UPSC Key—4 August, 2023: Gyanvapi mosque, Electoral Bonds and India’s Nuclear Journey

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance and History of India

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Clearing the decks for a survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex by the Archaeological Survey of India, the Allahabad High Court Thursday dismissed a challenge by mosque caretaker Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee. The bench of Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker restored the July 21 order of the Varanasi district court which also instructed the ASI to “find out” whether the “present structure” was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”.

• Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque controversy- What is the issue thus far?

• For Your Information-The Gyanvapi mosque stands adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi. According to the available historical record, it was built in the 17th century on the orders of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after destroying the original Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The present temple was subsequently built next to the mosque by the orders of Queen Ahilya Bai Holkar in the late 18th century. The decades-old litigation around the mosque has gained momentum over the last year or so after five Hindu women sought the right to worship Maa Shrinagar Gauri on the outer wall of the mosque complex. The matter has since moved from a magistrate’s court to a district court, to the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court, and then back to the district court and the High Court.

• What are the historical claims with respect to Gyanvapi mosque?

• What exactly Allahabad High Court (HC) on Wednesday said?

• Gyanvapi Mosque-Know the Style and Architecture

• Kashi Vishwanath Temple Architecture-Know in detail

• How did the Supreme Court enter the picture?

• What Supreme Court said in this matter?

• For Your Information-The Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque, moved the top court arguing that the proceedings were an attempt to change the religious character of the mosque. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, bars the conversion of the religious character of a place of worship from how it existed on August 15, 1947. The only exception to this law was the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex, which was standing at the time. On May 20, 2022, the Supreme Court, underlining the “complexity of the issues involved in the civil suit”, transferred the case to the district judge (from the civil judge). The SC subsequently said it would intervene only after the district judge had decided on the preliminary aspects of the case. During the proceedings last year, senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared for the mosque committee, contended that the process initiated by the Varanasi court violated the 1991 Act. In response, a Bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud (now CJI), Surya Kant, and P S Narasimha said the “ascertainment of the religious character of a place is not barred by…the [1991] Act. Justice Chandrachud invoked a hypothetical situation in which a cross is found in an agiary (fire temple): “Does the presence of a cross make the agiary a place of Christian worship? Therefore, this hybrid character, forget this arena of contestation, is not unknown in India.” In November 2022, the SC extended its interim direction securing the area of the Gyanvapi complex where the “Shivling” was claimed to have been found, without impeding or restricting the rights of Muslims to access and offer namaz there until further orders. After the district court ordered the ASI survey on July 21 this year, the petitioners went to the SC, which, on July 24 stayed the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque that had begun earlier that day. A Bench led by CJI Chandrachud put on hold until July 26 the order of the Varanasi district court and asked the mosque committee to move the Allahabad High Court against the district court’s order before the expiration of the interim stay order.

• What are the issues involved in this case?

• What is the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991?

• Under what circumstances was the Places of Worship Act, 1991 law enacted, and how did the government justify it?

• How Judiciary has interpreted the Places of Worship Act, 1991?

• The Places of Worship Act, 1991-Know the Key Provisions

• What Section 3 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 is all about?

• Section 4(1) and Section 4(2) of the Places of worship act, 1991-Know the provisions

• What is Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983?

• The court cited Section 4 (9) of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983, defines “Temple”-What is Temple?

• Is right to worship a fundamental right?

• What is the meaning of freedom of worship?

• Right to Freedom of Religion from Articles 25 to 28-Know in detail

• Is litigation the best method to resolve disputes between faith-based communities?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍The Places of Worship Act

📍Court order on Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque site in Varanasi: history and context

Laptop imports will require licence; Govt keen to boost local industry

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Union government has restricted imports of personal computers, laptops, palmtops, automatic data processing machines, microcomputer/ processors and large/ mainframe computers with immediate effect.

• Why this move?

• What does the notification for the restriction on imports state?

• Why have the restrictions been imposed?

• Do You Know-The move seems to be aimed at promoting domestic manufacturing, and probably targeted at China since more than 75 per cent of India’s total $ 5.33 billion imports of laptops and personal computers in 2022-23 was from the neighbouring country. In a notification issued Thursday, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said imports of computers and other items under the seven categories of HSN Code 8471 (HSN is the Harmonised System of Nomenclature, a globally accepted method of naming goods) were restricted. There will, however, be no restrictions on imports under the baggage rules. The move is being seen as a direct boost to the Centre’s recently renewed production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware. A senior government official said the measure is to push companies to manufacture locally in India, as the country looks to strengthen its domestic production prowess in the electronics sector. The scheme was revised in May with an outlay of Rs 17,000 crore, more than doubling the budget for the scheme that was first cleared in 2021. The push is aimed at makers of laptops, servers and personal computers among others – since a majority of the imports in these segments are from China. India has seen an increase in imports of electronic goods and laptops/computers in the last few years. During April-June this year, the import of electronic goods increased to $6.96 billion from $4.73 billion in the year-ago period, with a share of 4-7 per cent in overall imports. Of the seven categories restricted for imports by India, the majority share of imports is from China. During April-May, the latest period for which country-wise data is available, India’s imports from China for these seven categories of restricted imports were valued at $743.56 million, down 5.6 per cent from $787.84 million. The highest share of imports is in the category of personal computers including laptops, and palmtops, under which imports from China stood at $558.36 million in April-May this year as against $618.26 million in the year-ago period. China accounts for roughly 70-80 per cent of the share of India’s imports of personal computers, laptops. On an annual basis, India’s imports of personal computers, and laptops from China had dropped 23.1 per cent in 2022-23 to $4.10 billion in 2022-23 from $5.34 billion in 2021-22. However, in the previous two financial years, 2021-22 and 2020-21, there was a sharp surge in imports of personal computers, laptops in 2021-22 and 2020-21 from China, with a year-on-year increase of 51.5 per cent to $5.34 billion in 2021-22 and 44.7 per cent to $3.52 billion in 2020-21.

• What is Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN)?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍The new restriction on Personal Computers/laptop imports: Why the move, and its potential impact

EXPRESS NETWORK

Hyderabad top choice for sale of poll bonds in July

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance

Main Examination: General Studies II: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-With the Telangana Assembly elections slated for December, Hyderabad was the top choice for buyers and users of electoral bonds (EBs) in the most recent tranche of sales, a Right to Information (RTI) reply from State Bank of India showed. The city accounted for 33 per cent of all sales and 43 per cent of EBs redeemed in July.

• What are Electoral Bonds?

• Electoral Bonds-Key Features

• For Your Information-The scheme was launched in January 2018 with four 10-day sale periods a year — in January, April, July and October — and an additional 30 days of sales in a Lok Sabha election year. The scheme was then amended in November 2022 to add another 15 days of sales in any Assembly election year. Any party registered with the Election Commission that has received 1 per cent of the votes in the previous Assembly or Lok Sabha elections is eligible to open an account with the SBI for receiving EBs. The 27th tranche of EBs under the Electoral Bond Scheme went on sale from July 3 to July 12. In a reply to transparency campaigner Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), SBI said 1,371 EBs, with a value of Rs 812.80 crore, were sold in this tranche. Hyderabad alone had sales of Rs 266.27 crore — the highest of the 29 SBI branches under the scheme — followed by Kolkata (Rs 143.20 crore), Mumbai (Rs 135 crore), New Delhi (Rs 112.54 crore) and Chennai (Rs70.50 crore). Besides Telangana, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are expected to hold elections by the end of the year. Out of the 1,365 bonds worth Rs 812.75 crore encashed, EBs worth Rs 346.67 crore were redeemed by political parties in Hyderabad.

• Which Bank is the only bank authorised to sell Electoral Bonds?

• Electoral Bonds and associated issues

• When are the bonds available for purchase?

• Are electoral bonds taxable?

• Why were electoral bonds introduced in India?

• Why are electoral bonds being so vehemently opposed by transparency activists?

• How popular are electoral bonds as a route of donation?

• What does the Supreme Court have to say on electoral bonds?

• What is the Election Commission’s stand on electoral bonds?

• Reserve Bank of India on electoral bonds scheme?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍 Explained: Why the electoral bonds scheme has been challenged in Supreme Court

EXPLAINED

How Jan Vishwas Bill proposes to deal with substandard drugs

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Jan Vishwas Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha yesterday (August 2) will amend two provisions of the law governing manufacture, storage, and sale of medicines in India. One of the amendments has led to a debate on whether manufacturers of substandard medicines would be let off easy – by paying a fine instead of imprisonment. The Jan Vishwas bill was brought to the parliament with an aim to improve ease of doing business. It will amend 183 provisions across 42 laws to do away with imprisonment or fines for certain offences.

• The Jan Vishwas Bill 2023-Know its key features

• The Jan Vishwas Bill 2023-Know the issues, scope and challenges

• What changes does the Jan Vishwas bill make to the drug law?

• What does the amended bill Propose?

• What kind of offences by drug manufacturers could be compounded?

• What has it got to do with good manufacturing practices?

• What is Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)?

• What are the basic principles of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)?

• What do manufacturers say?

• For Your Information-The Jan Vishwas Bill will make two changes to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The first amendment, which is not contentious, will do away with imprisonment under section 30 (2) of the current law for companies repeatedly using government analysis or test reports for promoting their products. At present, companies face up to two years imprisonment and a fine of not less than ten thousand rupees for a repeated violation. This will change to only a fine but not less than five lakh rupees as per the amendment proposed in the Jan Vishwas bill. The second amendment – and this is the contentious one – will change section 32B (1) of the existing law to allow “compounding” of offences under section 27 (d). Compounding is a legal provision that allows one to pay a fine instead of undergoing criminal proceedings. What this essentially means is that companies violating the provisions of 27 (d) will continue to face imprisonment between one and two years and a fine not less than R20,000. But, now there will be an alternative mechanism where the company could agree to pay the fine instead of going through a criminal proceeding in court. Section 27 of the existing Drugs and Cosmetics Act has provisions for punishments for different types of offences — a) adulterated or spurious drugs that lead to death or grievous injury carrying a sentence of up to life imprisonment, b) adulterated medicines that do not fall under the previous category of medicine manufactured without a licence carrying a sentence of up to five years, and c) spurious medicines other than the ones that fall under the first category carrying a sentence of up to seven years. Section 27(d) covers any offence not covered under a, b, and c category. While the existing drug law already allows for compounding other offences, the reason many have raised an issue with including section 27 (d) is because it also includes drugs that are not of standard quality (NSQ), colloquially referred to as substandard drugs.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Rajya Sabha passes Jan Vishwas, forest & mining Bills

Nuclear weapons and India

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance and General Science

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Being a nuclear power has given strength and autonomy to India’s strategic decision-making. Today, it has the leverage and moral stature to take the lead in working with the international community to reduce the risk of use of nuclear weapons — something to which India’s leaders have always been committed.

• Personality in News-J Robert Oppenheimer

• Seventy years on, even after the original Cold War has ended, the world faces the challenge of this “most uncomfortable and dangerous contact”-Explain

• India’s Nuclear Journey-Know the background

• What is India’s Nuclear Doctrine?

• Why did India choose to exercise the nuclear option in 1998 after having followed a policy of ambivalence since conducting a peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE) in 1974?

• For Your Information-By the mid-1990s, China had already conducted as many as 45 nuclear tests, developed modest delivery systems, including first-generation nuclear missile-carrying submarines. China had also conducted a nuclear test for Pakistan, reportedly in May 1990, thereby boosting Rawalpindi’s nuclear confidence and emboldening it to foment insurgency in J&K and Punjab. Meanwhile, Washington was pressurising countries to join the non-proliferation treaty as non-nuclear weapon states and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty had been put out for signature. Caught in a security and non-proliferation bind, India felt compelled to develop its own nuclear weapons to establish credible deterrence against nuclear coercion or blackmail by countries that claimed Indian territories.

• What is Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty?

• What is the purpose of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty?

• Why India did not joined CTBT?

• What is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)?

• Is India a NPT?

• ‘The Indian action took the world by surprise. Criticism and sanctions followed’-what sort of criticisms and sanctions?

• What do you understand by credible minimum deterrence (CMD) and a no-first-use (NFU) policy?

• What is No First Use doctrine, and how did it come into being?

• “The sole purpose of India’s nuclear deterrence is to deter adversaries’ use or threat of use of nuclear weapons”-Discuss

• What is the current Status of Nuclear Energy and Nuclear power plants in India?

• Map Work-Mark Nuclear power plants

• The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister through a Presidential Order-True or False?

• What is Nuclear Energy? Why Nuclear Energy is required?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: India’s doctrine of Nuclear No First Use

ECONOMY

Govt tables data protection Bill, exemptions for Centre unchanged

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

• General Studies II: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Wide-ranging government exemptions, provisions allowing the Centre a greater control over the enforcement process, and a measure for the government to bypass norms around seeking express consent from citizens – replete with some of its biggest criticisms, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, was introduced in Parliament on Thursday. In its new avatar, the proposed law has also accorded virtual censorship powers to the Centre. The final version of the Bill, tabled in Lok Sabha by IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, has retained the contents of the original version of the legislation proposed last November, including those that were red flagged by privacy experts. Exemptions for the central government and its agencies remain unchanged. The Central government will have the right to exempt “any instrumentality of the state” from adverse consequences citing national security, relations with foreign governments, and maintenance of public order among other things.

• The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023-Key features

• What is the significance of a privacy law?

• For Your Information-The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, is a crucial pillar of the overarching framework of technology regulations the Centre is building, which also includes the Digital India Bill — the proposed successor to the Information Technology Act, 2000, the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, and a policy for non-personal data governance.
Last August, the government withdrew from Parliament an earlier version of the data protection Bill that had been almost four years in the making, after it had gone through multiple iterations and a review by a Joint Committee of Parliament, and faced pushback from a range of stakeholders including tech companies and privacy activists. The proposed law will apply to processing of digital personal data within India; and to data processing outside the country if it is done for offering goods or services, or for profiling individuals in India. It requires entities that collect personal data — called data fiduciaries — to maintain the accuracy of data, keep data secure, and delete data once their purpose has been met.

• What are the concerns around the draft Bill?

• What changes are likely?

• How does India’s proposal compare with other countries?

• Supreme Court on Right to Privacy (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India, 2017)-know the verdict

• Justice B N Srikrishna committee recommendation on Data Protection-Know key recommendations

• What is data localisation? Know the Case for Data Localisation in India.

• What Srikrishna Committee Report says on data localisation?

• Initiative/steps taken by Government of India for Data Protection and Data Privacy-Know in detail

• Justice Raveendran Committee Report-Know in detail

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍A new worry: Could data protection Bill weaken RTI Act?

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