EducatorIAS

In recent years, opposition MLAs in some states, such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, have broken away in small groups gradually to join the ruling party. In some of these cases, more than 2/3 rd  of the opposition has defected to the ruling party.  What is the purpose of the anti-defection law? What are the grounds of disqualification? Articles 102 (2) and 191 (2) deals with anti-defection.The intention of the provision is to check the corruption/horse trading in parliament/ to check the popular phenomenon.  The purpose, as is obvious, is to curb political defection by the legislators. There are two grounds on which a member of a legislature can be disqualified. One, if the member voluntarily gives up the membership of the party, he shall be disqualified. Voluntarily giving up the membership is not the same as resigning from a party. Even without resigning, a legislator can be disqualified if by his conduct the Speaker/Chairman of the concerned House draws a reasonable ...

Data is the new oil in the modern networked economy in pursuit of socio-economic development. The economics now is deeply rooted in data, measuring and impacting competitiveness, risks, opportunities and social welfare in an integrated manner, going much beyond macroeconomics. Growth story :The IMF now expects India to grow at 4.8 per cent this fiscal year, marginally lower than the 5 per cent projected by the National Statistical Office.  Issue :GDP growth rates during the last few years may have been overestimated by 0.36 to 2.5 percentage points. Also Recently The International Monetary Fund in its latest report has pointed out discrepancies in calculating deflation, which is used to convert GDP at current prices to constant prices What is change took place in GDP?  Two things changed in the new series, the base year as well as the database. Change of base year is a common occurrence and is done to take into consideration the changing times and the outlook of the economy. ...

India’s Significant Strides in Science and Technology in 2019   In the year 2019, India made some significant leaps in the field of science and technology. India launched "Green Crackers" in its bid to curb air pollution. The First Indigenous Fuel Cell System launched DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill - 2019 was passed by the Lok Sabha. Also, India adopted the redefined global units of measurement of kilogram, kelvin, mole and ampere from 20th May 2019 i.e. the World Metrology Day. The Ministry of Science & Technology announced key missions including Atal Jai Anusandhan Biotech Mission - Undertaking Nationally Relevant Technology Innovation (UNaTI), which is expected to transform health, agriculture and energy sectors during the next 5 years. This mission included GARBH-ini - a mission to promote maternal and child health and develop prediction tools for pre-term berth, IndCEPI - a mission to develop affordable vaccines for endemic diseases, development...

The World Economic Forum’s New Nature Economy (NNE) report: As the world prepares for the 2020 “Super Year for Nature”The World Economic Forum’s New Nature Economy (NNE) report helps bring newperspectives and stakeholder engagement to bear in tackling the urgent nature crisis. Snap short : Although the world’s 7.6 billion people represent only 0.01% of all living things by weight, humanity has already caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of all plants. Environmental costs of economic growth : Human activities have already severely altered 75% of land and 66% of marine environments.  Around 25% of assessed plant and animal species are threatened by human actions, with a million species facing extinction, many within decades. Ecosystems have declined in size and condition by 47% globally compared to estimated baselines.  The destruction of mangroves, peatlands and tropical forests for agriculture and other uses contributes to 13% of tota...

Make in India : Back ground :The ‘Make in India’ initiative was launched in 2014 with the objective of promoting India as an important investment destination and a global hub in manufacturing, design and innovation. This initiative aims to create a conducive environment for investment, development of modern and efficient infrastructure, opening up new sectors for foreign investment and forging a partnership between Government and industry through a positive mind set. Targets :The three major objectives were:  (a) to increase the manufacturing sector’s growth rate to 12-14% per annum in order to increase the sector’s share in the economy;  (b) to create 100 million additional manufacturing jobs in the economy by 2022; and  (c) to ensure that the manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP is increased to 25% by 2022 (revised to 2025) from the current 16%. The policy approach was to create a conducive environment for investments, develop modern and efficient infr...

Snapshot :The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has started collecting data regarding sexual harassment at workplace under the category of insult to the modesty of women (section 509 of IPC) at office premises since 2014. A total number of 57, 119 and 142 cases were registered during 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively under this. Overview  : Sexual harassment is defined to include unwelcome sexually determined behaviour such as physical contact, request for sexual favours, sexually coloured remarks, screening of pornography, or any other conduct of sexual nature.  The Act defines sexual harassment at the work place and creates a mechanism for redressal of complaints.  It also provides safeguards against false or malicious charges.  Every employer is required to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee at each office or branch with 10 or more employees.  The District Officer is required to constitute a Local Complaints Committee at each district, and if requ...

According to #KeepItOn coalition, a global movement of over 150 organisations across 60 countries working together to fight internet shutdowns, India was responsible for 67 per cent of the world’s documented shutdowns in 2018. Most of these were reported from Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Since 2014, there have been 370 shutdowns ordered by the Centre and various State governments, of which nearly 100 shutdowns were reported in 2019 alone, according to internetshutdown.in We live in an age where administrative authorities have been empowered to exercise discretionary powers, the position holders in the administration exercise wide discretionary powers and these powers cannot be used arbitrarily, therefore to keep a check on them, the doctrine of proportionality is used? What is Doctrine of Proportionality? Proportionality’ is a principle where the Court is concerned with the process, method or manner in which the decision-maker has o...

SUMMARY India offers the largest diversified production base and has a growing food industry. India is:  World’s largest milk producing nation World’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices World’s second largest producer of food grains, fruits, and vegetables. 1 The total geographical area of India is 328.7 mn ha and the Gross Cropped Area is 200.9 mn ha with a cropping intensity of 142% in 2016-17. 2 The reported Net Sown Area as recorded in 2014-15 is 140.1 mn ha. 3 As per the National Agricultural Research Project (NARP), India has been divided into 127 agro-climatic zones. Out of the total 42 Mega Food Parks sanctioned, 17 Food Parks have been operationalized as on May 2019. 4 Nivesh Bandhu is an investor facilitation portal to assist investors on the investment decisions. A special fund of $285 Mn has been set up in National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for affordable credit. 5 Loans to food & agro-based proce...

The small and micro industries usually face difficulties in mobilizing the capital to set up their industries and also market their products in competitive environment.  In order to address these difficulties and support, not only setting up of micro industries but to make them sustainable, KVIC provides margin money subsidy under PMEGP scheme so that more and more  micro industries can be promoted and employment opportunities could be generated. To promote these micro enterprises in the country, KVIC implements one of the major programme namely Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP). PMEGP is a credit linked subsidy scheme, for setting up of new micro-enterprises and to generate employment opportunities in rural as well as urban areas of the country.   General category beneficiaries can avail of margin money subsidy of 25% of the project cost to set up projects in rural areas and 15% in urban areas where as for beneficiaries belonging to SC/ST...

Is Indian economy moving towards stagflation  Background :In the mid-1970s, stagflation was used to describe the period when the United States faced a prolonged slump and high unemployment along with rising inflation. It was mainly on the back of OPEC's decision to cut oil supplies. As a result, the oil prices reached new heights and hampering productive capacity. The US Fed tried to address the issue by rate cuts and boosting money supply but output couldn't rise much due to low productivity and oil shortage. So, all that extra money just triggered inflation.This peculiar situation gave a second thought to the popular Keynesian philosophy of that time. According to Keynesian philosophy, inflation should have an inverse relationship with unemployment, and an affirmative relationship with economic growth. At present in India ,the rise in retail price inflation to a nearly six-year high of 7.35% in December2019 has led to increasing worries that the Indian economy may be headed t...

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.   Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.  Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans. coronavirus Are there any precautionary measures? The story so far:  On December 31, 2019, China informed the World Health Organization (WHO) of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of an unknown cause in Wuhan City in Hubei province. A few patients in Wuhan had been suffering from respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia since early D...