UPSC Key—3rd October, 2023: Bihar caste survey, mRNA, Stubble Burning and Delhi Air Pollutions

Bihar puts number to its castes: EBCs at 36%, push OBC count to 63%

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-AT A TIME when the BJP and Congress are vying with each other for the OBC vote in the coming elections, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar on Monday stole a march over them. Choosing Gandhi Jayanti to make the announcement, the Nitish government revealed the results of its caste survey, putting the combined OBC strength in the state at 63% – a 10% leap over their share estimated by the 1931 census, the last time caste enumeration was done in the country – and adding fresh vigour to the Opposition’s demand for a caste census.

• What are the key findings of the Bihar caste survey?

• For Your Information-The EBCs are the biggest social group comprising 4,70,80,514 individuals, or 36.01% of the state’s population. The OBCs number 3,54,63,936 (27.12%), and the Scheduled Castes (SCs) 2,56,89,820 (19.65%).’
Scheduled Tribes (STs) number only 21,99,361 (1.68%), the bulk of the tribal population having become part of Jharkhand after the bifurcation of the state in 2000. The “unreserved” category comprises 2,02,91,679 individuals (15.52%).
Bihar’s population, according to the survey, is 13,07,25,310, compared to the 10.41 crore recorded in the 2011 census. Hindus comprise 81.99% of the population, and Muslims 17.72%. The populations of Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and other religious denominations are minuscule.
According to data released by Development Commissioner Vivek Singh, Bihar’s total population now stands at a little over 13.07 crore, up from 10-odd crore in the 2011 Census. The EBCs make up 36.01% of this, and OBCs an additional 27.13%. The survey also found that Yadavs, the main vote base of the RJD, are the largest group, accounting for 14.27% of the total population.
The Dalits, or Scheduled Castes, account for 19.65%, higher than expected, while STs comprise 1.68%.
Those belonging to the “unreserved” category, or the “upper castes”, who dominated politics till the Mandal wave of 1990s, comprise 15.52% of the total population. These groups, who are believed to be BJP voters, are 2-3% more in number than the general opinion regarding their numbers.
The Muslims, the second leg of the RJD’s M-Y plank, comprise 17.70% of the population. The other religious minorities have a minuscule presence.

• When and how was the survey undertaken?

• Why Bihar conducted caste census?

• What is meant by caste census?

• What is the purpose of caste census?

• What is the importance of caste census?

• Has a caste census ever been conducted?

• What is the significance of the Bihar caste survey findings?

• How can the caste survey findings impact the coming elections to Lok Sabha and the Bihar Assembly?

• The EBCs & Why they matter?

• For Your Information-It was in February 2020 that Nitish first came up with the decision to conduct a caste survey. A resolution was moved in the Assembly, with no party daring to oppose the move in a state where caste dictates politics, including the BJP. While the BJP at the Centre was opposed to a caste census, its state unit voted along with the Nitish government in the Assembly, leading to a unanimous resolution.
Then, in August 2021, the Bihar CM led a 10-party delegation, including the state BJP, to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demand a caste census. It was the first hint of political change in the air in Bihar as Nitish chose to share prime space with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on the move.
In June 2022, the Nitish government – now a Mahagathbandhan government, led by him – gave the nod to a caste survey, with estimated expenses of Rs 500 crore.
In the Opposition by then, the BJP opposed this, saying the party was not taken into confidence over “modalities of the survey” and over “several sub-castes not being covered”.
However, the huge population of EBCs in the state, seen as floating voters wooed by all parties, meant the Bihar BJP didn’t press the matter.
The survey finally started on January 7 this year.
In May this year, while the survey was midway through its last phase, a set of five PILs were filed challenging it, as a violation of privacy and on the argument that only the Centre had the authority to conduct a “census”. The matter went to the Supreme Court, which asked the Patna High Court to look into the matter in July.
The High Court finally upheld the survey in August, finding the “action of the state to be perfectly valid, initiated with due competence, with the legitimate aim of providing development with justice”. The state government, which argued that it was conducting a “survey” and not a “census”, completed the exercise by mid-September.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Pending in SC: Question on survey or census, issues relating to privacy

📍Counting the gains: How the survey puts Nitish back in focus

📍Bihar data can reopen debate on SC’s 50% quota ceiling in 1992

📍JUSTICE COUNTS

📍4 takeaways from Bihar survey

THE CITY

Will weather aid in Capital’s pollution fight like last yr? Unlikely, say experts

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change

Main Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-With the paddy harvest and instances of stubble burning having picked up pace in the northern districts of Punjab, and winter around the corner, how is Delhi’s air quality likely to fare this winter?

According to experts, the meteorological factors that helped keep Delhi’s air cleaner than usual last winter may not extend into the upcoming winter.

• What are the other reasons for Air pollution in Delhi?

• Why Delhi pollution is always in News?

• For Your Information-Gufran Beig, founder-project director, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), said, “Last year, there were natural factors that came to NCR’s rescue. Wind speeds were higher for a majority of the time. But this year, that is unlikely because La Nina conditions are not there. Last year, due to La Nina conditions, winds in the northern part of India were faster, while it was calmer over the southwestern part of the country. That is one of the reasons that in the southwest, in Mumbai and other places, air quality had worsened. But in Delhi it was better relative to the previous year. This is unlikely in an El Nino year. This year, festivals are also around the time when it is colder. Steps will have to be taken.”
La Nina refers to abnormally cool sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, while El Nino is the phenomenon of warmer waters in the Pacific Ocean.
Last year, on the day after Diwali for instance, higher wind speeds had helped disperse pollutants, and Diwali was in October, when colder conditions had not yet set in.
According to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment, last winter, the average PM 2.5 level in the city was the lowest from 2018-19 onwards. In November 2022, the daily peak contribution of stubble burning to PM 2.5 levels in Delhi was also lower than previous years, standing at 34%. This figure was over 40% in 2021, 2020 and 2019.
Meanwhile, satellite data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) shows that Punjab has recorded 456 crop residue burning events so far this season, while there have been 120 such instances in Haryana.
The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) came into effect on October 1, which means that measures under GRAP can begin to be invoked when the AQI is in the ‘poor’ category (201 to 300).

• Stubble Burning, Happy Seeder and Diwali Crackers-connect the dots

• What is stubble and stubble burning?

• Stubble burning-Impact on Environment

• Ways to Check Stubble Burning (targeted and cluster-based approach)-Know in detail

• What is In-Situ Management of Crop Residue?

• Ex-situ management of crop residue- why it is preferred more by the Farmers?

• Know the Geographical location of Delhi

• Being landlocked makes Delhi’s air pollution worse-How far you agree with this?

• Know the Supreme Courts Judgments on Delhi Air Pollutions

• Know the National Green Tribunal and Various Decisions given by NGT like modification in National Clean Air Programme

• Air Quality Management in NCR Region-Role and Steps Taken so Far

• What is Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)?

• What are the Steps taken By Central and Delhi Government to Curb Pollution like Car Rationing (Odd-Even Policy)

• Know the best International Practices to Curb Air Pollution in Urban Areas

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Why does air pollution rise in October every year?

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

Canada’s hollow moral politik

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-C Raja Mohan writes: Strange as it may seem today, India and Canada were once bound by shared idealism and a liberal internationalist commitment to a normative global order. That era ended in the mid-1970s, and since then, Canada has found it hard to build a sustained and productive relationship with India. If Ottawa takes a fresh look at Delhi and begins an engagement rooted in realpolitik, the current crisis in bilateral relations might yet serve a purpose. One thing that puzzles the Indian foreign policy elite about the current crisis is Ottawa’s utter unwillingness to take a political look at the character of the Khalistan militants operating on its soil.

• How did India’s relationship with Canada fare historically?

• India-Canada bilateral relations-know in detail

• How have India-Canada relations deteriorated in recent months?

• Why recent allegations by Canada are troubling and unprecedented?

• “India and Canada were once bound by shared idealism and a liberal internationalist commitment to a normative global order”-What happened now?

• Canada hosts one of the largest Indian diasporas in the world-Can you tell little more on this?

• For Your Information- Canada-India relations have see-sawed over the last 50 years. During the Cold War, bonhomie developed between Ottawa and New Delhi due to their shared commonwealth status and convergent views on the importance of the United Nations, multilateralism, and advancing global development. Differences over Cold War crises in Korea, Hungary, and Vietnam strained the relationship. India’s nuclear programme tested ties further. In the 1980s, Ottawa’s interest in India was rekindled by rising Indian immigration. With limited prospects for trade or security relations, there was no basis for meaningful diplomatic engagement. Since then, however, much work has gone into reviving the relationship from its nadir in 1998, following Ottawa’s repudiation of India’s nuclear power status. Investment and trade form the heart of the relationship now, with considerable scope for growth. These issues and the bilateral relationship are held hostage by specific diaspora elements that harbour a deep hatred toward India, abhor its territorial unity and strive to Balkanise it.
Canada hosts one of the largest Indian diasporas in the world, numbering 16 lakh people of Indian origin, accounting for more than 3 percent of the total Canadian population and 700,000 NRIs. India became the top source of foreign students studying in Canada — 2.3 lakh, according to 2022 data. India’s total trade with Canada (goods and services) in 2021-22 was US $11.68 billion, much below potential, but when it comes to India’s import of pulses, almost 30% of the total import comes from Canada.
Canadian pension funds have cumulatively invested around US $55 billion in India. Cumulative FDI from Canada since 2000 is about US$4.07 billion.
All these have continued despite speed bumps like the recent pause in trade talks — and despite challenges over the Khalistan issue.
As per the 2021 Canadian census, Sikhs account for 2.1 per cent of Canada’s population, and are the country’s fastest growing religious group. After India, Canada is home to the largest population of Sikhs in the world. Today, Sikhs lawmakers and officials serve at all levels of Canada’s government, and their burgeoning population is one of the most important political constituencies in the country. In 2017, Jagmeet Singh, 39, became the first Sikh leader of a major Canadian political party when he took the reins of the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP).

• What is that one thing that puzzles the Indian foreign policy elite about the current crisis between India and Canada?

• “Canada’s moralpolitik had some utility”-What author is trying to convey here?

• “Although Canada was a founding member of NATO and India the leader of the Non-aligned Movement, the two sides found it beneficial to work together”-Comment

• “Canada become a major partner for India”-Know India and Canada bilateral relations then and now

• Do You Know-Under the Colombo Plan, Canada offered significant developmental assistance to India. It also empathised with newly independent India’s ambition to develop advanced technology, especially nuclear.
Canada helped India build a research nuclear reactor, CIRUS, that would hone India’s skills to produce plutonium that could be used in making nuclear weapons. Canada also joined hands with India to design and develop a heavy-water natural uranium power reactor (CANDU) that would form the foundation for India’s programme for nuclear electric power generation. If nuclear technology outlined the expansive horizons for the India-Canada relationship in a troubled world, it also became the focus of the breakdown in bilateral relations. Canada reacted with ferocious anger to India’s first nuclear test in 1974. India’s moralpolitik claiming it a “peaceful nuclear explosion” did not calm Ottawa’s claim that Delhi betrayed Canada’s support for civilian development of atomic energy. Canada was among the last nations to come to terms with the US effort to end India’s disputes with the global nuclear order during 2005-08.

• “Even as the nuclear contentions peaked and receded, Canada’s minority politics at home began to cast a shadow over bilateral relations since the 1980s”-Discuss

• “Canada’s India relationship, which holds great economic and strategic potential, is not beyond repair”-What is the way ahead?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍India tells Canada to withdraw 41 diplomats, says report

📍Canada needs to see India – not just the diaspora

THE IDEAS PAGE

A plan for the winter crop

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Ashok Gulati writes: The Indian monsoon (June to September) has ended with a 5.6 per cent deficit compared to the long-period average (LPA). This is a notch lower than the normal rainfall — 96 to 104 per cent of the LPA.

• Why the Indian monsoon has ended with a 5.6 per cent deficit?

• “The area under pulses is significantly down, by 4.2 per cent, especially arhar (tur) which has seen a 4.9 per cent fall in cultivated area”-why?

• What is the only way to tame tur price inflation?

• “In Delhi, as we brace for smoke from the stubble burning from paddy fields during October-November, it is also time to plan for sowing of rabi crops”-Know more about rabi crops

• “Wheat is the main rabi crop, and it is susceptible to a heat wave”-How heat wave impacts wheat crops?

• What are the questions to ponder with respect to wheat in the last two years according to the author?

• When more than 800 million people already get free wheat or rice (5kg/person/month) under the PDS, who is the government trying to protect?

• What is “plundering of agriculture” and in what context author quoted this?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Express View on stock limits on wheat: Going backwards

The investment reality check

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Ishan Bakshi writes: The Indian economy grew at 7.8 per cent in the first quarter of the ongoing financial year. Forecasts by most analysts, including those by the RBI, indicate that the country is likely to grow at around 6-6.5 per cent over the full year. Medium-term assessments, such as those by the IMF, peg growth at roughly 6 per cent between 2023 and 2028.

• What all make India one of the most compelling growth stories in the world today?

• Why foreign direct investment (FDI) has been falling?

• First of all, what is foreign direct investment (FDI)?

• What do you understand by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs)?

• Foreign Portfolio vs. Foreign Direct Investment: What’s the Difference?

• What do you understand by ‘Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs)?

• Do You Know-In 2022-23, FDI inflows (including reinvested earnings and other capital) stood at $71.3 billion, down 16 per cent from $84.8 billion in 2021-22. Flows in 2022-23 were, in fact, below levels seen in 2019-20. Worryingly, the decline has continued in the ongoing financial year as well — in the first four months (April-July), gross FDI inflows were at $21.9 billion, down 26 per cent from $29.6 billion over the same period last year.
The disaggregated data shows that much of the fall during this period has been in fresh equity flows. Equity flows dropped from roughly $59.6 billion in 2021-22 to around $47.6 billion in 2022-23, and, in the first four months of the ongoing year, plunged to $13.9 billion from $22 billion last year.
Over the same period, investments through the reinvested earnings route have held steady, though repatriation/disinvestment has picked up. Does this indicate that the reluctance to invest in the country is more among those sitting on the sidelines, the uncommitted? Or are the existing well-established players, who are possibly better able to navigate the system, equally hesitant?
This drop in FDI is not just concentrated in the tech space. Between 2021-22 and 2022-23, FDI fell not only in the computer software and hardware sector, but also in the automobile industry, construction (infrastructure activities), and metallurgical industries.

• What is investment in an economy?

• Why is investment important in the economy?

• What is the role of the investment?

• How do interest rates affect investment in the economy?

• Do You Know-While interest rates, which do tend to influence investment decisions, have risen sharply across developed economies during this period, compared to the steep fall seen in India, FDI flows into countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, which are India’s competitors in the “China plus one” play, are holding steady. During January-August this year, FDI in Vietnam stood at around $18 billion, up roughly 8 per cent over the same period last year. The disbursed volume is also up 1.3 per cent to $13 billion. In the case of Indonesia, flows stood at around $10 billion during January-June this year, roughly similar to levels seen last year.
The decline in FDI is, however, not an indictment of India’s prospects. After all, companies in the Apple ecosystem like Foxconn and some others are indeed taking a huge bet on India by ramping up their investments in the country. And, foreign portfolio investors (FPI), who represent a different type of capital, have upped up their investments in the country: Since January, FPIs have poured in around $15 billion in the Indian markets, after withdrawing $16.5 billion in 2022 (calendar year).

• What are the possible reasons which explains the reluctance among multinationals, and also the hesitation among domestic firms to invest in India?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍First, let there be investment

ECONOMY

State govt employees regularised mid-career blame NPS for lower pay

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Amid the ongoing debate over the switch to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), states are learnt to have flagged concerns over a high number of government employees who were regularised into government service mid-career, resulting in a lower pension payout due to less amount of contributions, compared with full-service government employees.

• Why some states, such as Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh are facing this issue?

• The demand for restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) has emerged as a major poll plank in many states-why?

• What is the Old Pension Scheme (OPS)?

• Why the old pension scheme was discontinued?

• What were the concerns with the OPS?

• What is the argument over the financial burden of OPS?

• What was planned to address this situation?

• In 1998, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment commissioned a report for an Old Age Social and Income Security (OASIS) project. An expert committee under S A Dave, a former chairman of SEBI and Unit Trust of India, submitted the report in January 2000-What was the committee’s recommendation?

• What is the New Pension Scheme (NPS)?

• What was the origin of the New Pension Scheme?

• What is the difference between the old and new pension schemes?

• Why have some employees criticised the New Pension Scheme?

• For Your Information-About two-three states including Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh are learnt to have provided their insights on the issue of the regularisation of government employees and the low pension payouts to such employees in their discussions. People aware of the Centre-state discussions insist this issue is different from the debate over the assured returns and market uncertainty for returns under the NPS.
“On an average they might actually get a decent pension (under NPS). But the people who have less than the full service, it is in the nature of a contributory scheme that if you don’t contribute for enough years, you won’t get a good pension. So the problem seems to have become more noticeable for people because they are seeing these examples (of regularised employees) and those examples have very low pensions compared to OPS. They (regularised employees) are the ones who are retiring of late, nobody from NPS would have retired yet as the system itself came into place in 2004. They give their example to somebody saying they are getting only some amount of pension, which creates a sense of alarm among the serving people. But it may not be that bad for a full career government employee. For the majority of the employees, it will be much better,” the person said.
The demand for switching to the Old Pension Scheme has flared up again ahead of assembly polls scheduled in several states and Lok Sabha elections next year.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why the Old Pension Scheme is both bad economics and bad politics

EXPLAINED

They helped protect the world from the coronavirus

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-COVID-19 became the first ever pandemic during which a vaccine could be quickly developed and deployed to prevent infections and deaths. Never-before approved mRNA vaccines were used on humans and worked. The first two vaccines to be approved and deployed with this technology were rolled out by Pfizer and Moderna within a year. However, developing these vaccines would not have been possible without Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, whose breakthrough research laid the template in 2005 and ensured that mRNA vaccines were safe and did not lead to excessive inflammatory immune response. Both are winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology, 2023.

• What is mRNA?

• mRNA COVID-19 booster vaccine-Know in detail

• What was the first mRNA vaccine?

• For Your Information-More than 220 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far and according to official data till April this year, around 24 per cent of the fully vaccinated population in the country had received booster shots. Active cases of Covid are now 0.01 percent of total infections, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Welfare.

• What is the function of mRNA vaccine?

• What are the disadvantages of the mRNA vaccine?

• How do mRNA vaccines work and what did Kariko and Weissman find out?

• How did they solve the inflammation problem with mRNA vaccines?

• What were the types of vaccines available before the pandemic?

• What were the challenges to mRNA technology before the pandemic?

• What are the advantages of mRNA technology as compared to other vaccines?

• For Your Information-All vaccines work on the same principle – getting the body acquainted with a non-lethal form of the pathogen so that the immune system learns to defend itself against infection. The mRNA vaccines carry the genetic code for the proteins that make up the non-lethal but key parts of a virus. For example, the COVID-19 vaccines used the codes for the spike protein used by Sars-CoV-2 to enter the body. Once injected, the vaccine uses the body’s own protein manufacturing centre to produce these viral proteins. The immune system then responds by creating antibodies against the viral protein and learns to fight the actual infection.
Kariko and Weissman realised that the immune system was able to recognise the lab-developed mRNA molecules as foreign substances, leading to inflammatory reaction. However, this did not happen when mRNA derived from animal cell assays were used. This led them to look for properties in the lab-developed mRNA molecules that were tripping off the immune system. They found that the mRNA derived from the animal cell assays frequently contained various modifications that were not seen in the lab-developed uniform mRNA molecules.
Two vaccine types with the complete virus have been in use for years. These include a live, attenuated vaccine, which has a weakened version of the pathogen, like the oral polio vaccine. The second type involves an inactivated vaccine that uses killed pathogens to elicit an immune response such as the rabies vaccine.
With the progress of molecular biology and techniques to edit genetic codes, vaccines using small, non-lethal parts of the pathogen have been developed. These are called sub-unit vaccines. Some vaccines also encode these non-lethal parts to another pathogen that carries and distributes it through the body – an example of this was the AstraZeneca vaccine available in India as Covishield that used parts of the COVID-19 virus attached to an adenovirus. These are called vector vaccines.
However, the challenge with all these types of vaccine is the need for animal cell assays, making it time-consuming and expensive to scale up. An additional problem with vector vaccines is that the immune system also develops responses to the carrier virus as well, making the booster shots not so effective.
Vaccines sending in the DNA were considered to be an alternative but they failed in producing good response in humans as compared to what was seen in lab animals. This is because DNA vaccines need to undergo two steps as compared to just one by mRNA – the DNA has to be transcribed as mRNA before proteins are produced. The mRNA vaccines circumvent all these challenges. An additional advantage with mRNA vaccines is that the delivered genetic code cannot influence the human genome, making it safer than DNA vaccines.
The lab-based mRNA molecules were considered unstable and challenging to be delivered into the body in addition to the inflammatory responses. In addition to the research by Kariko and Weissman solving the issues of the inflammatory response and low production of protein, development of efficient fat molecules to carry the mRNA inside the body were key to the development of the vaccines.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Indian scientists hail Nobel for medicine, say mRNA vaccines possible for TB, others

📍Explained: How India’s first mRNA vaccine for Covid-19 was created

📍India’s first mRNA-based Omicron-specific booster vaccine approved

How Gandhi’s relationship with music found an echo in his politics

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: History of India and Indian National Movement.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present significant events, personalities, issues.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-In 1926, in one of his public addresses in Ahmedabad, Mahatma Gandhi said, “To know music is to transfer it to life. The prevalent discord of today is an indication of our sad plight. There can be no swaraj where there is no harmony, no music”.

• Gandhi’s earliest associations with music-What you know so far?

• Do You Know-The root of Gandhi’s interest in music went back to his childhood, where growing up in a Vaishnav home, he’d hear his mother sing bhajans and was in awe of the Ramayana, and how a devotee of Ram would recite the dohas (couplets) and chawpais (quatrains) musically at their home.
Once in the UK, Gandhi also attempted to learn the violin as well as dance, to ape the ways of an ‘English gentleman’ but he dropped out of the lessons soon. In his autobiography, Gandhi writes, “The violin I can learn to play when I return. I am here as a student. I should acquire but one asset: learning”. Interestingly violin didn’t count as learning.
Distinct from spinning, a simple yet strong ritual with meaning, a sense of community and pride that presented the idea of swadeshi effortlessly and efficiently, adapting music in a way that it united people and became a tool of sonic politics, was complex. There were different regions with different music, and castes that practiced different forms of the artform besides music perceived differently by those who performed it and those who heard it.
But the idea of prayer, which came from Gandhi’s childhood and then by being close to the practices of hymn singing in the Christian community in the UK and later in South Africa, was also like spinning to him and stayed. The rhythmic order in both appealed to him and both would become significant in the freedom movement.

• Know about Gandhi and his hymns

• “So when the time came, Gandhi was clear about its use in political and patriotic spaces, concluding that music had the power to rally people together”-Comment

• “Vaishnava jana toh, taine kahiye, peed parayi jaane hai” and Mahatma Gandhi-Connect the dots

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍The Mahatma’s Dharma

📍The Rajghat Consensus

For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.com
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