The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 29 April 2023

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 28 April 2023

 The Hindu Editorial Today

• Growth in India’s eight core sectors’ output fell to a five-month low of 3.6% in March, from 7.2% in February, with electricity and cement production slipping from a year ago, and crude oil output falling for the tenth successive month.
• Coal production jumped 12.2% in March, while fertilizers and steel output grew 9.7% and 8.8% respectively — relatively slower than recent months — as per data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Friday.
• For the full financial year 2022-23, core sectors saw a 7.6% growth compared to 10.4% in 2021-22, with all sectors reporting higher production except crude oil, which shrank 1.7% during the year.

What are the Core Sector Industries?

• These core industries are considered as main or key industries of the economy and serve as the backbone of all other industries
• The eight-core sector industries include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity
• The eight Core Industries in decreasing order of their weightage: Refinery Products> Electricity> Steel> Coal> Crude Oil> Natural Gas> Cement> Fertilizers.
• The eight core industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

• It is an index that tracks manufacturing activity in different sectors of an economy.
• It is a composite indicator that measures the growth rate of industry groups classified under:
• Broad sectors, namely, Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity.
• Use-based sectors, namely Basic Goods, Capital Goods, and Intermediate Goods.
• It is the only measure of the physical volume of production.
• It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• The base year of the index has been revised to 2011-12 from 2004-05 in alignment with the new series of IIP.

• The Rajya Sabha passed the Women’s Reservation Bill on 9 March 2010. However, the Lok Sabha never voted on the bill. The bill lapsed since it was still pending in Lok Sabha.
• The issue of reservation for women in politics can be traced back to the Indian national movement. In 1931, in their letter to the British Prime Minister, submitting the official memorandum jointly issued on the status of women in the new Constitution by three women’s bodies, leaders Begum Shah Nawaz and Sarojini Naidu.
• The National Perspective Plan for Women recommended in 1988 that reservation be provided to women right from the level of the panchayat to that of Parliament.
• According to Global Gender Gap Report 2022, India ranks 48th out of 146 in Political Empowerment (Percentage of Women in Parliament and in Ministerial Positions) dimension.
• It can be traced back to 1955 when a government appointed committee recommended that 10% of seats in the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies should be reserved for women. However, it was not until the 1980s that the demand for women’s reservations gained momentum.
• The National Perspective Plan for Women (1988) recommended that 30% of seats in all elected bodies should be reserved for women. This recommendation was reiterated in the National Policy for the Empowerment of Women, which was adopted in 2001.

Mains Question:

“The reservation of seats for women in the institutions of local self-government has had a limited impact on the patriarchal character of the Indian Political Process.” Comment. (2019)

• The Supreme Court has given a timely reminder to Governors that the Constitution expects that a decision to return a Bill to the State Assembly for reconsideration should be made “as soon as possible”.
• It has drawn attention to the phrase found in the first proviso to Article 200, seeking to convey a sense of immediacy in the matter of returning a Bill. “The expression ‘as soon as possible’ contains significant constitutional content and must be borne in mind by constitutional authorities,” the Court observed.
• This effectively means it would be constitutionally impermissible for Governors to hold on to Bills indefinitely without communicating their decision to the House.
• There are three clear problems associated with Article 200, which deals with assent to Bills: the absence of a time limit for acting on Bills, the scope for reserving a Bill for the President’s consideration against the express advice of the Cabinet and the claim that the Governor can kill any Bill by declining assent.
• The mischief lies in Article 163, which hedges the primary rule that the Governors function on the ‘aid and advice’ of the Cabinet, with a clause that prohibits any inquiry into whether a particular matter fell within their discretion or not.

• Beyond being just a cricket tournament, the IPL is a cultural phenomenon that has captured the hearts of millions of fans worldwide. It has contributed significantly to India’s economy through sports tourism, employment generation, and infrastructure development.
• The fact is that the IPL is one of India’s most significant cultural and economic events. But beyond the excitement and spectacle of the sport, an event as big as the IPL also has a significant environmental footprint.
• As we know, India has committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2070, and has also committed to reducing the emissions Intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030. Given this context, an examination of the environmental impact of India’s biggest summer festival and an exploration of ways to make it more sustainable are ideal.
• Specifically, for the IPL, studies estimate that a single match produces emissions in the range of 10,000 tCO2e to 14,000 tCO2e (or tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent). Over a season, this figure can reach up to 750k tCO2e to 900k tCO2e. To contextualise these emissions, it would take tropical forests the size of Singapore over a whole year to absorb these emissions.
• In 2018, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) signed an agreement to implement the concept of ‘zero waste’ or ‘green protocol’ to reduce wastage from cricket stadiums. This is a step in the right direction. But a deeper dive and a more quantitative examination of efforts to make the IPL more sustainable was needed.
• The emissions generated by sports venues only account for about 5% of the total, whereas digital viewership during events such as the IPL contribute to more than three-fourths to the total emissions footprint. In addition, data centres are the secondmost significant contributor to emissions, something that might often go unnoticed. Spectator travel, luxury accommodation, and backup generators round up the list of top five emitters.
• Just like a great match, achieving a Net Zero society requires team effort, with each sector of the economy playing a crucial role. To tackle climate change effectively, it is necessary to adopt a strong multisectoral approach. An event as big as the IPL is an opportunity to build awareness about the Net Zero transition, expanding on existing efforts and accelerating the journey to Net Zero.

• The Supreme Court on Friday directed States to suo motu register FIRs on hate speech incidents and proceed against offenders without waiting for someone to lodge a complaint.
• A Bench of Justices K.M. Joseph and B.V. Nagarathna said the court’s order would apply to all hate-speech makers irrespective of their religion. The secular nature of the nation has to be protected, the court stressed.
• The court even highlighted the penal provisions under which hate speech offenders ought to be booked. They are Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 505 (public mischief), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Q) Which one of the following countries does not form border with the Baltic Sea?

1. Estonia
2. Germany
3. Russia
4. Norway

निम्नलिखित में से कौन सा देश बाल्टिक सागर के साथ सीमा नहीं बनाता है?

1. एस्टोनिया
2. जर्मनी
3. रूस
4. नॉर्वे

About Baltic Sea:

• It is part of the North Atlantic Ocean, situated in Northern Europe.
• It extends northward from the latitude of southern Denmark almost to the Arctic Circle and separates the Scandinavian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe.
• The Baltic sea connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the Danish Straits.
• It is the largest expanse of brackish water in the world. Its water salinity levels are lower than that of the World Oceans due to the inflow of fresh water from the surrounding land and the sea’s shallowness.
• Surrounding Countries: Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Finland and Sweden.

Q) World Development Report 2023, which was recently seen in the news, is published by which organisation?

1. World Economic Forum
2. World Bank
3. World Economic Forum
4. None of these

विश्व विकास रिपोर्ट 2023, जो हाल ही में समाचारों में रही, किस संस्था द्वारा प्रकाशित की जाती है?

1. विश्व आर्थिक मंच
2. विश्व बैंक
3. विश्व आर्थिक मंच
4. इनमें से कोई नहीं

Explanation :

Recently, World Bank released the World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies.

• About 2.3 per cent of the world’s population—184 million people, including 37 million refugees—live outside their country of nationality.
• It found that low-skilled Indians who migrated to the United States tended to see a significant gain in their income of around 500%.
• The gains for highly-skilled workers such as engineers or doctors are much higher, however, low-skilled workers are also finding themselves having a multi-fold jump in their income.
• It categorised the migrants into four types – Refugees with skills in demand, economic migrants with skills that match with demand, distressed migrants and refugees.
• India-US, India-Bangladesh and India- Gulf Cooperation Council have been considered among the top migrant corridors.

Q) With reference to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Interbank Consortium, consider the following statements:

1. It was established after the 2008 Global financial crisis.
2. The first meeting of this consortium was held under India’s presidency in New Delhi.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

शंघाई सहयोग संगठन इंटरबैंक कंसोर्टियम के संदर्भ में निम्नलिखित कथनों पर विचार करें:

1. इसकी स्थापना 2008 के वैश्विक वित्तीय संकट के बाद हुई थी।
2. इस कंसोर्टियम की पहली बैठक भारत की अध्यक्षता में नई दिल्ली में हुई थी।

उपरोक्त कथनों में से कौन-सा/से सही है/हैं?

1. केवल 1
2. केवल 2
3. 1 और 2 दोनों
4. न तो 1 और न ही 2

• It was established by the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on 26 October 2005.
• It provides funding and bank services for investment projects sponsored by the governments of the SCO member states.
• The main objectives of the consortium are to provide financial services, promote trade, and facilitate investment among the member states.
• The SCO IBC Council meets ad hoc upon the consensus of all of the parties at least once per year.
• The Presidency of the Council is carried out on a rotational basis.
• It consists of major banks from the member countries, such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the National Bank of Kazakhstan, and the Bank of Russia.
• The first meeting of this organization was held in Beijing on 21–22 February 2006.

Q) The State of the Global Climate 2022 Report , which was recently seen in the news, is published by which organisation?

1. World Meteorological Organization
2. World Bank
3. World Economic Forum
4. None of these

द स्टेट ऑफ द ग्लोबल क्लाइमेट 2022 रिपोर्ट, जो हाल ही में खबरों में रही, किस संस्था द्वारा प्रकाशित की जाती है?

1. विश्व मौसम विज्ञान संगठन
2. विश्व बैंक
3. विश्व आर्थिक मंच
4. इनमें से कोई नहीं

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has found in a new report that the world’s sea level is rising at an unprecedented rate, portending potentially disastrous consequences for the weather, agriculture, the extant groundwater crisis, and social disparities.
• The report, entitled ‘State of the Global Climate 2022’, was published last week.

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