UPSC Key- January 13, 2023: Learn about Union Territory of Delhi, Voice of Global South Summit, Religious Minorities and many more

Why elected govt in Delhi if full control with you, SC asks Centre

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: 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- The Supreme Court asked the Centre Thursday what is the purpose of Delhi having an elected government if the entire administrative control is to be with the Central government. Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, presiding over a five-judge Constitution Bench which is hearing a dispute between the Delhi government and the Centre over control of services, asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta: “Then what is the purpose of having an elected government in Delhi at all if the administration is to be carried out only at the beck and call of the Central government.”

• To what did the Supreme Court of India refer when making this comment?

• The 69th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1991 provided a special status to the Union Territory of Delhi-what was that ‘special status’?

• What are the recent changes made in 2021 through the amendments to NCT Delhi Act 1991?

• There has been tension between the Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) in New Delhi over the years. why?

• When was the last time the Supreme Court rendered a decision regarding Delhi’s form of government?

• ‘The chief minister-led council of ministers supports and counsels the lieutenant governor as he fulfils his duties. When the lieutenant governor and his ministers disagree, the lieutenant governor must bring the issue to the president for resolution and take appropriate action’-Do you believe that the lieutenant governor of Delhi has followed this procedure correctly?

• “Suppose the officer is not properly discharging functions, see how anomalous this will be… Delhi government will have no role to say we will send this person and get somebody else. Where will they be? Can we say they will have no jurisdiction over authority in respect of where he will be posted, whether he should be in education or elsewhere?”-Discuss and decode

• Why is the bureaucracy in New Delhi shuttling between the central and state governments?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Caught between CM, L-G tussle: Delhi’s bureaucrats

World in crisis, let us shape emerging order, PM tells Global South

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Underlining that the “world is in a state of crisis”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told leaders of developing countries Thursday that “your voice is India’s voice” and “your priorities are India’s priorities”. Addressing leaders at the Voice of Global South Summit, the Prime Minister spelt out the challenges: “We have turned the page on another difficult year that saw war, conflict, terrorism and geopolitical tensions; rising food, fertiliser and fuel prices; climate change-driven natural disasters; and, lasting economic impact of the Covid pandemic.”

• What do you understand by the term “Global South”?

• What is Voice of Global South Summit?

• What is considered the Global South?

• Which countries are in Global South?

• The term ‘Global South’ is more related to geography or to the economies of the countries?

• What is the Global South known for?

• What are the differences between global north and global south?

• For Your Information-The idea behind the summit is that India will work to ensure that inputs generated from partner countries in the Voice of Global South Summit deliberations will be pushed forward at the G20 summit which will be hosted by India later this year. India’s ongoing Presidency of the G20, officials said, provides a special and strong opportunity for countries whose voice often goes unheard.

• “Respond, Recognise, Respect, Reform”-Analyse

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍At Voice of Global South summit, PM Modi gives mantra of ‘Respond, Recognise, Respect, Reform’

Shoe on other foot: Cong slams Dhankhar for ‘attacking’ judiciary, ‘majoritarianism

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- His criticism of the Supreme Court for striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act had surprised the Opposition. They read it as being of a piece with the Government’s increasing attacks on the higher judiciary. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s reference that he didn’t agree with the verdict in the Kesavananda Bharati case has rekindled the debate over the doctrine of separation of powers and triggered renewed alarm bells in the Opposition camp.

• What was the 39th Amendment to the Indian Constitution?

• Do You Know-The 39th Amendment barred any challenge to the election of the President, Vice-President, Speaker and Prime Minister; the 41st Amendment prohibited any case, civil or criminal, being filed against the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister or the Governors; and the 42nd amendment vested Parliament with unbridled powers to amend the Constitution denying courts the power of review.

• Quick Recall-Rekindling the debate over the doctrine of separation of powers, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, citing the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 judgment in the Kesavananda Bharati case in which it ruled that Parliament had the authority to amend the Constitution but not its basic structure, has said it will be difficult to answer the question “are we a democratic nation”.

• ‘Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar again raised the issue of the powers of the judiciary vis-a-vis the legislature, highlighting the 2015 decision of the Supreme Court to strike down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act’-How far you agree with Vice-President’s opinion?

• What is Doctrine of the ‘basic structure’?

• How has the doctrine of basic structure evolved?

• What are the basic features of the Indian Constitution?

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

• 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’?

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

• Why is the doctrine criticised?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:    

📍With VP Jagdeep Dhankar’s remarks, a look at the basic structure of the Indian Constitution

📍WITH DUE RESPECT

📍Who was Kesvananda Bharati and how was he associated with the ‘Basic Structure’ doctrine?

Nov factory output up 7.1%; inflation under 6% in Dec

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- AIDED by a low base and a pickup in manufacturing and mining activity, industrial output jumped to a five-month high of 7.1 per cent in November after contracting 4.2 per cent in the previous month, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed. In separately released data, retail headline inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index (Combined) eased to one-year low of 5.72 per cent in December, helped by a moderation in food prices.

• What made industrial output to a five-month high of 7.1 per cent in November 2022?

• The Industrial output, is measured by what?

• What is Index of Industrial Production (IIP)?

• What Index of Industrial Production (IIP) signifies?

• By how much and where has industrial output increased?

• What does Industrial output mean?

• Index For Industrial Production-Know its components

• Is ‘service sector’ part of Index For Industrial Production (IIP)?

• Who releases Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data?

• Who uses Index For Industrial Production (IIP) data?

• Do you Know-The base year for ‘Index For Industrial Production (IIP) was changed to 2011-12 from 2004-05 in the year 2017. The earlier base years were 1937, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1960, 1970, 1980-81, 1993-94 and 2004-05.

• Where is Index For Industrial Production (IIP) data sourced from?

• Index For Industrial Production (IIP) vs the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI)-Compare and Contrast

• Does the latest print run counter the government and RBI projections?

• Do You Know-The maximum increase in the growth in November was seen for the manufacturing of transport equipment, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, food products and beverages, while the maximum decline was seen for manufacturing of wearing apparel, textiles, coke and refined petroleum products.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Inflation under 6%, but here’s why RBI may not moderate hawkish stand yet

EXPRESS NETWORK

BJP-ruled states split over identification of religious minorities

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Indian Constitution, 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- BJP-ruled Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have favoured the current system of identifying and notifying minorities at the national level — which leaves out Hindus from the list of religious minorities — while the party’s governments in Assam and Uttarakhand have opined that the unit of identification of minorities should be the state as laid down by the Supreme Court in the 2002 landmark T M A Pai case.

• What do you understand by the term ‘religious minorities’?

• Who are religious minorities in India?

• What was the verdict given in the 2002 landmark T M A Pai case by the Supreme Court of India?

• For Your Information-In the 2002 T M A Pai case, the Supreme Court laid down that for the purposes of Article 30 — which deals with the rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions — religious and linguistic minorities will have to be identified at the state-level.

• Who can be minority in India?

• What is the definition of minority under Indian laws?

• What does the Constitution say about minorities?

• Who can grant minority status in India?

• What is the purposes of Article 30 as per the Constitution of India?

• How Supreme Court of India interpreted Article 29 and Article 30 of the Indian Constitution?

• What is Section 2(c) of the National Minorities Commission Act, 1992?

• Religious and linguistic minority-Know the difference

• Minority status with the principle laid down by the Supreme Court in 2002 TMA Pai Foundation and 2005 Bal Patil Case Ruling-Know in detail

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Explained: Who is a ‘minority’ in India? What the Constitution says, how Supreme Court has ruled

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

REFORM, NOT REVENGE

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- John Brittas writes: The criminal justice system, marked by bias against the underprivileged and violation of prisoners’ rights, must be overhauled. Listen to President Murmu’s speech once again, where she made an earnest appeal to liberalise the bail system

• “Enough data suggests that the criminal justice system is inherently biased against disadvantaged sections”-What data says?

• What is Criminal Justice System in India?

• Which committee is related to reforms in Criminal Justice System of India (CJSI)?

• What are the stages of the criminal justice system?

• Why there is a need for Reforms in criminal justice system?

• Know Malimath Committee’s Report in detail

• Quick Recall-President Droupadi Murmu at the Constitution Day celebration organised by the Supreme Court in November 2022 addressed the single biggest reason why India’s prisons are full of those from disadvantaged sections: A huge chunk of them are incarcerated for minor offences but they languish in jails because their families cannot afford the cost of bail bonds or even litigation. In Satender Kumar Antil Vs. CBI (2022), the Supreme Court noted that “the majority [of undertrial prisoners] may not even be required to be arrested despite registration of a cognisable offence, being charged with offences punishable for seven years or less. They are not only poor and illiterate but also include women”.

• Do you Know-Data from the Prison Statistics of India 2021 report of the National Crime Records Bureau show that more than 77 per cent of jail inmates are undertrials and every year this number goes up. The undertrial prisoners in Indian jails registered a 15 per cent increase from 3.72 lakh in 2020 to 4.27 lakh in 2021. The same data set also records 25 per cent of this prisoner population as being illiterate. In the absence of data on the economic standing of prisoners, education level and social backgrounds can be used for measuring the degree of backwardness and vulnerability.

• “Objective of justice should be reformative and not retributive”-Comment

• Section 41 section 41D of CrPC-Know in brief

• The Supreme Court order acknowledged that the ever-greening of custody of an accused through multiple cases in different jurisdictions across states deprives him of his personal liberty-Elaborate further

• ‘The Supreme Court has outlined three broad principles regarding imprisonment and custody’- Know the three broad principles

• Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained-know them in detail

• Detention is of two types, namely, punitive and preventive-Know them in detail

• Punitive Detention and Preventive Detention-Compare and Contrast

• Article 22 confers certain rights on a person who is arrested or detained under an ordinary law-What are they?

• Retributive Justice and Restorative Justice

• What is Retributive Justice?

• “Every saint has a past and every sinner a future”-Decode the quote

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍PRESUMED GUILTY

THE WORLD

Anti-govt protests in Peru spread, clashes near Machu Picchu

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- At least 40 people have died in clashes between Peruvian security forces and protesters in the Andean country’s worst outbreak of violence in over 20 years, reported Reuters. Protesters are calling for fresh elections and government accountability. The Andean country has seen on-and-off protests since early 2022, when a motion to impeach former president Pedro Castillo failed in the Peruvian parliament. The latest, and most deadly protests yet, began in December 2022 after the ouster and arrest of Castillo. Castillo’s successor, Dina Boluarte’s repressive response to protests has only added fuel to fire.

• What sparked these protests?

• Map Work-Peru

• How Government responded?

• For Your Information-Peru is one of South America’s biggest tourist destinations with visitors from across the world attracted to the country’s natural beauty as well as archaeological heritage. It contributed to nearly 4 per cent of the total GDP and employed nearly 8 percent of Peru’s population in 2020, according to OECD iLibrary. Protests have stranded many tourists and brought the industry to a near standstill as prospective visitors fear for their safety.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:   

📍Looking at the Peru protests: why do Peruvians want their new President to resign?

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