1 April 2018: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS1 Related
SOCIAL ISSUES
1. International Transgender Day of Visibility
B. GS2 Related
POLITY
1. Contempt proceedings against Centre by Tamilnadu in Cauvery issue
C. GS3 Related
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Insight Mission
2. Sarmat
D. GS4 Related
F. Prelims Fact
G. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
H. UPSC Mains Practice Questions 

A. GS1 Related

International Transgender Day of Visibility

• It is an annual event occurring on March 31
• It is dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide.

Incidents of discrimination

• Shanavi Ponnusamy, a transwoman from Tamil Nadu, wrote to the President alleging that Air India had denied her a cabin crew job despite her clearing the written exam
• Prithika Yashini, the first transwoman Sub-Inspector of Police in India. It took an order from the Madras High Court for the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board to appoint her.
• Manabi Bandopadhyay, a transgender who was appointed as India’s first college principal in 2015. However, she resigned from the post in 2016 citing “immense mental pressure” due to continued agitations against her by faculty and students. Nevertheless, her resignation wasn’t accepted and she remains the principal.

Stats

• The 2011 Indian census estimates the country’s transgender population to be over 500,000 and trans activists declare that the number is much higher.

 

Supreme Court recognizes transgender as third gender

• The Bench said “recognition of transgender as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue. Transgenders are also citizens of India. The spirit of the Constitution is to provide equal opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their potential, irrespective of caste, religion or gender.
• Supreme Court recognized transgender as the third gender and safeguarding their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.

 

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016

Definition

• The Bill defines a transgender person as one who is partly female or male; or a combination of female and male; or neither female nor male.  In addition, the person’s gender must not match the gender assigned at birth, and includes trans-men, trans-women, persons with intersex variations and gender-queers.
  • The definition of ‘transgender persons’ in the Bill is at variance with the definitions recognised by international bodies and experts in India.
  • The Bill includes terms like ‘trans-men’, ‘trans-women’, persons with ‘intersex variations’ and ‘gender-queers’ in its definition of transgender persons. However, these terms have not been defined.

Details

• A transgender person must obtain a certificate of identity as proof of recognition of identity as a transgender person and to invoke rights under the Bill.
• Such a certificate would be granted by the District Magistrate on the recommendation of a Screening Committee. The Committee would comprise a medical officer, a psychologist or psychiatrist, a district welfare officer, a government official, and a transgender person.
  • This is in stark contrast to the 2014 Bill which gives individuals the right to self-identify their sex.
• Certain criminal and personal laws that are currently in force only recognize the genders of ‘man’ and ‘woman’. It is unclear how such laws would apply to transgender persons who may not identify with either of the two genders.
• It is silent on the count of police violence against the community, which serves as an important reason why the community is relegated to the margins in India.

Penal Actions

• The Bill prohibits discrimination against a transgender person in areas such as education, employment, and healthcare. It directs the central and state governments to provide welfare schemes in these areas.
• Offences like compelling a transgender person to beg, denial of access to a public place, physical and sexual abuse, etc. would attract up to two years’ imprisonment and a fine.

Recommendation

• The Bill recommends the formation of a National Council for Transgender Persons that is tasked with monitoring and evaluating policies formulated for transgender persons.
• Right of residence: Every transgender person shall have a right to reside and be included in his household.  If the immediate family is unable to care for the transgender person, the person may be placed in a rehabilitation centre, on the orders of a competent court.

What needs to be done?

• An enabling environment needs to be created, be it in education institutes or workplaces. This can only be achieved by sensitising the workforce in protecting the rights and dignity of the community.

• The failure of the center to set up Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee as per the Judgment of SC has made Tamilnadu initiate contempt proceedings against the Union government

Elections in the state of Karnataka

• The center has asked for a three month extension to implement the verdict as election process has been initiated in Karnataka and they fear it would lead to “public outrage” and “cause law and order problems.”

Center seeks clarification from SC

• Centre asked SC to clarify whether it was open to it to frame a scheme “at variance” with the tribunal’s recommendations. It wanted to know whether a CMB can have a mixture of administrative and technical expertise rather than the purely technical body envisaged by the tribunal.
• Secondly, the Centre asked whether it could accord the CMB functions different from those recommended by the tribunal.
• Finally, the Centre asked the Supreme Court for its opinion on the framing of the scheme under Section 6A of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956, considering the divergent views expressed between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
  • Tamil Nadu wants the CMB as per the 2007 tribunal order, while
  • Karnataka wants a two-layer scheme, one headed by a committee led by the Union Water Resources Secretary.

C. GS3 Related

• InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup
• It is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core
• Studying Mars’ interior structure answers key questions about the early formation of rocky planets in our inner solar system – Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars – more than 4 billion years ago, as well as rocky exoplanets. InSight also measures tectonic activity and meteorite impacts on Mars today.
• This mission is part of NASA’s Discovery Program for highly focused science missions that ask critical questions in solar system science.
• It will be the first Nasa mission since the Apollo moon landings to place a seismometer, on the soil of another planet
• This is the first launch to another planet from the West Coast.

Study Quakes

• It will use seismology (the study of quakes) to determine the makeup and structure of the Red Planet’s core, mantle, and crust.
• Currently, we know that Mars’ crust consists of lighter rocks and minerals, while heavier materials sank down to form its core and mantel.
• To learn more about its internal composition, the lander will use specialized instruments to observe seismic waves during “marsquakes.”

• It is heavy intercontinental ballistic missile of Russia
• Sarmat is intended to replace the Soviet-designed Voyevoda, the world’s heaviest ICBM that is known as ‘Satan’ in the West.
• The new ICBM accelerates faster than its predecessor, making it harder for the enemy to intercept in its most vulnerable phase after the launch.

 

G. Practice Questions for UPSC Prelims Exam

Question 1. Sarmat is an intercontinental ballistic missile from

Question 2. Which of the following is correctly matched?

Question 3. Consider the following statements with respect to Insight 
Mission

Question 4. With reference to Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana consider the following statements

Question 5. Consider the following statements with respect to South Asian Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP)

H. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

Also, check previous Daily News Analysis