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  • [Burning Issue] Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) Quota

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    The Union government has approved reservations for the OBC and EWS (Economically Weaker Section) categories within the All India Quota (AIQ) for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), the uniform entrance examination for medical and dental colleges across the country.

    What is NEET?

    • The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is the entrance examination for entry to all undergraduate (NEET-UG) and postgraduate (NEET-PG) medical and dental courses in the country.
    • On April 13, 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the newly inserted section 10-D of the Indian Medical Council Act.
    • This provided for a uniform entrance examination to all medical educational institutions at the undergraduate level and postgraduate level in Hindi, English and various other languages.

    What is the All-India Quota?

    • Although the same examination is held across the country, a chunk of the seats in state medical/dental colleges is reserved for students domiciled in their respective states.
    • The remaining seats —15% in UG and 50% in PG — are surrendered by the states to the All India Quota.
    • The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 under the directions of the Supreme Court to provide for domicile-free, merit-based opportunities to students from any state to study in a good medical college in any other state.
    • In deemed/central universities, ESIC, and Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), 100% seats are reserved under the AIQ.

    What was the reservation policy followed so far?

    • Until 2007, no reservation was implemented within the All-India Quota for medical admission.
    • On January 31, 2007, in Abhay Nath v University of Delhi and Others, the Supreme Court directed that reservation of 15% for Scheduled Castes and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes be introduced in the AIQ.
    • The same year, the government passed the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2007 providing for 27% reservation to OBC students in central government institutions.
    • While state government medical and dental colleges provide reservations to OBCs in seats outside the All India Quota, this benefit was so far not extended to seats allocated under the AIQ in these state colleges.
    • The 10% EWS quota under the Constitution (One Hundred And Third Amendment) Act, 2019, too, has been implemented in central educational institutions, but not in the NEET AIQ for state institutions.

    What led to the decision?

    • The denial of OBC and EWS reservations has been the subject of protests for years.
    • In July last year, the Madras High Court ruled that OBC students too can avail reservation in the AIQ.
    • It held that the reservation could not be implemented for the then academic year for want of time, and can be implemented from 2021-22.

    Let us look at the EWS quota and related information in detail.

    EWS Quota: A Backgrounder

    • The 10% reservation was introduced through the 103rd Constitution Amendment and enforced in January 2019.
    • It added Clause (6) to Article 15 to empower the Government to introduce special provisions for the EWS among citizens except those in the classes that already enjoy reservation.
    • It allows reservation in educational institutions, both public and private, whether aided or unaided, excluding those run by minority institutions, up to a maximum of 10%.
    • It also added Clause (6) to Article 16 to facilitate reservation in employment.
    • The new clauses make it clear that the EWS reservation will be in addition to the existing reservation.

    Inception of EWS Quota

    • EWS reservation was granted based on the recommendations of a commission headed by Major General (retd) S R Sinho.
    • The Commission for Economically Backward Classes was constituted by the then UPA government in 2005, and submitted its report in July 2010.
    • Based on this, the Cabinet in January 2019 decided to amend the Constitution (103rd Amendment) to provide reservation to EWS.

    Why was the new committee constituted?

    • The committee aimed to revisit the criteria for determining the economically weaker sections in terms of the provisions of the explanation to Article 15 of the Constitution.
    • It followed the Supreme Court’s observation that the income criterion for determining EWS was “arbitrary”.

    Significance of the quota

    • Empowering economically weaker sections: The 10% quota is progressive and could address the issues of educational and income inequality in India since the economically weaker sections of citizens have remained excluded from attending higher educational institutions and public employment due to their financial incapacity.
    • Constitutional recognition of the Economic Backwards: There are many people or classes other than backward classes who are living under hunger and poverty-stricken conditions.
      • The proposed reservation through a constitutional amendment would give constitutional recognition to the poor from the upper castes.
    • Reduction of Caste Based Discrimination: It will gradually remove the stigma associated with reservation because reservation has historically been related with caste and most often the upper caste look down upon those who come through the reservation.
    • In Ram Singh v. Union of India (2015), SC asserted that social deficiencies may exist beyond the concept of caste (e.g. economic status/gender identity as in transgenders).

    What are the criteria to identify the section?

    • The main criterion is that those above an annual income limit of ₹8 lakh are excluded.
    • It accounts income from all sources such as salary, business, agriculture and profession for the financial year prior to the application of the family, applicants, their parents, siblings and minor children.
    • Possession of any of these assets, too, can take a person outside the EWS pool:
      1. Five or more acres of agricultural land
      2. A residential flat of 1,000 sq.ft. and above
      3. A residential plot of 100 square yards and above in notified municipalities, and
      4. A residential plot of 200 square yards and above in other areas

    What are the court’s questions about the criteria?

    • Reduction within general category: The EWS quota remains a controversy as its critics say it reduces the size of the open category, besides breaching the 50% limit on the total reservation.
    • Arbitrariness over income limit: The court has been intrigued by the income limit being fixed at ₹8 lakh per year. It is the same figure for excluding the ‘creamy layer’ from OBC reservation benefits.
    • Socio-economic backwardness: A crucial difference is that those in the general category, to whom the EWS quota is applicable, do not suffer from social or educational backwardness, unlike those classified as the OBC.
    • Metropolitan criteria: There are other questions as to whether any exercise was undertaken to derive the exceptions such as why the flat criterion does not differentiate between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.
    • OBC like criteria: The question the court has raised is that when the OBC category is socially and educationally backward and, therefore, has additional impediments to overcome.
    • Not based on relevant data: In line with the Supreme Court’s known position that any reservation or norms for exclusion should be based on relevant data.
    • Breaches reservation cap: There is a cap of 50% on reservation as ruled in the Indira Sawhney Case. The principle of balancing equality ordains reservation.

    What is the current status of the EWS quota?

    • The reservation for the EWS is being implemented by the Union Government for the second year now.
    • Recruitment test results show that the category has a lower cut-off mark than the OBC, a point that has upset the traditional beneficiaries of reservation based on caste.
    • The explanation is that only a small number of people are currently applying under the EWS category — one has to get an income certificate from the revenue authorities — and therefore the cut-off is low.
    • However, when the number picks up over time, the cut-off marks are expected to rise.

    Practical issues with EWS Quota

    The EWS quota will come in for judicial scrutiny soon. But it’s not only a matter for the judiciary, India’s Parliament should revisit the law too.

    • Hasty legislation: This law was passed in haste. It was passed in both the houses within 48 hours, and got presidential approval the next day.
    • Minority appeasement: It is widely argued that the law was passed to appease a certain section of upper-caste society and to suppress the demands for minority reservations.
    • Morality put to question: Imagine! A constitutional amendment has been made with few hours of deliberation and without consultation of the targeted group. This is certainly against constitutional morality and propriety.
    • Substantial backing is missing: This amendment is based on a wrong or unverified premise. This is at best a wild guess or a supposition because the government has not produced any data to back this point.
    • Under-reservation of Backward Classes: The assertion is based on the fact that we have different data to prove the under-representation of SC, ST, OBCs. That implies that ‘upper’ castes are over-represented (with 100 minus reservation).
    • Rationale of 10%: There is one more problem in this regard. The SC and ST quota is based on their total population. But the rationale for the 10 per cent quota was never discussed.
    • Principle of Equality: Economic backwardness is quite a fluid identity. It has nothing to do with historic wrongdoings and liabilities caused to the Backward Classes.

    Should India need reservation?

    • Duty of the state to provide equality of status and opportunity: Reservation is one of the tools against social oppression and injustice against certain classes. Otherwise known as affirmative action, reservation helps in uplifting backward classes.
    • Reservation is just one of the methods for social upliftment: There are many other methods like providing scholarships, funds, coachings, and other welfare schemes.
    • Vote bank politics: Indian Constitution allowed reservation only for socially and educationally backward classes. However, in India, it became caste-based reservation instead of class-based reservation.
    • Mandal Commission Report: Initially, the reservation was intended only for SC/ST communities – that too for a period of 10 years (1951-1961). However, it got extended ever since.
      • After the implementation of Mandal Commission report in 1990, the scope of the reservation was widened to include Other Backward Communities (OBCs).
    • The benefits of the reservation were successively enjoyed only by a few communities (or families), excluding the truly deserving ones. Even 70 years after independence, the demand for reservation has only increased.
      • Now, with the introduction of economic criteria for reservation, in addition to the caste-criteria which already existed, things have become more complicated.

    Way forward

    • Preserving the merit: We cannot rule out the sorry state of economic backwardness hampering merit in our country.
    • Rational critera: There has to be collective wisdom to define and measure the economic weakness of certain sections of the society in order to shape the concept of economic justice.
    • Judicial guidance: Judicial interpretation will pave the wave forward for deciding the criterion for EWS Quota.
    • Targetted beneficiaries. The centre needs to resort to more rational criteria for deciding the targeted beneficiary of this reservation system. Caste Census data can be useful in this regard.
    • Income study: The per capita income or GDP or the difference in purchasing power in the rural and urban areas, should be taken into account while a single income limit was formulated for the whole country.

    Conclusion

    • Reservation is a constitutional scheme to ensure the participation of backward classes shoulder to shoulder with all citizens in the nation-building process.
    • The EWS quota with above discussed ambiguities is the subversion of the constitutional scheme for reservation.

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  • Extinguishing the tobacco industry’s main narrative

    Context

    There is no doubt that tobacco use is highly detrimental to public health. We have to find the ways and the means to reduce the demand for tobacco among existing as well as aspiring users.

    Impact of tobacco

    • Tobacco is a product that kills more than 13 lakh Indians every year.
    • Annual burden: The annual economic burden from tobacco use is estimated to be ₹177,340 crore which is more than 1% of India’s GDP.
    • About 27 crore people above the age of 15 years and 8.5% of school-going children in the age group 13-15 years use tobacco in some form in India.

    Are price and tax measures effective against tobacco use?

    • When tobacco products become more expensive, people either quit using them or use them less, and it incentivises many to not initiate the habit.
    • Because it hurts both revenue and profits, the tobacco industry, globally, is always devising tactics and narratives that will pre-empt any kind of tax increases on tobacco products.
    • The narrative of “increasing illicit trade” is something the tobacco industry has historically used to pre-empt potential tax increases on tobacco products in most countries around the world.
    • The story is no different in India.
    • In a recent report by the Tobacco Institute of India, it was said that the illicit cigarette volume in India has grown by 44% from 2011 to 2019 while adding that high and increasing tax rates provide a profitable opportunity for tax evasion and encourage growth in illegal trade.
    • A study published in 2018 which used a survey of empty cigarette packs collected from retail outlets across different cities in India estimated that illicit cigarettes constitute 2.7% of the market.
    • The second study published in 2020 used tax-gap analysis to estimate that the percentage of illicit cigarettes was 5.1% in 2009-10 and 6.6% in 2016-17.

    Are taxes and prices key determinants of illicit trade?

    • It is to be noted that taxes and prices are not the key determinants of illicit trade.
    • There is sufficient evidence in the literature on illicit trade in cigarettes that shows tax increases only have a minimal impact, if at all, on illicit trade.
    • There are several countries where tobacco taxes are quite high and yet have low levels of illicit trade, while there are also countries with high levels of illicit trade despite having relatively low tax rates.
    • Several factors such as the quality of tax administration, the strength of the regulatory framework, government commitment to control illicit trade, the strength of governance, social acceptance, and the presence of informal distribution networks are known to play a larger role in determining the scale and the extent of an illicit market.

    Way forward

    • WHO protocol: Eliminating all forms of illicit trade in tobacco products through a package of measures is one of the major objectives of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products under the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
    • The Protocol provides the tools and the measures to eliminate or minimise illicit trade which includes strong governance, establishing an international track and trace system, and securing supply chains.
    • India has already ratified the World Health Organization Protocol and it should now show leadership in implementing these measures to effectively address even the relatively lower levels of illicit trade.

    Conclusion

    There is no scientific or public health rationale not to increase tax on tobacco products for unfounded fear of increasing illicit trade.

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  • CSTO troops deployed in Kazakhstan

    A Moscow-led military alliance called Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) dispatched troops to help quell mounting unrest in Kazakhstan.

    Ongoing situation in Kazakhstan

    • Long seen as one the most stable of the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, energy-rich Kazakhstan is facing its biggest crisis.
    • There are ongoing protests over rising fuel prices escalated into widespread unrest.
    • The nationwide protests are also signifying a wider, region-wide longing for political change.
    • Under increasing pressure, Kazakh President appealed to the Russia for CSTO army to be deployed in Kazakhstan.

    Concerns over CTSO troop’s deployment

    • It is argued that domestic turmoil could be utilized by Russian nationalists for asserting their claims in Northern Kazakhstan.

    What is CSTO?

    • The CSTO is a Russia-led military alliance of seven former Soviet states that was created in 2002.
    • Current CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Tajikistan.
    • Afghanistan and Serbia hold observer status in the CSTO.
    • Its purpose is to ensure the collective defence of any member that faces external aggression.

    Outlined functions of CSTO

    • Version of NATO: It has been described by political scientists as the Eurasian counterpart of NATO, which has 29 member states, while the CSTO has just six.
    • Arms trade and mutual defense: CSTO supports arms sales and manufacturing as well as military training and exercises, making the CSTO the most important multilateral defence organization in the former Soviet Union.
    • Non- proliferation of weapons:  CSTO also coordinates efforts in fighting the illegal circulation of weapons among member states and has developed law enforcement training for its members in pursuit of these aims.

    What does CSTO membership provide?

    • Barring relations with NATO: While CSTO membership means that member states are barred from joining other military alliances, limiting, for example, their relationship with NATO.
    • Benefits in arms import from Russia: Its members receive discounts, subsidies, and other incentives to buy Russian arms, facilitating military cooperation.
    • Assurance against military conquest: In the CSTO, aggression against one signatory is perceived as aggression against all. It however remains unclear whether this feature works in practice.

     

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  • What are Scheduled Banks?

    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that Airtel Payments Bank Ltd. has been categorized as a Scheduled Bank.

    Why such a move?

    • With this, the bank can now pitch for government-issued Requests for Proposals (RFP) and primary auctions.
    • It can undertake both Central and State Government businesses participating in government-operated welfare schemes.

    What are Scheduled Banks?

    • Scheduled Banks refer to those banks which have been included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
    • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in turn includes only those banks in this Schedule which satisfy the criteria laid down vide section 42(6)(a) of the said Act.
    • Every Scheduled bank enjoys two types of principal facilities: it becomes eligible for debts/loans at the bank rate from the RBI; and, it automatically acquires the membership of clearing house.
    • Banks not under this Schedule are called Non-Scheduled Banks

    Types of Scheduled Banks

    There are two main categories of commercial banks in India namely:

    1. Scheduled Commercial banks
    2. Scheduled Co-operative banks

    Scheduled commercial Banks are further divided into 5 types as below:

    1. Nationalised Banks
    2. Development Banks
    3. Regional Rural Banks
    4. Foreign Banks
    5. Private sector Banks

    Payment bank (currently four banks Airtel Payments Bank, Fino Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank, Paytm Payments Bank have been granted Scheduled bank status).

    Scheduled Co-operative banks are further divided into 2 types namely:

    1. Scheduled State Co-operative banks
    2. Scheduled Urban Co-operative banks

     

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  • India’s first open Rock Museum in Hyderabad

    The Ministry of Science & Technology has inaugurated India’s first open rock museum displaying different types of rocks gathered from different States of ages ranging from 3.3 billion years to around 55 million years.

    Rock System in India

    Based on this complex and varied geological history, the Geological Survey of India has classified rock systems of the country into 4 major divisions:

    1. Archaean Rock System
    2. Dravidian Rock System
    3. Purana Rock System
    4. Aryan Rock System

    [I] Archaean Rock System:

    The Archaean group of rocks consists of two systems-(a) Achaean granites and gneisses, and (b) Dharwarian sedimentary:

    Archaean Gneisses and Schists (pre-2500 million years)

    • The Archean System contains the first formed rocks of the earth.
    • The rocks are primarily gneisses and granites, having no marks of fossils.
    • They often underlie the strata formed subsequently and the system is generally known as the basement complex or fundamental gneisses.
    • The Archaean rocks cover two-thirds of peninsular India. They also occur in the roots of the mountain peaks all along the Greater Himalayas, trans-Himalayan ranges of Zaskar, Ladakh and Karakoram.

    Dharwar System (2500-1800 million years ago)

    • The weathering of the Archaean rocks yielded the earliest sediments and formed the oldest sedimentary strata, the Dharwar system.
    • These are found today in metamorphic forms and do not contain fossils.
    • These rocks occur in scattered patches in parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, central and eastern parts of Chotanagpur plateau, Meghalaya plateau, Aravalis, Himalayan region etc

    Mineral contents:

    • They contain gneisses (which range from granite to gabbro) and schists (crystalline rocks such as mica, talc etc.).
    • These rocks have metallic and non-metallic minerals like copper, tin, graphite, lead, zinc, etc.

    [II] Dravidian Rock System:

    • This is also known as carboniferous rock system and formed during the Paleozoic era, i.e., from 600- 300 million years ago.
    • They are not much abundant in India.
    • They have plentiful fossils and beginning of coal formation can be seen in this period. The quality of carboniferous coal is high.
    • They are found in extra- Peninsular regions of the Himalayas and the Gangetic plains.

    Mineral content

    • This type of rock system comprises of limestones, shale and quartzite and Mount Everest is formed of upper Carboniferous limestones.
    • Most of the coal is not of the Carboniferous period, which is found in India.
    • The meaning of Carboniferous in geology is coal-bearing.

    [III] Purana Rock System:

    The Purana rock system has two divisions: Cuddapah system and Vindhyan system. The word ‘Purana’ was used in place of a Proterozoic era in India.

    Cuddapah Rock system:

    • They are observed in Cuddapah districts of Andhra Pradesh.
    • The non-fossiliferous clay, slates, sandstones and limestones were accumulated in the depression between two-fold mountains which is known as synclinal basins.
    • They also have a large accumulation of building purpose cement grade limestones and quartzites.
    • This type of rock contains ore of iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese etc.

    Vindhya Rock System:

    • This type of rock system is also ancient or old sedimentary rocks which are superimposed on the Archaean rock base and derived its name from Vindhya mountains.
    • The recognition of fossils is negligible, only traces of few animal and plant life were found.
    • This rock system has diamond-bearing regions from which Golconda and Panna diamond mined.

    [IV] Aryan Rock System

    The Aryan rock system in India has the following four subsystems:

    1. Gondwana rock system
    2. Jurassic Rock System
    3. Cretaceous system/ Deccan Trap
    4. Tertiary rock system

    (1) Gondwana Rock System:

    • These are found mainly in Raniganj, Jharia regions of Jharkhand, Damodar valley, Pench valley in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
    • They are called so after the name of Gondwana tribe (indigenous people especially residing in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh region).
    • In this type of rock system, you found metallic minerals like iron, manganese, uranium etc. other than coal.
    • They have low carbon content as it is much younger than Carboniferous coal. These rocks have nearly 98% of India’s coal reserve.

    (2) Jurassic Rock System

    • During the latter part of Jurrasic when sea level rises as compared to land and shoreline moves towards ground or land which result in a flood. In geology, this phenomenon is called marine transgression.
    • This gives rise to a thick series of shallow-water deposits kin Rajasthan and Kutch. Between the Guntur and Rajamundry, another transgression in the east coast of Peninsula.
    • In Kuchchh, coral limestone, shales and conglomerates are found.

    (3) Deccan traps

    • These are formed by the flow of magma over the solidified rock system in layers.
    • Deccan trap gets rise due to volcanic outburst over a major area of Peninsular India from the end of Cretaceous till the beginning of Eocene.
    • The meaning of trap is “stair” or “step” in Swedish and called due to deposition of the volcanic outburst which has a flat top and steep sides.
    • It is mainly found in parts of Kuchchh, Saurashtra, Maharashtra, the Malwa plateau and Northern Karnataka and presently cover near 5 lakh sq. Km.
    • Regur, which is black soil, is formed due to the weathering of these rocks for a long time.

    (4) Tertiary rock system

    • The formation of this type of rock system occurs from 60 to 7 million years ago.
    • It is the most noteworthy period in India’s geological history as the Himalayas were born and recent form came in this period.

    Also read:

    The Geological Structure of India

     

     

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  • [Yojana Archive] GI Tagging of Rural Products

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    Background

    • India realized the need to protect its indigenous, unique, and reputed products through GI when an American company was given a patent of Basmati rice, and India had to resort to an expensive procedure of challenging the patent in the US court of law.
    • This necessitated India to enact the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 in 2003 to give protection for GI through sui generis legislation.
    • To facilitate this process, the Geographical Indications Registry of India was set up in Chennai.
    • Darjeeling tea was the first Indian product that was awarded the GI tag in 2004 for its naturally occurring quality, flavor, and market potential.

    Arriving at GI framework

    • The present international framework on the Geographical Indications (GIs) derives its strength from Article 22 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
    • It defines GIs as ‘indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristics of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin’.
    • GI are also covered as an element of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) under Articles 1(2) and 10 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

    What is Geographical Indication (GI)?

    • GI is not a property right given to an individual to use it, rather it is attributed to goods or services specific to a region which allows every producer in the specified region to use the said GI.
    • It is applicable as long as the quality of the GI goods is similar to the specified qualities of the identified product of the said region.
    • This mandates member countries to provide for the protection of all GIs, where the obligation is for the members to provide the’ legal means for interested parties’, to secure protection of their GIs.

    Need for GI

    In general, GIs backed up by solid business management can bring competitive advantage by:

    • More added value to a product
    • Increased export opportunities
    • Strengthened brand of produce
    • Protect Indian products
    • Better price and branding
    • Recognition of uniqueness

    Initiatives taken by India

    In a bid to popularize India’s GI-tagged products and works of artisans, the government is aiming to market the products in international markets.

    • GI Logo and taglines: While launching the new logo for the GI products, a new tagline for promotion ‘Invaluable Treasure of Incredible India’ has been selected.
    • Marketing: The Ministry of Commerce is working with the Ministry of Civil Aviation as well as the Ministry of Railway to arrange a display for GI-tagged products.
    • Dedicated GI stores: India’s very first GI Store of Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI) was launched in 2019, at the departure terminal of Goa.
    • Export promotion: India’s Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2021-2026, which targets to achieve the exports value to USD 1.0 trillion by 2025, has recognized GI-tagged Agri commodities as one of the growth drivers.
    • Various exemptions: Another small but important step to boost indigenous toys production to support artisans and MSMEs is the government adopting Toys (Quality Control) Second Amendment Order, 2020 which exempts goods manufactured and sold by artisans and those registered as GI from Quality Control Orders.
    • Buyer-Seller Meets: Many agencies as well as the State governments are now frequently organizing Buyer-Seller Meet with a specific focus on GI-tagged products.

    Way forward

    • Awareness: There is a need to prepare a strategy to raise awareness about various GI products, and the difference between GI and non-GI products amongst local farmers, consumers, and other relevant stakeholders.
    • Promotions through policy input: The Central Government needs to come out with some long-term policy to provide Indian GI products an assured domestic as well as international market.
    • FPOs promotion: The Central Sector Scheme of promotion and nurturing of 10,000 Agri-based Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs), is being implemented through three national agencies, NABARD, SFAC, and NCDC, and a few other agencies.
    • Cluster approach: Ex. One District One Product (ODOP) has been adopted to increase value addition, marketing, and exports which will benefit small, marginal, and landless farmers by giving access to technological inputs, finances, and better markets and prices for their crops.
    • Necessary infrastructure: The government needs to make efforts for creating required infrastructures such as customs clearance facilities, laboratory testing facilities, pack-houses, and pre-cooling facilities, which would harness and boost the exports potential of GI products.

    Conclusion

    • Despite GI tagging, the commercial performance of many GI products is not up to the mark, even in the domestic market.
    • Therefore, the govt may identify such product-place clusters and evaluate them commercially to develop them in their entirety.
    • Setting up an incubation centre for helping users/farmers/entrepreneurs for obtaining GI and traceability solutions of their produce may help GI products to grow.

    Click here to read all GI tags in news:

    GI(Geographical Indicator) Tags

  • How to control cyber crime against women

    Context

    The open-source app, Bulli Bai, hosted on the web platform GitHub for “auctioning Muslim women” has laid bare the harassment women face online.

    Cybercrimes against women

    • As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) there were around 825 million internet users in India at the end of March 2021.
    • The minuscule amount of rogue elements among these internet users have the lethal capability to create havoc in the nation, its polity, economy and the personal and professional lives of citizens.
    • Reluctance to file case: Many times, police officers are approached by anxious parents, days before marriage, seeking help about fake profiles or morphed photographs of their daughters on the internet.
    • A formal police case is thus never lodged.
    • The stark reality is that cyber blackmailing, stalking and bullying is a humongous issue, causing a lot of stress to women and their families.
    •  NCRB statistics show that total cyber crimes in India during 2020 were 50,035, and those specifically against women were only 10,405.

    Steps need to be taken

    • Promt reporting and registration: To find out the true magnitude of cyber crime, prompt reporting and registration are the only options.
    • International cooperation through treaties: There are many international gangs which successfully avoid detection as “servers” used by them are located outside India.
    • International cooperation through formal treaties and informal channels has to be pursued.
    • CERT-IN has been doing commendable work in this regard.
    • Registering a criminal case is the first crucial step as it sets the law into motion, leading to tracing, arresting and prosecuting the rogues even if they are located outside the country.
    • Increase awareness:  There is need to increase awareness about cyber safety and security so that youth, especially young girls and women, take proper precautions while surfing the virtual world.
    • Better policing: As for the police, we do need better infrastructure, more special cyber cells and police stations, regular training, and collaboration with cyber experts on a continuous basis.
    • Strengthening the capability of forensic laboratories can lead to timely collection of evidence of cyber bullying, threatening, morphing and profiling.
    • Many state labs do not have sufficient numbers of cyber experts to seize, preserve and store images of digital evidence essential for securing conviction in courts.
    • The central government has given funds to states and Union territories under the Cyber Crime Prevention Against Women and Children (CCPWC) scheme to start “cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories”.
    • Fast trial: Fast trial of cyber crimes would indeed help. As per the NCRB, during 2020, court trials were completed in only nine cases of cyber blackmailing and threatening with a 66.7 per cent conviction rate — 393 such cases are pending in courts.
    • Systematic training of prosecutors and judicial officers in dealing with cyber crimes would definitely speed up trials.

    Conclusion

    Prompt reporting of cyber crime by citizens, technically proficient investigation by police adequately supported by forensics, and time-bound completion of court trials are essential for catching cyber offenders who are terrorising people, especially women, in the virtual as well as the real world.

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  • Significance of Delhi government’s recognition to fifth Sikh Takht

    The Delhi Assembly has passed an amendment Bill to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1971, recognizing Takht Damdama Sahib as the fifth Takht of Sikhs.

    What is a Sikh Takht?

    • A Takht, which means a throne, is a seat of temporal authority for Sikhs.
    • There are five Sikh Takhts, three in Punjab and one each in Maharashtra and Bihar.

    (1) Akal Takht

    • Located in Amritsar, it is the oldest of the Takhts, and considered supreme among the five.
    • It was set up in 1606 by Guru Hargobind, whose succession as the sixth Guru after the execution of his father, Guru Arjan Dev, is considered a turning point in Sikh history.
    • The Akal Takht, a raised platform that he built in front of the causeway leading to the sanctum sanctorum of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple).
    • It symbolised the coming together of the temporal authority and the political sovereignty of the Sikh community (miri) with the spiritual authority (piri).
    • It is seen as the first marker of Sikh nationalism.

    The other four Takhts are linked to Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru.

    (2) Takht Keshgarh Sahib

    • Located in Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. It was here that Guru Gobind Singh raised Khalsa, the initiated Sikh warriors, in 1699.

    (3) Takht Patna Sahib

    • Guru Gobind Singh was born here in 1666.

    (4) Takht Hazur Sahib

    • In Nanded, where Guru Gobin Singh spent time and where he was cremated in 1708.

    (5) Takht Damdama Sahib

    • In Talwandi Sabo of Bathinda. Guru Gobind Singh spent several months here.

    What does the amendment to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act mean?

    • Simply put, it adds one more ex officio member in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managament Committee (DSGMC) house.
    • Earlier, there were four ex officio members in the house — the chiefs (jathedars) of the other four Sikh Takhts.

    Is it the first time it has been recognised as the fifth Takht?

    • It was back in 1999 that Takht Damdama Sahib was recognised as the fifth Sikh Takht by the Union Home Ministry.
    • It included it as such in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 (Punjab Act VIII of 1925) with a notification dated April 23, 1999.
    • Before that, an SGPC sub-committee had declared it the fifth Takht of Sikhs back in November 1966 after Punjab was carved out as a separate state through the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.

    How politically significant is the move?

    • It comes ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, where the, Delhi’s ruling party, has high stakes.

    What is the role of the Sikh Takhts?

    • The Takhts are known to issue hukumnamas (morality orders) from time to time on issues that concern the Sikh community.
    • Akal Takht is supreme among them because it is the oldest and was created by a Sikh Guru himself, say Sikh scholars.
    • Any edict or order concerning the entire community is issued only from Akal Takht.
    • It is from Akal Takht that Sikhs found to be violating the Sikh doctrine and code of conduct are awarded religious punishment (declared tankhaiya).

    Who appoints the jathedars of the Takhts?

    • The three Takhts in Punjab are directly controlled by the SGPC, which appoints the jathedars.
    • The SGPC is dominated by SAD members.
    • It is widely understood that SAD puts the final seal on the appointment of these three jathedars.
    • The two Takhts outside Punjab have their own trusts and boards.

     

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  • China’s bridge over Pangong Tso

    China is building a bridge across the Pangong Tso area connecting the North and South Banks which will significantly reduce the time for moving troops and equipment between the two sides.

    About Pangong Tso

    • Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake is an endorheic lake in the Himalayas situated at a height of about 4,350 m.
    • It is 134 km long and extends from India to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China.
    • Approximately 60% of the length of the lake lies within the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
    • The lake is 5 km wide at its broadest point. All together it covers 604 sq.km.
    • During winter the lake freezes completely, despite being saline water.
    • It is not a part of the Indus river basin area and is geographically a separate landlocked river basin.
    • Earlier, Pangong Tso had an outlet to Shyok River, a tributary of Indus River, but it was closed off due to natural damming.

    Tactical significance of the lake

    • It lies in the path of the Chushul approach, one of the main approaches that China can use for an offensive into Indian Territory.
    • During the 1962 war, this was where China launched its main offensive — the Indian Army fought heroically at Rezang La under Maj. Shaitan Singh.
    • Not far away, to the north of the lake, is the Army’s Dhan Singh Thapa post, named after Major Dhan Singh Thapa who was awarded the country’s highest gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra.
    • Major Thapa and his platoon were manning the Sirijap-1 outpost which was essential for the defense of the Chushul airfield.

    Connectivity in the region

    • Over the years, the Chinese have built motorable roads along their banks of the Pangong Tso. This points to the importance accorded by the Chinese to the area.
    • Even during peacetime, the difference in perception over where the LAC lies on the northern bank of the lake makes this contested terrain.
    • In 1999, when the Army unit from the area was moved to Kargil for Operation Vijay, China took the opportunity to build 5 km of a road inside the Indian Territory along the lake’s bank.
    • From one of these roads, Chinese positions physically overlook Indian positions on the northern tip of the Pangong Tso Lake.

    What is the importance of the bridge over Pangong Tso?

    • The bridge over Pangong Tso is located around 25 kms ahead of the LAC in Chinese territory and will significantly reduce the time for movement of Chinese army.
    • The Indian Army gained tactical advantage over the PLA on the south bank in end August 2020 by occupying several peaks lying vacant since 1962 gaining a dominating view.
    • This has prompted China to build deep alternate roads behind the friction points away from the line of sight.

    How is India responding to developments on the ground?

    • The bridge is well within Chinese territory.
    • The implications of this new bridge will have to be factored in the Indian Army’s operational planning for the future.
    • On its part, over the last few years India has been focusing on infrastructure development in forward areas and improving connectivity to the forward areas.
    • Large-scale construction of roads, bridges and tunnels is underway all along the LAC.

     

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  • Traditional vaccines just as effective, say US Scientists

    Vaccines like Biological E’s Corbevax and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin that are made by traditional methods are “just as effective” as the latest mRNA technology-based vaccines a/c to US scientists.

    What are Vaccines?

    • A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease.
    • It typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins.

    Types of Vaccines

    There are several types of vaccines, including:

    • Inactivated vaccines
    • Live-attenuated vaccines
    • Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines
    • Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines
    • Viral vector vaccines

    [1] Inactivated vaccines

    • Inactivated vaccines use the killed version of the germ that causes a disease.
    • Inactivated vaccines usually don’t provide immunity (protection) that’s as strong as live vaccines.
    • So you may need several doses over time (booster shots) in order to get ongoing immunity against diseases.
    • Inactivated vaccines are used to protect against: Hepatitis A, Flu (shot only), Polio (shot only), Rabies etc.

    [2] Live-attenuated vaccines

    • Live vaccines use a weakened (or attenuated) form of the germ that causes a disease.
    • Because these vaccines are so similar to natural infection that they help prevent, they create a strong and long-lasting immune response.
    • Just 1 or 2 doses of most live vaccines can give you a lifetime of protection against a germ and the disease it causes.
    • They need to be kept cool in refrigerated conditions.
    • Live vaccines are used to protect against Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), Rotavirus, Smallpox, Chickenpox, Yellow fever

    [3] Messenger RNA vaccines

    • Researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades and this technology was used to make some of the COVID-19 vaccines.
    • mRNA vaccines make proteins in order to trigger an immune response.
    • mRNA vaccines have several benefits compared to other types of vaccines, including shorter manufacturing times and, because they do not contain a live virus, no risk of causing disease in the person getting vaccinated.

    How does mRNA vaccine work?

    • The mRNA vaccines function differently from traditional vaccines.
    • Traditional vaccines stimulate an antibody response by injecting a human with antigens.
    • mRNA vaccines inject a fragment of the RNA sequence of a virus directly into the cells, which then stimulate an adaptive immune response mRNA fragment is a specific piece of the virus that carries instructions to build the antigen of the virus.
    • An advantage of RNA vaccines is that they stimulate cellular immunity.

     

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