9 PM Daily Brief – June 10th,2020

Good evening dear reader.

Here is our 9pm current affairs brief for you today

9 PM for Main examination

GS-1

1. What will be the impact of reverse migration?

GS-2

2. Importance of technology for Judicial reforms

GS-3

3. Atma nirbharMission – Local is synonymous to Import Substitution
4. How to handle China and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir?
5. Climate-Change – The looming crises

9 PM for Preliminary examination

FACTLy

1.What will be the impact of reverse migration?

Source: Livemint

Syllabus: GS-1-population and associated issues

Context: Millions of migrant workers have returned home amidst the Covid-19 lockdown. This has led to reverse migration.

Brief Overview of Internal Migration in India

According to the Census 2011 migration data:

• There over 45.58 crore Indians were found to be migrants as against 31.45 crore during 2001 Census.
• UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and MP had the highest ‘outmigration’. Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat had the largest ‘in-migration’

Reason for recent reverse migration: Most migrant workers are employed in the informal sector of the urban areas. The Covid-19 lockdown has hit the informal economy the most. Fear of losing sources of livelihood and shelter in urban areas during the lockdown forced migrant labourers to return home

Impact of Reverse Migration

• Impact of Rural Economy:Rural India’s economy is entirely dependent on agriculture and is already crippled with underemployed working population. Reverse migration would further aggravate the issue and lead to disguise unemployment in the agricultural sector.
• Impact on Urban Economy:Reverse migration has already led to labor shortage in urban areas. This has serious implications and can delay economic recovery in post- Covid times, which can affect social stability.

Conclusion: The reverse migration will have serious implications for both rural and urban economy. However, it is likely that the reverse migration is temporary and will return to normal after the threat of covid-19 has subsided.

2.Importance of technology for Judicial reforms

Source: Live Mint

Syllabus: GS 2-Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.

Context: Analysing the urgent need to radically transform the Indian judicial system to remove the problems that affect the delivery of justice using technology.

Background:

• Pendency of cases: There are more than 3.5 crore pending cases in courts of which 87.54 per cent of the total pendency of cases is in the district courts. (As of November 2019)

Source: TOI

• Effects of COVID-19 on courts: The courts were shut down for all except the most urgent matters to reduce the risk of infection of litigants and judges.

Issue in design of courts: Our judicial system is simply not designed for contactless operations as most court processes—the submission of pleadings, the payment of court fees, the conduct of arguments—require person-to-person interaction.

To tackle effects of COVID-19, some of these issues were dealt.

Adaptations of courts due to COVID-19 using technologies:

• Video conferencing facilities: They were set up to allow judges and lawyers to hear urgent matters virtually.
• E-filing of documents: Written pleadings could be submitted without any need to be physically present.
• Digital payment systems: It includes court-approved virtual wallets to let court fees be paid remotely.

These changes were introduced due to COVID-19 but we need permanent reforms in Judiciary.

• Discussion on Judicial reforms: Niti Aayog meeting and the Multi-stakeholder webinar talked about the importance of technology in judicial use.
• Online Dispute Resolution:It can be made mandatory for some cases.
• Complementing Private Online Dispute Resolution: To ensure that online resolution can reach different industries, locations and parts of the country.
• Shifting towards written advocacy: When we take our disputes online, we should consider adopting the online medium of communication such as chats, emails and the exchange of electronic messages.
• Incorporating cognitive technologies directly into the dispute resolution workflow: This does not have to mean using artificial intelligence to decide our disputes. It could be as simple as offering better ways of making informed decisions about litigation strategies.
• For example- The biggest litigant in India is the State. The many cognitive technologies offer us the ability to generate data-driven reports on the chances of success of each appeal that the government is thinking of pursuing, based on an analysis of previous judgments.

Way Forward

Justice delivery should harness the full potential of technology to transform the judicial system of the country.

3.Atma nirbhar Mission – Local is synonymous to Import Substitution

Source – The Hindu

Syllabus – GS 3 – changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.

Context – The idea of getting vocal about local is being compared to India’s tryst with import substitution in post-Independence era

Import substitution-based Industrialisation 

1. Definition– It refers to period when industrialisation meant production of all the commodities which were hitherto imported.
2. Reason for introduction– Need for such policy was the structural imbalance created by Colonial Empire.

Figure 1 – Structural imbalance created by Colonial Empire

3. Aim and Objective– The import substitution policy was, hence, aimed at promoting production of consumer goods and capital goods in country with objective of:

• • Increasing employment opportunities
  • Decreasing loss of foreign exchange which is paid for import of goods
  • Sustainable GDP
  • Self- reliance in Non –Alignment Era

4. Forms – The protection from import is done in two forms:

• • Quotas- It specifies the number of goods that can be imported.
  • Tariffs- It is a tax that is imposed on imported products; this tax makes imported products more costly

Getting vocal about local – Atma Nirbhar Mission

1.Reasons for getting local 

• • Immediate Reason– The disruption in supply-chain brought by pandemic which deprived India of necessary active pharmaceutical agents needed for production of medicines.
  • Long-term Reason– Addressing the issue of jobless growth and premature deindustrialisation requires promoting made-in-India goods.

2.Issues associated with getting local 

1. 1. Against globalisation– Production of all goods in domestic market is against the principle of competitive advantage and thus goes against the spirit of globalisation.
   2. Lack of R&D – India’s R&D to GDP ratio is less than ~1% .Investment in R&D is essential for production of high-end technology needed for production of goods at home at cheaper rate.
   3. Weak Financial sector– To promote entrepreneurship, financial systems need to be robust so that credit at lower interest rate can be provided. However, the high NPA’s in banks has led to slowdown in credit growth.
   4. Poor performance of states and local bodies– To promote local goods based on each district’s competitive advantage, need is to promote fiscal federalism and empowerment of local bodies.
   5. Creates inefficiency – Lack of competition from rest of the world can make the entire industrial sector inefficient, leading to less than desired output and job creation.

Way Forward – India need to promote local production of goods along with better participation in global supply chain to focus on export-led growth and promote forces of globalisation.

4.How to handle China and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir?

Source: The Hindu

Syllabus: GS 3-Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.

Context: In the past few weeks Beijing and Islamabad are making coordinated efforts to challenge India in the Kashmir-Ladakh region.

Background: 

• Pakistan has increased the infiltration of terrorists in the Valley.
• China has increased assertiveness to control over disputed areas around the LAC.

• Reasons for Pakistan’s aggression: 

• • The intensification in its terrorist activities is related to the dilution of Article 370. It sees it as a reduction of its claim on Kashmir.

• Reasons for China’s aggression:

• • Experts feel that China seems to have calculated that the division of Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir allows India a freer hand in contesting China’s claims in the region.
  • It is further augmented by the Increasing road-building activity on India’s part close to the LAC.
  • Threatening CPEC project:Beijing has also alarmed over our External Affairs Minister’s remark that India expects to have physical jurisdiction over (POK) one day.

• Overlapping interests of Pakistan and China: Both wanted India to be more concerned in the region so as to be busy in taking defensive measures in Kashmir and Ladakh and have little time and energy left to attempt to alter the status quo in POK or in Aksai Chin.

But both countries have different objectives with respect to India.

Different objectives of China and Pakistan:

Therefore, it is possible to negotiate the territorial dispute with China on a give-and-take basis but not with Pakistan which considers Kashmir a zero-sum game.

Way Forward

India should distinguish the different objectives on the part of Beijing and Islamabad and tailor its responses accordingly without uniting the two threats to its security.

5.Climate-Change – The looming crises 

Source – The Hindu

Syllabus – GS 3 – Disaster and disaster management

Context – Like COVID response, Climate Change also needs coordinated and unprecedented response from all countries

1. Climate Change– Climate change refers to the increasing changes in the measures of climate over a long period of time – including precipitation, temperature, and wind patterns.

Global warming – Global warming is just one aspect of climate change. In fact, they say that global warming refers to the rise in global temperatures due mainly to the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

2. Causes of Global Warming– The main cause is increase in greenhouse gases which is result of burning of fossil fuels at unprecedented rate and deforestation at faster rate for sake of development.

Figure 1 – Major greenhouse gases in atmosphere

Figure 2- Rising level of CO2 since 800,000 years ago

3. Relevant Facts–

1. Level of CO2– 408 parts per million in 2018 as compared to 280 parts per million of pre-industrial era
2. Increase in Temperature– 1 degree Celsius increase by 2015 as compared to past 100 years.

Figure 3- Global temperature increase

4.Effects of Climate Change

1. Drought and floods in excess– Warmer conditions will probably lead to more evaporation and precipitation overall, but individual regions will vary, some becoming wetter and others dryer.
2. Rise in seal level– A stronger greenhouse effect will warm the oceans and partially melt glaciers and other ice, increasing sea level. Ocean water also will expand if it warms, contributing further to sea level rise.
3. Change in Crop cycle– Some crops and other plants may respond favorably to increased atmospheric CO₂, growing more vigorously and using water more efficiently. At the same time, higher temperatures and shifting climate patterns may change the areas where crops grow best and affect the makeup of natural plant communities.
4. Extinction of biodiversity– Animals, based on water as well as land are already facing 6^th mass extinction due to the same.
5. Issues associated with steps taken

Financial constraint– At the UN Climate Conference in 2009, the developed nations had pledged to provide $100 billion in aid each year by 2020 to the poorer countries for climate change mitigation and adaptation. In 2017, for which data are available, only $71 billion had been provided to poorer nations.

• More focus on mitigation rather than adaptation – Mitigation is reducing climate change which involves reducing the flow of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Steps across nations, like reducing deforestation and substituting fossils with zero carbon based technology, are focussed on this only. Adaptation measures do not account for major steps taken.
• Withdrawal of USA from its obligations under Paris Agreement – It has led to debates and counter-arguments on role of developed nation in fighting the climate change with principle of common but shared responsibility.

Way Forward – Technologists, economists and social scientists need to plan for a sustainable planet based on the principles of equity and climate justice within and across nations.

9 PM for Preliminary examination

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