Daily Current Affairs

Exercise Vostok-22 & India (GS Paper 3, Defence)

Why in news?

• From September 1-7, Russia is holding annual military exercises in its eastern region, with about 13 countries including India and China sending contingents.
• While the exercises in Vostok-2022 are routine, they are the first such multilateral exercises to be held since the Russian war in Ukraine began.
• They include a maritime component near the disputed islands of South Kuril, claimed by both Russia and Japan.

 

Who is taking part in Vostok-22?

• The countries that have sent military contingents are Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Syria and Tajikistan.
• It is estimated that “more than 50,000 troops and 5,000 units of military equipment” including 140 aircraft and 60 warships would participate in the exercises.
• The Indian Army contingent is part of joint manoeuvres to include joint field training exercises, combat discussions, and firepower exercises.

 

India not to take part in maritime section:

• India has only sent its army contingent of the 7/8 Gorkha Rifles, and will not take part in the maritime section of the two-part event.
• This is because, while the first part of the land exercises will be held in Russian military training grounds in Siberia and the Far Eastern Federal District, the maritime part of the exercises would be held in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan, near the disputed South Kuril islands.
• Japan’s Foreign Ministry issued a demarche calling on Russia to move the location of its maritime exercises, which the Russia rejected, and India’s decision not to take part in the naval exercises is believed to be in deference to Tokyo’s sensitivities.

 

Why has UScriticised the exercises?

• In a statement ahead of the exercises, U.S. Secretary said that the U.S. has “concerns about any country exercising with Russia while Russia wages an unprovoked, brutal war against Ukraine,” adding that the decision to participate was up to each country, and that the government had been “pretty public” about its opposition to the exercises in talks.
• The Biden administration is in the process of gaining support for more sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, as well as a demand for price-caps on Russian oil exports, and the decision by India and other countries to participate in Vostok-2022 presents a divided approach towards Russia.
• The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), however, rejected the concerns and said India has been regularly participating in multilateral exercises in Russia, along with a number of other countries.

 

What does India’s participation mean and what is the likely impact?

• By sending an army contingent to join Russian and Chinese troops in the exercises at this time, India is aiming to send a four-pronged message.
• The first is its continuing relationship with Russia despite the Ukraine war, where the Indian government has decided not to join the Western sanctions regime, or to curb oil imports and other economic engagement with Moscow.

 

Non-alignment:

• The second is to signal balance and non-alignment in the current crisis, given India has mostly abstained from votes at the United Nations seeking to criticise Russia.
• India also takes part in routine Indo-Pacific exercises with its Western partners including the Quad, as well as in bilateral exercises, like the India-U.S. “YudhAbhyas” in Uttarakhand next month.
• These exercises will take place just after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in September, where he will participate alongside leaders of Russia, China, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, who have sent contingents for Vostok-22 as well.
• It is a way of signalling that India remains comfortable in both its engagement with the U.S.-EU coalition and its rival groupings led by Russia-China.

 

Sensitivity to Japan:

• Third, by staying away from the maritime exercises, India has shown both its sensitivity to Japan’s concerns on maintaining the status quo over the disputed islands, as well as stressing the importance of territorial sovereignty and integrity for India.
• India is hosting a Quad meeting on Indo-Pacific initiatives in Delhi and holding bilateral talks with U.S. and Japan on trade and defence as well.

China factor:

• Finally, the message the government continues to give is that it is willing to engage with China on a number of fronts, even as military talks with China at the LAC (Line of Actual Control) remain stuck.
• The government, however, asserts that it cannot be “business as usual” with China until the latest logjam over Chinese troops’ transgression since April 2020 is resolved.

 

UGC’s cluster college plan

(GS Paper 2, Issues Relating to Development of Social Sector/Services)

 

Why in news?

• Recently, the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued new guidelines for transforming colleges and universities into multi-disciplinary institutions.

 

Approaches:

• The guidelines prescribe three approaches, which include clustering of institutions located in proximity so that they can collaborate with each other to offer innovative programmes in offline, online or distance learning mode.
• The other two strategies recommended by the UGC include merger of single-stream institutions with other multi-disciplinary institutions under the same management or different managements and strengthening of existing establishments by setting up of new departments.

 

 

Who is likely to benefit from the move?

• Colleges with poor enrolment and fewer resources may benefit by forming clusters with other institutions and help students access better facilities as well as avail innovative courses, according to the guidelines.
• The member colleges in a cluster will continue to function as affiliated colleges under the university in the initial phase during which they will share their resources to offer multi-disciplinary programmes and guide student research projects.
• Subsequently, the affiliating university may affiliate the cluster of colleges as a single unit which will be given autonomy in a graded manner before turning into an autonomous degree-granting cluster of colleges. These can later turn into research and teaching-intensive universities.
• The partnership plan must include infrastructure expansion, number of students, departments involved, administrative and academic functions and research activities. Member colleges will also have to design their timetable so that students don’t face scheduling clashes.

Why the emphasis on multi-disciplinary institutions now?

• More multi-disciplinary institutions in the country is one of the recommendations for higher education in the National Education Policy 2020.
• The policy document has set a target of 2030 for all higher education institutions (HEIs) to become multi-disciplinary, and thereafter, increase student enrolments “preferably in the thousands” by 2040.
• The goal is to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035.
• The NEP proposes that though a number of new institutions may be developed to attain these goals, a large part of the capacity creation will be achieved by expanding and improving existing HEIs.

 

What is the response of the sector to the guidelines?

• While the emphasis on multi-disciplinary education is welcome, many wonder where the financial resources will come from. The UGC chairman said State governments will provide the required funds for functioning of State-run multi-disciplinary institutions.
• By suggesting clustering and merging of colleges, the intent is to build upon existing infrastructure to attain the goal of higher Gross Enrolment Ratio without any additional funding.

 

Criticism:

• Already institutions are running on their optimum thresholds as there have been no teacher recruitments for the past several years at Central and State Universities.
• It is claimed that the UGC is evading its responsibility in providing funds. The latest guidelines seek to implement the NEP, which is not acceptable to many because it is partisan and emphasises on centralisation and commercialization.
• There should be regulations instead of guidelines so that they are adopted by State governments.

 

New sub-lineages of monkeypox virus emerge

(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)

 

Context:

• The identification of a cluster of cases associated with a superspreader Monkeypox event in Europe in May-June 2022 and the subsequent rapid spread across the globe prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare the outbreak of monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
• As of September 2022, over 50,000 cases of monkeypox virus infections have been reported from over 99 countries.
• Over 15 deaths attributable to the disease have been reported, eight of which were reported from locations that have not historically reported monkeypox, including one from India.

Background:

• Monkeypox was a neglected disease until early 2022, with few reports on cases, and that too from travellers, though the disease was endemic in Central and Eastern Africa for many years.
• First identified in 1958 as a disease in imported monkeys in Denmark, monkeypox is a zoonotic viral infection that can infect humans and other animals.
• The origin and source of the disease are however unknown, therefore the name ‘monkeypox’ remains a misnomer for the disease.

 

Global situation:

• As of September 2022, 10 countries account for a majority of cases (over 88%) — the U.S., Brazil, Peru, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, the U.K., Netherlands and Portugal.
• The disease has predominantly affected males aged between 30-43 years, although demographics have been found to differ between regions.
• For instance, in West and Central Africa, a larger number of cases are reported among younger individuals.

 

Declining in Europe& US:

• Despite an increase in the number of global cases for four consecutive weeks, the number of reported monkeypox virus infections across the world saw a decline by over 20% in the last week of August 2022.
• This decline is predominantly attributable to the decreasing number of reported cases in European countries.
• As cases show a declining trend globally, numbers continue to rise in the U.S. Cumulatively, the U.S. accounts for over 30% of all the global cases, with over 18,000 infections reported from the country to date.
• Although case numbers continue to increase in the U.S., the rate of rise in cases has been plateauing, and possibly declining.
• Like in Europe, this decline may be attributable to the impact of vaccination campaigns coupled with behavioural changes and heightened awareness among people who are at high risk, although more data in the coming days will reconfirm the trend.

 

Alarming situation in Latin America:

• Despite a slow decline in cases globally, monkeypox cases continue to rise rapidly in Latin America, possibly also compounded by the lack of awareness of the disease and insufficient availability of vaccines.
• Amongst all countries in the region, a majority of cases have been reported from Brazil and Peru and a total of three deaths have been reported from Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, although the Peruvian case is still being investigated to confirm monkeypox as the cause of death.
•  Peru is also the third-highest in the world in terms of monkeypox infections per million inhabitants.

 

Tracking variants:

• As genomic surveillance continues to provide opportunities to track the evolution of the monkeypox virus, the WHO has laid down the process of naming different variants of the virus taking into consideration the proposals put forward by scientists for a non-discriminatory nomenclature system.
• Following the new nomenclature, the monkeypox virus variant formerly known as the Congo Basin or Central African clade will be denoted as Clade I, while the former West African variant, which is the main circulating clade in the current outbreak, will be denoted as Clade II.
• Clade II of the monkeypox virus encompasses two subclades, denoted as Clade IIa and Clade IIb.
• The continued genomic surveillance of monkeypox has now resulted inover 1,500 genomes available in the public domain which provides unique insights into the evolution and spread of the virus.
• At least two distinct lineages of the virus are known to be circulating in the present outbreak.

 

What needs to be done?

• Continued surveillance will be key to preventing future outbreaks of the disease while more in-depth science would be required to understand the pathogen, evolution, disease mechanisms and vaccine efficacy more closely.
• For example, the quantum of asymptomatic monkeypox transmission and the efficacy of vaccinia vaccine in preventing spread would be of immediate importance.
• The present outbreak, while calling for global unity and co-operation has unfortunately also put many of these concepts to test. The unavailability of vaccines in Africa which needs it the most, despite the frenzy by rich governments to corner a larger proportion, if not all of the vaccine produced, also puts into question the sincerity in efforts for global health and equity.

 

‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ in the preamble of the Constitution

(GS Paper 2, Indian Polity)

 

Why in news?

• The Supreme Court will hear on September 23 a petition filed by former MP Dr Subramanian Swamy, seeking the removal of the words “socialist” and “secular” from the preamble of the Indian Constitution.

 

Details:

• The two terms were inserted into the preamble as part of the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976 during the Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
• The petitioners in two similar cases have argued that these words were never intended to be in the Constitution and that such insertion is “beyond the amending power of the Parliament under Article 368”.
• Similar petitions have been filed earlier too and given rise to debates around the preamble and the role it plays in the Constitution.

 

What is the purpose of the preamble?

• A preamble serves as an introduction to a document and contains its basic principles and goals.
• When the Indian Constitution was being drafted, the ideals behind the preamble were first laid down in the Objectives Resolution, adopted by the Constituent Assembly in 1947.
• These ideals emerged out of the numerous debates that took place during the drafting of the Constitution.
• During the Constituent Assembly debates, many suggestions were put forth — including that God should be invoked in the preamble as in the Irish constitution, that Mahatma Gandhi’s name should be included, etc.

 

Initially, the Preamble said:

“WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.”

 

Is preamble a part of the Constitution?

• The question of whether the preamble is a part of the Constitution or simply an introduction has been deliberated upon by the highest court, because the meaning and weight of the objectives mentioned in it, such as “equality of status and opportunity”, remained unclear from the perspective of law.
• However, in its judgment in the famous LIC case of 1995, the Supreme Court said, “…and the Preamble of the Constitution which is an integral part and scheme of the Constitution”, affirming its position as part of the Constitution.
• Additionally, the violation of any principle mentioned in the preamble cannot be a reason to go to court, meaning the preamble is “non-justiciable” however, judgments of courts can cite it as an additional factor in their reasoning, given that it constitutes the spirit of the Constitution.

 

How else has the preamble been debated earlier?

• In 2020 BJP MP Rakesh Sinha moved a resolution in Rajya Sabha seeking to remove the word socialism from the preamble.
• Earlier in 2015, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting used an image of the preamble of the Indian Constitution without the words “socialist” and “secular”, leading to some criticism.
• In 2008, the Supreme Court rejected a plea demanding the removal of ‘socialist’. “Why do you take socialism in a narrow sense defined by Communists? In broader sense, it means welfare measures for the citizens. It is a facet of democracy,” a three-judge Bench headed by then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan had said.

 

Under what circumstances was the preamble amended?

• Over her years in government, Indira Gandhi had attempted to cement her approval among the masses on the basis of a socialist and pro-poor image with slogans such as “garibihatao” (Eradicate poverty).
• The 42nd Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1976 when the Emergency was in place, replaced the words “sovereign democratic republic” with “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic”.
• It also changed “unity of the nation” to “unity and integrity of the nation”.
• Under Article 368(2), Parliament can amend the Constitution by passing a Bill in “each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting”. After that, the Bill “shall be presented to the President who shall give his assent… and thereupon the Constitution shall stand amended”.
• The 42nd Amendment had several other provisions, by which the Indira government sought to further centralise power. Some of these were reversed by the Janta government that came to power after the Emergency.

 

Were ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ debated before Independence?

• During the debates in the Constituent Assembly, members such as K T Shah and Brajeshwar Prasad had raised the demand to add these words to the preamble.
• However, Dr B R Ambedkar argued: “What should be the policy of the State, how the Society should be organised in its social and economic side are matters which must be decided by the people themselves according to time and circumstances. It cannot be laid down in the Constitution itself because that is destroying democracy altogether.”
• In his petition, DrSwamy mentioned Ambedkar’s position. Ambedkar also said, “My contention is that what is suggested in this amendment is already contained in the draft Preamble”.

 

Originally affirmed in the Constitution:

• Indeed, many principles affirming secularism and socialism were contained in the Constitution originally, such as in the Directive Principles of State Policy that is meant to guide the government in its actions.
• Some examples are provisions related to the “equitable distribution of material resources of the community for the common good”, and protecting the rights of workers.
• Similarly, in the fundamental rights that allow the freedom to profess and propagate one’s religion, as well as in the government policies that recognise religious occasions across communities, an Indian version of secularism is followed.
• Unlike western secularism which strictly separates the state and religion, the Indian state has over the years acknowledged and involved itself in matters related to all religions.