Important topics and their relevance in UPSC CSE exam for January 9, 2024. If you missed the January 8, 2024 UPSC CSE exam key from the Indian Express, read it here

FRONT PAGE

‘Abuse of power’: SC scraps release of Bilkis case rape-murder convicts

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies I: Social empowerment, communalism

• General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.

• General Studies IV: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-THE SUPREME Court Monday struck down the relief granted by the Gujarat government in August 2022 to 11 men who were sentenced to life for the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members during the 2002 riots, and ordered them to surrender to jail authorities within two weeks.

• Who is Bilkis Bano?

• Bilkis Bano case and collective conscience of society-connect the dots

• What do you understand by pardon, suspension, respite, remission and commute?

• Bilkis Bano case: What Supreme Court Said?

• What was the issue before the court here?

• What is Rule of law?

• What is right to liberty?

• How right to liberty is granted by the Indian Constitution?

• For Your Information-In its order, a bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission to convicts was “an instance of usurpation of jurisdiction and… of abuse of discretion” and that the State “acted in tandem and was complicit” with the convicts. Remission means a reduction in sentence imposed on a person convicted of a crime.

The Supreme Court said Gujarat was not the “appropriate government” to decide on the remission plea of the 11 men convicted for the “grotesque and diabolical crime…driven by communal hatred”. The bench pointed out that Section 432(7)(b) of The Code of Criminal Procedure, which deals with the power of remission, clearly indicates that the State within which the offender is sentenced, is the appropriate government to pass an order of remission” and not the one where the crime took place or where the convict was imprisoned.

• The court’s 251-page ruling identified five main issues or questions for its consideration. What were they, and how did the court address them?

• What are the laws on remission?

• Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution-Know in detail

• What are the grounds for remission?

• Laws on remission and the Bilkis case convict-Know in detail

• What you know about Gujarat’s remission policy?

• How Gujarat’s remission policy applied to Bilkis case?

• On what grounds did the Supreme Court strike down the remission given by the Gujarat government in 2022?

• How did the question of remission reach the Supreme Court?

• So what happens now? Can the convicts apply for remission again? If so, before whom, and under what rules?

• Do You Know-Under Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution, the President and Governors of states can pardon a convict, and can also suspend, remit, or commute a sentence passed by the courts. State governments too have the power to remit sentences under Section 432 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). This is because prisons is a State Subject. (The CrPC is proposed to be replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita. The law has been passed by Parliament and has obtained the assent of the President, but is yet to come into force.) However, Section 433A of the CrPC puts certain restrictions on these powers of remission. It says:

“Where a sentence of imprisonment for life is imposed on conviction of a person for an offence for which death is one of the punishments provided by law, or where a sentence of death imposed on a person has been commuted under Section 433 into one of imprisonment for life, such person shall not be released from prison unless he had served at least fourteen years of imprisonment.”

States set up a Sentence Review Board to exercise the powers under Section 432 of the CrPC. The Supreme Court has held that states cannot exercise the power of remission arbitrarily, and must follow due process. While the policy varies from state to state, broadly the grounds for remission considered by the Board are the same. These factors to be considered while making a decision on granting remission are: seriousness of the crime, the status of the co-accused, and conduct in jail.

In ‘Laxman Naskar v. Union of India’ (2000) the SC laid down five grounds on which remission is considered: (a) Whether the offence is an individual act of crime that does not affect the society; (b) Whether there is a chance of the crime being repeated in future; (c) Whether the convict has lost the potentiality to commit crime; (d) Whether any purpose is being served in keeping the convict in prison; and (e) Socio-economic conditions of the convict’s family.

Jail manuals contain rules that allow certain days of remission in every month for good behaviour of convicts. For those serving fixed sentences, the remission days are accounted for while releasing the convict. However, convicts serving life sentences are entitled to seek remission only after serving a minimum of 14 years.

One of the convicts, Radheshyam Shah, moved the Supreme Court in 2022 after he had completed 15 years and four months of the life term awarded to him by a CBI court in Mumbai. Radheshyam Shah sought directions to the Gujarat government to consider his application for premature release under its 1992 remission policy. Shah argued that the Gujarat HC had rejected his prayer on July 17, 2019 on the premise that since the trial had been concluded in Maharashtra, the application for premature release must also be filed in Maharashtra, and not in Gujarat.

In an order dated May 13, 2022, an SC Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath asked the Gujarat government to consider Shah’s application for premature release “within a period of two months”, as per the state’s 1992 remission policy. Gujarat was the “appropriate government” to decide on questions like remission or premature release because it was there that “the crime was committed and not the State where the trial stands transferred and concluded for exceptional reasons under the orders of this Court”, the SC said.

• What is collective conscience of society?

• Why is collective conscience important?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????‘SC order very encouraging’: Retired judge who ordered 2008 conviction

????Rule of law vs right to liberty: What Court said

????An extraordinary judgment

????Remission quashed, what now?

????Why Bilkis rapists have been sent back to jail: 5 key questions the SC considered and answered

THE IDEAS PAGE

Mind the cereal gap

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Jean Dreze , Christian Oldiges Writes: India produces about 300 million tonnes of cereals every year, but people’s consumption requirements are barely 200 million tonnes. What is going on?

• What is India’s current Cereal status says?

• Cereal production and consumption-what data says?

• Why there is a gap between production and consumption of cereal?

• What is per capita cereal consumption(PCCC)?

• Do You Know-According to the official Foodgrains Bulletin, cereal production (mainly rice and wheat) crossed 300 million tonnes for the first time in 2022-23, reaching 304 million tonnes to be precise. If we take a three-year average of annual production in the most recent years for which data are available (2020-21 to 2022-23), it comes to 292 million tonnes — still pretty close to 300 million.

The latest estimates of per capita cereal consumption (PCCC) pertain to 2011-12: 11.6 kg per month according to the second India Human Development Survey (IHDS-2), and just 10.7 kg per month according to the National Sample Survey (NSS). We also have IHDS-1 and NSS figures for 2004-5: 11.8 kg and 11.6 kg per month respectively. If the 2011-12 estimates are still valid today, and if India’s population is now around 140 crore, then aggregate household consumption of cereals is less than 200 million tonnes, and possibly even below 180 million tonnes.

• “The downward PCCC trend is sometimes attributed to rising poverty, but this is a misunderstanding”-Comment

• What is seed, feed and wastage (SFW)?

• Why Government of India’s annual Economic Survey deducts 12.5 per cent for seed, feed and wastage (SFW)?

• “The cereal gap is quite a mystery”-Discuss

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Why India’s agri production stats need a ground reality check

????The paradox of bumper crops and high cereal prices

ECONOMY

Income inequality declines, says SBI research unit countering K-shaped eco recovery claims

Syllabus:

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

Main Examination: General Studies‐ II: Issues relating to poverty and hunger.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Income inequality has declined in India with a higher tax base and a shift in taxpayers from lower income to higher income tax bracket, the Economic Research Department of the State Bank of India said in a report released Monday. Terming the claims of K-shaped recovery as “prejudiced” and “ill-concocted”, the report also cited the transition of small firms into larger firms and consumption trends such as the rising trend of ordering from food ordering platforms such as Zomato of being indicative of “vanishing inequality”.

• What is Income Inequality?

• What are the causes of Income Inequality?

• Consequences of Income Inequality-Explain

• How Income Inequality is measured?

• How to Income Inequality can be reduced?

• What Economic Research Department of the State Bank of India said in a report?

• What is ‘K-shaped recovery’-Know in detail

• Why the report Terming claimed K-shaped recovery as “prejudiced” and “ill-concocted”?

• For Your Information-About 36.3 per cent of taxpayers have moved from lower income to higher income tax bracket resulting in 21.3 per cent additional income, the report said adding that the top 2.5 per cent of taxpayers’ contribution in income declined from 2.81 per cent in FY14 to 2.28 per cent in FY21. The income-tax returns (ITRs) filed by individual taxpayers earning between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, climbed by 295 per cent between the assessment years (AY) 2013–14 and AY 2021–22, showing a positive trend of migration to a higher range of gross total income, the report said.

On the share of top taxpayers in income, the report said that in FY14, the combined income of 23 individuals with income of more than Rs 100 crore was 1.64 per cent of the total income of FY14. Even though the number of such individuals increased to 136 in FY21, the share of their combined income fell to 0.77 per cent. Also, 19.5 per cent of small firms have transitioned into larger fis through MSME value chain integration and consumption of the bottom 90 per cent of the population has increased by Rs 8.2 lakh crore post pandemic, the report said.

“Growth is seen in all income classes but its skewedness has been decreasing with convergence of income towards the middle from both top as well as bottom,” the report said. The report said the claim of K-shaped recovery, which implies divergent rate of recovery with one section recovering positively and other section declining, seems “at best flawed, prejudiced, ill-concocted and fanning interests of select quarters to whom India’s remarkable ascendance, signalling more the renaissance of the new global south, is quite unpalatable”.

“Income inequality captured through the Gini coefficient (one of the most widely used measures of income inequality) of taxable income has declined significantly from 0.472 to 0.402 during FY14-FY22,” it said. The report also talks about the decline in sale of two-wheelers, stating that it is “foolhardy to claim that declining two-wheeler sales is a proxy for distress in the rural economy” and people are substituting two-wheelers with four-wheelers.

“Two-wheeler sales is on downward trend and passenger vehicle (4-wheeler) sales is on upward trend even before the pandemic, but FY19 onwards, there has been clear preference for 4-wheelers over 2-wheelers. Further, the strong credit deployment of auto loans touching nearly 1.8 times the pandemic level, supported by Gross NPAs of vehicle loans at just 1.4% signifies that auto loans are not down or non-performing, it is indeed substituted from two wheelers towards 4 wheelers even for the bottom of pyramid,” it said.

“More importantly post-pandemic, the sales figures could reflect households reconfiguring their savings towards physical assets (real estate) and a not too small buyers percentage shifting to used/entry-level cars (substitution effect),” it added. Female tax filers are around 15 per cent of the individual tax filers with certain states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and West Bengal having higher share of female tax filers which needs to be looked into for broad basing, it said.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????India ‘very unequal’, top 10% hold 57% of national income: Inequality Report

????Explained: What is a K-shaped economic recovery, and what are its implications?

EXPLAINED

GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION TAG

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Seven products from Odisha, ranging from the Similipal Kai chutney made with red weaver ants to the embroidered Kapdaganda shawl, have bagged the coveted Geographical Indication (GI) tag in recognition of their exclusivity to the state.

• What is GI tag?

• Who is a registered proprietor of a geographical indication?

• Know GI products in India

• Importance of GI Tag-Know in detail

• What is the benefit of registration of geographical indications?

• For Your Information-Geographical Indications of goods refer to the place of origin of a product. Such tags are accorded as they convey an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, attributable to the fact of its origin in a specific geographical locality, region or country. In India, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, awards GIs.

A GI registration is given to an area, not a trader, but once a product gets the registration, traders dealing in the product can apply to sell it with the GI logo. Authorised traders are each assigned a unique GI number. If any unauthorised trader tries selling the product under that name, they can be prosecuted under The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

A marker of authentic products, the GI tags also help protect the interests of the local growers and artisans by preventing duplicity of the products and sale from unauthorised traders. Consumers, through the tags, can know which goods are certified.

• Know them-Kapdaganda shawl, Lanjia Saura Painting, Koraput Kala Jeera Rice, Similipal Kai chutney, Nayagarh Kanteimundi Brinjal, Odisha Khajuri Guda and Dhenkanal Magji

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Seeking a clear view of the Sun: Why does Aditya need to be at L1?

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Aditya-L1 was launched by ISRO on September 2, 2023, with the mission of observing and helping us better understand the Sun. It arrives at its destination, L1 or the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, on January 6.

• Why study the Sun?

• Do You Know-The Sun produces energy through nuclear fusion in its interior, and emits it from its outer layers. The photosphere, a 6,000-degree Celsius layer, emits all visible and infrared light, crucial for life. Above is the chromosphere, and higher still is the million-degree Celsius hot corona.

Interestingly, the corona is much hotter than the inner layers of the Sun — there must be some energy source which provides this heat. However, the processes involved in this are not yet fully understood. Moreover, it also emits ultraviolet and X-ray radiation which would be lethal to life on Earth, without the presence of the atmosphere which absorbs most harmful radiation.

The Sun also continuously streams electrically charged particles — a stream known as the Solar wind. These charged particles produce the spectacular aurorae, known as the Northern and Southern Lights, seen close to the north and south poles of the Earth.

There are also sudden bursts and ejections of charged particles from the Sun into interplanetary space, known as Solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These directly affect space weather, space-reliant technologies like satellite communication networks, and can produce electric power blackouts in Earth’s higher latitudes. Notably, they can be extremely difficult to predict.

• What will Aditya-L1 do?

• What is L1, the location of Aditya?

• Aditya-L1-Know more in detail

• Aditya-L1-Know its key components

• Aditya-L1-Know the mission objective

• What is the L1 point of the Earth Sun system?

• What is Halo orbit?

• What is L1?

• Why L1?

• What about L2?

• Do You Know- L1 stands for the first Lagrangian point — there are five such points, L1 to L5, associated with the motion of one astronomical body around another one, in Aditya’s case, Earth and the Sun. These points were theoretically discovered by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler and the Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange in the 19th century. We are particularly concerned here with points L1 and L2 because of their relevance to space missions.

When a spacecraft is in orbit around Earth, it is affected by the gravitational force exerted on it by the planet. Yet it does not fall to Earth’s surface because effectively, Earth’s gravity is balanced by a centrifugal force which arises due to the motion of the spacecraft around the Earth.

The Earth’s gravitational pull on a spacecraft gets ever so weaker the further it moves from the planet. Eventually, there comes a point where Earth’s gravitational force becomes comparable that exerted by the Sun. If a spacecraft moves any further, it will get pulled into orbit around the sun, or eventually crash into it, depending on its speed.

L1 is the sweet spot between Earth and the Sun, where the gravitational force exerted on a spacecraft by the two celestial bodies, and the centrifugal force cancel each other. As a result, once placed exactly at L1, Aditya would always continue to remain there without expending any energy. Putting Aditya in orbit around the Earth would have made the mission much simpler. However, this would also mean that Earth would cover Aditya’s view of the Sun for significant periods of time. While the duration of such eclipses can be reduced by choosing the correct orbit, it cannot be fully eliminated. Given that Aditya is meant to act as an early warning system for solar flares and coronal mass ejections, is necessary to have an uninterrupted view of the Sun.

When Aditya is at L1, the Earth is always on one side of it, and the Sun on the other side. Thus, the spacecraft’s instruments can be pointed towards the Sun for a completely uninterrupted view. Even though placing the spacecraft at an orbit around L1 is complex, the benefits of having an uninterrupted view of the Sun at all times is well worth the effort, risk, and expense. A few space missions are already parked around the L1 point, including the LISA Pathfinder, and Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), both collaborative missions of NASA and European Space Agency.

• Does this mean that Aditya is at a stationary point in space?

• Which Launch Vehicle is used for Aditya-L1?

• For Your Information-Indian scientists have so far observed the Sun through telescopes on the ground, and relied on data from solar missions launched by the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Japan. “All these years, India has been observing the Sun using only ground-based telescopes, which have grown old now. As India lacked a large-scale modern observational facility, we were dependent on other sources for solar data.

Aditya-L1 presents a unique opportunity to not only address the existing gaps but also complement with newer data to address the unsolved problems in solar physics,” Prof Dipankar Banerjee, director of the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Nainital, said. S Seetha, former director of ISRO’s Space Science Programme Office, said astronomy-based space missions are gaining importance “due to the new findings, and inspiration to the youth and general public it can provide”. “Science missions also take longer to develop, since technological development can be demanding,” Dr Seetha said.

• What is solar activity, solar prominence, solar flare and coronal mass ejection or CME?

• How solar activity, solar prominence, solar flare and coronal mass ejection or CME impacts Earth?

• Does all solar activity impact Earth? Why or why not?

• For Your Information-Solar activity associated with Space Weather can be divided into four main components: solar flares, coronal mass ejections, high-speed solar wind, and solar energetic particles. Solar flares impact Earth only when they occur on the side of the sun facing Earth. Because flares are made of photons, they travel out directly from the flare site, so if we can see the flare, we can be impacted by it.

Coronal mass ejections, also called CMEs, are large clouds of plasma and magnetic field that erupt from the sun. These clouds can erupt in any direction, and then continue on in that direction, plowing right through the solar wind. Only when the cloud is aimed at Earth will the CME hit Earth and therefore cause impacts. High-speed solar wind streams come from areas on the sun known as coronal holes. These holes can form anywhere on the sun and usually, only when they are closer to the solar equator, do the winds they produce impact Earth.

Solar energetic particles are high-energy charged particles, primarily thought to be released by shocks formed at the front of coronal mass ejections and solar flares. When a CME cloud plows through the solar wind, high velocity solar energetic particles can be produced and because they are charged, they must follow the magnetic field lines that pervade the space between the Sun and the Earth. Therefore, only the charged particles that follow magnetic field lines that intersect the Earth will result in impacts.

• What are coronal holes?

• What is a geomagnetic storm?

• What is a sunspot?

• What is solar maximum and solar minimum?

• What is the solar cycle?

• Do space weather effects / solar storms affect Earth?

• What are some real-world examples of space weather impacts?

• In what ways will the Aditya L1 Mission contribute to our understanding of the Sun and its phenomena?

• What are the other solar missions by different countries?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Solar Storm and Space Weather

????The Sun up close: Aditya-L1 mission and its objectives

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