9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – June 10th, 2023

Mains Oriented Articles

GS PAPER - 1

A Short Guide To Marriage

Source: The post is based on the article “A Short Guide To Marriage” published in The Times of India on 10^th June 2023.

Syllabus: GS 1 – Indian Society

Relevance: About the evolving meaning of marriage

News: The term marriage has evolved with the time. The present meaning of marriage differs from the past meanings.

How does the current meaning of marriage differ from the past?

The phrase marriage is now used to describe relationships between two individuals. However, historically, marriages were meant to unite families.

Further, the concept of marriage, which is understood today, can be confusing at both interpersonal and legal levels because expectations of couples in a marital union have evolved.

Moreover, marriages in the past have always been alliances negotiated by families rather than two individuals.

Even though marriage practices differed from societies to societies, one thing that remained common was that families were given privilege, not individuals.

Therefore, when two people got married, they connected with the entire family together.

However, this notion has changed today. The modern romantic unions may not truly be considered traditional marriages. It may be called a new social practice which is yet to be fully understood.

What were the objectives of traditional marriage?

Traditionally, the primary objective of marriage was to bring families together in order to expand their influence, wealth, and security in the present and future. 

This meant that heterosexual couples were expected to fulfill their duty of producing children, as it was not considered optional.

Further, since marriages were aimed at increasing the families’ reach in society, it was forbidden to marry certain categories of kin. These types of marriages were considered as incest.

Moreover, the kinsfolk with whom marriages are disallowed differ from society to society. For example, in some states in northern India, marriage between those who have a common great grandfather is not permitted.

Among the seven vows in Hindu marriage, there are at least three where the couple promise to look after their elders and a fifth one to produce and take care of their own progeny.

In Islam, from the early ritual of Imam Zamin among Shias right up to nikaah, the families of the bride and groom are closely involved.

Similarly, in Europe, until the late 18th century, parents would arrange betrothals for their children from infancy.

In traditional societies, the question of marriage was never solely driven by pure romance.

Hence, when dating emerged as a practice, many moralists in 19th-century America, including some feminists, believed that it posed a threat to morality.

They feared that this would undermine families and lead to an increase in abortions, if people were given the freedom to pursue romantic relationships.

What can be the way ahead?

The increasing prevalence of romantic unions between two individuals represents a significant shift in modern history.

Labelling these unions as “marriages” can challenge the traditional perception on family-centric considerations such as restrictions on who one can marry, inheritance rights, and the notion of legitimate offspring.

GS PAPER - 2

Wrong On Rights – Gujarat HC misses the point on abortion

Source: The post is based on the article “Wrong On Rights – Gujarat HC misses the point on abortion” published in The Times of India on 10^th June 2023.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Issues Related with Women

Relevance: concerns with abortion rights of women

News: The parents of a 17-year-old pregnant teen sought permission from the Gujarat High Court to terminate her pregnancy. However, the pregnancy has crossed the 24-week threshold due to the delay in revealing her situation.

What has been the observation of the court in the case?

Surprisingly, the judge cited Manusmriti to argue that it was acceptable for 17-year-olds to bear children.

Instead, the focus should be on the well-being of the girl, as the existing laws criminalize consensual sexual activity among teenagers and young adults.

The law may soon also prohibit women from marrying before the age of 21, which does not align with reality.

Hence, according to the current laws, the girl is, considered as a “statutory rape survivor,” and the 23-year-old is labeled as a “rapist.”

Further, instead of acknowledging the sensitivity and complexity of the case, the judge postponed the next hearing until June 15 after a medical evaluation, causing further distress.

What can be the way ahead?

The right to privacy grants women the autonomy to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy. 

The Supreme Court, last September, specified that all women, whether married or unmarried, have the right to a safe abortion.

In December 2022, the Delhi High Court allowed the abortion of a 33-week-old fetus, saying “mother’s choice is ultimate”

Therefore, if the court believes that the girl can be a mother, it should equally recognize her right to a safe abortion.

A pragmatic approach, for better India-Nepal ties

Source- The post is based on the article “A pragmatic approach, for better India-Nepal ties” published in “The Hindu” on 10th June 2023.

Syllabus: GS2- Bilateral groupings and agreements

Relevance– India and Nepal bilateral relationship

News- The Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda’s first bilateral visit to India since assuming office

What was the attitude of leadership during the summit?

He has not paid attention to irritants in relationship such as the 1950 Treaty, border differences, and India’s reluctance to receive the report of the Eminent Persons Group set up by the two governments.

The Indian Prime Minister has shown sensitivity. He reassured Prachanda that differences on the border issue would be resolved to mutual satisfaction. Neither side tried to justify their official version of the border as the correct one.

What were important developments during the summit?

The visit has helped in underlining the real priorities, such as hydropower projects, energy supply to India, infrastructure, access to Indian river transport, innovative tourism circuits, and better connectivity.

The finalised Detailed Project Report of Mahàkali Treaty will be submitted to both governments expeditiously. The modalities of implementation will be concluded within one year after their approval of the DPR.

There is a new dimension of cooperation in the power sector with the transmission passage from Nepal to Bangladesh through India.

There was finalisation of an agreement for long-term power trade. It was agreed to increase the quantum of export of power from Nepal to India to 10,000 MW within a timeframe of 10 years.

Enhancing digital financial connectivity is another crucial development. The MoU between the National Payments Corporation of India and the Nepal Clearing House Ltd. for facilitating cross-border digital payments.

India offered to create a ground station and supply 300 user terminals to offer the services of the South Asia Satellite to Nepal. They would promote regional cooperation in the space sector, and space technology applications.

What is the way forward for improvement in the bilateral relationship between India and Nepal?

The real challenge for Nepal is to depoliticise cooperation with India, especially in water resources cooperation. It needs to improve the quality of democracy and governance and check unbridled corruption.

For India, it may be necessary to address the perception in Nepal that it is no longer a foreign policy priority.

It is necessary to give a sense of ownership, equality and credit for progress in sectors such as hydropower to parties across the political spectrum.

How to renovate India’s soft power

Source- The post is based on the article “How to renovate India’s soft power” published in “The Indian Express” on 10th June 2023.

Syllabus: GS2- International relations

Relevance- Issues related to India foreign policy

News– The article explains the areas where India can work to increase its soft power.

Which are the areas that are important for increasing India’s soft power?

Universities: The intellectual decline of universities like Shantiniketan, Delhi, Allahabad, Presidency, JNU, represents failed governance and strategy. Harvard’s $51 billion endowment is due to partnership with alums and philanthropists.

Our university renewal has begun. IIT-Mumbai has a business school, IIM-Bangalore is starting undergraduate degrees, and IISC is starting a medical school.

Non-profit universities like Ashoka are now strong alternatives to studying abroad.

Think tanks: India has a weak layer between academia and journalism that focus upon research, evidence, and second-best choices. Good government requires a steady stream of good ideas.

Their challenges in India include the lack of lateral entry into government, domestic philanthropic preferences, suspicion of foreign funding, and weak legitimate corporate advocacy.

These challenges are reducing. Policy legitimacy for think tanks will grow our marketplace for policy ideas and generate global soft power.

Government schools: It’s embarrassing that only 50% of India’s kids attend government schools. If anything should be free with quality in a society, it is primary education.

Unlike China, India’s economic transition is happening to service jobs. Service sector requires foundational skills of literacy and numeracy.

NIPUN Bharat  mission aims for the universal acquisition of critical foundational skills by 2026.

Publishers: The dominance of the West in publishing books and academic journals is built on history, skills and resources.

There is a lack of highly-ranked Indian academic journals. The peer review system is based on soft relationships and technology that are not easily accessible. Almost 50% of peer-reviewed hypotheses are unreplicable or get retracted.

Translation: ‘State of Indian Translations Report’ suggests only 5,600 Indian language books exist in English.

Translation scale is a uniquely Indian problem. It is further complicated by the complexity of translating books among Indian languages.

The Bhashini Project of the Ministry of IT, the AI4Bharat Centre at IIT-Madras, and the Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti of the Ministry of Education will unlock our languages for ourselves and for the world.

GS PAPER - 3

How FAME changes impact EV fortunes

Source: The post is based on the article “How FAME changes impact EV fortunes” published in the Business Standard on 10th June 2023

Syllabus: GS3 – Changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.

Relevance: About the recent changes to FAME II Scheme.

News: Recently, the government decided to slash demand incentives by 33-63 percent from June, for the second edition of the FAME Scheme.

What is the FAME scheme?

Read here: Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and EV (FAME) Scheme

What is the FAME II Scheme?

Read more: Cabinet approves Scheme for FAME India Phase II

What are the key changes brought in the FAME II Scheme?

a) The cap on subsidy was lowered to 15% of the ex-showroom price from the earlier 40%, b) The subsidy benefit available per Kwh of battery capacity was also cut by Rs. 10,000 per Kwh from Rs. 15,000 per Kwh.

The changes will increase the e-Vehicle prices. Further, the EV adoption pace will slow down over the near term, and e2W penetration for FY25 lowered to 10-12% from an earlier estimate of 13-15%. The Sales of registered e2Ws may total only around 1.2 million in FY24, half of the 2.3 million target.

What is the significance of the FAME Scheme?

The proper functioning of the FAME Scheme was paramount for India’s plans to have 80% of new sales coming from e2Ws by 2030. Likewise, it is essential to achieve a third of passenger car sales powered by batteries.

What are the challenges faced in the implementation of the FAME Scheme?

Lesser support from the government: The government had sponsored only 41% of the target of more than 1.5 million EVs since the launch of the scheme in April 2019. The scenario for passenger vehicles is much lower. The shortfall in incentives to cars and three-wheelers is over 85%.

The other challenges include a) Inadequate Charging infrastructure, b) Financial institutions were hesitant to finance battery-operated vehicles, c) Last year, the FAME Scheme faced subsidy misuse from some of the e2W manufacturers.

What should be done to improve the adoption of eVehicles?

A new report by FICCI-Yes Bank report emphasises the importance of demand incentives and credit pathways to ensure eVehicle penetration. So, the government should revisit its recent changes.

Odisha train collision: Solutions that don’t take Railways back to business-as-usual

Source- The post is based on the article “Odisha train collision: Solutions that don’t take Railways back to business-as-usual” published in the “The Indian Express” on 10th June 2023.

Syllabus: GS3- Infrastructure

Relevance- Issues related to safety of railways

News– Recently, there was death of nearly 300 passengers in a train accident at Balasore in Odisha. It has drawn attention to the safety preparedness of the Indian Railways.

What are issues related to operation and maintenance that impacts the safety of railways?

There are issues of highly-congested trunk routes. This generates pressure, both on operations and maintenance.

Excess time for maintenance means slow operations. Focussing on train operations without sufficient time for maintenance means a more failure-prone system.

A system of providing traffic blocks in the passenger timetable already exists. Time is allocated for maintenance along a route, where no trains are scheduled. Earlier, there was discretion in the utilisation of this block period.

The reason for providing discretion was to give operations sufficient room to deal with train delays or to push unscheduled freight trains.

Today, it is still not a complete solution even though blocks are granted as required by the maintenance departments.

There is a lack of mutually agreed annual plan between the maintenance departments and the operations department for coordinated use of the traffic block.

The second issue is directly connected to the recent mishap. There was tampering with the signalling equipment.

It has been suggested that the immense pressure on the field staff at highly congested routes leads to the adoption of shortcuts.

The current practice of a disconnection memo to the station master from the signal maintainer followed by a connection memo is not strictly followed.

The staff is under severe strain to minimise failures and ensure that trains are not detained due to a failure.

The two-agency authorization for opening the relay room, where all the sensitive equipment resides, is violated. Other equipment like junction boxes and point machines are protected with seals but again these can be broken.

What is the way forward to resolve these issues?

There are a couple of measures that could address the systemic constraints.

The basic idea is improvement at systemic level and move away from a reliance on the ingenuity of the individual.

It is possible to make an annual plan of maintenance and map it on the block corridors so that all infrastructure assets are maintained.

There is a need to internalise the paper memo process and the physical locks and seals as part of the electronic system. It needs to develop the necessary software and implement it in the field.

The necessity of electricity distribution companies

Source- The post is based on the article “The necessity of electricity distribution companies” published in “The Hindu” on 10th June 2023.

Syllabus: GS3- Energy

Relevance- Issues related to electricity sector

News- The article explains the issue of reforms in the electricity sector.

What are the reforms introduced by the Electricity Act 2003?

It provided the framework for the dismantling of the State Electricity Boards. It provided for separation of generation, transmission and distribution into separate companies.

Electricity generation was delicensed, while transmission and distribution remained licenced and regulated activities.

Under the new regime, a competitive industry in generation has evolved. The share of private investment in the creation of new generating capacity has increased rapidly.

Competitive procurement through long-term power purchase agreements has grown. The prices discovered through the market are lower than anticipated under the earlier arrangement for determining tariffs.

The impressive growth in renewable power is the result of private investment. Further, India now has one of the cheapest rates for solar power supply in the world.

What is practice followed in the United Kingdom?

In the U.K, a mandatory power pool had been created. Here, all generators submitted bids for the next day, indicating the quantity they could supply along with the price. The demand and supply the pool price for electricity.

There is full retail competition. Consumers could choose from among several suppliers.

Why are these reform ideas unsuitable for India?

Power is supplied from individual power plants through long-term contracts at prices determined for each. As the plant depreciates, the fixed cost component in the tariff declines. So, the older the plant, the cheaper its electricity.

If India adopts the free market model, all electricity would be sold at the price of the electricity from the most expensive plant at which demand would be fully met.

What are issues related to open access and cross-subsidisation in the electricity sector?

The Electricity Act gives consumers with a load of 1 MW and above the right to open access. It enables them to buy electricity from anywhere and pay the Discom only for the use of their distribution network and a cross-subsidy surcharge.

The Electricity Act calls for progressively reducing cross-subsidies. However, it has remained unimplemented. Cross-subsidy surcharges are continuing and acting as a barrier.

Not many large consumers are meeting their electricity needs even now using open access.

Why is the idea of dispensing with the Discoms not an optimal solution to issues faced by the electricity sector?

Discoms are seen as the weak link in the supply chain of electricity. There are issues related to rising cumulative losses and an inability to pay generators on time.

The problems with Discoms lie in the domain of political economy. There is the inability of regulators in the States to determine cost reflective tariffs. State governments find it difficult to give timely subsidies as required by law.

There is the political economy issue of misgovernance and rent seeking in some States.

The Discom has the universal service obligation of supplying electricity to meet the full demand of every consumer in its licence area. It does this by entering long-term power purchase contracts.

Power-generating capacities have risen rapidly. Investment in generating capacity has been taking place primarily on the strength of long-term PPAs with Discoms.

The energy transition to renewables is accelerating and the reliability of power supply is increasing.

Without Discoms this edifice would collapse. Without new investment, India may face power shortages again.

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

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