07 Feb 2022: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS 1 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

B. GS 2 Related

Category: POLITY

1. SC to weigh between ‘national security’, judicial scrutiny

Syllabus: Separation of Powers between various organs Dispute Redressal Mechanisms and Institutions

Mains: Position of law on the scope of judicial review in matters relating of national security; Important Supreme Court Judgments

Background:

MediaOne TV channel case:

• The transmission of a Malayalam-language news channel, Mediaone TV, was barred by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry citing “security reasons”. The order to block the channel was issued because it had not been granted security clearance by the Home Ministry.
• A single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court had temporarily deferred the order of the Information & Broadcasting Ministry and had directed the Union home ministry to produce the documents including files in connection with the ban order.
• The Assistant Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the Central government informed the court that the law does not permit disclosure of the national security reasons and it was based on an intelligence report that the Union Home Ministry denied security clearance to the channel. The high court has, however rejected the central government’s plea to the interim order.
• This case again brings to question whether the state can use ‘national security’ as a ground to limit judicial scrutiny.

Related cases in the recent past:

Pegasus case:

• The three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India, in its Pegasus case order had noted that though the settled position of law was that in matters of national security, the scope of judicial review remains limited, this does not however mean that the Centre can have a ‘free pass’ from the courts on matters pertaining to national security.
• The Court noted that while the judiciary should be circumspect in encroaching upon the domain of national security, it does not imply a total prohibition against judicial review in cases relating to national security.

Anuradha Bhasin case:

• The Supreme Court in the Anuradha Bhasin case, which concerned Internet restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir also dealt with the question of whether the state can use ‘national security’ as a ground to limit judicial scrutiny.
• In the Anuradha Bhasin case, the Supreme Court bench noted the “chilling effect” the state action of internet restriction had on free speech, especially in the media. The court noted that the internet restrictions meant to curtail the spread of misinformation and propaganda by the extremists also had a restrictive effect on other individuals.
• The Court had held that any order of the state which restricts the fundamental rights of speech or expression should be backed by reasons. The courts should be convinced that the state acted in a responsible manner.

Other cases:

The Supreme Court in judgments like the Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Government of India v. Cricket Association of Bengal and Shreya Singhal v. Union of India has noted that freedom of speech and expression includes the right to disseminate information as well and the wider range of circulation of information or its greater impact cannot imply the restriction of information.

C. GS 3 Related

Category: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Understanding Artificial Neural Networks

Syllabus: Awareness in the fields of Computers

Prelims: ANN and backpropagation

Mains: Potential/applications of ANN

Context:

• Increasing popularity of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)

Artificial Neural Networks:

• Artificial neural networks (ANNs), also called neural networks (NNs), are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks that constitute animal brains. It is based on a collection of connected units or nodes called artificial neurons.
• The concept behind an Artificial Neural Network is to define inputs and outputs, feed pieces of inputs to computer programs that function as artificial neurons and make inferences or calculations, then forward those results to another layer of computer programs and so on, until a result is obtained.

Backpropagation:

• As part of artificial neural networks, a difference between intended output and input is computed at each layer and this difference is used to tune the parameters to each program. This method is called backpropagation and is an essential component to the Neural Network.

Potential/applications of ANN:

• The ANN frameworks can be used for both normal Machine Learning tasks like classification or clustering and for Deep Learning.
  • Machine Learning, is the computer technology that uses data to detect patterns.
  • ANN frameworks with its backpropagation can be used in hand-written digit recognition without the need for manual labelling of large amounts of sample data. This can avoid human involvement to label data and automate the process. The approach of using neural networks of many layers to automatically detect patterns and parameters is called Deep Learning.
• Through ANNs and the backpropagation method, artificial intelligence has become more powerful. This can enable a computer to perform tasks like a human brain does.
• ANN frameworks will be useful where there are tasks that cannot be done with good accuracy by normal Machine Learning and hence need Deep Learning in tasks such as Automatic Image Recognition of rich images and Speech Recognition.
• A special type of ANN called Generative Adversarial Network can actually generate creative output like music or paintings.
• ANNs are also present in many smartphone applications, like voice to type, Siri and Alexa.

Developments aiding the development of ANNs:

• A few key developments in the past two decades have helped ANNs mature.
  • The advent of Graphic Processing Units (GPU) which are good at performing massive parallel tasks have helped improve computing power.
  • Availability of a few free ANN frameworks that can be used for both normal Machine Learning tasks as well as Deep Learning tasks.
  • The advent of cloud computing has provided enormous computing resources that are needed for ANNs to “work through” massive volumes of data.
  • The software for neural networks have matured and backpropagation techniques have become robust.

D. GS 4 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

E. Editorials

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. The interpretative answer to the hijab row

Syllabus: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Prelims: Fundamental Rights on Freedom of Religion

Mains:  Religious practices impacting the education system in the state

Context: –

The issue of wearing a hijab to the colleges along with the uniform has sparked a debate in Karnataka over religious practices impacting the education system in the state.

• Hijab: head covering worn in public by Muslim women.

What is the Issue?

• The issue initially began in Udupi where six students who attended classes wearing headscarves in violation of the stipulated dress code were sent out.
• There have also been reports of similar instances of students turning up at educational institutions with either hijab or saffron shawl.

• Fathima Tasneem v State of Kerala (2018): A single bench of the Kerala HC held that the collective rights of an institution would be given primacy over the individual rights of the petitioner.
• Shirur Mutt Case:
  • The Supreme Court held in 1954 Shirur Mutt case that the term “religion” will cover all practices “integral” to a religion, in what came to be known as “essential religious practices”.
  • “In the first place, what constitutes the essential part of a religion is primarily to be ascertained with reference to the doctrines of that religion itself,” the Supreme Court held in the Shirur Mutt case.

“Essential Religious Practices” Test: –

• What is the “Essential Religious Practices” Test?
  • The Supreme Court of India has tested the validity of religious practices on the basis of whether they are ‘essential to a religion’ or not.
  • This is known as the “Essential Religious Practices” Test.
• One of the first attempts of this test was made in Madras vs Sri Lakshmindra Thirtha Swamiar of Sri Shirur Mutt case(1954).
  • In this case,the Supreme Court held that rituals and practices that were integral/essential to a religion would be covered under the ambit of the term “religion” as used in the Constitution.
  • The “essential religious practices” test appeased traditionalists by ‘assuring them that the Court would be sympathetic to their respective religious faiths.
• Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in the Sabarimala case observed that compulsions nonetheless have led the court to don a theological mantle.
  • The enquiry has moved from deciding what is essentially religious to what is an essential religious practice.
  • Donning such a role is not an easy task when the Court is called upon to decide whether a practice does nor does not form an essential part of a religious belief.

Way Forward: –

• Today, there is no one uniform code which is mandated throughout the State. Individual colleges do decree uniforms, but not necessarily the manner of wearing them.
• In the absence of a statutory uniform code, a court may well ask whether a head covering mandated by some religions, when worn in addition to the uniform, violates any legal tenet.

F. Prelims Facts

1. Centre to tweak no-build zone around monuments

• The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958, was amended in 2010 to declare the 100-metre radius around Centrally protected monuments as prohibited areas and the next 300-metre radius as regulated areas.
• Given the arbitrary limit, the Union Culture Ministry is said to be working on an amendment to the AMASR Act to rationalise the prohibited and regulated areas. It proposes to have expert monument committees to decide the site-specific prohibited area limits around a monument.

G. Tidbits

1. Green bonds to have long tenure, says Centre

• The issuance of sovereign green bonds is going to be part of the Indian government’s overall borrowing programme.
  • These would be rupee-denominated papers having long tenure to mobilise finances for building green infrastructure. The proceeds will be deployed in public sector projects which help in reducing the carbon intensity of the economy.
• A sovereign green bond can provide a strong signal of the country’s commitment to a low-carbon economy while also helping bring down the cost of capital for green projects.

H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q1. Which of the following articles in the Indian constitution is/are associated with 
Education?

1. Article 21A
2. Article 27
3. Article 45
4. Article 47

Options:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2, 3 and 4 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 3 and 4 only

Q2. Consider the following statements with respect to Right to Education (RTE):

1. The 86th Constitutional Amendment (2002) inserted Article 21A in the Indian Constitution
2. It provides free and compulsory education for children between the age of 6 to 14 years
3. The RTE Act has provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q3. With respect to African Union (AU), which of the following statements is/are correct?

1. The AU’s secretariat, the African Union Commission is based in Abuja, Nigeria
2. The Abuja Treaty led to the creation of the African Union

Options:

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both
4. None

Q4. Which of the following statements about Basai Wetland is/are correct?

1. It located in Gurgaon district in Haryana
2. It is recognised globally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the BirdLife International

Options:

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both
4. None

Q5. A legislation which confers on the executive or administrative authority an unguided and 
uncontrolled discretionary power in the matter of the application of law violates which one 
of the following Articles of the Constitution of India?

1. Article 14
2. Article 28
3. Article 32
4. Article 44

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

1. Off late, there has been a renewed enthusiasm in New Delhi to engage the Central Asian region. While the gains from engaging Central Asia may be minimal, non-engagement could be costly. Analyse. (250 words; 15 marks)[GS-2, International Relations]
2. What do you understand by Artificial Neural Networks? Examine how it has made artificial intelligence more powerful. (250 words; 15 marks)[GS-3, Science and Technology]