11 Nov 2022: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

E. Editorials

Category: WORLD HISTORY

1. India in World Wars

Syllabus: GS1, World Wars

Mains: Significant contribution of India in World Wars

Context: November 11 is observed as Remembrance Day in Commonwealth of Nations member states since the end of World War I to remember members of their armed forces who died in the line of duty. Remembrance Day is also known as Armistice Day. It marks the day World War I ended. 

India’s pivotal role in World Wars:

• Over one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom 62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded. In total at least 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war. 
• In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German Empire on the Western Front.
• Indians mobilised four days after Britain declared war on Germany, with the support of nationalist leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi. 
• Indians fought with valour and distinction in the trenches of Europe, West Asia and North Africa.
• Indian soldiers won a total of 11 Victoria Crosses for their sacrifice in World War I. Khudadad Khan became the first Indian to be awarded a Victoria Cross. He was a machine gunner with the 129th Baluchi Regiment.
  • The Victoria Cross is the highest award for gallantry that a British and Commonwealth serviceman can achieve.
• As high as 100 million British Pounds (present-day Rs 838 crore) was gifted by India to Britain to fund their war anticipating dominion status and home rule in return.
• As much as 37 lakh tonnes of supplies and jute for sandbags were sourced by the British from India. India supplied all sorts of material for the war, including clothing, weaponry including tanks, armoured cars, guns, etc.
• The British raised men and money from India, as well as large supplies of food, cash, and ammunition, collected by British taxation policies. 
• India raised the largest ever volunteer army, of 2.5 million, for the Second World War. 
• More than 87,000 of those men are cremated or buried in war cemeteries around the world and in India. 
• Indian doctors and nurses were deeply involved on British soil and in other countries. In 1939, the Indian Comforts Fund (ICF) was established at India House in Aldwych that was run by Indian and British women. 
  • Between 1939 and 1945, the ICF supplied over 1.7 million food packets to soldiers and Asian prisoners of war, besides putting together warm clothes and other supplies.
• Thirty-one Victoria Crosses — 15 % of the total — went to soldiers from undivided India. 
• Without Indian soldiers, non-combatant labourers, material and money, the course of both conflicts would have been very different as acknowledged by Field Marshal Auchinleck, Britain’s last Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, in an interview years later.

Post-war scenario: Forgotten in India

• There is no recognition within India of its contribution to the world wars. 
• In Britain, the contribution of the Commonwealth including the Indian subcontinent is memorialised in the Commonwealth Memorial Gates that lead up to Buckingham Palace. 
  • The Gates commemorate the campaigns where Commonwealth soldiers served with distinction; there is also a canopy inscribed with the names of the Commonwealth recipients of the George and Victoria Crosses. 
• Much of India’s recent history is encapsulated in these gates, in a spirit of gratitude and equality. 
• India did not recognise these contributions for many reasons, mainly due to the atrocities of colonial history.
  • When World War I ended in 1919 and Britain won with the help of Indian soldiers, India was denied its promised reward. 
  • Britain betrayed the hopes of nationalists. Instead of self-government, the British imposed the Rowlatt Act, by silencing and censoring the press, detaining political activists without trial, and arresting without a warrant any individuals suspected of treason against the Empire culminating in the horror of Jallianwalla Bagh in April 1919. 
• This was compounded when Viceroy Lord Linlithgow declared war on Germany on India’s behalf in 1939 without consulting Indian leaders.

Recognising the heroes:

• The failure of Indian independence to follow automatically from India’s participation in the wars does not mean that the war efforts extended colonial rule by protecting Britain.
• There was fighting on Indian soil to defend India. India was threatened in the Second World War by advancing Japanese forces who got as far as Burma/Myanmar. They were repulsed in the battles of Imphal and Kohima between March and July 1944. Know more about the Battle of Kohima in the link.
• Those who went abroad to fight alongside white British soldiers returned with the knowledge that they were equal to their colonial masters.
• Our today has been built on the sacrifice of many, including those who died fighting fascism. Therefore India’s valuable contribution shall not be written out of its history books. It is our duty to recognise and honour them.

Nut Graf: India’s silence over world wars arises from the uneasy relationship between the Indian contribution to fighting fascism on a global stage and the nationalist movement for freedom at home. The success of the first is seen to have come at the cost of the second when Britain betrayed nationalist expectations of greater autonomy for India in return for support during World War I.

Category: GOVERNANCE

1. Broadcast of socially relevant topics

Syllabus: GS2, Government policies and interventions for development of various sectors and issues arising out of them.

Mains: Significant role played by the media in a Democracy

Context: The Union Cabinet recently approved new guidelines for public service broadcasting.

Introduction: 

• Under new guidelines, all stations having permission must have to broadcast content on issues of national importance and social relevance for at least 30 minutes every day.
  • The guidelines exempt foreign channels and sports channels as it is not feasible to broadcast such content.
• Acknowledging that airwaves or frequencies are considered public properties and are to be used in the best interest of society, the guidelines have listed eight themes as national importance and social relevance. 
• The half-an-hour content will not be provided by the government. The TV channels are given the freedom to create and broadcast their own content.
• These guidelines will replace the existing ones operational since 2011 and would ease the issue of permission to the companies and limited liability partnership (LLP) firms registered in India for uplinking-downlinking of TV channels and associated activities.

Significance of public service broadcast:

• Public service broadcast assumes importance in the time of polarising opinions, heated debates and narrow targeting of ideas on television.
  • Public service broadcasting will allow different viewpoints to be expressed and foster an enlightened understanding of current events.
  • A free exchange of ideas, free exchange of information and knowledge, debating and expression of different viewpoints are important for the smooth functioning of democracy.
• The themes of national importance and socially relevant issues that have been picked out include education and spread of literacy, agriculture and rural development, health and family welfare, science and technology, welfare of women and weaker sections of society, protection of environment and of cultural heritage and national integration.
  • These are subjects on which a lot more awareness is necessary. 
• According to a FICCI-EY report, with television subscriptions estimated to add another 42 million by 2025 from 178 million in 2021, on the face of it, the public service broadcast is crucial in a diverse country with innumerable issues.
• It also makes a major contribution to shaping a sense of national identity.

Issues with the guidelines:

• Once the guidelines are implemented, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will monitor the channels for the broadcast of this content. In case non-compliance is observed in the Ministry’s view, an explanation will be sought. 
  • If a channel continues to be non-compliant, more steps can be taken based on specific advisories that will be issued from time to time, and on a case-to-case basis.
• The guidelines say “the Central Government may, from time to time, issue a general advisory to the channels for telecast of content in national interest, and the channel shall comply with the same”. 
• Though the Government has left it to the channels to “appropriately modulate their content to fulfil the obligation”, its stated intention to step in as and when required may be seen as an attempt to control mainstream media to its advantage.
  • The government’s pressure in the name of regulations is dangerous for the freedom of media.
• Corporate and political power has overwhelmed large sections of the media, both print and visual, which lead to vested interests and destroy freedom.
• There is also no clarity yet on compensation norms and who is going to finance the public service component on TV. 
• Representatives of several broadcasters pointed out that they had paid hefty fees for the use of airwaves and any binding guidelines that adversely impact their commercial interests is not fair.

Nut Graf: New broadcast guidelines have made it obligatory for all TV channels to undertake public service broadcasting for a minimum period of 30 minutes a day on socially relevant topics. With wide consultations regarding the modalities, public service broadcasting can be used as an effective tool to “inform, educate, entertain” the public on relevant issues.