InstaLinks : help you think beyond the issue but relevant to the issue from UPSC prelims and Mains exam point of view. These linkages provided in this ‘hint’ format help you frame possible questions in your mind that might arise(or an examiner might imagine) from each current event. InstaLinks also connect every issue to their static or theoretical background. This helps you study a topic holistically and add new dimensions to every current event to help you think analytically
Table of Contents:.
GS Paper 2:
1. There are no easy answers to the freebies issue
2. Data/Statistics from National Crime Records Bureau
3. Patriarchal mindset of the legal system
Content for Mains Enrichment (Ethics/Essay)
1. Achinta Sheuli
Facts for Prelims:
1. PM inaugurates Iconic ‘Atal Bridge’ in Ahmedabad
2. PM Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)
3. UN High Seas Treaty
4. Registry to check banking frauds
5. 5G Network Infrastrucure
6. New edible coating to prolong the shelf life of fruits and vegetables
7. Mapping
Note: Other relevant articles of today will be covered tomorrow.
There are no easy answers to the freebies issue
GS Paper 2
Syllabus: Polity/Governance
Direction: Since so many articles have come up on freebies. Consider only unique points.
Context: This is an editorial piece, combining 2 editorials. It is the continuation of an article already published last month on freebies.
Freebies (subsidised consumption) like free power and a monthly stipend to women are among promises made by parties and this is common in elections in state after state.
Advantages of Freebies:
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- Food security e.g. now-famous mid-day meal scheme in 1982 was initially seen as a freebie and was resisted by the own party members of AIADMK.
- Awareness generation: Television sets may not be about recreation, they could be vehicles for imparting useful information or they could simply bring the family together, both of which have wider benefits for society.
- Freebies are not the cause of high fiscal deficit: Duvvuri Subbarao, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has proposed a cap on freebies.
- It is hard to argue that freebies are the sole or even primary cause of fiscal imbalances as a proportion of freebies to the total budget is small.
- About growth and equity: While economics may promote growth but the country also need equity, which can be advanced using freebies.
- Politicians are more practical than economists: Politicians often have a better understanding than economists do of the ‘merit’ underlying certain freebies. They have a much better grasp of what it takes to change the lives of the disadvantaged or to bring about social transformation
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Supreme Court’s intervention
These considerations seem to underlie the Supreme Court of India’s decision to refer the matter of freebies to a three-judge Bench instead of to a panel of experts as indicated earlier.
The Supreme Court has framed four questions for the three-judge Bench:
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- What is the scope of judicial intervention?
- What should be the composition of the expert panel to examine the issue?
- Can the court pass any enforceable order?
- Does S. Subramaniam Balaji vs Government of Tamil Nadu and Others (2013) need reconsideration?
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SC in (S. Subramaniam Balaji Vs Tamil Nadu (2013)) case announced that only an individual candidate, not his party, can commit a ‘corrupt practice’ under the RP Act by promising free gifts.
However, Chief Justice N. V. Ramana’s Bench recently told that: There cannot be a dichotomy between a political party and its candidate. What the candidate promises is what his party wants him to promise. The party cannot escape liability.
Related News
Opt for DBT rather than a freebie: Andhra Pradesh Case study
“Navaratnalu” Scheme is not a freebie, but a development through benefit transfer.
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- Navaratnalu scheme includes the nine assurances given by the Government of Andhra Pradesh in the form of nine large-scale welfare schemes.
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Schemes and results:
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- Education: To encourage mothers to send their kids to school, the AP government is giving ₹15,000 per annum, with 75% mandatory attendance, to every mother.
- Result: Steep increase in GER for girls
- Agriculture: Rythu Bharosa scheme to transfer ₹13,500 per year to 50.58 lakh farmers
- Result: Despite the pandemic, due to the timely DBT, the agriculture sector achieved a growth rate of 4.16%.
- YSR Aasara scheme — supporting SHGs in repaying their loans consistently for four years
- Education: To encourage mothers to send their kids to school, the AP government is giving ₹15,000 per annum, with 75% mandatory attendance, to every mother.
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Insta Links
Are freebies affecting the economic growth of India?
Mains Link
Freebies’ are important for this year’s exam, do have a pre-prepared note on this topic, if you are giving Mains this time.
Q. Do you think populism and freebie culture in politics is good for economic growth, inclusion and development? Critically comment. (250 Words)
Data/Statistics from National Crime Records Bureau
GS Paper 2
Syllabus: Governance/Social Justice
Source: Indian Express, Indian Express
Direction: NCRB data are important. You can quote it in any of the answers. Try to remember a rough estimate of data e.g. if data shows “crime rate of women is up by 15.3%”, you may remember as the crime rate has increased by more than 15%. No need to remember the exact percentage. Analyse the trend and have a rough estimate.
Context: NCRB has released its report on various crime statistics.
Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2021
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- Suicide: 120 deaths per mn population (the highest level ever recorded)
- At the national level, the number of suicides increased by 7.17 per cent from the years 2020 to 2021.
- Daily wage earners remained the largest profession-wise group among suicide victims in 2021
- The overall share of “Persons engaged in the farming sector” among the total recorded suicides stood at 6.6 per cent during 2021
- Maximum suicide in Maharastra
- Reasons: Mainly being Pandemic-induced mental health issues, Family Problems (other than marriage-related problems), Marriage Related Problems, and Illness.
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Road Accidents:
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- Deaths in road accidents up by 17%
- In 2021, 1.55 lakh people died in accidents on Indian roads, up from 1.33 lakh in 2020
- Total road accidents reported was 4.03 lakh in 2021
- A maximum number of cases were reported in Tamil Nadu.
- Reasons: Speeding caused 87,000 deaths, accounting for over half of all deaths, while dangerous and careless driving caused over 42000 deaths.
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Crime against Women:
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- The NCRB report also shows that the rate of crime against women (the number of incidents per 1 lakh population) increased from 56.5 per cent in 2020 to 64.5 per cent in 2021.
- Categories of crime: (31.8 per cent) fall in the category of “Cruelty by husband or his relatives’’, followed by “Assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty” (20.8 per cent), kidnapping and abduction (17.6 per cent), and rape (7.4 per cent).
- The report places Uttar Pradesh on top (56,083) in terms of the actual number of cases registered in 2021,
- Nagaland stood out with the lowest number of crimes against women registered in the past three years
- Only 507 cases were registered in the country under the Domestic Violence Act in 2021 — 0.1 per cent of the total cases of crime against women: Showing an under-reporting of cases.
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Also, violent crimes in the country are back to the Pre-Covid level.
About NCRB:
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- In 1986 (based on recommendations of the Tandon Committee, MHA Taskforce and National Police Commission (1977))
- It acts under the Ministry of Home Affairsand functions as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators.
- NCRB looks after CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems) and Central Finger Print Bureau
- It released reports: Crimes in India, Prison Statistics in India and Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India.
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Insta Links
NCRB data on offence against State
Mains Links
You can use the data in your mains answer writing. As said in the direction, just have a rough estimate and know the trend of increase/decrease.
Q. Examine the causes of high rate of road accidents in India in comparison to other countries. (15M)
Patriarchal mindset of the legal system
GS Paper 2
Syllabus: Indian Judiciary
Source: The Hindu
Direction: This is an editorial article. Just go through it once.
Context: Issue of prevailing patriarchy in Judiciary
Case:
In a recent incident, where sessions court in Kerala, granted anticipatory bail to an author and social activist in the State in a case of alleged sexual harassment, observed that the offence under Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code (‘Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty’) is not prima facie attracted when the de facto complainant was dressed in ‘sexually provocative dresses’.
This had raised the issue of prevailing patriarchy and the struggle women have to face in our system.
Issues faced by women in Judiciary:
- Lack of support: Women employees in the criminal justice system whether it be police/court or Prison often face discrimination, lack of gendered workspace and derogatory comments.
- Low representation in judiciary: Justice Indira Banerjee, the senior-most woman judge in the Supreme Court, highlighted that the top court (since its inception in 1950) has seen only 11 women judges.
- Prevalence of anarchic laws and customs: In Bradwell vs The State [of Illinois] (1872), the Supreme Court of the United States held that ‘god designed the sexes to occupy different spheres of action and that it belonged to men to make, apply, and execute laws — and regarded it as an axiomatic truth.
Need for sensitization
- Raising awareness: Inclusion of feminist jurisprudence in the curriculum for law students and sensitization of legal practitioners and judicial officers about feminist jurisprudence.
- Respecting individual choice: In a liberal democratic state, choice of dress is a ‘self-regarding act’ over which the individual is sovereign as J.S. Mill pointed out.
Insta Links:
Prelims Links:
Link it with the process of appointment of judges. IPC Vs CrPC.
Mains Links:
Link it with the issue of lower representation in the judiciary. This question was directly asked in 2021 Mains.
Q. Discuss the desirability of greater representation to women in the higher judiciary to ensure diversity, equity and inclusiveness. (250 Words)
Content for Mains Enrichment (Ethics/Essay)
Achinta Sheuli
From embroidering necklines on women’s kurtas and working on fields (Howrah, West Bengal) to winning a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Achinta Sheuli has come a long way.
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- Achinta helped his mother and brother in their embroidery work that called for precision, even as he was training for weightlifting which called for power.
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The 20-year-old won gold in the men’s 73 kg category weightlifting with a combined lift of 313 kg (snatch 143 kg + clean and jerk 170 kg), creating a CWG record.
This can be used as an example, of hard work and dedication. How despite many troubles he was able to win a medal.
Facts For Prelims
PM inaugurates Iconic ‘Atal Bridge’ in Ahmedabad
Source: The Print
This bridge is built on the banks of the Sabarmati Riverfront, Sabarmati River which flows through the city of Ahmedabad.
Equipped with an attractive design and LED lights, this bridge is about 300 meters long and 14 meters wide.
Sabarmati River is a monsoon-fed river originating in Aravalli hills (Udaipur) and draining in the Gulf of Cambay in the Arabian Sea.
Major Tributaries: Sei, Harnav, Wakal, Hathmati and Watrak
PM Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)
Source: PIB
Context: PMJDY (a central sector scheme under Ministry of Finance) has completed 8 years.
Achievements:
- Increased financial inclusion: More than 46 Cr beneficiaries banked
- Increased financial Penetration: More than 67% of PMJDY account in rural and semi-urban areas
- Increased women empowerment: 56% account holders are women
- Increased DBT: Benefits like scholarships, subsidies, pensions, and COVID relief funds are credited to the bank accounts.
About PMJDY:
PMJDY is National Mission for Financial Inclusion (launched 2014) to ensure access to financial services.
Objectives:
- To ensure access of financial products & services at an affordable cost: Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension
- Use of technology to lower cost & widen reach.
- Banking the unbanked: account opening in camp mode, zero balance & zero charges.
- Securing the unsecured – Debit cards for cash withdrawals & payments and free accident insurance coverage of Rs. 2 lakhs.
- Funding the unfunded – micro-insurance/Credit, overdraft for consumption, and micro-pension.
- Focus shift from Every Household to Every Unbanked Adult.
UN High Seas Treaty
Source: Indian Express
Context: Negotiations involving 168 countries, including the European Union, to agree on a UN treaty for protecting oceans had failed recently.
About UN High Seas Treaty
Also referred to as the ‘Paris Agreement for the Ocean’, the treaty to deal with Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction has been under discussion for several years.
The proposed treaty concerns the ocean existing beyond the Exclusive Economic Zones that lie from the coast of a country to about 200 nautical miles or 370 km into the sea, till where it has special rights for exploration. Waters beyond that are known as open seas or high seas.
Background:
The treaty was to be negotiated under the UNCLOS of 1982 which governs the rights of countries regarding marine resources.
- Need: Currently, there is no treaty for conserving the health of vast swathes of the earth’s oceans, a UN resolution in 2017 decided to rectify this while setting 2022 as the deadline.
- Having no law has resulted in overexploitation of the High seas by countries: using large-scale drilling and trawling operations for catching fish and mining
- High Ambition Coalition (consisting of more than 100 countries including India, the US, and the UK), came about (because of delay in the high sea treaty) and put the focus on ‘30×30’ goals – protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030.
Registry to check banking frauds
Source: Indian Express
Context: RBI is in talks to set up a registry to check banking fraud
The registry will create a database of fraudulent websites, phones and various methods used by fraudsters.
Payment system participants will be provided access to this registry for near-real-time fraud monitoring. The aggregated fraud data will be published to educate customers on emerging risks.
Benefits: Improve consumer protection amid cases of digital fraud
‘One Nation One Ombudsman’
- Launched in 2021 as an integrated consumer grievance redressal mechanism for addressing service deficiencies in banking, NBFCs and digital payment systems.
- To make the alternate dispute redressal mechanism simpler and more responsive to the customers of regulated entities.
- Under this,18 lakh complaints were received during 2021-22 and as many as 97.9 per cent of cases were cleared last financial year.
5G Network Infrastrucure
Source: Indian Express
Direction: Understand the difference. No need to note.
Context: Reliance Jio 5G will work on ‘standalone’ architecture
What are the two different modes of 5G networks?
5G networks are deployed mainly on two modes: standalone and non-standalone. Both architectures have their advantages and disadvantages.
- In the standalone mode, which Jio has chosen, the 5G network operates with dedicated equipment and runs parallel to the existing 4G network
- Advantages: The standalone mode provides access to full 5G capabilities and new network functionalities such as slicing that provides greater flexibility to operators to efficiently use their spectrum holdings.
- Disadvantage: It is costly and will require software updates on existing smartphones to work.
- Non-standalone mode, the 5G network is supported by the 4G core infrastructure.
- Advantages: initial cost and the time taken to roll out services through this track is significantly less than standalone networks and can work on most smartphones.
- Disadvantage: Operators eventually will have to go for Standalone mode as the traffic increases.
Advantages of 5G:
5G will allow for much faster Internet speeds and lower latency compared to 4G. Peak speeds could touch 10 Gbps, compared to the 100 Mbps for 4G. While 4G latency is 10-100 milliseconds, on 5G it is expected to be under 1 millisecond.
New edible coating to prolong the shelf life of fruits and vegetables
Source: DownToEarth
Context: A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati has developed an edible material that, coated on vegetables and fruits, substantially extended their shelf-life.
The team used a mix of an extract of a marine microalga called Dunaliella tertiolecta and polysaccharides to produce it. The microalga is known for its antioxidant properties and has various bioactive compounds such as carotenoids and proteins.
Research is carried out to help farmers keep their produce safe from sprouting & rotting for longer durations & help the country meet UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets on reducing food losses in production and supply chains.
Mapping
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