💥UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (April Batch) + Access XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Archives: News

  • Electoral Reforms In India

    Sushil Chandra appointed Chief Election Commissioner

    Prelims Only | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    The President has appointed Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra to take over as Chief Election Commissioner.

    Chief Election Commissioner

    • The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India heads the Election Commission of India.
    • The ECI is a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and state legislatures and of President and Vice-President.
    • This power of the Election Commission of India is derived from Article 324 of the Constitution of India.
    • CEC of India is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly (not necessarily) from the Indian Administrative Service.

    His/ Her Removal

    • It is very difficult to remove the authority of the Chief Election Commissioner once appointed by the president.
    • The two-thirds of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha need to present and vote against him for disorderly conduct or improper actions.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Wildlife Conservation Efforts

    Indian Rhino Vision 2020

    Species | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    The ambitious Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV 2020) came to a close with the release of two rhinos — an adult male and a female — in Assam’s Manas National Park transported from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary about 185 km east.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Recently there was a proposal to translocate some of the lions from their natural habitat in Gujarat to which one of the following sites?

    (a) Corbett National Park

    (b) Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary

    (c) Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary

    (d) Sariska National Park

    What is IRV 2020?

    • In 2005, conservationists, alongside the Bodoland Territorial Council and the Government of Assam, came together to develop a long-term strategy to manage the species.
    • Their vision was ambitious; to build a 3,000-strong wild population of Greater one-horned rhinos by 2020, spread across seven sites in the state of Assam.
    • Thus the “Indian Rhino Vision 2020” (IRV2020) was born.

    Success of the IRV

    • Designed in 2005, the IRV2020 is believed to have achieved its target of attaining a population of 3,000 rhinos in Assam.
    • But the plan to spread the Rhinoceros unicornis across four protected areas beyond Kaziranga National Park, Orang National Park and Pobitora could not materialise.
    • Assam had at least five rhino-bearing areas till the 1980s.
    • Manas, in focus for the near-extinction of the pygmy hog, lost the World Heritage Site tag it received in 1985 along with Kaziranga from the UNESCO.
    • The translocated rhinos helped Manas National Park get back its World Heritage Site status in 2011.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Gravitational Wave Observations

    [pib] Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) Galaxy

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Astronomers have discovered a new active galaxy identified as the farthest gamma-ray emitting galaxy that has so far been stumbled upon. This active galaxy called the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxy.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Recently, scientists observed the merger of giant ‘blackholes’ billions of light-years away from the Earth. What is the significance of this observation?

    (a) ‘Higgs boson particles’ were detected.

    (b) ‘Gravitational waves’ were detected.

    (c) Possibility of inter-galactic space travel through ‘wormhole’ was confirmed.

    (d) It enabled scientists to understand ‘singularity’.

    NLS1 Galaxy

    • Indian scientists have studied around 25,000 luminous Active galactic nuclei (AGN) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
    • They identified it as a gamma-ray emitting NLS1 galaxy, which is a rare entity in space.
    • It is about 31 billion light-years away, opens up avenues to explore more such gamma-ray emitting galaxies that wait to meet us.

    What makes it intriguing?

    • Ever since 1929, when Edwin Hubble discovered that the Universe is expanding, it has been known that most other galaxies are moving away from us.
    • Light from these galaxies is shifted to longer (and this means redder) wavelengths – in other words, it is red-shifted.
    • Scientists have been trying to trace such red-shifted galaxies to understand the early Universe.
    • Powerful relativistic jets, or sources of particles in the Universe travelling nearly at speed to light, are usually produced by AGN powered by large black holes and hosted in a giant elliptical galaxy.

    Why NLS1 is unique?

    • NLS1s are a unique class of AGN that are powered by the black hole of low mass and hosted in a spiral galaxy.
    • As of today, gamma-ray emission has been detected in about a dozen NLS1 galaxies, which are a separate class of AGN identified four decades ago.
    • All of them are at redshifts lesser than one, and no method was present to date to find NLS1 at redshifts larger than one.
    • This discovery opens up a new way to find gamma-ray emitting NLS1 galaxies in the early Universe.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Agricultural Sector and Marketing Reforms – eNAM, Model APMC Act, Eco Survey Reco, etc.

    [pib] E-SANTA: Electronic marketplace to connect Aqua farmers and buyers

    PIB | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Economics Of Animal-Rearing

    Union Commerce and Industry Ministry has inaugurated E-SANTA, an electronic marketplace providing a platform to connect aqua farmers and buyers.

    Note:

    Aquaculture also known as aquafarming is the farming of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, aquatic plants, algae, and other organisms. It involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish.

    Mariculture commonly known as marine farming refers to aquaculture practiced in marine environments and in underwater habitats, opposed to in freshwater.

    E-SANTA

    • The term e-SANTA was coined for the web portal, meaning Electronic Solution for Augmenting NaCSA farmers’ Trade-in Aquaculture.
    • It will enable the farmers to get a better price and the exporters to directly purchase quality products from the farmers enhancing traceability, a key factor in international trade.
    • National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture (NaCSA) is an extension arm of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
    • It will raise income, lifestyle, self-reliance, quality levels, traceability, and provide new options for our aqua farmers.
    • The platform will change the traditional way of carrying out business from a word of mouth basis to become more formalized & legally binding.

    E-SANTA will RAISE the lives & income of farmers by:

    1. Reducing Risk
    2. Awareness of Products & Markets
    3. Increase in Income
    4. Shielding Against Wrong Practice
    5. Ease of Processes

    Its’ utility

    • E-SANTA is a Digital Bridge to end the market divide and will act as an alternative marketing tool between farmers & buyers by eliminating middlemen.
    • It will revolutionize traditional aqua farming by providing cashless, contactless and paperless electronic trade platform between farmers and exporters.
    • It can become a tool to advertise collectively the kind of products the buyers, fishermen & fish producing organisations are harvesting.

    How does it work?

    • E-SANTA is a completely paperless and end-to-end electronic trade platform between Farmers and exporters.
    • The farmers have the freedom to list their products and quote their price while the exporters have the freedom to list their requirements and also to choose the products based on their requirements.
    • This enables the farmers and buyers to have greater control over the trade and enables them to make informed decisions.
    • The platform provides a detailed specification of each product listing and it is backed by an end to end electronic payment system with NaCSA as an Escrow agent.
    • After crop listing and online negotiation, a deal is struck, advance payment is made and an estimated invoice is generated.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    [pib] MANAS Platform

    PIB | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The MANAS App to promote wellbeing across age groups was recently launched.

    Name, acronym and the purpose; thats all. The rest of the theory is of less importance.

    MANAS Platform

    • MANAS is an acronym for Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System.
    • It is a comprehensive, scalable, and national digital wellbeing platform and an app developed to augment the mental well-being of Indian citizens.
    • MANAS was initiated by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and jointly executed by NIMHANS Bengaluru, AFMC Pune and C-DAC Bengaluru.
    • It was endorsed as a national program by the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).
    • It integrates the health and wellness efforts of various government ministries, scientifically validated indigenous tools with gamified interfaces developed/researched by various national bodies and research institutions.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • New Species of Plants and Animals Discovered

    Monkeydactyl: the flying reptile with the ‘oldest opposable thumbs’

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Researchers have described a pterosaur species with opposable thumbs, which could likely be the earliest-known instance of the limb.

    Monkeydactyl

    • The pterosaur species were reptiles, close cousins of dinosaurs and the first animals after insects to evolve powered flight.
    • They evolved into various species; while some were as large as an F-16 fighter jet, others were as small as paper aeroplanes.
    • The new pterosaur fossil was discovered in the Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning, China, and is thought to be 160 million years old.
    • It has now been described by an international team of researchers from China, Brazil, the UK, Denmark and Japan, and has been named Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, also dubbed “Monkeydactyl”.

    What has the team found?

    • “Antipollicatus” in ancient Greek means “opposite thumbs”, and it was attached to the name because the researchers’ findings could be the first discovery of a pterosaur with an opposed thumb.
    • Researchers suggested that K. antipollicatus could have used its hand for grasping, which is likely an adaptation for arboreal life.

    What makes it special?

    • Opposability of the thumb enables the species to “simultaneously flex, abduct and medially rotate the thumb” in a way that one is able to bring the tip of the thumb to touch the tips of the other fingers.
    • Along with humans, some ancient monkeys and apes also had opposable thumbs. Humans, however, have a relatively long and distally placed thumb, and larger thumb muscles.
    • This means that humans’ tip-to-tip precision grip when holding smaller objects is superior to non-human primates.
    • This is the reason that humans are able to hold a pen, unscrew an earring stopper, or put a thread through a needle hole.
    • The grasping hands of primates developed as a result of their life in the trees — an opposable thumb made it easier for the common ancestor of all primates to cling on to tree branches.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Some species of plants are insectivorous. Why?

    (a) Their growth in shady and dark places does not allow them to undertake sufficient photosynthesis and thus they depend on insects for nutrition

    (b) They are adapted to grow in nitrogen deficient soils and thus depend on insects for sufficient nitrogenous nutrition

    (c) They cannot synthesize certain vitamins themselves and depend on the insects digested by them

    (d) They have remained in that particular stage of evolution as living fossils, a link between autotrophs and heterotrophs

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    NCAHP Bill 2020

    | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The article highlights the key aspects of NCAHP Bill 2020 which recognises the allied healthcare professionals and seeks to regulate and set the standards of education.

    Regulating allied health professions

    • The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Bill, 2020 (NCAHP) was passed by Parliament in March.
    • Global evidence demonstrates the vital role of allied professionals in the delivery of healthcare services.
    • They are the first to recognise the problems of the patients and serve as safety nets.
    • Their awareness of patient care accountability adds tremendous value to the healthcare team in both the public and private sectors.
    • The passage of this Bill has the potential to overhaul the entire allied health workforce by establishing institutes of excellence and regulating the scope of practice by focusing on task shifting and task-re distribution.

    What the Bill provides for

    • This legislation provides for regulation and maintenance of standards of education and services by allied and healthcare professionals and the maintenance of a central register of such professionals.
    • It recognises over 50 professions such as physiotherapists, optometrists, nutritionists, medical laboratory professionals, radiotherapy technology professionals, which had hitherto lacked a comprehensive regulatory mechanism.
    • This Bill classifies allied professionals using the International System of Classification of Occupations (ISCO code).
    • This facilitates global mobility and enables better opportunities for such professionals.
    • The Act aims to establish a central statutory body as a National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions.
    • The Bill has the provision for state councils to execute major functions through autonomous boards.

    Shift in perception and policy in healthcare delivery

    • There has been a paradigm shift in perception, policy, and programmatic interventions in healthcare delivery in India since 2017.
    • In the past, curative healthcare received substantially greater attention than preventive and promotive aspects.
    • Ayushman Bharat as a programmatic intervention, with its two pillars of Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), operationalised certain critical recommendations of the National Health Policy, 2017, emphasising wellness in healthcare.
    • With PMJAY, the neediest are protected from catastrophic expenditure and India took the first step towards delivering comprehensive primary healthcare with HWCs.

    Conclusion

    Caring for patients with mental conditions, the elderly, those in need of palliative services, and enabling professional services for lifestyle change related to physical activity and diets, all require a trained, allied health workforce. The NCAHP is not only timely but critical to this changing paradigm.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-SAARC Nations

    BIMSTEC

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    More than two decades after its formation, BIMSTEC still remains a work in progress. And it has many obstacles to overcome. The article highlights challenges and progress made so far.

    Background of BIMSTEC

    • The foreign ministers of BIMSTEC (the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) met virtually on April 1.
    • It was established as a grouping of four nations — India, Thailand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — through the Bangkok Declaration of 1997 to promote rapid economic development.
    • BIMSTEC was expanded later to include three more countries — Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.
    • It moved at a leisurely pace during its first 20 years with only three summits held and a record of modest achievements.

    Growing significance

    • BIMSTEC suddenly received special attention when India chose to treat it as a more practical instrument for regional cooperation over a faltering SAARC.
    • The BIMSTEC Leaders’ Retreat, followed by their Outreach Summit with the BRICS leaders in Goa in October 2016, drew considerable international limelight to the low-profile regional grouping.
    • At the fourth leaders’ summit in Kathmandu in 2018, a plan for institutional reform and renewal that would encompass economic and security cooperation was devised.
    • It took the important decision to craft a charter to provide BIMSTEC with a more formal and stronger foundation.
    • The shared goal now is to head towards “a Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region”.

    Why the recent summit is important

    • In the recent virtual summit, the foreign ministers cleared the draft for the BIMSTEC charter.
    • They endorsed the rationalisation of sectors and sub-sectors of activity, with each member-state serving as a lead for the assigned areas of special interest.
    • The ministers also conveyed their support for the Master Plan for Transport Connectivity.
    • Preparations have been completed for the signing of three agreements:
    • 1) Mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
    • 2) Cooperation between diplomatic academies.
    • 3) The establishment of a technology transfer facility in Colombo.

    Lack of progress on trade

    • In the recent deliberation, there was no reference to the lack of progress on the trade and economic dossier.
    • A January 2018 study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry had suggested that BIMSTEC urgently needed a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement to be a real game-changer.
    • Ideally, it should cover trade in goods, services and investment; promote regulatory harmonisation; adopt policies that develop regional value chains, and eliminate non-tariff barriers.
    • Also lacking was an effort to enthuse and engage the vibrant business communities of these seven countries.
    • Over 20 rounds of negotiations to operationalise the BIMSTEC Free Trade Area Framework Agreement, signed in 2004, are yet to bear fruit.

    Achievements

    • Much has been achieved in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and security, including counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and coastal security cooperation.
    • India has led through constant focus and follow-up.
    • While national business chambers are yet to be optimally engaged with the BIMSTEC project, the academic and strategic community has shown ample enthusiasm through the BIMSTEC Network of Policy Think Tanks and other fora.

    Challenges

    • A strong BIMSTEC presupposes cordial and tension-free bilateral relations among all its member-states.
    • However, there has been tensions in India-Nepal, India-Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh-Myanmar ties in recent years.
    • Second, uncertainties over SAARC hovers, complicating matters. Both Kathmandu and Colombo want the SAARC summit revived, even as they cooperate within BIMSTEC, with diluted zeal.
    • Third, China’s decisive intrusion in the South-Southeast Asian space has cast dark shadows.
    • Finally, the military coup in Myanmar and the continuation of popular resistance resulting in a protracted impasse have produced a new set of challenges.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges BIMSTEC faces in emerging as an alternative to the SAARC? What are its achievements?”

    Conclusion

    The grouping needs to reinvent itself, possibly even rename itself as ‘The Bay of Bengal Community’. It should consider holding regular annual summits. Only then will its leaders convince the region about their strong commitment to the new vision they have for this unique platform linking South Asia and Southeast Asia.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Coronavirus – Economic Issues

    An aggressive vaccination drive holds the key to economic revival

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    The article highlights the challenges posed by the second wave of covid and how aggressive vaccination could help dealing with the issue.

    Severe second covid wave in India

    • India’s daily new cases have surged past 1,50,000, much above the first peak.
    • In India’s first wave, the increase from 50,000 to about 1,00,000 cases took about 50 days; in the second wave, it’s taken just 13.
    • To start with, the second wave was more concentrated, with Maharashtra accounting for 60 per cent of cases.
    • While the top five states still account for about 65 per cent of cases, the reproduction (R) factor in almost 10 states is estimated to be two or higher, creating risks for a wider and more rapid spread, if unaddressed.

    Lessons from the first wave

    • Policymakers, businesses and households have all learnt from the first wave and with the private sector better adapted to “live with the virus”.
    • Therefore, the economic costs should hopefully not be comparable to the first wave. Yet, they may not be trivial either.
    • The five states that account for 65 per cent of new cases also account for almost 36 per cent of GDP.
    • As virus cases have grown and restrictions have been imposed, retail and recreational mobility across these five states, is down 10 per cent since mid-March.
    • Labour market surveys have also begun to show discernable impacts on both participation and unemployment rates.

    Implications of unequal recovery for developing countries

    • The IMF projects India’s FY22 growth at 12.5 per cent, this would still leave India about 8-9 per cent below the level of output that was projected pre-pandemic for the end of 2021-22.
    • The challenge for emerging markets is that, given the quantum of fiscal and monetary space expended in combating the first wave, space to respond to subsequent waves will be constrained.
    •  Owing to the fiscal support and pace of vaccinations the US will be the only large economy, apart from China, to surpass its pre-pandemic path.
    • This, resulted in increased US yields, tightened global financial conditions, induced dollar strength and triggered
    • All this makes it harder for emerging economies to respond expansively to domestic shocks.
    • In effect, the heterogeneity of the recovery across developed and emerging markets is imposing policy constraints on the latter which, ironically, will simply compound the economic divergence.

    Challenges for India

    • India’s fiscal space to respond to a second wave appears constrained due to the following two factors:
    • 1) In India’s case, consolidated public debt will approach 90 per cent of GDP.
    • 2) The consolidated public sector borrowing requirements are budgeted above 11 per cent of GDP in FY22.
    • The dependence on budgeted asset sales has only increased, both as a hedge to tax revenues that could be impacted from a second wave, and as a means of protecting expenditures.
    • It will be equally crucial to leaving enough space for higher MGNREGA demand and other safety nets on account of a second wave, even while protecting capital expenditures — which generate large multiplier effects on the economy.
    • Similarly, monetary policy is already very accommodative, and with core inflation sticky and elevated, global deflationary pressures entrenched, there are natural limits to the degree of more monetary accommodation.

    Aggressive vaccination is the key

    • Israel, the UK and the US have all demonstrated how aggressive vaccinations can bend the COVID-curve.
    • Therefore, the Indian government’s decision to approve a third vaccine and fast-track emergency approval for foreign-produced vaccines is unambiguously positive.
    • On the demand side, of an estimated 100-110 million population of seniors (60-plus) in India, only about 40 million have taken the vaccine over the last six weeks, suggesting a reluctance to get vaccinated.
    • But, in fact, it’s crucial to ensure the vulnerable — those whose probability of hospitalisation is the highest — are fully vaccinated to reduce pressure on the health infrastructure.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges posed to the developing countries by heterogeneity of recovery across the developed and developing countries?

    Conclusion

    Vaccinations should be construed as simultaneously delivering both a positive demand and supply shock (for the economy), and a negative demand shock (for health infrastructure), thereby providing the best chance to decisively break the trade-offs between lives and livelihoods that bedevilled emerging markets all of last year.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Pakistan

    India’s South Asian opportunity

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    India-Pakistan relations weigh down heavily on the SAARC. This affects the economic development of the region. The highlight opportunity for India and Pakistan to separate politics from economics.

    Economic integration

    • There is a growing, but unstated, realisation that neither India nor Pakistan can wrest parts of Kashmir that each controls from the other.
    • A fair peace between India and Pakistan is not just good for the two states but for all the nations constituting the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
    • While SAARC has facilitated limited collaborations among its members, it has remained a victim of India-Pakistan posturing.
    • World Bank publication titled ‘A Glass Half Full’ conclude that there is explosive value to be derived from South Asian economic integration.
    • An economically transformed and integrated South Asian region could advantageously link up with China’s Belt and Road Initiative and even join the RCEP.

    Important role of India

    • Collectively with a population of slightly over 1.9 billion, South Asia has a GDP (PPP) of $12 trillion.
    • However, India’s enjoys an overwhelming ‘size imbalance’ in South Asia.
    • The shares of India in the total land area, population, and real GDP of South Asia in 2016 are 62%, 75%, and 83%, respectively.
    • The two other big countries in South Asia are Pakistan and Bangladesh with shares in regional GDP of only 7.6% and 5.6%, respectively.
    • Given its size and heft, only India can take the lead in transforming a grossly under-performing region like South Asia.

    Consider the question “How India-Pakistan relations affects the potential of SAARC? Examine the role both countries can play in the prosperity of the region through economic integration.”

    Conclusion

    This is the moment for India to think big and act big. But for that to happen, India needs to view peace with Pakistan not as a bilateral matter, but as essential and urgent, all the while viewing it as a chance of a lifetime, to dramatically transform South Asia for the better, no less.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

Join the Community

Join us across Social Media platforms.