06 May 2022: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
C. GS 3 Related
INFRASTRUCTURE
1. The SpiceJet ‘accident’
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
SOCIAL JUSTICE
1. A leaked draft, termination rights and the politics
EDUCATION
1. The school dress is in the cross hairs
GOVERNANCE
1. Is it possible to separate sports and politics?
F. Prelims Facts
1. World Food Prize
G. Tidbits
1. Modi’s visit to France displays strong friendship, goodwill
2. Centre questions environmental impact of Jog Falls project
3. War-induced inflation surge said to have forced RBI’s hand
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

A. GS 1 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

B. GS 2 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

D. GS 4 Related

Nothing here for today!!!

E. Editorials

Category: SOCIAL JUSTICE

1. A leaked draft, termination rights and the politics

Syllabus: Mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of vulnerable sections

Mains: Significance of Roe vs Wade case judgement and the implications of overturning the judgement.

Context

A draft of the United States Supreme Court’s opinion on the abortion law was leaked.

Details

• The leaked draft suggests that a majority of the judges have accepted to overrule the court’s decision in the landmark Roe vs Wade case (1973) that legalised abortion in America.
• This has caused a massive uproar among the public and media fraternity in the US.

Roe vs Wade case 1973

• The Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in Roe vs Wade case made abortion a constitutional right in the US and it currently remains the law of the land.
• The court dismissed the laws that made abortion illegal in several states and held that abortion would be allowed up to the point of foetal viability (the time after which a foetus can survive outside the womb).
  • At the time of the Roe judgment, the foetal viability was around 28 weeks.

Significance of the Roe judgement

• The judgement upheld the “right to privacy” in the U.S. Constitution, which the majority held, was violated by state laws restricting a woman’s right to abort a foetus prior to its viability outside her womb.
• The judgement also upheld the concepts of “Right to Life” and “Personal Liberty” enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
• The judgment was the first to establish that a woman, rather than her physician, might be the party injured by a state’s criminalization of abortion.

Impact of overturning the Roe judgement

• If the Supreme Court rules to overturn the Roe judgement, the power to decide on the abortion would rest with the elected leaders of each state.
  • Since there is no federal law protecting the right to abortion in the US, the overturning of Roe would leave abortion laws entirely up to the states.
• Currently, about 21 states out of 50 states already have laws that would immediately ban abortion if Roe were overturned. 
  • Also, 5 other states are likely to ban abortion if the Roe judgement is overturned.
• With the ban on abortion in their states, women might travel out of state for the procedure and also look to use illicit pills as the ban restricts their access to safe abortions further affecting their health and wellness.
• The overruling of the Roe judgement will also decrease the number of legal abortions in the country by at least 14%.
• The removal of the constitutional right to abortion mostly affects low-income people, people of colour and rural communities across the country.
• Experts also feel that without legal backing the availability of clinics and insurance payouts will also be impacted which are critical to women.

Political angle of the issue

• Out of the nine judges, six have been appointed by Republican Presidents and five of them have agreed to overturn the Roe judgement.
• The Democrats have strongly condemned the move that it would inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past 50 years not just on women but on all Americans and would remain as one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history.
• Political experts feel the issue has become political with the midterm elections due in November 2022.

Legality of abortions in India

• India’s Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 allowed abortion until 20 weeks of pregnancy. Through an amendment act passed in 2021, the ceiling for abortions was raised to 24 weeks for special categories of women.

To read more about the act, follow the link –  Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act 2021

Category: EDUCATION

1. The school dress is in the cross hairs

Syllabus: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education

Mains: Critical analysis of the move to impose mandatory uniforms in schools

Context

This article features an argument against the Karnataka High Court’s judgement on the guidelines for uniforms. 

Background

For information on the background of the issue refer to the following article:

UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis of 16th Mar 2022

Uniform v/s Dress Code

• A uniform is different from a dress code.
• A dress code restricts children and their parents from using clothes that exhibit status or wealth.
• A uniform is more prescriptive than a dress code as it prescribes not just the colour but also the material and the design.

Arguments against the mandatory prescription of uniforms in schools

• The history of uniforms
  • The education systems that developed during the colonial rulers usually prescribe strict enforcement of the school uniform.
  • The idea of a school uniform has spread with urbanisation, prosperity and privatisation as schools in villages and rural areas did not have mandatory uniform rules in the early years of Independence.
  • With the increase in the number of private schools, the daily uniforms became mandatory and the uniform business encouraged local monopolies as many schools asked parents to patronise a particular source.
• Limiting the autonomy of educationists
  • Critics feel that school uniforms have become a means of restricting the already depleted autonomy of principals and teachers in an education system.
  • Example: The Karnataka High Court’s judgment on the guidelines for uniforms has resulted in a complete uniform code which now extends to Kendriya Vidyalayas (central schools) in the state which are actually not governed by any provincial government.
  • Karnataka has also not implemented the recommendations of the Kothari Commission, which would reform the administrative system in education and provide greater autonomy to school principals and teachers in establishing rules.

• Political tool
  • Critics also note that the school uniform has evolved into a political tool to influence electoral outcomes.
• Undermines the importance of diversity
  • Education, however, is supposed to promote equal opportunities for all strata and sections of society in a substantial way by expanding the scope of public debates and enabling the participation of all.
  • Sri Aurobindo compares the diversity in nature to explain why uniformity is tempting but does not create a sense of unity.

Category: GOVERNANCE

1. Is it possible to separate sports and politics?

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

Mains: Analysis of the interconnection between politics and sports and the way forward

Context

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Wimbledon disallowed players from Russia and Belarus from participating in its 2022 edition.

Details

• Other than Wimbledon, many other sports organisations, such as football, track and field, and Formula One, have also imposed various sanctions.
• This issue has brought the debate on the influence of politics on sport into the limelight.

Influence of politics on sports

• Politics extends its influence on sports as sports take place within a society that is constantly being impacted by politics.
• Individuals are expected to endorse and abide by the law of the land and as sportsmen represent the country, they should obey the government’s decisions.
• As governments play an important role in sports by providing the required funding, the governments enjoy a higher degree of influence on the sports
• Sports are also seen as a measure for countries and their governments to extend their soft power and hence there is a history of political involvement in sport.
• Historically sports have been used by governments across the globe to stand up against injustices like in the case of the apartheid regime in South Africa and in the case of taking a knee and raising a fist to stand up against discrimination.
• Sports bodies in many countries come under the purview of the government.

Way forward

• There is a need for limiting the involvement of politics in sports as sports do get affected by politics and when governments are involved in making arbitrary decisions.
• The governments must not look to stamp their authority and limit their influence on sports as most of the time sports do not need anything more than just permission to organise events. 
• Sports is known as a medium to unite people and the governments must avoid deciding that certain players or certain countries should not be playing without a significant reason as it erodes the basic purpose of organising sporting events.

G. Tidbits

1. Modi’s visit to France displays strong friendship, goodwill

• The Prime Minister of India and the President of France met over the regional and global security outlook and discussed ways to work together in making the India-France Strategic Partnership a force for the global good.
• The Prime Minister’s visit to France displayed the strong friendship and goodwill not only between the two countries but also between the two leaders.
• India and France are strong strategic partners and the two leaders held discussions on all the key aspects of bilateral engagement, including in defence, space, and people-to-people linkages.

Read more on the India – France bilateral relations in the link.

H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q1. Consider the following statements with regards to Delimitation Commission: 
(Level – Easy)

1. The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the Chief Election Commissioner.
2. The Delimitation Commission is an independent body constituted under Article 82 after the Parliament enacted a Delimitation Act after the census.
3. There was no delimitation after the 1981 and 1991 Censuses.

Choose the correct code.

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. All of the above

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: b

Explanation: 

• Statement 1 is not correct, The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
• Statement 2 is correct, The Delimitation Commission is an independent body constituted under Article 82 after the Parliament enacted a Delimitation Act after the census.
• Statement 3 is correct, There were no such commissions after the census in 1991 and 1981.

 

Q2. Consider the following statements with regards to Jog Falls: (Level – Medium)

1. It is a waterfall on the Sharavati river located in the Eastern Ghats of Shivamogga District, Karnataka, India.
2. It is the second-highest plunge waterfall in India.
3. Another popular name for the beautiful Jog Falls is Gerusoppa Falls.

Choose the correct code:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. All of the above

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: b

Explanation: 

• Statement 1 is not correct, Jog Falls is a waterfall on the Sharavati river located in the Western Ghats in the Shivamogga District of Karnataka.
• Statement 2 is correct, It is the second-highest plunge waterfall in India.
• Statement 3 is correct, Gerusoppa Falls is another popular name for the Jog Falls.

Q3. Recently, North East’s first-ever specialised “Ginger” Processing Plant in the 
state of ____________________ was revived. (Level – Medium)

1. Assam
2. Tripura
3. Meghalaya
4. Nagaland

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: c

Explanation: 

• North East’s first-ever specialised “Ginger” Processing Plant at district Ri-Bhoui in Meghalaya has been revived.
• The only Ginger Processing Plant of North East India which was established in 2004 but has remained non-functional for many years, the North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC), a PSU working under the aegis of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has revived it.

Q4. The United Nations’ World Food Programme was founded in 1961 by (Level – Medium)

1. WHO & UN General Assembly
2. FAO & UN General Assembly
3. FAO & WHO
4. UNICEF & UN General Assembly

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: b

Explanation: 

• The United Nations’ World Food Programme was founded in 1961 by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
• Hence Option b is correct.

Q5. With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do 
which of the following? (Level – Easy)

1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units
2. Create meaningful short stories and songs
3. Disease diagnosis
4. Text-to-Speech Conversion
5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

1. 1, 2, 3 and 5 only
2. 1, 3 and 4 only
3. 2, 4 and 5 only
4. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: d

Explanation: 

• Efficiencies in the industrial sector in particular can be achieved in the following ways:
• Forecasting energy demand and managing the output accordingly. This can help to reduce reliance on fuel, or manage its consumption, thereby also reducing emissions. Hence, 1 is correct.
• Sunspring and It’s No Game released in 2016 and 2017 respectively, these short films’ screenplays were written by Benjamin, a self-named system-on-chip running a long short term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network. Hence, 2 is correct.
• A study published by The Lancet Digital Health compared the performance of deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence (AI) in detecting diseases from medical imaging versus that of healthcare professionals, using a sample of studies carried out between 2012 and 2019. Hence, 3 is correct. 
• Google Assistant speech recognition AI uses deep neural networks to learn how to better understand spoken commands and questions as well as for text-to-speech conversion. Hence, 4 is correct.
• In wireless power transfer, in order to efficiently charge the power receivers, online prediction of the receiver positions is necessary, and for this purpose, AI is used. Hence, 5 is correct.