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Type: Explained

  • Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

    What are Question Hour and Zero Hour?

    Explained | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Parliament & State Legislatures

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Question hour, Zero Hour

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Lok Sabha Secretariat officially released the schedule for the monsoon Parliament session with Question Hour being dropped. Zero Hour will also be restricted in both Houses.

    This newscard is very narrative in its form and scope.

    Q.Discuss the various instruments of Parliamentary Control in India.

    What is Question Hour, and what is its significance?

    • Question Hour is the liveliest hour in Parliament. It is during this one hour that MPs ask questions of ministers and hold them accountable for the functioning of their ministries.
    • Prior to Independence, the first question asked of government was in 1893. It was on the burden cast on village shopkeepers who had to provide supplies to touring government officers.
    • The questions that MPs ask are designed to elicit information and trigger suitable action by ministries.
    • Over the last 70 years, MPs have successfully used this parliamentary device to shine a light on government functioning.
    • Their questions have exposed financial irregularities and brought data and information regarding government functioning to the public domain.
    • With the broadcasting since 1991, Question Hour has become one of the most visible aspects of parliamentary functioning.

    And what is Zero Hour?

    • While Question Hour is strictly regulated, Zero Hour is an Indian innovation. The phrase does not find mention in the rules of procedure.
    • The concept of Zero Hour started organically in the first decade of Indian Parliament when MPs felt the need for raising important constituency and national issues.
    • During the initial days, Parliament used to break for lunch at 1 pm.
    • Therefore, the opportunity for MPs to raise national issues without an advance notice became available at 12 pm and could last for an hour until the House adjourned for lunch.
    • This led to the hour being popularly referred to as Zero Hour and the issues being raised during this time as Zero Hour submissions.
    • Its importance can be gauged from the support it receives from citizens, media, MPs and presiding officers despite not being part of the rulebook.

    How is Question Hour regulated?

    • Parliament has comprehensive rules for dealing with every aspect of Question Hour.
    • And the presiding officers of the two houses are the final authority with respect to the conduct of Question Hour.
    • For example, usually, Question Hour is the first hour of a parliamentary sitting.

    What kinds of questions are asked?

    • Parliamentary rules provide guidelines on the kind of questions that can be asked by MPs.
    • Questions have to be limited to 150 words. They have to be precise and not too general.
    • The question should also be related to an area of responsibility of the GoI.
    • Questions should not seek information about matters that are secret or are under adjudication before courts.
    • It is the presiding officers of the two Houses who finally decide whether a question raised by an MP will be admitted for answering by the government.

    How frequently is Question Hour held?

    • The process of asking and answering questions starts with identifying the days on which Question Hour will be held.
    • At the beginning of Parliament in 1952, Lok Sabha rules provided for Question Hour to be held every day. Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, had a provision for Question Hour for two days a week.
    • A few months later, this was changed to four days a week. Then from 1964, Question Hour was taking place in Rajya Sabha on every day of the session.
    • Now, Question Hour in both Houses is held on all days of the session.
    • But there are two days when an exception is made. There is no Question Hour on the day the President addresses MPs from both Houses in the Central Hall.
    • Question Hour is not scheduled either on the day the Finance Minister presents the Budget.

    How does Parliament manage to get so many questions answered?

    • To streamline the answering of questions raised by MPs, the ministries are put into five groups. Each group answers questions on the day allocated to it.
    • For example, in the last session, on Thursday the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Labour, Housing, and Youth Affairs and Sports were answering questions posed by Lok Sabha MPs.
    • MPs can specify whether they want an oral or written response to their questions.
    • They can put an asterisk against their question signifying that they want the minister to answer that question on the floor. These are referred to as starred questions.
    • After the minister’s response, the MP who asked the question and other MPs can also ask a follow-up question.
    • This is the visible part of Question Hour, where you see MPs trying to corner ministers on the functioning of their ministries on live television.

    How do ministers prepare their answers?

    • Ministries receive the questions 15 days in advance so that they can prepare their ministers for Question Hour.
    • They also have to prepare for sharp follow-up questions they can expect to be asked in the House.
    • Governments’ officers are close at hand in a gallery so that they can pass notes or relevant documents to support the minister in answering a question.
    • When MPs are trying to gather data and information about government functioning, they prefer the responses to such queries in writing.
    • These questions are referred to as unstarred questions. The responses to these questions are placed on the table of Parliament.

    Are the questions only for ministers?

    • MPs usually ask questions to hold ministers accountable. But the rules also provide them with a mechanism for asking their colleagues a question.
    • Such a question should be limited to the role of an MP relating to a Bill or a resolution being piloted by them or any other matter connected with the functioning of the House for which they are responsible.
    • Should the presiding officer so allow, MPs can also ask a question to a minister at a notice period shorter than 15 days.

    Is there a limit to the number of questions that can be asked?

    • Rules on the number of questions that can be asked in a day have changed over the years.
    • In Lok Sabha, until the late 1960s, there was no limit on the number of unstarred questions that could be asked in a day.
    • Now, Parliament rules limit the number of starred and unstarred questions an MP can ask in a day.
    • The total numbers of questions asked by MPs in the starred and unstarred categories are then put in a random ballot.
    • From the ballot in Lok Sabha, 20 starred questions are picked for answering during Question Hour and 230 are picked for written answers.
    • Last year, a record was set when on a single day, after a gap of 47 years, all 20 starred questions were answered in Lok Sabha.

    Have there been previous sessions without Question Hour?

    • Parliamentary records show that during the Chinese aggression in 1962, the Winter Session was advanced.
    • The sitting of the House started at 12 pm and there was no Question Hour held. Before the session, changes were made limiting the number of questions.
    • Thereafter, following an agreement between the ruling and the Opposition parties, it was decided to suspend Question Hour.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Pakistan

    Explained: Pakistan-Saudi Rift

    Explained | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not Much

    Mains level: OIC

    The rift between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia over Jammu and Kashmir is out in the open after a delegation led by Pak Army Chief was denied a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).

    Try this question:

    Q. Discuss the new geopolitical realignment in the Arab world and India’s role in it.

    Take a look after how the ties emerged and deteriorated:

    Saudi-Pakistan ties: A Recap

    • The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan was most prominent during the 1971 war between India and Pakistan.
    • Saudi Arabia is also reported to have transferred arms and equipment including the loan of some 75 aircraft to Pakistan.
    • After the war, Saudi Arabia consistently supported the call for the return of Pakistan’s prisoners of war and for dropping the Dacca (Dhaka) Trial against 195 of them.
    • After the war, Saudi Arabia gave loans to Pakistan enabling it to buy arms worth about $1 million by 1977, including F-16s and Harpoon missiles from the US.
    • Saudi oil and dollars have kept Pakistan’s economy on its feet after sanctions following the nuclear tests.
    • Over the last two decades, Saudi Arabia has provided oil on deferred payments to Pakistan whenever it ran into economic difficulty.
    • Saudi funding of madrasas has also led to their mushrooming, later giving rise to religious extremism.
    • In 1990, Pakistan sent its ground forces to defend Saudi Arabia against Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

    Alignment over Kashmir

    • The alignment over Kashmir at the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) crystallized since 1990 when the insurgency in J&K began.
    • While the OIC has issued statements over the last three decades, it became a ritual of little significance to India.
    • Last year, after India revoked Article 370 in Kashmir, Pakistan lobbied with the OIC for its condemnation of India’s move.
    • To Pakistan’s surprise, Saudi Arabia and the UAE issued statements that were nuanced rather than harshly critical of New Delhi.
    • Over the last year, Pakistan has tried to rouse the sentiments among the Islamic countries, but only a handful of them — Turkey and Malaysia — publicly criticised India.

    The Saudi perspective

    • Saudi Arabia’s change in position has been a gradual process under Crown Prince MBS.
    • As it seeks to diversify from its heavily oil-dependent economy, it sees India as a valuable partner in the region.
    • New Delhi, for its part, has wooed the Arab world over the last six years.
    • From Saudi Arabia to the UAE, it worked the diplomatic levers through high-level visits and dangled opportunities for investment and business
    • MBS, who is looking to invest in India, has taken a realistic view, along with UAE’s crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed.

    Energy connection to India

    • Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth-largest trade partner (after China, US and Japan) and a major source of energy: India imports around 18% of its crude oil requirement from the Kingdom.
    • Saudi Arabia is also a major source of LPG for India.
    • And, with India stopping oil imports from Iran due to the threat of US sanctions, Saudi Arabia is key in this respect as well.

    Saudi-Pakistan tension

    The tension between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan has been brewing for some time.

    • In 2015, Pakistan’s Parliament decided not to support the Saudi military effort to restore an internationally recognised government in Yemen.
    • Later, Pakistan’s then army chief General Raheel Sharif led the Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism, comprising 41 Muslim countries.
    • In February 2019, after the Pulwama terror attack, it was Saudi Arabia and the UAE that pulled their weight to get Wing Commander Abhinandan released, apart from the US.
    • The Saudi Crown Prince visited Pakistan and India at that time and made it clear that he valued economic opportunities. He did not wade into the Kashmir issue in India or the terrorism issue in Pakistan.

    Frustration over Kashmir

    A year after Article 370 was revoked, Qureshi belled the cat.

    • Pak accuses that Saudi Arabia has failed to deliver on the Kashmir and OIC had not played a leadership role in backing Pakistan against India.
    • This angered Saudi Arabia, which in November 2018 had announced a $6.2 billion loan package for Pakistan.
    • The package included $3 billion in loans and an oil credit facility amounting to $3.2 billion.
    • Riyadh demanded the return of the $3 billion loans and refused to sell oil to Islamabad on deferred payment. Pakistan immediately returned $1 billion, displaying the rift.
    • But, in the current economic situation, Pakistan is unable to pay the next tranche.
    • What has also angered Saudi Arabia is that Pakistan has been trying to pander to Turkey and Malaysia.

    The China factor

    • Pakistan and China have called themselves “all-weather allies” and “iron brothers” (during FMs meet).
    • Over the last year, Beijing has supported Pakistan on Kashmir, raising the issue at the UN Security Council thrice.
    • China has also emerged as Pakistan’s biggest benefactor through its funding of the CPEC.
    • Saudi Arabia too has invested in CPEC projects, to the tune of $10 billion, but Pakistan now looks towards Beijing for both diplomatic and economic support.

    Implications for India

    • Saudi’s silence on J&K as well as CAA-NRC has emboldened the Indian government.
    • At a time when India and China are locked in a border standoff, India has to be wary of Pakistan and China teaming up.
    • But with Saudi Arabia in its corner, for now, it may have leverage over Pakistan — Riyadh would not want a conflict and regional instability.
    • What is key to India’s calculus is that the Pakistan-China and the Pakistan-Saudi axes are not fused together at the moment: It is not a Saudi-Pakistan-China triangle.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Bangladesh

    China twist in Teesta Challenge

    Explained | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood – Relations

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Teesta River

    Mains level: Recent trends in India-Bangladesh ties

    Bangladesh is discussing an almost $1 billion loan from China for a comprehensive management and restoration project on the Teesta river. These discussions with China come at a time when India is particularly wary about China following the standoff in Ladakh.

    Try this question from our AWE initiative:

    Teesta River has become an important factor in India – Bangladesh relations. What are the hindrances in successful implementation of river water sharing agreement and what are its possible implications on India-Bangladesh relations? What could be the possible solutions?

    Teesta Project

    • The project is aimed at managing the river basin efficiently, controlling floods, and tackling the water crisis in summers.
    • India and Bangladesh have been engaged in a long-standing dispute over water-sharing in the Teesta.

    How has the Teesta dispute progressed?

    • The two countries were on the verge of signing a water-sharing pact in September 2011, when PM Manmohan Singh was going to visit Bangladesh.
    • But, West Bengal CM objected to it, and the deal was scuttled.
    • After the regime change in 2014, the government hoped that it could reach a “fair solution” on the Teesta through cooperation between central and state governments.
    • Five years later, the Teesta issue remains unresolved.

    Trends in India’s relationship with Bangladesh

    • New Delhi has had a robust relationship with Dhaka, carefully cultivated since 2008, especially with the Sheikh Hasina government at the helm.
    • Security: India has benefited from its security ties with Bangladesh, whose crackdown against anti-India outfits has helped the Indian government maintain peace in the eastern and Northeast states.
    • Trade: Bangladesh has benefited from its economic and development partnership. Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia.
    • Bilateral trade has grown steadily over the last decade: India’s exports to Bangladesh in 2018-19 stood at $9.21 billion, and imports from Bangladesh at $1.04 billion.
    • Visas:India also grants 15 to 20 lakh visas every year to Bangladesh nationals for medical treatment, tourism, work, and just entertainment.

    Recent irritants in ties

    • There have been recent irritants in the relationship.
    • These include the proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed in December last year.
    • Bangladesh had insisted that while the CAA and the proposed nationwide NRC were “internal matters” of India, the CAA move were “not necessary”.

    Chinese affinity with Bangladesh

    • China is the biggest trading partner of Bangladesh and is the foremost source of imports.
    • In 2019, the trade between the two countries was $18 billion and the imports from China commanded the lion’s share. The trade is heavily in favour of China.
    • Recently, China declared zero duty on 97% of imports from Bangladesh. The concession flowed from China’s duty-free, quota-free programme for the Least Developed Countries.
    • This move has been widely welcomed in Bangladesh, with the expectation that Bangladesh exports to China will increase.
    • China has promised around $30 billion worth of financial assistance to Bangladesh.
    • Additionally, Bangladesh’s strong defence ties with China make the situation complicated. China is the biggest arms supplier to Bangladesh and it has been a legacy issue — after its liberation.
    • Recently, Bangladesh purchased two Ming class submarines from China.

    India’s engagement post CAA

    • Over the last five months, India and Bangladesh have cooperated on pandemic-related moves.
    • Hasina supported Modi’s call for a regional emergency fund for fighting Covid-19 and declared a contribution of $1.5 million in March 2020. India has also provided medical aid to Bangladesh.
    • The two countries have also cooperated in railways, with India giving 10 locomotives to Bangladesh.
    • The first trial run for trans-shipment of Indian cargo through Bangladesh to Northeast states under a pact on the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports took place in July.
    • Bangladesh gave its readiness to collaborate in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine, including its trial, and looks forward to early, affordable availability of the vaccine when ready.

    Among other issues

    • The two sides agreed that Implementation of projects should be done in a timely manner and that greater attention is required to development projects in Bangladesh under the Indian Lines of Credit.
    • Bangladesh sought the return of the Tablighi Jamaat members impacted by the lockdown in India.
    • Bangladesh requested for the urgent reopening of visa issuance from the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, particularly since many Bangladeshi patients need to visit India.
    • India was also requested to reopen travel through Benapole-Petrapole land port which has been halted by the West Bengal government in the wake of the pandemic.

    Way forward

    • While the Teesta project is important and urgent from India’s point of view, it will be difficult to address it before the West Bengal elections due next year.
    • What Delhi can do is to address other issues of concern, which too are challenging.
    • Now, the test will be if India can implement all its assurances in a time-bound manner.
    • Or else, the latent anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh, which has been revived after India’s CAA -NRC push can permanently damage the historic ties.

    Back2Basics: Teesta Water Dispute

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  • Interstate River Water Dispute

    Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal Project

    Explained | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Federalism

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Sutlej Yamuna Link

    Mains level: Inter-state water disputes

    Opposing the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal project and staking claim to Yamuna’s waters, Punjab CM warned about the repercussions. Here is a look at the decades-old issue and why it has come up again now.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Which one of the following pairs is not correctly matched? (CSP 2017)

    Dam/Lake River

    (a) Govind Sagar: Satluj

    (b) Kolleru Lake: Krishna

    (c) Ukai Reservoir: Tapi

    (d) Wular Lake: Jhelum

    What is the SYL canal issue?

    • At the time of reorganization of Punjab in 1966, the issue of sharing of river waters between both the states emerged.
    • Punjab refused to share waters of Ravi and Beas with Haryana stating it was against the riparian principle.
    • Before the reorganization, in 1955, out of 15.85 MAF of Ravi and Beas, the Centre had allocated 8 MAF to Rajasthan, 7.20 MAF to undivided Punjab, 0.65MAF to Jammu and Kashmir.
    • Out of 7.20 MAF allocated, Punjab did not want to share any water with Haryana.
    • In March 1976, when the Punjab Reorganization Act was implemented, the Centre notified fresh allocations, providing 3.5 MAF To Haryana.

    Inception of the canal project

    • Later, in 1981, the water flowing down Beas and Ravi was revised and pegged at 17.17 MAF, out of which 4.22 MAF was allocated to Punjab, 3.5 MAF to Haryana, and 8.6 MAF to Rajasthan.
    • Finally, to provide this allocated share of water to southern parts of Haryana, a canal linking the Sutlej with the Yamuna, cutting across the state, was planned.
    • Finally, the construction of 214-km SYL was started in April 1982, 122 km of which was to run through Punjab and the rest through Haryana.
    • Haryana has completed its side of the canal, but work in Punjab has been hanging fire for over three decades.

    Why has the SYL canal come up again now?

    • The issue is back on centre stage after the Supreme Court directed the CMs of Punjab and Haryana to negotiate and settle the SYL canal issue.
    • The apex court asked for a meeting at the highest political level to be mediated by the Centre so that the states reach a consensus over the completion of the SYL canal.
    • The meeting remained inconclusive with the Centre expressing the view that the construction of the SYL canal should be completed. But Punjab CM refused categorically.

    Punjab’s resentment with the project

    • The dispute is based on the bloody history around the SYL canal. The trouble-torn days of terrorism in Punjab started in the early 1980s when work on the SYL started.
    • Punjab feels it utilized its precious groundwater resources to grow the crop for the entire country and should not be forced to share its waters as it faces desertification.
    • It is feared that once the construction of the canal restarts, the youth may start feeling that the state has been discriminated against.
    • The Punjab CM fears Pakistan and secessionist organisations could exploit this and foment trouble in the state.

    Water crisis in Punjab

    • Punjab is facing severe water crisis due to over-exploitation of its underground aquifers for the wheat/paddy monocycle.
    • According to the Central Underground Water Authority’s report, its underground water is over-exploited to meet the agriculture requirements in about 79 per cent area of the state.
    • Out of 138 blocks, 109 are “over-exploited”, two are “critical” five are “semi-critical” and only 22 blocks are in “safe” category.

    Punjab expects a new tribunal

    • The state wants a tribunal seeking a fresh time-bound assessment of the water availability.
    • The state has been saying that till date there has been no adjudication or scientific assessment of Punjab river waters.

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  • Pharma Sector – Drug Pricing, NPPA, FDC, Generics, etc.

    Online Pharmacy Regulation in India

    Explained | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Pharma sector regulations

    Mains level: E pharmacy and its benefits

    In the last week, India’s online pharmacy market saw two significant merger and acquisition deals. This has suddenly caused activity in a sector from which large investors have shied away due to lack of proper regulations.

    Try this easy question:

    Q. Discuss the prospects and benefits of online pharmacy in India. (150W)

    How is the pharmacy market in India currently shaped?

    • Unlike the US, where the top three pharmaceutical distributors have a 90 per cent share in the market, India’s is a fragmented market with over 8 lakh pharmacies.
    • This gives online pharmacies an opportunity to capture their space without opposing large traditional retailers.
    • Currently, companies in the Indian e-pharmacy space mainly operate three business models — marketplace, inventory-led hybrid (offline/online) and franchise-led hybrid (offline/online) — depending on the way the supply chain is structured.

    Rules governing the pharma sector

    • Work on regulations specifically for e-pharmacies has been in progress for several years now.
    • In the absence of clear regulations, online pharmacies currently operate as marketplaces and cater to patients as a platform for ordering medicines from sellers that adhere to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules of India.
    • Other regulations, like the Information Technology Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, also apply.

    What do the draft e-pharmacy regulations propose?

    • Draft rules for e-pharmacies sought to define the online sale of medicines, what an e-prescription means and what type of licences online firms would need to get from regulators to operate.
    • The draft had proposed to allow e-pharmacies to get a central licence to operate from the country’s apex drug regulator, which could be used to allow it to operate across the country.
    • It also proposed to define e-pharmacies in a way that would allow them to distribute, sell and stock medicines.
    • The proposed regulations prevent them from selling habit-forming drugs like cough syrups specified in Schedule X of the Indian drug regulations.

    Current status

    • Regulations for online pharmacy players have been in the works since 2016 but are yet to come out.
    • The last attempt to clear these regulations saw the draft rules being pushed through two expert committees under the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation–India’s apex drug regulatory body–in June 2019.

    Online pharma is growing in scale

    • While Covid-19 and the subsequent behavioural shift towards e-commerce may have catalyzed growth for online pharmacies, the sector was already poised to grow seven-fold by 2023 to $2.7 billion.
    • This was mainly on account of the challenges faced by physical pharmacies that gave their online counterparts a problem to solve.
    • Experts believe that e-pharmacies will be able to solve the problems that traditional pharmacies couldn’t.
    • But for this, they need to have a large-scale presence that calls for either huge investments or consolidation.

    Conclusion

    • The e-pharmacy sector holds immense potential to address the persisting issue of affordability and accessibility of medicines in India.
    • Steps should be taken to foster the e-pharmacy sector with sufficient safeguards and under regulatory control to protect the interest of the consumers.

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  • Women empowerment issues – Jobs,Reservation and education

    Debate: Minimum age of marriage for women

    Explained | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not Much

    Mains level: Marriage age issues and its discrimination nature

    PM in his I-Day speech has announced that the central government has set up a committee to reconsider the minimum age of marriage for women during his address to the nation on the 74th Independence Day.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.The different minimum age of marriage for women and men is a discriminatory provision. Analyse.

    Back in debate

    • The minimum age of marriage, especially for women, has been a contentious issue.
    • The law evolved in the face of much resistance from religious and social conservatives.
    • Currently, the law prescribes that the minimum age of marriage is 21 years and 18 years for men and women respectively.

    Issue over majority

    • The minimum age of marriage is distinct from the age of majority which is gender-neutral.
    • An individual attains the age of majority at 18 as per the Indian Majority Act, 1875.
    • The law prescribes a minimum age of marriage to essentially outlaw child marriages and prevents the abuse of minors.

    What is the committee that the PM mentioned?

    • The Union Ministry for WCD had set up a task force to examine matters pertaining to the age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering Maternal Mortality Ratio and the improvement of nutritional levels among women.
    • The task force would examine the correlation of age of marriage and motherhood with health, medical well-being, and nutritional status of the mother and neonate, infant or child, during pregnancy, birth and thereafter.
    • It will also examine the possibility of increasing the age of marriage for women from the present 18 years to 21 years.

    How common are child marriages in India?

    • UNICEF estimates suggest that each year, at least 1.5 million girls under the age of 18 are married in India.
    • It makes our country home to the largest number of child brides in the world — accounting for a third of the global total.
    • Nearly 16 per cent adolescent girls aged 15-19 are currently married.

    Provisions for the minimum age for marriage

    • Personal laws of various religions that deal with marriage have their own standards, often reflecting custom.
    • For Hindus, Section 5(iii) of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, sets 18 years as the minimum age for the bride and 21 years as the minimum age for the groom.
    • However, child marriages are not illegal — even though they can be declared void at the request of the minor in the marriage.
    • In Islam, the marriage of a minor who has attained puberty is considered valid.
    • The Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 also prescribe 18 and 21 years as the minimum age of consent for marriage for women and men respectively.
    • Additionally, sexual intercourse with a minor is rape, and the ‘consent’ of a minor is regarded as invalid since she is deemed incapable of giving consent at that age.

    Evolution of the law

    • The IPC enacted in 1860 criminalised sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 10.
    • The provision of rape was amended in 1927 through The Age of Consent Bill, 1927, which declared that marriage with a girl under 12 would be invalid.
    • The law faced opposition from conservative leaders of the Indian National Movement, who saw the British intervention as an attack on Hindu customs.
    • A legal framework for the age of consent for marriage in India only began in the 1880s.

    Comes in: The Sarda Act

    • In 1929, The Child Marriage Restraint Act set 16 and 18 years as the minimum age of marriage for girls and boys respectively.
    • The law, popularly known as the Sarda Act after its sponsor Harbilas Sarda, a judge and a member of Arya Samaj, was eventually amended in 1978 to prescribe 18 and 21 years as the age of marriage for a woman and a man respectively.

    Contention over different legal standards

    • There is no reasoning in the law for having different legal standards of age for men and women to marry. The laws are a codification of custom and religious practices.
    • The Law Commission consultation paper has argued that having different legal standards “contributes to the stereotype that wives must be younger than their husbands”.
    • Women’s rights activists have argued that the law also perpetuates the stereotype that women are more mature than men of the same age and, therefore, can be allowed to marry sooner.
    • The international treaty Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), also calls for the abolition of laws that assume women have a different physical or intellectual rate of growth than men.

    Why is the law being relooked at?

    • Despite laws mandating minimum age and criminalizing sexual intercourse with a minor, child marriages are very prevalent in the country.
    • From bringing in gender-neutrality to reduce the risks of early pregnancy among women, there are many arguments in favour of increasing the minimum age of marriage of women.
    • Early pregnancy is associated with increased child mortality rates and affects the health of the mother.

    Upholding the Constitution

    • Petitioners, in this case, had challenged the law on the grounds of discrimination.
    • It is argued that Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, which guarantee the right to equality and the right to live with dignity, were violated by having different legal ages for men and women to marry.
    • Two significant Supreme Court rulings can act as precedents to support the petitioner’s claim.
    • In 2014, in the ‘NALSA v Union of India’ case, the Supreme Court, while recognising transgenders as the third gender, said that justice is delivered with the “assumption that humans have equal value and should, therefore, be treated as equal, as well as by equal laws”.
    • In 2019, in ‘Joseph Shine v Union of India’, the Supreme Court decriminalized adultery, and said that “a law that treats women differently based on gender stereotypes is an affront to women’s dignity”.

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  • The Crisis In The Middle East

    Why has the Israel-UAE pact unsettled Palestine and Iran?

    Explained | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood – Relations

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: West Bank and its location

    Mains level: Israeli claims over West Bank and Gaza

    Last week Mr Trump has announced that Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had reached a peace agreement. Many countries, including the European powers and India, have welcomed it, while the Palestinian leadership, as well as Turkey and Iran, have lashed out at the UAE.

    The strategic location of Gaza strip, West Bank, Dead Sea etc. creates a hotspot for a possible map based prelims question. 

    Consider this PYQ:

    Q. The area is known as ‘Golan Heights’ sometimes appears in the news in the context of the events related to: (CSP 2015)

    a) Central Asia
    b) Middle East
    c) South-East Asia
    d) Central Africa

    The Israel-UAE Pact

    • The UAE and Israel would establish formal diplomatic relations and in exchange, Israel would suspend its plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
    • Israeli PM Netanyahu had earlier vowed to annex the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
    • But now, as part of the agreement, Israel “will suspend declaring sovereignty over areas” of the West Bank and “focus its efforts on expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world”.

    A timeline of Israel-Arab Conflict

    Arab-Israeli ties have historically been conflict-ridden.

    • Arab countries, including Egypt, Transjordan, Syria and Iraq, fought their first war with Israel in 1948 after the formation of the state of Israel was announced.
    • The war ended with Israel capturing more territories, including West Jerusalem than what the UN Partition Plan originally proposed for a Jewish state.
    • After that, Israel and Arab states fought three more major wars — the 1956 Suez conflict, the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
    • After the 1967 war in which Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.
    • Arab countries convened in Khartoum and declared their famous three “‘Nos’ — no peace with Israel, no talks with Israel and no recognition of Israel.
    • But it did not last long. After the death of Egypt President Gamal Abdel Nasser, his successor Anwar Sadat started making plans to get Sinai back from Israel.
    • His efforts, coupled with American pressure on Israel, led to the Camp David Accords of 1978 with Israel’s withdrawal.

    Significance of the deal

    • It’s a landmark agreement given that the UAE is only the third Arab country and the first in the Gulf region to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
    • In 1994, Jordan became the second Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
    • The UAE-Israel agreement comes after 26 years. If more countries in the Gulf follow the UAE’s lead, it would open a new chapter in Arab-Israel ties.

    Why did the UAE sign the agreement?

    • The old enmity between Arab countries and Israel has dissipated.
    • The Sunni Arab kingdoms in the Gulf region such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE had developed backroom contacts with Israel over the past several years.
    • One of the major factors that brought them closer has been their shared antipathy towards Iran.
    • Arab countries have signalled that they are ready to live with Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

    What do Arab countries want from Israel?

    • Arab countries expect a major change in the status quo on West Bank annexation which would put Israel under political and diplomatic pressure.
    • The UAE-Israel agreement has averted that outcome.
    • If a Democratic Party (Trump’s opposition and Obama’s allegiance) comes to power and restores the Iran deal, both the Israeli and the Arab blocs in West Asia would come under pressure to live with an empowered Iran.
    • A formal agreement and enhanced security and economic ties make the Arab and Israeli sides better prepared to face such a situation.
    • So there is a convergence of interests for the UAE, Israel and the U.S. to come together in the region.

    Where does it leave the Palestinians?

    • Unlike the past two Arab-Israeli peace agreements, Palestinians do not figure prominently in the current one.
    • In the present UAE-Israel deal, Israel has not made any actual concession to the Palestinians.
    • The Palestinians are understandably upset. They called the UAE’s decision “treason”.

    Geopolitical implications of the deal

    • The agreement could fast-track the changes that are already underway in the region.
    • The Saudi bloc, consisting of Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and others, see their interests being aligned with that of the U.S. and Israel and their support for Palestine, which Arab powers had historically upheld.
    • Turkey and Iran now emerge as the strongest supporters of the Palestinians in the Muslim world.
    • This tripolar contest is already at work in West Asia. The UAE-Israel thaw could sharpen it further.

    Also read:

    West Bank Annexation Plan

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  • Disasters and Disaster Management – Sendai Framework, Floods, Cyclones, etc.

    Expansion of the National Cadet Corps (NCC)

    Explained | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: NCC

    Mains level: NCC and its mandate

    In his I-Day speech, PM spoke about the expansion of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in coastal and border districts of India.

    Try this question:

    Q.The Shekatkar Committee recommendations sometimes seen in the news are related to:

    a) Modernization of Railways b) Modernization of Defence c) Road Infrastructure d) Cashless Payments

    About NCC

    • The NCC, which was formed in 1948, has its roots to British era uniformed youth entities like University Corps or University Officer Training Corps.
    • It enrols cadets at the high school and college level and also awards certificates on completion of various phases.
    • Headed by a Director-General of three-star military rank, the NCC falls under the purview of MoD and is led by serving officers from the Armed forces at various hierarchical positions.
    • The NCC currently has 17 regional directorates which govern the NCC in units in various states or groups of states and union territories.
    • Each school and college units have Associate NCC Officers and cadets are also assigned various leadership roles in the form of cadet appointments.
    • NCC has a dual funding model where both the centre and states or union territories provide budgetary support.

    Training the cadets

    • The NCC cadets receive basic military training at various levels and also have academic curriculum basics related to Armed forces and their functioning.
    • Various training camps, adventure activities and military training camps are an important aspect of NCC training.
    • NCC cadets have played an important role over the years in relief efforts during various emergency situations.
    • During the ongoing pandemic, over 60,000 NCC cadets have been deployed for voluntary relief work in coordination with district and state authorities across the country.

    PM’s announcement

    • Expansion of NCC in the border and coastal area has been under consideration of the Ministry of Defence for quite some time.
    • PM took this I-Day to announce that from the 173 coastal and border districts, one lakh cadets, a third of them girls, will be trained.
    • Currently, the NCC has the strength of around 14 lakh cadets from Army, Navy and Air Force wings.
    • Border and coastal areas will get trained manpower to fight with disasters. Youth will acquire the required skills for careers in armed forces.

    Significance of expansion

    • In the coastal regions, where youth are already familiar with the sea, the training will increase interest in careers in Navy, Coast Guard and also Merchant shipping avenues.
    • In the border area, the trained cadets can play an important role in various contingencies and also in supporting roles to the Armed forces in various roles.

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  • Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

    HRD Ministry to be renamed as ‘Education Ministry’

    Explained | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: HRD Ministry revamp, National Education Policy 2020

    Mains level: National Education Policy 2020

    The Union Cabinet has approved the renaming of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) to the Ministry of Education to more clearly define its work and focus.

    Before reading this newscard, try this PYQ from CSP 2019:

    Q.The Ninth Schedule was introduced in the Constitution of India during the Prime Ministership of:

    (a) Jawaharlal Nehru

    (b) Lal Bahadur Shastri

    (c) Indira Gandhi

    (d) Morarji Desai

    A flip-back

    • With the renaming, the Ministry got back the name that it had started out with after Independence, but which was changed 35 years ago when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister.

    Who were some of India’s early Education Ministers?

    • The Ministry which was focussed on education from the primary classes to the level of the university was headed by some of the stalwarts of Indian politics in its early years.
    • For more than a decade after Independence, the Ministry was led by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
    • He was followed by Kalulal Shrimali and the eminent jurist M C Chagla, with the poet-educationist Humayun Kabir holding the portfolio for a short while in between.
    • Later Education Ministers of India included Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who went on to become President.
    • The last Education Minister of India was KC Pant, who served in the post in 1984-85, after which the name of the Ministry was changed.

    Under what circumstances did the Ministry of Education become HRD?

    • Upon becoming PM in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi, who had surrounded himself with a new crop of advisers, showed restlessness for change and innovation in a number of areas.
    • He accepted a suggestion that all departments related to education should be brought under one roof.
    • There was some opposition from academic circles who complained that the country no longer had a Department with ‘education’ in its name. Some newspapers wrote editorials criticizing the change of name.
    • But the decision had been made, and subsequently, in 1986, the government cleared a new education policy – the second in the country’s history, and one that was to survive until now.

    Under HRD roof

    • On September 26, 1985, the Ministry of Education was renamed as the Ministry of Human Resource Development, and P V Narasimha Rao was appointed Minister.
    • Related Departments such as those of Culture and Youth & Sports were brought under the Ministry of HRD, and Ministers of State were appointed.
    • Even the Department of Women and Child Development – which became a separate Ministry with effect from January 30, 2006 – was a Department under the Union HRD Ministry.

    Were changes made in the Ministry even afterwards?

    • Yes, changes were made from time to time. After Atal Bihari Vajpayee became PM in 1998, the government decided to separate the Department of Culture from the Ministry of HRD.
    • In October 1999, a new Ministry of Culture came into being, with the late Ananth Kumar in charge.
    • The Department of Youth too was separated from the Ministry of HRD, and Ananth Kumar was given charge of this new Ministry as well.
    • With these decisions of the Vajpayee government, the HRD Ministry remained ‘HRD’ only in name – for all practical purposes, it was back to being a ministry for education.

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  • Electronic System Design and Manufacturing Sector – M-SIPS, National Policy on Electronics, etc.

    Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for electronics manufacturers

    ExplainedSchemes | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI)

    Mains level: Electronic manufacturing promotion under Make in India

    Global electronics giants are set to expand their presence in India under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for making mobile phones and certain other specified electronic components.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q. What is the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme? Describe its various features and benefits.

    What is the PLI scheme?

    • As a part of the National Policy on Electronics, the IT ministry had notified the PLI scheme on April 1 this year.
    • The scheme will, on one hand, attract big foreign investment in the sector, while also encouraging domestic mobile phone makers to expand their units and presence in India.
    • It would give incentives of 4-6 per cent to electronics companies which manufacture mobile phones and other electronic components.
    • A/c to the scheme, companies that make mobile phones which sell for Rs 15,000 or more will get an incentive of up to 6 per cent on incremental sales of all such mobile phones made in India.
    • In the same category, companies which are owned by Indian nationals and make such mobile phones, the incentive has been kept at Rs 200 crore for the next four years.

    Tenure of the scheme

    • The PLI scheme will be active for five years with financial year (FY) 2019-20 considered as the base year for calculation of incentives.
    • This means that all investments and incremental sales registered after FY20 shall be taken into account while computing the incentive to be given to each company.

    Which companies and what kind of investments will be considered?

    • All electronic manufacturing companies which are either Indian or have a registered unit in India will be eligible to apply for the scheme.
    • These companies can either create a new unit or seek incentives for their existing units from one or more locations in India.
    • Any additional expenditure incurred on the plant, machinery, equipment, research and development and transfer of technology for the manufacture of mobile phones and related electronic items will be eligible for the incentive.
    • However, all investment done by companies on land and buildings for the project will not be considered for any incentives or determine the eligibility of the scheme.

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