26 Dec 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

CNA 26 Dec 2020:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. EU envoys assess post-Brexit trade deal.
C. GS 3 Related
ENERGY
1. Russia backs increase in oil output by OPEC+ from Feb.
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
1. Nine in 10 employees in India ready for long-term ‘work from remote’: Dell study
SPACE
1. First set of data from Chandrayaan-2 released: ISRO
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
1. The fallout of keying in the wrong labour codes.
POLITY
1. Article 356 and an activist judiciary
F. F. Prelims Facts
G. Tidbits
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

Nothing here for today!!!

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. EU envoys assess post-Brexit trade deal.

Context:

• Britain and the European Union have agreed upon a trade deal that is going to govern the trade ties between the two in the future.

Details:

• The 11-month period termed the ‘Transition Period’ following the UK’s exit from the EU is coming to an end.
• The EU and UK have reached a post-Brexit trade deal, ending several months of disagreements.
• The U.K. will be leaving the bloc’s single market and customs union after decades long association.
• The trade deal will set out the terms of their new relationship and will regulate the on trade between the two sides starting January 1 2021.

The assessment of the deal.

• Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 nations convened to begin the assessment of the free trade deal the bloc has struck with erstwhile member Britain.
• The EU delegations have requested a time extension as they have to go into the nitty-gritties of the deal before making an assessment.

Significance of the deal

• The deal has been hailed as a historic one for a reason, in the absence of a trade deal there would have been several impediments in their trade ties.
• Both sides would have suffered economically from a failure to secure a trade deal, with the British economy taking a bigger hit at least in the near-term, as it is more reliant on trade with the EU than vice versa.

Benefits

• The deal will mean, there will be no tariffs or quotas on trade between the two sides, this is a big relief to the economy on both sides.
• However, there will be more red tape issues, bureaucratic hurdles for businesses because the U.K. is exiting the EU’s frictionless single market and customs union.
• Firms will have to file forms and customs declarations. There will also be different rules on product labelling as well as checks on agricultural products.
• The fishing issue was a bone of contention between the two, according to the terms of the deal, the EU will give up a quarter of the quota it catches in U.K. waters, far less than the 80% Britain initially demanded.
• The system will be phased in over 5 1/2 years, after which the quotas will be reassessed.

Conclusion:

• A lot of political and diplomatic capital has been invested in arriving at this deal, the ‘on paper’ assessment may give a fair idea about the working of the deal, but the practical working of the deal on the ground will show who is to benefit and who is to not.

Category: INDUSTRIAL GROWTH

1. Nine in 10 employees in India ready for long-term ‘work from remote’: Dell study

Context:

• A study was carried by Dell Technologies to see how the pandemic forced work from home is working

Details:

• The COVID-19 pandemic when it broke out and the lockdown that followed forced companies to shift to ‘work from remote’ mode.
• There have been positives and negatives to this mode of functioning.
• The Remote Work Readiness (RWR) survey, which covered more than 7,000 professionals across the region, including 1,027 people from India, captured data on employee readiness for long-term remote work and their views on factors important for its success

Takeaways from the study.

Positives of working from remote.

• A majority of employees in India is willing to work outside of the traditional office space, over the long term.
• The commuting time can be utilized for other things such as pursuing hobbies, spending time with families or working on fitness activities.
• The fear of the virus is unlikely to vanish in the near future, thus avoiding crowded workplace will ensure a lesser contagion effect.

Fallouts of working from remote.

• The study also found that these employees, however, said the new normal had blurred work-life boundaries.
• The study found that 91% of employees in India, as against 81% in the Asia Pacific and Japan, felt they were prepared for long-term remote work but encountered challenges in maintain productivity.
• Access to the required technologies was one other hindrance. Nine in 10 employees in India were prepared to work remotely for the long-term provided they had access to the right technology assets and human resources support.
• Another complaint that was raised was the blurring of boundaries between work and personal lives.

Conclusion

• The work from remote will be explored moving forward even after the pandemic recedes.
• The onus is on the organisations to provide for all the necessary support to their employees to enable them to function efficiently.

Category: SPACE

1. First set of data from Chandrayaan-2 released: ISRO

Context:

• The Chandrayaan-2 mission was India’s first attempt to land on the lunar surface.
• The first set of data from India’s second mission to the Moon, i.e, Chandrayaan-2 has been made open to the public by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Details:

• Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22, 2019, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
• Chandrayaan-2 mission brought together an Orbiter, Lander and Rover intending to explore south pole of the Moon. This is a unique mission which aims at studying not just one area of the Moon but all the areas combining the exosphere, the surface as well as the sub-surface of the moon in a single mission.
• The orbiter which was injected into a lunar orbit carries eight experiments to address many open questions on lunar science.
• The experiments have been going on well and the data relayed portray that the pre-launch promises will be met with.
• In the period since the launch, payload teams tuned on-board systems for optimal instrument configurations, derived essential in-flight calibration data, revised/updated data processing steps/software and have started to publish early results, it said.

The prescribed format for data archiving.

• The public release data are prepared in the standard, globally followed Planetary Data System 4 (PDS4) format for public release.
• The Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) is the nodal centre of a planetary data archive for the planetary missions of the ISRO.
• The Chandrayaan-2 data are required to be in the Planetary Data System-4 (PDS4) standard and required to be peer-reviewed scientifically and technically before acceptance as PDS archives and declared ready for sharing with the global scientific community and the general public.
• This activity has been completed and hence the first set of data from the Chandrayaan-2 mission is now being released for the wider public use through the PRADAN portal hosted by the ISSDC.
• The ISRO Science Data Archive (ISDA) currently holds data sets acquired by Chandrayaan-2 payloads from September-2019 to February-2020 from seven instruments.
• ISRO has stated that the Data sets from the Imaging Infra-Red Spectrometer (IIRS) payload will be added to this shortly, adding that this release has Level-0 and Level-1 basic data sets prepared using Planetary Data System (PDS) version 4 standards.

Third mission underway

• The ISRO had planned the landing on the South Pole of the lunar surface. However, the lander Vikram hard-landed last year.
• Its orbiter, which is still in the lunar orbit, has a mission life of seven years.
• The ISRO has been working on the third mission with rover and lander, but further details about its schedule have not been finalized.

Context:

• The contract workers ransacked Wistron’s iPhone assembly factory in Karnataka on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Details:

• The rampage at the factory has raised concerns over the rights of industrial workers and some of the pressure tactics followed by industries.
• The labour laws have come under intense scrutiny aftermath the incident along with the legislations that have been passed by a number of state governments disregarding labour interests.

What triggered the incident?

• Non-payment, or only partial payment, hold up in wage and flouting of labour laws have been cited as reasons for such an incident.
• The industries are known to be consistently evading labour laws, some of the prevalent practices such as non-issuance of the wage contract, and employing women workers in night shift without providing adequate safety are not uncommon.
• The factory began production this year and is known to have employed about 2,000 permanent workers and 7,000 contract workers, unsurprisingly The factory does not have a labour union.
• However, as per the preliminary inquiry report by the State labour department into the incident, Wistron and its labour contractors have skirted provisions of the laws that led to the violence.
• The Wistron management has acknowledged its wrongdoings and fired its vice-president for its India operations for the lapses.
• Apple Corporation has condemned the violations of statutory laws and has reportedly put further business on hold until Wistron addresses the labour dispute

The response from the Government.

• The central and state governments have unequivocally deplored the violent incident.
• The governments have been involved in damage control as the incident has the potential to tarnish India’s image in the global arena.
• India has been very active in its promotion of India as a favourable FDI destination in a bid to attract more FDI, especially under its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to boost domestic investment in mobile phone manufacturing.
• The Wistron project showcased the government’s success in attracting foreign direct investment and promoting Atmanirbhar Bharat, the vision of making India self-reliant.

Using COVID-19 as an opportunity.

• The bleak picture of the economy amidst the pandemic and the lockdown has prompted a few State governments to hurriedly draft legislation and ordinances that dilute the labour laws to make it look business-friendly.
• The state governments sensed the opportunity to attract businesses that were vacating China and were looking elsewhere to establish their presence. The COVID-19 pandemic and rising geopolitical tensions have had a negative impact on China’s image.
• However, in an attempt to attract foreign investment, state governments have effectively deviated from the national labour law framework by diluting them beyond recognition.
• The State government promulgated an ordinance to dilute the major labour laws including the Factories Act 1948. The Act regulates the following:
  • ordinary working day’s length,
  • overtime wages,
  • hours of work,
  • the timing of shifts,
  • safety, and health issues.

Indian labour laws.

• India’s labour laws are known to archaic, multifarious in nature, close to 47 central laws and 200 State laws, mostly applicable to organised sector, attempts have been made to streamline and consolidate them
• In 2019, the government consolidated 29 central laws into four labour codes and introduced bills in Parliament.
• The codes concern:
  • industrial relations;
  • occupational safety,
  • health and working conditions;
  • social security, and wages.

The Code on Wages Bill, 2019 was passed last year and the remaining three in September 2020, but without adequate consultation with the stakeholders and legislative scrutiny.

International Labour Organisation stand.

• National trade union federations, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), have opposed many contentious changes.
• Several Central Trade Union Organisations have even refused a meeting to discuss the rules governing the codes.
• The reforms go against many of the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions to which India is a founding signatory.
• The ILO recently criticized Uttar Pradesh government which chose to suspend the labour laws for the next three years.

China model

• China’s industrial success has certain things that deserve plaudits, but unfortunately, the government seeks to borrow China’s long working days and flexible use of labour.
• However, China also mandates employers to provide dormitory accommodation for workers close to factories and other social security benefits.
• Factory-provided dormitory accommodation is the prime reason behind slum-free Chinese industrial cities, unlike in India.
• Another surprising feature is China’s local governments compete with each other to provide excellent physical infrastructure and guarantee sufficient credit to industrial enterprises through the national development banks, thus implicitly subsidising production costs.
• The local governments and party officials, whose objective is employment generation, take up the role of facilitators in the industrial promotion.
• India has been picking the wrong cues from China and ignoring what needs to be emulated to achieve a fair share of industrial success.

Industrial income

• The average estimation of daily earnings of casual workers in urban India in 2018-19, as per the official Periodic Labour Force Survey, are ₹256 (or ₹6,400 a month for 25 days of work).
• It is clearly under the official living wage as defined by the Seventh Pay Commission for central government employees.
• Industrial workers have consistently volunteered to work longer hours to enhance their income.
• Trade unions mostly welcome negotiations for labour flexibility linked to productivity but resist its unilateral imposition if the productivity gains accrue mainly to the management (the ‘winner takes all’ situation).
• The Wistron episode is a case in point, it has showcased how the government has hoodwinked, as the length of the working day was unilaterally raised from eight hours to 12 hours in October, undoing the principal provision of the Factory Act 1948.
• The State Labour Department has acknowledged the faulty nature of the ordinance that undermined labour rights.

Conclusion

• The lockdown following the novel coronavirus pandemic has been unfairly used as a window to dilute labour laws, when lakhs of workers lost jobs and livelihoods, struggling to make the ends meet.
• Under the garb of improving ease of doing business and encouraging new industries, the government has sought to capitalise on working-class misery to undercut wages.
• Therefore, to some who have been following the dynamics of labour laws, the Wistron incident is of no surprise,

Category: POLITY

1. Article 356 and an activist judiciary

Context:

• The recent order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court directing the Andhra Pradesh government to come prepared to argue on the ‘breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state’ has resurfaced worries of possible misuse of the Article 356.

Details:

• Article 356 of the Constitution which empowers the imposition of President’s Rule in a State had its notorious counterpart in Section 93 of the government of India Act 1935 which provided for Governor’s Rule in the provinces.
• The “constitutional breakdown” is a valid ground to suspend the state executive and establish the President’s rule under Article 356 of the Indian Constitution.
• The question of a “constitutional breakdown” or the failure of constitutional machinery is dealt with under Article 356 of the Constitution, whose invoking comes under the prerogative of the executive and not the judiciary.
• The Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order represents a judicial overreach, however, the Supreme Court has stayed the decision.

Behind the inclusion

• The Article 356 gives the central government the power to dismiss a democratically-elected State government, a feature that does not find a place in any liberal democratic Constitution in the
• India and Pakistan borrowed this provision from the Government of India Act, 1935. However, it is astonishing to know that the leaders of our freedom struggle vehemently opposed the provision, forcing the British government to suspend it.
• Paradoxically, the provision which we had opposed during our freedom struggle was found its way into the Constitution strangely in the name of democracy, federalism and stability.

Debates and discussion over this provision in the Constituent Assembly

• On June 11, 1947, it was agreed in the Constituent Assembly that the Governor could use this emergency power.
• The rider here was that the Governor was supposed to be elected by the people of the State instead of being a nominee of the Centre.
• It was argued that by mere elections, Governors will not become all wise.
• This was opposed by stalwarts like G.B. Pant, H.N Kunzru and termed it as the virtual reintroduction of the 1935 Act.
• Alladi Krishnaswami justified the provision in the name of representative government at the Centre, if subsequent decades were to go by, they were proved wrong both in respect of Governors as well as the central government.

The power of a word

• Even after undergoing several revisions, it was largely seen as a surgical operation for a mere cold. Article 356 was also criticised for the word ‘otherwise’ and lack of objectivity meant that many legal experts favoured deletion of the term ‘otherwise’.
• There was some contentment among few with the provision of Parliament’s power to ratify President’s Rule in States, but that did not change it from being a ‘retrograde step’.
• The autonomy of the states was reduced to a conditionality.

Judicial intervention

• The Andhra Pradesh High Court could pass such an order due to this very term ‘otherwise’, but there is a precedence of judicial overreach on this issue.
• In 1997, the Patna High Court bench while being disappointed with the functioning of the then Bihar government, observed that the Governor’s report was not conclusive regarding the invocation of Article 356, and the High Court could also report to the President about the breakdown of constitutional machinery in the State.
• Several constitutional experts have remarked that the judiciary is increasingly becoming more executive-minded than the executive itself, the observations of the Andhra Pradesh High Court underlines their belief.
• Ideally, the word ‘otherwise’ should be deleted from Article 356 and the provision be used only sparingly and to never remove a majority government.

The record

• Article 356 has been used/misused more than 125 times though B.R. Ambedkar had assured that it would remain a dead letter.
• In almost all cases it was used for political considerations rather than any genuine breakdown of constitutional machinery in the States
• The union governments have acted largely unimpeded in dismissing state governments on flimsy, whimsical grounds.

Conclusion:

• Sarkaria Commission recommended that the article 356 should be invoked in extreme cases after exhausting all other options.
• The S.R.Bommai judgement attempted to curb the blatant misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution of India by laying down certain scenarios where the imposition of President’s rule was justified and certain other scenarios that weren’t.
• However, despite several committees recommendation and a legal precedent, the blatant misuse of this article has not been curbed.
• The fact that judiciary which is supposed to clamp down on executive high-handedness is complicity working to dismiss a lawfully elected state government is a worrisome scenario.

Q1.Consider the following statements

Q2. Satkosia wildlife sanctuary is located in

1. West Bengal
2. Odisha
3. Meghalaya
4. Sikkim

Q3. India signed a deal for jointly producing Ka-226T helicopter with which of the 
following countries.

1. United States of America
2. Israel
3. Russia
4. France

Q4. Consider the following statements

1. National Textile Corporation Limited, (NTC) is a schedule “A” public sector company under the ambit of Ministry of Textile, Government of India
2. National Textile Corporation was established in 1968 to look after the functioning of 119 sick textile mills acquired through three Nationalisation Acts

Which of the following statements are correct?

1. I only
2. II only
3. Both I and II.
4. Neither I and II

Read the previous CNA here.

CNA 26 Dec 2020:- Download PDF Here