Lal Bahadur Shastri

About

• Lal Bahadur Shastri was the second Prime Minister of independent India. He took oath after the sudden demise of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister. Relatively new to the high office, he led the country successfully through Indo-Pakistan War in 1965.
• He popularized the slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, recognizing the need for self-sustenance and self-reliance as the pillars to build a strong nation.
• He was a man of exceptional will power that was belied by his small frail stature and soft-spoken manner.
• He wished to be remembered by his work rather than well-rehearsed speeches proclaiming lofty promises.

Before Independence

• In 1915, a speech of Mahatma Gandhi changed the course of his life and decided to actively participate in India’s freedom struggle.In order to participate actively in the freedom movement, Lal Bahadur compromised even with his studies.
• In 1921, during the non-cooperation movement, Lal Bahadur was arrested for demonstrating defiance against the prohibitory order. Since he was a minor then, the authorities had to release him.
• In 1930, Lal Bahadur Shastri became the secretary of local unit of the Congress party and later the president of the Allahabad Congress Committee.
• He played a crucial role during the Gandhi’s ‘Salt Satyagraha’. He led a door-to-door campaign, urging people not to pay land revenue and taxes to the British.
• Shastri was among the prominent Congress leaders who were imprisoned by the British Government in 1942.
• During the long span in confinement, Lal Bahadur utilized the time in reading the social reformers and western philosophers. In 1937, he was elected to the UP Legislative Assembly.

Post-independence

• Lal Bahadur Shastri had served in various positions before being elected the Prime Minister of India. After Independence, he became the Minister of police in the Ministry of Govind Vallabh Panth in Uttar Pradesh.
• His recommendations included the directions for using "water-jets" instead of lathis to disperse the unruly mob.
• Impressed with his efforts in reforming the state police department, Jawaharlal Nehru, invited Shastri to join the Union cabinet as Minister for Railways. He was widely known for his ethics and morality.
• In 1956, Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned from his post, following a train accident that killed around 150 passengers near Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu. Nehru, had once said, "No one could wish for a better comrade than Lal Bahadur, a man of the highest integrity and devoted to ideas".
• Lal Bahadur Shastri returned to the Cabinet in 1957, first as the Minister for Transport and Communications, and then as the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
• In 1961, he became the Minister for Home and formed the "Committee on Prevention of Corruption" headed by of K. Santhanam.

As Prime Minister of India

• Jawaharlal Nehru was succeeded by a mild-mannered and soft-spoken Lal Bahadur Shastri on 9 June, 1964.
• Shastri emerged as the consensus candidate after the sudden demise of Nehru, even though there were more influential leaders within the ranks of Congress.
• Shastri was a follower of Nehruvian socialism and displayed exceptional cool under dire situations.
• Shastri tackled many elementary problems like food shortage, unemployment and poverty. To overcome the acute food shortage, Shastri asked the experts to devise a long-term strategy.
• This was the beginning of famous "Green Revolution". Apart from the Green Revolution, he was also instrumental in promoting the White Revolution.
• The National Dairy Development Board was formed in 1965 during Shastri’s stint as Prime Minister.
• After the Chinese aggression of 1962, India faced another aggression from Pakistan in 1965 during Shastri’s tenure. Shastri showing his mettle, made it very clear that India would not sit and watch. While granting liberty to the Security Forces to retaliate, he said, "Force will be met with force".
• The Indo-Pak war ended on 23 September 1965 after the United Nations passed a resolution demanding a ceasefire. The Russian Prime Minister, Kosygin, offered to mediate and on 10 January 1966, Lal Bahadur Shastri and his Pakistan counterpart Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration.

Insolvency Law Committee (ILC)

What is the recommendation?

The ILC has recommended the adoption of 

• The UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade and Law) Model Law of Cross Border Insolvency, 1997, as it provides for a comprehensive framework to deal with cross  border insolvency issues. 
• A few emissions from the code to ensure that there is no inconsistency between the domestic insolvency framework and the proposed Cross Border Insolvency Framework.

Why UNCITRAL model law is proposed to be adopted?

• The UNCITRAL Model Law has been adopted in as many as 44 countries and, therefore, forms part of international best practices in dealing with cross border insolvency issues. 
• The advantages of the model law are the precedence given to domestic proceedings and protection of public interest.
• The other advantages include greater confidence generation among foreign investors, adequate flexibility for seamless integration with the domestic Insolvency Law and a robust mechanism for international cooperation.

What are the major principles of the model law?

• The model law deals with four major principles of cross-border insolvency, namely 
  • Direct access to foreign insolvency professionals and foreign creditors to participate in or commence domestic insolvency proceedings against a defaulting debtor;
  • Recognition of foreign proceedings & provision of remedies;
  • Cooperation between domestic and foreign courts & domestic and foreign insolvency practioners;
  • Coordination between two or more concurrent insolvency proceedings in different countries. 

Why is this necessary?

• The necessity of having Cross Border Insolvency Framework under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code arises from the fact that many Indian companies have a global footprint and many foreign companies have presence in multiple countries including India. 
• Although the proposed Framework for Cross Border Insolvency will enable us to deal with Indian companies having foreign assets and vice versa, it still does not provide for a framework for dealing with enterprise groups, which is still work in progress with UNCITRAL and other international bodies. 
• The inclusion of the Cross Border Insolvency Chapter in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India, 2016, will be a major step forward and will bring Indian Insolvency Law  on a par with that of matured jurisdictions.

Harit Diwali-Swasth Diwali

Why air pollution a serious health issue in India is intensified during winter season?

• Air pollution is a serious health issue in the country especially in the northern parts during winter seasons.
• The air pollution in the northern region is attributed to dust, burning of crops in certain states, burning of garbage construction and prevailing climatic conditions.
• This air pollution has serious impacts on the health of children aged people and people suffering from respiratory ailments.
• Diwali which is a festival of lights falls during the same period. As a matter of practice people have been celebrating Diwali by bursting crackers.
  •  Crackers contains combustible chemicals that include potassium chlorate powdered aluminium, magnesium, salts of barium, copper, sodium, lithium, strontium etc. and emits smoke on combustion of these chemicals along with sound. 
  • This smoke and sound has health impacts on children, aged people and also animal and birds.
  • Apart from these compounds large amount of waste is also generated after bursting of crackers.

What is the purpose of the campaign and how will it be achieved?

• This campaign was initiated in 2017-18 wherein large number of school children especially from eco-clubs participated and took pledge to minimize bursting of crackers and also discouraged the neighbourhood and their friends from bursting of crackers.
• During this intensive campaign,
  • The children were advised to celebrate Diwali in an environment-friendly manner by gifting plant sapling to their relatives and friends along with sweets, undertake cleaning of houses, neighbourhoods, schools, collect old books and unused notebooks gift to needy children, donate old warm clothing, blankets to night-shelters and other homeless people.
• The children were encouraged to light up their houses and their schools with candles and diyas.
• The above campaign was extremely successful and the air quality had not deteriorated post Diwali in 2017 unlike what was experienced in 2016.
• On the above lines, the Ministry has initiated the similar campaign, but this year the campaign has been extended Pan-India.
• The “Harit Diwali-Swasth Diwali” campaign is now merged with “Green Good Deed” movement that has been initiated as a social mobilization for conservation and protection of environment.
• The Ministry encourages all schools and colleges to be part of this campaign.

Aspirational Districts Programme

What is ADP?

• It aims to quickly and effectively transform some of India's most underdeveloped districts.
• It will identify areas of immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.
• The states are the main drivers in the programme.
• Deliberately, the districts have been described as aspirational rather than backward.
• The motive is to view them as areas of opportunity and hope rather than of distress and hopelessness.
• The broad ideas of the programme include -
  • Convergence of central and state schemes
  • Collaboration of central, state level ‘Prabhari’ (in-charge) officers and district collectors
  • Competition among districts

District rankings and Parameters