UPSC Must Read News Articles – March 20, 2019

HC stays M.P. govt.’s 27% OBC quota ordinance

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday, in an interim order, stayed the State government’s ordinance increasing reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) category to 27% from the earlier 14%.

GoMs on lynchings, harassment on hold

With the announcement of general elections on March 10, at least two important Groups of Ministers (GoMs) constituted by the Centre last year to suggest measures on anti-lynching and prevention of sexual harassment of women at workplace have been put in the cold storage.

India reaches out to Mozambique

The Indian Navy had launched a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operation in coordination with local officials to evacuate about 5,000 people stranded at Buzi near Port Beira in Mozambique, a Navy officer said on Tuesday.

Apex court upholds right to self-defence

The right to self-defence extends not only to one’s own body but to protecting the person and property of another, the Supreme Court has said.

On the learning curve

The systemic approach to transforming education outcomes in India is leading to success

What has changed post-Balakot?

The situation between India and Pakistan seems to have returned to the pre-Pulwama position. The High Commissioners, withdrawn in February for ‘consultations’, have returned to Islamabad and Delhi. Talks on Kartarpur are proceeding. The UN Security Council 1267 Committee failed to designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist because China faithfully put a technical hold on the proposal. It had done so in 2009 and 2017, following it up with a veto

The dome to protect is the Constitution

The Supreme Court recently referred the Ayodhya matter for mediation. Litigation over the Babri Masjid site and its environs has been pending for several years. As is well known, the Babri Masjid itself was demolished while litigation concerning it was pending.

Disempowering gram sabhas

The FRA was enacted to recognise the pre-existing rights of forest-dwellers. Recognising them as “integral to the survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem,” the FRA gives their gram sabhas “the responsibilities and authority for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance.”

Re-examining socialism

The standard attack on socialism implies that only one variant exists: state ownership of productive assets with centralised control over resource allocation. Yet modern socialist models are open to a mixture of collective ownerships depending on the context, and, for example, propose democratic voting to determine how much citizenries collectively wish to save or invest. These decisions may be implemented indirectly with interest and tax rate adjustments.