UPSC Key-September 27, 2022: Why you should read ‘Mankading’ or ‘Rarest of Rare’ or ‘DART and Planetary Defence Test’ for UPSC CSE

Citing release of Perarivalan, Nalini says let me out too; SC notice to TN

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government on separate pleas filed by Nalini Sriharan and R P Ravichandran both serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case seeking premature release. In the HC, the duo had cited the SC’s May 18 order by which the top court exercised its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to direct premature release of their co-convict A G Perarivalan.

• Who are Nalini Sriharan, R P Ravichandran and A G Perarivalan?

• Nalini Sriharan, R P Ravichandran and A G Perarivalan’s role in the Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi-Know in brief

• Know in brief the timeline of events in Perarivalan case and Supreme Court’s verdict

• The Supreme Court of India invoked the extraordinary power conferred on the court under Article 142 of the Constitution in A G Perarivalan’s Case-What is that “Extraordinary Power” granted to Supreme Court under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution?

• A G Perarivalan Case has once again undermined the Federal structure of the Country-Do you agree?

• What is Article 142 of the Indian Constitution?

• What do you understand by the term ‘Complete Justice’? Do you think that the term ‘Complete Justice’ is Subjective?

• Article 142 of the Constitution and ‘complete justice’-How Article 142 ensures ‘Complete Justice’?

• Know the instances where Supreme Court of India had invoked Article 142 like in Ayodhya Case, Bhopal Gas tragedy case, Liquor sale ban case, Coal Block Allocation Case etc.

• Can High court use Article 142?

• What was the Tamil Nadu Governor’s Stand in 2015 on the remission plea given by AG Perarivalan case seeking release under Article 161 of the Constitution?

• What are Articles 72 and Article 161 of the Constitution?

• Pardoning Powers of Governor-Know in detail

• “Non-exercise of the power under Article 161 is not immune from judicial review”-Decode the quote

• “Article 161 of the Constitution which gives the constitutional power of Governors of States to grant pardon remains a “dead-letter”-How far you agree with this statement?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: AG Perarivalan’s road to freedom

📍Article-142 Constitution of India – Is it Sword of “complete justice”?

You are not fooling anybody: Jaishankar on US clearance of package for Pak F-16s

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-America’s relationship with Pakistan has “not served” either of the two countries, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said Sunday raising questions on the Biden administration’s approval of a USD 450-million sustenance package for F-16 fleet.

• What is this F-16 package from USA to Pakistan?

• How has the US responded to Jaishankar’s remarks?

• Why this deal is taking under the Biden Government and not under Trump’s tenure?

• India, Pakistan, the F-16 aircraft-Why India is concerned on this?

• How much of a role did the change of government in Pakistan play?

• How does it impact India-Pakistan relations?

• Know about F-16 aircraft

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍US, Pak & F-16 package

EXPRESS NETWORK

Bumper crop, low rate, curbs on trucks compound apple growers’ woes

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Food processing and related industries in India- scope’ and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Kashmir’s apple industry, the mainstay of its economy, is facing a crisis in a year of a bumper crop. While the price of the fruit in the country’s top markets has seen a sharp slide this year, thousands of apple-laden trucks remain stranded on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway “for days” together, leading to a glut in the mandis and a further dip in the price of the fruit.

• Apple (Malus pumila) is commercially the most important temperate fruit grown in which part of India?

• Map Work-Prominent apple producing places in India

• Agro-climatic requirements for Apple-Know in detail

• What are the important varieties of apples cultivated in different states of India?

• What are components of Post-Harvest management for Apple?

• ‘Transportation plays crucial role in post-harvest management for Apple’-How?

• “India needs to start treating apples seriously”-Discuss

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍APPLE

📍Apple production techniques

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

The Eurobomb

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- C. Raja Mohan Writes: Vladimir Putin’s miscalculations in Ukraine are leading to an inevitable change in the European security order to the detriment of Russia

• What is the current status of Russia-Ukraine crisis?

• “Using nuclear weapons for offensive or coercive purposes has not been easy. The prospect of a national suicide has often acted as a self-deterrent. Even if it turns out to be a bluff, Putin’s threat will have a major effect on the global nuclear security debate”-Discuss

• Why Nuclear threat from Russia?

• “Russia suffered a serious setback in Ukraine over the weekend”-What kind of setback is author talking about?

• First of all, mark on map- Russia, Ukraine, Kyiv, Kharkiv region, Donbas region, Crimean peninsula

• “All major powers are beginning to take a fresh look at the potential outcomes of the war and recalibrate their geopolitical calculus. India will not be an exception”-Decode the statement

• “Europe has much to lose if Putin continues his territorial expansionism backed by the nuclear threat”-What is the Europe’s position in this conflict?

• “One of the main objectives of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was to rearrange European geopolitics in favour of Russia. Putin might well succeed, but not in the manner that he might have hoped”-How far you agree with the same?

• “Ukraine’s key supporters in the war are stating for the first time that it might be able to liberate most of the areas occupied by Russian forces, including the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow had taken in 2014”-What have you understood by this statement? Do you know about Crimean peninsula crisis?

• “In the last few months, Delhi’s focus has been on managing the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine and limiting its geopolitical impact on India’s security”-Know India’s stand on Ukraine-Russia crisis

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍A setback for Moscow

📍Ukraine invasion and the great geopolitical reset

SPIRIT OF THE GAME

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies IV: Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Why do people still feel upset when a bowler runs out a non-striker for stepping out before the ball is released? The Lord’s crowd booed and many players like James Anderson exhibited similar emotion on Twitter when the Indian bowler Deepti Sharma shoved the bails off the stumps at the non-striker’s end when England’s batter Charlotte Dean stepped out before the ball was released.

• First of all, What was the issue and who is Deepti Sharma?

• “To state the obvious first, Sharma did nothing wrong”-Why it is not wrong?

• What does “spirit of the game mean”?

• What is Mankading?

• What does the law say on running out a player at the non-striker’s end in this way?

• Is Mankading common in cricket?

• Is mankading against the spirit of cricket?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Mankading: The manner in which Deepti Sharma ran out the last English batter, giving India victory in Jhulan’s final game

THE IDEAS PAGE

Deciding the rarest of rare

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Anup Surendranath and Maitreyi Misra Writes: The Supreme Court has done well to acknowledge that capital punishment needs closer scrutiny and referring the matter to a five-judge bench. The problem that the Supreme Court’s reference to a Constitution Bench seeks to remedy is the need to achieve consistency on the requirements of a fair, meaningful and effective sentencing hearing

• “Four decades and over 400 judgments after Bachan Singh v State of Punjab (May 1980), a three-judge bench has had the judicial courage to acknowledge that there are serious problems in India’s death penalty regime, indicating that the current state of death penalty sentencing is untenable”-Should India abolish the Capital Punishment?

• What is Capital Punishment?

• What annual statistics report ‘death penalty in India’ published by NLU says on Capital Punishment?

• What does National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) says on capital punishment in India?

• How Countries retained death penalty or Capital Punishment?

• Know the Important Supreme Court Judgements Related To Capital Punishments in detail

• What was the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court recently in Manoj & others v. State of MP?

• What was the Supreme Court of India’s verdict in Jagmohan Singh v state of Uttar Pradesh in 1972?

• Bachan Singh v state of Punjab in 1980 and ‘rarest of rare cases’-What Supreme Court said about rarest of rare cases?

• Machhi Singh v state of Punjab in 1983 and broadening the categories of rarest of the rare cases by Supreme Court of India-Know in detail

• Kehar Singh v union of India,1989 and pardoning power of executive is subject to judicial review-Know in detail

• What are the arguments for Capital Punishment in India?

• What are the arguments against Capital Punishment in India?

• “Capital Punishment is a form of retribution”- What do you understand by this statement?

• Objective of justice should be reformative and not retributive- What do you understand by this statement?

• What Law commission of India says about death penalty?

• Pardoning Power of the President in India and Death Penalty-connect the dot

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍An Expert Explains: Reforming death penalty

THE WORLD

NASA is about to crash into asteroid

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General Science

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The DART spacecraft successfully crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos at 4.44 AM IST on September 27. With the collision, humanity’s first planetary defence test has been completed successfully in a mission that went exactly as planned without any hitches.

• What is the NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)?

• What is Dimorphos?

• What is Asteroids?

• What’s the Difference Between Asteroids, Comets and Meteors?

• Why Dimorphos and no other asteroids?

• What is rationale behind planetary defence test?

• After NASA’s DART mission, the European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch the Hera mission in October 2024-What is Hera Mission?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍NASA DART crash live updates: Crash into asteroid successful, here’s what happens next

EXPLAINED

Joe Biden says the Covid-19 pandemic is over. Is it really?

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- With the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stating that the world had never been in a better position to end the Covid-19 pandemic, epidemiologist Dr Raman Gangakhedkar talks about what that end would look like, how the virus might mutate in the future and the need for the next generation of vaccines.

• What will the end of Covid-19 pandemic look like?

• But could the Sars-CoV-2 virus mutate again and cause large-scale infections?

• What is likely to happen to the virus in the future?

• Now that we are in the endemic phase of the disease, do we still need to continue wearing masks, taking booster
shots?

• How long should we continue to take booster doses? And what will be the role of a newer generation of vaccines that either protects against all variants of Sars-CoV-2 or against any of the sarbecoviruses like SARS?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍CORONAVIRUS

SURJAPURI, BAJJIKA

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Diversity of India.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Education Minister Prof Chandra Shekhar have asked the state education department to set up academies for the promotion of the Surjapuri and Bajjika dialects on the lines of the Hindi and Urdu academies. The education department will also set up an umbrella body to monitor the progress of all languages and dialects spoken in Bihar.

• What are the Surjapuri and Bajjika dialects and where are they spoken?

• Map Work– Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Araria, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and Samastipur

• Bhojpuri and Maithili, both are included in eight schedule of the constitution?

• Why has the Bihar government announced this move at this stage?

• Is there a political reason as well behind the government’s move?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Bihar govt to revive demand for inclusion of Bhojpuri in Eighth Schedule of Constitution

Dawoodi Bohras and excommunication: What is the practice, how it ended up in SC

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 20) said it will examine whether the excommunication of the Dawoodi Bohra community’s members can be continued.

• Who are Dawoodi Bohras?

• What is the Bombay Prevention of Excommunication Act, 1949?

• What do you understand by ‘excommunication of any community member’?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍PM Modi praises Dawoodi Bohra community for being ‘patriotic, honest’

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