UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 14th November 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

Shortly after the Supreme Court on Monday, 7 November, upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which introduced 10 percent reservations for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in government jobs and educational institutions, Tamil Nadu’s DMK termed the split verdict a ‘setback’ to a century-old fight for social justice.

What is the idea of reservation?

• Based on historical injustice: Reservation is intrinsically linked to the historical injustice meted out to Shudras and Dalits.
• Reservation for egalitarian society: It was during the anti-caste movement that the idea of reservation came up as a way for an egalitarian social order, to ensure fair representation in the socio-political order, and to mitigate and compensate for the inhuman exclusion of humans based on ascriptive status.
• Equal participation in nation building: Reservation is implemented in politics, education and public employment so that all those in the hierarchy can participate in nation-building on equal terms.
• Reservation is not a poverty alleviation: R. Ambedkar and E.V. Ramasamy ‘Periyar’ spoke about reservation as a means of providing representation; not as a poverty alleviation programme.

Reasoning behind granting reservation based on social status

• Historical benefits to upper caste: Merit is often the mantra used against the idea and implementation of reservation. Historically, Brahmins had the monopoly in offering sacrifice, receiving gifts, becoming priests, spiritual mentorship, and teaching.
• Monopoly over resources: Vaishyas had the monopoly in wealth-generating professions. These monopolies were rooted in, and buttressed by, the authority of scriptures like the Manusmriti and treatises like the Arthasashtra.
• Monopoly over the education: The top three Varnas had access to learning. In the colonial era, under the progressive pressures of modernization and democratization, the traditional monopolies based on caste order were diffused into the secular domains of bureaucracy, legal practice, professorship, etc.
• Upper caste reservation in certain professions: Leaders professing equality, such as Jyotirao Phule, Periyar and Ambedkar, wanted to annihilate the arbitrary reservation for certain professions, being implemented based on fanciful mythical stories.
• Democratization of employment and education: Essentially, the mission was to ‘de-reserve’ education and employment opportunities from a handful of castes to make them available to the remaining castes which were aspiring to be a part of the newly independent nation.
• Idea of Merit to oppose the reservation: The merit mantra was very effective at stopping, or at least stalling, the ‘de-reservation’ process. But when the bill for EWS reservation was passed hastily in Parliament in 2019, there was no concern for merit.

How categorization of poor under EWS is unfair?

• The bar of 8 Lakh is absurd: Individuals from upper caste communities who earn up to ₹8 lakh a year and may own a 1,000-square feet home are being called economically weak.
• Poverty estimation: In India, more than 30 crore citizens have been classified as being below the poverty line (spending less than ₹32 a day in urban areas and under ₹27 a day in rural areas).
• Lower caste forms the majority of Poor: Data from India (overall) as well as individual States show that Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have a higher share of poor people than upper castes in both urban and rural India.
• Different income criteria for different community: We now live in a country where a household earning more than ₹75 per day is considered above the poverty line, while an upper caste household earning ₹2,222 a day is considered economically weak. According to the Department of Revenue data, households earning more than ₹10 lakh constitute less than 1% of India’s population.

Credibility of Data for EWS reservation was never questioned

• Mandal commission data was critically analyzed: In the 1990s, renowned scholars from privileged communities viciously attacked the Mandal Commission claiming that it lacked credible data. In fact, the Mandal Commission report was based on official data curated from the Censuses of 1891 and 1931.
• No credible data for EWS reservation: Further, B.P. Mandal formulated his concept of ‘backwardness’ by factoring in the social, educational and economic dimensions of different caste communities. But now, neither justification nor credible data has been presented while arguing that 10% reservation must be provided for the upper caste poor.
• EWS reservation is equating the unequals: The Mandal Commission report said, “To equate unequals is to perpetuate inequality”. By giving the go-ahead for the EWS quota, Supreme Court has equated unequals in the category of affirmative action.
• More privilege to already privileged community: The EWS quota is unfair because it twists the idea of social justice by bequeathing further privilege to communities who are historically situated to benefit from the oppressive caste system.

Other criticism of EWS reservation?

• SC/ST and OBC are outside the EWS reservation: A Dalit or an OBC who does not get a job within this quota still belongs to the EWS, but he is excluded. That is the Constitutional issue, which you have to answer. How have you excluded them, how have you excluded the poor, how have you excluded those who earn only 20,000 a month who do not get jobs amongst the Dalits?
• Disturbing the basic structure: The government of tinkering with the “basic structure” of the Constitution.
• Ultimate goal is removal of reservation: Government basically testing the waters and this will pave the way for the removal of caste-based reservation.
• Opening the lid for further reservation: There is demand that government should raise the existing reservation cap for SC, OBC and minorities in line with their proportion in the population now since a decision has been taken to break the 50 per cent ceiling set by the top court.

Conclusion

It is true that historically reservation is based social inequalities. Despite having the good credentials and marks upper caste or open categories were denied jobs. Justice to upper castes is not the injustice to lower castes. This is against the principal of natural justice. However exclusion of SC/ST and OBC from EWS category is certainly a matter of debate.

Source: Indian Express

Context

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the end of the decade-long Operation Barkhane in Africa’s Sahel Region.

• Note the nations falling in Sahel Region.

Sahel Region

• The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south.
• Having a semi-arid climate, it stretches across the south-central latitudes of Northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.
• The name is derived from the Arabic term for “coast, shore”; this is explained as being used in a figurative sense in reference to the southern edge of the vast Sahara.
• The Sahel part includes from west to east parts of northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, central Mali, northern Burkina Faso, the extreme south of Algeria, Niger, the extreme north of Nigeria, the extreme north of Cameroon and the Central African Republic, central Chad, central and southern Sudan, the extreme north of South Sudan, Eritrea and the extreme north of Ethiopia.

What is Operation Barkhane?

• France began its military operations in Sahel in January 2013.
• Titled Operation Serval, it was limited to targeting Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda who took control of northern Mali.
• However, in 2014, the mission was scaled up, renamed Operation Barkhane and was aimed at counter-terrorism.
• The objective was to assist local armed forces to prevent the resurgence of non-state armed groups across the Sahel region.
• Around 4,500 French personnel were deployed with the local joint counter-terrorism force.

Source: The Hindu

GS-II

Context

• The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has decided to open up its secret ledger of maximum scores it awards to colleges.
• It will, for the very first time, declare the highest marks, called as benchmarks in NAAC terminology, that it has set aside for each of the parameters it grades colleges on.

About National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC):

• NAAC is an autonomous body established by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• It was established in 1994 on the basis of recommendations made under the National Education Policy (1986).
• It is registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act of 1960.

Vision:

• To make quality the defining element of higher education in India through a combination of self and external quality evaluation, promotion and sustenance initiatives.
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Objectives of NAAC:

• To arrange for periodic assessment and accreditation of institutions of higher education or units thereof, or specific academic programmes or projects;
• To stimulate the academic environment for promotion of quality of teaching-learning and research in higher education institutions;
• To encourage self-evaluation, accountability, autonomy and innovations in higher education;
• To undertake quality-related research studies, consultancy and training programmes, and

What is Assessment & Accreditation?

• Assessment is the performance evaluation of an institution or its units based on certain established criteria.
• Accreditation is the certification of quality for a fixed period, which in the case of NAAC is five years.
• The University Grants Commission (UGC) through a gazette notification in January 2013, has made it mandatory for Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to undergo accreditation.

How Accreditation Process is Carried Out:

• The process of Assessment and Accreditation broadly consists of – 
  • Online submission of Institutional Information for Quality Assessment (IIQA) and Self-Study Report (SSR).
  • Data Validation and Verification (DVV) by NAAC.
  • Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS) by NAAC.
  • Peer Team Visit.
  • Institutional Grading.

Benefits of Being NAAC-Accredited:

• Through a multi-layered process steered by the NAAC, a higher education institution gets to know whether it meets certain standards of quality set by the evaluator in terms of curriculum, faculty, infrastructure, research and financial well-being among others.
• Based on these parameters, the NAAC gives institutions grades ranging from A++ to C. If an institution is graded D, it means it is not accredited.
• Apart from recognition, being accredited also helps institutions attract capital as funding agencies look for objective data for performance funding.
• It helps an institution know its strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities through an informed review process.
• NAAC accreditation helps students going for higher education abroad as many global higher education authorities insist on recognition and accreditation of the institution where the student has studied. 

Source: Times of India

Context

• The University Grants Commission (UGC) has notified new regulations on PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) degrees.
• The new regulation has introduced a set of sweeping changes in eligibility criteria, admission procedure and evaluation methods governing doctoral programmes in college and universities.

Status of PhD admission in India

• Over the years, annual enrolment figures in PhD have risen, but it still accounts for a very small share of the higher education pie.
• Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, the enrolment at PhD level increased from 1,26,451 to 2,02,550 (0.5 per cent of the total enrolment in higher education), according to the latest available All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report 2019-20.
• Also, most PhDs in India are in the field of engineering and technology, followed by natural sciences.

Key highlights

• Eligibility criteria for admissions
  • Anyone with a four-year/eight-semester Bachelor’s programme degree with a minimum 75 per cent marks in aggregate or its equivalent grade will be eligible for a PhD.
  • So far, a Master’s degree with at least 55 per cent marks in aggregate was mandatory for doctoral aspirants.
  • Many universities also insisted on using M.Phil as the gateway.
  • Those joining PhD programmes after a four-year UG programme can do so after a one-year Master’s degree.
  • Graduates with conventional three-year UG degrees need to have completed two-year Master’s degrees.

• Phil programme to be discontinued
  • The new Rules discontinue the M.Phil programme altogether. However, that will have no bearing on those holding or pursuing M.Phil degrees currently.
• Mandatory requirement of publishing research papers has been scrapped
  • The mandatory requirement of publishing research papers in refereed (Peer-reviewed) journals or presenting in conferences has been scrapped.
  • Part-time PhDs have been launched for working professionals.
  • The eligibility conditions are the same for both full-time and part-time candidates.
  • Their PhD work will be assessed in the same way as is done for the full-time PhD students.
  • However, in addition to meeting the regular criteria, the part-time PhD candidates will also have to produce a No-Objection Certificate or NOC from their employer.
• Relaxation for EWS candidate
  • Apart from reserved category applicants, those falling under the EWS bracket will also be granted five per cent relaxations.
• No major changes in the procedure for admissions
  • As was the norm so far, universities and colleges will be free to admit students through the NET/JRF qualification route as well as entrance exams at the level of the institutions.
  • The proposed common entrance test for PhDs has been left out of the new Regulations.
• Functioning of research supervisors
  • Eligible professors, associate professors, and assistant professors can continue to guide up to eight, six, and four PhD candidates respectively at any given time, as earlier.
  • However, earlier, professors, associate professors, and assistant professors could also guide three, two, and one M.Phil scholars respectively over and above their PhD candidates.
  • Now they cannot do so as the MPhil programme has been scrapped under the new regulation.
  • The new Rules also bar faculty members with less than three years of service left before superannuation from taking new research scholars under their supervision.
• Quality of doctoral education and research
  • It has introduced a new requirement for PhD scholars, irrespective of discipline, to train in teaching / education/ pedagogy/ writing related to their chosen subject during their doctoral period.
  • They may also be assigned four to six hours per week of teaching/ research assistantship for conducting tutorial or laboratory work and evaluations.
  • Earlier, to ensure the quality of their output, research scholars had to appear before a Research Advisory Committee once in six months and present the progress of their work for evaluation and further guidance.
  • They will now have to do this every semester.

Why has the requirement to publish research papers in peer-reviewed journals before the submission of a PhD thesis been scrapped?

• The UGC has been grappling with this issue for quite some time, particularly with the proliferation of so-called predatory journals, where many doctoral scholars were found publishing their research in return for a fee.
• In 2019, a UGC panel had recommended that publication of research material in such journals or presentations in conferences organised by their publishers should not be considered for academic credit in any form.
• As per experts, by removing the mandatory clause, the commission is trying to ease some pressure of scholars so that they can focus more on high-quality research.

Source: The Hindu

GS-III

Context

The Ministry of Home Affairs will be organising the Third Ministerial ‘No Money for Terror’ Conference next week where participants from around 75 countries are expected to attend.

‘No Money for Terror’ Conference

• The conference that was first held In Paris in 2018, followed by Melbourne in 2019.
• It will be held in Delhi after gap of two years due to the travel restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives of the event

• India’s efforts: The event conveys India’s determination in its fight against terrorism as well as its support systems for achieving success against it.
• Global cooperation: It also intends to include discussions on technical, legal, regulatory and cooperation aspects of all facets of terrorism financing.
• Compliance mechanism: The involvement of a compliant State often exacerbates terrorism, especially its financing.

What is Terror Financing?

• Terrorist financing encompasses the means and methods used by terrorist organizations to finance their activities.
• This money can come from legitimate sources, for example from profits from businesses and charitable organizations.
• But terrorist groups can also get their financing from illegal activities such as trafficking in weapons, drugs or people, or kidnapping for ransom.
• Nations like Pakistan has stated policy of supporting cross-border terrorism in India through global fundings.

Why need consensus over terror-finance prevention?

• Globally, countries have been affected by terrorism and militancy for several years and the pattern of violence differs in most theatres.
• It is largely impacted by tumultuous geo-political environment, coupled with prolonged armed sectarian conflicts.
• Such conflicts often lead to poor governance, political instability, economic deprivation and large ungoverned spaces.

Other mechanisms to curb terror financing: FATF

• FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
• It makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.

What hinders the global consensus?

• No definition of terrorism: There is no universal agreement over what constitutes terrorism. This weakens efforts to formulate a concerted global response.
• Non-enforcement: Multilateral action suffers from inadequate compliance and enforcement of existing instruments.
• No global watchdog: Counter-terrorism regime lacks a central global body dedicated to terrorist prevention and response.

Way forward

• No country if safe if terrorism persists anywhere across the world.
• The world must resolve to make the international financial system entirely hostile to terrorist financing.
• Concerted efforts and a comprehensive approach should be adopted to counter terrorism under the UN auspices on a firm international legal basis.

Source: The Indian Express

India’s GM crop revolution and the controversy over GM mustard

Context

As soon as the government took the decision to release India’s first genetically-modified (GM) food crop Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) for “environment release”, some activists approached the Supreme Court to ban it for various reasons. The Supreme Court has ordered the status quo to be maintained till the next hearing on the matter on November 17.

What are Genetically modified organisms (GMO)?

• Changes in genetic material: GMOs can be defined as organisms (i.e., plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination
• Transfers of genes: It allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, also between nonrelated species.
• GM foods: Foods produced from or using GM organisms are often referred to as GM foods

What is the ironic case of opposition to the GM crops?

• Opposition to GM is not new: The opposition to GM food crops is not new. There has been a global campaign in this regard by many activists. GM crops have spread around the world since 1996.
• Countries accepted the use of GM crops: More than 70 countries have accepted the use of GM crops. For instance, by 2019, roughly 190 million hectares were under GM crops, led by corn and soyabean in the US, Brazil, Argentina, and canola (rapeseed/mustard) in Canada, even Bangladesh has marched ahead with Bt brinjal.
• No concrete evidence of harmful impact: There is ample evidence in support of that with no harmful impact on human or animal health or the environment per se.

India’s journey towards GM crops, specifically “Bt cotton”

• First GM crop released under Vajpayee government with the slogan of Jai Vigyan:
  • Atal Bihar Vajpayee envisioned that science could transform agriculture
  • India had its first GM crop, Bt cotton, released in 2002 by the Vajpayee government. He extended the original slogan of “jai jawan, jai kisan” (salutation to the soldier and the farmer), given by Lal Bahadur Shastri, to include “jai vigyan” (salutation to science).
• The case of Historic success of Bt cotton:
  • Cotton production Increased: With the Bt cotton, Cotton production increased remarkably from a mere 13.6 million bales (1 bale = 170 kg) in 2002-03 to 39.8 million bales in 2013-14. Registered an increase of 192 per cent in just 12 years, ushering the famous “gene revolution”.
  • Area under Cotton cultivation expanded: The area under cotton cultivation expanded by 56 per cent, of which about 95 per cent is under Bt cotton.
  • Cotton productivity per hectare increased significantly: Cotton productivity increased from 302 kg per hectare in 2002-03 to 566 kg per hectare in 2013-14, an increase of 76 per cent,
  • More productivity more income to farmers lead to increase in agri- GDP: The gains to cotton farmers whose incomes increased significantly. For instance, Bt cotton led Gujarat’s “agrarian miracle” of very high (above 8 per cent) annual growth rate in agri-GDP during 2002-03 to 2013-14.
  • Revived the glory to The Indian cotton in the world market: It made India the second-largest producer after China, and the second-largest exporter after the US, of cotton in the world today.

What are the concerns associated with the cultivation of GMcrops?

• Emergence of Increased pest resistance: Enhanced sucking pest damage in Bt cotton; increase in secondary pests such as mired bugs and Spodoptera; and the emergence of pest resistance.
• Impact on environment of human health: Environmental and health implications in terms of toxicity and allergenicity that can cause hematotoxin reactions in the human body.
• Fear of increased mono cropping: Farmers’ exposure to a greater risk of monopoly in the seed business.

What is the controversy and debate associated with GM Mustard?

• Debate on advantages and impacts: There is a raging debate going on advantages and disadvantages of GMOs. For a long time, further study was requested by farmers, environmentalist on GMO crops.
• Denial goes against the principle of basic rights of farmers: By not allowing GM mustard or for that matter even Bt brinjal for so long, one is denying the basic rights of farmers who want to increase their incomes.
• Allow with the sustainable practice with the use of science and technology: The best way to do so is by raising productivity in a sustainable manner. The field trials of GM mustard at different locations showed 25-28 per cent higher yield and better disease resistance compared to indigenous varieties. This can go a long way in augmenting domestic mustard oil supplies and farmers’ incomes.
• Unnecessary debate after the approval by the scientific body: Dissent is a good sign in any democratic society and forms an essential part of checks and balances. But once the safety tests are done and the scientific body (GEAC) has given the green signal, what is needed is political leadership to keep the decision-making science-based.

Why GM Mustard is important for India?

• India’s heavy dependence on Imported edible oils: India heavily depends on imported edible oils (55-60 per cent of India’s domestic requirement is imported). A large portion of this about three-four million tonnes every year comes from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the US, etc, which is all from GM technology (in soybean and canola).
• Import and GM crops are already in our food chain: We eat plenty of our own cotton seed (binola) oil, and about 95 per cent of our cotton is now GM. Cotton seed is also fed to cattle which gives the milk its fat content. Even poultry feed, such as soya and corn, is being imported. So, one thing is clear GM food is already in our food chain, and has been there for quite some time.
• A chance to emerge as a major export hub: It was expected that India would be at the forefront of the gene revolution and emerge as a major export hub to other Asian and African countries. What the IT revolution has done in computer science, the Bt revolution could have done in agriculture.

Conclusion

The agriculture of tomorrow is going to be science-based, and the winners will be those who adopt it and develop it further today. Innovation is the name of the game, and “Jai Anusandhan” is a good slogan given by PM Modi. But it will have meaning only when the government goes ahead with not just GM mustard but also fast-tracks Ht Bt cotton, Bt brinjal, and even GM soya and corn.

Source: PIB

Context

• Amid concerns over the direction that Twitter seems to be taking after its takeover by billionaire Elon Musk, a number of users are flocking to a platform called Mastodon.
• Since October 27, when the SpaceX and Tesla CEO formalised his Twitter takeover, Mastodon has gained nearly 500,000 new users, effectively doubling its user base.

• Founded in 2016 by German software developer Eugen Rochko, Mastodon is a decentralised, open source ad-free social media platform.
  • Mastodon, which is not just one website, is decentralized — meaning the service is not controlled by a single entity.
• It is essentially made up of thousands of different servers, or “instances”, run across the world.
• All the different instances on Mastodon can communicate to each other — that is, what users in a certain instance are posting is accessible to users in a different instance.
  • It can be understood by following analogy:
    • When a user first creates an account on Mastodon, they will have to choose a server or instance they want to join.
    • This is similar to how, when they create an email account, they choose between Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo etc. that generates their profile address.
    • No matter where a user initially creates their email account, they can still send mails to users on other email platforms.
    • Now, imagine that happening over a single platform, with the different email services being different servers, or instances.

• Users or organisations can even start their own servers. Otherwise, there’s a list of servers which focus on specific locations or topics of interest.
  • Eg., if a user chooses to join Mastodon via a clime justice server, their username would be [name]@climatejustice.social.
  • Similarly, if someone joins Mastodon social, their username would be [name]@mastodon.social.
  • Both these users can still communicate with each other and see posts on their servers.
• The admin of each server can decide the content moderation guidelines for that particular server.

• It essentially means that anyone can download, modify and install Mastodon on their own server. The developers of the platform don’t own the copyright.
• However, if someone creates a platform using Mastodon’s code, they will have to acknowledge the source of the code.
• Former President of the United States Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, initially launched with Mastodon code and passed it off as if it were original software, until Mastodon called it out.

• Since Mastodon is a collection of thousands of different servers, there is not a singular content moderation strategy for the entire platform.
• Content moderation is done by admins of each server who can set their own rules.
• Users can also migrate to other instances on Mastodon. Here’s an example to illustrate that:
  • Assume a user joined a Mastodon instance on, say, climate change.
  • Now, down the line, if a certain user, or group of users start posting content that is hateful, illegal or extremist, other users on the instance can migrate to a different instance and cut ties with the previous one.
• Migrating users can choose to block the previous instance, in which case the new one they join will not be able to communicate with it.

• The exodus is largely the result of confusion after the takeover of Twitter by Musk.
  • Musk initially said that he was a free speech absolutist.
  • However, post his takeover, the platform started suspending accounts of users who had changed their profile names to Musk’s along with his profile picture.
  • After allowing users to essentially buy verification marks for their profile with an $8 subscription of Twitter Blue, Musk said that prominent personalities like politicians will be given an additional tag of “official” on their profiles.
  • However, within hours of launching the “official” tag, he scrapped it saying that it was another way of creating a two-class system.

Source: The Hindu