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  • Italian Marines case judgement could set a dangerous precedent

    The tribunal’s judgement in the Italian marines case was in Italy’s favour. But the basis used in the judgement could set a wrong precedent. India also ensures a fair trial against the marines in Italy. So, what would be the wrong precedent and why would be trial against marines will continue in Italy? Read to know…

    Background

    • On February 15, 2012 two Italian marines were held for killing two Indian fishermen
    • Fishermen were in India’s Contiguous Zone, 20.5 nautical miles off the Kerala coast.
    • And the marines were part of a security contingent on the Enrica Lexie, an Italian commercial oil tanker.

    What is said in the judgement

    • The tribunal was established by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
    • ITLOS was under the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
    • Only the operative portion of the tribunal’s award is available till now.
    • It held that the marines were entitled to immunity in relation to the acts that they committed.
    • The tribunal also said that India is precluded from exercising its jurisdiction over the Marines.
    • However, the tribunal found that by firing on the fishermen Italy was guilty of “violating India’s freedom and right of navigation”.
    • The tribunal majority agreed with the Italian plea that the marines had immunity for they were state officials.

    The judgement could set the wrong precedent

    • India’s stand was that UNCLOS is not concerned with issues relating to immunity.
    • Immunity of state officials has to be governed by specific multilateral or bilateral treaties or agreements.
    • It should not be invoked to settle issues of jurisdiction.
    • Even if Italian marines are considered as state officials, they were serving on a commercial vessel.
    • Italy did so unilaterally without the cover of any multilateral or bilateral arrangement.
    • There is no convention that such persons as the marines in such cases are immune from local criminal jurisdiction.
    • Only heads of states, heads of governments and foreign ministers customarily enjoy immunity abroad apart from accredited diplomats who are covered by the
    • Countries may now enact specific laws to give immunity to their military and para-military personnel and others by declaring them state official.
    •  This can lead to an increase in tensions generally and especially between inimical states.

    What should be the next course of action for India

    • Indian government should ensure that Italy is made to pay fully for the loss of life and the suffering it has caused in this matter.
    • The government should also ensure that it closely monitors the case proceedings in the Italian court against two marines.
    • This is also a time for the executive and judicial branches of the Indian state to introspect on how they handled the whole affair politically, diplomatically and legally.

    Consider the question “The judgement of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Italian marines case was based on the immunity of state officials. What could be the implication of invoking immunity of state official in this judgement? What should be the next course of action for India?”

    Conclusion

    As a good international citizen, India has accepted the tribunal’s award. Now it must ensure that Italy fully honours it. The matter remains open.

  • How to counter China

    There is no doubt that an economically prosperous India will be well placed to deal with China effectively. So, to achieve this prosperity India urgently needs to embark upon the path of reforms. 

    How much China has moved ahead

    • In 1987, both countries’ nominal GDPs were almost equal.
    • China’s economic opening-up has left India behind, contributing to a military imbalance.
    • China’s economy was nearly five times larger than India’s in 2019.
    • Not coincidentally, from rough parity in 1989, China’s military spending last year more than tripled India’s.
    • Heightened vigilance along the LAC demands summoning scarce resources.
    • If India cannot close the economic gap and build military muscle, Beijing may feel emboldened to probe the subcontinent’s land and maritime periphery.

    Reforms: Key to progress

    • In 1991, India enacted changes allowing markets to set commodity prices.
    • But it did not similarly liberalise land, labour and capital.
    • Now, the government has delivered mixed messages about a revitalised reform agenda.
    • Some States have temporarily lifted labour restrictions.
    • Some others intend to make land acquisition easier.

    But a call for self-sufficiency could do harm

    • India emphasis on self-reliance could inhibit growth and constrain investment in a more vigorous foreign and defence policy.
    • Greater self-sufficiency is desired.
    • Home-grown manufacturing of critical medicinal ingredients or digital safeguards on citizens’ personal data would reduce vulnerabilities.
    • Imposing restriction to help the local defence industry would hamper acquisitions helping balance China.

    Competition from other countries

    • China is facing intense scrutiny for its role in the pandemic, geopolitical competition, trade wars, and economic coercion.
    • Businesses are revisiting whether or not to diversify suddenly exposed international value chains.
    • India’s competitors [like Bangladesh, Vietnam] are trying to attract the businesses shifting out form China.
    • These countries are highlighting their regulatory predictability, stable tax policies, and fewer trade obstacles.
    • While India remains outside the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, competitors are wooing companies seeking lower trade barriers.
    • Asian countries are pushing ahead: Vietnam just inked a trade deal with the European Union that threatens to eat into India’s exports.

    Way forward

    • India needs increased exports and investments to provide more well-paying jobs, technology.
    • Before committing to long-term, multi-billion investments, companies often want to test India’s market through international sales.
    • Liberalisation remains the tried-and-true path to competitiveness.
    • If India can unite its people and rapidly strengthen capabilities, it will likely discover that it can deal with China effectively.

    Consider the question “Do you agree with the view that slowdown in the reforms in land, labour and capital after the reforms of 1991 restricted Indias economic progress? Give reasons in support of your argument.

    Conclusion

    The choices that India makes to recapture consistent, high growth will determine its future. Bold reforms offer the best option to manage Beijing and achieve greater independence on the world stage.

  • Aatamnirbhar in Agriculture

    India has been the net exporter of agricultural commodities since 1991, however, there is scope for increasing its net export. This article suggests the strategy to achieve this.

    Foreign exchange reserve: then and now in terms of grains

    • In the mid-1960s the country had about $400 million.
    • If India had spent all its foreign currency reserves just on wheat imports, it could have imported about seven million tonnes (mt) of wheat.
    • Today, India has foreign exchange reserves of more than $500 billion.
    • Even if the country has to buy 20 mt of wheat at a landed cost of $250/tonne, it will spend just $5 billion it is just one per cent of its foreign exchange reserves.
    • In that sense, the biggest reform in the last three decades that has led to “aatma nirbharta” in food is the correction of the exchange rate.
    • Another factor is coupling and the gradual integration of India with the world economy.
    • This has helped India increase its foreign exchange reserves from $1.1 billion in 1991 to more than $500 billion today.

    India: Net exporter of agricultural products

    • India has been the net exporter of agricultural products ever since the economic reforms began in 1991.
    • The golden year of agri-trade was 2013-14 when net agricultural trade surplus was $24.7 billion.
    • In 2019-20, agri-exports were just $36 billion, and the net agri-trade surplus at $11.2 billion.
    • With this dull performance doubling agri-exports by 2022 looks almost impossible.

    Let’s look at what India exports

    • Marine products with $6.7 billion exports top the list.
    • The second is rice at $6.4 billion of which basmati is at $4.6 billion and common rice at $2.0 billion.
    • Next is spices at $3.6 billion.
    • Other items are buffalo meat at $3.2 billion, sugar at $2.0 billion, tea and coffee at $1.5 billion, fresh fruits and vegetables at $1.4 billion, and cotton at $1 billion.

    Strategy to increase export

    • If one chalks out a strategy we would need to keep in mind the principle of “comparative advantage”.
    • That means exporting more where we have a competitive edge, and importing where we lack competitiveness.
    • Together power and fertiliser subsidies account for about 10-15 per cent of the value of rice and sugar produced on a per hectare basis.
    • So, we should offer similar incentives for exports of high-value agri-produce like fruits and vegetables, spices, tea and coffee, or even cotton, as we do for rice and sugar?

    Decreasing the edible oil imports

    • On the agri-imports front, the biggest item is edible oils — worth about $10 billion i.e. more than 15 MT.
    • India needs to decrease imports through augmenting productivity and increasing the recovery ratio of oil from oilseeds and in case of palm oil, from fresh fruit bunches.
    • The maximum potential of increasing production lies in oil palm.
    • This is the only plant that can give about four tonnes of oil on a per hectare basis.
    • India has about 2 million hectares that are suitable for oil palm cultivation — this can yield 8 mt of palm oil.
    • But it needs a long term vision and strategy.

    Issue of subsidy to rice and sugar

    • Rice and sugar cultivation are subsidised through free power and highly subsidised fertilisers, especially urea.
    • It is leading to the virtual export of water because of their high water requirements.
    • One kg of rice requires 3,500-5,000 litres of water for irrigation, and one kg of sugar consumes about 2,000 litres of water.
    • This leads to increased pressure on scarce water and highly inefficient use of fertilisers.
    • It may be worth noting that almost 75 per cent of the nitrogen in urea is not absorbed by plants.
    • It either evaporates into the environment or leaches into groundwater making it unfit for drinking.

    Consider the question “While India has been the net exporter of agricultural products ever since the economic reforms of 1991, it is far from realising its potential to become the leading agri-produce exporter. In light of this, suggest the strategy that India should follow to increase India’s net agri-exports.”

    Conclusion

    The government must focus on augmenting export and decrease import dependence in agricultural products which will further its goal of aatmanirbharta and doubling the farmers’ income.

  • Why have Indian Railways opened doors for private players?

    Indian Railways has launched the process of opening up train operations to private entities on 109 origin-destination (OD) pairs of routes using 151 modern trains.

    Practice question for mains:
    Q. Indian Railways has been the lifeline of India’s growth story since Independence. Discuss various opportunities and challenges ahead of its privatization.

    Why such a move?

    • From a passenger perspective, there is a need for more train services, particularly between big cities.
    • The Railway Board says five crore intending passengers could not be accommodated during 2019-20 for want of capacity, and there was 13.3% travel demand in excess of supply during summer and festival seasons.

    Moving the paralyzed system

    • The Railway Board has moved ahead with a long-pending plan, setting a tentative schedule for private train operations, expected to begin in 2023 and in 12 clusters.
    • At present, scheduled passenger train services remain paralyzed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and various railways have been running only specials such as those for workers.

    What is the background of the decision?

    • The present bid is only for a fraction of the total train operations — 5% of the 2,800 Mail and Express services operated by Indian Railways.
    • The overall objective, however, is to introduce a new train travel experience for passengers who are used to travelling by aircraft and air-conditioned buses.
    • Without an expansion, and with the growth of road travel, the share of the Railways would steadily decline in the coming years.

    Bibek Debroy Committee Recommendations

    • Several committees have gone into the expansion and the modernization of Indian Railways.
    • In 2015, the expert panel chaired by Bibek Debroy constituted by the Ministry of Railways a year earlier, recommended that the way forward for the railways was “liberalisation and not privatization”.
    • It asked for entry of new operators “to encourage growth and improve services.”
    • It also made it clear that a regulatory mechanism was a prerequisite to promote healthy competition and protect the interests of all stakeholders.

    Why is the move significant for Indian Railways?

    • For the Railways, one of the largest organisations in the country, operating not just trains for passengers and freight, but also social institutions such as hospitals and schools represents a radical change.
    • It was estimated that a one rupee push in the railway sector would have a forward linkage effect of increasing output in other sectors by ₹2.50.
    • Train services operated by Indian Railways cover several classes of passengers, meeting the social service obligation to connect remote locations, and adopting the philosophy of cross-subsidy.
    • In more recent years, it has focused on revenue generation through dynamic demand-based pricing.

    Private players will be game-changers

    • Private operators are not expected to shoulder the burden of universal service norms, and will focus on revenue.
    • Even the first IRCTC-run trains have a higher cost of travel between Lucknow and Delhi than a Shatabdi train on the same route that almost matches it for speed.
    • So private operators would have to raise the level of their offering even higher, to justify higher fares, and attract a segment of the population that is ready to pay for this difference.
    • The government would have to explain that it has monetized its expensive fixed assets such as track, signalling and stations adequately for the taxpayer, who has paid for them.

    Challenges ahead

    • Several critical issues remain unaddressed. For one, there will be questions over the financial viability of some routes.
    • Railways also tend to cross-subsidise passenger fares through freight revenue.
    • This translates to below-cost pricing, which will make it difficult for private players to compete.
    • On the other hand, higher fares needed to cover costs might bring them in direct competition with airlines, pricing them out of the market.

  • What is Raman Spectroscopy?

    Mumbai-based researchers have turned to Raman Spectroscopy to detect RNA viruses present in saliva samples.

    Try this question from CSP 2017
    Q.Which Indian astrophysicist and Nobel laureate predicted rapidly rotating stars emit polarized light?
    (a) Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
    (b) CV Raman
    (c) Ramanujan
    (d) Amartya Sen

    The Raman Spectroscopy

    • Raman spectroscopy is an analytical technique where scattered light is used to measure the vibrational energy modes of a sample.
    • In 1928, Raman discovered that when a stream of light passes through a liquid, a fraction of the light scattered by the liquid is of a different colour.
    • While Raman was returning from London in a 15-day voyage, he started thinking about the colour of the deep blue Mediterranean.
    • He wasn’t convinced by the explanation that the colour of the sea was blue due to the reflection of the sky.
    • As the ship docked in Bombay, he sent a letter to the editor of the journal Nature, in which he penned down his thoughts on this.
      Subsequently, Raman was able to show that the blue colour of the water was due to the scattering of the sunlight by water molecules.
    • By this time he was obsessed with the phenomenon of light scattering.

    How does it work?

    • The Raman Effect is when the change in the energy of the light is affected by the vibrations of the molecule or material under observation, leading to a change in its wavelength.
    • Significantly, it notes that the Raman effect is “very weak” — this is because when the object in question is small (smaller than a few nanometres), the light will pass through it undisturbed.
    • But a few times in a billion, light waves may interact with the particle. This could also explain why it was not discovered before.
    • In general, when light interacts with an object, it can either be reflected, refracted or transmitted.
    • One of the things that scientists look at when light is scattered is if the particle it interacts with is able to change its energy.

    Applications

    • Raman spectroscopy is used in many varied fields – in fact, any application where non-destructive, microscopic, chemical analysis and imaging is required.
    • Whether the goal is qualitative or quantitative data, Raman analysis can provide key information easily and quickly.
    • It can be used to rapidly characterize the chemical composition and structure of a sample, whether solid, liquid, gas, gel, slurry or powder.

  • What is Winter Diesel?

    India’s armed forces may soon be using winter diesel for operations in high altitude areas such as Ladakh, where winter temperatures plummet to extremely low as -30° Celsius.

    This year BS-VI compliant fuel was in news. Try differentiating the Winter Diesel with the BS-VI fuel.

    What is Winter Diesel?

    • Winter diesel is a specialised fuel that was introduced by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. last year specifically for high altitude regions and low-temperature regions such as Ladakh, where ordinary diesel can become unusable.
    • The flow characteristics of regular diesel change at such low temperatures and using it may be detrimental to vehicles.
    • Winter diesel which contains additives to maintain lower viscosity can be used in temperatures as low as -30°C and that besides a low pour point, it had higher cetane rating — an indicator is the combustion speed of diesel and compression needed for ignition.
    • It has lower sulphur content, which would lead to lower deposits in engines and better performance.

    Back2Basics: BS-VI fuel

    • Sulphur content in fuel is a major cause for concern. Sulphur dioxide released by fuel burning is a major pollutant that affects health as well.
    • BS-VI fuel’s sulphur content is much lower than BS-IV fuel.
      It is reduced to 10 mg/kg max in BS-VI from 50 mg/kg under BS-IV.

    This reduction makes it possible to equip vehicles with better catalytic converters that capture pollutants. However, BS-VI fuel is expected to be costlier that BS-IV fuel.

    With inputs from:
    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/pib-winter-grade-diesel/

  • Sindhu Darshan Puja

    During his day-long whirlwind visit, PM Narendra performed Sindhu Darshan Puja at Nimu, the forward brigade place in Ladakh.

    Sindhu Darshan Puja.

    ⦁ Sindhu Darshan Festival is a festival of India held every year on full moon day (on Guru Purnima) in the month of June.
    ⦁ It is held at Leh, in Ladakh District of Ladakh. It stretches for three days.
    ⦁ It was first started in the October by veteran politician L.K. Advani, 1997 and continues to be held every year since then, attracting large number of foreign and domestic tourists.
    ⦁ The main reason behind the celebration of Sindhu Darshan Festival is to endorse the Indus River (Sindhu River) as an icon of the communal harmony and unity of India.

  • 6th July 2020| Daily Answer Writing Enhancement

    Important Announcement:  Topics to be covered on 7th July-

    GS-1 Indian Society and Diversity of India.

    GS-4  Case studies

    Question 1) 

    What do you understand by communalism? Deliberate upon the causes and impact of communalism on Indian society. 10 marks

    Question 2)

    The judgement of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Italian marines case was based on the immunity of state officials. What could be the implication of invoking immunity of state official in this judgement? What should be the next course of action for India? 10 marks

     

    Question 3)

    While India has been the net exporter of agricultural products ever since the economic reforms of 1991, yet it is far from realising its potential to become the leading agri-produce exporter. In light of this, suggest the strategy that India should follow to increase India’s net agri-exports. 10 marks

    Question 4)  

    You are working as an Execution officer (EO) in a Zila. You have been given responsibility to measure MGNREGA works undertaken by 3 gram panchayats. You have authority to give administrative sanctions to all MGNREGA works. In one of these panchayats you noticed that your predecessor had wrongly measured many works, and in many cases he had approved works that never existed. One day few elected members of that panchayat with bundle of job cards come to you to seek ‘sanction’ for the works done by them. When enquired, they reveal that they were contractors who had completed works under MGNREGA. When you reject their demand, they threaten you and tell you that the previous EO was made to quit his job because he didn’t listen to them. This is your first job and is very important to sustain your family. There have been precedents in the past that some officials were beaten to death in some parts of the Zila. What will you do in this situation? Explain in detail citing rules from MGNREGA Act. 10 marks

     

     

    Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.

    *In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.

    For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check  here: Click2Join

  • (Reminder) Live at 6pm, today | Webinar by Alok Pandey, ICLS | Explore: UPSC and Allied Services | Link inside

    (Reminder) Live at 6pm, today | Webinar by Alok Pandey, ICLS | Explore: UPSC and Allied Services | Link inside

    CLICK ON SET REMINDER ON THIS VIDEO. WEBINAR LINK SHARED BELOW.

    Dear students,

    Please welcome Alok Pandey an in-service ICLS officer. He’ll be taking a live session on Sunday which will be followed by a Q&A session. In this live session, Alok Pandey, ICLS will talk about the various services, their nature, about administration in action, and UPSC preparation in general.

    This is an essential session. You don’t want to miss out on this one.

    • Time: 6:00 pm
    • Date: 5th July 2020 (Today)
    • Link here (Click on the video below, click on “Set Reminder”)

    About Alok Pandey, ICLS:

    An Electronics and Communication Engineering graduate from NIT, Kurukshetra, Alok has worked for Nomura (Japanese financial services firm). While working, he prepared for UPSC exams and cleared it in his 3rd attempt with an AIR 571 (UPSC 2016). He got 193 in the personal interview. Alok has been posted as AROC, NCT of Delhi and Haryana. Alok is also an avid reader, a skillful blogger, and a passionate cinephile. Follow him at https://corporatecorridors.law.blog/.

    Register here for the Webinar

    This is going to be a session unlike any, that you may have attended before.

    For any query reach out to us at hello@civilsdaily.com or call us on 8929987787.

     

  • 04th July 2020 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

    [WpProQuiz 474]

    [WpProQuiz_toplist 473]

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