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The Big Picture — Political Parties Under RTI

The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the centre and the Election Commission (EC) on an application seeking political parties to be declared...

23 Apr 2019 Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions
Free and Fair Election

(This editorial is based on the article 'Being Fair and Transparent' which appeared in ‘The Hindu’ on 22nd April, 2019. The article...

22 Apr 2019 News Editorials
Earth Day

Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22. Worldwide events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The theme of...

22 Apr 2019 News Analysis
East Asian Birds Spotted in Andaman Islands

Researchers have sighted a number of East Asian birds in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The birds include Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo...

22 Apr 2019 News Analysis
India – Myanmar Relations

Why in News? India-Myanmar joint operation destroyed several militant camps of Arakan Army on the Indo-Myanmar border. The action averted a...

22 Apr 2019 Paper 2
Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels & Zinc Deficiency

Rising carbon dioxide levels can accelerate zinc deficiency in crops and thus in human consumption, according to a new study titled ‘Inadequate...

20 Apr 2019 News Analysis
Index of Cancer Preparedness

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has created the Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP). It draws on a wide range of data relevant to cancer...

20 Apr 2019 News Analysis
Important Facts For Prelims (20th April 2019)

Swiss Challenge Method Central Bank of India has recently put up its two non-performing assets (NPAs) worth Rs 251 crore for sale through the...

20 Apr 2019 News Analysis
Challenges for Federal Structure

Instances of tussle between the agencies of central government and the state governments have now become common in India. The latest one in the...

20 Apr 2019 Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions
Water Situation in India

(This editorial is based on the article 'Challenges in water governance' which appeared in 'The Economic and Political Weekly' on 13thApril, 2019....

19 Apr 2019 News Editorials
Universe's First Molecule

Scientists have detected the most ancient type of molecule in our universe in space for the first time ever. Helium hydride ion (HeH+) was the...

19 Apr 2019 News Analysis
Genome Sequencing in India

CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) plans to undertake genome sequencing of a sample of nearly 1000 Indian rural youth to determine...

19 Apr 2019 News Analysis
Crisis in Libya

General Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), has launched an offensive on the capital Tripoli of Libya. Haftar forces have...

19 Apr 2019 News Analysis
Sugar Industry

Why in News Sugarcane farmers are facing a payments crisis running into thousands of Crores of Rupees. In Maharashtra alone the state’s...

19 Apr 2019 Paper 3
Women’s Reservation Bill

This editorial is based on article “Seriousness about Women’s Reservation Bill must show in electoral representation” which...

18 Apr 2019 News Editorials
Important Facts For Prelims (18th April 2019)

Simulated Martian Base A Chinese company called C-Space has opened “Mars Base 1,” a simulated Martian base of future...

18 Apr 2019 News Analysis
Alexandrine Parakeet

District administration of Jhalawar in Rajasthan is using the Alexandrine Parakeet, as the mascot of voter awareness program for the 2019 Lok Sabha...

18 Apr 2019 News Analysis
World Haemophilia Day

Haemophilia day is celebrated on April 17 every year, the day aims to increase awareness about haemophilia and other inherited bleeding...

17 Apr 2019 News Analysis
Why Indian Economy is Slowing Down?

(This editorial is based on the article 'No more half measures' which appeared in 'The Indian Express' on 17th April, 2019. The article talks about...

17 Apr 2019 News Editorials
Mahavir Jayanti

The President and Vice President of India have greeted the people on occasion of ‘Mahavir Jayanti’. About Mahavir Jayanti Mahavir...

17 Apr 2019 News Analysis

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		(int) 0 => [
			'title' => 'The Big Picture — Political Parties Under RTI',
			'catname' => 'Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions',
			'desc' => '<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EzJrSkhY3Qw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the centre and the Election Commission (EC) on an application seeking political parties to be declared public authorities in order to make them transparent and accountable to the public.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">The public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, wants political parties registered under section 29A of Representation of People Act, 1951 to be declared as &lsquo;public authority&rsquo; under the Right to Information Act, 2005, (RTI). </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">His plea also included that all registered and recognized political parties should be directed to appoint public information officer and appellate authority within 4 weeks and make disclosures in letter and spirit of the RTI Act. In the event of non-compliance of provisions of RPA, RTI Act, Income Tax Act, Moral Code of Conduct and other election laws and rules, political parties shall be derecognized by the ECI. </span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;">Arguments in Favour</span></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Except for the political strategy, other <strong>matters relating to finance and administration need to be made available to public</strong> because political parties are public institutions, receiving money from public.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Electoral Bonds are not promoting transparency in political funding</strong> as donors remain anonymous to public.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Infact, not only funding but <strong>expenditure made by political parties,</strong> especially during the time of elections <strong>should be made public</strong>.</span><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Currently in India, there is no ceiling on expenditure incurred by the political parties at the time of elections.</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Political Parties are already under the RTI Act as they have not challenged the Central Information Commission&rsquo;s verdict of 3<sup>rd</sup> June 2013</strong> (Political Parties are public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act); though they have also not complied with the order yet. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>RTI act is a very balanced act.</strong> There is a <strong>section 8(1)</strong> in the act that has ten exemptions within it. If a political party comes under the ambit of RTI act, then this section will <strong>safeguard them from disclosing all types of information</strong>. </span></li>
</ul>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;">Arguments Against</span></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Law needs to be amended:</strong> </span><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Section 2(h) of RTI act defines public authority as the one which is created by or under the constitution or by the Parliament.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Political Parties are formed under the act of Parliament</strong> i.e. under the Representation of People Act, which is <strong>not the same thing as being created by the Parliament</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Therefore, until and unless the law is changed, it will be difficult to bring political parties under the ambit of RTI act.</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Political Parties have <strong>apprehension</strong> that disclosure of information under RTI act may give <strong>advantage to their competitors</strong>.</span></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #000000;">Political parties do not want to disclose their internal working as well as their decision making system.</span></strong></li>
</ul>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;">Suggestions</span></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Money should not be given to political parties as this creates a nexus between the funders and the political parties, thus affecting policy formulation in the country. Instead, <strong>a National Election Fund should be created</strong> for receiving the donations from people. The money received should be used for conducting elections.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Eliminating the root cause of requirement of money</strong> i.e. banning election rallies and roadshows, but direct connect with people needs to be ensured. Replacing them by live T.V. debates is an option.</span></li>
</ul>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;">Electoral Reforms related Recommendations</span></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Following Reforms need to be taken immediately:</span><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>The 'First Past the Post System',</strong> in which a person with the highest votes (even with one extra vote) is declared winner, <strong>should be changed</strong>. Rather, <strong>a minimum percentage of total votes polled, should be fixed for declaring a candidate winner</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">A law for regulating political parties is required.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Preventing criminals from contesting elections.</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #000000;">Flow of black money into election process needs to taken care off.</span></strong></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">There needs to be a <strong>scrutiny of manifestos</strong> issued by political parties. Also, one or two months before elections, manifestos should be issued so that people can understand and discuss things mentioned in them.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Electoral System needs to be such that a sitting MLA or an MP has to resign from the current seat before filing the nomination for the other seat. This will help in <strong>saving expenditure on bypolls</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Even in case of <strong>simultaneous elections</strong> to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, <strong>a system is needed to tackle the dissolution of assemblies</strong> and vacancies that can occur during a ruling period.</span><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">The Prime Minister should be elected through secret and compulsory vote of all the members of lower house on nomination signed by at least 34% members. In the same way, no confidence motion, carrying the name of an alternative leader, should be passed, to de-seat an incumbent person and to fill the seat immediately.</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Since political parties seem less interested in electoral reforms, the <strong>Supreme Court can take an action in this regard</strong>.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><em>Currently, electoral reforms are work-in-progress. Initiative from public is needed to make them happen fast. </em></span></p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Drishti Input</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><em>Right to Information Act 2005 </em></span></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Enacted by the Parliament, it received the President&rsquo;s assent on 15th June, 2005.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">It provides for right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order <strong>to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">It is <strong>applicable for all states in the country except for Jammu &amp; Kashmir</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Under the provisions of the Act, <strong>a citizen may request information from a "public authority" (a body of government) which is required to reply within thirty days</strong>.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>',
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		(int) 1 => [
			'title' => 'Free and Fair Election',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/being-fair-and-transparent/article26905329.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Being Fair and Transparent'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Hindu&rsquo; on 22nd April, 2019. The article talks about the challenges that have affected the electoral landscape in India and ways in which it can be dealt.)</p>
</div>
<p>In a constitutional democracy, elections provide an opportunity to ascertain the popular will in regard to the governance of the country. <strong>Election is the act of choosing an individual usually for holding public office through free will of the people in a representative democracy.</strong></p>
<p>Recently, elections were cancelled in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu on the charges of corrupt practices and misuse of money and muscle power which is often used to manipulate and sway the popular will. This has not been an isolated incident; many such events have taken place over the years. The growing greed for power has turned a sacrosanct activity into a showcase for power.</p>
<p>The recent debates surrounding the power and efficacy of <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/election-commission-of-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Election Commission of India (ECI)</a> in testing times has opened up the pandora box of challenges where strengthening ECI has become of paramount importance.</p>
<h3>Concept of Free and Fair Election</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Concept of free and fair election includes even preliminary stages to election such as <strong>delimitation of constituencies, preparation, revision or amendment of electoral rolls</strong> and many others.</li>
<li>Concept of free and fair election <strong>mainly relates to political liberty and equality</strong>. In matters of election it implies that <strong>no one, under the electoral process, is in bondage of another,</strong> having his personal rights, social and political liberty, free thinking and choice subjected to a legal discipline.</li>
<li><strong>While exercising his right to vote one is not under undue influence of party discipline, religion, caste, creed, sex, language and also one is not under the strain of corrupt practices</strong> and so on. Thus, free and fair elections are the foundations of democratic form of government.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Growing Menace of Money Power</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Over the course of time several negative features of our electoral scene have worsened. Since the Model Code of Conduct came into effect, in just the first two phases this time, <strong>money power has been used</strong> so blatantly that seizures <strong>in form of unaccounted cash, liquor, bullion and drugs</strong> amounting to ₹2,600 crore have already been made.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The amount is greater than the entire seizures made in the nine phases of the general election in 2014. Most depressingly, this includes huge cache of drugs, the vast majority smuggled into Gujarat. Uttar Pradesh is awash with liquor. Tamil Nadu has seen the largest seizures of illicit cash &mdash; over ₹514 crore.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>These vast sums that intended to bribe or influence voters are only fraction of current illegal spending that has been exposed.</strong> A larger share has already been spent without the knowledge of ECI or other regulatory authorities.</li>
<li>Political players have evolved their methods and are many steps ahead of the ECI&rsquo;s observers and their vigilance teams by moving their funds to their destinations even before the elections are announced.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Obstacles in Free and Fair Elections</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Electoral malpractice has appeared in newer forms in recent times. <strong>Voter bribery and manipulation through the media</strong> have become the techniques of unethically influencing voters in place of voter intimidation and booth capturing.</li>
<li>Over the past few years incidence of <strong>corruption in public life</strong> in which politicians and officials have diverted the available resources to personal use has increased. <strong>Public funds have been misappropriated</strong> and have destroyed the moral and ethical environment of the nation.</li>
<li><strong>According to the Vohra Committee Report,</strong> criminalization of politics and corruption in high levels is destroying the very system and edifice of our parliamentary democracy, political authorities, the civil servants and even the judiciary.</li>
<li>In the era of outside support and the coalition governments in the States and at the Centre, it is an admitted fact that <strong>the representatives of the people in the Assemblies and Parliament accept money to support a particular Government</strong>. Hence, Members of Parliament or State Assemblies became a marketable commodity and a subject of sale and purchase or horse-trading.</li>
<li>Money power is a crucial factor in elections since <strong>modern devices of election propaganda are expensive</strong>. The availability of large funds ordinarily tends to increase the number of votes a candidate will receive. This money often takes the course of black money and is collected through nefarious and illicit means.</li>
<li><a href="/news-analysis-editorials/news-editorials/03-04-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electoral bonds</a> which were meant for from enabling a legitimate and transparent means of political funding, <strong>have proved to be the reverse</strong>. The EC, in its own affidavit before the Supreme Court, has admitted as much.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The Supreme Court&rsquo;s order has made sure that full disclosure, albeit to the EC, has already effectively killed further funding along this route.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Steps Suggested</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Any serious reform with regard to funding must come from the EC itself,</strong> the EC should convene a conference of all stakeholders, including of course all recognized political parties, both central and State. The list of stakeholders must also include the best constitutional and legal minds in our country.</li>
<li><strong>ECI must ensure strict compliance of model code of conduct</strong> and anyone seen violating it must be given highest possible restraint to deter herself from any such future practice.</li>
<li>Being a watchdog of the democracy, <strong>media should follow the ethical reporting of events</strong> covering real issues affecting people and <strong>should not indulge in paid news and in propaganda politics</strong>.</li>
<li>Parliament must <strong>consider the legal infirmities existing in the provisions of election law,</strong> relating to entry of criminals in politics. Classification between general criminals and sitting member criminals under Section 8 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 must be omitted.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The powers of the EC are enormous and all-encompassing which even exceed the powers of the executive in all election-related issues during the course of the election period. Thereby giving it effective tools in dispensing free and fair elections, only thing that lacks is will and integrity on the part of responsible officials.</li>
<li>ECI should become more prudent and pro-active to ensure the fairness and transparency the general election of this nation deserves, and wipe away any doubt regarding the its integrity as an esteemed institution.</li>
</ul>',
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		],
		(int) 2 => [
			'title' => 'Earth Day',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on<strong> April 22.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Worldwide events are held to demonstrate <strong>support for environmental protection.</strong> The theme of Earth Day 2019 is <strong>&ldquo;Protect Our Species&rdquo;.</strong></li>
<li>It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the<strong> Earth Day Network</strong> and celebrated in more than 193 countries each year.</li>
<li>The idea of commemorating such a day was propounded by <strong>Gaylord Nelson, an American environmentalist and politician.</strong></li>
<li><strong>According to the United Nations, International Earth Day is celebrated to remind each of us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance.</strong></li>
<li>The Earth Day also recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the<strong> 1992 Rio Declaration (Earth Summit),</strong> to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity.</li>
<li>This day provides an opportunity to raise public awareness around the world to the challenges regarding the well-being of the planet and all the life it supports.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Earth Day Network</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Earth Day Network is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide.</li>
<li>EDN main office is located in Washington DC, USA.</li>
<li>Recently the<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-1st-april-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> Earth Hour 2019</strong></a> was observed on March 30 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time with the theme #Connect2Earth.<br /><br /></li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/earth-day'
		],
		(int) 3 => [
			'title' => 'East Asian Birds Spotted in Andaman Islands',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Researchers have sighted a number of East Asian birds in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The birds include <strong>Horsfield&rsquo;s Bronze Cuckoo (<em>Chalcites basalis</em>)</strong> which is native of Australia and New Guinea.</li>
<li>Other birds are the <strong>Zappey&rsquo;s Flycatcher (<em>Cyanoptila cumatilis</em>)</strong> bird from China and <strong>Javan Pond Heron (<em>Ardeola speciosa</em>)</strong> which is usually found in Thailand and Cambodia.</li>
<li>During their migration from north to south, these birds make a stopover at the Andaman and Nicobar islands. These birds use Andaman and Nicobar Islands for a few weeks rests before they can fly along the <strong>East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF).</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Flyways</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Flyways are the <strong>area used by a group of birds during their annual cycle</strong> which includes their<strong> breeding areas, stop over areas and wintering areas.</strong></li>
<li>There are <strong>nine flyways</strong> in the world. Three of the nine flyways pass through Indian Subcontinent:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Central Asian Flyway (CAF)</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>This is a migration route, covering over 30 countries, for different waterbirds linking their northernmost breeding grounds in Russia (Siberia) to the southernmost non-breeding (wintering) grounds in West and South Asia, the Maldives and British Indian Ocean Territory.</li>
<li>India has a strategic role in the flyway, as it provides critical stopover sites to over 90% of the bird species known to use this migratory route</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>East Asian Australasian Flyway (EAAF)</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>The East Asia/Australasia Flyway extends from Arctic Russia and North America to the southern limits of Australia and New Zealand.</li>
<li>It encompasses large parts of East Asia, all of Southeast Asia and includes eastern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Asian East African Flyway (AEAF)</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>The Asian East African Flyway extends from Arctic Russia&nbsp; to South Africa and Madagascar in Africa. The flyway pass cover area from west of Tibetan plateau and Himalayas including central Asia and West Asia</li>
<li>It also covers parts of north-western India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/516drishti_Flyways.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/516drishti_Flyways.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" width="987" height="482" /></a></p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is an environmental treaty under the<strong> aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme.</strong></li>
<li>CMS or<strong> Bonn Convention</strong> provides a global platform for the<strong> conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals</strong> and their <strong>habitats</strong>.</li>
<li>India is a party to the <strong>CMS since 1st November 1983. </strong></li>
<li><strong>Raptor MoU</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia is also known as Raptor MoU</li>
<li>Raptors MoU is an <strong>agreement under CMS. </strong></li>
<li>It aims to<strong> promote coordinated actions to maintain the favorable conservation status of migratory birds of prey</strong> (raptors) throughout their range in the African-Eurasian region</li>
<li><strong>India is a signatory</strong> to Raptor MoU. It is <strong>not legally binding.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>',
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		],
		(int) 4 => [
			'title' => 'India – Myanmar Relations',
			'catname' => 'Paper 2',
			'desc' => '<h3>Why in News?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India-Myanmar joint operation <strong>destroyed several militant camps of Arakan Army</strong> on the Indo-Myanmar border.</li>
<li>The action <strong>averted a possible threat to the ambitious Kaladan transit and transport project</strong> which is important for improving the connectivity in the Northeast.</li>
<li>Myanmar is important for India because of the geographic, historical, cultural and economic linkages/ties that span centuries as well as for the overall development of North-Eastern Indian states. India and Myanmar relationship officially got underway after the Treaty of Friendship was signed in 1951.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Areas of Cooperation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Strategic Significance</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India and Myanmar share a long 1,643 km geographical land border and maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal. Myanmar shares borders with <strong>4 Indian states &ndash;</strong> Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Myanmar is India&rsquo;s gateway to South-East Asia.</li>
<li>India - Myanmar border is highly <strong>porous, poorly guarded and located along a remote,</strong> underdeveloped, insurgency-prone region and proximate to opium producing area.</li>
<li>The border is also vulnerable to the activities of <strong>insurgents and drugs and arms traffickers</strong>.</li>
<li>Myanmar is also important from the security point of view as the <strong>influx of sizable numbers of Rohingya</strong> from Myanmar&rsquo;s Rakhine state continues.</li>
<li>India&ndash;Myanmar border poses a <strong>challenge to India&rsquo;s security</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Trade and Economy</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The success of&nbsp;India&rsquo;s&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">Act East Policy, Neighbourhood first policy&nbsp;</span>largely depend on its relations with Myanmar.</li>
<li>Bilateral trade has grown from $12.4 million in 1980-81 to <strong>$2.18 billion</strong> in 2016-17.</li>
<li>Myanmar is also the beneficiary of a duty-free tariff preference scheme for least developed countries (LDCs).</li>
<li>Some of the Indian companies such as Essar, GAIL, and ONGC Videsh Ltd. have invested in Myanmar&rsquo;s <strong>energy sector</strong>.</li>
<li>Cooperation in the banking sector, which is crucial for investment and trade, is moving ahead steadily. United Bank of India and EXIM Bank have representative offices in Myanmar.</li>
<li>Indian firms engage in manufacturing, services (banking, insurance, dry port), power sector etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Connectivity</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India is building the <strong>Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport,</strong> a road-river-port cargo transport project, to link Kolkata to Sittwe in Myanmar and then from Myanmar&rsquo;s Kaladan river to India&rsquo;s north-east.<br /><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1578479392_image1.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1578479392_image1.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="490" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>India, Myanmar, and Thailand are building the <strong>Asian Trilateral Highway,</strong> which will connect India to ASEAN. The road is expected to boost trade and commerce in the ASEAN&ndash;India Free Trade Area, as well as with the rest of Southeast Asia.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Development Assistance</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India has already extended <strong>$2 billion in soft loans</strong>. It has offered to help Myanmar developmental assistance in the areas it wants rather than be prescriptive.</li>
<li>India is also providing assistance in setting up institutions for <strong>higher learning and research,</strong> namely Myanmar Institute of Information Technology, Advanced Centre for Agricultural Research and Education, Myanmar-India Centre for Enhancement of IT Skills, India-Myanmar Industrial Training Centres.</li>
<li>A new Indian proposal suggests the setting up of <strong>infrastructure and socio-economic projects</strong> jointly with Myanmar in the restive Rakhine state&mdash;in the areas of education, health, agriculture, agro-processing, upgradation of roads, small power projects and livelihood activity.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Defence Cooperation</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>India-Myanmar Bilateral Army Exercise</strong> (IMBAX) is aimed at building and promoting closer relations with armies.</li>
<li>Myanmar is a key partner in the <strong>fight to end insurgency</strong> in India's northeast.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Cultural Significance</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India and Myanmar share cultural ties in terms of Buddhist heritage and shared history of colonialism.</li>
<li>Building on this shared heritage, India is undertaking some key initiatives in the <strong>restoration</strong> of the Ananda Temple in Bagan and the repair and conservation of a large number of damaged pagodas.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Humanitarian Assistance</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India has responded promptly and effectively in rendering <strong>assistance following natural calamities</strong> in Myanmar like Cyclone Mora (2017), Komen (2015), earthquake in Shan State (2010).</li>
<li>India also offered to provide support in <strong>capacity building in disaster risk mitigation</strong> as well as in strengthening Myanmar's National Disaster Response Mechanism.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Indian Community</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>There are varying estimates of 1.5-2 million people of Indian origin living and working in various parts of Myanmar.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Multilateral Partnership</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Myanmar is also a key component of India&rsquo;s strategy to bridge South and South-East Asia through <strong>BIMSTEC</strong> (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).</li>
<li>Myanmar's membership of ASEAN, BIMSTEC and Mekong Ganga Cooperation has introduced a regional/sub-regional dimension to bilateral relations and imparted added significance in the context of our "Act East" policy.</li>
<li>Myanmar has generally been supportive of India's stand in various international organisations. For our part, we have supported Myanmar's association with SAARC as an observer, a status Myanmar formally acquired in 2008.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>The Rohingya Issue </strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>&nbsp;India does not directly engage with the issue of Myanmar&rsquo;s treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority. But India has condemned the recent terrorist attacks in northern Rakhine State. This can be considered as a measure of support to Myanmar.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Challenges</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Internal Security is a major concern for India; Indo-Myanmar border is porous and lightly policed which is exploited by terrorist outfits and insurgent groups from North Eastern part of India eg. supply of trained cadres, arms trafficking.</li>
<li>Bilateral trade between India and Myanmar still falls short of expectations.</li>
<li>Overtime trust deficit has widened between India-Myanmar because of the Indian reputation for delaying implementation of various projects.</li>
<li>China has asserted itself through its soft power as well as through its trade and economic relations with Myanmar by taking up large infrastructure projects.</li>
<li>As China&rsquo;s growing influence in the region is a potential threat to India, New Delhi would like to enhance India&rsquo;s presence by developing infrastructure and connectivity projects in the country.</li>
<li>India has found it difficult to counter Chinese influence in Myanmar.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Both the countries are affected due to the misuse of open border by internal and external forces, the responsibility of border management and regulation depends on both.</li>
<li>It is also the only country that can act as a link between India and ASEAN.</li>
<li>Myanmar is India&rsquo;s gateway to Southeast Asia and could be the required impetus to realize India&rsquo;s Act East Policy.</li>
<li>Myanmar itself is an emerging consumer market of 60 million people who have demands for products ranging from personal care to beverages to smart phones. India should leverage these export opportunities.</li>
<li>There are a few sectors where India can extend its presence in Myanmar. These include manufacturing high-end smart phones, exporting cement, furniture, FMCG, energy, telecommunications, healthcare, creating townships, low cost housing development, ports and logistics, rural electrification etc.</li>
<li>Agriculture is another sector where India can substantially augment its cooperation with Myanmar in rice research activities, post-harvest technology, agriculture financing and articulating policies.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s Kaladan Multimodal Transit and Transport project and India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway have seen much delay over the past couple of years. Hence, it can be said that the success of India&rsquo;s Act East Policy will now depend on India&rsquo;s prompt action and pragmatic approach for completion of projects.</li>
<li>Enhancing economic partnership with Myanmar needs to be a priority in India&rsquo;s Act East Policy which will benefit New Delhi in enhancing ties with Southeast Asia.</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/Paper2/india-myanmar-relations'
		],
		(int) 5 => [
			'title' => 'Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels & Zinc Deficiency',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p><strong>Rising carbon dioxide levels</strong> can <strong>accelerate zinc deficiency</strong> in crops and thus in human consumption, according to a new study titled <strong>&lsquo;Inadequate zinc intake in India: Past, Present and Future&rsquo;</strong> by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Food crops such as wheat, rice, barley, soya, and field peas, which serve as an important source of dietary zinc for billions of people around the world, have recently been <strong>shown to contain lower concentrations of zinc</strong> and other nutrients when grown under open field conditions.</li>
<li>The study states that inadequate zinc intake has been rising in India for decades, causing tens of millions of people to become newly deficient in it.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The <strong>highest rate of inadequate zinc intake</strong> was concentrated mainly in the<strong> southern and northeastern States</strong> with rice-dominated diets:<strong> Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya.</strong></li>
<li>The national rates of inadequate zinc intake has<strong> increased from 17% to 25% between 1983 and 2012.</strong></li>
<li>Rising carbon dioxide levels in the coming decades <strong>could accelerate this trend.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Apart from<strong> rising CO<sub>2</sub> emissions</strong>, changing diets and an<strong> aging population</strong> are also seen as factors responsible for increasing zinc deficiency.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Overall urban populations, and wealthier urban groups in particular, showed higher rates of inadequate intake as well, due to a <strong>higher proportion of nutrient-poor fats and sugars in the diet.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Zinc Deficiency</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Zinc supports cell function, helping an estimated 100 enzymes perform their duties. It plays additional roles in the body, including:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>boosting immune function,</li>
<li>helping cells divide,</li>
<li>maintaining the sense of smell and taste,</li>
<li>promoting wound healing,</li>
<li>Zinc also supports a person's growth and development. As such, it is an essential mineral for pregnant women as well as growing children.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Human body <strong>does not store zinc</strong>, which means getting enough of the mineral from food is important in preventing a deficiency.</li>
<li>Inadequate zinc intake can have <strong>serious health consequences,</strong> particularly for young children, who are more susceptible to contracting malaria, diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia, when suffering from zinc deficiency.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The presence of zinc plays a critical role in <strong>human immune systems.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>National grain fortification programmes</strong>, <strong>increased dietary diversity, bio-fortified crops, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions</strong> could make a difference to slow or reverse the course.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Food fortification</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Food fortification refers to the process of <strong>adding essential micronutrient</strong>s, such as vitamins and minerals, to food staples to make them more nutritious.</li>
<li>Food fortification is an effective strategy to meet the nutritional needs of a large number of people across various sections of the society, including the poor and underprivileged as well as the vulnerable, such as pregnant women and young children.</li>
<li>Common micronutrients deficient in <strong>Indian diets are iron, iodine, vitamin A, folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Fortification of Vanaspati with Vitamin A and D started more than 50 years ago</strong> and has been<strong> mandatory</strong> in the country <strong>since 1953.</strong></li>
<li>The <strong>tremendous success of salt iodization programme</strong> signifies the potential of food fortification.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Salt iodization in India started with the <strong>National Goiter Control Programme in 1962.</strong> It gained momentum in 1980s and mandated the distribution of iodized salt in 1997. <strong>Voluntary wheat flour fortification</strong> were notified in 1970s.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Article 47 of the Constitution</strong> documents that it is duty of the state to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/rising-carbon-dioxide-levels-zinc-deficiency'
		],
		(int) 6 => [
			'title' => 'Index of Cancer Preparedness',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>The<strong> Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)</strong> has created the Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP).</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It draws on a wide range of <strong>data relevant to cancer policy and control from 28 countries. </strong></li>
<li>The aims of the ICP are to allow benchmarking of national efforts and identify best practice in addressing the cancer challenge.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP)</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Australia tops the ICP,</strong> followed by the <strong>Netherlands and Germany</strong>. <strong>Saudi Arabia, Romania, and Egypt face at the bottom in Index.</strong></li>
<li>The ICP explores the issue of cancer preparedness through <strong>three broad domains:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>policy and planning;</li>
<li>care delivery;</li>
<li>health systems and governance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Four<strong> essentials of cancer preparedness:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>essential investment (appropriate spending and resources),</li>
<li>roadmap (effective planning),</li>
<li>foundation (functioning health systems),</li>
<li>intelligence (availability and quality of cancer-related data).</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Cancer</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Cancer is a <strong>generic term for a large group of diseases characterized by the growth of abnormal cells</strong> beyond their usual boundaries that can then invade adjoining parts of the body and/or spread to other organs.</li>
<li>Other common terms used for cancer are <strong>malignant tumors and neoplasms.</strong></li>
<li>Cancer is the <strong>second leading cause of death globally</strong> and is estimated to account for<strong> 9.6 million death in 2018.</strong></li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/world-cancer-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>World Cancer Day</strong> </a>is observed on 4th February every year.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), created in 1946, is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group and the world leader in global business intelligence.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>India and ICP</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India's overall rank <strong>is 19th</strong> with a score of <strong>64.9.</strong></li>
<li>India ranks <strong>17th in</strong>&nbsp;cancer policy and planning<strong>,</strong> but it has a relatively high score of 80.8.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s score largely stems from its strong cancer research and tobacco control measures.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It ranked<strong> first for research and third for tobacco control in ICP.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>India ranks<strong> 23rd for its national cancer control plan.</strong></li>
<li>With a score of 40.3, <strong>India&rsquo;s healthcare system ranks 25th in the index</strong>, above only Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Egypt.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s <strong>healthcare infrastructure is the second worst</strong> among the index countries.</li>
<li>In its <strong>delivery of cancer care, India ranks 20th with a score of 61.3.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India has a<strong> high standard of clinical guidelines,</strong> a category in which it is ranked first.</li>
<li>India falls <strong>short on immunization, screening and early detection.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/index-of-cancer-preparedness'
		],
		(int) 7 => [
			'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (20th April 2019)',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<h3>Swiss Challenge Method</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Central Bank of India</strong> has recently put up its <strong>two</strong> non-performing assets <strong>(NPAs)</strong> worth Rs 251 crore for <strong>sale through the Swiss challenge method.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Swiss challenge method is a <strong>method of bidding,</strong> often used in public projects, in which an <strong>interested party initiates a proposal</strong> for a contract or the bid for a project.</li>
<li><strong>The government </strong>then puts the details of the project out in the public and <strong>invites proposals from others</strong> interested in executing it.</li>
<li>On the receipt of these bids,<strong> the original proposer gets an opportunity to match the best bid.</strong> In case, the original proposer fails to match the bid, the project is awarded to the proposer of the best bid.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Kakapo Parrot (<em>Strigops habroptila</em>)<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215538_images.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215538_images.jpg" style="float: right;" caption="false" width="260" height="193" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>According to New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC), <strong>Kakapos - the world's heaviest species of parrot</strong> - have had their most successful breeding season this year.</li>
<li>The researchers have said that <strong>climate change might be responsible for changing the breeding pattern</strong> of these parrots.</li>
<li>Kakapo parrots (meaning &ldquo;night parrot&rdquo; in Maori), also known as <strong>owl parrot,</strong> are<strong> nocturnal and flightless parrots endemic to New Zealand.</strong></li>
<li>The kakapos, which currently have a total of 147 adults, were believed to be extinct until some were found again in 1970.</li>
<li><strong>IUCN</strong> <strong>Status</strong>:<strong> Critically Endangered</strong>; <strong>CITES</strong>: <strong>Appendix 1</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Power Surplus Status of India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s <strong>installed generation capacity (344 GW) of power is more than peak demand (170GW)</strong>.</li>
<li>However, <strong>due to lack of demand by Discoms&rsquo; and loss in transmission,</strong> during peak hours, as much as 175.52 gigawatt (GW) was up against demand of 177.02 GW leaving a deficit of 1.49 GW or 0.8 per cent in 2018-19.</li>
<li>This <strong>inhabited India from being power surplus country.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Surplus power occurs when the<strong> power available with distribution companies at a given time exceeds the demand for electricity.</strong></li>
<li>A surplus <strong>could arise due to a fall in the demand for power</strong>, for instance, during an industrial slowdown. Or it could result from an <strong>increase in the power supply</strong>, for instance, when a new generating station is added.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-20th-april-2019'
		],
		(int) 8 => [
			'title' => 'Challenges for Federal Structure',
			'catname' => 'Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions',
			'desc' => '<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><iframe width="560" height="314" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GKNKqYkDAGw" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Instances of tussle between the agencies of central government and the state governments have now become common in India.</strong> The latest one in the list is clashes between the CRPF officers (central agency) and the state police officers of Madhya Pradesh. Such instances raise &lsquo;<strong>issue of federal structure</strong>&rsquo; in the country. Normally, the issue of federal structure and of power sharing arises either due to problem in sharing of resources between the centre and states or due to redrawing of borders between the states.</p>
<h3>Reasons Behind Such Instances:</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>State governments treating their respective states as their fiefdom.</li>
<li>Ruling party in the state, being different to that in Centre, thus state governments seeing the investigation by central agencies in their respective states as political vendetta by the central ruling party.</li>
<li>Central agencies are not bound to inform state forces before starting the investigation. Fear of leakage of the investigation news is another reason behind central agencies not notifying the state forces regarding the investigation in the state.</li>
<li>During elections, it is seen that State political parties generally protest against investigations connected to their aides and relatives, due to the fear of losing out votes.</li>
<li>Central Agencies being working under the pressure of central ruling party, thus not investigating the case properly.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Jurisdiction of Central Agencies:</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The central agencies are formed in a federal structure and have primarily the responsibility of probing issues against government staff and serious cases referred to it by courts or by the state governments itself.</li>
<li><strong>Central Police Organizations</strong> include Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency etc.</li>
<li><strong>Central Armed Police Forces</strong> include Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), National Security Guard (NSG), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) etc.</li>
<li>Sometimes, it happens that central agencies have to go beyond a boundary of a particular state for complete investigation of an issue. Hence, the jurisdiction of central agencies is not restricted by the needs and bounds of the geographical territories of a particular state.</li>
<li>If there is a specific subject matter that falls exclusively within the jurisdiction of a central agency, then it is upto that agency to decide what is the best manner to preserve the integrity of that particular investigation and whether it needs to liaise with the state officials or not.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Challenges for Federal Structure:</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Constitutional provisions are used by political parties to hide the real issues of corruption, fraud etc.</li>
<li>Central government and State Governments&rsquo; indifference and apathy towards constitutional scheme of federal structure.</li>
<li>Tussles between the agencies of central government and those of state governments stress the cohesive functioning of centre and states.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward:</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Jurisdiction of central agencies is quite clear, therefore the state agencies need to cooperate with them during the investigations.</li>
<li>Central Agencies need to be answerable only to the law and order of the country. Central ruling party should avoid pressurizing agencies for its vested political interests.</li>
</ul>
<p>The onus lies both on the states as well as on the centre for better cohesion as well as for maintaining the constitutional scheme of federal structure.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Federation</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The term &lsquo;federation&rsquo; is derived from a Latin word foedus which means &lsquo;treaty&rsquo; or &lsquo;agreement&rsquo;.</li>
<li>Thus, a federation is a new state (political system) which is formed through a treaty or an agreement between the various units.</li>
<li>The units of a federation are known by various names like states (as in US) or cantons (as in Switzerland) or provinces (as in Canada) or republics (as in Russia).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Federal System</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In a federal system, political authority is divided between two autonomous sets of governments, one national and the other subnational, both of which operate directly upon the people.</li>
<li>Usually a constitutional division of power is established between the national government, which exercises authority over the whole national territory, and provincial governments that exercise independent authority within their own territories.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Federal Structure in India</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Constitution of India provides for a federal system of government in the country.</li>
<li>It contains all the usual features of a federation, viz., two government, division of powers, written Constitution, supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent judiciary and bicameralism.</li>
<li>However, the term &lsquo;Federation&rsquo; has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Article 1, on the other hand, describes India as a &lsquo;Union of States&rsquo; which implies two things: one, Indian Federation is not the result of an agreement by the states; and two, no state has the right to secede from the federation.</li>
<li>The Constitution of India, being federal in structure, divides all powers (legislative, executive and financial) between the Centre and the states.</li>
<ul>
<li><strong>Articles 245 to 255</strong> in <strong>Part XI</strong> of the Constitution deal with the legislative relations between the Centre and the states.</li>
<li><strong>Articles 256 to 263</strong> in <strong>Part XI</strong> of the Constitution deal with the administrative relations between the Centre and the states.</li>
<li><strong>Articles 268 to 293</strong> in <strong>Part XII</strong> of the Constitution deal with Centre&ndash;state financial relations.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/challenges-for-federal-structure'
		],
		(int) 9 => [
			'title' => 'Water Situation in India',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/15/commentary/challenges-water-governance.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Challenges in water governance'</a> which appeared in 'The Economic and Political Weekly' on 13thApril, 2019. The article talks about the importance of water as a resource and the challenges it is facing in recent times.)</p>
</div>
<p>Water permeates the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of India. A massive concentration of people compounded with high poverty rates and a monsoonal climate creates great susceptibility to hydrological shocks in India than anywhere else.</p>
<p>If India is to make progress on major development challenges, including food security, rapid urbanization, sustainable rural development, disaster risk management, adaptation to climate change, equitable allocation of natural resources, and economic cooperation with its neighbours in the region, water would be playing the most important role.</p>
<p>However India is facing a worsening water crisis, therefore making it more important than ever to curb the unabated wastage of our precious resource.</p>
<h3>Water-Water everywhere not a drop to drink</h3>
<p>India is facing an unprecedented and worsening water crisis. The rivers are getting more polluted, their catchments, water-holding and water-harvesting mechanisms are deteriorating, and groundwater levels are depleting at an alarming rate.</p>
<p>India&rsquo;s water crisis is often attributed to the urbanisation, industrialisation and human waste flowing into water sources and polluting groundwater, as well as corruption at different levels that delay various processes and tasks.</p>
<p>A large part of western and southern India is facing a drought at present. Some of these areas, for example, Kerala and the Cauvery basin in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, are the areas that faced floods recently.</p>
<p>Water tables, the level below which the ground is saturated with water, are falling in most parts of India. Minerals like fluoride, arsenic, mercury, and uranium are present in the groundwater, which lead to chronic water borne diseases.</p>
<p>The World Bank estimates that 21 percent of communicable diseases in India are linked to unsafe water and lack of hygiene practices. Further, more than 500 children under the age of five die each day from diarrhoea in India alone.</p>
<p>As per the report submitted by the Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), 2016 if the current pattern of demand continues, about half of the demand for water will be unmet by 2030.</p>
<p>Climate change poses fresh challenges as more extreme rates of rainfall and evapotranspiration intensify the impacts of floods and droughts.</p>
<h3>Challenges faced by water sector</h3>
<p>Amongst the challenges that the water sector is confronted with, the first is that of the lack of credible &ldquo;water information,&rdquo; that is, information about water storage, groundwater, water flows and, in some cases, even rainfall and snowfall levels.</p>
<p>Data systems related to water in the country are limited in their coverage, robustness, and efficiency. First, data is often not available at the adequate level of detail, moreover wherever data is available; it is often unreliable due to the use of outdated collection techniques and methodologies.</p>
<p>Second big challenge of the water sector is the inefficacy of the existing water regulatory bodies. Central Water Commission (CWC), Central Ground Water Board, Central Ground Water Authority, State Pollution Control Boards and Central Pollution Control Board, among others are grappled by typical top-down, bureaucratic, unaccountable, non-transparent and non-participatory mindset.</p>
<p>Indian groundwater faces a crisis of sustainability. There have been several warning bells about this, including by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA 2009), based on a study of depletion in groundwater levels in north-western India from 2002 to 2008. More recent research has reinforced that North India is most affected, and is guzzling down groundwater at a rate 70% faster than estimated earlier.</p>
<p>India which has the world&rsquo;s largest water infrastructure faces a turbulent future. The water infrastructure continues to perform far below its optimum, as India is not allocating even a fraction of the required annual maintenance budget of $4 billion that it needs. It faces grave dam safety issues, as was evident in the case of Kerala floods in August 2018.</p>
<p>India has the third largest number of big dams in the world, and with their increasing age, the issues of structural and operational safety are becoming more and more urgent, but it still does not have a dam safety act.</p>
<p>Soil moisture represents another major challenge. For the farmers facing increasingly irregular rains with changing climate, the increased capacity of soil to hold moisture is hugely useful, as also is the local water storage and sustained or enhanced groundwater levels.</p>
<h3>Saving the saviour</h3>
<p>The primary need is to address the democratic deficit in water governance. The first step in tackling this would be the recognition of this reality as a problem. The water governance ought to be made transparent, accountable and participatory in every sub-sector, including management of rivers, groundwater, floods, and biodiversity, among others.</p>
<p>Access to accurate water information could help one understand the risks and urgency of the situation and steer towards informed decisions.</p>
<p>There is an urgent need that our plans, projects and programmes get tailored to protect groundwater recharge, enhance recharge where possible, and most importantly, regulate the use of groundwater.</p>
<p>If groundwater sustainability becomes the officially acknowledged objective, there may not be any case for big dam projects, which both directly and indirectly adversely affects groundwater recharge and sustainability.</p>
<p>The capacity of the soil to store water can be increased by adding carbon to it which can be achieved with the use of greater organic inputs. More carbon in the soil also greatly mitigates the emissions-inducing climate change.</p>
<p>There are many sub-issues that would need to be addressed to revive the rivers. These include monitoring of water quality and environmental flows, protecting the floodplains and sustainable biodiversity in the rivers, achieving sustainable sand mining, and credible reservoir and flood management, among others.</p>
<p>There is a need for credible environmental and cumulative impact assessments, genuine public consultation process at multiple stages of planning and project implementation, confidence-inspiring appraisal, which includes the appointment of independent experts, and most crucially, achieving some real monitoring and compliance.</p>
<p>Cities need to stop the destruction of local water bodies and local tree cover, treat its sewage properly, harvest rainwater, and stop straightening and concretising the rivers and encroaching on their floodplain.</p>
<h3>Way forward</h3>
<p>In order to meet the future urban water challenges, there needs to be a shift in the way we manage urban water systems. An Integrated Urban Water Management approach must be adopted which involves managing freshwater, wastewater, and storm water, using an urban area as the unit of management.</p>
<p>The time has come to have a retrospect view on the water use and misuse to take serious actions that will lead towards sustainable urban water management.</p>
<p>Sustaining healthy environments in the urbanized world of the 21st century represents a major challenge for human settlements, development and management which requires flexible and innovative solutions to cope with sudden and substantial changes in water demand for people and their associated economic activities.</p>
<p><a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/water-leaving-no-one-behind" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read more...</a></p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/water-situation-in-india'
		],
		(int) 10 => [
			'title' => 'Universe's First Molecule',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Scientists have detected the<strong> most ancient type</strong> of molecule in our universe in <strong>space for the first time ever.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Helium hydride ion (HeH+)</strong> was the<strong> first molecule</strong> that formed when, almost 14 billion years ago, the <strong>falling temperatures allowed recombination of the light elements (hydrogen, helium, deuterium and traces of lithium) produced in the Big Bang.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is the <strong>first type of molecule (first molecular bond)</strong> that formed in the universe after the Big Bang.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>At that time,<strong> ionised hydrogen</strong> and <strong>neutral helium</strong> atoms<strong> reacted to form HeH+.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Once the universe cooled down, <strong>hydrogen atoms</strong> started to <strong>interact with helium hydride</strong>, creating molecular hydrogen, which set the <strong>stage for star formation. </strong></li>
<li>From that point on, <strong>stars created the other elements of the cosmos.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Despite its importance in the history of the early Universe, <strong>HeH+ has so far escaped detection in astrophysical nebulae</strong> &mdash; cloud of gas and dust in outer space.</li>
<li>Helium hydride &mdash; a combination of helium and hydrogen &mdash; was detected roughly 3,000 light-years from Earth by NASA's <strong>Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)</strong> is a <strong>Boeing 747SP jetliner</strong> modified to carry a 100-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of <strong>NASA and the German Aerospace Centre.</strong></li>
<li>It is flown at approx 45,000 feet, where its observations are <strong>not impacted by interference from Earth's atmosphere. </strong></li>
<li>SOFIA returns to Earth after every flight, allowing scientists to regularly update the instrument with the latest technology. One of the most recent upgrades <strong>included adding a specific channel to detect signatures of helium hydride,</strong> which previous telescopes did not have.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The molecule was found in a <strong>planetary nebula, NGC 7027,</strong> which is the<strong> dusty remnant of a sun-like star.</strong></li>
<li>While helium hydride has been produced and tested in a laboratory setting, this discovery marks the <strong>first time that this molecule</strong> <strong>has been detected in space</strong> &mdash; which sheds light on the <strong>chemistry of the early universe.</strong></li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/universes-first-molecule'
		],
		(int) 11 => [
			'title' => 'Genome Sequencing in India ',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p><strong>CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research)</strong> plans to undertake genome sequencing of a sample of n<strong>early 1000 Indian rural youth</strong> to determine <strong>unique genetic traits, susceptibility (and resilience) to disease.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>This is the<strong> first time that</strong> such a large sample of Indians will be recruited for a detailed study.</li>
<li>These recruited youths, as part of<strong> genome-sample collections</strong>, are representative of the country&rsquo;s population diversity.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In this case, the bulk of them will be college students, both men and women, and pursuing degrees in the life sciences or biology.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The project is an <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/Mission%20to%20Sequence%20Genes%20of%20Indians" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>adjunct to a much larger government-led programme</strong></a>, still in the works, to sequence at<strong> least 10,000 Indian genomes.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Genome Sequencing&nbsp;</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Genome sequencing is figuring out the<strong> order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome</strong>&mdash;the order of Adenine, Cytosine, Guanines, and Thymine that make up an organism's DNA.</li>
<li><strong>Human genome</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is made up of <strong>23 chromosome pairs</strong> with a total of about 3 billion DNA base pairs.</li>
<li>There are <strong>24 distinct human chromosomes: 22 autosomal chromosomes, plus the sex-determining X and Y chromosomes.</strong></li>
<li>Chromosomes 1-22 are numbered roughly in order of decreasing size.</li>
<li>Somatic cells usually have one copy of chromosomes 1-22 from each parent, plus an X chromosome from the mother and either an X or Y chromosome from the father, for a total of 46.</li>
<li>There are estimated 20,000-25,000 human protein-coding genes.</li>
<li>The estimate of the number of human genes has been repeatedly revised down from initial predictions of 100,000 or more as genome sequence quality and gene finding methods have improved, and could continue to drop further.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Importance of Genome Sequencing</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Sequencing the genome is an important step towards understanding it.</li>
<li>The genome sequence will represent a<strong> valuable shortcut, helping scientists find genes much more easily and quickly</strong>. A genome sequence does contain some clues about where genes are, even though scientists are just learning to interpret these clues.</li>
<li>Scientists also hope that being able to study the entire genome sequence will help them understand how the genome as a whole works&mdash;how genes work together to direct the growth, development and maintenance of an entire organism.</li>
<li>Finally, genes account for less than 25 percent of the DNA in the genome, and so knowing the entire genome sequence will help scientists study the parts of the genome outside the genes. This includes the regulatory regions that control how genes are turned on and off, as well as<strong> long stretches of "nonsense" or "junk" DNA&mdash;so called because significance of it hasn&rsquo;t been established.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Human Genome Project</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Human Genome Project was an international research effort to determine the sequence of the human genome and identify the genes that it contains. The Project was coordinated by the <strong>National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy</strong>.</li>
<li>It was a <strong>13-year-long, publicly funded project initiated in 1990</strong> with the objective of determining the DNA sequence of the entire euchromatic human genome within 15 years.</li>
<li>The overwhelming success of the Human Genome Project is readily apparent. Not only did the completion of this project usher in a new era in medicine, but it also led to significant advances in the types of technology used to sequence DNA.</li>
<li>Today, the goal of <strong>personalized medicine is to utilize information</strong> about a person's genes, including his or her nucleotide sequence, to make drugs better and safer.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For example, evolution of <strong>Her2/neu and Response to Breast Cancer Treatment and CYP450</strong> and Response to Antidepressants are direct result of Human Genome Project.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/genome-sequencing-in-india'
		],
		(int) 12 => [
			'title' => 'Crisis in Libya',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>General Khalifa Haftar, head of the <strong>Libyan National Army (LNA)</strong>, has launched an offensive on the capital Tripoli of Libya.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Haftar forces have already taken control of the <strong>east of the country including most of the oilfields.</strong></li>
<li>The general supposedly has the backing of<strong> Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and some West Asian countries, apart from Russia and France.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Anti-government protests began on <strong>February 15, 2011,</strong> leading to civil war between opposition forces and Muammar Gaddafi loyalists.</li>
<li>The capital city,<strong> Tripoli was captured and the government was overthrown after military intervention by western powers.</strong></li>
<li>In Libya, a<strong> UN-backed internationally recognized government was put in place called the Government of National Accord (GNA)</strong>.</li>
<li>Libya has no single government currently, with <strong>LNA backing the Tobruk-based parliament which governs the East of Libya</strong>, and the <strong>GNA which controls Libya's western parts from Tripoli.</strong></li>
<li>The UN-backed government failed to provide stability to Libya. West Libya which was under GNA control was replete with inter-militia battles and kidnappings.</li>
<li>The GNA commands no security forces, public administration scarcely exists, water, petrol and power shortages abound, and few banks operate.</li>
</ul>
<h3>International Response</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The GNA of Libya has asked the <strong>UN Security Council to intervene to protect Tripoli.</strong></li>
<li>United Nations has issued a<strong> plea for a temporary ceasefire to allow</strong> the wounded to be evacuated.</li>
<li>Many European countries, the US has asked to<strong> cease hostilities and de-escalation of tension.</strong></li>
<li>The<strong> US has ordered evacuation of its troops stationed in Tripoli.</strong></li>
<li><strong>India also evacuated its contingent of peacekeeping forces comprising of 15 CRPF personnel from Tripoli.</strong></li>
<li>India has also asked its citizens to exercise extreme caution.</li>
</ul>
<p>Impact</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The civil war in Libya<strong> may lead to a new migrant crisis from Africa into Europe.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Libya has the largest oil reserve in Africa</strong> and one of the largest oil producer in the world.<strong> Instability in Libya may increase oil prices globally. This will impact India directly.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Country Profile: Libya<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215446_Image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215446_Image1.jpg" width="330" height="234" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Libya is a mostly<strong> desert and oil-rich country in northern africa.</strong></li>
<li>Libya <strong>gained independence in 1951</strong>. Soon after oil was discovered and earned the country immense wealth.</li>
<li>Colonel<strong> Gaddafi seized power in 1969</strong> and ruled for four decades until <strong>he was toppled in 2011</strong> following an armed rebellion assisted by Western military intervention.</li>
<li>Capital: <strong>Tripoli</strong></li>
<li>Population:&nbsp;<strong>6.4 million</strong></li>
<li>Area: <strong>1.77 million sq km</strong> (685,524 sq miles)</li>
<li>Major language: <strong>Arabic</strong></li>
<li>Major religion: <strong>Islam</strong></li>
<li>Currency:<strong> Libyan dinar</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/crisis-in-libya'
		],
		(int) 13 => [
			'title' => 'Sugar Industry',
			'catname' => 'Paper 3',
			'desc' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Sugarcane farmers are facing a payments crisis running into thousands of Crores of Rupees.</li>
<li>In Maharashtra alone the state&rsquo;s sugar mills failed to disburse the entire amount of Rs 7,450.9 crore as payment for cane to farmers as the &lsquo;fair and remunerative price&rsquo;(FRP), according to Maharashtra government&rsquo;s commissionerate of sugar.</li>
<li>Similar situation regarding delays in Uttar Pradesh led to recent farmer protest bringing in light the crisis in sugar industry.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A major player in the worldwide sugar trade, India produced 33 million metric tons in 2017/2018. The nation is seeing record levels of sugar production and is set to overtake Brazil as the highest sugar producer.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s sugar production rose 11.5% during the 2014 to 2015 season on bumper cane production. This increase in production led to an extensive surplus in Indian sugar with mills struggling to pay fair wages to workers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Sugar Industry&rsquo;s Location in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Sugar industry is broadly distributed over two major areas of production- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Punjab in the north and Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the south.</li>
<li>South India has tropical climate which is suitable for higher sucrose content giving higher yield per unit area as compared to north India.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Multiple linkages:</strong> Sugar is a labour-intensive industry, up the entire value-chain from cane-growing to sugar and alcohol production. Across multiple districts of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and several other states, it is the main source of employment.</li>
<li><strong>Source of employment:</strong> A sugar industry is source of livelihood for 50 million farmers and their families. It provides direct employment to over 5 lakh skilled laborers but also to semi-skilled laborers in sugar mills and allied industries across the nation.</li>
<li><strong>Byproducts:</strong> The various byproducts of sugar industry also contribute to the economic growth and promote a number of allied industries. Sugarcane has emerged as a multi-product crop used as a basic raw material for the production of sugar, ethanol, paper, electricity and besides a cogeneration of ancillary product.</li>
<li><strong>For livestock feeding:&nbsp;</strong>Molasses from sugar cane is used for alcohol production and livestock feeding since it is highly nutritious.</li>
<li><strong>Biofuel:</strong> In India, the vast majority of ethanol is produced from sugarcane molasses, a by-product of sugar. Ethanol blended fuel can help in reducing crude oil imports.</li>
<li><strong>Bagasse:</strong> Basic utilisation of baggase continues to be as a fuel. But it is also suitable raw material for paper industry. 30% of cellulose requirement comes from agricultural residues. However, since the mills are scattered all over the country, collection of surplus baggase poses a problem and makes paper units uneconomical.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Problems of Sugar Industry</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Uncertain Production Output</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Sugarcane has to compete with several other food and cash crops like cotton, oil seeds, rice, etc. This affects the supply of sugarcane to the mills and the production of sugar also varies from year to year causing fluctuations in prices leading to losses in times of excess production due to low prices.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Low Yield of Sugarcane</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India yield per hectare is extremely low as compared to some of the major sugarcane producing countries of the world. For example, India&rsquo;s yield is only 64.5 tonnes/hectare as compared to 90 tonnes in Java and 121 tonnes in Hawaii.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Short crushing season</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Sugar production is a seasonal industry with a short crushing season varying normally from 4 to 7 months in a year.</li>
<li>It causes financial loss and seasonal employment for workers and lack of full utilization of sugar mills.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Low Sugar recovery rate</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The average rate of recovery of sugar from sugarcane in India is less than ten per cent which is quite low as compared to other major sugar producing countries.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>High Production cost</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>High cost of sugarcane, inefficient technology, uneconomic process of production and heavy excise duty result in high cost of manufacturing.</li>
<li>Most of the sugar mills in India are of small size with a capacity of 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes per day thus fail to take advantage of economies of scale.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Government policy and control</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Government has been controlling sugar prices through various policy interventions like export duty, imposition of stock limit on sugar mills, change in meteorology rule etc., to balance supply demand mismatch.</li>
<li>But these controls have resulted in unremunerative sugar prices, increasing arrears for sugar mills and dues to be paid to sugarcane farmers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Government Initiative</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Rangarajan committee (2012)</strong> was set up to give recommendations on regulation of sugar industry. Its major recommendations:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Abolition of the quantitative controls on export and import of sugar, these should be replaced by appropriate tariffs.</li>
<li>Committee recommended no more outright bans on sugar exports.</li>
<li>The central government has prescribed a minimum radial distance of 15 km between any two sugar mills, this criterion often causes virtual monopoly over a large area can give the mills power over farmers. The Committee recommended that the distance norm be reviewed.</li>
<li>There should be no restrictions on sale of by-products and prices should be market determined. States should also undertake policy reform to allow mills to harness power generated from bagasse.</li>
<li>Remove the regulations on release of non-levy sugar. Removal of these controls will improve the financial health of the sugar mills. This, in turn, will lead to timely payments to farmers and a reduction in cane arrears.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Based on the report, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) recommended a hybrid approach of fixing sugarcane prices, which involved fair and remunerative price (FRP).</li>
<li>The year 2013-14 was a water-shed for the sugar industry. The Central Government considered the recommendations of the committee headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan on de-regulation of sugar sector and decided to discontinue the system of levy obligations on mills for sugar produced after September, 2012 and abolished the regulated release mechanism on open market sale of sugar.</li>
<li>The de-regulation of the sugar sector was undertaken to improve the financial health of sugar mills, enhance cash flows, reduce inventory costs and also result in timely payments of cane price to sugarcane farmers.</li>
<li>The recommendations of the Committee relating to Minimum Distance Criteria and adoption of the Cane Price Formula have been left to State Governments for adoption and implementation, as considered appropriate by them.</li>
<li>With the aim of benefitting Sugar farmers and in order to clear their arrears/cane dues, the Union Government has decided to increase the Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of Sugar from Rs. 29 to Rs. 31 for the year 2019-20.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Fair and Renumerative Price</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>FRP is the minimum price that the sugar mills have to pay to farmers.</li>
<li>It is determined on basis of recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and after consultation with State Governments and other stake-holders.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>State Advised Price (SAP)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In other key growing states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, farmers get the State Advised Price (SAP) fixed by state governments which is usually higher than FRP.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Apart from this, the government has also provided incentives on producing ethanol from B-heavy molasses and cane juice to divert the sugar surpluses towards biofuel, thus indirectly supporting sugar prices. The new Biofuel Policy 2018 has fixed a target of achieving 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol by 2030.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The sector needs infusion of capital, but also policy measures and structural changes. Technological upgradation in age old mills especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to improve efficiency in production.</li>
<li>Major sugar producing States like Maharashtra and Karnataka have migrated to the progressive revenue-sharing formula other states should also introduce <strong>revenue-sharing formula</strong> to ensure farmers receive a share in the profits.</li>
<li>When domestic production is likely to be in excess of domestic consumption government should encourage exports through policy changes.</li>
<li>Mills should be allowed to produce more alcohol (a higher value product with massive industrial demand). Exports of sugar and alcohol should also be decontrolled. It will improve financial situation of mills and could afford to pay farmers a price based on the market prices of sugar.</li>
<li>The production cost of sugar in India is one of the highest in the world. Intense research is required to increase the sugarcane production in the agricultural field and to introduce new technology of production efficiency in the sugar mills.</li>
<li>Production cost can also be reduced through proper utilisation of by- products of the industry.</li>
<li>Government should encourage ethanol production. It will bring down the country&rsquo;s oil import bill and help in diversion of sucrose to ethanol and to balance out the excess production of sugar.</li>
</ul>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/paper3/sugar-industry'
		],
		(int) 14 => [
			'title' => 'Women’s Reservation Bill',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>This editorial is based on article <strong>&ldquo;Seriousness about Women&rsquo;s Reservation Bill must show in electoral representation&rdquo;</strong> which appeared in &ldquo;Indian express&rdquo; on 18th April, 2019. This article is about why gender quotas need to be introduced and supplemented with capacity building.</p>
</div>
<p>According to a report <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2017/4/women-in-politics-2017-map" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Women In Politics&rdquo; published by the United Nations in 2017,</strong></a> India ranked at a lowly 148th position in &lsquo;women in parliament&rsquo; category, and at 88th position in &lsquo;women at ministerial position&rsquo; category. Our Parliament currently has 11.8% women representation, and state assemblies have only 9%, even though &lsquo;women empowerment&rsquo; has become a catchphrase in every Government policy.</p>
<p>This anomaly calls for introduction for affirmative action for rightful representation of women in legislation.</p>
<h3>Why is there a need for political representation?</h3>
<p>Women&rsquo;s political empowerment is premised on three fundamental and non-negotiable principles:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The equality between women and men;</li>
<li>Women&rsquo;s right to a full development of their potential;</li>
<li>Women&rsquo;s right to self representation and self-determination;</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>In empowerment, the key indeed is 'power': it is power to 'access', 'control' and make 'informed choices'.</strong></p>
<p>Political empowerment through the use of a mix of power, effectiveness, capability, force and influence can challenge and transform the structures and institutions of patriarchal ideology and existing power relations.</p>
<h3>Can voluntary system of allocation change it?</h3>
<p><strong>Global experiences have shown that voluntary political party quota system hasn&rsquo;t improved the participation of women to a significant extent. On the contrary, fixed quota system systemically improves the representation of women, as political parties work towards capacity building to fill the required quota.</strong> For example, when Rwanda introduced quota system for women, nearly 50% women won, which subsequently rose to 64%, even when the stipulated quota was only 30%. On the contrary many developed countries of Europe are struggling with around 20% representation of women with the voluntary allocation system.</p>
<h3>Do women face a glass ceiling in politics?</h3>
<p><strong>The glass ceiling is described as &lsquo;those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management level positions&rsquo;. The artificial barriers are stereotypes, media related issues, informal boundaries.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Studies have revealed that women candidates tend to receive fewer funds from donors when contesting against male candidates. Due to a entrenched patriarchy, women candidates are also considered to be less capable than their male counterparts by the voters.</strong> These combined factors result in unfulfillment of the end goal of greater representation for women.</p>
<h3>Will providing reservation will break the glass ceiling?</h3>
<p><strong>In 1992, when the 73<sup>rd</sup> and 74<sup>th</sup> Constitutional Amendments introduced local self-governance, it was an unparalleled step to consciously empower women as decision makers with 1/3<sup>rd</sup> of the seats reserved for women.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Reservation introduced by 73<sup>rd</sup> and 74<sup>th</sup> amendment was rotational in nature i.e. for a certain period of time, certain Panchayat /Municipality was reserved for women on rotational basis.</strong></p>
<p>Today, 14 states have 50%-58% representation of women in Panchayat Raj Institutions. Jharkhand leads the way with 58%, closely followed by Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.</p>
<h3>Does this led to empowerment?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>According to a study by United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Women legislators in India raised economic performance in their constituencies by about 1.8 percentage points per year more than male legislators;</li>
<li>Women legislators in India raise luminosity growth (measures of night-time lights visible from space) in their constituencies by about 15 percentage points per annum more than male legislators;</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>According to a study by <strong>Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL),</strong> women representatives were more concerned about issues like water supply and road connectivity than men.</li>
<li>Another survey conducted in Tamil Nadu indicated that nearly 30% of women opined that after the system of rotation will be over, they would contest from the same seat. Another 15% said that, they would enter mainstream politics if given a chance.</li>
</ul>
<p>These findings indicate that how with the introduction of affirmative action women made incremental progress in the field of political empowerment. Yet these changes came in conflict with existing social structure developing some imbalance.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Women Reservation Bill: A timeline</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>On September 12, 1996, when it was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the United Front government, it failed to get the approval of the house and was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).</li>
<li>Again In 1998, NDA-I introduced the bill without any success. Thereafter, the Bill lapsed and was reintroduced &ndash; in 1999, in 2002 and 2003.</li>
<li>In 2008, the UPA-I introduced the Women Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha and it was passed. But until now the Lok Sabha has not passed it.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Contrived Confusion of Representation</h3>
<p><strong>Even though India has managed to legislate representation, representation alone is inadequate until it is manifested as participation.</strong> This dichotomy between representation and participation created conditions in India which colloquially is known as <strong>&ldquo;Sarpanch Pati&rdquo;</strong>. Sarpanch Pati refers to the phenomena of elected women serving as proxies for their male relatives&mdash;exercising nominal power while the men retain the real work of governance. This manifests, that reservation intensifies the problem of gender inequality by giving it the veneer of a solution.</p>
<p>However, there are many examples like <strong>Chhavi Rajawat of Rajasthan, Aarti Devi of Odisha or Bhatkti Sharma of Madhya Pradesh</strong> who nullifies this notion. But what is ubiquitous in all these cases is presence of capacity. They are all educated, had support from family and experience.</p>
<h3>Capacity Building</h3>
<p>Capacity building to enable women in proactive participation will need institutional reform as well as dismantling existing power structures such as oppressive patriarchy, physical and emotional violence against women at home and in the public sphere.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>In view of the international experiences it is imperative that affirmative action must be legislated for political empowerment of women. Also, the success stories of such leader should be highlighted and awareness must be created around such success. Only then the shackles of gender stereotype will break.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p><strong>The political empowerment of women is necessary to attain a sustainable and inclusive society.</strong></p>
<p>The Rwandan experience has shown that women reservation can bring sufficient change in process of empowerment. The systematic inequality that infuses every aspect of social expression can only be addressed through political empowerment of women, which will act as a catalyst in strengthening our socio-political systems.</p>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/women-s-reservation-bill'
		],
		(int) 15 => [
			'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (18th April 2019)',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<h3>Simulated Martian Base<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215145_Image2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215145_Image2.jpg" width="282" height="199" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A Chinese company called <strong>C-Space</strong> has opened <strong>&ldquo;Mars Base 1,&rdquo;</strong> a <strong>simulated Martian base</strong> of future astronauts&nbsp;in the desert hills of <strong>Gobi Desert in China&rsquo;s Gansu province.</strong></li>
<li>The base is currently <strong>an educational facility</strong> and in the future, it will be<strong> expanded to be a tourist destination also.</strong></li>
<li>&ldquo;Mars Base 1&rdquo; will help in <strong>educating students about how life could be like on Mars.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Gobi Desert</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Gobi is a <strong>desert and semidesert region of Central Asia.</strong> The Gobi (from the <strong>Mongolian Gobi,</strong> meaning <strong>&ldquo;waterless place&rdquo;</strong>) stretches across <strong>huge portions of both Mongolia and China.</strong></li>
<li>The Gobi desert is bounded by the <strong>Altai Mountains</strong> and the <strong>grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north</strong>, and <strong>Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, </strong>and by the <strong>North China Plain to the southeast.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Exercise Varuna</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>India and France</strong> will be conducting <strong>joint Naval exercise &ldquo;Varuna&rdquo;</strong> off the coast of Goa from May 1, 2019.</li>
<li>Along with other naval ships Aircraft carriers of two countries, INS Vikramaditya and FNS Charles de Gaulle will be the part of Naval Exercise.</li>
<li>The<strong> two countries have also operationalized their reciprocal military logistics support agreement</strong>, which saw French anti-aircraft destroyer FNS Cassard docking at the Mumbai naval port in January.</li>
<li>Under the pact,<strong> Indian warships can access French bases like the Reunion Islands near Madagascar and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa</strong>&nbsp;in the Indian Ocean.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Authority for Advance Rulings</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>An Authority for Advance Rulings (Central Excise, Customs &amp; Service Tax) was set up by the Government of India to <strong>facilitate foreign investment into the country.</strong></li>
<li>It gives<strong> binding rulings, in advance, on Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax matters</strong> pertaining to an investment venture in India.</li>
<li>The scheme of Advance Rulings was introduced<strong> under the Income-tax Act, 1961</strong>. Under the scheme, the power of giving advance rulings has been entrusted to an <strong>independent adjudicatory body. </strong></li>
<li>Accordingly, a <strong>high-level body headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court</strong> has been set-up. This is empowered to issue rulings, which are <strong>binding both on the Income-tax Department and the applicant.</strong></li>
<li>The Authority for Advance Rulings consists of a Chairman, who is a retired Judge of the Supreme court and <strong>two members of the rank of Additional Secretary to the Government of India</strong>, one each from the Indian Revenue Service and the Indian Legal Service.</li>
<li>Any<strong> non-resident person</strong> whether individual, company, firm, association of persons or other body corporates can make an application for seeking an advance ruling in regard to his/its tax liability. Similarly, a&nbsp;<strong>certain category of residents</strong> can also seek advance rulings.</li>
</ul>
<h3>World Heritage Day</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Every year, <strong>April 18</strong> is celebrated as World Heritage Day.
<ul>
<li>The International Council on Monuments and Sites <strong>(ICOMOS) in 1982</strong> had decided to celebrate April 18 as as the International Day for Monuments and Sites or World Heritage Day.</li>
<li>Approved by<strong> UNESCO in 1983</strong> <strong>during its 22nd General Conference</strong>, the day is dedicated to recognising sites of historical importance, raising awareness regarding them, and stressing on the need to restore and preserve them.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Every year, a theme is proposed for the day which guides the celebrations.<strong>The theme for this year&rsquo;s celebrations is &lsquo;Rural Landscapes&rsquo;,</strong> which is <strong>related to the theme of the 2019 ICOMOS Scientific Symposium on Rural heritage</strong> that will take place in Marrakesh, Morocco in October.</li>
<li>This year&rsquo;s International Day for Monuments and Sites offers the opportunity for National and International Scientific Committees to raise awareness about the relevance of rural landscapes, the challenges that encompass their conservation, the benefits that these efforts provide, and how rural landscapes are intrinsically related with sustainable development.</li>
<li>In the ICOMOS &ldquo;Principles concerning rural landscapes as heritage&rdquo;, adopted by the ICOMOS General Assembly in 2017, <strong>rural landscapes are defined as</strong> &ldquo;<strong>terrestrial and aquatic areas co-produced by human-nature interaction</strong> <strong>used for the production of food and other renewable natural resources,</strong> <strong>via agriculture, animal husbandry</strong> and pastoralism, fishing and aquaculture, forestry, wild food gathering, hunting, and extraction of other resources, such as salt. Rural landscapes are multifunctional resources. At the same time, all rural areas have <strong>cultural meanings</strong> attributed to them by people and communities: <strong>all rural areas are landscapes.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is the only <strong>global non-government organization</strong> of this kind, which is dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology, and scientific techniques to the conservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage.</li>
<li>It is <strong>headquartered in Paris, France.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Formed in 1945, it is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris.</strong></li>
<li>Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter.</li>
<li><strong>As of January 2019, it has 193 member states.</strong></li>
<li>UNESCO seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. <strong>It has a World Heritage List for such cultural and heritage sites.</strong></li>
<li>I<strong>ndia has its 37 sites listed under the World Heritage List.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-18th-april-2019'
		],
		(int) 16 => [
			'title' => 'Alexandrine Parakeet',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>District administration of Jhalawar in Rajasthan is using the <strong>Alexandrine Parakeet,</strong> as the mascot of voter awareness program for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Also known as <strong>Gagroni parakeet,</strong> it derives its name from the Gagron fort of Jhalawar, it is also <strong>known for imitating the human voice.</strong></li>
<li>Apart from focusing on the upcoming polls, the administration is concentrating on the conservation of parakeet&nbsp;</li>
<li>The district administration has made a cartoon series under<strong> SVEEP programme</strong> which is based on Gagroni parakeet.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Systematic Voters&rsquo; Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>SVEEP started in 2009 is the flagship program of the<strong> Election Commission of India for voter education, spreading voter awareness</strong> and promoting voter literacy in India.</li>
<li>SVEEP is designed according to the<strong> socio-economic, cultural and demographic profile of the state</strong> as well as the history of electoral participation in previous rounds of elections and learning thereof.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Alexandrine Parakeet<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215213_Image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215213_Image1.jpg" width="143" height="191" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is protected under the<strong> Schedule 1 (B) of the Wildlife protection act (WPA) 1972.</strong> It is <strong>native to South and South East Asia.</strong></li>
<li>It is &lsquo;<strong>Near Threatened&rsquo; in the Red list of the IUCN</strong> and in<strong> Appendix II of CITES.</strong></li>
<li>The male parakeet has a<strong> red ring on its neck</strong> and <strong>red spots on wings.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Poaching</strong> of this parakeet for its <strong>household pet</strong> uses and for the <strong>flesh</strong>, and<strong> habitat destruction</strong> has led to the sharp decline in the population of the bird.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/alexandrine-parakeet'
		],
		(int) 17 => [
			'title' => 'World Haemophilia Day',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<p>Haemophilia day is&nbsp;<strong>celebrated on April 17 every year</strong>, the day aims to<strong> increase awareness about haemophilia</strong> and other inherited bleeding disorders.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The day is celebrated <strong>in the honor of Frank Schnabel, founder of the World Federation of Haemophilia (WHF).</strong></li>
<li>This year, the <strong>theme</strong> of World Haemophilia Day is <strong>Outreach &amp; Identification&mdash;&ldquo;The first step to care&rdquo;.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Since 1989</strong>, World Haemophilia Day is the day on which the whole bleeding disorders community comes together to celebrate the continuous advances in treatment while raising awareness and bringing understanding and attention to the issues related to proper care to the wider public.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Haemophilia<strong><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/603haemophilia-graph.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/603haemophilia-graph.jpg" width="272" height="662" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is a <strong>medical condition, mostly inherited</strong>, in which the <strong>ability of blood to clot is severely reduced</strong>&nbsp;so that even a minor injury can cause severe bleeding.</li>
<li>People with Haemophilia <strong>do not have enough clotting factor</strong> - a protein in blood that controls bleeding.</li>
<li>It is quite rare. About 1 in 10,000 people are born with it.</li>
<li><strong>Major Types of Haemophilia</strong>The most common type of Haemophilia is called <strong>Haemophilia A</strong>. This means the person does not have enough <strong>clotting factor VIII</strong> (factor eight).&nbsp;
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Haemophilia B is less common. A person with<strong> Haemophilia B</strong> does not have enough<strong> factor IX</strong> (factor nine).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Men are more vulnerable to haemophilia than women.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Symptoms</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Big bruises.</li>
<li>Bleeding into muscles and joints.</li>
<li>Spontaneous bleeding (sudden bleeding inside the body for no clear reason).</li>
<li>Prolonged bleeding after getting a cut, removing a tooth, or having surgery.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong></strong>Haemophilia is diagnosed <strong>by taking a blood sample and measuring the level of factor activity in the blood.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Treatment</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The main treatment for Haemophilia is<strong> Replacement Therapy.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Concentrates of clotting factor VIII (for Haemophilia A) or clotting factor IX (for Haemophilia B) are slowly dripped or injected into a vein.</strong> These infusions help replace the clotting factor that is missing or low.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Stats</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to the World Federation of Haemophilia&rsquo;s Annual Global Survey 2017, there were <strong>over 1.96 lakh persons living with Haemophilia across the world in 2017.</strong></li>
<li>In the country-wise data, <strong>India emerges with the highest count at nearly 19,000.</strong> Experts believe that <strong>80% of cases go unregistered</strong> in India due to the absence of proper diagnostic facilities in the remote areas, so the <strong>actual count is close to 2 lakh.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>World Federation of Haemophilia(WFH)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is an <strong>international not-for-profit organization</strong> that was established in <strong>1963.</strong></li>
<li>It is a global network of patient organizations in 140 countries and has <strong>official recognition from the World Health Organization.</strong></li>
<li>Its mission is to improve and sustain care for people with inherited bleeding disorders around the world.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/world-haemophilia-day'
		],
		(int) 18 => [
			'title' => 'Why Indian Economy is Slowing Down?',
			'catname' => 'News Editorials',
			'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/indian-economy-gdp-rbi-monetary-policy-banking-system-5679254/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'No more half measures'</a> which appeared in 'The Indian Express' on 17th April, 2019. The article talks about slow down in the economic growth and the reasons behind it.</p>
</div>
<p>India recently surpassed France to become the sixth largest nominal GDP globally and is looking strong to take over United Kingdom in near times.</p>
<p>India&rsquo;s post-independence journey which began as a modest agrarian nation has witnessed strong manufacturing and services sector growth in recent times. It has been a rather a long and painstaking journey. To get one of the largest economies in the world to maintain a seven to eight per cent growth pace requires effort, in the form of continuous reforms.</p>
<p>However, there has been recently, a steady decline in the economic momentum in India, and growth expectations for the current year have already fallen from 7.4% to 7%, thus making it important to find the reasons affecting our economic growth.</p>
<h3>What is economic growth?</h3>
<p><strong>Economic growth means a rise in the real Gross Domestic Product;</strong> effectively this means a rise in the national income, national output and total expenditure. <strong>Economic growth enables a rise in living standards and greater consumption of goods and services. As a result, economic growth is often seen as the <em>'holy grail'</em> of macroeconomics.</strong></p>
<p>Economic growth can help in achieving various macroeconomic objectives such as:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Reduction in poverty</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Increased national output means households can enjoy more goods and services.</strong> For countries with significant levels of poverty, economic growth can enable vastly improved living standards. Economic growth is therefore particularly important for developing economies.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Reduced Unemployment</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A stagnant economy leads to higher rates of unemployment and the consequent social misery that follows.<strong> Economic growth leads to higher demand and firms/businesses are therefore more likely to increase hiring.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Improved public services</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Higher economic growth leads to higher tax revenues (even with tax rates staying the same).</strong> With higher growth, incomes and profit, the government receives more income tax, corporation tax and expenditure taxes. The government can then spend more on public services.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Reduced debt to GDP ratios</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Economic growth also helps in reducing debt to GDP ratios.</strong> With government having more income in its hand to spend on public good and worrying less to pay the interests on its debts.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>What is slowing the economy</h3>
<p><strong>One of the reasons of slowing down of growth can be attributed to shortage of money. While currency in circulation is not a problem, the money that much of the formal economy uses for transactions, and see as bank deposits i.e. M3 or broad money and is eight times the hard currency in circulation, is not finding its way to the market.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Our Financial system which converts base money to M3 is not functioning smoothly. When banks give new loans, they &ldquo;create&rdquo; money. When the financial system is not functioning effectively, this process of money creation slows down, and the ratio of M3 to M0 (also called the money multiplier) falls.</strong></p>
<p>This can be seen in the failure of banking sectors to extend loans to credit seekers in the era of increasing NPAs.</p>
<p><strong><a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/the-big-picture-what-ails-nbfcs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recent failure of Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs)</a>&nbsp;</strong>which had stepped in to support credit growth has resulted in restricted growth to ensure survival, as a result of which system-wide credit growth has slowed sharply.</p>
<p>Government has also failed in addressing these issues as there is a general apprehension of running into the risk of another build-up of bad loans.</p>
<p><strong>There has been a reported drop in the households&rsquo; financial savings to GDP ratio in 2017 to 9.4%</strong> highlighting the fact that there aren&rsquo;t enough savings available for both the government and the private sector to be funded adequately, which further impedes the growth.</p>
<p>There are several other challenges such as a weak and ailing real-estate market, problems in agriculture, worrying levels of external dependence in India&rsquo;s energy ecosystem, crumbling municipal infrastructure, and stagnating capital flows, among several others.</p>
<h3>Curing the ailing growth</h3>
<p><strong>One way of addressing the economic woes is to speed up the privatization of Public Sector Banks as it has been established beyond doubt that there are structural problems with a state-owned banking system.</strong></p>
<p>Reducing bank interest can also potentially boost the capacity of lenders to extend loans and, in turn, boost growth in the world&rsquo;s fastest-growing major economy.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>India's growth has been impressive in recent years but this is a country whose development is hampered by endemic structural problems. India requires significant investment in infrastructure, manufacturing and agriculture for the rapid growth rates of the last fifteen to twenty years to be sustained. In order to fulfil this it needs to create a robust financial structure that can serve the needs and demands of growing nation.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Measures of Money Supply : M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The total stock of money in circulation among the public at a particular point of time is called money supply.</li>
<li>The measures of money supply in India are classified into four categories M1, M2, M3 and M4 along with M0.</li>
<li>This classification was introduced in April 1977 by Reserve Bank of India.</li>
<li><strong>Reserve Money (M0):</strong> It is also known as High-Powered Money, monetary base, base money etc.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>M0 = Currency in Circulation + Bankers&rsquo; Deposits with RBI + Other deposits with RBI.</li>
<li>It is the monetary base of the economy.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Narrow Money (M1):<br /></strong>M1 = Currency with public + Demand deposits with the Banking system (current account, saving account) + Other deposits with RBI</li>
<li><strong>M2</strong> = M1 + Savings deposits of post office savings banks</li>
<li><strong>Broad Money (M3)</strong><br />M3 = M1 + Time deposits with the banking system</li>
<li><strong>M4</strong> = M3 + All deposits with post office savings banks</li>
</ul>
</div>',
			'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
			'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/why-indian-economy-is-slowing-down'
		],
		(int) 19 => [
			'title' => 'Mahavir Jayanti',
			'catname' => 'News Analysis',
			'desc' => '<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span>The President and Vice President of India have greeted the people on occasion of &lsquo;Mahavir Jayanti&rsquo;.</span></li>
</ul>
<h3>About Mahavir Jayanti</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mahavir Jayanti is one of the most auspicious festivals in the Jain community.</li>
<li>This day marks the<strong> birth of Vardhamana Mahavira</strong>, who was the <strong>24th</strong> and the <strong>last Tirthankara who succeeded the 23rd Tirthankara, Parshvanatha.</strong></li>
<li>According to Jain texts, Lord Mahavira was born on the 13th day of the bright half of the moon in the month of Chaitra.</li>
<li>This festival is celebrated widely by the Jain community in memory of the last spiritual teacher of the religion. A <strong>procession is called with the idol of Lord Mahavira called the Rath Yatra.</strong> <strong>Reciting stavans or Jain prayers</strong>, statues of the lord are given a<strong> ceremonial bath <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mahamastakabhisheka-celebrations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called abhisheka.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Lord Mahavira</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mahavir was<strong> born to King Siddhartha of Kundagrama and Queen Trishala,</strong> a Lichchhavi princess in the year<strong> 540 BC in the Vajji kingdom, </strong>identical with modern day Vaishali in Bihar.</li>
<li>Mahavira belonged to the <strong>Ikshvaku dynasty.</strong></li>
<li>There are several historians who believe that he was <strong>born in a place called Ahalya bhumi</strong> and the<strong> land has not been plowed for hundreds of years</strong> by the family that owns it.</li>
<li>Lord Mahavir was named <strong>Vardhamana</strong>, which means <strong>&ldquo;one who grows&rdquo;.</strong></li>
<li>He <strong>abandoned</strong> the <strong>worldly life at the age of 30</strong> and attained<strong> &lsquo;kaivalya&rsquo; or omniscience</strong> at the<strong> age of 42.</strong></li>
<li>Mahavira taught<strong> ahimsa (non-violence)</strong>, <strong>Satya (truth)</strong>, <strong>asteya (non-stealing)</strong>, <strong>brahmacharya (chastity)</strong> and <strong>aparigraha (non-attachment)</strong> to his disciples and his <strong>teachings were called Jain Agamas.&nbsp;</strong>Ordinary people were able to&nbsp;understand the teachings of Mahavira and his followers because they used Prakrit.</li>
<li>It is believed that the <strong>Mahavira passed away and attained moksha</strong> (liberation from the cycle of birth and death) at the <strong>age of 72 in 468 BC at a place called Pavapuri</strong> near modern Rajgir in Bihar.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Jainism</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The word Jaina comes from the term <strong>Jina, meaning conqueror.</strong></li>
<li>Tirthankara is a Sanskrit word meaning <strong>'Ford maker',</strong> i.e., one who is able to ford the river, to cross beyond the perpetual flow of earthly life.</li>
<li>Jainism attaches utmost importance to ahimsa or non-violence. It preaches<strong> 5 mahavratas (the 5 great vows):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Ahimsa</strong> (Non-violence)</li>
<li><strong>Satya</strong> (Truth)</li>
<li><strong>Asteya</strong> or Acharya (Non-stealing)</li>
<li><strong>Aparigraha</strong> (Non-attachment/Non-possession)</li>
<li><strong>Brahmacharya</strong> (Celibacy/Chastity)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Among these 5 teachings, the&nbsp;<strong>Brahmacharya</strong> (Celibacy/Chastity) was added by <strong>Mahavira</strong>.</li>
<li>The<strong> three jewels or Triratna of Jainism</strong> include<strong> Samyak Darshana (right faith), Samyak Gyana (right knowledge) and Samyak Charitra (right conduct).</strong></li>
<li>Jainism is a<strong> religion of self-help</strong>. There are <strong>no gods or spiritual beings that will help human beings</strong>. It <strong>does not condemn the varna system.</strong></li>
<li>In later times, it got divided into<strong> two sects:</strong> <strong>Shvetambaras (white-clad) under Sthalabahu</strong> and <strong>Digambaras (sky-clad) under the leadership of Bhadrabahu.</strong></li>
<li>The important idea in Jainism is that the<strong> entire world is animated:</strong> even stones, rocks, and water have life. Non-injury to living beings, especially to humans, animals, plants, and insects, is central to Jaina philosophy.</li>
<li>According to Jaina teachings, the cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped through karma. Asceticism and penance are required to free oneself from the cycle of karma and achieve the <strong>liberation of the soul.</strong></li>
<li>The practice of&nbsp;<strong>Santhara</strong> is also a part of Jainism. It is the <strong>ritual of fasting unto death</strong>.<strong> Swetambara Jains call it Santhara</strong> whereas <strong>Digambars call it Sallekhana.</strong></li>
</ul>
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		'title' => 'The Big Picture — Political Parties Under RTI',
		'catname' => 'Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions',
		'desc' => '<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EzJrSkhY3Qw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the centre and the Election Commission (EC) on an application seeking political parties to be declared public authorities in order to make them transparent and accountable to the public.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">The public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, wants political parties registered under section 29A of Representation of People Act, 1951 to be declared as &lsquo;public authority&rsquo; under the Right to Information Act, 2005, (RTI). </span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;">His plea also included that all registered and recognized political parties should be directed to appoint public information officer and appellate authority within 4 weeks and make disclosures in letter and spirit of the RTI Act. In the event of non-compliance of provisions of RPA, RTI Act, Income Tax Act, Moral Code of Conduct and other election laws and rules, political parties shall be derecognized by the ECI. </span></p>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;">Arguments in Favour</span></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Except for the political strategy, other <strong>matters relating to finance and administration need to be made available to public</strong> because political parties are public institutions, receiving money from public.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Electoral Bonds are not promoting transparency in political funding</strong> as donors remain anonymous to public.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Infact, not only funding but <strong>expenditure made by political parties,</strong> especially during the time of elections <strong>should be made public</strong>.</span><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Currently in India, there is no ceiling on expenditure incurred by the political parties at the time of elections.</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Political Parties are already under the RTI Act as they have not challenged the Central Information Commission&rsquo;s verdict of 3<sup>rd</sup> June 2013</strong> (Political Parties are public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act); though they have also not complied with the order yet. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>RTI act is a very balanced act.</strong> There is a <strong>section 8(1)</strong> in the act that has ten exemptions within it. If a political party comes under the ambit of RTI act, then this section will <strong>safeguard them from disclosing all types of information</strong>. </span></li>
</ul>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;">Arguments Against</span></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Law needs to be amended:</strong> </span><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Section 2(h) of RTI act defines public authority as the one which is created by or under the constitution or by the Parliament.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Political Parties are formed under the act of Parliament</strong> i.e. under the Representation of People Act, which is <strong>not the same thing as being created by the Parliament</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Therefore, until and unless the law is changed, it will be difficult to bring political parties under the ambit of RTI act.</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Political Parties have <strong>apprehension</strong> that disclosure of information under RTI act may give <strong>advantage to their competitors</strong>.</span></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #000000;">Political parties do not want to disclose their internal working as well as their decision making system.</span></strong></li>
</ul>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;">Suggestions</span></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Money should not be given to political parties as this creates a nexus between the funders and the political parties, thus affecting policy formulation in the country. Instead, <strong>a National Election Fund should be created</strong> for receiving the donations from people. The money received should be used for conducting elections.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Eliminating the root cause of requirement of money</strong> i.e. banning election rallies and roadshows, but direct connect with people needs to be ensured. Replacing them by live T.V. debates is an option.</span></li>
</ul>
<h3><span style="color: #000000;">Electoral Reforms related Recommendations</span></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Following Reforms need to be taken immediately:</span><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>The 'First Past the Post System',</strong> in which a person with the highest votes (even with one extra vote) is declared winner, <strong>should be changed</strong>. Rather, <strong>a minimum percentage of total votes polled, should be fixed for declaring a candidate winner</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">A law for regulating political parties is required.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Preventing criminals from contesting elections.</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #000000;">Flow of black money into election process needs to taken care off.</span></strong></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">There needs to be a <strong>scrutiny of manifestos</strong> issued by political parties. Also, one or two months before elections, manifestos should be issued so that people can understand and discuss things mentioned in them.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Electoral System needs to be such that a sitting MLA or an MP has to resign from the current seat before filing the nomination for the other seat. This will help in <strong>saving expenditure on bypolls</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Even in case of <strong>simultaneous elections</strong> to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, <strong>a system is needed to tackle the dissolution of assemblies</strong> and vacancies that can occur during a ruling period.</span><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">The Prime Minister should be elected through secret and compulsory vote of all the members of lower house on nomination signed by at least 34% members. In the same way, no confidence motion, carrying the name of an alternative leader, should be passed, to de-seat an incumbent person and to fill the seat immediately.</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Since political parties seem less interested in electoral reforms, the <strong>Supreme Court can take an action in this regard</strong>.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><em>Currently, electoral reforms are work-in-progress. Initiative from public is needed to make them happen fast. </em></span></p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>Drishti Input</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><em>Right to Information Act 2005 </em></span></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Enacted by the Parliament, it received the President&rsquo;s assent on 15th June, 2005.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">It provides for right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order <strong>to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">It is <strong>applicable for all states in the country except for Jammu &amp; Kashmir</strong>.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #000000;">Under the provisions of the Act, <strong>a citizen may request information from a "public authority" (a body of government) which is required to reply within thirty days</strong>.</span></li>
</ul>
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	(int) 1 => [
		'title' => 'Free and Fair Election',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/being-fair-and-transparent/article26905329.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Being Fair and Transparent'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Hindu&rsquo; on 22nd April, 2019. The article talks about the challenges that have affected the electoral landscape in India and ways in which it can be dealt.)</p>
</div>
<p>In a constitutional democracy, elections provide an opportunity to ascertain the popular will in regard to the governance of the country. <strong>Election is the act of choosing an individual usually for holding public office through free will of the people in a representative democracy.</strong></p>
<p>Recently, elections were cancelled in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu on the charges of corrupt practices and misuse of money and muscle power which is often used to manipulate and sway the popular will. This has not been an isolated incident; many such events have taken place over the years. The growing greed for power has turned a sacrosanct activity into a showcase for power.</p>
<p>The recent debates surrounding the power and efficacy of <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/election-commission-of-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Election Commission of India (ECI)</a> in testing times has opened up the pandora box of challenges where strengthening ECI has become of paramount importance.</p>
<h3>Concept of Free and Fair Election</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Concept of free and fair election includes even preliminary stages to election such as <strong>delimitation of constituencies, preparation, revision or amendment of electoral rolls</strong> and many others.</li>
<li>Concept of free and fair election <strong>mainly relates to political liberty and equality</strong>. In matters of election it implies that <strong>no one, under the electoral process, is in bondage of another,</strong> having his personal rights, social and political liberty, free thinking and choice subjected to a legal discipline.</li>
<li><strong>While exercising his right to vote one is not under undue influence of party discipline, religion, caste, creed, sex, language and also one is not under the strain of corrupt practices</strong> and so on. Thus, free and fair elections are the foundations of democratic form of government.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Growing Menace of Money Power</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Over the course of time several negative features of our electoral scene have worsened. Since the Model Code of Conduct came into effect, in just the first two phases this time, <strong>money power has been used</strong> so blatantly that seizures <strong>in form of unaccounted cash, liquor, bullion and drugs</strong> amounting to ₹2,600 crore have already been made.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The amount is greater than the entire seizures made in the nine phases of the general election in 2014. Most depressingly, this includes huge cache of drugs, the vast majority smuggled into Gujarat. Uttar Pradesh is awash with liquor. Tamil Nadu has seen the largest seizures of illicit cash &mdash; over ₹514 crore.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>These vast sums that intended to bribe or influence voters are only fraction of current illegal spending that has been exposed.</strong> A larger share has already been spent without the knowledge of ECI or other regulatory authorities.</li>
<li>Political players have evolved their methods and are many steps ahead of the ECI&rsquo;s observers and their vigilance teams by moving their funds to their destinations even before the elections are announced.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Obstacles in Free and Fair Elections</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Electoral malpractice has appeared in newer forms in recent times. <strong>Voter bribery and manipulation through the media</strong> have become the techniques of unethically influencing voters in place of voter intimidation and booth capturing.</li>
<li>Over the past few years incidence of <strong>corruption in public life</strong> in which politicians and officials have diverted the available resources to personal use has increased. <strong>Public funds have been misappropriated</strong> and have destroyed the moral and ethical environment of the nation.</li>
<li><strong>According to the Vohra Committee Report,</strong> criminalization of politics and corruption in high levels is destroying the very system and edifice of our parliamentary democracy, political authorities, the civil servants and even the judiciary.</li>
<li>In the era of outside support and the coalition governments in the States and at the Centre, it is an admitted fact that <strong>the representatives of the people in the Assemblies and Parliament accept money to support a particular Government</strong>. Hence, Members of Parliament or State Assemblies became a marketable commodity and a subject of sale and purchase or horse-trading.</li>
<li>Money power is a crucial factor in elections since <strong>modern devices of election propaganda are expensive</strong>. The availability of large funds ordinarily tends to increase the number of votes a candidate will receive. This money often takes the course of black money and is collected through nefarious and illicit means.</li>
<li><a href="/news-analysis-editorials/news-editorials/03-04-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electoral bonds</a> which were meant for from enabling a legitimate and transparent means of political funding, <strong>have proved to be the reverse</strong>. The EC, in its own affidavit before the Supreme Court, has admitted as much.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The Supreme Court&rsquo;s order has made sure that full disclosure, albeit to the EC, has already effectively killed further funding along this route.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Steps Suggested</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Any serious reform with regard to funding must come from the EC itself,</strong> the EC should convene a conference of all stakeholders, including of course all recognized political parties, both central and State. The list of stakeholders must also include the best constitutional and legal minds in our country.</li>
<li><strong>ECI must ensure strict compliance of model code of conduct</strong> and anyone seen violating it must be given highest possible restraint to deter herself from any such future practice.</li>
<li>Being a watchdog of the democracy, <strong>media should follow the ethical reporting of events</strong> covering real issues affecting people and <strong>should not indulge in paid news and in propaganda politics</strong>.</li>
<li>Parliament must <strong>consider the legal infirmities existing in the provisions of election law,</strong> relating to entry of criminals in politics. Classification between general criminals and sitting member criminals under Section 8 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 must be omitted.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The powers of the EC are enormous and all-encompassing which even exceed the powers of the executive in all election-related issues during the course of the election period. Thereby giving it effective tools in dispensing free and fair elections, only thing that lacks is will and integrity on the part of responsible officials.</li>
<li>ECI should become more prudent and pro-active to ensure the fairness and transparency the general election of this nation deserves, and wipe away any doubt regarding the its integrity as an esteemed institution.</li>
</ul>',
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	],
	(int) 2 => [
		'title' => 'Earth Day',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on<strong> April 22.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Worldwide events are held to demonstrate <strong>support for environmental protection.</strong> The theme of Earth Day 2019 is <strong>&ldquo;Protect Our Species&rdquo;.</strong></li>
<li>It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the<strong> Earth Day Network</strong> and celebrated in more than 193 countries each year.</li>
<li>The idea of commemorating such a day was propounded by <strong>Gaylord Nelson, an American environmentalist and politician.</strong></li>
<li><strong>According to the United Nations, International Earth Day is celebrated to remind each of us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance.</strong></li>
<li>The Earth Day also recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the<strong> 1992 Rio Declaration (Earth Summit),</strong> to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity.</li>
<li>This day provides an opportunity to raise public awareness around the world to the challenges regarding the well-being of the planet and all the life it supports.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Earth Day Network</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Earth Day Network is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide.</li>
<li>EDN main office is located in Washington DC, USA.</li>
<li>Recently the<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-1st-april-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> Earth Hour 2019</strong></a> was observed on March 30 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time with the theme #Connect2Earth.<br /><br /></li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/earth-day'
	],
	(int) 3 => [
		'title' => 'East Asian Birds Spotted in Andaman Islands',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Researchers have sighted a number of East Asian birds in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The birds include <strong>Horsfield&rsquo;s Bronze Cuckoo (<em>Chalcites basalis</em>)</strong> which is native of Australia and New Guinea.</li>
<li>Other birds are the <strong>Zappey&rsquo;s Flycatcher (<em>Cyanoptila cumatilis</em>)</strong> bird from China and <strong>Javan Pond Heron (<em>Ardeola speciosa</em>)</strong> which is usually found in Thailand and Cambodia.</li>
<li>During their migration from north to south, these birds make a stopover at the Andaman and Nicobar islands. These birds use Andaman and Nicobar Islands for a few weeks rests before they can fly along the <strong>East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF).</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Flyways</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Flyways are the <strong>area used by a group of birds during their annual cycle</strong> which includes their<strong> breeding areas, stop over areas and wintering areas.</strong></li>
<li>There are <strong>nine flyways</strong> in the world. Three of the nine flyways pass through Indian Subcontinent:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Central Asian Flyway (CAF)</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>This is a migration route, covering over 30 countries, for different waterbirds linking their northernmost breeding grounds in Russia (Siberia) to the southernmost non-breeding (wintering) grounds in West and South Asia, the Maldives and British Indian Ocean Territory.</li>
<li>India has a strategic role in the flyway, as it provides critical stopover sites to over 90% of the bird species known to use this migratory route</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>East Asian Australasian Flyway (EAAF)</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>The East Asia/Australasia Flyway extends from Arctic Russia and North America to the southern limits of Australia and New Zealand.</li>
<li>It encompasses large parts of East Asia, all of Southeast Asia and includes eastern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Asian East African Flyway (AEAF)</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>The Asian East African Flyway extends from Arctic Russia&nbsp; to South Africa and Madagascar in Africa. The flyway pass cover area from west of Tibetan plateau and Himalayas including central Asia and West Asia</li>
<li>It also covers parts of north-western India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/516drishti_Flyways.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/516drishti_Flyways.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" width="987" height="482" /></a></p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is an environmental treaty under the<strong> aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme.</strong></li>
<li>CMS or<strong> Bonn Convention</strong> provides a global platform for the<strong> conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals</strong> and their <strong>habitats</strong>.</li>
<li>India is a party to the <strong>CMS since 1st November 1983. </strong></li>
<li><strong>Raptor MoU</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia is also known as Raptor MoU</li>
<li>Raptors MoU is an <strong>agreement under CMS. </strong></li>
<li>It aims to<strong> promote coordinated actions to maintain the favorable conservation status of migratory birds of prey</strong> (raptors) throughout their range in the African-Eurasian region</li>
<li><strong>India is a signatory</strong> to Raptor MoU. It is <strong>not legally binding.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/east-asian-birds-spotted-in-andaman'
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'title' => 'India – Myanmar Relations',
		'catname' => 'Paper 2',
		'desc' => '<h3>Why in News?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India-Myanmar joint operation <strong>destroyed several militant camps of Arakan Army</strong> on the Indo-Myanmar border.</li>
<li>The action <strong>averted a possible threat to the ambitious Kaladan transit and transport project</strong> which is important for improving the connectivity in the Northeast.</li>
<li>Myanmar is important for India because of the geographic, historical, cultural and economic linkages/ties that span centuries as well as for the overall development of North-Eastern Indian states. India and Myanmar relationship officially got underway after the Treaty of Friendship was signed in 1951.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Areas of Cooperation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Strategic Significance</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India and Myanmar share a long 1,643 km geographical land border and maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal. Myanmar shares borders with <strong>4 Indian states &ndash;</strong> Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Myanmar is India&rsquo;s gateway to South-East Asia.</li>
<li>India - Myanmar border is highly <strong>porous, poorly guarded and located along a remote,</strong> underdeveloped, insurgency-prone region and proximate to opium producing area.</li>
<li>The border is also vulnerable to the activities of <strong>insurgents and drugs and arms traffickers</strong>.</li>
<li>Myanmar is also important from the security point of view as the <strong>influx of sizable numbers of Rohingya</strong> from Myanmar&rsquo;s Rakhine state continues.</li>
<li>India&ndash;Myanmar border poses a <strong>challenge to India&rsquo;s security</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Trade and Economy</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The success of&nbsp;India&rsquo;s&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">Act East Policy, Neighbourhood first policy&nbsp;</span>largely depend on its relations with Myanmar.</li>
<li>Bilateral trade has grown from $12.4 million in 1980-81 to <strong>$2.18 billion</strong> in 2016-17.</li>
<li>Myanmar is also the beneficiary of a duty-free tariff preference scheme for least developed countries (LDCs).</li>
<li>Some of the Indian companies such as Essar, GAIL, and ONGC Videsh Ltd. have invested in Myanmar&rsquo;s <strong>energy sector</strong>.</li>
<li>Cooperation in the banking sector, which is crucial for investment and trade, is moving ahead steadily. United Bank of India and EXIM Bank have representative offices in Myanmar.</li>
<li>Indian firms engage in manufacturing, services (banking, insurance, dry port), power sector etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Connectivity</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India is building the <strong>Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport,</strong> a road-river-port cargo transport project, to link Kolkata to Sittwe in Myanmar and then from Myanmar&rsquo;s Kaladan river to India&rsquo;s north-east.<br /><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1578479392_image1.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1578479392_image1.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="490" caption="false" /></a></li>
<li>India, Myanmar, and Thailand are building the <strong>Asian Trilateral Highway,</strong> which will connect India to ASEAN. The road is expected to boost trade and commerce in the ASEAN&ndash;India Free Trade Area, as well as with the rest of Southeast Asia.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Development Assistance</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India has already extended <strong>$2 billion in soft loans</strong>. It has offered to help Myanmar developmental assistance in the areas it wants rather than be prescriptive.</li>
<li>India is also providing assistance in setting up institutions for <strong>higher learning and research,</strong> namely Myanmar Institute of Information Technology, Advanced Centre for Agricultural Research and Education, Myanmar-India Centre for Enhancement of IT Skills, India-Myanmar Industrial Training Centres.</li>
<li>A new Indian proposal suggests the setting up of <strong>infrastructure and socio-economic projects</strong> jointly with Myanmar in the restive Rakhine state&mdash;in the areas of education, health, agriculture, agro-processing, upgradation of roads, small power projects and livelihood activity.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Defence Cooperation</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>India-Myanmar Bilateral Army Exercise</strong> (IMBAX) is aimed at building and promoting closer relations with armies.</li>
<li>Myanmar is a key partner in the <strong>fight to end insurgency</strong> in India's northeast.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Cultural Significance</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India and Myanmar share cultural ties in terms of Buddhist heritage and shared history of colonialism.</li>
<li>Building on this shared heritage, India is undertaking some key initiatives in the <strong>restoration</strong> of the Ananda Temple in Bagan and the repair and conservation of a large number of damaged pagodas.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Humanitarian Assistance</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India has responded promptly and effectively in rendering <strong>assistance following natural calamities</strong> in Myanmar like Cyclone Mora (2017), Komen (2015), earthquake in Shan State (2010).</li>
<li>India also offered to provide support in <strong>capacity building in disaster risk mitigation</strong> as well as in strengthening Myanmar's National Disaster Response Mechanism.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Indian Community</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>There are varying estimates of 1.5-2 million people of Indian origin living and working in various parts of Myanmar.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Multilateral Partnership</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Myanmar is also a key component of India&rsquo;s strategy to bridge South and South-East Asia through <strong>BIMSTEC</strong> (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).</li>
<li>Myanmar's membership of ASEAN, BIMSTEC and Mekong Ganga Cooperation has introduced a regional/sub-regional dimension to bilateral relations and imparted added significance in the context of our "Act East" policy.</li>
<li>Myanmar has generally been supportive of India's stand in various international organisations. For our part, we have supported Myanmar's association with SAARC as an observer, a status Myanmar formally acquired in 2008.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>The Rohingya Issue </strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>&nbsp;India does not directly engage with the issue of Myanmar&rsquo;s treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority. But India has condemned the recent terrorist attacks in northern Rakhine State. This can be considered as a measure of support to Myanmar.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Challenges</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Internal Security is a major concern for India; Indo-Myanmar border is porous and lightly policed which is exploited by terrorist outfits and insurgent groups from North Eastern part of India eg. supply of trained cadres, arms trafficking.</li>
<li>Bilateral trade between India and Myanmar still falls short of expectations.</li>
<li>Overtime trust deficit has widened between India-Myanmar because of the Indian reputation for delaying implementation of various projects.</li>
<li>China has asserted itself through its soft power as well as through its trade and economic relations with Myanmar by taking up large infrastructure projects.</li>
<li>As China&rsquo;s growing influence in the region is a potential threat to India, New Delhi would like to enhance India&rsquo;s presence by developing infrastructure and connectivity projects in the country.</li>
<li>India has found it difficult to counter Chinese influence in Myanmar.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Both the countries are affected due to the misuse of open border by internal and external forces, the responsibility of border management and regulation depends on both.</li>
<li>It is also the only country that can act as a link between India and ASEAN.</li>
<li>Myanmar is India&rsquo;s gateway to Southeast Asia and could be the required impetus to realize India&rsquo;s Act East Policy.</li>
<li>Myanmar itself is an emerging consumer market of 60 million people who have demands for products ranging from personal care to beverages to smart phones. India should leverage these export opportunities.</li>
<li>There are a few sectors where India can extend its presence in Myanmar. These include manufacturing high-end smart phones, exporting cement, furniture, FMCG, energy, telecommunications, healthcare, creating townships, low cost housing development, ports and logistics, rural electrification etc.</li>
<li>Agriculture is another sector where India can substantially augment its cooperation with Myanmar in rice research activities, post-harvest technology, agriculture financing and articulating policies.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s Kaladan Multimodal Transit and Transport project and India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway have seen much delay over the past couple of years. Hence, it can be said that the success of India&rsquo;s Act East Policy will now depend on India&rsquo;s prompt action and pragmatic approach for completion of projects.</li>
<li>Enhancing economic partnership with Myanmar needs to be a priority in India&rsquo;s Act East Policy which will benefit New Delhi in enhancing ties with Southeast Asia.</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/Paper2/india-myanmar-relations'
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'title' => 'Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels & Zinc Deficiency',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p><strong>Rising carbon dioxide levels</strong> can <strong>accelerate zinc deficiency</strong> in crops and thus in human consumption, according to a new study titled <strong>&lsquo;Inadequate zinc intake in India: Past, Present and Future&rsquo;</strong> by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Food crops such as wheat, rice, barley, soya, and field peas, which serve as an important source of dietary zinc for billions of people around the world, have recently been <strong>shown to contain lower concentrations of zinc</strong> and other nutrients when grown under open field conditions.</li>
<li>The study states that inadequate zinc intake has been rising in India for decades, causing tens of millions of people to become newly deficient in it.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The <strong>highest rate of inadequate zinc intake</strong> was concentrated mainly in the<strong> southern and northeastern States</strong> with rice-dominated diets:<strong> Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya.</strong></li>
<li>The national rates of inadequate zinc intake has<strong> increased from 17% to 25% between 1983 and 2012.</strong></li>
<li>Rising carbon dioxide levels in the coming decades <strong>could accelerate this trend.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Apart from<strong> rising CO<sub>2</sub> emissions</strong>, changing diets and an<strong> aging population</strong> are also seen as factors responsible for increasing zinc deficiency.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Overall urban populations, and wealthier urban groups in particular, showed higher rates of inadequate intake as well, due to a <strong>higher proportion of nutrient-poor fats and sugars in the diet.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Zinc Deficiency</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Zinc supports cell function, helping an estimated 100 enzymes perform their duties. It plays additional roles in the body, including:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>boosting immune function,</li>
<li>helping cells divide,</li>
<li>maintaining the sense of smell and taste,</li>
<li>promoting wound healing,</li>
<li>Zinc also supports a person's growth and development. As such, it is an essential mineral for pregnant women as well as growing children.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Human body <strong>does not store zinc</strong>, which means getting enough of the mineral from food is important in preventing a deficiency.</li>
<li>Inadequate zinc intake can have <strong>serious health consequences,</strong> particularly for young children, who are more susceptible to contracting malaria, diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia, when suffering from zinc deficiency.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The presence of zinc plays a critical role in <strong>human immune systems.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>National grain fortification programmes</strong>, <strong>increased dietary diversity, bio-fortified crops, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions</strong> could make a difference to slow or reverse the course.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Food fortification</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Food fortification refers to the process of <strong>adding essential micronutrient</strong>s, such as vitamins and minerals, to food staples to make them more nutritious.</li>
<li>Food fortification is an effective strategy to meet the nutritional needs of a large number of people across various sections of the society, including the poor and underprivileged as well as the vulnerable, such as pregnant women and young children.</li>
<li>Common micronutrients deficient in <strong>Indian diets are iron, iodine, vitamin A, folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Fortification of Vanaspati with Vitamin A and D started more than 50 years ago</strong> and has been<strong> mandatory</strong> in the country <strong>since 1953.</strong></li>
<li>The <strong>tremendous success of salt iodization programme</strong> signifies the potential of food fortification.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Salt iodization in India started with the <strong>National Goiter Control Programme in 1962.</strong> It gained momentum in 1980s and mandated the distribution of iodized salt in 1997. <strong>Voluntary wheat flour fortification</strong> were notified in 1970s.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Article 47 of the Constitution</strong> documents that it is duty of the state to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/rising-carbon-dioxide-levels-zinc-deficiency'
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'title' => 'Index of Cancer Preparedness',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>The<strong> Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)</strong> has created the Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP).</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It draws on a wide range of <strong>data relevant to cancer policy and control from 28 countries. </strong></li>
<li>The aims of the ICP are to allow benchmarking of national efforts and identify best practice in addressing the cancer challenge.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP)</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Australia tops the ICP,</strong> followed by the <strong>Netherlands and Germany</strong>. <strong>Saudi Arabia, Romania, and Egypt face at the bottom in Index.</strong></li>
<li>The ICP explores the issue of cancer preparedness through <strong>three broad domains:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>policy and planning;</li>
<li>care delivery;</li>
<li>health systems and governance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Four<strong> essentials of cancer preparedness:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>essential investment (appropriate spending and resources),</li>
<li>roadmap (effective planning),</li>
<li>foundation (functioning health systems),</li>
<li>intelligence (availability and quality of cancer-related data).</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Cancer</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Cancer is a <strong>generic term for a large group of diseases characterized by the growth of abnormal cells</strong> beyond their usual boundaries that can then invade adjoining parts of the body and/or spread to other organs.</li>
<li>Other common terms used for cancer are <strong>malignant tumors and neoplasms.</strong></li>
<li>Cancer is the <strong>second leading cause of death globally</strong> and is estimated to account for<strong> 9.6 million death in 2018.</strong></li>
<li><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/world-cancer-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>World Cancer Day</strong> </a>is observed on 4th February every year.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), created in 1946, is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group and the world leader in global business intelligence.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>India and ICP</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India's overall rank <strong>is 19th</strong> with a score of <strong>64.9.</strong></li>
<li>India ranks <strong>17th in</strong>&nbsp;cancer policy and planning<strong>,</strong> but it has a relatively high score of 80.8.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s score largely stems from its strong cancer research and tobacco control measures.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It ranked<strong> first for research and third for tobacco control in ICP.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>India ranks<strong> 23rd for its national cancer control plan.</strong></li>
<li>With a score of 40.3, <strong>India&rsquo;s healthcare system ranks 25th in the index</strong>, above only Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Egypt.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s <strong>healthcare infrastructure is the second worst</strong> among the index countries.</li>
<li>In its <strong>delivery of cancer care, India ranks 20th with a score of 61.3.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India has a<strong> high standard of clinical guidelines,</strong> a category in which it is ranked first.</li>
<li>India falls <strong>short on immunization, screening and early detection.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/index-of-cancer-preparedness'
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (20th April 2019)',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<h3>Swiss Challenge Method</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Central Bank of India</strong> has recently put up its <strong>two</strong> non-performing assets <strong>(NPAs)</strong> worth Rs 251 crore for <strong>sale through the Swiss challenge method.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Swiss challenge method is a <strong>method of bidding,</strong> often used in public projects, in which an <strong>interested party initiates a proposal</strong> for a contract or the bid for a project.</li>
<li><strong>The government </strong>then puts the details of the project out in the public and <strong>invites proposals from others</strong> interested in executing it.</li>
<li>On the receipt of these bids,<strong> the original proposer gets an opportunity to match the best bid.</strong> In case, the original proposer fails to match the bid, the project is awarded to the proposer of the best bid.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Kakapo Parrot (<em>Strigops habroptila</em>)<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215538_images.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215538_images.jpg" style="float: right;" caption="false" width="260" height="193" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>According to New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC), <strong>Kakapos - the world's heaviest species of parrot</strong> - have had their most successful breeding season this year.</li>
<li>The researchers have said that <strong>climate change might be responsible for changing the breeding pattern</strong> of these parrots.</li>
<li>Kakapo parrots (meaning &ldquo;night parrot&rdquo; in Maori), also known as <strong>owl parrot,</strong> are<strong> nocturnal and flightless parrots endemic to New Zealand.</strong></li>
<li>The kakapos, which currently have a total of 147 adults, were believed to be extinct until some were found again in 1970.</li>
<li><strong>IUCN</strong> <strong>Status</strong>:<strong> Critically Endangered</strong>; <strong>CITES</strong>: <strong>Appendix 1</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Power Surplus Status of India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s <strong>installed generation capacity (344 GW) of power is more than peak demand (170GW)</strong>.</li>
<li>However, <strong>due to lack of demand by Discoms&rsquo; and loss in transmission,</strong> during peak hours, as much as 175.52 gigawatt (GW) was up against demand of 177.02 GW leaving a deficit of 1.49 GW or 0.8 per cent in 2018-19.</li>
<li>This <strong>inhabited India from being power surplus country.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Surplus power occurs when the<strong> power available with distribution companies at a given time exceeds the demand for electricity.</strong></li>
<li>A surplus <strong>could arise due to a fall in the demand for power</strong>, for instance, during an industrial slowdown. Or it could result from an <strong>increase in the power supply</strong>, for instance, when a new generating station is added.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-20th-april-2019'
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'title' => 'Challenges for Federal Structure',
		'catname' => 'Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha Discussions',
		'desc' => '<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><iframe width="560" height="314" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GKNKqYkDAGw" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Instances of tussle between the agencies of central government and the state governments have now become common in India.</strong> The latest one in the list is clashes between the CRPF officers (central agency) and the state police officers of Madhya Pradesh. Such instances raise &lsquo;<strong>issue of federal structure</strong>&rsquo; in the country. Normally, the issue of federal structure and of power sharing arises either due to problem in sharing of resources between the centre and states or due to redrawing of borders between the states.</p>
<h3>Reasons Behind Such Instances:</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>State governments treating their respective states as their fiefdom.</li>
<li>Ruling party in the state, being different to that in Centre, thus state governments seeing the investigation by central agencies in their respective states as political vendetta by the central ruling party.</li>
<li>Central agencies are not bound to inform state forces before starting the investigation. Fear of leakage of the investigation news is another reason behind central agencies not notifying the state forces regarding the investigation in the state.</li>
<li>During elections, it is seen that State political parties generally protest against investigations connected to their aides and relatives, due to the fear of losing out votes.</li>
<li>Central Agencies being working under the pressure of central ruling party, thus not investigating the case properly.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Jurisdiction of Central Agencies:</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The central agencies are formed in a federal structure and have primarily the responsibility of probing issues against government staff and serious cases referred to it by courts or by the state governments itself.</li>
<li><strong>Central Police Organizations</strong> include Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency etc.</li>
<li><strong>Central Armed Police Forces</strong> include Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), National Security Guard (NSG), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) etc.</li>
<li>Sometimes, it happens that central agencies have to go beyond a boundary of a particular state for complete investigation of an issue. Hence, the jurisdiction of central agencies is not restricted by the needs and bounds of the geographical territories of a particular state.</li>
<li>If there is a specific subject matter that falls exclusively within the jurisdiction of a central agency, then it is upto that agency to decide what is the best manner to preserve the integrity of that particular investigation and whether it needs to liaise with the state officials or not.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Challenges for Federal Structure:</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Constitutional provisions are used by political parties to hide the real issues of corruption, fraud etc.</li>
<li>Central government and State Governments&rsquo; indifference and apathy towards constitutional scheme of federal structure.</li>
<li>Tussles between the agencies of central government and those of state governments stress the cohesive functioning of centre and states.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward:</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Jurisdiction of central agencies is quite clear, therefore the state agencies need to cooperate with them during the investigations.</li>
<li>Central Agencies need to be answerable only to the law and order of the country. Central ruling party should avoid pressurizing agencies for its vested political interests.</li>
</ul>
<p>The onus lies both on the states as well as on the centre for better cohesion as well as for maintaining the constitutional scheme of federal structure.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Federation</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The term &lsquo;federation&rsquo; is derived from a Latin word foedus which means &lsquo;treaty&rsquo; or &lsquo;agreement&rsquo;.</li>
<li>Thus, a federation is a new state (political system) which is formed through a treaty or an agreement between the various units.</li>
<li>The units of a federation are known by various names like states (as in US) or cantons (as in Switzerland) or provinces (as in Canada) or republics (as in Russia).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Federal System</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In a federal system, political authority is divided between two autonomous sets of governments, one national and the other subnational, both of which operate directly upon the people.</li>
<li>Usually a constitutional division of power is established between the national government, which exercises authority over the whole national territory, and provincial governments that exercise independent authority within their own territories.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Federal Structure in India</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Constitution of India provides for a federal system of government in the country.</li>
<li>It contains all the usual features of a federation, viz., two government, division of powers, written Constitution, supremacy of Constitution, rigidity of Constitution, independent judiciary and bicameralism.</li>
<li>However, the term &lsquo;Federation&rsquo; has nowhere been used in the Constitution. Article 1, on the other hand, describes India as a &lsquo;Union of States&rsquo; which implies two things: one, Indian Federation is not the result of an agreement by the states; and two, no state has the right to secede from the federation.</li>
<li>The Constitution of India, being federal in structure, divides all powers (legislative, executive and financial) between the Centre and the states.</li>
<ul>
<li><strong>Articles 245 to 255</strong> in <strong>Part XI</strong> of the Constitution deal with the legislative relations between the Centre and the states.</li>
<li><strong>Articles 256 to 263</strong> in <strong>Part XI</strong> of the Constitution deal with the administrative relations between the Centre and the states.</li>
<li><strong>Articles 268 to 293</strong> in <strong>Part XII</strong> of the Constitution deal with Centre&ndash;state financial relations.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/challenges-for-federal-structure'
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'title' => 'Water Situation in India',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/15/commentary/challenges-water-governance.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Challenges in water governance'</a> which appeared in 'The Economic and Political Weekly' on 13thApril, 2019. The article talks about the importance of water as a resource and the challenges it is facing in recent times.)</p>
</div>
<p>Water permeates the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of India. A massive concentration of people compounded with high poverty rates and a monsoonal climate creates great susceptibility to hydrological shocks in India than anywhere else.</p>
<p>If India is to make progress on major development challenges, including food security, rapid urbanization, sustainable rural development, disaster risk management, adaptation to climate change, equitable allocation of natural resources, and economic cooperation with its neighbours in the region, water would be playing the most important role.</p>
<p>However India is facing a worsening water crisis, therefore making it more important than ever to curb the unabated wastage of our precious resource.</p>
<h3>Water-Water everywhere not a drop to drink</h3>
<p>India is facing an unprecedented and worsening water crisis. The rivers are getting more polluted, their catchments, water-holding and water-harvesting mechanisms are deteriorating, and groundwater levels are depleting at an alarming rate.</p>
<p>India&rsquo;s water crisis is often attributed to the urbanisation, industrialisation and human waste flowing into water sources and polluting groundwater, as well as corruption at different levels that delay various processes and tasks.</p>
<p>A large part of western and southern India is facing a drought at present. Some of these areas, for example, Kerala and the Cauvery basin in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, are the areas that faced floods recently.</p>
<p>Water tables, the level below which the ground is saturated with water, are falling in most parts of India. Minerals like fluoride, arsenic, mercury, and uranium are present in the groundwater, which lead to chronic water borne diseases.</p>
<p>The World Bank estimates that 21 percent of communicable diseases in India are linked to unsafe water and lack of hygiene practices. Further, more than 500 children under the age of five die each day from diarrhoea in India alone.</p>
<p>As per the report submitted by the Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), 2016 if the current pattern of demand continues, about half of the demand for water will be unmet by 2030.</p>
<p>Climate change poses fresh challenges as more extreme rates of rainfall and evapotranspiration intensify the impacts of floods and droughts.</p>
<h3>Challenges faced by water sector</h3>
<p>Amongst the challenges that the water sector is confronted with, the first is that of the lack of credible &ldquo;water information,&rdquo; that is, information about water storage, groundwater, water flows and, in some cases, even rainfall and snowfall levels.</p>
<p>Data systems related to water in the country are limited in their coverage, robustness, and efficiency. First, data is often not available at the adequate level of detail, moreover wherever data is available; it is often unreliable due to the use of outdated collection techniques and methodologies.</p>
<p>Second big challenge of the water sector is the inefficacy of the existing water regulatory bodies. Central Water Commission (CWC), Central Ground Water Board, Central Ground Water Authority, State Pollution Control Boards and Central Pollution Control Board, among others are grappled by typical top-down, bureaucratic, unaccountable, non-transparent and non-participatory mindset.</p>
<p>Indian groundwater faces a crisis of sustainability. There have been several warning bells about this, including by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA 2009), based on a study of depletion in groundwater levels in north-western India from 2002 to 2008. More recent research has reinforced that North India is most affected, and is guzzling down groundwater at a rate 70% faster than estimated earlier.</p>
<p>India which has the world&rsquo;s largest water infrastructure faces a turbulent future. The water infrastructure continues to perform far below its optimum, as India is not allocating even a fraction of the required annual maintenance budget of $4 billion that it needs. It faces grave dam safety issues, as was evident in the case of Kerala floods in August 2018.</p>
<p>India has the third largest number of big dams in the world, and with their increasing age, the issues of structural and operational safety are becoming more and more urgent, but it still does not have a dam safety act.</p>
<p>Soil moisture represents another major challenge. For the farmers facing increasingly irregular rains with changing climate, the increased capacity of soil to hold moisture is hugely useful, as also is the local water storage and sustained or enhanced groundwater levels.</p>
<h3>Saving the saviour</h3>
<p>The primary need is to address the democratic deficit in water governance. The first step in tackling this would be the recognition of this reality as a problem. The water governance ought to be made transparent, accountable and participatory in every sub-sector, including management of rivers, groundwater, floods, and biodiversity, among others.</p>
<p>Access to accurate water information could help one understand the risks and urgency of the situation and steer towards informed decisions.</p>
<p>There is an urgent need that our plans, projects and programmes get tailored to protect groundwater recharge, enhance recharge where possible, and most importantly, regulate the use of groundwater.</p>
<p>If groundwater sustainability becomes the officially acknowledged objective, there may not be any case for big dam projects, which both directly and indirectly adversely affects groundwater recharge and sustainability.</p>
<p>The capacity of the soil to store water can be increased by adding carbon to it which can be achieved with the use of greater organic inputs. More carbon in the soil also greatly mitigates the emissions-inducing climate change.</p>
<p>There are many sub-issues that would need to be addressed to revive the rivers. These include monitoring of water quality and environmental flows, protecting the floodplains and sustainable biodiversity in the rivers, achieving sustainable sand mining, and credible reservoir and flood management, among others.</p>
<p>There is a need for credible environmental and cumulative impact assessments, genuine public consultation process at multiple stages of planning and project implementation, confidence-inspiring appraisal, which includes the appointment of independent experts, and most crucially, achieving some real monitoring and compliance.</p>
<p>Cities need to stop the destruction of local water bodies and local tree cover, treat its sewage properly, harvest rainwater, and stop straightening and concretising the rivers and encroaching on their floodplain.</p>
<h3>Way forward</h3>
<p>In order to meet the future urban water challenges, there needs to be a shift in the way we manage urban water systems. An Integrated Urban Water Management approach must be adopted which involves managing freshwater, wastewater, and storm water, using an urban area as the unit of management.</p>
<p>The time has come to have a retrospect view on the water use and misuse to take serious actions that will lead towards sustainable urban water management.</p>
<p>Sustaining healthy environments in the urbanized world of the 21st century represents a major challenge for human settlements, development and management which requires flexible and innovative solutions to cope with sudden and substantial changes in water demand for people and their associated economic activities.</p>
<p><a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/water-leaving-no-one-behind" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read more...</a></p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/water-situation-in-india'
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'title' => 'Universe's First Molecule',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Scientists have detected the<strong> most ancient type</strong> of molecule in our universe in <strong>space for the first time ever.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Helium hydride ion (HeH+)</strong> was the<strong> first molecule</strong> that formed when, almost 14 billion years ago, the <strong>falling temperatures allowed recombination of the light elements (hydrogen, helium, deuterium and traces of lithium) produced in the Big Bang.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is the <strong>first type of molecule (first molecular bond)</strong> that formed in the universe after the Big Bang.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>At that time,<strong> ionised hydrogen</strong> and <strong>neutral helium</strong> atoms<strong> reacted to form HeH+.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Once the universe cooled down, <strong>hydrogen atoms</strong> started to <strong>interact with helium hydride</strong>, creating molecular hydrogen, which set the <strong>stage for star formation. </strong></li>
<li>From that point on, <strong>stars created the other elements of the cosmos.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Despite its importance in the history of the early Universe, <strong>HeH+ has so far escaped detection in astrophysical nebulae</strong> &mdash; cloud of gas and dust in outer space.</li>
<li>Helium hydride &mdash; a combination of helium and hydrogen &mdash; was detected roughly 3,000 light-years from Earth by NASA's <strong>Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)</strong> is a <strong>Boeing 747SP jetliner</strong> modified to carry a 100-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of <strong>NASA and the German Aerospace Centre.</strong></li>
<li>It is flown at approx 45,000 feet, where its observations are <strong>not impacted by interference from Earth's atmosphere. </strong></li>
<li>SOFIA returns to Earth after every flight, allowing scientists to regularly update the instrument with the latest technology. One of the most recent upgrades <strong>included adding a specific channel to detect signatures of helium hydride,</strong> which previous telescopes did not have.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The molecule was found in a <strong>planetary nebula, NGC 7027,</strong> which is the<strong> dusty remnant of a sun-like star.</strong></li>
<li>While helium hydride has been produced and tested in a laboratory setting, this discovery marks the <strong>first time that this molecule</strong> <strong>has been detected in space</strong> &mdash; which sheds light on the <strong>chemistry of the early universe.</strong></li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/universes-first-molecule'
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'title' => 'Genome Sequencing in India ',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p><strong>CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research)</strong> plans to undertake genome sequencing of a sample of n<strong>early 1000 Indian rural youth</strong> to determine <strong>unique genetic traits, susceptibility (and resilience) to disease.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>This is the<strong> first time that</strong> such a large sample of Indians will be recruited for a detailed study.</li>
<li>These recruited youths, as part of<strong> genome-sample collections</strong>, are representative of the country&rsquo;s population diversity.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In this case, the bulk of them will be college students, both men and women, and pursuing degrees in the life sciences or biology.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The project is an <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/Mission%20to%20Sequence%20Genes%20of%20Indians" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>adjunct to a much larger government-led programme</strong></a>, still in the works, to sequence at<strong> least 10,000 Indian genomes.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Genome Sequencing&nbsp;</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Genome sequencing is figuring out the<strong> order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome</strong>&mdash;the order of Adenine, Cytosine, Guanines, and Thymine that make up an organism's DNA.</li>
<li><strong>Human genome</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It is made up of <strong>23 chromosome pairs</strong> with a total of about 3 billion DNA base pairs.</li>
<li>There are <strong>24 distinct human chromosomes: 22 autosomal chromosomes, plus the sex-determining X and Y chromosomes.</strong></li>
<li>Chromosomes 1-22 are numbered roughly in order of decreasing size.</li>
<li>Somatic cells usually have one copy of chromosomes 1-22 from each parent, plus an X chromosome from the mother and either an X or Y chromosome from the father, for a total of 46.</li>
<li>There are estimated 20,000-25,000 human protein-coding genes.</li>
<li>The estimate of the number of human genes has been repeatedly revised down from initial predictions of 100,000 or more as genome sequence quality and gene finding methods have improved, and could continue to drop further.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Importance of Genome Sequencing</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Sequencing the genome is an important step towards understanding it.</li>
<li>The genome sequence will represent a<strong> valuable shortcut, helping scientists find genes much more easily and quickly</strong>. A genome sequence does contain some clues about where genes are, even though scientists are just learning to interpret these clues.</li>
<li>Scientists also hope that being able to study the entire genome sequence will help them understand how the genome as a whole works&mdash;how genes work together to direct the growth, development and maintenance of an entire organism.</li>
<li>Finally, genes account for less than 25 percent of the DNA in the genome, and so knowing the entire genome sequence will help scientists study the parts of the genome outside the genes. This includes the regulatory regions that control how genes are turned on and off, as well as<strong> long stretches of "nonsense" or "junk" DNA&mdash;so called because significance of it hasn&rsquo;t been established.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Human Genome Project</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Human Genome Project was an international research effort to determine the sequence of the human genome and identify the genes that it contains. The Project was coordinated by the <strong>National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy</strong>.</li>
<li>It was a <strong>13-year-long, publicly funded project initiated in 1990</strong> with the objective of determining the DNA sequence of the entire euchromatic human genome within 15 years.</li>
<li>The overwhelming success of the Human Genome Project is readily apparent. Not only did the completion of this project usher in a new era in medicine, but it also led to significant advances in the types of technology used to sequence DNA.</li>
<li>Today, the goal of <strong>personalized medicine is to utilize information</strong> about a person's genes, including his or her nucleotide sequence, to make drugs better and safer.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For example, evolution of <strong>Her2/neu and Response to Breast Cancer Treatment and CYP450</strong> and Response to Antidepressants are direct result of Human Genome Project.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/genome-sequencing-in-india'
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'title' => 'Crisis in Libya',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>General Khalifa Haftar, head of the <strong>Libyan National Army (LNA)</strong>, has launched an offensive on the capital Tripoli of Libya.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Haftar forces have already taken control of the <strong>east of the country including most of the oilfields.</strong></li>
<li>The general supposedly has the backing of<strong> Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and some West Asian countries, apart from Russia and France.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Anti-government protests began on <strong>February 15, 2011,</strong> leading to civil war between opposition forces and Muammar Gaddafi loyalists.</li>
<li>The capital city,<strong> Tripoli was captured and the government was overthrown after military intervention by western powers.</strong></li>
<li>In Libya, a<strong> UN-backed internationally recognized government was put in place called the Government of National Accord (GNA)</strong>.</li>
<li>Libya has no single government currently, with <strong>LNA backing the Tobruk-based parliament which governs the East of Libya</strong>, and the <strong>GNA which controls Libya's western parts from Tripoli.</strong></li>
<li>The UN-backed government failed to provide stability to Libya. West Libya which was under GNA control was replete with inter-militia battles and kidnappings.</li>
<li>The GNA commands no security forces, public administration scarcely exists, water, petrol and power shortages abound, and few banks operate.</li>
</ul>
<h3>International Response</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The GNA of Libya has asked the <strong>UN Security Council to intervene to protect Tripoli.</strong></li>
<li>United Nations has issued a<strong> plea for a temporary ceasefire to allow</strong> the wounded to be evacuated.</li>
<li>Many European countries, the US has asked to<strong> cease hostilities and de-escalation of tension.</strong></li>
<li>The<strong> US has ordered evacuation of its troops stationed in Tripoli.</strong></li>
<li><strong>India also evacuated its contingent of peacekeeping forces comprising of 15 CRPF personnel from Tripoli.</strong></li>
<li>India has also asked its citizens to exercise extreme caution.</li>
</ul>
<p>Impact</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The civil war in Libya<strong> may lead to a new migrant crisis from Africa into Europe.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Libya has the largest oil reserve in Africa</strong> and one of the largest oil producer in the world.<strong> Instability in Libya may increase oil prices globally. This will impact India directly.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Country Profile: Libya<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215446_Image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215446_Image1.jpg" width="330" height="234" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Libya is a mostly<strong> desert and oil-rich country in northern africa.</strong></li>
<li>Libya <strong>gained independence in 1951</strong>. Soon after oil was discovered and earned the country immense wealth.</li>
<li>Colonel<strong> Gaddafi seized power in 1969</strong> and ruled for four decades until <strong>he was toppled in 2011</strong> following an armed rebellion assisted by Western military intervention.</li>
<li>Capital: <strong>Tripoli</strong></li>
<li>Population:&nbsp;<strong>6.4 million</strong></li>
<li>Area: <strong>1.77 million sq km</strong> (685,524 sq miles)</li>
<li>Major language: <strong>Arabic</strong></li>
<li>Major religion: <strong>Islam</strong></li>
<li>Currency:<strong> Libyan dinar</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/crisis-in-libya'
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'title' => 'Sugar Industry',
		'catname' => 'Paper 3',
		'desc' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Sugarcane farmers are facing a payments crisis running into thousands of Crores of Rupees.</li>
<li>In Maharashtra alone the state&rsquo;s sugar mills failed to disburse the entire amount of Rs 7,450.9 crore as payment for cane to farmers as the &lsquo;fair and remunerative price&rsquo;(FRP), according to Maharashtra government&rsquo;s commissionerate of sugar.</li>
<li>Similar situation regarding delays in Uttar Pradesh led to recent farmer protest bringing in light the crisis in sugar industry.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A major player in the worldwide sugar trade, India produced 33 million metric tons in 2017/2018. The nation is seeing record levels of sugar production and is set to overtake Brazil as the highest sugar producer.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s sugar production rose 11.5% during the 2014 to 2015 season on bumper cane production. This increase in production led to an extensive surplus in Indian sugar with mills struggling to pay fair wages to workers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Sugar Industry&rsquo;s Location in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Sugar industry is broadly distributed over two major areas of production- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Punjab in the north and Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the south.</li>
<li>South India has tropical climate which is suitable for higher sucrose content giving higher yield per unit area as compared to north India.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Significance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Multiple linkages:</strong> Sugar is a labour-intensive industry, up the entire value-chain from cane-growing to sugar and alcohol production. Across multiple districts of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and several other states, it is the main source of employment.</li>
<li><strong>Source of employment:</strong> A sugar industry is source of livelihood for 50 million farmers and their families. It provides direct employment to over 5 lakh skilled laborers but also to semi-skilled laborers in sugar mills and allied industries across the nation.</li>
<li><strong>Byproducts:</strong> The various byproducts of sugar industry also contribute to the economic growth and promote a number of allied industries. Sugarcane has emerged as a multi-product crop used as a basic raw material for the production of sugar, ethanol, paper, electricity and besides a cogeneration of ancillary product.</li>
<li><strong>For livestock feeding:&nbsp;</strong>Molasses from sugar cane is used for alcohol production and livestock feeding since it is highly nutritious.</li>
<li><strong>Biofuel:</strong> In India, the vast majority of ethanol is produced from sugarcane molasses, a by-product of sugar. Ethanol blended fuel can help in reducing crude oil imports.</li>
<li><strong>Bagasse:</strong> Basic utilisation of baggase continues to be as a fuel. But it is also suitable raw material for paper industry. 30% of cellulose requirement comes from agricultural residues. However, since the mills are scattered all over the country, collection of surplus baggase poses a problem and makes paper units uneconomical.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Problems of Sugar Industry</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Uncertain Production Output</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Sugarcane has to compete with several other food and cash crops like cotton, oil seeds, rice, etc. This affects the supply of sugarcane to the mills and the production of sugar also varies from year to year causing fluctuations in prices leading to losses in times of excess production due to low prices.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Low Yield of Sugarcane</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>India yield per hectare is extremely low as compared to some of the major sugarcane producing countries of the world. For example, India&rsquo;s yield is only 64.5 tonnes/hectare as compared to 90 tonnes in Java and 121 tonnes in Hawaii.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Short crushing season</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Sugar production is a seasonal industry with a short crushing season varying normally from 4 to 7 months in a year.</li>
<li>It causes financial loss and seasonal employment for workers and lack of full utilization of sugar mills.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Low Sugar recovery rate</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The average rate of recovery of sugar from sugarcane in India is less than ten per cent which is quite low as compared to other major sugar producing countries.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>High Production cost</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>High cost of sugarcane, inefficient technology, uneconomic process of production and heavy excise duty result in high cost of manufacturing.</li>
<li>Most of the sugar mills in India are of small size with a capacity of 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes per day thus fail to take advantage of economies of scale.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Government policy and control</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Government has been controlling sugar prices through various policy interventions like export duty, imposition of stock limit on sugar mills, change in meteorology rule etc., to balance supply demand mismatch.</li>
<li>But these controls have resulted in unremunerative sugar prices, increasing arrears for sugar mills and dues to be paid to sugarcane farmers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Government Initiative</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Rangarajan committee (2012)</strong> was set up to give recommendations on regulation of sugar industry. Its major recommendations:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Abolition of the quantitative controls on export and import of sugar, these should be replaced by appropriate tariffs.</li>
<li>Committee recommended no more outright bans on sugar exports.</li>
<li>The central government has prescribed a minimum radial distance of 15 km between any two sugar mills, this criterion often causes virtual monopoly over a large area can give the mills power over farmers. The Committee recommended that the distance norm be reviewed.</li>
<li>There should be no restrictions on sale of by-products and prices should be market determined. States should also undertake policy reform to allow mills to harness power generated from bagasse.</li>
<li>Remove the regulations on release of non-levy sugar. Removal of these controls will improve the financial health of the sugar mills. This, in turn, will lead to timely payments to farmers and a reduction in cane arrears.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Based on the report, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) recommended a hybrid approach of fixing sugarcane prices, which involved fair and remunerative price (FRP).</li>
<li>The year 2013-14 was a water-shed for the sugar industry. The Central Government considered the recommendations of the committee headed by Dr. C. Rangarajan on de-regulation of sugar sector and decided to discontinue the system of levy obligations on mills for sugar produced after September, 2012 and abolished the regulated release mechanism on open market sale of sugar.</li>
<li>The de-regulation of the sugar sector was undertaken to improve the financial health of sugar mills, enhance cash flows, reduce inventory costs and also result in timely payments of cane price to sugarcane farmers.</li>
<li>The recommendations of the Committee relating to Minimum Distance Criteria and adoption of the Cane Price Formula have been left to State Governments for adoption and implementation, as considered appropriate by them.</li>
<li>With the aim of benefitting Sugar farmers and in order to clear their arrears/cane dues, the Union Government has decided to increase the Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of Sugar from Rs. 29 to Rs. 31 for the year 2019-20.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Fair and Renumerative Price</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>FRP is the minimum price that the sugar mills have to pay to farmers.</li>
<li>It is determined on basis of recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and after consultation with State Governments and other stake-holders.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>State Advised Price (SAP)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In other key growing states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, farmers get the State Advised Price (SAP) fixed by state governments which is usually higher than FRP.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Apart from this, the government has also provided incentives on producing ethanol from B-heavy molasses and cane juice to divert the sugar surpluses towards biofuel, thus indirectly supporting sugar prices. The new Biofuel Policy 2018 has fixed a target of achieving 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol by 2030.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The sector needs infusion of capital, but also policy measures and structural changes. Technological upgradation in age old mills especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to improve efficiency in production.</li>
<li>Major sugar producing States like Maharashtra and Karnataka have migrated to the progressive revenue-sharing formula other states should also introduce <strong>revenue-sharing formula</strong> to ensure farmers receive a share in the profits.</li>
<li>When domestic production is likely to be in excess of domestic consumption government should encourage exports through policy changes.</li>
<li>Mills should be allowed to produce more alcohol (a higher value product with massive industrial demand). Exports of sugar and alcohol should also be decontrolled. It will improve financial situation of mills and could afford to pay farmers a price based on the market prices of sugar.</li>
<li>The production cost of sugar in India is one of the highest in the world. Intense research is required to increase the sugarcane production in the agricultural field and to introduce new technology of production efficiency in the sugar mills.</li>
<li>Production cost can also be reduced through proper utilisation of by- products of the industry.</li>
<li>Government should encourage ethanol production. It will bring down the country&rsquo;s oil import bill and help in diversion of sucrose to ethanol and to balance out the excess production of sugar.</li>
</ul>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/to-the-points/paper3/sugar-industry'
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'title' => 'Women’s Reservation Bill',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>This editorial is based on article <strong>&ldquo;Seriousness about Women&rsquo;s Reservation Bill must show in electoral representation&rdquo;</strong> which appeared in &ldquo;Indian express&rdquo; on 18th April, 2019. This article is about why gender quotas need to be introduced and supplemented with capacity building.</p>
</div>
<p>According to a report <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2017/4/women-in-politics-2017-map" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>&ldquo;Women In Politics&rdquo; published by the United Nations in 2017,</strong></a> India ranked at a lowly 148th position in &lsquo;women in parliament&rsquo; category, and at 88th position in &lsquo;women at ministerial position&rsquo; category. Our Parliament currently has 11.8% women representation, and state assemblies have only 9%, even though &lsquo;women empowerment&rsquo; has become a catchphrase in every Government policy.</p>
<p>This anomaly calls for introduction for affirmative action for rightful representation of women in legislation.</p>
<h3>Why is there a need for political representation?</h3>
<p>Women&rsquo;s political empowerment is premised on three fundamental and non-negotiable principles:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The equality between women and men;</li>
<li>Women&rsquo;s right to a full development of their potential;</li>
<li>Women&rsquo;s right to self representation and self-determination;</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>In empowerment, the key indeed is 'power': it is power to 'access', 'control' and make 'informed choices'.</strong></p>
<p>Political empowerment through the use of a mix of power, effectiveness, capability, force and influence can challenge and transform the structures and institutions of patriarchal ideology and existing power relations.</p>
<h3>Can voluntary system of allocation change it?</h3>
<p><strong>Global experiences have shown that voluntary political party quota system hasn&rsquo;t improved the participation of women to a significant extent. On the contrary, fixed quota system systemically improves the representation of women, as political parties work towards capacity building to fill the required quota.</strong> For example, when Rwanda introduced quota system for women, nearly 50% women won, which subsequently rose to 64%, even when the stipulated quota was only 30%. On the contrary many developed countries of Europe are struggling with around 20% representation of women with the voluntary allocation system.</p>
<h3>Do women face a glass ceiling in politics?</h3>
<p><strong>The glass ceiling is described as &lsquo;those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management level positions&rsquo;. The artificial barriers are stereotypes, media related issues, informal boundaries.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Studies have revealed that women candidates tend to receive fewer funds from donors when contesting against male candidates. Due to a entrenched patriarchy, women candidates are also considered to be less capable than their male counterparts by the voters.</strong> These combined factors result in unfulfillment of the end goal of greater representation for women.</p>
<h3>Will providing reservation will break the glass ceiling?</h3>
<p><strong>In 1992, when the 73<sup>rd</sup> and 74<sup>th</sup> Constitutional Amendments introduced local self-governance, it was an unparalleled step to consciously empower women as decision makers with 1/3<sup>rd</sup> of the seats reserved for women.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Reservation introduced by 73<sup>rd</sup> and 74<sup>th</sup> amendment was rotational in nature i.e. for a certain period of time, certain Panchayat /Municipality was reserved for women on rotational basis.</strong></p>
<p>Today, 14 states have 50%-58% representation of women in Panchayat Raj Institutions. Jharkhand leads the way with 58%, closely followed by Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.</p>
<h3>Does this led to empowerment?</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>According to a study by United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Women legislators in India raised economic performance in their constituencies by about 1.8 percentage points per year more than male legislators;</li>
<li>Women legislators in India raise luminosity growth (measures of night-time lights visible from space) in their constituencies by about 15 percentage points per annum more than male legislators;</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>According to a study by <strong>Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL),</strong> women representatives were more concerned about issues like water supply and road connectivity than men.</li>
<li>Another survey conducted in Tamil Nadu indicated that nearly 30% of women opined that after the system of rotation will be over, they would contest from the same seat. Another 15% said that, they would enter mainstream politics if given a chance.</li>
</ul>
<p>These findings indicate that how with the introduction of affirmative action women made incremental progress in the field of political empowerment. Yet these changes came in conflict with existing social structure developing some imbalance.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Women Reservation Bill: A timeline</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>On September 12, 1996, when it was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the United Front government, it failed to get the approval of the house and was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).</li>
<li>Again In 1998, NDA-I introduced the bill without any success. Thereafter, the Bill lapsed and was reintroduced &ndash; in 1999, in 2002 and 2003.</li>
<li>In 2008, the UPA-I introduced the Women Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha and it was passed. But until now the Lok Sabha has not passed it.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Contrived Confusion of Representation</h3>
<p><strong>Even though India has managed to legislate representation, representation alone is inadequate until it is manifested as participation.</strong> This dichotomy between representation and participation created conditions in India which colloquially is known as <strong>&ldquo;Sarpanch Pati&rdquo;</strong>. Sarpanch Pati refers to the phenomena of elected women serving as proxies for their male relatives&mdash;exercising nominal power while the men retain the real work of governance. This manifests, that reservation intensifies the problem of gender inequality by giving it the veneer of a solution.</p>
<p>However, there are many examples like <strong>Chhavi Rajawat of Rajasthan, Aarti Devi of Odisha or Bhatkti Sharma of Madhya Pradesh</strong> who nullifies this notion. But what is ubiquitous in all these cases is presence of capacity. They are all educated, had support from family and experience.</p>
<h3>Capacity Building</h3>
<p>Capacity building to enable women in proactive participation will need institutional reform as well as dismantling existing power structures such as oppressive patriarchy, physical and emotional violence against women at home and in the public sphere.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>In view of the international experiences it is imperative that affirmative action must be legislated for political empowerment of women. Also, the success stories of such leader should be highlighted and awareness must be created around such success. Only then the shackles of gender stereotype will break.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p><strong>The political empowerment of women is necessary to attain a sustainable and inclusive society.</strong></p>
<p>The Rwandan experience has shown that women reservation can bring sufficient change in process of empowerment. The systematic inequality that infuses every aspect of social expression can only be addressed through political empowerment of women, which will act as a catalyst in strengthening our socio-political systems.</p>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/women-s-reservation-bill'
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'title' => 'Important Facts For Prelims (18th April 2019)',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<h3>Simulated Martian Base<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215145_Image2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215145_Image2.jpg" width="282" height="199" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A Chinese company called <strong>C-Space</strong> has opened <strong>&ldquo;Mars Base 1,&rdquo;</strong> a <strong>simulated Martian base</strong> of future astronauts&nbsp;in the desert hills of <strong>Gobi Desert in China&rsquo;s Gansu province.</strong></li>
<li>The base is currently <strong>an educational facility</strong> and in the future, it will be<strong> expanded to be a tourist destination also.</strong></li>
<li>&ldquo;Mars Base 1&rdquo; will help in <strong>educating students about how life could be like on Mars.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Gobi Desert</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Gobi is a <strong>desert and semidesert region of Central Asia.</strong> The Gobi (from the <strong>Mongolian Gobi,</strong> meaning <strong>&ldquo;waterless place&rdquo;</strong>) stretches across <strong>huge portions of both Mongolia and China.</strong></li>
<li>The Gobi desert is bounded by the <strong>Altai Mountains</strong> and the <strong>grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north</strong>, and <strong>Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, </strong>and by the <strong>North China Plain to the southeast.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Exercise Varuna</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>India and France</strong> will be conducting <strong>joint Naval exercise &ldquo;Varuna&rdquo;</strong> off the coast of Goa from May 1, 2019.</li>
<li>Along with other naval ships Aircraft carriers of two countries, INS Vikramaditya and FNS Charles de Gaulle will be the part of Naval Exercise.</li>
<li>The<strong> two countries have also operationalized their reciprocal military logistics support agreement</strong>, which saw French anti-aircraft destroyer FNS Cassard docking at the Mumbai naval port in January.</li>
<li>Under the pact,<strong> Indian warships can access French bases like the Reunion Islands near Madagascar and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa</strong>&nbsp;in the Indian Ocean.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Authority for Advance Rulings</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>An Authority for Advance Rulings (Central Excise, Customs &amp; Service Tax) was set up by the Government of India to <strong>facilitate foreign investment into the country.</strong></li>
<li>It gives<strong> binding rulings, in advance, on Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax matters</strong> pertaining to an investment venture in India.</li>
<li>The scheme of Advance Rulings was introduced<strong> under the Income-tax Act, 1961</strong>. Under the scheme, the power of giving advance rulings has been entrusted to an <strong>independent adjudicatory body. </strong></li>
<li>Accordingly, a <strong>high-level body headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court</strong> has been set-up. This is empowered to issue rulings, which are <strong>binding both on the Income-tax Department and the applicant.</strong></li>
<li>The Authority for Advance Rulings consists of a Chairman, who is a retired Judge of the Supreme court and <strong>two members of the rank of Additional Secretary to the Government of India</strong>, one each from the Indian Revenue Service and the Indian Legal Service.</li>
<li>Any<strong> non-resident person</strong> whether individual, company, firm, association of persons or other body corporates can make an application for seeking an advance ruling in regard to his/its tax liability. Similarly, a&nbsp;<strong>certain category of residents</strong> can also seek advance rulings.</li>
</ul>
<h3>World Heritage Day</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Every year, <strong>April 18</strong> is celebrated as World Heritage Day.
<ul>
<li>The International Council on Monuments and Sites <strong>(ICOMOS) in 1982</strong> had decided to celebrate April 18 as as the International Day for Monuments and Sites or World Heritage Day.</li>
<li>Approved by<strong> UNESCO in 1983</strong> <strong>during its 22nd General Conference</strong>, the day is dedicated to recognising sites of historical importance, raising awareness regarding them, and stressing on the need to restore and preserve them.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Every year, a theme is proposed for the day which guides the celebrations.<strong>The theme for this year&rsquo;s celebrations is &lsquo;Rural Landscapes&rsquo;,</strong> which is <strong>related to the theme of the 2019 ICOMOS Scientific Symposium on Rural heritage</strong> that will take place in Marrakesh, Morocco in October.</li>
<li>This year&rsquo;s International Day for Monuments and Sites offers the opportunity for National and International Scientific Committees to raise awareness about the relevance of rural landscapes, the challenges that encompass their conservation, the benefits that these efforts provide, and how rural landscapes are intrinsically related with sustainable development.</li>
<li>In the ICOMOS &ldquo;Principles concerning rural landscapes as heritage&rdquo;, adopted by the ICOMOS General Assembly in 2017, <strong>rural landscapes are defined as</strong> &ldquo;<strong>terrestrial and aquatic areas co-produced by human-nature interaction</strong> <strong>used for the production of food and other renewable natural resources,</strong> <strong>via agriculture, animal husbandry</strong> and pastoralism, fishing and aquaculture, forestry, wild food gathering, hunting, and extraction of other resources, such as salt. Rural landscapes are multifunctional resources. At the same time, all rural areas have <strong>cultural meanings</strong> attributed to them by people and communities: <strong>all rural areas are landscapes.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is the only <strong>global non-government organization</strong> of this kind, which is dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology, and scientific techniques to the conservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage.</li>
<li>It is <strong>headquartered in Paris, France.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Formed in 1945, it is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris.</strong></li>
<li>Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter.</li>
<li><strong>As of January 2019, it has 193 member states.</strong></li>
<li>UNESCO seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. <strong>It has a World Heritage List for such cultural and heritage sites.</strong></li>
<li>I<strong>ndia has its 37 sites listed under the World Heritage List.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-18th-april-2019'
	],
	(int) 16 => [
		'title' => 'Alexandrine Parakeet',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>District administration of Jhalawar in Rajasthan is using the <strong>Alexandrine Parakeet,</strong> as the mascot of voter awareness program for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Also known as <strong>Gagroni parakeet,</strong> it derives its name from the Gagron fort of Jhalawar, it is also <strong>known for imitating the human voice.</strong></li>
<li>Apart from focusing on the upcoming polls, the administration is concentrating on the conservation of parakeet&nbsp;</li>
<li>The district administration has made a cartoon series under<strong> SVEEP programme</strong> which is based on Gagroni parakeet.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Systematic Voters&rsquo; Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>SVEEP started in 2009 is the flagship program of the<strong> Election Commission of India for voter education, spreading voter awareness</strong> and promoting voter literacy in India.</li>
<li>SVEEP is designed according to the<strong> socio-economic, cultural and demographic profile of the state</strong> as well as the history of electoral participation in previous rounds of elections and learning thereof.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Alexandrine Parakeet<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215213_Image1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1569215213_Image1.jpg" width="143" height="191" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is protected under the<strong> Schedule 1 (B) of the Wildlife protection act (WPA) 1972.</strong> It is <strong>native to South and South East Asia.</strong></li>
<li>It is &lsquo;<strong>Near Threatened&rsquo; in the Red list of the IUCN</strong> and in<strong> Appendix II of CITES.</strong></li>
<li>The male parakeet has a<strong> red ring on its neck</strong> and <strong>red spots on wings.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Poaching</strong> of this parakeet for its <strong>household pet</strong> uses and for the <strong>flesh</strong>, and<strong> habitat destruction</strong> has led to the sharp decline in the population of the bird.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/alexandrine-parakeet'
	],
	(int) 17 => [
		'title' => 'World Haemophilia Day',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<p>Haemophilia day is&nbsp;<strong>celebrated on April 17 every year</strong>, the day aims to<strong> increase awareness about haemophilia</strong> and other inherited bleeding disorders.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The day is celebrated <strong>in the honor of Frank Schnabel, founder of the World Federation of Haemophilia (WHF).</strong></li>
<li>This year, the <strong>theme</strong> of World Haemophilia Day is <strong>Outreach &amp; Identification&mdash;&ldquo;The first step to care&rdquo;.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Since 1989</strong>, World Haemophilia Day is the day on which the whole bleeding disorders community comes together to celebrate the continuous advances in treatment while raising awareness and bringing understanding and attention to the issues related to proper care to the wider public.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Haemophilia<strong><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/603haemophilia-graph.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/603haemophilia-graph.jpg" width="272" height="662" style="float: right;" caption="false" /></a></strong></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is a <strong>medical condition, mostly inherited</strong>, in which the <strong>ability of blood to clot is severely reduced</strong>&nbsp;so that even a minor injury can cause severe bleeding.</li>
<li>People with Haemophilia <strong>do not have enough clotting factor</strong> - a protein in blood that controls bleeding.</li>
<li>It is quite rare. About 1 in 10,000 people are born with it.</li>
<li><strong>Major Types of Haemophilia</strong>The most common type of Haemophilia is called <strong>Haemophilia A</strong>. This means the person does not have enough <strong>clotting factor VIII</strong> (factor eight).&nbsp;
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Haemophilia B is less common. A person with<strong> Haemophilia B</strong> does not have enough<strong> factor IX</strong> (factor nine).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Men are more vulnerable to haemophilia than women.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Symptoms</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Big bruises.</li>
<li>Bleeding into muscles and joints.</li>
<li>Spontaneous bleeding (sudden bleeding inside the body for no clear reason).</li>
<li>Prolonged bleeding after getting a cut, removing a tooth, or having surgery.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong></strong>Haemophilia is diagnosed <strong>by taking a blood sample and measuring the level of factor activity in the blood.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Treatment</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The main treatment for Haemophilia is<strong> Replacement Therapy.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Concentrates of clotting factor VIII (for Haemophilia A) or clotting factor IX (for Haemophilia B) are slowly dripped or injected into a vein.</strong> These infusions help replace the clotting factor that is missing or low.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Stats</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>According to the World Federation of Haemophilia&rsquo;s Annual Global Survey 2017, there were <strong>over 1.96 lakh persons living with Haemophilia across the world in 2017.</strong></li>
<li>In the country-wise data, <strong>India emerges with the highest count at nearly 19,000.</strong> Experts believe that <strong>80% of cases go unregistered</strong> in India due to the absence of proper diagnostic facilities in the remote areas, so the <strong>actual count is close to 2 lakh.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>World Federation of Haemophilia(WFH)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It is an <strong>international not-for-profit organization</strong> that was established in <strong>1963.</strong></li>
<li>It is a global network of patient organizations in 140 countries and has <strong>official recognition from the World Health Organization.</strong></li>
<li>Its mission is to improve and sustain care for people with inherited bleeding disorders around the world.</li>
</ul>
</div>',
		'postdate' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'url' => 'https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/world-haemophilia-day'
	],
	(int) 18 => [
		'title' => 'Why Indian Economy is Slowing Down?',
		'catname' => 'News Editorials',
		'desc' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/indian-economy-gdp-rbi-monetary-policy-banking-system-5679254/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'No more half measures'</a> which appeared in 'The Indian Express' on 17th April, 2019. The article talks about slow down in the economic growth and the reasons behind it.</p>
</div>
<p>India recently surpassed France to become the sixth largest nominal GDP globally and is looking strong to take over United Kingdom in near times.</p>
<p>India&rsquo;s post-independence journey which began as a modest agrarian nation has witnessed strong manufacturing and services sector growth in recent times. It has been a rather a long and painstaking journey. To get one of the largest economies in the world to maintain a seven to eight per cent growth pace requires effort, in the form of continuous reforms.</p>
<p>However, there has been recently, a steady decline in the economic momentum in India, and growth expectations for the current year have already fallen from 7.4% to 7%, thus making it important to find the reasons affecting our economic growth.</p>
<h3>What is economic growth?</h3>
<p><strong>Economic growth means a rise in the real Gross Domestic Product;</strong> effectively this means a rise in the national income, national output and total expenditure. <strong>Economic growth enables a rise in living standards and greater consumption of goods and services. As a result, economic growth is often seen as the <em>'holy grail'</em> of macroeconomics.</strong></p>
<p>Economic growth can help in achieving various macroeconomic objectives such as:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Reduction in poverty</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Increased national output means households can enjoy more goods and services.</strong> For countries with significant levels of poverty, economic growth can enable vastly improved living standards. Economic growth is therefore particularly important for developing economies.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Reduced Unemployment</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A stagnant economy leads to higher rates of unemployment and the consequent social misery that follows.<strong> Economic growth leads to higher demand and firms/businesses are therefore more likely to increase hiring.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Improved public services</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Higher economic growth leads to higher tax revenues (even with tax rates staying the same).</strong> With higher growth, incomes and profit, the government receives more income tax, corporation tax and expenditure taxes. The government can then spend more on public services.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Reduced debt to GDP ratios</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Economic growth also helps in reducing debt to GDP ratios.</strong> With government having more income in its hand to spend on public good and worrying less to pay the interests on its debts.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>What is slowing the economy</h3>
<p><strong>One of the reasons of slowing down of growth can be attributed to shortage of money. While currency in circulation is not a problem, the money that much of the formal economy uses for transactions, and see as bank deposits i.e. M3 or broad money and is eight times the hard currency in circulation, is not finding its way to the market.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Our Financial system which converts base money to M3 is not functioning smoothly. When banks give new loans, they &ldquo;create&rdquo; money. When the financial system is not functioning effectively, this process of money creation slows down, and the ratio of M3 to M0 (also called the money multiplier) falls.</strong></p>
<p>This can be seen in the failure of banking sectors to extend loans to credit seekers in the era of increasing NPAs.</p>
<p><strong><a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/the-big-picture-what-ails-nbfcs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recent failure of Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs)</a>&nbsp;</strong>which had stepped in to support credit growth has resulted in restricted growth to ensure survival, as a result of which system-wide credit growth has slowed sharply.</p>
<p>Government has also failed in addressing these issues as there is a general apprehension of running into the risk of another build-up of bad loans.</p>
<p><strong>There has been a reported drop in the households&rsquo; financial savings to GDP ratio in 2017 to 9.4%</strong> highlighting the fact that there aren&rsquo;t enough savings available for both the government and the private sector to be funded adequately, which further impedes the growth.</p>
<p>There are several other challenges such as a weak and ailing real-estate market, problems in agriculture, worrying levels of external dependence in India&rsquo;s energy ecosystem, crumbling municipal infrastructure, and stagnating capital flows, among several others.</p>
<h3>Curing the ailing growth</h3>
<p><strong>One way of addressing the economic woes is to speed up the privatization of Public Sector Banks as it has been established beyond doubt that there are structural problems with a state-owned banking system.</strong></p>
<p>Reducing bank interest can also potentially boost the capacity of lenders to extend loans and, in turn, boost growth in the world&rsquo;s fastest-growing major economy.</p>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>India's growth has been impressive in recent years but this is a country whose development is hampered by endemic structural problems. India requires significant investment in infrastructure, manufacturing and agriculture for the rapid growth rates of the last fifteen to twenty years to be sustained. In order to fulfil this it needs to create a robust financial structure that can serve the needs and demands of growing nation.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Measures of Money Supply : M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The total stock of money in circulation among the public at a particular point of time is called money supply.</li>
<li>The measures of money supply in India are classified into four categories M1, M2, M3 and M4 along with M0.</li>
<li>This classification was introduced in April 1977 by Reserve Bank of India.</li>
<li><strong>Reserve Money (M0):</strong> It is also known as High-Powered Money, monetary base, base money etc.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>M0 = Currency in Circulation + Bankers&rsquo; Deposits with RBI + Other deposits with RBI.</li>
<li>It is the monetary base of the economy.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Narrow Money (M1):<br /></strong>M1 = Currency with public + Demand deposits with the Banking system (current account, saving account) + Other deposits with RBI</li>
<li><strong>M2</strong> = M1 + Savings deposits of post office savings banks</li>
<li><strong>Broad Money (M3)</strong><br />M3 = M1 + Time deposits with the banking system</li>
<li><strong>M4</strong> = M3 + All deposits with post office savings banks</li>
</ul>
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	(int) 19 => [
		'title' => 'Mahavir Jayanti',
		'catname' => 'News Analysis',
		'desc' => '<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><span>The President and Vice President of India have greeted the people on occasion of &lsquo;Mahavir Jayanti&rsquo;.</span></li>
</ul>
<h3>About Mahavir Jayanti</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mahavir Jayanti is one of the most auspicious festivals in the Jain community.</li>
<li>This day marks the<strong> birth of Vardhamana Mahavira</strong>, who was the <strong>24th</strong> and the <strong>last Tirthankara who succeeded the 23rd Tirthankara, Parshvanatha.</strong></li>
<li>According to Jain texts, Lord Mahavira was born on the 13th day of the bright half of the moon in the month of Chaitra.</li>
<li>This festival is celebrated widely by the Jain community in memory of the last spiritual teacher of the religion. A <strong>procession is called with the idol of Lord Mahavira called the Rath Yatra.</strong> <strong>Reciting stavans or Jain prayers</strong>, statues of the lord are given a<strong> ceremonial bath <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/mahamastakabhisheka-celebrations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called abhisheka.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Lord Mahavira</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mahavir was<strong> born to King Siddhartha of Kundagrama and Queen Trishala,</strong> a Lichchhavi princess in the year<strong> 540 BC in the Vajji kingdom, </strong>identical with modern day Vaishali in Bihar.</li>
<li>Mahavira belonged to the <strong>Ikshvaku dynasty.</strong></li>
<li>There are several historians who believe that he was <strong>born in a place called Ahalya bhumi</strong> and the<strong> land has not been plowed for hundreds of years</strong> by the family that owns it.</li>
<li>Lord Mahavir was named <strong>Vardhamana</strong>, which means <strong>&ldquo;one who grows&rdquo;.</strong></li>
<li>He <strong>abandoned</strong> the <strong>worldly life at the age of 30</strong> and attained<strong> &lsquo;kaivalya&rsquo; or omniscience</strong> at the<strong> age of 42.</strong></li>
<li>Mahavira taught<strong> ahimsa (non-violence)</strong>, <strong>Satya (truth)</strong>, <strong>asteya (non-stealing)</strong>, <strong>brahmacharya (chastity)</strong> and <strong>aparigraha (non-attachment)</strong> to his disciples and his <strong>teachings were called Jain Agamas.&nbsp;</strong>Ordinary people were able to&nbsp;understand the teachings of Mahavira and his followers because they used Prakrit.</li>
<li>It is believed that the <strong>Mahavira passed away and attained moksha</strong> (liberation from the cycle of birth and death) at the <strong>age of 72 in 468 BC at a place called Pavapuri</strong> near modern Rajgir in Bihar.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Jainism</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The word Jaina comes from the term <strong>Jina, meaning conqueror.</strong></li>
<li>Tirthankara is a Sanskrit word meaning <strong>'Ford maker',</strong> i.e., one who is able to ford the river, to cross beyond the perpetual flow of earthly life.</li>
<li>Jainism attaches utmost importance to ahimsa or non-violence. It preaches<strong> 5 mahavratas (the 5 great vows):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Ahimsa</strong> (Non-violence)</li>
<li><strong>Satya</strong> (Truth)</li>
<li><strong>Asteya</strong> or Acharya (Non-stealing)</li>
<li><strong>Aparigraha</strong> (Non-attachment/Non-possession)</li>
<li><strong>Brahmacharya</strong> (Celibacy/Chastity)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Among these 5 teachings, the&nbsp;<strong>Brahmacharya</strong> (Celibacy/Chastity) was added by <strong>Mahavira</strong>.</li>
<li>The<strong> three jewels or Triratna of Jainism</strong> include<strong> Samyak Darshana (right faith), Samyak Gyana (right knowledge) and Samyak Charitra (right conduct).</strong></li>
<li>Jainism is a<strong> religion of self-help</strong>. There are <strong>no gods or spiritual beings that will help human beings</strong>. It <strong>does not condemn the varna system.</strong></li>
<li>In later times, it got divided into<strong> two sects:</strong> <strong>Shvetambaras (white-clad) under Sthalabahu</strong> and <strong>Digambaras (sky-clad) under the leadership of Bhadrabahu.</strong></li>
<li>The important idea in Jainism is that the<strong> entire world is animated:</strong> even stones, rocks, and water have life. Non-injury to living beings, especially to humans, animals, plants, and insects, is central to Jaina philosophy.</li>
<li>According to Jaina teachings, the cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped through karma. Asceticism and penance are required to free oneself from the cycle of karma and achieve the <strong>liberation of the soul.</strong></li>
<li>The practice of&nbsp;<strong>Santhara</strong> is also a part of Jainism. It is the <strong>ritual of fasting unto death</strong>.<strong> Swetambara Jains call it Santhara</strong> whereas <strong>Digambars call it Sallekhana.</strong></li>
</ul>
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