13 January 2023

• Archaeology: Excavation at Juna Khatiya in Kutch revealed a Harappan necropolis dating to 3200-2600 BCE, predating several major Indus Valley sites.
• Polity: The Basic Structure doctrine (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973) and NCPCR's guidelines for trying juveniles as adults were in focus.
• Economy: Three new national-level multi-state cooperative societies were approved for export, organic produce and seeds under the "Sahakar-se-Samriddhi" vision.
• Welfare: PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was restructured from 1 January 2023, covering 80 crore beneficiaries under a unified system.

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GS area: Ancient History, Art and Culture

Archaeologists excavating at Juna Khatiya village in Kutch district of Gujarat uncovered a burial ground of the Harappan civilisation dating to 3200 to 2600 BCE.

• Significance: The site predates several established Harappan centres and shows transition from simple earth-mound graves to more elaborate stone-enclosed burials. This suggests a social and ritual evolution over centuries.
• Finds: Ceramic pots, beaded jewellery and animal bones were found in the graves. Pottery styles are similar to early Harappan sites in Sindh and Balochistan, reinforcing cultural links across the civilisation.
• Burial orientation: Like other Harappan sites, the head was typically oriented northward.
• Gender patterns: Votive pots were more common in male graves, suggesting some gender differentiation in mortuary practice.
• Harappan burial norms: Post-cremation burials were the most common form across the civilisation, though simple interment (as at Juna Khatiya) and fractional burials also occurred.
• Kutch as an excavation frontier: Several Harappan sites are known from Kutch and the Gulf of Khambhat region, reflecting the civilisation's westernmost extension.

Static linkage: Ancient history, Indus Valley Civilisation (GS Paper 1).

GS area: Polity (constitutional law)

The Basic Structure doctrine, established by the Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala in 1973, remained a reference point in January 2023 discussions about judicial review of constitutional amendments.

• Verdict: A 13-judge bench delivered a 7:6 verdict. The majority held that Parliament's power to amend the Constitution under Article 368 cannot extend to altering its "basic features."
• Basic features identified: Parliamentary democracy, federalism, rule of law, judicial review, separation of powers, secularism, and fundamental rights.
• Practical effect: Parliament can amend any provision but cannot destroy the identity of the Constitution. This is the check against constitutional majoritarianism.
• Criticism: Opponents argue that unelected judges should not set limits on what an elected Parliament can change. The doctrine has been criticised as "judicial activism."
• Contrast with the original text: The First and Fourth Amendments (on property rights) and the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (which explicitly said Parliament could amend Fundamental Rights) were the triggers that led to the Kesavananda challenge.

Static linkage: Constitutional law, judiciary (GS Paper 2).

GS area: Economy, Polity (cooperatives)

The Cabinet approved the registration of three new national-level multi-state cooperative societies in January 2023.

• Three new bodies: A national multi-state cooperative export society, a national multi-state cooperative organic society, and a national multi-state cooperative seed society.
• Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002: Governs cooperatives operating in more than one state. The new societies will operate under this Act.
• Sahakar-se-Samriddhi: The slogan translates as "prosperity through cooperation." It reflects the government's push to revive the cooperative sector as a third pillar of the economy alongside public and private enterprise.
• Ministry: The Ministry of Cooperation was created in July 2021 to focus on the cooperative sector. India has about 8.5 lakh cooperatives with 29 crore members.
• Primary purpose: Aggregating small and marginal farmers into large-scale entities for export, organic certification and seed supply. Individual farmers lack the scale to access global supply chains directly.

Static linkage: Agriculture, cooperative sector, economy (GS Papers 2 and 3).

GS area: Government schemes (food security)

From 1 January 2023, PMGKAY was restructured. The free grain allocation that had been provided separately under PMGKAY (an emergency COVID-era scheme) was merged into the National Food Security Act (NFSA) entitlement.

• Coverage: 80 crore beneficiaries from priority households under the NFSA.
• Entitlement: 5 kg of foodgrain (rice, wheat or coarse grain) per person per month free of cost. Previously the NFSA entitlement carried a nominal price of 1 to 3 rupees per kg.
• Nodal department: Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• NFSA, 2013: The National Food Security Act provides legally enforceable entitlements to subsidised food. It covers 75 per cent of rural and 50 per cent of urban population.
• Cost: The government bears the full procurement, storage and distribution cost, estimated at over 2 lakh crore rupees annually.

Static linkage: Food security, welfare schemes (GS Papers 2 and 3).

GS area: Economy, Environment

The World Economic Forum's Global Risk Report 2023 identified the most severe risks for the next two years and the next decade.

• Immediate risks (2 years): Cost of living crisis, natural disasters and extreme weather events, geoeconomic confrontation between major powers.
• Long-term risks (10 years): Failure to mitigate climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, and natural resource crises.
• Polycris concept: The report introduced "polycrisis" to describe interconnected shocks where the combined impact exceeds the sum of individual crises. Example: the Russia-Ukraine conflict simultaneously caused an energy crisis, food price shock and refugee crisis.
• India-specific risks highlighted: Digital inequality, geopolitical confrontation, cost pressures, debt crisis and natural disasters.

Static linkage: Global governance, environment (GS Papers 2 and 3).

• UPI 123Pay: Allows feature phone users (without internet access) to make UPI payments. UPI Lite is an on-device wallet for low-value transactions without internet connectivity. Both address financial inclusion of the offline population.
• Registrar General of India: Established in 1961. Functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Responsible for the Census of India, demographic surveys, and the Linguistic Survey of India.
• Generalised System of Preferences (GSP): A US trade preference programme established in 1974 that grants duty-free access to about 2,000 product categories from 119 developing nations. India's GSP benefits were revoked in 2019 by the Trump administration citing insufficient market access.

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