UPSC Key- December 23, 2022: Why you should read ‘Marital Rape’ or ‘National Commission for Scheduled Tribes’ or ‘Alcohol and domestic Violence’ for UPSC CSE

First talks after Tawang clash: India, China agrees on stability along the LAC in Ladakh

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- Less than two weeks after Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, military commanders from the two sides held a fresh round of high-level talks on December 20 to try and resolve the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. A joint statement said the talks were “frank and in-depth” and “in line with the guidance provided by the leaders of the two countries to work for the resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest”.

• What kind of “clash” was this on the LAC?

• Why did the Chinese soldiers cross over to the Indian side?

• Is there a larger context to the border clash?

• Where exactly did the India-China clash take place, and how did it begin?

• Map Work- Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh

• Do You Know-Soldiers of the two sides clashed in an area called Yangtse, in the upper reaches of Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh. Tawang, indeed nearly all of Arunachal, is claimed by China. It is one of the more serious dispute points between India and China in the overall border question. Tawang is the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama and an important pilgrimage centre for Tibetan Buddhists. The 14th Dalai Lama took refuge in Tawang after he crossed over from Tibet to India in 1959, spending some days in the monastery there before proceeding further.

• How are relations between China and India currently?

• ‘China-India relations have been worse over recent months. Along their contentious border in the Himalayan area, the two nations are at odds with one another’-Discuss

• “Yangtse is one of the 25 contested areas along the 3488-km Line of Actual Control between the two countries, stretching from the Western Sector to Middle Sector to Eastern Sector”-Know more in detail

• “Each time, however, and despite the great fount of expertise on China within its four walls, the Indian government has refused to publicly connect the dots between these transgressions and to educate and inform the Indian public about China”-Analyse

• “The 2005 Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles between the two countries was a landmark treaty on the boundary dispute, which seemed to set explicit bookends and benchmarks for the eventual resolution of the boundary dispute”-What is that ‘2005 Agreement’?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Why PLA targets Yangtse, one of 25 contested areas

📍The new LAC crisis: Where, why, and what now

📍Connect the dots

Back HC nod for marital rape trial: Karnataka to top court

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination:

• General Studies I: 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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-At a time when the BJP-led government at the Centre is still to formulate its stand on petitions to recognise and criminalise marital rape, the party’s government in Karnataka has come out in support of a state High Court order which gave the go-ahead for prosecution of a man over allegations of rape levelled by his wife.

• Hrishikesh Sahoo v. State of Karnataka-What exactly did the court say?

• What is Exception 2 to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code?

• Earlier the Supreme Court judgment expands the definition of rape to marital rape for the MTP Act and now, Karnataka High Court’s order which gave the go-ahead for prosecution of a man over allegations of rape levelled by his wife. But, marital rape is still not criminalised-how the courts judgement contradicts ongoing marital rape debate?

• Status of Constitutionality of the marital rape exception in India? What was Delhi High Court’s recent Verdict on Marital Rape?

• 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-For and Against

• Status of Marital Rape in India-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

• 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

• 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?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍 Legally, sex worker can say no, not wife: judge

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

IN PARLIAMENT

RS passes Bill to grant ST status to two communities in Tamil Nadu

Syllabus:

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

Main Examination: 

• General Studies I: Social empowerment

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed a Bill that seeks to grant Scheduled Tribe status to Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran communities in Tamil Nadu. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed through a voice vote in the House. The Bill, which was piloted by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda, was passed by the Lok Sabha on December 15, 2022. It was proposed following the suggestion of the Tamil Nadu government that the two communities be included in the State’s ST list.

• The Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran communities-know in brief

• Why these two communities are included in Scheduled Tribe status?

• What is the process for inclusion of tribes in the list of Scheduled Tribes?

• What is the definition of scheduled tribes given in the Article 366 (25) of the Constitution?

• What is Article 342 of the constitution?

• Who declares a tribe as scheduled tribe?

• Why tribes are called Scheduled Tribes?

• What will be the benefits of the tribe’s inclusion in the scheduled tribe list?

• Schemes launched by Ministry of Tribal Affairs for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes-Know them

• Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme (SCA to TSS)-Key Objectives

• Grants-in-aid under Article 275(1) of the Constitution-Key Points

• Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)-Know in detail

• What are the main objectives of integrated tribal development project (ITDP)?

• National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST)-Know in brief

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Bill to give ST status to Betta-Karuba community in Karnataka passed in RS

THE IDEAS PAGE

Why liquor ban is bad — and good

Syllabus:

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

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- M R Sharan Writes: In late 1948, the Constituent Assembly of India sat down to discuss prohibition. B H Khardekar, an independent member from the Bombay States, opposed it on three grounds: First, prohibition was hard to enforce; second, even limited enforcement would overwhelm jails and third, the revenue loss would be substantial. No policy can claim success if it leads to preventable calamities and deaths. But for half of Bihar, the ban on alcohol is a blessing

• Alcohol and domestic Violence-Connect the dots

• “No policy can claim success if it leads to preventable calamities”-Comment

• “The question before Bihar is: What is the alternative?”-exactly, what is the solution?

• What is hooch?

• How is hooch produced?

• Why hooch tragedies in Bihar are increasing

• Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016-Know the highlights and features of this act

• Why the Bihar government forbade the sale of alcohol in the state in 2016?

• Does prohibition work?

• “The Bihar government’s decision to prohibit sale of alcohol in the state in 2016 is a classic example of policy failure”-critically analyse

• Any policy having political, social, economic, or other worth should first be assessed on the scale of implementability, according to one of the thumb rule of governance-Do you believe that this decision was rushed and that the Bihar assembly did not fully consider all the options?

• Former Chief Justice of India N V Ramana also cited the prohibition law in Bihar as an example of “lack of foresight” in drafting legislation that leads to courts being inundated with cases, and said it appears that the legislature has “not been able to make optimum use” of the Parliament Standing Committee system to “enhance scrutiny of Bills”-Do you agree with the same?

• How the Indian constitution views alcohol?

• Why do all states not have prohibition?

• What are some of the places which currently have prohibition?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Bihar prohibition: An unmitigated disaster

📍CJI: No foresight in drafting law clogs courts, Bihar prohibition is example

📍Why do some Indian states ban alcohol? What are its effects?

EXPLAINED

Assessing the new Covid risk

Preliminary Examination: General Science and 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, Indian diaspora.

• General Studies III: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nanotechnology, bio-technology.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The head of the World Health Organisation said the agency is “very concerned” about rising reports of severe coronavirus disease across China after the country largely abandoned its “zero Covid” policy, warning that its lagging vaccination rate could result in large numbers of vulnerable people getting infected. At a press briefing on Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN agency needs more information on Covid-19 severity in China, particularly regarding hospital and intensive care unit admissions, “in order to make a comprehensive risk assessment of the situation on the ground.”

• What is reason for the explosive surge of Covid cases in China?

• “China’s definition of Covid deaths was too narrow”-What is exactly China’s policy on Covid?

• China Covid-19 surge: What’s happening?

• Why BF.7 is in news?

• What is BF.7?

• Is BF.7 variant of Covid-19 circulating in India?

• Covid surge: What was different in China?

• “The very success of China’s zero-Covid policy is now turning out to be a weakness, with reports of a surge in cases. The vast majority of its population has not been infected by the virus and hence has no immunity”-Comment

• What is the official picture?

• So what’s the problem then?

• What exactly is zero-Covid?

• With this “zero-COVID” policy, have China’s COVID cases slowed down?

• How China defends its zero-Covid policy?

• Why is the current large-scale public protest in China unusual?

• What about vaccinations in China?

• For Your Information-Globally, the number of Covid-19 cases has remained almost stable at around 3.3 million in a week. However, the number of deaths increased by 10% over the preceding week, according to the latest situation report of the World Health Organisation released on December 14. “The number of newly reported weekly deaths increased across three WHO regions: the African Region (+975%; partly due to batch reporting from South Africa), the Region of the Americas (+37%), and the Eastern Mediterranean Region (+81%),” the report said.

• Do You Know-Globally, nearly every country has grappled with how to count Covid deaths, and official numbers are believed to be a major underestimate. In May, WHO estimated there were nearly 15 million coronavirus deaths worldwide, more than double the official toll of 6 million.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍What is BF.7, the Omicron sub-variant driving the surge in China?

📍XBB VARIANT

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