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GS Paper: Ministries & Departments Of The Government

  • Sustainable Tourism in India

    TourismContext

    • Ministry of Tourism identified Tourism Industry’s potential as a Sunrise Industry.
    • There is a need for tourism analysts to hold tourism planners accountable.

    What is tourism?

    • Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours.

    Types of tourism

    • Domestic tourism: Refers to activities of a visitor within their country of residence and outside of their home (e.g. a Indian visiting other parts of India)
    • Inbound tourism: Refers to the activities of a visitor from outside of country of residence (e.g. a Spaniard visiting Britain).
    • Outbound tourism: Refers to the activities of a resident visitor outside of their country of residence (e.g. an Indian visiting an overseas country).

    What does sustainable tourism mean?

    • Sustainable tourism is defined by the UN Environment Program and UN World Tourism Organization as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”

    TourismWhat is the main importance of tourism?

    • Tourism boosts the revenue of the economy, creates thousands of jobs, develops the infrastructures of a country, and plants a sense of cultural exchange between foreigners and citizens.

    Why tourism is needed?

    • Tourism is not a fad. It is a compulsion driven by the urge to discover new places. Because we have this compulsion to venture into the unknown, we need each other. When humans travel, meet and exchange ideas, civilisation flourishes.

    What should be done to promote tourism?

    • National Tourism Authority: A separate National Tourism Authority (NTA) should be established for executing and operationalizing various tourism related initiatives. Simple, flexible and elegant processes will be laid down to allow for nimbleness.
    • National Tourism Advisory Board: A National Tourism Advisory Board (NTAB) should be set up to provide overall vision, guidance and direction to the Development of Tourism Sector in the country.
    • Creating Synergy in Tourism Eco System: In order to ensure synergy at various levels of Government and with the Private Sector, it is important to have a well-defined framework in place.
    • Quality Tourism Framework: A robust framework for quality certification of products and services across all segments like accommodation providers, tour operators, adventure tour operators, service providers like spa and wellness, guides, restaurants etc. should be laid down.
    • Enhancing the existing luxury tourism products: The existing tourism products such as Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Palace on Wheels etc. should be enhanced and their numbers will also be increased. Haulage charges will be rationalised to make luxury trains viable.
    • Railways can be a game changer: For tourism Railways have presence in most parts of the country. Most of the tourist destinations in the country are connected by rail. Railways is also in the process of connecting more places especially the strategic locations that also are tourist places with limited connectivity at present. Indian Railways is working towards promoting tourism in the country by operating more trains connecting tourists’ destinations and also by providing an array of products starting from luxury tourist trains to budget catering tourist trains

    TourismWhat is MICE tourism of Gujarat?

    • The acronym “MICE” stands for “Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions”, and is essentially a version of business tourism that draws domestic and international tourists to a destination.
    • The policy aims to make Gujarat one of the top five MICE tourism destinations in the country.

    Way forward

    • Enhance the contribution of tourism in Indian economy by increasing the visitation, stay and spend
    • Create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in tourism sector and ensure supply of skilled work force
    • Enhance the competitiveness of tourism sector and attract private sector investment
    • Preserve and enhance the cultural and natural resources of the country
    • To ensure sustainable, responsible and inclusive development of tourism in the country

    Conclusion

    • We know that India has the highest tourism potential of any country. That is because we have every terrain and climate zone, and a range of customs, traditions, cuisines, crafts, art forms and festivals unmatched by any other nation. We should monetize our potential through putting comprehensive National tourism policy in place.

    Mains question

    Q. What should be done to transform our tourist destinations to provide world class visitor experience making India one of the topmost destinations for sustainable and responsible tourism?

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  • Road safety in India

    Road SafetyContext

    • A horrific car accident killed Cyrus Mistry and Jehangir Pandole. This tragedy got plenty of people thinking about road safety measures. Sadly, neither Mistry nor Pandole was wearing their rear-seat safety belts this highlights importance of following road safety norms.

    What’s the meaning of road safety?

    • Road safety means methods and measures aimed at reducing the likelihood or the risk of persons using the road network getting involved in a collision or an incident that may cause property damages, serious injuries and/or death.

    What is road safety education?

    • The aim of education, training and encouragement in Road Safety is to educate all road users in the proper and safe use of roads in order to change user attitudes and behaviour and to stimulate an awareness of the need for improvement in road safety.

    What affects road safety?

    • Several factors most notably speed, traffic density, flow, congestion, demographics (namely age gender and deprivation), driving behaviour (involving alcohol consumption, helmet or seat belt usage) and land use, such as residential or economic zones, were found to have mixed effects on road safety.

    Road SafetyWhat are examples of road safety?

    • Pedestrian crossing warning;
    • Left turn driver assistance; and
    • Approaching emergency vehicle warning.

    Road Accidents in India A lookover

    • In spite of several years of policymaking to improve road safety, India remains among the worst-performing countries in this area.
    • Total 1,47,913 lives lost to road traffic accidents in 2017 as per Ministry of Road Transport and Highways statistics.
    • The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figure for the same year is 1,50,093 road accident deaths.

    Do you know?

    The ‘golden hour’ has been defined as ‘the time period lasting one hour following a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care.

    Causes of Road Accidents in India

    • Sub-standard roads: The life of roads is not good due to the substandard raw materials and potholes accidents caused.
    • Traffic: The increasing traffic on roads and conditions of roads are not proportionate to each other.
    • Use of mobile phone: Most of the people are on call while driving thus they drive recklessly and accidents happen as most of the Indians now have mobile phones.
    • Drunk Driving: Drinking makes people lose the ability to focus and function properly. This makes it dangerous for the driver to operate the vehicle.
    • Dis-obedience for traffic rules: Indian drivers are quick to learn to drive but they don’t learn traffic rules and the purpose of such rules.
    • Malpractices: Malpractices such as over-speeding, triple riding, underage driving, etc are reducing the safety of road users.
    • Implementation drawbacks: Police are supposed to execute the rules but, it may be a lack of workforce or lack of intention, they also fail to execute.
    • Corrupt practices: Mostly police use the rules to mint money either officially by Chalan or in person.

    Key data for value addition

    Despite being home to only 1% of the world’s vehicles, India shoulders 11% of the global road crash fatality burden.

    Road SafetyVarious Policy Initiatives by government

    • Road Safety: In the area of road safety, the Act proposes to increase penalties to act as deterrent against traffic violations. Stricter provisions are being proposed in respect of offences like juvenile driving, drunken driving, driving without licence, dangerous driving, over-speeding, overloading etc. Stricter provisions for helmets have been introduced along with provisions for electronic detection of violations.
    • Vehicle Fitness: Automated fitness testing for vehicles has been made mandatory. This would reduce corruption in the transport department while improving the road worthiness of the vehicle. Penalty has been provided for deliberate violation of safety/environmental regulations as well as for body builders and spare part suppliers.
    • Recall of Vehicles: The Act allows the central government to order for recall of motor vehicles if a defect in the vehicle may cause damage to the environment, or the driver, or other road users.
    • Road Safety Board: A National Road Safety Board, to be created by the central government through a notification to advise the central and state governments on all aspects of road safety and traffic management. This would include standards of motor vehicles, registration and licensing of vehicles, standards for road safety, and promotion of new vehicle technology.
    • Protection of Good Samaritan: The Act lays down the guidelines and provides rules to prevent harassment of Good Samaritan to encourage people to help road accident victims.
    • Cashless Treatment during Golden Hour: The Act provides for a scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims during golden hour.

    Value addition for good marks

    The 4 ‘E’ Approach

    • The Government of India put forth Engineering, Economy, Enforcement and Education as the fundamental areas to focus on in order to ensure road safety.

    Way forward

    • Road safety education from the primary level: Those already using our roads and driving or riding on it could have formed bad habits that are difficult to change or undo. So it’s important that we catch them young and start educating children on road safety and correct behaviour on the road.
    • Better first aid and paramedic care: In most cases, the public and police are the first ones to reach the site of an accident. But sadly, neither has any first aid training and the police don’t even have even simple things like a first aid box or stretcher. This initial trauma care has to improve.
    • Stricter criteria for driving licenses: Fortunately, the government has recognized the need for this, and getting a driving license is no longer as easy as before. Lots of the process has been digitalized and made more stringent. But it’s still far from perfect and lots more needs to be done
    • Better road design, maintenance, and signage: Many of our roads are poorly designed with badly placed junctions, acute corners, uneven gradients, sudden speed-breakers, etc. And this is made worse by poor road maintenance and many accidents occur because a driver suddenly swerves to avoid a pothole.
    • Heavy crackdown against non-compliance: This is one of the leading causes of road accidents in India and while we do have strict laws, the enforcement, particularly on our highways is quite lax. Consumption of drugs by truck drivers while driving is rampant, and this needs to stop completely.
    • Stricter enforcement of traffic rules: The Amended Motor Vehicles Act has higher penalties and punishment to deter people from committing traffic offenses and driving rashly. It’s high time we enforced our traffic rules and imposed discipline while driving and using the road.
    • Encouraging better road behaviour: The people should motivate themselves to behave in a better manner on the road. The campaigns such as “Be the Better Guy”, need to be applauded, encouraged and expanded.

    Mains question

    Q. In spite of several years of policymaking to improve road safety, India remains among the worst-performing countries in this area. Critically analyse.

     

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  • India State Support Programme for Road Safety

    The World Bank has approved a $250 million loan to support the Government of India’s road safety programme for seven States.

    Programme for Road Safety

    • Under this, a single accident reporting number will be set up to better manage post-crash events.
    • It will be implemented in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
    • The $250 million variable spread loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a maturity of 18 years, with a grace period of 5.5 years.
    • The project will also establish a national harmonised crash database system in order to analyse accidents and use that to construct better and safer roads.
    • The project will also provide incentives to States to leverage private funding through public private partnership (PPP) concessions and pilot initiatives.

    Road accidents in India: Key takeaways

    • The report ‘Road Accidents in India 2020’ released by the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) provides for key stats.
    • India has only 1% of the world’s vehicles but 11% of the global deaths from road accidents occur in India.
    • About 450,000 accidents take place in India annually, of which 150,000 people die.
    • There are 53 road accidents in the country every hour and one death every four minutes.

    Why are there so many road fatalities in India alone?

    • Weak enforcement of traffic laws: People hardly oblige to traffic rules and find easier to bribe policemen rather than paying hefty challans.
    • Speeding issue: More accidents on the highways have been attributed to higher vehicle speeds and higher volume of traffic on these roads.
    • Engineering bottlenecks: Issues such as gaps in the median on the national highways, untreated intersections, and missing crash barriers are some of the biggest engineering issues.
    • Behavioural issue: Driver violations such as wrong-side driving, wrong lane usage by heavy vehicles, and mass violation of traffic lights, intoxication are the biggest behavioural issues.
    • Lack of Golden hour treatment: Lack of rapid trauma care on highways leads to such high fatalities.

    Imbibing road safety: Way forward

    • Road safety education
    • Better road design, maintenance and warning signage
    • Crackdown on driving under influence of alcohol and drugs
    • Strict enforcement of traffic rules
    • Encouraging better road behaviour
    • Ensuring road worthiness of a vehicle
    • Better first aid and paramedic care

    Do you know?

    The ‘golden hour’ has been defined as ‘the time period lasting one hour following a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care.

     

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  • Freebies model of Governance

    Context

    Against the backdrop of promises of freebies in Punjab, this article deals with the harm caused by such freebies to the economy, life quality and social cohesion in the long run.

    Macroeconomic stability of the Union and the States

    • India is a Union of states. It is not a confederation of states.
    • The Union is indestructible.
    • The Union, therefore, is integral to both the Centre and the states.
    • The strength of the Centre lies in the strength of the states.
    • Therefore, the macroeconomic stability of the Union is contingent on the macroeconomic stability of both the Centre and states.

    The complex issue of freebies

    • There is great ambiguity in what “freebies” mean.
    • Merit goods Vs. Public goods: We need to distinguish between the concept of merit goods and public goods on which expenditure outlays have overall benefits.
    • Examples of this are the strengthening and deepening of the public distribution system, employment guarantee schemes, support to education and enhanced outlays for health, particularly during the pandemic.
    • All over the world, these are considered to be desirable expenditures.
    • Freebies could be expensive? It’s not about how cheap the freebies are but how expensive they are for the economy, life quality and social cohesion in the long run.

    Issues with the culture of competitive freebie politics

    1] It affects macroeconomic stability

    • Freebies undercut the basic framework of macroeconomic stability.
    • The politics of freebies distorts expenditure priorities.
    • Outlays are being concentrated on subsidies of one kind or the other.
    • Illustratively, in the case of Punjab, while estimates vary, some have speculated that the promise of freebies might cost around Rs 17,000 crore.
    • As we know, the debt-to-GDP ratio of Punjab is already at 53.3 per cent for 2021-22, which would worsen on account of these new measures.

    2] Distortion of expenditure priorities

    • Take, for instance, the change to the new contributory pension scheme from the old scheme, which had a fixed return.
    • Rajasthan announced that it would revert to the old pension scheme.
    • This decision is regressive as the move away from the old scheme was based on the fact that it was inherently inequitable.
    • The pension and salary revenues of Rajasthan amount to 56 per cent of its tax and non-tax revenues.
    • Thus, 6 per cent of the population, which is made up of civil servants, stands to benefit from 56 per cent of the state’s revenues.
    • Intergenerational inequality: This is fraught with dangers not only of intergenerational inequality, but also affects the broader principles of equity and morality.

    3] Increases social inequality

    • The issue of intergenerational equity leads to greater social inequalities because of expenditure priorities being distorted away from growth-enhancing items.

    4]  It affects the environment

    • When we talk of freebies, it is in the context of providing, for example, free power, or a certain quantum of free power, water and other kinds of consumption goods.
    • This distracts outlays from environmental and sustainable growth, renewable energy and more efficient public transport systems.

    5]  The distortion of agricultural priorities

    • The depleting supply of groundwater is an important issue to consider when speaking of freebies pertaining to free consumption goods and resources.

    6] Effect on the future of manufacturing

    • Lower the quality of competitiveness: Freebies lower the quality and competitiveness of the manufacturing sector by detracting from efficient and competitive infrastructure enabling high-factor efficiencies in the manufacturing sector.

    7] Subnational bankruptcy

    • Freebies bring into question market differentiation between profligate and non-profligate states and whether we can have a recourse mechanism for subnational bankruptcy.

    Way forward

    • The race to the bottom implies government deregulation of markets and business.
    • We must strive instead for a race to efficiency through laboratories of democracy and sanguine federalism where states use their authority to harness innovative ideas and solutions to common problems which other states can emulate.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges in dealing with the competitive freebies politics? What are its drawbacks?”

    Conclusion

    The economics of freebies is invariably wrong. It is a race to the bottom. Indeed, it is not the road to efficiency or prosperity, but a quick passport to fiscal disaster.

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  • E-DAR portal to speed up Accident Compensation Claims

    The Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has developed the portal named ‘e-DAR’ (e-Detailed Accident Report).

    Why such move?

    • Road accidents continue to be a leading cause of death, disabilities and hospitalization in the country despite our commitment and efforts.
    • India ranks first in the number of road accident deaths across the 199 countries and accounts for almost 11% of the accident related deaths in the World.

    E-DAR portal

    • It is designed in consultation with insurance companies to provide instant information on road accidents with a few clicks and help accelerate accident compensation claims, bringing relief to victims’ families.
    • Digitalised Detailed Accident Reports (DAR) will be uploaded on the portal for easy access.
    • The web portal will be linked to the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD).
    • From iRAD, applications to more than 90% of the datasets would be pushed directly to the e-DAR.
    • Stakeholders like the police, road authorities, hospitals, etc., are required to enter very minimal information for the e-DAR forms.
    • Thus, e-DAR would be an extension and e-version of iRAD.

    Its working

    • The portal would be linked to other government portals like Vaahan and would get access to information on driving licence details and registration of vehicles.
    • For the benefit of investigating officers, the portal would provide geo tagging of the exact accident spot along with the site map.
    • This would notify the investigating officer on his distance from the spot of the incident in the event the portal is accessed from any other location.
    • Details like photos, video of the accident spot, damaged vehicles, injured victims, eye-witnesses, etc., would be uploaded immediately on the portal.
    • Apart from the state police, an engineer from the Public Works Department or the local body will receive an alert on his mobile device and the official concerned will then examine the accident site.

    Check on fake claims

    • The e-DAR portal would conduct multiple checks against fake claims by conducting a sweeping search of vehicles involved in the accident, the date of accident, and the First Information Report number.

    Various moves to curb road accidents

    • Several initiatives have been taken by the MoRTH which continues to implement a multi-pronged road safety strategy.
    • It is based on Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Emergency Care consisting inter-alia of setting up Driver training schools, creating awareness, strengthening automobile safety standards, improving road infrastructure, carrying out road safety audit etc.
    • High priority has been accorded to rectification of black spots.
    • A major initiative of the Ministry in the field of Road Safety has been the passing of the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act, 2019.
    • It focuses on road safety include, inter-alia, stiff hike in penalties for traffic violations and electronic monitoring of the same, enhanced penalties for juvenile driving, cashless treatment during the golden hour etc.

     

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  • Language sensitivity and provisions in Constitution

    Context

    Language sensitivity has been a feature of selfhood in the case of every Indian language.

     Sensitivity to language

    • From ancient times, a sensitivity to language difference has almost been the core of Dravidic self-hood.
    • A similar sensitivity existed among the speakers of Prakrits in ancient times.
    • It was in one of the Prakrits that Mahavir had presented his teachings in the sixth century BCE.
    • Eighteen centuries later, Acharya Hemachandra, a major Jain scholar, poet, mathematician and philosopher, produced his Desinamamala, a treatise on the importance of Prakrit words used in Gujarat of his times as against those from Sanskrit.
    • Mahatma Gandhi, who defined the idea of selfhood for India in Hind Swaraj (1909), chose to write this iconic book in Gujarati.

    Constitutional provision

    • The official language used for communication between the States shall be the language that has been in use at the time of adoption of the Constitution.
    • The move from English to Hindi can take place only if, ‘two or more states agree’ for the shift.
    • Article 344 (4) provides for a ‘Committee consisting of thirty members’, ‘twenty’ from the Parliament and ‘ten’ from State assemblies, for safeguarding language-related provisions.

    The distribution between two ministries

    • The functions and the scope of the committee, as laid down by the Constitution, are further clarified by the practice of distribution of language as a subject between two Ministries, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry and the Home Ministry.
    • The scope of the HRD Ministry extends to education and the promotion of cultural expression.
    • The Home Ministry’s scope extends to safeguarding relations of the States with the ‘union’, protecting the linguistic rights of language minorities and the promotion of Hindi.
    • The last of these, the Constitution states, has to be ‘without interference with other languages.

    Data on language decline

    • In 2011, Hindi speakers accounted for 43.63% of the total population, with a total of 52.83 crore speakers.
    • In 1971, the number was 20.27 crore, accounting for 36.99% of the total population.
    • Between 2001 and 2011, the growth in proportion of the population was 2.6%.
    • The next most spoken language, Bangla, had negative growth.
    • It was spoken by 8.30% of Indians in 1991, 8.11% in 2001 and by 8.03% in 2011.
    • Telugu, which slid from 7.87% in 1991, to 7.19% in 2001 and 6.70% in 2011, has a similar story to tell.
    • Tamil recorded 6.32% of the total population in 1991, 5.91% in 2001 and 5.70% in 2011.
    • The only major language to show decadal growth (though small) was Gujarati.
    • And the only small yet scheduled language to show good growth was Sanskrit.

    Reasons for Hindi’s growth

    • The 52.83 crore speakers of Hindi (as recorded in 2011) included not just the speaker of ‘Hindi’ but also those of more than 50 other languages.
    • Bhojpuri and most languages of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand have also been pushed into the Hindi package.
    • Had the Census not included these other languages under Hindi, the strength of Hindi speakers would have gone down to about 39 crore, — just a little under 32% of the total population in 2011 — and would have looked not too different from those of other scheduled languages.
    • The data for English speakers is far more truthful. Census 2011 reports a total of 3,88,793 Indians as English speakers (2,59,678 men and 1,29,115 women).

    Hindi in comparison to other languages in the Eighth schedule

    • Among the languages included in the Eighth Schedule, Hindi falls within the younger lot of languages.
    • On the other hand, Tamil, Kannada, Kashmiri, Marathi, Oriya, Sindhi, Nepali and Assamiya have a much longer/older history.
    •  As a language of knowledge too, Tamil, Kannada, Bangla and Marathi (with their abundance of encyclopaedias and historical literature), quite easily outshine Hindi.

    Conclusion

    A language evolves slowly and cannot be forced to grow by issuing ordinances.

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  • Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s powers to regulate content on TV

    The Kerala High Court will pronounce its judgment on an Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) order banning a Malayalam news channel over its connections with radical groups.

    Sectors regulated by I&B Ministry

    • Until last year, it had the power to regulate content across all sectors barring the internet.
    • The sectors include TV channels, newspapers and magazines, movies in theatres and on TV, and the radio.
    • Since Feb 2021, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, extended its regulatory powers over internet content.
    • It now exercises powers especially on digital news and OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hotstar.

    What kind of powers does it have?

    (a) Film Censoring

    • For example, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has a mandate to give any film that will be played in a theatre, a rating indicating the kind of audience it is suitable for.
    • In practice, however, the CBFC has often suggested changes or cuts to a film before giving it a certification.
    • While it isn’t the CBFC’s mandate to censor a film, it can withhold giving a rating unless the filmmaker agrees to its suggestions.

    (b) TV Censoring

    • When it comes to TV channels, the government last year came up with a three-tier grievance redressal structure for viewers to raise concerns, if any.
    • A viewer can successively approach the channel, then a self-regulatory body of the industry, and finally the I&B Ministry, can issue a show-cause notice to the channel,.
    • It can then refer the issue to an inter-ministerial committee (IMC).

    (c) OTT and other platforms

    • For content on OTT platforms too, there is a similar structure.

    Power to Ban news channels

    • It has in the past issued orders to temporarily ban news and other channels.
    • In November 2016, it imposed a one-day ban on NDTV for its reporting of the Pathankot terror attack.
    • Violation can lead to revocation of a channel’s uplinking license (for sending content to a satellite) or downlinking license (for broadcasting to viewers through an intermediary).
    • In print, based on the recommendations of the Press Council of India, the government can suspend its advertising to a publication.
    • And last year’s IT rules allow I&B Ministry to issue orders to ban websites based on their content.

    What kind of content is not allowed?

    • There are no specific laws on content allowed or prohibited in print and electronic media, radio, films, or OTT platforms.
    • The content on any of these platforms has to follow the free speech rules of the country.
    • Article 19(1) while protecting the freedom of speech, also lists certain “reasonable restrictions” including content related to the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency, morality, etc.
    • Action can be taken if any of these restrictions are violated.

    Do other agencies play a role?

    • There is no direct involvement, as the powers to regulate content rest only with the I&B Ministry.
    • However, the ministry relies on inputs from other ministries, as well as intelligence agencies.
    • In the recent case, its licenses were revoked because the Home Ministry had denied it security clearance, which is essential as part of the policy.
    • There is also a new mechanism the I&B Ministry adopts.
    • It has used emergency powers it has under the new IT Rules to block certain YouTube channels and social media accounts based on inputs from intelligence agencies.

     

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  • What are Padma Awards?

    The central government has announced the names of Padma awardees for this year.

    What are Padma awards?

    • The Padma awards are the highest civilian honor of India after the Bharat Ratna.
    • They are announced every year on the eve of Republic Day.
    • The awards are given in three categories:
    1. Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service)
    2. Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of higher order) and
    3. Padma Shri (distinguished service)
    • The award seeks to recognize achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is involved.

    Note: During the years 1978 and 1979 and 1993 to 1997, Padma awards were not announced.

    Who are the awardees?

    • The awards are given in certain select categories which include Art, Social Work, Public Affairs, Science & Engineering, Trade & Industry, Medicine, Literature & Education, Civil Service and Sports.
    • Awards are also given for propagation of Indian culture, protection of human rights, wild life protection among others.

    Its constitution

    • The PADMA Awards were instituted in 1954 along with Bharat Ratna.
    • At that time only Padma Vibhushan existed with three sub-categories – Pahela Varg, Dusra Varg and Tisra Varg.
    • These were subsequently renamed as Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri vide Presidential Notification issued on January 8, 1955.

    Particulars of the awards

    • The awardees do not get any cash reward but a certificate signed by the President apart from a medallion which they can wear at public and government functions.
    • The awards are, however, not a conferment of title and the awardees are expected to not use them as prefix or suffix to their names.
    • A Padma awardee can be given a higher award only after five years of the conferment of the earlier award.

    Terms of awarding

    • Not more than 120 awards can be given in a year but this does not include posthumous awards or awards given to NRIs and foreigners.
    • The award is normally not conferred posthumously.
    • However, in highly deserving cases, the Government could consider giving an award posthumously.

    Who is eligible for Padma awards?

    • All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards.
    • However, government servants including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for these awards.
    • The award seeks to recognize works of distinction and is given for distinguished and exceptional achievements or service in all fields of activities and disciplines.
    • According to Padma awards selection criteria, the award is given for “special services” and not just for “long service”.
    • It should not be merely excellence in a particular field, but the criteria has to be ‘excellence plus’.

    Who nominates the awardees?

    • Any citizen of India can nominate a potential recipient.
    • One can even nominate one’s own self. All nominations are to be done online where a form is to be filled along with details of the person or the organisation being nominated.
    • An 800-word essay detailing the work done by the potential awardee is also to be submitted for the nomination to be considered.
    • The government also writes to various state governments, governors, Union territories, central ministries and various departments to send nominations.

    Who selects the awardees?

    • All nominations received for Padma awards are placed before the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year.
    • The Padma Awards Committee is headed by the Cabinet Secretary and includes Home Secretary, Secretary to the President and four to six eminent persons as members.
    • The recommendations of the committee are submitted to the Prime Minister and the President of India for approval.
    • The antecedents of the selected awardees are verified using the services of central agencies to ensure nothing untoward has been reported or come on record about them.
    • A final list is then prepared and announced.

    Is the recipient’s consent sought?

    • There is no provision for seeking a written or formal consent of the recipient before the announcement of the award.
    • However, before the announcement, every recipient receives a call from the Ministry of Home Affairs informing him or her about the selection.
    • In case the recipient expresses a desire to be excluded from the award list, the name is removed.

     

    Try this question from CSP 2021

    Q.Consider the following statements in respect of Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards

    1. Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards are titles under the Article 18(1) of the Constitution of India.
    2. Padma wards, which were instituted in the year 1954, were suspended only once.
    3. The number of Bharat Ratna Awards is restricted to a maximum of five in a particular year.

    Which of the above statements are not correct?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

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  • How Republic Day tableaux are designed and selected

    Recently, West Bengal’s tableau for the Republic Day parade was rejected without assigning any reasons or justifications.

    Who manages the R-Day Parade?

    • The Defence Ministry is the responsible authority for the Republic Day parade and the celebrations.
    • Around September, it invites all the states, the UTs, Central Government departments, and a few constitutional authorities to participate in the parade through tableaux.

    Managing Tableaux

    • The Defence Ministry shares the basic guidelines about what all the tableaux can or should include.
    • The tableaux of two different states/ UTs cannot be too similar, as the tableaux, together, should showcase the diversity of the country.
    • The tableaux cannot have any writing or use of logos, except for the name of the state/ UT/ department, which should be written in Hindi on the front, English on the back, and a regional language on the sides.
    • The Ministry also asks the participants to use eco-friendly material for the tableaux, and avoid the use of plastic or plastic-based products.

    How are the tableaux selected?

    • The selection process is elaborate and time-consuming.
    • The Defence Ministry constitutes an expert committee of distinguished persons from fields like art, culture, painting, sculpture, music, architecture, choreography, etc.

    Process of selection

    (1) Submission of sketches

    • First, the submitted sketches or designs of the proposals are scrutinised by this committee, which can make suggestions for any modifications in the sketch or design.
    • The sketch should be simple, colourful, easy to comprehend and should avoid unnecessary detail.
    • It should be self-explanatory, and should not need any written elaboration.

    (2) Music and Visuals

    • If there is a traditional dance involved with the tableau, it should be a folk dance, and the costumes and musical instruments should be traditional and authentic.
    • The proposal should include a video clipping of the dance.

    (3) 3D Models

    • Once approved, the next stage is for the participants to come up with three-dimensional models for their proposals.
    • These are again examined by the expert committee for final selection, taking in view several criteria.
    • In making the final selection the committee looks at a combination of factors, looking at the visual appeal, impact on the masses, idea/ theme of the tableaux, degree of detail involved.

    Do they have to be of a particular size?

    The Defence Ministry provides each participant with one tractor and one trailer, and the tableau should fit on that.

    • The ministry prohibits use of any additional tractor or trailer, or even any other vehicle to be part of it.
    • However, the participant can replace their ministry-provided tractor or trailer with other vehicles, but the total number should not be more than two vehicles.
    • The tractor has to be camouflaged in harmony with the tableau’s theme, and the ministry stipulates a distance of around six feet between the tractor and the trailer for turning and manoeuvering.
    • The dimensions of the trailer on which the tableau will be placed is 24 feet, 8 inches long; eight feet wide; four feet two inches high; with a load-bearing capacity of 10 tonnes.
    • The tableaux should not be more than 45 feet long, 14 feet wide and 16 feet high from the ground.

    (Republic Day celebrations from this year will start on January 23 instead of January 24 to include the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.)

     

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  • Good Samaritan Scheme

    The Good Samaritan scheme, meant to encourage and felicitate those helping road accident victims, has received a poor response from the states more than a month since its launch.

    Good Samaritan Scheme

    • The Road Transport and Highways Ministry announced this scheme so that taking a road crash victim to hospital is not just hassle-free but there is also the incentive of a reward and recognition.
    • Historically, Indians are reluctant in taking victims to hospital because of associated legal processes and investigations that follow.
    • To address that, the Centre inserted Section 134A in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, which deals with “Protection of Good Samaritans”.

    Need for such scheme

    • India witnesses around 5 lakh road accidents and 1.5 lakh deaths from them every year.
    • As per several government assessments and independent studies, a large number of deaths occur because the victims did not get medical help within the golden hour.

    Key features of the scheme

    • Non-liability: Under the scheme, a good samaritan will not be liable for any civil or criminal action for any injury to or death of the victim of an accident involving a motor vehicle.
    • Reward: The scheme entitles any person, who helps save a life by taking a road crash victim to the hospital during golden hour, to a reward of Rs 5,000 per accident.
    • Anonymity clause: The new law is that the “Good Samaritan” is free to not disclose their name to the hospital or law enforcement authorities; they can also choose not to take part in any legal process.

    Issues with the scheme

    Ans. Poor response from the states

    • Despite the Centre willing to give an initial grant of Rs 5 lakh for it, states have not even opened bank accounts to get the money.
    • The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has sent several reminders to states to operationalize the scheme.

     

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