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  • 80 years of Quit India Movement

    On this day 80 years ago — on August 9, 1942 — the people of India launched the decisive final phase of the struggle for independence through the Quit India Movement.

    Quit India Movement

    • It was a mass upsurge against colonial rule on a scale not seen earlier, and it sent out the unmistakable message that the sun was about to set on the British Empire in India.
    • Mahatma Gandhi, who had told the Raj to “Quit India” on the previous day (August 8) was already in jail along with the entire Congress leadership.
    • So when August 9 dawned, the people were on their own — out on the street, driven by the Mahatma’s call of “Do or Die”.
    • This truly people-led movement was eventually crushed violently by the British, but by then it was clear that nothing short of their final departure was acceptable to India’s masses.

    The slogan ‘Quit India’

    • While Gandhi gave the clarion call of Quit India, the slogan was coined by Yusuf Meherally, a socialist and trade unionist who also served as Mayor of Bombay.
    • A few years ago, in 1928, it was Meherally who had coined the slogan “Simon Go Back”.

    Build-up to August 1942

    • Failure of Cripps Mission: While factors leading to such a movement had been building up, matters came to a head with the failure of the Cripps Mission. With WW2 raging, the beleaguered British government needed the cooperation of its colonial subjects. With this in mind, in March 1942, a mission led by Sir Stafford Cripps arrived in India to meet leaders of the Congress and the Muslim League.
    • Betrayal on WW2 Promises: The idea was to secure India’s whole-hearted support in the war, and the return offer to Indians was the promise of self-governance. But things did not go that way.
    • No complete freedom: Despite the promise of “the earliest possible realisation of self-government in India”, Cripps only offered dominion status, not freedom.
    • Unviable partition plan: Also, there was a provision for the partition of India, which was not acceptable to the Congress.

    Gandhiji’s departure from non-violent struggle

    • The failure of the Cripps Mission made Gandhi realise that freedom would come only if Indians fought tooth and nail for it.
    • The Congress was initially reluctant to launch a movement that could hamper Britain’s efforts to defeat the fascist forces. But it eventually decided on mass civil disobedience.
    • At the Working Committee meeting in Wardha in July 1942, it was decided the time had come for the movement to move into an active phase.

    Gandhi’s address: Do or Die

    • On August 8, 1942, Gandhi addressed the people in the Gowalia Tank maidan in Bombay (Mumbai). “Here is a mantra, a short one that I give you.
    • Imprint it on your hearts, so that in every breath you give expression to it,” he said.
    • “The mantra is: ‘Do or Die’. We shall either free India or die trying; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery,” Gandhi said.
    • Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Tricolour on the ground. The Quit India movement had been officially announced.
    • The government cracked down immediately, and by August 9, Gandhi and all other senior Congress leaders had been jailed.
    • Gandhi was taken to the Aga Khan Palace in Poona (Pune), and later to Yerwada jail. It was during this time that Kasturba Gandhi died at the Aga Khan Palace.

    Course of events

    (1) People vs. the Raj

    • The arrest of their leaders failed to deter the masses.
    • With no one to give directions, people took the movement into their own hands.
    • In Bombay, Poona, and Ahmedabad, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians clashed with the police.
    • The following day (August 10), protests erupted in Delhi, UP, and Bihar.
    • There were strikes, demonstrations and people’s marches in defiance of prohibitory orders in Kanpur, Patna, Varanasi, and Allahabad.
    • The protests spread rapidly into smaller towns and villages.
    • Till mid-September, police stations, courts, post offices, and other symbols of government authority came under repeated attack.

    (2) Working class involvement

    • Railway tracks were blocked, students went on strike in schools and colleges across India, and distributed illegal nationalist literature.
    • Mill and factory workers in Bombay, Ahmedabad, Poona, Ahmednagar, and Jamshedpur stayed away for weeks.

    (3) Violent phase

    • Bridges were blown up, telegraph wires were cut, and railway lines were taken apart.

    Outcome: Brutal suppression

    • The Quit India movement was violently suppressed by the British — people were shot and lathi-charged, villages were burnt, and backbreaking fines were imposed.
    • In the five months up to December 1942, an estimated 60,000 people had been thrown into jail.
    • However, though the movement was quelled, it changed the character of the Indian freedom struggle, with the masses rising up to demand with a passion and intensity like never before.

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Quit India Movement was launched in response to:

    (a) Cabinet Mission Plan

    (b) Cripps Proposals

    (c) Simon Commission Report

    (d) Wavell Plan

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”bejmwel566″ question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • Panel bats for Equality in Child’s Guardianship

    A mother and father should have equal rights as guardians of their children and the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (HMGA), 1956 should be amended as it discriminates against women, a parliamentary panel has recommended in its report.

    Why in news now?

    • The said Act does NOT provide for joint guardianship.
    • NOR does it recognise the mother as the guardian of the minor legitimate child unless the father is deceased or is found unfit.
    • The Act gives preference to father over mother.
    • Thus it goes against the right to equality and right against discrimination envisaged under Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution.

    What is Guardianship?

    • A guardian is a person appointed to look after another person or his property in India, as per the personal laws of the religion into which the minor was born.
    • He or she takes on the responsibility of caring for and protecting the person for whom he or she has been appointed guardian.
    • On behalf of the ward’s person and property, the guardian makes all legal decisions.

    Guardianship under the Hindu law

    • The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, regulates guardianship of minor children in Hindu law (covers Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists in India).
    • A minor is described as anyone under the age of eighteen, according to Section 4(a) of the Act.
    • A guardian, according to Section 4(b) of the Act, is an individual who is responsible for the child’s care, property, or both.
    • The various forms of guardianship in India include:
    1. Natural guardian: Only three people are considered natural guardians, according to Section 6 of the 1956 Act: the mother, father, and husband.
    2. Testamentary guardian: A testamentary guardian is a guardian appointed in a will by the natural guardian. A father has the testamentary right to appoint a guardian for his legitimate children or property or both. If the mother is alive after the father’s death, she will be the guardian of the children, and the fathers will be restored only if the mother dies without appointing a guardian.
    3. Guardian appointed by the court: The court can appoint a guardian to a child under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 who would be called a certified guardian. The powers of the certified guardian are also stated in the Act. The Act confers power to district courts.
    4. De facto guardian: A de facto guardian is someone who has consistently shown an interest in caring for, handling, or managing the infant, his or her property, or both. A de facto guardian is not a legal guardian, and therefore, has no legal authority over the child or the child’s property, but he has assumed responsibility for the child and the property.
    5. Guardians by affinity: The guardianship of a minor widow by a relative within the degree of sapinda (generation of ancestors) is known as affinity guardianship.

    Guardianship under Muslim law

    The law of guardianship in Muslims came from certain verses in the religious texts.

    1. Natural guardian: The only father is considered the natural guardian of a child under Muslim law, and the mother is not considered a natural or other guardian even after the father’s death.
    2. Testamentary guardian: The term wali, guardian, amin, or kaim-mukam refers to a testamentary guardian.
    3. Guardian appointed by the court: When natural and testamentary guardians fail, the court has the right to appoint a guardian for the child. The Guardians and Wards Act of 1890 governs the appointment of a guardian for a child from any group.

     

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  • What are Foreigners’ Tribunals?

    The Guwahati High Court has asked the Centre and the Assam government to collectively decide whether or not the ministerial staff for 200 additional Foreigners’ Tribunals (FT) would be appointed.

    Do you know?

    The Guwahati High Court has largest jurisdiction in terms of states, with its area covering the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram.

    What is Foreigners Tribunal?

    • The foreigners tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, unique to Assam, to determine if a person staying illegally is a “foreigner” or not.
    • With Assam’s NRC as the backdrop, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has laid out specific guidelines to detect, detain and deport foreign nationals staying illegally across the country.
    • The MHA has amended the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964, and has empowered district magistrates in all States and UTs to set up tribunals to decide whether a person staying illegally in India is a foreigner or not.
    • Earlier, such powers to constitute tribunals vested with the Centre only.

    Why need such tribunals?

    • In other parts, once a ‘foreigner’ has been apprehended by the police for staying illegally, he or she is produced before the local court under the Passport Act, 1920, or the Foreigners Act, 1946.
    • The punishment ranges from imprisonment of three months to eight years.
    • Once the accused have completed the sentence, the court orders their deportation, and they are moved to detention centres till the country of origin accepts them.

    What was the last amendment?

    • The 1964 order on Constitution of Tribunals said: “The Central Government may by order, refer the question as to whether a person is not a foreigner within meaning of the Foreigners Act, 1946 to a Tribunal to be constituted for the purpose.
    • The amended order issued says – “for words Central Government may,’ the words ‘the Central Government or the State Government or the UT administration or the District Collector or the District Magistrate may’ shall be substituted.”

    Impact of the Amendment

    • The amended Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 2019 also empowers individuals to approach the Tribunals.
    • Earlier only the State administration could move the Tribunal against a suspect, but with the final NRC about to be published and to give adequate opportunity to those not included, this has been done.
    • If a person doesn’t find his or her name in the final list, they could move the Tribunal.
    • The amended order also allows District Magistrates to refer individuals who haven’t filed claims against their exclusion from NRC to the Tribunals to decide if they are foreigners or not.
    • Opportunity will also be given to those who haven’t filed claims by referring their cases to the Tribunals.
    • Fresh summons will be issued to them to prove their citizenship.

     

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  • In news: Continental Drift Theory

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH which talks about the specie Lemurs who are supposed to jump into seas to find India which got drifted away from the Madagascar.

    Study on Lemurs

    • Many life forms in Madagascar have affinities to lineages found in India (3,800 km away) rather than Africa (413 km). This posed a ‘difficult enigma’ to naturalists.
    • One such species is the Lemurs.
    • We most likely see lemurs in a Hollywood animation movie; singing, dancing and playing pranks.
    • Zoologists was perplexed by the presence of lemurs, their relatives, and their fossils in Madagascar and India, but not in nearby Africa or the Middle East.
    • In the 1860s, he proposed that a large island or continent must have once existed between India and Madagascar, serving as a land bridge.
    • Over time, this island had sunk. He called this proposed island Lemuria.

    Existence of such Island in Indian legends

    • Tamil revivalists such as Devaneya Pavanar also took up the idea, in the form of a Tamil civilisation, lost to the sea as described in literature and in Pandyan legends.
    • They called this submerged continent Kumari Kandam.

    Basis of this legend: Continental Drift Theory

    • In the early 20th century, German geologist Alfred Wegener published a paper on his theory called continental drift.
    • It is a hypothesis that Earth’s continents were moving across Earth, and sometimes, even colliding into one another.
    • According to Wegener’s theory, Earth’s continents were once joined as a single, giant landmass, which he called Pangaea.
    • But over time, Pangaea broke apart and formed the continents as we know them today.
    • Wegener couldn’t explain why this phenomenon was happening, so at the time, his theory was heavily criticized by his colleagues.
    • But over the years, technological advances allowed scientists to study the Earth more closely, and geologists started to build on Wegener’s theory.

    Rise over to Plate Tectonics

    • Discoveries like seafloor spreading helped explain the “why” behind continental movement, and eventually, Wegener’s initial continental drift theory morphed into plate tectonic theory.
    • And now, the idea that Earth’s crust is slowly moving beneath our feet is widely accepted.

    The Seven Major Tectonic Plates

    There are seven major plates, and dozens of minor plates, that make up the outer crust of the Earth. The big seven are:

    1. North American plate
    2. Eurasian plate
    3. Pacific plate
    4. South American plate
    5. African plate
    6. Indo-Australian plate
    7. Antarctic plate

     

    The areas between these plates are known as plate boundaries, and their interactions cause some crazy things to happen on Earth’s surface.

    There are three types of plate boundaries:

    1. Divergent boundary
    • A divergent boundary is when two plates move away from each other, which creates a fracture in the lithosphere.
    • A well-known divergent boundary is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which runs approximately 10,000 miles from the Arctic Ocean all the way down to the south of Africa.
    1. Convergent boundary
    • A convergent boundary is when two plates collide with one another.
    • If the collision is between oceanic crust and continental crust, the denser oceanic crust slides underneath the other plate, which is a process known as subduction.
    • When two continental crusts collide, the rock folds and lifts at the boundary, creating mountains like the Himalayas (where the Indian plate meets the Eurasian plate).
    1. Transform Boundary
    • When two plates move parallel to one another, their meeting point is called a transform boundary. The friction causes tension.
    • Eventually, that tension needs to be released, which can cause earthquakes.
    • The San Andreas Fault is a well-known major transform boundary between the North American and Pacific plates—it caused the infamous San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

    How do we apply this theory here?

    • A landmass called Gondwana, split into two 165 million years ago — one containing what is now Africa and South America, the other comprising India, Madagascar, Australia and Antarctica.
    • Around 115 million years ago, Madagascar and India together broke free.
    • Around 88 million years ago, India moved northward, dropping a few parcels of land along the way to form Seychelles.
    • It joined the Eurasian mass 50 million years ago giving rise to the Himalayas and South Asia that we are familiar with.
    • Around 115 million years ago, it was the dinosaurs that ruled. Many life forms had not even evolved.

    Substantiation to this study

    (1) Fossil study

    • Supporting the Gondwana breakup, dinosaur fossils found in India and Madagascar are closely related and do not resemble species found in Africa and Asia.
    • Fragments of Laplatosaurus madagascarensis have been found in both India and Madagascar.

    (2) Molecular clocks

    • A powerful technique, the molecular clock, is used to estimate the time when two forms of life diverged from each other.
    • It is based on the observation that evolutionary changes in the sequence of an RNA or a protein molecule occur at a fairly constant rate.
    • The difference in the amino acids of, say the haemoglobin of two animals can tell you how long ago their lineages diverged.
    • Molecular clocks corroborate well with other evidence, such as the fossil record.
    • South India and Sri Lanka have only two genuses of the cichlid family of freshwater and brackish-water fishes — the Etroplus (a food fish in Kerala, where it is called pallathi) and Pseudetroplus.
    • Molecular comparisons show that the nearest relatives of Etroplus are found in Madagascar, and their common ancestor diverged from African cichlids 160 million years ago.

    India’s pivotal position

    • India occupies a pivotal position in the distribution of life forms in Asia, Madagascar and Africa. Gondwana creatures moved out of India.
    • Others crossed over to stay. For example, Asian freshwater crabs (Gecarcinucidae) are now found all over Southeast Asia but their most recent common ancestor evolved in India.
    • Fossil finds in the Vastan lignite mine in Gujarat by researchers have identified the earliest Indian mammal, a species of bat, and the earliest euprimate, a primitive lemur.
    • These were dated 53 million years ago, around the time (or just before) the India-Eurasian plates collided.

    What about the lemurs?

    • Madagascar is a large island, with a variety of climatic conditions. Evidence favours an ancestor primate crossing over from Africa.
    • No monkey, ape or large predator managed the crossing, so dozens of lemur species proliferated.
    • In India, we have the lorises, which are the closest extant relatives of the lemurs.
    • These are shy, nocturnal forest dwellers, with large, appealing eyes.
    • They are also believed to have survived oceanic rides from Africa.
    • They are mostly found in the Northeastern States (slow loris), and where Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu meet (slender loris).

     

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  • Who was Vannuramma?

    The fort of legendry Vannuramma in Nallamala forest in the present day Mydukur mandal of Kadapa district is trending due to its rundown condition.

    Who was Vannuramma?

    • Vannuramma ruled five ‘Durgams’ (under fiefdom) between 1781 and 1796 with Sakarlapadu as the administrative headquarters.
    • According to historical accounts, she was born in Pathimadugu Rekulakunta, now in Kadapa district, and got married to Veerneni Chinna Narasimha Naidu in 1764.
    • The family had the practice of praying at Vannuru Swamy temple in Kalyanadurgam of Anantapur district.
    • Vannuramma thus got her name as she was born, as believed, as the god’s gift.
    • Though there are not many historical accounts, Kadapa-based writer Bommisetty Ramesh brought out the first book last year on her.
    • Based on information culled out from the Mackenzie Kaifiyat of Kadapa, he extensively toured the region ruled by her, collected folklore and verified the same with historians.

    Her legend

    • The very mention of the name ‘Vannuramma’ brought chill to the spine of the Matli kings and Kadapa Nawabs.
    • Of all the Polegars (local chieftains) who had ruled the regional territories of Rayalaseema before the advent of the British, the lone woman ruler remains forgotten from the pages of history.
    • Under attack from fellow Polegars, Vannuramma’s family fled Thippireddypalle and took shelter in Chagalamarri fort, where they lived for eight years before her husband breathed his last in 1780.
    • Vannuramma wielded the sword when the Matli king Appayya Raju and Mysore Sultan Hyder Ali’s follower Meeru Saheb waged a war, invaded Sakerlapadu Durgam and robbed the property of locals.
    • Mobilising her army, she declared a war and brought the territory back into her fold in 1781.

    Her death

    • Even the Golconda Nawabs, through their Kadapa henchman Khadarvali Khan, tried in vain to control her.
    • It was then they hatched a plan to woo her adopted son and arrested her on some flimsy charges.
    • When the unsuspecting Vannuramma attended the Matli king’s court to prove her innocence, she was slapped with charges of treason.
    • The Nawabs captured her and sentenced her with ‘Korthi’, an inhuman form of punishment where a person is made to sit on a sharpened tree stump and left to die.
    • Vannuramma died in full public view in the year 1718 of Salivahana Saka, which translates to August 16, 1796, i.e., 226 years back.

     

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  • What is a Carbon Market, and why does India want to create one?

    The Bill to amend the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 seeks to establish a domestic carbon market and facilitate trade in carbon credits.

    What are Carbon Credits?

    • Carbon credits are measurable, verifiable emission reductions from certified climate action projects.
    • These projects reduce, remove or avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
    • But they also bring a whole host of other positive benefits, for example, they empower communities, protect ecosystems, restore forests or reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
    • Projects must adhere to a rigorous set of criteria to pass verification by third-party agencies and a review by a panel of experts at a leading carbon offset standard.
    • After an organization or an individual buys a carbon credit, the credit is permanently retired so it can’t be reused.

    What are Carbon Markets?

    • Carbon markets are regulatory structures that allow, in particular, oil and gas-intensive companies or heavy industry (or, in the case of COP25, countries) to reduce their economic footprint through a series of incentives.
    • The idea behind this system is that the most polluting countries can purchase the right to pollute more from countries that have not reached their emissions limits.
    • The 1997 Kyoto Protocol turned polluting emissions into a commodity.
    • For example, the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is the largest in the world and has been in operation since 2015.

    How is the concept evolved?

    • When the world evolved the ‘clean development mechanism’ (CDM) after the Kyoto Protocol agreement of 1997 as companies in the developing world could put up projects.
    • These include renewable energy or afforestation — that helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and earn ‘credits’ that could be sold in the market.
    • It was expected that these credits would be bought by the developed countries that had committed to emissions cuts under the Protocol.
    • Thus emerged the CDM market, aka ‘compliance market’. Alongside, environmentally conscious entities also started buying these carbon credits (or offsets) — the ‘voluntary market’.

    What is the status now?

    • This system functioned well for a few years.
    • But the market collapsed because of the lack of demand for carbon credits.
    • As the world negotiated a new climate treaty in place of the Kyoto Protocol, the developed countries no longer felt the need to adhere to their targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
    • A carbon market was envisaged to work under the successor Paris Agreement, but its details are still being worked out.

    Global successes

    • Domestic or regional carbon markets are already functioning in several places, most notably in Europe, where an emission trading scheme (ETS) works on similar principles.
    • Industrial units in Europe have prescribed emission standards to adhere to, and they buy and sell credits based on their performance.
    • China, too, has a domestic carbon market.

    Mechanism in India

    • A similar scheme for incentivizing energy efficiency has been running in India for over a decade now.
    • This BEE scheme, called- Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Scheme allows units to earn efficiency certificates if they outperform the prescribed efficiency standards.
    • The laggards can buy these certificates to continue operating.

    What does new Amendment seeks to bring?

    • The new carbon market that is proposed to be created through this amendment to the Energy Conservation Act, would be much wider in scope.
    • Although the details of this carbon market are not yet known, it is likely to be on the lines of the European ETS, facilitating the buying and selling of carbon credits.

     

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  • Earth has recorded its shortest day since the 1960s- why?

    On June 29, the Earth completed one full spin — a day — in 1.59 milliseconds less than its routine 24 hours. It was the shortest day recorded since the 1960s.

    Note: A millisecond is one-thousandth of a second.

    Earth spinning faster

    • While the Earth has been completing its rotations faster in recent years, when looked at over a much longer period of time, our planet is actually spinning slower.
    • Every century, the Earth takes a few milliseconds longer to complete one rotation — and on average, days are actually getting longer.
    • So, 1.4 billion years ago, a day would have ended in less than 19 hours,

    How did scientists find that?

    • Scientists got to know by using precise atomic clocks to measure the Earth’s rotational speed.

    Why are days getting shorter these days?

    • Scientists aren’t entirely sure.
    • Something has changed and changed in a way we haven’t seen since the beginning of precise radio astronomy in the 1970s.

    Factors attributing Earth’s Spin

    (1) Tidal Braking

    • The research attributed the larger trend of the Earth’s slower spin mostly to the gravitational pull of the Moon, which causes tidal friction and slows down the Earth’s rotations.

    (2) Climate change-induced surface variations

    • Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica
    • Changes in ocean circulation

    (3) Geomorphic factors

    • Movements in the planet’s inner molten core
    • Seismic activity
    • Wind speed, and shifting atmospheric gases

    (4) Chandler wobble phenomenon

    • This refers to the small deviation in the movement of Earth’s geographical poles.
    • The normal amplitude of the Chandler wobble is about three to four metres at Earth’s surface, but from 2017 to 2020 it disappeared.

    (5) Other propositions

    • Activities that push mass towards the centre of the Earth will hasten the planet’s rotation.
    • Anything that pushes mass outwards will slow down the spin, a report noted.

    What can happen if the Earth continues to spin faster on a sustained basis?

    • To ensure that the time on clocks matches the speed of the Earth’s rotation, a system of leap seconds has been used since the 1970s.
    • They involve one-second adjustments to Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), the time standard used to synchronize clocks around the world.
    • Due to the long-term slowing in the planet’s spin, 27 leap seconds have been added to UTC.
    • However, if the Earth continues to spin faster and days subsequently become shorter, scientists may have to introduce the first ever ‘negative leap second,’ which involves subtraction of a second from clocks.

     

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  • Cabinet nod for Glasgow Climate Pledges

    India ratified pledges made by Prime Minister in Glasgow to accelerate the country’s reliance on renewable energy to power the economy and be effectively free from use of fossil fuels by 2070.

    Why discuss them?

    • The approved pledges were fewer than those PM committed to.

    What is NDC (Nationally Determined Commitments)?

    • NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of these long-term goals.
    • They embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
    • The Paris Agreement (Article 4, paragraph 2) requires each Party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive NDCs that it intends to achieve.
    • Parties shall pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such contributions.
    • The agreement requests each country to outline and communicate their post-2020 climate actions, known as their NDCs.

    India’s NDC

    • India’s NDC, or nationally determined commitments, have been updated with these two promises, both of which are enhancements of existing targets, and would be submitted to the UN climate body.
    • The 2015 Paris Agreement requires every country to set self-determined climate targets which have to be progressively updated with more ambitious goals every few years.
    • India’s first NDC was submitted in 2015, just before the Paris Agreement was finalised.

    India’s original NDC contained three main targets for 2030:

    1. A 33 to 35 per cent reduction in emissions intensity (or emissions per unit of GDP) from 2005 levels
    2. At least 40 per cent of total electricity generation to come from non-fossil renewable sources
    3. An increase in forest cover to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent

    Commitment made at Glasgow

    • At the Glasgow meeting last year, Modi promised to strengthen India’s climate commitments.
    • He made five promises, and called it the ‘Panchamrit’, the nectar that Indians prepare using five ingredients.
    • Two of these were upward revision of existing targets, the ones that have been made official and put in the updated NDC. Accordingly,
    1. India will now reduce its emission intensity by at least 45 per cent, instead of just 33 to 35 per cent, from 2005 levels by 2030.
    2. Also, it would now ensure that at least 50 per cent of its total electricity generation, not just 40 per cent, would come from renewable sources by 2030.
    3. The forestry target has not been touched.

    India’s climate targets: Existing and New

    • PM had said that at least 500 GW of India’s installed electricity generation capacity in 2030 would be based on non-fossil fuel sources.
    • Also, he had promised that the country would ensure avoided emissions of at least one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent between now and 2030.
    • These two promises have not been converted into official targets.
    • But these are closely linked with others, and any progress on official targets would get reflected in these goals as well.

    What about Net Zero?

    • Modi had also announced a net zero target for India for the year 2070.
    • Net zero is a situation in which a country’s greenhouse gas emissions are offset entirely, either by absorption of carbon dioxide.
    • This may be done through natural processes like photosynthesis in plants, or through physical removal of greenhouse gases using futuristic technologies.
    • But net zero is a long-term target and does not qualify to be included in the NDC which seeks five to 10 year climate targets from countries.

    India’s progress

    • The upward revision of the two climate targets — those relating to reductions in emissions intensity and proportion of non-fossil sources in electricity generation — do not come as a surprise.
    • India is on way to achieve its existing targets well ahead of the 2030 timeline.
    • India’s emissions intensity was 24 per cent lower than the 2005 levels in the year 2016 itself, the last year for which official numbers are available.
    • It is very likely that the 33 to 35 per cent reduction target has already been achieved, or is very close to being achieved.
    • A further reduction of 10-12 per cent from here, to meet the new target, does not appear too challenging, even though these reductions get progressively tougher to achieve.
    • The other target — having at least 40 per cent of electricity coming from non-fossil fuels — has officially been reached.

    Tricky Glasgow promises

    Two promises that Modi had made in Glasgow have not been converted into official targets:

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  • Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign

    The Centre is set to launch a large-scale campaign to encourage Indians to fly the National Fag at their homes to mark the 75th Independence Day under the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign.

    Also, August 2 marks 146th birth anniversary of Pingali Venkayya, the designer of Pingali Venkayya.

    Har Ghar Tiranga

    • ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ is a campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India’s independence.
    • The campaign aims to have citizens hoisting our National Flag in their homes between August 13 and 15.

    Why such move?

    • Our relationship with the flag has always been more formal and institutional than personal.
    • Bringing the flag home collectively as a nation in the 75th year of independence thus becomes a symbolic act of personal connection to the Tiranga.
    • The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and to promote awareness about the National Flag.

    Story of our National Flag

    • On July 22, 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted our National Flag.
    • The flag that was finally chosen underwent several changes since it was originally designed by Pingali Venkayya in 1923.
    • Venkayya was not just the architect of the flag but also a freedom fighter.
    • He was known as Jhanda Venkayya as he published a book in 1916 on 30 designs for the Indian flag.
    • August 2 marks his 146th birth anniversary and citizens across this country will now know more of his contributions in designing the flag that we have today.

    How this was made possible?

    • First, the Flag Code was changed to make the flag more accessible and thus give every Indian the unique opportunity to hoist the flag at their homes.
    • Subsequently, the government has taken various steps to ensure the supply of flags across the country.
    • Flags are now available in all post offices in the country.
    • State governments have tied up with various stakeholders for the supply of flags.
    • The flag will be available on the government’s e-market marketplace (GEM) portal, on e-commerce portals, and with various self-help groups (SHGs).

    What is the Flag Code of India?

    • The Flag Code of India is a set of laws, practices and conventions that apply to the display of the national flag of India.
    • The Code took effect from 26 January 2002 and superseded the “Flag Code-India” as it existed earlier.
    • It permits the unrestricted display of the tricolour, consistent with the honour and dignity of the flag.

    The Flag Code of India has been divided into three parts:-

    • First Part: General Description of the National Flag.
    • Second Part: Display of the National Flag by members of public, private Organisations & educational institutions etc.
    • Third Part: Display of National Flag by Union or State Governments and their organisations and agencies.

    Disposing of the national flag

    • A/c to the Flag Code, such paper flags are not to be discarded or thrown on the ground after the event.
    • Such flags are to be disposed of, in private, consistent with the dignity of the flag.

    Do you know?: Hoisting the national flag is a fundamental right

    • The bench headed by Chief Justice of India V. N. Khare said that under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, citizens had the fundamental right to fly the national flag on their premises throughout the year.
    • However, it provided that the premises do not undermine the dignity of the national flag.

    About Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act

    • The law, enacted on December 23, 1971, penalizes the desecration of or insult to Indian national symbols, such as the National Flag, the Constitution, the National Anthem, and the Indian map, as well as contempt of the Constitution of India.
    • Section 2 of the Act deals with insults to the Indian National Flag and the Constitution of India.

    Do you know?

    Article 51 ‘A’ contained in Part IV A i.e. Fundamental Duties asks:

    To abide by the constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem in clause (a).

    Back2Basics: Story of our National Flag

    (1) Public display for the first time

    • Arguably the first national flag of India is said to have been hoisted on August 7, 1906, in Kolkata at the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park).
    • It comprised three horizontal stripes of red, yellow and green, with Vande Mataram written in the middle.
    • Believed to have been designed by freedom activists Sachindra Prasad Bose and Hemchandra Kanungo, the red stripe on the flag had symbols of the sun and a crescent moon, and the green strip had eight half-open lotuses.

    (2) In Germany

    • In 1907, Madame Cama and her group of exiled revolutionaries hoisted an Indian flag in Germany in 1907 — this was the first Indian flag to be hoisted in a foreign land.

    (3) During the Home Rule Movement

    • In 1917, Dr Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak adopted a new flag as part of the Home Rule Movement.
    • It had five alternate red and four green horizontal stripes, and seven stars in the saptarishi configuration.
    • A white crescent and star occupied one top corner, and the other had Union Jack.

    (4) Final version by Pingali Venkayya

    • The design of the present-day Indian tricolour is largely attributed to Pingali Venkayya, an Indian freedom fighter.
    • He reportedly first met Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa during the second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), when he was posted there as part of the British Indian Army.
    • Years of research went into designing the national flag. In 1916, he even published a book with possible designs of Indian flags.
    • At the All India Congress Committee in Bezwada in 1921, Venkayya again met Gandhi and proposed a basic design of the flag, consisting of two red and green bands to symbolise the two major communities, Hindus and Muslims.

    (5) During Constituent Assembly

    • On July 22, 1947, when members of the Constituent Assembly of India, the first item on the agenda was reportedly a motion by Pandit Nehru, about adopting a national flag for free India.
    • It was proposed that “the National Flag of India shall be horizontal tricolour of deep saffron (Kesari), white and dark green in equal proportion.”
    • The white band was to have a wheel in navy blue (the charkha being replaced by the chakra), which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.

     

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  • Parliamentary panel reviews Goa Civil Code

    A parliamentary panel has reviewed Goa’s uniform civil code, and some of its members feel that there are some peculiar and outdated provisions related to matrimony in it.

    What is Goa Civil Code?

    • The Goa Civil Code is a set of civil laws that governs all residents of the coastal State irrespective of their religion and ethnicity.
    • Citing various positives of the Goa Civil Code, Goa CM had urged that it could be a model for implementing the UCC across the country.

    Why in news?

    • GCC has come under focus amid a call for the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) across the country.
    • The UCC features prominently on the present regime’s ideological agenda, and the party had made promises on it in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019.
    • This had an intimidating impact on certain sections of the population whose archaic provisions of personal laws were untouched for the sake of appeasement.

    Why Goa model is in news?

    • It was observed that a majority of the State’s people are “quite happy and content with it”.
    • It is a living example of peaceful implementation of UCC.
    • There were, however, some peculiar clauses in the law related to matrimony and division of property, which were outdated and not based on the principle of equality.

    What is a Uniform Civil Code?

    • A Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is one that would provide for one personal civil law for the entire country.
    • This would be applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.

    Basis for UCC

    • Article 44, one of the Directive Principles of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a UCC for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
    • These, as defined in Article 37, are not justiciable (not enforceable by any court) but the principles laid down therein are fundamental in governance.

    UCC vs. Right to Freedom of Religion

    1. Article 25 lays down an individual’s fundamental right to religion
    2. Article 26(b) upholds the right of each religious denomination or any section thereof to “manage its own affairs in matters of religion”
    3. Article 29 defines the right to conserve distinctive culture

    Reasonable restrictions on the Freedom of Religion

    • An individual’s freedom of religion under Article 25 is subject to “public order, health, morality” and other provisions relating to FRs, but a group’s freedom under Article 26 has not been subjected to other FRs.
    • In the Constituent Assembly, there was division on the issue of putting UCC in the fundamental rights chapter. The matter was settled by a vote.
    • By a 5:4 majority, the fundamental rights sub-committee headed by Sardar Patel held that the provision was outside the scope of FRs and therefore the UCC was made less important.

    Minority Opinion in the Constituent Assembly

    • Some members sought to immunize Muslim Personal Law from state regulation.
    • Mohammed Ismail, who thrice tried unsuccessfully to get Muslim Personal Law exempted from Article 44, said a secular state should not interfere with the personal law of people.
    • B Pocker Saheb said he had received representations against a common civil code from various organizations, including Hindu organizations.
    • Hussain Imam questioned whether there could ever be uniformity of personal laws in a diverse country like India.
    • B R Ambedkar said “no government can use its provisions in a way that would force the Muslims to revolt”.
    • Alladi Krishnaswami, who was in favour of a UCC, conceded that it would be unwise to enact UCC ignoring strong opposition from any community.
    • Gender justice was never discussed in these debates.

    What about Personal Laws?

    • Citizens belonging to different religions and denominations follow different property and matrimonial laws which are an affront to the nation’s unity.
    • If the framers of the Constitution had intended to have a UCC, they would have given exclusive jurisdiction to Parliament in respect of personal laws, by including this subject in the Union List.
    • “Personal Laws” are mentioned in the Concurrent List.

    Various customary laws

    • All Hindus of the country are not governed by one law, nor are all Muslims or all Christians.
    • Muslims of Kashmir were governed by a customary law, which in many ways was at variance with Muslim Personal Law in the rest of the country and was, in fact, closer to Hindu law.
    • Even on registration of marriage among Muslims, laws differ from place to place.
    • In the Northeast, there are more than 200 tribes with their own varied customary laws.
    • The Constitution itself protects local customs in Nagaland. Similar protections are enjoyed by Meghalaya and Mizoram.
    • Even reformed Hindu law, in spite of codification, protects customary practices.

     Why need UCC?

    • UCC would provide equal status to all citizens
    • It would promote gender parity in Indian society.
    • UCC would accommodate the aspirations of the young population who imbibe liberal ideology.
    • Its implementation would thus support the national integration.

    Hurdles to UCC implementation

    • There are practical difficulties due to religious and cultural diversity in India.
    • The UCC is often perceived by the minorities as an encroachment of religious freedom.
    • It is often regarded as interference of the state in personal matters of the minorities.
    • Experts often argue that the time is not ripe for Indian society to embrace such UCC.

    These questions need to be addressed which are being completely ignored in the present din around UCC.

    1. Firstly, how can uniformity in personal laws are brought without disturbing the distinct essence of each and every component of the society.
    2. Secondly, what makes us believe that practices of one community are backward and unjust?
    3. Thirdly, has other uniformities been able to eradicate inequalities which diminish the status of our society as a whole?

    Way forward

    • It should be the duty of the religious intelligentia to educate the community about its rights and obligations based on modern liberal interpretations.
    • A good environment for the UCC must be prepared by the government by explaining the contents and significance of Article 44 taking all into confidence.
    • Social reforms are not overnight but gradual phenomenon. They are often vulnerable to media evils such as fake news and disinformation.
    • Social harmony and cultural fabric of our nation must be the priority.

     

    Also read this comprehensive article:

    [Sansad TV] Perspective: Uniform Civil Code

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