29 Jan 2024
#GS2 –01. Ram in constitution
The Constitution of India has come into being after such intense brainstorming that it is called a living document. In part three of the original copy of this very Constitution, the fundamental rights of the citizens of India have been described and it is note-worthy that at the beginning of part three, the makers of our Constitution had allotted due space to the pictures of Bhagwan Ram, Mata Sita and Lakshman. The rule of Prabhu Ram was also a source of inspiration for the makers of our Constitution and that is why on January 22 in Ayodhya,
–PM Modi
Key Terms/Issues : Ram se Rashtra
#GS2 — 02. De-Reservation
Ministry of education clarified that no reserved posts can be de-reserved, after draft guide lines by the University Grants Commission (UGC) proposed That any vacancy reserved for SC,ST and OBC Candidate scan be declared un reserve dif Enough candidates from these categories are not available.
-Commentary in News
#GS1 –03. Social Capital
Unless India’s deficit in social capital is addressed, public services will underperform even as people get richer. As a colleague once quipped, it means that two big cars will now be parked illegally instead of one small one. Toilets at our swanky air-ports will continue to need attendants. Public transport,like public hospitals and schools,will be worse than our per capital gross domestic product (GDP) would suggest it should be.The next phase of urban activism should shift from technocratic interventions to community-building. Perhaps this is what Gandhi discovered a century a go:that the solution lies in bridging communities and bringing people together, not in drafting petitions to the colonial government. The first step is to create a sense of ‘us’ in the Indian psyche. Not unity or uniformity,but a pluralistic, common community that does not come at the cost of diversity. It is time philanthropy,corporate social responsibility (CSR), social activism and civic leadership focus on building social capital,especially in urban India.
-Takshashila Institution Director Nitin Pai
#GS2 –04. PRIs
Though it is now more than30years since the 73rd amendment to the Constitution institutionalized Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) at three levels in rural India—gram panchayats at the village level, mandal panchayats at the block level and zila paris had at the district level— empowerment of the kind envisaged in 1992 is yet to realized. The principle of subsidiarity, as enshrined in the EU’s Maastricht Treaty, is no less true of all federal forms of government. In a nut shell, it means that higher levels of government should perform only those functions that cannot be effectively performed at the local level.Ideally, the levels responsible for providing a particular good or service should also be in charge of its funding and revenue collection,minimizing the scope for moral hazard. For basic services,this means it is PRIs that must provide these to citizens. However, as with economic development in general, where regional disparities are sharp, the devolution of powers and functions to panchayats (and their performance) varies greatly across states.
In general, India’s southern states had better than others, which may perhaps explain why these states have made more progress on human development indicators. Clearly, when it comes to the bottom layer of government,we still have along way to go, not- withstanding the hope embodied in India’s panchayati raj legislation,including one-third reservation of seats for women in elected PRI bodies. It will be a while before we realize the dream of Mahatma Gandhi that “every village will be are public or panchayat, having full powers.”But we must speed it up. Disruption in legislatures is cancerous not only for legislatures but also for democracy and society. Curbing it is not optional but an absolute necessity to save the sanctity of legislatures.
–Commentary in news
Key Terms/Issues : Maastricht Treaty, PRIs
#GS2 –05. Discipline in Legislatures
High time for Presiding Officers to invoke their authority to enforce discipline and decorum as lack of these is virtually shaking the very foundations of Legislatures! We have to nurture these institution, we have to ensure optimal performance of these Institutions.
Therefore we should not hesitate to deal with indiscipline and indecorous conduct.If the child in the family is not adhering to the decorum, discipline, he has to be disciplined !
Our resolve should be to have zero accommodation for disturbance and disruption.
-VP Jagdeep Dhankar
#GS2 –06. Red Sea Crisis
The impact of the ongoing crisis around the Red Sea shipping route, which accounts for 50 per cent of the country’s exports and 30 per cent of imports last fiscal, will vary depending on the industry. Domestic companies use the Red Sea route through the Suez Canal to trade with Europe, North America, North Africa and part of the Middle East. Last fiscal, these regions accounted for 50 per cent of the country’s exports worth Rs 18 lakh crore and 30 per cent of imports worth Rs 17 lakh crore.
Increasing attacks on ships sailing in the Red Sea region since November 2023 have persuaded shippers to consider the alternative longer route past the Cape of Good Hope. This has not only stretched delivery time by 15-20 days but has also increased the transit cost substantially because of incremental freight rates and insurance premiums.