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Dealing yet another blow to the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), an alliance originally of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly and NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar Sunday claimed the support of all NCP MLAs and joined the Eknath Shinde-led BJP-Sena government, after being sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister for the fifth time.
Eight more NCP leaders including Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde and Dharmarao Atram were sworn in as ministers by Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais in the afternoon.
Three NCP MLAs, who were sworn in – Aditi Tatkare (daughter of Sunil Tatkare), Sanjay Bansode, Anil Patil – are members of the party’s young brigade.
In exactly two years, two major constituents of the MVA have seen a split – about a year ago, 40 Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled under the leadership of Shinde and joined hands with the BJP, leading to the ouster of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.
Now, Ajit Pawar has allied with the BJP, and sources in both camps of the NCP admit neither side has support of more than half the total party MLAs as on date.
Behind Uttarakhand UCC: 13 months of consultations, 38 public meetings (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
On November 15 last year, when Lubna Rao, a block pramukh, turned to hundreds of Muslims who had gathered for a ‘jan samvad’ on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Kaliyar Sharif in Roorkee, she was hesitant.
Apologising for her pronunciation of the names of members of the expert committee, she spoke on the importance of the UCC in providing equal rights to women in property and in other aspects of life.
She urged women of her community to ignore “rumours” that the UCC would interfere with their religious practices. Citing her own example, she said women in the area were becoming more aware about their rights.
There was silence, and then thunderous applause. This was at one of the 38 public meetings organised by the five-member expert committee designated to prepare a report on the UCC in Uttarakhand.
Many others like Lubna shared their views, doubts and suggestions with the committee in the 13 months since it was formed by the Uttarakhand government.
Not everyone was convinced though. While welcoming the idea of a uniform civil law, many asked the panel to ensure that the discussion on the topic stayed separate from politics. In some instances, people suggested that all communities be taken into confidence before implementing any such law.
Editorial
Raj Bhavan, Raj Dharma (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Once more, a governor is in the news, and once more for not the best reasons. V Senthil Balaji is a Tamil Nadu minister under investigation by the state police and the Enforcement Directorate on cash for jobs charges.
Chief Minister M K Stalin has divested him of his portfolios but retains him as a minister without portfolio; Governor Ravi has ordered his dismissal. Whatever his reasons may be, he is constitutionally out of order.
Although the Constitution says that ministers hold office at the pleasure of the governor, this is not meant to be taken literally as Ravi seeks to do.
Right from Shamsher Singh’s case in 1974, authored by seven judges of the Supreme Court, and subsequently in S R Bommai (1994) and Shivraj Singh Chouhan (2020), the law is that in this and other matters, the governor must act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. There are some exceptions which are not relevant here.
Appointing and dismissing a minister is the prerogative of the chief minister. Ravi has kept his missive in abeyance citing Home Ministry advice to consult the Attorney-General. He ought to have done that in the first instance, instead of shooting first and asking questions afterwards.
Ideas Page
Locate the many India’s (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India’s GDP will more than double over the next five-seven years. Currently, it is around $3.4 trillion; it will be about $8 trillion by 2030.
The drivers of this growth will be: One, state-led investment in infrastructure, utilities and construction; two, the consequential crowding in of private investment in predominantly consumer lifestyles, e-commerce, green energy and financial services; three, increasing consumption as consumer income reconfigures from the shape of a pyramid to a diamond; and four, deepening connectivity — a contemporary reality with 900 million mobile phone subscriptions and approximately 400 million phone banking transactions every day.
Eighty per cent of adults have bank accounts. The lubricant of this growth will be “factor market” reforms.
Labour laws have already been simplified, the acquisition of land has been made easier and financial credit is increasingly accessible to small and middle-scale enterprises.
The recently-enunciated production-linked incentives for domestic investment into, inter alia, green energy and semiconductors will also be a stimulus.
As will the availability of possibly the largest and most youthful workforce in the world with an average age currently of 29 years.
Explained
Universe’s background hum detected: What message it holds (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Scientists said they have found evidence to suggest that the universe is replete with low-frequency gravitational waves – ripples in the fabric of space-time that are created by huge objects moving around, colliding, and merging with each other, and predicted by Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity more than 100 years ago.
The researchers have also contended that these waves create a cosmic background hum, which they could “hear”, that permeates outer space.
It’s really the first time that we have evidence of just this large-scale motion of everything in the universe, one of the research teams in the international collaboration that published the results in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the Associated Press reported.
Gravitational waves were first detected in 2015 using an experiment, involving Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO) detectors.
But those waves were of high frequency, believed to be produced by the merger of two relatively small black holes that took place about 1.3 billion years ago. All the subsequent detections after that were also of high-frequency waves. This, however, has changed now.
In a bid to discover low-frequency gravitational waves, scientists used an entirely different technology compared to the one used eight years ago, as per different studies published that were carried out by radio astronomers representing five different international teams including Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA).
After PM, Dutch King Apologises: Role of Netherlands In Slavery (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The king of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, has apologised for his country’s role in the slavery of colonised people, beginning in the 16th Century. He was speaking at a speech marking the 150th anniversary of the abolishment of slavery in Suriname (in South America) and in Dutch colonies in the Caribbean in 1873.
But today, on this day of remembrance, I ask forgiveness for the clear failure to act in the face of this crime against humanity.
Earlier in December 2022, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had also offered a full apology, coming after the results of a government-commissioned study were made public.
It found that between 1945 and 1949, the Dutch used “excessive violence” in Indonesia after World War 2. While the Dutch had established their presence in the 1600s, it was in the 19th and 20th centuries that they began ruling the country.
Japan then took control during World War 2, at the end of which the Dutch tried to regain control amid the independence movement taking shape.
In his speech, the king thanked researchers for shedding light on the history of slavery in the country. “We know that more than 600,000 people were transported across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa aboard Dutch ships, to be sold as slaves or put to work on plantations.
Around 75,000 did not survive the crossing. We also know about the extensive slave trade to the East, in areas controlled by the Dutch East India Company. And we know about the atrocities committed against the indigenous populations of the colonies,” he said.
World
Scarcity of lithium is pushing car makers into mining business (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Eager to avoid falling further behind Tesla and Chinese car companies, many Western auto executives are bypassing traditional suppliers and committing billions of dollars on deals with lithium mining companies.
They are showing up in hard hats and steel-toed boots to scope out mines in places like Chile, Argentina, Quebec and Nevada to secure supplies of a metal that could make or break their companies as they move from gasoline to battery power.
Without lithium, U.S. and European carmakers won’t be able to build batteries for the electric pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and sedans they need to remain competitive.
And assembly lines they are ramping up in places like Michigan, Tennessee and Saxony, Germany, will grind to a halt.
Established mining companies don’t have enough lithium to supply the industry as electric vehicle sales soar. General Motors plans for all its car sales to be electric by 2035.
In the first quarter of 2023, sales of battery-powered cars, pickups and sport utility vehicles in the United States rose 45 percent from a year earlier, according to Kelley Blue Book.
So car companies are scrambling to lock up exclusive access to smaller mines before others swoop in. But the strategy exposes them to the risky, boom-and-bust business of mining, sometimes in politically unstable countries with weak environmental protections. If they bet incorrectly, automakers could end up paying far more for lithium than it might sell for in a few years.