UPSC Key- February 13, 2023: Know about Appointment to various Constitutional posts, landlocked State and Arya Samaj

Retd SC Judge, 2 Army officers among Govs for 12 states, one UT

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.

• General Studies II: Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- PRESIDENT Droupadi Murmu Sunday announced the appointment of Governors in a dozen states and a Union Territory; the 13 include a retired Supreme Court judge, two retired Army officers, and four BJP leaders. She also accepted the resignation of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Radha Krishnan Mathur.

• The Governor and Lieutenant Governor can resign at any time by addressing a resignation letter to whom?

• What is the most recent controversy regarding the governor’s and Lieutenant Governor’s role?

• What are the Constitutional Roles of a Governor and Lieutenant Governor?

• What Articles 153-161 of the Constitution says?

• Do You Know-Article 153 of the Constitution says “There shall be a Governor for each State.” A few years after the commencement of the Constitution, an amendment in 1956 laid down that “nothing in this article shall prevent the appointment of the same person as Governor for two or more States”. Article 155 says that the “Governor of a State shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal”. Under Article 156, “the Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President”, but his normal term of office will be five years. If the President withdraws her pleasure before the completion of five years, the Governor has to step down. Since the President acts on the aid and advice of the Prime Minister and the Union Council of Ministers, in effect, the Governor is appointed and removed by the central government.

• The Governor and Lieutenant Governor is appointed by whom?

• What is the difference between Governor and Lieutenant Governor?

• How powerful is a Governor?

• How powerful is a Lieutenant Governor?

• For Your Information-The gubernatorial appointments were made following the recommendations of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Of the 13 governors named Sunday, six are fresh, and seven others have been moved from one state or UT to another.

• Office of Governor-know the historical background

• Why has the Governor’s and Lieutenant Governor’s role and powers recently become a matter of contention?

• What is the relationship between the Governor and the state government?

• Various attempts were made to understand the role of the governor to strengthening centre-state relations-Can you name those committees and their recommendations?

• Administrative Reforms Commission of 1968, the Rajamanar Committee of 1969, the Sarkaria commission of 1988 and Punchhi Commission-What were their recommendations in the context of role of Governor?

• The Sarkaria Commission, set up in 1983 to look into Centre-state relations, proposed certain points for the selection of Governors-Know them in detail

• What Punchhi Committee, constituted in 2007 on Centre-state relations said on selection the Governor?

• The Punchhi Committee recommended deleting the “Doctrine of Pleasure” from the Constitution-What is “Doctrine of Pleasure”?

• What Supreme Court of India said about the Governor’s role?

• How things changed after the S.R. Bommai case ,1994?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Governor’s powers, friction with states, and why this happens often

📍What does the law say on how a Governor can be sacked?

📍How are Governors appointed, and why is their role often controversial?

Previous Year Prelims Questions Based on same theme:

📍Which one of the following suggested that the Governor should be an eminent person from outside the State and should be a detached figure without intense political links or should not have taken part in politics in the recent past? (Please refer Prelims 2019 GS question Paper for complete question)

📍Which of the following are the discretionary powers given to the Governor of a State? (Please refer Prelims 2014 GS question Paper for complete question)
1. Sending a report to the President of India for imposing the President’s rule
2. Appointing the Ministers
3. Reserving certain bills passed by the State Legislature for consideration of the President of India
4. Making the rules to conduct the business of the State Government

THE CITY

Landlocked Haryana will be connected to ports: Khattar

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World and Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Haryana chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Sunday said with the Delhi-Mumbai expressway connecting Haryana to major port cities of India in future, it will enhance the state’s export potential.

• What is meant by landlocked state?

• Landlocked and Double Landlocked-Compare and Contrast

• How many states of India are landlocked?

• Which are those landlocked states in India?

• What are the problems of landlocked state?

• What is the economic impact of Haryana being landlocked?

• Delhi–Mumbai Expressway-Know its features and highlights

• What is unique about the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway?

• For Your Information-Being developed at an estimated cost of over Rs 1 lakh crore, the 1,386-km long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will be India’s longest and one of the fastest to be built in the world. Expected to be operational by 2024, the expressway will pass through Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍PM Modi unveils first leg of Delhi-Mumbai expressway today: Here are the details

📍Delhi-Mumbai Expressway’s first phase inaugurated: Here’s how it will affect travel time between the cities

GOVT & POLITICS

Modi hails legacy of Dayanand Saraswati

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- Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday paid tribute to Dayanand Saraswati on the 200th birth anniversary of the social reformer, hailing his contributions towards the fight against social discrimination and untouchability. “Evils that were falsely attributed to religion, swamiji removed them with the light of religion itself,” Modi said. Speaking in New Delhi after inaugurating the birth anniversary celebrations that will take place over two years, Modi said that at the time of Dayanand Saraswati’s birth, India was losing its prestige “owing to centuries of slavery”.

• “In the 21st century, when the world is facing several challenges, and is surrounded by violence and instability, the path shown by Dayanand Saraswati gives hope to crores of people”-Analyse

• Personality in News-Dayanand Saraswati

• For Your Information-Born on February 12, 1824, Dayanand Saraswati founded Arya Samaj in 1875 to counter social inequities. Arya Samaj is said to have played a crucial role in social awakening through its emphasis on social reforms and education.

• Dayanand Saraswati’s role in women empowerment-Discuss

• “The Arya Samaj carried out social work through which they attempted to disseminate ideas of reform and regeneration”-Discuss

• ‘Arya Samaj movement was an outcome of the reaction to Western influences. It was revivalist in form but not in content’-How far you agree with the same?

• Phenomenal Achievement of the Dayanand Saraswati and Arya Samaj-Discuss

• “The Arya Samaj did not, however, Succeed in Capturing the Imagination of Modern India as a whole”-Do you agree?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:  

📍Who was Dayanand Saraswati, whose 200th birth anniversary is being celebrated this year?

📍In good faith: Superstition caricatures God

EXPRESS NETWORK

MIIRA: India readies plan to popularise millets on world stage

Syllabus:

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

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- With food security and nutrition a top priority in agriculture during its G20 Presidency, India is planning to propose the launch of a global initiative to encourage the consumption and production of millets, The Indian Express has learnt. “MIIRA” or Millet International Initiative for Research and Awareness will be aimed at coordinating millet research programmes at the international level. It is in line with the UN declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets and the Centre’s plan to make India a global hub for millets.

• What is Millet?

• For Your Information-The word millets is used to describe small-grained cereals like sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), foxtail millet (kangni/ Italian millet), little millet (kutki), kodo millet, finger millet (ragi/ mandua), proso millet (cheena/ common millet), barnyard millet (sawa/ sanwa/ jhangora), and brown top millet (korale).

• Where millets lag?

• Millets aren’t the first choice either of consumers or of farmers-Why?

• Why 2023 is Year of Millets?

• Do you Know-On April 10, 2018, the Agriculture Ministry declared millets such as jowar, bajra, ragi/ mandua, some minor millets such as kangani/ kakun, cheena, etc, and the two pseudo millets — buckwheat (kuttu) and amaranth (chaulai) — as ‘Nutri Cereals’ for their “high nutritive value”.

• Can robust cereals like millets offer a cheap and nourishing alternative as the global agrifood systems struggle to feed a population that is constantly expanding?

• How the IYM 2023 will contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

• Map Work- The major millet producing countries

• What geographical parameters are necessary for millets?

• India and Millets-Know in detail

• For Your Information-MIIRA is significant in view of the United Nations declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets, the proposal for which was moved by India and supported by 72 countries. The International Year will see several activities such as conferences and issuing of stamps, among others, to raise awareness on millets, improve their production and also attract investments.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why India’s push for millets is yet to gain widespread traction

📍How India can boost millets cultivation

📍India’s big millets push, and why it makes sense to have these grains

THE IDEAS PAGE

India’s fiscal dilemma

Syllabus:

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

Main Examination: General Studies III: Government Budgeting

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman writes: The recently announced budget affords a good opportunity to take stock of the fiscal situation. Most obviously, because it is the last full budget before the 2024 elections. More importantly, because next fiscal is the first time in a long time that India’s economy might actually have a normal year. In 2019-20 came the NBFC crisis, 2020-21 saw the pandemic and 2021-22 the recovery, while 2022-23 witnessed global turmoil in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is only in the next fiscal that we can finally compare like with like, one “normal” budget with another.

• “The good news is that in many ways the fiscal situation has proved resilient to the successive shocks”-Know in detail

• For Your Information-Tax collections as a per cent of GDP are actually marginally higher than they were in 2018-19. On the spending side, the composition has improved, as capital expenditure has soared from 1.5 per cent of GDP to a budgeted 3.5 per cent of GDP. And sizeable off-budget expenditures were brought back onto the budget two years ago in a major and laudable step to improve transparency. The fiscal deficit is now on a downward trajectory, budgeted to fall to about 6 per cent of GDP next year from a Covid peak of more than 9 per cent.

• So, what is fiscal deficit?

• What are those uncomfortable news that authors are pointing to?

• “The second issue is centralisation”-Why centralisation is issue here?

• What do you understand by fiscal consolidation?

• Why is fiscal consolidation important?

• What steps have been done toward fiscal consolidation in accordance with the Union Budget?

• “The big Budget idea came in the form of raising the threshold at which income tax kicks in to Rs 7 lakh a year from Rs 5 lakh a year, plus a solid nudge prodding individuals to shift to a new tax regime by restructuring the tax slabs”-how this step will impact everyone?

• What would be the prudent fiscal policy?

• How did the government managed to stick to its fiscal prudence mantra and did not breach its deficit target of 6.4 per cent of GDP for the current financial year?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Union Budget 2023-24 Analysis

The missing state

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies I: Social empowerment

• 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.

• 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-Neetha N writes: The workplaces of domestic workers are homes of their employers, who have far more power and privilege. State apathy at regulating this sector is evident from the lack of specific laws to
protect the rights of these workers

• Quick Recall-Police in Gurgaon arrested a couple recently for allegedly torturing and assaulting a minor girl who they had hired as a domestic help. Police said the 17-year-old girl, who hails from Jharkhand, was allegedly tortured over five months before she was rescued Tuesday and admitted to a hospital with multiple injuries. Police identified the arrested accused as Manish Khattar and his wife Kamaljeet Kaur. Police said Manish worked as a deputy manager with a prominent life insurance company and his wife had been working with a public relations firm in Gurgaon.

• “Violence against domestic workers has been reported at sporadic intervals for many years. Their exploitation receives attention only when individual cases of violence get reported in the media”-Discuss

• Domestic Workers and feminisation of the labour workforce-Connect the dots

• What is the percentage of domestic workers in India?

• Is there any law for domestic workers in India?

• What are the social security for domestic workers?

• Who conducted All India Survey on domestic workers?

• What is the labour law for domestic workers in India?

• Who are the workers of unorganised sector in India?

• What are the problems faced by domestic workers in India?

• “The Ministry of Labour and Employment, has acknowledged the importance of domestic work to households and the need to improve welfare and regulatory measures for promoting decent work for domestic workers. Also, for the very first time, domestic workers have been recognized as workers in the Unorganized Sector Social Security Act, 2008”-Critically Analyse India’s unorganised sector especially in the context of domestic workers

• Do You Know-According to official statistics, there are 4.75 million domestic workers in India, three million of whom are women, the International Labour Organisation, along with others are firm that the real number is much more, ranging from a wide 20 to 80 million.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Domestic worker draft policy for minimum wages, social security

📍Migrant and informal workers must have social security

ECONOMY

MeitY may soon integrate ChatGPT with WhatsApp for key government schemes

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

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

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Even as the battle between Google and Microsoft over the future of Internet search intensifies, WhatsApp could soon become a major search engine on key government schemes for India’s estimated 150 million farmers – powered by the hugely sensational AI chatbot ChatGPT and an ambitious national-level program that aims to build vast datasets containing samples of Indian voices in several local languages, through a crowdsourcing model.

• What is Bhasini?

• What is aim of digital India Bhashini?

• Do You Know-Bhashini, a small team at the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), is currently building a WhatsApp-based chatbot that relies on information generated by ChatGPT to return appropriate responses to queries. And because people, especially farmers in rural areas, may not always want to type out their queries, questions can be asked on the chatbot through voice notes.

• How will the chatbot work?

• How will the bot understand and interpret local languages?

• Are there any limitations or concerns around such models?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍ChatGPT on WhatsApp: Govt’s Bhashini initiative to use AI for beneficiaries of welfare schemes

EXPLAINED

Protected speech of MPs: its history, reasons for curbs

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary-Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- On February 9, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar protesting the “directions…made by the Chair to authenticate six observations” he had made during his speech in the House the previous day. Kharge pointed out that Parliament is the “platform to fix the accountability of the Executive”, and criticism of the government amounts neither to an allegation against an individual Member nor to an attack on the dignity of the Council of States. Kharge also underlined that Article 105 of the Constitution “guarantees freedom of speech for the Members of Parliament”.

• Background of free speech-Know in Detail

• What is Article 105 of the constitution?

• “The right to free speech means nothing unless it includes the right to be heard, recognised, acknowledged”-What is exactly free speech?

• What is freedom of expression?

• What is Article 19 of the Constitution?

• What is the right to free speech in Parliament?

• “Under Articles 105 and 194, Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies have a special right to free speech in Parliament and other legislative bodies, with the exception of any restrictions imposed by the Constitution or the body’s standing rules”-Elaborate

• “A statement made by a minister, even if traceable to any affairs of the state or for protecting the government, cannot be attributed vicariously to the government by invoking the principle of collective responsibility,”-Decode the quote

• What do you understand by the term ‘Collective Responsibility’?

• The current Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha rule books follow the same principles that regulated the speeches of the members of the Central Legislative Assembly. The two Houses have identical rules, with one exception-What is that exception?

• What are the Laws restricting the freedom of expression in India?

• What are the International Legal Regime on free speech?

• What are the International Legal Regime on Hate Speech?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Hate speech denies right to dignity: Justice Nagarathna

What farm exports data show

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- India’s agricultural exports are poised to scale a new peak in the financial year ending March 31, 2023. But so are imports, bringing down the overall farm trade surplus. Government data show the value of farm exports in April-December 2022, at $39 billion, was 7.9% higher than the $36.2 bn for the corresponding period of the previous year. At the present rate, the record $50.2 bn exports achieved in 2021-22 look set to be surpassed.

• Who are the two big contributors to India’s agri-export growth?

• “India’s farm performance is linked to international commodity prices”-Attest the statement with some data

• What do you understand by ‘Exports’ and ‘Imports’?

• Despite curbs, Why exports have increased?

• How sustainable is the growth in Agri-exports, given India’s resource endowments and the country’s domestic need?

• Know the composition of Agri-exports in detail

• India’s Agricultural Trade-Know the data

• India’s Farm Exports and World food Prices-Compare and Contrast

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Farm exports hit high, so do imports

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