Daily Prelims Notes 16 February 2024

Daily Prelims Notes

16 February 2024

Table Of Contents

1. Electoral Bonds case verdict: What parties argued before Supreme Court
2. DoT unveils an unparalleled venture ‘Sangam: Digital Twin’ initiative
3. New drug to treat chronic kidney disease gets approval
4. Global meet urges India to augment pulses production to meet nutritional needs
5. INSAT-3DS MISSION TO BE LAUNCHED FROM SRIHARIKOTA
6. Rhinos can’t sweat, making them vulnerable to overheating: Global warming could wipe them out in southern Africa

1. Electoral Bonds case verdict: What parties argued before Supreme Court

Subject: Polity

Section: Elections

Context:

• Prioritizing voters’ right to information regarding political parties’ sources of funding, the Supreme Court Thursday (February 15) struck down the Electoral Bonds Scheme (EBS).

More on news:

• This scheme was challenged shortly after it was announced in January 2018, by a number of parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Common Cause and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). 
• The case was heard by a 5-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court led by the Chief Justice of India for three days from October 31 to November 2 last year.
• The court also struck down the amendments made to key laws on electoral finance which were introduced in the lead up to the introduction of EBS.

Amendments made through Finance Act 2017:

• On 31 March 2017, the Finance Act, 2017 amended the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RoPA), the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Income Tax Act, 1961, and the Companies Act, 2013. 
• Section 11 of the Finance Act, 2017 amended Section 13A of the Income Tax Act exempting political parties from keeping a detailed record of contributions received through electoral bonds.
• Section 135 amended Section 31 of the RBI Act , which permitted the Union government to “authorize any scheduled bank to issue electoral bonds[s].”
• Section 137 introduced a provision to Section 29C of RoPA, exempting political parties from publishing contributions received through electoral bonds in “Contribution Reports.”
• These reports disclose contributions received by parties “in excess of twenty thousand rupees” from companies and individuals.
• Section 154 amended Section 182 of the Companies Act, 2013 which removed the upper limit on how much a company could donate to a political party.
• Previously companies could only donate up to 7.5 percent of three years of the company’s net profits.

EBS violates voters’ right to information

• The petitioners, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Common Cause and the Association for Democratic Reforms, argued that the scheme violates the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. 
• Advocate Prashant Bhushan in particular argued that voters have a right to information concerning the public and the government, which includes financial contributions to political parties.
• Attorney General R Venkataramani had responded by saying that citizens do not have a “right to know” with regards to the funding of political parties. 
• It highlighted the “deep association” between money and politics, and how economic inequality contributes to political inequality by increasing the possibility of quid pro quo arrangements for those with the ability to contribute larger amounts to political parties.

Unlimited political contributions by companies is unconstitutional:

• Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Shadan Farasat also drew the court’s attention to the rights of shareholders, who have a right to know how company resources are being utilized. This right is violated by preventing the disclosure of information to shareholders.
• Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal also drew attention to the amendment (via the Finance Act, 2017) to Section 182 of the Companies Act, 2013. 
• This amendment removed the cap on the amount of money a company is permitted to contribute to a political party (set at 7.5% of its average net profits from the preceding three years).
• It was argued that removing this cap would allow unlimited contributions, even by loss-making companies.
• The court, however, drew a stark distinction between contributions made by companies and those made by individuals.
• It stated that contributions from companies were purely business transactions made with the intent of securing benefits in return. 
• The court also highlighted the fact that companies have a greater ability to influence politics through contributions, stating “permitting unlimited corporate contributions authorizes unrestrained influence of companies in the electoral process”. 
• The court held that this  would violate the right to free and fair elections.
• The court also picked up on Sibal’s argument and explained that, without the cap, loss-making companies would be incentivised to make contributions in the hopes of making a quid-pro-quo arrangements with the government.
• As a result, the court struck down the amendment to Section 182 of the Companies Act and reinstated the cap on political contributions from companies.

The central government’s justification:

• Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the focus of the scheme is not to ensure “anonymity”, but to ensure “confidentiality”. 
• Referring to the apex court’s decision in 2019 to recognise the right to privacy as a fundamental right, he argued that donors have a right to privacy unless the information is a source of genuine public interest, in which case people can approach the court.
• The Solicitor General also gave the court a detailed explanation of the ways in which Parliament, the government and the Election Commission had attempted to halt the circulation of black money in politics over the years.
• The electoral bonds scheme  was introduced after “experimenting” with a wide variety of schemes, amendments and policies. 

About The scheme:

• Electoral Bond used to be a mode of funding to political parties in India. 
• The scheme of Electoral Bond was introduced in The Finance Bill, 2017 during Union Budget 2017-18. 
• The electoral bonds scheme allows corporations and individuals to anonymously donate money to political parties by purchasing electoral bonds from the State Bank of India (SBI).
• An electoral bond is like a promissory note that can be bought by any Indian citizen or company incorporated in India from select branches of State Bank of India.
• The bonds are similar to bank notes that are payable to the bearer on demand and are free of interest.
• An individual or party will be allowed to purchase these bonds digitally or through cheque.
• The SBI has sole access to the details of those who purchased electoral bonds. 
• According to the scheme, the proceeds from any bonds, which are not encashed within 15 days of being issued, are to be deposited in the Prime Minister Relief Fund.

2. DoT unveils an unparalleled venture ‘Sangam: Digital Twin’ initiative

Subject: Schemes

Section: Computers

Context:

• Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has unveiled the ‘Sangam: Digital Twin’ initiative, an unparalleled venture inviting Expressions of Interest (EoI) from industry pioneers, startups, MSMEs, academia, innovators and forward-thinkers.

More on news:

• Digital Twin technology offers a solution by creating virtual replicas of physical assets, allowing for real-time monitoring, simulation and analysis for experimental iterations and feedback loop to adapt to the changes for achieving the best outcomes.
• The DoT invites industry pioneers, startups, MSMEs, academia, innovators and forward-thinkers to pre-register and actively participate in Sangam’s outreach programmes, and explore, create, and commit to transform the future of infrastructure planning and design.

About ‘Sangam: Digital Twin’ initiative:

• Sangam: Digital Twin is a PoC distributed in two stages to be conducted in one of the major cities of India.
• First stage is Exploratory for clarity of horizon and creative Exploration to unleash potential.
• Second stage is for practical demonstration of specific use cases generating a future blueprint that may serve as a roadmap to scale and replicate successful strategies in future infrastructure projects through collaboration.
• It aims to demonstrate practical implementation of innovative infrastructure planning solutions, to develop a model framework for facilitating faster and more effective collaboration and to provide a future blueprint that may serve as a roadmap to  scale and replicate successful strategies in future infrastructure projects.
• The initiative comes in the backdrop of past decade’s breakthroughs in communication, computation and sensing in the era of techade striving for the vision 2047. 
• India has witnessed advancements in computational technologies, platforms, services and high-speed connectivity.
• ‘Sangam: Digital Twin’ symbolizes a collaborative leap towards reshaping infrastructure planning and design, combining the prowess of 5G, IoT, AI, AR/VR, AI native 6G, Digital Twin and next-gen computational technologies with the collective intelligence of public entities, infrastructure planners, tech giants, startups, and academia to break the silos and engage in a whole-of-nation approach.
• Sangam brings all stakeholders on one platform aiming to transform innovative ideas into tangible solutions, bridging the gap between conceptualization and realization, ultimately paving the way for groundbreaking infrastructure advancements.
• Sangam champions a holistic approach to innovation, urging stakeholders to transcend traditional boundaries and harness unified data and collective intelligence.
• Echoing global movements towards smart infrastructure and supported by India’s geospatial leapfrog, Sangam carves out a position of leadership for India in digital infrastructure and innovation, while acknowledging similar strides made by global leaders.
• It is a call to action for creating an ecosystem that maximizes the value of technological advancements for fulfilling the societal needs for efficient, effective and sustainable development.

3. New drug to treat chronic kidney disease gets approval

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Health

Context:

• The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has approved Jardiance (empagliflozin) 10mg tablets for end-stage kidney and  cardiovascular diseases.

More on news:

• It will reduce the risk of sustained decline in patients with end-stage kidney disease, cardiovascular death, and hospitalization in adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) at risk of progression.
• Jardiance is not recommended for the treatment of CKD in patients with polycystic kidney disease.
• According to CDSCO, this indication approval allows nephrologists and cardiologists to use Jardiance 10mg tablets for the treatment of CKD in eligible patients.

About Empagliflozin:

• It is used to treat type 2 diabetes. 
• It works in the kidneys to prevent absorption of glucose (blood sugar). 
• This helps lower the blood sugar level.
• Empagliflozin does not help patients who have insulin-dependent or type 1 diabetes.

4. Global meet urges India to augment pulses production to meet nutritional needs

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

• The Global Pulses Conference, an annual meeting of pulse producers, processors and traders, has suggested India to augment production of pulses to meet the nutritional requirements.

More on news:

• Ministers Arjun Munda and Piyush Goyal said the Centre has taken adequate measures to improve pulses cultivation in the country by increasing the minimum support price regularly. 
• The two-day conference is jointly organized by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) and the Global Pulse Confederation (GPC).
• India will benefit from the global conference with sharing of the best practices and technological advancements in the field from other countries.

Recent trends of Pulses:

• India is the largest producer, consumer  and importer of pulses in the world.
• Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are the top five pulses producing States.
• Over the last decade pulses production has grown by 60% from 171 lakh tonnes in 2014 to 270 lakh tonnes in 2024.
• The partnership between NAFED and GPC will continue to grow to make pulses not only India’s wonder-diet but to make the wonder-diet of the world.
• The Centre has assured a price of 50% over the actual cost of production to our farmers, thereby providing an attractive return on investment.
• The MSP is the highest today with increases as high as 117% in masoor, 90% in moong, 75% more in chana dal, 60% more in tur and urad over the amount provided a decade back.
• India has become self-reliant in chickpeas (chana) and many other pulses crops, with only a slight deficiency remaining in pigeon peas (tur) and black gram.
• Consistent efforts are being made to attain self-sufficiency in pulses by 2027.
• The government has increased the supply of new varieties of seeds, while also focusing on expanding cultivation of tur and black gram.

5. INSAT-3DS MISSION TO BE LAUNCHED FROM SRIHARIKOTA

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Space technology

Context:

• The GSLV-F14 carrying INSAT-3DS will launch from Sriharikota’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 5:35 p.m. tomorrow, according to ISRO.
• It marks the 16th GSLV flight and the 10th with the indigenous cryo stage, with the seventh operational flight featuring the indigenous cryogenic stage.

About INSAT-3DR

• It is an advanced meteorological satellite of India configured with an imaging System and an Atmospheric Sounder.
• The significant improvements incorporated in INSAT-3DR are:
  • Imaging in Middle Infrared band to provide night time pictures of low clouds and fog
  • Imaging in two Thermal Infrared bands for estimation of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) with better accuracy
  • Higher Spatial Resolution in the Visible and Thermal Infrared bands

Payloads:

• INSAT-3DR carries a multi spectral Imager, 19 channel Sounder, Data Relay Transponder and Search and Rescue Transponder.

Objectives of INSAT-3DS Mission:

• INSAT-3DS will be placed in a geosynchronous transfer orbit for meteorological observations and disaster management.
• The satellite will aid in satellite-aided search and rescue services.

Key facts about INSAT-3DS:

• It’s a collaborative project between ISRO and the India Meteorological Organisation (IMD).
• Part of a series of climate observatory satellites aimed at enhancing climate services, joining INSAT-3D and INSAT3DR.
• It will be launched using the GSLV-F14 rocket.

About GSLV-F14:

• GSLV-F14 is an advanced rocket utilizing liquid propellant.
• Distinguished by its higher capacity and use of cryogenic liquid propellants in all stages.
• It offers a substantially higher lift-off weight capacity.

6. Rhinos can’t sweat, making them vulnerable to overheating: Global warming could wipe them out in southern Africa

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Context:

• The first study on the impact of climate change on rhinos in southern Africa predicts that, under the worst-case scenario of climate change, the region’s national parks could lose all their rhinos by 2085.

Details:

• Home to 22,137 of the world’s 23,432 white and black African rhinos, southern Africa is facing significant threats due to climate change.

Source: DTE