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Underlining that “restoration of democracy” in Jammu and Kashmir is “very important”, the Supreme Court asked the Centre if it has a time frame and roadmap to grant statehood to the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir which was reorganised into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh in 2019.
We are conscious of the fact that these are matters of national security. We understand that ultimately, preservation of the nation itself is the overriding concern. But without putting you in a bind, you and the Attorney General may seek instructions at the highest level.
Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, presiding over a 5-judge Constitution Bench, asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration, during the hearing on pleas challenging the Article 370 move.
Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul, Sanjeev Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant, that he will take instructions.
He said he will show the statement made by the Union Home Minister on the floor of the House and the efforts being made to restore normalcy in J&K.
The statement is once the efforts are fruitful and everything is normal, then… after the situation returns to normalcy, we want it to be a state again.
India protest China’s latest map, Jaishankar says absurd claims are Beijing’s old habit (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
As China released the 2023 edition of its so-called “standard map” incorporating disputed areas and including its claims over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region, India lodged a “strong protest” through diplomatic channels and said that such steps only “complicate the resolution of the boundary question”.
This comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.
‘Decoding G20’, Jaishankar said: “China has even in the past put out maps which claim the territories which are not China’s, which belong to other countries. This is an old habit of theirs. It is not something which is new.
We are very clear what our territories are. This government is very clear about what we need to defend our territories. You can already see that on our borders.
To fill a critical gap IAF looks to buy six mid air refuellers (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to revive the process of procuring six mid-air refuellers after failing to make any headway during two earlier attempts over the last two decades.
Highly placed Defence officials that the request for proposal to procure six mid-air refuelling aircraft, also known as tankers, should be floated within six months to invite bids from interested Defence majors.
This is the IAF’s third attempt since 2007 to buy the tankers. Two of its earlier tenders were scrapped due to pricing disputes.
Officials said the IAF is looking to procure six “pre-owned” aircraft — these can be modified into tankers — to meet its requirement of refuellers so that they can serve for 25 to 30 years.
Several global companies will let go of their older aircraft models in the next three to four years as they make the transition to advanced aircraft with new engines.
There will be an adequate number of pre-owned aircraft available in the market which can be modified into tankers. The IAF is looking for an Indian maintenance partner for the tankers.
Once inducted, the refuellers will fill a critical capability gap in the IAF’s inventory and will prove to be a vital strategic asset and force multiplier as they will allow fighter aircraft to stay airborne longer.
The six aircraft will be procured in addition to another tanker which the IAF would take on lease from interested global vendors to meet its training needs, the process for which has already been initiated. The IAF also provides limited refuelling efforts to the Navy’s MiG-29K fighter aircraft.
Govt & Politics
G20 summit: NSG being brought in to deal with contingencies (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
The National Security Guard (NSG), the country’s premier counter-terror force, is being brought in to deal with contingencies and threats, including ‘Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN)’ attacks, during next month’s G20 Summit.
The NSG’s house intervention teams (HITs) and sniper teams have also been kept on standby, and its bomb disposal squads have been asked to conduct anti-sabotage checks at all G20 venues.
Sources in the security establishment said NSG has also been asked to deploy its anti-drone teams as part of multi-agency employment of assets and will work closely with the Air Force.
The entire spectrum of the expertise of NSG will be employed by the MHA [Ministry of Home Affairs] for security during the G20 Summit.
The NSG, in coordination with Delhi Police and other security forces, will be deployed for anti-terror, anti-sabotage and anti-drone tasks, as well as to meet any CBRN contingencies.
Editorial
Climate finance, hard fact (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
India has taken over the presidency of the G20 at a time when consensus-building is difficult. One area where there is complete polarisation is the subject of climate change.
When it comes to climate finance specifically, the present commitments made by the developed world are absolutely insufficient.
The figure of $100 billion for projects in developing nations, which was arrived at about 13-14 years ago had no basis and is devoid of any logic.
In fact, when it was estimated, at that time too, it was too small vis-à-vis the need. For the past 10 years or so, there has been too much debate on this figure and the developing world has been lamenting that this meagre amount of $100 billion per year is not forthcoming from the developed world.
In contrast, it has been estimated that between 2011 and 20, fossil-fuel subsidies in 51 countries were 40 per cent higher than the total money spent on climate finance (Climate Policy Initiative).
The developed world (OECD) has been juggling statistics to prove that actually close to $80 billion was provided to the developing world for climate finance in 2020.
On the other hand, sceptics say that the actual transfer of resources would be in the range of $19-22 billion only. While stating that they are providing close to $80 billion per year, the developed world is including the normal commercial debt for climate-related activities in its calculations.
One is being clever by half since $100 billion is supposed to be in the form of concessional finance only, or better still, grants.
Ideas Page
When food is vaccine (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
It isn’t often that I read a scientific paper that makes me sit up straight. This is exactly what happened last week when I read two papers, from the fetchingly named RATIONS study, describing the results of research addressing the effectiveness of food supplementation for patients with TB in 28 public clinics in Jharkhand. The papers described two studies, one nested in the other.
In the parent study, the researchers offered food supplementation in addition to the usual TB treatment to 2,800 patients, the majority of whom belonged to India’s indigenous communities.
The overwhelming majority of these patients were underweight, as is to be expected for this scourge of the poor. In the second study, the researchers randomly allocated half of these TB patients to receive food supplementation for their family members, roughly an additional 5,500 persons.
Why did I find this study remarkable? Apart from conducting the research in one of India’s least developed states and amongst its most disadvantaged peoples, the studies were conducted during the first year of the pandemic when most of the country was locked-down for extended periods.
Despite these challenges, the studies were conducted with a high level of fidelity to the research protocol, a testimony to the commitment and motivation of the field research teams.
The parent study observed that a 5 per cent gain in weight in the initial months of food supplementation was associated with a 60 per cent reduced risk of dying.
But even more remarkable was the finding of the second study: Providing food to the family members of the infected individual was associated with a 50 per cent reduction in the occurrence of lab-confirmed TB infection in these household members.
Stunning findings and, not surprisingly, these two papers were published in the Lancet, the world’s most impactful medical journal, and its equally prestigious sister journal, the Lancet Global Health.
Express Network
Chandrayaan – 3 rover detects sulphur, other elements: ISRO (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
After releasing data from an instrument studying the temperature profile of the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said another instrument on Chandrayaan-3 had detected the presence of several elements on the Moon.
Notably, it had picked up signals that confirm the presence of Sulphur whose direct evidence was not available yet. The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3 Rover has made the first-ever in-situ measurements on the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the South Pole.
These in-situ measurements confirm the presence of Sulphur (S) in the region unambiguously, something that was not feasible by the instruments onboard the orbiters,” ISRO said in a statement.
Preliminary analysis have unveiled the presence of Aluminum (Al), Sulphur (S), Calcium (Ca), Iron (Fe), Chromium (Cr), and Titanium (Ti) on the lunar surface.
Further measurements have revealed the presence of Manganese (Mn), Silicon (Si), and Oxygen (O). Thorough investigation regarding the presence of Hydrogen is underway.
Gathering information about the presence and abundance of different elements on the Moon is one of the major science objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, with more than one instrument working towards this end.
The LIBS instrument on the rover, developed by ISRO’s Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), uses a high-energy pulsar to generate plasma from rocks or soil. In plasma state, elements emit characteristic wavelengths of radiation that can then be used to identify these elements.
Economy
Outlay on roads and renewables may climb to 13 lakh crore in FY 24, FY 25 (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The combined capital outlay on roads and renewables in the current and next fiscals is likely rise to Rs 13 lakh crore, a whopping 35 per cent growth compared with the preceding two fiscals, backed by strong execution speed.
The pace of construction of roads and capacity addition in renewables is seen increasing 25 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, over the current and next fiscals.
This bodes well for the economy, given the high multiplier effect of road development and the critical role renewable energy can play in achieving India’s energy transition.
According to Crisil, the growth is expected to sustain over the medium term, supported by conducive policies, strong investor interest and healthy financial profiles, leading to stable credit quality of companies in the Crisil Ratings portfolio in both sectors.
Gurpreet Chhatwal, Managing Director, CRISIL Ratings, said, “The pace of execution of renewable energy projects is set to increase 33 per cent to ~20 GW per annum over current and next fiscals (15 GW per annum in the past two fiscals) supported by a healthy executable pipeline of 50 GW of projects as on March 31, 2023.
Similarly, road construction is set to accelerate 25 per cent to 12,500-13,0002 km per year over the current and next fiscals on continued healthy awarding of projects and step up in execution by road construction players.”
Explained
Staring at driest ever August (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
India was fortunate in July. Despite an emerging El Nino, the country as a whole received 13 per cent more rainfall than expected.
In August, however, the adverse impacts of El Nino on the monsoon rainfall are becoming evident. With just two days remaining in the month, this August is all set to become the driest ever.
The outlook for September isn’t great either, though a revival in monsoon activity in the first week is being seen as likely.
August is the second rainiest month in India, after July. In a normal year, August sees about 255 mm rainfall over the country, accounting for about 22 per cent of the annual rainfall of 1,160 mm. July, the rainiest month, accounts for a little over 24 per cent.
But this August is set to go down as the driest since 1901, from when rainfall records of the India Meteorological Department are available.
The country as a whole had received only 160 mm of rainfall this month. That means a deficit of about 33 per cent for the month. Never has the country received less than 190 mm of rainfall in August (see accompanying charts).
States like Gujarat and Kerala have had a deficit of nearly 90 per cent for the month so far. Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh also have more than 50 per cent deficiency. Tamil Nadu, which receives a bulk of its rainfall during the winter months, has a shortfall of about 23 per cent.
Self respect marriage (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Supreme Court observed that there is no blanket ban on advocates solemnising “self-respect” marriages under Section 7(A) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
In doing so, a Bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar set aside a 2014 ruling of the Madras High Court holding that marriages performed by the advocates are not valid and that “suyamariyathai” or “self-respect” marriages cannot be solemnised in secrecy.
On January 17, 1968, the Hindu Marriage (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 1967, received the President’s approval and became the law.
This amendment modified the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, by inserting Section 7-A into it. However, it extended only to the state of Tamil Nadu.
Section 7-A deals with the special provision on “self-respect and secular marriages”. It legally recognises “any marriage between any two Hindus”, which can be referred to as “suyamariyathai” or “seerthiruththa marriage” or by any other name.
Such marriages are solemnised in the presence of relatives, friends, or other persons, with parties declaring each other to be husband or wife, in a language understood by them.
Further, each party to the marriage garlands the other or puts a ring on the other’s finger or ties a “thali” or mangal sutra. However, such marriages are also required to be registered as per the law.