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  • Satellites and Light Pollution

    Objects sent to space that orbit the Earth can increase the overall brightness of the night sky by 10 per cent above natural levels, showed a new study.

    Light Pollution

    • Light pollution is the presence of anthropogenic and artificial light in the night environment.
    • It is exacerbated by excessive, misdirected or obtrusive use of light, but even carefully used light fundamentally alters natural conditions.
    • Specific categories of light pollution include light trespass, over-illumination, glare, light clutter, and skyglow.
    • A single offending light source often falls into more than one of these categories.

    How does a satellite contribute?

    • Large fleets of communication satellites that have been unleashed in space not just add to the light pollution but also collide and form more debris.
    • Light from this piling debris cloaks astronomical bodies like ‘the glowing clouds of stars in the Milky Way’ from human sight.
    • While telescopes and sensitive cameras often resolve space objects as discrete points of light, low-resolution detectors of light such as the human eye see only the combined effect of many such objects.
    • Astronomers have complained that the growing number of artificial space objects choke the sky and disturb observations.

    Impacts of light pollution

    • As a major side-effect of urbanization, it is blamed for compromising health, disrupting ecosystems and spoiling aesthetic environments.
    • Health effects of over-illumination or improper spectral composition of light may include increased headache, worker fatigue, medically defined stress and an increase in anxiety.
    • Likewise, animal models have been studied demonstrating unavoidable light to produce adverse effect on mood and anxiety.
    • For those who need to be awake at night, the light at night also has an acute effect on alertness and mood.

  • Places in news: Chenab Arch Bridge

    A half-a-kilometre long arch, the defining feature of the world’s highest railway bridge over river Chenab, is set to be completed today.

    Chenab Arch Bridge

    • The bridge is part of an ambitious 272-km rail link project and is being constructed by the Northern Railway at an estimated cost of ₹28,000 crores.
    • The bridge will be able to withstand earthquakes with a magnitude of up to eight and high-intensity blasts.
    • The bridge, which will include a 14-metre dual carriageway and a 1.2-metre-wide central verge, will have a design speed of around 100 kilometres per hour with a lifespan of 120 years.

    Its inception

    • The preparations of the rail link began in 2002 and the initial plan was to connect Kashmir’s northernmost city Baramulla to New Delhi.
    • Work on the bridge started again in July 2017 with the aim of completing the construction by the end of 2019 but due to contractual issues in 2018, it was delayed.
    • Steel was specifically chosen for the construction of the bridge as it will make the project more economical.
    • The metal will also be able to resist temperatures of minus 20 degree Celsius and wind speeds of above 200 kilometres per hour.

    Significance

    • A railway bridge like this, with this kind of geography, has not been made anywhere in the world, according to the Railways.
    • It will symbolise the Kashmir rail link, to be ready for at least a century.
    • In other words, a train from Kanyakumari can reach all the way to Kashmir uninterrupted.
    • The cable crane that will do the job of completing the arch itself measures around 900 meters and is said to be the longest in the world, made especially for this project.

  • 5th April 2021| Daily Answer Writing Enhancement

    Important Announcement:  Topics to be covered on 6th April-

    GS-1  Salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture.

    GS-4 Ethics and Human Interface.

    Question 1)

    Tipu Sultan was the fearless “Tiger of Mysore”, a powerful bulwark against colonialism, and a great son of Karnataka. Comment on how should the historical figure of Tipu Sultan be assessed today. 10 marks

     

    Question 2)

    Discuss the issues with the exemption of aided and non-aided minority institution from the provisions of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act? 10 mark

    Question 3)

    Why net zero emission targets are considered to be unjust for developing countries? 10 marks

    Question 4)  

    “An unexamined life is not worth living”. – Socrates. What does the following quotations mean to you? Discuss the importance of self-realization? 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

  • (7 pm) Join live session by VP sir- “Avoid these mistakes committed by toppers in UPSC interviews”| 2 days left for DAF submission- discuss with us

    Click on the video below and set a reminder for 7 pm today.

    (click) Enroll here for Transcend: interview guidance program for UPSC CSE 2020

    UPSC interviews are about to start in a few days. Reaching the third and final stage of the UPSC IAS exam is no joke and there is no place for complacency. There is a lot to learn from the mistakes committed by the UPSC toppers.

    VP sir will be live with you at 7 pm.

    Transcend 2020: UPSC interview program

    Last 2 days left to fill and submit DAF 2. Talk to us today. Fill this form to schedule a call.

    (click) Enroll here for Transcend: interview guidance program for UPSC CSE 2020

    Send your DAF 1 and draft DAF 2 to atul@civilsdaily.com to begin with. Our team will reach out to you for DAF 2 curation.

    PROGRAM INCLUSION AND OTHER DETAILS BELOW.

    Students, congratulations for clearing UPSC Mains hurdle. It is time to focus on UPSC interviews. UPSC has released DAF 2 and the last date to fill and submit it is 5th April 2021.

    Transcend, is our flagship Interview Guidance Program for UPSC CSE 2020.

    These are some of the toppers from Civilsdaily IAS who were also a part of Transcend Interview Guidance Program 2019.

    Program inclusion

    1. Mock interview and detailed analysis + feedback
    2. Most important issues coverage – current and structural
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    6. DAF based personalized questionnaire
    7. Transcend Habitat group membership

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    Don’t forget to send your DAF 1 and draft DAF 2 to atul@civilsdaily.com

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  • The conundrum of financial distress and higher household savings amid covid

    The article explains the paradoxical increase in savings of Indian households during the pandemic.

    Increase in savings during lockdown

    • Counterintuitively, the financial savings of people went up in April-June 2020.
    • Data compiled by the RBI reveal that in April-June 2020, household financial savings was ₹8.16 trillion.
    • For a perspective on how big this is, in April-June 2019, household financial savings was ₹2.02 trillion.
    • In July-September 2019, it was ₹4.85 trillion and in the two following quarters, it was ₹4.2 trillion and ₹5.14 trillion, respectively.
    • As a percentage of GDP, it was 21% of GDP in April-June 2020 (the lockdown quarter) against 4% of GDP in April-June 2019.

    So, what happened to savings in the next quarter?

    • In the immediate quarter after April-June 2020, would you expect savings to move up, as things were opening up gradually?
    • Again, counter-intuitive.
    • In July-September 2020, household savings was ₹4.92 lakh crore, or 10.4% of GDP.

    What explains such saving behaviour?

    • This has got to do with the human response to an emergency situation.
    • When things are looking bleak, one does not know how worse it can get.
    • Discretionary spending was cut down.
    • One section of the population was losing jobs and opting for moratorium on loans.
    • Now we know, in hindsight, that it was not the entire population—people with access to means were rather saving than spending.
    • Household financial savings is the net of flow of financial assets minus flow of financial liabilities.
    •  In April-June 2020, flow of financial assets at ₹7.38 trillion was much higher than ₹3.83 trillion of April-June 2019.
    • The big difference was the flow of financial liabilities.
    • In April-June 2020, it was a negative ₹0.78 trillion over a positive ₹1.81 trillion in April-June 2019.
    • That is, people paid off their liabilities in April-June 2020, whereas usually they add to it.
    • Things normalized in July-September 2020.
    • The flow of financial assets rose to ₹7.47 trillion, but the flow of financial liabilities was ₹2.55 trillion i.e., people added to financial liabilities.
    • The household debt to GDP ratio rose to 37.1% in July-September 2020 from 35.4% in April-June 2020.

    What do we learn from all this?

    • In a pandemic-induced financial distress phase, a majority of the people preferred to save.
    • One basic tenet of financial planning is that you have an emergency fund equivalent to, say, six months of expenses.
    • People usually follow the principle of Income – Expenses = Savings/Investments.
    • Ideally, it should be Income – Savings/Investments = Expenses.

    Consider the question “What explains the increased saving of Indian households during the quarter of lockdown? What lessons we can draw from this for reliance on the demand-led recovery from the pandemic?”

    Conclusion

    The data from the RBI attest to the well-established fact that people tend to save in emergencies. This also suggests that the demand-led recovery path during emergencies faces the risk of failure.

  • A missing science pillar in the COVID response

    The article deals with the emerging trends from the surge in Covid cases and suggests a data-driven policy approach followed by a national vaccination program to deal with the challenge.

    Surge in Covid cases

    • Recently, there has been a sharp increase in new cases and deaths from the disease.
    • Maharashtra seems to be particularly affected, but nearly all States are reporting increases.
    • The epidemiology of COVID-19 is poorly understood.
    • But some early understanding of the transmission of the virus can enable a more effective science-driven response.

    Variant of virus could be behind the spread

    • The surge is probably driven by variants from the original, as variants worldwide comprise much of the current wave.
    •  Evolutionary theory would expect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to mutate to become more transmissible.
    • However, the expected concomitant decrease in lethality has not yet been documented.
    • Anecdotal reports that the current surge is occurring more in younger adults and accompanied by unusual symptoms also support the idea that variants are responsible.
    • Direct evidence is needed from genetic sequencing of the virus.

    No herd immunity

    • Various serosurveys have consistently found that half or more of tested urban populations have antibodies to the virus.
    • However, this high level of infection is not the same as a markedly reduced level of transmission, which is what is required for herd immunity.
    • Notions of herd immunity do not fully capture the fact that for largely unknown reasons, viral transmission is cyclical.
    • Much of the infection in India might well be mild, with less durable immune protection than induced by vaccination.
    • Asymptomatic infection is more commonly reported in Indian serosurveys, exceeding 90% in some, in contrast to high-income countries, where about one-third of infections report as asymptomatic.
    • Milder infection might well also correlate with lower severity of clinical illness, helping to explain the Indian paradox of widespread transmission but with low mortality rates.

    Policy must be data-driven

    • Theories or mathematical models are hugely uncertain, particularly early on in the epidemic.
    • A better understanding of the unique patterns of Indian viral transmission has a few pillars, which can be achieved quickly.
    • First, collection of anonymised demographic and risk details like age, sex, travel, contact with other COVID-19 patients, existing chronic conditions, current smoking on all positive cases on a central website in each State remains a priority.
    • Second, greatly expanded sequencing of the viral genome is needed from many parts of India, which can be achieved by re-programming sequencing capacity in Indian academic and commercial laboratories.
    • Third, far better reporting of COVID-19 deaths is needed.
    • Daily or weekly reporting of the total death counts by age and sex by each municipality would help track if there is a spike in presumed COVID-19 deaths.
    • Fourth, the Indian Council of Medical Research’s national serosurvey had design limitations such that it probably underestimated the true national prevalence.
    • A far larger and better set of serial surveys is required.
    • Finally, we need to understand better why some populations are not affected.

    Counter the inequality in vaccination

    • Affluent and connected urban elites of India are vaccinating quickly, but the poorer and less educated Indians are being left behind.
    • Vaccination campaigns need to reach the poor adults over age 45, without having to prove anything other than approximate age.
    • Follow-up studies among the vaccinated can establish the durability of protection, and, ideally, reduction in transmission.
    • Similarly, India must capture and report data on who is vaccinated, including by education or wealth levels.
    • The poor cannot be left in the dark.

    Prepare for future pandemics through adult vaccination plan

    • COVID-19 could well turn into a seasonal challenge and thus, the central government should actively consider launching a national adult vaccination programme.
    • The Disease Control Priorities Project estimates an adult national programme would cost about ₹250 per Indian per year to cover routine annual flu vaccination, five-yearly pneumococcal vaccines, HPV vaccines for adolescent girls and tetanus for expectant mothers.
    • Per year, vaccines for one billion adults might save about 200,000 lives from the targeted diseases.
    • Indeed, we might already be in the era where major zoonotic diseases are not once-a-century events, but once a decade.
    • Thus, adult and child vaccination programmes are essential to prepare for future pandemics.

    Conclusion

    The resurgence of COVID-19 presents a major challenge for governments, yet the best hope is to rapidly expand epidemiological evidence, share it with the public and build confidence that the vaccination programme will benefit all Indians.

  • Time to undo the RTE bias against private non-minority institutions

    The article highlights the issues with the exemption of aided and non-aided minority institutions from the Right to Education Act.

    Is RTE enforceable against individuals?

    • Most fundamental rights are enforceable against the state, not against private individuals.
    • Certain rights, however, are horizontally enforceable too, that is, they can be enforced against individuals.
    • The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act or RTE falls in the latter category.
    • The right to education was initially mentioned in Article 45 as a part of the Directive Principles.

    Evolution of Article 21A

    • The Supreme Court in 1992 held in Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka that the right to education was a part of the right to life recognised in Article 21.
    • The next year, the court in Unnikrishnan JP v. State of Andhra Pradesh held that the state was duty-bound to provide education to children up to the age of 14 within its economic capacity.
    • The court also acknowledged that private educational institutions, including minority institutions, would have to play a role alongside government schools.
    • The right to education was finally given the status of a fundamental right by the 86th constitutional amendment in the year 2002 by the addition of Article 21A in the Constitution.
    • The Supreme Court held in P. A. Inamdar case that there shall be no reservation in private institutions and that minority and non-minority institutions would not be treated differently.

    Impact of 93rd amendment

    • In 2005, the Constitution was amended by the 93rd amendment to include Clause(5) to Article 15 which dealt with the fundamental right against discrimination.
    • The clause permitted the state to provide for advancement of “backward” classes by ensuring their admission in institutions, including private institutions.
    • The clause, however, excluded both aided and unaided minority educational institutions thus overruling the Supreme Court’s judgment in P.A. Inamdar case.

    Discrimination in RTE

    • When the RTE Act was subsequently enacted in 2009, it did not directly discriminate between students studying in minority and non-minority institutions.
    • Subsequently, the provision of 25 per cent reservation in private institutions was however challenged in Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan v. Union of India where the court upheld the validity of the legislation exempting only unaided minority schools from its purview.
    • In response to the judgment, the RTE Act was amended in 2012 to mention that its provisions were subject to Articles 29 and 30 which protect the administrative rights of minority educational institutions.
    • So, the onus on private unaided schools was much higher than that on government schools, while even aided minority schools were exempt.
    • But the constitutional provision enabling the RTE Act, that is, Article 21, does not make any discrimination between minority and non-minority institutions.

    Issues

    • The above provisions of RTE made it violative of Article 14 and also economically unviable for many private schools.
    •  Not only has RTE unreasonably differentiated between minority and non-minority schools without any explicable basis, there is also no rational nexus between the object of universal education sought to be achieved by this act and the step of excluding minority schools from its purview.
    • Given the doctrine of harmonious construction of fundamental rights, it is unclear why the court granted complete immunity to minority institutions when several provisions of RTE would not interfere with their administrative rights.
    • RTE has provisions such as prevention of physical/mental cruelty towards students as well as quality checks on pedagogical and teacher standards which children studying in minority institutions should not be deprived of and to that extent be discriminated against.

    Way forward

    • The Kerala High Court held in Sobha George v. State of Kerala that Section 16 of RTE, which forbids non-promotion till the completion of elementary education, will be applicable to minority schools as well. 
    • The bench said that the courts must examine whether provisions such as Section 16 of RTE are statutory rights or fundamental rights expressed in a statutory form.
    • If the latter, then the Pramati case judgement will not be fully available to minority institutions.
    • The Supreme Court should take inspiration from the prudent decision delivered by the Kerala High Court and overrule its own judgment delivered in the Pramati Educational Society.

    Consider the question “What are the issues with the exemption of aided and non-aided minority institution from the RTE Act.”

    Conclusion

    RTE as legislation may be well-intentioned, but the time has come to relook at the discriminatory nature of RTE against private non-minority institutions, and to that extent, undo the damage done by 93rd Amendment and the subsequent SC judgments.

  • 3rd April 2021 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

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  • Prakash Singh Judgment on Police Reforms, 2006

    Political interference in police postings continues despite the landmark Prakash Singh judgment nearly a decade-and-a-half ago that addressed the issue and was pegged to be a watershed moment in police reforms.

    Politics is a perplexing, but fascinating game. It takes ages to unravel the intricate secrets that shroud the kernel of closed room politics. But contrary has happened with the Maharashtra Police.

    What is the SC’s Prakash Singh judgment on police reforms?

    • Prakash Singh, who served as DGP of UP Police and Assam Police besides other postings, filed a PIL in the Supreme Court post-retirement, in 1996, seeking police reforms.
    • In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court in September 2006 had directed all states and Union Territories to bring in police reforms.
    • The ruling issued a series of measures that were to be undertaken by the governments to ensure the police could do their work without worrying about any political interference.

    What measures were suggested by the Supreme Court?

    • The seven main directives from the Supreme Court in the verdict were fixing the tenure and selection of the DGP to avoid situations where officers about to retire in a few months are given the post.
    • In order to ensure no political interference, a minimum tenure was sought for the Inspector General of Police so that they are not transferred mid-term by politicians.
    • The SC further directed postings of officers being done by Police Establishment Boards (PEB) comprising police officers and senior bureaucrats to insulate powers of postings and transfers from political leaders.
    • Further, there was a recommendation of setting up the State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) to give a platform where common people aggrieved by police action could approach.
    • Apart from this, the SC directed the separation of investigation and law and order functions to better improve policing, setting up State Security Commissions (SSC) that would have members from civil society and forming a National Security Commission.

    How did states respond to these directives?

    • The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), in its report of 2020 has some useful data.
    • It tracked changes made in the police force following the 2006 judgment.
    • It has found that not even one state was fully compliant with the apex court directives and that while 18 states passed or amended their Police Acts in this time, not one fully matches legislative models.

    What has been the response of the Supreme Court to these issues?

    • Prakash Singh said that he has followed up on these issues and has had nearly five contempt petitions issued in the past decades to states found to be non-compliant.
    • Singh said that bigger states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and UP have been the worst when it comes to bringing about systemic changes in line with the judgment and that it is only the North-Eastern states that have followed the suggested changes in spirit.
    • Singh said states like Maharashtra make their own laws that are not effective.
    • The need of the hour is an all-India Act that all states have to follow and small changes can be made in exceptional cases relating to the situation in a particular state.

  • Harmonized System of Nomenclature Code

    It has been made mandatory for a GST taxpayer having a turnover of more than Rs 5 crore in the preceding financial year, to furnish 6 digits HSN Code (Harmonized System of Nomenclature Code). This comes into effect from April 1.

    HSN code

    • The Harmonized System, or simply ‘HS’, is a six-digit identification code developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO).
    • Called the “universal economic language” for goods, it is a multipurpose international product nomenclature.
    • Over 200 countries use the system as a basis for their customs tariffs, gathering international trade statistics, making trade policies, and monitoring goods.
    • The system helps in harmonizing customs and trade procedures, thus reducing costs in international trade.

    What makes the 6 digit code?

    • A unique six-digit code has numbers arranged in a legal and logical structure, with well-defined rules to achieve uniform classification.
    • Of the six digits, the first two denote the HS Chapter, the next two give the HS heading, and the last two give the HS subheading.
    • The HS Code for pineapple, for example, is 0804.30, which means it belongs to Chapter 08 (Edible fruit & nuts, peel of citrus/melons), Heading 04 (Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, etc. fresh or dried), and Subheading 30 (Pineapples).

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