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Distribution: weekly

  • What is The Great Reset?

    This news card is an excerpt from the original article published in The Indian Express and is articulated by C. Raja Mohan.

    The Great Reset

    • The Great Reset is a proposal by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to rebuild the economy sustainably following the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • It was unveiled in May 2020 by the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles and WEF director Klaus Schwab.

    The basis for the said reset

    • It is based on the assessment that the world economy is in deep trouble.
    • Schwab has argued that the situation has been made a lot worse by many factors, including the pandemic’s devastating effects on global society, the un- folding technological revolution, and the consequences of climate change.
    • He demands that the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions.
    • Every country must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed.

    Agenda behind

    The agenda of The Great Reset touches on many key issues facing the world a/c to C Raja Mohan. Three of them stand out as:

    First is the question of reforming capitalism

    • The WEF has been at the forefront of calling for “stakeholder capitalism” that looks beyond the traditional corporate focus on maximizing profit for shareholders.

    Second, it is certainly right to focus on the deepening climate crisis

    • Climate skeptics have been ousted from Washington and President Biden has rejoined the 2015 Paris accord on mitigating climate change.

    The third is the growing difficulty of global cooperation

    • The era of great power harmony that accompanied the liberalization of the global economy at the turn of the 1990s has yielded place to intense contestation. The contestation is not just political but increasingly economic and technological.

  • Green Tax for personal vehicles older than 15 years

    The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways has approved a proposal to levy a ‘green tax’ on old vehicles.

    Do read about Green Mobility, India’s FAME-I and II Scheme.

    Green Tax

    • Personal vehicles will be charged a tax at the time of renewal of Registration Certification after 15 years.
    • The policy will come into effect from April 1, 2022.
    • The levy may differ depending on fuel (petrol/diesel) and type of vehicle.
    • The proposal will now go to the States for consultation before it is formally notified.
    • It includes 10-25% of road tax on transport vehicles older than eight years at the time of renewal of fitness certificate.
    • The proposal on green tax also includes a steeper penalty of up to 50% of road tax for older vehicles registered in some of the highly polluted cities in the country.
    • Revenue collected from this tax will be kept in a separate account and will be used for tackling pollution, and for States to set up state-of-art facilities for emission monitoring.

    Why such a move?

    • To dissuade people from using vehicles which damage the environment
    • To motivate people to switch to newer, less polluting vehicles
    • Green tax will reduce the pollution level, and make the polluter pay for pollution

    Exemptions to this tax

    • Vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles and alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol, LPG etc to be exempted;
    • Vehicles used in farming, such as tractor, harvester, tiller etc to be exempted;

    Other proposals

    • The Ministry also approved a watered-down policy of deregistration and scrapping of vehicles, bringing only those vehicles owned by government departments and PSUs and are older than 15 years under its ambit.
    • In 2016, the Centre had floated a draft Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernization Programme that aimed to take 28 million decade-old vehicles off the road.

  • Global Climate Risk Index 2021

    India was ranked the seventh worst-hit country in 2019 in the Global Climate Risk Index 2021.

    The report holds much significance for prelims as well as mains. Just for the sake of information, we must be aware of India’s performance.

    Global Climate Risk Index

    • The GCRI is released annually by the environmental think tank and sustainable development lobbyist Germanwatch.
    • It analyses to what extent countries have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.).
    • It pushes for the need to support developing countries in coping with the effects of climate change.

    Highlights of the 2020 year

    Global prospects

    • Mozambique, Zimbabwe and The Bahamas were the worst-affected countries in 2019.
    • While hurricane Dorian ravaged The Bahamas; Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi were affected by the single extreme weather event of cyclone Idai.
    • Japan and Afghanistan were the other countries that fared worse than India on the Index, while South Sudan, Niger and Bolivia fared better in comparison but still made it to the top 10 worst-affected countries.

    The burden of development

    • Eight of the 10 countries most affected between 2000 and 2019 were developing countries with low or lower middle income per capita.
    • Vulnerable people in developing countries suffered most from extreme weather events like storms, floods and heatwaves, whereas the impact of climate change was visible around the globe.
    • Poorer countries are hit hardest because they are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of a hazard and have the lower coping capacity.

    Data about India

    • According to the Index floods caused by heavy rain in 2019 took 1,800 lives across 14 states in India and displaced 1.8 million people.
    • Overall, the intense monsoon season affected 11.8 million people, with the economic damage estimated to be $10 billion (Rs.72,900 crore at $1=INR 72.9).
    • A total of eight tropical cyclones meant that 2019 was one of the most active Northern Indian Ocean cyclone seasons on record. Six of them intensified to become “very severe”.
    • The worst was Cyclone Fani in May 2019 which affected a total of 28 million people, killing nearly 90 people in India and Bangladesh, and causing economic losses of $8.1 billion (Rs.59,066 crore).

  • Ayushman Bharat for CAPFs

    Union Home Minister has rolled out the ‘Ayushman CAPF’ scheme, extending the benefit of the central health insurance programme to the personnel of all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in the country.

    Who are the CAPFs?

    • The CAPFs refers to uniform nomenclature of five security forces in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
    • Their role is to defend the national interest mainly against the internal threats.
    • They are the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)

    Ayushman CAPF

    • Under this scheme, around 28 lakh personnel of CAPF, Assam Rifles and National Security Guard (NSG) and their families will be covered by ‘Ayushman Bharat: PM Jan Arogya Yojana’ (AB PM-JAY).
    • For the CAPF, the existing health coverage was not comprehensive as compared to other military forces.

    Do you know?

    The goal of universal health coverage (UHC) as stated in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs no. 3) is one of the most significant commitments to equitable quality healthcare for all.

    About Ayushman Bharat

    • PM-JAY aims to provide free access to healthcare for 40% of people in the country.
    • It is a centrally sponsored scheme and is jointly funded by both the union government and the states.
    • It was launched in September 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
    • The ministry has later established the National Health Authority as an organization to administer the program.

    Key features:

    • Providing health coverage for 10 crores households or 50 crores Indians.
    • It provides a cover of 5 lakh per family per year for medical treatment in empanelled hospitals, both public and private.
    • Offering cashless payment and paperless recordkeeping through the hospital or doctor’s office.
    • Using criteria from the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 to determine eligibility for benefits.
    • There is no restriction on family size, age or gender.
    • All previous medical conditions are covered under the scheme.
    • It covers 3 days of pre-hospitalization and 15 days of post-hospitalization, including diagnostic care and expenses on medicines.
    • The scheme is portable and a beneficiary can avail medical treatment at any PM-JAY empanelled hospital outside their state and anywhere in the country.

    Note these features. They cannot be memorized all of sudden but can be recognized if a tricky MCQ comes in the prelims.

    Must read:

    [Burning Issue] Ayushmaan Bharat

  • New WhatsApp Privacy Policy

    Privacy policy update by the WhatsApp recently led to widespread protest from the user forcing company to put the update on hold. If India had made Personal Protection Bill into the law, the privacy policy update would have been illegal. The article deals with this issue.

    About WhatsApp

    • WhatsApp’s unique blend of text, audio, and voice messaging and calling platform.
    • In November 2014, WhatsApp adopted the Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption after its acquisition by Facebook.
    • WhatsApp has two billion users worldwide, of which 400 million are in India, the largest in any country.

    What the privacy policy update is about

    • The updated policy seeks consent from users to allow the platform to share their data with Facebook and its companies,
    • It means that WhatsApp would share transaction data, mobile device information, IP addresses, and other metadata on how users interact with businesses on WhatsApp.
    • Such sharing would be done with the user being notified before the start of a chat if the business uses Facebook to store and analyze data and the user would have the option of blocking the business.
    • The update would defy the principle of purpose limitation that has been the yardstick of addressing privacy concerns at a global level.

    What is the principle of purpose limitation

    • The Indian government has also sent a strong note to WhatsApp, seeking the company’s response to 14 queries.
    • This note has sent a clear message to WhatsApp to not subject Indian users to greater information security risks and vulnerabilities with the consolidation of data from WhatsApp and Facebook.
    • In the note, the government referred to the principle of purpose limitation provisions in the Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) currently being discussed by a joint select committee.
    • Had the bill been passed by now, WhatsApp’s move would have been illegal.
    • Provisions in the bill required that every data intermediary has to take explicit permission from the user whose data would be harvested.
    • Even the method of data classification into sensitive personal data and critical data has been defined and their processing possibilities mentioned in the bill.

    Way forward

    • The government should make the Personal Data Protection Bill into law so that such restrictive practices can never be introduced in the first place.
    • It is due to such law, WhatsApp did make an exception for its users in the European Union.
    • The Competition Commission of India should take note that this is a classic case of an organization using its near-monopolistic power to push through something that is not in the consumer interest.

    Consider the question “What is the principle of purpose limitation in the Personal Data Protection Bill? How it can help user protect its privacy?”

    Conclusion

    As Digital India expands and brings in more users from the current base of 70 crores, and more take to social media for communications and business, they must be ensured a safer digital space, given that most wouldn’t be aware of the reach of the data being generated.

  • A new framework around caste and the census

    The article suggests the ways to make the most of the data collected through Census and the SECC.

    Census and issues with it

    • The synchronous decennial Census has evolved over time and has been used by the government, policymakers, academics, and others.
    • Though Census is both a data collection effort and a technique of governance, it is criticized for not being useful enough for a detailed and comprehensive understanding of a complex society.
    •  There is a lack of depth in the Census where some issues are concerned.

    The debate around full-scale Caste Census

    • Since Independence, aggregated Census data on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on certain parameters such as education have been collected.
    • There is a growing demand for a full-scale caste census to capture contemporary Indian society and to understand and remedy inequalities.
    • While others believe that this large administrative exercise of capturing caste and its complexities is not only difficult but also socially untenable.
    • There have been concerns that counting caste may help solidify or harden identities, or that caste may be context-specific, and thus difficult to measure.
    • The other concern is whether an institution such as a caste can even be captured completely by the Census.

    Socio-Economic Caste Census: how it is different from Census

    • Following debate over full-scale caste census, the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was conducted in 2011.
    • The SECC, which collected the first figures on caste in Census operations since 1931, is the largest exercise of the enumeration of caste.
    • Questions remain on whether the SECC is able to cover the effects of caste as an aspect of Indian social structure.
    • This was a distinct exercise from the Census of 2011.
    • The Census and the SECC have different purposes.
    • Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas the SECC data is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.
    • The Census thus provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.

    Way forward

    • What is needed is a discussion on the caste data that already exists, how it has been used and understood by the government.
    • Linking and syncing aggregated Census data to other large datasets such as the National Sample Surveys or the National Family Health Surveys that cover issues that the Census exercises do not, such as maternal health, would be significant for a more comprehensive analysis.
    • This linking of the Census with the National Sample Survey data has been suggested in the past by scholars such as Mamta Murthi and colleagues.
    • Census operations across the world are going through significant changes, employing methods that are precise, faster, and cost-effective, involving coordination between different data sources.
    • Care must however be taken to ensure that digital alternatives and linking of data sources involving Census operations are inclusive and non-discriminatory, especially given the sensitive nature of the data being collected.
    • Delay in the release of data needs to be reduced.
    • There needs to be a closer and continuous engagement between functionaries of the Census and SECC, along with academics and other stakeholders concerned.

    Consider the question “How Socio-Economic and Caste Census is different from the Census? How linking and syncing of  these data with other databases could help in the governance?”

    Conclusion

    Data collected through both the exercises serve an important purpose in the governance of the country, however, there is scope to widen the use of data if the steps suggested here are implemented.

  • Making a Law ‘Operational’

    In the ongoing stalemate between protesting farmers and the Centre, the government has repeated its offer of keeping the three contentious farm laws on hold for one to one-and-a-half years.

    Bringing/removing a law

    • Parliament has the power to make a law and to remove it from the statute books (a law can be struck down by the judiciary if it is unconstitutional).
    • But the passing of a Bill does not mean that it will start working from the next day.
    • There are three more steps for it to become a functioning law.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Who/Which of the following is the custodian of the Constitution of India?

    (a) The President of India

    (b) The Prime Minister of India

    (c) The Lok Sabha Secretariat

    (d) The Supreme Court of India

    Making a law operational

    • The first step is the President giving his or her assent to the Bill.
    • Then the law comes into effect from a particular date. President Kovind signed the three farm Bills into law within a week of their passing in September 2020.
    • And finally, the government frames the rules and regulations to make the law operational on the ground.
    • The completion of these steps determines when the law becomes functional.

    Presidents’ actions

    • Article 111 of the Constitution specifies that the President can either sign off on the Bill or withhold his consent.
    • The President rarely withholds their assent to a Bill.
    • The last time it happened was in 2006 when President APJ Abdul Kalam refused to sign a Bill protecting MPs from disqualification for holding an office of profit.
    • A Bill is sent to Parliament for reconsideration if the President withholds his or her assent on it.
    • And if Parliament sends it back to the President, he or he has no choice but to approve it.

    A curious case of date of effect

    • The next step is deciding the date on which the law comes into effect.
    • In many cases, Parliament delegates to the government the power to determine this date.
    • The Bill states that the law “shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act”.

    Example:  Parliament passed the Recycling of Ships Act in December 2019. In October 2020, the government brought Section 3 of the law into force.  This section empowers the government to designate an officer to supervise all ship recycling activities in India.

    Giving effect to the implementation

    • There are also instances when the government does not bring a law into force for many years.
    • Two examples are the National Environment Tribunal Act and the Delhi Rent Control Act, which Parliament passed during PM P V Narasimha Rao’s tenure.
    • The government never brought these laws into force, which were passed in 1995 and cleared by the President.
    • The NGT Act finally repealed the environmental tribunal law in 2010. And a Bill to repeal the Delhi Rent Control Act introduced in 2013 is still pending in Rajya Sabha

    Rules & regulations to be made

    • For the law to start working on the ground, individuals need to be recruited or given the power, to administer it.
    • The implementing ministry also needs to finalise forms to gather information and provide benefits or services.
    • These day-to-day operational details are called rules and regulations. And Parliament gives the government the responsibility of making them. These regulations are critical for the functioning of law.
    • If the government does not make rules and regulations, law or parts of it will not get implemented.

    Example: The Benami Transactions Act of 1988 is an example of a complete law remaining unimplemented. For 25 years, such properties were immune from seizure in the absence of framing relevant government rules. The law was finally repealed in 2016 and replaced with a new one.

    A final word on implementation

    • Parliament has recommended that the government make rules within six months of passing a law.
    • But parliamentary committees have observed that this recommendation is being followed in breach by various ministries.
    • The government not only has the power to make rules but can also suppress rules made by it earlier.

  • [pib] Shramshakti Portal

    The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs has launched the “ShramShakti” Portal.

    Earlier we had ONORC move, now a repository for migrant workers. Keep a tab on all such updates for the welfare of migrant workers.

    Shramshakti Portal

    • It is a National Migration Support Portal.
    • It will record various data including demographic profile, livelihood options, skill mapping, and migration pattern.
    • It would effectively help in the smooth formulation of state and national level programs for migrant workers.

    Why need such a portal?

    • Migrants all over the country had to face after the lockdown was announced due to the pandemic caused by a coronavirus.
    • The migration of the tribal population is distress-driven and the migrants are exposed to difficult and unsafe conditions.
    • Sometimes they face trafficking or wage harassment issues including many occupational hazards at the workplace.
    • The lack of real-time data of migrants was the biggest challenge for governments in formulating effective strategies and policy decisions for the welfare of migrant workers at both source and destination states.

    Benefits of the portal

    • The tribal migration repository would be able to successfully address the data gap and empower migrant workers who generally migrate in search of employment and income generation.
    • It would also help the government for linking the migrant population with the existing Welfare Scheme- under Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

    A move for tribals

    • Tribal migrant workers often have low awareness about their rights and entitlements and ways to access services and social security in source and destination areas.
    • With this, they will be able to demand and access services, rights, and entitlements related to livelihood and social security at their village before migration, as well after migration at destination towns and cities.

  • China builds a new village in Arunachal Pradesh

    Satellite images show that China has constructed a new village in Arunachal Pradesh, around 4.5 kilometres inside of the de facto border on the Indian side.

    Indian and Chinese soldiers have confronted each other in their deadliest clash in decades in Ladakh last year and the earlier one in Doklam. Now another front has been opened up by China in Arunachal.

    This year could face another ugliest standoffs and skirmishes.

    Location of the village

    • The village, located on the banks of the River Tsari Chu, lies in the Upper Subansiri district.
    • It is an area that has been long disputed by India and China and has been marked by armed conflict.
    • Sources in the defense ministry have said that Beijing has, for years, maintained an army post on this territory, and the various constructions by the Chinese have not happened suddenly.

    Background of the story

    • China’s June 1959 operation known as the Longju incident reportedly accused Indian troops of occupying some places in Tibet and colluding with Tibetan rebels.
    • In August same year, the PLA clashed with the Indian personnel of the 9 Assam Rifles.
    • Two Indian soldiers were killed in action and the issue was finally resolved through diplomatic channels. Both sides withdrew from the area on August 20, 1960.
    • And the Assam Rifles then did not re-occupy the post.
    • In the late 1990s however, China established a company level post 3 kilometers inside the Indian Territory. Since then, the area remains contested to this day.

    India and Arunachal

    • Arunachal Pradesh (called South Tibet in China) is a full-fledged state of India.
    • India’s sovereignty over the area is internationally recognized and its residents have not shown any inclination to leave India.
    • The majority of the international maps acknowledge the area to be an Indian Territory.
    • China has some (pre-) historical claims through its ownership of Tibet, but the people and geography primarily favor India.

    Back2Basics: Chinese claim over Arunachal Pradesh

    • When the new Peoples Republic of China was formed in February 1912 after the abdication of the Qing emperor, the Tibetans asserted their independence.
    • They forced the Chinese troops based in Lhasa to return to the mainland-via India. A year later, Tibet declared independence from China.
    • In order to ensure that the unrest did not spread to India and assert their boundaries, the ruling British convened a tripartite meeting at Shimla with Tibetan and Chinese delegates to define the border.
    • The meeting gave China suzerainty over most of Tibet, and the boundary defined in this treaty was later known as the McMohan line.

    Chinese reluctance

    • The essential dispute is over China’s refusal to acknowledge the McMohan Line as the border between the two nations, and staking claim to large tracts of land as a contiguous part of Tibet.
    • However, it laid claim to the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh.
    • In the 16th century, the most important heritage of the state – Tawang Monastery was built. This is one of the most important sites for Tibetan Buddhists.
    • China never recognized Tibet’s independence nor the 1914 Simla convention.
    • In 1950 China completely took over Tibet. Thus, according to their version, the Tawang region belongs to them.
    • It especially wants to hold on to the monastery as that is a leading center of Tibetan Buddhism in India.

  • What is Nitrogen-Use Efficiency (NUE)?

    A group of Indian scientists have found a way to improve crops by reducing wastage of nitrogen fertilizers applied to them.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which of the following adds/add nitrogen to the soil?

    1. Excretion of Urea by animals
    2. Burning of coal by man
    3. Death of vegetation

    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

    Nitrogen-Use Efficiency

    • NUE is calculated as a ratio between nitrogen used and harvest: A higher number denotes low wastage.
    • With the efficiency on the decline, farmers use more fertiliser in the hope of raising yield. This in turn worsens NUE.
    • Crops generally use up 30 per cent of nitrogen fertilizer applied; the rest seeps into the environment, harming health and adding to climate change.
    • Researchers were able to identify phenotypes or visibly identifiable features that determine the efficiency with which cultivated rice varieties (cultivars) use nitrogen.
    • This efficiency is known as nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE).
    • Cereals consume over 69 per cent of nitrogen fertilizers in India; rice tops the list with 37 per cent, followed by wheat (24 per cent).

    Nitrogen Pollution: the reason behind

    • Agriculture leads to 70 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions in India.
    • Of this, 77 per cent is contributed by fertilizers, mostly urea, according to the Indian Nitrogen Assessment published in 2017.
    • This greenhouse gas (GHG) is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
    • It has replaced methane as the second-largest component of GHG emissions from Indian agriculture in the past 15 years.

    Must read:

    [Burning Issue] Nitrogen Pollution in India