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  • Important Judgements In News

    Understanding the significance of Kesavananda Bharati case

    op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    The article revisits the impact and significance of the case for the democracy in India.

    Understanding the Basic Structure doctrine

    • Basic Structure and essential features doctrine was expounded in the Kesavananda Bharati case.
    • In the case, the validity of the 29th amendment which immunised, in the Ninth Schedule Kerala’s takeover of the religious mutt’s property was challenged.
    • Basic structure is the power of judicial review and essential features are what the Court identifies as such in the exercise of that power.
    • Justice Bhagwati remarkably enunciated as an essential feature the “harmony” between fundamental rights and directive principles.
    • The crucial message though is that the apex court has, in the rarest of rare cases, the constituent power to pronounce a constitutional amendment invalid.

    Limits on the powers of Supreme Court

    • The Court is bound by the “golden triangle” of rights created by Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution.
    • Court must derive the “spirit” of the Constitution by reference to the provisions of the Constitution.
    • Since 1973, the evidence shows the Apex Court has shown utmost democratic responsibility and rectitude in interpreting the doctrine of BSEF.

    Consider the question asked by the UPSC in 2019 “Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution is limited power and it cannot be enlarged into absolute power”. In light of this statement explain whether parliament under article 368 of the constitution can destroy the Basic Structure of the Constitution by expanding its amending power? “

    Conclusion

    The ultimate message of BSEF doctrine is not merely to set limits to the power of the managers of people, but to make little by little the tasks of emancipation less onerous.

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  • Delhi Full Statehood Issue

    New Bill on powers of Delhi government, Lieutenant Governor

    | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Federalism

    The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is likely to introduce legislation in the ongoing Parliament session to amend a 1991 Act pertaining to the powers and function of the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Consider the following statements

    1. Union territories are not represented in the Rajya Sabha.
    2. It is within the purview of the Chief Election Commissioner to adjudicate the election disputes.
    3. According to the constitution of India, the Parliament consists of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha only.

    Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?

    (a) Only 1

    (b) 2 and 3

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) None

    Key propositions of the Bill

    • The Bill proposes to clearly spell out the functions of the Council of Ministers and the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) by giving more discretionary powers to the L-G.
    • As per the Bill, the L-G could act in his discretion in any matter that is beyond the purview of the powers of the Legislative Assembly of Delhi in matters related to the All India (Civil) Services and the Anti Corruption Branch.
    • It will also give more teeth to the L-G, and the validity of any decision taken as per such discretion shall not be questioned.

    Back2Basics: Special provisions for New Delhi

    • The Union Territory of Delhi with a Legislative Assembly came into being in 1991 under Article 239AA of the Constitution inserted by ‘the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991’.
    • It said that the UT of Delhi shall be called the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
    • The administrator thereof appointed under Article 239 shall be designated as the Lieutenant-Governor.
    • According to the existing Act, the Legislative Assembly of Delhi has the power to make laws in all matters except public order, police, and land.

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  • Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

    MPLAD Scheme

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

    While extending support to the move for salary-cut, most Members of Parliament have demanded that the MPLADS funds, meant for development work in constituencies, be restored immediately.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.With reference to the Parliament of India, consider the following statements:

    1. A private member’s bill is a bill presented by a Member of Parliament who is not elected but only nominated by the President of India.
    2. Recently, a private member’s bill has been passed in the Parliament of India for the first time in its history.

    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

    What is the MPLAD scheme?

    • The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) is a programme first launched during the Narasimha Rao Government in 1993.
    • It was aimed towards providing funds for developmental works recommended by individual MPs.

    Funds available

    • The MPs then were entitled to recommend works to the tune of Rs 1 crore annually between 1994-95 and 1997-98, after which the annual entitlement was enhanced to Rs 2 crore.
    • The UPA government in 2011-12 raised the annual entitlement to Rs 5 crore per MP.

    Implementation

    • To implement their plans in an area, MPs have to recommend them to the District Authority of the respective Nodal District.
    • The District Authorities then identify Implementing Agencies which execute the projects.
    • The respective District Authority is supposed to oversee the implementation and has to submit monthly reports, audit reports, and work completion reports to the Nodal District Authority.
    • The MPLADS funds can be merged with other schemes such as MGNREGA and Khelo India.

    Guidelines for MPLADS implementation

    • The document ‘Guidelines on MPLADS’ was published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in June 2016 in this regard.
    • It stated the objective of the scheme to enable MPs to recommend works of developmental nature with emphasis on the creation of durable community assets based on the locally felt needs in their Constituencies.
    • Right from the inception of the Scheme, durable assets of national priorities viz. drinking water, primary education, public health, sanitation and roads, etc. should be created.
    • It recommended MPs to works costing at least 15 per cent of their entitlement for the year for areas inhabited by Scheduled Caste population and 7.5 per cent for areas inhabited by ST population.
    • It lays down a number of development works including construction of railway halt stations, providing financial assistance to recognised bodies, cooperative societies, installing CCTV cameras etc.

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  • Global Geological And Climatic Events

    Re-scaling the height of Mt Everest

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Geographical Features & Their Location

    China and Nepal are expected to announce the latest official height of Mt. Everest.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.When you travel to the Himalayas, you will see the following:

    1. Deep gorges
    2. U-turn river courses
    3. Parallel mountain ranges
    4. Steep gradients causing land-sliding

    Which of the above can be said to be the evidences for the Himalayas being young fold mountains?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 1, 2 and 4 only

    (c) 3 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Mt. Everest

    • Mount Everest or Sagarmatha, Earth’s highest mountain above sea level, is located in the Himalayas between China and Nepal -– the border between them running across its summit point.
    • Its current official elevation – 8,848m – places it more than 200m above the world’s second-highest mountain, K2, which is 8,611m tall and located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
    • The mountain gets its English name from Sir George Everest, a colonial-era geographer who served as the Surveyor General of India in the mid-19th century.
    • Considered an elite climbing destination, Everest was first scaled in 1953 by the Indian-Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hillary.

    Everest’s first survey

    • The mission to measure the world’s highest peak was taken up on a serious note in 1847 and culminated with the finding of a team led by Andrew Waugh of the Royal Surveyor General of India.
    • The team discovered that ‘Peak 15’ — as Mt Everest was referred to then — was the highest mountain, contrary to the then-prevailing belief that Mt Kanchenjunga (8,582 m) was the highest peak in the world.
    • Another belief, prevailing even today, is that 8,840 m is not the height that was actually determined by the 19th-century team.
    • That survey, based on trigonometric calculations, is known as the Great Trigonometric Survey of India.

    Why is the height being measured again?

    • Everest’s current official height– 8,848m– has been widely accepted since 1956, when the figure was measured by the Survey of India.
    • The height of the summit, however, is known to change because of tectonic activity, such as the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
    • Its measurement over the decades has also depended on who was surveying.
    • Another debate is whether the height should be based on the highest rock point or the highest snow point.

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  • Capital Markets: Challenges and Developments

    What are Interest Rate Derivatives (IRDs)?

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

    The RBI has proposed allowing foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to undertake exchange-traded rupee interest rate derivatives transactions subject to an overall ceiling of ₹5,000 crores.

    Every year, there is a question on a capital market instruments. Make note of all such separately. Also, try this PYQ:

    Q. Which of the following is issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who want to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly? (CSP 2019)

    (a) Certificate of Deposit

    (b) Commercial Paper

    (c) Promissory Note

    (d) Participatory Note

    Interest Rate Derivatives (IRDs)

    • An IDR is a financial instrument with a value that is linked to the movements of an interest rate or rates.
    • These may include futures, options, or swaps contracts.
    • They are often used by institutional investors, banks, companies, and individuals to protect themselves against changes in market interest rates.
    • The proposed directions by RBI are aimed at encouraging higher non-resident participation, enhance the role of domestic market makers in the offshore market, improve transparency, and achieve better regulatory oversight, according to the central bank.

    Back2Basics: Foreign portfolio investment (FPI)

    • FPI involves holding financial assets from a country outside of the investor’s own.
    • FPI holdings can include stocks, ADRs, GDRs, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds.
    • Along with foreign direct investment (FDI), FPI is one of the common ways for investors to participate in an overseas economy, especially retail investors.
    • Unlike FDI, FPI consists of passive ownership; investors have no control over ventures or direct ownership of property or a stake in a company.

    FPI vs FDI

    • With FPI—as with portfolio investment in general—an investor does not actively manage the investments or the companies that issue the investments.
    • They do not have direct control over the assets or the businesses.
    • In contrast, foreign direct investment (FDI) lets an investor purchase a direct business interest in a foreign country.

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  • Wetland Conservation

    Etosha Salt Pan, Namibia

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

    NASA has recently captured images depicting the wet and dry cycles of Etosha Pan in Africa’s Namibia through the year.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/ dried up in the recent past due to human activities?

    1. Aral Sea
    2. Black Sea
    3. Lake Baikal

    Select the correct option using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 2 only

    (d) 1 and 3 only

    Etosha Salt Pan

    • The Etosha pan is hollow in the ground, wherein water may collect or in which a deposit of salt remains after the water has evaporated.
    • The 120-kilometre-long dry lakebed and its surroundings are protected as Etosha National Park, Namibia’s second-largest wildlife park.
    • The pan is mostly dry, but after a heavy rain, it acquires a thin layer of water that is heavily salted by the mineral deposits on the surface.

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  • Labour, Jobs and Employment – Harmonization of labour laws, gender gap, unemployment, etc.

    Urban unemployment in India

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Issues relating growth and development, employment

    The article discusses the issue of vulnerability of informal jobs in India and suggests the steps to address the problem.

    The urban unemployment in India crept up to 9.83% in August as against 9.15% in July, according to monthly unemployment data released Tuesday by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). In other words, roughly one in every 10 person in urban areas cannot find work

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  • Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

    Crisis in education in rural India and NEP

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The article analyses the missing focus on the rural youth in the National Education Policy 2020 and its implications.

    Education in rural India and NEP

    • Poor quality education marks and mars the lives of rural citizens.
    • The NEP fails to address the growing school differentiation in which government schools are now primarily attended by children of disadvantaged castes and Adivasi groups.
    • The mushrooming of private schools caters to the aspirations of the more advantaged castes and classes.
    • The NEP overlooks the complexity of contemporary rural India, which is marked by a sharp deceleration of its economy, extant forms of distress, and widespread poverty.
    • Rural candidates are finding it increasingly difficult to gain entry into professional education.
    • The lack of fit between their degrees and the job market means that several lakhs of them find themselves both “unemployable” and unemployed.

    What the NEP misses

    • NEP overlooks the general adverse integration of the rural into the larger macroeconomy and into poor quality mass higher education.
    • The report calls for the “establishment of large, multi-discipline universities and colleges” and places emphasis on online and distance learning (ODL).
    • However, correspondence courses and distance education degrees have become a source of revenue generation for universities.
    • The possibility of forging and promoting environmental studies for local ecological restoration and conservation are missing.
    • Emphasis on local health and healing traditions from the vast repertoire of medical knowledge is missing.
    • Vernacular architectural traditions and craftsmanship to use local resources find no mention at all in the NEP.

    Neoliberal ideas in NEP

    • The NEP moots the possibility of establishing “Special Education Zones” in disadvantaged areas and in “aspirational districts”.
    • But the report provides no details as to how such SEZs will function and who will be the beneficiaries of such institutions.

    Conclusion

    The NEP fails to cater to the needs of rural India’s marginalised majority, who in so many ways are rendered into being subjects rather than citizens.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Middle East

    India needs to change the framework of non-involvement

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

    Realignment of relations is taking place in the Middle East with wider implications for the future of the region. India needs to reconsider its framework based on the non-involvement.

    Recent geopolitical developments

    • India-China tensions have soared over the border issue.
    • The Afghan peace process is underway with the first direct talks between Kabul and the Taliban insurgents at Doha, in Qatar.
    • The normalisation of the relations between Israel and Arab countries began with the UAE and Bahrain normalising the relations.

    Issues with the development

    • The chances of failure in Afghanistan are real.
    • The momentum behind the normalisation of ties between Israel and the Gulf kingdoms, may not necessarily lead to broader peace in the Middle East.
    • The US initiatives in Afghanistan and Arabia are driven by President Donald Trump’s quest for diplomatic victories.

    Why it matters to India

    1) The vulnerability of the peace process

    • Because of competing interests, the peace process in Afghanistan and the Middle East remain vulnerable.
    • The unfolding dynamic will alter the geopolitical landscape in both places.
    • Whether peace breaks out in Afghanistan or not, the Taliban is here to stay.
    • As UAE and Bahrain join Egypt and Jordan in having formal relationships with Israel, the contradiction between Arabs and Israelis is no longer the dominant one in the region.

    2) India should recognise the importance of Arabia

    •  India’s strategic community tends to take too narrow a view of the Arabian salience.
    • The focus is mostly on ensuring oil supplies, promoting manpower exports, and managing the Pakistan problem.
    • We should consider that the Afghan peace talks are taking place in Qatar, a tiny Gulf Kingdom.
    • The UAE and Saudi Arabia were the only countries to recognise the Taliban government in the late 1990s.
    • This time around, they appear to have taken a backseat.
    • Delhi will need to pay more attention to the unfolding realignments between the Arabs and non-Arab states like Iran, Turkey and Israel.

    3) Paradox of American power

    • The U.S. is being seen as a declining power in the matters of the Middle East and Afghanistan.
    •  But the reality remains that the US is the one forcing a change in both the places.

    4) Implications of strategic vacuum created by the U.S. exit

    • As the US steps back from the region, the resulting strategic vacuum is likely to be filled by Russia and China.
    • Russia and China are quite active in both the Middle East and Afghanistan.
    •  China’s future role in Afghanistan, in partnership with Pakistan, could be quite significant and will be of some concern for India.
    • Regional powers have already acquired much say in the new geopolitics of the Middle East.
    • Qatar and UAE punch way above their weight, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are locked in a major contest for regional influence.

    5) Domestic politics in the country

    • Religious radicalism, sectarian and ethnic divisions, and the clamour for more representative governments are sharpening conflicts within and between countries.
    • The collapse of the oil market is undermining the region’s economic fortunes.
    • Collapsing oil market is also making it harder for political elites to address the emerging political challenges.

    Consider the question “Middle East is going through the major realignment of relations. What are its implications for India?.

    Conclusion

    As the old order begins to crumble in the greater Middle East, the question is no longer whether India should join the geopolitical jousting there; but when, how and in partnership with whom.

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  • International Space Agencies – Missions and Discoveries

    Life signature on Venus

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

    Scientists have detected in the harshly acidic clouds of Venus a gas called phosphine that indicates microbes may inhabit Earth’s inhospitable neighbour, a sign of potential life beyond Earth.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which phenomenon has Venusian winds rotating 60 times faster than the planet below on the dark side?

    (a) Super rotation

    (b) Monrotation

    (c) Dual rotation

    (d) Macrrotation

    Phosphine

    • Phosphine – a phosphorus atom with three hydrogen atoms attached – is highly toxic to people.
    • It is known to be produced only through a biological process, and not through any naturally occurring chemical process.
    • Phosphine was seen at 20 parts-per-billion in the Venusian atmosphere, a trace concentration.
    • Researchers examined potential non-biological sources such as volcanism, meteorites, lightning and various types of chemical reactions, but none appeared viable.
    • There are some other ways in which this chemical might be produced, for example, in the underbelly of volcanoes or meteorite activity, but that would have shown in much lower concentrations.

    Why study Venus?

    • Venus is Earth’s closest planetary neighbour. Similar in structure but slightly smaller than Earth, it is the second planet from the sun. Earth is the third.
    • Venus is wrapped in a thick, toxic atmosphere that traps in heat. Surface temperatures reach a scorching 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius), hot enough to melt lead.
    • Existence of phosphine is the most credible evidence yet for the possibility of life away from Earth.

    Hosting life on Venus

    • There are several things that we know about Venus that make life, as we know it, unsustainable on that planet.
    • The temperature of Venus is too high, and its atmosphere is highly acidic, just two of the things that would make life impossible.
    • It is too early to consider this as evidence for extraterrestrial life.

    Paving way for future mission

    • Missions to Venus are not new. The finding can further ignite interest in space missions to Venus.
    • Spacecraft have been going near the planet since the 1960s, and some of them have even made a landing.
    • In fact, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is also planning a mission to Venus, tentatively called Shukrayaan, in the near future.
    • As of now, the plan is still on the drawing board. All future missions to Venus would now be attuned to investigating further evidence of the presence of life.

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