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The BJP-led government is unlikely to push through a Uniform Civil Code — one law applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, etc — in the current term. The UCC is the last of the BJP’s ideological agenda after the scrapping of Article 370 and the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The party would, however, keep the issue alive and fresh in the political discourse, sources in the government and the party said.
Following PM Narendra Modi’s first public push for the UCC at a rally in Bhopal on June 28, expectations had built up that a legislation may soon be enacted.
Top functionaries in the party as well as the government said a law would require far deeper research and wider consultation, and thus it was unlikely to come into force before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
To keep the issue alive, a number of BJP leaders have made statements on the need for the UCC. A private member bill ‘Suitable legislation to implement Uniform Civil Code throughout the country’ moved by BJP Lok Sabha MP from Jharkhand Sunil Kumar Singh was listed. The Lok Sabha did not function to take up bills.
As reported by The Indian Express earlier, the Sangh Parivar has been of the view that states may implement the UCC on their own, and the Centre may wait before it embarks on an exercise for an overarching law. “It can be taken up in the next term, but the preference is to get it implemented in the states.
A number of state BJP governments —Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat — have already begun efforts to bring in a UCC; Uttar Pradesh and Assam are yet to make any significant moves.
Govt & Politics
In the works, world’s largest museum with India’s story of 5000 yrs (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 1, Culture)
The British Museum in London and the Grand Louvre in Paris are among the world’s largest museums, each covering around 70,000 square metres and housing millions of objects.
That may change a few years down the line as India, in collaboration with France, works on creating the Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum in New Delhi which will cover 1.17 lakh sq. metres.
Last week, while inaugurating the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre complex in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “Soon, the biggest museum of the world, Yuge Yugeen Bharat, will be constructed in Delhi.”
In May, the Prime Minister had released a virtual walkthrough of the museum. It was also mentioned in the joint statement released after Modi’s visit to France in July.
Divided into eight thematic zones, the museum will showcase historical events, personalities, ideas and achievements related to India’s past that have contributed to the making of India’s present.
It will tell the story of 5,000 years of Indian civilisation, said officialS, adding that the name signifies the civilisation’s “perennial” nature.
Though the project is slated for completion by 2026, no concrete deadline has been set yet. Sources said that North and South Block, where the museum will come up, are office buildings and will take time to be converted into visitor-friendly spaces.
Express Network
ISRO places seven Singaporean satellites into intended orbits (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
ISRO successfully launched its proven PSLV rocket carrying seven Singaporean satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh and placed them into intended orbits.
Around 23 minutes after lift-off, the primary satellite got separated and it was followed by six other co-passenger satellites, which were deployed into the intended orbits sequentially.
On the successful launch and separation of the satellites, ISRO posted on Twitter, “PSLV-C56/DS-SAR Mission: The mission is successfully accomplished. PSLV-C56 vehicle launched all seven satellites precisely into their intended orbits.
In today’s dedicated commercial mission, the primary payload being carried by ISRO’s trusted workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is the DS-SAR Radar Imaging Earth Observation satellite, which has been developed under a partnership between DSTA (representing the Government of Singapore) and ST Engineering, Singapore.
The 360-kg satellite, upon deployment at an altitude of 535 km into a Near-equatorial Orbit (NEO), would be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of various agencies within the Government of Singapore.
ST Engineering would use the satellite for multi-modal and higher responsiveness imagery and geospatial services for their commercial customers.
The satellite carries a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload developed by Israel Aerospace Industries. The payload allows DS-SAR to provide for all-weather day-and-night coverage and it is capable of imaging at 1-metre resolution.
Explained
Bill to amend Forest conservation act: Provisions, concerns (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The Bill to amend the Forest (Conservation) Act cleared the Lok Sabha test last week. The FC Act was legislated in 1980 to regulate the diversion of forests for construction and mining.
After more than four decades, the government proposes to “broaden the horizons of the Act to keep its provisions in tandem with the dynamic changes in the ecological, strategic and economic aspirations” of the country.
Just four pages, the original Act itself is brief. Even with a preamble and a statement of reasons, the proposed amendments do not run beyond five pages.
But the number of requests for re-drafting the Bill in explicit and specific terms that adequately reflect the various assurances offered by the Environment Ministry show that the amendments are open to too many interpretations.
In December 1996, the Supreme Court ruled that the FC Act would apply to all land parcels that were either recorded as ‘forest’ or resembled the dictionary meaning of forest. Until then, the FC Act applied to areas notified as forests under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
This blanket order made the FC Act applicable to all land recorded as forest and to all standing forests irrespective of their land status, restraining “development or utility-related work.”
Further, notes the Bill’s statement of reasons, “apprehensions prevailed regarding applicability” of the FC Act in the plantations raised on private and non-forest land.
As a remedy, the Bill proposes that the Act will be applicable only on notified forest land and land identified as forest on government records except such forests that were already put to other use prior to the 1996 SC order.
Monsoon and food inflation (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The southwest monsoon had an abysmal start, arriving seven days late on June 8. Rainfall for the country was 52.6% below the normal (long period average) during the first two weeks, with 10.1% cumulative deficiency even at the end of June. The whole of eastern and southern India (except Tamil Nadu), besides Maharashtra, hardly got any rain.
But from around the last week of June, the monsoon staged a recovery, covering the entire country by July 2 – six days before schedule.
The current month so far has recorded 15.7% above normal rainfall, with the earlier cumulative deficit turning into an overall 6% surplus for June 1-July 30.
Also, most of the major agricultural regions – save eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal – have received normal rain.
The monsoon’s turnaround has led to a surge in kharif crop plantings – including the area under rice that was lagging behind last year’s levels till mid-July. But the gaps have since been significantly covered, barring in pulses, while forging ahead for rice (table).
The bulk of kharif sowings happen from mid-June to mid-August. Rainfall in June-July decides how much area is covered. August-September rain matters for yields of the crops already sown.
The same rain helps fill up reservoirs and ponds and recharge groundwater tables, which provide moisture for the subsequent rabi winter-spring crops.
Wajid Ali shah after Awadh: How a deposed nawab resurrected his court (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 1, History)
Today, July 30, 2023, is the 201st birth anniversary of Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab to sit on the throne of Awadh. Wajid Ali Shah was a man of many contradictions — a king who never had much power but who managed to maintain a ‘court’ to his dying day; a ruler whose deposition contributed to the Revolt of 1857 but who never showed any inclination of fighting the British; an aesthete who wrote much about love and passion, but treated his (numerous) wives and children rather callously.
The first part of Wajid Ali Shah’s story, that of his almost-nine-year reign as Lucknow’s ‘king’ and of his deposition on charges of misgovernance and debauchery [the British version of events; in reality, the Nawab had tried to reform his administration but was hamstrung by the British; he also wrote a fairly detailed book on administration which they ignored] is well-known.
A year later, the First War of Independence broke out, and Shah’s divorced wife, Begum Hazrat Mahal, came charging into the pages of history, completing the Nawab’s exile.
Yet it is the last 30 years of his life, spent in Calcutta, that best highlight the unique character of Wajid Ali Shah, whose answer to the reverses of destiny was to pretend they hadn’t happened, and who, though never respected by the British, held enough weight to be treated with a generous pension and personal politeness all his life.
After he was deposed as the ‘king’ of Lucknow — a title given by the British — Wajid Ali Shah and his family planned to sail to England and plead their case directly with Queen Victoria, a fellow sovereign they assumed would be more sympathetic to their cause.
Wajid Ali Shah, his mother Malika Kishwar Bahadur Fakhr-uz-Zamani, or Janab-i-Aliyyah, and his brother Sikandar Hasmat, along with ministers and relatives, landed in Calcutta for this purpose.
Editorial
Data beyond surveys (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
First, we should recognise that there is a problem in the statistical system that needs to be fixed. Defending the statistical system is no solution at all.
The National Statistical Office (NSO) has been collecting data primarily through administrative and sample surveys, both of which have their own strengths and challenges.
The data collection from administrative sources is economical and less time-consuming, but has several challenges in terms of representativeness. Sample surveys are costlier, both in terms of money and time.
The updation of the Census frame used for most surveys needs to be digitised dynamically and made accessible to improve the quality of surveys and reduce bias in the estimates. Geospatial technologies and crowd-sourced data platforms now permit such dynamic updation.
Second, the national statistical system needs to expand and diversify its resource base of data — it should include new and emerging sources like Big Data leverage processing through machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The efforts by the NSO for developing “standards” and “methodologies” for data validation of these new datasets are going to be extremely important, so they supplement conventional data sources.
The UN Statistics Division has come up with guidelines for using Big Data for official purposes. The NSO needs to work closely with multilateral and regional agencies for enhancing the capacity of the statistical system for the use of such data available from alternative sources.
Ideas Page
Smart ideas for big cities (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Disaster Management)
In the past few weeks, three major cities — Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai — have been flooded. Cities like Hyderabad (in 2000), Srinagar (in 2014), Chennai (in 2021) and Bengaluru (in 2022) have also seen some areas being submerged during heavy rainfall. This has consequences: A majority of urban residents face water-logging and traffic congestion.
While flooding was a regular occurrence in urban India before independence, damage and disruption have increased. There are well-known factors at play: With unplanned urbanisation and a rise in population, there has been a rise in construction (especially in low-lying areas) and, consequently, a loss of water bodies.
With cities getting more concretised (via pavements, roads, and settlements), rainwater percolation has reduced, leading to a rise in stormwater run-off.
Most Indian cities are situated beside a river, with extensive floodplains and wetlands. In an ideal world, such areas would have been left untouched — instead, India has lost 40 per cent of its wetlands in the past 30 years.
For instance, Baroda lost 30 per cent of its wetlands between 2005 and 2018. Delhi had 1,000 waterbodies in 1997, but now has just 700. With such a loss of natural “blue infrastructure”, flooding risks have increased.
Delhi has seen four major flooding events between 2005 and 2023. Similar patterns exist for other cities. Solving this requires action on multiple fronts.
First, we need to understand the problem better — studies must be conducted in all cities to understand the catchment area and flooding risk associated with urban water bodies (including rivers) and land use.
This can then be tied up with short, medium and long-term measures to rejuvenate water bodies. Lake and river management plans should be defined and include the participation of the local citizenry in upkeep and a push to remove encroachments (Misra, Nidhi, Oct 2011).
Geographic information systems (GIS) may be used to tag local water bodies, to help keep track of encroachments and understand their seasonality.
World
Pak approves 28 projects; to be offered to gulf countries For Investment (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
In a major development, Pakistan has in principle approved 28 projects worth billions of dollars that would be offered to Gulf countries for investment with the long-term objective to reduce reliance on loans and imports.
The newly established Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) -- a hybrid civil-military forum – is leading the drive to fast-track economic development to address the financial woes of the country.
The list of the approved projects suggests that if all the schemes are picked up by countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, the quantum of investment under the SIFC banner can be greater than the USD 28 billion under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The approved schemes are in the food, agriculture, information technology, mines and minerals, petroleum and power sectors.
They include cattle farms; the USD 10 billion Saudi Aramco refinery; explorations of copper and gold in Chagai; and the Thar Coal Rail connectivity scheme.
The initial project also includes the Diamer-Bhasha dam which has also been offered to China for investment under CPEC.
The CPEC is a collection of infrastructure and other projects under construction throughout Pakistan since 2013.
In order to give legal cover to the SIFC working, parliament already approved a host of amendments to the Pakistan Army Act and the Board of Investment (BOI) Ordinance.
Amendments to the Election Act have also been introduced to ensure the continuity of work on these schemes during the tenure of the caretaker government.
Economy
Insurance Bill 2023 unlikely to be taken up during Monsoon session (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The insurance sector may have to wait further for major reforms in the segment. The Insurance Bill 2023, considered as a pathbreaking Bill, is unlikely to be passed anytime soon as the Government is not expected to table it in the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament which is functioning the last few days, sources said.
This means major reforms proposals like composite license, differential capital, reduction in solvency norms, issuing captive license, change in investment regulations, one-time registration for intermediaries’ and allowing insurers to distribute other financial products, earlier announced by the government for seeking public comments, will remain shelved.
The proposed amendments suggest that the minimum paid-up capital can be different and specified by IRDAI considering the size and scale of operations, class or subclass of insurance business and the category or type of insurer.
This means the paid-up capital required to start general, life or standalone health insurance business at Rs. 100 crore and for reinsurance business Rs 200 crore will go.
There is a proposal that an applicant may apply for a composite license enabling any type of insurance business. This means an insurer can do both life and non-life business with a composite licence. A composite licence will allow insurers to undertake life and health insurance via a single entity.
A captive insurance company would have enabled a business group to set up an inhouse wholly-owned subsidiary insurer to provide risk mitigation services for its parent company or related entities.
There were earlier indications that the government will table the Insurance Bill 2023 in the monsoon session of the Parliament, a major move that would have deepened the insurance sector.