Caste is an endogamous group based on social hierarchy, where position of individual is ascribed by birth rather than achieved status. There are about 3,000 caste and 25,000 sub caste in India.

In recent times the caste system is assuming new identities in following ways:

• Formation of caste-based associations/ caste panchayat like- Jaat sabha, Goswami Sammelam
  
  
• Casteism on internet like- #jai bheem, #jai parsuram etc.
  
  
• Casteism in economic sector like- formation of Dalit Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
  
  
• Rise of caste based matrimonial sites and caste based matrimonial ads.
  
  

Best practices: Maharashtra has recently passed a law (2016) prohibiting social boycott based on caste and other factors.

Caste system has both advantages and disadvantages, the same are described as follows:

• Caste has accommodated multiple communities by ensuring each of them a monopoly of a specific means of livelihood.
  
  
• It has handed over the knowledge and skills of the hereditary occupation of a caste from one generation to another.
  
  
• Specialization led to quality production of goods and thus promoted economic development.
  
  
• It has helped the preservation of culture and ensured productivity.
  
  
• It has helped maintaining racial purity through endogamy.
  
  

However, as noted above the caste system has also its disadvantages, such as:

• It is a great stumbling block in the way of social reforms.
  
  
• It perpetuates the exploitation of the economically weaker and socially inferior castes, especially the untouchables.
  
  
• It has inflicted hardships on women through its insistence on practices like child-marriage, prohibition of widow-remarriage
  
  
• It has stood in the way of national and collective consciousness and proved to be a disintegrating rather than an integrating factor.
  
  
• It undermines the efficiency of labour and prevents perfect mobility of labour, capital and productive effort.
  
  

Thus, there is a need for encouraging inter-caste marriages under Dr. Ambedkar scheme for social integration through inter-caste marriages. Moreover, there is a need to depoliticize the caste-based reservation. This will help in promoting national unity and integrity.

Space militarisation refers to the ecosystem of space systems that are utilised to achieve military objectives. It involves strategic planning, surveillance and telecommunication and reconnaissance as well as real time combat through placement and development of military technology in outer space. While, space weaponisation on the other hand refers to more aggressive and offensive use of space systems for military purposes where outer space itself emerges as the battleground and weapons are placed and created in space that travel from earth to attack or destroy targets in space.

Recent Developments In The Domain

• China is making serious advances in weaponising the outer space creating the fourth frontier of war in space by making strides in ICBM programme.
  
  
• The S. President had in the recent past announced the creation of a “space force” or a sixth branch of the American armed forces.
  
  
• India recently became the fourth country after Russia, USA and China to possess the competency to take down an enemy in space. It achieved this feat by shooting down a low-orbit satellite through an anti-satellite weapon A-SAT which is a part of Mission Shakti.
  
  

Effects Of Militarisation Of Space

• It will lead to competition and all major countries will start competing with each other and consequently resources would be diverted from the peaceful use of space for mankind to use space for deterrence.
  
  
• The ensuing arms race for weaponisation of outer space would create an environment of uncertainty, suspicion, competition and aggressive deployment between nations, which may lead to wars creating concerns for national and international security. It would put at risk the entire range of commercial satellites as well as those involved in scientific explorations.
  
  
• Growing amounts of space debris pose a real risk to satellites and spacecraft. There are over 20,000 objects of debris which are the size of golf balls while those of smaller size run into hundreds of thousands, totalling nearly 6,000 tonnes.
  
  
• The militarisation of space by India would pose security challenges for its nuclear armed neighbours and the military posture in space programme might negatively impact the regional strategic stability.
  
  

Way Forward

• There is no global regulatory regime to address the growing militarisation in space. There is a need of separation between civilian and military use of outer space, international co-operation, free exchange of ideas across borders and import of technologies and products to bring transparency and to build confidence among nations.
  
  
• It is important to develop multi-laterally negotiated controls on weapons in space through a new space treaty. This treaty should be able to notify activities, monitor, plan procedures, enforce mechanisms and ban weapons in space in the form of tests, production and deployment.
  
  
• At this point, the majority of States are still committed to pursuing a space weapons ban through the Conference on Disarmament, the official forum for multilateral arms control and disarmament treaty negotiations. Continued discussions on space arms control must be encouraged, particularly in the Conference on Disarmament, but also in the UN General Assembly & Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
  
  
• An advocacy tool on the lines of Space Preservation act of the US Congress will go a long way to create forum for dialogues and negotiations which will mobilise various parliaments to work towards space security issues.
  
  
• Effective engagement of global civil society around achievable goals and viable strategies is much needed, where many western powers mainly US oppose the initiatives.
  
  

Conclusion

The earth from outer space is seen as a unified interconnected and unique ecosystem of life for which space wars and weaponisation should not be seen as a rational choice for the humanity. The 21^st century should move towards peace and prosperity rather than conflicts and arms races. Outer space is the common heritage of humanity and it is the responsibility of all space-faring nations to preserve and promote the benefits accruing from advances made in space technology.

The wind is the main geomorphic agent especially in the hot deserts. Winds have a dual role in creating Erosional landforms and other in creating Depositional landforms.

These geomorphic features are most typically found in arid environments where there is little vegetation, where there are frequently strong winds etc. The landforms which are created by erosional and depositional activities of wind are called as Aeolian Landforms.

The various erosional landforms are as follows:

• Pediplains: The high relief structures in deserts are reduced to low featureless plains by the activities of wind.
  
  
• Deflation Hollows: Deflation is the removal of loose particles from the ground by the action of wind. When deflation causes a shallow depression by persistent movements of wind, they are called as deflation hollows.
  
  
• Ventifacts: These are rocks that have been abraded, pitted, etched, grooved, or polished by wind-driven sand.
  
  
• Mushroom Tables: In deserts, a greater amount of sand and rock particles are transported close to the ground by the winds which cause more bottom erosion in overlying rocks than the top. This result in the formation of rock pillars shaped like a mushroom.
  
  
• Other forms: Inselbergs, Zeugen (formed when more resistant rock is reduced at a slower rate than softer rocks), Yardangs (ridge of rock formed usually parallel to the prevailing wind direction.
  
  

The various depositional landforms created by winds are as follows:

• Sand dunes: Dry hot deserts are good places for sand dune formation. There are varieties of sand dune forms like Barchans, Seifs
  
  
• Parabolic dunes: They are U-shaped and are much longer and narrower than barchans.
  
  
• Ripple Marks: These are depositional features on a small scale formed by saltation (transport of hard particles over an uneven surface in a turbulent flow of air).
  
  
• Loess: When the surface is covered by deposits of wind-transported silt that has settled out from dust storms.
  
  

This suggest that the wind plays an important role in erosion and deposition and consequent formation of new land forms.

The press was fiercely involved in rallying the masses and newspapers acted as the life breath of nationalistic rebellion. Inevitably, the British government became increasingly apprehensive and several acts were passed to curb the freedom of press. 

Major regulations enacted by the British rulers were: 

The Press Act of 1799: It imposed war time press restrictions.  Which included pre-censorship, it was followed by the Licensing Regulations of 1823 which made the starting of a press without license a penal offence. 

The Vernacular Press Act, 1878: It came to be known as the Gagging Act as it discriminated between the English and the Vernacular Press. It was enacted to curb the highly critical nature of the vernacular press. It provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press. When a report was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned, and if the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized and the printing machinery confiscated. 

The Newspaper Act:  In 1908, the Newspaper Act was enacted to curb extremist nationalistic tendencies and it empowered the government to confiscate press property which published objectionable material against the government.  

The Indian Press Act of 1931: In the aftermath of the Salt Satyagraha the Indian Press Act of 1931 was enacted, which gave wide ranging powers to suppress any publication that undermined the government’s authority during the civil disobedience movement. 

Defence of India Rules: Under the Defence of India Rules during the Second World War pre-censorship was imposed and amendments were made in the Press Emergency Act, the penalty of imprisonment was extended to five years. Further, the Official Secrets Act was also amended to provide a maximum penalty of death or transportation for the publication of information likely to be of use to the enemy. 

Despite the multiple draconian laws, the Indian press remained impervious to the regulations and worked its way around to defend civil liberties and the freedom of press and emerged as the torch bearer of the national movement.

Before the passing of IBC it took an average of 4.3 years to resolve insolvency and recovery rate was 25.9% as compared to developed countries where recovery rate was 72%.

The salient features are:

• Consolidation of various laws on insolvency.
  
  
• The resolution process has to be completed within 330 days, including litigations and other judicial process
  
  
• Formation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) for regulating Insolvency professionals.
  
  
• Specialized agencies for adjudication in form of NCLT for Companies and LLPs and Debt recovery tribunals for others.
  
  

Positive impact of IBC:

• Improvement in average recovery from 26% to 46%.
  
  
• The Code has created a deterrence effect as seen from the fact that around 3,500 cases involving default of 2 lakh cr. were withdrawn suggesting creditor recovered money from debtor by threat of IBC.
  
  
• NPA worth 40,000 to 50,000 cr. have been converted into standard assets that has freed the resources for wealth creation.
  
  
• IBC has promoted behavioral change among promoters.
  
  
• The Code has reduced the burden on taxpayers as otherwise taxpayers would have to foot the burden of recapitalization of banks.
  
  

Yet there are certain challenges before the existing code:

• The Section 29A of the Code has debarred certain entities thus brought down competition in bidding thereby resulting into reduced recovery.
  
  
• Most of the cases before the NCLT has failed to adhere to strict timeline of 180 days resulting in losses for the creditors.
  
  
• The conflict between the rival creditors (operational and financial creditor) has added to delay and confusion. For ex- Standard Charted bank as a operational creditor challenged the resolution plan as prepared in Essar steel case.
  
  
• Threat of vilification by investigating agencies has created problems for the banks in taking a haircut.
  
  

Way forward: Considering the above issues there is a need for:

• Quality resolution professionals, capacity building of NCLT in terms of creation of more benches and manpower.
  
  
• Moreover, once a resolution plan has been approved no objection should be entertained.
  
  

The principal stakeholders in insolvencies such as NCLT, Resolution Professionals, Committee of Creditors need to expedite resolution process.

India has been called as “indestructible union” by Dr.B.R. Ambedkar as no Indian state can secede from the Indian union as in the case of confederation or loosely held federation. But on the other hand there is situation of destructible nature of the state as seen in context of Article 3. This has given opportunities to accommodate the aspirations of the people to form their own state and maintain unity and integrity of the country intact.

The Article 3 of the Constitution provides for:

• The Center can change the “name, boundaries and territories” of the State.
  
  
• For doing the same the consent of the state is not necessary. for example: Formation of the state of Telangana.
  
  

Thus, Article 3 suggest the following points:

• Indian states do not enjoy full sovereignty as in case of States in USA.
  
  
• The USA, unlike India, follows the concept of “indestructible states” as the territorial integrity and continued existence of the state is guaranteed by the constitution.
  
  
• Moreover, any changes brought in the states as per Article 3 is not deemed as an amendment in the Constitution so does not require the process of Article 368 to be followed (no special majority required to pass such a bill). 
  
  

Further, as pointed out by Subhash Kashyap it can be said that the center has absolute power in this regard. But existence of such power does not mean use of power without justification. The changed scenario has put several restrictions on the use of such power:

• Rise of regional parties.
  
  
• Financial non-viability of destructing a state due to additional administrative expenditure.
  
  
• Growth of the concept of constructive, creative, converging, cooperative and competitive federalism (“C5”).
  
  

Hence in light of the above analysis it can be said that though legally India is an indestructible union of destructible states but practically this may not hold true under changed circumstances.

Structure of the answer:

• Meaning of volcano
  
  
• Mechanism and causes for its formation
  
  
• Distribution of volcano (with the help of data)
  
  
• Conclusion
  
  

Volcanos or vulcanism comprises of all phenomena connected with movement of heated material from interior/mantle towards the earth surface. The volcano may be “active volcano” like Mount Etna or “dormant volcano” like Mount Vesuvius or Extinct volcano that have no indication of future eruption.

Volcanos are mainly associated with the weaker zones of the earth and is a result of several interconnected processes, such as:

• Gradual increase of temperature with depth e.2-3 degree centigrade with every 100 meters.
  
  
• Reduction in pressure on magma due to splitting of the plates.
  
  
• Origin of gases and vapours due to heating of water (when it reaches underground surfaces of earth).
  
  
• Ascent of magma under forces of gases and vapours.
  
  
• “Theory of Plate tectonics” further lays down that volcanism is closely associated with plate boundaries. For ex.- When plate boundaries move in opposite direction like mid oceanic ridges causes splitting of plates and pressure releases. Similarly, destructive/ convergent plate boundaries are associated with explosive volcano.
  
  

Distribution of volcanos around the world: Generally, 80% of the volcanoes are located on the converging plate boundaries and 15% are located on constructive plate boundaries. On this basis there are three major belts of volcano---

• Circum-pacific belt: along the east and west coast of Pacific Ocean. This area is also called Pacific Ring of Fire because of many earthquake and volcanic eruptions. It starts from Mount Erebus of Antarctica-Andes-Rockies-Alaska-Japan to Indonesia. Ex- Mount Cotopaxi
  
  
• Mid Continental belt: where volcano mainly arises from convergence of continental plates and are explosives. Ex- Mount Kilimanjaro
  
  
• Mid Atlantic belt: where volcanic activities due to splitting of plates. Ex- Helena Mountains (Iceland)
  
  

Thus, on basis of above analysis it can be said that volcanic areas mainly arises from disturbance in earthly crust and have a profound impact on environment.