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Former Supreme Court judge Justice S. Abdul Nazeer (retd) is among the six new faces appointed Governors by President DroupadiMurmu on Sunday.
The President also accepted the resignations of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Ladakh Lieutenant-Governor R.K. Mathur in the latest gubernatorial reshuffle.
Justice Nazeer (retd), who was part of the five-judge Bench that delivered the November 2019 Ayodhya verdict, has been appointed Governor of Andhra Pradesh, while the incumbent, Biswa Bhushan Harichandan, has been moved to the Chhattisgarh Raj Bhavan.
The former judge, who also headed the five-judge Constitution Bench that upheld the Union government’s November 2016 decision to demonetise ₹500 and ₹1000 currency notes, retired in January.
Four leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Gulab Chand Kataria, who was serving as the Leader of the Opposition in Rajasthan, have been appointed Governors.
Maharishi Dayanand removed evils falsely attributed to religion: Modi (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 1, Personalities)
Kicking off the two-year celebrations commemorating Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati’s 200th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Arya Samaj founder removed “all evils falsely attributed to religion with the light of religion itself”.
The Prime Minister was addressing a gathering at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium where he released a logo for the celebrations. He also participated in a yagna during the ceremony.
The PM said the birth anniversary being celebrated during India’s Amrit Kaal [lead-up to 100 years of Independence] was a “sacred inspiration”.
In this era of discord, violence and instability, the path shown by Maharishi Dayanand gives hope,” he said. Maharishi Dayanand was born in an era when false interpretation of the Vedas was used to belittle India, and its traditions were being deformed as part of efforts to “crush the ideals, culture and roots” of the nation.
Mr. Modi spoke of Maharishi Dayanand’s campaigns against social ills such as discrimination and untouchability. “Evils that were falsely attributed to religion, Swamiji removed them with the light of religion itself.
The Prime Minister said he was fortunate to have been born in the same land as Swami Dayanand in present-day Gujarat and spoke of how his ideals continued to impact his life.
Mr. Modi added that the New Education Policy had also been designed to modernise education “with a focus on Indianness” and that the country’s wish to follow Swami Dayanand’s teachings is reflected in the fact that people are now “confidently calling for pride in our heritage”.
Editorial
The spirit of the law lies in this dissenting judgment (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 1, Population and Associated Issues)
How must the rights of religious groups be balanced with the rights of its adherents? This question has long plagued India’s courts.
When one such clash arose in 1962, the Supreme Court of India, through a 4:1 ruling, firmly placed group rights over individual freedom.
There, in Sardar Syedna Taher Saifuddin vs The State Of Bombay, a challenge was mounted by the leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community, the Dai-ul-Mutlaq, to the Bombay Prevention of Excommunication Act, 1949.
The law prohibited religious communities from expelling individuals from a group’s membership. The petitioner claimed that he served not only as a trustee of the community’s properties but that he had also been vested with a power to excommunicate from the denomination any member of his choice. In his belief, this power was integral to the Dawoodi Bohras’ collective right to religious freedom.
The Court, with Chief Justice of India B.P. Sinha dissenting, declared the law unconstitutional. It held that the Dai’s power to excommunicate was so essential to the group’s faith that a legislation, in the name of social welfare, cannot be allowed to reform a religion out of its existence.
The verdict has long been a subject of critique. On February 10, 2023, the Court, through Justice A.S. Oka’s judgment (Central Board of Dawoodi Bohra Community vs The State Of Maharashtra), agreed that it merited reconsideration, for at least two reasons.
First, the original ruling had failed to examine whether the rights of religious denominations ought to be balanced with other fundamental rights, particularly the rights of its individual members to be treated with equal care and dignity.
Second, in the years since Sardar Syedna, Indian jurisprudence has evolved to a point where any act of excommunication ought to be tested on a touchstone of constitutional morality.
Given these failures, the Court believed that the issues involved ought to be resolved by a larger Bench, in this case by a nine-judge Bench, where questions emanating out of the Sabarimala dispute are already pending consideration.
India U.S. space cooperation, from handshake, to hug (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
India and the United States agreeing to advance space collaboration in several areas, under the ‘initiative on critical and emerging technology’ umbrella, including human space exploration and commercial space partnership, comes at a crucial time for both countries.
This follows from the eighth meeting of the U.S.-India Civil Space Joint Working Group (CSJWG), that was held on January 30-31, 2023.
In November 2022, the U.S. kicked off its Artemis programme by launching the Orion spacecraft towards the moon and bringing it safely back to earth. India itself is set to embark on its first human spaceflight mission (Gaganyaan) in 2024.
The two countries have also taken significant strides in advancing the private space sector. Together, these endeavours will shape and impact U.S. and Indian space policies and programmes over the next decade.
In this context, a U.S.-India collaboration seems straightforward. India could secure technologies and expertise by collaborating with an advanced spacefaring nation; the U.S. could strengthen its relationship with India on a matter that seems less controversial than others.
But it is not straightforward: certain structural factors limit the extent to which the U.S. and India can collaborate in the short term. This is why India-U.S. cooperation can advance at a measured pace, to enable sustainable long-term civilian and military space partnerships.
The first structural factor that limits long-term India-U.S. space cooperation is the mismatch in the two nations’ interests in outer space.
The U.S. has committed to returning to the moon — and this time to stay there for the long term. Although the U.S. and its partners stress the importance of maintaining capabilities in low-earth orbit, their ambitions are firmly set on the moon.
In this regard, the Artemis Program, the Artemis Accords, and the Biden administration’s National Cislunar Science & Technology Strategy constitute the foundation for American ambitions beyond earth orbits.
Explainer
The demand for a Greater Tipraland by the TIPRA Motha (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The newest political party in Tripura, the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha, floated in 2019 by Pradyot Bikram ManikyaDebbarma, the son of Tripura’s last king, has created a flutter with its demand for a Greater Tipraland.
With this core demand, the party has brought other indigenous political parties under its fold. Its first foray into electoral politics in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections in 2021 was marked by a sharp victory where it secured 18 of the 28 seats.
Greater Tipraland is the core ideological demand of the TIPRA Motha. The party released what it called a Vision Document last week, where it said that it was committed to seeking a permanent solution upholding the rights of the indigenous people of Tripura as per the Constitution of India.
The objective is to carve out a new State for the 19 indigenous tribes of Tripura under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution. In its current form, the contours of the new State would go beyond the TTAADC areas to include several other villages where the Tiprasa (indigenous people of Tripura) reside in large numbers. In addition, the Motha would set up task forces to connect with the Tiprasa living in other regions of the country and the world to help them with their linguistic, cultural, social, and economic development, according to Jagadish Debbarma, a TIPRA Motha leader and the Chairperson of the TTAADC.
While the core ideology of the new party brinks on ethnic nationalism, the leadership of the Motha has been careful not to project itself as an “of the tribals, by the tribals and for the tribals only” party. PradyotManikya, has stated clearly in his media interactions that his party was inclusive and would also take the non-tribal population along.
Text &Context
What are micro LED displays, and why is Apple shifting to it? (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Apple’s shift to microLED display technology is reportedly under process. Considered as the next big transition in display technology, microLEDs are self-illuminating diodes that have brighter and better colour reproduction than Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display technology.
Apple is currently working on this new display technology and plans to implement the same on future watch models starting 2024, and gradually to its other devices including iPhones and Macs. However, the complications and challenges with the new technology might delay Apple’s plans.
The basis of microLED technology are sapphires. A sapphire can shine on its own forever. A microLED screen is filled with such small but strong light. The picture in a microLED screen is generated by several individual light-emitting diodes.
Samsung, the pioneer in microLED technology explained in a video that a microLED is as small as cutting a centimetre of hair into 200 smaller pieces.
Each of these microLEDs are semiconductors that receive electric signals. Once these microLEDs are gathered, they form a module. Several modules are then combined to form screens.
MicroLED displays are brighter, have better colour reproduction and provide better viewing angles. They make images appear as if they painted on top of the device’s glass and are quite the technological feat, according to a report by Bloomberg.
MicroLEDs have limitless scalability, as they are resolution-free, bezel-free, ratio-free, and even size-free.The screen can be freely resized in any form for practical usage. In addition to being self-emissive, MicroLEDs also individually produce red, green, and blue colours without needing the same backlighting or colour filters as conventional displays, according to Samsung.
The electronics company is currently the world’s most advanced manufacturer of displays, and has been producing its own version of microLED for TVs.
News
‘Indo U.S. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to be flight tested this year (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
A prototype of the Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV) developed jointly by India and the United States is likely to be flight-tested later this year, said a member of the U.S. government delegation to Aero India 2023.
Major General Julian C. Cheater, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, International Affairs, said, “There is certainly some progress with respect to the ALUAV, this project arrangement was signed last year and we are expecting to conduct flight testing as early as the fall [September-November] of 2023. The flight testing will occur at a range in northern India as well as in the U.S.”
In 2021, the Indian Ministry of Defence and U.S. Department of Defense signed a Project Agreement for ALUAV, under the Joint Working Group Air Systems in the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and the Aerospace Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, along with the Indian and U.S. Air Forces, are the principal organisations for execution of the project agreement.
Major General Cheater said that ALUAV would be launched from the C130J aircraft. “We will develop sensors on the package and we expect that this particular UAV would most likely be launched from the C130J aircraft.
That signifies a seven-year project arrangement. It is a long-term agreement and it also involves technology transfer that is a great step in the relationship of the two countries,” Major General Cheater said.
On the likely participation of the U.S.’s F-35 stealth aircraft in the Aero India 2023, a member of the delegation said that if it did, it would be the most advanced aircraft in the airshow. The delegation also said that it would be too premature for the U.S. to offer the F-35 to India.
The head of the U.S. delegation to Aero India, Ambassador A. Elizabeth Jones, said India and the U.S. were working together in many ways to ensure a free and open, prosperous, connected, and resilient Indo-Pacific region, where democracies can thrive.
Aero India flies high with 98 participating nations (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The 14th edition of the biennial Aero India which will see participation of 809 Indian and foreign companies spread over 35,000 sq.m is expected to see conclusion of 251 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) estimated at ₹75,000 crore during the three business days, defence officials said.
At the Defence Ministers’ conclave for which 32 foreign Defence Ministers have confirmed participation, India will make a strong pitch for indigenous military hardware.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the five-day Aero India 2023 on Monday. While the first three days (February 13-15) are business days, February 16 and 17 have been set as public days.
In a first for the expo, European defence majors Airbus and Thales have announced that they would hold interactions for potential recruitment with aspiring candidates.
The aim of the event is to promote exports of air platforms with focus on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and also attract foreign investments including on co-development and co-production, said Cdr.Achal Malhotra, Director, Defence Exhibition Organisation in the Ministry of Defence.
The expo comprises a Defence Ministers’ conclave; a CEOs’ round table; the Manthan (brainstorming) start-up event; a Bandhan ceremony, airshows, a large exhibition; India Pavilion and a trade fair of aerospace companies.
Addressing mediapersons, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Aero India 2023 will showcase the country’s manufacturing prowess and the progress achieved towards realising Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
A strong and self-reliant defence sector will play a pivotal role in helping India emerge as one of the top three world economies.
This year’s event will see the participation of 98 countries and Defence Ministers of 32 countries, Air Chiefs of 29 countries and 73 CEOs of global and Indian original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
The Defence Ministers’ conclave will address aspects related to deepening cooperation for capacity building (through investments, R&D, joint venture, co-development, co-production and provisioning of defence equipment), training, space, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and maritime security to grow together.