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  • Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

    States can identify Minorities: Centre

    IOCR | Indian Society | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution – historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs said “state governments can also declare a religious or linguistic community as a ‘minority community’ within the state”.

    Why in news?

    • The Centre was responding to a petition filed stating that the followers of Judaism, Baha’ism and Hinduism — who are the real minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur.
    • They however cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
    • The Centre said the allegation was “not correct”.
    • The government’s affidavit explained that Parliament and State legislatures have concurrent powers to enact laws to provide for the protection of minorities and their interests.

    Various states on Minorities

    • The Centre gave the example of how Maharashtra notified ‘Jews’ as a minority community within the State.
    • Again, Karnataka notified Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Tulu, Lambadi, Hindi, Konkani and Gujarati as minority languages within the State.

    Who are the Minorities?

    • Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain and Zorastrians (Parsis) have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
    • As per the Census 2011, the percentage of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population of the country.
    • The population of Muslims are 14.2%; Christians 2.3%; Sikhs 1.7%, Buddhists 0.7%, Jain 0.4% and Parsis 0.006%.
    • Minority Concentration Districts (MCD), Minority Concentration Blocks and Minority Concentration Towns, have been identified on the basis of both population data and backwardness parameters of Census 2001 of these areas.

    Defining Minorities

    • The Constitution recognizes Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India through Article 29 and Article 30.
    • But Minority is not defined in the Constitution.
    • Currently, the Linguistic minorities in India are identified on a state-wise basis thus determined by the state government whereas Religious minorities in India are determined by the Central Government.
    • The Parliament has the legislative powers and the Centre has the executive competence to notify a community as a minority under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992.

    Article 29: It provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script, or culture of its own, shall have the rights of minorities in India to conserve the same. Article 29 is applied to both minorities (religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India) and also the majority. It also includes – rights of minorities in India to agitate for the protection of language.

    Article 30: All minorities shall have the rights of minorities in India to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. Article 30 recognises only Religious minorities in India and Linguistic minorities in India (not the majority). It includes the rights of minorities in India to impart education to their children in their own language.

    Article 350-B: Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic minorities in India. However, the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 inserted Article 350-B in the Constitution. It provides for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President of India. It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under the Constitution.

     

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  • Water Management – Institutional Reforms, Conservation Efforts, etc.

    Detecting Microplastics in Human Blood

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    A study by researchers from The Netherlands has found Microplastics in blood samples. About half of these were PET (polyethylene tertraphthalate) plastics, which is used to make food grade bottles.

    What are Microplastics?

    • Microplastics are tiny bits of various types of plastic found in the environment.
    • The name is used to differentiate them from “macroplastics” such as bottles and bags made of plastic.
    • There is no universal agreement on the size of microplastics. It defines microplastic as less than 5mm in length.
    • However, for the purposes of this study, since the authors were interested in measuring the quantities of plastic that can cross the membranes and diffuse into the body via the blood stream.
    • Hence they agreed on an upper limit on the size of the particles as 0.0007 millimetre.

    What were the plastics that the study looked for in the blood samples?

    • The study looked at the most commonly used plastic polymers.
    • These were polyethylene tetraphthalate (PET), polyethylene (used in making plastic carry bags), polymers of styrene (used in food packaging), poly (methyl methylacrylate) and poly propylene.
    • They found a presence of the first four types.

    Significance of the study

    • Making a human health risk assessment in relation to plastic particles is not easy, perhaps not even possible, due to the lack of data on exposure of people to plastics.
    • In this sense, it is important to have studies like this one.
    • The authors of the paper also remark that validated methods to detect the tiny (trace) amounts of extremely small-sized (less than 10 micrometre) plastic particles are lacking.
    • Hence this study, which builds up a methods to check the same, is important.

    Health hazard of microplastics

    • It is not yet clear if these microplastics can cross over from the blood stream to deposit in organs and cause diseases.
    • The report point out that the human placenta has shown to be permeable to tiny particles of polystyrene ( 50, 80 and 24 nanometre beads).
    • Experiments on rats where its lungs were exposed to polystryrene spheres (20 nanometre) led to translocation of the nanoparticles to the placental and foetal tissue.
    • Oral administration of microplastics in rats led to accumulation of these in the liver, kidney and gut.
    • Further studies have to be carried out to really assess the impact of plastics on humans.

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Why is there a great concern about the ‘microbeads’ that are released into environment?

    (a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.

    (b) They are considered to cause skin cancer in children.

    (c) They are small enough to be absorbed by crop plants in irrigated fields.

    (d) They are often found to be used as food adulterants.

     

    Post your answers here.

     

     

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  • Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

    The phenomenon of Coral Bleaching

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

    The management authority of the world’s largest coral reef system, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, confirmed on March 25 that the reef is experiencing a mass coral bleaching event.

    What are Coral Reefs?

    • Corals are marine invertebrates or animals not possessing a spine.
    • Each coral is called a polyp and thousands of such polyps live together to form a colony, which grows when polyps multiply to make copies of themselves.
    • Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef system stretching across 2,300 km.
    • It hosts 400 different types of coral, gives shelter to 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc.
    • Corals are of two types — hard coral and soft coral:
    1. Hard corals, also called hermatypic or ‘reef building’ corals extract calcium carbonate (also found in limestone) from the seawater to build hard, white coral exoskeletons.
    2. Soft coral polyps, however, borrow their appearance from plants, attach themselves to such skeletons and older skeletons built by their ancestors. Soft corals also add their own skeletons to the hard structure over the years and these growing multiplying structures gradually form coral reefs. They are the largest living structures on the planet.

    How do the feed themselves?

    • Corals share a symbiotic relationship with single-celled algae called zooxanthellae.
    • The algae provides the coral with food and nutrients, which they make through photosynthesis, using the sun’s light.
    • In turn, the corals give the algae a home and key nutrients.
    • The zooxanthellae also give corals their bright colour.

    What is Coral Bleaching?

    • Bleaching happens when corals experience stress in their environment due to changes in temperature, pollution or high levels of ocean acidity.
    • Under stressed conditions, the zooxanthellae or food-producing algae living inside coral polyps start producing reactive oxygen species, which are not beneficial to the corals.
    • So, the corals expel the colour-giving zooxanthellae from their polyps, which exposes their pale white exoskeleton, giving the corals a bleached appearance.
    • This also ends the symbiotic relationship that helps the corals to survive and grow.
    • Severe bleaching and prolonged heat stress in the external environment can lead to coral death.

    Impact of climate change

    • Over the last couple of decades, climate change and increased global warming owing to rising carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases have made seas warmer than usual.
    • Under all positive outlooks and projections in terms of cutting greenhouse gases, sea temperatures are predicted to increase by 1.5°C to 2°C by the time the century nears its end.
    • The first mass bleaching event had occurred in 1998 when the El Niño weather pattern caused sea surfaces in the pacific ocean to heat up; this event caused 8% of the world’s coral to die.
    • The second event took place in 2002.
    • In the past decade, however, mass bleaching occurrences have become more closely spaced in time, with the longest and most damaging bleaching event taking place from 2014 to 2017.

    Significance of Corals

    • Coral reefs support over 25% of marine biodiversity, including fish, turtles and lobsters; even as they only take up 1% of the seafloor.
    • The marine life supported by reefs further fuels global fishing industries. Even giant clams and whales depend on the reefs to live.
    • Besides, coral reef systems generate $2.7 trillion in annual economic value through goods and service trade and tourism.
    • In Australia, the Barrier Reef, in pre-COVID times, generated $4.6 billion annually through tourism and employed over 60,000 people including divers and guides.
    • Aside from adding economic value and being a support system for aquatic life, coral reefs also provide protection from storm waves.
    • Dead reefs can revive over time if there are enough fish species that can graze off the weeds that settle on dead corals, but it takes almost a decade for the reef to start setting up again.

    Current condition of the Great Barrier Reef

    • The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its report this month, which warned that the life of the Great Barrier is in grave danger.
    • The report said that if temperatures continue to rise, bleaching events may occur more often and a large proportion of the remaining reef cover in Australia could be lost.
    • Just a couple of weeks after this warning, the Barrier Reef Authority confirmed a mass bleaching phenomenon affecting all pockets of the reef system.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    1. Most of the world’s coral reefs are in tropical waters.
    2. More than one third of the world’s coral reefs are located in the territories of Australia, Indonesia and Philippines.
    3. Coral reefs host far more number of animal phyla than those hosted by tropical rainforests.

    Which of the above statements is/are correct?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1 and 3 only

     

    Post your answers here.

     

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  • Indian Army Updates

    What are Articulated All-Terrain Vehicles?

    Prelims Only | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

    The Indian Army has issued a Request For Information (RFI) for the supply of Articulated All-Terrain Vehicles to be deployed in Ladakh and Kutch.

    What are Articulated All-Terrain Vehicles?

    • Articulated ATV is a twin cabin, tracked, amphibious carrier for off road mobility.
    • The special design of this equipment exerts low ground pressure on the soil and a pull-push mode of locomotion between two cabins facilitates mobility over varied terrains like snow, desert and slush.
    • A ballistic protection in the cabin body ensures protection to troops travelling in it from small arms fire.
    • They can reach where wheeled vehicles cannot due to deep snow, slush or marshy terrain and can be very effective for patrolling and rapid deployment in operational situations.

    Utility of these vehicles

    • These vehicles are very useful to move troops or supplies in snow-bound terrains and in marshy/sandy environments.
    • The Indian Army wishes to use these vehicles in the snow-bound areas of Ladakh and in the marshy terrain of the Rann of Kutch.

     

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Back in news: Malabar Rebellion

    Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

    The Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) has deferred its decision on a recommendation to remove the 1921 Malabar Rebellion martyrs, including Variamkunnaathu Kunhahamad Haji and Ali Musliyar, from the list of India’s freedom fighters.

    Malabar Rebellion

    • The Malabar Rebellion in 1921 started as resistance against the British colonial rule and the feudal system in southern Malabar but ended in communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.
    • There were a series of clashes between Mappila peasantry and their landlords, supported by the British, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
    • It began as a reaction against a heavy-handed crackdown on the Khilafat Movement, a campaign in defence of the Ottoman Caliphate by the British authorities in the Eranad and Valluvanad taluks of Malabar.
    • The Mappilas attacked and took control of police stations, British government offices, courts and government treasuries.

    Who was Variyankunna Kunjahammed Haji?

    • He was one of the leaders of the Malabar Rebellion of 1921.
    • He raised 75000 natives, seized control of large territory from the British rule and set up a parallel government.
    • In January 1922, under the guise of a treaty, the British betrayed Haji through his close friend Unyan Musaliyar, arresting him from his hideout and producing him before a British judge.
    • He was sentenced to death along with his compatriots.

    Back2Basics: “Dictionary of Martyrs” Project

    • The project for compilation of “Dictionary of Martyrs” of India’s Freedom Struggle was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of uprising of 1857.
    • In this dictionary a martyr has been defined as a person who died or who was killed in action or in detention, or was awarded capital punishment while participating in the national movement for emancipation of India.
    • It includes ex-INA or ex-military personnel who died fighting the British.
    • Information of about 13,500 martyrs has been recorded in these volumes.

    Who are included?

    • It includes the martyrs of 1857 Uprising, Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919), Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22), Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-34), Quit India Movement (1942-44), Revolutionary Movements (1915-34), Kissan Movements, Tribal Movements, Agitation for Responsible Government in the Princely States (Prajamandal), Indian National Army (INA, 1943-45), Royal Indian Navy Upsurge (RIN, 1946), etc.

    Five Volumes

    • Volume 1: In this volume, more than 4400 martyrs of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have been listed.
    • Volume 2: In this volume more than 3500 martyrs of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir have been listed.
    • Volume 3: The number of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 1400. This volume covers the martyrs of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Sind.
    • Volume 4: The numbers of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 3300. This volume covers the martyrs of Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura.
    • Volume 5: The number of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 1450. This volume covers the martyrs of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

    Try this question from CSP 2020:

    Q. With reference to the history of India, “Ulgulan” or the Great Tumult is the description of which of the following event?

    (a) The Revolt of 1857

    (b) The Mappila Rebellion of 1921

    (c) The Indigo Revolt of 1859-60

    (d) Birsa Munda’s Revolt of 1899-1900

     

    Post your answers here.

     

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  • Iran’s Nuclear Program & Western Sanctions

    In endgame of Vienna nuclear talks, Tehran holds the cards

    | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Context

    Iran’s foreign minister during his recent visit to Syria, noted that Iran and the major powers, who have been negotiating a mutual return to the Iran nuclear deal — or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — over the last eleven months, were closer to an agreement “than ever before”.

    Issues in the negotiation over Iran’s return to JCPOA

    • The ongoing eighth round of talks between Iran and P4+1, has been going on since December 27, 202.
    • These issues remaining are understood to be Tehran’s demand for guarantees against another withdrawal in the future, the verifiable lifting of all US sanctions, and the IAEA investigation into Iran’s past nuclear activities.
    • Guarantees against another withdrawal: On the issue of guarantees against another withdrawal, Iran is no longer demanding legal guarantees from Washington.
    • Lifting all sanctions: Tehran has refused to retreat from its uncompromising stance on the lifting of all US sanctions, while the Biden administration has so far been prepared to lift only those “inconsistent” with the deal.
    • Another key sticking point, though not directly related to the nuclear deal, is Iran’s demand that President Biden reverse his predecessor’s designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.

    Concerns

    •  Western interlocutors are alarmed by Iran’s shrinking breakout time — the time needed for gathering enough weapons-grade uranium to make a single nuclear warhead.
    • Also, they are concerned that the longer Iran stays outside the agreement, the more nuclear expertise and fissile material it will accumulate, thus making the original deal obsolete.
    • Thus, time is of the essence for reaching an agreement that will turn the clock back on Iran’s nuclear activities.

    Conclusion

    Iran uses its nuclear activities as a bargaining counter to seek an agreement that will best serve its interests. So, the early conclusion of the deal is important to turn the clock back on Iran’s nuclear activities.

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    Back2Basics: What is JCPOA

    • The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a agreement reached by Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) on July 14, 2015.
    • The nuclear deal was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted on July 20, 2015.
    • Iran’s compliance with the nuclear-related provisions of the JCPOA is verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) according to certain requirements set forth in the agreement.
    • Despite Iran’s verified compliance with the deal, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018, and subsequently re-imposed all U.S. sanctions on Iran lifted by the accord.
    • Then-U.S. President Donald Trump cited the deal’s sunset provisions and its failure to account for Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other things, as impetus for withdrawal from the accord.

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  • Agricultural Sector and Marketing Reforms – eNAM, Model APMC Act, Eco Survey Reco, etc.

    Self reliance in Agriculture

    | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Agriculture and related issues

    Context

    For the Amrit Kaal (next 25 years) that the government has announced, we need to be self-reliant not just in missiles (defence equipment) but also in meals (food).

    What does self-reliance in food mean?

    • Its true meaning lies in specialising in commodities in which we have a comparative advantage, export them, and import those in which we don’t have a significant comparative advantage.
    • Self-reliance in food does not mean that we have to produce everything ourselves at home, irrespective of the cost.
    • If some protection is needed for new areas to develop (infant industry argument), that may be okay.
    • But one should not aspire to be self-sufficient behind high tariff walls.

    Importance of agri-R&D

    • What is it that gives a country an edge over others in attaining comparative advantage?
    • There is ample literature to show that agri-R&D raises total factor productivity and makes agriculture more competitive globally.
    • If India wants to be fully self-reliant in food, it is generally agreed that it must invest at least 1 per cent of its agri-GDP in agri-R&D.
    • The Economic Survey (2021-22) explicitly highlighted the correlation between spending on agri-R&D and agricultural growth.
    • Low expenditure on agri-R&D: But the budgets of both the Union government and the states put together reveal that this expenditure on agri-R&D and education hovers around 0.6 per cent of agri-GDP.
    • This is way below the minimum cut off point of 1 per cent and government policy must urgently work towards raising this substantially.
    • There are some global and local companies like Bayer, Syngenta, MAHYCO, Jain Irrigation, and Mahindra and Mahindra that spend a considerable amount of their turnover on R&D programmes and developing high-tech inputs.
    • The USP of these companies is that they develop technology that increases productivity while addressing the current challenges of limited net sown area, depleting water resources, vulnerability to climate change, and the need to produce nutrient-rich food.

    Way forward

    • Role of private sector: The private sector need to come forward and help India attain supremacy in agri-R&D and innovation systems and a hub for exports and agri-technology.
    • Increase expenditure on Agri-R&D and education: The need of the hour is to focus on increasing expenditure on ARE and other development projects, which can aid in the sustainable growth of the agriculture sector.
    • India’s budget allocations in the agri-food space should thrive on creating “more from less”.
    • There is a need to work on building long-term sustainable solutions that have an aggressive approach to implementing relevant policies and developing new ones.
    • India’s current budgetary allocation strategy and trends need to be reoriented to ensure that there is more room for R&D expenditure by the government.
    • Incentivise private companies for R&D: In addition to this, the government should come out with policies that incentivise private companies to expand their R&D programmes and invest more financial resources on development projects, which have the potential to overcome the challenges of the current agrarian setup of India.

    Conclusion

    If India wants to be fully self-reliant in food, it must focus on agri-R&D and increase allocation in the Budget.

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  • Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

    What is the Affinity Test to Identify Scheduled Tribes?

    | Indian Society | Mains Paper 1: Social Empowerment

    The Supreme Court wants to fix foolproof parameters to determine if a person belongs to a Scheduled Tribe and is entitled to the benefits due to the community as it is no longer sure about an “affinity test”.

    What is the Affinity Test?

    • Affinity Test is used to shift through anthropological and ethnological traits to link a person to a tribe.
    • There is the likelihood that contact with other cultures, migration and modernization would have erased the traditional characteristics of a tribe.
    • The claim by an applicant that he is a part of a Scheduled Tribe and is entitled to the benefit extended to that tribe, cannot per se be disregarded on the ground that his present traits do not match his tribes.
    • These include peculiar anthropological and ethnological traits, deity, rituals, mode of marriage, death ceremonies, method of burial of dead bodies etc.
    • Worship is an integral part of the life of a community and tribes have specific modes which need to be ascertained by the officers who decide the claims (for ST status).

    Who are the Scheduled Tribes?

    • The term ‘Scheduled Tribes’ first appeared in the Constitution of India.
    • Article 366 (25) defined scheduled tribes as “such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this constitution”.
    • Article 342, which is reproduced below, prescribes procedure to be followed in the matter of specification of scheduled tribes.
    • The first specification of Scheduled Tribes in relation to a particular State/ Union Territory is by a notified order of the President, after consultation with the State governments concerned.
    • These orders can be modified subsequently only through an Act of Parliament.
    • The above Article also provides for listing of scheduled tribes State/Union Territory wise and not on an all India basis.

    What did the Supreme Court say?

    • It has been considered it best to refer the question of fixing the parameters to a larger Bench.
    • The Bench emphasized that the issue was a “matter of importance” when it came to the issuance of caste certificates.
    • The affinity test may be used to corroborate the documentary evidence and should not be the sole criteria to reject a claim the apex court had warned.

    Why discuss this?

    • The Supreme Court has decided to refer the question to a larger Bench for an authoritative decision.
    • It realised that the courts were faced with varied opinions about the efficacy of the affinity test.

    Status of STs in India

    • The Census 2011 has revealed that there are said to be 705 ethnic groups notified as Scheduled Tribes (STs).
    • Over 10 crore Indians are notified as STs, of which 1.04 crore live in urban areas.
    • The STs constitute 8.6% of the population and 11.3% of the rural population.

    Precursor to this Judgements

    • On one side, a full Bench of the Bombay High Court in Shilpa Vishnu Thakur v State of Maharashtra accepted the “relevance and importance of the affinity test”.
    • The full Bench, in a decision in 2009, held that the affinity test was an “integral part” of the verification process for caste certificates.
    • Scrutiny committees could easily determine the authenticity of a claim by running an affinity test on the basis of ethnicity and anthropology.
    • The HC had said that the term ‘affinity’ meant the ‘association’ of the applicant for a caste certificate with a Scheduled Tribe into which he or she has been born.
    • However, two years later, in 2011, the Supreme Court adopted a cautionary note. It indicated that the affinity test may have run its course.

     

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  • Electoral Reforms In India

    The move to ease Voting for Overseas Citizens

    | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Representation Of People’s Act

    The Union Government was exploring the possibility of allowing online voting for non-resident Indians (NRI).

    Why in news?

    • The matter of to ease voting for NRIs comes in the wake of a proposal made by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
    • The Law Ministry in November 2020 decided to extend the facility of postal ballots to eligible NRIs for the various State Assembly elections to be held in 2021.
    • The ECI then, had proposed amending the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, in order to allow this facility.

    NRI vs. OCI

    • The term NRI is a residential status designed by the Income Tax Department of the Indian government and has efficiency only during filing Income Tax returns.
    • On the other hand, OCI is an immigration status or special visa in layman’s language provided to foreign nationals of Indian origin by the Indian government to work or live indefinitely.

    How can overseas voters currently vote in Indian elections?

    • Prior to 2010, an Indian citizen who is an eligible voter and was residing abroad for more than six months, would not have been able to vote in elections.
    • This was because the NRI’s name was deleted from electoral rolls if he or she stayed outside the country for more than six months at a stretch.
    • After the passing of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010, eligible NRIs who had stayed abroad beyond six months have been able to vote, but only in person at the polling station where they have been enrolled as an overseas elector.
    • Just as any resident Indian citizen above the age of 18 years) is eligible to vote in the constituency where she/he is a resident, overseas Indian citizens are also eligible to do so.
    • In the case of overseas voters, their address mentioned in the passport is taken as the place of ordinary residence and chosen as the constituency for the overseas voter to enroll in.

    How has the existing facility worked so far?

    • Hike in voters: From merely 11,846 overseas voters who registered in 2014, the number went up to close to a lakh in 2019. But the bulk of these voters (nearly 90%) belonged to just one State — Kerala.
    • Section 20-1A, Part III of the RP Act: It addresses this to some extent by qualifying “a person absenting himself temporarily from his place of ordinary residence shall not by reason thereof cease to be ordinarily resident therein.
    • Proxy provisions: The Bill provided for overseas voters to be able to appoint a proxy to cast their votes on their behalf, subject to conditions laid down in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
    • Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System: The ECI then approached the government to permit NRIs to vote via postal ballots similar to a system that is already used by service voters, (a member of the armed Forces of the Union; or a member of a force to which provisions of the Army Act, 1950 (46 of 1950) which is ETPBS. The ECI proposed to extend this facility to overseas voters as well.

    What is ETPBS and how does it function?

    • The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 was amended in 2016 to allow service voters to use the ETPBS.
    • Under this system, postal ballots are sent electronically to registered service voters.
    • The service voter can then download the ETPB (along with a declaration form and covers), register their mandate on the ballot and send it to the returning officer of the constituency via ordinary mail.
    • The post will include an attested declaration form (after being signed by the voter in the presence of an appointed senior officer who will attest it).
    • The postal ballot must reach the returning officer by 8 a.m. on the day of the counting of results.
    • In the case of NRI voters, those seeking to vote through ETPBS will have to inform the returning officer at least five days after notification of the election.

    Will this facility be available to all overseas voters across countries?

    • There were news reports that the ECI had indicated to the Ministry of External Affairs that it would want postal voting introduced on a pilot basis in non-Gulf countries.
    • But the ECI had asked the Law Ministry to explore the possibility of extending postal ballots to overseas electors and not restrict it to any particular country.
    • In March 2021, the Ministry of External Affairs informed ECI that the implementation could require to overcome “huge logistical challenges” and needs “a realistic assessment of requirements”

    Are postal ballots a viable means of voting?

    • The ETPBS method allowed for greater turnout among service voters in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
    • With the increasing mobility of citizens across countries for reasons related to work, the postal ballot method has been internationally recognized.
    • A postal ballot mechanism that allows for proper authentication of the ballot at designated consular/embassy offices and an effective postal system should ease this process for NRIs.

    Back2Basics: NRI vs OCI

    Non-Resident Indian (NRI)

    • To mention it, NRI is someone who is not a resident of India.
    • However, the law is much more complicated and must be delved deeper to gain an inclusive insight into the sector.
    • A person is considered a resident of India if he/she has been staying in India for a minimum tenure of 182 days during the previous financial year of a particular year. OR
    • A person living in India for a total of 365 days during the previous four financial years and a minimum of 60 days during the last financial years is considered a citizen for a particular year.
    • Now an NRI or a non-resident of India is eligible to pay charges for only the first two situations, which means either the income received or earned in India.
    • Therefore, the NRI status also influences the enjoyable rights of that person.

    Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)

    • OCI is a card issued by the government of India that denotes that a non-resident or foreigner has been permitted to stay and work within Indian boundaries.
    • Hence, this card provides foreigners with an immigration status without any limited tenure.
    • There are cases where PIOs of specific categories are allowed for OCI cards that have migrated from India to foreign countries (except Pakistan and Bangladesh) if the other government agrees for dual citizenship.
    • An individual holding an OCI card can be an overseas citizen of India in the layman’s language.
    • So an OCI is not a citizen of India, but the Indian government has given the cardholder permission to reside and work within the boundaries of India.
    • Residents migrating from Pakistan and Bangladesh are not eligible for holding the OCI card. Even if their parents are citizens of both countries, the applicants will be denied having an OCI card.

     

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  • Defence Sector – DPP, Missions, Schemes, Security Forces, etc.

    DRDO’s Corner-Shot Weapon System

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Indigenization Of Technology

    A corner-shot weapon system (CSWS), designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is at an advanced stage of being inducted by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir police.

    What is CSWS?

    • The CSWS is a special purpose weapon designed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune.
    • It can engage targets located around the corners as the system bends and captures video feed thus saving soldiers from any surprise counter-attack and is best suited for urban, close quarter situations.
    • It is equipped with weapon, camera, laser, infrared illuminator and torch in front portion, while display, electronics, battery and swivelling mechanism are located at rear portion.
    • The body is made from high-grade aluminium alloy to make it lighter and durable.

    Key features

    • Day-night firing capability, colour display, digital zoom, zeroing facility, hot keys, high power battery along with status display and compliance with JSS 5855 makes it a very potent system for security forces.
    • It is very helpful in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terror (CI/CT) operations.
    • This indigenously developed system has many superior features compared to its contemporary international systems and available for 9 mm GLOCK 17/19 and 1A1 Auto Pistol variant.

     

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