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Archives: News

  • Coal and Mining Sector

    [pib] SARAS Initiative

    PIB | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Coal India’s flagship subsidiary NCL (Northern Coalfields Limited) has set up a centre named SARAS.

    SARAS Initiative

    • SARAS stands for Science and Applied Research Alliance and Support.
    • It aims to promote innovation, R&D and skill development along with improving company’s operational efficiency and utilize resources at optimum level.
    • SARAS will help and enable the company in Integration of Innovation and Research for enhancing coal production, productivity, and safety in mines.
    • Besides, the SARAS would also help establish centres of excellence to ensure technical support to R&D along with thrust on quality skill development and employment to local youths in and around company’s operational area.

    About NCL

    • NCL accounts for 15 per cent of India’s coal production and 10 per cent of thermal power generation of the country is met by the coal produced by this Miniratna Company of Govt. of India.
    • The company produces more than 100 million tonnes of coal every year.
    • It has planned to produce 107 million tonnes of coal in the current fiscal.

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  • Coronavirus – Disease, Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    Remdesivir: Under-trail vaccine against Coronavirus

    | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    The Wuhan Institute of Virology at Wuhan, China has filed for a patent on Remdesivir, an antiviral experimental drug from the US which may help treat the novel coronavirus (nCoV-2019).

    Remdesivir

    • It is an experimental drug and has not yet been licensed or approved anywhere globally. It has not been demonstrated to be safe or effective for any use.
    • It is currently being developed for the treatment of Ebola virus infection.
    • Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro.
    • Chloroquine is a “widely used” anti-malarial and autoimmune disease medicine that has recently come to light as a potential antiviral drug.

    Can Remdesivir treat coronavirus?

    • Significantly, Remdesivir has demonstrated in vivo (experimentation using a whole living organism) and in vitro (activity performed in a controlled environment) activity in animal models against viral pathogens that cause MERS and SARS.
    • Even so, the use of the experimental drug has been allowed only as an emergency treatment, which can be administered in the absence of any other approved treatment options.
    • These two diseases are also caused by coronaviruses structurally similar to the nCoV-2019.
    • Additionally, limited clinical data is available from the emergency administration of Remdesivir in patients with Ebola.
    • Even so, it is yet to be seen if Remdesivir and chloroquine can be effective against the novel coronavirus in humans.

    How can the novel coronavirus infection be treated?

    • As of now, there is no known treatment for the novel coronavirus, and an appropriate antiviral drug is required for this.
    • Ideally, a vaccine against the infection can also prove to be effective, but such a development does not seem to be in the offing for at least three-four months.

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  • Indian Army Updates

    Sharang Artillery Gun

    Prelims Only | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

     

    The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has handed over Sharang, the first 130mm M-46 artillery gun upgraded to 155mm to the Indian Army.

    About Sharang

    • Sharang is the 130mm artillery gun ‘up-gunned’ to 155mm, 45 calibre up-gunning based on the Army’s tender.
    • The gun’s range has now gone from 27km to over 36km with the upgrade.
    • It also has more explosive capability and hence and more damage potential.
    • This step will reduce the logistic trail of the Army as it does away with the need to carry 130mm shells and support equipment as the mainstay of the Army’s long range artillery is 155mm guns.

    Other artilleries of Indian Army

    • After close to three decades, the Army inducted its first modern artillery guns system in November 2018.
    • These include M-777 Ultra Light Howitzers (ULH) from the U.S. and K9 Vajra-T self-propelled artillery guns from South Korea.
    • The Army has the older, battle-proven Bofors 155mm guns in service. The 155mm Dhanush towed gun system, developed based on the Bofors guns by OFB, is under induction.
    • In October last year, the Army procured and inducted 155mm Excalibur precision guided ammunition from the U.S. which gives its 155mm artillery guns extended range and also the ability to hit targets with very high accuracy.

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  • Industrial Sector Updates – Industrial Policy, Ease of Doing Business, etc.

    Listening to the call of the informal

    | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Context

    Attempt to formalise the informal sector would not necessarily benefit it as two recent papers reveal.

    What do the research papers reveal?

    • The first paper-No strong evidence that formalisation improves business outcomes.
      • Published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, economist Seema Jayachandran argues that there is no strong evidence from studies conducted in many developing countries that formalisation improves business outcomes.
    • The second article-Formalisation an evolutionary process:
      • In the second article, a background paper for the International Labour Organisation (ILO), economist Santosh Mehrotra calls formalisation an evolutionary process.
      • During this evolutionary process small, informal enterprises learn the capabilities required to operate in a more formal, global economy.
      • He says they cannot be forced to formalise.

    The formalisation trap

    • Why does the state want to formalise?
      • Easy monitoring and taxation: The state finds it easier to monitor and to tax the firms that adopt its version of formality.
      • Reduced last-mile cost for banks: Formality can reduce the last-mile costs for banks also.
    • Problem with the imposed formalisation
      • The added cost outweighs benefits: Ms Jayachandran’s study reveals that most of the formalities imposed from above, add to the costs of the firms that outweigh the benefits of inappropriate formalisation.

    How informal sector improves themselves?

    • Association with their peers: Small entrepreneurs gain from forming effective associations with their peers.
    • Mentoring: They also benefit greatly from ‘mentoring’.
    • On job skill development: Skills of small entrepreneurs and their employees are best developed on-the-job.
      • This is because they cannot afford the loss of income by taking time off for training.
    • Soft skills to form associations and manage enterprises, matter as much for the success of the enterprises as ‘hard’ resources of finance and facilities.

    Problems with connecting to global supply chains-

    • There is a desire to connect small firms in India more firmly with global supply chains.
      • Search for lover cost source supply: Mehrotra points out that the primary motivation of multinational companies for expanding their global supply chains is to tap into lower-cost sources of supply.
      • Supply chains compete with each other.
      • When wages and costs increase in their source countries, they look for other lower-cost sources.
      • Informal-the lowest labour cost firms: The lowest labour cost firms at the end of supply chains are generally informal.
      • Thus, the push by the state to formalise firms is countered by the supply chain’s drive to lower its costs.

    Way forward

    • India’s jobs, incomes, and growth challenges necessitate a reorientation of policies towards the informal sector.
    • First-The government and its policy advisers must stop trying to reduce its size.
      • The development of an economy, from agriculture to the production of more complex products in the industry, is a process of learning.
      • Informal enterprises provide the transition space for people who have insufficient skills and assets to join the formal sector.
    • Second-Policymakers must learn to support informal enterprises on their own terms.
      • Merely making it easy for MNCs and large companies to invest will not increase the growth of the economy.
    • Third-Find ways to speed up the process of learning.
      • Policymakers must learn how to speed up the process of learning within informal enterprises by developing their ‘soft’ skills.
      • Large schemes to provide enterprises with hard resources such as money and buildings, which the government finds easier to organise, are necessary but inadequate for the growth of small enterprises.
    • Fourth-Networks and clusters of small enterprises must be strengthened.
      • They improve the efficiency of small firms by enabling sharing of resources.
      • More clout to negotiate: They give them more clout to improve the terms of trade in their favour within supply chains.
      • Reduced last-mile cost: They reduce the ‘last mile costs’ for agencies and providers of finance and other inputs to reach scattered and tiny enterprises.
    • Fifth-The drumbeat for labour reforms must be changed.
      • The laws should be simplified, and their administration improved. And, their thrust should be to improve the conditions of workers.
    • Finally- The social security framework for all citizens must be strengthened.
      • Health insurance and the availability of health services must be improved.
      • And disability benefits and old-age pensions must be enhanced.
      • The purpose of ‘labour reforms’ must be changed to provide safety nets, rather than make the workers’ lives even more precarious with misdirected attempts to increase flexibility.

     

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Sri Lanka

    Keeping the southern neighbour engaged

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Context

    During Mahinda Rajapaksa’s India visit, New Delhi is likely to talk to Colombo on the Tamil issue and counterbalance Beijing’s influence in the Indian Ocean.

    Background of the current politics in Sri Lanka

    • Sri Lankan Prime Minister official visit to India is taking place a few months after he assumed office and his brother was sworn in as president
    • Nationalist wave after attacks: The brothers were voted to the office on a Sinhala nationalist wave, a sentiment that is a fallout of the Easter attacks on Christian shrines, including the Saint Anthony’s shrine, in April last year.
      • The attacks had killed more than 250 people, six months before the elections.
      • The polarisation worked in favour of the Rajapaksas vis-à-vis Sri Lanka’s 10 per cent Muslim population, mostly Tamils, who are especially numerous on the country’s east coast.

    Tamil issue in Sri Lanka

    • No engagement with Hindu Tamil: While Muslims have become the number one scapegoat for the Easter tragedy, the Rajapaksas have not tried to engage the Hindu Tamils
    • LTTE background: Hindu Tamils, who make about 11 per cent of Sri Lanka’s population, have had an acrimonious relationship with Mahinda Rajapaksa ever since he wiped out the LTTE in 2009.
      • Many members of the community became collateral victims in the process.
    • Implications for India-Sri Lanka relations: Gotabaya was the defence secretary at that time. The Hindu Tamil factor may complicate India-Sri Lanka relations.
    • No inclusion minorities from Sri Lanka in CAA: In the Citizenship Amendment Act the Indian Parliament passed in 2019, the persecuted minorities of Sri Lanka are not taken into account.
      • However, the Hindu Tamils of Sri Lanka are feeling insecure again.

    China-Sri Lanka axis

    • The China factor is likely to aggravate the complication: The Rajapaksas are known to be pro-Sri Lanka. Mahinda Rajapaksa was largely responsible for opening Sri Lanka to massive — and strategic -Chinese investments.
    • The Hambantota port issue: The Hambantota Port and 15,000 acres have been conceded to China on a 99-year lease, causing considerable consternation in New Delhi, which apprehends that this deep seaport could be used for military purposes, and not just trade.
      • The deal was put on a hold by former PM but the present dispensation wants it to be restored.
    • China’s growing clout in the Indian Ocean: India’s efforts were also designed to thwart China extending its influence in Sri Lanka at a time when the Narendra Modi administration is trying to counter Beijing’s clout in the Indian Ocean.
    • Modi’s visited on May 30, 2019, just after beginning his second tenure as PM.

    Past engagement events

    • New Delhi has tried to engage the new Sri Lankan government after the Rajapaksas assumed office.
      • India’s foreign minister S Jaishankar, landed in Sri Lanka on November 20, 2019, to invite Gotabaya for his first visit to India — rather than to China.
    • Gotabaya visited New Delhi for three days in late November last year.
    • Tamil issue discussed: Jaishankar is said to have told Gotabaya that India expects his government to treat Tamils with dignity in the process of reconciliation.
      • There is speculation that India might appoint an ambassador of Tamil origin to Colombo.
    • Cooperation against terrorism: The Indian PM went further when Gotabaya Rajapaksa visited New Delhi: He announced a $50 million line of credit for security and counter-terrorism
    • Line of credit for Infra: India also announced another $400 million for development and infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka.
      • That the counter-terror fund would further strengthen cooperation against terrorism.
    • Allaying the fears over China: Gotabaya allayed India’s fears on China by saying that Sri Lanka would not allow a third country to affect Sri Lanka-India ties.

    Conclusion

    While addressing the issue of minority and growing Chinese influence in Sri Lanka both countries need to focus on the other areas of cooperation like counter-terrorism, trade, security, development, technology etc.

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  • Cashless Society – Digital Payments, Demonetization, etc.

    The billion standard

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Context

    India has crossed the target of a billion monthly digital payments. Now, to a billion transactions a day.

    The story of payment revolution and financial inclusion in India

    • Progress on the financial inclusion: India was long a financially excluded nation –only 17 per cent of Indians had a bank account in 2011.
      • 50 more years estimate: The World Bank suggests it would have taken 50 more years for 80 per cent of Indians to get a bank account at the pre-2011 speed.
      • Yet, we reached that milestone in 2018.
      • How? A magical combination of
      • Political will (Jan Dhana Yojana and Aadhaar embedding).
      • A proactive central bank (creating a non-profit market participant entity and levelling the playing field between non-banks and banks).
      • And a technology stack with three layers (identity, payments, and data).
    • The rise of UPI
      • The swift rise in use: The digital payment transactions on the Universal Payment Interface (UPI) platform rising from 0.1 million in October 2016 to 1.3 billion in January 2020.
      • Result of working together: This represents the magic of entrepreneurs, nonprofits and policymakers working together.
      • And gives us a new target — a billion transactions a day.
    • India’s Payment revolution
      • What are the components of the payment revolution: India’s payment revolution comes from-
      • A clear vision: Shifting the system from low volume, high value, and high cost to high volume, low value, low cost.
      • A clear strategy: Regulated and unregulated private players innovating on top of public infrastructure.
      • And trade-offs balanced by design: Regulation vs innovation, privacy vs personalisation, and ease-of-use vs fraud prevention.
    • What consumers wanted?
      • Consumers wanted a payment experience that was mobile-first, low-cost, 24/7, instant, convenient, interoperable, fintech friendly, inside banking, and safe.
    • Answers lies in UPI.
      • What did UPI achieve?
      • Interoperability: UPI created interoperability between all sources and recipients of funds -consumers, businesses, fintechs, wallets, 140 member banks.
      • Instant settlement: UPI settles instantly inside the central bank in fiat money -state-issued money declared by the sovereign to be legal tender.
      • Blunted data monopolies: Big tech firms have strong autonomy but weak fiduciary responsibilities over customer data, it was taken care of by UPI.

    5 Policy lessons from the success of UPI

    • First- how the India stack: Interconnected yet independent platforms or open APIs — are a public good that-
      • Lowers costs, spur innovation and blunts the natural digital winner-takes-all.
      • Replication in other areas: Replicating this in education, healthcare, and government services are likely to be a harbinger of large scale multi-domain collaborative innovation.
    • Second-collaboration: Collaboration can create ecosystems that overcome the birth defects of its constituents–
      • The execution deficit of government, the trust deficit of private companies, and the scale deficit of nonprofits.
    • Third-policy intervention: Complementary policy interventions are important.
      • Demonetisation and GST are changing the stories that firms and individuals tell themselves around cash and informality.
    • Fourth-human capital and diversity matter: This revolution needed career bureaucrats to partner with academics, tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, global giants and private firms.
    • The final lesson-Western model is not needed always: India doesn’t need to be Western or Chinese to be modern. If our policymakers had copied Alipay or US banks, we wouldn’t have leapfrogged their birth defects.

    Way forward

    • Fix the deadline: The central government must deadline digitising all its payments.
    • RBI implement 100+ action items: The RBI must implement the 100-plus action items arising from its own Vision 2021 document and the Nandan Nilekani Committee for Deepening Digital Payments.
    • UPI for inward remittances: RBI must also make UPI and RuPay fit for use in our $70 billion inward remittances that currently come through exploitative financial institutions which don’t have clients but hostages.
    • Replication of UPI in bank credit: The RBI must replicate the core design of UPI — fierce but sustainable private and public competition in bank credit-
      • Our 50 per cent credit-to -GDP ratio is one of the reasons India is poor.
      • China’s 300 per cent is the wrong number, but reaching the OECD average of 100 per cent needs the RBI to do many things-
      • Raising its human capital and technology game in regulation and supervision.
      • Catalysing an ecosystem for lending against the rapidly expanding digital exhaust of small firms and individuals.
      • Issuing more private bank licences, facilitating management changes in old private banks with market caps that signal questions about book value, and shepherding governance and human capital revolution at PSU banks.

    Conclusion

    Converting the collective independence our citizens got in 1947 to individual freedom surely involved universal financial inclusion. The gap between this aspiration and reality was not a lie but a disappointment because our capital got handicapped without labour and our labour got handicapped without capital. Change has begun -the RBI, the finance ministry, and many individuals deserve our gratitude and dues for a billion digital payments a month. We now ask you for a billion digital payments a day.

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  • Human Rights Issues

    Explained: Practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

    Explained | History and Art & Culture | Mains Paper 1: Role Of Women & Women Organization

     

    Every year, February 6 is observed as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).  As per the WHO, globally, over 200 million girls alive today have suffered FGM in over 30 countries.

    Female Genital Mutilation

    • FGM is the name given to procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical or cultural reasons.
    • It is recognised internationally as a violation of human rights and the health and integrity of girls and women.
    • Most girls and women who have undergone FGM live in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States, but it is also practiced in some countries in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
    • According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), while the exact origins of the practice remain unclear, it seems to have predated Christianity and Islam.
    • It says that some Egyptian mummies display characteristics of FGM.
    • Significantly, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus has claimed that in the fifth century BC, the Phoenicians, the Hittites and the Ethiopians practised circumcision.

    Why is Female Genital Mutilation practiced?

    • Depending on the region, there can be various reasons why FGM is performed. The UNFPA has categorised the reasons into five categories —
    1. psycho-sexual reasons (when FGM is carried out as a way to control women’s sexuality, “which is sometimes said to be insatiable if parts of the genitalia, especially the clitoris, are not removed);
    2. sociological or cultural reasons (when FGM is seen as part of a girl’s initiation into womanhood and an intrinsic part of a community’s cultural heritage);
    3. hygiene and aesthetic reasons (this may be the reason for those communities that consider the external female genitalia as ugly and dirty);
    4. religious reasons (the UNFPA maintains that while FGM is not endorsed by Christianity or Islam, “supposed” religious doctrines may be used to justify the practice);
    5. socio-economic factors (in some communities FGM is a pre-requisite for marriage, especially in those communities where women are dependent on men economically).
    • Other reasons cited by the WHO include- an attempt to ensure women’s premarital virginity since FGM is believed to reduce libido,  and therefore believed to help her resist extramarital sexual acts.
    • FGM may also be associated with cultural ideals of feminity and modesty.

    Economic cost of FGM

    • Beyond the immense psychological trauma it entails, FGM imposes large financial costs and loss of life.
    • In 2018, a study on FGM in India said that the practice was up to 75 per cent across the Bohra Muslim community.
    • The economic costs of treating health complications arising out of FGM amount to roughly $1.4 billion for 2018 for 27 countries where FGM is performed.
    • If the prevalence remains the same, the amount is expected to rise up to $2.3 billion by 2047.

    FGM in India

    • According to the aforementioned study, the reasons for FGM referred to as “Khafd” in India include continuing an old traditional practice, adhering to religious edicts, controlling women’s sexuality and abiding by the rules stated by the religious clergy.
    • It also states that the issue first rose to prominence in India because of two international legal cases on FGM against practising Bohras in Australia and the US.
    • In 2018, a bench of then CJI Dipak Misra referred a petition seeking a ban on FGM among Dawoodi Bohra girls to a five-judge Constitution Bench.
    • The Dawoodi Bohra community, on the other hand, maintained that the practice should be allowed since the Constitution grants religious freedom under Article 25.

    For detailed health risks associated with FGM, navigate to the page:

    Health hazards of FGM

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  • Tax Reforms

    “Vivad se Vishwas” Scheme

    Schemes | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies

    The government has introduced The Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020.

    Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill

    • In essence, the Bill is aimed at resolving direct tax-related disputes in a speedy manner.
    • In the last budget, Sabka Vishwas Scheme was brought in to reduce litigation in indirect taxes. It resulted in settling over 1,89,000 cases.
    • The Vivad se Vishwas Scheme is to do for direct tax-related disputes exactly what Sabka Vishwas did for indirect tax-related disputes.

    Why need such a scheme?

    • At present, there are as many as 4,83,000 direct tax cases pending in various appellate forums i.e. Commissioner (Appeals), ITAT, High Court and Supreme Court.
    • The idea behind the scheme is to reduce litigation in the direct tax arena.

    What are the specifics of the scheme?

    • A taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of the disputed taxes and will get a complete waiver of interest and penalty provided he pays by 31st March 2020.
    • Those who avail this scheme after 31st March 2020 will have to pay some additional amount.
    • However, the scheme will remain open only till June 30, 2020. The scheme also applies to all case appeals that are pending at any level.

    How much money is at stake?

    • According to reports, over Rs 9 lakh crore worth of direct tax disputes are pending in the courts.
    • The government hopes to recover a big chunk of this in a swift and simple way, while offering the taxpayers the relief of not having to fight the case endlessly.
    • For a government that is staring at a big shortfall in revenues, especially tax revenues, the scheme makes a lot of sense.

    What was the response to the Sabka Vishwas scheme?

    • At last count, the government expected to have raised Rs 39,500 crore from the Sabka Vishwas scheme, which was only about indirect tax disputes.
    • The amnesty window for Sabka Vishwas closed on January 15 and close to 1.90 lakh crore applications, in relation to taxes worth Rs 90,000 crore was received.
    • One of the standout successes of this scheme was Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd (which was earlier known as Cadbury India) settled one of its most controversial tax disputes.
    • The firm was accused of evading taxes to the tune of Rs 580 crore (excluding taxes and penalties). In the end, Mondelez paid Rs 439 crore on January 20 under the amnesty scheme.

    Criticisms of the Bill

    • The bill led to an uproar in Parliament.
    • The opposition criticised the Bill first for the use of Hindi words in its name, arguing that this was government’s way to impose Hindi on the non-Hindi speakers.
    • They also argued that the Bill treats honest and dishonest people equally.

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  • Primary and Secondary Education – RTE, Education Policy, SEQI, RMSA, Committee Reports, etc.

    [pib] National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS)

    PIBSchemes | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies

     

    The NMMSS has helped to reduce the drop-out rate at the secondary and senior secondary classes, informed Union HRD Minister.

    National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme

    • The Centrally Sponsored Scheme NMMSS was launched in May, 2008.
    • The objective of the scheme is to award scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their drop out at class VIII and encourage them to continue the study at secondary stage.
    • Under the Scheme one lakh fresh scholarships @ of Rs.12000/- per annum per student are awarded to selected students of class IX every year and their continuation/renewal  in classes X to XII for study in a State Government, Government-aided and Local body schools.
    • The selection of students for award of scholarships under the scheme is made through an examination conducted by the States/UTs Governments.

    Progress of the scheme

    • As on date approx 16.93 lakh scholarships have been sanctioned to the Students across the country.
    • Heads of all the institutions disclosed that the NMMS Scheme has reduced the drop-out rate at the secondary and senior secondary classes, particularly from Classes VIII to XII.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Africa

    [pib] Lucknow Declaration

    PIB | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    The first India-Africa Defence Ministers’ Conclave held in Lucknow has adopted the Lucknow Declaration.

    India-Africa Framework for Strategic Cooperation

    The declaration:

    • Acknowledges contribution of Indian defence forces in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in Africa.
    • It appreciates initiation of Africa India Field Training Exercises with the first ever AFINDEX in March 2019 and agree that it will further strengthen cooperation in defence preparedness and security.
    • The vision is to achieve ‘a conflict-free Africa, prevent genocide, make peace a reality for all and rid the continent of wars, violent conflicts, human rights violations, and humanitarian disasters.
    • It call for deeper cooperation in the domain of defence industry including through investment, joint ventures in defence equipment software, digital defence, research & development etc.
    • It recognizes the common security challenges such as terrorism and extremism, piracy, organised crime including human trafficking, drug trafficking, weapon smuggling and others.
    • The members endorsed initiatives such as African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), Silence The Guns in Africa and Agenda 2063.
    • It calls for strengthening the UN Counter-Terrorism mechanisms and to ensure strict compliance with the UN Security Council sanctions regime on terrorism.
    • It urged the international community to envisage the adoption of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UNGA.
    • The members recognized the importance of the oceans and seas to the livelihoods of our peoples and that Maritime security is a pre-requisite for the development of Blue or Ocean economy.
    • It sought to increase cooperation in securing sea lines of communication, preventing maritime crimes, disaster, piracy, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing through sharing of information and surveillance.

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  • Judicial Reforms

    [pib] National Judicial Pay Commission

    | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Executive & Judiciary

    The Second National Judicial Pay Commission has filed its report covering the subject of Pay, Pension and Allowances in the Supreme Court.

    Second National Judicial Pay Commission

    • The Commission is headed by former Supreme Court judge P V Reddy.
    • It was set up on the directions of the apex court in May 2017 during the hearing of the All India Judges Association case.

    Key recommendations

    1) Pay

    • It has recommended the adoption of Pay Matrix which has been drawn up by applying the multiplier of 2.81 to the existing pay, commensurate with the percentage of increase of pay of High Court Judges.
    • The highest pay which a District Judge (STS) will get, is Rs.2,24,100/-.

    2)  Pension

    • Pension at 50% of last drawn pay worked out on the basis of proposed revised pay scales is recommended w. e. f. 1-1-2016. The family pension will be 30% of the last drawn pay.
    • Recommendation has been made to discontinue the New Pension Scheme (NPS) which is being applied to those entering service during or after 2004. The old pension system, which is more beneficial to be revived.

    3) Allowances

    • The existing allowances have been suitably increased and certain new features have been added. However, the CCA is proposed to be discontinued.
    • Certain new allowances viz. children education allowance, home orderly allowance, transport allowance in lieu of pool car facility, has been proposed.

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  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    Euthermia: the anomaly of human body temperature

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

     

    Euthermia refers to normal body temperature. The thermometer reading of 98.6°F has been a gold standard for a century and a half, ever since a German doctor laid it down as the “normal” body temperature.  A new research has found that body temperatures have, in fact, been declining over the last two centuries.

    Why we follow 98.6°F?

    • In 1851, Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich pioneered the use of the clinical thermometer.
    • It was a rod a foot long, which he would stick under the armpits of patients at the hospital attached with Leipzig University, and then wait for 15 minutes (some accounts say 20 minutes) for the temperature to register.
    • He took over a million measurements of 25,000 patients, and published his findings in a book in 1868, in which he concluded that the average human body temperature is 98.6°F.
    • Most modern scientists feel Wunderlich’s experiments were flawed, and his equipment inaccurate.
    • Another study concluded that the average human body temperature is closer to 98.2°F, and suggested that the 98.6°F benchmark be discarded.

    The body is cooler

    • The Stanford University the researchers confirmed some known trends — body temperature is higher in younger people, in women, in larger bodies and at later times of the day.
    • Additionally, they found that the bodies of men born in the early to mid-1990s is on average 1.06°F cooler than those of men born in the early 1800s.
    • And the body temperature of women born in the early to mid-1990s is on average 0.58°F lower than that of women born in the 1890s.
    • The calculations from the research correspond to a decrease in body temperature of 0.05°F every decade.

    Why there’s decrease in body temperature?

    • The researchers have proposed that the decrease in body temperature is the result of changes in the environment over the past 200 years, which have in turn driven physiological changes.
    • The decrease in average body temperature in the US, they said, could be explained by a reduction in metabolic rate, or the amount of energy being used.
    • The environment that we’re living in has changed, including the temperature in our homes, our contact with microorganisms and the food that we have access to.
    • Actually the human body is changing physiologically.

    So what’s the normal temperature?

    • The strong influences of age, time of day, and genders determine the healthy body temperature.

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  • Mother and Child Health – Immunization Program, BPBB, PMJSY, PMMSY, etc.

    [op-ed of the day] Amendments to Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act are a mixed bag

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Context

    The Union Cabinet’s approval of the amended Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Bill 2020 was reported on January 29. This amendment was long due and has made some anticipated changes demanded by women’s groups and courts, including the Supreme Court.

    Why the amendment was necessitated?

    • Abortion (unsafe) accounts for almost 10 per cent of maternal deaths in India.
    • No provision to avoid unsafe abortion: The amended Act doesn’t have any new substantial provisions to avoid unsafe abortions.
      • The right to safe abortion (at least till 12 weeks, when it is safer) would have made the state responsible to provide safe abortion services.
    • Reduce the burden on judiciary: The proposed amendments will definitely reduce the burden on the judiciary, especially given the plethora of cases seeking permission for abortion beyond the prescribed duration of 20 weeks.
    • Two types of Court cases: The court cases are broadly two types.
      • The first group of cases: These are pregnancies that extend beyond 20 weeks of gestation as a result of rape, incest or of minor women.
      • The new Act rightly addresses these by extending prescribed period abortion to 24 weeks.
      • However, such cases form a minuscule proportion of the total number. For such cases, even the 24-week cap can be done away with, provided the abortions can be safely done.
      • The second group of cases
      • These are of pregnancies that become unwanted after congenital foetal anomalies are found upon testing.
      • With advancements in prenatal foetal screening/diagnostic technologies, more such cases are knocking at the doors of courts.
      • Marginal interval under the current act: Anomalies detected at 17-20 weeks provide only a marginal interval to conduct an abortion under the current Act.
      • The extension to 24 weeks seems to give cover to these cases for abortion services, reducing the burden on courts.

    How the law could be misused?

    • Possibility of using any anomaly as a ground for abortion: The amendments have opened up the possibility for any congenital anomaly to be used as grounds for abortion.
      • Anomalies which are incompatible with life provide grounds for access to abortion at any time during pregnancy -not just 24 weeks of gestation-as long as the woman desires it and it doesn’t endanger her health.
      • But with advancements in diagnostic technologies, more anomalies will be detected, including those which are compatible with life.
    • Social acceptability and anomaly: What constitutes an anomaly changes depending on what is considered socially desirable.
      • Issue of raising children with disability: Technology-aided detection of “undesirability” could now find social support, as has been the case with female foetuses.
      • This raises concerns that raising children with disability, especially in the absence of state support and poor social attitudes, could go down a similar path.

    The risk to the life of women

    • Abortion beyond 12 weeks carries serious health risks.
      • 12 weeks provision under current law: Current law requires the expert opinion of two registered medical practitioners for the abortion beyond 12 weeks.
        • Extending the limit to 20 weeks and risk involved: 12-week requirement has been delayed till 20 weeks, though the physiology of pregnancy and risks associated with procedures for second-trimester abortions haven’t changed significantly.
        • Possibility of more complications: Without the strengthening of public services, easing second-trimester abortions between 12-20 weeks opens the possibilities of more complications and endangers the life of the woman.

    Conclusion

    With congenital anomalies as a ground for abortion, the eugenic mindset of having socially desirable children could push more women into risky late abortions. The approach of medical boards advising courts in cases of late abortions under this Act will be critical to balancing women’s right to choose with risk to the woman and the motives for abortion. The rules framed under the Act must address this in no uncertain terms.

     

     

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  • Important Judgements In News

    [op-ed snap] Course correction for the Speaker’s office

    op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Parliament & State Legislatures

    Context 

    Recently the Supreme Court of India recommended that Parliament should rethink as to whether disqualification petitions ought to be entrusted to a Speaker as a quasi-judicial authority when such a Speaker continues to belong to a particular political party either de jure or de facto.

    What the SC recommended?

    • Provision of a ‘Permanent Tribunal’: The SC was of the opinion that Parliament may seriously consider a Constitutional amendment to substitute-
      • The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies with a ‘permanent Tribunal headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or a retired Chief Justice of a High Court.
      • Or some other outside independent mechanism.
    • What the ‘Permanent Tribunal’ achieve?
      • Impartiality and timely decisions: This is to ensure that such disputes are decided both swiftly and impartially.
      • Proper functioning of the democracy: It will give teeth to the provisions contained in the Tenth Schedule, which are so vital in the proper functioning of India’s democracy’.

    Range of functions of the Speaker

    • What is the nature of the duties of the Speaker?
      • Role under 10th schedule: Under 10th Schedule, the nature of duties of the Speaker, is as an “arbiter” or a “quasi-judicial body”. But it also extends to a range of its functions.
      • What other functions are performed by the Speaker? While facilitating the business of the House and to maintain decorum in the House, the Speaker has ‘extensive functions to perform in matters regulatory, administrative and judicial, falling under her domain.
      • She enjoys vast authority under the Constitution and the Rules, as well as inherently’.
      • Ultimate interpreter: She is the ‘ultimate interpreter and arbiter of those provisions which relate to the functioning of the House. Her decisions are final and binding and ordinarily cannot be easily challenged.
      • She decides the duration of debates, can discipline members and even override decisions by committees.
      • A representative of the House: She represents the collective voice of the House and is the sole representative of the House in the international arena’

    Issue of alleged bias

    • Allegations of bias by the Speaker: On several occasions, the Speaker’s role has been questioned on the allegation of bias. The office has been criticised for being an agent of pernicious partisan politics.
      • The Supreme Court has observed in Jagjit Singh versus State of Haryana“…certain questions have been raised about the confidence in the matter of impartiality on some issues having political overtones which are decided by the Speaker in his capacity as a Tribunal.”
    • As a minority view, Justice J.S. Verma in Kihoto Hollohan vs Zachillhu And Others observed: “The Speaker being an authority within the House and his tenure being dependent on the will of the majority therein, the likelihood of suspicion of bias could not be ruled out.”
    • What is the problem with the neutrality of the Speaker? Howsoever desirable the proposition of neutrality maybe, in the present circumstances, it would be unrealistic to expect a Speaker to completely abjure all party considerations.
      • Structural issues: There are structural issues regarding the manner of appointment of the Speaker and her tenure in office.
    • Why the Speaker prefers to maintain party membership: A member is appointed to the office of the Speaker if a motion nominating her is carried in the House.
      • Since the electoral system and conventions in India have ‘not developed to ensure protection to the office, there are cogent reasons for Speakers to retain party membership.
      • Elections are not always by consensus and there have been cases when different parties have fielded their own candidates.
      • All political parties campaign in the constituency of the Speaker.
      • Even if the Speaker is re-elected to the House, the office of the Speaker in India is still open for elections’.
    • Way forward
      • Revamp the structure: What is required is not merely incidental changes in the powers of the Speaker; rather a major revamp in the structure of the office itself is necessary.
      • How to ensure the neutrality of the Speaker? The scheme should be brought wherein Speakers should renounce all political affiliations, membership and activity once they have been elected, both within the Assembly and in the country as a whole.
    • Replicating the UK model:
    • Reference can be sought from the United Kingdom where the ‘main characteristic of the Speaker of the House of Commons is neutrality.
    • Once elected, the Speaker gives up all-partisan affiliation, as in other Parliaments of British tradition, but remains in office until retirement, even though the majority may change.
    • She does not express any political views during debates and is an election candidate without any ticket.
    • Impartiality, fairness and autonomy in decision-making are the hallmarks of a robust institution.
    • It is the freedom from interference and pressures which provide the necessary atmosphere where one can work with an absolute commitment to the cause of neutrality as a constitutional value.

    Conclusion

    At a time when India’s fall in ranks in the latest Democracy Index has evoked concern, it is expected that Parliament will pay heed to the reasoning of the Supreme Court and take steps to strengthen the institution of the Speaker.

     

     

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  • Issues related to Economic growth

    [op-ed snap] Fashioning the framework of a New India

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Inclusive Growth & Issues,Indian Economy

    Context

    As the Indian economy is going through a severe crisis, a major solution to the present economic crisis is to go in for inclusive growth; it also means shared prosperity.

    Where India stands on poverty and how the slowdown is impacting the poor.

    • Bottom 30-40% adversely impacted: The slowing economy has had an adverse impact on the bottom 30%-40% of the population.
      • Absolute poverty on the rise: The incidence of absolute poverty, which has been falling since 1972-73, has increased to 30% (4% jump).
    • 44% population below the multi-dimensional Poverty line: The Human Development Report (2019) has shown, more than 44% of the Indian population is under the multi-dimensional poverty line.
    • Rising inequality: The poorest 50% population at present owns only 4.1% of the national wealth.
      • While the richest 10% of people own 73% of the total wealth in India (Suisse Credit 2019).
    • Rampant malnourishment: India has 15.2% population malnourished (women 15%) as against 9.3% in China.
      • And 50% of the malnourished children in the world are in India.
    • At 112th position on global hunger: India’s global hunger rank has gone up to 112 while Brazil is 18, China is 25 and South Africa, 59.
    • Dismal performance on education: In the field of education as per a UN report (2015), overall literacy in India is 74.04% (more than the 25% are totally illiterate) against 94.3% in South Africa, 96.6% in China and 92.6% in Brazil.
      • Almost 40-45% population is either illiterate or has studied up to standard 4.
    • Poor quality of education: Given the quality of education in India, the overall population is very poorly educated, with the share of ‘educated unemployment’ rising by leaps and bounds.

    What needs to be realised?

    • Focus on domestic demand: It needs to be realised that when exports are declining, the economy will have to depend on domestic demand for growth.
      • It is no more feasible for the top 20-25% population to continue growing without depending on the demand from the bottom 40-45% population.
    • Demand by the bottom 40% a must: There is thus a strong reason now for the economy to increase effective demand of this bottom 40-45% population at least to continue growing-to reach a $5-trillion economy by 2024.

    What is wrong with the growth process?

    • Bottom 40% not getting the fair share of growth: A major reason for the crisis is that the growth process has marginalised the bottom 40-plus% of the population.
      • It is in the sense that they do not get a fair share of the economic growth, and are more or less deprived of productive employment with a decent income.
      • They have not been used as active participants in the growth process. Their potential has not been promoted.
    • Less spending for the poor and its consequences: Though the bottom population depends on the government for basic health and elementary education (and also for access to higher educational opportunities)-
      • The government spends just 4% of GDP on health (against the norm of 4-6% of GDP) and 3% of GDP on education (against the norm of 6-8% of GDP).
      • How this dismal spending affects the poor: As a result of this below norm spending, these people are left hardly literate and sick, with poor nutrition and high morbidity.
      • They are incapable of acquiring any meaningful skills or participating actively when new technology is spreading in the rest of the economy.
    • The sub-optimal use of labour force: This sub-optimal use of the labour force in the economy is not likely to enable India to achieve optimal growth with proper use of the national resources -the labour force.

    Inclusive growth- a solution to the present economic crisis

    • Inclusive growth also includes shared prosperity: Here, inclusive growth does not mean only including all sections of the population in the growth process as producers and beneficiaries; it also means “shared prosperity”.
      • Since India has already committed to sustainable and inclusive growth at the UN General Assembly, India is definitely obliged to implement inclusive growth.
      • This should be our “New India”.
    • What “New India” would involve?
      • Improve the capability and opportunities: To start with, to improve the capabilities of the masses as well as their well-being by expanding productive employment opportunities for them.
      • What expanding productive employment mean? The main steps to expand productive employment for all in the economy should be made up of-
      • A process of inclusion.
      • Expanding the quality of basic health for all.
      • And ensuring quality education to all.
    • How will “New India” help?
      • Which will by itself generate large-scale employment in the government.
      • Having a well-educated and healthy labour force will ensure high employability.
      • Such people will be able to participate actively in the development process.
      • The cycle of more productive employment: Having a well-educated labour force will help start-ups and MSMEs, in turn triggering a cycle of more productive employment in the economy.
      • Global competitiveness increase: This will also improve the global competitiveness of our production units.
      • Labour absorption potential of MGNREGA: Employment guarantee schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will also increase employment.
        • Assets generated under MGNREGA will expand capital formation in the economy, thereby raising the labour-absorbing capacity of the mainstream economy.
      • Why this strategy is advantageous?
        • Such a strategy has multiple advantages:
        • First– it will raise incomes and the well-being of those who need it most urgently.
        • Second– it will raise effective demand rapidly, which is so badly needed in the economy today to raise economic growth.
        • Third– growth will be equitable and sustainable.

    Way forward

    • Finally, how does one raise resources to increase new public investments in the selected sectors?
    • Raise direct taxes: One major strategy is to raise direct taxes, both capital tax and wealth tax.
      • Past growth has failed to reach the poor: Growth led by providing tax cut and extra incentives, but this growth does not much percolate to the poor.
      • Consequently, taxing the rich has to be a major strategy to raise government revenue.
    • Treat public expenditure as an investment: The public expenditure on raising capabilities should be treated as social investment rather than social welfare, policymakers will be willing to spend on this capital formation.
    • Let the fiscal deficit slip: Finally, there was no sound economic reason to control fiscal deficit ratio. Sound macroeconomics never supports this.

     

     

     

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  • Defence Sector – DPP, Missions, Schemes, Security Forces, etc.

    Defence Bill in Budget

    | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Government Budgeting

     

    The Union Budget for 2020-21 has allocated Rs 1,33,825 crore to defence pensions. This is up by 10½ times in a decade and a half, from Rs 12,715 crore in 2005-06.

    The ‘hype’ of defence pension

    • The allocation of Rs 1,33, 826 crore is 4.4% of the total expenditure of the central government or 0.6% of GDP.
    • And of the overall allocation made to the Defence Ministry, 28.4% goes towards pensions.
    • So sharply has the bill for defence pensions gone up that it is now Rs 15,291 crore more than the Defence Ministry’s total capital expenditure, a bulk of which goes towards modernization of the armed forces.
    • It now nearly equals the salaries bill for Defence Ministry. The more the government spends on salaries and pensions, the less it can spend on modernizing the armed forces.
    • To put it in perspective, the government’s spending on education is Rs 99,300 crore and on health is Rs 69,000 crore.
    • To compare it with other sectors, the government’s rural employment scheme MGNREGA has an allocation of only Rs 61,500 crore — 46% of the bill for defence pensions.

    Why the bill is high?

    • As per the Defence Ministry, there are about 26 lakh armed forces pensioners and family pensioners and approximately 55,000 pensioners are added every year.
    • In 2015, the government announced the OROP (One Rank, One Pension) scheme which cost it Rs 8,600 crore.
    • The implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations in 2017 again increased the defence pensions bill.

    What makes defense pensions distinct?

    • Defence pensions are unique in many ways. Defence personnel retire at a young age and thus continue to get pensions for a longer period of time than their civilian counterparts.
    • The current ratio of military pensioners to serving military personnel is 1.7 to 1, while the ratio of civil pensioners to civil working personnel is 0.56 to 1.
    • This ratio in defence is projected to further change as life expectancy in India goes up and retired personnel live far longer than earlier.
    • All civilian employees in the government who joined service on or after 1 January 2004 do not get an assured pension but come under the ambit of the contributory National Pension Scheme (NPS).
    • That is meant to reduce the pensions bill of the government on the civilian side, but military personnel have been excluded from the ambit of the NPS because of their short service span.

    Where this can lead to

    • With economic growth stalling and competing requirement from development and infrastructure sectors, the government is being hard-pressed for the last rupee in its kitty.
    • The defence services themselves need more funds to modernize themselves but are struggling with budgetary allocations.
    • In such a scenario, attention is likely to come to the fast-rising defence pensions bill.

    Feasible solutions

    • The short-term answer to keep the bill frozen at the same level is to increase the retirement age of serving military personnel and stop the rise in number of pensioners.
    • But at a time when the country is facing unemployment at an all-time high, stopping recruitment for a few years will worsen the situation.
    • The other solution is to send the retired military personnel to paramilitary forces but those forces, too, need to stay young and have not accepted the proposal.
    • That would also pose the problem of recruitment in a time of high unemployment, as in the case of increase in retirement age of military personnel.

    Conclusion

    • The sharply rising defence pensions bill, however, has become a challenge that cannot be ignored any longer.
    • Unless India’s economy grows at a double-digit rate, it will not be possible to furnish this bill and still modernize the armed forces.
    • There are no easy answers to the challenge, and the answer will have to come from the top political leadership.

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  • Intellectual Property Rights in India

    Global Intellectual Property Index 2020

    IOCR | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Intellectual Property Rights

    India has been ranked 40th out of 53 countries on a global intellectual property index, even as the country has shown improvement in terms of scores when it comes to the protection of IP and copyright issues.

    GIP Index

    • The Global IP Index was released by Global Innovation Policy Center or GIPC of the US Chambers of Commerce.
    • The GIPC Index consists of five key sets of indicators to map the national intellectual property environment for the surveyed countries.
    • The major indicator categories are:
    1. patents, related rights, and limitations;
    2. copyrights, related rights, and limitations;
    3. trademarks, related rights, and limitations;
    4. enforcement;
    5. membership and ratification of international treaties.

    India’s performance

    • India was placed at 36th position among 50 countries in 2019.
    • India’s score, however, increased from 36.04 per cent (16.22 out of 45) in 2019 to 38.46 per cent (19.23 out of 50) in 2020, a 2.42 per cent jump in absolute score.
    • However, India’s relative score increased by 6.71 per cent.
    • India also continues to score well in the Systemic Efficiency indicator, scoring ahead of 28 other economies in these indicators.

    Challenges for India

    • GIPC has identified several challenges for India. Prominent among them are:

    Patentability requirements, patent enforcement, compulsory licensing, patent opposition, regulatory data protection, transparency in reporting seizures by customs, and Singapore Treaty of Law of TMs and Patent Law Treaty

    Measures to protect IPs in India

    • Since the release of the 2016 National IPR Policy, the government of India has made a focused effort to support investments in innovation and creativity through increasingly robust IP protection and enforcement.
    • Since 2016, India has improved the speed of processing for patent and trademark applications, increased awareness of IP rights among Indian innovators and creators, and facilitated the registration and enforcement of those rights.
    • To continue this upward trajectory, much work remains to be done to introduce transformative changes to India’s overall IP framework and take serious steps to consistently implement strong IP standards.

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  • Police Reforms – SC directives, NPC, other committees reports

    Supreme Court panel recommends several prison reforms

    SC Judgements | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    The Supreme Court has taken up a report on Prison Reforms for hearing on before a Bench led by CJI Sharad A. Bobde.

    About the Committee

    • The court had in September 2018 appointed the Justice Roy Committee to examine the various problems plaguing prisons, from overcrowding to lack of legal advice to convicts to issues of remission and parole.
    • Besides Justice Roy, a former Supreme Court judge, the members included an IG, Bureau of Police Research and Development, and the DG (Prisons), Tihar Jail.

    Various recommendations

    • Every new prisoner should be allowed a free phone call a day to his family members to see him through his first week in jail.
    • This is among the several recommendations — besides modern cooking facilities, canteens to buy essential items and trial through video-conferencing.
    • The report described the preparation of food in kitchens as “primitive and arduous”.
    • The kitchens are congested and unhygienic and the diet has remained unchanged for years now.

    Staffing the prisons

    • The court said overcrowding is a common bane in the under-staffed prisons. The Prison Department has a perennial average of 30%-40% vacancies.
    • Both the prisoner and his guard equally suffer human rights violation.

    Speedy trial

    • The undertrial prisoner, who is yet to get his day in court, suffers the most, languishing behind bars for years without a hearing.
    • Speedy trial remains one of the best ways to remedy the unwarranted phenomenon of over-crowding.
    • The report concluded that most prisons are “teeming with undertrial prisoners”, whose numbers are highly disproportionate to those of convicts.
    • It said there should be at least one lawyer for every 30 prisoners.

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Kumbhabishegam at Brahadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur

    Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

     

    • Tens of thousands of pilgrims thronged Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery delta to witness the Kumbhabishegam (consecration) ceremony at the Sri Brahadeeswarar Temple.
    • This enormously significant event was held after 23 years — and after the Madras High Court had settled an old argument over the ritual purification process only five days previously.
    • The judgment delivered by the Madurai Bench of the court addressed the struggle for supremacy between the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions.

    Sri Brahadeeswarar Temple and Kumbhabishegam ceremony

    • The Sri Brahadeeswarar Temple (also spelt Brihadisvara, and called Peruvudaiyar Koyil, which translates simply to ‘Big Temple’) is the most famous of the many temples in Thanjavur.
    • The temple, one of the world’s largest and grandest, was built between 1003 AD and 1010 AD by the great Chola emperor Raja Raja I (c. 985-1014 AD).

    Before the High Court

    • The court, in a dispute over which language should be used in the slokas at the kumbhabishegam, agreed with the state government’s affidavit that the ceremony should be in both Sanskrit and Tamil.
    • The Temple committee had demanded that the Kumbhabishegam should be held only in Tamil.
    • The court ruled the choice to be vested with the devotees to seek for their archanas to be performed at their wishes by chanting the manthras either in Tamil or in Sanskrit.

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  • Water Management – Institutional Reforms, Conservation Efforts, etc.

    Energy stored in wastewater

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    The world generates about 380 trillion litres (tl) wastewater every year. These stores vast amounts of energy, nutrients for fertilizers besides, of course, water, according to recent study by the UN Institute for Water Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).

    Energy in wastewater

    • In principle, nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium recovered from wastewater produced annually can offset 13.4 per cent of global demand to produce fertilizers.
    • Assuming full-energy recovery, the study estimated, current wastewater volume could provide enough methane fuel to power 196 million households by 2030 and 239 million households by 2050.
    • Usable water reclaimed from wastewater can irrigate up to 31 million hectares (mha) of land, the study claimed.
    • The volume of wastewater being generated is projected to rise roughly 24 per cent by 2030 to 470 tl and 51 per cent by 2050 to 574 tl.
    • Treating wastewater efficiently can go a long way in achieving the UN-mandated sustainable development goals (SDG).

    About UNU-INWEH

    • UNU-INWEH acts as the “UN Think Tank on Water” and contributes to the resolution of the global water challenge through a unique programme of applied research and education.
    • It conceives, develops, and manages water initiatives that help developing countries build their capacity for lasting improvements in human and ecosystem health, and overall reduction in poverty.
    • The  University is not a traditional university in the sense of having a faculty, campus, or students.
    • They respond directly to the regional and global water crisis and facilitate efforts to meet UN Development goals by providing a scientific evidence base.
    • UNU-INWEH carries out its work in cooperation with other research institutions, international organizations, individual scholars, and scientists throughout the world.

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