MONTHLY NEWS DIARY MARCH -2021

MONTHLY NEWS DIARY (MnD)

(FOR UPSC – MAINS)

MARCH -2021

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+9199899 66744 [email protected] MONTHLY NEWS DIARY MARCH -2021

MAINS INDEX

ESSAY 1. Lateral entry into bureaucracy……………………………………………………………………………………………………….04 2. A cyber pearl harbour………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…06 3. Fires of nativism……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……07

GS 1 ➢ INDIAN HISTORY: 1. Lachit Borphukan……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..09 2. Tomar king Anangpal II………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10

GS 2 ➢ POLITY & GOVERNANCE: 1. Master of Roster……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……11 2. Fiel trials in Upcoming census…………………………………………………………………………………………………..……12 3. Electoral bonds scheme…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………13 4. Medical termination of pregnancy…………………………………………………………………………………………………15 5. Bihar police bill………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………15 6. Stereotyping women……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..16 7. Ration cards cancellation……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….17 ➢ SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: 1. Online learning………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………18 2. Increase in LPG prices…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19 3. Limit in reservations……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...19 4. Jobs for ‘sons of soil’……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...21 5. National biopharma mission…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..21 6. Technical textiles……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………22 7. Tribal TB initiative………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….24 ➢ INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:

1. News media mandatory bargaining code……………………………………………………………………………………….24

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2. Cease fire violations agreement: India-Pakistan…………………………………………………………………………….25 3. US-Iran deal……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………26 4. Yemen crisis……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………28 5. China’s five year plan……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..29 6. Afghan peace process…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….30 7. Work from anywhere…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….31 8. 2030 digital compass plan………………………………………………………………………………………………………………32 9. Air bubble pact………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………33 10. Pakal dul and Lower Kalnai projects……………………………………………………………………………………………….34 11. Digital green certificate………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….35 12. Roppur nuclear power plant…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..36 13. Electoral system of Hongkong………………………………………………………………………………………………………..37

GS 3 ➢ SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: 1. Amazonia 1…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….38 2. National science day………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………40 3. Surveillance technologies……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….41 4. Martian blueberries……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….42 5. Double mutant virus………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………43 6. NISAR…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….44

➢ ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: 1. Pakistan in FATF’s grey list……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..45 2. No TDS when Indian firms pay to use foreign software…………………………………………………………………47 3. Tehran oil sales – Indian imports……………………………………………………………………………………………………47 4. OPEC plus……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….48 5. Challenges of railways……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………50 6. PRANIT…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..51

➢ ENVIRONMENT &DISASTER MANAGEMENT: 1. Climate and consciousness…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….52 ➢ BIODIVERSITY:

1. African Elephants……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………52

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ESSAY 1. ‘Lateral entry’ into bureaucracy Introduction: • The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has recently issued an advertisement seeking applications “from talented and motivated Indian nationals willing to contribute towards nation building” for three posts of Joint Secretary and 27 of Director in central government Departments. • For a priod of three to five years, these individuals, who would make a “lateral entry” into the government secretariat, would be contracted. • These posts were “unreserved”, meaning were no quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs. The ‘lateral entry’ • NITI Aayog, in its three-year Action Agenda, and the Sectoral Group of Secretaries (SGoS) on Governance in its report submitted in February 2017, recommended the induction of personnel at middle and senior management levels in the central government. • These ‘lateral entrants’ would be part of the central secretariat which in the normal course has only career bureaucrats from the All India Services/ Central Civil Services. • Minister of State for DoPT told Rajya Sabha that “Government has, from time to time, appointed some prominent persons for specific assignments in government, keeping in view their specialised knowledge and expertise in the domain area”. • They mentioned that “Lateral recruitment is aimed at achieving the twin objectives of bringing in fresh talent as well as augment the availability of manpower.”

Modern bureaucracy: • A high degree of professionalism ought to be the dominant characteristic of a modern bureaucracy. The fatal failing of the Indian bureaucracy has been its low level of professional competence. • The IAS officer spends more than half of his tenure on policy desks where domain knowledge is a vital prerequisite. • However, in the present environment, there is no incentive for a young civil servant to acquire knowledge or to improve their skills. • The most important being cut-throat competition that exists in the IAS for important positions, both at the state

and central levels.

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• Due to the control that the IAS lobby exerts on the system, a large number of redundant posts in the super-time and superior scales have been created to ensure them quick promotions. • Often a senior post has been split, thus diluting and diminishing the scale of responsibilities attached with the post.

Purpose of lateral entry: • There is huge shortfall of IAS cadre officers in state cadres. The Baswan Committee (2016) pointed out how large states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have a deficit of 75 to over 100 officers and their unwillingness to sponsor officers to go to the Centre on deputation is understandable. • Outside talent from the private sector is more likely to be target-oriented, which will improve the performance of the government. • More competition will encourage career civil servants to develop expertise in areas of their choice. • Lateral entry infuse fresh energy and thinking into an insular, complacent and often archaic bureaucracy. • It enables the entry of right-minded professionals and the adoption of best practices for improving governance. Criticisms: • Groups representing SCs, STs and OBCs have protested the fact that there is no reservation in these appointments. • Private sector approach is profit oriented on the other hand motive of Government is public service. This is also a fundamental transition that a private sector person has to make while working in government. • Lateral entry at top level policy making positions may have little impact on field level implementation, given the multiple links in the chain of command from the Union Government to a rural village. • Many activists believe that the lateral entry will disband the reservation policy since the government does not offer a quota in contractual appointments. • Lateral entrants with the right ‘connections’ may join just to enjoy the perks and privileges by cherry-picking the post. • The motive of lateral entrants might be to just enhance their CV. • The lateral entrants may join permanently or temporarily to simply promote vested interests of their organization/field. • Civil service reforms will curtail the inordinate control that the political masters have at present. To succeed, other reforms (besides lateral entry) are needed. • A good managerial system encourages and nurtures talent from within instead of seeking to induct leadership from outside. • A credible statutory agency like the Union Public Service Commission or an autonomous agency like the Bank Board Bureau, established to hire heads of public-sector banks, should be entrusted with the responsibility of recruitment. Conclusion: • An intensive training program for entrants from the private sector to civil services need to be formulated which

help them understanding the complex nature of work in Government.

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• There should be open competition for the Lateral entry with due transparent process including all necessary checks and balances to ensure persons with integrity and political neutrality enters the government service. • After all, the structure that we have inherited is largely a colonial structure which regrettably, hasn’t undergone many changes even after 70 years of Independence. • Thus, this ‘revolving-door’ which is there in some countries can be adopted by us as long as we keep an open mind, and see how it functions. But the key again to the success of this scheme would lie in selecting the right people in a manner which is manifestly transparent.

2. Forestalling a cyber Pearl Harbour The threat posed to key Indian entities by antagonistic forces such as China is beginning to merit critical attention in all the right quarters. This follows revelations by the U.S.-based cyber security firm, Recorded Future, which were carried by the media in the United States. Infrastructure as target • According to a despatch by The New York Times, in the lead-up to the India-China border clashes, Recorded Future had found an increase in malware attacks targeting the Indian government, defence organisations and the public sector. • Also that, coinciding with Chinese incursions in Eastern Ladakh, certain Indian power facilities had been targets of a cyber attack. Furthermore, that there was still some evidence of ongoing intrusions, though the intensity of the activity appeared to have ceased by mid-February 2021. • A needless controversy did erupt in the wake of these disclosures, as to whether the October 2020 blackout in Mumbai was directly linked to this cyber attack. • State authorities in Maharashtra attributed the blackout to the attack by the Chinese cyber group, but authorities in Delhi blamed it on human error. • Far more crucial than merely assigning blame, and what should have been of real concern, is that key infrastructure facilities, such as the power sector, were now in the crosshairs of a hostile China, which appeared intent on deploying cyber weapons to target India. • China’s intention evidently is to keep India in thrall, while outwardly demonstrating a conciliatory posture, such as vacating some of the areas in Eastern Ladakh that it had occupied post April 2020. • The reported events are a wake-up call for India, and it would be a grievous error if India were to underestimate the extent of the cyber threat posed to it by China. • Indian government agencies, such as the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) may have more information on China’s aggressive cyber campaign, but if what Recorded Future has indicated is true, viz., ‘that since early 2020, there has been an observation of a large increase in suspected targeted intrusion activity against Indian organisations from Chinese state-sponsored groups’ concentrating on infrastructure targets, including the power sector and ports, then India needs to be on its guard. • At least 10 Indian distinct power sector organisations are said to have been targeted, in addition to two Indian ports. What adds verisimilitude to these revelations is the identification of the network infrastructure viz., AXIOMATICASYMPTOTE, whose servers are known to be used by RedEcho, a China-linked activity group, that targets India’s power sector, and facilitates the employment of a malware known as ShadowPad. • ShadowPad is a network intrusion malware affiliated to both the Chinese Ministry of State Security and the People’s Liberation Army. ShadowPad is depicted as a “back-door ‘Trojan’ malware which creates a secret path from a targeted system to a command and control server to extract information”. • If indeed the future is digital, and if China has indeed embarked on an all-out offensive of this nature, India needs to adopt comprehensive measures to forestall a potential ‘Cyber Pearl Harbour’, as far as India is concerned. An offensive by China • Across the world, Beijing does appear to be engaged in a major cyber offensive, directed not only against countries like India but against many advanced nations as well. In attempting this, what China is doing is essentially exploiting to perfection the many vulnerabilities that software companies (essentially those in the West), have deliberately left open (for offensive purposes at an opportune time). • Exploiting this loophole, and also turning matters on its head, it is companies in the western world that are now at

the receiving end of such antics, having ‘left vulnerabilities for future exploitation’.

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• Chinese cyber espionage sets no limitations on targets. Towards the end of 2020, and as the world prepared for large-scale deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, their attention was directed to vaccine distribution supply chains around the world. • A global ‘spearphishing campaign’ targeting organisations responsible for vaccine storage and transportation was reportedly unleashed, and while concrete evidence as to which country was indeed responsible for this is not available, the shadow of suspicion has fallen mainly on Chinese hackers. Their objective seems to have been targeting vaccine research, gaining future access to corporate networks, and seeking sensitive information relating to COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Cyber warfare by others • Very recently in 2021, several thousands of U.S. organisations were hacked in an unusually aggressive Chinese espionage campaign. The Chinese group, Hafnium, which has been identified as being responsible for this breach, exploited a series of flaws in the Microsoft software, enabling attackers to gain total remote control over affected systems. Each hour of the day, thousands of Microsoft servers were compromised as a result, till the breach was discovered. • While Chinese cyber espionage may be the flavour of the month, what must be recognised is that many other countries, including the U.S. and Russia, do engage in the same kind of cyber warfare. Little is publicised about western cyber espionage, and while these may not match that of either China or Russia, it does happen. • The U.S. has extensively publicised Russia’s cyber antics from time to time. Best known are accusations of Russia’s cyber interference in the U.S. presidential elections in 2016, which approached the level of a major scandal. • Russia is currently the prime suspect in one of the greatest data breaches concerning the U.S. Federal government, involving the Departments of Defence, Energy, State, Homeland Security, Treasury, etc. Headlined SolarWinds, the late 2020 breach is a prime example of the damage that can be caused by a cyber attack. Sharpening attacks • Cyber attacks and cyber espionage could rewrite the history of our times. Nations should beware and be warned about how cyber attacks can bring a nation to its knees. • This was well demonstrated way back in 2016, when a major attack on Ukraine’s power grid took place and set an

ominous precedent in this respect. The attacks were carried out by skilled cyber security professionals, who had

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planned their assaults over many months, testing the quality of the malware, carrying out detailed logistics planning, and conducting a very sophisticated operation. • The Ukraine example should be a wake-up call for India and the world, as in the intervening five years, the sophistication of cyber attacks and the kind of malware available have become more advanced. • U.S. President Joe Biden is now understood to have included a sum of over $10 billion for cyber security in his COVID-19 Relief Bill, which is clearly intended to improve U.S. ‘readiness and resilience in cyber space’. • India, could well be blindsided by Chinese cyber attacks on critical infrastructure if the latter sets out to do so, unless prophylactic measures are taken in time.

3. The job crunch and the growing fires of nativism Introduction: • The Haryana government has recently passed legislation that mandates companies in Haryana to provide jobs to local Haryanvis first, before hiring people from outside the State. • The unemployment rate in Haryana is the highest of all States in India, as per data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, or CMIE. A whopping 80% of women in Haryana who want to work cannot find a job. More than half of all graduates in Haryana are jobless. The jobs situation in Haryana is staggeringly dismal. • Politically, 11 out of the 18 million voters of Haryana do not have a regular job. World history warns us that when such a vast majority of adults are jobless, it inevitably leads to social revolutions and political upheavals. So, it is entirely understandable that the democratically elected Haryana government panicked and chose to reserve the few available jobs for its own voters. The others: • Haryana is not alone in this quandary. The cabinet of the government of Jharkhand approved similar legislation to reserve jobs for Jharkhand residents. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu announced a similar proposal to reserve jobs for Tamils in its manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections. Many States in India have embarked on this nativism adventure to protect the interests of the vast number of their jobless locals. • Predictably, this has attracted criticism from economists and commentators, as it militates against their liberal idea of a free economy. • ‘Focus on creating more jobs, not on reserving the few available ones’ is the popular refrain. But, it is a false binary. Creation of new jobs is not entirely in the control of State governments. It is a complex interplay of multitude of factors. States and key parameters - An example: • Job creation is obviously an outcome of the performance of the larger economy. If say, the American giant retailer, Amazon, believes that the Indian economy is poised to grow robustly, it may choose to expand its operations in India. The Chief Minister of a State in India has limited control over the management of the larger economy and thereby, attract new investors and businesses who can create jobs. • When Amazon, enticed by a buoyant Indian economy, decides to expand its Indian operations, then presumably, the State governments can compete to lure Amazon to their State and help create new jobs. • Ostensibly, Amazon needs abundant high quality skilled and unskilled labour, land at affordable prices, uninterrupted supply of electricity, water and other such ‘ease of business’ facilities for its expansion. • State governments in India can theoretically compete with each other on these parameters to attract Amazon to set up operations in their State. Further, any tax advantages that a particular State can provide vis-à-vis others will increase its attractiveness for Amazon. • In fact, this is exactly what happened in America in 2018 when Amazon decided to build its second headquarters and various States, towns and cities publicly competed with each other to woo Amazon and its jobs to their area. But, realistically in India, in very few of these parameters can a poorer State compete against a richer State to attract Amazon. Critical factors • An elected State government can certainly, during its five-year tenure, attempt to provide high quality local infrastructure to attract new businesses. • State governments also have the ability to provide land at affordable prices or for free to attract investments. However, the availability of skilled local labour is a function of many decades of social progress of the State and

cannot be retooled immediately.

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• After the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), State governments in India have lost their fiscal autonomy and have no powers to provide any tax concessions to businesses. So, while State governments have the ability to use land and local infrastructure as tools to attract businesses, they do not have control over immediate availability of skilled manpower or to use taxes as a tool to lure. • But, beyond all these, the most critical factor in the choice of a location for a large business is what economists term as the ‘agglomeration effect’ — the ecosystem of supply chain, talent, good living conditions and so on. • A State with an already well-established network of suppliers, people, schools, etc. are at a greater advantage to attract even more businesses than the States that are left behind. • Put simply, if Amazon’s competitor Walmart is already established in Karnataka, then there is a greater incentive for Amazon to also locate itself in Karnataka to take advantage of the established ecosystem. This leads to a cycle of the more prosperous States growing even faster at the expense of the lagging States. The ‘3-3-3’ danger • This phenomenon is already evident in India’s increasing economic divergence among its States. The three richest large States (Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) are three times richer than the three poorest large States (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh), in per-capita income, compared to 1.4 times in 1970. • This gap between the richer and poorer States in India is only widening rapidly and not narrowing, due to the agglomeration impact of modern economic development paradigms. Subnationalism • The potent combination of widening inter-State inequality, a ‘rich States get richer’ economic development model, an impending demographic disaster and shrinking fiscal autonomy for elected State governments in a politically and culturally diverse democracy will inevitably propagate nativistic sub-nationalism among the various States of India. • Until the economic playing fields for the various States are levelled and much greater fiscal freedom provided to the States, “don’t protect but create jobs” will only remain a topic of a hollow lecture and moral sermons.

GS 1 ➢ INDIAN HISTORY: 1. Who is Lachit Borphukan? Why was he in news recently? • In the run-up to the polls in Assam, the name of Ahom general Lachit Borphukan, credited with defeating the Mughals in the Battle of Saraighat (1671), has been frequently invoked. • He was a commander in the Ahom kingdom. • Known for his leadership in the 1671 Battle of Saraighat that thwarted a drawn-out attempt by Mughal forces under the command of Ramsingh I to take over Ahom kingdom. • The battle of Saraighat was fought on the banks of the Brahmaputra in Guwahati. • Lachit Borphukan was educated in Humanities, indigenous scriptures and military skills. • He was given the responsibility of serving as the Soladhara Barua (scarf-bearer) of the Ahom Swargadeo, a position equivalent to a Private Secretaryship, which was regarded as the first step for a career as an ambitious diplomat or politician. • Other offices held by Lachit before his appointment as Borphukan included Superintendent of the Stable of Royal Horses (Ghora Barua), Commander of the strategic Simulgarh Fort and Superintendent of the Royal Household Guards (Dolakaxaria Barua) for King Chakradhwaj Singha. • November 24 is celebrated as Lachit Divas (Lachit Day) in Assam to commemorate the heroism of Lachit Borphukan and the victory of the Assamese army at the Battle of Saraighat. • The National Defence Academy (NDA), ever since 1999 has been conferring the best passing out cadet with the Lachit Borphukan gold medal. • Mahabir Lachit Award - An award is presented to notable personalities of Assam by Tai Ahom Yuba Parishad

(TAYPA). The award includes cash amount of Rs.50,000.00, a citation and a traditional sword.

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Background: • During the last phase of the Battle of Saraighat, when the Mughals attacked the Assamese forces through the river in Saraighat, many Assamese soldiers began losing their will to fight. It was Lachit’s clarion call to all the soldiers that made them fight till their last breath, ultimately resulting in the defeat of the Mughals.

2. Grive a brief history about Tomar king Anangpal II and his connection to the modern day Delhi? • The government has recently formed a committee to popularise the legacy of 11th-century Tomar king, Anangpal II. • Crediting him with giving Delhi its present name and also repopulating it, the National Monument Authority — which functions under the Ministry of Culture — has embarked on a mission to present “correct history” to the people through the works of historians, academics and archaeologists. • Anangpal II, popularly known as Anangpal Tomar, belonged to the Tomar dynasty that ruled parts of present-day Delhi and Haryana between the 8th and 12th centuries. The capital of Tomars changed many times from being initially at Anangpur (near Faridabad) during the reign of Anangpal I (who founded the Tomar dynasty in the 8th century), to Dhillikapuri (Delhi) during the reign of Anangpal II. • Anangpal Tomar II was succeeded by his grandson Prithviraj Chauhan, who was defeated by the Ghurid forces in the Battle of Tarain (present-day Haryana) after which the Delhi Sultanate was established in 1192.

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• Tomars and their Delhi link find mention in some modern-day literature as well. Noted medieval historian Professor KA Nizami’s Urdu book, Ehd-e-Wusta ki Dilli, translated in English as Delhi in Historical Perspectives, looks at Delhi across six centuries (from 1300 to 1800). • Tracing the antecedents of Delhi, Nizami refers to Persian annals that describe it as “Inderpat”. And yet, according to his book, Delhi formally emerged as a city only in the 11th century when Tomar Rajputs took over the mountainous Aravalli region.

GS 2 ➢ POLITY & GOVERNANCE: 1. Chief Justice of India’s power as Master of Roster can be misused. Give you opinion in this matter. The Supreme Court recently laid to rest the proceedings inquiring into a conspiracy to threaten the independence of the judiciary on the basis of sexual harassment allegations against the former Chief Justice of India (CJI), Ranjan Gogoi. After two years, the proceedings remained inconclusive. Singular power • This is the singular power of the CJI as the Master of the Roster – i.e., the vesting of exclusive discretion in the Chief Justice to constitute benches and allocate cases. • From the standpoint of judicial independence, the Master of the Roster power makes the CJI’s office a high stakes one. • It makes the CJI the sole point of defence of the Court against executive interference. However, this has a flip side. Any executive seeking to influence the Supreme Court needs only a pliant CJI.

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References: • B.R. Ambedkar had forewarned the Constituent Assembly: “…after all, the Chief Justice is a man with all the failings, all the sentiments and all the prejudices which we as common people have”. Yet, the Supreme Court has been reluctant to dilute this power. • In Asok Pande v. Supreme Court of India (2018), a three-judge bench of the Court held that Master of the Roster is the CJI’s exclusive power. • Thereafter, a two-judge bench in Shanti Bhushan v. Supreme Court of India (2018) rejected the plea that the Master of the Roster should be interpreted as the collegium. • Therefore, while the CJI’s other powers such as recommending appointments to constitutional courts are shared with other senior judges, the power of Master of the Roster is enjoyed without scrutiny. Judicial reforms • Reforms in the Indian judiciary have been a continuing project, mostly responding to crises of the time. However, this Collegium system has failed to keep executive interferences at bay from the Supreme Court. • This is for two reasons: first, there is an attractive lure of post-retirement jobs; and second, as the privilege of Master of the Roster shows, the CJI’s allocation of cases is an unchecked power. • A cooling-off period between retirement and a post-retirement appointment has often been suggested as a way to deal with the first problem. For the second, the power of Master of the Roster needs to be diversified beyond the CJI’s exclusive and untrammelled discretion. • Whether these should vest with a larger cohort of serving judges is an issue that invites public debate and introspection within the institution of the Supreme Court.

2. Explain in detail about the trials being made by the Registrar-General of India to conduct field trials regarding the upcoming census? The Registrar-General of India (RGI) is preparing to conduct field trials of the first phase of the Census and the National Population Register (NPR) using a mobile application in all the States and Union Territories. Details: • The first phase involving house listing and housing census, along with updating the NPR, was scheduled from April 1 last year, but was postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic. It is unlikely that the exercise will be conducted this year as the vaccination drive is still at an early stage. • However, the officials are planning to conduct pre-tests or field trials through the app in one block each of every district, which is expected to cover 50 to 60 households. • The app will contain questionnaires on house listing and housing census and the NPR. • The second phase of the Census is population enumeration. • The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, on January 9, 2020, notified the 31 columns for which the enumerators will seek response for the house listing and housing census. • The questions include whether the respondent has access to LPG or piped natural gas connection; owns a radio, transistor, television, laptop, computer, telephone, mobile phone or smartphone; and has access to the Internet. • The questions for the NPR have not been made public yet, but the pre-test conducted in 2019 included additional questions such as the date and place of birth of father and mother, last place of residence and mother tongue, Aadhaar (optional), voter ID card, mobile phone and driving licence numbers. The Opposition-ruled States have expressed apprehensions over the additional questions. Electronic database • In 2010 and 2015, the NPR collected details on 14 parameters only. It already has an electronic database of more than 119 crore residents. • On February 9, Vivek Joshi, RGI and Census Commissioner of India, chaired a virtual meeting of the Directors of Census Operations of all States to review the preparations for the coming Census where the field trials using the

app were discussed.

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Facts: • The decennial Census of India has been conducted 15 times, as of 2011. While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1881. • The Census process involves visiting each and every household and gathering particulars by asking questions and filling up Census Forms. The information collected about individuals is kept absolutely confidential. In fact this information is not accessible even to Courts of law.

3. How the electoral bonds scheme has worked so far, and why it has been challenged in SC? The news: • The Supreme Court has dismissed petitions seeking to stay the sale of fresh electoral bonds ahead of Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry. • Although the court said there is no justification to stay the current sale, the larger constitutional challenge to the electoral bonds scheme filed in 2017 is still pending. • The political system in India has traditionally been hostile to the idea of transparency in electoral financing. Political parties have zealously opposed any examination of the linkages between their governments’ policies and decisions, and the interests of their major donors. Background: • Under the scheme announced by the Government, an electoral bond, issued in the nature of a promissory note, can be bought by any Indian citizen or company incorporated in India. • The scheme allows parties to receive these bonds without the public, the Election Commission or even the Income Tax Department knowing the identity of the donors. • It has legitimised opacity and opened the floodgates for anonymous donations to parties, dealing a severe blow to voters’ right to know. • Expressing its opposition to electoral bonds in the Supreme Court, the Election Commission has contended that they will have an adverse impact on transparency in political party financing and would make it impossible for the constitutional body to ascertain whether donations received were in compliance with the statutory framework

governing political parties.

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• One of the stated objectives of introducing electoral bonds was to address the problem of black money and large cash donations. The problem with this assertion, however, is that it completely overlooks the crux of the problem: the provision of the Income Tax Act under which political parties were exempted from disclosing sources of donations of less than Rs.20,000. • In fact, electoral bonds are likely to abet money laundering since the amendments to the Companies Act in 2017 removed the cap of 7.5% on political contributions by a company as a percentage of its average net profits of the preceding three years. • This allows for black money to be easily routed through shell companies to purchase electoral bonds, an apprehension also expressed by the Election Commission. • Electoral bonds militate against every known principle of transparency and lend themselves to use by special interest groups, corporate lobbyists and foreign entities to acquire a stranglehold on the electoral process and governance at the expense of citizens. • To ensure public trust in the electoral process, it is critical that the Supreme Court immediately adjudicates on the matter. If bonds are to be retained as an instrument for contributing to political parties, donations must be made transparent and parties should be obligated to file reports with the Election Commission and other oversight bodies disclosing the names of donors and amounts received. • This information must also be placed in the public domain. These steps are necessary to safeguard democracy and ensure that elections do not become a mere formality.

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4. What are the recent amendments made to Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020? • The Rajya Sabha passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 that increases the time period within which an abortion may be carried out. • It enhances the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for special categories of women which will be defined in the amendments to the MTP Rules and would include survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women (like differently-abled women, minors) etc. • The “name and other particulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated shall not be revealed”, except to a person authorised in any law that is currently in force. • The Bill also applies to unmarried women and therefore, relaxes one of the regressive clauses of the 1971 Act, i.e., single women couldn’t cite contraceptive failure as a reason for seeking an abortion. • Allowing unmarried women to medically terminate pregnancies and a provision to protect the privacy of the person seeking an abortion will bestow reproductive rights to the women. • Opposition MPs said the Bill still did not give women the freedom to decide, since they would need a nod from a medical board in the case of pregnancies beyond 24 weeks. • The Opposition’s demand to send the Bill to a parliamentary Select Committee for detailed scrutiny was defeated by a voice vote. • Under the Act, a pregnancy may be terminated up to 20 weeks by a married woman in the case of failure of contraceptive method or device. The Bill allows unmarried women to also terminate a pregnancy for this reason. • Currently, abortion requires the opinion of one doctor if it is done within 12 weeks of conception, and two doctors if it is done between 12 and 20 weeks. The Bill allows abortion to be done on the advice of one doctor up to 20 weeks, and two doctors in the case of certain categories of women, between 20 and 24 weeks.

• For a pregnancy to be terminated after 24 weeks in case of substantial foetal abnormalities, the opinion of the State-level medical board is essential.

5. What is the Bihar police Bill and what are its challenges? • The Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021 was passed recently amid protests by the Opposition. • It “aims to develop the Bihar Military Police into a well-trained and fully equipped armed police force with multi- domain expertise to cater to the development needs and the larger interest of the state. • The Bill is aimed at boosting security, and will have limited scope as it is applicable only to certain specified areas.

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Details: • Renames the Bihar Military Police as the Bihar Special Armed Police, and gives the force more teeth, on the lines of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), so it can better secure the commercial and industrial assets of the state. • The mandate of the force will be the “maintenance of public order, combating extremism, ensuring the better protection and security of specified establishments in such manner as may be notified and perform such other duties, as may be notified.” • Empowers Special Armed Police officers to carry out searches and arrests without warrant. • Courts can take congnizance of certain offences by the officers only after government sanction. • Over the past decade, the state’s dependence on Central forces has grown, and an organised armed police force of its own will save government expenses and create more jobs for locals. Challenges: • The bill gives absolute powers to the police personnel in some cases. • Section 15 of the Act says a court cannot take cognisance if a special armed police officer is involved in a serious case barring some exceptions. • The government says the Bill is applicable only to certain areas. But it has not specified which areas, nor has it said on what basis would these locations be notified.

6. Stereotyping women still prevails in the Indian judiciary. Do you support the statement? • In its latest judgement, the Supreme Court has forbid judges from making gender stereotypical comments; Stopped courts from trying to mandate marriage or compromise between a sex offender and his victim. • The judgment was based on an appeal against a Madhya Pradesh High Court order directing an alleged molester to “allow” his victim to tie a rakhi on him.

• The judgment came days after the court ran into a criticism after the Chief Justice of India (CJI), during a virtual hearing on March 1, reportedly asked an alleged rapist’s lawyer to enquire whether his client would marry the survivor. Need for these measures: • Gender stereotypical comments by the top court diminish a sexual offence and tend to trivialise the survivor. • Even a solitary instance of such order or utterance in court, reflects adversely on the entire judicial system of the country, undermining the guarantee to fair justice to all, and especially to victims of sexual violence (of any kind from the most aggravated to the so-called minor offences).

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• The framing of the Vishaka Guidelines on sexual harassment of women in working places. • Justice D.Y. Chandrachud’s historic judgment giving women Armed Forces officers equal access to Permanent Commission while debunking the establishment’s claim that women were physiologically weaker than men. • In the Anuj Garg case, the Supreme Court had rebuked “the notion of romantic paternalism”, which, “in practical effect, put women, not on a pedestal, but in a cage”.

7. What is the issue surrounding “ration cards cancellation” case? • The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to respond to a plea related to the cancellation of over three-crore ration cards for not linking them to Aadhaar. • Also, the SC has sought a report on the implementation of the grievances redressal mechanism. It is contained in Sections 14, 15 and 16 of the National Food Security Act, 2013. • A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court which said that such cancellations had led to starvation deaths across the country. • Right to food, which the ration card symbolised, cannot be curbed or cancelled because of lack of Aadhaar, says the petitioner. Concerns: • The Court said the issue is concerning because the government has cancelled cards of even tribal people and the poor, solely because they could not be biometrically linked with Aadhaar. • The Union of India casually gives an explanation that these cancelled cards were bogus. The real reason is that the technological system based on iris identification, thumb prints, non-possession of Aadhaar, non-functioning of the Internet in rural and remote areas, etc., led to largescale cancellation of ration cards, without notice to the family concerned. • Ration card is an official document issued by state governments in India to households. The Household should be eligible to purchase subsidized food grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). They also serve as a common form of identification for many Indians. • Under the NFSA, all state governments have to identify eligible households under the Public Distribution System and provide them with ration cards.

India’s ranking in global indices: The Hunger Watch Report of the Right to Food Campaign in 2020 characterised the hunger situation in India as “grave”. India ranks 94 out of 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2020 and is in the ‘Serious Hunger Category’.

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➢ SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: 1. Explain the difficulties of online learning and suggest few solutions? The shift to online learning, due to the pandemic, brought various challenges for teachers and students, including inaccessibility to devices, no or limited Internet access, and other issues. Add to this the complex interplay of reduced instruction time, lack of direct contact and context with teachers, and myriad challenges with online learning. The cumulative effect of all of this is a learning gap between what students would have typically learned and what they have actually learned. It will be especially severe in college-bound students who are losing out on learning aspects critical to making a successful transition to post-secondary education.

In addition to the pressure of ensuring that their students are engaged and learning, educators are also entrusted with the Herculean responsibility of bridging the learning gap. Here are three decisive ways by which they can do so: 1) Extend the school year • Extending the school year or shortening the summer break, coupled with measures such as blended learning models, would be a viable option. • In certain states such as Uttar Pradesh, innovative ideas such as harnessing Doordarshan, All India Radio and/or community radio networks are being considered to promote and use audio-based learning. • Extending the school year will provide relief to students, especially higher-grade students, who cannot afford to miss out on learning critical concepts and necessary skills. 2) Emphasis on transition-year classes • A ‘transition class is one in which children typically go through some major transition — social, emotional, developmental, linguistic, or academic. • Transitions place enormous pressure and demands on children and are going to be especially challenging this academic year and the next, when the effects of the learning gap will start surfacing. • So, the needs of students in transition grades such as classes IV, IX, and XII should be prioritised. • Extra support should be offered through after-school, weekend or summer classes, which should focus on imparting foundational and critical concepts. 3) Provide focussed learning support • There are many techniques teachers can adopt. Something as simple as pairing students with peer buddies who can complement their skills can help immensely. The goal should be to plan ahead and prevent cumulative learning loss for these students • While the pandemic has instigated many wonderful steps forward in education, it has also simultaneously opened up a virtual Pandora’s box. The focus needs to be on keeping the learning process perpetual, while doing our best

to address the gap.

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2. Subsidised LPG prices have increased by a massive 50% in this financial year alone, consistently capturing headlines. What would be the impact of this in sustaining the gains of the government’s flagship scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)? • Since 2016, PMUY has provided LPG connections to 8 million poor households to reduce women’s drudgery and indoor air pollution. • Providing an upfront connection subsidy of Rs.1,600, PMUY helped expand LPG coverage to more than 85% of households. In comparison, less than a third of Indian households used LPG as their main cooking fuel in 2011.

• However, multiple studies assessing PMUY concluded that while access has increased, many new beneficiaries are not consuming LPG in a sustained manner. • Large-scale primary surveys by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) suggest that, on average, recent PMUY beneficiaries consumed only about half the LPG compared to long-standing regular consumers. • Limited uptake of LPG among poor households has two main reasons. First, the effective price of LPG is not affordable for such households, despite the subsidy. Second, many rural consumers have access to freely available biomass, making it difficult for LPG to displace it. • Beyond causing indoor air pollution, biomass use for cooking contributes up to 30% to the ambient PM2.5 at the national level, more than the contribution of transport, crop residue or coal burning. • The recent increases in the subsidised LPG price have made it more difficult for the poor to sustain LPG use. • India determines domestic LPG prices based on imported LPG price (we import more than 50% of our consumption). As the pandemic set in, the LPG subsidised price began to rise, even when global LPG prices plummeted, contributing to the refiners’ margins and government finances. • However, now with LPG prices rising globally, a 50% reduction in the LPG subsidy budget for FY22 (versus FY21) does not bode well.

3. Indian constitution mandates a limit of 50% quota in reservation. But the recent trend indicates otherwise. Elaborate? • The Supreme Court decided to examine whether its nearly three-decade-old judgment which fixed reservation for the marginalised and the poor in government jobs and educational institutions at 50% needs a relook. • In 1992, a nine-judge Bench of the court had drawn the limit for reservation in jobs and education at 50%, except

in “extraordinary circumstances”.

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• However, over the years, several States, such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, have crossed the Rubicon and passed laws which allow reservation shooting over 60%. • A five-judge Bench, led by Justice Ashok Bhushan, set up to hear the challenge to the Maratha quota law, decided not to confine the question of reservation spilling over the 50% limit to just Maharashtra. • The Bench expanded the ambit of the case by making other States party and inviting them to make their stand clear on the question of whether reservation should continue to remain within the 50% boundary or not. • The court, meanwhile, framed a series of questions, which include whether the Indira Sawhney verdict of 1992, fixing 50% limit on quota, needs to be relooked by a larger Bench of more than nine judges. • The Indira Sawhney judgment had categorically said “50% shall be the rule, and only in certain exceptional and extraordinary situations for bringing far-flung and remote areas population into mainstream the said 50% rule can be relaxed”.

• A significant question the Bench wants to judge is whether the Constitution (One Hundred Second Amendment) Act of 2018, which introduced the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), interferes with the authority of the State legislatures to provide benefit to the social and educationally backward communities in their own jurisdiction. • The Constitution Amendment Act had introduced Articles 338B and 342A in the Constitution. Article 338B deals with the NCBC. Article 342A empowers the President to specify the socially and educationally backward communities in a State. • It says that it is for the Parliament to include a community in the Central List for socially and backward classes for grant of reservation benefits. • The court wants to delve into the issue whether Article 342A strips the State legislatures of their discretionary power to include their backward communities in the State List.

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4. Jobs for the ‘sons of the soil’ has become a new norm. Shed some light into this matter? • The Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act of 2020 seeks to ensure that 75% of all jobs with gross monthly salaries of up to Rs.50,000 are provided to the State’s own residents. • The clamour for preserving economic activity for ‘sons of the soil’ is a recurrent theme now — Andhra Pradesh (AP) had passed a similar law in 2019, and the Madhya Pradesh CM has promised one to reserve 70% private sector jobs. • Haryana’s law could face legal challenges like AP’s did, as it ostensibly flies in the face of the Constitution, especially Article 19(1)(g) and Article 16(2).

• Operationally, the law imposes onerous and contentious responsibilities on key personnel of firms in the State, including those with as few as 10 employees. • There are three critical action points for businesses, attached to severe monetary penalties for perceived non- compliance. They need to register every employee earning Rs.50,000 on an official portal and employing 75% of locals in such jobs (presumably by removing existing non-Haryanvi employees beyond the 25% limit). • Most preposterous is seeking exemptions to the law — firms can hire outsiders by proving that local candidates for a desired skill are not available. • Apart from the power to enter firms’ premises for inspections, officials will decide if a firm can hire an outsider or should train local candidates instead, till they become proficient enough. • This runs counter to the Prime Minister’s ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ and ‘One Nation One Market’ slogans. • Rising unemployment could spur more States to follow suit, and the logic could be extended to internal capital flows next. • It is time the Centre dissuades such legislation which threatens to not only unleash a sort of ‘work visa’ regime for Indians within the country but also damage crucial workplace diversity.

5. What is National Biopharma Mission? What are its objectives? • Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has initiated cabinet approved National Biopharma Mission with the objective of strengthening emerging biotechnology enterprise across India. • Mission is entitled as “Industry-Academia Collaborative Mission for Accelerating Discovery Research to Early Development for Biopharmaceuticals – Innovate in India (I3) Empowering biotech entrepreneurs & accelerating inclusive innovation”. • National Biopharma mission was launched to support small and medium enterprises in order for them to

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• It promotes entrepreneurship by supporting enhanced industry-academia inter-linkages. It also provides mentoring & training for academia, innovators and entrepreneurs. The mission further promotes domestic manufacturing by shared national facilities like GLP Analytical facilities, cell line repositories and setting clinical trial network.

Objectives of the mission • To develop products from leads which are at advanced stages of product development lifecycle. • To strengthen and establish shared infrastructure facilities to validate & manufacture the products. • To develop human capital by providing specific training in order to address ‘critical skills gaps’ in researchers and nascent biotech companies. • To create & enhance technology transfer and intellectual property management capacities across public and private sector. Innovate in India (I3) • I3 is an industry- academia collaborative mission by Department of Biotechnology (DBT) which was launched in collaboration with World Bank to accelerate discovery research. • It will be implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). • Mission was launched with the aim of enabling and nurturing an ecosystem to preparing technological and product development capabilities of India in biopharmaceutical to make it globally competitive. • It also seeks to transform the health standards of India’s population by developing affordable product.

6. Explain the steps taken by the government to improve the production and utilization of Technical textiles in India? To position the country as a global leader in technical textiles and increase the use of technical textiles in the domestic market,the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had, in 2020, approved the setting up of a

National Technical Textiles Mission at an total outlay of Rs.1,480 Crore. 22

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The Mission will be implemented for four years from 2020-2021 and will have four components: 1. The first component will focus on research and development and innovation and will have an outlay of Rs.1,000 crore. The research will be at both, fibre level and application-based in geo, agro, medical, sports and mobile textiles and development of bio-degradable technical textiles. 2. The second component will be for promotion and development of market for technical textiles. The Mission will aim at taking domestic market size to $40 billion to $50 billion by 2024. 3. The third component will focus on export promotion so that technical textile exports from the country reach from the Rs.14,000 crore now to Rs.20,000 crore by 2021-2022 and ensure 10% average growth every year till the Mission ends. 4. The last component will be on education, training and skill development. Technical textiles are defined as textile materials and products manufactured primarily for their technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic and decorative characteristics. Depending upon their application areas, Technical Textiles products are divided into 12 broad categories: Agrotech, Buildtech, Clothtech, Geotech, Hometech, Indutech, Mobiltech, Meditech, Protech, Sportstech, Oekotech, Packtech. Technical textiles include textiles for automotive applications, medical textiles (e.g., implants), geotextiles (reinforcement of embankments), agrotextiles (textiles for crop protection), and protective clothing (e.g., heat and radiation protection for fire fighter clothing, molten metal protection for welders, stab protection and bulletproof vests, and spacesuits).

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7. Give some facts on Tribal TB Initiative and Tribal Population in India? • Under the TB Mukt Bharat Initiative by 2025, “Tribal TB Initiative” was launched on March 26, 2021. A guidance note on Joint Action Plan for the elimination of Tuberculosis (TB), a Special Edition of Tribal Ministry’s Publication ‘ALEKH’ on TB, and a document on Tribal Tuberculosis (TB) Initiative were also released. • Some Features and Facts about the Tribal population and initiative: ✓ In India, almost 104 million tribal population lives, across 705 tribes, accounting for 8.6 % of the country’s population. ✓ The poor living standards like physical remoteness, malnutrition, and lack of hygiene lead to the tribal population getting vulnerable to TB. 177 tribal districts were identified as High-priority districts that are vulnerable.

✓ The Joint plan will primarily focus on 161 districts initially across 18 states which will include deploying improved vulnerability mapping techniques and organization of sensitization and capacity-building workshops for volunteers. ✓ There would also be periodic TB active case finding drives and provision of TB Preventive Therapy (IPT) to the identified vulnerable population and develop long-term mechanisms for vulnerability reduction. ✓ Linkage of the NIKSHAY Portal of MoHFW and Swasthya Portal of the M/o Tribal Affairs will boost data compilation on Tuberculosis and pave way for efficient and convergent actions. ✓ The union territories of Lakshadweep and the district of Badgam in Jammu & Kashmir have been declared TB Free on World TB Day 2021. ✓ On State TB Index, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh were the top three best-performing states for tuberculosis control under the category of states with a 50 lakh population. ✓ Tripura and Nagaland were best-performing in the category of states having less than 50 lakh population. ✓ Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu were selected as the best performing Union Territories.

➢ INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: 1. What is the News Media Mandatory Bargaining Code introduced by Australia? The Australian Parliament passed a world-first law targeting Google and Facebook. The law matters because it is likely to be copied by countries around the world. Intent of the law • The Mandatory Bargaining Code is an unusual piece of policy. It attempts to address two problems in one hit: how to tax large, multinational technology companies; and how to ensure that Australia maintains a strong, independent media. • The code’s solution is to mandate transfer payments from the tech companies to news media organisations. What it effectively does is require one industry to pay money to an unrelated industry. • The underlying assumption is that Google and Facebook derive benefit and revenue by helping users access links to news stories. That model ignores the benefit businesses derive from the referral business, creates odd incentives

and is not scalable.

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• The other unusual feature of the law is that it doesn’t apply to any company. The intention behind the legislation was to use it as a threat rather than to have it actually apply to the companies. • The payments agreed to in private deals can easily exceed revenue actually generated by the platform from displaying the news links. This is because the amounts they would be forced to pay under the code would likely be far higher, so it is better to overpay outside the scheme than risk falling under it. • Politically, it was an astute way to go after the tech giants because there was not a dissenting voice to be heard in the Australian mainstream media. The downside was that it meant there was little exploration of alternative policy approaches, or some of the longer-term consequences of the code. • The law is understandably going to be of great interest to media organisations everywhere, keen to copy their Australian counterparts and fill their coffers with some tech company cash. But it would be a shame if the rush for cash got in the way of a discussion of other approaches that could be explored.

2. Explain the circumstances in which a new ceasefire violations agreement was signed between India and Pakistan? In the wake of registering 5,130 ceasefire violations in 2020, guns on either side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) fell silent on the intervening night of February 24-25, 2021. The February ceasefire has triggered widespread speculation about its durability, significance and implication for bilateral relations in general. Significance of the ceasefire What makes the February ceasefire significant is the fact that this agreement is different from the routine ceasefire assurances that the two sides made till January 2021. 1) One, this was a joint statement by the two DGsMO, and that unlike the previous declarations, the recent agreement mentions a specific date, i.e., the night of February 24-25, to begin the ceasefire. • In that sense then, the February ceasefire is arguably one of the most significant military measures by India and Pakistan in over 18 years to reduce violence along the LoC in Kashmir. • Coming in the wake of over 5,000 ceasefire violations in 2020 (the highest in 19 years since 2002) the agreement is path-breaking from a conflict management point of view. • Interestingly, the November 2003 ceasefire agreement was also announced in the wake of a high level of violence through 2002 and 2003. 2) Two, the ceasefire is also significant because this helps New Delhi to defuse what was becoming a growing concern for the decision makers in New Delhi: an ugly two-front situation by Pakistan and China. • The Indian Army had to redeploy forces from the western border with Pakistan to the northern border with China is indicative of the serious material challenges it could throw up. • The best way to deal with the two front challenge then, New Delhi could have reasoned, was to defuse at least one front. • The LoC was a natural candidate. Given that the back channel process started much before the recent India-China disengagement on the LAC, New Delhi must have decided to defuse the western challenge from Pakistan first.

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A brief history The Karachi agreement of 1949, which ended the first war between newly formed India and Pakistan, was the first ceasefire agreement between the two countries which, signed under the United Nations, created the India Pakistan boundary in Kashmir called the Ceasefire Line or CFL.

The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was mandated to monitor the ceasefire along the CFL. The 1965 India-Pakistan war also ended in a ceasefire, but since status quo ante bellum was restored after the Tashkent Agreement, the CFL in Kashmir remained unaltered.

However, the India-Pakistan war of 1971 would change that. The December ceasefire which ended the 1971 war was enshrined into the Simla Agreement the following year. But unlike 1965, status quo ante bellum was not restored by the Simla Agreement, a decision that would have important implications for bilateral relations.

The Suchetgarh Agreement of 1972 delineated the ‘line of control’ in Jammu and Kashmir which resulted from the ceasefire of December 1971 thereby renaming the CFL as the LoC. By this, Indian negotiators not only changed the nomenclature of the India-Pakistan dividing line in Kashmir and the physical alignment of the border in Jammu and Kashmir, but also made the UNMOGIP presence in Kashmir irrelevant. Recall that the UN force was mandated to ensure a ceasefire on the CFL, but there was no CFL after 1972, and, more so, the UN was not even a party to the Simla Agreement unlike the Karachi Agreement.

The 2003 agreement between the DGsMO, communicated through a telephone call between them, was a reiteration of the December 1971 war termination ceasefire; Technically, therefore, even the February 2021 ceasefire too is a reiteration of the 1971 ceasefire agreement.

3. U.S - Iran deal. Why is there a sense of urgency to revive it? • U.S. President Joe Biden’s attempts to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran nuclear deal, have not seen any breakthrough with both sides waiting for the other to blink. • The Biden administration says it would return to the deal if Iran starts complying with its terms. • Tehran, on the other side, asks the U.S., which unilaterally quit the deal under the Donald Trump administration in May 2018, to return to the agreement first and lift sanctions on Iran. • The EU’s efforts to organise direct U.S.-Iran talks were also unsuccessful as Tehran reportedly rejected the offer. Iran has also accelerated its nuclear programme. • Iran will elect a new President in June. Mr. Biden’s best bet is to get the nuclear agreement back on track before

Mr. Rouhani leaves office.

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Background: • After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, Iran had cooperated with the U.S. in the war against the Taliban. But once the Taliban were driven out of power, the Bush administration branded Iran as part of an “Axis of Evil” along with Iraq and North Korea. • As President Barack Obama offered diplomacy, the Iranians grabbed the opportunity, leading to the signing of the JCPOA in 2015. And Iran was fully compliant with the agreement when Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of it. • So Iran would seek some consistency in U.S. policy. But Iran is also in a tough spot. Hit by sanctions and a devastating COVID-19 outbreak, its economy is bleeding. It had violently cracked down on protests in 2019-20, the embers of which are still burning. • Its regional operations took a hit after Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by the U.S. in January 2020. Its assets in Syria are under repeated air strikes by Israel. Last week, the U.S. had also bombed pro-Iranian militants in Syria. • Both sides are under pressure. Both sides need the deal — the U.S. wants to scuttle Iran’s nuclear programme and

Iran wants relief from sanctions. They should stick to the diplomatic path for a breakthrough.

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The Iran nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is a landmark accord reached between Iran and several world powers, including the United States, in July 2015. Under its terms, Iran agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and open its facilities to more extensive international inspections in exchange for billions of dollars’ worth of sanctions relief.

4. Yemen crisis: why is there a war? What is the role of US in ending it? One of the first key foreign policy decisions that President Joe Biden took after assuming office was to end the U.S.’s support for Saudi Arabia’s six-year-long war on Yemen. He halted weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, appointed a Special Envoy for Yemen, and removed the Shia Houthi rebels, who control the northwestern parts of the Arab country, from the list of foreign terrorist organisations.

The war in Yemen • The crisis in Yemen is not only about the Saudi-Houthi conflict. It has many more dimensions: humanitarian, civil, geopolitical and sectarian. When Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies went to Yemen in March 2015, they had a clearly defined objective: drive the Houthis, who are backed by Iran, out of the capital Sana’a and stabilise the country under the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi that they support. • The Saudi-led coalition imposed a blockade on Yemen, which they hoped would eventually weaken the Houthis, and started a bombing campaign aimed at wrecking the rebels militarily. This campaign was a failure as the Houthis entrenched themselves in the north-west despite the military and economic challenges. • A separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), has established its rule in southern Yemen. The UAE, which backs the STC, has pulled out of the Saudi-led coalition. All this is happening while the humanitarian situation in Yemen is worsening by the day. • The war has killed over 10,000 people and pushed the country to the brink of a famine. According to the UN, 50,000 Yemenis are starving to death and 16 million will go hungry this year. They are depending on food assistance to survive, but the war is making it difficult for aid groups to operate in the country. Many more are dying due to preventable diseases as Yemen lacks proper health infrastructure and essential medicines.

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Blockade and bombing • The Saudis should ask themselves whether they should continue with a failed strategy while the situation in Yemen keeps worsening. Also, the continued Houthi rocket and drone attacks have left a hole in Saudi Arabia’s national security umbrella. • The Houthis are also under pressure. If they want international legitimacy, they should stop fighting and start talking with other stakeholders. A ceasefire is in everybody’s interest but the question is who will blink first. • The Biden administration should use its leverage to pressure Riyadh to lift the blockade, a key Houthi demand, as a confidence-building measure and push for talks for a lasting ceasefire. Once a ceasefire between the two main rival blocs is achieved, the U.S. and its regional allies could call for a multilateral conference involving all stakeholders to discuss Yemen’s future. Yemen can find a way out of the current crisis provided the war is brought to an immediate end and the country is given diplomatic assistance.

5. China’s new Five-Year Plan includes construction of dams in the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river. What does it mean for China and India? A draft of China’s new Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) has given the green light for the first dams to be built on the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river, as the Brahmaputra is known in Tibet before it flows into India. • The inclusion of the projects in the draft plan suggests the authorities have given the go-ahead to begin tapping the lower reaches for the first time, which marks a new chapter in the hydropower exploitation of the river. • The FYP’s backing for the projects also suggests that a number of long-pending proposals from Chinese hydropower companies to build dams on the lower reaches, including near the border with India, may be given the green light. • On the top of a list of energy construction projects for the next five years, calls for “building a hydropower base on the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river”, along with “clean energy bases” in the upper and lower reaches of Jinsha river (the upper course of Yangtze river in western China).

• Other major projects include the construction of coastal nuclear power plants and power transmission channels.

• The project is also listed along with the Sichuan-Tibet railway and the national water network.

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• China’s media reported in November that State-owned hydropower company POWERCHINA had signed “a strategic cooperation agreement” with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) government to “implement hydropower exploitation in the downstream of the Yarlung Zangbo River”. Concerns to India: • In 2015 China operationalised its first hydropower project at Zangmu in Tibet, while three other dams at Dagu, Jiexu and Jiacha are being developed, all on the upper and middle reaches of the river. • India has expressed concerns to China over the four planned dams on the upper and middle reaches, though Indian officials have said the dams are not likely to greatly impact the quantity of the Brahmaputra’s flows in India because they are only storing water for power generation, and the Brahmaputra is not entirely dependent on upstream flows with an estimated 35% of its basin in India. • Dams on the lower reaches and at the Great Bend would, however, raise fresh concerns because of the location across the border from Arunachal Pradesh and the potential impact downstream. • The Great Bend alone offered the potential of 70 million kWh “which equals more than Three Gorges power stations and will play a significant role in realising China’s goal of reaching a carbon emissions peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060.

6. What is the road map for an Afghan peace process? What is the role of US and India in the process? • The U.S. Government is advocating ‘a new, inclusive government’ in Afghanistan, which implies an immediate 50% share for the Taliban in an interim government, as a quid pro quo for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire. This will be without reference to a mandate from the people as elections will be held only in the future, after the principles guiding Afghanistan’s future constitutional and governing arrangements are worked out. • As a prelude to the ceasefire, the U.S. has proposed to the Taliban to reduce violence for three months, intended to head off the Taliban’s threatened spring offensive. • When the intra-Afghan negotiations envisaged under the Doha Agreement stalled, Russia offered Moscow as an alternate venue. Instead, the United Nations is being asked to convene, with Turkey being asked to host a meeting of foreign ministers or envoys from China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and the U.S. to discuss a unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan. • The objective of this exercise is to build consensus on specific goals and objectives for negotiations with the

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The implications for India • India remains fully committed to Afghanistan. Despite the policy flux there, bilateral relations are flourishing. There have been frequent and productive high-level exchanges between Indian and Afghan leaders. • India is to be part of the future consultation process on Afghanistan.

• India has stayed the course with a long-term commitment to supporting state institutions in Afghanistan, expanding its development partnership, working with all communities across the country, and asking leaders of all Afghan ethnicities to remain together. That policy has been well-received by most of the Afghan people and government, it was well-suited to the time, and it has served India well. • If the American plan results only in a ‘reduction in violence’ and not its complete cessation, and U.S. forces are pulled out, India must step up to assist materially those who want to defend the Afghan republic. • It should explore commonalities with key countries in dealing with the rapidly evolving situation.

7. With the increasing restrictions to H1B visa programme, there is a general trend to shift to the concept of Work From Anywhere. Explore. Background: • For years, high-skilled economic migrants seeking to relocate to the U.S. have faced uncertainty due to lack of clarity and flexibility in the H-1B visa programme.

• This uncertainty grew under the Trump administration, with visa denial rates rising significantly.

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• In addition to the negative effects this had on individual migrants and their families, restrictions on the H-1B policy led to economic costs. U.S. President Donald Trump’s June 2020 Executive Order limiting entry of migrants to the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic led to an estimated loss of around $100 billion in valuation for publicly traded Fortune 500 companies. • In January 2020, Mr. Biden had floated a proposal to overhaul the U.S. immigration system, expanding pathways for legal immigration for both family-based and employment-based migrants. • Crucially, for high-skilled migrants, Mr. Biden’s proposal would remove country-specific quotas for employment- based visas, and would exempt anyone with a STEM PhD from a U.S. institution from all quotas to receive a green card. In addition, current H-4 visa holders (i.e., spouses and children of H-1B visa holders) would become eligible for work permits. WFA • However, it is important to note that this is still just a proposal. There is a long road ahead before the proposal becomes the law of the land, needing to pass through both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. • With U.S. immigration unlikely to change in the immediate future, those hoping to access U.S.-based opportunities do have an alternative: embrace work-from-anywhere. • Unlike a traditional work-from-home (WFH) model that allows workers to WFH a few days every week and from an office for the rest of the week, work-from-anywhere grants individuals the choice to live in their preferred locations. This gives them the flexibility to live in a town, city, or country, far away from where the company or its customers have a physical office. • Workers can also benefit by moving to (or continuing to live in) a lower cost-of-living location. • Worker productivity under a work-from-anywhere policy was 4.4% greater than when workers were in a traditional work-from-home environment. As more of the workforce shifts to remote work, organisations can also reduce and reimagine the utility of the physical office, reducing real estate costs. • Companies of all sizes and in all kinds of industries are embracing work-from-anywhere. It is most popular among start-ups, where WFA allows new companies to access a global pool of talent with relatively low investment in office space. • That said, larger, more established companies are beginning to explore work-from-anywhere and hybrid remote models as well. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) made headlines during the pandemic when it announced that its 400,000-plus employees will be 75% remote by 2025. • TCS has rolled out a ‘25-25 remote-work model’: 25% of the workforce will be in a physical office at any one time, and workers will only be expected to work from an office for 25% of their working hours.

8. What is the European Union’s 2030 Digital Compass plan? • The European Union has released its plan called “2030 Digital Compass Plan”. This plan was put forward after the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the 27-countries reliance on the key technologies owned by the Chinese and the U.S. companies. • The plan was released because, the European Union wants to produce the fifth global output of the cutting-edge semiconductors by the end of this decade. • The 2030 plan highlights the importance of semiconductors which are used in the connected cars, internet-linked devices, smartphones, high performance computers and artificial intelligence. • The semiconductors are significant because there exists a global shortage which is shutting down car factories across the world. So, with this policy, the EU proposes for the production of cutting-edge and sustainable semiconductors in Europe to at least 20% of the world production in value. • This plan also recommends for investing into the quantum technologies. EU is of the view that, quantum technologies will be a game changer in order to develop the new medicines and to speed up the genome sequencing. • The EU has also aimed that, by 2025, Europe will have its first computer with quantum acceleration. This is making ways for Europe to boost the quantum capabilities by 2030. The plan also called for 10,000 climate-neutral facilities to help Europe in developing its own cloud infrastructure by 2030. • It also seeks to double the unicorns, or companies with $1 billion valuation. The plan also aims for covering all the European households with the Gigabit network by 2030. It also seeks to cover all populated areas by 5G.

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9. What is an air bubble pact? What is the recent move taken by the Indian governmnet regarding the pact? • “Transport Bubbles” or “Air Travel Arrangements” are temporary arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are reciprocal in nature, meaning airlines from both countries enjoy similar benefits. • The countries with which India has such arrangements:

1. Afghanistan 2. Bahrain 3. Bangladesh 4. Bhutan 5. Canada 6. Ethipoia 7. France 8. Germany 9. Iraq 10. Japan 11. Kenya 12. Kuwait 14. Nepal 13. Maldives 15. Netherlands 16. Nigeria 17. Oman 18. Qatar 19. Russia 20. Rwanda 21. Seychelles 22. Tanzania 23. Ukraine 24. UAE 25. UK 26. USA 27. Uzbekistan • The government is pllaning to expand the “air bubble” arrangement with more countries, and the priority would be Saudi Arabia, Kuwait in the west and Japan, China and Singapore in the east. • These are the countries where bubbles have not worked so well. • Under the air bubble scheme, commercial airlines from specific countries are allowed to travel to and from India on a limited basis — an arrangement that was solely reserved for the Air India under the Vande Bharat mission — as full-scale international commercial air operations are yet to resume after the COVID-19 restrictions were implemented last year.

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• Vande Bharat Mission was the world’s biggest repatriation exercise that saw more than 45 lakh people return home. • The focus had now shifted to Indians going back to their usual places of work, study and domicile and restoring employment opportunities abroad with the help of partner countries. • So far, air transport bubble arrangements had been concluded with 27 countries. • India was fully aware of the employment concerns of people working abroad and expected Gulf countries to facilitate the early return of those people who were compelled to return home.

10. What is the issue surrounding Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydropower plants River Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir that act as bone of contention between India and Pakistan? • The annual Permanent Indus Commission meeting was recently held after a gap of over two years. Before the meeting, Pakistan had raised objections to the designs of Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydropower plants which are under construction in Jammu and Kashmir. In response, India has justified its stand. • Pakistan had also sought more information regarding the projects in Ladakh which were sanctioned after abrogation of Article 370. In the meeting, both the sides also discussed other issues under Indus Waters Treaty. • The meeting was significant because this is the first important engagement between both the countries after Indian and Pakistani militaries had announced to strictly observe a ceasefire along Line of Control and other sectors. Pakal Dul Dam • This is an under-construction concrete-face rock-fill dam. • It is being constructed on Marusadar River which is a tributary of Chenab River. The dam is located in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. • It is being constructed with the objective of generating 1000 MW of hydroelectric power. The dam will divert water towards south, into power station of the reservoir of DULHasti Dam on Chenab river, through 10 km long headrace tunnel. Construction of the dam is opposed by Pakistan which is of the view that it violates Indus Water Treaty.

Lower Kalnai project • The Lower Kalnai project is proposed in Kishtwar and Doda districtsof Jammu and Kashmir. It is a 48MW hydro electric project on lower Kalnai Nalla, a tributary to River Chenab.

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Indus Waters Treaty • Under the provisions of Indus Waters Treaty, signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, all the water of the eastern rivers—Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi—amounting to around 33 million acre feet (MAF) annually is allocated to India for unrestricted use. The waters of western rivers—Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab—amounting to around 135 MAF annually has been assigned largely to Pakistan. • According to the treaty, India has been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run-of-the-river projects on the western rivers subject to specific criteria for design and operation. The treaty also gives right to Pakistan to raise objections on design of Indian hydroelectric projects on the western rivers.

Chenab River The river flows in India and Pakistan. It is one of the 5 major rivers in Punjab region. The river originates from upper Himalayas in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh and flows in Jammu, Punjab & Pakistan, before joining the Indus River near Uch Sharif. Under the Indus Water Treaty, waters of river Chenab were allocated to Pakistan.

11. What is a Digital Green Certificate? What are its applications and how are they different from Vaccine passports? • The European commission has unveiled a “digital green certificate” that could allow EU citizens who have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from Covid-19 to travel more freely within the bloc. • The digital document will contain a QR code and can be carried on a mobile phone. • All EU citizens or third-country nationals who are legally staying in the EU will be able to use these digital certificates and thereby will be exempted from free movement restrictions.

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• In the EU and across the world, the tourism industry has been severely impacted due to the spread of the disease. • It has deliberately not been called a “vaccine passport” because some member states felt that would discriminate against those who had not yet been offered a shot. Vaccine passports - • The idea is modelled on the proof of vaccination that several countries required even before the pandemic. Travellers from many African countries to the US or India are required to submit proof that they have been vaccinated against diseases such as yellow fever. • Even though the nomenclature comes from passports, most vaccine passports have been envisaged as digital documents. They are supposed to function as proof that the holder has been vaccinated against Covid-19 and is, therefore, “safe”. • Another key function that vaccine passports will perform is that of digitising vaccination records across countries. While some countries have begun accepting proofs of vaccination to bypass quarantine norms, a common and universally accepted version of vaccine passport is yet to emerge. • Many countries have, therefore, been contemplating digital certificates or passports that will be proof that a person has been vaccinated or has recovered from COVID-19. • In February, Israel became the first country to issue certificates called “vaccine passports” that will allow vaccinated individuals to use some facilities and attend events.

12. Describe in detail the features of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant? • It is an under-construction 2.4 GWe nuclear power plant in Bangladesh. • It is being constructed at Rooppur (Rupppur) in the Pabna District of Bangladesh, on the bank of Padma River. • There are two units of plants which are expected to be completed in 2022 and 2024 respectively. Each will produce 1200MW of electricity. • It has significance as it will be the Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant. • The Rooppur project is the first initiative under the Indo-Russian deal to undertake atomic energy projects in third

countries.

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• A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in March 2018, was signed at Moscow, Russia between Russia, Bangladesh and India for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Project. • It is to be built by the Russian Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation. • In June 2018, Infrastructure major, Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. (HCC) was given contract for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. • The Russian side is making the project on “turnkey” basis which says, the contractor will be liable for any problems that arise in the plant. • It will be for the first time when any Indian company will be involved in any nuclear project out of the country. Since India is not a Nuclear Supplier group (NSG) member, it cannot participate directly in construction of Atomic power reactors.

13. What are the changes made by China to the Electoral system of HongKong? • China’s legislature formally approved sweeping changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system that will see a sharply reduced share of directly elected representatives and a tightening of Beijing’s control in the Special Administrative Region (SAR). • President Xi Jinping signed orders to promulgate the amended annexes to Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the constitution that has governed the SAR under the “one country, two systems” model since its return to China in 1997. • The amendments mark the biggest changes to Hong Kong’s political system since the handover, and reduce the share of directly elected representatives in its Legislative Council (LegCo). While previously 35 of its 70 members were directly elected, that number has been reduced by 15. • Now, Hongkongers will only be able to directly vote for 20 representatives while the size of LegCo has been expanded to 90, thereby drastically reducing the share of elected representatives. The 70 others will be broadly chosen from pro-establishment bodies. • A 1,200-member Election Committee that chooses Hong Kong’s Chief Executive has been expanded by 300 members, and will include Hong Kong’s representative to the NPC, the Communist Party-controlled legislature in Beijing. • It will also choose 40 members of LegCo, while the remaining 30 will be chosen by what are called functional constituencies, representing a range of industry, trade and other interest groups. • The other big change is the setting up of a Candidate Eligibility Review Committee “for reviewing and confirming the eligibility of candidates” and a “Committee for Safeguarding National Security” that “will make findings as to whether a candidate for Election Committee member or for the office of Chief Executive meets the legal requirements”.

• There will be no scope for legally challenging the findings.

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• District councillors, who are directly elected, will no longer have a place either in the Election Committee or in LegCo. In 2019, the pro-democracy opposition swept district elections in Hong Kong, following which they controlled 90% of the seats. Now, the district councillors will only be involved with local-level civic issues without representation in government.

GS 3 ➢ SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: 1. Explain the significance of ISRO’s NSIL and its latest launch, Amazonia-1? • The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Brazil’s optical earth observation satellite, Amazonia-1, and 18 co-passenger satellites — five from India and 13 from the U.S. — from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. • The satellites were carried on board the PSLV-C51, the 53rd flight of ISRO’s launch vehicle and the first dedicated mission of its commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd. The mission was undertaken under a commercial arrangement with Spaceflight Inc., U.S. • The PSLV-C51, equipped with two solid strap-on boosters, the third such launch of the PSLV-DL variant, lifted off at

10.24 a.m. from the first launch pad at Sriharikota.

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• Of the 13 satellites from the U.S., one is a technology demonstration satellite and the remaining are for two-way communications and data relay. • The satellites from India are the Satish Dhawan SAT (SDSAT) built by Space Kidz India, a nano-satellite intended to study the radiation levels, space weather and demonstrate long-range communication technologies; the UNITYsat, a combination of three satellites for providing radio relay services; and another satellite belonging to the DRDO. • The successful launch of Brazil’s Amazonia-1 satellite by the Indian Space Research Organisation marks a new high point in space cooperation between the two countries that began nearly two decades ago. • Roughly 16 minutes after lift-off, the PS-4 engine was cut-off and the Amazonia-1, weighing 637 kg, belonging to the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), was separated a minute later. The satellite will further strengthen the existing structure by providing remote sensing data to users for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region, according to ISRO. The Amazonia-1 was injected into its precise orbit of 758 km in a sun- synchronous polar orbit. • Thereafter the other 18 customer satellites were placed into their intended orbits. The entire operation took about 1 hour and 55 minutes to completion. • The launch also marked the first dedicated mission of ISRO’s commercial arm NewSpace India Ltd. (NSIL). • NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) is a Public Sector Enterprise (PSE) of Government of India and commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was established on 6 March 2019 under the administrative control of Department of Space (DoS) and the Company Act 2013. The main objective of NSIL is to scale up industry

participation in Indian space programmes.

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Significance: • The satellite, a 637-kilogram entity, was the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited, a two- year-old commercial arm of the Department of Space. • The Amazonia mission also saw 18 other satellites being launched and was the first fully commercial mission. • India has so far launched 342 foreign satellites from 34 countries using its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle platform and many of them have involved ISRO’s first commercial entity, the Antrix Corporation. • With the formation of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) — a regulatory agency — as well as plans of an independent tribunal to adjudicate disputes among private space entities, there is a potential explosion of market opportunities from space applications on the anvil. • Much like unfettered access to the Internet has spawned industries that were inconceivable, similarly, space applications and mapping have barely scratched the surface in terms of the opportunities that they can create. • NSIL has a broad ambit and will be involved in collaborations spanning from launches to new space-related industries. • NSIL is also expected to be more than just a marketer of ISRO’s technologies; it is to find newer business opportunities and expand the sector itself.

2. National Science Day is not a mere ritual but a way of dissemination of knowledge. Elaborate? • National Science Day, which fell on February 28, commemorates a path-breaking discovery at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta in 1928, that came to be known as the Raman Effect. • It seems very thoughtful and rational that our National Science Day celebrates a discovery and not the birthday of its discoverer. • India has progressed a great deal in about a century after the major advances made by the Bose(s), Saha and Raman. • Even though none so far, working in India, has personally scaled those heights, our achievements, on the whole, on the application of science and technology in fields such as atomic energy, space research, agriculture and biotechnology have been impressive. Noted historians of science and practising scientists have also been

articulating their views on how India can develop as a hub for world-class scientific and technological innovation.

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• Two recent developments, namely the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) and the draft National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (draft STIP), despite having limitations that characterise any government publication, underscore some of the pathways to this direction. • The importance of languages has been highlighted in the NEP. S.N. Bose and others had been advocating from the 1940s for the use of the mother languages for science teaching and popularisation. This is an area that requires serious attention. • Similarly, the setting up of the National Research Foundation, for instance, to encourage and fund research and development activities, hopefully with much greater and intensive involvement of our university system than hitherto, seems to be a step in the right direction. • Though the state has a key role to play in this process, science requires to be handled with a light hand. The revised guidelines of the Education Ministry this January, about prior permission to be taken, under certain circumstances, before conducting even online/virtual conferences, etc., caused anxiety among some scientists and academics who had voiced their displeasure. Fortunately, this revision has been withdrawn. • The celebration of National Science Day with the basic objective of spreading the message of science and its importance in improving the lives of people, must be taken forward in the days ahead and should spur a national reawakening instead of being just a ritual.

3. Surveillance technologies not only act as a tool for social control but also as a tool for social exclusion. Explain? • This year, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), launched the Cyber Crime Volunteers Program with the aim to allow citizens to register themselves as “Cyber Crime Volunteers’’ in the role of “Unlawful Content Flaggers”. • As per the official website of the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, the programme will help law enforcement agencies in identifying, reporting and in the removal of illegal/unlawful online content. The programme, which will be launched all over the country, is going to have its test run in Jammu and Kashmir and Tripura. • This form of surveillance, which enables citizens to “watch over” one another is called lateral surveillance. Lateral or social or peer-to-peer surveillance differs from typical surveillance. • While surveillance of any kind shows an imbalance of power between the person who surveils, and the one under surveillance, lateral surveillance specifically ensures that the imbalance of power no longer exists. Informal watching of communities by their members has been an age-old part of society, and its members view it as a

harmless activity. The problem arises when it is organised and state-sponsored.

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• This is not the first time state-sponsored lateral surveillance has been implemented in India. For example, the C- Plan App in Uttar Pradesh launched for keeping a tab on anti-social elements, is designed to receive inputs from certain identified individuals in villages across the State. • These individuals have been given the responsibility to solve local problems such as providing information about simmering communal tensions or land disputes taking place in their respective villages through the mobile application. • The scope of lateral surveillance was greatly expanded during the pandemic lockdown, both with and without the introduction of technology. The Karnataka government released a PDF with the names and addresses of around 19,000 international passengers who were quarantined in Bengaluru while in the North, a woman was harassed and boycotted by her neighbours after the Delhi government marked her house with a quarantine sticker. • If a pattern were to be drawn, one notices that lateral surveillance is used to further emotional objectives such as community building and strengthening relationships with neighbours where emotional and social factors act as a driving force, thus creating a situation where privacy may be undermined for the betterment of the community. • However, surveillance technologies not only act as a tool for social control but also as a tool for social exclusion. Lateral surveillance thus makes it easier to discriminate between those who conform to the social norms of the majority. • State-sponsored lateral surveillance is harmful as it creates a culture of ‘hate’, ‘fear’ and ‘constant suspicion’ against an ‘enemy’. Wherever the state identifies that it “cannot be everywhere”, it deploys this mechanism. This culture places a duty on people to ‘keep an eye out’ for ‘their own safety’ and this heightens the fear of crime in society.

4. Write a note on Martian Blueberries? • In 2004, NASA’s Mars exploration rover ‘Opportunity’ found several small spheres on the planet, informally named Martian blueberries. • Opportunity’s spectrometers studied the mineralogy and noted they were made of iron oxide compounds called haematites. • The presence of haematites suggests that there was water present on Mars. • The widely accepted formation mechanism of haematite concretion is precipitation from aqueous fluids.

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• Haematite is known to form in oxidising environments, and based on our experience on Earth, it can be inferred that water must have also played a crucial role in the formation of grey haematite on Mars. Jhuran formation • The Jhuran formation in Gujarat which is between 145 and 201 million years oldresemblethe haematite concretions on the Mars . They have similar morphology – spherical, often doublet and triplet – and similar mineralogy – a mixture of haematite and goethite.

• The haematites on Mars not just show the presence of water, they also indicate that the planet had an atmosphere with oxygen as haematites need oxygen to stabilise • A 2016 paper argued that the occurrences of hydrous sulphate in the Matanumadh area of Kutch, resemble Martian surficial processes.

5. What is a ‘Double Mutant’ virus? • Health Ministry has confirmed that, “double mutant” coronavirus variant which comes with the combination of mutations has been found in India. Scientists are checking if this has increased the infectivity or is making COVID- 19 more severe. • Genome sequencing of virus sample by Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG), a consortium of 10 labs in India, reveals the presence of two mutations, E484Q and L452R, in some 200 virus samples from Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat. • Two mutations have been identified individually in other variants of SARS-CoV-2 in several parts of the world. They have been associated with reduction in vaccine efficacy and infectivity. Combined effect and biological implication

of the variant is yet to be understood.

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• India has not yet conducted studies on efficacy of vaccine is influenced by variants. However, international studies have shown reduced efficacy of vaccines like Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax on some variants of SARS-CoV-2. • Three global Variants of Concerns; U.K. variant (B.1.1.7), South African variant (B.1.351) and Brazilian (P.1) lineage; have been identified across the globe. • Now, the new ‘double variant’ has been submitted to be categorised under formal lineage. Double Variant will have its own name.

6. What is NISAR, the joint Earth-Observing mission of NASA and ISRO? • NASA and ISRO are collaborating on developing a satellite called NISAR. • The satellite will be launched in 2022 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India, into a near-polar orbit. • It will scan the globe every 12 days over the course of its three-year mission of imaging the Earth’s land, ice sheets and sea ice to give an “unprecedented” view of the planet. • It will detect movements of the planet’s surface as small as 0.4 inches over areas about half the size of a tennis court. • NASA will provide one of the radars for the satellite, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS

receivers and a payload data subsystem.

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• ISRO will provide the spacecraft bus, the second type of radar (called the S-band radar), the launch vehicle and associated launch services. • NISAR will be equipped with the largest reflector antenna ever launched by NASA and its primary goals include tracking subtle changes in the Earth’s surface, spotting warning signs of imminent volcanic eruptions, helping to monitor groundwater supplies and tracking the rate at which ice sheets are melting. • The name NISAR is short for NASA-ISRO-SAR. SAR here refers to the synthetic aperture radar that NASA will use to measure changes in the surface of the Earth. • Essentially, SAR refers to a technique for producing high-resolution images. Because of the precision, the radar can penetrate clouds and darkness, which means that it can collect data day and night in any weather.

➢ ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: 1. What it means to Pakistan to be continued in FATF’s grey list? In news: To Islamabad’s deep disappointment, the Paris-based 39-member Financial Action Task Force has decided once again to keep Pakistan on its “grey list” of countries under “increased monitoring”, giving it another three months to complete its commitments. Background: • After being removed from that list in 2015, Pakistan was put back on it in June 2018, and handed a 27-point action list to fulfil. Although Pakistan has made “significant progress”, it had three remaining points of the 27 that were only partially addressed, notably all in the area of curbing terror financing. • The body listed the remaining tasks: demonstrating terror-funding prosecution is accurate, effective and dissuasive, and thoroughly implementing financial sanctions against all terrorists designated by the UN Security Council, which include LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, JeM chief Masood Azhar, other leaders of terror groups in Pakistan, and those belonging to al Qaeda. • It is cold comfort for Islamabad that the FATF chief also ruled out downgrading Pakistan to the “blacklist”, as he said that Pakistan has made progress on its commitments and this is not “the time” to contemplate the extreme step — this would mean enhanced sanctions and restrictions, as Iran and North Korea face at present. FATF Chief asked Pakistan to complete the remaining tasks by June 2021, when the FATF will meet again to vote on the issue. • Pakistan’s next steps on the FATF directive to successfully prosecute terrorists and terror financers identified by the grouping are in its own interests. Any proposed New Delhi-Islamabad engagement in the next few months would get a much-needed boost if Pakistan traverses this ‘last mile’ on the FATF grey list, addressing India’s main

grievance on cross-border terror that emanates from its soil.

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Facts: • The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an intergovernmental body formed to combating money laundering.The FATF is headquartered in Paris and has two official languages: English and French. It also has a French name: Groupe d’action financière (GAFI). • For identifying non-complying countries, FATF has maintained the FATF blacklist or the “Call for action” countries and the FATF grey list or the “Other monitored jurisdictions” since 2000.

• The FATF blacklist is the agency’s official list of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories” (NCCTs) which it judges to be non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. • The FATF grey list is the agency’s official list of countries and jurisdictions that are identified as having strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. • Unlike the blacklisted ones, the grey list countries actively work with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes. “When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolving swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring,” says the FATF. • These countries are mandated to periodically report on the progress made in addressing the identified strategic deficiencies, while the FATF closely monitors the progress of their agreed action plans expeditiously and within the proposed timeframes. • As of 25th February 2021, the following 19 countries are on the FATF grey list. 1. Albania 7. Ghana 2. Barbados 8. Jamaica 3. Botswana 9. Mauritius 4. Burkina Faso 10. Morocco 5. Cambodia 11. Myanmar

6. Cayman Islands 12. Nicaragua

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13. Pakistan 17. Uganda 14. Panama 18. Yemen 15. Senegal 19. Zimbabwe 16. Syria

2. ‘No TDS when Indian firms pay to use foreign software’ Issue: • The Supreme Court held that tax deductible at source is not applicable to Indian companies for amounts paid to foreign software manufacturers and suppliers for use or re-sale of computer software through end-user licence agreements (EULA). • In a relief for Indian buyers, a three-judge Bench led by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman said the consideration paid by them for use or sale of computer software cannot be considered a payment of “royalty for the use of copyright in the computer software”. • The judgment was based on cross appeals filed by the Revenue authorities and assessees alike on the question as to whether money paid by Indian buyers to foreign, ‘non-resident’ software suppliers amounted to royalty and, thus, tax was deductible at source under Section 195 of the Income Tax Act. • Justice Nariman reasoned that payment of royalty is made only for exclusive use of copyright of a work. • Here, the computer software is sold in the form of a CD to an Indian buyer under a non-exclusive licence. Again, the Indian buyer only receives the right to use the software. He does not get any copyright on the software. Hence, the amount paid for a computer software from a foreign manufacturer does not qualify as royalty for which tax should be deducted at the source. Facts: • The concept of TDS was introduced with an aim to collect tax from the very source of income. As per this concept, a person (deductor) who is liable to make payment of specified nature to any other person (deductee) shall deduct tax at source and remit the same into the account of the Central Government. • The deductee from whose income tax has been deducted at source would be entitled to get credit of the amount so deducted on the basis of Form 26AS or TDS certificate issued by the deductor. • TDS deduction is applicable to multiple types of payments, including – ✓ Salary ✓ Commission earned. ✓ Rent ✓ Interest payment by banks. ✓ Professional or consultant fees.

3. U.S. sanctions end Tehran’s oil sales to India impacting trade. Explain why? Indian merchants have almost entirely stopped signing new export contracts with Iranian buyers for commodities such as rice, sugar and tea, due to caution about Tehran’s dwindling rupee reserves with Indian banks. Reason: • Iran’s rupee reserves in India’s UCO and IDBI Bank, the two lenders authorised to facilitate rupee trade, have

depleted significantly and exporters are not sure whether they would be paid on time for new shipments.

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• Under U.S. sanctions, Tehran is unable to use U.S. dollars to transact oil sales. • Iran previously had a deal to sell oil to India in exchange for rupees, which it used to import critical goods, including agricultural commodities, but New Delhi stopped buying Tehran’s oil in May 2019 after a U.S. sanctions waiver expired. • Tehran continued using its rupees to buy goods from India, but after 22 months of no crude sales, Iran’s rupee reserves have fallen, they said Iran’s reserves have reduced significantly and will be over soon probably because trade has stopped.

4. Output from OPEC+ decreases while oil prices increases. Explain? • India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer said the decision by major producers to continue with output cuts as prices move higher could threaten the consumption led-recovery in some countries. • The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, agreed not to increase supply in April as they await a more substantial recovery in demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Crude prices rose after the announcement and are up 33% this year. • Brent crude futures for May rose to $67.44 a barrel. • As one of the largest crude-consuming countries, India is concerned that such actions by producing countries have the potential to undermine consumption-led recovery and more so hurt consumers, especially in our price-

sensitive market.

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• India, hit hard by the soaring oil prices, urged producers to ease output cuts and help the global economic recovery from the pandemic. • India imports about 84% of its oil and relies on West Asian supplies to meet over three-fifths of its demand.

• Responding to India’s repeated request for an increase in output, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman responded by saying India should start using oil it bought cheaply during the price collapse last year. Facts: • The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is an intergovernmental organization of 13 countries. • Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has since 1965 been headquartered in Vienna, Austria, although Austria is not an OPEC member state. • As of September 2018, the 13 member countries accounted for an estimated 44 percent of global oil production

and 81.5 percent of the world's "proven" oil reserves, giving OPEC a major influence on global oil prices.

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• The current OPEC members are the following: Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia (the De facto leader), the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Former OPEC members are Ecuador, Indonesia and Qatar. • The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) is a loosely affiliated entity consisting of the 13 OPEC members and 10 of the world's major non-OPEC oil-exporting nations.

5. What are the major challenges faced by Railways? • Railways are in the midst of a financial distress and are faced with fundamental organisational issues. • A recent press report says that the freight earnings in 2020-21 are likely to be more than in 2019-20 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. • The freight earnings, which during the entire year are projected to be Rs.1,24,184.00 crore in the Revised Estimates for 2020-21 is, in fact, lower than what was achieved in 2018-19 (Rs.1,27,432.72 crore). • As for the freight revenues going past that of the last financial year, that was only to be expected, with freight traffic having a relatively free run due to cancellation of most regular passenger services due to COVID-19. • The Operating Ratio (OR), which is broadly the ratio of working expenses to revenues, has been artificially kept below 100% by making less-than-required provision for pension payments during 2019-20 and 2020-21. • While the official figures of OR are 98.36% for 2019-20 and 96.96% for 2020-21, the actual OR works out to 114.19% and 131.49%, respectively, if the required provision is made for pension payments. • Perhaps for the first time ever, the Indian Railways were unable to adequately provide for the Pension Fund, both for 2019-20 and 2020-21, totalling Rs.78,119 crore. • While the under-provisioning for 2020-21 can be explained by the shortfall in revenues due to the pandemic, the shortfall amounting to Rs.27,642 crore even during 2019-20 (when there was no COVID-19) should be a cause for serious concern. • In fact, the passenger and freight earnings in 2019-20 were less than in 2018-19, indicating that a downslide had started even before the outbreak of COVID-19, probably due to the economic slowdown. Railway finances are out

of whack. And COVID-19 has nothing to do with it.

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• While the passenger and freight revenues increased by 84.8 % from 2010-11 to 2019-20, the staff and pension costs raced ahead at almost double that rate, by 157%, in the same period. • Further, while in 2010-11, the staff plus pension costs formed 55.7% of the traffic earnings, by 2019-20, they had shot up to 77.5% of the traffic earnings. This, despite the fact that there has been a reduction of about one lakh staff on roll during this period. The spike in the staff and pension costs is largely attributable to the implementation of the Central Pay Commission recommendations, a 10-yearly feature. • Therefore, the immediate challenges are achieving a quantum jump in the revenues, particularly on the freight front, and a drastic reduction in the number of employees, there being no way to reduce the number of pensioners in the short run. • A disturbing feature of freight traffic is the overwhelming dependence on one commodity: coal. Despite all the marketing efforts over the years, almost 50% of freight earnings are contributed by the transport of coal. • With the availability of alternative sources of renewable energy such as solar at competitive prices, the dependence on coal-based thermal power plants is bound to reduce to meet the incremental energy needs. Also, India is a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement, committed to achieving targeted reductions in carbon emissions in a time-bound manner. • The Railways have to therefore think seriously of a life after coal. An option that merits consideration is the adoption of the roll-on roll-off model of transporting loaded trucks on rail on the DFCs, which apart from boosting revenues has the added advantage of reducing the overall carbon footprint. • The other major challenge facing the Railways is the burgeoning staff costs including pension. There have been suggestions to corporatise the Railways’s Production Units and outsource the medical services. • The government needs to firm up its policies on these crucial issues after discussions with all stakeholders.

6. Power Grid sets up e-Tendering Portal-PRANIT, what is it? • The central PSU named Power Grid Corporation of India has established an e-Tendering Portal called PRANIT. • This portal will help in maintaining the less paperwork, ease of operation and making the tendering process more transparent. • The portal has been certified by the Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification Directorate (STQC) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. • The POWERGRID is the only organization in India which have an e Procurement solution on the SAP Supplier Relationship Management which also comply with all the applicable requirements related to the security and transparency. Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID)

It is an Indian central public sector unit and a Maharatna company. The company is owned by Ministry of Power. It is headquartered in Gurugram, India. The company is engaged mainly in the Transmission of Power. The company transmits around 50 percent of the total power generated across India through its transmission network. The former subsidiary company of the POWERGRID called “Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO)” is engaged in the power management for the National Grid and all state transmission utilities. The company also operates the telecom business called POWERTEL.

Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) It is a wholly owned Government of India enterprise working under the Ministry of Power. The organisation is responsible for ensuring the integrated operation of Grid in a reliable, secure and efficient manner. It comprises of 5 Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDCs) and a National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC).

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➢ ENVIRONMENT & DISASTER MANAGEMENT: 1. Climate and consciousness It is common to address Himalayan glacier flooding that overwhelmed Uttarakhand, or the cold snap that paralysed Texas, as “acts of God”. But what precipitated both events was not the hand of God, but human-made global warming. Unless climate change is tagged as a primary culprit, climate action will continue to falter. Background: • The melting of the Himalayan glaciers that prompted the floods and landslides in Uttarakhand have the fingerprints of global warming. In 2013, glacial flooding caused over 6,000 deaths in Uttarakhand during the monsoon months. • The United States has already witnessed many deadly avalanches since the beginning of 2021. Furthermore, as glacier cover is replaced by water or land, the amount of light reflected decreases, aggravating warming — a contributor to the sweltering heat in cities like Delhi and Hyderabad, or the epic floods in Chennai or Kerala. • The extreme cold weather in Texas, like the double-digit negative temperatures seen in Germany earlier this year, is connected to Arctic-peninsula warming, at a rate almost twice the global average. Usually, there is a collection of winds around the Arctic keeping the cold locked far to the north. But global warming has caused gaps in these protective winds, allowing intensely cold air to move south. • For India, the third-largest carbon emitter after China and the United States, a decisive switch is needed from highly polluting coal and petroleum to cleaner and renewable power sources. • China has announced carbon neutrality by 2060, Japan and South Korea by 2050, but India is yet to announce a target. The acceleration of hazards of nature should prompt countries to advance those targets, ideally by a decade. Statistics: • The stakes are laid out in alarming reports, which show that India is particularly vulnerable. While HSBC ranks India at the top among 67 nations in climate vulnerability (2018), Germanwatch ranks India fifth among 181 nations in terms of climate risks (2020). But public spending does not reflect these perils. • A vital step should be explicitly including policies for climate mitigation in the government budget, along with energy, roads, health and education. Specifically, growth targets should include timelines for switching to cleaner energy. The government needs to launch a major campaign to mobilise climate finance. • Studies had flagged ice loss across the Himalayas, and the dangers to densely populated catchments, but policy response has been lacking. Similarly, Kerala ignored a landmark study calling for regulation of mining, quarrying and dam construction in ecologically sensitive places, which contributed to the massive floods and landslides in 2018 and 2019. • Sustainable growth depends on timely climate action. For that to happen, policymaking needs to connect the dots between carbon emissions, atmospheric warming, melting glaciers, extreme floods and storms. Events like Uttarakhand and Texas should be treated as lessons to change people’s minds and for the public to demand urgent action.

2. BIODIVERSITY: 1. New Assessment by IUCN on African elephants • The Red List by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently showed that, African elephants living in forests and savannas are increasingly threatened with extinction. • New assessments by IUCN underscore the persistent pressures that two species of elephants in Africa faces due to poaching for ivory and human encroachment. • The survey also highlights that, savanna elephant was “endangered” while the smaller, lighter forest elephant was “critically endangered” as highest category before they got extinct from wild. • Earlier, IUCN had treated both the species of elephants as “Vulnerable”. But later it separated them on the basis of genetic evidences which highlighted the difference between both the species. Population of Savanna Elephants • Data from IUCN cited that populations of savanna elephants from Africa are found in a variety of habitats which had decreased by around 60% over last 50 years. • Number of forest elephants found in Central Africa had also fallen by 86% in 31 years. Presently, number of both

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• However, populations of some forest elephants were rebounding because of successful conservation measures like, measures taken by Gabon and Republic of Congo. As per IUCN, in Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area of South Africa, numbers of savanna were also stable or growing. African elephant • It is a genus with two living elephant species that is, African bush elephant and smaller African forest elephant. Both the species are social herbivores having grey skin but they have different size and colour of their tusks. They are considered at heavy risk of extinction in the IUCN Red List. • Bush elephant is considered endangered while forest elephant is considered critically endangered. Species are threatened by habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and poaching for the illegal ivory trade.

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