Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

• The Government has issued a slew of rules for the media under a new policy on accreditation for journalists. The Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022 have outlined the conditions for withdrawal of accreditation if a journalist acts in a manner prejudicial to the country’s security, sovereignty and integrity, friendly relations with foreign states, public order or is charged with a serious cognisable offence.
•  Most of the provisions are drawn from Article 19(2) of the Constitution which prescribes the restrictions to free speech guaranteed to every citizen of the country and are understood to serve as guidelines for the press and media.

How is this different from the past?

• The guidelines prepared by the Ministry of Information and Broadcastingare more in the nature of proscriptions rather than prescriptions.
• In laying down the conditions for withdrawal of accreditation, they serve more as censorship rules rather than guidelines.
• Previous guidelineswere more general in nature and did mention that accreditation would be withdrawn if found to be misused. In the new guidelines, there are 10 provisions under which accreditation to a journalist can be withdrawn.
• Accreditation of Journalists, to the PIB, a process that is completed after a mandatory security check from the Ministry of Home Affairs:
  • A journalist with aminimum of five years as a full-time working journalist can apply for accreditation to the PIB.
  • Anyjournalist working with a newspaper which has a daily circulation of 10,000;
  • news agencies with at least 100 subscribersand digital news platforms with 10 lakh unique visitors can apply.
• Accreditation helps in access to government offices and to special events and functions organised by the Government of India. Some Ministries like Home and Defence and Finance allow access only to accredited journalists.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

• The advent of social media has no doubt changed how diplomacy is conducted between countries.
• Recently several Multinational consumer brands – particularly Korean carmaker Hyundai and Kia, and American food chain KFC – faced a big social-media backlash over tweets and Instagram/Facebook post sent out by their dealers and outlets in Pakistan, talking about “Kashmir Solidarity Day” and “right to freedom”.
• The posts, that appeared to be part of a coordinated exercise sponsored by the Pakistani establishment, were put out on February 5 — marked in Pakistan as “Kashmir Solidarity Day” — and contained what New Delhi termed as highly offensive messages calling for “Kashmiri liberation”.
• The Government’s outrage was valid, given that these companies, including Hyundai, Toyota, KFC, Pizza Hut, and pharma major Schwabe, also have flourishing businesses in India, and it was strange that private MNCs would post such politically charged messaging at all.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context

• While the overall budgetary allocation towards the agricultural sector has marginally increased by 4.4% in the Union Budget 2022-23, the rate of increase is lower than the current inflation rate of 5.5%-6%.
• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report for 2001 to 2019 shows that, globally, India is among the top 10 countries in terms of government spending in agriculture, constituting a share of around 7.3% of its total government expenditure.
• However, India lags behind several low-income countries such as Malawi (18%), Mali (12.4%), Bhutan (12%), Nepal (8%), as well as upper middle-income countries such as Guyana (10.3%) and China (9.6%).

India’s low rank in Agriculture Orientation Index (AOI)

• It was developed as part of the Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 emphasizes an increase in investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, development of technology to enhance agricultural productivity and eradication of poverty in middle- and lower-income countries.
• The AOI is calculated by dividing the agriculture share of government expenditure by the agriculture value added share of GDP.
  • In other words, it measures the ratio between government spending towards the agricultural sector and the sector’s contribution to GDP.
• India’s index is one of the lowest, reflecting that the spending towards the agricultural sector is not commensurate with the sector’s contribution towards GDP.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister recently met his counterpart in New Delhi, as part of the ongoing high-level, and increasingly frequent, bilateral engagement between the neighbours.
• New Delhi’s economic assistance to Colombo in recent weeks has made a “world of difference”.
• There have been significant developments in the relations in recent times.

India’s assistance

• Beginning January 2022, India has been providing crucial economic support to the island nation in the grip of a severe dollar crisis that, many fear, might lead to a sovereign default, and a severe shortage of essentials in the import-reliant country.
  • Basil sort emergency assistance from India when Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves dropped to $1.6 billionin November 2021, leaving no dollars for importing essentials, or meeting debt obligations.
• The relief extended by India from the beginning of this year totals over $1.4 billion
  • a $400 million currency swap,
  • a $500 million loan defermentand
  • a $500 million Line of Creditfor fuel imports.
  • Sri Lanka is further negotiating $1 billionassistance from India to help the near 22 million-strong country as it faces an unprecedented economic crisis.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context

• Recently, Philippines signed a $374.96 million deal with BrahMos Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. for the supply of shore based anti-ship variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.
• The Philippines contract includes delivery of three BrahMos missile batteries, training for operators and maintainers as well as the necessary Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) package. The coastal defence regiment of the Philippine Marines, which is under the Navy, will be the primary employer of the missile system.
• This is the first export order for the missile which is a joint product between India and Russia and also the biggest defence export contract of the country.
• This adds impetus to the efforts to boost defence exports and meet the ambitious target set by the Government to achieve a manufacturing turnover of $25 billion or ₹1,75,000 crore including exports of ₹35,000 crore in aerospace and defence goods and services by 2025.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:  

• Despite the cancellation of the Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the WTO late last year (November -December, 2021) due to COVID-19, digital trade negotiations continue their ambitious march forward.
•  On December 14, Australia, Japan, and Singapore, co-convenors of the plurilateral Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on e-commerce, welcomed the ‘substantial progress’ made at the talks over the past three years and stated that they expected a convergence on more issues by the end of 2022.
• Given the increasingly fragmented global trading landscape and the rising importance of the global digital economy, can India tailor its engagement with the WTO to better accommodate its economic and geopolitical interests?

Holding out:

• The JSI members account for over 90% of global trade, and the initiative welcomes newer entrants. However, over half of WTO members (largely from the developing world) continue to opt out of these negotiations. They fear being arm-twisted into accepting global rules that could etiolate domestic policymaking and economic growth.
• India and South Africa have led the resistance and been the JSI’s most vocal critics. India has thus far resisted pressures from the developed world to jump onto the JSI bandwagon, largely through coherent legal argumentation against the JSI and a long-term developmental vision.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

The inaugural India-Central Asia Summit, the India-Central Asia Dialogue, and the Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan in New Delhi — all held over the past four months — collectively indicate a renewed enthusiasm in New Delhi to engage the Central Asian region.

• India has limited economic and other stakes in the region, primarily due to lack of physical access.
• And yet, the region appears to have gained a great deal of significance in India’s strategic thinking over the years, particularly in the recent past.
• India’s mission Central Asia today reflects, and is responsive to, the new geopolitical, if not the geo-economic, realities in the region.
• More so, India’s renewed engagement of Central Asia is in the right direction for the simple reason that while the gains from an engagement of Central Asia may be minimal, the disadvantages of non-engagement could be costly in the longer run.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget announcement that the Government proposes to conduct the “required spectrum auctions” in 2022 to facilitate the roll-out of 5G mobile phone services in fiscal 2022-23 has understandably triggered speculation including about the feasibility of the timeline.
• Commenting on the Budget announcement, Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said TRAI was expected to submit its recommendations on the spectrum to be set aside for 5G by March, adding that the auction for the airwaves would be held soon after.
• While last week’s flurry of announcements have raised the possibility that the next auction of telecom spectrum may be held within the next few months, there is little clarity on the approach the Government plans to take with regard to the crucial issues surrounding the introduction of 5G services.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context

• Finance Minister , in her Budget 2022 speech on Tuesday (February 1), announced a 30 per cent taxon income from virtual digital assets.
• As per the minister, the phenomenal rise in such transactions and the magnitude and frequency of these transactions has made it imperative to provide for a specific tax regime.
• Additionally, a TDS on payment made in relation to the transfer of virtual digital assets at 1 per cent above a monetary threshold is also proposed.

More on the news

• In short, the finance minister has proposed a flat 30 per cent tax on digital asset gains regardless of any long-term or short-term holding by the investor.
• Additionally, if a virtual digital asset investor incurs losses during the transaction, it can’t be set off against any other income.
• The gifting of virtual digital assets has also been proposed to be taxed in the hands of the recipient.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Context

• The Union government informed the Delhi High Court earlier this week that it was having a relook at its position spelt out over five years ago.
• In 2017, the Government had opposed the removal of the statutory exception in Section 375 of the IPC for rape committed by a husband on his wife, if she is not below 18 years of age.
• The remarks of the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, in Parliament also do not throw much light on the matter.
  • She merely said the Government was engaged in a process to introduce comprehensive amendments to criminal law, indicating perhaps that the criminalising of marital rape is unlikely to be taken up in isolation.
  • She observed that it would not be advisable to condemn every marriage as a violent one, and every man a rapist.

• One can only interpret this as a sign that the Government is quite wary of agreeing with the body of opinion that favours recognising rape as something that could happen within a marriage too.
• In 2016, the Government hadrejected the concept of marital rape, saying it “cannot be applied to the Indian context due to various factors like level of education/illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs and the mindset of the society to treat marriage as a sacrament”.
• The Delhi government recently informed the High Courtthat marital rape is already covered as a crime of cruelty under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It also said that the courts have no power to legislate any new offence.