20 February 2023

• Judiciary: Supreme Court addressed "sealed cover jurisprudence." The CJI refused government suggestions made through sealed envelopes regarding the Adani inquiry committee composition. Government must claim a specific privilege to withhold documents.
• Security: Union Cabinet approved seven new ITBP battalions, increasing total strength from 88,000 to 97,000. Last expansion was in 2011.
• Environment: avian influenza (H5N1) caused mass bird mortality in Scotland. India's surveillance gaps for H5N1 in poultry were highlighted.
• Governance: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti. The celebration tradition established by Jyotirao Phule in 1870.

GS area: Polity (judiciary)

Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud's bench refused to accept sealed cover documents from the government regarding the composition of a committee to probe the Adani-Hindenburg allegations:

• Sealed cover jurisprudence: the practice of accepting documents from the government or parties in sealed envelopes that only the judges see, without disclosure to the other parties or the public.
• When used: the government has used sealed covers to submit intelligence reports, names of witnesses, and sensitive security assessments.
• The court's position: sealed covers should be "small exceptions," not a routine practice. If the government seeks confidentiality, it must claim a "specific privilege" and explain the circumstances. General requests for sealed-cover submission are not sufficient.
• Natural justice concern: if one party's submissions are hidden from the other, the other party cannot effectively respond. This violates the audi alteram partem (hear the other side) principle.
• In the Adani case: the government suggested names for the expert committee through a sealed cover. The CJI declined to accept it in this manner, insisting the process must be transparent.

Static linkage: Polity (judiciary, Supreme Court, natural justice, administrative law).

GS area: Internal Security

The Union Cabinet approved the creation of seven new Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) battalions:

• New strength: total force will rise from 88,000 to approximately 97,000 personnel by 2025-26. This makes ITBP India's fourth-largest Central Armed Police Force after CRPF, BSF and CISF.
• ITBP mandate: established in 1962 following the Sino-Indian War. Primary role: guarding the 3,488 km India-China border along the Himalayas.
• Specialisation: high-altitude warfare, mountaineering, skiing, medical first-response in remote terrain, and disaster relief operations.
• Last expansion: 2011. The 12-year gap reflected budget constraints and lower urgency. The Galwan Valley clash of 2020 changed the assessment.
• Central Armed Police Forces: CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force), BSF (Border Security Force), CISF (Central Industrial Security Force), ITBP and SSB are the five major CAPFs under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Static linkage: Internal Security (ITBP, border security, CAPF).

GS area: Environment, Health

H5N1 avian influenza caused mass mortality of gannets and other seabirds at Bass Rock in Scotland, triggering review of India's readiness:

• H5N1: highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The H and N numbers denote the haemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins on the virus surface, which determine infectivity and immune response.
• Why India is vulnerable: India is a major wintering ground for migratory waterfowl (wild ducks, geese, bar-headed geese) that can carry H5N1. India is also the world's fastest-growing egg producer, with millions of poultry in high-density farms.
• India's gaps: domestic poultry is not vaccinated against H5N1. India lacks an active environmental surveillance system to detect the virus in wild birds before it reaches poultry flocks.
• One Health approach: surveillance in wild bird populations (environmental monitoring) combined with poultry health monitoring and human sentinel surveillance. India does not yet have an integrated system.
• Economic risk: an H5N1 outbreak in Indian poultry would require mass culling, devastating farmers and disrupting egg supply for hundreds of millions of households.

Static linkage: Environment (zoonotic diseases, bird flu, One Health, biosecurity).

GS area: History, Society

19 February marks the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (1630-1680):

• The celebration tradition: Jyotirao Phule established the tradition of publicly celebrating Shivaji's birth anniversary in 1870, as a means of inspiring Dalit and lower-caste communities by highlighting Shivaji's defiance of caste hierarchies in his army.
• Shivaji's historical significance: founded the Maratha Empire (headquartered in the Deccan), created one of India's earliest examples of a state with a vernacular administrative language (Marathi), a navy, and forts as strategic assets.
• Administrative innovations: the Ashta Pradhan (eight-member council of ministers), revenue system based on surveys rather than tradition, and a professional army drawn across communities.
• Forts: Raigad (capital), Sinhagad, Pratapgad, Rajgad. Shivaji's use of hill forts for guerrilla warfare against the Mughals and the Bijapur Sultanate is a classic mains topic.

Static linkage: History (medieval and modern India, Maratha Empire, social reformers).

GS area: Economy

Four laws govern India's securities markets. These are the basis of all SEBI regulatory action:

• SEBI Act 1992: establishes SEBI, its powers (regulatory, quasi-judicial, quasi-legislative), and its mandate to protect investor interests and develop the securities market.
• Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act 1956: governs stock exchanges, listing of securities, and trading contracts.
• Depositories Act 1996: established NSDL and CDSL as depositories for dematerialised shares. Converted physical share certificates to electronic holdings.
• Companies Act 2013: corporate law that intersects with securities regulation through disclosure, audit, and governance requirements.

SEBI's powers in enforcement: it can issue directions to stop trading, prohibit entities from raising capital, impose fines, and refer criminal matters to courts.

Static linkage: Indian Economy (capital markets, SEBI, financial regulation).

GS area: Environment, Science and Technology

Living Carbon, a US company, planted genetically modified poplar trees in the US that grow faster and absorb more carbon dioxide:

• Method: "gene gun" technique, inserting foreign genes (from other plants) into tree chromosomes. The modified trees photosynthesize more efficiently and channel more carbon into biomass.
• China's lead: China has the world's largest plantations of genetically modified trees, primarily GM poplars for timber.
• Controversy: critics argue GM trees with advantageous traits could outcompete wild tree species, reduce biodiversity, and spread modified genes to wild relatives through pollination.
• Carbon sequestration context: terrestrial forests absorb approximately 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon annually. Faster-growing trees increase this sink but raise ecological questions.
• India's position on GM crops: India has approved GM cotton (Bt cotton) but has not approved any GM food crops for commercial cultivation. The position on GM trees is similarly cautious.

Static linkage: Environment (biodiversity, climate change, biotechnology, GMOs).

• GST Appellate Tribunal: the GST Council accepted recommendations for establishing GSTAT (GST Appellate Tribunal). Decisions would likely be included in the Finance Bill 2023. GSTAT would hear appeals against GST orders, a significant gap in the current GST dispute resolution framework.
• Corporate Debt Market: India established a Rs 4,000 crore corporate bond market liquidity fund, with 90 per cent government contribution and 10 per cent from asset managers. Managed by SBI Mutual Fund. India's corporate bond market is approximately $470 billion.
• Underwater noise (maritime): ship-generated underwater noise in Indian waters measured at 102 to 115 decibels. This anthropogenic noise disturbs marine mammals (whales, dolphins), causing behavioural changes and disorientation.