💥Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (July Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Distribution: weekly

  • Bhutan’s Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) Programme

    Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) programme has been recently launched.

    TIWB Program

    • TIWB is a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
    • India was chosen as the Partner Jurisdiction and has provided the Tax Expert for this programme.
    • It aims to aid Bhutan in strengthening its tax administration by transferring technical know-how and skills to its tax auditors, and through sharing of best audit practices.
    • The focus of the programme will be in the area of International Taxation and Transfer Pricing.
    • This programme is another milestone in the continued cooperation between India and Bhutan and India’s continued and active support for South-South cooperation.

  • [pib] Guidelines for Other Service Providers (OSP)

    The Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology has further liberalized the guidelines for Other Service Providers (OSPs).

    Do you remember quaternary and quinary sectors of Economy from NCERTs?

    What are OSPs?

    • These entities are business process outsourcing (BPO) organizations giving Voice based services, in India and abroad.
    • The term Business Process Outsourcing or BPO as it is popularly known, refers to outsourcing in all fields.
    • A BPO service provider usually administers and manages a particular business process for another company.
    • BPOs either use new technology or apply an existing technology in a new way to improve a particular business process.
    • India is currently the number one destination for business process outsourcing, as most companies in the US and UK outsource IT-related business processes to Indian service providers.

    Main features of the liberalized guidelines

    • Distinction between Domestic and International OSPs has been removed. A BPO centre with common Telecom resources will now be able to serve customers located worldwide including in India.
    • EPABX (Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange) of the OSP can be located anywhere in the world. OSPs apart from utilising EPABX services of the Telecom Service Providers can also locate their EPABX at third Party Data Centres in India.
    • With the removal of the distinction between Domestic and International OSP centres, the interconnectivity between all types of OSP centres is now permitted.
    • Remote Agents of OSP can now connect directly with the Centralised EPABX/ EPABX of the OSP/ EPABX of the customer using any technology including Broadband over wireline/ wireless.
    • No restriction for data interconnectivity between any OSP centres of same company or group company or any unrelated company.

  • Population decline: Bane and Boon for the economy

    Deflation. A recent (2014) study found substantial deflationary pressures from Japan’s ageing populationThe article argues that a decline in population is not always as worrisome as it is made to be.

    Declining fertility rate

    • China’s fertility rate of 1.3 children per woman in 2020 is well below replacement level, but so, too, are fertility rates in every rich country.
    • In all developed economies, fertility rates fell below replacement in the 1970s or 1980s and have stayed there.
    • In India, more prosperous states have fertility rates below replacement level, with only the poorer states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh still well above.
    • And while the national rate in 2018 was still 2.2, the Indian National Family Health Survey finds that Indian women would like to have, on average, 1.8 children.
    • In all prosperous countries where women are well educated and free to choose whether and when to have children, fertility rates fall significantly below replacement levels.
    • If those conditions spread across the world, the global population will eventually decline.

    Is the declining population good or bad for the economy

    • A pervasive conventional bias assumes that population decline must be a bad thing.
    • But while absolute economic growth is bound to fall as populations stabilise and then decline, it is the income per capita that matters for prosperity and economic opportunity.
    • It is true that when populations no longer grow, there are fewer workers per retiree, and healthcare costs rise as a percent of GDP.
    • But that is offset by the reduced need for infrastructure and housing investment to support a growing population.
    • A stable and eventually falling global population would make it easier to cut greenhouse-gas emissions to avoid climate change, and alleviate the pressure that growing populations inevitably place on biodiversity and fragile ecosystems.
    • And contracting workforces create stronger incentives for businesses to automate while driving up real wages, which, unlike absolute economic growth, are what really matter to ordinary citizen.
    • In a world where technology enables us to automate ever more jobs, the far bigger problem is too many potential workers, not too few.
    • Even when the Indian economy grows rapidly, its highly productive “organised sector” of about 80 million workers, fails to create additional jobs.
    • Growth in the potential workforce simply swells the huge “informal sector” army of unemployed and underemployed people.

    So, when declining populations turns to be a problem?

    •  Fertility rates far below replacement level create significant challenges, and China may well be heading in that direction.
    • At those rates, population decline will be precipitate rather than gradual.
    • If Korea’s (fertility rate 1.09) birth rate does not rise, its population could fall from 51 million today to 27 million by 2100, and the ratio of retirees to workers will reach levels that no amount of automation can offset.

    Conclusion

    The average fertility rates well below replacement level in all developed countries, and, over time, gradually falling populations. The sooner that is true worldwide, the better for everyone.

  • Why counting of poor matters?

    Counting the number of the poor

    • If the state of the Indian economy is to be repaired, we need to meticulously count the number of the poor and to prioritise them.
    • The World Bank $2-a-day poverty line might be inadequate but it would be a start and higher than the last line proposed by the C. Rangarajan committee.
    • A survey in 2013 had said India stood at 99 among 131 countries, and with a median income of $616 per annum, it was the lowest among BRICS and fell in the lower-middle-income country bracket.
    • Since 2013 three important data points have made it clear that the state of India’s poor needs to be acknowledged if India is to be lifted.
    • The first being, the fall in the monthly per capita consumption expenditure of 2017-18 for the first time since 1972-73.
    • Second is the fall of India in the Global Hunger Index to ‘serious hunger’ category.
    • Third,  health census data or the recently concluded National Family Health Survey or NFHS-5, which had worrying markers of increased malnutrition, infant mortality and maternal health.
    • A fourth statistic, Bangladesh bettering India’s average income statistics, must also be a reason for Indians to introspect.

    Increase in number of poor in India

    •  In 2019, the global Multidimensional Poverty Index reported that India lifted 271 million citizens out of poverty between 2006 and 2016. 
    • Since then, the International Monetary Fund, Hunger Watch, SWAN and several other surveys show a decided slide.
    • In March, the Pew Research Center with the World Bank data estimated that ‘the number of poor in India, on the basis of an income of $2 per day or less in purchasing power parity, has more than doubled to 134 million from 60 million in just a year due to the pandemic-induced recession’.
    • In 2020, India contributed 57.3% of the growth of the global poor.
    • This has thrown a spanner in the so far uninterrupted battle against poverty since the 1970s.
    • Urgent solutions are needed within, and the starting point of that would be only when we know how many are poor.

    Debate on the poverty line

    • In 2011, the Suresh Tendulkar Committee report at a ‘line’ of ₹816 per capita per month for rural India and ₹1,000 per capita per month for urban India, calculated the poor at 25.7% of the population.
    • The anger over the 2011 conclusions, led to the setting up of the C. Rangarajan Committee.
    • In 2014, C. Rangarajan Committee estimated that the number of poor were 29.6%, based on persons spending below ₹47 a day in cities and ₹32 in villages.
    • The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector in 2004, had concluded that 836 million Indians still remained marginalised.
    • The Commission’s conclusion was ignored — that 77% of India was marginalised — emphasising that it was a problem of a much bigger magnitude, than the figure of 25.7% conveyed.

    Why counting the poor matters?

    1) Helps in forming public opinion

    • Knowing the numbers and making them public makes it possible to get public opinion to support massive and urgent cash transfers.
    • The world outside India has moved onto propose high fiscal support, as economic rationale and not charity.
    •  In India too, a dramatic reorientation would get support only once numbers are honestly laid out.

    2) It helps in evaluating success of policies

    •  Recording the data helps to evaluate all policies on the basis of whether they meet the needs of the majority.
    • Is a policy such as bank write-offs of loans amounting to ₹1.53-lakh crore last year, which helped corporates overwhelmingly, beneficial to the vast majority?
    • This would be possible to transparently evaluate only when the numbers of the poor are known and established.

    3) Helps in addressing the concerns of real majority

    • If government data were to honestly account for the exact numbers of the poor, it may be more realistic to expect the public debate to be conducted on the concerns of the real majority.
    • Such data would also help in creating a climate that demands accountability from public representatives.

    4) To gauge the rising inequality

    • India has clocked a massive rise in the market capitalisation and the fortunes of the richest Indian corporates, even as millions of Indians have experienced a massive tumble into poverty.
    • To say that the stock market and the Indian economy are ‘not related’ is ingenuous.
    • Indians must have the right to question whether there is a connection and if the massive rise in riches is not coincidental, but at the back of the misery of millions of the poor.
    • If billionaire lists are evaluated in detail and reported upon, the country cannot shy away from counting its poor.

    Conclusion

    The massive slide into poverty in India that is clear in domestic and international surveys and anecdotal evidence must meet with an institutional response.

  • What is Chicago Convention of 1944?

    A private commercial flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Minsk by a MiG-29 fighter jet of Belarus.  The incident received considerable global attention.

    How justified was Belarus in taking such a decision?

    • The answer lies at the junction of Belarus’s domestic laws as a sovereign country and international laws governing the action that states can legitimately take to deal with threats to security, real or perceived.
    • The issue of the use of military aircraft to neutralize potential threats posed by civilian aircraft acquired a different kind of urgency in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 2001.
    • Generally speaking, international law grants sovereignty to nations over their airspace as it does in territorial waters.

    The Chicago Convention of 1944

    • The Convention on International Civil Aviation, better known as the Chicago Convention of 1944, to which Belarus is a signatory state, prohibits any unlawful intervention against a civilian aircraft.
    • At the same time, it has various provisions under Article 9 which permit a sovereign state the right to impose restrictions.
    • This includes enforced landings at a designated airport in its territory, in “exceptional circumstances or during a period of emergency, or in the interest of public safety”.
    • Once a flight has landed, Article 16 provides the host country the right to board/search the aircraft.
    • This is probably the clause that provided cover for the local authorities to board Mr. Morales’s aircraft in Austria in 2013.
    • But the Chicago Convention applies only to civilian aircraft of the contracting parties.

    Other such laws

    • International law might also have to be examined in light of the International Air Services Transit Agreement (IASTA), also concluded in Chicago in 1944.
    • According to this agreement, contracting states grant to one another the freedom of air transit in respect of scheduled international air services, that is, the privilege to fly across territories without landing.
    • Belarus is not a signatory of IASTA.

  • First-ever genetically modified rubber planted in Assam

    A Rubber Board research farm on the outskirts of Guwahati now sports the world’s first genetically modified (GM) rubber plant tailored for the climatic conditions in the Northeast.

    GM rubber

    • The GM rubber has additional copies of the gene MnSOD, or manganese-containing superoxide dismutase, inserted in the plant.
    • The plant was developed at the Kerala-based Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII).
    • It is expected to tide over the severe cold conditions during winter — a major factor affecting the growth of young rubber plants in the region.

    Why need GM rubber?

    • Natural rubber is a native of warm humid Amazon forests and is not naturally suited for the colder conditions in the Northeast, which is one of the largest producers of rubber in India.
    • Growth of young rubber plants remains suspended during the winter months, which are also characterized by progressive drying of the soil.
    • This is the reason for the long immaturity period of this crop in the region.

    What does MnSOD gene offer?

    • The MnSOD gene has the ability to protect plants from the adverse effects of severe environmental stresses such as cold and drought.
    • Laboratory studies conducted at the RRII showed the GM rubber plants overexpressed the MnSOD gene as expected, offering protection to the cells.
    • The plant is thus expected to establish well and grow fast in the region.
    • There was no risk of genes flowing from the GM rubber into any other native species, a concern often raised by environmental groups against GM plants in general.

  • What govt proposes to change in film certification

    The Centre has recently released the draft Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021 to the general public for comments.

    Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021

    • The new draft proposes to amend the Cinematograph Act of 1952 with some provisions.
    • It seeks to give the Centre “revisionary powers” and enable it to “re-examine” films already cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

    A look at what the draft proposes to change:

    (a) Revision of certification

    • This will equip the Centre with revisionary powers on account of violation of Section 5B(1) (principles for guidance in certifying films).
    • The current Act, in Section 6, already equips the Centre to call for records of proceedings in relation to a film’s certification.
    • The Ministry of I&B explained that the proposed revision “means that the Central Government, if the situation so warranted, has the power to reverse the decision of the Board”.
    • Currently, because of a judgment by the Karnataka High Court, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in November 2020, the Centre cannot use its revisionary powers on films that have already been granted a certificate by the CBFC.

    Issues

    • The draft comes shortly after the abolition of the Film Certificate Appellate Tribunal, which was the last point of appeal for filmmakers against the certificate granted to their film.
    • The draft has been criticized by filmmakers and term it a “super censor”.

    (b) Age-based certification

    • The draft proposes to introduce age-based categorisation and classification. Currently, films are certified into three categories — ‘U’ for unrestricted public exhibition; ‘U/A’ that requires parental guidance for children under 12; and ‘A’ for adult films.
    • The new draft proposes to divide the categories into further age-based groups: U/A 7+, U/A 13+ and U/A 16+.
    • This proposed age classification for films echoes the new IT rules for streaming platforms.

    (c) Provision against piracy

    • The Ministry noted that at present, there are no enabling provisions to check film piracy in the Cinematograph Act, 1952.
    • The draft proposes to add Section 6AA that will prohibit unauthorized recording.
    • The proposed section states, no person shall, without the written authorization of the author, be permitted to make an audio-visual recording device.
    • Violation shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than three months and may extend to three years and with a fine which shall not be less than Rs 3 lakh which may extend to 5 per cent of the audited gross production cost or with both.

    (d) Eternal certificate

    • The draft proposes to certify films for perpetuity.
    • Currently, a certificate issued by the CBFC is valid only for 10 years.

  • [pib] Amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020

    For the purposes of preventing unfair trade practices in e-commerce, the Central Government had notified the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 with effect from 23 July 2020.

    Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020

    The proposed amendments aim to bring transparency in the e-commerce platforms and further strengthen the regulatory regime to curb the prevalent unfair trade practices.

    The proposed amendments are as follows:

    (a) Chief Compliance Officer

    • To ensure compliance of the rules, the appointment of Chief Compliance Officer, a nodal contact person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies, officers to ensure compliance to their orders and Resident Grievance Officer for redressing of the grievances of the consumers on the e-commerce platform, has been proposed.
    • This would ensure effective compliance with the provisions of the Act and Rules and also strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism on e-commerce entities.

    (b) Registration of e-coms

    • Putting in place a framework for registration of every e-commerce entity with the DPIIT for allotment of a registration number which shall be displayed prominently on the website as well as invoice of every order placed by the e-commerce entity.
    • This would help create a database of genuine e-commerce entities and ensure that the consumers are able to verify the genuineness of an e-commerce entity before transacting through their platform.

    (c) Prohibition of miss-selling

    • The goods and services entities selling goods or services by deliberate misrepresentation of information have been prohibited.

    (d) Expiry dates

    • This would ensure that consumers are aware of the expiry date of the products they are buying on the e-commerce platform.
    • It compels all sellers on marketplace e-commerce entities and all inventory e-commerce entities to provide the best before or use before the date to enable consumers to make an informed purchase decision.

    (e) Fair and equal treatment

    • It has been provided that where an e-commerce entity offers imported goods or services, it shall incorporate a filter mechanism to identify goods based on country of origin and suggest alternatives to ensure fair opportunity to domestic goods.

    (f) Fall-back liability

    • This would ensure that consumers are not adversely affected in the event where a seller fails to deliver the goods or services due to negligent conduct by such seller in fulfilling the duties and liabilities.

    Why need such an amendment?

    It was observed that there was an evident lack of regulatory oversight in e-commerce which required some urgent action.

    • Manipulating search results: Moreover, the rapid growth of e-commerce platforms has also brought into the purview the unfair trade practices of the marketplace e-commerce entities engaging in manipulating search result to promote certain sellers.
    • Preferential treatment: This includes preferential treatment to some sellers, indirectly operating the sellers on their platform, impinging the free choice of consumers, selling goods close to expiration etc.
    • Flash sales: Certain e-commerce entities are engaging in limiting consumer choice by indulging in “back to back” or “flash” sales. This prevents a level playing field and ultimately limits customer choice and increases prices.

    Check this PYQ from CSP 2012:

    Q. With reference to consumer’s rights / privileges under the provision of law in India which of the following statements correct?

    1. Consumer are empowered to take samples for food testing
    2. When consumer fi les a complaint in any consumer forum, no fee is required to be paid.
    3. In case of death of consumer, his/her legal heir can file a complaint in the consumer forum on his/her behalf.

    Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

    (a) Only 1

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

  • Centre must make way for states in Covid fight

    The States are better equipped to deal with the health emergencies and the Centre needs to augment them in their efforts. The article deals with this issue.

    Role of the States in health crisis

    • Covid-19 pandemic is a national crisis calling for concerted efforts by both, the Government of India (GoI) and state governments.
    • Health is a state subject, and the states have been pioneering many health programmes on their own, some with support and funding from the GoI, for a very long time.
    • The number of employees in the health wing of the GoI is negligible as compared to that in any state government.
    • The GoI must help them, motivate them to do better and assist them in their task.
    • Also, the GoI must and can play a major role is in vaccination.

    Role of the Central government

    • It must try to augment supplies by encouraging companies to produce more and through imports/gifts.
    •  However, whatever it procures must be allotted to states in proportion to their eligible population.
    • State governments must be involved in this policy.
    • The vaccination policy may be left to the state governments based on the allocation. 
    • The GoI must also augment supplies of critical medical goods through imports and donations from friendly nations in view of their acute shortage.
    • It must distribute them to the needy states transparently and equitably.

    Steps that need to be taken

    • Lockdowns need to be lifted in a calibrated manner depending on local conditions.
    • Lockdowns are not the solution, they just buy breathing time which can be used by governments to ramp up capacity.
    • State governments must set up efficient and well-functioning control rooms and telemedicine centres to guide people on home treatment and timely admission to hospitals.
    • The private sector can also be fully involved in these efforts.
    • Bed capacity must be increased in both private and public sectors, with all necessary requirements such as oxygen, medicines, and health workers.
    • It is also important to put in place a standard guidance protocol for health workers and control rooms to guide patients through the disease.
    •  Enforcement of masks and distancing in public places must go on till the country is fully vaccinated.
    • The measures suggested above require hard work and efficient management by state governments, by a team of reputed professionals and civil servants.
    • Daily briefing by a professional, not a politician, is the need of the hour at both the Centre and state level, giving some confidence and assurance to the public.

    Consider the question “In dealing with the health crisis the Union Government and the State governments are better placed for certain roles.  In light of this, examine the important role of the States in dealing with the Covid pandemic and how the Union government can complement it.”

    Conclusion

    The central government must realise that states are on the forefront in this war, and therefore, play a supporting and proactive role. It has only a minor, behind-the-scenes role in the health sector.

  • What is Summer Solstice?

    The summer solstice will happen today around 9:02 am on Monday (Indian Standard Time).

    What is Summer Solstice?

    • Solstice means “sun stands still” in Latin.
    • The longest day of 2021 for those living north of the Equator is June 21.
    • This day is characterized by a greater amount of energy received from the sun.
    • In technical terms, this day is referred to as the summer solstice, the longest day of the summer season. It occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, or more specifically right over 23.5-degree north latitude.

    The Southern Hemisphere receives most sunlight on December 21, 22 or 23 when the northern hemisphere has its longest nights– or the winter solstice.

    Why do we have summer solstice?

    • Since Earth rotates on its axis, the Northern Hemisphere gets more direct sunlight between March and September over the course of a day.
    • This also means people living in the Northern Hemisphere experience summer during this time.
    • The rest of the year, the Southern Hemisphere gets more sunlight.
    • During the solstice, the Earth’s axis — around which the planet spins, completing one turn each day — is tilted in a way that the North Pole is tipped towards the sun and the South Pole is away from it.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.On 21st June, the Sun (CSP 2019):

    (a) Does not set below the horizon at the Arctic Circle

    (b) Does not set below the horizon at Antarctic Circle

    (c) Shines vertically overhead at noon on the Equator

    (d) Shines vertically overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn

    Some other facts

    • Summer solstice does not mean the earliest sunrise or latest sunset.
    • Although June 21 will be the longest day in 2021, it does not necessarily mean that it brings the earliest sunrise or latest sunset.
    • It depends on the latitudinal location of the country.