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Distribution: yearly

  • Let’s think afresh about how to govern India’s gig workforce

     Context

    The gig economy plays to employment patterns in India, where most of the workforce is engaged in “informal” jobs in the “unorganized” sector.

    Employment pattern in India

    • Non-contractual employment: A recent study of employment patterns over a 13-year period ended 2017 for the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council finds that non-contractual employment grew by 68 million over the period.
      • And “has been a hero of employment generation growing by about 5% annually“.
      • There were 145 million people in non-contractual employment in 2017-18.
      • Professionals constituted the most rapidly growing occupations, with older, better educated and skilled witnessing higher growth.
    • Unorganised sector growing at much higher rate than organised sector: The study also found that unorganized sector employment grew by 65 million between 2004 and 2017, compared to only 27 million new jobs in the organized sector.
      • What does the asymmetric rate suggests? It suggests that businesses are finding it more convenient to sustain themselves when they are below the radar of the government.
    • Potential for growth of gig economy: As technology and business models take the gig economy across the country and implant it more deeply into the Indian economy, we can expect to see a lot more people find employment through online marketplaces and technology platforms.

    Regulation of labour laws and expanding the tax base

    • Social Security Code: In December, the government introduced legislation in Parliament that seeks to consolidate a number of labour laws into a Social Security Code.
      • Who will be covered in the code? The new statute encompasses self-employed professionals, freelancers and platform workers, such as those employed by taxi aggregators and food delivery companies.
    • Widening the tax base: The tax person is not far behind.
      • Recent reports suggest that revenue officials are leaning on platforms and aggregators to get gig workers registered with the goods and services tax (GST) network.
      • Need to reflect on how to govern the gig workforce? While it is just as well that the government is attempting to rationalize labour regulations and expand the country’s tax base, it is important to step back and reflect on how the gig workforce ought to be governed.

    The new approach to classification of jobs: Income and volatility

    • Classification on the basis of two fundamental characteristics: If we discard the mental model that has long classified jobs as formal and informal, and look at work afresh, we observe that jobs vary along with two fundamental characteristics:
      • The level of income they generate and-
      • The volatility of this income.
      • Example: A security guard at a company might earn a few thousand rupees a month, but with the assurance of a regular monthly paycheque.
    • More informative way: Instead of the old binary formulation of informal versus formal jobs, it is more informative to see jobs being distributed on a spectrum depending on how much they pay and how volatile the income flows they provide are.
      • Wherever a job lies in this spectrum, the objective of public policy ought to be to ensure a “trimurti”.

    Ensuring Trimurti

    • Frist-Providing dignified working conditions: Promoting dignified working conditions include-
      • Ensuring fairness.
      • Respect.
      • Safety.
      • Protection against exploitation and-
      • Arrangements for retirement.
      • Need to ensure the obligation from employers: This means that even as labour laws are rationalized to eliminate outdated and hard-coded regulations, it is necessary to ensure that all employers retain an obligation to promote the dignity of all their employees.
    • Second-Need to lower the barriers: Real wages grow not because the government imposes minimum wages, but when productivity rises.
      • Productivity growth occurs when barriers to trade, investment and travel are lowered.
      • A closed economy cannot be a successful gig economy.
    • Finally-A re-imagined social security system: A re-imagined social security system for the 21st century must tap government, corporate and social contributions for insurance and retirement accounts.
      • Such a multi-contribution system is possible today and the proposed Social Security Code is an opportunity to put in place such a future-proof framework.

    How to handle the dispute arising out of the gig economy

    • Start online dispute resolution system: The gig economy is perhaps the best place for India to start its first online automated dispute resolution system.
      • You can’t govern the 21st-century economy with 18th-century technology.

    Conclusion

    While ensuring the application of the labour code to the gig economy and bringing them in the tax net the government also ensure the conducive environment for the gig economy to flourish and contribute significantly in the growth of the country.

     

     

  • Urban Heat Islands in India

     

    A recent study from IIT Kharagpur called “Anthropogenic forcing exacerbating the urban heat islands in India” noted that the relatively warmer temperature in urban areas, compared to suburbs, may contain potential health hazards due to heat waves apart from pollution.

    About the study

    • The research did study the difference between urban and surrounding rural land surface temperatures, across all seasons in 44 major cities from 2001 to 2017.
    • It found evidence of mean daytime temperature of surface urban heat island (UHI Intensity) going up to 2 degrees C for most cities, as analysed from satellite temperature measurements in monsoon and post monsoon periods.
    • Other researchers from elsewhere have also noticed similar rise in daytime temperatures in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.

    What is an Urban Heat Island?

    • An urban heat island (abbreviated as UHI) is where the temperature in a densely populated city is as much as 2 degrees higher than suburban or rural areas.
    • This happens because of the materials used for pavements, roads and roofs, such as concrete, asphalt (tar) and bricks, which are opaque, do not transmit light, but have higher heat capacity and thermal conductivity than rural areas, which have more open space, trees and grass.
    • Trees and plants are characterised by their ‘evapotranspiration’— a combination of words wherein evaporation involves the movement of water to the surrounding air, and transpiration refers to the movement of water within a plant and a subsequent lot of water through the stomata (pores found on the leaf surface) in its leaves.
    • Grass, plants and trees in the suburbs and rural areas do this. The lack of such evapotranspiration in the city leads to the city experiencing higher temperature than its surroundings.

    Latent impacts

    • UHI s also decrease air quality in the cities, thanks to pollution generated by industrial and automobile exhaust, higher extent of particulate matter and greater amounts of dust than in rural areas.
    • Due to this higher temperature in urban areas, the UHI increases the colonization of species that like warm temperatures, such as lizards and geckos.
    • Insects such as ants are more abundant here than in rural areas; these are referred to as ectotherms.
    • In addition, cities tend to experience heat waves which affect human and animal health, leading to heat cramps, sleep deprivation and increased mortality rates.
    • UHIs also impact nearby water bodies, as warmer water (thanks to the pavements, rooftops and so on) is transferred from the city to drains in sewers, and released into nearby lakes and creeks, thus impairing their water quality.

    Control of UHIs and mitigation

    • Industrialization and economic development are vital to the country, but the control of UHIs and their fallouts are equally vital. Towards this, several methods are being, and can be, tried.
    • One of them is to use greener rooftops, using light-coloured concrete (using limestone aggregates along with asphalt (or tar) making the road surface greyish or even pinkish (as some places in the US have done); these are 50% better than black, since they absorb less heat and reflect more sunlight.
    • Likewise, we should paint rooftops green, and install solar panels there amidst a green background.
    • The other is to plant as many trees and plants as possible

    Why plant more trees?

    Relevant to the present context are:

    • they combat climate change; clean the surrounding air by absorbing pollutant gases (NXOy, O3, NH3, SO2, and others) and trapping particulates on their leaves and bark;
    • they cool the city and the streets; conserve energy (cutting air-conditioning costs by 50%); save water and help prevent water pollution; help prevent soil erosion; protect people and children from UV light;
    • they offer economic opportunities; bring diverse group of people together; encourage civic pride by giving neighborhoods a new identity; mask concrete walls, thus muffling sounds from streets and highways, and eye-soothing canopy of green; and the more a business district has trees, more business follows.

  • How countries play the tariff game

     Context

    It is important to have a stable tariff policy which would help to link effectively to global value chains.

    Why countries levy tariff?

    • The tariff is a tax levied on an imported good at the border.
    • Countries use tariffs to-
      • Provide easy market access or restrict them to protect domestic industry.
      • It also serves the purpose of revenue collection and-
      • To achieve some strategic objectives by giving/denying tariff concessions to countries.

    Harmonised System in international trade

    • What is it? Goods are classified at 2, 4, 6, 8 digits and some countries have even up to 10 digits, depending upon the level of trade potential of a country.
    • WCO’s system of codes: The classification of these codes is streamlined under an international coding system called ‘Harmonized System’ (HS) under World Customs Organization (WCO) to which 138 countries are contracting parties and about 200 customs authorities are signatories.
    • India’s national tariff lines are about 11,000 at HS 8-digit.

    Historic background of the tariffs

    • Colonial-era: During the colonial era tariffs were heavily used to protect the domestic industry, enjoy unbridled access to the colonized markets and raise tariffs against competitors.
    • Adam Smith’s advocacy of free trade: Adam Smith in 18th Century challenged this idea of regimented trade with his advocacy of free trade that was convincingly brought out in his seminal work ‘Wealth of Nations’.
    • Theory of comparative advantage: Further, in the 19th Century, David Ricardo, building on this concept, propagated the ‘theory of comparative advantage’.
      • The theory proposes that nations should remain focused on their specific areas of competence and allowed to trade freely with other countries.
      • This theory is against import substitution and considers raising tariffs as a drag on economic growth.
    • What proponents of high tariff said? Proponents of high tariffs assert that-
      • Developed countries dominated global markets for decades with high tariffs, developing countries should continue to enjoy differential tariff treatment until they catch up with the rest.

    How countries calibrate tariffs?

    • Each country calibrates its tariffs taking into account its-
      • Domestic production.
      • Demand and
      • Sensitivities.
    • Typically, tariff structures of a manufacturing country reveal a pattern:
      • Low tariffs on raw materials and intermediate goods in the range of 0-5%.
      • Slightly higher tariffs for finished goods in the range of 7-10%.
      • Higher tariffs for agriculture products at above 15%, sometimes up to bound rates as allowed under WTO.
      • As agriculture lines are politically sensitive, most countries zealously guard them with high tariffs.

    Export-import linkage and effects of high tariffs

    • How tariffs could harm export competitiveness: Availability of cheaper raw materials and intermediate products support making of competitively priced finished goods for export markets.
      • The challenge for an entrepreneur is to find these cheaper inputs.
      • If these inputs are not available domestically at competitive rates, they look to source them from outside.
      • But as high tariffs act as barriers to sourcing cheaper inputs, they undermine export competitiveness of a product.
    • Implications for MSMEs
      • For MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), this dependency linkage is even more critical, without which they might close down their operations under threat of persistent losses or low returns.
      • Impact on jobs and economy: This would have consequential impact on jobs, income and consumer choices in an economy.
    • Inefficiency and corruption at entry points: High tariffs could breed inefficiency and corruption at the entry points as it leaves much scope for discretion at the hands of officials, circumvention through under/over-invoicing and violation of rules of origin.
    • Impairing demand: Overtime, high tariffs run the risks of impairing demand and paralyzing domestic manufacturing.
    • Maintaining judicious balance: Leveraging tariffs for benchmarking domestic prices is not an uncommon practice in any country.
      • But maintaining a judicious balance between the interests of primary producers and user industries is imperative, given that there exists an intimate link between imports and exports.

    India and Global Value Chain (GVC)

    • 80% trade through More than 80% of the global trade runs through Global Value Chains (GVCs) which have evolved extensively in various regions of the world.
      • Low tariffs help GVCs to thrive, essentially for the purpose of sourcing and accessing foreign markets.
    • Why stable tariff policy is important for India?
      • For India to emerge as a global hub for “networked products” and make every district an ‘export hub’ for a specific item, as envisaged in this year’s Budget, it is important to have a stable and predictable tariff policy which would help to link effectively to GVCs.
      • For investors: From an investor’s point of view a stable tariff policy is a huge motivation.

    Free-trade agreements and hope of getting market access

    • Market access: The assumption that tariff concessions under bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) would help get market access is misplaced.
      • Why the assumption is misplaced? In reality, this may not happen as same concessions can be offered by a country to other trading partners in a trade arrangement or throw open to all countries on an MFN (most favoured nation) basis.
      • Inverted duties situation: Gradual tariff liberalization is a natural progression and failing to do so could result in a situation of inverted duties where finished products end up being cheaper than raw materials and intermediate goods
      • Thus, calling for tariff correction in course of time.

    Revenue Generation through tariffs

    • Why it is not a good idea? The domestic consumers ultimately end up absorbing import duties as they get passed onto products they consume.
    • Taxing own people: This is akin to taxing one’s own people in an indirect way by making them pay more for a product than in other markets.
    • Revenue generation from enhanced activities: For these reasons, the idea of revenue collection from import duties is losing steam, and instead, revenue generation from enhanced economic activity is gaining wider acceptance as a dynamic process.

    Conclusion

    Increasing tariffs on the import can end up hurting the economy than benefitting it in the long run, so the government must reconsider the policy of tariff increase.

     

  • Fine-tuning GST

    Context

    Even as the 31-month-old GST evolves, the debate on its success rages on. Many have argued that GST is losing its sheen and needs a complete overhaul while others contend that the new tax system is on course and the trials and tribulations were not unexpected.

    Analysis of GST collection

    • 39% increase over the average of the base year 2015-16: The average monthly GST collection for the period August 2017 to January 2020 stands at Rs 97,188 crore which is an impressive 39 per cent increase over the average monthly collection of subsumed taxes in the base year 2015-16, at around Rs 70,000 crore.
    • The average growth rate of 9.7% per year: This is an average growth rate of 9.7 per cent over the almost 4-year period post-2015-16 and a compounded growth rate of 8.55 per cent.
      • Though less than 14% but not insignificant: This compounded growth rate is not insignificant even though it is just about 0.61 times the very ambitious 14 per cent rate of growth promised to the states before GST rollout.
    • Perception of infectiveness due to ambitious 14% promise: The average growth rate of the collection in 18 non-special category states (accounting for the bulk of the revenue) during the 3-year period immediately preceding GST stood at around 8.9 per cent.
      • Thus, if the perception about the effectiveness of GST has not been very encouraging, it is only in the context of the very ambitious 14 per cent compounded annual growth rate promised to the states.

    Reasons for tepid growth in GST collections

    • The overall economic situation in the country: The revenue performance of GST during the current fiscal year is not out of sync with the overall economic situation in the country.
      • The growth rate in tax yield at 4.69 %: Accordingly, during the 10-month period ending January 2020, the growth rate in tax yield was 4.69 per cent.
      • The relatively tepid growth was primarily due to a negative growth of 4.03 per cent in September-October 2019.
      • After the dip in September-October 2019, GST collections rebounded and this is a reminder that one need not write GST off in a hurry.
    • Complacency in the states due to 14% promise: Complacency in the states on account of assured 14 per cent growth cannot be ruled out.
      • States were jolted with the delay in compensation for August-September 2019 and resorted to vigorous monitoring of compliance and action against toxic and unverified credits, circular trading and tax evasion which had resulted in unmatched credit claims of around Rs 50,000 crore.

    Two suggestions as corrective measures

    • The GST Council deliberated on the recent trends in revenue collection and was cognizant of the need for corrective measures. Two options were suggested. One was the “big bang” approach-
    • Big Bang approach: It involves an overhaul of-
      • The legal framework.
      • Processes and systems and-
      • Re-writing GST almost de novo.
    • A steady-state approach: A “steady-state” approach involved-
      • Incremental reforms.
      • Solving problems as they arise.
      • Plugging loopholes.
      • Improving the compliance environment through increased monitoring with better tools.
    • The Council chose the second approach and the signs are already showing.

    The steps taken-

    • Red flag reports: The GSTN has developed red flag reports based on GSTR-1, auto-generated GSTR-2A, GSTR-3B and the national e-way bill system.
      • These reports identify non-filers so that action can be taken against active taxpayers who defaulted in filing returns.
      • Till November 2019, around 6 lakh dealers had defaulted in furnishing one or more returns from July 2017 involving estimated tax liabilities of around Rs 25,000 crore.
      • Increase in the filing: An SOP has been developed for proceeding against such return defaulters and this has helped increase the percentage of filing which has contributed to revenue.
    • Making Aadhaar mandatory: To further the ease of doing business, it was decided to grant registration without physical verification and a system of deemed registration was put in place.
      • Spot verification has unearthed non-existent dealers and led to the cancellation of around 1 million entities.
      • It has now been decided to mandate Aadhaar authentication for taking new registration and thereafter the existing registered taxpayer population would have to undergo Aadhaar authentication in a phased manner.
    • Use of analytical tools: Advanced analytic tools are being used to unravel complex networks of firms created just for generating credit and these analyses are being strengthened through machine learning and AI.
      • An all-India offence/enforcement database is being built.
    • System of data exchange with other agencies: In order to identify dealers posing a “hazard” to revenue and do a 360-degree profile of risky taxpayers, a system of regular data exchange with banks, CBDT, ED, RoC and other agencies is being put in place.
      • Fraudsters will find it almost impossible to game the system.
      • The new return system set to roll from April 1 is expected to curb incidences of unmatched turnovers and utilisation of un-validated.
    • System of e-invoicing: In order to validate and improve the quality and fidelity of invoice reporting and return filing, a system of e-invoicing is proposed to be implemented in a phased manner beginning April 1.
      • This will begin with taxpayers with turnovers exceeding Rs 500 crore and will auto-populate e-way bill generation and filing of Anx-1 in the new return system apart from validating credit flow from taxpayers.

    Conclusion

    These measures will effect qualitative improvement to the compliance eco-system which will not only lead to an improvement in the collection but will also make life easier for taxpayers and tax authorities alike.

  • Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR)

    The Supreme Court came down heavily on the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for issuing a notification that asked for no coercive action against telecom companies even though they had not paid the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues by the stipulated deadline.

    What is AGR?

    • Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) is the usage and licensing fee that telecom operators are charged by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
    • It is divided into spectrum usage charges and licensing fees.

    What does SC order on AGR mean?

    • The order by the top court means that the telecom companies will have to immediately clear the pending AGR dues, which amount to nearly Rs 1.47 lakh crore.
    • Vodafone Idea, which has to pay up nearly Rs 53,000 crore, faces the prospect of shutting down business.
    • Bharti Airtel, which faces a payout of more than Rs 21,000 crore, could also be in trouble for not paying the AGR dues on time.
    • Other than the telcos, non-telecom companies could also be facing huge payouts individually, which amount to total of Rs 3 lakh crore.

    What exactly did the government notification say?

    • The Licensing Finance Policy Wing of the DoT last month directed all government departments to not take any action against telecom operators if they failed to clear AGR-related dues as per the Supreme Court’s order.
    • The order came as a huge relief for operators — mainly Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea — that would have otherwise faced possible contempt action for not paying dues by the deadline that ran out on that same day.

    No more relief to telecoms

    • Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea together owe the telecom department Rs 88,624 crore.
    • Prior to the DoT order restraining coercive action, the companies had told the government that they would wait for the outcome of the Supreme Court hearing.
    • Reliance Jio paid up its dues of Rs 195 crore on January 23.
    • As things have turned out, however, the companies have got no relief from the Supreme Court.

    What is the background of SC’s AGR order?

    • On October 24, 2019, the court had agreed with DoT’s definition of AGR, and said the companies must pay all dues along with interest and penalty.
    • Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had tried to persuade DoT to relax the deadline and, after failing, moved the court seeking a review of its judgment.
    • The court dismissed the review petition in mid-January, and also did not extend the deadline for paying AGR dues.
    • It had, however, agreed to hear the companies’ modification plea.

    Where does the government stand in this situation?

    • The payout by telecom and non-telecom companies is likely to lead to windfall gains for the central government, which could help it close some of the fiscal deficit gap for the current financial.
    • At the same time, however, the government will be under pressure to ensure that the telecom market does not turn into a duopoly if Vodafone Idea does indeed decide to shut shop.
    • It will also have to manage the payouts to be done by non-telecom companies as most of them, such as Oil India, Power Grid, Gail, and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation are public sector units.

    What does this situation mean for customers and lenders?

    • If Vodafone Idea does exit, an Airtel-Jio duopoly will be created, which could lead to bigger bills, considering it was the cutthroat competition in the sector that made mobile telephony and Internet almost universally affordable.
    • The AGR issue has triggered panic in the banking industry, given that the telecom sector is highly leveraged.
    • Vodafone Idea alone has a debt of Rs 2.2 lakh crore that it has used to expand infrastructure and fund spectrum payments over the years.
    • The mutual fund industry has an exposure of around Rs 4,000 crore to Vodafone Idea.

    Assist this newscard with:

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/explained-adjusted-gross-revenue-agr-in-telecom-sector/

  • Species in news: Indian Pangolin

     

    The Madhya Pradesh forest department has radio-tagged an Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) for the first time.

    Pangolins

    IUCN status: Endangered

    • India is home to two species of pangolin.
    • While the Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is found in northeastern India, the Indian Pangolin is distributed in other parts of the country as well as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
    • Both these species are protected and are listed under the Schedule I Part I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
    • Commonly known as ‘scaly anteaters’, the toothless animals are unique, a result of millions of years of evolution.
    • Pangolins evolved scales as a means of protection. When threatened by big carnivores like lions or tigers they usually curl into a ball.
    • The scales defend them against dental attacks from the predators.

    Why this radio-tagging?

    • The radio-tagging aims to know its ecology and develop an effective conservation plan for it.
    • The radio-tagging is part of a joint project by the department and non-profit, the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) that also involves the species’ monitoring apart from other activities.

    Why protect Pangolins?

    • Pangolins are currently the most trafficked wildlife species in the world.
    • These Scales has now become the main cause of the pangolin’s disappearance.
    • The scales are in high demand in China, where they are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
    • Pangolin meat is also in high demand in China and Southeast Asia.
    • Consequently, pangolins have seen a rapid reduction in population globally. The projected population declines range from 50 per cent to 80 per cent across the genus.

  • To help her work

    Context

    When it came to allocating funds, the budget relegates women’s economic participation to secondary importance.

    The current status of women in India

    • Lack of Equality: India continues to struggle to provide its women with equal opportunity.
    • A low score on international measures: On international measures of gender equality.
      • India scores low on women’s overall health and survival and ability to access economic opportunities.
    • Why it matters? Since the woman’s economic engagement is related to her own and her family’s well-being, the continuing decline in rural women’s labour force participation is a cause for concern, and both affects and reflects these worrying gender gaps.

    Why female labour force participation matters beyond social cause?

    • Source of economic growth: Ignoring India’s declining female labour force participation at a time of economic distress is a mistake.
      • Not just a social cause: Involving women in the economy is not a social cause — it is a source of efficiency gains and economic growth.
    • Missing out on many things: In a country where young women’s education is now at par with men’s, ignoring that half of the population isn’t participating equally in the economy means we are missing out on many things, like-
      • Innovation.
      • Entrepreneurship.
      • And productivity gains.
    • Large potential to increase in GDP: The large potential increases in GDP that could accrue to India and countries around the world, if they could only close their labour force gender gaps, are often cited.
      • 60% increase in GDP: A report by McKinsey Global Institute suggests that if women participated in the Indian economy at the level men do, annual GDP could be increased by 60 per cent above its projected GDP by 2025.
      • Underlying conclusion: The underlying conclusion is that women’s potential to contribute to GDP is huge.
      • Gain larger than any other region: The same analysis also suggested that India’s potential GDP gains through achieving economic gender parity were larger than gains in any of the other regions they studied.

    How can the state be responsive to women? 

    It can be ensured in the following two ways-

    • 1.MGNREGA-Important focus: An important focus could be a smarter policy and gender-intentional implementation.
      • A key example comes from MGNREGA, a programme whose official policy has long been to pay individual workers in their own bank accounts.
      • It is observed that this policy was typically not implemented and that women’s wages were usually being paid into the bank account of the woman’s husband.
    • Why paying wages in women’s account matters?
      • Giving women digital control of her wage:
      • This seemingly small change — giving a woman digital control of her wages — had a big impact.
      • Working women more outside their home: Women who received digital accounts plus training worked more outside their homes, not only for MGNREGA but also in private employment.
    • Higher economic engagement and lessening patriarchy
      • Importantly, women from especially conservative households reported higher economic engagement and an improved ability to move about their communities unaccompanied.
      • Lessening of patriarchal norms: Surveys conducted showed that the payment in account also began to influence restrictive patriarchal norms.
    • 2.Need to move beyond MGNREGA
      • Ease of doing business and reform in labour market reforms: Continuing to improve ease of doing business and addressing rigid labour market regulations can also draw more women into high-potential sectors.
      • Such as those supported under Assemble in India.
      • Potential in manufacturing: Rural women’s relative participation in manufacturing has grown compared to men’s, and manufacturing stands out as a promising means to pull young women, in particular, into the economy.
      • Potential in SMEs: Ensuring better support to small and medium-sized enterprises can help new businesses.

    Conclusion

    • Attune schemes to the aspiration of women: Ensuring that these programmes are attuned to the needs and aspirations of women is not expensive. But it makes a much difference.
      • Review of policy and programme: It requires a review of individual policies and programme implementation.
    • Increase the funding: The government needs to increase funding to programmes targeting women. Until then, the policy can build on the fact that pulling women into the economy isn’t just a function of budget allocations or social sector programmes. It’s also a matter of thoughtful policy design and political will.

     

     

  • Political parties to publish the entire criminal history of their candidates

     

    • The Supreme Court has strictly ordered political parties to publish the entire criminal history of their candidates for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections along with the reasons that goaded them to field suspected criminals over decent people.

    SC’s deadline

    • It ordered political parties to submit compliance reports with the Election Commission of India within 72 hours or risk contempt of court action.
    • The information should be published in a local as well as a national newspaper as well as the parties’ social media handles.
    • It should mandatorily be published either within 48 hours of the selection of candidates or less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier.
    • The judgment is applicable to parties both at Central and State levels.

    Information should be detailed

    • The published information on the criminal antecedents of a candidate should be detailed and include the nature of their offences, charges framed against him, the court concerned, case number, etc.
    • A political party should explain to the public through their published material how the “qualifications or achievements or merit” of a candidate, charged with a crime, impressed it enough to cast aside the smear of his criminal background.
    • A party would have to give reasons to the voter that it was not the candidate’s “mere winnability at the polls” which guided its decision to give him a ticket to contest elections.

    Why such a move?

    • It appeared from the last four general elections that there has been an alarming increase in the incidence of criminals in politics.
    • In 2004, 24% of the MPs had criminal cases pending against them; in 2009, that went up to 30%; in 2014 to 34%; and in 2019 as many as 43% of MPs had criminal cases pending against them, SC observed.
    • The judgment was based on a contempt petition about the general disregard shown by political parties to a 2018 Constitution Bench judgment (Public Interest Foundation v. Union of India).
    • In this judgment (2018), this court was cognizant of the increasing criminalisation of politics in India and the lack of information about such criminalisation among the citizenry”, SC observed.

    Immediate Reason

    • The immediate provocation is the finding that 46% of MPs have criminal records.
    • The number might be inflated as many politicians tend to be charged with relatively minor offences —“unlawful assembly” and “defamation”.
    • The real worry is that the current cohort of Lok Sabha MPs has the highest (29%) proportion of those with serious declared criminal cases compared to its recent predecessors.

    Why are such tainted candidates inducted by political parties?

    • Such candidates with serious records seem to do well despite their public image, largely due to their ability to finance their own elections and bring substantive resources to their respective parties.
    • Some voters tend to view such candidates through a narrow prism: of being able to represent their interests by hook or by crook.
    • Others do not seek to punish these candidates in instances where they are in contest with other candidates with similar records.

    Significance of the move

    • Either way, these unhealthy tendencies in the democratic system reflect a poor image of the nature of India’s state institutions and the quality of its elected representatives.
    • The move signified the court’s alarm at the unimpeded rise of criminals, often facing heinous charges like rape and murder, encroaching into the country’s political and electoral scenes.

    Way Forward

    • While formally, the institutions of the state are present and subject to the electoral will of the people, substantively, they are still relatively weak and lackadaisical in governance and delivery of public goods.
    • This has allowed cynical voters to elect candidates despite their dubious credentials and for their ability to work on a patronage system.
    • While judicial pronouncements on making it difficult for criminal candidates to contest are necessary, only enhanced awareness and increased democratic participation could create the right conditions for the decriminalization of politics.

  • In news: Two-child Norm

    A Rajya Sabha MP has introduced a Private Member’s Bill on two-child norms.

    Key propositions of the Bill

    • Essentially, the Bill aims to amend the Constitution in order to incentivise limiting families to two children by offering tax concessions, priority in social benefit schemes and school admissions, among other things.
    • It proposes incentives in taxation, education and employment for people who limit their family size to two children.

    Article 47A

    • The Bill has sought the incorporation of a new provision, Article 47A in Part IV of the Constitution, to withdraw all concessions from people who fail to adhere to the “small-family” norm.
    • Article 47A says the following:

     “47A. The State shall promote small family norms by offering incentives in taxes, employment, education etc. to its people who keep their family limited to two children and shall withdraw every concession from and deprive such incentives to those not adhering to small family norm, to keep the growing population under control.”

    Note: Article 47 of the Indian Constitution is one of the DPSP  which directs the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs which are injurious to health.

    Why such Bill?

    • The Bill’s Statement of Object and Reasons states that the fact that India’s population has already crossed 125 crore is “really frightening”.
    • It goes on to say that India’s population has doubled in the last 40 years and that it is expected to unseat China as the world’s most populous nation in the next couple of decades.
    • Despite the fact that we have framed a National Population Control Policy, we are the second most populous country in the world.
    • Further, the population explosion will cause “many problems” for our future generations.
    • The Bill also makes a reference to “overburdened” natural resources that are overexploited because of overpopulation.

    Statewide policies relating to two-child norms

    Assam Cabinet has recently decided that those with more than two children will be ineligible for government jobs from 2021. Other states with similar norms:

    Rajasthan: For government jobs, candidates who have more than two children are not eligible for appointment.

    Madhya Pradesh: The state follows the two-child norm since 2001. Under Madhya Pradesh Civil Services (General Condition of Services) Rules, if the third child was born on or after January 26, 2001, one becomes ineligible for government service. The rule also applies to higher judicial services.

    Telangana: Under Section 19 (3) read with Sections 156 (2) and 184 (2) of Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, a person with more than two children shall be disqualified from contesting election. However, if a person had more than two children before May 30, 1994, he or she will not be disqualified.  The same sections in the Andhra Pradesh: AP Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, apply to Andhra Pradesh, where a person having more than two children shall be disqualified from contesting election.

    Gujarat: In 2005, the government amended the Gujarat Local Authorities Act. The amendment disqualifies anyone with more than two children from contesting elections for bodies of local self-governance — panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations.

    Maharashtra: The Maharashtra Zilla Parishads And Panchayat Samitis Act disqualifies people who have more than two children from contesting local body elections (gram panchayats to municipal corporations). The Maharashtra Civil Services Rules, 2005 states that a person having more than two children is disqualified from holding a post in the state government. Women with more than two children are also not allowed to benefit from the Public Distribution System.

    Karnataka: The Karnataka (Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj) Act, 1993 does not bar individuals with more than two children from contesting elections to local bodies like the gram panchayat. The law, however, says that a person is ineligible to contest “if he does not have a sanitary latrine for the use of the members of his family”.

    Odisha: The Odisha Zilla Parishad Act bars those individuals with more than two children from contesting.

  • Medical Devices (Amendment) Rules, 2020

    The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has notified changes in the Medical Devices Rules, 2017 to regulate medical devices on the same lines as drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

    Medical Devices (Amendment) Rules, 2020

    • These rules are applicable to devices intended for internal or external use in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of disease or disorder in human beings or animals” (as notified by the ministry).
    • It requires online registration of these devices “with the Central Licensing Authority through an identified online portal established by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for this purpose.
    • Among the information that the manufacturer has to upload are “name & address of the company or firm or any other entity manufacturing the medical device along with name and address of manufacturing site.
    • It also need to upload certificate of compliance with respect to ISO 13485 standard accredited by National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies or International Accreditation Forum.
    • This would mean that every medical device, either manufactured in India or imported, will have to have quality assurance before they can be sold anywhere in the country.
    • After furnishing of the above information a registration number will be generated. Manufacturer shall mention the registration number on the label of the medical device.

    What are the items covered under the new Rules?

    • A large number of commonly used items including hypodermic syringes and needles, cardiac stents, perfusion sets, catheters, orthopaedic implants, bone cements, lenses, sutures, internal prosthetic replacements etc are covered under the new rules.
    • For some items such as sphygmomanometers (used to monitor blood pressure), glucometers (to check blood sugar), thermometers, CT scan and MRI equipment, dialysis and X-ray machines, implants etc, different deadlines for compliance have been set.
    • For example for the first three, it is January 2021, for the others it is April next year. For ultrasound equipment, it is November 2020.

    Is this a sudden move?

    • This has been in the offing for some time now.
    • In October last year, the ministry had circulated copies of the then proposed notification for public comments following recommendations of the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), which is the highest technical body for these decisions and has experts among its members.
    • In April last year, the DTAB had recommended that all medical devices should be notified as “drugs” under the drug regulation law to ensure they maintain safety and quality standards.
    • The notification makes it clear that the government has issued it in consultation with the DTAB.

    Why was the move required?

    • For much of the last one year, the health sector has been at the centre of attention following revelations about faulty hip implants marketed by pharma major Johnson & Johnson.
    • This has caused major embarrassment to the government, too, as it exposed the lack of regulatory teeth when it came to medical devices.
    • The matter dragged on, exposing the regulatory loopholes until finally the company agreed in court to pay Rs 25 lakh each to the 67 people who had had to undergo revision surgeries because the implants were defective.
    • That is really where the discussion started about regulation of medical devices.

    What are the penal provisions under Indian law?

    • There are various penal provisions under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 for various kinds of offences. Manufacture or sale of substandard items is punishable with imprisonment of at least 10 years, which may extend to imprisonment for life.
    • There is also a provision for fine that will “not be less than Rs 10 lakh rupees or three times value of the confiscated items”.