UPSC Key-September 28, 2022: Why you should read ‘Election Symbols’ or ‘Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy’ or ‘Solid Waste’ for UPSC CSE

Fight for ‘real’ Sena: SC rejects Uddhav plea, lets EC decide

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Supreme Court Tuesday rejected the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s prayer to stay proceedings pending before the Election Commission of India (ECI) over a request by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for recognition of his faction as the real Shiv Sena and permission to use the party’s ‘bow and arrow’ election symbol.

• How election symbols are allotted?

• Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968-Know key highlights

• When parties split, how does EC decide who gets the symbol?

• What are the Election Commission’s powers in a dispute over the election symbol when a party splits?

• How did the EC deal with such matters before the Symbols Order came into effect?

• Is there a way other than the test of majority to resolve a dispute over election symbols?

• What happens to the group that doesn’t get the parent party’s symbol?

• Election Commission of India and Article 324 of the Constitution-Know in detail

• The independent and impartial functioning of the Election Commission-How it is ensured?

• Election Commission of India- Powers and Functions

• Chief Election Commissioner and the two other Election Commissioners have equal powers-True or False?

• In case of difference of opinion amongst the Chief election commissioner and/or two other election commissioners, the matter is decided by the Supreme Court of India-Right or Wrong?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: When parties split, how does EC decide who gets the symbol?

GOVT & POLITICS

PM to launch third Vande Bharat train on Friday

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a ride on the third Vande Bharat train which he will flag off in Gujarat on Friday. This will be part of the PM’s two-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat where he will reach on Thursday and will inaugurate projects worth Rs 29,000 crore, as per a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. Gujarat is slated for Assembly elections later this year.

• What are Vande Bharat trains?

• What is the Speciality of Vande Bharat train?

• What are the Features of the Vande Bharat Trains?

• What is the route of Vande Bharat train?

• Indian Railways-know in brief

• Indian railways and India’s struggle for Independence-how railways helped?

• “The Indian Railways must be modernized in order to compete globally and serve as a major growth engine for the nation”-Discuss

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Can India meet the target of 400 Vande Bharat trains in three years?

📍Indian Railways needs restructuring and modernisation, efforts since 2014 are bearing fruit

EXPRESS NETWORK

Dibang: Arunachal says no land for national park, NGT drops its own case

Syllabus:

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

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has dismissed the case it took up suo motu on the grant of forest clearance for the 3000-MW Dibang hydel project without meeting the precondition of declaring a national park. The Tribunal did so after it was informed by Arunachal Pradesh that “the local people… are not willing to part away their land for declaration of National Park”.

• Where is Dibang multipurpose project?

• Locate on Map: Dibang multipurpose project

• Dibang River-Source and Location

• Why are scientists and conservationists worried about Dibang multipurpose project?

• What is the Forest Advisory Committee?

• What do you understand by the term ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’ (EIA)?

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environment Protection Act, 1986-How they are related with each other?

• Why Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is Important?

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and India

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Rules Amendment, 2006

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020

• Environmental Impact Assessment-Achievements, Issues and Challenges

• Supreme court of India on Environment Impact Assessment (ex-post facto environmental clearance)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Ignoring green commitments: Weak political will, lack of a monitoring system

THE IDEAS PAGE

The Chiplun imperative

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Milind Sohoni Writes: A consumption tax based on concrete aspects of sustainability, and its local devolution, would create the right incentives for a scientific analysis of garbage and the logistics of its disposal.

• What is the main problem of waste disposal?

• What is Solid Waste?

• What are the different categories of solid waste?

• What Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 says?

• What are the key components of Solid waste management?

• How Chiplun, a taluka town in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, dealing with the waste?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why reducing size of Delhi’s garbage mountains is easier said than done

How to keep the lights on, save costs

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– Somit Dasgupta writes: Market based economic dispatch system may help governments to save revenue, but Centre needs to bring states on board

• ‘A paradigm shift is being proposed by the central government in power sector governance. The scheme under consideration is the market-based economic dispatch (MBED)’-What is the Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism?

• How Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism, will mark a clear shift from a decentralised model followed till now, which has been buttressed by the Electricity Act 2003 and follow-on reforms?

• Centralised vs decentralised power model-Know, understand and brainstorm

• Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism-Know its merit and demerit

• Why Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism is “inconsistent with the constitutional provisions, existing legislative framework and market structure”?

• But, Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism is a way forward to deepen power markets in line with the Centre’s ‘One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency, One Price’ formula-How it will strengthen federal structure?

• Power is in the Concurrent List or Union List or in state list of the Constitution?

• Do you Know-India has a diversified electricity market ranging from long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), cross border PPAs, short and medium term bilateral, day-ahead power exchange, and a real-time online market. A major percentage of the installed power capacity –over 87 per cent – is tied up under long term PPAs of around 25 years. The remaining 13 per cent is transacted in the power markets, with nearly half of this over the power exchanges and the remaining through short-term and medium-term bilateral deals.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Market-based economic despatch model risks a legal tangle

EXPLAINED

Assam CM in Kaziranga after dark: legal, but not the best idea

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Facing flak for driving inside Kaziranga National Park with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev after sunset, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said that night safari in wildlife sanctuaries was in fashion around the world, and that no law in the country, including those for the protection of wildlife, prohibits it.

• In India, entry into forests is governed by two laws — The Indian Forest Act, 1927, and The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972-Know the difference between the two

• Is the chief minister right?

• What is the law currently in Kaziranga?

• What is the policy in wildlife parks around the world?

• So why are night safaris generally not encouraged in India?

• What is the upshot, then?

• Map Work-Kaziranga

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Kaziranga opens to tourists; CM Sonowal hopes it will help revive tourism post-lockdown

📍Explained: Why annual floods are essential for the survival of Kaziranga National Park

Warming of oceans: A reason why hurricanes are getting stronger, faster

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Early on Monday, Hurricane Ian was a tropical storm with heavy rain and winds of at least 73 mph. But experts say the storm is gaining power rapidly and, if recent history is any guide, it could intensify dangerously as it nears Cuba as soon as Monday night.

• What defines a hurricane?

• Cyclone, Tornado, Hurricane and Typhoon-How they are different from each other?

• How do hurricanes form?

• Is climate change affecting hurricanes?

• How else is climate change affecting storms?

• What are Air Masses and Fronts? How they associated with the formation of Hurricanes?

• How Hurricanes are named?

• World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)-About, Role, Vision and Mission

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍How climate change is fueling hurricanes

Smashing into a space rock

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General Science

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The collision was a technology demonstration, and an experiment to assess the capabilities to do such maneouvers in future should a need arise.

• What is the NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)?

• What is Dimorphos?

• What is Asteroids?

• What’s the Difference Between Asteroids, Comets and Meteors?

• Why Dimorphos and no other asteroids?

• What is rationale behind planetary defence test?

• After NASA’s DART mission, the European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch the Hera mission in October 2024-What is Hera Mission?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test successful: DART crashes into Dimorphos

ECONOMY

Non-personal data regulator after consultations: MoS IT

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.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- A body proposed by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) to act as the country’s non-personal data regulator will be formulated following a series of roundtables and public consultations involving the industry, consumer groups and government agencies.

• What is the Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy?

• ‘India Data Accessibility and Use Policy’ which was floated in February, faced widespread criticism with questions being raised about the government collecting data to monetise it in the absence of a data protection law in India-Know more about this policy

• Personal data and Non-Personal data-Compare and Contrast

• India Data Management Office (IDMO)-Know about this proposed office in detail

• ‘In a draft report of January 2021, the Gopalakrishnan committee recommended the identification of certain “high-value datasets”, which could be shared for the purpose of encouraging innovation and ensuring national security’-Know more about the Gopalakrishnan committee’s recommendation

• Why experts have raised concerns over this trend, questioning the government’s efforts of data collection and monetisation in the absence of a basic data protection regime?

• What is meant by data monetization?

• “The government’s primary concern should be service delivery and safeguarding the information it gathers from citizens towards this end. Its key objective should not be to monetise this data for profit”-Critically Analyse the statement

• But why there is an issue if data is treated as a “wealth resource”?

• Why did the Government withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill?

• Why does data matter?

• What is Data Protection?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Report Summary on A Free and Fair Digital Economy

📍Explained: The issues, debate around Data Protection Bill

For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.com
The UPSC KEY Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest Updates.