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In his first visit to Arunachal Pradesh after the clash between Indian and Chinese forces in Tawang last month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in a veiled message to China, said that India does not believe in war but has the “capability to face any challenge along the border” and protect its territory.
He made the remarks while inaugurating a 100-metre-long bridge over the Siyom river, close to the state’s northern border with China in Upper Siang district. Besides the strategically important Siyom bridge, Singh also inaugurated 27 other infrastructure projects of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), including 21 bridges, three roads and three other projects.
Built at a total cost of Rs 724 crore, eight of the 28 projects are in Ladakh, five in Arunachal Pradesh, four in Jammu & Kashmir, three each in Sikkim, Punjab and Uttarakhand, and two in Rajasthan. Other than the Siyom bridge, the rest of the projects were inaugurated virtually.
In his address, Singh made an indirect reference to China’s transgression attempts along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
India has never started any war and has not seized even an inch of any other country’s territory. If someone mistakes our love for peace for our weakness, then I want to tell them that we are devotees of peace but we are also devotees of strength. Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita inspires us to war for the protection of duty and truth.
Some time back our Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi said ‘this is not the time for war’, making India’s resolution clear. This means that we do not believe in war, but if conflict is imposed on us, we have strongly fought against it and will do so in the future. For this, we should always remain prepared, and we are prepared.
The Indian Army has the capability to face any challenge along the border. Recently, our forces effectively countered the adversary in the northern sector and dealt with the situation with bravery and promptness. This was made possible due to adequate infrastructural development in the region.
Indian and Chinese troops clashed in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector on December 9 last year, beating each other with sticks and canes.
No additional curbs on free speech by ministers: SC (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court ruled that a government cannot be held vicariously responsible for remarks made by its ministers even if the statement relates to affairs of the state. It said the right of free speech and expression, guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a), cannot be curbed by any additional grounds other than those already laid down in Article 19 (2).
A statement made by a minister, even if traceable to any affairs of the state or for protecting the government, cannot be attributed vicariously to the government by invoking the principle of collective responsibility.
Writing for the majority, Justice Ramasubramaian said “collective responsibility is that of the Council of Ministers. Each individual Minister is responsible for the decisions taken collectively by the Council of Ministers.
In other words, the flow of stream in collective responsibility is from the Council of Ministers to the individual Ministers. The flow is not on the reverse, namely, from the individual Ministers to the Council of Ministers.
While all judges agreed that no additional curbs on free speech can be imposed on grounds other than those laid down, Justice Nagarathna, expressing concern over hateful public discourse, said it was for Parliament to make a legislation from “making disparaging or vitriolic remarks against fellow citizens”.
In a separate judgement, Justice B V Nagarathna, the fifth judge on the bench, said that while the government cannot be held vicariously responsible for personal remarks by a minister, such liability would exist if the statement also embodies the views of the government.
A minister may make statements in two capacities – first, in his personal capacity and second, in his official capacity as a delegate of the government.
In respect of the former, no vicarious responsibility may be attributed to the government itself. The latter category of statements may be traced to any affair of the state or may be made with a view to protect the government.
If such statements are disparaging or derogatory, and represent not only the personal views of the individual minister making them but also embody the views of the government, then such statements can be attributed vicariously to the government itself, especially in view of the principle of collective responsibility.
Express network
Draft bill looks at the new agency to hold medical entrance (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
The draft National Medical Commission bill 2022 seeks to introduce a fifth autonomous body under the country’s apex medical education regulator to conduct the National Exit Test — a two-part examination that will act as a qualifying exam for granting registration to doctors as well as the basis for post-graduate admissions.
Called the ‘Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences’, it will take over the functions of the National Board of Examinations that currently conducts the entrance tests for all post-graduation and super-speciality courses.
The National Board of Examinations also conducts the screening test for foreign medical graduates, which will also be replaced by the new NExT examination.
In addition to conducting the NExT tests, the new board will also accredit institutions for diploma, diplomat, postgraduate fellowship, and super-speciality fellowships. It will determine the minimum requirements for conducting these courses and grant them.
The draft bill also goes on to state that the existing National Board of Examinations will be dissolved, however, all the orders or accreditation provided by the body will continue to exist till the date of expiry. The officials will be given the option to be “subsumed under the NMC” as per the draft bill.
This will be the fifth autonomous board under NMC after Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (sets norms for undergraduate courses), Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (sets norms for post-graduate courses), Medical Assessment and Rating Board (inspects and rates the medical education institutes), and Ethics and Medical Registration Board (regulates professional conduct of the doctors and registers them).
Dr Sunil Kumar, former director general of health services, said, “On a similar note ‘Board of Counsellors or Counselling’ should be constituted under NMC.
Such a move will streamline and fast track admissions and eliminate confusion which arose recently, leading to wastage of seats due to poor work ethics, lack of coordination, and disparate bodies doing disparate components of the same job.” At present, the counselling is conducted by the Medical Counselling Committee independent of NMC.
Ideas page
Powerplay beyond G20 (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, International Groupings)
Although the G20 summit will consume India’s diplomatic energies in 2023, Delhi can’t take its eyes off the significant shifts in great power equations triggered by Russia’s war against Ukraine. Multilateralism has a certain autonomous logic of its own, but it can rarely transcend the dynamic among great powers.
When great powers cooperate, multilateralism has reasonable chances of success and when they don’t, failure looms large. Three decades of relative harmony among major powers after the end of the Cold War produced significant advances in multilateralism.
Today, as the great powers get at each other’s throats, the prospects for multilateral agreements have diminished. On both the economic and political fronts, the conflict among the major powers has sharpened. That makes India’s chairmanship of G20 more challenging.
For Indian diplomacy, then, the year 2023 is as much about multilateral diplomacy as it is about adapting to a potentially historic shift in great power relations. The endgame of the war — or the nature of the peace settlement in Ukraine — remains the decisive variable in 2023.
Major wars have always reshaped great power relations and rearranged the international system. Russia’s war against Ukraine will be no exception.
The First World War saw the collapse of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and the Russian empires. It also helped the Bolsheviks in Russia form the Soviet Union, gave birth to new nations in Europe, and accelerated the rise of Asian nationalism.
The Second World War hastened the demise of European colonialism and heralded the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union as the “superpowers”.
Washington and Moscow managed an armed peace in a divided Europe during the Cold War. The process of decolonisation saw the birth of a number of new nations in Asia and Africa.
The Cold War led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, undid its sphere of influence in East and Central Europe and led to the rise of the “unipolar moment”. The era of massive economic interdependence that followed the Cold War saw the rapid rise of China and a slower but definitive emergence of India as a major power.
Vision vindicated (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
There was a time not long ago when India’s financial centre, Mumbai, was under regular terror attacks. Who can forget the serial bomb blasts of 1993 or the synchronised bomb explosions in commuter trains in 2006.
Ten Pakistanis launching a sustained 60-hour-long deadly assault on the city in November 2008 is still fresh in our memory. Pakistan-sponsored terror sleeper cells were often busted in Mumbai and elsewhere in the country.
India is a safe place now. Since the Narendra Modi-led government has assumed power in Delhi, terrorists and their masterminds are on the run, more so since the introduction of demonetisation.
Demonetisation was done keeping in mind the national interest. Terror networks have now been starved of freely available hawala money or back channel transactions.
Stone pelting was a weekly affair in Srinagar. Today, you do not hear of them because, due to the impact of demonetisation, their sources of funding from across the Line of Control have been massively disrupted.
Ordinary mortals cannot see what visionaries want to do. Demonetisation was Modi’s masterstroke. He had a vision. He knew what he was doing.
There were temporary pains but permanent gains. He was abused and heckled but he stood steadfast because he could see the impact of his decision in the near future. It is against this background that the success of demonetisation should be applauded.
The nation has welcomed Monday’s Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the legality of the government’s decision to demonetise.
Thus, in one stroke, all the 58 pleas challenging the legality of the 2016 demonetisation decision taken by the Modi government in November 2016 have been duly consigned to dustbin.
A Constitution Bench of the Court upheld the Union government’s decision by a 4-1 margin. While four judges on the bench delivered the majority opinion upholding demonetisation, Justice B V Nagarathna held it unlawful.
Justice B R Gavai, who read out the majority’s judgment, noted that from the records it appears that there was consultation between the central government and the RBI for a period of six months.
It has, therefore, been held that in the view of inbuilt safeguards in Section 26(2) of the RBI Act, it cannot be struck down on the grounds of excessive delegation. The majority decision also upheld that the period for the exchange of notes, which was 52 days, cannot be said to be unreasonable
Explained
Science Congress: an appraisal (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
After a two-year Covid-enforced absence, the Indian Science Congress is back, with its 108th edition getting underway in Nagpur on Tuesday.
The largest gathering of scientists and students in the country, the Science Congress is an annual five-day event from January 3 to 7, a permanent fixture on the Prime Minister’s calendar, and usually his/her first public engagement in the new year.
As is customary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the event. He reiterated his call for harnessing scientific knowledge for societal needs and making India self-reliant.
“Scientific works should be such which will fulfill the needs of India and will give momentum to 17-18 per cent of the world’s humanity. And its effect will be on the entire humanity.
Therefore, we should work on such issues which are important for the entire humanity. For example, if we take the issue of energy. India’s energy needs are going to grow continuously.
In such a situation, if the scientific community of India makes innovations related to energy requirements, then it will be of great benefit to the country,” Modi said.
He also made a mention of other priority areas like disease control, management of natural disasters, space applications, waste management, new materials, and semiconductor research.
With a history dating back to 1914, the Science Congress is a one-of-its-kind event in the country, bringing together scientists and researchers not just from the premier institutions and laboratories but also science teachers and professors from colleges and universities, and offering a platform for their interaction with students and the general public on matters related to science. It has had a glorious past, with the who’s who of Indian science not just participating but also serving as organisers.
But the glory days of the Science Congress are clearly over.
In more recent times, the event has attracted attention for all the wrong reasons — lack of serious discussion, the promotion of pseudoscience, outlandish claims by random speakers, and the absence of useful outcomes. The Science Congress hits the headlines more for the controversies it generates than for scientific discussions.
Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) (Page no. 13)
(Defence)
An unexploded artillery shell was found near the official residence of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh on January 2.
Explained here is what kind of artillery shell it was and how this military ammunition found its way into a high-security civilian area.
A military ammunition or explosive device that remains unexploded even after it has been primed and fired is known as Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) in military parlance.
Such UXO can be left-overs from a war, a military battle inoculation exercise, field firing exercises or even be part of military scrap that is often exported from one country to another to extract metal.
All unexploded munitions are treated as potentially dangerous and capable of detonating till proven otherwise by professional assessment by military ammunition experts.
Whenever such unexploded munition is found by civilians, it is always advised to maintain a safe distance and inform the nearest police or district administration official.
The civilian administration is expected to get in touch with the nearest Army station, which will then despatch Army Ordnance Corps personnel, who are ammunition experts and can identify the ordnance and the safest way of disposing it.
In most cases in India, unexploded ordnance from military field firing ranges across the country are picked up by locals who wish to make a quick buck by selling them to scrap dealers.
The dealers extract metal like copper from them, which is dangerous. There have been instances of scrap pickers and scrap dealers dying when such ammunition explodes.
Unexploded ordnance such as the artillery shell found near the Punjab CM’s residence can always be used as an Improvised Explosive Device by connecting it to an explosive circuit.
Study finds links between termite activity and a warming world (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A recent study has found that termites decompose wood at a much higher rate in warmer conditions. For every 10 degrees Celsius increase in temperature, their decomposition activity goes up by almost seven times.
Published in Science, the study also revealed that as the Earth gets warmer, termites will rapidly spread across the world. This could, in turn, lead to a further rise in global temperatures, because these small insects while consuming deadwood release carbon into the atmosphere.
This study is one of the first that connects the dots among a species’ movement, changes in an ecosystem process, and climate change to show that the movement of an organism as small as a termite can cascade to impact the rate that wood—a global carbon stock—is decomposed,” Aimée Classen, biologist at University of Michigan and co-author of the study, said in a statement.
There are around 3,000 species of termites across the world, including the ones that consume plant material and even soil. However, the most famous are the wood-eating termites.
According to the researchers, the termites’ ability to decompose dead wood — dead parts of trees that contain carbon — makes them an important part of the planet’s ecosystem and that’s why the study focused on them.
For the research, more than 100 scientists were asked to place blocks of wood at 133 sites across the world, except in Antarctica, where bacteria, fungi and termites consume dead wood. They then measured the speed at which the wooden blocks were eaten in different climates.
As expected, both microbes and termites decomposed the pieces but the study found that there was a disproportionately higher increase in the insects’ decaying activity at higher temperatures.
For instance, termites in a region with temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius ate wood seven times faster than in a place with temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius.
The researcher also observed that these wood-eating termites were able to survive in warm and dry conditions, unlike microbes that need water to grow.
Therefore, with “tropicalization (i.e., warming shifts to tropical climates), termite wood decay will likely increase as termites access more of Earth’s surface.”
Economy
Online gaming: What do MeitY’s draft rules say? (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, Government Policies and Interventions)
A self-regulatory body, mandatory know-your-customer norms for verification, and a grievance redressal mechanism are among the key proposals in the draft rules for online gaming, released by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) on Monday.
Online games will have to register with a self-regulatory body, and only games cleared by the body will be allowed to legally operate in India. Online gaming companies will not be allowed to engage in betting on the outcome of games, the proposed rules say.
Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that “around 40 to 45 per cent of the gamers in India are women, and therefore it was all the more important to keep the gaming ecosystem safe”.
Describing online gaming as “a very important piece of the start-up ecosystem and a part of the goal of the 1-trillion dollar economy”, Chandrasekhar said the government will work hard to ensure all opportunities are provided to Indian start-ups.
The proposed rules, aimed at safeguarding users against potential harm from skill-based games, have been introduced as an amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The attempt is to regulate online gaming platforms as intermediaries and place due diligence requirements on them.
The self-regulatory body will have a board of directors with five members from diverse fields, including online gaming, public policy, IT, psychology and medicine.
It must ensure that the registered games don’t have anything “which is not in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order, or incites the commission of any cognizable offence relating to the aforesaid.”
There could be more than one self regulatory body and all of them will have to inform the Centre about the games they have registered along with a report detailing the criteria for registering.
Chandrasekhar said that going forward, the government may also regulate the content of online gaming, and “ensure that the games do not have violent, addictive or sexual content”.