Daily Prelims Notes 16 August 2022

Daily Prelims Notes

16 August 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Bilkis Bano case: 11 lifers convicted for Gujarat riots gangrape, murder set free in Godhra
2. Parliament panel suggests viability gap funding for offshore wind projects
3. Women heroes of India’s freedom struggle, mentioned by PM in his I-Day speech
4. The revolutionaries whom Modi mentioned in his Independence Day speech
5. The competition bill 2022
6. Rural Inflation
7. Why low water levels on the Rhine river hurt Germany’s economy

1. Bilkis Bano case: 11 lifers convicted for Gujarat riots gangrape, murder set free in Godhra

Subject  : Polity

Section: Governor

Context: Gujarat Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Raj Kumar told that the application for remission was considered due to the “completion of 14 years” in jail and other factors such as “age, nature of the crime, behaviour in prison and so on”.

Pardoning Power of President and Governor

• Article 72 and Article 161 empowers the President and the Governors respectively, the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.
• The pardoning power of the President extends to the:
  • Punishment or sentence for an offence against a Union Law,
  • Punishment or sentence is by a court-martial (military court), and
  • Punishment is a Death sentence.
• The pardoning power of the Governor extends to the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any State law.
  • The Governor cannot pardon against the death sentence and sentence of a Court Martial.
• The scope of the pardoning power of the President under Article 72 is wider than the pardoning power of the Governor under Article 161.
• The meaning of the terms:
  • Pardon: It removes both the sentence and the conviction and completely absolves the convict from all sentences, punishments, and disqualifications.
  • Commutation: It denotes the substitution of one form of punishment with a lighter form of punishment. For example, a death sentence may be commuted to rigorous imprisonment.
  • Remission: It implies reducing the period of the sentence without changing its character. For example, a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for five years may be remitted to rigorous imprisonment for one year.
  • Respite: It denotes awarding a lesser sentence in place of one originally awarded due to some special fact, such as the physical disability of a convict or the pregnancy of a woman offender.
  • Reprieve: It implies a stay of the execution of a sentence (especially that of death) for a temporary period. Its purpose is to enable the convict to have time to seek pardon or commutation from the President.

Recent SC decision

• The Supreme Court recently held that the Governor of a State can pardon prisoners, including death row ones, even before they have served a minimum 14 years of prison sentence.
• In fact, the Governor’s power to pardon overrides a provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure — Section 433A —which mandates that a prisoner’s sentence can be remitted only after 14 years of jail, a Bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and A.S. Bopanna observed in a judgment.
• In fact, the court noted that the sovereign power of a Governor to pardon a prisoner under Article 161 is actually exercised by the State government and not the Governor on his own.
• The advice of the appropriate government binds the Head of the State
• The action of commutation and release can thus be pursuant to a governmental decision and the order may be issued even without the Governor’s approval. However, under the Rules of Business and as a matter of constitutional courtesy, it may seek approval of the Governor, if such release is under Article 161 of the Constitution.

2. Parliament panel suggests viability gap funding for offshore wind projects

Subject : Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context: The committee also observed that even as offshore wind power is costly compared to onshore wind power, the latter has a significantly higher CUF compared to the former. Further, as per global trends, the cost of offshore wind energy reduces gradually with an increase in cumulative installed capacity, the panel said.

• According to the initial analysis carried out by the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), the annual average CUF of offshore wind energy projects in India ranges between 35-55 per cent for Tamil Nadu and 35-40 per cent for Gujarat.
• In the case of onshore wind energy projects in India, the annual average CUF would range between 25-40 per cent, the Ministry pointed out. However, at present, onshore wind power projects are more cost-effective than offshore wind energy.

Offshore wind energy In India

• Out of the total renewable energy installation capacity of 78 GW, wind energy contributes to more than 35 GW as on March 2019 and the national target is to achieve 60 GW of wind energy installations by 2022.

About Offshore Wind Energy:

• Wind energy today typically comes in two different “types”: onshore wind farms which are large installations of wind turbines located on land, and offshore wind farms which are installations located in bodies of water.
• Offshore wind energy refers to the deployment of wind farms inside the water bodies. They utilise the sea winds to generate electricity. These wind farms either use fixed-foundation turbines or floating wind turbines.
  • A fixed-foundation turbine is built in shallow water, whereas a floating wind turbine is built in deeper waters where its foundation is anchored in the seabed. Floating wind farms are still in their infancy.
• Offshore wind farms must be at least 200 nautical miles from the shore and 50 feet deep in the ocean.
• Offshore wind turbines produce electricity which is returned to shore through cables buried in the ocean floor.

About National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE)

• National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) has been established in Chennai in the year 1998, as an autonomous R&D institution by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India.
• It is a knowledge-based institution of high quality and dedication, offers services and seeks to find complete solutions for the kinds of difficulties and improvements in the entire spectrum of the wind energy sector by carrying out further research.
• It has a Wind Turbine Test Station (WTTS) at Kayathar with the technical & partial financial support by DANIDA, Govt. of Denmark.

3. Women heroes of India’s freedom struggle, mentioned by PM in his I-Day speech

Subject : History

Section: Modern India

Context: In his ninth Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed “nari shakti”, and urged people to pledge to not do anything that lowers the dignity of women which is also part of Fundamental duty in our constitution Article 51A(e).

• He also paid tribute to women freedom fighters for showing the world the true meaning of India’s “nari shakti”. A look at the women he named in his speech:

Rani Laxmibai

• The queen of the princely state of Jhansi, Rani Laxmibai is known for her role in the First War of India’s Independence in 1857.
• Born ManikarnikaTambe in 1835, she married the king of Jhansi.
• The couple adopted a son before the king’s death, which the British East India Company refused to accept as the legal heir and decided to annex Jhansi.

Jhalkari Bai

• A soldier in Rani Laxmibai’s women’s army, Durga Dal, she rose to become one of the queen’s most trusted advisers. She is known for putting her own life at risk to keep the queen out of harm’s way.
• Till date, the story of her valour is recalled by the people of Bundelkhand, and she is often presented as a representative of Bundeli identity.

Durga Bhabhi

• Durgawati Devi, who was popularly known as Durga Bhabhi, was a revolutionary who joined the armed struggle against colonial rule. A member of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, she helped Bhagat Singh escape in disguise from Lahore after the 1928 killing of British police officer John P Saunders.
• During the train journey that followed, Durgawati and Bhagat Singh posed as a couple, and Rajguru as their servant. Later, as revenge for the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, she made an unsuccessful attempt to kill the former Punjab Governor, Lord Hailey.
• Born in Allahabad in 1907 and married to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) member Bhagwati Charan Vohra, Durgawati, along with other revolutionaries, also ran a bomb factory in Delhi.

Rani Gaidinliu

• Born in 1915 in present-day Manipur, Rani Gaidinliu was a Naga spiritual and political leader who fought the British.
• She joined the Heraka religious movement which later became a movement to drive out the British. She rebelled against the Empire, and refused to pay taxes, asking people to do the same. The British launched a manhunt, but she evaded arrest, moving from village to village.
• Gaidinliu was finally arrested in 1932 when she was just 16, and later sentenced for life. She was released in 1947. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, according to the Amrit Mahotsav website, described Gaidinliu as the “daughter of the hills”, and gave her the title of ‘Rani’ for her courage.

Rani Chennamma

• The queen of Kittur, Rani Chennamma, was among the first rulers to lead an armed rebellion against British rule. Kittur was a princely state in present-day Karnataka.
• She fought back against the attempt to control her dominion in 1824 after the death of her young son. She had lost her husband, Raja Mallasarja, in 1816. She is seen among the few rulers of the time who understood the colonial designs of the British.
• Rani Chennamma defeated the British in her first revolt, but was captured and imprisoned during the second assault by the East India Company.

Begum Hazrat Mahal

• After her husband, Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled after the 1857 revolt, Begum Hazrat Mahal, along with her supporters, took on the British and wrested control of Lucknow. She was forced into a retreat after the colonial rulers recaptured the area.

VeluNachiyar

• Many years before the revolt of 1857, VeluNachiyar waged a war against the British and emerged victorious. Born in Ramanathapuram in 1780, she was married to the king of Sivagangai. After her husband was killed in battle with the East India Company, she entered the conflict, and won with support of neighbouring kings.
• “She went on to produce the first human bomb as well as establish the first army of trained women soldiers in the late 1700s,” says the Amrit Mahotsav website. Her army commander Kuyili is believed to have set herself ablaze and walked into a British ammunition dump. She was succeeded by her daughter in 1790, and died a few years later in 1796.

4. The revolutionaries whom Modi mentioned in his Independence Day speech

Subject : History

Section: Modern India

Context :In his address from the Red Fort on Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to a range of personalities from India’s freedom struggle, including fearless revolutionary heroes, leaders of tribal movements, spiritual leaders, women leaders, and several others who fought colonial rule outside the mainstream national movement. Among those to whom Modi referred were:

Mangal Pandey

• A soldier with the British Indian army, Mangal Pandey is believed to have sparked off the mutiny of Indian soldiers at Meerut that eventually became the great revolt of 1857, and spread to other parts of North India. The revolt is said to have been sparked by the introduction of the new Enfield rifle, which required soldiers to bite off the cartridge casing before the weapon could be fired. Soldiers believed the casing was greased with cow fat and pig fat, which offended both Hindus and Muslims.

Tantya Tope

• Born in 1814, Tantya Tope was a trusted lieutenant of Nana Sahib, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II of the Maratha empire. Nana Sahib lost his ancestral rights under the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ that disallowed adopted heirs of Indian rulers from ascending to the throne.
• In the summer of 1857, Tantya brought together armed forces to declare Nana Sahib the ruler of Kanpur and attempted to protect the seat of power for over five months. After Kanpur was lost to the British in December 1857, he assisted the Rani of Jhansi, whose adopted son was also a victim of the Doctrine of Lapse, to mobilise an armed force. Tantya Tope was sent to the gallows in April 1859 in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, after a trusted aide betrayed him.

Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru

• Of all the great revolutionary heroes of India’s freedom struggle, Bhagat Singh is perhaps the most charismatic and storied. Bhagat Singh, who was inspired by communist thought, anti-colonialism, and anti-communalism, was involved in the symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly. He was hanged by the British at the age of 23. Along with Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were also hanged to death.

Chandrashekhar Azad

• Chandra Shekhar Azad was one of the most notable Indian revolutionaries who took part in India’s freedom struggle at a very young age.
• Azad was deeply moved by the JallianwalaBagh incident which took place on April 13, 1919.
• He joined the revolution for Indian independence and soon became a part of the Non-Cooperation Movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920. He even got arrested at the young age of 15 for being a part of the movement.
• After Gandhi suspended the non-cooperation movement in 1922, Chandra Shekhar Azad joined the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), a revolutionary organisation formed by Ram Prasad Bismil, SachindraNathSanyal and others.
• As a freedom fighter, he was involved in the Kakori Train Robbery of 1925, in the attempt to blow up the Viceroy of India’s train in 1926, and in the shooting of British police officer JP Saunders at Lahore in 1928.
• Chandra Shekhar Azad took charge of HRA after Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, RajendraLahiri and ThankurRoshan Singh were sentenced to death in the Kakori train robbery case.
• After the capture of the main leaders of the HRA, Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh secretly reorganised the HRA as the HSRA (Hindustan Socialist Republic Army) in September 1928.

Ashfaqulla Khan

• Born in Shahjahanpur, Khan helped form the HSRA and was part of the Kakori incident. In September 1926, Khan’s close friend Ramprasad Bismil was arrested, and finally, Khan too was arrested. The trial continued for about a year and a half, and in April 1927, Bismil, Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, and Roshan Singh were sentenced to death.

Ramprasad Bismil

• Ram Prasad Bismil was born to a Municipality employee Muralidhar and his wife. He learnt Hindi at home and Urdu from a Moulvi. In spite of his father’s objections, he was admitted to an English medium school.
• He also joined the Arya Samaj founded by Dayananda Saraswati. This had a profound influence on him.
• On reading Parmanand’s death sentence, he composed a Hindi poem titled ‘MeraJanm’ (My Birth). He also translated English and Bengali works into Hindi.
• He started writing powerful patriotic poems in Urdu and Hindi under the pen names ‘Bismil’, ‘Ram’, and ‘Agyat’. His autobiography is considered one of the finest works in Hindi literature, and the cult patriotic song “Mera rang de Basanti chola” is attributed to him
• Bismil was involved in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918 in which police found a few young people including Bismil selling books that were proscribed by the government. Bismil escaped arrest by jumping into the Yamuna River.
• He also attended the 1921 session of the Indian National Congress at Ahmedabad.
• Bismil was one of the chief founders of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) along with Sachindra Nath Sanyal and Jadugopal Mukherjee.
• The organisation was founded in 1924 and its constitution was drafted chiefly by Bismil.
• The HRA produced many pamphlets which sought to inspire people to fight the government through revolutionary activities.
• Bismil is perhaps most remembered for the Kakori Conspiracy Case. He was the mastermind behind the plan which was to loot a train carrying government money. The incident occurred on 9th August 1925 at Kakori, near Lucknow.
• While lodged in Gorakhpur Central Jail, Bismil went on a hunger strike demanding to be treated as a political prisoner.
• Bismil was hanged on 19th December 1927 at Gorakhpur Jail. He was just 30 years old.

Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) 1924

• Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) was a revolutionary organization of India established in 1924 at village Bholachang in East Bengal by Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Narendra Mohan Sen and PratulGanguly as an offshoot of Anushilan Samiti.

Objective and Tactics

• The Objective of the HRA was to establish “Federated Republic of the United States of India” through an organized armed revolution”
• The tactics of HRA were killing the officials; organize political dacoties to raise funds, terrorism among the British and British loyalists and strikes against the raj.
• The idea attracted the young champions; some immediately joined the organization were Bhagat Singh, ChandraShekhar Azad, Sukhdev, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri and many others. The first organized robbery of this group was the Kakori Train Conspiracy.

5. The competition bill 2022

Subject : Economy

Section: Inflation

Context: Last week, the government of India introduced the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022, in the Lok Sabha.

Key proposals:

• It seeks to amend the Competition Act, 2002.
• The Bill expands the definition of combinations to include transactions with a value above Rs 2,000 crore.
  • The Act prohibits any person or enterprise from entering into a combination which may cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition.
  • The prohibition applies to transactions where parties involved have:
    • cumulative assets of more than Rs 1,000 crore, or
    • cumulative turnover of more than Rs 3,000 crore, subject to certain other conditions.
• The Bill modifies the definition of control as the ability to exercise material influence over the management, affairs, or strategic commercial decisions.
  • The Act defines control as control over the affairs or management by one or more enterprises over another enterprise or group.
•  The Bill reduces the time limit relating to combinations to 150 days.
  • The Act specifies that any combination shall not come into effect until the CCI has passed an order or 210 days have passed from the day when an application for approval was filed, whichever is earlier.
• The Bill adds enterprises or persons not engaged in identical or similar businesses in the list of agreements having adverse effect on competition, if they actively participate in the furtherance of such agreements.
  • As per the Act any agreement between enterprises or persons, engaged in identical or similar businesses, will have such adverse effect on competition if it meets certain criteria.  These include: (i) directly or indirectly determining purchase or sale prices, (ii) controlling production, supply, markets, or provision of services, or (iii) directly or indirectly leading to collusive bidding.
• Bill proposes to extend the scope of cartels by bringing hybrid anti-competitive agreements within their ambit.
• The Bill adopts a leniency plus programme for cartel identification which involves companies already under cartel investigation to report its involvement in another cartel to get penalty protection.
• The Bill permits CCI to close inquiry proceedings if the enterprise offers: (i) settlement or (ii) commitments.
• The Bill empowers the CCI to bring additional types of transactions within the ambit of the green channel route. 
• The Bill proposes to exempt transactions involving open market purchases and other transactions on a regulated stock exchange from the standstill obligations of the merger control regime provided
  • the transaction has been timely notified to the CCI; and
  • the acquirer does not exercise any ownership/ beneficial rights/interest in such shares or securities.
•  The Bill widens the definition of relevant product market to include the production or supply of products and services considered substitutable by the suppliers.
  • The Act defines relevant product market as products and services which are considered substitutable by the consumer.
•  The Bill expands qualification of the  members of CCI should have professional experience  in the field of technology.
  • As per the Act, the chairperson and members of CCI should have professional experience of at least 15 years in fields such as: (i) economics, (ii) competition matters, (iii) law, (iv) management, or (v) business.
•  The Bill changes the nature of punishment for certain offences from imposition of fine to penalty.

6. Rural Inflation

Subject : Economy

Section: Inflation

Context: Amidst headline retail inflation coming down to a 5month low in July, 11 States, including Maharashtra and Gujarat, have recorded higher than the national average.

Details:

• All India CPI recorded 6.71 per cent in July, which is the lowest in five months.
• 11 States have recorded higher than the national average ranging  between 8.58 to 6.89 per cent in July.
  • States –Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan
• Rural inflation continues to be higher than urban in many of the 22 States and Union Territories.

Concept:

Types of Consumer Price Index:

• CPI for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW)
  • It attempts to quantify changes in the pricing of a fixed basket of products and services used by Industrial Workers over time.
  • A typical working-class family from any of these seven economic sectors, ranging from industries, mines, plantations, motor transport, port, railways, and energy generation and distribution, would be the target demographic.
  • The Labour Bureau compiled this list. This functions under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• CPI for Agricultural Laborers (CPI-AL)
  • The Labor Bureau compiles this data to help revise minimum wages for agricultural labor in different States.
• CPI for Rural Labourer (CPI-RL)
  • The Labour Bureau compiled this list. This functions under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• CPI ( Urban Non-Manual Employees) (CPI-UNME)
  • This information is compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which is now known as the National Statistical Office (NSO).
  • The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation oversees the NSO.
• With effect from January 2011, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics, and Programme Implementation began issuing Consumer Price Indices (CPI) on a monthly basis for all of India and States/UTs, separately for rural, urban and combined.
  • In January 2011, the CPI (R), CPI (U), and CPI (C) with Base Year 2010 were issued.
  • The following are the primary components of CPI (C): (along with their weights)
    • Food and Beverage – 45.86;
    • Food and Beverage – 45.86;
    • Housing – 10.07;
    • Fuel and Light – 6.84;
    • Clothing and Footwear – 6.53;
    • Pan, tobacco, and intoxicants – 2.38;
    • Miscellaneous – 28.32;

7. Why low water levels on the Rhine river hurt Germany’s economy

Subject : Geography

Section: Mapping

Context:

• Flowing from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea via German industrial heartlands, the Rhine is a major route for products ranging from grains to chemicals and coal.
• It is an important link between industrial producers and global export terminals in North Sea ports such as Rotterdam and Amsterdam, while canals and other rivers link the Rhine to the Danube, making it possible to ship to the Black Sea as well.
• The Rhine River is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe after the Danube and originates in the Swiss Alps (in Switzerland).
• The Rhine river is called by different names depending on the country it flows through. It is called Rhein in Germany; Rhine in France and Rijn in the Netherlands.
• The Rhine flows through six countries –Switzerland, Principality of Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands before flowing into the North Sea at Rotterdam.

Danube River

• Danube is the second longest river in Europe after the Volga. It rises in the Black Forest mountains of western Germany and flows for some 2,850 km to its mouth on the Black Sea.
• Along its course it passes through 10 countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.

Black Sea

• Black Sea is an inland sea located between far-southeastern Europe and the far-western edges of the continent of Asia and the country of Turkey.
• It connects to the Mediterranean Sea first through the Bosporus Strait, then through the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles Strait, then south through the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Crete.
• The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch.
• Bordering Countries: Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, and Turkey.