Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Recently, two 40-ft containers of wood laminate sheets from Russia’s Astrakhan port crossed the Caspian Sea and eventually reach Nhava Shiva port in Mumbai. The journey signalled the launch of the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

• It is a 7,200-km multi-modal transport corridor that combines road, rail and maritime routes connecting Russia and India via Central Asia and Iran. The corridor is expected to consolidate the emerging Eurasian Free Trade Area.
• The legal framework for the INSTC is provided by a trilateral agreement signed by India, Iran and Russia at the Euro-Asian Conference on Transport in 2000.

The International North-South Transport Corridor(INSTC):

• INSTC was first proposed in 2000 to improve connectivity between Russia, Central Asian states, and India.
• It is a 7,200-km-long multi-modal connectivity project to establish transport networks (ship, rail, and road route). It will be used for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe, and Central Asia. It will cut costs and time in moving cargo.
• Members: It includes 13 countries namely India, Iran, Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Oman, Syria, and Ukraine.
• Dry runs of two routes were conducted in 2014 to identify and address key bottlenecks. The two routes were:
• The first was Mumbai to Baku via Bandar Abbas and
• The second was Mumbai to Astrakhan via Bandar Abbas, Tehran, and Bandar Anzali.
• However, the project has been slow to take off. Despite a renewed focus on INSTC by India and Russia, work was again hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• India’s investment in the INSTC is exemplified by its involvement in Iran’s Chabahar port and the construction of a 500-km Chabahar-Zahedan railway line.
• Once completed, this infrastructure will allow India access to Afghanistan and central Asia, a prospect strengthened by the Taliban government’s support for the project.
• A special economic zone around Chabahar will offer Indian companies the opportunity to set up a range of industries.
• Lines of credit will be extended to Iran by Exim Bank.

Significance of INSTC:

• Increase in Bilateral Trade: It has been predicted that improved transport connectivity will increase bilateral trade volumes between Russia, Central Asia, Iran, and India.
• Shorter and Cheaper Route: As per the study by the Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India, INSTC route is 30% cheaper and 40% shorter than the current traditional route.
• INSTC has economic and strategic relevance to India due to China’s ambitious One Belt, One Road Initiative. Hence, the proposed INSTC trade corridor could help India secure its interests in Central Asia and beyond.
• Integration with Ashgabat Agreement: The INSTC can integrate with the Ashgabat agreement.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Donations through electoral bonds to political parties have gone up by Rs 389.5 crore to Rs 10,246 crore in the 21st sale of the financial instruments since they were launched in 2018.

As per the provisions of the EB Scheme, only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly, as the case may be, are eligible to receive electoral bonds.

The Electoral Bonds

• The Electoral Bonds are the non-interest-bearing financial instruments. 
• These Electoral bonds allow eligible donors to pay eligible political parties using banks as an intermediary. 
• The Electoral Bonds aim to ensure transparency in the funding of political parties.
• The State Bank of India (SBI) issues electoral bonds in the months of January, April, July, and October.
• The electoral bonds are available in denominations from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore.
• The donors can buy electoral bonds and transfer them into the accounts of the political parties as a donation. The name of the donor is kept confidential.
• Political parties will create a specific account. This account will be verified by the ECI. The political parties will encash the electoral bonds only in this verified account.
• The bonds will remain valid for 15 days. Within that time, the political parties have to encash the electoral bond in the designated accounts.

Need for Electoral Bonds

• These bonds are aimed to reduce anonymous cash donations made to political parties.
• The Electoral bonds encourage political donations of clean money. 

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

After the success of the Co-WIN platform, the government is looking to repurpose the technology for various healthcare cases.

• CoWIN is currently being repurposed for the universal immunisation program (UIP).
• It will bring the ease of discovery of vaccination centres/camps and reminders for subsequent vaccinations for preventable diseases for mothers.
• The addition of digitally verifiable certificates for routine immunisation would be the first of its kind globally and a great way to start building longitudinal health records for a child right from its birth.
• In addition to immunisation, the platform would also be considered for the use-cases of blood donation and organ donation in the months to come.
• Additional of digitally verifiable certificates for routine immunisation would be the first of its kind globally and a great way to start building longitudinal health records for a child right from its birth.
• In addition to immunisation, the platform would also be considered for the use-cases of blood donation and organ donation in the months to come.

Co-WIN App (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network)

• It was launched by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• It is a digitalised platform to help agencies keep a track of Covid-19 vaccination programme and allow Indian citizens to apply for a Covid-19 vaccine shot.
• Co-WIN, a cloud-based IT platform, is supposed to handle minute details for India’s Covid-19 immunisation programme, including registering beneficiaries, allocating vaccination centres, sending text messages with name of their vaccinator to beneficiaries and live monitoring of vials in cold storage.

Functions

• Monitoring and Tracking: It enables monitoring the inoculation drive and tracking the listed beneficiaries for vaccination on a real-time basis.
• Thus, it also helps to counter proxy vaccinations.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

India’s largest floating solar plant in now fully operational at Ramagundam in Telangana. It is a 100-megawatt(MW) floating solar power photovoltaic project commissioned by the National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC). 

Features 

• The project is endowed with advanced technology and Environment-friendly features.
• The solar modules are placed across 500 acres on floaters manufactured with high-density polyethene material that keeps floating irrespective of water-level fluctuations
• This project is also unique in the sense that all the electrical equipment including inverter, transformer, HT panel, and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) are also on floating Ferro cement platforms.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Prime Minister launched the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX), India’s first International Bullion Exchange in GIFT-IFSC.

• India is a major player in the global gold market but largely a price taker. 
• The exchange may help increase India’s role in price discovery in the global market and help India become a major trading hub in Asia.

India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX)

• IIBX will facilitate efficient price discovery with the assurance of responsible sourcing and quality, apart from giving impetus to the financialisation of gold in India. 
• It will empower India to gain its rightful place in the global bullion market and serve the global value chain with integrity and quality.
• IIBX also re-enforces the commitment of the Government of India towards enabling India to be able to influence global bullion prices as a principal consumer.

Advantages of Bullion Exchange

• The exchange will be an additional platform for gold imports into the country in addition to banks and nominated agencies.
• The platform will help with efficient price discovery and provide additional transparency in transactions.
• It will also give an option to trade gold and silver in the US dollar.
• Since gift city is a free trade zone, no duty will be paid.

NSE IFSC-SGX

• It connect is a framework between NSE’s subsidiary in the GIFT International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX). 
• Under Connect, all orders on NIFTY derivatives placed by members of Singapore Exchange will be routed to and matched on the NSE-IFSC order matching and trading platform. 
• Broker-Dealers from India and across international jurisdictions are expected to participate in large numbers for trading derivatives through Connect.  
• It will deepen liquidity in derivative markets at GIFT-IFSC, bringing in more international participants and creating a positive impact on the financial ecosystem in the GIFT-IFSC.

GIFT City 

• GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) was envisaged as an integrated hub for financial and technology services not just for India but for the world. 
• IFSCA is the unified regulator for the development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in India.
• The building has been conceptualised as an iconic structure, reflective of the growing prominence and stature of GIFT-IFSC as a leading International Financial Centre.
• It  is located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

 International Financial Services Centres Authority

• It was established in April 2020 under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.
• It is headquartered at GIFT City, Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

Powers

• All powers exercisable by the respective financial sector regulatory (viz. Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, IRDAI, etc.) under the respective Acts shall be solely exercised by the Authority in the IFSCs in so far as the regulation of financial products, financial services and FIs that are permitted in the IFSC are concerned.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Ministry of Port, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) in association with India Ports Global observed ‘Chabahar Day’ to mark the Chabahar – Link to INSTC – Connecting Central Asian Markets in Mumbai today.

• Foreign official from Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan were present on the occasion.
• INSTC (International North-South Transport Corridor) is India’s vision and initiative to reduce the time taken for EXIM shipments to reach Russia, Europe, and enter the central Asian markets. 
• The Chabahar Port located in Iran is the commercial transit center for the region and especially Central Asia.
• The port is being developed by India, Iran and Afghanistan to boost trade ties among the three countries in the wake of Pakistan denying transit access to New Delhi.

Chabahar Port

• It is a seaport in Chabahar located in southeastern Iran, It is located on the Makran coast of Sistan and Baluchistan Province, next to the Gulf of Oman and at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz. 
• It is the only Iranian port with direct access to the Indian Ocean and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti. 
• It is considered to be a major transit point to connect with several Central Asian countries.
• Being close to Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan etc., it has been termed the “Golden Gate” to these land-locked countries.

International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC)

• The port is also seen as a feeder port to the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) that has sea, rail and road routes between India, Russia, Iran, Europe, and Central Asia. 
• The INSTC was expanded to include eleven new members, namely: the Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Ukraine, Republic of Belarus, Oman, Syria, Bulgaria (Observer).
• It envisions a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail and road route for transporting freight, aimed at reducing the carriage cost between India and Russia by about 30% and bringing down the transit time from 40 days by more than half.
• This corridor connects India Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via the Islamic Republic of Iran and then is connected to St. Petersburg and North Europe via the Russian Federation.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is the proposal to replace the personal laws with a common law for property, marriage, divorce, inheritance and succession for all religions. Article 44 of the Constitution of India mentions that the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India. Both the Union and State Governments have the power to enact laws on issues related to marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption etc. under the Item 5 of the Concurrent List (Seventh Schedule). The Governments of several States are contemplating on the enactment of UCC in their respective States.

• The demand for a Uniform Civil Code was first put forward by women activists in the beginning of the twentieth century, with the objective of women’s rights, equality and secularism. 
• The Constituent Assembly had put the UCC under the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) having considered the UCC as desirable but voluntary.

Advantages of implementing the UCC

• Equality: India is a secular democracy. A common civil and personal law in India would ensure equality among all its citizens, irrespective of their religion, class, caste, gender etc.
• Reduce Gender Discrimination: Personal laws of almost all religions are discriminatory towards women. Men are usually granted upper status in personal laws. Uniform civil code will bring both men and women at par and would reduce discrimination against women.
• Societal Reforms: Existing personal laws are mainly based on the patriarchal notions of the society in all religions. 
• Simplify Legal Matters: UCC will simplify the cumbersome legal matters governed by personal laws. It will also help in speedy disposal of cases and reduce burden on the judiciary.
• National Integration: A Uniform Civil Code will eliminate the scope of politicisation of issues of perceived discrimination or concessions/special privileges enjoyed by communities on the basis of their religious personal laws.

Challenges 

• Diverse Personal Laws and Customary Practices: There is huge diversity in the customary practices among communities across India. This makes uniformity very difficult to achieve. 
• False Perceptions: There are still false perceptions about the UCC among the communities. This makes a rational debate on its implementation quite difficult.
• Violation of Fundamental Rights: There is an apprehension that the uniform civil code may be in conflict with the fundamental rights of freedom of conscience of free profession, practice and propagation of religions (Article 25), and the freedom to manage religious affairs (Article 26).
• Political Willpower: The Judiciary has asked the Government multiple times to enact a UCC. The government lacks the will to face the consequences of abolishing the personal laws of the religions and to convince the people about the benefits of UCC.

UCC in its true spirit, must be brought about by making gradual changes. As recommended by the Law Commission, the focus should be on ending discriminatory practices against women, rather than enforcing uniformity. Resolve the contentious issues like UCC, common consensus of all the stakeholders is needed.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

The Supreme Court while allowing the Maharashtra government to implement the Banthia Commission report recommending 27% OBC reservation in state local bodies, had specifically excluded the 367 local bodies from the ambit of reservation as the election programme.

Contempt of Court

• Contempt of court, as a concept that seeks to protect judicial institutions from motivated attacks and unwarranted criticism, and as a legal mechanism to punish those who lower its authority
• This follows the initiation of contempt proceedings by the Supreme Court of India, on its own motion.

There are two types of contempt of Court:

1. Civil Contempt
2. Criminal Contempt

• Civil contempt of Court: Under Section 2(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act of 1971, civil contempt has been defined as willful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ, or other processes of a court or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court.
• Criminal Contempt of Court: It is defined under Section 2(c) of Contempt of Court Act, 1971. According to which criminal contempt is any publication which may result in:
• Scandalizing the Court by lowering its authority.
• Interference in the due course of a judicial proceeding.
• Creates an obstruction in the administration of justice.

Source of Contempt Law

• The contempt powers of the Supreme Court trace their source to different provisions in the Constitution of India, namely, Article 32, 129, 131, 139A, and 142(2).
• Article 129: “The Supreme Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself”
• Article 215: “Every High Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself”
• High Courts have been given special powers to punish contempt of subordinate courts, as per Section 10 of The Contempt of Courts Act of 1971.
• High Courts do not have the power to initiate contempt proceedings of the Supreme Court, if there is contempt of the Supreme Court then only the Supreme Court can initiate the contempt proceeding.
• Article 142(2): Enables the Supreme Court to investigate and punish any person for its contempt. 

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Indian Navy has created maritime history today by taking delivery of the prestigious Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) ‘Vikrant from her builder Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Kochi.

• Designed by Indian Navy’s inhouse Directorate of Naval Design (DND) and built by CSL, a Public Sector Shipyard under Ministry of Shipping (MoS), the carrier is christened after her illustrious predecessor.
• India’s first Aircraft Carrier which played a vital role in the 1971 war. 
• With an overall indigenous content of 76%, IAC is a perfect example of the nation’s quest for “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat” and provides thrust to Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. 
• Vikrant has been built with high degree of automation for machinery operation, ship navigation and survivability, and has been designed to accommodate an assortment of fixed wing and rotary aircraft. 
• The ship would be capable of operating air wing consisting of 30 aircraft comprising of MIG-29K fighter jets, Kamov-31, MH-60R multi-role helicopters, in addition to indigenously manufactured Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) (Navy).
• Using a novel aircraft-operation mode known as STOBAR (Short Take-Off but Arrested Landing), the IAC is equipped with a ski- jump for launching aircraft, and a set of ‘arrester wires’ for their recovery onboard.

Significance

• The reincarnation of Vikrant is a true testimony to the country’s zeal and fervor in pursuing capability build-up towards enhanced maritime security.
• With the delivery of Vikrant, India has joined a select group of nations having the niche capability to indigenously design and build an Aircraft Carrier.
• The indigenisation efforts has also led to development of ancillary industries, besides generation of employment opportunities and bolstering plough back effect on economy, both locally as well as pan-India.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

According to SonicWall, a US-based cybersecurity firm’s report, Cryptojacking attacks on computer systems have gone up by 30% to 66.7 million in the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of last year.

Cryptojacking 

• Cryptojacking is a cyber attack wherein a computing device is hijacked and controlled by the attacker, and its resources are used to illicitly mine cryptocurrency.
• In most cases, the malicious programme is installed when the user clicks on an unsafe link, or visits an infected website and unknowingly provides access to their Internet-connected device.

Reasons Behind Cryptojacking

• Coin mining is a legitimate, competitive process used to release new crypto coins into circulation or to verify new transactions. 
• It involves solving complex computational problems to generate blocks of verified transactions that get added to the blockchain. 
• The reward for the first miner who successfully manages to update the crypto ledger through this route is crypto coins.
• But the race to crack this crypto code needs considerable computing power involving state-of-the-art hardware and electrical power to keep the systems involved up and running.
• Cryptojackers co-opt devices, servers and cloud infrastructure, and use their resources for mining. The use of ‘stolen’ or cryptojacked resources slashes the cost involved in mining.

Concerns

• Cryptojacking is hard to detect and the victims of these attacks mostly remain unaware that their systems have been compromised.
• Some telltale signs are the device slowing down, heating up or the battery getting drained faster than usual.