[Mission 2023] INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY 09 November 2022

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Polity

Source: The Hindu

 Context: Case for the inclusion of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims on the list of Scheduled Castes is being heard in the Supreme court.

In 2019 rejected the possibility of including Dalit Christians as members of SCs.

Central Government justification for the exclusion of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims from the Scheduled Castes list are:

• “Foreign” origins of Islam and Christianity as opposed to Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism (although the government has not directly said so)
• The identification of Scheduled Castes is centred around a specific social stigma [and the connected backwardness with such stigma] that is limited to the communities identified in the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950
• Scheduled Castes converts to Buddhism embraced Buddhism voluntarily at the call of Dr Ambedkar in 1956 on account of some innate socio-political imperatives. The original castes/community of such converts can clearly be determined.
  • However, this cannot be said in respect of Christians and Muslims who might have converted on account of other factors, since the process of conversions has taken place over the centuries

Article 14 forbids class legislation but does not forbid classification.

 Who is included in the Constitution Order of 1950?

• The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950: recognised only Hindus as SCs.
• Amendments 1956 and 1990:
  • Included Dalits who had converted to Sikhism(1956)
  • Included Dalits who had converted to Buddhism(1990).
  • Both amendments were aided by the reports of:
    • Kaka Kalelkar Commission in 1955
    • High Powered Panel (HPP) on Minorities, SC/ST in 1983.

Why are Dalit Christians excluded?

• The practice of “untouchability: It was a feature of the Hindu religion and its branches, not Islam or Christianity.
• The Registrar General of India: It had cautioned the government that SC status is meant for communities suffering from social disabilities arising out of the practice of untouchability.
• A mandate in rules for inclusion: It was framed in 1999 and requires RGI approval.
  • Amendment to include Buddhist converts as SCs was passed in 1990.
• Clause (2) of Article 341 for inclusion: Dalits who converted to Islam or Christianity belonged to different caste groups, as a result of which they cannot be categorised as a “single ethnic group(required for inclusion)”.

Case for inclusion:

• Several Independent Commission reports: They have documented the existence of caste and caste inequalities among Indian Christians and Indian Muslims.
• Casteism: Even in Sikhism and Buddhism, casteism is not present and yet they have been included as SCs.
• Advocate representing Dalit Christian bodies: Empirical evidence did not exist for including Sikh or Buddhist converts either and yet they were included as SCs.

Registrar General of India:

• Established in 1949 under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• To develop a systematic collection of statistics on the size of the population, its growth, etc.
• Later, this office was also entrusted with the responsibility of implementing of Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 in the country.
• It arranges, conducts and analyses the results of the demographic surveys of India including the Census of India and Linguistic Survey of India.

Insta Links:

Scheduled Caste

National Commission for Scheduled Castes

Mains Links:

Q. Whether the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) can enforce the implementation of constitutional reservation for the Scheduled Castes in religious minority institutions. Examine. (UPSC 2018)

Prelims Links:

• National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC)
• Registrar General of India
• Article 341
• Minorities
• Kaka Kalelkar Commission

GS Paper 2

Syllabus: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Source: The Hindu

Context: The decision to host the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (UNSC-CTC) is one of several events planned by the Government of India to strengthen its counter-terror diplomacy.

How India is strengthening its counter-terror diplomacy?

• Last month (October), the Special Meeting of the UNSC-CTC was hosted by India in Mumbai and Delhi, focussing on new and emerging technologies .
• Later this month (November), New Delhi will host the third edition of the No Money for Terror (NMFT) conference for tackling future modes of terror financing.
• Next month (December), India will chair a special briefing on the Global Counter-Terrorism Architecture, looking at the challenges ahead.
• However, it is critical to evaluate some of the current challenges, particularly when the world is dealing with the war in Europe, COVID-19 and the global recession.

Challenges ahead for India:

• The foundation of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) is an unequal approach:
  • For example,
    • USA’s counter-terrorism efforts post-9/11 attack differs from its recent approach to negotiate with the Taliban and then withdrew from Afghanistan.
    • Pakistan was recently removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
  • This shows that counter-terrorism cooperation will become less cooperative in the future and counter-terrorism regimes such as UNSC Resolutions 1267, and 1373, will become ineffective.
• Increasing global division over the Russia-Ukraine conflict:
  • It is not only shifting the focus from terrorism but is also blurring the definition of what constitutes terrorism.
    • For example, drone attacks by Yemeni Houthis on the UAE’s oil infrastructure were condemned as terrorist attacks while drone attacks on Russian ships in a port used for loading grain were not.
  • This division has rendered the UNSC unable to pass any meaningful resolutions as they are vetoed either by Russia, western members or China.
    • For example, India’s proposal for the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) has made very little progress due to a lack of consensus over the definition of terrorism.
  • Emerging technologies used for terrorism purposes:
    • Drones, biowarfare and Gain-of-Function (GoF) research to mutate viruses and vectors, artificial intelligence (AI) systems and robotic soldiers makes it even easier to perpetrate mass attacks while maintaining anonymity.
    • Terror financing uses bitcoins and cryptocurrency and terror communications use the dark web.

Way ahead:

• Terrorist acts of the future will grow more and more lethal. Thus, developing a global consensus on –
  • What constitutes terrorism,
  • Regulating the use of emergent technologies by all responsible states is the need of the hour.
• Reducing global inequality, food and energy shortages, and adverse impacts of climate change and pandemics needs to be on the top of the agenda of the international community.

Conclusion: As the host of these counter-terrorism meetings, India must set the global narrative of not only fighting the “last war” on terrorism but also preparing for the next.

Insta Links:

Terrorism Measures- Institutional and Legal Framework

GS  Paper 3

Syllabus: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Source: DTE

 Context: At the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, countries have agreed to discuss providing financial support to address loss and damage caused by climate change.

Background:

• Climate change driven by humans has already warmed the earth by 1.1 degrees Celsius, and millions of people are now feeling the effects of rising temperatures and extreme weather events.
• This means that certain climate change losses and damages are unavoidable.
• The decision to discuss loss and damage at COP27 follows recent climate disasters in Europe (worst drought in 500 years), Pakistan (worst ever flooding) and heat waves in many regions of the world.

About Loss and damage:

• It is used in UN climate negotiations to express the effects of climate change that outweigh people’s ability to adapt.
• It is disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities, making addressing the issue a matter of climate justice.
• While the UNFCCC has not defined loss and damage precisely, it is caused by extreme weather events (cyclones, droughts, heatwaves) and slow-onset changes (sea level rise, desertification, ocean acidification).
• Climate change damages can be classified as economic losses or non-economic losses (such as loss of life).

Evolution of the concept:

• The appropriate response to loss and damage has been debated since the early 1990s when the UNFCCC was founded.
• Establishing accountability and compensation for loss and destruction has long been an aim for the most vulnerable Least Developed Countries Group.
• However, historically blamed for the climate catastrophe, rich countries have overlooked the concerns of vulnerable countries.
• Following extensive pressure from developing countries, the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) on Loss and Damages was founded in 2013 with no funding mechanism.
• However, during the 2021 COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, a 3-year task force was established to consider a funding arrangement for loss and damage.
• So far, Canada, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Scotland and the Belgian province of Wallonia have all expressed interest in loss and damage funding.

Significance of including loss and damage in the main agenda of COP27:

• This will have the effect of mainstreaming the issue, requiring more frequent talks and progress.
• This has reignited the fight for justice on behalf of communities that have lost their livelihood.

Challenges:

• Inclusion on the formal agenda is just the beginning and the actual provision for climate disaster compensation is still a long way away.
• Getting the rich and developed nations to contribute money has been a challenging battle.
• Also, calculating loss due to climate change is difficult.

Way ahead:

• The COP27 must agree to create a Loss and Damage Finance Facility to help people and nations recover from the effects of climate change.
• India-backed Mission LiFE – a global mass effort to re-establish the delicate balance between man and nature – must be the primary strategy for combating climate change.

Insta Links:

We need a forest-led COP27

GS Paper 4

Syllabus: Application of Ethics

Source: Associated Press

Context: The lone volunteer in a unique study involving a gene-editing technique has died – this has raised concerns regarding the cause behind and ethical issues behind gene editing technology.

Terry Horgan, a 27-year-old died last month. He was under trial with a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the rare, genetic muscle-wasting disease which is caused by a mutation in the gene needed to produce a protein called dystrophin. Most people with Duchenne die from lung or heart issues caused by it.

About Gene Editing:

It is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted or replaced in the genome of an organism using artificially engineered nucleases, or “molecular scissors. 

Ethics of Gene Editing:

Insta Links:

Q. What are the ethical concerns involved in gene editing technology? Discuss. (10M)