💥Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (August Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

GS Paper: GS2

  • Television Rating Points (TRP) System and its loopholes

    Mumbai police are investigating the alleged manipulation of Television Rating Points (TRP) by an extremely right-wing opinionated news reporter.

    Try this question:

    Q.What do you mean by “TRP Journalism”? Discuss the loopholes in the present system of self-regulation in Indian media.

    What is TRP?

    • In simple terms, anyone who watches television for more than a minute is considered a viewer.
    • The TRP or Target Rating Point is the metric used by the marketing and advertising agencies to evaluate this viewership.
    • In India, the TRP is recorded by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) using Bar-O-Meters that are installed in televisions in selected households.
    • As on date, the BARC has installed these meters in 44,000 households across the country. Audio watermarks are embedded in video content prior to broadcast.
    • These watermarks are not audible to the human ear, but can easily be detected and decoded using dedicated hardware and software.
    • As viewing details are recorded by the Bar-O-Meters, so are the watermarks.

    What is BARC?

    • It is an industry body jointly owned by advertisers, ad agencies, and broadcasting companies, represented by The Indian Society of Advertisers, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Advertising Agencies Association of India.
    • Though it was created in 2010, the I&B Ministry notified the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India on January 10, 2014, and registered BARC in July 2015 under these guidelines, to carry out television ratings in India.

    How are the households selected?

    • Selection of households where Bar-O-Meters are installed is a two-stage process.
    • The first step is the Establishment Survey, a large-scale face-to-face survey of a sample of approximately 3 lakh households from the target population. This is done annually.
    • Out of these, the households which will have Bar-O-Meters or what the BARC calls the Recruitment Sample are randomly selected. The fieldwork to recruit households is not done directly by BARC.
    • The BARC on its website has said that the viewing behaviour of panel homes is reported to BARC India daily. Coincidental checks either physically or telephonically are done regularly.

    Vigilance activities by BARC

    • Certain suspicious outliers are also checked directly by BARC India.
    • BARC India also involves a separate vigilance agency to check on outliers that it considers highly suspicious.
    • And as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, these households rotate every year.
    • This rotation is in such a manner that older panel homes are removed first while maintaining the representativeness of the panel.
    • The Ministry guidelines further say that the secrecy and privacy of the panel homes must be maintained, and asked the BARC to follow a voluntary code of conduct.

    What are the loopholes in the process?

    • Several doubts have been raised on many previous occasions about the working of the TRP.
    • As per several reports, about 70% of the revenue for television channels comes from advertising and only 30% from subscriptions.
    • It is claimed that households were being paid to manipulate the TRP.

  • Deterrence in Australia-China Ties

    Australia and China’s cordial economic ties, established over the last three decades, have been soured this year over several points of friction.

    Try this question

    Q. Discuss the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or the Quad) and its purpose to establish “Asian Arc of Democracy”.

    Various points of friction

     (1) Australia’s Covid-19 inquiry

    • Australia’s appeal for an independent global inquiry into the origins and initial response of Covid-19 created fury in Beijing.
    • China alleged that Australia was teaming up with the US to spread “anti-China propaganda”.

    (2) Tension over journalists

    • The second diplomatic spat began with the detention of an Australian news anchor based in Beijing by the Chinese authorities after she was suspected of “criminal activities” that endangered China’s national security.
    • The Australian government said the journalist was held under “residential surveillance” at an unknown location.
    • Following this, the journalists sought refuge in Australian diplomatic missions, as they were not allowed to leave the country.

    (3) Ideological issues

    • The two countries have also been at loggerheads on other ideological issues previously too.
    • After reports of China keeping Uighur Muslims in state-run detention camps surfaced, Australia was swift to respond and expressed “deep concern” over the “human rights situation.”
    • Australia also supported Hong Kong’s autonomy cause. It decided to extend visas for Hong Kong residents.
    • In both instances, China responded staunchly and asked Australia to not meddle in its “internal matters.”

    (4) Economic dependence

    • China is Australia’s largest trading partner in terms of both exports and imports.
    • China’s share in Australia’s exports reached a record A$117 billion, or 38 per cent, in 2019, more than any other country.
    • Australian sectors like mining, tourism, education benefit from trade with China. China even imports products such as milk, cheese, wine and meat.
    • Over the years, it has been increasing its investment in Australian infrastructure and real estate products too.

  • Provisions for platform workers in the labour code and issues with them

    The article examines the provision made for the platform workers and the gig workers in the labour codes passed by the Parliament recently and explains the issues with it.

    Context

    • The three new labour codes passed by Parliament recently acknowledge platform and gig workers as new occupational categories in the making.

    Definition issue

    • The specific issues of working in factories, the duration of time needed on a factory floor, and associated issues are recognised as the parameters for defining an ideal worker.
    • The Code on Wages, 2019, tries to expand this idea by using ‘wages’ as the primary definition of who an ‘employee’ is.
    • Yet, the terms ‘gig worker’, ‘platform worker’ and ‘gig economy’ not defined with in connection with their wages.
    • The new Code on Social Security allows a platform worker to be defined by their vulnerability — not their labour, nor the vulnerabilities of platform work.

    Issues with the code

    • Since the laws are prescriptive, what is written within them creates the limits to what rights can be demanded, and how these rights can be demanded.
    • Platform delivery people can claim benefits, but not labour rights.
    • This distinction makes them beneficiaries of State programmes.
    • This does not allow them to go to court to demand better and stable pay, or regulate the algorithms that assign the tasks.
    • This also means that the government or courts cannot pull up platform companies for lapses[ ex. choice of pay, work hours etc].

    Benefits with no guarantee

    • In the Code on Social Security, 2020, platform workers are now eligible for benefits like maternity benefits, life and disability cover, old age protection, provident fund, employment injury benefits, and so on.
    • None of these are secure benefits.
    • This means that from time to time, the Central government can formulate welfare schemes that cover these aspects of personal and work security, but they are not guaranteed.
    • Actualising these benefits will depend on the political will at the Central and State government-levels and how unions elicit political support.
    • The language in the Code is open enough to imply that platform companies can be called upon to contribute either solely or with the government.

    Consider the question “What are the provisions for gig workers and platform workers in the new labour code? What are the issues with the provision?”

    Conclusion

    The ‘platform worker’ identity has the potential to grow in power and scope, but it will be mediated by politicians, election years, rates of under-employment, and large, investment- heavy technology companies that are notorious for not complying with local laws.

  • H-1B visa amid the U.S. elections

    Trump administration’s two moves on the visa could have implication for both  India and corporate America. It needs to be seen whether the situations will remain the same after the Presidential elections in the U.S.

    Context

    • The U.S. President announced a hike in the salaries for those arriving in the U.S. on H-1B or skilled-worker visas.

    Implications for India

    • This hike is expected to cut visa applications by around 33%.
    • Trump administration has in its earlier executive actions banned the issuance of new skilled worker visas and new green cards.
    • India’s export of services to the U.S. is estimated to be at $29.6 billion in 2018, 4.9% more than in 2017, and 134% more than 2008 levels.
    • The U.S. has been issuing 85,000 H-1B visas annually, of which 20,000 are given to graduate students and 65,000 to private sector applicants, approximately 70% of which are granted to Indian nationals.
    • The visa issuance ban, combined with the mandatory salary floor soon to be instituted, will seriously hit U.S. imports of services from India.

    Criticism of the move

    • A federal judge in the Northern District of California blocked the enforcement of the new visa ban, ruling that the President “exceeded his authority” under the U.S. Constitution.
    • Google CEO hit out at the ban, saying, “Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today.”

    Consider the question “What makes the H-1B visa important for India? What are the implications of the recent rise in the salary floor by the U.S. for the visa on India?”

    Conclusion

    While the ban and floor limit on salary come in the election milieu, India should prepare for the after election scenario.

  • Right to Protest

    The Supreme Court has found the indefinite “occupation” of a public road by the Shaheen Bagh protestors unacceptable.

    Right to Protest

    • The right to protest is the manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association, and the right to freedom of speech.
    • The Constitution of India provides the right of freedom, given in Article 19 with the view of guaranteeing individual rights that were considered vital by the framers of the constitution.
    • The Right to protest peacefully is enshrined in Article 19(1) (a) guarantees the freedom of speech and expression; Article 19(1) (b) assures citizens the right to assemble peaceably and without arms.
    • Article 19(2) imposes reasonable restrictions on the right to assemble peaceably and without arms.

    What did the Court say?

    • The court said the protest, considered an iconic dissent mounted by mothers, children and senior citizens of Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, became inconvenient to commuters.
    • The judgment upheld the right to peaceful protest against the law but made it unequivocally clear that public ways and public spaces cannot be occupied, and that too indefinitely.
    • Democracy and dissent go hand in hand, but then the demonstrations expressing dissent have to be in designated places alone.
    • The present case was not even one of the protests taking place in an undesignated area but was a blockage of a public way which caused grave inconvenience to commuters.

    Reasonable restrictions do exist in practice

    • Fundamental rights do not live in isolation. The right of the protester has to be balanced with the right of the commuter. They have to co-exist in mutual respect.
    • The court held it was entirely the responsibility of the administration to prevent encroachments in public spaces.

  • What India can learn from Kenya about women’s representation

    Asymmetric representation in India and Kenya has given rise to complex debate in both countries. The article analyses the similarities and difference.

    Issue of women’s representation in Parliament

    • Many political promises have been made in seven decades of the working of the Indian Constitution regarding 33 per cent reservation in Parliament.
    • But the two bills, introduced in 1996 and 2010, have been allowed to lapse.

    What are the hurdles?

    • Every political party endorses the idea but the battle within political classes has been over “quota within a quota”.
    • Some have argued that ways should be found to ensure that this reservation should contain 33 per cent reservation within for SC and ST women.
    • Some have championed a systemic practice of reservation at the stage of distributing party tickets.
    • Some continue to fight for underprivileged and rural women.
    • Some maintain that a constitutional convention mandating increased representation for women by parties will be more appropriate than a constitutional amendment.

    Comparison with Kenya

    • While both fall short in equitable representation, Kenya has secured about 22 per cent women in the present National Assembly.
    • India peaked to its highest number in the 2019 elections with 62 women (around 14.58 per cent),out of a total of 542 Lok Sabha seats.
    • In the Kenyan Senate women number only 21 (or 31 per cent) of the 67-member House are female; in the Indian Rajya Sabha women comprise 25 out of 243 elected members.
    •  In both societies, women’s representation has always been “pyramidical”, most women remain below the constitutional radar at the bottom, even when a few scale national heights.
    • Asymmetric representation in both societies has generated a long and complex debate concerning women’s representation.

    Difference in constitutional histories and judicial actions

    • India has nothing like the two-thirds rule in Kenya’s new constitution.
    • Kenya’s Constitution requires that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.
    • But the 2010 constitutional norm of a “two-thirds gender rule”, buttressed by the requirement that the electoral system shall comply with this rule has been breached.
    • The judicial orders (from 2012) giving various timeframes to enact legislation to implement gender parity have found Parliament unresponsive.
    •  The stage was thus set for the exercise of constitutional power and function by the chief justice to advise the president to dissolve Parliament.
    • This was a great victory for the Kenyan women.

    Conclusion

    Indian sisterhood can yearn wistfully, but valiantly, for another Vishakha moment in the demosprudential leadership of the nation by the apex court.

  • Labour code reforms address basic needs

    The article highlights the key provision of the labour code and how it will help in removing the various hurdles faced by the key stakeholders.

    Increase in the threshold for closure/lay-off and its impact

    • The Industrial Relations Code 2020 increased the threshold for retrenchment/closure or lay-off without requiring government approval, from 100 to 300 workers.
    • This will help in addressing the matter of expansion of the firms.
    • In 2014, Rajasthan had increased the threshold of taking prior permission of the government before retrenchment.
    • The reform has helped firms to set up larger operations in Rajasthan, and the same amendment was followed by 15 states.

    Fixed Term Employment(FTE): Ensuring flexibility and tackling exploitation

    • In many jobs employees are required for a few months such as infrastructure projects, textiles and garments, food and agro-processing, etc.
    • However, the contractual employment workforce is quite often exploited with respect to wages, social security, and working conditions as well as welfare facilities.
    • Fixed Term Employment is an intervention to enable the hiring of employees directly instead of hiring through contractors, which will ensure flexibility.
    • For employees, all statutory entitlements and service conditions equivalent to those of a regular employee have now been made applicable.
    • The Code on Industrial Relations also extends the benefit of gratuity even for an FTE contract of one year, which is five years in the case of regular employees.

    Strengthening the formal economy

    • The inclusion of the gig and platform workers in the Social Security Code 2020 is a step towards strengthening the formal economy.
    • The provision for insurance coverage has been extended to plantation workers, and free annual health check-ups and a bipartite safety committee has been introduced for establishments such as factories, mines and plantation sectors in place of hazardous factories.
    • The ESIC and EPFO requirements will now apply to establishments employing less than 10 and 20 workers respectively on a volunteer basis.

    Ensuring female labour force participation

    • Falling women’s workforce participation in India has been a matter of concern for a long time.
    • Female labour force participation is a driver of growth and, therefore, participation rates indicate the potential for a country to grow more rapidly.
    • The new Code ensures the employment of women in night shifts for all types of work.

    Expansions of the provisions for migrant workers

    • The Occupational Health, Safety & Working Conditions Code expands the definition of a migrant worker.
    • The expanded definition includes workers who would be directly employed by the employer besides those employed through a contractor.
    • Also a migrant, who comes on his own to the destination state, can declare himself a migrant worker by registering on an electronic portal.
    • Registration on the portal has been simplified and there is no requirement of any other document except Aadhaar.
    • For de-licencing/de-registration, it is mandated to notify registering officers about the closure of their establishment and certify payment of dues to all employed workers.
    • This will ensure that workers will not be exploited even during the closure of the concerned establishment.

    Other provisions

    • The introduction of a concept of conducting web-based inspections can be seen as an attempt of matching corporate needs in the digital world.
    • The provision for a 14-day notice period before strikes and lockdowns would allow both workers and employers to attempt resolving the issues.
    •  The codes also promote lifelong learning mechanism to match the evolving skill sets required for technology and process changes through the introduction of a reskilling fund.

    Consider the question “What are the various provision added in the three labour code and how it will help revive the economy and tackle barriers in the expansion of firms?”

    Conclusion

    The reform measures address basic needs — to revive the economy and tackle barriers in the expansion of firms. Moreover, they promote the employment of women as well as reskilling of the workforce for the deployment of migrants.

  • Confusion on what the Quad is and its future

    The article analyses the basics of India’s foreign policy and its implications for the Quad.

    Context

    • There is confusion on what the Quad is and its future in India’s international relations.
    • Sustaining that confusion is the proposition that India is abandoning non-alignment in favour of a military alliance with the US in order to counter the China threat.

    4 Question on Quad’s future and India’s role

    1) What is the nature of alliance?

    • Alliances involve written commitments to come to the defence of the other against a third party.
    • Working of alliance varies according to the distribution of power within the members of an alliance and the changing nature of the external threat.
    • Alliances come in multiple shapes and forms — they could be bilateral or multilateral, formal or informal and for the long-term or near term.
    • Alliances feature in India’s ancient strategic wisdom and contemporary domestic politics in India.
    • Yet, when it comes to India’s foreign policy, alliances are seen as a taboo.
    • Part of the problem is that India’s image of alliances is frozen in the moment when India became independent.
    • After the Second World War, a newly independent India did not want to be tied down by alliances of the Cold War.
    • That notion is seen as central to Indian worldview.

    2) Does India forge alliances?

    • Contrary to conventional wisdom, India has experimented with alliances of different kinds.
    • During the First World War, some nationalists aligned with Imperial Germany to set up the first Indian government-in-exile in Kabul.
    • In the Second World War, Subhas Chandra Bose joined forces with Imperial Japan to set up a provisional government.
    • Policy of non-alignment among the great powers also did not rule out alliances in a different context.
    • For example, when Bhutan, Nepal and Sikkim turned to Delhi for protection amidst Maoist China’s advance into Tibet during 1949-50, Nehru signed security treaties with them.
    • India turned to the US for military support to cope with the Chinese aggression in 1962.
    • Indira Gandhi signed a security cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union in 1971 to cope with the crisis in East Pakistan.
    • Then, as now, there was much anxiety in Delhi about India abandoning non-alignment.
    • India does do alliances but the question is when, under what conditions and on what terms.

    3)  Is the US offering India an alliance against China?

    • The current political discourse in Washington is hostile to alliance-making.
    • President Donald Trump does not miss an opportunity to trash US alliances.
    • In any case, formal commitments do not always translate into reality during times of war.
    • Even within the long-standing US military alliances with Japan and the Philippines, there is much legal quibbling over what exactly is the US’s obligation against, say, Chinese aggression.
    • In case of the Quad, it is quite clear that Washington is not offering a military alliance, nor is Delhi asking for one.
    • Because it knows India has to fight its own wars.
    • Both countries, however, are interested in building issue-based coalitions in pursuit of shared interests.

    4) Instrumental nature of alliance

    • Agreements for security cooperation are made in a specific context and against a particular threat.
    • When those circumstances change, security treaties are not worth the paper they are written.
    • Consider India’s security treaties with Nepal, Bangladesh and Russia.
    • The 1950 Treaty was designed to protect Nepal against the Chinese threat.
    • Now, Nepali communists have long argued that the Treaty is a symbol of Indian hegemony.
    • India’s 1972 security treaty with Bangladesh did not survive the 1975 assassination of the nation’s founder, Mujibur Rahman.
    • India’s own enthusiasm for the 1971 treaty with Moscow waned within a decade.
    • Today Beijing is Moscow’s strongest international partner, a reality that has a bearing on India’s strategic partnership with Russia.

    What India can learn from China about alliances

    • Mao aligned with the Soviet Union after in 1949 and fought the Korean War against the US during 1950-53.
    • He broke from Russia in the early 1960s and moved closer to the US in the 1970s.
    • Mao, who denounced US alliances in Asia, was happy to justify them if they were directed at Russia.
    • He also welcomed Washington’s alliance with Tokyo as a useful means to prevent the return of Japanese nationalism and militarism.
    • Having benefited from the partnership with the US, China is trying to push America out of Asia and establish its own regional primacy.
    • Delhi could learn from Beijing in not letting the theological debates about alliances cloud its judgements about the extraordinary economic and security challenges India confronts today.

    Conclusion

    The infructuous obsession with non-alignment diverts Delhi’s policy attention away from the urgent task of rapidly expanding India’s national capabilities in partnership with like-minded partners.

  • Legal challenges the Farm Acts could face

    Farm Acts passed by the Parliament could face the legal hurdle in the court when challenged on its constitutional basis. This article explains the issue.

    Background

    • Recently, Parliament passed three acts related to agriculture. These Acts are-
    • 1) The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020.
    • 2) The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020.
    • 3) The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
    • This has led to the question: Does the Union government have the authority to legislate on what are rightfully the affairs of States?

    Why agriculture is considered as States’ prerogative

    • Agriculture is a State subject in the Constitution, listed as Entry 14 in the State List (List II).
    • Entry 26 in the State List refers to “trade and commerce within the State”.
    • Entry 27 in the State List refers to “production, supply and distribution of goods”.
    • Entry 28 refers to “markets and fairs”.
    • For these reasons, intra-State marketing in agriculture was always considered a legislative prerogative of States.

    What was the legal basis used by the Parliament to pass the Farm Acts

    • The central government invoked Entry 33 in the Concurrent List (List III).
    • Entry 26 and 27 in List II are listed as “subject to the provisions of Entry 33 of List III”.

    Entry 33 in List III: Trade and commerce in, and the production, supply and distribution of, — (a) the products of any industry where the control of such industry by the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest, and imported goods of the same kind as such products; (b) foodstuffs, including edible oilseeds and oils; (c) cattle fodder, including oilcakes and other concentrates; (d) raw cotton, whether ginned or unginned, and cotton seed; and (e) raw jute.

    Historical background of  “Entry 33” of Concurrent List

    • Entry 33, in its present form, was inserted in List III through the Constitution (Third Amendment) Act, 1954 after heated constitutional debates.
    • The contention of the dissent was the following:
    • As per Article 369 in the original version of the Constitution, the responsibility of agricultural trade and commerce within a State was temporarily entrusted to the Union government for a period of five years beginning from 1950.
    • The 1954 Amendment attempted to change this into a permanent feature in the Constitution.
    • According to dissident “if matters enumerated in Article 369 in were placed in List III, State autonomy would be rendered illusory and State powers and rights would be progressively pulverised…”.
    • While another dissident argued that “passage of the Bill would transform the Indian Constitution into a “unitary Constitution” instead of a “federal Constitution” and reduce “all the States’ powers into municipal powers”.
    • Notwithstanding the strong dissenting voices, the Bill was passed.

    Let’s look into the related Supreme Court Judgments

    • In many of its judgments after 1954, the Supreme Court of India has upheld the legislative powers of States in intra-State agricultural marketing.
    • Most notable was the ruling of the five-judge Constitution Bench in I.T.C. Limited vs. Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) and Others, 2002.
    • The Tobacco Board Act, 1975 had brought the development of the tobacco industry under the Centre.
    • However, Bihar’s APMC Act continued to list tobacco as an agricultural produce.
    • In this case, the question was if the APMC in Monghyr could charge a levy on ITC for the purchase of unprocessed tobacco leaves from growers.
    • An earlier judgment had held that the State APMC Act will be repugnant to the Central Act, and hence was ultra vires.
    • But the Constitution Bench upheld the validity of the State APMC Act, and ruled that market fees can be charged from ITC under the State APMC Act.

    Consider the question “Examine the validity of legal basis used by the Parliament to pass the Farm Acts. Why it could face the legal challenge?”

    Conclusion

    It was unwise on the part of the Centre to use Entry 33 in List III to push the Farm Bills. Such adventurism weakens the spirit of federal cooperation that India needs in this hour of crisis. Second, agriculture is exclusively a State subject.

    Back2Basics: Read more about 3 Agricultural Acts passed by the Parliament here-

    [Burning Issue] Agricultural Reform Bills, 2020

     

  • [pib] Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness for Innovation (CEPI)

    Translational Health Science And Technology Institute (THSTI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, has now been recognized by Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness for Innovation (CEPI) as one of the Global Network of Laboratories for centralized assessment of COVID 19 Vaccines.

    Note: CEPI is neither a WHO subsidiary nor a UN body .

    Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness for Innovation (CEPI)

    • The CEPI is a foundation that takes donations to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging infectious diseases (EID).
    • It is focused on the WHO’s “blueprint priority diseases.
    • These diseases include the Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV), the SARS coronavirus 2 the Nipah virus, the Lassa fever virus, and the Rift Valley fever virus, as well as the Chikungunya virus and the hypothetical, unknown pathogen “Disease X”.
    • CEPI investment also requires “equitable access” to the vaccines during outbreaks.
    • CEPI was conceived in 2015 and formally launched in 2017 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.