Daily Prelims Notes 22 January 2022

January 22, 2022
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Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

22 January 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Amar Jawan Jyoti to National War Memorial

Subject – History

Context – Amar Jawan Jyoti now merged with War Memorial flame: govt.

Concept –

The iconic Amar Jawan Jyoti, which was inaugurated after the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was removed, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the construction of a statue of Subhas Chandra Bose, restructuring the symbolism around the India Gate.
The Centre said the Jyoti was “not extinguished” and only “merged” with the flame at the National War Memorial (NWM).

Amar Jawan Jyoti

The eternal flame at the Amar Jawan Jyoti underneath India Gate in central Delhi was an iconic symbol of the nation’s tributes to the soldiers who have died for the country in various wars and conflicts since Independence.
Established in 1972, it was to mark India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 War, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had inaugurated it on Republic Day 1972, after India defeated Pakistan in December 1971.
The key elements of the Amar Jawan Jyoti included a black marble plinth, a cenotaph, which acted as a tomb of the unknown soldier. The plinth had an inverted L1A1 self-loading rifle with a bayonet, on top of which was a soldier’s war helmet. The installation had four urns on it, with four burners.
- On normal days one of the four burners were kept alive, but on important days like the Republic Day, all four burners were lit.
- These burners were what is called the eternal flame, and it was never allowed to be extinguished.
The Amar JawanJyoti is manned by soldiers drawn from the Army, Navy, and the Air Force. It is manned round the clock. The three flags of the Indian Armed Forces can be seen from it. The Chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces also pay tributes on Vijay Divas.

How was the eternal flame kept burning?

For 50 years the eternal flame had been burning underneath India Gate, without being extinguished. But on Friday, the flame was finally put off, as it was merged with another eternal flame at the National War Memorial.
Since 1972, when it was inaugurated, it used to be kept alive with the help of cylinders of liquified petroleum gas, or LPG. One cylinder could keep one burner alive for a day and a half.
In 2006 that was changed. Though a project that cost around Rs 6 lakh the fuel for the flames was changed from LPG to piped natural gas, or PNG. It is through this piped gas that the flame marking the tribute to Indian soldiers had been kept alive eternally.

Why was it placed at India Gate?

The India Gate, All India War Memorial, as it was known earlier, was built by the British in 1931.
It was erected as a memorial to around 90,000 Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army, who had died in several wars and campaigns till then.
Names of more than 13,000 dead soldiers are mentioned on the memorial commemorating them.
As it was a memorial for the Indian soldiers killed in wars, the Amar Jawan Jyoti was established underneath it by the government in 1972.

National War Memorial

The National War Memorial, which is around 400 meters from India Gate was inaugurated by Modi in February 2019, in an area of around 40 acres.
It was built to commemorate all the soldiers who have laid down their lives in the various battles, wars, operations and conflicts of Independent India. There are many independent memorials for such soldiers, but no memorial existed commemorating them all at the national level.
Discussions to build such a memorial had been ongoing since 1961, but it did not come up. In 2015, the Modi-led government approved its construction, and the location east of the India Gate at C Hexagon was finalised. The final design of the memorial was selected through a competition.

Architecture of National War Memorial

The architecture of the memorial is based on four concentric circles.

Largest is the Raksha Chakra or the Circle of Protection which is marked by a row of trees, each of which represent soldiers, who protect the country.
The Tyag Chakra, the Circle of Sacrifice, has circular concentric walls of honour based on the Chakravyuh. The walls have independent granite tablets for each of the soldiers who have died for the country since Independence.
- As of today, there are 26,466 names of such soldiers on these granite tablets etched in golden letters. A tablet is added every time a soldier is killed in the line of duty.
This Veerta Chakra, the Circle of Bravery, has a covered gallery with six bronze crafted murals depicting the battles and actions of our Armed Forces.
The final is the Amar Chakra, the Circle of Immortality, which has an obelisk, and the Eternal Flame.
- The flame from the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate will be merged with this flame, which has been kept burning since 2019 when the memorial was unveiled.
- The flame is a symbol of the immortality of the spirit of the fallen soldiers, and a mark that the country will not forget their sacrifice.
Busts of the 21 soldiers who have been conferred with the highest gallantry award of the country, ParamVir Chakra, are also installed at the memorial.
The central obelisk is topped with an Ashokan Capital and the base bears the famous couplet ‘Shaheed kimazron par…’ by poet Jagdamba Prasad Mishra ‘Hitaishi’.

Old Custom of Amar JawanJyoti (1972-2019)

Since 1972, every-year on the Republic Day (before the Republic Day parade), it had been customary for the President, Prime Minister, Chief of the Air Staff, Chief of the Naval Staff, Chief of the Army Staff and dignitaries to place a wreath at Amar JawanJyoti and pay homage to the dead and unknown soldiers.

Current Custom of Amar Jawan Jyoti (2020-)

From 2020 onwards, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, on the occasion of Republic Day placed the wreath at the National War Memorial instead of the India Gate.
Starting a new custom taking place at the new Amar JawanJyoti at the National War Memorial accompanied by the Chief of Defence Staff, along with the Army Chief, Navy Chief, and Air Force Chief who also visit the same monument on their respective Service Days to pay tribute to historic and modern fallen soldiers.
The flame of the Amar JawanJyoti at the India Gate in Delhi was merged with the eternal flame at the National War Memorial in 21 Jan 2022.

Statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate

A “grand statue” of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will be installed beneath the empty canopy at India Gate – it has been vacant since 1968 when the statue of King George V was removed and taken to Coronation Park in northwest Delhi.
The sandstone canopy where Netaji’s statue will be installed was constructed in 1936. It has been vacant ever since the statue of King George V was moved to the Coronation Park.

To know about Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, please refer June 2021 DPN.

2. Rooftop solar programme

Subject – Environment

Context – Rooftop solar programme norms eased

Concept –

India has significant rooftop solar potential at 1.7 petawatt hour per year.

Changes introduced –

MNRE said that now it is not necessary for a household to get the RTS installed by any of the listed vendors of a State Discom. The households can also install the equipment on their own and inform the Discom along with a photograph of the system.
- The Discom will then have to ensure that net metering is provided within 15 days.
- The government said that individual households can now opt for a vendor of their choice.
The subsidy amount for purchasing the equipment will be credited directly into their bank accounts, within 30 days of installation.

About the scheme –

Implemented by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Presently under implementation is the Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar Scheme (Phase II), it aims to achieve a cumulative capacity of 40,000 MW from Rooftop Solar Projects by the year 2022.
This scheme is being implemented in the state by distribution companies (DISCOMs).

The major objective of the programme includes –

To promote the grid-connected SPV rooftop and small SPV power generating plants among the residential, community, institutional, industrial and commercial establishments.
To mitigate the dependence on fossil fuel based electricity generation and encourage environment-friendly Solar electricity generation.
To create an enabling environment for investment in the solar energy sector by the private sector, state government and the individuals.
To create an enabling environment for the supply of solar power from rooftop and small plants to the grid.

3. Inheritance of Daughters

Subject – Governance

Context – The case involved a dispute over the property of one Marappa Gounder who died in 1949 leaving behind a daughter Kupayee Ammal who also died issueless in 1967.

Concept –

The Supreme Courtruled that the property of a man who had died without executing a will and is survived only by a daughter will devolve upon the daughter and not others such as his brother.
It said “right of a widow or daughter to inherit the self-acquired property or share received in partition of a coparcenary property of a Hindu male dying intestate is well recognised not only under the old customary Hindu Law”, and added “if a property of a male Hindu dying intestate is a self-acquired property or obtained in partition of a co-parcenery or a family property, the same would devolve by inheritance and not by survivorship, and a daughter of such a male Hindu would be entitled to inherit such property in preference to other collaterals”.
The court also said that if a female Hindu dies intestate without leaving any issue, then the property inherited by her from her father or mother would go to the heirs of her father whereas the property inherited from her husband or father-in-law would go to the heirs of the husband.
In case a female Hindu dies leaving behind her husband or any issue, then Section 15(1)(a) of the Hindu Succession Act will come into operation and the properties left behind including the properties which she inherited from her parents would devolve simultaneously upon her husband and her issues.

How did the court reach the conclusion?

Tracing the sources of customary Hindu law on inheritance, the court discussed Mitakshara law and looked into among others to ‘Vyavastha Chandrika’, a digest of Hindu Law by ShyamaCharan Sarkar VidyaBhushan which quoted ‘Vrihaspati’ as saying ‘the wife is pronounced successor to the wealth of her husband; in her default, the daughter. As a son, so does the daughter of a man proceed from his several limbs. How then, should any other person (b) take her father’s wealth?”.
The SC also noted that the book quoted Manu as saying “the son of a man is even as himself, and the daughter is equal to the son. How then can any other inherit his property, notwithstanding the survival of her, who is, as it were, himself.”

Hindu Succession Act, 1956:

The Mitakshara school of Hindu law codified as the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 governed succession and inheritance of property but only recognised males as legal heirs.
It applied to everyone who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion. Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and followers of Arya Samaj, BrahmoSamaj, are also considered Hindus for this law.
In a Hindu Undivided Family, several legal heirs through generations can exist jointly. Traditionally, only male descendants of a common ancestor along with their mothers, wives and unmarried daughters are considered a joint Hindu family. The legal heirs hold the family property jointly.

Mitakshara School vs Dayabhaga school of law

The Dayabhaga and The Mitakshara are the two schools of law that govern the law of succession of the Hindu Undivided Family under Indian Law.
The Dayabhaga School of law is observed in Bengal and Assam, in all other parts of India the Mitakshara School of law is observed. The Mitakshara School of law is subdivided into the Benares, the Mithila, the Maharashtra and the Dravida schools.
The two main interpreters who wrote on Mitakshara and Dayabagha Schools were Vijnaneshwar and Jeenutavahan respectively.
In the Mitakshara School, the allocation of inherited property was based on the law of possession by birth and a man could leave his self-acquired property to which he willed. The joint family property went to the group known as coparceners, i.e. those who belonged to next three generations and also the joint family property by partition could be, at any time, converted into separate property. Therefore in Mitakshara School, Sons had an exclusive right by birth in joint family property.
The property is inherited in the Dayabhaga School after the death of the person who was in possession of it. The doctrine of son’s birth right and the devolution of property by survivorship had limited space in Dayabagha School.
It is establish that in the MitaksharaSchoolneitherthefathernor any other coparcener could normally disaffect the joint family property. Under the Dayabhaga School there is no such constraint and each coparcener has complete right of separation of his exclusive share in the joint family property. To put it simply, Mitakshara was based on the ‘principle of ownership by birth, and Dayabagha on principle of ownership by death’.
In the Dayabhaga Scheme the division of property was very simple. If a man died intestate, his supposed the property was divided uniformly between his sons. If he has share in the common property with the brothers then the property (a share equal to his own) of the brothers would be put apart and his share would be 4 separated between the sons.
The law of succession in the Dayabhaga School was based on the principle of religious value or divine profit. The law of inheritance in the Mitakshara School was based on the rule of blood-relationship.
The Mitakshara School did not give complete result to the principle, and restricted it by two supplementary rules:

(1) females are excluded from inheritance

(2) importance of agnates over cognates .

This means that in case of a death of a Hindu man leaving behind a son and a daughter, the latter would be excluded totally and the former would get the entire property. In case he leaves behind a son’s son and a daughter’s son, the former should succeed to the entire property and the latter would be excluded.

The Mitakshara school of Hindu law codified as the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 governed succession and inheritance of property but only recognised males as legal heirs. The law applied to everyone who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion. Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and followers of Arya Samaj, BrahmoSamaj are also considered Hindus for the purposes of this law.

4. Classification of Indian cities

Subject – Polity

Context – There is a lot of potential to be tapped for start-ups in Tier-II and & Tier -III cities, according to the Minister for Commerce & Industry Piyush Goya

Concept –

The classification of Indian cities is a ranking system used by the Government of India to allocate House Rent Allowance (HRA) to public servants employed in cities in India.
HRA is also used by the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) to provide income tax exemptions. Cities are classified on the basis of their population, as recommended by the Sixth Central Pay Finance.
Under the latest HRA city ranking scheme, most popular media and culture considers only tier-X cities to be metropolitan in nature. These eight cities are considered India’s “metros”.

Current classification

Under the recommendation of the Seventh Central Pay Commission, the CCA classification was abolished in 2008. The earlier HRA classification of cities was changed from A-1 to X; A, B-1, and B-2 to Y; and C and unclassified cities to Z.
X, Y, and Z are more commonly known as Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 cities, respectively.
- There are eight X cities and ninety seven Y cities.
On the basis of the 2011 census, two cities—Pune and Ahmedabad—were upgraded from Y to X and twenty one cities from Z to Y on 1 April 2014.

Tier-1 cities: Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad.

Population-based classification

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) classifies centres into six tiers based on population.

Classification of centres (tier-wise)
Population classification	Population (2001 Census)
Tier-1	100,000 and above
Tier-2	50,000 to 99,999
Tier-3	20,000 to 49,999
Tier-4	10,000 to 19,999
Tier-5	5,000 to 9,999
Tier-6	less than 5,000

5. Role of Attorney General in Contempt Proceedings

Subject – Polity

Context – Attorney General okays contempt proceedings against Yati Narsingh anand over remarks against Constitution

Concept –

Contempt of Court

According to the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, contempt of court can either be civil contempt or criminal contempt.
Civil contempt means wilful disobedience of any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court, or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court.
Criminal contempt, on the other hand, is attracted by the publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise) of any matter or the doing of any other act whatsoever which:

scandalises or tends to scandalise, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court; or
prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with, the due course of any judicial proceeding; or
interferes or tends to interfere with, or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of justice in any other manner.

In 2006, the government brought in an amendment, which now provides “truth” as defence provided it is bona fide and in public interest.

Role of Attorney General

Section 15 of Contempt of Courts Act 1971, describes the procedure for contempt proceedings against an individual.
In the case of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General or the Solicitor General, and in the case of High Courts, the Advocate General, may bring in a motion for initiating a case of criminal contempt.
However, if the motion is brought by any other person, the consent of the Attorney General or the Advocate General in writing is required.
It has to specify the contempt for which the person charged is alleged to be guilty.

Is AG’s consent mandatory for all contempt of court cases?

It is mandatory when a private citizen wants to initiate a case of contempt of court against a person.
The objective behind AG’s consent is to save the judicial time of the court as it will be wasted if a frivolous petition occurs.
AG’s consent is not required when the court itself initiates a contempt of court case (suomotu) as it did in the case of Prashant Bhushan case.
Article 129 of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the power to initiate contempt cases on its own, independent of the motion brought before it by the AG or with the consent of the AG.

What happens if AG denies consent?

If AG denies consent, petition ends there itself.
Earlier AG denied consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against actor SwaraBhasker& against author Shefali Vaidya.
However, complainant can urge the court to take suomotu cognizance.

What happens after the AG has granted consent?

After the consent, notice is served personally to the person against whom the proceedings are sought to be initiated by the court.
If the court decides not to serve the notice personally, the court has to record the reasons for it.
If the court is satisfied that the alleged contemnor is likely to abscond or evade judicial proceedings, it can order attachment of property of a value that it deems reasonable.
Once the notice is served, the alleged contemnor may file an affidavit in support of his defence, explaining the nature and circumstances of her remarks.
Then the case has to be heard by at least two judge bench which will take into account any evidence available to check the affidavit and pass appropriate orders.

6. Myanmar Mizoram Border

Subject – IR

Context – Escaping junta, more Myanmar refugees cross over into Mizoram

Concept –

7. Anti-Defection Loophole

Subject – Polity

Context – Last week, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati called for a more stringent anti-defection law amid a string of politicians switching parties ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly election beginning next month.

Concept –

Paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule was omitted by the Constitution (91st Amendment) Act, 2003, which came into effect on January 1, 2004. Paragraph 3, as it existed prior to the amendment, protected defectors as long as one-third of the members of a political party formed a separate group.
After the omission of paragraph 3, paragraph 4 allowed for the protection of defecting members provided two-thirds of the members of the legislative party merged with another political party.
- Paragraph 4(1) stipulates that a member of the house will not be disqualified from his membership where his original political party merges with another political party and he claims that he and other members have become members of the other political party or a new political party is being formed by such merger.
- However, paragraph 4(2) provides that such a merger would be deemed to have taken place only if not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislative party agreed to such a merger.
Article 164(1B) – it stipulates that a member of the legislative assembly who is disqualified from being a member of the house under paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule shall also be disqualified to be a minister from the date of his disqualification till the date on which the term of his office as such a member would expire or where he contests the election to the legislative assembly before the expiry of the term of the assembly.
- The motivation is that a fresh election allows the disqualified member to be re-elected. He then becomes a member of the assembly once again, as its term is not over and can also be appointed a minister.

To know more about Anti-Defection Law, please refer August 2021 DPN.

8. Guarding of Indian borders

Subject – Defence and Security

Context – Ramesh Davesar writes: A national border guard, reporting to the army, will enhance border security

Concept –

India shares land borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, which stretch approximately 15,106 km.
In addition, we have an approximately 3,323 km-long LoC with Pakistan, which further extends to the rechristened 110 km stretch of “Actual Ground Position Line” (AGPL) dividing the Siachen glacier region.
Further east, we have the 3,488 km LAC with China.
We share maritime boundaries with Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and Indonesia; we have a 7,683 km coastline and an approximately 2 million sq km exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Security guarding the borders –

Along with the army, we have multiple other security agencies — the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) and the Paramilitary Forces (PMF) — sharing the responsibility of guarding the borders.
While the army is deployed along the LoC and AGPL, the Border Security Force (BSF) looks after the international border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Guarding the LAC has been assigned to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Assam Rifles.
The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) is responsible for guarding the borders with Nepal and Bhutan.
The Assam Rifles looks after our border with Myanmar.
In a nutshell, in addition to the army, we have four agencies guarding borders with six neighbours.
Conversely, maritime borders are guarded by a single agency — the Coast Guard.

Specialised and dedicated armed bodies for border security

Most countries have raised specialised and dedicated armed bodies for border security. For example –

Iran has the Border Guard Command,
Italy has the Border Police Service,
Russia has created a Border Guard Service,
US, it is under Homeland Security.
Closer home, in China, it is the People’s Armed Police,
Pakistan has a Frontier Corps for its western border and the Rangers looking after the Indo-Pak Border.

Most of these countries, based on threat perception and for better combat cohesion, have placed these organisations under the command of the armed forces.

9. Tiger Census

Subject – Environment

Context – Tiger census will commence at Bandipur on Saturday and at Nagara hole on Sunday as part of the All-India Tiger and Mega Herbivore Estimation.

Concept –

This is part of the nationwide enumeration that is held once in four years and is the fifth such exercise being taken up — the earlier ones being held in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018.
Every 4 years the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) conducts a tiger census across India.

To know about International Tiger Day and St Petersburg Declaration, please refer July 2021 DPN.

10. Saraswati River

Subject – Geography

Context – In an attempt to revive the Saraswati river, the Haryana and Himachal Pradesh governments on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of a dam in Himachal Pradesh on 77 acres, near the AdiBadri area of Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar district.

Concept –

To know about Saraswati River, please refer September 2021 DPN and October 2021 DPN.

11. Section 4 of RTI

Subject – Governance

Context – SC seeks reply on suomotu RTI disclosure

Concept –

Section 4 of RTI

The Section prescribes that it would be the “constant endeavour of every public authority to take steps to provide as much information suomotu to the public at regular intervals.

Right to Information

RTI is an act of the parliament which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30.
In case of the matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours.
The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

Important Sections:

Section- 2 (f): “Information” means any material in any form, including Records, Documents, Memos, e-mails, Opinions, Advices, Press releases, Circulars, Orders, Logbooks, Contracts, Reports, Papers, Samples, Models, Data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a Public Authority under any other law for the time being in force.
Section 4 of the RTI Act requires suomotu disclosure of information by each public authority.
Section 8 (1) mentions exemptions against furnishing information under RTI Act.
Section 8 (2) provides for disclosure of information exempted under Official Secrets Act, 1923 if larger public interest is served.