UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis Nov27

A. GS1 Related

B. GS2 Related

Context

• The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the government to respond to a petition challenging two amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988

• It consolidated the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, some sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Criminal Law Act, 1952.
• The 1988 Act enlarged the scope of the term ‘public servant’ and in­cluded a large number of employees within its ambit.
• However, MPs and MLAs, even though performing ‘public duties’, have been kept out of the ambit of the Act.
• If the offence against the public servant is proved in the courts, it is punishable with imprisonment of not less than six months but extending to a maximum period of five years.
• A key problem of the 1988 Act was that the person giving the bribe was legally seen as a victim and so not held culpable or criminally liable.

Why is the “Prevention of Corruption Act” being amended?

• Section 13 of the Act holds public servants culpable for securing a pecuniary advantage for another “without any public interest”.
• This resulted in many honest officials being prosecuted even when they gained nothing and merely exercised their discretion in favour of someone.
• Even former PM Manmohan Singh had criticised this provision as it is prone to misuse and affects decision making within the government.
• Notably, even officials with the most honest of intentions tend to hesitate in making decisions if their actions are likely to be suspected and scrutinized.
• Hence, the current government has proposed an amendment to rectify section 13 in order to make liberate officials from possible witch hunts.

What are the provisions envisioned in the new law?

• The new version seeks to be more concise and restricts criminal misconduct to two offences namely: Misappropriating public property for private gratification and amassing unexplained wealth (beyond known sources of income)
• The law also seeks to make citizens liable for offering a bribe to a public servant, which is in line with “UN Convention against Corruption”.
• In situations where citizens are forced to give a bribe, the above provision doesn’t apply, provided the incidence is reported to authorities within a week.

Details of the present arguments

• The amendments were the introduction of Section 17 A (1) by which prior permission for investigation of corruption offences was required from the government and the removal of Section 13 (1) (d) (ii) (criminal misconduct) from the Act. The latter provision had earlier made it an offence for a public servant to abuse his position to give pecuniary or other advantage to a third party.
• Bhushan said the removed provision of ‘criminal misconduct’ was used in most prosecutions of public servants under the Act in cases where there might not be a charge of directly accepting bribes.
• He referred to the prosecution of officials in the coal scam where officials gave leases to companies who they knew were not eligible. As for the new provision of Section 17(A), the CPIL said seeking sanction before commencement of investigation in a corruption case “not only takes away the element of secrecy and surprise but introduces a period of delay during which vital evidence can be manipulated or destroyed”.
• “It gives time to the accused to lobby by employing various means for denial of permission. The seeking of permission in itself becomes a cause for corruption as it introduces yet another discretion, at the crucial stage of commencement of investigation,” the petition said.

Context

• The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a fresh petition challenging Article 370, which gives special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir.
• One of the main writ petitions pending is by NGO ‘We the Citizens’, which challenges the validity of both Article 35A and Article 370.
• It argues that four representatives from Kashmir were part of the Constituent Assembly involved in the drafting of the Constitution and the State of Jammu and Kashmir was never accorded any special status in the Constitution. Article 370 was only a ‘temporary provision’ to help bring normalcy. The Constitution makers did not intend Article 370 to be a tool to bring permanent amendments, like Article 35A, in the Constitution.
• The petition said Article 35A is against the “very spirit of oneness of India”. Restricting citizens from other States from getting employment or buying property in J&K is a violation of their fundamental rights, it said.

What is Article 35A?

• The heading of Article 35A reads: “saving of laws with respect to permanent residents and their rights”.
• The laws granting special rights to permanent residents would not be deemed a violation of the fundamental rights of other citizens.

Arguments against Article 35A

• The ‘classification’ created by Article 35A has to be tested on the principle of equality as it treats non-permanent residents of J&K as ‘second-class’ citizens.
• Such persons are not eligible for employment under the State government and are also debarred from contesting elections.
• Meritorious students are denied scholarships and they cannot even seek redress in any court of law.
• Further, the issues of refugees who migrated to J&K during Partition are still not treated as ‘State subjects’ under the J&K Constitution.
• It was inserted unconstitutionally, bypassing Article 368 which empowers only Parliament to amend the Constitution.
• The laws enacted in pursuance of Article 35A are ultra vires of the fundamental rights conferred by Part III of the Constitution, especially, and not limited to, Articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (protection of life).

Arguments in favour of Legality of Article 35A

• Article 370 (1) (d) empowers the President of India to extend with requisite exceptions and modifications the other provisions of the Indian Constitution to J&K as may be necessary.
• The Delhi Agreement of 1952 followed Article 370. According to the Clause 2 of the agreement, the State Legislature of J&K was given power to make laws for conferring special rights and privileges on the ‘state subjects’.
• Article 35A follows the Instrument of Accession and the guarantee given to the State of J&K that the State’s autonomy will not be disturbed.
• Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and such other states also have laws which say that no outsider can buy land.

Article 370

• Article 370 of the Indian constitution is an article that grants special autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The article is drafted in Part XXI of the Constitution, which relates to Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions.
• The state’s constituent assembly was empowered to recommend the articles of the Indian constitution to be applied to the state or to abrogate Article 370 altogether. After the state constituent assembly has dissolved itself without recommending abrogation, Article 370 is deemed to have become a permanent feature of the Indian constitution.
• In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the representatives to the Constituent Assembly requested that only those provisions of the Indian Constitution that corresponded to the original Instrument of Accession should be applied to the State.
• The Article 370 was incorporated into the Indian Constitution, which stipulated that the other articles of the Constitution that gave powers to the Central Government would be applied to Jammu and Kashmir only with the concurrence of the State’s constituent assembly.

Context

• The Kartarpur corridor between India and Pakistan will “open new doors” and is a “unifier, building bridges across old chasms,” Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu said here on Monday.
• Naidu was joined by leaders from all political parties in Punjab in laying the foundation stone for the four-lane “human corridor” to be completed by November 23, 2019, in time for Sikh founder Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary, which was decided on by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a Cabinet meeting last week.
• The corridor will drastically cut down the distance pilgrims travel from more than 200 km to just 6 km.
• “That is the history we have to create together, a history that will make our two countries and the entire world a more peaceful place for our children and grandchildren to live and grow together,” Mr. Naidu said.

Brief history of kartarpur Gurdwara

• The gurdwara in Kartarpur stands on the bank of the Ravi, about 120 km northeast of Lahore.
• It was here that Guru Nanak assembled a Sikh community and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539.
• The shrine is visible from the Indian side, as Pakistani authorities generally trim the elephant grass that would otherwise obstruct the view.
• Indian Sikhs gather in large numbers for darshan from the Indian side, and binoculars are installed at Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak.

The significance of the Gurdwara

• The gurdwara was opened to pilgrims after repairs and restoration in 1999, and Sikh jathas have been visiting the shrine regularly ever since.
• There are no restrictions on visiting Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib once a pilgrim has entered Pakistan on a valid visa.
• Sikh jathas from India travel to Pakistan on four occasions every year for Baisakhi, the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev, the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev.
• These Indian pilgrims are given access to all gurdwaras in Pakistan.

C. GS3 Related

News

• Lower than expected indirect tax and non-tax revenue will result in the government likely missing its fiscal deficit target for the year, according to India Ratings and Research.
• FY19 will be the third consecutive year in which fiscal deficit/GDP will be 3.5%.”
• Although the introduction of e-way bills has helped the government plug leakages in GST collection, aggregate indirect tax collections (union excise duties, customs, service tax and GST) grew only 4.3% during the [first half of FY19] versus the budgeted growth of 22.2% for FY19.”

What is Fiscal Deficit?

• The fiscal deficit is the difference between the government’s total expenditure and its total receipts (excluding borrowing). Fiscal deficit in layman’s terms corresponds to the borrowings and liabilities of the government.
• As per the technical definition, Fiscal Deficit = Budgetary Deficit + Borrowings and Other Liabilities of the government.

What will be the consequences of rising fiscal deficits?

• Higher government expenditure will push up demand and generate more money in the economy which may lead to higher inflation.
• The government in order to repay its debt would likely to levy more taxes in the future.
• Higher fiscal deficit also leaves little room for interest rate cuts which would affect private investments from taking off.
• Borrowing costs may remain high for consumers and industry/companies which might stall economic growth

What measures needs to be taken?

• Fiscal consolidation is important from the point of view of the credibility of policy-making.
• Though there is an improvement in the tax to GDP ratio after the anti-tax evasion steps, gains from tax revenues was lost on account of non-tax revenues.
• Framing a proper asset monetisation plan will help a lot in generating non-tax revenues as the government is among the largest owners of property and immovable assets in the world.
• Thus the non-tax revenue needs to be boosted by a structured long term plan which will help in outlining the course of action and help provide predictability to the earnings from non-tax revenues.

Context

• NASA’s top scientists admitted to sleepless nights, sweaty palms, stomach aches and moments of pure terror as their $993 million Mars Insight spacecraft approaches a high-drama finale late on Monday night: landing on Mars.

NASA’s Insight Rover

• NASA’s first-ever mission named as InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) dedicated to exploring the deep interior of Mars.
• InSight is NASA’s Discovery Program mission that aims to place stationary lander equipped with seismometer and heat transfer probe on surface of Mars to study red planet’s early geological evolution.
• It is terrestrial planet explorer that will address one of most fundamental issues of planetary and solar system science. It will help in understanding processes that shaped rocky planets of inner solar system (including Earth) more than four billion years ago.
• The robotic lander will perform a radio science experiment to study internal structure of Mars by deploying seismometer and a burrowing heat probe. It will measure Mar’s vital signs such as pulse (seismology), temperature (heat flow probe) and reflexes (precision tracking). It will let scientists understand how different its crust, mantle and core are from Earth.
• Mars Insight’s goal is to listen for quakes and tremors as a way to unveil the Red Planet’s inner mysteries, how it formed billions of years ago, and by extension, how other rocky planets like the earth took shape.
• The unmanned spacecraft, launched nearly seven months ago, is NASA’s first to attempt to touch down on Mars since the Curiosity rover arrived in 2012.
• More than half of 43 attempts to reach Mars with rovers, orbiters and probes by space agencies from around the world have failed.
• NASA is the only space agency to have made it, and is invested in these missions as a way to prepare for the first Mars-bound human explorers in the 2030s. “We never take Mars for granted. Mars is hard,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for the science mission directorate.

Context

• Chinese health and medical ethics authorities started an investigation on Monday into claims by a scientist who released videos on YouTube, saying he had altered the genes of twins born earlier this month, creating the first gene edited babies.
• In the videos, the scientist defended his work: “I understand my work will be controversial, but I believe families need this technology. And I am willing to take the criticism for them.”
• Earlier, Mr. He said he was aiming to bestow on the gene edited babies “lifetime protection” against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
• He said he began his work in the second half of 2017 and enrolled eight couples. All of the potential fathers involved were HIV-positive. Five chose to implant embryos, including the parents of the twin girls, identified only by the pseudonyms Mark and Grace. The babies’ names are Lulu and Nana, He said in one video.
• “If true, this experiment is monstrous,” said Julian Savulescu, director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford.

Cutting-and-pasting DNA

• CRISPR-Cas9 is a technology that allows scientists to essentially cut-and-paste DNA, raising hope of genetic fixes for disease. However, there are also concerns about its safety and ethics.
• CRISPR is a dynamic, versatile tool that allows us to target nearly any genomic location and potentially repair broken genes. It can remove, add or alter specific DNA sequences in the genome of higher organisms.
• CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) are sections of DNA and are sections of genetic code containing short repetitions of base sequences followed by spacer DNA segments.
• CAS-9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) is an enzyme. It uses a synthetic guide RNA to introduce a double strand break at a specific location within a strand of DNA. It is a system used by bacterial cells to recognize and destroy viral DNA as a form of adaptive immunity.

What are the pros of Gene editing?

• CRISPR could be used to modify disease-causing genes in embryos brought to term, removing the faulty script from the genetic code of that person’s future descendants as well. Genome editing (Gene editing) could potentially decrease, or even eliminate, the incidence of many serious genetic diseases, reducing human suffering worldwide.
• It might also be possible to install genes that offer lifelong protection against infection.

What are the cons of Gene editing?

• Making irreversible changes to every cell in the bodies of future children and all their descendants would constitute extraordinarily risky human experimentation.
• There are issues including off-target mutations (unintentional edits to the genome), persistent editing effects, genetic mechanisms in embryonic and fetal development, and longer-term health and safety consequences.
• Some argue that we do not understand the operations of the genome enough to make long-lasting changes to it. Altering one gene could have unforeseen and widespread effects on other parts of the genome, which would then be passed down to future generations.
• Many consider genome alterations to be unethical, advocating that we should let nature run its course.
• Few argue that after permitting human germline gene editing for any reason would likely lead to its ignorance of the regulatory limits, to the emergence of a market-based eugenics that would exacerbate already existing discrimination, inequality, and conflict.
• It will become a tool for selecting desired characteristics such as intelligence and attractiveness.

D. GS4 Related

(Note to the students – This concept can be used as a part of Social influence and persuasion)

• This refers to a social phenomenon wherein movie characters can surprisingly inspire behavioural changes in people in the real world.
• It is named after Dana Scully, a woman character in the American television series The X-Files which was aired mostly in the 1990s.
• Studies have found that the character, portrayed as a medical doctor and a special agent successfully working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, inspired many women who watched the series to take up education and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and with various law enforcement agencies.

E. Editorials

Editorial Analysis:

• • M.C. Mary Kom recently enhanced her already legendary status when she defeated Ukraine’s Hanna Okhota in the 48 kg segment of the Women’s World Boxing Championship in Delhi on 24th November, 2018.
  • This was her sixth gold across World Championships, drawing her level with Félix Savón, the Cuban great who ruled amateur boxing in the 1980s and 1990s.
  • This was the latest of her six world titles and was secured after a gap of eight years. Kom had said that this latest accomplishment was the toughest of them all.

• It is important to note that this accomplishment has come at a time when the competition has risen manifold following the inclusion of women’s boxing as an event in the Olympics in 2012.

• Kom got past other strong opponents before clinching the bout against Okhota. Further, Kom also had to bear the additional pressure of the expectations of home crowds.
• It is important to note that Mary Kom has always defied the odds. She has gone against gender stereotypes, and overcome the odds posed by the lack of resources and poor infrastructure that hold back so much athletic talent in India.
• In the process of doing so, she has firmed up Manipur’s place on India’s talent map, brought India on the world boxing landscape, and reinforced women’s sport by winning consistently with exceptional determination and grace.

A Brief Note on Mary Kom:  

• Kom, who is now 35 and a mother of three, has had a good 2018.
• She won her maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal earlier this year, 2018.  
• She extended that form in Delhi and cemented her place in the history of the World Championships with an overall haul of seven medals, including a silver on debut in 2001.
• She was a bronze medallist at the 2012 London Olympics.
• In the recently concluded event, the victory has fuelled further expectations from this late-career burst.
• Kom will switch to the 51 kg weight class in the pursuit of a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Impact as a Rajya Sabha member of Parliament:

• As a Rajya Sabha member of Parliament and idol for many upcoming women boxers, she has a full schedule, and will be aware that it will take all she has to fight with younger and stronger rivals in a higher weight category.
• She has been hailed as ‘Magnificent Mary’ by the International Boxing Association.  Further, the International Boxing Association had chosen her as its representative in the International Olympic Committee athletes’ forum.

Concluding Remarks:

• Kom has been an inspiration globally.
• Her rise from a humble background to be an international role model has inspired a book and a Hindi movie chronicling her life.
• Raffaele Bergamasco, the India coach, sums up Kom’s legend with these words, “Mary in boxing is like Maradona in football.”
• Experts also point out that the gender comparison is crucial too — at a time when the women’s competition at diverse levels and different sporting events is being sought to be placed on a par with the men’s, in terms of infrastructural support and remuneration, Mary Kom’s record will indeed give heart to all women athletes.

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Rules for a resolution (India-China Relations)

Question 1. Consider the following statements about Bioremediation Technology:

Question 2. Environmental Performance Index is released by

Question 3. Parali I island sometimes seen in news is located in: