UPSC Mains Ethics Paper 2019

UPSC Mains 2019 Ethics Paper General Studies Paper – 4

Section A

150 Words

1 a) What are the basic principles of public life? illustrate any three of these with suitable examples. (150 words)

1 b) What do you understand by the term ‘public servant’? Reflect on the expected role of public servant. (150 words)

2 a) Effective utilization of public funds is crucial to meet development goals. Critically examine the reasons for under-utilization and mis-utilization of public funds and their implications. (150 words)

2 b) Non-performance of duty by a public servant is a form of corruption”. Do you agree with this view? Justify your answer. (150 words)

3 a) What is meant by the term ‘constitutional morality’? How does one uphold constitutional morality? (150 words)

3 b) What is meant by ‘crisis of conscience’?  How does it manifest itself in the public domain? (150 words):

4 a) Explain the basic principles of citizens charter movement and bring out its importance. (150 words)

4 b) There is a view that the Official Secrets Act is an obstacle to the implementation of Right to information Act. Do you agree with the view? Discuss. (150 words)

5 a) What do you understand by probity in governance? Based on your understanding of the term, suggest measures for ensuring probity in government. (150 words)

5 b) Emotional Intelligence is the ability to make your emotions work for you instead of against you”. Do you agree with this view? Discuss. (150 words)

  1. What do each of the following quotations mean to you?
  • 6 a) An unexamined life is not worth living”. – Socrates (150 words)
  • 6 b) “A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.”  M. K. Gandhi (150 words)
  • 6 c) “Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is a harmony in the home there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world” – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Section B

250 words

7) You are heading the rescue operations in an area affected by severe natural calamity Thousands· of people are rendered homeless and deprived of food, drinking water and other basic amenities. Rescue work has been disrupted by heavy rainfall and damage to supply routes. The local people are seething with anger against the delayed limited rescue operations. When your team reaches the affected area, the people there heckle and even assault some of the team members. One of your team members is even severely injured. Faced with this crisis, some team members plead with you to call off the operations fearing threats to their life.

In such trying circumstances, what will be your response? Examine the qualities of a public servant which will be required to manage the situation. (250 words)

8) Honesty and uprightness are the hallmarks of a civil servant. Civil servants possessing these qualities are considered as the backbone of any strong organization.  In line of duty, they take various decisions, at times some become bonafide mistakes. As long as such decisions are not taken intentionally and do not benefit personally, the officer cannot be said to be guilty. Though such decisions may, at times, lead to unforeseen adverse consequences in the long-term.

In the recent past, a few instances have surfaced wherein civil servants have been implicated for bonafide mistakes. They have often been prosecuted and even imprisoned. These instances have greatly rattled the moral fibre of the civil servants. How does this trend affect the functioning of the civil services? What measures can be taken to ensure that honest civil servants are not implicated for bonafide mistakes on their part? Justify your answer. (250 words)

9) An apparel manufacturing company having large number of women employees was losing sales due to various factors. The company hired a reputed marketing executive, who increased the volume of sales within a short span of time. However, some unconfirmed reports came up regarding his indulgence in sexual harassment at the work place.

After sometime, a woman. employee lodged a formal complaint to the management against the marketing executive about sexually harassing her. Faced with the company’s indifference in not taking cognizance of her grievance, she lodged an FIR with the Police.

Realizing the sensitivity and gravity of the situation, the company called the women employee to negotiate. In that she was offered a hefty sum of money to withdraw the complaint and the FIR and also give in writing that the marketing executive is not involved in this case.

identify the ethical issues involved in this case what options are available to the women employee? (250 words)

10) In a modem democratic polity, there is the concept of political executive and permanent executive. Elected people’s representatives from the political executive and bureaucracy forms the permanent executive. Ministers frame policy decisions and bureaucrats execute these.

In the initial decades after independence, relationship between the permanent executive and the political executive were characterized by mutual understanding, respect and Co-operation, without encroaching upon each other’s domain.

However, in the subsequent decades, the situation has changed. There are instances of the political executive insisting upon the permanent executive to follow its agenda. Respect for and appreciation of upright bureaucrats has declined. There is an increasing tendency among the political executive to get involved in routine administrative matters such as transfers, postings etc. Under this scenario, there is a definitive trend towards ‘politicization of bureaucracy’. The rising materialism and acquisitiveness in social life has also adversely impacted upon the ethical values of both the permanent executive and the political executive.

What are the consequences of this ‘politicization of bureaucracy’? Discuss. (250 words)

11) In one of the districts of a frontier state, narcotics menace has been rampant. This has resulted in money laundering, mushrooming of poppy farming, arms smuggling and near stalling of education. The system is on the verge of collapse. The situation has been further worsened by unconfirmed reports that local politicians as well as. some senior police officers arc providing surreptitious patronage to the drug mafia.

At that point of time a woman police officer, known for her skills in handling such situations is appointed as Superintendent of Police to bring the situation to normalcy.

If you are the same police officer, identify the various dimensions of the crisis. Based on your understanding, suggest measures to deal with the crisis. {250 words)

12) In recent times there has been an increasing concern in India to develop effective civil service ethics, code of conduct, transparency measures, ethics and integrity systems and anti-corruption agencies .In view of this ,there is a need being felt to focus on three specific areas, which are directly relevant to the problem of internalizing integrity and ethics in the civil services. These are as follows:

  1. Anticipating specific threats to ethical standards and integrity in the civil services
  2. Strengthening the ethical competence of civil servants and
  3. Developing administrative processes and practices which promote ethical values and integrity in civil services.

suggest institutional measures to address the above three issues (250 words)

 

Articles to read in Newspapers 22nd May 2019

These are Suggested Articles for 22nd May 2019 from The Hindu and Indian Express also included in the post are articles from various news papers.

Editorials

Opinion and Columns

National, International,Business and Life

Download Yojana Magazines 2018

Download Yojana Magazines 2018, from January to December. These are official scans and a selective read is must for prelims 2019. also you can access free PDF of  Yojana archives from 2010-2018 here.

  1. January : Banking Reforms
  2. February : Public grievance redressal
  3. March: Union Budget
  4. April: North East 
  5. May: Nutrition
  6. June: India on the Move
  7. July: Resurgent India
  8. August: Social Empowerment
  9. September: Employment and Self Employment
  10. October : Women empowerment 
  11. November: Swachhata from idea to reality
  12. December : Digital India

Newspaper notes for UPSC 14-07-18

Hello friends, this is Newspaper notes for UPSC of 14-07-18, Please do leave your valuable comments , feedback and suggestions, kalyan@iksa.in , telegram: @naylak .

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Download the PDF Notes : Newspaper notes for UPSC of 14-07-18

DNA profiles won’t be kept permanently

  • India’s proposed DNA databank, to be used during investigation into crimes or to find missing persons, will not permanently store details of people. The DNA details will be removed, subject to “judicial orders,”.
  • “There will be nothing permanent in a DNA bank,” If there’s a criminal case, till the case is solved the DNA profile will remain in the bank. They will be removed after a judicial order. These things will be specified in the rules.
  • The rules will come after Parliament approves the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018. 
  • The aim of that draft legislation was to establish an institutional mechanism to collect and deploy DNA technologies to identify persons based on samples collected from crime scenes or to identify missing persons. The Bill envisages a DNA Profiling Board and a DNA Data Bank.

What is DNA analysis ?

  • DNA analysis is an extremely useful and accurate technology in ascertaining the identity of a person from his/her DNA sample, or establishing biological relationships between individuals. A hair sample, or even bloodstains from clothes, from a scene of crime, for example, can be matched with that of a suspect, and it can, in most cases, be conclusively established whether the DNA in the sample belongs to the suspected individual. As a result, DNA technology is being increasingly relied upon in investigations of crime, identification of unidentified bodies, or in determining parentage.

Background:

  • The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister has approved The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2018.
  • Forensic DNA profiling is of proven value in solving cases involving offences that are categorized as
  • affecting the human body (such as murder, rape, human trafficking, or grievous hurt),
  • and those against property (including theft, burglary, and dacoity).
  • The aggregate incidence of such crimes in the country, as per the statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2016, is in excess of 3 lakhs per year. Of these, only a very small proportion is being subjected to DNA testing at present. It is expected that the expanded use of this technology in these categories of cases would result not only in speedier justice delivery but also in increased conviction rates, which at present is only around 30% (NCRB Statistics for 2016).

Purpose and Objectives :

  • The primary intended purpose for enactment of Bill is for expanding the application of DNA-based forensic technologies to support and strengthen the justice delivery system of the country.
  • The utility of DNA based technologies for solving crimes, and to identify missing persons, is well recognized across the world.
  • By providing for the mandatory accreditation and regulation of DNA laboratories, the Bill seeks to ensure that with the proposed expanded use of this technology in the country, there is also the assurance that the DNA test results are reliable and the data remain protected from misuse or abuse in terms of the privacy rights of our citizens.
  • Speedier justice delivery.  Increased conviction rate.
  • Bill’s provisions will enable the cross-matching between persons who have been reported missing on the one hand and unidentified dead bodies found in various parts of the country on the other, and also for establishing the identity of victims in mass disasters.

Features:

  • DNA REGULATORY BOARD: The board, which will have regional offices as required, will certify labs authorised to carry out DNA testing, approve establishment of DNA databanks and supervise their functioning, and lay down procedures and guidelines for collection, storing, sharing and deletion of DNA information.
  • DNA DATABANK: A National DNA Databank and certain regional DNA Databanks will store DNA profiles received from DNA labs in a specified format.
  • Only for identification: The Bill states that the DNA data, including DNA profiles, samples and records, contained in any DNA labs and Databank “shall be used only for the purpose of facilitating identification of the person and not for any other purpose”.
  • Other than in suspects and offenders’ index, the identity of a person is not to be stored in other indices. Only case reference numbers are to be stored in such cases, the Bill states
  • Consent: The Bill states that DNA information cannot be taken from an arrested person without consent. The exception is only for specified offences, though the Bill does not elaborate on this. Samples can also be obtained from persons who are witness to a crime, or want to locate their missing relatives, or in similar instances in which they can volunteer, in writing, to offer their DNA samples for a specific purpose.
  • Penalties: The Bill states that disclosure of DNA information to unauthorised persons, or for unauthorised purposes, shall lead to penalties: up to three years in jail and up to Rs 1 lakh as fine.

Previous Versions :

  • The draft Bill was first named DNA Profiling Bill in 2007 and then Human DNA Profiling Bill in 2015. In July 2017, the Law Commission’s report proposed a new amended draft called ‘DNA based Technology (Use and Regulation) Bill’, 2017, addressing some concerns on privacy and possible misuse. This current Bill is modelled largely on the Law Commission proposal, except for some nominal changes.
  • The Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology has been made the ex-officio chairman of the proposed DNA Regulatory Board. In previous versions, including the draft of the Law Commission, this job was open for other “eminent persons” as well, provided they had expertise and knowledge of biological sciences for at least 25 years.

We’re not a surveillance state: SC

  • The Bench was hearing a petition it alleged that the proposal for a “social media communication hub” by the Centre is a “brazen attempt at mass surveillance.”
  • If the government seeks to monitor every social media message, the country will become a surveillance state, the Supreme Court said.
  • Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, who is a member of the Bench led by Chief Justice made the oral observation, about the Central government’s proposal to create a hub to track social media trends.
  • The proposed Social Media Communication Hub seeks to create a technology architecture that merges mass surveillance with a capacity for disinformation.

Survey launched to rank States on rural cleanliness

  • The Centre has launched the Swachh Survekshan Grameen, 2018, a nationwide survey of rural India to rank the cleanest and dirtiest States and districts on the basis of qualitative and quantitative evaluation.
  • A random selection of 6, 980 villages across 698 districts will surveyed during the month of August, following which the Swachh Survekshan Grameen awards are expected to be announced.
  • This is the first comprehensive survey for rural India, which has been launched after three successful editions of a similar survey in urban India.
  • The rankings will be based on three basic parameters:
    • direct observation of public places by independent surveyors,
    • service-level progress using data from the Swachh Bharat Mission’s information system and
    • citizens’ feedback.
  • The feedback will be solicited through village meetings, online feedback and direct interviews, as well as discussions with key influencers such as local officials, elected representatives and anganwadi workers.
  • AIR Spotlight : Swachh Survekshan Grameen

In tightrope walk, India schedules talks with Iran and U.S.

  • Ahead of the first set of U.S. sanctions on Iran kicking in on August 6, the Union government is planning to hold talks with senior Iranian and American officials back-to-back next week.
  • The U.S. team will be in Delhi as part of a it’s outreach to several countries to convince them to cut down oil imports from Iran to “zero” as well as cut off trade ties.
  • This would be the “first face-to-face meeting with the U.S. since sanctions were reimposed”, the two sides would exchange “perspectives as friends” on the issue.
  • According to officials privy to the U.S. team’s agenda, Iran’s role in supporting terror groups in West Asia would be brought up strongly, and they will highlight the U.S.’s support to India on fighting terror.
  • “India tells us fighting cross-border terror is a priority. Then it must also take U.S. concerns about Iran as a state sponsor of terror and major cause of middle east instability into account,” a diplomat said.

India going ahead with S-400 buy

  • India is going ahead with the purchase of S-400 air defence systems from Russia despite American concerns, and has told the U.S. that it is for them to address concerns over its recent Russia sanctions, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
  • The 2+2 talks between the Defence and External Affairs Ministers and their U.S. counterparts, which was postponed in early July, is likely to be held in the first week of September.
  • The U.S. has passed the CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) that proposes to impose sanctions on nations that have significant defence relations with Russia.
  • While the U.S. administration has said waivers will be incorporated in it to protect friends and allies, it is yet to be done. This has generated significant concern in India which is heavily dependent on Russia for military hardware.
  • “We have made it clear that CAATSA is a U.S. law and not a UN law,” Ms. Sitharaman said.
  • On the S-400 deal, Ms Sitharaman said negotiations had reached a “conclusive stage” with Russia. Last month, India and Russia had concluded commercial negotiations for the purchase of five S-400 systems worth over Rs. 39,000 crore.

Conferring eminence

  • In its report on higher education for the Twelfth Plan, the working group of the erstwhile Planning Commission identified expansion, inclusion and excellence as the three pillars for growth. The NDA government had the theme of excellence in its 2016 annual budget, with a proposal to make 10 institutions each in the public and private sectors globally competitive.
  • The challenge of excellence is to develop liberal institutions founded on academic rigour, high scholarship and equitable access for all classes of students. Quite ambitiously, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has taken the decision to give Institution of Eminence (IoE) status to six institutes, three each from the public and private sectors. Potentially, this will help the select few rise above the many State, Central and private universities, national-level institutes of technology, science, management and humanities, and attract talent.
  • Giving the tag to Jio Institute, which is yet to come up, generated understandable controversy. It should be ensured that this conditional recognition is fulfilled transparently, and that it meets the requirements on governance structure, infrastructure and faculty within three years.
  • The idea of developing centres of higher learning advances the Nehruvian vision of building ‘temples of modern India’. The IoEs can become models of autonomy, academic innovation and equity of access, and lead to a transformation of higher education.
  • That there is need for urgent reform became clear during the selection process: the empowered committee found that State universities had a low output because some of them had several faculty members recruited on contract basis, with no incentive to do research. Such ad hocism must end, and public universities should be insulated from political pressures.
  • Vice-chancellors should be appointed on merit, free of ideological biases. With good governance structures and significant new financial grants, the selected public institutions will be able to innovate on courses and encourage research. The growth of these and other national institutions will also depend on policies to raise the expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP.
  • Among countries with a comparable research output, India with 0.8% R&D spending trails Russia, Brazil, South Korea and even Singapore, according to Unesco data. Islands of eminence can inspire, but the long-term goal should be to raise the quality of higher education in all institutions through academic reform. The quality is uneven, and at the bottom levels, abysmal.

Business line IOE

  • The sta­tus of In­dian In­sti­tutes of Tech­nol­ogy as in­sti­tu­tions of nerdy em­i­nence has been in­ter­na­tion­ally val­i­dated for many years now. That per­sons of In­dian ori­gin to­day head Google, Mi­crosoft, Pep­siCo, among many other For­tune 500 com­pa­nies, is am­ple tes­ti­mony to the ro­bust­ness at the core of In­dia’s sys­tem of higher ed­u­ca­tion. And, yet, in the global rank­ings of world uni­ver­si­ties, In­dian cam­puses sel­dom make it into the top 200, largely due to an in­ad­e­quate em­pha­sis on se­cur­ing an in­ter­na­tional pro­file — both in terms of fac­ulty and stu­dents — and poor re­search-fo­cussed per­for­mance. Some of this is, of course, at­trib­ut­able to the cum­ber­some reg­u­la­tions that tie down these in­sti­tu­tions.
  • the HRD Min­istry’s fi­nal se­lec­tion of six In­sti­tu­tions of Em­i­nence — three each in the pub­lic and pri­vate spa­ces — has been clouded over by a wholly avoid­able con­tro­versy. In par­tic­u­lar, its choice of the Re­liance-pro­moted Jio In­sti­tute, an en­tity that for now ex­ists only in name, has stoked jus­ti­fi­able out­rage. In its de­fence, the Min­istry cites that Jio In­sti­tute was cho­sen in the “green­field” cat­e­gory, and that one of the crit­i­cal con­sid­er­a­tions that weighed in its favour was the size of the pro­mot­ers’ net­worth and their ca­pac­ity to cre­atively dis­rupt the in­dus­tries they op­er­ate in. How­so­ever per­sua­sive these ar­gu­ments are, it is hard to dis­pel the no­tion that the goal­posts have been set up in a way that priv­i­leges an in­dus­trial group that is per­ceived to be prox­i­mate to the rul­ing dis­pen­sa­tion.

It’s all bleak on the cli­mate front

  • Last week, the In­ter­gov­ern­men­tal Panel for Cli­mate Change (IPCC), which is the United Na­tion’s sci­en­tific body meant to look at and re­port on cli­mate change, had (as usual) some dread­ful news for the world.
  • The ba­sic mes­sage of the sec­ond and fi­nal draft, a re­port that IPCC would soon re­lease, is that the world is not do­ing enough to keep the planet from heating up ex­ces­sively. The con­se­quences will be ter­ri­ble.
  • The Panel was asked by the United Na­tions Frame­work Con­ven­tion on Cli­mate Change in De­cem­ber 2015, to pre­pare a spe­cial re­port by 2018, on what would be the im­pact on the world if the planet grew hot­ter by 1.5 de­grees Cel­sius, over the global av­er­age sur­face tem­per­a­tures that ex­isted be­tween 1850 and 1900.
  • First a lit­tle back­ground. ‘Green­house gases’ (like car­bon diox­ide and meth­ane), largely spewed by hu­man ac­tiv­ity, form a shield in the up­per at­mos­phere, pre­vent­ing the planet’s heat from dis­si­pat­ing, caus­ing ‘global warm­ing’.
  • At Paris in De­cem­ber 2015, all coun­tries agreed on an aim: by the turn of this cen­tury, the planet should not get hot­ter by two de­grees Cel­sius than the av­er­age tem­per­a­ture dur­ing the ref­er­ence pe­riod — 1850-1900. While ‘2 de­grees’ was the Lak­sh­man Rekha, they also agreed on an “am­bi­tion” to limit global warm­ing to 1.5 de­grees. Now, IPCC is say­ing that the ‘1.5 de­grees’ am­bi­tion will be fed to the fires as early as 2040.
  • This syncs well with what an­other UN body, the UNEP, has been say­ing con­sis­tently in its an­nual Emis­sion Gap Re­ports. In the re­port of 2016, it said that even if all the coun­tries did ex­actly what they promised to do in Paris, the two-de­gree aim would not be met; last year’s re­port said that un­less emis­sions are re­duced ur­gently, it is “ex­tremely un­likely” that the tar­get would be met.
  • Clearly, mea­sures that are vis­i­ble, such as rise of re­new­able en­ergy and elec­tric ve­hi­cles, are just not enough. The in­evitable con­se­quences will be more floods and droughts, for­est fires, is­lands los­ing ground to ris­ing sea wa­ters, wa­ter scarcity, and vector-borne dis­eases — to name just a few.
  • The sit­u­a­tion calls for rapid ac­tion. What we are see­ing is rapid ac­tion — in the op­po­site di­rec­tion.
  • Af­ter pulling out of the Paris ac­cord, the US ad­min­is­tra­tion has be­gun to sup­port coal, a fuel chiefly re­spon­si­ble for the cli­mate mess.Fur­ther, the US has slashed its con­tri­bu­tion to the Global En­vi­ron­ment Fa­cil­ity (GEF), a big fun­der of cli­mate projects in de­vel­op­ing coun­tries, to $273 mil­lion in 2018 from $546 mil­lion, for GEF’s fouryear bud­get. As a re­sult, devel­oped coun­tries’ fund­ing to GEF has come down by $300 mil­lion, to $4.1 bil­lion.
  • Un­for­tu­nately, Aus­tralia is fol­low­ing the US’s ter­ri­ble ex­am­ple.
  • When the US and Aus­tralia back coal, what to speak of poor coun­tries like In­done­sia? Hav­ing tasted money in ex­port­ing coal over the last decade, the coun­try wants to do more and, in the process, is muck­ing up things for the world.
  • Ac­cord­ing to the Stock­holm En­vi­ron­ment In­sti­tute, min­ing per­mits cover 6.3 mil­lion hectares of Con­ser­va­tion For­est and Pro­tected For­est ar­eas, de­spite laws.
  • The In­sti­tute notes that the sit­u­a­tion is likely to worsen with the de­vel­op­ment of a new, Rus­sia-funded rail­way that will open up new ar­eas of Kal­i­man­tan for coal. By the way, in 2017, the trop­ics lost 15.9 mil­lion hectares, the size of Bangladesh, to de­for­esta­tion — 40 foot­ball fields of trees ev­ery minute for the en­tire year.
  • In­dia is par­tic­u­larly vul­ner­a­ble to cli­mate change ef­fects. Melt­ing of Hi­malayan glaciers would dev­as­tate north In­dia, while the penin­sula, which is highly de­pen­dent on the mon­soons, will be af­fected by un­cer­tain rains. Most other de­vel­op­ing coun­tries will face sim­i­lar prob­lems.
  • The world is on a tra­jec­tory that will take it way past the Lak­sh­man Rekha. Why are we be­ing so cal­lous? The an­swer per­haps lies in the rea­son­ing out­lined by In­dian econ­o­mist, Mon­tek Singh Ah­luwalia, who in a re­cent in­ter­view to the World Re­sources In­sti­tute said: “Do­ing some­thing (right) hurts right now, but the ben­e­fits are go­ing to be some neg­a­tive thing avoided in the long term.”

Newspaper notes for UPSC 06-06-18

Here is the link to Newspaper notes for UPSC 06-06-18 PDF and please do leave your valuable comments , feedback and suggestions, [email protected] , telegram @naylak . Do subscribe to our website and please share to your friends about us.

Army will abide by govt. peace plan

  • The decision to suspend military operations in Jammu and Kashmir during the month of Ramzan was a government decision and would be respected by all, Defence Minister said.
  • There has been a sharp rise in ceasefire violations along the Line of Control. Last week, the Directors-General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan agreed to implement the 2003 ceasefire agreement in “letter and spirit.”

The Line of Control (LOC) is the line that marks where the region of Kashmir is divided. The land on one side of the line is controlled by India, and the land on the other side is controlled by Pakistan. It is not a legal international border, but is the effective boundary between the two countries

Centre not to file counter-affidavit on Article 35A

Please read Laxmiakth for this topic, the more you revise the better in the long run .

  • The Centre has decided not to file any “counter-affidavit” on Article 35A, which has been challenged in the Supreme Court through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition.
  • Article 35A allows the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to decide the “permanent residents” of the State, prohibits a non-State resident from buying property in the State and ensures reservation in employment for residents.
  • Article 35A was incorporated into the Constitution by an order of the then President Rajendra Prasad on the advice of the Jawaharlal Nehru Cabinet in 1954.It grants a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
  • The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order followed the 1952 Delhi Agreement between Nehru and the then Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah, which extended Indian citizenship to the ‘State subjects’ of Jammu and Kashmir.

What is article 35A?

 

What is Public interest litigation ?

It will be a war on single-use plastic

  • As the global host nation for the 2018 World Environment Day (June 5), and as a country that generates over 25,000 tonnes of plastic waste every day, India led the charge against plastic on Tuesday, with programmes in different parts of the country focussed on the theme of ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’.

Promotions in govt. offices should go ahead, says SC

  • The Supreme Court on Tuesday orally observed that promotions in government offices should go ahead in “accordance with law.”
  • The court was responding to the government’s complaint that the entire promotion process was in limbo because of uncertainty over reservation in promotion for the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe employees.

Life in plastic – OPINION

  • India is hosting World Environment Day, the theme is Beat Plastic Pollution.
  • Issues :Both the Solid Waste Management Rules and the Plastic Waste Management Rules of 2016, which built on previous regulations, mostly remain on paper.
  • State governments did not implement them seriously, producers of plastic articles that are invariably used just for a few minutes have shown little concern about their negative environmental impact.
  • over 60% of about 25,000 tonnes of plastic waste generated daily is collected. That essentially means a staggering 10,000 tonnes of trash is being released into the environment, a lot of it going into the sea.
  • Not every piece of plastic collected by the system is scientifically processed.
  • Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system is on the UN map of 10 rivers worldwide that collectively carry the bulk of the plastic waste into the oceans.
  • The effects are evident: they threaten marine life and the well-being of people, as microplastics are now found even in drinking water.
  • Response:  communities and environmentally minded individuals are ahead of governments and municipal authorities. They segregate waste, compost at home, conduct “plastic free” social events and help recover materials that would otherwise just be dumped in the suburbs and wetlands.
  • Policy: It is the Centre’s responsibility to ensure that the Environment (Protection) Act, the overarching law that enables anti-pollution rules to be issued, is implemented in letter and spirit.
  • Ideally, regulation should help stop the manufacture of single-use plastic articles such as carry bags and cutlery, and encourage the use of biodegradable materials.
  • Local bodies mandated under rules to ensure segregation, collection and transfer of waste to registered recyclers have failed to fulfil their responsibilities.
  • The State Level Monitoring Committees provided for under the rules have not been made accountable. The waste management framework is dysfunctional.

 

Familiar moorings – OPINION

  • Prime Minister’s visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, three of India’s most important partners in Southeast Asia, the visits took place at important moment in Indian foreign policy positioning.
  • The government has shifted considerably in its signalling, with PM visiting China and Russia for informal summits. India’s membership of both the Quadrilateral and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation whose summit PM will attend this week is also an indicator of the new balance that New Delhi seeks.
  • These visits have taken place at a time the U.S. administration has sharpened its aim at China and Russia with sanctions and threats of a trade war suggests.
  • India is attempting to moderate it’s strategic posturing on the global stage, and striving for a more balanced approach
  • India has also maintained its commitment to relations with the U.S. in order to build a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region, maintain the “international rules-based order”, and work together to combat terrorism and terror financing.
  • PM chose the platform of the Shangri-La Dialogue of defence leaders of the Asia-Pacific region to emphasise Indian “strategic autonomy”. In his speech on the concept of the “Indo-Pacific” he referred to India’s relations with Russia, the U.S. and China.
  • PM unveiled a seven-point vision for the Indo-Pacific region. While warning the world about the possible return of “great power rivalries”, he emphasised the importance and centrality of the ASEAN in the concept of the Indo-Pacific.

SCO is a Eurasian political, economic,and  military  organisation which  was founded by the  leaders of China,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan has recently

become members of SCO in its 2017 meeting held at Astana, Kazhakhstan.

 

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD, also known as the Quad) is an informal strategic dialogue between the United States, Japan, Australia and India that is maintained by talks between member countries.

Preventing the next health crisis

  • The government announced that it would release an annual “state of nutrition” report, detailing India’s level of stunting, malnutrition and feature best practices for States to scale up nutrition interventions.
  • Nutrition challenges : 26 million children suffer from wasting (a low weight-for-height ratio), more than in any other country. Yet, the country has the second highest number of obese children in the world — 15.3 million in China and 4 million in India.
  • The issue:India must step up its efforts to fight overweight and obesity just as it has been doing with wasting and stunting. Between 1980and 2015, obesity doubled for children and tripled for adults; an additional 2.6 million children will be obese in India by 2025.
  • Rising obesity is putting pressure on already fragile health systems in India with increase in non-communicable diseases, or NCDs.
  • The potent combination of Indian children eating more junk food while becoming increasingly sedentary puts them at an even greater risk. Research has shown that early warning signs for fatty liver disease can be found in children as young as eight.
  • Policy responses should include agricultural systems that promote crop diversity (to enable dietary diversity) as well as regulatory and fiscal measures (to decrease the availability, affordability and promotion of unhealthy foods, while making healthy foods more accessible).
  • Clinical setting: obesity management, prevention and treatment should be provided as essential health services targeted at a condition that undermines health in many ways.
  • There is compelling evidence that heart disease and diabetes impose high burdens o health expenditure, result in a loss of livelihoods and crush people into poverty. With no insurance or personal savings, a heart disease diagnosis can compromise a person’s wealth as well as health.
  • Way Forward: 
    • India should link obesity and undernutrition and treat them as twinned challenges to be jointly addressed under the universal health coverage umbrella.
    • While tackling undernutrition through assurance of adequate nutrition (usually interpreted as dietary calories), we need to ensure that it is also about appropriate nutrition (the right balance of nutrients).
    • Our policy response has to move from “food security” to “nutrition security”.

A failure of governance

  • The board of ICICI Bank has ordered a probe into allegations levelled against its CEO, Chanda Kochhar.
  • There are lapses in governance at a bank that has been characterised as “systemically important” by the regulator.
  • The decision to go in for a probe is clearly prompted by widespread dissatisfaction with the clean chit given by the Chairman last March. It is also possible that the board has been rattled by show-cause notices issued by SEBI on May 24.
  • Crux of the issue:  In April 2012, ICICI Bank made a loan of Rs. 3,250 crore to the Videocon group. Ms. Kochhar was the bank’s CEO at the time. Mr. Gupta’s letter to the PM had said that Ms. Kochhar’s husband had had a business partnership with the Videocon group prior to the sanction of the ICICI loan. There would thus be a clear conflict of interest in Ms. Kochhar being party to the sanction of a loan to Videocon.
  • The issue at the heart of the controversy is simple enough: did Ms. Kochhar disclose the conflict of interest to the board and recuse herself from all matters concerning Videocon? If she did not do so, it is sufficient ground for the board to ask Ms. Kochhar to step down as CEO.
  • Non-disclosure of conflict of interest and non-recusal are grave enough lapses.
  • State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and HDFC are classified as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIB).
  • D-SIB  are  big  banks  of  the  country  as  the  national  economy  is dependent  on  these  banks  so  they  are  seen  as  banks  that  are  too  Big  to  fail.
  • Moreover  the  classification  means  the  collapse  of  these  lenders  could  have a cascading impact on the entire financial system and the economy.

 

A tale of two countries

  • Carved out of the same political fabric in 1947, India and Pakistan were expected to be identical twins.
  • Pakistan: But, Soon after Pakistan’s creation, power gravitated to the office of the Governor-General or President outside the control of Parliament. This trend reached it’s peak with the assumption of power in 1958 by Army Chief Ayub Khan.
  • India launched itself on a very different route. The Constitution was framed in record time, powers of the different arms of government were clearly demarcated, and above all the armed forces were made subject to civilian authority.​
  • Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made it very clear in the context of the Menon-Thimayya differences in 1959 that, regardless of the merit of the case, “civil authority is and must remain supreme”. This doctrine of civilian supremacy is one of Nehru’s greatest gifts to the nation.​
  • The underlying reason for the supremacy of civilian institutions is the difference in the nature of the Congress and the Muslim League.​
  • The Congress had a countrywide organisational structure and a leadership whose legitimacy was uncontested. In contrast, the Muslim League hardly had any roots in Pakistan because its base lay in the Muslim minority provinces that remained in India. ​
  • The second major reason lay in their radically different ideological underpinnings. Pakistan was created on the basis of an exclusivist ideology. India chose to adopt secularism as its guiding philosophy.​
  • What is disturbing is how much India has begun to emulate Pakistan. As the Indian army has become increasingly engaged in domestic order maintenance, its footprint in domestic politics has amplified. Serving generals have taken to making statements that border on the political. Retired officers have entered the political arena in droves.
  • The issue: The Indian state’s commitment to the secular ideal has eroded as the ruling party has pursued majoritarian policies and legitimised rhetoric bordering on hate speech. The vision of a “Hindu rashtra” is gaining increasing acceptability.
  • Way forward: Unless this exclusivist trend is reversed, India may descend down the same road that Pakistan has done, to its great detriment.​

Nitrogen emissions going up

 

In news: The Indian Nitrogen Assessment assesses the sources, impacts, trends and future scenarios of reactive nitrogen in the Indian environment.

 

The report:

  • Nitrogen particles make up the largest fraction of PM2.5, the class of pollutants closely linked to cardiovascular and respiratory illness.
  • Agriculture remains the largest contributor to nitrogen emissions, the burning of crop residue is said to be a key contributor to winter smog in many parts of North India, it contributes over 240 million kg of nitrogen oxides (NOx: a generic term for the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution, namely nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide) and about 7 million kg of nitrous oxide (N2O) per year.
  • Agricultural soils contributed to over 70% of N2O emissions from India in 2010, followed by waste water (12%) and residential and commercial activities (6%). Since 2002, N2O has replaced methane as the second largest Greenhouse Gas (GHG) from Indian agriculture.
  • Chemical fertilizers (over 82% of it is urea) account for over 77% of all agricultural N2O emissions in India, while manure, compost and so on make up the rest. Most of the fertilizers consumed (over 70%) go into the production of cereals, especially rice and wheat, which accounts for the bulk of N2O emissions from India.
  • Cattle account for 80% of the ammonia production, though their annual growth rate is 1%, due to a stable population.
  • Non-agricultural emissions of nitrogen oxides and nitrous oxide are growing rapidly, with sewage and fossil-fuel burning  for power, transport and industry leading the trend.
  • Inefficiencies along the food chain mean about 80% of nitrogen is wasted, contributing to air and water pollution plus greenhouse gas emissions, thereby causing threats for human health, ecosystems and livelihoods.
  • Factual data: Indian NOx emissions grew at 52% from 1991 to 2001 and 69% from 2001 to 2011. Annual NOx emissions from coal, diesel and other fuel combustion sources are growing at 6.5% a year currently.
  • India is globally the biggest source of ammonia emission, nearly double that of NOx emissions.
  • Measures: The authors suggest that nutrient recovery/recycling from waste water for agriculture could cut down N2O emissions from sewage and waste water by up to 40%.

India’s per capita plastic use

  • According to the Central Pollution Control Board, India generates about 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste every day, of which about 40% remains uncollected. About 70% of the plastic packaging products become “waste” in a short span of time. While plastics have a wide variety of applications, the global rally is against the so-called “single use” or disposable plastic  used in bottles, cups, wrapping paper and bags. Together, they account for over half the plastic produced.
  • The Environment Ministry, two years ago, notified plastic waste management rules that sought to control the manufacture of the particular kind of plastics.

PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES, 2016 – WHAT’S NEW?

  •  Increase minimum thickness of plastic carry bags from 40 to 50 microns and stipulate minimum thickness of 50 micron for  plastic sheets also to facilitate collection and recycle of plastic waste
  •  Rural areas have been brought in  ambit of these Rules since plastic has  reached to rural  areas  also.   Responsibility  for  implementation  of  the  rules  is  given  to  Gram Panchayat.
  •  First time, responsibility of waste generators is being introduced.  Individual and bulk generators  like  offices,  commercial  establishments,  industries  are  to  segregate  the plastic waste at source, handover segregated waste, pay user fee as per bye-laws of the local bodies.
  • Plastic products are left littered after the public events (marriage functions, religious gatherings, public meetings etc) held in open spaces.  First time, persons organising such  events  have  been  made  responsible  for  management  of  waste  generated  from these events.
  • Use  of  plastic  sheet  for  packaging,  wrapping  the  commodity  except  those  plastic sheet’s thickness, which will impair the functionality of the product are brought under the ambit of these rules. A large number of commodities are being packed/wrapped in to plastic sheets and thereafter such sheets are left for littered.
  • Provisions have been introduced  to  ensure  their  collection  and  channelization  to  authorised  recycling facilities.
  • Extended Producer Responsibility: Earlier, EPR was left to the discretion of the local bodies.  First  time,  the  producers  (i.e  persons  engaged  in  manufacture,  or  import  of carry bags, multi-layered packaging and sheets or like and the persons using these for packaging or wrapping their products) and brand owners have been made responsible for  collecting  waste  generated  from  their  products.    They  have  to  approach  local bodies  for  formulation  of  plan/system  for  the  plastic  waste  management  within  the prescribed timeframe.
  • SPCBs will not grant/renew registration of plastic bags, or multi-layered packaging unless  the  producer  proposes  the  action  plan  endorsed  by  the  concerned  State Development Department.
  • Producers to keep a record of their vendors to whom they have supplied raw materials for manufacturing carry bags, plastic sheets, and multi-layered packaging. This is to curb manufacturing of these products in unorganised sector.
  • The  entry  points  of  plastic  bags/plastic  sheets/multi-layered  packaging  in  to commodity  supply  chain  are  primarily  the  retailers  and  street  vendors.  They  havebeen  assigned  the  responsibility  of  not  to  provide  the  commodities  in  plastic bags/plastic  sheets/multi-layered  packaging  which  do  not  conform  to  these  rules. Otherwise, they will have to pay the fine.
  • Plastic carry bag will be available only with shopkeepers/street vendors pre-registered with  local  bodies  on  payment  of  certain  registration  fee. The  amount  collected  as registration fee by local bodies is to be used for waste management.
  • CPCB  has  been  mandated  to  formulate the  guidelines  for  thermoset  plastic  (plastic difficult to recycle). In the earlier Rules, there was no specific provision for such type
  • of plastic.
  • Manufacturing  and  use  of  non-recyclable  multi-layered  plastic  to  be phased  in  two years.

  Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2018.

  • The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2018.  The amended Rules lay down that the phasing out of Multilayered Plastic (MLP) is now applicable to MLP, which are “non-recyclable, or non-energy recoverable, or with no alternate use.”

 

Centre seeks update on SIMI activities

  • The Centre has written to the State governments seeking an update on the activities of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) ahead of deciding whether or not to extend the ban on the organisation beyond January 2019.
  • In a communication to all States, the Home Ministry said the ban imposed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) came to an end on January 31, 2019, but if the Union government found that the group continued to indulge in unlawful activities, then the prohibition might be imposed afresh.
  • Described as a terrorist organisation, the SIMI was first declared an outlawed outfit in 2001.Since then, it has been declared a banned group under the relevant law. The last time it was declared a banned outfit was under the UAPA on February 1, 2014, for a period of five years.
  • The SIMI was established on April 25, 1977, in U.P.’s Aligarh, and the organisation’s allegedly agenda is to liberate India by converting it into an Islamic country.

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.

539 species discovered in India in 2017

  • As many as 539 new species of plants and animals were discovered by scientists and taxonomists in the country in 2017, say publications from two major survey organisations: the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).
  • Released on World Environment Day, Animal Discoveries, 2017 from the ZSI lists 300 newly discovered species of fauna.
  • Plant Discoveries, 2017 lists as many as 239 newly found flora species .
  • Just facts: Besides these discoveries, the biodiversity in the country recorded another 263 species with 174 new records of animals and 89 of plants found.The number of discoveries of sub-species and varieties takes the number of floral discoveries to 352.Among the animal discoveries are 241 invertebrates. The number of vertebrates discovered includes 27 species of fish, 18 of amphibians and 12 of reptiles.
  • The highlight of the animal discoveries is a new fossil reptilian species Shringasaurus indicus.
  • With these discoveries, the number of animal species in India stands at 1,01,167, which is 6.45% of the faunal species found in the world.
  • The number of plant species has increased to 49,003, which is 11.4 % of the world flora.
  • The Western Ghats and the Himalayas are home to most of the plant and animal discoveries.
  • While the Western Ghats contributed 19% of the discoveries of species and sub-species of plants, the number was 37% in terms of animal discoveries.
  • The Himalayas contributed 35% of all plant discoveries (18% of the plant discoveries from the western Himalayas and 17% from the eastern Himalayas).
  • Among the States, Kerala recorded the highest number of discoveries — 66 species, sub-species and varieties of plants and 52 species of animals.

Science and Technology May 2018

Humans causing cancer in wild animals
  • Human activities are changing the environment in a way that causes cancer in wild animal populations, according to a study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
  • We are changing the environment to be more suitable for ourselves, while these changes are having a negative impact on many species on many different levels, including the probability of developing cancer.
  • Human activities include chemical and physical pollution in our oceans and waterways, release of radiation into the atmosphere from nuclear plants, and the accumulation of microplastics in both land- and water-based environments. In addition, exposure to pesticides and herbicides on farmlands, artificial light pollution, loss of genetic diversity and animals eating human food are known to cause health problems.
Moon’s far side
  • China launched a relay satellite as part of a  programme to be the first to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon later this year. The satellite, lofted into space aboard a Long March-4C rocket.
  • China hopes to become the first country to soft-land a probe on the moon’s far side, also known as the dark side because it faces away from the earth and is comparatively unknown
  • The satellite, named Queqiao, or “Magpie Bridge”, it was expected to arrive shortly at the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2, a gravitationally stable spot located 64,000 km beyond the far side of the moon. Without such a communications relay link, spacecraft on the far side would have to “send their signals through the moon’s rocky bulk.
memory transplant
  • Scientists have transferred a memory from one sea snail to another, the findings have been published in the journal, eNeuro.
  • Where memory resides in the brain is a key question in neuroscience research. Till now, scientists believed that the seat of memory was in the synapses, or connections, between neurons. But there was some evidence that it may lie within the Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) inside a neuron, a molecule that helps turn genes on and off.
Water fountains on Jupiter’s moon
  • scientists have detected a water fountain spraying out from Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, Europa, which is considered one of the prime candidates for life in our solar system.
  • Scientists already know that Europa has water; it’s covered in a 25km-thick crust of ice that protects the liquid ocean beneath from the radiation that bathes its atmosphere. This radiation prevents space probes from getting close enough to study Europa’s oceans.
  • But when scientists re-examined data that NASA’s Galileo spacecraft had collected back in 1997, they found that a certain bend that it had seen in Europa’s magnetic field was actually evidence of a leak in the ice crust, through which water was spewed forth into the atmosphere.
  • NASA will get a close-up look from a new spacecraft during its Europa Clipper mission that could launch as soon as June 2022, providing a possible opportunity to sample plumes for signs of life, perhaps microbial, from its ocean.
BrahMos
  • Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was successfully fired from a test range along the Odisha coast to validate some new features.
  • The missile, an Indo-Russian joint venture, was tested from a mobile launcher at Launch Pad 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.
  • The successful test will result in huge savings of replacement cost of missiles held in the inventory of the armed forces.
  • The two-stage missile — first being solid and the second one, a ramjet liquid propellant — has already been introduced in the Army and the Navy, while the Air Force version had witnessed a successful trial.
  • BrahMos variants can be launched from land, air, sea and under water.
  • India already successfully launched the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi-30 MKI combat jet , at least two Su-30 squadrons with 20 planes each are planned to be equipped with the missile, which will be 500 kg lighter than the land/naval variants. The range of the three-tonne missile has been extended to 400 km. Further increasing the missile’s range from 400 km to further 800 km is now possible after India’s induction into the Missile Technology Control Regime.
  • The missile currently travels at mach 2.8 or 2.8 times the speed of sound
Gene variations can influence risk of obesity
  • A team of researchers from New Delhi have found an explanation for why one sibling may develop obesity faster than the other though brought up under similar home environment with almost similar diet and habits.
  • The team analysed the genetic variations in genes of over 3,500 urban school going children (11-17 years) and found certain alterations in two genes ARID1A and KAT2B  that can delay or hasten the process of obesity development with respect to the daily habits.
Royal Bengal tiger genome sequenced
  • The genome of the Royal Bengal tiger, an endangered big cat, has been sequenced as part of plans to generate a high-quality draft genome sequence of the animal.
  • Although endangered and threatened by various extinction risks, this tiger subspecies is the most populous one with the highest genetic diversity and the strongest chance of survival in the wild.
  • The high coverage genome sequencing and identification of genome variants in Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) were carried out by scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB).
  • This genome was compared with the genome of Amur or Siberian tiger. These two subspecies occur in diverse environments and the new data also reveals major variations between the two. While Amur tiger occurs exclusively in sub-temperate and snow-covered habitats, the Bengal tiger occupies diverse tropical habitats ranging from Himalayan foothills to Central India plateau and the Western Ghats.
  • Study will reveal the changes triggered in the genes due to the adaptability to different environments in the evolutionary time scale.
ISRO making green propellant
  • Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have reported progress in the development of an environment-friendly propellant to power satellites and spacecraft
  • The effort is to replace the conventional hydrazine rocket fuel, a highly toxic and carcinogenic chemical.
  • Initial tests by a research team at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) here have shown promising results in the formulation and associated tests of a propellant blend based on hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN).
  • The LPSC team formulated the HAN-based monopropellant, A monopropellant is a chemical propulsion fuel which does not require a separate oxidizer. It is used extensively in satellite thrusters for orbital correction and orientation control.
Gene editing
  • Scientists are using a powerful gene-editing tool to grow cacao trees that are more resistant to diseases.
  • It is done by using CRISPR technology to improve Theobroma cacao. CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. It is a way to modify an organism’s genome by precisely delivering a DNA-cutting enzyme, Cas9, to a targeted region of DNA. The resulting change can delete or replace specific DNA pieces, thereby promoting or disabling certain traits.
  • Previous work in cacao identified a gene, known as TcNPR3, that suppresses the plant’s disease response. The researchers hypothesised that using CRISPR-Cas9 to knock out this gene would result in enhanced disease resistance.
Bouligand structure
  • Background: In the material sciences, the Bouligand structure is a way molecules arrange themselves in a twisted shape like in spiral staircases. This formation helps create strong flexible materials that are resistant to cracking. This is because the force of the impact is distributed over the many spiral staircases, thereby helping the material preserve its overall integrity.
  • In news: Recently, scientists have combined derivatives of two surplus materials (wood pulp and dried-up pieces of an invasive exotic pest called the tunicate or Styela clava) to form a new composite material that is flexible, sustainable, non-toxic and ultra-violet light-reflective. It does this by being able to exploit the strength of the Bouligand structure.
  • Application: The findings have been published in the journal, Advanced Functional Materials, could soon be used in food packaging, biomedical devices, building construction and the design of cars, trucks and boats.
peacock genome
  • Researchers from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, sequenced the whole genome of the bird. This the first time the complete genome of peacock has been sequenced.
  • Studying the complete set of genes gives crucial information regarding the development, physiology and evolution of the species.
  • After sequencing, the researchers compared peacock genes with those of five other related birds chicken, turkey, duck, flycatcher and zebra finch. Evolutionary analysis showed that peacock was a close relative of chicken.
  • It also revealed that the bird had suffered two bottlenecks (sudden decline in population) around 4,000 million and 450,000 years ago.
  • Recently, genome sequencing has been used for the possible revival of New Zealand’s indigenous Moa bird. Similarly, the genomic data of peacock generated in this study will also help save our species in case it declines.
Fungus that attacks frogs originated in East Asia
  • The chytrid fungus  which has caused amphibian declines worldwide and has been recorded in India too  possibly originated in east Asia, shows a study published in the international journal Science.
  • Scientists from 38 institutions across the world gathered samples of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd, also known as the chytrid fungus, which causes an infectious and fatal skin disease called chytridiomycosis) and compared the genomes of 234 of these pathogens to trace the origins of the fungus.
  • The scientists therefore recommend a ban on trade in amphibians from Asia, due to the high risk associated with exporting previously unknown strains of chytrid out of this region.
  • Though first reported in frogs in South America in 1997, the killer fungus has also been recorded from several frog species and populations in the Western Ghats. The first record was from the Ponmudi Hills of south Kerala in 2011.
Commission approves modern animal-free testing for drugs
  • In a step that would spare animals from suffering due to drug experiments, the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission has approved modern, animal-free tests for drug manufacturers.
  • In the 2018 edition of Indian Pharmacopoeia, that provides guidelines on tests for drugs manufactured and marketed in India, the IPC has replaced the pyrogen test carried out on rabbits and the abnormal toxicity test carried out on guinea pigs and mice with tests that can be done in test tubes.
  • Present system : The pyrogen test is carried out to check impurity or substance that can can cause adverse side-effects. For the test, the drug is injected into a rabbit and the animal is closely observed for feverish symptoms.
  • The abnormal toxicity test is carried out to check potential hazardous biological contamination in vaccine formulations.
  • This batch test is done before the product is approved for marketing. In this, mice or guinea pigs are injected with the vaccine. The scientists observe if there is death of any animal.
  • New mandate: the pyrogen test will be replaced by a bacterial endotoxin test or a monocyte activation test which can be carried out in test tubes.
New norms for labelling : 
  • All packaged food with at least 5% content from genetically engineered sources need to be labelled so.
  • Foods that exceed norms of sugar and fat should carry ‘red’ and ‘green’ labels specifying the extent to which they do so, according to draft regulations by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
  • This is the first time that the Central government has laid down guidelines for labelling genetically modified (GM) food.
  • Current laws prohibit any GM food unless cleared by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, a Environment Ministry body from being sold in the country.
What is Thalassemia?

May 8 is observed as World Thalassemia Day, Thalaseemia is a chronic blood disorder. It is a genetic disorder due to which a patient cannot make enough hemoglobin found in Red Blood Cells (RBC’s). This leads to anemia and patients also require blood transfusions every two to three weeks to survive.
Thalassemias are inherited disorders passed from parents to children through genes. Each red blood cell can contain between 240 and 300 million molecules of haemoglobin. The severity of the disease depends on the mutations involved in the genes, and their interplay.
Types of Thalassemia
  • Thalassemia minor: In Thalassemia minor, the hemoglobin genes are inherited during conception, one from the mother and one from the father. People with a Thalassemia trait in one gene are known as carriers or are said to have thalassemia minor. Thalassemia minor is not a disease and they have only mild anemia.
  • Thalassemia Intermedia: These are patients who have mild to severe symptoms.
  • Thalassemia Major: This is the most severe form of Thalassemia. This occurs when a child inherits two mutated genes, one from each parent. Patients Children with thalassemia major develop the symptoms of severe anemia within the first year of life. They require regular transfusions in order to survive or a bone marrow transplant and are at a grave risk of iron overload and other complications.
Thalassemia patients often suffer from:
  •  Anemia, Weak bones, Delayed or slow growth, Iron overload in the body,Poor appetite, Enlarged spleen or liver, Pale skin
Facts and figures
  •  India is the thalassaemia capital of the world with 40 million carriers and over 1,00,000 thalassaemia majors under blood transfusion every month.
  • Over 1,00,000 patients across the country die before they turn 20 due to lack of access to treatment.
  • The first case of thalassaemia in India was reported in 1938
  • Every year 10,000 children with thalassaemia major are born in India
NASA launches InSight spacecraft to Mars
  • NASA launched its latest Mars lander, InSight, designed to perch on the surface and listen for “Marsquakes” ahead of eventual human missions to explore the Red Planet.
  • The project aims to expand human knowledge of interior conditions on Mars, inform efforts to send human explorers there, and reveal how rocky planets like the Earth formed billions of years ago.
  • InSight, is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.
  • The key instrument on board is a seismometer, called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure, made by the French Space Agency.
  • The second main instrument is a self-hammering probe that will monitor the flow of heat in the planet’s subsurface.
  • InSight aims to be the first NASA spacecraft to land on Mars since the Curiosity rover in 2012.
 
organophosphorous pesticide
  • Using three bacterial species isolated from domestic sewage, researchers from India have successfully removed chloropyrifos pesticide from both water and soil.
  • Chloropyrifos is an organophosphorous pesticide and is moderately toxic to humans. Poisoning from chlorpyrifos may affect the central nervous system, the cardiovascular system and the respiratory system.
eliminate malaria by 2030: WHO
  • The World Health Organization (WHO) today called on member countries to expand the reach of their national malaria programmes among disadvantaged or neglected communities, including tribal, migrant or mobile populations, to achieve the disease elimination target by 2030.
Graphene based concrete : 
  • Scientists have developed a new greener, stronger and more durable concrete using graphene.
  • The new composite material, which is more than twice as strong and four times more water resistant than existing concretes, can be used directly by the construction industry on building sites.
  • The graphene reinforced concentre material also drastically reduced the carbon footprint of conventional concrete production methods, making it more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Even small amounts of antibiotics can cause resistance in bacteria
 
  • According to a study. In the study published in the journal Nature Communications even low concentrations of antibiotics can cause high antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
  • During a course of antibiotics, a high proportion of the antibiotic dose is excreted in the urine in unchanged, active form, and can then spread into watercourses, lakes and soil in the wastewater. Consequently, these environments may contain low levels of antibiotics.
  • In some parts of the world, large quantities of antibiotics are used in meat production and aquaculture, where small doses of antibiotics are added to the animal feed to make the animals grow faster.
  • It was also found that the mutations in the bacterial DNA that cause resistance are of a different type than if they have been exposed to high doses.

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Free Download Yojana Hindi and Regional Languages PDF which is very important source of information for all stages of the exam, you can surely find some prelims questions from it , also in mains it helps very much, and one of the best sources for essay not only for information but also how to write wonderful essays.

We are listing here all the Yojana articles month wise from 2010 onward.Languages available are Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi , Urdu , Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese, Punjabi . We will slowly upload  all regional languages magazines in one Google drive .

Download Yojana Magazines 2010

Hindi Google drive link 

  • January 60 years of Independence
  • February banking sector in India
  • March Budget
  • April Climate Change
  • May Destination India
  • June Human resource Development
  • July Water resource Management
  • August Managing Inflation
  • September Sports Development
  • October Food Security
  • November Networking India Telecom sector
  • December North east Meghalaya

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  • January Agriculture
  • February Gram sabha Democratizing democracy
  • March Budget
  • April Human rights and Social Justice
  • May Handlooms and Handicrafts
  • June Aadhar
  • July Census 2011
  • August Entertainment industry
  • September Service sector
  • October Land Reforms
  • November NGO
  • December North East Assam

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Hindi Google drive link .

  • January 12th Five year plan
  • February Foreign trade
  • March Disaster management
  • April Budget
  • May   Environment and development
  • June   Women Empowerment
  • July Monsoons
  • August 65 years of Independence
  • September Electronics and information technology
  • October iksa.in Health and nutrition
  • November Issues challenging Children
  • December North east Nagaland

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  • January Good Governance
  • February – Direct Benefit Transfer
  • March – Union Budget
  • April – Disability
  • May Social Media
  • June – Environment and sustainable energy
  • July – Public service Broadcasting
  • August – Inclusive democracy
  • September Education for all
  • October – Growth,Employment and poverty
  • November – Land and Natural resources
  • December Right to Food

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Hindi Google drive link .

  • January Tribal and Marginalized Communities
  • February – Public Health
  • March – Administrative Reforms
  • April Indian Economy Performance ,challenges and prospects
  • May – Energy security
  • June – Indian Agriculture
  • July – Democracy and electoral reforms
  • August Union budget
  • September – Urban Planning
  • October – Informal Sector
  • November – Technology,Innovation and Knowledge economy
  • December – FDI and International Trade

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Hindi Google drive link .

  • January – Sanitation, Development and social change
  • February Federalism and Indian Polity
  • March Union Budget 2015
  • April Manufacturing Sector
  • May – Tourism
  • June – Alternative Medicine
  • July – International relations a new Vistas.
  • August Inclusive Growth and social change
  • September – Smart cities Transforming urban landscape
  • October – skill development : scaling new heights
  • November Transport
  • December – Climate change and sustainability

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Hindi Google drive link .

  • January – Education
  • February – Health
  • March – Union Budget 2016-17
  • April – North East on the development horizon
  • May : Differently Abled
  • June : India Strides
  • July : Water : A Precious resource
  • August : Power for all
  • September : Women Empowerment
  • October : Textiles
  • November : Tax Reforms
  • December : Science for Development

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  • January : Disaster Management
  • February : Less cash Economy
  • March : Budget special issue
  • April : Labour Welfare
  • May : Transforming India
  • June : Indian Youth : emerging power
  • July : Social Security

Here is the link to all regional Languages till 2014, you can look for the specific topic in the list, go to Yojana website for regional languages and then download the specific topic in the language you prefer. Languages available are Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi , Urdu , Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese, Punjabi .

Highlights of the Economic Survey 2016-17 Volume-2

Economic Survey 2016-17 Volume-2 has been tabled in the parliament , you can download the PDF here. Here are the key Highlights of the Economic Survey 2016-17 Volume-2 .

Overview and Outlook for Policy

Economic Survey 2016-17 Volume 2 was laid in the Parliament today. The Survey notices a rekindled optimism on structural reforms in Indian economy.

  • Various factors such as launch of the GST;
  • Positive impacts of demonetization;
  • decision in principle to privatize Air India;
  • further rationalization of energy subsidies and
  • Actions to address the Twin Balance Sheet (TBS) challenge contribute to this optimism.

The document also adds that a growing confidence that macro-economic stability has become entrenched is evident because of a series of government and RBI actions and because of structural changes in the oil market have reduced the risk of sustained price increases.

However the Survey cautions that anxiety reigns because a series of deflationary impulses are weighing on an economy, yet to gather its full momentum and still away from its potential. These include: stressed farm revenues, as non-cereal food prices have declined; farm loan waivers and the fiscal tightening they will entail; and declining profitability in the power and telecommunication sectors, further exacerbating the TBS problem.

Examining if India is undergoing a structural shift in the inflationary process toward low inflation, the Survey notes that the oil market is very different today than a few years ago in a way that imparts a downward bias to oil prices, or at least has capped the upside risks to oil prices. Also Farm loan waivers could reduce aggregate demand by as much as 0.7 percent of GDP, imparting a significant deflationary shock to an economy. Spurt in New Tax Payers and Reported Income After Demonetization; 5.4 lakh New Tax Payers Post-Demonetization. Demonetization’s impact on the informal economy increased demand for social insurance, particularly in less developed states. MGNREGS and its implementation by the Government have met the programme’s stated role of being a social safety net during times of need. It also adds that sustaining current growth trajectory will require action on more normal drivers of growth such as investment and exports and cleaning up of balance sheets to facilitate credit growth.

The ratio of stressed companies in the power sector (defined as the share of debt owed by companies with an interest coverage (IC) ratio of less than 1) has been steadily rising this year, reaching 70 percent, with an associated vulnerable debt of over Rs. 3.6 lakh crore. The telecommunications sector has experienced its own version of the “renewables shock” in the form of a new entrant that has dramatically reduced prices for, and increased access to, data, thereby benefitting—at least in the short run— consumers; after launching of services by the new entrant in September 2016, the average revenue per user (ARPU) for the industry on aggregate has come down by 22 percent vis-à-vis the long term (December 2009-June 2016) ARPU, and by about 32 percent since September 2016.

As regards Outlook for Growth 2017-18, Survey (Volume I) had forecast a range for real GDP growth of 6.75 percent to 7.5 percent for FY 2018. For Outlook for Prices & Inflation 2017-18, the Survey notes the outlook for inflation in the near-term will be determined by a number of proximate factors, including

  • The outlook for capital flows and exchange rate which in turn will be influenced by the outlook and policy in advanced economies, especially the US;
  •  the monsoon;
  • the introduction of the GST;
  • the 7th Pay Commission awards;
  • likely farm loan waivers; and the output gap
  • the recent nominal exchange rate appreciation;

The document says that the fact that current inflation is running well below the 4 percent target, suggests that inflation by March 2018 is likely to be below the RBI’s medium term target of 4 percent.

Monetary Management and Financial Intermediation

· The fiscal outcome of the Central Government in 2016-17 was marked by strong growth in tax revenue, sustenance of the pace of capital spending and a consolidation of non-salary/pension revenue expenditure. This combination allowed the Government to contain the fiscal deficit to 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2016-17.

· The Union Budget for 2017-18 opted for a gradual fiscal consolidation path: the fiscal deficit is expected to decline to 3.2 percent of GDP in 2017-2018. The fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent of GDP under the FRBM framework is projected to be achieved in 2018-19.

· The Budget for 2017-18 introduced a number of procedural reforms, including: the integration of the Railway Budget with the Union Budget; advancing of the date of the Union Budget to February 1, almost by a month; elimination of the classification of expenditure into ‘plan’ and ‘non-plan’; and, restructuring of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework Statement with projected expenditures (revenue and capital) for each demand for the next two financial years.

· Overshadowing these otherwise significant fiscal policy initiatives is the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax with effect from the 1st day of July 2017, encompassing a plethora of the Central and State level indirect taxes, paving the way for a dramatic transformation of the Indian markets and the economy.

· The Reserve Bank of India cut the policy rate by 50 basis points during 2016-17. However, it shifted its monetary policy stance from accommodative to neutral in February 2017. As of August 2017 Repo rate stood at 6.00 per cent and reverse repo rate at 5.75 per cent.

· Monetary aggregates decelerated significantly following the withdrawal of legal tender status of specified bank notes on November 9, 2016. As of 31st March 2017, currency in circulation contracted by 19.7 per cent whereas reserve money contracted by 12.9 per cent.

· Credit off-take from banks continued to decelerate further. During 2016-17, gross bank credit outstanding grew at around 7 per cent on an average. The average gross bank credit to industry contracted by 0.2 per cent in the FY 2016-17.

· Sluggish growth and increasing indebtedness in some sectors of the economy have impacted the asset quality of banks and this is a cause for concern. The gross non-performing advances (GNPAs) ratio of SCBs rose from 9.2 per cent in September 2016 to 9.5 per cent in March 2017.

· Financial inclusion is proceeding apace under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. Zero balance accounts under PMJDY has declined consistently from nearly 58 per cent in March 2015 to around 24 per cent as of December 2016.

Prices and Inflation

· Significant moderation in CPI headline inflation during the last three years. CPI inflation fell to a series low of 1.5 percent in June 2017.

· Broad based decline in all commodity groups during 2016-17, the most significant being decline in food.

· Food inflation, which was the main driver of inflation in the past, declined significantly during the year because of improvements in supply of pulses and vegetables on the back of a normal monsoon. Core inflation-indicative of underlying trends — too declined in the last few months.

· Convergence between CPI and WPI inflation in the last few months.

· Most States/UTs witnessed sharp decline in CPI inflation in 2016-17 as compared to the previous year.

· Both rural and urban inflation have declined in 2016-17 and the gap between rural and urban inflation has narrowed down in recent months.

Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Energy

· India ratified the Paris Agreement on 2nd October, 2016. India’s actions for the post-2020 period are based on its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).·

India’s NDC targets to lower the emissions intensity of GDP by 33 – 35 per cent by 2030 from2005 levels, to increase the share of non-fossil based power generation capacity to 40 per cent of installed electric power capacity(cumulative) by 2030, and to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 Gt CO2e through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

· At the multilateral level, the international community is engaged in writing the “Paris rule book” which includes guidelines and modalities for the implementation of the Paris Agreement for the transparency framework for action and support, features and accounting of NDCs etc. At the national level, the roadmap for implementation of India’s NDC is being prepared, by constituting an Implementation Committee and six Sub-Committees. The Committees are working to elaborate their respective NDC goals and identify specific policies and actions aimed at achieving them.

· India has set itself ambitious targets in the area of renewable energy. Moving ahead in this direction, India is implementing the largest renewable energy expansion programme in the world. It envisages a 5-fold increase in the overall renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by 2022. This includes 100 GW of solar, 60 GW of wind, 10 GW of biomass, and 5 GW of small hydro power capacity.

· There is an urgent need to further increase the access of the poor to more efficient energy resources. Many schemes have been implemented by the government to tackle this like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, PAHAL scheme, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana. A large number of focused initiatives have been taken in various sectors of the economy to ensure a pathway of lower emission and climate resilient development.

· India is at a stage of development that requires it to grow at a fast rate and lift the large number of their citizens from below the poverty line. Energy deprivation levels for a sizeable portion of population remain at high levels. The SDG 7 is to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

· Social cost analysis of coal and renewables based power done in the chapter indicate higher social costs for renewables. Storage costs and stranding of assets based on coal based power are major costs associated with the renewables based power. Given that the first goal for India is to provide 100 per cent energy access to its population and bridge the development deficit gap, all energy sources need to be tapped.

· A number of initiatives have been taken in the Indian financial sector also. In the renewable energy segment, as per the notification of the RBI in May 2016, bank loans of up to Rs.15 crore for solar-based power generators, biomass-based power generators, wind mills, micro-hydel plants, etc. will be considered part of Priority Sector Lending. The External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) norms have been further liberalized so that green projects can tap this window for raising finance across the borders. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has, in May 2017, put in place the framework for issuance of green bonds.

External Sector

· India’s balance of payments situation which was benign and comfortable during 2013-14 to 2015-16, further improved in 2016-17, as a result of low and falling trade and current account deficits and moderate and rising capital inflows, resulting in further accretion of foreign exchange reserves.

· Reflecting the slowly improving world economic situation, India’s exports turned positive at 12.3 per cent in 2016-17 after an interregnum of two years. This along with a marginal decline in imports by 1.0 per cent resulted in narrowing down of trade deficit to US$ 112.4 billion (5 per cent of GDP) in 2016-17 as compared to US$ 130.1 billion (6.2 per cent of GDP) in 2015-16.

· The current account deficit (CAD) narrowed down progressively to 0.7 per cent of GDP in 2016-17 from 1.1 per cent of GDP in 2015-16 led by sharp contraction in trade deficit which more than outweighed a decline in net invisibles earnings.

· Net capital inflows were slightly lower at US$ 36.8 billion (1.6 per cent of GDP) in 2016-17 as compared to US$ 40.1 billion (1.9 per cent of GDP) in the previous year, mainly due to fall in NRI deposits.

· Gross FDI inflows to India increased significantly to US$ 60.2 billion in 2016-17 from US$ 55.6 billion in 2015-16. Net FDI inflows (i.e. net of outward FDI) at US$ 35.6 billion, however, moderated marginally by 1.1 per cent from US$ 36.0 billion in 2015-16.

· In 2017-18 (April-June) there was double digit export growth at 10.6 per cent with export growth continuing to be in positive territory continuously for the last eleven months.

· Among the major economies running current account deficit, India is the second largest foreign exchange reserve holder after Brazil with reserves at US$ 386.4 billion as on 7th July, 2017.

· The average monthly exchange rate of the rupee against the US dollar after depreciating continuously from November 2016 to January 2017, has appreciated continuously from February to June 2017, while in the case of the Pound sterling, Euro and Japanese yen there have been monthly variations. The rupee performed better than many other EME-currencies in 2016-17.

· During 2016-17, while on an average (on a y-o-y basis), the Indian rupee depreciated by 2.4 per cent against the US dollar, in terms of the nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) against a basket of 6 and 36 currencies, the rupee depreciated by 0.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively. However, in terms of the real effective exchange rate (REER) against a basket of 6 and 36 currencies, it appreciated by 2.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively in 2016-17.

· Most of the external debt indicators of India improved at end-March 2017 compared end-March, 2016. India’s aggregate external debt stock at end-March 2017 stood at US$ 471.9 billion registering a decline of US$ 13.1 billion (2.7 per cent) over end-March 2016. The ratio of external debt to GDP fell to 20.2 per cent from 23.5 per cent, while foreign exchange reserves provided a cover of 78.4 per cent to external debt compared to 74.3 per cent in the previous year. Debt service ratio fell to 8.3 per cent from 8.8 per cent and ratio of concessional debt to total external debt increased to 9.3 per cent from 9.0 per cent. Short term debt (residual maturity) to total external debt fell to 41.5 per cent from 42.7 per cent. Short term debt (residual maturity) to forex reserves also fell to 52.9 per cent from 57.4 per cent. Cross country comparison of external debt indicates that India continues to be among the less vulnerable countries.

· Some green shoots have started to appear in the trade horizon as well with world trade growth projected at 3.8 per cent and 3.9 per cent in 2017 and 2018 and India’s trade growth also picking up.

Agriculture and Food Management

· The average farm size in India is small, and declining since 1970-71. The predominance of small operational holdings is a major limitation to reap the benefits of economies of scale in agriculture operations.

· The progress in agriculture needs to be evaluated in terms of outcomes such as catching up with global yields of various crops as a means to increase incomes of farmers.

· Credit is an important mediating input for agriculture to improve productivity. The predominance of informal sources of credit for farmers is a concern. There is regional disparity in the distribution of agricultural credit which also needs to be addressed.

· The key challenge that the horticulture sector faces in India are post-harvest losses, availability of quality planting material and lack of market access for horticultural produce of small farmers.

Industry and Infrastructure

· Industrial performance has shown a moderation from 8.8 percent during 2015-16 to 5.6 percent in 2016-17.
· Industrial growth as per Index of Industrial Production (IIP) new series of 2011-12 shows overall IIP growth at 5 percent in 2016-17 as compared to 3.4 percent last year.

· The Index of Eight Core Industries growth during 2016-17 was 4.8 percent as compared to 3.0 percent in 2015-16.
· The Government in 2016 introduced imposition of Minimum Import Price (MIP) to counter dumping of Steel into Indian markets. Steps taken by the government have borne fruit since imports of Steel by India have declined by 36.2 percent while exports have risen by 102 percent in 2016-17.

· The apparel sector is a highly employment intensive industry especially for women. The Government on 22nd June 2016 approved Rs.6,000 crore special package for textile & apparel sector. Post the release of funds in November 2016, there has been a marked rise in clothing exports.

· The measures taken by the Government has resulted in FDI equiy inflow of 43.4 Billion USD in Financial Year 2016-17, which is the highest ever FDI Equity inflows.

· India is far ahead than many emerging economies in terms of providing qualitative transportation related infrastructure.

· During 2016-17, Indian Railways registered freight earnings at Rs.104339 crore (P), registered a negative growth of 4.5 per cent over 2015-16 due to carrying larger volume of low fare freight in the year. Passenger earnings at Rs.46280 crore (P) registered an increase of 4.5 per cent during 2016-17.

· Indian domestic airlines have a very lower share in international traffic to and from India. Factors like foreign airlines utilising the 6th freedom of the air, expansion of capacity entitlements under bilateral air service agreements with foreign countries, lower utilisation of India’s own capacity entitlements, the 0/20 rule and fleet constraints are responsible for the same.

• The Government formulated and launched the UDAY scheme for financial turnaround of power distribution companies on November 20, 2015. The 26 states and 1 UT which have joined the UDAY scheme account for total outstanding debt of Rs. 3.82 lakh Cr. So far, fifteen states have issued UDAY bonds totaling Rs.2.09 lakh Cr. and DISCOMs have issued Bonds worth Rs. 0.23 lakh Cr.

• After the introduction of UDAY, National average (all UDAY states) of AT&C loss has come down to 20.2 per cent in FY 2017 from 21.1 per cent in FY 2016; billing efficiency has been increased by 2 per cent from 81 per cent in 2015-16 to 83 per cent in 2016-17 at all India level and 15 states have issued tariff-revisions for FY 2017-18.

• Under Smart Cities Mission, 57 projects worth Rs.941 crore have already been completed as of April 2017. An estimated additional 462 projects worth Rs.15307 crore are likely to be completed through 2018 provided all the projects that have commenced implementation and those that have been tendered stick to their timelines.

Services Sector

· The services sector remains the key driver of India’s economic growth, contributing almost 62 per cent of its gross value added growth in 2016-17. However, the growth of this sector has moderated to 7.7 per cent in 2016-17 compared to 9.7 per cent achieved in the previous year, though it continues to be higher than the other two sectors and nearly at the top among the 15 major economies.

· The services growth moderation is mainly due to deceleration in growth in two services categories- trade, hotels, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting (7.8 per cent), and financial, real estate & professional services (5.7 per cent). The share of services sector in total gross capital formation (GCF), at current prices has increased consistently over the last four years from 53.3 per cent in 2011-12 to 60.3 per cent in 2015-16.

· There has been a significant growth in FDI equity inflows in 2014-15 and 2015-16 in general (27.3 per cent and 29.3 per cent) and to the services sector in particular (67.3 per cent and 64.3 per cent for top 15 services). However, in 2016-17, the growth rate of total FDI equity inflows moderated and FDI equity inflows to the services sector (top 15 services) declined.

· India’s and world’s services export trend growth were almost flat in the pre-crisis period, while in the post-crisis period, the deceleration in trend growth of India’s services was sharper than world services export growth. In 2016-17, services exports recorded a positive growth of 5.7 per cent with pick up in some major sectors like transportation, business services and financial services; and good growth in travel. However, Software services exports, accounting for around 45.2 per cent of total services, declined though marginally by 0.7 per cent.

· The performance of India’s Services Sector has been subdued in 2016-17 in line with the global trend. However, some services continue to be key drivers of India’s economic growth. There was reasonably good performance in telecom with increase in telecom connections reflecting the Jio effect, aviation particularly domestic travel, tourism related services particularly in terms of foreign exchange earnings, and even information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) despite fall in growth in computer software.

· As per the Ministry of Tourism data, Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during 2016 grew by 9.7 per cent and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) through Tourism, in US$ terms, grew by 8.8 per cent. Various initiatives have been taken by the Government to promote tourism sector of the country that include e-Visa for the citizens of 161 countries, promotion of India as a 365 days destination, launching of Multilingual Tourist Infoline, and Swachh Paryatan Mobile App.

· As per NASSCOM, in 2016-17 India’s total revenue (exports plus domestic) of the IT-BPM sector including and excluding hardware is expected to touch US$154 billion and US $140 billion, with growths of 7.8 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively. IT-BPM exports are expected to reach USD 117 billion, with a growth of 7.6 per cent. Meanwhile, the Government of India’s rapid adoption of technologies as a platform to delivery of government-to-government and government-to-citizen services is a tremendous push factor for the domestic IT-BPM market.

· Real estate sector including ownership and dwellings accounted for 7.6 per cent share in India’s overall GVA in 2015-16. The growth of this sector decelerated in the last three years from 7.5 per cent in 2013-14 to 6.7 per cent in 2014-15 and further to 4.5 per cent in 2015-16. Despite the subdued demand, residential prices did not fall with the NHB RESIDEX, showing increase in prices in 33 cities out of 50 cities in 2016-17 Q4 over 2015-16 Q4.

· Satellite mapping and launching services are two areas in which India is making a mark and has huge potential for the future. The foreign exchange earned by India from satellite mapping in the last five years was more than Rs 100 crores. Foreign exchange earnings of India from export of satellite launch services has increased noticeably in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and consequently India’s share in global satellite launch services revenue has also increased.

· India’s services sector growth, which was highly resilient even during the global financial crisis, has been showing moderation in recent times. However, pick up is seen in recent months with some segments of the sector showing better performance.

Social Infrastructure, Employment and Human Development

· The deterioration in quality learning in primary education sector and achievement of targeted enrolment level in the middle education is a challenge

· Employment in India poses a great challenge in terms of its structure which is dominated by informal, unorganized and seasonal workers, and is characterized by high levels of under employment, skill shortages, with the labour markets impacted by rigid labour laws, and the emergence of contract labour.

· The health sector in India faces many challenges in the form of declining role of public delivery of health services, high Out of Pocket (OoP) expenses on health and issues of accessibility and affordability of health services for many.

· The Government’s Swachh Bharat Mission has had remarkable progress since its inception. With its focus on cleanliness and Open Defecation Free (ODF) India, there has been a significant decline in the number of people who defecate in the open, which is estimated at less than 35 crores.

Highlights of Reforms Measures in the Economic Survey 2016-17 Volume-2

Agriculture and Food Management

Reforms: Managing and reducing the various risks in agriculture activities can make the sector resilient, increase profitability and can ensure stable income flows to the farmers. The following reforms are suggested for increasing productivity in agriculture and allied sector:

· To address the price risks in agriculture and allied sectors, marketing infrastructure along the entire value chain needs to be built and strengthened.

· To address production risks, the share of irrigated area should be expanded by increasing the coverage of water saving irrigation systems like micro irrigation systems.

· To increase productivity of crops, standards should be set and enforced for better quality, pest and disease resistant seeds.

· Trade and domestic policy changes should be announced well before sowing and should stay till arrivals and procurement is over.

· To enhance women’s involvement in the dairy projects, funds should be earmarked through appropriate mechanisms.

· Providing timely and affordable formal and institutional credit to the small and marginal farmers is the key to inclusive growth.

· Regime based on timely interventions needs to be adopted.

Industry and Infrastructure

· Railways should go for more non-fare sources along with station redevelopment and commercially exploiting vacant buildings at the station, monetizing land along tracks by leasing out to promote horticulture and tree plantation, and through advertisement and parcel earnings.

· During the last few years the non-major ports are gaining more share of cargo handling compared to major ports. It is required to develop non-major port and also enhance their efficiency and operational capacity.

· Reforms such as privatization/ disinvestment of Air India, creation of aviation hubs and reconsidering the 0/20 rule are some suggestions to improve Indian airlines’ share in the international market.

Social Infrastructure, Employment and Human Development

· India, is emerging as a knowledge based economy, poised for double digit growth, and needs to strengthen social infrastructure by investing in health and education.

· The education policies need to be designed with focus on learning outcomes and remedial education with interventions which work and maximize the efficiency of expenditure. There is need for bio-metric attendance of school staff, independent setting of examination papers, neutral examination and for DBT for schools. There is need to adopt outcome measures for the education and skilling activities to ensure improvement in delivery of schemes/ programmes.

· In order to make the labour market system dynamic and efficient, the government has taken several reforms/initiatives, both legislative as well as technological such as notification of ‘Ease of Compliance to maintain Registers under various Laws Rules, 2017’ and introduction of e-Biz Portal. These registers/forms can also be maintained in a digitized form.

· Government has been imparting short term skill training through Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and long term training through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Model Skill Centers are being set up in every district of the country under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra Scheme. The emphasis is on enhancing the quality of skill training programmes and making a competency-based framework with giving individuals an option to progress through education, training, prior learning and experiences.

· There has to be concerted efforts by the Central and State governments to reform the health sector, by addressing quality issues, standardising rates for diagnostic tests, generating awareness about alternative health systems and introduction of punitive measures like fines on hospitals and private health providers for false claims through surgery, medicines etc. For more equitable access to health services, government should provide health benefits and risk cover to poorer sections of the society.

· Towards addressing the challenges in health sector, the Government has formulated the National Health Policy, 2017, which aims at attaining the highest level of good health and well-being, through a preventive and promotive health care orientation in all developmental policies, and universal access to good quality health care services, without anyone having to face financial hardship as a consequence.

· Addressing the social security of large number of vulnerable workers in the informal economy should be prioritized by the Government along with ensuring the safety and security of women to raise their participation in economic activities.

excerpts from lecture by Nirupama Rao on Women’s day

On the occasion of International Women’s Day I thought I would share the following excerpts from my Benjamin Bailey Lecture delivered in Kottayam, Kerala in early 2014:

“And here in India’s most female state, Kerala, let us turn to the daughters of Eve, that half of the world that is womankind. How have they fared in democracy? And, are they the beneficiaries of globalization? Does multiculturalism promote gender welfare and equality? The Women in Politics Map 2014 launched by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women has ranked India 73rd in participation of women in politics with just 9.9% of parliamentary or ministerial posts being occupied by women. Do our women enjoy full and equal citizenship? The hurdle of complete literacy is yet to be crossed. At 65% female literacy is 16% lower than the male literacy rate. Violence is a constant companion in most women’s lives with at least 34% of Indian women having experienced violence at least once in their lives. There is the haunting and shameful statistic of how nearly 600,000 girls are missing in India each year because of sex-selective abortions. Rape, molestation and sexual harassment are other manifestations of violence against women – literally examples of war against women in peacetime. Patriarchal structures perpetuate female inequality.

More active participation of women in governance can help bring the issues that affect their wellbeing onto the highest political agenda of government. The growing presence of women in the Panchayati Raj and local government after the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution has been a positive development. More women in India are also voluntarily exercising their constitutional right of adult suffrage which is a positive and encouraging trend in Indian politics. Scholars term this phenomenon as self-empowerment.

Despite all this, our women need more visibility. Aruna Roy says, “The other side of India is still invisible”. A few swallows do not make a summer. A small minority of us women who have succeeded in what they do, do not represent the vast majority of our sisters who live anonymous lives submerged by patriarchy, surfacing only as examples of victimhood as a Nirbhaya or an acid burn victim, or the object of vengeance unleashed by antediluvian custom and usage. Not one of our women, regardless of economic or social status, can walk our streets safely after sundown. They retreat silently into the shadows, the white flags of surrender over their heads, giving themselves up to the helplessness of not being able to win protection from a male-dominated environment, and the hands that grope and violate and destroy their physical and mental sanctity. This is not the democracy our founding fathers and mothers envisioned. Sexual violence against women is not of a genre different from a war crime. Is gender equality recognized in the lives of our women who turn out to vote in such large numbers in each general election?
In the wake of the gang rape of Nirbhaya in Delhi in December 2013, the Justice Verma Commission’s epic work generated a veritable Magna Carta for women, a Bill of Rights many of whose provisions have now become law with the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code passed by Parliament. Society is beginning to recognize that women are not victims, they want agency, they have chosen survival, that gender justice , realized justice or nyaya as Amartya Sen defines it, is what the women of India want. The tide is slowly turning against the “cultures of silence and impunity” (Meenakshi Gopinath) surrounding women that has pervaded our patriarchal society for centuries at the family, community and national levels.

As Madeleine Albright once said, “For democracy to thrive without women is impossible. If women are undervalued or underdeveloped then that democracy is imperfect and incomplete.” The question we must ask ourselves is whether we can be founding fathers and mothers of a new tradition. Decision-making and the prioritization of issues that affect human security have to involve women and men, not just men alone. Key questions of human rights involving half of humanity are involved – whether it is a gang rape in Delhi, or the shooting of a young Malala, wherever there is a struggle by women to seek their human rights, to seek freedom from fear, and their security, physical and psychological. Women need access to information (after the passage of the Right to Information Act in India, Aruna Roy notes that the “new currency was information and it had even replaced the bribe), they need education and vocational skill development, reductions in maternal and child mortality, and access to health care – all of which are core issues for gender rights.

I have especially referred to access to information. What is called the “chaotic pluralism” of the Internet can be mined to generate some very interesting data that can help policy makers to take policy decisions that are more inclusive and a better reflection of the state of the country. How many women have smart phones in India, how many have access to the Internet? Technology is a platform that women can scale, that enables them to transcend the limitations that surround them in their daily lives and provides them with the opportunity for economic and political advancement.

Globally, men have a much easier time accessing the Internet than women, according to a new report issued by the United Nations’ Broadband Commission Working Group. The report estimates that more than 200 million more men have access to the Internet than women, particularly in countries where Internet access is relatively new and still difficult to come by. Citing statistics from the ITU World Telecommunications/ICT Indicators database, the report says 41% of men worldwide are connected to the Internet, compared to 37% of women. In the developing world, the report claims that 16% fewer women use the Internet than men, whereas just 2% fewer women are online in the developed world. Several factors contribute to the online gender gap. Specifically, the report mentions the online harassment and threats frequently aimed towards women.

In July, Caroline Criado-Perez, the journalist heading up the campaign to make British author Jane Austen the face of England’s £10 note, was bombarded with abusive comments and rape threats via Twitter. On Facebook, sexism had become such a pervasive issue that earlier this year the company announced new efforts to crack down specifically on content that “targets women with images and content that threatens or incites gender-based violence or hate.” By working through these issues and facilitating Internet access, the UN predicts that a larger presence of women online could have a drastic global economic impact. “The World Bank (2009) estimates that every 10% increase in access to broadband results in 1.38% growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for developing countries,” the report says. “Bringing women online can boost GDP – Intel (2013) estimates that bringing 600 million additional women and girls online could boost global GDP by up to US$13-18 billion.” Bringing women online also enhances their scope of political participation.

For all women, influencing the political agenda at higher levels is key. According to the World Economic Forum, countries where men and women are closer to enjoying equal rights are far more economically competitive than those where the gender gap has left women and girls with limited or no access to medical care, education, elected office and the marketplace. Similarly the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that if women farmers had the same access to seeds, fertilizer and technology as men do, they could reduce the number of undernourished people in the world by 100 million to 150 million. And here, I recall Norman Borlaug, whose pioneering work in the sixties was responsible for the Green Revolution in India, and who said: there is no more essential commodity than food. In his words, “without food, people perish, social and political organizations disintegrate, and civilizations collapse”. Women understand this because they spend their daily lives ensuring that their children and families are fed and nourished so that their future is secure and stable.

The mechanisms of decision making in the world, and democracies are no exception are essentially male dominated. Decision making is a preserve of men the world over. Democracy, human rights, development and good governance are of concern to women as much as men. Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression”. Simone de Beauvoir added, “Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their point of view, which they confuse with absolute truth”. This is especially so when questions of human security are involved. Security has to be considered multi-dimensional, it is not military security alone that defines it. Military security does not take cognizance of the ambit of female experience, it has no gendered perspective. It does not address issues of subordination and domination, of gender and sexual violence, issues of access to food, water, sustainability and health. International politics has often valorized masculine values like toughness and physical strength, violence and the use of force in the defence of one’s country and has paid scant attention to issues concerning women in wartime or the peacetime violence against women that is an everyday occurrence in our lives.

Transparency and accountability in governance are critical requirements for a well-functioning democracy. It has been rightly observed that the arbitrary use of power by public officials not only gives public service a bad name, but it should be subsumed within the definition of corruption – remember the dictum that absolute power corrupts absolutely. A feudal social structure cannot exist within a political democracy as it does in some parts of India today. It is absolutely legitimate for people to question such arbitrary uses of power and also to seek accountability from public servants. We hear the people say: hamara paisa, hamara hisab. The government must answer them in this era of unique identity for every Indian living in this land. …

(And some words on the need for more women in the Foreign Service):

…As a woman who is also a foreign policy practitioner, I would urge more and more young women of our country to consider careers in the foreign service. We are underrepresented in the foreign service, as in the rest of the bureaucracy. Women need to be more involved in determining the future trajectory of many issues of foreign policy concern for India, whether they are border and territorial questions, neighbourhood policy, trade and inter-connectivity, regional economic cooperation and security, energy security, politico-military issues, and public diplomacy, to name a few. This will help better mainstreaming of gender-related issues also into the working of our foreign policy and bring new perspectives to bear on policy concerning our neighbours, in particular. Women can bring courage and resilience of the feminine sort into the public sphere, a concept of sisterhood that is focused on long-term solutions to problems, the building of common ground, and the creation of cross-border synergies for peace and reconciliation. Preparing our women and skilling them in the art of negotiation and empowering them to build peace is key. I believe, like many of my sisters, that history can and must be pushed in a positive direction. ”

by Nirupama Rao . * data may be little outdated, but context is very useful.

Explained gravitational waves

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the detection of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a pair of ground-based observatories. But…what are gravitational waves?

Imagine dropping a pebble in a pond. This creates ripples, which emerge from the point of impact and travel across the surface of the pond. Now replace the pebble with a slightly bigger object — a black hole or a massive star. Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which posits that gravity warps the fabric of cosmos, also tells us that violent events such as the collision of massive objects such as black holes and neutron stars create ripples in the curvature of space-time.

Suggested : Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity Simplified

“They’re waves, like light or any other kind of electromagnetic radiation, except here what’s ‘waving’ is space and time itself,” NASA astrophysicist Ira Thorpe explained. “You get radiation, basically light, when you move some sort of charged particle. When you’re moving masses, you get gravitational waves.”

But how can space ripple? According to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, spacetime isn’t a void, but rather a four-dimensional “fabric,” which can be pushed or pulled as objects move through it. These distortions are the real cause of gravitational attraction. One famous way of visualizing this is to take a taut rubber sheet and place a heavy object on it. That object will cause the sheet to sag around it. If you place a smaller object near the first one, it will fall toward the larger object. A star exerts a pull on planets and other celestial bodies in the same manner.

Watch just the starting, 

Did you know Earth also gives off gravitational waves? Earth orbits the sun, which means its direction is always changing, so it does generate gravitational waves, although extremely weak and faint.

What do we learn from these waves?

Observing gravitational waves would be a huge step forward in our understanding of the evolution of the universe, and how large-scale structures, like galaxies and galaxy clusters, are formed.

Gravitational waves can travel across the universe without being impeded by intervening dust and gas. These waves could also provide information about massive objects, such as black holes, that do not themselves emit light and would be undetectable with traditional telescopes.

Just as we need both ground-based and space-based optical telescopes, we need both kinds of gravitational wave observatories to study different wavelengths. Each type compliments the other.

Ground-based: For optical telescopes, Earth’s atmosphere prevents some wavelengths from reaching the ground and distorts the light that does.

Space-based: Telescopes in space have a clear, steady view. That said, telescopes on the ground can be much larger than anything ever launched into space, so they can capture more light from faint objects.

How does this relate to Einstein’s theory of relativity?

The direct detection of gravitational waves is the last major prediction of Einstein’s theory to be proven. Direct detection of these waves will allow scientists to test specific predictions of the theory under conditions that have not been observed to date, such as in very strong gravitational fields.

In everyday language, “theory” means something different than it does to scientists. For scientists, the word refers to a system of ideas that explains observations and experimental results through independent general principles. Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity has limitations we can measure by, say, long-term observations of the motion of the planet Mercury. Einstein’s relativity theory explains these and other measurements. We recognize that Newton’s theory is incomplete when we make sufficiently sensitive measurements. This is likely also true for relativity, and gravitational waves may help us understand where it becomes incomplete.

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Source : PHD Comics

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Suggested Articles for December 22nd 2015

These are Suggested Articles for December 22nd, 2015 from The Hindu and Indian Express also included in the post are articles from various news papers.

Opinions and Editorials

National, International and Business

Climate Change Mitigation-Background

Climate change mitigation consists of actions to limit the magnitude or rate of long-term climate change. Climate change mitigation generally involves reductions in human (anthropogenic) emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Mitigation may also be achieved by increasing the capacity of carbon sinks, e.g., through reforestation. Mitigation policies can substantially reduce the risks associated with human-induced global warming.

  •  United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro. 1992(Rio Earth Summit) —172 countries participated, 108 at level of heads of State or Government – Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. the Statement of Forest Principles, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity
  •  1997 Kyoto Protocol- Annex I Parties commit to take binding reduction targets
  •  2007 Bali COP: Introduction of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA), to engage developing countries in voluntary mitigation effort
  •  2009- 2010 (Copenhagen & Cancun COP): comprehensive intemational system for collective action and major developing countries (including India) announced voluntary mitigation pledges
  •  2011 Durban COP: ADP launched for evolving a new agreement for post-2020 period
  •  Warsaw & Lima COP INDC concept for all countries
  •  19th COP in Warsaw (2013): All countries required to prepare INDCs and present them before COP 21 in Paris
  •  20th COP in Lima (2014) : Further clarity on form of INDC: not mitigation centric and can include other components as per country priorities
  • 21st COP Paris.

Road to paris