21 May 2024, The Hindu
‘Urban apathy’ drives down polling to 60.4%
Page 1
Prelims syllabus: Current events of national and international importance
- The fifth phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections on Monday saw 60.39% voter turnout till 11.45 PM, amid reports of minor incidents of violence from West Bengal.
- Maharashtra recorded the lowest turnout at 54.33%, while West Bengal saw the highest at 75.56%.
- The voting percentage in Bihar was 54.85%, Jammu and Kashmir 57.58%, Jharkhand 63%, Odisha 69.19 %, Uttar Pradesh 57.79% and Ladakh 69.92%.
Critical times call for strong judicial adjudication
Page 6
GS 2: Structure, organisation and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary
- The Supreme Court of India will, sooner or later, consider the question whether the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the rules under it can pass constitutional scrutiny.
- That the recently promulgated CAA Rules are unclear about the fate of the applicants whose request for citizenship is turned down has aggravated concerns over the issue.
- There is also a fear that persons whose applications are disallowed might end up in detention centres.
- Some of the petitioners before the Court have also raised concerns over dual citizenship to foreign applicants who need not have to abandon their original citizenship.
- This would create uncertainty in the matter of citizenship, as it goes against the spirit of the parent Act, it is pointed out.
Another crash, another high-profile passenger
Page 6
Prelims syllabus: Current events of national and international importance
- The fatal crash, on May 19, 2024, of a Bell 212 helicopter flying the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, and Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, is one more accident involving high-profile passengers, in mountainous terrain and in very poor visibility.
- Given the increased tensions in West Asia and the gung-ho attitude of Israel, with open American support, suspicion will be raised about the Israeli hand.
- Tel Aviv has denied this and distanced itself from the crash, but neither the United States nor Israel have any credibility left for the world to accept their innocence without serious cross-checks.
A closer contest
Page 6
GS 1: Society: Role of women and women’s organisations
- The fifth phase of the general election, held on Monday, featured contests in the fewest number of seats — 49.
- But it included heavyweight seats such as Rae Bareli, Amethi and Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, the urban areas of Mumbai, Thane and Nashik in Maharashtra, the southern parts of West Bengal, which saw strong contests between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2019, besides simultaneous Assembly and parliamentary polls in the south-western seats of Odisha.
- In Maharashtra, the splintering of the main regional parties has made it a battleground State along with Bihar, Karnataka and West Bengal.
- Voter turnout in Maharashtra was relatively low when compared to the rest of the country, with Mumbai retaining its unfavourable reputation of voter apathy.
India-China consumption comparison
Page 8
GS 2: International Relations- India and its neighbourhood
- In 2023, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country.
- The development came against the backdrop of a declining birth rate (6.4 births per 1,000 people) and total fertility rate (~1%) in China. China also recorded a negative population growth rate for the first time in six decades.
- This means a rising dependency ratio, which is projected to increase over time. In contrast, India’s population, despite reaching replacement levels (total fertility rate of 2.1), is expected to grow and peak around 2060.
Radical democracy: why is it still relevant today?
Page 9
GS 2: Indian Constitution: features, amendments, significant provisions
- Periods of crisis, social, political or economic, call attention to the necessity for a radical reorganisation of society; all rational and progressive individuals are cognisant of this urge.
- This was the case with 19th century liberal democracy, which had degenerated into exploitation under capitalism, forcing those with a sense of dignity and justice to seek out a better alternative to a social order that was building itself atop the dictum “every man for himself, and devil take the hindmost’‘.
- In time, a large part of these radicals and revolutionaries came under the influence of new collectivist doctrines, which offered a transitional dictatorship and centralised economic planning as a remedy to solve the defects of liberal democracy and capitalist exploitation across the world.
Questions arise over future of Parliament security unit
Page 10
GS 2: Parliament and State Legislatures- structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges
- As the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) took over the security of most parts of the Parliament on May 20, questions swirl around the future of the unarmed Parliament Security Service (PSS) unit, the existence of which coincides with the adoption of Constitution of India in 1950.
- The unit, formerly known as the Watch and Ward Staff, initially came into existence in 1929 after Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt dropped bombs on the Central Legislative Assembly, currently the old parliament building or the Samvidhan Sadan.
- A new parliament building facing the old structure was inaugurated last year.
SC agrees to waive telcos’ interest on I-T dues on licence fee
Page 13
GS 3: Indian Economy - Infrastructure – Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
- The Supreme Court has given a major relief for telecom service providers, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone Idea, by waiving off interest due on income tax arising from an October 16, 2023 judgment, which held that telecom licence fee should be treated as entirely “capital in nature”.
- A Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyyan agreed to a waiver of the interest levy after the assessees (telcos) said payment of the tax demand from the year 2000-2001 was itself a “heavy burden”.
- The telcos had urged the court to at least waive the interest payable on the tax for the period.
Amul goes to U.S., partners Michigan milk producers’ body to sell fresh milk
Page 13
GS 3: Indian Economy (international trade)
- India’s largest dairy cooperative Amul has started selling fresh milk and other products in the United States in partnership with a century old local cooperative body, Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) to sell fresh milk in East Coast and the Midwest markets.
- Initially, the supplies will be in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Washington, Dallas, and Texas, which would subsequently be expanded across all the major cities in the U.S.
