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Distribution: weekly

  • Centre must step up cash flow to states

    Context

    The states are borrowing less than expected in the first quarter of FY 2021-22 despite the negative impact of state-level restrictions, amidst the second Covid wave, on economic activity.

    An overview of borrowing by States

    • In 2020-21, the gross amount raised through state development loans (SDLs) or bonds had jumped to Rs 8 trillion, up from Rs 6.3 trillion in the previous year.
    • The increase was a fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic on state finances.
    • In the first quarter of the current financial year i.e. 2021-22, gross issuances of bonds stood at Rs 1.4 trillion.
    • This amount is 14 per cent lower than the bonds issued last year (Rs 1.7 trillion).
    • This is also around 20 per cent lower than what states had initially indicated they would borrow (Rs 1.8 trillion) through the indicative calendar of market borrowings released by the RBI.
    • As a result, state bond issuances have undershot expectations in the first quarter.

    Factor’s responsible for lower state borrowing

    •  Lower state borrowings were a consequence of three major factors.
    • First, an additional tax devolution of Rs 450 billion from the Centre in late March.
    • This amount was in excess of the Rs 5.5 trillion tax devolution that had been included in the revised estimates for 2020-21.
    • Second, record-high GST collections in April which doubled to Rs 1.3 trillion in the first quarter of this year, up from Rs 0.6 trillion in the same period last year.
    • Third, receipt of substantial grants from the Centre adding up to Rs 436 billion in April-May related to the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission.

    Factors that could influence the borrowing pattern in the next three quarters

    • First, the varying pace of unlocking and the consequent economic revival in states from June onwards may crucially affect state borrowings in the second quarter.
    • A faster ramp-up of vaccine administration may help some states, reducing the need to borrow.
    • Second, the eventual calendar for raising back-to-back loans by the GoI to compensate states for the loss in their GST revenues could also result in a change in the states’ borrowing schedule.
    • Third, the quantum, and timing of tax devolution will also play a role.

    Why timing of the Central tax devolution matters for States

    • Central tax devolution forms a quarter of states’ combined revenue receipts.
    • This revenue stream has contracted by 15 per cent in the first two months of the year, falling to Rs 392 billion each in April-May this year, from Rs 460 billion last year.
    • If the Centre continues to devolve to states this amount till February 2022, then a massive Rs 2.4 trillion (36 per cent of the budgeted amount) will be left for devolution in March 2022 — assuming that the devolution for the full year is not revised below the budgeted level.
    • From the states’ point of view, this would be rather inefficient from a cash flow perspective.

    Conclusion

    An early step-up in tax devolution by the central government may provide comfort to the states to accelerate expenditure during another uncertain year, without borrowings being pushed up in the next two quarters.

  • Guidelines by the Supreme Court in the migrant labourers case

    Context

    The Supreme Court on June 29 pronounced its judgment in the migrant labourers case. The case was initiated last year after the national lockdown was announced on March 24.

    Guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court

    • Two of the most important components to protect the migrants during this time were the food and travel arrangements insisted on by the court.
    • In the orders pronounced in May this year, it laid down that dry ration be provided to migrants who want to return to their homes.
    • Further, the court said that identity proof should not be insisted upon by the governments since the labourers might not be able to furnish it.
    • Secondly, the court called upon the State governments to arrange transportation for workers who need to return to their homes.
    • The Supreme Court fixed July 31 as the deadline for the States to implement the ‘One nation One Ration Card’ scheme.
    • Apart from dry ration, the top court also directed the State governments to run community kitchens for migrant workers.
    • In the order passed on June 29, the court affirmed the Right to Food under Article 21 of the Constitution.
    • In furtherance of this, the court asked the States to formulate their own schemes and issue food grains to migrants.
    • The top court recognised the need for direct cash benefit transfer to workers in the unorganised sector.
    • But it did not issue any guidelines for the same.

    Challenges

    • The Supreme Court has given a purposive declaration in the case but the bulk of the judgment seems declaratory rather than mandatory. 
    • Under the ‘One nation One Ration Card’ scheme, the States are to complete the registration of migrant workers in order to provide dry ration to them.
    • But it is unlikely that a standardised system can be developed within the deadline prescribed by the court.
    • There are administrative problems in running community kitchens for migrant workers.
    • First, migrant workers keep moving in search of employment and it is difficult to cover them all under the scheme.
    • Second, many States do not have the necessary infrastructure to run and maintain community kitchens on such a large scale.
    • The court asked the States to formulate their own schemes and issue food grains to migrants, but there are no normative data that would allow the States to identify eligible migrants.

    Conclusion

    In order to efficaciously implement the orders of the court, the State governments need to work with the Centre closely. It is imperative to ensure that government machinery works to its full potential and robust systems are developed to withstand the challenges of the looming third covid wave.

  • Discrete Auroras on Mars

    The UAE’s Hope spacecraft, which is orbiting Mars since February this year, has captured images of glowing atmospheric lights in the Red Planet’s night sky, known as discrete auroras.

    What causes an Aurora on Earth?

    • Auroras are caused when charged particles ejected from the Sun’s surface — called the solar wind — enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
    • These particles are harmful, and our planet is protected by the geomagnetic field, which preserves life by shielding us from the solar wind.
    • However, at the north and south poles, some of these solar wind particles are able to continuously stream down, and interact with different gases in the atmosphere to cause a display of light in the night sky.
    • This display, known as an aurora, is seen from the Earth’s high latitude regions (called the auroral oval), and is active all year round.

    Where are they observed on Earth?

    • In the northern part of our globe, the polar lights are called aurora borealis or Northern Lights and are seen from the US (Alaska), Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
    • In the south, they are called aurora australis or southern lights and are visible from high latitudes in Antarctica, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia.

    So, how are Martian auroras different?

    • Unlike auroras on Earth, which are seen only near the north and south poles, discrete auroras on Mars are seen all around the planet at night time.
    • Unlike Earth, which has a strong magnetic field, the Martian magnetic field has largely died out.
    • This is because the molten iron at the interior of the planet– which produces magnetism– has cooled.
    • However, the Martian crust, which hardened billions of years ago when the magnetic field still existed, retains some magnetism.
    • So, in contrast with Earth, which acts like one single bar magnet, magnetism on Mars is unevenly distributed, with fields strewn across the planet and differing in direction and strength.
    • These disjointed fields channel the solar wind to different parts of the Martian atmosphere, creating “discrete” auroras over the entire surface of the planet as charged particles interact with atoms and molecules in the sky– as they do on Earth.

    Why is it important to study them?

    • Studying Martian auroras is important for scientists, for it can offer clues as to why the Red Planet lost its magnetic field and thick atmosphere– among the essential requirements for sustaining life.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Which region of Mars has a densely packed river deposit indicating this planet had water 3.5 billion years ago?

    (a) Aeolis Dorsa

    (b) Tharsis

    (c) Olympus Mons

    (d) Hellas

    Back2Basics:

    Hope Orbiter

    • The Hope Probe, the Arab world’s first mission to Mars, took off from Earth in July last year, and has been orbiting the Red Planet since February.
    • The primary objective of the mission is to study Martian weather dynamics.
    • By correlating the lower atmosphere and upper atmosphere conditions, the probe will look into how weather changes the escape of hydrogen and oxygen into space.
    • By measuring how much hydrogen and oxygen is spilling into space, scientists will be able to look into why Mars lost so much of its early atmosphere and liquid water.
    • It is expected to create the first complete portrait of the planet’s atmosphere.
    • With the information gathered during the mission, scientists will have a better understanding of the climate dynamics of different layers of Mars’ atmosphere.

    Mars

    • Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, being larger than only Mercury.
    • In English, Mars carries the name of the Roman god of war and is often referred to as the “Red Planet”.
    • The latter refers to the effect of the iron oxide prevalent on Mars’s surface, which gives it a reddish appearance distinctive among the astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye.
    • Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, with surface features reminiscent of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth.
    • The days and seasons are comparable to those of Earth, because the rotational period, as well as the tilt of the rotational axis relative to the ecliptic plane, is similar.
    • Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System.

  • New online platform maps Pegasus spread

    An online database about the use of the spyware Pegasus was recently launched by the Forensic Architecture, Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab to document attacks against human rights defenders.

    What is Pegasus?

    • Last year, one of the biggest stories that broke into cyberspace was WhatsApp’s reports that 1,400 of its users were hacked by Pegasus, a spyware tool from Israeli firm NSO Group.
    • All spyware do what the name suggests — they spy on people through their phones.
    • Pegasus works by sending an exploit link, and if the target user clicks on the link, the malware or the code that allows the surveillance is installed on the user’s phone.
    • A presumably newer version of the malware does not even require a target user to click a link.
    • Once Pegasus is installed, the attacker has complete access to the target user’s phone.

    Why is Pegasus dangerous?

    • What makes Pegasus really dangerous is that it spares no aspect of a person’s identity. It makes older techniques of spying seem relatively harmless.
    • It can intercept every call and SMS, read every email and monitor each messaging app.
    • Pegasus can also control the phone’s camera and microphone and has access to the device’s location data.
    • The app advertises that it can carry out “file retrieval”, which means it could access any document that a target might have stored on their phone.

  • [pib] Export of GI certified Bhalia Wheat

    In a major boost to wheat exports, the first shipment of Geographical Indication (GI) certified Bhalia variety of wheat was exported today to Kenya and Sri Lanka from Gujarat.

    Bhalia Wheat

    • The GI certified wheat has high protein content and is sweet in taste.
    • The crop is grown mostly across Bhal region of Gujarat which includes Ahmadabad, Anand, Kheda, Bhavanagar, Surendranagar, Bharuch districts.
    • The unique characteristic of the wheat variety is that grown in the rainfed condition without irrigation and cultivated in around two lakh hectares of agricultural land in Gujarat.
    • The Bhalia variety of wheat received GI certification in July, 2011.
    • The registered proprietor of GI certification is Anand Agricultural University, Gujarat.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Which of the following has/have been accorded ‘Geographical Indication’ status?

    1. Banaras Brocades and Sarees
    2. Rajasthani Daal-Bati-Churma
    3. Tirupathi Laddu

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    Back2Basics: Geographical Indication (GI)

    • The World Intellectual Property Organization defines a GI as “a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”.
    • GIs are typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, handicrafts, industrial products, wines and spirit drinks.
    • Internationally, GIs are covered as an element of intellectual property rights under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
    • They have also covered under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.

  • [RSTV Archive] Open Network for Digital Commerce

    Moving ahead with its plans to make e-commerce processes open source and curbing digital monopolies, the government on has appointed an advisory council to design and accelerate the adoption of open network for digital commerce.

    The move by the government is the latest in a series of changes announced or being planned to be rolled out by the government for the e-commerce sector.

    So, what changes will the open network for digital commerce bring about? What are its aims and objectives? How significant a move it is towards streamlining the country’s e-commerce ecosystem?

    These are some aspects we will analyse on in this article.

    What is ONDC Project?

    • ONDC seeks to promote open networks, which are developed using the open-source methodology.
    • The project is aimed at curbing “digital monopolies”.
    • This is a step in the direction of making e-commerce processes open-source, thus creating a platform that can be utilized by all online retailers.
    • They will encourage the usage of standardized open specifications and open network protocols, which are not dependent on any particular platform or customized one.

    What does one mean by ‘Open-sourcing’?

    • An open-source project means that anybody is free to use, study, modify and distribute the project for any purpose.
    • These permissions are enforced through an open-source licence easing adoption and facilitating collaboration.

    What processes are expecting to be open-sourced with this project?

    • Several operational aspects including onboarding of sellers, vendor discovery, price discovery and product cataloguing could be made open source on the lines of Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
    • If mandated, this could be problematic for larger e-commerce companies, which have proprietary processes and technology deployed for these segments of operations.

    What is the significance of making something open-source?

    • Making a software or a process open-source means that the code or the steps of that process is made available freely for others to use, redistribute and modify.
    • If the ONDC gets implemented and mandated, it would mean that all e-commerce companies will have to operate using the same processes.
    • This could give a huge booster shot to smaller online retailers and new entrants.

    What does the DPIIT intend from the project?

    • ONDC is expected to digitize the entire value chain, standardize operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics and enhance value for stakeholders and consumers.

    Countering ‘Digital Monopoly’

    • Digital monopolies refer to a scenario wherein e-commerce giants or Big Tech companies tend to dominate and flout competition law pertaining to monopoly.
    • The Giants have built their own proprietary platforms for operations.
    • In March, India moved to shake up digital monopolies in the country’s $ 1+ trillion retail market by making public a draft of a code of conduct — Draft Ecommerce Policy, reported Bloomberg.
    • The government sought to help local start-ups and reduce the dominance of giants such as Amazon and Walmart-Flipkart.
    • The rules sought to define the cross-border flow of user data after taking into account complaints by small retailers.

    Processes in the ONDC

    • Sellers will be onboarded through open networks. Other open-source processes will include those such as vendor and price discovery; and product cataloguing.
    • The format will be similar to the one which is used in the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
    • Mega e-commerce companies have proprietary processes and technology for these operations.
    • Marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, BigBasket and Grofers will need to register on the ONDC platform to be created by DPIIT and QCI.
    • The task of implementing DPIIT’s ONDC project has been assigned to the Quality Council of India (QCI).

    Why such a move by the govt?

    • This COVID pandemic has made every business to go digital.
    • India is a country with 700 million internet users of whom large crunch of population are active buyers on e-coms.
    • There are 9 platforms in the world which are billion user platform and all are private. This is the monopoly which the govt aims to hit.
    • No country would ever want a few (foreign) companies to control their domestic e-commerce ecosystem.
    • Countries like US are struggling to control their monopoly over the e-commerce giants leaving no space for Indian legislations to control these overseas companies.
    • In India Amazon, Walmart, Uber are controlling larger crunch of share in the market leaving very less scope for domestic companies to cope up with.

    Scope for ONDCs success

    • Over last 50 years India is dealing with Big Tech companies with responsibility and pragmatic manner. Now it is also coming with new policies to control them.
    • The drafting panel has extraordinary persons like Mr. Nandan Nilekani and others who were in Aadhar, NPCI, MyGov, Retail industry and these make it inclusive and innovative.
    • India has successfully executed various public digital platforms like JAM Trinity, Aadhar linked projects. India for sure can handle its digital ecosystem better in e-coms too.
    • Open-sourcing will benefit society at large as did the UPI.

    Issues that can be raised

    • Draft E-Commerce policy can raise resistance from companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Walmart etc.
    • They may raise hues over operability and ease of doing business.
    • MSMEs have already raised the growing compliance burden for e-commerce.
    • They have argued that the govt is technologically and digitally motivating everybody to get online and on the other hand it is culling their very ability to reach out to the consumer to get more people on board.

    Possible issues with ONDC

    • Every platform has its own challenges so would the ONDC may have.
    • While UPI was ruled out (BHIM being the first) people were reluctant in using it due to transaction failures.
    • With subsequent improvements and openness people and businesses are using it in every walks of life. So it would work with ONDC.

    Conclusion

    • Once adopted, ONDC will make sure consumer and seller interest will be protected as the UPI did.
    • Best is yet to come and we are in 4th industrial revolution where the Govt should strengthen itself accordingly and make businesses inclusive and restrict the monopolies.

    Reference:

  • Vacancies send a wrong signal

    Context

    For months on end, top slots in important government agencies like NHRC, CBI, Election Commission, NCERT etc remain vacant affecting the governance.

    Vacancies in various agencies

    • The post of the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission was kept vacant until June this year.
    • The post of the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had been vacant since February until the recent appointment.
    • The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired on April 12 leaving just two members in the Commission. 
    • The Centre appointed the new Election Commissioner in June.
    •  Of the 40 Central universities across the country, nearly half are without regular Vice-Chancellors.
    • Officers holding additional charges exist in various ministries, commissions and departments.

    Impact of vacancies

    • Vacancies have had a deleterious effect on governance.
    •  Delays in promotions and appointments affect the organisations.
    • Vacancies also tend to demoralise the officials who await promotions after vacancies arise.
    •  Delays in important appointments send a wrong signal to the nation.
    • Elections Commission was functioning only with two members for several months, in case of a disagreement on any issue between the two of them, a solution would have become difficult.

    Need to change the process for appointment of Election Commissioners

    • The appointment of Elections Commissioners is done by the Centre.
    • The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court demanding the appointment of Election Commissioners by a committee, as is done in the case of appointment of the Director of the CBI.
    • The 255th Report of Law Commission had recommended that Election Commissioners be appointed by a high-powered committee. 
    • The high-powered committee is headed by the Prime Minister has two members – the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
    • However, if the Prime Minister decides on a candidate and the CJI consents, the Opposition leader’s dissenting note carries no weight.
    • There is a need, therefore, to expand the high-powered committee to include at least two more members of eminence with proven integrity for the selection process

    Way forward

    • A time frame needs to be worked out to announce top appointments at least a month in advance.
    • Political considerations need to be pushed to the back seat for a clean and honest administration.

    Conclusion

    Considering the impact vaccines have on governance, we need to devise a mechanism to avoid such vacancies for such a long duration.

  • Mental health care in India

    Context

    Recently, a High Court suggested that homeless persons with health conditions be branded with a permanent tattoo, when vaccinated against COVID-19.

    Issue

    • In many countries, persons with severe mental health conditions live in shackles in their homes, in overcrowded hospitals, and even in prison.
    • On the other hand, many persons with mental health issues live and even die alone on the streets.
    • Three losses dominate the mental health systems narrative: dignity, agency and personhood.
    • Issues with the laws: Far-sighted changes in policy and laws have often not taken root and many laws fail to meet international human rights standards.
    • Many also do not account for cultural, social and political contexts resulting in moral rhetoric that doesn’t change the scenario of inadequate care.
    • There is also the social legacy of the asylum, and of psychiatry and mental illness itself, that guides our imagination in how care is organised.

    Way forward: A responsive care system

    • We must understand mental health conditions for what they are and for how they are associated with disadvantage.
    • These situations are linked, but not always so, therefore, not all distress can be medicalised.
    • Adopt WHO guidelines: Follow the Guidance on Community Mental Health Services recently launched by the World Health Organization.
    • The Guidance, which includes three models from India, addresses the issue from ‘the same side’ as the mental health service user and focuses on the co-production of knowledge and on good practices.
    • Drawn from 22 countries, these models balance care and support with rights and participation.
    • Open dialogue: The practice of open dialogue, a therapeutic practice that originated in Finland, runs through many programmes in the Guidance.
    • This approach trains the therapist in de-escalation of distress and breaks power differentials that allow for free expression.
    • Increase investment: With emphasis on social care components such as work force participation, pensions and housing, increased investments in health and social care seem imperative.
    • Network of services: For those homeless and who opt not to enter mental health establishments, we can provide a network of services ranging from soup kitchens at vantage points to mobile mental health and social care clinics.
    • Small emergency care and recovery centres for those who need crisis support instead of larger hospitals, and long-term inclusive living options in an environment that values diversity and celebrates social mixing, will reframe the archaic narrative of how mental health care is to be provided.

    Conclusion

    Persons with mental health conditions need a responsive care system that inspires hope and participation without which their lives are empty. We should endeavour to provide them with such a responsive care system.

  • Person in news: Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair

    A noted filmmaker has recently announced his decision to produce the biopic of Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, an acclaimed lawyer and judge in the Madras High Court and one of the early builders of the Indian National Congress.

    Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair

    • Nair was born in the year 1857 in Mankara village of Malabar’s Palakkad district.
    • He belonged to an aristocratic family and his great grandfather was employed by the East India Company to enforce peace in the Malabar region.
    • His grandfather was employed as the chief officer under the Civilian Divisional Officer.

    His legal career

    • Nair was drawn towards Law while he was completing his graduation from Presidency College in Madras.
    • After completing his degree in Law, he was hired by Sir Horatio Shepherd who later became the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
    • Since his early days as a lawyer, Nair was known for his defiant attitude.
    • He went against a resolution passed by Indian vakils (advocates) of Madras stating that no Indian vakil would work as a junior to an English barrister.
    • His stance on the issue made him so unpopular that he was boycotted by the other vakils, but he refused to let that bother him.

    Legacy

    • Nair was known for being a passionate advocate for social reforms and a firm believer in the self-determination of India.
    • But what really stood out in his long glorious career is a courtroom battle he fought against the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, Michael O’Dwyer.
    • Nair had accused O’Dwyer in his book, ‘Gandhi and anarchy’ for being responsible for the atrocities at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
    • Consequently, he was fighting against an Englishman, in an English court that was presided over by an English jury.
    • In all senses, the case was bound to make history.
    • When the 1908 Montague-Chelmsford reforms were being discussed, he wrote an article in the Contemporary Review criticizing the English jury for being partial towards Englishmen.
    • This infuriated the Anglo-Indian community who petitioned the Viceroy and the Secretary of State for India objecting to his appointment as high court judge the first time.
    • He was once described by Edwin Montague, the secretary of state for India as an ‘impossible person’.

    Key positions held

    • In 1897 he became the youngest president of the INC in the history of the party till then, and the only Malayali to hold the post ever.
    • By 1908 he was appointed as a permanent judge in the Madras High Court. In 1902 Lord Curzon appointed him a member of the Raleigh University Commission.
    • In 1904 he was appointed as Companion of the Indian Empire by the King-Emperor and in 1912 he was knighted.
    • In 1915 he became part of the Viceroy’s Council, put in charge of the education portfolio.

    Career as judge

    • As a Madras High Court judge, his best-known judgments clearly indicate his commitment to social reforms.
    • In Budasna v Fatima (1914), he passed a radical judgement when he ruled that those who converted to Hinduism cannot be treated as outcasts.
    • In a few other cases, he upheld inter-caste and inter-religious marriages.

  • Arctic’s ‘Last Ice Area’

    A part of the Arctic’s ice called the “Last Ice Area”, located north of Greenland, has melted before expected. Scientists had believed this area was strong enough to withstand global warming.

    What is the Last Ice Area?

    • In an article published in 2015, National Geographic noted that climate projections forecast the total disappearance of summer ice in the Arctic by the year 2040.
    • However, the only place that would be able to withstand a warming climate would be this area of ice called the “Last Ice Area”.
    • But while this piece of ice above northern Canada and Greenland was expected to last the longest time, it is now showing signs of melting.
    • WWF claims that WWF-Canada was the first to call this area the‘ Last Ice Area’.

    Why is the area important?

    • The area is important because it was thought to be able to help ice-dependent species as ice in the surrounding areas melted away.
    • The area is used by polar bears to hunt for seals who use ice to build dens for their offspring.
    • Walruses too, use the surface of the ice for food search.

    When did the area start changing?

    • The first sign of change in LIA was observed in 2018.
    • Further, in August last year, sea ice showed its “vulnerability” to the long-term effects of climate change.
    • The ice in LIA has been thinning gradually over the years much like other parts of the Arctic Ocean.

    What are the reasons that explain the change?

    • About 80 per cent of thinning can be attributed to weather-related factors such as winds that break up and move the ice around.
    • The remaining 20 per cent can be attributed to the longer-term thinning of the ice due to global warming.