Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green-Blue Infrastructure
Mains level: Urban water resources management
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is holding public consultations for the preparation of the Master Plan for Delhi 2041 with special focus on water bodies and the land.
Try this question:
Q.Urban water resources management is an uphill task for Indian cities. Discuss.
What is Green-Blue infrastructure?
- ‘Blue’ infrastructure refers to water bodies like rivers, canals, ponds, wetlands, floodplains, and water treatment facilities; while ‘Green’ stands for trees, lawns, hedgerows, parks, fields, and forests.
- The concept refers to urban planning where water bodies and land are interdependent, and grow with the help of each other while offering environmental and social benefits.
How does DDA plan to go ahead with it?
- In the first stage, the DDA plans to deal with the multiplicity of agencies, which because of the special nature of the state, has plagued it for several years.
- DDA wants the first map out the issues of jurisdiction, work being done by different agencies on drains and the areas around them.
- Thereafter, a comprehensive policy will be drawn up, which would then act as the common direction for all agencies.
Why such a policy?
- Delhi has around 50 big drains (blue areas) managed by different agencies, and due to their poor condition and encroachment, the land around (green areas) has also been affected.
- DDA, along with other agencies, will integrate them and remove all sources of pollution by checking the outfall of untreated wastewater as well as the removal of existing pollutants.
- A mix of mechanized and natural systems may be adopted, and dumping of solid wastes in any of these sites will be strictly prohibited by local bodies, through the imposition of penalties.
Major features
- The land around these drains, carrying stormwater, will be declared as special buffer projects.
- The network of connected green spaces would be developed in the form of green mobility circuits of pedestrian and cycling paths.
- It will be developed along the drains to serve functional as well as leisure trips.
Challenges ahead
- The biggest challenge is the multiplicity of agencies.
- Secondly, cleaning of water bodies and drains has been a challenge for agencies in Delhi for years now.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MPI and various other dimensions of poverty
Mains level: Not Much
NITI Aayog as the nodal agency has been assigned the responsibility of leveraging the monitoring mechanism of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to drive reforms.
Try this PYQ:
Q.In a given year in India, official poverty lines are higher in some states than in others because (CSP 2019):
(a) Poverty rates vary from State to State
(b) Price levels vary from State to State
(c) Gross State Product varies from State to State
(d) Quality of public distribution varies from State to State
GIRG Exercise
- Global MPI is part of GoI’s decision to monitor the performance of the country in 29 select Global Indices.
- The objective of the exercise is to fulfil the need to measure and monitor India’s performance on various important social and economic parameters.
- It would enable the utilization of these Indices as tools for self-improvement; bring about reforms in policies, while improving last-mile implementation of government schemes.
- As the Nodal agency for the MPI, NITI Aayog has constituted a Multidimensional Poverty Index Coordination Committee (MPICC).
About Global MPI
- Global MPI is an international measure of multidimensional poverty covering 107 developing countries.
- It was first developed in 2010 by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) for UNDP’s Human Development Reports.
- It is computed by scoring each surveyed household on 10 parameters based on -nutrition, child mortality, and years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing and household assets.
- It utilizes the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) which is conducted under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Heritage of Punjab
Mains level: Not Much
The Ministry of Tourism’s DekhoApnaDesh Webinar series titled “Punjab- A historic perspective” has recently gone live.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Rivers that passes through Himachal Pradesh are: (CSP 2012)
(a) Beas and Chenab only
(b) Beas and Ravi only
(c) Chenab, Ravi, and Satluj only
(d) Beas, Chenab, Ravi, Satluj, and Yamuna
Heritage of Punjab
- Punjab means ‘the land of Five Waters’ referring to the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas.
- Much of the Frontier was occupied by Maharaja Ranjit Singh also known as Sher-e-Punjab in the early 19th century and then taken over by the East India Company when it annexed Punjab in 1849.
- The state is divided into three parts- Majha, Doaba and Malwa.
- It’s many festivals–Teej, Lohri, Basant Panchami, Baisakhi and Hola Mahalla to name some are celebrations that mirror the farming ethos.
- Historically, Punjab has played host to a number of ethnicities, including the Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Afghans and Mongols, thus bestowed with a rich tangible heritage.
- The southeastern city of Punjab, Patiala was once a princely state established under Baba Ala Singh, a Jat Sikh chieftain. He laid the foundation of the fort and now, is located in the region around Qila Mubarak or the Fortunate Castle.
- Important tourist attractions are Kali Temple, Baradari Garden, Sheesh Mahal, Gurudwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib, Qila Mubarak complex etc.
Holy shrines
- The most sacred of Sikh shrines, the Golden Temple, is a major pilgrimage destination for devotees from around the world, as well as, an ever-increasing popular tourist attraction.
- Construction of the Amrit Sarovar (pool of nectar) was initiated by Guru Amar Das, the third Guru, in 1570 and was completed by Guru Ram Das, the fourth Guru.
- His successor, Guru Arjan Dev began work on the building after inviting Mian Mir, the Sufi saint, to lay its foundation stone in 1588.
- Three years later, the Harimandar Sahib, or Darbar Sahib got completed.
- In step with Sikhism’s basic tenet of universal brotherhood and all-inclusive ethos, the Golden Temple can be accessed from all directions.
Legend of Banda Bahadur
- The city of Fatehgarh Sahib is of special significance to Sikhs. The word “Fatehgarh”, means “Town of Victory”.
- It is so-called because, in 1710, Sikhs under the leadership of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur conquered the area and destroyed the Mughal fort.
- Banda Bahadur announced the establishment of the Sikh rule in the city and an end to the tyranny of the Mughal rule which had spread terror and injustice.
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The article analyses the issue of socioeconomic disruption caused by the pandemic and response by regionally coordinated response to it.
Context
- With continued lockdown measures and restricted borders, countries in Asia and the Pacific have been experiencing sharp drops in foreign exchange inflows due to declines in export earnings, remittances, tourism and FDI.
Financing 3 key areas by the U.N.
- The United Nations is contributing through a global initiative, Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond.
- The initiative aims at comprehensive financing strategy to safeguard the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Governments are united to ensure that adequate financial resources are available to steer an inclusive, sustainable and resilient post-COVID-19 recovery.
- In the Asia-Pacific region, several countries have already adopted financing plans in following three key areas.
- 1) To address the challenge of diminished fiscal space and debt vulnerability 2) To ensure sustainable recovery, consistent with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda 3) To harness the potential of regional cooperation in support of financing for development.
Regional Conversation series by ESCAP
- The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has recently launched its first-ever Regional Conversation Series on Building Back Better.
- In this series ministers, decision-makers, private sectors and heads of international agencies participate.
- Their participation results in sharing of collective insights on sharing pathways to resilient recovery from health pandemic and economic collapse.
Debt Service Suspension initiative
- To manage high levels of debt distress global initiatives like the Debt Service Suspension initiative is timely.
- Central banks can continue to keep the balance of supporting the economy and maintaining financial stability.
- This further involves enhancing tax reforms and improving debt management capacities, while using limited fiscal space to invest in priority sectors.
- Exploring sustainability-oriented bonds and innovative financing instruments options such as debt swaps for SDG investment should be explored further.
- Policy paradigm must mainstream affordable, accessible and green infrastructure standards.
- We should also scale up the use of digital technology and innovative applications.
- The financing support of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises must go hand in hand with these national job-rich recovery strategies.
Role of regional cooperation
- Regionally coordinated financing policies can restart trade, reorganise supply chains and revitalise sustainable tourism in a safe manner.
- Across Asia and the Pacific, governments must pool financial resources to create regional investment funds.
- Role of egional cooperation platforms to ensure all countries receive an equitable number of doses of the vaccine is essential.
Conclusion
Through ESCAP, we can scale these efforts across the region, working closely with our member states, the private sector and innovators to build a collective financing response to mobilise the necessary additional resources.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramjet, Scramjet
Mains level: Indian missile program
The DRDO has successfully demonstrated the hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology with the flight test of the Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV).
Take note of close dissimilarities between Ramjet and Scramjet engines.
About HSTDV
- HSTDV is an unmanned scramjet vehicle with a capability to travel at six times the speed of sound.
- The scramjets are a variant of a category of jet engines called the air-breathing engines.
- The ability of engines to handle airflows of speeds in multiples of the speed of sound gives it a capability of operating at those speeds.
- Hypersonic speeds are those which are five times or more than the speed of sound.
- The unit tested by the DRDO can achieve upto six times the speed of sound or Mach 6, which is well over 7000 km per hour or around two km per second.
Its development
- The DRDO started on the development of the engine in the early 2010s.
- The ISRO has also worked on the development of the technology and has successfully tested a system in 2016. DRDO too has conducted a test of this system in June 2019.
- The special project of the DRDO consisted of contributions from its multiple facilities including the Pune headquartered Armament and Combat Engineering Cluster.
Back2Basics: Ramjet V. Scramjet
- A ramjet is a form of air-breathing jet engine that uses the vehicle’s forward motion to compress incoming air for combustion without a rotating compressor.
- Fuel is injected in the combustion chamber where it mixes with the hot compressed air and ignites.
- A ramjet-powered vehicle requires an assisted take-off like a rocket assist to accelerate it to a speed where it begins to produce thrust.
- Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) and can operate up to speeds of Mach 6.
- However, the ramjet efficiency starts to drop when the vehicle reaches hypersonic speeds.
- A scramjet engine is an improvement over the ramjet engine as it efficiently operates at hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion. Thus it is known as Supersonic Combustion Ramjet or Scramjet.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Malabar Rebellion
Mains level: Not Much
A report submitted to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) in 2016 has termed the Malabar Rebellion leaders as ‘rioters’.
Try this question from CSP 2015:
Q. Which amongst the following provided a common factor for a tribal insurrection in India in the 19th century?
(a) Introduction of a new system of land revenue and taxation- of tribal products
(b) Influence of foreign religious missionaries in tribal areas
(c) Rise of a large number of money lenders, traders and revenue farmers as middlemen in tribal areas
(d) The complete disruption of the old agrarian order of the tribal communities
What is the Malabar Rebellion?
- The Malabar Rebellion in 1921 started as resistance against the British colonial rule and the feudal system in southern Malabar but ended in communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.
- There were a series of clashes between Mappila peasantry and their landlords, supported by the British, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
- It began as a reaction against a heavy-handed crackdown on the Khilafat Movement, a campaign in defence of the Ottoman Caliphate by the British authorities in the Eranad and Valluvanad taluks of Malabar.
- The Mappilas attacked and took control of police stations, British government offices, courts and government treasuries.
Why is it contentious?
- It largely took the shape of guerrilla-type attacks on janmis (feudal landlords, who were mostly upper-caste Hindus) and the police and troops.
- Mappilas had been among the victims of oppressive agrarian relations protected by the British.
- But the political mobilization in the region in the aftermath of the Khilafat agitation and Gandhi’s non-cooperation struggle served as an opportunity for an extremist section to invoke a religious idiom to express their suffering.
- There were excesses on both sides — rebels and government troops. Incidents of murder, looting and forced conversion led many to discredit the uprising as a manifestation of religious bigotry.
- Moderate Khilafat leaders lamented that the rebellion had alienated the Hindu sympathy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chushul Valley
Mains level: India-China border skirmishes
The Chushul sub-sector has come into focus in the standoff between the Indian and PLA troops.
Tap to read more about Himalayan River System
What is the Chushul Valley?
- The Chushul sub-sector lies south of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh.
- It comprises high, broken mountains and heights of Thatung, Black Top, Helmet Top, Gurung Hill, and Magger Hill besides passes such as Rezang La and Reqin La, the Spanggur Gap, and the Chushul valley.
- Situated at a height of over 13,000 feet close to the LAC, the Chushul Valley has a vital airstrip that played an important role even during the 1962 War with China.
What is its strategic importance to India?
- Chushul is one among the five Border Personnel Meeting points between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army of China.
- It enjoys tremendous strategic and tactical importance because of its location and terrain, which make it a centre for logistics deployment.
- This sector has plains that are a couple of km wide, where mechanized forces, including tanks, can be deployed. Its airstrip and connectivity by road to Leh add to its operational advantages.
- Indian troops have now secured the ridgeline in this sub-sector that allows them to dominate the Chushul bowl on the Indian side, and Moldo sector on the Chinese side.
- They also have a clear sight of the almost 2-km-wide Spanggur gap, which the Chinese used in the past to launch attacks on this sector in the 1962 War.
How is Chushul important to China?
- Simply put, Chushul is the gateway to Leh. If China enters the Chushul, it can launch its operations for Leh.
- After the initial attacks, including on the Galwan valley by the Chinese in October 1962, the PLA troops prepared to attack Chushul airfield and the valley to get direct access to Leh.
- However, just before the attacks were launched, the area was reinforced by the 114 Brigade in November 1962, which also had under its command two troops of armour and some artillery.
What are the challenges in this area?
- An immediate challenge is of a flare-up as troops of the two countries are deployed within a distance of 800 to 1,000 metres of each other at Black Top and Reqin La.
- Logistics also pose a major challenge. There is a need to carry water and food to the top which soldiers cannot do.
- The harsh winter that lasts for eight months of the year poses a big challenge.
- It is very difficult to dig in and make shelters on the ridgeline. The temperature falls to minus 30 degrees Celsius, and there are frequent snowstorms.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP)
Mains level: Not Much
The SVEP is propelling enterprises in rural areas and building rural entrepreneurs during this pandemic.
Try this PYQ 2015:
How does the National Rural Livelihood Mission seek to improve livelihood options of rural poor?
- By setting up a large number of new manufacturing industries and agribusiness centres in rural areas.
- By strengthening ‘self-help groups’ and providing skills development
- By supplying seeds, fertilizers, diesel pump-set sand micro-irrigation equipment free of cost of farmers.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
About SVEP
- The SVEP is implemented by Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana –National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development, as a sub-scheme since 2016.
- Its aims are to support the rural poor come out of poverty, supporting them set up enterprises and provide support till the enterprises stabilize.
- SVEP focuses on providing self-employment opportunities with financial assistance and training in business management and soft skills while creating local community cadres for promotion of enterprises.
- It addresses three major pillars of rural start-ups namely – finances, incubation and skill ecosystems.
Key elements of SVEP
- Create a Block Resource Centre – Enterprise Promotion (BRC-EP); The BRC should act as a nodal centre to implement SVEP. Block Level Federation (BLF) to come up under NRLM could be one of the institutional platforms for BRC.
- Cluster Level Federation (CLF) /VOs shall hold the entity till BLF comes into existence. BRC should follow a self-sustaining revenue model.
- BRC to be assisted by CRP-EP and the Bank Coordination System (Bank Mitra). BRC to provide resource and reference material including videos, manuals etc.
- Help enterprises get bank finance using tablet-based software for making the business feasibility plan, doing credit appraisal and tracking business performance.
- Use the Community Investment Fund (CIF) to provide seed capital for starting the business until it reaches a size where bank finance is needed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2-Judiciary and relations with executive
The relations between the judiciary and executive have always been tumultuous. This article analyses the changes in the judiciary’s relations with the executive after 2014.
Relations with executive
- In 2014 government blocked the elevation of Gopal Subramanium as a judge of the apex court.
- A month later, the government introduced a bill to create the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
- The NJAC Act was passed by Parliament in December 2014.
- In October 2015, the SC struck down the NJAC Act, ruling that it would affect the independence of the judiciary vis-à-vis the executive.
- Following striking down of the NJAC Act, the SC directed the government to propose a new memorandum of procedure (MoP) for appointments to the higher judiciary.
- The draft government sent to the Court allowed the government to reject any name recommended by the Collegium on grounds of national security and made it compulsory for the Collegium to justify its selection.
- The Collegium rejected these clauses and the MoP could never be finalised.
- The government sat on the appointments that the Collegium had recommended months ago.
- In April 2016, 170 proposals for appointments to the high courts were pending at that time.
SC’s perceived reluctance to question executive after 2017
- Appointments and transfers ceased to be a problem because the Collegium accepted the appointments and transfers.
- The Court considered that the Aadhaar Bill could be passed as a Money Bill, validated the Electoral Bonds Act.
- The SC also abstained from dealing with sensitive issues like the abolition of Article 370 or the Citizenship Amendment Act.
- This modus operandi of the court, when applied to Aadhaar, created a fait accompli.
3 questions over the SC’s role
- 1) The court’s reluctance to question the government on contentious issues — from J&K to misuse of sedition law or the NRC — is disturbing.
- 2) The manner in which the judiciary has addressed allegations against itself — Kalikho Pul or Prasad Education Trust or on sexual harassment — gives a handle to those in power.
- 3) The independence of the judiciary is inevitably affected by the acceptance of post-retirement jobs.
Consider the question “While playing its role, judiciary faces several challenges from the other organs of the democracy. In light of this, examine the challenges judiciary in India faces from the executive.”
Conclusion
Supreme Court’s apparent reluctance to question government on consequential issues affects its moral authority.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Features of Basic structure doctrine
Mains level: Evolution of the basic structure doctrine
Kesavananda Bharati (80), the sole unwitting petitioner in the historic Fundamental Rights case which prevented the nation from slipping into a totalitarian regime has passed away.
Who was Kesavananda Bharati?
- Kesavananda Bharati was the head seer of the Edneer Mutt in Kasaragod district of Kerala since 1961.
- He left his signature in one of the significant rulings of the Supreme Court when he challenged the Kerala land reforms legislation in 1970.
What was his case?
- A 13-judge bench was set up by the Supreme Court, the biggest so far, and the case was heard over 68 working days spread over six months.
- The Bench gave 11 separate judgments that agreed and disagreed on many issues but a majority judgment of seven judges were stitched together by then CJI SM Sikri on the eve of his retirement.
- However, the basic structure doctrine, which was evolved in the majority judgment, was found in the conclusions of the opinion written by one judge — Justice H R Khanna.
What was the case about?
- The case was primarily about the extent of Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution.
- First, the court was reviewing a 1967 decision in Golaknath v State of Punjab which, reversing earlier verdicts, had ruled that Parliament cannot amend fundamental rights.
- Second, the court was deciding the constitutional validity of several other amendments.
- Notably, the right to property had been removed as a fundamental right, and Parliament had also given itself the power to amend any part of the Constitution and passed a law that it cannot be reviewed by the courts.
- The executive vs judiciary manoeuvres displayed in the amendments ended with the Kesavananda Bharati case, in which the court had to settle these issues conclusively.
- Politically, the case represented the fight for supremacy of Parliament led by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
What did the court decide?
- In its majority ruling, the court held that fundamental rights cannot be taken away by amending them.
- While the court said that Parliament had vast powers to amend the Constitution, it drew the line by observing that certain parts are so inherent and intrinsic to the Constitution that even Parliament cannot touch it.
- However, despite the ruling that Parliament cannot breach fundamental rights, the court upheld the amendment that removed the fundamental right to property.
- The court ruled that in spirit, the amendment would not violate the “basic structure” of the Constitution.
- Kesavananda Bharati, in fact, lost the case. But as many legal scholars point out, the government did not win the case either.
What is the basic structure doctrine?
- The origins of the basic structure doctrine are found in the German Constitution which, after the Nazi regime, was amended to protect some basic laws.
- The original Weimar Constitution, which gave Parliament to amend the Constitution with a two-thirds majority, was in fact used by Hitler to his advantage to made radical changes.
- Learning from that experience, the new German Constitution introduced substantive limits on Parliament’s powers to amend certain parts of the Constitution which it considered ‘basic law’.
- In India, the basic structure doctrine has formed the bedrock of judicial review of all laws passed by Parliament. No law can impinge on the basic structure.
- What the basic structure is, however, has been a continuing deliberation. While parliamentary democracy, fundamental rights, judicial review, secularism are all held by courts as the basic structure, the list is not exhaustive.
What was the fallout of the verdict?
- Politically, as a result of the verdict, the judiciary faced its biggest litmus test against the executive.
- Then government did not take kindly to the majority opinion and superseded three judges —J M Shelat, A N Grover and K S Hegde — who were in line to be appointed CJI after Justice Sikri.
- The supersession resulted in a decades-long continuing battle on the independence of the judiciary and the extent of Parliament’s power to appoint judges.
- But the ruling has cemented the rejection of majoritarian impulses to make sweeping changes or even replace the Constitution and underlined the foundations of modern democracy.
Significance of the Judgement
- The judgment introduced the Basic Structure doctrine which limited Parliament’s power to make drastic amendments that may affect the core values enshrined in the Constitution like secularism and federalism.
- The verdict upheld the power of the Supreme Court to judicially review laws of Parliament.
- It evolved the concept of separation of powers among the three branches of governance — legislative, executive and the judiciary.
- The Emergency was proclaimed shortly after the judgment was delivered on April 24, 1973.
- It proved timely and thwarted many an attempt on democracy and dignity of an individual during those dark years.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Sri Lankan constitutional issues
After the Rajapaksas’ win in the November 2019 presidential polls and the August 2020 general election, the spotlight has fallen on two key legislations in Sri Lanka’s Constitution.
Sri Lankan amendments in news
- One, the 19th Amendment was passed in 2015 to curb powers of the Executive President, while strengthening Parliament and independent commissions.
- The Rajapaksa government has already drafted and gazetted the 20th Amendment.
- The other legislation under sharp focus is the 13th Amendment passed in 1987, which mandates a measure of power devolution to the provincial councils established to govern the island’s nine provinces.
What is the 13th Amendment?
- It is an outcome of the Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987, signed by the then PM Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayawardene, in an attempt to resolve the ethnic conflict and civil war.
- The 13th Amendment, which led to the creation of Provincial Councils, assured a power-sharing arrangement to enable all nine provinces in the country, including Sinhala majority areas, to self-govern.
- Subjects such as education, health, agriculture, housing, land and police are devolved to the provincial administrations.
- But because of restrictions on financial powers and overriding powers given to the President, the provincial administrations have not made much headway.
- In particular, the provisions relating to police and land have never been implemented.
Why is it contentious?
- The 13th Amendment carries considerable baggage from the country’s civil war years. It was opposed vociferously by both Sinhala nationalist parties and the LTTE.
- The opposition within Sri Lanka saw the Accord and the consequent legislation as an imprint of Indian intervention.
- It was widely perceived as an imposition by a neighbour wielding hegemonic influence.
- The Tamil polity, especially its dominant nationalist strain, does not find the 13th Amendment sufficient in its ambit or substance. However, some find it as an important starting point, something to build upon.
Why is it significant?
- Till date, the Amendment represents the only constitutional provision on the settlement of the long-pending Tamil question.
- In addition to assuring a measure of devolution, it is considered part of the few significant gains since the 1980s, in the face of growing Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism.
Its criticism
- Critics argue that in a small country, the provinces could be effectively controlled by the Centre.
- The opposition camp also includes those fundamentally opposed to sharing any political power with the Tamil minority.
- All the same, all political camps that vehemently oppose the system have themselves contested in provincial council elections.
- The councils have over time also helped national parties strengthen their grassroots presence and organisational structures.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Criminal Court
Mains level: Not Much
The U.S. has announced sanctions including asset freezes and visa bans against two officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.
International Criminal Court
- The ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague, Netherlands.
- It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
- It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals.
- The ICC lacks universal territorial jurisdiction, and may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed within member states, crimes committed by nationals of member states, or crimes in situations referred to the Court by the UNSC.
Issues with ICC
The ICC has faced a number of criticisms from states and society, including objections about-
- its jurisdiction, accusations of bias, questioning of the fairness of its case-selection and trial procedures, and doubts about its effectiveness
Implications of US sanction
- The US action is perceived as a setback to the international rules-based multilateral order, and the decision to sanction anybody assisting the ICC will deter victims of violence in Afghanistan from speaking out.
- The unilateral sanctions would encourage other regimes accused of war crimes to flout the ICC’s rulings.
B2BASICS
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Assam Rifles
Mains level: India's paramilitary forces
The Delhi High Court has granted 12 weeks to the Union government to decide on whether to scrap or retain the dual control structure for Assam Rifles. Presently it comes under both the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
What is the Assam Rifles?
- Assam Rifles is one of the six central armed police forces (CAPFs) under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
- The other forces being the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
- It is tasked with the maintenance of law and order in the North East along with the Indian Army and also guards the Indo-Myanmar border in the region.
- It has a sanctioned strength of over 63,000 personnel and has 46 battalions apart from administrative and training staff.
Making of the regiment
- Assam Rifles is the oldest paramilitary force raised way back in 1835 in British India with just 750 men.
- Since then it has gone on to fight in two World Wars, the Sino-Indian War of 1962 and used as an anti-insurgency force against militant groups in the North East.
- Raised as a militia to protect British tea estates and its settlements from the raids of the NE tribes, the force was first known as Cachar Levy.
- It was reorganized later as Assam Frontier Force as its role was expanded to conduct punitive operations beyond Assam borders.
How is it unique?
- It is the only paramilitary force with a dual control structure. While the administrative control of the force is with the MHA, its operational control is with the Indian Army, which is under the MoD.
- This means that salaries and infrastructure for the force is provided by the MHA, but the deployment, posting, transfer and deputation of the personnel is decided by the Army.
- All its senior ranks, from DG to IG and sector headquarters, are manned by officers from the Army. The force is commanded by Lt. General from the Indian Army.
- The force is the only central paramilitary force (CPMF) in a real sense as its operational duties and regimentation are on the lines of the Indian Army.
- However, its recruitment, perks, promotion of its personnel and retirement policies are governed according to the rules framed by the MHA for CAPFs.
Why do both MHA and MoD want full control?
- MHA has argued that all the border guarding forces are under the operational control of the ministry and so Assam Rifles coming under MHA will give border guarding a comprehensive and integrated approach.
- MHA sources also say that Assam Rifles continues to function on the pattern set during the 1960s and the ministry would want to make guarding of the Indo-Myanmar border on the lines of other CAPFs.
- The Army, for its part, has been arguing that there is no need to fix what isn’t broken.
- Sources say the Army is of the opinion that the Assam Rifles has worked well in coordination with the Army and frees up the armed forces from many of its responsibilities to focus on its core strengths.
- It has argued that giving the control of the force to MHA or merging it with any other CAPF will confuse the force and jeopardize national security.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: State Reforms Action Plan Rankings 2019
Mains level: Ease of Doing Business
Andhra Pradesh has bagged the first rank among all the states in the country in the state business reforms action plan-2019 (BRAP-2019), representing ease of doing business for Atmanirbhar Bharat.
About the Ranking
- It is the annual ease of doing business index of states and UTs of India based on the completion percentage scores of action items points of annual Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) under the Make in India initiative.
- This ranking is based on the implementation of the business reform action plan.
- Some of the key focus areas are access to information and technology, the setting up of a single-window system, construction permit enablers and land administration, according to DPIIT.
- It based on the progress of states in completing annual reform action plan covering 8 key areas.
The top ten states under the State Reform Action Plan 2019 are:
- Andhra Pradesh
- Uttar Pradesh
- Telangana
- Madhya Pradesh
- Jharkhand
- Chhattisgarh
- Himachal Pradesh
- Rajasthan
- West Bengal
- Gujarat
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Tax reforms
The article discusses two recent measures announced by the government to bring in the transparency in the tax system.
Issue of lower tax collection and way out
- An economic contraction this year will severely impact tax collections.
- Changing tax rates or the tax base in response is difficult and a hurried approach can have wider consequences.
- So, the only tool available is to urge voluntary compliance.
- Compliance is achieved through a fine balance between enforcement and encouragement.
- Despite enforcement-driven measures in the past the taxpaying population has remained at only 6 per cent.
- Thus, the only way to boost collections is to build trust between the administration and the taxpayer.
Relation between complexity of system and compliance
- A taxpayer has to interact with the tax system at numerous instances.
- While interacting, if the taxpayer perceives the system to be complex, such perception affects compliance.
- Perceived complexity can discourage individuals from filing returns.
- This could reflect simply in the difference between the number of taxpayers and the returns filed: which is around 20 million.
- Such behaviour is bound to impact tax collection.
Recent government measures to bring transparency
1) New taxpayer’s charter with some new features
- The charter is a document that lists a taxpayer’s rights and obligations.
- A taxpayer’s charter is often perceived as a means to build taxpayer’s trust.
- The rights and obligations mentioned in India’s new charter are in line with global practices.
- There are 3 interesting additions in the new charter: 1) commitment to reducing compliance costs 2) holding its authorities accountable 3) publishing a periodic report of service standards.
- A tax ombudsman can ensure that some of these standards are met, however, in 2019, the cabinet approved the abolition of the quasi-judicial post.
2) Faceless assessment
- This relates to the frequent complaint of taxpayers about corruption and delay.
- To end personal interface, e-assessment was introduced in 2019.
- Developing this idea further, faceless assessment now seeks to further automate the case selection and the distribution function of the assessing officer.
- The intent is to divest and distribute the functions of a single assessing officer so that assessment is carried out in a fair manner.
Consider the question “What are the factors responsible for low tax compliance in India? What are the steps taken by the government to increase compliance?
Conclusion
If the commitment to a fair and impartial system and a time-bound resolution of matters is to be met, the new processes, with reviews and anonymity, must ensure efficiency in case selection and consistency in assessment.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission Karmayogi
Mains level: Paper 2- Mission Karmayogi
The Mission Karmayogi seeks to overhaul the bureaucracy in the country. The article discusses its aims and the challenges it could face.
Context
- The Union cabinet’s approval of Mission Karmayogi has raised the hope of a national bureaucracy that is adequately responsive to the country’s needs.
Need for the overhaul
- The system’s focus needs to be role- rather than rule-specific,
- Coordination should prevail over battles for control, and IAS officers ought to be enablers instead of red-tape wrappers.
- There has been a near consensus in the country that our system of policy implementation needs an overhaul.
What is Mission Karmayogi
- It is an upskilling initiative for government officials that aims to fix and galvanize India’s administration.
- As envisaged, the Karmayogi training mechanism will cover an estimated 4.6 million officials at all levels.
- Due to the scale of the exercise elaborate multi-tier command structure is expected to be put in place for it.
- At its apex would be a Human Resource Council, headed by the Prime Minister.
- Human Resource Council shall approve and monitor various skill-enhancing programmes as well as review the performance of employees routinely.
Challenges
- Given the way our bureaucracy has operated for decades, Mission Karmayogi is likely to prove disruptive.
- The idea of being subject to continuous evaluation by a central authority could unsettle some officers.
- There has been some disquiet within IAS ranks over the Centre’s lateral induction of people for senior roles, perhaps the new mission will resolve such disgruntlement.
Conclusion
Gentralized supervision of such large numbers does not promise to be easy. Globally, centralization has been observed to militate against diversity of thought. And that’s vital to the governance of a country like India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Role and accountability of legislature
Mains level: Paper 2- Role of key organs of democracy during pandemic
The article analyses the impact of pandemic on the functioning legislatures and issues its implications.
Context
- Due to coronavirus pandemic, several States have held very short sessions in which they ratified a number of ordinances and hardly questioned any executive action over the last few months.
Role of Parliament and Court
- The government has the mandate to take decisions and perform various public tasks.
- Government in turn is accountable to the legislature which can question it, and, as an extreme step, even replace it.
- The legislature is accountable to citizens through regular elections.
- Finally, constitutional courts are expected to ensure that all actions are made within the boundaries of the Constitution and laws made by the legislature.
Dilution of the role of Parliament in India
- Indian Parliament has allowed its role to be diluted over the last few decades.
- It has not questioned and monitored the activity of the executive.
- Comparison with British Parliament: The United Kingdom’s joint parliamentary committee on human rights examined the proposals of a contact tracing app.
- The committee recommended that an app could be used only if there was specific primary legislation to enable it.
- India, in contrast, rolled out Aarogya Setu through executive decision, and has created a grey zone on whether it is mandatory or not.
- Parliament should recover lost ground by fulfilling its constitutionally mandated role.
Lack of parliamentary oversight during pandemic
- Parliament will be meeting after 175 days.
- 175 days’ is the longest gap without intervening general elections and just short of the six-month constitutional limit.
- During the pandemic, over 900 central and nearly 6,000 State government notifications have been issued
- Parliamentary committees did not meet for about four months.
- This is unlike many other countries where both the plenary and committees have adopted technology to enable members to participate from home.
Judicial intervention in policy issues
- The lack of parliamentary oversight has been compounded by judicial intervention in many policy issues.
- For example, the government’s actions related to the lockdown should have been questioned by Parliament.
- However, this was taken to the Supreme Court, which is not equipped and mandated to balance policy options.
- Directions of the Court have to be followed which removes flexibility needed to tackle evolving issues with implementation.
- Consider another case, Court decided to limit the period in which telecom companies have to pay their dues to the government, and overruled a cabinet decision.
- This is a policy matter that balances interests of telecom companies, consumers and banks.
- This issue is best judged by the government with oversight by Parliament.
- And court should step in if there is an illegality.
Way forward
- Several events have taken place over the last six months that need thorough discussion.
- This includes ways to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, economic growth which has had a sharp fall in the first quarter of this fiscal year.
- This has far-reaching implications for creating jobs, stability of the banking system, and government finances.
- The government is likely to bring in a supplementary budget; indeed, a fresh look at the Union Budget may be required given the changes in basic assumptions since January.
- The situation at the China border also needs to be discussed.
Consider the question “Anlyse the impact of pandemic on the key organs of the democracy.”
Conclusion
Parliamentarians have a duty towards Indian citizens to fulfil their role in scrutinising the work of the government and guiding policy. Despite the curtailed session and the constraints due to the coronavirus, they should make the best of the limited time to do so. They need to wrest back their rightful role in our democracy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PSL
Mains level: PSL
The RBI has released a revised priority sector lending guidelines to augment funding to segments including start-ups and agriculture.
New Priority Sector Lending (PSL) guidelines
- Bank finance of up to ₹50 crores to start-ups, loans to farmers both for installation of solar power plants for Solarization of grid-connected agriculture pumps and for setting up compressed biogas (CBG) plants have been included as fresh categories eligible for finance under the priority sector.
- This has come to align it with emerging national priorities and bring a sharper focus on inclusive development, after having wide-ranging discussions with all stakeholders.
- It will enable better credit penetration to credit deficient areas, increase the lending to small and marginal farmers and weaker sections, boost credit to renewable energy, and health infrastructure
- The targets prescribed for ‘small and marginal farmers’ and ‘weaker sections’ are being increased in a phased manner.
- Higher credit limit has been specified for farmer producer organisations (FPOs)/farmers producers companies (FPCs) undertaking farming with assured marketing of their produce at a pre-determined price.
Back2Basics: Priority Sector Lending
- PSL is an important role given by the (RBI) to the banks for providing a specified portion of the bank lending to few specific sectors like agriculture and allied activities, micro and small enterprises, poor people for housing, students for education and other low-income groups and weaker sections.
- This is essentially meant for an all-round development of the economy as opposed to focusing only on the financial sector.
- The broad categories of priority sector for all scheduled commercial banks are as under:
- Agriculture and Allied Activities (Direct and Indirect finance)
- Small Scale Industries (Direct and Indirect Finance)
- Small Business / Service Enterprises
- Micro Credit
- Education loans
- Housing loans
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Act of God , Force Majeure clause
Mains level: Not Much
Amid disruptions caused by Covid-19, the Finance Minister has referred to an Act of God while businesses are looking at a legal provision, force majeure, to cut losses.
Note the key differences between the Act of God and Force Majeure.
Evoking “Act of God”
- The force majeure or “Act of God” clause has its origins in the Napoleonic Code.
- The finance ministry had issued an office memorandum inviting attention to the force majeure clause (FMC) in the 2017 Manual for Procurement of Goods issued by the Department of Expenditure.
- It clarified that the pandemic should be considered a case of natural calamity and FMC may be invoked, wherever considered appropriate.
What is a force majeure clause?
- The law of contracts is built around a fundamental norm that the parties must perform the contract.
- When a party fails to perform its part of the contract, the loss to the other party is made good.
- However, the law carves out exceptions when the performance of the contract becomes impossible for the parties.
- A force majeure clause is one such exception that releases the party of its obligations to an extent when events beyond their control take place and leave them unable to perform their part of the contract.
- FMC is a clause that is present in most commercial contracts and is a carefully drafted legal arrangement in the event of a crisis.
- When the clause is triggered, parties can decide to break from their obligations temporarily or permanently without necessarily breaching the contract.
- Companies in such situations use the clause as a safe exit route, sometimes in opportunistic ways, without having to incur the penalty of breaching the contract.
Difference between the two
- Both concepts elicit the same consequences in law.
- Generally, an “Act of God” is understood to include only natural unforeseen circumstances, whereas force majeure is wider in its ambit and includes both naturally occurring events and events that occur due to human intervention.
What situations legally qualify for use of force majeure?
- While some contracts have clauses with standard circumstances, some contracts would have specific circumstances that are more focused.
- For example, a shipping contract would have a force majeure clause that could cover a natural disaster like a tsunami.
- If an event is not described, then it is interpreted in a way that it falls in the same category of events that are described.
- An FMC is negotiated by parties, and events that could potentially hamper the performance of the contract are catalogued.
- It is not invoked just by expressing that an unforeseen event has occurred.
- In case a contract does not have a force majeure clause, there are some protections in common law that can be invoked by parties.
- For example, the Indian Contract Act, 1872 provides that a contract becomes void if it becomes impossible due to an event after the contract was signed that the party could not prevent.
Global precedents dealing with COVID-19 pandemic
- In China, where the Covid-19 outbreak originated, the Council for Promotion of International Trade is issuing force majeure certificates to businesses.
- China’s Supreme People’s Court had recognised the 2002 SARS outbreak as a force majeure event.
- Singapore enacted the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act in April to provide relief to businesses that could not perform their contractual obligations due to the pandemic.
- The Paris Commercial Court in July ruled that the pandemic could be equated to a force majeure event.
- In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority has brought in a test case before the High Court to look into business insurance contracts and interpret the standard wordings in such contracts.
- The International Chamber of Commerce has developed a Model Code on the force majeure clause reflecting current international practice.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Project Dolphin
Mains level: NA
In his Independence Day Speech this year, PM has announced the government’s plan to launch a Project Dolphin. The proposed project is aimed at saving both river and marine dolphins.
Project Dolphin
- The Project will be on the lines of Project Tiger, which has helped increase the tiger population.
- So far, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), which implements the government’s flagship scheme Namami Gange, has been taking some initiatives for saving dolphins.
- Now, Project Dolphin is expected to be implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
About Gangetic Dolphin
- The Gangetic river system is home to a vast variety of aquatic life, including the Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica).
- It is one of five species of river dolphin found around the world.
- It is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems.
- An adult dolphin could weigh between 70 kg and 90 kg. The breeding season of the Gangetic dolphin extends from January to June.
- They feed on several species of fishes, invertebrates etc.
Why is it important to save dolphins?
- The construction of dams and barrages and increasing pollution has led to a decline in the population of aquatic animals in the rivers in general and of dolphins in particular.
- Aquatic life is an indicator of the health of river ecosystems.
- As the Gangetic dolphin is at the top of the food chain, protecting the species and its habitat will ensure
Aquatic life as an indicator of the health of a river system
- Globally, there have been such examples. For instance, the Rhine Action Plan (1987) of the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) brought back the salmon.
- The return of the migratory fish is taken as an indicator of the river’s improved health.
- Salmon used to migrate from the North Sea to the Rhine every year and reproduce, but this stopped when pollution increased in the river.
- After a chemical accident in 1986 that caused the death of fish and microorganisms, the Action Plan was launched.
- This led to an improvement in the quality of the river water, and the salmons began to return.
What has been done to save Gangetic dolphins so far?
- Although efforts to save them were started in the mid-1980s, the estimates suggest the numbers have not risen as a result.
- The Gangetic dolphin remains listed as Endangered by the IUCN.
- After the launch of Ganga Action Plan in 1985, the government on November 24, 1986, included Gangetic dolphins in the First Schedule of the Indian Wildlife (Protection), Act 1972.
- This was aimed at checking hunting and providing conservation facilities such as wildlife sanctuaries. For instance, Vikramshila Ganges Dolphin Sanctuary was established in Bihar under this Act.
Conservation so far
- The government has prepared The Conservation Action Plan for the Ganges River Dolphin 2010-2020.
- It identified threats to Gangetic Dolphins and impact of river traffic, irrigation canals and depletion of prey-base on Dolphins populations.
- On October 5, 2009, the then PM declared the Gangetic river dolphin as the national aquatic animal.
- A notification was issued by the MoEFCC the following year. Now, the National Mission for Clean Ganga celebrates October 5 as National Ganga River Dolphin Day.
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