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  • Salary to women for domestic work

    Recently, a political party promised salaries to housewives as a part of its electoral campaign in Tamil Nadu. This led to the debate on the issue. The article deals with the issue.

    Salary for housework: Historical background

    • Demand for wages against housework was first raised at the third National Women’s Liberation conference in Manchester, England.
    •  In 2012, the then minister for Women and Child development announced that the government was considering mandating a salary for housework to wives, from husbands.
    •  The purpose, once again, was to empower women financially and help them live with dignity.

    Recognising the value of unpaid domestic work

    • Time-use data from 2019 gathered by the National Sample Survey Organisation revealed that only about a quarter of men and boys above six years engaged in unpaid household chores, compared to over four-fifths of women.
    • Every day, an average Indian male spends 1.5 hours per day in unpaid domestic work, compared to about five hours by a female.
    • Housework demands effort and sacrifice, 365 days a year, 24/7.

    Issues with paying for domestic work

    •  Asking men to pay for wives’ domestic work could further enhance their sense of entitlement.
    • It may also put the additional onus on women to perform.
    • There is a risk of formalising the patriarchal Indian family where the position of men stems from their being “providers” in the relationship.

    Way forward

    • Despite a legal provision, equal inheritance rights continue to be elusive for a majority of women.
    • More than creating a new provision of salary for housework, we need to strengthen awareness, implementation and utilisation of other existing provisions.
    • Starting from the right to reside in the marital home, to streedhan and haq meher, to coparcenary and inheritance rights as daughters and to basic services, free legal aid and maintenance in instances of violence and divorce.
    • Women should be helped to reach their full potential through quality education, access and opportunities of work, gender-sensitive and harassment-free workplaces and attitudinal and behaviour change within families to make household chores more participative.

    Conclusion

    Just like we do not want women to commodify their reproductive services because of their inherently exploitative nature — we have, therefore, banned commercial surrogacy in the country — let us not allow commodification of housework and personal care.

  • First Advance Estimates of GDP for 2021

    The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the First Advance Estimates (FAE) for the current financial year.

    What do estimates show?

    • According to MoSPI, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) — the total value of all final goods and services produced within the country in one financial year — will contract by 7.7 per cent in 2020-21.
    • The first advance estimates of GDP, obtained by extrapolation of seven months’ data, are released early to help officers in the Finance Ministry and other departments in framing the broad contours of Union Budget 2021-22.

    What are the First Advance Estimates of GDP?

    • For any financial year, the MoSPI provides regular estimates of GDP. The first such instance is through the FAE.
    • The FAE for any particular financial year is typically presented on January 7th.
    • Their significance lies in the fact that they are the GDP estimates that the Union Finance Ministry uses to decide the next financial year’s budget allocations.
    • The FAE will be quickly updated as more information becomes available.
    • On February 26th, MoSPI will come out with the Second Advance Estimates of GDP for the current year.

    How is the FAE arrived at before the end of the concerned financial year?

    • The FAE are derived by extrapolating the available data. (Hope you remember Newtons’ interpolation and extrapolation from XII std.)
    • According to the MoSPI, the approach for compiling the Advance Estimates is based on Benchmark-Indicator method.
    • The sector-wise estimates are obtained by extrapolating indicators such as-
    1. Index of Industrial Production (IIP) of the first 7 months of the financial year
    2. Financial performance of listed companies in the private corporate sector available up to quarter ending September 2020
    3. The 1st Advance Estimates of crop production,
    4. The accounts of central & state governments,
    5. Information on indicators like deposits & credits, passenger and freight earnings of Railways, passengers and cargo handled by civil aviation, cargo handled at major seaports, sales of commercial vehicles, etc., available for first 8 months of the financial year.

    How is the data extrapolated?

    • In the past, extrapolation for indicators such as the IIP was done by dividing the cumulative value for the first 7 months of the current financial year by average of the ratio of the cumulative value of the first 7 months to the annual value of past years.
    • So if the annual value of a variable was twice that of the value in the first 7 months in the previous years then for the current year as well the annual value is assumed to be double that of the first 7 months.
    • However, this year, because of the pandemic there were wide fluctuations in the monthly data. Moreover, there was a significant drop, especially in the first quarter, on many counts.
    • That is why the usual projection techniques would not have yielded robust results.
    • As such, MoSPI has tweaked the ratios for most variables.

    What are the key takeaways from the First Advance Estimates for 2020-21?

    There are 7 key takeaways.

    #1 GDP Growth Rate:

    • In the context of recent history, the 7.7 per cent contraction in GDP is a sharp one considering that India has registered an average annual GDP growth rate of 6.8 per cent since the start of economic liberalisation in 1992-93.

    #2 Absolute level of real GDP:

    • At Rs 134.4 lakh crore, India’s real GDP — that is, GDP without the influence of inflation — in 2020-21 will be lower than the 2018-19 level.
    • In other words, from the start of the next financial year, India would first have to raise its GDP back to the level it was at in 2019-20 (Rs 143.7 lakh crore).

    #3 Per Capita GDP:

    • While the GDP provides an all-India aggregate, per capita GDP is a better variable if one wants to understand how an average India has been impacted.
    • India’s per capita GDP will fall to Rs 99, 155 in 2020-21.
    • In fact, while the overall real GDP will fall by 7.7 per cent, per capita real GDP will fall by 8.7 per cent.

    #4 Absolute level of real Gross Value Added (or GVA):

    • The GVA provides a picture of the economy from the supply side.
    • It maps the value-added by different sectors of the economy such as agriculture, industry and services. In other words, GVA provides a proxy for the income earned by people involved in the various sectors.
    • This fiscal, at Rs 123.4 lakh crore, India’s real GVA level, too, will fall below the 2018-19 level.

    #5 Absolute level of Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE):

    • India’s overall GDP can be divided into four main sections. The biggest demand for goods and services comes from private individuals trying to satisfy their consumption needs.
    • Typically this would include all the things — be it toothpaste or a car — that you and your family members buy in their private individual capacity.
    • This demand is called PFCE and it constitutes over 56 per cent of the total GDP.

    #6 Per capita PFCE:

    • Just like per capita GDP, the per capita PFCE is also a relevant metric as it shows how much does an average Indian spend in his/her private capacity.
    • Typically, with rising incomes standards, such consumption levels also rise.
    • However, at Rs 55,609, per capita, PFCE will fall below the 2017-18 level.

    #7 Absolute level of Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF):

    • The second biggest component of GDP is called GFCF and it measures all the expenditures on goods and services that businesses and firms make as they invest in their productive capacity.
    • So if a firm buys computers and software to increase the overall productivity then it will be counted under GFCF.
    • This type of demand accounts for close to 28 per cent of India’s GDP. Taken together, private demand and business demand account for almost 85 per cent of all GDP.

  • [pib] New Industrial Development Scheme for Jammu & Kashmir (J&K IDS, 2021)

    The Union Govt. has formulated the New Industrial Development Scheme for Jammu & Kashmir (J&K IDS, 2021).

    Tap to read more about: Reorganization of J&K

    J&K IDS, 2021

    • It is a new Central Sector Scheme for the development of Industries in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
    • The main purpose of the scheme is to generate employment which directly leads to the socio-economic development of the area.

    Incentives available

    • Capital Investment Incentive at the rate of 30% in Zone A and 50% in Zone B on the investment made in Plant & Machinery (in manufacturing) or construction of the building is available.
    • Capital Interest subvention: At the annual rate of 6% for a maximum of 7 years on loan amount up to Rs. 500 crore for investment in plant and machinery (in manufacturing) or construction of the building.
    • GST Linked Incentive: 300% of the eligible value of actual investment made in plant and machinery (in manufacturing) or construction in building for 10 years.
    • Working Capital Interest Incentive: All existing units at an annual rate of 5% for a maximum of 5 years. Maximum limit of incentive is Rs 1 crore.

    Key features:

    • The scheme is made attractive for both smaller and larger units.
    • Smaller units with an investment in plant & machinery upto Rs. 50 crore will get a capital incentive upto Rs. 7.5 crore and get capital interest subvention at the rate of  6% for a maximum of 7 years
    • The scheme aims to take industrial development to the block level in UT of J&K, which is the first time in any Industrial Incentive Scheme of the GoI.
    • The scheme has been simplified on the lines of ease of doing business by bringing one major incentive- GST Linked Incentive- that will ensure less compliance burden without compromising on transparency.
    • It is not a reimbursement or refund of GST but gross GST is used to measure eligibility for industrial incentive to offset the disadvantages that the UT of J&K face

    Major Impact and employment generation potential:

    • The scheme is to bring about a radical transformation in the existing industrial ecosystem of J&K with emphasis on job creation, skill development and sustainable development.
    • It is anticipated that the proposed scheme is likely to attract unprecedented investment and give direct and indirect employment to about 4.5 lakh persons.
    • Additionally, because of the working capital interest subvention, the scheme is likely to give indirect support to about 35,000 persons.

  • Payment banks

    The article highlights the important role Payment Banks could play in furthering the financial inclusion in India.

    Financial inclusion and challenges

    • Interventions, especially the JAM trinity—Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar and Mobile phones—have accelerated digital and financial inclusion in India.
    • Four of every five Indian adults have a registered bank account.
    • Financial inclusion is not only about opening accounts, it encompasses access to credit, insurance and micro-investment products in a simple and safe way.
    • This remains a challenge for ‘weaker sections and low-income groups’.
    • For instance, only 16% of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have access to formal credit amid an estimated debt demand of ₹69.3 trillion.

    High-technology, low-cost banking to accelerate financial inclusion

    • In 2014, Nachiket Mor committee recommended setting up “high technology—low cost” banking models to accelerate financial inclusion to the last mile.
    • Subsequently, the Reserve Bank of India licensed ‘vertically differentiated banking systems’, such as Payments Bank (PBs) and Small Finance Banks (SFBs).
    • SFBs have grown profitably thanks to the yield spread between deposits and lending.
    • Most of them started off as micro finance institutions with a ready asset base, and after converting into SFBs, they have got a better liability franchise but continue to operate in niche geographies.
    • On the other hand, PBs have shown strong growth in revenues, while operating at a larger scale than SFBs.
    • The high-tech PB model has shown more rigour than the cost-heavy branch-based SFB model in terms of its impact on inclusion.

    Need for structural intervention

    • If we intend to make a real move ahead on the inclusion front, PBs will have to play a larger role.
    • However, to realize their full potential, they need certain structural interventions:

    1) Liabilities

    • PBs can take deposits only up to ₹1 lakh, which limits their ability to augment profit that can be further deployed to enhance efficiencies.
    • For a few segments, such as self-help groups and MSMEs, the savings account limit blocks the adoption of highly-accessible bank accounts.
    • Since the model has matured, it would be prudent to enhance the deposit limit to ₹5 lakh and benchmark it to Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation limits.
    • Banking Correspondents (BCs) are a critical link in driving financial inclusion.
    • PBs could offer low-value and simple fixed or recurring deposit products and sell to consumers through their BC distribution network, thus improving their viability.

    2) Assets

    • Currently, there is no national-level lender with the risk appetite for thin-credit consumers.
    • PBs can evolve new micro-lending models through their BC networks and mobile apps and create an alternate credit score for these consumers.
    • Allowing micro-lending by PBs could be a starting point. Thereafter, regulators may consider a transition path for them to become SFBs, or even Universal Banks.

    3) Working together for collective impact

    • PBs have an edge in technology and reach, while traditional players have a trust legacy.
    • For collective impact on inclusion, two options can be evaluated with safeguards in place.
    • One, PBs could co-originate loans with traditional institutions so that capital requirements are shared.
    • Two, they can originate credit and allow it to mature, or securitize and turn it into a market-linked instrument.
    • This could accelerate credit formalization.

    Conclusion

    We must remind ourselves that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to achieve complete financial inclusion for the diversified needs of our people. An enabling framework needs to be in place. Payments Banks, in particular, have the potential to bridge India’s financial inclusion gaps.

  • World Food Price Index

    World food prices rose for a seventh consecutive month in December 2020, with all the major categories, barring sugar, said the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO).

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which one of the following is not a sub-index of the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’? (CSP 2019)

    (a) Maintenance of law and order

    (b) Paying taxes

    (c) Registering property

    (d) Dealing with construction permits

    World Food Price Index

    • The FAO Food Price Index is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities.
    • It consists of the average of five commodity group price indices [cereal, vegetable, dairy, meat and sugar], weighted with the average export shares.
    • The index has become a critical and timely monthly indicator of the state of international food markets, gauging the change in food commodity prices over time in nominal and real terms.

    Why it matters?

    • High food prices have contributed to a surge in inflation
    • There are social and economic advantages from high food prices for example higher prices are an opportunity to improve farmers’ incomes and to stimulate investments in farming.
    • For developing countries that are major exporters of food, the rise in world prices helped to bring about an improvement in the terms of trade and a strong balance of payments.

    Concerns raised

    • That said higher food prices for domestic consumers created fresh problems of poverty and hunger.
    • Lower-income families spend a higher proportion of their budgets on food.
    • Higher prices hit them hardest causing a fall in real living standards.
    • This means that food price inflation can act as a tax on the poor and have a regressive effect on the distribution of income.

  • Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) 2021

    The two-day Asian Waterbird Census-2020 was recently held in Andhra Pradesh.

    Anyone can participate!

    By using eBird and filling an additional site form, one can take part in this multi-country effort to document the state of our wetlands and waterbirds.  To take part one simply visits a wetland and count the birds he/she see there.

    Asian Waterbird Census

    • The Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) takes place every January.
    • The AWC was started in 1987, and many birders were initiated into bird counting and monitoring through this project.
    • This citizen-science event is a part of the global International Waterbird Census (IWC) that supports the conservation and management of wetlands and waterbirds worldwide.
    • The data collected each year is shared by Wetlands International with global conservation organisations such as IUCN and Ramsar Convention.

    Why need such census?

    • Waterbirds are one of the key indicators of wetlands health.
    • Wetlands provide feeding, resting, roosting and foraging habitats for these charismatic species.

    AWC in India

    • In India, the AWC is annually coordinated by the Bombay Natural history Society (BNHS) and Wetlands International.
    • BNHS is a non-government Organisation (NGO) founded in the year 1883.
    • It engages itself in the conservation of nature and natural resources and also in the research and conservation of endangered species.
    • Its mission is to conserve nature, primarily biological diversity through action based on research, education and public awareness.

    Back2Basics: Waterbirds

    • The term water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird is used to refer to birds that live on or around water.
    • In some definitions, the term is especially applied to birds in freshwater habitats, though others make no distinction from birds that inhabit marine environments.
    • Also, some water birds are more terrestrial or aquatic than others, and their adaptations will vary depending on their environment.
    • These adaptations include webbed feet, bills, and legs adapted to feed in the water, and the ability to dive from the surface or the air to catch prey in water.

  • Issues with Harsher Punitive measures for the sexual violence

    Harsher punishment for sexual violence

    • Recently, the Maharashtra cabinet approved the Shakti Bill, enlarging the scope of harsher and mandatory sentences — including the death penalty — for non-homicidal rape.
    • The Shakti Bill comes amid the recent legislative trend to invoke the death penalty for sexual offences.
    • In 2020, the Andhra Pradesh government passed the Disha Bill, pending presidential assent, that provides the death penalty for the rape of adult women.

    Issues with the Bills

    1) Focus on reporting of police complaint

    • The most severe gaps in the justice delivery system are related to reporting a police complaint.
    • The focus of the criminal justice system needs to shift from sentencing and punishment to the stages of reporting, investigation and victim-support mechanisms.
    • The bill does not address these concerns.

    2) Impact on rate of conviction

    • Harsh penalties often have the consequence of reducing the rate of conviction for the offence.
    • A study published in the Indian Law Review based on rape judgments in Delhi shows a lower rate of conviction after the removal of judicial discretion in 2013.
    • Introducing harsher penalties does not remove systemic prejudices from the minds of judges and the police.

    3) Harsher punishment would deter complainants

    • Studies on child sexual abuse have shown that in the few cases of convictions, the minimum sentence was the norm and the award of the maximum punishment was an exception.
    • Crime data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows that in 93.6 per cent of these cases, the perpetrators were known to the victims.
    • Introducing capital punishment would deter complainants from registering complaints.
    • The Shakti Bill ignores crucial empirical evidence on these cases.

    4) Moving away from standard of affirmative consent

    • An affirmative standard of consent is rooted in unequivocal voluntary agreement by women through words, gestures or any form of verbal or non-verbal communication.
    • In a sharp departure, the bill stipulates that valid consent can be presumed from the “conduct of the parties” and the “circumstances surrounding it”.
    • The vaguely worded explanation in the bill holds dangerous possibilities of expecting survivors to respond only in a certain manner, thus creating the stereotype of an “ideal” victim.
    • It also overlooks the fact that perpetrators are known to the survivors in nearly 94 per cent of rapes, which often do not involve any brutal violence.

    Conclusion

    Punitive responses to sexual violence need serious rethinking, given the multitude of perverse consequences and their negligible role in addressing the actual needs of rape survivors.

  • India’s efforts in increasing Maritime domain awareness

    The article analyses India’s efforts in increasing the maritime domain awareness while increasing the cooperation with the neighbourhood and other countries.

    Indian Navy improving domain awareness

    • The enemy at sea is often unrecognisable — a terrorist, a pirate, a criminal or a sea robber.
    • Of late, the Indian Navy has been on a drive to improve domain awareness in the Indian Ocean.
    • The Indian Navy’s efforts seem focused primarily on monitoring Chinese activity in the Eastern Indian Ocean, particularly in the seas around the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
    • The Navy is seeking to expand India’s surveillance footprint by setting up radar stations in the Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
    • Mauritius, the Seychelles and Sri Lanka have already integrated into the wider coastal radar chain network.

    Increasing international cooperation

    • Seven Indian Ocean countries — Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Mauritius and the Seychelles — will soon post Liaison Officers at the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region in Gurugram.
    • France already has an officer at the IFC.
    • Four other Indo-Pacific navies — Australia, Japan, the U.K and the U.S. — have also agreed to position officers at the centre.
    • As a result of such cooperation, IFC is fast emerging as the most prominent information hub in the Eastern Indian Ocean.
    • India is increasing engagement in the Western Indian Ocean by positioning a Liaison Officer at the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre (RMIFC) in Madagascar.
    • India has also posted an officer at the European Maritime Awareness in the Strait of Hormuz (EMASOH) in Abu Dhabi to assist in the monitoring of maritime activity.

    Stronger partnership with France

    • Delhi’s moves in the Western and South-Western littorals have been facilitated by France.
    • Two countries have signed a logistics agreement in 2019.
    • France is keen for a stronger partnership in the maritime commons.
    • France has been instrumental in securing ‘observer’ status for India at the Indian Ocean Commission and is pushing for greater Indian participation in security initiatives in the Western Indian Ocean.
    • However, the Indian Navy’s priority remains South Asia, where the naval leadership remains focused on underwater domain awareness in the Eastern Indian Ocean.

    Concerns over increasing Chines presence

    • There is concern that the Chines navy may be poised to develop a generation of quieter submarines that would be hard to detect.
    • As a result, India has moved to expand its underwater detection capabilities in the Eastern chokepoints. 
    • India might also partner Japan in installing an array of undersea sensors near the Andaman Islands to help detect Chinese submarines.

    India as a security provider: Manifestation of SAGAR

    • India’s initiatives in the maritime domain are motivated by more than just strategic considerations.
    • Shipping agreements with 21 countries in the Indian Ocean have enabled a comprehensive picture of maritime traffic.
    • Efforts are under way to help smaller island states build capacity to combat regional threats.
    • India’s military satellite (GSAT-7A) may soon facilitate a real-time sharing of maritime information with partners.
    • These endeavours are a manifestation of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) that advances the idea of India as a ‘security provider’ and ‘preferred partner’ in the Indo-Pacific region.

    Challenges

    • Indian initiatives, however, are yet to bring about an alignment of objectives and strategies of regional littoral states.
    • While cooperative information sharing allows for a joint evaluation of threats, countries do not always share vital information timeously.

    Conclusion

    To bring real change, India must ensure seamless information flow, generating operational synergy with partners, and aim to expand collaborative endeavours in shared spaces.

  • Trade Policy Review of India at the WTO

    India’s seventh Trade Policy Review (TPR) has begun at the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

    Q.In the wake of the global economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, discuss the challenges ahead of WTO.

    Trade Policy Review (TPR)

    • The TPR is an important mechanism under the WTO’s monitoring function and involves a comprehensive peer-review of the Member’s national trade policies.
    • India’s last TPR took place in 2015.

    Why need a TPR?

    • To increase the transparency and understanding of countries’ trade policies and practices, through regular monitoring
    • To improve the quality of public and intergovernmental debate on the issues
    • To enable a multilateral assessment of the effects of policies on the world trading system

    India’s progress

    • Since previous TPR, India has worked diligently to reform and transform the entire economic eco-system to meet the socio-economic aspirations of a billion-plus Indians.
    • The introduction of the GST, the IBC, labour sector reforms, an enabling and investor-friendly FDI Policy, and various national programmes like Make in India, Digital India, Startup India and Skill were the path-breakers.
    • The improvement in the economic and business environment, on account of the wide-ranging reforms, has enabled India to better its position in the World Bank’s Doing Business ranking from 142 in 2015 to 63 in 2019.
    • This improvement is also endorsed by investors who continue to view India as a desirable investment destination even during the testing time of the pandemic.
    • In 2019-20, India received highest ever FDI inflow of USD 74.39 billion.

    A note of caution

    • India’s trade policy remained largely unchanged since the previous review.
    • India continues to rely on trade policy instruments such as the tariff, export taxes, minimum import prices, import and export restrictions, and licensing, WTO said.
    • These are used to manage domestic demand and supply requirements, protect the economy from wide domestic price fluctuations, and ensure conservation and proper utilization of natural resources.
    • As a result, frequent changes are made to tariff rates and other trade policy instruments, which create uncertainty for traders.

  • Personal Data Protection Bill 2019

    The Personal Data Protection Bill (2019) has several provisions which could have implications for the privacy of an individual. The article examines such provisions and highlights the need for further debate on the Bill.

    Evolution of privacy as a fundamental right

    • The Supreme Court in MP Sharma v. Satish Chandra (1954) and Kharak Singh v. Uttar Pradesh (1962) had declared that while in certain circumstances the privacy of individuals was to be protected, there was no constitutional right to privacy in and of itself.
    • However, in Puttuswamy v India (2017) the Supreme Court accepted privacy as a fundamental right.
    • This was an important development.

    Rising importance of data

    • The rising importance of data has pushed over 80 countries to pass national laws protecting the collection and use of their citizens’ data by companies and the government.
    • The DPB will have huge commercial and political consequences for India.
    • In India, the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 (DPB) is currently under consideration by a parliamentary committee.
    • According to Ernst and Young, emerging technologies in India will create $1 trillion in economic value by 2025.
    • Much of this value will be founded on the creation, use, and sale of data, and the DPB will have immense implications as firms scramble to meet new privacy regulations.

    Conditions for access to data and issues

    • The bill establishes a number of conditions for companies to follow.
    • For one, it would require digital firms to obtain permission from users before collecting their data.
    • It also declares that users who provide data are, in effect, the owners of their own data.
    • So that the users will be able to control the data their online selves produce, and may request firms to delete it, just as European internet-users’ “right to be forgotten”.
    • But the bill stipulates that critical or sensitive personal data, related to information such as religion, or to matters of national security, must be accessible to the government if needed to protect national interest.
    • Critics have suggested that such open-ended access could lead to misuse.
    • Even B N Srikrishna, who chaired the committee that drafted the original bill has also expressed concerns about this provision.
    • Other major concern is about Data Protection Authority (DPA).

    Concerns about Data Protection Authority

    • The bill outlines the establishment of a Data Protection Authority (DPA).
    • The DPA will be charged with managing data collected by the Aadhaar programme.
    • It will be led by a chairperson and six committee members, appointed by the central government on the recommendation of a selection committee.
    • But this selection committee will be composed of senior civil servants, raising questions about the board’s independence.
    • The government’s power to appoint and remove members at its discretion also stokes fears about its ability to influence this independent agency.
    • Unlike similar institutions, such as the Reserve Bank of India or the Securities and Exchange Board, the DPA will not have an independent expert or member of the judiciary on its governing committee.

    Consider the question “Discuss the various provision of Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 for the protection of individual’s privacy. What are the concerns over the various provisions of the Bill?”

    Conclusion

    The DPB is a unique opportunity for India, a country with some 740 million internet users, to forge a pathbreaking agenda that will act as a standard-setter in the still-developing field of national data protection legislation.