5 August 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Jammu flare up, frame challenge: reset counter-terror grid, fill ‘vacuum’
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GS 3: Security challenges and their management in border areas - linkages of organized crime with terrorism
- ON JUNE 19, two terrorists were killed by the Army in an encounter in Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
- The two had crossed from Pakistan into Rajouri-Poonch in Jammu and were behind the December 21 killing of four soldiers in an ambush in Thanamandi last year.
- Their cellphones, a probe revealed, had clips of a T20 cricket match in Abu Dhabi, details that suggested a “level of education not very common and a good family background”, and their use of weapons reflected they were among the “most highly trained terrorists seen in 20 years”, said an official.
A Sufi saint, 2 mosques from two periods: Story behind Muradabad ki Pahadi
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Prelims Syllabus: Art and Culture; Medieval History
- On the pathway that leads to the DDA Biodiversity Park near Vasant Vihar is a gate that opens to a brick path, flanked by the lush vegetation of the Ridge, going uphill.
- When you reach the top, there is a verdant garden, the centerpiece of which is two structures — their ivory domes distinctly shaped — that stand side by side.
- This is Muradabad ki Pahadi.
- Named after a 14th-century saint Syed Murad Ali, not much is known about the site.
- The two structures, however, are unique as they date back to two different periods of history — the Tughlaq and Lodhi dynasties.
- Their walls are adorned with intricate arches and ornate doorways.
- The path leading up to one of them is covered with red polished tiles, with mats for people to sit and offer prayers.
August 5, 2024
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GS 2: Governance
- On August 5, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the abrogation of Article 370 and end of “special status” for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and subsequently, Parliament used its powers under Article 3 of the Constitution, for the first time, to withdraw statehood and create two Union Territories.
- In doing so, the Centre sent out three messages.
- First, that solutions to J&K’s fraught political and security situation lay not with the elected state government but with Delhi’s political establishment and its appointees.
- Second, change of status quo vis-a-vis a “disputed territory” reset the parameters of deterrence vis-a-vis Pakistan.
- Finally, with Parliament dissolving an elected legislature, it underlined an asymmetric federalism.
- Five years on, after the Supreme Court put its seal of approval on the constitutionality of the process, two questions loom: Did the abrogation achieve its ends? What is the way forward to bridge the democratic deficit in the UT?
Who is a ‘Privileged Dalit’?
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GS 1: Salient features of Indian Society; Social Empowerment
- The recent judgment of the Supreme Court regarding sub-classification among SC and ST groups vis-a-vis granting reservation raises a more fundamental question.
- Why do we need reservation for Dalits? I would like to share a snippet from my experience of living with caste.
- I lived in a rented accommodation as a student in Delhi University.
- One day, tired of Delhi’s water woes, I asked my landlady if I could call somebody and get our water tank cleaned.
- Unsurprisingly, my landlady replied, “Ab C***r (using a term for members of the Jatav community) tanki mein jayenge aur hamare pani ko ganda karenge?”
- I was quick to remind her that she used a Dalit’s rental money to run her house, yet she thought our touch would “pollute” her water tank.
- But money, I learnt, is beyond the pale of purity and pollution.
- And in this instance, money did help me get accommodation — but it stripped me of my dignity.
J&K task isn’t finished
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GS 3: Security challenges and their management in border areas - linkages of organized crime with terrorism
- On August 5, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the abrogation of Article 370 and end of “special status” for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and subsequently, Parliament used its powers under Article 3 of the Constitution, for the first time, to withdraw statehood and create two Union Territories.
- In doing so, the Centre sent out three messages. First, that solutions to J&K’s fraught political and security situation lay not with the elected state government but with Delhi’s political establishment and its appointees.
- Second, change of status quo vis-a-vis a “disputed territory” reset the parameters of deterrence vis-a-vis Pakistan.
- Finally, with Parliament dissolving an elected legislature, it underlined an asymmetric federalism.
- Five years on, after the Supreme Court put its seal of approval on the constitutionality of the process, two questions loom: Did the abrogation achieve its ends? What is the way forward to bridge the democratic deficit in the UT?
A look at how the 18th Lok Sabha is India’s oldest ever
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GS 2: Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
- In the recent general election, India elected its oldest ever Lok Sabha with the average age of MPs climbing to 56.
- The disparity between the average age of India’s politicians and its population has become a subject of discussion in Parliament during the ongoing Budget session.
- While in the Rajya Sabha Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha Thursday called for the minimum age to contest elections to be dropped from 25 to 21, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor introduced a private member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha to reserve 10 seats in the Lower House for MPs younger than 35.
In SC verdict, how CJI underlined concept of substantive equality
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GS 1: Social empowerment
- The Supreme Court’s landmark verdict on sub-classification of the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) quota marked a milestone for equality jurisprudence.
- In his opinion, written for himself and Justice Manoj Misra as part of the 6-1 majority verdict, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud underlined the concept of “substantive equality” — the principle that the law must account for the different backgrounds and historical injustices faced by persons or groups.
- “The Constitution…today advances a more substantive reading of the equality provision, expanding the sphere and the scope of the reservation to ensure that the benefits trickle down to those who need it the most,” the CJI wrote (The State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh, 2024).
Going after the weeds
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GS 3: Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country
- Cultivating rice using less water and not burning the leftover straw after harvesting, and wheat without any ploughing and land preparation, has been a holy grail for agricultural scientists and policymakers concerned over the ecological footprint of the two cereal grain crops.
- But there’s been some breakthrough of late, with the breeding of varieties/hybrids that can “tolerate” the application of a herbicide – Imazethapyr – to control weeds and grasses that affect the growth of crop plants by competing with them for nutrients, water and sunlight.
West-Russia prisoner swap: How prisoners become geopolitical pawns
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GS 2: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests
- Evan Gershkovich, a reporter at Wall Street Journal, and Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, were freed last Thursday as a part of the biggest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
- Both had been convicted of espionage, and faced lengthy prison sentences in Russia.
- They were among the 16 other people — prominent opposition politicians, journalists, and Putin critics — released by Moscow in exchange for eight individuals, who had been jailed across Europe and the United States, the most prominent of whom is hitman Vadim Krasikov, who murdered a Chechen dissident in Berlin in 2019, and was serving a life sentence in Germany.
Natural catastrophes: insurance cover proposal hangs fire for over a decade
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GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment; Disaster and disaster management
- While the country has suffered heavily in terms of human fatalities and economic losses due to natural catastrophes every now and then, proposals by the insurance industry to bring the population and properties in the country under a catastrophe insurance plan has been hanging fire for the last 13 years.
- A host of proposals, including the latest from the Standing Committee on Finance of the Lok Sabha in February this year, for an insurance catastrophe pool (INCIP) which would have mitigated the sufferings of the people are stuck with the governments and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) with no decision taken about the complex issue of implementing the scheme across the country.
- That too at a time when several landslides, cloud bursts and floods have hit several states like Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Uttarakhand over the years.
Why Monetary Policy Committee is likely to keep repo rate steady
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GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth.
- The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is scheduled to meet from August 6-8, is likely to keep the repo rate – the key policy rate – unchanged at 6.5 per cent, due to risks from higher food inflation.
- Experts said that the six-member MPC is also expected to continue with the monetary policy stance of withdrawal of accommodation.
- In the monetary policy, which will be announced on August 8, the rate-setting panel of the RBI is likely to maintain status-quo for the ninth consecutive policies, market experts said.
EV industry needs another 2-3 years of FAME subsidy for fast-paced growth
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Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment; Infrastructure
- India’s e-scooter market has grown nearly 29 per cent year-on-year since FY19.
- Ather Energy, in which Hero MotoCorp owns a 38 per cent stake, is the third-largest player after Ola Electric and TVS Motor with almost 12 per cent market share, according to an industry report by JMK Research.
- In a conversation with Aggam Walia, Swapnil Jain, co-founder and CTO of Ather, discussed the tapering down of electric vehicle (EV) subsidies, importance of “inorganic growth”, ways to boost charging infrastructure, and Ather’s supply chain strategy.
- In the recent Union Budget, allocation for scheme for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) was reduced to Rs 2,671 crore for FY25 from Rs 4,807 crore revised estimate for FY24.
- At the same time, allocation for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for automobiles and auto components went up to Rs 3,500 crore from Rs 484 crore.
- Will the benefits of incentivising auto components manufacturing trickle down to OEMs like Ather?
