Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kavach
Mains level: Highs speed railways in India and safety parameters
Kavach, this indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection System is earmarked for aggressive rollout on 2,000 km in 2022-23, according the Budget proposals.
What is Kavach?
- It is India’s very own automatic protection system in development since 2012, under the name Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), which got rechristened to Kavach or “armour”.
- Simply put, it is a set of electronic devices and Radio Frequency Identification devices installed in locomotives, in the signalling system as well the tracks.
- They connect to each other using ultra high radio frequencies to control the brakes of trains and also alert drivers, all based on the logic programmed into them.
Key features of Kavach
- One of its features is that by continuously refreshing the movement information of a train, it is able to send out triggers when a loco pilot jumps signal, called Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD).
- The devices also continuously relay the signals ahead to the locomotive, making it useful for loco pilots in low visibility, especially during dense fog.
- It includes the key elements from already existing, and tried and tested systems like the European Train Protection and Warning System, and the indigenous Anti Collison Device.
- It will also carry features of the high-tech European Train Control System Level-2 in future.
- The current form of Kavach adheres to the highest level of safety and reliability standard called Safety Integrity Level 4.
What is the upgrade?
- In the new avatar, India wants to position Kavach as an exportable system, a cheaper alternative to the European systems in vogue across the world.
- While now Kavach uses Ultra High Frequency, work is on to make it compatible with 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology and make the product for global markets.
- Work is on to make the system such that it can be compatible with other already installed systems globally.
How far is the rollout?
- So far, Kavach has been deployed on over 1,098 km and 65 locomotives in ongoing projects of the South Central Railway.
- In future it will be implemented on 3000 km of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors where the tracks and systems are being upgraded to host a top speed of 160 kmph.
- Further, over 34,000 km on the High Density Network (HDN) and Highly Utilized Network (HUN) of on the Golden Quadrilateral have been included in its sanctioned plans.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNSC
Mains level: Paper 2- Global rules based order
Context
The unexpected Russian military intervention in Ukraine is merely the latest symptom of an underlying cause of decay in the international ‘rules-based’ order.
Background of the idea of international rules-based order and sovereignty
- It was the Diet of Westphalia (in the then Holy Roman Empire) in 1648 that first set out what our post-World War II global institutional framework established as the principle of ‘sovereignty’.
- Sovereignty was for a long time the singular bedrock, the very founding principle that the UN Charter sought to firmly establish, in order to make wars of aggression (as opposed to self-defense) illegal under international law, and liable to be punished by the international community via the UN Security Council and its right to use coercive force.
What is a state?
- State is a community that feels as one, accepts a set of common guiding principles and is constituted by member states who are willing to operate according to rules / norms of behaviour.
- There has always been a theoretical debate in the discipline, drawing on elements of philosophy, psychology and even economics, on whether or not we actually live in an international society of states or whether it is still merely a system of states.
- System of states: A system of states is a very complex landscape consisting of individual actors who possess coercive power to varying degrees, have zero-sum ambitions to varying degrees, adhere to global ‘rules’ to the extent that they are convenient or exigent at a moment, while being willing to covertly and overtly bend and even break those rules, when core national interests are involved.
- In the second interpretation, states are engaged in game-theoretic, rational-utilitarian cooperation, competition and even conflict, depending on the specificities of each situation.
- In a nutshell, it is a highly complicated theoretical and practical situation wherein simplistic, moralising explanations and narratives about events are typically wrong and often misleading or counterproductive.
UN and the issue of enforcement
- Forces like the internet and social media, combined with the cultural dominance of the West, portended a gradual spread of democratic values.
- The biggest challenge to this kind of perspective usually came from the ‘realist’ camp of International Relations researchers who argue that argue that in the absence of effective enforcement of rules, the notion of such rules was an empty idea.
- Enforcement was theoretically meant to happen by way of the Security Council.
- However, this plan was stillborn due to the fundamental unwillingness of the five permanent members to countenance a possibility of global action against themselves and the consequent injection of the notion of a ‘veto’ in the world’s highest security-focused body.
- This has meant that for the entirety of the UN’s existence, true Security Council intervention in an international crisis has only been possible in the rarest of rare exceptions when all five permanent members happened to agree.
Threat to rule-based order
- The foregoing analysis allows us to conclude that far from being an isolated incident that for the first time since the UN Charter was drafted has violated our rules-based order, the Russian intervention in Ukraine is a significant further erosion in the believability of anyone’s claims that such a thing actually exists.
- All states have shown their willingness to conduct foreign policy at the cost of others.
- Most states in the last few decades have provided international rules with a lot of ‘lip-service’ while using clandestine methods to achieve their aims.
Nuclear weapons as a source of stability
- The notion of ‘mutually assured destruction’ created a tension that seemed to preclude even conventional warfare between two nuclear-armed rivals.
- Most interestingly, with the separation of seven decades between Hiroshima / Nagasaki and the present, a gradual shift in the calculus of defence planners seems to have occurred.
- From the sense that a mere conventional conflict would be sufficient trigger for a power to exercise a nuclear option, planners seem to have gained a new comfort with nuclear weapons in existence.
- They no longer seem to believe they will be used short of an existential threat.
- Russia equally feels confident that merely asserting its core security interests in Ukraine will not draw a nuclear response from NATO.
- Waning American dominance combined with a retreat of global norms and a lessening nuclear deterrent to armed conflict and the rise of new power centres in Asia are a potent mix of new dynamics in our world.
Conclusion
Never since the establishment of our post-war global system has it been under such significant threat. India must take stock and with extreme vigilance approach its entire gamut of cooperative, competitive and adversarial options while navigating this wholly new world out there.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Marginal propensities to consume
Mains level: Paper 3- Impact of high crude price
Context
The Russia-Ukraine conflict will impact India’s economy through several channels. The first order impact, emanates from the negative terms of trade shock from higher commodity prices, particularly oil.
- Crude prices have surged well past a $110/barrel and there is a growing expectation that, as the conflict gets more entrenched, crude could remain elevated for much longer and average close to $100/barrel in 2022, vis-a-vis $70/barrel in 2021.
Why crude oil price is increasing?
Limited Supply:
- Major oil-producing countries had cut oil production last year amid a sharp fall in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Saudi Arabia pledged extra supply cuts in February and March 2020 following reductions by other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies.
- In early January 2021, the OPEC and Russia (as OPEC+) agreed to cut back on oil production to increase prices.
Rising Demand:
- The production and rollout of vaccines for Covid-19 and the rising consumption post the Covid lockdowns last year have both led to a revival in international crude oil prices.
Geopolitical reasons
- Geopolitical tension has risen between Russia, which is the second largest oil producer in the world, and neighbouring Ukraine.
- In January, there were drone attacks on oil facilities in UAE, another major oil producer.
- An outage on a major oil pipeline linking Saudi Arabia and Turkey further added to the pressures.
How it will impact India?
- Current Account Deficit: The increase in oil prices will increase the country’s import bill, and further disturb its current account deficit (excess of imports of goods and services over exports).
- According to estimates, a one-dollar increase in crude oil price increases the oil bill by around USD 1.6 billion per year.
- Inflation: The increase in crude prices could also also further increase inflationary pressures that have been building up over the past few months.
- This will decrease the space for the monetary policy committee to ease policy rates further.
- The government had hiked central taxes on petrol and diesel by Rs. 13 per litre and Rs. 11 per litre in 2020 to boost revenues amid lower economic activity.
- Fiscal Health: If oil prices continue to increase, the government shall be forced to cut taxes on petroleum and diesel which may cause loss of revenue and deteriorate its fiscal balance.
- The growth slowdown in the last two years has already resulted in a precarious fiscal situation because of tax revenue shortfalls.
- The revenue lost will erode the government’s ability to spend or meet its fiscal commitments in the form of budgetary transfers to states, payment of dues and compensation for revenue shortfalls to state governments under the goods and services tax (GST) framework.
Why high growth impact on fiscal space leads to a greater hit to demand and growth?
- The growth impact will manifest through constraints on fiscal space, household purchasing power being impinged and firm margins coming under pressure.
- Why does marginal propensity to consume matter? The quantum of the growth impact will depend on how the shock is distributed across the fiscal, households and firms because of the different marginal propensities to consume.
- For example, the excise duty cuts last November have already absorbed about one-third of the shock from oil (0.4 per cent of GDP).
- The cost of this, however, is commensurate pressures on fiscal expenditures and growth, agnostically assuming a fiscal multiplier of 1.
- In contrast, the marginal propensity to consume/invest out of income/earnings is typically lower than 1 for households/firms.
- So, the greater the fraction of the shock absorbed on the fiscal, the greater the hit to demand and growth.
Way forward
1] Let the rupee reach the new equilibrium
- The widening of the CAD and associated BoP pressures will create some depreciation pressures on the rupee.
- More fundamentally, a persistent negative terms of trade shock will argue for a weaker equilibrium real effective exchange rate.
- Policymakers should let the rupee reach this new equilibrium – albeit in a gradual and non-disruptive manner – and not prevent this adjustment because it will facilitate the necessary “expenditure switching” to reduce imports, boost exports and help narrow an elevated CAD.
2] Pragmatic fiscal policies
- Cutting excise duties would buffer the impact on households and protect consumption, but potentially result in a larger hit to demand by shrinking fiscal space to spend.
- If the government doesn’t cut duties, it has resources that can potentially be used to more directly target affected households at the bottom of the pyramid.
- But this will mean higher retail prices that can harden inflationary expectations, increasing the challenges for monetary policy.
- Finally, policymakers could always cut duties, not cut spending and let the deficit widen commensurately — effectively pushing out some of the terms of trade costs to the future — but negative surprises on the fiscal during periods of heightened macro uncertainty can generate significantly risk premia in markets.
- All told, the fiscal will confront several trade-offs, and should try avoiding corner solutions.
- What should be clear is that as soon as markets begin to stabilise, authorities must plough ahead with planned asset sales/disinvestment to create more fiscal headroom, without trying to perfectly time the market.
3) Reduce the dependence
- India has proposed Oil Buyer’s club. This would be a grouping of India, China, Japan and South Korea. The objective is to reduce the dependence on OPEC, have better bargains, increase the imports of crude oil imports from USA etc
- It was put forward by Mani Shankar Ayyar in 2005
- Create a stabilization fund or reserve account – Thailand, UK etc
Conclusion
A persistent adverse supply shock is complicated and challenging to respond to, and the new equilibrium will inevitably need some combination of a weaker rupee, higher rates, and judicious fiscal management.
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Back2Basics: What is a fiscal multiplier?
- The fiscal multiplier measures the effect that increases in fiscal spending will have on a nation’s economic output, or gross domestic product (GDP).
- Fiscal multipliers are important because they can help guide a government’s policies during an economic crisis and help set the stage for economic recovery.
What is Marginal Propensity to Consume?
- In economics, the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is defined as the proportion of an aggregate raise in pay that a consumer spends on the consumption of goods and services, as opposed to saving it.
- Marginal propensity to consume is a component of Keynesian macroeconomic theory and is calculated as the change in consumption divided by the change in income.
- MPC varies by income level. MPC is typically lower at higher incomes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NATO
Mains level: Read the attached story
Amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has been rapidly deploying troops to member countries but has clarified that it has no plans of sending them to Ukraine.
What is NATO?
- NATO is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949.
- It sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.
- Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- NATO has spread a web of partners, namely Egypt, Israel, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Finland.
Why was it founded?
Ans. Communist sweep in Europe post-WWII and rise of Soviet dominance
- After World War II in 1945, Western Europe was economically exhausted and militarily weak, and newly powerful communist parties had arisen in France and Italy.
- By contrast, the Soviet Union had emerged from the war with its armies dominating all the states of central and Eastern Europe.
- By 1948 communists under Moscow’s sponsorship had consolidated their control of the governments of those countries and suppressed all non-communist political activity.
- What became known as the Iron Curtain, a term popularized by Winston Churchill, had descended over central and Eastern Europe.
Ideology of NATO
- NATO ensures that the security of its European member countries is inseparably linked to that of its North American member countries.
- It commits the Allies to democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law, as well as to the peaceful resolution of disputes.
- It also provides a unique forum for dialogue and cooperation across the Atlantic.
What is Article 5 and why is it needed?
- Article 5 was a key part of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, or Washington Treaty, and was meant to offer a collective defence against a potential invasion of Western Europe.
- It states: (NATO members) will assist the party or parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
- However, since then, it has only been invoked once, soon after the 9/11 attack in the United States.
Why has Article 5 not been invoked this time?
- The reason is simple: Ukraine is a partner of the Western defence alliance but not a NATO member.
- As a result, Article 5, or the Collective Defense Pledge, does not apply.
- While NATO has said it will not be sending troops to Ukraine, it did invoke Article 4, which calls for a consultation of the alliance’s principal decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council.
- In its history, it has only been activated half a dozen times.
- But the fact that this time around eight member nations chose to invoke it was enough to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation at a global level.
What may prompt NATO to invoke Article 5?
- NATO will invoke Article 5 only if Russia launches a full-blown attack on one of its allies.
- Some top US officials have warned of the impact of some of Russia’s cyberattacks being felt in NATO countries.
- When you launch cyberattacks, they don’t recognize geographic boundaries.
- Some of that cyberattack could actually start shutting down systems in eastern Poland.
But what is NATO’s problem with Russia?
- Russia has long been opposed to Ukraine’s growing closeness with European institutions, particularly NATO.
- The former Soviet republic shares borders with Russia on one side, and the European Union on the other.
- After Moscow launched its attack, the US and its allies were quick to respond, imposing sanctions on Russia’s central bank and sovereign wealth funds.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Neutral foreign policy
Mains level: Switzerland’s Neutrality Policy
Switzerland broke its 200-year long neutrality policy to sanction Moscow and its leaders.
What is the news?
- Switzerland announced that it would join the European Union (EU) in closing the Swiss airspace to Russian aeroplanes.
- It also wished for imposing financial sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders.
Switzerland’s Policy of Permanent Neutrality
- The tiny Alpine nation the size of Haryana has had a neutrality policy in place since 1815.
- Its official website attests to this, noting that “permanent neutrality is a principle of Swiss foreign policy.”
- Though it serves as the headquarters of several diplomatic missions and as the venue for historic treaties like the Geneva Convention, Switzerland is not a part of the European Union or NATO.
- Historically, the Swiss had been famed warriors with expansionist ambitions until the 1500s when they lost the Battle of Marignano to the French.
- The years that followed saw the Swiss shift its foreign policy to that of being an armed impartial state during wartime, a stance which was sorely tested in the decades that followed.
The World Wars and Switzerland
- Switzerland shares borders with Germany, France and Italy.
- During WW II, Switzerland found itself surrounded by Axis forces, with Hitler describing the land-locked territory as “a pimple on the face of Europe”.
- It used a combination of military deterrence, strategic planning and economic neutrality to hold its own in 1940s Europe.
- Besides this, the Swiss pursued a policy of armed neutrality, putting into place compulsory military service (which continues till date) to maintain military readiness in event of an invasion.
Recent deviations
- Switzerland joined the United Nations as recently as 2002, putting an end to years to debate after 54 per cent of its population voting in favour of the move.
- The Swiss federal government had said that it had weighed its neutrality and peace policy considerations into account to reach its decision.
- The Swiss government has initially adopted a traditional and very narrow interpretation of neutrality, which translated to a decision to not issue any sanctions.
- However, the Swiss parliament and citizens strongly pushed back, arguing that Russia’s massive military aggression cannot be tolerated.
- This prompted the government to reconsider its position.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Definition of War Crimes
Mains level: War crimes and genocides
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague announced that it would open an investigation into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
What are War Crime?
- War crimes are defined as serious violations of humanitarian laws during a conflict.
- There are specific international standards for war crimes, which are not to be confused with crimes against humanity.
- The definition is established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- It is derived from the 1949 Geneva Conventions and is based on the idea that individuals can be held liable for the actions of a state or its military.
- There is a long list of acts that can be considered war crimes.
- The taking of hostages, willful killings, torture or inhuman treatment of prisoners of war, and forcing children to fight are some of the more obvious examples.
How to identify war crimes?
To decide whether an individual or a military has committed a war crime, international humanitarian law lays down three principles:
- Distinction: This principle says that you have to be constantly trying to distinguish between civilian and belligerent populations and objects.
- Proportionality: It prohibits armies from responding to an attack with excessive violence. If a soldier is killed, for example, you cannot bomb an entire city in retaliation.
- Precaution: It requires parties to a conflict to avoid or minimize the harm done to the civilian population. For example, attacking a barrack where there are people who have said they no longer participate in the conflict can be a war crime.
Do war crimes constitute to genocides?
- The UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect separates war crimes from genocide and crimes against humanity.
- War crimes are defined as occurring in a domestic conflict or a war between two states.
- However, genocide and crimes against humanity can happen in peacetime or during the unilateral aggression of a military towards a group of unarmed people.
Discrepancy in defining war crimes
- In practice, there is a lot of gray area within that list.
- The laws of war do not always protect civilians from death. Not every civilian death is necessarily illegal.
- Raids on a cities or villages, bombing residential buildings or schools, and even the killing of groups of civilians do not necessarily amount to war crimes — not if their military necessity is justified.
- The same act can become a war crime if it results in unnecessary destruction, suffering and casualties that exceed the military gain from the attack.
- Also civilian and military populations have become increasingly hard to distinguish
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AIIB
Mains level: Not Much
The Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) said it was putting on hold and reviewing all projects in Russia and Belarus.
About AIIB
- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia, began operations in January 2016.
- It aims to stimulate growth and improve access to basic services by furthering interconnectivity and economic development in the region through advancements in infrastructure.
- AIIB has now grown to 102 approved members worldwide. US & Japan are not its members.
- It is a brainchild of China. It has invested in 13 member regions.
Capital and shareholding of AIIB
- It has authorized capital of US 100 billion dollars and subscribed capital of USD 50 billion.
- It offers sovereign and non-sovereign finance for projects in various sectors with an interest rate of London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus 1.15 % and a repayment period of 25 years with 5 years in grace period.
- China is the largest shareholder in AIIB with a 26.06% voting power, followed by India with 7.62% and Russia with 5.92% voting power.
Try this question from CSP 2019
Q.With reference to Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), consider the following statements
- AIIB has more than 80 member nations.
- India is the largest shareholder in AIIB.
- AIIB does not have any members from outside Asia.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Theyyam ritual dance
Mains level: NA
Ritual dance Agni Kandakarnan Theyyam performing at the Kaliyattam festival has begun in Kannur, Kerala.
What is Theyyam?
- Theyyam is a popular thousand-year-old ritual form of dance worship in Kerala and Karnataka, India.
- The people of these districts consider Theyyam itself as a channel to a god and they thus seek blessings from Theyyam.
- There are about 456 types of Theyyam.
- Theyyam is performed by males, except the Devakoothu theyyam; the Devakoothu is the only Theyyam ritual performed by women.
- It is performed only in the Thekkumbad Kulom temple.
Major types of performances
- Vishnumoorthi: It is the most popular Vaishnava Theyyam. This theyyam narrates and performs the story of Hiranyakashipu’s death by the Lord Vishnu in his avatar of Narasimham.
- Sree Muthappan Theyyam: It consists of two divine figures is considered as the personification of two divine figures— the Thiruvappana or Valiya Muttapan (Vishnu) and the Vellatom or Cheriya Muttapan (Shiva).
- Padikutti Amma: It is believed to be the mother of Muthapan. The Padikutti Amma Theyyam is performed in the Palaprath Temple in Kodallur near Parassini Kadavu in the Meenam (a Malayalam month)
Thee
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 39A
Mains level: Paper 2- Debate on death penalty
Context
Last week, a little over 13 years after the blasts in 2008 (in July) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, the designated court to conduct a speedy trial decided the fate of 78 of the accused people. Within a week, the court sentenced 38 of 49 people to death.
The debate on the death sentence
- The death sentence grants the state the monopoly of violence.
- This monopoly is justified by claiming that such a step prevents crime or that it is a measure of long-due justice.
- Use in ‘rarest of rare’ case: Fundamentally, ‘rarest of rare’ is a standard that allows a court of law to use public sentiment as a judicially reliable standard in handing out the death sentence.
- Proportionality test: India’s carceral criminal jurisprudence requires a court to calculate proportionality between crime and punishment.
- But a death sentence is a sentence that goes beyond the confines of these calculations to deprive a person of their life — committing an act whose central value itself is immeasurable.
- The impossibility of reform, the heinous nature of the crime, the shock to the public conscience, none of these things sufficiently justify the right of a fallible institution to take someone’s life.
Mitigating arguments
- After the verdict is delivered in any criminal trial, lawyers make what are called ‘mitigating arguments’ — essentially to contextualise the convict as an individual and not as the accused.
- Unlike other trial stages where a court adjudicates between competing legal identities of an accused, the complainant, etc., in mitigation, the court hears evidence of a person’s humanity.
- Hearing mitigating circumstances requires — however temporarily — for the trappings of distance and formality to be stripped away so that a court may see a person instead of a convict.
The issue in the above case
- In this case, first, the court orally convicted ‘en masse’ several of the accused instead of declaring the charges proved against them separately.
- The prosecution argued that the defendants should argue for mitigation before it would even disclose which convicts it intended to seek the death sentence.
- The role attributed to each of the accused was different.
- By equating them for mitigation purposes (individual circumstances were unaccounted for and context and circumstances were considered to be the same) and handing down a mass death sentence, the court has only opened the door for greater misuse of a questionable power to end a life without any oversight.
Conclusion
A permanent sentence requires us to assume that our institutions are infallible and user-proof. To cast this as a simple ‘penalty’ ignores what it truly does — and did in this case; it negates the individual for the final time.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Action Plan for AMR
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with the challenge of anti-microbial resistance
Context
Ever since the pandemic struck, concerns have been raised about the improper use of antimicrobials amongst Covid-19 patients.
Concern over anti-microbial resistance
- The “Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 204 countries and territories in 2019 (GRAM)” report, released last month, 4.95 million people died from drug-resistant bacterial infections in 2019, with 3,89,000 deaths in South Asia alone.
- AMR directly caused at least 1.27 million of those deaths.
- Lower respiratory infections accounted for more than 1.5 million deaths associated with resistance in 2019, making it the most burdensome infectious syndrome.
- Amongst pathogens, E coli was responsible for the most deaths in 2019, followed by K pneumoniae, S aureus, A baumannii, S pneumoniae, and M tuberculosis.
Concern for India
- As per the yearly trends reported by the Indian Council of Medical Research since 2015, India reports a high level of resistance in all these pathogens, especially E coli and K pneumoniae.
- Only a fraction of the Indian data, available through the WHO-GLASS portal, has been included in the GRAM report.
- India has been reporting high levels of resistance to fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins and carbapenems across the Gram-negative pathogens that cause almost 70 per cent of infections in communities and hospitals.
- Therefore, the Indian data on the AMR burden may not look very different from the estimates published in the report.
- Now that we know that AMR’s burden surpasses that of TB and HIV, a sense of urgency in containing such resistance is called for.
- With no new drugs in the pipeline for drug-resistant infections, time is running out for patients.
Addressing AMR through a multipronged and multisectoral approach
- Use existing antimicrobials judiciously: The urgency to develop new drugs should not discourage us from instituting measures to use the existing antimicrobials judiciously.
- Improved infection control in communities and hospitals, availability and utilisation of quality diagnostics and laboratories and educating people about antimicrobials have proved effective in reducing antimicrobial pressure — a precursor to resistance.
- The National Action Plan for AMR, approved in 2017, completes its official duration this year. The progress under the plan has been far from satisfactory.
- There is enough evidence that interventions like infection control, improved diagnosis and antimicrobial stewardship are effective in the containment of AMR.
Conclusion
The GRAM report has underlined that postponing action could prove costly.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pandemic Treaty
Mains level: Pandemic management at global level
Members of the World Health Organisation (WHO) held the first round of negotiations towards the pandemic treaty on February 24, 2022.
What is the Pandemic Treaty?
- In December 2021, the World Health Assembly agreed to start a global process to draft the pandemic treaty.
- The need for an updated set of rules was felt after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the shortcomings of global health systems.
- The Health Assembly adopted a decision titled “The World Together” at its second special session since it was founded in 1948.
- Under the decision, the health organization established an intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) to draft and negotiate the contents of the pandemic treaty in compliance with Article 19 of the WHO Constitution.
What is it likely to entail?
- The pandemic treaty is expected to cover aspects like data sharing and genome sequencing of emerging viruses and equitable distribution of vaccines and drugs and related research.
- Solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic have seen an inequitable distribution of vaccines so far, with poorer countries at the mercy of others to receive preventive medication.
Why need such treaty?
- Most countries have followed the “me-first” approach which is not an effective way to deal with a global pandemic.
- A widely-accepted theory points that the novel coronavirus may have jumped from animals to humans in a wildlife market of China.
- Many nations want a ban on wildlife markets.
Issues in negotiations
- While the EU wants the treaty to be legally binding, the U.S., Brazil and India have expressed reservations about the same.
- The legal nature of the treaty is yet to be defined.
What is Article 19 of the WHO Constitution?
- Article 19 of the WHO Constitution gives the World Health Assembly the authority to adopt conventions or agreements on matters of health.
- A two-third majority is needed to adopt such conventions or agreements.
- The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was set up under Article 19 and it came into force in 2005.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: New Rules for Deputation of DIGs
Mains level: Appointment of civil servants
After its proposal to amend the All India Service Rules that would allow it to call any IAS, IPS or IFoS officer on central deputation with or without the state’s consent, the Centre has issued another order on central deputation of Deputy Inspector General-level IPS officers.
What is the order?
- The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has said that IPS officers coming to the Centre at DIG level would no longer be required to be empanelled at that level with the Union Government.
- According to existing rules, a DIG-ranked IPS officer with a minimum experience of 14 years could only be deputed to the Centre if the Police Establishment Board empanelled them as DIGs at the Centre.
- The board chooses the panel on the basis of officers’ career and vigilance records.
- Only Superintendent of Police-level officers do not require empanelment at the Centre.
- The new order makes the entire pool of DIG-level officers in a state eligible for central deputation.
Why has it been issued?
Ans. Huge Vacancies
- The move is aimed at increasing the pool of DIG-level IPS officers for central deputation in the backdrop of massive vacancies in central police organisations (CPOs) and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).
- Out of 252 posts reserved for IPS officers at DIG level at the Centre, 118 (almost half) are vacant.
- IPS officers have a quota of 40% in CPOs and CAPFs.
How will the move help?
- The idea is to ease up the process of central deputation as verification of records takes a long time.
- Also, it increases the size of the pool of officers available to the Centre.
So why would states have a problem?
Ans. Relieving the Officers
- States would have to be willing to relieve these officers.
- The new order may be seen by many states as the Centre’s attempt at pushing the envelope further on increasing its powers over officers serving in the states.
- With these orders, the Centre would have powers to demand, within a stipulated time frame, a certain quota of officers from the state for central deputation.
- It may also call any IAS officer on central deputation in “public interest”.
- In case the state failed to relieve the officer, he/she would be deemed relieved following the date fixed.
Why don’t states relieve officers?
Ans. Vacancy in states
- There is a serious paucity of officers in the states too.
- In a cost-cutting move during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, the size of IPS batches among other government staff was reduced even though sizeable vacancies existed even then.
- From 80-90 officers each, IPS batches were cut to 35-40 officers (in 1999-2002, the average was 36).
- The average attrition rate of IPS officers due to superannuation is 85 per year.
- The strength of IAS officers too had been impacted due to low intake during the 1990s.
How has this impacted the services?
- The anomaly in IPS recruitment adversely affected cadre management over the years.
- At some levels, there are fewer officers than sanctioned posts, while at others there is a glut. For example, UP has a shortage of DIGs and IGs, but too many officers at the level of ADGs.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Suez Canal
Mains level: NA
Cash-strapped Egypt increased transit fees for ships passing through the Suez Canal, one of the world’s most crucial waterways, with hikes of up to 10%.
Suez Canal
- The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez; and dividing Africa and Asia.
- Constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, it officially opened on 17 November 1869.
- The canal was earlier controlled by British and French interests in its initial years but was nationalized in 1956 by Egypt’s then leader Gamal Abdel Nasser.
- It extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez.
- Its length is 193.30 km including its northern and southern access channels.
Its significance
- The Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo being shipping from East to West.
- About 10% of global trade, including 7% of the world’s oil, flows through the Suez Canal.
- It provides a major shortcut for ships moving between Europe and Asia, who before its construction had to sail around Africa to complete the same journey.
- As per a report, the canal is a major source of income for Egypt’s economy, with the African country earning $5.61 billion in revenues from it last year.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Between India and East Asia, the navigation time and distance can be greatly reduced by which of the following?
- Deepening the Malacca straits between Malaysia and Indonesia.
- Opening a new canal across the Kra isthmus between the Gulf of Siam and Andaman sea.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Perini Dance
Mains level: NA
A Perini dance performance by artistes in Hyderabad has left the audience awestruck.
Perini Dance
- Perini Sivathandavam is an ancient dance form, from Telangana, which has been revived in recent times.
- It originated and prospered in Telangana, during the Kakatiya dynasty.
- It is performed in honour of Lord Siva, the hindu god of destruction and it is believed that in ancient times this was performed before the soldiers set to war.
- One can find evidence of this dance in the sculptures near Garbha Gudi (Sanctum Sanctorum) of the Ramappa Temple at Warangal.
Performance details
- The Perini siva Thandavam is a dance form usually performed by males.
- It is called ‘Dance of Warriors’. Warriors before leaving to the battlefield enact this dance before the idol of Lord Śiva (Siva).
- The dance form, Perini, reached its pinnacle during the rule of the ‘Kakatiyas’ who established their dynasty at Warangal and ruled for almost two centuries.
- It is believed that this dance form invokes ‘Prerana’ (inspiration) and is dedicated to supreme dancer, Lord Siva.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Which one of the following was a very important seaport in the Kakatiya kingdom? (CSP 2017)
(a) Kakinada
(b) Motupalli
(c) Machilipatnam (Masulipatnam)
(d) Nelluru
Post your answers here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cluster Bombs and Thermobaric Weapons
Mains level: Not Much
Human rights group Amnesty International has accused Russia of using cluster bombs and vacuum bombs in the ongoing war.
What are Cluster Munitions?
- According to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, a cluster munition means a “conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive submunitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosive submunitions”.
- Essentially, cluster munitions are non-precision weapons that are designed to injure or kill human beings indiscriminately over a large area.
- They are often designed to destroy vehicles and infrastructure such as runways, railway or power transmission lines.
- They can be dropped from an aircraft or launched in a projectile that spins in flight, scattering many bomblets as it travels.
- Many of these bomblets end up not exploding, but continue to lie on the ground, often partially or fully hidden and difficult to locate and remove, posing a threat to the civilian population.
- The Convention on Cluster Munitions specifically identifies “cluster munition remnants”, which include “failed cluster munitions, abandoned cluster munitions, unexploded submunitions and unexploded bomblets”.
And what is a Thermobaric Weapon?
- Thermobaric weapons — also known as aerosol bombs, fuel air explosives, or vaccum bombs — use oxygen from the air for a large, high-temperature blast.
- A thermobaric weapon causes significantly greater devastation than a conventional bomb of comparable size.
- The weapons, which go off in two separate stages, can be fired as rockets from tank-mounted launchers or dropped from aircraft.
- As they hit their target, a first explosion splits open the bomb’s fuel container, releasing a cloud of fuel and metal particles that spreads over a large area.
- A second explosion then occurs, igniting the aerosol cloud into a giant ball of fire and sending out intense blast waves that can destroy even reinforced buildings or equipment and vaporise human beings.
Is it legal to use these weapons?
- Countries that have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions are prohibited from using cluster bombs.
- As of date, there are 110 state parties to the convention, and 13 other countries have signed up but are yet to ratify it.
- Neither Russia nor Ukraine are signatories.
- These bombs are not prohibited by any international law or agreement, but their use against civilian populations in built-up areas, schools or hospitals, could attract action under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.
- International humanitarian law prohibits the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions.
- Launching indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians constitutes a war crime.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Viswabharati University
Mains level: NA
The stalemate continues in Visva-Bharati University as students demand the reopening of hostels and conducting of online examinations.
Visva-Bharati
- Visva-Bharati is a central research university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India.
- It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
- Until independence, it was a college.
- Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.
Its establishment
- The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, zamindar of Kirnahar.
- He set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town.
- The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya.
- It was established with a view to encouraging people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate.
- In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.
- From 1901 onwards, Tagore used the ashram to organize the Hindu Mela, which soon became a center of nationalist activity.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2021:
Q. With reference to Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh, which one of the following statements is correct?
(a) Pingali Venkayya designed the tricolour Indian National Flag here.
(b) Pattabhi Sitaramaiah led the Quit India Movement of Andhra region from here.
(c) Rabindranath Tagore translated the National Anthem from Bengali to English here.
(d) Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott set up headquarters of Theosophical Society fi rst here.
Post your answers here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SWIFT
Mains level: Paper 2- Sanctions and their implications
Context
A shift is taking place in the business of global dominance and hegemony, from the model of expressing force through troop presence to financial sanctions. It is led by the US and has become recently visible in the US and EU sanctions on Russia.
How sanctions works
- Sanctions are designed by the government and implemented by both profit-making and non-profit private enterprises, domestic and international NGOs (including the United Nations).
- From rule-bound globalism, there is a move to an understanding of the management of individual economies, bound together by multiple networks of investment and trade.
- This is a global economy of individual rivalries between countries and corporations, continually shifting alliances, and contingencies overtaking assumed structural certainties.
- A system of licencing: In Afghanistan, financial manipulations from afar in the form of sanctions may result in subjecting trading activities and investment ventures to the approval of the US Treasury through a system of licencing.
- This may give the US a say in who trades with whom, but already China has found ways of working with or around US sanctions in several countries, including Iran.
- Confiscation of foreign exchange reserves: Another way of exerting control from afar is through the confiscation of foreign exchange reserves in American banks.
- Following the withdrawal of the American troops on August 15, the US froze Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserves of $7 billion deposited in the New York Federal Bank.
Issues with sanctions
- An economic lever to China: Sanctions offer economic lever to China in its dealings with the Taliban, to the Chinese state-owned enterprises and private corporations with an opportunity to invest in Afghanistan’s infrastructure, linking it to the Belt and Road project, and in its rich mineral resources of copper, cobalt, and lithium.
- Implications for India: China could also use this as an opportunity to unite investments in Afghanistan and Pakistan, isolating India.
- Evading the sanction: China and Russia, in concert, may provide a way out of the sanctions regime.
- Possibility for China in Middle Eurasia: Russian military and political escalation to re-institute control over former Soviet regions, including Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, and the rapprochement between China and Russia against the West, may open up new possibilities for China in Middle Eurasia.
- Banning Russia from SWIFT is not effective: Banning Russia from the SWIFT system of international payments is a problem for the global financial system.
- The Russian economy is more isolated, protected and less reliant on international funding than was the Afghan economy.
- The impact of any disruption in Russian exports of oil, gas, palladium, wheat and fertiliser at a time when those prices are barely recovering from inflationary pressures caused by Covid-19 disruptions, is likely to offset any leverage the Western sanctions may hope to gain.
Conclusion
In the new game, the Western alliance led by the US seems lost in a maze of sanctions, largely ineffective in a global economy, the control of which is eluding its grip.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Intended Nationally Determined Contribution
Mains level: Paper 3- SilverLine project
Context
The SilverLine Project to be built by the government of Kerala will link Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasargode in the north.The project has received its share of criticism, much of it from political quarters, but also some academic sections.
Need for high-speed rail in Kerala
- Saturated road network: For Kerala, with its saturated road network, the building of a fast, environmentally-sustainable high-speed rail link must surely be seen as a sound governance response.
- Indeed, a study of INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contribution) plans under the Paris Climate Agreement is instructive in this context.
- Low-cost emission option: The EU study on mobility notes that HSR is the least-cost emission option among all modes of long-distance transportation.
The arguments against the project
- Critics have put forward three principal lines of argument, namely, its alleged adverse environmental impact, financial unviability, and technical unsuitability.
- Environmental impact: The most compelling environmental issue before us is climate change.
- Building capacities now to achieve a carbon net-neutral world over the next three to four decades is a core aspect of the national strategy of all nations.
- In this context, the SilverLine project scores high with respect to India’s own climate objective of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070.
- Let us recall the driving forces behind Japan’s decision to develop the Shinkansen.
- In the context of the global oil crisis, energy-insecure Japan wanted to develop a public transportation system that was energy-efficient and would also address national concerns with respect to imbalanced regional growth.
- After the Kyoto Protocol was signed, more efforts were made to increase the speed of the various series of Shinkansen to meet the objectives of energy efficiency and CO2 reductions.
- Financial viability: Large-scale infrastructure projects are not based on short-term financial viability considerations alone.
- When the London Underground was conceived, it was not considered financially viable.
- Today, London’s economic activities are inconceivable without it.
- Green technologies that we consider cheaper than fossil fuel technologies were not initially financially viable, and were unable to survive without government subsidies.
Conclusion
There are abundant international examples of the role played by large capital-intensive infrastructure projects in the transformation of the town and country, regions, and nations.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: S-400 Triumf system
Mains level: Complications over India-Russia defence deals
With tensions escalating between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis, India, which has major defence cooperation with Moscow and Kyiv, faces uncertainty over timely deliveries of the S-400.
About S-400
- The S-400 is known as Russia’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system, capable of destroying hostile strategic bombers, jets, missiles and drones at a range of 380-km.
US reservations against S-400 purchase
- The US has made it clear that the delivery of the five S-400 systems is considered a “significant transaction”.
- Such deals are considered under its Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) of 2017.
- It could trigger sanctions against Indian officials and the Government.
About CAATSA
- The CAATSA is designed to ensure that no country is able to increase military engagement with Iran, North Korea and Russia without facing deterrent punitive action from the US.
- The sanctions are unilateral, and not part of any United Nations decision, and therefore no country is bound to accept them.
- Section 231 says the President shall impose no fewer than five different sanctions on any Government that enters into a significant defence or intelligence deal with Russia.
- Section 235 lists 12 options, including stopping credit lines from US and international banks such as the IMF, blocking sales of licensed goods and technology, banning banks, manufacturers and suppliers, property transactions and even financial and visa sanctions on specific officials.
- However, the law also empowers the President to waiver sanctions or delay them if the waiver is in the US’s “vital national security interests”.
Has the US used CAATSA before for S-400 sales?
- The US has already placed sanctions on China and Turkey for purchase of the S-400.
- The sanctions included denial of export licences, ban on foreign exchange transactions, blocking of all property and interests in property within the US jurisdiction and a visa ban.
Types of sanctions laid
- In 2020, the US sanctioned its NATO partner Turkey, which it had warned about CAATSA sanctions for years, besides cancelling a deal to sell Ankara F-35 jets.
- The sanctions on Turkey’s main defence procurement agency, also included a ban on licences and loans, and blocking of credit and visas to related officials.
Likely impacts after India’s purchase
- The Biden administration has no firm indication on where it leans on India’s case.
- However, several senators (US parliamentarians) have called upon the Biden administration to consider a special waiver for India.
- This is on account of India’s importance as a defence partner, and as a strategic partner on US concerns over China and in the Quad.
- Other US leaders thinks that giving a waiver to India would be the wrong signal for others seeking to go ahead with similar deals.
India’s dependence on Russia
- While Russia has been a traditional military supplier sharing platforms and technologies that others would not, the cooperation has further deepened in recent years.
- The defence trade between the two countries has crossed $15 billion since 2018.
- Even today, over 60% of Indian military inventory is of Russian origin, especially with respect to fighter jets, tanks, helicopters and submarines among others, while several deals are in the pipeline.
Why is the S-400 deal so important to India?
- Security paradigm: S-400 is very important for India’s national security considerations due to the threats from China, Pakistan and now Afghanistan.
- Air defence capability: The system will also offset the air defence capability gaps due to the IAF’s dwindling fighter squadron strength.
- Russian legacy: Integrating the S-400 will be much easier as India has a large number of legacy Russian air defence systems.
- Strategic autonomy: For both political as well as operational reasons, the deal is at a point of no return.
Conclusion
- The deal is a way for the Government to assert its strategic autonomy.
- India had earlier agreed to stop buying Iranian oil over the threat of sanctions in 2019, a move that caused India both financial and reputational damage.
- Not giving in to the US’s unilateral sanctions would be one way to restore some of that.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST, Major sources of revenue
Mains level: Success of the GST regime
The Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in February was 26% higher than the pre-pandemic levels at ₹1,33,026 crore.
What is GST?
- GST is an indirect tax that has replaced many indirect taxes in India such as excise duty, VAT, services tax, etc.
- The Goods and Service Tax Act was passed in Parliament on 29th March 2017 and came into effect on 1st July 2017. It is a single domestic indirect tax law for the entire country.
- It is a comprehensive, multi-stage, destination-based tax that is levied on every value addition.
- Under the GST regime, the tax is levied at every point of sale. In the case of intra-state sales, Central GST and State GST are charged. All the inter-state sales are chargeable to the Integrated GST.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.All revenues received by the Union. Government by way of taxes and other receipts for the conduct of Government business are credited to the (CSP 2015):
(a) Contingency Fund of India
(b) Public Account
(c) Consolidated Fund of India
(d) Deposits and Advances Fund
Post your answers here.
What are the components of GST?
There are three taxes applicable under this system:
- CGST: It is the tax collected by the Central Government on an intra-state sale (e.g., a transaction happening within Maharashtra)
- SGST: It is the tax collected by the state government on an intra-state sale (e.g., a transaction happening within Maharashtra)
- IGST: It is a tax collected by the Central Government for an inter-state sale (e.g., Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu)
Advantages Of GST
- GST has mainly removed the cascading effect on the sale of goods and services.
- Removal of the cascading effect has impacted the cost of goods.
- Since the GST regime eliminates the tax on tax, the cost of goods decreases.
- Also, GST is mainly technologically driven.
- All the activities like registration, return filing, application for refund and response to notice needs to be done online on the GST portal, which accelerates the processes.
Issues with GST
- High operational cost
- GST has given rise to complexity for many business owners across the nation.
- GST has received criticism for being called a ‘Disability Tax’ as it now taxes articles such as braille paper, wheelchairs, hearing aid etc.
- Petrol is not under GST, which goes against the ideals of the unification of commodities.
Take a look at the share of GST in government earnings for the previous fiscal:
UPSC can ask about the majority component of the Revenue Receipts of the govt. See how Corporate tax is nearing the GST revenues.
Do you think it will surpass GST revenue when the economy is fully recovered?
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