Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for February 20, 2024. If you missed the February 19, 2024 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here

FRONT PAGE

Amnesty stretched, 100 projects with ‘violations’ cleared

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change

Main Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- AN AMNESTY window opened for just six months in March 2017 to clear projects in a novel “violation category” became routine through a Union Environment Ministry notification in July 2021, and provided ex-post facto approval to over 100 projects till the Supreme Court stayed the notification in January this year.

• What is the “violation category”?

• “Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for identification and handling of violation cases” in July 2021-Know in detail

• What do you understand by the ex-post facto clearance?

• Why ex-post facto clearance should be avoided?

• For Your Information-Projects that started work without obtaining a mandatory prior environmental clearance or exceeded the limits set as clearance conditions fall under the “violation category”. Besides clearing over 100 projects, the ministry also issued terms of reference (ToR) for impact assessment to at least another 150 under the violation category. Once a project is considered fit for appraisal, ToR is issued for assessing its environmental impact and a final decision on the clearance depends on that assessment.

Coal, iron and bauxite mines, a greenfield airport, multiple distilleries, steel and iron factories, industrial estates, cement plants and limestone quarries, chemical units and building construction sites — these are the projects cleared by the Union Environment Ministry under the “violation category” since March 2017.

Conceived as a one-time opportunity, it became a routine process when the Union Environment Ministry notified a “Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for identification and handling of violation cases” in July 2021. Judgements by the Supreme Court in Common Cause versus Union of India (2017) and Alembic Pharmaceuticals versus Rohit Prajapati (2020) have held that the concept of ex-post facto clearance is against the fundamental principle of environmental jurisprudence and the EIA Notification 2006 which requires a prior environment clearance.

Records reviewed by The Indian Express show that an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) set up to deal with violation cases met 46 times between June 2017 and June 2021 and recommended at least 112 projects. Of this, at least 55 were granted environmental clearances. The rest have been issued terms of reference (ToR) for environmental impact assessment and remediation plans.

Since July 2021 when “handling of violation cases” became a routine procedure, the ministry’s ten EACs – industry 1-3, infrastructure 1-2, thermal, hydro, coal mining, non-coal mining and CRZ — that deal with projects in different sectors have met over 400 times and recommended at least 144 projects under “violation category”. Of this, at least 46 have been issued final environmental clearances.

The maximum number of violation cases were cleared by the EAC dealing with projects in the chemical industries sector, followed by those handling the mining (coal and non-coal) sectors and the mineral-based industries.

• What do you understand by the term ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’ (EIA)?

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environment Protection Act, 1986-How they are related with each other?

• Why Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is Important?

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and India-connect the Dots

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Rules Amendment, 2006-Key features

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020-Key Highlights

• Environmental Impact Assessment-Achievements, Issues and Challenges

• Supreme court of India on Environment Impact Assessment (ex-post facto environmental clearance)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????SOP on Environmental non-compliance: In most cases, violations were recorded only to be condoned

EXPRESS NETWORK

SC stays privileges panel notice to Bengal officials

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance

Main Examination: General Studies II: Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Supreme Court on Monday stayed further proceedings on a notice issued by the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee to West Bengal officials, including the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, to appear before it on a complaint filed by BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar over alleged “misconduct, brutality and life-threatening injuries” to him.

• Sandeshkhali Violence in West Bengal-Know in brief

• Map Work-Sandeshkhali

• Why Supreme Court stayed further proceedings on a notice issued by the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee to West Bengal officials?

• Before proceeding further, what was the notice issued by the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee to West Bengal officials and why?

• “BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar had complained to the parliamentary committee about a breach of privilege as an Member of Parliament”-What is breach of privilege as an Member of Parliament?

• What are the privileges of MP in India?

• What are parliamentary privileges?

• The parliamentary privileges do not extend to the president who is also an integral part of the Parliament-True or False?

• Parliamentary privileges can be classified into two broad categories-What are those two categories?

• Collective Privileges vs Individual Privileges-Compare and Contrast

• How does Parliament act on breach of privilege?

• What kinds of cases come to the committee?

• What does the committee decide in breach of privilege cases against MPs?

• ‘Breach of privilege’ and ‘contempt of the House’-are both same?

• What is the misuse of parliamentary privileges in India?

• What are some of the important judgments related to parliamentary privileges?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Explained: What constitutes a breach of legislature’s privilege?

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

????With reference to the Parliament of India, which of the following Parliamentary Committees scrutinizes and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, by-laws, etc. conferred by the Constitution or delegated by the Parliament are being properly exercised by the Executive within the scope of such delegation ? (UPSC GS1, 2018) (a) Committee on Government Assurances (b) Committee on Subordinate Legislation (c) Rules Committee (d) Business Advisory Committee ????Which one of the following is the largest Committee of the Parliament? (UPSC GS1, 2014) (a) The Committee on Public Accounts (b) The Committee on Estimates (c) The Committee on Public Undertakings (d) The Committee on Petitions

Kochhars’ arrest by CBI abuse of power: HC

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies IV: Corporate Governance.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Calling it an “abuse of power”, the Bombay High Court said that the arrest of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in December 2022 was done “without application of mind”. The court made the observation in its order confirming the interim bail granted to the couple.

• Who is Chanda Kochhar?

• What was the case?

• For Your Information-In 2019, the CBI filed an FIR against the Kochhar couple, Dhoot, and others, on allegations including cheating under the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The agency had alleged that ICICI Bank sanctioned six loans to Videocon Group companies after Chanda took charge as MD and CEO between 2009-2011. In lieu of this, Videocon invested in Nupower, the company linked to her husband Deepak.

Over three years after the FIR, the CBI arrested the Kochhars. The couple then approached the Bombay HC, claiming there was no material to arrest them since they had complied with the notices issued by the CBI and appeared before it. On January 9, 2023, the HC granted the two interim bail. This was confirmed on February 6, and the detailed order was made available on Monday.

• What is Section 41A of the CrPC?

• What did the HC say in its order?

• What is ‘abuse of power’?

• What is the difference between misuse and abuse of power?

• What is the cause of abuse of power?

• ICICI loan fraud case and Business or Corporate Ethics-Connect the dot

• What Is Business or Corporate Ethics?

• There are generally certain business or Corporate ethics principles-What are they?

• Why is Business or Corporate Ethics Important?

• Corporate governance and corporate ethics-Connect the dot

• Is corporate governance the same as corporate ethics?

• The ICICI loan fraud case is a classic example of the failure of corporate governance as well as corporate ethics. how far you agree?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Chanda Kochhar, husband’s arrest: why Bombay HC called it ‘abuse of power’

THE IDEAS PAGE

A wider viewfinder

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-C Raja Mohan writes: At its simplest, ‘intelligence diplomacy’ is about sharing information with allied governments and their security agencies. The regular exchanges between the Indian agencies and their counterparts from like-minded countries underline Delhi’s shift from the isolationism to building productive intelligence partnerships today.

• “Three major events this week draw attention to the expanding Indian diplomatic footprint”-Know in detail

• What is Raisina Dialogue?

• What is the theme for the Raisina Dialogue 2024?

• Significance of Raisina Dialogue in General and Raisina Dialogue 2024 in particular

• Why biennial Multilateral Naval Exercise (Milan) is important?

• “For India, the emerging “intelligence diplomacy” could be as consequential as the “discourse diplomacy” of the Raisina Dialogue and the “naval diplomacy” of the Milan exercises”-Comment

• How the upcoming three events are part of a broader trend in international politics?

• What is “intelligence diplomacy”?

• Intelligence and diplomacy—how do these two go hand in hand?

• Recently, “intelligence diplomacy” has garnered considerable public and private attention-Discuss

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Beyond Pathankot attack: India needs intelligence-based diplomacy

The puzzle of monetary policy

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Recently released data reaffirms that inflation in India is much less of a problem now than it was a year ago, in part, thanks to the monetary policy stance of the RBI.

• “Over the past three years, India experienced high and persistent inflation”-Know in detail

• How inflation dynamic changed from pandemic to post pandemic time?

• “When the RBI pursues contractionary monetary policy, it gets transmitted to the rest of the economy through financial intermediaries such as the banking sector”-Discuss

• What is contractionary monetary policy?

• How banks and markets response to the RBI’s hikes in the policy repo rate?

• “A standard way for economists to assess the success of monetary policy is by looking at core inflation”-Discuss

• What does accommodative stance mean with respect to monetary policy?

• Know the Types of Inflation like Moderate Inflation, Galloping Inflation, Hyper-Inflation, Stagflation, Deflation, Core Inflation, Headline Inflation etc.

• What are the causes of Inflation in the present situation

• How Inflation is Measured in India?

• What are the various Instruments of Monetary Policy to control Inflation?

• How Inflation is Measured in India?

• What is Monetary Policy Framework?

• The latest monetary policy review was significant for a variety of reasons-Why?

• What are the steps taken by RBI to control inflation?

• What is Monetary policy?

• What is the primary objective of the monetary policy?

• There are two aspects to any monetary policy-What are they?

• The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a Statutory Body-True or False?

• Under Section 45ZB of the amended (in 2016) RBI Act, 1934, the central government is empowered to constitute a six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)- What is the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)?

• What is the composition of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)?

• Try to Comprehend-In any economy, the main role of the central bank is to maintain price stability. In other words, the primary goal is to contain inflation. The inflation rate for any period (month, quarter or year) is the rate at which the general price level has gone up. If the overall price level — typically calculated by an index (such as the Consumer Price Index) that has the prices of different commodities — in a particular month is 5% more than what it was in the same month last year, then inflation rate is said to be 5%.

The targeted level of inflation varies from one country to another. In the US, this target is 2%. In India, the law demands RBI to target 4%. But apart from the exact target, the law also provides a comfort zone — 2% to 6% — within which the inflation can stray. These numbers are decided based on research that suggests the ideal rate of inflation most conducive to sustained economic growth. since late 2019, the RBI has rarely come close to the target rate. Worse still, the headline inflation has stayed outside the upper limit for the better part of the past 14 months.

• The amended RBI Act, 1934 provides for the inflation target be set by the Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank, once in every five years-What is inflation target?

• Know about these terms-Bank Rate, Reverse Repo Rate, Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), Marginal Standing Facility (MSF), Marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) etc.

• New Standard for Measuring Inflation in India and Old Standard for Measuring Inflation-Key Differences

• Do You Know-Monetary policy essentially deals with the supply and cost (interest rates) of money in an economy. The RBI’s MPC meets every two months to assess the state of monetary activities, and may tweak the repo rate — the interest rate at which the RBI lends to commercial banks — in a manner that reduces price fluctuations in the economy while keeping the inflation rate (the rate at which the general price level in the economy grows) at a reasonable level.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Forecast is still cloudy

????PRESSING PAUSE

ECONOMY

Govt raises funding for development of natural rubber sector

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Main Examination: General Studies III: Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The union government has increased the allocation sustainable development of the natural rubber sector scheme for the next two financial years (2024-26) by 23 per cent from Rs 576.41 crore to Rs 708.69 crore, a senior official said on Monday.

• Natural rubber production in India-Know in detail

• Map Work-Rubber producing states in India

• Who is the largest producer of rubber in India?

• What are key features of Rubber?

• What is the status of rubber production in India?

• For Your Information-There are over 13 lakh rubber growers in the country with Kerala accounting for a major chunk of the production, which was 8.39 lakh tonnes in FY23. Consumption, however, during FY23 stood at 13.5 lakh tonnes. Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry Amardeep Singh Bhatia said that the funds will be used for supporting the plantation of rubber, generation of planting material, productivity enhancement, formation of rubber producers societies, and rubber research and training.

”The outlay (has) increased by 23 per cent from Rs 576.41 crore to Rs 708.69 crore for the next two financial years,” Bhatia told reporters here. In traditional areas, including Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, plantation of rubber will be undertaken on 12,000 hectares. Bhatia said that the government is not considering any cut in import duty on rubber as of now as the differential between the local and international prices is maintained.

The rate of assistance has been increased to Rs 40,000 per hectare from the previous Rs 25,000 per hectare, he said, adding that it will help to cover the increased cost of production as well as provide additional incentive to growers. In non-traditional areas like Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and north-east states, 3,752 hectares will be brought under rubber cultivation during 2024-26. The scheme is implemented through the Rubber Board.

Bhatia further said that an outlay of Rs 29 crore has been provided for the next two years for rubber research. ”This will aim at developing rubber clones suitable for different agro-climatic regions of the country to expand rubber cultivation to new areas,” Bhatia said.

• What is the annual consumption of rubber, both synthetic and natural, in India?

• What would be the size of the rubber industry in the country

• What percentage of the rubber used is imported?

• What are the major problems the rubber industry is facing now?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????India’s 2nd largest rubber producer Tripura aims to boost production with RRII429, its own clone variety

EXPLAINED

La Nina-air quality links in new study

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian and World Geography

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Monsoon rainfall over India is known to be strongly influenced by El Nino and La Nina events, the alternating warming and cooling of the eastern Pacific Ocean that impacts weather across the world. A new study by Indian researchers has now suggested that even air quality in the country could be influenced by the two weather events.

• What is the link between pollution and winter months in India?

• “The most crucial factor in explaining the anomaly of winter 2022 was a change in the normal wind direction”-Discuss

• La Nina and climate change-Know in detail

• For Your Information- The study, by researchers at the Bengaluru-based National Institute of Advanced Studies and Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, has argued that the unusual air quality in some Indian cities in the winter of 2022 could be attributed to the record-breaking spell of La Nina prevailing at that time.

During October to January, northern Indian cities, particularly Delhi, experience very high concentrations of PM2.5. A variety of meteorological factors — temperature, moisture, heaviness in air, wind speed and direction — play a role in trapping pollutants in the lower levels of the atmosphere. These factors are also responsible for transporting pollutants from other regions, particularly those generated by agriculture waste burning in Punjab and Haryana, to Delhi and adjoining areas. The western and southern parts of the country have always had relatively lower levels of pollution, because of their proximity to oceans.

The winter of 2022, however, showed a significant deviation from this normal. Northern Indian cities, including Delhi, were cleaner than usual, while cities in the west and the south, like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, experienced worse-than-usual air quality.

The study said PM2.5 concentrations in Ghaziabad that winter saw a reduction of about 33% from normal, while in Noida, the concentration was 28% below normal. Delhi saw a reduction of about 10%. Simultaneously, the concentrations in Mumbai rose by 30%, while Bengaluru registered a 20% rise. It was this anomalous behaviour that the researchers had set out to study when they found themselves led to the possible effects of La Nina.

The most crucial factor in explaining the anomaly of winter 2022 was a change in the normal wind direction. During this time, wind usually blows in the northwesterly direction: for example, from Punjab towards Delhi and further into the Gangetic plains. This is one of the main reasons why agricultural waste pollutants in Punjab and Haryana flow into Delhi.

In the winter of 2022, however, the wind circulation was in the north-south direction. The pollutants being carried from Punjab and Haryana bypassed Delhi and surrounding areas and flew over Rajasthan and Gujarat to southern regions. Beig said the wind behaviour in both cases had something to do with the extended La Nina which, by the winter of 2022, had been persisting for an unusually long three years.

“When we used the global air circulation data as a result of La Nina in our computer models, we found the emergence of wind patterns over the Indian region that were very similar to the observed changes. When we ran the models with data from previous years, when a strong La Nina was not present, these anomalous wind patterns disappeared. It showed a strong sensitivity to La Nina conditions,” Beig said.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Why winter of 2022-23 in Delhi was cleaner than usual, but Mumbai saw poor air

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