UPSC Key- April 24, 2023: Know about Operation Kaveri, Black Sea grain Treaty, Hysterectomy and Kesavananda Bharati

Countries rush to evacuate citizens from Sudan as US, UK pull out their diplomats

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Two IAFC-130J are waiting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and an Indian naval ship has reached Port Sudan on the Red Sea, ready to evacuate 3,000 Indian nationals who are stranded in Sudan, where forces loyal to two rival generals are fighting a fierce battle on the street of the capital Khartoum. The US, Britain, France, Italy, Russia, South Korea, and several Arab countries had either pulled out or were in the process of evacuating some or all of their nationals from the country

• Map Work-Sudan

• Why Sudan has long been coveted by outside powers, including its neighbours, the Gulf countries, Russia and the Western nations?

• Which countries have a stake in Sudan and why?

• What is the origin of the Sudan conflict?

• What is the Rapid Support Force (RSF)?

• Who is the head of Rapid Support Forces?

• Who is Abdel Fattah al-Burhan?

• Why there is a tension between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF)?

• How are foreign nations responding?

• How many Indian lives in Sudan?

• How is India’s relation with Sudan?

• What is ‘Operation Kaveri’?

• What is India’s plan?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍In Sudan’s general vs general, who else in the world is worried and why

📍Govt’s evacuation plan: 2 IAF planes in Jeddah, Navy ship in Port Sudan

G7 meeting calls for extending Ukraine’s Black Sea grain deal

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Group of Seven (G7) economic powers called on Sunday for the “extension, full implementation and expansion” of a critical deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, the group’s agriculture ministers said in a communique. Brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, the deal was signed in Istanbul last July, allowing Ukraine to export more than 27 million tonnes of grain from several of its Black Sea ports.

• What is Black Sea grain Treaty?

• What’s the deal?

• Map Work-Black Sea

• Why grain deal is rebuked by Russia?

• What has been exported?

• How might the agreement change?

• Has it alleviated the food crisis?

• Has it driven down global wheat prices?

• What about sea mines?

• What is G7 group?

• Who are the members of G7?

• Know the name of G7 countries

• Map Work-G7 Countries

• The G7 countries Global GDP-know the data

• How did G7 become G8 and again G7-Reasons

• G7, Ukraine, Russia and India-Know in Brief

• Know the difference between G7 and G20

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: What’s the significance of UN-backed grain export deal signed by Ukraine, Russia?

FRONT PAGE

On the run for over a month, Amritpal Singh arrested, sent to jail in Assam

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-OVER A month after a massive manhunt was launched for him, Waris Punjab De leader Amritpal Singh, 30, was arrested from outside a gurdwara in Rode village, in Moga district of Punjab, on Sunday morning. Rode is the ancestral village of slain Sikh militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, after whom Amritpal styles himself. It was in Moga district that Amritpal evaded arrest on March 18, when the crackdown on him and his outfit was launched.

• Who is Amritpal Singh?

• What does Amritpal say he wants to do?

• Deep Sidhu, Waris Punjab De and Amritpal Singh-Connect the dots

• Waris Punjab De and Khalistan-Connect the dots

• “Punjab appears to be going downhill very fast. It is facing problems on multiple fronts. Criminal gangs have sprung up in different districts and there are frequent reports of gang warfare”-What is happening in Punjab?

• ‘With Waris Punjab de, there is a well-orchestrated plan to revive terrorism in the state’-Attest the statement with some examples

• What is ‘Waris Punjab De’?

• What exactly happened?

• “Khalistan posters and Bhindranwale’s images are openly displayed on the streets of Punjab and in Chandigarh on the anniversary of Operation Blue Star, which is observed as “Ghallughara Day”. The administration has always been turning a Nelson’s eye to these developments. It is politically convenient to do so. But in the long run, such an attitude is always counterproductive. You face the problem in a magnified form one day”-Discuss operation blue star

• What Was the Khalistan Movement?

• What you know about the Khalistan movement?

• What are the Historical events responsible for Khalistan?

• What was the Anandpur Sahib Resolution?

• When did Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale come into the picture?

• What happened in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star?

• What is the status of the Khalistan movement today?

• Is the police capable of dealing with the situation unfolding in Punjab?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Quiet end to manhunt in a Punjab village

📍Radical Sikh ‘preacher’ Amritpal Singh arrested: Who is he and what are the cases against him?

DECISION 2023

Unheard victims of a hysterectomy racket take battle to CM seat

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-On April 21, the last day of filing of nominations for the Karnataka Assembly elections, 30-odd women from the Banjara community sat huddled under the shade against the scorching sun in Shiggaon constituency, represented by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. They were waiting for Girish D R to arrive, and accompanied him as he filed his nomination as an Independent. Girish, the state head of the Banjara Students’ Union, is hardly expected to emerge victorious in a seat that has been won the last three times by Bommai. However, for the women, it is a powerful strike against a system that has failed to get them justice for hysterectomies conducted without their knowledge between 2010 and 2017. Bommai has been their local MLA all through.

• What is hysterectomy?

• Why is there a need to perform hysterectomy?

• Hysterectomy has several positive and negative effects on women’s physical and psychosocial health-what are they?

• National Family Health Survey (2015-2016), studied the prevalence of hysterectomy for the first time-what the survey said?

• Hysterectomy prevalence increased with age and was more common among rural women than urban women-why?

• Why women in rural areas are opting more for Hysterectomy?

• “Hysterectomy operation in India presented the geographical, socio-economic, demographic and medical phenomenon”-can you elaborate this further?

• The Supreme Court recently directed all states and union territories to implement in three months the guidelines formulated by the Centre to check “unnecessary hysterectomies”-why?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍SC asks states, UTs to implement Centre’s guidelines on ‘unnecessary’ hysterectomies

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

Safeguarding Constitution

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Upendra Baxi writes on 50 years of Kesavananda Bharati judgment: We, the people of India, today begin celebrating the golden jubilee of Kesavananda Bharati (KB) prescribing the doctrine of basic structure (BS). I described KB, in 1974, as the Constitution of the future. That prophecy has come true as we have witnessed further inaugural discourses on the limits or thresholds of power. A highly controversial pluralist judicial creation, the basic structure doctrine has been accepted now by legislatures, executive, and people of India. India’s very own astonishing judicial invention, now is spread across the Global South as a thriving aspect of constitutional judicial review (CJR).

• Who was the Kesavananda Bharati?

• “On the morning of April 24, 1973, 13 judges shuffled into the court of the Chief Justice of India and began to deliver a judgment that would set into motion a series of events which put the executive on a collision course with the judiciary”-what was that case?

• Who was the Nanabhoy Palkhivala?

• What were the events that led to this historic judgment?

• “Golaknath (1967) began setting limits to political extravaganza the ousting of constitutional judicial review by subjecting Article 368’s amending power to the discipline of fundamental rights. But basic structure started a new interpretive enterprise by recognising the basic identity of the Constitution, which may not be destroyed by any amendment”-Comment

• What is Doctrine of the ‘basic structure’?

• How has the doctrine of basic structure evolved?

• Shankari Prasad case (1951), Golak Nath case (1967), Kesavananda Bharati case (1973), Indira Nehru Gandhi case (1975), Minerva Mills case (1980), Waman Rao case (1981) and the evolution of basic Structure of the Constitution-connect the dots

• What are the features of the ‘Basic Structure of Constitution’?

• What power is granted by Article 368 of the Indian Constitution?

• Can Parliament change the basic structure doctrine of the Indian Constitution?

• Why is the doctrine criticised?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍SHIELD AGAINST AUTOCRATS

📍Democracy’s sentinel

📍Kesavananda: case and its legacy

📍SC has used doctrine sparingly, pushed back against attempts to shackle judicial review

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering Basic Structure Theme:

📍Do you think the Constitution of India does not accept the principle of strict separation of powers rather it is based on the principle of ‘checks and balance’? Explain (GS2, 2019)
📍Starting from inventing the ‘basic structure’ doctrine, the judiciary has played a highly proactive role in ensuring that India develops into a thriving democracy. In light of the statement, evaluate the role played by judicial activism in achieving the ideals of democracy. (GS-2, 2014)

EXPRESS NETWORK

Delhi set to host talks on Myanmar crisis tomorrow

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighbourhood- relations

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– DAYS AFTER the Myanmar Air Force carried out an airstrike that is reported to have killed more than 170 of its people, officials and non-government foreign policy experts of countries neighbouring Myanmar will gather in Delhi on Tuesday for a brainstorming session on how to find “reconciliation” and an end to the crisis that has engulfed the country since the February 2021 military coup. The initiative, called the Track 1.5 Dialogue, was launched by Thailand. India was a participant in the first session that was held in Bangkok in March. In Delhi, it will be held at the Indian Council of World Affairs, an autonomous think tank funded by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), a source confirmed.

• The theme for the session is “peace and reconciliation” and humanitarian assistance, with efforts to find a way to implement the ASEAN Five Point Consensus (5PC) on Myanmar-what are those five points?

• “Thailand and India have been directly affected by the civil war-like conditions that prevail in Myanmar with armed resistance by pro-democracy civilian militias against military rule”-How?

• For some three decades, India has pursued a “dual-track policy”-what is dual-track policy?

• Who is Myanmar junta?

• Who is in charge of Myanmar now?

• What International organisations is Myanmar part of?

• Know India-Myanmar bilateral relations in detail

• Why is Myanmar important for India?

• Since coup in Myanmar, How India has taken diplomatic approach on Myanmar?

• “Mizos and Chins and the unique social-political realities between the two people at the India-Myanmar international border”-Decode the statement

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍India must prioritise stability in Myanmar

📍Why India must engage with Myanmar

ECONOMY

Machine learning: As AI tools gain heft, the jobs that could be at stake

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– Scottish revival singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl’s 1986 track ‘My Old Man’ was an ode to his father, an iron-moulder who faced an existential threat to his job because of the advent of technology. The lyrics could finds some resonance nearly four decades on, as industry leaders and tech stalwarts predict the advancement in large language models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and their ability to write essays, code, and do maths with greater accuracy and consistency, heralding a fundamental tech shift; almost as significant as the creation of the integrated circuit, the personal computer, the web browser or the smartphone. But there still are question marks over how advanced chatbots could impact the job market.

• What exactly Artificial intelligence means?

• What are the jobs where the AI has a distinctive advantage?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍AI and the future of employment: The possibility of AI leading to large-scale loss of jobs is no longer faraway

Govt clamping down on dubious ponzi schemes: FM Sitharaman

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Main Examination: General Studies III: Money-laundering and its prevention

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– The government is working to “clamp down” on financial apps that are taking investors for a ride, with false promises of lucrative returns, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday, adding that there was, however, no plan as yet to bring financial influencers under a separate regulatory framework.

• What do you understand by ‘financial influencers’?

• ‘The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is reported to be working on guidelines to regulate financial influencers that provide advice on social media platforms’-Elaborate further

• What is a Ponzi Scheme?

• Ponzi vs Pyramid Scheme: What’s the Difference?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: What the Bill to curb Ponzi schemes says

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