PM IAS FEB 05 CURRENT EVENTS

Context:

PM remembers heroes of freedom struggle on completion of hundred years of Chauri Chaura incident.

 Relevance:

GS-I: History

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Chauri Chaura Incident
2. Launch of the Non-Cooperation Movement
3. Justification for the Suspension of the Movement
4. Immediate Result

Chauri Chaura Incident

• On 4th February 1922, volunteers congregated in the town, and after the meeting, proceeded in a procession to the local police station, and to picket the nearby Mundera bazaar.
• The police fired into the crowd killing some people and injuring many volunteers.
• In retaliation, the crowd proceeded to set the police station on fire.
• Some of the policemen who tried to escape were caught and battered to death. A lot of police property, including weapons, was destroyed.
• The British Raj prosecuted the accused aggressively. A sessions court quickly sentenced 172 of the 225 accused to death. However, ultimately, only 19 of those convicted were hanged.
• Mahatma Gandhi condemned the crime of the policemen’s killing. The volunteer groups in nearby villages were disbanded, and a Chauri Chaura Support Fund was set up to demonstrate “genuine sympathy” and seek atonement.
• Gandhi decided to stop the Non-Cooperation Movement, which he saw as having been tainted by unforgivable violence. He bent the Congress Working Committee to his will, and on 12th February, 1922, the satyagraha (movement) was formally suspended.
• Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders leading the Non-Cooperation movement were shocked that Gandhiji had stopped the struggle when the civil resistance had consolidated their position in the freedom movement.
• Other leaders like Motilal Nehru and CR Das recorded their dismay at Gandhi’s decision and decided to establish the Swaraj Party.

Launch of the Non-Cooperation Movement

• On 1st August, 1920, Gandhi had launched the Non-Cooperation Movement against the government.
• It involved using swadeshi and boycott of foreign goods, especially machine made cloth, and legal, educational and administrative institutions, “refusing to assist a ruler who misrules”.
• In the winter of 1921-22, volunteers of the Congress and the Khilafat Movement were organised into a national volunteer corps.
• Khilafat Movement was a pan-Islamic force in India that arose in 1919 in an effort to salvage the Ottoman caliph as a symbol of unity among the Muslim community in India during the British raj.
• The Congress supported the movement and Mahatma Gandhi sought to conjoin it to the Non-Cooperation Movement.

Justification for the Suspension of the Movement

• Gandhi on his part, justified himself on grounds of his unshakeable faith in non-violence.
• Historians such as Bipan Chandra have argued that Gandhian strategy of non-violence was based on the premise that the use of repressive force against non-violent protesters would expose the real character of the colonial state and
•  ultimately put moral pressure on them, but incidents such as Chauri Chaura defeated that strategy.
• Besides, Bipin chandra opines that withdrawal or shift to a phase of non-confrontation is an inherent part of a strategy of political action that is based on the masses.

Immediate Result

• The disillusionment resulting from the suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement nudged many of the younger Indian nationalists towards the conclusion that India would not be able to throw off colonial rule through non-violence.
• It was from the ranks of these impatient patriots that some of India’s most of the revolutionaries came into picture like Jogesh Chatterjee, Ramprasad Bismil, Sachin Sanyal, Ashfaqulla Khan, Jatin Das, Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra, Masterda Surya Sen, and many others.
• Besides, sudden termination of the Non-Cooperation Movement disillusioned the Khilafat movement leaders that created a rift between Congress and the muslim leaders.

-Source: Times of India, PIB

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Sri Ramanujacharya

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Context:

The Prime Minister will inaugurate the Statue of Equality,  216-ft tall statue of the 11th century reformer and Vaishnavite saint, Sri Ramanuja, at the sprawling 40-acre ashram of Sri Tridandi Chinna Jeer Swamy in Muchintal on the outskirts of Hyderabad .

• India is celebrating his 1,000th birth anniversary as the ‘Festival of Equality’, upholding the view that the world is one family, ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’,”

Relevance:

GS I- Art and Culture, History

Dimensions of the article:

1. About Statue of Equality
2. About Sri Ramanuja
3. About Bhakti movement

About Statue of Equality

• It is being installed to mark the 1,000th birth anniversary of Sri Ramanuja.
• It is a 216-feet tall statue and  was built of panchaloha, a combination of gold, silver, copper, brass and zinc, by the Aerospun Corporation in China and shipped to India.
• It is the second largest in the world in sitting position of the saint.
• The monument will be surrounded by 108 “Divya Desams” of Sri Vaishnavite tradition (model temples) like Tirumala, Srirangam, Kanchi, Ahobhilam, Badrinath, Muktinath, Ayodhya, Brindavan, Kumbakonam and others.
• The idols of deities and structures were constructed in the shape at the existing temples.
• The base building, which is 16.5 metres tall, has a meditation hall where a 54-inch statue of Sri Ramanuja made of 120 kg gold, representing the years he lived, will be inaugurated by President Ramnath Kovind by performing the first puja on February 13.
• The deity at the inner sanctorum is meant for daily worship by people.

About Ramanuja (c. 1017 – 1137 CE)

• Ramanuja, reformer and Vaishnavite saint was born at Sriperumbudur near modern Chennai.
• He preached Vishista Advaitavada (qualified monism).
• His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement.
• According to him, God is Saguna Brahman (with attributes) and the creative process including all the objects in creation are real and not illusory as was held by Shankaracharya. Therefore, according to Ramanuja, God, soul, and matter are real. However, God is the inner substance and the rest are his attributes. 
• In Vishista Advaitavada, the universe and Brahman are considered two equally real entities, as in dualism, but here the universe is not separate from Brahman but is formed out of Brahman. The Brahman is considered as a personal god with omniscient qualities who has created the world out of his own self. Thus, the world bears to Brahman the relation of the part to the whole, or the relation of a ‘qualified effect’ to the base (hence qualified monism).
• The difference between Dualism and Vishista Advaita is that “mankind enjoys higher status than in pure dualistic worship and is nearer to God”. In Vishista Advaita, both the world and Brahman are considered equally real; they are not considered to be two separate entities as in Dualism.
• Ramanuja advocated prabattimarga or the path of self-surrender to God. He invited downtrodden people to Vaishnavism and advocated salvation by Bhakti.

Important writings include:

• Vedarthasangraha (literally, “Summary of the Vedas meaning”),
• Sri Bhashya (a review and commentary on the Brahma Sutras),
• Bhagavad Gita Bhashya (a review and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita), and
• The minor works titled Vedantapida, Vedantasara, Gadya Trayam (which is a compilation of three texts called the Saranagati Gadyam, Sriranga Gadyam and the Srivaikunta Gadyam), and Nitya Grantham.

Bhakti Movement

• Bhakti movement took place in Tamil Nadu between the seventh and ninth centuries.
• Bhakti saints looked upon religion as love between the worshipped and worshipper.
• Bhakti was reflected in the emotional poems of the Nayanars (devotees of Shiva) and Alvars (devotees of Vishnu).
• A more effective method for spreading the Bhakti ideology was the use of local languages. The Bhakti saints composed their verses in local languages.
• They also translated Sanskrit works to make them understandable to a wider audience.
• Examples include Kabir, Surdas , Tulsidas, Shankaradeva, Chaitanya Mirabai.

-Source: Indian Express

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Centre to form panel on MSP

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Context:

The government will form a committee to look into encouraging crop diversification, natural farming, and making minimum support price (MSP) effective and transparent.

Relevance:

GS-III: Agriculture (Agriculture Pricing), GS-II: Social Justice (Welfare Schemes)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. What is Minimum Support Price (MSP)?
2. Why is there a need for MSP?
3. What are the issues related to MSP?
4. Three Kinds of Production Cost

What is Minimum Support Price (MSP)?

• Minimum Support Price is the price at which government purchases crops from the farmers, whatever may be the price for the crops.
• Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) in the Ministry of Agriculture recommends MSPs for 23 crops. These include 14 grown during the kharif/post-monsoon season (see table) and six in rabi/winter (wheat, barley, chana, masur, mustard and safflower), apart from sugarcane, jute and copra
• CACP consider various factors while recommending the MSP for a commodity like cost of cultivation, supply and demand situation for the commodity; market price trends (domestic and global) and parity vis-à-vis other crops etc.
• MSP seeks to:
  • Assured Value: To give guaranteed prices and assured market to the farmers and save them from the price fluctuations (National or International).
  • Improving Productivity: By encouraging higher investment and adoption of modern technologies in agricultural activities.
  • Consumer Interest: To safeguard the interests of consumers by making available supplies at reasonable prices.

Why is there a need for MSP?

• The MSP is a minimum price guarantee that acts as a safety net or insurance for farmers when they sell particular crops.
• The guaranteed price and assured market are expected to encourage higher investment and in adoption of modern technologies in agricultural activities.
• With globalization resulting in freer trade in agricultural commodities, it is very important to protect farmers from the unwarranted fluctuation in prices.

What are the issues related to MSP?

• Low accessibility and awareness of the MSP regime: A survey highlighted that, 81% of the cultivators were aware of MSP fixed by the Government for different crops and out of them only 10% knew about MSP before the sowing season.
• Arrears in payments: More than 50% of the farmers receive their payments of MSP after one week.
• Poor marketing arrangements: Almost 67% of the farmers sell their produce at MSP rate through their own arrangement and 21% through brokers.
• According to NITI Aayog report on MSP, 21% of the farmers of the sample States expressed their satisfaction about MSP declared by the Government whereas 79% expressed their dissatisfaction due to various reasons. Although, majority of the farmers of the sample States were dissatisfied on MSP rates, still 94% of them desired that the MSP rates should be continued.

Three Kinds of Production Cost

• The CACP projects three kinds of production cost for every crop, both at state and all-India average levels.
• ‘A2’: Covers all paid-out costs directly incurred by the farmer in cash and kind on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, hired labour, leased-in land, fuel, irrigation, etc.
• ‘A2+FL’: Includes A2 plus an imputed value of unpaid family labour.
• ‘C2’It is a more comprehensive cost that factors in rentals and interest forgone on owned land and fixed capital assets, on top of A2+FL.
• CACP considers both A2+FL and C2 costs while recommending MSP. CACP reckons only A2+FL cost for return.
• However, C2 costs are used by CACP primarily as benchmark reference costs (opportunity costs) to see if the MSPs recommended by them at least cover these costs in some of the major producing States.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) of the Union government takes a final decision on the level of MSPs and other recommendations made by CACP.

-Source: Indian Express, The Hindu

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Freedom of religion and attire

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Context:

After six students were banned from entering a college in Karnataka’s Udupi district for wearing a hijab last month, the row over whether educational institutions can impose a strict dress code that could interfere with rights of students has spilled to other colleges in the state. The issue throws up legal questions on reading the freedom of religion and whether the right to wear a hijab is constitutionally protected.

Relevance:

GS-II: Constitution

Dimensions of the Article:

1. How is religious freedom protected under the Constitution?
2. How have courts ruled so far on the issue of a hijab?
3. Amna Bint Basheer v Central Board of Secondary Education (2016),
4. Fathima Tasneem v State of Kerala (2018) 

How is religious freedom protected under the Constitution?

• Article 25(1) of the Constitution guarantees the “freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”.
• It is a right that guarantees a negative liberty — which means that the state shall ensure that there is no interference or obstacle to exercise this freedom.
• However, like all fundamental rights, the state can restrict the right for grounds of public order, decency, morality, health and other state interests.
• Over the years, the Supreme Court has evolved a practical test of sorts to determine what religious practices can be constitutionally protected and what can be ignored.
• In 1954, the Supreme Court held in the Shirur Mutt case that the term “religion” will cover all rituals and practices “integral” to a religion.

How have courts ruled so far on the issue of a hijab?

• In 2015, at least two petitions were filed before the Kerala High Court challenging the prescription of dress code for All India Pre-Medical Entrance which prescribed wearing “light clothes with half sleeves not having big buttons, brooch/badge, flower, etc. with Salwar/Trouser” and “slippers and not shoes”.
• Admitting the argument of the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) that the rule was only to ensure that candidates would not use unfair methods by concealing objects within clothes, the Kerala HC directed the CBSE to put in place additional measures for checking students who “intend to wear a dress according to their religious custom, but contrary to the dress code”.
• “If the Invigilator requires the head scarf or the full sleeve garments to be removed and examined, then the petitioners shall also subject themselves to that, by the authorised person. It is also desirable that the C.B.S.E issue general instructions to its Invigilators to ensure that religious sentiments be not hurt and at the same time discipline be not compromised,” Justice Vinod Chandran ruled.

Amna Bint Basheer v Central Board of Secondary Education (2016),

• The Kerala HC examined the issue more closely. Justice P B Suresh Kumar, who allowed the plea by the student, held that the practice of wearing a hijab constitutes an essential religious practice but did not quash the CBSE rule.
• The court once again allowed for the “additional measures” and safeguards put in place the previous year.
• But both these cases involve restrictions placed on the freedom of religion for a specific purpose — to ensure a fair examination process — and the CBSE had cited a resource crunch to check every candidate if they allowed autonomy in choosing their dress.

Fathima Tasneem v State of Kerala (2018) 

• A single Bench of the Kerala HC held that collective rights of an institution would be given primacy over individual rights of the petitioner.
• The case involved two girls, aged 12 and 8, represented by their father who wanted his daughters to wear the headscarf as well as a full-sleeved shirt.
• The school that refused to allow the headscarf is owned and managed by the Congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) under CMI St Joseph Province.
• The father appealed before a division Bench of the High Court. The division Bench headed by Justice Vinod Chandran dismissed the appeals as it was “submitted that the appellants-petitioners are not now attending the School and are no more in the rolls of the respondent-School.”