26 October 2024

• Polity: The Ministry of Health released draft guidelines for withdrawing life support in terminally ill patients, implementing the Supreme Court's 2018 and 2023 rulings on the right to die with dignity.
• Environment: COP-29 preparations were dominated by the UNFCCC's severe budget shortfall of 57 million euros for 2024, with the United States and China delaying contributions.
• Defence: The seventh anti-submarine warfare vessel, INS Abhay, was launched with over 80 per cent indigenous content.
• Governance: 60 per cent of bank accounts in Jharkhand were frozen due to rigid KYC compliance, excluding genuine beneficiaries from MGNREGS payments.

GS area: Polity (Fundamental Rights, Judiciary, Health)

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released draft guidelines for withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining treatment (WLST) for terminally ill patients.

• Constitutional basis: The Supreme Court's Aruna Shanbaug judgment (2011) first permitted passive euthanasia in India under strict conditions. The five-judge Constitution Bench in Common Cause v Union of India (2018) held that the right to life under Article 21 includes the right to die with dignity. A 2023 judgment simplified the advance directive process.
• Passive euthanasia: Withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining treatment (ventilator, artificial nutrition, resuscitation) from a patient. It is distinguished from active euthanasia (administering a lethal substance), which remains illegal in India and most countries.
• Key elements of the draft guidelines:
  • Informed consent is mandatory. The competent patient or their legal representative must consent.
  • A medical board review must confirm that treatment is futile and the patient's condition is terminal.
  • Advance directives (Living Will) are legally valid: a person can specify in advance what treatment they do or do not want if they become incapacitated.
• Advance Directive process: The 2023 Supreme Court order simplified earlier bureaucratic requirements for registering a Living Will.

Static linkage: Article 21, right to die, end-of-life care, medical ethics (Polity and Governance).

GS area: Environment (International Climate Negotiations)

Preparations for COP-29 (Baku, Azerbaijan, November 2024) were complicated by a financial shortfall in the UNFCCC secretariat's operating budget.

• Budget gap: The UNFCCC faced a shortfall of 57 million euros in its 2024 operating budget.
• Primary cause: Late payments from major contributors, notably the United States and China. The United States has historically been the largest assessed contributor.
• Impact: Reduced capacity for technical support to smaller developing country delegations, cuts to regional climate coordination offices, and operational uncertainty ahead of the conference.
• New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG): The central negotiating objective at COP-29. The NCQG is meant to replace the expired 100 billion dollars per year commitment (which was itself frequently unmet). Developing countries seek a trillion-dollar climate finance target.
• Two-tier UNFCCC funding: The core budget is funded by assessed contributions from 197 parties. Supplementary voluntary contributions finance specific programmes.

Static linkage: UNFCCC, COP negotiations, climate finance (Environment and International Relations).

GS area: Defence, Economy (Make in India)

The seventh and second-to-last vessel in the Abhay series of anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft was launched at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.

• Role: Shallow water anti-submarine warfare. These vessels operate in coastal waters and near ports to detect and neutralise diesel-electric submarines, which are quiet and suited for littoral operations.
• Indigenous content: Over 80 per cent. This places it in the highest category of the Defence Acquisition Procedure's domestic content requirements.
• Builder: GRSE (Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers), a defence public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Defence.
• Length: 77 metres. Speed: 25 knots.

Static linkage: Make in India, naval capability, anti-submarine warfare (Defence).

GS area: Governance (Social Welfare, Financial Inclusion)

A report found that 60 per cent of bank accounts in Jharkhand were frozen due to strict KYC (Know Your Customer) compliance requirements, blocking 84.8 lakh MGNREGS workers from receiving wages.

• What happened: The RBI's KYC re-verification mandate required account holders to update their details (identity, address, photograph). Many rural workers, especially migrant labourers, could not complete the re-verification in time. Their accounts were frozen.
• Impact on MGNREGS: Wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme are transferred electronically to workers' bank accounts. A frozen account means wages are stuck. The worker has done the work but cannot access payment.
• Aadhaar-based payment issues: 27.4 per cent of registered MGNREGS workers faced eligibility gaps in Aadhaar-based payment systems, according to the report.
• Broader issue: Financial inclusion measures can exclude the most vulnerable when compliance requirements are strict and infrastructure is weak. Digital transfers solve one problem (leakage) while creating another (access).

Static linkage: MGNREGS, financial inclusion, JAM trinity limitations (Governance and Economy).

GS area: Culture, Governance

The National Mission for Manuscripts, established under the Ministry of Culture in 2003, was highlighted as part of heritage digitisation efforts.

• Scale: Digitised over 3 lakh manuscript titles. India has approximately 10 million manuscripts, the largest collection of written intellectual heritage in the world.
• Content: Manuscripts in Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Hindi, and many other languages. Subjects range from philosophy and medicine to music, mathematics, and astrology.
• Transition: The Mission was transitioning to become an autonomous authority to give it more financial and administrative flexibility.
• IGNCA: The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi houses one of the largest archive collections and works closely with the Mission.

Static linkage: Cultural heritage, manuscript preservation, Ministry of Culture (Culture and Governance).

GS area: Economy (Steel, Energy)

India's coking coal imports reached a six-year peak in 2024, with Russian imports up 200 per cent.

• What coking coal is: High-carbon bituminous coal used in blast furnace steelmaking. When heated without air, it becomes coke, which serves as both fuel and reducing agent in the iron ore smelting process. Ordinary thermal coal cannot substitute for coking coal in this application.
• India's import dependency: India does not have sufficient domestic coking coal deposits of the right quality. Most coking coal is imported from Australia, Canada, and increasingly Russia.
• Russia's discount: Post-sanctions discounting made Russian coking coal significantly cheaper. Indian steelmakers responded rationally by increasing purchases.
• Steel sector context: India's steel production crossed 144 million tonnes in FY 2023-24, making it the world's second-largest steel producer. The government targets 300 million tonnes by 2030.

Static linkage: Steel industry, commodity imports, Russia-India trade (Economy).