01 Aug 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

B. GS 2 Related

Category: EDUCATION

1. KVs unlikely to change medium of instruction

Context:

The Union Cabinet has approved the new National Education Policy.

For Key Highlights of the National Education Policy, click here.

Details:

• One of the recommendations of the New Education Policy is that the medium of instruction will be in Home Language/Mother tongue/Regional Language till at least Grade 5, and preferably till Grade 8 and beyond.
• The RTE Act 2009 also states that the medium of instruction, as far as practicable, shall be the mother tongue.
• The Centre is unlikely to implement the recommendations regarding the medium of instruction in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) or in schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education.
  • KVs are directly controlled by the Education Ministry.
• It is because the KVs and CBSE schools cater to the needs of people in transferable jobs and hence, it would not be practical to use students’ mother tongues or regional languages as the medium of instruction.
• It is up to the State governments to decide on how this would be implemented in schools under their jurisdiction.
  • Education is a Concurrent Subject.
• In private unaided schools, parents’ choice with regard to the medium of instruction would prevail.

E. Editorials

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Diluting the EIA process spells a path of no return

The editorial talks about the 2020 draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification and the reasons why it has widely been criticised.

What is Environment Impact Assessment?

• Environmental Impact Assessment or EIA is the process or study which predicts the effect of a proposed industrial/infrastructural project on the environment.
• It prevents the proposed activity/project from being approved without proper oversight or taking adverse consequences into account.

Environment Impact Assessment in India:

• A signatory to the Stockholm Declaration (1972) on Environment, India enacted laws to control water (1974) and air (1981) pollution soon after.
• But it was only after the Bhopal gas leak disaster in 1984 that the country legislated an umbrella act for environmental protection in 1986.
• Under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, India notified its first EIA norms in 1994, setting in place a legal framework for regulating activities that access, utilise, and affect (pollute) natural resources.
• Every development project has been required to go through the EIA process for obtaining prior environmental clearance ever since.
• The 1994 EIA notification was replaced with a modified draft in 2006.
• The 2006 draft attempted to decentralise the process. It increased the number of projects that required an environmental clearance, but also created appraisal committees at the level of both the Centre and States, the recommendations of which were made a qualification for a sanctioning. The programme also mandated that pollution control boards hold a public hearing to glean the concerns of those living around the site of a project.
• In early 2020, the government redrafted it again to incorporate the amendments and relevant court orders issued since 2006, and to make the EIA “process more transparent and expedient.”

Concerns being raised:

Critics opine that the new draft is riddled with problems.

• It enables a sweeping clearance system to a number of critical projects that previously required an EIA of special rigour. They will, under the new notification, be subject to less demanding processes. These include aerial ropeways, metallurgical industries, and a raft of irrigation projects, among others.
• It proposes to bolster the government’s discretionary power while limiting public engagement in safeguarding the environment.
• While projects concerning national defence and security are naturally considered strategic, the government gets to decide on the “strategic” tag for other projects.
  • The 2020 draft says no information on “such projects shall be placed in the public domain”.
• The new draft exempts a long list of projects from public consultation.
  • Linear projects such as roads and pipelines in border areas will not require any public hearing.
  • The border area (is defined as “area falling within 100 kilometres aerial distance from the Line of Actual Control with bordering countries of India) would cover much of the Northeast, the repository of the country’s richest biodiversity.
• All inland waterways projects and expansion/widening of national highways will be exempt from prior clearance.
  • These include roads that cut through forests and dredging of major rivers.
• It also does away with the need for public consultation for a slew of different sectors, negating a redeeming feature of the 2006 notification.
• The two most significant changes in the new draft are the provisions for post-facto project clearance and abandoning the public trust doctrine.
  • Projects operating in violation of the Environment Act will now be able to apply for clearance.
  • All a violator will need are two plans for remediation and resource augmentation corresponding to 1.5-2 times the ecological damage assessed and economic benefit derived due to violation.
  • In an order, the Supreme Court held “ex post facto environmental clearances” contrary to law.
• Violations have to be reported either by a government authority or the developers themselves. There is no scope for any public complaint about violations.

Read more about the objections raised by the former Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh to the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2020. Click here.

Conclusion:

There is no doubt that a mere strengthening of the existing EIA norms will not by itself be sufficient. There is a need for a renewed vision for the country; one that sees the protection of the environment as not merely a value unto itself but as something even more foundational to our democracy.
Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. War and talks

Context:

Afghanistan’s government and the Taliban have announced a three-day ceasefire for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.

Background:

• Under the US-Taliban deal signed in February 2020, the Afghan government is supposed to release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners while the insurgents would free about 1,000 Afghan security force personnel.
• The prison swap was delayed because of a political feud between President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah. Subsequently, both leaders reached a power-sharing deal.

This topic has been covered in the 18^th May 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis. Click here to read.

Details:

• The ceasefire decision comes as a relief for Afghans who have seen unabated violence.
• This is the third official respite since the war started in 2001.
  • In June 2018 and May 2020, the Taliban had briefly ended hostilities to mark the end of the holy month of Ramzan.
  • On both occasions, it refused to extend the ceasefire, returning to war as soon as the celebrations were over.

Significance:

• At present, hopes are high that the truce could be extended as Kabul and the insurgents are preparing to launch the intra-Afghan talks that were promised in the U.S.-Taliban deal.
• Both sides have now agreed to kick-start talks after Id and they could do it in a peaceful environment if the ceasefire is extended.

Concerns:

There are underlying issues that continue to plague the peace process.

• When the U.S. entered into talks with the insurgent group, it did not insist on a ceasefire. So the Taliban continues to engage in war and talks simultaneously.
• The Americans, badly looking for a way out of the conflict, kept the Afghan government out of the peace process.
• After the U.S.-Taliban agreement was signed in February 2020, according to which the U.S. agreed to pull out its troops in return for security assurances from the Taliban, the onus was on a weakened Afghan government to start talks even as the Taliban continued attacks.
• Infighting made matters worse for the government.
  • The presidential election saw a record low turnout.
  • The results, announced months later, were contested by the main opposition candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, who formed a parallel administration.
  • He backed off, but only after being appointed the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation that will lead talks with the Taliban.
• These factors allowed a resurgent Taliban to maintain the upper hand in both war and in talks.

Q1. Consider the following statements with respect to the President of India:

Q2. Mullaperiyar Dam dispute is between which of the following states?

Q3. Arrange the following core sectors in the ascending order of their respective weights 
in the Index of Industrial Production:

Q4. Consider the following statements:

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

1. Achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan will require patience and compromise among all parties. In light of this statement, discuss the challenges involved in the Afghan peace process. (15 Marks, 250 Words).
2. Outline the evolution of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) in India and critically examine the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020. (15 Marks, 250 Words).

Read the previous CNA here.