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GS Paper: GS2

Promoting Hindi language rationally
Context
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on English in a recent campaign rally, the controversy over medical education in Hindi and the parliamentary report on promoting Hindi, will give new life to Hindi vs non-Hindi debate.
The status of Hindi language in India
- The 2011 linguistic census: Accounts for 121 mother tongues, including 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
- Widely spoken language: Hindi is the most widely spoken, with 52.8 crore individuals, or 43.6% of the population, declaring it as their mother tongue. The next highest is Bengali, mother tongue for 97 lakh (8%) less than one-fifth of Hindi’s count. In terms of the number of people who know Hindi, the count crosses more than half the country.
- Hindi as second language: Nearly 13.9 crore (over 11%) reported Hindi as their second language, which makes it either the mother tongue or second language for nearly 55% of the population.
What does constitution say about Hindi?
- What is the Eighth Schedule?
1. The Eighth Schedule contains a list of languages in the country. Initially, there were 14 languages in the schedule, but now there are 22 languages.
2. There is no description of the sort of languages that are included or will be included in the Eighth Schedule.
- Constitutional position of Eighth Schedule
There are only two references to these languages in the text of the Constitution.

(i) Article 344(1):
1. It provides for the formation of a Commission by the President, which should have a chairman and members representing these scheduled languages.
2. The purpose of the Commission is to make recommendations for the progressive use of Hindi for official purposes of the Union and for restricting the use of English.
(ii) Article 351:
1. It says it is the Union government’s duty to promote the spread of Hindi so that it becomes “a medium of expression for all elements of the composite culture of India”.
2. It also aims to assimilate elements of forms and expressions from Hindustani and languages listed in the Eighth Schedule.
What are challenges for promotion of Hindi Language?
- Higher knowledge is not available in Hindi: The challenge of Hindi is that inhabiting the world of Hindi is seen as closing off access to the frontiers of knowledge, not just in science but in civic knowledge, like higher echelons of law.
- Perceived as inferior language: It is also treated as a marker of parochialism and inferior status.
- Hindi as language of Identity not as knowledge: The problem may be less acute with other languages like Tamil, Kannada or Bengali, but it exists. The anomaly of the India experiment is not diversity: It is the claim that the language of self, identity and culture be different from the language of knowledge, privilege and access. This is the experiment India is conducting on a large scale. Is it a sustainable one?
- Cultural assertion through language: It is the untapped resentment of a Hindi culture that often is made conscious of its own second-class status in global hierarchies. Millions of vernacular speakers feel disenfranchised in the worlds of knowledge and prestige.
- Poor translation mechanism: Our translation missions are so meagre that except for literature, they do not grow the language by translating knowledge into it. So, the division of the function of languages has also become a division of persons, between those whose fluency in English is greater than their fluency in a vernacular, and those who might know English but struggle with it.
- English transition is not easy in mid high school: There was also a generation that was taught in a vernacular language very well. They found it easy to switch to English later. Now the education system does not prepare you for either trajectory, not at least on a mass scale, leaving the Hindi speaker relatively stranded.
What should be the way forward?
- Hindi should be used for knowledge sharing and communication: The discussion of the language issue ought to be pedagogical rather than political. It will be, for instance, important for doctors to have English to easily access a continually evolving world of research; just translating a few textbooks into vernaculars will not solve the challenge. But it is equally true that the ability to communicate fluently in vernacular languages will be a great asset.
- Higher Education in Hindi should be made available: It is also possibly true that for those who did not get an English education, continuing vernacular education should be a medium of expanding their opportunities.
- Government has to do its homework: Our education system will have to do the homework to make any language strategy work fully. The skepticism of teaching medicine or engineering in the vernaculars (and not just Hindi) is that our knowledge eco system is not prepared for it; the skepticism of English is that it has left so many people behind.
Conclusion
- The genius of India is that it has, historically, not locked itself into binaries over language choice. With creative pedagogies, we can reclaim that heritage. But raising the political pitch on language serves neither the cause of knowledge or national unity.
Mains Question

Q. Why government indulges in promotion of Hindi? Does it right in Indian context to promote only one language nationally?

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October 22, 2022
What is ‘general consent’ for CBI?
The Maharashtra CM has restored general consent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate cases in Maharashtra.

General Consent to CBI
- The CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
- This makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting an investigation in that state.
- Generally, the CBI has jurisdiction only over central government departments and employees.
- However, it can investigate a case involving state government employees or a violent crime in a given state only after that state government gives its consent.
When is Consent needed?
- There are two kinds of consent: case-specific and general.
- General consent is normally given to help the CBI seamlessly conduct its investigation into cases of corruption against central government employees in the concerned state.
- Almost all states have given such consent.
- Otherwise, the CBI would require consent in every case.
- For example, if it wanted to investigate a bribery charge against a Western Railway clerk in Mumbai, it would have to apply for consent with the Maharashtra government before registering a case against him.
Withdrawing General Consent
- It means the CBI will not be able to register any fresh case involving a central government official or a private person stationed in these two states without getting case-specific consent.
- Withdrawal of consent simply means that CBI officers will lose all powers of a police officer as soon as they enter the state unless the state government has allowed them.
Under what provisions general consent can be withdrawn?
- Section 6 of the Act says nothing contained in Section 5 shall be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in any area in a State, not being a Union Territory or Railway, area, without the consent of the Government of that State.
- In exercise of the power conferred by Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the government can withdraw the general consent to exercise the powers and jurisdiction.
Back2Basics: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
- Origins of CBI can be traced back to the Special Police Establishment (SPE) set up in 1941 in order to cases of bribery and corruption in War & Supply Department of India during World War II.
- The need of a Central Government agency to investigate cases of bribery and corruption was felt even after the end of World War II.
- So, DSPE (Delhi Special Police Establishment) Act, 1946 was brought that gave legal power of investigating cases to CBI.
- CBI is not a statutory body as it is not established by an Act of the Parliament.
- CBI investigates cases related to economic crimes, special crimes, cases of corruption and other high-profile cases.
- CBI comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
- CBI is exempted from Right to Information (RTI) Act similar to the National Investigating Agency (NIA), National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), etc.
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October 22, 2022
Physical Inactivity, Neglected Burden on Economy
Context
- Global status report on physical activity is WHO’s first dedicated global assessment of global progress on country implementation of policy recommendations of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) 2018-2030.
What are the findings of the report?
- Poor physical activity standards: Over 80 per cent adolescents and 27 per cent adults do not meet the physical activity standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a new report.
- developing non-communicable diseases: This will lead to 500 million additional people developing non-communicable diseases from 2020-2030 and cost the global economy $27 billion annually, it added.
How physical Inactivity impacts health and Economy?
- Changing lifestyles: Sedentary lifestyle of a large share of the global population has been linked to rising prevalence of heart diseases, obesity, diabetes or other noncommunicable diseases.
- Increasing Hypertension and depression: Of the 500 million new cases projected, nearly half will be attributed to hypertension and 43 per cent to depression, the authors of the report said.
- A strain on the health systems: The report quantified the economic burden of not being able to meet the GAPPA target. The sharp rise in non-communicable diseases will also put a strain on the health systems in every country.
- Rising cost of treatment: If the current prevalence of physical inactivity doesn’t change, the world will incur treatment costs of just over $300 billion till 2030, the report mentioned.
- 70 per cent of health-care expenditure: The largest economic cost is set to occur among high-income countries, according to the analysis. This will account for 70 per cent of health-care expenditure on treating illness resulting from physical inactivity, it showed. Around 75 per cent of the cases will occur in low- and middle-income countries, it added.
What are the government efforts to address the physical inactivity menace?
- National physical activity policy: Less than half the countries in the world have any national physical activity policy, showed the analysis of 194 countries by WHO published October 19, 2022.
- National policies are in operation: Less than 40 per cent of the existing national policies are in operation, the United Nations health agency noted in the Global status report on physical activity 2022.
- Monitor physical activity among adolescents: As many as 75 per cent of countries monitor physical activity among adolescents, and less than 30 per cent monitor physical activity in children under 5 years.
- Addressing lack of public Infrastructure: The report highlighted that data regarding progress on certain policy actions is missing. These include provision of public open space, provision of walking and cycling infrastructure, provision of sport and physical education in schools.
- National physical activity guidelines: only 30 per cent of countries have national physical activity guidelines for all age groups, according to the findings of the report.
What are the Recommendations of WHO?
- Exercise benefits mental and physical health: Light exercise and even walking has proven benefits for mental and physical health, studies have shown.
- Infrastructural changes by governments: Citizens cannot make healthier lifestyle choices without infrastructural changes by governments such as safe walking and cycling lanes. “In policy areas that could encourage active and sustainable transport, only just over 40% of countries have road design standards that make walking and cycling safer,” the WHO analysts found.
- Five ways to address the policy gaps:
1. Strengthen whole-of-government ownership and political leadership
2. Integrate physical activity into relevant policies and support policy implementation with practical tools and guidance
3. Strengthen partnerships, engage communities and build capacity in people
4. Reinforce data systems, monitoring, and knowledge translation
5. Secure sustainable funding and align with national policy commitments
- Four areas of policy intervention:
1. Active societies,
2. active environments,
3. active people and
4. active systems.
Government of India’s efforts to promote physical activity
- FIT India Movement: FIT INDIA Movement was launched on 29th August 2019 by Honorable Prime Minister with a view to make fitness an integral part of our daily lives. The mission of the Movement is to bring about behavioral changes and move towards a more physically active lifestyle.
- Objectives of Fit India: Fit India proposes to undertake various initiatives and conduct events to achieve the following objectives:
1. To promote fitness as easy, fun and free.
2. To spread awareness on fitness and various physical activities that promote fitness through focused campaigns.
3. To encourage indigenous sports.
4. To make fitness reach every school, college/university, panchayat/village, etc.
5. To create a platform for citizens of India to share information, drive awareness and encourage sharing of personal fitness stories.
Conclusion
- Physical inactivity is silent poison, killing the future of the citizens. Work from home, remote working has increased the physical inactivity among the working populations. Indoor games, mobile addictions, e-learning have reduced the physical activity of children. It’s a collective responsibility of parents, society and government to promote and encourage the physical activity among citizens.
Mains Question Q.

What are the ill effects of physical inactivity on health and economy? What are the policies of government India to promote healthy life style?

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October 21, 2022
Election Commission can not breach Fundamental Rights
Context
- Preparations are going on in full swing for the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat. Election Commission had signed MoUs with over 1,000 corporate houses undertaking to monitor electoral participation of their workforce and publish on their websites and notice boards those who do not vote.
Background
- In June, the EC had asked central and state government departments, public sector units and corporate entities with over 500 employees to appoint nodal officers to identify employees who take leave on polling day but do not vote, The Indian Express reported.
- The Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat has said that the employees of state public sector units and government departments who don’t vote will also be tracked.
- The report also mentioned that on a recent visit to Gujarat, the CEC himself had said that though the commission cannot enforce compulsory voting, it “wanted to identify workers in big industries who don’t vote despite availing the holiday”.
All you need to know about Election Commission of India
- The ECI is a constitutional authority whose responsibilities and powers are prescribed in the Constitution of India under Article 324.
- In the performance of its functions, the Election Commission is insulated from executive interference.
- It is the Commission that decides the election schedules for the conduct of elections, whether general elections or by-elections.
- ECI decides on the location of polling stations, assignment of voters to the polling stations, location of counting centers, arrangements to be made in and around polling stations and counting centers and all allied matters.
Importance of Election Commission of India
- Conduction of Election: The ECI has been successfully conducting national as well as state elections since 1952.
- Electoral participation: In recent years, however, the Commission has started to play a more active role to ensure greater participation of people.
- Discipline of political parties: It had gone to the extent of disciplining the political parties with a threat of derecognizing if the parties failed in maintaining inner-party democracy.
- Upholds federalism: It upholds the values enshrined in the Constitution viz, equality,
  equity, impartiality, independence; and rule of law in superintendence, direction, and control over electoral governance.
- Free and fair elections: It conducts elections with the highest standard of credibility, freeness, fairness, transparency, integrity, accountability, autonomy and professionalism.
What is the criticism over the EC’s move to track who do not vote?
- Unethical and against the democracy: Any coercion particularly coercion of the kind being proposed by the EC in this case betrays an authoritarian approach that is not only antithetical to democracy but is directly violative of the Constitution and the laws of the land.
- Against the freedom of Expression: Constitution provides a fundamental right of freedom of expression. (Article 19). It is individual’s choice to cast their Right to vote or not to vote.
- Revealing Identity would be violative of Article 14: Protection of elector’s identity and affording secrecy is therefore integral to free and fair elections and an arbitrary distinction between a voter who casts and a voter who does not cast his vote is violative of Article 14. Thus, secrecy is to be maintained for both categories of persons.” the list of non-voters be put up on a company’s notice board or website? It will clearly be contempt of court.
- Supreme Court’s judgement on NOTA and mandatory voting: The Supreme Court, in PUCL vs Union of India, 2013, (popularly known as the NOTA judgment) has held that abstention from voting and negative voting are protected as freedom of expression a fundamental right. Earlier, in April 2009, the Court had taken the same view while dismissing a plea that sought to make voting mandatory on grounds of governments not representing the majority because of low turnouts.
- No of circumstances that one can’t vote on the day: In every election, there will be those who do not vote out of conviction or for ideological reasons. More importantly, there are millions of daily wage workers, and many homeless and ill.
What are the legal and constitutional provisions for a citizen?
- Section 79 D of RPA Act: Section 79 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 defines “electoral right” to mean the right of a person to vote or refrain from vote at an election”. The law completely enables, but does not force, citizens to vote. The same provision exists in the Indian Penal Code, vide Section 171A (b).
- Section135B of the RPA Act: Section135B of the Representation of People Act, 1951, grants a paid holiday to every person employed in any business, trade, industrial undertaking or any other establishment.
- A compulsory paid Holiday: Even a daily wage worker shall be paid for the day.The only exception is essential services Contravention of the law carries a fine for the employer which may extend to Rs 500, which was fixed over 25 years ago.
Rulings of the supreme court on the matter of voting rights
- Free and fair election is a basic structure: In PUCL vs Union of India, the Court said: “free and fair election is a basic structure of the Constitution and necessarily includes within its ambit the right of an elector to cast his vote without fear of reprisal, duress or coercion.
What does the Election Commission say over this new development?
- Clarification by Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat: MoU’s are signed in the form of appeal for increasing registration and voter turnout, establish voter awareness forum in their organizations.
- To track electoral participation: Election Commission said that it will help to track electoral participation of their workforce.
- Less voting percentage: Out of seven least voting percentage districts during 2019 general elections, four were metropolitan cities. Voting percentage in urban areas is generally less, pulling down the overall voting percentage.
- Purpose is to educate voters: CEC clarified MoU’s are only for voter education and facilitation and not for compelling them to vote.
How to address the issue of less participation of voters?
- Systematic voter education programme: The noble objective of enhanced voter participation can be best achieved through systematic voter education, amply demonstrated by the ECI in elections in all the states and Union territories since 2010 when a voter education division was set up. This soon evolved into its SVEEP programme. This has led to all elections ever since seeing the highest-ever turnouts.
- Through Motivation and facilitation: The EC’s consistent efforts should be towards motivation and facilitation, rather than compulsion, are the best ways to address the issue.
- The voter education programme: The voter education programme has sought to motivate the youth to participate in democracy by registering as voters, voting in every election and voting ethically that is, without inducement. It has involved schools and colleges to take the registration facility to the doorstep by introducing voter clubs, and youth icons and placing drop boxes in the public locations and online drop boxes.
- Awareness in the corporate setup: Employers have been encouraged to create similar facilities in their offices. They are legally obliged to close their establishments on poll day, but this is seldom enforced.
Conclusion
- The noble objective of enhanced voter participation can be best achieved through systematic voter education, and awareness programs and not the cost of fundamental rights of the citizen which is enshrined the fundamental law of the land. Motivation and awareness could be the way for enhancing voter participation.
Mains Question

Q. What is the role of Election Commission of India? How do you see the compulsory voting in the light of the Constitution of India under the EC’s mandate of free and fair election? Discuss

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October 20, 2022
TN bans online ‘Games of chance’ and Gambling
Online gambling and online games of chance have been banned in Tamil Nadu. At the same time, the other online games will be regulated.

What is Online Gaming?
- Online games refer to games that are played over some form of computer network, most often the Internet.
Types of gaming
- The types of online gaming include:
1. E-sports (well-organized electronic sports which include professional players) ex. Chess
2. Fantasy sports (choosing real-life sports players and winning points based on players’ performance) ex. MPL cricket
3. Skill-based (mental skill) ex. Archery
4. Gamble (based on random activity) ex. Playing Cards, Rummy
Online gaming sector in India
- In the past few years, India’s nascent online gaming industry witnessed an unprecedented rise, catapulting it to the top five mobile gaming markets in the world.
- Registering a growth rate of 38%, online gaming is the next sunrise industry.
- Currently, there are more than 400 gaming companies in India, and it is home to 420 million online gamers, second only to China, according to an analysis by KPMG.
Why is the gaming industry booming in India?
1. Digital India boom in the gaming industry
2. Narrowing of the digital divide
3. IT boom
Other factors promoting the boom
1. Growing younger population
2. Higher disposable income
3. Inexpensive internet data
4. Introduction of new gaming genres, and
5. Increasing number of smartphone and tablet users
Prospects of online gaming
- State List Subject: The state legislators are, vide Entry No. 34 of List II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule, given exclusive power to make laws relating to betting and gambling.
- Distinction in laws: Most Indian states regulate gaming on the basis of a distinction in law between ‘games of skill’ and ‘games of chance’.
- Classification on dominant element: As such, a ‘dominant element’ test is utilized to determine whether chance or skill is the dominating element in determining the result of the game.
- Linked economic activity: Staking money or property on the outcome of a ‘game of chance’ is prohibited and subjects the guilty parties to criminal sanctions.
- ‘Game of Skill’ debate: Placing any stakes on the outcome of a ‘game of skill’ is not illegal per se and may be permissible. It is important to note that the Supreme Court recognized that no game is purely a ‘game of skill’ and almost all games have an element of chance.
Need for regulation
- No comprehensive regulation: India currently has no comprehensive legislation with regards to the legality of online gaming or boundaries that specify applicable tax rates within the betting and gambling industry.
- Ambiguity of the sector: The gaming sector is nascent and is still evolving, and many states are bringing about legislation seeking to bring about some order in the online gaming sector.
- State list subject: Online gaming in India is allowed in most parts of the country. However, different states have their own legislation with regards to whether online gaming is permitted.
- Economic advantage: Well-regulated online gaming has its own advantages, such as economic growth and employment benefits.
Issues with online gaming
- Gaming addiction: Numerous people are developing an addiction to online gaming. This is destroying lives and devastating families.
- Compulsive gaming: Gaming by children is affecting their performance in schools and impacting their social lives & relationships with family members. Ex. PUBG
- Impact on psychological health: Online games like PUBG and the Blue Whale Challenge were banned after incidents of violence and suicide.
- Threat to Data privacy: Inadvertent sharing of personal information can lead to cases of cheating, privacy violations, abuse, and bullying.
- Betting and gambling: Online games based on the traditional ludo, arguably the most popular online game in India, have run into controversy, and allegations of betting and gambling.
Why hasn’t a comprehensive law yet materialized?
- Earlier, states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka also passed laws banning online games.
- However, they were quashed by state High Courts on grounds that an outright ban was unfair to games of skill:
1. Violation of fundamental rights of trade and commerce, liberty and privacy, speech and expression;
2. Law being manifestly arbitrary and irrational insofar as it did not distinguish between two different categories of games, i.e. games of skill and chance;
3. Lack of legislative Competence of State legislatures to enact laws on online skill-based games.
Way forward
- Censoring: Minors should be allowed to proceed only with the consent of their parents — OTP verification on Aadhaar could resolve this.
- Awareness: Gaming companies should proactively educate users about potential risks and how to identify likely situations of cheating and abuse.
- Regulating mechanism: A Gaming Authority in the central government should be created.
- Accountability of the gaming company: It could be made responsible for the online gaming industry, monitoring its operations, preventing societal issues, suitably classifying games of skill or chance, overseeing consumer protection, and combatting illegality and crime.
- All-encompassing legislation: the Centre should formulate an overarching regulatory framework for online games of skill. India must move beyond skill-versus-chance debates to keep up with the global gaming industry.
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October 20, 2022
Fateful Triangle China,USA and India and Changing World Order
Context
- America’s national security strategy issued by the Joe Biden Administration last week and the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Congress this week promise to reshape the geopolitics of Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
Historical background of USA-CHINA
- Context of World War II: Asia has seen multiple phases in the US-China relationship. In the second half of the 19th century, American missionaries began to arrive in China and began to generate empathy for the nation. During World War II, Washington backed Chinese nationalists in their fight against Japanese occupation.
- US efforts to isolation China: The US tried to isolate China from 1949 when the communists prevailed over the nationalists.
- Cooperation to counter Soviet: The 1970’s saw the US and communist China come together to counter the Soviet Union.
- Multiple Economic engagement: The 1980s saw the beginning of an economic engagement that turned into a huge commercial and technological partnership from the 1990s.
What is the USA’s assumption and China’s ambition?
- China as responsible stakeholder: The US establishment dismissed the idea of China as potential threat and bet that Beijing could become a “responsible stakeholder” in the world order.
- Democratization of Chinese society is inevitable: America also believed that China’s growing economic prosperity would inevitably lead to greater democratisation of its society.
- Visible decline of west: China, however, has steadily moved in the other direction, especially under Xi, who has convinced himself that the West is in terminal decline.
- China’s ambition to change the world order: Xi is determined to seize this moment to reshape the Asian as well as the global order to suit Chinese interests. At the same time, China has become increasingly repressive at home.
- Explicit expression of ambition: Xi made no effort to hide China’s new geopolitical ambition nor has he been defensive about his authoritarian rule. This, in turn, bestirred the US into rethinking its China policy in the second decade of the 21st century.
How China is asserting itself?
- Asserting own version of Global order: Beijing, argues that recent history points to the superiority of the Chinese system over the Western one. And it offers its own versions of a global order – economic, political and social. Since the end of the Cold War, ideological arguments had receded into the background but are now back in significant play.
- China offering model Economic Globalization: China continues to sing praises of the model of economic globalisation that has facilitated Beijing’s rise over the last four decades. But under Xi, China has emphasised the importance of self-reliance in the name of a “dual circulation strategy”.
- Leveraging world’s dependence for strategic gain: At the same time, Beijing has sought to enhance the world’s dependence on its economy and leverage it for strategic benefit. The profound political backlash against trade and economic cooperation with China in the US led to the questioning of economic globalisation in the Trump years.
- China building the powerful military: As China became a richer country, it also focused on building a powerful army. Using both the instruments of hard power, China under Xi has actively sought to undermine US alliances in Asia and mount pressure on American forward military presence in Asia.
How USA’s policy is changing towards China?
- Structured policy of rivalry: The traditional soft attitude to China yielded to a more confrontational approach during the Donald Trump presidency. Joe Biden has developed that into a more structured policy of competing with China.
- Combine challenge of China and Russia: The National Security Strategy of the Trump administration postulated the return of great power rivalry and the need to respond to the challenges presented by Russia and China. Biden’s NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY builds on that proposition and identifies China as the more demanding challenge than Russia, despite Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine.
- China is more capable than Russia: In his foreword to the National security strategy, Biden says “Russia poses an immediate threat to the free and open international system, recklessly flouting the basic laws of the international order today, as its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown.” He names China, on the other hand, as “the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to advance that objective”. While the European challenge is real, the Biden Administration now sees the Indo-Pacific as the principal strategic theatre.
- Projecting China as autocracy against the democracy: The US has sought to locate the conflict with China (and Russia) as a fundamental struggle between “democracies and autocracies”. Recognising the limited enthusiasm for the framing in Asia, the National security strategy now talks of broadening the coalition to include countries that may not be democratic. Beijing, on the other hand, argues that recent history points to the superiority of the Chinese system over the Western one.
- Building the bilateral alliances: The US is now pushing back. The principal instrument in the US response has been rebuilding the traditional bilateral alliances with Japan and Australia as well as constructing new partnerships with countries like India and developing new regional coalitions.
India’s role in shaping the world order
- Convergence of National interest wit USA: Today, Indian and American policies are converging. For both Delhi and Washington, Beijing presents the main national challenges.
- Reducing economic dependence on China: On the economic and technological front, both India and the US are trying to reduce their exposure to China.
- Keeping independent foreign policy: On the geopolitical front, a US plan to look beyond formal alliances suits Delhi, which is wedded to an independent foreign policy.
- Opportunity for cooperation: It is never easy to translate abstract convergence into concrete policies. The current churn in Asia provides Delhi and Washington with a historic opportunity to build on the new convergences in the areas of trade, technology, and geopolitics.
Conclusion
- changing world order will have short term repercussion on economic front for developing country like India. India has a great opportunity to be the rule maker of new global order rather than just a rule follower. World order of 21^st century will revolve around the fateful triangle of India, China and USA.
Mains Question

Q.Why the present world order is challenged by China? What role India can play as rule maker of new World order?

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October 19, 2022
Kerala Governor says he can sack errant Ministers
Kerala Governor has opened the next battlefront against the State government by threatening to remove Ministers from their posts if they continued to lower the dignity of his office.

Why in news?
- This is for the very first time that any Governor has expressed his displeasure.
- There has been no occasion so far of a Governor unilaterally removing a minister from the government.
Governor in the parliamentary system
- The position, role, powers, and conditions of office of the Governor are described in Articles 153-161 of the Constitution.
- The position of Governor is similar to that of the President at the Union.
- He is at the head of the state’s executive power, and barring some matters, acts on the advice of the council of ministers, which is responsible, in accordance with the parliamentary system, to the state legislature.
Apolitical nature of his appointment
- The Governor is appointed by the President (on the advice of the central government) and, therefore, acts as the vital link between the Union and the state governments.
- The post was envisaged as being apolitical; however, the role of Governors has been a contentious issue in Centre-state relations for decades.
- The Governor enjoys certain powers such as giving or withholding assent to a Bill passed by the state legislature or determining the time needed for a party to prove its majority.
- The party must be called first to do so, generally after in a hung Assembly — which have been weaponized by successive central governments against the political opposition.
Is the Governor capable to remove a Minister?
- Article 164(1) says state “Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor”.
- This is the provision that the Kerala Governor was seemingly alluding to.
- Article 164(1) deals with the appointment of the Chief Minister and other ministers.
- While the Governor does not have to seek anyone’s advice while appointing the Chief Minister, he can appoint a minister only on the recommendation of the Chief Minister.
- The Governor has no power to pick anyone he chooses to make a minister. He can appoint a minister only on the advice of the CM.
Major judicial observation in this regard

Ans. Shamsher Singh & Anr vs State Of Punjab (1974)
- The Supreme Court ruled that- the President and Governor exercise their formal constitutional powers only upon and in accordance with the advice of their Ministers save in a few well known exceptional situations.
What were the exception situations referred to?
- These situations could arise if:
1. The PM or CM cease to command majority in the House
2. The government loses majority but refuses to quit office
3. For the dissolution of the House where an appeal to the country is necessitous.
- But even in the third scenario, the President or Governor should avoid getting involved in politics and must be advised by his PM/CM who will eventually take the responsibility for the step the court ruled.
What did the founding fathers of the constitution believe?
- B R Ambedkar said- The Governor under the Constitution has no function which he can discharge by himself; no functions at all.
So what does the “pleasure” of the Governor mean?
- The Governor can have his pleasure as long as the government enjoys majority in the House.
- The Governor can withdraw his pleasure only when the government loses majority but refuses to quit.
- Then he withdraws the pleasure and dismisses it.
- Without the advice of the Chief Minister, a Governor can neither appoint nor dismiss a minister.
- That’s the constitutional position.
What maximum can a Governor do?
- If a minister lowers the dignity of the Governor or his office, as Kerala Governor has alleged, Raj Bhavan can ask the Chief Minister to inquire.
- If it is found that the minister has defamed or disrespected the Governor, he/ she can ask the Chief Minister to drop the minister.
- This does not mean the Governor has the right to dismiss the Chief Minister or ministers at will.
Attempts to moralize such situations

(1) National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution
- The NCRWC appointed by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2000 recommended significant changes in the selection of Governors.
- The Commission suggested that the Governor should be appointed after consultation with the CM of that State.
- Normally the five year term should be adhered to and removal or transfer of the Governor should be by following a similar procedure as for appointment.
(2) Sarkaria Commission
- The Sarkaria Commission was set up in 1983 to look into Centre-state relations.
- It proposed that the Vice President of India and the Speaker of Lok Sabha should be consulted by the Prime Minister in the selection of Governors. (without any logic behind explaining!)
(3) Punchhi Committee
- The Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi Committee was constituted in 2007 on Centre-state relations.
- It proposed in its report submitted in March 2010 that a committee comprising the PM, Home Minister, Vice President, Speaker, and the concerned Chief Minister should choose the Governor.
- The Punchhi Committee recommended deleting the “Doctrine of Pleasure” from the Constitution.
- However, it backed the right of the Governor to sanction the prosecution of ministers against the advice of the state government.
- It also argued for a provision for the impeachment of the Governor by the state legislature.
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October 19, 2022
International Solar Alliance approves funding mechanism
To bolster investments in solar power projects, the International Solar Alliance (ISA), in its General Assembly approved the ‘Solar Facility’, a payment guarantee mechanism.

What is Solar Facility?
- It is expected to stimulate investments into solar projects through two financial components:
1. Solar Payment Guarantee Fund and
2. Solar Insurance Fund
- The thrust of the facility is to attract private capital to flow into “underserved markets” in Africa.
- The ISA would aim to crowdsource investments from various donors across the globe and proposed projects in Africa would be able to purchase payment guarantees or partial insurance premium from these funds.
Why such move?
- ISA’s mission is to unlock US $1 trillion (₹80 lakh crore) of investments in solar power by 2030 while reducing cost of the technology and its financing.
What is International Solar Alliance (ISA)?
- The ISA is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
- It is headquartered in Gurugram, India.
- The primary objective of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
- The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization.
- The initiative was launched by PM Modi at the India Africa Summit and a meeting of member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015.
Objectives of the ISA
- To mobilize investments of more than USD 1000 billion by 2030
- To take coordinated action for better harmonization, aggregation of demand, risk and resources, for promoting solar finance, solar technologies, innovation, R&D, capacity building etc.
- Reduce the cost of finance to increase investments in solar energy in member countries
- Scale up applications of solar technologies in member countries
- Facilitate collaborative research and development (R&D) activities in solar energy technologies among member countries
- Promote a common cyber platform for networking, cooperation and exchange of ideas among member countries
What does ISA formation signify?
- Climate action commitment: It symbolizes about the sincerity of the developing nations towards their concern about climate change and to switch to a low-carbon growth path.
- Clean energy: India’s pledge to the Paris summit offered to bring 40% of its electricity generation capacity from non-fossil sources (renewable, large hydro, and nuclear) by 2030.
- Global electrification: India has pledged to let solar energy reach to the most unconnected villages and communities and also towards creating a clean planet.
- Global cooperation: It is based on world cooperation irrespective of global boundaries.
- India’s Soft power: For India, possible additional benefits from the alliance can be a strengthening of ties with the major African countries and increasing goodwill for India among them.
Key initiatives

[A] Global Solar Atlas
- ISA alliance has partnered with World Bank to launch Global Solar Atlas at an ISA event at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
- Global Solar Atlas is a free online tool that displays annual average solar power potential at any location in the world and thus identify potential sites for solar power generation.
[B] OSOWOG Initiative
- Under the ISA project, India envisaged having an interconnected power transmission grid across nations for the supply of clean energy.
- The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is ‘The Sun Never Sets’ and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
- With India at the fulcrum, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones viz. far East which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia etc. and far West which would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region.
Implementation
- The OSOWOG would have three phases.
1. Phase I: Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asia would be interconnected
2. Phase II: Solar and other renewable energy resources rich regions would be interconnected
3. Phase III: Global interconnection of the power transmission grid to achieve the One Sun One World One Grid vision
Benefits of the project
- Attracting investment: An interconnected grid would help all the participating entities in attracting investments in renewable energy sources as well as utilizing skills, technology and finances.
- Poverty alleviation: Resulting economic benefits would positively impact poverty alleviation and support in mitigating water, sanitation, food and other socio-economic challenges.
- Reduced project cost: The proposed integration would lead to reduced project costs, higher efficiencies and increased asset utilization for all the participating entities.
Various challenges
- Lack of Funding: Providing the money for promoting solar electricity among the members is a challenge. The Alliance has very little money of its own.
- Expensive implementation: The cost of power has two components. The variable cost is the payment made for the numbers of units of electricity purchased. In addition, the buyer is required to pay a certain amount towards the fixed cost of solar supply.
- Battery-based Storage: Solar electricity is available only during the day when the sun shines. Thus, the storage of electricity is a difficult task.
- Cross-border transmission: Solar electricity has to overcome the roadblocks of transmission. Cross-border transmission of electricity requires the establishment of transmission lines from the producer to the consumer country.
- Peak hour load: The demand for electricity, however, is more during the morning and evening which are called “peak hours”. But it can be produced when the sun is shining.
- Climate change: Sudden overcast and rainfall in many parts of the tropics has been a major issues these days. Such weather hampers solar energy production
- Desired global consensus: It is hindered with the issues of intricate geopolitics, unfavourable economics, unwarranted globalisation and undue centralization that act against the concept.
- Highly ambitious: In a nation like India, it took us this long to connect all the regions of the country through a national grid and we are talking about ‘one world, one grid’.
Way forward
- ISA should focus on its core goals such as- aggregating demand, tariff, technical collaborations, and financial assistance for achieving its target.
- It further needs to ensure that solar benefits are clear and tangible to users beyond its cost ambitions.
- ISA should demonstrate business models that are viable for users, suppliers and financiers.
- Further, the alliance should support member countries in implementing policies to expedite these business models.
- Geo-politically, this is being touted as a clever strategy however financially and technology-wise, this has to make sense.
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October 19, 2022
Will electoral bonds reveal the source of funds, SC asks Centre
The Supreme Court has asked the government whether the electoral bonds system reveals the source of money pumped in to fund political parties even as the Centre maintained that the scheme is “absolutely transparent”.

What are Electoral Bonds?
- Electoral bonds are banking instruments that can be purchased by any citizen or company to make donations to political parties, without the donor’s identity being disclosed.
- It is like a promissory note that can be bought by any Indian citizen or company incorporated in India from select branches of State Bank of India.
- The citizen or corporate can then donate the same to any eligible political party of his/her choice.
- An individual or party will be allowed to purchase these bonds digitally or through cheque.
About the scheme
- A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond
- Such bonds can be purchased for any value in multiples of ₹1,000, ₹10,000, ₹10 lakh, and ₹1 crore from any of the specified branches of the State Bank of India
- The purchaser will be allowed to buy electoral bonds only on due fulfillment of all the extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank account
- The bonds will have a life of 15 days (15 days time has been prescribed for the bonds to ensure that they do not become a parallel currency).
- Donors who contribute less than ₹20,000 to political parties through purchase of electoral bonds need not provide their identity details, such as Permanent Account Number (PAN).
Objective of the scheme
- Transparency in political funding: To ensure that the funds being collected by the political parties is accounted money or clean money.
Who can redeem such bonds?
- The Electoral Bonds shall be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorized Bank.
- Only the Political Parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last General Election to the Lok Sabha or the State Legislative Assembly, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds.
Restrictions that are done away
- Earlier, no foreign company could donate to any political party under the Companies Act
- A firm could donate a maximum of 7.5 per cent of its average three year net profit as political donations according to Section 182 of the Companies Act.
- As per the same section of the Act, companies had to disclose details of their political donations in their annual statement of accounts.
- The government moved an amendment in the Finance Bill to ensure that this proviso would not be applicable to companies in case of electoral bonds.
- Thus, Indian, foreign and even shell companies can now donate to political parties without having to inform anyone of the contribution.
Issues with the Scheme
- Opaque funding: While the identity of the donor is captured, it is not revealed to the party or public. So transparency is not enhanced for the voter.
- No IT break: Also income tax breaks may not be available for donations through electoral bonds. This pushes the donor to choose between remaining anonymous and saving on taxes.
- No anonymity for donors: The privacy of the donor is compromised as the bank will know their identity.
- Differential benefits: These bonds will help any party that is in power because the government can know who donated what money and to whom.
- Unlimited donations: The electoral bonds scheme and amendments in the Finance Act of 2017 allows for “unlimited donations from individuals and foreign companies to political parties without any record of the sources of funding”.
Way ahead
- The worries over the electoral bond scheme, however, go beyond its patent unconstitutionality.
- The concern about the possibility of misuse of funds is very pertinent.
- The EC has been demanding that a law be passed to make political parties liable to get their accounts audited by an auditor from a panel suggested by the CAG or EC. This should get prominence.
- Another feasible option is to establish a National Election Fund to which all donations could be directed.
- This would take care of the imaginary fear of political reprisal of the donors.
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October 18, 2022
Reality Check on India’s Hunger Index Rank
Context
- For the second time in two years, the Ministry of Women and Child Development rejected the Global Hunger Index (GHI) that ranked India 107 among 121 countries. India was accorded a score of 29.1 out of 100 (with 0 representing no hunger), placing it behind Sri Lanka (66), Myanmar (71), Nepal (81) and Bangladesh (84). It referred to the index as “an erroneous measure of hunger”.
All you need to know about Global Hunger Index
- Annual report: The GHI is a peer reviewed annual report that endeavours to “comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels”. Authors of the report primarily refer to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2(SDG 2) that endeavours to achieve ‘Zero Hunger’ by 2030.
- Four Indicators: According to them, the report attempts to “raise awareness and understanding of the struggle against hunger”. The GHI score is computed using four broad indicators under nourishment (measure of the proportion of the population facing chronic deficiency of dietary energy intake), child stunting (low height for age), child wasting (low weight for height) and child mortality (death of a child under the age of five).
Why these four Indicators are considered?
- To acknowledge undernourishment: As per the authors, it provides a basis to measure inadequate access to food and is among the lead indicators for international hunger targets, including the UN SDG 2. Child stunting and mortality, offers perspective about the child’s vulnerability to nutritional deficiencies, access to food and quality of nutrition.
- To address urgent requirement of nutrition: Since children (especially below five) are at a developmental age there is a greater and urgent requirement for nutrition with results particularly visible. This forms the basis of assessing nutritional requirement among children. Adults are at a sustainable age they are not growing but rather subsisting on nutrition for healthy survival. And lastly, on the same rationale, child mortality indicates the serious consequences of hunger.
- Uses data provided by Government: It explains that while FAO uses a suite of indicators on food security, including two important indicators — prevalence of undernourishment and prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity. The GHI only uses the data obtained through food balance sheets based on data reported by member countries, including India.
- Shows a picture of food supply chain: A food balance sheet provides a comprehensive picture of the pattern of a country’s food supply during a specified reference period. It lists down the source of the supply and its utilisation specific to each food category.
- Takes into account three child specific indicators: On why the GHI uses three child specific indicators out of the four to calculate hunger for a country’s population, the website explains, By combining the proportion of undernourished in the population(1/3 of the GHI score) with the indicators relating to children under age five (2/3of the GHI score), the GHI ensures that both the food supply situation of the population as a whole and the effects of inadequate nutrition within a vulnerable subset of the population are captured.
- International recognition: A Senior Policy Officer at the GHI said that, “All four indicators used in the calculation of the global hunger are recognised by the international community, including India, and used for measuring progress towards the UN SDGs.”
What are the Objections of Government of India?
- Very small sample size of the Index: As per the Ministry for Women and Child Development, the report lowers India’s rank based on the estimates of the Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population. It elaborates that the U.S. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimate is based on the ‘Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)’ survey module conducted using the Gallup World Poll that bears a sample size of 3,000 respondents being asked eight questions. It stated that the data represented a miniscule proportion for account of India’s size.
- Counter assertion by India’s dietary supply is increasing: It countered the assertions in the report pointing to India’s per capita dietary energy supply increasing year on year due to enhanced production of major agricultural commodities in the country over the years.
- Index doesn’t reflect the actual ground reality: According to the Ministry, the report is not only disconnected from ground reality but also chooses to ignore the food security efforts of the Central government especially during the pandemic.
- Efficient PMGKAY: The Union Cabinet through the Pradhan Mantri Garib KalyanAnn Yojana (PMGKAY) provisioned an additional 5 kg ration per person each month in addition to their normal quota of food grains.
What are the Government efforts to address the hunger issue so far?
- The Midday Meal Scheme: The Midday meal is a school meal programme in India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide.
- The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government, government aided, local body, Education Guarantee Scheme, and alternate innovative education centres, Madrasa supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the ministry of labour.
- Serving 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the Midday Meal Scheme is the largest of its kind in the world.
- PM-POSHAN: The name of the scheme has been changed to PM-POSHAN (Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman) Scheme, in September 2021, by MoE (Ministry of Education), which is nodal ministry for the scheme.
- The Central Government also announced that an additional 24 lakh students receiving pre-primary education at government & government-aided schools would also be included under the scheme by 2022.
Conclusion
- No country becomes great by dwarfing its people. India has certainly improved its poverty and hunger problems but there is still lot of ground yet to cover. Global hunger index may have exaggerated the India’s hunger issue but hunger problem in India is real if not substantial.
Mains Question

Q.Explain the methodology used by global hunger index report and India’s objection to it. What are the initiatives of government to reduce the hunger problem in India?

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October 17, 2022