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  • Kongu Nadu region of Tamil Nadu

    A list of new Union Cabinet ministers issued has triggered a debate in political circles in Tamil Nadu, as well as on social media, by referring to ‘Kongu Nadu’, the informal name for a region in the western part of the state.

    Where is Kongu Nadu?

    • ‘Kongu Nadu’ is neither a place with a PIN code nor a name given formally to any region.
    • It is a commonly used name for part of western Tamil Nadu.
    • In Tamil literature, it was referred to as one of the five regions of ancient Tamil Nadu.
    • There were mentions of ‘Kongu Nadu’ in Sangam literature as a separate territory.
    • The name derives from Kongu Vellala Gounder, an OBC community with a significant presence in these districts.
    • The region includes prominent businesses and industrial hubs at Namakkal, Salem, Tirupur and Coimbatore.

    Is there any ground for the allegations about a planned bifurcation?

    • Unlike Telangana or Uttarakhand, there has never been demand or discussions about a separate Kongu Nadu in the modern political history of Tamil Nadu.
    • The debate, therefore, lacks any political or social context.

    Back2Basics: Sangam Age

    • The ‘Sangam’ describes a period from the sixth century BC to the third century AD encompassing today’s Tamil Nadu, Kerala, the southern parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and northern Sri Lanka.
    • The Tamil Sangams or Cankams were assemblies of Tamil scholars and poets that, according to traditional Tamil accounts, occurred in the remote past.
    • It is named for scholarly congregations in and around the city of Madurai, located about 400 km southwest of Chennai.
    • It generally refers to a collection of poems, composed by Tamil poets, both men and women developed in the ancient Southern state of India.
    • It mostly deals with emotional and material topics such as love, war, governance, trade and bereavement.

  • What is lightning, and how does it strike?

    With the monsoon making a slow revival over several parts of India, except the northwest region, there is a rise in lightning-linked deaths.

    What is lightning?

    • Lightning is a very rapid — and massive — discharge of electricity in the atmosphere, some of which is directed towards the Earth’s surface.
    • These discharges are generated in giant moisture-bearing clouds that are 10-12 km tall.
    • The base of these clouds typically lies within 1-2 km of the Earth’s surface, while their top is 12-13 km away.
    • Temperatures towards the top of these clouds are in the range of minus 35 to minus 45 degrees Celsius.

    How does it strike?

    • As water vapour moves upward in the cloud, the falling temperature causes it to condense.
    • Heat is generated in the process, which pushes the molecules of water further up.
    • As they move to temperatures below zero degrees Celsius, the water droplets change into small ice crystals. They continue to move up, gathering mass — until they are so heavy that they start to fall to Earth.
    • This leads to a system in which, simultaneously, smaller ice crystals are moving up and bigger crystals are coming down.
    • Collisions follow and trigger the release of electrons — a process that is very similar to the generation of sparks of electricity.
    • As the moving free electrons cause more collisions and more electrons, a chain reaction ensues.
    • This process results in a situation in which the top layer of the cloud gets positively charged, while the middle layer is negatively charged.

    Making of the thunder

    • The electrical potential difference between the two layers is huge — of the order of a billion to 10 billion volts.
    • In very little time, a massive current, of the order of 100,000 to a million amperes, starts to flow between the layers.
    • An enormous amount of heat is produced, and this leads to the heating of the air column between the two layers of the cloud.
    • This heat gives the air column a reddish appearance during lightning. As the heated air column expands, it produces shock waves that result in thunder.

    How does this current reach the Earth from the cloud?

    • While the Earth is a good conductor of electricity, it is electrically neutral.
    • However, in comparison to the middle layer of the cloud, it becomes positively charged.
    • As a result, about 15%-20% of the current gets directed towards the Earth as well.
    • It is this flow of current that results in damage to life and property on Earth.
    • There is a greater probability of lightning striking tall objects such as trees, towers or buildings.
    • Once it is about 80-100 m from the surface, lightning tends to change course towards these taller objects.
    • This happens because air is a poor conductor of electricity, and electrons that are travelling through air seek both a better conductor and the shortest route to the relatively positively charged Earth’s surface.

    What precautions should be taken against lightning?

    • Lightning rarely hits people directly — but such strikes are almost always fatal.
    • People are most commonly struck by what are called “ground currents”.
    • The electrical energy, after hitting a large object (such as a tree) on Earth, spreads laterally on the ground for some distance, and people in this area receive electrical shocks.
    • It becomes more dangerous if the ground is wet (which it frequently is because of the accompanying rain), or if there is metal or other conducting material on it.
    • Water is a conductor, and many people are struck by lightning while standing in flooded paddy fields.
    • For the reasons given above, taking shelter under a tree is dangerous. Lying flat on the ground too can increase risks.
    • People should move indoors in a storm; however, even indoors, they should avoid touching electrical fittings, wires, metal, and water.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.During a thunderstorm, the thunder in the skies is produced by the:

    1. meeting of cumulonimbus clouds in the sky
    2. lightning that separates the nimbus clouds
    3. violent upward movement of air and water particles

    Select the correct option using the codes given below (CSP 2011):

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) None of the above

  • What is Suborbital Flight?

     

    Virgin Group founder Richard Branson became the first billionaire to fly to the edge of space and back, riding aboard his own Virgin Galactic spacecraft in a suborbital flight.

    What is Suborbital Flight?

    • When an object travels at a horizontal speed of about 28,000 km/hr or more, it goes into orbit once it is above the atmosphere.
    • Satellites need to reach that threshold speed in order to orbit Earth.
    • Such a satellite would be accelerating towards the Earth due to gravity, but its horizontal movement is fast enough to offset the downward motion so that it moves along a circular path.
    • Any object travelling slower than 28,000 km/hr must eventually return to Earth.
    • These are suborbital flights, because they will not be travelling fast enough to orbit Earth once they reach there.
    • Such a trip allows space travellers to experience a few minutes of “weightlessness”.

    Analogical example

    • For an analogy, consider a cricket ball thrown into the air.
    • Given that no human hand can give it a speed of 28,000 km/hr (about 8 m/sec), the ball will fly in an arc until its entire kinetic energy is swapped with potential energy.
    • At that instant, it will lose its vertical motion momentarily, before returning to Earth under the influence of gravity.
    • A suborbital flight is like this cricket ball, but travelling fast enough to reach the “edge of space”, and yet without enough horizontal velocity to go into orbit.
    • If an object travels as fast as 40,000 km/hr, it will achieve escape velocity, and never return to Earth.

    Why the buzz?

    • With Branson and Jeff Bezos kicking off private space flight, several companies are looking for customers wanting to go on suborbital or even orbital journeys.
    • At Branson’s Virgin Galactic, around 600 people have already paid deposits for tickets that are priced up to $250,000 (Rs 1.86 crore).
    • However, Bezos’s Blue Origin, which uses the reusable New Shepard rocket, is yet to announce commercialization plans, according to the BBC.
    • There is also excitement among scientists who want to use suborbital flights for microgravity research.
    • Such flights would be far less expensive than carrying experiments and people to the International Space Station.
    • Suborbital flights could also be an alternative to parabolic flights in airplanes that space agencies currently use to simulate zero gravity.

    Safety concerns

    • The Branson flight comes seven years after his company’s first rocket, called Enterprise, crashed during a test flight, killing one of the pilots on board.
    • The other survived after parachuting out.
    • The current rocket is also not certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which is prohibited to do so by law until 2023.
    • This is because the US government does not want to burden companies like Virgin Atlantic with regulations during their “learning” period, when they can innovate by trying out different designs and procedures.
    • Passengers who go on such trips need to sign “informed consent” forms, similar to the ones before going for skydiving or bungee jumping.

  • What is a Bitcoin Hardware Wallet and how it works?

    Last week, Twitter CEO announced his payments firm Square would soon build a hardware wallet to store bitcoin.

    Bitcoin Hardware Wallet

    • The wallet will be a type of plug-in device, much like a USB pen drive that stores, manages and secures a user’s crypto assets.
    • Each digital asset is linked to a cryptographic password called a ‘private key’ to allow users to access it.
    • This key safeguards cryptocurrencies from theft and unauthorized access.
    • The asset owner, with the help of a secure hardware wallet, can access the private key to buy and sell crypto assets from anywhere.
    • Most hardware wallets allow users to manage multiple accounts; some even allow users to connect to their Google or Facebook accounts.
    • Popular hardware wallets include Trezor, Ledger, KeepKey and Prokey.

    How is it different from a software wallet?

    • Cryptocurrency keys can be stored in two kinds of wallets – software and hardware.
    • Software wallets are like smartphone apps that digitally store private keys.
    • Most software wallets don’t charge users to store private keys but may collect a commission for trading via the app.
    • These wallets can be vulnerable to malware.
    • Hardware wallets and physical devices act like cold storage for confidential keys. The passwords are protected by a PIN, making it difficult for hackers to extract private keys as the information is not exposed to the Internet.

    The upsides of a hardware wallet

    • Hardware wallets are said to be convenient as they can be connected to trading exchanges to complete transactions.
    • Hardware wallets are often stored in a protected microcontroller and cannot be transferred out of the device, making them secure.
    • Their isolation from the Internet also mitigates the risk of the assets being compromised. Moreover, it does not rely on any third-party app.

    Limitations

    • Since the wallet is in physical form, the device could be stolen or destroyed.
    • They could be used by malicious actors to steal confidential data.
    • The device can also be expensive as compared to software wallets.
    • Some hardware wallets can also have complex features, making it difficult for first-timers to understand.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.With reference to “Blockchain Technology”, consider the following statements:

    1. It is a public ledger that everyone can inspect but which no single user controls.
    2. The structure and design of block chain is such that all the data in it are about crypto currency only.
    3. Applications that depend on basic features of blockchain can be developed without anybody’s permission.

    Which of the statement given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (b) 1 and 2 only

    (d) 1 and 3

    Back2Basics: Cryptocurrencies

    • A cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger existing in a form of a computerized database.
    • It uses strong cryptography to secure transaction records, control the creation of additional coins, and verify the transfer of coin ownership.
    • It typically does not exist in physical form (like paper money) and is typically not issued by a central authority.
    • Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control as opposed to centralized digital currency and central banking systems.

  • Retail Direct Scheme for G-Secs

    The RBI has announced a scheme under which retail investors will be allowed to open retail direct gilt accounts (RDG) directly with the central bank.

    Retail Direct Scheme

    • The scheme is a one-stop solution to facilitate investment in government securities (G-secs) by individual investors.
    • Under RDG schemes, accounts can be opened through a dedicated online portal, which will provide registered users access to primary issuance of government securities and to NDS-OM.

    What is a gilt account?

    • A “Gilt Account” means an account opened and maintained for holding Government securities, by an entity or a person including ‘a person resident outside India’ with a “Custodian” permitted by the RBI.

    About Government Securities

    • These are debt instruments issued by the government to borrow money.
    • The two key categories are:
    1. Treasury bills (T-Bills) – short-term instruments which mature in 91 days, 182 days, or 364 days, and
    2. Dated securities – long-term instruments, which mature anywhere between 5 years and 40 years

    Note: T-Bills are issued only by the central government, and the interest on them is determined by market forces.

    Why G-Secs?

    • Like bank fixed deposits, g-secs are not tax-free.
    • They are generally considered the safest form of investment because they are backed by the government. So, the risk of default is almost nil.
    • However, they are not completely risk-free, since they are subject to fluctuations in interest rates.
    • Bank fixed deposits, on the other hand, are guaranteed only to the extent of Rs 5 lakh by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).

    Retail investors and G-Secs

    • Small investors can invest indirectly in g-secs by buying mutual funds or through certain policies issued by life insurance firms.
    • To encourage direct investment, the government and RBI have taken several steps in recent years.
    • Retail investors are allowed to place non-competitive bids in auctions of government bonds through their Demat accounts.
    • Stock exchanges act as aggregators and facilitators of retail bids.

  • 13th July 2021| Daily Answer Writing Enhancement(AWE)

    Topics for Today’s questions:

    GS-1  The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.

    GS-2 Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

    GS-3  Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

         GS-4  Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion

    Questions:

    Question 1)

     

    Q.1) “For the for most of the moderates Politics remain a part time affair. The Congress was not a political party, but an annual three-day show”. Comment ( 10 Marks)

     

    Question 2)

    Q.2) Article 15(1) of the Constitution of India prohibits the state from discriminating against individuals on basis of certain protected characteristics. But it does not bar private individuals or institutions from doing what the state is not permitted to. In light of this, discuss the need for anti-discrimination law in India and its provisions. (10 Marks)

    Question 3)

    Q.3) The ascending stock of forex reserves in India has led to the view this will enable the sole devotion of monetary policy to domestic objectives. Do you agree with this view? Give reasons in support of your agreement. (10 Marks)

    Question 4)  

    Q.4) The human beings often need encouragement or intervention to do what’s best for themselves or society at large. In the light of above statement bring out the Importance of behavioural economics concept of ‘nudge’ to encourage desirable social and economic change in the country. (10 Marks)

     

    HOW TO ATTEMPT ANSWERS IN DAILY ANSWER WRITING ENHANCEMENT(AWE)?

    1. Daily 4 questions from General studies 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be provided to you.

    2. A Mentor’s Comment will be available for all answers. This can be used as a guidance tool but we encourage you to write original answers.

    3. You can write your answer on an A4 sheet and scan/click pictures of the same.

    4.  Upload the scanned answer in the comment section of the same question.

    5. Along with the scanned answer, please share your Razor payment ID, so that paid members are given priority.

    6. If you upload the answer on the same day like the answer of 1st June is uploaded on 1st June then your answer will be checked within 72 hours. Also, reviews will be in the order of submission- First come first serve basis

    7. If you are writing answers late, for example, 1st June is uploaded on 3rd June, then these answers will be evaluated as per the mentor’s schedule.

    8. We encourage you to write answers on the same day. However, if you are uploading an answer late then tag the mentor like @Swatantra so that the mentor is notified about your answer.

    *In case your answer is not reviewed, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. Swatantra Sir’s tag is available, tag him.

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  • [RSTV Archive] Cooperative Based Economic Development

    A new Ministry of Cooperation has been created to strengthen cooperative movement. This separate administrative structure was proposed in Union Budget earlier this year. New ministry is expected to streamline processes for cooperatives and realise the vision of ‘ Sahkar se Samriddhi’.

    In this article we will discuss and analyse all aspects of this issue.

    What is a Cooperative?

    • A cooperative is “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned enterprise”.
    • Cooperatives are democratically owned by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors.

    Cooperative Movement in India

    The history of cooperatives in India goes back to more than a hundred years and they continue to stay relevant due to their grassroots reach and ability to bring economic growth to underserved sections.

    • The cooperative movement, which has its roots in the 19th century Europe, developed in pre-Independence India in response to agricultural distress and indebtedness.
    • Their growth was fostered, first by India’s erstwhile British rulers and, post-Independence, several steps have been taken to put assist in their growth and functioning.
    • The formal launch of the cooperative movement in India occurred with the introduction of the Cooperative Societies Act in 1904.
    • However, it notes that even before the passing of that law, “the practice of the concept of cooperation and cooperative activities were prevalent in several parts of India”.
    • In 1912, another Cooperative Societies Act was passed to rectify some of the drawbacks of the earlier law.
    • The next landmark change came in 1919 when cooperation was made a state subject. That allowed the various states to come up with their own legislation governing cooperatives.

    Who can form a cooperative in India?

    • Cooperatives are geared towards benefiting the chunk of Indian people — about 65 per cent of the country’s population — who depend on agriculture and related activities.
    • According to the Co-operative Societies Act, 1912, at least 10 persons aged above 18 years with common economic objectives, like farming, weaving, consuming, etc, can form a cooperative society.

    Which are the key sectors where cooperatives operate in India?

    1. Consumer Cooperative Society
    2. Producer Cooperative Society
    3. Co-operative Credit Societies
    4. Marketing Cooperative Society
    5. Housing Cooperative Society
    6. Co-operative Farming Societies
    • The various kinds of cooperatives in India include consumers’ cooperative societies, which seek to protect the interest of general consumers by making goods available at reasonable rates.
    • Then there are producers’ cooperative societies that protect the interest of small producers by enabling access to raw materials, tools and equipment, machinery, etc. are examples of producers’ co-operative societies.
    • Among the most famous cooperative brands in the country, Amul developed out of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, which is owned by 36 lakh milk producers in Gujarat.
    • It is an example of a cooperative marketing society, formed by small producers and manufacturers who find it difficult to sell their products individually.
    • Among other types of cooperatives are cooperative credit societies, which accept deposits from members and grant them loans at reasonable rates, and cooperative farming societies, which are formed by small farmers to work jointly and thereby enjoy the benefits of large-scale farming.

    Why needs cooperatives?

    It is easier to understand the need of the cooperatives by knowing its specific objectives. They can be summed as follows:      

    • Cooperatives are good, reliable opportunities for growth
    • They provide an opportunity for collective decision making.
    • They eliminate the unnecessary profits of middlemen in trade and commerce.
    • They aim to protect the rights of people both producers and consumers.
    • They promote mutual understanding and education among their members and people in general.
    • They bring together people at the grassroots and provide them collective bargaining power and benefits of economies of scale.
    • They provide an economic model with a higher level of entrepreneurial or social sustainability and often work as pressure groups to voice the views of their members in a larger market.
    • Being a part of a co-op improves your creditworthiness as a producer as well as a consumer.
    • They are easy to join, ensure equitable distribution of profits, prioritise welfare over individual profits, are stable in their functioning and output, and receive a substantial amount of government support.

    Why need a separate ministry?

    • Over the years, the cooperative institutions have experienced drying out of funding.
    • While the capital came from the Centre, in the form of equity or working capital, only a few states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka got to enjoy it, while other states could not receive much.
    • It had become important to restore the structure of these cooperatives.
    • Under the new Ministry, the cooperative movement would get the required financial and legal power needed to penetrate into other states also.

    How do these cooperative structures influence politics?

    • The cooperative institutions ranging from the village-level primary agricultural credit societies (PACSs) or the urban housing societies have been the starting point of a lot of present leaders.
    • That’s because these cooperatives elect their own board of directors.
    • Many veteran politicians of the day have been in connection with the cooperative movement in the past.
    • They often tend to start their political career through cooperative elections.
    • Control of co-operatives allows politicians to influence decisions upstream (who gets a cabinet seat) as well as downstream and ancillary fields (where are the votes coming from).
    • They are a source of funding and patronage.
    • A canny politician can leverage his/her power at the cooperative level all the way to state and national prominence.

    Challenges for cooperatives

    • Capital: As the income from agriculture in the rural sector has declined drastically there these banks need a new business model to function.
    • Regionality: Milk cooperatives are a huge source of income for the farmers but the growth of the dairy sector is dismal. The North and northeast do not contribute substantially to the dairy sector.  There is a need for policies for supporting ancillary services for the dairy sector.
    • State laws: State cooperative Laws are not in tune with the current socio-economic situation.

    Opposition from the states

    • In Maharashtra and Gujarat, there are many big cooperative societies engaged in sugar and milk production, power looms, and running urban and rural non-agri credit societies.
    • In Mh alone there are around 21,000 primary agriculture credit societies and 31 district cooperative banks.
    • It is believed that around 150 MLAs in Maharashtra are connected to this sector.
    • The Left parties have also expressed concern over the move, stating that it seeks to undermine the federal structure of the country. 
    • Cooperative societies are a state subject in the Constitution’s 7th Schedule.

    What will be the new cooperation ministry’s role?

    • Separate administration: With a focus to help deepen cooperatives as a true people-based movement, the ministry is mandated to “provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement”.
    • Facilitation: The ministry will streamline processes for ease of doing business for cooperatives and enable the development of multi-state cooperatives.
    • Expansion: With the coming up of handicraft and weavers’ cooperatives and so on the farmers’ income can be doubled.
    • Economic boost: It will contribute towards economic growth and development. It will help in identifying other sectors where the cooperatives can come up which will be beneficial for the ones down the value chain.

    What should be the key areas where the ministry should focus?

    • Rural sector: Double farmers’ income can be achieved by growth of the food processing industry. India can learn from the Netherlands in this aspect.
    • Housing for all: Mass housing through cooperative societies in urban areas as majority urban poor live in slums.
    • Consumer cooperatives in urban areas: There are none in the country with credible work. As these can act as a balancing sector.
    • Ease of doing business: EODB norms should be extended to all cooperatives so that they are able to function without obstructions.

    Way forward

    • The new ministry should empower cooperatives to form their SPVs.
    • It should promote companies under the companies act which are formed by the cooperatives.
    • The cooperative should not be dependent only on govt or borrowing for capital.

    Reference:

  • Case for an anti-discrimination law

    Context

    “Silent segregation” on the grounds of marital status, gender, sexual orientation or eating preferences are followed in several housing societies and residents’ associations. Legal remedies are needed for its victims.

    Issue of the prevalence of discrimination on various grounds

    • The recent Pew Research Center Report has confirmed that a substantial number of Indians prefer not to have a person from a different religious community as their neighbour.
    • The absence of a proper legal recourse for those who suffer from housing discrimination only makes matters worse.
    • Social prejudice against members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the country remains strong, despite Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was read down by the Supreme Court of India.
    • In April, the Supreme Court, in Patan Jamal Vali vs State of Andhra Pradesh, recognised intersectional discrimination.
    • It is discrimination on the basis of the intersection of personal characteristics, such as that faced by Dalit women as Dalits, as women and in the unique category of Dalit women.
    • Discriminatory practices may also be indirect in nature, whereby policies that seem neutral and not expressly targeted at a particular group, still cause a disproportional adverse impact on disadvantaged sections of society.

    Why Article 15(1) is not enough

    • Article 15(1) of the Constitution of India prohibits the state from discriminating against individuals on basis of certain protected characteristics such as religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth.
    • But it does not bar private individuals or institutions from doing what the state is not permitted to.
    • Nor does it expressly list ethnicity, linguistic identity, nationality, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance and other personal characteristics as prohibited grounds of discrimination.

    We need a comprehensive anti-discrimination legal framework

    • A comprehensive anti-discrimination legal framework is required to fill the existing legal lacunae.
    • India is one of the few liberal democracies without such a framework.
    • The Sachar Committee, in 2006, recognised the need for an anti-discrimination law.
    • This was further reiterated by the Expert Group on Equal Opportunity Commission headed by Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon.

    Way forward

    • The States can lead the way, by enacting anti-discrimination laws in their respective jurisdictions.
    • States have a vital role in strengthening our right to equality.
    • The State legislature can use its powers under Entry 8 of List III in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution to enact an anti-discrimination law.
    • And if States take the initiative, the demand for a national anti-discrimination law to cover services and institutions under the domain of the Union government will be reignited.
    • The law should have provisions that prohibit employers, landlords, traders, service providers, private persons performing public functions, and public authorities, from discriminating.
    • Law should prohibit discrimination on grounds of caste, race, ethnicity, descent, sex, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, sexual orientation, religious identity, tribe, disability, linguistic identity, HIV-status, nationality, marital status, dietary preference, skin tone, physical appearance, place of residence, place of birth, age or analogous characteristics which are beyond the control of an individual or those that constitute a fundamental choice.
    • The law should also balance the anti-discrimination mandate with other rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
    • The anti-discrimination mandate can be restricted in pursuance of a legitimate objective.
    • Affirmative-action provisions can be included whereby public authorities are obliged to progressively realise diversification of their workforces.

    Consider the question “Article 15(1) of the Constitution of India prohibits the state from discriminating against individuals on basis of certain protected characteristics. But it does not bar private individuals or institutions from doing what the state is not permitted to. In light of this, discuss the need for anti-discrimination law in India and its provisions.”

    Conclusion

    We must recognise that anti-discrimination law is not a panacea for the problems of inequality and social prejudice that are deeply rooted in our society. Nevertheless, it is a necessary step — an idea whose time has come.

  • Strategic cooperation between India, Italy and Japan can ensure a free Indo-Pacific

    Context

    Recently, Mr. Draghi, Italy’s Prime Minister described Chinese competitive practices as “unfair” and invited the EU to be franker and more courageous in confronting Beijing on various issues. Against this backdrop, a trilateral partnership between India-Japan-Italy could play important role in the Indo-Pacific region.

    India’s growing centrality in Indo-Pacific strategic architecture

    • Countries that share similar values and face similar challenges are coming together to create purpose-oriented partnerships.
    • In the context of the Indo-Pacific, the challenges posed by China’s assertive initiatives clash with a region lacking multilateral organisations capable of solving problems effectively.
    • But as a new pushback against China takes shape and as Indian foreign policy becomes strategically clearer, there is new momentum to initiatives such as the Quad.

    India-Italy-Japan trilateral partnership

    • Recently, Italy has also begun to signal its intention to enter the Indo-Pacific geography.
    • It has done so by seeking to join India and Japan in a trilateral partnership.
    • Italy has become more vocal on the risks emanating from China’s strategic competitive initiatives.
    • On the Indian side, there is great interest in forging new partnerships with like-minded countries interested in preserving peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
    • The responsibility of keeping the Indo-Pacific free and open, and working for the welfare of its inhabitants falls on like-minded countries within and beyond the region.

    Potential of trilateral partnership

    • Their compatible economic systems can contribute to the reorganisation of the global supply chains that is now being reviewed by many players as a natural result of the Chinese mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    •  At the security level, the well-defined India-Japan Indo-Pacific partnership can easily be complemented by Italy.
    • At the multilateral level, the three countries share the same values and the same rules-based world view.

    The way forward for trilateral cooperation

    • The Italian government must formulate a clear Indo-Pacific strategy that must indicate its objectives.
    • But Rome must go beyond that in defining and implementing, at the margins of the EU’s common initiatives, its own policy with respect to the Indo-Pacific.
    • The India, Italy and Japan trilateral initiative can be a forum to foster and consolidate a strategic relationship between these three countries, and specifically expand India-Italy bilateral relations.
    • A trilateral cooperation can be the right forum for India and Italy to learn more from each other’s practices and interests and consolidate a strategic dialogue that should include the economic, the security and the political dimensions.
    •  To consolidate the trilateral cooperation in this field, the three countries need to define a common economic and strategic agenda.

    Conclusion

    A clear political will is needed from all sides, and Italy, in particular, should recognise its interests in playing a larger role towards the maintenance of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Robust India-Italy strategic ties can be the first step towards the realisation of this goal.

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    1. Join Habitat for absolutely FREE by clicking here.
    2. Go through the discussions happening on the General channel.
    3. Pick the subject that you wish to study.
    4. And start learning!
    5. You can join as many subjects as you want

    And more…

    Participate, Engage, Discuss, Ask Your Doubts, Practice, and Learn!

    Everything you need to score more and crack this exam is available on Habitat for FREE. Try it out, we promise it will be worth your time.

    Join Now And Start Learning!

    Here is a list of topics and discussions you can join immediately:

    Revise Economics for IAS PrelimsRavi Ranjan11:00 am
    English WritingAnand Prakash12:30 pm
    Science and TechDr. Keerti1:00 pm
    Samadhan CSATRavi Ranjan2:00 pm
    UPSC EPFORohit Yadav3:00 pm
    Chat pe News: Current AffairsAnjum Sharma4:30 pm
    Prelims HeistParth Verma5:00 pm
    Indian society and Social IssuesSiddharth 6:30 pm
    Sangharsh: Answer WritingZeeshan Hashmi7:00 pm
    Samvad: Indian AgricultureRadhika Didwania7:30 pm
    Economics GamifiedAmoghavarsha8:30 pm
    Parakram Answer Writing sessionRohit Yadav9:30 pm
    Post dinner MCQs for IAS prelimsAmitB10:15 pm

    And many more…

    Whatever you need, we have it here.

    Join the club of your choice here (for free)

    How to join a discussion?

    After you have joined/registered on Habitat for free, go to General club. Click on the blue box of the session you want to attend.

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