UPSC Key | JPCs, DDoS attack, Employment Data and more (2024)

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Explained

Amid Hindenburg probe calls, look at JPCs on financial allegations

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: GS-II: Polity, Constitution

What’s the ongoing story- The Opposition has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the Hindenburg Research allegations against Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch. The BJP has rejected the demand.

Prerequisites:

— What is JPC?

— What is Hindenburg’s report against the SEBI chairman?

— What is the Action Taken Report?

— What are Parliamentary Committeees?

Key takeaways:

— A JPC is an ad hoc body comprising members from both Houses of Parliament, roughly in proportion to party strengths in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The representation of Lok Sabha is double that of Rajya Sabha.

— A JPC, therefore, acts as a mini Parliament to carry out detailed scrutiny of a specific matter within a specific time frame.

— Joint committees are set up by a motion passed in one House and agreed to by the other. The details of membership and subjects relating to a particular JPC are decided by Parliament.

— A JPC can look into documents and examine officials of any ministry or institution concerned. If one or more members disagree with the majority in a JPC, they can submit notes of dissent.

— It is up to the government to take action on the recommendations of the committee. If it so wishes, the government may launch investigations on the basis of a JPC report. But it must, in any case, report on the follow-up action taken on the committee’s recommendations.

— Based on the government’s reply, the committee submits an ‘Action Taken Report’ in Parliament. The Action Taken Report can be discussed in Parliament, and the Opposition can ask questions of the government.

— So far, only three JPCs have been constituted to investigate alleged financial crimes — on the 2G spectrum scam in 2013, on the Ketan Parekh share market scam in 2001, and on the securities and banking deals relating to Harshad Mehta in 1992.

For Your Information:

— Legislative business begins when a Bill is introduced in either House of Parliament. But the process of lawmaking is often complex, and Parliament has limited time for detailed discussions. — Also, the political polarisation and shrinking middle ground has been leading to increasingly rancorous and inconclusive debates in Parliament — as a result of which a great deal of legislative business ends up taking place in the Parliamentary Committees instead.

— A Parliamentary Committee is a panel of MPs that is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker, and which works under the direction of the Speaker. It presents its report to the House or to the Speaker.

— Parliamentary Committees have their origins in the British Parliament. They draw their authority from Article 105, which deals with the privileges of MPs, and Article 118, which gives Parliament authority to make rules to regulate its procedure and conduct of business.

— Broadly, Parliamentary Committees can be classified into Financial Committees, Departmentally Related Standing Committees, Other Parliamentary Standing Committees, and Ad hoc Committees.

Points to Ponder:

— What is the purpose of the Parliamentary Committee?

— How is JPC different from the Standing Committee?

— What are the challenges of Parliamentary Committees?

— What is the significance of the Parliamentary Committees?

Post Read Question:

(1) Consider the following statements The Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts (UPSC CSE 2013)

1. consists of not more than 25 Members of the Ink Sabha

2. scrutinises appropriation and finance accounts of the Government

3. examines the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

Parliament Committees, their leaders, and their role in law-making

Rearing broiler chickens

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: GS-III: Economy

What’s the ongoing story- The broiler integration companies have turned poultry farming – traditionally based on rearing 10-20 free-range/backyard breed birds fed on agricultural byproducts and kitchen waste – into a commercial enterprise even for smallholders.

Prerequisites:

— What is contract farming?

— What is the broiler industry?

Key takeaways:

— The integrated contract farming model was pioneered by the Coimbatore-based Suguna Foods. Out of the estimated 14 crore DOCs placed every week in broiler farms all over India, IB Group/ABIS and Suguna account for 1-1.1 crore each. Other major broiler integrators are the Venkateshwara Hatcheries (VH) Group, Baramati Agro and Premium Chick Feeds (all in Pune) and Shalimar Group (Kolkata). Each does 30-60 lakh of weekly chick placements.

— The broiler industry is arguably India’s most organised and vertically integrated agri-business today. Dairies may procure milk directly from farmers, but don’t supply them cows or buffaloes. The poultry integrators have their own feed plants as well as commercial broiler hatcheries.

— The broiler chickens produced and sold in India are largely of foreign pedigree stock like Ross, Hubbard and Cobb…. Only Suguna Foods has developed its own ‘Sunbro’ pure line broiler breed.

— The Indian broiler industry is highly “backward integrated” – more than dairy – but isn’t as “forward integrated” as the latter. Dairies sell branded pouch milk, curd, ghee, butter, cheese and ice-cream, whereas broiler chickens are predominantly wholesaled and even retailed as live birds in the “wet market” or roadside shops.

Points to Ponder:

— What are the challenges of contract farming?

— What are the government initiatives for promoting contract farming?

— What were the three farm laws, now repealed, related to contract farming?

Post Read Question:

Prelims

(2) Consider the following statements: ( UPSC CSE 2023)

1. The Government of India provides Minimum Support Price for niger (Guizotia abyssinica) seeds.

2. Niger is cultivated as a Kharif crop.

3. Some tribal people in India use niger seed oil for cooking.

How many of the above statements are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(c) All three

(d) None

Mains

What do you mean by Minimum Support Price (MSP)? How will MSP rescue the farmers from the low income trap? (UPSC CSE 2018)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

For this agri-allied farmer, desi murgi came before eggs, and then came the big bucks

What is DDoS attack, cause of Trump-Musk interview glitches?

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: GS-III: Cyber Security

What’s the ongoing story- Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk hosted former US President and Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump on his social media platform X on Monday (August 12) for a live audio interview. However, their conversation started after a 40-minute delay and witnessed several glitches, due to what appeared to be a “massive DDoS attack on X”, Musk said in a post.

Prerequisites:

— What is a cyber attack?

— What are bots?

Key takeaways:

— A Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack simply means that a website or any other online service cannot be accessed because it has been the target of attacks from a malicious actor. According to the US government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, this targeting is done by directing a large number of users against a particular online server at the same time to “flood” it.

— Bots can also be used to overwhelm the network, resulting in slow loading times or a total pause in internet services.

— In the case of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, multiple sources work against one target. This makes the culprit harder to locate.

— There are different ways of carrying out DOS attacks. Botnets, which are networks of compromised devices, can be deployed by potential attackers.

— In a “Smurf Attack”, the attacker sends Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) broadcast packets to several hosts. The ICMP can be normally used to communicate data transmission errors to systems, but in this case, attackers send it maliciously.

— While communicating, attackers use a spoofed source IP address which actually belongs to the target machine. As the target machines respond, they end up flooding their own servers, resulting in a DDoS attack.

— Then there is an “SYN flood”, which occurs when an attacker sends a request to connect to the target server but does not complete the connection… Multiple, targeted incomplete connections again result in a load for the server, making it difficult to complete legitimate connections smoothly.

— Slowing internet speed and inability to access an online service are signs of a DoS attack…

— DoS attacks can cause major disruption, lasting for anywhere between a few hours to a few days. In 2016, major websites like Spotify, Twitter and Amazon were unavailable for many hours because of a DDoS attack.

For Your Information:

— All internet connected smart devices will be required to meet minimum security standards under what the UK government has dubbed as “world first” laws to protect consumers and businesses from hacking and cyber-attacks.

— Under the new regime, manufacturers will be banned from having weak, easily guessable default passwords like “admin” or “12345” and if there is a common password, the user will be prompted to change it on start-up.

Points to Ponder:

— What are the challenges of cyber security in India?

— How vulnerable is India to cyber-attacks?

— What are the government initiatives regarding cyber security?

Post Read Question:

Prelims

(3) In India, it is legally mandatory for which of the following to report on cyber security incidents? (UPSC CSE 2017)

1. Service providers

2. Data centres

3. Body corporate

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Mains

What are the different elements of cyber security ? Keeping in view the challenges in cyber security, examine the extent to which India has successfully developed a comprehensive National Cyber Security Strategy. (UPSC CSE 2022)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

UK’s new ‘world first’ laws crack down on smart gadget cyber attacks

Editorial

The post-Mandal moment

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international significance

Mains Examination: GS-II: Constitution, Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

What’s the ongoing story- Suhas Palshikar writes: The recent ruling of the Supreme Court allowing states to sub-classify SCs and STs for the purpose of preferential treatment in reservation has produced two pronounced responses: Political parties are trying to duck the issue by not committing themselves while most proponents of the reservation policy are upset about and critical of the ruling. Both the silence and the criticism represent the unease with the post-Mandal moment.

Prerequisites:

— What are the constitutional provisions for the protection of SC and ST?

— What was the purpose of the Mandal Commission?

Key takeaways:

— Mandal — understood as caste politics — has had two connected but separate trajectories: One pre-Mandal and the other occasioned by the Mandal Commission Report.

— The former is a historically anchored life of democratisation, involving long-term struggles against caste… This pre-Mandal life of the idea of Mandal was made possible by BR Ambedkar.

— The other life of Mandal revolved around the question of reservation — this was one that shaped post-1967 politics in the north. This second life of Mandal culminated in a complicated mix.

— In the pre-life of Mandal, questions of government policy were intrinsically based on the larger goal of “anti-caste” politics – that is, on the goal of doing away with caste-based injustice and unfairness. This was the most valuable contribution of Ambedkar to the discourse of social justice and democracy.

— Mandal as an idea represented three sets of contradictory and yet complementary elements. One, it set off a critical examination of our public sphere in terms of mirror representation and also gave rise to the substantive question of a fair share in power.

— Two, the Mandal moment emphasised the need to fortify the reservation regime — by moving beyond SCs and STs, by addressing questions of reservation in promotion and by rejecting the reservation/merit binary.

— Three, in the realm of mobilisation, the Mandal moment strengthened the politics of building social blocs. This could enrich democracy and also enable the backward communities to engage in politics beyond localised vote banks.

— Much of the disappointment with the SC ruling emanates from a comfortable security in continuing to recognise caste blocs that made sense half a century ago. It is believed that various legal fortifications and expansions to the existing reservation regime are adequate state responses to pacify the Mandal energy without having to destabilise the social equilibrium of power.

— By opening up the possibility of regrouping of caste blocs and by asking (perhaps as obiter dicta, and even juridically unnecessarily) uncomfortable questions about who benefits from reservation and by employing the clumsy concept of creamy layer, the ruling has thrown up crucial questions.

— Whether the Court had ruled this way or not, the post-Mandal moment was already here and needed a response from academia, policymakers and social activists to three issues. First, if the reservation policy represented an urgent need to intervene in caste-related asymmetry… Two, as Indian society moves away from an easily comprehensible overlap of caste, class and power, how do we address the new labyrinths of power asymmetry?… Three, do we expect the SC, ST and OBC to be seen as permanent blocs?

— The responses are bound to be tentative, pragmatic and even crude. But responses will surely be needed. Consider the existing challenges. Among many castes from SCs and tribes from STs, there is a long-standing and deep concern over their condition.

— This results in distrust and competition within the SC/ST population. Most states have already grouped OBCs into sub-categories in order to allay the fears of “more backward”. A number of politically strong agrarian castes are waging struggles for reservation in response to their deteriorating condition in the material sphere.

For Your Information:

— In a 6:1 ruling, the Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud permitted states to create sub-classifications within the SC and ST categories for the purpose of according wider protections — through fixed sub-quotas — to the most backward communities within these categories. This overturns the apex court’s 2004 decision in E V Chinnaiah v State of Andhra Pradesh, in which it had held that the SC/ST list is a “hom*ogenous group” that cannot be divided further.

Points to Ponder:

— What are the arguments for and against the sub-classification of SC, and ST?

— What is the debate about the ‘creamy layer’ in SC, and ST reservations?

— What is the socio-economic status of SC and ST in India?

— Why reservations for SC and ST were introduced?

Post Read Question:

What are the two major legal initiatives by the State since Independence addressing discrimination against Scheduled Tribes (STs). (UPSC CSE 2017)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

Explained: Supreme Court’s verdict on sub-classification of SCs and STs

The Ideas Page

A Cavet in the Jobs data

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economy

Mains Examination: GS-III: Economy

What’s the ongoing story- Amitabh Kundu and P C Mohanan write: Studies based on the KLEMS data are being widely quoted to counter claims of poor job creation in the country… Hence, it is necessary that we examine the methodology of generating the data, going into sectoral details and original sources.

Prerequisites:

— How is unemployment calculated in India?

— What is the worker-population ratio (WPR)?

Key takeaways:

— The KLEMS database consisting of data on capital (K), labour (L), energy (E), material (M) and services (S), currently available for the period 1980 to 2024, is meant to provide a “measurement tool to monitor and evaluate productivity growth at the industry level as well as the aggregate economy”.

— As per the methodology, the EUS and PLFS data are used to determine the sectoral distribution of workers by the usual principal and subsidiary status (UPSS) for four groups — rural male, rural female, urban male and urban female.

— Since the surveys do not provide the absolute number of workers, the estimated worker-population ratios (WPR) for the four groups from the survey are multiplied by the total population.

— The forgoing explanation clearly shows that the RBI does not produce any employment figures independently. The UPSS-based WPR is used on a projected population to obtain the numbers.

— There is a significant drop in WPR, as per UPSS, from 2011-12 to 2017-18, as we shift from EUS to PLFS and the KLEMS assumes there is no problem of temporal comparability. The WPR, however, has gone up significantly for rural women with some increases also for the other population segments, in the subsequent years.

— These WPR values applied on somewhat higher population estimates, as discussed above, would produce inflated employment numbers.

— Employment in enterprise surveys indicates a position in the enterprises. It is not easily relatable to information on individuals, collected in household employment surveys, that are considered superior for employment data.

— Independent estimates from these two sources do not match for reasons well known. Similarly, data on the registration of MSME units in the Udyam portal usually does not imply new job creation, nor do the monthly changes in EPFO subscription mean additional employment generation.

— Considering the methodological limitations of these data, it is surprising that claims should be made of a rapid growth of employment, that too of decent jobs.

For Your Information:

— Data from the periodic labour force surveys has shown that there has been a steady increase in the labour force participation rate in the country. For those aged 15 years and above, the participation rate has increased from 49.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 57.9 per cent in 2022-23.

— Much of this increase has been due to more women entering the labour force — the female labour force participation rate has risen from 23.3 per cent to 37 per cent over this period.

— However, as the India Employment Report 2024 prepared by the International Labour Organisation and the Institute of Human Development points out, post 2019, roughly two-thirds of the increase in employment comprised of self-employed workers, “among whom unpaid (women) family workers predominate”.

— The report also notes that in recent years employment in agriculture has gone up, while the share of employment in manufacturing has remained almost stagnant. These are worrying signs that call for a closer examination.

Points to Ponder:

— What are the different types of unemployment?

— What are the major issues related to unemployment in India?

— What are the initiatives taken by the government with regard to unemployment?

Post Read Question:

Prelims

(4) Disguised unemployment generally means (UPSC CSE 2013)

(a) large number of people remain unemployed

(b) alternative employment is not available

(c) marginal productivity of labour is zero

(d) productivity of workers is low

Mains

Most of the unemployment in India is structural in nature. Examine the methodology adopted to compute unemployment in the country and suggest improvements. (UPSC CSE 2023)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

Express View on employment data: Jobs, still

Return of the foreign hand

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: GS-II: International Relations

What’s the ongoing story- C. Raja Mohan writes: One had thought that a “rising India” is now self-confident and secure in its own skin; and that it had overcome the impulse to blame the “foreign hand” for any unwelcome or unanticipated development. But the shock of “losing an ally” in Dhaka seems to have triggered a Delhi derangement.

Prerequisites:

— Read about the current political turmoil in Bangladesh

— How the India and Bangladesh relationship has evolved?

— Map work: Location of Bangladesh and Indian states sharing boundaries with Bangladesh.

Key takeaways:

— Conspiracy theories pander to political prejudices and discourage common sense. They avoid reckoning with the causes of a political catastrophe staring in your face. You don’t have to be a geopolitical genius to recognise that Sheikh Hasina was increasingly unpopular.

— Hasina appears convinced that the US overthrew her because she refused to give America a military base. She is not the only South Asian leader who is blaming the US for losing power.

— Pakistan’s former prime minister, Imran Khan, has been at it since he was defenestrated in a successful no-confidence vote in the National Assembly in April 2022. Like Hasina, Imran Khan also thinks his refusal to give a base (“absolutely not” were his famous words) was what turned America against him.

— To be sure, the US military is looking for bases and facilities as it responds to the Chinese military challenge in Asia. But to suggest that the US so desperately needs bases in Bangladesh and Pakistan that it is organising coups would be outlandish.

— Hasina’s story is about both triumph and tragedy. She survived against great odds, and saved the legacy of the nation’s liberation from Pakistan. Over the last 15 years, Hasina turned Bangladesh into a fast-growing economy and a “model” for other developing countries, including Pakistan to follow… Like all tragic heroes, she had fatal flaws — the relentless determination to concentrate power in her hands and an inability to heal the deep political divisions in the country over its identity and history.

— India has every reason to regret Hasina’s fall from power, but Delhi can’t be detained by what happened in the last few days. It must look ahead and cooperate with the new rulers in Dhaka to build on the solid foundation she constructed for the bilateral strategic partnership.

For Your Information:

— If Hasina’s 15-year old rule was tainted by the arrests of Opposition leaders, suppression of dissent and crackdowns on free speech, the protests against her regime fueled concerns of a return to political instability and reopening of past scars — many of them leftovers of Bangladesh’s liberation movement, some going even further back to the Partition of the Subcontinent.

— Events in the week since he has taken over as the head of the interim government, have underlined that applying the healing touch and holding social peace should be Yunus’s first priority.

Points to Ponder:

— What is the significance of Bangladesh for India?

— What are the challenges of the India and Bangladesh relationship?

— Impact of ongoing crisis in Bangladesh on India’s internal security

Post Read Question:

(5). With reference to river Teesta, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2017)

1. The source of river Teesta is the same as that of Brahmaputra but it flows through Sikkim.

2. River Rangeet originates in Sikkim and it is a tributary of river Teesta.

3. River Teesta flows into the Bay of Bengal on the border of India and Bangladesh.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Mains

Analyze internal security threats and transborder crimes along Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan borders including Line of Control (LoC). Also discuss the role played by various security forces in this regard. (UPSC CSE 2018)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

Express View on Muhammad Yunus government: Keep the social peace

Express Network

Rainfall that caused Wayanad landslides influenced by climate change, shows study

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: GS-I, III: Geography, Environment

What’s the ongoing story- The rainfall that triggered the recent landslides in Wayanad, killing more than 200 people, were made 10 per cent heavier by human-induced climate change, a new study has found. The study by World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international group of researchers, found that the excessive rainfall in the early hours of July 30 that triggered the landslides was “once in a 50-year event”.

Prerequisites:

— What is a landslide?

— What are the causes of landslides?

— What are ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs)?

Key takeaways:

— Wayanad received 140 mm rainfall in a day on July 30, which the study said was the third heaviest single-day rainfall event on record for the district.

— “Overall, the available climate models indicate a 10 per cent increase in intensity. Under a future warming scenario where the global temperature is two degree Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, climate models predict even heavier 1-day rainfall events, with a further expected increase of about 4 per cent in rainfall intensity,” the study said.

— It said this would further increase the risk of landslides in the region. “The increase in climate change-driven rainfall found in this study is likely to increase the potential number of landslides that could be triggered in the future, raising the need for adaptation actions that may include the reinforcement of susceptible slopes, landslide early warning systems, and construction of retaining structures to protect vulnerable localities,” it said.

— The study also found that factors such as quarrying for building materials, and a 62 per cent reduction in forest cover in Wayanad between 1950 and 2018, may have contributed to increased susceptibility of the slopes to landslides during heavy rainfall.

— “More stringent assessments of landslides, restricting construction in hillside areas and minimising deforestation and quarrying are needed to avoid similar disasters in the future,” it said.

For Your Information:

— The K Kasturirangan-led high-level working group (HLWG) and a three-member expert committee formed by the Kerala government in 2013 had both recommended that this particular area be included in the larger eco-sensitive zone being demarcated in the state, but the recommendations have not yet been put into effect.

— The HLWG, which was formed to demarcate ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) in the entire Western Ghats region, had included 13 villages in the Wayanad district of Kerala in its recommendations.

— The ESAs are areas in which human activities, including construction and industries, are sought to be regulated because of the fragile ecology and special provisions are invoked to protect the environment.

— The first draft notification on Western Ghats that had demarcated over 57,000 sq km across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Goa in 2013 is yet to be notified as consensus has been elusive.

Points to Ponder:

— What is the impact of climate change on landslides?

— What are the mitigation measures against landslides?

— What are the landslide-prone areas in India?

Post Read Question:

Differentiate the causes of landslides in the Himalayan region and Western Ghats. (UPSC CSE 2021)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

Wayanad landslides: 2 panels put site in eco-sensitive zone 10 yrs ago, no notification

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