CNA 5th May 2021:- Download PDF Here
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. GS 1 Related B. GS 2 Related POLITY AND GOVERNANCE 1. Supply oxygen or face contempt: HC to Centre INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1. G7 seeks common front on China C. GS 3 Related D. GS 4 Related E. Editorials INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1. A COVID blot on India’s foreign policy canvas GOVERNANCE 1. An issue of lives versus livelihoods F. Prelims Facts 1. How does a concentrator help? G. Tidbits 1. Scientists see flaws in SUTRA’s approach to modelling pandemic 2. U.S. sanctions may spur Adani to exit Myanmar H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
A. GS 1 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
B. GS 2 Related
Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. Supply oxygen or face contempt: HC to Centre
Context:
The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to show cause why contempt should not be initiated against it for failing to comply with orders to supply oxygen to Delhi for COVID-19 patients.
Background:
In the backdrop of the oxygen crisis and other COVID-19 related issues that Delhi was grappling with, a Supreme Court order directed the Centre to supply 700 MT oxygen daily to Delhi, followed by a direction by the Delhi High Court.
Details:
The Delhi High Court has asserted that the Centre would face contempt if its orders are not followed.
Contempt of Court
- Contempt of court is a concept that seeks to protect judicial institutions from motivated attacks and unwarranted criticism, and as a legal mechanism to punish those who lower its authority.
- Being impolite to legal authorities in the courtroom, or rebelliously failing to follow a court order may draw Contempt of Court proceedings.
What are the kinds of contempt of court?
- The law codifying contempt classifies it as civil and criminal.
- Civil contempt is committed when someone wilfully disobeys a court order, or wilfully breaches an undertaking given to court.
- Criminal contempt consists of three forms:
- Words, written or spoken, signs and actions that scandalise or tend to scandalise or lower or tends to lower the authority of any court.
- Prejudices or interferes with any judicial proceeding.
- Interferes with or obstructs the administration of justice.
What is the statutory basis for contempt of court?
- When the Constitution was adopted, contempt of court was made one of the restrictions on freedom of speech and expression.
- Separately, Article 129 of the Constitution conferred on the Supreme Court the power to punish contempt of itself. Article 215 conferred a corresponding power on the High Courts.
- The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, gives statutory backing to the idea.
Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. G7 seeks common front on China
Context:
The Group of Seven wealthy democracies discussed how to form a common front towards an increasingly assertive China at the Foreign Ministers’ first in-person talks in two years.
Key Areas of Discussion:
- The focus was on the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea.
- The G7 also discussed China, whose growing military and economic clout and willingness to exert its influence at home and abroad have increasingly unnerved Western democracies.
- The U.S secretary of state pledged robust cooperation with Britain in pressuring China over the Xinjiang region and over a clampdown against civil rights in Hong Kong.
- The nations of the G7 which also include Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan mostly share concerns about China but some have different approaches.
- Japan has historic tensions with China but has held off on joining Western nations with sanctions, cautious about inflaming relations with its trading partner.
- The Ministers also discussed the spiralling crisis in Myanmar and climate change among other topics.
G7
- The G7 or the Group of 7 is a group of the seven most advanced economies as per the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- The seven countries are Canada, the USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan and Italy.
C. GS 3 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
D. GS 4 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
E. Editorials
Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. A COVID blot on India’s foreign policy canvas
The article talks about how COVID-19 could impact India’s great power/leading power aspirations.
Details:
- The second wave of COVID-19 has prompted India to accept foreign aid after a gap of 17 years. This is bound to have far-reaching strategic implications for India.
- The direct consequence of the pandemic is that it could affect India’s global image, its leadership and claim to regional primacy.
- As a consequence, India’s leading power aspirations could be dented, and its domestic political contestations accentuated. These in turn would have an impact on the content and conduct of India’s foreign policy in the years to come.
Regional primacy:
- COVID 2.0 has quickened the demise of India’s regional primacy.
- The country’s geopolitical decline is likely to begin in the neighbourhood itself – a strategic space which India has been forced to cede to China over the past decade or so.
- South Asian states are likely to favour China, if they haven’t already.
- While the Indo-Pacific is geopolitically keen and ready to engage with India, the pandemic could adversely impact India’s ability and desire to contribute to the Indo-Pacific and the Quad.
- Eventually, the Indo-Pacific balance of power could turn in Beijing’s favour.
- For instance, COVID-19 will prevent any ambitious military spending or modernisation plans and limit the country’s attention on global diplomacy and regional geopolitics, be it Afghanistan or Sri Lanka or the Indo-Pacific.
- With reduced military spending and lesser diplomatic attention to regional geopolitics, New Delhi’s ability to project power and contribute to the growth of the Quad will be uncertain.
- India’s traditional primacy in the region was built on a mix of material aid, political influence and historical ties. Its ability to materially help the neighbourhood could shrink in the wake of COVID-19, and its historical ties alone may not be enough to hold on to a region hungry for development assistance and political autonomy.
- While the outpouring of global aid to India shows that the world realises India is too important to fail, the international community might also reach the conclusion that post-COVID-19 India is too fragile to lead and be a ‘leading power’.
Domestic politics:
- Domestic political contestations in the wake of COVID-19 could also limit India’s strategic ambitions.
- General economic distress, a fall in foreign direct investment and industrial production, and a rise in unemployment have affected the country.
- Upcoming elections could fan communal tensions in the country, triggering more political violence.
- A depressed economy, politically volatile domestic space combined with a lack of elite consensus on strategic matters would hardly inspire confidence in the international system about India.
India-China equations:
- From competing with China’s vaccine diplomacy a few months ago, India today is forced to seek help from the international community.
- The pandemic also waters down the claims that India could compete with China as a global investment and manufacturing destination.
- The rise of China and India’s COVID-19-related troubles could prompt the U.S to move closer to Beijing.
- The world, despite its anti-China rhetoric, will continue to do business with Beijing.
Depressed foreign policy:
- Post-COVID-19, India’s diplomatic bandwidth for expansive foreign policy goals would be limited.
- Less aggression could potentially translate into more accommodation, reconciliation and cooperation especially in the neighbourhood, with Pakistan on the one hand and within the broader South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) framework on the other.
- These developments could moderate the sharp edges of India’s pre-existing geopolitical articulations.
Strategic autonomy:
- Finally, the pandemic at the very least indirectly impacts India’s policy of maintaining strategic autonomy.
- The strategic consequences of the pandemic are bound to shape and structure India’s foreign policy choices as well as constrain the foreign policy agency.
Way Forward and Conclusion:
- COVID-19 would also open up new regional opportunities for cooperation especially under the ambit of SAARC.
- India might do well to get the region’s collective focus on ‘regional health multilateralism’ to promote mutual assistance and joint action on health emergencies such as this.
- Classical geopolitics should be brought on a par with health diplomacy, environmental concerns and regional connectivity in South Asia. COVID-19 has opened such an opportunity.
1. An issue of lives versus livelihoods
Context:
In the backdrop of a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in India, strict to moderate lockdowns are being imposed yet again.
Concerns:
- Curfews and lockdowns have led to large scale termination of informal workers in many establishments and exodus of workers back to their villages.
- The conditions faced by these workers include the immediate termination of their livelihoods in terms of jobs, loss of accommodation and near insolvency.
- Of those employed in the informal category, large numbers include migrants who face a bleak future, with a lack of sustainable income and savings to ensure food, transportation back to villages or any other emergency.
- With multiple issues of serious sufferings on account of COVID-19 related distress, the country has less time to discuss the fate of migrants on their path of reverse migration.
Issues:
- The presence of the rural migrants benefited the urban economy by providing cheap labour to manufacturing units and cheap services to households. However, these jobs provided did not entail further obligations on the part of the employers or the state, given that the footloose migrants never had any legal status as a working population.
- There have been no attempts to have an official estimate of the flow of migrant workers either incoming or reverse.
- No solid measures have been taken to redress the miseries that await the returning migrants.
- The recent official announcement of free ration of 5 kg cereals to 80 crore families is the only sop visible.
- The prevalent pieces of legislation do not provide any evidence of addressing the issue, especially in the current crisis.
- The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 conferred legal status on casual labour by providing a mechanism for registration of contractors engaging 20 or more workers.
- While it was never effective, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 has replaced all such Acts. Seeking to regulate the health and safety conditions of workers in establishments with 10 or more workers, the Code has replaced 13 prevailing labour laws. However, this has been ineffective to a large extent.
Way Forward:
- It is necessary to draft and ensure legal safeguards for the migrant workers.
- The situation must not be justified as a step to save lives when it does not work for large sections of migrant people who also experience a loss of their livelihoods at the same time.
- The present situation demands administrative oversight and execution of laws and policies that could provide basic safeguards to migrant workers.
F. Prelims Facts
1. How does a concentrator help?
What’s in News?
With the demand for medical oxygen continuing unabated and several States struggling to keep pace with demand, the oxygen concentrator has emerged as a sought after device.
- An oxygen concentrator takes in air and separates the oxygen and delivers it into a person via a nasal cannula.
- Air is 79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen and a concentrator that works by plugging into a source of electricity delivers air that is up to 95% oxygen.
- In respiratory infections that causes oxygen saturation levels to dip below 90%, having an external device supply pure oxygen eases the burden on the lungs.
- However, in cases of severe respiratory distress, it may be necessary to provide oxygen that is almost 99% pure.
- A sieve bed in the concentrator is made of a material called Zeolite. It separates the nitrogen.
G. Tidbits
1. Scientists see flaws in SUTRA’s approach to modelling pandemic
What’s in News?
With close to 4,00,000 cases being added every day, questions are being raised on whether SUTRA – a government-backed model, to forecast the rise and ebb of the COVID-19 pandemic, may have had a role in creating the perception that a catastrophic second wave of the pandemic was unlikely in India.
- SUTRA stands for Susceptible, Undetected, Tested (positive), and Removed Approach.
- The Covid ‘supermodel’ was commissioned by the Government of India.
Issues:
- Unlike many epidemiological models that extrapolated cases based on the existing number of cases, the behaviour of the virus and manner of spread, the SUTRA model chose a data-centric approach.
- Too many parameters, a constant that was inaccurate and calibration errors may have led to predictions that did not signal the catastrophic second wave.
- A rapid acceleration of cases couldn’t be predicted in advance.
2. U.S. sanctions may spur Adani to exit Myanmar
What’s in News?
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. said that it could abandon a Myanmar container terminal project if it is found to be in violation of sanctions imposed by the U.S.
- It has said that in a scenario wherein Myanmar is classified as a sanctioned country under OFAC or if OFAC opines that the project violates the current sanctions, Adani Ports plans to abandon the project and write down the investments.
- Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a part of the U.S. Treasury Department that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on the country’s foreign policy.
- A military coup in Myanmar on February 1 and an ensuing crackdown on mass protests have drawn sanctions on military-controlled entities.
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
Q1. Consider the following statements:
- Self-driving cars are just one of the many potential advantages of 5G over 4G.
- Latency is low with 4G, but 5G will make it virtually zero.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
- Only 1
- Only 2
- Both
- None
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: c
Explanation:
- Network latency is the time required for a set of data to travel between two points. 5G technology is different from previous generations of cellular technology because of how short that amount of time is. Latency is low with 4G, but 5G will make it virtually zero.
- Latency plays a very important role in self-driving cars.
- Self-driving cars are just one of the many potential advantages of 5G over 4G.
Q2. Which of the following is/are correct regarding the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)?
- MGNREGA wages are calculated based on the Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labourer i.e. CPI-AL.
- In FY21, as many as 11 crore individuals got work under the scheme, the highest since its inception in 2006.
Options:
- Only 1
- Only 2
- Both
- None
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: c
Explanation:
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) wages are calculated based on the Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labourer (CPI-AL).
- In the Financial Year 2021, as many as 11 crore individuals got work under the scheme, the highest since its inception in 2006, owing to the huge demand for work under the MGNREGA scheme in FY-21.
Q3. Which of the following statements is/are correct?
- The Gujral Doctrine is a set of seven principles to guide the conduct of foreign relations with India’s immediate neighbours.
- The Gujral Doctrine is based on the principles of cooperation, accommodation and reciprocity.
Options:
- 1 Only
- 2 Only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: d
Explanation:
- The Gujral doctrine was a five-point roadmap that sought to build trust between India and neighbours, of the solution to bilateral issues through bilateral talks and to remove immediate quid pro quos in the diplomatic relationship between India and her neighbours.
- The five principles are:
- With neighbours such as Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka, India does not seek reciprocity but offers and accommodates what it can in good faith and trust.
- No South Asian country should permit its territory to be used against the interest of another south Asian nation.
- Countries should not interfere in the internal affairs of one another.
- All South Asian countries should respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
- They should settle all their disputes via peaceful bilateral negotiations.
- The Gujral Doctrine is based on cooperation, accommodation and non-reciprocity.
Q4. Consider the following statements:
- The National Commission for Women (NCW) is a constitutional body established under Article 350-B of the Constitution.
- The NCW consists of a chairperson, a member secretary and 11 other members.
- NCW has the power to inspect the jail, remand home to ensure that the women staying there are not exploited as they are vulnerable.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
- Only 1
- Only 1 and 2
- Only 3
- All of the Above
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: c
Explanation:
- The National Commission for Women (NCW) is a statutory body established under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990.
- The Commission consists of a chairperson, a member secretary, and five other members.
- NCW has the power to inspect the jail, remand home to ensure that the women staying there are not exploited as they are vulnerable.
Q5. The Nagara, the Dravida and the Vesara are the: (UPSC 2011)
- three main racial groups of the Indian subcontinent
- three main linguistic divisions into which the languages of India can be classified
- three main styles of Indian temple architecture
- three main musical Gharanas prevalent in India
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: c
Explanation:
Ancient Indian temples are classified into three broad categories. The Nagara (Northern India), the Dravida (Southern India) and the Vesara (Deccan, parts of North India and Central India, between the Vindhyas and the river Krishna).
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
- India’s handling of the pandemic could be a stumbling block to the country’s claim to regional primacy. Do you agree? Justify. (15 marks, 250 Words) [GS-2, International Relations].
- Covid-19 has thrown light on the presence of migrant labour laws and policies and has also exposed the absence of administrative oversight and execution. Substantiate. (10 marks, 150 Words) [GS-2, Governance].
Read the previous CNA here.
CNA 5th May 2021:- Download PDF Here
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