15 November 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Nuclear Power Generation in India: GS III – Topic Environmental Conservation

Context:

• On November 14, 2022, India announced its long-term strategy to transition to a “low emissions” pathway during the UN Conference of Parties (COP) taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. This plan proposes for doubling the quantity of ethanol in fuel while tripling nuclear power capacity during the following ten years.

About:

• With a 9900 MW capacity, it would be the largest nuclear power production facility.
• The nuclear power plant in Jaitapur would be the most potent one ever constructed.
• There are six contemporary reactors, totaling 9.6 G in installed capacity.
• We’ll generate electricity that is carbon-free.
• Seven crore homes would receive energy as a result.

Global output of nuclear energy:

• Nuclear energy accounts for about 10% of the world’s electrical production.
• About 30 different nations now have nuclear power reactors in operation.
• Nuclear energy accounts for more than 75% of France’s electricity production.
• Around the world, 450 nuclear power plants are currently producing electricity.

Indian nuclear power:

• Origins: Homi Jehangir Bhabha founded the nuclear research organisation Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1944, the year India’s nuclear programme got underway. In addition, Homi Jehangir Bhabha oversaw the three-stage technological objectives of the country.
• India now has 7 nuclear power facilities, 23 nuclear reactors, and a 7,480 MW installed nuclear power capacity.
• The largest nuclear power plant in India is the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Facility, which is located in Tamil Nadu.

India uses a very small percentage of the nuclear energy produced worldwide.

• The nation’s installed nuclear generating capacity is 6780 MW.
• In the years 2020–2021, nuclear energy will be used to generate about 1% of the country’s electricity.
• Once projects are gradually completed, the current nuclear power capacity of 6780 MW will be raised to 22480 MW by 2031.

The significance of nuclear energy:

• With the right technology, India’s massive uranium and thorium reserves might fuel the country’s nuclear power plants. India’s natural uranium deposits are thought to contain 70,000 tonnes of uranium and 360,000 tonnes of thorium. 25% of the thorium reserves in the world are located in this nation.
• 20% of the population of India, the third-largest power producer in the world, does not currently have access to electricity. Its 1,181 kWh annual per capita energy consumption is significantly less than that of wealthier nations and is roughly half the global average. Peak power and energy scarcity moments occur 10% to 15% of the time.
• Consumption of energy India’s long-term energy security depends on nuclear energy. It’s important to take into account all of the energy options because by 2032, India’s annual energy consumption is predicted to increase by 800 GW.
• Nuclear power facilities are more energy efficient than thermal power plants since they consume a lot less fuel. Compared to 30-35 million tonnes of coal, 10,000 MW only requires 300–350 tonnes of nuclear fuel.
• Rapid economic growth is also essential to achieving development goals and reducing poverty. In the next decades, a consistent economic growth of between 8 and 10 percent is required. Because they are essential for economic expansion, electrical capacity as well as transmission and distribution infrastructure must be greatly improved.
• Decreased energy production Changes in weather patterns have led to a decline in the energy supply. Reduced precipitation and increased evaporation may result in smaller water reservoirs, which could reduce the amount of power that can be produced by hydropower and other water-intensive energy sources.
• Adjusting to the environment Because nuclear energy produces no emissions, it can support global efforts to implement the Paris Agreement. India established objectives to increase the proportion of clean energy electricity to 40% of total installed capacity by 2030 and decrease the economy’s carbon emissions intensity by 33-55% by that time in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC.

Source The Hindu

 2 – Forced Conversion: GS II – Topic Social Issues

Context:

• The Supreme Court urged the Center to “step in” and make it clear what it plans to do to stop these conversions on Monday, adding that they may “ultimately undermine the security of the nation and freedom of religion and conscience of individuals.”

Arguments in favour of passing legislation outlawing conversion include:

• Threats used to coerce people into conversion
• Problem with Allure or Induction
• Converting to a different religion is not a fundamental right.

Issues:

• These rules have come under strong criticism from many legal professionals, who contend that the idea of “love jihad” is against the law and unsupported by the law.
• They have cited Article 21 of the Constitution, which defends everyone’s right to marry anyone they choose.
• A person may practise and convert to any religion of their choice, including none at all, in accordance with Article 25.

Cases involving marriage and conversion heard by the Supreme Court:

• The Indian Apex Court has ruled in a number of cases that the state and the legal system have no authority over an adult’s unalienable right to pick their life mate.
• Religious conversions carried out with the deliberate intent of gaining a legal advantage are illegal, the Supreme Court of India ruled in the Lily Thomas and Sarla Mudgal cases. These conversions happened but there was no real change of heart.
• In the Salamat Ansari-Priyanka Kharwar Supreme Court case in 2020, the freedom to select one’s spouse or live with whomever one chose was guaranteed as a component of a citizen’s fundamental right to life and liberty (Article 21).

The opportunity is now for:

• Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone has the right to freedom of religion, including the freedom to change one’s religious convictions, and this is where the necessity for consistency comes from. Due to the fact that contract farming is a state-specific issue, the Center may draught a model law in this area.
• States shouldn’t include any confusing or vague provisions for someone who wished to convert of his own free will when enacting anti-conversion legislation.
• The legal conversion practises used by institutions serving minority communities must also be identified by the anti-conversion statutes.
• It’s also important to educate people about the traditions and laws that control behaviours like coercion, seduction, and allurement.

Source The Hindu

 3 – Places of Worship Act: GS II – Topic Government Policies and Interventions                                                                                                    

Context:

• After Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that the matter would require in-depth investigation, the Supreme Court extended the Centre’s deadline for responding to the petitions contesting the Places of Worship Act, 1991, on Monday.
• Mehta was given until December 12 to submit the affidavit by the judges on the panel, who were presided over by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. The court scheduled the hearing for the matter for the first week of January.
• The Supreme Court ruled in Minerva Mills Ltd. v. Union of India & Ors in 1980 that judicial review is a fundamental component of the Constitution. Several applications challenging the Act were being heard by the supreme court at the time.

About the Places of Worship Act.:

• According to the official description of the law, it is “An Act to prohibit the conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the fifteenth day of August 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”
• Exemption: The Act’s guidelines did not apply to the contentious Ayodhya site. Because of this flaw, the Ayodhya case trial continued long after the Act went into effect.
• In addition to the Ayodhya debate, the 1958 Act on Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains forbade the construction of any place of worship on an ancient monument, historical site, or archaeological site.
• a situation that has either concluded successfully or failed.
• any settlement of a dispute between the parties and any property conversion carried out with their approval before the Act’s start date.
• A violation of one of the Act’s prohibitions could result in up to three years in prison and a fine, as stated in Section 6 of the Act.
• Critics claim that the rule violates core constitutional rights to judicial review, imposes a “arbitrary unjustified retrospective cutoff date,” and restricts the freedom of religion of Sikhs, Jains, Hindus, and Jains.

What Clauses Constitute It?

• According to Section 3 of the Act, a place of worship that belongs to one religious denomination cannot be completely or partially transformed into another, or even into a different branch of the same faith.
• Article 4(1): The law states that a place of worship “must remain to be the same as it existed” on August 15, 1947.
• Section 4 states that any legal action or litigation involving the conversion of a place of worship that was already operational on August 15, 1947, shall be dismissed, and no additional legal action or litigation shall be instituted (2).
• Cases involving the conversion of a house of worship’s religious character after the cutoff date and those are still ongoing on the day the Act goes into effect fall under the exemption to this regulation.
• According to Section 5 of the Act, the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case and any litigation, appeals, or other proceedings related to it are not subject to the Act’s application.

Source The Hindu

 4 – India Iran Relations: GS II – Topic International Relations

Context:

• A display of Persian manuscripts made in Srinagar by poet and chronogram author Khwaja Muhammad Amin Darab shows how swiftly Kashmir’s Persian language is disappearing. Up until 1889, Persian served as Jammu and Kashmir’s official language for courts, business, and Sufiyana poetry. The exhibition attempts to revitalise the language in the Union Territory.

How are the relations between Iran and India?

• Political connections Iran and India previously shared a border, and the two nations also have a lot in common in terms of traditions and cultural practises.
• Iran and independent India established diplomatic ties on March 15, 1950.
• India and Iran entered a new phase of cooperation after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which was characterised by regular high-level visits.
• Round tables are routinely held to debate global and bilateral issues by the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in India and the Institute of Political and International Studies (IPIS) in Iran.
• India’s purchases of Iranian crude oil have historically improved the two nations’ commercial and economic relations.
• Among the goods exported from India to Iran are petroleum products, grains, machinery, tools, primary and semifinished iron and steel, pharma and fine chemicals, processed minerals, manmade yarn and fabrics, tea, agrochemicals, rubber, and other goods.
• The two projects that India and Iran are now considering are the IPI gas pipeline project and the Chabahar container terminal project.
• In 2018, Iran and India signed the “Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Regard to Income Taxes.”
• The Indo-Iran Joint Commission and the Joint Business Council hold regular sessions.
• Intercultural dialogue: In order to coordinate “Days of Culture,” two nations signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2008.
• Over 40,000 Iranian visitors visit India year for holiday, and they arrive for a variety of reasons.

What issues are there at the moment that make the connection challenging?

• Proverbial expressions The Organization for Islamic Cooperation, which has 57 members, denounced the insults made against the Prophet in India (OIC).
• Other diplomatic initiatives by India have been overshadowed by the war.
• Agreements that were breached at the last summit in Delhi were signed by Iran and India, respectively.
• Iran’s relationship with India has significantly deteriorated as a result of the sanctions. In order to increase infrastructure investment, Iran has turned to China rather than increasing its oil imports, progressing the Chabahar rail project, and expanding trade.
• Trade between the two countries: Trade between the two countries fell from $17 billion in 2020–21 to roughly $2 billion (2017-18).
• Relations between India and Israel appear to have deteriorated as a result of New Delhi’s decision to join the Israel-India-UAE-U.S. coalition, which is marketed as being “anti-Iran.”

Source The Hindu