Thorns in Indi-US relationship

'International relations' has become an important area in GS mains. An article CROSSCURRENTS IN INDIA-US TIES (the Hindu, July 16) throes some important light. Here is a list of issues briefly.

• The identity of views between India and US on various issues seem to be just on paper, not being observed in reality.
• So far as Nulear Liability bill is concerned,  US is aagainst imposing liability on nuclear suppliers. But public opinion in India wants it to be so esp after Fukushima Disaster.
•  The next thorn is 'Pakistan'. US military and financial aid to Pakistan has not stopped even after the latter's involvement in sheltering Laden. Despite Pakistan's involvement in terrorist acts in India. US still treats Pakistan as equal to India.
• India's apprehensions with respect post-2014 Afghanistan have been disregaded by US. US is moving forward into dialogue with Taliban against India's interests.
• Please note that the above issues are not to disregard the genuine betterment of IndoUS bilateral relationship.

A food-for-thought for readers: Whether lack of consonance between India and US arise out of genuine policy concerns or just a legacy of celebrated NON-ALIGNMENT.

Animal World (part 1)

A few interesting things about Animals.

• DEER BOTFLY is perhaps the fastest creature on the Earth. It flies at a speed of 818 miles per hour, faster than jet aircraft.
• DINGO is a wild dog mostly found in Australia. It is a savage. It is known for strong and sharp jaws. It can tear the flesh apart. Interestingly, although it is a dog, it doesn't bark. This could be because barking is a recent development among dogs who have learnt it to imitate man to whom they are loyal. Since Dingo still looks man as an enemy, it does nor bark.
• MALLE FOWL is known as 'temperature bird', because of its sensitive tongue that can detect temperature variation of even less than 2 degree. It is found in AUSTRALIA. It buries its eggs in mounds of organic material. The mound acts as an incubator for hatching. It frequently visits the mound to check if desired temperature is maintained. It correcs variation by rising or lowering mound height.
• The world's smallest and most ferocious mammal is SHREW. It has a bite like a cobra, eats twice his own weight in meat everyday.

Numbers about Juveniles

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released some important statistics wrt crimes committed by juveniles. Could be useful for essay as well as GS paper 1.

• Juveniles were involved in 1.2%of the total crimes under IPC.
• The crime rate among juveniles is 2.3 for every one lakh juveniles and that is the highest since 2002
• The number of crimes committed by juveniles also rose by 11.2% over 2011 levels.
• The sexual offences in which juvenile boys are involved has been on the rise since 2002.
• The number of boys arrested for rape is also the highest since 2002.

Useful numbers about Women

Since Indian Society has been made a part of GS paper 1, it is imperative for the aspirants to keep tab on important reports about elements of society.

 A recent report by WHO has the following important insights:

• The worst perpetrators of violence against women are those closely related to women.
• 38% of women who are murdered are killed by their intimate partners; 30% of women worldwide are victims of brutalities perpetrated by their close partners.
• 35% of all women experience abuse of some form or the other and 42% sustain injuries during their lifetime.

 A shift in the age-old cultural attitudes that entrench power relations between sexes is need of the hour.

South China Sea and India

South China Sea is a part of Pacific Ocean located to the south of the China. Several countries, principally, China, Vietnam claim rights over South China Sea. China has been very vocal and claims the entire South China Sea. This claim has been vehemently opposed by the United States. South China Sea’s strategic importance lies in the fact that it acts as a principal shipping passage connecting Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. China’s gaining control over SCS could disrupt this trade route. About 55% of India’s trade with Asia-Pacific transits via SCS. India imports oil from Sakhlin to Mangalore refinery via SCS. The ASEAN nations are wary of the China’s aggression in SCS that could hamper their interests as well.

The attempt of OVL to explore oil in the waters belonging to Vietnam was put to hold, thanks to the pressure imposed and belligerent attitude by the bully China. India has always been a supporter of SCS’s autonomy. To secure its interests, India should build cordial maritime relations with ASEAN countries. India should share its expertise in missile and radar technology with ASEAN countries, most of whom have geared up for modernization of their defence forces.

Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill

Given the increased focus on current developments in General Studies Mains paper, the conventional information which we go through from books serves just as a background to understand the current developments and questions shall be mostly on the current developments. With this object in mind, I do here present a small write-up on Constitution (117^th Amendment) Bill which was introduced in Rajya Sabha on September 5, 2012.

Background

Our constitution has provided for Right to Equality. Article 16(1) says, “There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the state”. An exception to this is given in article 16(4) which states “the state may reserve any post or appointment in favor of any backward class of citizens who, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under that State. Accordingly, members from scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes had been provided reservation, including reservation in promotion, in public employment since 1955. However, the Supreme Court, in Indra Sawhney’s case repealed reservation in promotion to SCs/STs (this case also laid down many other important points with regard to reservation in public employment. The other points are beyond the scope of this article). To override this judicial pronouncement, the Government of India brought about “Constitution (77^th amendment) Act, 1995” inserting article 16(4A) which read , “nothing in this article shall prevent the state from making provisions of reservation in matters of promotion to any class or classes of posts in the service under the state in favor of scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, which, in the opinion of state, are not adequately represented”. The validity of this amendment along with two other constitutional amendments was challenged in Supreme Court in Nagaraja case. The SC upheld these constitutional amendments but laid down three conditions in the grant of reservation in promotion – ‘backwardness’, ‘inadequacy of representation’ and maintenance of efficiency’.

The contents of the bill

The HCs of Rajasthan and Allahabad struck down the provision of reservation in promotion in these two states by virtue of SC’s judgment in Nagaraja’s case. To override this judicial pronouncement, “Constitution (117^th amendment) bill” was introduced. This bill provides that all the SCs/STs notified in the Constitution shall be deemed ‘backward’ and nothing in article 335 (which lays down for balancing reservation with the maintenance of efficiency) shall prevent the state in providing reservation in promotion. The bill also seeks to delete the reference to ‘adequacy of representation’ from article 16(4).

Other Issues

·         The criteria laid down by the SC in Nagaraja’s case seems to be problematic: the establishment of “backwardness” to any community while granting reservation in promotion would introduce indirectly the ‘test of creamy layer’ which is laid down as test of backwardness only to OBCs, but not to SCs/STs by the SC only in Indra Sawhney’s case. The proposed bill seeks to remedy this error by explicitly laying down that all the SCs/STs specified in Constitution shall be deemed ‘backward’.

·         The SC is not clear as to what ‘inadequacy of representation’ mean. According to the text of article 16, it is the duty of state to determine inadequacy of representation. However, the basis to determine this inadequacy has not been laid down in the constitution. Thus, the determination of the basis for determining the inadequacy of representation hinges upon the judicial pronouncements. The SC is also not clear on this aspect. There is no clarity as to if proportional representation would mean adequate representation or is the former irrelevant in arriving at the latter. The proposed amendment seeks to call a halt to this confusion by doing away with the need to determine the adequacy of representation.

·         The need to ‘maintain efficiency’ has been done away with by stating that article 335 is not an impediment.

Arguments

Any attempt to provide reservation in public employment is bound to be welcomed with the cries of ‘loss of efficiency’. One school argues that reservation has nothing to do with the loss of efficiency since it is based on conservative understanding of ‘merit’. The other school argues that the reservation is meant to make ‘unequals equals’ but by providing reservation in promotion, this amendment does the reverse – ‘it treats equals unequally’. Thus, it seeks to bring about ‘equality of outcomes’ in place of ‘equality of opportunity’ as envisaged by the constitution.

Instead of completely doing away with the clause pertaining to maintenance of efficiency, it would have been far more legitimate to argue for a far more meaningful understanding of efficiency before the SC. Removal of test of backwardness could lead to garnering the fruits of reservation by progressive sections of SCs/STs while the sections to whom these fruits are directed are excluded from them. So it would have been more rational had the government sought to formulate the mechanism to reach the most deserving sections of SCs/STs

Nature of Tribal Uprising

Direct questions on tribal uprisings are not likely to be asked in GS. The questions, as you well know, shall mostly be roundabout and expect the candidate to apply his commonsense and analyze the events and present them systematically. This article is an attempt to give the nature of all the tribal uprisings as a whole by identifying the elements common and different among individual uprisings.

By nature of tribal revolts is meant why the tribesmen revolted, against whom they revolted and how they fought. Thus, the nature of the tribal uprisings can be analyzed from the stand-points of reasons, their targets, and the nature of fight engendered.

The most important reason for tribal uprising was the intrusion of outsiders. By intrusion of outsiders is meant the encroachment of outsiders on their lands, their habitats and even to the culture. Santhal rebellion was because of claiming of rights by the colonial government over the habitats of Santhals. Rama revolt of Andhra was also against the forest regulations which led to the loss of their livelihood and habitat. Needless to say the adverse impact of exorbitant land revenues leading to economic distress and consequently Chuar uprising, Munda revolt, Poligars revolt occurred. The intrusion of British into the culture leading to the uprising was testified by the Kandh uprising who rose in revolt against the British efforts to put an end to their practice of human sacrifices. The tribes found it difficult to reconcile with the new way of administration of British and the resulting revolts were of Cutch, Wagheras, Kolis, Ramosis. The exploitation of zamindars and moneylenders as in the case of Santhal uprising, Ahoma uprising (where british tried to capture their land invidiously) and the misconception of development works as in the khasi uprising where the tribesmen opposed construction of a road linking Brahmaputra valley and Sylhet. There were uprisings for the safeguard of religions also – Wahabi movement, Kuka revolt, Farizi revolt, Pagal Panthies.

The uprisings were mostly targeted against British. Santhals and Mundas claimed to set up Santhal Raj and Munda Raj respectively. Even Faraizis set up a parallel government. The rebellion of Raja of Vizianagaram and Diwan Velu Tampi were also against British. But Santhal rebellion was equally against zamindars who invidiously made Santhals their slaves by charging exorbitant interests for the loans borrowed. They disgraced Santhal women as well.

The nature of fight was mostly with traditional weapons like Bows & arrows, axes, swords etc. They were no match to the sophisticated weaponry of British Raj. However, their ferocity deserves appreciation.

To summarize, tribal uprisings were revolts of tribesmen who fought mostly against British to counter the latter’s invasion into former’s habitat and these revolts were quelled by the British using sophisticated arms.