9 Jan 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

January 9th, 2020 CNA:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Trump avoids escalating crisis, says Iran is 'standing down'
C. GS 3 Related
ECONOMY
1. Govt to provide Rs. 5,559 crore funding to northeast gas grid
2. Cabinet nod for ordinance enabling FDI in coal mining
INTERNAL SECURITY
1. Revised norms for data-led probes
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. Re-grassing is mandatory after mining, rules SC
2. 2019 was the 7th warmest year in India since 1901, says IMD
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. The Indian Constitution’s unitary tilt
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. Iran’s counterattack
ECONOMY
1. A multilateral alternative, by Asia
F. Tidbits
1. Rising oil prices may hit Budget math
2. Won’t give black boxes to U.S.: Iran
3. Asked govt for separate CISF cadre to secure courts: CJI
G. Prelims Facts
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

A. GS 1 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

B. GS 2 Related

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Trump avoids escalating crisis, says Iran is ‘standing down’

Context:

• U.S. President Donald Trump has backed away from days of angry rhetoric against Iran as the two countries tried to defuse a crisis over the American killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
• In an address from the White House, Mr. Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to respond militarily to Iranian missile attacks on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq overnight.
• Trump’s address was in contrast to his harsh rhetoric on Iran in recent days.
• The Republican President had vowed to strike back disproportionately if Iran retaliated strongly against Soleimani’s killing.

Iran’s Revenge:

• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said that the attacks on the Erbil and Al-Asad bases were a retaliation for the killing of the General.

What is next in Iran-U.S. conflict?

• If there are no American casualties, a red line drawn by President Trump — the latest spell of crisis was triggered by the death of an American civilian contractor in a rocket attack by a pro-Iran militia in Iraq — he could shrug the Iranian response off and choose not to retaliate, which could be a de-escalating step.
• But there are several scenarios that could lead the conflict to an all-out war.
• First, if Mr. Trump orders air strikes inside Iran, it would trigger further military response from Iran and the conflict will immediately spiral out of control.
• Second, even if Mr. Trump steps back from further retaliation, Iran could target U.S. troops inside Iraq through its proxies such as the Badr Brigade and Kataib Hezbollah. That will drag the U.S. into a deeper conflict.
• Third, the Shia militias operate with relative autonomy. Tehran may not be micromanaging them. Infuriated by the loss of their commander, they could act without authorisation from Tehran against U.S. troops in Iraq, which could trigger a harsher response from the U.S. against Iran, dragging both countries into war.
• In the event of a war, the U.S. can carry out devastating air strikes inside Iran, while Iran could trigger multiple conflicts in the region through its proxies such as Hezbollah, the PMF and al-Houthis, besides launching ballistic missile attacks at the U.S. interests and allies.
• West Asia remains on the brink.

This Issue has been comprehensively covered in 7^th January 2020 Comprehensive News Analysis. Click here to read.

C. GS 3 Related

Category: ECONOMY

1. Govt to provide Rs. 5,559 crore funding to northeast gas grid

Context:

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a Rs. 5,559 crore viability gap funding for the proposed northeast gas grid.

Details:

• A viability gap funding of 60% of the project cost has been approved. The quantum of viability gap funding (VGF) would be capped at 60 per cent of estimated project cost and would not be linked with upward capital cost variation.
• This is only the second instance of the government directly funding a gas pipeline.
• The funding support to the gas grid is a part of a broader goal of the government to raise the share of natural gas in the country’s energy mix to 15% by 2030 from the current 6.2%.
• In 2016, the government provided a capital grant of 40% of the project cost of the 2,655-km Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra (JHBDPL) gas pipeline project, which GAIL is currently executing.
• GAIL is also laying a 750-km line from Barauni to Guwahati as part of JHBDPL project, which is also known as the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project. This is proposed to be connected to the North-East via the Indradhanush grid.
• All other pipelines in the country have been funded by public or private sector companies.

North-East Natural Gas Pipeline Grid:

• The 1,656-km North-East Natural Gas Pipeline Grid will connect Guwahati in Assam to major cities in the region such as Itanagar, Dimapur, Kohima, Imphal, Aizwal, Agartala, Shillong, Silchar, Gangtok, and Numaligarh.
• The gas pipeline grid will be developed in the eight states of the North-Eastern region — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
• The North-East pipeline grid is to be implemented by Indradhanush Gas Grid, a joint venture of state-owned GAIL India, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL).
• The vision envisages the development of the region by leveraging its hydrocarbon potential, enhancing access to clean fuel and accelerating the growth.

Benefits:

• The pipeline will enable the supply of piped cooking gas to households and CNG to automobiles, besides fuel to industry.
• The pipeline grid would ensure reliability and uninterrupted natural gas supplies to the consumers which otherwise gets severely affected due to various reasons in this part of the country.
• The uninterrupted supply of LPG and other value-added products in the region will bring energy security to the people in the area.
• Availability of natural gas across the region is expected to boost industrial growth without impacting the environment and would offer better quality of life to the people in general due to use of cleaner and green fuel.
• It would boost exploration and production of gas in the region and help in early monetisation of natural resources.
• Possibility of installing bottling plants for LPG is in the exploration stage, for reducing transportation cost.

2. Cabinet nod for ordinance enabling FDI in coal mining

Context:

The Union Cabinet has approved an ordinance to amend two laws to ease mining rules, enabling foreign direct investment in coal mining.

Background:

• In 2018, the government had allowed commercial mining by private entities but non-coal companies couldn’t participate in the auction.
• In August 2019, the government announced 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) under the automatic route in coal mining for open sale, besides creating associated infrastructure, such as washeries.

Details:

• The ordinance to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 has been approved at the Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister.
• In a bid to attract investments and boost domestic coal production, the ordinance would open up coal mining in the country to non-coal companies while removing restrictions on end-use of the fuel.
  • Under the ordinance, allocation of coal/lignite blocks for composite prospecting license cum mining lease has been provided; requirement of previous approval in cases where the allocation of blocks was made by the central government has been dispensed with.
• The government is aiming at achieving production of one billion tonnes by 2023-2024.

Benefits:

• The move will help create an efficient energy market, usher in competition and reduce coal imports, while also ending the monopoly of state-owned Coal India Ltd.
  • India’s coal sector was nationalised in 1973.
• It is opined that the decision would boost the ease of doing business and increase the growth avenues in the sector.
• “End-use restrictions” had been done away with allowing “anyone to participate in the auction of coal blocks”.
• The ordinance would strengthen the auction process of those mines whose leases were expiring on March 31, 2020. Seamless transfer of clearances would also be facilitated.
• The move to amend the law will help India gain access to high-end technology for underground mining used by global miners.
• The steel industry would get cheaper inputs, leading to an increase in ‘competitiveness’.

Category: INTERNAL SECURITY

1. Revised norms for data-led probes

Context:

The Union Home Ministry has said that before seeking information about a person’s e-mail account hosted on servers in foreign countries, investigating agencies will have to establish that it is linked to a crime. Most intermediaries and social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Yahoo!, Twitter and YouTube have their servers outside India.

Background:

The Centre had introduced the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha that sought to provide for the protection of personal data of individuals and establishes a Data Protection Authority for it.

Details:

• The Ministry issued revised guidelines to streamline the process of seeking legal assistance from foreign countries in criminal matters, issuing directives on drafting and processing letters rogatory, mutual legal assistance requests and service of summons, notices and other judicial documents.
• The Ministry said it was not enough to show that the accused had an e-mail account as “the account must have something to do with the crime being investigated” and it was “the lowest legal standard required of all investigative processes”.
• In the guidelines issued to the States and other agencies, the Ministry stressed on “data preservation” as it was the key to the investigation of cyber-offences and those involving digital evidence.
• The Ministry said the G-8 countries’ 24/7 Network was one such channel that could be used to place request for preserving data in real time.
  • The G-8 network allows law enforcement agencies to make urgent preservation requests of the digital data before it perishes.
  • The requested country has to be informed about the time period for which the data is required. Such period shall be consented by the requested country. The transferred data shall be kept for no longer than the period required for the purpose for which it has been received and shall be returned to the requested country or deleted at the end of the period specified.

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Re-grassing is mandatory after mining, rules SC

What’s in News?

• A Bench led by the Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde ordered the government to include re-grassing of mined areas as a mandatory condition in every mining lease, environmental clearance and mining plan across the country.
• The Supreme Court has ordered that mining lease holders should be held responsible for re-grassing mined areas, so that biodiversity gets a second chance in these scarred landscapes.

Issue:

• Environmental issues caused by mining include erosion, formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by chemicals from mining processes, and the effects persist for years.
• “An area which is mined results in complete elimination of grass, which in turn denies fodder to the herbivores. The only solution can be re-grassing of such mined areas. It is not in dispute that re-grassing technology is available in this country,” Chief Justice Bobde said.

Suggestions:

• The court asserted that the area which has been mined should be restored so that grass and other vegetation, including trees, can grow in the mining area for the benefit of animals.
• The court opined that it can be achieved by directing the Union of India to impose a condition in the mining lease and a similar condition in the environmental clearance and the mining plan to the effect that the mining lease holders shall, after ceasing mining operations, undertake re-grassing the mining area and any other area which may have been disturbed due to their mining activities and restore the land to a condition which is fit for growth of fodder, flora, fauna, etc.
• The Bench also directed the government to devise methods to ensure compliance by mining lease holders.
• The cost of re-grassing the mined area and wherever damage was caused, would be entirely borne by the licence holder.

The mandatory re-grassing would be in addition to the other conditions imposed on the licence holder in the mine closure plan, to restore biodiversity.

2. 2019 was the 7th warmest year in India since 1901, says IMD

Context:

The rise in average temperatures over India in 2019 was the lowest since 2016, according to a report from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Nevertheless, the year that went by was the 7th warmest since record-keeping commenced in 1901.

Details:

• During the year, the annual mean surface air temperature, averaged over the country, was +0.36°C above average.
  • The average is defined as the mean temperature from 1980-2010.
• According to the World Meteorological Organisation, the rise in global mean surface temperature during 2019 (January to October) was +1.10°C.

Main contributors:

• The main contributors to the warming were temperatures in the pre-monsoon (March-May) and monsoon seasons (June-September), said the IMD report titled ‘Climate Summary’.
• Meteorologists said that the decline over the previous three years was not indicative of any trend and was just “a regular variation”. “There is no declining trend. The only pattern is that global warming is raising average temperatures globally, as well as in India,”, it was pointed.
• 2019 was also characterised by unusually high rainfall, which was 9% over what is normal for a year — this was due to monsoon rains (June-September) being 10% over its normal, and the northeast monsoon rains being 9% over its normal.
• During 2019, eight cyclonic storms formed over the Indian seas, with the Arabian Sea contributing five out of these eight cyclones against the normal of one per year. This was a phenomenon not seen in India since 1902.
  • This was, meteorologists said, due to a strong Indian Ocean Dipole, or an IOD, which cyclically heats the west Indian Ocean that stimulated cyclone formation over the Arabian Sea.
  • An unusually strong IOD has contributed to the ongoing Australian drought.

Casualties:

• Weather also caused severe casualties. Rain and floods killed 850 lives in different parts of the country.
• Heat waves over the northeastern and central parts the country claimed about 350 lives.
• Lightning and thunderstorm claimed over 380 lives from central, northeastern, northwestern and peninsular parts of the country.
• Snowfall and avalanche-related incidents claimed lives from Jammu & Kashmir, and from Leh.
• A cold wave claimed 28 lives from different parts of Uttar Pradesh during the last week of December, the Climate Summary noted.

D. GS 4 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

E. Editorials

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. The Indian Constitution’s unitary tilt

Context

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) has revealed some of the most significant gaps of Indian federalism.

• State governments occupied by opposition parties have declared that they would not implement the law.
• The Legislative Assembly of Kerala went to the extent of passing a resolution, stating that the law “contradicts the basic values and principles of the Constitution”.
• In this backdrop, let us have a look at the federal relationship between the Centre and the States.

Constitutional Perspective

• Article 256
  • The executive power of every State shall be so exercised as to ensure compliance with the laws made by Parliament and any existing laws which apply in that State, and the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of such directions to a State as may appear to the Government of India to be necessary for that purpose.
  • It compels the State government to ensure implementation of the laws made by Parliament.
  • If the State government fails to do so, the Government of India is empowered to give “such directions to a State as may appear… to be necessary”.
• Article 365
  • Effect of failure to comply with, or to give effect to, directions given by the Union, where any State has failed to comply with or to give effect to any directions given in the exercise of the executive power of the Union under any directions given in the exercise of the executive power of the Union under any of the provisions of this Constitution, it shall be lawful for the President to hold that a situation has arisen in which the government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
  • The refusal to enforce the law even after the Centre issues directions would empower the President to impose President’s Rule in those States under Articles 356 and 365.

The Supreme Court of India has also confirmed this reading of the law in S.R. Bommai v. Union of India — arguably the most significant case on Indian federalism.

Anti-CAA ads in West Bengal

• Another controversy arose in West Bengal, where the State government put anti-CAA advertisements on its websites.
• In an interim order, the Calcutta High Court directed the State government to remove those advertisements.
• The question — whether State governments are empowered to use public funds to campaign against a law made by Parliament — is open for final determination.
• In its final judgment, the High Court could bar the State government from campaigning against a parliamentary law.

Therefore, neither the refusal to implement nor the official protests registered by State governments carry much legal force.

Concerns raised about single party dominance for electoral politics

• Parliament, the “temple of democracy”, has been reduced to a site for procedural formalities. The Lok Sabha appears to be an extension of the executive, rather than a mechanism for its accountability.
• The Opposition’s right to question the government and keep them accountable is seen as meddling in Governance.
  • This is based on the assumption that losers should step aside, respect the democratic mandate, and let the government do its job.
• The brute dominance has dwarfed any semblance of opposition politics at the Centre.
  • This is manifested through the absence of the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha for six years in a row (a consequence of an archaic and arguably unlawful practice requiring a party to secure at least 10% of the total seats to occupy the position of Leader of Opposition).
  • It has also led to the denial of an opposition vote in the appointments to various anti-corruption bodies.

Time and again, our experiences with single-party dominance have shown that in the face of comfortable majorities, our constitutional structure reveals its tendencies to concentrate power.

What was the need of a strong Centre?

• In the backdrop of a bloody partition and threats of “fissiparous tendencies”, it was probably justified for the founders of the Indian Republic to be hesitant in instituting a stronger federalism.
• If we wanted to be together, the argument went, we should only have so much federalism.

Electoral federalism

Over the last seven decades, there have been changes in ground realities.

• We have seen repeated examples of huge vote swings between national and State elections, separated by only a few months, in the same constituencies.
• People have identified the Central and State issues, and are now nuanced in their voting choices, leading to the “losers” of national politics still winning State elections and form legitimately elected governments.
• The State governments are thus filling the opposition deficit at the Centre. With this shift of opposition politics from New Delhi to State capitals, the politics of opposition is likely to become the politics over federalism.

Conclusion

The conflict that the CAA has triggered might become a template for future contestations over the federal question. While the politics seems to be ripe for advancing federalism, the law is likely to constrain such a development.

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Iran’s counterattack

Context

• Iran launched ballistic missile attacks at American troops in two military bases in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
• Article 51 of the UN Charter was invoked by Iran, which allows member-states to take military actions in self defence if they come under attack.
• The attacks were both an act of retaliation and a show of its capability.

Background:

Check CNA Dated 7 Jan 2020.

What was the scale of Iran’s attack?

• Number of Missiles: The US Department of Defence said in a statement that Iran had launched “more than a dozen ballistic missiles” that “targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting US military and coalition personnel”.

Where are the two bases that were hit?

• AIN AL-ASAD: This vast air base is located in Iraq’s western al-Anbar governorate, about 160 km west of Baghdad, and nearly 220 km from the border with Syria. The base, for long a major hub for US military operations in western Iraq, has also hosted Danish and British troops.
• ERBIL: The other base that came under attack, is located in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq.
  • The base is adjacent to the city’s airport, which American transport aircraft, gunships, and reconnaissance aircraft have used for operations in northern Iraq and eastern Syria.
  • The base has been a Special Operations hub to hundreds of American and other allied troops, logistics personnel and intelligence specialists throughout the fight against the IS.

America’s Response

• The Pentagon’s assessments suggested there were no American casualties and only minimal damage in the attacks.
• Trump has signalled that he was backing away from further conflicts with Iran.

Further escalation and implications

• If the U.S. had responded with air strikes or missile attacks inside Iran, it could have triggered further attacks from Iran, setting off a cycle of violence and aggression.
• A direct shooting match between the U.S. and Iran would have been disastrous for the whole of West Asia.
• Iran may be a weaker power compared to America’s conventional military might, but it is a formidable rival. It not only has ballistic missiles and a wide range of rockets but also a host of militias under its command across the region. It could have made an invasion and air strikes on its territories extremely costly for the U.S. and its allies.
• It could also have disrupted global oil supply by attacking the Gulf waterways. By any assessment, a direct war would have been catastrophic.

Way forward

Mr. Trump did well to step back and not push the Gulf region into a disastrous cycle of violence and destruction.

• The international community should now push for a diplomatic settlement of the crisis and find ways to revive the nuclear deal which could bring long-term peace to the Gulf.
• Iran should seize this opportunity for de-escalation.

Category: ECONOMY

1. A multilateral alternative, by Asia

Context

• This article discusses the transformation of Asian economies in the last few years and how this has led to them being larger than the rest.

Asian Century

• This Phrase is said to have arisen in the 1988 meeting between Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, re-establishing relations after the India-China border conflict in 1962.
• It responds to the re-emergence of the two countries, leveraging size and technological competence to shape a new order that reflects their civilizational values which are distinct from those of the West.

A look at key facts

• Asia is home to more than half the world’s population.
• Of the world’s 30 largest cities, 21 are in Asia, according to UN data.
• By the end of 2020 it is said, Asia will also become home to half of the world’s middle class, defined as those living in households with daily per capita incomes of between $10 and $100 at 2005 purchasing power parity (PPP).
• Since 2007, Asians have been buying more cars and trucks than people in any other region — by about 2030 they will be buying as many vehicles as the rest of the world combined, according to LMC Automotive.

The decisive shift responds both to the Asian growth engine and to Asian technology.

India and China’s Global outreach

• In 2015, emerging India established the International Solar Alliance, laying out a distinct global sustainable development framework, and seeking a triumvirate.
• China, in 2013, after attaining 15% of the global wealth, announced the multilateral Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and in 2014, launched the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, challenging the global governance paradigm.
• The United States has recognized the ‘Asian Century’ bypassing multilateralism; its direct dealings with China and India and the Indo-Pacific construct are examples.

USA continues to hold power

• USA has defined human rights solely on the basis of political and procedural terms.
• It has withdrawn from climate change after shifting the burden onto developing countries.
• It has forced inclusion of intellectual property rights into the trade regime.
• U.S.-determined national security standards on the world has led to a handful of countries agreeing to ban Huawei 5G technology.
• It has imposed sanctions on companies building a gas pipeline from Russia.
• Sanctions on Iran have affected India’s interests, impacting long-term relations.

This is not just questioned by Asian countries but also by its alliance partners.

How China has capitalized?

• The BRI provides a strategic framework for new global institution building as its scope is as wide as multilateral treaties.
  • For example, state-owned enterprises in infrastructure sectors in the BRI, with backing from national banks, are contributing to internationalisation of the Renminbi, enhancing China’s role in global economic governance.
• As the world leader in digital transactions, China is developing block chain-based financial infrastructure in BRI countries and exploring an international block-chain currency for digital settlements without relying on the dollar, thus reducing U.S. leverage.
• With the U.S. military ‘pivot to Asia’, China is keen to resolve the border dispute with India to avoid constraints.
  • The recent India-China Summit on boundary issues resolved to work out a framework on a roadmap to a final solution on border issues.
  • India has rejected American opposition to Huawei taking part in 5G trials. The Indian government has allowed all applicants, including Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, to participate.

Therefore, the contours of the new order should not be seen through a western prism.

Conclusion

• In Asia, differences will centre on overlapping priorities —
  • Security (the U.S.’s efforts to maintain hegemony),
  • Economic (China’s emphasis on connectivity, markets and growth) and
  • Equitable sustainable development (India-led framework of digital infrastructure designed as a public good).
• By 2030, there is every possibility of a triumvirate.
  • Both the U.S. and China have regular high-level discussions on strategic issues with India, recognising its demographic, technological and resource potential to be part of a future global triumvirate.
• Asia and Africa, former colonies with conditions closer to India than to China, are waiting for late-comer India, a civilisational state like China, to lay out its vision of a digital, cooperative, sustainable multilateral strategic framework to complement the frameworks of the other two powers.
• Early concrete moves for their simultaneous rise are in the global interest.

F. Tidbits

1. Rising oil prices may hit Budget math

• The price of crude oil constituting the Indian basket has been increasing and is likely to exceed $70 a barrel on escalating U.S.-Iran tensions.
• The price of benchmark Brent oil went up to $71.75 per barrel after Iran retaliated against the U.S. by attacking the latter’s bases in Iraq.
• Rising oil prices had already led to an increase in the prices of petrol and diesel.

Probable impact:

• Higher crude oil prices would be bad for India’s current account deficit and it will further tighten the fiscal situation.
• Further, divestment of oil PSUs would become difficult due to higher crude oil prices.
• Rising crude oil prices could impact corporate earnings of several sectors, including auto and oil marketing companies, according to analysts.

2. Won’t give black boxes to U.S.: Iran

What’s in News?

Iran’s aviation authority said it would not hand over to Americans the recovered black boxes of a Boeing 737 that crashed, killing all 176 passengers and crew.

• Following the crash of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight PS752 shortly after take-off from Tehran, Iran said it had recovered the Boeing 737’s two black boxes.
• It was asserted that, based on global aviation rules, it was the right of the country where air crashes occur to carry out the investigation.
• Under the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization, of which Iran, Ukraine and the U.S. are all members, air crash investigations are led by the country where the accident occurred.
• However, according to aviation experts, the countries that are capable of analysing black boxes are few — notably Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. France’s Accident Investigation Bureau, which handles air crash investigations, said it has not received any request from Iran.

3. Asked govt for separate CISF cadre to secure courts: CJI

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde has asked the government to provide a separate and dedicated cadre of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for security cover to court complexes across the country.

• The CJI said such a force would thwart sudden spurts of violence like the one recently seen at the Tis Hazari court complex between lawyers and the police.
• The development came while hearing a writ petition filed to improve security in courts and tribunals by installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.
  • In 2017, the apex court directed that CCTV cameras be installed in courts and important locations of court complexes in at least two districts in every State and Union Territory. The monitor of these cameras should be placed in the chamber of the District and Session Judge concerned.
  • The apex court had, in its order, made it clear that footage from the cameras would not be made available to the public under the Right to Information Act or without the permission of the high court concerned.
  • The court had also considered the issue of CCTV cameras in tribunals. It had directed the installation of cameras in subordinate courts in a phased manner.

G. Prelims Facts

Nothing here for today!!!

H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q1. Which of the following is/are NOT matched correctly?

1. Pongal : Tamil Nadu
2. Magha Bihu : Assam
3. Uttarayan : Punjab
4. Saaji : Gujarat

Choose the correct option:

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

Q2. Consider the following statements with respect to Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga (PMUG) Project:

1. It is an Integrated Conservation Project for accomplishing the objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
2. The project aims at supplying environmentally clean natural gas to fertiliser and power plants, refineries, steel plants and also providing clean energy to households and transportation.

Which of the given statement/s is/are incorrect?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q3. Consider the following statements with respect to River Jordan:

1. River Jordan forms the boundary between Israel and Jordan.
2. River Jordan flows south from Syria to the Dead Sea.
3. The river is widely used for navigation purposes.

Which of the given statement/s is/are incorrect?

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

Q4. Consider the following statements:

1. Government of India Transaction of Business Rules, 1961 emerging out of Article 77(3) of the Constitution states: “The President shall make rules for the more convenient transaction of the business of the Government of India, and for the allocation among Ministers of the said business.”
2. The Prime Minister constitutes Standing Committees of the Cabinet.

Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

1. Discuss the transformation of the Asian economies in the past decade and comment how this has helped them in becoming larger than the rest. (15 Marks, 250 Words).
2. Critically analyse the significant gaps in Indian federalism. (15 Marks, 250 Words).

January 9th, 2020 CNA:- Download PDF Here

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