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A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, hearing petitions against the 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in government jobs and admissions, will examine whether the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, by which it was introduced, violates the basic structure of the Constitution.
A five-judge bench, presided by Chief Justice of India U ULalit, decided to examine three of the four issues suggested by Attorney General K KVenugopal on the matter.
These are “whether the 103rd Constitution amendment can be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution by permitting the State to make special provisions, including reservation, based on economic criteria.
Whether it can be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution by permitting the State to make special provisions in relation to admission to private unaided institutions” and “whether it can be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution in excluding the SEBCs (Socially and Educationally Backward Classes)/OBCs (Other Backward Classes)/SCs (Scheduled Castes)/STs (Scheduled Tribes) from the scope of EWS reservation”.
The Attorney General had drafted four issues for the consideration of the bench. The bench, also comprising Justices
Whatever has been suggested through other issues by the learned counsel are in the nature of submissions advancing one of the propositions emerging from the issues suggested by the Attorney General.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who was entrusted with the task of collating the questions suggested by the different counsel, told the bench that many of them had raised the point whether the amendment violated the basic structure by not providing for exclusion of creamy layer from the EWS.
The AG, however, wondered “how that question (can) arise”. He asked “where is the question of creamy layer when we
The Supreme Court also ordered that petitions on the issue pending before different High Courts be transferred to the five-judge bench.
The petitions challenge the constitutional validity of The Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019. By this, new clause (6) was introduced in Articles 15 and 16.
Article 15(6) empowers states to make special provision for advancement of any EWS other than those mentioned in clauses (4) and (5) and to make a special provision on their admission to educational institutions — including aided or unaided private — other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of Article 30. This will be in addition to existing reservation and subject to a maximum of 10 per cent of the total seats in each category.
Article 16 (6) empowers the State to make any provision for reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any EWS other than classes mentioned in clause (4), in addition to the existing reservation and subject to a maximum of 10 per cent of the posts in each category.
Opening revamped Kartavya Path, unveiling Netaji statue,PM underlines role of cultural infrastructure (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Kingsway, or Rajpath, the symbol of slavery, has become a matter of history from today and has been erased forever. A new history has been created in the form of Kartavya Path,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while inaugurating the Kartavya Path (the revamped Central Vista Avenue) at the India Gate.
He also congratulated the nation “for their freedom from yet another symbol of slavery of the British Raj”.“Ghulaamikaprateek Kingsway, yaaniRajpath, aaj se itihaaskibaathogayahai, hameshakeliyemitgayahai,” he said at the event. Referring to the statue of King George V, which once adorned the Grand Canopy, where a 28-feet statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was unveiled today, the Prime Minister said,“At the time of slavery, there was a statue of the representative of the British Raj.
Today, the country has also brought to life a modern, strong India by establishing the statue of Netaji at the same place.”
”Netaji’s statue coming up at the spot where King George’s statue once stood, is like ‘PraanPratishtha’ of a new India,” he remarked.
On the occasion ofAzadikaAmritMahotsav, the country has received a new inspiration. We can now leave the past behind and fill new colours in the present,” he remarked on the occasion, which was attended by 1,500 people, including a host of union ministers, artists, diplomats, MPs and several state chief ministers, including Maharashtra Chief Minister EknathShinde and Manipur CM N Biren Singh. Interestingly, opposition leaders and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were conspicuous by their absence.
Earlier in the day, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said she won’t be attending the inauguration ceremony of a Netaji statue in Delhi as she did not receive a “proper” invitation.
Modi said that India is now moving beyond the mentality of colonialism. He mentioned the renaming of Andaman Islands after Netaji Bose, and also to rename the Race Course Road as LokKalyan Marg.
The Indian Navy has also adopted Chhatrapati Shivaji’s symbol and shed the symbol of ghulaami. These changes are not limited to symbols. These changes are a part of the country’s foundations,” he said, adding, “If India had walked the path shown by Netaji after the independence, it would have been a different story. But India forgot its hero.”
The Prime Minister said that these changes are not confined to the symbols but have also infused the policies of the country too. “Today, the country has changed hundreds of laws that have been going on since the British era.
The time and date of the Indian Budget, which was following the times of the British Parliament for so many decades, have also been changed. Through the National Education Policy, now the youth of the country are being liberated from the compulsion of foreign language.
Eye on China, Japan and India to boost defence ties (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
With an eye on China, Japan’s foreign and defence ministers told visiting External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that they are examining “all options” necessary for national defence including “counterstrike capabilities”, and will increase their defence budget substantially to strengthen their capabilities.
Singh and Jaishankar, who held the 2+2 ministerial meeting in Tokyo with Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada, expressed their support for enhanced security and defence cooperation.
While expressing its resolve to examine all options necessary for national defence, including so-called ‘counterstrike capabilities’, the Japanese side expressed its determination to fundamentally reinforce Japan’s defence capabilities within the next five years and secure substantial increase of Japan’s defence budget needed to effect it.
Acknowledging Japan’s determination to reinforce its defence capabilities, Indian side expressed its support to work towards enhanced security and defence cooperation,” said the joint statement after the 2+2 ministerial meeting.
Without mentioning China’s belligerence in the region, the statement said: “Acknowledging that global cooperation is required more than ever to address security challenges that have become more acute, the ministers reaffirmed their commitment to a rules-based global order that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, and emphasised the need for all countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes, in accordance with international law, without resorting to threat or use of force or any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo.”
During today’s discussions, we noted the progress in the military-to-military cooperation and exchanges between the two sides. We shared a common desire to further increase the scope and complexities of our bilateral exercises.
We have established staff talks and high-level dialogue between all the three services and the Coast Guard. I am glad that we have now agreed on staff talks between the joint staff of the Japanese Self Defence Forces and the Integrated Defence Staff of India.
The participation of Japan for the first time in the multilateral exercise MILAN and operationalisation of the Reciprocal Provision of Supply and Services Agreement in March this year are milestones in the progress of defence cooperation between our forces. We are happy to note that our Air Forces are working closely for early conduct of the inaugural Air Force fighter exercise.
Express Network
Wildlife panel OKs IAF base, other infra in Ladakh sanctuaries near LAC (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has cleared the setting up of a new IAF base in Ladakh where Indian and Chinese troops have been facing off along the Line of Actual Control since May 2020.
The clearance for the IAF base was given at a high-level meeting on July 29. The base, which will be located in the Changthang wildlife sanctuary in eastern Ladakh, will be spread over 508.187 hectares of land, not very far from the LAC.
The NBWL cleared eight Defence projects in the Changthang and Karakoram wildlife sanctuaries as India takes steps to ramp up its defence infrastructure near the LAC to match similar initiatives being taken by China to upgrade its military infrastructure in the area.
The projects were cleared by the Chief Wildlife Warden of Ladakh before being sent to the NBWL for clearance. The
Ministry of Defence will now require environmental clearances, including under the Forest Conservation Act (1980) and Environment Protection Act (1986), as the region falls under Ladakh’s protected cold desert.
The officers/officials of the wildlife protection department shall have unhindered access to the project site for discharging of their duties.
As the government looks to expand and upgrade infrastructure along the LAC, the standing committee, apart from the creation of an IAF base, has cleared a proposal for the use of 1259.25 ha of land from the Changthang wildlife sanctuary for the Mahe field firing range.
The upgradation of three roads, located in the strategically important region, has also been cleared – 27.5 ha from the Karakoram sanctuary for the double-laning of 22.5 km of the Khalsar-Agham road, 6.875 ha from the Karakoram sanctuary for upgradation of the Leh-Chalunka road and another 107.406 ha from the Changthang sanctuary for the construction of T-SaluChangchemo road in Ladakh.
The NBWL stipulated that animal passages must be implemented and maintained in these stretches.Environmental clearance has also been given for the laying of optical fibre cables in these two sanctuaries.
Spread over 1600 sq km, the Changthang sanctuary is located on the Tibetan Changthangplateau and has some of the highest altitude lakes including Tso Moriri and is famous for being the home of the snow leopard.
The Tibetan wolf, wild yak, bharal, brown bear, mormot, Tibetan wild ass and dark-necked crane are also found in the sanctuary apart from almost 200 species of wild plants.
The Karakoram sanctuary is spread over 5,000 sq km in Leh district and houses the famous Tibetan antelope. This is the first time that the NBWL has looked at proposals from the Ladakhregion as the area did not fall under the Wildlife Protection Act prior to the 2019 abrogation of Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir.
Food baskets for patients, job training for kin in bid for ‘TB mukt Bharat’ (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Working towards the goal of eliminating tuberculosis (TB) by 2025, the Union Health Ministry is launching the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan on Friday, which will include community support for patients – nutritional and additional diagnostic support for them, and vocational training for their families.
While the initiative, called ‘Ni-kshayMitra’, is already underway in some states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, President DroupadiMurmu will formally launch it on Friday.
Under the scheme, individuals, NGOs and corporates can “adopt” TB patients by committing support for 1-3 years. To join the initiative, they will have to register on the site, https://communitysupport.nikshay.in, which has an anonymous list of TB patients, categorised according to the primary health centres, blocks, districts and states. The sponsors can select the number of patients as per their capacity.
A mail will be sent from the central TB division to the sponsor with details of their district’s TB officer, while the TB officer will be notified about the sponsor. The details of the patients will be provided to the sponsors by the officer, on condition that they maintain anonymity.
The health ministry, in collaboration with ICMR’s National Institute of Nutrition, has developed two options for monthly food baskets. The vegetarian food basket for adults has to contain 3 kg cereals or millets, 1.5 kg pulses, 250 g vegetable cooking oil, and 1 kg milk powder or 6 litres of milk or 1 kg groundnut. The non-vegetarian option will have an additional 30 eggs.
For children, the basket has to contain 2 kg cereals or millets, 1 kg pulses, 150 g vegetable cooking oil, and 750 g milk powder or 3.5 litres of milk or 0.7 kg groundnut. The sponsors are also asked to encourage patients to consume fresh vegetables, beans and fruits.
Each nutrition basket is likely to cost about Rs 1,000, said officials. The food baskets will be modified by the district officials as per the locally acceptable food.
Nutrition is a key factor when it comes to TB. Most of us have the TB bacteria in our body but it gets activated if nutrition is poor and the immune system is impaired.
Not only will the programme provide the much-needed nutritional support to the people, it will also connect the community,” said an official. Besides raising awareness about TB, officials hope that it will also help reduce the stigma associated with it.
India slips two places on HDI as Covid-19 reverses global gains (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Growth and Development)
India’s rank on the Human Development Index has slipped from 130 in 2020 to 132 in 2021, in line with a global fall in HDI scores in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, shows the Human Development Report 2021-22.
According to the report, released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), India’s HDI value stood at 0.633 during 2021, which was lower than the world average of 0.732.
In 2020, too, India recorded a decline in its HDI value (0.642) in comparison to the pre-Covid level of 2019 (0.645).
India ranks 132 out of 191 countries and territories on the 2021/22 Human Development Index, tracking the global decline in human development.
Ninety percent of countries have registered a reduction in their Human Development Index value in 2020 or 2021, reversing much of the progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
A large contributor to the Human Development Index’s recent decline is a global drop in life expectancy, down from 72.8 years in 2019 to 71.4 years in 2021.
The last two years have had a devastating impact on billions of people worldwide when crises like Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine hit back-to-back and interacted with sweeping social and economic shifts and dangerous planetary changes.
HDI is composite index that measures average achievement in human development taking into account four indicators: life expectancy at birth (Sustainable Development Goal 3); expected years of schooling (SDG 4.3); mean years of schooling (SDG 4.4); and gross national income (GNI) per capita (2017 PPP$) (SDG 8.5).
In 2021, India’s life expectancy at birth was recorded at 67.2 years; expected years of schooling at 11.9 years; mean years of schooling at 6.7 years; and gross national income per capita (2017 PPP) at $6,590.
On all these four parameters, India was behind the world averages in 2021: life expectancy at 71.4 years, expected years of schooling at 12.8 years, mean years of schooling at 8.6 years and gross national income per capita (2017 PPP$) at $16,752.
Like global trends, in India’s case, the drop in HDI from 0.645 in 2019 to 0.633 in 2021 can be attributed to falling life expectancy — 69.7 to 67.2 years.
India’s expected years of schooling stand at 11.9 years, and the mean years of schooling are at 6.7 years. The GNI per capita level is $6,590.
Places of Worship Act challenged in SC (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
A representative of the erstwhile royal family of Kashi has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Places of Worship Act, 1992.
The application by Maharaja Kumari Krishna Priya, daughter of the current titular head of the erstwhile royal family, and two others has contended that the 1992 Act is a “textbook instance of a legislation that was passed in the most undemocratic of manners possible, without any regard for fundamental rights of affected parties, in particular the right of formerly colonised indigenous communities to seek reclamation of occupied religious cum civilisational sites”.
The plea filed through advocate J Sai Deepak urged the court to permit them to become parties in writ petitions — already pending and listed for hearing before the SC— on the issue so that they can present their arguments in law.
On the Places of Worship Act, the application stated, “For a legislation that shuts the doors of justice to affected communities and parties.
That it exempted the Ayodhya dispute from its purview “itself highlights in stark relief the discriminatory, arbitrary and capricious nature of the Act.
It submits that “a study ought to have been undertaken to identify the number of such pending disputes, which too could have been entitled to a similar exemption”.
It urged the court to treat claimants of other occupied religious sites at par with owners of Ramjanmabhoomi so that they too have the opportunity to present evidence before a court of law to make good their case for restoration of their sites.
The petition said that “it is indeed shocking that the Government of an ‘independent’, formerly colonised country deemed it fit to enact a legislation which places an embargo on reclamation of occupied religious sites of indigenous/Bharatiya faith systems”.
The Act, it added, “is a textbook example of oikophobia/oikomisia and misautogeny i.e., hatred or contempt for one’s own people and culture” and “demonstrates its “colonial consciousness…which perpetuates a state of affairs that existed during the period of colonisation, either Middle Eastern or European”.
The Act actively stands in the way of the truth being laid bare through constitutional means before a court of law through evidence which is legally admissible.
Stating that it cannot be contended that the Constitution places lesser premium on truth and celebrates all other values, including secularism, at the expense of truth, the plea stated that “every time the truth is brushed under the carpet ostensibly in the name of secularism, it contributes to communal disharmony”.
Editorial Page
Golden chapter continues (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
The Joint Statement issued after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in March 2021 noted that bilateral ties were enjoying a “ShonaliAdhhaye” (golden chapter).
The last decade or so has indeed been the best period in the relations between the two countries in the last 50 years. Bangladesh is now central to India’s “Neighbourhood First Policy”, particularly given the economic crisis affecting Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh remains an oasis of political and economic stability, though stress factors generated by the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine have caused inflation linked to high energy prices.
Even with the friendliest of neighbours, there are always areas of disagreement. It is a sign of the mature leadership in both countries that these differences have not been allowed to upset the broad positive trend in the relationship. Bangladesh is India’s largest trading partner in the Subcontinent, the largest development partner, the most productive connectivity partner and the largest source of foreign tourists. The total trade turnover in 2021 touched $18 billion.
PM Shiekh Hasina’s visit follows former Rashtrapati Ram NathKovind’s and PM Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in 2021, for the celebration of 50 years of the country’s independence and “MujibBorsho”.
The upward trajectory in bilateral ties began in 2008, under the military-backed caretaker government. Maitri Express, the first passenger train between Dhaka and Kolkata, made its inaugural run in April 2008.
Since 2009, PM Hasina has ensured that the momentum in ties was maintained by taking the bold decision to crack down on Indian insurgent groups operating from Bangladesh.
This eliminated a long-term irritant in bilateral ties. Her visit to India in 2010 led to the signing of the Comprehensive Framework of Cooperation. This facilitated the grant of duty-free access to Bangladesh’s exports to India in 2011.
During the current visit, seven agreements have been concluded in sectors like connectivity, environment, water management, science and technology, railway, law, information and broadcasting among others.
Five new infrastructure projects have been announced. Significantly, there is an agreement on the water-sharing formula for the river Kushyara that flows into Bangladesh from Assam’s Silchar district. India has requested the finalisation of the temporary water sharing accord on the Feniriver, which meets Tripura’s water requirements.
The pending Teesta agreement has been caught in the quagmire of Centre-state relations in India. The Joint Rivers Commission has been mandated to examine the sharing of waters of 54 transboundary rivers and flood data sharing. Bangladesh has announced 200 scholarships to descendants of children of Indian military personnel who laid down their lives in the 1971 War of Liberation. India has a programme of providing medical facilities for war veterans and their families. These measures cement people-to-people ties.
Idea Page
Way of seeing (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Some 35 years ago, Rajendra Prasad Yadav was studying in a primary school in a Bihar village. A bright lad, he had a deep yearning for education. But he could only see blurred images on the blackboard and, therefore, could not participate in the class fully. He did not know why this was happening and his teachers also did not understand his predicament.
In their ignorance, they would often reprimand Rajendra, and send him to the back of the class as punishment. Here, he would be at a further disadvantage for he would not be able to see the blackboard at all.
Rajendra’s is not an isolated case. Millions of our students suffer from visual impairment due to uncorrected refractive errors. Studies have shown the overall prevalence of refractive errors in children to be around 8.0 per cent.
Among these, 61.02 per cent did not use spectacles. The population-based estimates of refractive errors in children in India indicate that around 33.4 million children in the country are in need of spectacles for vision correction.
Children often do not complain of defective vision as they may not even be aware of their problem. They may adjust to poor vision by strategies such as changing position in the classroom, moving objects closer, and tending to avoid tasks that require more visual concentration.
Refractive errors can be easily diagnosed, measured and corrected with spectacles or other refractive corrections to attain normal vision.
They become a major cause of low vision and even blindness only if they are not corrected or the correction is inadequate. Uncorrected refractive errors have a profound effect on the overall development of a child, particularly on their educational and psychosocial development.
According to ASER (2018), only half (50.3 per cent) of all students in Class 5 can read texts meant for Class II students. Only 40 per cent of Class 8 students in government schools can do simple division.
Inter alia, impaired vision contributes to these poor outcomes. In later years, this manifests as lost educational and employment opportunities, foregone economic gains for individuals, families and societies, as well as a compromised quality of life.
Various factors are responsible for refractive errors remaining uncorrected: Lack of awareness and recognition; non-availability of and/or inability to afford refractive services for testing; insufficient provision of affordable corrective glasses; and cultural disincentives to compliance.
Rajendra was lucky. A local philanthropist saw his distress and got him a pair of spectacles. Once the refractive error was corrected, over a period of time, Rajendra became a distinguished scholar.
After specialising in chest diseases, he monitored the TB programme in India, on behalf of WHO. Currently, he is Country Medical Officer at WHO (Philippines). All children, however, are not so fortunate.
In India, there are around 365 million children aged less than 15 years (29 per cent of the population). Ideally, every child should be screened for refractive errors.
However, the large number of children as well as resource constraints precludes population-based screening for childhood refractive errors in India. Furthermore, the availability of eye care services in the country varies between and within regions.
Explained Page
Pak floods and Indian Response (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
As a flood that has been described as one of Biblical proportions devastated Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences and hoped “for an early restoration of normalcy”.
“Saddened to see the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, the injured and all those affected by this natural calamity and hope for an early restoration of normalcy”.
This is the only statement that the Prime Minister has made on the floods that continue to wreak havoc across Pakistan. A total 1,355 people have been killed since June 14, and 33 million out of the country’s population of 220 million have been hit, according to official figures.
More than 3,500 people have been injured, and there are massive shortages of wheat and fuel. Preliminary estimates suggest a third of the country’s cultivated land — 7 million hectares out of the total 22 million — have been inundated, and about 2 million homes will have to be rebuilt from scratch.
The statement by the Prime Minister last month came as a surprise to many, given the steady deterioration of India’s relationship with Pakistan over the last eight years since Modi came to power.
Modi had famously begun his tenure with an invitation to Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the swearing-in ceremony in May 2014. Sharif had come to India, along with the leaders of other SAARC nations.
Modi’s gesture, and the meeting between the two Prime Ministers had held the promise of a new beginning for the bilateral relationship that had suffered a severe setback after the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008.
However, a string of incidents that followed — India’s red line on the meeting between Pakistan’s diplomats and leaders of the separatist Hurriyat, the terrorist attacks in Pathankot and Uri — impacted the relationship negatively, and New Delhi made it clear that “talks and terror can’t go together”.
Ties have been hit further over the last few years, especially after the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019, and the abrogation of Article 370, which revoked the special status to Jammu and Kashmir, in August that year.
That led to the downsizing of the High Commissions in both capitals; there are no full-time High Commissioners in either country now.
The constitutional changes in J&K, and Pakistan’s response to them, took bilateral ties to a new low — and the subsequent controversy involving diplomats of both countries in 2020 have not helped the ties.
After the ouster of Imran Khan, and the coming to power of the new coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, some positive noises have emanated from Islamabad.
Coming: cyborg cockroaches to help in urban search-rescue missions (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
An international team of researchers led by Japan’s scientific institution, RIKEN’s Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR), have devised a system that can create cyborg cockroaches, that are part insect and part machine.
They claim that these insects, whose movements are controlled by tiny integrated circuits, will be able to conduct surveillance in procedures like urban search and rescue, environmental monitoring and inspection of areas dangerous to humans.
The researchers who published their findings in the scientific journal npJ Flexible Electronics on September 5, claim that by equipping the cockroaches with small wireless control modules, handlers will be able to control the insect’s legs remotely for long periods of time.
The team, led by RIKEN CPR’s Kenjiro Fukuda, used Madagascar cockroaches, which are not only the largest species of cockroaches, reaching an estimated 6 cm, but are also known for making hissing sounds when disturbed, which they make by expelling air from the openings on their back.
Despite their hefty size, researchers only had limited surface area on which they could place the complex devices. Using a 3D printed soft backpack that was connected to the insect’s nervous system, they were able to control its leg segments.
The adhesion of the backpack that was affixed to the thorax remained secured “even after a month in the breeding environment,” the paper stated, confirming that it remained on the body for a long period of time.
The researchers also designed the system to be rechargeable, by powering it with a super thin 0.004 mm solar cell module that is installed on the dorsal side of the cockroach’s abdomen.
This was done to ensure that the battery remains charged and the cockroach can be controlled for long periods of time, while simultaneously ensuring that the movement remains unhindered.
China’s fully solar-powered, semi-satellite drone (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
China’s first fully solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle has successfully completed its maiden test flight with all onboard systems functioning optimally.
According to Chinese state media reports, the drone took off from an airport in Shaanxi province at 5.50 pm Saturday, had a smooth flight for 26 minutes and landed safely.
With a wingspan of 164-ft, the drone is a large machine powered entirely by solar panels. The high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAV can stay airborne for long durations.
Named the Qimingxing-50, or Morning Star-50, this drone flies above 20-km altitude where there is stable airflow with no clouds.
This helps these drones to make the maximum use of solar equipment to stay functional for extended durations. In fact, the drone’s chief designer told South China Morning Post that it can operate without a break for months, even years.
The fact that the drone can operate in near-space – 20 km to 100 km above the Earth’s surface – makes it capable of carrying out satellite-like functions.
If satellite services are not available for, say, time-sensitive operations or in case of wartime disruption, then near-space UAVs can step in to fill the operational gap.
These drones are also referred to as ‘High Altitude Platform Stations’ or pseudo-satellites. China already has this capacity, but the Qimingxing-50’s long-endurance provides an added advantage to make this capability available over a longer period.
In July this year, the US Army helped test a solar-powered, near-space Airbus Zephyr S drone that set a new record by being airborne for 42 days.
Both these drones can undertake surveillance missions that require them to stay operational, watching over borders or oceans, for months.
Drones like the Morning Star-50 are cost-effective to build and are also easy to launch and operate. Being entirely powered by clean energy from the Sun, the present one can help boost China’s capabilities to operate in near-space and over the ocean.
This HALE UAV is capable of conducting high-altitude reconnaissance, apart from monitoring forest fires, providing communication and environment relay.
In sharp slide in global oil prices, hope for easing of inflation in India (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
In a major relief to the Indian economy, the Brent crude prices have fallen sharply over the last ten days. While they were trading at around $110 per barrel in July end, the prices have declined to under $90 per barrel.
The decline has been very sharp over the last ten days as they dropped around 13% to trade at $88 per barrel. If on the one hand it is a reflection of expectations of slowdown in global growth which may have its bearing on India’s growth too, on the other it comes as a big respite for India which imports almost 85% of its oil. Softening in crude oil prices can ease-off a part of the inflation.
The crude prices fell sharply by around 4% Wednesday and the decline has come despite OPEC’s announcement to cut supply by 100,000 barrels per day beginning October in a bid to prop up the prices.
While the prices have been softening over the last couple of months, the recent sharp decline is due to renewed fears of recession in Europe and decline in demand from China, which brought in new Covid lockdown measures amid weakening factory activity. There is a concern that these factors could dent the future demand of crude oil.
Market participants say OPEC’s decision to cut production is in itself an indication that it expects decline in demand and further softening in prices.
Crude oil prices slumped to their lowest levels since January, after weak economic prints from China, interest rate hikes and a surprise rise in US inventories brewed concerns over slowing demand.
The US energy watchdog forecast slightly higher demand and tighter supply going into 2023. We expect crude oil prices to trade sideways to down with resistance at $84 per barrel with support at $80 per barrel.
India imports nearly 85% of its crude requirement and in the year ended March 2022, the oil import bill doubled to $119 billion on account of rise in prices.
The rise in import bill not only leads to inflation and rise in current account deficit and fiscal deficit, but also weakens the rupee against the dollar and hurts stock market sentiment.
A rise in crude oil price also has an indirect impact on India as it leads to a rise in edible oil prices, coal prices and also that of fertiliser as they use gas as the feedstock. Gas accounts for 80% of all fertiliser production costs.
So if a rise in crude oil prices could lead to a much enhanced import burden, it also leads to reduction in demand in the economy which hurts growth. It could also lead to higher fiscal deficit if the government chooses to bear the burden by way of subsidies.
In that sense, a softening in crude oil prices is a big relief for all stakeholders – the government, the consumers and even the corporates.
If oil continues to trade at lower levels, it will result in lower inflation levels, higher disposable incomes and thereby higher economic growth.