Hello Friends This is the 26th edition of IASbaba’s Monthly Magazine on Current Affairs for UPSC Civil Services Examination. This edition covers all important issues that were in news for the month of JULY 2017 DOWNLOAD THE MAGAZINE- CLICK HERE
You are Stressed: There is absolutely nothing that stresses out people more than stress itself! Stressed by Stress; sounds funny when we put it across this way. But introspecting our daily living and the way we go about it, it is not that hard to see that there is only one thing that causes stress; it is stress itself. So how does it work? How do we manage to efficiently create stress and conveniently put ourselves in the middle of it? All of us are great stress generating machines. The machine is so efficient that it can convert anything to stress. It is a magical machine, even when you put gold and diamond into it, it can convert it into garbage and spew it out. Why we get stressed has nothing to do with the content or the context of our lives; it has everything to do with how we have learned to react to situations. It is actually that simple. Stress exists only as a memory of how we have been impulsively reacting to things happening around us. Just give it a thought for a moment. Is there any other form of stress other than an impulsive sudden reaction to something that has happened the way you had not expected? When you are expecting things to happen in a certain way around you and when it doesn’t happen, you are stressed. We unnecessarily stress ourselves because we have not learnt how to handle this moment. Another very important thing to notice and understand is that you are not alone in this great endeavor of generating stress. Every single person irrespective of how good or bad they are in handling situations has experienced stress. To put it mildly every; everybody is stressed. “Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world and he is totally stressed. Doctor says the treatment is simple. The great clown Terrifini is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up. Man bursts into tears: "But doctor . . . I am Terrifini." So relax, everybody is stressed. When we first accept and acknowledge that stress is a part of everybody’s life, we will be able to clearly see the problem, instead of blaming ourselves. A stressful individual is not a sinner, he is just a victim of circumstances and a victim of how he has grown up accumulating and generating stress. The first thing we need when we meet a stressful person, including ourselves, is compassion. With understanding, compassion and effort, we will be able to go beyond stress. All it takes is absolute acceptance that you are generating stress unnecessarily and you can accomplish all the things you are trying to accomplish by being much less stressful. We use stress as an excuse for trying to achieve something great. We tell ourselves that the more stressed we are, the greater the task we are trying to accomplish. This is so far away from the truth. There is no great task out there in the world that is worth stressing yourself about. There is another way to accomplish great things; by learning to be cool, calm, collected and rooted in the moment. “The articles are a copyright of The Ahamo Movement and IASBABA.”
Dear Aspirants, On a certain day, while sleeping, a woman saw a dream. She saw a hunk of a man, staring at her. As soon as her eyes met his, he started coming closer – closer and closer. Soon he was so close that she could even feel him breathe. She trembled, and then she asked, “What are you doing? Are you going to do something to me?” The man replied, “Well, lady, it’s your dream!” See, that’s the power of a dream. What can or cannot happen in your head is up to you, simply because it is your dream. At least your dream should happen the way you want it, shouldn’t it? Agreed; that the world cannot happen according to what I or you want, but your thoughts and emotions should happen the way you want them to. Come to think of it. Aren’t we, human beings, the greatest piece of technology walking on the planet? And if we are, do you ever wonder where your mouse or keyboard lies? Yes, the problem is you don’t know where the keyboard is. It’s like you are handling a supercomputer, but with an axe! Put simply, our inner mechanism is in a total mess. For the pursuit of happiness, we have always believed that it is the outer conditions that require fixing. And boy, are we wrong enough! We need to understand that unless we do the right things, the right things will not happen to us. Every single day some of you are struggling with the notes that you need to make, the portion that you need to complete, and then there are days when you feel like you are up to no good. Doubt pushes you to the brink of exhaustion and you start feeling dejected. Sad! One can bullshit oneself into all kinds of emotional states, destroy one’s well-being, but the problem is going to remain the same. The weather might bring the rain down. The stock market could collapse. The stars might come crashing down. And even if the trees in front of your building does not collapse, living in anticipation that it might be, will bring your spirits down. Won’t that be worse than the actual disaster? As long as you tie your inner life and inner well-being to external situations, it will never be a good situation and will always remain a precarious condition. Dear reader, what do you then think is the way out? The way out is a very simple change in direction. Stop and think – is not the source and basis of all your experiences hidden within you? So, do not worry about what will tomorrow bring. Let not the fear of the unseen and unheard of; bring your spirits to create wonders down. Always stay in the pursuit of happiness by dreaming the dream that you want to turn true. The nation awaits you, dear aspirant. Shine bright! Your friend, philosopher and guide IASbaba :)
Be Here Now - Ramdass Be here now is a spiritual classic that brought meditation and mindfulness to America. This unusually different book explores the deeper dimensions of spiritual experiences from the point of view of the seeker. There are countless books on learning how to meditate and explore the spiritual path; Be here now is unusual in a way that it can be read and understood by anybody. The experiences Ramdass describes are so real and so much a part of daily living and questioning, it is impossible to misunderstand it. He talks about his journey to India in search of spiritual teachers and describes his experiences of being with them. Be here now is a fascinating read if you are willing to let go of some of your prejudices and look at life from the eyes of a seeker. Enjoy reading this marvelous book; it will introduce you to the deeper dimensions of life in a way you would have never imagined. Some of the experiences shared here will leave you spellbound. This is a must read if you are willing to understand your life better. “This Book Review is a copyright of The Ahamo Movement and IASBABA.”
IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs – 9th Sep 2017 Archives INTERNATIONAL TOPIC: General Studies 2 India and its neighborhood- relations. Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests. Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora. Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate. Protecting the Rohingyas in India Background: The statement by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju that the government is making plans to “deport” the Rohingya who already live in this country, makes India and Indians seem small-minded and insecure, rather than a nation with a long and confident record of compassion towards people seeking safe haven from persecution in their own countries. A UN report has called them victims of “crimes against humanity”, while Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has referred to the violence as “ethnic cleansing”. Historical background: The army’s antagonism towards Rohingyas dates back at least to World War II, when the Burmese army under General Aung San had initially sided with the Japanese (before switching to the British towards the end of the war), while many Muslims supported the British. The Japanese had expelled Rohingyas to northern Arakan (as Rakhine was known then), which was under British control. At Burma’s independence from the British in 1948, Arakanese Muslims wanted to join East Pakistan, but Mohammed Ali Jinnah refused. When Bangladesh became independent in 1971, Burma asked Bangladesh to take the Rohingya Muslims, but Bangladesh declined. Since the late 1970s, Myanmar’s army has frequently attacked Rohingyas, forcing many to make a hazardous journey through the narrow Naf river and reach south-eastern Bangladesh, where they settle in ramshackle tents in sprawling camps like Kutupalong. Many others are trafficked to South-East Asia. State of Rohingyas: The Rohingya have been fleeing, mostly on rickety boats, for years now. Their exodus has picked up pace recently. Violence has targeted them in phases, most notably beginning in 2012 when inter-religious conflict forced them out in the thousands. The Rohingya, about 1 million in all, are the world’s most persecuted ethnic Muslim community. Though they have lived in the Rakhine province of Myanmar, that country has deprived them of citizenship, and restricted their freedom of movement to limit their access to economic opportunities. The Rohingya have been the ultimate nowhere people since 1982, when a Burmese law rendered them stateless, with the government arguing that they are Bengali. In 2014, the Burmese census refused to enumerate the Rohingya, giving them only the option to identify themselves as Bengali. The UN estimates that about 270,000 people, more than a quarter of the entire Muslim Rohingya population in Rakhine, have fled since then, mostly to Bangladesh. Over the last year, the Myanmar Army has used attacks by a group calling itself the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army to launch ever widening crackdowns on the Rohingya. In the last three weeks, tens of thousands have fled Rakhine and crossed the border into Bangladesh. Aung San Suu Kyi's changed stand: It is an irony that the period of Myanmar’s transition to democracy, that too on Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s watch, has coincided with the most heartless alienation of the Rohingya. Aung San Suu Kyi was once among the world’s most well-known prisoners of conscience. She led a non-violent struggle for democracy against military might, earning global respect and many honours, including the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1993 when she was under house arrest. But since her release in late 2010, the world has discovered a different Suu Kyi. She appears to hold the majoritarian view that Rohingya Muslims are not citizens of Myanmar. In private conversations, she has blamed Myanmar’s poor immigration controls for the crisis, reinforcing the idea that Rohingyas are illegal immigrants, even though they have lived in western Myanmar for centuries. Explaining her reticence, in 2012 Suu Kyi had said that she wanted to work towards reconciliation between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, which would be difficult were she to take sides. Since then, the violence has worsened, with the overwhelming blame falling on the army. Implications: Rakhine forms the frontier between Muslim and Buddhist Asia, so violence there has wider implication- There have been protests near the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Indonesia’s second largest Muslim group, Muhammadiya, has called for Myanmar’s expulsion from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Other Asean countries—including southern Thailand and parts of the Philippines—have long-running insurgencies involving Muslim groups, and continued oppression of Rohingya Muslims can ignite the region. India's stand: On his first bilateral visit to the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he shared the Myanmar government’s concerns about “extremist violence” in Rakhine state, which has seen unprecedented violence over the past fortnight. At the World Parliamentary Forum on Sustainable Development, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan abstained from the Bali Declaration because of a reference to “violence in Rakhine state”. New Delhi has traditionally been wary of internationalising the internal affairs of its neighbours; on Myanmar, it has concerns about keeping the country from spinning back into the Chinese orbit. Recently, when the matter of Rohingya refugees in India came up for hearing in the Supreme Court, government counsel refused to guarantee they would not be deported. This was in line with the government’s indication to Parliament that all illegal immigrants, including the Rohingya, who number around 40,000, will be deported. What's wrong with India's stand? Delhi's official stance is casting it on the wrong side of the humane position. Aso the deportation plans are perceived as being drawn by the sectarian pulls of domestic politics. Not being a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees or its 1967 protocol that lays down the obligations of a host country to those who seek refuge in its territory, India would not be in breach of any international law in turning away the Rohingya people. Nor does it have a domestic law for refugees. Still, India has big power aspirations, and to that end at least, it must act like one. Way ahead: There may be radicalised Rohingya, and the ARSA is said to have links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba. But it is the job of the intelligence and security apparatus to weed out the bad, so that there is no tarring of an entire community. The National Human Rights Commission has cautioned the government, saying that even if the refugees are not citizens, the government should consider that they might face persecution if they are pushed back. India has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, but it has abided by its spirit, and generously hosted refugees from Tibet, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan over the years. In 1996, the Supreme Court ruled that refugees have certain rights, including the right to life and liberty, and in 2015, asked the Centre to extend citizenship to Chakma and Hajong refugees from Bangladesh. Conclusion: Indian law, India’s practice of abiding by international expectations, long tradition of compassion, and humanitarian impulse, all suggest that India should let the Rohingyas remain, and join the collective global outrage which seeks to remind Aung San Suu Kyi of who she used to be, or was believed to be, so that she lives up to the image she once had. And as a regional power, India must answer the question: if it is driving out a stateless people, where does it hope to send them? Connecting the dots: What is the stand Indian government has taken against Rohingya Muslims in India. How far such a stand is justifiable. Discuss. NATIONAL TOPIC: General Studies 3 Infrastructure: Energy Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment. Setting priorities for achieving ‘24x7 Power for All’ by 2022 Background: India has four crore unelectrified rural households. This is more than the total number of households in Europe’s biggest economy, Germany, and more than double the households in Canada and South Korea. The year 2022, the 75th anniversary of Indian independence, has been earmarked for achieving ‘24x7 Power for All’. Achieving this target would mean electrifying more than 7 lakh households every month! Steady progress made by the government: Data from the power ministry’s GARV-2 portal suggest that the Government has electrified more than three-fourths of the remaining 18,000-plus unelectrified villages since it came to power in 2014. Recently, the Government has also shifted focus from village electrification, which required only 10 per cent of the households in a village to be electrified, to electrifying every household. ACCESS-The Survey In 2015, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), in association with Columbia University, conducted ACCESS, the largest-of-its-kind energy access survey covering almost 8,600 rural households in the six most energy-deprived States of India. Survey findings from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha highlighted that while most of the villages and more than two-thirds of the households had electricity connections, less than 40 per cent had meaningful access to electricity. Many rural consumers were displeased with the poor power supply and cited reliability, quality, duration, and affordability as key concerns. Providing an electricity connection to every household does not guarantee electricity access. Action plan: Legalise existing connections: In Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha, the higher electrification rate could partly be due to the presence of illegal connections, and legalising these would help the Government move closer to its target. Improve uptake of connections: By addressing cashflow hurdles, awareness barriers, and supply challenges. High upfront cost is the major reason behind consumer disinterest in taking up an electricity connection. While BPL households already receive a free connection under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), APL families could be given a low-cost EMI based connection. Empowering and encouraging local authorities to organise awareness campaigns and enrolment camps in habitations exhibiting limited awareness are also essential for increasing uptake of connections. Bihar is a fine example of improving consumer uptake, providing low-cost EMI-based connections to APL families, and conducting awareness campaigns. Improve the supply situation for electrified households: In Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, more than one-third of electrified households received less than four hours of supply during the day. Also, more than one-third households experienced at least four days of voltage fluctuations in a month. DISCOMs need to better plan for their infrastructure, factoring in near-term increase in demand, strengthening maintenance, and improving supply. Explore innovative business models: Managing rural customers, particularly in remote areas, is a challenge. Maintenance and operations such as reading meters, generating bills, and collecting revenues, are key concerns. To better manage their services, discoms could explore a franchisee model by collaborating with local mini-grid operators. A potential business model involves mini-grids importing grid electricity and supplementing with their own generation during times of peak demand. This kind of tail-end generation model would ensure improved electricity supply for the household, and enable DISCOMs to collect payments from a single entity. Cater to people’s aspirations: This will create a willingness to pay for the service. In a favourable political atmosphere, if rural households were to be provided quality supply via prepaid metering, it could potentially nudge them to make timely payments. Distributed generation: It could complement centralised grid electricity to resolve both, and ensure sustained use of electricity not just for rural households, but also for the entire rural economy including farms, schools, hospitals, and small businesses. It would lead to improved consumer satisfaction, as electricity truly becomes an enabler of prosperity in rural India. Conclusion: Achieving the target of electricity for all by 2022 is an ambitious but achievable target. The steps proposed above must be taken up on priority basis. Connecting the dots: The year 2022 has been earmarked for achieving ‘24x7 Power for All’. Achieving this target would mean electrifying more than 7 lakh households every month. Discuss. The Government has rightly shifted focus from village electrification, which required only 10 per cent of the households in a village to be electrified, to electrifying every household. However, there are many other steps required to achieve the goal of electrification for all. Outline these steps. MUST READ All that data The Hindu Indicators that matter The Hindu Nowhere people The Hindu Protect the dissenter Indian Express The freedom to provoke Indian Express Terms of co-existence Indian Express
SC Ruling on Privacy: Implications Archives TOPIC: General Studies 2 Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions. Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. A 9 member Supreme Court (SC) bench delivered a landmark judgement by unanimously declaring the right to privacy a fundamental right of constitution. The SC has categorically held that the right to privacy is protected as an “intrinsic part of right to life and personal liberty” under article 21of constitution of India. The judgment represents a quantum leap in evolution of legal jurisprudence pertaining to privacy in India. Privacy had emerged as a contentious issue while the apex court was hearing batch of petitions challenging the center’s move to make Aadhar mandatory in government schemes. A brief of the case Government reasoned the collection and use of personal data of citizens for Aadhaar to provide poor direct access to public benefits, subsidies, education, food, health etc. Aadhar was claimed as a panacea to end corruption in public distribution, money laundering and terror funding. The apprehension was that this personal information falling in the hands of private players and service providers. Background The nine-judge Bench had overruled its own eight-judge Bench and six-judge Bench judgments of 1954 and 1961. Both judgments had concluded that privacy was not a fundamental or ‘guaranteed’ right. The right to privacy was cherished for more than 40 years in India. The government had not tested that there was a fundamental right to privacy in India. It is in this case only they chose to do so. In parallel cases such as the defamation case and in case where names of big loans defaulters was involved, nowhere the right to privacy was challenged. The time had arrived It is a right whose time has come and it was long overdue. The reasoning adopted by courts have destroyed multiple myths and perceptions that privacy is an elitist sentiment and poor people do not need privacy has been done away with. It was also argued that privacy can be otherwise protected with a codified mechanism through statutes, then was there a need of it being a constitutional right? The reason some of these rights are elevated to the degree of fundamental rights is to take it outside the purview of legislative majority so that no party or group is in a position to overturn that right. Statutory rights can be curtailed by statutes whereas a fundamental right is always going to be there and forms part of basic structure. Technology and Privacy Privacy is an extremely important concern in a technology intensive society and society which aims to be information based like digital India. So privacy becomes an essential concern which needs to be protected. The judgement says that the art 21 and the rights under it are not to be judged on anvils of state action but on anvils of state action on individual freedom. Thus there has to be clear nexus between what is sought to do and its implications on people. The larger issue is that once having made a judgement with a unanimous decision as a normative basis of one of the rights of the constitution, it would be setting in motion the view of constitution itself for setting a standard with lots of laws which the Indian state will have to take the cognisance of going along. This also means re-drafting of many acts. This judgement will strengthen laws pertaining to personal civil liberty. There will be implications on data convergence, online authentication and whether they can be stored, shared etc. Privacy and national security The present judgement is because of Aadhar litigation. So what led to the reference in first place has to be understood. There must have been concerns with respect to imposition of Aadhar or application of Aadhar on privacy. So the court must have asked if it is a statutory right or constitutional right. SC doesn’t decide on matters that are purely academic. It decides when there is a dispute. The court will now specifically put the question- what is the purpose of Aadhar to the government in light of this decision. Multiple people have multiple answers depending on the question asked. Hence, this issue needs to be addressed specifically with regards to privacy. From a common man’s standpoint, considering that government is encouraging schemes like digital India and penetration of technology via mobile phones, privacy has become a concern. Also, this kind of access to technology has spurred a growth in many illegal activities. In this context, every fundamental right can potentially be at loggerheads with national security if touched beyond a point. Which is precisely why the line has to be drawn in circumstance of each case. Such issues have to be answered in context of case reached to the court as there is no black and white answer for it. Conclusion Privacy enjoys a robust legal framework internationally, though India has remained circumspect. Thus, this judgment will have a crucial bearing on the government’s Aadhaar scheme that collects personal details, biometrics to identify beneficiaries for accessing social benefits and government welfare scheme. A robust data protection mechanism is what be needed for privacy to be upheld. Connecting the dots: SC’s judgement on right to privacy is going to have far reaching implications on lives of common man. Critically analyse. ‘Right to privacy is a fundamental right’. Elaborate in context of recent SC judgement and effect of it thereafter.
IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs – 8th Sep 2017 Archives INTERNATIONAL TOPIC: General Studies 2 Important Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests. Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora. Rethinking India's membership in RCEP Background: In the ambitious Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact India is negotiating with 15 other nations including China. The rising pressure for opening up markets in goods is making negotiations unsustainable. India will not be able to justify its continued efforts to reach a compromise. About RCEP: Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is an ASEAN-centred proposal for a regional free trade area. 10 ASEAN states (Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and six states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand) are members to it. ASEAN+6 RECP is aimed at transforming the region by higher economic growth through more cross-border trade and investment. Issues: For most RCEP members, the sky seems to have become the limit as far as ambitions in opening up markets for goods go. As has been reported, many members have demanded that import tariffs on goods — both agricultural and industrial — must be reduced to zero for more than 92 per cent of tariff lines. What is less known is that some RCEP countries have further suggested that tariffs should be reduced to less than 5 per cent on an additional 7 per cent of lines which would take the total coverage of items to 99 per cent. This would mean that India has to phase out duties on most items and dismantle the wall protecting its industry and farmers from indiscriminate competition. To make matters worse for India, which is grappling with the demands already on the table, countries like Australia and New Zealand which want India to lower tariffs on items like wheat and dairy, are now insisting that the offers should not be just linked to tariff lines but to the value of the items. This means that agreeing to eliminate tariffs on a large number of items is not enough. The items should be of significant trade value too. What is more worrisome is the thought of unhindered flow of goods from China with which we have an annual trade deficit of over $50 billion. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with no duties on most products could increase the deficit significantly. India's stand: India participated in the negotiations for so long even it was not in a position to offer zero tariffs on many items because New Delhi was never averse to the idea of eliminating tariffs on a considerable number of items — the length of the list depending on the country for which it was making the offer. The issue is that India is being pressured into treating all members equally and offering tariff elimination or reduction on an exceptionally long list of items, giving it very little scope to protect its sensitivities. Over the last two years the concerns of India have been sidelined: India’s first set of offer for tariff elimination based on a three-tier system — 42.5 per cent of tariff lines for China, New Zealand and Australia, a higher 65 per cent for its FTA partners South Korea and Japan and the highest offer of 80 per cent for Asean — was rejected by all members, including Asean. Last August, India was forced to give up its proposal for a three-tier system at the ministerial meet in Laos in favour of a single offer for all. India had to satisfy itself with members agreeing to allow deviations to protect its vulnerabilities with respect to certain members (read China). The caveat, of course, was that the deviations can’t be too high. One-sided deals: The offer proposed by India has not satisfied the RCEP members. At the recent negotiating round in Hyderabad, India was pushed incessantly to improve its offers with Australia and New Zealand, insisting on increased market access in items like wheat and dairy. The existing situation is exactly what the Indian industry and farmer groups, protesting against the RCEP pact, were apprehensive about. India’s expected gains in goods from the RCEP pact are not significant, given the fact that the existing levels of tariffs in member countries are relatively low and there wouldn’t be significant gains from further cuts. This is the main reason why India’s gains in goods have been much lower than that of the partner countries in its FTAs with Asean, Japan and South Korea. While India’s gains in RCEP are to mainly come from services liberalisation, including easier work visa norms, the offers in the area have been almost non-existent. The Asean countries have refused to offer even the level of openness that exists among the 10-member group. Many RCEP members are now insisting on inclusion of substantial commitments in the area of e-commerce and investment facilitation — the two areas where India wants to preserve its sovereign right for policymaking. Way ahead: New Delhi needs to get assertive about what it cannot agree to, even if it means getting isolated in the RCEP related talks. For a country with a large number of sensitive agricultural crops and labour-intensive industry sectors, bending to above mentioned demands is a near impossibility. It is high time India asked itself why it needs to be part of a pact where it runs the risk of putting the future of its industry and farmers at stake while getting almost nothing in return. Its fear of being the only major economy not part of a mega trade deal is no longer real. Negotiations on most large trade pacts such as the Trans Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and a new NAFTA have hit major road blocks after President Donald Trump took over in the US. Conclusion: New Delhi has to realise that there is no issue in getting out of a bad deal. There is a world of wisdom in exiting while there is still time rather than signing a bad deal. A free trade pact between the RCEP countries accounting for 45 per cent of the world population and over $21 trillion of GDP does seem attractive, but not at the price India is being asked to pay. Connecting the dots: A free trade pact between the RCEP countries is attractive, but not at the price India is being asked to pay. Critically analyze. ENVIRONMENT TOPIC: General Studies 2 Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. General Studies 3 Conservation, Environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment. Rethinking on River-Linking Project Background: Is the proposed interlinking of rivers a bold and ambitious engineering project that will resolve the country’s water woes or is it an ill-conceived plan built on obsolete ideas that will devastate the country’s riverine ecosystems? Expert opinion on the matter remains as sharply divided as ever. River-linking project: The sheer scale and scope of the project: 30 river linkages and more than 3,000 storage structures spread across a 15,000km canal network that will transfer 174 trillion litres of water every year, and will cost a total of Rs5.6 trillion. This puts the river-linking project on a par with some of the most daring feats of engineering attempted in the history of mankind. It is a reimagining of the entire aquatic ecosystem of a country as large and diverse as India. Basic idea: Connect the Himalayan and peninsular rivers via a network of canals so that excess water from one channel can be diverted to another which has inadequate flow. Proponents: It will irrigate about 87 million acres of farmland, control floods, and generate 34 GW of hydroelectric power. These are tantalizing prospects: India’s rain-fed farms are forever hostage to the vagaries of nature, so much so that even one bad monsoon has a direct and debilitating economic impact. At the same time, simultaneous floods and droughts in different parts of the country continue to wreak havoc, destroying the lives and livelihoods of millions. India also desperately needs clean energy to fuel its development processes, and if river water can be leveraged and redirected to serve these purposes, that’s an option worth exploring. Critics: The project is built on bad science and an outdated understanding of water systems and water management. Specifically, the concept of surplus and deficit river basins—which is at the core of the river-linking project—is contested. A new study by researchers at the Indian Institutes of Technology in Mumbai and Chennai, analysing weather data over 103 years (from 1901 to 2004), has found that rainfall has decreased over the years by more than 10% even in river basins that once had a surplus, such as those of the Mahanadi and the Godavari. The project seems to view the river as a unidimensional water pipeline when it is, in fact, an entire ecosystem—and any changes to its natural course will have an impact on all the flora and fauna, the wetlands and the floodplains that are intricately linked to the river system. The long-term environmental impact of such a project is a major concern. For example, one of the reasons why the Ken-Betwa link, which is now receiving priority attention, has been stuck for several years is because it requires environmental clearance for diverting 5,500 hectares from the Panna National Park, a tiger reserve. Less than positive experience other countries have had with such projects—be it the Soviet regime’s decision to divert the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, which fed the Aral Sea, to irrigate the desert, or the Australian government’s experiments in its Murray Darling basin. Political challenges as well. Water transfer and water sharing are sensitive subjects that have already spawned century-long disputes. Moreover, water is a state subject in India, and even though the Centre is empowered to bring an inter-state river under its control to serve the national interest, it has effectively never done so owing to enormous resistance from the states. Way ahead: Given the concerns and the massive investment required, perhaps the government would do well to consider other interventions, both on the supply side and the demand side, such as conservation of water resources and more efficient irrigation and agricultural practices, etc., to deal with India’s looming water crisis. Connecting the dots: Given the concerns and the massive investment required for river-linking project, the government should consider other interventions like conservation of water resources, more efficient irrigation and agricultural practices, etc., to deal with India’s looming water crisis. 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UPSC Quiz- 2017 : IASbaba's Daily Current Affairs Quiz [Day 38] Archives Q.1) Consider the following statements about Bahadur Shah Zafar He presided over a Mughal Empire that only ruled the city Delhi He was the first writer to use Urdu as the medium of poetic expression Select the correct statements 1 Only 2 Only Both 1 and 2 Neither 1 nor 2 Q.2) Tapan Ray panel was appointed for which of the following? Black Money Company Law Intellectual Property Agricultural Research Q.3) Gatka, a traditional martial art associated with Lingayatism Bahá'í Sanamahism None of the above Q.4) Which of these countries take part in the Military exercise Malabar? India United States of America Japan Select the correct statements 1 and 2 2 and 3 1 and 3 All of the above Q.5) Kimberly Process Certificate Scheme (KPCS) is concerned with Diamonds Intellectual Property Renewable Energy Immigration To Download the Solution - Click here All The Best IASbaba
IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs – 7th Sep 2017 Archives NATIONAL TOPIC: General Studies 1 Social empowerment General Studies 2 Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes Murder of yet another rationalist: Stifling dissent In news: The murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru has set off a wave of protests across the country; the chill that has set in is difficult to miss. The manner in which she was brutally murdered raises extremely worrying questions. Her killers caught her outside her home, alone and with her guard down as she got out of her car — they fired at point-blank range, hitting her on the chest and the temple. They appear to have fled without even once getting off their motorbike, leaving no finger or shoe prints, as ‘clean’ a murder as can be. Why was she murdered? Lankesh’s killing cannot but draw attention to the various constituencies that she kept on notice. Lankesh, the publisher and editor of the Kannada weekly Gauri Lankesh Patrike , wore her activism on her sleeve. She came up against the establishment in multiple ways, as she sought to bring naxalites to the mainstream, take up the cause of Dalits and farmers, raise consciousness on the creeping influence of Hindutva groups, give moral support to progressive campaigns, and basically bear scrutiny on those in power. Cause of concern: As in the cases of Safdar Hashmi decades ago and rationalists M.M. Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar in recent years, the high-profile death of an activist is a confirmation of how formidable are the forces, howsoever invisible they may be to the arm of the law, that individual activism is up against. The manner of killing bears a resemblance to the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi. The common factor is that they were vocal critics of the Hindu far right. If Kalburgi’s interpretation of Basavanna’s teachings earned the wrath of the self-appointed vigilantes, Dabholkar and Pansare lost their lives in 2013 and 2015, respectively, for espousing rationalism, and challenging casteism and dogma. Gauri Lankesh, the editor of Gauri Lankesh Patrike, spoke for media and cultural freedoms, locking horns with the cow vigilantes, love jihad campaigners and others of their ilk. For praising Kanhaiya Kumar over the ‘sedition’ fracas in JNU in 2016, she was trolled as being anti-national. These brutal attacks have the power to potentially scare off others — activists, journalists, complainants. The rise in cultural intolerance and the muzzling of dissent by vigilante groups has become an alarming feature of this government's tenure. Nationalism and the practice of religion are being rigidly defined. Gauri Lankesh's killing reminds us that forces of intolerance are still at large. Thus far, both the Centre and the governments of Karnataka and Maharashtra have failed to stand up to the moral police. Investigations into the killings of Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi have made no progress. In the absence of convictions, conspiracy theories have flourished, spawning a climate of fear and suspicion. Government's response to this bleak state of affairs has been unconvincing, leaving it to party colleagues to deal with the public discourse. This needs to be stopped, otherwise, the rhetoric of development and progress will ring hollow in an atmosphere of insecurity and social polarisation. How free is Indian press? India dropped three places in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, from an already bleak 133 to 136 out of 180 countries. The 2017 India Freedom Report , brought out this May by media watchdog Hoot, reports 54 reported attacks on journalists, and 45 sedition cases against individuals and groups between January 2016 and February 2017. Laws such as the Chhattisgarh Public Security Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution have been repeatedly sought to be suppressed by those in power. Way ahead: Identifying and capturing the Gauri Lankesh's killers, including those who ordered her execution-style assassination, is the responsibility of the Union government as well. It is important that the police conduct a time-bound probe, so that the facts about the murder can be unearthed, and all the questions answered: Who killed Lankesh, and who ordered the killing? What was their motive? Politicians across parties, many of whom are active on social media, must recognise this grave danger to a free and democratic discourse. Conclusion: Gauri is not the first to be silenced. She will not be the last if we do not take a firm stand to defend our Constitution and democratic rights. Gauri Lankesh’s killers must be found; or it’ll embolden those who stifle dissent. The murderers must be expeditiously traced and punished — another unsolved crime will only embolden those who believe that dissent and opposition must be met with violence creating a threat to one of the largest democracy of the world. Connecting the dots: Recent murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh is not first such incident. It is an indication of how moral policing is increasingly being threat to Indian democracy. Government of the day needs to see that the perpetrators of such crimes are brought to justice. Discuss. NATIONAL TOPIC: General Studies 1 Poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies General Studies 2 Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. General Studies 3 Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment Urbanisation: Paying heed to ecological principles Background: Heavy rains this year from the southwest monsoon and accompanying floods have devastated people’s lives in parts of Mumbai, Chandigarh and Mount Abu (Rajasthan), all in the same period as Hurricane Harvey’s rampage through Houston. Mumbai is reported to have received 400 mm of rain within a matter of 12 hours while Houston received about 1,300 mm over several days with Harvey. Climate change is responsible: Climate models have indicated with high confidence that climate change will lead to an increase in extreme rainfall events. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Extreme Events, global warming leads to “changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing of extreme weather and climate events, and can result in unprecedented extreme weather and climate events”. In India: For India, the average monsoon rainfall is expected to increase initially and then reduce after a few decades. Examining daily rainfall data between 1951 and 2000, B.N. Goswami, former Director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, showed that there has been a significant increase in the magnitude and frequency of extreme rainfall events along with a decrease in the number of moderate events over central India. These changes interacting with land-use patterns are contributing to floods and droughts simultaneously in several parts of the country. Understanding extreme events: The main reason for understanding extreme events is to help policymakers, emergency responders and local communities to plan and prepare for them. Research that tries to understand this relationship between anthropogenic climate change and extreme events in particular locations is called “attribution”. Is an extreme event, such as torrential rainfall or record storm surges, part of a natural cycle of variability or due to human-induced climate change? To what extent do poor preparedness and ecologically insensitive land-use worsen the impacts? Determining attribution: According to much of the literature, it is easier to determine attribution for severe heat or cold waves. NASA scientist James Hansen earlier found, for instance, that the Texas heat wave of 2011 and the Russian heat wave of 2010 were due to climate change. Conversely, for rainfall simulation, climate models cannot mimic or simulate extreme rainfall such as the kind Chennai experienced in 2015. According to a paper by Geert Jan Van Oldenborgh and colleagues, the 494 mm rain in Chennai was a rare event, with less than a 0.2% chance of occurring in any given year. The Chennai flood of 2015 did not have a clear climate signature to show that it was due to warming of the earth. On the other hand, with regard to Hurricane Harvey, Michael Mann, a well-known climate scientist, wrote in The Guardian that climate change made the impact much worse, because of higher sea surface temperatures and a blocking region of high pressure that kept the rain clouds over Houston for a long period. Issue: Any rain that falls on soil or vegetation is mostly absorbed into the earth’s surface. Some of it slowly trickles into shallow or deep protected aquifers that make up what we call groundwater. The rest usually flows downhill along surface or subsurface stream channels. The spread of infrastructure such as roads, highways, buildings, residential complexes, tiled or asphalt-covered land obstructs rainwater from percolating into the soil. Often there are further barriers that block movement of water and increase flooding. Unplanned urbanisation: The actual patterns of flooding in Chennai, Mumbai and Houston were due to several human-induced activities: Rampant increase in built-up area across natural drainage channels and the diversion or damming of rivers upstream leading to sediment transport and siltation, coastal subsidence and other effects of development. Topography not taken into consideration: In many parts of the world, construction in cities or in urbanising areas does not take into consideration the existing topography, surface water bodies, stream flows or other parts of terrestrial ecosystems. Hydrology ignored: In much of India, urban growth over the past few decades has blithely ignored the hydrology of the land. In Chennai, for example, systematic intrusion into the Pallikaranai marsh and other wetlands by housing complexes and commercial buildings, slums along Cooum and Adyar rivers, and large-scale construction along the coast are just examples of the flagrant encroachment of the built environment that obstructs rivulets and absorption of rainwater into the earth. When it rains heavily, exceeding the capacity of the soil to absorb it and regular stream flows are blocked from proceeding into the sea, these heavily built-up areas get inundated. Satellite images from 15 or more years back show the existence of hundreds of lakes and tanks, and several waterways within the city’s boundaries. Ecological principles ignored: For decades, urbanisation has ignored ecological principles associated with water bodies, vegetation, biodiversity and topography. These are not ‘environmental’ issues to be disregarded or attended to only after we have attained ‘growth’. Rather, they are part and parcel of and integral to how we live and whether we prosper. What is to be done? Development needs to be climate-smart, but also avoid social and institutional challenges such as moral hazard. If investments are made in places where severe impacts are likely, the government will end up bailing out those engaging in such risky activities. If the built environment and structures of financing and housing are ‘locked-in’ or get firmed up with regard to institutional arrangements, these can lead to further complications. Construction on existing lake beds and other waterbodies needs to be removed or redesigned to allow flood drainage along natural water channels. Hydrology, topography and ecological principles must be taken into account while cretaing plan for urban development. Handling extreme events: Cities could be laid out to reduce flooding by following natural contours, drainage and tank systems. Emergency responders should be well prepared to transport and care for people who may become stranded during disasters. Insurance companies might also be concerned about underwriting places that are at perpetual risk in the future. Once an extreme event such as a heat wave or heavy rain occurs, people want to know to what extent a single event has been caused by climate change, that is, by greenhouse gases released through human activities. Conclusion: As the frequency of extreme weather events increases around the world, losses in rich countries are higher in terms of GDP, but in terms of the number of people at risk, it is the poor countries that suffer the most. Those who are the most vulnerable and the poorest end up bearing the brunt of the burdens of climate change and mal-development, which together operate to worsen impacts. Given the presence of highly vulnerable population in India, the urbanisation process needs to be planned in ways mentioned above. Connecting the dots: As the frequency of extreme weather events increases around the world, India faces severe risks in terms of the number of people at risk. Discuss. Urbanisation in India is taking place at a much faster pace. All of it being done without paying heed to ecological principles. This is a cause of concern. Discuss why. Also analyze what needs to be done so as to make our cities climate change proof. 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Implications of US withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord ARCHIVES Search 2nd June 2017 http://www.newsonair.com/Main_Audio_Bulletins_Search.aspx TOPIC: General Studies 2 Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interests, Indian diaspora. In news: World’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter USA will remove itself from global treaty. Reason: US withdrew from this agreement with the reason that most of the jobs are outside the USA. Related to the past: The same argument was made by President Bush in 1997 when USA moved out of the Kyoto protocol. The underlined reason was that the senate by the vote of 98-0 rejected the Kyoto Protocol. That’s why President Obama chose to ratify the Paris agreement by himself and decided to not send to senate. Why senate and large section of USA opposes the Paris agreement? They have a feeling that their economic competitors are going to be India in the future and at present China. Since the Kyoto protocol and the Paris agreement imposed no legally binding cuts on them, they would tend to lose the competitive advantage in terms of economic growth and the resulting jobs. This is considered to be a very strong sentiments in USA. Secondly, the new president has this feeling that by making bilateral deals with countries, he can better terms of those countries with USA rather than through multilateral process. So he has also made the point that while going out of the Paris agreement, he is prepared to get a better deal. This better deal will respond to the sentiments prevailing in USA that china and India should do more in combating climate change. Impact on India The emissions by India are one-fifth that of china and one-third of USA even though the population is four times. But India is a late developer. The electricity produced today is at the level which Chinese were producing at 1980. India cannot impose any restrictions on the kind of electricity generated. There can be switch from coal to gas or renewable energy. But the total electricity production cannot be compromised. But the problem arises that India is going to face some pressure despite its low carbon and per capita emissions. PM of India wanted to introduce the notion of ‘climate justice’ as a central element of Paris agreement. It means that while we protect the environment and recognise the importance of keeping within certain limits, economic growth cannot be compromised because other countries have benefited from use of fossil fuels and late developers should not be penalised. However, this was not agreed in Paris agreement. India will go along with the commitments it has made but it has not given timelines for the same. But with USA moving out, there is likely pressure on India to meet shortfall. India’s emission of C02 are one third of global average. India’s total C02 emission is 6.81% of the world and per capita emission is 1.5 in 2015. China’s total C02 emission is 29.51% of the world and per capita emission is 7.7 whereas USA’s total C02 emission is 14.34% of the world and per capita emission is 16.1. Then comes question that why is India linked with china. This is because china and india are two countries that have the potential to overtake USA. India cannot be faulted on emissions are china’s emission (29%) are more than USA (16%). Thus India is targeted because it said that if global community wanted India to do more than its capability and before time, then there should be support of transfer of technology and financial resources for containing global warming. This is what US president picked upon and said that India is taking billions for signing Paris agreement. What next? President Trump has said that USA will seize the implementation of Paris agreement immediately. USA will not take any measures and not give 2 billion dollars it was to give to climate fund and not allow the UN to review what it is doing. In three years’ time, many countries would not be willing to let USA come on board because by then their emissions may have increased or remained steady or failed to decrease them substantially. So whether the new administration will be able to meet that gap after four years will be question immediately raised. Once you come out of the international agreement and want to back, it is difficult as the context changes. USA has second time in 20 years walked out of legally binding commitments. Role of leadership USA has taken leadership in many multilateral treaties. Now the paradox is that they are one of largest contributor in world for pollution and they are going to exit the Paris agreement. For this, EU, India and China have to come together as it is not a regional problem but a global problem. The use of coal has peaked globally. So there is not going to be additional use of coal in world. Similarly, use of oil has peaked in USA and Europe. Now they will continue to use oil but not more oil. There is a change in source of type of energy used because urbanisation has taken place. So even without push of USA, the way technology is advancing, economies are getting linked to each other, question of global limits being exceeded is not very serious. There might be delay in achieving the goals but it is not that the world is not going to do anything without the leadership of one country. China has become leader in production and deployment of renewable energy technology. So they are going to push for solar and wind energy in big way. They are prepared to give loans for it and subsidise the technology. Conclusion India will review its approach to the changing world as now USA has withdrawn from two things- climate change and trade with East Asian countries, both of which is important for India. Connecting the dots: What are the implication of USA withdrawing from Paris accord, especially to India? Explain.
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