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GS Paper: GS2

  • structural issues with legislatures in Union Territories

    There are structural flaws in the provisions of the composition of legislature and the relationship between the council of ministers and the Administrator in the UTs.

    Pattern in the resignations of MLAs

    • Recently, the resignations of MLAs from the Puducherry Assembly led to the fall of government there.
    • The same had happened in 2019 in Karnataka.
    • Resigning from the membership of the House is every member’s right.
    • But according to Article 190 of the Constitution, the resignation should be voluntary or genuine.
    • If the Speaker has information to the contrary, he or she is not obliged to accept the resignation.
    • But there is by now a familiar pattern to the resignations of Members of the Legislative Assembly.
    • Such resignations invariably lead to the fall of the government.

    Purpose of providing legislature to UTs

    • The Constitution-makers/ Parliament provided a legislature and Council of Ministers to some of the UTs to fulfil the democratic aspirations of the people of these territories.
    • There was a realisation that the administration of these territories directly by the President through the administrators under Article 239 does not meet the democratic aspirations of the people.
    • The creation of a legislature and a Council of Ministers is logical and in consonance with the policy of the state to promote democracy.

    Structural issues with legislature in UTs

    1) Nomination of members and issues with it

    • A closer look at the relevant provisions in the Constitution reveals that this professed aim has often been sought to be defeated by the Union.
    • Article 239A was originally brought in, in 1962, to enable Parliament to create legislatures for the UTs.
    • A legislature without a Council of Ministers or a Council of Ministers without a legislature is a conceptual absurdity.
    • Similarly, a legislature that is partly elected and partly nominated is another absurdity.
    • The issue of nomination of members to the Puducherry Assembly had raised a huge controversy.
    • The Government of Union Territories Act provides for a 33-member House for Puducherry of whom three are to be nominated by the Central government.
    • So, when the Union government nominated three BJP members to the Assembly without consulting the government, it was challenged in the court.
    • Finally, the Supreme Court (K. Lakshminarayanan v. Union of India, 2019) held that the Union government is not required to consult the State government for nominating members to the Assembly and the nominated members have the same right to vote as the elected members.
    • There is provision for nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha [Article 80 (i)(a)].
    • But clause (3) of the Article specifies the fields from which they will be nominated.
    • But in the case of nomination to the Puducherry Assembly, no such qualification is laid down either in Article 239A or the Government of Union Territories Act.
    • This leaves the field open for the Union government to nominate anyone irrespective of whether he or she is suitable.
    •  As things stand, the law invites arbitrariness in dealing with the nomination of members to the UT legislature.

    2) Administrator’s powers

    • The administrator has the right to disagree with the decisions of the Council of Ministers and then refer them to the President for a final decision.
    • The President decides on the advice of the Union government.
    • So, in effect, it is the Union government which finally determines the disputed issue.
    • Although in NCT of Delhi v. Union of India (2019), the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had said that the administrator should not misuse this power.
    • The bench also said that the Administrator should use it after all methods have failed to reconcile the differences between him/her and the Council of Ministers.
    • As a matter of fact, such conflicts between the administrator, who is the nominee of the President, and the elected government is inherent in the constitutional arrangement created for the UTs.

    Consider the question “The conflicts between the administrator, who is the nominee of the President and the elected government is inherent in the constitutional arrangement created for the UTs. Comment.”

    Conclusion

    Experience shows that the UTs having legislatures with ultimate control vested in the central administrator are not workable. So far as the conspiratorial resignation by legislators to bring down their own government is concerned, the political class will have to get the better of the predatory instincts of political parties through constitutional or other means.

  • Federalism and India’s human capital

    The article argues for recognising the correlation between human capital and decentralisation in India.

    Low human capital indicators

    • In the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, the country ranked 116th.
    • The National Family Health Survey-5 for 2019-20 shows that malnutrition indicators stagnated or declined in most States.
    • The National Achievement Survey 2017 and the Annual Status of Education Report 2018 show poor learning outcomes.
    • In addition, there is little convergence across States.
    • India spends just 4% of its GDP as public expenditure on human capital:1% and 3% on health and education respectively— one of the lowest among its peers.

    Initiatives to address these issues

    • Investing in human capital through interventions in nutrition, health, and education is critical for sustainable growth.
    • The National Health Policy of 2017 highlighted the need for interventions to address malnutrition.
    • On the basis of NITI Aayog’s National Nutrition Strategy, the Poshan Abhiyaan was launched, as part of the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Scheme.
    • The latest Union Budget has announced a ‘Mission Poshan 2.0’ and the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan has been the Centre’s flagship education scheme since 2018.

    Relation between decentralisation and human capital

    • International experience suggests that one reason why these interventions are not leading to better outcomes may be India’s record with decentralisation.
    • Globally, there has been a gradual shift in the distribution of expenditures and revenue towards sub-national governments.
    • These trends are backed by studies demonstrating a positive correlation between decentralisation and human capital.

    Issues with decentralisation in India

    1) Letting states decide the way of empowerment

    • The 73rd and 74th Amendments bolstered decentralisation by constitutionally recognising panchayats and municipalities as the third tier.
    • The Amendment also added the Eleventh and Twelfth schedules containing the functions of panchayats and municipalities.
    • These include education, health and sanitation, and social welfare for panchayats, and public health and socio-economic development planning for municipalities.
    • However, the Constitution lets States determine how they are empowered.
    • In effect, three tiers of government are envisaged in the Constitution it divides powers between the first two tiers — the Centre and the States
    • This has resulted in vast disparities in the roles played by third-tier governments.

    2) Centralised nature of fiscal architecture

    • While the Constitution assigns the bulk of expenditure responsibilities to States, the Centre has major revenue sources.
    • To address this vertical imbalance, the Constitution provides for fiscal transfers through tax devolution and grants-in-aid.
    • In addition, the Centre can make ‘grants for any public purpose’ under Article 282 of the Constitution.
    • While fiscal transfers that are part of tax devolution are unconditional, transfers under grants-in-aid or Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) can be conditional.
    • Therefore, the increase in the States’ share of tax devolution represents more meaningful decentralisation.
    • Despite some shifts towards greater State autonomy in many spheres, the centralised nature of India’s fiscal architecture has persisted. 
    • Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) have formed a sizeable chunk of intergovernmental fiscal transfers over the years, comprising almost 23% of transfers to States in 2021-22.
    • But its outsized role strays from the intentions of the Constitution.
    • There are issues in the design of CSSs as well, with the conditions being overly prescriptive and, typically, input-based.
    • Against this, international experience reveals that schemes with output-based conditions are more effective.
    • Moreover, CSSs typically have a cost-sharing model, thereby pre-empting the States’ fiscal space.

    3) Lack of fiscal empowerment

    • Third-tier governments are not fiscally empowered.
    • The collection of property tax, a major source of revenue for third-tier governments, is under 0.2% of GDP in India, compared to 3% of GDP in some other nations.
    • The Constitution envisages State Finance Commissions (SFCs) to make recommendations for matters such as tax devolution and grants-in-aid to the third tier.
    • However, many States have not constituted or completed these commissions on time.

    Solution

    • The Centre should play an enabling role, for instance, encouraging knowledge-sharing between States.
    • For States to play a bigger role in human capital interventions, they need adequate fiscal resources.
    • To this end, States should rationalise their priorities to focus on human capital development.
    • The Centre should refrain from offsetting tax devolution by altering cost-sharing ratios of CSSs and increasing cesses.
    • Concomitantly, the heavy reliance on CSSs should be reduced, and tax devolution and grants-in-aid should be the primary sources of vertical fiscal transfers.
    • Panchayats and municipalities need to be vested with the functions listed in the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules.

    Consider the question “There is a positive correlation between decentralisation and human capital. This in part explains India’s low human capital indicators. In light of this, examine the issues with the decentralisation in India and suggest the measures to deal with it.”

    Conclusion

    Leveraging the true potential of our multi-level federal system represents the best way forward towards developing human capital.

     

     

  • Sri Lanka at the UN Rights Council

    Sri Lanka is facing another UNHRC resolution for its war crimes that took place during the military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

    UNHRC report on Sri Lanka

    • The report warned that Sri Lanka’s failure to address human rights violations and war crimes committed in the past had put the country on a “dangerous path”.
    • It rose that this could lead to a “recurrence” of policies and practices that gave rise to the earlier situation.
    • It flagged the accelerating militarization of civilian governmental functions, a reversal of important constitutional safeguards, political obstruction of accountability, intimidation of civil society, and the use of anti-terrorism laws.
    • The shrinking space for independent media and civil society and human rights organisations are also themes in the report.

    Try this question:

    Q.The triangulation in the ties between Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan is an emerging threat in the Indian Ocean Region. Discuss.

    The Resolution 30/1

    • The resolution 30/1 launched in 2015 deals with promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.
    • It extended an opportunity to make good on its promises for justice and offered extensive support to accomplish that objective.

    Sri Lanka’s intention

    • It is more than Sri Lanka has failed to – and doesn’t intend to — take the necessary, decisive, and sustainable steps necessary to achieve domestic justice and reconciliation.
    • Sri Lanka has officially sought India’s help to muster support against the resolution, which it has described as “unwanted interference by powerful countries”.

    Where India comes in

    • The UNHRC is scheduled to hold an “interactive” session on Sri Lanka where the report was to be discussed, and member countries were to make statements. India is expected to make a statement too.
    • Country-specific resolutions against Sri Lanka have regularly come up at the UNHRC in the last decade.
    • New Delhi voted against Sri Lanka in 2012 and abstained in 2014. It was spared the dilemma in 2015 when Sri Lanka joined resolution 30/1.
    • With elections coming up in Tamil Nadu, and PM declaring on a recent visit that he was the first Indian leader to visit Jaffna, Sri Lanka has begun reading the tea leaves.
    • Whichever way it goes, the resolution is likely to resonate in India-Sri Lanka Relations and for India internally, in the run-up to the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.

  • President’s Rule in Puducherry

    The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal by the Home Ministry to dissolve the Puducherry Assembly and impose President’s Rule in the Union Territory.

    Try this question from CSP 2017:

    Q.Which of the following is not necessarily the consequences of the proclamation of the President’s Rule in a State?

    1. Dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly
    2. Removal of the Council of Ministers in the State
    3. Dissolution of the local bodies

    Select the correct answer using the code given below

    (a) 1 & 2 only

    (b) 1 & 3 only

    (c) 2 & 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 & 3

    What is President’s Rule?

    • President’s rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct central government rule in a state.
    • This is achieved through the invocation of Article 356 of the Constitution by the President on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers.
    • Under Article 356, this move can be taken “(1) If the President, on receipt of the report from the Governor of the State or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution
”

    How long President’s Rule can last?

    • A proclamation of President’s Rule can be revoked through a subsequent proclamation in case the leader of a party produces letters of support from a majority of members of the Assembly and stakes his claim to form a government.
    • The revocation does not need the approval of Parliament.
    • Any proclamation under Article 356 —which stands for six months — has to be approved by both Houses in the Parliament session following it.
    • This six-month time-frame can be extended in phases, up to three years.

    Conditions for Prez Rule

    • Where after general elections to the assembly, no party secures a majority, that is, Hung Assembly.
    • Where the party having a majority in the assembly declines to form a ministry and the governor cannot find a coalition ministry commanding a majority in the assembly.
    • Where a ministry resigns after its defeat in the assembly and no other party is willing or able to form a ministry commanding a majority in the assembly.
    • Where a constitutional direction of the Central government is disregarded by the state government.
    • Internal subversion where, for example, a government is deliberately acting against the Constitution and the law or is fomenting a violent revolt.
    • Physical breakdown where the government willfully refuses to discharge its constitutional obligations endangering the security of the state.

    Notable judgements: The S.R. Bommai Case

    Bommai v. Union of India (1994) was a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India, where the Court discussed at length provisions of Article 356 of the Constitution of India and related issues.

    • The judgement attempted to curb blatant misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution of India, which allowed the President’s rule to be imposed over state governments.
    • Article 356 (1) has been deliberately drafted in a narrow language by the Founding Fathers so that political parties in the Centre does not misuse it to subvert federalism, it had noted.
    • The President has to be convinced of or should have sufficient proof of information with regard to or has to be free from doubt or uncertainty about the state of things indicating that the situation in question has arisen.
    • The court had stated that although the sufficiency or otherwise of the material cannot be questioned, the legitimacy of inference drawn from such material is “certainly open to judicial review”.

    What was its verdict?

    • The judgment had explained that in a multi-party political system, chances are high that the political parties in the Centre and the State concerned may not be the same.
    • Article 356 cannot be used for the purpose of political one-upmanship by the Centre.
    • Hence there is a need to confine the exercise of power under Article 356[1] strictly to the situation mentioned therein which is a condition precedent to the said exercise,” the court had said.

    Fouling factors

    The imposition of President’s Rule in a state would be improper under the following situations:

    • Where a ministry resigns or is dismissed on losing majority support in the assembly and the governor recommends imposition of President’s Rule without probing the possibility of forming an alternative ministry.
    • Where the governor recommends imposition of President’s Rule without allowing the ministry to prove its majority on the floor of the Assembly.
    • Maladministration in the state or allegations of corruption against the ministry or stringent financial exigencies of the state.
    • Where the state government is not given prior warning to rectify itself except in case of extreme urgency leading to disastrous consequences.
    • Where the power is used to sort out intra-party problems of the ruling party.

    Back2Basics: Puducherry

    • Puducherry is a union territory formed out of four territories of former French India, namely PondichĂ©ry (Pondicherry; now Puducherry), Karikal (Karaikal), MahĂ© and Yanaon (Yanam), excluding Chandannagar.
    • It is named after the largest district, Puducherry.
    • The areas of Puducherry district and Karaikal district are bound by the state of Tamil Nadu, while Yanam district and MahĂ© district are enclosed by the states of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, respectively.
    • It is entitled by a special constitutional amendment act of 1962 to have an elected legislative assembly and a cabinet of ministers, thereby conveying partial statehood similar to the UT of Delhi.
    • It is administered by a Lieutenant Governor.

  • [pib] International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD)

    The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Symposium was inaugurated by the Minister for Jal Shakti.

    What is the news?

    • ICOLD in collaboration with Central Water Commission (CWC) has organised a Symposium on “Sustainable Development of Dams and River Basins”.
    • The symposium is being organised to provide an excellent opportunity to Indian Dam Engineering Professionals and Agencies to share their experiences, ideas and latest developments.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which one of the following pairs is not correctly matched?

    Dam: Lake River

    (a) Govind Sagar: Satluj

    (b) Kolleru Lake: Krishna

    (c) Ukai Reservoir: Tapi

    (d) Wular Lake: Jhelum

    About ICOLD

    • The ICOLD is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the sharing of professional information and knowledge of the design, construction, maintenance, and impact of large dams.
    • It was founded in 1928 and has its central office in Paris, France.
    • It consists of 100 member national committees which have a total membership of about 10,000 individuals.
    • The official languages of the commission are English and French.

    Key initiatives: World Register of Dams

    For the purpose of inclusion in the World Register of Dams, a large dam is defined as any dam above 15 metres in height OR any dam between 10 and 15 metres in height that meets at least one of the following conditions:

    • the crest length is not less than 500 metres
    • the capacity of the reservoir formed by the dam is not less than one million cubic metres
    • the maximum flood discharge dealt with by the dam is not less than 2 000 cubic metres per second
    • the dam had especially difficult foundation problems
    • the dam is of unusual design

  • Pakistan- Sri Lanka Relations

    Pakistani PM is in Colombo on a two-day visit for ways and means to enhance trade and connectivity with Sri Lanka.

    What is the news?

    • Pakistan PM’s visit has attracted a fair amount of controversy because of a cancelled invitation to address the Sri Lankan parliament.
    • India too granted permission for using its airspace for the Pakistani PM’s aircraft.

    Try this question:

    Q.The triangulation in the ties between Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan is an emerging threat in the Indian Ocean Region. Discuss.

    Sri Lanka- Pakistan Relations

    • For Colombo, the visit holds much value. It comes at a fraught time for the government on the international stage.
    • Imminently, it is bracing to be hauled over the coals at the UN Human Rights Commission for withdrawing from resolution 30/1 of September 2015, under which it committed to carrying out war crime investigations.
    • To make matters worse, the Islamic world is appalled by Sri Lanka’s tight rules for the cremation and not burials of Muslims who have died of COVID-19.
    • The rule created a storm in Sri Lanka, with community leaders convinced that this is nothing but an extension of the state’s persecution of Muslims.

    Why Pakistan?

    (1) Trade ties

    • Pakistan is Sri Lanka’s second-largest trading partner in South Asia after India.
    • Sri Lanka and Pakistan have a free trade agreement dating back to 2005.
    • Pakistan’s top exports to Sri Lanka are textiles and cement.
    • Sri Lanka’s top exports to Pakistan are tea, rubber and readymade garments.

    (2) Cultural ties

    • In addition to trade cooperation, Pakistan invokes cricket and Buddhism, topics that most Sri Lankans share a deep connection with.
    • Over the last decade, Pakistan has also been projecting its ancient Buddhist sites to promote cultural ties with Sri Lanka.

    (3) Defence ties

    Defence ties are a strong pillar of Sri Lanka- Pakistan bilateral relationship.

    • During the 1971 war, Pakistan Air Force jets refuelled in Sri Lanka.
    • India pulled back the peacekeeping forces in 1990, it provided no active defence support to the Sri Lankan military.
    • Sri Lanka turned to Pakistan for arms, ammunition as well as training for its fighter pilots.
    • Gotabaya, who was defence secretary at the time, visited Pakistan in 2008 to make a request for emergency assistance with military supplies.
    • Earlier this month, Sri Lanka participated in Pakistan’s multi-nation naval exercise Aman.

    India’s observations and concerns

    • As Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour with strong, all-encompassing ties, even if these are sometimes problematic, India has not perceived Pakistan as a serious rival in Sri Lanka so far.
    • Sporadically, the Indian security establishment has voiced concerns about Pakistan’s role in the radicalization of people, especially in Eastern Sri Lanka.
    • Funds have poured in for new mosques from some West Asian countries, and the effect that this could have in India.

    Emerging threats from the ‘Triad’

    • There is now a new wariness about triangulation in the ties between Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan in defence co-operation, though it has not been publicly expressed.
    • In 2016, India put pressure on Sri Lanka to drop a plan to buy the Chinese JF-17 Thunder aircraft made in Pakistan and co-produced by the Chinese Chengdu Aircraft Corporation.
    • The most recent threat was from excluding India from the Colombo Terminal Project.

  • NITI Aayog’s Draft National Policy on Migrant Workers

    Spurred by the exodus of 10 million migrants from big cities during the Covid-19 lockdown, the NITI Aayog has prepared a draft national migrant labour policy.

    Highlights of the Policy

    • The draft describes two approaches to policy design:
    1. To focus on cash transfers, special quotas, and reservations
    2. To enhance the agency and capability of the community and thereby remove aspects that come in the way of an individual’s own natural ability to thrive

    A rights-based approach

    • The policy rejects a handout approach, opting instead for a rights-based framework.
    • It seeks to remove restrictions on the true agency and potential of the migrant workers.
    • The goal a/c to the document should not be to provide temporary or permanent economic or social aids”, which is “a rather limited approach”.
    • Migration, the draft says, should be acknowledged as an integral part of the development and government policies should not hinder but
seek to facilitate internal migration.

    Issues with existing law

    • The 2017 report argued that specific protection legislation for migrant workers was unnecessary.
    • Migrant workers aren’t yet integrated with all workers as part of an overarching framework that covers regular and contractual work.
    • The report discussed the limitations of The Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979, which was designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors by safeguarding their right to non-discriminatory wages.
    • It mentions that the Ministry of Labour and Employment should amend the 1979 Act for “effective utilization to protect migrants”.

    Restructuring the institutions

    The NITI draft lays down institutional mechanisms to coordinate between Ministries, states, and local departments to implement programmes for migrants.

    • Nodal agency: It identifies the Ministry of Labour and Employment as the nodal Ministry for implementation of policies, and asks it to create a special unit to help to converge the activities of other Ministries.
    • Resources centre: This unit would manage migration resource centres in high migration zones, a national labour Helpline, links of worker households to government schemes, and inter-state migration management bodies.
    • Migration corridors: On the inter-state migration management bodies, it says that labour departments of source and destination states along major migration corridors, should work together through the migrant worker cells.
    • Labour officers from source states can be deputed to destinations – e.g., Bihar’s experiment to have a joint labour commissioner at Bihar Bhavan in New Delhi.
    • Role for Panchayats: Alongside the long-term goal, policies should promote the role of panchayats to aid migrant workers and integrate urban and rural policies to improve the conditions of migration.
    • Migration management: Panchayats should maintain a database of migrant workers, issue identity cards and passbooks, and provide “migration management and governance” through training, placement, and social-security benefit assurance, the draft says.

    Ways to stem migration

    • Even as it underlines the key role of migration in development, the draft recommends steps to stem migration.
    • The draft asks source states to raise minimum wages to bring a major shift in the local livelihood of tribal that may result in stemming migration to some extent.
    • The absence of community building organisations (CBO) and administrative staff in the source states have hindered access to development programmes, pushing tribals towards migration, the draft says.
    • The “long term plan” for CBOs and panchayats should be to “alleviate distress migration policy initiatives” by aiming “for a more pro-poor development strategy in the sending areas.

    The importance of data

    • The draft calls for a central database to help employers “fill the gap between demand and supply” and ensures “maximum benefit of social welfare schemes”.
    • It asks the Ministries and the Census office to be consistent with the definitions of migrants and subpopulations, capture seasonal and circular migrants, and incorporate migrant-specific variables in existing surveys.
    • Both documents see limited merit in Census data that comes only once a decade.
    • It asked the National Sample Survey Office to include questions related to migration in the periodic labour force survey and to carry out a separate survey on migration.

    Preventing exploitation

    • The policy draft describes a lack of administrative capacity to handle issues of exploitation.
    • State labour departments have little engagement with migration issues, and are in “halting human trafficking mode”, the draft says.
    • The local administration, given the usual constraints of manpower, is not in a position to monitor.
    • This has become the breeding ground for middlemen to thrive on the situation and entrap migrants which leads to potential exploitation and trafficking.

    Specific recommendations

    • The draft asks the various ministries to use Tribal Affairs migration data to help create migration resource centres in high migration zones.
    • It asks the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to focus on skill-building at these centres.
    • The Ministry of Education should take measures under the Right to Education Act to mainstream migrant children’s education, to map migrant children, and to provide local-language teachers in migrant destinations.
    • The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should address issues of night shelters, short-stay homes, and seasonal accommodation for migrants in cities.
    • The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and Ministry of Labour should set up grievance handling cells and fast track legal responses for trafficking, minimum wage violations, and workplace abuses etc.

  • Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0

    States and UTs have started the implementation of the Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0, a campaign aimed to reach those children and pregnant women who have been missed out or been left out of the routine immunisation.

    Do not get confused with the Mission Indradhanush for Public Sector Banks launched in 2015. It aims at revamping the functioning of the Public Sector Banks to enable them to compete with the Private Sector Banks.

    Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0

    • IMI 3.0 is aimed to accelerate the full immunization of children and pregnant women through a mission mode intervention.
    • The campaign is scheduled to have two rounds of immunisation lasting 15 days (excluding routine immunisation and holidays).
    • It is being conducted in pre-identified 250 districts/urban areas across 29 States/UTs in the country.
    • Beneficiaries from migration areas and hard to reach areas will be targeted as they may have missed their vaccine doses during the pandemic.

    About the Mission Indradhanush

    • Mission Indradhanush seeks to drive towards 90% full immunisation coverage of India and sustain the same by the year 2020. It was launched in December 2014.

    Aims and objectives

    • It aims to immunize all children under the age of 2 years, as well as all pregnant women, against eight vaccine-preventable diseases.
    • The diseases being targeted are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B.
    • In 2016, four new additions have been made namely Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent and Rotavirus.
    • In 2017, Pneumonia was added to the Mission by incorporating the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine under Universal Immunisation Programme

    Try this question from CSP 2016:

    Q.‘Mission Indradhanush’ launched by the Government of India pertains to:

    (a) Immunization of children and pregnant women

    (b) Construction of smart cities across the country

    (c) India’s own search for the Earth-like planets in outer space

    (d) New Educational Policy

  • [pib] PM-KISAN Scheme Completes Two Years

    The PM-Kisan scheme, launched with an aim to ensure a life of dignity and prosperity for farmers has completed two years of successful implementation.

    PM-KISAN

    • Under this programme, vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year.
    • This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal instalments of Rs. 2,000 each.
    • This programme will be entirely funded by the Government of India.

    Note: Aadhaar was made optional for availing the first instalment (December 2018 – March 2019). But now it is mandatory.

    Exclusion categories

    The following categories of beneficiaries of higher economic status shall not be eligible for benefit under the scheme.

    1. All Institutional Landholders
    2. Farmer families in which one or more of its members belong to the following categories
    • Former and present holders of constitutional posts
    • Former and present Ministers/ MP/MLAs/Mayors /Chairpersons of District Panchayats
    • All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government Ministries (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff /Class IV/Group D employees)
    • All superannuated/retired pensioners whose monthly pension is â‚č10,000/-or more (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees) of the above category
    • All Persons who paid Income Tax in the last assessment year
    • Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out the profession by undertaking practices.

    Do you know?

    West Bengal is yet to implement the PM-KISAN scheme while the farmers have completed their registrations!

  • China-Taiwan conflict

    The article underscores the centrality of Taiwan in the realms of semiconductor production and how that dominant spills over in geopolitics.

    Silicon shield of Taiwan

    • Taiwan’s security situation has been worsening amidst mounting economic, political and military pressure from China.
    • Any Chinese attack on Taiwan that disrupts the flow of semiconductors would produce significant challenges not only for the US but also China that relies on semiconductor supplies from Taiwan.
    • That factor appears to be preventing the crisis from boiling over into a full-scale war that could draw the US and Japan into it.
    •  It is Taiwan’s so-called “silicon shield”.

    Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductor industry

    • Taiwan is the world’s leading producer of semiconductors and other electronic components.
    • The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has more than 55 per cent of the global market share in the production of high-end custom-made chips.
    • Of the two rival companies that have survived, US-based Intel is in trouble and Korea’s Samsung has challenges of its own.
    •  There will be no generation of data without the semiconductors.
    • It might be more accurate to say that “semiconductors are the new oil” and their production is increasingly dominated by Taiwan and the TMSC.

    Geopolitics over Taiwan

    • As its economic heft and political salience rose in the 21st century, China has ratcheted up pressure on countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
    • China has also compelled international organisations to push Taiwan out of their activities, even when Taiwan had much to contribute.
    • Amidst the deterioration of US-China relations in recent years, President Donald Trump was far more supportive of Taiwan than his recent predecessors.
    • The Biden team has also signalled continuity with Trump’s Taiwan policies.
    • All indications are that Washington will continue to seek some technological decoupling and diversification of sensitive supplies away from China.
    • Taiwan will inevitably be the key element in the American quest for resilient supply chains in the digital domain.

    Opportunity for India

    • Taiwan’s position as a semiconductor superpower opens the door for more intensive strategic-economic cooperation between Delhi and Taipei.
    • Part of the problem is that India’s strategic community continues to view Taiwan as an adjunct to India’s “One-China policy”.
    • India’s policy oscillates between keeping needless distance with Taipei when ties with Beijing are warm and remembering it when Sino-Indian ties enter a freeze.
    • This changed in the early 1990s, when it began to engage with Taiwan, but the policy remained a restricted one.
    • In the last few years, though, there has been a steady expansion of bilateral engagement.
    • Trade has increased from about $1 billion in 2001 to about $7 billion in 2018.
    • India has made a special effort to woo Taiwanese companies that are moving some of their production away from China.
    • India is yet to tap into the full range of commercial and technological opportunities possibilities with Taiwan.
    • This is particularly true of semiconductor production.

    Way forward

    • Delhi must begin to deal with Taiwan as a weighty entity in its own right that offers so much to advance India’s prosperity.
    • Delhi does not have to discard its “One-China policy” to recognise that Taiwan is once again becoming the lightning rod in US-China tensions.

    Consider the question “India needs to explore the opportunities in relationship with Taiwan even as it pursues and sticks to its One China policy. Comment.

    Conclusion

    As Taiwan becomes the world’s most dangerous flashpoint, the geopolitical consequences for Asia are real. Although Delhi has embraced the Indo-Pacific maritime construct, it is yet to come to terms with Taiwan’s critical role in shaping the strategic future of Asia’s waters.