Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Legislative Powers of Governor
Mains level: Read the attached story
Tamil Nadu CM has charged that the Governor that he had failed to perform the duty vested in him by the Constitution when it came to deciding on the Bill adopted in the Legislative Assembly against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
What is the issue?
- The Governor had returned the Bill to the Assembly Speaker instead of forwarding it for Presidential assent.
Constitutional Powers of the Governor
- Article 154: The executive power of the state shall be vested in the
governor and shall be exercised by him either directly or through
officers subordinate to him in accordance with this Constitution.
- Article 163 (1): There shall be a council of ministers with the chief minister as the head to aid and advise the governor in the exercise of his functions, except in so far as he is required to exercise his functions in his discretion.
- Article 163 (2): If any question arises whether a matter falls within the governor’s discretion or not, the decision of the governor is final and the validity of anything done by him cannot be called in question on the ground that he ought or ought not to have acted in his discretion.
- The governor has constitutional discretion in the following cases:
a) Reservation of a bill for the consideration of the President (Articles 200 and 201).
b) Recommendation for the imposition of the President’s Rule in the state (Article 356).
c) While exercising his functions as the administrator of an adjoining Union territory (in case of an additional charge).
d) Special responsibility in 5th and 6th schedule areas.
e) Seeking information from the chief minister with regard to the administrative and legislative matters of the state.
- Also, the governor has situational discretion (i.e., the hidden discretion derived from the exigencies of a prevailing political situation) in the following cases:
a) Appointment of the chief minister when no party has a clear-cut majority in the state legislative assembly or when the chief minister in office dies suddenly and there is no obvious successor.
b) Dismissal of the council of ministers when it cannot prove the confidence of the state legislative
assembly.
c) Dissolution of the state legislative assembly if the council of ministers has lost its majority.
What are the Legislative Powers of Governor?
Governor summons the sessions of both houses of the state legislature and prorogues them.
- The governor can even dissolve the State Legislative Assembly.
- These powers are formal and the governor’s use of these powers must comply with the advice of the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister.
- He addresses the first session of the state legislature after the general elections in the state.
Appointments to the legislature
- He appoints 1/6th members of the State Legislative Council in states wherever there is a bicameral legislature.
- He nominates one member in the state legislative assembly from the Anglo-Indian Community if in view; the community is not well represented.
- Governor is empowered under Article 192 to disqualify a member of the State legislature when the election commission recommends that the legislator is no longer complying with provisions of Article 191.
Passing of Bills
- All the bills passed by the state legislatures are sent to the Governor for assent.
- Once a bill is sent to Governor for assent, he can:
a) Give assent to the bill
b) Withhold the assent
c) Return the bill to the legislature for reconsideration if it is not a money bill.
d) If the bill is re-passed by the legislature with or without amendment, the governor has to give assent to the bill.
e) Reserve the bill for consideration of the President.
When is the Bill sent to the President?
This is done under the circumstances when a bill:
- Violates the constitution or against directive principles of state policy (DPSP)
- Conflict with union powers
- Against the larger interest of the country and people
- May endanger the position of the high court in the state.
Ordinance making power
- When the state legislature is not in session and the governor considers it necessary to have a law, then the governor can promulgate ordinances.
- These ordinances are submitted to the state legislature at its next session.
- They remain valid for no more than six weeks from the date the state legislature is reconvened unless approved by it earlier.
Others
- As per Articles 165 and 177, Governor can ask the Advocate General to attend the proceedings of both houses of the state legislature and report to them any unlawful functioning if any.
Concerns with the role of governor
- Misuse of discretionary powers: States allege that this provision has often been misused by the governor who acts on the behest of the union government which is opposed to the basic scheme of the Indian Constitution.
- Appointment by centre: This often leads to the appointment of persons aligning with the party’s ideology to the post of Governor and he/she remains faithful to the Union government of the day rather than acting on the advice of the State Executive.
- Arbitrary removal: Even after Supreme Court Judgement in B.P. Singhal v. Union of India calling for a fixed tenure for Governors to encourage neutrality and fairness in the discharge of their duties, it is not being implemented on the ground.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)
Mains level: Artificial Intelligence
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH.
What are ANN?
- The concept behind an ANN is to define inputs and outputs, feed pieces of inputs to computer programs that function like neurons and make inferences or calculations.
- It then forwards those results to another layer of computer programs and so on, until a result is obtained.
- As part of this neural network, a difference between intended output and input is computed at each layer and this difference is used to tune the parameters to each program.
- This method is called back-propagation and is an essential component to the Neural Network.
Setting up of ANNs
- Instead of CPUs, Graphic Processing Units (GPU) which are good at performing massive parallel tasks can be used for setting up ANNs.
- A few free ANN frameworks are TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch and Theano.
- These can be used for both normal Machine Learning tasks like classification or clustering and for Deep Learning/ANN tasks.
Why called Neural Network?
- Neuron is the building block of the brain and it inspired computer scientists from the 1950s to make a computer perform tasks like a brain does.
- It is not a simple problem and the clue to its complexity is in the brain structure.
Why ANN?
Ans. Making an artificial brain
- We need billions of artificial neurons if we were to build an artificial brain.
- With the increase in computing power, mimicking billions of neurons is now possible.
Popularity of ANNs
- Data Science, used interchangeably with Machine Learning, is the computer technology that uses data to detect patterns.
- Hand-written digit recognition is a good example of machine learning.
- However, in order for the computer to do this task, large amounts of sample data need to be manually labelled as examples of images of digits.
- The ANN mentioned above with its backpropagation does exactly this.
- This is why ANNs have become hugely popular in the past decade. This approach of using neural networks of many layers to automatically detect patterns and parameters is called Deep Learning.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Havana Syndrome
Mains level: NA
A recent US intelligence report says that ‘Havana Syndrome’ —a collection of symptoms and related brain injuries, reported by some US officials could be caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy or close-range ultrasound.
What is Havana Syndrome?
- ‘Havana Syndrome’ is a colloquial name given to a set of symptoms such as dizziness, hearing loss, headaches, vertigo, nausea, memory loss and possible brain injuries.
- It was first reported by 16 American Embassy staff and their family members in Havana, Cuba, in 2016-17.
- There have been other instances of the phenomenon, which has mostly impacted US officials.
What did the latest investigation find?
- Such cases have been caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy in the radio frequency.
- The results of the investigation did not point to who may have been behind the phenomenon, nor commented on their motivations.
- A partially redacted report summary finds that the symptoms of AHI are “genuine and compelling.”
What can be the other reasons?
- Psychosocial factors alone do not explain the core characteristics, the report finds, although they may cause other incidents or contribute to long-term effects.
- These other incidents could occur via hyper-vigilance or reactions to stress especially among individuals who are security-oriented.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Basai Wetlands
Mains level: Not Much
The Basai Wetlands in Gurugram has shrunk to a quarter of its original size over the years.
Basai Wetlands
- Basai wetland, located in Basai village in Gurgaon Haryana is a flora and fauna rich water body.
- It lies in one of the paleochannel of the Sahibi River, a tributary of Yamuna which originates from the Aravalli range in Rajasthan and flows through the region.
Its significance
- It is recognized as one of India’s Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is of global conservation significance.
- It supports populations of several endangered, vulnerable, and threatened bird species.
- It is recognized globally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the BirdLife International housing 20,000 birds of over 280 species including migratory birds and endangered birds.
- However, it has not yet been declared a protected wetland by the Government of Haryana.
Threats
- Given the accelerated expansion of the city of the future, the wetland continues to disappear under newly laid roads, modern housing constructions and other infrastructure development.
- An upcoming expressway, cutting through the terrain here, has majorly impacted the flyway of thousands of migratory birds from Europe and Central Asia.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Need for Population Control Policy
The Rajya Sabha has discussed a Private Member’s Bill on population regulation.
The Population Control Bill
- First introduced in 2019, it is a private member bill proposed by Rakesh Sinha.
- The purpose of the bill was to control the population growth of India.
- The proposed bill then was signed by 125 Members of Parliament (MP) and is yet to become an act of law.
It seeks to amend Article 47 by inserting article 47A to the Constitution of India. It proposes that-
- The State shall promote small family norms by offering incentives in taxes, employment, education etc. to its people who keep their family limited to two children
- The state shall withdraw every concession from and deprive such incentives to those not adhering to small family norm, to keep the growing population under control.
Key provisions
- Penalties: The 2019 bill talked about introducing penalties for couples not adhering to the two-child policy such as debarment from contesting in elections and ineligibility for government jobs.
- Two-child policy: The 2020 bill proposes to introduce a two-child policy per couple.
- Incentivizing adoption: It shall incentivize adoption through various measures such as educational benefits, taxation cuts, home loans, free healthcare, and better employment opportunities.
- Birth spacings: It also proposes to ensure healthy birth spacing through measures related to augmenting the availability, accessibility and affordability of quality reproductive health services.
Issues with penal provisions
- Alienation: If a family was penalized for more than two children, then the third child would develop a feeling of alienation that he is an unwanted child.
- Bar on Women: The biggest victim of such would be women, irrespective of religion. They would be debarred in political participation.
- Selective abortions: In India, the preference for male children may lead to a greater anti-female child sex selection because parents will only have “two attempts” to have babies.
- Violation of reproductive autonomy: To control and regulate the number of children a family can have is a gross violation of human rights, the right to self-determination and an individual’s reproductive autonomy.
- Violation of Individual Privacy: A right to procreation is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution but it comes under the ambit of Article 21, as discussed in Jasvir Singh vs State of Punjab.
- Remarriage issues: A divorced person who has two children with a prior partner cannot bear a child with their next spouse.
Why need such policy?
- India had a land availability of only 1.2 hectare per person, while the resources that get regenerated automatically was 0.43 only.
- We are an ecological debtor. The ecological footprint which we use and the gap between their regeneration is 187%.
- If this continued for 30 years, then resources would be exhausted and people would not be able to lead a dignified life.
- Some people see demographic dividend in the growing population but it was being used as cheap labour globally.
Way forward
- The population of India is seen as the biggest obstacle to its economic development.
- It is the fall guy for governments seeking to justify their incompetence.
- No legislation must be enacted unless its future impact and social effect are first completely realized.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Freedom of Religion
Mains level: Read the attached story
A row over whether educational institutions can impose a strict dress code that could interfere with the rights of students has spilled in the Udupi district of Karnataka.
Don’t you think that such instances incite fear among the politically destitute minorities?
Religious Freedom in India
- Article 25(1) of the Constitution guarantees the “freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”.
- It is a right that guarantees a negative liberty — which means that the state shall ensure that there is no interference or obstacle to exercise this freedom.
Restrictions on religious freedom
- Like all fundamental rights, the state can restrict the right for grounds of public order, decency, morality, health and other state interests.
- Over the years, the Supreme Court has evolved a practical test of sorts to determine what religious practices can be constitutionally protected and what can be ignored.
- In 1954, the Supreme Court held in the Shirur Mutt case that the term “religion” will cover all rituals and practices “integral” to a religion.
The test to determine what is integral is termed the “Essential Religious Practices” test.
What is the essential religious practices test?
- While these issues are largely understood to be community-based, there are instances in which the court has applied the test to individual freedoms as well.
- In a 2004 ruling, the Supreme Court held that the Ananda Marga sect had no fundamental right to perform the Tandava dance in public streets since it did not constitute an essential religious practice of the sect.
- For example, in 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the discharge of an airman from the Indian Air Force for keeping a beard.
- It distinguished the case of a Muslim airman from that of Sikhs who are allowed to keep a beard.
- In 2015, the Supreme Court restored the Jain religious practice of Santhara/Sallekhana (a ritualistic fast unto death) by staying an order of the Rajasthan HC.
Issues with this Test
- In the first place, what constitutes the essential part of a religion is primarily to be ascertained with reference to the doctrines of that religion itself, the SC had held in the Shirur Mutt case.
- So the test, a judicial determination of religious practices, has often been criticized by legal experts as it pushes the court to delve into theological spaces.
- In criticism of the test, scholars agree that it is better for the court to prohibit religious practices for public order rather than determine what is so essential to a religion that it needs to be protected.
- In several instances, the court has applied the test to keep certain practices out.
Precursors related to Hijab
- Two set of rulings of the Kerala High Court, particularly on the right of Muslim women hold dressing according to the tenets of Islam.
- In 2015, Kerala HC ruled the prescription of dress code for AIPMT exam which prescribed wearing light clothes with half sleeves not having big buttons, brooch/badge, flower, etc. with Salwar/Trouser and slippers and not shoes.
- In 2016, it examined the issue more closely. It held that the practice of wearing a hijab constitutes an essential religious practice but did not quash the CBSE rule.
- The court once again allowed for the “additional measures” and safeguards put in place the previous year.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vande Bharat Express
Mains level: Highs speed railways in India
Presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, Finance Minister said 400 new energy-efficient Vande Bharat trains will be introduced in three years.
What is Vande Bharat Express?
- The Vande Bharat Express is a semi-high speed train designed, developed, and built by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
- Presently there are only two Vande Bharat trains that are running — Delhi to Varanasi and Delhi to Katra.
Key Features
- The current Vande Bharat trains have seating only in two classes — chair car and executive chair car. But Railways is planning to upgrade it.
- The trains have fully sealed gangways for a dust-free environment, modular bio-vacuum toilets, rotating seats in Executive Class, personalized reading lights, automatic entry/exit doors with sliding footsteps, diffused LED lighting, mini pantry, and sensor-based interconnecting doors in each coach.
- They are self-propelled trains that do not require an engine. This feature is called a distributed traction power system, which is increasingly becoming the norm the world over for passenger operations(Distributed power gives the train higher acceleration and deceleration compared to loco-hauled trains, which take a much longer time to reach top speed or to gradually come to a halt).
- 400 trains announced by the Finance Minister carry a potential investment of Rs 50,000 crore over the next three years, because of different specifications and also, inflation.
- The current Vande Bharat’s are being made at Rs 106 crore per trainset of 16 cars, at 2018 pricing.
Benefits of Vande Bharat Trains
1) Cuts Travel Time Drastically
2) Energy Efficient
3) Reduce Turnaround Time
4) Faster Acceleration and Deceleration among others.
Why High-speed rail projects are important for India?
- Improve India’s GDP: According to a study conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Hamburg in 2008, cities that are connected to HSR systems tend to witness a rise in their gross domestic product (GDP) by at least 2.7 percentage points compared to their neighbors that do not have an HSR station. The reason for the differential was improved market access.
- Role of the trains in India’s development: Being the third-largest network in the world under single management and
with over 68,102 route km IR strives to provide a safe, efficient, competitive, and world-class transport system.
- During FY21, IR carried 1.23 billion tonnes of
freight and 1.25 billion passengers. In addition, despite COVID -19 pandemic revenue earning freight loading (excluding loading by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. (KRCL) was 1230.9 million tonnes in 2020-21 as compared to 1208.4 million tonnes during2019-20. Passengers originating were 1250 million in 2020-21 as compared to 8086 million in 2019-20- Economic Survey 2021-22.
- Spin-off effect: It is about Rs 40,000 crore business opportunity that would also create 15,000 jobs and several spin-off benefits and act as a stimulus for the development of satellite towns.
- Boost to ‘Make in India’– it involves only about 15 percent import content which will further go down if production volumes increase.
- Environmental Benefits: More rail traffic translates to less automobile traffic, and by extension, less highway and city street traffic congestion, reduced air pollution. In addition, less congestion means less wear and tear on the roadways, which means that they require fewer repairs. According to the International Association of Railways (UIC), high-speed rail is eight times more energy-efficient than airplanes and four times more efficient than automobile use.
- Social Benefits: High-speed rail can promote a sense of social cohesion among residents, by bringing distant populated areas closer together.
- Global Experience: The High-Speed Railway has an economic multiplier effect. Since the introduction of the first Shinkansen (literally meaning ‘new main line’) in Japan in 1964, high-speed trains have proven to be an undeniable technological, commercial and popular success. Many countries like the UK, France, Germany, Spain, China, and most recently, the US have adopted the technology.
Challenges faced by the High-Speed Rail Projects
- Infrastructure Bottlenecks: India’s railway system is saddled with a two-pronged infrastructure deficit – aging infrastructure and the pace of new project execution struck by unforeseen circumstances related to socio-economic issues on land acquisition for new projects and escalating projects costs.
- New Technologies: For instance, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies which proposes to make travel as fast as 760 miles per hour, investing a humongous capital on bullet trains seems like an outdated investment.
- Political Will: The politics of Rail Bhavan and an unwillingness to accept the need for change have derailed the project execution.
- Short of Investments: For instance, the estimated cost of Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR is ₹1.1 lakh crore (US$17 billion) which is massively expensive. Though India receives funding from Japan (81%), the power demand and up-gradation of existing infrastructure will be more costly.
- Social Conflict: Development along the corridor will lead to an increase in urbanization, the fight for resources, and social conflicts due to the labor influx of the workforce.
- Legal Trouble: While farmers in Maharashtra are protesting on the ground, the farmers in Gujarat led by Gujarat Khedut Samaj (GKS)- fighting a case in the Gujarat High Court against the land acquisition for the bullet train project.
Way ahead
- Stakeholders approach: Politics and Policy have to be in sync for the railway modernization. In order to achieve the target, Railways will have to pool in all resources and multiple stakeholders, including private players to deliver the propulsion system and also carry out the assembling. The Policymakers and administration should give priority to systematic sustainable development work- the convergence of jal, jungle, jameen(water-forest-land is an asset for the Adivasi community).
- Regular Monitoring: To ensure the induction of these trains in the shortest time possible, as envisaged by Indian Railways.
- Technology Transfer: The government has to push for the technology transfer of HSR. This is because there is no mention of the transfer of technology anywhere in the agreement.
Conclusion
India aspires to become the third-largest economy in the next 25 years. It has already proven its prowess in the field of space and now is the time for furthering its international stature by joining the exclusive club of nations having a high-speed rail network, however, we should be careful not to confuse leapfrogging technology development with elitism, whether it is mobile phones, satellite launches, regional air connectivity, or high-speed rail. This high-speed rail project will therefore help the Indian Railways to become a global leader in scale, technology, and skill.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Categories of security
Mains level: Need for security to politicians
A noted Parliamentarian from Hyderabad has rejected the ‘Z’ category security by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) accorded to him.
Security Provisions in India
- In India, security is provided to high-risk individuals by the police and local government.
- The level of security needed by any individual is decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, based on inputs received from intelligence agencies which include the IB and R&AW.
- Individuals such as PM, home minister, and other officials such as the National Security Advisor generally get security cover because of the positions they occupy.
- In addition to this, persons who are believed to be under threat also receive security cover.
What is ‘Z’ Category Security?
In India, the category covers are X, Y, Y-plus, Z, Z-plus, and SPG (Special Protection Group).
- X Category: The protectee gets one gunman. Protectees in the Y category have one gunman for mobile security and one (plus four on rotation) for static security.
- Y Plus category: It receives the cover of two gunmen (plus four on rotation) for mobile security, and one (plus four on rotation) for residence security,
- Z Category: It has six gunmen for mobile security and two (plus 8) for residence security. They get 10 security personnel for mobile security, and two (plus 8) for residence security.
- Z Plus Category: It is provided by National Security Guard commandos whereas the other category of security is provided by the Delhi police or the ITBP or CRPF personnel.
What about Special Protection Group (SPG) Cover?
- The SPG cover is meant only for the PM and his immediate family.
- After Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own security guards in 1984, the Rajiv Gandhi government decided to create a special cadre of security personnel for the PM.
- In March 1985, following the recommendations of a committee set up by the Home Ministry, a special unit was created for this purpose under the Cabinet Secretariat.
- This unit, initially called the Special Protection Unit, was renamed as Special Protection Group in April 1985.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Endangered species in India
Mains level: NA
Neighbours of a golden langur habitat in western Assam’s Bongaigaon district have opposed a move by the State government to upgrade it to a wildlife sanctuary.
Kajoijana Bamuni Hill Wildlife Sanctuary
- The Assam Forest Department has issued a preliminary notification for converting the 19.85 sq. km. patch of forest into the Kajoijana Bamuni Hill Wildlife Sanctuary.
- It is one of the better-known homes of the golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) found only in Assam and Bhutan.
About Golden Langur
- Gee’s golden langur (Trachypithecus geei), also known as simply the golden langur, is an Old World monkey.
- It is found in a small region of Western Assam and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
- Long considered sacred by many Himalayan people, the golden langur was first brought to the attention of the western world by the naturalist Edward Pritchard Gee in the 1950s.
- Adult males have a cream to golden coat with darker flanks while the females and juveniles are lighter.
- It has a black face and a long tail up to 50 cm in length.
Its habitat
- It lives in high trees and has a herbivorous diet of ripe and unripe fruits, mature and young leaves, seeds, buds and flowers.
- The average group size is eight individuals, with a ratio of several females to each adult male.
- It is one of the most endangered primate species of India and Bhutan.
Distribution
- Its habitat is bounded on the south by the Brahmaputra River, on the east by the Manas River, on the west by the Sankosh River, in Assam and on the north by the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
Conservation status
- IUCN Red List: Endangered
- CITES: Appendix I
- Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
Try this question from CSP 2014:
Q. Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?
(a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda, Asiatic Wild Ass
(b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetah, Blue Bull, Great Indian Bustard
(c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey, Saras (Crane)
(d) Lion Tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur, Cheetah
Post your answers here.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FRBM Act
Mains level: Paper 3- Fiscal consolidation
Context
The fiscal deficit for the year 2022-23 is higher than what was recommended by the Fifteenth Finance Commission. However, if we consider the direction of consolidation, it is towards a reduction in the fiscal deficit.
The budget focuses on capital investment
- This year’s Union budget projects an increase in capex by Rs 3.14 lakh crore, as compared to the budgeted numbers of the previous fiscal.
- Given the economy’s savings-investment profile and macroeconomic uncertainties due to the pandemic, private and household investments are likely to be reactive to the general economic environment.
- Achieving sustainable recovery: For the government, making capital investment in such uncertain times assumes a much higher priority and is equally indispensable for achieving a strong and sustainable recovery from the pandemic.
- Increasing share of government: As per National Accounts data, gross fixed capital formation by the general government (Centre and states) has shown an increase as a percentage of GDP from 3.48 in 2011-12 to 3.82 in 2019-20, while other sectors, particularly households, the share fell from 15.75 per cent to 11.39 per cent during the same period.
- The fiscal stance taken in the post-pandemic budgets for higher capital spending, including the budget of 2022-23, is likely to further enhance the general government share in overall capital formation.
- Important role of the States: it is also important to recognise that two-thirds of the general government’s capital expenditure is undertaken by states and in this context, the announcement of the Rs 1 lakh crore interest-free loans to the states to increase public investment has been a significant step.
- Since states taken together have a higher share in the country’s public capital spending, effective absorption of this additional borrowing facility will be critical for higher public investment.
Three broad trends on Fiscal Consolidation
- 1] Increase in taxes: The increase in taxes by Rs 5.71 lakh crore between 2020-21 (the first year of the pandemic) and 2022-23 shows that the fiscal challenges have eased, but remain present as we navigate economic recovery in uncertain times.
- 2] Reduction in revenue deficit: Between 2020-21 and 2022-23 (BE), the reduction in revenue deficit has been substantial — from 7.3 per cent to 3.8 per cent of GDP.
- 3] Revenue deficit dominates fiscal deficit: Compositionally, revenue deficit continues to be more than 55 per cent of the fiscal deficit and the management of such a deficit has few important considerations for revenue expenditure, that is, interest payments and allocation under various centrally sponsored and central sector schemes.
- Role of CSS in revenue deficit: Aggregate allocation under centrally sponsored and central sector schemes (CSS) as per the 2022-23 (BE) is Rs 3.83 lakh crore and the interest payment cost of the Union government is Rs 9.56 lakh crore.
- Beyond scheme-wise allocations, it is also important to consider CSS allocation as an issue of macro-fiscal management issue at the Union and state level, especially when it is contributing to the high revenue deficit of the central government and binding state resources for matching contribution, thereby increasing states’ deficit.
Understanding the direction of fiscal consolidation
- The fiscal deficit for the year 2022-23 is higher than what was recommended by the Fifteenth Finance Commission.
- However, if we consider the direction of consolidation, it is towards a reduction in the fiscal deficit.
- Though in the medium-term, the fiscal story is about supporting recovery, it is also true that there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability.
Conclusion
The direction of fiscal consolidation rather than a specific quantified path in an unprecedented time like this is probably the most appropriate consideration.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: E-Shram Portal
Mains level: Unemployment since the pandemic
Over 2 crore people who have signed up for the Centre’s portal for unorganised sector workers hold a Graduate Degree.
E-Shram
- On August 26, 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) launched the E-Shram, the web portal for creating a National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW), which will be seeded with Aadhaar.
- It seeks to register an estimated 398-400 million unorganized workers and to issue an E-Shram card.
Issues with E-Shram
(A) Time constraints
- Long process: Given the gigantic nature of registering each worker, it will be a long-drawn process.
- No gestation period: The Government has not mentioned a gestation period to assess its strategy and efficiency.
- No hasty process: Employers are or required their workers to register even. While the Government can appeal to them, any penal measure will hurt the ease of doing business.
(B) Pandemic hides
- Considering the estimated 380 million workers as the universe of registration — debatable as the novel coronavirus pandemic has pushed lakhs of workers into informality.
(C) Data security
- Privacy: One of the vital concerns of e-portals is data security, including its potential abuse especially when it is a mega-sized database.
- No national framework yet: There are also media reports pointing out the absence of a national architecture relating to data security.
- Local server issues: It has been reported that in some states such as Maharashtra, the server was down for a few days.
(D) Structural issue
- Aadhaar seeding: Many workers will not have an Aadhaar-seeded mobile or even a smartphone. Aadhaar-seeding is a controversial issue with political overtones, especially in the North-eastern regions.
- Eligibility: There are several issues concerning the eligibility of persons to register as well as the definitional issues.
- Exclusion: By excluding workers covered by EPF and ESI, lakhs of contract and fixed-term contract workers will be excluded from the universe of UW. Hazardous establishments employing even a single worker will have to be covered under the ESI, which means these workers also will be excluded.
- No benefits for the aged: The NDUW excludes millions of workers aged over 59 from its ambit, which constitutes age discrimination.
(D) Complex identities of workers
- Migration: Many are circular migrant workers and they quickly, even unpredictably, move from one trade to another.
- Mixed work: Many others perform formal and informal work as some during non-office hours may belong to the gig economy, for example as an Uber taxi or a Swiggy employee. They straddle formal and informal sectors.
- Gig workers: Even though MOLE has included gig workers in this process, it is legally unclear whether the gig/platform worker can be classified first as a worker at all.
(E) Other impediments
- Dependence on States: The central government will have to depend on the state governments for this project to be successful.
- Lack of coordination: In many States, the social dialogue with the stakeholders especially is rather weak or non-existent. The success of the project depends on the involvement of a variety of stakeholders apart from trade unions.
- Corruption: There is also the concern of corruption as middle-service agencies such as Internet providers might charge exorbitant charges to register and print the E-Shram cards.
Benefits: No immediate carrot
- Workers stand to gain by registration in the medium to long run.
- But the instant benefit of accident insurance up to ₹0.2 million to registered workers is surely not an attractive carrot.
- The main point of attraction is the benefits they stand to gain during normal and crisis-ridden periods such as the novel coronavirus pandemic now which the Government needs to disseminate properly.
Way forward
- E-Shram is a vital system to provide hitherto invisible workers much-needed visibility.
- It will provide the Labour Market Citizenship Document to them.
- The govt should go one step further for triple linkage for efficient and leakage-less delivery of all kinds of benefits and voices to workers/citizens: One-Nation-One-Ration Card (ONOR), E-Shram Card (especially bank account seeded), and the Election Commission Card.
- Last but not least, registrations cannot be a source of exclusion of a person from receiving social assistance and benefits.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Aksai Chin
Mains level: Paper 2- Border conflict with China
Context
In a recent television interview, the Indian Army Chief, General M.M. Naravane, argued that “out of the five or six friction points (in Ladakh), five have been solved”.
Friction points in Ladakh
- ‘Friction point’ are the points of Chinese ingress into hitherto India-controlled territory in Ladakh, where this control is exercised by the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) through regular patrols to the claimed areas.
- These ‘friction points’ are Depsang, Galwan, Hot Springs, Gogra, North bank of Pangong Tso, Kailash Range and Demchok.
- By asserting that only one of the friction points is remaining to be resolved — Hot Springs or PP15, Army Chief implicitly ruled out Depsang as an area to be resolved.
- This attempt to delink the strategically important area of Depsang from the ongoing Ladakh border crisis is worrying.
Significance of Depsang
- Depsang is an enclave of flat terrain located in an area the Army classifies as Sub-Sector North (SSN), which provides land access to Central Asia through the Karakoram Pass.
- The Army has always identified Depsang plains as where it finds itself most vulnerable in Ladakh, devising plans to tackle the major Chinese challenge.
- SSN’s flat terrain of Depsang, Trig Heights and DBO — which provides direct access to Aksai Chin — is suited for mechanised warfare but is located at the end of only one very long and tenuous communication axis for India.
- China, in turn, has multiple roads that provide easy access to the area.
- This leaves SSN highly vulnerable to capture by the PLA, with a few thousands of square kilometres from the Karakoram Pass to Burtse, likely to be lost.
- Nowhere else in Ladakh is the PLA likely to gain so much territory in a single swoop.
- SSN lies to the east of Siachen, located between the Saltoro ridge on the Pakistani border and the Saser ridge close to the Chinese border.
- On paper, it is the only place where a physical military collusion can take place between Pakistan and China — and the challenge of a two-front war can become real in the worst-case scenario.
- If India loses this area, it will be nearly impossible to launch a military operation to wrest back Gilgit-Baltistan from Pakistan.
Dangers of delinking Depsang
- Invalidation of Indian claims: The biggest danger of delinking Depsang from the current border crisis in Ladakh, however, is of corroborating the Chinese argument, which invalidates the rightful Indian claim over a large swathe of territory.
- In sparsely populated areas like Ladakh, with limited forward deployment of troops, the only assertion of territorial claims is by regular patrolling.
- By arguing that the blockade at Y-junction predates the current stand-off — a ‘legacy issue’ that goes back years — the Chinese side can affirm that Indian patrols never had access to this area and thus India has no valid claim on the territory.
Conclusion
As was demonstrated by China in the aftermath of the 1962 War, there should be no holding back in painstakingly asserting one’s claims when it comes to safeguarding the territory.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chandrayaan-3
Mains level: Not Much
ISRO plans to execute the Chandrayaan-3 mission in August this year.
What is Chandrayaan-3 Mission?
- The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a follow-up of Chandrayaan-2 of July 2019, which aimed to land a rover on the lunar South Pole.
Chandrayaan-2: A quick recap
- Chandrayaan-2 consisted of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover, all equipped with scientific instruments to study the moon.
- The Orbiter would watch the moon from a 100-km orbit, while the Lander and Rover modules were to be separated to make a soft landing on the moon’s surface.
- ISRO had named the Lander module as Vikram, after Vikram Sarabhai, the pioneer of India’s space programme, and the Rover module as Pragyaan, meaning wisdom.
Utility of the Orbiter
- The Orbiter part of the mission has been functioning normally. It is carrying eight instruments.
- Each of these instruments has produced a handsome amount of data that sheds new light on the moon and offers insights that could be used in further exploration.
Inception of Chandrayaan 3
- The subsequent failure of the Vikram lander led to the pursuit of another mission to demonstrate the landing capabilities needed for the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission proposed in partnership with Japan for 2024.
Its design
- The lander for Chandrayaan-3 will have only four throttle-able engines.
- Unlike Vikram on Chandrayaan-2 which had five 800N engines with a fifth one being centrally mounted with a fixed thrust.
- Additionally, the Chandrayaan-3 lander will be equipped with a Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV).
Back2Basics: Chandrayaan-1 Mission
- The Chandrayaan-1 mission was launched in October 2008 was ISRO’s first exploratory mission to the moon, in fact to any heavenly body in space.
- The mission was designed to just orbit around the moon and make observations with the help of the instruments onboard.
- The closest that Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft came to the moon was in an orbit 100 km from its surface.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Definition of Forests
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change has informed about the criteria used to define forest in India.
Defining Forests universally
- As per the Conference of Parties (CoP) 9-Kyoto Protocol, the forest can be defined by any country depending upon the capacities and capabilities of the country.
- Forest- Forest is defined structurally on the basis of
- Crown cover percentage: Tree crown cover- 10 to 30% (India 10%)
- Minimum area of stand: area between 0.05 and 1 hectare (India 1.0 hectare) and
- Minimum height of trees: Potential to reach a minimum height at maturity in situ of 2 to 5 m (India 2m)
India’s definition of Forests
The definition of forest cover has clearly been defined in all the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) and in all the International communications of India.
- The forest cover is defined as ‘all land, more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status.
- Such land may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm’.
Classification of forest cover
In ISFR 2021 recently published has divided the forest cover as:
- Inside Recorded Forest Area: These are basically natural forests and plantations of Forest Department.
- Outside Recorded Forest Area: These cover mango orchards, coconut plantations, block plantations of agroforestry.
Back2Basics: Forest Classification in India
The Forest Survey of India (FSI) classifies forest cover in 4 classes.
- Very Dense forest: All lands with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density of 70% and above.
- Moderately dense forest: All lands with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 40% and 70%.
- Open forests: All lands with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 10% and 40%.
- Scrubs: All forest lands with poor tree growth mainly of small or stunted trees having canopy density less than 10%.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramsar Convention, Coringa WLS
Mains level: Not Much
Godavari Estuary in Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) is facing due ignorance despite meeting all nine criteria of Ramsar Convention.
Godavari Estuary
- The estuary, including 235.70 sq. km Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS), is one of the rarest eco-regions on the earth.
- It is also home to India’s second-largest mangrove cover after the Sundarbans.
- The CWS is inhabited by 115 endangered fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus), Olive Ridley turtles, Indian smooth-coated otter, and saltwater crocodiles.
What are the nine criteria laid out by Ramsar Convention?
- Criterion 1: “it contains a representative, rare, or unique example of a natural or near-natural wetland type found within the appropriate biogeographic region.”
- Criterion 2: “it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities.”
- Criterion 3: “it supports populations of plant and/or animal species important for maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region.”
- Criterion 4: “it supports plant and/or animal species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions.”
- Criterion 5: “it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds.”
- Criterion 6: “it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbird.”
- Criterion 7: “it supports a significant proportion of indigenous fish subspecies, species or families, life-history stages, species interactions and/or populations that are representative of wetland benefits and/or values and thereby contributes to global biological diversity.”
- Criterion 8: “it is an important source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend.”
- Criterion 9: “it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of wetland-dependent non-avian animal species.”
Back2Basics: Ramsar Convention
- The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (better known as the Ramsar Convention) is an international agreement promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
- It is the only global treaty to focus on a single ecosystem.
- The convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975.
- Traditionally viewed as a wasteland or breeding ground of disease, wetlands actually provide fresh water and food and serve as nature’s shock absorber.
- Wetlands, critical for biodiversity, are disappearing rapidly, with recent estimates showing that 64% or more of the world’s wetlands have vanished since 1900.
- Major changes in land use for agriculture and grazing, water diversion for dams and canals, and infrastructure development are considered to be some of the main causes of loss and degradation of wetlands.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AI
Mains level: Paper 3- Climate cost of AI
Context
While there is an allure to national dreams of economic prosperity and global competitiveness, underwritten by AI, there is an environmental cost.
Issues with AI
- Unfair race for dominance in AI: A few developed economies possess certain material advantages right from the start, they also set the rules.
- They have an advantage in research and development, and possess a skilled workforce as well as wealth to invest in AI.
- Inequality in terms of governance: We can also look at the state of inequity in AI in terms of governance: How “tech fluent” are policymakers in developing and underdeveloped countries?
- What barriers do they face in crafting regulations and industrial policy?
- At the same time, there is an emerging challenge at the nexus of AI and climate change that could deepen this inequity.
Climate impact of AI
- The climate impact of AI comes in a few forms: The energy use of training and operating large AI models is one.
- In 2020, digital technologies accounted for between 1.8 per cent and 6.3 per cent of global emissions.
- In November 2021, UNESCO adopted the In November 2021, UNESCO adopted the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, calling on actors to “reduce the environmental impact of AI systems, including but not limited to its carbon footprint.” , calling on actors to “reduce the environmental impact of AI systems, including but not limited to its carbon footprint.”
Inequitable access to resources
- Both global AI governance and climate change policy (historically) are contentious, being rooted in inequitable access to resources.
- Developing and underdeveloped countries face a challenge on two fronts:
- 1] AI’s social and economic benefits are accruing to a few countries.
- 2] Most of the current efforts and narratives on the relationship between AI and climate impact are being driven by the developed West.
Way forward
- Assess technology-led priorities: Governments of developing countries, India included, should also assess their technology-led growth priorities in the context of AI’s climate costs.
- It is argued that as developing nations are not plagued by legacy infrastructure it would be easier for them to “build up better”.
Consider the question “How Artificial Intelligence technologies could transform the world as we know it? What are the concerns with it?
Conclusion
It may be worth thinking through what “solutions” would truly work for the unique social and economic contexts of the communities in our global village.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Criminal laws mentioned
Mains level: Need for reforming criminal justice system
The Central government has initiated the process for comprehensive amendment of criminal laws in India in consultation with all stakeholders
Criminal Laws in India
Indian criminal laws are divided into three major acts:
- Indian Penal Code, 1860: It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law.
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: CrPC defines the rules with which substantive laws can be enforced.
- Indian Evidence Act, 1872: It contains a set of rules and allied issues governing the admissibility of evidence in the Indian courts of law.
Other laws
Besides these major acts, special Criminal Laws are also passed by the Indian Parliament which includes:
- Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act
- Prevention of Corruption Act
- Food Adulteration Act
- Dowry Prohibition Act
- The Defence of India Act, etc.
Issues with these laws
- Colonial ideas prevail in the code.
- Some laws don’t reflect the aspirations of India’s liberal Constitution
- It does not recognize the individual agency of citizens of free India
- Too many laws promote patriarchal attitudes, biased against women
- Sedition laws are misused by the state
- Tech crimes, cyber crimes, sexual offenses need to be defined
- Risk of excessive policing, which leads to harassment of people.
- Need to harmonize statute books with court rulings, which have often expanded the rights of people.
- Some provisions are disadvantageous for the underprivileged who are trapped in jail for long but favour the powerful, who get bail very easily
- Influence of media trials on the judiciary while using the IPC.
Why amend them?
- The evolution of criminal laws is a continuous process.
- They need to be made in accordance with the contemporary needs and aspirations of people.
- Malimath Committee has called for reform in India’s criminal justice system.
Progress made to date
- The entire procedure is a long-drawn-out one and no time limit can be fixed or given for this legislative process.
- Legislation of such laws is a complex and lengthy exercise given the spectrum of divergent views of stakeholders.
- The Home Ministry is seeking suggestions from various stakeholders and judicial luminaries in this regard.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Collegium system, NJAC
Mains level: Collegium system
The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana has recommended to the Centre the names of six judicial officers for appointment as judges of the Delhi High Court.
What is Collegium System?
- The Collegium of judges is the Indian Supreme Court’s invention.
- It does not figure in the Constitution, which says judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are appointed by the President and speaks of a process of consultation.
- In effect, it is a system under which judges are appointed by an institution comprising judges.
- After some judges were superseded in the appointment of the CJI in the 1970s, and attempts made subsequently to effect a mass transfer of High Court judges across the country.
- Hence there was a perception that the independence of the judiciary was under threat. This resulted in a series of cases over the years.
Evolution: The Judges Cases
- First Judges Case (1981) ruled that the “consultation” with the CJI in the matter of appointments must be full and effective.
- However, it rejected the idea that the CJI’s opinion, albeit carrying great weight, should have primacy.
- Second Judges Case (1993) introduced the Collegium system, holding that “consultation” really meant “concurrence”.
- It added that it was not the CJI’s individual opinion, but an institutional opinion formed in consultation with the two senior-most judges in the Supreme Court.
- Third Judges Case (1998): On a Presidential Reference for its opinion, the Supreme Court, in the Third Judges Case (1998) expanded the Collegium to a five-member body, comprising the CJI and four of his senior-most colleagues.
The procedure followed by the Collegium
Appointment of CJI
- The President of India appoints the CJI and the other SC judges.
- As far as the CJI is concerned, the outgoing CJI recommends his successor.
- In practice, it has been strictly by seniority ever since the supersession controversy of the 1970s.
- The Union Law Minister forwards the recommendation to the PM who, in turn, advises the President.
Other SC Judges
- For other judges of the top court, the proposal is initiated by the CJI.
- The CJI consults the rest of the Collegium members, as well as the senior-most judge of the court hailing from the High Court to which the recommended person belongs.
- The consultees must record their opinions in writing and it should form part of the file.
- The Collegium sends the recommendation to the Law Minister, who forwards it to the Prime Minister to advise the President.
For High Courts
- The CJs of High Courts are appointed as per the policy of having Chief Justices from outside the respective States. The Collegium takes the call on the elevation.
- High Court judges are recommended by a Collegium comprising the CJI and two senior-most judges.
- The proposal, however, is initiated by the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned in consultation with two senior-most colleagues.
- The recommendation is sent to the Chief Minister, who advises the Governor to send the proposal to the Union Law Minister.
Does the Collegium recommend transfers too?
- Yes, the Collegium also recommends the transfer of Chief Justices and other judges.
- Article 222 of the Constitution provides for the transfer of a judge from one High Court to another.
- When a CJ is transferred, a replacement must also be simultaneously found for the High Court concerned. There can be an acting CJ in a High Court for not more than a month.
- In matters of transfers, the opinion of the CJI “is determinative”, and the consent of the judge concerned is not required.
- However, the CJI should take into account the views of the CJ of the High Court concerned and the views of one or more SC judges who are in a position to do so.
- All transfers must be made in the public interest, that is, “for the betterment of the administration of justice”.
Loopholes in the Collegium system
- Lack of Transparency: Opaqueness and a lack of transparency, and the scope for nepotism are cited often.
- Judges appointing Judge: The attempt made to replace it with a ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission’ was struck down by the court in 2015 on the ground that it posed a threat to the independence of the judiciary.
- Criteria: Some do not believe in full disclosure of reasons for transfers, as it may make lawyers in the destination court chary of the transferred judge.
Way ahead
- In respect of appointments, there has been an acknowledgment that the “zone of consideration” must be expanded to avoid criticism that many appointees hail from families of retired judges.
- The status of a proposed new memorandum of procedure, to infuse greater accountability, is also unclear.
- Even the majority opinions admitted the need for transparency, now Collegiums’ resolutions are now posted online, but reasons are not given.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Delimitation of constituencies
Mains level: Delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir
The J&K Delimitation Commission is likely to get a second extension of its term this month.
What is Delimitation and why is it needed?
- Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of an assembly or Lok Sabha seat to represent changes in population over time.
- This exercise is carried out by a Delimitation Commission, whose orders have the force of law and cannot be questioned before any court.
- The objective is to redraw boundaries (based on the data of the last Census) in a way so that the population of all seats, as far as practicable, be the same throughout the State.
- Aside from changing the limits of a constituency, the process may result in a change in the number of seats in a state.
Delimitation in J&K
- Assembly seats in J&K were delimited in 1963, 1973 and 1995.
- Prior to August 5, 2019, carving out of J&K’s Assembly seats was carried out under the J&K Constitution and Jammu and Kashmir Representation of the People Act, 1957.
- Until then, the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats in J&K was governed by the Constitution of India.
- However, the delimitation of the state’s Assembly was governed by the J&K Constitution and J&K Representation of the People Act, 1957.
- There was no census in the state in 1991 and hence no Delimitation Commission was set up by the state until 2001 census.
Why is it in the news again?
- After the abrogation of J&K’s special status in 2019, the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in the newly-created UT would be as per the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
- On March 6, 2020, the government set up the Delimitation Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, which was tasked with winding up delimitation in J&K in a year.
- As per the J&K Reorganization Bill, the number of Assembly seats in J&K would increase from 107 to 114, which is expected to benefit the Jammu region.
Factors considered during Delimitation
- The number of districts had increased from 12 to 20 and tehsils from 52 to 207 since the last delimitation.
- The population density ranged from 29 persons a square km in Kishtwar to 3,436 persons a square km in Srinagar.
- The remoteness of the place, inaccessibility etc are also considered during the exercise.
Concerns raised over Delimitation
- Jammu vs. Kashmir: Concerns had been expressed over how the delimitation process may end up favoring the Jammu region over Kashmir in terms of the seats.
- Under-representation of Ladakh: Arguments have been made on how Ladakh has been underrepresented, with demands for statehood/sixth schedule.
- Non-proportionate reservations: It is argued that seats for STs should’ve been divided in both Jammu province & Kashmir province, as the ST population is almost equal.
Do not forget to answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.With reference to the Delimitation Commission, consider the following statements:
- The orders of the Delimitation Commission cannot be challenged in a Court of Law.
- When the orders of the Delimitation Commission are laid before the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly, they cannot affect any modifications in the orders.
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
Post your answers here:
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Virtual Digital Assets
Mains level: Taxing crypto assets
Recently, The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued detailed guidelines on the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) rule for Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) such as cryptocurrencies .
What are Virtual Digital Assets?
- To define the term “virtual digital asset”, a new clause (47A) is proposed to be inserted into section 2 of the Act.
- A virtual digital asset is proposed to mean any information or code or number or token (not being Indian currency or any foreign currency):
- Generated through cryptographic means or otherwise
- Providing a digital representation of value that is exchanged with or without consideration with the promise or representation of having inherent value
- Functions as a store of value or a unit of account and includes its use in any financial transaction or investment, but not limited to, investment schemes
- Can be transferred, stored, or traded electronically.
- Non-fungible token (NFT) and; any other token of similar nature are included in the definition.
Why tax them?
- Popularity: Virtual digital assets have gained tremendous popularity in recent times and the volumes of trading in such digital assets have increased substantially.
- Growing market: Further, a market is emerging where payment for the transfer of a virtual digital asset can be made through another such asset.
- Increased transactions: There has been a phenomenal rise in such transactions and the magnitude and frequency of these transactions have made it imperative to provide for a specific tax regime.
- Prevalence of gifting: The gifting of virtual digital assets is also a popular mode of exchange.
Key takeaways from the FM’s speech
- The bill provides for the definition of virtual digital assets which is wide enough to cover emerging digital assets including NFT, assets in metaverse, cryptocurrencies, etc.
- This recognition of digital assets under income tax is NOT akin to granting legal status.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now