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  • Verdict on Maratha reservation ignores inequality within intermediate castes

    The article highlights the issues with Maratha reservation judgement delivered by the Supreme Court which rejected the positive discrimination of lower classes of dominant caste.

    About the verdict

    • The Supreme Court rendered a unanimous verdict on the validity of the SEBC Act, 2018 that was to grant reservation to Marathas.
    • The court held that the classification of Marathas as a socially and educationally backward class was unreasonable.
    • Court held that Maratha belonged to a politically dominant caste with significant economic resources.

    Justification for 50% limit

    • The court also concluded that the majority opinion in the Indra Sawhney case was correct and that the limit of 50 per cent for caste-based reservation did not need consideration by a larger bench.
    • The court justified the fixed quantitative limit on caste-based reservation by postulating that it was intrinsic to the fundamental principle of equality.
    • The court highlighted the need to safeguard the interests of unreserved sections and said that all sections have progressed after 70 years of independence.
    • Based on this, the court rejected the state’s argument that the breach of the limit was necessitated by the fact that the population of backward classes was over 80 per cent.

    Missed opportunity to acknowledge growing socio-economic differentiation within the dominant castes

    Growing income difference

    • If in 2011-12, the average per capita income of the Marathas was second only to the Brahmins at Rs 36,548, against Rs 47,427.
    • Their highest quintile -20 per cent of the caste group- got 48 per cent of the total income of the Marathas with a mean per capita income of Rs 86,750.
    • The lowest quintile earned 10 times less (Rs 7,198) and the 40 per cent poorest got less than 13 per cent of the total income of the caste — and were lagging behind the Scheduled Castes elite.
    • In fact, the mean incomes of the highest Dalit quintile, Rs 63,030, and that of the second-highest, Rs 28,897, were above those of the three lowest quintiles of the Marathas.

    What explains growing income difference

    • This is partly due to changes on the education front. 
    • The percentage of graduates among Dalits in 2004-05 was 1.9 per cent and has more than doubled to 5.1 per cent in 2011-12.
    • The corresponding figure for the OBCs was 3.5 per cent and has doubled to 7.6 per cent, while for the Marathas it was 4.6 per cent in 2004-05 and has come up to 8 per cent in 2011-12.
    • Correlatively, the percentage of salaried people among the Dalits was about 28 per cent in Maharashtra in 2011-12, as against 30 per cent among the Marathas.

    Issues with the Maratha quota judgment

    •  The Court refused to recognise the need for positive discrimination of the lower classes of the dominant castes which continue to be seen as a dominant bloc.
    • It fails to admit the complexity that the role of class has introduced in post-liberalisation India.
    • This is unequivocal confirmation of a dated approach to social realities and a purely arithmetic limit that finds no expression in the Constitution.
    • The judgement also raises the issue of judicial supremacy in the broad area of social policy as it could lead to undesirable exclusion of beneficiaries.
    • The court seems to have forgotten its own observation in NM Thomas case that functional democracy postulates participation of all sections of the people and fair representation in administration is an index of such participation.

    Conclusion

    The Supreme Court has rejected the determination of Marathas as backward by holding that their relative deprivation and under-representation with regard to other sections of the general category did not entitle them to affirmative action.

  • Enabling financial inclusion

    The article takes an overview of the progress made by India in the financial inclusion and role played by JAM trinity in it.

    What is financial inclusion?

    Financial inclusion is defined as the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services. It refers to a process by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate, affordable, and timely financial products and services. These include banking, loan, equity, and insurance products.

    Growing adoption of digital payment in India

    • India overtook China to register the highest number of countrywide digital payments.
    • Real-time transactions crossed 25 billion, much higher than China’s 15 billion in 2020, as per the report of ACI Worldwide.
    • The report also stated that digital payments in India are set to account for 71.7 per cent of all payments by volume by the year 2025.
    • The digital payment boom is indicative of a larger paradigm shift in the ease of access to financial services.

    What are the contributing factors

    • More and more people, across all strata, are adopting digital payments as it is convenient, safe and limits exposure.
    • It is also a result of the nudges and diligent policy and technology frameworks created by the central government in the last few years.
    • By building the Jan-Dhan-Aadhar-Mobile (JAM) and Universal Payment Interface (UPI) platform, the government has been creating the ground for greater financial inclusion.

    Significance of JAM trinity

    • While Jan Dhan was the first pillar of the ambitious JAM trinity, Aadhaar card seeding and bank account linkages to mobile numbers have empowered people in hitherto unimagined ways.
    • The JAM trinity has helped people know their account status, receive scholarships and fellowships, get fertiliser and LPG subsidy, disability pensions and farm income support — directly into their accounts.
    • The trinity also helped eliminate middlemen, frauds, and leakages due to corruption.
    • In the past one year alone, Rs 4.3 lakh crore was transferred, in over 477 crore transactions under 319 schemes.
    • With an estimated saving of Rs 1.8 lakh crore, the success of DBT is a big thumbs up for the central government.
    • The aid that reached people during the pandemic under the PM Garib Kalyan package is indicative of the success of the government’s financial inclusion and digitisation efforts.

    Conclusion

    The unmissable digital and financial revolution that has been unleashed is hard to miss for anyone. The digital journey, however, is long and one hopes to see the positive trends sustaining given their transformative impact on the lives of Indians.

  • CIBER-2 Mission to count the stars in the Universe

    A NASA-funded rocket’s launch window will open at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, USA. The aim of this mission is to count the number of stars that exist in the Universe.

    Answer this PYQ from CSP 2020 in the comment box:

    Q.“The experiment will employ a trio of spacecraft flying in formation in the shape of an equilateral triangle that has sides one million kilometers long, with lasers shining between the craft.” The experiment in question refers to

    (a) Voyager-2

    (b) New horizons

    (c) Lisa Pathfinder

    (d) Evolved LISA

    What is CIBER-2?

    • In order to roughly estimate the number of stars in the Universe, scientists have estimated that on average each galaxy consists of about 100 million stars, but this figure is not exact.
    • The figure of 100 million could easily be an underestimation, probably by a factor of 10 or more.
    • To put this into perspective, an average of 100 million stars in each galaxy (there an estimated 2 trillion of them as per NASA), would give a total figure of one hundred quintillion stars or 1 with 21 zeroes after it.
    • NASA notes that if this figure is accurate, it would mean that for every grain of sand on Earth, there are more than ten stars.
    • But this calculation assumes that all stars are inside galaxies, which might not be true and this is what the CIBER-2 instrument will try to find out.

    How will CIBER-2 count stars?

    • NASA notes that the instrument will not actually count individual stars but it will instead detect the extragalactic background light
    • It is all of the light that has been emitted throughout the history of the Universe.
    • From all of this extragalactic background light, the CIBER-2 will focus on a portion of this called cosmic infrared background, which is emitted by some of the most common stars.
    • Essentially, this approach is aiming to look at how bright this light is to give scientists an estimate of how many of these stars are out there.
    • The ESA infrared space observatory Herschel also counted the number of galaxies in infrared and measured their luminosity previously.

  • [pib] SAGE (Senior-care Ageing Growth Engine) Initiative

    The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the SAGE (Seniorcare Aging Growth Engine) initiative and SAGE portal for elderly persons.

    SAGE Initiative

    • The SAGE will be a “one-stop access” of elderly care products and services by credible start-ups.
    • The start-ups will be selected on the basis of innovative products and services.
    • Their products should be able to provide across sectors such as health, housing, care centers, apart from technological access linked to finances, food and wealth management, and legal guidance.
    • The start-ups who have applied will be selected by an independent screening committee of experts.
    • A fund of upto Rs.1 crore as one-time equity will be granted to each selected start-up.

    Why need such initiative?

    • India’s elderly population is on the rise as per surveys.
    • The share of elders, as a percentage of the total population in the country, is expected to increase from around 7.5% in 2001 to almost 12.5% by 2026, and surpass 19.5% by 2050.
    • There is an urgent need to create a more robust eldercare ecosystem in India, especially in the post-COVID phase.

  • Caste-wise split in MGNREGA wage payments

    The Centre has asked the States to split wage payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme into separate categories for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and others from this financial year.

    What is MGNREGA?

    • The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
    • This is a labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
    • The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.

    The objectives of the MGNREGA are:

    • To enhance the livelihood security of the rural poor by generating wage employment opportunities.
    • To create a rural asset base that would enhance productive ways of employment, augment and sustain a rural household income.

    What is so unique about it?

    • MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
    • The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
    • Any Indian citizen above the age of 18 years who resides in rural India can apply for the NREGA scheme. The applicant should have volunteered to do unskilled work.
    • Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
    • Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee act”?

    (a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.

    (b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households.

    (c) Adult members of households of all backward communities.

    (d) Adult members of any household.

    What is the move?

    • States were asked to verify if job cards for SC and ST beneficiaries were being properly allocated at the field level.
    • They were told they would be given fund allocations according to this criterion, indicating that labour budgets would also be segregated on a caste basis.
    • It was aimed at timely wage payments.

    Reasons behind

    • There is some inbuilt positive discrimination in the scheme, reflected in the fact that more than 50% of workers are women and almost 40% are SC/ST.
    • However, it felt that the proposed reform would not help SC/ST workers, but would expose all workers to further uncertainties as the system struggles with changes.

    Issues with the announcement

    • Workers’ advocates feared this move would cause unnecessary delays and complications in the payment system, and worried that it could lead to a reduction in scheme funding.
    • The rationale was very simple. It is not as if the payments made to SC and ST are not reported on the NREGA website, but overall, in terms of the budgetary outlay.
    • When people take an assessment merely on the Budget head under which the programme is budgeted, then they miss out on this intricate nuance.
    • So the Finance Ministry advised that both the Centre and States should make Budget provisions under SC and ST components as well.

  • SCO Agreement on Mass Media Cooperation

    The Union Cabinet has accorded an ex post facto approval for signing and ratifying an agreement on cooperation in the field of mass media between all member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

    Highlights of the Agreement

    • The agreement, which was signed in June 2019, would provide an opportunity for the member states to share best practices and new innovations in the field of mass media.
    • It aims to promote equal and mutually beneficial cooperation among associations in the field of mass media.
    • The main areas of cooperation in the agreement are the creation of favorable conditions for the wide and mutual distribution of information through mass media in order to further deepen the knowledge about the lives of the peoples of their states.
    • It will assist in broadcasting television and radio programmer and those, distributed legally within the territory of the state of the other side.

    What is SCO?

    • After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the then security and economic architecture in the Eurasian region dissolved and new structures had to come up.
    • The original Shanghai Five were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
    • The SCO was formed in 2001, with Uzbekistan included. It expanded in 2017 to include India and Pakistan.
    • Since its formation, the SCO has focused on regional non-traditional security, with counter-terrorism as a priority.
    • The fight against the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism and extremism has become its mantra. Today, areas of cooperation include themes such as economics and culture.

    Try this PYQ now:

    Q. In the context of the affairs of which of the following is the phrase “Special Safeguard Mechanisms” mentioned in the news frequently?

    (a) United Nations Environment Programme

    (b) World Trade Organization

    (c) ASEAN- India Free Trade Agreement

    (d) G-20 Summits

    India’s entry to the SCO

    • India and Pakistan both were observer countries.
    • While Central Asian countries and China were not in favor of expansion initially, the main supporter — of India’s entry in particular — was Russia.
    • A widely held view is that Russia’s growing unease about an increasingly powerful China prompted it to push for its expansion.
    • From 2009 onwards, Russia officially supported India’s ambition to join the SCO. China then asked for its all-weather friend Pakistan’s entry.

  • Places in news: Pandav Leni Complex

    The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has found three more caves in the Trirashmi Buddhist cave complex, also known as Pandav Leni, near Nashik, Maharashtra.

    Answer this PYQ first, in the comment box:

    Q.There are only two known examples of cave paintings of the Gupta period in ancient India. One of these is paintings of Ajanta caves. Where is the other surviving example of Gupta paintings?

    (a) Bagh caves

    (b) Ellora caves

    (c) Lomas Rishi cave

    (d) Nasik caves

    Pandav Leni Complex

    • The Pandav Leni Complex or Nasik Caves are a group of 23 caves carved between the 1st century BCE and the 3rd century CE.
    • Also called Trirashmi Buddhist caves, this complex was first documented in 1823 by Captain James Delamaine and is now an ASI- protected site.
    • Though additional sculptures were added up to about the 6th century, it is a major landmark of changes in Buddhist devotional practices.
    • Most of the caves are viharas except for Cave 18 which is a chaitya of the 1st century BCE.
    • The style of some of the elaborate pillars or columns, for example in caves 3 and 10, is an important example of the development of the form.
    • The “Pandavleni” name sometimes given to the Nasik Caves has nothing to do with the characters Pandavas, characters in the Mahabharata epic.
    • Other caves in the area are Karla Caves, Bhaja Caves, Patan Cave, and Bedse Caves.

  • World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021

    The report titled World Employment and Social Outlook was recently released by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

    About the report

    • The report analyses the impact of the crisis on the labour market across the world.
    • It offers projections for recovery and gives details of the unequal impact of the crisis on different groups of workers and enterprises and calls for a broad-based human-centred recovery.

    Findings of the report

    • There has been an unprecedented disruption to labour markets worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the lives of the younger generation and brought about disruption to their education.
    • Also made it more difficult for them to enter the labour market and hold on to their jobs.
    • The pandemic worsened long-standing inequalities with many women workers dropping out of the labour force.
    • For informal and low-skilled workers, working from home was not an option.
    • Many had to face huge health risks to keep their jobs, often with no access to social security benefits.

    Major highlights of the report

    • Global unemployment is expected to be at 205 million in 2022, surpassing the 2019 level of 187 million.
    • The jobs shortfall induced by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was 75 million in 2021 and is expected to be 23 million in 2022.
    • An estimated additional 108 million workers and their family members now live in poverty.

    The long road to recovery

    • The recovery would remain fragile in many countries due to the uneven rollout of vaccination campaigns and higher levels of public debt and deficits that would make it difficult to tackle the effects of the pandemic.
    • There is an urgent need to build back better — create productive employment opportunities and foster long-term labour market prospects for the most vulnerable.
    • There is a need to strengthen social protection schemes like the MGNREGS in India and make sure nobody is left behind.
    • This would require strong institutions and social dialogue and strong international cooperation to fight global disparities.

  • Model Tenancy Act 2019

    The Union Cabinet has approved the Model Tenancy Act (MTA) to be sent to the States and Union Territories to enact legislation or amend laws on rental properties.

    Model Tenancy Act

    • MTA is aimed at opening up of the vacant housing stock for rental housing purposes and helping bridge the trust deficit that exists between tenants and landlords by clearly delineating their obligations.
    • The housing and urban affairs ministry had floated the draft model tenancy law in July 2019.

    Major provisions of MTA

    (1) Rent Court and Rent Tribunal:

    • To ensure speedy redressal of disputes, the Act calls for establishing a separate Rent Court and Rent Tribunal in every state/UTs to hear appeals for matters connected to rental housing.
    • Only the rent court and no civil court will have the jurisdiction to hear and decide the applications relating to disputes between landowner and tenant and matters connected with it.
    • It calls for the disposal of complaints and appeals by the Rent Court and Rent Tribunals within 60 days.

    (2) Tenancy Agreements:

    • It also seeks to establish an independent authority in every state and Union Territory for the registration of tenancy agreements.
    • Under the Act, unless otherwise agreed in the tenancy agreement, the landlord will be responsible for activities like structural repairs except those necessitated by damage caused by the tenant etc.
    • On his part, a tenant will be responsible for drain cleaning, switches and socket repairs, kitchen fixtures repairs, replacement of glass panels in windows, doors and maintenance of gardens and open spaces, among others.

    For residential and commercial properties

    • The Act will apply to premises let out for residential, commercial or educational use, but not for industrial use. It also won’t cover hotels, lodging houses, inns, etc.
    • This model law will be applied prospectively and will not affect existing tenancies.
    • It seeks to cover both urban as well as rural areas.
    • The Act says that a security deposit equal to a maximum of two month’s rent in the case of residential premises and a maximum of six month’s rent in the case of non-residential premises would have to be paid by the tenants.

    How will states implement it?

    • As per the MoU signed under PMAY-U, the states and union territories would legislate or amend the existing rental laws on the lines of the MTA.

    Why was a need felt to bring this on?

    (1) For a rental economy

    • Without a well-rounded rental policy and the proper implementation of the rental contracts, there was no sound mechanism to resolve tenant-landlord conflicts.
    • Property owners find it challenging to evict tenants if they misuse the property.
    • To steer clear of such complications, such property owners often chose to keep these homes vacant instead of renting them out.

    (2) Unattractive rental yield

    • In India, the rental yield for residential property is quite low, even in bigger cities. It is in the range of 1.5% to 3% of the capital values.
    • This has disincentivized people from investing in second or third homes which could be rented out.
    • Often, they also prefer to leave their properties vacant in case they return to India.
    • NRIs avoid leasing their residential properties for fear of squatters and dealing with the legalities of eviction.

    How will MTA help?

    (1) Unlocking homes

    • It will unlock vacant houses for rental purposes
    • It will enable the creation of adequate rental housing stock for all the income groups thereby addressing the issue of homelessness.

    (2) Helping migrants

    • Rental housing is a preferred option for students and migrants.
    • It will balance the rights of both landlords and tenants.

    (3) Effective negotiations

    • There is no monetary ceiling under MTA, which enables parties to negotiate and execute the agreement on mutually agreed terms.
    • It will give confidence to landlords to let out their vacant premises, the housing ministry said.
    • The Act also tries to address how a renter can legitimately increase the rent.

    (4) Control over encroachments

    • It has proposed limiting the advance security deposits to two months’ rent and has also suggested heavy penalties for tenants who decide to overstay.
    • Those who do may have to shell out double the rent for two months and even four months.

    (5) Rights of tenants

    • The landowner cannot cut power and water supplies in case of a dispute and would have to provide a 24-hour notice to tenants to carry out repair work.
    • Should the landlords wish to increase the rent, they will need to provide a three-months notice to the tenants.
    • These measures would go a long way in protecting the rights of a tenant as it regulates the rent hikes that tenants have had to face.

    Challenges ahead

    While the proposals of the Act have been widely welcomed, their implementation may not be very simple.

    (1) Not Binding nature

    • The Act is not binding on the states as land and urban development remain state subjects.
    • Like in the case of RERA, the fear is that states may choose not to follow guidelines, diluting the essence of the Model Act.

    (2) Issues over paltry rents

    • Also, the Model Act is prospectively applicable and will not affect the existing tenancies.
    • The repeal of rent control Acts can be governed by political exigencies.
    • This may be a complicated process in cities like Mumbai, where tenants have occupied residential properties in prime areas for absurdly low rents.

  • US investigation into India’s Digital Services Tax (DST)

    The US government has announced the further suspension of punitive tariffs for six months on India, Austria, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the UK while it continues to resolve the DST investigation amid the ongoing multilateral negotiations at the OECD and the G20.

    Do you remember?

    GAFA tax—named after Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon—is a proposed digital tax to be levied on large technology and internet companies.

    What are the Digital Services Taxes in India?

    • The NDA government had moved an amendment in the Finance Bill 2020-21 imposing a 2 percent digital service tax on trade and services by non-resident e-commerce operators with a turnover of over Rs 2 crore.
    • The new levy has expanded the ambit of the equalization levy for non-resident e-commerce operators involved in the supply of services, including the online sale of goods and provision of services.
    • E-commerce operators are obligated to pay the tax at the end of each quarter.
    • Estimates by the USTR indicate that the value of the DST payable by US-based company groups to India will be up to approximately $55 million per year.

    Also read:

    What are Digital Services Taxes?

    What is the story?

    • The US is focused on finding a multilateral solution to a range of key issues related to international taxation, including our concerns with digital services taxes.
    • It is trying to reaching a consensus on international tax issues through the OECD and G20 processes.

    Investigation regarding DST

    • The US has conducted a year-long investigation into digital services taxes imposed by countries, stating that they are against tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook.
    • It had determined that the digital services taxes adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the UK has discriminated against US digital companies and were inconsistent with principles of international taxation, and burdened US companies.

    What’s the case against India?

    • In the case of India, the USTR’s proposed course of action includes additional tariffs of up to 25 percent ad valorem on an aggregate level of trade.
    • Around 26 categories of goods are in the preliminary list of products that would be subject to the additional tariffs.
    • This includes shrimps, basmati rice, cigarette paper, cultured pearls, semi-precious stones, silver powder and silver articles of jewelry, gold mixed link necklaces, and neck chains, and certain furniture of bentwood.

    Why does India need DST?

    • The agenda to reform international tax law so that digital companies are taxed where economic activities are carried is still a work in progress.
    • Due to this, countries are worried that they might cede their right to tax incomes. Therefore, many countries have either proposed or implemented a digital services tax.
    • The proliferation of digital service taxes (DSTs) is a symptom of the changing international economic order.
    • Countries such as India which provides large markets for digital corporations seek a greater right to tax incomes.
    • The taxation of the digitalized economy turned out to be a relatively contentious issue because there is a huge asymmetry in digital service providers and consumers.