A new direction for India-U.S. ties (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations 
Prelims level:Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
Mains level: Bilateral agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Context:

• The US under the leadership of President F. D. Roosevelt during the early 1940s once pressed Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill to free India and co-opt India as a formal allyin World War II.
• But Britain firmly and obstinatelyrefused to agree despite the writing on the wall — that Indians had stood up and would achieve freedom sooner rather than later.
• India stabilised after a bloodyPartition in 1947, declared its commitment to democracy, fundamental rights, free press and non-violence in a written Constitution.

The UN and CHINA:

• India thus appeared to the U.S. as worthy of replacing China in the most important Security Council, as a Permanent Member with a Veto.
• According to a recent study by Dr. Anton Harder, the author states that the U.S.’s offer for India to join the UNSC was conveyed by India’s Ambassador to the U.S. then, viz., Ms. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Nehru’s sister.
• Nehru’s response was unequivocal.
• ‘So far as we are concerned, we are not going to countenanceit. That would be bad from every point of view. 
• It would be a clear affrontto China and it would mean some kind of a break between us and China.
• ‘We shall go on pressing for China’s admission in the UN and the Security Council. 
• India because of many factors, is certainly entitled to a permanent seat in the security council. But we are not going to at the cost of China’.
• Nehru not only declined the U.S. offer to India to become a UNSC Permanent Member with Veto but instead campaigned for China to take up that seat.
• The U.S. however resisted that campaign till 1972, when in a turnaround the U.S. supported Communist People’s Republic of China and entered into “strategic partnership” in the 1970s onwards with the reform-minded new leadership of Deng Xiaoping.
• Subsequently what China did to Nehru for this generosity at India’s expense is history from which we must learn.  

The shift to Pakistan:

• In 1953 after India’s tilt to the Soviet Union and China in the Korean war, the U.S. turned to Pakistan as a possible counterweight in South Asia against the Soviet Union and China. 
• The U.S. made Pakistan a member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), and liberally gave aid and armaments.
• Pakistan which was no match in military, economic development, and ancient and continuous culture that ensured democracy, began to dream of equality with India in the international domain.
• As a consequence, India had to go to war with Pakistan in 1965, 1971 and 1999, losing precious lives defending our own territory. 
• The U.S. even sent a Seventh Fleet Task Force with nuclear weapons on board to threaten us on the dismembermentof Pakistan during Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
• The rest is history. We have to learn from our past mistakes. 
• Today there is a new opportunity with the U.S. but it is not on a clean slate.

America’s November Roll:

• The success of our new bonding with the U.S. will first depend on the outcome of the U.S. Presidential elections this November. 
• The Democratic party rival and Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, has already taken a hostilestand against our government. 
• With the Left wing and liberals in the U.S. highly critical of the BJP government, such as rubbishing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act passed by India’s Parliament with a two-thirds majority.
• In inner U.S. circles our purchase from Russia of the S-400 air defence missile system and the refusal to agree to America’s request to send Indian troops to Afghanistan have mostly browned offU.S. officials. 
• U.S. policy makers know Indians love atmospherics and melas, but not substantive issues which concern the U.S.
• Therefore, we need to build trust with the U.S. that we will give to the U.S. as good as it gives us, and not give us lectures instead. The U.S. will then respond more than what we concede.
• In 1991 when then PM Chandra Shekhar told me to find out if we can get a policy-conditions free loan at a concessional interest rate from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 
• I told him that the IMF would never agree, but since a large size of the voting power in the IMF was directly or indirectly controlled by the U.S., we should placatethe U.S.
• Thereafter, PM Shekhar spoke to the U.S. that India would agree to a pending American request with the PM’s Office for permission to refuel their air force planes flying from the Philippines to Saudi Arabia for the first Gulf War when Iraq occupied Kuwait.
• I thereafter told the U.S. Ambassador in New Delhi about this but I said it was conditional on getting $2 billion (1991 prices). Over the weekend that loan arrived and India was saved from a default.

In synchrony:

• Today, thus, the new or fresh paradigm should be on how to structure India-U.S. understanding and which is in sync with common India-U.S. perspectives. 
• For this structuring we must: first realise that India-U.S. relations require give and take on both sides.
• What India needs to take today is for dealing with the Ladakh confrontation on our side of the Line of Actual Control by China. 
• Obviously, India needs U.S. hardware military equipment. India does not need U.S. troops to fight our battles against China on our border.
• Third, the U.S. needs India to fight her enemies in the neighbourhood such as in Afghanistan. 
• It is my view that India should send two divisions gradually to Afghanistan and relieve U.S. troops to go home.
• India needs the support of the U.S. and its ally, Israel, in cyberwarfare, satellite mappings of China and Pakistan, intercepts of electronic communication, hard intelligence on terrorists, and controlling the military and the Inter-Services Intelligence in Pakistan.
• India needs the U.S. to completely develop the Andaman and Nicobar, and also the Lakshadweep Islands as a naval and air force base, which the U.S. can share along with its allies such as Indonesia and Japan.
• India must be firm in two areas which are not amenableto give and take. One is that economic relations must be based on macroeconomic commercial principles. 
• Free, indiscriminate flow of U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) is not in India’s national interest.

Look at technologies:

• Thus, India needs technologies such as thorium utilisation, desalination of sea water, and hydrogen fuel cells, but not Walmart.
• India needs U.S. universities to start campuses in India, as proposed in the new National Education Policy draft.
• Eighth, the U.S. must allow India’s exports of agricultural products including Bos indicus milk, which are of highly competitive prices in the world.
• FDI should be allowed into India selectively from abroad, including from the U.S., based on the economic theory of comparative advantage and not on subsidies and gratis.
• Tenth, tariffs of both India and the U.S. should be lowered, and the Indian rupee should be gradually revalued to ₹35 to a dollar. 
• Later, with the economy picking up, the rupee rate should go below 10 to the dollar.
• The other firm constraint is that India should not provide the U.S. with our troops to enter Tibet, or be involved in the Hong Kong and Taiwan issues because there is always a possibility of a leadership change in China.
• In the cases of Tibet, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, we have made explicit agreements. In the case of Tibet, two formal treaties were signed by Nehru (1954) and A.B. Vajpayee (2003).
• In the last point, in the long run, India, the U.S., and China should form a trilateral commitment for world peace provided Chinese current international policies undergo a healthy change.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission, consider the following statements:
1. The program named as “Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission” aims at creating employment for unemployed and migrant workers in different parts of the country while increasing domestic Agarbatti production substantially.
2. Khadi and Village Industries Commission will provide 25% subsidy on the cost of the machines and will recover the remaining 75% of the cost from the artisans in easy installments every month. 
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: CS

Mains Questions:
Q.1)What do you mean by the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and the Central Treaty Organization. Also discuss the evolution of India’s foreign relations.

Balancing priorities : On development and environment (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance 
Prelims level:National Landslide Susceptibility Mapping
Mains level: Important aspect of governance transparency and accountability

Context:

• This year, the annual floods that upendthe Brahmaputra Valley have been followed by intensespells along the Konkan coast and Mumbai, and now Kerala, which until the end of last month recorded a slight deficit. 
• The landslip in Idukki, that has so far claimed 43 lives and rendered several homeless, follows from a continuing spell of heavy rains in Kerala. 
• Most districts have received three or four times more rain than what is normal. 
• Last year too, neighbouring Wayanad saw multiple hamletswiped out and the year before, the devastating floods in the State forced a debate on the need for new models of development. 

Landslides:

• Landslips, or landslides, in the Western Ghats have a history. 
• Following the 2018 floods, data from the Geological Survey of India showed that Kerala had experienced 67 major landslide events and several minor ones from 1961-2013. 
• As part of a National Landslide Susceptibility Mapping (NLSM) programme, the agency mapped several States in the Western Ghats, North-eastern States, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand to assess how vulnerabletheir districts were. 
• Nearly 13,000 square kilometres were mapped until 2018 and 6,000 were to be covered in 2019-20 in Kerala, according to the programme website. 
• Nearly 13 of the State’s 14 districts were proneto landslides. 
• What made Kerala particularly vulnerable was the high population density of over 800 per square kilometre as compared to other States that also faced high landslide risk.

Zoning laws:

• The objective of the NLSM maps is to help State and district authorities incorporatethe risk of landslides into zoning laws. 
• However, just as in the case of earthquake zonation maps, or for that matter, any exercise to scientifically ascertain the risk from natural hazards to a region, these laws are barely implemented in the right spirit. 
• And this is not unique to Kerala. The details might vary but it is now beyond contestation that India is living in a new climate normal. 
• Frequent high intensity bursts of rain will co-exist along with long dry spells. 
• It has emerged from studies of Kerala’s topography that quarryingand the unscientific cutting of slopes into hills aggravatesthe risk of soil erosion. 
• Operationalising the State’s disaster management apparatus and allocating funds for preparedness are key policy responses, but Kerala also must double down on enforcing regulations and observing zoning laws as well as ensuring that slopes carved into hilly terrain have adequate provisions for draining water. 
• A lack of compliance with such principles is often a key reason why natural hazards end up causing a significant number of avoidable casualties. 

Conclusion:

• There is a cost to pursuingdevelopment goals without paying attention to environmental constraints.
• Development goals must be pursued without breachingenvironment regulations.
• Forecasts of ‘good’ or ‘normal’ monsoons are often beguilingand beliethe ominous.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the World breastfeeding week, consider the following statements:
1. It aims to promote exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life which has huge health benefits.
2. It is jointly organized by World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), WHO and UNICEF.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1)What do you mean by the National Landslide Susceptibility Mapping programme? What is the significance of it?

Safety deficit: On Kozhikode aircrash (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Governance 
Prelims level:DGCA
Mains level: Important aspect of governance transparency and accountability 

Context:

• The tragic crash of an Air India Express ‘Vande Bharat’ relief flight in Kozhikode, in which people lost their lives is a forceful reminder that there are no acceptable risks in aviation. 
• Although an even bigger disaster was avertedby the absence of fire in the aircraft, the crash snuffedout the lives of many returning home from Dubai after a long. 
• Many Indians could not quickly return home from countries where they were employed, studying or travelling, although they desperately sought flights back home since March. 
• For those who took that long-awaited trip on August 7, it ended in disaster.

Risky flight operations:

• There are clear pointers to the dangerous nature of flight operations at Kozhikode airport in the midst of a strong monsoon. 
• Even with the availability of an instrument landing system for the “tabletop” runway carved into undulatingterrain, the accident took place.
• There are problems with visibility, a far shorter safety area at the runway end than optimal.
• There was absence of arrester systems that could stop an overshooting plane from falling off the edge, as it happened with this aircraft. 
• Which of these factors, along with the monsoon impact, led to the disaster will become clear with a professional investigation. 
• The Civil Aviation Ministry should make a full disclosure on the technical evidence gathered, the integrity of which will be scrutinised by safety organisations worldwide.

Lack of safety measures:

• Apparently anxious to project an image of normalcy, the Ministry allowed the airport to restart flights in a day, while the accident cause was yet to be ascertained.
• If rainy conditions existed during the landing, as Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said, these may persist during the rest of the monsoon. 
• Each flight must, therefore, be considered for a potential diversion to a safe airport nearby in bad weather. 
• Significantly, the admission by the DGCA that the key recommendation of runway extension at Kozhikode made almost a decade ago was not possible due to land acquisitionissues.
• Although the facility could still support wide-bodied aircraft, it strengthens the view that corners may have been cut on safety. 
• The instance of an Air India Express plane suffering a tail strike in the same airport last year should have led to a full assessment, following up on the recommendations made after the 2010 crash in Mangaluru. 
• Since the visible cause of Friday’s crash was an overshoot, the runway continues to pose a threat. 
• Bad meteorological conditions such as rain and wind, and runway surface problems such as stagnation of water or rubber deposits that contribute to skidding endanger passengers and crew. 

Conclusion:

• Every air safety incident diminishesIndia’s reputation. 
• The Kozhikode crash should lead to a fresh review of all risky airports.
• Transparent remedial action must be taken immediately.
• The Kozhikode air crash shows that there can be no compromise on airport infrastructure.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Consider the following statements:
1. Union Ministry of Shipping has separated the operation routes for merchant vessels and fishing vessels in South-West Indian waters. 
2. The Bab-el-Mandeb connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Overcoming mask reactance (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 4: Ethics 
Prelims level:Not much 
Mains level: Psychological factor

Context:

• Let’s face it, masks are unpleasant. 
• They are unpleasant because we cannot see each other’s facial expressions. They are also unpleasant because they give off a morose hospital-like vibe. 
• Considering the current context, we are pretty sure you know that we are not talking about fancy Halloween masks.
• At the cost of stating the obvious, we are talking about masks that cover our mouth and nostrils to protect ourselves against Covid-19 microbes. 
• The nostril covering part is the most unpleasant for as it means that we have to breathe inside a tiny space which somehow can make us feel quite trapped.

Psychological factor:

• The term reactance was coined by psychologist Jack Brehm in 1966. 
• Psychological reactance occurs when we feel our freedom is being suppressed by an authority and just to reassert our freedom, we act in the opposite direction to what the authority dictates. 

Some suggestions:

First suggestions:

• To suppressing someone’s freedom is denying them agency. By agency, we mean the autonomy to make our own decisions. 
• Therefore, if we frame rules to wear masks as a choice and not as diktats, then we will not be denying people’s agency. 

Second suggestions:

• To wearing a mask is an external cue that signals forced compliance. Researchers showed that impression management plays an important factor in people’s reactance. 
• To put it simply, people do not like to give the impression of being compliant and therefore not wearing a mask is kind of showing to the world that they are individualistic and independent. 
• One way around this is to help them assert their individual identity by designing a variety of masks rather than boring white and blue ones. 

Other suggestions:

• Lastly, reactance is largely associated with activities that engender fun and pleasure.
• For many extroverted personalities who are getting restless at home, there is not just the reactance against masks but also an overall reactance against being indoors.
• Therefore, authority figures have to figure out a way to communicate that they have no intention of curbing fun and pleasure. 

Way forward:

• We do acknowledge the frustration of a majority of readers of this article about why do we need to manipulate the framing of messages, create special designer masks, or project a fun-vibe to overcome reactance when the obvious and sensible thing to do is to wear a mask. 
• However, there will always be individuals who are more reactant than others and we need to protect them from getting Covid to protect us from getting it.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) 1. It was founded in 1889 as Mohun Bagan Sporting Club, the club's football section is one of the oldest football clubs in India and Asia. 
2. July 29 is celebrated every year as Mohun Bagan day to commemorate the team’s famous IFA Shield triumph in 1911. 
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C
Mains Questions:
Q.1)Reactance occurs when we feel our freedom is being suppressed by an authority and just to reassert our freedom, we act in the opposite direction to what the authority dictates. Comment. 

Secondary agriculture is of primary importance (Financial Express)

Mains Paper 3: Economy 
Prelims level:APLMC Act
Mains level: 

Context:

• Over the last decade, Indian farmers, too, have been facing a similar situation, with the fundamentals of market forces working to their disadvantage in case of high-volume commodities. 
• Glut-induced post-harvest price dips have been exacerbated by the absence of suitable supply chains. 
• Most surpluses, in the Indian context, are local to a production zone, and are gainfully evacuated to far-range markets with healthier demands.

Create opportunities through robust supply chains:

• Robust supply-chains demand free and fair-trade opportunities that let sellers and buyers connect, guided by supply and demand movements. 
• The recent basket of reforms releases new energy for building both domestic and global supply-chains. These include 
• (i) a new market architecture comprising Gramin Agriculture Markets, or GrAMs, as aggregation platforms; 
• (ii) three market channels, viz. APMCs (Cooperative and Private pursuant to the Model APLMC Act,2017) and the intra- and inter-state direct trade under The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020; 
• (iii) Agricultural Export Policy 2018, focussing on volumes, standards and quality and cluster approach to production; 
• (iv) liberalisation of control orders under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955; 
• (v) contracts in respect of farming and services through The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020; and finally, 
• (vi) promotion of 10,000 FPOs.

Increasing institutional credit to farmers:

• Increased volumes of production and post-production (eNWR) institutional credit will financially strengthen farmers (crop, livestock and fishery) and help negotiate distress sale. Under Atmanirbhar Bharat that targets an investment of `1.65 lakh crore in the farm sector, agri-logistics will get a boost across all sub-sectors. 
• The interplay of competitive market forces and the highway of backward and forward linkages will help tap unmet demand in distant consumption zones. 
• The expected positive is expanded market area and operations. 
• A territorially-expanded market structure neutralises spatial fragmentation into several market zones (as under the APMC regime)and facilitates “one nation, one market”. 
• Emphasis on exports means supply-chains become part of the global market, and this evens out local surpluses through timely and effective conveyance to demand-responsive markets.

Scope for diversified agriculture:

• India’s scope for diversified agriculture is vast, thanks to extensive arable land, multiple agro-climatic zones and a rich cafeteria of soils. 
• India’s status as a global super-producer in agriculture is juxtaposed with low average income of its farmers. 
• The road to higher agricultural GVA and farmers’ income rests in efficient management of the post-production segment, comprising agri-logistics, processing and marketing.
• Agriculture generates raw materials that meet basic human requirements, and is considered as a primary economic activity. 
• The process of generating the agricultural produce is biological in nature, and is, therefore, a primary agriculture activity, and when the raw produce is processed, it gains additional value, and is referred to as secondary agriculture. 
• There are certain alternative agriculture activities like beekeeping, mushroom cultivation, agri-tourism, etc, which fall under the ambit of secondary agriculture. 
• Secondary agriculture helps in using all parts of an agricultural produce (e.g. crop residues, animal hair, bones, viscera, etc), processing to enhance shelf-life, increasing total factor productivity, and generating additional jobs and income for farmers. 
• It, thus, encompasses both food and non-food processing, and represents agro-processing.

Processing can happen at three different levels:

• (i) primary processing (simple farm gate practices like cleaning, sizing, packaging, etc); 
• (ii) post-harvest secondary processing (basic processing, packaging and branding); 
• (iii) high-end processing which involves complex processing technologies, machinery and finances, with output of a rich range of products from grains like wheat, rice, corn, soybean, etc.

Way ahead:

• The canvas of secondary agriculture in India is huge, and can range from new crops, organic produce, herbal and medicinal plants to manufactured commodities like starches from cereals, proteins from legumes, oils and oleo-chemicals from oleaginous crops, resins, gums, rubbers and latexes. 
• All these can serve as building blocks for processed foods, materials, composites, fibre and fuel systems, imparting a leg up to the competitiveness of India’s agriculture sector. 
• The outcome is functional expansion of market alongside territorial extension, creating newer demand for agri-produce.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the production of lithium in stars, consider the following statements:
1. Stars, as per known mechanisms of evolution, actually destroy lithium as they evolve into red giants.
2. According to a recent study when stars grow beyond their Red Giant stage into what is known as the Red Clump stage, they does not produce lithium. 
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: A

Mains Questions: 
Q.1)Highlights the scope of diversified agriculture. Do you think secondary agriculture can create opportunities through robust supply chains? Comment.
 

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Content Table

• भारतीय संगीत का दार्शनिक स्वरूप (डॉ प्रांशु समदर्शी)
• पूर्वोत्तर क्षेत्र अनुपम आत्मीय संबंध (डॉ ताप्ती बरुआ कश्यप)
• ग्रामीण अर्थव्यवस्था के उद्धार में बांस की भूमिका (सुरेश प्रभु)
• विविधता से परिपूर्ण महाराष्ट्र (मीनल जोगलेकर)
• विविधता में एकता की शक्ति (अशोक कलारिया)
• मोटे अनाज की संस्कृति एक अवलोकन (पल्लवी उपाध्याय)
• तमिलनाडु के मंदिरों के शिलालेख (प्रदीप चक्रवर्ती)
• नृत्य से सामंजस्य (वीणा मणि)
• क्षेत्रीय सुरक्षा: भारत-चीन संबंध (डॉ श्रीकांत कोंडापल्ली)
• पारंपरिक नाट्य मंच.भारत की लोक और जनजातीय कला.
• राष्ट्रीय ध्वज का निर्माण यसवप्रभु होसकेरी,
• योजना-सही विकल्प

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Sample Material of Current Public Administration Magazine

1. Accountability and Responsibility

Dog feeding without accountability

Despite being the key authority for implementing the Animal Birth Control (dog) rules, the Animal Welfare Board of India has avoided taking any responsibility for the rising number of dog bites, rabies deaths and unregulated dog feeding, by blaming the municipalities. It is pertinent to note that it is the statutory, civic duty of municipal corporations under the state municipal acts to keep the streets of straying animals, check the spread of diseases and prevent public nuisance. This is the very bedrock of local governance and cannot change. Absurdly, under the ABC rules, municipalities are instead being forced to leave unowned dogs outside people‟s homes and on the streets — the exact opposite of the WHO guidelines for dog population management. 

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2. Indian Government and Politics

NEP 2020

One thing struck me as a major difference between the new National Education Policy and its predecessor. The previous policy, National Policy on Education 1986/1992, presented itself as an attempt to consolidate and build on all the earlier efforts, particularly NPE 1968. The new policy, NEP 2020, on the other hand, is very keen to establish that it is different (even in its name!) from everything of the past 

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(Article) डिजिटल शिक्षा पर भारत रिपोर्ट-2020

•  केन्द्रीय मानव संसाधन विकास मंत्री श्री रमेश पोखरियाल “निशंक” ने  डिजिटल शिक्षा पर भारत रिपोर्ट-2020 जारी की। उन्होंने इस अवसर पर कहा कि यह रिपोर्ट मानव संसाधन विकास मंत्रालय, राज्यों और केन्द्र शासित प्रदेशों के शिक्षा विभागों द्वारा घर पर बच्चों के लिए सुलभ और समावेशी शिक्षा सुनिश्चित करने और उनके सीखने के क्रम में आने वाली बाधाओं को दूर करने के लिए अपनाए गए अभिनव तरीकों की विस्तृत व्याख्या करती है।  

•  रिपोर्ट के अनुसार सरकार ने शिक्षा को एक व्यापक कार्यक्रम के रूप में परिकल्पित किया गया है जिसका लक्ष्य प्री-नर्सरी से लेकर उच्चतर माध्यमिक कक्षाओं तक स्कूलों के व्यापक स्पेक्ट्रम में डिजिटल शिक्षा को सार्वभौमिक बनाना है। गुणवत्तापूर्ण डिजिटल शिक्षा ने वैश्वीकरण के वर्तमान संदर्भ में एक नई प्रासंगिकता हासिल कर ली है। मानव संसाधन विकास मंत्रालय ने शिक्षकों, विद्वानों और छात्रों को सीखने की उनकी ललक में मदद करने के लिए कई परियोजनाएं शुरू की हैं, जैसे कि “दीक्षा मंच”, “स्वयं प्रभा टीवी चैनल”, ऑनलाइन एमओओसी पाठ्यक्रम, ऑन एयर– “शिक्षा वाणी”, दिव्यांगों के लिए एनआईओएस द्वारा विकसित “डेजी, ई-पाठशाला”,  “ओपन एजुकेशनल रिसोर्सेज (एनआरओईआर) की राष्ट्रीय रिपोजिटरी”, टीवी चैनल, ई- लर्निंग पोर्टल, वेबिनार, चैट समूह और पुस्तकों के वितरण सहित राज्य/केन्द्र शासित सरकारों के साथ अन्य डिजिटल पहल।

•   इसके अलावा केन्द्र और राज्य सरकारों तथा केन्द्र शासित प्रदेश की सरकारों ने छात्रों के द्वार पर डिजिटल शिक्षा प्रदान करने के लिए महत्वपूर्ण कार्य भी किया है। छात्रों से जुड़ने के लिए कुछ प्रमुख माध्यमों के रूप में सोशल मीडिया टूल जैसे व्हाट्सएप ग्रुप, यू ट्यूब चैनल, आनलाइन कक्षाएं, गूगल मीट, स्काइप के साथ ई-लर्निंग पोर्टल, टीवी (दूरदर्शन और क्षेत्रीय चैनल), रेडियो और दीक्षा का उपयोग किया गया जिसमें दीक्षा का उपयोग सभी हितधारकों की सबसे प्रमुख पसंद थी।  राज्य सरकारों द्वारा की गई कुछ प्रमुख डिजिटल पहल में राजस्थान में “स्माइल” (सोशल मीडिया इंटरफेस फॉर लर्निंग एंगेजमेंट), जम्मू में “प्रोजेक्ट होम क्लासेस”, छत्तीसगढ़ में “पढ़ाई तुहार दुवार” (आपके द्वार पर शिक्षा), बिहार में “उन्नयन” पहल पोर्टल और मोबाइल एप्लिकेशन के माध्यम से शिक्षा, दिल्ली में एनसीटी का अभियान “बुनियाद”, केरल का अपना शैक्षिक टीवी चैनल (हाई-टेक स्कूल प्रोग्राम), “ई-विद्वान पोर्टल” और साथ ही मेघालय में शिक्षकों के लिए मुफ्त ऑनलाइन पाठ्यक्रम शामिल हैं। तेलंगाना में कोविड संकट के दौरान शिक्षकों के लिए मानसिक स्वास्थ्य पर ऑनलाइन सर्टिफिकेट प्रोग्राम भी चलाया जा रहा है।

•  कुछ राज्यों ने दूरस्थ शिक्षा की सुविधा के लिए नवीन मोबाइल ऐप और पोर्टल लॉन्च किए हैं। मध्य प्रदेश ने टॉप पैरेंट ऐप लॉन्च किया है, जो एक नि:शुल्क मोबाइल ऐप है जो छोटे बच्चों के माता-पिता (3-8 साल) को बाल विकास के ज्ञान और व्यवहारों की सीख देता है ताकि उन्हें अपने बच्चों के साथ सार्थक जुड़ाव बनाने में मदद मिल सके। केएचईएल (इलेक्ट्रॉनिक लर्निंग के लिए नॉलेज हब), एक गेम आधारित एप्लीकेशन भी शुरू किया गया है, जो कक्षा एक से लेकर कक्षा 3 तक के छात्रों के लिए है। उत्तराखंड “संपर्क बैंक ऐप” का उपयोग कर रहा है, जिसके माध्यम से प्राथमिक स्कूल के छात्र एनिमेटेड वीडियो, ऑडिओ, वर्कशीट, पहेलियों आदि का उपयोग कर सकते हैं। असम ने कक्षा 6 से 10. के लिए “बिस्वा विद्या असम मोबाइल एप्लिकेशन” लॉन्च किया है। बिहार ने कक्षा 1 से 12 तक के छात्रों के लिए ई-पुस्तकों के साथ “विद्यावाहिनी ऐप” लॉन्च किया है। “उन्नयन बिहार पहल” के तहत बिहार सरकार ने छात्रों के लिए “मेरा मोबाइल मेरा विद्यालय” शुरू किया है। इसी तरह शिक्षकों के लिए “उन्नयन बिहार” के तहत शिक्षक ऐप शुरू किया गया है। चंडीगढ़ ने कक्षा 1 से 8 तक के छात्रों के सीखने के परिणाम का आकलन करने के लिए “फीनिक्स मोबाइल एप्लिकेशन” लॉन्च किया है। महाराष्ट्र ने राज्य में छात्रों के लिए “लर्निंग आउटकम स्मार्ट क्यू मोबाइल ऐप” लॉन्च किया है। पंजाब ने कक्षा 1 से 10 तक के लिए आई स्कूएला लर्न मोबाइल एप्लिकेशन लॉन्च किया है। “सिक्किम एडुटेक ऐप” राज्य शिक्षा विभाग के तहत सिक्किम के सभी स्कूलों को जोड़ता है। इसमें छात्रों, शिक्षकों और प्रशासनिक इकाइयों के साथ-साथ अभिभावकों को भी लॉगिन करने की सुविधा दी गई है। त्रिपुरा में छात्रों के मूल्यांकन की सुविधा के लिए ‘एम्पॉवर यू शिक्षा दर्पण’ नाम का एक एप्लिकेशन शुरू किया गया है। उत्तर प्रदेश ने 3-8 वर्ष की आयु के बच्चों को लक्षित करते हुए “टॉप पैरेंट ऐप” लॉन्च किया है। वर्तमान में बच्चों के लिए “चिंपल”, “मैथ्स मस्ती” और “गूगल बोलो” जैसे तीन बेहतरीन एडुटेक ऐप हैं।

•   “ओडिशा शिक्षा संजोग”- ओडिशा में एक व्हाट्सएप आधारित डिजिटल लर्निंग कार्यक्रम शुरू किया गया है जो एक सुव्यवस्थित तरीके से वर्ग समूहों के साथ ई-सामग्री साझा करता है। व्हाट्सएप के माध्यम से पंजाब और पुद्दुचेरी में भी ऑनलाइन शिक्षा दी जा रही है। राजस्थान व्हाट्सएप का उपयोग “हवामहल- खुशनुमा शनिवार” कार्यक्रम के लिए कर रहा है, जहां छात्र कहानियों को सुनकर व्हाट्सएप के माध्यम से दिए गए निर्देशों के आधार पर खेल, खेल सकते हैं। 

•  मिशन प्रेरणा की ई-पाठशाला उत्तर प्रदेश में शिक्षकों और छात्रों के बीच संपर्क का एक व्हाट्सएप समूह है। हिमाचल प्रदेश ने तीन व्हाट्सएप अभियान शुरू किए हैं, जैसे, “करोना”, “थोड़ी मस्ती, थोड़ी पढ़ाई” और जहां राज्यों द्वारा ई-सामग्री की व्यवस्था की गई है 'वहां हर घर पाठशाला'। विशेष आवश्यकताओं वाले छात्रों के लिए, इस अभियान का नाम "हम किसी से कम नहीं- मेरा घर पाठशाला" रखा गया है। सामग्री को व्हाट्सएप समूहों के माध्यम से साझा किया जा रहा है जिसके साथ विशेष शिक्षकों की व्यवस्था की गई है।   कई राज्यों को इंटरनेट के बिना कम तकनीकी रूपों के साथ शिक्षण और निर्देशन के लिए रचनात्मक उपायों को अपनाना पड़ा है। झारखंड के जिलों में क्षेत्रीय दूरदर्शन और उपलब्ध रेडियो स्लॉट के माध्यम से बच्चों को संबोधित करने वाले वास्तविक शिक्षकों की व्यवस्था की गई है। स्थानीय टीवी चैनलों पर वर्चुअल कंट्रोल रूम के माध्यम से कक्षाओं को प्रसारित करने की पुद्दुचेरी की ऐसी ही पहल है। मणिपुर ने कक्षा 3 से 5 तक के छात्रों के लिए कॉमिक पुस्तकों की शुरुआत की है ताकि उन्हें मजेदार तरीके से अवधारणाओं को सीखने में मदद मिल सके। लद्दाख जैसे कम कनेक्टिविटी वाले क्षेत्रों में भी छात्रों को ऑनलाइन शिक्षा प्रदान करने के लिए ईएमबीआईबीई बैंगलोर गैर सरकारी संगठनों के साथ सहयोग कर रहा है। वर्तमान समय में सामुदायिक जुड़ाव सबसे कठिन काम है ऐसे में स्थानीय और व्यक्तिगत संसाधनों का महत्व ज्यादा हो गया है। हरियाणा राज्य द्वारा क्विज प्रतियोगिताओं जैसी लोकप्रिय सुविधाएँ आयोजित की जाती हैं।

•  दूरस्थ शिक्षा प्रदान करने की चुनौतियों से निपटने के लिए, एनआईओएस और स्वयं प्रभा सामग्री उन बच्चों को ध्यान में रखते हुए बनाई गई है, जो इंटरनेट से नहीं जुड़े हैं और जिनकी रेडियो और टीवी तक सीमित पहुंच है। नवोन्मेषी माध्यमों से सामग्री उपलब्ध कराने के लिए राज्यों की पहल समावेशी शिक्षा को सुनिश्चित कर रही है। उदाहरण के लिए- आंध्र प्रदेश ने महत्वपूर्ण विषयों को समझने और अपनी शंकाओं को दूर करने के लिए छात्रों के लिए टोल फ्री कॉल सेंटर और टोल फ्री वीडियो कॉल सेंटर शुरू किया है। खराब मोबाइल कनेक्टिविटी और इंटरनेट सेवाओं की अनुपलब्धता के कारण, छत्तीसगढ़ ने मोटर ई-स्कूल शुरू किया है। राज्य ने वीएफएस (वर्चुअल फील्ड सपोर्ट) के रूप में एक टोल फ्री नंबर भी शुरू किया है।  सुदूर क्षेत्रों में समावेशी शिक्षा सुनिश्चित करने के लिए जहां इंटरनेट कनेक्टिविटी और बिजली आपूर्ति सही नहीं है राज्यों और केंद्र शासित प्रदेशों ने भी बच्चों के घर पर पाठ्यपुस्तकों का वितरण किया है। 

•  जम्मू और कश्मीर ने दृष्टिबाधित शिक्षार्थियों के लिए लैपटॉप और ब्रेल स्पर्श पठनीयता के साथ छात्रों को मुफ्त टैब वितरित किए हैं। डिजिटल शिक्षा पहल भी प्रतियोगी परीक्षाओं की तैयारी करने वाले छात्रों के लिए मददगार बन रही है। गोवा ने राज्य में प्रवेश परीक्षा की तैयारी करने वाले छात्रों के लिए एम्बाइब, एक आर्टिफिशियल इंटेलिजेंस (एआई) सीखने, अभ्यास और परीक्षण के लिए ऑनलाइन मंच के साथ साझेदारी की है। कर्नाटक ने दूरदर्शन के माध्यम से एक परीक्षा तैयारी कार्यक्रम, और एक एसएसएलसी परीक्षा तैयारी कार्यक्रम शुरू किया है। एनईईटी परीक्षा की तैयारी करने वाले तमिलनाडु के सरकारी और सरकारी सहायता प्राप्त छात्रों के लिए विस्तृत विश्लेषण के साथ ऑनलाइन अभ्यास परीक्षण उपलब्ध हैं। राज्यों द्वारा विविध आवश्यकताओं को पूरा करने की जरूरत, भाषा पर पूरा नियंत्रण रखने के साथ-साथ व्यक्तित्व विकास भी सुनिश्चित करने को ध्यान में रखते हुए एनसीटी दिल्लीय द्वारा उच्च कक्षाओं के लिए शिक्षा सामग्री तैयार की गई है। लॉकडाउन के कारण बच्चों के मानसिक स्वास्थ्य को ध्यान में रखते हुए प्राइमरी कक्षाओं के छात्रों को मजेदार तरीके से पढ़ाने के लिए ऐसी सेवाओं की एसएमएस/आईवीआर के माध्यम से व्यवस्था की जा रही है। 

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Straying into troubled waters (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: International Relations 
Prelims level:Independence Days
Mains level: Bilateral agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Context:

• Along the coastal areas of Porbandar, Mangrol, Veraval in Gujarat and the Union Territory of Diu on India’s western coast are hundreds of families whose lives have been worst affected. 
• The men of their households missing with only strayhopes of their return, women and children struggling to make ends meet and see another sunrise. 
• The men are currently in jail in Pakistan, their families barely aware of their health and welfare. 
• Their only ‘crime’ was that they were doing their work in the waters between India and Pakistan. 
• These are fishermen who inadvertentlycrossed the invisible line in the water between the countries.
• As fishermen do not get ample fish on the Gujarat side, they have no option but to go farther and farther out into the sea. 
• As they fish in mid-sea, they end up in waters controlled by Pakistan and are arrested for inadvertently entering into that country.

 Exchanged lists:

• India and Pakistan exchanged lists of prisoners on July 1 as per which 270 Indian fishermen and 54 civilian prisoners are in Pakistan’s prisons. 
• India has 97 Pakistani fishermen and 265 civilian prisoners in its jails. 
• In more friendly or less antagonisticcircumstances, they would have been released after a formal procedure to check that they were really fishermen and not spies. 
• But, in these times of suspicion, the value of their lives lies depends on the bilateral relations. 
• Consequently, their families suffer. On average, these men would have spent one-and-a-half years in prisons. 
• Uncertainty hangs over them, given that in their prison cells, they have little knowledge of when they will be released and repatriated.

 The 2008 proposal:

• This is not a new problem; it has dragged on for years together, without a resolution in sight. 
• To address this issue, in 2008, India and Pakistan had formed a judicial committee consisting of four retired judges from each country. 
• The committee used to visit prisons of the other country specifically to meet the prisoners, examine consular access, status of their cases, delay in release and repatriation, their health condition, and so on. 
• It unanimously suggested release and repatriation of fishermen and a few women prisoners. 
• The governments of both countries praised their work but did not implement the recommendations. 
• The last meeting was held in October 2013. Five years later, there was a move to revive the panel. 
• India nominated its four members but Pakistan did not. It is yet to take a step in that direction. 
• Islamabad must do so urgently and call a meeting, given that the last meeting was held in India.

Returning their boats:

• Further, when fishermen are arrested, their boats are also confiscated.
• Their release means little till they get back possession of their boats from the other country. 
• Both the countries should release those boats which can sail with some repair work. 
• It is also time that the two countries now consider adopting a ‘no-arrest policy’ in the case of fishermen.
• In the coastal villages of both the countries, when men are imprisoned in the other country, women bear the bruntof the load, while somehow holding their families together. 
• The pain is the same on both sides of the border. There are many examples across villages where the children of the arrested fishermen have lost their childhoods. 
• As the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc in both countries, there are growing concerns for the health of the arrested fishermen among their families. 
• There is hardly any communication between the two except for some stray letters which are delayed. 
• The families have no definite way to know that their loved ones are safe from the virus. For the arrested fishermen, it is an issue of survival. 

Conclusion:

• For India and Pakistan celebrating their Independence Days this month, it should become a humanitarian issue and an appropriate occasion to release and repatriatefishermen. 
• Let the fishermen too have their freedoms back.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to FDI in the commercial coal mining, consider the following statements:
1. Recently, the government modified its FDI policy according to which any entity of a country, which shares land border with India or where the beneficial owner of an investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country, could invest only under the Government route.
2. Government of India had earlier permitted 100 % FDI under automatic route in coal mining activities, including associated processing infrastructure for sale of coal.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1)Highlights the 2008 proposal in relation with fishermen prisoners between India and Pakistan.
 

Groundbreaking: On Ram temple bhoomipujan (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Governance 
Prelims level:Ayodhya Ram Temple
Mains level:  Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability

Context:

• The bhoomipujan or the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a grand temple for Lord Sri Ram in Ayodhya marks an end and a beginning. 
• What it ends and what it begins can both be interpreted in different ways; how India collectively makes meaning out of it will define the future of the country hereon. 

Political ascendancy:

• One view is that the rising Ram temple signifies the end of perceived humiliation of the Hindus and the beginning of a new phase of their political ascendancy.
• The other is that it denotes the end of strife that shackled India’s potential for decades and heraldsa new dawn of fraternityamong religious communities. 
• The end and the beginning, therefore, are not just open to interpretation, they hold the possibilities of change. 
• For those who yearned for a temple at the site which they believe is the exact spot of Sri Ram’s birth, the journey so far has been tumultuousand violent. 
• A Muslim place of worship that stood there for 464 years was demolished in 1992 to make way for the temple — a serious crime according to the Supreme Court order last year that handed over the site to the Hindus. 
• The proponentsof the temple must consider this an occasion to seek conciliation over conquest, dialogue over diatribe, and tranquilityover triumphalism.

Crossing of separation:

• The ceremony itself manifested multiple possibilities for the country’s future. 
• In symbolism and rhetoric, the line of separation between state and religion was ominouslycrossed, notably by the role of Prime Minister Modi in it. 
• In his speech, however, he cited Lord Ram’s adherence to justice, fairness and empathy for the vulnerable. He emphasised the importance of these values for the present. 
• But while outlining a road map for an inclusive future, his interpretation of the past echoed familiar tropes of sectarian politics. 
• Relitigatinghistorical wrongs has rarely been the foundation for a harmonious and prosperous future. 
• In India’s case, many of them are an outcome of its unpleasant encounter with British colonialism. 
• Recent path-breaking studies in genetics have unearthed India’s past of being a melting pot of populations and cultures over millennia. 

Conclusion:

• India must put the acrimoniouspolitical mobilisations over religious issues behind it, and look forward to modern, secular governance. 
• The construction of the temple is the logical result of the Supreme Court judgment; it should mark the end of an older, bitter phase of India, and the beginning of a new, harmonious phase.
• As the Ram temple gets under way, India must put the past of a communal struggle behind.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 (DPEPP 2020), consider the following statements:
1. It aims to achieve a turnover of Rs 1, 75, 000 Crores (US$ 25Bn) including export of Rs 35,000 Crore (US$ 5 Billion) in Aerospace and Defence goods and services by 2025.
2. It aims to create an environment that encourages research and development rewards innovation and creates Indian IP ownership.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1) Highlights the key features of the architectural elements of Nagara Style. 

Mapping the virus (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Health 
Prelims level:Serological tests
Mains level: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context:

• After the results of Delhi’s first serological survey were announced, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suggested that the capital was on the road to herd immunity. 
• The second round of the serological survey conducted by the Delhi government concluded on Friday. 

Developing antibodies:

• The results of the first survey had shown that nearly a fourth of the respondents had developed antibodies against the novel coronavirus. 
• The Delhi government intends to use the results of its latest survey “to tailor its (COVID-19) strategy to the changing circumstances”.
• It plans to make such studies a monthly affair. The health authorities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad have also conducted serological surveys. 
• These are much-needed endeavours given that several facets of the coronavirus are still in the realm of the unknown. 
• Experts, however, rightly counsel that the data generated should only be used to draw estimates about the spread of the virus, and not reach conclusions about immunity against the pathogen.
• After the results of Delhi’s first serological survey were announced, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suggested that the capital was on the road to herd immunity. Such a sweeping inference is problematic. 
• The threshold of herd immunity with respect to COVID-19 is uncertain. We do not know what percentage of infected people will ensure immunity to a community.

Immune response:

• It would also be wrong to extrapolate the data from one pocket onto a broader community. A person starts developing an immune response in about two weeks of contracting the contagion, but we do not know how many antibodies are required to stave off a re-infection. 
• The jury is still out on whether antibodies offer lasting immunity against the virus. In any case, a positive serology report does not tell if a person has an adequate number of antibodies to repel the pathogen. 
• Experts reckon that an antibody positive person needs to be tracked for several months to ascertain if she has developed an adaptive immune response to repeated attacks by the virus.

Way forward:

• The WHO cautions against the use of serological tests for granting immunity passports. But it also recommends such tests for academic purposes that could guide nuanced public health responses. 
• For example, they can help health authorities to ascertain vulnerabilities on the basis of socio-economic status, geographic location, age-group or gender. 
• For that to happen, the data has to be disaggregated to account for such variables. 
• The Delhi government’s decision to collect samples across distinct age groups in its second serological survey is, therefore, a move in the right direction.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the SpaceX's Demo-2 Crew Dragon spacecraft, consider the following statements:
1. It was the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit.
2. SpaceX's Demo-2 Crew Dragon spacecraft splashdown is the first water landing since 1975, when the NASA astronauts on the joint Apollo-Soyuz test mission returned home. 
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1)What are serological tests?How it is different from genetic test?How serological tests work?

Mapping the virus (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Health 
Prelims level:Serological tests
Mains level: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context:

• After the results of Delhi’s first serological survey were announced, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suggested that the capital was on the road to herd immunity. 
• The second round of the serological survey conducted by the Delhi government concluded on Friday. 

Developing antibodies:

• The results of the first survey had shown that nearly a fourth of the respondents had developed antibodies against the novel coronavirus. 
• The Delhi government intends to use the results of its latest survey “to tailor its (COVID-19) strategy to the changing circumstances”.
• It plans to make such studies a monthly affair. The health authorities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad have also conducted serological surveys. 
• These are much-needed endeavours given that several facets of the coronavirus are still in the realm of the unknown. 
• Experts, however, rightly counsel that the data generated should only be used to draw estimates about the spread of the virus, and not reach conclusions about immunity against the pathogen.
• After the results of Delhi’s first serological survey were announced, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suggested that the capital was on the road to herd immunity. Such a sweeping inference is problematic. 
• The threshold of herd immunity with respect to COVID-19 is uncertain. We do not know what percentage of infected people will ensure immunity to a community.

Immune response:

• It would also be wrong to extrapolate the data from one pocket onto a broader community. A person starts developing an immune response in about two weeks of contracting the contagion, but we do not know how many antibodies are required to stave off a re-infection. 
• The jury is still out on whether antibodies offer lasting immunity against the virus. In any case, a positive serology report does not tell if a person has an adequate number of antibodies to repel the pathogen. 
• Experts reckon that an antibody positive person needs to be tracked for several months to ascertain if she has developed an adaptive immune response to repeated attacks by the virus.

Way forward:

• The WHO cautions against the use of serological tests for granting immunity passports. But it also recommends such tests for academic purposes that could guide nuanced public health responses. 
• For example, they can help health authorities to ascertain vulnerabilities on the basis of socio-economic status, geographic location, age-group or gender. 
• For that to happen, the data has to be disaggregated to account for such variables. 
• The Delhi government’s decision to collect samples across distinct age groups in its second serological survey is, therefore, a move in the right direction.

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Material

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the SpaceX's Demo-2 Crew Dragon spacecraft, consider the following statements:
1. It was the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit.
2. SpaceX's Demo-2 Crew Dragon spacecraft splashdown is the first water landing since 1975, when the NASA astronauts on the joint Apollo-Soyuz test mission returned home. 
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1)What are serological tests?How it is different from genetic test?How serological tests work?

Alert amid uncertainty: On RBI holding interest rates (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Economy 
Prelims level:CPI inflation rate
Mains level: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment

Context:

• The RBI has prudently decided to keep its powder dry for now, citing the “extreme uncertainty” that characterises the current outlook for inflation and economic activity. 
• Observing that the “unprecedented shock” from the pandemic has left the economy stressed, the RBI said that while the monetary policy committee recognised the primacy of supporting a recovery.It was necessarily mindful of its inflation targeting mandate. 

Inflation target:

• The picture on prices is clouded by many uncertainties. 
• While the provisional June CPI inflation reading of 6.1% had edged over the upper bound of the mandated medium-term goal of 4% plus/minus 2%, a spike in food prices as well as cost push pressures from higher transport fuel and raw material prices were combining to obscure the inflation outlook.
• Vowing to ensure that the policy stance remains ‘accommodative’ for as long as needed to revive growth, Governor Shaktikanta Das emphasised that the RBI was ready to act on rates once a durable reduction in inflation was sighted. 
• However, the projections remain less than encouraging. The latest round of households’ expectations of price gains in an RBI survey shows that consumers expect inflation to remain elevated in the near term — a finding that the RBI’s assessment broadly backs.

Worrisome future:

• While the RBI expects the rural economy to turn in a robust recovery on the back of a strong showing by agriculture, a deterioration in consumer sentiment in the central bank’s July survey undermines the prospects for a more broadbased revival in domestic demand. Additionally, external demand faces headwinds from a world economy in recession and as global trade shrinks. 
• Forecasting a contraction in real GDP in the current fiscal year, the RBI rather optimistically posits that an early containment of the pandemic may impart an upside surprise to its outlook. 
• Interestingly, its analysis of the macro-economic environment skirts the potential challenges that heightened tensions with China, one of India’s largest trading partners and, in recent years, a source of inbound foreign capital, could pose to the economy. 
• The central bank has therefore opted to focus its energies on trying to untangle the kinks hindering the flow of credit amid more than adequate liquidity, wary lenders and severely stressed borrowers. 
• The restructuring, resolution and enhanced gold loan proposals mooted by the RBI acknowledge the sheer scale of the pandemic’s devastation on the finances of firms and households. 

Conclusion:

• The onus now is on Governor Das to ensure that the stability of the financial sector is safeguarded even as loan terms are reset to protect otherwise viable businesses. 
• Any harm to financial stability risks undermining the economy as a whole.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the World Sanskrit Day, consider the following statements:
1. The Sanskrit organisation Samskrita Bharati is involved in promoting the day. 
2. It is celebrated on Shraavanapoornima that is the Poornima day of the Shraavana month in the Hindu calendar.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1)Highlights the various monetary policy tools of RBI. Also, analysis their impacts on Indian economy.

Cartographic challenge: On Pakistan’s new map (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: International 
Prelims level:Sir creek line
Mains level:  India and its neighborhood- relations

Context:

• The Ministry of External Affairs has termed Pakistan’s announcement of a new political map, as an exercise in “political absurdity.”
• The new map asserts its claims on Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek, and lays a new claim to Junagadh.
• MEA accused Pakistan of attempting a form of “territorial aggrandisementsupported by cross-border terrorism”. 

Tit for tat:

• Pakistan’s decision to issue the map was a tit-for-tat manoeuvrein return for India’s decision to reorganise Jammu and Kashmir a year ago. 
• It appears to reset several agreements with India that have been concretisedover the past 70 years. 
• The map the Imran Khan government unveiled lays claim to all of Jammu and Kashmir, thus far shown as disputed territory and renames J&K as “Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir”. 
• The new map leaves the claim line with Ladakh unclear. While each of these acts is outrageousfor New Delhi, it should also be questioned in Islamabad. 
• Pakistan’s claim to all of J&K, but not Ladakh, goes against its own commitment to adjudicatethe future of all six parts of the erstwhileroyal state of J-K (Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, PoK and Aksai Chin) with India. 

Audacious claims:

• The claims to Siachen and Sir Creek, that have been the subject of several discussions between India and Pakistan, are also a regressivestep. 
• While both sides had reached an impasseon Siachen, the Sir Creek agreement had made considerable progress, and was reportedly even resolved, pending a political announcement in 2007. 
• Either way, both were without doubt disputed areas, and Pakistan’s unilateral claim over them is not helpful or conducive to future resolution. 
• Finally, the move on Junagadh, a former princely state whose accession to India was accepted by Pakistan, opens up a whole new dispute. 
• While Junagadh was in contention at the time of Partition, the issue was successfully resolved after a referendum was conducted there in February 1948, in which an overwhelming 95% of the state’s residents voted to stay with India.

Conjunction:

• As New Delhi considers its next moves on this provocation, it should be prepared for Pakistan taking all the issues it has raised with its new map to the international stage. 
• Pakistan’s actions, while on completely bilateral matters, come in conjunctionwith map-related issues India faces today on two other fronts.
• One with China at the Line of Actual Control on Ladakh, and another with Nepal at Kalapani and Limpiyadhura (which Nepal’s government has also issued a new map about). 
• It is surely no coincidence that all three countries objected to the map New Delhi had issued in November 2019, albeitfor different reasons. 

Conclusion:

• Pakistan’s new map is intended to provokeIndia, and internationalise the border disputes
• New Delhi must be well-prepared to deal with the three-pronged challenge it will face in the coming months.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the Metamaterials, consider the following statements:
1. Metamaterials are artificially crafted materials with unique internal microstructures that give them properties not found in nature. 
2. Researchers in the IIT-Madras and the University of Nairobi have used metamaterials to improve detection of defects in large structures by guided wave ultrasound. 
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1)Recent a new political map is unveiled by Pakistan showing all of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Sir Creek and Junagadh portions on their side. In this context, what are its implication and how India well-prepared to deal such cartographic challenges?

A global solution for the digital world (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: International 
Prelims level:OECD
Mains level:  Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

Context:

• The process to reform international tax rules, that began in 2012, arose primarily because under the existing corporate tax system, traditional businesses were taxed on conventional principles. 
• However, digital companies paid low taxes by locating their intellectual property in low tax jurisdictions and more so by having minimal or no taxable presence in the market. 
• Therefore, their profits are not commensurateto their revenues in markets such as India.

 OECD:

• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 37 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. 

Conflicting proposals:

• In trying to find a solution agreeable to all, multilateral relations have been tested repeatedly. To begin with, conflicting proposals were made by countries. 
• Some suggested that existing rules were enough and could be updated to appropriately tax profits of digital companies. 
• Others, including India, stressed that a new basis to establish the taxable presence of these remotely operable companies is necessary. 
• Nevertheless, the inescapable trade-off between consensus and tax sovereignty remained. 
• To strike a balance, the OECD weaved various proposals by the US, the UK and India into a unified approach. 
• Even though the proposal sought to implement a simplified approach, it was fraught with a series of practical complexities. 
• The most crucial among these being identifying a non-routine profit from a routine profit. 
• To add to this, the process of implementation would itself require a significant departure from the existing dispute resolution mechanisms.

 OECD:

• The OECD assured market jurisdictions that down the line, international tax rules will be re-examined and reformed so that tax is paid duly in countries that are the source of such incomes. 
• However, as the timelines for the finalisation of the programme drew closer, chances of an agreeable outcome seemed bleak.
• Heightening apprehensions of an impasse, the US announced, in February 2020, that it would implement a unified approach on a safe harbour basis. 
• The desire for such exclusion would render the agreement meaningless considering that most big technology companies are residents of the US. 
• The OECD’s estimates were no more encouraging — the proposal, if implemented, would bring 1- 2 per cent of current corporate tax revenues.

 Consensus based solution:

• Thereafter, with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the consequent slump in economic activity, governments turned their attention to domestic issues. 
• To find an interim fix, countries began implementing digital services tax (DST) on gross revenues from online advertising and e-commerce sales. 
• India expanded the scope of equalisation levy in March 2020, earlier applicable only to online advertising, to the sale of goods and services by e-commerce operators. 
• Others, such as Indonesia, introduced the electronic transaction tax and the UK passed the digital services tax. 
• Further, the US’s vacillation over the proposal in June was no assurance of an imminentglobal solution. 
• The US Treasury Secretary expressed that the US was inclined to pause the digital tax talks.
• Shortly after, as other countries remained committed to proceed, the US clarified that a consensus based solution was ideal and it would participate in the July talks.

USTR:

• The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is the United States government agency responsible for developing and recommending United States trade policy to the president of the United States.
• It conducting trade negotiations at bilateral and multilateral levels, and coordinating trade policy within the government through the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) and Trade Policy Review Group (TPRG).

 USTR investigations:

• In the meantime to stall the proliferationof digital taxes, USTR investigations, under Section 301 of Trade Act 1974, have also been launched against 10 countries, including India. 
• The investigation will examine if the tax is unfair, unreasonable and unequitable. Consequently, retaliatory tariffs may be imposed to recover the costs of such taxes. 
• The USTR investigations have a long history and are ironically unilaterally initiated. 
• It also isn’t the first time that the US and the EU have attempted to settle their disagreement on tax matters by invoking WTO rules. 
• In 2017, the US’s sweeping “reform” of the tax system included a foreign deduction of intangible incomes — a provision that the EU described as an export subsidy to US corporations by allowing export linked tax deductions.
• Nevertheless, investigations are underway and a group of companies in the Silicon Valley have made their submission characterising DSTs as discriminatory and a form of leverage to nudge the US to negotiate. 
• On the contrary, India has clarified that the lower thresholds for the application of the tax would apply more widely to companies of many jurisdictions and is entirely consistent with India’s position under the WTO. 
• Since it was implemented on April 1 2020, it has not been retrospectively applied and India remains committed to the multilateral process. 
• The threat of the imposition of tariffs comes at a time when there is an unprecedented slowdown in global trade. 
• The imposition of tariffs must therefore be weighed against their costs to the domestic economy. 

Conclusion:

• Despite the recent developments, the G20 remains committed to the process. OECD has set itself an ambitious target and announced that it will deliver the blueprints of design by October this year. 
• While some allude to a consensus, it is amply clear that the hopes from the process are varied. 
• To avoid the mutual costs from trade wars, perhaps efforts to modify DSTs into a simpler withholding tax may pave the way for desired reform.
• A multilateral approach is needed to resolve concerns over digital taxes.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the HAMMER missiles, consider the following statements:
1. France has recently agreed to supply HAMMER missiles to India for the Rafale combat aircraft.
2. It has been developed by Safran Electronics & Defense for the French Air Force and Navy.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1)A multilateral approach is needed to resolve concerns over digital taxes. Comment.

The new cool(Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level:National Handloom Day
Mains level: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors

Context:

• In a country of billions, what has emerged out of the recent health conundrumis the need to be “atmanirbhar”, an emotion that surpasses the human need for acquisitions. 
• Thus, the rise of the “Made in India” sentiment, which has captured both the hearts and minds of conscious millennials.                                                                       

Reviving the industry:

• Not surprising then that handlooms are the flavour of the season. After all, the sector employs almost 3.5 million people with each region paying homage to its innate culture through the fabric of freedom. 
• The movement has been gaining popularity over many years, but a noticeable momentum began four years ago, when the Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani’s #iwearhandloom became a sensation on Twitter, where handspun was celebrated with pride. 
• This renewed the pledge to both support and resuscitatethe industry.
• The results were both ingenious and innovative, with not just design interventions with the help of leading style gurus, but also a government grant to the textile ministry for providing financial assistance to languishing weavers.
• The key is in establishing a direct connection between retailers and weavers to eliminate the middleman, urging e-commerce giants to pitch in. 
• The textile industry is dominated by women — they constitute almost 72 per cent of it — and the textile minister has offered various schemes like the National Handloom Development Programme to empower them.

Need for foreign investment:

• Interestingly, Prime Minister, besides being an avid supporter of textiles, has reiterated the need for foreign investment to create employment as well as skill development. 
• Almost 30 million farmers are a part of producing 60 per cent natural fibres in India, which is the need of the hour to help boost the economy. Most importantly, sustainability is setting the new world order.
• India’s population, of which 50 per cent is below 25, and more than 65 per cent is below 35, has embraced this message. 
• Whether it is schools or colleges, handlooms have succeeded in marking their presence in youngsters’ wardrobes. 
• The fact that designers who have adopted clusters for Ikkat, Chanderi, Maheshwari among others, or even the rise of Banaras as a hotspot, is a sign of the popularity of going eco-friendly. 
• What has further generated interest is the National Crafts Museum and Hastkala Academy, Pragati Maidan, which showcase short-term courses for the discerning few who would like to equip themselves with knowledge about handloom/craft and Indian textile traditions.

Key opportunities:

• As we grasp with new realities, the education sector has made strides in incorporating this aesthetic in their curriculum by taking fashion students on trips to clusters. 
• This has opened a plethoraof opportunities for them. As they enter the real world, they stitch together endearing stories of Indian crafts through their design prowess.
• The Fashion Design Council of India has taken many steps to support handlooms. 
• They initiated on Instagram a series titled “Celebrating the Maker” last month where designers paid homage to handloom weavers that they have been associated with. 
• Another major thrust has been witnessed at the India Fashion Week where handlooms have been given a place of pride and for many years along with Ministry of Textiles, many programmes with designers and clusters have been initiated.
• On handloom day, the FDCI board has decided that it will allocate from the COVID trust fund an amount to buy unsold stocks from weavers. 
• The weavers will be identified by the DC handlooms, under the Ministry of Textiles, as well as the handloom designers.

Conclusion:

• With government support and growing awareness, handlooms have captured the hearts and minds of conscious millennials.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the Rapid antigen detection test for Covid-19, consider the following statements:
1. It is a test on swabbed nasal samples that detects antigens that are found on or within the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
2. Each antigen has distinct surface features, or epitopes, resulting in specific responses.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.   1 only
B.   2 only
C.   Both 1 and 2
D.   None 

Answer: C

Mains Questions:
Q.1)What are the key opportunities in national handloom industry?