A Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court has asked a convict to speak only in English as that was the language in the higher judiciary referring to Article 348 of the Constitution which mandates that the language of the High Court would be English.
What is Article 348?
It provides for languages to be used in the Supreme Court and in the High Courts and for Acts, Bills, etc
Article 348 (1) provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High court shall be in English Language until Parliament by law otherwise provides.
Under Article 348 (2), the Governor of the State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of the Hindi language or any other language used for any official purpose of the State.
It states that in the proceedings of the High Court having its principal seat in that State provided that decrees, judgments or orders passed by such High Courts shall be in English.
When is use of other languages permitted?
Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963, provides that the use of Hindi or official language of a State in addition to the English language may be authorized.
This has to be done with the consent of the President of India, by the Governor of the State for purpose of judgments etc. made by the High Court for that State.
The Delhi Assembly has passed an amendment Bill to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1971, recognizing Takht Damdama Sahib as the fifth Takht of Sikhs.
What is a Sikh Takht?
A Takht, which means a throne, is a seat of temporal authority for Sikhs.
There are five Sikh Takhts, three in Punjab and one each in Maharashtra and Bihar.
(1) Akal Takht
Located in Amritsar, it is the oldest of the Takhts, and considered supreme among the five.
It was set up in 1606 by Guru Hargobind, whose succession as the sixth Guru after the execution of his father, Guru Arjan Dev, is considered a turning point in Sikh history.
The Akal Takht, a raised platform that he built in front of the causeway leading to the sanctum sanctorum of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple).
It symbolised the coming together of the temporal authority and the political sovereignty of the Sikh community (miri) with the spiritual authority (piri).
It is seen as the first marker of Sikh nationalism.
The other four Takhts are linked to Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru.
(2) Takht Keshgarh Sahib
Located in Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. It was here that Guru Gobind Singh raised Khalsa, the initiated Sikh warriors, in 1699.
(3) Takht Patna Sahib
Guru Gobind Singh was born here in 1666.
(4) Takht Hazur Sahib
In Nanded, where Guru Gobin Singh spent time and where he was cremated in 1708.
(5) Takht Damdama Sahib
In Talwandi Sabo of Bathinda. Guru Gobind Singh spent several months here.
What does the amendment to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act mean?
Simply put, it adds one more ex officio member in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managament Committee (DSGMC) house.
Earlier, there were four ex officio members in the house — the chiefs (jathedars) of the other four Sikh Takhts.
Is it the first time it has been recognised as the fifth Takht?
It was back in 1999 that Takht Damdama Sahib was recognised as the fifth Sikh Takht by the Union Home Ministry.
It included it as such in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 (Punjab Act VIII of 1925) with a notification dated April 23, 1999.
Before that, an SGPC sub-committee had declared it the fifth Takht of Sikhs back in November 1966 after Punjab was carved out as a separate state through the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.
How politically significant is the move?
It comes ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, where the, Delhi’s ruling party, has high stakes.
What is the role of the Sikh Takhts?
The Takhts are known to issue hukumnamas (morality orders) from time to time on issues that concern the Sikh community.
Akal Takht is supreme among them because it is the oldest and was created by a Sikh Guru himself, say Sikh scholars.
Any edict or order concerning the entire community is issued only from Akal Takht.
It is from Akal Takht that Sikhs found to be violating the Sikh doctrine and code of conduct are awarded religious punishment (declared tankhaiya).
Who appoints the jathedars of the Takhts?
The three Takhts in Punjab are directly controlled by the SGPC, which appoints the jathedars.
The SGPC is dominated by SAD members.
It is widely understood that SAD puts the final seal on the appointment of these three jathedars.
The two Takhts outside Punjab have their own trusts and boards.
China is building a bridge across the Pangong Tso area connecting the North and South Banks which will significantly reduce the time for moving troops and equipment between the two sides.
About Pangong Tso
Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake is an endorheic lake in the Himalayas situated at a height of about 4,350 m.
It is 134 km long and extends from India to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China.
Approximately 60% of the length of the lake lies within the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
The lake is 5 km wide at its broadest point. All together it covers 604 sq.km.
During winter the lake freezes completely, despite being saline water.
It is not a part of the Indus river basin area and is geographically a separate landlocked river basin.
Earlier, Pangong Tso had an outlet to Shyok River, a tributary of Indus River, but it was closed off due to natural damming.
Tactical significance of the lake
It lies in the path of the Chushul approach, one of the main approaches that China can use for an offensive into Indian Territory.
During the 1962 war, this was where China launched its main offensive — the Indian Army fought heroically at Rezang La under Maj. Shaitan Singh.
Not far away, to the north of the lake, is the Army’s Dhan Singh Thapa post, named after Major Dhan Singh Thapa who was awarded the country’s highest gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra.
Major Thapa and his platoon were manning the Sirijap-1 outpost which was essential for the defense of the Chushul airfield.
Connectivity in the region
Over the years, the Chinese have built motorable roads along their banks of the Pangong Tso. This points to the importance accorded by the Chinese to the area.
Even during peacetime, the difference in perception over where the LAC lies on the northern bank of the lake makes this contested terrain.
In 1999, when the Army unit from the area was moved to Kargil for Operation Vijay, China took the opportunity to build 5 km of a road inside the Indian Territory along the lake’s bank.
From one of these roads, Chinese positions physically overlook Indian positions on the northern tip of the Pangong Tso Lake.
What is the importance of the bridge over Pangong Tso?
The bridge over Pangong Tso is located around 25 kms ahead of the LAC in Chinese territory and will significantly reduce the time for movement of Chinese army.
The Indian Army gained tactical advantage over the PLA on the south bank in end August 2020 by occupying several peaks lying vacant since 1962 gaining a dominating view.
This has prompted China to build deep alternate roads behind the friction points away from the line of sight.
How is India responding to developments on the ground?
The bridge is well within Chinese territory.
The implications of this new bridge will have to be factored in the Indian Army’s operational planning for the future.
On its part, over the last few years India has been focusing on infrastructure development in forward areas and improving connectivity to the forward areas.
Large-scale construction of roads, bridges and tunnels is underway all along the LAC.
Vaccines like Biological E’s Corbevax and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin that are made by traditional methods are “just as effective” as the latest mRNA technology-based vaccines a/c to US scientists.
What are Vaccines?
A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease.
It typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins.
Types of Vaccines
There are several types of vaccines, including:
Inactivated vaccines
Live-attenuated vaccines
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines
Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines
Viral vector vaccines
[1] Inactivated vaccines
Inactivated vaccines use the killed version of the germ that causes a disease.
Inactivated vaccines usually don’t provide immunity (protection) that’s as strong as live vaccines.
So you may need several doses over time (booster shots) in order to get ongoing immunity against diseases.
Inactivated vaccines are used to protect against: Hepatitis A, Flu (shot only), Polio (shot only), Rabies etc.
[2] Live-attenuated vaccines
Live vaccines use a weakened (or attenuated) form of the germ that causes a disease.
Because these vaccines are so similar to natural infection that they help prevent, they create a strong and long-lasting immune response.
Just 1 or 2 doses of most live vaccines can give you a lifetime of protection against a germ and the disease it causes.
They need to be kept cool in refrigerated conditions.
Live vaccines are used to protect against Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), Rotavirus, Smallpox, Chickenpox, Yellow fever
[3] Messenger RNA vaccines
Researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades and this technology was used to make some of the COVID-19 vaccines.
mRNA vaccines make proteins in order to trigger an immune response.
mRNA vaccines have several benefits compared to other types of vaccines, including shorter manufacturing times and, because they do not contain a live virus, no risk of causing disease in the person getting vaccinated.
How does mRNA vaccine work?
The mRNA vaccines function differently from traditional vaccines.
Traditional vaccines stimulate an antibody response by injecting a human with antigens.
mRNA vaccines inject a fragment of the RNA sequence of a virus directly into the cells, which then stimulate an adaptive immune response mRNA fragment is a specific piece of the virus that carries instructions to build the antigen of the virus.
An advantage of RNA vaccines is that they stimulate cellular immunity.
Smash Prelims Program is back after a thumping success in Prelims 2021. Out of 25 students Santosh sir has mentored, 15 have cleared prelims this time.Our students were kind enough to take time out of their hectic Mains preparation and let us know how Santosh sir’s mentorship benefitted them in the exams. We wish them all the very best for the upcoming Mains exam from 7th January onwards!
Why Your Focus for Next 5 Months Must be About Scoring Above Cut-Off Marks in UPSC-CSE Prelims? Isn’t the last 1 Month Enough for This?
Every year, the competition for UPSC-CSE is increasing while vacancies are decreasing drastically. This year there are only 712 vacancies as against 2019 which had 927 vacancies. However, atleast 10 lakh students will attempt the prelims exam. This is why right now, it’s important to start having an Olympic Athlete mindset. You need to daily focus on scoring above the cut-off marks in your test series.
Civilsdaily Student and 2019 UPSC-CSE AIR 8 Topper Abhishek Saraf had practiced nearly 6000+ MCQs under us to clear prelims!
What makes prelims tough? It’s because the paper is unpredictable. If this year, science questions are a breeze then the next year you will have to answer advanced concept-based questions. Unlike Mains, Prelims has negative markings.
Toppers like Pranav Vijayvergiya (AIR 65) andSwati Sharma(AIR 17) have found Prelims to be tougher than Mains. In fact, Pranav failed to clear Prelims thrice. But, in his fourth attempt he took Civilsdaily mentorship and cleared Prelims, Mains and Interview in one shot!
Are you feeling low that you are unable to get the required cut-off marks in your test series. Worry not, for about 65% of the UPSC toppers have said that they scored below cut-off marks till December. But by June, they were able to boost their marks to get through the prelims hurdle. It’s time to be like them now.
One has to be good at elimination methods to choose the right option amongst two similar ones. Our Smash Prelims Program started as a pilot project last year with an aim to introduce step-wise improvement in our chosen 25 aspirants. Over a period of 2 months, Santhosh sir inculcated confidence in aspirants who were either newbies or gave too many attempts. This year, we achieved a remarkable 60% success ratio. Next year, we have set our eyes on 100%. Yes, we are ambitious and aspirational just like any other UPSC aspirant.
Why is Mentorship Required for UPSC-CSE Prelims in Every Step – From Test Series, to Study Materials, Classes to Doubt Resolution?
If you are appearing for UPSC-CSE 2022 exams, you might have completed your entire prelims and mains syllabus right now. So what are your main priorities right now? To succeed in UPSC-CSE Prelims 2022, you have to check all these boxes in terms of preparation—
You need clear strategy for next 150 days.
You need to revise effectively to remember whole syllabus at the eve of exam.
You need to practice lots of tests to score accurately, to understand elimination techniques and reduce exam anxiety.
You need to revise current affair of 1.5 years that you have been studying daily.
You need a mentor to fill the critical gaps that have been ignoring till now as you had no one to address them for you.
Santhosh Sir’s Weekly Zoom Session
Do you want to have a mentor who conducts and evaluates medium to advanced test series regularly? A mentor explains to you the different kinds of elimination techniques after you have taken a test series. Before attending a test do you want the mentor to discuss with you the study materials required for the test and provide the right notes with integrated current affairs? While studying a subject, you might have umpteen number of questions. Having someone who responds quickly and explains the topics in simple terms saves your time. And, after a test do you want an experienced mentor to discuss the right answers and motivate you? Do you want the mentor to provide you classes on static+dynamic prelims topics? If yes, then this is the right program for you! The registrations are open for all UPSC 2022 aspirants
Self Preparation with Mentorship: What do Civilsdaily Students think of Santosh Sir’s Mentorship for UPSC-CSE Prelims?
Santhosh Sir, Core Civilsdaily Mentor. He has attended Interview Thrice & Cleared Prelims 6/6 times with above 145 marks.
We asked Santosh sir’s students about their opinion on mentorship — if it was something that saved their time or wasted their time in studies and this is what they had to say:
Kamini: “If I can say in one word, then Santosh sir’s mentorship is unique. Before I joined his program, I used to score 90 marks in Full Length Test Series. Santhosh sir had done in depth analysis of my test papers and suggested ways to reduce the negatives. Right now I am able to score 100+ in advanced test series of not only Civilsdaily but other institutes. He is always available to clear my doubts and solve my issues on call or phone. No issue is too big enough for Santosh sir. He has always told me after you finish a test series, read the same topics again and take another test series the same day to see if your marks improve. From Santosh sir’s polity and economic survey notes, we got questions in 2021 Prelims. I always feel its better to do self studies with mentorship than join coaching institutes and get spoon fed with information.”
Sweetie Raj: “I am a banking professional, living with a joint family. Attending coaching classes is out of question because I won’t have time to read the books myself. Santosh sir helps me self-study by providing me mentorship daily. I study daily from 9PM to 3AM. Santosh sir has been available for 1 hour strategy calls even during this time. No other teacher would have wanted me to succeed as much as he wants me to. I can understand concepts by myself and don’t need help in that. I want someone who pushes me to complete the target modules, checks if I did my mains answer writing for the day and analyses the previous year question papers with me. Because of Santosh sir, I understood that its just not enough reading one book but at the same time I dont have to waste time reading many books. He tells me the topic-wise sources to refer. Also he has designed a study plan for me that I can follow every week. Once, I told Santhosh sir I was missing test series discussion classes as it was conducted at 7PM. Immediately, he provided me recorded videos and kept the session at 8.30PM.”
Specific Features of Smash Prelims 2022 by Santosh Sir
Sincere aspirants who are scoring in the range of 80-90 marks must not attend last minute crash courses right now. They should instead focus on self revision, test series practice and guided mentorship to qualify for UPSC Prelims 2022. Here are the features of Prelims Focused Program by Civilsdaily —
Pillar-1
PRELIMS TESTS:
40 Full Length Tests(12 Basic + 6 Advanced + 10 CA tests + 8 Full tests + 4 CSAT).
In addition to this, in the month of January, we will have 60 sectional tests for practice. This will have 50 questions each. Hence, totally 100 Test Papers (40 FLTs + 60 Sectional Test Papers)
FIRST TEST WILL START ON JANUARY 15TH. SO, REGISTER ASAP.
VALUE ADDITIONS NOTES AND CLASSES BY VETERAN CIVILSDAILY MENTORS like SUDHANSHU SIR, SAJAL SIR & SUKANYA MA’AM
Polity: Sudhanshu sirwill conduct two sessions covering all the Polity Fundamentals, a session analyzing past year papers, another session on important current affairs related to polity this year and will discuss your test solutions.
History: Santosh Gupta sir will conduct a session on Sectoral Developments in Modern History, a session analyzing past year papers, and test discussion.
Economy: Sajal sir will conduct sessions on economic survey, trend analysis, discussion of most important economic current affairs, past year paper analysis, and economy final test discussion.
Geography: Santosh sir will conduct sessions on the most difficult aspects like Geography Mapping, Economic Geography, and Indian Agriculture.
Environment:Sukanya Ma’amwill cover sessions on Environment innovatively. Key concepts like vegetation and biome, Indian wildlife, conventions and protocols, national parks and sanctuaries, agriculture and sustainable development, and environment current affairs will be covered.
Science & Technology: This year’s prelims paper questioned on the basic concepts of science. Keeping this in mind, Santosh Gupta sir will conduct 2 sessions on One basic concept and current affairs of science and technology.
2. Civilsdaily Current Affairs Magazines for 1 year
3. Civilsdaily compilations of Yojna, Kurukshetra, PRS and RS TV.
4. Civilsdaily Budget And Economic Survey Summary.
5. Handouts on key subject-wise static topics to remember the terms and definitions for Prelims 2022.
Pillar-3
Santosh Gupta sir’s mentorship program
1. Introductory mentor call to every aspirant immediately upon commencement of program.
2. Weekly zoom strategy session by Santosh sir for doubt clearance and continuous improvement.
3. 1-1 mentor calls after 3-4 tests by mentor. After every test series, zoom sessions will be conducted by Birendra sir with all members of the batch for test discussion.
4. Support from mentors on the Habitat Group.
5. Frequent sessions with toppers for support and guidance. will have these special features for aspirants.
6. Mentor will guide on the FCE Approach i.e the Factual and Conceptual Methods of Elimination.
7. Mentor call as per request and mandatory check up call by mentor once a month.
Toppers’ Speak: How Civilsdaily Mentorship Helped Me Clear UPSC?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSwO38weHAA
About Santosh Gupta Sir
Santosh sir has scored above 140 twice in UPSC prelims and 120 plus in all 6 attempts. He has written all 6 mains and has appeared for Interviews 3 times. He has qualified UPSC EPFO and BPSC 56-59th also. As the Prelims coordinator at Civilsdaily, he has helped 15 out of 25 students clear the prelims examination this year.
Let’s admit this— As much as we have heard our seniors, mentors and toppers advise us to answer fewer questions in Prelims exams due to negative marking, do we want to follow it? All of us wish to answer as many questions as possible correctly. However, post 2014, questions have started getting tougher so much that now –
“Prelims is no longer about selecting the right option. It’s searching for the correct option by eliminating the incorrect ones.”
Let’s take a sample question from Prelims 2021 Paper —
Constitutional government means:
a representative government of a nation with federal structure
a government whose Head enjoys nominal powers
a government whose Head enjoys real powers
a government limited by the terms of the Constitution
An average aspirant gets confused between 2-3 options. Option a), b) and d) look equally correct but you have to select only one. The right answer is option d). How can you find out what was the missing criteria in option a) and b) which option d) fulfilled to emerge as the right answer?
Attend the free webinar by Sajal and Sudhanshu sir to get the answer.
Prelims question papers have become more or less like a game of Sudoko. Except, in Sudoko you can solve the puzzle at your leisure and over here you are limited by 2 hours. We hope this webinar will help all 2022 aspirants implement the suggestions of Sajal sir & Sudhanshu sir
SajalSingh has the distinction be being 2017 topper of GS Mains. He has appeared for interview 3 times. Over 400 students have emerged as toppers under SajalSir’s mentorship in the last 7 years.
Sudhanshu (IIM-K, MBA cont.) has first-hand experience of UPSC civil services and helped many candidates sail through. Prior to this he had served in India’s largest industrial defense complex under Ministry of Defense for 10 years. He also keeps a keen interest in regional and global geopolitics with contributions in several online portals including CivilsDaily IAS.
Every year, 24th of December is observed as National Consumer Day.
On this day, the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had received the assent of the president.
The enactment of this Act is considered as a historic milestone in the consumer movement in the country.
This day presents an opportunity to highlight the importance of the consumer movement, the need to make people aware of their rights as consumers, and to ensure consumers with effective safeguards against different types of exploitation such as defective goods, deficiency in services and unfair trade practices.
In this age of e-commerce, which facilitated creation of new approaches to service and product delivery, the challenges of ensuring customer protection have grown manifold. It has raised multiple questions:
How are the interests of e-commerce consumers being protected?
How free and fair competition in e-com market is being encouraged?
How redressal mechanisms for consumer grievances are being strengthened?
E-Commerce boom since Pandemic
The significance of e-commerce has gained attention especially at time of pandemic where the entire value chain and flow of goods and services were dependent on e-commerce.
It was discussed that the emergence of the e-commerce market has created several avenues for online frauds, counterfeit products that affect consumer safety.
Various threats to consumers on E-Com platforms
[A] INFORMATION
Sharing unwanted program- Adware
Spyware
Browser parasites
Cyber-stalking
Risks to behavioural data
[B] ORDERING OF PRODUCTS
Risk of misuse of behavioural pattern data
Malicious recommender algorithm
[C] PAYMENT
Phishing (Threat to login credentials and credit card numbers)
Pharming attacks (fake websites)
Salami attacks (very small amounts of money from thousands of bank accounts is manipulated at once)
Risks to transaction data
[D] DELIVERY
Breach of contract. Ex. Product quality, delivery time etc.
[E] SUPPORT
Processing of cancellation
Refund
Service related issues
Rationale for Consumer Protection in E-commerce
All consumers need to have access to e-commerce.
To build consumer trust/confidence in e-commerce, the continued development of transparent and effective consumer protection mechanisms is required to check fraudulent, misleading, and unfair practices online.
All stakeholders-government, businesses, consumers, and their representatives- must pay close attention to creating effective redress systems.
E-Commerce Rules
Framed under Consumer Protection Act, 2019, it regulates goods and services sold over digital or e-networks.
It lays down duties, liabilities for all e-commerce entities.
Rules don’t apply to activities taken in personal capacity. It applies to entities not set up in India, but offering business here.
Fair pricing: No e-commerce entity should manipulate the price of goods/services offered
Authentic information: No fake customer reviews, advertisements inconsistent with actual features, access or usage of goods
Seller information: It must provide details about the sellers including registration status
Dedicated grievance redressal mechanism: Every e-com company must establish mechanism for grievance redressal
Compliance officer: The firm has to appoint a person to ensure compliance with this Act
Headquarters: Platform should provide legal name, address of headquarters and its branches
Timely resolution of complaints: Grievance officer to acknowledge receipt of complaint within 48 hrs and must resolve the complaint within a month
Refunds in compliance with RBI: Every entity shall affect all refund payment requests as per rules laid by the RBI
With the changing technology and trending trade policies it is recommended that there needs to be effective interventions by the government to implement the consumer outreach programmes.
There is an essential role played by social media in spreading awareness among consumers which can be further promoted and added on to the exemplary campaign like “ Jago Grahak Jago”.
Special and effective awareness campaigns must be brought into the rural areas.
Data privacy and data security of the consumers must be ensured to prevent cybercrime threats.
The visit by United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to Southeast Asia in December 2021 underscores the importance that is being accorded to this region by the Joe Biden administration.
Take aways from the visit
[1] Projecting the US as reliable partner
The idea was to present the U.S. as a reliable partner in meeting the challenges that the Indo-Pacific region is facing.
For instance, completely aware that the Southeast Asian nations are averse to choosing sides in this U.S.-China competition, Mr. Blinken made it a point to mention that “individual countries will be able to choose their own path and their own partners.
[2] Tackling China challenge
Both China and the U.S. are trying to lure the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) countries to their side — China with its grand economic infrastructure investment deals and the U.S. through recent high profile official visits as well as through the Build Back Better World initiative and Blue Dot Network.
In Southeast Asia, the U.S.-China competition is most visible in two areas; one is the South China Sea and the second is the investment in fulfilling the infrastructure development needs of Southeast Asian countries.
The U.S. has continued its Freedom of Navigation operations in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
In his remarks in Indonesia, Mr. Blinken stressed America’s determination “to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where Beijing’s aggressive actions there threaten the movement of more than $3 trillion worth of commerce every year”.
[3] Closing the gap on infrastructure
Southeast Asia has been one of the top recipients of Chinese investments under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
How these investments have driven countries such as Cambodia and Laos to do China’s bidding in the ASEAN even at the cost of compromising ASEAN’s unity is a known fact.
Mr. Blinken reiterated that the U.S. remains committed to help close the gap on infrastructure.
The infrastructure coordination group launched by the Quad members is seeking to catalyse even more investment and is looking to partner with Southeast Asia on infrastructure and many other shared priorities.
Washington is promising to do more under the Build Back Better World initiative and the Blue Dot Network.
Way forward
The ASEAN countries, even after the release of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, do not have a uniform approach when it comes to dealing with the U.S. and China.
These differing approaches are also challenging the much vaunted ASEAN centrality in the Indo-Pacific.
Though external players will have a limited role in ensuring that the unity within ASEAN is restored, providing proper alternative models of investments for development in sectors such as infrastructure, digital economy, supply chain, and health for the Southeast Asian nations will be critical.
Conclusion
The economic framework, investment plans and promises outlined need to be made operational quickly if Washington is to show that it is indeed serious about sustained commitment toward the Indo-Pacific.
Recently, the Missionaries of Charity established by Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa was in the news for the cancellation of its permission under the FCRA.
Detailed scrutiny delaying permission for grant
The levels of due diligence and the information sought on the one hand and the annual declarations to be given by the board members of civil society organisations on the other have increased significantly.
The mandatory opening of bank accounts for foreign contributions has been centralised in one branch of the State Bank of India.
The linking of Permanent Account Number (PAN), Aadhaar number and mapping it with the bank account/s of the individual board members are happening.
The registrations under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) have been long necessitated in order to undertake due diligence of the causes for which the organisation is working for and also to have a handle on the traceability of funds.
The dashboard shows a little under 17,000 active organisations — which have either got permission or will know their fate by March 2022, while around 33,000 organisations have either lost their permission or it has expired.
Various restrictions
Restriction on sub-grant: In the past, the amendments in the FCRA that restricted the ability to sub-grant, killed many of the niche organisations working in very remote areas which had no direct access to international funding but were doing it through larger non-governmental organisations.
Restriction on administrative expenses: The other amendment restricting the proportion of expenses on administration almost choked organisations that worked for the rights of the disposed.
The increasing level of surveillance type of data sought has resulted in many organisations losing people on their governance structure and resulting in problems in funding.
Why do we need Civil Society Organisations?
We need them because they usually work on what can be called an unreasonable agenda.
This unreasonableness falls in three large verticals.
[1] Ensuring efficiency and accountability from state: The first is that they ask for greater efficiency, delivery and accountability from the state.
Whether is it about rehabilitation and compensation in the case of land acquisition or setting up a great accountability framework as was done through the movement led by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan for the Right to Information.
[2] Correcting extractive nature of market: The second vertical is in correcting the extractive nature of markets.
The groups asking for environmental accountability are looking at inter-generational justice on a matter that is not very precisely measurable but is palpable.
[3] Picking up niche causes: The third is basically picking up causes that are so niche that it is beyond the capability of the state to come up with such initiatives.
For example, a drama school set up in a village called Heggodu, Karnataka, or an idea of distributing clothing for work as done by Goonj.
These initiatives cannot be put into specific business plans, spreadsheets or government schemes.
They, therefore, need a grant-based, cause-based revenue stream model.
Should these organisations accept foreign funding?
Causes have no boundaries: “Causes” have no boundaries and funding for such socially desirable belief systems could come from beyond borders.
Some causes carried out by organisations such as Doctors Without Borders, or Reporters Without Borders are by definition international in nature.
Similar is the case with the Jaipur foot provided by the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti.
The humanitarian work by the Missionaries of Charity is beyond the capability of a state.
Such causes do not have a rational basis to be explained in terms of a financial model; how do you put a price tag to press freedom?
The niche funding will happen from agencies that may be beyond the borders.
The duality of welcoming foreign investments (which takes away capital gains and dividends) while actively discouraging foreign aid to charities is staring us in the face.
Conclusion
The government needs to ensure that the regulations do not create hurdles for the civil society organisations in their functioning and receiving fundings.
At a time when our planet faces an existential crisis, there is little doubt that we need innovative, scientific and urgent steps to secure humanity’s future.
India’s climate commitment
We need to act decisively to reach global net-zero, restricting future cumulative emissions to the remaining carbon budget — as COP26 noted — if the rise in temperature is to remain within the limits of the Paris Agreement.
At COP26, India announced its climate commitments — the “Panchamrit”, including a commitment to reach net-zero by 2070.
India’s announcement of its net-zero goal is a major step considering that our country is not the cause of global warming.
Its historical cumulative emissions are a mere 4.37 per cent of the world’s total.
India’s steps to achieve the targets
[1] India’s renewable energy targets and achievements
India’s renewable energy targets have steadily become more ambitious, from the 175 GW by 2022 declared at Paris, to 450 GW by 2030 at the UN Climate Summit, and now 500 GW by 2030, announced at COP26.
India has also announced the target of 50 per cent installed power generation capacity from non-fossil energy sources by 2030, raising the existing target of 40 per cent, which has already been almost achieved.
Renewable technologies: India will not lag in terms of new cutting-edge renewable technologies and has already announced a Hydrogen Energy Mission for grey and green hydrogen.
In energy efficiency, the market-based scheme of Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) has avoided 92 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions during its first and second cycles.
[2] India’s E-mobility transtion
FAME: India is accelerating its e-mobility transition with the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles Scheme to support the electric vehicle market development and enable its manufacturing ecosystem to achieve self-sustenance.
Incentives for customers and companies: The government has also announced a slew of incentives for customers and companies to promote e-vehicles.
Adoption of BS-VI: India leapfrogged from Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) to Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) emission norms by April 1, 2020.
Scrapping policy: A voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles now complements these schemes.
Electrification of railway routes: Indian Railways is charging ahead, targeting the full electrification of all broad-gauge routes by 2023.
[3] Ujjwala Yojana and UJALA
The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has benefitted 88 million households with LPG connections.
More than 367 million LED bulbs have been distributed under the UJALA scheme, leading to energy savings of more than 47 billion units of electricity per year and a reduction of 38.6 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
With these and many other initiatives, India has already achieved a reduction of 24 per cent in the emission intensity of its GDP between 2005 and 2016, and is on track to meet its target of 33 to 35 per cent by 2030.
Role of private sector
Since industries also contribute to GHG emissions, any climate action will need to reduce or offset emissions that emerge from industrial and commercial activity.
The public and private sectors in India are already playing a key role in meeting the climate challenge, helped by growing customer and investor awareness, as well as increasing regulatory and disclosure requirements.
Enterprises are well-positioned to not just adapt to but also gain from the low-carbon transition.
The low-carbon transition challenge is bigger for companies that are largely coal-powered and contribute more than half of our country’s emissions.
The business fraternity must make the best possible use of this opportunity to invest in climate technologies and expand the use of renewable energy sources.
The Indian cement industry has taken pioneering measures and achieved one of the biggest sectoral low carbon milestones worldwide.
Way forward
India’s journey on the low-carbon pathway towards net-zero requires the active participation of all stakeholders.
Sustainable lifestyles and climate justice are at the core of this journey.
Conclusion
With cooperation from the private sector, India will be able to responsibly use its fair share of the global carbon space and contribute to reaching the global net-zero goal to build a more environmentally sustainable planet.
Let’s admit this— As much as we have heard our seniors, mentors and toppers advise us to answer fewer questions in Prelims exams due to negative marking, do we want to follow it? All of us wish to answer as many questions as possible correctly. However, post 2014, questions have started getting tougher so much that now –
“Prelims is no longer about selecting the right option. It’s searching for the correct option by eliminating the incorrect ones.”
Let’s take a sample question from Prelims 2021 Paper —
Constitutional government means:
a representative government of a nation with federal structure
a government whose Head enjoys nominal powers
a government whose Head enjoys real powers
a government limited by the terms of the Constitution
An average aspirant gets confused between 2-3 options. Option a), b) and d) look equally correct but you have to select only one. The right answer is option d). How can you find out what was the missing criteria in option a) and b) which option d) fulfilled to emerge as the right answer?
Attend the free webinar by Sajal and Sudhanshu sir to get the answer.
Prelims question papers have become more or less like a game of Sudoko. Except, in Sudoko you can solve the puzzle at your leisure and over here you are limited by 2 hours. We hope this webinar will help all 2022 aspirants implement the suggestions of Sajal sir & Sudhanshu sir
SajalSingh has the distinction be being 2017 topper of GS Mains. He has appeared for interview 3 times. Over 400 students have emerged as toppers under SajalSir’s mentorship in the last 7 years.
Sudhanshu (IIM-K, MBA cont.) has first-hand experience of UPSC civil services and helped many candidates sail through. Prior to this he had served in India’s largest industrial defense complex under Ministry of Defense for 10 years. He also keeps a keen interest in regional and global geopolitics with contributions in several online portals including CivilsDaily IAS.
GS-1 The Freedom Struggle – its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country
GS-2 Development processes and the development industry —the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
GS-3 Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
GS-4 Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker sections
HOW TO ATTEMPT ANSWERS IN DAILY ANSWER WRITING ENHANCEMENT(AWE)?
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In the intro, mention India’s commitment to net-zero emission by 2070.
In the body, mention India’s renewable energy target of 500GW by 2030, accelerating e-mobility targets, Ujjwala Yojana and Ujala schemes. Also, mention initiatives by the corporate sector and industries etc.
Conclude by mentioning that India’s journey on the low-carbon pathway towards net-zero requires the active participation of all stakeholders.
In the intro, mention that engaging with communities and non-state informal institutions is important for development.
In the body, mention the CSR law obligation of the corporates and interaction between Non-state actors and corporates. Also mention how this interaction leads to the citizenry-private partnership. Next mention the limits of the government and bureaucracy in India and how non-state actors can create a breakthrough model of community engagement.
Conclude by mentioning the CSR law has made the corporate world not only clean its own mess but has also created a legal framework for corporates to work with NGOs and CSOs.
Under the influence of two consecutive western disturbances, New Delhi is in for a wet spell.
Western Disturbances
A western disturbance is an extratropical stormoriginating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden winter rain to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern driven by the westerlies.
The moisture in these storms usually originates over the Mediterranean Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
Extratropical storms are global phenomena with moisture usually carried in the upper atmosphere, unlike their tropical counterparts where the moisture is carried in the lower atmosphere.
In the case of the Indian subcontinent, moisture is sometimes shed as rain when the storm system encounters the Himalayas.
Western disturbances are more frequent and strong in the winter season.
Impact: Winter Rainfall and Extreme Cold
Western disturbances, specifically the ones in winter, bring moderate to heavy rain in low-lying areas and heavy snow to mountainous areas of the Indian Subcontinent.
They are the cause of most winter and pre-monsoon season rainfall across northwest India.
An average of four to five western disturbances forms during the winter season.
Its significance
Precipitation during the winter season has great importance in agriculture, particularly for the rabi crops.
Wheat among them is one of the most important crops, which helps to meet India’s food security.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Consider the following statements:
The winds which blow between 30°N and 60°S latitudes throughout the year are known as westerlies.
The moist air masses that cause winter rains in the North-Western region of India are part of westerlies.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Union government has asked the States to share more intelligence inputs through the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), a common counter-terrorism grid under the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
Why in news?
States are often reluctant to share information on the platform.
There are several gaps in sharing critical information at the right time.
Plans are afoot for more than a decade to link the system up to the district level.
About MAC
The Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) was formed in December 2001 following the Kargil intrusion and the subsequent overhaul of the Indian national security apparatus suggested by the Kargil Review Committee report.
Accordingly, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was authorized to create a multi-agency centre (MAC) in New Delhi.
Now functioning 24×7 as the nodal body for sharing intelligence inputs, MAC coordinates with representatives from numerous agencies, different ministries, both central and state.
Various security agencies share real-time intelligence inputs on the MAC.
The state offices have been designated as subsidiary MACs (SMACs).
As many as 28 organisations, including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), armed forces and State police, are part of the platform.
Back2Basics: NATGRID
NATGRID is an intelligence-sharing network that collates data from the standalone databases of the various agencies and ministries of the Indian government.
It collects and collates a host of information from government databases including tax and bank account details, credit/debit card transactions, visa and immigration records and itineraries of rail and air travel.
It came into existence after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
It is accessible to only authorized people from 10 security agencies on a case-to-case basis for investigations into suspected cases of terrorism.
It will also have access to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, a database that links crime information, including First Information Reports, across 14,000 police stations in India.
Note: NATGRID data will be made available to 11 central agencies, which are: Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Directorate General of GST Intelligence.
Superapp CryptoWire recently launched India’s first cryptocurrency index, IC15, which will measure the performance of the 15 most widely traded cryptocurrencies listed on leading crypto exchanges by market capitalization.
What is IC15?
CryptoWire constituted an Index Committee of domain experts, industry practitioners, and academicians that will select cryptocurrencies from the top 400 coins in terms of market capitalization.
The eligible cryptocurrency should have traded on at least 90% of the days during the review period and be among the 100 most liquid cryptocurrencies in terms of trading value.
Also, the cryptocurrency should be in the top 50 in terms of the circulating market capitalization.
The committee will then select the top 15 cryptocurrencies. The index will be reviewed quarterly.
What is its significance?
IC15 can be replicated for creating index-linked products such as index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Usually, the performance of a mutual fund scheme is assessed with reference to a benchmark, which could be a total return index of the Nifty or the Sensex.
IC15 is the first index in India that can act as a benchmark of the underlying cryptocurrency market and the performance benchmark for fund managers.
Moreover, robo-advisors, which provide financial advice with moderate to minimal human intervention, can use this index to create investment products at lower costs.
How does IC15 correlate with other market indicators?
IC15’s base value as on 1 April 2018 was 10,000.
It would mean that the index has gained 615% in absolute terms to 71,475.48 till 31 December 2021.
Can index-based crypto investment reduce risks?
Index investing can be an effective way to diversify against risks as a fund invests in a basket of assets against a few limited coins.
However, index-based investing may not fully remove risks associated with investing in crypto assets.
Case in point: IC15 saw a 50% plunge in 2018, whereas other asset classes have seen a maximum drop in the range of 3-4%.
Further, bitcoin and ethereum have a combined weightage of 77% in the index, making it highly vulnerable to any volatility in these two coins.
Can crypto funds be launched in India?
SEBI has recently asked mutual fund houses not to launch crypto-based funds until the Centre comes out with clear regulations.
This means asset management companies for now won’t be able to launch crypto funds based on IC15.
However, in the absence of any regulations, crypto platforms can offer products based on the index.
Global crypto investment platform Mudrex last year launched Coin Sets—crypto funds based on themes such as decentralized finance or market cap.
The Vice President of India has said that the New Education Policy follows the ‘Nai Talim’ of Mahatma Gandhi by giving importance to the mother tongue as the medium of instruction at the school level.
What is Nai Talim?
The phrase Nai Talim is a combination of two words- Nai Means ‘New’ and Talim – a Urdu word-means ‘Education’.
In 1937, Gandhiji introduced the concept of Nai Talim in India. It aimed to achieve Gram Swaraj (liberation of villages).
In short, Gandhiji dreamed to make all villages independent; and self-reliant.
It is an approach to the total personality development of body, mind and spirit and was based on four principles namely:
Education or learning in mother tongue along with handicraft work,
Work should be linked with most useful vocational needs of the locality,
Learning should be linked with vocational work, and
Work should be socially useful and productive needed for living.
Gandhiji and Education
Gandhi’s first experiments in education began at the Tolstoy Farm ashram in South Africa.
It was much later, while living at Sevagram (Wardha) and in the heat of the Independence struggle, that Gandhi wrote his influential article in Harijan about education.
In it, he mapped out the basic pedagogy (or teaching) with focus on:
Lifelong character of education,
Social character and
A holistic process
Thus, for Gandhi, education is ‘the moral development of the person’, a process that is by definition ‘lifelong’.
He believed the importance of role of teacher in the learning process.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:
Q. One common agreement between Gandhism and Marxism is
