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  • A WTO waiver on patents won’t help us against covid

    There has been growing clamour across the world for waiver of intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines under TRIPS. The article suggests alternatives to achieve the desired production of vaccines without setting the precedent for a waiver.

    Waiver from TRIPS

    • Last October, India and South Africa moved a motion at the WTO asking its council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to provide a waiver on intellectual property protection for pharmaceutical patents.
    • Many developing countries have since supported the joint move.
    • While most advanced countries, home to the world’s major pharmaceutical companies, have opposed it.
    • Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz, along with activist Lori Wallach, penned an opinion piece making a case for such a waiver.

    Voluntary licensing

    • Alternative to waiver could be voluntary licensing arrangements between pharmaceutical companies and countries that wish to make vaccine doses for their own use.
    • This is exactly what has occurred in India’s case, with a licensing agreement between AstraZeneca and Serum Institute of India.
    • The recent difficulties with this arrangement are a result of India diverting some doses intended for export (or for Covax) to its domestic vaccination drive.
    • But India will soon begin making other important global vaccines under similar licence arrangements, and a waiver would do nothing to speed up this process.

    Compulsory licensing

    • In the event that India needs to ramp up production more than is feasible via licences from global manufacturers, there is another alternative available, which is ‘compulsory licensing’.
    • Such an approach would not permit the export of vaccine doses made under a compulsory licence.
    • This approach should be taken by any developing country, if, for some reason, global pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to license a life-saving vaccine for domestic manufacture and distribution in that nation.

    Why TRIPS waiver won’t help

    • India’s limiting factors are a shortage of raw materials and low production capacity, neither of which would be cured with the supposed magic bullet of a WTO waiver.
    • Not only would a WTO waiver not do anything to address the real bottlenecks that constrain the global production and distribution of vaccines, it would also set a bad precedent.
    • It is true that governments, including the US and others, have significantly subsidized or incentivized in other ways the research and development activities of private pharmaceutical companies that now hold patents for major covid vaccines.
    • Yet, these governments required the ingenuity of private enterprise to invent these vaccines.

    Consider the question “What are the legal provisions to ensure the accessibility of life-saving drugs in the country?”

    Conclusion

    While it may seem appealing, a WTO waiver on intellectual property protection is an inappropriate priority. It’s a distraction from the heavy lifting needed to create the capacity to fight the scourge of covid.

  • Hottest planet in the known universe discovered

    About the plane

    • TOI-1431b, also known as MASCARA-5b, was found 490 light-years from Earth and could be the hottest planet in the known universe.
    • Researchers at the University of Southern Queensland’s Centre for Astrophysics in Toowoomba led the global team that made the discovery.
    • NASA’s Training Exoplanet Survey Satellite first flagged TOI-1431b as a possible planet in late 2019.
    • Dayside temperature reaches approximately 2700 degrees celcius and nightside temperature approaches approximately 2300 degrees celcius – no life could survive in its atmosphere.
    • This temperature is significantly greater than the melting point of most metals, many of which will turn to liquid at under 2000 degrees celcius.
    • Titanium melts at 1670 degrees, platinum at 1770 degrees, and stainless steel at between 1375 and 1530 degrees.

    Planet with a retrograde orbit

    • These types of planets, known as ultra-hot Jupiters, are rarely discovered but this particular one is even more unusual due to its retrograde orbit.
    • In our Solar System, all the planets orbit in the same direction that the Sun rotates and they’re all along the same plane.
    • This new planet’s orbit is tilted so much that it is actually going in the opposite direction to the rotation of its host star.

  • 1st May 2021 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

    [WpProQuiz 617]

    [WpProQuiz_toplist 617]

  • 1 May 2021 | Nikaalo Prelims Quiz- TS 08- Current Affairs Test 3: September 2020

    [WpProQuiz 616]

  • India-Japan relations

    The article discusses the areas in which India-Japan are cooperating and also highlight the areas in which both countries can expand cooperation.

    Issues discussed in US-Japan summit

    • The discussion focused on their joint security partnership given the need to address China’s recent belligerence in territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas as well as in the Taiwan Strait.
    • Both sides affirmed the centrality of their treaty alliance, for long a source of stability in East Asia, and pledged to stand up to China in key regional flashpoints such as the disputed Senkaku Islands and Taiwan.
    • Both sides acknowledged the importance of extended deterrence vis-à-vis China through cooperation on cybersecurity and space technology.
    • Discussions also touched upon Chinese ambitions to dominate the development of new age technologies such as 5G and quantum computing.
    • Given China’s recent pledge to invest a mammoth $1.4 trillion in emerging technologies, Washington and Tokyo scrambled to close the gap by announcing a Competitiveness and Resilience Partnership, or CoRe.
    • Both sides have also signalled their intent to pressure on China on violations of intellectual property rights, forced technology transfer, excess capacity issues, and the use of trade-distorting industrial subsidies.
    •  Both powers repeatedly emphasised their vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.

    Issues that need to be discussed in Japan PM’s visit to India

    1) Continuation of balancing security policy

    • First, one can expect a continuation of the balancing security policy against China that began in 2014.
    • Crucially, India’s clashes with China in Galwan have turned public opinion in favour of a more confrontational China policy.
    • In just a decade, New Delhi and Tokyo have expanded high-level ministerial and bureaucratic contacts, conducted joint military exercises and concluded military pacts such as the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) logistics agreement.
    • Both countries need to affirm support for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific and continued willingness to work with the Quad.
    • Both countries need to take stock of the state of play in the security relationship while also pushing the envelope on the still nascent cooperation on defence technology and exports.

    2) Expanding cooperation in various sectors

    • The two powers will look to expand cooperation in sectors such as cybersecurity and emerging technologies.
    • Digital research and innovation partnership in technologies from AI and 5G to the Internet of Things and space research has increased between the two countries in the recent past.
    • There is a need to deepen cooperation between research institutes and expand funding in light of China’s aforementioned technology investment programme.
    • Issues of India’s insistence on data localisation and reluctance to accede to global cybersecurity agreements such as the Budapest Convention may be discussed in the summit.

    3) Economic ties

    • Economic ties and infrastructure development are likely to be top drawer items on the agendas of New Delhi and Tokyo.
    • Though Japan has poured in around $34 billion in investments into the Indian economy, Japan is only India’s 12th largest trading partner.
    • Trade volumes between the two stand at just a fifth of the value of India-China bilateral trade.
    • India-Japan summit will likely reaffirm Japan’s support for key manufacturing initiatives such as ‘Make in India’ and the Japan Industrial Townships.
    • Further, India will be keen to secure continued infrastructure investments in the strategically vital connectivity projects currently under way in the Northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

    4) Joint strategy toward key third countries

    • In years past, India and Japan have collaborated to build infrastructure in Iran and Africa.
    • Both countries have provided vital aid to Myanmar and Sri Lanka and hammer out a common Association of Southeast Asian Nations outreach policy in an attempt to counter China’s growing influence in these corners of the globe.
    • However, unlike previous summits, the time has come for India and Japan to take a hard look at reports suggesting that joint infrastructure projects in Africa and Iran have stalled with substantial cost overruns.
    •  Tokyo will also likely try to get New Delhi to reverse its decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

    Consider the question “Changes on the geopolitical horizon offers India-Japan relations multiple avenues to deepen their ties. In light of this, discuss the areas of cooperation and shared concerns for India and Japan.” 

    Conclusion

    Writing in 2006, Shinzo Abe, expressed his hope in his book that “it would not be a surprise if in another 10 years, Japan-India relations overtake Japan-U.S. and Japan-China relations”. Thus far, India has every reason to believe that Japan’s new Prime Minister is willing to make that dream a reality.

  • Important Historical Literature/Books/Newspapers in the Freedom Struggle and Important Social Religious Reforms Movements

     

    1st May 2021

    Important Socio-Cultural Reform movements

     

    1. Brahmo Samaj

    • Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833) founded the Brahmo Sabha in August 1828; it was later renamed Brahmo Samaj.
    • The Samaj was committed to “the worship and adoration of Eternal, Unsearchable, Immutable Being who is the author and Preserver of the Universe”.
    • Prayers, Meditations and reading of the Upanishads were to be the forms of worship and no forms of a graven image, statute or sculpture, carvings, paintings, picture, portraits etc were to be allowed in the Samaj buildings, thus underlining the Samaj’s opposition to idolatry and meaningless rituals.
    • The long-term agenda of Brahmo Samaj was to Purify Hinduism and to preach monotheism.
    • This long-terms agenda was based on twin pillars of reason and Vedas and
    • The Samaj kept its emphasis on human dignity, opposition to idolatry and criticism of social evils such as Sati.
    • Maharishi Debendranath Tagore gave a new life to the movement when the joined it in 1843.
    • The Samaj supported widow remarriage, women’s education, the abolition of polygamy improvement in ryots’ condition and temperance.
    • When Keshub Chandra Sen was made the acharya by soon after he joined it, the Samaj experienced another phase of energy, vigour and eloquence. He was instrumental in popularising the movement.
    • After Keshab Chandra Sen was dismissed from the Brahmo Samaj owing to his radical reforms he founded Brahmo Samaj of India.
    • Significance of the Brahmo Samaj-
      • Denounce polytheism and idol worship.
      • Discarded faith in divine avatars.
      • It denied that any scripture could enjoy the status of ultimate authority transcending human reason and conscience.
      • It criticised the caste system.
      • Took no definite stand on the doctrine of karma and transmigration of the soul.

    2. Prarthana Samaj

    • Keshab Chandra Sen helped found the Prarthana Samaj in Bombay in 1863.
    • They relied on education and persuasion rather than on confrontation with Hindu orthodoxy.
    • It’s four-point social agenda includes-
      • Disapproval of the cast system.
      • Women’s education.
      • Widow remarriage
      • Raising the age of marriage for both male and female.
    • Prominent figures include-
      • G. Ranade (1842-1901)
      • G. Bhandarkar
      • G. Chandavarkar. 

     3. Young Bengal Movement

    • Henry Vivan Derozio, who taught at the Hindu College was the leader and its inspirer.
    • During the 1820s and early 1830s, there emerged a radical intellectual trend among the youth in Bengal which came to be known as ‘Young Bengal Movement’.
    • Drawing inspiration from the French Revolution, Derozio inspired his pupils to
      • Think freely and rationally.
      • Question all authority.
      • Love, liberty and equality and freedom.
      • Oppose decadent customs and traditions.
    • The movement also supported women’s rights and education.
    • The movement, however, failed to have long term impact, reasons for which are-
      • Prevailing social conditions at that time were not ripe for the adoption of radical ideas.
      • The movement lacked any real link with the masses.

     4. Paramhansa Mandalis

    • It was founded in Maharashtra in 1849.
    • The founder of this movement believed in one god.
    • They were primarily focused on breaking the caste barriers.
    • They also advocated widow remarriage and women’s education.
    • Branches of Paramhansa Mandalis existed in Poona, Satara and other towns of Maharashtra.

     5. Satya Shodhak Samaj

    • Jyotiba Phule founded the Satyashodhak Samaj in 1873.
    • Its leadership came primarily from the backward classes-Malis, Telis, Kunbis, Saris and Dhangars.
    • Main aims of the movement were-
      • Social service.
      • Spread of education among women and lower classes.
    • Phule aimed at the complete abolition of the caste system and socio-economic equalities.
    • The movement gave a sense of identity to the deprived communities as a class against Brahmins who were seen as the exploiters.

    6.The Ramkrishna Movement

    • It was led by Ramkrishna Paramhansa.
    • The Brahmo Samaj appealed more to the intellectual elite in Bengal, while the average Bengali found more emotional satisfaction in the cult of bhakti and yoga so the movement found many followers.
    • Two objectives of the Ramakrishna movement were
      • To bring into existence a band of monks dedicated to a life of renunciation and practical spirituality.
      • In conjunction with lay disciples to carry on preaching, philanthropic and charitable works, looking upon all men, women and children, irrespective of caste, creed or colour, as veritable manifestations of the Divine.
    • The second objective was taken up by Swami Vivekananda after Ramakrishna’s death when he founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897.
    • Paramahamsa sought salvation through traditional ways of renunciation, meditation and bhakti amidst increasing westernisation and modernisation.

    7. The Servants of India Society.

    • Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), founded the Servants of India Society in 1905 with the help of M.G. Ranade.
    • The aim of the society was-
      • to train national missionaries for the service of India;
      • to promote, by all constitutional means, the true interests of the Indian people;
      • to prepare a cadre of selfless workers who were to devote their lives to the cause of the country in a religious spirit.
    • The society chose to remain aloof from political activities and organisations like the Indian National Congress.

    8. Arya Samaj

    • Dayananda Saraswati (1824-1883) founded the movement.
    • Dayananda subscribed to the Vedic notion of chaturvarna system in which a person was not born in any caste but was identified according to the occupation the person followed.
    • The Arya Samaj fixed the minimum marriageable age at twenty-five years for boys and sixteen years for girls.
    • Inter-caste marriages and widow remarriages were also encouraged. Equal status for women was the demand of the Samaj, both in letter and in spirit.

    9. Sree Narayana Guru Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Movement

    • It was started by Sree Narayana Guru Swamy (1856- 1928) among the Ezhavas of Kerala.
    • Ezhavas were a backward caste of toddy-tappers and were considered to be untouchables, denied education and entry into temples.
    • The SNDP movement was an example of a regional movement born out of the conflict between the depressed classes and upper castes.
    • Sree Narayana Guru held all religions to be the same and condemned animal sacrifice besides speaking against divisiveness on the basis of caste, race or creed.
    • The movement as a whole brought transformative structural changes such as upward social mobility, a shift in the traditional distribution of power and a federation of ‘backward castes’ into a large conglomeration.

    10. Sef-Respect Movement

    • This movement was started by V. Ramaswamy Naicker, a Balija Naidu, in the mid-1920s.
    • The movement aimed at a rejection of the brahminical religion and culture which Naicker felt was the prime instrument of exploitation of the lower castes.
    • He sought to undermine the position of brahmin priests by formalising weddings without brahmin priests.

    11. Temple Entry Movement

    • K. Madhavan, a prominent social reformer and editor of Deshabhimani, took up the issue of temple entry with the Travancore administration. Nothing transpired.
    • In the meanwhile, Vaikom, in the northern part of Travancore, became a centre of agitation for temple entry.
    • In 1924, the Vaikom Satyagraha led by K.P. Kesava was launched in Kerala demanding the throwing open of Hindu temples and roads to the untouchables.
    • Gandhi undertook a tour of Kerala in support of the movement.
    • Leaders like P. Krishna Pillai and A.K. Gopalan were among the satyagrahis.
    • Finally, in 1936, the Maharaja of Travancore issued a proclamation throwing open all government-controlled temples to all Hindus.

    12. Aligarh Movement

    • A section of Muslims led by Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) was ready to allow the official patronage to stimulate a process of growth among Indian Muslims through better education and employment opportunities.
    • He wanted to reconcile Western scientific education with the teachings of the Quran which were to be interpreted in the light of contemporary rationalism and science even though he also held the Quran to be the ultimate authority.
    • He said that religion should be adaptable with time or else it would become fossilised, and that religious tenet was not immutable.
    • He advocated a critical approach and freedom of thought and not complete dependence on tradition or custom.
    • He was also a zealous educationist-founded the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College (later, the Aligarh Muslim University) at Aligarh in 1875.
    • The Aligarh Movement emerged as a liberal, modern trend among the Muslim intelligentsia based in Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, Aligarh.
    • It aimed at spreading-
      • (i) modern education among Indian Muslims without weakening their allegiance to Islam;
      • (ii) social reforms among Muslims relating to purdah, polygamy, widow remarriage, women’s education, slavery, divorce, etc.
    • The ideology of the followers of the movement was based on a liberal interpretation of the Quran and they sought to harmonise Islam with modern liberal culture.
    • They wanted to impart a distinct socio-cultural identity to Muslims on modern lines.

    13. The Deoband School (Darul Uloom)

    • The Deoband Movement was begun at the Darul Uloom,Deoband, in Saharanpur district (United Provinces) in 1866 by Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi (1832-80) and Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (1828-1905) to train religious leaders for the Muslim community.
    • The Deoband Movement was organised by the orthodox section among the Muslim ulema as a revivalist movement.
    • It has the twin objectives of propagating pure teachings of the Quran and Hadis among Muslims and keeping alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers.
    • On the political front, the Deoband school welcomed the formation of the Indian National Congress and in 1888.
    • Shibli Numani, a supporter of the Deoband school, favoured the inclusion of English language and European sciences in the system of education.
    • He founded the Nadwatal Ulama and Darul Uloom in Lucknow in 1894-96. He believed in the idealism of the Congress and cooperation between the Muslims and the Hindus of India to create a state in which both could live amicably.

    14. Sikh Reform Movements.

    • The Sikh community could not remain untouched by the rising tide of rationalist and progressive ideas of the nineteenth century.
    • The Singh Sabha Movement was founded at Amritsar in 1873 with a two-fold objective—
      • to make available modern western education to the Sikhs, and
      • to counter the proselytising activities of Christian missionaries as well as the Brahmo Samajists, Arya Samajists and Muslim maulvis.
    • For the first objective, a network of Khalsa schools was established by the Sabha throughout Punjab.
    • In the second direction, everything that went against the Gurus’ teachings was rejected, and rites and customs considered to be consistent with Sikh doctrine were sought to be established.
    • The Akali movement (also known as Gurudwara Reform Movement) was an offshoot of the Singh Sabha Movement.
    • It aimed at liberating the Sikh gurudwaras from the control of corrupt Udasi mahants.
    • The government tried its repressive policies against the non-violent non-cooperation satyagraha launched by the Akalis in 1921 but had to bow before popular demands.
    • The government passed the Sikh Gurudwaras Act in 1922 (amended in 1925) which gave the control of gurudwaras to the Sikh masses to be administered through Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) as the apex body.
    • The Akali Movement was a regional movement but not a communal one.

    15. The Theosophical Movement

    • A group of westerners led by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Colonel M.S. Olcott, who were inspired by Indian thought and culture, founded the Theosophical Society in New York City, the United States in 1875.
    • In 1882, they shifted their headquarters to Adyar, on the outskirts of Madras.
    • The society believed that a special relationship could be established between a person’s soul and God by contemplation, prayer, revelation, etc.
    • It accepted the Hindu beliefs in reincarnation and karma and drew inspiration from the philosophy of the Upanishads and Samkhya, yoga and Vedanta schools of thought.
    • It aimed to work for the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour.
    • It opposed child marriage and advocated the abolition of caste discrimination, uplift of outcastes, improvement in the condition of widows.
    • In India, the movement became somewhat popular with the election of Annie Besant (1847-1933) as its president.
    • She laid the foundation of the Central Hindu College in Benaras in 1898 where both Hindu religion and Western scientific subjects were taught.
    • The Theosophical Society provided a common denominator for the various sects and fulfilled the urge of educated Hindus.
    • To an average Indian, the Theosophist philosophy seemed to be vague and lacking a positive programme; to that extent, its impact was limited to a small segment of the westernised class.
    • As religious revivalists, the Theosophists did not attain much success.
    • But as a movement of westerners glorifying Indian religious and philosophical traditions, it gave much-needed self-respect to the Indians fighting British colonial rule.
    • Viewed from another angle, the Theosophists also had the effect of giving a false sense of pride to the Indians in their outdated and sometimes backwards-looking traditions and philosophy.

     

     

    Important Newspapers associated with the freedom Struggle

       

     

        Name of the Paper             or journal

               

    		 Year and Place  of           Publication        

     

    Name of the Founder          or       Editor

                   
     

     

         Bengal Gazette

    		  

     

    1780, Calcutta

    		  

     

    James Augustus Hicky
    India Gazette 1787, Calcutta Henry Louis Vivian Derozio was associated with it
     

     

         Bombay Herald           (First Paper from                   Bombay)

    		 1789, Bombay ————
         Digdarshana

     

    (First Bengali Monthly)

    		  

     

    1818, Calcutta

    		  

     

    ———–
          

     

    Bengal Gazette        (First Bengali                    Newspaper)

     

    		 1818, Calcutta Harishchandra Ray
     

     

        Sambad Kaumudi

        (Weekly in Bengali)

     

    		 1821 Raja Ram Mohan Roy
     

     

       Mirat-ul-Akbar                   (First Journal in        Persian)

    		 1822, Calcutta Raja Ram Mohan Roy
            Banga-Duta            (A weekly in four languages- English, Bengali, Persian, Hindi) 1822, Calcutta Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Dwarkanath Tagore and others.
        Bombay Times   (From 1861 onwards, The Times of India)

     

     

    		 1838, Bombay Foundation laid by Robert Knight                            Started by Thomas Bennett

     

     
          Rast Goftar            (A Gujarati fortnightly) 1851 Dadabhai Naoroji
          Hindu Patriot 1853, Calcutta Girishchandra Ghosh
     

     

             Bengalee

    		  

     

    1862, Calcutta

    		 Girishchandra Ghosh

     

    (Taken over by S.N. Banerjea in 1879)
        Amrit Bazar Patrika 1868, Jessore District Sisirkumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh
        Bangadarshana              (In Begali) 1873, Calcutta Bankimchandra Chatterji
     

     

        Indian Statesman

    (Later, The Statesman)

    		 1875, Calcutta Started by Robert Knight
     

     

     The Hindu (In Egnlish)

    (Started as weekly)

    		 1878, Madras G.S. Aiyar, Viraraghavachari and Subha Rao Pandit
     

     

       Tribune (daily)

    		 1881, Lahore Dayal Singh Majeetia
       Kesari(Marathi daily)             and    Maharatta (English            weekly) 1881, Bombay Tilak, Chiplunkar, Agarkar
    Swadeshmitran                  (A Tamil paper) Madras  

     

    G.S. Aiyar
     Paridasak (a weekly) 1886 Bipin Chandra Pal (publisher)
     

     

          Yugantar                          

    		 1906, Bengal  

     

    Barindra Kumar Ghosh andBhupendra Dutta

     
     

     

       Indian Sociologist

    		  

     

    London

    		  

     

    Shyamji Krishnavarma
     

     

        Bande Matram

    		  

     

    Paris

    		  

     

    Madam Bhikaji Kama
     

     

           Talwar

    		  

     

    Berlin

    		  

     

    Virendranath Chattopadhyay
     

     

          Ghadar

    		  

     

    Vancouver

    		  

     

    Ghadar Party
     

     

         Bombay Chronicle               (a daily)

    		  

     

    1913, Bombay

    		  

     

    Started by Pherozeshah Mehta
     

     

    The Hindustan Times

    		 1920, Delhi Founded by K. M. Panikkar as a part of the Akali Dal Movement
     

     

    Leader (in English)

    		      ———- Madan Mohan Malaviya
     

     

    Bahishkrit Bharat (Marathi fortnightly)

    		  

     

    1927

    		  

     

    B. R. Ambedkar
     

     

       Kudi Arasu (Tamil)

    		  

     

    1910

    		  

     

    E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar)
     

     

    Bandi Jivan

    		  

     

    Bengal

    		  

     

    Sachindranath Sanyal
     

     

    National Herald

    		  

     

    1938

    		  

     

    Started by Jawaharlal Nehru

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  • [pib] Seven Indian Navy Ships Deployed for Op Samudra Setu II

    Operation Samudra Setu II

    • In support of the nation’s fight against Covid-19 and as part of operation ‘Samudra Setu II’,  seven Indian Naval ships have been deployed for shipment of liquid medical oxygen-filled cryogenic containers and associated medical equipment from various countries.
    • Indian Navy also has the surge capability, to deploy more ships when the need arises to further nation’s fight against COVID-19.
    • It is pertinent that the ships are combat ready and capable of meeting any contingency in keeping with the attributes of versatility of sea power.

    Operation Samudra Setu I

    • It may be recalled that Operation Samudra Setu was launched last year by the Navy and around 4000 Indian citizens stranded in neighbouring countries, amidst COVID 19 outbreak, were successfully repatriated back to India.

  • How to prepare Polity for IAS Prelims?| Fill up Samanvaya for a free 1-1 mentorship session

    Click here to fill the Samanvaya form for 1-1 mentorship. We will call you within 24 hours. (Also provided at the bottom of the article)

    It’s been said, tried and tested multiple times that reading Laxmikant is inevitable for UPSC prep. In Fact we must use this book as the pretext for our preparation for Polity.

    We are not going to support or advocate any new source to read Polity. Instead, we are going to tell you the SMARTER way of preparing for Prelims from Laxmikant itself.

    Lets see how, read through the Year Wise breakup of questions asked from Polity

    YearNumber of questions
    201411
    201513
    20167
    201719
    201813
    201912
    202017
    2021Any guesses?

     With the evolving numbers and inherent uncertainty above, we need to read between the lines and get an idea of the developing trend and pattern where the importance of Laxmikant cannot be ignored.

    On an average UPSC has been asking 15-20 Questions each year from the polity section since 2011.

    Most of the questions are being asked from a single source which is M Laxmikanth. Lately, a mix of current affairs-based questions has been introduced with associated static knowledge.

    Click here to fill the Samanvaya form for 1-1 mentorship. We will call you within 24 hours. 

    How to start reading Laxmikanth?

    Never devote equal importance or time to all sections of Laxmikant as that would turn out to be draining you (Mentally and Physically) at the end with no real outcome. With this extra hard work strategy, you may or may not solve all the polity questions in prelims.

    The second strategy is the Hard-work + Smart strategy where even though you will read each and every chapter of Laxmikant but you will give special focus to certain important chapters and information which will help you to solve each and every question of polity in UPSC prelims. We call them “Meaty Areas”. And most importantly, always try to learn chapters from Laxmikant with one or two live examples. There are a sufficient number of them around us.

    Some general observations about the book

    • It has been written in such a way that you do not need to make any notes out of it
    • It is one of the best compilation of various useful resources contained in the constitution
    • Its language is simple and easy to understand
    • It is way more to easy to comprehend than say, a book like Constitution of India by D .D. Basu

    Macro-level suggestions on how we should read from Laxmikant book

    #1. Start chronologically with Chapter 1 itself.

    Remember the Union and its territories, recent LBA with Bangladesh. Go slowly, reading each and every line (each and every line of this book ought to be read)

    #2. Prelims examination not only requires conceptual clarity but also the applied part of it.

    The conceptual clarity helps to solve the analytical question asked from this section. (Prelims 2017, 2019 & 2020 was heavily loaded with conceptual questions from Polity).

    Example:

    1) Consider the following statements:

    The Constitution of India defines its ‘basic structure’ in terms of federalism, secularism, fundamental rights and democracy.

    The Constitution of India provides for ‘judicial review’ to safeguard the citizens’ liberties and to preserve the ideals on which the Constitution is based.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    2) Consider the following statements:

    According to the Constitution of India, a person who is eligible to vote can be made a minister in a State for six months even if he/she is not a member of the Legislature of that State.

    According to the Representation of People Act, 1951, a person convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for five years is permanently disqualified from contesting an election even after his release from prison.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    You might be wondering how this is applicable to the current scenario? These questions appear to be directly coming from Laxmikant and that is even true but unlike earlier, they require a lot of conceptual clarity to answer them. Even seasoned aspirants have ended up marking them incorrectly. The interplay of phrases like “India defines” and “India provides” has made many confused.

    According to the earlier trends, it was easy to attempt a maximum number of questions from polity because generally questions from this section were direct and based on factual information. But, now the nature of questions has changed.

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    #3. Along with factual information, one should cover the current political developments.

    Link the “Current Affairs” with “Associated Static”. This eases the pressure on the aspirant and also helps build confidence.

    Example:

    Q.) With reference to the Parliament of India, consider the following statements

    1. A private member’s bill is a bill presented by a Member of Parliament who is not elected but only nominated by the President of India.
    2. Recently, a private member’s bill has been passed in the Parliament of India for the first time in its history.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    UPSC, nowadays does not ask direct current affairs, it asks about background knowledge of any matter/issue.

    Correlating things: the bookish knowledge and the practical happenings- is the real essence of preparing for UPSC civil services exam. Try to locate whatever you learned from Laxmikanth book in the day-to-day happenings, history, hypothetical situations, etc.

    You may watch Lok Sabha proceedings and can tally whatever you learned from the book. You might read an article in a newspaper about change in name of a state, and revise the procedure for the same from the book. This will make learning interesting.

    #4. Most importantly, analyze previous year’s question papers. See what type of question is asked and how they are asked.

    Practicing previous year questions will help you to find out the areas where you commit mistakes.

    Micro-level suggestions on how you should read the book

    Section one: Historical background

    What is most important here?

    Committees of the Constituent Assembly

    What is moderately important?

    Composition of the Constituent Assembly

    Rest can be ignored or given a mild read.

    Section two: Fundamental Rights, Duties, DPSP, Preamble (Very very important)

    General Comments

    UPSC asks 5-6 Questions every year from this section. In UPSC 2020 most of the polity Questions were asked from this section. You have to read this section multiple times.

    Specific Suggestions

    • Salient features of the Indian Constitution (Moderately important. The topics mentioned in this chapters are covered extensively in later chapters)
    • Preamble to the Constitution (Very very important) UPSC simply loves Preamble. It has asked questions on the preamble in 2015 and this year also. Read carefully about different words mentioned in the preamble (example fraternity) and what do they exactly mean.
    • Union and its territory (Moderately important). Aspirants should be aware of the process through which states are created and also they should be aware of the sequence of new states creation).
    • Fundamental rights, DPSP and Fundamental duties (Very very important) FR, FD, DPSP etc are difficult as they have laws and bylaws.
    • Some are explicit while others are implicit. It is thus important to get the concept and soul of them. UPSC won’t ask petty details or facts. It will exploit the conceptual part.
    • You should be able to connect dots with recent happenings. For example, in 2017 UPSC asked a question related to privileges after use of red beacons was abolished by the government for ministers/officers.
    • Amendment of the constitution (Read carefully about different types of majorities and which majority is used in which case for example in which cases two-third majority is required and in which cases simple majority is required.)
    • Read very carefully about basic terms of polity like Cabinet form of Government, Judicial review, President System, Prime Minister System, Federalism, First past the post system, Proportional representation, rights and duties etc.

    In the last few years UPSC has been asking lots of questions to test the conceptual clarity of the aspirant.

    Section three: Similar topics

    Union and state Executive / Centre and State Relations

    Given the nature of evolving polity in India and ever powerful state govts, the conceptual clarity with respect to the Centre and State relations and constitutional bodies / protocols have ( PM Modi rebuking CM Kejriwal for airing the live meeting).

    Almost 90%  of powers and functions of President and Governor are the same. With respect to Delhi the introduction of the recent GNCT Act, with more power to the office of Lt Governor of Delhi is another aspect of development, important for both Prelims and Mains.

    If you cover topics which are similar like President and governor, Prime Minister and Chief Minister, Parliament and state legislature, supreme court and high court together it will save your time and will be easy to memorize and link them. Smart work!

    How President and Vice President are elected and removed

    Read very carefully the Comparison table of powers of Governor and President mentioned in the Governor Chapter in Laxmikanth.

    Always read trivial information very carefully, you can also make notes of the titbits information mentioned in any chapter since UPSC loves to ask trivia based questions, for example, the President can pardon a death convict, however, the Governor cannot.

    Parliament and state legislature

    Every year 1-3 questions are asked from it in prelims.

     What is most important in this chapter?

    • Read both chapters simultaneously. Look for differences between the powers of parliament and state legislature example privilege power of parliament is much wider than state legislature. (Very important)
    • Different committees and its composition and various kinds of motions and resolutions.
    • Different types of bills
    • Different types of discussions
    • Powers of speakers,deputy speakers,Chairman and Vice Chairman.
    • Comparison between powers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and Rajya Sabha and legislative council.
    • Budget.

    Supreme court and High court

    What is most important here?

    • Comparison between writ powers of High court and Supreme court. Master of Roaster, Conflict of interest, Corona crisis, you name it and Courts are into it. Especially use of art 142 by SC also needs to be inspected carefully.
    • Appointment and removal process of SC and HC judges(There is some trivial differences in that process)
    • Original powers of SC and HC

    Section 4:  Constitutional/statutory and Executive bodies

    What should you read very carefully?

    • Whether the body is constitutional, statutory or executive. Example SC/ST commission is constitutional body but backward commission and women commission are Statutory Bodies.
    • Who appoints the chairman and member of the commission and how they are removed.
    • Focus on trivial issues
    • Usually, except for appointment and removal, most of the functions and details of Central commissions and state commissions are similar.

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     Section 5: Special status of different states and union territories

    What should you read very carefully?

    • Read carefully the role of Governor and president in these states as already emphasised.
    • Read carefully the powers of L.G. and president in union territories. President has some extraordinary power in some union territories.

    Section 6: Local Bodies

    These third tier of Govts are not considered the most important pillars of basic governance and their empowerment is must going forward. Aspirants need to devote a decent amount of time understanding the constitutional mandates and powers of Panchayati raj and Municipality.

    14th and 15th Finance Commissions and their views of local governance and their development needs a mention here. There are now direct allocations to local bodies from Consolidated fund of India suggested by these Finance Commissions.

    Read carefully different committees of Panchayati raj.

    Regarding powers and functions of local bodies read carefully about which clause is mandatory (mandated by 73rd and 74th amendment) and which is optional (depends on whims and fancies of state government).

    Example SC/ST reservation in local bodies is mentioned in 73rd and 74th amendment but OBC reservation is optional.

    Section 7: Miscellaneous items

    This will include remaining topics:

    • In this most important chapters are anti-defection law, the official language, political parties and elections.
    • The anti-defection chapter closely read about differences in the 52nd amendment and 85th amendment (it is bit tricky).
    • In the political party chapter extensively read about criteria for granting any political party national or regional status.

    Rest of the chapters should be read but they are not very important from an exam perspective.

     

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  • No mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles at Rushikulya in Odisha this year

    No mass nesting this year

    • The annual spectacle of the mass nesting of millions of Olive Ridley sea turtles near the Rushikulya river mouth in Odisha is likely to be missed this year, as the time for it is almost over.
    • It’s been around one month since the mass nesting of last year.
    • If they do skip the beach, this won’t be the first time.
    • In 2002, 2007, 2016 and 2019, the turtles had not shown up at Rushikulya.
    • The Rushikulya river mouth is considered the second-biggest rookery in India after Gahirmatha.
    • Mass nesting in the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary occurred from March 9-23, 2021 and over 349,000 eggs were laid during this period.

    What could explain the miss in mass nesting

    • It is a natural phenomenon. During some years, they did not turn up for mass nesting even though a huge number had congregated in the sea.
    • Beach erosion might be one of the causes for the turtles staying away this year.

  • Don’t worry about the deficit

    The devastation caused by the second wave calls for the government to shed its worry over the fiscal deficit. The article deals with this issue.

    Role of fiscal policy to support economy through second wave

    • As India battles to contain the surge in COVID-19 cases, several states have already imposed severe restrictions at the local level.
    • The services sector has been hit the most as a consequence of these lockdowns and it would be difficult for India to deliver on this optimistic growth projection.
    • Against this background, the role fiscal policy can play to support the economy needs consideration.
    • The monetary policy is already accommodative and may not have enough room to further boost the economy.
    • With headline as well as core inflation inching up in recent months, the RBI may not be in a position to further cut the policy rate.
    •  As per the latest Union Budget, the fiscal deficit is estimated to moderate from 9.5 per cent of GDP in FY21 to 6.8 per cent of GDP in FY22.
    • This expected decline in fiscal deficit is not on account of lower fiscal spending but because of expectations of sharper revenue growth.
    • The revenue receipts are estimated to grow by 15 per cent and fiscal spending by 1 per cent this financial year.
    • With the debt to GDP ratio already more than 90 per cent, additional fiscal expansion will not be an easy choice for the government.

    Government need to create fiscal space

    • Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and the government will have to find ways to create fiscal space.
    • This has become especially important as the economy is yet to shrug off the impact of the previous lockdown.
    • Under these difficult circumstances, immediate measures must aim at providing the requisite social safety net to the poor and the vulnerable.
    • The central government has already announced it will distribute an additional five kg of grain to the 800 million beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act, which is welcome.
    • However, given the unprecedented uncertainty brought about by this COVID wave, the ration support under the PDS should be raised further.
    • The government should also consider transferring cash to the bank accounts of the poor, just as it did last time.
    • This becomes important as MGNREGA  may not provide the safety cushion that it is indeed to as long as lockdown measures remain in place.
    • The best stimulus perhaps would be to provide free vaccinations to the population as the benefits of faster and wider vaccine coverage more than outweighs its monetary cost.
    •  Immunisation is a public good. As we get over this crisis, the government must increase its outlay on physical and human health infrastructure.

    How to finance additional cost?

    •  Part of this additional cost may be financed by reducing non-essential government expenditures and use it for COVID-related expenditure.
    • The government may need to resort to additional borrowings from the market than budgeted earlier.
    • The RBI may allow inflation above the upper bound of 6 per cent only in the short run.
    • The plausible rise in interest rates may also be crucial to prevent capital outflows, given the global “economic outlook” when the US economy adopts an easy monetary policy combined with a huge fiscal stimulus.

    Conclusion

    The government should not be deterred by a worsening fiscal deficit in the short run as the additional growth that it generates may make debt consolidation easier when things normalise.

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