18 Dec 2023

#GS2: 01. Truth and Reconciliation Commission for J & K

In his concurring but separate opinion on the abrogation of Article 370, Kaul recommended the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Jammu and Kashmir to investigate and report on rights violations by both State and non-State actors at least since the 1980s and recommend measures for reconciliation. Kaul said that such a commission would encourage dialogue and could help resolve the distrust and tension that has built up in J&K over decades. Kaul’s recommendation was positively received by attorney general R. Venkatramani and attracted public interest

-Commentary in News

#GS4–#GS2: 02. Certifications by Unregulated agencies

The Quality Council of India (QCI) is set to come out with Regulations that will make it Compulsory for private certification agencies to register them selves with accreditation bodies. The idea is to ensure accountability Of these agencies so that ‘brand India’ does not suffer from indiscriminate certification by unregulated agencies. There are concerns that private agencies have been issuing ISO 9000 certificates without getting themselves registered with apex accreditation bodies. ISO 9000 certificates are issued to firms and show that their goods and services meet international standards in quality management and assurance.

– Commentary in News

QCI is accredited by the government as a national body, although we don’t have regulations. “The proposed set of regulations is aimed at making certification agencies accountable and making them responsible. A national registry for accreditation bodies is also proposed to ensure certifying agencies’ registration, so that action will be taken against them if found indulging in any malpractice.

When QCI was established through A cabinet decision, it is recorded that a Law would be brought at later stage. We have started working on it. Except India, almost every country has its own Acton establishing accreditation infrastructure. Accreditation is a voluntary activity, but it becomes mandatory when an authority or a regulator prescribes it.
-QCI secretary general Rajesh Maheshwari

Key Terms/Issues : QCI

#GS1: 03. Equity in Households

Though house- Holds provide a private sanctuary to the inhabitants, it may not be an equitable space. The gain of improving private lives will reflect on public life as well, for ‘these private structures are not constitutional vacuums’. Courts in India have in the past privileged the institution of marriage over the individual. The courts inherited the thought that the Need to preserve the institution is greater than the need to protect individual rights. The sensitive sp here of privacy of homes was considered to be an intimate sanctuary, immune from the applications of the core Principles of constitutional law.

In all fairness, this tendency to insulate the private lives of individuals is well founded, even if We may disagree. After all, privacy is but an extension of person hood and dignity. It is a right that guarantees against the excessive intrusion of the individual’s life by both state and non-state actors against the excesses of the public and private authorities. It accords an effective barrier against surveillance And restriction son expression.
I asked myself, what is the harm in stopping law at this threshold of the household? The answer lies in the fact that the household as much as it provides a private sanctuary to its inhabitants, is not simply by that reason, an equitable space.

#GS3: 04. Parliament Security Breach

The seriousness of the security breach in Parliament cannot be Underestimated. The investigating agencies Are probing the matter strictly. It is equally important to carry out a deep investigation into who the elements behind this are, and what their intentions were. Efforts should also be made to look for a solution with a collective spirit and everyone should avoid debate or resistance on such topics.
-IEA

#GS3: 05. Need for Capital in Businesses

In his inaugural address to the first Industrial Conference in Pune in 1890,Mahadev Govind Ranade noted that “the industry of the country is parched up for want of Capital” because after land revenue, a considerable portion of gross savings was used to hoard bullion. The lack of institutional arrangements for industrial finance meant that capital was locked up in unproductive assets and not available to India’s entrepreneurs. A century later, The German economic historian Diet- Mar Rothermund came to a similar conclusion. Lacking financial institutions, Indian surpluses in the second half of the 19th century went into gold and land. Meiji Japan, in contrast, was able to “gather small savings and to channel them into the main stream of the national economy,” enabling the country’s industrialization.
-Takshashila Foundation Co-Founder Nitin Pai

#Essay: 06. Tolerable Planet

What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?
-HENRY DAVID THOREAU

#GS3: 07. Climate Change

The reality is that we have already fouled up the planet’s air beyond its ability to refresh itself, trapping so much solar heat that a cap of 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels is proving elusive. To keep this goal with in reach, a flicker of hope lies in choking oven-effect gas emissions 43% by 2030 over 2019’s sum. And if we fail to arrest and bend the world’s emission curve—for which curbing the combustion of coal, oil and gas is deemed the best way out by climate scientists—we stare at the doom scenario of crossing 1.9° Celsius, after which life on Earth would be bleak for our species too. It demands urgent action—and full awareness of the cris is we face. The popular will in a democracy must never be misled on how to avert a catastrophe. It’s what we owe the logic of democracy as much as the planet we in habit.