31 Aug 2018: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS1 Related

B. GS2 Related

• The Law Commission of India recommended holding of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies to save public money.
• The Commission, in draft recommendations, said simultaneous polls would help the government of the day focus on “developmental activities rather than in electioneering.”

Policy implementation

• The exercise would also stop the drain on the administrative set-up and security forces.
• Simultaneous elections would further ensure better implementation of government policies on time.
• The Commission said the draft recommendations were published as the issue was of magnitude.
• This draft is a product of a balanced view taken by the Commission after receiving public suggestions in favour and against simultaneous polls.
• The Commission said simultaneous polls should be achieved by introducing “bare minimum” constitutional amendments and with the ratification of the States.
• As one of the options, the Commission recommends that elections to 12 State Assemblies and one Union Territory (with legislature) can be synchronised with the general elections in 2019.
• Simultaneous polls can be achieved if there is “political will” and if the States “agree voluntarily.”
• It said elections to the Assemblies of five States are due with the elections to the Lok Sabha and therefore already stand synchronised. 
• It suggests amending the Constitution to realise this objective.
• The commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice B.S. Chauhan, says opinions and suggestions should come in by May 8, 2018.

• The commission says simultaneous elections were held in the country during the first two decades after Independence up to 1967.
• Dissolution of certain Assemblies in 1968 and 1969 followed by the dissolution of the Lok Sabha led to the “disruption of the conduct of simultaneous elections.”
• The panel refers to a January 2017 working paper of the NITI Aayog on simultaneous elections.
• The white paper contains a series of “possible recommendations” of the commission.
• The first among these is that “simultaneous elections may be restored in the nation by amending the Constitution, Representation of the People Act of 1951 and the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha and Assemblies.”
• It recommends that in 2019, the election could be held in phases.
• In the first phase, it says, elections to the legislatures which are scheduled to go for polls synchronous with the Lok Sabha in 2019 could be held together.
• The rest of the States could go to elections in proximity with the Lok Sabha elections of 2024.
• Citing no-confidence motion and premature dissolution of House as major roadblocks to simultaneous elections, the commission says the parties which introduce the no-confidence motion should simultaneously give a suggestion for an alternative government.
• It even suggests the relaxation of the “rigours” of the anti-defection law in the Tenth Schedule to prevent a stalemate in the Lok Sabha or Assemblies in case of a hung Parliament or Assembly.
• The panel says that in case of mid-term elections, the new Lok Sabha or Assembly would only serve the remainder of the term of the previous Lok Sabha/Assembly and not a fresh term of five years.
• The commission says the Centre should get the Constitutional amendments, if agreed upon, to be ratified by all the States so as to avoid any challenge to them.
• It also says that the Prime Minister/Chief Minister should be “elected” to lead by the full House like the Lok Sabha Speaker.

• The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed displeasure over the Centre not furnishing details sought by it on setting up of special courts to exclusively deal with cases involving politicians, saying the government is “unprepared.”
• The Centre has said the Ministry of Law and Justice was “regularly taking up the matter with the concerned authorities for furnishing the information regarding the cases transferred/disposed/pending in the said court(s).”
• The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on September 12.
• The top court was hearing the petition filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking to declare provisions of the RPA, which bar politicians from contesting polls for six years after serving a jail term, as ultra vires of the Constitution.

About 124A

• Sedition — Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with 1imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.
• The expression “disaffection” includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity.
• Comments expressing disapprobation of the measures of the Government with a view to obtain their alteration by lawful means, without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section.
• Comments expressing disapprobation of the administrative or other action of the Government without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section.
• Punishment—Imprisonment for life and fine, or imprisonment for 3 years and fine, or fine—Cognizable—Non-bailable—Triable by Court of Session—Non- compoundable.
• The offence of sedition under section 124A is the doing of certain acts which would bring the Government established by law in India into hatred or contempt, or create disaffection against it.

Views of Law Commission

• Dissent and criticism of the government are essential ingredients of a robust public debate in a vibrant democracy, the Law Commission of India said.
• The Commission, which is the Centre’s topmost advisory body on laws, headed by former Supreme Court judge, Justice B.S. Chauhan, published a consultation paper recommending that it is time to re-think or even repeal the provision of sedition (Section 124A) from the Indian Penal Code.

Right to free speech

• The Commission has invited public opinion on the prospect of either redefining or doing away with Section 124A in the “largest democracy of the world, considering that right to free speech and expression is an essential ingredient of democracy.”
• Why should India retain sedition when the British, who introduced sedition to oppress Indians, have themselves abolished the law in their country, the Commission asked. Sedition attracts imprisonment from three years to life.
• The Commission said an “expression of frustration over the state of affairs cannot be treated as sedition.”

Safety valve

• The consultation paper was published a day after the Supreme Court lashed out at the government, saying dissent is the safety valve of democracy, while hearing a petition challenging the pan-India crackdown and arrests of five activists.
• For merely expressing a thought that is not in consonance with the policy of the government of the day, a person should not be charged under the Section
• If the country is not open to positive criticism, there lies little difference between the pre- and post-independence eras.
• Right to criticise one’s own history and the right to offend are rights protected under free speech. While it is essential to protect national integrity, it should not be misused as a tool to curb free speech, the Commission said in its consultation paper.
• In a democracy, singing from the same songbook is not a benchmark of patriotism. People should be at liberty to show their affection towards their country in their own way, the Commission said.
• It said every restriction on free speech and expression must be carefully scrutinised to avoid unwarranted restrictions.
• But the Commission has also posed the query that if contempt of court invites penal action, should “contempt of government” also attract punishment.
• The Commission asks whether it would be “worthwhile” to rename Section 124A and find a “suitable substitute” for the term ‘sedition’.

• The Centre on Thursday announced another annual ranking of higher educational institutions, based on how they fare in terms of innovation.
• The new ranking – named Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) – will be formally launched on October 15, the birth anniversary of former President APJ Abdul Kalam. The first results will be declared on February 28, 2019, which is also Science Day.
• Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar announced the institution of the new ranking, which will work parallel to the overall ranking of institutions captured by the annual National Institutional Ranking Framework.
• A senior official said that there was a slight distinction between research – which is crucial in the NIRF framework – and innovation: research produces new knowledge while innovation puts that knowledge to use.
• ARIIA – named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee – will focus on: budget expenses and revenues generated; facilitating access to advance centres; ideas of entrepreneurship; innovation ecosystems supported through teaching and learning; and innovative solutions to improve governance of the institution.

About BIMSTEC 

• BIMSTEC includes countries of the Bay of Bengal region and seeks to act as a bridge between South and Southeast Asia. Originally formed as BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation) in 1997, it became BIMST-EC when Myanmar joined, and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) in 2004 with the inclusion of Nepal and Bhutan.
• Around 22% of the world’s population live in the seven countries around the Bay of Bengal, with a combined GDP close to $2.7 trillion.
• All seven countries have sustained average annual rates of growth between 3.4% and 7.5% from 2012 to 2016. A fourth of the world’s traded goods cross the bay every year.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the BIMSTEC member states, situated between the Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal, face frequent natural disasters such as flood, cyclone and earthquake, and called for “cooperation and coordination” among them in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.
• “As no single country can move alone for attaining peace, prosperity and development, we need to collaborate and cooperate with each other in this interconnected world,” he said.
• For research on art, culture and other subjects in the Bay of Bengal, India would set up a Centre for Bay of Bengal Studies at the Nalanda University, he said.
• Prime Minister Modi said India will host the International Buddhist Conclave in August 2020 and invited all BIMSTEC leaders to attend the event as guests of honour.
• He also said India was committed to enhance its national knowledge network in the field of digital connectivity in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
• India also plans to extend it to Myanmar and Thailand. Mr. Modi hoped that the BIMSTEC member states will attend the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi scheduled for October.

• China will join Russia in a giant military exercise, sending a message of deterrence to the U.S. which has designated Beijing and Moscow as “revisionist powers”.
• The five-day Vostok 2018 exercises, to be held from September 11, will be bigger than Zapad 81 — the mammoth manoeuvres carried out in Eastern Europe by the former Soviet Union in 1981. Mongolia will be the third country participating in the drills.
• The Vostok-2018 will involve 300,000 troops. They will engage in tri-service mock-operations, involving 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russia’s naval fleets and all its airborne units.
• Nearly 36,000 military vehicles will participate in the drills that will take place at Russia’s Tsugol training range in the trans-Baikal region.
• China will dispatch about 3,200 troops, along with more than 900 pieces of weaponry, as well as 30 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter, state-run Xinhua reported.
• These exercises are taking place amid Washington’s growing friction with Russia and China, which include mounting sanctions and a trade war.
• The Pentagon’s national defence strategy unveiled in January focused on Russia and China as principle strategic challenges to the U.S.
• In presenting the new strategy, U.S. Defence Secretary James Mattis called China and Russia “revisionist powers” that “seek to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models”.
• Russian foreign policy commentator Mark Sleboda was quoted by Sputnik as saying the upcoming exercises are “a clear indication to the U.S. that it’s a response to their national security strategy, as well as a response to U.S. and NATO posturing in the South China Sea, in the Taiwanese Straits, as well as the permanent stationing of troops that we are seeing on Russia’s western border”.

• The government pushed for reservation in promotion for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government services before the Supreme Court on Thursday, saying the stigma of their caste is still printed on their foreheads and affirmative action is needed to provide them equal opportunity.
• On the final day of hearing before a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal submitted that SC/ST community members continue to face discrimination in some form or the other.
• Venugopal dismissed the idea of the government having to provide “quantifiable data” to prove backwardness in order to provide quota in promotions.
• “They have suffered a thousand years of discrimination and still do,” Mr. Venugopal submitted before the Bench also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph, Rohinton Nariman, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Indu Malhotra.
• Justice Kurian asked when a caste or a group can be taken out of the backward list. “The moment they cease to be backward, Parliament takes them out. As long as they are in the list, they are presumed to be backward,” Justice Kurian observed orally.
• The government wants a larger Bench of the Supreme Court to set aside its 2006 judgment in the Nagaraj case.

Nagaraj case

• In the 2006 judgment, the Apex Court had held that it is not mandatory for the State to make reservations for SC/ST in matter of promotions. However, if the State did wish to exercise its discretion, it is supposed to gather quantifiable data showing.

C. GS3 Related

• ‘Archived’ heat trapped below the surface of the Arctic has the potential to melt the entire region’s sea ice, scientists warn.
• The study, published in the journal Science Advances, shows that Arctic sea ice is not just threatened by the melting of ice around its edges.
• Warmer water that originated hundreds of miles away has penetrated deep into the interior of the Arctic, researchers found.
• “We document a striking ocean warming in one of the main basins of the interior Arctic Ocean, the Canadian Basin,” said Mary-Louise Timmermans, a Professor at Yale University in the U.S. The upper ocean in the Canadian Basin has seen a two-fold increase in heat content over the past 30 years, the researchers said.
• They traced the source to waters hundreds of miles to the south, where reduced sea ice has left the surface ocean more exposed to summer solar warming. In turn, Arctic winds are driving the warmer water north, but below the surface waters.
• “This means the effects of sea-ice loss are not limited to the ice-free regions themselves, but also lead to increased heat accumulation in the interior of the Arctic Ocean that can have climate effects well beyond the summer season,” Ms. Timmermans said.
• “Presently this heat is trapped below the surface layer. Should it be mixed up to the surface, there is enough heat to entirely melt the sea-ice pack that covers this region for most of the year,” she said.

About Tsangpo

• Yarlung Tsangpo is the longest river of Tibet Autonomous Region, China.
• The part Tsangpo probably originates from the fact that the river flows from or through Tsang- encompassing the part of Tibet west of Lhasa.
• It is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River.
• Originating at Angsi Glacier in western Tibet, southeast of Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar, it later forms the South Tibet Valley and Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon before passing into the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India.
• Downstream from Arunachal Pradesh the river becomes phenomenally wider and is called the Siang. After reaching Assam, the river is known as Brahmaputra.
• From Assam, the river enters Bangladesh at Ramnabazar. From there until about 200 years ago it used to flow eastward and joined the Meghna River near Bhairab Upazila.
• This old channel has been gradually dying. At present the main channel of the river is called Jamuna River, which flows southward to meet Ganges, which in Bangladesh is called the Padma.
• When leaving the Tibetan Plateau, the River forms the world’s largest and deepest canyon, Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon.

In news 

• High discharge of water from China, the highest in 50 years, is threatening to submerge at least 12 villages along the river Siang in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Hydrological experts said the “unusually high” discharge indicates sudden release of water from man-made barriers or a natural dam that was formed due to landslides caused by major earthquakes in the Tibetan region of China in November 2017.
• Tatak, the Deputy Commissioner of Arunachal Pradesh’s East Siang district, had on Wednesday issued an advisory, warning the people of the 12 villages to be on alert because of the sudden surge in the Siang’s water level.
• The villages are near district headquarters Pasighat, about 560 km northeast of Guwahati.
• He cited a report received by New Delhi from the Chinese government, saying the Yarlung Zangbo (Tsangpo) was swelling with observed discharge of 9,020 cumec due to heavy rainfall in Tibet.
• But the “incremental discharge of 950 cumec” compared to a discharge of 8,070 cumec in the Tsangpo reported on August 14 “should not be a cause for panic”, he said.
• Laya Madduri, the Deputy Commissioner of Assam’s Dibrugarh district downstream of Siang, issued a similar alert in view of the rise in water levels.
• But people in the 12 vulnerable villages in Mebo circle of East Siang district are worried.
• The Siang has already eroded 12 acres in Borguli village while at least 10 families of Seram village nearby have dismantled their houses and shifted to a safer location.
• The government needs to come up with effective anti-erosion measures, besides talking to China, for ensuring safety of downstream areas in India.
• Guwahati-based water expert Partha Jyoti Das said agencies such as the Central Water Commission need to closely monitor the level and quality of Siang’s water.
• There is a lot of concern at the international, national and local levels about the geologically and strategically important Siang that impacts Bangladesh too.
• The unusualness lies in the highest discharge of water in decades.
• It has all the indications of water being suddenly released from a natural or man-made dam. When earthquakes triggered landslides and dammed Tsangpo last year resulting in Siang’s water turning muddy, many in India talked about sudden collapse of the earthen dam in the future leading to moderate to big flood downstream in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
• But there was no serious follow-up action by the government.
• Congress MP Ninong Ering, who represents Arunachal East in the Lok Sabha, attributed the turbidity of Siang’s water last year to China’s plan to divert Tsangpo to the parched Xinjiang province via a 1,000 km tunnel.

• Chanda Kochhar has been reappointed as a director on the board of ICICI Securities with ICICI Bank, which has a 79.22% stake in the broking and investment banking entity, voting in favour of the reappointment.
• Kochhar, who is in the midst of a probe by ICICI Bank and other regulatory agencies, was seeking reappointment as a director on the board of which she has been a part since October 2008.
• Kochhar, who is currently on leave, is facing conflict of interest allegations, with ICICI Bank setting up a panel under former Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna to look into the matter.
• Separately, the SEBI and the CBI are conducting inquiries into the matter involving the Videocon group and NuPower Renewables, a firm run by Ms. Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar.

D. GS4 Related

E. Editorials

Context:

The Reserve Bank of India’s annual report for 2017-18 reveals that 99.3% of currency notes that were demonetised at midnight on November 8, 2016 have returned to the banking system.

What does the figure suggest?

• The figures suggest demonetisation policy, which likely wiped at least 1% from the country’s GDP and cost at least 1.5m jobs, failed to wipe significant hordes of unaccounted wealth from the Indian economy
• The 99.3% is only marginally higher than its provisional estimate last year that over 99%. This clearly indicates that the government’s ultimate objective of demonetisation could not be fulfilled.
• The hope that a large chunk of unaccounted money would not return to the system was belied. As a result, the plan to transfer the arising surplus from the RBI to the Centre has no chance of being effective.
• The demonetisation exercise failed to address the problem of black money in the economy.
• The move was portrayed as a necessary shock therapy to knock out the corrupt rich. But, since there was logistical deficiency and difficulty in penalising those who converted black money into legal tender, demonetisation worked as an unintended amnesty scheme.

Benefits from the demonetisation activity:

• The number of income tax returns filed has surged a little over the trend growth rate. However, this could have been achieved by other policy measures.
• It has helped India move faster towards a digital economy. It will result in India actually skipping the branch phase of banking.
• Cashless modes of payment have become more common, but financial savings in the form of currency have also risen, suggesting that people still value cash.

What is the problem that still persists?

• Transactions with Rs. 2,000 notes in the absence of Rs. 1,000 notes are difficult as it is a departure from the currency denomination principle.
• Denomination Principle: every note should be twice or two and a half times its preceding denomination.

Conclusion:

• The government must not disown its biggest reform attempt or try to sidestep parliamentary scrutiny of the outcomes of demonetisation. Instead, it could focus on fixing the problems that people still face.
• True, there have been a few benefits from the demonetisation activity. But it was not worth the slowdown in growth, the damage to informal sector supply chains, and job losses in sectors such as construction that were the defensive walls of employment creation for the unskilled.
• Not all policy choices work out and accepting mistakes or planning flaws helps strengthen governance processes. For example, learning from the previous government’s mistakes, a cleaner auction process for natural resources has been worked out.
• The larger lesson to be learnt is that sudden shocks to the economy don’t always yield intended policy objectives.

Context:

• In August 2018, the Union Cabinet approved the policy to permit exploration and exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons such as Shale oil/gas, Coal Bed Methane (CBM) etc in contract areas that were primarily allocated for extracting conventional hydrocarbons.
• It was decided that it will be carried out under the existing Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs), CBM contracts and Nomination fields to encourage the existing Contractors in the licensed/leased area to unlock the potential of unconventional hydrocarbons in the existing acreages.

Extraction of Unconventional Hydro carbons (Hydraulic Fracturing):

• Unlike conventional hydrocarbons that can be sponged out of permeable rocks easily, shale gas is trapped under low permeable rocks.
• A mixture of ‘pressurised water, chemicals, and sand’ (shale fluid) is required to break low permeable rocks in order to unlock the shale gas reserves.
• The process requires around 5 to 9 million litres of water per extraction activity, posing a daunting challenge to India’s fresh water resources.

Issues:

1. A recent study from Duke University observes that from 2011 through 2016, the water use per well in the U.S. increased up to 770% resulting in some shale wells consuming up to 42 million litres of water per well. The study further conveys that over a period of time, the usage of water dramatically increases for extracting the same amount of shale gas from a well.

• The importance of clarity in water usage and the place of shale gas extraction in India is linked directly with water requirements of priority sectors like agriculture.
• The overall volume of fracture fluid is 5 to 10 times that of conventional hydraulic fracturing and the fracturing activities are likely to deplete water sources
• The guideline by Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) states that these challenges will be dealt while granting environmental clearances as per the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process. The EIA process, however, does not differentiate between conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons.
  • Sensing the regulatory gap, the DGH in its guideline proposes five new terms of reference relating to water issues in the fracking process that a project proponent must explain while applying for the environmental clearance.
  • However, these five reference points are not clearly expressed to resolve the water-specific issues posed by the fracking activities.
  • Despite acknowledging the enormity of water requirement for fracking activities, the DGH guideline fails to give a general estimate of water requirement per unit of shale gas over the lifetime of a shale well.

2. The flowback water causes pollution.

• Water cycle in a typical fracking process is different than other conventional hydrocarbon production activities.
• When shale fluid is injected underground at high pressure to fracture the rock, 5-50% (depending on the local geology) of the fluid returns to the surface, known as ‘flowback water’.
• Return flows continue as oil and gas is pumped from the well. The flowback water is usually methane-contaminated, and therefore it poses different recycling and leakage issues than usual wastewater.
• The Duke University study says, in the U.S., the flowback and produced water volumes generated within the first year of shale production increased up to 1,440% from 2011 through 2016.
• The DGH guideline again touches upon the exclusive nature of the flowback water but neither proposes any substantive treatment method nor recognises the increase in flowback water during repeated extraction of shale gas from a well over a period of time.

3. Shale rocks are usually adjacent to rocks containing useable/ drinking water known as ‘aquifers’.
   • As noted by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2017, while fracking, the shale fluid could possibly penetrate aquifers leading to methane poisoning of groundwater used for drinking and irrigational purposes.
   • Several researches conclude that such contamination can be controlled, if not avoided, provided a project proponent maintains a distance of 600 m between the aquifers and shale gas fracture zones.
   • Acknowledging this complexity and the myriad structures of aquifers in India, the DGH guideline states that a project proponent must “design and construct wells with proper barriers to isolate and protect groundwater”, but misses out on broadly describing the nature or properties of a barrier that can be considered ‘proper’ to isolate and protect the groundwater.
4. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), which generally releases sector-specific manual for environment clearance, is yet to come out with a manual specific to fracking activities.

Conclusion:

• Indian households and irrigation thrive on groundwater.
• Implementation of the fracking processes without a consultative thought through process, especially on ‘water usage policy’, may result in larger issues including water stress, contamination of groundwater, and related health hazards.
• But as the process stands today, we are missing an opportunity to comprehensively regulate the fracking process for a sustainable shale gas exploration in India.
• As a first step, A sector-specific environment impact assessment manual on exploration and production is needed.

Category: POLITY

1. Speeding up the adoption process

Question 1. Consider the following statements:

Question 2. Consider the following statements:

Question 3. Consider the following statements:

Question 4. Consider the following statements: