Daily PT Capsule Feb 18

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Daily PT Capsule UPSC Civil Services
Daily PT Capsule UPSC Civil Services

Cabinet recommends lifting of Central rule in Arunachal

A day after the Supreme Court refused to stop the dissident leaders and the Governor in Arunachal Pradesh from forming a new government, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday  17 Feb sought the revocation of President’s rule in the State imposed on January 26.

Analysis

What is the issue all about? – Nabam Tuki became the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh in 2011. In Dec 2014 Health and Family Welfare Minister Kalikho Pul is dropped from the government is dropped and is later expelled from the party. Mr. Pul then joins hands with 11 BJP MLAs with the backing of 19 rebel Congress MLAs. They then issue a resolution to remove the speaker. The Governor J P Rajkhowa orders to prepone the session to discuss removal of speaker. The centre then implements President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh.

As per the Congress leaders at the centre the dissident MLAs don’t have the majority to form a government in Arunachal Pradesh.

The role of Governor? – During the whole issue the role of the Governor as a neutral party has come into question. Preponing the assembly session and removing the speaker are being questioned by the state government. Governor J.P. Rajkhowa had summoned the sixth session of the state legislative assembly for three days from December 16 in place of January 14 to 18 as scheduled earlier.

The governor’s office said that the change in dates were done in exercise of powers conferred on him under clause (1) of Article 174 of the Constitution.  But the state government contests that the Governor cannot act without the advice of the council of ministers.

The cabinet also resolved to take legal opinion on four issues:

(i) Whether there was any provision in the Constitution which empowers a governor to pre-pone a legislative assembly‘s session?

(ii) Whether a governor is empowered under Article 174(1) of the Constitution to pre-pone an Assembly session without consulting the chief minister and council of ministers?

(iii) Whether the governor’s order of December 9 was contrary to the mandate of Rule 3 Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business?

(iv) Whether a governor can issue a message under article 175(2) of the Constitution of India fixing ‘Resolution for removal of Speaker’ as first item of business, bypassing the Business Advisory Committee of the state legislature?

Source: TheHindu, TheIndianExpress

 

Hybrid Maize in Punjab

To give an impetus to crop diversification, the government in Punjab, plans to replace the paddy (rice) with hybrid maize in two lakh hectares this kharif season (2016-17).

The government will go in for hybrid maize, considered the best alternative to paddy, in 14 districts. During 1976-77, maize was grown on 5.8 lakh hectares, and the area has now come down to 1.3 lakh hectares as per agricultural department.

The hybrid varieties of maize that yield 6-7 tonnes a hectare are now available, the area can be increased to 8 lakh hectares to meet the requirements of cattle feed, poultry and starch production.

The government has established a maize board to help farmers in production and marketing. The government has installed dryers in many markets at a cost of Rs. 52.85 crore because maize  has a higher moisture content of 25-30 per cent at the time of harvest. For storage, the moisture content should not be more than 14 per cent.

Analysis

Reducing area under paddy – Punjab faces serious water shortages and a groundwater table that is falling dramatically. Farmers have been tapping into groundwater supplies via tubewells. There are 1.3 million tubewells in the state, and officials say almost all farms have at least one.

Rice is the crop of choice  in many areas in India – but rice is the cause of the problem.  Farming rice paddy fields requires a lot of water – more than three times the amount of water that Punjab usually gets in rainfall each year. There is a critical need to come up with better rice plantation techniques which require less water. The other option is to diversify crops from paddy. Maize can be a good choice in terms of returns for the farmer and sustainability.

Source: TheHindu, PRI.org

 

Proposal for gravitational wave detector approved

Days after an international team of scientists, including several from India, formally announced that it had detected gravitational waves from deep space, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said it had, “in principle,” approved a proposal to have a gravitational wave detector in India.

Current estimates suggest the project would cost at least Rs. 1,200 crore. It will take minimum eight years to get the project up and running.

Analysis

What is the gravitational wave detector? –  A gravitational-wave observatory (or gravitational- wave detector) is any device designed to measure gravitational waves, tiny distortions of spacetime that were first predicted by Einstein in 1916.The project will be led by the Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations (IndIGO), which has been a member of the international LIGO collaboration since 2011

In February 2016, the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) team announced that they had detected gravitational waves from a black hole merger.

Spin off Benefits – LIGO-India project will establish a state-of-the-art gravitational-wave observatory in collaboration with LIGO Laboratory run by Caltech and MIT. LIGO-India will bring “considerable opportunities” in cutting-edge technology for Indian industry. The project will motivate Indian students and scientists to explore newer frontiers of knowledge and will add impetus to scientific research.

Source: TheHindu, PhysicsWorld

 

Private sector to build fighter jets in India

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that India will select one or two fighter aircraft which will be manufactured locally by a private company under Make in India initiative. This is in addition to the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the production of which is being scaled up.

India and France are in advanced stage of talks to conclude an inter-governmental agreement for the direct purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. This fighter aircraft will likely be other than the Rafale.

There are several proposals that are under consideration and “through proper process we may select them to make in India.”

Even as the Rafale talks are on,  it is not a replacement for the much smaller MiGs in service which are now being phased out.

With this, companies who lost out in the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft contest, have been pitching their aircraft in anticipation of a comeback into the race. Boeing and Lockheed Martin of the U.S. and Saab of Sweden recently gave their detailed plans.

The defence ministry is in an advanced stage of giving approval to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for setting up a second assembly line for the LCA to increase the production rate from eight to 16 aircraft per year.

The Air Force is expected to induct over 100 of the improved LCA which will feature an Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, mid-air refuelling and improved electronic warfare suite in addition to other minor improvements.

Analysis

Indigenisation of Defence – India is the largest weapons importer in the world. Although the country has now diversified its acquisition sources beyond Russia to the West and Israel, recent deals have failed to include transfer-of-technology (ToT) clauses.  If this trend continues, India’s defence technology base will continue to remain low and the country will remain dependent almost solely on imports for major defence acquisitions.

Whatever India procures now must be procured with a ToT clause being built into the contract even if it means having to pay a higher price. The aim should be to make India a design, development, manufacturing and export hub for defence equipment in two to three decades with cooperation from Private sector.
Source: IDSA, TheHindu

 

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