24 June 2024

• Polity: Patna High Court struck down Bihar's 65 per cent OBC/EBC reservation as unconstitutional. Violated the Supreme Court's 50 per cent ceiling from Indra Sawhney (1992).
• Economy: Cabinet approved Vadhavan Port in Maharashtra, India's first mega port with planned capacity of 23.2 million TEUs.
• Agriculture: GM crop debate continues. Bt cotton remains India's only approved commercial GM crop. DMH-11 mustard pending Supreme Court clearance.
• Governance: e-SAKSHI app launched for transparent MPLAD scheme implementation. MPLAD provides 5 crore rupees per MP annually.

GS area: Polity, Social Justice

The Patna High Court struck down the Bihar government's reservation amendments that had raised total reservations to 65 per cent (BC 18%, EBC 25%, SC 15%, ST 1%, plus EWS 10% = 75%, though some calculations differed).

• Indra Sawhney case (1992): the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench set a 50 per cent ceiling on reservations for OBC, SC and ST categories combined. States cannot exceed 50 per cent without a constitutional amendment.
• Articles 14, 15 and 16: the Court held that the Bihar amendments violated the right to equality (Article 14), special provisions for advancement of socially backward classes (Article 15(4)) and equality of opportunity in public employment (Article 16).
• Bihar's rationale: the state government relied on the Rohini Commission report and a special condition argument (extreme backwardness of EBC communities). The High Court found insufficient empirical basis for the quantum increase.
• EWS quota: the 10 per cent Economically Weaker Section quota added by the 103rd Constitutional Amendment (2019) is in addition to the reserved categories. The Supreme Court upheld this in November 2022 (Janhit Abhiyan vs. Union of India).
• Current national reservations: SC 15%, ST 7.5%, OBC 27%, EWS 10%. Total 59.5%.
• State exceptions: Tamil Nadu has 69% reservations under a law placed in the Ninth Schedule (protected from judicial review). Maharashtra's Maratha reservation, Haryana's Jat reservation and similar state schemes have been struck down for exceeding the 50% limit.

Static linkage: polity (fundamental rights, social justice).

GS area: Economy, Geography

The Cabinet approved the Vadhavan Greenfield Major Port in Palghar district, Maharashtra.

• Location: Vadhavan on the Maharashtra coast, approximately 150 kilometres north of Mumbai.
• Capacity: 23.2 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) across two phases. This would make it one of the world's top 10 ports by capacity.
• Draft depth: 20-metre draft, allowing the largest container ships (Ultra Large Container Vessels) to berth directly, unlike JNPT which faces depth constraints.
• Transhipment problem: India currently has 4.2 million TEUs transhipped offshore (at Colombo, Singapore, Port Klang) because its ports lack depth for the largest vessels. Vadhavan directly addresses this.
• PPP model: landlord model through a Special Purpose Vehicle with public-private partnership. The government provides land and basic infrastructure; private operators run the terminal.
• Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047: Vadhavan is part of the plan for six mega ports by 2047.
• IMEEC and INSTC: Vadhavan is positioned as a node for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and the International North-South Transport Corridor.

Static linkage: economy, geography, international relations.

GS area: Economy, Environment, Science and Technology

The debate over Bt Brinjal, herbicide-tolerant cotton and DMH-11 mustard renewed interest in India's GM crop regulatory framework.

• Bt cotton: India's only approved GM crop for commercial cultivation. Introduced 2002. Contains genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (a soil bacterium) that produce a protein toxic to bollworm pests.
• GEAC: the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the apex regulatory body for GM crops. Its approval is required for commercial release.
• 1989 Rules: the Environment Protection Act 1986 authorises the 1989 Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro-organisms, which govern GM organisms.
• DMH-11 (Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11): a herbicide-tolerant GM mustard developed by Delhi University. Approved by GEAC in 2022. Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to its commercial release on ecological grounds.
• Arguments for GM crops: drought tolerance, pest resistance, nutritional enhancement (Golden Rice provides beta-carotene), reduced pesticide use.
• Arguments against: risk of cross-pollination with wild relatives, potential allergenicity, resistance development in target pests requiring more chemicals, corporate control of seeds.
• India's food security context: India imports significant amounts of edible oil. DMH-11 mustard could boost domestic oil production, reducing imports.

Static linkage: economy, environment, science and technology.

GS area: Economy, Governance

RBI revised Priority Sector Lending (PSL) targets, including a phased increase for Urban Cooperative Banks.

• PSL: a mandate requiring scheduled commercial banks to direct a minimum percentage of their adjusted net bank credit (ANBC) to priority sectors.
• Priority sectors: agriculture, MSMEs, export credit, education, housing, social infrastructure (hospitals, schools), renewable energy, and others (weaker sections).
• Targets: scheduled commercial banks must lend 40% of ANBC to priority sectors; Regional Rural Banks and Small Finance Banks must lend 75%; Urban Cooperative Banks must reach 75% by FY 2025-26 (up from 40%).
• Agricultural sub-target: at least 18% of ANBC must go to agriculture, with a sub-target of 10% for small and marginal farmers.
• Priority Sector Lending Certificates (PSLCs): banks that exceed their PSL targets can sell certificates to banks that fall short, creating a market mechanism.
• NABARD: the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development provides refinancing to banks for agricultural and rural credit.

Static linkage: economy, governance.

GS area: Governance

The e-SAKSHI mobile application was launched for transparent implementation of the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD).

• MPLAD: Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme. Each sitting MP receives 5 crore rupees per year for local area development works. Funds go to the Collector of the district(s) chosen by the MP.
• Type of works: primarily community assets: roads, drains, community halls, water supply infrastructure. Minimum 15% of funds must go to areas with SC concentration and 7.5% to ST areas.
• e-SAKSHI: an end-to-end digital platform. MPs can recommend works, track implementation status, upload photographs and verify completion through a mobile app.
• Transparency objective: historically, MPLAD implementation faced complaints of fund misuse and incomplete works. Digital tracking with geo-tagged photographs aims to reduce diversion.
• MPLAD as a scheme: MPLAD is administered by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). It is a demand-driven scheme rather than a government-planned expenditure.

Static linkage: governance, polity.

GS area: Environment, International Relations

Research on the September 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions showed 10,000 to 50,000 tonnes of methane were released into the Baltic Sea and atmosphere.

• Nord Stream pipelines: two submarine natural gas pipelines running from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
  • Nord Stream 1: from Vyborg (Russia) to Greifswald (Germany). Supplied 40% of pre-war European gas from Russia.
  • Nord Stream 2: from Ust-Luga (Russia) to Greifswald. Capacity 55 billion cubic metres per year. Never entered commercial operation.
• September 2022 explosions: four ruptures damaged both pipelines. Attribution remains contested. Germany, Sweden and Denmark investigated; investigations were closed without public conclusions.
• Methane release: 10,000 to 50,000 tonnes of methane. Methane is approximately 80 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas over 20 years. The release was equivalent to a year's emissions from a mid-sized country.
• Baltic Sea impact: dissolved methane created localised dead zones. The Baltic is already one of the world's most polluted seas.
• Geopolitical context: the explosions occurred at the height of the Russia-Ukraine war and Europe's energy crisis.

Static linkage: environment, international relations.

• Global Environment Facility (GEF): approved 736.4 million US dollars for environmental projects globally. India's CoHABITAT project received GEF support for conserving wetlands, forests and grasslands along the Central Asian Flyway.
• Cyber mercenaries: private groups conducting offensive cyber operations for hire. Examples include the Lazarus Group (North Korean-linked), Ocean Lotus (Vietnamese-linked) and NSO Group (Israeli surveillance tech). They operate in a legal grey area.