UPSC Key: Article 371 (k) for Ladakh, Marital Rape and Recent GDP Debate

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

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

What’s the ongoing story: With the war in West Asia flaring up following the exchange of strikes between the US and Iran, the BRICS Sherpas, the most senior negotiators from the 11 member countries of the grouping, are burning the midnight oil to try and hammer out a joint declaration for the New Delhi summit of the leaders on September 12-13.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What are BRICS “Sherpas”?

• India as BRICS Chair—what is India’s challenge?

• What is meant by strategic autonomy in India’s foreign policy?

• How does India’s engagement with BRICS illustrate strategic autonomy?

• ‘The West Asian conflict has exposed the limits of BRICS as a cohesive geopolitical grouping’—Do you agree?

• Why India’s role in BRICS requires simultaneous engagement with competing centres of power in West Asia?

• How can geopolitical instability in West Asia affect India’s energy security and macroeconomic stability?

Key Takeaways:

• The key point of discord, it is learnt, is the formulation over the war in West Asia given that Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are expected to be at the summit table.

• While Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attendance has been confirmed, officials are also preparing for the participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is not going to be at this gathering since he attended the AI summit in New Delhi in February this year, and will send a top government representative.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral meetings with Putin and Pezeshkian on Friday have been confirmed by officials.

• With the UAE and Iran, new members of the BRICS since 2024, part of the negotiations, Indian officials, along with the Russians, Brazilians and Egyptians, are working to bridge the gap between the warring parties.

• Ever since the start of the war on February 28 when the US and Israel attacked Iran, Tehran has targeted US bases in the Gulf region including in the UAE. This has had the Emiratis and the Iranians at loggerheads over the last six months. Sources told The Indian Express that Indian officials are trying to hold separate meetings with officials of the UAE and Iran, and bring them on the same page for the Delhi declaration.

• In May this year, when Foreign Ministers of the BRICS met in New Delhi, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov told the UAE and Iranian ministers to hold direct talks. At that time, India was unable to bridge the diplomatic gap within the BRICS and could not come up with a joint statement after the two-day meeting of the Foreign Ministers.

Do You Know:

• Hosting the BRICS summit at a time of rapidly changing geopolitics gives India the room to push for a multipolar order in which the Global South’s priorities and concerns are addressed. Balancing ties between its Western allies and the grouping’s non-Western members will require some tightrope walking.

• According to officials, India’s BRICS chairship is guided by the theme ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’, reflecting its vision of a people-centric approach rooted in the spirit of “humanity first”. In addition to these areas, leaders will exchange views on strengthening intra-BRICS cooperation on common priorities and share perspectives on global and regional matters of mutual importance, according to the MEA.

• India’s chairship is centred on the four pillars of the theme: Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability. Under the Resilience Pillar, the chairship focuses on strengthening collective resilience in areas such as health, agriculture, food, energy, disaster risk reduction and supply chains. Under the Innovation Pillar, it seeks to promote cooperation in the field of startups, MSMEs, science, technology, entrepreneurship, research and development, Digital Public Infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence.

• Under the Cooperation Pillar, the chairship places emphasis on strengthening multilateralism, advancing reforms of global governance institutions and fostering practical cooperation on developmental issues across the tracks. Under the Sustainability Pillar, the chairship focuses on promoting clean and renewable energy, climate action and adaptation, nature-based solutions and sustainable consumption.

• Officials said that this year’s BRICS will be very different from the past summits India hosted: the 2012 summit took place in a luxury hotel in Delhi, the 2016 summit took place in a hotel in Goa, and the 2021 summit took place virtually because of the Covid pandemic. This is also India’s turn to host the expanded BRICS grouping. Originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, it expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with Indonesia joining in 2025. Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam became BRICS partner countries last year.

• The BRICS has emerged as an influential grouping as it brings together 11 major emerging economies of the world, representing around 49.5 per cent of the global population, around 40 per cent of the global GDP and around 26 per cent of global trade.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍With India as host, here are better goals for BRICS than ‘confronting the West’

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
1) Consider the following statements with regard to BRICS: (UPSC, CSE, 2025)
I. The 16th BRICS Summit was held under the Chairship of Russia in Kazan.
II. Indonesia has become a full member of BRICS.
III. The theme of the 16th BRICS Summit was Strengthening Multiculturalism for Just Global Development and Security.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) I and II
(b) II and III
(c) I and III
(d) I only
Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍 “BRICS acts as a powerful counterweight in global governance, actively amplifying the voice and influence of the Global South.” Explain the role of BRICS in projecting itself as an alternative to other groupings (UPSC, GS2, 2026)

Nation

Ladakh: Govt offers new chapter under Art 371, key powers not final

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.

What’s the ongoing story: The Centre has offered the addition of a constitutional provision of ‘Article 371(K)’ in a bid to extend additional protections to Ladakh at a meeting between the Ladakh Sub-Committee and the Ministry of Home Affairs in the national capital on Wednesday, The Indian Express has learnt. While this marks a significant development, representatives have said there is no draft of this yet, and discussions will continue.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What were the demands in Ladakh?

• Why has Ladakh been demanding constitutional safeguards?

• What is the Sixth Schedule?

• How are the new regulations different from existing provisions?

• How do they compare with Jammu & Kashmir’s protections?

• Part XXI of the constitution says what?

• What Article 371 of the constitution?

• What protections does Article 371 offer?

• Articles 371 to 371-J in Part XXI of the Constitution of India contain special provisions for certain states-know in detail

• What is the purpose of Article 371?

• Article 371 (k) for Ladakh-Why?

• What exactly Article 371 (k) says?

• How would Article 371(K) differ from the Sixth Schedule?

Key Takeaways:

• The meeting, which came months after the last talks, saw the sub-committee comprising members of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) — including activist Sonam Wangchuk — meet with officials of the MHA in continuation of the “in-principle understanding” arrived at in meetings held on May 22 and July 3. Those two breakthrough meetings saw discussions on restoring democracy in Ladakh, and providing constitutional safeguards by way of special provision under Article 371.

• According to those who attended the Wednesday meeting, the MHA stated that the intended UT-level governance body – a demand made by the two groups — would be elected by direct election and would have legislative powers with respect to land, culture and language, forest, environment, natural resources and any other subjects reserved for the UT under Article 240 of the Constitution of India.

• Article 240 gives the President of India the power to make laws and regulations for the peace, progress, and good government of specific union territories.

• Ladakh has also raised concerns regarding structural changes to the governance infrastructure in the UT. Wangchuk added that “if these changes continue, we will be forced to sit on agitation again.”

Do You Know:

• Ladakh’s demand for greater political and constitutional protection dates back to the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. There was initially considerable enthusiasm, particularly in Leh, after Ladakh was made a separate Union Territory. The Buddhist-dominated Leh district had long sought UT status, arguing that it had been neglected by the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir government. That waned after it became clear that while the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir would have a legislature, Ladakh would not.

• The region had four MLAs in the erstwhile J&K Assembly. After 2019, its administration was largely led by bureaucrats, not by elected officials, deepening a sense of political alienation.
Changes to domicile rules in Jammu and Kashmir also sharpened concerns in Ladakh over land, employment, demography and cultural identity. The Union Territory currently has two Hill Councils, in Leh and Kargil, but neither is under the Sixth Schedule. Their powers remain limited. These concerns eventually fed into demands for statehood, inclusion under the Sixth Schedule and greater democratic control over Ladakh’s administration.

• The Sixth Schedule, under Article 244 of the Constitution, provides for autonomous administrative divisions called Autonomous District Councils, or ADCs, which enjoy a degree of legislative, judicial and administrative autonomy within a state. ADCs can make laws, rules and regulations relating to subjects such as land, forests, water, agriculture, village councils, health, sanitation, inheritance, social customs and mining.

• The Sixth Schedule currently applies to tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. In September 2019, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes recommended that Ladakh be brought under the Sixth Schedule, noting that the new Union Territory was overwhelmingly tribal and had a distinct cultural heritage requiring protection. However, no region outside the Northeast has so far been included under the Sixth Schedule.

• Articles 371 and 371-A through J contain “special provisions” for specific states. These provisions vary considerably from state to state, but broadly seek to protect local political, cultural, social or economic interests.

• Under Article 371-A, for example, laws made by Parliament relating to Naga religious or social practices, customary law and procedure, and ownership and transfer of land and resources do not automatically apply to Nagaland unless the state Assembly agrees. Similar protections have been extended to Mizoram under Article 371-G. Articles 371-B and 371-C provide for special committees within the Legislative Assemblies of Assam and Manipur, while Article 371-F provides special arrangements for representation in the Sikkim Assembly. Special provisions also exist for Arunachal Pradesh and Goa. If Article 371(K) is introduced for Ladakh, it would mark a significant departure from this pattern because Ladakh is a Union Territory, not a state.

• The Sixth Schedule creates autonomous district-level institutions with constitutionally defined powers. The proposed Article 371(K), by contrast, appears to be aimed at creating a directly elected governing body at the Union Territory level with legislative authority over specified subjects.
This would give Ladakh a separate constitutional arrangement, rather than simply extending the Sixth Schedule to the Union Territory. The exact difference will depend on the wording of the draft. The most important unresolved questions concern whether the elected body would have executive authority, control over budgets and planning, and powers over police and law and order. Until these are settled, it remains unclear how much power the proposed body would actually exercise.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍What is Article 371(K), and what could it mean for Ladakh?

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
2) The provisions in Fifth Schedule and Sixth Schedule in the Constitution of India are made in order to (UPSC, CSE, 2015)
(a) protect the interests of Scheduled Tribes
(b) determine the boundaries between States
(c) determine the powers, authority and responsibilities of Panchayats
(d) protect the interests of all the border States

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Recent directives from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas are perceived by the ‘Nagas’ as a threat to override the exceptional status enjoyed by the State. Discuss in light of Article 371A of the Indian Constitution. (UPSC, GS2, 2013)

Can husband be tried for marital rape when it’s not offence, asks SC

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination:

• General Studies I: Salient features of Indian Society, Social empowerment, Role of women and women’s organization

• General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

What’s the ongoing story: Hearing petitions challenging the marital rape exemption in the country’s penal law, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that while a marriage does not result in extinction of individual autonomy, the question is whether a husband can be prosecuted for non-consensual sex without first deciding the constitutional validity of the exception.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is the Concept behind marriages in Indian Subcontinent or in the Indian Society?

• The Institution of Marriage-Why marriage is referred as an institution?

• Influence of Legislations like the prevention of Sati Act, 1829, The Hindu widow Remarriage Act, 1856, The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 on Hindu Marriage-Know in detail

• What is Marital rape immunity?

• Criminalisation And Non-Criminalisation Of Marital Rape-Present for and against points.

• Status of Marital Rape in India-What Latest Data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and National family health Survey?

• “Doctrine of Coverture”, Article 14 and Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and Exception 2 to Section 375 of Indian Penal Code—know in detail

• Justice Verma Committee Report and Pam Rajput committee’s report ‘Status of Women in India’ on Marital Rape-Know the Key Highlights

• What is Law Commission of India’s Stand on Marital Rape?

• United Nations Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on Violence against Women in India and Marital rape-connect the dots

• What is Government of India’s Stand on Marital Rape?

• Criminalization of Marital Rape-Does the law exists in other Countries?

• What have the courts said in earlier instances like High courts Karnataka and Gujrat on Marital rape?

• How the courts judgement contradicts ongoing marital rape debate?

Key Takeaways:

• The court said it will start the final hearing on the petitions after three weeks and asked the parties to submit their papers in the meanwhile.

• “Where there is a clear definition and an exception under Section 375, the issue is about the remit of that exception…One is the safety and security of married women…We fully appreciate the submission that there is no question of marriage resulting in a union of individual autonomy. Point well taken. Now see the law as it stands. It is a penal law. And therefore, rightly or wrongly, before a constitutional court renders a verdict that the exception was unreasonable or manifestly arbitrary, can we permit a prosecution on that score?,” said Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who was part of a three-judge bench hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the exception.

• The bench presided by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and also comprising Justice V Mohana said this in the context of the March 2022 ruling of Karnataka High Court that a husband, who forces non-consensual sex on his wife, can be prosecuted under the relevant penal provision.

• Justice Bagchi said, “Till we take a call on the constitutional vires of the exception, can a prosecution be permitted? We will definitely protect the victims but is it within the domain of a prosecutor to prosecute a person where there is a clear definition of an exception in S. 375 IPC (or section 63 Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita)?” Besides the appeal challenging the Karnataka High Court decision, the bench is also seized of an appeal challenging the 2022 split verdict delivered by the Delhi High Court in the matter, PILs against the exception and applications by some intervenors.

• The bench said it will consider whether a prosecution can be sustained if the exception survives, and also if the exception itself is constitutionally valid.

Do You Know:

• Section 375 defines rape and lists seven notions of consent which, if vitiated, would constitute the offence of rape by a man. However, the provision contains a crucial exemption: “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under eighteen years of age, is not rape.”
This exemption essentially allows a marital right to a husband who can with legal sanction exercise his right to consensual or non-consensual sex with his wife.

• The marital rape immunity is known to several post-colonial common law countries. Australia (1981), Canada (1983), and South Africa (1993) have enacted laws that criminalise marital rape.
—In the United Kingdom, the House of Lords overturned the exception in 1991. In their landmark decision in the case known as R v R, the Lords took the view that the time had “arrived when the law should declare that a rapist remains a rapist subject to the criminal law, irrespective of his relationship with his victim”. They also said that the verdict was not creating a new offence, rather only removing a common law fiction that has its roots in ecclesiastical law.

• It was argued that the House of Lords decision amounted to a retrospective change in criminal law, which would amount to a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Court of Justice reviewed the ruling and upheld the decision of the Lords as a “foreseeable evolution” of the law. Subsequently, in 2003 marital rape was outlawed by legislation in the UK.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: What is the law on marital rape, and what has the Delhi High Court ruled?

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Distinguish between gender equality, gender equity, and women’s empowerment. Why is it important to take gender concerns into account in programme design and implementation? (UPSC, GS1, 2024)
📍Explain why suicide among young women is increasing in Indian society. (UPSC, GS1, 2023)

Economy

Producer prices and double-deflation — key changes in new GDP series

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

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

What’s the ongoing story: Economic data in India is never without its share of debates. And GDP numbers — old, new, revised, or updated — attract the most noise and questions. This week has been no different.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What exactly is gross domestic product (GDP)?

• What are the ways of measuring gross domestic product (GDP)?

• What triggered the recent GDP debate?

• Is India’s real growth 7.8% or 2.6%?

• Who is projecting 2.6% growth and what are the parameters supporting this projection?

• What is “Double Deflation” and why is it part of the controversy?

• Why are ground-level economic indicators causing confusion?

• How has the government defended its data?

• Know Basics-GDP, GNP, nominal and real GDP and Gross Value Added (GVA)

• What is a GDP deflator?

• What is the new base year?

• Why does India change the base year?

• Why can a GVA deflator become negative even when prices rise?

• What should India do to improve GDP-data credibility?

• What is the significance of changing the GDP base year and adopting double deflation in India’s new national accounts series?

• What are the challenges of measuring economic activity in India’s large informal and unorganised sector?

Key Takeaways:

• The primary reason for the downward revision in nominal GDP across all overlapping years (2022-23 to 2024-25 and subsequent quarters) is the transition from proxy-based estimates in the old series to direct, empirical annual surveys for the informal sector in the new series.

• In the previous series, because regular surveys for the unorganised sector did not exist, MoSPI calculated Gross Value Added (GVA) for unorganised sector by multiplying estimated workforce counts by the Value Added per Worker derived from decadal surveys. This base year GVA was projected forward for over a decade using proxies like formal corporate growth rates, inter-survey growth rates, or historical tax collections as no regular data was available.

• With the availability of annual survey evidence, it has become possible to better capture the distinct growth patterns of the informal sector. This has provided a stronger empirical basis for updating the estimates and improving their alignment with observed economic activity. Therefore, the single largest driver of the revision in GDP numbers is the improved measurement of India’s informal services sector. By replacing corporate proxies with actual empirical data from the newly institutionalised Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) and Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), MoSPI transitioned to direct annual measurements of unorganised productivity and workforce size.

• It is important to note that the stability of the output PPI was assessed before the launch of the official PPI series as the Commerce Ministry had been compiling an experimental output PPI during that period, which provided an opportunity to assess its behaviour over time. In addition, MoSPI examined the feasibility of using the output PPI in national accounts prior to its official launch.

Do You Know:

• The conflict intensified after the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) transitioned to a new GDP series with a 2022-23 base year (updating it from 2011-12). Critics, notably former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, pointed out that this revision wiped out approximately ₹6 trillion from the previously recorded Q1 baseline, making the new growth rate appear artificially inflated.

• Double deflation is an internationally accepted method where price inflation for a sector’s outputs and its intermediate inputs are calculated separately to find the true Gross Value Added (GVA).

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total monetary or market value of all finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders during a specific time period, typically a year or a quarter. It acts as a comprehensive scoreboard of a nation’s overall economic health and represents the physical size of its economy.

• GDP is calculated by summing together the value created — or Gross Value Added (GVA) — by each sector, adding indirect taxes collected by the government, and subtracting subsidies given.
This GVA is the difference between the value of what a sector produces (output) and the raw materials (inputs) it uses. This is the “nominal” GVA, or GVA in current prices. The trouble begins while calculating “real” GVA. Until now, the value of inputs and outputs for each sector and the various subcategories were “deflated” by the same number, except for agriculture and mining and quarrying. This number was either the Consumer Price Index (retail inflation), the Wholesale Price Index (wholesale inflation) or one of their sub-indices, depending on what is to be deflated. Then the “real” input value was subtracted from the “real” output value to arrive at “real” GVA. This process is called “single deflation”.

• The single deflation method works fine when prices of inputs and outputs are changing at the same rate; when they don’t, there’s a problem. Ideally, the value of inputs should be adjusted by input inflation and outputs by output inflation. This is called double deflation and ensures that the real GVA is accurate. In the 2022-23 GDP series, MoSPI made the move to double deflation after repeated criticism that single deflation was leading to either underestimation or overestimation of real growth, depending on how input and output prices were moving.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍India’s latest GDP revisions: How, and why, does GDP data get updated?

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
3) With reference to Indian economy, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE, 2015)
1. The rate of growth of Real Gross Domestic Product has steadily increased in the last decade.
2. The Gross Domestic Product at market prices (in rupees) has steadily increased in the last decade.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Explain the difference between computing methodology of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before the year 2015 and after the year 2015. (UPSC, GS3, 2021)

Explained

Behind UK ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements in West Bank

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests.

What’s the ongoing story: The United Kingdom on Tuesday (September 8) announced that it would ban imports of all goods originating from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is the West Bank?

• Map Work- West Bank, Israel, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem

• Why are Israeli settlements controversial?

• What you know about the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949?

• What is the legal significance of the Fourth Geneva Convention and UNSC Resolution 2334 in the context of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories?

• Compare and contrast International Humanitarian Law vs International Human Rights Law

• Why does the UK want to ban settlement goods?

• Is the UK’s ban on settlement goods justified?

• “The expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank poses a serious challenge to the viability of the two-state solution”—What is your take?

• How does the Israel-Palestine issue test the effectiveness and credibility of the contemporary international legal order?

• How can India balance its strategic partnership with Israel with its longstanding support for Palestinian statehood and the two-state solution?

Key Takeaways:

• Addressing the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the British government believed there was “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by “settler terrorists”, and declared Israel’s occupation unlawful.

• According to Miliband, the decision will bar British firms from providing services—including construction, infrastructure, real estate, advertising and financing—that facilitate settlement expansion. The UK will refuse licence applications for arms and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation.”

• He said the new measures come in light of what the UK government believes is a clear attempt by Israel to bury the two-state solution. His speech was followed by a joint statement by 12 countries, including Canada and France, supporting the two-state solution, and backing restrictions on trade with illegal Israeli settlements. Some countries said they were still considering measures, while the UK, Canada and France committed to introducing national restrictions.

• The relationship between Palestinian labourers and the settlement economy represents one of the most complex economic dynamics of the occupation. According to the International Labour Organisation, prior to the October 7, 2023 attacks, around 40,000 Palestinians worked in Israeli settlements in Area C and their associated industrial zones. They were primarily employed in construction, commercial agriculture, and manual factory labour.

Do You Know:

• The decision will prohibit the entry into the UK market of all agricultural, processed, and manufactured goods produced within Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Moreover, the UK government is introducing statutory bans on corporate services, including financing, infrastructure, and real estate marketing, and expanding sanctions against settler organisations and individuals implicated in violence and
settlement expansion.

• The decision is being considered a response to Israel’s approval of new construction projects in sensitive zones, notably the “E1 corridor” between East Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement. Construction in E1 would sever the territorial link between the northern and southern West Bank, and further isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. These measures would physically impact the territories claimed for a Palestinian state.

• The West Bank was partitioned under the 1995 Oslo II Accord into Areas A, B, and C. Area C—comprising roughly 60% of the West Bank—remains under full Israeli civil and military control and houses virtually all Israeli settlements in the West Bank outside Jerusalem.

• Further into the territory, Israeli agricultural settlements heavily dominate the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea Basin, which cover nearly 30% of the West Bank.
Over the years, Israel has allowed the conversion of Palestinian land into industrial date plantations and commercial farms.

• The E1 Corridor and Ma’ale Adumim, located east of Jerusalem, link Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley. Settlement expansion here would physically disconnect East Jerusalem from its Palestinian hinterland (Ramallah and Bethlehem).

• The Ariel Salient and Barkan Industrial Zone, located in the northern West Bank (Salfit Governorate), cut across major Palestinian agricultural communities and sit atop the Western Aquifer Basin, one of the region’s main water resources. Also, Gush Etzion and the South Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta) in south Jerusalem disrupt Palestinian pastoral livelihoods through military firing zones, outpost proliferation, and land confiscation.

• Settlement production relies heavily on commercial agriculture and light manufacturing in designated industrial zones. Among the agricultural goods produced are Medjool dates (the Jordan Valley accounts for a significant share of global Medjool date exports), table grapes, herbs, citrus fruits, avocados, and wine (produced in wineries across the West Bank and Golan Heights).

• A 2022 report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimated that settlements in Area C and occupied East Jerusalem contributed about $30 billion annually (in constant 2015 dollars) to Israel’s economy between 2000 and 2020. Direct physical exports to international markets made up a small fraction, estimated at 1% to 2%, of Israel’s overall national export portfolio. Israel’s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exceeds $500 billion annually.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Israel’s West Bank push imperils long-term peace

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
4) Consider the following statements: (UPSC, CSE, 2023)
Statement-I: Israel has established diplomatic relations with some Arab States.
Statement-II: The ‘Arab Peace Initiative’ mediated by Saudi Arabia was signed by Israel and Arab League.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
(a) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I
(b) Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I
(c) Statement-I is correct but Statement-II is incorrect
(d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍“India’s relations with Israel have, of late, acquired a depth and diversity, which cannot be rolled back.” Discuss. (UPSC, GS2, 2018)

 

PRELIMS ANSWER KEY

1.(a)  2.(a)  3.(b) 4.(c)

  

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