Syllabus subtopic: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests
Prelims and Mains focus: about the SCO meeting to be hosted by India; likely implications of worsening Indo-Pak relations on the meeting; about SCO: members and significance; about RATS
News: Leaders of India and Pakistan are expected to come face-to-face at a meeting of the heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to be hosted by India later this year.
About the meeting
India-Pakistan deteriorating relations
About Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
About Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS)
Source: Livemint
Syllabus subtopic: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interests, Indian diaspora.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the new law passed by Tibet and its significance; the dalai lama tradition
News: For the first time, Tibet has passed a law making ethnic unity mandatory, reflecting the significant role it plays in the sensitive remote Himalayan region's economic and social development.
About the new law
Tibet’s demography
All is not well in Tibet
Similar law introduced in Xinjiang 4 years ago
Like Tibet, Xinjiang is a region of China that houses multiple ethnic minorities. Legislation to promote ‘ethnic unity’ was passed in Xinjiang four years ago.
Since then, China has faced severe international criticism for detaining mainly Uighur Muslims from Xinjiang in camps that Beijing says are meant to give employment training. The ethnic unity law has been used to crack down on Uighurs in Xinjiang.
The Dalai Lama Tradition
Dalai means Ocean and Lama mean Monk. The spiritual leader of Tibetans is therefore called the Dalai Lama since they are assumed to be Oceans of Compassion. They belong to the latest school of Tibetan Buddhism, the “Gelug” or “Yellow Hat” School.
Selection of dalai lama
The process of their selection is also a very unique one. Legend goes that Dalai Lamas are “found” not selected. A few years after the first Dalai Lama passed away, a child proclaimed that he had the spirit of the Dalai Lama. After strong proofs of his enlightenment, the High Lamas took him seriously. He was announced to be the next Dalai Lama. Since then, it is believed that Dalai Lamas are tulkus, enlightened beings who can control when they will be reincarnated and as whom. This is different from popular Hindu belief where reincarnation is due their Karma
Source: Indian Express
Syllabus subtopic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the RS committee’s visit; details of the bill and the concerns raised against the bill
News: With appeals for review of provisions in the proposed surrogacy law, members of the Rajya Sabha select committee, which is examining the Bill, will visit Anand in Gujarat, known as the surrogacy capital of India, to consult stakeholders, even as there are signals that the panel may consider prospects of allowing single parents and live-in couples to opt for surrogacy.
Background
About the committee’s visit to Anand in Gujarat
The 23-member House committee will begin their four-day field visit from January 21 and meet stakeholders, including surrogate parents and doctors at IVF clinics and try to study the clinic system
Source: Indian Express
Syllabus subtopic: Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the seven points referred to larger bench; concerns raised by the lawyers; sabarimala case
News: A nine-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde on Monday said its objective was not to review the Sabarimala women entry case but examine “larger issues” of law like the prohibition of women from entering mosques and temples to genital mutilation among Dawoodi Bohras and the banning of Parsi women who married inter-faith from entering the fire temple.
Basis of judicial enquiry
Chief Justice Bobde explained that the basis of the Bench's judicial enquiry would be seven questions referred to a larger Bench by a five-judge Bench on November 14, 2019.
Background
Directive to lawyers
The CJI asked lawyers involved in the case to hold a conference on January 17 to reframe/add issues to be examined by the nine-judge Bench. The court posted the case for hearing after three weeks.
When lawyers sought to remind the court that the case challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was scheduled for January 22 and the hearing before the nine-judge Bench ought to be heard without a break, the CJI said cases were being heard “chronologically”.
The CJI explained that the nine-judge Bench was only examining propositions of law raised about religious practices believed to be essential to various religions. The Bench would not go into the individual facts of the various petitions that make the body of the case before it.
Concerns raised by the lawyers
Source: The Hindu
Syllabus subtopic: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections
Prelims and Mains focus: about the report of NCSK and its findings; the menace of manual scavenging and the efforts of the govt. to curb it
News: Of the 926 deaths inside sewers in the country, from 1993 till December 31, 2019, families of 172 victims were yet to receive compensation, with Gujarat having the highest number of cases where the amount was not paid or the payment was unconfirmed (48), while Maharashtra was yet to pay or confirm payment of compensation in any of its 32 cases, according to data from the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK).
Status report of the states
Source: The Hindu
Syllabus subtopic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the inflation targeting framework, repo rate; CPI; MPC
News: Last year, there were calls to review RBI’s inflation targeting framework. With the term of the current monetary policy committee ending in September, it’s time to review the performance of the rate-setting framework
What are the terms of the policy framework?
In 2016, the government amended the Reserve Bank of India Act (1934) and institutionalized a framework for a monetary policy committee (MPC), which was mandated to maintain price stability while keeping the objective of growth. MPC was given a policy tool of the repo rate in order to ensure inflation was within a target level. The inflation target given to MPC was 4%, with 6% as the upper tolerance level and 2% as the lower tolerance level. That is, MPC was supposed to adjust the repo rate in order to ensure that inflation stayed within two percentage points of the target of 4%.
How does the current framework function?
MPC meets every two months and decides the policy rate based on the available data. MPC’s primary mandate is to curb inflation and it looks at consumer price index (CPI) figures as the preferred indicator of inflation. There is a neutral real repo rate, which is the policy rate at which monetary policy is neither accommodative nor contractionary. Therefore, in the event of higher inflation (or higher than potential growth), MPC would have a real policy rate higher than the neutral real rate. That is, it will increase the interest rates. Conversely, in the event of lower-than-target inflation, MPC would cut the repo rate.
Okay, so what is India’s neutral real repo rate?
There is no official paper on India’s neutral real rate. When Raghuram Rajan was RBI governor, it was believed to be 1.5-2%. Since the adoption of the monetary policy framework, in response to a question during the first MPC press briefing, one of the members indicated that the rate could be 1.25%. The neutral real rate is not a constant and changes from time to time.
Why are our real rates higher than the target?
Focusing solely on retail inflation targeting would be problematic at a time when the food inflations is high and actual GDP growth is lower than the potential GDP growth. This could very well be the case in January and next month. Figures released on Monday showed December retail inflation at 7.35%, driven primarily by onions and vegetables. There’s evidence to suggest that monetary policy has little or no impact on food inflation. The framework thus needs to be revised to look at our real policy rates.
What are the changes being argued for?
The current inflation target given for five years expires in 2021. With MPC’s term ending in September, it is time to objectively look at the performance of the framework. Many believe we have sacrificed growth due to an overtly hawkish stance and that a target for growth rate should be included, besides a mandate for financial stability. Else, revisit the 4% inflation target and mandate that MPC considers wholesale price inflation with CPI while framing monetary policy.
Source: Livemint
Syllabus subtopic: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the concerns raised by the operators and the vendors; 5G technology; its advantages and challenges for the govt. in its rollout
News: The build-up to introducing 5G services in India is likely to be marred by more acrimony as operators and vendors claimed that onerous conditions laid out by the government will make 5G trials a costly affair even as commercial uses for the new technology have not been established.
What are the requirements set by the govt.?
Background
Challeneges for operators and vendors
India’s 5G ambition vis-a-vis other countries
About 5G technology
5G is the next generation of wireless technology and will boost data speeds and propel the Internet of Things, with the potential to bring radical changes in agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and education.
Note: to read about India’s 5G rollout in detail, click on the link below:
https://www.thehindu.com/business/how-will-a-5g-network-power-the-future/article27698653.ece
Source: Livemint
Syllabus subtopic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the spike in retail inflation; its causes and implications
News: Retail inflation soared to a five and a half year high of 7.35% in December 2019, with the shortage of onions driving the surge.
Background
The last time retail inflation was this high was the 7.39% recorded in July 2014, just after PM Modi began his first term in office.
What led to this spike in retail inflation?
Inflation targeting by the RBI
Source: The Hindu
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