Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India-U.S. relations and implications of the Presidential elections in the U.S.
The voting trend in the U.S. presidential election indicates significant support for the policies pursued by President Trump. This could impact the policies the next administration pursues.
Why U.S. election matters for the world
- The world still has need for American leadership.
- It remains the world’s largest net provider of global public goods.
- It is the lynchpin of the global multilateral system.
- If Joe Biden wins, it is possible that America will re-engage with dignity and restore mutual respect in its relations with allies and partners, beginning with the trans-Atlantic alliance.
- However, the Trump Americans, who are the new political base, will still shape American policy irrespective of who the president is.
‘America first’ is here to stay
- The American people believe that their education, employment and retirement have been impacted by the immigration, outsourcing and liberal trade policies of past administrations.
- Trump America does not want more migrants, it will not support the outsourcing of jobs at the cost of their own.
- It wants a fair deal on trade that does not allow cheaper imports to put small American businesses out of business.
- Even a Biden administration cannot return America back to the days of open borders and free trade.
- It might relax some categories of work-visas, but it cannot return to the time when outsourcing was the preferred option for American companies.
- It might re-engage with the World Trade Organisation but it cannot tear down the trade barriers that Trump has erected in the name of Make in America.
Foreign policy of next administration
- The Trump Americans do not wish to spend any more taxpayer dollars on foreign wars and they want their boys and girls to come home.
- They think America’s allies are not carrying their weight and are unfairly living off American contributions.
- They want their allies and partners to take greater responsibility for peace and security.
- Biden’s supporters hope that he can reverse the abdication of American global leadership and renew alliances, but as president he may find it difficult to go against the Trump Americans on issues like China, Iran and climate change, without endangering the Democratic Party’s long-term interests.
- And if Trump is re-elected as the president, it will only be because of his core voter base and it will strengthen his resolve.
Implications for the world
- Whether or not America withdraws from the world, American leadership, as we know it, might be over.
- America will become more transactional and less generous.
- Common values like democracy or multipolarity may be of lesser importance in America’s scheme of things.
- Whether it is Trump or Biden, the Sino-US relationship will remain complicated and rivalrous.
- Whether it is Trump or Biden, the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran cannot be restored.
- Whether it is Trump or Biden, American troops will soon be gone from Afghanistan.
- There will be less willingness to consider emerging economies as deserving beneficiaries of concessional arrangements.
- A Biden presidency might also mean a more critical look at the record of not just authoritarian states but also democracies on issues like labour, environment and non-proliferation.
Implications for India
- President Trump has been good for India in terms of foreign policy, less so in terms of economic policy.
- But Delhi should equally be prepared for the Trump administration to ratchet up pressure on trade and to tighten rules on immigration.
- With Biden, India and the US might return to a more balanced re-engagement on trade and immigration, but should be prepared for a more accommodative policy on both Pakistan and China than Trump’s.
Conclusion
Whoever is the next occupant of the White House, the way Americans voted on November 3 will shape American policy and politics for years to come.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Productivity of economy
Mains level: Paper 3- Reforms, productivity and technology to fix the problems of economy
The article discusses the three fundamentals which need an examination to fix the issues faced by the economy.
Re-examining the fundamentals
- India has an incomes crisis: incomes of people in the lower half of the pyramid are too low.
- The solutions economists propose are: free up markets, improve productivity, and apply technology.
- These fundamentals of economics must be re-examined when applied to human work.
Three solutions and issues with them
1) Freeing up the markets
- It is suggested that markets should be freed up for agricultural products so that farmers can get higher prices; and freed up for labour to attract investments.
- Without adequate incomes, people cannot be a good market for businesses.
- In fact, it is the inadequate growth of incomes that has caused a slump in investments.
- Ironically, the purpose of freeing up markets for labour is to reduce the burden of wage costs on investors just when wages and the size of markets must be increased.
2) Increasing productivity
- Productivity is a ratio of an input in the denominator and an output in the numerator.
- The larger the output that is produced with a unit of input, the higher the productivity of the system.
- Improvement of ‘productivity’ is key to economic progress.
- Economists generally use labour productivity as a universal measure of the productivity of an economy.
- Humans are the only ‘appreciating assets’ an enterprise has. They can improve their own abilities.
- The values of machines and buildings depreciate over time, as any accountant knows.
- Whereas human beings develop when they are treated with respect, and are provided with environments to learn.
- For capital-scarce and human resource-abundant countries, such as many developing countries, the correct ratio of productivity is output per unit of capital.
- This must be the driver of business as well as national strategies.
- This was the strategy of ‘Japan Inc.’ to make Japan an industrial powerhouse.
- This was E.F. Schumacher’s insight also.
3) Use of technology
- Schumacher, best known for his seminal idea ‘small is beautiful’ understood where capitalism powered with technology would be heading.
- In his essay he wrote: “If we define the level of technology in terms of ‘equipment cost per work-place’, we can call the indigenous technology of a typical developing country (symbolically speaking) a £1-technology, while that of the modern West could be called a £1,000-technology.
- The current attempt of the ‘developing ‘countries, supported by foreign aid, to infiltrate the £1,000-technology into their economies inevitably kills off the £1-technolgy at an alarming rate.
- This results in destroying traditional workplaces at a much faster rate than modern workplaces can be created and producing the ‘dual economy’ with its attendant evils of mass unemployment and mass migration.
- Schumacher had warned there was a malaise brewing beneath the drive to ‘Westernise’ and ‘technologise’ economies.
Way forward: Social contract between society and workers
- Workers provide the economy with the products and services it needs.
- In return, society and the economy must create conditions whereby workers are treated with dignity and can earn adequate incomes.
- Good jobs require good contracts between workers and their employers.
- Therefore, the government should create a good society for all citizens, must regulate contracts between those who engage people to do work for their enterprises, even in the gig economy.
- Goverment should push innovation in socially more beneficial directions to augment rather than replace less skilled workers.
Conclusion
The power balance must shift. Small enterprises and workers must combine into larger associations, in new forms, using technology, to tilt reforms towards their needs and their rights.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST provisions
Mains level: Paper 2- Declining financial heath of the States
The financial health of the States has been declining in the last several years. The article explains the reasons and its implications for the States.
Role of States in development
- State governments drive a majority of the country’s development programmes.
- Greater numbers of people depend on these programmes for their livelihood, development, welfare and security.
- States need resources to deliver these responsibilities and aspirations.
Factors responsible for declining discal capacity of the States
1) Declining devolution to State
- Finance Commissions recommend the share of States in the taxes raised by the Union government and recommendations are normally adhered to.
- The year 2014-15 commenced with a shock: actual devolution was 14% less than the Finance Commission’s projection.
- Between 2014-15 and 2019-20, the States got ₹7,97,549 crore less than what was projected by the Finance Commission.
2) Cess and surcharge
- Various cesses and surcharges levied by the Union government are retained fully by it, they do not go into the divisible pool.
- This allows the Centre to raise revenues, yet not share them with the States.
- Hence, the Union government imposes or increases cesses and surcharges instead of taxes wherever possible and, in some cases, even replaces taxes with cesses and surcharges.
- As a result, the States lose out on their share.
- Between 2014-15 and 2019-20, cesses and surcharges soared from 9.3% to 15% of the gross tax revenue of the Union government.
- This systematic rise ensures that the revenue that is fully retained by the Union government increases at the cost of the revenue that is shared with the States.
- This government has exploited this route to reduce the size of the divisible pool.
3) GST shortfall
- Shortfalls have been persistent and growing from the inception of GST.
- Compensations have been paid from the GST cess revenue.
- GST cesses are levied on luxury or sin goods on top of the GST.
- GST compensation will end with 2021-22. But cesses will continue.
- With the abnormal exception of this year, the years ahead will generate similar or more cess revenue.
- Hence, many States have been insisting outside and inside the GST Council that the Union government should borrow this year’s GST shortfall in full and release it to the States.
- The Union government will not have to pay a rupee of this debt or interest.
- The entire loan can be repaid out of the assured cess revenue that will continue to accrue beyond 2022.
- Of the nearly ₹3 lakh crore GST shortfall to the States, the Centre will only compensate ₹1.8 lakh crore.
- The States will not get the remaining ₹1.2 lakh crore this year.
- In fact, it flies against the need of the hour to revive the economy.
- Governments ought to spend money this year to stimulate demand.
4) Declining grants from the Centre
- Central grants are also likely to drop significantly this year.
- For instance,₹31,570 crore was allocated as annual grants to Karnataka.
- Actual grants may be down to ₹17,372 crore.
Implications for the States
- To overcome such extreme blows to their finances and discharge their welfare and development responsibilities, the States are now forced to resort to colossal borrowings.
- Repayment burden will overwhelm State budgets for several years.
- The fall in funds for development and welfare programmes will adversely impact the livelihoods of crores of Indians.
- The economic growth potential cannot be fully realised.
- Adverse consequences will be felt in per capita income, human resource development and poverty.
- This is a negative sum game.
5) Loss of financial autonomy due to GST
Consider the question “What are the reasons for the declining financial health of the States in India? What are the implications for the States? Suggest the ways to deal with the issue.”
Conclusion
States are at the forefront of development and generation of opportunities and growth. Strong States lead to a stronger India. The systematic weakening of States serves neither federalism nor national interest.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CBI
Mains level: Read the attached story
Kerala has decided to withdraw the general consent accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to operate in the state voluntarily.
Try answering this:
Q. Why the CBI is called as “a caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”? Critically comment.
General Consent
- Unlike the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is governed by its own NIA Act and has jurisdiction across the country, the CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
- This makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting an investigation in that state.
- There are two kinds of consent: case-specific and general.
- Given that the CBI has jurisdiction only over central government departments and employees, it can investigate a case involving state government employees or a violent crime in a given state only after that state government gives its consent.
When is Consent needed?
- General consent is normally given to help the CBI seamlessly conduct its investigation into cases of corruption against central government employees in the concerned state. Almost all states have given such consent.
- Otherwise, the CBI would require consent in every case.
- For example, if it wanted to investigate a bribery charge against a Western Railway clerk in Mumbai, it would have to apply for consent with the Maharashtra government before registering a case against him.
What does withdrawal mean?
- It means the CBI will not be able to register any fresh case involving a central government official or a private person stationed in these two states without getting case-specific consent.
- Withdrawal of consent simply means that CBI officers will lose all powers of a police officer as soon as they enter the state unless the state government has allowed them.
Under what provision has general consent been withdrawn?
- Section 6 of the Act says nothing contained in Section 5 shall be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in any area in a State, not being a Union Territory or Railway, area, without the consent of the Government of that State.
- In exercise of the power conferred by Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the government can withdraw the general consent to exercise the powers and jurisdiction.
Does that mean that the CBI can no longer probe any case in the two states?
- The CBI would still have the power to investigate old cases registered when general consent existed.
- Also, cases registered anywhere else in the country, but involving people stationed in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal would allow CBI’s jurisdiction to extend to these states.
- There is ambiguity on whether the agency can carry out a search in either of the two states in connection with an old case without the consent of the state government.
Why such a move by the States?
- If a state government believes that the ruling party’s ministers or members could be targeted by CBI on orders of the Centre, and that withdrawal of general consent would protect them.
- This is a debatable political assumption.
- CBI could still register cases in Delhi which would require some part of the offence being connected with Delhi and still arrest and prosecute ministers or MPs.
- The only people it will protect are small central government employees.
Legal Remedies for CBI
- The CBI can always get a search warrant from a local court in the state and conduct searches.
- In case the search requires a surprise element, there is CrPC Section 166, which allows a police officer of one jurisdiction to ask an officer of another to carry out searches on his behalf.
- And if the first officer feels that the searches by the latter may lead to loss of evidence, the section allows the first officer to conduct searches himself after giving notice to the latter.
Back2Basics: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
- Origins of CBI can be traced back to the Special Police Establishment (SPE) set up in 1941 in order to cases of bribery and corruption in War & Supply Department of India during World War II.
- The need of a Central Government agency to investigate cases of bribery and corruption was felt even after the end of World War II.
- So, DSPE (Delhi Special Police Establishment) Act, 1946 was brought that gave legal power of investigating cases to CBI.
- CBI is not a statutory body as it is not established by an Act of the Parliament.
- CBI investigates cases related to economic crimes, special crimes, cases of corruption and other high-profile cases.
- CBI comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
- CBI is exempted from Right to Information (RTI) Act similar to the National Investigating Agency (NIA), National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), etc.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Alimony
The Supreme Court has laid down uniform and comprehensive guidelines for family courts, magistrates and lower courts to follow while hearing the applications filed by women seeking maintenance from their estranged husbands’.
Debate: Alimony as a right of women or a feminist taboo
Why such a judgement?
- Usually, maintenance cases have to be settled in 60 days, but they take years, in reality, owing to legal loopholes.
- The top court said women deserted by husbands are left in dire straits, often reduced to destitution, for lack of means to sustain themselves and their children.
- Despite a plethora of maintenance laws, women were left empty-handed for years, struggling to make ends meet after a bad marriage.
What did the Court say?
- The Supreme Court has held that deserted wives and children are entitled to alimony/maintenance from the husbands from the date they apply for it in a court of law.
- To ensure that judicial orders for grant of maintenance are duly enforced by husbands, the court said a violation would lead to punishments such as civil detention and even attachment of the property of the latter.
- The plea of the husband that he does not possess any source of income ipso facto does not absolve him of his moral duty to maintain his wife, if he is able-bodied and has educational qualifications, the court declared.
- Both the applicant wife and the respondent-husband have to disclose their assets and liabilities in a maintenance case.
- Other factors such as “spiralling inflation rates and high costs of living” should be considered, but the wife should receive alimony which fit the standard of life she was used to in the matrimonial home.
Covering expenses
- The expenses of the children, including their education, basic needs and other vocational activities, should be factored in by courts while calculating the alimony.
- Education expenses of the children must be normally borne by the father. If the wife is working and earning sufficiently, the expenses may be shared proportionately between the parties.
Permanent alimony
- The court opined it would not be equitable to order a husband to pay his wife permanent alimony for the rest of her life, considering the fact that in contemporary society marriages do not last for a reasonable length of time.
- Anyway, the court said, the duration of marriage should be accounted for while determining the permanent alimony.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PMI
Mains level: Not Much
The services sector has PMI has signalled first expansion since February this year.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following brings out the ‘Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers?
(a) The Reserve Bank of India
(b) The Department of Economic Affairs
(c) The Labour Bureau
(d) The Department of Personnel and Training
Purchasing Managers’ Index
- PMI is an indicator of business activity — both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
- It is a survey-based measure that asks the respondents about changes in their perception of some key business variables from the month before.
- It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is constructed.
How is the PMI derived?
- The PMI is derived from a series of qualitative questions.
- Executives from a reasonably big sample, running into hundreds of firms, are asked whether key indicators such as output, new orders, business expectations and employment were stronger than the month before and are asked to rate them.
How does one read the PMI?
- A figure above 50 denotes expansion in business activity. Anything below 50 denotes contraction.
- Higher the difference from this mid-point greater the expansion or contraction. The rate of expansion can also be judged by comparing the PMI with that of the previous month data.
- If the figure is higher than the previous month’s then the economy is expanding at a faster rate. If it is lower than the previous month then it is growing at a lower rate.
What are its implications for the economy?
- The PMI is usually released at the start of the month, much before most of the official data on industrial output, manufacturing and GDP growth becomes available.
- It is, therefore, considered a good leading indicator of economic activity.
- Economists consider the manufacturing growth measured by the PMI as a good indicator of industrial output, for which official statistics are released later.
- Central banks of many countries also use the index to help make decisions on interest rates.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Char chapori
Mains level: Not Much
A proposed museum reflecting the “culture and heritage of the people living in char-chaporis” has stirred up a controversy in Assam.
Do you know?
Phumdis are a series of floating islands, exclusive to the Loktak Lake in Manipur. They cover a substantial part of the lake area and are heterogeneous masses of vegetation, soil and organic matter, in different stages of decay.
What are char-chaporis?
- A char is a floating island while chaporis are low-lying flood-prone riverbanks.
- They are used interchangeably as they keep changing shapes — a char can become a chapori, or vice versa, depending on the push and pull of the Brahmaputra.
- Prone to floods and erosion, these areas are marked by low development indices.
- While Bengali-origin Muslims primarily occupy these islands, other communities such as Misings, Deoris, Kocharis, Nepalis also live here.
- In the popular imagination, however, chars have become synonymous to the Bengali-speaking Muslims of dubious nationality.
Who are the Miyas?
- The ‘Miya’ community comprises descendants of Muslim migrants from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) to Assam.
- They came to be referred to as ‘Miyas’, often in a derogatory manner.
- The community migrated in several waves — starting with the British annexation of Assam in 1826, and continuing into Partition and the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with the secularism in France
The article analyses the secularism in France and its its implications for the French society.
Education about secularism in France
- In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, state school teachers were responsible for converting young people in rural France away from the heavy hand of Catholic dogma, and they spearheaded efforts to “educate” and “civilise” indigenous peoples in the French colonies.
- In recent decades, teachers have been charged with trying to “integrate” France’s myriad ethnic minority communities.
- Of the many things that teachers are expected to do, one of the most important is to embody the principles of laïcité.
- Often translated as ‘secularism’, laïcité is better understood as a project of social cohesion and a key component of French citizenship.
- It encompass the formal separation of Church and State, but also the evacuation of religious values from the public space and their replacement with secular values such as liberty, equality, and fraternity.
How should France respond to terrorist attacks in name of Islam
1) Compromise
- This compromise would involve acknowledging that laïcité alone cannot fix the country’s social and political problems.
- It would also require the French state to recognise that France has — almost without realising it — become part of the Muslim world.
- It cannot stand apart from conflicts over religious practice that have affected countries with much larger Muslim populations, from Morocco to Indonesia.
2) Emphasize the French values
- Another way would be to double down on French “values”.
- This is the path that President Emmanuel Macron has chosen.
- He and his cabinet have spent a lot of time in recent weeks emphasising the importance of laïcité and denouncing all those who are seen to threaten it.
- But this strategy is a risky one.
- For a start, it is almost guaranteed to elicit a hostile response from leaders of Muslim-majority countries, many of whom are keen to find an international issue that can distract from their own domestic problems.
Conclusion
So, while it might seem like a good strategy to use the idea of laïcité as a shield against an amorphous Muslim threat, the danger is that this will strip it of its most positive elements and render it useless as an instrument of social integration. That, more than any terror attack, would be a tragedy for all French people.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Right of free speech
Mains level: Paper 2- Free speech and violence
The article discusses the issues with blaming the expression of free speech for the violence inflicted by the people opposed to the ideas.
Context
- The beheading of a teacher in France has brought to the fore the issue of free speech.
- It is argued that there is a need to respect people’s religion and not be provocative in the aftermath of the gruesome killing.
Issues related to free speech
1) Free-speecher’s burden
- The fact that a barbaric, crazy man can either get offended or inspired by either of the conflicting ideas cannot be a “free-speecher’s” burden.
- Should any protest or campaign be mindful of a potential violent twist that may be given to their ideas?
- Should a causal link between the expression of “offensive ideas” and sufferance of bodies allow violent zealots to hold the right to ransom?
2) Existence of ideas in person
- Ideas have no real, independent existence outside of the bodies in which they inhere.
- Had ideas lived autonomously, independent of the bodies and minds that carry them, ideas would not die.
- But we don’t. And the reason is that some ideas die or weaken over time.
- They become anomalous and discredited either because they are disputed scientifically or because they are contested vigorously and passionately till an anachronistic idea is defeated.
3) Ideas could be good or bad
- In the conflicting terrain of ideas, lies the kernel of social change.
- Ideas could be good or bad.
- How else, except through a conflict of ideas, do women contest patriarchy and push back on received gendered ideas of womanhood?
Issues with arguing on free-speech outside context
- First, as academic Ghassan Hage summed up in his Facebook post: Truth also needs to have its ethics.
- You may be truthful, but unethical.
- The beheading of French teacher requires us to dwell on not just any killing but the barbarism behind it.
- To dwell instead on the genealogies and causes of violent behaviour is bad ethics, for it ends up being nothing more than an apologia for violence.
- Second, it’s bad politics.
- The right to free speech empowers and enables many marginalised lives.
- It is a basic right that preconditions the realisation of other rights.
- So basic that it enables the weak and the oppressed to rise against their oppressors.
Conclusion
In any case, free speech is restrained by the state through its many criteria of “reasonableness”. To further circumscribe it by burdening it with plausible violent appropriations, or with historical conditionalities, is to feed the logic of violence against freedom of expression.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gilgit-Baltistan Region, CPEC
Mains level: China's vested interests in the Kashmir Valley
Pakistan government has recently announced that it would give the Gilgit-Baltistan region “provisional provincial status”. When that happens, G-B will become the sixth official province of Pakistan.
Gilgit-Baltistan
- Gilgit-Baltistan is the northernmost territory administered by Pakistan, providing the country’s only territorial frontier, and thus a land route, with China, where it meets the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
- The region is an illegally occupied Indian territory as it was the part of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu & Kashmir as it existed in 1947 at its accession to India.
- To G-B’s west is Afghanistan, to its south is Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and to the east J&K.
Its current status
- Though Pakistan, like India, links G-B’s fate to that of Kashmir, its administrative arrangements are different from those in PoK.
- While PoK has its own Constitution that sets out its powers and their limits vis-à-vis Pakistan, G-B has been ruled mostly by executive fiat.
- Until 2009, the region was simply called Northern Areas.
- It had a Northern Areas Legislative Council with the Legislative Assembly. The NALC was an elected body, but had no more than an advisory role to the Islamabad.
Why the separate status?
- Pakistan’s separate arrangement with G-B goes back to the circumstances under which it came to administer it. On November 1 1947, after J&K ruler Hari Singh had signed the Instrument of Accession with India.
- Gilgit had been leased to the British by Hari Singh in 1935. The British returned it in August 1947.
- Pakistan did not accept G-B’s accession although it took administrative control of the territory.
- India went to the UN and a series of resolutions were passed in the Security Council on the situation in Kashmir.
- Pakistan believed that neither G-B nor PoK should be annexed to Pakistan, as this could undermine the international case for a plebiscite in Kashmir.
- It also reckons that in the event a plebiscite ever takes place in Kashmir, votes in G-B will be important too. This is why it is only being called “provisional” provincial status.
Move for a status-quo?
- The plan to grant G-B provincial status is linked to CPEC and Chinese interest as well as a response to India’s abrogation of Art. 370.
- While India has objected to the plan to make G-B a province of Pakistan and in the recent past asserted that it will take control of G-B, there is a realization that it is impossible to change the map now.
- In this sense, it can be argued that the merger of G-B with Pakistan is a move that could help both countries put the past behind and move forward on the Kashmir issue, sometime in the future.
What do the people in G-B want?
- The people of G-B have been demanding for years that it be made a part of Pakistan since there is virtual no connect with India.
- Some have in the past demanded a merger with PoK, but the people of G-B have no real connect with Kashmir either.
- They belong to several non-Kashmiri ethnicities and speak various languages, none of these Kashmiri.
- A majority of the estimated 1.5 million G-B residents are Shias. There is anger against Pakistan for unleashing extremist sectarian militant groups that target Shias.
- There is a movement for independence, but it has very little traction.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: WWF Water Risk Filter
Mains level: Water scarcity in urban India
Nearly a third of the 100 cities in the world susceptible to ‘water risk’ — defined as losses from battling droughts to flooding — are in India, according to the WWF Water Risk Filter.
Try this question for mains:
Q.For Indian cities to break away from the vicious loop of flooding and water scarcity, nature-based solutions like restoration of urban watersheds and wetlands could offer an alternative. Examine.
What is Water Risk Filter?
- This is an online tool, co-developed by the Worldwide Fund for Nature that helps evaluate the severity of risk places faced by graphically illustrating various factors that can contribute to water risk.
- Launched in 2012, it is a practical online tool that helps companies and investors assess and respond to water-related risks facing their operations and investments across the globe.
- After a major upgrade in 2018, the Water Risk Filter 5.0 enables companies and investors to Explore, Assess, Value and Respond to water risks.
- Lately, the Water Risk Filter provides scenarios of water risks for 2030 and 2050, integrating climate and socio-economic changes in different pathways.
Highlights of the recent analysis
- It reported 30 Indian cities that would face a ‘grave water risk’ by 2050 due to a dramatic increase in their population percentage to 51 per cent by 2050, from 17 per cent in 2020.
- Jaipur topped the list, followed by Indore and Thane. Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi also featured on the list.
- The global list includes cities such as Beijing, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Mecca and Rio de Janeiro. China accounts for almost half the cities.
Major recommendations
- The future of India’s environment lies in its cities. As India rapidly urbanizes, cities will be at the forefront both for India’s growth and for sustainability.
- For cities to break away from the current vicious loop of flooding and water scarcity, nature-based solutions like restoration of urban watersheds and wetlands could offer solutions.
- Urban watersheds and wetlands are critical for maintaining the water balance of a city, flood cushioning, micro-climate regulation and protecting its biodiversity, the report notes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fortified rice, Biofortification, ICDS
Mains level: Various facets of hunger and malnutrition in India
In a bid to combat chronic anaemia and undernutrition, the government is planning to distribute fortified rice through the Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-Day Meal schemes across the country.
What is Fortified Rice?
- Rice can be fortified by adding a micronutrient powder to the rice that adheres to the grains or spraying of the surface of ordinary rice grains with a vitamin and mineral mix to form a protective coating.
- Rice can also be extruded and shaped into partially precooked grain-like structures resembling rice grains, which can then be blended with natural polished rice.
- Rice kernels can be fortified with several micronutrients, such as iron, folic acid and other B-complex vitamins, vitamin A and zinc.
- These fortified kernels are then mixed with normal rice in a 1:100 ratio, and distributed for consumption.
Note: Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. It differs from conventional fortification in that Biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during the processing of the crops.
What was the earlier initiative?
- The centrally-sponsored pilot scheme was approved in February 2019 for a three-year period from 2019-20 onwards.
- However, only five States — Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh — have started the distribution of fortified rice in their identified pilot districts.
Need for expansion
- Currently, there are only 15,000 tonnes of these kernels available per year in the country.
- To cover PDS, anganwadis and mid-day meals in the 112 aspirational districts, annual supply capacity would need to be increased to about 1.3 lakh tonnes.
- To cover PDS across the country, 3.5 lakh tonnes of fortified kernels would be needed.
Regulating fortification
- FSSAI has formulated a comprehensive regulation on fortification of foods namely ‘Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2016’.
- These regulations set the standards for food fortification and encourage the production, manufacture, distribution, sale and consumption of fortified foods.
- The regulations also provide for the specific role of FSSAI in promotion for food fortification and to make fortification mandatory.
- WHO recommends fortification of rice with iron, vitamin A and folic acid as a public health strategy to improve the iron status of population wherever rice is a staple food.
Back2Basics: Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
- The ICDS aims to provide food, preschool education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.
- The scheme was launched in 1975, discontinued in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai, and then relaunched by the Tenth Five Year Plan.
- The tenth FYP also linked ICDS to Anganwadi centres established mainly in rural areas and staffed with frontline workers.
- The ICDS provide for anganwadis or day-care centres which deliver a package of six services including:
- Immunization
- Supplementary nutrition
- Health checkup
- Referral services
- Pre-school education (Non-Formal)
- Nutrition and Health information
Implementation
- For nutritional purposes, ICDS provides 500 kilocalories (with 12-15 grams of protein) every day to every child below 6 years of age.
- For adolescent girls, it is up to 500-kilo calories with up to 25 grams of protein every day.
- The services of Immunisation, Health Check-up and Referral Services delivered through Public Health Infrastructure under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 161
Mains level: Pardoning power of president vs. governor
The Supreme Court has recently said that the investigation into the conspiracy behind Ex-PMs assassination in 1991 need not deter the Governor from deciding the plea for pardon of convicts.
What did the court say exactly?
- The court made it clear that it was reluctant to exercise its jurisdiction when the Governor was already seized of convict’s plea for a pardon under Article 161 of the Constitution.
Try this PYQ now:
Q.Which of the following are the discretionary powers given to the Governor of a State?
- Sending a report to the President of India for imposing the President’s rule
- Appointing the Ministers
- Reserving certain bills passed by the State Legislature for consideration of the President of India
- Making the rules to conduct the business of the State Government
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Pardoning Powers of Governor
- Article 161 deals with the Pardoning Power of the Governor.
- The Governor can grant pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions of punishments or suspend, remit and commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.
- The Governor cannot Pardon a Death Sentence. (The President has the power of Pardon a death Sentence).
- The Governor cannot grant pardon, reprieve, respite, suspension, remission or commutation in respect to punishment or sentence by a court-martial. However, the President can do so.
Back2Basics:
- Pardon: means completely absolving the person of the crime and letting him go free. The pardoned criminal will be like a normal citizen.
- Commutation: means changing the type of punishment given to the guilty into a less harsh one, for example, a death penalty commuted to a life sentence.
- Reprieve: means a delay allowed in the execution of a sentence, usually a death sentence, for a guilty person to allow him some time to apply for Presidential Pardon or some other legal remedy to prove his innocence or successful rehabilitation.
- Respite: means reducing the quantum or degree of the punishment to a criminal in view of some special circumstances, like pregnancy, mental condition etc.
- Remission: means changing the quantum of the punishment without changing its nature, for example reducing twenty-year rigorous imprisonment to ten years.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Irish mutiny in India
Mains level: Decolonization (World History)
Ireland is commemorating 100 years of the mutiny by a British Army battalion stationed in Jalandhar and Solan in Punjab in support of the Irish freedom movement.
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to the Indian freedom struggle, consider the following events:
- Mutiny in Royal Indian Navy
- Quit India Movement launched
- Second Round Table Conference
What is the correct chronological sequence of the above events?
(a) 1-2-3
(b) 2-1-3
(c) 3-2-1
(d) 3-1-2
Irish mutiny in India
- The Connaught Rangers were raised during the British Army reforms of 1881.
- A British Army battalion belonging to the Connaught Rangers was the one in which Irish soldiers mutinied in Jalandhar and Solan in Punjab.
- Solan now lies in Himachal Pradesh but in 1920 it was part of Punjab. The Ist Battalion of the Connaught Rangers was stationed in Jalandhar since January 1920 after it had taken part in the First World War.
Why did the mutiny take place?
- The troops were protesting against the behaviour of the ‘Black and Tans’ during the Irish War of Independence (1919-22).
- The Black and Tan were members of the Irish constabulary which had been recruited from Great Britain and mostly comprised demobilized soldiers who had fought in the First World War.
- The Irish soldiers felt that they must rise in solidarity with their compatriots back in Ireland and hence in June and July 1920 some of the regiment’s men mutinied.
- Some of the mutinied soldiers were later put through a court-martial.
Who were the Black and Tans?
- They were constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as reinforcements during the Irish War of Independence.
- Recruitment began in Great Britain in January 1920 and about 10,000 men enlisted during the conflict.
- The vast majority were unemployed former soldiers from Great Britain who fought in the First World War, although some were from Ireland.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Five eyes
Mains level: Paper 2- Quad and its future
Quad as new feature of Indo-Pacific
- Australia’s participation in the Malabar exercises marks the emergence of the Quad as a new feature of the Indo-Pacific geopolitics.
- The question is India’s ability to take full advantage of the possibilities after the US elections to construct a wide range of new international coalitions.
- Likely changes could envelop a range of old institutions like the Five Eyes and the G-7 grouping that coordinates Western policies on global economic management.
- We could also see the creation of a new League of Democracies that will addres issues like including the defence of shared values, commerce, corruption, taxation, climate change and digital governance.
Phases of India’s international aspiration
- The consolidation of the Quad reflects the political will in Delhi to break free from old shibboleths and respond to security imperatives.
- The post-Quad era opens a new phase in which India, for the first time, can help shape global institutions.
- First phase: Idealism was the hallmark of India’s internationalism in the 1950s, the harsh politics of the Cold War quickly dampened it.
- Second phase: In the 1970s, India embraced the radical agenda of a New International Economic Order, as the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77. The results were meagre.
- Third phase began with the end of the Cold War.
- And as India’s own economic model collapsed, India had to focus on economic reform and prevent the world from intruding too much into its internal affairs.
- The fear of the US activism on Kashmir and nuclear issues saw Delhi turn to Russia and China in search of a “multipolar world” that could constrain American power.
- The BRICS forum with Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa became emblematic of this strategy.
- Delhi also figured out that it was not possible for BRICS to constrain Beijing, since China was so much bigger than the other four members put together.
- Fourth phase in India’s multilateralism is marked by three features — the relative rise in Delhi’s international standing, the breakdown of the great power consensus on economic globalisation, and the breakout of the US-China rivalry.
Efforts to tackle China
- The Trump administration has already sought to imagine the Quad’s possibilities beyond the defence domain.
- The invitation to India to join a Five Eyes meeting came amidst the bipartisan calls in the US Congress for the expansion of the forum and the inclusion of India.
- The “Quad Plus” dialogue has variously drawn in Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea, and Vietnam for consultations with the Quad members on coordinating the responses to the pandemic.
- India is also engaged with Japan and Australia in developing resilient supply chains to reduce the reliance on China.
- President Trump has proposed the expansion of G-7 grouping to include Australia, India, Russia and South Korea.
- The last few months has seen the Trump administration promote a “Clean Network” that eliminates untrustworthy vendors from telecom systems, digital apps, trans-oceanic cables and cloud infrastructure.
- Clean Network is now a broader effort to build secure technology ecosystems among like-minded countries.
- Britain is said to be developing plans to convene a coalition of 10 democracies, including India, that can contribute to the construction of secure 5G networks and reduce the current dependence on China.
- France and Canada have invited India to join the Global Partnership on artificial intelligence that now includes 15 countries.
- The objective is to promote responsible development of AI that is consistent with shared democratic values.
Conclusion
Delhi’s participation in the sweeping rearrangement of the global structures will have major consequences for India’s economic prosperity and technological future. Unlike in the past, Delhi now has the resources, leverage and political will to make a difference to the global order
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MPC and inflation targets
Mains level: Paper 3- Inflation targeting by the RBI
Inflation targeting and legal provisions
- The inflation target, notified in August 2016, is 4%.
- The upper tolerance level was set at 6% and the lower tolerance level at 2%.
- Inflation was 6.7% in the January-March quarter, 6.6% in the April-June quarter and 6.9% in the July-September quarter.
- Breaching limits for any three consecutive quarters constitutes a failure to achieve the inflation target.
- In such an event, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is required to send a report to the Centre, stating the reasons for the failure to achieve the inflation target, the remedial actions it proposes to initiate, and an estimate of the time-period within which it expects to achieve the inflation target through the corrective steps proposed.
- Through amendments passed by Parliament in 2016, these new provisions were written into the RBI Act.
- They are aimed at ensuring enhanced transparency and accountability of the central bank.
Reason given by the RBI for missing the target
- The normal data collection exercise of the National Statistics Office was disrupted during the lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting after its August policy review suggest that the RBI’s defence for the breach of the 4% inflation target and 6% upper tolerance limit was the handicap of data limitations.
Issues with the reason given by the RBI
- The range around the inflation target that the Ministry provided to the RBI is for accommodating constraints and challenges like data limitations.
- The whole point of the range around the target, the statement emphasised, is that it “accommodates data limitations, projection errors, short-run supply gaps and fluctuations in the agriculture production”.
Way forward
- RBI should be made to explain what it plans to do to control inflation.
- The central bank should be allowed to state expressly what support by way of government policy it needs to meet the inflation target.
- This can only strengthen the RBI’s hand; it should not let go of the opportunity to reinforce the MPC framework.
Conclusion
Transparency can enable more informed decision-making within the government, greater public scrutiny of the RBI’s performance, and an improved inflation-targeting regime. To slack off on it would be to compromise with the credibility, transparency and predictability of monetary policy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Malabar Naval Exercise, Quad, 2+2
Mains level: Global alliance against China
Phase 1 of the Malabar Naval Exercise has kicked begun with the participation of Australian navy for the first time since 2007.
Go through the list for once. UPSC may ask a match the pair type question asking exercise name and countries involved.
https://www.civilsdaily.com/prelims-spotlight-defence-exercises/
What is Malabar Exercise?
- It is a multilateral naval exercise that includes simulated war games and combat manoeuvres.
- It started in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between the Indian and US navies. Japan joined in 2015.
- This year the exercise will be held in two phases, the first from Tuesday off the coast near Visakhapatnam, and the second in the Arabian Sea in mid-November. Last year it was held in early September off the coast of Japan.
Major highlight: Quad Participation
- For the first time in over a decade, the exercise will see the participation of all four Quad countries.
- This will be the second time Australia will participate. In 2007, there were two Malabar Exercises.
- The first was held off Okinawa island of Japan in the Western Pacific — the first time the exercise was held away from Indian shores — and the second in September 2007.
- The following year, Australia stopped participating. Japan became a regular participant only in 2015, making it a trilateral annual exercise since then.
Why is Australia’s participation important?
- The 2+2 dialogue ended with an agreement to uphold the rules-based international order, respect for the rule of law and freedom of navigation in the international seas and upholding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states.
- As the standoff in eastern Ladakh continues, the participation of four large navies from the Indo-Pacific region will send a message to China.
- It was the possibility of riling up China that had prevented India from expanding the Malabar Exercise, and from Australia joining it.
Quad is an exception
- Over the last few months, the Indian Navy has conducted a number of Passage Exercises (PASSEX) with navies from Japan, Australia and the US.
- But those were basic exercises to increase operability between the navies, while Malabar involves simulated war games.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Army Aviation Corps
Mains level: Indian armed forces
The Army Aviation Corps (AAC), the youngest Corps of the Indian Army, has celebrated its 35th Corps Day.
Try this question for mains:
Q. Discuss why high-altitude warfare is challenging. Also, discuss India’s preparedness for a long-term war.
The Army Aviation Corps
- The origin of the AAC can be traced back to the raising of the Army Aviation wing of the Royal Air Force in India in 1942, and the subsequent formation of the first Indian Air Observation Post in August 1947.
- The Air Observation Post units primarily acted as artillery spotters – which are the elements that help the artillery in directing the fire and also giving air support to ground forces.
- In the wars of 1965 and 1971, the Air Observation Post helicopters played a key role in the battlefields by flying close to the enemy lines and helping ground assets spot targets.
- The Corps was raised as a separate formation on November 1 in 1986. The AAC now draws its officers and men from all arms of the Army, including a significant number from the artillery.
Significant battles
- Immediately after raising, the units of the Corps were pressed into action in Operation Pawan by the Indian Peacekeeping Forces, in the mostly jungle areas of Sri Lanka.
- Ever since AAC helicopters have been an inseparable part of fighting formations in all major conflict scenarios and a life-saving asset in peace times.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Maharani Jindan Kaur, Anglo-Sikh Wars
Mains level: Not Much
Maharani Jindan Kaur, the last wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, is in news for the auction of some of her jewellery in London.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following Bhakti Saints:
- Dadu Dayal
- Guru Nanak
- Tyagaraja
Who among the above was/were preaching when the Lodi dynasty fell and Babur took over?
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 1 and 2
Who was Rani Jindan (1817-1863)?
- She was the youngest wife of Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh empire, whose boundaries stretched from Kabul to Kashmir and the borders of Delhi.
- She was also the mother of Duleep Singh, the last ruler of the empire, who was raised by the British.
- Duleep Singh was five years old when he was placed on the throne in 1843 after the death of two heirs to Ranjit Singh. Since he was just a child, Maharani Jindan was made the regent.
- Not a rubber stamp, she took an active interest in running the kingdom, introducing changes in the revenue system.
Anglo-Sikh War and Jindan
- The British declared war on the Sikh empire in December 1845. After their victory in the first Anglo-Sikh war, they retained Duleep Singh as the ruler but imprisoned Jind Kaur.
- She escaped and arrived at Kathmandu on April 29, 1849, where she was given asylum by Jung Bahadur, the prime minister.
- She was given a house on the banks of river Bhagmati. She stayed in Nepal till 1860, where she continued to reach out to rebels in Punjab and Jammu-Kashmir.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kawasaki Disease
Mains level: NA
Children in the world over have shown to be affected by either Kawasaki Disease (KD) since the reopening of schools.
Try this PYQ:
Q.H1N1 virus is sometimes mentioned in the news with reference to which one of the following diseases?
(a) AIDS
(b) Bird flu
(c) Dengue
(d) Swine flu
What is Kawasaki Disease?
- Kawasaki disease is an illness that causes blood vessels to become inflamed, almost always in young children.
- Its cause is yet unknown. It is one of the leading causes of heart disease in kids.
- But doctors can treat it if they find it early. Most children recover without any problems.
Symptoms
Kawasaki disease comes on fast, and symptoms show up in phases. Signs of the first phase of Kawasaki disease include:
- High fever that lasts more than 5 days
- Swelling and redness in hands and bottoms of feet
- Red eyes
- Swollen glands, especially in the neck
- Irritated throat, mouth, and lips
In the second phase, symptoms include:
- Joint pain
- Stomach trouble, such as diarrhoea and vomiting
- Peeling skin on hands and feet
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