The Central Government has resolved to meet the target of 20 percent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025. This will help India strengthen its energy security, enable local enterprises and farmers to participate in the energy economy and reduce vehicular emissions.

In this article we shall discuss and analyze all aspects of this issue.

What is Ethanol Blending?

• An ethanol blend is defined as a blended motor fuel containing ethyl alcohol that is at least 99% pure, derived from agricultural products, and blended exclusively with petrol (gasoline).
• Ethanol, anhydrous ethyl alcohol having a chemical formula of C₂H₅OH, can be produced from sugarcane, maize, wheat, etc. which are having high starch content.
• In India, ethanol is mainly produced from sugarcane molasses by the fermentation process. Ethanol can be mixed with the gasoline to form different blends.
• As the ethanol molecule contains oxygen, it allows the engine to more completely combust the fuel, resulting in fewer emissions and thereby reducing the occurrence of environmental pollution.
• Since ethanol is produced from plants that harness the power of the sun, ethanol is also considered a renewable fuel.

Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme

• Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme was launched in January, 2003 for supply of 5% ethanol blended Petrol.
• The programme sought to promote the use of alternative and environment friendly fuels and to reduce import dependency for energy requirements.
• OMCs are advised to continue according priority of ethanol from 1) sugarcane juice/sugar/sugar syrup, 2) B-heavy molasses 3) C-heavy molasses and 4) damaged food grains/other sources.
• At present, this programme has been extended to whole of India except UTs of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands with effect from 01st April, 2019 wherein OMCs sell petrol blended with ethanol up to 10%.

Ethanol blending in India

• Ethanol now is blended 10% to petrol, which started with 5% when the EBP was launched
• Last year 173 crore liters of petrol was blended with ethanol.

Why need 20% blending?

Mixing 20 percent ethanol in petrol holds multiple attractions for India.

• First, it can potentially reduce the auto fuel import bill by a yearly $4 billion, or Rs 30,000 crore.
• Second, it also provides for farmers to earn extra income if they grow to produce that helps in ethanol production.
• Third, and no less important, is the fact that ethanol is less polluting than other fuels and, per the NITI Aayog paper, “offers equivalent efficiency at a lower cost than petrol”.

What is needed to meet the blending target?

• Till 2014 an average of only 1.5 percent ethanol could be blended in India, that proportion has now reached about 8.5 percent.
• So, while in 2013-14, about 38 crore liters of ethanol were purchased in the country, that figure now stands at more than 320 crore liters.
• A majority of the ethanol units are concentrated in 4 to 5 states where sugar production is high but food grain-based distilleries are now being set up across India.
• There have been efforts to make ethanol from agricultural waste.

Response from automobile sector

• All automobile materials produced after 2009 are compatible with 10% ethanol. However they are not compatible with E20 (20 percent ethanol blend with petrol).
• The NITI Aayog paper said that two-wheelers and passenger vehicles that are now being made in the country “are designed optimally for E5 while rubber and plastic components are “compatible with E10 fuel”.
• The industry body the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has guaranteed that “once a road-map for making E10 and E20 available in the country is notified… they would gear up to supply compatible vehicles in line with the roadmap”.
• All the components required can be made available in the country” and that “no significant change in the assembly line is expected”.

Why is 20% blending a significant decision?

• Ethanol blending will also, to a large extent, solve the problem of agricultural waste as well as sugar rates plummeting due to excess production, therefore providing security to sugarcane farmers.
• It can help accomplish dual goal of strengthening energy security with low carbon emission.
• It will enable local enterprises and farmers to participate in the energy economy.
• Reducing import bill is another significant benefit. India imports 85% of crude oil.
• Ethanol blending increases octane number thereby increasing fuel quality in terms of anti-knocking tendency (engine sound)

Hurdles in implementation

• In the previous fiscal, 87 per cent of ethanol used for India’s ethanol blending program was produced using sugar.
• The price of ethanol production in India ranges from $0.63 – $0.87 a litre, significantly higher than the US and Brazil where it is about $ 0.61 per litre.
• The procurement of ethanol by OMCs is governed by an administered pricing mechanism that fixes prices every year based on the raw material used.
• This fixing of the price of raw materials for production had led to India producing ethanol at prices higher than other countries.
• The report also highlighted the excessive use of water — estimated at 2,860 litres — for the production of one litre of ethanol from sugar.

Hence there is a need to move to more environmentally sustainable crops.

Way forward

• For attaining E100 i.e. cent percent clean mobility, ambitious ethanol blending program is a must.
• Emphasis should be laid on alternative of ethanol. Methanol with some modifications can also be used for blending.
• Major source of producing ethanol is sugarcane which is a water intensive crop. Hence we need more sustainable sources to produce Ethanol.

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The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has lauded the Centre’s Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP), saying that it should serve as a “best practice” for other countries where regional disparities in development status persist for many reasons.

UNDP has termed ADP as the most successful model of the Local Area Development.

Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)

• Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative aims to remove this heterogeneity through a mass movement to quickly and effectively transform these districts.
• The broad contours of the program are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a spirit of mass Movement.
• With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.

Behind the name

• Hon’ble PM has negated the idea of naming any scheme based on their backwardness.
• Rather the name ‘Aspirational’ presents a more affirmative action-based execution of the scheme.

Selection of districts

• A total of 117 Aspirational districts have been identified by NITI Aayog based upon composite indicators.
• The objective of the program is to monitor the real-time progress of aspirational districts based on 49 indicators (81 data points) from the 5 identified thematic areas.

Weightage has been accorded to these districts as below:

• Health & Nutrition (30%)
• Education (30%)
• Agriculture & Water Resources (20%)
• Financial Inclusion & Skill Development (10%)
• Basic Infrastructure (10%)

Strategy of the ADP

The core Strategy of the program may be summarized as follows.

• Making development a mass movement in these districts
• Identify low hanging fruits and the strength of each district, to act as a catalyst
• for development.
• Measure progress and rank districts to spur a sense of competition.
• Districts shall aspire to become State’s best to Nation’s best.

Features of the ADP

• It has transformed into a Jan Andolan.
• The ADP is different in trying to monitor the improvement of these districts through real-time data tracking.
• The programme seeks to develop convergence between selected existing central and state government programmes.
• District performance in the public domain and experience building of the district bureaucracy is another notable feature.
• The programme is targeted, not towards any single group of beneficiaries, but rather towards the population of the district as a whole.

What makes this program special?

The program reflects what has become of the development project in India under neoliberalism, especially after the end of planning.

• Long overdue sectors have been given more emphasis.
• It is not a tailormade program with one-size-fit strategy. More onus has been laid on the districts. It has a district-intervention strategy.
• It works on the principle of SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threats) model and comparison with national best parameters for effective resource management.
• It is the most reviewed programme by the Prime Minister.
• A general idea behind the idea is that a good work never goes un-noticed. It is duly appreciated on social media as well as by the officials.
• Through ADP, momentum in expediting growth is maintained as well so for the success of the program to be scaled and replicated in other districts which are still ranking low.
• In principle, the programme does note the importance of quality of life and quality of services available.

COVID and ADP

• ADP had found elderly citizens as the mist vulnerable in this pandemic.
• Programs such as Surakshit Dada-Dadi Nana-Nani were held and almost every elderly person was reached.
• Omnicus Platform with a panel of experienced doctors for COVID and ‘India Fights Covid’ Platform are other such initiatives.

Programmatic Strengths

• A key strength of the ADP is the collection of baseline data and follow-ups at regular intervals.
• Sustaining this effort would create a robust compilation of statistics for use by both researchers and policy-makers.
• In doing this, the government also brings much-needed attention to human development and a willingness to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Incremental progress being made in the chosen districts as reflected in the rankings.
• The programme also claims to be “non-partisan and unbiased” and geared towards all-India growth.
• The selection of districts indeed suggests that the programme has not favored any bias either regional, political or any other.
• The programme seeks convergence of central and state schemes anchored around specific activities.
  

Issues with the programme

• The programmatic limitations of the ADP with respect to agricultural development or poverty eradication are clearly visible.
• Using the case of Bihar, they argue that the programmes selection of districts itself is problematic.
• In fact, it actually excludes the most backward districts because per capita income, the most basic measure of development, has not been considered.
• There seems to be some ambiguity around the issue of whether the programme is concerned only with improved access or also with the quality of service provided.
• The indicators used are not defined relationally, rather they are static human development indicators that do not see people mired in dynamic social relations.
• Similarly, the programme envisages “development’ in these districts as taking place in isolation from wider development.
• For instance, under skill development, the programme seeks to encourage industry-relevant training and apprenticeship of youth in an environment of jobless growth.
• It is also accused that the state is not making any new or focused public investment (except for possible use of Flexi-funds) into these districts, on the other hand, it is moralizing about their inability to improve (through rankings). 
• The programme is carrying the burden of proving the government’s “developmental” work without addressing any of the fundamental issues around achieving equitable development.
• Yet, the NITI Aayog justifies the overall approach as capitalizing on “low-hanging fruit.”

Way forward

• The program has been able to make difference in the lives of citizens of India, in education, health, nutrition, financial inclusion, skill development and this has made a difference to some most backward and most geographically far-flung districts of the nation.
• ADP is ‘aligned to the principle of “leave no one behind—the vital core of the SDGs. Political commitment at the highest level has resulted in the rapid success of the program the report said.
• UNDP has recommended revising a few indicators that are slightly close to reaching their saturation or met by most districts like ‘electrification of households’ as an indicator of basic infrastructure.

Conclusion

• The resounding success of the ADP is a testament to the efforts of the national, state and district level administrations, at the head of which is the empowering vision of our PM.
• The transformational growth story of these districts would not have been possible without the continuous support of knowledge and development partners as well as civil society organizations.
• A programme of this scale has redefined the contours of India’s development narrative and will continue to garner many more accolades as it achieves one progressive milestone after another.
• The challenge of improving the country’s human development is real and pressing, as is the need to refocus on the most marginalized districts.

Have you been hearing the words ‘simultaneous elections’ often these days? That’s because there is a proposal to conduct the elections to the Lok Sabha and a State assemblies at the same time.

What are simultaneous polls?

• Currently, elections to the state assemblies and the Lok Sabha are held separately — that is whenever the incumbent government’s five-year term ends or whenever it is dissolved due to various reasons.
• This applies to both the state legislatures and the Lok Sabha. The terms of Legislative Assemblies and the Lok Sabha may not synchronize with one another.
• For instance, Rajasthan faced elections in late 2018, whereas Tamil Nadu will go to elections only in 2021.
• But the idea of “One Nation, One Election” envisages a system where elections to all states and the Lok Sabha will have to be held simultaneously.

Simultaneous polls in India

• India had concurrent elections for the first two decades.
• Starting from the first general elections of free India in 1951 and the next three cycles of elections, the country witnessed concurrent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
• Exceptions to these were a few states like Kerala where a mid-term election was held in 1960 on the premature dissolution of the Assembly.
• In Nagaland and Pondicherry where the Legislative Assembly was created only after the 1962 general elections.

End of the era

• The fourth Lok Sabha constituted in 1967 was dissolved prematurely in 1971 ahead of its normal term resulting in a mid-term Lok Sabha election.
• This was the beginning of the end of simultaneous elections in India.
• Extension of the term of Lok Sabha during the National Emergency declared in 1975 and the dissolution of Assemblies of some States after the 1977 Lok Sabha election further disturbed this cycle.
• Currently, there are at least two rounds of Assembly general elections every year.

Making simultaneous elections a reality

• Sections 14 and 15 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, empower the Election Commission to notify elections any time during the last six months of the term of the House and not earlier than that.
• Therefore, if the terms of the Houses are expiring within a window of three to four months, it would be legally possible to hold elections simultaneously to constitute the new Houses.
• In other words, to contemplate simultaneous elections, we need, as a starting point, a situation where the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of all States and UTs have their terms ending together.

Synchronizing the terms of the Houses

• Both the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies (ordinarily) have a term of five years.
• Article 83 of the Constitution provides for the tenure of Lok Sabha. Identical provisions are present in Article 172(1) regarding the term of the Legislative Assemblies.

There is no duplication of work in preparing the electoral rolls for the two elections and hence no extra labor or expenditure is involved on this count.

What is required?

• This necessarily calls for either extending the terms of several of the Houses or curtailing of terms or a combination of both, that too by two to three years in some cases.
• For enabling such curtailing or extension of the term, the relevant Articles of the Constitution mentioned above will have to be suitably amended.

Why Simultaneous Elections?

Two seemingly relevant factors in favor of simultaneous elections as opposed to separate elections are:

1. Effort saving: Simultaneous elections reduce labour, time and expenditure in the conduct of elections; and
2. Instances of pause in governance are addressed if elections are conducted in one go instead of staggered elections.

[1] How is effort saving possible?

• Electoral roll: Polling stations for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections are the same. So is the electoral roll.
• Labour: There is no duplication of work in preparing the electoral rolls for the two elections and hence no extra labour or expenditure is involved on this count.
• Logistics: In the conduct of elections, all logistic arrangements are replicated for the two elections when the same drill can cater to both the elections if held together.
• Security: This will also mean saving in terms of human resources. Another area of saving in simultaneous elections would be in the deployment of the Central Police Force.

[2] Governance pause can be avoided

• Instances of pause in governance is due to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
• MCC is a set of behavior guidelines for candidates and political parties that comes into operation from the date election is announced by the Election Commission.
• A crucial part of the MCC is the restrictions on the party in power.  If all elections are held together, the restrictions under MCC will be through in one go.

[3] Help reduce campaign expenses

• Simultaneous elections can bring considerable savings in the election propaganda campaign expenditure for the political parties.
• Given that political funding is a major factor in the increasing menace of corruption, the move to reduce campaign expenditure is a welcome initiative.

[4] Voter turnout

• A nationwide election could push up the voter turnout since a once-in-five-years event is bound to attract more enthusiastic participation across all sections.
• Frequent elections can bring in the election-fatigue factor at least among some sections of electors.
• The simultaneous elections help address the fatigue element and the usually observed urban apathy in voting. Better electors’ participation will further add to the credibility of the election.

Exceptions to this debate: Local Bodies’ Elections

• The local bodies’ elections have not been considered for the analysis here.
• This is for the reason that the elections to local bodies cannot be clubbed with the proposed simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha.

Why?

• The elections to local bodies are conducted under the superintendence, direction, and control of a different constitutional authority, namely, the respective State Election Commission.
• Holding local bodies’ elections along with the other elections will require the team of the same polling officials to report to and take instructions from two different authorities simultaneously.
• There is a distinct set of polling stations too for local bodies’ elections.
• Further, the litigation forum before which these elections can be challenged is different.

Challenges in ensuring simultaneous elections in India:

[1] Synchronizing the Houses

• Bringing the terms of all the Houses to sync with one another necessarily calls for either extending the terms of several of the Houses or curtailing of terms or a combination of both.
• This may be by two to three years in some cases.
• For this, relevant Articles of the Constitution will have to be suitably amended.

[2] Midterm dissolution cannot be controlled

• Even if the terms of the Houses are in sync as a one-time measure, we will still need an adequate legal safeguard in place to avoid mid-term dissolution and protect the simultaneous elections cycle.
• This can be a tough task in conventionally fragile states with smaller assemblies with coalitions.

[3] EVM related expenses

• One aspect that could offset the savings would be the doubling of expenses on electronic voting machines (EVMs).
• Considering that the incidental recurring expense in the storage and security of the EVMs will also be a considerable amount.
• The overall expenditure in holding elections may not see any substantial dip on account of simultaneous elections.

Arguments against the idea

• National and state issues are different, and holding simultaneous elections is likely to affect the judgment of voters.
• Since elections will be held once in five years, it will reduce the government’s accountability to the people. Repeated elections keep legislators on their toes and increases accountability.
• When an election in a State is postponed until the synchronized phase, President’s rule will have to be imposed in the interim period in that state.
• This will be a blow to democracy and federalism.

Way forward

• We need an adequate legal safeguarding place to avoid mid-term dissolution and protect the simultaneous elections cycle.
• For maintaining the electoral cycle, some countries have legal provisions to the effect that for a ‘no-confidence motion’.
• Their proposed resolution also contains a constructive ‘vote of confidence in an alternative government to continue with the tenure.

In a major relief to the poor amid the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, PM has announced that the government has extended the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to distribute wheat and rice-free of cost to around 80 crore people till November this year.

Background

• After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year in March, the PMGKAY scheme was launched to support the vulnerable sections of society. It was implemented during April to November 2020.
• In this edition we shall understand more about the scheme and how beneficial will it be for the vulnerable population amid the pandemic.

What is PMGKAY?

• PMGKAY is a food security welfare scheme announced by the GoI in March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
• The program is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• The scale of this welfare scheme makes it the largest food security program in the world.0

Major provisions

• The scheme aims to feed the poorest citizens of India by providing grain through the Public Distribution System, to all the priority households (ration card holders and those identified by the Antyodaya Anna Yojana).
• It provides 5 kg of rice or wheat (according to regional dietary preferences) per person and 1 kg of dal to each family holding a ration card.

Why was such a scheme needed?

The devastation by this pandemic has increased manifold in the second wave resulting into localized restrictions and lockdowns from the States.

• This has resulted in massive jobs losses in urban areas since the largest employers being construction and hospitality sectors have been completely shut down.
• The virus has penetrated deeper in the countryside in rural areas halting almost every sources of livelihood.
• These areas are such where 60% of the income was earned from non-pharm activities. This resulted in livelihood losses of large section of population.

Success of the scheme

• It was the first step by the government when pandemic affected India.
• The scheme reached its targeted population feeding almost 80Cr people.
• It has proven to be more of a safety net to migrant people who had job and livelihood losses.
• This has also ensured nutrition security to children of the migrant workers.

Failures

• The scheme has been affected by widespread corruption, leakages and failure to distribute grain to the intended recipients.
• Several of the states above have claimed that the ineffective distribution has been caused by the beneficiaries, especially migrant workers, not being available to receive their rations.
• Out of the 79.25 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), only 55 crore have so far received their 5 kg.
• However, almost 90% of beneficiaries have received their regular subsidized grain for the month, raising questions over why the free grain has reached fewer beneficiaries.
• Many people were denied their share due to inability to access ration cards.
• Livelihood losses led to decline in aggregate demand and resulted into lowest ever consumption expenditure by the people owing to scarcity of cash.
• This in turn led to selling of the free grains obtained in the local markets for cash.

Way forward: Making it a roaring success

• There should be a all-encompassing database for migrant workers and their family. This should accurately capture the data on migration.
• The One Nation One Ration Card should be implemented in true spirit by all the states.
• Along with food security, there should be a sustainable income support through schemes like MGNREGS accompanied by free vaccines in nearest future.
• The leakages in PDS should be minimized through modernize PDS. To avoid leakages, there should be food-token system.

Conclusion

Implementation has been a historical problem in our country with any of the schemes which is meant particularly for poor.

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Context

• Recently BRICS Foreign Ministers summit was organized.
• During the conclusion, they acknowledged that the current international challenges should be addressed through reinvigorated and reformed multilateral systems.

Multilateralism: The spirit of global governance/cooperation

• In international relations, multilateralism refers to an alliance of multiple countries pursuing a common goal.
• Multilateralism, in the form of membership in international institutions, serves to bind powerful nations, discourage unilateralism and give small powers a voice and influence that they could not otherwise exercise.
• Similarly, multilateralism may allow one great power to influence another great power.
• For a great power to seek control through bilateral ties could be costly; it may require bargaining and compromise with the other great power.

What are Multilateral Organizations?

• These are organizations formed between three or more nations to work on issues that relate to all of the countries in the organization.
• They include the UN, and other institutions such as IMF, World Bank, WTO, and WHO.
• These institutions are the major reflective of a larger power reality in the international structure.

Failure of multilateralism

• Across the system, multilateralism is severely eroding as nations become more inward-focused, directing their attention and strategies towards improving domestic capacities and reducing dependence on foreign imports.
• Protectionist tendencies are on the rise in addition to the pressures of constrained mobility and fear of a reduction in financial resources essential for tackling climate change and achieving SDGs.
• It seems that a tussle between unilateralism and multilateralism is going to shape much of the discourse on international cooperation.

Why are they under question?

• The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the nature of international cooperation and bringing out the inherent fault lines and weaknesses embedded in global institutions to sharp focus.
• The western, or so-called ‘Atlantic system’, comprising of the USA and developed European countries ostensibly considered champions of multilateralism has failed to cope with the pandemic.
• They have failed to provide any meaningful leadership during this unprecedented crisis.

Recent shocks to multilateralism

(1) Trade disputes

• Most state-state disputes are handled by the WTO system, the primary body governing international trade.
• Since last year, we have seen many times WTO panel ruling against India in a trade dispute over its subsidies to exporters under various schemes.
• The US still has veto power over an array of major decisions in the World Bank.

(2) Lack of transparency

• Multilateral organizations were more intergovernmental during their inception. These institutions were undoubtedly western dominated.
• The lack of transparency of the WHO and its handling of the covid pandemic has exposed the limitations of global cooperation.

(3) Losing consensus

• Major institutions are functioning in stagnancy since no new agreement has been reached in decades.
• Be it WTO for its Agreement on Agriculture or the UNFCCC for the climate change negotiations for phasing out fossil fuels.

(4) Rise of regional superpowers

• The rise of China and is strategic might has been a bone of contention for the global community due to its clear defiance of the rule based global community over South China Sea.
• The proxy trade wars between the US and China as well as the India and China are reaching new lows.

(5) Rise of Mini-laterals

• The contemporary global problems are sought to be better solved at the regional rather than the bilateral or global level.
• This has led to the decline in global cooperation over range of issues. For example, RCEP to counterbalance the US dominated Trans-Pacific Partnership.
• These are called issue-based coalitions.

(6) Security challenges

• There is inherent irony over the expansion of the membership global security blocs as such NATO, UNSC etc.
• For example, Africa where most of the UN Peacekeeping forces operate, has no permanent member in the UNSC.
• The UNSC veto powers possessed by permanent members are used as an instrument to shore up their geopolitical interests.

Way forward

• Multilateralism should promote international law, democracy, equity and justice, mutual respect, right to development and non-interference in internal affairs of any country without double standards.

Reforming the multilateral system should encompass the following steps:

• It should make instruments of global governance more inclusive, representative, and participatory to facilitate greater and more meaningful participation of developing and least developed countries.
• It should be based on inclusive consultation and collaboration for the benefit of all, while respecting sovereign independence, equality, mutual legitimate interests and concerns.
• It should strengthen the capacities of individual states and international organizations to better respond to new and emerging, traditional and non-traditional challenges.

Indian approach to multilateralism: NORMS

• NORMS stands for New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System.
• India will work constructively with partners to bring innovative and inclusive solutions to foster development and for greater involvement of women and youth to shape a new paradigm.
• A first and vital step is the reform of the United Nations Security Council. It must reflect contemporary realities to be more effective.

Conclusion

• There is no easy way out for immediate consensus-building among nations over the limitations of these multilateral institutions.
• For this, non-alignment or ad-hoc coalitions could never be the answer.
• Issues-based coalitions are the best answer and Health is the easiest framework to work upon.
• Lastly, there are many mini-laterals that should unite for a global commonality.

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RSTV: The Big Picture : Multilateral Institutions – Need for reforms

Click here to fill the Samanvaya form for 1-1 mentorship. We will call you within 24 hours. (Also provided at the bottom of the article)

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It’s been said, tried and tested multiple times that reading Laxmikant is inevitable for UPSC prep. In Fact we must use this book as the pretext for our preparation for Polity.

We are not going to support or advocate any new source to read Polity. Instead, we are going to tell you the SMARTER way of preparing for Prelims from Laxmikant itself.

Lets see how, read through the Year Wise breakup of questions asked from Polity

Year	Number of questions
2014	11
2015	13
2016	7
2017	19
2018	13
2019	12
2020	17
2021	Any guesses?

 With the evolving numbers and inherent uncertainty above, we need to read between the lines and get an idea of the developing trend and pattern where the importance of Laxmikant cannot be ignored.

On an average UPSC has been asking 15-20 Questions each year from the polity section since 2011.

Most of the questions are being asked from a single source which is M Laxmikanth. Lately, a mix of current affairs-based questions has been introduced with associated static knowledge.

Click here to fill the Samanvaya form for 1-1 mentorship. We will call you within 24 hours. 

How to start reading Laxmikanth?

Never devote equal importance or time to all sections of Laxmikant as that would turn out to be draining you (Mentally and Physically) at the end with no real outcome. With this extra hard work strategy, you may or may not solve all the polity questions in prelims.

The second strategy is the Hard-work + Smart strategy where even though you will read each and every chapter of Laxmikant but you will give special focus to certain important chapters and information which will help you to solve each and every question of polity in UPSC prelims. We call them “Meaty Areas”. And most importantly, always try to learn chapters from Laxmikant with one or two live examples. There are a sufficient number of them around us.

Some general observations about the book

• It has been written in such a way that you do not need to make any notes out of it
• It is one of the best compilation of various useful resources contained in the constitution
• Its language is simple and easy to understand
• It is way more to easy to comprehend than say, a book like Constitution of India by D .D. Basu

Macro-level suggestions on how we should read from Laxmikant book

#1. Start chronologically with Chapter 1 itself.

Remember the Union and its territories, recent LBA with Bangladesh. Go slowly, reading each and every line (each and every line of this book ought to be read)

#2. Prelims examination not only requires conceptual clarity but also the applied part of it.

The conceptual clarity helps to solve the analytical question asked from this section. (Prelims 2017, 2019 & 2020 was heavily loaded with conceptual questions from Polity).

Example:

1) Consider the following statements:

The Constitution of India defines its ‘basic structure’ in terms of federalism, secularism, fundamental rights and democracy.

The Constitution of India provides for ‘judicial review’ to safeguard the citizens’ liberties and to preserve the ideals on which the Constitution is based.

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

2) Consider the following statements:

According to the Constitution of India, a person who is eligible to vote can be made a minister in a State for six months even if he/she is not a member of the Legislature of that State.

According to the Representation of People Act, 1951, a person convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for five years is permanently disqualified from contesting an election even after his release from prison.

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

You might be wondering how this is applicable to the current scenario? These questions appear to be directly coming from Laxmikant and that is even true but unlike earlier, they require a lot of conceptual clarity to answer them. Even seasoned aspirants have ended up marking them incorrectly. The interplay of phrases like “India defines” and “India provides” has made many confused.

According to the earlier trends, it was easy to attempt a maximum number of questions from polity because generally questions from this section were direct and based on factual information. But, now the nature of questions has changed.

Click here to fill the Samanvaya form for 1-1 mentorship. We will call you within 24 hours. 

#3. Along with factual information, one should cover the current political developments.

Link the “Current Affairs” with “Associated Static”. This eases the pressure on the aspirant and also helps build confidence.

Example:

Q.) With reference to the Parliament of India, consider the following statements

1. A private member’s bill is a bill presented by a Member of Parliament who is not elected but only nominated by the President of India.
2. Recently, a private member’s bill has been passed in the Parliament of India for the first time in its history.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

UPSC, nowadays does not ask direct current affairs, it asks about background knowledge of any matter/issue.

Correlating things: the bookish knowledge and the practical happenings- is the real essence of preparing for UPSC civil services exam. Try to locate whatever you learned from Laxmikanth book in the day-to-day happenings, history, hypothetical situations, etc.

You may watch Lok Sabha proceedings and can tally whatever you learned from the book. You might read an article in a newspaper about change in name of a state, and revise the procedure for the same from the book. This will make learning interesting.

#4. Most importantly, analyze previous year’s question papers. See what type of question is asked and how they are asked.

Practicing previous year questions will help you to find out the areas where you commit mistakes.

Micro-level suggestions on how you should read the book

Section one: Historical background

What is most important here?

Committees of the Constituent Assembly

What is moderately important?

Composition of the Constituent Assembly

Rest can be ignored or given a mild read.

Section two: Fundamental Rights, Duties, DPSP, Preamble (Very very important)

General Comments

UPSC asks 5-6 Questions every year from this section. In UPSC 2020 most of the polity Questions were asked from this section. You have to read this section multiple times.

Specific Suggestions

• Salient features of the Indian Constitution (Moderately important. The topics mentioned in this chapters are covered extensively in later chapters)
• Preamble to the Constitution (Very very important) UPSC simply loves Preamble. It has asked questions on the preamble in 2015 and this year also. Read carefully about different words mentioned in the preamble (example fraternity) and what do they exactly mean.
• Union and its territory (Moderately important). Aspirants should be aware of the process through which states are created and also they should be aware of the sequence of new states creation).
• Fundamental rights, DPSP and Fundamental duties (Very very important) FR, FD, DPSP etc are difficult as they have laws and bylaws.
• Some are explicit while others are implicit. It is thus important to get the concept and soul of them. UPSC won’t ask petty details or facts. It will exploit the conceptual part.
• You should be able to connect dots with recent happenings. For example, in 2017 UPSC asked a question related to privileges after use of red beacons was abolished by the government for ministers/officers.
• Amendment of the constitution (Read carefully about different types of majorities and which majority is used in which case for example in which cases two-third majority is required and in which cases simple majority is required.)
• Read very carefully about basic terms of polity like Cabinet form of Government, Judicial review, President System, Prime Minister System, Federalism, First past the post system, Proportional representation, rights and duties etc.

In the last few years UPSC has been asking lots of questions to test the conceptual clarity of the aspirant.

Section three: Similar topics

Union and state Executive / Centre and State Relations

Given the nature of evolving polity in India and ever powerful state govts, the conceptual clarity with respect to the Centre and State relations and constitutional bodies / protocols have ( PM Modi rebuking CM Kejriwal for airing the live meeting).

Almost 90%  of powers and functions of President and Governor are the same. With respect to Delhi the introduction of the recent GNCT Act, with more power to the office of Lt Governor of Delhi is another aspect of development, important for both Prelims and Mains.

If you cover topics which are similar like President and governor, Prime Minister and Chief Minister, Parliament and state legislature, supreme court and high court together it will save your time and will be easy to memorize and link them. Smart work!

How President and Vice President are elected and removed

Read very carefully the Comparison table of powers of Governor and President mentioned in the Governor Chapter in Laxmikanth.

Always read trivial information very carefully, you can also make notes of the titbits information mentioned in any chapter since UPSC loves to ask trivia based questions, for example, the President can pardon a death convict, however, the Governor cannot.

Parliament and state legislature

Every year 1-3 questions are asked from it in prelims.

 What is most important in this chapter?

• Read both chapters simultaneously. Look for differences between the powers of parliament and state legislature example privilege power of parliament is much wider than state legislature. (Very important)
• Different committees and its composition and various kinds of motions and resolutions.
• Different types of bills
• Different types of discussions
• Powers of speakers,deputy speakers,Chairman and Vice Chairman.
• Comparison between powers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and Rajya Sabha and legislative council.
• Budget.

Supreme court and High court

What is most important here?

• Comparison between writ powers of High court and Supreme court. Master of Roaster, Conflict of interest, Corona crisis, you name it and Courts are into it. Especially use of art 142 by SC also needs to be inspected carefully.
• Appointment and removal process of SC and HC judges(There is some trivial differences in that process)
• Original powers of SC and HC

Section 4:  Constitutional/statutory and Executive bodies

What should you read very carefully?

• Whether the body is constitutional, statutory or executive. Example SC/ST commission is constitutional body but backward commission and women commission are Statutory Bodies.
• Who appoints the chairman and member of the commission and how they are removed.
• Focus on trivial issues
• Usually, except for appointment and removal, most of the functions and details of Central commissions and state commissions are similar.

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 Section 5: Special status of different states and union territories

What should you read very carefully?

• Read carefully the role of Governor and president in these states as already emphasised.
• Read carefully the powers of L.G. and president in union territories. President has some extraordinary power in some union territories.

Section 6: Local Bodies

These third tier of Govts are not considered the most important pillars of basic governance and their empowerment is must going forward. Aspirants need to devote a decent amount of time understanding the constitutional mandates and powers of Panchayati raj and Municipality.

14th and 15th Finance Commissions and their views of local governance and their development needs a mention here. There are now direct allocations to local bodies from Consolidated fund of India suggested by these Finance Commissions.

Read carefully different committees of Panchayati raj.

Regarding powers and functions of local bodies read carefully about which clause is mandatory (mandated by 73rd and 74th amendment) and which is optional (depends on whims and fancies of state government).

Example SC/ST reservation in local bodies is mentioned in 73rd and 74th amendment but OBC reservation is optional.

Section 7: Miscellaneous items

This will include remaining topics:

• In this most important chapters are anti-defection law, the official language, political parties and elections.
• The anti-defection chapter closely read about differences in the 52nd amendment and 85th amendment (it is bit tricky).
• In the political party chapter extensively read about criteria for granting any political party national or regional status.

Rest of the chapters should be read but they are not very important from an exam perspective.

 

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