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The Editorial Page
Constitution at the centre
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Polity
Mains Examination: GS-II: Constitution and Polity
What’s the ongoing story- Upendra Baxi writes: “It would appear that all political parties and their leaders have developed a new image of, and affinity for, the Constitution of India. This was evident in the recent session of Parliament, which was preceded by a hard-fought and hard-won election for the 18th Lok Sabha.”
Prerequisites:
— What is the basic feature of the constitution?
— What are Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, and Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP)?
— What is the Third Schedule of the Constitution?
Key takeaways:
— Article 99 prescribes that every member of either House of Parliament should take an oath or affirmation according to the Third Schedule that she “shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as established by law”.
— The paradoxes of democracy lie in how, and why, the oathed citizens continue to constitute the constitutional elites and how the “people”, in whose name all political power is exercised, remain “masses” of the “weaker sections of society”.
— The other oath in the Third Schedule provides an important part of the answer. The oath of office for Justices of the Supreme Court and the High Courts of India includes the following: “I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my ability, knowledge and judgement perform the duties of my office without fear or favour, affection or ill-will and that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws.”
— The first thing to note is the phrase “perform”. The law as performance, a public demonstration, has yet to be fully studied in India. The second provides a succinct working definition of independence of the judiciary, as security from threats emanating from within (incumbent and superannuated justices, litigants and lawyers), and outside (from the state and the economy).
— Note also that they (judges) are the only class of constitutional karamcharis who are not to act on their belief and opinions but on their “knowledge and judgement”. Knowledge here refers not to the folklore of law but to the institutional memory of the foundational values of courtcraft and justicing. And “judgement” connotes fidelity to the core principles of traditions of interpretation, in which most precedents function as steadying points of law.
— The Kesavananda Bharati decision and its progeny prescribed that, first, constitutional powers are plenary powers, supreme within their decisional domains, and second, that all powers are simultaneously limited and accountable.
— There are no sovereign powers, but only supreme constitutional powers provided within constitutional limits — including judicial power and the process of constitutional judicial review. And, contrary to political propaganda, most amendments since Kesavananda Bharati have been sustained — only a minuscule number have been held contrary to the Basic Structure doctrine. — Further, the Basic Structure comprises two aspects: First, forensic freedoms (free space of argumentation in an open court — the independence of the Bar), and second, the independence of the judiciary. To take these away is to abolish altogether the idea of the Constitution and that of responsible sovereignty; in short, the very idea of legitimate authority.
— The defence of the Constitution needs to now be made more specific: No matter how the Constitution may be amended in the future, with an all-party consensus, its Basic Structure and foundational principles should never be allowed to be eclipsed.
For Your Information:
— The Doctrine of Basic Structure is a form of judicial review that is used to test the legality of any legislation by the courts.
— The doctrine was evolved by the Supreme Court in the 1973 landmark ruling in Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala. In a 7-6 verdict, a 13-judge Constitution Bench ruled that the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution is inviolable, and could not be amended by Parliament.
— If a law is found to “damage or destroy” the “basic features of the Constitution”, the Court declares it unconstitutional. The test is applied to constitutional amendments to ensure the amendment does not dilute the fundamentals of the Constitutional itself.
— The test is widely regarded as a check on majoritarian impulses of the Parliament since it places substantive limits on the power to amend the Constitution.
Points to Ponder:
— How is the Constitution amended?
— What are the concerns with the constitutional amendments?
— What is the role of the judiciary in safeguarding the constitution?
Post Read Question:
Prelims
Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2020)
1. The Constitution of India defines its ‘basic structure’ in terms of federalism, secularism, fundamental rights and democracy.
2. The Constitution of India provides for ‘judicial review’ to safeguard the citizens’ liberties and to preserve the ideals on which the Constitution is based.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Mains
Starting from inventing the ‘basic structure’ doctrine, the judiciary has played a highly proactive role in ensuring that India develops into a thriving democracy. In light of the statement, evaluate the role played by judicial activism in achieving the ideals of democracy. (UPSC CSE 2014)
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Basic Structure of Constitution; what is it?
How Basic Structure doctrine became one of the strongest safeguards for Indian democracy
The Ideas Page
Dis/Agree the best of both sides
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Mains Examination: GS-I, II: Indian Heritage and Culture, International Relations
What’s the ongoing story- Yoga is among the six sports that the Mission Olympics Cell — under the Sports Ministry — feels can be recommended for inclusion in the Olympics 2036. The other five are: Twenty20 cricket, kabaddi, chess, squash and kho kho.
Prerequisites:
— History of the Olympics
— How a new game is added to the Olympics?
Key takeaways:
— Genuine yoga does not have space for competition: Tara Das
— “ Given everything that yoga can be, there is a need to define what yoga is not. And yoga is not an Olympic sport, any more than the stilling of mental factors, cessation of chitta, can be one.”
— “To reduce yoga to posture, asana, alone discounts the other seven limbs. Further, there are other paths of yoga. You may be a karmayogi, a jnanayogi, or a bhaktiyogi, using action, wisdom or devotion. There are yogas in the schools of tantra. To elevate asana, which falls under rajayoga, the harnessing of the rajas tattva (the bodily drive to subdue oneself) without contextual learning is a limited understanding of the practice”.
— “Each resistance of the body is teaching the yogi something about their spiritual, cognitive, emotional or physical boundaries and capacity. Each day a yogi comes to their mat anew, in the present moment, responding to body and mind as they are. So, how would one measure “failure” or “success”? By medal tally?”
— “The Olympics can test physical stamina and speed at best, but to a genuine practitioner, the compliance of the body is just a barometer to the mind. Genuine yoga does not have space for competition and competition has no space for yoga.”
— Why India has no reason to be shy while pitching for yoga in Olympics 2036: Mihir Vasavda
— “The Oxford Dictionary defines sport as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill, esp. (particularly in modern use) one regulated by set rules or customs in which an individual or team competes against another or others.” Yoga meets this definition; so that box is ticked.”
— “According to Statista, “yoga remains a more commonly practised sport among women in all countries”. In 2023, 33.6 million people in the US practised yoga.”
— “And lastly, do the global competition rules allow a sport like yoga to be a part of major Games? For the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee gives a host nation the right to include one or more sports that are popular in the region. At the Asian Games, it has been a tradition to include events that are popular and important to the continent’s identity.”
— “Like other host nations, the USA and China played by these rules and pushed for the addition of the sports culturally significant to them. So, India has no reason to be shy while pitching for yoga in the Olympics and Asian Games.”
For Your Information:
— The international community observes June 21 as International Yoga Day. A theme for this day is announced every year — this year’s theme is “Yoga for Self and Society”. Last year, the theme was “Yoga for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — One Earth One Family.”
Points to Ponder:
— What is the significance of Yoga?
— What are the requirements to host the Olympic games?
— What are the government initiatives to promote sports in the country?
Post Read Question:
Discuss the relevance of yoga in India’s cultural and spiritual legacy. To what extent the use of soft power like yoga could help generate goodwill and international recognition for India?
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
In 2036 Olympics bid, India to pitch for inclusion of yoga, kabaddi and kho kho
Govt & Politics
50k villages in 310 districts: Govt prepares plan for climate-resilient farming
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economy
Mains Examination: GS-III: Economy
What’s the ongoing story- The Union government plans to unveil a framework to promote climate-resilient agriculture in 50,000 villages located in climatically-vulnerable districts, The Indian Express has learnt.
Prerequisites:
— What is climate-resilient agriculture?
— What are climatically-vulnerable regions?
Key takeaways:
— The initiative is part of a national programme on climate-resilient agriculture, which the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare plans to launch as part of a 100-day agenda.
— While the fineprint is still being hammered out, it is learnt that the framework may include measures such as promoting crops that are less water intensive, conserving water sources in the respective areas and monitoring fertiliser inputs.
— The source said that officials will select 50,000 villages from 310 districts that have already been identified as climatically-vulnerable. These 310 districts are spread across 27 states, with Uttar Pradesh accounting for the most districts (48), followed by Rajasthan (27).
For Your Information:
— India needs to adopt a two-pronged strategy with respect to water in agriculture. First, on the supply side, it must augment buffer stocking of water during the monsoon season in its reservoirs, and recharge groundwater through check dams and watersheds, etc. Second, it must work on the demand side to ensure more rational allocation and efficient use of water across crops.
Points to Ponder:
— What are the challenges faced by the agriculture sector?
— How is climate change impacting agricultural productivity?
— What are the initiatives taken by the government to address these challenges?
Post Read Question:
Prelims
Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2017)
1. The nation-wide ‘Soil Health Card Scheme’ aims at expanding the cultivable area under irrigation.
2. enabling the banks to assess the quantum of loans to be granted to farmers on the basis of soil quality.
3. checking the overuse of fertilizers in farmlands.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Mains
Given the vulnerability of Indian agriculture to vagaries of nature, discuss the need for crop insurance and bring out the salient features of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). (UPSC CSE 2016)
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
How India can minimise climate risk in agriculture
Why it is necessary to diversify the farming basket
Explained
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Mains Examination: GS-II: International Relations
What’s the ongoing story- On Thursday (July 4), the final day of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Prerequisites:
— What is SCO?
— What is the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS)?
— What is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)?
Key takeaways:
— Its origins lie in the “Shanghai Five”, formed in 1996 and consisting of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
— SCO was established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai as an international organisation, and also included Uzbekistan as a sixth member. Before the inclusion of Belarus, it had nine members: India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan and Mongolia hold Observer Status.
— SCO is one of the few international organisations which deal with security issues and primarily has Asian members. Regional heavyweights Russia and China have stressed its position as an alternative to a “Western” international order.
— The inclusion of India and Pakistan in SCO in 2017 was also seen as reflecting this jostling. While Russia supported India’s entry as a longstanding strategic partner, China backed its ally Pakistan to prevent the balance of powers from tilting in Russia’s favour.
— On one level, SCO membership allows India to participate in a forum which enhances its scope of cooperation with Central Asian countries, which have not had particularly close relations with India since their formation in 1991. It also matters for maintaining communication with major actors in the region on common security issues.
For Your Information:
— However, there may not be many tangible outcomes from the SCO. An article in the Financial Times noted: “The opaque parameters it uses to launch its initiatives and institutions allows countries to look past the rivalries they have with others in the group. But it does nothing to heal the rifts. Thus the SCO embraces both Pakistan and India, which acknowledge their mutually hostile ties. India’s relationship with China itself is also tense on several fronts.”
— The relevance of the organisation comes into question given the difficulty in managing ties among the partners.
Points to Ponder:
— What are the shortcomings of SCO?
— What are the ongoing conflicts between SCO members?
— What was the significance of SCO hosting by India?
— What is the relevance of SCO in the current world order?
Post Read Question:
Critically examine the aims and objectives of SCO. What importance does it hold for India? (UPSC CSE 2021)
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Express View on SCO meet: Despite differences
Too much milk powder
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economy
Mains Examination: GS-III: Economy
What’s the ongoing story- Indian Diary farmers have been hit by a new “surplus” problem — of skimmed milk powder (SMP). Cooperative and private dairies are holding an estimated 3-3.25 lakh tonnes (lt) of SMP stocks at the start of the production year that runs from July to June.
Prerequisites:
— What is skimmed milk powder (SMP)?
— What are the major constituents of milk?
Key takeaways:
— Cow milk contains 3.5% fat and 8.5% solids-not-fat (SNF) on an average, with the same at 6.5% and 9% for buffalo milk. Being perishable, milk cannot be stocked. Only its solids (i.e. fat and SNF) are storable after separation of the cream and drying of the skimmed milk.
— These solids are recombined along with water into liquid milk during the “lean” season, when production by animals falls and may not suffice to meet demand.
— From every 100 litres (or 103 kg) of cow milk, a dairy can make about 8.75 kg of SMP (at 8.5% SNF), and 3.6 kg of ghee (at 3.5% fat).
— Dairies in India produce 5.5-6 lt of SMP annually. A big chunk of that, roughly 4 lt, is used for recombining during the lean season. The balance 1.5-2 lt gets consumed by makers of ice cream, biscuits, chocolate, sweetmeats, baby formula, and other food and industrial products.
— Cow SMP realisations for dairies have crashed to Rs 200-210 per kg, and to Rs 335-340 for yellow butter. The latter corresponds to a ghee price of Rs 408-415 per kg (ghee has close to 100% fat, as against 82% for butter).
— The surplus problem is, however, less in milk fat, as its annual production by dairies is only 3-3.5 lt. Fat, unlike SMP, also has a good market in India, both among households and industrial consumers.
— But the drop in global prices — SMP rates at the New Zealand-based Global Dairy Trade fortnightly online auction platform are ruling at $2,586 per tonne, down from the recent high of $4,599 in April 2022 — makes commercial exports unviable.
— The reasons are two-fold. First, there is growing demand for milk fat in India. But for every 1 kg of fat, dairies also end up making over 2.4 kg SMP. Secondly, farmers prefer rearing cows, as they — notwithstanding issues relating to disposal of unproductive cattle — yield more milk and start calving earlier than buffaloes. At the same time, 1 kg of fat from buffalo milk results in production of less than 1.4 kg of SMP.
— As an increasing share of India’s milk comes from cows, the challenge of finding a market for surplus SMP may also grow.
Points to Ponder:
— What is the significance of animal husbandry and the dairy sector?
— What are the challenges in the animal husbandry sector?
— What are the initiatives taken by the government to enhance the livestock sector?
Post Read Question:
Prelims
Consider the following plants: (UPSC CSE 2024)
1. Groundnut
2. Horse-gram
3. Soybean
How many of the above belong to the pea family?
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) Only three
(d) None
Mains
Livestock rearing has a big potential for providing non-farm employment and income in rural areas. Discuss suggesting suitable measures to promote this sector in India. (UPSC CSE 2015)
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
How to bring about White Revolution 2.0
Private papers of public figures like Nehru, and the rule governing them
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance
Mains Examination: GS-II: Government initiatives
What’s the ongoing story- The Prime Ministers’ Museum & Library (PMML) has decided that it will not permit future donors of Private Papers of eminent personalities to impose indefinite conditions on the declassification of such material.
Prerequisites:
— What are private papers?
— What is the difference between private papers and personal papers?
Key takeaways:
— The Jawaharlal Nehru Papers were the first set of Private Papers obtained by PMML, which was set up originally as the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) in the memory of India’s first Prime Minister.
— The transfer was facilitated by the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (JNMF) on behalf of Nehru’s legal heir, Indira Gandhi, who apparently remained the owner of these documents until her assassination in October 1984.
— The PMML has the largest collection of Private Papers in the country, which originally belonged to some 1,000 personalities of modern India, encompassing the entire spectrum of its leadership. In this collection are the papers of Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Bhikaji Cama, Chaudhary Charan Singh, and many others.
— The individual collections have come from families, institutions, universities, and other private donors. The papers are invaluable for an accurate appraisal of the lives and times of these personalities, and essential for an understanding of India’s modern history and its landmark moments. This is what lies at the heart of repeated efforts to make them available to scholars and researchers.
— It is in this context that the museum — which functions under the Ministry of Culture — has decided that it will, under normal circumstances, permit only a five-year embargo from the date of receipt of any new papers. In rare cases, this window can remain shut for up to 10 years at most.
— The other organisation that acquires Private Collections in the country, the National Archives of India — which too, operates under the Culture Ministry — says it acquires only those papers which the donors agree to declassify.
— The Public Records Rules, 1997, covers declassification of all kinds of records and correspondence in India. For official records, the Rules say that the responsibility for declassification rests with the respective organisations, and that records should ordinarily be declassified in 25 years.
For Your Information:
— The definition of Public Records encompasses any records in relation to the central government, and any ministry, department or office of the government — including the PMO and the President’s Office.
Points to Ponder:
— What is the significance of these papers in understanding history?
Post Read Question:
What are the rules governing the declassification of the private peppers held in public places? What are the concerns regarding that?
Economy
New model of Producer Price Index to capture input prices better on the anvil
UPSC Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Economy
Mains Examination: GS-III: Economy
What’s the ongoing story- The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh on Friday said that the department has finalised a new model of the Producer Price Index (PPI) to efficiently capture input prices in the economy and has shared it with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Prerequisites:
— What is PPI?
— What is the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)?
— What is the base year?
Key takeaways:
— Singh during a press briefing said that the government is also working towards changing the base year of the wholesale price index (WPI) from 2011-12 adding that the government is slo mulling on moving from the WPI to PPI going ahead in line with most G20 economies.
For Your Information:
— The Wholesale Price Index measures the change in prices of goods traded by wholesale businesses. Unlike the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks prices of goods and services purchased by consumers, WPI tracks factory gate prices.
Points to Ponder:
— How CPI is different from PPI?
— What are the challenges of WPI?
— What is the base year for CPI and WPI?
— What are the components of WPI?
Post Read Question:
Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2020)
1. The weightage of food in Consumer Price Index (CPI) is higher than that in Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
2. The WPI does not capture changes in the prices of services, which CPI does.
3. Reserve Bank of India has now adopted WPI as its key measure of inflation and to decide on changing the key policy rates.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:
Wholesale price inflation rises to 1.26% in April
ALSO IN NEWS |
|
| 1. Data uninterrupted | On July 1, the Ministry of Finance marked seven years of the shift to the Goods and Services Tax regime. About the same time, the government reportedly decided to discontinue the practice of publishing detailed GST data on a regular basis. This is an unwelcome departure from the past. |
| 2. Home and world | Periodic revisions of textbooks are essential. But such revisions must not lose sight of the goal: To expose them to a vibrant curriculum that encourages curiosity, enhances critical thinking |
| 3. The Hathras questions | The government would do well to fix responsibility and come out with a white paper on how this congregation should have been organised ideally. It is not rocket science. — Crowd management— Disaster Management— Role of administration |
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