgment ended with the final Commandment to “uphold Dharma and take pride in your country and the Army”.

Conclusion

Despite demands by civil society groups and human rights activities, none of the recommendations have not been implemented to date.

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Corruption Challenges – Lokpal, POCA, etc

What are Swiss Banks?

Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Money-Laundering & Its Prevention

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Swiss Banks

Mains level: Corruption and money laundering

A whistleblower has leaked information on more than $100 billion held in 30,000 accounts of Zurich-headquartered Credit Suisse, one of the world’s most infamous banks which hold black money.

What is the news?

The investigation refocused attention on Swiss banks and their famous, century-old culture of secrecy.
This swiss tradition is under pressure as countries around the world try to get their super-rich to pay legitimate taxes on their wealth.

Swiss Banks: Defined by Secrecy

Since at least the beginning of the 18th century, Geneva had become a favoured destination of French royalty and other European elites seeking discreet havens to stash their wealth.
In 1713, Swiss government authorities announced laws prohibiting bankers from giving out information about their customers.
Thus began a powerful culture of silence and secrecy that went on to become the defining feature of Swiss banking.
In 1934, Switzerland passed the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks, commonly known as the Banking Law of 1934 or the Swiss Banking Act.

What’s behind this upmost secrecy?

Article 47 made it a crime to reveal details or information of customers to almost anyone — including the government — without their consent and in the absence of a criminal complaint.
Violators can get five years in prison; Article 47 lies at the heart of some of the most stringent banking secrecy laws anywhere.

Why are they favourite destination to park black money?

As wealth became easily mobile across international borders, the safety and stability of Swiss banks, located in a peaceful country presented an irresistible attraction for the super-rich.
Switzerland itself is a politically neutral country.
Swiss bank accounts are attractive to depositors because they combine low levels of risk with very high levels of privacy.
The Swiss economy is extremely stable, and the banks are run at very high levels of professionalism.
Almost any adult in the world can open an account in a Swiss bank. Opening an account is not difficult, and requires not much more than basic KYC, including a proof of identity such as a passport.

Question of ‘black money’

“Black money” allegedly stashed away by Indians in Swiss banks is a political issue in India, and parties and political functionaries have often made promises to “bring it back”.
Swiss authorities have maintained that they cooperate with the Indian government to fight tax evasion and fraud.

Indian motives and moves

The two countries have had a system of automatic exchange of information in tax matters since 2018.
Under this, detailed financial information on all Indian residents with accounts in Swiss financial institutions was provided for the first time to Indian authorities in September 2019.

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Industrial Sector Updates – Industrial Policy, Ease of Doing Business, etc.

Who are the Angadias?

Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Angadias

Mains level: NA

An FIR has been registered against some Mumbai Police officials last week for allegedly threatening Angadias and extorting money from them in south Mumbai.

Who are Angadias?

The Angadia system is a century-old parallel banking system in the country where traders send cash generally from one state to another through a person called Angadia that stands for courier.
It is by and large used in the jewellery business with Mumbai – Surat being the most popular route as they are two ends of the diamond trade.
The cash involved is huge and it is the responsibility of the Angadia to transfer cash from one state to another for which they charge a nominal fee.
Generally, it is the Gujarati, Marwari and Malbari community that are involved in the business.

How does the system work?

The Angadia system works completely on trust as large sums, at times in crores, are involved.
Generally, traders have the same Angadias for decades together.
If a trader from Zaveri Bazaar in south Mumbai wants to pay a diamond trader in Surat, he will send an Angadias who usually delivers the money within 24 hours.
They also have fixed trains that leave from Mumbai at night and reach Gujarat by early morning.
Usually, to verify authenticity, the trader will, for example, will give a Rs 10 note to the Angadia and provide the number of the note to the recipient.
It is only after the recipient confirms the note number that the Angadia will hand over the money to the person.
After making the payment, the Angadias return to Mumbai the same day.

Is the system legal?

While the Angadia system per se is legal, there hangs a cloud over the activity as it is suspected that a lot of times it is used to transfer unaccounted money.
Since the business deals in cash and there is no account maintained for the same, there have been suspicions that it is also used for transfer of black money like the hawala.

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Issues with corporate governance in the context of NSE scam

| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: SEBI

Mains level: Paper 3- Issues with corporate governance in India

Context

Over the past 10 days, the revelations about the functioning of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) during the tenure of Chitra Ramkrishna as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) have raised questions about the governance.

Managerial misconduct at NSE

There was managerial misconduct at NSE.
An effective board of directors: That is why we need checks on management such as an effective board of directors.
After the board was informed about the irregularities in Mr. Subramanian’s appointment, it discussed the matter but chose to keep the discussions out of the minutes on grounds of confidentiality and the sensitivity of the matter.
Second, despite being aware of Ms. Ramkrishna’s transgressions, it allowed her to resign and on generous terms instead of taking action against her.
Third, the Public Interest Directors (PIDs) failed to keep SEBI informed about the goings-on at the NSE.

Issues with corporate governance

In the corporate world, much is forgiven on grounds of performance.
When a performing CEO chooses to unduly favour a particular individual or individuals, boards see that as a forgivable infirmity.
As for dysfunctional or ineffective boards, these remain the norm despite numerous regulations, seminars and papers over the past four decades.
In case of the the NSE, the problem is structural.
Selection and absence of penalty: It has to do partly with the way board members are selected and partly with the absence of penalties where directors do not live up to their mandate.
Board members are selected by top management (or, in India, by the promoter who is also top management).
Board members have every incentive to nod their heads to whatever the management wants to be done.

Way forward

1] Diversity in the selection of board members: As long as the top management selects all board members or can influence their selection, there is little hope of any active challenge to management.
The top management must be allowed to choose not more than 50% of the independent directors.
The rest must be chosen by various other stakeholders — financial institutions, banks, small shareholders, employees, etc.
2] Accountability of board members: A second thing that needs to happen is holding board members accountable for lapses.
Regulators act against directors where there is financial malfeasance.
This must change. Regulators must penalise errant directors through a whole range of instruments — strictures, financial penalties, removal from boards and a permanent ban from board membership.
3] Accountability of regulator: Regulators themselves must be held to account.
In the NSE affair, questions have been asked of SEBI.
For instance, why did SEBI not seek the help of the cyber police to ascertain the identity of the yogi?
SEBI needs to explain itself.

Conclusion

Convulsions of outrage after particular episodes will not take us very far. We need significant institutional reform if corporate governance is not to remain an illusion.

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Foreign Policy Watch- India-Central Asia

India’s Ukraine dilemma

| International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Three Seas Initiative

Mains level: Paper 2- Rethinking India's position on Ukraine crisis

Context

As diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine continue, the time has come for Delhi to devote greater attention to Central Europe, which is at the heart of the contestation between Russia and the West.

Recognising the role of Central Europe in shaping the geopolitics of Europe

Central Europe today has an identity of its own and the political agency to reshape European geopolitics.
It is important to remember that Central Europe is no longer just a piece of territory that Russia and the Western powers can divide into “spheres of influence”.
A grand bargain between Russia and the West will work only if it is acceptable to Central Europe.

Need for diplomatic balancing on Ukraine by India

As war clouds gather over Ukraine, there is much focus on India’s diplomatic balancing act, its unwillingness to publicly caution Russia against invading Ukraine, and above all its reluctance to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty.
This is not the first time that Russia’s approach to Central Europe has put Delhi in a tight corner.
The Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, and Czechoslovakia in 1968, exposed an important tension in Indian diplomacy.
In Central Europe, India’s pragmatism in not offending Moscow (an important partner) runs against the utter unacceptability of Putin’s doctrine of “limited sovereignty”, a continuation of the Soviet era policy of saying that the socialist states must subordinate their sovereignty for the sake of the “collective interests of the socialist bloc”.

Factors shaping India’s stand

Tension with China: The prospective Russian invasion of Ukraine comes amidst India’s military tensions with China and Delhi’s continued dependence on Moscow’s military supplies.
It also comes at a time when Delhi is trying to build an international coalition against China’s brazen attacks on the territorial sovereignty of its Asian neighbours.
For the moment, Delhi is in a safe corner by calling for diplomacy in resolving the Ukraine crisis.
But if Russia does invade Ukraine, the pressure on India to rethink its position will mount.
Any such review must eventually lead to an independent appreciation of the geopolitics of Central Europe.

Five factors that must shape India’s perspective on the geopolitics of Central Europe

1] No taker for sphere of influence: Russia’s claim for a broad sphere of influence in the region has no takers in Central Europe.
2]Need for political accommodation: While Russia has legitimate security interests in Central Europe, they can only be realised through political accommodation.
Moscow cannot enforce a sphere of influence against the will of its prospective members.
3] NATO as better option: few Central Europeans buy into the French vision for “European sovereignty” and “strategic autonomy”.
They bet that NATO, led by the US, is a better option than a Europe that is independent of Washington.
They view with even greater distaste the prospects for Russo-German condominium over Central Europe.
4] Resentment against imposition of political value:While they are eager to be part of the Western institutions, Central Europeans resent any attempt by the US and EU to impose political values that run against their traditional cultures.
5] Sub regional institution: Central Europeans are eager to develop sub-regional institutions that can enhance their identity.
The Visegrad Four — Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia — is one of them.
The so-called “Three Seas Initiative” brings together 12 European states running in a vertical axis from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Adriatic and Black Sea in the south.

Conclusion

Delhi can’t forever view this critical region through the prism of Russia’s conflict with the West. It must come to terms with its growing strategic significance.

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Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

What are CRZ norms?

| Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: CRZ

Mains level: Sea level rise and threats to coastal cities

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) inspected a bungalow owned by a Union Minister for alleged violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.

What is the news?

The Union Minister’s bungalow named has been illicitly constructed within 50 metres of the sea in violation of the CRZ rules.
The crackdown assumes significance in the escalating verbal spats between the two political rivals (which were allies for years).

What are CRZ norms?

In India, the CRZ Rules govern human and industrial activity close to the coastline, in order to protect the fragile ecosystems near the sea.
They restrict certain kinds of activities — like large constructions, setting up of new industries, storage or disposal of hazardous material, mining, reclamation and bunding — within a certain distance from the coastline.
After the passing of the Environment Protection Act in 1986, CRZ Rules were first framed in 1991.
After these were found to be restrictive, the Centre notified new Rules in 2011, which also included exemptions for the construction of the Navi Mumbai airport and for projects of the Department of Atomic Energy.
While the CRZ Rules are made by the Union environment ministry, implementation is to be ensured by state governments through their Coastal Zone Management Authorities.

Where do they apply?

In all Rules, the regulation zone has been defined as the area up to 500 m from the high-tide line.
The restrictions depend on criteria such as the population of the area, the ecological sensitivity, the distance from the shore, and whether the area had been designated as a natural park or wildlife zone.
The latest Rules have a no-development zone of 20 m for all islands close to the mainland coast, and for all backwater islands in the mainland.

New Rules under CRZ regulations

The government notified new CRZ Rules with the stated objectives of promoting sustainable development and conserving coastal environments.
For the so-called CRZ-III (Rural) areas, two separate categories have been stipulated.
In the densely populated rural areas (CRZ-IIIA) with a population density of 2,161 per sq km as per the 2011 Census, the no-development zone is now 50 m from the high-tide level, as against the 200 m stipulated earlier.
In the CRZ-IIIB category (rural areas with population density below 2,161 per sq km) continue to have a no-development zone extending up to 200 m from the high-tide line.
The new Rules have a no-development zone of 20 m for all islands close to the mainland coast, and for all backwater islands in the mainland.

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Telecom and Postal Sector – Spectrum Allocation, Call Drops, Predatory Pricing, etc

All you need to know about Satellite Internet

| Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Satellite Internet

Mains level: Not Much

The Reliance has launched a joint venture (JV) with European satellite-based broadband service company SES to enter the satellite internet space.

What is Satellite Internet?

The technology beams the internet down from a satellite that’s orbiting the Earth.
Jio, Bharti Airtel Ltd’s OneWeb, and billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink want to send thousands of these satellites to orbit.
OneWeb plans to launch 648 satellites, while Musk’s Starlink has permits to launch over 4,000 of them.
So far, OneWeb has launched over 400 satellites, while Starlink has launched over 2,000 satellites.
It’s worth noting that Starlink plans to launch 42,000 satellites in the coming decade. Jio’s journey has only just begun.

Which satellites will Indian JV use?

The JV will use geostationary (GEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites, while Starlink and OneWeb use low earth orbit (LEO) satellites.
LEO satellites are cheaper to make and deploy, but require a satellite constellation working in sync to offer coverage on earth.
On the other hand, GEO and MEO satellites are larger, deployed in higher orbits, and therefore cost more.
These satellites cover a larger area and require fewer ground stations, which makes them ideal for targeted coverage area.
LEOs move faster and can hence provide global coverage.

What are the advantages of satellite internet?

The reason telecom firms want to explore satellite internet is because there are areas where fibre connections just can’t reach.
Satellite networks are used to bring connectivity in such areas, which include hills and remote islands.
Consumer applications are new, but satellite networks have been used for ages in military applications.

Are there any disadvantages?

The applications and the power of satellite internet are often exaggerated.
In reality, these networks have limitations, the biggest being high latency and low bandwidths.
Latency is all about internet speed, while bandwidth determines how many devices can connect on a network at the same time.
Experts say current satellite connections will bring 1-2 MB bandwidth, which just about qualifies as broadband under India’s broadband policy.
Trouble-shooting can be a problem because it needs specialized knowledge.

Who can use satellite internet?

Militaries across the world have depended on satellite communications for a long time.
However, many military experts, too, consider this form to be unreliable and too expensive to be made the sole communication medium.
In remote areas, satellite internet can still allow businesses to open up local branches and provide digital services.
In theory, a bank could set up more ATMs in remote regions if it has access to satellite internet.

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Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

Enforcement of the Fundamental Duties

| Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Fundamental Duties

Mains level: FD vs DPSP vs FR

The Supreme Court has asked the Union and the State governments to respond to a petition to enforce the fundamental duties of citizens, including patriotism and unity of the nation, through comprehensive, well-defined laws.

What did the plea say?

The plea emphasized- the need to enforce FD arises from a new illegal trend of protest by protesters in the garb of freedom of speech and expression.
This has been increasingly done by way of blocking of road and rail routes in order to compel the government to meet their demands.

What are Fundamental Duties?

The fundamental duties of citizens were added to the constitution by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, upon the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee.
It basically imply the moral obligations of all citizens of a country and today, there are 11 fundamental duties in India, which are written in Part IV-A of the Constitution, to promote patriotism and strengthen the unity of India.
The FDs obligate all citizens to respect the national symbols of India, including the constitution, to cherish its heritage, preserve its composite culture and assist in its defence.
They also obligate all Indians to promote the spirit of common brotherhood, protect the environment and public property, develop scientific temper, abjure violence, and strive towards excellence in all spheres of life.

Judicial interpretation of FDs

The Supreme Court has held that FDs are not enforceable in any Court of Law.
It ruled that these fundamental duties can also help the court to decide the constitutionality of a law passed by the legislature.
There is a reference to such duties in international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 51A brings the Indian constitution into conformity with these treaties.

Total FDs

Originally ten in number, the fundamental duties were increased to eleven by the 86th Amendment in 2002.

The 10 fundamental duties are as follows:

To oblige with the Indian Constitution and respect the National Anthem and Flag
To cherish and follow the noble ideas that inspired the national struggle for freedom
To protect the integrity, sovereignty, and unity of India
To defend the country and perform national services if and when the country requires
To promote the spirit of harmony and brotherhood amongst all the people of India and renounce any practices that are derogatory to women
To cherish and preserve the rich national heritage of our composite culture
To protect and improve the natural environment including lakes, wildlife, rivers, forests, etc.
To develop scientific temper, humanism, and spirit of inquiry
To safeguard all public property
To strive towards excellence in all genres of individual and collective activities

The 11th fundamental duty which was added to this list is:

To provide opportunities for education to children between 6-14 years of age, and duty as parents to ensure that such opportunities are being awarded to their child. (86th Amendment, 2002)

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Electric and Hybrid Cars – FAME, National Electric Mobility Mission, etc.

EV Battery Swapping Policy

Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3:

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: EV Battery Swapping Policy

Mains level: Electric mobility

NITI Aayog is holding a consultation on the upcoming electric vehicle (EV) battery swapping policy.

What is BaaS?

Battery-as-a-service (BaaS) is seen as a viable charging alternative.
Manufacturers can sell EVs in two forms: Vehicles with fixed or removable batteries and vehicles with batteries on lease.
If you buy an electric scooter with battery leasing, you do not pay for the cost of the battery—that makes the initial acquisition almost 40% cheaper.
Users can swap drained batteries for a fully charged one at a swap station. The depleted batteries are then charged on or off-site.
The advantages of swapping include low downtimes for commercial fleets, reduced space requirements, and lower upfront costs.
It is also a viable solution for those who don’t have parking spots at home.

What is battery interoperability?

That’s when a battery is compatible across vehicles and chargers, so you can seamlessly swap a battery at any swap station. This can help achieve scale.
However, manufacturer and service providers say there are safety concerns around the ‘one-size-fits-all’ model and caution too much standardization can kill innovation.

Why hasn’t BaaS taken off yet?

There are economic and operational constraints.
Energy service providers offering swapping solutions have to charge 18% goods and services tax (GST) for swapping, compared to 5% GST on the purchase of an EV.
Additionally, the government’s FAME-II incentives are not offered to vehicles sold with BaaS or swap station operators.
While these are economic disadvantages compared to direct charging solutions, the lack of a dense and interoperable battery swap infrastructure has also hindered the roll-out.
Manufacturers, on the other hand, are keen to create proprietary battery and charging systems.

Issues with BaaS

There is a need for standardization of safety specifications as well as the battery.
Swapping in the various permutations and combinations of batteries at a station where they have not been tested for compatibility could lead to safety hazards.
Also, mandating only one type of battery to be eligible for concessions would be disadvantageous to many players.

Who offers BaaS in India?

Bengaluru-based startup Bounce is the first e-two-wheeler maker to sell its scooters with BaaS, and claims to have achieved a million battery swaps.
Others like Ola Electric and Ather have stuck to direct charging solutions, while Hero Electric offers both fixed and removable batteries.
Many makers are working with energy service providers to offer battery swapping.
The global precedent is a mixed bag: Ample, which offers swaps in the US, has found success with commercial fleets, while most personal users charge at home.

Why is Battery Swapping needed?

High Cost of EVs: An EV, by industry standards, is 1.5-2x costlier than IC Engine counterpart and at least half the cost is from the battery pack.
Cost reduction: Many manufacturers are offering batteries separately from a vehicle, reducing the cost. In that case, a fleet owner can buy vehicles without battery and utilize battery swapping.
Range Anxiety: Another major reason stopping people from buying EVs is range anxiety, or in simple terms, the fear of battery getting empty without finding a charging station.
Inadequate charging infrastructure: Unlike petrol pumps, EV charging stations are rare to spot and that further increases the range anxiety exponentially, especially while going on a road trip.
Hazard management: In case of a Swapping Station, one can simply locate a station, go and replace the empty battery with a new one.

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Indian Navy Updates

What is Presidential Fleet Review?

Prelims Only | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Fleet Review

Mains level: Indian Naval Arsenal

The President of India recently took part in the Indian Navy’s 12th Presidential Fleet Review.

What is the President’s Fleet Review?

In simplest terms, it is the country’s President taking stock of the Navy’s capability.
It showcases all types of ships and capabilities the Navy has.
It takes place once under every President, who is the supreme commander of the armed forces.
The President is taken on one of the Naval ships, which is called the President’s Yacht, to look at all the ships docked on one of the Naval ports.
The yacht will be distinguished by the Ashoka Emblem on her side and will fly the President’s Standard on the Mast”.

Importance of Presidential Fleet Review

A fleet review is usually conducted once during the tenure of the President.
So far, 11 Presidential Fleet Reviews have been conducted since Independence, of which two have been International Fleet Reviews, in 2001 and 2016.
In terms of significance, the Navy’s Presidential review is second only to the Republic Day Parade.
The President will be given a 21-gun salute before embarking on the yacht.

Do all naval ships participate?

The idea is to showcase not all the Navy’s ships, but every type of ship — and the kind of capabilities it has at that time.
The review also includes merchant ships as well.

What else happens in the fleet review?

In this most formal of naval ceremonials, each ship dressed in full regalia will salute the President as he passes.
The President will also be reviewing the Indian Naval Air Arm in a display of spectacular fly-past by several helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
In the final stage of the review, a mobile column of warships and submarines will steam past the Presidential Yacht.

How many of these reviews have been held?

There have been 11 President’s Fleet Reviews since Independence.
The first was conducted in 1953, under Dr Rajendra Prasad.
The next one was done not by the President but by the then Defence Minister, Y B Chavan, in 1964.
Since then, it has been the President reviewing the fleet.
The longest gap between reviews was of 12 years — between 1989 (President R Venkatraman) and when 2001 (President K R Narayanan).
The last one was done in 2016, under President Pranab Mukherjee.

Significance of the event

It is one of the most important events for the Navy, which is essentially showing its allegiance and commitment to defending the country.
It is a long-standing tradition followed by navies across the world, and according to Navy officials it is a strong bond that links seafarers of the world.
Historically, a Fleet Review is an assembly of ships at a pre-designated place for the purpose of displaying loyalty and allegiance to the Sovereign and the state.
In turn, the Sovereign, by reviewing the ships, reaffirms his faith in the fleet and its ability to defend the nation’s maritime interest.
It is perhaps conceived as a show of naval might. Though it still has the same connotation, assembling of warships without any belligerent intentions is now the norm in modern times.

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A case for specialists

| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters,Government Scheme/Policies

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: FRBM Act

Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges in policy making

Context

Given the fact that political input in economic policymaking is becoming dominant as regional and state-level issues assume overriding significance, it’s perhaps time to consider sheltering economics from politics and vice versa.

Continuity in policy

The sudden withdrawal of farm laws last year and the repeal of the land acquisition ordinance in 2015 are two examples of policy backsliding in an otherwise decent record of policy continuity since 1991.
The overall trajectory of tariffs has been downward and average tariffs are now below 10 percent compared to over 400 percent before 1991.
As a favored rule, domestic policy priorities should not be held hostage to external pressures, but they can and ought to be used to push through difficult and desirable domestic reform.

Challenges in achieving high growth

Challenges in reforms: Relying on chance events to drive reform might work in rare circumstances, but not when the aspiration is to become a $10 trillion economy by 2030.
Realizing this target or even coming close to it will require sustained growth of over 15 percent per annum in nominal GDP — that’s no mean task.
The golden period of India’s growth fetched an 8.1 percent increase in real GDP between 2004 and 2009.
Even during this period, the growth story was cut short by the global financial crisis and devilled intermittently by institutional weaknesses.
Failure of institutions: The coal scam and the 2G scam are examples of the inability of institutions to keep pace with rapid growth.
As growth occurs, institutions also require sophistication, knowledge, and some (not complete) protection from political interference.

Need for the fiscal council for budget-making process

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in 2016, replaced RBI’s internal decision-making driven by the central bank governor to include three external experts to strengthen and bring transparency into monetary policy decisions.
This can be extended to other important government functions, such as the budgetary process
Successive finance commissions and the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee have recommended the creation of a fiscal council that, like the MPC, will bring transparency in the budget-making process.
The idea is simple, moderate the influence of the political agenda and powerful interest groups that could, and often do, capture the process.

Suggestions on policymaking

It is art and science: Policymaking is nothing if not art that invokes science when expedient.
Domain experts should be an integral part of the formulation process.
Implementation, of course, can be left to the executive.
When the TRAI was first set up, it had a healthy combination of domain experts and public policy professionals, resembling a specialized regulatory agency that reflected a serious intent to strengthen capacity.
Importance of domain experts: Instead of going down the chosen path, TRAI has reversed gear and today resembles a government department.
In fact, this is the same affliction with almost all regulatory and policy institutions that are now a feature of India’s increasingly market-based economy.
As more sectors (for example, the Gati Shakti initiative) engage the private sector, lessons from the last quarter-century should not be wasted — domain expertise is conspicuous by its absence in regulatory and policy institutions.

Way forward

Create a cadre of professionals: Commissions tend to be made up of retired civil servants or retired judges.
This is worrying and, therefore, it is vital to create a cadre of professionals with technical expertise for the complex tasks of managing the policy processes.
Distancing politics from the policy: The net needs to be cast wider so that politics and policy are distanced, not completely but certainly more than it is today.

Consider the question “Politicians and economists have a love-hate relationship; they can’t do without each other. In context of this examine the issues with policymaking in India and why role of the domain expert is important in policymaking today?”

Conclusion

India should not be in a situation in which it is in perpetual hostage to vested interests of politics and business.

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Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

Tapping technology for multilingual learning

| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 2- Technology for multilingual learning

Context

As the theme of International Mother Language Day 2022, it has much relevance in reshaping Indian higher education.

India’s unique cultural and linguistic diversity

According to the Language Census in 2018, India is home to 19,500 languages or dialects, of which 121 languages are spoken by 10,000 or more people in our country.
For centuries, India has been home to hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects, making its linguistic and cultural diversity the most unique in the world.
Our linguistic diversity is one of the cornerstones of our ancient civilisation.
Impact of globalisation: While languages are among the key bridges that ensure cultural and civilisational continuity, globalisation and Westernisation have impacted not just the growth but also the survival of many of our dialects in this rich cultural and linguistic tapestry.
Therefore, International Mother Language Day has special significance to the Indian context.

Endangered languages

In November 1999, the UNESCO General Conference approved the declaration of February 21 as International Mother Language Day, in response to the declining state of many languages.
According to the UN agency, at least 43% of the estimated 6,000 languages spoken in the world are endangered.
UNESCO has been striving to protect the cultural and linguistic diversity of member-states through pro-active international measures.
It is our collective responsibility to revive and revitalise the 196 Indian languages which fall under the “endangered” category.

Role of technology: This year’s theme

Globally, the role of technology came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic when school shutdowns forced educators and learners to adapt themselves to online education.
The theme of International Mother Language Day in 2022 — “Using Technology for Multilingual Learning: Challenges and Opportunities” — is one of special relevance to us.
The central idea is to leverage technology to support and enrich the teaching-learning experience on a multi-lingual level.
It also aims at achieving a qualitative, equitable and inclusive educational experience.
Inevitably, the widespread use of technology would fast-track development.
Multilingual education predicated on the increasing use of one’s mother tongue is a key component of inclusion in education.
Seen in its entirety, this is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas”.

Direction of NEP

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 encourages the use of mother tongue as the medium of instruction till at least Class five but preferably till Class eight and beyond.
The use of mother tongue in teaching is bound to create a positive impact on learning outcomes, as also the development of the cognitive faculties of students.
There is a pressing need to create and improve scientific and technical terminology in Indian languages.
We have been able to create a large English-based education system which includes colleges that offer courses in medicine and multiple disciplines of engineering.
This impressive system paradoxically excludes a vast majority of learners in our country from accessing higher education.

Way forward

The need to build an effective multilingual education system across diverse streams and disciplines becomes all the more imperative.
In this context, the collaboration between the AICTE and IIT Madras to translate some courses on the central government’s e-learning platform, Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) into eight regional languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam and Gujarati, is commendable. Such tech-led initiatives will serve to democratise higher education.
At the same time, the decision of the AICTE to permit B. Tech programmes in 11 native languages, in tune with the NEP, is a historic move.
Our policy-planners, educators, parents and opinion leaders must bear in mind that when it comes to education in mother tongue and local languages, we can take the cue from European countries as well as Asian powers such as Japan, China and Korea, among others.

Conclusion

Co-existing over centuries, borrowing from and nurturing each other, our languages are interwoven with our individual, local and national identity.

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Policy Wise: India’s Power Sector

How uniform power cost and electricity duty can achieve higher growth

| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 3- Uniform energy tariff and inclusion of electricity duty in GST

Context

Electricity prices vary not just among end users, but also between states, where a complex patchwork of different taxes and subsidy regimes can leave consumers in some states paying five times more for their electricity than their counterparts in neighbouring states.

Deprivations faced by Low Income States in India

The low-income States (LIS) are deprived on many fronts.
They have low accessibility to credit, low investments, low power availability and accessibility, and high energy costs.
The high-income States (HIS), on the other hand, have a big share in industry and commerce because they are not deprived on the same fronts.
The six HIS (Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) together account for 56.4% of factories and 54.3% of the net value added to the country, while their share in population is only 32.3%.
Among other reasons, this is because they have higher credit and financial accessibility (55% of total institutional credit and 56% of total industrial credit went to these five HIS) at the credit-deposit ratio.
On the other hand, the six LIS (Bihar, Jharkhand, U.P., M.P., Odisha, and Rajasthan) access only 15% of total institutional credit and barely 5% of total industrial credit, while their share in population is 43%.
The maximum benefit of the Atmanirbhar package (₹20 lakh crore) also went to the HIS as they have a higher share in industry.

Role of power supply in disparity among states

Among other reasons, the availability of adequate quality power at the cheapest rate attracts investments, either private or public, in a particular location.
Due to a complex patchwork of different taxes and subsidy regimes, electricity prices vary not just among end users, but also between states.
This can leave consumers in some states paying five times more for their electricity than their counterparts in neighbouring states.

Solutions

Energy India Outlook 2021 provides two solutions.

1] Eliminate price discrimination by synchronising all regional grids

The power-producing States have the advantage of power, being available at lower prices.
This problem can be addressed by synchronising all the regional grids.
This will help the transfer of energy (without compromising quality).
The idea is of ‘One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency’.
Further, this will pave the way for establishing a vibrant electricity market and facilitate the trading of power across regions through the adoption of the ‘one tariff’ policy.
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission is in the process of implementing a framework of the Market-Based Economic Dispatch and moving towards ‘One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency, One Price’.

2] Include electricity duty in GST

Apart from uniform cost, the power sector also needs uniformity in electricity duty charged by different States.
In general, the association between income and electricity consumption is direct.
Thus, only 32% of the population used 50% of power.
Contrary to this, six backward States got only 25% of the power though their share of the population is 43%.
Therefore, it is clear that the substantial proportion of the power cost incurred in HIS is also borne by the LIS which buy those industrial products, as the input cost of power has already been included in the product’s price.
Further, this situation justifies the fact that the final costs of power consumption are also borne by other States.
Thus, the electricity duty should be redistributed among the States under the ambit of GST equally shared by the CGST and SGST.

Conclusion

In order to attain higher economic growth, the States should raise the issue of uniform energy tariff and inclusion of electricity duty under the ambit of GST.

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Foreign Policy Watch: India-Pakistan

What is Permanent Indus Commission?

| International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Indus Water Treaty

Mains level: India-Pakistan Relations

A 10-member Indian delegation will visit Pakistan for the annual meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) from March 1-3.

Agenda this year

Pakistan has some objections on Indian hydroelectric projects namely Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Lower Kalnai (48 MW) and Kiru (624 MW) in Chenab basin in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan has raised objections on the design of these projects.
India, however, asserts that the design of the project is fully compliant with the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

Permanent Indus Commission

The PIC is a bilateral commission consisting of officials from India and Pakistan, created to implement and manage the goals and objectives, and outlines of the IWT.

Indus Waters Treaty, 1960

The Indus Waters Treaty is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank signed in Karachi in 1960.
According to this agreement, control over the water flowing in three “eastern” rivers of India — the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej was given to India
The control over the water flowing in three “western” rivers of India — the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum was given to Pakistan.

Rights accorded to India

The treaty allowed India to use western rivers water for limited irrigation use and unrestricted use for power generation, domestic industrial and non-consumptive uses such as navigation, floating of property, fish culture, etc.
It lays down precise regulations to build any water or hydel projects.
India has been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run-of-the-river projects on the western rivers subject to specific criteria for design and operation.
The pact also gives the right to Pakistan to raise objections to designs of Indian hydroelectric projects on the western rivers.

Based on equitable water-sharing

Back in time, partitioning the Indus rivers system was inevitable after the Partition of India in 1947.
The sharing formula devised after prolonged negotiations sliced the Indus system into two halves.
Equitable it may have seemed, but the fact remained that India conceded 80.52 percent of the aggregate water flows in the Indus system to Pakistan.
It also gave Rs 83 crore in pounds sterling to Pakistan to help build replacement canals from the western rivers. Such generosity is unusual of an upper riparian.
India conceded its upper riparian position on the western rivers for the complete rights on the eastern rivers.
Water was critical for India’s development plans.

Significance of the treaty

It is a treaty that is often cited as an example of the possibilities of peaceful coexistence that exist despite the troubled relationship.
Well-wishers of the treaty often dub it “uninterrupted and uninterruptible”.
The World Bank, which, as the third party, played a pivotal role in crafting the IWT, continues to take particular pride that the treaty functions.

Need for a rethink

The role of India, as a responsible upper riparian abiding by the provisions of the treaty, has been remarkable.
However, of late, India is under pressure to rethink the extent to which it can remain committed to the provisions, as its overall political relations with Pakistan becomes intractable.

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Judicial Reforms

Sealed Cover Jurisprudence

Prelims Only | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Executive & Judiciary

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Sealed Cover Jurisprudence

Mains level: Fair trial issue

Some Parliamentarians and prominent figures have issued a statement expressing discontent over the Kerala High Court’s verdict upholding the transmission ban on a Malayalam news channel.

What is the news?

The channel went off air as the Centre suspended its telecast over “security reasons”.
The High Court’s decision was based entirely on the assessment of documents presented by the MHA in a sealed cover.
The contents of which were not shared with the news channel.

What is Sealed Cover Jurisprudence?

It is a practice used by the Supreme Court and sometimes lower courts, of asking for or accepting information from government agencies in sealed envelopes that can only be accessed by judges.
A specific law does not define the doctrine of sealed cover.
The Supreme Court derives its power to use it from Rule 7 of order XIII of the Supreme Court Rules and Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act of 1872.

Nature of the power: Upholding Secrecy

If the Chief Justice or court directs certain information to be kept under sealed cover or considers it of confidential nature, no party would be allowed access to the contents of such information.
There is an exception to this if the Chief Justice himself orders that the opposite party be allowed to access it.
It also mentions that information can be kept confidential if its publication is not considered to be in the interest of the public.
As for the Evidence Act, official unpublished documents relating to state affairs are protected and a public officer cannot be compelled to disclose such documents.

Grounds of such secrecy

Other instances where information may be sought in secrecy or confidence is when its publication:

Impedes an ongoing investigation
Details which are part of the police’s case diary or
Breaches the privacy of an individual

Prominent cases of sealed jurisprudence

Sealed cover jurisprudence has been frequently employed by courts in the recent past.

(1) Rafale Deal

In the case pertaining to the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal, a Bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi in 2018, had asked the Centre to submit details related to deal’s decision making and pricing in a sealed cover.
This was done as the Centre had contended that such details were subject to the Official Secrets Act and Secrecy clauses in the deal.

(2) Bhim Koregaon Case

In the Bhima Koregaon case, in which activists were arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
The Supreme Court had relied on information submitted by the Maharashtra police in a sealed cover.

Criticism of such acts

Critics of this practice contend that it is not favorable to the principles of transparency and accountability of the Indian justice system.
It stands in contrast to the idea of an open court, where decisions can be subjected to public scrutiny.
It is also said to enlarge the scope for arbitrariness in court decisions, as judges are supposed to lay down reasoning for their decisions.
Besides, it is argued that not providing access to such documents to the accused parties obstructs their passage to a fair trial and adjudication.

How has judiciary responded to this?

In the 2019 judgment in the case of P Gopalakrishnan V. The State of Kerala, the Supreme Court had said that disclosure of documents to the accused is constitutionally mandated.
This is possible even if the investigation is ongoing and said documents may lead to breakthrough in the investigation.

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Police Reforms – SC directives, NPC, other committees reports

What is a First Information Report (FIR)?

| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Civil Service

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: FIR, Cognizable Offence

Mains level: Policing in India

This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the IE.

What is an FIR?

The term first information report (FIR) is not defined in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, or in any other law.
However, but in police regulations or rules, information recorded under Section 154 of CrPC is known as FIR.
Section 154 (“Information in cognizable cases”) says that every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer in charge of a police station, shall be recorded in writing.
It has to be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe.

Important components of FIR

In essence, then, there are three important elements of an FIR:

the information must relate to the commission of a cognizable offence,
it should be given in writing or orally to the head of the police station and,
it must be written down and signed by the informant, and its key points should be recorded in a daily diary.

What is a cognizable offence?

A cognizable offence/case is one in which a police officer may make an arrest without a warrant.
In the First Schedule, “the word ‘cognizable’ stands for ‘a police officer may arrest without warrant’; and the word ‘non-cognizable’ stands for ‘a police officer shall not arrest without warrant’.”

What is the difference between a complaint and an FIR?

The CrPC defines a “complaint” as any allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate, that some person, whether known or unknown, has committed an offence, but does not include a police report.
However, an FIR is a document that has been prepared by the police after verifying the facts of the complaint.
The FIR may contain details of the crime and the alleged criminal.
If, on the basis of a complaint, it appears that a cognizable offence has been committed, then an FIR under Section 154 CrPC will be registered, and police will open an investigation.
If no offence is found, the police will close the inquiry.

What in case of non-cognizable offences?

In case of non-cognizable offences, an FIR under Section 155 CrPC, commonly called “NCR”, is registered, and the complainant will be asked to approach a court for an order.
The court may then direct the police to conduct an investigation on the complaint.

What is a Zero FIR?

When a police station receives a complaint regarding an alleged offence that has been committed in the jurisdiction of another police station, it registers an FIR, and then transfers it to the concerned police station for further investigation.
This is called a Zero FIR. No regular FIR number is given.
After receiving the Zero FIR, the concerned police station registers a fresh FIR and starts the investigation.

What if the police refuse to register an FIR?

Under Section 154(3) CrPC, if any person is aggrieved by the refusal on the part of the officer in charge of a police station to register an FIR, she can send the complaint to the Superintendent of Police/DCP concerned.
If the SP/DCP if satisfied that such information discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, will either investigate the case, or direct an investigation by a subordinate police officer.
If no FIR is registered, the aggrieved persons can file a complaint under Section 156(3) CrPC before a concerned court.
If the court is satisfied that a cognizable offence is made out from the complaint, will direct the police to register an FIR and conduct an investigation.

What happens after an FIR is filed?

The police will investigate the case and will collect evidence in the form of statements of witnesses or other scientific materials. They can arrest the alleged persons as per law.
If there is sufficient evidence to corroborate the allegations of the complainant, then a charge sheet will be filed.
Or else, a Final Report mentioning that no evidence was found will be filed in court.
If it is found that no offence has been committed, a cancellation report will be filed. If no trace of the accused persons is found, an ‘untraced’ report will be filed.
However, if the court does not agree with the investigation report, it can order further investigation.

Try this question from CSP 2021:

Q.With reference to India, consider the following statements:

Judicial custody means an accused is in the custody of the concerned magistrate and such accused is locked up in police station, not in jail.

During judicial custody, the police officer in charge of the case is not allowed to interrogate the suspect without the approval of the court.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Post your answers here.

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International Space Agencies – Missions and Discoveries

Can dark matter be composed, even partly, of black holes?

Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Dark Matters

Mains level: NA

A recent hypothesis says that dark matter comprises a large number of compact objects such as primordial black holes.

What are Dark Matters ?

Astronomical observations suggest that a significant part of the universe is made up of dark matter which interacts with the rest of the universe only through the gravitational pull.
Many large lab experiments have tried to detect elementary particles that could be candidates for dark matter.
However, such dark matter particles have not been detected until now.
Several astronomical observations suggest that all galaxies are embedded in a “halo” of dark matter.
The “visible” galaxy is like a disc embedded in a dark matter halo that is much larger in size.

What is the recent proposition?

When the universe was very young, hot and dense – soon after the Big Bang, it must have had quantum fluctuations of its density.
This, in turn, would have caused some regions to become extremely dense, and therefore, to collapse under their own gravity to form the primordial black holes.
While we have no conclusive evidence of spotting these objects, some of the binary black hole mergers detected by the LIGO gravitational wave detectors might be primordial black holes.
The question is open there is good reason to believe that primordial black holes did form in the young universe.

Observing dark matter: Gravitational Lensing

The paper explores what happens when such objects get in the way of gravitational waves traveling towards the Earth from the distance.
It invokes a phenomenon called gravitational lensing that is used regularly in astronomy.
When light travels through space and passes near a massive or compact body – a star, a galaxy or a black hole, for example, the intense gravity of that body may attract the light towards it.
This causes bending it from its rectilinear (straight line) path.
This phenomenon is known as gravitational lensing and was first observed by Arthur Eddington in 1919.

How intense are they?

Massive objects like galaxies can bend light significantly, producing multiple images, this is called strong lensing.
Lighter objects like stars or black holes bend light less, and this is called micro-lensing.
A similar lensing can happen to gravitational waves travelling towards the Earth, and this would leave signatures in the detected gravitational waves.
This can be used to detect the presence, or the existence, of primordial black holes.

Assessing dark matter

Until now, individual black holes have not marked out these signatures on gravitational waves detected by the LIGO-VIRGO detectors.
However, if all of the dark matter is made of primordial black holes, they should have produced detectable signatures on the gravitational wave signals.
The researchers use the non-observation of the lensing signatures to assess what fraction of the dark matter could be made of black holes.

Way ahead

This provides a new way of constraining the nature of dark matter.
The study concludes that black holes in the mass range from a hundred to a million solar masses can contribute only up to 50-80% of the dark matter in the universe.
This is an upper limit and the actual fraction can be much smaller.
These upper limits will get better and better with more and more observations.

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International Space Agencies – Missions and Discoveries

Lucy Mission to probe Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids

Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Lagrange Points, Lucy Mission

Mains level: NA

NASA is set to send its first spacecraft to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids to glean new insights into the solar system’s formation 4.5 billion years ago.

Lucy Mission

Lucy will fly by eight Jupiter asteroids—seven Trojans and one main-belt asteroid — over the next 12 years.
It is NASA’s first single spacecraft mission in history to explore so many different asteroids.
Lucy will run on solar power out to 850 million km away from the Sun.
This makes it the farthest-flung solar-powered spacecraft ever, according to NASA.

What is Jupiter Trojan Asteroids?

Simply known as Trojans, they are a large group of asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun.
Thousands of such asteroids exist in a gravitationally stable space.
The swarms lead and follow the planet Jupiter along its orbit around the Sun.

What exactly are Trojans?

Lucy’s Trojan destinations are trapped near Jupiter’s Lagrange (L) points, which are gravitationally stable locations — it is where the gravity from the Sun and from Jupiter cancel each other out.
This means their orbits are stable and the Trojans are trapped in the space between.
This also means that asteroids are as far away from Jupiter as they are from the Sun.
Jupiter’s leading and trailing Lagrangian points (L4 and L5) have been stable over the age of the solar system.
This means that their orbits have accumulated many, many asteroids.
It makes sense to call a Trojan a co-orbital object, which moves around one of the two stable Lagrangian points.

When and how were they discovered?

It took many a scientist to understand Trojans, and subsequently, name them so.
A German astrophotographer in 1906 made an important discovery: An asteroid with a particularly unusual orbit. As Jupiter moved, this asteroid remained ahead of Jupiter.
It was observed that the asteroid was nearly 60 degrees in front of Jupiter.

Students with engineering background would better understand who Lagrange was. Rest need not care.

Lagrange’s propositions

This specific position of a particular behavior was predicted by the Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange over 100 years earlier.
Lagrange had argued that if a small celestial body is placed at one of two stable points in a planet’s orbit around the Sun (the L4 and L5), the asteroid would remain stationary from the planet’s perspective.
This is due to the combined gravitational forces of the planet and the Sun.
Thus, Lagrange’s prediction acquired credibility. More such asteroids were discovered over subsequent months in Jupiter’s Lagrange point L5.

Behind the name: Lucy

It is the fossil of a hominin that lived 3.2 million years ago.
She is known to be one of the most famous pre-human fossils in history.
Nearly 40 percent of the fossilized skeleton of this hominin was discovered in 1974 by a team of paleoanthropologists led by Donald Johanson.
The name was inspired from the famous Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” which Johanson’s team listened to at camp the night of their discovery.

Back2Basics: Lagrange Points

Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put.
They are named after Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.
At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce the fuel consumption needed to remain in position.
There are five special points where a small mass can orbit in a constant pattern with two larger masses.

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Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

UGC’s ‘Academic Bank of Credits’ scheme

| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NAAC

Mains level: Paper 2- ABC scheme for higher education

Context

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has recommended a revamp of the higher education scene in India. A new initiative stemming from this desire is an ‘Academic Bank of Credits’ (ABC) in higher education idea, which was notified recently by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

About the Academic Bank of Credits’ (ABC)

Any undergraduate or postgraduate student can create an account in the ABC portal and store information of his/her completed courses (i.e., subjects/papers in old terminology) and grades obtained.
These grades are stored for a period of five years.
As multiple institutes are connected to the ABC portal, one can be formally enrolled in university ‘A’ but can choose to do some courses from university ‘B’, some more from university ‘C’ and so on and all of these would count towards the student’s degree.
Flexible and multidisciplinary: One can enrol in an equivalent course from another college in the same city or join online courses offered by other universities; or can enrol in SWAYAM (a programme initiated by the Government of India) or the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and add these credits.
Thus, education will truly become flexible and interdisciplinary, without forcing any single institute to float an unmanageable number of courses.
This flexibility will offer students a chance to enrol in a course and learn from teachers from some of the best institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) or the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research.

Issues with ABC

Limited seats: ABC regulations say that the institute should allow up to 20% supernumerary seats for students enrolling through the ABC scheme.
There is no clarity on how the selection of students would be made if there are more than 20% seats.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platforms such as SWAYAM and NPTEL are ‘supposedly designed’ for large enrolments.
So far we have not found any evidence in the public domain that these MOOC platforms can provide a reliable assessment of learning achievement if there is massive enrolment for a course.
Filtering criterion: The ABC portal will accept courses from a large inumber of higher education institutes.
The filtering criterion in the original regulation was that higher education institutes should have obtained an ‘A’ grade or higher in the latest round of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation.
This filtering criterion is not satisfactory.
Impact on small colleges: The ABC scheme specifies that students can avail up to 70% of courses from other institutes while being enrolled in a particular college.
If students avail these credits outside the parent college, they need not enrol for the corresponding in-house courses.
As the number of teaching posts in any higher education institute are calculated on the basis of student enrolment numbers, what happens when a large fraction of students do not enrol for the courses offered by you?

Conclusion

In India, where the quality of education varies drastically from one institute to the next, this can lead to unmanageable academic and administrative issues in higher education institutes with brand names, and lead to a contraction in the number of teaching posts in smaller higher education institutes.

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Rohingya Conflict

Why do we need a refugee and asylum law

| International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 2- Need for refugee and asylum law

Context

A Private Member’s Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha proposing the enactment of a Refugee and Asylum law.

Why does India need a Refugee and Asylum law?

The principle of non-refoulement: The international legal principle of non-refoulement — the cornerstone of refugee law, which states that no country should send a person to a place where he or she may face persecution.
The principle of non-refoulement is clearly affirmed, with no exceptions, though reasons have been specified for exclusion, expulsion, and revocation of refugee status, to respect the Government’s sovereign authority but limit its discretion.
India is not signatory to Refugee Convention: India has been, and continues to be, a generous host to several persecuted communities, doing more than many countries, but is neither a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, nor does it have a domestic asylum framework.
The tradition of asylum: It will be in line with India’s millennial traditions of asylum and hospitality to strangers.
Because India has neither subscribed to international conventions on the topic nor set up a domestic legislative framework to deal with refugees, their problems are dealt with in an ad hoc manner, and like other foreigners they always face the possibility of being deported.
It will finally recognise India’s long-standing and continuing commitment to humanitarian and democratic values while dealing with refugees.

Multiple laws

In the absence of a uniform and comprehensive law to deal with asylum seekers, we lack a clear vision or policy on refugee management.
We have a cocktail of laws such as:
the Foreigners Act, 1946,
the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939,
the Passports Act (1967),
the Extradition Act, 1962,
the Citizenship Act, 1955 and
the Foreigners Order, 1948 — all of which club all foreign individuals together as “aliens”.

Defining refugee

Well-founded fear of persecution: The internationally-accepted definition of the term, includes people who have fled their home countries and crossed an international border because of a well-founded fear of persecution in their home countries, on grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.
Who does not qualify as a refugee? This means that people who cross borders in quest of economic betterment, or because they are fleeing poverty, anarchy or environmental disaster, do not qualify as refugees.
Nor do those who flee from one part of their home country to another because of war, conflict or fear of persecution.

Way forward

India must enact a National Asylum Law.
We need a proper framework to make sure that refugees can access basic public services, be able to legally seek jobs and livelihood opportunities for some source of income.
The absence of such a framework will make the refugees vulnerable to exploitation, especially human trafficking.
Our judiciary has already shown the way forward on this: in 1996, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the state has to protect all human beings living in India, irrespective of nationality, since they enjoy the rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 20 and 21 of the Constitution to all, not just Indian citizens.
The enactment and enumeration of refugee rights will reduce our dependence on judge-centric approaches — or even worse, the whims of Home Ministry bureaucrats, police officers and politicians.

Consider the question “In the absence of a uniform and comprehensive law to deal with asylum seekers, we lack a clear vision or policy on refugee management. In the context of this, examine the need for law to deal with asylum seeker and suggest the various aspects the law should cover.”

Conclusion

The problems of refugees worldwide are problems that demand global solidarity and international cooperation. India, as a pillar of the world community, as a significant pole in the emerging multipolar world, must play its own part, on its own soil as well as on the global stage, in this noble task.

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