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GS Paper: GS2

  • What are Lok Adalats?

    A daily wager in Odisha has moved the Lok Adalat against PM after he allegedly failed to get an Aadhaar card registered in his name despite 21 attempts.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. With reference to National Legal Services Authority, consider the following statements:

    1. Its objective is to provide free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society on the basis of equal opportunity.
    2. It issues guidelines for the State Legal Services Authorities to implement the legal programmes and schemes throughout the country.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    What are Lok Adalats?

    • Lok Adalat (People’s Court) is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
    • The forum can settle cases pending on panchayat or at a pre-litigation stage in a court of law.
    • The decisions have statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
    • Under this Act, the award (decision) made by the Lok Adalats is deemed to be a case of a civil court, final and binding for all parties, and not subject to appeal.
    • It has broad powers to devise its procedures, compared to national courts.
    • If the parties do not recognise the Lok Adalat (though there is no provision for an appeal against such a prize), they may initiate litigation by approaching the court of appropriate jurisdiction.

  • What is a Yo-Yo Test?

    In his interaction with fitness experts and influencers the PM asked about the yo-yo test, that is a vital part of the Indian cricket team’s fitness routine.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q.The Yo-Yo test sometimes seen in news is related to:

    Sports/ Healthcare/ Robotics/ Automation

    What is the Yo-Yo test?

    • The test was developed by Danish football physiologist Jens Bangsbo.
    • Two cones are placed 20 metres apart, and the athlete has to run between them when the beep goes off.
    • The beeps become more frequent after one minute, and if the athlete fails to reach the line within that time, he is expected to catch up within two more beeps.
    • The test is stopped if the player fails to catch up before the beeps run out.
    • The test has a beginner and an advanced level, and players are given scores. The minimum score set by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to pass the test is 16.1.

  • Weighing in on the efficacy of female leadership

    The article analyses the issue of women representation and leadership.

    Role of female leaders in pandemic

    • Germany, Taiwan and New Zealand have women heading their governments.
    • Three countries seem to have managed the pandemic much better than their neighbours.
    • A detailed recent study by researchers in the United States reports that States which have female governors had fewer COVID-19 related deaths.
    •  The authors of the study conclude that women leaders are more effective than their male counterparts in times of crises.

    Role of women as pradhans in gram panchayats

    • Women leaders perform significantly better than men in implementing policies that promote the interests of women.
    • This was demonstrated in study conducted by Nobel Laureate Esther Duflo and co-author Raghabendra Chattopadhyay.
    • They used the system of mandated reservations of pradhans in gram panchayats to test the effectiveness of female leadership.
    • Study concluded that pradhans invested more in rural infrastructure that served better the needs of their own gender.
    • This is also an important goal from the perspective of gender equality.

    Underrepresentation of women in politics

    •  Female members make up only about 10% of the total ministerial strength in India.
    • The underrepresentation of female Ministers in India is also reflected in the fact that there is only one female Chief Minister.
    • Despite this, women constitute just over 14% of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.
    • This gives us the dismal rank of 143 out of 192 countries for which data are reported by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

    State of Women’s Reservation Bill

    • Women running for elections face numerous challenges, it is essential to create a level-playing field through appropriate legal measures.
    • Attempts have also been made to extend quotas for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies through a Women’s Reservation Bill.
    •  Male members from several parties opposed the Bill on various pretexts.
    • Although the Rajya Sabha did pass the bill in 2010, the Lok Sabha and the State legislatures are yet to give their approval.
    • 24 years that have passed since it was first presented in the Lok Sabha.

    Way forward

    • Political parties can sidestep the logjam in Parliament by reserving say a third of party nominations for women.

    Conclusion

    There is substantial evidence showing that increased female representation in policy making goes a long way in improving perceptions about female effectiveness in leadership roles. This decreases the bias among voters against women candidates, and results in a subsequent increase in the percentage of female politicians contesting and winning elections.

  • Exploring the idea of Social Stock Exchange

    Context

    • The Securities and Exchange Board’s (SEBI) working group has submitted its report with recommendations regarding the structure, mechanisms, and regulatory framework for the proposed Social Stock Exchange (SSE).

    What are Social Stock Exchanges (SSEs)?

    • An SSE is a platform which allows investors to buy shares in social enterprises vetted by an official exchange.
    • The Union Budget 2019 proposed setting up of first of its kind SSE in India.
    • The SSE will function as a common platform where social enterprises can raise funds from the public.
    • It will function on the lines of major stock exchanges like BSE and NSE. However, the purpose of the Social Stock Exchange will be different – not profit, but social welfare.
    • Under the regulatory ambit of SEBI, a listing of social enterprises and voluntary organizations will be undertaken so that they can raise capital as equity, debt or as units like a mutual fund.

    Issues with the idea of Social Stock Exchange

    • SSE exists in one form or another in UK, Singapore, South Africa, Canada and Brazil, but it is yet to take off in any country.
    • It has been an instrument focussed on social enterprises with rather poor results.
    • The proposed SSE in our country could have been an interesting innovation if it was first.
    • Replicating an experiment from elsewhere in an extremely complex environment of endemic poverty, high inequality and regional variation does not seem a reasoned decision.
    • It is therefore important to analyse why it has been pushed as a key policy.

    Why civil society is sceptical

    • The 2020-21 Union Budget says that not-for-profit organisations will need to apply every five years for income tax registration to ascertain their charitable status.
    • They will also need to renew their 80(G) certificate that provides tax relief to their donors.
    • The not-for-profit sector would not be able to survive without the tax-exempt charitable status.
    • These restrictions will open the gates to corruption and bullying by the tax and government bureaucracy.
    • The SEBI working group was constituted of business leaders, government and SEBI officials with a token representative from civil society.
    • Composition of the committee reflects the real intent of the SSE, which is to create instruments for market to enter the social sector.
    • However, the way the exchange is envisioned makes it clear that the interests of the private sector are guiding the idea of SSE.

    Will the entry of private sector benefit social sector

    • The proponents of the SSE argue that it would help set standards and a performance matrix for the social sector.
    • SSE is also expected to help bench-marking of sector actors (credibility checks), organise information and data, help in impact assessments, and do capacity building for the sector.

    Solving complex social problems

    • Poverty or injustice are essentially systemic and political questions that need multi-pronged dynamic engagement.
    • Developing set standards of impact assessment and performance matrix has the risk of privileging only one approach to the developmental challenges at hand.
    • The SSE would create more intermediaries and benefit larger organisations.
    • More than 99 per cent of the three million NGOs in the country are in the small category and will be untouched by the SSE.

    Conclusion

    The core business of the SSE is to strengthen the social sector and bring new resources to it, SEBI for sure itself would admit that it is not the appropriate anchor.

  • Upholding transparency in governance

    The article discusses the issue of growing lack of transparency in the functioning of government.

    Issues with Transparent Governance in India

    1) Electoral bond

    •  They were introduced in February 2017— they allowed anonymous donations to political parties and, therefore, protected the privacy of the donors.
    • The Election Commission of India (ECI) criticised the opacity of this financial mechanism.
    • The ECI told the government that this arrangement would prevent the state from ascertaining whether a political party has taken any donation in violation of provisions under Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act.
    • Section 29B prohibits the political parties from taking donations from government companies and foreign sources.
    • Electoral bonds also made it impossible to check whether a company was giving to parties more than what the Companies Act (2013) permitted, that is 7.5 per cent of the net average profit of the three preceding financial years.

    2) Sealed envelopes

    • Sealed envelope has become a modus operandi in several Indian institutions, including the Supreme Court (SC).
    • In the case of political funding by electoral bonds or otherwise, a three-judge bench in 2019 directed political parties to submit the details of donations received to the ECI in sealed cover.
    • The Assam administration had to show the progress it was making in the implementation of the National Register of Citizens by submitting reports in sealed covers.

    3) Undermining RTI

    (A) Reluctance to fill vacancies

    • The government did not appoint a Chief Information Commissioner for a year after the incumbent retired in August 2014.
    •  Similaryly, government did not fill vacant information commissioner posts in the Central Information Commission (CIC) between 2016 and 2018.
    • The backlog of pending appeals had reached 30,000 cases in late 2019 as the CIC has become a rather dysfunctional body.

    (B) Government refusing to disclose infromation

    • The government refused to disclose information which was previously available under the RTI Act.
    • Queries about phone tapping are not responded to anymore.
    • In 2016-17, the home and finance ministries rejected close to 15 per cent of the applications they received while the RBI and public sector banks rejected 33 per cent.
    • The RBI, for instance, refused to give any information about the decision-making process that led to demonetisation.

    (C) Limiting the powers of CIC

    • During the 2019 Monsoon Session of Parliament, government amended the RTI Act to limit the power of the CIC.
    • The five-year fixed tenure for the Chief Information Commissioner and information commissioners was abolished.
    • Their salaries were not fixed any more,  but notified separately by the government.

    4.Diluting Whisleblower’s Protection Act

    • Whistleblowers can now be prosecuted for possessing the documents on which the complaint has been made.
    • Issues flagged by them have to be in “public interest”.
    • Issues flagged should not be “affecting the sovereignty and integrity of India”, related to “commercial confidence” or “information received in confidence from a foreign government.

    5.Issues with statistical information

    • The National Statistical Commission and the Chief Statistician of India faced a credibility crisis when the new GDP series was released.
    • Similarly, the National Crime Records Bureau has been affected by delays (its 2017 report was released in October 2019) and deletions.
    • The National Sample Survey Office has also raised several concerns.

    Conclusion

    Transparency is not only necessary for maintaining a democratic polity, it is also necessary for making the economy work. Government actions must be informed by this fact.

    B2BASICS

    Electoral bond

  • What are Abraham Accords?

    The White House has marked the formal normalization of Israel’s ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Bahrain has created a significant inflexion point in regional history and geopolitics.

    Try this question:

    Q. What are Abraham Accords? Discuss how the Israel-Gulf synergy could impact India’s relations with Israel.

    What are Abraham Accords?

    • The Israel–UAE normalization agreement is officially called the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement.
    • It was initially agreed to in a joint statement by the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on August 13, 2020.
    • The UAE thus became the third Arab country, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, to agree to formally normalize its relationship with Israel as well as the first Persian Gulf country to do so.
    • Concurrently, Israel agreed to suspend plans for annexing parts of the West Bank. The agreement normalized what had long been informal but robust foreign relations between the two countries.

    New friendships

    • Externally, Israel, the UAE and Bahrain share the common threat perception of Iran.
    • Internally, while all three have their respective hotheads opposing this reconciliation, these seem manageable.
    • They are relatively more modern societies which share the overarching and immediate priority of post-pandemic economic resuscitation.
    • They have lost no time to set up logistics such as Internet connectivity and direct flights to pave the way for more active economic engagement.
    • If these sinews evolve, other moderate Arab countries are likely to join the Israel fan club.

    India and the Gulf

    • Now India has stronger, multifaceted and growing socioeconomic engagements with Israel and the Gulf countries.
    • With over eight million Indian diasporas in the Gulf remitting annually nearly $50 billion, annual merchandise trade of over $150 billion.
    • It sources nearly two-thirds of India’s hydrocarbon imports, major investments, etc. Hence it is natural to ask how the new regional dynamic would affect India.

    The Israel-GCC synergy

    • With defence and security cooperation as a strong impetus, both sides are ready to realize the full potential of their economic complementarity.
    • The UAE and Bahrain can become the entrepĂ´ts to Israeli exports of goods and services to diverse geographies.
    • Israel has niche strengths in defence, security and surveillance equipment, arid farming, solar power, horticultural products, high-tech, gem and jewellery, and pharmaceuticals.
    • Tourism, real estate and financial service sectors on both sides have suffered due to the pandemic and hope for a positive spin-off from the peer-to-peer interactions.
    • Further, Israel has the potential to supply skilled and semi-skilled manpower to the GCC states, particularly from the Sephardim and Mizrahim ethnicities, many of whom speak Arabic.
    • Even the Israeli Arabs may find career opportunities to bridge the cultural divide. Israel is known as the start-up nation and its stakeholders could easily fit in the various duty-free incubators in the UAE.

    Implications of the new trinity

    • Geopolitically, India has welcomed the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UAE and Israel, calling both its strategic partners.
    • In general, the Israel-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) breakthrough widens the moderate constituency for peaceful resolution of the Palestine dispute, easing India’s diplomatic balancing act.
    • However, nothing in West Asia is monochromatic: The Israel-GCC ties may provoke new polarization between the Jihadi fringe and the mainstream.
    • The possibility of the southern Gulf becoming the new arena of the proxy war between Iran and Israel cannot be ruled out, particularly in Shia pockets.
    • India would have to be on its guard to monitor and even pre-empt any threat to its interests in the Gulf.

    Way forward

    • Israeli foray into the Gulf has the potential to disrupt the existing politico-economic architecture India has carefully built with the GCC states.
    • India has acquired a large and rewarding regional footprint, particularly as the preferred source of manpower, food products, pharmaceuticals, gem and jewellery, light engineering items, etc.
    • Indians are also the biggest stakeholders in Dubai’s real estate, tourism and Free Economic Zones.
    • In the evolving scenario, there may be scope for a profitable trilateral synergy, but India cannot take its preponderance as a given.

  • Uniting South Asian region to combat Covid

    The article analyses how South Asia is dealing with the pandemic and the need for coordinated action by the countries across the region.

    Varying response across the region

    • Governments in South Asian countries have responded in varying degrees to counter the health and economic crises.
    • India resumed its economic activities on a limited scale following a strict lockdown.
    • Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka did the same after an extended lockdown.
    • Bhutan and the Maldives have managed to largely contain community transmission and avoid prolonged lockdowns due to a higher testing rate.
    • This is consistent with the hypothesis that countries that have conducted more tests have been more successful in containing the pandemic.

    Low mortality in the region

    • Unlike other regions, South Asian countries are experiencing a lower mortality rate despite having a higher infection rate.
    • However, epidemiological studies and the World Health Organization’s reviews have been sceptical about the data reliability.

    Effectiveness of state responses

    • India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Maldives have unveiled stimulus packages.
    • The rest of the countries are yet to announce any concrete support for their low income and lower-middle income population still suffering from the economic fallout of the crisis.
    • In late March, India announced a $22.5 billion relief package to ensure food security and cash transfers to save the livelihoods of an estimated 800 million people living in poverty.
    • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slashed the repo and reverse repo rate to create liquidity for businesses.
    • In early April, Bangladesh announced a stimulus package worth about $8 billion in addition to an earlier $595 million incentive package for export-oriented industries.
    • Although countries like India and Bangladesh announced financial and material stimulus packages, distribution concerns remain unaddressed.

    United response by SAAR

    • The region need to look beyond narrow geopolitical rivalry and come together to work towards a well-coordinated response mechanism.
    • A SAARC COVID-19 fund was created following Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to South Asian leaders.
    • Bbut governments are yet to decide on its modus operandi.
    • The region could leverage its existing institutional framework under the umbrella of SAARC to effectively respond to the crisis.
    • For instance, SAARC Food Banks could be activated to tackle the imminent regional food crisis, and the SAARC Finance Forum can be activated to formulate a regional economic policy response.

    Conclusion

    Faced with an unprecedented crisis, this is the right time for the leaders of the region to come together and take on the challenge collectively.

  • Issues with E-learning in India

    Pandemic has forced learning to the online mode. But there are several concerns with the online leaning. The article discusses the same.

    Providing learning opportunity in pandemic

    • The main thrust of providing learning opportunities while schools are shut is online teaching.
    • There are several sets of guidelines and plans issues by the government, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for this purpose.
    • The Internet space is teeming with learning schemes, teaching videos, sites and portals for learning opportunities.

    3 issues with online learning

    1) Increasing inequality

    • Calamities, be they natural or man-made, affect the underprivileged the hardest,  COVID-19 is no exception.
    •  The COVID-19 shutdown has affected opportunity for the poor even harder than their counterparts from well-to-do sections of society.
    • The government began plans for students with no online access only by the end of August.
    • But online or digital education is available is for students with only online access.
    • Thus, digital India may become even more unequal and divided than it already is.

    2) Pedagogical issues leading to bad quality education

    • The quality of online teaching-learning leaves much to be desired.
    • Listening to lectures on the mobile phone, copying from the board where the teacher is writing, frequent disconnections can hardly and organically connect the child’s present understanding with the logically organised bodies of human knowledge.
    • The secondary students are in a better position still because of their relative independence in learning and possible self-discipline.
    • The beginners in the lower primary can get nothing at all from this mode of teaching.

    3)  An unwarranted thrust on online education, post-COVID-19

    • All reliable studies seem to indicate that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the classroom helps in already well-functioning systems, and either has no benefits or negative impact in poorly performing systems.
    • That does not indicate much hope from IT in our education system.
    • Transformation of schools in the current understanding of pedagogy, suitability of learning material and quality of learning provided through IT will further devastate the already inadequate system of school education in the country.
    • Of course, IT can be used in a balanced manner where it can help; but it should not be seen as a silver bullet to remedy all ills in the education system.

    Importance of institutional environment

    • The institutional environment plays an important role online teaching.
    • Even when the institutions function sub-optimally, students themselves create an environment that supports their growth morally, socially and intellectually in conversations and interactions with each other.
    • The online mode of teaching completely forecloses this opportunity.

    Conclusion

    Our democracy and public education system should try to address the issues raised here while promoting the online mode of education.

  • [pib] Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) Scheme

    The Ministry of Minority Affairs has provided information about the progress of MANF Scheme in the Parliament.

    Note: As the name suggests, the scheme particularly aims to target the Minority community. Here, six major groups are considered a minority. Statement based questions often create bluffs on such conditions.

    MANF Scheme

    • The Ministry of Minority Affairs implements MANF Scheme for educational empowerment of students belonging to six notified minority communities i.e. Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Muslim, Sikh, Zoroastrian (Parsi).
    • The Scheme is implemented through the University Grants Commission (UGC) and no waiting list is prepared under the Scheme by UGC.
    • Candidates belonging to the Six centrally notified minority are considered for award of fellowship under the MANF Scheme.
    • The selection of candidates is done through JRF-NET (Junior Research Fellow- National Eligibility Test) examination conducted by the National Testing Agency.
    • Prior to 2019-20, the merit list was prepared on the basis of marks obtained by the candidates in their Post Graduate examination.
    • However, in 2018-19, only the candidates who had qualified CBSE-UGC-NET/JRF or CSIR-NET/JRF were eligible to apply.

  • [pib] YuWaah Platform

    Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) are set to establish YuWaah, Generation Unlimited (GenU), a global multi-stakeholder platform in India.

     YuWaah Platform

    As per the Statement of Intent, the objectives of this project are:

    • Support young people by providing entrepreneurship classes (online and offline) with successful entrepreneurs and experts, towards establishing an entrepreneurial mindset among young people.
    • Upskilling of young people on 21st-century skills, life skills, digital skills through online and offline channels and support them through self-learning, for their productive lives and the future of work.
    • Create linkages with aspirational economic opportunities to connect young people with employment opportunities, including building pathways to connect them with jobs or self-employment.
    • Providing career guidance support to young people through career portal as well as through job-readiness and self-exploration sessions to make young people career-ready.