UPSC Essentials | Weekly news express with MCQs : National Research Foundation, Earth’s axis, India’s LFPR, and more

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The Indian Express’ UPSC weekly news express covers some of the important and burning topics of current affairs news from this week to help you prepare for UPSC-CSE. Try out the MCQs and check your answers provided towards the end of the article.

India’s LFPR

Why in news?

— According to the latest data available from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), India’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) fell to 39.5 per cent in the last financial year (2022-23) that ended in March. This is the lowest LFPR reading since 2016-17.

— The LFPR for men stood at a seven-year low of 66 per cent while that of women was pegged at a mere 8.8 per cent.

JUST FYI

— Apart from being worrisome because they are so low, these numbers also explain why India’s workforce is becoming increasingly male-dominated, even more than it already was.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Udit Misra Explains:

—The LFPR is the share of the working-age population (aged 15 years and above) that is employed or unemployed, willing and looking for employment.

— In other words, of all the Indians aged 15 years and above, only 39.5 per cent are even asking for a job. Among men, this proportion was 66 per cent and among women, just 8.8 per cent.

Why LFPR matters

— Typically, policymakers and the general public is focussed on the unemployment rate in the economy. The unemployment rate is the share of people who are unemployed despite looking for work. If the proportion of people looking for work is high and stable, then the unemployment rate is a good way to assess the stress in the job market.

— But in India’s case, the unemployment rate is an inadequate measure because India’s LFPR (or the proportion asking for a job) has not only been lower than the global average but also falling.

— A low and falling LFPR is never a good sign for a developing economy because it shows that, despite low levels of income, its workers are opting out of the jobs market.

— Typically, this happens when workers fail to get a job for long periods of time, get discouraged and decide to sit out of the labour force.

Secular decline: Two things that stand out

1. The LFPR has been falling in a secular manner since 2016-17 and has hit its lowest in 2022-23. It is noteworthy that the fall has happened despite the fast growth rate of the economy. For instance, the GDP grew by 7.2 per cent in 2022-23.

2. India’s female LFPR has fallen to just 8.8 per cent in FY23. In other words, more than 90 per cent of all working-age women in India don’t even look for a job.

Global laggard

— CMIE admits that its measure of assessing LFPR are more stringent than others. For instance, the International Labour Organization (ILO) pegged India’s LFPR at 49 per cent for 2022 — distinctly higher than CMIE’s 40 per cent for 2022.

— However, even by ILO’s standards, India’s LFPR lagged far behind other countries.

— According to CMIE, India’s LPR is woefully low when compared to some Latin American and Asian economies that boast far higher labour participation rates as estimated by the same ILO model.

— In Indonesia, for instance, around 67 per cent of the working-age population entered the labour force in 2022 in search of employment.

— In countries like South Korea and Brazil, the labour participation rates were as high as 63-64 per cent. Argentina, Bangladesh and the Philippines recorded LPRs in the 58-60 per cent range. Over 51 per cent of the population of Sri Lanka was in the labour force in 2022.

— In India, on the contrary, less than half the working-age population had a job or was even willing to seek employment.

Three points to remember

1. Regardless of the rate of GDP growth, the decline in LFPR is unabated.

2. Data shows that the bulk of the decline happened before the Covid pandemic. This was the time when the economy was decelerating sharply. The GDP in 2019-20 grew by less than 4 per cent.

3. India’s workforce is becoming increasingly male-dominated, thanks to India’s starkly low female LFPR. CMIE data shows that in 2016-17, females comprised only 15.3 per cent of the labour force in India. This fell to 12 per cent in 2019-20 and fell further to a mere 10.3 per cent in 2022-23.

(Source: Why India’s workforce is becoming increasingly male-dominated by Udit Misra)

Point to ponder: The task of workforce development in India faces the changing realities of globalization and competitiveness, on one hand, and the need for inclusive growth on the other. Discuss.

1. MCQ:

With reference to India’s labour force participation rate (LFPR), consider the following statements:

1. The LFPR has been falling in a secular manner since 2016-17 and has hit its lowest in 2022-23.

2. A low and falling LFPR is never a good sign for a developing economy because it shows that, despite low levels of income, its workers are opting out of the jobs market.

Which of the above statement(s) is/are correct?

(a) Only 1

(b) Only 2

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi’s decision

WHY IN NEWS?

— Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi’s decision Thursday dismissing arrested minister V Senthil Balaji tests the constitutional limitations on the role of the Governor and pushes the Raj Bhavan into uncharted political territory.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Apurva Vishwanath Explains:

— Article 164 (1) of the Constitution states that the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and “the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, and the Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor”.

— However, a line of Supreme Court rulings have interpreted that power of the Governor primarily flows from the “aid and advice” of the Council of Ministers.

— In Shamsher Singh v State of Punjab, a 1974 ruling by a seven-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court said that a Governor must exercise “formal constitutional powers only upon, and in accordance with the aid and advice of their ministers, save in a few well-known exceptional situations”.

— These exceptions relate to dismissal of a government that has lost its majority, the decision to invite a party to form the government – both circumstances where the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers is unavailable or unreliable.

— The “pleasure” of the Governor is understood to flow from the fact that the government enjoys majority on the floor of the House.

— Former Secretary General of Lok Sabha PDT Achary told The Indian Express that it is perhaps the first instance of a Governor sacking an individual minister without the consent of the Chief Minister. “I cannot recall any such instance previously. Without the advice of the Chief Minister, a Governor can neither appoint or dismiss a minister,” Achary said.

— The Supreme Court, in its ruling in February this year in the case relating to the political crisis in the Maharashtra government, cautioned against the Governor stepping in to settle political rivalry.

“He (the Governor) cannot exercise a power that is not conferred on him by the Constitution or a law made under it,” the Supreme Court said.

“They certainly do not empower the Governor to enter the political arena and play a role (however minute) either in inter-party disputes or intra-party disputes,” it said.

(Source: Despite Supreme Court’s caution on a Governor’s role, Ravi tests the limits by Apurva Vishwanath)

Point to ponder: The Governor is seen as the agent of the Centre in states, who has been used by central governments over the years to create difficulties for state governments run by opposition parties. The frictions have become especially acute in several states over the last few years. Discuss.

2. MCQ:

Which one of the following suggested that the Governor should be an eminent person from outside the State and should be a detached figure without intense political links or should not have taken part in politics in the recent past? (UPSC CSE 2019)

(a) First Administrative Reforms Commission (1966)

(b) Rajamannar Committee (1969)

(c) Sarkaria Commission (1983)

(d) National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2000)

Pune’s GMRT becomes first Indian facility to detect gravitational waves

WHY IN NEWS?

— In a major breakthrough, an international team of astronomers announced scientific evidence confirming the presence of gravitational waves using pulsar observations.

— Operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), India’s Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) located in Pune was among the six of the world’s largest radio telescopes that paved the way for this discovery of nano-hertz gravitational waves.

JUST FYI

— This major announcement has come eight years after the first detection of gravitational waves which was proposed by Physicist Albert Einstein a century ago.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

— In two different studies published, radio astronomers representing the Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA) and European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) shared that a time aberration was observed in the signals emerging from these pulsars.

— Nicknamed as cosmic clocks, pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron stars that send out radio signals at regular intervals which are seen as bright flashes from the Earth.

— As these signals are accurately timed, there is a great interest in studying these pulsars and to unravel the mysteries of the Universe. In order to detect gravitational wave signals, scientists explore several ultra-stable pulsar clocks randomly distributed across our Milky Way galaxy and create an ‘imaginary’ galactic-scale gravitational wave detector.

— There are several signals travelling through spacetime of the Universe. But, the presence of gravitational waves influences the arrival of these signals when detected from Earth. It was noticed that some signals arrive early while others, with a slight delay (less than a millionth of a second).

— These nano-hertz signals were heard as humming from the Universe. These were caused due to the presence of gravitational waves and due to signal irregularities emerging from pulsars, said the scientists.

— “These irregularities showcased consistent effects on the resultant emanating gravitational waves at ultra-low frequency,” said Bhal Chandra Joshi, senior NCRA scientist and the man behind forming InPTA.

— It is expected that ultra-low frequency gravitational waves, also known as nano-hertz gravitational waves, emerge from a colliding pair of very large ‘monster’ black holes, many crores of times heavier than our Sun. Such ‘monster’ black holes are believed to be located in the centre of colliding galaxies.

— The signals or ripples that emerge from within these blackholes are known as nano-hertz gravitational waves. Their wavelengths can be many lakhs of crores of kilometres and oscillate with a periodicity anywhere between a 1 year to 10 years.

— When there is continuous arrival of these nano-hertz gravitational waves, it creates a consistent humming in our Universe, which gets detected using powerful radio telescopes from the Earth.

— In all, six of the world’s most powerful and large radio telescopes – uGMRT, Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, Effelsberg Radio Telescope, Lovell Telescope, Nançay Radio Telescope and Sardinia Radio Telescope — were deployed to study 25 pulsars over a period of 15 years.

— In addition to data from these facilities, highly sensitive uGMRT data of more than three years were analysed too. It has been concluded that radio flashes from these pulsars were affected by the nano-hertz gravitational waves believed to emerge from ‘monster’ black holes.

— Even though the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO) captured these waves lasting over a few seconds, PTAs observed these signals in a different frequency range.

— “But our galaxy-sized PTA could sense a permanent vibration of the gravitational wave background in nano-hertz frequencies,” said Prof. A Gopakumar from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. According to Joshi, Albert Einstein had stated that gravitational waves change the arrival times of these radio flashes, and thereby affect the measured ticks of our cosmic clocks.

— “As these changes are tiny, astronomers need sensitive telescopes like uGMRT and a collection of radio pulsars to separate these changes from other disturbances. Such slow variations of the signal have meant that it takes decades to look for these elusive nano-hertz gravitational signals,” Joshi said.

— Yashwant Gupta, centre director, NCRA, said, “The whiteband receiver systems designed and built for the uGMRT played a crucial role in obtaining high quality data from low frequency radio bandwidth.”

— Prof. Michael Kramer, Director, Max-Planck Institute, Germany, also a collaborator, termed the international collaborative effort as scientifically rewarding. “We hope to also serve as a role model for the global International Pulsar Timing Array efforts,” he said.

(Source: Pune’s GMRT becomes first Indian facility to detect gravitational waves)

Point to ponder: The NCRA-TIFR team announced the discovery of gravitational waves that open a new window to the universe. Explain.

3. MCQ:

What is the purpose of the ‘evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (eLISA)’ project? (2017)

(a) To detect neutrinos

(b) To detect gravitational waves

(c) To detect the effectiveness of missile defence system

(d) To study the effect of solar flares on our communication systems

National Research Foundation

WHY IN NEWS?

— If implemented as envisaged, the National Research Foundation — whose creation was approved by the government Wednesday — has the potential to address most pressing issues in Indian science and significantly improve India’s research output.

JUST FYI

— The NRF is supposed to fund, promote and mentor research in higher educational institutions, but these are only the basic objectives. There are a number of other ways in which it is expected to improve the environment of scientific research in the country.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Amitabh Sinha Explains:

Broad-basing research

— One of the main objectives of the NRF is to get colleges and universities involved in scientific research. The NRF detailed project report had pointed out that less than one per cent of the nearly 40,000 institutions of higher learning in the country were currently engaged in research.

— “For some reason, there has been an artificial separation between research and higher education in the country. There are research institutions, and there are colleges and universities where very little research is carried out. One of the objectives of NRF would be to build research capacities in our universities. The union of education and research must be restored,” said Spenta Wadia, founding director of Bengaluru-based International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, a centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Wadia was among the scientists who worked on the detailed project report.

— NRF plans to address this lacuna in multiple ways. Active researchers, whether serving or retired, can be encouraged to take up NRF professorships at universities and colleges to start or improve their research cells in collaboration with the existing faculty. There will be no age barrier for such research mentors; they can apply for funding as long as they are active and bring value to the host institution. It also plans to offer doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships to young researchers at these universities.

— University professors and researchers will get opportunities to participate in long-term projects aimed specifically at solving societal problems, such as river cleaning, access to clean energy in villages, etc.

Research in social sciences

— The NSF would fund and promote research not just in natural sciences but also in humanities, social sciences and art. This is considered vital for inculcating creativity, critical thinking and communication skills.

— As of now, research in these areas has very limited sources of funding. “This would be a very welcome move. It is important to integrate social sciences and humanities in our decision-making process. It is an excellent idea to support research in these areas,” said Ashoka University vice-chancellor Somak Raychaudhury.

— The detailed project report noted that finding solutions to big national problems required not just application of science and technology but an understanding of social sciences, history and various socio-cultural dimensions of the nation. Social sciences, Indian Languages and Knowledge Systems, Arts and Humanities are among the ten major ‘directorates’ sought to be established under NRF, along with others like natural sciences, mathematics, earth sciences and engineering.

National priorities

— While the NRF is envisaged to support all good-quality peer-reviewed research proposals, it does aim to identify priority areas in which science and technology interventions can help larger national objectives.

— The priority areas could include clean energy, climate change, sustainable infrastructure, improved transportation and accessible and affordable healthcare.

— Towards this end, the NRF hopes to fund and support large-scale, long-term, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional projects. It also proposes to set up Centres of Excellence in major thrust areas to focus on research considered important for the country. In addition, the NRF would also back and coordinate the research happening in mega international projects like LIGO or ITER, that India is actively involved in.

Funding

— The core objective of the NRF would be to sharply increase the funding available to scientific research in the country, both from government and private sources. India’s spending on research and development has remained below 0.7 per cent of its GDP, when even countries like Egypt or Brazil spend more. Advanced competitors, like the United States, China, Israel, Japan or South Korea, spend anywhere between 2 to 5 per cent of their respective GDPs on scientific research.

— Scientists have noted that the relatively small amount available for research in India has a direct bearing on the quality and quantity of research output. The number of researchers per million population is only 253 in India while it is more than 1,200 in China, nearly 4,200 in the United States and over 8,000 in Israel.

— The estimated allocation of Rs 50,000 crore over a five-year period for the NRF does not form any substantial increase in the current spending, but scientists say this is likely to go up once the NRF starts to make its mark.
“Rs 50,000 crore is not a bad sum to start with. We need to put this money to good use, and show progress in a time-bound manner. Completing projects and making full utilisation of available resources is very important. Once the NRF takes off and its utility is recognised, I am sure the flow of money will also increase,” Wadia said.

(Source: How NRF aims to boost research in higher educational institutes by Amitabh Sinha)

Point to ponder: National Research Foundation could democratise science research. It must be made financially sound, institutionally autonomous. Discuss.

4. MCQ:

With reference to NRF Bill consider the following statements:

1. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) will be the administrative Department of NRF which will be governed by a Governing Board consisting of eminent researchers and professionals across disciplines. 

2. The bill will repeal the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB).

3. Union Minister of Science & Technology will be the ex-officio President of the Governing Board.

How many of the above statement(s) are true?

(a) Only 1 statement

(b) Only 2 statements

(c) All three statements

(d) None of the statements

Groundwater extraction shifted the Earth’s axis

Why in news?

— The excessive extraction of groundwater for drinking and irrigation has shifted the Earth’s axis of rotation, according to a new study. Noting that humans pumped out around 2,150 gigatons of groundwater between 1993 and 2010, the study says that the planet’s axis has drifted at the rate of 4.36 cm per year towards the east.

— The study, ‘Drift of Earth’s Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a Significant Contributor to Global Sea Level Rise 1993–2010’, was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, earlier this month.

JUST FYI

— Although the shift isn’t significant enough to have real-life consequences, the study shows that humans have extracted so much water from the ground that it has impacted the planet’s axis and contributed to global sea level rise.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Alind Chauhan Explains:

Earth’s axis keeps shifting

— Earth spins around an imaginary axis which passes through the north pole, its centre of mass and the south pole just like a top spins around its spindle. Scientists for years have known that the poles and the axis keep shifting naturally as the mass distribution in and on the planet changes. This phenomenon is known as “polar motion”.

— For instance, rocks slowly circulating inside Earth’s mantle causes the planet’s mass to shift, leading to a change in the position of the rotational axis. Lead author of the latest research, Ki-Weon Seo, told The Indian Express that the shift of the axis, in fact, “varies about several metres in a year.”

— There are several other reasons responsible for polar motion like ocean currents and even hurricanes. But this phenomenon is also impacted by human activities. In 2016, a team of researchers demonstrated that climate-driven changes in water mass distribution, led by the melting of glaciers and ice in Greenland, can cause Earth’s axis to drift. Five years later, another study said climate change was causing the rotational axis to shift more than usual since the 1990s.

Findings of the new study

— To carry out the study, Seo and his team took observational data spanning 17 years and a computer model to find out which factors affected the Earth’s rotation of axis the most. Initially, the team wasn’t able to match their prediction with the level of shift that scientists have observed in previous years.

— The study also noted that the groundwater extraction from North America and northwestern India, both located at the Earth’s midlatitudes, had an outsized impact on the polar motion in comparison to the extraction taking place in poles or equators.

— Seo explained: “Mass change on the equator or pole cannot affect change in the rotational pole. Rotational pole change is actually associated with the moment of inertia of the Earth, which is sensitive to midlatitude mass change.”

— The water sucked out from the ground for irrigation and meeting the world’s freshwater demands, eventually, goes into the oceans. Seo and his team confirmed that groundwater extraction is one of the major contributors to the global sea level rise. Their calculations matched with previous research, which estimated that groundwater extraction raised global sea levels by 6.24mm between 1993 and 2010.

(Source: Groundwater extraction shifted the Earth’s axis- What a new study says by Alind Chauhan)

Point to ponder: Arriving at groundwater solutions in India is highly complex, given that its distribution is skewed and there are gaps in data availability on this natural resource. Discuss.

5. MCQ:

On the planet earth, most of the freshwater exists as ice caps and glaciers. Out of the remaining freshwater, the largest proportion (UPSC CSE 2013)

(a) is found in atmosphere as moisture and clouds

(b) is found in freshwater lakes and rivers

(c) exists as groundwater

(d) exists as soil moisture

Partition of Bengal in 1947

Why in news?

In a first, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose marked the state’s ‘Foundation Day’ at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata on Tuesday (June 20), sparking a political row in the state. The plan to do so was earlier opposed by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

JUST FYI

June 20 marks the day in 1947 when the Bengal Assembly saw two separate meetings of legislators. One set voted to stay in India while the other to go with Pakistan. The TMC argues that June 20 is actually a day of much sorrow and bloodshed for the people of the state as it marks the division of Bengal into West Bengal and East Pakistan (later, Bangladesh) – and should not be marked as Bengal Foundation Day.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The following Q&As are the responses of Salil Misra, History Professor at the School of Liberal Studies at Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Delhi.

Q. What were the circumstances around the partition of Bengal in 1947?

A. The partition of Bengal was the result of firstly, a demand made by the Muslim League that the Indian Muslims were a nation in themselves, and hence ought to have a separate nation-state of their own. Therefore, all the Muslim-majority provinces were claimed under this scheme. Secondly, a massive communalisation of the society along religious lines, culminating in serious communal violence in what was then known as Calcutta in August 1946.

Q. How were the contours of East Pakistan finalised?

A. It was decided in June 1947 that India would be partitioned into India and Pakistan and Punjab and Bengal, which had numerically significant non-Muslim minorities of around 44% in each province, would also be partitioned along religious lines as far as possible.

Following this, a boundary commission was set up under the chairmanship of Sir Cyril Radcliff, to carve out separate and contiguous districts with Hindu and Muslim majority, respectively. The lines that were drawn came to be known later as the Radcliffe Line.

Q. Were there circumstances that led to the concentration of Muslims in what became East Pakistan?

A. The composition of the population in Bengal was such that the districts of East Bengal constituted a Muslim majority and those of the West had a Hindu majority. Therefore, the eastern districts were all grouped under East Pakistan. This was similar to Punjab, where Muslims were concentrated more in the western districts, and Hindus and Sikhs in the eastern ones.

Q. Please tell us about Curzon’s partition of Bengal earlier, and if that had any bearing on the 1947 process.

A. The partition of Bengal that was done by Curzon in 1905 was entirely different. Bengal then was virtually one-fourth of the country, with Bihar and Orissa included in it as well. Bengal was partitioned by Curzon to break the unity of the Bengali-speaking people and also to create a separate province with a Muslim majority.

Assam and East Bengal were grouped together to constitute one province, which had a Muslim majority. This partition was withdrawn in 1911 and the linguistic unity of Bengal was restored. Bihar and Orissa were separated from Bengal.

The two partitions (of 1905 and 1947) were not connected with each other, except in the sense that the new Bengal that emerged after 1911 had a Muslim majority. Likewise, Sind was separated from the Bombay presidency and made into a separate province in 1935.

Q. Please tell us about the aftermath of the 1947 partition of Bengal on the population, in terms of loss of lives, displacement, disruption of livelihoods, and the larger impact on the economy.

A. Bengal had witnessed considerable communal violence in 1946 before the partition. Calcutta and Noakhali were the worst hit. After partition, Bengal escaped large-scale violence (unlike Punjab), largely because of MK Gandhi’s presence there.

But there was a long chain of migrations and displacement. People migrated from East to West (and vice versa) not in one major push (as was the case in Punjab) but in a continuous trickle. These migrations continued for a long time creating a large refugee population, requiring rehabilitation and settlements.

(Source: An expert weighs in- On the 1947 Partition of Bengal, after the recent Foundation Day row in the state)

Point to ponder: The Bengal Pact of 1923 was the final attempt to unite Bengali Hindus and Muslims initiated by Chittaranjan Das. Discuss.

6. MCQ:

The `Swadeshi’ and ‘Boycott’ were adopted as methods of struggle for the first time during the (UPSC CSE 2016)

(a) agitation against the Partition of Bengal

(b) Home Rule Movement

(c) Non-Cooperation Movement

(d) visit of the Simon Commission to India

ANSWERS TO MCQs: 1 (c), 2 (c), 3 (b), 4 (b), 5 (c), 6 (a)

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