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  • Protest should not hinder traffic: SC

    The Supreme Court took a nuanced stand saying farmers have the right to protest but the agitation should not hinder traffic or public movement.

    Right to Protest

    • When a group, community, or even a person goes up to protest, it is usually to showcase their disapproval or demur against any action, policy, statement, etc of state or government or any organization.
    • Mostly the flow of protest is driven through political waves that also demonstrate the collective organization of people to make the government or state address their issues and take steps to overcome them.
    • In India, the right to protest is the manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association, and the right to freedom of speech.

    Constitutional Backing

    • Article 19(1) states that All citizens shall have the right:

    (a) to freedom of speech and expression;

    (b) to assemble peaceably and without arms;

    (c) to form associations or unions;

    (d) to move freely throughout the territory of India;

    (e) to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India; and

    (f) omitted

    (g) to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business

    Reasonable restrictions on Protest

    • Article 51A makes it a fundamental duty for every person to safeguard public property and to avoid violence during the protests and resorting to violence during public protests results in infringement of key fundamental duty of citizens.
    • Article 19(1)(b) states about the right to assemble peaceably and without arms. Thereby, the right to peaceful protest is bestowed to Indian citizens by our Constitution.
    • Article 19(2) imposes a restriction on a person to prevent him from making a defamatory statement which defames the reputation of another person.
    • Article 19(3): The reasonable restrictions are imposed in the interests of the sovereignty & integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation, or incitement to an offense.

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  • Delhi’s new Smog Tower

    Ahead of its infamous smog season, Delhi has got a ‘smog tower’, a technological aid to help combat air pollution.

    What are Smog Towers?

    • Smog towers are structures designed to work as large-scale air purifiers. They are fitted with multiple layers of air filters and fans at the base to suck the air.
    • After the polluted air enters the smog tower, it is purified by the multiple layers before being re-circulated into the atmosphere.

    Structure of the Delhi smog tower

    • The structure is 24 m high, about as much as an 8-storey building — an 18-metre concrete tower, topped by a 6-metre-high canopy. At its base are 40 fans, 10 on each side.
    • Each fan can discharge 25 cubic metres per second of air, adding up to 1,000 cubic metres per second for the tower as a whole. Inside the tower in two layers are 5,000 filters.
    • The filters and fans have been imported from the United States.

    How does it work?

    • The tower uses a ‘downdraft air cleaning system’ developed by the University of Minnesota.
    • Polluted air is sucked in at a height of 24 m, and filtered air is released at the bottom of the tower, at a height of about 10 m from the ground.
    • When the fans at the bottom of the tower operate, the negative pressure created sucks in air from the top.
    • The ‘macro’ layer in the filter traps particles of 10 microns and larger, while the ‘micro’ layer filters smaller particles of around 0.3 microns.
    • The downdraft method is different from the system used in China, where a tower uses an ‘updraft’ system — air is sucked in from near the ground, and is propelled upwards by heating and convection.
    • Filtered air is released at the top of the tower.

    Likely impact

    • Computational fluid dynamics modelling suggests the tower could have an impact on the air quality up to 1 km from the tower.
    • The actual impact will also determine how the tower functions under different weather conditions, and how levels of PM2.5 vary with the flow of air.

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  • [pib] Bhuvan Yuktdhara Portal

    A new portal under Bhuvan “Yuktdhara” has been released to facilitate planning of new MGNREGA assets using Remote Sensing and GIS based information.

    Bhuvan Yuktdhara Portal

    • Yuktdhara is a geospatial planning portal meant for facilitating Gram Panchayat level planning of MGNREGA activities across India.
    • Portal integrates a wide variety of spatial information contents to enable a holistic approach towards planning using open-source GIS tool.
    • Subsequent to pan Indian initiative of geo-tagging assets created under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, harnessing the strength of GIS for identifying upcoming activities and their locations was a natural corollary.

    Features of the portal

    • The current level of integration under Yuktdhara, as part of Bhuvan, incorporates multi-temporal IRS satellite data of better than 3M detail in natural color, digital terrain, thematic layers as wed as locations of MGNREGA works and watershed management assets.
    • The interface currently has a Gram Panchayat-specific logo to address planning as well as approval mechanisms intended to ensure the evaluation and acceptance of proposed activities.
    • This will be enhanced for other levels of users gradually.
    • Access for other Gram Panchayat will be facilitated at the earliest, by addressing the case multiple logins created for geotagging and moderation.

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    Back2Basics: MGNREG Scheme

    • The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
    • This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
    • The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.

    The objectives of the MGNREGA are:

    • To enhance the livelihood security of the rural poor by generating wage employment opportunities.
    • To create a rural asset base that would enhance productive ways of employment, augment and sustain a rural household income.

    Features of the program

    • MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
    • The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
    • Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
    • Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.

  • Person in news: Sree Narayana Guru

    The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Sree Narayana Guru on his Jayanti.

    Sree Narayana Guru (1856-1928)

    • Narayana Guru was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India.
    • He led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual enlightenment and social equality.

    His legacy:

    Temple Entry

    • He was in the forefront of the movement for universal temple entry and against the societal ills like the social discrimination of untouchables.
    • He gave the famous slogan “One Caste, One Religion, One God for All”.
    • In 1888, he built a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva at Aruvippuram which was against the caste-based restrictions of the time.
    • In one temple he consecrated at Kalavancode, he kept mirrors instead of idols. This symbolised his message that the divine was within each individual.

    Untouchability

    • The social protest of Vaikom Satyagraha (1924-25) was an agitation by the lower caste against untouchability in Hindu society of Travancore.
    • He taught equality but felt the inequalities should not be exploited to carry out conversions and therefore generate strife in society.

    Philosophy

    • Sree Narayana Guru became one of the greatest proponents and re-evaluators of Advaita Vedanta, the principle of non-duality put forward by Adi Shankara.

    Answer this PYQ:

    Q.Which one of the following pairs does not form part of the six systems of Indian Philosophy?

    (a) Mimamsa and Vedanta

    (b) Nyaya and Vaisheshika

    (c) Lokayata and Kapalika

    (d) Sankhya and Yoga

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”k8wz5imcou” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

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  • Places in news: Indira Point

    The Swarnim Vijay Varsh Victory Flame was taken to Indira Point, the southernmost tip of the country on August 22, 2021, as part of its voyage to the Nicobar Group of Islands.

    Indira Point

    • Indira Point is the southernmost point of Indian Territory.
    • It is a village in the Nicobar district at Great Nicobar Island of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India.
    • Rondo Island, Indonesia’s northernmost island in Sabang district of Aceh province of Sumatra, lies 163 km south of Little Andaman Island and 145 km or 80 nautical miles from Indira point.
    • The point was formerly known as Pygmalion Point and Parsons Point. It was renamed in honour of Indira Gandhi during mid-1980s.
    • Galathea National Park and Lighthouse are the major attractions here.

    India and Indonesia are upgrading the deep sea port Sabang under the strategic military and economic collaboration to protect the channel between Great Nicobar Island and Rondo Island which is 612 km or 330 nautical miles from Indira Point.

    What is Swarnim Vijay Varsh?

    • It marks the 50th anniversary of the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
    • Vijay Diwas is celebrated every year on December 16 to mark India`s triumph in liberating Bangladesh.
    • The journey of the Victory Flame is taken from north to south corners of India.

  • What Indian lawmaking needs: More scrutiny, less speed

    Context

    The recent Monsoon Session of Parliament is proof that the speed of passing laws trumps their rigorous scrutiny in our legislative process.

    Issues with lawmaking process in India

    1) Avoiding pre-legislative scrutiny

    • In our parliamentary system, a majority of laws originate from the government.
    • Each ministry decides the path its legislative proposals will take from ideation to enactment.
    • For example, last year, the Shipping Ministry requested public feedback on the two bills — Marine Aids and Inland Vessels.
    • This mechanism enables the strengthening of the legal proposal through stakeholder inputs before being brought to Parliament.
    • However, ministries expedite their bills by not putting them through a similar pre-legislative scrutiny process.

    2) Misuse of Ordinance route

    • Over the years, successive governments have exploited the spirit of this constitutional provision.
    • Governments have promulgated an ordinance a few days before a parliamentary session, cut a session short to issue one, and pushed a law that is not urgent through the ordinance route.
    •  But the executive sometimes fails to follow through on the legislative urgency.
    • Bringing in law through the ordinance route also bypasses parliamentary scrutiny.
    • But parliamentary committees rarely scrutinise bills to replace ordinances because this may take time and defeat the issuing of the ordinance.
    • Over the last few years, bills like GST, Consumer Protection, Insolvency and Bankruptcy, Labour Codes, Surrogacy, and DNA Technology have benefited from parliamentary committees’ scrutiny.
    • Their closed-door technical deliberations, inputs from ministry officials, subject-matter experts, and ordinary citizens have strengthened government bills.

    3) Delay in rule framing

    • Unnecessary urgency in getting laws passed by Parliament does not result in their immediate implementation.
    • For the law to work on the ground, the government is supposed to frame rules.
    • Last year the Cabinet Secretary twice requested the personal intervention of secretaries heading the Union ministries to frame regulations for bringing into force the laws made by Parliament.
    • Before the Monsoon Session, he wrote a follow-up letter on similar lines to his colleagues.

    Implication of fast-tracking the law-making

    • Difficulty in achieving desired outcomes: Hurriedly-made and inadequately-scrutinised laws hardly ever achieve their desired outcomes.
    • Wastage of time of legislature: Enacting statutes without proper scrutiny also wastes the legislature’s time when the government approaches Parliament to amend such laws.
    • Loss of opportunity: But the unmeasurable cost of a poorly-made law is in the loss of opportunity to an entire nation that has to comply with it.

    Way forward

    • The government must ensure that it identifies the gaps in our legal system proactively.
    • All its bills should go through pre-legislative scrutiny before being brought to Parliament.
    • The legislature, on its part, should conduct in-depth scrutiny of government bills.
    • Mandatory scrutiny of bills by parliamentary committees should become the rule and not the exception.

    Conclusion

    India is in urgent need of course correction in its legislating process. What we need is a robust law-making process.

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  • 24th August 2021| Daily Answer Writing Enhancement(AWE)

    Topics for Today’s questions:

    GS-1    Salient features of world’s physical geography

    GS-2   Structure, Organization and Functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; Pressure Groups and Formal/Informal Associations and their Role in the Polity.

     GS-3   Inclusive Growth and issues arising from it.

    GS-4   Probity in Governance: Concept of public service;
    Philosophical basis of governance and probity.

    Questions:

    Question 1)

     

    Q.1 Explain the concept of Diastrophism and elaborate on the processes that form part of it. (15 Marks)

     

    Question 2)

    Q.2 The Constitution no doubt contemplates a hierarchy of jurisdictions, but no judge, acting within her jurisdiction, is “inferior” or “subordinate”. In light of this, examine the implications of the use of the term for the judiciary and suggest the way forward. (10 Marks)

    Question 3)

    Q.3 Borrowers in the country have been underserved because of the preference for collateralized loans. How the account aggregator framework announced by the RBI seeks to deal with the problems faced by borrowers and lenders? (10 Marks)

    Question 4)  

    Q.4 Explain the importance of probity in governance. What measures have been undertaken for ensuring probity in governance in India? (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 August is uploaded on 1st August 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 August is uploaded on 3rd August, 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 @Staff so that the mentor is notified about your answer.

    *In case your answer is not reviewed, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. 

    For the philosophy of AWE and payment: 

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  • National Monetization Pipeline

    The Union Finance Minister has launched the National Monetization Pipeline for the brownfield infrastructure assets.

    What is Asset Monetization?

    • Asset Monetization involves the creation of new sources of revenue by unlocking of the value of hitherto unutilized or underutilized public assets.
    • Internationally, it is recognized that public assets are a significant resource for all economies.
    • Many public sector assets are sub-optimally utilized and could be appropriately monetized to create greater financial leverage and value for the companies and of the equity that the government has invested in them.
    • This helps in the accurate estimation of public assets which would help in the better financial management of government/public resources over time.

    National Monetization Pipeline (NMP)

    • The NMP comprises a four-year pipeline of the Central Government’s brownfield infrastructure assets.
    • It will serve as a medium-term roadmap for the Asset Monetization initiative of the government, apart from providing visibility for the investors.
    • Incidentally, the 2021-22 Union Budget, laid a lot of emphasis on Asset Monetization as a means to raise innovative and alternative financing for infrastructure.
    • It has to be noted that the government views asset monetization as a strategy for the augmentation and maintenance of infrastructure, and not just a funding mechanism.

    What is the plan?

    • NMP is envisaged to serve as a medium-term roadmap for identifying potential monetization-ready projects, across various infrastructure sectors.
    • It estimates aggregate monetization potential of Rs 6.0 lakh crores through core assets of the Central Government, over a four-year period, from FY 2022 to FY 2025.

    Objectives of the program

    • NMP aims for universal access to high-quality and affordable infrastructure to the common citizen of India.
    • Asset monetization, based on the philosophy of Creation through Monetization, is aimed at tapping private sector investment for new infrastructure creation.
    • This is necessary for creating employment opportunities, thereby enabling high economic growth and seamlessly integrating the rural and semi-urban areas for overall public welfare.
    • The strategic objective of the programme is to unlock the value of investments in brownfield public sector assets by tapping institutional and long-term patient capital.

    Framework

    The framework for core asset monetization has three key imperatives:

    • The pipeline has been prepared based on inputs and consultations from respective line ministries and departments, along with the assessment of total asset base available therein.
    • Monetization through disinvestment and monetization of non-core assets have not been included in the NMP.
    • Further, currently, only assets of central government line ministries and CPSEs in infrastructure sectors have been included.
    • Process of coordination and collation of asset pipeline from states is currently ongoing and the same is envisaged to be included in due course.

    Estimated Potential

    • The aggregate asset pipeline under NMP over the four-year period, FY 2022-2025, is indicatively valued at Rs 6.0 lakh crore.
    • The estimated value corresponds to ~14% of the proposed outlay for Centre under NIP (Rs 43 lakh crore). This includes more than 12-line ministries and more than 20 asset classes.
    • The sectors included are roads, ports, airports, railways, warehousing, gas & product pipeline, power generation and transmission, mining, telecom, stadium, hospitality and housing.
    • The top 5 sectors (by estimated value) capture ~83% of the aggregate pipeline value. These top 5 sectors include: Roads (27%) followed by Railways (25%), Power (15%), oil & gas pipelines (8%) and Telecom (6%).

    Implementation & Monitoring Mechanism

    • As an overall strategy, significant share of the asset base will remain with the government.
    • The programme is envisaged to be supported through necessary policy and regulatory interventions by the Government in order to ensure an efficient and effective process of asset monetisation.
    • These will include streamlining operational modalities, encouraging investor participation and facilitating commercial efficiency, among others.
    • Real time monitoring will be undertaken through the a separate dashboard.

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  • 24th August 2021 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

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    [WpProQuiz 750]

    [WpProQuiz_toplist 750]

  • 3 Stress-management techniques that can help you remain calm during UPSC Prelims 2021-22

    3 Stress-management techniques that can help you remain calm during UPSC Prelims 2021-22

    Dear aspirants,

    Cracking UPSC exam is all about:

    Syllabus Management + Time Management + Stress Management

    As Prelims approaches, you have already worked on your syllabus. If you have practiced mock papers then you know how to manage your time too. But what about STRESS?

    Most students lose their nerves during the exam and miss out on qualifying due to stress. The uncertain and unpredictable situation can make you lose accuracy and you may even miss the question whose answers you know. Stress can consume you effortlessly but it takes time and practice to manage it.

    That’s why we would like to share these 3 techniques that can help you manage your stress and score in your exam!

    A) 15 Seconds breathing exercise – When we feel stressed, our heart beats faster to provide more oxygen to the brain. But if it increases further, it reduces our mental alertness and hampers our memory. What to do? 

    According to Jason Selk – “Take a 15-second breath. 6 seconds in, 2 seconds hold, 7 seconds out. This will trick your brain into thinking that you don’t need more oxygen and that you can handle the situation.”

    Practice this every day so that when you sit for the exam and feel the stress getting to you, you can take 15 seconds and relax before you start answering.

    B) The situation has no meaning, we give meaning to it – Remember, the exam is a neutral condition. It is neither stressful nor stress-free. It’s just an exam. The more we hype it up in our minds, the more stressful the paper seems. Relax! Tell yourself that it is nothing more than an exam and you can beat it! Trust yourself and your preparation and do not let the thought of the exam stress you out.

    C) Most of our thoughts are negative – A study states that we have over 6,200 thoughts in a day. And when we are under stress, most of our thoughts are negative. During the exam, when we get stressed, we give more value to the negative thoughts and the stress starts building even more. 

    This is where guidance from your mentors can help you manage stress. All you need to do is remember what your mentors taught you about stress management. Keep in mind how they explained the techniques to manage your time and answers. (Example below)

    But if you haven’t learned these techniques, you can still get in touch with our mentors for absolutely free and learn a few stress management techniques that can help you remain calm during the tough times and focus only on cracking the exam.

    Another aspirant wrote this:

    The mentors at Civilsdaily helped students manage their concerns and stress during their most difficult times. In fact, as a testament, one of our students wrote the following about our mentorship program:

    Speak with a mentor to learn stress management (click here)

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