GS Paper II 2022

The Constitution of 1950 was silent on the environment. Articles 48A and 51A(g) came in 1976, and the Supreme Court read them with Article 21, making pollution and deforestation enforceable constitutional questions.

How the Court constitutionalised the environment

• Right to life: Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (1985, Doon Valley quarrying) and Subhash Kumar (1991) read a clean environment and pollution-free air and water into Article 21.
• Duty and directive: Articles 48A and 51A(g), read with Article 21, bind both the State and every citizen to protect the environment.
• Judge-made principles: absolute liability (M. C. Mehta, 1987); precautionary and polluter-pays principles (Vellore Citizens' Welfare Forum, 1996); the public trust doctrine (M. C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath, 1997).
• Procedure: PIL and continuing mandamus, as in T. N. Godavarman (1996) on forests, let the Court supervise compliance.
• Community rights: Orissa Mining Corporation (2013) left bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills to the gram sabhas.

Weighing the claim

• Significance: the right is enforceable under Article 32, gives regulators principles to apply, and lets citizens act where statutes fail.
• Limits: judge-made rules invite the charge of overreach into policy, and compliance is uneven; the daily load must be carried by the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, regulators and the National Green Tribunal (2010).

Constitutionalisation is a landmark but unfinished achievement: the Court supplied the principles, while durable protection needs strong statutes, capable regulators and vigilant citizens.

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Article 19(1)(d) and (e) guarantee every citizen the freedom to move throughout the territory of India and to reside and settle in any part of it. Article 19(5) lets the State limit both, so the freedom is wide but not unconditional.

The freedom and its purpose

• It belongs to citizens alone, not foreigners, and makes the whole country one space for livelihood, migration and settlement, underpinning national unity.
• It covers movement and residence within India; travel abroad is protected by Article 21 through fair procedure (Satwant Singh Sawhney, 1967; Maneka Gandhi, 1978).

Why the rights are not absolute

• Article 19(5) permits reasonable restrictions in the interests of the general public or to protect the interests of Scheduled Tribes.
• Tribal and border areas: Inner Line Permits in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur, and land-transfer laws in Scheduled Areas, restrict entry and settlement to protect tribal land and culture.
• Public order and health: curfews, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, externment of habitual offenders, and quarantine or lockdown rules in an epidemic.
• Judicial test: a restriction must rest on law and be reasonable and proportionate; Anuradha Bhasin (2020) required Section 144 orders to be reasoned, proportionate and open to review.

Freedom of movement is the rule and restriction the exception; limits are legitimate only when necessary, proportionate and subject to the watch of the courts.

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The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) gave panchayats and municipalities constitutional status, regular elections and a list of functions. In my view they have changed who governs at the grassroots substantially, but what those bodies control only partly.

What has changed

• Institutions: over 2.5 lakh panchayats and thousands of urban local bodies hold regular elections under State Election Commissions, and the gram sabha gives villagers a forum.
• Inclusion: reservation for SCs, STs and at least one-third of seats for women has brought millions of first-time leaders into public life.
• Delivery and planning: panchayats run MGNREGA, sanitation and water works, prepare Gram Panchayat Development Plans and hold social audits; PESA extends self-rule to Scheduled Areas.

Where the change stops short

• Functions, funds, functionaries: Article 243G leaves devolution to State law, so it is uneven; own revenue is low, State Finance Commissions are weak and line departments keep control of staff and schemes.
• Distortions: proxy rule by relatives of women members, elite capture and bureaucratic overreach dilute empowerment.
• Urban gap: municipalities lack control over water, planning and policing, and parastatal agencies sideline elected councils.

Completing the change

• Activity mapping of functions, assured Finance Commission grants, capacity building, e-governance and empowered gram sabhas.

Decentralisation has changed who participates and what gets delivered; genuine self-government at the grassroots still awaits a real transfer of powers, money and staff.

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The Vice-President is ex officio Chairman of the Council of States (Article 89), presides over a House of which he is not a member (Article 64), and votes only to break a tie.

Presiding over the House

• Maintains order and decorum, decides who speaks and for how long, and rules on points of order under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business.
• Regulates business: decides the admissibility of notices, motions and questions, and refers bills and subjects to committees.
• Casting vote: does not vote in the first instance, but has a casting vote when the House is equally divided (Article 100).

Committees and discipline

• Chairs the Business Advisory, Rules and General Purposes Committees and constitutes the Department-related Standing Committees.
• Directs disorderly members to withdraw, may suspend them under the rules, and decides disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule, subject to judicial review.

Continuity and concerns

• The elected Deputy Chairman presides in his absence; when the Vice-President acts as President he does not perform the Chairman's duties (Article 64).
• Removal only by a resolution of the Rajya Sabha (Article 67(b)) protects the office, yet recurring disputes over suspensions, divisions and anti-defection decisions test its neutrality.

The office runs on convention: impartial, firm and consultative chairing keeps the Rajya Sabha a deliberative and revising chamber rather than an arena.

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The 102nd Amendment (2018) inserted Article 338B, giving the National Commission for Backward Classes constitutional status in place of the statutory body set up under the NCBC Act, 1993 after Indra Sawhney (1992).

From statutory advice to constitutional safeguard

• Earlier role: the statutory Commission only advised the Union on inclusion in, and exclusion from, the central list of backward classes.
• After 2018: Article 342A places the specification and alteration of the central list with the President and Parliament, and the Commission becomes a safeguard body on the pattern of the SC and ST Commissions.

Present role and powers

• Article 338B(5): investigate and monitor safeguards, inquire into specific complaints, participate in and advise on socio-economic development, evaluate progress and report annually to the President.
• It has the powers of a civil court while inquiring, and the Union and the States must consult it on major policy matters affecting backward classes.

Limits

• Its recommendations are advisory; OBC sub-categorisation (Rohini Commission, 2017), the creamy layer and the absence of caste data remain unresolved.
• Federal friction: after the Supreme Court's 2021 Maratha ruling read Article 342A as removing the States' lists, the 105th Amendment (2021) restored their power to identify backward classes.

Constitutional status raises the Commission's standing as a guardian of backward classes; its worth now depends on independence, resources and the government's readiness to act on its advice.

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PM GatiShakti, launched in October 2021, is a GIS-based National Master Plan that places the infrastructure plans of ministries and States on one digital platform, so that roads, railways, ports, waterways, airports, mass transport and logistics facilities are planned as one network to cut logistics cost and delay.

Why coordination decides the outcome

• Within government: connectivity fails at the seams, in siloed ministries, land acquisition, right-of-way and utility clearances; an Empowered Group of Secretaries and a Network Planning Group now review projects together.
• Federal layer: land and many clearances are State subjects, so States must align their plans and portals with the national platform.
• Private role: investors, concessionaires, logistics operators and industrial developers build and run the assets, and need reliable data, stable contracts and bankable PPP models.
• Shared data: common GIS layers let private players site parks, terminals and last-mile links and avoid duplicating works.
• Risks when coordination slips: PPP failures, delayed land acquisition, cost overruns, weak dispute resolution and poor data quality.

Making it work

• Single-window, time-bound approvals; standard PPP contracts with fair risk sharing; quick dispute resolution.
• Link the platform with the National Logistics Policy (2022), open verified data to private users, and monitor time and cost independently.

GatiShakti's promise lies less in the platform than in disciplined coordination among ministries, States and private partners on time, cost and data.

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The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 recognises 21 disabilities and moves from a charity approach to a rights-based one. Its provisions are strong on paper; delivery depends on officials and citizens who understand disability.

A strong legal document

• Rights: 4 per cent reservation in government jobs and 5 per cent in higher education for benchmark disabilities, free education for ages 6 to 18, accessibility duties for buildings, transport and information, and penalties for violations.
• Institutions: Chief and State Commissioners for persons with disabilities, and designated special courts.

Why it stays on paper without sensitisation

• Public buildings, transport and websites remain inaccessible, and deadlines under the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) were extended.
• Officials often do not know duties such as reasonable accommodation and accessible formats; reserved posts stay vacant; disability certificates and UDID cards are delayed.
• Citizens: stigma and the charity view keep persons with disabilities out of schools, workplaces and public life.
• Commissioners and special courts lack staff and budgets, so violations go unpunished.

What sensitisation needs

• Training for police, judges, teachers, health workers and employers; disability in school curricula and civil-service training; public campaigns on rights.
• Accountability: access audits, penalties, dedicated budgets and time-bound certification.

A rights law changes lives only when attitudes, budgets and enforcement change together; sensitisation is the bridge from the statute book to daily practice.

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Direct Benefit Transfer, begun in 2013 and built on the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile), sends subsidies and benefits straight to beneficiaries' bank accounts in place of layered, discretionary delivery.

A progressive step

• Integrity: removal of ghost and duplicate beneficiaries cut leakage and delay, as in PAHAL for the LPG subsidy and PM-KISAN.
• Transparency: every payment is traceable, middlemen lose their hold and administrative cost falls.
• Inclusion: Jan Dhan accounts gave women and the poor a formal financial identity and a channel for direct relief.

Its limitations

• Exclusion: Aadhaar authentication failures, seeding mismatches and biometric errors have denied rations and pensions in several States.
• Access: weak banking and network coverage in remote and tribal areas, low digital literacy, and long distances to branches and business correspondents.
• Cash versus kind: cash may not keep pace with food prices, the option of in-kind support is lost, and women may not control the money.
• Design: tenant farmers and landless workers fall outside PM-KISAN, and grievance redress is weak.

Way forward

• Alternatives to biometric authentication, a hybrid cash-or-kind choice, stronger business-correspondent networks, and grievance and data-privacy safeguards.

DBT improves targeting and integrity, but it works best as a supplement to strong last-mile delivery systems, not as their replacement.

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Sri Lanka's 2022 crisis of foreign-exchange shortage, suspended debt payments and shortages of fuel, food and medicine tested a relationship that runs back over 2,500 years through Buddhism and Ashoka's son Mahinda, and is framed today by Neighbourhood First and SAGAR.

The crisis

• Heavy foreign borrowing, tax cuts, the pandemic's blow to tourism and remittances, and the 2021 ban on fertiliser imports drained the reserves.

India as first responder

• Finance: assistance close to USD 4 billion in 2022, including a USD 500 million line of credit for fuel, a USD 400 million currency swap, a credit facility for food and medicine, and deferred Asian Clearing Union payments.
• Humanitarian: shipments of medicines, rice, milk powder and fuel, and a line of credit for urea fertiliser.
• Diplomacy: India backed Sri Lanka's engagement with the IMF and other creditors while it sought debt relief.

Strategic stakes and limits

• Indian Ocean security, China's presence at Hambantota and Colombo, refugee flows to Tamil Nadu, Tamil aspirations under the 13th Amendment and the fishermen disputes all shape India's role.
• India earned goodwill as the first responder, but must respect Sri Lankan sovereignty and public opinion and avoid appearing to seek concessions in return for aid.

Timely help proved the friendship in practice; lasting ties will rest on economic integration, respect for sovereignty and attention to Tamil and fishermen concerns.

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BIMSTEC (1997) brings together five South Asian and two Southeast Asian states around the Bay of Bengal; SAARC (1985) covers eight South Asian states. BIMSTEC gained momentum after SAARC stalled; its last summit was in 2014.

Parallel or complement?

• Not a parallel body: BIMSTEC complements SAARC with a different geography and a sectoral agenda; its rise after SAARC stalled only makes it look like one.

Similarities and dissimilarities

• Similar: regional groupings of developing states, run through summits and secretariats (Dhaka and Kathmandu), seeking trade, connectivity and poverty reduction.
• Membership: BIMSTEC leaves out Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Maldives and adds Myanmar and Thailand, bridging South and Southeast Asia.
• Approach: BIMSTEC is sector-driven (transport, energy, security, trade, disaster management) and adopted a Charter only in 2022; SAARC's charter bars bilateral disputes, yet India–Pakistan tensions stalled it.

India's objectives through BIMSTEC

• Neighbourhood First meets Act East: a bridge to Southeast Asia, development of the Northeast through the Kaladan project and the Trilateral Highway, and a forum free of Pakistan's veto.
• Bay of Bengal maritime and energy security, counter-terrorism, disaster response and a balance to China's regional presence.
• Challenges: slow free-trade talks, thin intra-regional trade, funding gaps, Myanmar's political crisis and bilateral frictions.

BIMSTEC is a functional complement to SAARC, not its replacement; India should deliver on connectivity and trade rather than treat it as a political substitute.

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Election disputes travel a special route: Article 329(b) bars any challenge to an election to Parliament or a State Legislature except by an election petition, and Part VI of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 supplies the procedure.

Procedure for deciding disputes

• Forum: the petition lies before the High Court of the State, not in a writ; the Court's power flows from the statute, so its strict scheme governs.
• Who and when: any candidate or elector may file within 45 days of the returned candidate's election (Section 81), with security for costs.
• Trial: the High Court follows civil-suit procedure and aims to conclude within six months; corrupt-practice charges are quasi-criminal and need strict proof.

Grounds for declaring an election void

• Section 100(1)(a) to (c): the returned candidate was not qualified or was disqualified on the date of election; a corrupt practice was committed by him or with his consent; a nomination was improperly rejected.
• Section 100(1)(d): the result was materially affected by improper acceptance of a nomination, a corrupt practice by others in his interest, wrongful reception or rejection of votes, or non-compliance with the Constitution, the Act or the rules.
• Corrupt practices (Section 123) include bribery, undue influence, appeals on grounds of religion, caste, community or language, promoting enmity between classes, and booth capturing.
• Relief: besides declaring the election void, the Court may declare the petitioner or another candidate duly elected (Sections 98 and 101).

Remedy against the decision

• An appeal lies to the Supreme Court within 30 days on any question of law or fact (Section 116A).

Case laws

• Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975): the Allahabad High Court set aside the Prime Minister's election for corrupt practice; the Supreme Court struck down the amendment that sought to put that election beyond judicial scrutiny, holding free and fair elections part of the basic structure.
• Abhiram Singh v. C. D. Commachen (2017): a seven-judge Bench read Section 123(3) to bar appeals for votes in the name of religion, caste or language, whether the candidate's, the rival's or the voters'.

The election-petition scheme protects the purity of elections while keeping disputes within the judiciary; the six-month target is rarely met, and faster trials would make the remedy real.

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The Governor is part of the State Legislature (Article 168) and holds legislative powers: summoning, proroguing and dissolving the Assembly (Article 174), addressing it (Article 176), assent to or reservation of bills (Article 200), and promulgating ordinances (Article 213). The last is an emergency power, not a parallel source of law.

Essential conditions for ordinances (Article 213)

• Timing: the Legislative Assembly, or both Houses where there is a Council, must not be in session.
• Satisfaction: the Governor must be satisfied that circumstances require immediate action; he acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers, and the satisfaction is open to judicial review for mala fides.
• Subject: only matters within the State Legislature's competence; where a bill on the subject would need the President's prior sanction or reservation, the Governor needs the President's instructions (provisos to Article 213(1)).
• Limits: an ordinance can do no more than an Act of the Legislature could, and none may infringe fundamental rights.
• Duty: it must be laid before the Legislature and ceases to operate six weeks after reassembly, or earlier if disapproved by resolution (Article 213(2)(a)); the Governor may withdraw it at any time.

Legality of re-promulgation

• D. C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (1987): Bihar had kept ordinances alive for years by re-promulgating them without legislative approval; the Supreme Court held this a fraud on the Constitution and a subversion of the democratic process.
• Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar (2017): a seven-judge Bench held that laying an ordinance before the Legislature is mandatory, that re-promulgation is a fraud on the Constitution, and that the Governor's satisfaction is not immune from judicial review.
• Effect: an ordinance is a temporary measure, so rights and liabilities created under it do not ordinarily survive its lapse.
• Principle: the power exists for genuine urgency; using it to bypass the House, or repeating it after the House has met without approval, is unconstitutional, and only the Legislature can give an ordinance permanent life by enacting it.

Ordinance-making is an exception to legislative supremacy, not an alternative to it; re-promulgation without placing the ordinance before the House negates parliamentary democracy and does not survive judicial scrutiny.

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The statement captures a real pattern in Indian federalism, but party positions on Centre–State relations have shifted with a party's place in power, at the Centre or in the States, more than with any fixed ideology.

National parties and centralisation

• Parties ruling the Centre have tended to strengthen it: Article 356 was used freely against opposition-ruled States before S. R. Bommai (1994) subjected it to judicial review, and centrally sponsored schemes and cesses enlarge the Centre's role.
• After single-party majorities returned in 2014, disputes over GST, the farm laws, NEET and the conduct of Governors revived the charge of centralisation.

Regional parties and State autonomy

• The Rajamannar Committee (set up by Tamil Nadu in 1969, reported 1971), the Akali Dal's Anandpur Sahib Resolution (1973) and the October 1983 Srinagar conclave of opposition parties all demanded a shift of powers towards the States.
• In the coalition era (1989–2014) regional parties gained bargaining power, and federalism deepened through consultation and the Inter-State Council.

The exceptions

• National parties in opposition defend autonomy: the West Bengal Left Front's December 1977 memorandum on Centre–State relations, prepared by the CPI(M), is a national party's autonomy charter, and each major national party has questioned central overreach when out of power.
• Regional parties centralise within their States: many run their governments top-down, starve panchayats and municipalities of powers, and back the Centre when it suits them.
• Institutions cut across parties: the Sarkaria (set up 1983, reported 1988) and Punchhi (2007–10) Commissions, the Inter-State Council and the GST Council are where both camps bargain.

Verdict

• The alignment is real but circumstantial: positions follow power and electoral interest, so both camps change sides with the situation.

Healthy federalism cannot depend on which party rules the Centre; it needs institutionalised negotiation and fiscal devolution that bind all parties alike.

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India elects its President indirectly through an electoral college; France elects its President directly by universal suffrage in two rounds. The difference mirrors two designs: a parliamentary system with a constitutional head, and a semi-presidential system with an executive President.

India: indirect election

• Electoral college (Article 54): the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and of the State Legislative Assemblies, including Delhi and Puducherry; nominated members and Legislative Councils do not vote.
• Method (Article 55): proportional representation by single transferable vote with a secret ballot; each MLA's vote is weighted by the State's population so that States are uniform in scale, and the votes of all MPs together equal those of all the States.
• Nomination needs 50 proposers and 50 seconders and a deposit of Rs 15,000; disputes go only to the Supreme Court (Article 71).

France: direct election

• Since 1962 the President has been elected by direct universal suffrage, now for a five-year term; a candidate wins outright with an absolute majority in the first round, else the top two contest a run-off.
• Entry needs 500 sponsorships from elected officials spread across at least 30 departments or overseas collectivities, with a cap on any one department.

Critical assessment

• India, strengths: suits a ceremonial head in a parliamentary system, avoids a popular mandate rivalling the Prime Minister's, gives the States a weighted voice and spares the country a costly, populist campaign.
• India, weaknesses: party arithmetic predetermines the result, citizens have no direct voice, and the election becomes a test of coalition numbers rather than of the candidate.
• France, strengths: a direct mandate gives legitimacy to a powerful executive, and the run-off ensures that the winner commands majority support.
• France, weaknesses: it concentrates power in one person, personalises politics, forces polarised second-round choices, and can leave the President facing a hostile Assembly.

Each method matches its office: consensus and dignity for India's constitutional head, direct legitimacy for France's governing President; neither could be transplanted without changing the system around it.

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Article 324 vests the superintendence, direction and control of elections in the Election Commission. The Model Code of Conduct, a set of norms evolved with the parties' consent, is its main instrument for a level playing field, though it has no statutory force.

The Commission's constitutional role

• Prepares electoral rolls and conducts elections to Parliament, the State Legislatures and the offices of President and Vice-President; it became a multi-member body in 1993.
• Mohinder Singh Gill (1978): the Supreme Court held that Article 324 is a reservoir of power for the Commission to act where the law is silent, while it is bound by the law where the law speaks.

Evolution of the Code

• 1960: first used in the Kerala Assembly election as a code agreed among the parties.
• 1962: circulated by the Commission to all recognised parties for the general election.
• 1968: issued as a 'Minimum Code of Conduct'; 1979: a section added on the conduct of the party in power, to stop it using office for campaigning.
• 1991: consolidated and enforced with new rigour; 2013: guidelines on election manifestos added.

Enforcement: strengths and limits

• Reach: it applies from the announcement of the schedule to the declaration of results, covering speeches, processions, polling-day conduct, the party in power and manifestos.
• Tools: observers, expenditure monitoring, the 48-hour silence period (Section 126 of the 1951 Act), the cVIGIL app (2018) for citizen complaints, and action against paid news.
• Sanctions: advisories, censure, bans on campaigning for set periods and recommendations for prosecution under election law; moral authority and public pressure make parties comply.
• Limits: no direct statutory backing, charges of delay and uneven action against senior leaders, and the unresolved debate whether legal force would strengthen the Code or slow it through litigation.
• Way forward: transparent, time-bound decisions on complaints, an independent process for appointing Commissioners, and full disclosure of enforcement action.

The Code has worked through consensus and public pressure rather than legal compulsion; consistent, prompt and visible enforcement is what keeps the Commission's authority credible.

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Welfare transfers such as free grain and cash support hold up the consumption of the poor, but the poor earn their living in the market: rising prices and missing work erode their incomes faster than any scheme can replace them.

Why welfare alone is not enough

• PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana gave free grain through the pandemic and prevented hunger, yet food security without stable prices and jobs is a floor that keeps slipping.
• Transfers are fixed in rupee terms, so inflation shrinks their real worth, and no scheme reaches everyone who loses work.

Inflation: a regressive tax

• The poor spend most of their income on food and fuel, so price rises cut their real wages and the value of fixed transfers first.
• Deft management: the RBI's inflation target of 4 per cent within a 2–6 per cent band, and the rate increases that began in May 2022 when inflation breached the band, backed by fiscal and trade action on food prices.
• Supply side: buffer stocks and open-market sales, the PDS, calibrated import and export policy for food items, storage and cold chains, and price monitoring, so that a supply shock does not become sustained inflation.

Unemployment: the missing income

• Informal work, underemployment, low female participation and youth joblessness leave many households without a stable income, and one lost job pushes a family back below the line.
• Job creation: labour-intensive manufacturing and services, MSME credit, infrastructure spending that employs local labour, skilling matched to demand, and MGNREGA as a guaranteed fallback.

One strategy, not three

• Coordinate fiscal and monetary policy so that growth is employment-linked and price-stable; use PLFS data to target schemes; prefer targeted over blanket subsidies to keep fiscal room for public investment.

Welfare is a floor, not a ladder; stable prices and decent work are what carry the poor and underprivileged out of poverty and keep them there.

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Donor agencies, whether multilateral banks, bilateral agencies or private foundations, bring money and expertise that India's development sector needs. I agree with the view only in part: dependence on donors tends to weaken community participation, but the outcome depends on how projects are designed and to whom they are accountable.

Why dependence weakens participation

• Priorities and timelines: projects follow the donor's themes, log-frames and disbursement calendars, so the design is settled before communities are consulted.
• Upward accountability: reporting runs to the funder, not to the village, and success is measured in outputs delivered rather than institutions built.
• Contractor NGOs: local organisations and panchayats become implementing agencies chasing the next grant, and consultants displace local knowledge.
• Sustainability: assets built without ownership decay, as unused toilets and unmaintained handpumps show.

Why the link is not automatic

• Donor money has also built participation: SHG-based livelihood programmes such as Velugu in Andhra Pradesh and community-managed watershed programmes grew with external funding and put communities in charge.
• Domestic money carries the same risk: government schemes and CSR funds under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 can be just as top-down, and the FCRA, 2010 regulates foreign funds without changing how projects are designed.
• What decides is design: participatory planning, community contribution and accountability that runs downward.

Keeping communities at the centre

• Route funds through gram sabhas and panchayats, require community contribution and social audits, invest in capacity building, publish fund flows, and align donor timelines with local planning cycles.

Donor money does not by itself crowd out communities; design, accountability and local ownership decide whether communities lead development or merely receive it.

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The RTE Act, 2009 gives every child aged 6 to 14 a legal right to free and compulsory elementary education under Article 21A. Enrolment rose, but a right on paper does not by itself bring a child to school, keep her there or make her learn.

The Act's design: supply-side

• It sets school norms and teacher standards and reserves 25 per cent of entry-level seats in private schools for disadvantaged children (Section 12(1)(c)).
• It obliges the State to provide schooling; it does little to pull families towards it.

The incentive gap

• The Act itself offers no incentives; separate schemes fill the gap: the mid-day meal, free textbooks and uniforms, and scholarships for girls and disadvantaged groups.
• Where these are weak or delayed, the cost of schooling in lost child labour and wages outweighs its perceived value for poor families.

The awareness gap

• Many parents do not know entitlements such as the private-school quota, school management committees and grievance channels, so uptake is low.
• Poverty, child labour, migration, early marriage and disability keep children out, and the Act does not cover children below 6 or above 14.
• Learning: ASER surveys record weak reading and arithmetic in elementary grades, and teacher vacancies and poor infrastructure limit quality despite the norms, so parents see little return from schooling.

Making the right real

• NEP 2020 extends the ambition to ages 3 to 18 and to foundational literacy through NIPUN Bharat; Samagra Shiksha integrates support.
• Awareness drives through school management committees and panchayats, incentive packages tied to attendance, drop-out tracking, and better teacher training.

Law creates the right; incentives bring children to school, awareness keeps families committed, and quality makes the years count. The Act needs all three around it.

Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.

I2U2, the grouping of India, Israel, the UAE and the United States, held its first leaders' summit virtually on 14 July 2022. It is built on joint investment in water, energy, transport, space, health and food security rather than on a security pact.

How it can change India's position

• Economic: joint investment in food security and clean energy, such as the planned UAE investment of about US$2 billion in integrated food parks in India, links Gulf capital to Indian agriculture.
• Technology and supply chains: access to American and Israeli technology in agriculture, water, space and health, and more diversified supply chains.
• Strategic reach: it extends India's Indo-Pacific role into West Asia, complementing the Quad, the India–UAE CEPA (2022) and India's strategic partnership with Israel.
• Balancing China: it offers a partner-based alternative to Chinese investment in West Asia and supports connectivity and energy security.
• Diplomatic standing: India sits with the United States and two of its closest West Asian partners as an equal, a sign of its growing weight in the region.

Limits and the balance to keep

• Informal and economic-first: no treaty commitments, so results depend on projects, financing and speed rather than summit declarations.
• Divergent interests: India's ties with Iran, its support for Palestine and its relations with the Arab states, and US–China rivalry, can pull the members in different directions.
• Autonomy: joining I2U2 while keeping links with Russia, Iran and the Arab states shows India's multi-alignment, but each relationship must be managed so that none appears sacrificed.

I2U2 can add depth and capital to India's West Asia policy; whether it transforms India's position depends on projects delivered on the ground and on careful balancing of partners.

Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.

India's climate diplomacy has moved from defending equity and the right to develop to announcing targets and leading coalitions, while still tying its ambition to finance, technology and fairness from the developed world.

Early stance: equity first

• At Rio (1992) and Kyoto, India stressed common but differentiated responsibilities and resisted binding cuts, citing developed countries' historical emissions and its own development needs.

The shift to commitments

• Copenhagen (2009): India accepted a voluntary target to cut emissions intensity, without legally binding cuts.
• Paris (2015): its first NDC combined an emissions-intensity cut, a non-fossil share of power capacity and a forest carbon sink; India and France launched the International Solar Alliance.
• Glasgow (2021): the 'Panchamrit' pledges of 500 GW non-fossil capacity and a billion-tonne emissions cut by 2030, and net zero by 2070.
• August 2022 update: the NDC raised the 2030 emissions-intensity cut to 45 per cent from 2005 levels and non-fossil power capacity to about 50 per cent.

Geopolitics behind the policy

• Finance and technology: India presses developed countries to deliver climate finance and technology transfer as the condition of faster action.
• Trade: it opposes carbon border taxes such as the EU's CBAM as protectionism in climate dress.
• Coal: at COP26 India pushed 'phase down' rather than 'phase out' of coal to protect energy access and jobs.
• Energy security: after the Ukraine war India balances coal and imported-fuel dependence against clean-energy goals, with solar manufacturing, green hydrogen and partnerships.
• Coalitions: the International Solar Alliance gives India a leadership platform among developing countries and a voice independent of the big emitters.

India now pairs ambition with a demand for climate justice; its credibility rests on delivery at home and on finance and technology from the developed world.

Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.