UPSC Key: Neo-middle Class, Article 200 of the Constitution and Tax Devolution

Neo-middle class emerged out of poverty, powering development: Modi

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Main Examination: 

• General Studies I: Salient features of Indian Society

• General Studies III: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.

What’s the ongoing story: Two days after he told Lok Sabha that his government had lifted 25 crore people out of poverty, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that this had created a neo-middle class which was powering the pace of development in the country.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is neo-middle class?

• Who Comprises in Neo-middle Class?

• What factors contribute to the rise of the Neo-Middle Class in India?

• Which government initiatives have contributed to poverty reduction and the emergence of the Neo-Middle Class in India?

• “The emergence of the Neo-Middle Class is a crucial milestone in India’s developmental journey”—Discuss the socio-economic factors responsible for this transition and its impact on economic growth.

• Examine the role of government policies in poverty alleviation.

Key Takeaways:

• Replying to the Rajya Sabha discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address, Modi said, “I believe in this country’s poor… using government schemes, 25 crore people have come out of poverty. It is a matter of pride for them and also a matter of pride for us that we have helped them to come out of poverty. A neo-middle class has been created and my government is standing firm with this middle class. This class is powering the country’s development.”

• In a speech that lasted a little over 90 minutes, Modi listed the NDA government’s efforts to empower the marginalised communities. “It is our government which strengthened the Act to protect the SC and ST communities. Attempts have been made, and are being made to spread the poison of casteism. For three decades, OBC MPs of both Houses from all parties kept demanding a commission for OBCs but it was rejected because, perhaps, it did not suit its (Congress) politics at that time. We gave constitutional status to this OBC commission,” he said.

Do You Know:

• The “neo-middle class” was defined by the BJP as those who have risen from poverty but have yet to stabilize in the middle class. The term “neo-middle class” featured prominently in the late Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s maiden Budget speech in 2014.

• Based on this, the term refers to individuals who have recently benefited from economic growth and are moving up the income ladder. It includes a broad group of people who are just above the poverty line and striving to join aspirational India. Those who have recently risen out of poverty and are being provided with resources to integrate into the mainstream are central to this concept.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍‘Neo middle class’ is the new ‘aam aadmi’

UPSC Practice Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
1. Which of the following government initiatives have contributed to poverty reduction and the emergence of the Neo-Middle Class in India?
1. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
2. Ujjwala Yojana
3. Ayushman Bharat
4. Start-up India
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
a) 1, 2, and 3 only
b) 2, 3, and 4 only
c) 1, 3, and 4 only
d) 1, 2, 3, and 4

Told it can’t drill in a national park, OIL turns it into a research project

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: 

• General Studies III: Environmental impact assessment

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

What’s the ongoing story: Denied permission to explore and extract oil and gas under Assam’s Dibru Saikhowa National Park, where mining is prohibited, Oil India Limited (OIL) has impressed upon the Environment Ministry the need for carrying out an “R&D study” (research and development) in the same oil well for which the extraction proposal was rejected.

Key Points to Ponder:

• Map Work-Dibru- Saikhowa National Park

• What is ‘environmental clearance’ in the context of industrial projects in India?

• The Gauhati High Court’s stay on Oil India Limited’s drilling in Dibru-Saikhowa National Park was primarily due to what?

• Discuss the environmental and ecological implications of hydrocarbon exploration in protected areas like Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

• Analyse the role of judicial interventions in environmental conservation in India, with reference to the Gauhati High Court’s stay on Oil India Limited’s drilling activities in Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

• Evaluate the importance of conducting Biodiversity Impact Assessment Studies before initiating industrial projects in ecologically sensitive zones.

Key Takeaways:

• “On January 27, the Environment Ministry’s Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) recommended the R&D proposal subject to the condition that it will be used purely for research purposes,” confirmed an OIL spokesperson from Duliajan in Assam.

• According to OIL, the ERD (extended reach drilling) technology can drill at a depth of 3,500-4,000 metres without disturbing the surface. Unlike conventional drilling that breaks the land surface above the target, ERD reaches the necessary depth at a remote location before moving horizontally under the ground to reach the target.

• Proposed by OIL and the Petroleum Ministry’s Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) last November, the purpose of the R&D project was to study the overground impact of the sub-surface ERD technology and “resolve the impasse” following the denial of clearance by the FAC last August.

• Throwing its weight behind the R&D proposal, the Environment Ministry’s premier research organisation Wildlife Institute to India (WII) also agreed that “the impact of the drilling on the above-ground biodiversity” can be studied “only after the actual drilling is done”.

• On January 27, the R&D proposal was considered, bypassing the online submission route at the FAC meeting. Taking note that the WII had already been awarded the R&D project to be completed before the onset of the monsoon, the FAC cleared the project “without any commercial implications”.

Do You Know:

• Last August, the FAC rejected the proposal for drilling seven wells inside Dibru Saikhowa National Park using the ERD technology from
three existing wells of the Baghjan oil field where a massive blowout caused extensive damages in 2020. The rejection was based on two Supreme Court orders and the Ministry’s guidelines.

• In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that no permission “by whatever name called” would be granted for mining inside national parks, sanctuaries and forest areas. In 2023, it extended the no-mining zone by one kilometre around the national parks and sanctuaries.

• Meanwhile, in September 2023, based on a Standard Operating Procedure developed by the WII for using ERD near forest areas, the Environment Ministry exempted ERD projects from securing forest clearance, except inside national parks, sanctuaries and the surrounding eco-sensitive zones.

• Following the rejection by the FAC, key Environment Ministry officials, the DGH, the OIL and the WII met last November to discuss the proposal for an R&D study at “four potential ERD well locations” which were “part of the larger 7-well ERD for which the forest clearance was rejected”.

• Once the WII Director agreed that drilling was necessary to study its impact, the then Director General (Forest) of the Environment Ministry asked for a fresh proposal.

• Subsequently, the Environment Ministry accepted the DGH’s request to consider the research project as a special case bypassing the online submission system since there was no R&D category in the Ministry’s Parivesh portal.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Gauhati HC stays Centre’s permission to OIL to drill wells inside Dibru-Saikhowa natl park

UPSC Practice Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
Consider the following statements regarding Dibru-Saikhowa National Park:
1. It is located in the state of Assam.
2. The park is known for its population of feral horses.
3. It is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
a) 1 and 2 only
b) 2 and 3 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 1, 2, and 3

GOVT & POLITICS

‘Adopted own procedure’: SC on TN Gov withholding assent to Bills

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

What’s the ongoing story: THE SUPREME Court Thursday questioned Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi’s decision to withhold assent to some Bills presented to him by state legislature and said “he seems to have adopted his own procedure”.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is the issue here?

• What exactly Supreme Court said?

• What is Article 200 of the Constitution?

• What is the current conflict between the governor and the government in Tamil Nadu?

• “The standoff between the Tamil Nadu government and R N Ravi highlights a significant constitutional dilemma about the role and powers of the Governor”-Elaborate

• Discuss the constitutional role of the Governor in India’s federal structure.

• How do conflicts between Governors and Chief Ministers impact governance at the state level?

Key Takeaways:

• Hearing the Tamil Nadu government’s petitions against the Governor withholding assent on certain Bills and referring some to the President, Justice J B Pardiwala, presiding over a two-judge bench, said, “It doesn’t make any sense… (Governor) saying that ‘I withhold assent but will not ask you to reconsider the Bills’ and thereby frustrate the second part of Article 200. He seems to have adopted his own procedure.”

• The bench, also comprising Justice R Mahadevan, told Attorney General R Venkataramani, representing TN Governor, that he will have to show to the court what weighed with the Governor in arriving at the decision to withhold assent. It wondered what contemporary material was available “except one letter addressed by the secretary” to explain how the Governor approached the issue.

• Explaining why it was seeking material to back the Governor’s decision, Justice Pardiwala said “because they have alleged not just malice in law, but malice in fact also”. He told the AG, “Today we are called upon to interpret just one Article 200 which we will, but on factual aspect, you need to show us why the Governor decided to withhold assent.”

• The bench sought to know why the Governor had kept the Bills pending for three years before declaring that he was withholding assent.

Do You Know:

• The Supreme Court on 7th Feb 2025, asked if it is open to a Governor to reserve Bills sent by the state Assembly, for the consideration of the President after they have withheld assent to a Bill.

• While Article 163 of the Constitution deals with the powers of the Governor generally, Article 200 specifically deals with the issue of granting assent to Bills. Both the provisions are read together to determine the contours of the power the Governor holds on this issue.

• When a Bill passed by the legislature of a state is presented to the Governor, the Governor has four options: (1) grant assent to the Bill; (2) withhold assent to the Bills; (3) return the Bills for reconsideration; or (4) reserve the Bill for the consideration of the President.

• Article 200 reads: “When a Bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly of a State or, in the case of a State having a Legislative Council, has been passed by both Houses of the Legislature of the State, it shall be presented to the Governor and the Governor shall declare either that he assents to the Bill or that he withholds assent therefrom or that he reserves the Bill for the consideration of the President.”

• However, the Article has a key proviso. It says that the Governor “may, as soon as possible” return Bills other than money Bills, with a message requesting that the House reconsider it in parts or in whole. However, once the Legislative House reconsiders the Bill and sends it to the Governor once again, the Governor “shall not withhold assent therefrom”.

• An indefinite timeline in deciding on Bills can in effect amount to paralysing the elected government. At the same time, giving assent to Bills is one of the few areas in which the Governor can exercise his discretion. But again, this discretion cannot be used arbitrarily or based on a personal preference, but only in Constitutional terms with cogent reasons.
Additionally, Article 200 uses the word “shall” which indicates that the framers of the Constitution intended a mandatory tone for the Governor on this aspect. The Supreme Court in its landmark 2016 ruling in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly case (Nabam Rebia and Bamang Felix vs Deputy Speaker)
discussed this aspect briefly.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍SC weighs in on Tamil Nadu vs Governor battle: ‘People are suffering’

UPSC Previous Year Question Covering similar theme:
Which of the following are the discretionary powers given to the Governor of a State? (2014)
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
Select the correct answer using the code given below
a) 1 and 2 only
b) 1 and 3 only
c) 2, 3 and 4 only
d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

EXPRESS NETWORK

Odisha joins Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat to seek 50% share in Central taxes

Syllabus:

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

Main 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.

• General Studies III: Government Budgeting

What’s the ongoing story: Odisha Thursday demanded an increase in states’ share of central taxes to 50 per cent from the existing 41 per cent. Odisha, which has sought Rs 12.59 lakh crore in central taxes for the period 2026-31, joins states such as Gujarat and Tamil Nadu in making the demand.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What exactly Odisha demanded?

• What do you understand by cess and surcharge?

• Cess and surcharge-Compare and contrast

• What is the share of states in central taxes?

• How is tax distributed to states in India?

• Finance Commission and tax distribution to states-Connect the dots

• What is “Tax Devolution”?

Key Takeaways:

• CM Mohan Charan Majhi, along with senior officers, met the finance commission headed by Arvind Panagariya to seek an increase in its share in central taxes to 4.96 percent from the current 4.52 percent recommended by the previous finance commission. It also demanded inclusion of cess and surcharge in divisible pool so states can have their share in it.

• “Overuse of cess and surcharges need to be contained, and the 16th Finance Commission may consider suggesting stricter tests for the cess and surcharges to qualify for exclusion from the divisible pool, through a constitutional amendment, if necessary,” a memorandum presented by the state government before the commission said.

• The finance commission headed by Panagariya is currently on a four-day visit to Odisha as part of its visit to various states. According to Panagariya, states such as Kerala, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Goa have suggested an increase in the states’ share in central taxes to 50%.

• According to the memorandum, Odisha suggested that a modified population variable – such as the share of vulnerable population including SC and ST, and those requiring special attention like people above 80 years of age and widows without any support — should be used in the tax devolution formula instead of the entire population.

Do You Know:

• The Finance Commission (FC) is a constitutional body set up under Article 280 of the Constitution to make recommendations on the distribution of resources between the Union and the states. The First FC was constituted in 1951 and its recommendations covered the five-year period 1952-57. Since then, we have had 15 FCs.

• Currently the 16th Finance Commission is in office which was constituted in December 2023. The Commission is required to submit its report by October 31, 2025 and would make recommendations for the five-year period starting April 1, 2026.

• The FC addresses the vertical imbalance arising out of asymmetric assignment of revenues and expenditure between the Union and the states in the Constitution by recommending sharing a proportion of all taxes collected by the Union government with the states (also called devolution).

• The 13th FC recommended sharing 32% of the divisible pool of resources with the states. The14th FC increased this proportion to 42% while the 15th FC recommended sharing 41% with the states.

• A number of criteria (with weights) is used for distribution of the shareable tax revenue among states. These are classified under four heads: need (population, area, demographic change), equity (income distance), efficiency/ performance (tax-effort, fiscal discipline, demographic performance), and fiscal disability (forest cover).

• The 15th FC used 2011 population (with 15% weight), area (15%), forest and ecology (10%), income distance (45%), tax and fiscal efforts (2.5%) and demographic performance (12.5%) for determining inter se shares of states. FCs also recommend grants to states. However, devolution is the dominant component, accounting for 80-85% of total FC transfers.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Tax devolution: Govt releases Rs 1.40 lakh cr to states

UPSC Previous Year Question Covering similar theme:
Consider the following: (2023)
1. Demographic performance
2. Forest and ecology
3. Governance reforms
4. Stable government
5. Tax and fiscal efforts
For the horizontal tax devolution, the Fifteenth Finance Commission used how many of the above as criteria other than population area and income distance?
(a) Only two
(b) Only three
(c) Only four
(d) All five

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

The other pravasi

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

What’s the ongoing story: Sanjaya Baru Writes:  They remind the world not of Indian talent and enterprise, culture or civilisation but of the lack of opportunity, of discrimination of one kind or another and of the unease of living here that makes them undergo the hardship of illegal migration

Key Points to Ponder:

• “Economic disparity is a key driver of irregular migration from India to the United States”-Elaborate

• Discuss the factors responsible for irregular migration from India and the implications of deportation on affected individuals and Indian society.

• Examine the role of diaspora networks in facilitating both legal and irregular migration from India.

• “Marginalization in home countries often leads to desperate migration choices”—What is your opinion?

• How socio-economic exclusion in India contributes to the rise of undocumented migration and the vulnerabilities of such migrants abroad.

• Discuss the challenges faced by deported migrants upon their return to India.

• Evaluate the impact of stringent immigration policies of Western countries on Indian migration trends.

• How should India negotiate with the US to safeguard the rights of its migrants?

Key Takeaways:

Sanjaya Baru Writes:

• In their address to the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the day that commemorates Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa in 1915, successive Prime Ministers have said to the gathered audience of people of Indian origin (PIOs) overseas and non-resident Indians (NRIs) that they are Mother India’s ambassadors.

• The Indian emigrants who have been charged with entering the United States illegally and have been forced to return home, transported in US military aircraft, are ambassadors of a different kind. They remind the world not of Indian talent and enterprise, culture or civilisation but of the lack of opportunity, of discrimination of one kind or another and of the unease of living here that makes them undergo the hardship of illegal migration.

• The status of today’s illegal migrants is, in many respects, no different from that of the indentured labour of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The latter’s great grandchildren may now be feted in India as overseas representatives of Bharat mata, but there are many children of Bharat mata today who emigrate illegally for reasons not very different from the ones that forced the poor of British India to be corralled into slavery.

• Legal migrants are welcomed as fodder that fuels the development engines of the developed economies. They are welcomed because they bring with them either human or financial capital. Illegal migrants have only their wage labour to offer. Both have the capacity to contribute to the host economy, and both can potentially snatch away jobs from locals and yet developed countries treat the legal and illegal very differently. Demographics play a role, as do social attitudes.

Do You Know:

• A United States military plane carrying deported Indian migrants has landed in Amritsar on Wednesday (February 5) morning. The C-17 aircraft carrying 205 Indian nationals departed from San Antonio, Texas, around 3 am IST on Tuesday (February 4). US President Donald Trump won the recent election on the plank of cracking down on illegal immigration, and has been vigorously pursuing this ever since he took office. Illegal immigrants are being deported by the planeload, including, significantly, on military planes.

• The visuals of immigrants being loaded onto military planes seems to be part of the message that Trump is tough on such “crimes”. Shackling and handcuffing the immigrants as they are loaded into planes also seems in line with this.
Recently, speaking to Republican lawmakers, Trump said, “For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came…We’re respected again, after years of laughing at us like we’re stupid people.”

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: India-US ties and the illegal immigration issue

UPSC Previous Year Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Discuss the changes in the trends of labour migration within and outside India in the last four decades. (2015)

SECURITY AT ITS CORE

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

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

What’s the ongoing story: Payal Malik, Harishankar Thayyil Jagadeesh Writes: While data collection in UPI is not as Orwellian as the behavioural data collection and monetization by social-media firms, there are parallels. And perhaps, lessons to be learned.

Key Points to Ponder:

• “UPI has revolutionized India’s digital payments landscape, but concerns around data privacy remain.” Discuss

• Analyse the role of the Personal Data Protection Bill in securing financial transaction data in India.

• What all measures can be taken to enhance data privacy in digital payments?

• “India’s UPI model is being emulated globally.” Examine the factors behind UPI’s success

• How India can strengthen its digital payments ecosystem while ensuring cybersecurity and privacy.

Key Takeaways:

• A payments architecture that is ubiquitous, costless to the user, reliable and used by millions, UPI is one of India’s defining contributions to the 21st century. It has allowed India to bypass the dominance of card networks and moved digital payments ahead by
decades.

• The imposition of arbitrary market-share cap to mimic a competitive outcome is counterproductive. These markets tend to become concentrated due to positive network externalities. There are other issues around UPI that need to be addressed — the biggest is personal data protection.

• UPI shares significantly more data on the digital spending habits of consumers than traditional forms of transactions such as credit cards. Also, UPI does not have any data storage standards unlike traditional payment systems which have strict standards such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

• Finally, the data-sharing policies of TPAPs are not publicly available, limiting awareness of the data implications of the UPI ecosystem. This situation of maximal data collection and minimal standards is exacerbated by the number of parties involved in a UPI transaction, increasing the possibility of data leaks.

• Privacy experts argue that the UPI ecosystem is able to sustain without fees simply by virtue of being premised on data-collection and data-sharing. This means that if you are not paying, you are the product. TPAPs could fall within the ambit of significant data fiduciaries defined in the recent Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules, 2025 draft.

Do You Know:

• Rule 5(1) of the Draft DPDP Rules 2025 permits the state and its instrumentalities to process personal data of a data principal for the provision or issuance of subsidies, benefits, services, etc. UPI would likely fall within the scope of the exemption to state instrumentalities. However, such exemption should be limited to the core infrastructure operated by NPCI.

• TPAPs, who are private operators riding on the rails of the DPI, need not be given such exemptions. If the Draft DPDP Rules 2025 are enacted and applied in a considered manner to the UPI ecosystem, it has the potential to create a high degree of transparency and protection of personal data, which can maintain and grow public trust in UPI and address the competition issue.

• The joint communiqué by the G20 Troika (India, Brazil and South Africa) on DPI, AI and data for governance also calls for reducing asymmetries in digital economy, emphasises establishment of equitable principles for data governance to ensure privacy and security. Perhaps it is time for India to blaze the trail further in financial DPI and consolidate its position at the vanguard of innovation in financial inclusion by implementing these data governance principles.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025: Committee for local data storage envisioned to prevent sectoral disruptions, says IT Minister

UPSC Previous Year Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
Which of the following is a most likely consequence of implementing the ‘Unified Payments Interface (UPI)’? (2017)
(a) Mobile wallets will not be necessary for online payments.
(b) Digital currency will totally replace the physical currency in about two decades.
(c) FDI inflows will drastically increase.
(d) Direct transfer of subsidies to poor people will become very effective.

EXPLAINED

US decision on G20: message for ICJ, diplomacy test for India

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: The Trump administration’s attacks on South Africa could be seen as a part of the ongoing international tussle between the US and South Africa over the latter’s prosecution of Israel at the ICJ. But there are wider issues too – involving the role of India as a global player.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is G20?

• What United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has alleged?

• What has provoked Rubio’s sensational announcement?

• The future of G20 is uncertain-Examine

• What are India’s concerns and Suggest alternative scenarios in this regard.

Key Takeaways:

• United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced on X that he would “NOT” attend the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, later this month.

• South Africa, Rubio alleged, is “doing very bad things”, including using G20 to promote “DEI and climate change” in the garb of the summit’s theme of “solidarity, equality, and sustainability”.

• On Sunday, President Donald Trump had declared that “South Africa is confiscating land”, treating “certain classes of people VERY BADLY”, and that he would cut “all future funding” until the matter had been investigated. Trump’s close aide Elon Musk has repeatedly claimed without evidence that South Africa, the country of his birth, follows an anti-white policy.

• Rubio’s tweet should be understood primarily in the context of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has been receiving growing international support.

Do You Know:

• On January 31, South Africa and Malaysia announced a campaign to protect and uphold the rulings of the ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the face of alleged “attempts by US Congress to hit the ICC through the use of sanctions”. A nine-nation “Hague Group” was formed under South Africa’s leadership to defend the rights of Palestinians and to coordinate legal, diplomatic and economic measures against violations of international law by Israel.

• It is pertinent to mention here that President Trump’s announcements on Tuesday wishing to resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan is completely at odds with core tenets of international law regarding territorial integrity and sovereignty. Gaza is recognised by the ICJ as part of the Palestinian territories under Israeli military occupation.

• It is also worth recalling that the first Trump administration (2017-21) imposed sweeping sanctions on the ICC and its officials. The decision was reversed by the Joe Biden administration, which supported the ICC investigation into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

• The ICC and ICJ are both international tribunals seated in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICC was established pursuant to the Rome Statute of 2002, and has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for serious international crimes such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The ICJ is an organ of the United Nations that hears disputes between states.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Is South Africa ‘confiscating land’, like Donald Trump has alleged? And why does he care?

UPSC Previous Year Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
In which one of the following groups are all the four countries members of G20? (2020)
(a) Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey
(b) Australia, Canada, Malaysia and New Zealand
(c) Brazil, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam
(d) Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea

India’s repositioning on climate

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: 

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

• General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

What’s the ongoing story: In the last year or so, India has signalled a subtle but important shift in the way it views the climate crisis and how it wants to deal with it. The country has questioned the “excessive preoccupation” of the international climate regime to achieve a specific temperature goal and argued that for developing countries like itself, adaptation must take precedence over reducing emissions.

Key Points to Ponder:

• Analyse India’s evolving stance on global climate negotiations and its implications for international climate policy.

• The principle of ‘Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities’ (CBDR-RC) remains a cornerstone of India’s climate diplomacy—Examine

• How India balances development priorities with global climate commitments?

• Discuss India’s key adaptation strategies and their relevance in tackling climate vulnerabilities.

• The concept of ‘LiFE’ (Lifestyle for Environment) introduced by India emphasizes behavioral changes to address climate challenges.
Evaluate how this initiative can contribute to sustainable development.

Key Takeaways:

• India has also emphasised that rapid economic growth is the best defence against climate change for developing countries. Therefore, restrictions that constrain economic growth, such as curbs on the use of coal to generate electricity, are unacceptable.

• These arguments themselves are not new. However, they are being made emphatically and with far greater clarity than before. This indicates an attempt by India to create space for greater flexibility in exercising its options on climate actions. It also provides the intellectual framework for the choices the country wants to make in this regard.

• The shift in India’s emphasis seems to be prompted by a reassessment of ground realities. The world is nowhere close to meeting its emissions reduction targets for 2030 or 2035 due to inaction largely on the part of the developed countries. In fact, global emissions are still on the rise.

• There is, thus, very little incentive for a developing country such as India to allocate resources for mitigation efforts. Appreciable benefits of mitigation accrue only when the world as a whole reduces emissions by a significant amount. Also, these benefits are not witnessed immediately as global warming is caused not by the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted, but by their concentration in the atmosphere over time.

• Adaptation, on the other hand, offers immediate and local benefits. Building up resilience against the impacts of climate change can be a better utilisation of limited resources. To a large extent, resilience is often a factor of prosperity. This is why India has argued that development is the best shield against the climate crisis.

Do You Know:

• The Economic Survey for 2024-25, released last week, asserted that India must first strive to attain developed country parameters by 2047 using available resources, and only then focus on achieving the net zero goal by 2070. This is significant as it can liberate India from the dilemma of carrying out aggressive decarbonisation while pursuing rapid economic growth.

• In a sense, the Economic Survey is recommending that India follow the Chinese example. China has unreservedly prioritised economic growth and industrialisation without bothering about its emissions, which have grown four times from the mid-1990s. This was also when the international climate regime was established.

• The recalibration of India’s position comes at a time when the international attention on climate action has tapered off a bit, despite 2023 and 2024 setting back-to-back temperature records. Major events such as armed conflicts and technology wars have diverted the focus away from the climate crisis.

• Currently, India only seems to be asserting that the choices of low-carbon development, and the pace of energy transition, should be decided by itself and not dictated by others. While that is a fair and reasonable ask, it is more on India than the rest of the world to make this happen.

• That is why the policy push to develop indigenous small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), for example, is so critical. India has been rather slow in ramping up its nuclear energy capacities. The India-US civil nuclear deal and the special waiver at the Nuclear Suppliers Group should have enabled a rapid expansion of the nuclear power sector. That did not happen for a variety of reasons. Now, the SMRs offer a fresh opportunity to do so.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Lack of financial support would force India to temper its climate targets: Economic Survey

UPSC Previous Year Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
7. In the context of India’s preparation for Climate -Smart Agriculture, consider the following statements: (2021)
1. The ‘Climate-Smart Village’ approach in India is a part of a project led by the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), an international research programme.
2. The project of CCAFS is carried out under Consultative Group on International Agricultural (CGIAR) headquartered in France.
3. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India is one of the CGIAR’s research centres.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

HOW THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS INTENSIFYING MARINE HEATWAVES

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

What’s the ongoing story: The marine heatwaves (MHWs) linked to the death of more than 30,000 fish off the coastal Western Australia in January were made up to 100 times more likely to occur due to climate change, according to a new analysis. The MHWs began in September 2024 and are still ongoing in the region.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is marine heatwaves (MHWs)?

• What are major consequences of marine heatwaves on marine biodiversity?

• What factors contribute to the increasing frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves?

• The term ‘The Blob’ is often associated with what?

• Examine the link between marine heatwaves and the intensification of tropical cyclones.

• “Ocean warming and marine heatwaves pose a significant threat to global fisheries and food security.” Discuss the challenges and suggest mitigation strategies to protect marine biodiversity.

Key Takeaways:

• The analysis was carried out by the non-profit group Climate Central. It also said the severity of the MHWs is still intensifying as sea surface temperatures (SST) in some areas touched 2 degrees Celsius or more above average for this time of year.

• The current MHWs are the second-worst in Western Australia’s recorded history. The region saw its most intense MHWs during the 2010–11 summer, when temperatures soared to 5 degrees Celsius above average, peaking in February and March, according to a report by the University of Western Australia.

• In the past few decades, MHWs have become longer-lasting, more frequent, and intense, according to a 2018 study, ‘Marine heatwaves under global warming’, published in the journal Nature. “Between 1982 and 2016, we detected a doubling in the number of MHW days,” the analysis said.

• A 2021 report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said MHWs have increased by 50% over the past decade and now last longer and are more severe. “MHWs can last for weeks or even years. They can affect small areas of coastline or span multiple oceans. MHWs have been recorded in surface and deep waters, across all latitudes, and in all types of marine ecosystems,” the report said.

Do You Know:

• A marine heatwave is an extreme weather event. It occurs when the surface temperature of a particular region of the sea rises to 3 or 4 degrees Celsius above the average temperature for at least five days. MHWs can last for weeks, months or even years, according to the US government’s agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

• MHWs can be devastating for marine life. For example, the 2010-11 MHWs in Western Australia caused large-scale fish kills — the sudden and unexpected death of many fish or other aquatic animals over a short period and mainly within a particular area. It also destroyed klep forests and fundamentally altered the ecosystem of the coast. Kelps usually grow in cooler waters, providing habitat and food for many marine animals.

• These heatwaves contribute to coral bleaching, which reduces the reproductivity of corals and makes them more vulnerable to life-threatening diseases. Thousands of marine animals depend on coral reefs for survival and damage to corals could, in turn, threaten their existence.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Oceans have a fever — here’s why

UPSC Previous Year Prelims Question Covering similar theme:
8. With reference to Ocean Mean Temperature (OMT), which of the following statements is/are correct? (2020)
1. OMT is measured up to a depth of 26ºC isotherm which is 129 meters in the south-western Indian Ocean during January-March.
2. OMT collected during January-March can be used in assessing whether the amount of rainfall in monsoon will be less or more than a certain long term mean.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

PRELIMS ANSWER KEY

1. (d)  2. (a) 3. (b) 4.(b) 5.(a) 6.(a) 7.(d) 8.(b)

 

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