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GS Paper: GS3

  • Why Assam gets flooded every year

    Disaster struck Dima Hasao, central Assam’s hill district, in mid-May after incessant heavy rainfall.

    Impacts of the disaster

    • The 170 km railway line connecting Lumding in the Brahmaputra Valley’s Hojai district and Badarpur in the Barak Valley’s Karimganj district was severely affected.
    • The Assam government and Railway Ministry’s assessments said the district suffered a loss of more than ₹1,000 crore, but ecologists say the damage could be irreversibly higher.

    How severe has the rain been in Assam?

    • Assam is used to floods, sometimes even four times a year, resultant landslides and erosion.
    • But the pre-monsoon showers this year have been particularly severe on Dima Hasao, one of three hill districts in the State.
    • Landslips have claimed four lives and damaged roads.
    • The impact has been most severe on the arterial railway, which was breached at 58 locations leaving the track hanging in several places.
    • The disruption of train services, unlikely to be restored soon, has cut off the flood-hit Barak Valley, parts of Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

    Why is the railway in focus post-disaster?

    • Dima Hasao straddles the Barail, a tertiary mountain range between the Brahmaputra and Barak River basins.
    • The district is on the Dauki fault (the prone-to-earthquakes geological fractures between two blocks of rocks) straddling Bangladesh and parts of the northeast.
    • British engineers were said to have factored in the fragility of the hills to build the railway line over 16 years by 1899.
    • The end result was an engineering marvel 221 km long over several bridges and through 37 tunnels, laid along the safer sections of the hills.

    A faulty experiment

    • A project to convert the metre gauge track to broad gauge was undertaken in 1996 but the work was completed only by March 2015 because of geotechnical constraints and extremist groups.
    • The broad-gauge track was realigned to be straighter, but a 2009-10 audit report revealed that the project had been undertaken without proper planning and visualisation of the soil strata behaviour.
    • The report gave the example of the disaster-prone Tunnel 10 on the realigned track that was pegged 8 meters below the bed of a nearby stream.

    Is only the railway at fault?

    • There is a general consensus that other factors have contributed to the situation Dima Hasao is in today.
    • Roads in the district, specifically the four-lane Saurashtra-Silchar (largest Barak Valley town) East-West Corridor, have been realigned or deviated from the old ones that were planned around rivers and largely weathered the conditions.
    • The arterial roads build over the past 20 years often cave in and get washed away by floods or blocked by landslides.
    • Shortened cycles of jhum or shifting cultivation on the hill slopes and unregulated mining have accentuated the “man-made disaster”.
    • Massive extraction of river stone, illegal mining of coal and smuggling of forest timbe has led to the disaster.
    • These activities have increased water current besides weakening either side of riverbanks.

    How vital are the rail and highway through Dima Hasao?

    • Meghalaya aside, Dima Hasao is the geographical link to a vast region comprising southern Assam’s Barak Valley, parts of Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
    • Moreover, this track is vital for India’s Look East policy that envisages shipping goods to and from Bangladesh’s Chittagong port via Tripura’s border points at Akhaura and Sabroom.
    • These are the last railway station near the Feni River that serves as the India-Bangladesh border.

     

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  • Explained: BSF powers and jurisdiction

    A blueprint that defines the extended jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) and its new logistical requirements in frontier States has been prepared and is soon expected to be submitted to the Union Home Ministry.

    What is the news?

    • While in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, the BSF jurisdiction, from the border towards the hinterland, was enhanced from the earlier 15 km to 50 km.
    • In Gujarat the same limit has been reduced from 80 km to 50 km, while in Rajasthan the limit has been kept unchanged at 50 km.

    Do you know?

    BSF currently stands as the world’s largest border guarding force. It has been termed as the First Line of Defence of Indian Territories.

    About Border Security Force (BSF)

    • The BSF is India’s border guarding organization on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
    • It comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
    • It was raised in the wake of the 1965 War on 1 December 1965 for ensuring the security of the borders of India and for matters connected therewith.
    • The BSF has its own cadre of officers but its head, designated as a Director-General (DG), since its raising has been an officer from the Indian Police Service (IPS).

    What are the new modifications?

    • The MHA has exercised the powers under the Border Security Force Act of 1968.
    • It has thus outlined the area of BSF’s jurisdiction.

    Powers exercised by BSF in its jurisdiction

    BSFs jurisdiction has been extended only in respect of the powers it enjoys under:

    1. Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC)
    2. Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and
    3. Passport Act, 1967

    Arrest and search

    • BSF currently has powers to arrest and search under these laws.
    • It also has powers to arrest, search and seize under the NDPS Act, Arms Act, Customs Act and certain other laws.

    Sanctions behind such powers

    • Scarcely populated borders: At that time, border areas were sparsely populated and there were hardly any police stations for miles.
    • Trans-border crimes: To prevent trans-border crimes, it was felt necessary that BSF is given powers to arrest.
    • Manpower crunch: While police stations have now come up near the border, they continue to be short-staffed.

    Various issues at Borders

    1. Encroachment
    2. Illegal incursion
    3. Drug and cattle smuggling

    Impact on State Police jurisdiction

    • Such moves are aimed to complement the efforts of the local police.
    • Thus, it is an enabling provision.
    • It’s not that the local police can’t act within the jurisdiction of the BSF.
    • The state police have better knowledge of the ground.
    • Hence BSF and local Police can act in cooperation.

    Criticism of the move

    • At a basic level, the states can argue that law and order is a state subject and enhancing BSF’s jurisdiction infringes upon powers of the state government.
    • In 2012, then Gujarat CM and the present PM had opposed a central government moves to expand BSF’s jurisdiction.

     

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  • Communication gap between the MPC and RBI

    Context

    Communication is a critical element of monetary policy. Yet there seems to be a gap between what the MPC says and what the RBI does.

    About MPC

    • The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (RBI Act) has been amended by the Finance Act, 2016,  to provide for a statutory and institutionalised framework for a Monetary Policy Committee, for maintaining price stability, while keeping in mind the objective of growth.
    • Highest monetary policy-making body: By law, the Monetary Policy Committee is the highest monetary policy-making body in the land, tasked with deciding monetary policy changes at regular intervals.
    • Composition: The MPC will have six members – the RBI Governor (Chairperson), the RBI Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy, one official nominated by the RBI Board and the remaining three members would represent the Government of India.
    • The MPC will be chaired by the Governor.
    • Under the inflation targeting regime, the most important role in communication belongs to the MPC.

    Communication with public

    • Monetary policy changes are communicated through formal statements, with the discussions underlying these decisions also being published, so that the public can understand why the MPC decided the way that they did.
    • Communication gap: Over the past few years, a communication gap seems to have opened up between what the MPC has been saying and what the RBI has been doing, thereby potentially eroding the credibility of the IT framework.
    • Influencing inflation expectations: Communication is an important part of the ability of the central bank to influence inflation expectations. 

    Following are the ways which indicate the communication gap between the RBI and the MPC, with several implications for the credibility of the MPC.

    1] Separate statements

    • During the first few years of the inflation-targeting regime from 2016 to 2018, the process of communication worked quite well.
    • On the days of policy announcements, the governor and his deputies would participate in a press conference.
    • From 2019 onwards, however, things began to change.
    • Governor’s separate statement: The RBI began to release a separate governor’s statement on the day of the monetary policy meeting, presenting an inflation outlook and even explaining the decision taken by the MPC.
    • MPC statement: It has overlapped with the MPC statement; at times, it has seemed somewhat different.
    • For example, following the June 8 Monetary Policy Review the MPC highlighted inflation concerns, and voted in favour of raising the policy repo rate.
    • On the same day, a governor’s statement mentioned that the central bank will also remain focussed on the orderly completion of the government’s borrowing programme.
    • Confusion: The issuance of two such different statements can lead to confusion, especially as lowering inflation and lowering government bond yields are contradictory policy objectives.

    Why is communication so crucial? To influence inflation expectations!

    • If the public believes the central bank is committed to keeping inflation under control, then it will act accordingly.
    • Firms will moderate their price increases, fearing that large price rises will make them uncompetitive.
    • Meanwhile, workers will accept moderate wage increases, while investors will accept low interest rates on their bond purchases.
    • With everyone acting in this way, it will be easier for the central bank to ensure that inflation indeed remains low.
    • Anchored inflation expectations: If inflation expectations are well anchored, then it becomes relatively easy for the central bank to ensure that inflation returns to the target level before too long.

    2] Change in the Monetary Policy Corridor width during pandemic

    • Deciding the repo rate: The most important task of the MPC, enshrined in the RBI Act (Amended), 2016 that introduced IT, is to decide the repo rate, since this has long been the lynchpin of India’s monetary policy framework.
    •  Ever since the early 2000s, policy had aimed to keep overnight money market rates in a corridor, with the lower bound established by the reverse repo rate and the upper bound by the repo rate.
    • Since the width of this corridor was fixed, once the repo rate was decided, the reverse repo rate was automatically determined, and market overnight rates adjusted accordingly.
    • During the Covid-19 pandemic, the RBI constantly adjusted the reverse repo rate even as the MPC kept the repo rate unchanged.
    • As a result, the fixed width of the corridor was lost, and the MPC lost any role in determining interest rates.

    3] Introduction of policy instruments outside the remit of MPC

    • During pandemic, the RBI introduced a number of new policy instruments, again outside the remit of the MPC.
    • GSAP: It brought in the GSAP programme through which it pre-commited to buying a certain amount of dated government bonds in order to control their yields.
    • Variable reverse repo auctions: It then introduced variable reverse repo auctions, and more recently, replaced the reverse repo rate with the long-dormant standing deposit facility rate.
    • The rationale for this was not explained in the MPC statement.
    • All unconventional monetary policy announcements were kept outside the MPC statement.
    • This raised the questions about the role of the committee in deciding monetary policy actions at a crucial time like the pandemic.

    4] Intervention in the foreign exchange market

    • The RBI has been intervening in the foreign exchange market to manage the rupee.
    • Forex interventions by definition influence the domestic monetary base and inflation.
    • Yet the MPC in its monetary policy statements does not discuss either the exchange rate dynamics or the forex interventions.
    • Just as it does not discuss the RBI’s interventions in the bond market to lower the yields.

    Way forward

    • In its latest two statements, the MPC indicated that policy would now be focusing on bringing India’s inflation rate under control.
    • Clear policy framework: If the RBI is going to be successful in this endeavour, the first step must be to close the communication gap, by reintroducing a simple and clear policy framework and restoring the central role of the MPC.

    Conclusion

    The net result of all these actions is a potential loss of both clarity and credibility. The communication gap will need to be closed in order for the RBI to become successful in bringing inflation back to its 4 per cent target level.

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    Back2Basics: Monetary Policy Corridor

    • The Corridor in the monetary policy of the RBI refers to the area between the reverse repo rate and the MSF rate.
    • Reverse repo rate will be the lowest of the policy rates whereas Marginal Standing Facility is something like an upper ceiling with a higher rate than the repo rate.
    • The MSF rate and reverse repo rate determine the corridor for the daily movement in the weighted average call money rate.
    • As per the monetary policy of the RBI, ideally, the call rate should travel within the corridor showing a comfortable liquidity situation in the financial system and economy.

    What is GSAP?

    • The G-Sec Acquisition Programme (G-SAP) is basically an unconditional and a structured Open Market Operation (OMO), of a much larger scale and size.
    • G-SAP is an OMO with a ‘distinct character’.
    • The word ‘unconditional’ here connotes that RBI has committed upfront that it will buy G-Secs irrespective of the market sentiment.

  • Recruitment of 10 lakh people in “mission mode

    Context

    The government recently announced that 10 lakh government jobs will be provided over the next 18 months on a “mission mode”.

    Background

    • The government recently announced it would recruit 10 lakh people in “mission mode” over the next one-and-a-half years.
    • The announcement came at a time when the unemployment rate for youth (aged 15-29 years) in urban areas has been hovering at over 20 per cent for the last several quarters.
    • According to the Quarterly Bulletin of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), the youth unemployment rate, according to current weekly status, stood at 20.8 per cent in urban areas during October-December 2021.
    • The annual PLFS report too shows that the overall youth unemployment rate, according to usual status (ps+ss), was at 12.9 per cent — 18.5 per cent in urban areas and 10.7 per cent in rural areas — during July-June 2020-21.

    Three takeaways from the announcement

    • One, the creation of employment is indeed a problem and can no longer be hidden from the public discourse.
    • Two, the private sector, especially modern sectors such as the service and manufacturing sectors, which are dominated by multinational companies, have not created many jobs.
    • Even if the Information Technology sector or the modern gig economy have created jobs, these are either very high-skilled jobs or low-skilled ones.
    • Three, the government in the Nehruvian scheme of development occupied an important place in the labour market.
    • The government is now forced to step in as persistently rising inflation, unemployment and underemployment threaten to politically affect it.

    Employment data and issues with it

    • Government is at present relying on the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation/National Pension System/Employees’ State Insurance Scheme registrations and exits as indicators of the formal labour market.
    • This could be misleading as companies may be increasing registrations to cross the threshold to become eligible to fall under any of these.
    • Formalisation: Hence, this might be more a case of formalisation rather than employment generation.
    • Second, media reports show that more than 85% of those aspiring for those 10 lakh jobs could be consumed by existing vacancies in Central government departments (8,72,243).
    • The decline in PSU jobs: Third, 241 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) have been shedding jobs in recent years.
    • The decline in quality of jobs: Even though the labour force and workforce participation rates have increased marginally, there is a decline in the quality of jobs, viz. there is a rise in the unpaid segment of the self-employed and a rise in the share of the agricultural sector in total employment over the last three Periodic Labour Force Surveys (43% to 47%).

    Role of the private sector

    • The private sector creates jobs in response to market forces and while taking into consideration radically altering technological developments.
    • We cannot avoid placing the government at the centre of employment creation beyond a certain point.
    • Projects in the modern private sector consume a lot of capital to generate very few jobs.
    • For instance, recently, there was a report that the Adani Group has invested ₹70,000 crore (or ₹700 million) in Uttar Pradesh to create merely 30,000 jobs.
    • Foreign Direct Investment, which at any rate is highly capital-intensive, goes mostly into the non-manufacturing sectors.

    Way forward

    • The government’s role in employment generation has entered into popular discourse and discussions on policy formation.
    • The government should play a significant role soon.
    • Government as principal employment generator: The government should re-establish its role as the principal employment generator through jobs in its ministries and CPSEs and through assured employment generation programmes like MGNREGA.

    Conclusion

    Employment is not merely about numbers and growth figures.  We need to concentrate on enabling the creation of decent work and a sustainable labour market to which India is committed as a member of the United Nations and the International Labour Organization.

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  • What is a ‘Black Swan’ Event?

    A study by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has spoken about the possibility of capital outflows to the tune of $100 billion (around Rs 7,80,000 crore) from India in case of a major global risk scenario or a “black swan” event.

    What is a ‘black swan’ event?

    • A black swan is a rare, unpredictable event that comes as a surprise and has a significant impact on society or the world.
    • These events are said to have three distinguishing characteristics –
    1. they are extremely rare and outside the realm of regular expectations
    2. they have a severe impact after they hit and
    3. they seem probable in hindsight when plausible explanations appear

    When did the term originate?

    • The black swan theory was put forward by author and investor Nassim Nicholas Taleb in 2001, and later popularised in his 2007 book – The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.
    • It is described as one of the 12 most influential books since World War II.
    • In his book, Taleb does not try to lay out a method to predict such events, but instead stresses on building “robustness” in systems and strategies to deal with black swan occurrences and withstand their impact.

    Behind the metaphorical name

    • The term itself is linked to the discovery of black swans.
    • Europeans believed all swans to be white until 1697, when a Dutch explorer spotted the first black swan in Australia.
    • The metaphor ‘black swan event’ is derived from this unprecedented spotting from the 17th century, and how it upended the West’s understanding of swans.

    When have such events occurred in the past?

    • Interestingly, Taleb’s book predated the 2008 global financial crisis – a black swan event triggered by a sudden crash in the booming housing market in the US.
    • The fall of the Soviet Union, the terrorist attack in the US on September 11, 2001, also fall in the same category.

    Is the Covid-19 pandemic a black swan event?

    • Taleb does not agree with those who believe it to be one.
    • Rather, he called it a “white swan”, arguing that it was predictable, and there was no excuse for companies and governments not to be prepared for something like this.
    • While the outbreak of any pandemic is difficult to individually predict, the possibility of one occurring and having a major impact on systems around the world was known and documented.

     

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  • single-use plastic

    The Centre has banned the use of ‘single-use plastic’ from July 1.

    What is the news?

    • The Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change had issued a gazette notification last year announcing the ban, and has now defined a list of items that will be banned from next month.
    • The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of suc plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from the 1st July, 2022.

    What is Single-Use Plastic?

    • As the name suggests, it refers to plastic items that are used once and discarded.
    • Single-use plastic (SUP) has among the highest shares of plastic manufactured and used — from packaging of items, to bottles (shampoo, detergents, cosmetics), polythene bags, face masks, coffee cups, cling film, trash bags, food packaging etc.
    • It accounts for a third of all plastic produced globally, with 98% manufactured from fossil fuels.
    • SUP also accounts for the majority of plastic discarded – 130 million metric tonnes globally in 2019 all of which is burned, buried in landfills or discarded directly into the environment.
    • On the current trajectory of production, it has been projected that single-use plastic could account for 5-10% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

    SUPs in India

    • India features in the top 100 countries of single-use plastic waste generation – at rank 94 (the top three being Singapore, Australia and Oman).
    • With domestic production of 11.8 million metric tonnes annually, and import of 2.9 MMT, India’s net generation of single-use plastic waste is 5.6 MMT, and per capita generation is 4 kg.

    What are the items being banned?

    • According to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, there is also a complete ban on sachets using plastic material for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala.
    • The items on which the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have announced a ban are earbuds; balloon sticks; candy and ice-cream sticks; cutlery items including plates, cups, glasses, forks, spoons, knives, PVC banners measuring under 100 microns among others.
    • The Ministry had already banned polythene bags under 75 microns in September 2021, expanding the limit from the earlier 50 microns.
    • From December, the ban will be extended to polythene bags under 120 microns.
    • The ban is being introduced in phases to give manufacturers time to shift to thicker polythene bags that are easier to recycle.
    • While manufacturers can use the same machine for 50- and 75-micron bags, the machinery will need to be upgraded for 120 microns.

    Why these items?

    • The choice for the first set of SUPs items for the ban was based on difficulty of collection, and therefore recycling.
    • The enemy is not that plastic exists per se, but that plastic exists forever in the environment.
    • When plastic remains in the environment for long periods of time and does not decay, it turns into microplastics – first entering our food sources and then the human body, and this is extremely harmful.
    • These items are difficult to collect, especially since most are either small, or discarded directly into the environment – like ice-cream sticks.
    • It then becomes difficult to collect for recycling, unlike the much larger items.
    • The largest share of SUP is that of packaging – with as much as 95% of single use belong to this category – from toothpaste to shaving cream to frozen foods.
    • The items chosen are of low value and of low turnover and are unlikely to have a big economic impact, which could be a contributing reason.

    How will the ban be enforced?

    • The ban will be monitored by the CPCB from the Centre, and by the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) that will report to the Centre regularly.
    • Directions have been issued at national, state and local levels — for example, to all petrochemical industries — to not supply raw materials to industries engaged in the banned items.
    • Directions have also been issued to SPCBs and Pollution Control Committees to modify or revoke consent to operate issued under the Air/Water Act to industries engaged in SUP items.
    • Last week, the CPCB issued one-time certificates to 200 manufacturers of compostable plastic and the BIS passed standards for biodegradable plastic.

    What if violation occurs?

    • Those found violating the ban can be penalised under the Environment Protection Act 1986 – which allows for imprisonment up to 5 years, or a penalty up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.
    • Violators can also be asked to pay Environmental Damage Compensation by the SPCB.
    • In addition, there are municipal laws on plastic waste, with their own penal codes.

    How are other countries dealing with single-use plastic?

    • Bangladesh became the first country to ban thin plastic bags in 2002.
    • New Zealand became the latest country to ban plastic bags in July 2019.
    • China issued a ban on plastic bags in 2020 with phased implementation.
    • As of July 2019, 68 countries have plastic bag bans with varying degrees of enforcement.
    • Vanuatu and Seychelles have banned plastic straws outright.

     

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  • Major reforms in Banks Board Bureau (BBB)

    The Union Finance Ministry is working to expand and relaunch the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) by bringing in more representatives from the insurance sector.

    What is Banks Board Bureau (BBB)?

    • Banks Board Bureau (BBB) is an autonomous body to Promote excellence in Corporate Governance in Public Sector Financial Institutions.
    • The BBB works as step towards governance reforms in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) as recommended by J. Nayak Committee.
    • It was formed in 2016 to select executive directors, and managing directors and chief executives of state-run banks.
    • It is tasked to search and select personages for Board of Public Sector Banks, Public Sector Financial Institutions and Public Sector Insurance Companies and recommend measures to improve Corporate Governance in these Institutions.
    • It has been selecting directors and chairmen and managing directors of PSU general insurance companies since 2018.

    Its establishment

    • The Central Government notified the amendment to the Nationalised Banks (Management and Miscellaneous Provisions) Scheme, 1980.
    • It provided the legal framework for composition and functions of the Banks Board Bureau on March 23, 2016.
    • The Bureau accordingly started functioning from April 01, 2016 as an autonomous recommendatory body.

    Functions of BBB

    The mandate of the Bureau is to advise the Central Government on –

    • Selection and appointment of Board of Directors in Nationalised Banks, Financial Institutions and Public Sector Insurance Companies (Whole Time Directors and Chairman)
    • Matters relating to appointments, confirmation or extension of tenure and termination of services of the Directors of mandated institutions
    • Desired management structure of mandated institutions, at the level of Board of Directors and senior management
    • Suitable performance appraisal system for mandated institutions
    • Formulation and enforcement of a code of conduct and ethics for managerial personnel in mandated institutions
    • To build a data bank containing data relating to the performance of mandated institutions and its officers
    • Evolving suitable training and development programs for managerial personnel in mandated institutions
    • To help the banks in terms of developing business strategies and capital raising plan and the like;
    • Any other work assigned by the Government in consultation with RBI

    Why such move?

    • The revamp is, in part, pushed by a Delhi High Court order last year.
    • It observed that the bureau was not a competent body to recommend appointments at PSU general insurers.
    • It held that circulars enabling BBB to select general managers and directors of PSU insurers were not legally valid.

    Reasons behind the revamp

    • FM aims to legally empower the body to recommend candidates for public sector insurers, and accelerate top-level hiring at all state-run financial institutions.
    • The ministry plans to identify new members, restructure the bureau, and refer the new names to the appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) in a couple of months.
    • The revamped BBB may also get a new name to indicate its remit over a wider set of financial institutions.

    Significance

    • A revamp of the BBB will enable it to recommend full-time appointments at financial institutions where the current executives are given additional charge through interim arrangements.

     

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  • Need for a National Security Doctrine

    Context

    All major powers undertake a periodic (every 4-5 years) review of their evolving national security objectives. The government of India, on the other hand, has neglected to undertake any such exercise, in the past 75 years.

    India’s defence budget for FY 2022-23

    • In 2022-23, the Ministry of Defence has been allocated Rs 5,25,166 crore.
    • This includes expenditure on salaries of armed forces and
      civilians, pensions, modernisation of armed forces, production establishments, maintenance, and research and development organisations.
    • According to the Stockholm International Peace
      Research Institute (SIPRI), India was the third largest defence spender in absolute terms in 2020
      after USA and China.
    • In the last decade (2012-13 to 2022-23), the budget of the Ministry of Defence has grown at an annual average rate of 8.6%, while total government expenditure has grown at 10.8%.
    • Defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP declined from 2.3% in 2012-13 to 2% in 2022-23.

    Neglect of defence expenditure in India

    • Defence expenditure as non-plan expenditure: Independent India saw defence expenditure being relegated to the “non-plan” category, within the ambit of a Soviet-inspired, central economy.
    • Pension bill linked to defence budget: In another anomaly, the pension bill of veteran soldiers — a separate charge on the exchequer — was linked to the defence budget.
    • Neglect of modernisation needs: And the growing pension bill was given as an excuse for the dwindling funds available for force-enhancement and hardware replacement/modernisation.
    • As a result, the finance ministry, instead of finding ways and means of raising essential, additional funds for national defence demanded that they evolve measures for reducing the pension bill.

    Two issues with our national security approach

    1] Lack of periodic review

    • Every nation faces the eternal “guns vs butter” dilemma.
    • Periodic review: All major powers undertake a periodic (every 4-5 years) review of their evolving national security objectives, the options available, and the economic/military means available for achieving them.
    • Apart from providing fiscal guidance, this process also facilitates the evolution of a national security strategy. 
    • China, has, since 2002, been issuing, with unfailing regularity, a biennial “Defence White Paper”, which encapsulates all of the foregoing, and is available on the Internet; for the information of foes and friends, alike.
    • The government of India, on the other hand, has neglected to undertake any such exercise, in the past 75 years.
    • India is amongst the few major powers which has failed to issue a National Security Strategy or Doctrine.

    2] Lack of organisation reforms

    • A second fact that we need to face is that our armed forces have remained in a Second World War time-warp, as far as their organisation and doctrines are concerned.
    • Lack of political will and internal resistance: Attempts at organisational reform have come to naught due to lack of political will as well as internal resistance from the services; with the constitution of a Chief of Defence Staff and creation of a Department of Military Affairs providing the latest examples.

    Way forward

    • Given the transformed nature of warfare, down-sizing of the Indian army, by substituting manpower with smart technology and innovative tactics, has become an imperative need.

    Agnipath Scheme

    • Recently announced Agnipath scheme provides for the recruitment of youths in the age bracket of 17-and-half to 21 years for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years.
    • Later, the government extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022.
    • The personnel to be recruited under the new scheme will be known as Agniveers.

    Suggestions for Agneepath Scheme

    • 1] Not the best time to introduce reform: Given the parlous security situation, on the country’s northern and western borders as well as the ongoing domestic turbulence, this is not the best time to cast the armed forces — already short of manpower — into turmoil, with a radical and untried new recruitment system.
    • 2] The scheme is suitable for the army only: Such a scheme, in its present form, is suitable only for the army, whose large infantry component is not excessively burdened with technology.
    • In case of the navy and air force,  at least 5-6 years are required before a new entrant can acquire enough hands-on experience to be entrusted with the operation or maintenance of lethal weapon systems and complex machinery and electronics.
    • 3] Trial before implementation: A radical change of this nature should have been subjected to a trial before service-wide implementation.
    • Ideally, a few units of the regular or Territorial Army could have been earmarked as a testing ground, and feed-back obtained.
    • 4] Legal backing to post-demobilisation employment: Experience of the past has shown that the home ministry has resisted induction of ex-servicemen into the armed-police and para-military forces, on the grounds that it would spoil the career path of their own cadres.
    • Neglect by the state government: Similarly, state governments and other agencies have blatantly ignored the reservations mandated for ESM.
    • Therefore, if the Agnipath scheme has to offer a meaningful promise of post-demobilisation employment or education, this must be mandated by an Act of Parliament, on the lines of the “GI Bill” enacted by the US Congress.

    Conclusion

    A scheme on the lines of Agnipath, appropriately constituted, and focused on enhancing “combat effectiveness” rather than “effecting savings” or “generating employment,” could have triggered a reformative process. But the above given caveats need to be borne in mind in this context.

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  • Explained: Critical Information Infrastructure

    The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has declared IT resources of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and UPI managing entity NPCI as ‘critical information infrastructure’.

    Try this PYQ:

    In India, the term “Public Key Infrastructure” is used in the context of

    (a) Digital security infrastructure

    (b) Food security infrastructure

    (c) Health care and education infrastructure

    (d) Telecommunication and transportation infrastructure

     

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    What is Critical Information Infrastructure (CIC)?

    • The Information Technology Act, 2000 explicitly gives definition of CIC.
    • It defines CIC as a computer resource, the incapacitation or destruction of which shall have debilitating impact on national security, economy, public health or safety.
    • It basically aims to protect the digital assets.
    • The government, under the Act, has the power to declare any data, database, IT network or communications infrastructure as CII.
    • Any person who secures access or attempts to secure access to a protected system in violation of the law can be punished with a jail term of up to 10 years.

    Why is CII classification and protection necessary?

    • IT resources form the backbone of countless critical operations in a country’s infrastructure.
    • Given their interconnectedness, disruptions can have a cascading effect across sectors.

    What led to the classification of CICs?

    • In 2007, a wave of denial-of-service attacks, allegedly from Russian IP addresses, hit major Estonian banks, government bodies – ministries and parliament, and media outlets.
    • It was cyber aggression of the kind that the world had not seen before.
    • The attacks played havoc in one of the most networked countries in the world for almost three weeks.

    Recent incidents of CIC incapacitation

    • In October, 2020 as India battled the pandemic, the electric grid supply to Mumbai suddenly stopped.
    • It hit the mega city’s hospitals, trains and businesses.
    • Later, a study by a US firm claimed that this power outage could have been a cyber-attack, allegedly from a China-linked group.
    • The government, however, was quick to deny any cyber-attack in Mumbai. But prospects cannot be denied.
    • The incident underlined the possibility of hostile state and non-state actors probing internet-dependent critical systems in other countries, and the necessity to fortify such assets.

    How are CIIs protected in India?

    • Created in January 2014, the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) is the nodal agency.
    • It takes all measures to protect the nation’s critical information infrastructure.
    • It is mandated to guard CIIs from “unauthorized access, modification, use, disclosure, disruption, incapacitation or distraction”.
    • NCIIPC monitors and forecasts national-level threats to CII for policy guidance, expertise sharing and situational awareness for early warning or alerts.

     

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  • What are Private Captive Networks?

    The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) wrote a letter urging the government against allotting 5G spectrum to private captive networks, claiming that it will diminish their revenue to the point where offering 5G will pointless.

    What is a Private Captive 5G Network?

    • A private captive 5G network is basically a network set up by a private entity for the use of just one organisation.
    • It is similar to a captive coal mine in that the 5G service offered by this captive network will only be utilised by the enterprise concerned, and no one else.

    Why are telecom providers against it?

    • The COAI’s argument is that enterprises are the biggest users of 5G networks.
    • If private entities are allowed to offer captive networks to enterprises, the TSPs (telecom service providers) retail revenues will fall.
    • COAI implied that there is no great demand for 5G right now as “the needs of voice and data of the entire nation is being adequately met by the TSPs through their 4G networks today”.

     

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