12 December 2024

• Economy: RBI-Centre tensions resurfaced around the Railways Amendment Bill and monetary policy independence. Section 7 of the RBI Act is the key statutory hook.
• Health: WHO World Malaria Report 2024 showed India reduced malaria cases by 82.4 per cent and deaths by 82.9 per cent since 2000.
• Infrastructure: India's first hyperloop test track was inaugurated at IIT-Madras, reaching 100 km/h in trials.
• Polity: An impeachment motion against an Allahabad High Court judge raised questions about constitutional removal procedures.

GS area: Economy, Polity

Ongoing tensions between the Reserve Bank of India and the Government were contextualised through historical episodes.

• Section 7 of the RBI Act, 1934: Allows the government to issue directions to the RBI on matters of public interest. This provision was invoked or threatened during the Urjit Patel governorship in 2018, when Patel eventually resigned.
• Recurring flash points:
  • Interest rate decisions: Government has generally wanted lower rates; RBI prioritises inflation control.
  • Surplus reserve transfer: Government wanted a larger transfer from RBI's contingency fund. The Bimal Jalan Committee (2018-19) mediated.
  • Regulatory overreach: Disputes over payment system regulation and cryptocurrency policy.
• Monetary Policy Framework Agreement, 2016: Formalised the inflation-targeting mandate. The MPC (6 members) decides the repo rate. The statutory CPI target is 4 per cent with a ±2 per cent band.
• Other key RBI Acts: Banking Regulation Act, 1949; Public Debt Act, 1944.
• UPSC angle: The independence of the central bank is a recurring mains topic. The Section 7 mechanism, never formally invoked, is the key statutory fact.

Static linkage: Economy (monetary policy, RBI, central bank independence).

GS area: Health

The WHO World Malaria Report 2024 recorded India's dramatic reduction in malaria burden.

• Cases reduced: From 22.8 million in 2000 to 4 million in 2023. Reduction: 82.4 per cent.
• Deaths reduced: From 35,000 in 2000 to 6,000 in 2023. Reduction: 82.9 per cent.
• Case incidence: Reduced by 93 per cent since 2000.
• Pathogen: Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites. P. falciparum and P. vivax are the main species in India.
• Vector: Female Anopheles mosquitoes. Males do not bite.
• Incubation: 10 to 15 days post-mosquito bite.
• India's tools: Insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor residual spraying, Rapid Diagnostic Tests, artemisinin-based combination therapies.
• National programme: National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• UPSC relevance: Malaria data is a recurrent Prelims question, especially the Plasmodium species and Anopheles vector.

Static linkage: Health (malaria, tropical diseases, NVBDCP).

GS area: Science and Technology, Infrastructure

India's first 410-metre hyperloop test track was inaugurated at IIT-Madras, Chennai, in December 2024.

• Collaboration: Indian Railways, IIT-Madras and TuTr Hyperloop.
• Current speed achieved: 100 km/h on the test track. Target commercial speed: 600 km/h.
• Technology: Pods travel in low-pressure vacuum tubes using magnetic levitation. Reduced air resistance enables near-supersonic travel.
• Planned capacity: 40 to 100 passengers per pod.
• Planned routes: Chennai Airport-Parandur (35 km), Mumbai-Pune (150 km), Amritsar-Chandigarh (90 km).
• Global context: Hyperloop technology was proposed by Elon Musk in 2013. Several companies are developing it globally. No commercial hyperloop yet operates at scale.
• Prelims hook: Magnetic levitation is also used in Maglev trains (Japan's Shinkansen SCMAGLEV, China's Shanghai Transrapid).

Static linkage: Science and technology (transport technology, magnetic levitation).

GS area: Polity

An impeachment motion against Allahabad High Court Judge Shekhar Kumar Yadav (over an allegedly communally charged speech at an event) reactivated knowledge of the constitutional removal process.

• Constitutional provision: Article 218 applies the same removal procedure to High Court judges as Article 124(4) does to Supreme Court judges.
• Grounds: "Proved misbehaviour or incapacity."
• Procedure under Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968:
  • A notice to remove requires signatures of 100 Lok Sabha members OR 50 Rajya Sabha members.
  • The presiding officer appoints a three-member investigation committee to examine charges.
  • If the committee finds grounds, the House debates.
  • Both Houses must pass the address by a majority of total membership AND two-thirds of members present and voting.
  • The President's order then removes the judge.
• Historical record: No Supreme Court judge has ever been successfully impeached. Justice V. Ramaswami's 1993 motion failed in Lok Sabha.

Static linkage: Polity (judiciary, Articles 124 and 217/218, impeachment).

GS area: Internal Security, Economy

The DRI Smuggling in India Report 2023-24 highlighted emerging trends.

• Death Crescent (Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan): Primary heroin and opium production and transit zone feeding Europe and India's markets.
• Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand): Hub for synthetic drugs, primarily methamphetamine (yaba tablets) entering Northeast India.
• Maritime route: The most voluminous route. Drugs concealed in shipping containers, fishing vessels and dhows.
• 2023 seizure highlight: 123 kg of methamphetamine seized in Assam and Mizoram from the Indo-Myanmar route between April and September 2023.
• DRI powers: DRI can seize goods, arrest persons and investigate under the Customs Act, 1962. It coordinates with NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) and state police.
• NCB vs DRI distinction: NCB operates under the NDPS Act; DRI operates under the Customs Act. Both can act on drug cases but have distinct jurisdictions.

Static linkage: Internal security (drug trafficking, DRI, NCB, NDPS Act).

GS area: Geography

Russian oil tanker activity in the Caspian Sea and the Kerch Strait brought both water bodies into focus.

• Caspian Sea: The world's largest landlocked body of water. Technically a lake, not a sea.
• Bordering countries: Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
• Main inflow: Volga River supplies about 80 per cent of the Caspian's inflow.
• Salinity: Lower than an ocean (about one-third of average ocean salinity). Varies: fresh in the north where the Volga enters, saltier in the south.
• Resources: Vast oil and gas reserves on the seabed, disputed between the five bordering states for decades.
• Kerch Strait: Separate from the Caspian. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, between Russia's Taman Peninsula and the Crimean Peninsula.

Static linkage: World geography (Caspian Sea, Volga, landlocked water bodies).

• eCourts Mission Mode Project: Launched in 2007 by the Department of Justice. Phase III (2023-27) focuses on digital and paperless courts. The National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) provides real-time statistics on pendency across all courts.
• Kerala Tourism Sabarimala microsite: Kerala Tourism launched a multilingual microsite for Sabarimala temple in five languages (English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada), an example of digital governance in religious tourism management.