Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Appointment of CJI
Mains level: Read the attached story
Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana has received a communication from the Union Law Minister seeking his recommendation on the appointment of the next top judge.
What is the news?
- Chief Justice Ramana is retiring this month.
- It is now left to CJI to give the Law Minister his recommendation on his successor.
How is CJI selected?
- Justice U.U. Lalit is the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court now.
- He is in line to be appointed the 49th CJI as per the seniority norm.
- The ‘Memorandum of Procedure of Appointment of Supreme Court Judges’ says “appointment to the office of the CJI should be of the seniormost Judge of the SC considered fit to hold the office”.
- The process begins with the Union Law Minister seeking the recommendation of the outgoing CJI about the next appointment.
What is the time frame?
- The Minister has to seek the CJI’s recommendation at the “appropriate time”.
- The Memorandum does NOT elaborate or specify a timeline.
Making final appointment
The Memorandum says:
- Receipt of the recommendation of the CJI
- The Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs will put up the recommendation to the PM
- PM will advise the President in the matter of appointment
- President of India appoints the CJI
Chief Justice of India: A brief background
- The CJI is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India as well as the highest-ranking officer of the Indian federal judiciary.
Appointment
- The Constitution of India grants power to the President to nominate, and with the advice and consent of the Parliament, appoint a chief justice, who serves until they reach the age of 65 or until removed by impeachment.
- Earlier, it was a convention to appoint seniormost judges.
- However, this has been broken twice. In 1973, Justice A. N. Ray was appointed superseding 3 senior judges.
- Also, in 1977 Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg was appointed as the chief justice superseding Justice Hans Raj Khanna.
Qualifications
The Indian Constitution says in Article 124 (3) that in order to be appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court of India, the person has to fit in the following criteria:
- He/She is a citizen of India and
- has been for at least five years a Judge of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession; or
- has been for at least ten years an advocate of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession; or
- is, in the opinion of the President, a distinguished jurist
Functions
- As head of the Supreme Court, the CJI is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law.
- In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the chief justice allocates all work to the other judges.
On the administrative side, the CJI carries out the following functions:
- maintenance of the roster; appointment of court officials and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court
Removal
- Article 124(4) of the Constitution lays down the procedure for removal of a judge of the Supreme Court which is applicable to chief justices as well.
- Once appointed, the chief justice remains in the office until the age of 65 years. He can be removed only through a process of removal by Parliament as follows:
- He/She can be removed by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present.
- The voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proven misbehavior or incapacity.
Try this PYQ:
- Who/Which of the following is the custodian of the Constitution of India?
(a) The President of India
(b) The Prime Minister of India
(c) The Lok Sabha Secretariat
(d) The Supreme Court of India
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UN-CTC
Mains level: Counter-terrorism initiatives by the UN
In a first, India will host diplomats and officials from all 15 countries of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), including China, Russia and the US, for a special meeting on terrorism, in Delhi and Mumbai in October.
Key determinants of the meet
The special meeting will specifically focus on three significant areas:
- Internet and social media
- Terrorism financing
- Unmanned aerial systems
What is Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC)?
- The CTC is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
- The 15-member CTC was established at the same time to monitor the implementation of the resolution.
- In the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, the UNSC unanimously adopted resolution 1373.
- This among its provisions obliges all States
- To criminalize assistance for terrorist activities,
- Deny financial support and safe haven to terrorists and
- Share information about groups planning terrorist attacks
Its executive body
- Seeking to revitalize the Committee’s work, in 2004 the Security Council adopted Resolution 1535.
- It created the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) to provide the CTC with expert advice on all areas covered by resolution 1373.
- It was established also with the aim of facilitating technical assistance to countries, as well as promoting closer cooperation and coordination both within the UN.
Its working
- While the CTC is not a direct capacity provider it does act as a broker between those states or groups that have the relevant capacities and those in the need of assistance.
- While the ultimate aim of the Committee is to increase the ability of States to fight terrorism, it is not a sanctions body nor does it maintain a list of terrorist groups or individuals.
Significance of the event
- India has been pushing for the UN members to adopt a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (first proposed in 1996), which is likely to be raised during the meeting.
- The event will showcase India’s role as a victim of terrorism as well as a country at the forefront of global counter-terrorism efforts.
- CTC meeting in India could also pave the way for a possible visit to New York by PM Narendra Modi in December, when India will be the President of the UNSC for the entire month.
Way ahead: Hitting the nerve
- While terror financing was now recognised by FATF, it was necessary to build templates and “codes of conduct” for newer threats.
- Today terror financing now includes financing through cryptocurrency and the use of drones for terror attacks.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FRP
Mains level: Issues with Sugarcane Pricing
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane for sugar season 2022-23 (October – September) at ₹305 per quintal.
What is FRP?
- FRP is fixed under a sugarcane control order, 1966.
- It is the minimum price that sugar mills are supposed to pay to the farmers.
- However, states determine their own State Agreed Price (SAP) which is generally higher than the FRP.
Factors considered for FRP:
- The amended provisions of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 provides for fixation of FRP of sugarcane having regard to the following factors:
- a) cost of production of sugarcane;
- b) return to the growers from alternative crops and the general trend of prices of agricultural commodities;
- c) availability of sugar to consumers at a fair price;
- d) price at which sugar produced from sugarcane is sold by sugar producers;
- e) recovery of sugar from sugarcane;
- f) the realization made from the sale of by-products viz. molasses, bagasse, and press mud or their imputed value;
- g) reasonable margins for the growers of sugarcane on account of risk and profits.
Who determines Sugarcane prices?
Sugarcane prices are determined by the Centre as well as States.
- The Centre announces Fair and Remunerative Prices which are determined on the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and are announced by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which is chaired by Prime Minister.
- The State Advised Prices (SAP) are announced by key sugarcane producing states which are generally higher than FRP.
Minimum Selling Price (MSP) for Sugar
- The price of sugar is market-driven & depends on the demand & supply of sugar.
- However, with a view to protecting the interests of farmers, the concept of MSP of sugar has been introduced since 2018.
- MSP of sugar has been fixed taking into account the components of Fair & Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane and minimum conversion cost of the most efficient mills.
Basis of price determination
- With the amendment of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966, the concept of Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) of sugarcane was replaced with the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP)’ of sugarcane in 2009-10.
- The cane price announced by the Central Government is decided on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
- This is done in consultation with the State Governments and after taking feedback from associations of the sugar industry.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane is approved by the:
(a) Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(b) Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices
(c) Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Ministry of Agriculture
(d) Agricultural Produce Market Committee
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IDF-WDS
Mains level: India's dairy sector
At a time when several milk-producing centers are battling Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), India will host the International Dairy Federation’s World Dairy Summit 2022 in Greater Noida.
World Dairy Summit
- The World Dairy Summit is an annual meeting of the global dairy sector, bringing together approximately 1500 participants from all over the world.
- The participant profile includes CEOs and employees of dairy processing companies, dairy farmers, suppliers to the dairy industry, academicians, government representatives, etc.
- The summit is composed of a series of scientific and technical conferences and social events including a welcome reception, farmers’ dinner, gala dinner as well as technical and social tours.
- The last World Dairy Summit was organised in 1974 in New Delhi.
Significance of the event
- It is a prestigious event for us as India is now the largest milk producer in the world and we have the highest number of cattle.
- The last time this event was held, India was import-dependent and now we are self-sufficient.
Back2Basics: India’s dairy sector
- Initiated in 1970, Operation Floodtransformed India into one of the largest milk producers.
- The per capita availability of milk in 2018-19 was 394 grams per day as against the world average of 302 grams.
- Today with an annual production of 187.75 million tonnes India accounts for about 22% of the world’s milk production.
- However, India is yet to join the ranks of major milk exporting nations, as much of what we produce is directed towards meeting domestic demands.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Taiwan issue
Context
The US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan evoking strong protest from China.
Brief history of China-Taiwan Tensions
- Taiwan is an island about 160 km off the coast of southeastern China, opposite the Chinese cities of Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Xiamen.
- It was administered by the imperial Qing dynasty, but its control passed to the Japanese in 1895.
- After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the island passed back into Chinese hands.
- After the communists led by Mao Zedong won the civil war in mainland China, Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the nationalist Kuomintang party, fled to Taiwan in 1949.
- Chiang Kai-shek set up the government of the Republic of China on the island, and remained President until 1975.
- Beijing has never recognised the existence of Taiwan as an independent political entity, arguing that it was always a Chinese province.
The US and One-China Principle
- With the shifting geopolitics of the Cold War, the PRC and the U.S. were forced to come together in the 1970s to counter the growing influence of the USSR.
- This led to the US-China rapprochement demonstrated by the historic visit of then US President Richard Nixon to PRC in 1972.
- The same year, the PRC displaced ROC as the official representative of the Chinese nation at the UN.
- Diplomatic relations with the PRC became possible only if countries abided by its “One China Principle” — recognizing PRC and not the ROC as China.
Why does China have a problem with Pelosi visiting Taiwan?
- For China, the presence of a senior American figure in Taiwan would indicate some kind of US support for Taiwan’s independence.
- This move severely undermined China’s perception of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
China’s reaction
- Increased military exercises around Taiwa : Military exercises around Taiwan have been expanded, with Chinese aircraft intruding more frequently across the informal median line which defines the zone of operations on each side.
- Increased naval presence: Chinese naval ships are cruising within the Taiwan Straits and around the island itself.
- Economic sanctions have been announced, prohibiting imports of a whole range of foodstuffs from Taiwan.
- One item which will be left out is semi-conductors, a critical import for a range of Chinese high-tech industries.
- Taiwanese firms like the Taiwan Semi-Conductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) are world leaders in the most sophisticated brands of chips imported by a large number of countries.
- The main target of China’s escalating response will be Taiwan.
- Taiwan is indeed caught in the crossfire between China and the US and being a proxy in a fight between giants.
Implications for East Asia and South East Asia
- Forced into making a choice: Just as Taiwan is caught in a crossfire between the US and China, so are the East Asian and South East Asian countries.
- Prefer US military presence: They feel reassured by the considerable US military presence deployed in the region and tacitly support its Indo-Pacific strategy.
- Strong economic ties with China: However, their economic and commercial interests are bound ever tighter with the large and growing Chinese economy.
- This having it both ways strategy is beginning to fray at the edges with the escalating tensions between the US and China.
- Most do not wish to be forced into making a choice.
What should be India’s approach?
- Advantageous for India: In one sense, China’s preoccupation with its eastern ocean flank of the Yellow Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea is good for India.
- It diminishes Chinese attention toward the Indian Ocean, India’s primary security theatre.
- Adhere to One China Policy: Prudence demands that India hew closely to its consistent one China policy even while maintaining and even expanding non-official relations with Taiwan.
- For the US, Japan and Australia, members of the Quad, Taiwan is a key component of the Indo-Pacific strategy.
- It is not for India.
Conclusion
One should use the opportunity to expand India’s naval capabilities and maritime profile in this theatre before the Chinese begin to look to our extended neighbourhood with renewed interest and energy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Finance Commission
Mains level: Paper 2- Freebies issue
Context
Concern over ‘freebies’ in Indian politics has recently been expressed by those in the highest offices in the country.
Issue of irrational freebies
- Challenge in defining freebies: There is often confusion on what constitutes ‘freebies’, with a number of services that the Government provides to meet its constitutional obligations towards citizens also being clubbed in this category.
- Distortion of electoral process: A Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India recently heard a public interest litigation in which the petitioner argued against the promise of ‘irrational freebies’ by claiming that these distort the electoral process.
- The bench asked the Central government to take a stand on the need to control the announcement of ‘freebies’ by political parties during election campaigns.
- The Court also suggested that the Finance Commission could be involved to look into the matter and propose solutions.
- The basic argument is that these are a waste of resources and place a burden on already stressed fiscal resources.
- Discussions on ‘freebies’ not only include the free distribution of what may be considered ‘club goods’ such as televisions but also welfare schemes such as free or subsidised rations under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and work provided through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Can we term foodgrain distribution under PDS as freebies?
- It ensures food security: Subsidised foodgrains distributed under the PDS not only contribute to ensuring basic food security but also act as an implicit income transfer allowing the poor to afford commodities that they otherwise could not.
- Price support for farmers: Further, the PDS also plays an important role in our country where public procurement at minimum support prices (MSPs) is one of the main instruments of support to farmers.
- The PDS allows foodgrains to be available for cheap for consumers while assuring remunerative prices to farmers.
- Food security during emergency: The PMGKAY is probably what kept many away from the brink of starvation during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
- From around the mid-2000s, the PDS increasingly became a political issue, with State governments expanding coverage and reducing prices.
- This ultimately led to the National Food Security Act being passed by Parliament unanimously in 2013.
- Despite its shortcomings, it cannot be denied that the PMGKAY and the support that it provided during the pandemic would have been impossible had it not been for the NFSA which expanded the coverage of the PDS to about two thirds of the population.
- In its absence, a much smaller number of people would have had ration cards with high errors in identification.
Other welfare schemes
- At a time when there are few employment opportunities, working under MGNREGA can guarantee some assured wages; if implemented in the true spirit of the legislation this is also demand-based and, therefore, responds to as much need as there is.
- Similarly, mid-day meals in schools have been proven to contribute to increased enrolment and retention in schools and addressing classroom hunger.
- A number of other schemes such as old age, single women and disabled pensions, community kitchens in urban areas, free uniforms and textbooks for children in government schools, and free health-care services play a critical role in providing social security and access to basic entitlements in our country.
Way forward
- Building public pressure towards making welfare delivery an electoral issue is the need of the hour.
- It is important to recognise that most welfare schemes contribute to improving human development outcomes, which also results in higher economic growth in future.
- As suggested by the Supreme Court, the Finance Commission could be tasked with formulating the criterion to come up with the criterion for freebies.
- Sometimes, this process throws up initiatives that seem ‘wasteful’ — while these must be discussed, one cannot deny them completely.
Conclusion
There are a number of lacunae in these programmes which call for expansion in coverage, allocation of greater resources, along with putting in place mechanisms for greater accountability and grievance redress.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CIC
Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges facing RTI
Context
Amidst renewed concern over its functioning across states, the Right to Information Act (RTI) is set to complete 17 years this October.
Issues facing RTI
- Backlog of appeals: Issues include a huge backlog of second appeals, lengthy wait time for hearings, hesitancy in posting penalties and increasing opacity in the working of the commissions.
- As on June 30, 2021, 2.56 lakh appeals were pending with 26 information commissions in the country.
- CICs downgraded rank: Any serious RTI query or one which concerns more than one government department requires intervention by higher officials, but it is the PIOs from junior ranks who attend hearings and are often clueless.
- Often, it requires a notice to higher authorities, in some cases, the secretary of the department, to elicit the right answer.
- With CICs downgraded in rank, there will be fewer and fewer notices served to the heads of departments and senior officers to appear and answer queries.
- Vacancies: The commissions have been plagued with vacancies, poor choice of commissioners, untrained staff and a non-cooperative set of public information officers (PIOs).
- Threat to some RTI activists: Apart from the PIOs’ general inexperience and unprofessionalism, comes the threat to some RTI activists who seek information to expose corruption.
- According to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), across India, 99 RTI activists have lost their lives, 180 assaulted and 187 were threatened since 2006.
- Political proclivity: The attitude of a few commissioners going public with their political proclivities is another cause for concern.
Way forward
- Training of officials: The Indian information law, rated as one of the strongest in the world, needs to be bolstered by raising awareness amongst the people and organising rigorous training of government officials.
- Code of conduct: A code of conduct must be evolved for the central and state information commissioners.
- It is imperative for the commissioners to keep a strict distance from government heads and officialdom.
- A strong political system is a must for the RTI regime to flourish.
- It is imperative to ensure freedom of the press and democratic institutions, punish errant officials and maintain complete autonomy of the information commissions, in the interest of the people and the nation at large.
Conclusion
As India emerges as a global power, the implementation of legislation like the RTI Act will be under the constant scrutiny of the comity of nations.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: One-China Principle
Mains level: India-Taiwan Relations
As US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived upsetting China, India was keenly watching the developments, although it has not yet commented on it.
What is the ‘One China’ policy?
- It is the diplomatic acknowledgment of China’s position that there is only one Chinese government.
- Taiwan’s government was set up by the Kuomintang, whose party logo is reflected in Taiwan’s flag
- Initially, many governments including the US recognised Taiwan as they shied away from Communist China.
- But the diplomatic winds shifted as China and the United States saw a mutual need to develop relations beginning in the 1970s, with the US and other countries cutting ties with Taipei in favour of Beijing.
Why is China obsessed with Taiwan?
- Taiwan is the largest producer of electronic chips, which are supplied to almost all the industries, from phones to laptops, watches to game consoles, industrial equipment to automotive, and aircraft and fighter jets.
- TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is the largest foundry in the world and holds around 65 percent of the global production of chips.
- Any potential conflict with China would completely disrupt the entire supply chain of TSMC and labor availability, and could cause major shortage of electronic chips.
- Additionally, China controls five percent of the global production of chips, which could also be affected.
- This could further impact the already existing supply-demand gap for electronic components.
India- Taiwan Relations
Background
- India does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan yet, as it follows the One-China policy.
- However, during then Chinese premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India in December 2010, India did not mention support for the One-China policy in the joint communique.
- In 2014, when PM Modi came to power, he invited Taiwan’s Ambassador Chung-Kwang Tien, along with Lobsang Sangay, president of the Central Tibetan Administration to his swearing-in.
Diplomatic ties
- While following the One-China policy, India has an office in Taipei for diplomatic functions — India-Taipei Association (ITA) is headed by a senior diplomat.
- Taiwan has the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in New Delhi. Both were established in 1995.
- Their ties focus on commerce, culture and education.
- Now in their third decade, these have been deliberately kept low-profile, owing to China’s sensitivities.
- For example, parliamentary delegation visits and legislature-level dialogues have stopped since 2017, around the time the India-China border standoff happened in Doklam.
The new push
- Any significant development in India-Taiwan relations runs the risk of meeting with a likely stern reaction from Beijing.
- This explains India’s steady, albeit slow, outreach to Taiwan.
- Given that India-China relations are not likely to witness a return to normalcy in the near future, India should consider adopting a bold, comprehensive and long-term approach to engage Taiwan.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: New Start Treaty, INF Treaty
Mains level: Not Much
Russia is ready for talks with the United States on nuclear arms control even as Moscow and Washington have remained locked in a tense stand-off over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
The New START, INF and the Open Skies …. Be clear about the differences of these treaties. For example- to check if their inception was during cold war era etc.
New START Treaty
- The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) pact limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers and is due to expire in 2021 unless renewed.
- The treaty limits the US and Russia to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, well below Cold War caps.
- It was signed in 2010 by former US President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
- It is one of the key controls on the superpower deployment of nuclear weapons.
Background of US-Russia Nuclear Relations
- The US formally QUIT the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF)
- The agreement obliged the two countries to eliminate all ground-based missiles of ranges between 500 and 5,500 km.
When did nuclear disarmament begin?
- In 1985, the two countries entered into arms control negotiations on three tracks.
- The first dealt with strategic weapons with ranges of over 5,500 km, leading to the START agreement in 1991.
- It limited both sides to 1,600 strategic delivery vehicles and 6,000 warheads.
- A second track dealt with intermediate-range missiles and this led to the INF Treaty in 1987.
- A third track, Nuclear, and Space Talks was intended to address Soviet concerns regarding the U.S.’s Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) but this did not yield any outcome.
Success of INF
- The INF Treaty was hailed as a great disarmament pact even though no nuclear warheads were dismantled.
- As it is a bilateral agreement, it did not restrict other countries.
- By 1991, the INF was implemented. USSR destroyed 1,846 and the US destroyed 846 Pershing and cruise missiles.
- Associated production facilities were also closed down.
- INF Treaty was the first pact to include intensive verification measures, including on-site inspections.
How has the nuclear behavior been?
- With the end of the Cold War and the break-up of the USSR in end-1991, former Soviet allies were joining NATO and becoming EU members.
- The U.S. was investing in missile defense and conventional global precision strike capabilities to expand its technological lead.
- In 2001, the U.S. announced its unilateral withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty).
- The US also blamed Russia for not complying with the ‘zero-yield’ standard imposed by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). This may indicate the beginning of a new nuclear arms race.
Implications of the New Start
- The 2011 New START lapsed in 2021. It may meet the fate of the INF Treaty.
- The 2018 NPR envisaged the development of new nuclear weapons, including low-yield weapons.
- China is preparing to operate its test site year-round with its goals for its nuclear force.
- CTBT requires ratification by U.S., China, and Iran, Israel and Egypt and adherence by India, Pakistan and North Korea. It is unlikely to ever enter into force.
Conclusion
- A new nuclear arms race could just be the beginning. It may be more complicated because of multiple countries being involved.
- Technological changes are bringing cyber and space domains into contention. It raises the risks of escalation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CITES, WPA Act
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Lok Sabha passed the Wildlife (Protection), Amendment Bill, with no significant modifications to the version of the Bill presented in the House for discussion.
What is the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972?
- WPA provides for the protection of the country’s wild animals, birds and plant species, in order to ensure environmental and ecological security.
- It provides for the protection of a listed species of animals, birds and plants, and also for the establishment of a network of ecologically-important protected areas in the country.
- It provides for various types of protected areas such as Wildlife Sanctuaries, National Parks etc.
- The act is also against Taxidermy, which is the preservation of a dead wild animal as a trophy, or in the form of rugs, preserved skins, antlers, horns, eggs, teeth, and nails.
- In the case of wild birds and reptiles, the act also forbids disturbing or damaging their eggs.
- The act was amended in the year 2006 and its purpose is to strengthen the conservation of tigers and other endangered species by combating crimes against them through the special Crime Control Bureau.
There are six schedules provided in the WPA for protection of wildlife species which can be concisely summarized as under:
| Schedule I: |
These species need rigorous protection and therefore, the harshest penalties for violation of the law are for species under this Schedule. |
| Schedule II: |
Animals under this list are accorded high protection. They cannot be hunted except under threat to human life. |
| Schedule III & IV: |
This list is for species that are not endangered. This includes protected species but the penalty for any violation is less compared to the first two schedules. |
| Schedule V: |
This schedule contains animals which can be hunted. |
| Schedule VI: |
This list contains plants that are forbidden from cultivation. |
Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Bill: Key Features
(1) CITES
- CITES is an international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.
- Under CITES, plant and animal specimens are classified into three categories (Appendices) based on the threat to their extinction.
- The Convention requires countries to regulate the trade of all listed specimens through permits.
- It also seeks to regulate the possession of live animal specimens. The Bill seeks to implement these provisions of CITES.
(2) Obligations under CITES:
- The Bill provides for the central government to designate a: (i) Management Authority, which grants export or import permits for trade of specimens, and (iii) Scientific Authority, which gives advice on aspects related to impact on the survival of the specimens being traded.
- Every person engaging in trade of a scheduled specimen must report the details of the transaction to the Management Authority.
- As per CITES, the Management Authority may use an identification mark for a specimen.
- The Bill prohibits any person from modifying or removing the identification mark of the specimen.
- Additionally, every person possessing live specimens of scheduled animals must obtain a registration certificate from the Management Authority.
(3) Rationalising schedules
- Currently, the Act has six schedules for specially protected plants (one), specially protected animals (four), and vermin species (one).
- Vermin refers to small animals that carry disease and destroy food.
- The Bill reduces the total number of schedules to four by:
- Reducing the number of schedules for specially protected animals to two (one for greater protection level)
- Removes the schedule for vermin species
- Inserts a new schedule for specimens listed in the Appendices under CITES (scheduled specimens)
(4) Invasive alien species
- The Bills empowers the central government to regulate or prohibit the import, trade, possession or proliferation of invasive alien species.
- Invasive alien species refers to plant or animal species which are not native to India and whose introduction may adversely impact wild life or its habitat.
- The central government may authorise an officer to seize and dispose the invasive species.
(5) Control of sanctuaries
- The Act entrusts the Chief Wild Life Warden to control, manage and maintain all sanctuaries in a state.
- The Chief Wild Life Warden is appointed by the state government.
- The Bill specifies that actions of the Chief Warden must be in accordance with the management plans for the sanctuary.
- These plans will be prepared as per guidelines of the central government, and as approved by the Chief Warden.
- For sanctuaries falling under special areas, the management plan must be prepared after due consultation with the concerned Gram Sabha.
- Special areas include a Scheduled Area or areas where the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 is applicable.
- Scheduled Areas are economically backward areas with a predominantly tribal population, notified under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution.
(6) Conservation reserves
- Under the Act, state governments may declare areas adjacent to national parks and sanctuaries as a conservation reserve, for protecting flora and fauna, and their habitat.
- The Bill empowers the central government to also notify a conservation reserve.
(7) Surrender of captive animals
- The Bill provides for any person to voluntarily surrender any captive animals or animal products to the Chief Wild Life Warden.
- No compensation will be paid to the person for surrendering such items.
- The surrendered items become property of the state government.
Back2Basics: CITES
- CITES stands for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
- It is as an international agreement aimed at ensuring “that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival”.
- It was drafted after a resolution was adopted at a meeting of the members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1963.
- It entered into force on July 1, 1975, and now has 183 parties.
- The Convention is legally binding on the Parties in the sense that they are committed to implementing it; however, it does not take the place of national laws.
- India is a signatory to and has also ratified CITES convention in 1976.
CITES Appendices
- CITES works by subjecting international trade in specimens of selected species to certain controls.
- All import, export, re-exports and introduction from the sea of species covered by the convention has to be authorized through a licensing system.
It has three appendices:
- Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction. Trade-in specimens of these species are permitted only in exceptional circumstances.
- Appendix II provides a lower level of protection.
- Appendix III contains species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling trade.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2022:
Q. With reference to Indian laws about wildlife protection, consider the following statements:
- Wild animals are the sole property of the government.
- When a wild animal is declared protected, such animal is entitled for equal protection whether it is found in protected areas or outside.
- Apprehension of a protected wild animal becoming a danger to human life is sufficient ground for its capture or killing.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 3 only
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hellfire R9X Missile
Mains level: Strategic weapons
The US military used its ‘secret weapon’ — the Hellfire R9X missile – to kill Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri on the balcony of a safehouse in Kabul.
What is the Hellfire R9X missile?
- Better known in military circles as the AGM-114 R9X, the Hellfire R9X is a US-origin missile known to cause minimum collateral damage while engaging individual targets.
- Also known as the ‘Ninja Missile’, this weapon does not carry a warhead and instead deploys razor-sharp blades at the terminal stage of its attack trajectory.
- This helps it to break through even thick steel sheets and cut down the target using the kinetic energy of its propulsion without causing any damage to the persons in the general vicinity or to the structure of the building.
- The blades pop out of the missile and cut down the intended target without causing the massive damage to the surroundings which would be the case with a missile carrying an explosive warhead.
When did the Hellfire missile enter active service?
- The Hellfire 9RX missile is known to have been in active service since 2017.
- However, its existence became public knowledge two years later in 2019.
- It is a variant of the original Hellfire missile family which is used in conventional form with warheads and is traditionally used from helicopters, ground-based vehicles, and sometimes small ships and fast moving vessels.
- For several years now, the Hellfire family of missiles, including the ‘Ninja Missile’, are armed on Combat Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones.
What is known about the other Hellfire missile variants?
- Hellfire is actually an acronym for Heliborne, Laser, Fire and Forget Missile and it was developed in the US initially to target tanks from the Apache AH-64 attack helicopters.
- Later, the usage of these missiles spread to several other variants of helicopters and also ground and sea-based systems and drones.
- Developed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, the Hellfire missile has other variants such as ‘Longbow’ and ‘Romeo’ apart from the ‘Ninja’.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Schedule H drugs
Mains level: Paper 3- E-commerce for medical drug
Context
A draft law to replace the 1940 Drugs and Cosmetics Act with a Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill 2022 was uploaded by the Union health ministry in early July, seeking public comments and objections.
Major provisions of the Bill
1] E-commerce for medical drugs
- Presently, online sales of medicines account for a fraction of the total pharma sales in India but are forecast to grow exponentially.
- The first major feature in the new Bill that affects consumers relates to e-commerce.
- Like all online shopping, the consumer gets the advantage of discounts and the comfort of shopping from home.
- In normal times, e-commerce can surmount three uniquely Indian disadvantages.
- Storage condition: The first relates to climatic conditions, which require medicines to be stored at below 30 degrees Celsius and 70 per cent relative humidity — unattainable in most of India.
- It can mandate establishing a back-end brick and mortar store for drug supply having good storage conditions.
- Compliance with regal provision: The second advantage of e-commerce could be fulfilling a legal requirement — providing a bill to the consumer and retaining one copy bearing the batch numbers and expiry dates of the drugs.
- In addition, the practice of accessing prescription drugs over-the-counter would reduce.
- In the case of e-commerce, registration of a pharmacy can require enrollment with the central and state drug control organisations and the practice of uploading a prescription from a registered medical practitioner can be enforced.
- Concern: Shopping for medical drugs on the internet could encourage overuse or incomplete use of drugs, increase dependency on habit-forming medicine — for example, sleep-inducing drugs or self-medication with products for weight loss, male enhancement, even treating mental illness — which is fraught with dangerous consequences.
- A greater focus on medical devices: The draft law also proposes according a greater focus on medical devices, which include thousands of engineered apparatuses like stents, joint implants, pacemakers, catheters, etc, which require quality regulation.
- Provision for advisory board: Rules for medical devices were notified in 2017 but now it is proposed to establish a statutory Medical Device Technical Advisory Board, with experts from the fields of atomic energy, science and technology, electronics, and related fields like biomedical technology to guide the process.
- This is a welcome move that will bring in the required expertise.
Issues not addressed in the Bill
- Mismanagement of trade: What the Bill does not address is the need to stop the continued mismanagement of the wholesale and retail drugs trade in India.
- Requirements for drug license not changed: Rule 64 (2) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945 lays down that a wholesale drug licence can be given to a qualified pharmacist or one who has passed the matriculation examination or its equivalent or a graduate with one year’s experience in dealing with drug sale.
- This is a relic from 80 years ago.
- When the country is reported to have over 7,00,000 pharmacists, this anachronism must be discarded.
- It is essential to introduce a binding and enabling provision to only licence qualified pharmacists and put the safety of millions of citizens before the self-preservation of a few thousand wholesalers and stockists.
Way forward
- There is need for ensuring digitisation of procurement, inventory control and accountability for dispensing drugs into a digital trail.
Conclusion
The debate should not be between e-commerce and retail sale. It should be between being compliant and non-compliant.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TRIPS waiver
Mains level: Paper 3- WTO and India
Context
The 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was concluded recently. A cursory examination of the outcomes of the meeting leaves us in no doubt that the European Union (EU) and some other developed countries are the overwhelming winners, while India finds itself on the losing side.
Background of TRIPS waiver for Covid related treatment
- On October 2020, India and South Africa put forth a proposal seeking to temporarily suspend the protection of intellectual property rights such as patents, copyrights, industrial designs and trade secrets, so that the production of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics could be ramped up to help overcome the crisis and fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The opponents of the proposal, i.e,. Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Switzerland and the United States, found themselves on the wrong side of the global opinion on this issue.
- In June-July 2021, the U.S. gave its support to the proposal, but limited it to vaccines.
- Pushed into a corner, the European Union (EU) made a counter-proposal to undermine the proposal made by India and South Africa.
- This counter proposal provided a cosmetic simplification in certain procedural aspects of compulsory licensing in patent rules.
- By March 2022, India and South Africa were corralled into accepting the EU’s proposal.
- This formed the basis of the final outcome at the MC12.
Gain for EU at MC12
- The ministerial outcome on the so-called TRIPS waiver represents the biggest gain for the EU.
- The ministerial outcome adds very little to what already exists in the WTO rulebook.
- The final outcome is almost unworkable; a big public relations victory for the EU.
- Change in institutional architecture: In the name of WTO reform, the EU sought to make fundamental changes to the institutional architecture of the WTO.
- It also sought to give a formal role to the private sector in WTO.
- Environmental issues: The EU has also managed to create a window to pursue negotiations on issues related to trade and environment at the WTO, an issue of concern for many developing countries.
Disappointments for India
- No solution to public stockholding issue: India, the issue of a permanent solution to public stockholding was identified by the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry as being its top most priority.
- Despite having the support of more than 80 developing countries, this issue has not found mention anywhere in the ministerial outcome.
- Instead, the WTO members have succeeded in diverting attention from India’s interest by agreeing that food security is multi-dimensional, requiring a comprehensive solution.
- No taxing electronic transmission: India has also failed in many of its other objectives, such as securing the right to raise revenues by taxing electronic transmissions.
- In the area of fisheries subsidies, it gets two years to have suitable regulatory mechanisms in place to monitor fish catch and reporting.
- Although it has secured a temporary reprieve to provide subsidies for enhancing its fishing fleets, it will have to fight an uphill battle on this issue in future negotiations.
Conclusion
Overall, the path ahead for India at the WTO is difficult. India’s negotiators need to undertake soul searching to learn lessons from the dynamics at the MC12, and make course corrections.
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Back2Basics: Public stockholding issue
- Under the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture, government procurement for public stockholding programs is exempt from discipline if stocks are procured at current market prices.
- If procured at pre-announced administered prices, however, those outlays would potentially be counted toward a country’s overall limits on trade-distorting support.
- Some developing countries are concerned that their procurement of food at fixed prices under these programs may push outlays to exceed allowed limits, thus depriving them of the necessary policy space to meet domestic food security requirements.
- In this context, India and other members of the G33 developing country coalition have called for WTO members to agree to a “permanent solution,” following the 2013 Bali decision to exempt these programs from legal challenge under certain conditions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 5G technology
Mains level: 5G Rollout and related issues
The much-awaited auction for telecom spectrum, including for 5G airwaves, will begin tomorrow.
Spectrums for auctions
- A total of 72,097.85 MHz (or 72 Ghz) of spectrum with a validity period of 20 years will be put on the block.
- Airwaves across low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands, valued at ₹4,316 billion ($56 billion) at least, will be put up for bidding.
What is (Electromagnetic) Spectrum?
- Devices such as cellphones and wireline telephones require signals to connect from one end to another.
- These signals are carried on airwaves, which must be sent at designated frequencies to avoid any kind of interference.
- The Union government owns all the publicly available assets within the geographical boundaries of the country, which also include airwaves.
- With the expansion in the number of cellphones, wireline telephone and internet users, the need to provide more space for the signals arise from time to time.
Spectrum allocations
- Spectrum refers to the invisible radio frequencies that wireless signals travel over. The frequencies we use for wireless are only a portion of what is called the electromagnetic spectrum.
- To sell these assets to companies willing to set up the required infrastructure to transport these waves from one end to another, the central government through the DoT auctions these airwaves from time to time.
- These airwaves called spectrum is subdivided into bands which have varying frequencies.
- All these airwaves are sold for a certain period of time, after which their validity lapses, which is generally set at 20 years.
What is 5G technology?
- 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
- It mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high-frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.
Three bands of 5G
(1) Low band spectrum
- It has shown great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange, the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
- This means that while telcos can use and install it for commercial cellphones users who may not have specific demands for very high-speed internet, the low band spectrum may not be optimal for the specialized needs of the industry.
(2) Mid-band spectrum
- It offers higher speeds compared to the low band but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
- Telcos and companies, which have taken the lead on 5G, have indicated that this band may be used by industries and specialized factory units for building captive networks that can be molded into the needs of that particular industry.
(3) High-band spectrum
- It offers the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
- Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G have been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.
Where does India stand in the 5G technology race?
- On par with the global players, India had, in 2018, planned to start 5G services as soon as possible, with an aim to capitalize on the better network speeds and strength that the technology promised.
- Indian private telecom players have been urging the DoT to lay out a clear road map of spectrum allocation and 5G frequency bands so that they would be able to plan the rollout of their services accordingly.
- One big hurdle, however, is the lack of flow of cash and adequate capital with some companies due to their AGR dues.
Global progress on 5G
- More than governments, global telecom companies have started building 5G networks and rolling it out to their customers on a trial basis.
- In countries like the US, some companies have taken the lead when it comes to rolling out commercial 5G for their users.
- A South Korean company, which had started researching on 5G technology way back in 2011, has, on the other hand, take the lead when it comes to building the hardware for 5G networks for several companies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kuznets Curve
Mains level: Read the attached story
In India, there are fewer people employed in agriculture today, but the transformation has been weak. Those moving out of farms are working more in construction sites and the informal economy than in factories.
What is the news?
- India has too many people in agriculture and the inability to move surplus labour from farms constitutes a major policy failure of successive governments.
- In 1993-94, agriculture accounted for close to 62% of the country’s employed labour force.
- Overall, between 1993-94 and 2018-19, agriculture’s share in India’s workforce came down from 61.9% to 41.4%.
- In other words, roughly a third in 25 years. That isn’t insignificant.
- The declining trend continued, albeit at a slower pace, in the subsequent seven as well.
What is our point of analysis?
- Even the movement of workforce from agriculture that India has witnessed over the past three decades or more does not qualify as what economists call “structural transformation”.
- Such transformation would involve the transfer of labour from farming to others sectors – particularly manufacturing and modern services – where productivity, value-addition and average incomes are higher.
- The surplus labour pulled out from the farms is being largely absorbed in construction and services.
- The bulk of the jobs are in petty sectors such as retailing, small eateries, domestic help, sanitation, security staffing, transport and similar other informal economic activities.
- This is also evident from the low, if not declining, share of employment in organised enterprises, defined as those engaging 10 or more workers.
What is the crux of the story?
- Simply put, the structural transformation process in India has been weak and deficient.
- Yes, there is movement of labour taking place away from farms – even if stalled, possibly temporarily.
- But that surplus labour isn’t moving to higher value-added non-farm activities, specifically manufacturing and modern services.
- This is familiar to the ‘Kuznets Process’ named after the American economist and 1971 Nobel Memorial Prize winner, Simon Kuznets.
What is Kuznets’ Hypothesis?
- In the 1950s and 1960s, Simon Kuznets hypothesized that as an economy develops, market forces first increase and then decrease the overall economic inequality of the society.
- This is illustrated by the inverted U-shape of the Kuznets curve.
- For instance, the hypothesis holds that in the early development of an economy, new investment opportunities increase for those who already have the capital to invest.
- These new investment opportunities mean that those who already hold the wealth have the opportunity to increase that wealth.
- Conversely, the influx of inexpensive rural labor to the cities keeps wages down for the working class thus widening the income gap and escalating economic inequality.
Basis of this hypothesis
- The Kuznets curve implies that as a society industrializes, the center of the economy shifts from rural areas to the cities as rural laborers, such as farmers, begin to migrate seeking better-paying jobs.
- This migration, however, results in a large rural-urban income gap and rural populations decrease as urban populations increase.
- But according to Kuznets’ hypothesis, that same economic inequality is expected to decrease when a certain level of average income is reached.
- This process is triggered by the processes associated with industrialization, such as democratization and the development of a welfare state, take hold.
- It is at this point in economic development that society is meant to benefit from trickle-down effect and an increase in per-capita income that effectively decreases economic inequality.
What does the inverted Kuznets Curve mean?
- The inverted U-shape of the Kuznets curve illustrates the basic elements of the Kuznets’ hypothesis with income per capita graphed on the horizontal x-axis and economic inequality on the vertical y-axis.
- The graph shows income inequality following the curve, first increasing before decreasing after hitting a peak as per-capita income increases over the course of economic development.
Criticism of the theory
- Critics say that the Kuznets curve does not reflect an average progression of economic development for an individual country.
- Rather it is a representation of historical differences in economic development and inequality between countries in the dataset.
- It suits to the countries that have had histories of high levels of economic inequality as compared to their counterparts in terms of similar economic development.
- The critics hold that when controlling for this variable, the inverted U-shape of the Kuznets curve begins to diminish.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: RTE
Mains level: RTE, Corporal Punishment
Three private school teachers in Pune have been booked under the Juvenile Justice Act over allegedly thrashing three Class 10 students, and threatening to grade them poorly in internal assessments
What is Corporal Punishment?
- By definition, corporal punishment means punishment that is physical in nature.
- There is NO statutory definition of ‘corporal punishment’ targeting children in the Indian law.
- The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 prohibits ‘physical punishment’ and ‘mental harassment’ under Section 17(1) and makes it a punishable offence under Section 17(2).
Identifying corporal punishments
- According to the Guidelines for Eliminating Corporal Punishment in Schools issued by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), physical punishment is understood as any action that causes pain, hurt/injury and discomfort to a child, however light.
- Examples include hitting, kicking, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling the hair, boxing ears, smacking, slapping, spanking, hitting with any implement (cane, stick, shoe, chalk, dusters, belt, whip), giving electric shock and so on.
- It includes making children assume an uncomfortable position (standing on bench, standing against the wall in a chair-like position, standing with school bag on head, holding ears through legs, kneeling, forced ingestion of anything, detention in the classroom, library, toilet or any closed space in the school.
What else is included?
- Mental harassment is understood as any non-physical treatment that is detrimental to the academic and psychological well-being of a child.
- This includes sarcasm, calling names and scolding using humiliating adjectives, intimidation, using derogatory remarks for the child, ridiculing or belittling a child, shaming the child and more.
Safeguards against corporal punishment
- Section 17 of the Right to Education Act, 2009, imposes an absolute bar on corporal punishment.
- Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act prescribes punishment for cruelty to children.
- Violation would invite punishment of rigorous imprisonment upto five years and fine up to Rs 5 lakh.
- If the child is physically incapacitated or develops a mental illness or is rendered mentally unfit to perform regular tasks or has risk to life or limb, then imprisonment may extend upto ten years.
Exceptions
- The RTE Act does not preclude the application of other legislation that relates to the violations of the rights of the child.
- For example, booking the offenses under the IPC and the SC and ST Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989.
- In theory, corporal punishment is covered by all the provisions under Indian law that punish perpetrators of physical harm.
What do NCPCR guidelines say about eliminating corporal punishment?
The NCPCR guidelines for eliminating corporal punishment against children require every school to develop a mechanism and frame clear-cut protocols to address the grievances of students.
- Drop boxes are to be placed where the aggrieved person may drop his complaint and anonymity is to be maintained to protect privacy.
- Every school has to constitute a ‘Corporal Punishment Monitoring Cell’ consisting of two teachers, two parents, one doctor, and one lawyer (nominated by DLSA).
Who is entrusted with the responsibility to ensure children are protected?
- There are relevant authorities earmarked to ensure the protection of children in schools.
- Under Section 31 of the RTE Act, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) have been entrusted with the task of monitoring children’s right to education.
- The state governments under their RTE rules have also notified block/district level grievance redressal agencies under the RTE Act.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Disposal of Seized Narcotics
Mains level: Not Much
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has destroyed 30,000 kg of seized drugs at four locations – Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi and Guwahati — in the virtual presence of Union Home Minister.
Destruction of Seized Narcotic Drugs
- Section 52-A of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 allows probe agencies to destroy seized substances after collecting required samples.
- Officials concerned must make a detailed inventory of the substance to be destroyed.
- A five-member committee comprising the area SSP, director/superintendent or the representative of the area NCB, a local magistrate and two others linked to law enforcement and legal fraternity is constituted.
- The substance is then destroyed in an incinerator or burnt completely leaving behind not any trace of the substance.
Exact procedure that is followed
- The agency first obtains permission from a local court to dispose of the seized narcotic substances.
- These substances are then taken to the designated place of destruction under a strict vigil.
- The presiding officer tallies the inventory made at the storeroom with that material brought to the spot.
- The entire process is videographed and photographed.
- Then one by one, all the packets/gunny bags of the substance/s are put in the incinerator.
- As per rules, committee members cannot leave the place until the seized drugs have been completely destroyed.
Which agency is authorized to carry out such an exercise?
- Every law enforcement agency competent to seize drugs is authorized to destroy them after taking prior permission of the area magistrate.
- These include state police forces, the CBI and the NCB among others.
Why destroy seized drugs?
- The hazardous nature of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, their vulnerability to theft, substitution, and constraints of proper storage space are among the reasons that make agencies destroy them.
- There have been instances when seized narcotics were pilfered from the storeroom.
- To prevent such instances, authorities try to destroy seized drugs immediately after collecting the required samples out of the seized substances.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Resolving judicial pendency
Over 59 lakh cases were pending in the High Courts until July 22, Law Minister said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
What else?
- There are serving women judges in various courts, including 4 in the Supreme Court and 96 in the High Courts, as of July 25.
Indian Judiciary: A Backgrounder
- Our Judicial system has been the nation’s moral conscience keeper.
- It speaks truth to political power, upholds the rights of citizens, mediates between Centre-state conflicts, provides justice to the rich and poor alike, and on several momentous occasions, saved democracy itself.
- Despite its achievements, a gap between the ideal and reality has been becoming clear over the years.
- The justice delivery is slow, the appointment of judges is mired in controversy, disciplinary mechanisms scarcely work, hierarchy rather than merit is preferred, women are severely under-represented, and constitutional matters often languish in the Supreme Court for years.
- As Justice Chelameswar said in his dissent in the NJAC judgment, the courts must reform, so that they can preserve.
Challenges to the judicial system
- Lack of infrastructure of courts
- High vacancy of judges in the district judiciary
- Pendency of Cases
- Ineffective planning in the functioning of the courts
- Delay in the delivery of judgements
- Lack of transparency in appointments and transfers.
- Corruption
- Undertrials serving Jail
- Outdated laws ex. Section 124A IPC
What led to the underperformance of the Indian Judiciary?
The primary factors contributing to docket explosion and arrears as highlighted by the Justice Malimath Committee report are as follows:
- Population explosion
- Litigation explosion
- Hasty and imperfect drafting of legislation
- Plurality and accumulation of appeals (Multiple appeals for the same issue)
- Inadequacy of judge strength
- Failure to provide adequate forums of appeal against quasi-judicial orders
- Lack of priority for disposal of old cases (due to the improper constitution of benches)
Recent developments:
Proposal for the creation of National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation (NJIC)
- The CJI has pitched to set up a National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation (NJIC) to develop judicial infrastructure in trial courts.
- He indicated a substantial gap in infrastructure and availability of basic amenities in the lower judiciary.
- There is a dearth of court halls, residential accommodation, and waiting rooms for litigants in trial courts, especially in smaller towns and rural areas.
- Experience shows that budgetary allocation for state judiciary often lapses since there is no independent body to supervise and execute such works.
- NJIC is expected to fill this vacuum and overcome problems related to infrastructure.
Way forward
- Creating NJIC: It will bring a revolutionary change in the judicial functioning provided the proposed body is given financial and executive powers to operate independently of the Union and the State governments.
- Appointment reforms: There are many experts who advocate the need to appoint more judges with unquestionable transparency in such appointments.
- Creating All Indian Judiciary Services: It would be a landmark move to create a pan-India Service that would result in a wide pool of qualified and committed judges entering the system.
- Technology infusion: The ethical and responsible use of AI and ML for the advancement of efficiency-enhancing can be increasingly embedded in legal and judicial processes. Ex. SUPACE.
- Legal education: This should be in alignment with the evolving dynamics of the law and must be propagated in trial and constitutional courts. This will improve the competence of the judicial system.
- Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): ADR mechanisms should be promoted for out-of-court settlements. Primary courts of appeal should be set up.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Issues with IAF, Defense modernization
In a tragic accident, a MIG-21 trainer jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Rajasthan killing both the high-ranked officer pilots onboard.
What is the status of the MIG-21 jets in the IAF?
- The MIG-21 was inducted into the IAF in the early 1960s and since then more than 800 variants of the supersonic fighter were inducted into service.
- It remained the frontline fighter jet of the force for a long time.
- During this period, there were over 400 accidents involving the jet which claimed the lives of around 200 pilots.
Nature of service
- Currently, there are four MIG-21 squadrons in service consisting of the upgraded Bison variant.
- IAF officials have stated that there is technical life still left in them.
- There are only four squadrons of the MIG-21 aircraft.
Why use outdated aircraft?
- With delays in new inductions, the IAF has been forced to continue the last four MIG-21 Bison squadrons in service.
- One squadron is set to be phased out in the next few months, while the remaining three squadrons are planned to be phased out in the next three years.
- This phase-out was worked out much before last week’s tragic incident.
What is the present fighter strength of the IAF?
- The IAF has an authorized strength of 42 fighter squadrons.
- As time passes, the drawdown is increasing as the total technical life is completed.
- However, the rate of new inductions is not matching the drawdown, depleting the overall number of fighter squadrons.
- Additionally, several frontline aircraft in the inventory including the Jaguars, and MIG-29s will begin phasing out by the end of the decade.
- For instance, by 2027-28 the first of the MIG-29s, inducted in the late 1980s, will start going out.
New squadrons to be inducted
- In the last few years, the IAF has inducted two squadrons of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas and two squadrons of Rafale fighter jets procured from France which pushed the squadron strength to 32.
- In January 2021, the IAF had signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for 83 of the more advanced LCA MK-1A which it will start receiving from early 2024 onwards.
- Along with that the to-be-acquired 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) will help arrest the drawdown.
- A larger and even more capable LCA-MK2, as well as the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), are under development.
- However, their availability in enough numbers will take some time.
Inherent limitations to the IAF
- Hardware/Technological Challenges: Technology is at the core of an air force – acquiring and assimilating it is our primary challenge. The lack of it curtails national options, impacting postures and doctrines. Denial and selective availability of technology are all enmeshed in international relations.
- Maintenance Challenges: Maintenance challenges determine how long aircrafts last and their cost-effectiveness. ‘Maintainability’, which includes logistical issues, is therefore, crucial.
- Relying on Upgrades: IAF is badly in need of new Fighter Aircraft to compete with new 5th generation Modern jets. At current there are old aircraft and it is mostly dependant on Super Manoeuvrable Modern Generation Fighter Jet Su 30 MKI.
- Delaying of Aircraft Delivery: The current order of IAF the Rafale is expected to be completed in 2024. The LCA Tejas of HAL has now produced 21 but still it has to manufacture in more number to replace the retiring MIG 21 BISON.
Roadmap to shore up fighter strength
- No easy roadmap: The IAF has acknowledged that they will not be able to achieve the desired strength for the time being and that they are doing the best they can.
- Indigenous aircraft: In addition to the indigenous aircraft coming up, the IAF is confident that increasing the low availability rates of Su-30 and other fighters in service will offset some of the shortfalls in the interim.
- Offsets of war: This could be potentially impacted due to the war in Ukraine even though officials have said that they are assessing the impact of the war and western sanctions.
Way forward
- Air power is becoming technologically more refined with unmanned platforms, cyber-space linkages and AI advances.
- The inherent trans-border nature of this military capability needs astute professional and political husbanding.
- Acquiring credible aerospace power with a meaningful degree of indigenization will need a greater degree of national resolve, professional integrity and resource allocation than is the case now.
- China has demonstrated the degree of suasion and intimidation that airpower can bring to bear in relation to Taiwan.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AlphaFold
Mains level: Not Much
DeepMind, a company based in London and owned by Google, announced that it had predicted the three-dimensional structures of more than 200 million proteins using AlphaFold.
This is the entire protein universe known to scientists today.
What is AlphaFold?
- AlphaFold is an AI-based protein structure prediction tool.
- It is based on a computer system called deep neural network.
- Inspired by the human brain, neural networks use a large amount of input data and provide the desired output exactly like how a human brain would.
- The real work is done by the black box between the input and the output layers, called the hidden networks. AlphaFold is fed with protein sequences as input.
- When protein sequences enter through one end, the predicted three-dimensional structures come out through the other.
- It is like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
How does AlphaFold work?
- It uses processes based on “training, learning, retraining and relearning.”
- The first step uses the available structures of 1,70,000 proteins in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) to train the computer model.
- Then, it uses the results of that training to learn the structural predictions of proteins not in the PDB.
- Once that is done, it uses the high-accuracy predictions from the first step to retrain and relearn to gain higher accuracy of the earlier predictions.
- By using this method, AlphaFold has now predicted the structures of the entire 214 million unique protein sequences deposited in the Universal Protein Resource (UniProt)
What are the implications of this development?
- Proteins are the business ends of biology, meaning proteins carry out all the functions inside a living cell.
- Therefore, knowing protein structure and function is essential to understanding human diseases.
- Scientists predict protein structures using x-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or cryogenic electron microscopy.
- These techniques are not just time-consuming, they often take years and are based mainly on trial-and-error methods.
- The development of AlphaFold changes all of that.
- It is a watershed movement in science and structural biology in particular.
What does this development mean for India?
- Vaccine development: Understanding the accurate structures of COVID-19 virus proteins in days rather than years will accelerate vaccine and drug development against the virus.
- Structural biology: From the seminal contribution of G. N. Ramachandran in understanding protein structures to the present day, India is no stranger to the field and has produced some fine structural biologists.
Back2Basics: Proteins
- Protein is found throughout the body—in muscle, bone, skin, hair, and virtually every other body part or tissue.
- It makes up the enzymes that power many chemical reactions and the hemoglobin that carries oxygen in your blood.
- At least 10,000 different proteins make you what you are and keep you that way.
- Protein is made from twenty-plus basic building blocks called amino acids.
- Because we don’t store amino acids, our bodies make them in two different ways: either from scratch or by modifying others.
- Nine amino acids—histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine—known as the essential amino acids, must come from food.
- Chemically, amino acids are organic compounds made of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen or sulfur.
- There are seven types of proteins: antibodies, contractile proteins, enzymes, hormonal proteins, structural proteins, storage proteins, and transport proteins.
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