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Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for July 19th, 2024. If you missed the July 18th, 2024 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here.
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Punjab seeks 100% central funding for crop residue management
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Mains Examination: GS-III: Agriculture, Environment
What’s the ongoing story- Observing that burning of crop residue is an “important” issue, the AAP-led Punjab government on Thursday urged the Central government to restore the funding pattern for Crop Residue Management Scheme from 60:40 (Centre:State) to 100 per cent centrally funded.
Prerequisites:
— What are the Centrally sponsored schemes?
— What is the Central Sector Scheme?
— What is the Crop Residue Management Scheme?
— What is the issue of stubble burning?
Key takeaways:
— The state also asked the Centre to provide compensation to farmers for management of paddy stubble to tackle stubble burning menace and the resultant air pollution in Delhi NCR, Haryana and Punjab. It demanded that the Centre cover Rs 7,000 per acre to farmers who plant any crop other than paddy as part of the crop diversification plan (CDP).
— In the letter, Khuddian said: “To manage the residue, Crop Residue Management Scheme has been implemented in the state since 2018-19. From 2018-19 till 2022-23 the scheme was 100% centrally sponsored but in the year 2023-24 the funding pattern was changed to 60 (Centre):40 (State)…
For Your Information:
— For years, Punjab struggled with the problem of stubble burning, a practise that contributed to air pollution and posed a grave threat to the environment. However, in 2018, the state government initiated the groundbreaking Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme, which was sponsored by the Centre until 2022.
— However, the state has started witnessing a positive trend in controlling stubble fires only this year after balers were promoted. The balers are designed to compress crop residue into compact bales, making it easier for farmers to manage and transport paddy straw. Baler machines offer an additional source of income, as the compacted straw can be sold to various industries for different purposes.
Points to Ponder:
— What is the impact of stubble burning on the environment?
— What are the alternatives to stubble burning?
— What is the significance of the CRM scheme?
Post Read Question:
Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three megacities of the country but the air pollution is a much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so? ( UPSC CSE 2015)
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
5 yrs after Punjab launched residue management scheme, balers help it crack field-fire code
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Mains Examination: GS-II: Government policies and interventions, Judiciary
What’s the ongoing story-The Supreme Court’s judgment last week confirming, after a 12-year legal battle, that Rahim Ali is an Indian citizen, is a judicial milestone. Its sheen, however, is dimmed by the fact that Ali is not present in his moment of vindication. He died two-and-a-half years ago, after living with the constant fear that he would be uprooted from his home in Kashimpur village, Nalbari district, Assam.
Prerequisites:
—What is the role of the Foreigners Tribunal?
— What is the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019?
Key takeaways:
— Under Section 6 of the Foreigners Act, people excluded from the citizenship register can file an appeal in a Foreigners Tribunal (FT). In 2012, an FT delivered an ex-parte order declaring Ali a foreigner.
— The Gauhati High Court dismissed his petition, filed on the grounds that he could not appear before the FT because of a medical condition. Rahim Ali’s family — mostly agricultural labourers — sold or mortgaged what little property they had to meet travel and legal expenses. After years of twists and turns, when the SC finally upheld his citizenship, it was too late.
— The Assam government’s figures paint a shocking picture: According to its submission in the state assembly in February, 100 FTs had disposed of 3,37,186 cases at the end of last year and 1,59,353 people were declared foreigners. As many as 94,149 cases are still pending.
— The Constitution promises liberty, equality and dignity to every citizen. The criminalisation and disenfranchisement of Ali, and others like him, is a betrayal of that promise. Until that changes, Hajera Begum’s question — what is the point now? — will continue to tar a justice that is hard to find or comes too late.
For Your Information:
— The CAA aims to give citizenship to the target group of migrants even if they do not have valid travel documents as mandated in The Citizenship Act, 1955. The CAA presumes that members of these communities who entered India faced religious persecution in these countries. The law has also cut the period of citizenship by naturalisation from 11 years to five.
Points to Ponder:
— What is Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955?
— What are the challenges to the citizenship amendment Act?
— What was the need of foreign tribunals?
— How to tackle the huge pendency of cases in the Foreign Tribunals?
Post Read Question:
With reference to India, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2021)
1. There is only one citizenship and one domicile.
2. A citizen by birth only can become the Head of State.
3. A foreigner once granted citizenship cannot be deprived of it under any circumstances.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 2 and 3
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Expert Explains: Takeaways from SC verdict in favour of Assam man in citizenship case
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Mains Examination: GS-II: Government policies and interventions
What’s the ongoing story- Jai Anant Dehadrai writes: Imagine being taxed each time you went for a walk, to print a document, or for simply having your limbs intact. This is precisely the manifest injustice being faced by millions of disabled Indians… For the last seven years, since its (GST) enactment, disabled individuals who rely upon prosthetic limbs, Braillers and wheelchairs must compulsorily pay an additional five per cent tax on these essential mobility aids.
Prerequisites:
—What is GST?
— What is the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016?
Key takeaways:
— “Imagine being taxed each time you went for a walk, to print a document, or for simply having your limbs intact. This is precisely the manifest injustice being faced by millions of disabled Indians… For the last seven years, since its (GST) enactment, disabled individuals who rely upon prosthetic limbs, Braillers and wheelchairs must compulsorily pay an additional five per cent tax on these essential mobility aids.”
— The Supreme Court has had numerous occasions to test the constitutionality of a tax levied by the government in landmark cases such as Sakal Papers (1961), Indian Express (1984), and more recently, Aashirwad Films (2007). Our judges have consistently struck down any tax, cess or duty, which have had the effect of even indirectly curtailing a fundamental right.
— In Sakal Papers, the Supreme Court struck down the government-imposed restrictions on advertising in newspapers as being violative of free expression — noting that reduced advertising would lower the circulation of the newspaper thus impacting the citizen’s fundamental right to free speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a).
— Similarly in Indian Express, a case which came 23 years after Sakal Papers, the Supreme Court while striking down the customs duty imposed on newsprint, termed such a levy as being a “burden imposed on the common man for being literate and for being conscious of his duty as a citizen to inform himself about the world around him.”
— The tax imposed on disability aids is no different. It has the effect of perpetuating negative stereotypes against those who are disabled by expressly penalising their disability as against their able-bodied counterparts who bear no such tax burden for performing the most basic of tasks — walking and reading.
— In fact, the government enacted the Rights of Persons with Disability Act in 2016, which, under Section 3, specifically prohibits discrimination against persons with disability.
— Even though the GST revenue collected from disability aids is minuscule as compared to the total figure, the issue is one of dignity for the disabled and by taxing them for something as basic as movement and reading, we send them a message not of empowerment but of inferiority.
For Your Information:
— The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 gave effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2006, and entered into force in 2008. India ratified the convention in 2007.
— The 2016 Act, which repealed and replaced The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, commenced in April 2017. It mandated the central government to notify guidelines and standards for public buildings, and to review them “from time to time” based “on the latest scientific knowledge and technology”.
— The first set of guidelines — the Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Barrier Free Built Environment for Persons With Disability and Elderly Persons — was published in March 2016.
Points to Ponder:
— What are the challenges faced by the people with disabilities in India?
— What are the measures taken by the government to improve the condition of people with disabilities?
—What steps need to be taken to prevent stereotyping of persons with disability?
Post Read Question:
Prelims
India is home to lakhs of persons with disabilities. What are the benefits available to them under the law? (UPSC CSE 2011)
1. Free schooling till the age of 18 years in government run schools.
2. Preferential allotment of land for setting up business.
3. Ramps in public buildings.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Mains
Does the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 ensure effective mechanism for empowerment and inclusion of the intended beneficiaries in the society? Discuss. (UPSC CSE 2017)
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
What is India’s disability law; how accessible are govt buildings to PwD?
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Mains Examination: GS-I, II: Women, Social Empowerment, Issues related with health
What’s the ongoing story- Last week, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition to make menstrual leave mandatory at the workplace stating that “mandating such leave will lead to women being shunned from the workforce”.
Prerequisites:
— What is the Maternity Benefits Act, 1961?
Key takeaways:
Too late, it should happen now
— Manjima Bhattacharjya writes: The Court’s suggestion that the government undertake consultations to formulate a model menstrual leave policy is an opportunity to understand what it might really mean in practice.
— “Do women actually use the provisions? The little research that exists seems to suggest that it depends on cultural norms, and that this is the actual problem at hand – that women do not use it because of the shame associated with menstruation. Japan has had a menstrual leave provision in their labour law since 1947, but women rarely avail of it because of said cultural taboos.”
— “So, is the concern really that menstrual leave may fuel discrimination against women? Or is it that this is going to be seen by the male workforce as being discriminatory towards men? Laws and policies that aim to account for disadvantages (affirmative actions, compensations, special needs) are often seen as discriminatory rather than humane and socially responsible.”
— “Instead, menstrual leave should be placed alongside broader conversations on self-care and the workplace. We live in a work environment where taking leave is guilt-ridden and seen to be reflective of bad work ethics… Policies that try to make it more manageable for women are one of several measures employers could take to encourage employees to take leaves for self-care, whether for period pain or otherwise.”
— “In 1978, American journalist and feminist Gloria Steinem wrote a piece called “If Men Could Menstruate” in which she imagines a world of menstruating men. Where “men would brag about how long and how much” and the world would celebrate menstruation without a trace of taboo.”
Why it’s better late than never
— Sneha Banerjee writes: Let me start by saying two things: That the time for a debate on menstrual leaves has come and gone. It needs to be implemented and modalities have to be worked out on priority. And second, that it is important to address the apprehensions around menstrual leave for its inherent sexism and misogyny.
— For any menstruation related policy measure to be truly inclusive, it is important to recognise all individuals who menstruate – cis-women, transgender people and people with inter-sex variations.
— Socio-culturally, there are diverse ways in which menstruation is celebrated as well as stigmatised. It is celebrated as a marker of fertility and stigmatised for being “dirty” and “impure”.
— If the goal of gender equality is to be achieved, that the Indian state has committed itself to, then a denial and invisibilisation approach towards menstruation cannot continue. Provisioning for accommodations in the public, beginning with educational institutions and workplaces, is a necessary initiative.
— Overall, there are formidable indications that there is growing acknowledgement of menstruation as an important area of policy intervention. In that sense, it seems that the issue is no longer whether or not there ought to be menstrual leaves, but that of devising ways of providing for them.
Points to Ponder:
— What are the arguments for and against paid menstrual leave?
— What is the role of the Executive in adopting an effective menstrual leave policy?
— What are the Various Government Schemes to Promote Menstrual Hygiene Management?
Post Read Question:
What are the continued challenges for women in India against time and space? (UPSC CSE 2019)
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Menstrual leave policy issue for employers, especially Govt: Supreme Court
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economy
Mains Examination: GS-III: Economy
What’s the ongoing story- The Green Revolution was largely about wheat and rice. India became self-sufficient, if not surplus, in these two cereal grains, thanks to high-yielding varieties bred… There is, however, another less celebrated revolution that has taken place in India — in maize.
Prerequisites:
— What is the Green Revolution?
— What are hybrid crops?
— What are GM crops?
Key takeaways:
— Between 1999-2000 and 2023-24, maize annual output has more than tripled, from 11.5 to over 35 million tonnes (mt), with average per-hectare yields also rising from 1.8 to 3.3 tonnes.
— Maize, unlike rice and wheat, isn’t much of a food grain. Hardly a fifth of India’s maize production is used for direct human consumption. An estimated 60% goes as feed for poultry birds and livestock. Such maize is indirectly consumed as food by households – in the form of chicken, egg or milk.
— More recent is maize emerging as a feedstock for ethanol that is used for blending with petrol. Distilleries run on sugarcane molasses and juice/syrup… when cane isn’t available, they use grains. That, until recently, was mainly surplus rice from the Food Corporation of India. But with the government stopping its supplies on concerns over depleting stocks and “food security”, the focus has shifted to maize.
— IARI has bred India’s first “waxy” maize hybrid with high amylopectin starch content, making it better suited for ethanol production. The starch in maize is a mixture of two polymers, comprising glucose molecules bonded together in a straight chain (amylose) and in branched form (amylopectin).
— The starch from IARI’s waxy maize hybrid (AQWH-4) has 93.9% amylopectin. Amylose starch imparts hardness in the grain, while amylopectin causes softness.
— CIMMYT has opened a maize doubled haploid (DH) facility at Kunigal in Karnataka. Established in partnership with the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, it produces 100% homozygous (i.e. having two identical copies of a single gene), and genetically pure inbred lines of maize that can be used as parents for further crossing and breeding of hybrids.
— The Green Revolution in maize has been, and continues to be, a private sector-led one.
For Your Information:
— Farmers have cross-bred fruits, grains or vegetables to create tastier or higher-yielding hybrids for millennia. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that scientists first employed bioengineering to transfer genes from one organism to another to produce “transgenic” crops.
— When these genetically modified organisms (GMOs) first hit shelves in the 1990s, they were dubbed Frankenstein foods. Resistance to GMO crops was based on a continuing public fear that they’re harmful to human health, even if long-term studies said eating them was as safe as conventional varieties.
— Now in the 2020s, a new “gene revolution,” whereby DNA can be genetically “edited” without splicing in genes from a separate organism, is bolstering biotech crop industry claims that it can ensure food security for a global population expected to approach 10 billion by 2050.
Points to Ponder:
— What are the differences between hybrid groups and genetically modified crops?
— What are the challenges with the hybrid crops?
— What are the government initiatives to boost maize production?
Post Read Question:
Other than resistance to pests, what are the prospects for which genetically engineered plants have been created? (UPSC CSE 2012)
1. To enable them to withstand drought.
2. To increase the nutritive value of the produce
3. To enable them to grow and do photosynthesis in spaceships and space stations.
4. To increase their shelf life
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 2 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Can GM crops promise food security?
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Mains Examination: GS-II: Welfare schemes, Government policies and interventions
What’s the ongoing story- California has become the first US state to prohibit schools from sharing information about its students’ gender identity and sexual orientation with anyone without the students’ consent, including their parents. The policy was part of the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act or the SAFETY Act.
Prerequisites:
—What is LGBTQIA+?
—What is the significance of gender identity?
Key takeaways:
— Supporters of the law have hailed it as progressive legislation protecting the privacy of LGBTQIA+ youth, while critics have argued that parents have the right to information about their child’s activities at school.
— The SAFETY Act came after several school districts in California passed policies requiring parents to be notified if a child requested to change their gender identification, The AP reported.
— The issue of LGBTQ+ rights and policies have increasingly drawn polarised reactions in US politics in recent years. Republican states have sought to restrict discussions on LGBTQ+ matters in schools, while Democratic states have advocated for greater visibility of diverse gender and sexual identities.
For Your Information:
— India has taken various steps since the NALSA judgment in 2014, including the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2019. Recently, an advisory body has been tasked with looking into the inclusion of the transgender community in the armed forces.
— Data is clear globally: LGBTQ+ young people continue to suffer higher health and suicide risks than their peers. According to a 2019 report by UNESCO New Delhi, physical bullying affects 60 per cent of high school and middle school students and affects 50 per cent of students in higher secondary schools. The same report also said that in primary schools, the incidence of sexual violence was as high as 43 per cent.
Points to Ponder:
— How Lgbtqia+ people are protected by the constitution?
— What are the recent Supreme Court ruling in this regard?
— How the confusion around gender identity impacts the mental health of youth?
Post Read Question:
Critically examine the role of the judiciary in protecting the rights of the LGBTQIA+?
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
How the armed forces can be prepared for transgender personnel
Death by suicide of a 16-year-old queer person: Why don’t you care when we are bullied?
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| 1. Mashco Piro | The Mashko Piro are possibly the largest uncontacted tribe in the world. They live deep in the Amazon rainforest of southeastern Peru. Indigenous rights NGO Survival International has released rare pictures of the Mashco Piro tribespeople. |
| 2. All-Win | Despite the challenges, India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) is one of the major public health success stories, globally. With the government planning the launch of a digital vaccination registry, U-Win, on August 15, the UIP is poised to be placed on a much surer footing |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC4ckaj-dJI?si=nVkN6ZXX_gi7vGgG&w=560&h=315
