Current Affairs Key Highlights

01_04_2022

Is the fuel pricing policy problematic ?

▪ The story of dismantling oil prices starts from 1997. In 1995- 96, India had an import dependency of about
1.
65% to 70%, so the government decided to move from administered price mechanism on a cost-plus basis to
market determined consumer prices for petrol, diesel and other fuels.
▪ Nirmal Singh Committee recommendations in late 1996 and it was decided that oil pricing mechanism would
be dismantled gradually from 1997 to 2002.
▪ From 2004, oil prices started moving up and UPA government restored the cost plus pricing system to protect
consumers, from an average price close to$48 per barrel in 2006 where prices moved up each year under
peaked at $143 per barrel in 2008.
▪ Till 2014 fuel prices stayed between$100 and $120 per barrel.
▪ Till 2010, the government had issued ₹1,42,203 crore in oil bonds, but it started providing cash subsidies
thereafter till 2015.
▪ Oil prices came down to $50 per barrel in 2015, where NDA government again started implementing the
market price mechanism. The prices remained at low average level of$50 to $60 per barrel, so the market
price mechanism could be implemented very easily without giving such discomfort to consumers.

▪ Current high prices are largely due to two factors:

#1:
▪ Higher level of excise on transport fuels has led to higher VAT levies and state, which has in turn increased
the prices.
#2:
▪ The rupee has depreciated and the share of energy imports has gone from 70% to 87%.
▪ The OPEC countries are not releasing production quotas since COVID - 19, Ukraine - Russia crisis, are also
factors for high prices.

Stop - and - Start Approach:

▪ the government has not been able to stick to either the earlier regime or the current regime whenever global
crisis pressures have gone above a certain threshold.
▪ There are political economic reasons, sound economic reasons for the government to deviate from the stated
policy either temporarily or in a more regular way.
▪ The revisit of this issue is necessary because the Indian economy has become vulnerable to the global crude
price pressures.
▪ In fact, if those prices are passed down fully to consumers and industrial users, generate major economic
effects, high retail inflation lead to subdued consumption expenditure recovery.

Short term solution:

▪ reduction in excise duties or taxes, the buoyancy and prospects for FY23 provide certain fiscal legroom to
absorb a reduction in excise duty on petroleum products, the same for states through VAT.
▪ If centre and states can come together, coordinate and balance the burden of adjustment among themselves
there could be additional absorption of some cost.
▪ The corporate income tax reforms, the expected reform on personal income tax and the GST reforms all
proved to have a revenue adverse impact, so the capacity of the central government to absorb increases in
global crude prices became limited.
▪ The tax to GDP ratio, particularly of the central government has not got the world peak levels after these
reforms.
▪ The government has to choose between healthy revenue generation and giving a fillip to the economy through
lower prices.
▪ The contribution of petroleum sector to exchequer in FY15 was ₹1,72,065 to ₹4,53,820 crore largely due to
excise duties.
▪ The excise duty on petrol is around ₹29 per litre and ₹24 rupees on diesel, where the states also benefited
from VAT collections.
▪ Oil bonds are very inefficient intervention as they only tend to postpone the problem, the options of the
government are limited because of the lack of macro vision for fiscal reforms.
▪ From 2002 onwards, our strategy of dealing with vulnerability of Indian economy with global crude prices
rises on a trend basis has not been developed
▪ If the average oil price in FY23 settles at $100 per barrel, growth rate would fall by 70 basis points, inflation
would increase by 100 basis points.
▪ Model code of Conduct during campaigns cannot happen unless the decision of determining the price is goes
to some independent body. But any government would not be willing to give up whatever little legroom it has.
▪ So, there is a need to develop a proper medium term growth strategy with taxation of petroleum products.
▪ Despite the move towards non-conventional energy sources, there is a need to increase our tax to GDP ratio
from other sources.

Unity of India will not bend to passing winds of slogans

▪ An FIR was lodged against three Kashmiri students in Agra, had been in jail since October 27 2021, over
allegedly hailing the Pakistan cricket team's victory over India in T20 cricket match.
▪ While granting them to bail on March 30, Allahabad High court justice told that,
▪ the foundations of our nation are more enduring. Internal ideals bind the indestructible unity of India. Every
citizen of the country is the custodian and the state is a Sentinel of the unity of India, constitutional values of
the nation.
▪ Students traveling freely to different parts of the country in the quest for knowledge is the true celebration of
India's diversity and a vivid manifestation of India's unity. It is the duty of the people of the hosting state to
create enabling conditions for visiting scholars to learn and to live the constitutional values of our nation.
▪ It is also obligation of young scholars to imbibe and adhere to such values.

Areas under AFSPA regime reduced: Shah

▪ AFSPA was being removed, based on committee recommendation, from jurisdiction of 15 police stations in
seven districts and still remain active in 13 districts.
In Assam:
▪ AFSPA was being completely removed from 23 districts and one district under partial cover.
▪ Although the army will not be deployed for counter insurgency, it will be active in intelligence gathering and
other activities.
In Manipur:
▪ 15 police stations areas in 6 districts would be excluded, but law would remain effective in 82 police stations of
16 districts.
In Arunachal Pradesh:
▪ The Status quo remained - the AFSPA would remain in force in two police stations of Namsai and
Mahadevapur and three districts of Tirap, changlang, Langding.
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 Current Affairs Key Highlights
02_04_2022

GST Collections hit new high in March

▪ GST collections hit record ₹1,42,095 cr in March 2022, crossing the recent high in Jan 2022 of ₹1,40,986 cr,
1.
lifting the centre projected gross revenues for 2021-22 significantly above the governments revised estimates.
▪ March GST revenue 46% higher than earlier year.
▪ Revenue from import of goods were 25% higher and revenues from domestic transactions, including imports
of services, were 11% higher than earlier.

▪ Finance Ministry citing the fact that,

1. Number of e-way bills generated in Feb 6.91 cr exceeded Jan's 6.88 despite a shorter month.
2. Anti-evasion activity against fake billers also helped to lift collection.
3. Strong sales activity of corporates in March, promotes high growth as end of FY sale.
▪ Monthly collections averaged
a. ₹1.38 lakh cr in Q4 of FY22;
b. ₹1.33 lakh cr in Q3 of FY22;
c. ₹1.15 lakh cr in Q2 of FY22;
d. ₹1.11 lakh cr in Q1 of FY22.

▪ State wise GST revenues rose by,

a. 26% in Odisha,
b. 19% in Maharashtra,
c. 18% in Andhra Pradesh
d. 17% in Haryana,
e. 14% in Kerala
f. 12% in Gujarat
g. 11% in Karnataka
h. 6% in Uttar Pradesh
i. 6% in Tamil Nadu
j. 2% in West Bengal
k. 2% in Telangana

Caste Analysis and its reading today

▪ After the 'Mandal decade' of 1990s, the institution of cast has become legible in new way, in the middle of
Modi after the novel corona pandemic cast has become opaque again - the code has changed.
▪ The perception of 'we' no longer remains unmarked universal 'we', that speaks for everyone, but must be
acknowledged as upper caste.
▪ The other changes can be divided into two kinds: those that are internal to the cache structure itself and those
that are located in the larger context.
▪ The internal changes are in relation to largest group, the OBCs.

▪ The reorientation of caste in the new Millennium happened largely because of the arrival of OBCs on
national stage, as positive signature for several reasons:
Reason #1:
▪ OBCs helped to place caste the right side up.
▪ From Nehru era until 1990s, the dominant ideology had presented caste as the exception and casteless ness as
the rule.
▪ But, OBC forced to recognise that upper castes were a minority rather than the general or universal category.
 Reason #2:
▪ As they were intermediate group, OBC invite closer attention to notion of Backwardness and interplay of
graded privilege and deprivilege in different caste clusters.

Reason #3:
▪ As they were defined as residual category - neither in SC or ST nor in Upper Castes, OBCs highlighted pros
and cons of categorisation and challenge of internal disparities within large groupings.
▪ OBCs are also important in themselves because of their demographic weight and distribution.
▪ OBCs are present in most parts of the country and formed a large segment of every class group, from the
poorest to the richest.
▪ That is why, they had special affinity for federalism and were instrumental in introducing coalition politics at
national level.

Internal dynamics:
▪ The single most important change over the past two decades that process of internal differentiation within
each large caste grouping has now penetrated much deeper.
▪ The most common dimensions of differentiation are economic status, livelihood sources, regional location.
▪ The single most important contextual factor that allows or prevents crystallisation as an independent entity
appears to be region specific electoral influence.
▪ Eg: Yadavas in UP, facilitated the emergence of a derivative sub group called 'Non - Yadav OBCs'
▪ Similarly, region specific developments seen in cases such as Mahars of Maharashtra, Malas of Andhra
Pradesh among SC groups.
▪ But, the emergent entity need not to be defined as distinct caste, it may be an off stage rather the onstage actor
in the drama of electoral politics.
▪ Eg: Economic differentiation within the upper castes has produced division into the non-rich, rich and super
rich segments, but these are not different castes, they are not a separate political constituency.

▪ Caste analysis today has no choice but to be fine-grained and multi-dimensional, which is not just a
quantitative change but also the crystallisation of new political entities triggers qualitative shifts as well.

▪ The apparent opacity of caste today seems to have two different sources.
Source #1:
▪ Exponential increase in complexity of field, largely because of differentiation of initial groupings that were far
too big to remain coherent.
Source #2:
▪ This is not located within the caste but in its relationship to other contextual factors.
▪ The most important of these are neoliberalism as hegemonic world view that repositioned the state and
market; the dominance of Hindutva as a political modality; the new media regime that saturates social life; the
ongoing restructuring of federalism; the change in ecosystem of official statistics.

BIMSTEC after the Colombo summit

▪ Fifth summit of BIMSTEC on March 30 2022, in Colombo, advanced the cause of regional cooperation and
integration.

Outcomes of the Summit:

▪ BIMSTEC is no longer a mere initiative programme.
▪ Represents the fifth of world's population but contributes only 4% of GDP.
▪ Need to strengthen itself by redefining its purpose and rejuvenating its organs and institutions.
▪ The leaders retreat conveyed by India in 2016, gathered momentum, eventual result is now seen in package
of decisions and agreements announced at latest summit.
 Package comprises of:
Element #1:
▪ Grouping Charter and adopting formally BIMSTEC as an inter-governmental organisation with legal
personality, listing 11 items in the first article.
▪ One of them is acceleration of the economic growth and social progress in Bay of Bengal region and
promotion of multidimensional connectivity.
▪ Grouping now views itself as an regional organisation whose destiny is linked with the area around the Bay of
Bengal.

Element #2:
▪ Decision to reconstitute and reduce the number of sectors of cooperation from the unwieldy 14 to more
manageable seven, one sector for each of its member. Where,
1. Trade and Development - Bangladesh
2. Environment and Climate Change - Bhutan
3. Security, including Energy - India
4. Agriculture and Food Security - Myanmanr
5. People to People contacts - Nepal
6. Science, Technology and Innovation - Sri Lanka
7. Connectivity - Thailand

Element #3:
▪ Summit participants adopted the Master Plan for Transport Connectivity applicable for 2018 - 2028, devised
and backed by Asian Development Bank (ADB).
▪ Its importance lies in the highest-level political support accorded to this ambitious plan.
▪ It lists 264 projects entailing a total investment of $126 billion. Projects worth $55 billion are under
implementation.

Element #4:
▪ Three new agreements signed by member states:
1. Mutual legal assistance in criminal matters
2. Cooperation between diplomatic academic
3. Establishment of a technology transfer facility in Colombo.

Balancing Security and Economic Development:

▪ Post summit, a quick look at unfinished tasks and new challenges gives an idea of the burden of
responsibilities on the grouping.
▪ The pillar of trade, economic and investments cooperation need greater strengthening at faster pace.
▪ Despite signing a framework agreement for a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2004,
BIMSTEC stands far away from this goal.
▪ The need for expansion of connectivity, finalising legal instruments for coastal shipping, road transport and
intra-regional energy grid remains unfinished.
▪ There needs to be mention of speedy success achieved in deepening cooperation in security matters and
management of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR).
▪ As security and economic development are interrelated, it is essential to ensure an equitable balance between
two pillars.

Statements by various leaders:

▪ Nepal PM - Region is not on track to achieve any of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
▪ Thailand PM - expressed his resolve to work for a "Prosperous, Resilient and Robust and Open (PRO)
BIMSTEC" in his tenure.
▪ India was the only country to offer additional funding to the Secretariat and also to support the Secretary
General's proposal to establish an Eminent Persons Group (EPG) for producing a vision document.
▪ BIMSTEC should focus more in future on new areas such as blue economy, the digital economy, promotion
of exchanges and links among startup’s and MSME.

Additionally, BIMSTEC needs:

#1:
▪ Personal engagement of the political leadership should be stepped up.

#2:
▪ BIMSTEC needs greater visibility. India's turn to host the G20 leaders’ summit in 2023 presents a golden
opportunity, which can be leveraged optimally.

#3:
▪ Grouping names need urgent attention. As present name contains 12 words should be trimmed to 4 words
only - the Bay of Bengal Community (BOBC).

In Sri Lanka, an economic crisis foretold

▪ Sri Lanka's ruling administration has four Rajapaska brothers and one son in the Cabinet, in prominent
positions.
▪ Months into the economic meltdown, none of them has shown signs of recognising the suffering of the
people, let alone to take responsibility of it.
▪ The Sri Lanka rupee has plummeted in value against, the US dollar with importers now needing LKR 300 to
buy a dollar.
▪ Country's foreign exchange reserves were already under strain after the Easter Sunday terror attack in 2019
halted tourist arrivals and foreign investments.
▪ Reserves are now barely enough to pay for a month's imports.
▪ Middle class citizens and political oppositions protesting against the governments failings and indifference to
the misery of people.
▪ The COVID - 19 pandemic's impact on key foreign exchange earners - tourism, garment, tea exports, migrant
workers remittance - dealt blow to an economy already reeling from the shock of Easter Sunday bombings.
▪ In 2020, alone, real GDP contracted by 3.6%.
▪ At macro level, significant drop in export revenue, a high import bill over $20 bn and impending foreign debt
obligations totalling nearly $7 billion this year were obvious early warning signs.
▪ Food Inflation hit a record high of over 25% in February, with the prices of rice, pulses, fish, chicken,
vegetables, coconut skyrocketing.

Backfired Policy:
▪ President’s decision from 2020 to restrict imports, including food items and inputs relating to agriculture, was
aimed at conserving foreign exchange.
▪ Banning of chemical fertilisers import in May 2021, forcing country to switch abruptly to organic farming,
made a threat to Sri Lankas food security.
▪ After mass protection by farmer groups, the government in Nov 2021, rowed back on its evidently ill advised
policy on agrochemicals.
▪ Crop scientists have predicted a dramatic reduction in annual harvests, a 40 - 45% drop in paddy yeild alone.
▪ In Feb 2022, imported 3,00,000 tonnes of rice from India, 1,00,000 tonnes from Myanmar to control rice
prices. Chinese announced a gift of 2,000 tonnes of rice.
▪ Apart from food grains, cash strapped Sri Lanka is also frantically seeking financial help from different
sources.
▪ India has extended $2.4 billion, $2.8 billion by Beijing during pandemic.
▪ After initial reluctance, Colombo is now turning to the IMF - a popular policy prescription from the political
opposition, think tanks, diplomatic missions.
▪ According to World Bank report, there are atleast 5 lakh "new poor" people in Sri Lanka after pandemic, a
warning of relatively high levels of inequality.

▪ In the current predicament of waiting in longlines, many see a playback of early 1970s, i.e., public disaffection
over Bandaranaike's economic policy led to emphatic 1977 poll victory of Jayewardane as President, who
opened the Sri Lanka economy to the private sector, foreign trade, capital movements, setting a regional
precedent.
▪ In the process, it irreversibly altered the island nation's economic path.
▪ Immigration authorities have notes the sharp increase in applications for new passports around 1,61,394 since
Jan 2022, as scores of young men and women from working families going abroad for domestic or
construction work.

▪ The critical factors over the next few months will determine Sri Lanka's economic revival and regime's
political fortunes: President's ability to arrest the devasting impact of crisis, oppositions chances to win
people’s confidence as a credible political alternative.
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 Current Affairs Key Highlights
04_04_2022

For a full repeal

▪ Home Ministry decided to considerably reduce number of "disturbed areas", repeal of AFSPA from three
1.
states in North East, especially after 13 civilians killed in Nagaland in Dec 2021.
▪ The order, from April 1 2022, is applicable for next six months.
▪ The Government’s decision to relax the application of the Act in specific areas seems to stem from the
reduction in violence and also administrative reasons rather than as a response to burning question on the Act
is essential to security operations in these states, which have experienced insurgencies of various degrees in
past.
▪ Despite the vociferous protests from security forces for the retention of Act, human rights organisations,
sections of civil society and committees including five-member committee led by retired Supreme Court in
2005, called for its repeal; the repeal of the Act in full from the three states remain unfulfilled.
▪ According to the committee, the act had created a impression that the people of the northeast States were
being targeted for hostile treatment and that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act could instead be suitably
amended to tackle terrorism.
▪ In 2016, SC also ruled that, the armed forces could not be immune from investigation for excess committed
during the discharge of their duties even in "disturbed areas", in effect circumscribing the conditions in which
the immunity is applied.

Lift spending
▪ Industrial data from February 2022 shows output production in eight core sectors grew at fastest pace in four
months at 5.8% but production had contracted 3.3% than year earlier.
▪ Compared with Jan 2022, the output in all of these sectors declined with the overall index contracting 5.3%.
▪ Electricity generation contributes 20% of index, declined 3.3%.
▪ Steel, index heavyweight that feeds into various sectors, declined 5.2%.
▪ Refinery sector, largest component of index about 28, also that facilitates other industries by powering
mobility, declined 8%.
▪ Inflation breached RBI upper tolerance limit of 6%, if further worsened, the domino effect upstream will only
impact the core sectors further.
▪ [A domino effect or chain reaction is the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of
similar events. ]
▪ CapEx also grew a mere 0.8% in Feb from earlier Feb.
▪ Though tax revenues have been robust, the Government likely held back on CapEx to help offset the lack of
disinvestment proceeds it had budgeted for.
▪ Sale of BPCL has also not proceeded apace.
▪ So, Government may have to increase its capital spending to stoke the economy.
▪ The multiplier effect also benefits industries such as cement, steel, crowd private investments, spurring job
creation.

Making groundwater visible

▪ The theme of this year's for World Water Day (March 22) was 'Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible'.
▪ Primary focus is to draw attention to the role of groundwater in water and sanitation systems, agriculture,
industry, ecosystems, climate change adaption.
▪ Groundwater helps reduce the risk of temporary water shortage and caters to the needs of arid and semi-arid
regions but it's not fully recognized in policymaking.
▪ Due to its high storage capacity, Groundwater is more resilient to the effects of climate change than surface
water.
▪ International conference on 'Groundwater, key to the Sustainable Development Goals ' and UN Water
Summit on Groundwater Are part of global initiatives to highlight the significance of groundwater in
sustainable development.
▪ With an annual groundwater extraction of 248.96 billion cubic meters, India is among the world's largest user
of groundwater.
▪ Almost 89% of the groundwater extracted is used for irrigation and the rest for domestic and industrial use of
9%, 2% respectively.
▪ According to Central Groundwater Board, annual groundwater withdrawal is considered to be safe when the
extraction rate is limited to below 70% of the annual replenishable recharge.
▪ Annual data indicated that the level of extraction for the country in 2017 was 63%, 58% in 2004.
▪ regionally Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry
have crossed the 70% mark.
▪ Besides the high level of extraction, quality is also an issue of concern.
▪ Fluoride, Iron, Salinity, Nitrate and arsenic contamination or major problems.
▪ More than 335 districts reported nitrate pollution compared to 109 in 2006.
▪ A high level of nitrate effects human health, the source of nitrates are mainly anthropogenic and depend on
local actions.

Changing the approach:

▪ The existing approach of dealing with surface water and groundwater independently have severe limitations.
▪ Mihir Shah committee (2016) proposed, the Central Water Commission and Central Groundwater Board
could be united and a national water framework with an integrated perspective developed like Local level
plans covering water resources in all its forms: Rain water, surface water, soil water, groundwater.
▪ although groundwater recharging takes place through a Geo hydrological process and it is not confined to
administrative or property boundaries, a landowner has the exclusive right two groundwater available in their
property.
▪ A community resource thus turns into a private resource due to location extraction site. Re-articulation of the
legal framework for groundwater use gains relevance in this context.
▪ The new paradigm of groundwater management easiest socioecological challenge where localism matters . It
warrants technical, economic, legal and governance remediation with space for active public participation and
community regulatory options to maintain groundwater balance.

Uniform Civil Code debate gains momentum

▪ Uniform Civil Code means formulation of one law to be made applicable to all religious communities in
matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, to secure gender justice, equality, dignity of women,
promote nationalistic fervour through unit as well as simplify the complex personal laws.
▪ Uttarakhand CM announced an expert panel to examine the possibility of applying the UCC in State.
▪ Rajya Sabha MP, had also move private members Bill for a law on UCC.
▪ One of the reasons for government ambivalence, argued some leaders, is the potential fallout of such a move
on tribal communities, a political constituency that are trying hard to win over.
▪ The courts’ view is based on several petitions claiming that personal laws governing the followers of certain
faiths discriminate against women.
▪ Shah Bano case, which upheld a women's right to maintenance was considered a step in the direction of
implementation of UCC. However, the government in 1986, enacted Muslim Women (Protection of Rights
on Divorce) Act, which nullified the Shah Bano Judgement.
▪ The Act allowed maintenance to women only for 90 days after the divorce.
▪ In the constituent Assembly, BR Ambedkar had explained that the UCC was incorporated into Constitution
as a "desirable" move, but for the movement "voluntary".
 A far reaching verdict that ends a regressive exception
▪ The outcomes in judicial proceedings are almost always shaped by the cases which came before the courts.
▪ The judgment of Hrishikesh Sahoo vs State of Karnataka, was a result of a unique case where a woman had
filed a criminal complaint of rape against her husband due to repeated acts of sexual assault she had to face.
▪ The police registered her complaint under section 376 notwithstanding marital rape exception, charge sheet
was filed and sessions judge took cognizance and frame charges under section 376.
▪ The husband file an application to drop the charge of section 376 what recessions rejected it. This led to the
husband approaching the High Court seeking to quash the criminal proceedings.
▪ Justice Nagaprasanna held that, if a man being a husband is exempted for his acts of sexual assault, it would
destroy women's right to equality, which is the soul of Indian constitution.
▪ Constitution recognises and grants equal status to women but the exception to martial rape in the IPC
amounts to discrimination because a wife is treated as subordinate to the husband.
▪ By constitution considers marriage as an association of equals and does not in any sense depict women to be
the subordinate to women and also guarantees woman the fundamental rights under articles 14, 15, 19 and 21
the right to live with dignity, personal liberty, bodily integrity, sexual autonomy, right to reproductive choices,
right to privacy, right to freedom of speech and expression.
▪ Exemption of the husband on committal of such assault or cannot be so absolute that it becomes a license for
Commission of crime.

Earlier Judgements:
▪ In Independent Thought vs Union of India (2017), the Supreme Court of India diluted it and removed the
exception to marital rape to your wife not below 15 years and made it 18 years.
▪ The court held that a girl cannot be treated as commodity having no say over her body or someone who has
no right to deny sexual intercourse to her husband and that the human rights of a girl child are very much
alive and kicking whether she is married or not.

Roots of Principle:
▪ Exception to marital rape in common laws was due to dictum by Chief Justice Matthew Hale of Britain in
1736.
▪ The concept that the marriage, a woman gave up her body to the husband was accepted as an enduring
principle of common law, due to which a husband could not be guilty of raping his wife.
▪ This was therefore translated into criminal codes, Including the IPC which India adopted.
▪ This principle has now been completely abolished in United Kingdom in 1991, The exception to marital rape
was done away with in the case of R vs R.
▪ The Karnataka High Court also took a similar view of its duties as a constitutional court in the present case
and held that exception to marital rape in section 375 is regressive, where in a woman is treated as a
subordinate to the husband and against the constitutional guarantee of equality.

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 Current Affairs Key Highlights
05_04_2022

Push the policy needle forward on migrant support

▪ In the wake of nationwide lockdown, India was left shocked by plight of migrant 1. workers walking hundreds of
kilometres, facing hunger, exhaustion and violence, to get to the safety of their home villages.
▪ They became the focus of large-scale relief efforts by government and civil society alike, where government
ramped up one nation one ration card project affordable housing complexes scheme, set up the e-Shram
portal and began to draft a migration policy.
▪ These initiatives generated the hope that the migrant crisis of 2020 would be a turning point, setting India
firmly on a policy path by offering adequate citizenship and accompanying social, economic and political
rights to the internal migrants.
▪ Repeated surveys have found that incomes of migrant households continue to be lower than pre pandemic
levels.
▪ Migrants are finding less work and their children eating less, where post 1991 poverty elevation of almost 300
million Indians, driven by migration out of farm work, is being undone.
▪ Despite this, cohesive migration policy guidance remains elusive.
▪ Today, a third of nation's workforce is mobile. Migrants fuel critical sectors such as manufacturing,
construction, hospitality, logistics and commercial agriculture.
▪ We must recognize the entrenched structural constraints slowing the migration policy momentum and take
strategic steps to push the policy forward.

Step #1:
▪ Migration is a highly politicized phenomenon in India, where states are highly influenced by the political
economy of migration.
▪ Destination states experience a tension between economic needs, which require migrant labour and political
needs, which promote nativist policies that impose a domicile restriction on employment and Social Security.
▪ On the flip side, the sending states are highly motivated to serve their own people because they vote in their
source villages. This fragmented policy response to internal migration follows from state specific calculations
on what political dividends might be reap by investing fiscal and administrative resources towards migrants.

Step #2:
▪ Migrants are perennially fuzzy category in policy discourse, located inside two larger categories that have long
troubled policymakers: the unorganised worker and the urban poor.
▪ Even e-Shram portal has made impressive progress in registering unorganised workers but unable to
accurately distinguish and target migrants.
▪ Hence slum development continues as the primary medium for elevating migrant concerns, most migrants
live on worksites that are entirely out of policy gaze.
▪ It is also assumed that migrants will be automatically catered to with the formalisation of economy, the labour
market, the housing market, finance. This pushes the timeline for addressing the migrant issue far out as not
an urgent priority.

Step #3:
▪ Migration policy discourse is seemingly paralyzed by the now well acknowledged failure of official datasets to
capture the actual scale and frequency of internal migration in India.
▪ Data systems designed to periodically record only one spatial location, have posed great challenges to warfare
delivery for up to 500 million people who were part of multi locational migrant households.
▪ Pandemic has placed a sharp focus on problems such as educating and vaccinating those children who
accompany their migrant parents or ensuring that migrant women avail maternity benefits at multiple
locations.
▪ Policy in India often emerges from the ground up, taking decades to cement national law and standard
practice.
▪ Eg: many states have indicated data projects that can track migrants and generate dynamic real time data that
aid welfare delivery.
▪ Maharashtrians Migration Tracking System, which focuses on women and children has been successfully
piloted in five districts.
▪ Chhattisgarh State Migrant Workers Policy, is premised and tracking them through phone based outreach
system.
▪ Odisha's Planning and Convergence Departments, which offers an institutional mechanism for
interdepartmental coordination, is one possible model.

The Centre has a lead role:

▪ State level political economy constraints make the centre’s role particularly crucial addressing issues of
Interstate migrant workers at destination states.
▪ The NITI Aayog's Draft Policy on Migrant Workers is a positive step forward in articulating policy priorities
and indicating suitable institutional frameworks, and deserve a speedy release.
▪ Strategic initiatives to provide migrant safety Nets regardless of location as well as bolster their ability to
migrate safely and affordably must keep up the momentum towards migrant supportive policy.

Lok Sabha passes new Criminal Procedure Bill

▪ Amit Shah mentioned that, sole objective was to improve the conviction rate in the country, protect the
human rights of crores of law-abiding citizens.
▪ Also mentioned that, central government also working on prison reforms.
▪ Bill sought to equip the police with the necessary resources for securing convictions in courts.
▪ Data would be protected with a technology driven fool proof mechanism to prevent any data leak or misuse.

99% of world’s population is breathing polluted air, WHO

▪ According to the UN health agency reports collecting sample from over 6000 cities and across 117 countries
representing 80% of urban settlement showed that, Percentage of population over four years ago breathing air
that exceeds the standards, increased to almost 99% from 90%, especially in the poorest quality found in east
Mediterranean and Southeast Asia regions and Africa, resulting in millions of deaths each year.

Fresh COVID - 19 cases drop below 1,000

▪ Number of daily covid cases dropped below 1000 for the first time since Apr 2020.
▪ Active cases declined to 12,597 i.e., 0.03% of positive cases recorded so far.
▪ Weekly positive rate dipped to 0.22%
▪ Deaths till date - 5,21,358 (Official)
▪ Vaccine doses in the country - 184 crores
▪ Tests - 79 crores

Across the world:

▪ US reports close to 30,000 cases per day as virus continues to spread.
▪ China reported 13,000 cases on 03 Apr 2022, highest since first wave in Wuhan.
▪ UK reporting 20,000 cases a day with new mutant XE variant of Omicron.
▪ Germany reported 41,129 fresh cases, with total reaching to 2,16,68,677 cases.
▪ According to WHO, BA2, subvariant of Omicron strain is the most dominant of the virus.

IPCC report may spell death knell for coal-based units

▪ A consortium of scientists as part of IPCC stated that, all coal fired power plants, without the technology to
Capture and Store Carbon (CSS), need to shut down by 2050 if the world aspired to limit global temperature
rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
▪ According to Central Electoral Authority, India has about 211 GW of operational coal fired power plants,
around 10% of global capacity.
▪ According to Global Energy Monitor data, another 31 GW was being constructed and about 24 GW in
various pre construction phases.
▪ But, none of the existing under construction coal fired power plants in India have CSS facilities.
▪ Having the right policies infrastructure and technology in place to enable and behaviour can result in 70%
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
▪ Limiting warming to around 1.5 degree Celsius requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025
at the latest and be reduced by 43% by 2030; at the same time methane also need to be reduced by about a
third.
▪ Global temperature would stabilize when carbon dioxide emissions reach net zero.
▪ Further to accelerate low carbon transition, developed countries should ensure higher flows of finance and
technology transfer in critical areas such as renewable electric vehicles and others.

Now its UGC facing plagiarism charge

▪ Large sections of University Grants Commissions (UGC) draft curriculum framework for its new four year
Under Graduate (UG) programme have been plagiarised word to word from guidelines published by
University of Michigan and University of Arizona.
▪ The draft framework included a paragraph on the introductory courses to be taken by all students in the first
three semesters.
▪ The University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science and Arts has a very similar paragraph on its
webpage regarding course requirements where as other sections of UGC framework describing course are
identical to content on LSA's website, Arizona's academic policy documents.
▪ The UGC itself responsible for ensuring academic integrity and had issued strict regulations to punish
plagiarism.

Manufacturing slows to 6- month low: PMI

▪ The S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) slid to 54 in March from 54.9 in
February, with both production and sales growing at the slowest pace in six months, and inflation concerns
driving down firms' business confidence to lowest level in two years.
▪ Slowdown was accompanied by an intensification of inflationary pressures, although the rate of increase in
inputs remained below those seen towards the end of 2021.
▪ Prices for chemicals, energy, fabric, stuff and metals are higher than in February and overall rate of inflation
faced by the producers.
▪ Output prices rose in March, as goods producers sought to share a part of the additional input cost burden
with customers, taking the charge inflation to a five-month high.
▪ After three successive months of shedding jobs, the manufacturing sector saw broad stabilization in head
counts, but firms indicated that payroll members were sufficient to cope with current requirements,
dampening prospects for new additions.

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 Current Affairs Key Highlights
06_04_2022

Let dam committee continue for a year

▪ Centre suggested supreme court to let Mullapeiyar dam supervisory committee for a year, by which time the
1.
National Dam Safety Authority under the new Dam Safety Act will become fully functional.
▪ Chief secretaries of Tamil Nadu and Kerala be made accountable in order to ensure that the decisions of the
supervisory committee on maintenance and safety of dam are duly compiled with by the two States.
▪ Once the National Dam Safety Authority is fully functional, functions of the supervisory committee would be
taken over by the authority and the committee could be dissolved.
▪ The Dam Safety Act of 2021 has come as a panacea to end the prolonged and bitter legal battle over
Mullaperiyar Dam between Tamil Nadu, Kerala.
▪ The 2021 Act comprehensively provides for surveillance, inspection, operation, maintenance to prevent
disasters caused by dam.
▪ The central stature which came into force in December last year, mandates the setting up of two specialised
bodies, National Committee on Dam Safety and National Dam Safety Authority, to evolve policies.

Global bond sales to surpass $10trillion in 2022, says S&P

According to S&P reports,
▪ Global sovereign Borrowing will reach $10.4 trillion in 2022, almost a third above the average before
pandemic.
▪ Despite an economic recovery, borrowing will stay elevated because of high debt rollover requirements and
war in Ukraine.
▪ Corporate default rate could reach 8.5% this year, more than the 3.9% they expected before Russia invaded
Ukraine.
▪ While 137 countries will borrow an equivalent of $10.4 trillion in 2022, an estimated 30% lower than 2020,
one third higher than average borrowing between 2016 to 2019.
▪ Tightening monetary conditions will push up government funding costs, which will pose additional difficulties
to sovereigns that have been able to restart growth, reduce reliance on foreign currency financing.
▪ Borrowing in the economies of emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa will rise $232 billion to the
equivalent of $3.4 trillion by end of year.
▪ Egypt has recently sought IMF assistance, to overtake Turkey as the region’s largest issuer of sovereign debt,
with $73 billion worth of bond sale.

Rajya Sabha passes Bill on Delhi Corporations

▪ Rajya Sabha passed Delhi Municipal (Amendment) Bill 2022, which aimed at unifying the three Municipal
Corporations of Delhi - North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, East Delhi
Municipal Corporation, to ensure a robust set up for synergised and strategic planning and optimal utilisation
of resources.
 Rural India will create 1.2 cr jobs in dairy sector
▪ Rural India will create 1.2 crore new jobs in dairy related activities in 10 years and these jobs would mean
livelihood and food security for a large segment of the population in the country.
▪
▪ The sector has the potential to generate a large number of new jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities, suitable
incomes for families and therefore ensure food security.
▪ Software firm SAP and Amul announced a joint community outreach, focused on knowledge capacity
building that would transform the lives of 1.5 million people in Gujarat.
▪ More than one lakh children, adolescents and women will be helped with digital literacy and skilling through
computer labs in schools.

In the middle
▪ Forty days into the war in Ukraine, India's role appears to be more relevant than other countries may have
expected, evident from the stream of dignitaries from overseas over the March 2022.
▪ Most were from countries that are a part of US and EU sanctions regime against Russia, with three major
messages:
1. Asking India to change its vote at UN, where it has abstained from all resolutions critical of Russia's
invasion
2. To request that India not accelerate its purchases of Russian oil offered at discount
3. To discourage India from using the rupee - double national currency based payment mechanisms that
could subvert backfilling sanctions.
▪ EAM and FM also reinforced the position of the Indian "national interest", given that European countries
have yet to curtail oil intakes from Russia.
▪ EAM and Defence Minister visit for "2+2" meetings, where a possible wavier of CAATSA sanctions against
India for the purchase of Russian S-400 systems will also be discussed.
▪ US also keen to squeeze Russian multilateral stage, with proposals to exclude it from G-20 summit this year
and suspend it from the Human Right Council.
▪ Reports of Gross Human Rights violations blamed on Russian army could change the complexion of the war
and India call for independent enquiry into the allegations is an important intervention and US, EU are likely
to tighten economic sanctions, current restrictions have not made Russia reconsider its course.

Making sports accessible for all

▪ April 6th, as UN International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, an opportunity to recognise the role
sport play.
▪ Tokyo 2020, Paralympics was a watershed moment for Indian sports, A history was written when a
paralympic gold medal was won by a female Indian athlete for the first time, claiming space for themselves in
what is traditionally seen as male dominated field.
▪ To build on the success of the Paralympics, it is important to provide opportunities and an enabling
environment for greater participation of women and persons with disabilities in sport.
▪ When sports became inclusive, it has the potential to transform wider community by encouraging the values
of fair play.
▪ Systems and structures that give a voice and opportunities to everyone tend to be more stable and peaceful.
▪ In UN Sustainable Development contribution towards achieving educational, health, equality outcomes, sport
plays a vital role in furthering the UN Sustainable Goals.
▪ As lockdowns and social distancing measures were imposed, very few were practicing and benefiting from
sports, which intensified physical inactivity and deterioration of mental health.
▪ In addition, social and cultural barriers restrict the participation of women and girls in sport.
▪ The sports landscape is far more unfavourable for women and girls with disabilities, with opportunities
minimised due to discrimination based on gender and disability.
▪ This necessitates the need for making sports accessible and inclusive for all by challenging stigma and
stereotypes that surround women and persons with disabilities in sport.
▪ Creating an inclusive sporting culture requires special policies, progressive curricula focused on quality
physical education, well equipped / trained physical education professionals, flexibility to account for the
cultural, demographic, infrastructural diversity in India.
▪ To support this vision, UNESCO is launching its Fit for Life flagship initiative in India, to activate smart
investments in impactful sport policies, school, curricula, grassroots participation to scale up effective solutions
tackling rising physical inactivity, mental health issues, social exclusion, inequalities.
▪ Since marginalised communities, women and persons with disabilities are often ignored in sporting policies
and activities, increasing their visibility in all aspects of sport should considered as important tool to enhance
their participation in sport.
▪ Promoting female role models is therefore an imperative to strengthen the engagement of women and girls in
sports.

SC soon take up case against poll bonds scheme

▪ Electoral bonds scheme and amendments in the Finance Act of 2017 allows for unlimited donations from
individual and foreign companies to political parties without any record of source of funding.
▪ Government justified that, the scheme will promote transparency in funding and donation received by
political parties, a measure to eradicate black money in political funding, moving towards as cash less digital
economy.
▪ Bonds can be encashed by an eligible political party only through their bank accounts with authorised bank.
▪ Bonds won’t have name of the donor or receiving party, only carry a unique hidden alphanumeric serial
number as a in built security feature.
▪ Election Commission of India filed an affidavit in 2019, this scheme as an legalised anonymity, as it protects
identity.

Bill on revamping CA institute board

▪ Finally, Rajya Sabha passed the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company
Secretaries (amendment) Bill, 2022 by a voice note rejecting all amendments moved by the opposition.

Plea against gender bias in Succession Act

▪ SC asked centre to respond to a petition challenging provision in Hindu Succession Act as gender
discriminatory.
▪ Sec 15 and 16 of Act, which deals with inheritance properties of Hindu Women, unveils deeply rooted
patriarchal ideology.
▪ Sec 15 of Act 1956 actually mandates how the husbands’ heirs have the first right over the self-acquired
property of a women who dies intestate, i.e., the husband’s family comes first in the line of inheritance.
 Bill in Lok Sabha to ban WMD funding
▪ Earlier law of 2005 regarding WWDs and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) only
banned their manufacture.
▪ EAM said that, UNSCs targeted financial sanctions and recommendations of Financial Action Task Force
have mandated against financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery
systems.
▪ Bill seeks to insert a new Section 12A in the existing law which states that no person shall finance any activity
which is prohibited under this Act, or under the UNSC Act, 1947 or by an order issued under any such Act,
in relation to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.
▪ Bill would give government powers to freeze, seize or attach funds or other financial assets or economic
sources owned or controlled, wholly or jointly, directly or indirectly, by such person; or held by or on behalf
of, such personal or derived or generated from funds or other assets owned or controlled, directly or
indirectly, by such person.

The CUET mandate warrants cautious implementation

▪ Central universities caught unawares when made it mandatory from this year for them to admit students in
their undergraduate programmes solely on the basis and merit of scores in Central University Entrance Test
(CUET).
▪ National Testing Agency (NTA) of the Ministry of Higher Education, which has the responsibility of
conducting the entrance tests for all the Central Universities for academic session 2022-2023, has announced
the details of test.
▪ Registration began from April 2 and test is tentatively scheduled for mid-July.
▪ Students must know which language to choose, since they appear in a maximum of six out of 27 domain
knowledge subjects, they must know which are ones which would be required by a university for admission to
different courses.
▪ The idea of academic autonomy, arguments that formalisation, uniformity and standardisation often pull-
down quality to lowest common denominator.
▪ The institutions of national importance (INIs) i.e., IIT, IIIT, NIT, IIM had already admitted students based
on single common entrance examination in combination of past academic records.
▪ IISER are probably the only exception to follow a holistic approach.
▪ Despite reservations by few states, particularly TN, many self-financed private and minor medical colleges,
NEET has become obligatory for admission into medical programmes in all kinds and types of institutions
across the country.
▪ The quality of tests arising on account of the autonomy, competence, credibility and expertise of the NTA
pointed out so well in NEP, may also not find many takers as only a few central universities would be able to
show validity, the reliability and consistency of their own entrance tests.
▪ The centrally funded technical educational institutions, central universities and deemed universities put
together account for a mere 5.08% enrolment in higher education.
▪ Remaining 94.92% are in self-financed state private and public funded state universities and their colleges.
▪ As the UGC contemplates making the CUET mandatory for admission in all higher educational institutions
across the country, it must realise that the anxieties, compulsions, concerns and realities of the State Sector be
very different.
▪ As higher education in concurrent list, a joint responsibility of Union and State Governments warrants that the
State are taken into confidence before their institutions are subjected to a single common entrance test.
▪ Finally, regulatory reforms, in particular the establishment of Higher Education Commission of India (HECI),
as directed by NEP 2020, need to be expedited, as there is a built in consultative mechanism in the form of
General Education Council (GEC) for speedy and thoughtful implementation of NEP.
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 Current Affairs Key Highlights
07_04_2022

India offers help to end Russia - Ukraine conflict

▪ During a discussion under Rule 193 regarding the crisis in Ukraine and its implications, EAM mentioned that,
1.
▪ In this day and age, dialogue and diplomacy are the right answers to any dispute and this should be borne in
mind.
▪ In terms of diplomacy, India continues to press forcefully for an immediate cessation of hostilities and an end
of violence, and also ready to encourage talks between Ukraine and Russia.
▪ Russia is a very important partner as well as India is against the conflict.
▪ The support from Russia, Ukraine and even Indian nationals based in Eastern Europe during Operation
Ganga to evacuate Indian students.
▪ Russia continues to remain the largest arms supplier to India despite strong competition from France, Israel,
US.
▪ The minister also reiterated India's commitment to supply humanitarian goods to Ukraine.
▪ Deputy PM of Ukraine, requested medical supplies to deal with the crisis.
▪ The Minister also pointed to the non-military fallout of the crisis, which has affected a wide spectrum of
economic activities like the energy and fertilisers sectors, government is trying to ensure food security for
common people in the country as well as in countries abroad.

The Child at the Centre

▪ Schemes designed for social good, built on principles of sustainability and work within structures of
accountability.
▪ While the Centre's intent to provide integrated benefits to Children's schemes, Mission Vatsalya, which has
been operationalised one of the new traid of schemes along with Mission Shakti, Poshan 2.0, aims at securing
a healthy and happy childhood for every child.
▪ Components under Mission Vatsalya include:
▪ Statutory bodies;
▪ service delivery structures;
▪ institutional care/services;
▪ non - institutional community-based care;
▪ emergency outreach services;
▪ training and capacity building.
▪ The impact of this on one of the pillars of India's child protection services, the ChildLine, has been giving the
24-hour toll-free helpline for children in distress, will be manned by Home Affairs Ministry.
▪ ChildLine has been in operation for over 25 years, growing gradually to become one of the largest global
networks to assist and rescue children in distress.
▪ It has functioned as public private partnership between the government and civil society organisations to
provide a first responder safety net, kick start process of rescue and rehabilitation of children.
▪ As student don't feel comfortable confiding in police personnel, and the ChildLine calls were diverted to All
Women Police Stations (AWPS).
▪ In many cases, police intervention was not needed at all. The old system was hurriedly revived and order
restored.
 How the UAPA is wrecking lives
▪ Session court in Delhi denied bail to Umar Khalid as part of a set of cases that have commonly come to be
known as "Delhi Riots cases."
▪ A charge sheet was filed under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) 1967, against Mr. Khalid as, one
of the conspirators behind Feb 2020, Delhi riots and jailed pending trial for over 500 days.
▪ Much has been written about the serious problems with the manner in which the Delhi Police has conducted
its investigation, prosecution of Delhi riots - in particular, its selective targeting of activists who were involved
with the protest against the citizenship amendment act of 2019, which was the alleged trigger for the violence.

Bail hearing became trail:

▪ First, the order denying bail was passed eight months later, after multiple hours long hearings, multiple
adjournments and three difference of order itself.
▪ The reason behind a bail took multiple hearings and eight months to decide where in criminal law, the
purpose of bail is to ensure that an individual is not unjustly denied their liberty while the trial against them is
still proceeding and their guilt has not yet been established.
▪ In normal circumstances, courts are supposed to consider whether an accused is a flight risk are likely to
tamper with evidence or intimidated witnesses.
▪ If neither of those danger exist, there is no purpose in denying an individual their freedom before their guilt
has been established in a court.
▪ UAPA prohibits a judge from granting an individual bills if, on your pursual of the police dairy or the police
report, the judge is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation is prima
facie true.
▪ There are traces of this in the Indian Penal Code as well, for bail under serious non UAPA offenses.
▪ Questions of guilt or innocence are meant to determine at the end of the trail, after evidence has been shifted,
witness examined and cross-examined run arguments completed.
▪ The question of guilt or innocence at this stage of bail short circuits that essential procedure.
▪ In trail, the difference would be entitled to cross examine prosecution's witness determine inconsistencies in
the testimony, examine its own witness, present its own evidence and otherwise demonstrate that the case
against the accused has not been made out beyond reasonable doubt.
▪ The starting point of the bail hearing is the presumption that everything in the police report is true. Based on
the presumption, all the two sides can then argue about is whether according to this facts the legal ingredients
of the offence are fulfilled.
▪ In some rare cases, about whether the facts themselves are self-contradictory or flat out implausible, so that no
reliance can be placed on them even at this stage of bail.
▪ Such a system might possibly defensible in a situation where criminal justice was swift, efficient and
trustworthy.
▪ However, that is not the case in India: a UAPA trail takes years, in such a situation, the court's decision on
bail, de facto, becomes the decision on the case: the denial of bail means that a person is likely to spend a
decade or more behind bars, as the trail winds on.
▪ The result of the denial of the bail, the same as a result of finding of guilt- a decade in jail.
▪ The accused is first engaged from contesting the police's version, under Eastlund condemned for not being
able to disprove the police's case.
▪ Lawyers and legal scholars may disagree or whether the UAPA actually requires the courts to become
stenographers for the prosecution, even under existing legal doctrine.
▪ Reforming the criminal justice system is the task of many years. Striking down on reading down its bail
prohibitions and subjecting the police case to stricter scrutiny during bail hearings would be a start.
 Centre says it has no data on phone tapping
▪ The case arises out of a petition calling for the number of lawful interceptions made by 10 agencies between
Jan 2016 to Dec 2018.
▪ Ministry's Public Information Officer and First Appellate Authority (FAA) declined the information sought by
claiming exemption under Section 8(1)(a), (g) and (h) of the RTI Act 2005.
▪ In a written submission before the Central Information Commission (CMC), ministry said it was unable to
provide information called by an applicant on the details of phone tapping by 10 agencies by deploying
Pegasus spyware by Union government to snoop on top politicians, journalists, during a certain period, saying
it doesn't maintain any statistical information or data related to lawful interception and monitoring, such
records were weeded out after six months in compliance with provisions under Section 5(2) of the Telegraph
Act, 1885 and Section 69 of the Information Act 2000.
▪ Explaining the power of interception in larger national interest in preventing terrorism, drug trafficking,
busting of narcotic drugs racket, it placed reliance on a list of cases were detected or cracked by the use of the
laid down procedure of interception.
▪ Complying with CIC order, FAA passed an order not claiming exemption under the Act from disclosure of
information called for by petitioner, but on grounds that the information was destroyed.
▪ Justifying the non-availability of information sought by the petitioner, FAA said lawful interception and
monitoring was governed by Section 5(2) of Telegraph Act 1885, Section 69 of Information Technology Act
2000.
▪ As these are highly classified information and therefore minimal records are maintained, since information
sought is not available as on date, same can't be provided.
▪ Sinha ruled out that, information sought in the case though not exempted under Sec 8 or 9 of RTI Act, was
not held by or under control of public authority.
▪ Ministry could not be considered the actual custodian of information nor responsible for dissemination of
information under the preview of information under the preview of RTI Act.

SC cautions Centre on bringing Acts without funds

▪ The court was hearing a writ petition filed by an NGO, 'We the Women of India', about the lack of
protection officers and shelter homes infrastructure in various States as promised under the Protection of
Women from Domestic Violence (DV) Act of 2005.
▪ As a result, three judge bench stated that, creating rights with gusto through new welfare Acts would become
more lip service unless their financial impact was planned practically.
▪ The courts oral remark referred to how the government promised dedicated protection under DV act, which
has not deliver yet.
▪ The same in the case of Shiksha Mitra and Shiksha Karmi issue, where appointed people seeking parity in
pay.
▪ Bench ordered to have a nodal agency under the law should conduct a statistical assessment of the number of
protection officers and how many / the kind of infrastructure required for shelter home in different states.
▪ Also requested to provide details of the nature of Central programmes / plans outlining assistance to support
the efforts under DV Act.
 Regarding the complex India - Nepal relationship
▪ At 75, Nepal PM SB Deuba done his first bilateral visit abroad with India in Apr 2023.
▪ Deuba is a political veteran and became prime minister for the first time in 1995.
▪ Currently, in his fifth term, he is no stranger to complex relationship between the two countries.

Outcomes of his visit:

▪ Operationalisation of the 35 Km cross border rail link from Jayanager (Bihar) to Kurtha (Nepal), a ₹787 crore
project had been operationalism was held up because of necessary administrative requirements in Nepal to set
up a company that could recruit staff.
▪ Second project was 90 km long 132 kv double circuit transmission line connecting Tila to Marchaiya close to
Indian border.
▪ A dozen of hydroelectrical project planned in Solu Corridor for which the Nepal Electricity Authority has
concluded PPAs of 325 MW.
▪ Agreements providing technical cooperation in railway sector, Nepal’s induction into the International Solar
Alliance between Indian Oil Corporation and Nepal Oil Corporation on ensuring regular supplies of
petroleum products were also signed.
▪ Mahakali Treaty, signed in 1996 during Deuba's first visit as PM, covers the Sarada and Tanakpur barrages as
well 6,700 MW Pancheswar Multipurpose project. The ambitious $7 billion project needs political will to
move it forward.
▪ In Feb 2022, Deuba pushed through the ratification of the agreement with the US Millennium Challenge
Cooperation (MCC). The agreement provides a grant of $500 million for building 318 km of high voltage
transmission lines along with substations and the maintenance of 300 km of East West Highway.

China's growing role:

▪ During the Monarchy rule, China maintained link with the Palace and its concerns were primarily related to
high keeping tabs on Tibetan refugee community.
▪ With abolition of monarchy, China has shifted attention to the political parties and to institutions such as
Army and Armed Police Force and considers Nepal an important element in growing South Asian footprint.

With India:
▪ Currently India's relation with Nepal have had both highs and lows. Modi has often spoken about
neighbourhood first policy during his first visit in Aug 2014.
▪ But relation has took nosedive in 2015, with India first getting blamed for interfering in Nepal constitution
drafting process and then for an unofficial blockade.
▪ It reinforced that Nepali Nationalism and anti-Indianism were two side of same coin that exploited
successfully by Oli, the predecessor of Deuba.
▪ In 2016, Oli visit to China, negotiate an agreement on Transit Transportation, concluding with China
providing access to four sea ports and three land ports, military grant of $32 million.
▪ China has overtaken India as the largest source of foreign direct investment.
▪ In 2019, China's president visits to Nepal, where Annual development assistance has been hiked to $120
million.

Managing Differences:
▪ Over the years, number of differences have emerged between India and Nepal that need attention.
▪ As, One of the Oldest bonds, 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship was originally sought by the Nepali
authorities in 1949 to continue the special links they had with British India, provides for an open border and
for Nepali nationals to have the right to work in India.
▪ The idea of revising and updating it has found mention in Joint Statements since the mid-1990s.
▪ In 2016, an eight-member Eminent Persons Group was set up and report made available with both
governments, but the perception in Nepal is that it should be formally presented to the two governments.
▪ In Nov 2016, Demonetisation is another issue, that India withdrew ₹15.44 trillion of high value currency
notes. Currently, over ₹15.3 trillion has been returned in the form of fresh currency.
▪ The Nepal Rashtra Bank, which is central bank, holds ₹7 crore and estimates of public holdings are ₹500
crore.
Issue on boundaries:
▪ In order to distract opposition from his own party, Oli highlighted the Kalapani boundary issue, boundaries
that has been fixed in 1816 by British had exercised territorial control in 1947.
▪ While 98% of India Nepal boundary was demarcated, two areas Susta and Kalapani remained in dilemma.
▪ In Nov 2019, India issued new maps following the division of State of Jammu and Kashmir as UT, which
doesn't affect the India - Nepal Boundary in any way.

A candid conversation about the 'caged parrot'

▪ CJI NV Ramana, expressed the pathetic state of India's investing agencies.
▪ DP Kohli was the first director CBI, after the agency was renamed to CBI from the Special Police
Establishment.
▪ CJIs stern warning that investing agencies will pay a heavy price for their utter willingness to stoop to please
politicians should be taken seriously by all outfits, esp., CBI, which has had a patchy record with regard to
political interference in sensitive investigations.
▪ SC and High courts have often admonished investigators for their slopingness and deviation from ethics.
▪ So, India needs a strong SC and High Court to keep investigators on the straight and narrow path.
▪ In Dec 1997, another fearless judge, Justice JS Verma had lambasted the then CBI Director in so called
Hawala Case, rebuking him for stalling the investigation at will, thereby sending inappropriate signals to his
subordinates in the crucial investigation.
▪ The mandatory tenure was meant to insulate the CBI Director from the Caprice of executive.
▪ This process has since been expanded to include the CJI in selection panel.
▪ There is a palpable fear among CBI officers that the judiciary could intervene were an aggrieved person to
prove that an investigator had been arbitrary and dishonest.
▪ CBI has some of the brightest IPS officers in its higher echelons. None of them may be expected to be
reckless and sacrifice their careers by bending to unethical pressures from their director or from the
government echelons.
▪ There needs to be a strong and virtuous leader who will not only be honest but also stick his neck out to
protect deputies if and when confronted by an unscrupulous political heavyweight.
▪ Unfortunately, in recent years, at least two Directors brought ignominy to the CBI, whatever the courts may
do to enforce discipline and adherence to law, there are odd leaders who could subvert the system.
▪ If a director is unable to display the element of courage, he should not be heading the organisation.
▪ If this honest approach to investigation does not get fused internally, mere tinkering with the criminal law and
the procedure to appoint heads of important criminal justice organisations will be of no avail.
▪ CJIs proposal of umbrella organisation that will oversee all investing agencies, to avoid having multiple
agencies looking into the same set of allegations.
▪ Also, should focus on weeding out dishonest among officers and rewarding those who have shown and proven
themselves to be honest and professionally innovative.

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 Current Affairs Key Highlights
08_04_2022

How much more will petrol prices increase in India ?

▪ The retail petrol prices were revised upwards 14 times within a span of 17 days, reaching to ₹105.71 from
1.
₹95.41 in Delhi, varies slightly with other states based on their state's taxes.

Reason for rise ?

▪ Petrol price was absolutely stable for 138 days from Nov 4, 2021 to March 22, 2022, where central excise duty
and VAT had cut in various states, likely owing Assembly elections in five states: UP, Punjab, Goa, Manipur,
Uttarakhand.
▪ Between Sep 2022 to Nov 2022, crude oil prices has increased from $70.6 per barrel to $83.6 per barrel, had
an impact on retail price from ₹103 to ₹109 per litre in Delhi. But tax cut rates had brought price down to
₹95.
▪ Post Jan 2022, crude prices surged and exchange rate fell, driving up import costs.
▪ Between Jan 2022 to Mar 2022, crude prices increased from $77 to $102 per barrel, peaked to $128 per
barrel on Mar 09, 2022. But, on March 24, 2022, crude prices recorder smaller peak of $117.
▪ During that period, exchange rate also weakened from ₹74.51 to ₹75.81.
▪ From Jan 2022, while crude prices increased and exchange rate fell, retail prices stayed level due to assembly
elections, leading an imbalance.

End of trend:
▪ Current Retail prices in Delhi have not yet reached the highest level recorded before the excise duty cut in
Nov 2021. So, the retail prices may not immediately start plateauing.
▪ On Nov 04 2021, when excise duty was cut, crude prices were around $80, whereas currently they continue to
be above the $100 mark. But they are not as high as $128 or $117 per barrel in March.
▪ Exchange rate has also improved in the last five days from ₹75.81 to ₹75.60.
▪ So, while the extent of increase in immediate future, a levelling off or reversal in the price cannot be expected.

High taxation:
▪ Centre's excise duty component continues to form about 27% of the retail petrol price in Delhi.
▪ In 2014, Centre's tax share was only 14%.
▪ Since then, whenever crude prices have crashed, the government has increased Centre's excise duty in
proportion to the drop and has not passed on the benefits to the customers.
▪ Finally, any meaningful decrease in retail prices can be achieved only if another round of excise duty and
VAT cuts is implemented.

GatiShakti, PLI will offset global headwinds, spur growth: FinMin

▪ GatiShakti and the production linked incentive (PLI) schemes will offset global headwinds and drive
investment, resulting in high post recovery growth for the Indian Economy.
▪ Geopolitics and their consequent impact on food, fertiliser and crude oil prices cast a cloud on the growth
outlook globally.
▪ India may feel its impact although the magnitude will, depend on how long the dislocations in energy and
food markets persist in the FY and how resilient India's economy to migrate the impact, transient shocks may
not have a big effect on real growth and inflation.
▪ With growing evidence of improving labour force participation and declining unemployment rate,
governments commitment to provide support to economically poor, growth path ahead would likely be a
more inclusive one.
 ▪ PMI services had also stayed in the expansionary zone for eight months on the back of e-toll collection, e-
waybills, railway freight and air cargo, among others complementing the robust manufacturing sector.

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 Current Affairs Key Highlights
09_04_2022

To begin with, the UGC need to get the credits right

▪ Various documents related to four years under graduate degree programme is - Choice Based Credit System
1.
(CBCS), Learning Outcomes Based Curriculum Framework (LOCF), University Grant Commission (UGC)
latest draft National Higher Educational Qualification Framework (NHEQF) document.
▪ Following with the proposed changes in higher education under NEP, there seems to be quite kinks that need
to be ironed out before embarking on its implementation.

Implications of Choice Based Credit System:

▪ NEP espouse teaching quality and research productivity of facility.
▪ NHEQF attempts to provide much needed clarity on a variety of issues, it continues to equate one credit to
one teaching hour.
▪ If CBCS or LOCF credit structure of core courses of six credit and electives of four credits each is to be
followed, then it has serious implications for the teaching workload.
▪ Given the considerable ambiguity in UGCs description of faculty workload, many institutions inadvertently
might end up burdening a faculty member with two such courses mechanically, adding the hours to 16 per
week.

Academic Credit:
▪ A unit used to describe the workload for students, its meaning and interpretation differs across the continents.
▪ The standard workload for a faculty is typically decided via negotiations between faculty unions and university
administration, making it difficult to get the information officially.
▪ Depending on the nature of employing institution, the faculty workload could vary between the courses per
year in a research-intensive university to four to five courses per semester in a community college.
▪ Faculty with lower teaching loads have higher teaching productivity, and possibly better content and delivery in
teaching.
▪ A credit also signifies the minimum skill attainment for graduating from one level to another in education.
▪ In India, faculty teaching hours per course are much lower in other countries, than what is currently practised
in Indian universities and outlined in several UGC documents.
▪ If the higher education regulatory bodies in India are serious about boosting research production of faculty
while staying true to the liberal ethos of NEP, then course credits directly proportional to teaching hours.
▪ There is need to balance that, faculty must have enough time to create quality teaching content and engage in
research.
▪ As there are high number of students need to be educated in India, creative solutions such as technology
aided larger class rooms for introductory courses in universities with the help of graduate students as teaching
assistance can be implemented to economise on facility time and effort.
▪ The higher education sector in US seems to form basis of many things in NEP, has evolved as one of the least
regulated educational sectors in the world.
▪ Currently, NEP is trying to replicate the outcome of organic unregulated growth through a deliberate policy
change.

India studying US Sanctions on Alrosa

▪ US Secretary announced to impose stricter sanctions on Alrosa of Russia, largest diamond mining company
of the world, a major player in India's gems and jewellery industry, was being evaluated.

▪ The sanctions came hours after India and US announced April 11, 2022, "2+2" ministerial meeting between
US Defence Secretaries and External Affairs Minister, Defence Minister of India.
▪ Alrosa, which has been recognised as a state-owned entity (SOE) by US Dept of Treasury, was targeted during
the conflict in Ukraine.
▪ The dept of Treasury further tightened the sanctions by declaring any entity that are owned directly or
indirectly, 50% or more by one or more blocked also blocked.
▪ All transactions by US persons or within the US that involve any property or interests in property of
designated or otherwise blocked persons are prohibited unless authorized by a general or specific license issue
by OFAC.

Strict regime necessitated by experience of abuse: SC

▪ Three bench judges in SC in support of restrictions in 2020 FCRA amendments, stated that,
▪ The goal of ease of doing business didn't stop the government from bringing strict regime of Foreign
Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) 2020, to stop the abuse and misutilisation of foreign funds.
▪ Permitting inflow of foreign contribution, which is a donation, is a matter of policy of the state backed by law.
▪ It was open for states to even have a regime which may completely prohibit receipt of foreign donation, as no
right inheres in the citizen to receive foreign donations.
▪ Anyone wanting foreign contributions shouldn't be engaged in usual or ordinary business.
▪ One of the amendments criticised by NGOs are, opening of new bank account only at Sasad Marg branch of
State Bank of India in New Delhi.
▪ Court also orders for,
▪ FCRA accounts operators could not claim the right of continuity of a "deficient and flawed framework".
▪ Parliament has to be periodically intervene to curb the increasing influence of foreign funds on the polity of
the nation, intervention by the lawmakers was intended to arrest high volume of inflow of foreign funds and
uphold democratic values.
▪ The third world countries may welcome foreign donations, but it is open to a nation, which is committed and
enduring to be self-reliant and variously capable of shouldering its own needs, to opt for a policy of complete
prohibition of inflow/acceptance of foreign donations from a foreign source.

RBI to focus on inflation, lift estimates

▪ RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised its estimate for inflation in FY23 to 5.7% form 4.5% forecast
in Feb 2022, before the Russian invasion.
▪ With estimation of Q1 @6.3%; Q2 @5.8%; Q3 @5.4%; Q4 @5.1%, pointing the surge in crude oil, edible oil,
wheat prices, and cost of feed posed prices of poultry, egg and dairy products.
▪ Real GDP growth for FY23 has revised to 7.2% instead of 7.8% earlier.
▪ Also started to withdraw some of the accommodation it had provided in last two years.

Card less Withdrawal:

▪ RBI also proposed to make card less withdrawal facility across all banks and ATM networks using UPI to
prevent frauds such as card skimming and card cloning.
▪ To further facilitate greater penetration of bill payments through the Bharat Bill Payment Systems (BBPS), it
has proposed to reduce the net worth requirement of such entities from ₹100 crore to ₹25 crore.
▪ For the benefit of home loan borrower, RBI decided to continue for one more year with risk weights for all
new individual housing loans sanctioned till March 31, 2023 by linking them to a loan to value (LTV) ratio.

Standing deposit facility to normalise liquidity:

▪ Steps towards normalisation of liquidity management to pre pandemic levels, with the introduction of standing
deposit facility (SDF) to absorb excess liquidity and narrowing the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) corridor
to 0.50% from 0.90%.
▪ Now, SDG would be at 3.75%, 0.25% below repo rate and 0.5% than marginal standing facility (MSF) which
helps the banks with funds when required.
▪ SDF strengthens the operating framework of monetary policy, also acts as financial stability tool.
▪ LAF corridor will be symmetric around the policy repo rate as the ceiling and SDF rates as the floor with
immediate effect.
▪ At both ends of LAF corridor, there will be standing facilities, one to absorb, other to inject liquidity.
▪ Accordingly, access to SDF and MSF will be at discretion of bank; OMO and CRR available at discretion of
Reserve Bank.

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 Current Affairs Key Highlights
10_04_2022

A constitutional crisis in Pakistan

▪ No confidence motion brought by Opposition parties on Apr 03, 2022, when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf
1.
(PTI) leaders stood up in National Assembly, asked the Deputy Speaker Muhammad Qasim Khan Suri, to
reject the no-trust motion on the grounds that it was authored through a "Foreign Conspiracy".

▪ In an eight page judgement on Apr 07, 2022, SC of Pakistan stated that, Deputy Speaker's decision to dismiss
the no trust motion; Imran Khan move to seek dissolution of National Assembly without seeking a vote;
President Alvi's decision to dissolve the Assembly, appoint of "Caretaker Prime Minister" of Khan's choice
and order fresh elections, were all contrary to the Constitution and of no legal effect and set them aside, any
order by PM and President shall subject to the order of the SC court, establishing its supremacy over all the
institutions.

▪ [caretakers are individuals who fill seats in government temporarily without ambitions to continue to hold
office on their own.]

▪ The Supreme court also consulted with Election Commission which made it clear that, no elections would be
held in next six months, while under the constitution, a caretaker PM, who oversees elections, can't be in
office for more than three months.

▪ Legal experts claimed that, supreme court dispensed with the constitutional term "doctrine of necessity" which
the PTI government had used to explain its actions.

"Doctrine of Necessity":
▪ It is proposed by Constitutional scholars in France and UK, validates an action, which is otherwise not lawful
but is made lawful by necessity, has often been observed used through Pakistan's democratic history.
▪ It was first used in 1954, after the then Governor General of Pakistan, Ghulam Mohammad, dismissed the
Constituent Assembly, an act that was upheld by SC a year later.
▪ However, after its regular abuse and misuse in Pakistan to validate unconstitutional acts, many scholars and
legal experts wrote to Pakistan's Chief Justice on Apr 06 2022, a day before verdict appealing that the doctrine
must be buried.

▪ The SC has often been asked to intervene in cases of constitutional friction particularly given that the all
powerful military establishment has also sought its backing for summary dismissals of governments and coups
in past.
▪ In 1977 and 1999, SC upheld military coups by General Zia ul Haq against PM Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto and
General Musharraf against PM Nawaz Sharif when he was dismissed by civilian president Ghulam Ishaq
Khan in 1993.

▪ In another case, involving Sharif, whose brother Shehbaz sharif is the oppositions candidate for current PM,
SC disqualified Nawaz Sharif in 2017 from holding public officer over the "Panama Papers" case, forcing
Sharif to step down.
▪ In 2012, SC disqualified PPP PM Yousuf Raza Gilani, over a contempt case.

▪ Giving that no Pakistan PM has completed full five-year term of an elected Assembly.
▪ On many occasions, SC has been accused of attempting a "Judicial Coup."
▪ Now, it is clear that, Current tenure as PM is in the "last few balls of the last over", a term he invokes to say he
will keep fighting till end.
▪ Exactly forty years ago, in what he has described as his finest hour, Khan stepped down as Pakistan's Cricket
Capitan after delivering the country its first World Cup Win.

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