13 Nov 2022: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

CNA 13 Nov 2022:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. 19th ASEAN-India Summit
POLITY
1. SC judgement in EWS Case and Quota ceiling
C. GS 3 Related
CONSERVATION
1. Groundwater recharging
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
INDIAN POLITY
1. How has the EWS ruling altered reservations?
HEALTH
1. Can vaccine distribution be made fairer?
F. Prelims Facts
G. Tidbits
1. Greenland Ice Stream
2. CRISPR technology
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

Category: POLITY

1. SC judgement in EWS Case and Quota ceiling

Syllabus: Doctrine of Checks & Balances

Mains: Implications of Economically Weaker Section Quota on reservations

Context: The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) case has paved the way to give new life to the argument of several States fighting to increase reservations for Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBC) beyond the 50% mark.

Background: 

• Recently, the Supreme Court of India has upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment which provides 10% reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
• The Supreme Court, by a majority view of 3:2, upheld the validity of the 103rd amendment to the Constitution providing 10 per cent reservation to people belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) among forward castes in education and government jobs.

Read more on the recent judgement

Impetus for States: 

• States like Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh are fighting to increase reservations for SEBC beyond the 50% mark.
• The Jharkhand government on November 12,2022 passed an amendment to raise the reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) in State government posts to up to 77%. 
  • The Bill passed in Jharkhand Assembly noted that the 50% ceiling set out in the Indra Sawhney judgement of 1993 never explicitly prohibited the breaching of the limit.
  • The Supreme Court in the EWS case, held that the limit is “not inflexible or inviolable”.
• This  amendment is expected to push other States like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka to argue for extending reservations for Backward Classes beyond the 50% limit.
• In Madhya Pradesh government has been arguing that the ceiling in the Indra Sawhney judgement was not sacrosanct, to defend their 2019 Ordinance that raised reservation for OBCs from 14% to 27% — thereby taking total reservation for SCs, STs, OBCs and EWS to 71%. 
• The Chhattisgarh Government in a 2012 amendment raised reservations for OBCs to 32%, which will take the total quota in the State to 58%. Chhattisgarh High Court struck down the 2012 legislation calling it unconstitutional. 
• The Karnataka government cleared an ordinance to increase the quota of the Scheduled Caste (SC) and the Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in jobs and the education sector. The additional quota takes the total reservation in the state to 56 percent.

Concerns: 

• Minority view in the EWS case noted that permitting the breach of 50% ceiling limit would become “a gateway for further infractions and result in compartmentalization (division into sections).
  • Allowing this would in effect also “seal the fate” of laws like that of Tamil Nadu’s reservation law (allowing 69% quota), which is pending before the Supreme Court.
• The Indian political class have a tendency of continually expanding the scope of reservation in pursuit of electoral gains
• Topic of reservations in India has far-reaching social and economic consequences which requires careful consideration before any arbitrary policy decisions.

Nut Graf: Supreme Court’s recent decision in EWS case is expected to give push to the State governments who had earlier considered that the only way to raise reservations beyond 50% ceiling was through a Constitutional amendment that included their legislation in the Ninth Schedule, similar to Tamil Nadu government’s 69% reservation law was in 1994.

Category: CONSERVATION

1. Groundwater recharging

Syllabus: Water resources

Mains: Groundwater depletion and associated problems in India

Water table:

• The water table is an underground boundary between the soil surface and the area where groundwater saturates spaces between sediments and cracks in rock. Water pressure and atmospheric pressure are equal at this boundary.
• The soil surface above the water table is called the unsaturated zone, where both oxygen and water fill the spaces between sediments. 
  • The unsaturated zone is also called the zone of aeration due to the presence of oxygen in the soil. 
• Underneath the water table is the saturated zone, where water fills all spaces between sediments. The saturated zone is bounded at the bottom by impenetrable rock.
• Such water, stored in subterranean spaces, is called groundwater and the water-bearing rock strata are called aquifers.

Groundwater Depletion:

• Groundwater is a critical resource for food security, accounting for 60 per cent of irrigation supplies in India, the world’s largest consumer of underground water.But unsustainable consumption of groundwater for irrigation and home use is leading to its depletion.
• It is also the principal water source for a fourth of the world’s population. 
• The agrarian economy of the Indo-Gangetic plains is sustained by groundwater. 
  • Due to unregulated groundwater extraction, the Indo-Gangetic basin aquifer, especially in the States of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan may soon be incapable of supporting so much irrigation. 
• According to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), with 230 billion metre cubes of groundwater drawn out each year for irrigating agriculture lands in India, many parts of the country are experiencing rapid depletion of groundwater.
  • The total estimated groundwater depletion in India is in the range of 122–199 billion metre cubes.

Reasons for Groundwater Depletion: 

• Satellite gravimetry has provided convincing evidence in support of the alarming rates of groundwater depletion. 
• The average rate of groundwater decline in Indo-Gangetic plains has been 1.4 cm per year in this century. Depletion is not so acute in regions where groundwater is brackish.
• Green Revolution enabled water intensive crops to be grown in drought prone/ water deficit regions, leading to over extraction of groundwater.
  • The Green Revolution has been sustained by using tube wells. The lowering of the water table forces farmers to use high-powered submersible pumps, which has worsened the situation.
• Inadequate regulation of groundwater encouraged the exhaustion of groundwater resources without any penalty.
• Natural causes such as uneven rainfall and climate change are also hindering the process of groundwater recharge. India is mainly dependent on the Indian summer monsoon rainfall and weaker summer monsoons can cause droughts. During such dry periods, water is extracted from the ground to meet various needs leading to a reduction in groundwater levels.
• Deforestation is adding to the problem of groundwater depletion.

Effects of Groundwater Depletion:

• Groundwater depletion lowers the water table leading to difficulty in extracting groundwater for usage. This will also increase the cost for water extraction.
• The basic cause of land subsidence is a loss of support below ground. When water is taken out of the soil, the soil collapses, compacts, and drops. 
• Saltwater intrusion takes place. Under natural conditions the boundary between the freshwater and saltwater tends to be relatively stable, but pumping can cause saltwater to migrate inland and upward, resulting in saltwater contamination of the water supply.

Community-based movements to recharge groundwater:

• Aquifers are recharged with water from rainfall and rivers. Post-Independence, India saw an increase in the construction of canals for distributing water. These canals leak water, which also augments groundwater levels.
• In regions of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the aquifers are located in crystalline bedrock. In such rocks, water is found only in cracks and fissures as the rock itself is not porous.
  • Under these circumstances, tanks and ponds do not contribute much to groundwater recharge.
  • In rural areas of this region, recharge is mostly affected from rainfall and irrigation-related recycling.
  • The major source of groundwater recharge in an urban area (Bengaluru) is from leaks in water distribution pipes.
• Community-based movements to recharge groundwater is an important factor contributing to the good health of aquifers in some parts of our country.
  • For Example, thousands of small and large check dams built across seasonal rivers and streams in  semi-arid regions of Saurashtra are acting as an important tool to recharge groundwater.
  • These dams slow the flow of water and contribute to groundwater recharge as well as to check soil erosion. 
  • In villages, Bori bandhs are built, which are essentially sand-filled bags placed in the path of rainwater runoffs.
• Studies comparing the water table status in Saurashtra with the climatically similar regions of Marathwada and Vidarbha show a net positive impact. 
• The regions of Maharashtra have also started their own Managed Aquifer Recharge programmes such as the Jalyukt Shivar.
• Atal Bhujal Yojana, co-funded by World Bank funding, was launched for sustainable management of ground water with community participation in the identified over-exploited and water stressed areas.

Nut Graf: India is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history. Community-based movements to recharge groundwater is securing India’s water future by  getting every stakeholder involved as an active stewardship of water and ensuring that water consumption is not only environmentally sustainable or economically beneficial but is also socially and culturally fair.

Category: HEALTH

1. Can vaccine distribution be made fairer?

Syllabus: Issues relating to management in the health sector.

Mains: Vaccine equity.

Details:

• The Global Dashboard for Vaccine Equity has highlighted that only one in four people has been vaccinated with at least one dose in low and middle-income countries (as of November 9, 2022). However, three in four people have received at least one dose of the vaccine in high-income countries.

Global Dashboard for Vaccine Equity:

• Global Dashboard for Vaccine Equity is a joint collaboration of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the University of Oxford with cooperation from the entire United Nations.
• It collects data on the global roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines with the “most recent socio-economic information to illustrate the importance of accelerating vaccine equity in saving lives as well as driving a faster and fairer recovery from the pandemic with benefits for all.”

Vaccine Equity:

• Vaccine equity means that everyone in the world has equal access to vaccines. 
• However, in reality, the availability of drugs in different parts of the world is unequal, depriving large swathes of people in low and middle-income countries.
• It was perceived by many that the urgency of a pandemic might erase these differences and provide equal access to all. But this hope did not come true.
• According to a Lancet Article, the early phase of vaccine production for COVID-19 was insufficient to meet the global demand. As a result, many rich countries turned inwards, procuring vaccines for their domestic population. This came to be known as Vaccine Nationalism. 
• These methods further catalyzed the global vaccine inequity which is prevalent even today.
• Another article in the same journal (Lancet) showed that “broadening gaps in global vaccine equity has led to a two-track pandemic with booster COVID-19 vaccinations proliferating in high-income countries (HICs) and first doses not yet reaching all populations in low-income countries (LICs).” This inequity was termed as ‘Vaccine Aparthied’ by the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
• The Global Dashboard also pointed out another key aspect that the vaccination programmes will increase the cost of healthcare in all countries, but the effect will be felt the most in low-income countries.
  • Low-income countries would have to increase their health expenditure by almost 30-60% to cover 70% of their population under the present pricing mechanism. 
  • In High-income countries this increase would be a meager 0.8% to achieve the same vaccination rate in one year.

Measures to reduce vaccine inequity:

• Efforts were initiated to waive the intellectual property protection for the COVID-19 vaccines and other ranges of therapeutics. This would ensure that affordability alone should not hamper the availability. However, these efforts could not fructify in reality.
• The COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership (COVAX) was launched. It was a collective effort of  WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, and the World Bank.
  • The objective of COVAX was to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination coverage in 34 low-coverage countries. 
  • It provided help to several countries in accessing vaccines. However, it was reported by WHO that low-income countries(LIC) did face difficulties in achieving a major change in vaccination rates.
  • Furthermore, if it cannot support these countries(LIC) beyond the 20% vaccination rate then the financial burden of vaccinating an additional 50% of the population would have to be borne by the respective governments. This would be a daunting challenge given that the countries are already reeling from the global economic crisis.

Conclusion:

• It is important that adequate quantities of vaccines should be made available across the world as ‘No one is safe until everyone is safe’ (WHO’s dictum).
• Cooperation among countries is particularly important at this juncture when there is a risk of new variants causing further waves of infection.

Related Link: Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) | UPSC Notes

Nut Graf: Vaccine inequity exists across the world. The low-income countries are most affected by it as the majority of the population has not received even a single dose of COVID-19 vaccination. Every country should come together to achieve equity in this aspect for the benefit of humankind.

2. CRISPR technology

• For the first time, scientists have used the CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) technology to insert genes that allow immune cells to attack cancer cells.
• This leaves the normal cells unharmed and increases the effectiveness of immunotherapy.
  • The CRISPR gene editing technique has been previously used in humans to remove specific genes to allow the immune system to be more activated against cancer.
• CRISPR is used to not only take out specific genes, but also to insert new ones in immune cells efficiently redirecting them to recognise mutations in the patient’s own cancer cells.
• When infused back to patients, these CRISPR-engineered immune cells preferentially traffic to the cancer and become the most represented immune cells there.
  • The human immune system has specific receptors on immune cells that can specifically recognise cancer cells and differentiate them from normal cells. These are different for every patient.
  • The researchers found an efficient way to isolate these immune receptors from the patient’s own blood which is a leap forward in developing a personalised treatment for cancer.

Read more on Gene Editing and CRISPR

Q1. How many of the following pairs of valleys and the associated state is/are 
correctly matched? (Level- Medium)

Q2. Which of the following statement/s is/are correct? (Level- Medium)

Q3. Which of the following is not a joint exercise conducted by India in association
 with France (Level- Medium)

Q4. Which of the following pairs of Places and associated countries are correctly
 matched? (Level- Difficult)

Q5. Consider the following statements:  (Level- Medium) (CSE-PYQ-2019)

CNA 13 Nov 2022:- Download PDF Here

Read the previous CNA here.