Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian states sharing border with Nepal
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Nepal ties and border issue
Of late, India’s bilateral relations with Nepal has been going south. The latest trigger has been the changes made by Nepal in the map. This article explores the transformation of Nepal and its impact on India-Nepal relations. Despite the efforts by Nepal to explore the options beyond India, ties are still robust between the two countries and this is reflected in more than one ways.
Let’s map the changes in Nepal with one constant factor: nationalism
1. Democracy
- The obvious change in Nepal is that it is now a democratic republic after nearly 250 years of being a monarchy.
- The Nepali Congress and Maoist leader, Prachanda, claim democracy (1990) and the abolition of monarchy (2008) as their legacies.
2. Societal change due to exposure to globalisation
- More pervasive is the societal change from Nepal’s exposure to globalisation.
- Geography, too, stands to change, with the Chinese now having the potential to bore through the Himalayas and exhibiting their presence in Kathmandu in economics and politics.
3. Nationalism
- The constant in Nepal is nationalism which is really a mask for anti-India sentiment.
- Politicians use it for personal gain, and it is deeply ingrained in the bureaucracy, academia and the media.
- Today, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli is cementing his legacy as a nationalist by extending Nepal’s map into Indian territory.
- The cartographic aggression and the embedding of the new map in the country’s national emblem and Constitution are untenable and should have been avoided under all circumstances.
- In 2015, the Nepali Congress government adopted the new Constitution, ignoring India’s concerns.
4. Identity politics
- Identity politics with India is also visible within the country.
- Nepali citizens from the Terai (Madhesis) feel discriminated as being “Indian”.
To Nepal, their attitudes reflect the angst of a small state. To India, Nepal appears incorrigible.
Let’s understand how globalisation changed Nepal
- After democracy was restored in 1990, passports were more liberally issued, and Nepalis began looking for work opportunities globally, beyond just India.
- West Asia and South-East Asia specifically became major destinations for labour migration.
- Security uncertainties with the Maoist insurgency at home also propelled the trend of migration.
- Students and skilled personnel began moving to Europe, the United States, Australia, Thailand and even to Japan and South Korea.
- As of 2019, nearly a fifth of Nepal’s population, from all parts of the country, were reportedly overseas.
- At an estimated $8 billion, global remittances account for nearly 30% of Nepal’s nominal GDP.
- This makes Nepal one of the most remittance-dependent countries in the world.
- Leftist ideology and the prominent presence of international non-governmental organisations — ostensibly there to resolve conflict and alleviate poverty — have added to Nepal’s exposure to the world.
- Nepal’s 2011 Census shows that over 80% of its 28 million-strong population were Hindus, and since 1962, it had formally been a Hindu kingdom.
- The new Constitution in 2015 makes Nepal a secular country.
- The proliferation of communication technology has also spread a certain cosmopolitanism but without the accompanying metropolitanism.
Nepal exploring options beyond India
- Kathmandu has continued its long-standing efforts to spread Nepal’s options beyond India.
- Multilateral development banks are by far the biggest lenders and players in the country’s development efforts.
- And in fact, one of Nepal’s largest aid donors is the European Union.
- India and China are not the only players for big projects either.
- A long-delayed project to pipe water into Kathmandu was with an Italian company.
- Major investments in the telecom sector are coming from Malaysia, and the largest international carrier in Nepal is Qatar Airways.
Weakening of natural bond and responsible factors
- The outward movement of students, along with with the growth of institutions of higher learning at home, has meant that most young people in Nepal, including emerging contemporary leaders in politics, business or academics, have not studied in India.
- This lack of common collegiate roots removes a natural bond of previous generations that had provided for better understanding and even empathy.
- While most Nepalis understand Hindi, because of the popularity of Bollywood, articulation is quite another matter.
Robust ties with India, despite diversification
- Despite Nepal’s efforts to diversify its options globally, its linkages with India remain robust.
- Nepal’s trade with India has grown in absolute terms and continues to account for more than two-thirds of Nepal’s external trade of around $12 billion annually.
- This clearly reflects the advantages of geography, both physical and societal.
- India continues to be the largest aggregate investor in Nepal.
- The massive under-construction Arun-III 900 MW hydro-electric project is slated to singly produce as much power, when completed in five years, as Nepal produces today.
- Moreover, the peg with the Indian Rupee provides unique stability to the Nepali Rupee.
Unique advantage to Nepal
- Nepal’s per-capita income is just above $1,000.
- While the huge remittance economy has brought a semblance of well-being, the country has a long way to go in reaching prosperity.
- The relationship with India, with open borders and Nepalis being allowed to live and work freely, provides Nepal a unique advantage and an economic cushion.
- The latter is particularly important today with COVID-19-caused global contraction positioned to pop the remittance bubble.
- Neither the Chinese nor any others are likely to write blank cheques.
- India for its part should also focus on developing its border areas with Nepal, with better roads and amenities of interest (such as shopping malls) to the burgeoning Nepali middle class.
- This would have economic plusses for both sides and keep ties strong at the people’s level. It would also be an image makeover.
Consider the question “Despite intermittent disagreements over certain issues, India-Nepal ties remain robust. In light of this, elaborate on the ties between the two countries and suggest ways to find the solution to the latest border dispute between the two countries.”
Conclusion
It is important that we update the prism through which we view our relationship with our Himalayan neighbour. We must not forget the past nor turn away from it but, instead, must be mindful of the realities of a changing India and a changing Nepal.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Representative Concentration Pathway
Mains level: Climate change assessment for India
The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has released the “Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region” Report.
This newscard discusses a very important concept: the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP). Note its definition. It can be directly asked as a statement based on prelims MCQ.
Highlights of the report
- Average surface air temperatures over India could rise by up to 4.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century as compared to the period between 1976 and 2005, according to the MoES report.
- The rise in temperatures will be even more pronounced in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region where the average could reach 5.2°C.
- The region is already highly vulnerable to climate-related variability in temperatures, rainfall and snowfall.
- By 2100, the frequency of warm days and warm nights might also increase by 55 per cent and 70 per cent respectively, as compared to the period 1976-2005 under the RCP 8.5 scenario.
- The incidences of heat waves over the country could also increase by three to four times. Their duration of occurrence might also increase which was already witnessed by the country in 2019.
A 100-year record
- Between 1900 and 2018, the average temperatures of India rose by 0.7°C.
- This rise in temperatures has been largely attributed to global warming due to GHG emissions and land use and land cover changes.
- But it has also been slightly reduced by the rising aerosol emissions in the atmosphere that have an overall cooling characteristic.
- The report predicts that monsoon rainfall could change by an average of 14 per cent by 2100 that could go as high as 22.5 per cent.
- The report does not mention if this change will be an increase or a decrease but still represents variability.
- It further says that the overall rainfall during the monsoon season has decreased by six per cent between 1950 and 2015.
Data on dry spells
- The assessment also says that in the past few decades, there has been an increased frequency of dry spells during the monsoon season that has increased by 27 per cent between 1981-2011, as compared to 1951-1980.
- The intensity of wet spells has also increased over the country, with central India receiving 75 per cent more extreme rainfall events between 1950 and 2015. This means that it either rains too little or too much.
- One of the primary examples of this was the monsoon seasons of 2018 and 2019 where dry spells were broken by extremely heavy rainfall spells, creating a flood and drought cycle in many regions in India.
What is Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)?
- A Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) is a greenhouse gas concentration (not emissions) trajectory adopted by the IPCC.
- It is defined as a radiative force in watt per square metre due to the rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere.
- Four pathways were used for climate modelling and research for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in 2014.
- The pathways describe different climate futures, all of which are considered possible depending on the volume of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted in the years to come.
- The RCPs – originally RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6, and RCP8.5 – are labelled after a possible range of radiative forcing values in the year 2100 (2.6, 4.5, 6, and 8.5 W/m2, respectively).
- Since AR5 the original pathways are being considered together with Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: as are new RCPs such as RCP1.9, RCP3.4 and RCP7.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: COVID Isolation Coaches
Mains level: Not Much
The Union govt. has declared that 500 COVID isolation coaches would be deployed in Delhi. So far, over 5,000 coaches have been converted into COVID isolation coaches across India.
Practice question for mains:
Q. Health infrastructure in India is hardly capable of handling any pandemic. Critically comment.
What are these COVID Isolation Coaches?
- In March, Railways was sounded out by the PMO and the government’s multi-ministerial outbreak-containment apparatus that train coaches could also be used as a last resort to keep isolated patients.
- So far, 5,321 non-AC sleeper class coaches of ICF variety (older design) have been converted by the 16 zonal railways through their workshops spread across India.
- These are developed as COVID Care Level 1 centres—as per the Health Ministry classification of COVID facilities—where suspected cases or those with mild symptoms are to be kept.
- Suspected and confirmed cases will be kept in separate coaches.
How were these coaches selected?
- Early into the pandemic, health experts were of the view that air-conditioned environments might aid the spread of the virus.
- Well-ventilated, airy environments were thought to be safer. India’s decision to use non-AC coaches for isolation has to be viewed in that context.
- As per targets given to the 16 zonal railways, 5,000 older coaches, surplus to Railways’ operational needs, were marked for conversion.
What were the challenges faced?
- The summer heat in the coach was always a matter of discussion.
- Several ideas were discussed, including erecting shamianas over the coaches or painting the roof with “solar reflective” paints.
- Another question was how to dispose of toilet waste if the coaches were in remote areas and whether such waste was potentially infectious.
- It was agreed that since chlorine tablets are placed in the chambers of the bio toilets, the risk was neutralised.
- In any case, bio-enzymes in the toilet tanks take care of human waste.
- Another question was the placement. The batteries of the coaches need to be charged and the water needs to be replenished. Not all areas in India might have such facilities.
- The idea was that being mobile units, they could be dispatched to any part of the country to pick up patients and come back to their bases.
Deployment of such train
- Each isolation train will be tied to the nearest hospital.
- The Centre will not deploy these coaches at will; states will have to request for them.
- At least 10 coaches, or one train, will have to be deployed in one place. States can request for more.
- Besides the 500 being deployed in Delhi, Telangana has requested for 60 coaches in three locations, and UP has requested in 24 locations.
- Many states are said to be informally enquiring about the coaches in zones.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CO2 assessment
Mains level: Not Much
Carbon dioxide was always essential for our planet. This newscard discusses when did it become too much.
Try this question from CSP 2017:
Q. In the context of mitigating the impending global warming due to anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, which of the following can be the potential sites for carbon sequestration?
- Abandoned and uneconomic coal seams
- Depleted oil and gas reservoirs
- Subterranean deep saline formations
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
GHGs in atmosphere
- The Earth’s atmosphere is made up of different gases. The temperature of the atmosphere depends on a balance between the incoming energy from the sun and the energy that bounces back into space.
- Greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide play an important role in the atmosphere.
- They absorb some of the sun’s heat and release it back in all directions, including back to the atmosphere.
- Through this process, CO2 and other GHGs keep the atmosphere warmer than it would be without them.
- However, fossil fuel-run industries and other human activities add GHGs to the atmosphere. This, in turn, increases atmospheric temperature, causing global warming.
Assessing the carbon level
- In 1958, American scientist Charles David Keeling calculated the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere.
- When he started his measurements in 1958, the CO2 levels were around 315 parts per million (PPM).
- When he died in 2005, the project was taken over by his son Ralph Keeling. By 2014, CO2 levels had increased to about 400 PPM.
- With his systematic study of atmospheric CO2, Keeling became the first person to alert the world about the increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Reasons for rising CO2 levels
- Scientists first argued that the increasing release of methane and CO2 was due to agriculture and livestock.
- But, with the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, the use of fossil fuels and CO2 levels rose simultaneously.
- Nations that underwent the Industrial Revolution used huge amounts of fossil fuels and became centres of high CO2 emissions, while nations with an agrarian economy emitted less GHGs.
- Over the years, as CO2 levels increased, it sparked off debates and arguments between the GHG-emitting rich industrial nations and the victims of global warming — the poorer nations.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hilsa Fish`
Mains level: NA
Fishermen in West Bengal are in for a pleasant surprise amid the COVID-19 gloom as they have exuded hope of a bumper yield of Hilsa, known as “maacher rani” (queen of fish).
Try this question from CSP 2019:
Q. Consider the following pairs:
| Wildlife |
Naturally found in |
| 1. Blue-finned Mahseer |
Cauvery River |
| 2. Irrawaddy Dolphin |
Chambal River |
| 3. Rusty-spotted Cat |
Eastern Ghats |
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
a) 1 and 2 only
b) 2 and 3 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 1, 2 and 3
Hilsa Fish
IUCN status: Least Concerned
- The Hilsa is a species of fish related to the herring, in the family Clupeidae.
- It is a very popular and sought-after food fish in the Indian Subcontinent.
- It is the national fish of Bangladesh and state symbol in the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura.
- The fish contributes about 12% of the total fish production and about 1.15% of GDP in Bangladesh.
What’s so special about Hilsa?
- Hilsa has a history of migrating to Allahabad in the Ganga river system from Bangladesh.
- Though it’s a saltwater fish, it migrates to sweet waters of the Ganges from the Bay of Bengal.
- It travels upstream of the river during the mating seasons and returns to its natural abode after spawning.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Yakshagana, Talamaddale
Mains level: NA
The traditional art of ‘Talamaddale’, a variant of Yakshagana theatre, has gone virtual in times of COVID-19.
Try this question from CSP 2017:
Q.With reference to Manipuri Sankirtana, consider the following statements:
- It is a song and dance performance.
- Cymbals are the only musical instruments used in the performance.
- It is performed to narrate the life and deeds of Lord Krishna.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 3.
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1 only
Talamaddale theatre
- Tala-Maddale is an ancient form of performance dialogue or debate performance in Southern India in the Karavali and Malnad regions of Karnataka and Kerala.
- The plot and content of the conversation is drawn from popular mythology but the performance mainly consists of an impromptu debate between characters involving sarcasm, puns, philosophy positions and humour.
- The main plot is sung from the same oral texts used for the Yakshgana form of dance- drama.
- Performers claim that this was a more intellectual rendition of the dance during the monsoon season.
How it is different from Yakshagana?
- Unlike the Yakshagana performance, in the conventional ‘talamaddale,’ the artists sit across in a place without any costumes and engage in testing their oratory skills based on the episode chosen.
- If music is common for both Yakshagana performance and ‘talamaddale’, the latter has only spoken word without any dance or costumes.
- Hence it is an art form minus dance, costumes and stage conventions.
- It has an ‘arthadhari’ who is an orator, a ‘bhagavatha’ (singer-cum-director), and a ‘maddale’ player.
Back2Basics: Yakshagana
- It is the oldest theatre form popular in Karnataka.
- It emerged in the Vijayanagara Empire and was performed by Jakkula Varu
- It is a descriptive dance drama.
- It is presented from dusk to dawn.
- The stories are drawn from Ramayana, Mahabharata and other epics from both Hindu and Jain tradition.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Forex reserves and exchange rates
Mains level: Paper 3- India's Forex reserves touched ceiling of half-trillion
At first, it seems almost contradictory. And so it is. Our foreign exchange reserves touched new high of $500 billion for the first time, but the time in which this has happened makes it paradoxical. At the time when economies around the world are touching new lows, this rise in the Forex seems all but usual. In this article, you’ll learn about the 4 factors that made it happen.
1. Decreased oil imports
- Usually, we import a lot of oil.
- But the payment here is dollar-denominated since very few countries are going to accept our currency (Rupee) as is.
- So, you have to expend dollars i.e. the foreign exchange reserves to keep the flow of crude oil intact.
- However, with the nationwide lockdown in place, our import bill has reduced drastically.
- We simply don’t need as much oil anymore.
- And considering oil prices have also taken a beating simultaneously, our Forex Reserves have been piling up.
- Less oil import. More Forex reserves.
2. Dollars coming with foreign investors
- Contrary to popular opinion, foreign investors have been pouring money into India of late.
- You could attribute a bulk of these inflows to Reliance Jio.
- They’ve been enticing investors all over the world and they’ve been doing it at a pace that belies all rational expectations.
- They’ve raised close to $15 Bn over the course of a few months and it doesn’t look like they’re stopping anytime soon.
- So technically, dollar inflows have spiked and therefore, Forex reserves get a boost once again.
3. RBI preparing itself for a bad time
- Another popular explanation is that the RBI is preparing a war chest to stave off future uncertainties.
- At a time when the world economy is reeling from an unprecedented crisis, it’s perhaps prudent to build up reserves for a rainy day.
- So the RBI buys gold and dollar-denominated assets using our national currency and builds up the foreign exchange reserves.
- Inadvertently, this increases the money supply within the economy.
- There will be more “Rupees” floating around.
- As more Indian currency keeps entering the ecosystem, the value of the rupee depreciates.
- And yes, the value of rupee has tumbled recently, but we are not in dire straits yet.
- But if India’s economy takes a turn for the worse, it becomes incumbent on the RBI to ensure price stability.
- Imagine the value of the rupee starts fluctuating wildly because of economic uncertainties.
- The RBI has to intervene.
- It has to exchange the foreign reserves for the Indian currency.
- If they keep mopping up the excess Rupees floating in the system, they could ensure the value of the rupee remains stable.
- So long as the value of the rupee remains stable, prices of commodities will follow the same cue, all things remaining equal that is.
- Now, there’s still no clear consensus on what kind of reserves we might need if things do go south.
- Although there have been recommendations made in the past about hoarding too much, it’s still the RBI’s call at the end of the day.
4. The RBI is doing it for the government
- The RBI can turn a profit if it wants to.
- And once it does turn a profit, it can transfer a part of the surplus to the government — as dividends.
- Now if the RBI wanted to offer the government a higher dividend, it has to simply turn a higher profit.
- One way to accomplish this is to simply let the value of the rupee depreciate. Do not intervene.
- Do not forego the reserves. Let the rupee tumble.
- And so long as you don’t intervene, all the dollar-denominated assets you own will be worth more in rupee terms.
- Consider the hypothetical example-suppose the exchange rate was 1$= Rs. 71 in March 2020, then the rupee loses value and you see the same line item once again in June 2020 will be 1$=Rs. 76.
- The extra ₹ 5 is treated as a profit. And this profit could be ploughed back to the government.
Consider the question “With the economy in the tailspin amid pandemic, the news of India’s Forex reserves touching the $500 billion mark for the first time provided the semblance of solace. Examine the factors that could explain this increase.”
Conclusion
Though there will always be the debate over the optimum value of the Forex reserves, the new level it reached in such an uncertain time for the economy is, nonetheless, a cause for celebration.
Reference Source : https://finshots.in/archive/india-foreign-exchange-reserves/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Shaksgam valley
Mains level: Paper 2- India-China border dispute
The latest stand-off in Ladakh triggered a debate over the reasons for Chinese actions. While many attribute it to India’s decision to change the constitutional status of J&K, the author of this article points to the widening power differential. So, what are the implications of it? Read the article to know…
What is argument from China’s side over growing Chinese assertiveness
- India’s decision to change the constitutional status of J&K is cited as the reason for Chinesé growing assertiveness in the Ladakh.
- The Chinese arguments proffered on various occasions since last August have been summarised by Wang Shida, a Chinese scholar in Beijing.
- Wang argues that India’s move last August has forced China into the Kashmir dispute.
- The move stimulated China and Pakistan to take counter-actions on the Kashmir issue, and dramatically increased the difficulty in resolving the border issue between China and India.
And what is India’s stand over this explanation
- Official Delhi rejects the argument that India’s action has “posed a challenge to the sovereignty of China and Pakistan”.
- It points out that the constitutional changes altered the nature of the relationship between Delhi and Kashmir within the Indian Union, and that it has no impact on the current territorial disposition with China and Pakistan.
- The government’s renewed claim over Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and China-occupied Aksai Chin is simply a restatement of long-standing Indian positions.
China: Part of Kashmir dispute or not?
- It might be baffling to hear the argument that Delhi has “forced” Beijing into the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan.
- China is very much part of the Kashmir dispute.
- After all, China occupies large parts of Kashmir, including Aksai Chin and parts of Ladakh and sits on the Shaksgam valley ceded to Beijing by Pakistan in 1963.
- It is important to note a nuance in China’s articulation.
- The competing claims of Delhi and Islamabad over Kashmir are rooted in their shared understanding that there was a princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in undivided India.
- For Beijing, the territories it claims have never been part of J&K but belonged to Tibet and Xinjiang.
Pakistan agreeing to China’s claim
- That Pakistan has largely swallowed the Chinese argument is reflected in the 1963 agreement on the boundary between “China’s Sinkiang and the contiguous areas the defence of which is under the actual control of Pakistan”.
- Not entirely surprising, since Pakistan’s primary focus is on getting the Indian-controlled areas of Kashmir rather than claim all the original lands of J&K.
China’s changing approach to the Kashmir question
- While its claim to be outside the dispute has been consistent, China’s approach to the Kashmir question has seen considerable variation over the last seven decades and more.
- Some recent research has delved into Nationalist China’s active efforts to draw the Hunza region of the Gilgit district into a union with China during 1947-48.
- The Mir of Hunza, Jamal Khan, opened negotiations with officials of Xinjiang, but in the end, opted to accede to Pakistan.
- Communist China did not abandon the efforts of the Nationalist government and continued to show Hunza as part of its territory until the early 1960s.
- In the 1950s, at the height of the “Bhai-Bhai” phase, China avoided taking a position on the Kashmir question.
- After the 1962 war, China’s position aligned with Pakistan’s as Beijing called for “self-determination” in Kashmir.
- After the Maoist era came to a close and Deng Xiaoping took charge in the late 1980s, China began to moderate its Kashmir position and find a better balance in its bilateral relations with India and Pakistan.
- In the mid-1990s, in a significant setback to Islamabad, Beijing urged both India and Pakistan to put aside the Kashmir issue and focus on developmental cooperation.
- But China’s position on the boundary dispute in general and the Kashmir question in particular tended to harden against India since the late 2000s.
- That’s when Beijing became more conscious of the widening power differential with all its neighbours, including India.
So, what explains China’s latest move?
- The ground reality has not been altered by India’s constitutional changes.
- It is being changed by the PLA’s growing military capabilities and the political will to use them.
- India’s constitutional changes might, in the end, look like a minor defensive move amid China’s continuing gains in Kashmir across the India-Pakistan divide.
- Although Beijing has let Pakistan keep Hunza for now, it has not really given up its claims on the region under the 1963 agreement.
- The CPEC, which enters Pakistan through Hunza, has laid the foundation for ever-larger Chinese economic influence in Gilgit-Baltistan.
What is the implication of this in the future?
- China’s ability to nibble away at the LAC in Ladakh will only grow as the military balance continues to shift in the PLA’s favour.
- While India’s significant current military deployment to counter Chinese mobilisation may yet help persuade Beijing to step back, there is no escaping the longer-term trend.
- If Delhi can’t redress the growing military imbalance and as Islamabad becomes even more dependent on Beijing, China will loom larger than ever on the entire Kashmir region.
- That is the real message from the new Chinese affirmation that it is now part of the Kashmir question.
Consider the question “Rather than Indian’s action in its internal matters, it’s China’s widening power differential with India that explains the Chinese assertive actions on the disputed border locations. Comment.
Conclusion
In raking up the issue at the UNSC, raising economic presence in the Northern Areas and probing India’s military and political vulnerabilities, China is highlighting its new salience for Kashmir. This is part of China’s growing geopolitical impact all across the Great Himalayas. And India must prepare itself to face this changing reality.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: South China Sea
Mains level: Paper 2-South China Sea dispute and impact on India
What happens in the South China Sea has bearing on India. So far, the U.S. played a major role in the prosperity and security of the Indo-Pacific, but after the Covid, it may be forced to reconsider its stand over the region. So, what is at stake for India? And what are the options available with ASEAN countries and Indian in such a situation? Read to know…
Dilemma the Indo-Pacific countries faces
- As the two most consequential powers of the world, the United States and China which are engaged in a fundamental transformation of their relationship rest of the countries in the region face a dilemma.
- Almost nobody any longer thinks that China will conform to the US worldview, or that China’s rise from hereon will be unchallenged.
- The Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s essay in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs cogently spells out this dilemma.
How the U.S. contributed to the region’s prosperity
- The Indo-Pacific has prospered under American hegemony for the previous 40 years not just because of their huge investments.
- U.S. invested $328.8 billion in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) alone and a further $107 billion in China.
- However, it’s not the investment but also because of the security blanket that it provides.
- China might have replaced the US as the primary engine of growth in the last decade, but it has come with a cost — the assertion of Chinese power.
- The benign American military presence has afforded countries the opportunity to pursue economic prosperity without substantial increases in their own defence expenditures or having to look over their shoulders.
- No group of nations has benefitted more from the presence of the US than the ASEAN.
How Chinese military posture is different from the U.S.
- Chinese military postures, on the other hand, give cause for concern ever since they unilaterally put forward the Nine-Dash Line in 2009 to declare the South China Sea as territorial waters.
- Their territorial claim itself is tenuous, neither treaty-based nor legally sound.
- They act in ways that are neither benign nor helpful for long-term peace and stability.
- In the first half of 2020 alone, Chinese naval or militia forces have rammed a Vietnamese fishing boat, “buzzed” a Philippines naval vessel and harassed a Malaysian oil drilling operation, all within their respective EEZs.
- Since 2015, they have built a runway and underground storage facilities on the Subi Reef and Thitu Island as well as radar sites and missile shelters on Fiery Cross Reef and Mischief Reef.
- They conducted ballistic missile tests in the South China Sea in June 2019 and continue to enhance naval patrols to enforce area denial for others.
Fundamental choices the region faces
- Going forward, the US and China face fundamental choices.
- But then, so do the rest of us living in the Indo-Pacific.
- America’s role in the preservation of the region’s peace and security should not be taken for granted.
- As COVID imposes crushing costs on all economies, the US may also be weighing its options.
- Finding justification for Chinese actions in the South China Sea, even as countries in the region help themselves to Chinese economic opportunities while sheltering under the US security blanket, is also fraught with risk.
- Accommodation may have worked thus far but regional prosperity has come at a mounting cost in geo-strategic terms.
- The South China Sea is effectively militarised. In the post-COVID age, enjoying the best of both worlds may no longer be an option.
But, ASEAN won’t change the course suddenly
- Nobody should expect that ASEAN will suddenly reverse course when faced with possibly heightened Sino-US competition.
- China is a major power that will continue to receive the respect of ASEAN and, for that matter, many others in the Indo-Pacific, especially in a post-COVID world where they are struggling to revive their economies.
- ASEAN overtook the European Union to become China’s largest trading partner in the first quarter of 2020, and China is the third-largest investor ($150 billion) in ASEAN.
- The South East Asians are skilled at finding the wiggle room to accommodate competing hegemons while advancing their interests.
- This does not, however, mean that they are not concerned over Chinese behaviour in the South China Sea.
- They need others to help them in managing the situation.
Validation of the US military presence and collective efforts of stakeholders
- A robust US military presence is one guarantee.
- A stronger validation by the littoral states of the South China Sea helps the US Administration in justifying their presence to the American tax-payer.
- Others who have stakes in the region also need to collectively encourage an increasingly powerful China to pursue strategic interests in a legitimate way, and on the basis of respect for international law, in the South China Sea.
- The real choice is not between China and America — it is between keeping the global commons open for all or surrendering the right to choose one’s partners for the foreseeable future.
What is at stake for India?
- How the South China Sea situation plays out will be critical for our security and well-being.
- India must consider the following factors while calibrating its approach.
- 1) The South China Sea is not China’s sea but a global common.
- 2) It has been an important sea-lane of communication since the very beginning, and passage has been unimpeded over the centuries.
- 3) Indians have sailed these waters for well over 1,500 years — there is ample historical and archaeological proof of a continuous Indian trading presence from Kedah in Malaysia to Quanzhou in China.
- 4) Nearly $200 billion of our trade passes through the South China Sea and thousands of our citizens study, work and invest in ASEAN, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
- 5) We have stakes in the peace and security of this region in common with others who reside there, and freedom of navigation, as well as other normal activities with friendly countries, are essential for our economic well-being. In short, the South China Sea is our business.
- We have historical rights established by practice and tradition to traverse the South China Sea without impediment.
- We have mutually contributed to each other’s prosperity for two thousand years.
- We continue to do so.
- The proposition that nations that have plied these waters in the centuries past for trade and other peaceful purposes are somehow outsiders who should not be permitted to engage in legitimate activity in the South China Sea, or have a voice without China’s say, should be firmly resisted.
India needs to be responsive to ASEAN
- India needs to be responsive to ASEAN’s expectations.
- While strategic partnerships and high-level engagements are important, ASEAN expects longer-lasting buy-ins by India in their future.
- They have taken the initiative time and again to involve India in Indo-Pacific affairs.
- It is not as if our current level of trade or investment with ASEAN makes a compelling argument for them to automatically involve us.
- They have deliberately taken a longer-term view.
- A restructuring of global trade is unlikely to happen any time soon in the post-COVID context.
- Regional arrangements will become even more important for our economic recovery and rejuvenation.
- If we intend to heed the clarion call of “Think Global Act Local”, India has to be part of the global supply chains in the world’s leading growth region for the next half-century.
- It is worth paying heed to the words from Singapore’s prime minister, who writes that something significant is lost in an RCEP without India.
- And urges us to recognise that the value of such agreements goes beyond the economic gains they generate.
- Singapore is playing the long game. Are we willing to do so, even if it imposes some costs in the short-term?
Consider the question “The South China Sea has been witnessing growing militarisation day by day. And how the South China Sea situation plays out will be critical for our security and well-being. In light of this, examine the basis on which India should contest China’s unilateral claims in the area and scope of engagement with the ASEAN countries in this regard.”
Conclusion
Indian is a stakeholder in the South China Sea. What happens there have implications for us. In such a scenario, India must form a partnership with other players in the region and should attempt to make China follow international laws and global order.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Biosimilars
Mains level: Paper 3- What are the bio-similar molecules and their applications in the pharma sector?
Recently an Indian pharma company has been granted a USFDA approval for Insulin Glargine, a biosimilar. This article briefly introduces us to this term, complexities involved in its manufacturing and also explains why the USFDA approval create hype.
The story of simple molecules and some difficult diseases
- Ever since modern medicine started to emerge post the Industrial Revolution, simple molecules have been used to treat most diseases.
- While these formulations are highly effective against some illnesses, they aren’t particularly effective against more complex diseases like cancer.
- Our immune system has evolved over millions of years to specifically defend against outside intruders.
- But cancer isn’t like most diseases.
- It’s not caused by an invasion of a foreign pathogen.
- Instead, it’s a byproduct of rogue cells that destroy our bodies from within.
- To this end, using simple molecules to defend against a barrage of mutating versions of our own cells is an exercise in futility.
What is biologic?
- A biologic is manufactured in a living system such as a microorganism, or plant or animal cells. Most biologics are very large, complex molecules or mixtures of molecules. Many biologics are produced using recombinant DNA technology.
- What we probably need is a biologic or a complex protein isolated from natural sources that can mimic our immune cells.
- Maybe this would help us in fighting cancer.
So, Biosimilars are..
- A biosimilar is a biological product that is developed to be similar to an already FDA-approved biologic, known as the reference product. It can be tempting to think of a biosimilar as a “generic” version of the reference product.
- But biosimilar is not an exact duplicate of another biologic. There is a degree of natural variability in all biological products; it is not possible to generate a precise copy of a product that comes from living cells. All biologics—including reference products—show some batch-to-batch variation.
Utility of patents in the pharmaceutical industry
- Success in this market is deeply intertwined with the research and development process that characterizes the pharmaceutical industry.
- It might take 5 years for you to develop a new drug and you might still need another 10 years to clinically test the product and get the necessary approvals from the regulatory agencies.
- This is a capital intensive process and the only way to remunerate the pharma company’s contribution is to protect their investment through patent laws.
- This way the companies can be incentivised to invest more in research and we can ensure a steady supply of new drugs that could cure the greatest maladies of modern time.
What happens when the patent expires?
- Once the patent expires, other companies can market their own version of the drug (copycats) if they can figure out how to synthesize it.
- Consider — Aspirin. It’s a simple molecule drug and it’s quite easy to replicate the manufacturing process.
Why biologics would be difficult to replicate after the patent expires
- Biologics are harvested from living cells and are often produced using complicated manufacturing processes.
- Most modern biologics are assembled inside vats — or bioreactors — that house genetically engineered microbes or cell cultures and can often take a whole decade of research to perfect.
- So replicating the process isn’t exactly a cakewalk.
- Meaning if you want to market your own version of a “biologic” once all the patents expire, you need some expertise and India’s Biocon is at the forefront of this revolution.
- For the past few years, they’ve been building a “biosimilar pipeline” — copycats of famous biologics and they’ve been using it to fight cancer, diabetes, and arthritis.
- And it’s not all that easy for most pharma companies to enter this market.
Why marketing a drug in the US gather headline?
- Because the US provides an opportunity like no other.
- Buying drugs here is expensive and pharmaceutical companies make a killing in the process.
- It might not necessarily bode well for consumers.
- But it does provide a lucrative market for potential Indian manufacturers who are looking to sell their products elsewhere.
Consider the question “What is biosimilar technology? How is it different from generic medicine? Discuss its application.”
Conclusion
Growing expertise of Indian pharmaceutical companies in the complex research area bodes well for the Indian pharma sector which is known otherwise for the manufacturing of generic medicines.
Reference Source: https://finshots.in/archive/biocon-and-the-world-of-biosimilars/
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GPAI and its members
Mains level: GPAI
India joins Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) as a founding member to support the responsible and human-centric development and use of AI.
Practice question for mains:
Q. Discuss India’s National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI) unveiled by the NITI Aayog.
About GPAI
- GPAI is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the responsible development and use of AI, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth.
- It is the league of leading economies including India, USA, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, and Singapore.
- GPAI will be supported by a Secretariat, to be hosted by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, as well as by two Centers of Expertise- one each in Montreal and Paris.
- This is also the first initiative of its type for evolving better understanding of the challenges and opportunities around AI using the experience and diversity of participating countries.
- In order to achieve this goal, the initiative will look to bridge the gap between theory and practice on AI by supporting cutting-edge research and applied activities on AI-related priorities.
Aims and Objectives
- In collaboration with partners and international organizations, GPAI will bring together leading experts from industry, civil society, governments, and academia to collaborate to promote responsible evolution of AI.
- It will also help evolve methodologies to show how AI can be leveraged to better respond to the present global crisis around COVID-19.
India and AI
- It is pertinent to note that India has recently launched the National AI Strategy and National AI Portal.
- It has also started leveraging AI across various sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare, e-commerce, finance, telecommunications, etc. with inclusion and empowerment of human being approach by supplementing growth and development.
- By joining GPAI as a founding member, India will actively participate in the global development of Artificial Intelligence, leveraging upon its experience around the use of digital technologies for inclusive growth.
Also read:
https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/op-ed-snap-india-takes-the-first-step-to-building-an-ai-vision/
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IGX
Mains level: Utility of the IGX
India’s first gas exchange — the Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) — was launched by the Ministry of Petroleum. The exchange is expected to facilitate transparent price discovery in natural gas, and facilitate the growth of the share of natural gas in India’s energy basket.
Note the following things with caution from the newscard:
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IGX allows only imported LNG and not domestically produced natural gas.
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India’s import of LNG
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GAIL
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Taxation of LNG
What is IGX?
- The IGX is a digital trading platform that will allow buyers and sellers of natural gas to trade both in the spot market and in the forward market for imported natural gas.
- It will allow trading across three hubs —Dahej and Hazira in Gujarat, and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.
- Imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) will be regassified and sold to buyers through the exchange, removing the requirement for buyers and sellers to find each other.
- The exchange also allows much shorter contracts – for delivery on the next day, and up to a month – while ordinarily contracts for natural gas supply are as long as six months to a year.
- This will mean that buyers do not have to contact multiple dealers to ensure they find a fair price.
Will domestically produced natural gas also be bought and sold on the exchange?
- The price of domestically produced natural gas is decided by the government. It will not be sold on the gas exchange.
- However, following appeals by domestic producers that the prices set by the government are not viable given the cost of exploration and production in India.
- A new gas policy will include reforms in domestic gas pricing and will move towards more market-oriented pricing.
Will this make India more import-dependent?
- Domestic production of gas has been falling over the past two fiscals as current sources of natural gas have become less productive.
- Domestically produced natural gas currently accounts for less than half the country’s natural gas consumption; imported LNG accounts for the other half.
- LNG imports are set to become a larger proportion of domestic gas consumption as India moves to increase the proportion of natural gas in the energy basket from 6.2% in 2018 to 15% by 2030.
What regulatory change is required?
- Currently, the pipeline infrastructure necessary for the transportation of natural gas is controlled by the companies that own the network.
- State-owned GAIL owns and operates India’s largest gas pipeline network, spanning over 12,000 km.
- An independent system operator for natural gas pipelines would help ensure transparent allocation of pipeline usage, and build confidence in the minds of buyers and sellers about neutrality in the allocation of pipeline capacity.
- Experts have also called for natural gas to be included in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to avoid buyers having to deal with different levies such as VAT across states when purchasing natural gas from the exchange.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OST, INF Treaty, New START policy
Mains level: Global nuclear stockpiles and its threats
All nations that have nuclear weapons continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals, while India and China increased their nuclear warheads in the last one year, according to a latest report by Swedish think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
About SIPRI
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Sweden, dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
- Established in 1966, the Stockholm based SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.
Practice question for Mains:
Q.“Nuclear disarmament of the world seems a distant dream”. Comment.
Nuclear arsenals are on rise in ‘thy neighbourhood’
- China is in the middle of a significant modernization of its nuclear arsenal.
- It is developing a so-called nuclear triad for the first time, made up of new land and sea-based missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft.
- China’s nuclear arsenal had gone up from 290 warheads in 2019 to 320 in 2020, while India’s went up from 130-140 in 2019 to 150 in 2020.
- Pakistan’s arsenal was estimated to be between 150-160 in 2019 and has reached 160 in 2020.
- Both China and Pakistan continue to have larger nuclear arsenals than India.
A general decline across the globe
- Together with the nine nuclear-armed states — the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — possessed an estimated 13,400 nuclear weapons at the start of 2020.
- This marked a decrease from an estimated 13,865 nuclear weapons at the beginning of 2019.
- The decrease in the overall numbers was largely due to the dismantlement of old nuclear weapons by Russia and the U.S., which together possess over 90% of the global nuclear weapons.
Major issue in reporting: Low levels of disclosure
- The availability of reliable information on the status of the nuclear arsenals and capabilities of the nuclear-armed states varied considerably, the report noted.
- The U.S. had disclosed important information about its stockpile and nuclear capabilities, but in 2019, the administration ended the practice of publicly disclosing the size of its stockpile.
- The governments of India and Pakistan make statements about some of their missile tests but provide little information about the status or size of their arsenals, the report said.
New START seems to ‘STOP’ very soon
- The U.S. and Russia have reduced their nuclear arsenals under the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) but it will lapse in February 2021 unless both parties agree to prolong it.
- However, discussions to extend the New START or negotiate a new treaty made no progress with the U.S.’s insistence that China must join any future nuclear arms reduction talks, which China has categorically ruled out.
- The deadlock over the New START and the collapse of the 1987 Soviet–U.S. Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty) in 2019 suggest that the era of bilateral nuclear arms control agreements between Russia and the U.S. might be coming to an end.
- Russia and the U.S. have already announced extensive plans to replace and modernize their nuclear warheads and delivery systems.
- Both countries have also given new or expanded roles to nuclear weapons in their military plans and doctrines, which marks a significant reversal of the post-Cold War trend towards the gradual marginalisation of nuclear weapons.
Back2Basics: INF Treaty
- Under the INF treaty, the US and Soviet Union agreed not to develop, produce, possess or deploy any ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles that have a range between 500 and 5,500 km.
- It exempted the air-launched and sea-based missile systems in the same range.
- The INF treaty helped address the fears of an imminent nuclear war in Europe.
- It also built some trust between Washington and Moscow and contributed to the end of the Cold War.
New START Policy
- The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) pact limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers and is due to expire in 2021 unless renewed.
- The treaty limits the US and Russia to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, well below Cold War caps.
- It was signed in 2010 by former US President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
- It is one of the key controls on superpower deployment of nuclear weapons.
- If it falls, it will be the second nuclear weapons treaty to collapse under the leadership of US President Donald Trump.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lunar Gateway, ISS
Mains level: Read the attached story
NASA recently finalised the contract for the initial crew module of the agency’s Gateway lunar orbiting outpost.
Note the following things about the Lunar Gateway:
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Parent Agency and other agencies involved
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Missions and celestial bodies to be studied
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Difference between Gateway and ISS
What is NASA’s Gateway Lunar Orbit Outpost?
- Essentially, the Gateway is a small spaceship that will orbit the Moon, meant for astronaut missions to the Moon and later, for expeditions to Mars.
- While the project is led by NASA, the Gateway is meant to be developed, serviced, and utilized in collaboration with commercial and international partners: Canada (CSA), Europe (ESA), and Japan (JAXA).
- The spaceship will have living quarters, laboratories for science and research and docking ports for visiting spacecraft.
- Once docked to the Gateway, astronauts will be able to stay there for three months at a time, conduct science experiments and take trips to the surface of the Moon.
Features of the Gateway
- One of the most unique features of the Gateway is that it can be moved to other orbits around the Moon to conduct more research.
- The Gateway will act as an airport, where spacecraft bound for the lunar surface of Mars can refuel or replace parts and resupply things like food and oxygen, allowing astronauts to take multiple trips to the Lunar surface and exploration of new locations across the Moon.
How is it different from ISS?
- Astronauts will use the Gateway at least once per year and not stay around the year as they do on the International Space Station (ISS).
- Compared to the ISS, the Gateway is much smaller (the size of a studio apartment), while the ISS is about the size of a six-bedroom house.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pangolin
Mains level: Illict wildlife trade and its prevention
China accorded the pangolin the highest level of protection and removed the scales of the endangered mammal from its list of approved traditional medicines amid links between wild meat and the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Practice question for mains:
Q. What are Zoonotic Diseases? Discuss the hazards of importing zoonotic diseases through wildlife trade.
About Pangolin
IUCN status: Endangered
- India is home to two species of pangolin.
- While the Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is found in northeastern India, the Indian Pangolin is distributed in other parts of the country as well as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
- Both these species are protected and are listed under the Schedule I Part I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
- Commonly known as ‘scaly anteaters’, the toothless animals are unique, a result of millions of years of evolution.
- Pangolins evolved scales as a means of protection. When threatened by big carnivores like lions or tigers they usually curl into a ball.
- The scales defend them against dental attacks from the predators.
Pangolin in China
- Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy in China and Vietnam.
- Their scales which are made of keratin, the same protein present in human nails — are believed to improve lactation, promote blood circulation, and remove blood stasis.
- These so-called health benefits are so far unproven.
What makes pangolins the most trafficked animals in the world?
- Their alleged health benefits in traditional Chinese medicines prompted a booming illicit export of scales from Africa over the past decade.
- Officials quote trafficking price of Pangolin and its scale anywhere between Rs 30,000 and Rs 1 crore for a single animal.
- Conservation of pangolins received its first shot in the arm when the 2017 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) enforced an international trade ban.
How will China’s decision impact pangolin trafficking?
- The immediate impact would be pangolin scales losing their legitimacy in traditional Chinese medicines. However, the history of the ban on wildlife trade in China is not encouraging.
- The continued availability of tiger bone wine — believed to cure a host of conditions ranging from dysentery to rheumatism — despite its ban on tiger products in 1993. The price of elephant ivory plummeted by two-thirds after China banned it.
- India, where the trade largely remains local, has been registering a decline from before China’s ban.
- The trade-in pangolin scales are already showing a decreasing trend in India and the only trade is the trade-in live animals by unorganised traders, who ask for a few crores for each live animal.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IAEA and its mandate
Mains level: Nuclear ambitions and its rise
The UN nuclear watchdog IAEA’s governing body began meeting as a row brews over Iran’s refusal to allow access to two sites where nuclear activity may have occurred in the past.
Practice question for mains:
Q. Discuss the role of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in enhancing nuclear accountability of the world.
Concerns over Iran
- The latest row over access comes as a landmark deal between Iran and world powers in 2015 continues to unravel.
- If IAEA passes a resolution critical of Iran, it would be the first of its kind since 2012.
- Even though the two sites are not thought to be key to Iran’s current activities, the agency says it needs to know if past activities going back almost two decades have been properly declared and all materials accounted for.
About IAEA
- The IAEA is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons.
- The IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. It was established as an autonomous organisation on 29 July 1957.
- Though established independently of the UN through its own international treaty, the IAEA reports to both the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council.
Functions of IAEA
- The IAEA serves as an intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide.
- The programs of the IAEA encourage the development of the peaceful applications of nuclear energy, science and technology, provide international safeguards against misuse of nuclear technology and nuclear materials, and promote nuclear safety (including radiation protection) and nuclear security standards and their implementation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BECs
Mains level: Various properties of BECs
Scientists have observed the fifth state of matter in space for the first time, offering unprecedented insight that could help solve some of the quantum universe’s most intractable conundrums.
Try this question from CSP 2018
Q. Consider the following phenomena:
- Light is affected by gravity.
- The Universe is constantly expanding.
- Matter warps its surrounding space-time.
Which of the above is/are the prediction/predictions of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, often discussed in media?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs)
- Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) — the existence of which was predicted by Albert Einstein and Indian mathematician Satyendra Nath Bose almost a century ago — are formed when atoms of certain elements are cooled to near absolute zero (0 Kelvin, minus 273.15 Celsius).
- At this point, the atoms become a single entity with quantum properties, wherein each particle also functions as a wave of matter.
- BECs straddle the line between the macroscopic world governed by forces such as gravity and the microscopic plane, ruled by quantum mechanics.
Why are BECs important?
- Scientists believe BECs contain vital clues to mysterious phenomena such as dark energy — the unknown energy thought to be behind the Universe’s accelerating expansion.
- But BECs are extremely fragile. The slightest interaction with the external world is enough to warm them past their condensation threshold.
- This makes them nearly impossible for scientists to study on Earth, where gravity interferes with the magnetic fields required to hold them in place for observation.
Studying BECs
- NASA scientists unveiled the first results from BEC experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS), where particles can be manipulated free from Earthly constraints.
- The microgravity onboard the ISS allowed them to create BECs from rubidium — a soft metal similar to potassium — on a far shallower trap than on Earth.
- Microgravity at ISS allows confining atoms with much weaker forces. Microgravity also allowed the atoms to be manipulated by weaker magnetic fields, speeding their cooling and allowing clearer imaging.
- Creating the fifth state of matter, especially within the physical confines of a space station, is no mean feat for NASA.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 15
Mains level: Paper 2-Need for legislation to back the right to equality and right against discrimination
India has a unique distinction of being a democracy without comprehensive legislation to back the constitutional right of equality. This lack of legislation gives rise to certain issues. Every time the case of discrimination is brought the discriminating party claims that he is at liberty to do so. Not only this, in a certain case, the Supreme Court also endorsed such restrictive interpretation. All this points to the need for the comprehensive legislation.
Indirect and unintended discrimination
- More than 70 years after Independence, our society remains rife with structural discrimination.
- These prejudices, which pervade every aspect of life, from access to basic goods, to education and employment, are sometimes manifest.
- But, on other occasions, the discrimination is indirect and even unintended.
- The forms that it takes were perhaps best explained by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Griggs vs. Duke Power Co. (1971).
- There, the court held that an energy company had fallen foul of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which made racial discrimination in private workplaces illegal.
- The company had insisted on a superfluous written test by applicants for its better entry-level jobs.
- Although, on the face of it, this requirement was race-neutral, in practice it allowed the company to victimise African-Americans.
- In a memorable judgment, invoking an Aesop fable, Chief Justice Burger wrote that “tests or criteria for employment or promotion may not provide equality of opportunity merely in the sense of the fabled offer of milk to the stork and the fox.”
- On the contrary, the law, he said, resorting again to the fable, “provided that the vessel in which the milk is proffered be one all seekers can use.”
- That is, that it wasn’t merely “overt discrimination” that was illegal but also “practices that are fair in form, but discriminatory in operation”.
Let’s look into 2 cases in India
1. Madhu vs. Northern Railway
- The verdict in Griggs was notably applied in the Delhi High Court’s 2018 judgment in Madhu vs. Northern Railway.
- There, the Railways had denied free medical treatment to the wife and daughter of an employee which they would otherwise have been entitled to under the rules.
- The Railways contended that the employee had “disowned” his family and had had their names struck off his medical card.
- The court held that to make essential benefits such as medical services subject to a declaration by an employee might be “facially neutral”, but it produced a disparate impact, particularly on women and children.
- But while this case concerned discrimination by the state, entry barriers to goods such as housing, schools and employment tend to function in the realm of private contracts.
Is Article 15 applicable in private contracts?
- The Constitution is markedly vocal on this too.
- Article 15(2) stipulates that citizens shall not on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth be denied access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment.
- Yet, on occasion, this right, which applies horizontally, inter se individuals, comes into conflict with the rights of persons to associate with others, often to the exclusion of certain groups.
2. Zoroastrian Cooperative Housing Society vs District Registrar Co-operative Societies (Urban) and Others
- This is why every time a case of discrimination is brought, the party that discriminates claims that he possesses a liberty to do so, that he must be free to act according to his own sense of conscience.
- The Supreme Court in 2005 endorsed one such restrictive bond, when it ruled in favour of a bye-law of a Parsi housing society that prohibited the sale of the property to non-Parsis.
- This right to forbid such a sale, the Court ruled, was intrinsic in the Parsis’ fundamental right to associate with each other.
- But in holding thus, the judgment, as Gautam Bhatia points out in his book, The Transformative Constitution, not only conflated the freedom to contract with the constitutional freedom to associate but also overlooked altogether Article 15(2).
Let’s look into the scope of Article 15(2)
- At first blush, Article 15(2) might appear to be somewhat limited in scope.
- But the word “shops” used in it is meant to be read widely.
- A study of the Constituent Assembly’s debates on the clause’s framing shows us that the founders explicitly intended to place restrictions on any economic activity that sought to exclude specific groups.
- For example, when a person refuses to lease her property to another based on the customer’s faith, such a refusal would run directly counter to the guarantee of equality.
India: A country with no legislative backing to the fundamental right to equality
- India is unique among democracies in that a constitutional right to equality is not supported by comprehensive legislation.
- In South Africa, for example, a constitutional guarantee is augmented by an all-encompassing law which prohibits unfair discrimination not only by the government but also by private organisations and individuals.
Consider the question “Discrimination partakes different forms. And due to lack of any legislation backing the Right to Equality, this right is just as capable of being threatened by acts of private individuals as they are by the state.” In light of this, discuss the need for an act backing the Right to Equality and right against discrimination.”
Conclusion
Any reasonable conception of justice would demand that we look beyond the intentions of our actions, and at the engrained structures of society. To that end, the idea of enacting a law that will help ameliorate our ways of life, that will help reverse our deep-rooted culture of discrimination, is worth thinking about.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UGC Act of 1956, NAAC regulations
Mains level: Paper 3- Issues with employment and skill developement
This article highlights the utility of skill education in India. There are several benefits in its adoption. But it would require several regulatory changes. So, what are these changes?Read to know…
3 issues with our university education
- The differential lockdown outcomes for skilled and unskilled workers highlight our university system’s pre-existing conditions. These are-
- 1) Broken employability promises.
- 2) Poor employer connectivity.
- 3) Poor return on private investment that frustrate parents and students.
4 ways in which skill university differs from traditional university
- A skill university differs from a traditional university in four ways.
- 1) It prays to the one god of employers; for governance, faculty, curriculum, and pedagogy.
- 2) It has four classrooms; on-campus, on-line, on-site, and on-the-job.
- 3) It offers modularity between four qualifications; certificates, diplomas, advanced diplomas, and degrees.
- 4) And it has four sources of financing — employers, students, CSR, and loans though employers contribute more than 95 per cent of the costs.
- Fro example, in the case of Gujrat government’s skill university, 97 per cent of the university’s budget comes from employers.
5 ways in which the universities are broken globally
- First is broken promises.
- The world produced more graduates in the last 35 years than 700 years before.
- Second is broken financing.
- More than 50 per cent of $1.5 trillion in student debt was expected to default even before the COVID pandemic.
- Indian bank education loans have high NPAs.
- The third is broken inclusiveness.
- The system works for privileged urban males studying full-time, but today’s students are likely to be female, poor, older, rural, or studying part-time.
- Fourth is broken flexibility.
- Employed learners will cross traditional learners in three years, but they need on-demand, on-the-go, always-on, rolling admissions, continuous assessment, and qualification modularity.
- And finally is broken openness.
- Google knowing everything makes learning how to learn a key 21st-century skill.
- Yet too many universities are stuck in knowing.
Let’s look into the regulatory changes needed for the Skill University
- Skill universities are a scalable, sustainable, and affordable vehicle to massify higher education by innovations in finance.
- But they need regulatory change.
Following are the 3 types of regulatory changes needed
1. Changes needed in the UGC Act of 1956
- Clause 8.2.6 needs to be rewritten to equalise four classrooms -online, on-site, on-campus, and on-job-and section 22 (3) to recognise apprenticeship linked degree programmes.
- The UGC Teacher Regulations of 2018 need rewriting: Clause 3.3.(I),(II) to redefine the qualifications, roles and numbers of teachers required, and clause 4 to recognise industry experience as a teaching qualification.
- The UGC Online Regulations 2018 need to be rewritten: Clause 4(2) and 7(2)(3) to allow innovation, flexibility, credit frameworks, and relevance in online curriculums.
- Clause 7(2)(2) to allow universities to work with any technology platforms.
2. Changes needed in NAAC IQAC regulations
- Criteria 1 and 1.2.2 to include work-based learning and work integrated learning.
- Criteria 1.1.3 to include life skills and proctored/evaluated internships.
- Criteria 2 and 2.3.1 to integrate online learning with university programmes.
- Criteria 2 and 2.4.1, 3 and 6 need to be modified to recognise teachers with industry experience, and include industry-based research.
- Criteria 4 and 4.1.2 to include industry workplaces and online classrooms as campus extensions.
- Criteria 5 and 5.2.1 needs to be rewritten to incorporate apprenticeships.
3. Changes needed in Apprenticeship Act of 1961
- Clause 2, 8, 9, 21 and 23 of The Apprenticeship Act of 1961 also needs to be modified to allow and lift the licence raj for degree-linked apprentices and recognise skills universities.
Consider the question “Skill universities, which would go a long way in increasing the employability in India are need of the hour. In light of this, examine the issues that the skill education faces and suggest the changes our education system needs to impart the proper skill education.”
Conclusion
Covid crisis has amplified the problems with our education system. So, the adoption of skill universities will help us improve the skill of our youth and achieve more inclusive employment, employability and education.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Finance Commission and its role
Mains level: Paper 2- Fiscal decentralisation.
Covid pandemic has turned the fiscal health of states from bad to worse. This article highlights the role of the Finance Commission as a neutral arbiter in the Centre-state relation in achieving the delicate balance. It has highlighted certain issues that the commission has to consider when it submits its report. So, what are those issues? Read to know…
Disruption in fiscal consolidation and impact on Centre-state relations
- Due to COVID, there is a collapse in general government revenues and the consequent rise in the deficit levels.
- It has disrupted the glide path of fiscal consolidation.
- But it has also deepened the faultlines in Centre-state fiscal relations.
- The Centre is trying to claw back the fiscal space ceded to the states and assert its dominance over the country’s fiscal architecture.
- This coupled with the fiscal constraints exposed by the pandemic have made it harder to maintain the delicate balance needed to manage the contesting claims of the Centre and the states
Why the 15th Finance Commission report is critical for decentralisation
- It will be ironic if the ongoing health crisis that has ended up exposing the limitations of a centralised approach, ends up reversing the trend towards fiscal decentralisation.
- The Commission’s report will be critical on two counts:
- First, it will determine how India’s fiscal architecture is reshaped.
- Second, how Centre-state relations are reset as the country attempts to recover from the COVID-19 shock.
1. Will the burden of reducing debt/gdp fall equally on Centre and state?
- The glide path of fiscal consolidation laid out by the FRBM review committee had envisaged bringing down general government debt to 60 per cent of GDP by 2022.
- This is unlikely to materialise now.
- Factoring in the additional borrowings, the debt-to-GDP ratio may well be over 80 per cent this year.
- Thus the fiscal consolidation roadmap will have to be reworked.
- As per its terms of reference, the Finance Commission will lay out the new path to be followed by both Centre and states.
- But the question is: Will the burden of debt reduction fall equally upon the Centre and states?
- Or will the Commission allow the Centre to have greater leeway when it comes to fiscal consolidation?
2. Will the conditional extension of borrowing limit be formalised?
- Recently, the Centre eased the states’ budget constraint, allowing them to borrow more this year.
- But this extra borrowing was conditional upon states implementing reforms in line with the Centre’s priorities.
- Despite protests, most states are likely to comply with the conditions, to varying degrees.
- But the issue is: As the hit from the ongoing crisis spreads over multiple years, state governments may want to maintain their expansionary fiscal stance next year as well.
- Then, will the Finance Commission, in line with its terms of reference, go along with the Centre’s stance and recommend imposing conditions on additional borrowing and formalise this arrangement?
- It is difficult to see such an arrangement being rolled back once formalised.
3. GST compensation cess
- The GST council, in which the Centre effectively has a veto, is yet to clearly spell out its views on the extension of the compensation cess to offset states losses beyond the five-year period.
- The Commission will have to weigh in on this too.
- At this time the Centre is struggling to fulfil its promise of assuring states their GST revenues.
- In such situation, will the Commission argue in favour of extending the compensation period, as states desire, but, perhaps, lowering the assured 14 per cent growth in compensation and linking it to nominal GDP growth?
- As GST revenue accounts for a significant share of states’ income, how this plays out will also have a bearing on their ability to bring down their debt levels.
4. Issue of tax devolution
- In some sense, accepting the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission was a fait accompli.
- The terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission points to the present government’s desire to claw back the fiscal space offered to the states.
- But is clawing back fiscal space now a prudent approach?
- A cash-strapped Centre will surely welcome greater say over the diminished resources.
- And there a strong argument for the Centre to have far greater fiscal space than it currently enjoys.
- This is partly because the fiscal multiplier of central government capital spending is greater than that by the states.
- But also the nature of politics may well push in that direction.
- Centralisation of political power may well lead to demands for centralisation of resources.
- However, surely fiscal space can be created by a review of the Centre’s own spending programme.
Need to relook at the Centre’s expenditure priorities
- Over the past decades, there has been a substantial increase in the Centre’s spending on items on the state and concurrent list.
- This shift has occurred even as grants by the Centre to states exceed the former’s revenue deficit.
- This, as some have pointed out, effectively means that the Centre is borrowing to transfer to states.
- Surely, a relook at the Centre’s expenditure priorities would create greater fiscal space for it.
What the Finance Commission can do?
- Any attempt to shift the uneasy balance in favour of the Centre will strengthen the argument that this government’s talk of cooperative federalism serves as a useful mask to hide its centralising tendencies.
- As a neutral arbiter of Centre-state relations, the Finance Commission should seek to maintain the delicate balance in deciding on contesting claims.
- This may well require giveaways especially if states are to be incentivised to push through legislation on items on the state and concurrent list.
- The fiscal stress at various levels of the government necessitates a realistic assessment of the country’s macro-economic situation, the preparation of a medium-term roadmap, as well as careful calibration of the framework that governs Centre-state relations.
- At this critical juncture, the Finance Commission should present the broad contours of the roadmap.
- Though it could request for another year’s extension to present its full five-year report citing the prevailing uncertainty.
Consider the question “COVID pandemic has put the States in the dire fiscal position. What we need is more of the fiscal decentralisation now.” In light of this, along with other factors, elaborate on the role 15th Finance Commission could play in this regard.
Conclusion
Finance Commission has to play an important role in achieving the delicate balance in the conflicting domain of finance by addressing the concerns of both the players.
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