Today’s Articles for The Hindu Daily Digest
1. Secularism — implicit from day one, explicit in 1976
GS-II-Polity and Constitution ▶️ Secularism (Preamble, Fundamental Rights)
GS-I-Society ▶️Secularism
The supporters of a theocratic state fail to understand that religions remain independent and autonomous under secularism.
Witter – Faizan Mustafa is a Constitutional Law expert and presently serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Chanakya National Law University, Patna, Bihar.
2. Assessing India’s carbon credit trading scheme targets
GS-III-Environment ▶️ Climate Change ▶️ Carbon Trading
Vaibhav Chaturvedi is Senior Fellow at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
The ambition of carbon market targets should be assessed at the aggregate economy-wide level, and not at the level of individual entities or sectors.
3. Climate change is deciding where and how rural Indians are living
GS-III-Environment ▶️ Climate Change ▶️ Impact of Climate Change
Climate migration, which is the movement of people forced to leave their homes due to climate-related disasters, has led to widespread and often involuntary migration to urban areas and other regions, eroding social structures and worsening living and working conditions for migrants.
4. Who are qualified as ‘ordinarily resident’?
GS-II-Indian Polity & Constitution ▶️ Political Dynamics ▶️ Representation of the People Act, 1950
What does Section 20 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 state? Why are migrant workers vulnerable when it comes to classifying themselves as ordinarily resident in a particular constituency? Are NRIs allowed to vote? What does the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 govern?
THE GIST
Section 19 of the RP Act requires that a person is ‘ordinarily resident’ in a constituency for inclusion in its electoral roll.
The Gauhati High Court in the Manmohan Singh case (1999), indicated that the term ‘ordinarily resident’ shall mean a habitual resident of that place. It must be permanent in character and not temporary or casual. It must be a place where the person has the intention to dwell permanently.
The RP Act provides the option to service voters, persons holding a declared office and NRIs to retain the vote in their constituency even though they may not be permanently residing in such place.
5. Why must India recognise its open ecosystems?
GS-III-Environment ▶️Desertification
Why are lands classified as ‘wastelands’ important? Are pastoral communities dependent on them?
THE GIST
Deserts are occupy nearly one-third of the Earth’s terrestrial surface, and are home to uniquely adapted plants, animals, and human cultures.
In policy terms, a wasteland is land waiting to be fixed, often by planting trees, converting it for agriculture or paving it over for industry.
We need policies that recognise ecosystem diversity, reward soil carbon storage, and support pastoralist land use.
6. Possibly oldest known comet streaks through solar system
GS-III-Science Technology ▶️Space Technology
NASA has said 3I/ATLAS won’t pose any threat to earth. Its closest approach will be about 270 million km. After it swings past the sun in its hyperbolic orbit, it will exit the solar system, never to return.
7. Smoke and sulphur
GS-III-Environment ▶️Pollution
There cannot be different environmental standards within India.