Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chumbi Valley
Mains level: Paper 2- What China's new boundary law mean for India?
Context
The latest in the series of aggressive Chinese actions is the use of lawfare through the passing of the “Land Boundary Law” on October 21 which became effective this week.
Background of the Chinese approach
- The last residue of the Qing dynasty was wiped out in the 1911 revolution when China was established as a republic.
- The republic was again overthrown in 1949 by the Chinese Communist Party.
- Three successive Chinese governments in China refused to delineate or demarcate the boundary with either Tibet or India.
- British archival records, many declassified points to attempts made by Imperial Britain to formally formulate a boundary with China.
- Yet, all three regimes were united in their refusal to accept a formal limiting of China’s territorial expanse and kept their response ambiguous.
- Even during the Simla Convention of 1913-14, when the Republic was ascendant in China, there was a vehement refusal to recognise any demarcation of boundaries between Tibet and China.
Strong-arm tactics against India
- Having operated from a maximalist position to settle its borders with 12 of its 14 neighbours so far, China has attempted to use the same strong-arm tactics with both India and Bhutan.
- It has offered to forgo its claims in the larger parts of North Bhutan in lieu of gaining a relatively smaller area in West Bhutan.
- Threat to Siliguri corridor: This seeming magnanimity is calculated to expand into the Chumbi Valley in the South, threatening the narrow and strategic Siliguri corridor in India.
- In its latest move, China has made a new claim on Sakteng sanctuary in Bhutan which may form a launchpad for future operations against Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
- China has also strengthened its collusion with Pakistan.
- There is a deliberate attempt by China to physically link with Pakistan in the Northern Areas by removing the Indian wedge of DBO, the doorway to the Karakoram Pass.
- A Training Mobilisation Order (TMO) issued by Xi Jinping in January 2020 called for “confrontational training” for its troops and officers to assess their preparedness, especially in light of the new reforms undertaken by the PLA.
- These factors seem to be the tactical beginnings of China’s grand strategy which also saw China flexing in the South China Sea and Taiwan, almost simultaneously.
China making use of lawfare and implications for India
- The latest in the series of aggressive Chinese actions is the use of lawfare through the passing of the “Land Boundary Law”.
- Formalises and legalises land Chinese grab: The law formalises and legalises China’s geographic creep towards Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh and parts of eastern Ladakh and creates conditions for using newly-constructed border villages close to the LAC for claiming sovereignty over disputed areas.
- The import of the law is most critical for India but will affect China’s disputes with other countries too.
- What China has done, therefore, is convert a territory dispute over borders into a sovereignty dispute which precludes any give or take of territory.
- China will attempt to settle its Han population in the Tibetan regions, reversing established demographic patterns and at the same time.
- Future negotiations over territory, if they occur, will then refer to the Border Defence Cooperation Agreements of 2005 and 2012 which call for border settlements to be done keeping in mind the local population in the border regions.
Way forward
- A deliberate thought process needs to be evolved to offset our disadvantages as purely military actions may not solve the situation in the long term.
Conclusion
What emerges clearly is that by adopting the Land Boundary Law, in conjunction with its physical actions on the LAC, China has consolidated its position in eastern Ladakh and kept possibilities open in Arunachal Pradesh.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: REDD+
Mains level: Paper 3- Ensuring participation of people to achieve desired target of carbon sequestration
Context
India’s pledge to set a net-zero target by 2070, at the COP26 summit, Glasgow, has again highlighted the importance of forests to help mitigate the challenges of climate change.
Need for sustainable management of forests
- The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) framework (2013) of REDD+ for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation has highlighted the importance of forest along with the ‘sustainable management of forests for the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks’.
- Land-based sinks: In a study by Griscom (2017), land-based sinks (natural climate solutions which also include forests) can provide up to 37% of emission reduction and help in keeping the global temperature below 2° C.
- Natural regeneration model: Recent research has favoured a natural regeneration model of restoration over the existing much-hyped mode of tree planting as such forests are said to secure nearly 32% carbon storage, as per one report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Degradation and deforestation in India
- As per the State of Forests Report (1989), the country had 2,57,409 sq.km (7.83% of its geographical area) under the open forest category, having a density of 10% to less than 40%.
- However, in 30 years (2019) this has been increased to 3,04,499 sq. km (9.26%).
- This means every year on average, nearly 1.57 lakh hectare of forests was degraded.
- Anthropogenic pressure: This degradation highlights the presence of anthropogenic pressures including encroachment, grazing, fire, which our forests are subjected to.
Need for the participation of people to achieve target of carbon sequestration
- The degradation warrants the participation of people as an essential and effective route to achieve the desired target of carbon sequestration through the restoration of forests.
- As envisaged in National Forest Policy, 1988, India made its attempt, in 1990, to engage local communities in a partnership mode while protecting and managing forests and restoring wastelands with the concept of care and share.
- Later, the concept of forest development agencies was introduced to consolidate the efforts in an autonomous model.
- Creation of joint forest management committees: The efforts to make this participatory approach operative resulted in the formation of nearly 1.18 lakh joint forest management committees managing over 25 million hectares of forest area.
- Most of these became active and operative while implementing various projects financed by external agencies such as the World Bank, the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) Japan, the Department for International Development (DFID) United Kingdom and the European Union (EU).
- A similar system of joint management in the case of national parks, sanctuaries and tiger reserves which existed in the name of eco-development committees initially proved effective.
- However, the completion of the project period and lack of subsequent funding affected their functionality and also the protection of forests due to a lack of support from participating local communities including associated non-governmental organisations.
- Customary participation: Except for the National Mission for Green India, in all other centrally sponsored programmes such as Project Tiger, fire management, Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH) including the Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), the lack of priority and policy support to ensure the participation of local communities via the institutions of joint forest management committees slowly made their participation customary.
- This caused a gradual decline in their effectiveness.
- Role change: The role of local institutions of gram panchayat or joint forest management committees is now restricted to be a consultative institution instead of being partners in planning and implementation.
- Implications of role change: This indifference and alienation from the participatory planning and implementation of various schemes
Way forward
- Revisit legal and policy mechanism: To achieve net-zero targets there is a need to revisit our existing legal and policy mechanisms.
- Incentivise local communities: We also need to incentivise the local communities appropriately and ensure fund flow for restoration interventions.
- There is a need for duly providing for the adequate participation of local people in planning and implementation through local institutions.
- Replicate Telangana model: Political priority and appropriate policy interventions as done recently in Telangana by amending the panchayat and municipal acts and creating a provision for Telangana Haritha Nidhi need replication in other States.
- Financial and institutional support mechanisms: These should be supported by enabling financial and institutional support mechanisms and negotiations with stakeholders
- Though India did not become a signatory of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, the considerations of land tenure and the forest rights of participatory communities with accelerated finances will help aid steps in the race toward net zero.
Consider the question “India is witnessing enormous degradation of forests and deforestation. This warrants the participation of people as an essential and effective route to achieve the desired target of carbon sequestration. In context of this, elaborate the importance of people participation and suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
This inclusive approach with political prioritisation will not only help reduce emissions but also help to conserve and increase ‘our forest cover’ to ‘a third of our total area’. It will also protect our once rich and precious biological diversity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 44
Mains level: Need for UCC
The Centre has informed the Delhi HC that it was awaiting the report of the Law Commission of India, which is examining various issues relating to the Uniform Civil Code.
What is a Uniform Civil Code?
- A Uniform Civil Code is one that would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.
- Article 44, one of the directive principles of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code 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.
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 on 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.
UCC vs. Right to Freedom of Religion
- Article 25 lays down an individual’s fundamental right to religion;
- Article 26(b) upholds the right of each religious denomination or any section thereof to “manage its own affairs in matters of religion”;
- Article 29 defines the right to conserve distinctive culture.
- 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.
Enacting and Enforcing UCC
- Fundamental rights are enforceable in a court of law.
- While Article 44 uses the words “state shall endeavour”, other Articles in the ‘Directive Principles’ chapter use words such as “in particular strive”; “shall in particular direct its policy”; “shall be obligation of the state” etc.
- Article 43 mentions “state shall endeavour by suitable legislation” while the phrase “by suitable legislation” is absent in Article 44.
- All this implies that the duty of the state is greater in other directive principles than in Article 44.
What are more important — fundamental rights or directive principles?
- There is no doubt that fundamental rights are more important.
- The Supreme Court held in Minerva Mills (1980): Indian Constitution is founded on the bed-rock of the balance between Parts III (Fundamental Rights) and IV (Directive Principles).
- To give absolute primacy to one over the other is to disturb the harmony of the Constitution.
- Article 31C inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, however, lays down that if a law is made to implement any directive principle, it cannot be challenged on the ground of being violative of the FRs under Articles 14 and 19.
What about Personal Laws?
- Citizens belonging to different religious 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.
- But “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.
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 organisations, including Hindu organisations.
- 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.
Conclusion
- Article 44 of the Constitution creates an obligation upon the State to endeavour to secure for citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the country.
- The purpose behind UCC is to strengthen the object of “Secular Democratic Republic” as enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution.
- This provision is provided to effect integration of India by bringing communities on the common platform on matters which are at present governed by diverse personal laws.
- Hence it UCC should be enforced taking into confidence all the sections of Indian society.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GDP computation and various terminologies
Mains level: National Income Accounting
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released the First Advance Estimates (FAE) for the current financial year (2021-22 or FY22).
Tap to read more about:
National Income Determination, GDP, GNP, NDP, NNP, Personal Income
What is GDP?
- GDP measures the monetary value of all goods and services produced within the domestic boundaries of a country within a timeframe (generally, a year).
- It is slightly different from the other commonly used statistic for national income — the GNP.
- The Gross National Product (GNP) measures the monetary value of all goods and services by the people and companies of a country regardless of where this value was created.
GDP estimates for FY22
- According to MoSPI, India’s GDP will grow by 9.2 per cent in 2020-21.
- Last financial year, FY21, the GDP had contracted by 7.3%.
What are the First Advance Estimates of GDP?
- The FAE, which were first introduced in 2016-17, are typically published at the end of the first week of January.
- They are the “first” official estimates of how GDP is expected to grow in that financial year.
- But they are also the “advance” estimates because they are published long before the financial year (April to March) is over.
- It is important to note that even though the FAE are published soon after the end of the third quarter (October, November, December), they do not include the formal Q3 GDP data.
- Q3 data is published at the end of February as part of the Second Advance Estimates (SAE).
Significance of FAE
- Budgetary calculations: Since the SAE will be published next month, the main significance of FAE lies in the fact that they are the GDP estimates that the Union Finance Ministry uses to decide the next financial year’s budget allocations.
- Basis for nominal GDP: From the Budget-making perspective, it is important to note what has happened to nominal GDP — both absolute level and its growth rate. That’s because nominal GDP is the actual observed variable.
Note: Real GDP, which is the GDP after taking away the effect of inflation, is a derived metric. All Budget calculations start with the nominal GDP.
Real GDP = Nominal GDP — Inflation Rate
The difference between the real and nominal GDP shows the levels of inflation in the year.
How are the FAE arrived at before the end of the concerned financial year?
Ans. Benchmark-Indicator method
- The FAE are derived by extrapolating (uses ratio and proportion) the available data.
- The approach for compiling the Advance Estimates is based on Benchmark-Indicator method.
- In this, the estimates available for the previous year (2020-21 in this case) are extrapolated using relevant indicators reflecting the performance of sectors.”
What are the main takeaways?
#1 GDP Growth
- At 9.2%, the real GDP growth rate for FY22 is slightly lower than most expectations, including RBI’s, which pegged it at 9.5%.
- These estimates are based on data before the rise of the Omicron variant.
#2 Role of high inflation
- For FY22, while real GDP (with 2011-12 base prices) will grow by 9.2%, nominal GDP (calculated using current market prices) will grow by a whopping 17.6%.
- The difference between the two growth rates — about 8.5 percentage points — is essentially a marker of inflation (or the rate at which average prices have increased in this financial year).
#3 Private consumption continues to struggle
- The FAE analyses the three main contributors to GDP — private consumption demand, investments in the economy, and government expenditures.
- It shows that while the latter two are expected to claw back to the pre-Covid level, the first engine will continue to stay in a slump.
#4 Average Indian is much worse off
- For the bulk of the Indian population, thus, aggregate data recovering to pre-Covid levels are largely academic.
- An average Indian has lost almost 2 years in terms of income levels and 3 years in terms of spending levels.
Try this PYQ:
Q. In the context of Indian economy, consider the following statements:
- The growth rate of GDP has steadily increased in the last five years.
- The growth rate in per capita income has steadily increased in the last five years.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Note: There can be no absolute answers to such questions unless the year is mentioned. Still try to substantiate your answer with the FY21 context.
Do post it here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gene sequencing, RTPCR
Mains level: COVID diagnosis
Omisure — India’s first home-grown testing kit has recently received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India.
About Omisure
- Omisure is an omicron detecting RT-PCR kit developed by the Mumbai-based Tata Medical and Diagnostics Ltd (TATA MD) in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
- It can differentiate the omicron strain of the novel coronavirus from the delta, alpha and the other variants in under four hours.
- It can diagnose this variant in a single step
How does it work?
- This new kit can identify the Omicron variant by targeting two regions of the S or the spike gene.
- This gene codes for the spike protein, which helps the novel coronavirus enter and infect human cells.
- The S, the Enveloped (E), and Nucleocapsid (N) genes are some of the targets of conventional RT-PCR tests.
- When it detects these genes, a patient sample is labelled positive. As omicron bears heavy mutations in the S gene, the RT-PCR can sometimes miss it.
- The absence of S gene likely indicates omicron’s presence.
- This is called S gene dropout or S gene target failure — and is one of the targets of Omisure.
How does Omisure compare with gene sequencing?
- Gene sequencing reads the order of nucleotides, which are the building blocks of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).
- Despite being considered the gold standard, sequencing has a few limitations.
- It is slow, expensive and complicated. It is a multi-step process.
- It begins with extracting the virus’ RNA from patient samples, converting it into DNA, amplifying or multiplying it through RT-PCR before finally sending it for gene sequencing.
- This entire process can take as many as three days.
Back2Basics:
PCR Test for Diagnosis of the COVID-19
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TOP Scheme
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has approved the inclusion of Alpine Skiing athlete Mohammad Arif Khan in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Core group.
Target Olympic Podium Scheme
- In order to improve India’s performance at the Olympics and Paralympics, the MYAS started the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in September 2014.
- It includes foreign training, international competition, equipment, and coaching camp besides a monthly stipend of Rs. 50,000/- for each athlete.
- It was particularly launched for India’s Olympic medal dream, at the 2016 (Rio) and 2020 (Tokyo) Olympics.
How does it function?
- The Mission Olympic Cell is a dedicated body created to assist the athletes who are selected under the TOP Scheme.
- The MOC is under the Chairmanship of the Director-General, Sports Authority of India (DG, SAI).
- The idea of the MOC is to debate, discuss and decide the processes and methods so that the athlete receives the best assistance.
- The MOC also focuses on the selection, exclusion, and retention of athletes, coaches, training institutes that can receive TOPS assistance.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ex Sea Dragon 22
Mains level: Maritime cooperations for Indo-Pacific
India is among the six Indo-Pacific nations participating in Exercise Sea Dragon 22.
Sea Dragon 22
- It is a multi-lateral anti-submarine warfare exercise in the Pacific Ocean hosted by the US.
- The exercise includes the navies of India, Australia, Canada, Japan, the US and South Korea.
- India, Japan, Australia and America are also part of the Quad, and also participate in the Malabar exercise.
- It includes in-flight training, ranging from tracking simulated targets to the final problem of tracking a live US Navy submarine.
Significance of the exercise
- The exercise is significant as almost all of the participating countries have strained relations with China.
- China is expanding its prowess in the Indo-Pacific under its Look West Policy.
Also, take time to read about all major exercises:
Various Defence Exercises in News
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