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Last 5 Years – Change in UPSC Syllabus and Pattern Note: This year notification from UPSC has clearly stated that there is no change in the syllabus for UPSC Examination 2017. This article is only an attempt to formulate the series of changes that UPSC Syllabus has seen over the last five years. It’s not a secret that although its steady and stealth changes; UPSC has maintained its repo towards having a tact syllabus and pattern of the examination. We should also acknowledge that even though we have seen quite a change in UPSC syllabus and pattern, to our surprise, most of it are on the positive side. Some background on UPSC Syllabus and Pattern UPSC is considered as the toughest exam in the world. There are trolls that say its syllabus has everything that’s under the sun. This fact, while chuckles a lot of us, is frightening if you are planning to prepare for the examination. This alleged urban bias exam, UPSC, is conducted in three stages; Prelims, Mains and the Personality Test. Who decides the changes in UPSC Syllabus and Pattern? The Union Government of India appoints an expert committee usually headed by a former IAS who takes over the task and systematically evaluate the effectiveness of the existing scheme of the Civil Services examination. The committee refers to certain disciplines that assure the inclusiveness in the selection process. The committee also reviews the recommendations of previous expert committees. Terms of reference of the committee: Plan of Examination System of Evaluation Mechanism of designing Logistical requirements for conduct To form an opinion—the expert committee also looks for suggestions and feedbacks from the public. Since It has a direct effect on the student body, students are generally expected to give their suggestion on the following areas; Age relaxation, Numbers of attempts Permitted, Test of English Proficiency and Optional Subject; but you can also suggest an improvement attributed to any part of the UPSC. Changes in Last 5 Years In last 5 years, UPSC has introduced various major and minor changes in its examination pattern and syllabus; 2011 UPSC replaced the optional subject in Prelims with the CSAT. 2013: UPSC replaced 2 optional subjects with 1 optional subject. UPSC restructured the number of General Studies Papers. UPSC divided previous 2 papers of GS into 3, and introduced a new paper; Paper 4 – ‘Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude’. The total number of Marks allotted for essay increased from 200 to 250. Increase in the number of questions and decrease in the word limit 2014 UPSC increased the number of essays in the exam from 1 to 2. Now there are two sections with four optional choices which previously was a single section with four optional choices. Total number of attempts permitted for the exam increased from 4 to 6 Maximum age limit increased from 30 to 32 for general candidates 2015 Pre-2015, both GS and CSAT were considered for merit. From 2015, only GS remained as a merit test while CSAT was turned into a qualifying exam. Source: xaam.in Trade facilitation agreement in services India submitted at WTO a proposal for a trade facilitation agreement in services which is aimed at easing the movement of skilled workers across borders. The proposal will be taken up by an expert committee at the WTO headquarters, post which it will be taken up for discussion among all WTO members. Minister of commerce, Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed that India has submitted a legally vetted paper on Trade facilitation agreement in services at Geneva. In the initial phase, till March 17 only the council for trade in services members will be part of the discussion. After that to build awareness all WTO members will be made part of discussions. India is planning to push the proposal at the upcoming WTO ministerial meeting which will be held in Argentina in December. What the pact aims to achieve: Primarily, easing the cross-border movement of skilled workers. Ensure portability of social security contributions. Single window mechanism for foreign investment approvals. Cross border insurance coverage to boost medical tourism. Trade Facilitation Agreement(TFA) in goods: First administrative deal to be signed in 21 years at Bali. It aims to streamline, simplify and standardize custom procedures which will cut help cut trade cost. It will also add 2.7 percent to world trade growth and more than half a percent to world GDP growth. It will reduce logistic costs, as goods will move faster. Access to export and import data on a real-time basis, as all the ports will be connected electronically. Developing countries are required to build infrastructure capacity for faster clearance of cross border shipments. TFA in services as part of new issues: The Trade facilitation agreement in services could be seen as a new issue and India would be under pressure to allow discussion on other new issues, which are not part of the ongoing Doha round negotiations. India has earlier opposed attempts made by certain developed nations for inclusion of new issues in WTO, though it agreed for an informal and nonbinding discussion. India’s stand is that the proposed Trade Facilitation agreement(TFA) in services is about facilitation, that is making market access effective and commercially meaningful and not about new market access. This essentially means that like the agreement in goods trade, the proposed agreement is also expected to cover discrepancies in trade in services, as well as procedural and administrative issues and principles that apply to all. It will not deal with market access issues because that will involve domestic regulations which the proposed agreement does not seek to address. Source: xaam.in Should triple outlawed? talaq be Zakia Soman, co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, an autonomous organisation, and a co-petitioner in the triple talaq case before the Supreme Court, writes: It is the constitutional obligation of the government to enable Muslim women to obtain a level playing field There are four or five judgments where the triple talaq provision has been struck down as invalid. But it has not led to this un-Koranic practice being rooted out from our society. Triple talaq continues to be the most common method of divorce. We had done a sample study of 4,710 women and found that out of 525 women who were divorced, 349 were victims of triple talaq. While the courts have settled the matter, we have to look at the unjustness of the entire process. How can we accept that a man can simply utter the word talaq thrice or communicate it through phone with no witness deemed necessary and where the burden is on the wife to legally contest it? There is no law binding the man, he can just act on his whim. This is absolutely unfair and must be stopped. Seeking a level playing field Let me cite a case from Madhya Pradesh where a woman who did not wake up when her husband returned late from work received talaq thrice when she was asleep! She was informed about her husband’s decision by her mother-in-law. It is a convoluted argument to say that triple talaq is not an issue only because a few judgments have declared it invalid. Why should a man have unilateral powers to divorce, and the woman just comply? What is wrong in seeking a level playing field between husband and wife? Such arguments only further the patriarchal order. As far as the Koran is concerned, triple talaq is just not valid. There are verses calling for reconciliation and mediation over a period of 90 days involving both sides. The objective is that the woman should not be rendered a destitute. Also, when the final pronouncement of talaq is made, the women should not be menstruating. This is an evolved system of jurisprudence calling for just and fair divorce. All we are seeking is that the Supreme Court should lay down the procedure for talaq based on the talaq-e-ehsan method. There is a debate about personal laws being violative of fundamental rights. But the personal law being practised by the Muslim community in India is not based on Koranic injunctions. Rather triple talaq is a violation of the tenets of justice and fairness. Gender justice is a central tenet of the Koran and gender inequality and triple talaq are in violation of the Koranic principles. In fact, in the Koran, the very conception of humankind is based on an equal footing between man and woman. But patriarchal misinterpretations and distortions rule our lives. Any talk of reform in personal law is brushed aside as interference in religious matters. On a Uniform Civil Code As far as our position on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is concerned, we are clear that a secular law alternative must be available to every citizen. This alternative exists in the form of the Special Marriages Act. But abolition of triple talaq and UCC are two separate issues. The UCC question applies to the entire Indian population, not just Muslims. Muslim personal law needs drastic reform just like the Hindu code or the Christian laws. There has been a legal discrimination of Muslim women in our country. Muslim women are still subject to the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 which is silent on triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy. We need to be brought on a par with Hindu sisters and Christian sisters who have a legal recourse. The Hindu women have the Hindu Succession Act and the Hindu Marriage Act. We are a patriarchal society and it is not as though Hindu and Christian women have attained equality. But they do not face legal discrimination the way Muslim women do. It is the constitutional obligation of the government to enable Muslim women to obtain justice. It is not about the BJP or the government but about gender justice for Muslim women. Kamal Faruqui, former chairperson of the Delhi Minorities Commission and founder-member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, writes: Triple talaq is a Koranic injunction. But it depends on the terms drawn up in the marriage contract The pronouncement of triple talaq is acceptable to all four schools of thought in Islam and though not desirable, it is very much a Koranic injunction. Those who criticise it do not understand the Koran. Having said that, I should also state that eventually it comes down to the nikahnama, which is a contractual obligation between the two parties. If the terms of the contract do not have provisions against triple talaq and have not been contested before being accepted, the pronouncement of talaq at one go or over the prescribed period of three months is allowed in the Koran. Don’t forget that Islam is the first religion in the world to institutionalise marriage. Nikah imposes conditions, prescribes equality of women, maintenance of children and so on. Conditions for triple talaq But please don’t assume that the Koran does not condone talaq. It has been described as one of the worst options to be exercised only under extenuating circumstances. It allows for an exit when the marriage breaks down but only under certain conditions. The talaq-e-ehsan, one form of divorce, is over a period of three months and it is only after the completion of the third month that you are no longer man and wife. The talaq-e-bidat or triple talaq at one go allows the man to exhaust all the options at once. Again, if the nikahnama has proscribed it, then the man cannot take recourse to this divorce. Divorce is one of the worst things in the institution of marriage and allowed only in extreme situations. Even when a person goes to buy a pen, he is bound by contractual agreement. In the case of a nikah/marriage, the contract is between two parties in the presence of at least two witnesses. We are governed by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, and if the Supreme Court says this must be revisited, we will oppose it. Many misconceptions I also wish to clear the misconception on the number of triple talaqs practised among Muslims. We moved RTIs to find out the divorce rates among the religions in India and I can share with certitude that it is the least prevalent among Muslims. It is rare among Muslims. And those who practise it are usually the uneducated and the poor who do not know their Koran or those who are misled by others. It is also incorrect to say that triple talaq has been banned in 22 countries; it has been regulated in most of said countries. You could have concerns about why is it that a man can take recourse to uttering talaq and not the woman. Under Islam, the man shares the greater responsibility in marriage as far as maintenance of his wife and children are concerned. He has many duties to fulfil and many responsibilities too. That is why he has been given the responsibility of ending the marriage only when it breaks down. Women too have the option of khula. She will have to approach the qazi if her husband is absconding, of bad character and so on. We will plead before the apex court to have a separate department with people who are well-versed in the Sharia laws if at all the court wishes to mediate on the matter. So far, the courts have been very careful in interpreting personal laws — which are part of the fundamental right to religion for every citizen of the country. Syeda Hameed, Women’s rights activist, educationist, a former member of the Planning Commission, and the first woman Qazi from Lucknow, writes: Why rake up matters that have already been settled by the SC and create discord between communities? Back in 2002, the Supreme Court had given its ruling on triple talaq in the Shamim Ara v. State of U.P. case — when Justice R.C. Lahoti and Justice P. Venkatarama Reddi said a mere pronouncement of talaq in response to a woman’s plea for maintenance cannot be treated as pronouncement of talaq. In order to be valid, talaq has to be pronounced according to the Koranic injunction. Triple talaq, in fact, was banned in 2002 by the apex court and I don’t recall the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other affiliates protesting against the judgment. There was a similar judgement from the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court in the Dagdu Pathan v. Rahimbi case (2002) which struck down triple talaq. So I am perplexed why Shayara Bano, who recently filed a public interest litigation before the Supreme Court, was not advised by her lawyers that the issue had been addressed and settled in the past. Cues in the Koran An unnecessary controversy has been created now when all the contesting parties that are shouting had earlier kept quiet. The whole triple talaq issue is repugnant to Islam and those who say it legitimises Islam are doing a great disservice to Islam. The whole point of talaq is to find a dignified way of getting out of a marriage that has irrevocably broken down. But it is not that simple. It is actually very difficult to get out of marriage. The Koran states the conditions which have to be observed. Triple talaq must be pronounced over three months. One per month. During the months, mediation is essential with both parties being represented during the negotiation. This is a Koranic injunction and it is only after following these conditions that talaq is granted and once granted is irrevocable. You cannot say that you uttered the word in a drunken stupor; neither can you pronounce it over the phone or send it on email or fax it or send a text message. But I feel that the community has to look within and take the lead in reforming such reprehensible practices, or else the state will interfere with personal laws. And it has already been settled that personal law is in sync with the constitutional rights guaranteed to all citizens. Egalitarian treatment On the issue of polygamy, which is again being contested in court, it is conditional on so many things as spelt out in the Koran, which makes it abundantly clear that it is against human nature to give egalitarian treatment to everyone. So, the concept of four wives is simply not possible if you follow the letter and spirit of Koran. It specifies that in case there is more than one marriage, it is essential that identical treatment is given to each wife. But since this is not possible given human nature, it is best to have only one wife. The Prophet married Hazrat Khadija. She was 15 years older than him, she was a widow, and he worked for her. It was she who proposed marriage. This is the Prophet’s Sunnah (practice). What example does it provide for the believers? Islam is going through a turbulent phase world over and this issue can be used as an excuse to create discord between communities giving rise to a communal situation. I also fear that the hardliners will raise the spectre of ‘Islam in danger’ through this issue. I am afraid this is not the right time to debate on matters that have been settled by the courts. Source: xaam.in Why Earth’s inner core doesn’t melt? An energy distribution cycle keeps the core solid despite it being hotter than the surface of the Sun Scientists have discovered why the crystallised iron core of the Earth remains solid, despite being hotter than the surface of the Sun. Researchers at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden found that on the edge of the inner core, pieces of crystals’ structure continuously melt and diffuse only to be reinserted due to high pressure like “shuffling deck of cards.” This energy distribution cycle keeps the crystal stable and the core solid. Spinning within Earth’s molten core is a crystal ball — actually a mass formation of almost pure crystallised iron — nearly the size of the moon. Understanding this strange, unobservable feature of our planet depends on knowing the atomic structure of these crystals — something scientists have been trying to do for years. As with all metals, the atomic-scale crystal structures of iron change depending on the temperature and pressure the metal is exposed to. Atoms are packed into variations of cubic, as well as hexagonal formations. At room temperatures and normal atmospheric pressure, iron is in what is known as a body-centred cubic (BCC) phase, which is a crystal architecture with eight corner points and a centre point. However at extremely high pressure, the crystalline structures transform into 12-point hexagonal forms, or a close packed (HCP) phase. At Earth’s core, where pressure is 3.5 million times higher than surface pressure — and temperatures are some 6,000 degrees higher — scientists have proposed that the atomic architecture of iron must be hexagonal. Anatoly Belonoshko from KTH said data showed that pure iron likely accounts for 96% of the inner core’s composition, along with nickel and possibly light elements. Temperature impact At low temperature, BCC is unstable and crystalline planes slide out of the ideal BCC structure. But at high temperatures, the stabilisation of these structures begins much like a card game — with the shuffling of a “deck.” Mr. Belonoshko said in the extreme heat of the core, atoms no longer belonged to planes because of the high amplitude of atomic motion. “The sliding of these planes is a bit like shuffling a deck of cards. Even though the cards are put in different positions, the deck is still a deck. Likewise, the BCC iron retains its cubic structure,” he said. Such a shuffling leads to an enormous increase in the distribution of molecules and energy — which leads to increasing entropy, or the distribution of energy states. That, in turn, makes the BCC stable, he said. Source: xaam.in What is the difference between GSLV and PSLV? (GS 3,Prelims 2017 ) Both PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) and GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) are the satellite-launch vehicles (rockets) developed by ISRO. PSLV is designed mainly to deliver the “earthobservation” or “remote-sensing” satellites with liftoff mass of up to about 1750 Kg to Sun-Synchronous circular polar orbits of 600-900 Km altitude. The remote sensing satellites orbit the earth from pole-to-pole (at about 98 deg orbital-plane inclination). An orbit is called sun-synchronous when the angle between the line joining the centre of the Earth and the satellite and the Sun is constant throughout the orbit. Due to their sun-synchronism nature, these orbits are also referred to as “Low Earth Orbit (LEO)” which enables the on-board camera to take images of the earth under the same sun-illumination conditions during each of the repeated visits, the satellite makes over the same area on ground thus making the satellite useful for earth resources monitoring. Apart from launching the remote sensing satellites to Sun-synchronous polar orbits, the PSLV is also used to launch the satellites of lower lift-off mass of up to about 1400 Kg to the elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). PSLV is a four-staged launch vehicle with first and third stage using solid rocket motors and second and fourth stages using liquid rocket engines. It also uses strap-on motors to augment the thrust provided by the first stage, and depending on the number of these strap-on boosters, the PSLV is classified into its various versions like core-alone version (PSLV-CA), PSLV-G or PSLV-XL variants. The GSLV is designed mainly to deliver the communication-satellites to the highly elliptical (typically 250 x 36000 Km) Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The satellite in GTO is further raised to its final destination, viz., Geo-synchronous Earth orbit (GEO) of about 36000 Km altitude (and zero deg inclination on equatorial plane) by firing its in-built on-board engines. Due to their geo-synchronous nature, the satellites in these orbits appear to remain permanently fixed in the same position in the sky, as viewed from a particular location on Earth, thus avoiding the need of a tracking ground antenna and hence are useful for the communication applications. Two versions of the GSLV are being developed by ISRO. The first version, GSLV Mk-II, has the capability to launch satellites of lift-off mass of up to 2,500 kg to the GTO and satellites of up to 5,000 kg lift-off mass to the LEO. GSLV MK-II is a three-staged vehicle with first stage using solid rocket motor, second stage using Liquid fuel and the third stage, called Cryogenic Upper Stage, using cryogenic engine. S.P.S. JAIN, former Member Engineering, Indian Railways, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh P.K. JAIN, Deputy Director, Satellite Communication, ISRO, Bengaluru Source: xaam.in