UPSC Key—26th December, 2023: Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 5G Spectrum Allocation, India and Russia annual summit

NewsClick HR head moves plea to turn approver in UAPA case

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- THE HUMAN resources head of NewsClick, Amit Chakraborty, has moved an application in a Delhi court, seeking permission to turn approver in a case filed under provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against the news portal.

• What is NewsClick?

• Why Delhi police took this action?

• What are the main allegation in the FIR?

• But why the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is invoked?

• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)-Key Highlights

• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Human Rights-Connect the dots

• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Article 22 of the Constitution-Connect the Dot

• For Your Information-UAPA presents an alternate criminal law framework where the general principles of criminal law are reversed. By relaxing timelines for the state to file chargesheets and its stringent conditions for bail, the UAPA gives the state more powers compared with the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Enacted in 1967, the UAPA was strengthened by the Congress-led UPA government in 2008 and 2012. The test for denying bail under the UAPA is that the court must be satisfied that a “prima facie” case exists against the accused. In 2019, the SC defined prima facie narrowly to mean that the courts must not analyse evidence or circumstances, but look at the “totality of the case” presented by the state. In NIA v Zahoor Ahmed Watali, the SC read the bail provisions strictly, holding that courts must only be satisfied that a prima facie case can be made out to deny bail, and not consider the merit or the admissibility of the evidence.
Section 43D(5) reads: “Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code, no person accused of an offence punishable under Chapters IV and VI of this Act shall, if in custody, be released on bail or on his own bond unless the Public Prosecutor has been given an opportunity of being heard on the application for such release.”
It adds: “Provided that such accused person shall not be released on bail or on his own bond if the Court, on a perusal of the case diary or the report made under section 173 of the Code is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against such person is prima facie true.”

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍What UAPA sections have been invoked against NewsClick

As Modi skips annual summit again, Jaishankar goes to Russia for talks

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-WITH PRIME Minister Narendra Modi skipping Russia for the annual summit for the second year in a row, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday reached Moscow on a five-day visit to meet the Russian leadership.

• India and Russia annual summit-know in detail

• For Your Information-External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit Russia from December 25 to 29 as a part of the ongoing high-level exchanges between the two sides, it said.
“The time-tested India-Russia partnership has remained stable and resilient and continues to be characterized by the spirit of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership,” it said.
The MEA said the external affairs minister will meet Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov to discuss matters related to economic engagement.
Jaishankar will also hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov for discussion on bilateral, multilateral and international issues, it added.
“Focusing on the strong people-to-people and cultural ties between our two countries, the external affairs minister’s programme will include engagements in Moscow and in St. Petersburg,” the MEA said.
It is learnt that the two sides are expected to discuss various aspects of the bilateral relations, especially in areas of trade, energy, defence and connectivity.
Jaishankar’s visit comes as it has become clear that the annual India-Russia leaders’ summit will not take place this year too. The summit between the prime minister of India and the Russian president is the highest institutional dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between the two sides.
So far, 21 annual summits have taken place alternatively in India and Russia. The last summit took place in New Delhi in December 2021 The ties between India and Russia remained strong notwithstanding Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. India’s import of Russian crude oil has gone up significantly despite increasing disquiet over it in many Western countries.
India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

• How is Indo-Russia Relations?

• Important areas of cooperation between India and Russia-know in detail

• Area of contention between India and Russia-know in detail

• Why Russia is significant for India?

• Why India is significant for Russia?

• How much trade does India have with Russia?

• Russia plays a very important role in logistical as well as technological support when it comes to defence forces-Know India and Russia Military trade

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Russia deeply cherishes equal and respectful relations with India: Envoy

Probe points to drone attack, deploying guided missile destroyers, says Navy

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-SAYING THAT its preliminary assessment pointed to a drone attack on the India-bound merchant vessel, MV Chem Pluto, which arrived at Mumbai’s outer anchorage on Monday afternoon, the Indian Navy announced the deployment of guided missile destroyers “to maintain a deterrent presence” in view of the recent attacks in the Arabian Sea.

• Chemical tanker MV Chem Pluto-Know in detail

• What was the ship doing?

• Why was it attacked?

• Where it was attacked?

• Who is behind the attack?

• Do You Know-MV Chem Pluto is a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker. It had started its journey carrying crude from Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, on December 19, and was expected to arrive in New Mangalore on December 25.
A likely reason that the tanker was targeted is its Israeli affiliation. Its operator, Amsterdam-based Ace Quantum Chemical Tankers, is jointly owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer, the eighth richest man in the world. Notably, Ofer recently resigned from the board of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Management citing the board’s weak response to anti-Israeli protests on the campus.
The Pentagon, on Sunday, claimed that the ship was struck by “a one-way attack drone fired from Iran.” Amidst the spate of recent maritime assaults, this is the first the US is directly blaming Iran.
However, Iran has vehemently dismissed these claims.“Such claims are aimed at projecting, distracting public attention, and covering up for the full support of the American government for the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza,” Nasser Kanaani, Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Monday.
If it is the Houthis (next section) who have carried out this attack (like all the previous ones), this would be the most distant ship targeted by the group till date.
This spate of recent attacks on merchant vessels is a spillover of Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza. Since last month, the Houthis from Yemen have constantly targeted Israel-linked ships, citing Israel’s continued aggression in Gaza as the reason behind their actions.
After hijacking an Israel-owned ship last month, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the Houthis’ spokesman, said in an online statement that the Israelis only understand “the language of force,” the AP reported. “This is just the beginning,” he added. Since then, the Houthis have attacked and seized commercial ships over 15 times.

• What explains the recent attacks?

• Who are the Houthis?

• Why are these attacks concerning?

• How has the world responded?

• How has India responded?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Drone strike in Arabian sea: A new challenge for the Navy

📍Merchant vessel MV Chem Pluto reaches Mumbai 2 days after drone attack

GOVT & POLITICS

Women participation in NREGS continues to rise, 59% this fiscal

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Main Examination:

• General Studies‐ III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment

• General Studies III: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Women participation in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was the highest in 10 financial years, with the proportion of women person-days in the total touching 59.25% till December 24 during the current financial year 2023-24, shows official data.

• Rate of participation of women in the MGNREGS-Know in detail

• What is women’s participation in MGNREGA?

• What is the gender wage gap in MGNREGA?

• Female Labour Force Participation Rate-Know about this in detail

• For You Information-The rates of participation of women in the MGNREGS, defined as women person-days out of the total in percentage, stood at 57.47% in 2022-23 and 54.82% in 2021-22. It was 53.19% during 2020-21 at the time of the Covid-19 outbreak and 54.78% in 2019-20 during the pre-Covid period.
Data on NREGS portal shows of the total 238.62 crore person-days under the NREGS during 2023-24 till December 24, the figure of women person-days was 141.37 crore or 59.25%.
The number of women person-days was 169.90 crore (57.47 %) of the total 295.66 crore in 2022-23. The lowest percentage of women participation in the NREGS over the last 10 financial years was recorded in 2020-21 at 53.19%. Women participation figures in NREGS for 2023-24 is based on data available up to December 24 and there might be a marginal change at the end of the financial year in March-end 2024. However, the broad trends indicate a steady rise in the women participation in the rural job guarantee scheme.
While the southern states like Kerala (89%), Tamil Nadu (86%), Puducherry (87.16%) and Goa (72%) have recorded women participation rate of over 70%, it has been hovering around 40% or below in northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh over the years.
In 2023-24, 5 states/UTs with the lowest women participation rate under NREGS are: UTs of Jammu and Kashmir (30.47%) and Lakshadweep (38.24%), Uttar Pradesh (42.39%), Madhya Pradesh (42.50%) and Maharashtra (43.76%). However, an uptick has been reported in 3 of them during the current financial year: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Lakshadweep.
For instance, it was 37.87% in 2022-23 which increased to 42.39% in 2023-24. Similarly, Lakshadweep saw an increase to 38.24% from 26.67% and from 41.80% to 42.50% in Madhya Pradesh. In the financial year 2023-24, a total of 5.38 crore families availed NREGS till December 24, 2023 which was 6.18 crore in 2022-23 and 7.25 crore in 2021-22.
As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the female Labour Force Participation Rate has increased in the country in recent years.
The rise was sharp in rural areas. In rural areas, the female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force among the persons in the population, increased to 30.5% in 2022-23 (July-June) from 18.2% in 2017-18. The female unemployment rate has declined to 1.8% in 2022-23 from 3.8% in 2017-18.

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)-Mandate, Goals

• What are the core objectives of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)?

• When was Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act passed by the Indian Parliament?

• What is the relationship between the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS)?

• In what way paradigm shift has taken place with the implementation of MGNREGA?

• Who are the key stakeholders of MGNREGS?

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)-Nodal Ministry

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Social Audit

• How schemes such as MGNREGA can help alleviate distress migration?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍MGNREGA Scheme: Participation of women in rural jobs on the rise, says govt

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

The Pir Panjal challenge

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Syed Ata Hasnain Writes: Kashmir’s strong and layered counter-infiltration (CI) and counter-terrorism (CT) grid makes planning proxy operations difficult. On the other hand, dilution of troop deployment and a chequered history of local support may have led to activity and presence of terrorists shifting there

• “While the Kashmir zone — the traditionally more volatile area — is relatively quiet, it’s the Pir Panjal (South) in the Jammu sector which has, in recent months, witnessed more operational activity and presence of terrorists”-Examine

• What separates Jammu region from the Kashmir Valley?

• Map Work-Pir Panjal Range, East, North, South and West of the Pir Panjal

• Why has terrorist presence and activity shifted to the Poonch-Rajouri sector?

• Why this change is happening?

• For Your Information-According to the author, Terrorism is like water; it takes the path of least resistance. Kashmir is too hot for Pakistan to make a strong statement on its “relevance” and “capability to calibrate” — both issues that are important to Pakistan’s doctrine of proxy hybrid war. Kashmir’s strong and layered counter-infiltration (CI) and counter-terrorism (CT) grid makes planning of proxy operations difficult. The Poonch-Rajouri sector has had a chequered history of local support, which enabled Pakistan to establish a strong proxy presence in the forested and rocky tracts of the Pir Panjal (South). Although this waned over time, perhaps some clandestine efforts to re-cultivate the population have occurred in recent years, with some reported antipathy among the Gujjar community. However, there is only speculative evidence of this. The abrogation of Article 370 has also made Kashmir less conducive to separatist trends.
Secondly, is there any truth that the Army’s redeployment of some formations from this sector has led to the dilution of optimum deployment? From May 2020 onwards when the Ladakh sector was activated, some troops were lifted from the Jammu sector and redeployed there. There may have been some dilution, but HQ Northern Command has always been watchful of this and has followed the basic principle of re-deploying and creating other reserves. In any case, the Rashtriya Rifles troops from the Poonch-Rajouri sector were never disturbed. Yet, when adversary focus comes on a sub-sector, some redeployment for a stronger grid, especially the presence of uncommitted response elements, must be arranged. Some of this has already been done, a little more could follow.

• Who are called militants?

• What is terrorism in Indian law?

• Militant and Terrorist-What are the differences?

• What are the types of terrorism?

• What are the reason for terrorism especially in the Jammu and Kashmir?

• What are the components of terrorism?

• Has the Indian Army encountered anything similar in the past? If so, how did it deal with it?

• Does the Army accept the need for a review of some identified weaknesses?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Terror strike in J&K’s Rajouri: 4 soldiers killed in ambush

📍NIA joins the dots: Poonch, Rajouri attacks by same lot, directions came from Pakistan

ECONOMY

‘India’s Russian crude imports averted havoc in global oil market’

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Global crude oil prices would have surged and created “havoc” in the international oil market had India not ramped up oil imports from Russia in the aftermath of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the petroleum and natural gas ministry told the department-related parliamentary standing committee.

• What percentage of India’s oil import is imported from Russia?

• How much trade does India have with Russia?

• Why India imports more oil from Russia?

• The majority of countries have imposed sanctions on Russia or countries that buy Russian oil. How this influenced Russia’s oil sanctions?

• For Your Information- India is the world’s third-largest consumer of crude oil and depends on imports to meet over 85 per cent of its requirement. The country has a refining capacity of over 250 million tonnes per annum, or 5 million barrels a day.
“If they (Indian refiners) had not imported Russian oil into India, which may be a big number of 1.95 million barrels per day, that deficiency would have created a havoc in the crude oil market and the prices would have shot up by about $30-40,” a petroleum ministry representative was quoted as saying in a recent report of the standing committee on petroleum and natural gas. The report was tabled in Parliament on December 20.
“The crude oil market is such that in the market of 100 million barrels per day, if the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) says that they are going to reduce it by one or two million barrels per day, prices increase by 10 to 20 per cent and reach up to $125-130. If India does not absorb–I would call it absorption–1.95 million barrels per day, these prices would have reached $120-130. It would have created a havoc,” the petroleum ministry representative added. The report did not name the representative. Usually, senior bureaucrats of the petroleum ministry represent the ministry before the standing committee.
From a marginal player in India’s oil imports before the war in Ukraine, Russia now tops the list of New Delhi’s crude suppliers. As the West began shunning Russian oil following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia started offering deep discounts on its oil to willing buyers. Indian refiners started snapping up the discounted Russian crude, irking many in the West, which wanted Russian oil to be shunned by buyers to curb Moscow’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine through oil sales. India has maintained that as one of the top importers of crude, it will buy oil from anywhere it can strike a good bargain.
While crude oil prices did breach the $100-per-barrel mark in initial months following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they retreated as oil markets regained supply balance. In 2023, the price of global benchmark Brent crude has not breached the $100 mark even once. Currently, Brent is hovering around $80 per barrel.
On the question of difficulties being faced by Indian refiners in importing oil from Russia, the ministry told the panel that due to Western sanctions on Russia, challenges include payments and logistical arrangements like shipping and insurance. The ministry said in its submission that not all Indian banks “smoothly process” payment in dollars for Russian oil purchases.
“Due to economic sanctions…crude oil buyers are facing challenges in making logistics arrangement (ships availability, insurance for ships), getting insurance coverage for crude oil and making payments. Hence, Indian buyers…arrange import of Russian origin crude oil grades from the counterparties on delivery basis, where the seller takes responsibility in delivering crude oil (with suitable Insurance coverage) at discharge ports in India,” the ministry said.
With major Western powers imposing a $60-per-barrel price cap on seaborne Russian crude from December 5, 2022 and Russian oil being bought on delivered basis, Indian refiners have faced some issues with banks demanding documentary proof from them that the price of oil, excluding delivery-related overheads like freight and insurance costs, was indeed in line with the price cap.

• How can India reduce its dependency on oil imports?

• What crude oil means?

• What are the types of crude oil?

• Why India is dependent on crude oil?

• Where does India import oil?

• India’s domestic crude oil and natural gas production has declined steadily-why?

• What steps have been taken by the Government of India to reduce the imports of crude oil?

• What is the difference between Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP), New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP)?

• How high reliance on imported crude oil impacts the Indian economy?

• Do You Know-The share of high-sulphur crudes, or sour crudes, in India’s oil imports in 2022-23 rose to 77.5 per cent from 76.6 per cent a year ago. Indian refiners imported a total of 197.9 million tonnes of sour crudes during the fiscal, up from 185 million tonnes a year ago. Import volumes of low-sulphur crudes, or sweet crudes, rose marginally to 57.3 million tonnes in 2022-23 from 56.7 million tonnes in 2021-22. Sour crudes have high sulphur content, which makes the refining process complex and relatively more cost-intensive than refining sweeter grades of oil. However, sour crudes are usually cheaper than sweet crudes and newer refineries are equipped to process them. In the Indian crude basket, which represents a derived basket of the two grades as per Indian refineries’ processing of crude, the ratio of sour to sweet grades is 75.62 to 24.38.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: The fall in crude oil prices, and its impact in India

📍The significance of rise in India’s petroleum product exports to EU

Upcoming spectrum may see subdued response from telcos

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Main Examination: General Studies III: Changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth and Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The upcoming spectrum auction, which the government is expected to conduct over the next three months, may see a subdued response from telcos as demand is likely to be restricted to airwaves which will be up for renewal in some circles, sources said.

Against the Rs 1.5 trillion-worth 5G spectrum sold in the last spectrum auctions, this time the spectrum auction is estimated to fetch around Rs 8,000-9,000 crore to the government, officials said.

• Fifth generation wireless technology (5G)-what do you understand by this?

• Difference between 4G and 5G

• 5G Technology – Key Features

• Spectrum Auction in India-How they are done?

• 5G Spectrum Allocation-who Decides? (Nodal Ministry/Department)

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India -Role and Mandate

• What are the recommendations made by TRAI with respect to 5G spectrum?

• What concerns has industry raised on TRAI’s 5G spectrum price recommendation?

• What are the other concerns raised by industry bodies over TRAI recommendations?

• Long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks

• What are Electromagnetic Spectrum and Radio Spectrum? Any correlations between these two terms?

• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-About, Role and Member Countries

• Department of Telecommunications and Digital Communications Commission- About, Vision, Mission, Functions

• C-Band and 5G communications-what are the apprehensions and challenges associated with 5G Communication

• What is the procedure of Spectrum allocation in India?

• What is Adjusted gross revenue (AGR)?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Where 5G rollout stands, and how it will change user experience

📍Explained: What is 5G, and how prepared is India to adapt to this tech?

For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.com
The Indian Express UPSC Hub is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest Updates.

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week.