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Here are the topics covered for 02 September 2023: Government Panel on Simultaneous Election, Governor VS Government, India’s First Solar Observatory Mission, Clean Ganga Mission, Technical Textile, An Uneven Rebound, Assam’s Unsung Hero, Mahendragiri: A Stealth Frigate of the Indian Navy.

 

Table of Contents:

GS -2

1. Government Panel on Simultaneous Election
2. Governor VS Government

 

GS-3

1. India’s First Solar Observatory Mision
2. Clean Ganga Mission.
3. Technical Textile
4. An Uneven Rebound

 

Facts for Prelims:

• Assam’s Unsung Hero
• Mahendragiri: A Stealth Frigate of the Indian Navy

 

GS-2

Government Panel on Simultaneous Election

Context:  There are committees formed under the former President of India, Ramnath Kovind, to look into the feasibility of simultaneous elections for State Assemblies and LokSabha elections.

 

More on News:

1. The government clarified that there is no clarity on terms of reference to the committee, and no information about members.

 

Brief History Simultaneous Election in India:

1. In 1952-52 the first general election and simultaneous election for all state assemblies were held in India for the first time.
2. This process continued 3 times in 1957, 1962, and 1967 but due to the premature dissolution of some state assemblies, this system was disrupted.
3. The first, second, and third Lok Sabha got full 5-year terms.
4. The fifth Loksabha extended till 1977 and later on the e Eighth, Tenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Lok Sabha could complete their full five-year terms.
5. The Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Lok Sabha were dissolved prematurely.

 

What Needs to be done for Simultaneous election:

1. Support from all political parties and all other stakeholders.
2. Holding simultaneous elections there is a need to make at least 5 Constitutional Amendments needed for the following articles,
3. A-83: Regarding the duration of houses of Parliament.
4. A-85: Dissolution of Lok Sabha by the President.
5. A-172: Relating to the duration of StateLegislature.
6. A-174: Dissolution State Legislatures
7. A-356: Imposition of President\’s rule in states.
8. Requirement of additional paper trial machines and voting machines.
9. A parliamentary panel already went through the issue of simultaneous election by consulting various stakeholders including the Election Commission.
10. This matter is now referred to the Law Commission for further examination and suggests a precise and practicable road map and framework for conducting simultaneous elections.

 

Positives:

1. Reduce huge monetary expenditure
2. Focus more on governance and development works
3. Reduced model code of conduct
4. Disruption of normal public life and functioning of essential services.
5. Free significant manpower from election duties and pressure.

 

Negatives:

1. Operational issues and feasibility
2. Law Commission has given an alternative to this.
3. Logistical problems for the deployment of forces, election machinery, etc.
4. Impact on Voters\’ behavior because national issues and local issues hence it will force voters to vote for particular political parties ignoring local issues.
5. Holding an election more than once every 5 years increases the accountability of politicians.

 

Governor VS Government

Context: A fresh tussle arose between the elected government and governors in non-BJP states.

 

More on News:

1. In Bengal Governor decided to West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose decided to discharge the duties of interim vice-chancellors (V­Cs) of all universities where full­time VCs are yet to be appointed, the Raj Bhavan in Bihar asked V­Cs of State universities to take orders only from the Governor.
2. Relations were strained when the Bihar governor reversed an order of the Education Department to freeze the bank accounts of two officials at Muzaffparpur’s Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University.

 

Examples of Governor vs. elected government:

1. Issues between the Governor and Tamil Nadu government over the appointment of bureaucrats.
2. Delhi Government vs. Lt Governor issue over appointment of officials.
3. The previous Governor of Maharashtra has not appointed 12 members of Legislative Councils for more than 2 years.

 

Issues related to the Office of Governor:

1. The person who is or was affiliated with the political party in power in the centre gets appointed as governor of the state.
2. Governors act from representatives to Centre’s agents.
3. Misuse of discretionary power.
4. There is no clear distinction between constitutional and statutory roles.
5. Constitutional loopholes.

 

Provisions related to the Office of Governor in the Constitution:

1. A-153: There shall be a Governor in each state
2. A-161: The Governor has the power to grant pardons, reprieves, etc.
3. A-163: There shall be a Council of Ministers Headed by the CM to aid and advise to Governor.
4. A-200: Give assent, withhold assent, or reserve the bill for the consideration of the President.
5. A-361: The Governor is not answerable to any court for the exercise and performance of any duty.

 

GS-3

India’s First Solar Observatory Mision

1. India’s first solar observatory mission, named Aditya­L1, will be launched onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

 

Key facts:

1. PSLV will launch the Aditya­L1 spacecraft into a highly eccentric earthbound orbit.
2. This PSLV­C57/Aditya­L1 mission can be counted as one of the longest missions involving a workhorse launch vehicle.
3. the longest of the PSLV missions is still the 2016 PSLV­C35 mission which was completed two hours, 15 minutes, and 33 seconds after lift­off.
4. Aditya­L1 will stay in earthbound orbits for 16 days and it will undergo a Trans­ Lagrangian1 insertion maneuver.
5. Aditya­L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from the Earth, directed towards the sun; this is about 1% of the distance between the Earth and the sun.

 

Mission Objective:

1. The Aditya L­1 payloads are expected to provide crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre­flie are and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particles and fields, etc.

 

An Uneven Rebound

India’s Economic Growth Statistics:

1. India’s economy, as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as the Gross Value Added (GVA), grew 7.8% in the first quarter (Q1) of the year.
2. The central bank’s 6.5% growth projection for 2023-­24 factors in a decline in the uptick rate in each of the subsequent quarters of this year, culminating at 5.7% in the fiscal quarter.
3. India remains the fastest-growing major economy by a comfortable margin, with China recording a 6.3% rise in the same quarter and facing a fresh slowdown.
4. Farm sector GVA maintained its growth pace to rise 3.5% in Q1,

 

Challenges:

1. Negative hit on goods exports and decline in manufacturing combined with domestic inflation pressure and the likelihood of a weak monsoon playing truant with crop yields and farm incomes.

 

Services Sector:

1. Trade, hotels, and transport rose 9.2%, but in absolute terms, the employment­intensive segment remained 1.9% below pre­ COVID­19 levels, indicating the recovery is still incomplete.

 

Manufacturing Sector:

1. Manufacturing GVA grew for the second successive quarter after six months of contraction, but only accelerated slightly from 4.5% to 4.7%.

 

Investment in Economy:

1. While the government has been asserting that the private investment cycle has finally taken off, the gross fixed capital formation trends indicate it is still government capital spending that is doing the heavy lifting.
2. Private consumption spending rose 6% but economists believe this is still dominated by demand from high-income earners.

 

Recent Government steps:

1. Interventions to counter inflation, such as export curbs on rice and onions, will hurt growth and the external trade balance, while relief measures, such as the ₹200 cut in LPG cylinder prices, may proliferate ahead of the general election, also pose risks to the fiscal math and growth

 

Clean Ganga Mission

Context: Even 7 years after the launch of the Clean Ganga Mission, the cleaning of the river still is ongoing.

 

Key Facts:

1. The government launched a 20000 crore project, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). it has installed treatment plants capable of treating just 20% of the sewage This is expected to increase to about 33% by 2024 and 60% of sewage by December 2026.
2. sewage to the tune of 11,765 million liters per day (MLD) being generated in the five States — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.
3. However, the NMCG plans on setting up sewage treatment plants (STPs) capable of treating about 7,000 MLD of sewage by 2026.

 

The objective of the mission:

1. “The main objective of the Namami Gange mission is to ensure that no untreated sewage flows into the river.

 

Issue of waste water flow:

1. The estimate of 11,765 MLD is dynamic and also includes sewage that is generated within the State, but which doesn’t necessarily flow into the river.

 

Project Outlays:

1. Projects to set up STPs and sewerage networks are at the heart of the Namami Gange mission and account for about 80% of the overall project outlay.
2. As of July 2023, STPs capable of treating 2,665 MLD have actually been commissioned, and are now functional.

 

Reasons behind Delay:

1. Several plants took time to be commissioned as there were problems with land acquisition. The Detailed Project Reports which prescribe all the steps necessary to execute a project, and the roles of agencies, Centres, and State and private contractors needed revision.

 

Sign of Improvement:

1. conspicuous sign of the improvement in water quality along the Ganga was the rise in dolphin population from 2,000 to about 4,000.
2. presence of dolphins in new stretches of the river as well as in tributaries [of the Ganga]
3. Fishermen are also reporting the increased presence of Indian carp [a fish species] that only thrives in clean water.

 

How Pollution is Measured in River Water:

1. The typical parameters used by the Central Pollution Control Board — such as the levels of dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, and fecal coliform, vary widely along various stretches of the river.

 

Steps will be taken by NMCG:

1. The NMCG is now working to develop a water quality index, on the lines of the air quality index, to be able to better communicate about river­water quality.

 

Facts for prelims:

Assam’s Unsung Hero

Context: Recently North East Regional Centre (NERC) of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts organised a play based on Mangri Orang.

 

Key Facts:

1. More than a century after Mangri Orang was shot in Assam’s Darrang district for leading a fight against foreign liquor and opium, an unsung tea plantation worker.
2. Malati Mem is a multilingual play based on the life and the revolutionary zeal of Mangri Orang, an Adivasi with roots in central India.

 

Mahendragiri: A Stealth Frigate of the Indian Navy

1. The seventh and last stealth frigate of Project 17A, Mahendragiri at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. (MDL) in Mumbai.
2. It will help to cope with traditional security challenges in the Indian Ocean Region, and the larger Indo­Pacific continue to persist and traditional challenges such as piracy, drug smuggling, and natural disasters continue.

What is Project-17A:

1. It was started in 2019 by the Indian Navy for the construction of stealth-guided missile frigates.
2. The frigates are constructed by the 2 PSUs called Mazgaon Dock Limited and Gardenreach Shipbuilders and Engineers.
3. The project cost of seven ships under Project 17A was ₹45,000 crore as sanctioned by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in 2015.
4. Fincantieri of Italy is the know-how provider for technology upgrades and capability enhancement in this project.
5. Project 17A frigates are the follow-on Class of Project 17 ‘Shivalik Class’ frigates, with improved stealth features, advanced weapons, sensors, and platform-management systems.

Ships names:

1. Vindhyagiri
2. Himgiri
3. Taragiri
4. Mahendragiri
5. Udaygiri
6. Dunagiri
7. Nilgiri

 

Technical Textile

Context:  The Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council said it will unveil a dashboard on technical textiles soon.

 

More on News:

1. The dashboard would have details of technical textile products for which demand was increased.
2. The U.S., Japan, and West Asian countries are buying package textile products from India.
3. Technical textile products have registered a 6% growth in exports so far this year.

 

What are technical textiles?

1. Technical textiles are defined as textile materials and products used primarily for their technical performance and functional properties rather than their aesthetic or decorative characteristics.

 

Segments of technical textile:

1. Agritech
2. Buildtech
3. Geotech
4. Clothtech
5. Meditech
6. Hometech
7. Mobile tech
8. Packtech
9. Sports tech
10. Protech