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SYNOPSIS- IASbaba’s TLP 2016 [29th April] – UPSC Mains GS Questions [HOT]

1. India became one of the few countries of the world to have developed it’s own navigation system. Elaborate the working of a navigation system. Also enumerate the applications of navigation in traffic management, Public Distribution System and security of women in cities.

Introduction (Provide short description on first statement or define what navigation system is)

• With the launching of the seventh satellite, India becomes one of the few countries with their own navigation systems. India’s navigation system consists of constellation of 7 satellites where three are in geostationary orbits and four in geo synchronous.

 (Or)

• A navigation system (satellite nav system) is a system of satellites, usually managed by one company or country that provides geo-spatial positioning, which is a technical term for a specific location on or above the Earth in 3 dimensions.

Write elaborately on working of a general navigation system (Give a generalist explanation)

There are three parts: the network of satellites, a control station somewhere on Earth that manages the satellites, and the receiving device.

Each satellite will constantly beam out a radio-wave signal toward Earth. The receiver “listens out” for these signals and, if it can pick up signals from three or four different satellites, it can figure out the precise location of the object intended (including its altitude).

The satellites stay in known positions and the signals travel at the speed of light. Each signal includes information about the satellite it came from and a time-stamp that says when it left the satellite. Since the signals are radio waves, they must travel at the speed of light. By noting when each signal arrives, the receiver can figure out how long it took to travel and how far it has come—in other words, how far it is from the sending satellite. With three or four signals, the receiver can figure out exactly where it is on Earth.

Applications:

IRNSS finds applications in both civilian and military uses, while access to former is unrestricted, later is restricted to authorised agencies.

Traffic Management:

• Most of the Indian cities face traffic congestion, IRNSS can help in monitoring and conveying the status of traffic accurately, alternative routes can be taken to avoid traffic congestion.
• It also finds applications in managing air traffic which shall enhance efficiency and may also help in military purposes.

PDS:

• Tagging of vehicles carrying food grains and monitoring their movement in real time, can help in reducing diversions and fix leakages and corruption.

Safety of Women:

• In order to combat increasing trend of crimes against women, navigation systems can come handy.
• Tagging and monitoring of vehicles both public and private transport and provision for raising SOS in case of emergency shall help in reducing such crimes.
• Smart phone enabled apps like HIMMAT, VithU, PUKAR, RAKSHA, etc.

Best answer: Affu

Recently, India entered an exclusive club of five nations that have their own satellite navigation and positioning system with the launch of IRNSS-1GA, last one in the series of seven such satellites launched.

Satellite navigation is a system of satellites that provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning that allows small electronic receivers to determine their location using time signals transmitted along a line of sight by radio from satellites.

Determining precise location depends on accurately measuring the distances between receiver and satellite, and that depends on very accurate measurement of the radio signal’s travel time from the satellite to the receiver.

For this system of measurement to work, all satellites need to be synchronized so that they can start transmitting their signals at precisely the same time.

When such a system has global coverage it is called global navigation system as GPS and when it has regional coverage it is called regional navigation system eg: IRNSS

Application of Navigation System:

IRNSS finds applications in both civilian and military uses, while access to former is unrestricted, later is restricted to authorized agencies.

Traffic Management:

Most of the Indian cities face traffic congestion, IRNSS can help in monitoring and conveying the status of traffic accurately, alternative routes can be taken to avoid traffic congestion
it also finds applications in managing air traffic which shall enhance efficiency and may also help in military purposes

PDS:
Tagging of vehicles carrying food grains and monitoring their movement it can help in reducing diversions and fix accountability

Safety of Women:

Crime against women has been witnessing an increasing trend, in order to combat it navigation systems can come handy. Tagging and monitoring of vehicles both public and private transport and provision for raising SOS in case of emergence shall help in reducing such crimes 

2. You must have read or heard about the incident of an autistic child not being allowed to watch a concert which he so dearly wished to attend. Although the incident took place outside India, such discrimination is a sad reality in our country as well. What in your opinion should be the remedy to such issues? Elaborate in context of the discrimination faced by the differently abled in India.

• Intro:

Census 2001 has revealed that over 21 million people in India as suffering from one or the other kind of disability. This is equivalent to 2.1% of the population.

• Body:

The barriers in the society can be mainly classified into two: the environmental & attitudinal barriers. The major environmental barriers are of two types: Architectural and Communication. Lack of information is another major barrier faced by Disabled People.

1. Architectural barriers in buildings include lack of Ramps, Railings, Signage, Braille Print, Adequate Spacing, Slip Resistant Flooring, Accessible Toilets and Chairs, Switches, Shelves, Wash Basins, Taps & Telephone at an accessible height
2. The Persons with Disabilities Act 1995 provides for a barrier free environment in all public places and a barrier free transport system. It is interesting to note that making a building disabled friendly costs just 2 percent of the total building costs. A lot of cost effective adaptations can be made within and outside buildings to make them exclusively barrier free.
3. Communication: People having communication barriers are the ones who face lot of hardships in socialization
4. Major communication barriers in the society include lack of Readers, Braille Material / Manuals, lack of trained scribes, lack of Communication Aids and technical devices for people with severe disabilities and a lack of importance to research on Alternative & Augmentative Communication,
5. The areas that get affected due to these barriers include Education and Information leading to intellectual disability, Employment leading to financial disability, which creates a vicious cycle of poverty for the disabled person.
6. The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 does not speak of reservations in Higher Educational Institutions and only talks about open universities. Many Disabled People are denied entry into professional courses like MBA, Engineering and Medicine due to their disability. The results of a survey conducted in 320 odd universities and schools shows that only 0.1% of disabled students are in universities and 0.5% in mainstream schools.
7. Societal: the disability insensitive attitude, which promotes further barriers, disabled persons are seen as a liability to the family, especially financially, this gets accentuated if the disabled person is female, which makes her completely dependent on the family for everything,
8. Marriage: marriage of disabled girl is seen as an event of Himalayan nature, unwillingness to get married to a disabled girl, and the dowry demands make the marriage next to impossible even for well of families, for the poor its impossible.

• Corrective measures

1. Architectural:

Disabled friendly transport system: ramps and rails on footpaths bus-stands, railway stations and buses.

Buildings: circular ramps with railings, anti-slip floors, accessible toilets and lifts,etc. This kind of infrastructure help disabled people to be at ease and do their routines with minimum or no support. Apart from becoming self-reliant, such an internal atmosphere boosts their self-confidence and avoids unnecessary delay.

2. Education: Modified Play Area / Equipments and Wash Basins – at an accessible height and hand rails. Trained teachers and scribes, modified study material, hearing aids and visual aids. Care must be taken to encourage PwDs to undertake higher studies.
3. Employment: The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 provides 3% reservation for PwDs for employment under the state, the state must fill the positions quickly, and clear the backlogs. Provisions of CSR can be used to create employment for PwDs.
4. Society: society should see them, not for what they lack but for what they can do, the need of the hour is to Believe in their capabilities to lead a normal life.
5. Awareness: awareness about the rights of the PwDs should be done aggressively especially in flights, public buildings etc.

• Conclusion:

Write a suitable conclusion.

Best answer: MAHI

Differently abled are not disabled because they are physically or mentally impaired but because the society renders them so. Differently abled people suffered a lot of discrimination in India starting from home to public places.

 Some of the problems faced by them
1. First of all they are looked down upon, even family members don’t treat them well and they are not allowed to move out because of fear of pseudo- stigma
2. Difficulty in getting education which makes them unemployable and dependent on other creating vicious cycle of disability band poverty.
3. In rural areas they are socially boycotted and discriminated and in urban spaces the buildings don’t provide them access. Not allowing them entry into pubs and restaurant , misbehaving and mistreating them in aircrafts
4. Women with disabilities suffer much more because of gender bias and education is not considered a priority for them
5. Decreased marital life prospects and implications on sexuality of a person with disability.

To remove this problem the following remedies should be adopted
1. We need to treat them with respect and dignity allowing them autonomy to take their own decisions.
2. We need to change societal mental attitude and behaviors to ensure their full and effective participation and inclusion in society.
3. Provide them best education, employment opportunity which will enhance their self esteem and self respect and make them equal participant in India’s growth story.
4. Ensuring public space for them by building differently abled friendly infrastructure, improving transportation, using ICT
5. Greater coordination between NGOs and government for their rehabilitation Government has taken many steps to ensure a dignified life for them. We have disability act 1955 which talks about their education and 3% quota in jobs. Also India signed Marrakesh treaty and launched accessible India campaign. Some corporate have pledged to give them jobs.

We need to hold their hands and take them along. It is time to make India discrimination free and inclusive society where disabled have all the rights

3. The number of ministries in the government at the centre as well as in States has been very high. Why? Also analyze the effects of having too many ministers on the efficiency and efficacy of governance. Is it not against the principle of ‘minimum government maximum governance’? Comment.

Introduction:

There were a total of 17 ministers in the first cabinet of independent India headed by Jawaharlal Nehru which has reached to 70 by ManMohan Singh’s era. The replacement of the colonial state with the development state quite naturally led to an increase in the tasks that the government took upon itself.

Why?

1. Compulsion of Coalition politics: During one party rule era this was not an issue. With development of coalition politics the number of ministries increased gradually to accommodate aspirations.
2. Caste, region and religion politics: Few decades after the independence election started occurring on aforementioned grounds. To inculcate varying demands number of ministries spurted.
3. Demands and ideologies: As politics loved ahead new demands like separate ministries for Yoga, Social Justice, Tribal’s, Disinvestment arisen. But simultaneously outdated ones were not phased out.
4. Belief in theories like more segregation of work increases independence, efficiency and better governance. (eg. dedicating one Ministry for Ganga Rejuvenation).

Positive effects:

1. Increased professionalism of work with dedicated ministries to exclusive subjects/portfolios.
2. Increased accountability of the Executive in the public service, and better work efficiency. (e.g. MoEF played key role in obstructing licenses to companies without proper EIAs).
3. Enhances diversity of ideas which in turn leads of expansion of governance reach.
4. Greater emphasis for earlier shadowed subjects. (e.g. inefficient legal meteorology management crippled consumer rights with adulteration of oil, food, fuel etc).

Negative effects:

1. Increases coordination challenges. (e.g. one of the reasons for unified regularities, umbrella agencies).
2. Overlapping subjects leads to confusion in the administration and delays works (eg. one of the reasons for growing number of project delays).
3. Promotes competition in place of complementarities. (e.g. roadways acting parallel to railways and obstructing its growth instead of complimenting it for increasing last mile connectivity).

Comment:

Minimum government and maximum governance is related to providing speedy services, clearances, transparency, etc. and it aims at reducing the red-tapism, harassment, etc. more ministries may not always be the problem in provide maximum governance. The main problem is lack of coordination. So, if this is insured, then it is not against the principle of minimum government and maximum governance. Effort has been made through 91st Constitution Amendment Act to restrict the size of Council of Minister to 15% of the total Membership of the legislature but still a lot is required to be done to rationalize the number so that Developmental requirement take the front seat rather than Political Compulsion.

Conclusion:

Government of India has already clubbed together several ministries like Finance with Corporate Affairs; Rural Development with Panchayati Raj , Drinking Water and Sanitation as a step towards minimum govt and maximum governance. Thus, several issues can be addressed, like integrating Road Transport and Highways with Shipping addresses the problem of power plants being built without proper coal supplies. However, a lot more needs to be done to downsize the ministry. Way ahead lies in removing irrelevant ministries, taking independent regulators to handle projects like cleaning the River Ganga, building new cities, setting up high-speed rail links, etc.

Best answer: Aragon

The first Cabinet of independent India had a small number of 17 ministers, handling many tough situations then. The size of cabinet since then has been ever expanding.

Important reasons for expansion:

1. A shift from being colonial to independent had innumerable developmental tasks and responsibilities to be handled
   2. Successive governments exploiting the advantages reserved for states for division of powers
   3. Coalition politics – gifting ministries to form governments together which led to immense bribery and corruption

The first cabinet though efficient still needed extra hands for work. 2nd ARC recommends reduction of ministries that is minimum government, as the most important reform for maximum governance. Hence, expansion of ministries has both positive and negative shades embedded in it.

The positive –

1. Increased focus on necessary issues
   2. Increase of accountability
   3. More employment opportunities

The negative –

1. Absence of clear demarcation leads to blame games in the prevalent bureaucratic and red tapism hurdles
   2. High lack of coordination between ministries and departments
   3. Huge and frequently irrelevant expenditure for individual ministries
   4. Party politics has become a default operating factor

Though the 91st amendment to the constitution suggests limiting of the size of cabinet to 15% of LS or State Legislature, it still needs more strength to counter the coalition politics and restrict the size for implementing effective maximum governance through minimum government.