January 2020

1. Time and again conflicting liaison between the right to freedom of religion and the rights of
individuals to dignity and equality has become an endless source of litigation off late.
Critically comment and discuss the apex court’s viewpoints on it. (250 words)

 Intro: Article 25 provides for citizens the freedom to practice and

propagate religion, but this right is not absolute. It is subject to public
order, morality, health and to the other fundamental rights guaranteed
under the Constitution.

 Madesnana ritual
 Female genital mutilation
 Parsi women and entry to sun temples
 Sabrimala verdict
 Recently constituted 9 judges bench: on questions concerning the relationship between the
right to freedom of religion and the rights of individuals to dignity and equality. The
establishment of the nine-judge bench originated out of an order of reference made on
review petitions filed against the Sabarimala judgment. The new bench will have to interpret
the scope and extent of the Constitution’s religious liberty clauses
 Jurisprudence of ‘essential practices of a religion’: The court has in its previous judgments
held that only those practices that are “essential” to a religion, enjoy constitutional
protection. All other rituals are considered open to the state’s interference.
 One way to strike a balance between the two rights would be to check whether the effect of
the disputed religious practice causes harm to individual rights or not. If it does not the
religious practice can be allowed, if not it should be banned.  In this approach the enquiry
is not whether the practice is truly religious, but whether its effect is to subordinate, exclude
a section of the society.  A similar approach was used by the Bombay High Court in dealing
with a petition challenging the exclusion of women from the inner sanctum of the Haji Ali
Dargah. The court found that this practice constituted a violation of equality for women and
struck it down.  Even in the Sabarimala case, both the concurring opinion of Justice D.Y.
Chandrachud and the dissenting opinion of Justice Indu Malhotra agreed that the anti-
exclusion principle ought to be the test of the permissibility of certain religious and cultural
practices.
 two women members on the sub-committee on fundamental rights,
Hansa Mehta and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur’ concerns

2. “The conflict between agreement and disagreement is the first and foremost sign of a
healthy democracy”, Analyse the statement with recent examples demonstrating the above
case.(250 words)

 apex court said, Dissent is a safety valve for democracy. If this safety valve is not allowed to
function then the pressure cooker will burst.
 Protest strengthen representative democracy by enabling direct participation in public
affairs where individuals and groups are able to.
 Buddha and Mahavira were dissenters first and philosophers next. Ramayana and
Mahabharata are filled with stories of dissent.
 Dissent is not just about criticism, it is also about showing new perspectives.
 This unique guide of Protests provides activists, human rights defenders, jurists, NGOs,
corporate actors, and government authorities with the tools and knowledge necessary to
ensure rights, protect the lives and liberty of dissenters, enable meaningful participation in
public life, and promote the rule of law

3. Discuss the significance of Article 131 of the Indian constitution, Can States challenge the
validity of central laws under it? Justify your stand with suitable examples.(250 words)

 The dispute must involve a question (whether of law or fact) on which the existence or
extent of a legal right depends.
 There have been two conflicting judgments from the Supreme Court on whether a State can
file an original suit under Article 131 to challenge the constitutionality of a central law.
o The first judgment reported in 2012 – State of Madhya Pradesh vs Union of India –
held that States cannot challenge a central law under Article 131.
o The second judgment – State of Jharkhand Vs State of Bihar – took the opposite
view in 2015 and referred the question of law to a larger Bench of the Supreme
Court for final determination. Kerala’s plaint relies on the 2015 verdict.
o However, in the West Bengal government’s case in 2017, the SC proclaimed that the
State government cannot ask for any remedy related to Fundamental rights. The
case was filed under Article 32 of the Constitution challenging the validity of the
‘Aadhaar Act’. The Court also held that, “Fundamental rights are available to
individuals: citizens or non-citizens against the State (under Article 32 or Article 226)
and not to the State entities.”

4. The right to protest is a fundamental political right basic to our democratic society, Discuss
in detail the provisions regarding the right to protest peacefully enshrined in the Indian
Constitution.(250 words)

5. The interpretation of the constitution by the judiciary has changed over the years in
recent times, trace the change in approach of judiciary and explain with
suitable examples.

 first phase of Interpretation-Focus on text-textualist approach

o Shankari Prasad case 1951- Court ruled that the power of the Parliament to amend
the Constitution under Article 368 also includes the power to amend Fundamental
Rights. The word ‘law’ in Article 13 includes only ordinary laws and not the
constitutional amendment acts (constituent laws)
 o Reversed its decision in Golaknath case in 1967, by taking the word ‘fundamental’
in FR as literally immutable.
o AK Gopalan case 1950- taken a narrow interpretation of the Article 21. It held that
the protection under Article 21 is available only against arbitrary executive action
and not from arbitrary legislative action. This means that the State can deprive the
right to life and personal liberty of a person based on a law. This is because of the
expression ‘procedure established by law’ in Article 21, which is different from the
expression ‘due process of law’ contained in the American Constitution. Hence, the
validity of a law that has prescribed a procedure cannot be questioned on the
ground that the law is unreasonable, unfair or unjust. Secondly, the Supreme Court
held that the ‘personal liberty’ means only liberty relating to the person or body of
the individual
 second phase of interpretation-Focus on ‘basic structure’
o Limited Amendment Power-Kesavananda Bharati case: In the leading case of
Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala(1973)
o Court also categorically rejected Gopalan approach (each article of FRs covered
entirely different subject matter, and were to be read as separate codes) in favour of
a structuralist one. FRs to be read as cohesive bill of rights
o Maneka Gandhi case- incremental interpretation of RTLife
o Incremental interpretation of art 21 led to start of judicial activism.
o ‘essetial religious practices’
 Third Phase of interpretation-Eclecticism
o Different opinions on same issues
o Began to sit in panels of 2-3 judges, becoming ‘polyvocal’ grp of sub-SC
o Focus of the judgement on result rather than reaon and law
 Fourth phase- based on the purpose
o realisation of revolutionary and transformative potential: The Court is now
beginning to interpret the Constitution in accordance with its revolutionary and
transformative potential.
o about a dozen significant Constitution Bench decisions from the Supreme Court
since September 2018, there has been a renaissance in decision-making by
constitution benches
o striking down sec 377 and triple talaq

6. Criminalization of politics has been a deep rooted concern in our democracy,

in this context discuss the reasons causing it and comment on the landmark
judgments of the apex court in addressing the issue of criminalization of
politics and their effectiveness

 Criminalization of Politics means that the criminals entering the politics and contesting
elections and even getting elected to the Parliament and state legislature.
 ADR) indicate that 179 (1/3rd) out of the 543 elected MPs in the present Lok Sabha have
some kind of criminal case pending against them. In the case of over 100 MPs, the cases
 were of a very serious nature such as crimes against women and kidnapping. This ratio has
been increasing as well.
 petition filed in the SC by ECI claims that 46% of Members of Parliament have criminal
records. The current Lok Sabha has the highest (29%) proportion of those with serious
criminal cases compared to the predecessors
 Reasons
o Influence of money
o Their rise as parallel foci of justice and societal development and thus vote bank
o Denial of justice and rule of law: <6% of criminal cases against Indian MPs and MLAs
ended in conviction, compared to 46% overall conviction rate
o Constitution does not specify qualifying qualities; RPA doesn’t bar individuals who
have criminal cases pending
o Ineffective powers of EC
o Lack of inner party democracy
 Effect:
o Impedes free and fair elections
o Affecting integrity of public servants
o Causes social disharmony

Landmark SC verdicts

o In UoI vs ADR 2002, SC based on a petition filed directed that, every candidate

contesting elections has to disclose the following during nomination:
o Education qualifications
o Criminal background- convictions as well as pending cases
o Assets and liabilities of the candidate and his/her family
 Lily Thomas vs Union of India case (2013)
o Members of Parliament, Legislative Councils and Legislative Assemblies
convicted of crimes where they had been awarded a minimum sentence
of 2 years imprisonment would cease to be members of the house to
which they were elected from the date of sentencing. 

o It further struck down the provision Section 8(4) of the ROPA, which

allowed convicted members a 3-month time period for appeal against the
conviction and sentencing and held that those convicted would suffer
immediate disqualification.
o Earlier the convicted members held onto their seats until they exhausted all
judicial remedies in lower, state and supreme court of India. 
 Intro of NOTA
 In November, 2015, a Supreme Court bench directed the centre to set up special
fast-track courts to deal with pending cases against legislators. In 2014, SC directed
trial courts to complete trial of cases involving legislators within one yr
 Public Interest Foundation v. Union of India case, 2018: five-judge Bench
unanimously decided that it cannot disqualify candidates, against whom
criminal charges have been framed, from contesting elections citing respect for
the separation of powers. 
 In a recent judgement in 2020, Court reiterated the following six directions:
 o It shall be mandatory for political parties to upload on their website
detailed information regarding candidates with pending criminal cases
along with the reasons for such selection.
o  reasons as to selection shall be with reference to the qualifications,
achievements and merit of the candidate concerned, and not mere
“winnability” at the polls.
o This info shall also be published in One local vernacular newspaper and one
national newspaper and on the official social media platforms of the political
party, including Facebook & Twitter
o These details shall be published within 48 hours of the selection of the
candidate or not less than two weeks before the first date for filing of
nominations, whichever is earlier.
o political party concerned shall submit a report of compliance with these
directions with the Election Commission within 72 hours of the selection
of the said candidate.

 Both the Law Commission in its 244th report and the Election Commission of
India have sought lifetime ban on convicted politicians. 
 Santhanam committee report 1963 referred political corruption as more dangerous and
recommended vigilance commission at centre and states
 Vohra committee report, 1993
 Padmanabhaiah committee on police reforms said that criminalization of police cannot be
delinked from criminalization of politics

7. Recently the State of Andhra Pradesh was in news for the abolishment of the
legislative council; going by the assertion that the ‘Upper House’ didn’t
deserve to exist if it is rejecting key bills by violating rules . In such a situation
critically examine the significance of the Legislative councils in the Indian
parliamentary system.

 recent experience suggests that States without a Legislative Council favour its revival.
Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh have passed resolutions for a revival, but are
yet to get parliamentary approval.
 Unlike Rajya Sabha which has substantial powers to shape non-financial legislation,
Legislative Councils lack the constitutional mandate to do so. Legislative Assemblies have the
power to override suggestions/amendments made to a legislation by the Council.
 Council has no effective say inratification of a CAA, will of LA prevails
 If there was any real benefit in having a Legislative Council, all States in the country would
have a second chamber.
 council is heterogeneously constituted. It represents different interests and consists of
differently elected members and also include some nominated members. Its very
composition makes its position weak and reduces its utility as an effective revising body.
 A parliamentary committee recommended a national policy on having an Upper House in
State legislatures to be framed by the Union government.
   It also favoured a review of the provision in the law for Councils to have seats for
graduates and teachers.
  2nd ARC recommended that role of teachers and graduates should be decreased or done
away with and more say should be given to local bodies in order to strengthen the voice of
local bodies.

8. Good Governance Index (GGI) is a welcome exercise to incentivize States to

competitively deliver on public services to the citizens. Elucidate.

 Launched by MoPPGP

Benefits

 Quantifiable data to compare- competitive federalism

 Result oriented approach- “accountable governance”
 Principles: easy to understand and calculate, citizen centric, result driven
 Classification into grps of big states, UTs and hill states

 takes into consideration the following ten sectors:

o Agriculture and Allied Sectors,

o Commerce & Industries,
o Human Resource Development,
o Public Health,
o Public Infrastructure & Utilities,
o Economic Governance,
o Social Welfare & Development,
o Judicial & Public Security,
o Environment
o Citizen-Centric Governance

Findings:

 Big States: Tamil Nadu topped the index followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka,

 NE&Hill: HP followed by Uttarakhand and Tripura
 UTs: Puducherry, Chandigarh and Delhi
 Even the BIMARU states aren’t lacking in all aspects, eg. rajasthan finished
in top 10 in 5 sectors, MP in 4 and UP in 3.
9. In the recent hearing of Tripura high court that ruled – posting on social media
was tantamount to a “fundamental right” applicable to all citizens, including
government employees provides a moment of opportunities and obstacles to
the government servants, Do you agree? Critically examine the statement

 SC: principle of proportionality under Art 19 (2)

 Arguments in favour
o Promotional activities and ‘grievance redressal’ eg. Sushma Swaraj
o “voice to all”, “24*7 reach” and immediate outreach eg. meme usage by
traffic police
o Real time engagement eg. MEA used social media platforms like Twitter to
assist in locating and evacuating Indian citizens from Libya
o Counter misperceptions as well as misinformations
 Checks and Balances also needed
o Art 33- armed forces, para military forces, police and intelligence agencies
o Official and classified info
o Liking can be endorsing of facts and opinions represented in such posts.
POLITICAL NEUTRALITY
o Must uphold the spirit nd letter of COnsti
o Distinction betn official and personal accts should be addressed, but the
basic Conduct rules should also be applicable to latter. A bureaucrat
represents govt even in his personal acct

10. With Data being the new oil, National Data and Analytics Platform will work to
democratize access to publicly available government data. Elucidate

 NITI Aayog released its vision for the National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) recently
 Vision: Democratize access to public Government data through a world-class
user experience
 Obj: user centric, coherent and uptodate data
 Features:
o Data export in machine readable format
o Common schemes across sectors, with clear definitions and narratives to help the
user navigate the differences between similar data from different sources
o User friendly search engine
o Social media share
 Will enable data driven discourse, research and innovation and decision making in India

11. Are Indian the metros deprived of empowered Mayors who lead country on
Urban Issues? Discuss the challenges faced by the position of a Mayor,
Suggest what needs to be done to empower the post.
 The Economic Survey of 2017-18 notes that a third of the population now
lives in urban areas which produce three-fifths of the GDP. 
 In some States, elections to urban local bodies have not been held for
years, defeating the lofty goal of decentralised governance. Tamil Nadu is a
prominent example.
 74th Constitution Amendment Act of 1992 identifying 18 local level
functions to be devolved, including planning for economic and social
development, regulation of land, construction of buildings, urban planning
and public health. 
 average of subjects devolved in all these years is nine, and does not include
the major municipal services which continue to be run by parastatal
authorities that answer to State governments. Newer devices used to
bypass local bodies and priorities are styled as special schemes, such as
urban renewal and smart cities, directly supervised by the Central
government and partnered by State governments.
 Several States are averse to directly-elected Mayors even for their biggest
cities, in spite of the Mayor being deprived of any significant powers. The
appointment of the executive in-charge, the Municipal Commissioner is a
good example. 
 Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, assumed the leadership of the climate
movement in iconic ways, with a move to prescribe green roofs in the vast
French capital capturing the public imagination worldwide. 
 powerless Mayors have running battles with municipal councillors, States
such as Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, to name just two, abandoned direct
elections to the post.
 The Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) 2017 covering 23 cities
across 20 States published by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and
Democracy found 33% of medium and large cities with a provision for
directly-elected Mayors, but none in the mega cities. A tenure of five years
for Mayors is available only in a fifth of the biggest cities, and half of urban
Indians live in cities where Mayors can be in office for just two-and-a-half
years, ASICS found.
 Government departments will feel accountable for urban services and
infrastructure only under the watch of an empowered leader, who enjoys
the mandate of the city’s residents.
 recalcitrant State leaders, who often have remote rural bases of support,
stymie the pace of orderly urban development.
 in the current model, councillor elections are held at the ward level and are
based on hyper-local issues, which may not resonate with the whole city. A
 directly elected mayor would ensure a focus on the whole city instead of
certain wards.
 alternative model in which simultaneous elections are held for both mayors
and councillors.
Need:

 At present, mayors are elected by city councillors who themselves are

directly elected by urban voters.
 Currently merely a ceremonial authority and executive decisions are carried out by
municipal commissioner appointed by SG
 Single point of negotiation and direction for investment, accountability; greater coordination
and decision making
 Stable leadership with fixed term -> long term plans; in the last five years, Kanpur has
seen eight commissioners while Jaipur has seen six.

12. Discuss the significance of electoral literacy for a stronger democracy.

 10th National Voters’ Day has been celebrated on 25th Jan. The theme this year is ‘Electoral
Literacy for Stronger Democracy'
 Voter literacy means providing citizens of a democracy with basic information about
participating in elections.
 Three dimensions
o Knowledge
o Skill: ability to navigate rules and processes of citizenship and governance
o Value : democratic ideals and commitment to those ideals the motivate and civic
commitment.
 Studies suggest that participation in the first one or two elections of an elector’s lifetime
helps to inculcate the habit of voting and makes participation in future elections more
likely. 
 Forty-five million young people, having become eligible to vote as they
turned 18, have been added to India’s electoral roll since 2014, according
to 2018 data from the Election Commission. This has expanded the voter
list by 5% since 2014.
 EC initiatives:
o EVM voting
o Electoral Literacy Clubs and Systematic Voters’ education and electoral
participation
o VVPAT
o Introducing Short Message Service and Toll Free Numbers
13. Where college is the first step towards a bigger political role, Should politics
be allowed in university campuses? Discuss in the context wherein campus
politics are hailed to serve and uphold a tradition of dissent which is in line
with protecting the rights of free speech and promoting the values of
democracy

 “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to

think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true
education” – Martin Luther King
 Arun Jaitley, Ashok Gehlot, Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar and Sitaram Yechury
 Calcutta university Acts 1904; representative of India’s resistance to British as well
like National Council of Edcation;AMU  was born under the dual influence of the
Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements
 Karnataka had tried banning students unions during 1989-90 and that didn't help
 Role during Nirbhaya protests
 Benefits
o Free speech and right to association
o Diversity
o Voice to the youth
o University meant to mould them into intellectuals
 Best model to be followed is board of governers with max 1/3rd nominated by govt

14. In the context of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and
the detention of minors in some instances, what does the law say about such
detentions by the police? What role do commissions play? Explain. (250
words)

 Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

o Under Section 10, it says that as soon as a child alleged to be in conflict with law is
apprehended by the police, the child shall be placed under the charge of the special
juvenile police unit or the designated child welfare police office
o That officer in turn, should produce the child before the Juvenile Justice Board
within a period of 24 hours excluding the time necessary for the journey from the
place where the child was picked up.
o  In no case, it clearly states, should a child alleged to be in conflict
with the law be placed in a police lock-up or lodged in a jail.
 NCPCR
o It is a statutory body set up in 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child
Rights Act, 2005.
 o  The objective of the commission is to protect, promote and defend child rights in
India including the rights adopted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child, 1989 — with an accession by India in 1992.
o  The same convention defines a child as being a human being under 18.
o  It examines and reviews the safeguards provided under any law for the protection
of child rights and recommends measures to the government.
o  The commission can also inquire into the violation of child rights and recommend
initiation of proceedings in such cases.
o  While inquiring into such matters, the NCPCR has the powers of a civil court.
o  In addition, it has a host of other powers in terms of commissioning research and
framing policy for child protection and safety.
o NCPCR said that that such use of children, like by certain groups of
protesters in unlawful activities such as stone-pelting and other
violent acts during the protests, violates the rights of children under
the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
o Guidelines of the NCPCR in respect to children’s rights in areas of
civil unrest, state that police and military authorities should avoid
blanket characterisation of adolescent boys as security threats and
that “they” (authorities) should take any arbitrary detention,
mistreatment, or torture of children extremely seriously, investigate
any reports of grave violations immediately, and take action against
personnel involved.

15. The relative decline in America’s power coupled with the rise of new and old
powers point to a structural churning in the post-Cold War order. Comment

 TPP- 12 Pacific rim countries

 Paris CCA
 UNESCO- 2017
 Global compact for migration- In December 2017, the US decided to leave the negotiations
on the proposed UN deal for a Global Compact for Migration, “an international agreement
on managing safe, orderly, and regular migration around the globe”.
 Iran nucler deal-JCPA
 UNHRC
 Afghan: would leave Kabul’s fragile, faction-ridden government exposed to the
Taliban insurgency, just like how the Mohammed Najibullah government was left to
the Afghan Mujahideen in 1989 after the Soviet withdrawal

  United Nations Relief and Works Agency in August 2018 for the agency’s alleged anti-Israel
bias. While the UNRWA is meant to help refugees across the world, a substantial part of its
work was directing towards aiding Palestinian refugees. Shifting embassy to Jerusalem
 also facilitated US’ withdrawal from several US-Russia arms control treaties such as
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, with the latest being ‘Open Skies Treaty’. And START
 NATO, WTO; Turkey invaded north-eastern Syria’s Kurdish held-territories, which had
housed U.S. troops during the war against the Islamic State.
  WHO
 Rising role of China, India, France, Germany, and multi polar world

16. The raging bushfires of Australia give India and Australia a chance to deepen
their dialogue, including on energy. How far can the two countries seek amidst
a tragedy, an opportunity? Discuss.

 Bushfires in Australia

 affected more than 12 million hectares of land in Australia

 New South Wales has been the most severely hit, with more than 1.65m hectares razed,
an area significantly larger than suburban Sydney

 This year a natural weather phenomenon known as the Indian Ocean Dipole has meant
a hot, dry spell across the country.

 This year, Australia twice set a new temperature record: an average maximum of 41.9C
was recorded on 18 December. That comes on top of a long period of drought.
  Scientists have long warned that this hotter, drier climate will contribute to fires
becoming more frequent and more intense.
  The more extreme weather patterns and higher temperatures increase the risk of
bushfires and allow them to spread faster and wider.

Forest Survey of India released a report last year, analysing areas in India prone to fires. Out
of the total 7,12,249 square km of forest cover, 1,52,421 square km (21.40 percent) is
either highly or extremely fire prone. The forests of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Odisha
and Madhya Pradesh are most vulnerable. 29,547 fires were detected in 2019 using MODIS
(Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer) sensor data, according to the survey. 

IPCC: Globally, the length of fire season increased by nearly 19 percent between 1979 and
2013. In India, record breaking temperatures have driven an early start to forest fire season,
with most forest fires reported during summer season. Forest fires greatly increased in
number and extent between 2014 and 2018. 

India-Australia energy

Government of India will be officially releasing the Australia Economic Strategy (AES). This will
complement Australia’s India Economic Strategy 2035

Post India’s decision to exit from the RCEP trade deal, India aims to strengthen economic ties with
Australia.

In 2017, Australia shipped its first supply of uranium to India, after a deal which was signed in
2014. This is the first instance in which Australia is supplying uranium to a country that has not
signed the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). 
Shared values:
India largest source of skilled migrants to Australia
Both multi-cultural, federal democracies

Possible areas of dialogue:

 CC and extreme climatic events; role of fossil fuel; India had 2,081 deaths in 2018 due
to extreme weather events caused by climate change
 “clean” coal tech
 Australia is poised to overtake Qatar as the largest exporter of Liquified Natural Gas
(LNG). India can diversify the sourcing of its LNG supply with Australia
 ISA
 Water mgmt. tech
 Maritime tech and security (AUSINDEX and Malabar exercise)
 Skills nd higher edu

17. The rising tensions between US and China affords an opportunity for India to
secure some of its crucial interests. Do you agree? Analyse and comment

Rising tensions betn USA and China

 US has started imposing tariffs on as much as 25 percent on $34 billion in Chinese imports. 
China responded with retaliatory tariffs of 25% on US goods worth an equivalent $34 billion,
including soybean, automobiles, and marine products such as lobsters
 US also accused China of stealing American intellectual property and Chinese firms imitating
US technologies. Privacy issues-5G and Huawei
 Human rights issues: HongKong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 and the proposed
Uighur Act
 U.S. trade deficit with China was $375 billion in 2017
 US aimed at protectionist measures by China, especially its “Made in China 2025”
programme — an initiative to transform China into an advanced manufacturing
powerhouse.
 Trump has also accused China of subsidising steel exports in a practice termed dumping on
the rest of the world, which has hit jobs in the US.
 Corona

Opportunity for India

 India gained about $755 million in additional exports, mainly of chemicals, metals and ore, to the
US in the first half of 2019 due to the trade diversion effects of Washington's tariff war with
China, according to a study by the UN trade and investment body.
 Of the $300 billion in Chinese exports that are subject to US tariffs, only about 6% will be picked
up by firms in the US, according to a report released by the UN Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD). Here, India can be benefited along with other nations.
 India which runs a $51.08 billion trade deficit with China may stand to benefit. China imports
100 million metric tons of soybean from USA which serves as protein source and feeds its
food processing industry, this presents a huge opportunity for India.
  India may be able to gain some traction in textile, garments and gems and jewellery if
Chinese exports to the US slow down.
 India can become China’s software industry partner, as it looks to challenge USA’s digital
hegemony

According to the State Bank of India report-Ecowrap, India has scarcely benefited from the trade
war.
 China is facing pork shortage but India exports pork indirectly through Vietnam, increasing its
cost and reducing market share.
 The big three Chines high-tech companies, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent together invested $5bn
in India. India could use this opportunity to insist China open its market for the IT sector and other
tech exports.
 India has allowed all the players including Huawei to participate in the 5G trials but the
outcomes are far from over.
 With all that said, the U.S.-China tensions drive supply chains out of China, with the right policies
as Vietnam has done, India could emerge as an alternative destination.
 With the protests in Hong Kong showing no signs of abating, India may have to cater to refugees
of Indian origin if things turn uglier.
However, concerns exist:
 India is not a member of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum created by the U.S., Japan, and
Australia.
 India is also not a member of Blue Dot network created by the U.S., Japan, and Australia.
 In future India might have to reconcile its regional connectivity issues with BRI projects that have
mushroomed in the region.
 On the ideological fronts, China is so emboldened by its economic success that it seeks to
challenge the liberal democratic model and offers an alternative based on its own system.
 India might have to contend with the greater Chinese presence in the Asia-Pacific theatre

18. The Indian government should keep a cautious appreciation on developments in the Gulf,
looming west Asian crisis and prepare its own groundwork. Elucidate.

Plays in west asia

 USA pulling out of JCPOA->attack on military base near Kirkuk-> retaliation with killing of
Soleimani
 Syrian mess
 Open embrace of Israel by USA
 USA pulling out of Afghanistan- Doha agreement
 Abraham accords- normalisation agreements between Arab countries (UAE and Bahrain)
and Israel, for the first time in 26 yrs
 Kurd refugee crisis due to expulsion by Turkey
 Yemen humanitarian crisis cause by civil war in the country
 Drop in oil prices due to global lockdown, global focus on renewable energy

India’s stakes
 Iran-US conflict – oil supplies
o India has an 82.8% import dependence for crude oil and ~50% for natural
gas/LNG
o Iranian oil- 3rd largest exporter to India
 o negotiations on the Farzad-B gas field remain stuck. It was remained on paper
because of Iranian unhappiness over India’s stand in the IAEA.
o e Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar port: India has already committed about $85
million to Chabahar development with plans for a total of $500 million on the port,
while a railway line to Afghanistan could cost as much as $1.6 billion
o INSTC: iran to Russia- 7200 km multi-mode network- cutting down transportation
and time taken by trade by abt 30%
o SCO: If Iran is included, as suggested by China, SCO might be seen as anti-USA bloc
 West Asia at large
o Large Indian diaspora (more than 7-8 million NRIs are there in the Gulf
region) in West Asia and particularly in the Persian Gulf
o Evacuations from Kuwait (1990) and Libya (2011)
o Remittances- To India, largest global remittances of around $85 billion
come annually and almost more than 50% comes from this region
(contributing to around 2.6% of the Gross Domestic Product)
 Freedom of navigation- Strait of Hormuz

 India is no longer prepared to endorse the

Israel-Palestine:
exclusive Palestinian claims over the City but desires a
negotiated political settlement based on mutual respect and
accommodation.

 Yemen crisis: operation Raahat (evacuation, 2015)

 Terrorism: ISIS
 India’s commitment to human rights- Yemen

Way forward-
 Allowing Indian investment in rupees and initiating new banking channels to go ahead with
oil trade
 India and Iran are looking to swiftly conclude a preferential trade agreement and a bilateral
investment treaty
 leverage of their historical and civilizational relations

19. Mauritius was and is the “Star and Key of the Indian Ocean”. Examine the statement in the
light of changing geopolitics of the Indian ocean.

 Connections between India and Mauritius date back to 1730, diplomatic relations
were established in 1948 before Mauritius became an independent state .

 Change of view: diaspora angle-> strategic angle

 2015 SAGAR policy

Mauritius’ significance
 Geo strategic
o Indian coastal surveillance radar station- 2015 agreement- part of Indian Navy’s
National Command Control Communication Intelligence network
o if Delhi takes an integrated view of its security cooperation in the south western
Indian Ocean, Mauritius is the natural node for it.
 o As a member of the African Union, Indian Ocean Rim Association and the Indian
Ocean Commission, Mauritius is a stepping stone to multiple geographies
 Geo-economic
o India is Mauritius’s largest trading partner and has been the largest exporter of
goods and services to the Indian Ocean island nation since 2007.
o as new investments pour into Africa, Mauritius is where a lot of it gets serviced.
Mauritius can be the fulcrum for India’s own African economic outreach.
o Can be a pivot of India’s island policy esp wrt to vanilla islands (Comoros,
Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion and Seychelles)
o as a banking gateway, the hub for flights to and from Indian cities and tourism.
o Companies registered in Mauritius are the largest source of foreign direct
investment (FDI) into India, making it crucial for India to upgrade its bilateral tax
treaty
 Common challenges
o CC, SDG, blue economy
While declaring support for India’s maritime security plans, there is need to pointed out that small
nations are equally important in the contemporary world order and need to be taken seriously for
the sake of preserving the security and order

20. While presenting various editions of the Raisina dialogue , discuss what India hopes to
achieve through it and its significance of it to the world today

 Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging

issues facing the global community.
 Raisina emerged out of a recognition five years ago that Delhi did not have effective
international platforms of its own despite the globalisation of India’s economy
 fifth edition (born in 2016) of the prestigious event – Raisina dialogue was jointly organized
by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation
 Significance
o Born in the belief that the Asian century that the world was talking about was not
about any exclusiv e geographical region. It was rather about the engagement
of global actors with Asia and of Asia with the world
o Raisina Dialogue 2020 brings together 700 international participants from over 100
countries, Foreign Ministers from 12 countries are taking part in the Dialogue
o Raisina has been successful in drawing participants from countries that are at odds
with each other — US, China, Russia, Iran and the Gulf Arabs
o Beyond political leaders and government officials, it also drew technology leaders,
media personalities and policy wonks from around the world, providing Delhi an
opportunity to lay out its position on controversial moves in Kashmir and on
citizenship
o Raisina is facilitating the development of sustainable intellectual networks between
the Indian strategic community and its counterparts in the world
o Raisina was part of the strategy to recalibrate that discourse and discard the
traditional bureaucratic pretence that the government knows best. collaboration
between the government and a private think tank, has helped shed the dull rigidity
 that has marked the government’s past engagement with the global strategic
community
o It is predicated on India’s vital role in the Indian Ocean Region and how India along
with its partners can build a stable regional and world order
 Along with the Raisina Dialogue, the MEA had helped launch two other international forums
— one on technology policy in Bengaluru and another on business in Mumbai.
 Way forward
o Delhi needs a separate forum focused on India’s immediate neighbourhood
o While government-supported forums like Raisina are welcome, Delhi needs to make
it easier for the civil society groups to develop trans-border and international
conversations.

21. With much in common, the rising ties between India and Brazil will send out strong signals of
South-South cooperation. Explain

 India and Brazil share a very close and multifaceted relationship at bilateral level as well as in
plurilateral fora such as BRICS, BASIC, G-20, G-4, IBSA, International Solar Alliance, Bio future
Platform and in the larger multilateral bodies such as the UN, WTO, UNESCO and WIPO.
 Similarities- Both countries are multi-cultural, with a commitment to democracy; where the
leadership has a strong mandate and a compatible profile.
 Political cooperation
o bilateral strategic partnership, has opened a new phase for India-Brazil relations in
2006
o Brazil and India (along with Germany and Japan) jointly pursued aspirations of
permanent seats in the UN Security Council and worked towards a multipolar world
o Both countries played a pivotal role as leaders of the Global South or South-South
cooperation
o Brazilian foreign policy of reciprocal multilateralism is in concurrence with India’s
policy of strategic autonomy
 Cultural coop
o Brazil has a strong community of Yoga and Ayurveda practitionersled by The
Brazilian Association of Ayurveda (ABRA)
o Mahatma Gandhi is highly regarded in Brazil and the government and NGOs are
trying to inculcate the philosophy of non-violence among students, youth and police.
 Trade relations
o around $12 billion which is moderate. Aim to increase it 3X; conflicting strngths do
pose a problem though- India grows coffee which is Brazil’s major export; animal
feed is the major export of Brazil for which there is no market in India.
o Brazil is rich in minerals and agricultural resources. If we look at the future trade
there are possibilities like India might need to import pulses. India exports generic
drugs and other pharmaceutical products.
o Nellorebeef cattle originated from Ongole Cattle originally brought to Brazil from
India.
 Strategic relations
o India has bought Embraer aircraft from Brazil
o Brazil and India signed a bilateral ‘Defence Cooperation Agreement’ in 2003 that
calls for cooperation in defence-related matters
 o Brazil has a space programme which was stared at a time when India started it. But
India has gone far ahead. From time to time ISRO has offered technical knowhow to
Brazil.

Strong signals of South-South Coop/ future prospects

 Brazil’s number one export to India is crude oil, but, mind you, it is experiencing an oil
production boom and will be amongst the top-5 oil producing countries in the world over
the next decade.
 As a large producer of sugarcane, Brazil started a bioethanol programme which is highly
effective and is a means of bio-energy which can fire up thermal cogeneration plants. One
resultant by-product are bio-pellets (a substitute for coal) and a means of clean energy, the
urgent need of the hour in India
 In wind energy, Brazil is the cheaperst source; a Brazilian company manufacturing wind
turbine generators WEG is already in India. This resource can be fully tapped.
 Brazil is not only self-sufficient in food production, but exports commodities including pulses
to the Indian market
 ingredients for an all-encompassing relationship are, therefore, in place. Now, the two
countries must repose trust in each other. India can start with a clean slate, having opted
out of trade agreements, to put in place a bilateral framework/ agreement. This will be a
“First” as we look beyond our neighbourhood principle
 “India and Brazil are key players in the international energy landscape, both as consumers
and producers. joining hands can create an international biofuel market and supply our
planet with renewable and clean energy

22. What do you understand by Asian Century?Explain and discuss what are the opportunities
for India amidst the growing significance of Asia

 Asian Century refers to the dominant role that Asia is expected to play in the 21st century
due to its burgeoning economy and demographic trends. concept of the Asian Century
gained credence following the rapid economic growth of China and India since the 1980s,
which propelled both of them to the ranks of the world’s largest economies. After a gap of
200 years, Asian economies are again larger than the rest of the world’s combined.
 parallels the characterisation of the 19th century as Britain's Imperial Century, and the
20th century as the American Century and Pax Sovietica.
 Growing significance of Asia
o China, in 2013, after attaining 15% of global wealth, announced the multilateral Belt
and Road Initiative (BRI) and in 2014, launched the Asian Infrastructure Investment
Bank, challenging the global governance paradigm
o In 2015, emerging India established the International Solar Alliance
o United States has recognised the ‘Asian Century’ bypassing multilateralism; its direct
dealings with China and India and the Indo-Pacific construct are examples
o Next Eleven (N-11) identified by Goldman Sachs as having a high potential of
becoming, along with the BRICs/BRICS, the world's largest economies in the
21st century. All but 3 are Asian
23. What do you understand by war crimes? What steps can a country take in case its cultural
property is threatened? Discuss in detail the safeguards available to a country under various
conventions

 According to the United Nations, a war crime is a serious breach of international law
committed against civilians or “enemy combatants” during an international or domestic
armed conflict.
 A war crime occurs when superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering is inflicted upon an
enemy. In contrast with genocide and crimes against humanity, war crimes have to occur in
the context of armed conflict
 Instances of threats to cultural heritage
o Siege of Dubrovnik in 1991-92 by the Yugoslav People’s Army: old town of Dubrovnik
in Croatia was targeted in an attempt to wipe out Croatian history
o In 2001, the Taliban destroyed statutes of the Buddha carved into sandstone cliffs in
Bamiyan, Afghanistan, betn 3rd-6th cen AD
o In 2006, the UN and the Cambodian government established the Khmer Rouge
Tribunal to prosecute the destruction of Cambodia’s cultural assets that included
mosques, churches and temples
o In 2015, the IS captured and destroyed the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
 Steps can a country take in case its cultural property is threatened:
o Following the unparalleled destruction of cultural heritage in World War II, the
nations of the world adopted at The Hague in 1954, The Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the first such
international treaty. It entered into force in 1956
o Geneva Convention Protocol I: renders unlawful “any acts of hostility directed
against the historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute
the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples.”
o Rome Statute of 1998, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court,
describes as a “war crime” any intentional attack against a historical monument, or a
building dedicated to religion, education, art, or science.
o Article 8 of the Rome Statute says war crimes include “intentionally directing attacks
against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives”
o 122 countries are States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court. The United States is a signatory that has not ratified the Statute. India has
neither signed nor ratified the Statute.

24. Why has the U.S. crippled the functioning of the WTO? Discuss in detail the reasons for US
actions and efforts to revive the appellate body
 Resolving trade disputes has been one of the core functions of the WTO. When countries
cannot resolve matters with their trading partners, they show up at the door of the WTO.
The Appellate Body(AB), one of the highest adjudicating bodies of the international trade
world, hears disputes brought by WTO members. After more than two decades, this
mechanism is now under duress.
 Importance of WTO Appellate body
o issued rulings in almost 200 disputes involving bananas, cotton, aircraft etc.
o solved cases involving trade remedies like CVD, anti-dumping measures, use of
zeroing methodology etc.
o given teeth and credibility to the rules-based multilateral trading system
 USA has crippled functioning the WTO
o U.S. chose to spike the Appellate Body by resorting to starving funds for its
functioning as well as blocking the selection process for filling six vacancies
o Consequently, the Appellate Body is left with only one member, who will not be able
to deliver any rulings on the pending trade disputes
o A minimum of three members are required to adjudicate any dispute
 Reasons for USA’s actions
o Several U.S. provisions for imposing countervailing and anti-dumping measures were
found to be inconsistent with core provisions of the WTO agreements.
o Washington has repeatedly accused the Appellate Body of allegedly straying away
from the dispute settlement understanding (DSU) in several disputes
o USA has maintained that the Appellate Body failed to issue rulings within the 90-day
deadline
o suggested that “some Appellate Body members view themselves as ‘appellate
judges’… serving on a ‘World Trade Court’ that is the ‘centrepiece’ of the WTO
dispute settlement system … rather than one component of it.”
 Way forward
o needs to strengthen the dispute settlement mechanism as there are issues in
appointment of judges in new appellate body
o introducing wider consultations. It has been a long-standing complaint by the
smaller participants that the consultations or decision making is limited to the green
room of DG of WTO.
o need for the structural reform in the WTO functioning as multilateral trading system.
Despite WTO being a democratic organization, there is a need to make it more
effective
o developing countries must work collaboratively to strengthen WTO to collaborate
effectively and learn from the past experiences when India and China led the
developing countries in environmental forums, garnering funds in the form of GCF.

25. India’s unsettled boundaries pose major problems in its policy towards its neighbors,
especially China and Pakistan. Critically analyse

 India- China: 3300/4000 km is disputed;

 Unsettled boundaries and major problems posed:
 increased cross-border terrorism
 infiltration and ex-filtration of armed militants
 emergence of non-state actors
 nexus between narcotics traffickers and arms smugglers
 left-wing extremism
 separatist movements aided and abetted by external powers

 Structural measures needed

o Infrastructure along with border has to be improved – rail connectivity along
with road connectivity has to be provided for quick mobilization
o CIBMS (Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System); As per
the 11th Five-Year Plan, the Centre has taken up the task of setting up
 integrated check posts at 13 locations on the Indo-Pakistan, Indo-Nepal, Indo-
Bangladesh and Indo-Myanmar borders. Some have been operationalised .
 Smart border fencing projects built under CIBMS is the first if its kind
in the country
o Can learn from formation of the Department of Homeland Security,
equivalent to a ministry of the government in India, meant exclusively for
management of land and coastal borders. The formation of the department
was the biggest government reorganisation following the 9/11 attacks. It
involved the merger of 22 agencies .
o Improving healthcare, physical infrastructure and digital connectivity in villages
around borders thus making them stakeholder in Border Management
o Madhav Godbole task force recommendations on border management need to
be implemented.
 e CRPF should be designated as the primary national level
counterinsurgency force. This would enable the other central
paramilitary forces like the BSF and IndoTibetan Border Police to return
to their primary role of better border management
 also recommended that all paramilitary forces managing unsettled
borders should operate directly under the control of the army and that
there should be lateral induction from the army to the paramilitary
forces so as to enhance their operational effectiveness
 principle of ‘single point control’ must be followed if the borders are to
be effectively managed
 advances in surveillance technology, particularly satellite and aerial
imagery, can help to maintain a constant vigil
 Policy measures
o India and China- reinforce communication and coordination in international
affairs and make the international order more just and equitable”
o Seeking mutually acceptable resolutions on the differences with due respect for
each other’s sensitivities, concerns and aspirations

26. Regardless of present challenges, the latent resources of the north eastern region can add to
the development goals of the country. Elaborate.

 A World Bank report has projected strong long-term potential for India’s Northeast, with a
little handholding from the central government and viability-gap funding
 Potential of NER
o Hydropower potential of nearly 50,000 MW, natural gas reserves of 190 billion cubic
metres, coal reserves of over 900 million tonnes and oil reserves of over 500 million
tonnes
o Surrounded by five countries, NER shares a phenomenal international border of
5,182 kilometres; India’s gateway to east, vital for India’s Act East policy
o Tourism- NPs; high potential for service industries as well- literacy on higher side-
Tripura and Mizoram one of the highest in India
o Rising sectors of renewable energy and organic farming
 Challenges
o Only a third of NER is plain- mostly valleys of Brahmputra, Barak and Imphal
o Frequent flooding- avg annual rainfall 250cm
o About 5-6000 sq km of land lost due to erosion by rivers
 o deficient in iron, aluminium, copper, zinc, tin, lead and nickel; also in mica and
sulphur
o Coal reserves are o poor grade
o Even though first oil well of Asia was dug up in Diboi, Assam, oil prodn from region
forms only around 20-30% of total oil production in India
o Continuous migration-> population has grown at twice the national rate
o Located near the golden triangle-> vulnerable to drug trade
o Insurgency and Chinese incursions.
o Complicated land laws

Govt initiatives
 Setting up NE Council (1971), MoDONER (2001)
 Sector specific agencies like NEDFCL (MSMEs), NERAMAC (agri) and NEHHDC (Handicrafts
and Handlooms)
 Non Lapsable Central pool of resources (NLCPR) fr NE
 NE Special Infra Development scheme- 100% centrally funded
 National Bamboo mission
 Act east policy- Kaladan multi modal transit project, Rih-Tedim project and Border haats
 UDAn scheme for connectivity

27. Financial inclusion is increasingly being recognized as a key driver of economic growth and
poverty alleviation the world over. Discuss the efforts being made by India in this direction

 Financial inclusion may be defined as the process of ensuring access to financial

services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as
weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost.
 Importance of Financial inclusion
o Access to formal finance can boost job creation, reduce vulnerability to economic
shocks and increase investments in human capital.
o Seven of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of 2030 view
financial inclusion as a key enabler for achieving sustainable development
worldwide
o lack of financial inclusion forces the unbanked into informal banking sectors where
interest rates are higher
o financial inclusion increases the amount of available savings, increases efficiency of
financial intermediation, and allows for tapping new business opportunities.
 Initiatives
o Jan Dhan-Aadhar-Mobile (JAM) Trinity
 As per the estimates in March 2020, the total number of beneficiaries
under Jan Dhan scheme have been more than 380 million.
 Overdraft facility
 Aadhaar has not only brought about a secure and easily verifiable
system but also easy to obtain as well to help in the financial inclusion
process
o Insurance support schemes: Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Beema yojana,
Suraksha bima yojana
o Economic venture support
 PM-Mudra yojana
 Stand up India scheme
 o Old age support/pension schemes: Atal pension yojana, National pension
schemes for traders and self employed
o Income support schemes- PM-KISAN
o CRISIL Index- India’s first financial inclusion index measures progress on financial
inclusion down to the level of each of the 666 districts in the country.
o Promotion of digital banking initiatives
o Banking initiatives by RBI- SFBs, Payment banks
 Keeping in view the global trend, Reserve Bank of India under the aegis of Financial Inclusion
Advisory Committee (FIAC) initiated the process of formulation of National Strategy for
Financial Inclusion (NSFI) for the period 2019-2024

28. Is India witnessing erosion of civil liberties in the country? Critically analyse the secret
transition from the tag of world’s largest democracy to a flawed democracy’ in the backdrop
of recently released Democracy Index.

 The “State of Democracy in the World in 2018” index report titled “Me Too? Political
participation, protest and democracy” was published recently by the Economist Intelligence
Unit (EIU). India was ranked 41,but this yr sipped 10 positions to 51 st- a mid-range country
among flawed democracies.
 Five categories
o Electoral pluralism- value decreased
o Govt- value remained same
o Political participation- value decreased
o Political culture-remained same
o Civil liberties- decreased
 According to the last two reports, there is a rise of “conservative religious ideologies” in the
country
 Vigilantism, violence, narrowing scope for dissent, threat to minorities and marginalised
groups has affected India’s ranking
 On the CAA, the report says, “The new citizenship law has enraged the
large Muslim population, stoked communal tensions and generated large
protests in major cities.”
 As per the report erosion of civil liberties is the main reason

29. Biotechnology in cotton, post its introduction, has led to transformational changes in India’s
cotton cultivation. Do you agree? Comment.

 BT Cotton is a genetically modified organism or genetically modified pest-resistant variety of

cotton. Genetically Modified (GM) pest resistant BT cotton hybrids have captured the Indian
market since their introduction in 2002
 To produce the GM Cotton, the gene coding for Bt toxin (Cry-1-ac) has been inserted into
cotton, causing cotton to produce this natural insecticide in its tissues. By this, the larvae are
killed by the Bt protein in the GM cotton they eat. This eliminates the need to use large
amounts of broad-spectrum insecticides to kill various pesticides
 Advantages
o Bt technology has brought down the use of pesticides by about 50%
 o helped increase cotton yields by over 1.8 times — from 241 kg/hectare in 2002-2003
to 541 kg/hectare in 2018-2019
o significant increase in farmer incomes from higher yields and reduced pesticide use
has generated additional farm income of over ₹42,300 crore.
o India is moving to first place as the largest producer of cotton in the world; net
importer to net exporter; making India the world’s second largest cotton producer
and exporter by doubling cotton production over the past decade
o Additional incomes were generated from cotton seeds oil (1.3 million tons) and
cotton seed oil meal (11 million tons) worth ₹13,000 crore and ₹22,000 crore,
respectively
o Female workers on Bt cotton fields earned an average 55% higher income
o 85% of hybrid Bt cotton seed farmers and farm laborers invested in better education
for children; 77% reported better intake of nutritious food; 75% reported better
health of their family members; 64% invested on the health of livestock;
 Issues
o Loss caused by the pink bollworm infestation have raised questions about the
sustainability of GM cotton, which accounts for over 90% of all cotton grown in the
country
o perceived adverse ecological, bio-safety measures and health implications.
o also plagued by use of illegal herbicide-tolerant Bt cotton seeds. no substantial
difference between transgenic Bt and control nonBt cotton with regard to their
weediness potential
o Bt cotton hybrids do not have any toxic effects on the non -target species such as
sucking pests
o The growing number of farmers committing suicides in some cotton growing states
has reignited the protests against the Bt Cotton. Normal cotton seed is largely
unavailable to Indian farmers because of Monsanto’s control of the seed market.
 India is a signatory to international treaties on GMO regulation (the Convention on Biological
Diversity, and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety), which specifically provide for inclusion
of socioeconomic considerations in GMO risk assessment. However, socioeconomic and
need-based considerations have not been a part of GMO regulatory process in India.
 some of the major cotton-producing countries such as Brazil (until 2012) and Turkey (up to
the present) have achieved high productivity without the use of GM cotton by using
alternative pest-management approaches.

30. Rural India has been witnessing slowdown, and one of the key factors contributing to it has
been the fund crunch in the schemes addressing jobs in rural India. In such a scenario,
discuss what way MGNREGA can prove to be an effective solution?

 rural India which contributes around 45 percent to India’s GDP

 rural India slowdown
o Wage rates in rural India has been declining since 2014. Before 2013, the rural wage
rate were growing at 8 to 9 percent, in 2013-14, it was 13 percent, thereafter, it was
declined to 1 percent per year.
o Demonetisation- MSMEs shutdown, agri transactions done in cash-disrupted
o Low food prices (WPI Food index grew at annual rate of just 3% betn 2013-2018 as
compared to 12% betn 2008-13) plus monsoon uncertainties
o Slow growth rate of non-farm income (60% of rural GDP) i.e. <4%
 o While real wages in agricultural occupations declined by 0.5
per cent in two years to June 2019, rural and urban
consumption expenditure declined by over 4 per cent per
year between 2014-15 and 2017-18. 
o Consumption in rural India, which accounts for about a third of the market
o Limted beneficiaries of PM-KISAN, lower procurement despite hike in MSPs
 Usually, there are three ways to boost an economy — exports,
domestic consumption and government spending. While exports
from India have been stagnating for over five years, the central
government does not have the fiscal space to increase government
spending sufficiently.
 Other possible tools- increasing MSPs and income support like PM-
KISAN have their own drawbacks. Increasing MSP distorts food
prices, plus no infrastr in present for keeping the already procured
foodgrains, let alone procure more. In case of PM-KISAN, the
beneficiaries have been declining as well. The fact that it does not
cver landless and tenant farmers is a separate issue. recently
released RBI report on state finances 2018-19 pointed out, the
success of these schemes is dependent on underlying conditions
like completing the digitisation of land records and linking them to
bank accounts.
 MGNREGA was launched in 2006 in order to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed
employment to rural households
 Benefits-
o By design MGNREGA is a demand driven scheme,
o coverage is wider than PM-KISAN
o important rle in improving productivity on agri land eg. irrigation facilities, livestock
sheds
o Another national study found that, even after deficiencies in implementation,
MGNREGS may have improved nutrition outcomes.
o A 2018 study of a better-implemented version of MGNREGS in Andhra Pradesh,
where there was significantly less leakage or payment delays, estimated that
MGNREGS increased income households’ earnings by 13% and decreased poverty by
17%
 In 2018-19, demand was registered from 5.88 crore households, and
5.27 crore of them were provided work.
 person-days of work generated: >250 cr in 2018-19
 The cost of providing a day’s work to a single person has been taken
at an average of Rs 249.86 for 2019-20. However, this means that
govt allocation of 60000 cr will fall far short from that required for
giving jobs to the no. of people Govt targets i.e. >310cr person days
 Updating basket of CPI-AL is an immediate need so that it better reflects expenditure
requirements in modern times. Presently, it’s 2/3 rd food.
 Delay in wage payments
 Stagnancy is wage at levels lower than state minimum wages

31. Do you agree that the recent move to amend the MTP Act, 1971 is a progressive step
towards empowerment of women as it looks beyond mere termination of pregnancy and
aims to assure greater reproductive rights to women? Evaluate.

 Currently, 26 countries in the world do not permit abortions and 39 allow it only
when the mother’s life is at risk.
 present abortion law, which is about five decades old, permits abortion up to a maximum
foetal gestation period of 20 weeks. In recent years, there have been strong demands to
raise the foetal gestation period for abortion beyond 20 weeks
 According to the Lancet Global Health report, 15.6 million abortions occurred in 2015 in
India, of which 78% were not conducted inside health facilities. A 2015 study in the Indian
Journal of Medical Ethics has observed that 10-13% of maternal deaths in India can
be attributed to unsafe abortions.
 Conditions wherein abortion was allowed, even upto 20 weeks
o continuance of pregnancy risks the life of the woman or may result in grave physical
or mental injury.
o substantial possibility of the child being born with physical or mental abnormalities,
as to be seriously handicapped
 Changes in amendment
o seek to increase the upper limit for termination of a pregnancy from 20 weeks to 24
weeks
o seeks to extend the contraceptive-failure clause for termination to include “any
woman or her partner” from the present provision for “only married woman or her
husband”
o proposes requirement of opinion of one registered medical practitioner (RMP) for
termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks of gestation
o requirement of opinion of two RMPs for termination of pregnancy of 20 to 24 weeks
o seeks to increase the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for survivors of rape,
victims of incest , differently abled women and minors.
o The Indian amendment says there is no limit for gestational age in case of
fetal abnormalities. This addresses maternal mortality and morbidity
arising from unsafe abortions.
 Need for further data gathering and a uniform framework across states though
health is state subject
 Developments in medical science which include medical abortion pills and vacuum
aspiration which allow for safer abortions in advanced stages of pregnancy have
found no legal resonance in the MTP Act.
32. The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the introduction of African cheetahs into the Indian
forests is a significant step forward in the conservation of the breed. Comment.

 Plea by NTCA, seeking permission to introduce the African cheetah from Namibia
 Backgrnd
o initial plans were to bring the cheetahs to Gajner Wildlife Sanctuary
o May 2012, the top court had stalled the plan to initiate the foreign cheetahs into the
Palpur Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh fearing they may come into conflict with
a parallel and a much-delayed project to reintroduce lions into the same sanctuary.
o (NTCA) had previously told the Supreme Court that African cheetahs would be
translocated in India from Namibia and would be kept at Nauradehi wildlife
sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.
o India is also in talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran over the possibility of sending a
pair of Asiatic cheetahs to India.
 Reasons for extinction of cheetah:
o  Cheetah was declared extinct from India in 1952 and is considered the only large
mammal that has gone extinct since the country’s independence.
o  According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red
List, cheetah’s population is ‘vulnerable’ witnessing a decreasing trend with only less
than 7,000 of them left in the wild globally.
o  The reasons for extinction can all be traced to man’s interference. Problems like
human-wildlife conflict, loss of habitat and loss of prey, and illegal trafficking, have
decimated their numbers.
o  The advent of climate change and growing human populations have only made
these problems worse.
o  With less available land for wildlife, species that require vast home range like the
cheetah are placed in competition with other animals and humans, all fighting over
less space
 Significance of reintroduction
o Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognised as a strategy
to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions
o India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for
ethical as well as ecological reasons.

33. Discuss the objectives of National Tribal Youth Exchange Programme. Why should the tribal
pockets be mainstreamed? Explain

 Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan organizes Tribal Youth Exchange Programme for the
development of tribal youth with the support of Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. The
12th National Tribal Youth Exchange Programme was held in Puducherry recently. Tribal
youths will be visiting many places to know about the language, customs, culture, arts,
dressing patterns, food pattern and other aspects of Puducherry.
 Objectives
o an opportunity to the tribal youth of 30 selected districts of 07 states for exposure
visit to 10 different places of the country to understand the cultural ethos, language,
lifestyles of the people depicting Socio –economic & Cultural Development
o expose tribal youth to the technological and industrial advancement
 o To sensitize the tribal youth about their rich traditional & cultural heritage and
enable them to preserve it for the future generation.
o help the tribal youth to develop emotional linkages with their peer groups in other
part of the country and enhance their self-esteem.
o interactions with Hon’ble President of India, PM & CM, Governor & other VIPs, the
local communities, Panchayati Raj Institutions and the youths affiliated with the
NYKS Youth Clubs so as understand development issues, seek guidance for their
involvement in the process of development
o develop personality of the tribal youth by enhancing their understanding of Ten Core
Life Skills, identify their skill development oriented training needs and fulfilment of
their legitimate career aspirations through Employable Skills
o provide literature on developmental schemes of the Centre & State pertaining to
tribals
 Need for tribal youth to be mainstreamed:
o tribes who are residing in the remote corners of the nation are not having first-hand
information about what is happening elsewhere in the country
o If the student and youth communities are getting sufficient information and
opportunities to interact with their peer groups in other parts of the nation, the
extremist activities among them can be curtailed.

34. The NITI Aayog’s proposed 15-year plan for Indian healthcare entitled “Health Systems for a
New India: Building Blocks — Potential Pathways to Reform” is a welcome move to improve
the state of the healthcare system in India. Comment.

 report makes otherwise commendable proposals for health system strengthening including
elimination of informality, merging of fragmented risk pools, and reduction of out-of-pocket
health spending.
 four key areas -- health system risk pool financing, health services,
organisation, and digital health care
 Highlights
o move towards UHC: discretely mentioned that PM-JAY should be considered
with an eye on its potential to influence the overall healthcare
transformation in India
o Changing the health financing away from out of pocket expenditure into large
insurers: currently 64% OoP;
o Empowering citizens to become better buyers of health by educating them of the
options available: Today, a TB patient might have to go to 3-4 providers before
getting accurately diagnosed and treated
o Harnessing the power of digital health: India requires its own widely accepted data
standards, platforms for data exchange across hospital information systems and
health insurance information systems. A powerful IT backbone can also provide real-
time information on expenditures, utilization, fraud, quality metrics and drive more
value for money for India’s limited health expenditure. Given the IT powerhouse of
India, this should be leveraged effectively
o Targeted bridging of most critical delivery gaps- eg. C-section rates are less than 2%
in many districts of INdia
o Integrating service delivery vertically and horizontally.
  nearly 98% of healthcare providers have less than 10 employees is identified as a negative
trait, to be dealt with through a set of incentives and disincentives favouring consolidation.
 it could portend a commodification of healthcare from the bottom-up
 Introducing Attitude, Ethics, and Communication (AETCOM) in the revised undergraduate
medical curriculum is a welcome step and this needs to be progressively emphasized on in
healthcare service delivery.

35. A multi-sectorial and community-led approach driving a national movement is the need of
the hour to end TB by 2025 in the country”, Comment on the above statement in the
backdrop of India still acclaimed to host highest TB burden in the world.

 Tuberculosis (TB) remains the biggest killer disease in India, outnumbering all other
infectious diseases put together — this despite our battle against it from 1962, when the
National TB Programme (NTP) was launched.

TB Situation in India:
 Tuberculosis incidence rate in India has decreased by almost 50,000 patients over the past one
year (26.9 lakh TB patients in India in 2018).
 Incidence per 1,00,000 population has decreased from 204 in 2017 to 199 in 2018.
 Number of patients being tested for rifampicin resistance has increased from 32% in 2017 to 46%
in 2018.
 Treatment success rate has increased to 81% for new and relapse cases (drug sensitive) in 2017,
which was 69% in 2016.

India’s efforts to eliminate TB:

 In 2018, Indian government launched Joint Effort for Elimination of Tuberculosis (JEET), to
increase the reporting of TB cases by the private sector.
 National Strategic Plan (NSP) for TB Elimination (2017-2025) was launched in 2017. The
government also called for the elimination of TB by 2025, five years prior to the international target
(2030).
o The NSP plans to provide incentives to private providers for following the standard protocols for
diagnosis and treatment as well as for notifying the government of cases.
o Further, patients referred to the government will receive a cash transfer to compensate them for
the direct and indirect costs of undergoing treatment and as an incentive to complete treatment.
 “Nikshay,” (2012) an online tuberculosis reporting system for medical practitioners and clinical
establishments was set up. The aim is to increase the reporting of tuberculosis, especially from the
private sector.
 In 1992, the WHO devised the Directly Observed Treatment-Short Course (DOTS) strategy and
advised all countries to adopt the strategy to combat the menace of tuberculosis
 The Indian government has been implementing Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant TB
(PMDT) services, for the management of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and TB-HIV
collaborative activities for TB-HIV

 Challenges to TB free india by 2025

o Poor socio economic conditions: According to GTB Report, 2018, a majority of TB
patients (6lakhs) in India are attributable to undernourishment; Concerted efforts
should be made to address the issues of undernourishment, diabetes, alcohol and
tobacco use.
 o Uner-reporting and misdiagnosis- India accounts for 26% of the 3.6 million global
gap in the reporting of tuberculosis cases. The Kochi Model– Increasing TB cases
reporting from private sector
o Inequitable access Treatment- std TB treatment is not followed uniformly across the
pvt sector; absence of consistent follow-up of treatment regimens and outcomes
may result in relapse of cases and MDR-TB and XDR-T
o DR TB- access to drugs for MDR-TB like Bedaquiline is low
o RNTCP remains inadequately funded. Joint Monitoring Mission report of 2015
pointed out that the RNCTP failed to achieve both the main goals of NSP 2012-2017-
Providing universal access to early diagnosis and treatment and improving case
detection
o Social stigma: To ensure public participation — a missing element in the RNTCP —in
public-private participation mode, Mass awareness campaigns like ‘TB Harega Desh
Jeetega’ can play an important role in breaking social taboos regarding TB.

36. India, facing the double burden of malnutrition, has taken several steps to address it and in
spite of the progress made, there are still challenges facing India in the fight. Explain why
and also suggest suitable steps that need to be assimilated in India’s efforts

 Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy

and/or nutrients. double burden of malnutrition is the coexistence of overnutrition
(overweight and obesity) alongside undernutrition (stunting and wasting)
 Initiatives by Govt
o ICDS: reducing undernutrition in preschool children
o Universal salt iodisation under national Iodine Deficiency Control programme, 1992
o NHM- JSY, Matritva SAhyog Yojana, SABLA for adolescent girls, Mid day meal
scheme, TPDS, NFSA
o NNM-More than 10 crore people are likely to be benefitted by this programme
o POSHAN Abhiyyan- through the use of technology, a targeted approach and
convergence strives to reduce the level of stunting, undernutrition, anemia and low
birthweight in children, as also, focus on adolescent girls, pregnant women and
lactating mothers
 Challenges still facing India
o more than half the women of childbearing age are anaemic and 33 per cent are
undernourished, according to NFHS 2006. A malnourished mother is more likely to
give birth to malnourished children
o worst in Asia in wasting and one of the worst in stunting despite considerable
improvements
o sanitation
 Reasons
o Communicable and preventable diseases: Most child deaths in India occur from
treatable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and complications at birth
o delivery system is also inadequate and plagued by inefficiency and corruption. Some
analysts estimate that 40 per cent of the subsidized food never reaches the intended
recipients
 Measures needed
o Anganwadi system-backbone of India’s nutrition target
o Primary health infra esp public sector
o Agri diversification
o Targeting efficiency of food safety nets should be improved
o Food fortification
 o Behavioural modification- Child feeding practices, breastfeeding, eradicating open
defecation

37. As outrage continues over the deaths of Newborns in parts of states like Rajasthan and
Gujarat, the fact remains that India has the most child deaths in the world. Explain what
happened in these regions and why does India have such a high child death rate.

Mortality rates in India:  India has an annual birth cohort of approximately 26 million.  The infant
mortality rate (IMR) in the country currently stands at 33 per 1,000 live births.  This means babies
numbering in the region of 8,50,000 die every year in India, or an average daily toll to 2,350. 
Gujarat has an annual birth cohort of 1.2 million. In 2017, the infant mortality rate in the state was
30 per 1,000 live births. This means the state sees about 36,000 deaths a year, or an average 98 a
day.  In Rajasthan, an estimated 1.65 million births take place every year. The infant mortality rate
is 38 per 1000 live births which implies an estimated 62,843 deaths annually, or an average 172
every day.

More than 600 infants died in childcare wards of government hospitals in Rajasthan and Gujarat
since December 1, 2019, official records showed.  main reasons for such deaths were premature
delivery, low birth weight, as well as infection and asphyxiation in infants referred to the hospital
Reasons
 Maternal-
o Malnourished mother0 50% anaemic
o Ae at the time of childbirth: infant and under-five mortality rates are highest among
mothers under age 20.
o Lack of critical care- large reproductive population of 2.6 crore remains bereft of
care during the critical phases of pregnancy. Acc to NFHS-4 only 78.9% births in India
happen in a facility.
 Child health-
o Undernutrtion
o vaccination cover in India after several rounds of Intensified Mission Indradhanush
(MI) and the original MI, now stands at 87%. This means over 33 lakh children
continue to miss out on some or all vaccinations every year.
o Sex selective care

More than 80 per cent of newborn deaths can be saved with: o Provide clean water, disinfectants o
Breastfeeding within the first hour o Good nutrition

38. In the backdrop of the recently released Pratham’s Annual Status of Education Report,
Deliberate if India’s learning crisis is linked to the weakness of the country’s pre-primary
education system? Present your opinion and explain the deficiencies in India’s Education
system and how children have fallen short on basic learning skills.
 ASER 2019 reported on the pre-schooling or schooling status of children in the
age group 4 to 8 years in 26 rural districts across 24 states. report focuses on
the “early years”
 

children’s performance on 4 competencies that are identified as important predictors of future

success, viz.

o Cognitive Development,
o Early Language,
o Early Numeracy, and
o Social and Emotional Development.

Findings of ASER Report 2019:

 defined globally as age 0-8, is known to be the most important stage of cognitive,
motor, social and emotional development in the human life cycle.
 ASER data shows that children’s performance on tasks requiring cognitive skills
is strongly related to their ability to do early language and numeracy tasks.
  suggests that focussing on play-based activities that build memory, reasoning and
problem-solving abilities is more productive than an early focus on content
knowledge.
 Early childhood education has the potential to be the “greatest and most powerful
equaliser”.
 of those children who could correctly do all three cognitive tasks, 52%
could read words, and 63% could solve the addition problem. among
those who could correctly do none or only one of the tasks requiring
cognitive skills, about 14% could read words, while 19% could do single
digit addition. shows that children’s performance on tasks requiring
cognitive skills is strongly related to their ability to do early language and
numeracy tasks
 Only 16% of children in Class 1 can read the text at the prescribed level,
while almost 40% cannot even recognise letters.
 Of 6 year olds in Class 1, nearly 42% of those in private schools could read
words in comparison to only 19% from government schools. This gap is
further exacerbated by a gender divide.
  Determinants of learning outcomes

o older children perform better than younger one. The report stated
that half of all 7 and 8-year-olds can do a 1-digit numerical
subtraction problem correctly. Children’s foundational skills
improve in each subsequent grade. In line with this, the RTE / the
Right to Education Act has recommended that all admissions under
RTE to Class 1 be done after completion of 6 years. However, in
reality 4 out of every 10 children entering Class I are less than 5
years old.
 o mother’s education: among children in the early years (ages 0-8),
those with mothers who had completed eight or fewer years of
schooling are more likely to be attending anganwadis or
government pre-primary classes.
o Type of school: Of 6 year olds in Class 1, nearly 42% of those in
private schools could read words in comparison to only 19% from
government schools. This gap is further exacerbated by a gender
divide. Higher preference for govt schools for girl child while
preference for pvt schools for boys
Recommendations

 Strengthening and expansion of the existing network of Anganwadi Centres

 Age of students play an important role in development of language,

numeracy, social and emotional learning

 Enrolling students in primary grades at right age important for overall

development

 Age group between 4 to 8 years seen as continuous progressive stages, so

curriculum development should be done in accordance with it.

39. Along with immunization, a comprehensive approach has to be designed for dengue cases
for efficient and effective vector control management. Comment.

 Vector-borne diseases are human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses and

bacteria that are transmitted by vectors. Dengue is a vector-borne disease
because the transmission of dengue requires mosquitoes (Aedes Egypti) as
vectors(carriers). Currently there is no concrete and effective vaccine (except
Dengvaxia in US) against dengue and no specific treatment for the disease,
controlling and preventing dengue fever outbreaks are essential steps for
keeping the majority populace healthy.
 Statistics:
o vector-borne diseases account for more than 17% of all infectious
diseases, causing more than 700 000 deaths annually.
 o burden of these diseases is highest in tropical and subtropical areas,
and they disproportionately affect the poorest populations

No. of deaths
300

250

200

150

100

50

0
2013 2015 2016 2017

Dengue Chikungunya Malaria

WHO promotes the strategic approach known as Integrated Vector Management (IVM) to control
mosquito vectors, including those of dengue.

Environmental Management
 Solid waste management: In the context of dengue vector control, “solid waste” refers mainly to
non-biodegradable items of household, community and industrial waste.
 Street cleansing: A reliable and regular street cleansing system that removes discarded water-
bearing containers and cleans drains to ensure they do not become stagnant and breed mosquitoes
will both help to reduce larval habitats of Ae. aegypti and remove the origin of other urban pests.
 Building structures: During the planning and construction of buildings and other infrastructure,
and through legislation and regulation, opportunities arise to modify or reduce potential larval
habitats of urban disease vectors, including Ae. aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus and An. stephensi.

Chemical Management
 Larvicide: Larviciding should be considered as complementary to environmental management and
– except in emergencies – should be restricted to containers that cannot otherwise be eliminated or
managed.
 Adulticide: Methods of chemical control that target adult vectors are intended to impact on
mosquito densities, longevity and other transmission parameters. Adulticides are applied either as
residual surface treatments or as space treatments.
 Space spraying is recommended for control only in emergency situations to suppress an ongoing
epidemic or to prevent an incipient one. The objective of space spraying is the massive, rapid
destruction of the adult vector population.
 Indoor residual spraying (IRS) is the application of long-acting chemical insecticides on the walls
and roofs of all houses and domestic animal shelters in a given area, in order to kill the adult vector
mosquitoes that land and rest on these surfaces The Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) of
India has witnessed major breakthrough in the recent times, Elaborate on the progress made so far
and discuss the way ahead.
Bio-control

Against Aedes, a selection of larvivore fish species and predatory copepods (small freshwater
crustaceans) are effective against the immature larval stages of vector mosquitoes. Wolbachia:

Wolbachia are extremely common bacteria that occur naturally in 60 per cent of insect species. This
method stops the virus from replicating inside the mosquitoes. This is called as population
replacement strategy.

Conclusion: The "Global Vector Control Response (GVCR) 2017–2030" was approved by the World
Health Assembly in 2017 for urgent strengthening of vector control as a fundamental approach to
preventing disease and responding to outbreaks. To achieve this a re-alignment of vector control
programmes is required, supported by increased technical capacity, improved infrastructure,
strengthened monitoring and surveillance systems, and greater community mobilization.

40. The Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) of India has witnessed major breakthrough in
the recent times, Elaborate on the progress made so far and discuss the way ahead.

 Mission Indradhanush was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
Government of India on December 25, 2014. Between 2009-2013 immunization
coverage has increased from 61% to 65%, indicating only 1% increase in coverage every
year. To accelerate the process of immunization by covering 5% and more children every
year, Indradhanush mission has been adopted to achieve target of full coverage by 2020.
The government’s comprehensive Multi-Year Plan for 2018-22 details a comprehensive
financial plan to fully immunise 26 million children and 30 million pregnant women with
life-saving vaccines.
 Progress of the scheme so far
o India’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is working both to increase
immunization coverage and to introduce new vaccines
o In the early 90s, India saw over two lakh cases of polio annually, but, after the
polio eradication programme was launched in 1994, India attained polio-free
status over the course of the next two decade due to concentrated efforts and
collaboration of the Government, international partners, civil society, health
workers and millions of volunteers.
o Since 2014, five new vaccines, including against two of the leading causes of
deaths in children under five in India — pneumonia and diarrhoea – were
introduced under the UIP, one of the largest such programmes in the world
o Rotavirus vaccine (RVV), which protects against a severe form of diarrhoea, was
scaled up in all states last year.
o as of September 2019, almost 1.3 million children has received all three doses of
PCV across 159 districts in the six states, with approximately 8.1 million children
targeted for 2019-20.
 Challenges ahead:
o In 2010, 0.56 million severe pneumococcal pneumonia episodes and 105
thousand pneumococcal pneumonia deaths had occurred in children younger
than 5 years of age in India
 o annual incidence of severe pneumococcal pneumonia in India was estimated to
be 4.8 episodes per 1,000 children younger than 5 years.
o Pneomococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), the costliest vaccine in the UIP basket,
currently covers only about 50 per cent of the 26 million birth cohort in
Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and
Rajasthan.
o vaccine being used in the UIP costs approximately $2.95/dose, which makes PCV
costlier than other UIP vaccines such as rotavirus vaccine ($1/dose), pentavalent
vaccine ($0.69/dose), and measles vaccine ($0.308-$0.318/dose).

41. For a sustainable Universal healthcare model, maintaining a balanced trade-off between
cost, quality and access to healthcare services is critical, Discuss in the context of India’s
Ayushman Bharat and suggest the key takeaways that India can borrow from the famous
Brazilian model of UHC.

 SDG 2
 Challenges in the Healthcare Value Chain of India
o While private healthcare caters to around 70% of India’s population there are
0.65 doctors, 1.3 nurses and 1.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people in the country
o Low Healthcare spending: Public health expenditure is still very low in India, at
around 1.3% of GDP in the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
o Acute shortage of skilled personnel
o twin burdens of communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
o even if we meet the WHO’s benchmark of one doctor for every 1,000 people in
the next six years, there is a large imbalance among individual states.
 Unified Health System (SUS) of Brazil:
o Unified Health System (SUS), which guaranteed free health coverage that
included pharmaceutical services, was written into the new Constitution in 1988
o In the last 30 years, Brazilians have experienced a drastic increase in health
coverage as well as outcomes: life expectancy has increased from 64 years to
almost 76 years, while Infant Mortality Rate has declined from 53 to 14 per
1,000 live births.
o polio vaccination has reached 98% of the population
o National Health Identification Card: It allows a patient’s health record to be
accessed via a central database from any public or private hospital within the
Unified Health System network.
o Family Health Programme: Community-based healthcare network who perform
monthly visits to every family enrolled in the programme. They conduct health
promotion and prevention activities and effectively manage the relationship
between citizens and the healthcare system
o A 2015 report said that 95% of those that seek care in the SUS are able to
receive treatment.
o Every year, the SUS covers more than two million births, 10 million hospital
admissions, and nearly one billion ambulatory procedures.
 Lessons for Ayushman Bharat
o UHS strategy is based on an extensive work of community health agents who
perform monthly visits to every family enrolled in the programme. These agents
carry out a variety of tasks. For example, they conduct health promotion and
prevention activities, oversee whether family members are complying with any
 treatment they might be receiving, and effectively manage the relationship
between citizens and the healthcare system.
o UHS has expanded from 4% of coverage in 2000 to up to 64% of the overall
population in 2015; it was able to reach even the rural areas and the poorest
states of the country.
o For UHC to become a reality, it is important to expedite steps beyond
infrastructural interventions to include water, sanitation, nutrition and a healthy
lifestyle. The challenge is to incentivize wellness-seeking behaviour.
o India has to align the vision of medical education with the vision of “one nation,
one healthcare sector”.
 Way forward: in line POSHAN Abhiyyan; digital health; Machine learning, blockchain and
AI to overcome regional disparities

42. What do multiple outbreaks of Polio in the vicinity mean for India? Should India worry?
Discuss the achievements made by Polio immunization programme so far and what should
be the way forward

In the last one year or so, polio has made a comeback in countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia,
Ghana, Myanmar, China, Cameroon, Indonesia and Iran, mostly as vaccine-derived polio infection.
All these countries had wiped the virus out at various times during the last couple of decades; some,
such as Iran and Malaysia, had done so even earlier.
 Worries:
o On December 8, 2019, the Ministry of Health in Malaysia announced the
country’s first case of polio since 1992. The World Health Organization (WHO)
announced that tests have confirmed that the virus is genetically linked to
poliovirus circulating in the Philippines
o It calls for heightened vigilance, in short. Officials in the Ministry of Health are
clear that there is no reason for undue panic because, thanks to shared borders
with a polio-endemic country (Pakistan), India’s preparedness for preventing a
polio influx is already very high.
o There is no reason for any knee-jerk response because our polio surveillance
mechanism is always on high alert and at airports we already look out for polio
entry from seven-eight countries at all times
o Some years ago, India introduced the injectable polio vaccine in the Universal
Immunization Programme. This was to reduce chances of vaccine-derived polio
infection, which continues to happen in the country
o Environmental surveillance (sewage sampling) have been established to detect
poliovirus transmission. All States and Union Territories in the country have
developed a Rapid Response Team (RRT) to respond to any polio outbreak in the
country
o For international travellers, Continuous vaccination teams, mandatory
requirements of polio vaccination to all international travellers to polio affected
countries
 Achievements of Polio immunization programme
o Until early 1990s India was hyperendemic for polio, with an average of 500 to
1000 children getting paralysed daily.
o WPV type 2 was eliminated in 1999 but types 1 and 3 persisted
o  During the years since 2004 annual pulse polio vaccination campaigns were
conducted 10 times each year, virtually every child was tracked and vaccinated
 o Over 2.4 million volunteers and 150,000 vaccine administration
supervisors helped administer the oral polio vaccine to 170 million
children under five years old on two nation-wide immunization days each
year
o in 2014, India was officially declared polio-free
o Maintaining community immunity through high quality National and Sub
National polio rounds each year
o Elimination of WPVs with OPV is only phase 1 of polio eradication. India is poised
to progress to phase 2, with introduction of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV),
switch from tOPV to bOPV and final elimination of all vaccine-related and
vaccine-derived polioviruses.

43. The latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data suggest that sedition law remains as
relevant as ever with sedition arrests increasing in recent years. Critically analyse

 Gandhiji: “Calling section 124-A, the “prince among the political sections of
the Indian Penal Code designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen….I
consider it a privilege, therefore, to be charged under that section ”
 Sedition, which falls under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, is defined as any action
that brings or attempts to bring hatred or contempt towards the government of India and
has been illegal in India since 1870
 NCRB), though, has only been collecting separate data on sedition cases since 2014. In 2014,
there were 47 cases of sedition but that number increased to 70 in 2018
 Compared to other offences, sedition remains a rare crime (it accounts for less than 0.01%
of all IPC crimes)
 But within India, some parts are emerging as sedition hotspots. Assam and Jharkhand, for
instance, with 37 sedition cases each, account for 32% of all sedition cases between 2014-
2018. Similarly, JH has seen frequent use of sedition charges. In January, more than 3,000
protesters against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) were charged with sedition while in
2019, more than 3,300 farmers were charged with sedition for protesting about land
disputes
 Since 2016, only four sedition cases have seen a conviction in court. One reason for this
could be that sedition as an offence has no solid legal grounding in India.
 sentiment could have been demonstrated through a slogan, a cheer, a statement, protest
against a nuclear power project, or an innocuous post on social media. In all these cases, the
state, across regimes, has filed charges of sedition
 sedition can’t be applied to instances of criticism of the government or a political
functionary. More importantly, words alone are not enough for such a charge to be slapped.
Incitement to violence is the most crucial ingredient of the offence of sedition.
 e Supreme Court will, hopefully, reconsider its 1962 decision, and strike down the law of
sedition as being unconstitutional.
 Way forward:
o All speech-related offences should be made bailable offences
 o Forming a committee involving Government and renowned civil society members
while deciding cases under section 124 A
o To limit the discretionary power as much as possible through better and
comprehensive drafting of guidelines
o The offences should be made non-cognisable so that there is at least a judicial check
on the police acting on the basis of politically motivated complaints
o In the case of offences under Sections 153A (“promoting enmity between different
groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and
doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony”) and 295A of the Indian Penal
Code, it is mandatory under Section 196(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure to
obtain prior sanction of the government before taking cognisance of the offences.
This needs to be extended to the offence of sedition under Section 124A.
o And finally, it is crucial that courts begin to take action against those who bring
malicious complaints against speech acts.

44. What is the purpose of a protest? Explain the significance of the right to protest in a
democracy, Illustrate with cases specific to Indian context.

 Gandhiji: “Affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by law. If one has

no affection for a person or system, one should be free to give the fullest
expression to his disaffection, so long as he does not contemplate,
promote, or incite to violence.” “what in law is a deliberate crime, and what
appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen”

45. In the Indian polity, states cannot be reduced to mere administrative agencies delegated
with enforcing Parliamentary laws without any application of mind. Critically analyze

 India an “asymmetrical federalism”

 Art 355
 Art 365
 Art 256
 Art 200
 Centrally sponsored schemes
 Enforcement of international treaties and agreements-Art 253 eg. Lokpal and Lokayuktas
bill
HOWEVER
 Schedule 7
 In the landmark S.R. Bommai judgment, Supreme Court said that States are not mere
“appendages” of the Centre
 Article 131 of the Constitution, which gives the Supreme Court exclusive jurisdiction to hear
cases between states and the Centre. Eg: Chhattisgarh moved SC against NIA Act in Jan 2020
 Coalition governments: It has increased states’ bargaining power
 GST council
 Increased share is taxes since 10th FC; 14th-50%
 Increasing say in planning- NITI Aayog
Pros and cons of uniform application of central laws by states

Suggestions
 Changing dynamics of party system is shaping the trajectory of Federalism from cooperative
to confrontationalist.
 Motto of “sabka saath sabka vikaas” and ‘competitive and cooperative federalism’
 Strengthen Inter state council and further decentralization esp to local bodies
 Implementation of Puncchi commission recommendations

46. What is a privilege motion? Discuss the rules related to it and the authority of the Speaker/
Chairperson vis-a-vis privilege motion.

 Parliamentary privileges and ‘breach of privilege’; Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
reserve the right to punish any action of contempt (not necessarily breach of privilege)
which is against its authority and dignity
 When breach of parliamentary privilege by a minister, any MP that feels that the minister
has breached the privilege of the house or one or more members of the house by
withholding facts of a case or by giving wrong or distorted facts
 Purpose is to censure the minister
 The rules governing privilege motion are mentioned as Rule 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok
Sabha Rule Book and as Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha Rule Book
 an MP may raise a question of breach of privilege with the Speaker or the Chairperson,
notices for which have to be sent to them before 10am.
 breach of privilege could be of another MP, a committee or of the House. However, the rules
mandate the notice should be regarding an incident which has occurred recently and that it
needs the intervention of the House.
 first level of scrutiny that a privilege motion has to go through is that of the Speaker, in case
the motion is moved in the Lok Sabha, and that of the Chairperson when a motion is moved
in the Rajya Sabha.
 Speaker/Chairperson may decide on the privilege motion at their own discretion or they may
refer it to parliamentary committee of privileges.
o Privileges committee- 15/10 members nominated by speaker/chairman,
proportionate to the strengths of various political parties in the house
o They prepare a report which is then presented before the House for its
consideration. The Speaker may allow a half-an-hour debate on the report before
she/he passed the final orders.
o Speaker can also direct that the report be tabled before the House and a resolution
may be unanimously passed on the breach of privilege
 If the Speaker/Chairperson admits the motion, then the concerned member is given an
opportunity to explain themselves by making a short statement. Thereafter the house
decides on the resolution
 A large number of notices are rejected, with penal action recommended in only a few.
Unlike the no confidence motion, the privilege motion is applicable to both the Rajya-Sabha
and the Lok Sabha.
47. “Judicial impartiality is a significant element of justice”, Elucidate in the backdrop of recusal
made recently by Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar, Supreme Court judge.

 Judicial disqualification, referred to as recusal, is the act of abstaining from participation in

an official action such as a legal proceeding due to a conflict of interest of the presiding court
official or administrative officer
 Applicable statutes or canons of ethics may provide standards for recusal in a given
proceeding or matter
 Eg. Just U U Lalit recused himself in cases against Andhra CM due to some allegations
made by the latter; similarly, Supreme Court Judge Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar
recused himself from hearing a petition filed by Sara Abdullah Pilot, sister of former Jammu
and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, against the government’s move to charge him
under the Public Safety Act.
 Judicial impartiality important component of judicial independence, former is about state
of mind and attitude of the court wrt any issue while independence refers to state of
mind, attitude and also that of relationship to the parties
 Rules of recusal, As noted by the Supreme Court in the NJAC judgment, a judge may be
required to step down in one of two scenarios
o cases of presumed bias, where the judge has a pecuniary interest in the outcome of
a case (extended, through the Pinochet judgment to other similar non-pecuniary
interests)
o cases of apparent bias, where a reasonable, fair-minded observer would believe
there is a real possibility that the judge is biased.
 in some cases, prejudice is presumed: for example, where a judge has appeared for one of
the litigants at some stage in the same dispute
 Why?-
o Judgemet based on facts instead of prejudices
o ‘justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done’ to instill public
confidence in the legal system
o It’s also by now an axiomatic rule that no person should be a judge in her own cause.
But there are cases where somebody else’s cause becomes the judge’s own.
 We mustn’t allow recusals to be used as a tool to maneuver justice, as a means to picking
benches of a party’s choice, and as an instrument to evade judicial work. Reasons for recusal
must be assigned, whether they are personal or public.

48. Do you agree with the view that “Collegium system requires reconsideration”. Give reasons
in support of your arguments.

 Collegium system is the system by which the judges are appointed and transferred only by
the judges. The system has evolved by means of the judgments of the Supreme Court.
Consists of CJI and 4 SC judges (in case of SC appointments) and 2 SC judges (in case of HC)
 Need for reform
o There is no mention of the Collegium either in the original Constitution of India or in
successive amendments.
o Controversies from time to time. failure to make an assessment of the personality of
the contender at the time of recommending his name for elevation eg. controversy
over the proposed elevation of Justice P.D. Dinakaran of the Karnataka High Court to
 the Supreme Court by the collegium of the Chief Justice and four seniormost judges
of the Supreme Court was criticised for overlooking apparently suitable judges by
the collegiums
o SC is overburdened: An administrative task of this magnitude must necessarily
detract the judges of the collegium from their principal judicial work of hearing and
deciding cases.
o Lacking the infrastr backup to learn about the background of the contender,
collegium resorts to ad hoc informal consultations with other judges in the Supreme
Court who are expected to know the merits of a proposed appointee from a High
Court or occasionally by sounding a member of the Bar. These methods are poor
substitutes for a full time intensive collection of data.
o collegium’s deliberations are secret, the system is opaque and the choice of a judge
is only known when his name is forwarded to the Government for formal
appointment. Can lead to nepotism
o collegium has necessarily limited its field of choice to the senior-most judges from
the High Court for the appointments to the Supreme Court, overlooking the several
talented junior judges in the High Courts or members of the bar
o Skewed representation of socio economic backward classes like women, scheduled
castes and tribes in the Supreme Court.
 On the other hand
o Independence of judiciary
o Constitution does mention only consultations with SC CJI or other judges for
appointment of other puisine SC juges. No interference of executive formulated
 Way ahead:
o revisit the existing system through a transparent and participatory procedure,
preferably by an independent broad-based constitutional body guaranteeing judicial
primacy but not judicial exclusivity
o needs to ensure independence, reflect diversity, demonstrate professional
competence and integrity.
o In several countries of the Commonwealth, National Judicial Appointment
Commissions have been established to select judges. Such judicial commissions have
worked with success in the U.K., South Africa and Canada.
o There should be a fixed time limit for approval of recommendations.
o As of now, instead of selecting the number of judges required against a certain
number of vacancies, the collegium must provide a panel of possible names to the
President for appointment in order of preference and other valid criteria

49. Without the requisite rules, regulations, and machinery in place, it is not surprising that the
Lokpal has failed to meet expectations. Critically analyse the statement with respect to the
functioning of Lokpal in India.

 A Lokpal is an anti-corruption authority or ombudsman who represents the public interest.

The concept of an ombudsman is borrowed from Sweden. four decades after the
introduction of the first Bill that the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was enacted in December
2013
 Lokpal ad lokayuktas act, 2013
o Act consists of setting up a team called Lokpal, headed by a chairperson and
consisting of eight people
 o power to investigate people who might be acquiring money through corrupt means
o All categories of public servants will be covered under Lokpal, including the Prime
Minister, while the armed forces will be exempted
o also have the power of confiscating property or assets acquired by corrupt means
o they can protect all the public servants who act as whistle-blowers
o can also fine people for false or inaccurate complaints
 For more than five years, the chairperson and members of the Lokpal were not appointed.
since no one could be recognised as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) after the 2014
general election, the committee responsible for selecting members of the Lokpal could not
be constituted
 More than 10 months later, the government has not made rules prescribing the form for
filing complaints to the Lokpal. The Central government has also failed to formulate rules
regarding asset disclosure by public servants.
 Regulations which the Lokpal was obligated to make under the law are yet to be made,
including those specifying the manner and procedure of conducting preliminary inquiry and
investigation.
 website of the Lokpal states that it scrutinised 1,065 complaints received till September 30,
2019 and disposed of 1,000.
 Since necessary procedures to operationalise the law are yet to be put in place, the legal
veracity of the decisions of the Lokpal could potentially be challenged in a court of law
 Other issues
o Act does not allow a Lokpal inquiry if the allegation against the PM relates to
international relations, external and internal security, public order, atomic energy
and space. Also, complaints against the PM are not to be probed unless the full
Lokpal bench considers the initiation of an inquiry and at least two-thirds of the
members approve it.
o Such an inquiry against the Prime Minister (if conducted) is to be held in camera and
if the Lokpal comes to the conclusion that the complaint deserves to be dismissed,
the records of the inquiry are not to be published or made available to anyone.
o recent selection of Lokpal didn’t have the views of the opposition party, which is
against democratic principles.
o It can dismiss serving all India civil servants, a power only president has. It has
authority over CBI officers on deputation. With no additional resources, the power
to dismiss a case as frivolous or false and fine the complainant. it could lead to
accumulation of power either with one of these or with lokpal itself. threat is further
increased by the lack of accountability in presence of sweeping powers.
o lokpal bill attempts to alter the balance between three branches of government
attained through years
 Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) recommended the enacting of the Office of a
Lokpal, convinced that such an institution was justified, not only for removing the sense of
injustice from the minds of citizens, but also to instil public confidence in the efficiency of
the administrative machinery. Creation of the institution of Lokpal by forming its members
to function has come up as a welcome step. But it shall function independent from any
political influence so that a proper system of checksand -balance is maintained in the federal
and democratic system of India.
50. There is a need of more innovative reforms to ensure internal democracy, financial
accountability in political parties. In the light of the above statement, critically analyse the
steps taken by the government on electoral reforms.

 Need for reforms

o Opacity in donations: Political parties receive majority of their funds through
anonymous donations (approximately 70%) through unknown sources as per ADR
 With Electoral Bonds Ordinary citizens are not able to know who is donating
how much money to which political party, and the bonds increase the
anonymity of political donations
 Also, parties are exempted from showing donations about 20,000 as
electoral bonds are out of the purview of this rule, which provides a channel
for black money hoarders
o Lack of action against bribes: The EC sought insertion of a new section, 58B, to RPA,
1951 to enable it to take action if parties bribe voters of a constituency, which has
not come to light
o Unlimited corporate donations: The maximum limit of 7.5% on the proportion of the
profits a company can donate to a political party has been lifted under electoral
bonds, thus opening up the possibility of shell companies
o Allowing foreign funding: Amendment of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act
(FCRA) has opened the floodgates of foreign funding to political parties, which can
lead to eventual interference in governance
o Lack of transparency: Despite provisions under section 29 of RPA, 1951, parties do
not submit their annual audit reports to the Election Commission. Parties have also
defied that they come under the ambit of RTI act. EC does not have the power to
deregister a party for financial misgivings
 Lack of internal democracy
o Regional parties that are built around a towering leader do not even have any
pretense of democratic decision making: their leader’s whim or fancy is the party’s
policy
o The left parties call their idea of inner party functioning ‘democratic centralism,’ but
the stress is clearly on centralism
 Steps taken by govt
o Model Code of Conduct : In 2019 central elections, Super court rebuked ECI for not
taking action against violations of MCC. Post this ECI banned political actors from
campaigning for a given duration under its powers given by Article 324. ECI also
postponed the elections in Vellore constituency to curb electoral corruption
o NOTA- by SC in People’s union for civil liberties vs UoI, 2013
o ECI has taken various steps to scrutinize, identify and report cases of Paid News
o VVPAT: 5 m/c to be counted in each constituency
o Lok Prahari case- declaration requirement by candidates

51. Discuss the key features of National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications (NM-
QTA)
 The government in its budget 2020 has announced a National Mission on Quantum
Technologies & Applications (NM-QTA) with a total budget outlay of Rs 8000 Crore for a
period of five years to be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST)
 nextgeneration transformative technologies to be explored under this mission include:
o quantum computers and computing,
o quantum communication,
o quantum key distribution,
o encryption, cryptanalysis,
o quantum devices,
o quantum sensing,
o quantum materials, and
o quantum clocks
 prime factorization quantum algorithm has important implications for security as it can be
used to break RSA encryption, a popular method for secure communication.
 Objectives of mission
o to create high-skilled jobs, develop human resources and start-ups, and promote
technology-led economic growth
o to tackle the ever-increasing technological requirements of society and consider the
international technology trends and roadmaps of leading countries for the
development of next-generation technologies.
o help secure communications through fibre and free space and develop quantum
encryption and cryptanalysis
o encourage entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem development
 appliactions under the mission include aerospace engineering, numerical weather
prediction, simulations, securing communications and financial transactions, cybersecurity,
advanced manufacturing, health, agriculture, and education.
 mission plans to draw upon the existing strengths within academic institutes across India to
support interdisciplinary research projects in key verticals involving quantum technology

52. Bring out the key highlights of the draft National logistic policy, analyse the benefits and
challenges involved in implementing the same.

 expected to streamline rules and address supply-side constraints, leading to lower logistics
costs and greater competitiveness for Indian products worldwide. policy will clarify the roles
of the Union government, state governments and key regulators. It will create a single-
window e-logistics market and focus on the generation of employment, skills and making
medium and small enterprises competitive.”
 Key highlights
o Startup acceleration fund by the Logistics Wing: This fund will incubate startups in
the logistics sector, enable the adoption of newer technologies and promote
innovative practices “that can help in reducing costs and turnaround times.”
o will focus on perishable commodities because of the specialised nature of
requirements for their packaging, transport and storage. It will also encourage
startups working in the “farm to plate” space.
o technology based interventions such as e-tolling, electronic document flow,
rationalization of checkpoints, digital verification at all checkpoints etc
o Creating a single point of reference for all logistics and trade facilitation matters in
the country which will also function as a knowledge and information sharing
platform
 o Optimizing the current modal mix (road-60%, rail-31%, water-9%) in line with
international benchmarks (25-30% share of road, 50-55% share of railways, 20-25%
share of waterways) and promote development of multimodal infrastructure
o Improving first mile and last mile connectivity to expand market access of farmers,
MSMEs and small businesses
o Enhancing efficiency across the logistics value chain through increased digitization
and technology adoption
o Supporting the development of the warehousing sector
 Benefits
o National logistics e-marketplace- first announced in 2018, with the aim of reucing
the cost of logistics from 14% of India’s GDP to 10%. It will be a one stop
marketplace for the simplification of documentation for exports/imports and drive
transparency through digitization of processes. Will bring transparency, faster
clearances, better price discovery, route optimization, in-transit tracking and timely
delivery assurance
o Data analytics centre: for transparency and continuous monitoring of key logistics
metrics
o E-commerce logistics will be promotd through last mile connectivity
o policy will categorise each of these services and give minimum threshold
requirements for entering the market. For a truck fleet operator, this could be about
minimum fleet size, specifications of trucks, axle load and carrying capacity etc
o aims to standardize the key elements of a warehouse which will lead to new
demand and capacity creation of Grade A warehouses
 Challenges
o main challenge is while some of the subjects covered under the policy come under
the Centre, the rest are controlled by states.

53. Swachh Bharat Mission apart from sanitation aspects aids to generate employment and
provide impetus to the rural economy. Explain

 Union Cabinet in February 2020 has approved the Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission
(Grameen) [SBM (G)] till 2024-25, which will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus),
which includes ODF sustainability and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). The
program will also work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a
toilet
 Obj of SBM
o Improve general quality of life in rural areas, by promoting cleanliness, hygiene and
eliminating OD
o accelerate sanitation coverage in rural areas to achieve the vision of Swachh Bharat
by 2nd October 2019
o adopt sustainable sanitation practices and facilities through awareness creation and
health education.
o encourage cost effective and appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and
sustainable sanitation
o develop, wherever required, community managed sanitation systems focusing on
scientific Solid & Liquid Waste Management systems
 o create significant positive impact on gender and promote social inclusion by
improving sanitation especially in marginalized communities.
 SBM-G Phase II will continue to generate employment and provide impetus to the rural
economy through construction of household toilets and community toilets, as well as
infrastructure for SLWM such as compost pits, soak pits, waste stabilisation ponds, material
recovery facilities et
 Tourism: 40mn Indians directly employed in tourism and hospitality sector and can generate
employment fr upto 5% of India’s population
 There is a loss of Rs. 26000 every yr for a famly of 4 due to lack of hygienic conditions, acc to
WHO. This money can be used to start a shop or a firm
 Higher productivity
 Singapore took similar cleanliness drive from 1977 to 1987- “Keep Singapore clean”. It
helped Singapore attract FDI, and helped transform into developed nation. Can happen to
India as well

54. “The Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill is a much-needed complement to

Surrogacy Bill”. Elucidate

 Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), as commonly understood, comprises procedures

such as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), intra-uterine insemination (IUI), oocyte and sperm
donation, cryopreservation and includes surrogacy as well. Cabinet recently cleared the
Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill, 2020
 Bill aims to regulate assisted reproductive technology services in the country. It will monitor
medical procedures used to assist people to achieve pregnancy. Consequently, infertile
couples will be more ensured/confident of the ethical practices in ARTs
 Acc to ICMR there are 1,269 ART clinics in India (as on November, 2019). The number swells
up to 1,846 when ART clinics and ART banks are taken together. Maharashtra has the
maximum number of ART clinics (266) followed by Tamil Nadu (164), Delhi (113)
 Key features of the bill
o national board to lay down and implement a code of conduct for people working at
IVF clinics.
o minimum standards of physical infrastructure, laboratory, diagnostic equipment and
expert manpower to be employed by ART clinics and banks
o intends to make genetic testing of the embryo mandatory before implantation for
the benefit of the child born through ART.
o seeks to streamline the cryo-preservation processes for sperm, oocytes and embryo.
o proposes to constitute a national registry and registration authority to maintain a
central database and assist the national board in its functioning.
o proposes stringent punishment for those “practising sex selection, sale of human
embryos or gametes and running agencies/rackets/organisations for such unlawful
practices
 complement to surrogacy bill
o Clinics in India offer nearly all the ART services—gamete donation, IntraUterine
Insemination (IUI), In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), IntraCytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI),
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and gestational surrogacy.
o India has become one of the major centres of the global fertility industry (ART), with
reproductive medical tourism becoming a significant activity.
o select committee of the Parliament that examined the Surrogacy Regulation Bill,
2019 has said that it would be prudent to bring the ART Bill before the Surrogacy Bill,
2019, to establish a regulatory mechanism for ART clinics.
 o ART Regulation Bill is supposed to be more overarching and the first step to regulate
the sector. Without registration and a proper database of medical institutions and
clinics providing such services, it is impossible to regulate services like surrogacy and
abortion (Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill, 2020).
 Social stigma of being childless and lengthy adoption processes have increased the demand
for ART in India. It is thus not surprising that the ART industry is expected to grow by a
compounded annual growth rate of 10%

55. Balanced use of fertilizers based on soil testing on a mission mode is creating a quiet
revolution. Analyse in the context of Soil health card programme.
 promoted by the Department of Agriculture & Co-operation under the Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. It is being implemented through the Department of
Agriculture of all the State and Union Territory Governments. A SHC is meant to give each
farmer soil nutrient status of his/her holding and advice him/her on the dosage of fertilizers
and also the needed soil amendments
 status of his soil with respect to 12 parameters, namely N,P,K (Macro-nutrients) ; S
(Secondarynutrient) ; Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Bo (Micro – nutrients) ; and pH, EC, OC (Physical
parameters). Based on this, the SHC will also indicate fertilizer recommendations and soil
amendment required for the farm
 achievements
o In Phase I of the programme (2015-17), 10.74 crore cards were distributed, with
another 11.45 crore being issued in Phase II (2017-19)
o While the Soil Health Management Scheme has turned out to be a blessing for the
farmers, it is also creating jobs for the agrarian youth. Under the scheme village
youth and farmers up to 40 years of age are eligible to set up Soil Health
Laboratories and undertake testing. A laboratory costs up to Rupees Five Lakhs, 75%
of which can be funded by the Central and State Governments. The same provisions
apply to Self Help Groups, Farmers’ Cooperative Societies, Farmers Groups and
Agricultural Producing Organisations.
o setting up of 429 new static soil testing labs (STL) and strengthening of 800 existing
ones, apart from 102 mobile STLs, 8,752 mini-STLs and 1,562 village-level STLs.
o total soil testing capacity has increased from 1.73 crore to 3.01 crore samples per
year.
o As a follow-up to the two phases, model villages are now being developed, one in
each of the country’s 6,954 blocks.
o testing at individual holding level is being done, as against grid-based analyses so far,
along with SHC-based demonstration of application of fertilisers and farmers’ fairs
for raising awareness
o led to the emergence of ‘Mitti ke Doctor’ (soil health specialists) and even women’s
self-help groups that undertake soil testing at village leve
o SHC programme has also attracted global attention. India is assisting Nepal in setting
up soiltesting facilities and capacity building for integrated nutrient management
and certified organic farming. These also figure in India’s initiatives in South-South
Cooperation focusing on African countries.
o With growing demand for organic produce, the FCO is now also incorporating bio-
fertilisers, organic fertilisers and non-edible de-oiled cakes, in addition to chemical
fertilisers
 o study conducted by the National Productivity Council (NPC) says the application of
Soil Health Card recommendations has led to a decline of 8-10% in use of chemical
fertilizers and also raised productivity by 5-6%.

56. Amidst the newly signed Bodo Agreement, there is a need to ensure that a Bodo solution
does not create a non-Bodo problem. Analyse.

 MHA, Assam government and Bodo groups including the All Bodo Students’ Union and
militant outfits signed an agreement in Jan.
 New Delhi’s third attempt at conflict resolution after the 1993 and 2003 accords. The
agreement involves clauses to redraw and rename the Bodoland Territorial Area District
(BTAD) as the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), in Assam.
 BTAD is spread over four districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri. The BTAD and
other areas mentioned under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution have been exempted
from CAA 2019
 Challenges posed by accord
o s threatens to intensify the sociopolitical contestation among groups in the State not
just in the expanded area, which will be renamed as Bodoland Territorial Region, but
also regions where the so-called Scheduled Hill Tribes reside in large numbers.
o While greater contiguity of Bodo-populated areas would aid more efficient
governance in the Sixth Schedule administrative unit, it has deepened insecurity
among other groups such as Koch Rajbongshis, Adivasis and Muslims in the existing
Bodoland Territorial Area Districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri
o agreement stipulates that Bodos living in the hill areas outside the BTAD will be
conferred Scheduled Tribe (Hills) status, something that has not gone down well
with tribes such as the Karbis.
o Militant group Karbi Longri and North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF), which
signed a ceasefire with the Centre in 2009, has also opposed the move saying it
would adversely impact the “identity of the Karbis”
o While political configurations at the State level will not be largely altered because of
the measure in the five Assembly seats of the hill districts, elections to the local
autonomous tribal councils in Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, which also enjoy Sixth
Schedule protections, could witness realignments
o impending Naga peace accord, in the works in its latest iteration since 2015, could
also spur a demand for territorial and administrative rights in the Naga territories of
Manipur even as the dominant Meiteis of the valley push their own agenda of
inclusion in the ST category
 new deal offers more hope than the earlier accords; some of the most potent factions of the
National Democratic Front of Boroland that had stayed away from earlier agreements are
now on board. The accord will successfully bring together leading stakeholders under one
framework. It will further protect and popularise the unique culture of the Bodo people and
will give them access to a wide range of development-oriented initiatives. A peaceful accord
like the Bodo agreement will set a precedent for the impending issues like Nagas, naxalism
etc

57. Discuss the impact of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) on loan recovery and also
suggest remedial measures for better implementation of the Code
 enacted for reorganization and insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms
and individuals in a time bound manner for maximization of the value of assets of such
persons.
 IBC proposes a paradigm shift from the existing ‘Debtor in possession’ to a ‘Creditor in
control’ regime.
 Moratorium period of 180 days (extendable up to 270 days) for the Company. For startups
and small companies the resolution time period is 90 days which can be extended by 45 days
 Impact on loan recovery
o many business entities are paying up front before being declared insolvent. The
success of the act lies in the fact that many cases have been resolved even before it
was referred to NCLT. 4452 cases were dismissed at the pre-admission stage.
o As of 31 December 2019, the 190 companies that had defaulted on loans yielded
resolution plans with different degrees of realization.
o Claims worth ₹3.52 trillion in total had been filed by financial creditors, primarily
banks. Of this, around ₹1.52 trillion—43.1% of the claims under consideration—has
been recovered. Earlier much lower for eg. just 10.3% of 2.2 Tn Rs. Of bad loans in
2015-16 was recovered
o realising on an average 43 per cent of their claims (57% haircut) through resolutions
plans under a process which takes on average 340 days and entails a cost on average
of 0.5 per cent, a far cry from the previous regime which yielded a recovery of 25 per
cent (75% haircut) for creditors through a process which took about 5+ years and
entailed a cost of 9 per cent
o Till now, liquidation has been initiated against 780 firms, of which 40 have been
closed in the process. The recovery rate for firms that were liquidated in October-
December was 10.7%. If the biggest recovery is left out, the rate is close to nil
o The two biggest loan recoveries in the case of Bhushan Steel and Essar Steel India
make up around 49.5% of the overall recovery. If these recoveries are left out, the
total rate of recovery falls to 30.5%. Having said that, it is much better than what
used to be the case before IBC was in existence
 Challenges:
o No. of companies undergoing corporate insolvency resolution has increased to
~2000 in Dec 2019
o Need for setting up more tribunals (currently ~30) in different parts of the country to
handle the greater-than-expected volume of cases. ~20000 cases under the IBC
were pending before the tribunals .
o India is more concerned with the recovery of NPA, not with the running of units,
thus the first priority is to save the banking system.
o Technological infrastructure needs to be strengthened to avoid any kind of data loss
and to maintain confidentiality. There is a requirement of enhanced IU
infrastructure.

58. Discuss the idea of Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA); in what way will it protect
the rights of the consumer in the country?

 Central Consumer Protection Authority is the authority is being constituted under Section
10(1) of The Consumer Protection Act, 2019. The Act replaced the Consumer Protection Act,
1986, and seeks to widen its scope in addressing consumer concerns
 CCPA, introduced in the new Act, aims to protect the rights of the consumer by cracking
down on unfair trade practices, and false and misleading advertisements that are
detrimental to the interests of the public and consumers.
 will have the powers to inquire or investigate into matters relating to violations of consumer
rights or unfair trade practices suo motu, or on a complaint received, or on a direction from
the central government
 proposed authority will have powers to recall goods or withdrawal of services that are
“dangerous, hazardous or unsafe; pass an order for refund the prices of goods or services so
recalled to purchasers of such goods or services; and discontinuation of practices which are
unfair and prejudicial to consumer’s interest”
 if the CCPA is satisfied after investigation that any advertisement is false or misleading and is
harmful to the interest of any consumer, or is in contravention of consumer rights, the CCPA
may issue directions to the trader, manufacturer, endorser, advertiser, or publisher to
discontinue such an advertisement, or modify it in a manner specified by the authority,
within a given time
 authority may also impose a penalty up to Rs 10 lakh, with imprisonment up to two years, on
the manufacturer or endorser of false and misleading advertisements. This punishment
increases with recurrent offence
 For search and seizure, the CCPA will have similar powers given under the provisions of The
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
 The CCPA can file complaints of violation of consumer rights or unfair trade practices before
the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, State Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission, and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
 It will issue safety notices to alert consumers against dangerous or hazardous or unsafe
goods or services.

59. What are Technical textiles? Discuss the Initiatives of Government in this direction with
special focus on National Technical Textile Mission.

 Technical Textiles are defined as textile material and products manufactured primarily for
their technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic and decorative
characteristics. 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).
 Initiatives for govt
o CCEA has approved the setting up of a National Technical Textiles Mission at a total
outlay of ₹1,480 Crore. The Mission will be implemented for four years from 2020-
2021 and will have four components:
 R&D and innovation and will have an outlay of ₹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
 promotion and development of market for technical textiles. The Mission
will aim at taking domestic market size to $40 -$50 billion by 2024
 export promotion so that technical textile exports from the country reach
from the ₹14,000 crore now to ₹20,000 crore by 2021-2022 and ensure 10%
average growth every year till the Mission ends
 education, training and skill development
 o Government has also created Special Economic Zones (SEZs), with the objective of
attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). There are 14 SEZs in the country that
specifically focus on textiles
o Current market size-$16Bn- approx. 6% of 250 Bn$
o penetration level of technical textiles in India varies between 5% and 10%
against the level of 30% to 70% in developed countries.

September
60. “Basic structure doctrine, as future events showed, saved Indian democracy and
Kesavananda Bharati will always occupy a hallowed place in our constitutional history.”
Discuss.

 Shankari Prasad case 1951

 Golaknath case 1967- FR transcendental an immutable
 24th CAA- amended Art 13 and Art 368
 Keshavanan case:
o Upheld 24th CAA- Parliament can abridge or take away any FR
o Lai down basic str doctrine
 Uses
o Minerva Mills case: overruled the provision of 42nd CAA that amended Art 31 (C)
and empowered Parliament to have unlimited amendment power through art 368
since judicial review is a ‘basic str’: Constitution had conferred a limited amending
power on the Parliament, the Parliament cannot under the exercise of that limited
power enlarge that very power into an absolute power. Indeed, a limited amending
power is one of the basic features of the Constitution
o Strengthened separation of power
o Prevents misuse of brute majority
o Dynamic in nature: for eg. in Nagraja case (2006), SC held that while formal
equality provision of constitution is amendable, the principle of egalitarian
equality, nderstood as proportional equality is a part of basic str.
o Use of basic str to void the NJAC law
o Helped SC to adopt radical strategies of initiating PIL, using methods such as
creative remedy of continuing mandamus.
o SC has relied on Basic str doctrine 7 times to strike down CAAs
1. Keshvanand Bharati- struck down Art 31-C introduced by 25th CAA
2. Indira Gandhi vs Raj Narain that struck down 39th CAA that sought to
elevate elections of President, VP, PM and LS spkr from judicial review
3. Minerva mills vs UoI 1980
4. Samba Murthy case: SC reinforced HC’s judicial review powers
5. Kihoto Hollohan 1992: brought spkr’s actions under disqualification
proceedings under JR
6. NJAC judgement

61. Discuss the evolution of Seventh Schedule of the Indian constitution? Do you think there is a
need to relook and revise the Seventh Schedule? Explain.

 The Union List consists of 98 subjects (originally 97), the State List 59 subjects (originally 66)
and the Concurrent List 52 subjects (originally 47)
 Evolution
 o Union list originally 97 subjects- like defence, banking, foreign affairs, currency,
atomic energy, insurance, communication, interstate trade and commerce, census,
audit and so on
o State list- originally 66- public order, police, public health and sanitation, agriculture
prisons, local government, fisheries, markets etc.
o Concurrent- originally 47- criminal law and procedure, civil procedure, marriage and
divorce, population control and family planning, electricity, labour welfare etc.
o 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 transferred five subjects to Concurrent List from State
List, that is, (a) education, (b) forests, (c) weights and measures, (d) protection of
wild animals and birds, and (e) administration of justice-constitution and
organisation of all courts except the Supreme Court and the high courts.
o 101st Amendment Act of 2018 has made a special provision with respect to goods
and services tax. Accordingly. The Parliament and the state legislature have power
to make laws with respect to goods and services tax imposed by the Union or by the
State. Further, the parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to
goods and services tax where the supply of goods or services or both takes place in
the course of inter-state trade or commerce.
o 1983 Sarkaria Commission essentially blessed the status quo: “After a careful
analysis and examination of the entries in the concurrent list, we have come to the
conclusion that a good enough case does not exist for amending the Constitution to
transfer any entry in the concurrent list to the state list.” But it did concede that
before legislating on items in the concurrent list, the Union government should
consult the states.
o Punchhi commission advocated for greater flexibility to states in relation to subjects
in the state list and ‘transferred items’ in the concurrent list to improve centre -state
relations
 Need to relook ad revise
o Centralization trend since independence
o a review by a high level committee of eminent lawyers and jurists and elderly
statesmen was recommended by Rajmannar committee (1971)
o labour- shoul be moved from concurrent to state? Conditions differ in states
o increase centralization was perhapsneeded initially to hold together a nascent
India, but is it needed now?
o A separate list for local bodies?

62. What do you understand by Constitutionalism? Do you think the concept is still relevant in
contemporary times? Explain

 Constitutionalism is a political philosophy based on the idea that government authority is

derived from the people and should be limited by a constitution that clearly expresses what
the government can and can’t do. It’s the idea that the state is not free to do anything it
wants, but is bound by laws limited its authority..
 History:
o Way back in 1215, King John of England was forced by a group of wealthy nobles to
sign a document called the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta set certain limits on the
king’s power. Set a precedent for limited govt
o In 1689, English Bill of Rights was signed by King William III of England. It s outlined
what rights English citizens possessed, and placed limits on the monarch and
 Parliament. The English Bill of Rights is a foundational constitutional document that
helped inspire the American Bill of Rights.
o Political theorist John Locke played a huge role in cementing the philosophy of
constitutionalism. Locke was an English intellectual who helped develop the concept
of social contract theory. According to this theory, government itself is a sort of
contract between the people and the state, and if the state abuses its power or
doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain, the people have the right to make the
contract null and void
 Relevance
o provides framework for governance, establishes the structure, procedures, powers
and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive
principles and the duties of citizens
o It is not only a representative of what we are as a society but also of what we ought
to be- FD and DPSP

63. India’s response to Covid-19 reflects the power, problems, potential of federalism”, do you
agree? Analyse.

 Federalism:  form of territorial organization in which unity and regional diversity are
accommodated with a single political system by distributing power among general
and regional governments in a manner constitutionally safeguarding the existence
and authority of each
 Shifting nature of federalism in Covid times
o initial stages of the COVID-19 response highlighted the unitary tilt in the Indian
federal structure. The central government implemented a national lockdown using
its powers under a central disaster management law, and its Ministry of Home
Affairs issued extensive guidelines to states for controlling the pandemic.
o State governments acquiesced even though they have independent powers under a
more specific law, the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
o national lockdown required shutting down almost all economic activity, there was
a drastic reduction in revenue for state governments.  lockdown has further
increased their financial dependence on the centre.
o In May 2020, India’s finance minister announced a series of reforms to facilitate
India’s post-lockdown economic recovery. Many of these measures impinge on the
autonomy of state governments and have only been accepted due to the
unprecedented situation presented by the pandemic. Eg. a conditional increase in
the borrowing limit for states. The central government enhanced the borrowing limit
of state governments from 3 per cent to 5 per cent of their gross state domestic
product. But only the first 0.5 per cent of this increase is unconditional — a further 1
per cent will be permitted only if the borrowing is linked to specific reforms such as
debt sustainability, job creation, power sector reforms and urban development. A
final 0.5 per cent will be permitted only if states achieve key milestones in these
areas.
o Recent agricultural reforms completely dismantle the long-standing agricultural
marketing system, which monopolised trade in agriculture within states and
 prevented the growth of a more efficient agricultural marketing system. Ordinances
passed by the central government side-step the powers of states in this regard.
o suspension of MPLADS and diversion of the funds to the Consolidated
Fund of India may not be in concurrence of cooperative federalism, as it
discourages locally tailored solutions by the MPs.
o Migrant crisis
 Power and potential
o by the third phase of lockdown and now, with Unlock 1 and 2 in process,
states got more and more say in decision making. It is now up to the state
governments to decide which area would be declared a containment zone
and which would not be one. 
o state consultation is a legislative mandate under section 11 (2) cast upon the
centre under the Disaster Management Act of 2005 (under which binding
COVID-19 guidelines are being issued by the Centre to the States)
o need to look into migrant population so that they are not disenfranchised
o Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who spearheaded its implementation,
suggested a ‘similar to GST’ consensus-building for sectors like health, rural
development and agriculture. The country’s response to the pandemic has shown
that carving out roles through consensus can address new challenges to federal
governance
 federal relations in India are a function of political forces more than structural constraints.
State powers seem to increase relative to the centre in the absence of single-party
dominance, and wane as single-party dominance increases.

64. Critically examine the legitimacy of Indian Judiciary often being questioned recently and the
challenges facing it with examples.

 Allegations of being an Executive court:

o Acceptance of Post-retirement Jobs by the Judges: eg: Former CJI was nominated to
Rajya Sabha. Another CJI was appointed as the governor of Kerala
o Pro-Government decisions by the judges or openly praising the PM
 Master of roster system
o Master of Roster which refers to the privilege of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to
constitute benches to hear cases. Roster is prepared by the Registrar of Supreme
Court under the orders of CJI.
o The issue of Master of Roster is quite important since in the year 2018, 4 SC Judges
held a press conference to register their differences with the then CJI.It was
considered to be unprecedented since normally internal conflicts within Judiciary do
not come out openly.
o In the press conference, the 4 SC Judges had highlighted that the CJI was misusing
his powers as “master of roster” by selectively allocating politically sensitive cases to
certain selected benches in order to get a favourable verdict.
 Judicial appointments
o The lack of information in the transfer resolution has led to a barrage of criticism
against the collegium and its opaque process of appointments and transfers.
 Lack of transparency
o there have been serious allegations on the conduct of senior judges of the SC.
Former CJI was alleged of sexual misconduct. Time and again many fingers have
pointed towards corruption within the judiciary
 Contempt of court
o Art 129, backed by The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
o chilling effect on legitimate criticism
 judicial activisn an anti-majoritarian body: For better or worse, the judiciary seems to have
fashioned itself as a governance institution, though it is neither democratically elected nor
appointed by a government that is

65. In view of the pandemic and a truncated Monsoon Session, Parliament has said no to
Question Hour and curtailed Zero Hour. Explain in detail the importance of these two
parliamentary tools.
 During the current Monsoon session, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats notified that
there will be no Question Hour during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which has been
truncated to September 14-October 1 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that Zero Hour
will be restricted in both Houses
 Question hour
o first hour of every parliamentary sitting is slotted for the Question Hour where
Members of Parliament raise questions about any aspect of administrative activity.
o Starred, unstarred, short notice questions (notice of <10 days)
o The presiding officers of the both Houses (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) are the final
authority with respect to the conduct of Question Hour.
o Question Hour is regulated according to parliamentary rules. Question Hour in both
Houses is held on all days of the session. But there are two days when an exception
is made (Day of President’s address & During Budget presentation).
 Zero hour
o Unlike the question hour, the zero hour is not mentioned in the Rules of Procedure.
Thus it is an informal device available to the members of the Parliament to raise
matters without any prior notice.
o zero hour starts immediately after the question hour and lasts until the agenda for
the day (regular business of the House) is taken up.
o In other words, the time gap between the question hour and the agenda is known as
zero hour. It is an Indian innovation in the field of parliamentary procedures and has
been in existence since 1962.
o The concept of Zero Hour started when MPs felt the need for raising important
constituency and national issues.
 This will be the seventh time that question hour will be curtailed. Previously, it was curtailed
in 1962 during the Indo-China War, in 1975 and 1976 during the Emergency, and reportedly
in 1991, 2004 and 2009.
 Importance
o Among these instruments of accountability, the daily ‘Question Hour’ has an
unmatched criticality on account of its regularity and its availability on a basis of
equality to every Member of the House, Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha.
o Question Hour is the liveliest hour in Parliament. It is during this one hour that
Members of Parliament ask questions of ministers and hold them accountable for
the functioning of their ministries. The questions that MPs ask are designed to elicit
information and trigger suitable action by ministries.
o Their questions have exposed financial irregularities and brought data and
information regarding government functioning to the public domain. With the
broadcasting of Question Hour since 1991, Question Hour has become one the most
visible aspects of parliamentary functioning
 o It has a special significance in the proceedings of Parliament since it covers every
aspect of government activity, domestic and foreign.
o Since questions are generally ‘pointed, specific and confined to one issue only’, they
tend to elicit specific information from the government
o starred questions must be encouraged as the purpose of a Starred Question is to
explore the intent and the alleged illegality or procedural lacuna that the
government decision in question has sought to camouflage in the form of words and
expressions used in the answer.

66. What is the importance of Local Self Governments in a Democracy such as India? Why do
you think did the makers of the Constitution not give adequate importance to this subject in
the original constitutional document? Discuss.

 It has been established in all the states of India by the Acts of the state legislatures to build
democracy at the grass root level1. It is entrusted with rural development. It was
constitutionalised through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992.
 While inaugurating the first local self-government minister’s conference in 1948, our late
Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru said “local government is and must be the basis of any
true system of democracy. Democracy at the top may not be a success unless built on its
foundation from below”
 Benefits
o opportunity to the people to participate freely and actively in the governance and
policy making
o encourage and foster initiative, independence, and enterprise on the part of the
people.
o e distribution and diffusion of power leading to administrative de- concentration and
de- centralization.
o solution for local problems more efficiently (No ‘one size fits all’ approach).
o functions as a school of democracy wherein citizens are imparted political and
popular education regarding issues of local and national importance.
o It develops qualities of initiatives, tolerance and compromise
o It also serves as a reservoir of talents for local and national leadership
o e transmission of power from bureaucrats to the democratically formed local
government has positively checked the influence of bureaucracy.
 Lack of emphasis on local self-government in the constituent assembly
o Although the idea of decentralised planning is as old as the Gandhian economic
thought, attempts at giving a concrete shape to this thinking may be said to have
been made in the postindependence period
o Article 40 of the Constitution lays down that the state would take steps to establish
autonomous bodies in the form of village panchayats.
o In the initial years, the choice was made in favour of rapid growth and planning nd,
therefore, decision-making remained centralised and vertical around the two
political levels, viz. the Union and the state. Local bodies like panchayats, by and
large, functioned as civic agencies of the state government and not as instruments
of micro-level planning.
o National integration and also the Indo-pak war shifted the attention towards
maintinting the soverigntiy and terrirotiral integrity of India.
o Lack of maturity and low levels of literacy also a paid a part why local self
government remained in the DPSP’s.
Govt initiatives for local governance
 E-Panchayat Mission Mode Project for e-enablement of all the Panchayats, to make their
functioning more efficient and transparent.
 In various Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Additional Central Assistance the Panchayati Raj
Institutions have been given centrality. Eg: Saakshar Bharat Mission, is a programme aimed
at creating a literate Society through a variety of teaching learning programmes for non-
literate and neo-literate of 15 years and above, for which the program involve community
Panchayati Raj Institutions and women self-help groups in its endeavour.
 Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) provides untied grants to the Panchayats in the
backward regions in order to reduce development deficits of the country, with the
requirement that the District Plans for utilization of the grant be prepared by the
involvement of the Gram Sabhas
 Panchayat Mahila Evam Yuva Shakti Abhiyan aims to enable women and youth Panchayat
leaders to come together to articulate their problems as women Panchayat leaders.

67. India’s environmental clearance process is riddled with delays. Discuss the recently proposed
reforms and analyse if they make it better or worse?
 EIA is an important process for evaluating the likely environmental impact of a proposed
project. It is a process whereby people’s views are taken into consideration for granting final
approval to any developmental project or activity. It is basically, a decision-making tool to
decide whether the project should be approved or not
 India secured 168th rank in the 12th edition of the biennial Environment Performance Index
(EPI Index 2020) — that measured the environmental performance of 180 countries which is
released by Yale University every year
 draft notification is issued under the powers vested in the central government under
the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
 Existing rules make it harder for development projects to get clearances in time. Also there is
no credible mechanism to monitor the environmental clearances given to this project. With
the new draft document the government aims to expedite the clearances for projects and
also put in place better monitoring mechanisms through this new notification. According to
the government, the new notification is being brought in order to make the process
more transparent and expedient by the implementation of an online system, further
delegation, rationalisation and standardisation of the process.
 In the Samarth Trust Case, the Delhi high court had considered EIAs- a part
of participatory justice in which the voice is given to the voiceless and it is
like a Jan Sunwai, where the community is the jury.
 EIA process is an outcome of the 1992 Rio Declaration, which says that
environmental issues are best handled through the participation of all concerned
citizens and that states must provide an opportunity to citizens to participate in
decision-making processes.
 Features:
o projects can receive clearances post facto. clearances for projects can be
awarded even if they have started construction or have been running phase
without securing environmental clearances. projects operating in violation
of the Environment Protection Act will now be able to apply for
 clearance, as long as they have a plan for remediation and resource
augmentation equivalent to 1.5-2 times “the ecological damage
assessed and economic benefit derived due to violation." Further,
these violations cannot be reported by the public, but only by the
government authorities or the developer-promoter itself.
o Public consultation that formed a crucial part of the EIA process has been diluted
considerably. Ex: duration for public hearings on individual environment impact
assessments from 30 to 20 days.
o The 2006 notification required that the project proponent submit a report every
six months, showing that they are carrying out their activities as per the terms
on which permission has been given. The draft relaxes it to once a yr.
o  central government gets the power to categorise projects as “strategic.” Once
a project is considered as strategic, the draft notification states that no
information related to such projects shall be placed in the public domain.
o All inland waterways projects and expansion/widening of national highways will be
exempt from clearance; similarly oil, gas and shale exploration,
hydroelectric projects up to 25 MW, irrigation projects between
2,000 and 10,000 hectares of command area etc. will be exempt,
owing to exemptions to ‘strategic’ projects.
o new draft exempts a long list of projects from public consultation. Ex: linear projects
such as roads and pipelines in border areas will not require any public hearing
o 2020 draft also exempts most building construction projects of built-up area up to
1,50,000 sq m (earlier 20000 sq m) from “detailed scrutiny” by the Expert
Committee, nor do they need EIA studies and public consultation.

 Criticisms
o ministry has reduced the number of days for public consultation for their feedbacks
on this notification. A rushed public hearing process will lack transparency and
credibility. This time reduction will be more significant considering that the richest
troves of environmental wealth are generally lacking in communication and travel
infrastr
o due to yearly reporting,  certain irreversible environmental, social or health
consequences of the project could go unnoticed because of the extended
reporting time.
 o word ‘strategic’ has not been defined in the draft notification adequately. This gives
undue influence to the government in deciding which projects will be exempt from
the consultation and clearance process
o ‘border area’ is defined as “area falling within 100 kilometres aerial distance from
the Line of Actual Control with bordering countries of India.” That would cover much
of the Northeast, the repository of the country’s richest biodiversity
o NGT had set aside the policy of exemption for construction projects of built-up area
up to 150,000 sq m once before. However, the government has reiterated its stance
here
o For such late applications, a developer will have to stricter penalties under the draft
notification. However, these penalties do not take adequately address the
environmental destruction. Ex: a developer will have to cough up Rs 2,000-10,000
per day for the period of delay. Consider the impact of this penalty on, say, an illegal
sand miner who takes out several truckloads every day
o In ‘strategic’ areas, violations can only be reported suo motu by the project
proponent, or by a government authority, appraisal committee, or regulatory
authority. This is against the principles of natural justice and ‘public trust
doctrine’.
o Post facto approval means that any environmental damage caused by the
project is likely to be waived off as the violations get legitimised. Penalties
won’t reverse the damage done to the env
o Post facto approval is the derogation of the fundamental principles of
environmental jurisprudence and violation of the “precautionary
principle,” which is a principle of environmental sustainability. In one of the
earlier judgments of the Supreme Court, it was made clear that no ex post facto
approval could be given to environmental clearances.
o Environmentalists argue this can lead to more accidents like LG
Polymers, since the plant was not operating with a valid
environmental clearance at the time of the accident.

EIA process in India- overview

In India, an EIA is mandatory for certain development projects under the Environment (Protection)
Act, 1986. The complete process for granting an EC has been notified in the 2006 notification. This
classifies all projects into two categories, A and B, based on their spatial distribution and the scale of
their potential impact on natural and man-made resources. Category A projects are larger in scale
and mandatorily require clearances from the MOEFCC. Category B projects are further divided into
two sub-categories: B1, which need to seek approval from the respective State Environmental Impact
Assessment Authority (SEIAA), and B2, which are exempt from any clearances.
The 2006 notification outlines four sequential stages in the process for granting ECs, along with a
recommended timeline. The first stage is screening and involves submitting a pre-feasibility report
with the proposed terms of reference (ToR) to the MOEFCC. The screening is to determine whether
the project requires an EC or not. Those that require an EC move to the scoping stage where an
Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), appointed by the ministry, either approves or rejects the project
and displays the particulars on the MOEFCC website. These two stages are required to be completed
within a total of 60 days.
The third stage involves public consultation. Here, the concerns of the local population and others
who have a plausible stake in the environmental impacts of the project are heard and sought to be
addressed. This consultation is based on the draft EIA, typically prepared by an accredited private
consultant agency hired by the project proponent and submitted to the State Pollution Control Board
(SPCB). The proceedings of the public consultation are to be displayed on the notice boards of the
panchayats concerned and the SPCB website.
The fourth and final stage is where the EAC appraises the project and gives its recommendation to
the MOEFCC, which takes the final call. The third and fourth stages are mandated to be completed in
105 days. There is a further post-EC monitoring mechanism, which entails the submission of half-
yearly compliance reports.

Delays in projects due to environmental clearance in India: A 2016 report by the

Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), which is the most recent such
exercise, highlights deficiencies in all four stages.
 Delays: In 89% of cases, there was an overall delay in the grant of ECs to
applicants. The delays were pervasive at all stages, but especially in the
recommendation by the EAC to the competent authorities.
o In 2014, the projects in the CAG audit faced an average delay of 318
days over the prescribed limit
 Inconsistencies in the process
o lack of cumulative impact assessment. Each project’s impact was
considered independently, without accounting for other existing or
planned activities in its proximity.
o CAG audit found that for over a third of the projects analysed, the
accreditation certificate was not available for the EIA consultants,
that was made mandatory for all consultants who conduct the
environmental appraisal by MoEFCC in 2009
 irregularities found in the public consultation process in about 28% of the
projects analysed. These included delay in the conduct of public hearing,
missing advertisements, advertisement not in vernacular language and not
taking views of the public into account. in many cases, there was a shortfall
in the commitments made during the public hearing, such as compensatory
afforestation, education and employment for the local population, effluent
treatment, etc.
 penalties: ministry did not have a database of cases received by it where
violations were reported by regional offices. zero penalties were imposed
by the ministry in 2014 and 2015 for violating EC conditions.
 CAG makes several recommendations to improve the EC process, such as
adhering to timelines, better screening of projects based on the initial ToR
submitted and the establishment of a national regulator to monitor
environmental violations.
 The CAG recommendations seem to have had some bearing on the
MOEFCC. From 2017 onwards, there seems to be better initial screening of
the EC applications.

68. The Gopalakrishnan Committee report does not adequately address governance frameworks
around government data sets; do you think it’s a missed opportunity? Give your opinion
with suitable justifications.

 The Committee of Experts on the Non-Personal Data Governance Framework was

constituted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under the
Chairmanship Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, to study various issues relating to non-personal data.
 Non personal data (NPD) is any set of data which does not contain personally identifiable
info.
 Recommendations
o Defining Non-Personal Data.
o The Committee has defined three categories of Non-Personal Data –
1. Public Non-Personal Data : all data collected by govt and its agencies such as
census, data collected by municipal corp on total tax receipts etc.
2. Community Non-Personal Data: any data identifiers abt a set of people who
have either the same geographic location, religion, job or other common
social interests. Eg. metadata collected by ride sharing apps, telecom
companies, electricity distribution companies etc. report argues that legal
and ownership rights over this type of data should be given to a trustee of
the community, most often a community body or government agency. This
trustee can collaborate with a new data regulator called the Non-Personal
Data Authority (separate from a Data Protection Authority called for by the
pending Data Bill) to seek and enforce data sharing.
 3. Private Non-Personal Data: those which are produced by indiviuals which
can be derived from the application of proprietary software and knowledge
eg. non personal data obtained by social media and various applications
o Defining Key Non-Personal Data Roles: There are three key Non-Personal Data roles,
namely data principal (object of data i.e. you), data custodian (one who collects,
stores), and data trustee; and an institutional form of data infrastructures, namely a
data trust.
o The laws, regulations and rules of the Indian State apply to all the data collected
in/from India or by Indian entities.
o Defining data business: Organizations are deriving new or additional economic value
from data, by collecting, storing, processing, and managing data. For instance, a
hospital derives economic value not only from providing medical services, it may
derive additional value by harnessing the medical data and offering value-added
services (such as personalized treatment plans, medicines etc)
o Defining data sharing purposes:
1. Sovereign purposes – Data may be requested security, legal, law
enforcement and regulatory purposes. For instance, Data requested for
mapping security vulnerabilities and challenges, including people’s security,
physical infrastructure security and cyber security.
2. Core Public Interest purposes – Data may be requested for community
uses / benefits or public goods, research and innovation, for better delivery
of publicservices, policy development, etc.
3. Economic purposes – Data may be requested for economic welfare purposes
– in order to encourage competition and provide a level playing field in any
sector, including, very importantly, for enabling domestic startup activities,
or for a fair monetary consideration as part of a well-regulated data market,
etc
o Recommended a Non-personal data authority
69. Should the official language be equidistant to all in a multilingual society? Analyse in the
context of official language of India and present your opinion with suitable justifications

o Census: More than 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken in India as mother tongues.
There are 121 languages which are spoken by 10,000 or more people in India. 96.71 per cent
population in the country have one of the 22 scheduled languages as their mother tongue.
o Widespread resistance to the imposition of Hindi on non-native speakers, especially in Tamil
Nadu, led to the passage of the Official Languages Act of 1963, which provided for the
continued use of English for all official purposes.
o Hindi became the sole working language of the Union government by 1965 with the State
governments free to function in the language of their choice.
o The constitutional directive for the Union government to encourage the spread of Hindi (Art
351) was retained within Central government entities in non-Hindi-speaking States.
o People’s Linguistic Survey of India, headed by eminent academic G.N. Devy, found that our
country is home to 780 languages and 66 different scripts. Given this enormous
heterogeneity, privileging of one language by the state does great disservice to other
equally-deserving language.
o The East Pakistani government ordained Urdu to be the sole official language and people
decided to defy the law. Several agitations were held which even took a violent shape at
some place and finally the Pakistani government was compelled to give Bengali its due
status.
o In Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew had justification to adopt Chinese as its sole official language as
74.2% of the population is Chinese, 13.2% Malays and 9.2% Indians. He not only selected
 English but also recognised languages of every social group. He mandated that each
Singaporean should learn their respective mother tongue along with English. He was of the
firm view that only the roots one has in his/her mother tongue would be shaping his/her
future personality. This is hailed as an historic step
o Of the 780 languages Devy found,  600 of these languages were dying. He added close to
250 languages in India had already died over the past 60 years. Eg. Wadari, Kolhati, Gisari-
languages of nomadic people of MH, KN and Telangana, are endangered while languages like
Bo language in Andaman disappeared in 2010 and the Majhi language in Sikkim disappeared
in 2015.
o in Marathi, there is a colour term called Kirmizi that cannot be translated into any English
term at all. It is brownish, greenish, bluish, it’s almost like the colour combination we see in a
firefly. It is impossible to replicate that perception in the English language. But in the English
language, we have navy blue or sky blue and many other languages might not have the exact
colour term that translates the same. This is how language allows or disallows us in
interpreting the world.

70. What should be the covid-19 vaccine policy in India to ensure total coverage? Explain.

o Immunization currently prevents 2-3 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria,
tetanus, pertussis, influenza and measles. There are now vaccines to prevent more than 20
lifethreatening diseases, and work is ongoing at unprecedented speed to also make COVID-
19 a vaccine-preventable disease.
o WHO is working in collaboration with scientists, business, and global health organizations
through the ACT Accelerator to speed up the pandemic response. When a safe and effective
vaccine is found, COVAX (led by WHO, GAVI and CEPI) will facilitate the equitable access and
distribution of these vaccines to protect people in all countries. People most at risk will be
prioritized.
o New vaccine policy
o Vaccine selection:
 Effectiveness + cost for general public + transportability
 Immunity for how long
o Vaccine targets:
 National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI). The NTAGI
may consider various factors before giving technical recommendation for
introducing any new vaccine in the program.
 age-based strategies complemented by risk group
strategies have been found to be most effective for
disease reduction
 do those who have been already treated be given the vaccine
 which states to be prioritized: based on burden?
o Improving vaccine coverage
 A systematic registration and identification people to be vaccinated or
already vaccinated along with computerization of data for data-
management will be useful to facilitate reaching masses.
 Linking of the Geographical Information System (GIS) with UIP network can
also be used to track delivery of vaccines
 The strengths and gains from National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) in
improving coverage of vaccination in certain states should be consolidated
 The vaccines are administered as preventive measures to healthy individuals
particularly children. The adverse events following immunization (AEFI)
 should be handled effectively in order to maintain/restore public faith in
immunization program
 Training of healthcare workers, ASHA, Anganwaadis

71. Why is it important to reduce food loss and waste? Explain in the backdrop of international
day of awareness on food loss and waste reduction that was celebrated recently.

 This year we celebrated the first ever observance of the International Day of Awareness of
Food Loss and Waste(IDAFLW).
 Global scenario
o around 14 percent of food produced is lost between harvest and retail. Significant
quantities are also wasted in retail and at the consumption level
o Acc to FAO, one-third of the total global food production is wasted, costing the
world economy about $750 billion.
o Annually, close to `31 million (70-75%) of waste is dumped into open landfill sites
 India
o Globally, India currently ranks seventh in terms of overall food wastage agricultural
produce, poultry and milk.
o Around 67 million tonnes of food is wasted in India every year which has been
valued at around `92,000 crores; enough to feed all of Bihar for a year
o Annually, close to 21 million metric tonnes of wheat rots in India; a figure that is
equal to Australia’s total annual production
o According to the BMC, Mumbai generates close to 9,400 metric tonnes of solid
waste per day, from which 73% is food, vegetable, and fruit waste, while only 3% is
plastic. The garbage dumps in Mumbai are as tall as five or six storey buildings.
 Impact
o Every ten seconds, a child dies from the effects of hunger. 690
million people are going hungry, 2 billion suffer from
malnutrition
o The so-called ‘hunger riots’ as a reaction to food price
increases in 2008 in Haiti
o the disposal of food loss and waste in landfills, leads to greenhouse gas emissions,
contributing to climate change.
o Further, several toxins and/or a black liquid known as leachate, oozes from the
waste, which is absorbed by the soil/ground, leading to the contamination of ground
water. These overflowing landfills have today become the root cause of blocked
drains, soil and water pollution.
o Nutrient loss due to quantitative and qualitative food loss and waste may represent
a missed opportunity to reduce malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.
 Importance of reducing food loss and waste
o achieving the SDG 12.3 of preventing food loss and wastage.
o When reductions in food loss occur close to the farm, they are most effective in
addressing food insecurity and in alleviating stress on land and water.
o When reductions in food waste occur downstream in the supply chain and at the
consumer level they are key to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
o The largest improvements in food security are likely to occur by reducing food losses
in the early stages of the supply chain, especially on-farm and at harvest in countries
with high levels of food insecurity.
 Suggestions for commercial and industrials ectors
 o Follow essential food safety techniques to avoid food waste
o Set up food waste audits
o Trained staff and correct techniques
o Keep skins on vegetables
o Maintain a correct temperature and good storage facility for perishables items
o Offering flexible serving sizes and assessing portion sizes in favour of the customers
would lead to prevent food waste
 International examples
o France: mandatory for supermarkets to donate unsold food items to charity or
farmers to convert them into fertilizers
o Canada recovers unused food items from manufacturers, retailers, restraunts and
deliver these food ingredients to be used to cook over 22000 meals every day
o Sweden implemented a recycling revolution, wherein <1% of HH waste ends up in
landfill and of 4.4 MT of HH waste produced every yr, 2.2 MT is converted to energy

72. Discuss in detail the confusion over policy for human resource development and economic
policy is affecting quality, equity and integrity in the field of medical education
 draft New Education Policy (NEP) speaks about equity, inclusiveness and sustainable
development at many points but it falls short, esp in medical education
o it states that fees in medical colleges, both public and private, will be left to be
decided by the institutions themselves
o pvt institutions: policy document states that all private institutions should be not-
for-profit. It appears that the committee that drafted the report hoped that this
recommendation, as well as the regulatory apparatus suggested by it, by itself will
take care of the problem of profiteering, But the present policy too is to consider
higher education a not-for-profit enterprise but has become a very large driver of
the black economy, according to several reports.
o The fact that on the one hand, the cost of education is sought to be lowered and on
the other, fees are allowed to remain unregulated, betrays confused thinking. With
the National Medical Commission Bill regulating fees only for 50% of seats in medical
colleges, it looks like the commitment to equity is merely a pious homily.
o Multiple entry and exit points: having a National Exit Examination for MBBS as the
mode of entry to postgraduate courses is neither flexible nor fair. A student cannot
be expected to take the exit examination multiple times if the initial score is not
good enough. All medical colleges across the country are not of the same standard
to ensure a levelplaying field.
o High level of centralization: objectives of autonomy and adaptation to local needs
are contradicted by the high level of centralisation in medical education by the
National Medical Commission. document considers separation of the functions of
regulation, funding, accreditation and standard setting as absolutely necessary.
However, the National Medical Commission has sought to arrogate to itself many of
these functions.
o the recommendation that diploma courses should be expanded in order to provide
“intermediate specialists” lacks focus. The role intermediate specialists supposed is
not clear.
o Multiple post graduate courses: The MBBS degree has been debased to such an
extent that it is considered merely a necessary requirement for postgraduation. One
of the main drivers of the thirst for a postgraduate degree is the lack of adequate
 respectable employment opportunities for an MBBS graduate. Having a
postgraduate degree has a multiplier effect on employability, income and
respectability for the doctor. How useful it is for the society is questionable
o The overwhelming privatisation of health-care delivery in India has led to the
concentration of personnel in those parts where the public has the capacity to pay.
o Regulatory capacity: policy document does not recognise that the main driver of
inequity in health care is the presence of a large, poorly-regulated, for-profit sector.
o Commercialisation: private entities have been permitted to establish medical
educational institutions to supplement government efforts. Though they are
supposed to be not-for-profit, taking advantage of the poor regulatory apparatus
and the ability to both tweak and create rules, these private entities, with very few
exceptions, completely commercialised education.
o Poor quality of education: None of the three stated objectives of medical education
has been achieved by the private sector — that is, providing health-care personnel
in all parts of the country, ensuring quality and improving equity
o Failure of regulators: The executive, primarily the Medical Council of India, has
proven unequal to the task of ensuring that private institutions comply with
regulations.
o Methods of education across fields are undergoing changes on account of advances
in e-learning methods and tools, including remote learning, virtual classrooms,
digital dissections, and simulation systems for imparting skills.
o Extending teaching privileges to practising physicians and allowing e-learning tools
will address the shortage of quality teachers across the system. Together, these
reforms could double the existing medical seats without compromising on the
quality of teaching.
o Periodic re-certification based on continuing learning systems may become essential
to keep up with the fast pace of change. Virtual learning tools eliminate the need for
didactic classrooms
73. Discuss the concerns raised by the farmers and the states on the reform measures
announced recently by the government to deal with the issues in the agricultural marketing.

 The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce
(Promotion and Facilitation) Bill (commonly referred to as the APMC Bypass Bill), and The
Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services
Bill
 The government says this is aimed at facilitating remunerative prices through competitive
alternative trading channels.
 Concerns:
o APMCs:
 APMCs can regulate the trade of farmers’ produce by providing licences to
buyers, commission agents, and private markets; levy market fees or any
other charges on such trade; and provide necessary infrastructure within
their markets to facilitate the trade.
 Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation)
Ordinance aims at opening up agricultural sale and marketing outside the
notified APMCs mandis for farmers, removes barriers to inter-State trade
and provides a framework for electronic trading of agricultural produce.
 Bill actually assumes that private players don’t exist today and the APMC is a
monopoly. That is a flawed assumption. Private players actually look to the
APMC for a reference price to conduct their own transactions.
  A system of arthiyas or commission agents facilitates procurement, and link
roads connecting most villages to the notified markets and allowing farmers
to easily bring their produce for procurement.
o Agriculture falls in the State list, and hence many argue that the Centre should not
be making legislation on this subject at all, as that will compromise on the state’s
ability to Tax and Regulate agriculture sector
o MSP: Farmers fear that encouraging tax-free private trade outside the APMC mandis
will make these notified markets unviable, which could lead to a reduction in
government procurement itself. Activists and farmers are worried that if they have
to conduct trade outside of the APMC marketplace, they won’t even make this
much. Thus rendering MSP ineffective.
o State govt finance: It prohibits State governments from collecting market fee, cess or
levy for trade outside the APMC markets.
o Contract farming:
 Contract farming is not a new concept to the country’s farmers – informal
contracts for food grains, formal contracts in sugarcane and poultry sectors
are common.
 The Price Assurance Bill, while offering protection to farmers against price
exploitation, does not prescribe the mechanism for price fixation.
 There is apprehension that the free hand given to private corporate houses
could lead to farmer exploitation.
 Critics are apprehensive about formal contractual obligations owing to the
unorganised nature of the farm sector and lack of resources for a legal battle
with private corporate entities.
o Deregulation of food items:
 Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance removes cereals, pulses,
oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential
commodities
 Critics say it would lead to exporters, processors and traders hoarding farm
produce during the harvest season, when prices are generally lower, and
releasing it later when prices increase.
 Food security issues: They say it could undermine food security since the
States would have no information about the availability of stocks within the
State.
 Critics anticipate irrational volatility in the prices of essentials and increased
black marketing
 more sustainable solutions lie in augmenting productivity, diversifying to high-value crops,
and shifting people out of agriculture to the high productivity sector. expected that many
companies will be encouraged to build efficient supply lines somewhat on the lines of milk.
there is a need for strengthening of Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs), this will
increase bargaining power of farmers on one hand and provide a suitable investment
climate on the other.

74. Discuss the possible role that the newly proposed Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) in banks
would play to ensure uniform approach with regard to compliance and risk management
culture across the banking industry in India.

 As part of robust compliance system, banks are required, inter-alia, to have an effective
compliance culture, independent corporate compliance function and a strong compliance
risk management programme at bank and group level. Such an independent compliance
 function is now required to be headed by a designated Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)
selected through a suitable process with an appropriate ‘fit and proper’ evaluation/selection
criteria to manage compliance risk effectively.
 About Chief Compliance Officer (CCO):
o minimum fixed tenure of not less than 3 years.
o By Audit Committee of the Board (ACB) / Managing Director (MD) & CEO
o transferred / removed before completion of the tenure only in exceptional
circumstances with the explicit prior approval of the Board after following a well-
defined and transparent internal administrative procedure
o age<55yrs
o shall have an overall experience of at least 15 years in the banking or financial
services, out of which minimum 5 years shall be in the Audit / Finance /
Compliance / Legal / Risk Management functions.
o CCO shall have good understanding of industry and risk management, knowledge of
regulations, legal framework and sensitivity to supervisors’ expectations
 Role:
o To apprise the Board and senior management on regulations, rules and standards
and any further developments
o conduct assessment of the compliance risk (at least once a year) and to develop a
riskoriented activity plan for compliance assessment. The activity p
o periodically report on compliance failures/breaches to the Board/ACB
o monitor and periodically test compliance by performing sufficient and
representative compliance testing
o To ensure compliance of Supervisory observations made by RBI and/or any other
directions in both letter and spirit in a time bound and sustainable manner.
 The role of a CCO is of a ‘conscience keeper’ in the organisation. It has also transformed the
role from being a rule book manager to a growth enabler of the business. If it is
implemented in letter and spirit would lead to ensure uniform approach with regard to
compliance and risk management culture across the banking industry in India.

75. Write a brief note on the role of SHGs in rural development in India.
 Self-help groups are informal groups of people who come together to address their common
problems
 Self-help groups can serve many different purposes depending on the situation and the
need. For example, within the development sector, self-help groups have been used as an
effective strategy for poverty alleviation, human development and social empowerment,
and are therefore often focused on microcredit programmes and income-generating
activities
 SHG movement in India
o concept evolved over decades and was pioneered by Nobel laureate Mohammad
Yunus as Self Help Groups (SHGs) in 1970s
o in India gained momentum after 1992, when NABARD realised its potential and
started promoting it.
o NABARD’s SHG-Bank Linkage Program (SBLP) connected group members to formal
financial services.
o Over the last two decades, the SBLP has proven to be a great medium for social and
economic empowerment for rural women.
 o India has witnessed state-led promotion of SHGs through a three-tiered architecture
of community institutions at group, village and cluster levels
o In 1999, Government of India, introduced Swarn Jayanti Gram Swarojgaar Yojana
(SGSY) to promote self-employment in rural areas through formation and skilling of
SHGs.. became NRLM in 2011 and further renamed to Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana
(DAY-NRLM) in 2015
o DAY –NRLM now covers 100 million families through 8.5 million SHGs with savings
deposit of approx. INR 161 billion.
o State government initiatives such Kudumbasree in Kerala and Jeevika in Bihar
o Women’s SHGs are being supported by Government of India’s National Rural
Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) which is co-financed by the World Bank. NRLM has
scaled up SHG model, reaching more than 67 million women. The women have
saved $1.4 billion and leveraged a further $37 billion from commercial banks.
 Role of SHGs in Rural Development in India:
o enabling financial inclusion in rural areas. They can act as an intermediary to provide
financial services in their community
o financially empowered rural women within the family and in local community.
o The Social capital of SHGs could be an asset for solving various social issues in India
e.g. gender based discrimination, dowry system, casteism etc.
o There are many successful cases where SHG women have come together to close
liquor shops in their village.
o They also act as a delivery mechanism for various services like entrepreneurial
training, livelihood promotion activity and community development programs.
o Study shows that women in SHGs are more likely to save on a regular basis, have
formal loans and scored more on average on the empowerment index.
o Reaching to the grassroots: In Jharkhand, where poverty is high, SHGs – being the
closest to the ground – are helping district administrations identify pockets of
hunger and starvation so efforts can be made to ameliorate them.
o During COVID pandemic:
 Face masks: As per report of ministry of rural development, more than 132
lakh masks have been produced by 14,522 SHGs involving 65,936 members
in 399 districts in the 2nd fortnight of March, when masks were in short
supply
 Community kitchens: SHGs have set up over 10,000 community kitchens
across the country to feed stranded workers, the poor, and the vulnerable.
Kudumbashree alone has set up 1300 kitchens in Kerala.
 SHGs are helping curb rumours and misinformation: The women are
systematically using their vast network of WhatsApp groups to ward off
chaos and confusion and avoid rumor mongering.
 Creating Awareness: In Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, Jeevika – the
state’s SHG platform – is spreading the word about handwashing,
quarantine and self-isolation through leaflets, songs, videos and phone
messages
 In Jharkhand, where large numbers of people migrate to other states to
work, they are running a dedicated helpline for returning migrants and other
vulnerable families.
 Delivering Services: Since access to finance is critical for people to sustain
themselves during the lockdown, SHGs women who also work as banking
correspondents have emerged as a vital resource. Deemed as an essential
service, these bank sakhis have continued to provide doorstep banking
 services to far-flung communities, in addition to distributing pensions and
enabling the most needy to access credits into their accounts through DBT
o Way forward:
 Government programs can be implemented through SHGs. This will not only
improve the transparency and efficiency but also bring our society closer to
Self-Governance as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi.
 Employment in the large unorganised sector can be improved if banks
channelize funds through the self-help groups (SHGs). Linking the SHG
members to other social security schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti
Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Atal Pension
Yojana.

76. Write a note on UN’s guidelines on access to social justice for people with disabilities.

 The recently released UN’s guidelines with regards to access to social justice for people with
disabilities are the first such guidelines ever issue by UN aiming to make it easier for them to
access justice systems around the world
 Principle 1 All persons with disabilities have legal capacity and, therefore, no one shall be
denied access to justice on the basis of disability.
 Principle 2 Facilities and services must be universally accessible to ensure equal access to
justice without discrimination of persons with disabilities.
 Principle 3 Persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, have the right to
appropriate procedural accommodations.
 Principle 4 Persons with disabilities have the right to access legal notices and information in
a timely and accessible manner on an equal basis with others.
 Principle 5 Persons with disabilities are entitled to all substantive and procedural safeguards
recognized in international law on an equal basis with others, and States must provide the
necessary accommodations to guarantee due process
 Principle 6 Persons with disabilities have the right to free or affordable legal assistance.
 Principle 7 Persons with disabilities have the right to participate in the administration of
justice on an equal basis with others.
 Principle 8 Persons with disabilities have the rights to report complaints and initiate legal
proceedings concerning human rights violations and crimes, have their complaints
investigated and be afforded effective remedies.
 Principle 9 Effective and robust monitoring mechanisms play a critical role in supporting
access to justice for persons with disabilities.
 Principle 10 All those working in the justice system must be provided with awareness-raising
and training programmes addressing the rights of persons with disabilities, in particular in
the context of access to justice.

India and PwDs:

 Equal constitutional rights to Persons with disabilities.
 India is also a signatory to Convention on the Rights of Disabilities
 India has launched Accessible India campaign to ensure accessibility in public buildings (which
includes courts, police stations etc) in a prescribed time-frame to persons with disabilities
 Reservation for Persons with disabilities in the government jobs.
 Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 has been passed which provides for a grievance
redressal mechanism.
 National and State Fund will be created under the above act to provide financial support to the
persons with disabilities.
 Special courts have been setup in each district to handle cases concerning violation of rights of
PwDs.

77. For “POSHAN Maah” to contribute towards the holistic nourishment of children and a
malnutrition free India by 2030, India needs to address the multi-dimensional determinants
of malnutrition on an urgent basis. Elucidate.

 Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or

nutrients. India’s National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) show that there has been a decline in
child malnutrition numbers in the country
 Malnutrition situation in India:
o A quarter of women of reproductive age in India are undernourished, with a body mass
index (BMI) of less than 18.5 kg/m
o Both malnutrition and anaemia have increased among women since 1998-99.
o Among pregnant women, anaemia has increased from 50% to almost 58%.
 Govt has launched a campaign declaring the month of September as “POSHAN Maah 2020”. By
inviting citizens to send nutritional recipes, the campaign aims to create awareness about the
POSHAN Abhiyan through community mobilisation.
 Multi-dimensional determinants of malnutrition
o Mother’s health and education:
 Scientists say the initial 1,000 days of an individual’s lifespan, from the day of
conception till he or she turns two, is crucial for physical and cognitive
development.
 But more than half the women of childbearing age are anaemic and 33 per cent
are undernourished
 Mothers’ education, particularly higher education, has the strongest inverse
association with under-nutrition. Women’s education has a multiplier effect not
only on household food security but also on the child’s feeding practice and the
sanitation facility. It also delays age of marriage which is crucial
 Exclusive breast feeding and the introduction of complementary foods and a
diversified diet after the first six months is essential
o Social inequality:girl children are more likely to be malnourished than boys, and low-
caste children than upper-caste children.
o Sanitation: Lack of sanitation makes them vulnerable to the kinds of chronic intestinal
diseases that prevent bodies from making good use of nutrients in food, and they
become malnourished.
o Lack of diversified food: Only 12% of children are likely to be stunted and underweight in
areas where diversity in food intake is high, while around 50% children are stunted if
they consume less than three food items
o Lack of food security: Nearly one-third of adults in the country have a body mass index
(BMI) below normal just because they do not have enough food to eat.
o Poverty: crushing poverty forces most women to leave their young children at home and
work in the fields during the agricultural seasons.
o Diseases: The child may eventually die of a disease, but that disease becomes lethal
because the child is malnourished and unable to put up resistance to it.
o Deficiency of govt efforts: despite two robust holistic programmes like ICDS and NHM,
delivery system is inadequate and plagued by inefficiency and corruption. Some analysts
estimate that 40 per cent of the subsidized food never reaches the intended recipients
78. Elaborate upon the major provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and
suggest further measures for their empowerment.
 The World Bank estimates that 15% of the world’s population is affected by one disability or
another. Exclusion of disabled persons from the labour market leads to an annual loss of
approximately 3-7% of the GDP. According to Census 2011, India is home to 26.8 million
people with disabilities and that is a huge underestimation.
 Major provisions:
o Defn of diability:
 based on an evolving and dynamic concept.
 types of disabilities have been increased from existing 7 to 21 and the
Central Government will have the power to add more types of disabilities.
 Persons with “benchmark disabilities” are defined as those certified to have
at least 40 per cent of the disabilities specified above.
o Rights and entitlements:
 Responsibility has been cast upon the appropriate governments to take
effective measures to ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy their
rights equally with others
 Additional benefits such as reservation in higher education (not less than
5%), government jobs (not less than 4 %), reservation in allocation of land,
poverty alleviation schemes (5% allotment) etc.
 Every child with benchmark disability between the age group of 6 and 18
years shall have the right to free education.
 For strengthening the Prime Minister’s Accessible India Campaign, stress has
been given to ensure accessibility in public buildings (both Government and
private) in a prescribed time-frame
o Guardianship: provides for grant of guardianship by District Court under which there
will be joint decision – making between the guardian and the persons with
disabilities
o Establishment of authorities:
 Broad based Central & State Advisory Boards on Disability are to be set up to
serve as apex policy making bodies at the Central and State level.
 Office of Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities and State
commissioner of PwDs has been strengthened. These will act as regulatory
bodies and grievance redressal bodies. District level committees will be
constituted by the State Governments to address local concerns
 Creation of National and State Fund will be created to provide financial
support to the persons with disabilities. The existing National Fund for
Persons with Disabilities and the Trust Fund for Empowerment of Persons
with Disabilities will be subsumed with the National Fund.
o Penalties for offences: Whoever intentionally insults or intimidates a person with
disability, or sexually exploits a woman or child with disability, shall be punishable
with imprisonment. Special Courts will be designated in each district to handle cases
concerning violation of rights of PwDs.
 Issues:
o clauses on non-discrimination in employment mandatory only in government
establishments
o Neither the commissioners nor any of the members of their advisory committees are
required to be Persons with Disabilities.
 o Despite a Supreme Court judgment in 2013 that reservations should be decided on
the basis of the total number of vacancies in a particular cadre, rather than the posts
identified by the government to be filled by persons with benchmark disabilities, the
bill has stuck to the latter.
 Although RPWD Act, 2016 is a rights-based legislation, the success of the statute will largely
depend on the proactive measures taken by the respective state governments on its
implementation.

79. The scourge of manual scavenging continues in India despite the most stringent penal
provisions in the law against. Critically discuss the provisions of The Prohibition of
Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in light
of the above statement.
 Manual scavenging is the degrading practice of manually removing human excreta from “dry
latrines”
 protection against such practice is guaranteed by the supreme document of our land, i.e. the
Constitution of India under Articles 17 , 21 and 23.
 Penal provisions against the practice under:
o The Untouchability Offences Act of 1955, Protection of Civil Rights Act of 1977
o Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition)
Act of 1993: failed because It did not criminalize cleaning of gutters, septic tanks,
manholes, etc. and also did not empower an aggrieved individual to file a complaint
rather left it to certain authorities to do the same
o Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013
 Stats:
o According to the figures provided by the Houselisting and Housing Census of 2011,
there were around 7.94 lakh latrines in India including urban and mofussil towns
from which excreta was removed by manual scavengers
o 2019 saw the highest number of manual scavenging deaths in the
past five years. 110 workers were killed while cleaning sewers and
septic tanks.
o In 2019, A Central government task force has so far counted 54000
manual scavengers in India, in just 18 states
 The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment)
Bill, 2020
o Proposes to completely mechanise sewer cleaning and provide better protection at
work and compensation in case of accidents.
o bill proposes to make the law banning manual scavenging more stringent by
increasing the imprisonment term and the fine amount
o bill comes under the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry’s National Action
Plan which aims at complete elimination of hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic
tanks
 issues with the bill:
o nature and type of mechanization is not clear
o roadmap for complete eradication needs to be laid out in detail with measurable
indicators of improvement.
o Lacks measures to regulate the contractual system.
 o these Acts and schemes should also focus on all other categorisation of sanitation
workers like the faecal sludge handlers, sewage treatment plant sanitation workers,
toilet sanitation workers, public transportation site sanitation Workers

80. Present a picture of child and women nutrition in India. Discuss the schemes introduced in
this direction and also suggest measures to ensure Poshanabhiyan targets are realized.

 September month is celebrated as Rashtriya Poshan Maah each year under POSHAN
Abhiyaan (PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment), which was launched in 2018.
Poshan Maah aims to create mobilization across the country for improving Nutrition
indicators
 Measures undertaken by Government to tackle Malnutrition:
o ICDS: 1975, targets children <6yrs, pregnant and lactating mothers an women in
reproductive age grp, implemented by Anganwadi workers; provides a package of
six services namely supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal
education, nutrition & health education, immunization, health check-up and
referral services; by MoWCD
o NHM: 2013, subsume NRHM and NURM; by MoHFW; targets RMNCH+A,
Communicable and NCDs
o Mid day meal scheme: 1995; targets every child within the age group of six to
fourteen years studying in classes I to VIII
o Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojna (IGMSY)
o Mother’s Absolute Affection
o National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan): GoI’s flagship programme to
improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers
and seeks to ensure a “malnutrition free India” by 2022. ensures convergence with
various programmes i.e., Anganwadi Services, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana
Yojana (PMMVY), Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) of MWCD Janani
Suraksha Yojana (JSY), National Health Mission (NHM), Swachh-Bharat Mission,
Public Distribution System (PDS)
o PoshanMaah

81. Present the case of growing antimicrobial resistance burden in the country.

 Global scenario: More than two million people every year are affected with antibiotic-
resistant
 AMR in India:
o In India, 60,000 newborns die each year of Antibiotic-Resistant
Neonatal Infections
o A study by ICMR has found antibiotic resistant organisms in the digestive tracts of two
out of every three healthy persons that it tested, pointing to a rapid spread of antibiotic
resistance in the Indian population.
o presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in street fruit juices being sold in Delhi has
been reported by a study published in the 13th issue of the International Journal of
Environmental Research and Public Health
 Categories of drug resistance:
o MDR (Multi-Drug Resistance) was defined as acquired non-susceptibility to at
least one agent in three or more antimicrobial categories
o XDR (eXtensive Drug Resistance) was defined as non-susceptibility to at
least one agent in all but two or fewer antimicrobial categories
o PDR (Pan Drug Resistance) was defined as non-susceptibility to all
agents in all antimicrobial categories.
 India’s response :
o National Health Policy 2017 highlights the problem of antimicrobial resistance
and calls for effective action to address it.
o MoHFW  identified AMR as one of the top 10 priorities for the ministry’s
collaborative work with WHO.
o In 2012, India’s medical societies adopted the Chennai Declaration, a set of national
recommendations to promote antibiotic stewardship.
o India’s Red Line campaign demands that prescription-only antibiotics be marked
with a red line, to discourage the over-the-counter sale of antibiotics.
o National Action Plan on AMR resistance 2017-2021 has been put in place
o India has instituted surveillance of the emergence of drug resistance in disease
causing microbes in programmes on Tuberculosis, Vector Borne diseases, AIDS, etc.
o FSSAI) banned the use of antibiotics and several pharmacologically active substances
in fisheries
o government has also capped the maximum levels of drugs that can be used for
growth promotion in meat and meat products.

82. Discuss the roles and functions of national recruitment agency also explain in what way it is
a major boon to youth in the country.

 National Recruitment Agency or NRA is an independent body that will conduct examinations
for government jobs. The agency will conduct a Common Eligibility Test for various
government jobs. The Centre plans to use the CET score for all recruitments in the future.
But, to begin with, this will be implemented only in three sectors.
 National Recruitment Agency will conduct the Tier-1 online.
 The examinations will be conducted in 12 languages. The examination will be conducted
based on a common curriculum. There will be a common registration, single fee and the
candidate need not travel outside the district to appear for the examination.
 A standardised question bank with multiple questions of similar difficulty levels will be
created in a central server. An algorithm will be used to jumble and dole out different
questions, so that each candidate receives a different question paper, reducing the chances
of cheating and paper leakage.
 Scores will be generated quickly, delivered online and be valid for a three-year period.
Students can write the test multiple times as long as they are within the eligible age limit,
with their best score being taken into account.
 For now, however, the examination will be held once a year
 NRA will conduct a separate CET each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary
(12th pass) and the matriculate (10 th pass) candidates for those non-technical posts to
which recruitment is currently carried out by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the
 Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection
(IBPS)
 After the CET is conducted, NRA will send the scores of eligible candidates to the respective
agencies to continue the recruitment process. So, those who clear the CET will have to
appear for the mains or second level of the recruitment.
 NRA has been envisioned as ‘a specialist body bringing the state of the art technology and
best practices to the field of central government recruitment
 cost will also be incurred for setting up exam infrastructure in 117 districts with large
numbers of aspirants. The proposal is expected to ease the access to aspirants residing in
rural areas.
Benefits:
 CET would significantly reduce the lengthy recruitment cycle as some of the recruitment
departments have decided to skip their tier -2 or second level test and go ahead with the
recruitment based on CET score which will be the preliminary level test followed by physical
tests and medical examination
 Candidates who clear CET once, will be eligible to attempt for the second level exam (mains)
thrice (once every year). They will not have to appear for the PT/ screening test again for
three years.
 There shall be no restriction on the number of attempts to be taken by a candidate to
appear in the CET subject to the upper age limit. Relaxation in the upper age limit shall be
given to candidates of SC/ST/OBC
 The ultimate aim is to reach a stage wherein candidates can schedule their own tests at
Centres of their choice
 Candidates will not have to incur additional expenses for travel, boarding, lodging to reach
their exam centres that are usually far from their home town. Single exam will reduce the
financial burden on candidates
 availability of exam centres in every district would benefit the female candidates as well.
Girls generally depend on a guardian
 NRA will benefit around 25 million aspirants who apply for multiple government jobs every
year and have to apply for each exam separately

83. COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted perils of illiteracy. In this context discuss the need for
the country to have a mass movement for literacy. Also bring out the key highlights of
Padhna Likhna Abhiyan.

 COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented levels of disruption to education, impacting

over 90% of the world’s student population: 1.54 billion children, including 743 million girls.
Our Save Our Education report revealed that once the crisis is over, nearly 10 million
children may never return to school
 Despite the efforts of governments and organisations to address the ongoing crisis, some
500 million children – often the poorest and most marginalised – have no access to distance
learning
 According to UNESCO, the COVID-19 crisis revealed the unpreparedness of education
systems, infrastructure, educators and learners for distance learning, and the fragility of
adult literacy programmes. It hit hardest those who were already marginalized, including
773 million nonliterate adults and young people – two-thirds of whom are women and 617
million children and adolescents who were failing to acquire basic reading and numeracy
skills even before the crisis.
 COVID has highlighted perils of illiteracy:
 o Migrants
o Fake news and paranoia
o Home support for at home education
 Padhna Likhna Abhiyan:
o will be a leap forward for achieving the goal of total literacy by 2030.
o principal target of the programme is to impart functional literacy and numeracy to
57 lakh non-literate and non-numerate adults in both rural and urban areas across
the country in the age group of 15 years and above
o target mostly comprises women, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, minorities and
other disadvantaged groups. In the scheme, among others, priority will be given to
districts with female literacy rates less than 60 per cent as per latest census.
o scheme shall have a flexible approach and will involve innovative methodologies
such as involving school and college students and other volunteers such as those
from the NSS and NYKS, for imparting basic literacy.
o potential of digital technology will be harnessed for improving access and quality
through the creation of digital e-material, mobile apps etc.
o efforts will be made to converge the programme with existing programmes of Rural
Development, Health, Social Justice, Tribal Development, Women and Child
Development, Panchayati Raj Institutions, NGOs, and CSR to join hands in
transforming India to a fully literate society making the country “Saakshar Bharat-
Aatmanirbhar Bharat”

84. Account for spatial and regional dimensions of digital divide in India.

 Digital Divide means discrepancy between people who have access to and the resources to
use new information and communication tools, such as the Internet, and people who do not
have the resources and access to the technology. It also means discrepancy between those
who have the skills, knowledge and abilities to use the technologies and those who do not.
 can exist between those living in rural areas and those living in urban areas, between
genders, between the educated and uneducated, between economic classes, and on a global
scale between more and less industrially developed nations.
 Stats:
o report, titled Internet in India 2017, was released by the Internet and Mobile
Association of India:
 In December 2017, internet penetration in urban India was at 64.84 percent.
In rural India, however, internet penetration was at 20.26 percent
o According to a 2017 global survey by the Pew Research Centre, only one in four
Indian adults report using Internet or owning a smartphone
o huge rural- urban and inter-state digital divide: according to statistics, more than 75
per cent of the broadband connections in the country are in the top 30 cities
o many states like north-eastern states, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa,
Chhattisgarh and Assam lag behind other states in the use and development of ICTs.
o Gender divide: in India only 29% of total internet users are females.
o national capital has the highest Internet access, with 55% of homes having such
facilities. Himachal Pradesh and Kerala are the only other States where more than
 half of all households have Internet. At the other end of the spectrum is Odisha,
where only one in ten homes have Internet. There are ten other States with less
than 20% Internet penetration, including States with software hubs such as
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
o biggest divide is by economic status, Even in Odisha, almost 63% of homes in the top
urban quintile have Internet facilities. In the poorest quintile of rural Odisha,
however, that figure drops to an abysmal 2.4%
o having Internet access is no guarantee that one can use it. The NSO report shows
that 20% of Indians above the age of 5 years had basic digital literacy, doubling to
just 40% in the critical age group of 15 to 29 years, which includes all high school and
college students as well as young parents responsible for teaching younger children.
 Implications of digital divide:
o Social capital: Once an individual is connected, Internet connectivity and ICTs can
enhance his or her future social and cultural capital
o Economic disparity is exacerbated
o impacts children’s ability to learn and grow in low-income school districts.
o Lack of info and access to govt schemes
o Political empowerment limitation

85. Amidst rising number of cancer cases in the country, discuss the necessary steps to be taken
to help reduce India’s cancer burden.

 (ICMR)-National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR) National Cancer
Registry Programme Report of August 2020 has estimated that the number of cancer cases
in India in 2020 is 13.9 lakh
 A 2017 report showed that India’s cancer burden increased 2.6 times between 1990 to 2016,
and deaths due to cancers doubled during the time
 Almost two-thirds of these cancer cases are at late stages. In men, the most common
cancers are of the lung, oral cavity, stomach and oesophagus, while in women, breast,
cervix, ovary and gall bladder cancers are the most common.
 Tobacco use (in all forms) is a major avoidable risk factor for the development of cancer in
27% of cancer cases. Other important risk factors include alcohol use, inappropriate diet,
low physical activity, obesity, and pollution
 Steps to be taken to help reduce India’s cancer burden:
o Cancer detection & prevention clinics: Late stage at presentation is the main reason
for the poor survival from cancer in India. The late presentation is mainly due to the
lack of diagnostic facilities at the peripheral levels
o nearly 50%-60% of cancer cases can be avoided by tackling the known risk factors
effectively. Community empowerment through a multisectoral approach that brings
together government, private practitioners and civil society to increase health
literacy and promote certain behaviour
 o Improved awareness can also prevent stigma attached to the disease. We need to
ensure that health systems are strengthened so that there is greater access to
screening and vaccination, early detection, and timely, affordable treatment
o Making cancer a notifiable disease could be one of the ways to help drive this
research further by providing greater access to accurate, relevant data that can drive
policy decisions.
o A report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Technology and
Environment recommended a ‘Hub and Spoke Model’ proposed by the TMC to
better reach out to cancer patients nationally. This approach — already in practice in
Punjab- aims to ease access and minimise travel times for patients
o Tobacco control law and program needs to be prioritized and implemented
effectively across all states of the country

86. Analyze the economic opportunities which have opened up for India post the Chinese app
ban in India.

 Indian government banned popular apps of Chinese origin, citing data security and national
sovereignty concerns. These include popular ones such as TikTok, SHAREIt, UC Browser,
CamScanner, Helo, Weibo, WeChat and Club Factory.
 invoking powers under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act read with the
relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of
Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009.
 government also said that several citizens had reportedly raised concerns in representations
to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) regarding security of data and
loss of privacy in using these apps. Ministry said it had also received “exhaustive
recommendations” from the Home Ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre
 economic opportunities: while we have spent the last two decades exporting the bulk of our
technology services to developed countries in the West, the vacuum created as the Indian
Internet grew has been filled by American Big Tech and by the Chinese.
 Shift of users: eg. post tiktok ban, saw shift of many tiktok users to Indian alternatives like
Mitron and Chingari
 Indian companies like flipkart, myntra etc for Alibaba
 Indian entrepreneurs should not simply look to replace what the exiting firms have so far
been providing. They should focus instead on providing services and products of high quality
that will be used by everyday Indians across the country
 More well suite to resolve language barrier
 Localised needs meeting apps: like provide specific market prices, local train and bus routes,
allow for non-traditional banking and lending
 Low cost primiere apps can be designed that can access other low cost markets, say in Africa
and latin America as well
 Can reenergise the software and entrepreneurship ecosystem

87. Can Gilgit Baltistan become a catalyst for the development for India, Pakistan and the
neighboring region around them? Discuss the concerns associated and suggest way forward.
 Political activists have accused Pakistan of changing the demography of Gilgit Baltistan and
Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in disregard to its own commitments. Islamabad abolished
the State Subject Rule in Gilgit Baltistan in 1984, which resulted in demographic changes in
the territory. People from different parts of Pakistan are free to purchase land there
 It has awarded the land of PoJK to China
 On August 29, 2009, the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009,
was passed which granted limited autonomy, by creating, among other things, an elected
GilgitBaltistan Legislative Assembly and Gilgit-Baltistan Council.
 This was overridden by Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018 which entrusted Pakistan with
indisputable authority over the region. The order is seen as Islamabad’s efforts towards
incorporating the disputed region as its fifth province.
 Pakistan, in 2017, declared the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region as its fifth Province, in
violation of Karachi agreement- perhaps the only instrument that provides doubtful legal
authority to Pakistan’s administration of GB — as well as the UN resolutions that would
damage its position on the Kashmir issue.
 It is believed that the Pakistani military has been systematically carrying out operations to
keep the people of Gilgit Baltistan and PoK underdeveloped and underprivileged.
 Pakistan has the pressure to declare Gilgit Baltistan as province of it so that China can take
over its work.
 In the late 1960s, China began constructing the Karakoram Highway to link Kasghar in
Xinjiang province of China with Abbotabad in Pakistan, through the Khunjerab pass.
 Chinese have been active in a range of hydro and road-building projects such as those
relating to the Neelum Valley, Diamer Bhasha dam along with CPEC
 Gilgit-Baltistan as a catalyst for development
o India, Pakistan and China should begin a trilateral dialogue for dispute-resolution,
cooperation and common development. India cannot overlook the fact that China
has entrenched itself in the area far too deep to remain on the sidelines
o India and Pakistan should agree on the following: o Converting the LoC into a “soft
border” (thus making it “irrelevant”); o De-militarising both sides of Kashmir, ending
gross violations of human rights, and ensuring the honourable return and
rehabilitation of displaced people, regardless of their religion, such as the Kashmiri
Pandits; o Enabling free trade and free movement of people; o Guaranteeing
maximum self-governance, and even joint governance on relevant subjects; o An
India-Pakistan joint mechanism to make this fair and innovative solution work

88. Critically analyse the major implications of World Bank’s decision to halt its annual ‘Doing
Business’ report on data authenticity issues
 World Banks’s Ease of Doing Business Index provides objective measures of business
regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the
subnational and regional level.
 Study covers 12 indicator sets and 190 economies. Ten of these areas—starting a business,
dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit,
protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and
resolving insolvency—are included in the ease of doing business score and ease of doing
business ranking
 Doing Business also measures regulation on employing workers and contracting with the
government, which are not included in the ease of doing business score and ranking.
 reports capture differences in business regulations and their enforcement across countries
in a single region. They provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each location, and
recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the indicator areas
 covers important aspects of business regulation. They offer an insight into regulatory issues
faced by policy makers, challenges they had to overcome, and the impact of their initiative
 creates an incentive for countries to pursue economic policies that conform with the World
Bank’s vision of economic development: eliminating regulations and barriers to investment,
pushing for market-friendly reforms, reducing labor protections, etc
 global investors, who used these reports as a ready reckoner, for investment related
decisions
 suspension comes at a time when India was on a upward trajectory in past few years and
climbed to 63rd spot in 2019 rankings from 142 in 2015. also casts doubt on actual level of
improvement in India’s EoDB as the indicators were tampered with
 Researchers and Governments who relied on them for policy prescriptions are also in a
dilemma about the efficacy of decisions taken and the road ahead
 rise and fall of the Doing Business Report is a good lesson in the limits of applying
standardized rankings to heterogeneous units like countries and their business
environments.
 It is about time global investors stopped looking for a catch-all metric to gauge such a
complex variable as the ease of doing business in a country and relied on more localised on-
ground assessments.

89. Critically analyse the nature of the cyber security threat from China being faced by India in
the recent times.
 China’s cyber warfare started soon after the Gulf War of 1991 when the Chinese realised
that the days of conventional warfare were rapidly coming to an end. This decision also
coincided with China turning into the electronics factory of the world.
 In 2003, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and China’s Central Military
Commission officially approved the concept of “Three Warfares”, comprising psychological,
media, and legal warfare. It was then decided at the highest levels that the PLA should be an
army ready to fight a war in the information domain by 2020. Soon, the PLA began to set up
intelligence units dedicated to cyber operations.
 Threat:
o Since 2016, India has been the sixth most targeted country by China-based hackers
mostly targeting IT, aerospace and public administration sectors.
o Chinese hackers have even intensified cyber-attacks against government agencies
and other institutions in India to sully India’s reputation or steal sensitive
information from the systems using Remote Access Trojan(RAT).
 o China started a policy of weaponising its existing manufacturing capability of civilian
products for military purposes by leveraging the control over any instrument by the
original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Most mobile phones, for example, are
equipped with a ‘soft’ rather than a ‘hard’ switch. “This means that even if you
switch off the phone, the sensors inside continue to feed data to the cloud. Entire
populations can be monitored with this control.
o China’s long experience of keeping its own people under surveillance has
contributed to its expertise in individual surveillance. Chinese use this information
for kompromat, a Russian term for any information that can compromise a person,
and which can therefore, be used to blackmail him/her. This cyber prowess, he said,
gives the PLA the ability to identify key personnel and directly target them in kinetic
warfare.
o algorithms of the Chinese apps are not so robust as compared to other applications
which in normal course allow auditing and cross-checking of the fact of the content.
o China passed a law under which all Chinese companies were supposed to assist the
country’s intelligence-gathering operations. “They cannot say no. Besides there is a
close link among the civil, military establishment and academia in China.”
o In 2014, the United States government discovered that a Chinese unit had hacked
into the Office of Personnel Management, a unit of the federal government, and
taken out records of 21 million people. Around 4 to 5 million of these people worked
for the US military, and included CIA agents
 Measures needed:
o A Defence Cyber Agency for critical infrastructure and military networks that are
increasingly becoming dependent on the Internet, thus increasing vulnerabilities.
Defence Cyber Agency will work in coordination with the National Cyber Security
Advisor. It will have more than 1,000 experts who will be distributed into a number
of formations of the Army, Navy and IAF. According to reports, the new Defence
Cyber Agency will have both offensive and defensive capacity.
o Equally important is cyber propaganda. During the Doklam conflict, China tried its
best to unleash cyber propaganda on India and indulged in complex psy-ops.
o Critical cyber infrastructure needs to be defended and the establishment of the
National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre(NCIIPC) is a good step
in this direction
o Individual ministries and private companies must also put procedures in place to
honestly report breaches. It is only then that the NCIIPC can provide the requisite
tools to secure these networks.
o The upgrading of the Defence Cyber Agency to a Cyber Command must be
implemented at the soonest.
o computer emergency response team (CERT) must be strengthened and aligned with
military and foreign affairs operations
o Building a joint task force between the government and key technology players will
be crucial
o government should push for the creation of a global charter of digital human rights
o A national gold standard should be created, which ensures that Indian hardware and
software companies adhere to the highest safety protocols.
o cybercrime investigation training and technological know-how as well as cyber
awareness for citizens
90. Discuss the needs for reforms that are needed in the United Nations to strengthen its
legitimacy, representativeness and relevance in order to address the realities of the
contemporary times
 United Nations marked its 75th anniversary with a one-day high-level event at the General
Assembly (UNGA 75), under the theme: ‘The Future we Want, the UN we Need: Reaffirming
our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism’.
 There has been growing demand to increase the number of permanent members to reflect
the contemporary global reality. India, Brazil, South Africa, Germany and Japan are strong
contenders for permanent membership of the UNSC which has the primary responsibility for
the maintenance of international peace and security
 Frequent divisions within the UNSC P-5 end up blocking key decisions. These issues are
underlined in a year where the coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to a standstill;
yet, the UN, the UNSC, and WHO have failed to play an effective role in helping nations deal
with the spread
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for reform of its “outdated structures”, pointing out
that in the absence of comprehensive changes, the world body today faces a “crisis of
confidence”
 UN has chosen to “rollover” the discussions of the IGN, which are looking at five major
issues: enlarging the Security Council, categories of membership, the question of the veto
that five Permanent members of the UNSC wield, regional representation, and redistributing
the Security Council-General Assembly power balance
 Calls for reforming the UN demand to make the UN administration (usually called the UN
Secretariat or "the bureaucracy") more transparent, more accountable, and more
efficient, including direct election of the Secretary-General by the people as in
a presidential system.
 On 1 June 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Atul Khare of India to
spearhead efforts to implement a reform agenda aimed at streamlining and improving the
efficiency of the world body
 Election of countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to the head council of UNHCR
 Dependence of UN agencies on govt brings into question their impartiality. Eg. WHO’s
response to outbreak of COVID in China

91. In the recent times there has been a growing perception that India has abandoned the policy
of non-alignment, have we really abandoned NAM? Discuss the ongoing dynamics of foreign
politics and suggest way forward.
 Non-alignment was a policy fashioned during the Cold War, to retain an autonomy of policy
(not equidistance) between two politico-military blocs. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
provided a platform for newly independent developing nations to join together to protect
this autonomy. It was a disparate group from many continents, with varying degrees of
proximity to, and dependence on, one or the other bloc; and broadly united around NAM’s
flagship campaigns for de-colonisation, universal nuclear disarmament and against
apartheid.
 Non-Aligned Movement is an idea that emerged in 1950. NAM is the second-largest platform
globally in terms of country membership after the UN. It currently has more than 120
members.
 There are now new kinds of alignments, more likely to be defined by economics and
geography than by ideology. Countries, especially small ones, can and should aim for
multiple alignments of their interests. There is now no country in the world that can claim to
be non-aligned.
 India must take note of the growing proximity between the NAM member countries and
China. India cannot take on China in the economic department, in the foreseeable future
 New Delhi needs to begin by carefully delineating political and economic components to
Third World nations, and devise strategies that are not only nation-centric but also group-
centric.
 Further, the rhetoric of a “new cold war” between the United States and China is gaining
momentum. In all likelihood, New Delhi with its current position in the global world order
would be keen to lead this middle power balancing through leadership of the NAM within
the ambit of South-South cooperation
 NAM as a body vs an ideology:
o One of the blocs was disbanded at the end of the Cold War. De-colonisation was
largely complete by then, the apartheid regime in South Africa was being dismantled
and the campaign for universal nuclear disarmament was going nowhere.
o For a few years now, non-alignment has not been projected by our policymakers as
a tenet of India’s foreign policy. However, we have not yet found a universally
accepted successor as a signature tune for our foreign policy
 Successive formulations have been coined and rejected. Strategic autonomy
was one, which soon acquired a connotation similar to non-alignment, with
an anti-U.S. tint.
 Multi-alignment has not found universal favour, since it may convey the
impression of opportunism, whereas we seek strategic convergences.
 Seeking issue-based partnerships or coalitions is a description that has not
stuck.
 “Advancing prosperity and influence” is a description Dr.
Jaishankar (Minister of External Affairs) settled for, to describe the
aspirations that our network of international partnerships seeks to
further
o NAM could not push for reforms in the global bodies like UN, IMF, WTO. Thus, it has
dissuaded many developing countries from pursuing it
o Disputes within the Global South countries. Example: India-Pak, Iran-Iraq. This has
paved way for the blocs to enter alliances
o Inability to find solution to the West-Asian crisis. Withdrawal of one of the founder
membersEgypt, after the Arab Spring
 o Most of the members are economically weak; hence they have no say in world
politics or economy.
o Between 2014 and 2020, two NAM summits were held, in 2016 (Venezuela) and
2019 (Azerbaijan) respectively. At both these summits, India was represented by its
vice president.
o Azerbaijan summit in May 2020 was the first time PM Modi is taking part in a NAM
meeting since taking 2014 when he first became the Prime Minister. The last time
any Indian PM participated at Tehran NAM meet was 2012 with the then PM
Manmohan Singh was present.
o At te NAM conference, PM called NAM “world’s moral voice”

92. What is the concept of ‘Data Free flow with Trust’ (DFFT)? Examine its applicability to
developing countries in the world
 In his landmark speech at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019 in Davos-
Klosters, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe invited leaders to build an international order
for Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT).
 Osaka Track – a collective term for global governance processes needed to realize the DFFT
vision and unleash the benefits from cross-border data flows.
 What: It seeks to balance personal and non-personal data. It seeks able to put our personal
data, data embodying intellectual property, national security intelligence, and so on, under
careful protection, while on the other hand, it aims enable the free flow of medical,
industrial, traffic and other most useful, non-personal, anonymous data to see no borders.
 Features:
o Governments should adopt good privacy and security protections that empower
users to individually control rights to their personal information in accordance with
international guidelines and standards.
o Governments should also ensure the availability of multiple mechanisms and
derogations for the cross-border transfer of personal data on a non-discriminatory
basis for “like” conditions
o Businesses should support increased consumer trust by proactively establishing it
with clients and users by, for example, providing information on data treatment and
enhancing transparency.
o Governments should cooperate to develop efficient and innovative mechanisms for
issuing and responding to cross-border requests for digital information for law
enforcement purposes
o Governments should prohibit requirements to localize the storage and processing of
data or to disclose source code, algorithms or encryption keys or other proprietary
information relating to cryptography, and prohibit the imposition of tariffs or
customs duties on electronic transmissions
o Developed economies, international organizations and the business community
should provide technical assistance and other capacity-building tools to enable
developing economies to pursue high-standard data governance policies and
practices.
 o Governments and large industry actors should forge public-private partnerships to
advise micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on using digital technologies
to drive growth and competitiveness and the ability to reach new markets.
 Advantages:
o Data reuse and sharing between government entities as appropriate can tackle
ageing society and public health challenges with more accurate preventive care,
mitigating increasing costs.
o Data flows can help address pollution, climate change and other sustainability
objectives by minimizing waste and increasing traceability across sustainable supply
chains.
o Data collaborations have been set up to facilitate the public-private exchange of
information, in addition to data sharing between businesses
o Such bottom-up, multi-actor initiatives are key for climate modelling, managing
exhaustible resources (e.g. forest and fish stock monitoring), responding to natural
disasters and in other areas of public policy or civil contingency planning.
 DFFT and developing countries: apprehensions
o Concept of DFFT is neither well-understood nor is it comprehensive enough in the
legislation of many developing countries.
o In view of the huge digital divide among countries, there is a need for policy space
for developing countries who still have to finalize laws around digital trade and data.
o Many other developing countries, is still in the phase of preparing a framework for
its data protection and e-commerce laws
o India had not participated when the proposal was made at Osaka on the sidelines of
the G20 meeting of heads of states.
August
93. Why were the ideals of socialism and secularism explicitly added to the constitution? What
do these ideals mean and how have these been reflected in the Constitution? Explain.
 Reasons:
o basic structure doctrine, in other words, already contained within it the principles of
secularism and socialism as envisaged by our constitution framers. With the passing
of the 42nd amendment, the spirit of secularism which was always part and parcel
of the Constitution was formally inserted into its body.
o Indian constitution already had “secular” characteristic defined in Article 25
o The socialistic principles were also under part IV of constitution, Articles enumerated
from 36-51 called as Directive Principles of State Policy.
o reason of adding these words were to ensure the economic justice and elimination
of inequality in income and standard of life
o to reassure the nation that minorities would be safe and the moneyed class would
not dominate the economy. Anti-poverty programs, slum demolition drives, and the
forced sterilisation campaign were some of the most important measures carried
out by the government during this period
 Socialism: , it’s a political and economic system under which the means of production are
owned by the community as a whole, with government ensuring the equitable distribution
of wealth.
o India adopted socialism which drew inspiration from Gandhi and Nehru rather than
Marxian socialism. Whereas Gandhian socialism was based on satya, ahimsa,
trusteeship and decentralisation and Nehru’s socialism was a liberal and a type of
fabianist socialism, Marxian socialism emphasised on class wars and the dictatorship
of the proletariat.
 Secularism: is the “indifference to, or rejection or exclusion of, religion and religious
considerations.” In political terms, secularism is the principle of the separation of
government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious
institution and religious dignitaries
o difference of the Indian variation to its Western counterpart, either by pointing to an
idea of a ‘principled distance’ or samadharma samabhava, where all religions are
treated as equal. in India, it is not mutual exclusion, rather it is principled distance, a
complex idea that allows the state to be distant from all religions so that it can
intervene or abstain from interference, depending upon which of these two would
better promote liberty, equality and social justice.
 Secularism and socialism in Indian constitution
o Indian Secularism has made room for and is compatible with the idea of state-
supported religious reform. Eg. bans untouchability under Art 17, child marriage in
Hindu laws while banning and criminalising Triple talaq in Muslim customs and laws
 o deals not only with religious freedom of individuals but also with religious freedom
of minority communities i.e. individual has the right to profess religion of his /her
choice. Likewise, religious minority also have a right to exist and to maintain their
own culture and educational institutions.
o India in its modified socialist pursuit relied on three pillars of development strategy
 planning for rapid industrial and agricultural growth which was not under
the absolute control of State
 a public sector to develop strategic industries, which was to progressively
become a selfsustained profit-making secto
 a mixed economy- Mixed economy was preferred earlier due to lack of
adequate resources, but the private sector was to work under a broad
framework of planning
 It smoothly transitioned to LPG reforms in the 1990s, opened its sectors and
markets to global opportunities and competition, to continue its growth
story keeping up with the changing times and needs

94. What can France learn from the Indian Constitution’s approach to secularism? Explain.
 The French model of secularism separates the state from religion. The state does not
support religious activities but also not interfere in private religious practices.
 iNdian secularism is characterised by an idea of a ‘principled distance’ or samadharma
samabhava, where all religions are treated as equal.
  laicite, France’s particular vision of secularism.
o Laicite, rooted in a 1905 law that separates religion from politics, is a product
of the hard-fought, violent rejection of Catholicism as France’s state religion
o based on three principals: freedom of conscience, the separation of political
institutions from religious organizations and the equal footing before the law
of different religions and beliefs
o France prohibit any visible religious symbols in public space. Isn’t this violative of
freedom of expression- another foundational ideal of French republic?
o Embracing religious affiliation over national identity, the argument goes,
undermines integration. In contrast, Indian secularism and constitutional
ethos is more rooted in ‘unity in diversity’.
o Due to the lack of support from the state in western secularism minorities get
marginalised. For instance, recent Hijab and Burkini ban in France has created
anxiety among minorities.
o If religious women forbid a woman from becoming a priest, then the state cannot do
anything. Like this, if a particular religion forbids the entry of some of its members in
the sanctum of its temple, then the state has no option but to let the matter rest
exactly where it is.
o This model interprets freedom and equality in an individualistic manner. Liberty is
the liberty of individual. Equality is equality between individuals. There is little scope
for community-based rights or minority rights. issues of inter-religious (and
therefore minority rights) equality are often neglected
 o This model leaves no scope for the idea of the state-supported religious reforms.
o From the possibility of different religions in the public space,  laicite has turned
itself into a religion, a dogma, and those who don’t subscribe are signaled or
considered against republican values
 India secularism is more inclusive and positive. It supports all religion and culture. Muslims
are given Haj subsidy, the state spends and help arrange Kumbh Mela, Amarnath Yatra etc.
Recently slaughtering of meat was banned in Maharashtra during Jain festival. Hence India
secularism is all about balancing the rights of all religion and culture
o While in France, laws are made in isolation from religious principles, in India, the law
seeks to accommodate the multiple religious principles that followers of different
religions adhere to
o Indian Secularism deals not only with the religious freedom of individuals but also
with the religious freedom of minority communities.

95. In the background of quite a few questions being raised about the constitutionality of
governors’ actions on numerous instances in the recent, deliberate upon the discretionary
powers of the Governor mentioned in the Constitution of India and explain how these
discretionary powers have led to debates.
 Constitutional discretion:
o Reservation of a bill for prez
o Recommendation for imposition of Prez’s rule in the state
o While exercising his functions as admin of an adjoining UT
o Determining amt payable by Govt of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram to an
autonomous Tribal istrict Council as royalty accruing from licenses for mineral
exploration
o Seeking info from CM wrt admin and leg matters of state
 Situational discretion:
o No clear majority
o Dismissal of a CoM when it cannot prove the confidence of SLA
o Dissolution of SLA if CoM has lost its majority
 Controversies:
o KN,2019: no clear majority, instead of inviting a post election alliance formed
subsequently to form govt, Guv invited the party that won the highest no. of seats
o MH,2019
o Imposition of Prez’s rule in UK, Arunachal P- reinstated by reversal of President’s
rule by Supreme Court due to lack of sufficient evidence
o President’s rule envisaged as a dead letter by Dr. B.R Ambedkar has now become a
potent tool for dislodging the state governments by Union Government
 SC in SR Bommai case; committees like Sarkaria commission and Punchhi commission
96. Discuss the concept of Contempt of Court. Explain in detail its different forms and also the
rationale behind the provision.
 the offense of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers
in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice and dignity of the cour
 may be civil or criminal
o civil: wilful disobedience of a court order or judgment or wilful breach of an
undertaking given to a court
o Criminal, that is written or spoken words or any act that scandalises the court or
lowers its authority or prejudices or interferes with the due course of a judicial
proceeding or interferes/obstructs the administration of justice
 Relevant provisions:
o expression ‘contempt of court’ has not been defined by the Constitution.
o Article 129 and 215 of the Constitution of India empowers the Supreme Court and
High Court respectively to punish people for their respective contempt.
o Section 10 of The Contempt of Courts Act of 1971 defines the power of the High
Court to punish contempts of its subordinate courts.
o In 1991, SC ruled that it has power to punish for contempt not only of itself bt also
of HCs, subordinate courts and tribunals
o The Constitution also includes contempt of court as a reasonable restriction to the
freedom of speech and expression under Article 19, along with elements like public
order and defamation.
 Rationale:
o ensure that the court’s orders are implemented.
o sustain the independent nature of the judiciary itself.
o To insulate judiciary from unfair attacks and prevent a sudden fall in judiciary’s
reputation in the public eye
 Issues:
o law is very subjective which might be used by the judiciary arbitrarily to suppress
their criticism by the public. test for contempt needs to be evaluated. If such a test
ought to exist at all, it should be whether the contemptuous remarks in question
actually obstruct the Court from functioning.

97. Discuss the prospects of online dispute resolution to the Indian judiciary. Do you agree that
it provides for an opportunity to give more people access to justice and ease the burden on
the courts?
 In light of ongoing pandemic, Supreme Court passed directions for all courts across the
country to extensively use videoconferencing for judicial proceedings saying congregation of
lawyers and litigants must be suspended to maintain social distancing amid the coronavirus
pandemic.
 SC exercised its plenary power to direct all high courts to frame a mechanism for use of
technology during the pandemic. A bench headed by the Chief Justice stressed that
“technology is here to stay”
 e-Courts project as part of virtual judiciary was conceptualized on the basis of the “National
Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology
 (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary – 2005” submitted by eCommittee, Supreme Court of India with
a vision to transform the Indian Judiciary by ICT enablement of Courts.
 GJ HC started live streaming of its proceedings on YT
 Currently, certain District Courts all over India allow the filing of Court fees online in
the form of E-Challan, and they also do update the case status of ongoing cases on
the e-courts website. However, the number of Courts properly utilising this facility is
far too less. 
 Advantages:
o a justice serving mechanism that is transparent, efficient, affordable, time saving,
protects the interests of witnesses, reduces the backlog of pending cases and most
importantly reduces the number of unscrupulous activities.
o Entire information related to a particular case would be available online. It would be
available to the attorneys, parties and the general public through the help of
internet. A national Data grid can be conceptualised to hold all info.
o Registered attorneys can file their case document directly from their home or office.
They do not have to worry about postage, traffic congestion or messenger services.
They can create a docket sheet and update it immediately, when the documents are
filed. In many cases, the witnesses are not able to come to the court and make their
statement as the other party is too strong and scares them of the consequences. e-
Courts can help in dealing with such cases.
o help in the computerization of work flow management in courts. Thus, it would help
to create a better court and case management. Video conferencing facilities would
be installed in every court complex. Evidence of eyewitness, who are unable to
attend the court can be recorded through this method.
o Paperless courts: E-litigation has been prevalent in Singapore, and this has
drastically cut down on paper usage by introducing technology in the
courtrooms.
o .
 Limitations:
o process of e-filing a document is a difficult process. All the evidence cannot be
produced in a digital format.
o Lack of techno legal expertise is the main reason for the poor status of e-courts in
India. With the absence of techno legal expertise, electronic courts cannot be
established in India
o Lack of funding
o Cyber security issues
 Way forward:
o draw up a well-defined and pre-decided framework as it can help in laying a
concrete roadmap and direction to the e-courts scheme of India
o task force to look into: establishing hardware, software and IT systems for courts;
examining application of artificial intelligence benefiting from the data base
generated through e-courts projects; establishing appropriate e-filing systems and
procedures
o skill training and management
98. Lately judicial activism seems to be on a decline in the country with judicial overreach taking
the front seat. In light of the statement, evaluate the importance of judicial activism in
achieving the ideals of democracy.
 Judicial Activism refers to the use of judicial power to articulate and enforce what is
beneficial for the society in general and people at large or judicial activism means the power
of the Supreme Court and the high court but not the sub-ordinate courts to declare the laws
as unconstitutional and void. Judicial Activism can be defined as a philosophy of judicial
decision making where by judges allow their personal views regarding a public policy instead
of constitutionalism.
 Cases of judicial activism:
o Golaknath case
o Keshavanand Bharati case
o SC has assumed a supervisory role in CBI investigation of 2-G scam, in invoking terror
laws against Hasan Ali Khan
 Importance of judicial activism:
o provides a system of checks and balances to the other government branches.
Judicial Activism is a delicate exercise involving creativity. It brings out required
innovation in the form of a solution
o Judicial Activism provides judges to use their personal wisdom in cases where the
law failed to provide a balance
o Judicial Activism also provides insights into the issues. The reason why this is a good
thing is that it shows the instilled trust placed in the justice system and its
judgments.
o Many a time public power harms the people, so it becomes necessary for the
judiciary to check misuse of public power.
o It provides speedy solutions where the legislature gets stuck in the issue of majority
 Issues:
o Judges can override any existing law. Hence, it clearly violates the line drawn by the
constitution
o judicial opinions of the judges become standards for ruling other cases
o Judgment may be influenced by personal or selfish motives. Which can further harm
the public at large.
o Repeated interference of courts can erode the faith of the people in the quality,
integrity and efficiency of governmental institutions.
 Examples of judicial over-reach:
o In Arun Gopal v. Union of India (2017), the Supreme Court fixed timings for bursting
Diwali fireworks and prohibited the use of non-green fireworks, although there are
no laws to that effect.
o In C. Mehta v. Union of India (2018), the court annulled the statutory Rule 115(21) of
the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, when it directed that no BS-4 vehicle should
be sold after March 30, 2020, and that only BS-6 vehicles can be sold after that date.
o NGT) ordered that no 15-year-old petrol-driven or 10-year-old diesel-driven vehicle
will ply in Delhi, and the Supreme Court has directed impounding such vehicles,
though neither the NGT nor the Supreme Court are legislative bodies.
 Issues with judicial over-reach:
 o Separation of power
o Limited experience: In many cases, courts are often ill-equipped and lack experience
to weigh the economic, environmental and political costs involved like liquor ban
case.
o No accountability
o Undermines trust in parliament
o Minority rule/undemocratic

 Suggestion: Though Article 142 and judicial review has been put to many constructive uses,
All cases invoking Article 142 should be referred to a Constitution Bench of at least five
judges so that this exercise of discretion may be the outcome of five independent judicial
minds. Alternatively, In all cases where the court invokes Article 142, the government must
bring out a white paper to study the effects of the judgment after a period of six months or
so from its date.

99. While discussing the idea of Fiscal council, present arguments both in favour and against it,
also explain its relevance in today’s times.
 Fiscal councils are independent public institutions aimed at strengthening commitments to
sustainable public finances through various functions, including public assessments of fiscal
plans and performance, and the evaluation or provision of macroeconomic and budgetary
forecasts. Fiscal councils are now part of the institutional fiscal apparatus of over 50
countries, including several emerging and developing economies. According to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), there were 36 countries with independent fiscal
institution (IFI)s in 2014 and more have been established since.
 Covid-19 pandemic has made fiscal council more relevant for India as the government needs
to borrow and spend more now in order to support vulnerable households and engineer
economic recovery.


 Relevance:
o fiscal deficit of the Centre in 2019-20 as estimated by the Controller General of
Accounts (CGA) was 4.6%, 0.8 percentage point higher than the revised estimate
 o For the current year, even without any additional fiscal stimulus, the deficit is
estimated at about 7% of GDP as against 3.5% estimated in the Budget due to a
sharp decline in revenues.
o The consolidated deficit of the Union and States could be as high as 12% of GDP and
the overall debt could go up to 85%
o Various cesses and surcharges are becoming disproportionate proportion of overall
divisible revenue. There should be some mechanism to ensure that the basic spirit of
the devolution process should not be undercut by clever financial engineering or
taking recourse to traditions.
o There is a need for coordination between the finance commission as well as the GST
Council. GST Council has no clue of what the Finance Commission is doing and
Finance Commission has even lesser clue of what the GST Council is doing.
o for state government liabilities, Article 293 (3) provides a constitutional check over
borrowings. But there is no such restriction on the Centre.
 Advantages:
o an unbiased report to Parliament helps to raise the level of debate and brings in
greater transparency and accountability
o costing of various policies and programmes can help to promote transparency over
the political cycle to discourage populist shifts in fiscal policy and improve
accountability
o scientific estimates of the cost of programmes and assessment of forecasts could
help in raising public awareness about their fiscal implications and make people
understand the nature of budgetary constraint.
o will work as a conscience keeper in monitoring rule-based policies, and in raising
awareness and the level of debate within and outside Parliament.
o A study by the IMF, documents that the existence of independent fiscal institution
(IFI)s is associated with stronger primary balances. Countries with IFIs tend to have
more accurate macroeconomic and budgetary forecasts
 Lessons from other countries:
o In Belgium, the government is legally required to adopt the macroeconomic
forecasts of the Federal Planning Bureau and this has significantly helped to reduce
bias in these estimates
o In the U.K., the Office for Budget Responsibility has been important in restoring fiscal
sustainability
 The 14th Finance Commission recommended that an independent Fiscal Council should be
established through an amendment to the FRBM Act, by inserting a new Section mandating
the establishment of an independent Fiscal Council to undertake ex ante assessment of
budget proposals and to ensure their consistency with fiscal policy and Rules.

100. Write a note Smart India Hackathon and discuss in detail the benefits of the
programme for various stakeholders.
 Smart India Hackathon (SIH) is a nationwide initiative to provide students with a platform to
solve some of the pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture
 of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving. SIH 2020 is the World’s Biggest
Hackathon and Open Innovation model, an initiative by Ministry of HRD of India. The first
three editions SIH2017, SIH2018 and SIH2019 proved to be extremely successful in
promoting innovation out-of-the-box thinking in young minds, especially engineering
students from across India.
 SIH is an initiative by Ministry of HRD, AICTE, Persistent Systems, i4c. It involves 2 Lakh+
students with 57,000+ ideas from 2200+ institutions against 530+ problem statements
provided by 120+ organizations from across India. It is the World’s biggest Software and
Hardware hackathon.
 It builds funnel for Start ups
 Companies will get innovative solutions to the problems in cost effective ways Opportunity
to be a part of Nation Building Opportunity to brand your company.

101. Increasing age at first marriage, age at first birth, can be a promising approach to
improve maternal and child nutrition. Do you agree? Discuss
 Prime Minister, during his address to the nation on the 74th Independence Day, announced
that the central government has set up a committee to reconsider the minimum age of
marriage for women
 MoWCD committee headed by Jaya Jaitley, will examine the correlation of age of marriage
and motherhood with health, medical wellbeing, and nutritional status of the mother and
neonate, infant or child, during pregnancy, birth and thereafter
 IFPRI 2019 study, , showed that children born to adolescent mothers (10-19 years) were 5
percentage points more likely to be stunted (shorter for their age) than those born to young
adults (20-24 years) and 11 percentage points more stunted than children born to adult
mothers (25 years or older).
 Children born to adolescent mothers also had 10 percentage points higher prevalence of low
weight as adult mothers.
 It also highlighted other factors, such as lower education among teenage mothers and their
poor economic status, which had the strongest links with a child’s height and weight
measurements
 It recommended that increasing age at first marriage, age at first birth, and girl’s education
are a promising approach to improve maternal and child nutrition.
 No substantive reason for different marriage age for men and women
 Issues in increasing marriage age:
o National Coalition Advocating for Adolescent Concerns asserts that increasing the
legal age of marriage for girls will only “artificially expand the numbers of married
persons deemed underage and criminalise them and render underage married girls
without legal protection”

102. What is National Digital Health Mission? What are its objectives? How it will be
helpful? Discuss.
 Prime Minister of India announced the launch of National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) on
74th Independence Day
 It will be a ‘completely tech based initiative’
 NDHM will enable every Indian citizen to have a unique health account to enable hassle-free
access to healthcare across the country
 comes under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).
Implemented by National Health Authority (NHA)
 National Health Policy 2017 had envisaged creation of a digital health technology eco-system
aiming at developing an integrated health information system that serves the needs of all
stakeholders and improves efficiency, transparency and citizens’ experience with linkage
across public and private healthcare
 Obj:
o seeks to provide an efficient and affordable health coverage through a wide-range of
data and infrastructure services
o key feature of this mission is the technology part – it will leverage open digital
systems to provide high-quality healthcare for all.
o It will integrate various digital health services to create an ecosystem which can
assimilate existing health information systems.
 every Indian will get a Health ID card that will work as a health account comprising
information regarding the person’s past medical conditions, treatment and diagnosis.
 Central to the “ecosystem” would be a Personal Health Identifier (PHI) to maintain a
Personal Health Record (PHR). PHI would contain the names of patients and those of their
immediate family, date of birth, gender, mobile number, email address, location, family ID
and photograph.
 , access to the confidential medical data will have to be given separately for each visit due to
fears over data confidentiality.
 National Digital Health Mission will allow patients to access health services remotely through
tele-consultation and e-pharmacies, as well as offer other health-related benefits
 mission will be launched through a pilot launch in UTs including Puducherry, Chandigarh,
Ladakh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and
Lakshadweep.
 Government’s increased focus on tele-medicine and digital health services comes in the
wake of the COVID-19 pandemic
 failure of a similar National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom must be learnt
lessons from and the technical and implementation-related deficiencies must be proactively
addressed prior to launching the mission on a pan India scale.

103. What kind of experience is India likely to experience as a behavioural change in

urban mobility? Discuss the need for Investment in infrastructure for more effective
circulation of people and goods amidst the Covid -19 times.
 Cities need to steer ‘Mobility as a Service’ that can be accessed by commuters. Pedestrians,
bicyclists, e-bikers, all must be accommodated alongside public transit.
 The very key factor that led to the success of cities — people congregating in close proximity
to one another for social and economic benefits — is now emerging as an unexpected
source of serious health risk
 Effects of COVID 19 on urban mobility
o Increased risks associated with crowded places combined with social distancing
measures in public and shared transport are likely to affect modal choices of
commuters
o Cities like Delhi, that resumed services,initially, observed less ridership than the
allowed 20 passengers per bus, despite the limited frequencies on many routes.
o Congestion due to Increasing use of personal vehicles. They appear willing to accept
traffic congestion and longer travel times in the process. collapse of oil prices has
only served to increase the appeal of personal car-use
o Automobile sector: most immediate and visible effect of COVID-19 in the traditional
automotive sector is the standstill of many OEM and supplier factories, which will
likely produce 7.5 million fewer vehicles in 2020.
o Cash strapped public operators: Public-transit ridership has fallen 70 to 90 percent in
major cities across the world
o Local taxis and car-pooling: Ride hailers have also experienced declines of up to 60
to 70 percent, and many micro mobility and carpooling players have suspended their
services. Many drivers of these services were migrants who were forced to migrate
baack to their homes
 Investments and interventions needed:
o Direct efforts towards accessibility instead of only mobility. While mobility focuses
on movement of people and goods and the distances they cover, accessibility
emphasises the ability of people to obtain the same goods, services, and activities
without necessarily having to move, or at least move as much.
o Transit oriented development is a concept that has come of age, and its
implementation to enable access to live-work-play triangles without needing to
commute long distances will be a game-changer for the urbanscape.
o Safety protocols: guidelines issued by DMRC
o MoHUA: Non-motorised transport should be encouraged and touchless and cashless
technologies should be adopted to curb COVID-19 transmission on public transit
networks
 Need for National Common Mobility Card, universal FasTag
 Improved cycling and walking infrastructure
o Integrate pricing of all modes of transport, private and public, to ensure continuity
of public operators of transport in the context of reduced transit demand. We need
pricing measures that disincentivise private vehicle adoption through congestion
pricing, parking charges, and variable pricing to modulate demand, and channel
revenues from these to cross-subsidise public transit.
o Infrastr:
 Investments in public transport and non-motorised transport: eg. Dedicated
bi-cycle lanes around the city
 Focus on demand moderation efforts like work from home and staggered
working hours: improved IT access
 Sanitation and safety protocols
 Testing kiosks
104. Discuss the key features of Atma Nirbhar Bharat scheme for migrants and its utility
especially in the current covid-19 conditions.

 Prime Minister recently announced an economic package totalling Rs 20 lakh crore to tide
over the Covid-19 crisis under ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’. The Rs 20 lakh crore package
includes the government’s recent announcements on supporting key sectors and measures
by Reserve Bank of India.
 the economic package would be around the 10 per cent of the GDP. The package is
expected to focus on land, labour, liquidity and laws. It will cater to various sections
including cottage industry, MSMEs, labourers, middle class, and industries, among others.
 Key features for migrants:
o One Nation One Card: Migrant workers will be able to access the Public Distribution
System (Ration) from any Fair Price Shop in India by March 2021; will introduce the
inter-state portability of access to ration for migrant labourers. By August 2020 the
scheme is estimated to cover 67 crore beneficiaries in 23 states (83% of PDS
population); All states/union territories are required to complete full automation of
fair price shops by March 2021 for achieving 100% national portability
o Free food grain supply to migrants: Migrant workers who are not beneficiaries under
the National Food Security Act ration card or state card will be provided 5 kg of
grains per person and 1 kg of chana per family per month for two months; estimated
to benefit 8cr migrants
o Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) for Migrant Workers / Urban Poor:
migrant labour/urban poor will be provided living facilities at affordable rent under
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). This will be achieved by:
 converting government funded housing in the cities into ARHCs through
PPPs
 incentivising manufacturing units, industries, institutions, associations to
develop ARHCs on their private land and operate them
 Importance of atmanirbharta:
o The definition of self-reliance has undergone a change in the globalized world and
clarified that when the country talks about self-reliance, it is different from being
self-centred
o will prepare the country for tough competition in the global supply chain, and it is
important that the country wins this competition. It will not only increase efficiency
in various sectors but also ensure quality
o Global supply chains have been disrupted and all nations have become preoccupied
with meeting their own challenges. Plus, the restrictions on trade and mobility
 o The importance of local manufacturing, local market and local supply chains was
realized during pandemic time. All our demands during the crisis were met ‘locally’.
Now, it’s time to be vocal about the local products and help these local products
become global. Eg. need for essential goods like ventilators and N95 masks
o The international economic order is changing; the possibility of greater economic
cooperation is diminishing. So the emphasis should be on the need to leverage
India’s inner potential.
o Important to capitalize on demographic dividend
o This is not a rejection of globalisation, but a call for a new form of globalisation —
from profitdriven to people-centric which takes into account the needs of labors,
vulnerable and have nots.

ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT (SELF-RELIANT INDIA MISSION)

 worth Rs 20 lakh crores= 10% of India’s GDP

 amount  includes  packages already announced at the beginning of the lockdown
incorporating  measures from the RBI  and the  payouts under the Pradhan Mantri
Garib Kalyan Yojana.
 package is expected to focus on  land, labour, liquidity and laws.
 OBJ:
o cutting down import dependence  by focussing on substitution while improving
safety compliance and quality goods to gain global market share.
o neither signifies any exclusionary or isolationist strategies  but involves
creation of a helping hand to the whole world.
o Mission focuses on the  importance of promoting “local” products.
o Mission is also expected to complement  ‘Make In India Initiative’  which
intends to encourage manufacturing in India.
o It is based on the premise of 'माता भूममिः पुत्रो अहम्पमि
ृ व्यिः' - the culture that
considers the earth to be the mother.
 Will be carried out in 2 phases:
o Phase I:   It will consider sectors like medical textiles, electronics, plastics and
toys where local manufacturing and exports can be promoted.
o Phase II: It will consider products like gems and jewellery, pharma and steel,
etc.
 Based on 5 pillars:
o Economy: emphasizing on Quantum Jump rather than Incremental change.
o Infrastructure
o System: with focus on tech and contemporary policies
o Vibrant Demography
o Demand
 Inclusion of RBI’s Expenditure in fiscal package:
o includes the actions of RBI as part of the government’s “fiscal” package, even
though only the government controls the fiscal policy and not the RBI
 o For instance, when the US announced a relief package of $3 trillion (Rs 225
lakh crore), it only refers to the money that will be spent by the government —
and does not include the expenditure of the Federal Reserve 
o RBI has been coming out with  Long Term Repo Operation (LTRO), to infuse
liquidity into the banking system worth Rs 1 lakh crore at a time.
o direct expenditure by a government usually includes wage subsidy or direct
benefit transfer or payment of salaries, etc —  immediately and necessarily
stimulates the economy
o Ineffectiveness of RBI’s Credit easing: In times of crisis, banks may take that
money from RBI and, instead of lending it, may park it back with the RBI.
Recently, Indian banks have parked Rs 8.5 lakh crores with the central bank
 Elements:
o Active participation in post-COVID-19 global supply chains: Self-sufficiency in the
present context refers to improving efficiency, competing with the world and
simultaneously helping the world
o Resilience: This resilience refers to leveraging internal strengths, personal
responsibility, and a sense of national mission (or “Man Making” as termed by
Swami Vivekananda). Developing this resilience may require additional protection
for domestic enterprises. For example, the move to disallow global tenders up to Rs.
200 crores for foreign players aims to increase the system’s resilience by protecting
the MSMEs.
o Decentralized localism: creating a system that takes pride in local brands,
encourages local capacity-building and indigenisation. For example, the scrapping of
the ECA-APMC system enables localised decision-making by farmers even as they
can participate in a national common market
o System of social trust: A system where economic entities are expected to be self-
reliant, requires a generalised system of social trust and the ability to enforce
contracts, which in turn requires reformation of the legal system.
 The package has tried to address all sectors of the economy in different parts viz.: o Part 1:
Businesses including MSMEs. o Part 2: Poor including migrants and Farmers. o Part 3:
Agriculture. o Part 4: New Horizons of Growth. o Part 5: Government Reforms and Enablers.
 Criticism:
o The key criticism regarding the package is that the government doesn’t seem to be
raising its total expenditure by much. (Overall rise in Government expenditure due to
the package is close to 1% of the GDP.)
o Lack of immediate support: Several experts and commentators have highlighted that
the economic package lacked immediate relief to cope with current crises.

105. In the light of recent the Supreme Court judgement held that daughters would have
equal rights to inherit ancestral property as sons in a Hindu Undivided Family, analyze the
Hindu Succession Law and Daughters Rights in India.
 The Supreme Court recently held that daughters, like sons, have an equal birthright to
inherit joint Hindu family property. The court decided that the amended Hindu Succession
Act, which gives daughters equal rights to ancestral property, will have a retrospective effect
 It ruled that a Hindu woman’s right to be a joint heir to the ancestral property is by birth and
does not depend on whether her father is alive or not i.e. Coparcenary (joint-heirship) is by
birth. in consonance with the spirit of equality, under Article 14 of the Indian constitution.
 It also directed High Courts to dispose of cases involving this issue within six months since
they would have been pending for years
 Evolution of the law and daughter’s rights in India:
o Hindu succession act,1956:
 The Mitakshara school of Hindu law codified as the Hindu Succession Act,
1956 governed succession and inheritance of property but only recognised
males as legal heirs.
 It applied to everyone who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by
religion. Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and followers of Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj,
are also considered Hindus for this law.
o Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005:
 women were recognised as coparceners for property partitions arising from
2005, as recommended by 174th Law commission
 Section 6 of the Act was amended to make a daughter of a coparcener also a
coparcener by birth “in her own right in the same manner as the son”
 It also gave the daughter the same rights and liabilities “in the coparcenary
property as she would have had if she had been a son”
 The law applies to ancestral property and to intestate succession in personal
property, where succession happens as per law and not through a will.
o Before the 2005 amendment, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil
Nadu had made this change in the law and Kerala had abolished the Hindu Joint
Family System in 1975.
o SC, through this judgement cleared out its own conflicting interpretations of the
amended Hindu Succession act 1956 by making it retrospective

106. Jal Jeevan mission if implemented effectively will improve water accessibility in rural
areas of the country. Comment.

 Prime Minister announced the Jal Jeevan Mission during the 2019 Independence day
speech, which plans to supply water to all households by 2024.
 It will be a decentralised, community-managed and sustainable water management
scheme.
 Features:
o aims at ensuring potable water supply in adequate quantity at the rate of 55 litres
per person per day and of prescribed quality to every rural household of the
country through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) by 2024
 o JJM focuses on integrated demand and supply-side management of water at the
local level.
o Creation of local infrastructure for source sustainability measures as mandatory
elements, like rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of
household wastewater for reuse, would be undertaken in convergence with other
government programmes/schemes
o Mission is based on a community approach to water and includes extensive
Information, Education and Communication as a key component of the mission
o JJM looks to create a jan Andolan for water
o fund sharing pattern between the Centre and states is 90:10 for Himalayan and
NorthEastern States, 50:50 for other states, and 100% for Union Territories.
o Institutions created:
 National JJM
 State, District and Village Water and Sanitation Mission
o Every village will prepare a Village Action Plan (VAP) which will have three
components:
 Water source and its maintenance
 Water supply
 Greywater (domestic water) mgmt.
 Significance:
o In rural drinking water service delivery, there is inadequate attention given to taking
measures to sustain the source of the water, in most cases groundwater is a
challenge. This proposed mission will make source sustainability measures
mandatory prior to pumping and distributing water to households.
o Another issue with the traditional approach to service delivery was that the
provision of drinking water was viewed primarily as an engineering solution, with
schemes being planned and executed by the public health and engineering
departments. However, water is an ideal sector for the applicability of the principle
of subsidiarity, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively
at a more immediate or local level.
 Every year for seven years 0.14 million habitations slipped out of the government's rural
drinking water programmes, according to a report presented in the Lok Sabha in 2016. So
despite the government pumping in crores to take drinking water to nearly 1.7 million
habitations during 2007-2014, 58 per cent of them slipped to 'not covered' status or needed
fresh investments through new projects to supply water.
 Nearly 12 per cent of the country receives an average rainfall of less than 610 mm per
annum while 8 per cent receives more than 2,500 mm. But more than 50 per cent of this
rain falls in about 15 days and in less than 100 hours, of the total 8,760 hours in a year.
 Given that an individual consumes eight litres of water a day, an average village requires
almost 3.8 Ml water a year for drinking and cooking. This means an average village would
require 0.17 ha to catch this rainfall even if half the average rainfall was captured. In
Rajasthan, the land required would vary from 0.98-2.29 ha in different meteorological
regions and, in Gujarat it would be between 1.22 and 2.39 ha even, if there was a 50 per
cent deficit of rainfall.
 In Rajasthan, people collected water flowing down from rooftops and stored it in tanks built
in their courtyards. They stored the rain falling on open community lands in artificial wells,
called kundis. In water-surplus areas, people harvested monsoon run-off by capturing water
 from swollen streams and stored it in zings in Ladakh, ahars in Bihar, johads in Rajasthan and
Eris in Tamil Nadu, to name a few.

107. While various government initiatives and policies have created opportunities in the
affordable housing segment, there are challenges that still persist. Discuss.

 Affordable Housing for All was first carved as an objective in the National Urban Housing and
Habitat Policy (NUHHP), 2007 of India.
  Affordable housing refers to housing units that are affordable
for those with income below the average household income.
 In India, affordable housing is provided for low income people,
middle income people and economically weaker sections who
have considerably low levels of income (urban areas).
 As per the Report of the Technical Group on Estimation of
Urban Housing Shortage (2012), EWS and LIG accounted for 96
per cent of the total housing shortage in India.
 With the current progress of urbanisation, around 40% of the
country’s population is expected to live in urban areas by 2030.
 Govt initiatives:
o National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy (NUHHP),
2007 has set the objective of Affordable Housing for All as
a key focus.
o biggest boost came when the Government of India launched the Pradhan Mantri
Awas Yojana (PMAY) – Urban in June 2015.
 PMAY-G under MoRD
 PMAY-U under MoHUA
 The scheme gives financial assistance to
States/Union Territories (UTs) in to support
housing requirements of three identified income
categories: EWS, LIG and MIG
 target for PMAY-U is to build approximately 2 crore affordable homes in
urban centers by the year 2022 in 4 years.
  PMAY has already quadrupled the number of affordable house sanctioned
when compared to the previous 10 years of JNNURM.
o Affordable housing is also included under RBI’s priority sector lending programme.
o Encouraging Developers in affordable housing
sector:
 In Union budget 2017-18, Granted infrastructure status to
affordable housing. Infrastructural status will help
affordable housing developers to avail funds from
different channels, like external commercial
borrowings (ECB), foreign venture capital investors
(FVCI) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).
 Revised the qualifying criteria for affordable housing
from saleable area to the carpet area
 Enhanced the refinancing facility by National
Housing Bank (NHB) for individual loans for the
affordable housing segment.
 Government has created a dedicated Affordable
Housing Fund (AHF) in the NHB
o Tax incentives like, GST rate on houses below 45L, was
brought down from 8% to 1%
o RERA Act, 2017 to address grievances of buyers and to bring
transparency and accountability in this sector.
o A June 2018 report by Care ratings says the potential demand in residential
real estate i.e. affordable housing offers 6-8 billion square feet
development opportunity in India over the next 3-4 years. Houses in the
affordable category now account for a fifth of all residential sales in India
i.e. one in every 5 houses sold costs less than Rs 25 lakh.
o Recent, post-covid: Extension of the Credit-Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) up to 31st
March 2021 is an added incentive for the Middle-Income Group (MIG) buyers; RBI’s
policy rate cuts along with National Housing Bank (NHB)’s infusion of Rs 100 bn into
eligible Housing Finance Companies (HFCs); extension of Real Estate Regulatory
Authority (RERA) deadlines for project completions will give the developer
community a much-needed breather
 Challenges:
o A majority, almost one-third, of the lending needs of the affordable housing
segment is met by the NBFCs and HFCs. These companies until now
depended on term loan from banks debentures, commercial papers and
securitisation to raise finance. In the wake of a strong demand and drying
up of credit channels from capital markets in the current market scenario as
well as from banks post the IL&FS debacle, these companies are struggling
to keep the finance tap flowing
o Covid
108. Do you agree that India is falling short of standards of social and distributive justice?
And for the trend to be reversed, putting justice back into public discourse should be the
priority? Discuss.

 Distributive justice is concerned with the distribution and allocation of common goods and
common burdens. These benefits and burdens span all dimensions of social life and assume
all forms, including income, economic wealth, political power, taxation, work obligations,
education, shelter, health care, military service, community involvement and religious
activities.
 Articles 142, 144 and the Fundamental Rights enshrined in Part III of the Constitution
provide for a just and fair society and ensure distributive justice
 Many judgements originating from the Public Interest Litigation also strengthened the idea
of distributive justice.
 India is falling short
o Indian society is afflicted by deep material, cultural and knowledge-related
inequalities
o While dealing with resource or burden sharing, prominence given to hierarchical
notions of Justice rather than egalitarian Justice. In hierarchical notions, the justice
that is due to a person is established by one’s place within a hierarchical system eg.
caste system
o In societies which are still infested with live hierarchies, people must first struggle
for recognition as equals, for what might be called basic social justice. Then, they
must decide how to share all social benefits and burdens among equal persons —
the essence of egalitarian distributive justice.
 Suggestions:
o need-based principle, which talks about what is due to a person is what one really
needs. Since our basic needs are identical, justice requires their fulfilment in every
single person. Beyond this basic threshold, our needs usually vary, and therefore
justice further requires the fulfilment of different needs.
o The principle of desert, which talks about what is due to a person is what he or she
deserves determined by her own qualities and hard work. This underpins the idea of
equal opportunity to all, albeit with justified inequalities of outcome.
o Most reasonable egalitarian conceptions of justice try to find a balance between
need and desert.
o The principles of equity, equality, and social need are most relevant in the context of
distributive justice, but might play a role in a variety of social justice issues.

109. Literacy rates differ considerably across gender, regions and social groups in India.
Elaborate. Also, suggest measures to improve the current conditions.
 Goal 4 of the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of ensuring “inclusive and equitable
quality education” and “lifelong learning opportunities for all” by 2030.
 For the purpose of census 2011, a person aged seven and above, who can both read
and write with understanding in any language, is treated as literate.
 literacy rate in the country is 74.04 per cent, 82.14 for males and 65.46 for females.
 While the country has made significant progress in improving literacy over the years, it
continues to be home to 313 million illiterate people; 59 percent of them are women.
 Imparity in literacy rate:
o Gender:
 current gender-gap in literacy in India is more than twice the 2016 global
average and is also higher than the 2016 average for lower-middle-income
countries.
 There are currently 186 million females in India who cannot even read and
write a simple sentence in any language.
 Gap across gender has decreased from ~30% points in 1987 to 17% in 2011
 Transgenders: lack of stats bt estimated at 46%
o Age:
 literacy gender gap in children has been successfully closed, possibly
reflecting a change in attitudes and mindsets. This can be attributed to the
spirited literacy efforts by government and nongovernmental organisations
(NGOs) to get more girls, in particular, to attend school.
 However, gender disparities in literacy skills are wider for older adults and
the elderly and are improving less quickly as compared to the patterns for
children and youth
o Region:
 Rajasthan is the worst performer in terms of the literacy gender gap. At 29
percentage points, the literacy gender gap in Rajasthan is more than four
times the 2016 global average gap. female literacy rate in the state stands at
49.3 percent—meaning that one of every two females in Rajasthan is
illiterate
 On the other end of the scale, Kerala and north-eastern states such as
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, and Nagaland have a literacy gender
gap of less than nine percentage points, making them the top performers
among all of India’s states
 rural areas reporting a literacy rate of 68.9 percent and
the urban areas registering 85.0 percent literacy
o Social groups:
 SCs: 66%. Female literacy among them is as low as 56.5 per cent
 STs: 59%; overall literacy gap amongst the various groups and STs has
come down from 19.77 percent in 1961 to 14.03 percent in 2011
 Muslims: lower than even SCs/STs; 42.7% of Muslims in India are
illiterate, highest illiteracy rate for any single religious
community in the country
 Literacy rates are highest among Jains, at 84.7%, followed
by Christians (74.3%), Buddhists (71.8%) and Sikhs (67.5%).
 Suggestions:
o programmes can be designed that place literacy learning in the context of rights
awareness, health and food security (such as in Zambia), reproductive health,
community mobilisation and communication (Gambia), and learning skills that
support income-generating activities (Sierra Leone).
o In order to close the literacy gender gap for older adults, adult literacy programmes
that also offer women training in skills such as bangle-making, block-painting, jute-
work and other handcrafts should be designed to elicit greater participation. In
India, the three states that need such programmes the most, especially for older
adults are Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Nagaland.
o rapid growth in mobile phone coverage in India can be leveraged to launch mobile-
learning programmes for older adults
 “Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope,” once said former UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan.

110. Discuss in detail the impact of Covid-19 on the world’s education system.

 closure of schools and other learning spaces have impacted 94% of the world’s student
population and up to 99% in low and lower-middle income countries.
 learners with disabilities, those from marginalised communities, displaced and refugee
students, and those in remote areas are at highest risk of being left behind.
 knock-on effects on child nutrition, child marriage and gender equality could be enormous.
 cumulative impact of all these on children may lead to a “generational catastrophe” that
could waste human potential, undermine decades of progress, and exacerbate entrenched
inequalities.
 school and university closures will not only have a short-term impact on the continuity of
learning for more than 300 million young learners in India but also engender far-reaching
economic and societal consequences.
 significantly disrupted the higher education sector as well, which is a critical determinant of
a country’s economic future.
 Sluggish cross-border movement of students: Universities in many countries such as
Australia, UK, New Zealand, and Canada are highly dependent on the movement of students
from China and India.
 Passive learning by students: The sudden shift to online learning without any planning —
especially in countries like India where the backbone for online learning was not ready and
the curriculum was not designed for such a format — has created the risk of most of our
students becoming passive learners and they seem to be losing interest due to low levels of
attention span.
 Passive learning by students: The sudden shift to online learning without any planning —
especially in countries like India where the backbone for online learning was not ready and
the curriculum was not designed for such a format — has created the risk of most of our
students becoming passive learners and they seem to be losing interest due to low levels of
attention span.
 Rise in poverty may cause struggling parents to pull out children from schools
 People may need to cut short their education to grab a job to support families
 Opportunities:
o Universities and colleges will shift to a model of blended learning where both face to
face delivery along with an online model will become a norm, forcing teachers to
become tech-savvy
o great opportunity will open up for those companies that have been developing and
strengthening learning management systems for use by universities and colleges. Eg.
Edutech India
o start improving the quality of the learning material that is used in the teaching and
learning process
o collaborative teaching and learning can take on new forms and can even be
monetized.
o A large number of academic meetings, seminars and conferences will move online
and there is a possibility that some new form of an online conferencing platform will
emerge as a business model.

111. Examine the significant features as well as the gaps in the recently approved
National Education Policy of 2020.

 Aims for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors
 first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the 34- year-old National Policy on
Education (NPE), 1986
 foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability, this policy is
aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a
vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both school and
college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to 21st century needs and
aimed at bringing out the unique capabilities of each student.
 Based on Kasturirangan committee report
 Highlights:
o School education:
 Ensuring universal access at all levels of school education: abt 2 cr out of
school children will be brought back into main stream
 Early childhood care and education with new curricular and pedagogical str
 emphasis on Early Childhood Care and Education
 10+2 structure of school curricula is to be replaced by a 5+3+3+4
curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8- 11, 11-14, and 14-
18 years respectively
 will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under
school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial
stage for development of mental faculties of a child.
 The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of
Anganwadi/ pre schooling.
  Attaining Foundational Literacy and Numeracy: NEP 2020 calls for setting up
of a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by MHRD.
 Reforms in school curricula and pedagogy:
 aim for holistic development of learners by equipping them with the
key 21st century skills, reduction in curricular content to enhance
essential learning and critical thinking and greater focus on
experiential learning.
 increased flexibility and choice of subjects.
 no rigid separations between arts and sciences, between curricular
and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic
streams.
 Vocational education will start in schools from the 6th grade, and
will include internships.
 Multilingualism
 emphasized mother tongue/local language/regional language as the
medium of instruction at least till Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8
and beyond.
 Sanskrit to be offered at all levels of school and higher education as
an option for students, including in the three-language formula.
 Other classical languages and literatures of India also to be available
as options. No language to be imposed
 Equitable and Inclusive Education: Special emphasis will be given on Socially
and Economically Disadvantaged Groups(SEDGs) which include gender,
socio-cultural, and geographical identities and disabilities.
 Teacher recruitment: through robust, transparent processes; merit based
promotions based on multi-sourced performance appraisals
 A common National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will
be developed by NCTE by 2022 in consultation with NCERTs
 School governance: Schools can be organized into complexes or clusters
which will be the basic unit of governance and ensure availability of all
resources including infrastructure, academic libraries
 Standard setting and accreditation
 clear, separate systems for policy making, regulation, operations and
academic matters
 States/UTs will set up independent State School Standards Authority
(SSSA).
 SCERT will develop a School Quality Assessment and Accreditation
Framework (SQAAF) through consultations with all stakeholders.
o Higher Education:
 Increase GER to 50% by 2035: aims to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in
higher education including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50%
by 2035. 3.5 Crore new seats will be added to Higher education institutions.
 Holistic multi-disciplinary education:
 broad based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Under Graduate education
 flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of
vocational education and multiple entry and exit points with
appropriate certification.
  For example, Certificate after 1 year, Advanced Diploma after 2
years, Bachelor’s Degree after 3 years and Bachelor’s with Research
after 4 years.
 Regulation:
 Higher Education Commission of India(HECI) will be set up as a single
overarching umbrella body the for entire higher education,
excluding medical and legal education.
 HECI to have four independent verticals – National Higher Education
Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education
Council (GEC) for standard setting, Higher Education Grants Council
(HEGC) for funding, and National Accreditation Council (NAC) for
accreditation.
 Public and private higher education institutions will be governed by
the same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic
standards.
 Institutions: The definition of university will allow a spectrum of institutions
that range from Researchintensive Universities to Teaching-intensive
Universities and Autonomous degree-granting Colleges.
o Other provisions:
 motivating, energizing, and building capacity of faculty through clearly
defined, independent, transparent recruitment, freedom to design
curricula/pedagogy, incentivising excellence, movement into institutional
leadership.
 Teacher education: A new and comprehensive National Curriculum
Framework for Teacher Education, NCFTE 2021, will be formulated by the
NCTE in consultation with NCERT. By 2030, the minimum degree
qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree.
 Mentoring: A National Mission for Mentoring will be established, with a
large pool of outstanding senior/retired faculty to provide short and long-
term mentoring/professional support to university/college teachers
 Financial support for students: Efforts will be made to incentivize the merit
of students belonging to SC, ST, OBC, and other SEDGs.
 Policy aims to achieve 100% youth and adult literacy
o Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in
Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.
o Professional education:
 Stand-alone technical universities, health science universities, legal and
agricultural universities etc will aim to become multi-disciplinary institutions.
 Measures such as online courses and digital repositories, funding for
research, improved student services, credit-based recognition of MOOCs,
etc., will be taken
 Challenges:
o Mismatch betn knowledge and skills imparted and jobs available. NEP silent on
education related to emerging technological fields like artificial intelligence,
cyberspace, nanotech, etc.
o ambitious target of public spending at 6% of GDP has been set. Mobilising financial
resources will be a big challenge, given the low tax-to-GDP ratio and competing
 claims on the national exchequer of healthcare, national security and other key
sectors.
o Right to Education Act, 2009 and the New Education Policy, 2020. Certain provisions
such as the age of starting schooling will need to be deliberated upon, in order to
resolve any conundrum between the statute and the policy
o questions pertaining to the role of the UGC and AICTE remain unanswered under the
new policy

112. Discuss the idea of Digi-Health and explain in what way it seems to be the only
better future for the country?

 WHO) refers to telemedicine or Digi-health as “healing from a distance “. It is the remote

delivery of healthcare services. It is the use of internet, telecommunications technology,
information and digital technologies to provide remote clinical services to patients.
Physicians use telemedicine for the transmission of digital imaging, video consultations, and
remote medical diagnosis.
 Need:
o In India, the pandemic exposed the chinks in the healthcare system such as lack of
Critical Care units, hospital beds and healthcare workers to patient ratio leaving
them overwhelmed.
o In 2018-19, India's spending on health sector was 1.5% of GDP. National
Health Policy 2017 had aimed for this to be 2.5% of GDP
o massive shortage of medical staff, infrastructure and last mile connectivity in rural
areas. Eg: Doctor: Population 1:1800 and 78% doctors cater to urban India
(population of 30%)
o Massive shortages in the supply of services (human resources, hospitals and
diagnostic centres in the private/public sector) which are made worse by grossly
inequitable availability between and within States. For example, even a well-placed
State such as Tamil Nadu has an over 30% shortage of medical and non-medical
professionals in government facilities
o Absence of primary care: In the northern States there are hardly any sub-centres
and primary health centres are practically non-existent. First mile connectivity to a
primary healthcare centre is broken. For eg, in Uttar Pradesh there is one PHC for
every 28 villages.
o High OoP expenditure
 Telemedicine’s use:
o Telemedicine will reduce the time of consultations and improve the quality of
healthcare services in urban as well as rural areas, removing many of infrastructural
challenges like shortage of beds and doctors
o t bridges the healthcare gap between rural India and urban India
o In rural India, where the access to medical facilities, specialist’s opinion and advance
healthcare amenities are limited, telemedicine acts as a healthcare provider bringing
access to the specialist doctors to these areas.
o Current pandemic context
 o advancement of telecommunication capabilities over the years has made the
transmission of images and sound files (heart and lung sounds, coughs) faster and
simpler. Pilot telemedicine experiments in ophthalmology and psychiatry have
proven to be of immense benefit to the communities.
o Will reduce OoP to some extent: reduced cost of travel, admittance, improve follow
ups an will increase access to inaccessible areas
 Case study: Swasth: A coalition of over 100 healthcare specialists have come together to
launch Swasth, a nationwide telemedicine platform for Corona care, which digitally connects
citizens to the best doctors and wellness providers. It deploys AI based triaging to determine
the care required, culminating in a digitally signed prescription and treatment advice.
Currently, the app supports consultation in Hindi, English and Gujarati and will be expanded
to 25 Indian languages

113. Explaining the importance of skill development for India, highlight the challenges
related to it. What steps have been taken by the government in this regard?

 Skill Development can be defined as proficiency that is acquired or developed through

training or experience. It strengthens the ability of individuals to adapt to changing market
demands and help benefit from innovation and entrepreneurial activities. Skill building could
also be seen as an instrument to empower the individual and improve his/her social
acceptance or value.
 Need:
o PLFS 2018: unemployment rate among the urban 15-29-years-old was 23.7%.
o pervasive joblessness is mainly due to the poor training of the youth as only 7% of
the people surveyed in the framework of the PLFS declared any formal or informal
training.
o current data suggest that only 2.3% of the workforce in India has undergone formal
skill training as compared to 68% in the UK, 75% in Germany, 52% in the USA, 80% in
Japan and 96% in South Korea
o according to a recent survey, 48% of Indian employers reported difficulties filling job
vacancies due to skill shortage
o CMIE reports show that the more educated Indians are, the more likely they are to
remain unemployed too. The last PLFS for 2018 revealed that 33% of the formally
trained 15-29-yearolds were jobless
 Importance:
o crucial for the success of recently launched missions –Make in India, Digital India,
and Smart Cities.
o Demographic dividend
o Opportunity: slowdown in China
o Will reduce population pressure on land and agri
o Better employment esp in light of 4th industrial revolution
 Initiatives:
o Skill India : aims to train a minimum of 300 million skilled people by the year 2022
 o National Skill Development Mission was launched to provide strong institutional
framework at the Centre and States for implementation of skilling activities in the
country.
o In 2014, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was created to
harmonise training processes, assessments, certification and outcomes and,
crucially, to develop Industrial Training Institutions (ITIs)
o Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), a dimension of skill India, under
which the training fees were paid by the government.
o ‘Skill Loan’ initiative was launched in which loans from Rest 5,000-1.5 lakhs will be
available to whom who seek to attend skill development programmes, over the next
five years. The idea is to remove financial constraints as a hindrance to accessing
skill training programmes
o National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015: The Policy
acknowledges the need for an effective roadmap for promotion of entrepreneurship
as the key to a successful skills strategy. Aim is to “create an ecosystem of
empowerment by Skilling and promote a culture of innovation based
entrepreneurship”.
o Apprenticeship Protsahan Yojana: It is a major initiative to revamp the
Apprenticeship Scheme in India
o Deen Dayal Upadhyaya –Grameen Kaushal Yojana: The Ministry of Rural
Development implements DDU-GKY
o Nai Manzil: for dropouts
o USTTAD: to conserve traditional arts/crafts and build capacity of traditional artisans
and craftsmen belonging to minority communities.
o Nai Roshni: leadership training programme for minority
 Suggestions:
o Improving the labour market information system where emerging demand for skills
are spotted quickly and the necessary training and certifications for the same are
created.
o Quick improvements in public-private partnership in capturing demand for skills and
following through with quick investments in skill-building to match demand with
supply
o Jobs and skills planning should be decentralized and it has to be done at state and
district levels, where there is granular information on education, skills and job
options.
o If urbanization is good and well planned, then job growth will be positive.
Government should concentrate on the development of towns and narrow areas
and service it with good infrastructure to generate employment alongside
development.
o If government starts spending on public goods (schools, hospitals, dams, roads etc.)
instead of spending on freebies (deep subsidies on food, farm loan waivers etc.) the
capacity of government to create employment increases.
114. Is the NEP’s 10-year deadline, to make all children entering Grade 1 school-ready
through Early Childhood Care and Education, practical? Debate.

 According to UNICEF, early childhood is defined as the period from conception through eight
years of age.
 Early childhood care and education (ECCE) is more than preparation for primary school. It
aims at the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs
in order to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing.
 Target 4.2 of SDG 4 aims that by 2030, to ensure that all girls and boys have access to
quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education.
 Over 85% of a child’s cumulative brain development occurs prior to the age of 6
 Obj:
o overall aim of ECCE will be to attain optimal outcomes in the domains of physical
and motor development, cognitive development, socio-emotional-ethical
development, cultural/artistic development, and the development of
communication and early language, literacy, and numeracy.
o It also includes a focus on developing social capacities, sensitivity, good behaviour,
courtesy, ethics, personal and public cleanliness, teamwork and cooperation.
 NEP and ECCE:
o Universal provisioning of quality early childhood development, care and education
must be thus being achieved by 2030, to ensure that all children entering Grade 1
are school ready
o Policy projecting an expansion of the Right to Education Act to cover the three years
of preschool before Class 1
o suggests a new integrated curricular framework for 3 to 8-year olds with a flexible
system based on play, activity and discovery, and beginning exposure to three
languages from age 3 onwards.
o policy aims to provide High-quality early childhood care and education for all
children between the ages of three and six by 2025.
o This will be done within schools and anganwadis, which will take care of the overall
well-being of the child.
 Challeges:
o unavailability of trained teachers.
o Infrastructural deficiencies in Anganwadis, esp wrt to education
o Anganwadis tend to contain more children in the 2-4-year age range and fewer in
the educationally critical 4-6-year age range.
o Private pre-schools often consist of formal teaching and rote memorisation with
limited playbased learning.
o A 2017 study by the Ambedkar University showed that “a significant proportion of
children in India who completed pre-primary education, public or private, did not
have the needed school readiness competencies when they joined primary school.
 Suggestion: For universal ECCE, the Anganwadi Centres will be strengthened with high
quality infrastructure, play equipment and well-trained Anganwadi workers/teachers. ECCE
teacher training should be added as a skill gap in the list of National Skill Development. ECCE
can also be introduced in Ashrams shalas in tribal-dominated areas in a phased manner.
115. With State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report showing that
India retains the dubious distinction of being the country with the largest population of food
insecure people, critically analyse the underlying gaps to such a condition of food security in
the country.

 Food security, as defined by the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security(CFS), is
the condition in which all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to
sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for
an active and healthy life. Our current understanding of food security includes the four
dimensions of access, availability, utilisation and stability.
 Findings of SOFI report
o prevalence of food insecurity increased by 3.8 percentage points in India between
2014 and 2019. In absolute numbers, 6.2cr more people , now total no. of food
insecure people in India stood at 48.8cr in 2017-19
o while 8% of India’s population suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity in
2014-16, the proportion rose to 31.6% in 2017-19
o India accounted for 22% of the global burden of food insecurity, the highest for any
country, in 2017-19.
o It is also noteworthy that while the PMSFI increased in India by 3.7 percentage
points during this period, it fell by 0.5 percentage points in the rest of South Asia.
 India has not released the latest National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) consumption
expenditure survey data for 2017-18. As a result, conventional measures of poverty and food
consumption are not available for recent years. Lack of availability of data from this
consumption survey also has implications for the FAO’s PoU estimates for India. Because of a
lack of regular availability of consumption survey data from most countries, the FAO uses
supply-wise data on per capita food availability to measure changes in average per capita
calorie intake.
 Gaps in India’s food security
o Economic distress
 Deepening agrarian crisis
 Falling investments across sectors
 Shrinking employment opportunities
 Demoentisation shock
o NFSA issues:
 does not guarantee universal right to food: Targeted –Restricts the right to
food to only 75% of rural and 50% of urban population in India
 Act would not apply in times of “war, flood, drought, fire, cyclone or
earthquake”
 Act focuses primarily on distribution of rice and wheat and fails to address
the ‘utilization’ dimension of food security.
 a major reason for micronutrient deficiency in India is because of a
cerealbased diet; the NSFA does not address the issue of malnutrition and
nutritional deficiency adequately.
  identification of beneficiaries is to be completed by State Governments. As
per findings of Comptroller and Auditor General in 2016, a massive 49 % of
the beneficiaries were yet to be identified by the State Governments
o quality issues:
 Inadequate distribution of food through PDS
 Food adulterations
o Issues with procurement
 Open-ended Procurement: All incoming grains accepted even if buffer stock
is filled creating a shortage in the open market.
 Lack of storage capacity combined with less than required OMO means
foodgrains decaying while hunger still pervasive at the same time
 money locked in these excessive stocks (beyond the buffer norm) is more
than Rs 1 lakh crore.
o Transportation losses and corruption-diversion losses
o CC: Higher temperatures and unreliable rainfall makes farming difficult. Climate
change not only impacts crop but also livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture
o Overpopulation and Increase in rural-to-urban migration, large proportion of
informal workforce resulting in unplanned growth of slums which lack in the basic
health and hygiene facilities, insufficient housing and increased food insecurity
 Suggestions (Shnata kumar)
o Reduce the number of beneficiaries under the Food Security Act—from the current
67 per cent to 40 per cent.
o Allow private players to procure and store food grains
o Stop bonuses on minimum support price (MSP) paid by states to farmers, and adopt
cash transfer system so that MSP and food subsidy amounts can be directly
transferred to the accounts of farmers and food security beneficiaries.
o Abolishing levy rice: Under levy rice policy, government buys certain percentage of
rice (varies from 25 to 75 per cent in states) from the mills compulsorily, which is
called levy rice. Mills are allowed to sell only the remainder in the open market
o Outsource of stocking of grains: The committee calls for setting up of negotiable
warehouse receipt (NWR) system. In the new system, farmers can deposit their
produce in these registered warehouses and get 80 per cent of the advance from
bank against their produce on the basis of MSP
o Clear and transparent liquidation policy for buffer stock
o Cooperative societies play an important role in food security in India especially in the
southern and western parts of the country. The cooperative societies set up shops to
sell low priced goods to poor people. The cooperatives should be encouraged.

116. Discuss the role that Community-level institutions can play to ensure that the
burden of malnutrition is not aggravated during the pandemic.

 Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy

and/or nutrients.
 Malnutrition is still one of India’s biggest challenges and is the predominant risk factor for
death in children younger than five years in every state in 2017, accounting for 68.2% of the
total under-5 deaths, according to the Global Nutrition Report, 2020.
 There were 706,000 deaths because malnutrition, according to the statewide data on
malnutrition by the Indian Council of Medical Research, PHFI, and National Institute of
Nutrition released in 2019.
 As much as 35.7% children under 5 years of age are underweight, 38.4% are stunted, and
21% are wasted, according to the National Family Health Survey-4 in 2015-16
 With government support schemes coming to a standstill during the pandemic, and an
economic crisis that has led to over 120 million people losing their jobs, UNICEF warns that
an additional 3 lakh children will die in India unless health services and nutritional support is
quickly reinstated.
 Community based fighting:
o effectiveness of Community based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM)
approach needs to be emphasized.
o given the huge disparity between demand and supply of public health
infrastructure, alternative approaches to handle SAM (Severe Acute malnutrition)
would always be essential.
o a comprehensive CMAM approach ensures that adequate nutrition is made
available and accessible to the SAM-afflicted children through Ready-To-use
Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and home-based initiatives from healthcare extension
workers.
o  This is more effective, efficient and economical in dealing with SAM. This also
leads to minimal disruptions in the family from their everyday chores, as often
happens in case of institutional treatment.
o CMAM approach could be a crucial pillar in POSHAN Abhiyyan
o Anganwadis system is the backbone of India’s nutrition target effort and we really
have to improve it
o During the coronavirus pandemic too, these women have
formed a formidable front against its spread in rural India,
along with other members of the rural health workforce -
the local ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) and the
Auxillary Nurse Midwife (ANM).
o Anganwadi is a government-sponsored child-care and mother-care
development programmes in India at the village level. It caters to children in
the 0-6 age group. They were started by the Indian government in 1975 as
part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child
hunger and malnutrition.
o Besides health services to the children, health-care activities include
contraceptive counselling and supply, nutrition education and
supplementation, as well as pre-school activities that are equally important
o most recent nutrition strategy adopted by the Odisha government is “SOPAN”-
Strategy for Odisha’s Pathway to Accelerated Nutrition. Implemented by the Women
and Child Development and Mission Shakti Department, SOPAN has shown promise
in achieving the state’s nutrition targets across 22 districts. Community-based
crèches have been established for improved health management of children under
three years. These crèches provide community-based management of SAM (CMAM),
 supervised feeding and counselling for mothers and children with moderate acute
malnutrition
o other institutions like the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) at the community
level

117. What do you understand by Universal Service obligation Fund? Highlight its
Contributions to Inclusive development of the country.

 Universal Service Obligation Fund was established in 2002, with the main aim to provide
universal telecom services and ensure that even the unconnected areas in the country reap
the benefits of inclusive development. The Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 gave
statutory status to the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). The USOF is headed by the
USOF Administrator who reports to the Secretary, Department of Telecommunications
(DoT).
 submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai and Port Blair was inaugurated
recently which provides High-speed broadband connectivity to the people of Andaman &
Nicobar Islands with other parts of the country. The project is funded by USOF.
 The funds for the USOF comes from Universal Service Levy (USL). The USL is charged from all
the telecom operators on their Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR). These are then deposited
into the Consolidated Fund of India, and prior parliamentary approval is required for
dispatching.
 Importance for inlusive development
o provide widespread and non-discriminatory access to quality ICT services at
affordable prices to people in rural and remote areas.
o Provision of reliable, robust, and high-speed telecom and broadband facilities will be
imperative from the viewpoint of consumers, as well as for strategic and governance
reasons.
o Accomplishments:
 Installation of village public telephones in every revenue village of 1991
census and additional revenue village of 2001 census
 Provision of rural community telephones at next stage
 Provision of household telephones in rural areas.
 Creation of Infrastructure for mobile services in remote, rural areas.
 Provision of broadband in villages in a phased manner.
o Induction of new technologies like national optic fibre network in rural areas.
o enhanced telecom and broadband connectivity will boost tourism
and employment generation in the islands
 o facilitate the delivery of e-governance services such as telemedicine
and tele-education,
o small enterprises will benefit from opportunities in e-commerce,
o educational institutions will utilize the enhanced availability of
bandwidth for e-learning and knowledge sharing.

118. Deliberate upon the concerns associated with Cartographic aggression attempted by
Pakistan recently, how will they further up the tensions between India and Pakistan?

Concerns associated with Cartographic aggression:

 The new political map of Pakistan has claimed the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir stretching
all the way to the edge of Ladakh.

 It has also renamed Kashmir Highway in Islamabad as Srinagar Highway.

 The map also claims Junagarh and Manavadar, a former princely State and territory, respectively,
that are part of present-day Gujarat.

 It leaves out a claim line at the eastern end of J&K indicating Pakistan’s willingness to make China
a third party in the Kashmir issue.

 This clearly runs counter to the Shimla Agreement which treated Kashmir as a bilateral matter.

 Pakistan also claimed the entire territory and water bodies that fall in the Sir Creek region in the
westernmost part of India. By demanding the demarcation to shift towards the eastern bank,
Pakistan appears to be going back also on the spirit of the Rann of Kutch arbitration where the
overwhelming evidence of maps supported India’s claims over the Rann and its marshlands.

 The map also shows the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as being part of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province.

India has dismissed the map as an “exercise in absurdity” that made “untenable claims” to territories
in India.

India continues to maintain that terror and talks cannot go hand-in-hand with Pakistan. With Nepal
turning hostile, Sri Lanka tilted towards China, Bangladesh miffed over the Citizenship (Amendment)
Act, 2019 and India out of Iran’s Chahbahar railway link project, there is a relative decline in India’s
sphere of influence, especially in its neighbourhood and the extended neighbourhood. This demands
a deeper examination of the foreign policy
119. China is accused of indulging in beggar-thy-neighbor policy. Explain the term and
examine its consequences on rest of world?

 Beggar thy neighbor policy refers to economic and trade policies that a country enacts that
end up adversely affecting its neighbors and/or trading partners. Protectionist barriers such
as tariffs, quotas, and sanctions are all examples of policies that can hurt the economies of
other countries.
 Often, beggar thy neighbor policies are not intended to negatively affect other countries;
rather, it is a side effect of policies meant to bolster the country’s domestic economy and
competitiveness
 Protectionism is often seen as a key example of policies that are intended to strengthen a
domestic economy, but which may negatively impact trading partners
 Beggar thy neighbor policies came about, originally, as a policy solution to domestic
depression and high unemployment rates. basic idea is to increase the demand for a nation’s
exports, while reducing reliance on imports.
 A currency war is a prime example of beggar thy neighbor in action since it amounts to a
nation attempting to gain an economic advantage without consideration for the ill effects it
may have on other countries.
 Consequences:
o After China devalued its currency by nearly 0.5% to the dollar earlier in January
2016, many emerging market currencies have started weakening against the US
dollar. Indian rupee too has lost close 4% to the dollar since January.
o The immediate cause of a weak emerging market currency is pull out of foreign
investors from these economies resulting in a pressure on local currencies
o a weak renminbi will lead to widening of trade deficit for India since Indian exports
will be outmatched by Chinese exports
o Chinese will dump cheaper products in our market resulting in factory closure, job
losses etc.
 In the current situation of global economic slowdown and weak demand, a price advantage
on goods and services need not necessarily prop up exports. In certain cases, such a policy
may prove counterproductive. If, for instance, even the competing country counters one
policy move, of say, depreciation (to protect exports) then such a practice may not have
desirable results, especially the country’s imports are not price elastic (the imports are
essential and not dependent on prices) and instead could end up hurting the trade balance
through higher import price and resulting in inflation in such economies.

120. From Europe to Central Asia and now India, dependence on China is destroying
indigenous traditions, Discuss in the case of Indian textiles.

 The Indian textile and apparel industry can be broadly divided into two segments – yarn &
fibre, and processed fabrics & apparel.
 Employment generation: textiles & garments industry is labour intensive sector that employs
45 mn people in India is second only to the agriculture sector in terms of employment.
 textiles and apparels industry in India is valued at around $127 billion in size.
 According to India brand and equity foundation(IBEF), India is among the world’s largest
producers of textiles and garments. Domestic Textile and apparel industry contributes 2% to
India’s GDP and accounts for 14% of industrial production, 27% of the country’s foreign
exchange inflows and 13% (37Bn$)of the country’s export earnings .
 s for India the textiles industry is important not just for labour absorption and as a source of
foreign exchange, but also as a symbol of India’s rich heritage.
 India’s share in the global textiles exports is just 5%, which is minuscule as compared to
China’s share of 38%.
 Textile tradition of iNdia:
o origin of Indian textiles can be traced to the Indus valley
civilization. The people of that civilization used homespun cotton
for weaving their garments.
o Rigveda refers to weaving
o Indian silk was popular from Rome to Indonesia
o Pashmina from Kshmir
o Zari yarns of Benaras; Kanjivaram and Pochampaly sarees;
paithini sarees of MH
o Khadi
o Gamcha to various headdresses from NE
 Much smaller players like Bangladesh and Vietnam have a share of 3% in global exports and
are increasingly threatening India’s exports.
 Challenges from China:
o China dumped silk yarn in India at prices a fraction of their costs initially, and then
slowly raised the prices to set up a lucrative business. One of the major production
areas, incidentally, is in and around the city of Wuhan, a textile hub of low-end
garments for the world.
o Italy, Spain and France- relentless growth of fashion empires, and their
diversification into billion-dollar licensing arrangements made fashion in Europe very
powerful, early on in the game. They began to dictate the terms of the luxury goods
trade through very effective marketing, and new products. These companies
dominated global markets. They soon started producing their prime goods
elsewhere, and to better their margins, began hiring Chinese tailors, off the books,
and gave them licence to manufacture copies of their garments, cheaper and faster.
In the process, they were willing to teach them the secrets of family-owned
businesses and enhance their capability to produce couture garments — sometimes
giving them the patterns to do so to buy them at a fraction of the cost of European
manufactured goods. Chinese learned the craft swiftly and, very soon, they were a
force to be recognised, as they used “Made in France” labels on much cheaper
copies.
o Uzbekisatan: heart of a complex nomadic and oasis culture in Central Asia and is a
significant stretch of the famous Silk Road route. Fergana valley, supposed to be the
richest in terms of traditional crafts, today sees its people  clad in velvet and
synthetic kaftans , manufactured and printed in China, using copies of patterns from
traditional ikats.
 o The only place today where genuine textiles still exist is India.
o Indian textiles have survived British onslaught (brought India’s share in global textile
exports from 25% to 2%) through the efforts of revivalists in the post-Independence
era, such as Kamala Devi Chattopdhyaya and Pupul Jayakar.
o We are already seeing Chinese inroads in the Benaras sari markets, where there are
jacquard copies of the Benaras-bordered tanchoi saris selling cheaply
o Another example are the Benarasi sarees: the original yarns from Bhagalpur which
were hand-spun, with no twist, called paat-baana, without which the beautiful
masterpieces of Benaras could not have been woven, have been substituted by
Chinese yarns.
o We have indigenous mulberry silks from Karnataka, which are softer, finer, lighter
and allow for more pliability when woven and have a wonderful texture. Organic
ahimsa silks from the terai regions, India’s tussars and mogas, are an intrinsic part of
our heritage.

121. “Considering the strategic importance of Bangladesh and as a responsible upper

riparian state, India needs to take proactive steps for early conclusion of Teesta agreement”.
Comment.

 recently Bangladesh is discussing an almost $1 billion loan from China for a comprehensive
management and restoration project on the Teesta river. The project is aimed at managing
the river basin efficiently, controlling floods, and tackling the water crisis in summers.
Bangladesh’s discussions with China come at a time when India is particularly wary about
China following the standoff in Ladakh.
 Strategic importance of BN for India
o India has benefited from its security ties with Bangladesh, whose crackdown against
anti-India outfits has helped the Indian government maintain peace in the eastern
and Northeast states
o Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia. Bilateral trade has grown
steadily over the last decade: India’s exports to Bangladesh in 2018-19 stood at
$9.21 billion, and imports from Bangladesh at $1.04 billion.
o India also grants 15 to 20 lakh visas every year to Bangladesh nationals for medical
treatment, tourism, work, and just entertainment.
o For India, Bangladesh has been a key partner in the neighbourhood first policy —
and possibly the success story in bilateral ties among its neighbours.
o Increasing relations betn BN and China: China is biggest trading partner of BN,
biggets arms supplier to BN; recently. China declared zero duty on 97% of imports
frm BN as a part of China’s duty free, quota free programme fr LDCs
 Importance of Teesta river
o For Bangladesh: Its flood plain covers about 14% of the total cropped area of
Bangladesh and provides direct livelihood opportunities to approximately 73% of its
population.
 o For West Bengal: Teesta is the lifeline of North Bengal and almost half a dozen of
districts of West Bengal are dependent on the waters of Teesta.
 Teesta river issue:
o Teesta river is a tributary of the Brahmaputra (known as Jamuna in Bangladesh),
flowing through India and Bangladesh.
o It originates in the Himalayas near Chunthang, Sikkimand flows to the south through
West Bengal before entering Bangladesh.
o India and Bangladesh have been engaged in a long-standing dispute over water-
sharing in the Teesta.

o A 2011 interim deal – that was supposed to last 15 years – gave

India 42.5 percent of the Teesta’s waters and gave Bangladesh
37.5 percent. Bengal opposed this deal so it was shelved and
remains unsigned. The two countries were on the verge of signing a water-
sharing pact in September 2011, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was going
to visit Bangladesh, bt CM of WB objected.
o A scientific study of the river as a hydro-logical unit should be done by neutral
experts. Then, water sharing agreement may be concluded by bringing multiple
stakeholders on the table. Indus Water Treaty brokered by World Bank may server
at model
o The two countries share 54 transboundary rivers, and water management is the key
to prosperity.
o Bangladesh sought a fair and equitable distribution of Teesta
waters from India, on the lines of the Ganga Water Treaty 1996,
an agreement to share surface waters at the Farakka Barrage near
their mutual border.

122. The World Trade Organization has today become a victim of its own success.
Critically discuss