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On the eve of the five-day special session of Parliament which begins, the government announced that House proceedings would move to the new Parliament building and said eight Bills have been listed for consideration and passage.
There was, however, no clarity on whether the government would take up the contentious Bill which seeks to change the method of appointment and conditions of service of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners.
The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, was among four Bills listed for the session by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, which said the two Houses would discuss the “Parliamentary Journey of 75 years starting from Samvidhan Sabha — Achievements, Experiences, Memories and Learnings”.
However, the EC Bill, which was introduced in Rajya Sabha on August 10, was missing from the list circulated by the government at the all-party meeting convened by the government on Sunday.
With the Opposition parties objecting to the Bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi is learnt to have said at the meeting that the government was yet to decide on bringing it.
PM launches scheme to support traditional artisans; Training guarantee free loans (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Stating it was the need of the hour that ‘Vishwakarmas’ are recognised and supported, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the PM Vishwakarma Scheme for providing collateral-free loans and skills training to 18 categories of traditional artisans and craftspersons.
The scheme has a Rs 13,000 crore outlay over five years up to 2027-28. Speaking while inaugurating Yashobhoomi, or the India International Convention Centre at Delhi’s Dwarka, Modi also said that India is on its way to becoming a major destination for conference tourism and the new centre, along with the ‘Bharat Mandapam’, will be a medium for showcasing India of the future.
Noting the growing demand for handmade products, Modi said big global companies sublet their work to small enterprises.
This outsourced work should come to our Vishwakarma friends and they become a part of the global supply chain; we are working for this. That is why this scheme is an effort to take the Vishwakarma friends into the modern age.
Santiniketan on UNESCOs World Heritage list (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 1, Culture)
Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan, the university town in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, has been inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
This was announced by the international agency on Sunday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee is being held till September 25.
Santiniketan becomes the 41st UNESCO World Heritage Site in India and the third in West Bengal, after the Sundarbans National Park and the Darjeeling Mountain Railways. Last year, the state’s Durga Puja got space in “Intangible Cultural Heritage of humanity” under UNESCO.
There had been repeated efforts in the past to secure the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site for Santiniketan, especially in the run-up to Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary in 2010.
Reacting to its inclusion on the heritage site list, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Delighted that Santiniketan, an embodiment of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s vision and India’s rich cultural heritage, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is a proud moment for all Indians.”
Express Network
No new Nipah case for two days, situation under control: Kerala minister (Page no. 2)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
As Kerala did not report a new case of Nipah virus for the second consecutive day, state health Minister Veena George on Sunday said genomic sequencing of the virus will be done.
Nipah, cases of which surfaced in Kozhikode district last week for the third time in the last five years, has infected six persons, and two of them died. Four patients are undergoing treatment.
After a review, the health minister said: “There is no second wave of Nipah in 2023. However, this will be ascertained by conducting a genomic sequencing of the virus to know whether any mutation had happened.’’
She said the condition of the nine-year-old boy, who is on life support after testing positive for the virus, is improving. Samples of 136 persons have tested negative for the virus. At present, things are under control.
Editorial
Invisible women of science (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
A Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize is known to be a significant boost not just to the scientific career of the winner, but also to the profile of their institution. But there’s another thing that the prize is known for: Its consistent failure to recognise women scientists.
Instituted in 1958 by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), about 12 scientists under the age of 45 years win this prize every year. The prizes cover seven domains of science — physical, chemical, biological, medical, engineering, mathematics and atmospheric.
When Asima Chatterjee won it in the Chemical Sciences category in 1961, she probably would not have imagined that it would be a 14-year-long wait for the next woman laureate, and a 48-year-long wait for a woman to win it in her category. Chatterjee passed away three years before Charusita Chakravarty won the Chemical Sciences prize in 2009.
This week, the latest set of winners was announced and for the second time in a row, CSIR could not find a single woman scientist who had made a sufficiently “outstanding contribution to science and technology”.
The 23 winners across disciplines in 2021 and 2022 are all men. This means that only 19 out of the almost 600 awarded Bhatnagar prizes have gone to women scientists.
The health of nations (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
With the second of the successive G20 presidencies from the Global South ending on a successful note, this is an opportune time to examine the extent to which the Global South is prioritised when development issues and foreign policy intersect.
India’s presidency has done a great job of including the Global South. Now is the time to interrogate how that inclusion takes place in letter and spirit.
Let us take the case of health. Foreign policymakers’ interest in global health is not new and has grown with globalisation.
The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the impact of health issues on national security, economics and international cooperation.
Health is today a political priority and is linked with economic interests and international relations. Several global commitments and frameworks have been set out in the past.
Adherence to these is influenced by the overlap of different policy priorities; action on universal and equitable responses depends on the ability of global governance to ensure that national interests balance global concerns.
Ideas Page
A time for South – South learning (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his entire team deserve compliments for the grand success of India’s G20 presidency.
In particular, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant should be applauded for their months of hard work in achieving a consensus on the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration.
India’s G20 presidency will be remembered as a catalyst in reshaping the mindset of developed nations and integrating the aspirations of the Global South, particularly Africa, into the mainstream.
India’s masterstroke with inclusion of the African Union in G20, acknowledges the significance and potential of Africa as a vital partner in global development and stability.
The new G21 will now comprise of 84 per cent of the world’s population, up from about 66 per cent earlier. India and Africa, constituting 36 per cent of the global population, unfortunately, are home to nearly 69.4 per cent (503 million) of the world’s undernourished people in 2020-22.
These regions together account for 67.0 per cent and 75.8 per cent of the world’s children under five afflicted with the malnutrition problems of stunting and wasting (see infographic).
First, keeping international borders open for agricultural trade is the need of the hour. In this context, it is worth noting that in the last three years, India exported 85 million tonnes of cereals to the world, contributing to global food security.
Against this backdrop, India’s recent restrictions on exports of rice and wheat will not go very well with G21 as it hurts the African countries the most.
A spotty report card (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Sunday marked the first anniversary of the arrival of eight African cheetahs from Namibia in Kuno National Park (KNP), Madhya Pradesh.
The Action Plan for the Introduction of Cheetahs in India states, “On arrival to India, cheetahs would be quarantined for the required period in a predator-proof enclosure at the site of release and monitored for the manifestation of any sickness as per the regulation of import of live animals under the Livestock-Importation Act, 1898.” The prescribed quarantine period is 30 days.
It took more than 50 days for the first two cheetahs to be released from their quarantine enclosures into a larger holding enclosure and more than 70 days for the last of the eight cheetahs to be released into the larger enclosures.
Twelve cheetahs from South Africa arrived on February 18 this year and it took about 60 days for them to be released into the larger enclosures. These were delays that should have been avoided.
The Action Plan also states that “Scientific assessment to establish the prevalence of potential carnivore pathogens/diseases at the release sites by collecting sufficient samples from several carnivore/omnivore species and feral dogs/cats from different locations in/around the release sites would be undertaken to ensure implementation of appropriate preventive medicine procedures and prophylactic steps like vaccinations on founder stock.”
It is not clear if these critical assessments were carried out and what the results were, as there is nothing in the public domain.
This becomes particularly relevant in the context of the deaths of three cheetahs in July and August — they were likely to have been caused by native pathogens, novel to the African cheetahs.
Explained
The basmati success story (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The work of scientists, especially in publicly-funded research institutions, is seen to seldom produce results on the ground.
Not for nothing that when the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the moon’s surface, it fired the national imagination.
But there are also less heralded success stories of research with tangible impact. Among them is basmati rice, whose annual exports from India have soared, from 0.3-0.35 million tonnes (mt) valued at $200-250 million to 4.5-4.6 mt worth $4.7-4.8 billion, in the past three decades.
Much of this has been courtesy of scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi.
Till the late 1980s, Indian farmers grew traditional basmati varieties having tall plants (150-160 cm), prone to lodging (bending over when heavy with well-filled grains) and yielding barely 10 quintals of paddy an acre over 155-160 days from nursery sowing to harvesting. These included Taraori (also called Karnal Local or HBC-19) and Dehraduni (Type-3).
The breakthrough happened with Pusa Basmati-1 (PB-1), an improved variety released in 1989. Bred by a team of IARI scientists led by E.A. Siddiq, it was a cross between Karnal Local and Pusa-150, a high-yielding non-basmati line.
With a plant height of 100-105 cm, PB-1 didn’t lodge, yielded 25-26 quintals grain per acre and matured in 135-140 days.
PM Vishwakarma scheme (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
On September 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the PM Vishwakarma scheme in New Delhi on the occasion of Vishwakarma Jayanti, for giving government support to workers engaged in traditional crafts and skills.
First announced during his Independence Day speech around a month ago, the scheme is also being seen as a means for the government to reach out to the economically marginalised and socially backward communities – particularly the Other Backward Classes (OBC) groups – before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Here’s who the scheme targets and what its provisions say.
It is a new scheme with an outlay of Rs 13,000 crore and is fully funded by the Central government. On this Vishwakarma Jayanti, we will give about Rs 13,000-15,000 crore to the people who live with traditional skills, who work with tools and with their own hands, mostly from the OBC community. Be it our carpenters, our goldsmiths, our masons, our laundry workers, our barber brothers, and sisters.
New Parliament’s gates and their guardians (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
On Sunday morning, days ahead of the new Parliament building holding its first session, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar hoisted the national flag at the Gaja Dwar of the building. We look at the significance of the Gaja Dwar, and what are the other dwars or entrances, in the new Parliament building:
The new Parliament has six entrances, each signifying a different role. As per a government note on the Parliament art project, the sculpture of an elephant or Gaja has been installed to guard the entrance to the north, since the animal represents wisdom and wealth, intellect, and memory, and also embodies the aspirations of the elected representatives of the democracy.
According to Vastu shastra, the northern direction is associated with planet Mercury, which is the source of higher intellect. The Lord of the direction is Kubera, the god of wealth. Therefore, the Gaja is placed to the north.
In fact, in the New Parliament Building, red sandstone sculptures of auspicious animals have been installed as ‘guardian statues’ on all the six entrances based on their importance in Indian culture, their aesthetic appearance, positive qualities, and the study of Vaastu Shastra, as per officials. The others are:
Asva or the horse standing alert and ready at the southern entrance is symbolic of endurance and strength, power, and speed, also describing the quality of governance.
Why Nipah virus keeps returning to Kerala, how its symptoms have changed (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
The zoonotic virus Nipah, which claimed 17 lives in 2018 when Kerala witnessed its first outbreak, has returned to the state for the fourth time in the last five years.
Six cases have so far been detected in 2023, all in the north Kerala district of Kozhikode.On both occasions, it was Dr A S Anoop Kumar, an expert on infectious diseases and tropical fevers, who was instrumental in detecting the virus, leading to timely containment of the outbreak.
Dr Anoop, Director, Critical Care, of Aster MIMS Hospital’s North Kerala Cluster, had also served as a member of the state government’s expert advisory panel on Covid-19 management.
In an interview with The Indian Express, Dr Anoop compares the 2018 outbreak in Kerala with the recent cases, explains why more studies are needed on Nipah and narrates how, after a family of four was admitted to MIMS Kozhikode, his team meticulously investigated the disease, isolated patients and ensured Nipah protocols kicked in.
Economy
The formal economy is getting more digital more transparent for lenders (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Shyam Srinivasan, Managing Director and CEO, Federal Bank expects banking sector credit to grow at 13-14 per cent in fiscal 2024.
In an interview to HITESH VYAS and GEORGE MATHEW, Srinivasan says rural demand has started picking up.
He believes that inflation, which is currently above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) comfort zone, is trending in the right direction. Excerpts:
In any system for credit growth, lenders need to have confidence that there is a fair amount of transparency of data, information and client discipline so that the money given away is recoverable.
If you see the last 5-7 years, that has become much better than ever, both on corporate and on retail loans. If you’re taking money from me, there’s a good chance that I can scrub some verified database to know whether you are a bona fide borrower or not. Earlier, it was all with a lag.
The appetite of lenders has increased because with the passage of time, more provisions have been made, there is clarity in the credit book and there is confidence that if you give money there is a fair amount of transparency of data.
I think it is a fundamental change in the economy that has happened. I’m not saying this for our bank but this is a universal truth.
So, I am seeing that even in FY’24, credit will grow for the country between 13 and 14 per cent. If that happens, and it is showing signs of it, then I think banks like us should grow at 20 per cent.
World
China foreign minister, US NSA meet, pledge to keep dialogue channel open (Page no. 2)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta this weekend, Beijing and Washington said, as the world's two largest economies seek to stabilize troubled relations.
Both sides held "candid, substantive and constructive" talks during multiple meetings held September 16-17, according to separate statements from White House and the Chinese foreign ministry published.
Sullivan's meeting with Wang was the latest in a series of highlevel discussions between US and Chinese officials that could lay the groundwork for a meeting of US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.