TOPIC : GS 3 Role of External State and Non-state Actors in creating challenges to Internal Security.
Persistent mindlessness
What is the news?
- The deaths of over 20 paramilitary personnel in an encounter with the Maoists in the Tarrem are near Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district once again puts the spotlight on the longrunning conflict in this remote tribal region.
Operation specification
- Reports indicate a Maoist ambush of the paramilitary personnel from different units – the Special Task Force, the District Reserve Guard of the Chhattisgarh police besides the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)’s elite COBRA unit — who had proceeded to perform combing operations in Maoist strongholds.
- The units had embarked upon their combing exercise, at a time when Maoists were trying to disrupt the construction of a road near SilgerJagargunda.
- The lack of road and telecommunications infrastructure in these remote areas has been one of the reasons for them Maoists being able to use the terrain to their advantage.
- The encounter has raised the number of security forces killed in Bastar to more than 175 since the killing of 76 CRPF personnel in the Chintalnar attack in April 2010.
Long History
The Maoist insurrection which began first as the Naxalite movement in the 1970s and then intensified since 2004, following the merger of two prominent insurgent groups, remains a mindless guerrilla driven militant movement that has failed to gain adherents beyond those living in remote tribal areas either untouched by welfare or are discontents due to state repression.
Current status
The Maoists are now considerably weaker than a decade ago, with several senior leaders either dead or incarcerated, but their core insurgent force in south Bastar remains intact.
The recourse to violence is now little more than a ploy to invite state repression which furthers their aim of gaining new adherents.
Major hurdle
While the Indian state has long since realised that there cannot only be a military end to the conflict, the Chhattisgarh government’s inability to reach out to those living in the Maoist strongholds remains a major hurdle, which has resulted in a protracted but violent stalemate in the area.
Way forward
The Tarrem attacks came in the wake of a recent peace march held by civil society activists who had urged a dialogue between the Maoists and the Chhattisgarh government to end the violence that has claimed more than 10,000 lives since 2000 alone, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal. While a military response and recriminations will inevitably follow the ambush, the civil society plea must not be ignored if a long lasting solution to the conflict is to be achieved.
Mains question
Tarrem attacks indicate that the weakened Maoists remain a strong military threat. Discuss
TOPIC: 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.
What is the news?
Access to the Supreme Court has been made easier with virtual hearings, but more needs to be done
Reasons
Even at the time the Constitution was being debated by the Constituent Assembly, geographical access to the Supreme Court was flagged as a concern.
The B.R. Ambedkarled Drafting Committee was nevertheless of the view that the Court must have a specified place of sitting and that litigants should “know where to go and whom to approach”.
The framers of the Constitution agreed that the volume of litigation from different parts of the country may require the Supreme Court to increase its reach and hold court elsewhere.
Accordingly, in recognition of the same, the Constitution empowered the Chief Justice to hold sittings of the Supreme Court through Circuit Benches in places other than Delhi as well.
Despite an increasing caseload and repeated pleas by litigants and governments, successive Chief Justices have refused to invoke this constitutional power for reasons best known to them.
In India, given the unified, single- pyramidal structure of the judicial system, all types of cases can potentially make their way to the Supreme Court, irrespective of the place or forum of the original institution.
It is the effective exercise of that right, however, that is curtailed by the court assembling exclusively in Delhi.
Virtual courts and Problems
Geographical constraints have also meant that appearing before the Supreme Court has inescapably become the domain of a select few lawyers in and around Delhi.
It implied exclusivity consequently translates into steep and often prohibitive monetary costs for litigants.
Without the option of a local advocate of their choice, litigants are forced to choose from what the Bar in Delhi offers, both in terms of quality and costs.
Although for different reasons, has compelled the Supreme Court to attempt to overcome physical constraints in an effort to increase access, albeit virtually.
Over the past year, with virtual hearings, was seen as the exclusive domain of a limited number of lawyers in Delhi has opened up to advocates from all over India, most of whom could only ever have dreamt of addressing the Supreme Court in their lifetimes.
Litigants now have the option to engage a local lawyer of their own choice and convenience, including the same lawyer who argued their case before the lower court.
Indeed, virtual hearings may not be the perfect alternative, but such imperfections must be preferred over a denial of the right to access justice itself.
It is only when each person in India is provided unhindered access to its corridors can the Supreme Court be said to have fulfilled its constitutional promise.
Way forward
More than one Law Commission and Parliamentary Committee have recommended Circuit Benches of the Supreme Court to be set up around the country. Nonetheless, till the judiciary acts on such proposals, virtual hearings should be allowed to continue, if not as a matter of right, then at least as a matter of just and equitable policy.
Source:
PRELIMS PUNCHERS
- Char dham Project
Char Dham National Highway, is an under construction two-lane (in each direction) express National Highway with a minimum width of 10 metres in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The under construction highway will complement the under-construction Char Dham Railway by connecting the four holy places in Uttarakhand states namely Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.The project includes 900 km national highways which will connect whole of Uttarakhand state.
The highway will be called Char Dham Mahamarg (Char Dham Highway) and the highway construction project will be called as Char Dham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojana (Char Dham Highway Development Project) and is made to improve the connectivity to the Chota Char Dham nestled in the Himalayas. Road will include several long bridges and tunnels to eliminate accident and slide prone areas. Indian Railways and National Highways Authority of India have been directed, by the Chief Secretary of India, to ensure that rail and road highway routes are integrated on this circuit
Source: https://morth.nic.in/char-dham-pariyojana
- Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)
It is an India is a joint-industry body founded by bodies that represent Broadcasters (IBF), Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising & Media Agencies (AAAI). It is also the world’s largest television measurement science industry-body. It uses Audio Watermarking technology to measure viewership of TV channels, and the system also allows measurement of time-shifted viewing and simulcasts. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is based in Mumbai, India .It is an industry body set up to design, commission, supervise and own an accurate, reliable and timely television audience measurement system for India.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/explained-trp-and-its-loopholes/article32805873.ece
- A credit default swap (CDS)
Credit default swaps, or CDS, are credit derivative contracts that enable investors to swap credit risk on a company, country, or other entity with counterparty. They are the most common type of OTC credit derivatives and are often used to transfer credit exposure on fixed income products in order to hedge risk.
They are a type of insurance against default risk by a particular company. The company is called the reference entity and the default is called credit event. It is a contract between two parties, called protection buyer and protection seller. Under the contract, the protection buyer is compensated for any loss emanating from a credit event in a reference instrument. In return, the protection buyer makes periodic payments to the protection seller.
Source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/credit-default-swaps
- The Food Corporation of India
It is an organization created and run by the Government of India. It is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India formed by the enactment of Food Corporation Act, 1964 by the Parliament of India. Its top official is designated as Chairman who is a civil servant of the IAS cadre. It was set up in 1965 with its initial headquarters at Chennai. Later this was moved to New Delhi. It also has regional centers in the capitals of the states. Important regions of the state also serve as district centers.
The Food Corporation of India procures rice and wheat from farmers through many routes like paddy purchase centres/mill levy/custom milling and stores them in depots. FCI maintains many types of depots like food storage depots and buffer storage complexes and private equity godowns and also implemented latest storage methods of silo storage facilities
PRELIMS QUESTION
Qn 1 Consider the following statement regarding Char Dham project
- Char Dham National Highway, is an under construction single-lane express National Highway with a minimum width of 15 metres in the Indian state of Uttarakhand
- The project includes 900 km national highways which will connect whole of Uttarakhand state.
Select the correct statement using code given below.
(a). 1only (b) 2 only
(c).Both (d). None of above
Answer: B
Char Dham National Highway, is an under construction two-lane (in each direction) express National Highway with a minimum width of 10 metres in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The under construction highway will complement the under-construction Char Dham Railway by connecting the four holy places in Uttarakhand states namely Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.The project includes 900 km national highways which will connect whole of Uttarakhand state.
The highway will be called Char Dham Mahamarg (Char Dham Highway) and the highway construction project will be called as Char Dham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojana (Char Dham Highway Development Project) and is made to improve the connectivity to the Chota Char Dham nestled in the Himalayas. Road will include several long bridges and tunnels to eliminate accident and slide prone areas. Indian Railways and National Highways Authority of India have been directed, by the Chief Secretary of India, to ensure that rail and road highway routes are integrated on this circuit.
- Consider the following statement regarding Food corporation of India
- It is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India formed by the enactment of Food Corporation Act, 1965
- It also has regional centers in the capitals some of the states
Select the correct statement using code given below.
(a). 1only (b) 2 only
(c).Both (d). None of above
Answer: D
It is an organization created and run by the Government of India. It is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India formed by the enactment of Food Corporation Act, 1964 by the Parliament of India. Its top official is designated as Chairman who is a civil servant of the IAS cadre. It was set up in 1965 with its initial headquarters at Chennai. Later this was moved to New Delhi. It also has regional centers in the capitals of the states. Important regions of the state also serve as district centers.
The Food Corporation of India procures rice and wheat from farmers through many routes like paddy purchase centres/mill levy/custom milling and stores them in depots. FCI maintains many types of depots like food storage depots and buffer storage complexes and private equity godowns and also implemented latest storage methods of silo storage facilities