Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SWIFT
Mains level: Global sanctions on Russia
The U.S., Europe and several other western nations are moving to exclude Russia from SWIFT, an international network for banks worldwide to facilitate smooth money transactions globally.
What is SWIFT?
- SWIFT is an international network for banks worldwide to facilitate smooth money transactions globally.
- It is basically a messaging network used by banks and financial institutions globally for quick and faultless exchange of information pertaining to financial transactions.
- The Belgium-headquartered SWIFT connects more than 11,000 banking and securities organizations in over 200 countries and territories.
- First used in 1973, it went live in 1977 with 518 institutions from 22 countries, its website states.
What exactly is it?
- SWIFT is merely a platform that sends messages and does not hold any securities or money.
- It facilitates standardized and reliable communication to facilitate the transaction.
How does it facilitate banking?
- Each participant on the platform is assigned a unique eight-digit SWIFT code or a bank identification code (BIC).
- If a person, say, in New York with a Citibank account, wants to send money to someone with an HSBC account in London, the payee would have to submit to his bank the London-based beneficiary’s account number along with the eight-digit SWIFT code of the latter’s bank.
- Citibank would then send a SWIFT message to HSBC. Once that is received and approved, the money would be credited to the required account.
How is the organization governed?
- SWIFT claims to be neutral. Its shareholders, consisting of 3,500 firms across the globe, elect the 25-member board, which is responsible for oversight and management of the company.
- It is regulated by G-10 central banks from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, the UK, the US, Switzerland, and Sweden, alongside the European Central Bank.
- Its lead overseer is the National Bank of Belgium.
- The SWIFT oversight forum was established in 2012.
- The G-10 participants were joined by the central banks of India, Australia, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, the Republic of Turkey, and the People’s Republic of China.
- Europe, Middle East, and Africa are highest contributors to SWIFT.
What happens if one is excluded from SWIFT?
- US excluding Russia from SWIFT could have serious repercussions on how Russian banks carry out international financial transactions.
- If a country is excluded from the most participatory financial facilitating platform, its foreign funding would take a hit, making it entirely reliant on domestic investors.
- This is particularly troublesome when institutional investors are constantly seeking new markets in newer territories.
- An alternative system would be cumbersome to build and even more difficult to integrate with an already expansive system.
Are any countries excluded from SWIFT?
- Iranian banks were ousted from the system in 2018 despite resistance from several countries in Europe.
- This step, while regrettable, was taken in the interest of the stability and integrity of the wider global financial system, and based on an assessment of the economic situation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Munich Security Conference
Mains level: NA
The latest edition of MSC a week ago assumed significance as it was here that the Ukrainian President appealed for help ahead of the Russian invasion.
Munich Security Conference
- The Munich Security Conference is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany since 1963.
- It brings together heads of state, diplomats and business leaders from the world’s leading democracies for three days of meetings and presentations.
- It is the world’s largest gathering of its kind.
- Over the past four decades the MSC has become the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers.
How did it begin?
- When the MSC was founded in 1963, it was envisioned as a way for leaders, mostly from the West, to discuss threats and dangers in an informal setting.
- Most of the concerns at the time stemmed from the Cold War, which had dominated world politics for nearly a half-century.
- Over time, the conference evolved into a platform for airing grievances and workshopping political agreements, some of them outside the realm of East-West relations.
- In recent years, the conference has often invited leaders from authoritarian countries, and even adversaries, to speak.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nord Stream 2
Mains level: Paper 2- Ukraine crisis and its implications for West-led global order
Context
The Ukraine crisis has come to a head with Russia biting the bullet and launching “a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russian invasion and response of the West
- Hours before the invasion, the western countries had imposed a new round of sanctions against Moscow (targeting Russian individuals and banks linked to Mr. Putin’s regime).
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspended certification of Nord Stream 2, a major gas pipeline between Russia and his nation.
- The European Union has announced a “massive” package of sanctions.
- Incoherence in response: the West has been incoherent in its response — not being able to present a united front, and worse, not even speaking the same language at times.
- For the West, this has been a moment when it has been found wanting — a lack of imagination, lack of will and lack of leadership, all rolled into producing a lackadaisical response to the one of most serious security crises in decades.
- France has used this moment of crisis in trying to showcase its own leadership credentials.
- Lack of trans-Atlantic engagement: It turns out that even Mr. Biden has not been able to build the trans-Atlantic engagement around common objectives to be pursued collectively.
- Energy dependence: With the EU importing 39% of its total gas imports and 30% of oil from Russia, and with the Central and Eastern European countries being almost 100% dependent on Russian gas, the reasons for internal EU dissonance are not that difficult to fathom.
Implications for Indo-Pacific
- Emboldening China: This ineffectual western response has emboldened not only Russia but also China as the focus of the West is in danger of moving away from the Indo-Pacific.
- The Russia-China ‘axis’ is only getting stronger as the two nations seem ready to take on the West that seems willing to concede without even putting up a fight.
Conclusion
Today, the balance of power is once again in flux, and as China develops a strategic partnership with Russia, the future of the West-led global order will be defined by how effectively it responds to the crisis in Ukraine.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Suwalki corridor
Mains level: Paper 2- Implications of Russia's actions in Ukraine
Context
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched “special military operations” with the objective of “demilitarising Ukraine” but not “occupying” it.
Why it was a crisis in the making?
- Redrawing national boundaries by force: After 1945, this is the second time that national boundaries are being redrawn by force; the first was the 1999 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air strikes on Serbian forces that led to the creation of Kosovo.
- Russian and Chinese protests about NATO undertaking “out of area operations” without United Nations Security Council approval carried little weight.
- After the fall of the Berlin Wall in late-1989, then U.S. Secretary Of State had assured the Soviet President that “there would be no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction one inch to the east”.
- Rather than look for a new European security framework, the newly independent Baltic and central European states sought security in a U.S.-led NATO.
- Beginning in 1999, NATO has added 14 new members in stages.
- At the NATO summit in 2008, at U.S. President George Bush’s urging, an in-principle opening for Ukraine and Georgia was announced, though France and Germany, conscious of Russian concerns, successfully opposed defining a time frame.
- Later that year, Russia intervened in Georgia on the grounds of protecting the Russian minorities and took over the northern provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
- Annexation of Crimea: In 2014 Mr. Putin annexed Crimea.
- For Russia, Crimea is vital as the peninsula hosts Russia’s Black Sea fleet, providing it access to the Mediterranean and its bases at Latakia and Tartus in Syria.
- Despite no timeline for membership, Ukraine was made a NATO Enhanced Opportunity Partner in 2020.
- The presence of British and U.S. warships in the Black Sea began to increase.
- In 2019, the U.K. entered into a cooperation agreement with Ukraine to develop two new naval ports, Ochakiv on the Black Sea and Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov, a move that Russia saw as potentially threatening.
- Beginning with NATO’s bombing of Serbia in 1999, interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and colour revolutions to engineer regime changes, the U.S.’ unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 2002 coupled with missile defence deployments in Poland and Romania, Russia’s grievances were accumulating.
Faltering diplomacy
- France and Germany initiated talks between Ukraine and Russia under the Normandy format leading to the Minsk agreements, in 2014 and 2015.
- The first was for a ceasefire between Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists and the second was between Ukraine, Russia, the two separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
- Supportive declarations by France and Germany were intended to address Russian security concerns.
- Ukraine undertook to introduce certain constitutional amendments to provide a degree of autonomy to the two provinces and Russia was to assist in withdrawal of all foreign forces.
- However, neither side implemented and positions have only hardened since.
- Russia’s threatening moves made NATO members, especially the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and the central Europeans like Poland and Romania, especially nervous.
- Finally, NATO remained united but unable to provide an off-ramps solution.
Implications for Russia
- NATO has been rejuvenated, the trans-Atlantic unity strengthened and Russia’s economic ties with Europe have been adversely impacted.
- Given Russia’s considerable foreign exchange reserves, of nearly $640 billion, sanctions imposed by the U.S. and EU may not hurt immediately but eventually will begin to bite both the oligarchs and the common people.
- Worse, Russia will become more dependent on China — for political support as well as a market for its energy exports.
- This will eventually weaken its hand in central Asia.
Conclusion
For Mr Putin challenge is to constrain the adversary’s options while increasing one’s own options and space for manoeuvre. His actions this week may yield tactical gains but hardly pass the test for strategic victory.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chernobyl Disaster
Mains level: Not Much
Ukrainian authorities said that radiation levels had increased in the Chernobyl exclusion zone after the Russian Invasion.
What is Chernobyl Disaster?
- The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of Ukraine (formerly USSR).
- It is considered the worst nuclear disaster in history both in cost and casualties.
- It is one of only two nuclear energy accidents rated at seven—the maximum severity—on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
- The other such incident was the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.
Destruction caused
- Some sources state that two people were killed in the initial explosions, whereas others report that the figure was closer to 50.
- Dozens more people contracted serious radiation sickness; some of them later died.
- Between 50 and 185 million curies of radionuclides (radioactive forms of chemical elements) escaped into the atmosphere.
- This is several times more radioactivity than that created by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
- This radioactivity was spread by the wind over Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine and soon reached as far west as France and Italy.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lachit Borphukan, Battle of Saraighat
Mains level: NA
The Prime Minister has paid tribute to Lachit Borphukan on Lachit Diwas.
Who was Lachit Borphukan?
- The year was 1671 and the decisive Battle of Saraighat was fought on the raging waters of the Brahmaputra.
- On one side was Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s army headed by Ram Singh of Amer (Jaipur) and on the other was the Ahom General Lachit Borphukan.
- He was a commander in the Ahom kingdom, located in present-day Assam.
- Ram Singh failed to make any advance against the Assamese army during the first phase of the war.
- Lachit Borphukan emerged victorious in the war and the Mughals were forced to retreat from Guwahati.
Lachit Diwas
- On 24 November each year, Lachit Divas is celebrated state-wide in Assam to commemorate the heroism of Lachit Borphukan.
- On this day, Borphukan has defeated the Mughal army on the banks of the Brahmaputra in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671.
- The best passing out cadet of National Defence Academy has been conferred the Lachit gold medal every year since 1999 commemorating his valor.
Try this PYQ:
Q.What was the immediate cause for Ahmad Shah Abdali to invade and fight the Third Battle of Panipat?
(a) He wanted to avenge the expulsion by Marathas of his viceroy Timur Shah from Lahore
(b) The frustrated governor of Jullundhar Adina Beg khan invited him to invade Punjab
(c) He wanted to punish Mughal administration for non-payment of the revenues of the Chahar Mahal (Gujrat Aurangabad, Sialkot and Pasrur)
(d) He wanted to annex all the fertile plains of Punjab upto borders of Delhi to his kingdom
Post your answer here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: P-8I Aircraft
Mains level: Indian Naval Arsenal
Aviation and defence colossus Boeing delivered India’s 12th maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare P-8I aircraft.
P-8I Aircraft
- It is a multi-mission aircraft with state of the art sensors, proven weapons systems, and a globally recognised platform.
- The first aircraft produced by Boeing flew in 2009, and has been in service with the US Navy since 2013, the same year as the Indian Navy.
- Apart from India and the US, it has been chosen by six other militaries in the world.
- The aircraft has two variants — the P-8I, which is manufactured for the Indian Navy, and the P-8A Poseidon.
- The aircraft is designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Naval operations
- While the Indian Navy uses it for maritime operations, the aircraft was also used in eastern Ladakh in 2020 and 2021, when the standoff with China was at its peak.
- The aircraft for the Indian Navy are called P-8I, and have replaced the ageing Soviet/Russian Tupolev Tu-142s.
Specifications and features
- The P-8I can fly as high as 41,000 feet, and has a short transit time, which reduces the size of the Area of Probability when searching for submarines, surface vessels or search and rescue survivors.
- The aircraft has two engines, and is about 40 metres long, with a wingspan of 37.64 metres.
- Each aircraft weighs about 85,000 kg, and has a top speed of 490 knots, or 789 km/hour.
- It requires a crew of nine, and has a range of 1,200+ nautical miles, with 4 hours on station, which means about 2,222 km.
- According to Boeing, more than 140 P-8 aircraft have “executed more than 400,000 mishap-free flight-hours around the globe”.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dugong Conservation Reserve
Mains level: NA
India’s first Dugong conservation reserve will be built in Tamil Nadu for the conservation of Dugong, a marine mammal.
Dugong Conservation Reserve
- The reserve will spread over an area of 500 km in Palk Bay on the southeast coast of Tamil Nadu.
- Palk Bay is a semi-enclosed shallow water body with a water depth maximum of 13 meters.
- Located between India and Sri Lanka along the Tamil Nadu coast, the dugong is a flagship species in the region.
Dugong: The sea cow
- Dugong or the sea cow is the State animal of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
- This endangered marine species survive on seagrass and other aquatic vegetation found in the area.
- It is the only herbivorous mammal that is strictly marine and is the only extant species in the family Dugongidae.
- Dugongs are usually about three-meter long and weigh about 400 kg.
- Dugongs have an expanded head and trunk-like upper lip.
- Elephants are considered to be their closest relatives. However, unlike dolphins and other cetaceans, sea cows have two nostrils and no dorsal fin.
Their habitat
- Distributed in shallow tropical waters in the Indo-Pacific region, in India, they are found in the Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
- Dugongs are long-living animals, that have a low reproductive rate, long generation time, and high investment in each offspring.
- The female dugongs do not bear their first calf until they are at least 10 and up to 17 years old.
- A dugong population is unlikely to increase more than 5% per year. They take a long time to recover due to the slow breeding rate.
Causes of extinction
- Having being declared vulnerable, the marine animal calls for conserving efforts.
- Studies have suggested the reasons for the extinction of the animal such as slow breeding rate, fishing, and the loss of habitat.
- They are also known to suffer due to accidental entanglement and drowning in gill-nets.
Conservation in India
- The conservation reserve can promote growth and save vulnerable species from the verge of extinction.
- Dugongs are protected in India under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Act 1972 which bans the killing and purchasing of dugong meat.
- IUCN status: Vulnerable
Try answering this PYQ:
Q. With reference to ‘dugong’, a mammal found in India, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- It is a herbivorous marine animal.
- It is found along the entire coast of India.
- It is given legal protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1974.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 3 only
Post your answers here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UN Food Systems Summit
Mains level: Paper 3- Transforming food system in India
Context
The country faces the dual challenge of achieving nutrition security, as well as addressing declining land productivity, land degradation and loss of ecological services with change in land use. Not surprisingly, widespread concerns about poverty, malnutrition and the need for a second Green Revolution are being made in tandem.
Challenges for India
- Macro- and micronutrient malnutrition is widespread in India.
- 18.7% of women and 16.2% of men are unable to access enough food to meet basic nutritional needs.
- Over 32% of children below five years are still underweight as per the recently released fifth National Family Health Survey (2019-2021) phase 2 compendium.
- India is ranked 101 out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index, 2021.
- Although India is now self-sufficient in food grains production in the macro sense, it has about a quarter of the world’s food insecure people, a pointer to the amount of food necessary to allow all income groups to reach the caloric target (2,400 kcal in rural and 2,100 kcal in the urban set-up).
India needs to adopt ‘food systems’ for ‘sustainability’ and ‘better nutrition’
- The UN Food Systems Summit called for action by governments in five areas: nourish all people; boost nature-based solutions; advance equitable livelihoods, decent work and empowered communities; build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses; and accelerate the means of implementation.
- Wholistic policy approach: In the context of the intensifying economic, environmental and climate challenges and crisis, the need of the hour is a good theory of transition encompassing the spatial, social and scientific dimensions, supported by policy incentives and mechanisms for achieving a sustainable, resilient and food secure agriculture.
- Agro-climatic approach: An agro-climatic approach to agricultural development is important for sustainability and better nutrition.
- Potential for crop diversification: Data compiled in the agro-climatic zones reports of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the erstwhile Planning Commission of India reveal enormous potential for crop diversification and precision for enhanced crop productivity based on soil type, climate (temperature and rainfall), and captive water resources.
- The focus should be on improving farmers’ competitiveness, supporting business growth in the rural economy, and incentivising farmers to improve the environment.
- Review of agro-climatic zones: It is assumed that a meticulous review of agro-climatic zones could make smallholders farming a profitable business, enhancing agricultural efficiency and socio-economic development, as well as sustainability.
- Strengthening and shortening food supply chains, reinforcing regional food systems, food processing, agricultural resilience and sustainability in a climate-changing world will require prioritising research and investments along these lines.
- A stress status of the natural resource base — soil and water in different agro-climatic zones — will help understand the micro as well as meso-level interventions needed with regard to technologies, extension activities and policies.
- Infrastructure: Lastly, infrastructure and institutions supporting producers, agri-preneurs and agri micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in their production value chain are central to the transition.
- Alignment with national and State policies: This should be aligned to the national and State policy priorities such as the National Policy guidelines 2012 of the Ministry of Agriculture for the promotion of farmer producer organisations, and the National Resource Efficiency Policy of 2019 of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Conclusion
Clearly, science, society and policy have a lot to gain from an effective interface encompassing the range of actors and institutions in the food value-chain and a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, along with a greater emphasis on policy design, management and behavioural change.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Deep Ocean Mission
Mains level: Paper 3- Green ambitions and allocations in Budget
Context
One can analyse the budget from three standpoints: Direct allocations for the environment sector, allocations for environment in non-environment sectors, and allocations for other sectors with environmental impacts.
Analysing the Budget from an environmental standpoint
1] Allocation for MoEFCC
- There is a slight increase in the budget of the Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) from 2021-22’s revised estimate of Rs 2,870 crore to Rs 3,030 crore.
- This is a meagre 0.08 per cent of the total budgetary outlay.
- While some sectors like forestry and wildlife have seen a healthy rise in allocation, the outlay for others like the National River Conservation Plan has declined.
2] Focus on natural and organic farming
- There is a welcome stated focus on natural and organic farming, and on promoting millets.
- No details on allocation: There are no details on the allocations, including for linkages necessary to make such farming viable, such as manure and markets.
- Also, given the major push for food processing in the budget, without making reservations for community-run businesses, there is a danger of big corporations capturing the organic space.
- Missing focus on rainfed farming: Completely missing is a focus on rainfed farming that involves 60 per cent of the farming population and is ecologically more sustainable than artificially irrigated agriculture.
- The FM announced the government’s support to “chemical-free farming throughout the country,” but she has also allocated a massive chemical fertiliser subsidy of Rs 1,05,222 crore.
- A recent announcement that palm plantations are proposed in Northeast India and the Andaman Islands, both ecologically fragile, makes this a worrying prospect.
3] Positive provisions on the climate front
- On the climate front, there are several positive provisions — use of biomass for power stations, boost to batteries, energy-efficiency measures in large commercial buildings, and sovereign green bonds.
- Renewable and “clean” energy has received substantially higher allocations.
- But the focus remains on mega-parks in solar/wind energy, nuclear power, and large hydro that have serious ecological impacts.
- The additional budget for farm-level solar pumps and rooftop solar generation is welcome, but it’s minuscule compared to mega-projects.
- Missed opportunity for decentralised renewable energy: Another chance to shift towards decentralised renewable energy with less ecological impacts and greater community access has been missed.
- The budget does promise greater support for public transport, something demanded by citizens’ groups for decades.
- Unfortunately, most of the allocation in this will go to metros that are extremely carbon-intensive in terms of construction.
- The National Climate Action Plan gets an abysmally inadequate Rs 30 crore — the same as in 2021-22.
- And there is no focus on a “just transition” that could help workers in fossil fuel sectors, like coal, to transition to jobs in cleaner, greener sectors.
4] Concerns with focus on infrastructure in Budget
- As highlighted by the FM, this is predominantly an “infrastructure budget”.
- While investments in infrastructure for small towns and villages are urgently needed, much of what is proposed are mega-projects.
- The proposed 25,000 km increase in highways will further fragment forests, wetlands, mountains, grasslands, agricultural lands and bypass most villages.
- A shift in paradigm to decentralised, sustainable, and community-oriented infrastructure is missing.
- Several specific allocations are of further concern. For instance, the Ken-Betwa river-linking project, given over Rs 40,000 crore, will submerge valuable tiger habitat.
- The Deep Ocean Mission and the Blue Revolution allocations are oriented towards commercial exploitation rather than conservation and sustainable use.
5] Missed opportunity on green jobs
- The budget misses out on a major shift to “green jobs”.
- This includes support to decentralised (including handmade) production of textiles, footwear, and other products.
- Even the MGNREGS, which could have been used for regenerating two-thirds of India’s landmass that is ecologically degraded, has got reduced allocation.
Conclusion
Another chance to turn the economy towards real sustainability and equity — a real “Amrit Kaal” as India heads to a centenary of Independence — has been missed.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Russia-Ukraine War
The Russian annexation of Russia has been condemned widely and raised several questions concerning violation of international law.
How is Russia violating the UN Charter?
(1) Principle of Non-Intervention
- The Russian attack on Ukraine is violative of the non-intervention principle, and amounts to aggression under international law.
- The principle of non-intervention in domestic affairs is the foundational principle on which existing international order is based.
- The principle is enshrined in article 2(4) of the UN Charter requiring states to refrain from using force or threat of using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
- It prohibits any kind of forcible trespassing in the territory of another state, even if it is for temporary or limited operations such as an ‘in and out’ operation.
(2) Principle of Non-Aggression
- The UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (1974) defines aggression as the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state.
- Additionally, allowing one’s territory to be used by another state for aggression against a third state, also qualifies as an act of aggression.
- Accordingly, Belarus can also be held responsible for aggression as it has allowed its territory to be used by Russia for attacking Ukraine.
- Aggression is also considered an international crime under customary international law and the Rome statute establishing the International Criminal Court.
(3) Principle of Political Independence
- Russia’s desire to keep Ukraine out of NATO is a prime reason for its use of force against Ukraine.
- This is violative of Ukraine’s political independence under article 2(4) as Ukraine being a sovereign state is free to decide which organizations it wants to join.
- Also, by resorting to use of force, Russia has violated article 2(3) which requires the states to settle their dispute by peaceful means in order to preserve international peace and security.
(4) Principle of Self-Defence
- In face of the use of force by Russia, Ukraine has the right to self-defence under international law.
- The UN Charter under article 51 authorizes a state to resort to an individual or collective self-defense until the Security Council take steps to ensure international peace and security.
- In this case, it seems implausible for the UNSC to arrive at a decision as Russia is a permanent member and has veto power.
Russia’s hype:
(1) Nuclear escalation
- It has been claimed by Russia that Ukraine may acquire nuclear weapons with the help of western allies.
- However, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Legality of Threat of Nuclear Weapons case held that mere possession of nuclear weapons does not necessarily constitute a threat.
- Thus, even if Ukraine has, or were to acquire nuclear weapons in the future, it does not become a ground for invoking self-defence by Russia.
(2) Aggression against Russia
- Further, mere membership in a defence alliance such as NATO cannot necessarily be considered as a threat of aggression against Russia.
- Thus, here too Russia cannot invoke self-defence.
(3) Act in self-defence
- Russia can also not invoke anticipatory self-defence.
- Such invocation according to the Caroline test would require that the necessity of self-defence was instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation.
- However, this is not the case with Russia.
What options is Ukraine left with?
- Ukraine has a right under international law to request assistance from other states in form of military assistance, supply of weapons etc.
- On the other hand, Russia has also claimed that it is acting in self-defence.
- This claim is questionable, as there has been no use of force, or such threats against Russia by Ukraine.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Cyberwarfare
Alongside the missiles and bombs slamming down in Ukraine, the country has also been hit by a wave of cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure companies.
What is Cyberwarfare?
- Cyberwarfare has emerged as a new form of retaliation or passive aggression deployed by nations that do not want to go to actual war but want to send a tough message to their opponents.
- In June 2020, security experts from Cyfirma uncovered a conspiracy by Gothic Panda and Stone Panda, two China-based hacker groups, to target media and critical infra companies in India.
- They led large-scale attacks amid the border stand-off between India and China in Ladakh.
- For many countries, cyberwarfare is a never-ending battle as it allows them to constantly harass and weaken geopolitical rivals.
What has happened in Ukraine so far?
- Ukraine has been one of the primary targets of Russia since 2020.
- The recent spate of attacks started in mid-January and knocked out websites of the ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of education.
- Government websites and a number of banks have been hit by another mass distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
- DDoS attacks disrupt online services by overwhelming websites with more traffic than their server can handle.
Which countries are behind state-backed cyberattacks?
- Russia is one of the top perpetrators of state-backed cyberattacks.
- According to an October 2021 report by Microsoft Corp., Russia accounted for 58% of state-backed attacks worldwide, followed by North Korea (23%), Iran (11%), and China (8%).
- North Korea is said to have built a cyber-army of 7,000 hackers.
Which companies are targeted and why?
- State-backed cyberattacks are usually carried out to steal state secrets, trade deals and weapons blueprint, or target large multinationals to steal their intellectual property (IP) and use it to build local industry.
- Cryptos are also on the radar now. North Korean hackers reportedly stole cryptos worth $400 million in 2021.
- However, when states launch cyberattacks on other states as a result of worsening of geopolitical relations, the target is usually critical infrastructure firms to disrupt economic activity.
How often is India targeted?
- Such cyberattacks rose 100% between 2017 and 2021, according to a global study by Hewlett-Packard and the University of Surrey.
- In 2019, the administrative network of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant was hit by a malware attack by North Korea-backed Lazarus Group.
- China-backed hackers were believed to be behind a power outage in Mumbai in 2020.
- According to Black Lotus Labs, Pakistan-based hackers targeted power firms and one government organization in India in early 2021 using Remote Access Trojans.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNEP’s Fire Ready Formula
Mains level: Wildfires prevention
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has called on global governments to adopt a new ‘Fire Ready Formula,’ as it warned that incidences of wildfires would rise in the future.
What is the Fire Ready Formula?
- The new formula envisages that 66 per cent of spending be devoted to planning, prevention, preparedness and recovery.
- The remaining 34 per cent can be spent on response.
|
New “Fire Ready Formula” focuses on Planning and Prevention
|
| Serial No |
Budget item |
Percentage share of the total on wildfire management recommended |
| 1 |
Planning |
1 % |
| 2 |
Prevention |
32 % |
| 3 |
Preparedness |
13 % |
| 4 |
Response |
34 % |
| 5 |
Recovery |
20 % |
Why need such a formula?
- The UNEP report projected that the number of wildfires is likely to increase by up to 14 per cent by 2030.
- Integrated wildfire management was key to adapting to current and future changes in global wildfire risk, the UNEP.
- There is a need to invest more in fire risk reduction, work with local communities and strengthen global commitment to fight climate change.
- Achieving and sustaining adaptive land and fire management requires a combination of policies, a legal framework and incentives that encourage appropriate land and fire use.
Back2Basics: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
- UNEP is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system.
- It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972.
- Its mandate is to provide leadership, deliver science and develop solutions on a wide range of issues, including climate change, the management of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and green economic development.
- UNEP hosts the secretariats of several multilateral environmental agreements and research bodies, including:
1. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),
2. Minamata Convention on Mercury,
3. Convention on Migratory Species and
4. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
- In 1988, the World Meteorological Organization and UNEP established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
- UNEP is also one of several Implementing Agencies for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Narsinh Mehta
Mains level: Bhakti Movement
Recently Junagadh University discovered a new species of spider and named it Narsinhmehtai in honour of Narsinh Mehta, the 15th-century poet who was a devotee of Lord Krishna.
Narsinh Mehta
- Mehta is believed to have been born in Talaja in present-day Bhavnagar district in 1410 and died in Junagadh in 1480s.
- The family had its origin in Vadnagar in north Gujarat, and the caste name is believed to be Pandya but as members of the family were officers in kingdoms of those days.
- They were called Mehta (one who keeps books of accounts) which later on became the family name.
- His father died when Mehta was just 5 and it is believed that Mehta learnt to speak only when he was eight years old, after a holy man asked him to utter the name of Lord Krishna.
- His elder brother Bansidhar and Bansidhar’s wife raised Mehta and arranged his marriage.
Miracles in his life
- Mehta used to spend time in Krishna-bhakti (devotion to Lord Krishna) even after his marriage to Manekba, paying little attention to family duties.
- Mehta is believed to have run away from home and done tapashcharya at a Shiva temple in Talaja for seven days.
- After that, Mehta relocated with his family to Junagadh.
- Nonetheless, folklore has it that Lord Krishna, by impersonating as Mehta, helped the devout poet organise shraadhha (a ritual performed post death of a family member) of his father, marriage of his son Shamaldas etc.
- One of his bhajans narrates how Ra Mandlik, the then ruler of Junagadh had imprisoned him, accusing the poet of not having seen Lord Krishna and yet claiming to have done so.
His poetry
- Mehta penned more than 750 poems, called padd in Gujarat.
- They mainly deal with devotion to Lord Krishna, gyan (wisdom) vairagya (detachment from worldly affairs).
- Others like Shalmshano Vivah, Kunvarbainu Mameru, Hundi and Harmala are believed to be autobiographical accounts of different occasions in his life.
- Vaishanavajn to tene kahiye, Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan is Mehta’s creation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TAPI gas pipeline
Mains level: Russia-Pakistan affinity and its impact on India
The two-day visit to Moscow by Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan comes at a time when President Vladimir Putin is the bad boy of the world for his actions against Ukraine.
Pakistan–Russia Relations: A backgrounder
- The Soviet Union and Pakistan first established diplomatic and bilateral relations on 1 May 1948.
- For most of the Cold War, the Soviet Union’s relations with Pakistan have seen ups and downs during the different periods in the history of Pakistan.
- Pakistan is credited for playing a key role for allying and supporting the West during this time period of the Cold War.
- In recent years their ties have warmed as a countermeasure to warming ties between India and the United States.
Instances of Russia defying India
- The two countries carried out their first-ever joint military drills in 2016 despite Indian requests to postpone due to the Uri attack.
- Pakistan and Russia signed an agreement for the Pakistan Stream Gas pipeline from Karachi to Kasur, and reached a price accord by December 2016.
- Pakistan has also granted Russia access to a warm water port in the Arabian Sea (Gwadar Port).
- Their mutual partnership with China that has grown in recent years signals the undeniable development of a new axis in South Asia and Central Asia.
- The two countries take the lead in projecting the Taliban as the rightful claimants to power in Kabul.
A timeline of relations
- Cold war era: Pakistan’s relations with Russia have come a long way since the time it was a willing ally and treaty partner of the US bloc against the Soviet Union. It had helped the US repair its relations with China, which sent Beijing and Moscow further apart.
- Paving way for India: In response, India and USSR solidified their ties with a defense pact and increased economic and people-to-people exchanges.
- Afghan War: Pakistan saw itself as a frontline state against the spread of communism, and actively aided and assisted in the defeat of the Red Army in the first Afghan war, with the US and Saudi Arabia using the Pak Army.
- Fall of USSR: The collapse of the Soviet Union led to major shifts in international relations. From their vantage points, Pakistan and Russia watched the US and post-economic-reforms India draw closer.
Pakistan parted with the US
- Putin’s Russia began looking for new markets for its military hardware, as well as new international partners, began building ties with Pakistan.
- By then, serious rifts had emerged between the Obama Administration and Pakistan.
- The killing of Osama bin Laden in a stealth raid by US marines in Pakistan’s Abbottabad became the turning point.
Russia-Pakistan-China
(1) Helping the lonely Pakistan
- In 2011, to New Delhi’s shock, Russia lifted its four-decade-old arms embargo on Pakistan — and within four years, would sell Pakistan its first MiG attack helicopters.
- As a US defeat in Afghanistan began to look certain, both countries made common cause on Afghanistan, again to India’s dismay.
- In September 2016, after the Jaish-e-Mohammed attack in Uri, Russia went ahead with a joint military exercise with Pakistan, ignoring New Delhi’s appeal.
- In 2017, with Indo-Pak relations at their lowest, Russia sold more helicopters to Pakistan.
(2) Enters the old dragon
- After its 2014 annexation of Crimea, Russia found a friend in China, the long-time friend of Pakistan, triangulating the relationship.
- Both Pakistan and Russia are participants in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
- After the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the world has seen the three take common positions and in tacit acknowledgment of each other’s interests in that country.
Impact on ties with India
- The Russia-India relationship is not what it used to be in the Soviet days, both sides recognise its continued mutual benefits. However-
- Russia is hardly starry-eyed about its relations with Pakistan.
- It has clear views against Pakistan’s patronage of terrorists.
- While it is supportive of the Taliban regime, Russia is concerned about radical terrorism expansion from Afghanistan.
- Russia remains India’s biggest arms supplier, and India took the risk of being sanctioned by the US when it bought the Russian S 400 missile defence system.
- New Delhi has not yet allowed its close ties with the US to tilt its delicate balance on the Ukraine issue.
Significance of Pak Visit
- IK is visiting Russia on the Kremlin’s invitation sides to convey their own messages to the West about building partnerships in a changing world.
- He will become the first foreign leader to visit Russia after Putin recognized two breakaway regions of Ukraine as independent republics.
- He is also the first Pakistani PM to travel to that country since the landmark visit by Nawaz Sharif in 1999.
What does Pakistan seeks to have?
- Pakistan wants Russia to invest in, and construct a $2.5 billion gas pipeline from the seaport in Karachi to Kasur in the Punjab hinterland, even though this pipeline is unlikely to transport Russian gas.
- Moscow, however, appears to be more interested in the possibility of building the 1,800-km Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Space Station
Mains level: Space research
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced plans to retire and decommission the International Space Station (ISS) by 2031.
What is the ISS?
- The ISS was launched in 1998 as part of joint efforts by the U.S., Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe.
- The idea of a space station originated in the 1984 State of the Union address by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
- The space station was assembled over many years, and it operates in low-earth orbit.
- Since its inception, it has served as a laboratory suspended in space and has aided multiple scientific and technological developments.
- The ISS was originally built to operate for 15 years.
Why was ISS launched?
- A space station permits quantum leaps in research in science, communications, and in metals and lifesaving medicines which could be manufactured only in space.
- ISS has consistently maintained human presence for the past 21 years, providing astronauts with sophisticated technologies for scientific research.
Why is NASA planning to decommission the ISS?
- The space station has already surpassed that checkpoint by being active for 21 years, with plans to continue operations till 2030.
- The ISS goes through 16 rotations of the earth per day, causing extreme temperature changes on the exterior.
- The side facing the sun can get heated up to 121°C while the temperature on the opposite, darker side can fall to –157°C, causing intense expansion and contraction of the building material.
- This orbital thermal cycling, coupled with dynamic loading, affects the longevity of the primary structure of the space station.
- The technical lifetime is also limited by parts like radiators, modules and truss structures that tend to degrade over time.
What is the procedure to de-orbit the ISS?
- NASA plans to remove the ISS from its orbit around the earth and eventually plunge it into the ocean at a point farthest from human civilisation.
- The space agency will use the dual method of natural orbit decay and a re-entry manoeuvre to bring an end to the ISS as we know it.
- According to the plan, the earth’s natural atmospheric drag will be used in lowering the altitude of the ISS while setting up the de-orbit.
- The space station operators will then provide the final push to it to lower the structure to the maximum possible height and ensure safe re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere.
- It would then lead to Point Nemo over the South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area (SPOUA).
- Dissembling process would have posed huge logistical and financial challenges.
How big is it?
- The ISS is a huge structure — almost the size of a football field — and it was not designed to be disassembled easily in space.
- The station currently operates in low-earth orbit above 400 km in altitude, at a point where it still experiences atmospheric drag and requires re-boosts to continue in its orbit.
- The station also has a mass of over 4,30,000 kg.
- Existing propulsion systems do not have the capacity to raise the station’s altitude to a high target and escape low-earth orbit.
- The random re-entry method was discarded since it carries a huge risk for the human population on the ground.
What is the future of space stations?
- As the ISS plans to end operations in space, new players are already lining up to replace it.
- In January 2022, China announced that its space station will be ready for operations this year.
- Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, has also announced its plans to build Orbital Reef, a commercially developed, owned, and operated space station in low-earth orbit.
- Blue Origin is working alongside Sierra Space on the project.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various titles in Sports
Mains level: NA
India’s teenage chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has won praise for a stunning victory over world number one Magnus Carlsen in an online championship.
Why are we reading this?
- UPSC had asked three questions on sports in CSP 2021. They were based on Laureus World Sports Award, Summer Olympics, and ICC World Test Championship.
- Try to ace uncertainties. No one can memorize such facts.
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Grandmaster: Behind the Title
- Grandmaster is the highest title or ranking that a chess player can achieve.
- The Grandmaster title — and other chess titles — is awarded by the International Chess Federation, FIDE (acronym for its French name Fédération Internationale des Échecs).
- It is the Lausanne-Switzerland-based governing body of the international game.
- The title is the badge of the game’s super elite, a recognition of the greatest chess talent on the planet, which has been tested and proven against a peer group of other similarly talented players.
Other (lesser) titles
Besides Grandmaster, the Qualification Commission of FIDE recognises and awards seven other titles:
- International Master (IM)
- FIDE Master (FM)
- Candidate Master (CM)
- Woman Grandmaster (WGM), Woman International Master (WIM), Woman FIDE Master (WFM), and Woman Candidate Master (WCM) and so on .
Titles are for life
- All the titles, including that of Grandmaster, are valid for life, unless a player is stripped of the title for a proven offence such as cheating.
Qualifications for Grandmaster
- The qualifications for Grandmaster were changed several times, including in 1957, 1965, and 1970.
- Currently, FIDE awards chess’s highest honour to a player who is able to achieve a FIDE Classical or Standard rating of 2,500, plus three Grandmaster norms.
- Grandmaster norms are defined by a set of complex and rigorous rules regarding tournaments, games, and players, that are set out in the FIDE Title Regulations.
- The current regulations were approved by the FIDE Council on October 27, 2021, and came into effect on January 1, 2022.
- Each norm is very difficult to attain.
- Broadly, a player must have a performance rating of 2,600 or higher in a FIDE tournament that has nine rounds.
Who holds maximum titles?
- FIDE has so far recognized fewer than 2,000 Grandmasters out of the millions who play the game around the world.
- A vast majority of Grandmasters have been male. Russia (and the erstwhile USSR) has produced the most Grandmasters in the world, followed by the United States and Germany.
Grandmasters in India
- India became a chess powerhouse in the 2000s, and now has more than 70 Grandmasters.
- In 2016, Praggnanandhaa had become the world’s youngest IM at age 10 years, 10 months, and 19 days.
Try this question from CSP 2021:
Q. Consider the following statements in respect of the Laureus World Sports Award which was instituted in the year 2000:
- American golfer Tiger Woods was the first winner of this award.
- The award was received mostly by ‘Formula One’ players so far.
- Roger Federer received this award maximum number of times compared to others.
Which of the above statements are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: QKD
Mains level: Secured Communications, QKD
A joint team of scientists from DRDO and IIT Delhi, for the first time in the country successfully demonstrated Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link between Prayagraj and Vindhyachal in Uttar Pradesh, a distance of more than 100 kilometers.
What is QKD Technology?
- Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a secure communication method that implements a cryptographic protocol involving components of quantum mechanics.
- It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to them, which can then be used to encrypt and decrypt messages.
- It gives the ability of the two communicating users to detect the presence of any third party trying to gain knowledge of the key.
- This is a result of a fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics: the process of measuring a quantum system, in general, disturbs the system.
- By using quantum superposition or quantum entanglement and transmitting information in quantum states, a communication system can be implemented that detects data leak.
How does it work?
- QKD works by transmitting many light particles, or photons, over fiber optic cables between parties.
- Each photon has a random quantum state, and collectively, the photons sent make up a stream of ones and zeros.
- This stream of quantum states that make up ones and zeros are called qubits — the equivalent of bits in a binary system.
- When a photon reaches its receiving end, it will travel through a beam splitter, which forces the photon to randomly take one path or another into a photon collector.
- The receiver will then respond to the original sender with data regarding the sequence of the photons sent, and the sender will then compare that with the emitter, which would have sent each photon.
Benefits offered
- It allows the detection of data leak or hacking because it can detect any such attempt.
- It also allows the process of setting the error level between the intercepted data in dependence.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- TRIPS waiver for Covid-19 treatment issue
Context
When the Covid-19 pandemic pounded the globe, India, with South Africa, piloted a proposal to waive key provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement on Covid-19 vaccines.
Significance of TRIPS waiver for Covid-19 related medical products
- The TRIPS agreement is part of the international legal order on trade enshrined in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- The core idea behind the proposal is that intellectual property (IP) rights such as patents should not become a barrier in scaling up the production of medical products like vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics essential to combat Covid-19.
- However, the WTO has failed to adopt a TRIPS waiver to date.
- Geographically limited waiver: The developed world is talking of a TRIPS waiver that would be geographically limited and exclude India.
- This is a failure of India’s economic diplomacy.
- There are also attempts at limiting the waiver to vaccines alone, leaving out diagnostics and therapeutics.
Domestic factors that affected India’s global campaign for TRIPS waiver
1] India failed to use provisions under Indian Patent Act
- During the entire pandemic, India rarely made use of the existing flexibilities under the Indian Patent Act, such as compulsory licences (CL), which are consistent with the TRIPS agreement, to increase the supply of Covid-19 medical products despite being nudged by the judiciary to do so.
- On the contrary, during the peak of the second Covid wave, the central government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the main constraint in boosting the production of key drugs is the unavailability of raw materials, not IP-related legal hurdles.
- .This stand completely contradicted India’s argument internationally that views IP as an obstacle to augmenting the supply of Covid-19 medical products.
2] Lack of national strategy
- India did not proactively develop a national strategy to implement the TRIPS waiver as and when it is adopted.
- In other words, a TRIPS waiver at the WTO would only be an enabling framework.
- It would then require member countries to amend their domestic IP laws to implement the waiver.
3] Failure to involve Indian pharma industry
- The government failed to get the Indian pharmaceutical industry on board.
- Pharmaceutical bodies are a divided lot with many Indian companies speaking against the waiver, thus denting India’s global campaign.
4] Failure to walk the talk on indigenously developed Covaxin
- India should have unlocked the technical know-how of Covaxin to the world.
- While technology transfer agreements for Covaxin have been inked with domestic companies, making the vaccine technology available to anyone interested globally, at a minimal price.
- This would have exhibited India’s resolve to walk the talk on the TRIPS waiver.
Conclusion
While India would oppose the attempted exclusion, the lesson is that for economic diplomacy to flourish, it should be backed by concrete actions on the domestic front.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act
Mains level: Paper 2- Lokpal Acts of states
Context
The controversy surrounding the amendment to the Lokayukta Act of Kerala — effected through an ordinance —has raised the political temperature in the State.
The background of the Lokayukta
- The term Lokpal was first used in a report of the Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Morarji Desai as far back as in 1966.
- The first Bill on Lokpal was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1968 which lapsed with the dissolution of the House.
- Finally, after 45 years the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill was passed by Parliament in 2013.
- The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act delegates the power to States to establish by law the Lokayukta to deal with complaints relating to corruption against public functionaries.
- The Lokpal has jurisdiction to inquire into allegations of corruption against the Prime Minister, Ministers, Members of Parliament, Group A, B, C and D officers and officials of the central government.
- After the conclusion of the investigation, the Lokpal may file a case in the special court in case the findings disclose the commission of offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the Prime Minister, Ministers or Members of Parliament.
- Some States already have established Lokayuktas. For example, Maharashtra in 1971, and Kerala in 1999.
How Lokpal is different from other investigative bodies
- The Lokpal is no ordinary investigative body.
- Connection with judiciary: It is headed by the incumbent Chief Justice of of India or a retired judge.
- It has eight members, four of whom are judicial members.
- The Lokpal has an inquiry wing and a prosecution wing to deal with investigation and prosecution, respectively.
- The director of prosecution files the case in the special court based on the findings of the Lokpal.
Issue in Kerala
- In order to get a clearer perspective on the Kerala Lokayukta controversy, it is necessary to understand the scheme of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act enacted by Parliament.
- The long title of the Act says: “An Act to provide for the establishment of a body of Lokpal for the Union and Lokayukta for States to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public functionaries….”
- Investigative body: Thus, the Lokpal is conceived of as a body which will inquire into allegations of corruption.
- Section 14 of the Lokayukta Act in Kerala which has now been amended said that if the Lokayukta is satisfied on the complaint against the public servant being substantiated that he should not continue to hold the post held by him.
- In other words, if the public servant is the Chief Minister or a Minister, he shall forthwith resign his office.
- It may be noted here that such a provision does not exist in any of the State laws or the Lokpal Act of the Centre.
- An investigative body does not have the legal authority to direct the public servant to resign his post on the basis of its findings.
- The Chief Minister or a Minister holds office during the pleasure of the Governor (Article 164).
- The Constitution of India does not contemplate any external pressure on the Governor to withdraw his pleasure.
- The Sarkaria Commission had suggested that the Governor can dismiss a Chief Minister only when he loses his majority in the Assembly and refuses to step down.
- The Supreme Court has accepted this recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission.
- No agency created by a law made by the Assembly, particularly an investigative body, can declare that its decision be carried out by the Governor.
- It would amount to a violation of the Constitution.
- State law includes the office bearers of political parties within its definition of ‘public servant’.
- The Lokayukta law was enacted to inquire into cases of corruption of public functionaries such as Ministers, legislators, etc. who are covered by the Prevention of Corruption Act.
- This Act does not include office-bearers of political parties in its definition clause.
- Another problematic provision in this law is the one which deals with the reports of Lokayukta (Section 12).
- It says that the Lokayukta shall, on the allegation of corruption being substantiated, send the findings along with recommendation of action to the competent authority who is required to take action as recommended by the Lokayukta.
- It further says that if the Lokayukta is satisfied by the action taken by the competent authority, he shall close the case.
- There is no provision in the central law under which the Lokpal can close the case before it reaches the court.
- The Lokayukta not being a court does not have the legal capacity to close the corruption case under any circumstances.
Conclusion
The Kerala Lokayukta Act should be re-examined by a committee of the Assembly and should be brought on a par with the Lokpal Act. A legislation which seeks to punish corrupt public functionaries should be placed above controversies.
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