Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: WPI and CPI
Mains level: Paper 3- Inflation challenge
Context
Despite being legally mandated to keep inflation in check, RBI has persisted with easy monetary policy, even as inflationary pressures have increased. We need to understand why, and what could be the repercussions.
Inflation problem in India
- For most of the past two years, CPI (consumer price index) inflation has been hovering close to the 6 per cent upper threshold of the RBI’s target band.
- Inflation averaged 6.1 per cent during the pandemic period (April 2020 to June 2021), despite a massive collapse in aggregate demand.
- Then in January 2022, as food prices recovered, headline inflation once again crossed the upper threshold of the inflation targeting band.
- Inflationary pressures do not seem to be diminishing either. Instead, they continue to build up.
- The standard measure of inflation “in the pipeline” is WPI (wholesale price index) inflation, since price increases at the wholesale level tend to translate into retail inflation in due course.
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a sharp increase in global commodity prices, including prices of crude oil, edible oils, and fertilisers.
- Indian firms are already adapting to this situation, passing on commodity price increase to retail prices.
Issues with RBI’s stance
- Standard economics gives us a guide for how central banks should react in a situation like this.
- Two conditions: It says that monetary policy should accommodate the first round of commodity price increase, but only under certain conditions, notably that inflation is initially on target, and expectations are firmly anchored.
- But neither condition holds at present. Inflation is already too high, and so are expectations.
- An argument is nonetheless being made that monetary policy should not be tightened when inflation is driven by supply-side factors, as it can adversely impact growth.
- This is fallacious. When there are supply constraints, using easy monetary policy to boost demand is not going to boost output.
- And if firms are expecting high inflation, this will send things into a vicious spiral, as they will increase their prices even more in advance of any input price pressures.
- Surely the RBI is aware of all of this. So why is it still not acting on it?
Why RBI is ignoring inflationary pressure?
- Growth concerns: The problem seems to be that governments all over the world are worried about growth.
- The US Federal Reserve has been slow to raise rates even as inflation has reached a four-decade high. The European Central Bank has been even slower to react.
- Fiscal dominance in India: In India, monetary policy also suffers from a strong fiscal dominance.
- As a result, not only is the RBI expected to support growth, it is also expected to keep the government’s borrowing costs in check, which is in direct conflict with its inflation targeting objective.
Implications of RBI ignoring inflationary pressure
- Aggressive reduction in interest rates: A decade ago, we were in a similar situation when RBI delayed its response because it was focusing on growth.
- When inflation subsequently took off, it reached double digits and the RBI had to raise interest rates aggressively to bring it down.
- That was a very painful adjustment.
- Impact on credibility of the RBI: In addition, if the RBI does allow inflation to take off, there will be long-lasting repercussions for its credibility.
- Unachrored expectation: if the public sees the RBI consistently ignoring inflation, expectations can rapidly get unanchored, and then it becomes very costly to bring it down.
Conclusion
To conclude, inflation is best addressed by the central bank using monetary policy, not by the government adjusting taxes. The RBI needs to urgently revisit its inflation forecast and its monetary policy stance in order to avoid potentially painful adjustments down the road.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022
Mains level: Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022
The bill that would allow the police and prison authorities to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples, including retina and iris scans, was introduced in the Lok Sabha.
Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill
- It authorises law enforcement agencies to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples of convicts and other persons for the purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters.
- It seeks to repeal the Identification of Prisoners Act 1920 which provided for the collection of only fingerprints and footprints.
- The said Act, in its present form, provides access to a limited category of persons whose body measurements can be taken.
- As per the Bill, any state government OR Union Territory administration may notify an appropriate agency to collect, preserve and share the measurements of a person of interest in their respective jurisdictions.
Why need such law?
- The world has undergone technological and scientific changes, crime and its trend have increased.
- Advanced countries across the globe are relying on new “measurement” techniques for reliable results.
- It was felt necessary to expand the “ambit of persons” whose measurements can be taken as this will help investigating agencies gather sufficient legally admissible evidence and establish the crime of the accused person.
- The Bill will not only help our investigation agencies but also increase prosecution.
- There is also a chance of an increase in conviction rates in courts through this.
Key features of the Bill
The Bill seeks to:
- Define “measurements”: To include finger impressions, palm-print and foot-print impressions, photographs, iris and retina scan, physical, biological samples and their analysis, etc.;
- Empower the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB): To collect, store and preserve the record of measurements and for sharing, dissemination, destruction and disposal of records;
- Empower a Magistrate: To direct any person to give measurements; a Magistrate can also direct law enforcement officials to collect fingerprints, footprint impressions and photographs in the case of a specified category of convicted and non-convicted persons;
- Empower police or prison officers: To take measurements of any person who resists or refuses to give measurements
- Authorises police to record signatures, handwriting or other behavioural attributes: Referred to in section 53 or section 53A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, for the purposes of analysis.
Notable feature: Maintenance of Record
- The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will be the repository of physical and biological samples, signature and handwriting data that can be preserved for at least 75 years.
- The record of these measurements will be retained in digital or electronic form for a period of seventy-five years from the date of collection.
- The court or Magistrate, for reasons to be recorded in writing, can direct agencies to maintain the records.
- The records are to be destroyed in the case of any person who has not been previously convicted of an offence punishable under any law with imprisonment for any term.
Refusal to Comply
- Resistance to or refusal to allow the taking of measurements under this Act shall be deemed to be an offence under section 186 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC);
- No suit or any other proceeding shall lie against any person for anything done, or intended to be done in good faith under this Act or any rule made thereunder;
- Central government or state government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act;
- Manner of collection, storing, preservation of measurements and sharing, dissemination, destruction and disposal of records under sub-section (1) of section 4;
Issues with the Bill
- Un-constitutionality: The proposed law will be debated against Article 20(3) of the Constitution, which is a fundamental right that guarantees the right against self-incrimination.
- Violation of Article 21: The Bill also seeks to apply these provisions to persons held under any preventive detention law.
- Legislative competence of Centre: The Bill was beyond the legislative competence of Parliament as it violated fundamental rights of citizens, including the right to privacy.
- Contentious provisions: The Bill proposes to collect samples even from protesters engaged in political protests.
- Lack of clarity: Several provisions are not defined in the Bill itself.. For instance, the statement of objects says it provides for collection of measurements for “convicts and other persons” but the expression “other persons” is not defined.
- Other: While the jurisprudence around the right to be forgotten is still in an early stage in India, the Puttaswamy judgment discusses it as a facet of the fundamental right to privacy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Definition and identification of Minorities
Mains level: Minority population issues
In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs said “state governments can also declare a religious or linguistic community as a ‘minority community’ within the state”.
Why in news?
- The Centre was responding to a petition filed stating that the followers of Judaism, Baha’ism and Hinduism — who are the real minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur.
- They however cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
- The Centre said the allegation was “not correct”.
- The government’s affidavit explained that Parliament and State legislatures have concurrent powers to enact laws to provide for the protection of minorities and their interests.
Various states on Minorities
- The Centre gave the example of how Maharashtra notified ‘Jews’ as a minority community within the State.
- Again, Karnataka notified Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Tulu, Lambadi, Hindi, Konkani and Gujarati as minority languages within the State.
Who are the Minorities?
- Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain and Zorastrians (Parsis) have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
- As per the Census 2011, the percentage of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population of the country.
- The population of Muslims are 14.2%; Christians 2.3%; Sikhs 1.7%, Buddhists 0.7%, Jain 0.4% and Parsis 0.006%.
- Minority Concentration Districts (MCD), Minority Concentration Blocks and Minority Concentration Towns, have been identified on the basis of both population data and backwardness parameters of Census 2001 of these areas.
Defining Minorities
- The Constitution recognizes Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India through Article 29 and Article 30.
- But Minority is not defined in the Constitution.
- Currently, the Linguistic minorities in India are identified on a state-wise basis thus determined by the state government whereas Religious minorities in India are determined by the Central Government.
- The Parliament has the legislative powers and the Centre has the executive competence to notify a community as a minority under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992.
Article 29: It provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script, or culture of its own, shall have the rights of minorities in India to conserve the same. Article 29 is applied to both minorities (religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India) and also the majority. It also includes – rights of minorities in India to agitate for the protection of language.
Article 30: All minorities shall have the rights of minorities in India to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Article 30 recognises only Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India (not the majority). It includes the rights of minorities in India to impart education to their children in their own language.
Article 350-B: Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic minorities in India. However, the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 inserted Article 350-B in the Constitution. It provides for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President of India. It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under the Constitution.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Microplastics
Mains level: Microplastics Contamination
A study by researchers from The Netherlands has found Microplastics in blood samples. About half of these were PET (polyethylene tertraphthalate) plastics, which is used to make food grade bottles.
What are Microplastics?
- Microplastics are tiny bits of various types of plastic found in the environment.
- The name is used to differentiate them from “macroplastics” such as bottles and bags made of plastic.
- There is no universal agreement on the size of microplastics. It defines microplastic as less than 5mm in length.
- However, for the purposes of this study, since the authors were interested in measuring the quantities of plastic that can cross the membranes and diffuse into the body via the blood stream.
- Hence they agreed on an upper limit on the size of the particles as 0.0007 millimetre.
What were the plastics that the study looked for in the blood samples?
- The study looked at the most commonly used plastic polymers.
- These were polyethylene tetraphthalate (PET), polyethylene (used in making plastic carry bags), polymers of styrene (used in food packaging), poly (methyl methylacrylate) and poly propylene.
- They found a presence of the first four types.
Significance of the study
- Making a human health risk assessment in relation to plastic particles is not easy, perhaps not even possible, due to the lack of data on exposure of people to plastics.
- In this sense, it is important to have studies like this one.
- The authors of the paper also remark that validated methods to detect the tiny (trace) amounts of extremely small-sized (less than 10 micrometre) plastic particles are lacking.
- Hence this study, which builds up a methods to check the same, is important.
Health hazard of microplastics
- It is not yet clear if these microplastics can cross over from the blood stream to deposit in organs and cause diseases.
- The report point out that the human placenta has shown to be permeable to tiny particles of polystyrene ( 50, 80 and 24 nanometre beads).
- Experiments on rats where its lungs were exposed to polystryrene spheres (20 nanometre) led to translocation of the nanoparticles to the placental and foetal tissue.
- Oral administration of microplastics in rats led to accumulation of these in the liver, kidney and gut.
- Further studies have to be carried out to really assess the impact of plastics on humans.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Why is there a great concern about the ‘microbeads’ that are released into environment?
(a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.
(b) They are considered to cause skin cancer in children.
(c) They are small enough to be absorbed by crop plants in irrigated fields.
(d) They are often found to be used as food adulterants.
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Coral Bleaching
Mains level: Coral Reefs and their significance
The management authority of the world’s largest coral reef system, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, confirmed on March 25 that the reef is experiencing a mass coral bleaching event.
What are Coral Reefs?
- Corals are marine invertebrates or animals not possessing a spine.
- Each coral is called a polyp and thousands of such polyps live together to form a colony, which grows when polyps multiply to make copies of themselves.
- Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef system stretching across 2,300 km.
- It hosts 400 different types of coral, gives shelter to 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc.
- Corals are of two types — hard coral and soft coral:
- Hard corals, also called hermatypic or ‘reef building’ corals extract calcium carbonate (also found in limestone) from the seawater to build hard, white coral exoskeletons.
- Soft coral polyps, however, borrow their appearance from plants, attach themselves to such skeletons and older skeletons built by their ancestors. Soft corals also add their own skeletons to the hard structure over the years and these growing multiplying structures gradually form coral reefs. They are the largest living structures on the planet.
How do the feed themselves?
- Corals share a symbiotic relationship with single-celled algae called zooxanthellae.
- The algae provides the coral with food and nutrients, which they make through photosynthesis, using the sun’s light.
- In turn, the corals give the algae a home and key nutrients.
- The zooxanthellae also give corals their bright colour.
What is Coral Bleaching?
- Bleaching happens when corals experience stress in their environment due to changes in temperature, pollution or high levels of ocean acidity.
- Under stressed conditions, the zooxanthellae or food-producing algae living inside coral polyps start producing reactive oxygen species, which are not beneficial to the corals.
- So, the corals expel the colour-giving zooxanthellae from their polyps, which exposes their pale white exoskeleton, giving the corals a bleached appearance.
- This also ends the symbiotic relationship that helps the corals to survive and grow.
- Severe bleaching and prolonged heat stress in the external environment can lead to coral death.
Impact of climate change
- Over the last couple of decades, climate change and increased global warming owing to rising carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases have made seas warmer than usual.
- Under all positive outlooks and projections in terms of cutting greenhouse gases, sea temperatures are predicted to increase by 1.5°C to 2°C by the time the century nears its end.
- The first mass bleaching event had occurred in 1998 when the El Niño weather pattern caused sea surfaces in the pacific ocean to heat up; this event caused 8% of the world’s coral to die.
- The second event took place in 2002.
- In the past decade, however, mass bleaching occurrences have become more closely spaced in time, with the longest and most damaging bleaching event taking place from 2014 to 2017.
Significance of Corals
- Coral reefs support over 25% of marine biodiversity, including fish, turtles and lobsters; even as they only take up 1% of the seafloor.
- The marine life supported by reefs further fuels global fishing industries. Even giant clams and whales depend on the reefs to live.
- Besides, coral reef systems generate $2.7 trillion in annual economic value through goods and service trade and tourism.
- In Australia, the Barrier Reef, in pre-COVID times, generated $4.6 billion annually through tourism and employed over 60,000 people including divers and guides.
- Aside from adding economic value and being a support system for aquatic life, coral reefs also provide protection from storm waves.
- Dead reefs can revive over time if there are enough fish species that can graze off the weeds that settle on dead corals, but it takes almost a decade for the reef to start setting up again.
Current condition of the Great Barrier Reef
- The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its report this month, which warned that the life of the Great Barrier is in grave danger.
- The report said that if temperatures continue to rise, bleaching events may occur more often and a large proportion of the remaining reef cover in Australia could be lost.
- Just a couple of weeks after this warning, the Barrier Reef Authority confirmed a mass bleaching phenomenon affecting all pockets of the reef system.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Consider the following statements:
- Most of the world’s coral reefs are in tropical waters.
- More than one third of the world’s coral reefs are located in the territories of Australia, Indonesia and Philippines.
- Coral reefs host far more number of animal phyla than those hosted by tropical rainforests.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1 and 3 only
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Articulated All-Terrain Vehicles
Mains level: Not Much
The Indian Army has issued a Request For Information (RFI) for the supply of Articulated All-Terrain Vehicles to be deployed in Ladakh and Kutch.
What are Articulated All-Terrain Vehicles?
- Articulated ATV is a twin cabin, tracked, amphibious carrier for off road mobility.
- The special design of this equipment exerts low ground pressure on the soil and a pull-push mode of locomotion between two cabins facilitates mobility over varied terrains like snow, desert and slush.
- A ballistic protection in the cabin body ensures protection to troops travelling in it from small arms fire.
- They can reach where wheeled vehicles cannot due to deep snow, slush or marshy terrain and can be very effective for patrolling and rapid deployment in operational situations.
Utility of these vehicles
- These vehicles are very useful to move troops or supplies in snow-bound terrains and in marshy/sandy environments.
- The Indian Army wishes to use these vehicles in the snow-bound areas of Ladakh and in the marshy terrain of the Rann of Kutch.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Malabar Rebellion
Mains level: Not Much
The Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) has deferred its decision on a recommendation to remove the 1921 Malabar Rebellion martyrs, including Variamkunnaathu Kunhahamad Haji and Ali Musliyar, from the list of India’s freedom fighters.
Malabar Rebellion
- The Malabar Rebellion in 1921 started as resistance against the British colonial rule and the feudal system in southern Malabar but ended in communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.
- There were a series of clashes between Mappila peasantry and their landlords, supported by the British, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
- It began as a reaction against a heavy-handed crackdown on the Khilafat Movement, a campaign in defence of the Ottoman Caliphate by the British authorities in the Eranad and Valluvanad taluks of Malabar.
- The Mappilas attacked and took control of police stations, British government offices, courts and government treasuries.
Who was Variyankunna Kunjahammed Haji?
- He was one of the leaders of the Malabar Rebellion of 1921.
- He raised 75000 natives, seized control of large territory from the British rule and set up a parallel government.
- In January 1922, under the guise of a treaty, the British betrayed Haji through his close friend Unyan Musaliyar, arresting him from his hideout and producing him before a British judge.
- He was sentenced to death along with his compatriots.
Back2Basics: “Dictionary of Martyrs” Project
- The project for compilation of “Dictionary of Martyrs” of India’s Freedom Struggle was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of uprising of 1857.
- In this dictionary a martyr has been defined as a person who died or who was killed in action or in detention, or was awarded capital punishment while participating in the national movement for emancipation of India.
- It includes ex-INA or ex-military personnel who died fighting the British.
- Information of about 13,500 martyrs has been recorded in these volumes.
Who are included?
- It includes the martyrs of 1857 Uprising, Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919), Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22), Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-34), Quit India Movement (1942-44), Revolutionary Movements (1915-34), Kissan Movements, Tribal Movements, Agitation for Responsible Government in the Princely States (Prajamandal), Indian National Army (INA, 1943-45), Royal Indian Navy Upsurge (RIN, 1946), etc.
Five Volumes
- Volume 1: In this volume, more than 4400 martyrs of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have been listed.
- Volume 2: In this volume more than 3500 martyrs of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir have been listed.
- Volume 3: The number of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 1400. This volume covers the martyrs of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Sind.
- Volume 4: The numbers of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 3300. This volume covers the martyrs of Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura.
- Volume 5: The number of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 1450. This volume covers the martyrs of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Try this question from CSP 2020:
Q. With reference to the history of India, “Ulgulan” or the Great Tumult is the description of which of the following event?
(a) The Revolt of 1857
(b) The Mappila Rebellion of 1921
(c) The Indigo Revolt of 1859-60
(d) Birsa Munda’s Revolt of 1899-1900
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: JCPOA
Mains level: Paper 2- JCPOA negotiations
Context
Iran’s foreign minister during his recent visit to Syria, noted that Iran and the major powers, who have been negotiating a mutual return to the Iran nuclear deal — or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — over the last eleven months, were closer to an agreement “than ever before”.
Issues in the negotiation over Iran’s return to JCPOA
- The ongoing eighth round of talks between Iran and P4+1, has been going on since December 27, 202.
- These issues remaining are understood to be Tehran’s demand for guarantees against another withdrawal in the future, the verifiable lifting of all US sanctions, and the IAEA investigation into Iran’s past nuclear activities.
- Guarantees against another withdrawal: On the issue of guarantees against another withdrawal, Iran is no longer demanding legal guarantees from Washington.
- Lifting all sanctions: Tehran has refused to retreat from its uncompromising stance on the lifting of all US sanctions, while the Biden administration has so far been prepared to lift only those “inconsistent” with the deal.
- Another key sticking point, though not directly related to the nuclear deal, is Iran’s demand that President Biden reverse his predecessor’s designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.
Concerns
- Western interlocutors are alarmed by Iran’s shrinking breakout time — the time needed for gathering enough weapons-grade uranium to make a single nuclear warhead.
- Also, they are concerned that the longer Iran stays outside the agreement, the more nuclear expertise and fissile material it will accumulate, thus making the original deal obsolete.
- Thus, time is of the essence for reaching an agreement that will turn the clock back on Iran’s nuclear activities.
Conclusion
Iran uses its nuclear activities as a bargaining counter to seek an agreement that will best serve its interests. So, the early conclusion of the deal is important to turn the clock back on Iran’s nuclear activities.
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Back2Basics: What is JCPOA
- The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a agreement reached by Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) on July 14, 2015.
- The nuclear deal was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted on July 20, 2015.
- Iran’s compliance with the nuclear-related provisions of the JCPOA is verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) according to certain requirements set forth in the agreement.
- Despite Iran’s verified compliance with the deal, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018, and subsequently re-imposed all U.S. sanctions on Iran lifted by the accord.
- Then-U.S. President Donald Trump cited the deal’s sunset provisions and its failure to account for Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other things, as impetus for withdrawal from the accord.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Agri-GDP
Mains level: Paper 3- Self reliance in food
Context
For the Amrit Kaal (next 25 years) that the government has announced, we need to be self-reliant not just in missiles (defence equipment) but also in meals (food).
What does self-reliance in food mean?
- Its true meaning lies in specialising in commodities in which we have a comparative advantage, export them, and import those in which we don’t have a significant comparative advantage.
- Self-reliance in food does not mean that we have to produce everything ourselves at home, irrespective of the cost.
- If some protection is needed for new areas to develop (infant industry argument), that may be okay.
- But one should not aspire to be self-sufficient behind high tariff walls.
Importance of agri-R&D
- What is it that gives a country an edge over others in attaining comparative advantage?
- There is ample literature to show that agri-R&D raises total factor productivity and makes agriculture more competitive globally.
- If India wants to be fully self-reliant in food, it is generally agreed that it must invest at least 1 per cent of its agri-GDP in agri-R&D.
- The Economic Survey (2021-22) explicitly highlighted the correlation between spending on agri-R&D and agricultural growth.
- Low expenditure on agri-R&D: But the budgets of both the Union government and the states put together reveal that this expenditure on agri-R&D and education hovers around 0.6 per cent of agri-GDP.
- This is way below the minimum cut off point of 1 per cent and government policy must urgently work towards raising this substantially.
- There are some global and local companies like Bayer, Syngenta, MAHYCO, Jain Irrigation, and Mahindra and Mahindra that spend a considerable amount of their turnover on R&D programmes and developing high-tech inputs.
- The USP of these companies is that they develop technology that increases productivity while addressing the current challenges of limited net sown area, depleting water resources, vulnerability to climate change, and the need to produce nutrient-rich food.
Way forward
- Role of private sector: The private sector need to come forward and help India attain supremacy in agri-R&D and innovation systems and a hub for exports and agri-technology.
- Increase expenditure on Agri-R&D and education: The need of the hour is to focus on increasing expenditure on ARE and other development projects, which can aid in the sustainable growth of the agriculture sector.
- India’s budget allocations in the agri-food space should thrive on creating “more from less”.
- There is a need to work on building long-term sustainable solutions that have an aggressive approach to implementing relevant policies and developing new ones.
- India’s current budgetary allocation strategy and trends need to be reoriented to ensure that there is more room for R&D expenditure by the government.
- Incentivise private companies for R&D: In addition to this, the government should come out with policies that incentivise private companies to expand their R&D programmes and invest more financial resources on development projects, which have the potential to overcome the challenges of the current agrarian setup of India.
Conclusion
If India wants to be fully self-reliant in food, it must focus on agri-R&D and increase allocation in the Budget.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Affinity Test
Mains level: Scheduled Tribes and issues
The Supreme Court wants to fix foolproof parameters to determine if a person belongs to a Scheduled Tribe and is entitled to the benefits due to the community as it is no longer sure about an “affinity test”.
What is the Affinity Test?
- Affinity Test is used to shift through anthropological and ethnological traits to link a person to a tribe.
- There is the likelihood that contact with other cultures, migration and modernization would have erased the traditional characteristics of a tribe.
- The claim by an applicant that he is a part of a Scheduled Tribe and is entitled to the benefit extended to that tribe, cannot per se be disregarded on the ground that his present traits do not match his tribes.
- These include peculiar anthropological and ethnological traits, deity, rituals, mode of marriage, death ceremonies, method of burial of dead bodies etc.
- Worship is an integral part of the life of a community and tribes have specific modes which need to be ascertained by the officers who decide the claims (for ST status).
Who are the Scheduled Tribes?
- The term ‘Scheduled Tribes’ first appeared in the Constitution of India.
- Article 366 (25) defined scheduled tribes as “such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this constitution”.
- Article 342, which is reproduced below, prescribes procedure to be followed in the matter of specification of scheduled tribes.
- The first specification of Scheduled Tribes in relation to a particular State/ Union Territory is by a notified order of the President, after consultation with the State governments concerned.
- These orders can be modified subsequently only through an Act of Parliament.
- The above Article also provides for listing of scheduled tribes State/Union Territory wise and not on an all India basis.
What did the Supreme Court say?
- It has been considered it best to refer the question of fixing the parameters to a larger Bench.
- The Bench emphasized that the issue was a “matter of importance” when it came to the issuance of caste certificates.
- The affinity test may be used to corroborate the documentary evidence and should not be the sole criteria to reject a claim the apex court had warned.
Why discuss this?
- The Supreme Court has decided to refer the question to a larger Bench for an authoritative decision.
- It realised that the courts were faced with varied opinions about the efficacy of the affinity test.
Status of STs in India
- The Census 2011 has revealed that there are said to be 705 ethnic groups notified as Scheduled Tribes (STs).
- Over 10 crore Indians are notified as STs, of which 1.04 crore live in urban areas.
- The STs constitute 8.6% of the population and 11.3% of the rural population.
Precursor to this Judgements
- On one side, a full Bench of the Bombay High Court in Shilpa Vishnu Thakur v State of Maharashtra accepted the “relevance and importance of the affinity test”.
- The full Bench, in a decision in 2009, held that the affinity test was an “integral part” of the verification process for caste certificates.
- Scrutiny committees could easily determine the authenticity of a claim by running an affinity test on the basis of ethnicity and anthropology.
- The HC had said that the term ‘affinity’ meant the ‘association’ of the applicant for a caste certificate with a Scheduled Tribe into which he or she has been born.
- However, two years later, in 2011, the Supreme Court adopted a cautionary note. It indicated that the affinity test may have run its course.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NRI vs OCI
Mains level: Voting rights issue
The Union Government was exploring the possibility of allowing online voting for non-resident Indians (NRI).
Why in news?
- The matter of to ease voting for NRIs comes in the wake of a proposal made by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
- The Law Ministry in November 2020 decided to extend the facility of postal ballots to eligible NRIs for the various State Assembly elections to be held in 2021.
- The ECI then, had proposed amending the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, in order to allow this facility.
NRI vs. OCI
- The term NRI is a residential status designed by the Income Tax Department of the Indian government and has efficiency only during filing Income Tax returns.
- On the other hand, OCI is an immigration status or special visa in layman’s language provided to foreign nationals of Indian origin by the Indian government to work or live indefinitely.
How can overseas voters currently vote in Indian elections?
- Prior to 2010, an Indian citizen who is an eligible voter and was residing abroad for more than six months, would not have been able to vote in elections.
- This was because the NRI’s name was deleted from electoral rolls if he or she stayed outside the country for more than six months at a stretch.
- After the passing of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010, eligible NRIs who had stayed abroad beyond six months have been able to vote, but only in person at the polling station where they have been enrolled as an overseas elector.
- Just as any resident Indian citizen above the age of 18 years) is eligible to vote in the constituency where she/he is a resident, overseas Indian citizens are also eligible to do so.
- In the case of overseas voters, their address mentioned in the passport is taken as the place of ordinary residence and chosen as the constituency for the overseas voter to enroll in.
How has the existing facility worked so far?
- Hike in voters: From merely 11,846 overseas voters who registered in 2014, the number went up to close to a lakh in 2019. But the bulk of these voters (nearly 90%) belonged to just one State — Kerala.
- Section 20-1A, Part III of the RP Act: It addresses this to some extent by qualifying “a person absenting himself temporarily from his place of ordinary residence shall not by reason thereof cease to be ordinarily resident therein.
- Proxy provisions: The Bill provided for overseas voters to be able to appoint a proxy to cast their votes on their behalf, subject to conditions laid down in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
- Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System: The ECI then approached the government to permit NRIs to vote via postal ballots similar to a system that is already used by service voters, (a member of the armed Forces of the Union; or a member of a force to which provisions of the Army Act, 1950 (46 of 1950) which is ETPBS. The ECI proposed to extend this facility to overseas voters as well.
What is ETPBS and how does it function?
- The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 was amended in 2016 to allow service voters to use the ETPBS.
- Under this system, postal ballots are sent electronically to registered service voters.
- The service voter can then download the ETPB (along with a declaration form and covers), register their mandate on the ballot and send it to the returning officer of the constituency via ordinary mail.
- The post will include an attested declaration form (after being signed by the voter in the presence of an appointed senior officer who will attest it).
- The postal ballot must reach the returning officer by 8 a.m. on the day of the counting of results.
- In the case of NRI voters, those seeking to vote through ETPBS will have to inform the returning officer at least five days after notification of the election.
Will this facility be available to all overseas voters across countries?
- There were news reports that the ECI had indicated to the Ministry of External Affairs that it would want postal voting introduced on a pilot basis in non-Gulf countries.
- But the ECI had asked the Law Ministry to explore the possibility of extending postal ballots to overseas electors and not restrict it to any particular country.
- In March 2021, the Ministry of External Affairs informed ECI that the implementation could require to overcome “huge logistical challenges” and needs “a realistic assessment of requirements”
Are postal ballots a viable means of voting?
- The ETPBS method allowed for greater turnout among service voters in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
- With the increasing mobility of citizens across countries for reasons related to work, the postal ballot method has been internationally recognized.
- A postal ballot mechanism that allows for proper authentication of the ballot at designated consular/embassy offices and an effective postal system should ease this process for NRIs.
Back2Basics: NRI vs OCI
Non-Resident Indian (NRI)
- To mention it, NRI is someone who is not a resident of India.
- However, the law is much more complicated and must be delved deeper to gain an inclusive insight into the sector.
- A person is considered a resident of India if he/she has been staying in India for a minimum tenure of 182 days during the previous financial year of a particular year. OR
- A person living in India for a total of 365 days during the previous four financial years and a minimum of 60 days during the last financial years is considered a citizen for a particular year.
- Now an NRI or a non-resident of India is eligible to pay charges for only the first two situations, which means either the income received or earned in India.
- Therefore, the NRI status also influences the enjoyable rights of that person.
Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)
- OCI is a card issued by the government of India that denotes that a non-resident or foreigner has been permitted to stay and work within Indian boundaries.
- Hence, this card provides foreigners with an immigration status without any limited tenure.
- There are cases where PIOs of specific categories are allowed for OCI cards that have migrated from India to foreign countries (except Pakistan and Bangladesh) if the other government agrees for dual citizenship.
- An individual holding an OCI card can be an overseas citizen of India in the layman’s language.
- So an OCI is not a citizen of India, but the Indian government has given the cardholder permission to reside and work within the boundaries of India.
- Residents migrating from Pakistan and Bangladesh are not eligible for holding the OCI card. Even if their parents are citizens of both countries, the applicants will be denied having an OCI card.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CSWS
Mains level: Not Much
A corner-shot weapon system (CSWS), designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is at an advanced stage of being inducted by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir police.
What is CSWS?
- The CSWS is a special purpose weapon designed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune.
- It can engage targets located around the corners as the system bends and captures video feed thus saving soldiers from any surprise counter-attack and is best suited for urban, close quarter situations.
- It is equipped with weapon, camera, laser, infrared illuminator and torch in front portion, while display, electronics, battery and swivelling mechanism are located at rear portion.
- The body is made from high-grade aluminium alloy to make it lighter and durable.
Key features
- Day-night firing capability, colour display, digital zoom, zeroing facility, hot keys, high power battery along with status display and compliance with JSS 5855 makes it a very potent system for security forces.
- It is very helpful in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terror (CI/CT) operations.
- This indigenously developed system has many superior features compared to its contemporary international systems and available for 9 mm GLOCK 17/19 and 1A1 Auto Pistol variant.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: T-Cell Immunity
Mains level: Long term health impact of COVID
A new study from Wuhan has studied the role of T-Cell Immunity against prolonged and sever COVID-19.
What are T-Cells?
- Like B cells, which produce antibodies, T cells are central players in the immune response to viral infection.
- For your immune system to fight off any kind of invader, such as a virus, you need a kind of white blood cell called a B cell, which makes antibodies, and a similar-looking white blood cell called a T cell.
- T cells can play different roles altogether.
- They can act as “killer cells”, attacking cells which have been infected with a virus or another kind of pathogen, or they can act as “helper cells” by supporting B cells to produce antibodies.
How do they function?
- Alongside antibodies, the immune system produces a battalion of T cells that can target viruses.
- Some of these, known as killer T cells (or CD8+ T cells), seek out and destroy cells that are infected with the virus.
- Others, called helper T cells (or CD4+ T cells) are important for various immune functions, including stimulating the production of antibodies and killer T cells.
- T cells do not prevent infection, because they kick into action only after a virus has infiltrated the body. But they are important for clearing an infection that has already started.
- In the case of COVID-19, killer T cells could mean the difference between a mild infection and a severe one that requires hospital treatment.
What did the latest research find?
- The researchers found that neutralising antibodies were detectable even 12 months after infection in “most individuals”.
- It remained stable 6-12 months after initial infection in people younger than 60 years.
- The researchers found that “multifunctional T cell responses were detected for all SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins tested”.
- And most importantly, the magnitude of T cell responses did not show any difference immaterial of how severe the disease was.
- While the ability of antibodies to neutralise was nearly absent against the Beta variant, it was reduced in the case of the Delta variant.
Neutralizing antibodies
- SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralising antibody and T cell responses were retained 12 months after initial infection.
- Neutralising antibodies to the D614G, Beta, and Delta were reduced compared with those for the original strain, and were diminished in general.
- Memory T cell responses to the original strain were not disrupted by new variants.
- The findings show that robust antibody and T cell immunity against SARS-CoV-2 is present in majority of recovered patients 12 months after moderate-to-critical infection.
Robustness of antibodies
- The study reveals the durability and robustness of the T cell responses against variants, including Delta, even after one year of infection.
- Most importantly, the robust and longstanding T cell responses were seen in people who have not been reinfected or vaccinated.
- This would mean even in the absence of vaccination, a person who has been infected by the virus even one year ago would have robust immune responses.
- It would offer protection against disease progressing to a severe form requiring hospitalization.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Olive Ridley Turtles
Mains level: Not Much
About 2.45 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtles crawled ashore on the Nasi-II beach of the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary along the Odisha coast for laying eggs, marking one of the largest opening day arrivals of turtles at the site.
Olive Ridley Turtles
- The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a medium-sized species of sea turtle found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
- In the Indian Ocean, the majority of olive ridleys nest in two or three large groups at Rushikulya rookery near Gahirmatha in Odisha.
- The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.
- The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, Appendix 1 in CITES, and Schedule 1 in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Special feature: Mass nesting
- They are best known for their behavior of synchronized nesting in mass numbers, termed Arribadas.
- Interestingly, females return to the very same beach from where they first hatched, to lay their eggs.
- They lay their eggs in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers.
- They hatch in 45 to 60 days, depending on the temperature of the sand and atmosphere during the incubation period.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Open Government Data platform
Mains level: Paper 3- Data Accessibility and Use Policy
Context
The Draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy 2022 released in February for public consultation, is silent on the norms, rules, and mechanisms to bring to fruition its vision.
Aims of the policy
- The Draft Policy aims for harnessing public sector data for informed decision-making, citizen-centric delivery of public services, and economy-wide digital innovation.
- It seeks to maximise access to and use of quality non-personal data (NPD) available with the public sector, overcoming a number of historical bottlenecks.
- This GovTech 3.0 approach — to unlock the valuable resource of public sector data — does upgrade the OGD vision of the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), 2012.
- It seeks to harness data-based intelligence for governance and economic development.
What is lacking in the draft policy?
- Lacking in norms and rules: The Draft Policy is silent on the norms, rules, and mechanisms to bring to fruition its vision of data-supported social transformation.
- Ignores the canons of RTI: Any attempt to promote meaningful citizen engagement with data cannot afford to ignore the canons of the Right to Information (RTI), and hence, the need for certain citizen data sets with personal identifiers to be in the public domain, towards making proactive disclosure meaningful.
- The unfinished task of the NDSAP in bringing coherence between restrictions on the availability of sensitive personal information in the public domain and India’s RTI, therefore, has been lost sight of.
- Risks to group privacy: With respect to government-to-government data sharing for citizen-centric service delivery, the Draft Policy highlights that approved data inventories will be federated into a government-wide, searchable database.
- But even in the case of anonymised citizen data sets (that is no longer personal data), downstream processing can pose serious risks to group privacy.
- Lack of data trusteeship framework: The Draft Policy adheres to the NDSAP paradigm of treating government agencies as ‘owners’ of the data sets they have collected and compiled instead of shifting to the trusteeship paradigm recommended by the 2020 Report of the MEITY Committee of Experts on non-personal data governance.
- The lack of a data trusteeship framework gives government agencies unilateral privileges to determine the terms of data licensing.
Suggestions
- Taking on board a trusteeship-based approach, the proposed Draft Policy must pay attention to data quality, and ensure that licensing frameworks and any associated costs do not pose an impediment to data accessibility for non-commercial purposes.
- Create common and interoperable data spaces: In the current context, where the most valuable data resources are held by the private sector, it is increasingly evident to policymakers that socioeconomic innovation depends on the state’s ability to catalyse wide-ranging data-sharing from both public and private sector actors across various sectors.
- The European Union, for instance, has focused on the creation of common, interoperable data spaces to encourage voluntary data-sharing in specific domains such as health, energy and agriculture.
- Mandatory data sharing arrangement: Creating the right conditions for voluntary data-sharing is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for democratising data innovation.
- In this regard, the data stewardship model for high-value data sets proposed by the MEITY’s Committee of Experts in their Report on Non-Personal Data Governance (2020) is instructive.
- In this model, a government/not-for-profit organisation may request the Non-Personal Data Authority or NPDA for the creation of a high-value data set (only non-personal data) in a particular sector, demonstrating the specific public interest purpose.
- Once such a request is approved by the NPDA, the data trustee has the right to request data-sharing from all major custodians of data sets corresponding to the high-value data set category in question – both public and private.
Conclusion
- What we need is a new social contract for data whereby:
- a) the social commons of data are governed as an inappropriable commons that belong to all citizens;
- b) the government is the custodian or trustee with fiduciary responsibility to promote data use for public good; and
- c) democratisation of data value is ensured through accountable institutional mechanisms for data governance.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various provisions of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act
Mains level: Centre vs. Delhi Govt
The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was tabled in Lok Sabha.
What is the MCD Amendment Bill?
- The Bill seeks to amend The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, to effectively undo the earlier 2011 amendment to the Act.
- Under the 2011 Act, the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was trifurcated into separate North, South, and East Delhi Municipal Corporations.
Key features of the Bill
(1) Unification of Municipal Corporations in Delhi:
- The Bill replaces the three municipal corporations under the Act with one Corporation named the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
(2) Powers of the Delhi government:
- The Act as amended in 2011 empowers the Delhi government to decide various matters under the Act.
- These include:
- Total number of seats of councillors and number of seats reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes,
- Division of the area of corporations into zones and wards,
- Delimitation of wards,
- Matters such as salary and allowances, and leave of absence of the Commissioner,
- Sanctioning of consolidation of loans by a corporation, and
- Sanctioning suits for compensation against the Commissioner for loss or waste or misapplication of Municipal Fund or property
- Similarly, the Act mandates that the Commissioner will exercise his powers regarding building regulations under the general superintendence and directions of Delhi government.
- The Bill instead empowers the central government to decide these matters.
(3) Number of councillors:
- The Act provides that the number of seats in the three corporations taken together should not be more than 272.
- The 14th Schedule to the Act specifies 272 wards across the three Corporations.
- The Bill states that the total number of seats in the new Corporation should not be more than 250.
(4) Removal of Director of Local Bodies:
- The Act provides for a Director of Local Bodies to assist the Delhi government and discharge certain functions which include:
- Coordinating between Corporations,
- Framing recruitment Rules for various posts, and
- Coordinating the collecting and sharing of toll tax collected by the respective Corporations.
- The Bill omits this provision for a Director of Local Bodies.
(5) Special officer to be appointed by the central government:
- The Bill provides that the central government may appoint a Special Officer to exercise powers of the Corporation until the first meeting of the Corporation is held after the commencement of the Bill.
(6) E-governance system for citizens:
- The Bill adds that obligatory functions of the new Corporation will include establishing an e-governance system for citizen services on anytime-anywhere basis for better, accountable, and transparent administration.
(7) Conditions of service for sweepers:
- The Act provides that a sweeper employed for doing house scavenging of a building would be required to give a reasonable cause or a 14 day notice before discontinuing his service.
- The Bill seeks to omit this provision.
Issues with the Amendment Bill
The Bill, when passed, will not return the MCD exactly to its pre-2011 situation. There are many sections in the Bill that will make the new MCD very different from the older one.
- New delimitation exercise: Reducing the number of seats means a new delimitation exercise will have to be conducted, which experts say will take at least three months, but is more likely to take six months.
- Bureaucratization: Appointing a Special Officer means that until the elections are concluded, the Centre will likely appoint an officer to run the corporation. The Bill also does away with the provision of appointing a Director of Local Bodies by the Delhi government.
- Central hegemony: The other significant change is the replacement of the word “government” with “Central government” in all places. The bill hence seeks to curtail the powers of the elected govt of New Delhi by introducing central hegemony.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CBI
Mains level: Issues with CBI
The Calcutta High Court has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the killings in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, where eight persons were burnt alive.
About CBI
- The Bureau of Investigation traces its origins to the Delhi Special Police Establishment, a Central Government Police force, which was set up in 1941 by the Government of India.
- It then aimed to investigate bribery and corruption in transactions with the War and Supply Department of India.
- It then had its headquarters in Lahore.
- After the end of the war, there was a continued need for a central governmental agency to investigate bribery and corruption by central-government employees.
- The DSPE acquired its popular current name, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), through a Home Ministry resolution dated in 1963.
Mandate of the CBI
- The CBI is the main investigating agency of the GoI.
- It is not a statutory body; it derives its powers from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.
- Its important role is to prevent corruption and maintain integrity in administration.
- It works under the supervision of the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) in matters pertaining to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
- The CBI is also India’s official representative with the INTERPOL.
Cases to investigate
- Cases connected to infringement of economic and fiscal laws
- Crimes of a serious nature that have national and international ramifications
- Coordination with the activities of the various state police forces and anti-corruption agencies.
- It can also take up any case of public importance and investigate it
- Maintaining crime statistics and disseminating criminal information.
How does the CBI take up cases?
- Unlike the NIA, CBI cannot take suo motu cognizance of a case in a state — whether in a matter of corruption involving government officials of the Centre and PSU staff, or an incident of violent crime.
- In order to take up corruption cases involving central government staff, it either needs general consent (see last question) of the state government, or specific consent on a case-to-case basis.
- For all other cases, whether involving corruption in the state government or an incident of crime, the state has to request an investigation by the CBI, and the Centre has to agree to the same.
- In case the state does not make such a request, the CBI can take over a case based on the orders of the High Court concerned or the Supreme Court.
Can the CBI decline to take up a case for investigation?
- After a state makes a request for an inquiry by the CBI, the Centre seeks the opinion of the agency.
- If the CBI feels that it is not worthwhile for it to expend time and energy on the case, it may decline to take it up.
- In the past, the CBI has refused to take over cases citing lack of enough personnel to investigate, and saying it is overburdened.
What is the CBI’s workload currently?
- According to the latest Annual Report of the Central Vigilance Commission, the CBI registered 608 FIRs in 2019 and 589 FIRs in 2020.
- In 2020, a total 86 cases related to demands for bribes by public servants for showing favour, and 30 cases for possession of disproportionate assets were registered.
- Out of 676 cases in the year (including FIRs and Preliminary Enquiries), 107 cases were taken up on the directions of constitutional courts and 39 on requests from state governments/ Union Territories.
- Also, there are over 1,300 vacancies in the CBI.
What is the CBI’s progress on cases?
- At the end of 2020, the CBI had 1,117 cases (both FIRs and PEs) pending investigation. In 2019, this number stood at 1,239.
- During 2020, investigation was finalised in 693 FIRs and 105 PEs.
- The conviction rate during the year was 69.83% against 69.19% in 2019.
- At the end of 2020, 9,757 cases were pending in various courts.
- The conviction rate in corruption cases was slightly lower at 67% in 2020.
- Almost 2,000 corruption cases are pending trial for more than 10 years.
What is the role of state consent in an investigation by the CBI?
- Since 2015, as many as nine states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Mizoram and Meghalaya — have withdrawn general consent to the CBI.
- Opposition-ruled states have alleged the CBI has become its master’s voice, and has been unfairly targeting opposition politicians.
- Withdrawal of general consent means that to probe any case in these states, CBI would have to take prior permission from the state government.
- CBI has claimed that this has tied its hands.
Also read
[Burning Issue] Central Bureau of Investigation
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Noise Pollution
Mains level: Not Much
The city of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh is the second-most noise polluted city globally, according to a recent report title Frontier 2022 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
What is Noise Pollution?
- Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them harmful to a degree.
- It is generally defined as regular exposure to elevated sound levels that may lead to adverse effects in humans or other living organisms.
- The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines, transport, and propagation systems.
- Poor urban planning may give rise to noise disintegration or pollution, side-by-side industrial and residential buildings can result in noise pollution in the residential areas.
- Some of the main sources of noise in residential areas include loud music, transportation (traffic, rail, airplanes, etc.), maintenance, construction, electrical generators, wind turbines, explosions, and people etc.
Defining Noise Pollution
- Sounds with a frequency over 70 db are considered harmful to health.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) had recommended a 55 db standard for residential areas in the 1999 guidelines, while for traffic and business sectors, the limit was 70 db.
- The WHO set the limit of noise pollution on the road at 53 db in 2018, taking into account health safety.
Noise Pollution in India
- The report identifies 13 noise polluted cities in south Asia. Five of these, including Moradabad, are in India, which have recorded alarming levels of noise pollution:
- Kolkata (89 db)
- Asansol (89 db)
- Jaipur (84 db)
- Delhi (83 db)
- The noise pollution figures given in the report relate to daytime traffic or vehicles.
- Moradabad has recorded noise pollution of a maximum of 114 decibels (db). The Frontier 2022 report mentions a total of 61 cities.
Case in the neighborhood
- The highest noise pollution of 119 db has been recorded in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
- At third place is Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, where the noise pollution level has been recorded at 105 db.
Hazards created
- High levels of noise pollution affect human health and well-being by having an effect on sleep.
- This has a bad effect on the communication of many animal species living in the area and their ability to hear.
- Regular exposure for eight hours a day to 85 decibels of sound can permanently eliminate the ability to hear.
- Not only that, exposure to relatively low noise pollution for long periods in cities can harm physical and mental health.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: B9 Countries
Mains level: Not Much
The envoys to India of nine Eastern European countries called Bucharest Nine jointly wrote to acquaint the Indian public with the basic facts on the ground” about the “premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified Russian aggression in Ukraine”.
What is Bucharest Nine?
- The “Bucharest Nine” is a group of nine NATO countries in Eastern Europe that became part of the US-led military alliance after the end of the Cold War.
- The Bucharest Nine or Bucharest Format, often abbreviated as the B9, was founded on November 4, 2015, and takes its name from Bucharest, the capital of Romania.
- The group was created on the initiative of Klaus Iohannis, who has been President of Romania since 2014, and Andrzej Duda, who became President of Poland in August 2015.
Composition
- The B9 are, apart from Romania and Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
- All members of the B9 are part of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
- All nine countries were once closely associated with the now dissolved Soviet Union, but later chose the path of democracy.
- Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria are former signatories of the now-dissolved Warsaw Pact military alliance led by the Soviet Union.
- The other Warsaw Pact countries were the erstwhile Czechoslovakia and East Germany, and Albania. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were part of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Functions of B9
- The B9 offers a platform for deepening the dialogue and consultation among the participant allied states, in order to articulate their specific contribution to the ongoing processes across the North-Atlantic Alliance.
- It works in total compliance with the principles of solidarity and indivisibility of the security of the NATO Member States.
Opposition to Russian expansion
- The B9 countries have been critical of President Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine since 2014, when the war in the Donbas started and Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.
- After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the B9 met in Warsaw.
- Ukraine’s President has also appealed to the B9 for defense aid, sanctions, pressure on the aggressor Russia and create one anti-war coalition.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Solomon Islands
Mains level: Chinese expansion in Pacific
The Solomon Islands has defended plans to sign a security deal with Beijing that could allow China to boost its military presence in the South Pacific island nation. This has left Australia very concerned.
Solomon Islands
- Solomon Islands is a sovereign country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu.
- It has a land area of 28,400 square kilometres and a population of 652,858.[10] Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal.
- The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands.
- It also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea), but excludes outlying islands, such as the Santa Cruz Islands and Rennell and Bellona.
- The islands have been settled since at least some time between 30,000 and 28,800 BCE, with later waves of migrants, notably the Lapita people, mixing and producing the modern indigenous Solomon Islanders population.
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