[Mission 2023] INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY 9 August 2022

GS Paper 1

Syllabus: The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.

Source: The Indian Express

Context:

On August 9, 1942, the biggest mass movement of the Indian freedom struggle i.e Quit India Movement was launched. This year marks 80 years of the Quit India Movement or Bharat Chhodo Aandolan.

Direction: Quit India Movement forms one of the most important parts of both the Preliminary and the Mains, specifically the Indian National Struggle for Freedom. Try to remember a few reasons which led to this, its success and failures.

The causes:

• Involvement of India in World War II without prior consultation with the leaders
• Failure of Cripps Mission
  • The British sent Sir Stafford Cripps to India to gain the cooperation of India, which failed because the Cripps Mission offered India not complete freedom but the Dominion Status to India, along with the partition.
• Shortage of essential commodities
  • There was widespread discontent due to the shortage of essential commodities and rising prices of salt, rice, etc., and commandeering of boats in Bengal and Orissa.
• Prevalence of anti-British sentiment
  • The sentiments were widely anti-British, and the masses were demanding complete independence from the British Government.
• Centralisation of many small movements

Phases of Quit India Movement

• First phase:The first phase of the movement had no violence. It began with civil disobedience, boycotts, and strikes that the British Government quickly suppressed. Almost all members of the Congress Committee, including Gandhiji, were arrested and kept in Jail till 1945 without any trial.
• Second phase:In its second phase, the movement shifted to the countryside. The second phase of the movement took a violent and aggressive turn. Any building or offices which were the symbol of the colonial authority was attacked and distracted. Communication systems, railway stations & tracks, telegraph poles and wires were also targeted.
• Third and last phase: In the last phase of the movement, there was the formation of many independent national or parallel governments in the isolated pockets of the country, such as Ballia, Satara, Tamluk, etc.

Successes of the Quit India Movement

• Women empowerment
  • This movement had the active participation of women of the country.
  • Aruna Asif Ali hoisted the national flag on the Gowalia tank maidan; Usha Mehta, on the other hand, helped set up the underground radio station to spread awareness about the movement.
• Rise of future leaders
  • This movement also gave some future prominent leaders such as Biju Patnaik, Aruna Asif Ali, Ram Manohar Lohia, Sucheta Kriplani, J.P. Narayan, etc. These leaders were helping the movement through underground activities.
• Rise of nationalism
  • A greater sense of unity and brotherhood emerged due to the Quit India Movement.

Failure of the Quit India Movement

• Britishers were supported by the Princely States, British Indian Army, Indian Civil Services, Viceroy’s Council (which had Indians in the majority), All India Muslim League, Indian Imperial Police
• The Hindu Mahasabha, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) & Muslim League also opposed the Quit India Movement.

Insta Link

Quit India Movement

Mains Link

Q. Quit India movement was a revolution in itself in the long process of India’s national movement. Comment on the nature of the Quit India movement. (10M)

Prelims Link

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors

Source: The Hindu

Context: India will soon celebrate its 75^th anniversary. The article evaluates how successful Indian democracy has been till now.

Direction: Just go through the article. No need to make notes.

How India should be judged on its 75th anniversary?

• On basis of Human Development: India must be judged by the extent to which it has advanced human development and not just on its economic development.
  • Currently, India is in the 131^st position (out of 189 countries) in Human Development Report 2020, even though the Indian Economy is slated to become the 5^th largest in the world.
• Jawaharlal Nehru in his message to the nation on August 15, 1947, mentions the aim of India:
  • To bring freedom and opportunity;
  • To fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease;
  • To build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and
  • To create social, economic and political institutions that will ensure justice and fullness of life for every man and woman

What is the status of women on the 75^th anniversary?

• High Gender-based inequality: It is rampant in India; within every social group, women are worse off than their men. Women are less nourished, less educated and have a representation in the institutions of governance far lower than their share of the population.
  • Women have very low female labour force participation in India compared to the rest of the world.
  • It reinforces their secondary position in society by adding economic deprivation to the social restriction that discourages them from working outside the home

However, there has been some progress– female literacy has jumped, more women participated in the parliamentary election than men, their representation in local governance has increased tremendously, and MMR and instances of female infanticide have decreased.

What is the status of regional differentiation on the 75th anniversary?

• Comparison with China: China does far better than India on development indicators pertaining to health and education, not to mention poverty. However, some of the Indian states have done relatively well on human development indicators in comparison to China.
  • The south (e.g., Kerela and Tamil Nadu) and the west of India show greater development because they have witnessed greater social transformation.
• Regional differentiation in human development is high: For instance, data released by NITI Aayog in 2021 show multi-dimensional poverty in Bihar to be over 50% while it is only a little more than 1% in Kerala.

Conclusion:

In the current scenario where freedom of expression of individuals is threatened, civil liberties are at stake and there is distress in agriculture, it is necessary for India to create “social, economic and political” institutions that can facilitate social transformation.

Insta Links

Democracy Report 2022

Dystopia in India’s Democracy

Mains Link

Q. Critically analyse the working of democracy in India since independence. (15M)

Prelims Link

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Vulnerable section of society

Source: The Hindu

Context: The Hindu editorial section

Direction: Make note of important few stats and 1-2 recommendations.

Issues concerning Tribals (health-related):

• As per ‘The Lancet: ‘Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Health’ (2016)’: India has the second highest infant mortality rate for the tribal people, next only to Pakistan.
• Child malnutrition is 50% higher in tribal children: 42% compared to 28% in others
• Nearly five and a half crores live outside the Scheduled Areas, as a scattered and marginalized minority. They are the most powerless.
• Malaria and tuberculosis are three to 11 times more common among the tribal people.
• Poor health Infrastructure: There is a 27% to 40% deficit in the number of Primary health facilities, and a 33% to 84% deficit in medical doctors in tribal areas.
• Low participation: Seventh, there is hardly any participation of the tribal people – locally or at the State or national level – in designing, planning or delivering health care to them.
• Financial outlay under the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP), equal to the percentage of the ST population in the State, has been completely flouted by all States.

Solution:

• Launch a National Tribal Health Action Plan to bring the status of health and healthcare at par with the respective State averages in the next 10 years.
• Address 10 priority health problems, the health care gap, the human resource gap and the governance problems.
• Allocation of additional money so that the per capita government health expenditure on tribal people becomes equal to the stated goal of the National Health Policy (2017), i.e., 2.5% of the per capita GDP.
• Mission mode implementation: The Health Minister and the 10 States with a sizable tribal population should take the initiative.

Conclusion:

The tribal healthcare system is sick, and tribal people need more substantive solutions. We need to move from symbolic gestures to substantive promises, from promises to a comprehensive action plan, and from an action plan to realising the goal of a healthy tribal people. If actualised, the Tribal Health Mission can be the path to a peaceful health revolution for the 11 crore tribal people.

Insta Links

Issues related to SC/ST

Mains Link

Q. Tribal groups are at different stages of social, economic and educational development; hence one size fits all approach will not work. Evaluate the various policies aimed at the development of tribal communities in India. (15M)

Prelims Link

GS Paper 2 

Syllabus: International Relations

Source: Live Mint

Context: Given the recent visit of US leader Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, the geopolitics in the region have become intense.

Direction: Those preparing for Mains this year, make a separate note on the related topics: The present crisis (for GS2), the new cold war (GS2) and the Chinese revolution (1949) (for world History). Others can just go through it once.

Why does China want to reunify the country?

• To recover from two centuries of perceived ‘humiliation’ by Western powers
• To finish the civil war that started nearly a hundred years ago.
• China believes that if it recovers Taiwan, then it will retake its rightful place as a global power.

Recent evolution of Chinese doctrine:

• First Act: China has adopted Deng Xiaoping’s ‘hide and bide’ strategyand Hu Jintao’s ‘peaceful rise’. Thus, it remained peaceful, until it was powerful enough to move to the next stage.
• Second Act: By 2010 China was powerful enough to challenge world powers, therefore, it started forcefully taking control of disputed territories, both land, and sea, on its own terms.
  • g., change the status quo along the Ryukyus, Spratlys, Paracels, the nine-dashed lines in the South China Sea, and, the Himalayan frontiers with Bhutan, Nepal, and India.
• Third act:Hong Kong virtually reunited (2020). China destroyed its limited autonomy under “one country, two systems”. Macao had already been taken. Thus, the only remaining Chinese target is Taiwan.
• The Fourth act: It will take place when China has reunified ‘Taiwan’. It will then challenge and upstage the US as the world’s dominant power.

Issues with the Chinese policy:

• Internal Weakness of China: China has been suffering from one century of civil war and revolutionary excesses. For example, recent attacks on the private sector, the tech economy, the current zero-covid policy, etc. have damaged the Chinese economy.
  • People in Hong Kong are still protesting the Chinese takeover.
• External resistance: India’s resistance has added friction to the Chinese ambition in the Himalayas. QUAD and AUKUS have emerged. Nancy Pelosi’s visit is a manifestation of a bipartisan consensus in Washington that Beijing must be challenged.
• The danger of world war/Nuclear war: UN chief has already warned that recent geopolitical events may cause nuclear wars.

Indo- Taiwan relations:

• India doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but both sides have trade and people-to-people ties.
• India has refused to endorse the “one-China” policy since 2010.

 What India should do?

• Take sides: Late K. Subrahmanyam pithily stated that India is better off on the side of the West in its contest with China because China’s desire and thy manner of pursuing its desire is wrong
• Use Taiwan to challenge China: Taiwan is not a major strategic concern for India. However, because it is the single most important factor that can consume Beijing’s energies and delay its play for global power, it is in our interest that Taiwan keep China occupied. Therefore, to some extent, our interests converge with those of the US, Japan, Australia, and the Taiwanese people.
• Material and moral support: Quad partners can extend material support, and India’s moral support for Taiwan can be very important.

Conclusion:

International leaders should pursue good diplomacy, which involves buying time and sustaining peace. What is needed is countries should try to come to a win-win solution that takes care of the wishes of people rather than just perceived national pride.

Insta Links

India-Taiwan Relation

Mains Link

Q. What is the ‘One China Policy’? Examine as to how the Taiwan issue exemplifies the volatile cocktail of geopolitical contestations between the U.S and China. (250 Words)

GS Paper 3

Syllabus:  Environmental Conservation/ Agriculture

Context: Based on an article published in Business Standards.

Direction: ‘Water’ is always a very important topic in the UPSC exam. Have a note prepared for various dimensions of water- its management, the gender divide in water, groundwater, surface water, river-interlinking, measures to conserve water etc. 1-2 points can be noted from this article.

Water:

• India has just 4% of the world’s water resource, supporting 17.1% of its population.
• It is a key determinant of health security and economic growth in India.
• Over 50% of agriculture was still rain-fed

Evolution of water management in India:

• Till the 1980s:  Water management was confined to the issue of irrigation projects. Therefore, the focus was on building large dams and canals. However, the drought of the late 1980s, proved that these big projects were insufficient.
• Post-1980s Period: Focus was on decentralization:g., rainwater harvesting (building ponds, digging tanks, and setting up check-dams on streams); slogans like “Rain is decentralized, so is the demand for water. So, capture the rain when and where it falls”.
• The mid-2000s: Focus remain on rainwater harvesting and ‘ground water’ was given importance. Therefore, MGNREGA was linked with the augmentation of groundwater, and rainwater harvesting efforts.
• Post-2010s: A series of urban droughts brought in focus the issues related to distribution bottleneck and lack of reuse and treatment of sewage water. So, the focus came on Piped drinking water (Jal Jeevan Mission) and treatment of used water (Swachh Bharath Mission).

What should be done?

• Reengineering of on-site local treatment systems: It means waste to be collected from each household, transported, and treated in that area.
• Focus on Reuse: The urban-industrial wastewater and sewage must be treated, recycled, and reused. If it is treated for reuse, then it will prevent water loss and pollution of our rivers. E.g., in Singapore, almost all the water is treated and reused.
• Minimize wastages: E.g., investing in water-efficient irrigation (‘per drop more crop’), household appliances, and changes in our diets.
• Focus on traditional water storing structures:g., Baolis (Rajasthan, Gujarat), tanks, Ponds (Talabs), Check dams (called Bandha in the Mewar region), etc.
  • Paar system (western Rajasthan): It is a common place where the rainwater flows from the agar (catchment) and in the process percolates into the sandy soil.
  • Pat System (Bundelkhand region): This system was devised according to the peculiarities of the terrain to divert water from swift-flowing hill streams into irrigation channels called pats.
• Sponge cities: The treated sewage and wastewater must be diverted to sponges (wetlands, ponds, rain gardens) to recharge the groundwater in the cities and make us water-secure. E.g., done in Beijing (China)

Insta Links

Water management needs a hydro-social approach

Mains Link

Q. Examine the new challenges and strategies on water and its management on account of climate change. (15M)

Prelims Link