GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

PM Narendra Modi recently performed underwater prayers at ‘Dwarka Nagari’, believed to be the kingdom of Lord Krishna. Since the start of the 20th century, several attempts have been made by scholars to establish the location of Dwarka as mentioned in the Mahabharata.

• 'Dwarka', which translates to a 'gate' in Sanskrit, has been the gateway to India, which acted as an important centre of trade between India and West Asia.
• The city of Dwarka, one of the Sapt Puris of Hinduism, was said to have been reclaimed from the sea by Lord Krishna after he shifted from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh to Dwarka in Gujarat.
• Dwarka, according to legends, was submerged under the Arabian Sea as Lord Krishna departed from the world, marking the beginning of the Kali Yuga.

What does archaeological evidence say?

• While the mythical narrative about Lord Krishna and Dwarka is rooted in the Puranas, archaeological evidence, over the years, points to several structures and a sudden submersion of a city.
• Period: Offshore excavations have revealed remnants of a city-state dating back to 2000 BC.
• The quest to uncover Dwarka's sunken secrets started in the 1930s by Hiranand Shastri, followed by the first extensive excavation being carried out in 1963.
• Subsequent excavations unveiled a plethora of ancient artefacts and the submerged remnants of the ancient Dwarka.
• Several ancient habitational sites were discovered in the coastal area of Bet Dwarka island.
  • Notably, the island of Bet Dwarka is located some 30 kilometres northeast of the Dwarkadhish Temple in Gujarat.
• However, the material examination and carbon dating of the man-made objects recovered from the seabed in Dwarka, reveals urnam structures from pre-Harappan times, which bolsters the argument for Dwarka's historical reality.
• Thermoluminescence dates surface explorations suggest that the earliest habitation on the island commenced in the mid-second millennium BC.

Singapore, facing a dwindling population and a manpower shortage, has seen its resident total fertility rate (TFR) drop to an estimated 0.97 per cent in 2023, the first time it has dropped below one per cent in the country’s history.

The Number Game

• Total fertility rate (TFR) fell from 1.04 in 2022 and 1.12 in 2021.
• Birth rate remains below the replacement rate of 2.1 – the level at which a population replaces itself.
• There were 26,500 resident marriages and 30,500 resident births in 2023.
• Situation in other countries-
  • European countries like Italy and Spain continue to see a record-low number of births year-on-year
  • Neighbouring Malaysia and Thailand also saw their fertility rates fall in 2022.

The latest figure places Singapore among countries with the lowest birth rates globally, with South Korea topping the list at 0.72 in 2023.

Twin demographic challenges

• Singapore is confronted with the twin demographic challenges of
  • a persistently low fertility rate
  • an ageing population

What are the reasons for Singapore’s low fertility rate?

• The Covid-19 pandemic disrupting some couples’ marriage and parenthood plans.
• Other reasons include:
  • financial costs of child-raising
  • pressures to be an excellent parent
  • difficulties managing work and family commitments

What does this trend in society reflect?

• City effect: Dual-income families are the norm in the pricey city-state and the lack of time for family is frequently cited as a significant factor influencing couples’ decisions on how many children to have, if they have any at all.
• Change in priorities: The falling numbers reflect a generational change in priorities, and young people may not even see marriage or parenthood as important life goals.
• Low fertility and higher education: Ageing reflects a transition from high fertility and low education to low fertility and higher education in most societies. This shift results in a reduced workforce, potentially slowing economic growth.

What are the implications?

• More elderly population: Families are getting smaller than before, and more couples have to care for both their children and their elderly parents. It increases the burden of health care and pension provision by the working-age population.
• Repercussion on labour force: With fewer births, Singapore will face a shrinking workforce.
• Burden for government: A shrinking workforce could hurt the government’s tax revenues and exacerbate the problem, especially when coupled with the challenges of an aging population.
• Threat to Economy: It will be increasingly challenging to maintain dynamism, attract global businesses and create opportunities for the next generation.

More than a month after India and Nepal signed the agreement on long-term power sharing, the two sides have not managed to make any forward movement on the stalled negotiations over the landmark Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project (PMP).

What is Pancheshwar project?

• The Mahakali or Kali River rises at an altitude of 3,600 meters in the Greater Himalaya range at Kalapani, in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand
• This river forms the natural border between India and Nepal in Uttarakhand.
• Kalapani is near the Lipu-Lekh pass at the border between India, Nepal, and Tibet.
• The Kali river, which forms the boundary of India and Nepal, is also connected to the territorial dispute of Kalapani-Limpiadhura-Lipulekh as the river originates in the triangular area that is claimed by both countries.
• Once the Kali River descends from the Himalayan foothills and onto the Gangetic plain, at Banbasa near the town of Tanakpur, its name changes to the Sharda River.
• The river is a part of the Ganga river system, joining the main river near the city of Madhubani.
• This river is the center of the Pancheshwar Dam.
• The Pancheshwar multipurpose hydroelectric project is to be built over the Mahakali river jointly by the Indian and Nepalese Governments. 
• The project involves the construction of two dams on the river Mahakali, for
  • irrigation, flood control, and;
  • generation of power for both countries
• The project is to come up near the Pancheshwar temple, 2.5 km downstream of the confluence of the Mahakali and Sarju rivers.

Why the project is not moving ahead?

• The project is aimed at generating around 6,480 MW energy (to be divided equally between two sides), along with water for irrigation of 130,000 hectares of land in Nepal and 240,000 hectares of Indian territory, respectively.
• The project is stalled because the Indian and the Nepali sides are unable to come to a consensus on sharing of benefits.
  • While electricity is divided equally, India gets the lion’s share of irrigation and flood control benefits.
• On the other hand, Kathmandu feels water is ‘white gold’ and India should pay Nepal for it.
• India cannot accept this claim as it challenges India’s understanding of other water-based treaties, including the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan. 

Possible consequences

• Possibility of destruction: The project lies in areas with Seismic levels 4 to 5. If any mis-happening takes place and the dam is harmed, the destruction will be on a very heavy scale. 
• Vulnerable zone: The project has a drainage area of -12,000 sq. km, out of which -2700 sq. km lies in the glacial and periglacial zones.
• Affecting communities: Communities on both sides of the Mahakali river – 31,023 families, close to 50,000 people or more, will be directly impacted.
• Environmental concerns: Biodiversity loss), Floods, Food insecurity, Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation, Soil erosion, Deforestation and loss of vegetation cover, Surface water pollution / Decreasing water quality, and Groundwater pollution or depletion are some of the environmental issues faced by the project.

The recent agitations by several state government (especially Kerala and Karnataka) have highlighted many disquieting issues in the practice of fiscal federalism in India. 

Where is the change required?

The following issues need urgent redressal.

• Keeping share out of state’s reach: First, the Union government has sought to keep an increasing share of its proceeds out of the divisible pool so that they need not be shared with States.
• Not doing the mandatory: Secondly, the government has also not been devolving the shares of net proceeds to the States as mandated by successive FCs.

What is net divisible pool?

• The net divisible pool, or net proceeds, is that part of the gross tax revenue from which a share would have to be vertically devolved by the Union to all States.
• Such shares are assigned by each FC for a five-year period.

What is covered in net proceeds?

• All taxes of the Union.
• Earlier, all corporation taxes and customs duties were fully absorbed by the Union, and only income taxes and excise duties were shared with the States.
• However, with changes over the years, culminating in a constitutional amendment in 2000, all taxes of the Union were added to the net proceeds. 
• The catch: Cesses and surcharges under Article 270 and Article 271 were kept out of the net proceeds.

So, the net proceeds consists of the gross tax revenue after the deduction of cesses, surcharges and the cost of collection of taxes.

Aren’t many cesses and surcharges subsumed into the GST system?

• Over the past decade or more, several cesses and surcharges were introduced by the Union government.
• When the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was initiated in 2017, the expectation was that many cesses and surcharges would be discarded and subsumed into the GST system.

• On the contrary, new cesses and surcharges continued to be introduced, and many old cesses and surcharges remained outside the GST system.
  • For instance, the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess was introduced as recent as in 2021-22.

The expansion of cesses and surcharges have led to the exclusion of an increasing share of the gross tax revenue from net proceeds.

CAG Report:

• Cesses and surcharges have also been subjected to critical scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
• All cesses must be transferred to a reserve fund in the Public Account of India after their collection.
• In its reports the CAG has uncovered numerous instances of either non-transfer or short transfer of the collected amounts to the respective funds.

What needs to be done?

• Finance Commission:
  • Sharing of resources from the divisible pool, and the extent of cesses and surcharges, must be matters of critical importance for the 16th FC.
  • The FC must take initiative to correct historical wrongs in vertical devolution through compensations to the States.
  • It must instruct the Union government to publish accurate estimates of “net proceeds” in the budget documents.
  • It must also arrange to provide shortfalls in devolution over the last decade as a lump sum untied grant to States.
• Union Government:
  • The Union government must legislatively act to have strict limits on the collection of cesses and surcharges
  • Cesses and surcharges should automatically expire after a short period and must not be rechristened under another name.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the country's first indigenous green hydrogen fuel cell inland waterway vessel under the Harit Nauka initiative in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi.

• The hydrogen-fueled electric vessel project is part of India's transformative efforts on the innovative and new technology fronts on green energy and sustainable cost-effective alternate fuel front.
• Wide range of application: Hydrogen fuel cells can be used in a wide range of applications, including transportation, material handling, stationary, portable, and emergency backup power applications.
• Environmental benefits: Hydrogen fuel cell powered vessel have zero emission, zero noise and energy efficient which in turn reduce the effect of global warming.
• Promotion: The inauguration of this project will provide impetus for using hydrogen in marine application as envisaged under National Green Hydrogen Mission.
• Competitive advantage: Early adoption of hydrogen fuel cell technology in the marine sector will provide it a global competitive advantage where by meeting sustainable green energy aspiration.

Why hydrogen?

• India's commitment to a sustainable future aims for net zero emissions by 2070.
• At the forefront of this endeavour is the adoption of green hydrogen as a maritime fuel.

International Relations (GS-II)

India, South Africa block major investment deal at WTO talks

India and South Africa have filed a formal objection against an investment agreement at a World Trade Organization meeting in Abu Dhabi, blocking its adoption in a move that observers say could block hundreds of billions of dollars in investment.

What was the deal?

• The deal agreed by some 125 countries, or about three-quarters of the WTO's members, aims to simplify red tape, improve the investment environment and encourage foreign direct investment.
• The initiative known as the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement led by Chile and South Korea with China's strong support, could lead to between $200-$800 billion of improvements in global welfare.

Polity & Governance (GS-II)

New chapter in the Constitution

The 22nd Law Commission, headed by former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, is likely to recommend adding a new chapter to the Constitution on 'one nation, one election'.

What will be in the new chapter (recommended)?

• Three-tier simultaneous polls: The new chapter in the Constitution would include issues related to "simultaneous election", "sustainability of simultaneous elections" and "common electoral roll" for Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, panchayats and municipalities so that the three-tier simultaneous polls could be held together "in one go".
• Overriding powers: The new chapter will have power of non-extant to override other provisions in the Constitution dealing with terms of assemblies.

Synchronisation: The five-year period in which the terms of assemblies will be synchronised will be spread over three phases. The Commission would recommend that the first phase may deal with state assemblies whose period will have to be curtailed by a few months -- three or six months.