27 November 2023

• International Relations: The All India Judicial Service debate was revived; Article 312 permits Parliament to create an AIJS by law, but states have long opposed it as an encroachment on judicial independence.
• Governance: India is not a signatory to the ILO's Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Convention 155, a gap highlighted during renewed focus on worker safety after the Silkyara rescue.
• Science: Coseismic Ionospheric Perturbations (CIPs) are disturbances in the ionosphere triggered by earthquakes, studied for early-warning and post-event analysis.
• Environment: Green Leaf Volatiles (GLVs) are chemical compounds released by plants when mechanically damaged, serving as airborne distress signals to neighbouring plants and beneficial insects.
• International Relations: Argentina elected Javier Milei as President on 19 November, a libertarian economist who campaigned on dollarising the economy, with implications for lithium supply chains in which India's KABIL is active.

GS area: Polity (Judiciary, Constitutional Law)

The All India Judicial Service proposal seeks to create a common cadre for district judges, similar to the IAS and IPS. Article 312 of the Indian Constitution authorises Parliament to create the AIJS by law, at the request of Rajya Sabha by a resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of its total membership.

• Constitutional basis: Article 312 (42nd Amendment 1976). The 42nd Amendment added "the All India Judicial Service" as a service that can be created under this article.
• Arguments in favour: uniform standards of training and selection; merit-based appointments at the entry point rather than state-by-state recruitment; exposure to national legal culture.
• Arguments against: states control their High Courts under Article 235; subordinate courts have different linguistic and cultural needs; the proposal could undermine the independence of the state judiciary.
• History of proposal: Law Commission of India recommended AIJS in 1958 (14th Report) and 1978 (80th Report). The Law Ministry has periodically revived the proposal.
• Recent trigger: concerns about vacancies in district courts (over 5,000 posts vacant as of 2023) renewed the debate on centralised recruitment.

Static linkage: Polity (Judiciary, Constitutional Provisions, Article 312).

GS area: International Relations (Labour, Governance)

India has not ratified the International Labour Organization's Convention 155 on Occupational Safety and Health (1981). This gap received attention in the context of industrial and construction accidents.

• ILO Convention 155: requires member states to formulate, implement and periodically review a coherent national occupational safety and health policy. Covers all branches of economic activity, all workers (with minor specified exceptions) and all workplaces.
• India's ratification record: India has ratified 47 of the ILO's 190 conventions, including the core (fundamental) conventions on forced labour, child labour, discrimination and freedom of association, but has not ratified many technical conventions including OSH Convention 155.
• India's domestic OSH framework: the Factories Act 1948 (manufacturing), the Mines Act 1952, the Dock Workers Act 1986, the Building and Other Construction Workers Act 1996, and the Occupational Safety Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 (one of the four labour codes, not yet notified into force).
• Silkyara context: the tunnel collapse (12 November) and rescue (28 November) sharply focused attention on worker safety in infrastructure projects.

Static linkage: International Relations (Labour), Governance (Worker Safety).

GS area: Science and Technology (Geophysics, Earthquake Science)

Coseismic Ionospheric Perturbations are disturbances in the ionosphere (60-1,000 km altitude) triggered by earthquakes. The seismic waves and acoustic waves generated by the earthquake propagate upward and perturb the ionosphere within minutes of the ground motion.

• Detection method: changes in Total Electron Content (TEC) in the ionosphere, measured through GPS signal delays (satellite navigation systems).
• Utility: CIPs can be detected with a lag of a few minutes, potentially providing an early-warning tool for tsunamis triggered by undersea earthquakes.
• Ionosphere layers: D layer (60-90 km, daytime only), E layer (90-150 km), F layer (150-1,000 km, divided into F1 and F2). Radio wave propagation is affected by the F layer.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (Geophysics, Space Weather).

GS area: Science and Technology (Botany, Ecology)

Green Leaf Volatiles are a class of compounds released by plants when their leaves are physically damaged (by herbivores, cutting, hail or other mechanical stress). The compounds serve as chemical signals.

• Chemical identity: C6 aldehydes, alcohols and esters. The characteristic smell of freshly cut grass is caused by GLVs, particularly (Z)-3-hexenal.
• Functions: attract natural enemies of the herbivore (predatory insects and parasitoid wasps); prime defence responses in neighbouring unattacked plants of the same or different species.
• Significance for agriculture: GLVs could be used to develop crop protection strategies that mobilise natural pest enemies instead of or alongside synthetic pesticides.
• Inter-plant signalling: research has shown that plants can "warn" each other through airborne chemical signals, a phenomenon sometimes described loosely as plant communication.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (Botany, Ecology, Agriculture).

GS area: International Relations (Economy, Critical Minerals)

Javier Milei won Argentina's presidential election on 19 November 2023. He is a libertarian economist who proposed dollarising the Argentine economy and abolishing the central bank. His election has implications for global lithium supply chains.

• Argentina's lithium: Argentina is part of the "Lithium Triangle" (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile) which holds over 50 per cent of the world's known lithium reserves. Lithium is essential for electric vehicle batteries.
• KABIL: Khanij Bidesh India Limited, a joint venture of NALCO, HCL and MECL, was established to acquire critical and strategic mineral assets abroad. KABIL had engagement with Argentina's lithium blocks.
• Dollarisation risk: Milei's dollarisation proposal, if implemented, would remove Argentina's ability to devalue its currency. The IMF and analysts warned it could worsen Argentina's debt position.
• Argentina-IMF context: Argentina has the largest outstanding IMF loan in history (approximately USD 44 billion). A debt crisis in 2001-2002 led to a default and sovereign debt restructuring.

Static linkage: International Relations (Economy, Critical Minerals, South America).

GS area: Polity (Legal Reforms, Evidence Law)

The Bharatiya Sakshya Bill 2023, one of the three Bills replacing colonial criminal laws, retains provisions on Privileged Communication that previously existed in the Indian Evidence Act 1872.

• Privileged Communication: certain communications are protected from disclosure in legal proceedings. Categories: communications between spouses during marriage (marital privilege), communications by public officers about official records the court deems it against public interest to disclose, communications between an advocate and client (attorney-client privilege), and the President or Governor regarding advice given (Article 74(2) and Article 163(3) of the Constitution).
• Article 74(2): the advice given by the Council of Ministers to the President is not inquired into by any court. This creates executive privilege.
• Three new criminal laws: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (replacing IPC), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (replacing CrPC), Bharatiya Sakshya Bill (replacing Indian Evidence Act).
• Timeline: all three bills passed in December 2023 and came into force on 1 July 2024.

Static linkage: Polity (Legal Reforms, Evidence Law, Constitutional Provisions).

• National Cadet Corps Day (NCC Day): observed on the 4th Sunday of November every year. 2023 NCC Day fell on 26 November. NCC was established in 1948. Its motto is "Unity and Discipline." The NCC has three wings: Army, Navy and Air Force.
• Nugu Wildlife Sanctuary: located in Mysore district, Karnataka, on the Nugu River (a tributary of the Kabini). Area: approximately 30 sq km. Notable for its elephant population and proximity to the Kabini reservoir. Part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve buffer zone.