1] People’s voice and Kashmir’s future (GS 2 Federation)
Context –
- The all-party conference on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) revealed the failure of the strategy crafted by the Government of India.
- Now the real challenge is delimitation of the constituencies.
Repealing of Article 370 –
- On February 28, 1966, a rebellion erupted in Mizoram. The Mizo National Front (MNF), commanded by Laldenga, launched an armed uprising the next day and declared independence. The Mizoram Accord was signed on June 30, 1986.
- “Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution, no Act of Parliament shall apply to the State of Mizoram in respect of (a) Mizo religion or social practises, (b) Mizo customary law or procedure, (c) Administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions based on Mizo customary law, (d) Ownership and transfer of land, unless the Legislative Assembly of Mizoram has approved it,” it said.
- On February 20, 1987, the 53rd Constitution Amendment came into force inserting Article 371G.
- Article 370 is on a more solid foundation. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his deputy, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, held parleys to provide legal substance to an agreement between the Union and a State of the Union.
- They began on May 15, 1949, at Patel’s home and ended in mid-October with an agreed-upon text. In the absence of Sheikh Abdullah, who happened to be in the lobby, it was moved in a modified version in the Constituent Assembly on October 17, 1949 by N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar.Kashmir received 94 of the 97 entries in the Central List, leaving three entries unapplied.
- So much for the so-called “unique status.” Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Goa all have ‘special’ provisions in the Constitution (Article 371A-1). A Sadr-E-Riyasat was elected in Kashmir.
- He was replaced by a Governor appointed by the Centre.
Practice of Dealing with area of special status –
- Areas of ‘special status’ abound the world over.
- Scotland joined England in 1707 to form Great Britain. It held a referendum on its independence without its being called ‘treason’.
- Quebec held two referenda on secession in 1980 and 1995. All three failed.
- The Supreme Court’s track record on Kashmir is dreadful. The issue has become overly politicised.
- In favour of a political, peaceful, and constitutional approach, the petitions must be withdrawn.On July 9, 1953, Maulana Azad offered Sheikh Abdullah that the Indian government was willing to proclaim that Kashmir’s special status would be made permanent without limitations.
- “If such a proclamation had been made earlier, it would have strengthened my hands,” Abdullah responded on July 16. “If I don’t acquire the confidence of my people here, I won’t be able to serve my friends,” he says now.
- People are more important now than they were in 1953. Statesmanship entails devising a solution that is agreeable to both parties.
Conclusion –
- The clock is ticking. The Delimitation Commission came to Kashmir to carry out the BJP’s Vision Document’s vision of additional seats for Jammu.
- Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, and Mirwaiz Mohammad Umar Farooq’s statesmanship will determine a lot.
- Their goals should be twofold: work to restore Kashmir’s identity and pride, and assist in the completion of the four-point formula developed by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
- Because it neglected Kashmiri sentiments, the all-party summit collapsed.
2] No pseudoscience, please (GS 3 Science)
Context –
- IGNOU has begun offering an astrological degree programme.
- This astrological craze is nothing new in a country that recently launched a spacecraft into orbit near Mars.
- In 2001, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government made a similar move, which was later reversed due to public protest.
- In this scenario, all citizens concerned about the state of education and the role of scientific temperament in education must take a stand on this choice.
Content of the Syllabus –
- Even a cursory examination of the syllabus reveals the course’s lack of scientific rigour.
- The course includes a study of horoscopes, which are based on the positions of various planets at the time of our birth and appear to have an impact on everything we accomplish throughout our lives. It also explains how to choose an auspicious moment to begin a certain endeavour.
- It claims to teach its students how to mitigate the negative consequences of specific horoscope issues.
- There is no end to the difficulties for which astrology can provide remedies.It contains solutions for anything from calculating when one should apply for a job to get a good outcome to determining when a nation should decide to start a war.Let’s have a look at the three basic astrological assumptions that this course is founded on.
- The first assumption is that the planets in our galaxy have an ongoing impact on human life. The second assumption is that the outcome is determined by the person’s birth time, and the third assumption is that a person’s future is determined by all of this and may be altered by astrological solutions.
Science and pseudoscience –
- While we’re on the subject of astrology, Elon Musk, an American billionaire, has launched the SpaceX mission to humanise Mars. NASA’s robotic rovers on Mars are gathering data and transmitting it back to Earth.
- According to Stephen Hawking, astronomical study should prioritise the hunt for a habitable planet like Earth in the cosmos.
- In light of this, it is necessary to learn to distinguish between astrology, which is a pseudoscience, and astrophysics, which is a solid scientific subject.
- Astrology takes advantage of people’s vulnerability when they are faced with uncertainty.
- Astrophysics, on the other hand, is built on the fundamental scientific concepts of exact observations, hypotheses, experiments, and conclusions based on all of these.
- It is our job as citizens to reject such decisions and demand that such a path be withdrawn in an era where pseudoscience has begun to become the new normal.
