07 December 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – NORMS FOR QUOTA IN PROMOTIONS: GS II – Indian Constitution

Conditions that must be met:

• The DoPT order also lays forth the parameters that must be completed in order to apply the reservation policy in promotions (based on the Supreme Court’s decision).

The following are the requirements:

• Quantifiable information about the insufficiency of SC and ST representation.
• This information is applied to each cadre independently.
• If a roster exists, the cadre would be the unit in charge of operating it, or the unit in charge of collecting and using measurable data in order to fill the roster’s vacancies.

Promotional reservations:

• Indra Sawhney Judgement (1992): In November 1992, a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court held that Article 16(4) of the Constitution did not provide for reservation in promotions in the Indra Sawhney Judgement, often known as the Mandal Judgement.
• To overturn the judgement and allow reservations in promotions, the 77th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1995 introduced a new clause to Article 16, namely Article 16(4A), which provides for reservations in promotions for SCs and STs.
• The 85th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2001 was enacted to provide consequential seniority to SCs and STs in terms of reservation in promotions.
• The 77th and 85th Amendments to the Constitution were challenged by General Category employees before a five-judge Supreme Court bench in M. Nagraj vs Union of India.
• In the matter of M. Nagraj v/s Union of India, the Court consolidated all of the petitions contesting these revisions and issued its decision in 2006.
• The Court upheld Parliament’s decision to expand reservations for SCs/STs to include promotions in its judgement (reservation in promotion).

Reservations in Promotions are subject to the following terms and conditions:

• The M. Nagraj Judgement established three standards that the State must meet before awarding a reservation in promotion to a SC/ST.
• First, the state must demonstrate the class’s backwardness.
• Second, it must demonstrate that the class is underrepresented in the position/service for which promotion reserves are being given.
• Finally, it must demonstrate that the reservations will have no impact on the administration’s overall efficiency.
• Jarnail Singh Decision (2018): The Supreme Court modified the Nagaraj decision by stating that the state does not need to submit measurable data to indicate the “backwardness” of SCs and STs before granting reservations
• The Supreme Court ruled in January 2022 that data must be collected to determine the inadequacy of representation of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in government employment before reservation in promotions may be granted.
• The Court determined that the unit for collecting measurable data for promotion quotas was “cadre,” not “class,” “group,” or “the entire service.”
• The Court, on the other hand, has delegated to the states and the federal government the task of determining the inadequacy of SC/ST representation in promoting positions, taking into account all relevant factors.

What are the implications of these rules:

• Officials in the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) who have not been promoted in the last six years are expected to profit from this decision. The CSS is made up of officials from various Ministries who are in medium to senior management positions.

Source The Hindu

2 – HOUTHI REBELS IN YEMEN: GS II – International Relations

What was the catalyst behind this:

• Yemen’s civil conflict began in 2014, when the Houthis, who are backed by Iran, captured Sanaa and drove the government out. In early 2015, a Saudi-led coalition, which included the United Arab Emirates, entered the conflict to return the government to power.
• According to war monitors, the fighting has killed more than 14,500 civilians and 150,000 combatants. One of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes resulted from the battle.
• The warring parties agreed to the first national cease-fire in six years earlier this month.

What exactly are the Houthis:

• Zaydi Shiites, or Zaydiyyah, are the Houthis. Shiite Muslims are a minority group in the Islamic world, and Zaydis are a subset of Shiites with doctrines and beliefs that differ greatly from the Shiites who govern Iran, Iraq, and elsewhere (often called Twelvers for their belief in twelve Imams).
• The 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States radicalised the Houthi movement. In the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the Houthis adopted the phrase “God is great, death to the US, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam.”

Yemen:

• Yemen borders Saudi Arabia and Oman at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula.
• Since the early 1990s, it has existed as a state in its current form.
• Yemen is barely 30 kilometres from Djibouti, Africa, which is located on the other side of the Bab al Mandab straits, also known as the Gate of Tears.
• Yemen and the Horn of Africa were once one continent 18 million years ago. The rifting of the Gulf of Aden, on the other hand, separated the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa.
• Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, is the country’s largest city. Yemen’s capital, according to the constitution, is Sanaa.
• Sanaa has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has a particular architectural style, which is most evident in the multi-story buildings with geometric patterns.
• Following the Houthi takeover, the capital was relocated to Aden, the previous capital of South Yemen. The Sarawat Mountains of Jabal An-Nabi Shu’ayb and Jabal Tiyal, which are the highest mountains in the country and among the highest in the region, are located near Aden.

Source The Hindu

 3 – AURORA – GS I – Geography

What is Aurora, exactly?

• An aurora is a natural light show that occurs most frequently at high latitudes (Arctic and Antarctic). Another name for it is polar light.

Types:

• The two types are the aurora borealis and aurora australis, also known as the northern and southern lights, respectively.

What are the places where they happen:

• They are most frequent at high northern and southern latitudes, scarce near the equator, and less common in the middle latitudes.

Colors:

• The most typical colour of auroras is a milky greenish hue, but they can also be red, blue, violet, pink, or white. These colours appear in a variety of shapes that change on a regular basis.

The following is the science behind their occurrence:

• Auroras are a visually spectacular indicator that our planet is connected to the Sun electrically. These light shows are triggered by the Sun’s energy, which is fed by electrically charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetic field.
• The aurora is caused by collisions between fast-moving electrons from space and oxygen and nitrogen in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
• Electrons from the Earth’s magnetosphere, a region of space influenced by the planet’s magnetic field, transfer their energy to oxygen and nitrogen atoms and molecules, causing them to become “excited.”
• Photons, or little bursts of energy in the form of light, are produced when gases return to their original condition.
• When a large number of electrons from the magnetosphere bombard the atmosphere, the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere can produce enough light for the eye to perceive, resulting in beautiful auroral displays.

Where do they originate:

• They can be found at altitudes ranging from 100 to 400 kilometres.

Why do auroras come in a variety of colours and shapes?

• The colour of the aurora is influenced by whether gas — oxygen or nitrogen — is driven by electrons and how excited it becomes. The colour is also controlled by the speed at which electrons travel or the amount of energy they possess when they collide.
• Low-energy electrons cause red light, but high-energy electrons cause green light (the aurora’s most well-known colour). Nitrogen, in general, emits a blue light.
• Combining these colours yields purples, pinks, and whites. Oxygen and nitrogen emit ultraviolet light, which can be detected by advanced satellite cameras.

Effects:

• Auroras have an impact on communication, radio, and energy lines.
• It’s also worth remembering that the Sun’s energy, manifested as solar wind, is at the centre of it all.

Source The Hindu

4 – SOLOMAN ISLANDS: Prelims Specific Topic

• With 990 islands, the Solomon Islands are a Melanesia country east of Papua New Guinea. The capital is Honiara, which is located on the island of Guadalcanal.
• The Solomon Islands have been inhabited by Melanesian people for at least 30,000 years.
• A double chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls make up Melanesia.

Source The Hindu