3 June 2024, The Hindu
The message from the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation
Page 6
GS 2: Parliament and State Legislatures- structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges
- The vitriol that dominated the bifurcation discourse for almost half a decade prior to the actual bifurcation has now vanished without trace.
- The two successor states, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, are moving on. Telugu society today on both sides of the political division carries on with very little nostalgia for the nearly five and a half decades of living together in one political entity.
- For people from the shrunken Andhra Pradesh part, only Hyderabad from the new state of Telangana remains in their imagination.
- The rest of the geography of Telangana hardly figures in their consciousness.
- And, for the people of Telangana, no area or aspect of life from across the Andhra Pradesh side of the divide animates their political, social, cultural, or economic imagination.
Forsaken, marginalized and forgotten
Page 6
GS 1: Society: Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
- Majoritarian nationalism is reshaping Indian politics. Declining minority participation, particularly Muslim representation, in the corridors of power is an inevitable consequence.
- The general election, that has just concluded, is a veritable testimony to India’s, at times enthusiastic, at others grudging, acceptance of hues of Hindu nationalism.
- Even as the wounds of a complete abnegation of Muslim representation in the outgoing government had not healed, a fresh stab was made at the idea of India.
- Muslim exclusion from electoral politics is beginning to sound real, central, and almost all pervasive.
- As we await the results to the 18th Lok Sabha, there is a cause for concern over the diminishing space for a section of society in the electoral fray.
- In the 2019 election, 115 Muslims had contested as the representatives of various political parties.
For a consensus
Page 6
GS 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting the Indian interests
- With the curtains coming down on the general election 2024, every party will take stock of its campaign on issues of domestic political importance.
- However, it is also necessary for all concerned, particularly those forming the next government, to review the disturbing trend of revisiting questions of foreign policy.
- Both sides have ratcheted up the rhetoric over India’s international ties and in some cases, even the re-opening of settled bilateral agreements.
- At the start of the campaign, the ruling party focused on the issue of the half-century-old Katchatheevu agreement, that accepted the island as Sri Lankan territory, to target the Opposition Congress and the DMK that were in power in 1974.
- In response, Congress leaders asked whether the 2015 Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh could also be reviewed for its land concessions.
Nipped in the bud
Page 6
GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- Criminal activity is mostly driven by a combination of socio-economic factors — poverty on one end, wealth on the other, and unmet needs or desires.
- The recent inter-State baby smuggling racket that was busted by the Telangana police should be seen under this lens.
- While news of baby smuggling rackets dominate headlines from time to time, blowing the lid off of this network has revealed chilling subterranean levels of operation, spanning several States.
- An inter-State gang smuggled children from Delhi and Pune and sold them to prospective parents in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
- As many as 11 people were arrested for the smuggling of as many as 50 babies in the past year.
- As per initial reports, the gang had been ‘purchasing’ babies from two persons in Delhi and one person in Pune, traffic them to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and sell to the highest bidder among childless couples in these southern States.
Does inequality lead to growth?
Page 8
GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment
- Rahul Gandhi’s statements regarding redistribution — and the polarising rebuttal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — have brought the topic of inequality to the forefront.
- Researchers from the Paris School of Economics have shown inequality in modern India to be greater than colonial times.
- Several argue that inequality harms democratic processes. Some inequality, others argue, is actually beneficial, since it acts as an incentive to entrepreneurs to start businesses, thereby increasing employment and welfare for others.
Modi reviews 100-day agenda for new government.
Page 10
Prelims syllabus: Current events of national and international importance.
- A day after exit polls declared that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely en route to a third term, he held a review meeting on a 100-day programme that his team will seek to implement once government formation is completed.
- Senior bureaucrats of the government of India attended the review meeting for these plans on June 2.
- According to sources, at least 10 groups, each headed by a Secretary-level official as a coordinator, have been created to implement this agenda over the first 100 days of the new government.
In fight against Nipah, scientists find new way to generate virus-like particles in lab
Page 12
GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- Scientists at the Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV), Thonnakkal, Thiruvananthapuram, have developed a novel way of generating non-infectious Nipah virus-like particles (VLPs) in the laboratory, which mimic the wild type Nipah virus (NiV).
Tonga volcano could cause unusual weather for rest of decade: study
Page 18
Prelims syllabus: Current events of national and international importance
- Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (Hunga Tonga for short) erupted on January 15, 2022, in the Pacific Kingdom of Tonga.
- It created a tsunami which triggered warnings across the entire Pacific basin, and sent sound waves around the globe multiple times.
- A new study published in the Journal of Climate explores the climate impacts of this eruption.
