Iran minister in Delhi for talks to spice up ties, commerce through Chabahar
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Present occasions of nationwide and worldwide significance.
Mains Examination: Normal Research II: Bilateral, regional and international groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s pursuits.
What’s the continuing story: Days earlier than Donald Trump returns to the Oval Workplace, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s Deputy Overseas Minister, has reached New Delhi for talks Friday with Exterior Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Overseas Secretary Vikram Misri.
Key Factors to Ponder:
• India and Iran bilateral relations-know intimately
• Significance of Iran for India and India for Iran-Focus on
• Map Work-Chabahar Port
• How does the Chabahar Port improve India’s geopolitical affect within the area?
• What’s the strategic significance of the Chabahar Port for India’s international coverage?
• Iran occupies a pivotal place in India’s regional strategy-How?
• What are the challenges and alternatives in strengthening India-Iran relations, notably within the context of Chabahar Port and the INSTC?
• Examine the strategic significance of the Chabahar Port and Pakistan’s Gwadar Port within the context of regional geopolitics.
• How can India leverage its funding in Chabahar to counterbalance China’s affect within the area?
• The Chabahar Port is commonly seen as a gateway for India’s outreach to Afghanistan and Central Asia—What are the potential challenges in realizing this imaginative and prescient?
Key Takeaways:
• Iran is taking a look at rising bilateral commerce with India, together with through the Chabahar port.
• From tourism to agriculture, Tehran desires to spice up ties with Delhi and bilateral talks will happen earlier than the Trump administration takes cost on January 20.
• Iran would additionally prefer to get a way from Indian officers on coping with sanctions — India has stopped shopping for oil from Iran as a result of menace of sanctions, however has continued to purchase oil from Russia regardless of sanctions.
• For Tehran, which has suffered from the financial sanctions imposed throughout Trump’s first time period, rising commerce with India is “crucial”. Tehran hopes to diversify to different areas, together with agriculture and petrochemical merchandise via the Chabahar port.
• Iran can be taking a look at a rise in Indian vacationer journey to Iran, and needs to facilitate that. Whereas it’s a people-to-people trade, it will increase financial exercise. Tehran additionally desires a rise within the variety of Iranians travelling to India.
• The regional scenario can be going to be mentioned with the Indian authorities. The Iranian supply expressed “concern” over the flip of occasions in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
• Iran can be constructing ties with Russia, and officers mentioned that they will signal a serious partnership pact with Russia on the finish of January. Tehran additionally views China as a “crucial” associate which has “financial energy” unfold the world over.
Do You Know:
• Chabahar, which sits on the mouth of the Gulf of Oman, is Iran’s first deepwater port that places the nation on the worldwide oceanic commerce route map. The port lies to the west of Iran’s border with Pakistan, about so far as Gwadar, a competing port developed by China in Pakistan, lies to the east of the border.
• Chabahar is of strategic significance to each Iran and India. It will probably doubtlessly assist Tehran keep at bay the impact of Western sanctions, and presents New Delhi another route that bypasses Pakistan, which doesn’t enable India land entry for commerce with Afghanistan and Central Asia.
• The port can be a part of the proposed Worldwide North-South Transport Hall (INSTC), a multi-modal transportation mission linking the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea through Iran, and onward to northern Europe through St Petersburg in Russia.
• India’s involvement within the improvement of the port started in 2002, when Hassan Rouhani, then Nationwide Safety Advisor to President Syed Mohammad Khatami, held discussions together with his Indian counterpart, Brajesh Mishra.
• There are two distinct ports within the Chabahar mission, Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari. India’s funding is restricted to the Shahid Beheshti port, in line with the paper, ‘Geopolitics of Chabahar port for Iran, India and Afghanistan’, by Ali Omidi and Gauri Noolkar-Oak of the College of Isfahan (Iran).
• India, Iran, and Afghanistan signed a trilateral settlement in April 2016, after which the Indian Delivery Ministry labored at a fast tempo in direction of creating the port. In December 2017, the primary part of Shahid Beheshti port was inaugurated, and India despatched its first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan via Chabahar that very same yr.
Different Vital Articles Protecting the identical subject:
📍The historical past of Iran’s Chabahar port, and its crucial for India
📍What are India’s stakes in Iran’s Chabahar port?
UPSC Earlier 12 months Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
1. What’s the significance of creating Chabahar Port by India? (UPSC CSE, 2017)
(a) India’s commerce with African nations will enormously improve.
(b) India’s relations with oil-producing Arab nations can be strengthened.
(c) India won’t rely upon Pakistan for entry to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
(d) Pakistan will facilitate and defend the set up of a fuel pipeline between Iraq and India.
GOVT & POLITICS
Why Twentieth-century reformer Narayana Guru is caught in a really up to date row
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Present occasions of nationwide and worldwide significance.
Essential Examination: Normal Research I: Trendy Indian historical past from in regards to the center of the eighteenth century till the present- vital occasions, personalities, points.
What’s the continuing story: The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala and BJP have locked horns now over Sree Narayana Guru. Below rivalry are Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s remarks that the towering social reformer and religious chief was not a proponent of “Sanatan Dharma”.
Key Factors to Ponder:
• Focus on the contributions of Narayana Guru to social reform in Kerala.
• How Narayana Guru’s teachings problem the prevailing caste-based inequalities of his time?
• How political interpretations of historic determine corresponding to Narayana Guru can reshape the legacy of social reformers?
• Focus on “One caste, one faith, one God for mankind” significance in addressing modern-day social divisions.
• Kerala’s socio-political improvement owes a lot to the efforts of reformers like Narayana Guru—What are the affect of his teachings on the state’s socio-economic and cultural transformation?
• How can India make sure that the legacy of social reformers like Narayana Guru is preserved and interpreted in a means that promotes nationwide integration and concord?
Key Takeaways:
• Talking at a gathering in reference to the Sivagiri pilgrimage to Narayana Guru’s samadhi in Varkala, Kerala, Vijayan mentioned there was an organised effort to painting Guru because the face of Sanatan Dharma.
• Vijayan added that the essence of Sanatan Dharma lies in its Varnashrama system, which Guru explicitly challenged. “Guru was somebody who stood towards casteism. His new age dharma was not one thing outlined by faith however rooted within the betterment of individuals, no matter their faith… Tying (him) throughout the framework of Sanatan Dharma could be a sin towards Guru.”
• Vijayan’s remarks adopted his help to the suggestion by Sivagiri Mutt president Swami Sathchidananda that temples finish the apply of creating male devotees take away their shirts earlier than getting into temples.
• The BJP accused Vijayan of “disrespecting” Hindu religion, and of exploiting Guru’s legacy for political achieve. Former Union minister and BJP chief V Muraleedharan mentioned the CM had insulted all the ‘Sree Narayaneeya’ neighborhood, a reference to the OBC Ezhavas, who’re historically pro-Left and comprise about 23% of Kerala’s inhabitants.
Do You Know:
• Extremely regarded throughout Kerala for mixing spiritualism with a dedication to social reform, Guru’s teachings and philosophy – relationship again to the early a part of the final century – have come to be referred to as Advaita Vedanta.
—It’s a doctrine of “non-duality”, through which Guru says that the “final actuality” or “Brahman” is singular and indivisible, and that the “particular person self” or “Atman” is one with this common essence.
—It’s “ignorance” or “Maya” that creates an phantasm of “duality”, resulting in divisions based mostly on caste, faith and different superficial identities, Guru mentioned.
—His teachings name for people to show inwards, recognise their “divine nature”, and embrace “the interconnectedness of all beings”.
• His easy, however revolutionary, proclamation was “One Caste, One Faith, One God for Man”, and he inspired throwing open of consecrated temples to all castes.
• At Ardhanareeswara Temple in Karamukku, for instance, Guru put in in 1927 a ‘Belgium mirror’ bought from Kochi, inscribed with the phrase “OM” and virtues like “Sathyam (reality)”, “Dharmam (righteousness)”, “Daya (compassion)”, and “Shanthi (peace)”, as an alternative of a traditional idol. This underlined his perception that spirituality lay in self-reflection, not in ritualistic idol worship.
• Whereas he died in 1928, practically a century in the past, Guru’s affect will be seen in his statues throughout Kerala, the identical as for B R Ambedkar in different components.
• For the Ezhavas, he’s a revered determine, with the neighborhood’s important outfit, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), carrying lots of political heft.
• For lengthy, the SNDP headed by Vellappalli Natesan has been supportive of the ruling regimes in Kerala. Nevertheless, his son Thushar Vellappally, the nationwide president of the SNDP’s political wing BDJS (Bharath Dharma Jana Sena), backs the BJP.
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📍On Gandhi Jayanti, let’s revisit Mahatma Gandhi and Narayana Guru’s concepts of non-violence
UPSC Apply Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
2. Take into account the next statements relating to Narayana Guru:
1. Narayana Guru was a Twentieth-century social reformer from Kerala.
2. He strongly advocated for the abolition of the caste system.
3. Narayana Guru’s teachings have been primarily centered on selling training amongst ladies.
Which of the statements given above is/are right?
(a) 1 and a couple of solely
(b) 2 and three solely
(c) 1 and three solely
(d) 1, 2, and three
THE IDEAS PAGE
Fast-fix populism, no panacea
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Present occasions of nationwide and worldwide significance.
Mains Examination: Normal Research II: Welfare schemes for weak sections of the inhabitants by the Centre and States and the efficiency of those schemes
What’s the continuing story: Himanshu Writes: They will complement and increase social security nets however can’t substitute for higher state funding in reforms
Key Factors to Ponder:
• What’s “Freebies”?
• Is there any definition of the time period “freebies” given within the current authorized/coverage framework?
• Focus on the professionals and cons of money switch schemes as a coverage instrument for poverty alleviation.
• Money switch schemes have been criticized as instruments of quick-fix populism. Critically analyze this assertion
• Examine and distinction the effectiveness of direct money transfers and in-kind welfare packages (e.g., PDS and MGNREGS) in addressing poverty and inequality in India.
• The thought of Common Primary Earnings (UBI) has gained traction lately. Consider its feasibility and potential affect on India’s socio-economic framework.
• Focus on the potential financial and social penalties of changing subsidies with money switch schemes in India. How can governments make sure that money transfers don’t exacerbate current inequalities?
• Direct money transfers present quick reduction however will not be a panacea for structural poverty. Counsel a holistic strategy to addressing poverty and unemployment in India.
Key Takeaways:
Himanshu in “Fast-fix populism, no panacea” Writes:
• In India, one of many oldest nationwide money switch schemes is the Nationwide Social Help Programme (NSAP), which offers pensions to the aged, widowed and disabled who’re unable to take part in financial actions. However money transfers have now turn into the brand new magic wand that can be utilized for any drawback.
• For political events, it’s the go-to answer for something from ladies empowerment to agrarian misery to unemployment to poverty alleviation. Whether or not these truly ship on the problems at hand is hardly a consideration so long as they ship on the political entrance.
• The success of incumbent events in Maharashtra and Jharkhand seems to be the results of such cash-transfer schemes directed in direction of ladies.
• In nearly all instances, the schemes have been initiated simply earlier than the elections and led to the incumbent governments returning to energy within the state legislative elections.
• Whereas ladies might have emerged as the brand new political constituency, the thought of throwing money at issues which are tough to resolve has turn into an accepted precept. This was efficiently utilized by states corresponding to Telangana and Odisha to cope with agrarian misery. It was then adopted by the central authorities by increasing the scheme to all farmers within the run-up to the 2019 normal elections as PM-KISAN.
• States have now tried utilizing money transfers as an answer to the unemployment drawback with a number of of them both promising or truly implementing schemes for the unemployed.
• It might be too early to look at the affect of money transfers within the brief run. Nevertheless, the difficulty shouldn’t be the success of those particular person schemes however the primary premise that money transfers can resolve all issues.
Do You Know:
• The time period ‘freebie’ within the dictionary refers to an merchandise or service that’s provided or delivered with none value. In a bulletin revealed in June 2022, the Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI) issued a definition for the time period ‘freebies’ as a type of public welfare programme that’s provided with none value. The Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI) asserts that freebies will be differentiated from public or benefit items, corresponding to training and healthcare, in addition to different state expenditures that yield broader and enduring benefits.
• However, discerning between welfare items, also known as ‘benefit’ items, and freebies or ‘non-merit’ merchandise poses a big problem. Students have underscored the importance of benefit items, corresponding to free or subsidised meals, training, shelter, and healthcare, in expediting human improvement and subsequently fostering nationwide financial progress.
• In keeping with N Okay Singh, the previous chairman of the fifteenth Finance Fee, it’s crucial to precise concern towards the prospect of emulating the tradition of aggressive freebie politics. This apprehension is supported by a complete evaluation consisting of seven distinct causes. To start with, the availability of freebies undermines the basic construction of macroeconomic stability. The allocation of sources is distorted by the political practise of offering free items or companies.
Different Vital Articles Protecting the identical subject:
📍Election monitor does effectively to chorus from entering into debate on freebies. That dialogue should stay within the political area
UPSC Apply Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
3. Which of the next is an instance of a direct money switch scheme in India?
(a) Mid-Day Meal Scheme
(b) Public Distribution System (PDS)
(c) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)
(d) Mahatma Gandhi Nationwide Rural Employment Assure Scheme (MGNREGS)
Money transfers can change lives
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Present occasions of nationwide and worldwide significance.
Mains Examination: Normal Research II: Welfare schemes for weak sections of the inhabitants by the Centre and States and the efficiency of those schemes
What’s the continuing story: Jasmine Shah Writes—There may be sufficient proof of their optimistic affect, particularly on lives of marginalised teams like ladies
Key Factors to Ponder:
• How freebies Influence Union and State budgets?
• Why the phrase ‘Freebie’ is sort of sounds pejorative particularly in political and coverage circle?
• The political dialogue constructed round freebies is fraught with hazard. What ‘hazard’ is related to Freebies scheme?
• “Money transfers are usually not freebies.” Critically analyse this assertion within the context of Indian welfare insurance policies.
• Focus on the affect of direct money transfers on poverty alleviation and financial empowerment in India. Help your argument with examples.
• Focus on the function of expertise in making certain transparency and effectivity within the implementation of direct money switch schemes in India.
Key Takeaways:
Jasmine Shah in “Money transfers are usually not freebies” Writes
• India ranks poorly in most international indices of ladies empowerment. The 2023 World Gender Hole report by the World Financial Discussion board ranked India at 129 out of 146 nations.
• India is among the many few nations globally to see reducing participation of ladies within the workforce within the first 20 years of this century, regardless of stellar financial progress.
• Money and in-kind transfers to ladies instantly enable them to deal with the a number of obstacles they face in accessing training and job alternatives, moreover residing a lifetime of dignity.
• The opposite yardstick for figuring out the restrict of direct transfers ought to be their implications on the state’s funds.
• The Delhi Mannequin stands out once more by making certain that, Delhi’s price range constantly remained in income surplus over the previous decade and Delhi’s general debt-to-GDP ratio decreased from 7 per cent to 4 per cent – among the many lowest for any Indian state.
• Critics of such transfers hardly ever blink on the true freebies. Over the past decade, Indian banks have written off practically Rs 15 lakh crore of dangerous loans of wealthy corporates with seemingly few penalties for over 12,000 wilful defaulters.
Do You Know:
• The Directive Ideas of State Coverage, enshrined in Half IV of the Indian Structure mirror that India is a welfare state. Extra particularly, Article 38 within the Structure says that: The State shall attempt to advertise the welfare of the individuals by securing and defending as successfully as it could a social order through which justice, social, financial and political, shall inform all of the establishments of the nationwide life; and the State shall, specifically, attempt to attenuate the inequalities in revenue, and endeavour to get rid of inequalities in standing, services and alternatives, not solely amongst people but in addition amongst teams of individuals residing in several areas or engaged in several vocations.
• Institution of a welfare state is a aware coverage which entails the outflow of public sources for enhancing the standard of life for all residents, together with those that are unable to avail themselves of the naked requirements of life
Different Vital Articles Protecting the identical subject:
📍The 360° UPSC Debate | Are Freebies a Gateway to Monetary Catastrophe?
UPSC Apply Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
4. The time period “common primary revenue (UBI)” typically mentioned in financial coverage debates, is most intently related to:
Which among the many following might be thought of a “freebie” in financial phrases?
(a) Backed meals beneath PDS
(b) Waiver of electrical energy payments for choose client classes
(c) Mid-day meal schemes in colleges
(d) Cost beneath MGNREGA for work accomplished
EXPRESS NETWORK
Nobody will be disadvantaged of property with out sufficient compensation: SC
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Structure, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Coverage, Rights Points, and so on.
Essential Examination: Normal Research II: Indian Structure—historic underpinnings, evolution, options, amendments, vital provisions and primary construction.
What’s the continuing story: The best to property is a human proper and a constitutional proper and no particular person will be disadvantaged of his or her property with out being paid sufficient compensation, the Supreme Court docket dominated Thursday whereas additionally holding that in distinctive circumstances of inordinate delay in disbursement of compensation, the date of fixing the valuation will be shifted to a more moderen one.
Key Factors to Ponder:
• ‘The Supreme Court docket of India just lately reaffirmed that nobody will be disadvantaged of property with out sufficient compensation’-What’s the situation precisely?
• Focus on the evolution of the fitting to property in India, highlighting the implications latest Supreme Court docket ruling?
• What’s the significance of the forty fourth Constitutional Modification Act, 1978, in redefining property rights in India.
• How forty fourth Constitutional Modification Act, 1978 balanced particular person rights and state pursuits?
• The precept of “sufficient compensation” for property acquisition is a cornerstone of justice—Consider the challenges and controversies related to its implementation in India.
• Focus on the doctrine of eminent area within the Indian context. How does the latest Supreme Court docket ruling on compensation strengthen or problem its software?
• Analyse the function of judiciary in balancing the fitting to property with developmental priorities of the state. How does this affect governance and citizen-state relations?
Key Takeaways:
• “Proper to Property ceased to be a Elementary Proper by the Structure (Forty-Fourth Modification) Act, 1978, nevertheless, it continues to be a human proper in a welfare State, and a constitutional proper beneath Article 300-A of the Structure. Article 300-A of the Structure offers that no particular person shall be disadvantaged of his property save by authority of regulation. The State can’t dispossess a citizen of his property besides in accordance with the process established by regulation,” a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Okay V Viswanathan mentioned in its judgement.
• The choice got here on an attraction towards the November 22, 2022 judgement of a Division Bench of the Karnataka Excessive Court docket dismissing the problem to the judgement of a single choose of the HC on the query of acquisition of land for the Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Hall Mission in 2003.
• Writing for the SC bench, Justice Gavai mentioned: “We don’t discover any error within the strategy adopted by the realized Single Decide of the Excessive Court docket in holding that the SLAO couldn’t have shifted the date and it might have been accomplished solely by this Court docket in train of powers beneath Article 32/142 of the Structure of India or by the Excessive Court docket beneath Article 226 of the Structure of India.
• The courtroom mentioned that “if the compensation to be awarded on the market worth as of the yr 2003 is permitted, it could quantity to allowing a travesty of justice and making the constitutional provisions beneath Article 300-A a mockery”.
• The SC directed the SLAO to “decide the compensation to be awarded to the appellants herein on the idea of the market worth prevailing as on twenty second April 2019. The appellants shall even be entitled to all of the statutory advantages as can be found to them beneath the 1894 Land Acquisition Act”.
Do You Know:
• On a plea by a number of the land house owners who mentioned that they had not been given compensation, the Particular Land Acquisition Officer (SLAO), Bengaluru, by order dated April 22, 2019, determined to postpone the date of Preliminary Notification for acquisition from January 29, 2003 to 2011 and accordingly ordered the charges for that yr. An quantity of Rs 32,69,45,789 was awarded for 11 acre 1.25 guntas of land.
• The mission proponents challenged this earlier than the HC and a single-judge bench quashed the award and directed that contemporary awards be handed in accordance with the regulation. The Division Bench dismissed the attraction towards this following which the land house owners moved the SC.
• Falling beneath Half IV of the Structure titled “Directive Ideas of State Coverage” (DPSP), Article 39(b) locations an obligation on the state to create coverage in direction of securing “the possession and management of the fabric sources of the neighborhood are so distributed as greatest to subserve the frequent good”.
• DPSP are supposed to be guiding ideas for the enactment of legal guidelines, however are usually not instantly enforceable in any courtroom of regulation.
Different Vital Articles Protecting the identical subject:
📍Acquisition of pvt property not legitimate if correct process not adopted, says Supreme Court docket
UPSC Earlier 12 months Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
5. What’s the place of the Proper to Property in India? (UPSC CSE, GS1, 2021)
a) Authorized proper obtainable to residents solely
b) Authorized rights obtainable to any particular person
c) Elementary Proper obtainable to residents solely
d) Neither Elementary Proper nor authorized proper
EXPLAINED
FREESTYLE CHESS
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Present occasions of nationwide and worldwide significance.
What’s the continuing story: The world of chess had a quite tumultuous finish to 2024, with prime gamers like Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura taking over FIDE, the worldwide governing physique of chess.
Key Factors to Ponder:
• What’s freestyle chess?
• What’s the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour?
• What did Carlsen and Nakamura allege?
• Who can be enjoying within the Freestyle Occasions this yr?
Key Takeaways:
• Freestyle chess is a variant of chess that was popularised by the legendary Bobby Fischer means again in 1996. It’s chess with a twist.
• In common chess, positions of chess items on the again ranks are mounted: the rooks are stationed on the corners, the knights begin on the b and g recordsdata, the bishops on the c and f recordsdata. Each kings are on d file squares whereas the queens begin on e squares.
• However in freestyle chess, the positions of those items are randomised at the beginning of the sport, though the eight pawns in entrance of those items begin the place they often do. This format is supposed to advertise creativity from gamers. The distinctive opening place in every sport eliminates all of the opening theories which gamers like Fischer and Carlsen say make chess very theoretic and bookish within the first part.
• Gamers are pressured to navigate uncharted territory from the primary transfer itself quite than having the posh of enjoying out the primary collection of strikes based mostly on preparation cooked by their staff. In whole, there are 960 doable beginning positions on the board when the minor and main items on the again ranks are shuffled.
Do You Know:
• Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour is a collection of 5 chess occasions, began by Germany’s Jan Henric Buettner, which can be held in 2025 in cities like Weissenhaus, Paris, New York, New Delhi, and Cape City.
• The time management used on the 5 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour occasions would be the identical as in classical chess quite than the fast or blitz codecs.
• Final yr, Carlsen gained the Freestyle Chess match and had known as the occasion “a dream come true” — a sentiment he hardly ever expresses after successful different chess occasions.
• For Carlsen, the mixture of the umpteen potentialities offered by freestyle chess, and classical time controls — 90 minutes for the primary 40 strikes, adopted by half-hour for the remainder of the sport along with an additional 30 seconds for every transfer — is an thrilling prospect.
Different Vital Articles Protecting the identical subject:
📍On a regular basis Sport: Who’s a chess Grandmaster?
UPSC Apply Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
6. Take into account the next statements in respect of the forty fourth Chess Olympiad: (2022)
1. It was the primary time that Chess Olympiad was held in India.
2. The official mascot was named ‘Thambi’.
3. The trophy for the successful staff within the open part is the Vera Menchik Cup.
4. The trophy for the successful staff within the ladies’s part is the Hamilton-Russell Cup.
How most of the statements given above are right?
a) Just one
b) Solely two
c) Solely three
d) All 4
Excessive bank card curiosity shouldn’t be ‘unfair commerce apply’, right here’s why
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Structure, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Coverage, Rights Points, and so on.
Mains Examination: Normal Research II: Vital elements of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance functions, fashions, successes, limitations, and potential; residents charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and different measures.
What’s the continuing story: You probably have a bank card or are contemplating getting one, a latest Supreme Court docket ruling has given you another excuse to suppose twice earlier than defaulting on a fee. A Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma final week held that the rate of interest charged by banks couldn’t be challenged as an “unfair commerce apply”.
Key Factors to Ponder:
• What’s Nationwide Client Disputes Redressal Fee (NCDRC)?
• Why did the NCDRC place such a restrict?
• What have been the SC’s causes for putting it down?
• Focus on the authorized and regulatory limitations confronted by credit score cardholders in difficult high-interest charges in client courts in India.
• Analyse the function of the Client Safety Act, 2019, in safeguarding the rights of monetary service shoppers in India.
• Look at the effectiveness of the Reserve Financial institution of India’s regulatory framework in making certain transparency and equity within the bank card business.
• “Credit score cardholders are shoppers, but they face challenges in redressal mechanisms.” consider this assertion in gentle of current judicial and regulatory frameworks.
• Consider the stability between client safety and the autonomy of monetary establishments in figuring out bank card rates of interest.
Key Takeaways:
• In doing so, the SC overruled a 2008 resolution by the Nationwide Client Disputes Redressal Fee (NCDRC) which held that banks couldn’t cost curiosity above 30% every year. The SC additionally held that the Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI) is the one authority that may impose limits on rates of interest.
• Within the case of “Awaz” Punita Society & Ors v. Reserve Financial institution of India & Ors (2007), the petitioners had filed a criticism stating that sure banks have been levying “usurious” (extreme) charges of curiosity — within the vary of 36-49% every year — for delays or defaults on bank card funds.
• This, they claimed, amounted to an unfair commerce apply beneath the Client Safety Act, 1986 (CPA). (The outdated CPA was repealed and changed by the brand new CPA in 2019). In addition they claimed that the RBI was required to situation a round limiting banks from charging curiosity above a particular charge.
• The RBI, nevertheless, argued that though it had already directed banks to not cost extreme charges of curiosity, its coverage was to go away it to the banks to find out the precise charges of curiosity with out instantly regulating the topic.
• Part 21A states that, “a transaction between a banking firm and its debtor shall not be re-opened by any Court docket on the bottom that the speed of curiosity charged by the banking firm in respect of such transaction is extreme”. Additional, additionally they cited Part 35A which supplies the RBI the facility to provide binding instructions to banking corporations in sure circumstances.
Do You Know:
• The Fee held that banks might be ordered to discontinue an “unfair commerce apply” as this time period has been outlined extensively beneath the CPA to incorporate using misleading or unfair practices “for the aim of selling the sale, use or provide of any items or for the availability of any service”. This, the NCDRC held, might cowl the actions of banking corporations.
• Evaluating rates of interest with a number of nations together with the US, UK, Australia, and the Philippines, the Fee concluded that 36-49% rates of interest have been certainly extreme.
• It additionally referred to the Supreme Court docket’s resolution in Central Financial institution Of India vs Ravindra And Ors (2001) which said “The ability conferred by Sections 21 and 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 is coupled with obligation to behave (by issuing directives)” and that “Any curiosity charged and/or capitalised in violation of RBI directives…shall be disallowed and/or excluded from capital sum and be handled solely as curiosity and handled accordingly”.
• With this in thoughts, the NCDRC held that “there isn’t any justifiable floor for not controlling the banks which exploit the debtors by charging exorbitant charges of curiosity various from 36 per cent to 49 per cent every year, in case of default by the bank card holders to pay quantity earlier than the due date”.
• The courtroom then set a 30% every year cap on the utmost rate of interest that banks might cost. On attraction, this resolution was stayed by the SC in 2009.
Different Vital Articles Protecting the identical subject:
📍Supreme Court docket units apart NCDRC order barring banks from levying greater than 30% rate of interest on bank card dues
UPSC Apply Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
7. As per Indian regulation, which physique primarily regulates the rates of interest charged by bank card issuers?
(a) Nationwide funds company of India (NPCI)
(b) Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI)
(c) Public sector financial institution
(d) Competitors Fee of India (CCI)
How in-flight Web works
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Present occasions of nationwide and worldwide significance.
Essential Examination: Normal Research III: Science and Know-how- developments and their functions and results in on a regular basis life.
What’s the continuing story: Air India rang within the new yr by asserting the rollout of Wi-Fi Web connectivity companies on board home and worldwide flights serviced by choose plane in its fleet. This makes the airline the primary in India to supply Web connectivity on home flights.
Key Factors to Ponder:
• Which Air India planes at the moment have the onboard Wi-Fi providing?
• What are the applied sciences obtainable to offer in-flight Web connectivity?
• How does in-flight Wi-Fi work?
• How costly is that this expertise for airways and passengers?
Key Takeaways:
• Wi-Fi can be provided freed from cost on home flights operated by the choose plane for a restricted introductory interval. Over time, Air India plans to progressively supply the service on different plane in its fleet.
• On-board web companies are quick turning into a regular providing, notably amongst main full-service carriers (FSCs) globally. Air India, which returned to the Tata Group three years in the past, has large ambitions to be counted among the many world’s foremost airways.
• For now, Wi-Fi can be obtainable on the airline’s Airbus A350, Boeing 787-9, and choose Airbus A321neo plane. The airline was already providing Web connectivity on board worldwide flights operated by these plane as a part of an ongoing pilot programme.
Do You Know:
• In-flight connectivity methods primarily use two sorts of applied sciences — ground-based mobile towers, also referred to as air-to-ground (ATG) expertise, and satellite-based connectivity. Each require particular antennae and different gear to be put in on the plane.
—Within the former, an antenna — often positioned across the airplane’s stomach, picks up alerts from the closest tower on the bottom, or floor receiver, to offer connectivity on board the plane. In some senses, that is just like how our units entry wi-fi Web on the bottom.
• A number of Wi-Fi antennae are positioned contained in the plane cabin, which get alerts from passengers’ units. From these in-cabin antennae, the alerts are despatched to an on-board server. Until this level, the method is similar for each ATG and satellite-based connectivity.
• Within the case of a satellite-based connectivity system, the alerts are then transmitted via an antenna on prime of the plane to a satellite tv for pc, which relays them to a floor station or teleport.
• In response, alerts are despatched from the bottom station to the satellite tv for pc, which relays them to the plane. In ATG expertise, the alerts from the server on board the plane are transmitted on to on-land mobile towers utilizing the antenna beneath the plane. The towers then reply with alerts to the plane.
Different Vital Articles Protecting the identical subject:
📍Air India first airline to roll out Wi-Fi for choose home flights
UPSC Apply Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
8. Which of the next applied sciences is primarily used for in-flight web connectivity?
1. Terrestrial cell towers
2. Satellite tv for pc communication
3. Fiber-optic cables
4. Microwave radio transmission
What’s right choice given beneath?
a) 1 and a couple of solely
b) 2 solely
c) 1, 2, and three
d) 2 and 4 solely
Why Uttarakhand authorities is selling the winter Char Dham circuit
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Present occasions of nationwide and worldwide significance.
Essential Examination: Normal Research II: Authorities insurance policies and interventions for improvement in varied sectors and points arising out of their design and implementation.
What’s the continuing story: The Uttarakhand authorities on December 8 inaugurated the winter Char Dham circuit, geared toward drawing vacationers to the state within the low season winter months.
Key Factors to Ponder:
• Focus on the idea of the Winter Char Dham and its significance for selling sustainable tourism in Uttarakhand.
• How does Winter Char Dham will profit the native financial system and protect the standard Char Dham pilgrimage?
• Analyse the alternatives and challenges related to spiritual tourism in regional improvement initiative.
• Sustainable tourism is essential for ecologically fragile areas like Uttarakhand. Consider the function of initiatives like Winter Char Dham in reaching a stability between tourism improvement and environmental conservation.
• The relocation of deities to Winter Char Dham websites displays a singular cultural custom in Uttarakhand. Focus on the significance of such traditions in preserving regional identification and heritage.
Key Takeaways:
• The Uttarakhand authorities on December 8 inaugurated the winter Char Dham circuit, geared toward drawing vacationers to the state within the low season winter months.
• Nestled within the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand, are 4 revered Hindu shrines or dhams — Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath — collectively referred to as Char Dham.
• Every year, from Might to November, lakhs of pilgrims go to these shrines. In keeping with Authorities of Uttarakhand knowledge, greater than 48 lakh pilgrims and 5.4 lakh automobiles visited Char Dham this yr, accounting for roughly 8.4 per cent of Uttarakhand’s annual home vacationer footfall.
• The Char Dham yatra (pilgrimage) thus drives the state’s financial system. However through the winter months, heavy snowfall leaves these shrines inaccessible, and their gates are shut.
• Through the winter months, the presiding deities of those temples are delivered to shrines at decrease altitudes — Mukhba in Uttarkashi is the winter seat of Gangotri Dham; Kharsali in Uttarkashi is the winter seat of Yamunotri Dham; Kedarnath’s winter abode is the Omkareshwar Temple in Rudraprayag’s Ukhimath; and Badrinath’s is at Pandukeshwar in Chamoli.
• The winter Char Dham is geared toward drawing pilgrims to those shrines, and thus entice vacationer footfall to Uttarakhand throughout low season months. As of December 30, the shrines recorded a footfall of 15,314 pilgrims with the Omkareshwar Temple seeing the very best footfall of 6,482 pilgrims adopted by Pandukeshwar (5,104 pilgrims), Mukhba (3,114 pilgrims), and Kharsali (614 pilgrims).
Do You Know:
• In keeping with the Uttarakhand tourism division, the Char Dham nets the state greater than Rs 200 crore every day. Nevertheless, the influx through the winter season is but to take off, though officers stay hopeful of extra footfall because the yatra progresses this yr.
• Ravi Chopra, the previous chairman of the Supreme Court docket appointed Excessive Powered Committee on the Char Dham mission, mentioned that in winter, uncommon and threatened animals on the excessive mountain slopes and crests come down for meals and water. “Within the last report of the HPC to the SC, we had particularly made a point out that the site visitors throughout winters could cause disturbance for wildlife like snow leopard and mountain sheep as these are shy animals,” Chopra mentioned.
• In July final yr, the Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal requested the state authorities to determine the carrying capability of the Char Dham, and the Uttarakhand Air pollution Management Board tasked the Wildlife Institute of India with assessing it and submitting a report inside a yr.
Different Vital Articles Protecting the identical subject:
📍Defined: Why the Char Dham Yatra is a dangerous pilgrimage
UPSC Apply Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
9. The normal Char Dham pilgrimage in Uttarakhand consists of which of the next temples?
1. Kedarnath
2. Yamunotri
3. Badrinath
4. Gangotri
Choose the right reply utilizing the codes beneath:
(a) 1 and a couple of solely
(b) 1, 2, and three solely
(c) 2, 3, and 4 solely
(d) 1, 2, 3, and 4
ECONOMY
High quality management orders hurting jobs in textile sector: Business tells ministry
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Present occasions of nationwide and worldwide significance.
Essential Examination: Normal Research III: Indian Economic system and points regarding planning, mobilization, of sources, progress, improvement and employment.
What’s the continuing story: The High quality Management Order (QCO) on key enter supplies for the home textile business is harming jobs as a result of declining competitiveness of the downstream business and is appearing as a barrier to accessing uncooked supplies, the Confederation of Indian Textile Business (CITI) mentioned in its pre-Finances memorandum to the Finance Ministry.
Key Factors to Ponder:
• Focus on the function of High quality Management Orders (QCOs) in making certain client security and product high quality in India.
• What’s the affect of High quality Management Orders on the employment state of affairs within the Indian textile sector?
• Whereas QCOs guarantee product high quality, they impose extra compliance prices.” Critically consider this assertion within the context of the MSME sector within the textile business.
• Look at the challenges confronted by the textile sector in India as a result of stringent implementation of High quality Management Orders.
• Focus on how High quality Management Orders can affect the Make in India initiative and promote Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Key Takeaways:
• The QCO blocks the import and sale of things that don’t bear a Bureau of Indian Requirements (BIS) mark. Nevertheless, the business mentioned that the BIS certification course of is cumbersome for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and is enabling the creation of monopolies within the nation because of stronger lobbying by massive companies.
• “Whereas opponents like Bangladesh and Vietnam have free entry to such uncooked supplies, India has imposed QCO on man-made fibre (MMF) fibre/yarn, which is appearing as a non-tariff barrier (NTB) on the import of such uncooked supplies, thereby affecting their free stream. This has resulted in a scarcity of specialized fibre/yarn varieties, which has additionally impacted home costs,” CITI mentioned.
• CITI emphasised the significance of making certain the ample availability of all uncooked supplies at globally aggressive costs. To attain this, it beneficial that the federal government liberalise import insurance policies and scale back the essential customs obligation (BCD) on all MMF fibres, filaments, and important chemical compounds corresponding to PTA and MEG, that are essential for the manufacturing of those uncooked supplies.
Do You Know:
• High quality Management Orders (QCOs) are government-initiated laws geared toward establishing necessary high quality requirements for particular merchandise or classes. These measures make sure that merchandise adjust to outlined necessities for high quality, security, and efficiency earlier than they’re manufactured, imported, saved, or offered within the nation. The first objective of QCOs is to stop the inflow of substandard and low-cost items into the home market, offering shoppers with entry to merchandise that meet established high quality benchmarks.
• QCOs are shielded from challenges on the World Commerce Group (WTO) when they’re carried out for causes corresponding to well being, security, environmental safety, prevention of misleading commerce practices, or nationwide safety. The Bureau of Indian Requirements (BIS) performs a key function in overseeing and making certain adherence to the standard requirements mandated by these orders.
Different Vital Articles Protecting the identical subject:
📍High quality management orders now cowl 732 merchandise serving to curb low cost high quality imports: Goyal
UPSC Apply Prelims Query Protecting comparable theme:
10. What’s a possible unfavorable affect of High quality Management Orders on the textile sector?
(a) Improve in employment alternatives
(b) Discount in uncooked materials availability
(c) Job losses because of elevated compliance prices
(d) Rise in export volumes of textiles
|
PRELIMS ANSWER KEY |
| 1. (c) 2. (a) 3. (c) 4. (b) 5. (b) 6. (b) 7. (b) 8. (b) 9.(d) 10. (c) |
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