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Type: Explained

  • Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

    Explained: How are elections to the Rajya Sabha held?

    22 June 2020 | Explained | Polity
    Mains Paper 2: Federalism

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Rajya Sabha and associated facts

    Mains level: Significance of the Rajya Sabha

    Another round of Rajya Sabha elections has been completed. There are several features that distinguish elections to the Council of States, or the Upper House of Parliament, from the general elections.

    Do you know?

    • Only two UTs elect members to the Rajya Sabha, not all.
    • Polling is held only if the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacancies.
    • Independent members can also be elected etc.

    Read this newscard for all such interesting facts which can be directly asked in the prelims.

    What is so peculiar about the Rajya Sabha polls?

    • A third of MPs in the Rajya Sabha (which is a permanent House and is not subject to dissolution), from each State, retire once in two years and polls are held to fill up the vacancies.
    • Only elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies can vote in a Rajya Sabha election.
    • The legislators send a batch of new members to the Upper House every two years for a six-year term.
    • In addition, vacancies that arise due to resignation, death or disqualification are filled up through by-polls after which those elected serve out the remainder of their predecessors’ term.

    Composition of Rajya Sabha

    • A bloc of MPs belonging to one or more parties can elect a member of their choice if they have the requisite numbers.
    • This is to avoid the principle of majority, which would mean that only candidates put up by ruling parties in the respective States will be elected.
    • The Delhi and Puducherry Assemblies elect members to the Rajya Sabha to represent the two UTs.

    What is the election process?

    • Polling for a Rajya Sabha election will be held only if the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacancies.
    • Since the strength of each party in the Assembly is known, it is not difficult to estimate the number of seats a party would win in the Rajya Sabha poll.
    • In many states, parties avoid a contest by fielding candidates only in respect to their strength. Where an extra candidate enters the fray, voting becomes necessary.
    • Candidates fielded by political parties have to be proposed by at least 10 members of the Assembly or 10% of the party’s strength in the House, whichever is less.
    • For independents, there should be 10 proposers, all of whom should be members of the Assembly.

    Voting procedure

    • Voting is by single transferable vote, as the election is held on the principle of proportional representation.
    • A single transferable vote means electors can vote for any number of candidates in order of their preference.
    • A candidate requires a specified number of first preference votes to win. Each first choice vote has a value of 100 in the first round.
    • To qualify, a candidate needs one point more than the quotient obtained by dividing the total value of the number of seats for which elections are taking place plus one.

    Example: If there are four seats and 180 MLAs voting, the qualifying number will be 180/5= 36 votes or value of 3,600.

    Why do not the Rajya Sabha polls have a secret ballot?

    • The Rajya Sabha polls have a system of the open ballot, but it is a limited form of openness.
    • As a measure to check rampant cross-voting, which was taken to mean that the vote had been purchased by corrupt means.
    • There is a system of each party MLA showing his or her marked ballots to the party’s authorised agent (called Whip), before they are put into the ballot box.
    • Showing a marked ballot to anyone other than one’s own party’s authorised agent will render the vote invalid.
    • Not showing the ballot to the authorised agent will also mean that the vote cannot be counted.
    • And independent candidates are barred from showing their ballots to anyone.

    Is there any NOTA option in voting?

    • The ECI issued two circulars, on January 24, 2014, and November 12, 2015, giving Rajya Sabha members the option to press the NOTA button in the Upper House polls.
    • However, in 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the provision, holding that the ‘none of the above’ option is only for general elections.
    • It cannot be applied to indirect elections based on proportional representation.

    Does cross-voting attract disqualification?

    • The Supreme Court, while declining to interfere with the open ballot system, ruled that not voting for the party candidate will not attract disqualification under the anti-defection law.
    • As voters, MLAs retain their freedom to vote for a candidate of their choice.
    • However, the Court observed that since the party would know who voted against its own candidate, it is free to take disciplinary action against the legislator concerned.

    Can a legislator vote without taking oath as a member of the Assembly?

    • While taking oath as a member is for anyone to function as a legislator, the Supreme Court has ruled that a member can vote in a Rajya Sabha election even before taking oath as a legislator.
    • It ruled that voting at the Rajya Sabha polls, being a non-legislative activity, can be performed without taking the oath.
    • A person becomes a member as soon as the list of elected members is notified by the ECI, it said.
    • Further, a member can also propose a candidate before taking the oath.

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  • Global Geological And Climatic Events

    Permafrost and the hazards of its Thawing

    10 June 2020 | Explained | Environment
    Mains Paper 1: GS1-15.Geographical features and their location- Changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Permafrost

    Mains level: Paper 1-Permafrost thaw.

    The principal reason that led to the recent 20,000-tonne oil leak at an Arctic region power plant in Russia that is now being recognised is the sinking of ground surface due to permafrost thaw.

    Try this question from Mains 2017:
    Q. What is Cryosphere? How does the Cryosphere affect global climate?

    What is Permafrost?

    • Permafrost is ground that remains completely frozen at 0 degrees Celsius or below for at least two years.
    • It is defined solely based on temperature and duration.
    • The permanently frozen ground, consisting of soil, sand, and rock held together by ice, is believed to have formed during glacial periods dating several millennia.

    Where are they found?

    • These grounds are known to be below 22 per cent of the land surface on Earth, mostly in polar zones and regions with high mountains.
    • They are spread across 55 per cent of the landmass in Russia and Canada, 85 per cent in the US state of Alaska, and possibly the entirety of Antarctica.
    • In northern Siberia, it forms a layer that is 1,500 m thick; 740 m in northern Alaska.
    • At lower latitudes, permafrost is found at high altitude locations such as the Alps and the Tibetian plateau.

    How climate change is eating away at these grounds?

    • The Earth’s polar and high altitude regions — its principal permafrost reservoirs — are the most threatened by climate change.
    • Arctic regions are warming twice as fast compared to the rest of the planet, its current rate of temperature change being the highest in 2,000 years.
    • In 2016, Arctic permafrost temperatures were 3.5 degrees Celsius higher than at the beginning of the 20th century.
    • A study has shown that every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature can degrade up to 39 lakh square kilometre due to thawing.
    • This degradation is expected to further aggravate as the climate gets warmer, putting at risk 40 per cent of the world’s permafrost towards the end of the century– causing disastrous effects.

    The threat to infrastructure

    • Thawing permafrost is also ominous for man-made structures overhead.
    • The Russian oil leak occurred recorded temperatures in Siberia at more than 10 degrees Celsius above average, and called them “highly anomalous” for the region where the power plant is located.
    • As temperatures rise, the binding ice in permafrost melts, making the ground unstable and leading to massive potholes, landslides, and floods.
    • The sinking effect causes damage to key infrastructure such as roads, railway lines, buildings, power lines and pipelines.
    • These changes also threaten the survival of indigenous people, as well as Arctic animals.

    A ticking time bomb

    • Beneath its surface, permafrost contains large quantities of organic leftover from thousands of years prior — dead remains of plants, animals, and microorganisms that got frozen before they could rot.
    • It also holds a massive trove of pathogens.
    • When permafrost thaws, microbes start decomposing this carbon matter, releasing greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide.
    • Researchers have estimated that for every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature, these grounds could release GHGs to the tune of 4-6 years’ of emissions from coal, oil, and natural gas.
    • Along with greenhouse houses, these grounds could also release ancient bacteria and viruses into the atmosphere as they unfreeze.

    Back2Basics
    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/thawing-of-permafrost/

    Also read:

    Ambarnaya River Oil spill in Russia

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  • Labour, Jobs and Employment – Harmonization of labour laws, gender gap, unemployment, etc.

    Explained: How can Inter-State workers be protected?

    11 May 2020 | Explained | Governance
    Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not Much

    Mains level: Inter-state workers migration

    Context

    • Following the novel coronavirus pandemic, the nationwide lockdown announced on March 24 at short notice has caused immense distress to migrant workers around the country.
    • Hundreds have been seen trying to walk home to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha from their places of work in Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and so forth.

    Try a mains question on this issue:

    Inter state migrants face social, economic and cultural shocks. Discuss some steps taken by center and state governments. Also suggest further reforms.

    Inter-State workers: Where is their almighty?

    • Recently, 16 migrant labourers who were trying to return to Madhya Pradesh, their home State, on foot were killed when a goods train ran over them.
    • Questions are being raised about their welfare and the lack of legal protection for their rights.
    • Those working in the field of labour welfare have recalled a 1979 law to regulate the employment and working conditions of inter-State migrants.
    • The lack of serious implementation has led to their rights being ignored.

    What about occupational safety?

    • As part of the present regime’s efforts towards consolidating and reforming labour law, a Bill has been introduced in Parliament called the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019.
    • The proposed code seeks to merge 13 labour laws into a single piece of legislation.
    • The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, is one of them.
    • Activists fear that specific safeguards given to migrant workers may be lost as a result of this consolidation.

    Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979: What does the law envisage?

    • The Act seeks to regulate the employment of inter-State migrants and their conditions of service.
    • It is applicable to every establishment that employs five or more migrant workmen from other States; or if it had employed five or more such workmen on any day in the preceding 12 months.
    • It is also applicable to contractors who employed a similar number of inter-State workmen.
    • The Act would apply regardless of whether the five or more workmen were in addition to others employed in the establishment or by the contractors.
    • It envisages a system of registration of such establishments. The principal employer is prohibited from employing inter-State workmen without a certificate of registration from the relevant authority.
    • The law also lays down that every contractor who recruits workmen from one State for deployment in another State should obtain a licence to do so.

    What are the beneficial provisions for inter-State migrants in it?

    • The provision for registration of establishments employing inter-State workers creates a system of accountability and acts as the first layer of formalizing the utilization of their labour.
    • It helps the government keep track of the number of workers employed and provides a legal basis for regulating their conditions of service.
    • As part of the licensing process, contractors are bound by certain conditions.
    • These include committing them to provide terms and conditions of the agreement or any other arrangement on the basis of which they recruit workers.
    • In no case, shall the wages be lower than what is prescribed under the Minimum Wages Act.

    What does the proposed Code say on migrant workers?

    • The attempt to consolidate laws relating to occupational safety, health and working conditions means that many separate laws concerning various kinds of workers and labourers will have to be repealed.
    • The proposed law seeks to repeal 13 Acts such as the Factories Act, Mines Act, Dock Workers’ Act, the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, and other enactments relating to those working in plantations, construction, cinema, beedi and cigarette manufacture, motor transport, and the media.

    What does the news law promise for migrant workers?

    • Regarding inter-State migrant workers, the Act includes them in the definition of ‘contract labour’.
    • At the same time, an inter-State migrant worker is also separately defined as a person recruited either by an employer or a contractor for an establishment situated in another State.
    • The Code has a chapter on ‘contract labour and inter-State migrant workers’, but the Parliamentary Standing Committee has recommended that the provisions relating to migrant workers be covered in a separate chapter.
    • The Code contains provisions similar to the 1979 Act regarding registration of establishments, licensing of contractors and the inclusion of terms and conditions on hours of work, wages and amenities.
    • Further, both the old Act and the proposed Code envisage the payment of a displacement allowance and a journey allowance to inter-State migrant workers.

    Trade Union’s response

    • Even though the Code seeks to preserve many of the protections and rights are given to inter-State workers, trade unions feel that it is always better to have a separate enactment.
    • The unprecedented distress and misery faced by migrant workers due to the current lockdown have drawn attention to beneficial legislation dedicated to their welfare.
    • The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has highlighted the fact that both the States where they work and home States have obligations cast upon them in the existing law.
    • Despite the fact that it has been poorly implemented at all, labour unions feel that preserving the separate enactment and enforcing it well is a better option than subsuming it under a larger code.

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  • Policy Wise: India’s Power Sector

    Explained: 9 minutes light-out and its impact on grids

    4 April 2020 | Explained | Economics
    Mains Paper 3: GS3-13.Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc:

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not Much

    Mains level: 9 minutes light-out and its impact on grids

    In his address to the nation, our PM has urged people across to turn off the lights in their homes for 9 minutes on April 5, starting at 9 pm. In response to this appeal, grid managers across states have flagged some risks.

    Why is the 9-minute exercise a problem?

    • India is one of the largest synchronous interconnected grids in the world, with an installed capacity of about 370 GW (3,70,000 MW), and a normal baseload power demand of roughly 150 GW.
    • The big worry is that just before 9 pm there may be unprecedented load reduction, followed by a sudden increase in load post at 9.09 pm.
    • The concern is that grid frequency should not swing beyond permissible limits and that all generators across the country must give frequency response as per the Grid Code.
    • During this 9-minute lights out exercise, up to 10,000-15,000 MW of power demand could to drop suddenly and then come on stream a few minutes later.

    How does grid function normally?

    • Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO), the national electricity grid operator, projects daily demand for power and regulates supply from power generators based on these projections.
    • Frequency reflects the load generation balance in the grid at a particular instant and is one of the most important parameters for assessment of the security of the country’s power system.
    • The nominal frequency is 50 hertz and POSOCO endeavours to maintain frequency within a permissible band (49.9- 50.5 hertz), primarily by balancing the demand-supply equation.

    Impacts of light-out

    • The frequency needs to be maintained within this range as all the electrical equipment and appliances at our homes are designed to perform safely and efficiently in a certain power supply band.
    • An increase in frequency results in an increase in the voltage and a decrease in frequency results in a decrease in voltage.
    • Exigency does occur during an outage at a power plant or the tripping of a transmission line or a sudden change in electrical demand.
    • The grid operator needs to ensure that there is an automatic corrective response manually by curtailing demand or ramping generation from another source within a really short period of time.
    • Handling imbalances are the most crucial function of the grid operator.

    What are the key areas of concern?

    While the possibility of the grid tripping on account of this is highly unlikely, operators expect a “jerk”. While the system is generally planned for an outage of the single largest unit outage, there are two riders:

    1) Lockdown has severed domestic consumption

    • One, the grid load is primarily on account of the domestic load now, especially since the lockdown implemented.
    • The normal baseload power demand of roughly 150 gigawatts has already dropped by 20 per cent since the lockdown announcement as most of the industry and commercial establishments are not operational.
    • With hotels and factories, malls, railway stations, airports closed, the domestic load is the predominant load.
    • So the lighting load as a percentage of total loads is much higher now and the impact of a sudden drop in lighting load could be more accentuated than during regular times.

    2) Fear of complete power-offs

    • The second concern is if housing clusters and societies switch off mains, or if overzealous discoms switch off street lighting or even feeders to show compliance.
    • During this part of the year, domestic load peaks at about 9 pm.
    • This load could then be impacted much more than what’s being anticipated in the normal course, a concern that grid operators are flagging.

    Why is this demand of significance in such a big grid?

    • The domestic load is about 30-32 per cent of total load during normal times.
    • Of India’s total electricity demand load pattern, industrial and agricultural consumption accounts for 40 per cent and 20 per cent load, while commercial electricity consumption accounts for 8 per cent of demand.
    • So, theoretically, if only lighting load goes off, it should not have a major impact on grid frequency during normal times.

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

    Explained: Notified Disaster

    16 March 2020 | Explained | Environment

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: SDRF/NDRF

    Mains level: Coronovirus outbreak and its mitigation

    The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to treat COVID-19 as a notified disaster for the purpose of providing assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

    What is a Disaster?

    According to the Disaster Management Act, 2005 a disaster is defined as-

    • A catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or manmade causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area.
    • The MHA has defined a disaster as an “extreme disruption of the functioning of a society that causes widespread human, material, or environmental losses that exceed the ability of the affected society to cope with its own resources.

    What is the State Disaster Response Fund?

    • The SDRF is constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and is the primary fund available with state governments for responses to notified disasters.
    • The Central government contributes 75 per cent towards the SDRF allocation for general category states and UTs, and over 90 per cent for special category states/UTs (which includes northeastern states, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand).
    • For SDRF, the Centre releases funds in two equal instalments as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission.
    • The disasters covered under the SDRF include cyclones, droughts, tsunamis, hailstorms, landslides, avalanches and pest attacks among others.

    The NDRF

    The National Disaster Response Fund, which is also constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 supplements the SDRF of a state, in case of a disaster of severe nature, provided adequate funds are not available in the SDRF.

    Categories of disaster

    • A High Power Committee on Disaster Management was constituted in 1999 to identify disaster categories.
    • It identified 31 disaster categories organised into five major subgroups, which are: water and climate-related disasters, geological related disasters, chemical, industrial and nuclear-related disasters and biological related disasters, which includes biological disasters and epidemics.

    Have there been such instances in the past?

    • In 2018, in view of the devastation caused by the Kerala floods, political leaders in Kerala demanded that the floods be declared a “national calamity”.
    • As of now, there is no executive or legal provision to declare a national calamity.
    • In 2001, the National Committee on Disaster Management under then PM was mandated to look into the parameters that should define a national calamity.
    • However, the committee did not suggest any fixed criterion.
    • In the past, there have been demands from states to declare certain events as natural disasters, such as the Uttarakhand flood in 2013, Cyclone Hudhud in Andhra Pradesh in 2014, and the Assam floods of 2015.

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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    Social Distancing and Flattening the Curve

    14 March 2020 | Explained | Science and Technology
    Mains Paper 3: GS3-17.Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights.

    The last two days, a number of states in India have enforced measures aimed at reducing public gatherings. This is called “social distancing”.

    How does social distancing work?

    • To stem the speed of the coronavirus spread so that healthcare systems can handle the influx, experts are advising people to avoid mass gatherings.
    • Offices, schools, concerts, conferences, sports events, weddings, and the like have been shut or cancelled around the world, including in a number of Indian states.
    • An advisory by the US Centers for Disease Control recommends social distancing measures such as: reducing the frequency of large gatherings and limiting the number of attendees; limiting inter-school interactions; and considering distance or e-learning in some settings.

    What is the objective of such restrictions?

    • Compared to deadlier diseases such as bird flu, or H5N1, coronavirus is not as fatal —which ironically also makes it more difficult to contain.
    • With milder symptoms, the infected are more likely to be active and still spreading the virus.
    • For example, more than half the cases aboard a cruise ship that has docked in California did not exhibit any symptoms.
    • In a briefing on March 11, WHO officials said, “Action must be taken to prevent transmission at the community level to reduce the epidemic to manageable clusters.”
    • The main question for governments is to reduce the impact of the virus by flattening the trajectory of cases from a sharp bell curve to an elongated speed-bump-like curve.
    • This is being called “flattening the curve”. How does ‘flattening the curve’ help?
    • Limiting community transmission is the best way to flatten the curve.

    What was the curve like in China?

    • The numbers show that the virus spread within Hubei exponentially but plateaued in other provinces.
    • Some say it’s because many of these countries learnt from the 2003 SARS epidemic.
    • Just as Chinese provinces outside of Hubei effectively stemmed the spread in February, three other countries —South Korea, Italy, and Iran — were not able to flatten the curve.

    Flattening The Curve

    • In epidemiology, the idea of slowing a virus’ spread so that fewer people need to seek treatment at any given time is known as “flattening the curve.”
    • It explains why so many countries are implementing “social distancing” guidelines — including a “lockdown” order that affects 1.3 billion people in India, even though COVID-19 outbreaks in various places might not yet seem severe.

    What is the curve?

    • The “curve” researchers are talking about refers to the projected number of people who will contract COVID-19 over a period of time.
    • To be clear, this is not a hard prediction of how many people will definitely be infected, but a theoretical number that’s used to model the virus’ spread. Here’s what one looks like:

    • The curve takes on different shapes, depending on the virus’s infection rate.
    • It could be a steep curve, in which the virus spreads exponentially (that is, case counts keep doubling at a consistent rate), and the total number of cases skyrockets to its peak within a few weeks.
    • Infection curves with a steep rise also have a steep fall; after the virus infects pretty much everyone who can be infected, case numbers begin to drop exponentially, too.
    • The faster the infection curve rises, the quicker the local health care system gets overloaded beyond its capacity to treat people.
    • As we’re seeing in Maharashtra or Ahmedabad, more and more new patients may be forced to go without ICU beds, and more and more hospitals may run out of the basic supplies they need to respond to the outbreak.
    • A flatter curve, on the other hand, assumes the same number of people ultimately get infected, but over a longer period of time.
    • A slower infection rate means a less stressed health care system, fewer hospital visits on any given day and fewer sick people being turned away.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Pakistan

    Explained: Sir Creek Dispute

    11 March 2020 | Explained | International Relations
    Mains Paper 3: GS3-21.Role of External State and Non-state Actors in creating challenges to Internal Security.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Sir Creek

    Mains level: Disputes over Sir Creek

     

     

    Former Pakistan Minister recalls plan for Sir Creek pact.

    Sir Creek

    • Sir Creek is a 96-km strip of water disputed between India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch marshlands. Originally named Ban Ganga, Sir Creek is named after a British representative.
    • The Creek opens up in the Arabian Sea and roughly divides the Kutch region of Gujarat from the Sindh Province of Pakistan.

    What’s the dispute?

    • The dispute lies in the interpretation of the maritime boundary line between Kutch and Sindh. Before India’s independence, the provincial region was a part of the Bombay Presidency of British India.
    • But after India’s independence in 1947, Sindh became a part of Pakistan while Kutch remained a part of India.
    • Pakistan claims the entire creek as per paragraphs 9 and 10 of the Bombay Government Resolution of 1914 signed between then the Government of Sindh and Rao Maharaj of Kutch.
    • The resolution, which demarcated the boundaries between the two territories, included the creek as part of Sindh, thus setting the boundary as the eastern flank of the creek popularly known as Green Line.
    • But India claims that the boundary lies mid-channel as depicted in another map drawn in 1925, and implemented by the installation of mid-channel pillars back in 1924.

    The Genesis 

    • The marshland of Sir Creek first became disputed in the early 20th century when the Rao of Kutch and the Chief Commissioner of Sindh Province of British India, due to different perceptions of the boundaries, laid claims over the creek.
    • The case was taken up by then Government of Bombay, which conducted a survey and mandated its verdict in 1914.
    • This verdict has two contradictory paragraphs, which make the India and Pakistan contenders on the same issue.
    • Paragraph 9 of this verdict states that the boundary between Kutch and Sindh lies ‘to the east of the Creek,’ (Green Line) which effectively implied that the creek belonged to Sindh and, therefore, to Pakistan.
    • On the other hand, Paragraph 10 states that since Sir Creek is navigable most of the year.
    • According to international law and the Thalweg principle, a boundary can only be fixed in the middle of the navigable channel, which meant that it has be divided between Sindh and Kutch, and thereby India and Pakistan.
    • India has used this para to consistently argue that the boundary needs to be fixed in the middle of the creek.
    • Pakistan, however, claims that Sir Creek isn’t navigable but India claims that since it’s navigable in high tide, the boundary should be drawn from the mid channel.

    What’s the importance of Sir Creek?

    • Apart from the strategic location, Sir Creek’s core importance is fishing resources. Sir Creek is considered to be among the largest fishing grounds in Asia.
    • Another vital reason for two countries locking horns over this creek is the possible presence of great oil and gas concentration under the sea, which are currently unexploited thanks to the impending deadlock on the issue.

    UNCLOS supports India’s stand

    • If Thalweg principle is to be upheld, Pakistan would lose a considerable portion of the territory that was historically part of the province of Sindh.
    • Acceding to India’s stance would mean shifting of the land/sea terminus point several kilometres to the detriment of Pakistan, leading in turn to a loss of several thousand square kilometres of its Exclusive Economic Zone under the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

    War in 1965 and tribunal

    • After the 1965 war, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson successfully persuaded both countries to end hostilities and set up a tribunal to resolve the dispute.
    • The verdict of the tribunal came in 1968 which saw Pakistan getting 10% of its claim of 9,000 km (3,500 sq. miles).
    • Since 1969, 12 rounds of talks have been held over the issue of Sir Creek, but both sides have denied reaching any solution.
    • The region fell amid tensions in 1999 after the Pakistan Navy shot down a MiG-21 fighter plane, but the last rounds of talks were held in 2012. Since then it’s been status quo.

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  • Global Geological And Climatic Events

    Explained: Cycle 25/ Solar Cycle

    9 March 2020 | Explained | Environment
    Mains Paper 1: Salient Features Of World’S Physical Geography

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Solar Cycle, Sunspots, Solar Dynamo

    Mains level: Read the attached story

     

     

    The sunspots identified by researchers from IISER Kolkata herald the start of a new solar cycle called Cycle 25.

    What are Sunspots?

    • Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the Sun’s photosphere that appear as spots darker than the surrounding areas. They are relatively cooler spots on the Sun’s surface.
    • They are regions of reduced surface temperature caused by concentrations of magnetic field flux that inhibit convection.
    • Sunspots usually appear in pairs of opposite magnetic polarity with a leader and a follower.

    What is Solar Cycle?

    • From our safe distance of about 148 million km, the Sun appears to be sedate and constant. However, huge solar flares and coronal mass ejections spew material from its surface into outer space.
    • They originate from sunspots, an important phenomenon that people have been following for hundreds of years. They originate deep within the Sun and become visible when they pop out.
    • Their number is not constant but shows a minimum and then rises up to a maximum and then falls again in what is called the solar cycle.
    • Every 11 years or so, the Sun’s magnetic field completely flips. This means that the Sun’s north and south poles switch places. Then it takes about another 11 years for the Sun’s north and south poles to flip back again.
    • So far, astronomers have documented 24 such cycles, the last one ended in 2019.

    How do they occur?

    • Given the high temperatures in the Sun, matter exists there in the form of plasma, where the electrons are stripped away from the nuclei.
    • The Sun is made of hot ionized plasma whose motions generate magnetic fields in the solar interior by harnessing the energy of the plasma flows.
    • This mechanism is known as the solar dynamo mechanism (or magnetohydrodynamic dynamo mechanism).
    • Simply stated, it is a process by which kinetic energy of plasma motions is converted to magnetic energy, which generates the magnetised sunspots, giving rise to the solar cycle..
    • Because of the nature of the solar dynamo, the part of its magnetic field that gives rise to sunspots reverses direction when it moves from one solar cycle to another.
    • This can be inferred by observing when the relative orientation of the sunspot pairs flips.

    Features

    • The solar cycle affects activity on the surface of the Sun, such as sunspots which are caused by the Sun’s magnetic fields. As the magnetic fields change, so does the amount of activity on the Sun’s surface.
    • One way to track the solar cycle is by counting the number of sunspots.
    • The beginning of a solar cycle is a solar minimum, or when the Sun has the least sunspots. Over time, solar activity—and the number of sunspots—increases.
    • The middle of the solar cycle is the solar maximum, or when the Sun has the most sunspots. As the cycle ends, it fades back to the solar minimum and then a new cycle begins.
    • Giant eruptions on the Sun, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, also increase during the solar cycle. These eruptions send powerful bursts of energy and material into space.

    Impacts of Solar Cycle

    • This activity has effects on Earth. For example, eruptions can cause lights in the sky, called aurora, or impact radio communications. Extreme eruptions can even affect electricity grids on Earth.
    • Solar activity can affect satellite electronics and limit their lifetime.
    • Radiation can be dangerous for astronauts who do work on the outside of the International Space Station.
    • Forecasting of the solar cycle can help scientists protect our radio communications on Earth, and help keep satellites and astronauts safe.

    Start of cycle 25

    • Following a weakening trend in activity over the last few cycles, there were predictions that the Sun would go silent into a grand minimum in activity, with the disappearance of cycles.
    • However, a team from IISER Kolkata has shown that there are signs that cycle 25 has just begun.
    • They used the data from the instrument Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager aboard NASA’s space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory for their calculations.

    Why is this so important to us on earth?

    • After all the sunspots look small and are hardly even visible to us. Contrary to this, sunspot activity may be correlated with climate on earth.
    • In the period between 1645 and 1715, sun spot activity had come to a halt on the Sun – a phenomenon referred to as the Maunder minimum.
    • This coincided with extremely cold weather globally. So sunspots may have a relevance to climate on earth.
    • Such links are tenuous, but definitely solar activity affects space weather, which can have an impact on space-based satellites, GPS, power grids and so on.

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  • North-East India – Security and Developmental Issues

    Explained: Behind Meghalaya violence

    6 March 2020 | Explained | Polity
    Mains Paper 2: Federalism

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not Much

    Mains level: Ethnic turmoil in North East

     

     

    Last week, ethnic violence left three dead in Meghalaya. The violence underlined the ethnic complexities of Meghalaya, with tensions coming back to the fore following the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

    Multi-ethnic Meghalaya

    • Meghalaya became a state in 1972 when it was carved out of Assam. Before that, Shillong, now Meghalaya’s capital, used to be the capital of Assam.
    • Sharing a 443-km border with Bangladesh, Meghalaya has seen decades of migration from areas that are now in Bangladesh, as well as from various Indian states via Assam.
    • Besides the indigenous groups, Meghalaya’s residents include Bengalis, Nepalis, Marwaris, Biharis and members of various other communities.
    • Meghalaya is a tribal majority state, and the indigenous Khasis, Jaintias and Garos are entitled to 80% reservation in government jobs.
    • Various groups have continuously expressed concerns that illegal migration from Bangladesh and the growth of “outsiders” from other states would overwhelm the indigenous communities.

    Meghalaya violence: The CAA context

    • The CAA relaxes the norms for Hindus from Bangladesh (among six religious groups from three countries) for eligibility to apply for Indian citizenship.
    • Long before that, the legislation was already facing protests in the Northeast, including Meghalaya. Eventually, the Centre decided the CAA will not apply in Sixth Schedule areas.
    • The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution has special provisions for administration of certain areas in the Northeast, including almost the whole of Meghalaya.
    • Despite the large exemption, the concerns have persisted in Meghalaya, and demands for an Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime have gathered fresh momentum.
    • If the ILP system is introduced, every Indian citizen from any other state would require a time-bound permit to visit Meghalaya.

    Signals simmering tensions

    • The last four decades have seen numerous incidents of violence in Meghalaya targeted at non-tribals, including from Bengal and Nepal.
    • The latest bout follows a sustained campaign over the implementation of the Inner Line Permit and unrest in the Northeast over the CAA that led to six deaths in Assam two months ago.
    • The violence last week has an immediate context in the anti-CAA campaign and ILP demand.

    Shillong, then and now

    • Shillong has seen violence against “outsiders” several times in the last four decades.
    • The targets were Bengalis in 1979, Nepalis in 1987, and Biharis in 1992.
    • In 2018, Shillong saw clashes between Khasis and Punjab-origin Dalit Sikhs whose ancestors had settled there over 100 years ago.
    • All that began collapsing after Independence, Constitutional institutions set up to safeguard the interest of the tribes came to be popularly perceived as opportunities to convert these tribal areas into exclusive zones of tribal hegemony.
    • The issue of ‘foreigners’ illegally residing in the state of Meghalaya was one of the most important issues which dominated state politics in the 1970s and 1980s.
    • In 1979, the state was plunged into a crisis for the first time since it was created.

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  • Human Rights Issues

    Explained: Why UN Human Rights Commission intends to intervene in a SC case against CAA?

    4 March 2020 | Explained | International Relations
    Mains Paper 2: GS2-20.Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: UNHRC

    Mains level: Global intervention over CAA

    The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights “intends to file” an Intervention Application in the Supreme Court of India seeking to intervene in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1474 of 2019 and praying that it be allowed to make submissions.

    On what grounds is a UN body seeking to intervene in a case regarding a domestic Indian law?

    • The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) is the leading UN entity on human rights.
    • The UN General Assembly entrusted both the High Commissioner and her Office with a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights for all people.
    • As the principal United Nations office mandated to promote and protect human rights for all, OHCHR leads global human rights efforts speaks out objectively in the face of human rights violations worldwide.
    • This resolution, adopted by the UNGA in 1994, created the post of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    Its jurisdiction

    • The application says that successive High Commissioners have filed amicus curiae briefs on issues of particular public importance within proceedings before a diverse range of international and national jurisdictions.
    • It includes the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Criminal Court, and at the national level, the United States Supreme Court and final appeal courts of States in Asia and Latin America.

    What exactly does the intervention application say?

    • The OHCHR has welcomed as “commendable” the CAA’s stated purpose, “namely the protection of some persons from persecution on religious grounds.
    • It also “acknowledges the history of openness and welcome that India has exhibited to persons seeking to find a safer, more dignified life within its borders”.
    • However the examination of the CAA raises important issues with respect to international human rights law and its application to migrants, including refugees, says the OHCHR.
    • The CAA, it says, raises “important human rights issues, including its compatibility in relation to the right to equality before the law and nondiscrimination on nationality grounds under India’s human rights obligations”.
    • The application acknowledges that “the issue of nondiscrimination on nationality grounds falls outside the scope of this intervention”, but insists that “this in no way implies that there are not human rights concerns in this respect”.

    Why intervene?

    • The application questions the reasonableness and objectivity of the criterion of extending the benefits of the CAA to Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan alone.
    • It points out that while the Indian government has suggested that persons of Muslim faith, regardless of denomination or ethnicity, are protected there.
    • However recent reports by UN human rights show that Ahmadi, Hazara and Shia Muslims in these countries warrant protection on the same basis as that provided in the preferential treatment proposed by the CAA.

    Is there a specific basis on which the OHCHR has faulted the CAA?

    The application flags some central principles of international human rights law:

    1. the impact of the CAA on some migrants
    2. the enjoyment of human rights by all migrants and the rights of all migrants (non-citizens) to equality before the law and
    3. the principle of non-refoulment, which prohibits the forcible return of refugees and asylum seekers to a country where they are likely to be persecuted
    • The application mentions that all migrants “regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, nationality and/or immigration status enjoy human rights and are entitled to protection”.
    • It cites international human rights instruments to urge the inclusion of non-discrimination, equality before the law, and equal protection before the law into the foundation of a rule of law.
    • International human rights law, the application says, does not distinguish between citizens and non-citizens or different groups of non-citizens for the purposes of providing them protection from discrimination, “including in respect of their migration status”.

    India’s stance

    • The Citizenship Amendment Act is an internal matter of India and concerns the sovereign right of the Indian Parliament to make laws.
    • MEA spokesperson insisted that no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India’s sovereignty.
    • The CAA was “constitutionally valid and complies with all requirements of (India’s) constitutional values”, and “is reflective of our long-standing national commitment in respect of human rights issues arising from the tragedy of the Partition of India”.

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