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The Supreme Court gave the Election Commission of India (EC) two weeks to produce updated data, till September 30, 2023, on contributions received by political parties through the electoral bonds scheme.
Reserving the challenge to the scheme for judgment, a five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said the ultimate purpose of devising a scheme to sanitise the process of political donations is to reduce the infusion of unaccounted-for cash elements in electoral system, the need to encourage use of authorised banking channels, and bring in transparency.
This should not become a legitimisation of kickbacks and quid pro quo between power centres and the people who are benefactors of that power. The purpose of businesses is to carry out business, not to donate to political parties, Chief Justice Chandrachud said, addressing the government.
Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta objected to submissions made by the petitioners that the electoral bonds scheme has only helped in the inflow of black money to fund political parties from anonymous sources.
He said the petitioners, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, were unduly “pessimistic” about the scheme, and said that the government is doing everything in its powers to eradicate black money.
Kerala govt. moves Supreme Court against Governor over pending Bills (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The Kerala government has sought a declaration from the Supreme Court that Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has “failed to exercise his Constitutional powers and duties” in holding the Bills passed by the State Assembly for a long and indefinite period.
Kerala raised the demand in a special leave petition filed before the Supreme Court. T.P. Ramakrishnan, MLA, too filed a petition before the apex court on the issue.
The State government argued that the Governor had subverted the Constitution and acted in a manifestly arbitrary manner by keeping the Bills passed by the Assembly for an indefinite period.
It also sought to get a declaration from the apex court that the Governor was bound to dispose of every Bill presented to him within a reasonable time.
The Governor shall also be directed to dispose of the pending Bills without any further delay, the State submitted.
Editorial
The revenge of old West Asia (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
There was no such thing as Palestinians,” Golda Meir, the then Labour Prime Minister of Israel, told on June 15, 1969, on the second anniversary of the Six-Day War.
It was during the 1967 war, Israel brought the whole of historical Palestine under its control. In the 1948-49 first Arab-Israeli war, Israel had captured 23% more territories, including West Jerusalem, than what the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine had proposed.
In 1967, it seized the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.
Ever since, Palestinian territories have remained under Israel’s military occupation and control (it pulled back both troops and Jewish settlers from Gaza in 2005 after the second intifada, but has laid siege to the enclave since 2007).
After Hamas’s brutal October 7 Sabbath attack on Israel, killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, Israel has launched a devastating bombing campaign on Gaza, leaving over 9,000 Palestinians dead in 27 days, most of them women and children.
Israel’s narrative is that it has the right to respond to Hamas’s terror attack. And the use of disproportionate force against the enemy, deliberately targeting civilians, is a well-known Israeli method (the Dahiya doctrine).
General Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli Chief of General Staff, once said about the Israel Defense Forces’ bombing of Dahiya, Lebanon, “We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there.
Opinion
Is the United Nations toothless in fighting wars? (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Ever since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, the Israeli Defense Forces have been relentlessly bombing civilian locations across the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is still ongoing. These two conflicts have in recent times led to more questions about the inability of the United Nations in bringing about peace.
The UN was brought into existence (after World War 2) by those who played an important role in the aftermath of the war; they became the permanent members of the Security Council (UNSC).
A global order must reflect two criteria: one, convergence of views among the major powers of the day and two, it must also seek to provide a global public good.
In short, it must have saleability for the rest of the world.Over the years, the UN gained universal membership; nearly all the countries in the world became party to it.
These criteria were seen also in the coming into being of the World Trade Organization. However, the equations of power are not permanent; they change. Eventually, that is how legitimacy gets eroded.
Text & Context
Understanding worker productivity (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy sparked a debate last week by urging young Indians to work 70 hours per week, citing Japan and Germany as examples of countries that grew because their citizens worked harder and for longer hours to rebuild their nations in the aftermath of the Second World War. He further noted that India’s worker productivity is one of the lowest in the world.
The only conceptual difference between the two is that the ‘work’ in worker productivity describes mental activities while the ‘work’ in labour productivity is mostly associated with manual activities.
Productivity of an activity is usually measured as the quantum of output value per unit of labour (time) cost at a micro level.
At a macro level, it is measured in terms of the labour-output ratio or change in Net Domestic Product (NDP) per worker in each sector (where working hours are assumed to be 8 hours per day).
News
NCERT to introduce electoral literacy content in textbooks (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
In a bid to address voter apathy among young Indians, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) will introduce and update textbooks to include content on electoral literacy and will advise the State Education Boards and other Boards to follow suit.
Beginning with Classes 6 to 12 in all schools, this integration will also extend to the curricular framework for all colleges and universities and it will be tailored to suit different disciplines and credited accordingly.
The measures are part of a memorandum of understanding signed on Thursday between the Election Commission of India (EC) and the Education Ministry.
It is aimed at extending the EC’s flagship Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) in schools and colleges.
The MoU aims to address issues such as voter apathy among urban and young Indians. A senior official in the EC said almost 297 million of the 910 million electors did not vote in the Lok Sabha election in 2019, causing concern.
World
More than 1,65,000 Afghans flee Pakistan (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
More than 1,65,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan in the month since its government ordered 1.7 million people to leave or face arrest and deportation.
The majority rushed to the border in the past several days as the November 1 deadline approached and police began to open up dozens of holding centres to detain arrested Afghans.
Authorities on the Afghan side of the border have been overwhelmed by the scale of the exodus as they attempt to process those returning.
Just over 1,29,000 have fled from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while a total of 38,100 have crossed through Chaman in Balochistan province, border officials said.
Business
‘CBAM will kill manufacturing, India to levy own carbon tax’ (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The European Union’s proposed carbon tax on imports is an ‘ill-conceived’ move that would become the “death knell” for its manufacturing sector, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal asserted, adding that even if the plan that is set to kick in from 2026 isn’t eventually abandoned, India would neutralise it by levying its own carbon tax.
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), under which reporting requirements for exporters of items like steel kicked in this month, was “unfair” as carbon could not be priced the same in India and Europe, Mr. Goyal said, adding that Indian industry was, however, “in safe hands” and European producers would likely move production to India due to the tax.
The auto sector of Europe will be over, which will be a great opportunity for countries like India to develop a very vibrant auto sector, because every input that gets costlier in Europe provides us a competitive edge in the rest of the world,” he asserted at The Energy Transition Dialogues hosted by Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet.
Science
‘Most young people have seen ads for e-cigarettes’ (Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Despite advertising restrictions, 85% of young people, surveyed across four countries, reported being exposed to e-cigarette advertising from at least one type of media.
In an online survey aimed at examining factors associated with e-cigarette use among youth, The George Institute for Global Health surveyed approximately 1,000 persons aged 15 to 30 each in Australia, China, India and the UK.
It assessed demographic characteristics, e-cigarette and tobacco use, number of friends and family members who vape and exposure to e-cigarette advertising (television, print, radio and social media).
Elaborating the findings in a paper — Exposure to e-cigarette Advertising and Young People’s Use of e-cigarettes: A Four-country Study — the Researchers Said That the Average Number of Types of Media to which respondents were exposed was five. The number of media types was significantly associated with use of e-cigarettes.
Social media and advertising around vape shops and other retailers appeared to be the key exposure locations, raising the need for urgent attention , Simone Pettigrew, The George Institute for Global Health, said.
The WHO recommends banning all forms of e-cigarette advertising, promotion and sponsorship. All four countries - Australia, China, India and U.K. - have varying regulatory framework. India has amongst the strictest regulatory environments in the world: nicotine and non-nicotine e-cigarettes are banned and advertising is not permitted.