Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ICOLD
Mains level: NA
The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Symposium was inaugurated by the Minister for Jal Shakti.
What is the news?
- ICOLD in collaboration with Central Water Commission (CWC) has organised a Symposium on “Sustainable Development of Dams and River Basins”.
- The symposium is being organised to provide an excellent opportunity to Indian Dam Engineering Professionals and Agencies to share their experiences, ideas and latest developments.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which one of the following pairs is not correctly matched?
Dam: Lake River
(a) Govind Sagar: Satluj
(b) Kolleru Lake: Krishna
(c) Ukai Reservoir: Tapi
(d) Wular Lake: Jhelum
About ICOLD
- The ICOLD is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the sharing of professional information and knowledge of the design, construction, maintenance, and impact of large dams.
- It was founded in 1928 and has its central office in Paris, France.
- It consists of 100 member national committees which have a total membership of about 10,000 individuals.
- The official languages of the commission are English and French.
Key initiatives: World Register of Dams
For the purpose of inclusion in the World Register of Dams, a large dam is defined as any dam above 15 metres in height OR any dam between 10 and 15 metres in height that meets at least one of the following conditions:
- the crest length is not less than 500 metres
- the capacity of the reservoir formed by the dam is not less than one million cubic metres
- the maximum flood discharge dealt with by the dam is not less than 2 000 cubic metres per second
- the dam had especially difficult foundation problems
- the dam is of unusual design
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Private sector led growth
The article deals with the recent acknowledgement of the private sector by the Prime Minister in the development of the country.
Respecting wealth creators
- In his recent speech in Parliament, the Prime Minister openly acknowledged the contribution and role of the private sector as an important engine of growth and employment in India.
- The creation of wealth is essential for growth, employment and the reduction of poverty.
- India’s successes in many fields in the last three decades are linked to the private sector.
- The industries that have created growth, jobs, buzz and hope in the last three decades, the vast majority have been driven by private enterprise.
Steps taken to promote business
- India has been making commendable strides in the “Ease of Doing Business”.
- It is easier to start a business in India than it was a decade ago.
- We seem to have broken the shackles of a chained belief that business is bad.
- The success of the Mudra Yojana and Start-up India are living testimony to this fact.
- And that India is daring to look at sectors we were otherwise hesitant to — space, defence, aeronautics.
- Some areas need work, but a government willing to listen gives a good head start to solving those problems.
- Work on faceless tax assessment and PLI schemes are moves that have received encouraging responses far and wide.
- The India stack has revolutionised the fintech sector.
- The digital health stack will likely do the same for healthtech.
Conclusion
The recent Union budget has made clear the intent of this government to pursue economic reform and go for growth — whether it is the willingness to live with a higher fiscal deficit or to aggressively pursue divestment of public sector enterprises. Large spending on infrastructure is good news too.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FAME
Mains level: Paper 3- Reducing India's energy import dependence
The article discusses the steps taken by the government to improve fuel efficiency standards and the for the transition to clean sources of energy.
Reducing energy import dependence
- Speaking on the increase in petrol and diesel prices, Prime Minister emphasised the need for clean sources of energy.
- Expanding and diversifying energy supply is good, but if India is to reduce its energy import dependence, it must look towards first managing the demand for petroleum products.
- It is worthwhile to reflect on measures taken by the previous governments as well as this government in this context.
Steps taken
National Electric Mobility Mission Plan
- The UPA-2 administration formulated fuel efficiency standards for passenger vehicles that are now in effect.
- It also constituted the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP).
- While well-intended, both these actions fell short in terms of ambition.
- India’s 2022 fuel efficiency standards for passenger cars are nearly 20% less stringent than the European Union’s standards.
- The NEMMP primarily focused on hybrid electric vehicles.
- Most of the incentives under the NEMMP went towards subsidising mild hybrids instead of electric vehicles.
Multiple fuel pathways
- Recently, the government has encouraged multiple fuel pathways in the transport sector including natural gas.
- The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) scheme now focuses largely on electric vehicles.
- The government has also provided several additional fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to encourage a transition to electric vehicles.
Steps need to be taken
- There are many things that the government can and should do to
- First, the government should formulate a zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) programme that would require vehicle manufacturers to produce a certain number of electric vehicles.
- At present, the electric mobility initiative in India is driven largely by new entrants in the two- and three-wheeler space.
- A ZEV programme would require all manufacturers to start producing electric vehicles across all market segments.
- The government should also strengthen fuel efficiency requirements for new passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
- Two-wheelers, which consume nearly two-third of the petrol used in India, are not subject to any fuel efficiency standards.
- Adopting stringent fuel efficiency standards and a ZEV programme by 2024 can result in India’s petroleum demand peaking by 2030.
- The FAME should be extended not only to all passenger cars and commercial vehicles but also to agricultural tractors.
Conclusion
As the economy recovers from the pandemic, the demand for petroleum products will rise, as will prices. But the government can save money for the consumer while enhancing long-term energy security by wielding the regulatory tools at its disposal.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Primary surplus
Mains level: Paper 3- Change in government's fiscal policy stance
The article examines the changes in government’s fiscal policy stance which supports the debt-financing and apparent contradiction displayed by increased excise duty.
Increase in excise duty
- Well before India began to globalise there was a time when each Union Budget announced sales tax increases on tobacco products.
- The rise in tax was expected to be a shot in the arm for the revenue-starved government of our poor country.
- India is less poor now, having risen to the rank of an emerging market economy.
- Yet, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc.
- As opposed to a Budget estimate of 3.5% for fiscal deficit, the revised estimates show a 2.7 times larger deficit of 9.5% for FY 2020-21.
- A comparison of the government’s revised Budget estimates with the original Budget estimates reveals a fall in receipts from every source of taxation except excise.
- The revised Budget shows a rise of ₹94,000 crore on account of excise duties alone.
- Presumably, the increase comes from the much-debated excise duty increases on petroleum and diesel.
- The excise duty rise will hardly compensate for the huge falls in other tax revenues.
- The larger excise duty collection is not large enough to have significantly reduced the inflated fiscal deficit figure.
Implications of hike in excise duty
- Given the nature of the products on which the excise duty has gone up, prices of commodities will rise in general.
- With annual output shrinking by an estimated 7.7%, it is straightforward to conclude that unemployment has risen significantly.
- The accompanying price rise will be the unemployed persons’ worst nightmare.
- The result will be severe inequality.
Change in economic policy framework
- The Economic Survey 2020-21 considers Olivier Blanchard’s prescription that a fiscal deficit automatically transformed to government debt.
- Such debts along with their servicing liabilities have a tendency to magnify over the years where present borrowings keep increasing to repay past borrowings and service charges.
- This leaves little room for growth-enhancing expenditure and reduces a government’s creditworthiness in the eyes of lenders.
- Debt-financed fiscal spending could well be a driver of growth.
- It can improve the standard of living of the entire population, without necessarily removing inequality.
- A government’s fiscal expenditure, Professor Blanchard points out, has stronger multiplier effects during recessions than during booms
- The inequality, however, could well be benignant, for even though the rich will grow richer, the poor will escape out of poverty.
Condition for debt-financed fiscal spending
- Debt or the fiscal deficit constitutes the government’s spendable resources.
- What will prevent the government from sinking into a debt trap?
- Professor Blanchard shows that the debt-to-GDP ratio can be prevented from exploding if the rate of growth of GDP happens to be higher than the sovereign rate of interest.
- This is the case in developed economies.
- In such economies, debt financed government expenditure will create a positive primary surplus out of which interest payments can be made to keep the debt-GDP ratio under control.
- There will, of course, be a maximum value that this ratio can attain, a value that is higher the larger is the excess of the growth rate over the interest rate.
Contradiction in fiscal policy and fiscal regime
- According to the Economic Survey, India’s average interest rate and growth rate over the last 25 years (leaving out FY 2020-21) have been 8.8% and 12.8% respectively.
- Hence, Professor Blanchard’s condition is satisfied.
- This, of course, is not to support excise duty increases, for it goes against the very principle of the Blanchard argument.
- Therefore, there appears to be a contradiction between the government’s announced fiscal policy stance and the fiscal regime it is actually running.
Consider the question”The Economic Survey 2020-2021 calls for the debt-financed fiscal spending. Do you think that this view is suitable for India economy? What are the risks involved?”
Conclusion
The government must consider the implications of increased excise on the economy and should focus on removing the contradiction in its fiscal policy and fiscal regime.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: India-Sri Lanka relations in recent times
Pakistani PM is in Colombo on a two-day visit for ways and means to enhance trade and connectivity with Sri Lanka.
What is the news?
- Pakistan PM’s visit has attracted a fair amount of controversy because of a cancelled invitation to address the Sri Lankan parliament.
- India too granted permission for using its airspace for the Pakistani PM’s aircraft.
Try this question:
Q.The triangulation in the ties between Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan is an emerging threat in the Indian Ocean Region. Discuss.
Sri Lanka- Pakistan Relations
- For Colombo, the visit holds much value. It comes at a fraught time for the government on the international stage.
- Imminently, it is bracing to be hauled over the coals at the UN Human Rights Commission for withdrawing from resolution 30/1 of September 2015, under which it committed to carrying out war crime investigations.
- To make matters worse, the Islamic world is appalled by Sri Lanka’s tight rules for the cremation and not burials of Muslims who have died of COVID-19.
- The rule created a storm in Sri Lanka, with community leaders convinced that this is nothing but an extension of the state’s persecution of Muslims.
Why Pakistan?
(1) Trade ties
- Pakistan is Sri Lanka’s second-largest trading partner in South Asia after India.
- Sri Lanka and Pakistan have a free trade agreement dating back to 2005.
- Pakistan’s top exports to Sri Lanka are textiles and cement.
- Sri Lanka’s top exports to Pakistan are tea, rubber and readymade garments.
(2) Cultural ties
- In addition to trade cooperation, Pakistan invokes cricket and Buddhism, topics that most Sri Lankans share a deep connection with.
- Over the last decade, Pakistan has also been projecting its ancient Buddhist sites to promote cultural ties with Sri Lanka.
(3) Defence ties
Defence ties are a strong pillar of Sri Lanka- Pakistan bilateral relationship.
- During the 1971 war, Pakistan Air Force jets refuelled in Sri Lanka.
- India pulled back the peacekeeping forces in 1990, it provided no active defence support to the Sri Lankan military.
- Sri Lanka turned to Pakistan for arms, ammunition as well as training for its fighter pilots.
- Gotabaya, who was defence secretary at the time, visited Pakistan in 2008 to make a request for emergency assistance with military supplies.
- Earlier this month, Sri Lanka participated in Pakistan’s multi-nation naval exercise Aman.
India’s observations and concerns
- As Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour with strong, all-encompassing ties, even if these are sometimes problematic, India has not perceived Pakistan as a serious rival in Sri Lanka so far.
- Sporadically, the Indian security establishment has voiced concerns about Pakistan’s role in the radicalization of people, especially in Eastern Sri Lanka.
- Funds have poured in for new mosques from some West Asian countries, and the effect that this could have in India.
Emerging threats from the ‘Triad’
- There is now a new wariness about triangulation in the ties between Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan in defence co-operation, though it has not been publicly expressed.
- In 2016, India put pressure on Sri Lanka to drop a plan to buy the Chinese JF-17 Thunder aircraft made in Pakistan and co-produced by the Chinese Chengdu Aircraft Corporation.
- The most recent threat was from excluding India from the Colombo Terminal Project.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Migration pattern in India
Mains level: Welfare of the migrant workers
Spurred by the exodus of 10 million migrants from big cities during the Covid-19 lockdown, the NITI Aayog has prepared a draft national migrant labour policy.
Highlights of the Policy
- The draft describes two approaches to policy design:
- To focus on cash transfers, special quotas, and reservations
- To enhance the agency and capability of the community and thereby remove aspects that come in the way of an individual’s own natural ability to thrive
A rights-based approach
- The policy rejects a handout approach, opting instead for a rights-based framework.
- It seeks to remove restrictions on the true agency and potential of the migrant workers.
- The goal a/c to the document should not be to provide temporary or permanent economic or social aids”, which is “a rather limited approach”.
- Migration, the draft says, should be acknowledged as an integral part of the development and government policies should not hinder but…seek to facilitate internal migration.
Issues with existing law
- The 2017 report argued that specific protection legislation for migrant workers was unnecessary.
- Migrant workers aren’t yet integrated with all workers as part of an overarching framework that covers regular and contractual work.
- The report discussed the limitations of The Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979, which was designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors by safeguarding their right to non-discriminatory wages.
- It mentions that the Ministry of Labour and Employment should amend the 1979 Act for “effective utilization to protect migrants”.
Restructuring the institutions
The NITI draft lays down institutional mechanisms to coordinate between Ministries, states, and local departments to implement programmes for migrants.
- Nodal agency: It identifies the Ministry of Labour and Employment as the nodal Ministry for implementation of policies, and asks it to create a special unit to help to converge the activities of other Ministries.
- Resources centre: This unit would manage migration resource centres in high migration zones, a national labour Helpline, links of worker households to government schemes, and inter-state migration management bodies.
- Migration corridors: On the inter-state migration management bodies, it says that labour departments of source and destination states along major migration corridors, should work together through the migrant worker cells.
- Labour officers from source states can be deputed to destinations – e.g., Bihar’s experiment to have a joint labour commissioner at Bihar Bhavan in New Delhi.
- Role for Panchayats: Alongside the long-term goal, policies should promote the role of panchayats to aid migrant workers and integrate urban and rural policies to improve the conditions of migration.
- Migration management: Panchayats should maintain a database of migrant workers, issue identity cards and passbooks, and provide “migration management and governance” through training, placement, and social-security benefit assurance, the draft says.
Ways to stem migration
- Even as it underlines the key role of migration in development, the draft recommends steps to stem migration.
- The draft asks source states to raise minimum wages to bring a major shift in the local livelihood of tribal that may result in stemming migration to some extent.
- The absence of community building organisations (CBO) and administrative staff in the source states have hindered access to development programmes, pushing tribals towards migration, the draft says.
- The “long term plan” for CBOs and panchayats should be to “alleviate distress migration policy initiatives” by aiming “for a more pro-poor development strategy in the sending areas.
The importance of data
- The draft calls for a central database to help employers “fill the gap between demand and supply” and ensures “maximum benefit of social welfare schemes”.
- It asks the Ministries and the Census office to be consistent with the definitions of migrants and subpopulations, capture seasonal and circular migrants, and incorporate migrant-specific variables in existing surveys.
- Both documents see limited merit in Census data that comes only once a decade.
- It asked the National Sample Survey Office to include questions related to migration in the periodic labour force survey and to carry out a separate survey on migration.
Preventing exploitation
- The policy draft describes a lack of administrative capacity to handle issues of exploitation.
- State labour departments have little engagement with migration issues, and are in “halting human trafficking mode”, the draft says.
- The local administration, given the usual constraints of manpower, is not in a position to monitor.
- This has become the breeding ground for middlemen to thrive on the situation and entrap migrants which leads to potential exploitation and trafficking.
Specific recommendations
- The draft asks the various ministries to use Tribal Affairs migration data to help create migration resource centres in high migration zones.
- It asks the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to focus on skill-building at these centres.
- The Ministry of Education should take measures under the Right to Education Act to mainstream migrant children’s education, to map migrant children, and to provide local-language teachers in migrant destinations.
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should address issues of night shelters, short-stay homes, and seasonal accommodation for migrants in cities.
- The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and Ministry of Labour should set up grievance handling cells and fast track legal responses for trafficking, minimum wage violations, and workplace abuses etc.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ajit Singh , Pagri Sambhal Movement
Mains level: Farmers agitation since colonial times
As a part of the ongoing farmers’ protest, groups across the country have celebrated February 23 as ‘Pagri Sambhal Diwas’.
Try this PYQ:
Q.What was the immediate cause for the launch of the Swadeshi movement?
(a) The partition of Bengal done by Lord Curzon.
(b) A sentence of 18 months rigorous imprisonment imposed on Lokmanya Tilak.
(c) The arrest and deportation of Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh; and passing of the Punjab Colonization Bill.
(d) Death sentence pronounced on the Chapekar brothers.
Pagri Sambhaal Movement
- Pagrhi Sambhaal Jatta was a successful farm agitation that forced the British government to repeal three laws related to agriculture back in 1907.
- Bhagat Singh’s uncle Ajit Singh was the force behind this agitation, and he wanted to channel people’s anger over the farm laws to topple the colonial government.
What were the ‘three laws’?
- The three farm-related acts at the centre of the storm in 1907 were the Punjab Land Alienation Act 1900, the Punjab Land Colonization Act 1906 and the Doab Bari Act.
- These acts would reduce farmers from owners to contractors of land, and gave the British government the right to take back the allotted land if the farmer even touched a tree in his field without permission.
- Amid resentment against the laws, Bhagat Singh’s father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh, with their revolutionary friend Ghasita Ram, formed the Bharat Mata Society.
- It worked to mobilise this unrest into a revolt against the British government.
Repeal of the laws
- Ajit Singh persuaded Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai to come on the stage during a rally in Lyallpur on March 3, 1907, to protest against the laws.
- On sensing the popular resentment, the British made a minor amendment to the laws.
- The agitation couldn’t remain non-violent. Ajit Singh was booked for sedition after his speech at a public meeting in Rawalpindi on April 21, 1921.
- Violence erupted soon afterwards and the British government repealed the three controversial laws in May 1907.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission Indradhanush
Mains level: Universal immunization programme
States and UTs have started the implementation of the Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0, a campaign aimed to reach those children and pregnant women who have been missed out or been left out of the routine immunisation.
Do not get confused with the Mission Indradhanush for Public Sector Banks launched in 2015. It aims at revamping the functioning of the Public Sector Banks to enable them to compete with the Private Sector Banks.
Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0
- IMI 3.0 is aimed to accelerate the full immunization of children and pregnant women through a mission mode intervention.
- The campaign is scheduled to have two rounds of immunisation lasting 15 days (excluding routine immunisation and holidays).
- It is being conducted in pre-identified 250 districts/urban areas across 29 States/UTs in the country.
- Beneficiaries from migration areas and hard to reach areas will be targeted as they may have missed their vaccine doses during the pandemic.
About the Mission Indradhanush
- Mission Indradhanush seeks to drive towards 90% full immunisation coverage of India and sustain the same by the year 2020. It was launched in December 2014.
Aims and objectives
- It aims to immunize all children under the age of 2 years, as well as all pregnant women, against eight vaccine-preventable diseases.
- The diseases being targeted are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B.
- In 2016, four new additions have been made namely Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent and Rotavirus.
- In 2017, Pneumonia was added to the Mission by incorporating the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine under Universal Immunisation Programme
Try this question from CSP 2016:
Q.‘Mission Indradhanush’ launched by the Government of India pertains to:
(a) Immunization of children and pregnant women
(b) Construction of smart cities across the country
(c) India’s own search for the Earth-like planets in outer space
(d) New Educational Policy
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PM-KISAN
Mains level: Cash support schemes for farmers
The PM-Kisan scheme, launched with an aim to ensure a life of dignity and prosperity for farmers has completed two years of successful implementation.
PM-KISAN
- Under this programme, vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year.
- This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal instalments of Rs. 2,000 each.
- This programme will be entirely funded by the Government of India.
Note: Aadhaar was made optional for availing the first instalment (December 2018 – March 2019). But now it is mandatory.
Exclusion categories
The following categories of beneficiaries of higher economic status shall not be eligible for benefit under the scheme.
- All Institutional Landholders
- Farmer families in which one or more of its members belong to the following categories
- Former and present holders of constitutional posts
- Former and present Ministers/ MP/MLAs/Mayors /Chairpersons of District Panchayats
- All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government Ministries (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff /Class IV/Group D employees)
- All superannuated/retired pensioners whose monthly pension is ₹10,000/-or more (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees) of the above category
- All Persons who paid Income Tax in the last assessment year
- Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out the profession by undertaking practices.
Do you know?
West Bengal is yet to implement the PM-KISAN scheme while the farmers have completed their registrations!
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lake Chad
Mains level: Shrinking water bodies due to Global Warming
One of Africa’s largest freshwater bodies, Lake Chad, has shrunk by 90 per cent.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:
Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/dried up in the recent past due to human activities?
- Aral Sea
- Black Sea
- Lake Baikal
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 and 3
Lake Chad
- Lake Chad in the Sahel spans the countries of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon and is home to 17.4 million people.
- It is blessed with rich aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity.
- The Chari River, fed by its tributary the Logone, provides over 90% of the lake’s water, with a small amount coming from the Yobe River in Nigeria/Niger.
- Despite high levels of evaporation, the lake is freshwater.
- The Lake Chad basin comprises biosphere reserves, World Heritage and Ramsar sites as well as wetlands of international conservation importance.
Why it is significant?
- For years, the lake has been supporting drinking water, irrigation, fishing, livestock and economic activity for over 30 million people in the region.
- It is vital for indigenous, pastoral and farming communities in one of the world’s poorest countries.
- However, climate change has fuelled a massive environmental and humanitarian crisis.
- The United Nations has termed the Lake Chad crisis as “one of the worst in the world”.
A looming peril
- The lake has shrunk 90 per cent over the last 60 years since the chronic droughts surged at the beginning of the 1970s.
- The surface area of the lake was 26,000 square kilometres in 1963; it has now reduced to less than 1,500 square kilometres.
- Its population is exploding and the region has been ripped apart from conflict at an unprecedented scale.
Behind all crises
- The ever-changing climate has dramatically worsened the situation, amplifying food and nutritional insecurity in the region.
- Temperature is rising one-and-a-half times faster than the global average. The seasonal and inter-rainfall patterns have been drastically changing each year.
- This has triggered food insecurity, ultimately pushing communities into the arms of terrorist groups.
- Boko Haram is one of the top insurgent groups with a strong foothold in the region.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF)
Mains level: Paper 3- Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF)
Importance of animal husbandary and dairy sector
- As an allied industry of agriculture, the animal husbandry and dairy sector collectively employs more than 100 million people.
- Since the bulk of establishments in this sector is concentrated in rural India, the socio-economic relevance of this sector cannot be overstated.
- the Central government unveiled a string of measures to cushion the economy, as a part of which the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) was announced.
More about AHIDF
- The AHIDF has been set up with an outlay of ₹15,000 crore.
- As per the provisions of AHIDF, a project will be eligible for a loan amount that covers up to 90% of the estimated cost –
- There will be interest subvention of 3% for all eligible entities.
- Applicants can submit the proposal with a complete Detailed Project Report through the Udyami Mitra Portal.
- The fund includes a diverse set of stakeholders such as FPOs, private dairy players, individual entrepreneurs, and non-profits within its ambit.
Strengthening dairy value chain
- There is a pressing need to enhance chilling infrastructure at collection centres by setting up bulk milk coolers.
- If the infrastructure needs for milk processing and distribution are included, then the overall potential investment opportunity is to the tune of ₹1,40,000 crore across the dairy value chain.
- There is also considerable potential to increase the productivity of cattle, especially by enhancing the quality of animal feed.
- With this in mind, the AHIDF has been designed to support the establishment of animal feed plants of varying capacities.
- The infrastructure gap of 10-18 MMT in the production and supply of affordable compound cattle feed translates into an investment potential of around ₹5,000 crore.
Boosting the poultry industry
- There are not only economic but nutritional benefits to boosting the poultry segment’s output, efficiency and quality.
- India is the fourth largest chicken meat producer and the second largest egg producer in the world.
- India is well-positioned to help mitigate rampant malnutrition given that chicken meat provides the cheapest source of protein per unit.
- With eggs being introduced as part of the mid-day meal within several anganwadis in the country, an upgradation in poultry infrastructure would be closely intertwined with social justice outcomes too.
- Macro benefits regarding climate change and employment are linked to this sector.
- Enhanced infrastructure can make processing units more energy-efficient and help mitigate their carbon footprint.
Consider the question ” As an allied industry of agriculture, the animal husbandry and dairy sector are important for rural area and the socio-economic relevance of this sector cannot be overstated. In light of this, examine the role Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) could play in transforming rural economy.”
Conclusion
The AHIDF also has the potential to create over 30 lakh jobs, even as it overhauls domestic infrastructure towards giving greater prominence to India’s dairy and livestock products in the global value chain.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India's relations with Taiwan
The article underscores the centrality of Taiwan in the realms of semiconductor production and how that dominant spills over in geopolitics.
Silicon shield of Taiwan
- Taiwan’s security situation has been worsening amidst mounting economic, political and military pressure from China.
- Any Chinese attack on Taiwan that disrupts the flow of semiconductors would produce significant challenges not only for the US but also China that relies on semiconductor supplies from Taiwan.
- That factor appears to be preventing the crisis from boiling over into a full-scale war that could draw the US and Japan into it.
- It is Taiwan’s so-called “silicon shield”.
Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductor industry
- Taiwan is the world’s leading producer of semiconductors and other electronic components.
- The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has more than 55 per cent of the global market share in the production of high-end custom-made chips.
- Of the two rival companies that have survived, US-based Intel is in trouble and Korea’s Samsung has challenges of its own.
- There will be no generation of data without the semiconductors.
- It might be more accurate to say that “semiconductors are the new oil” and their production is increasingly dominated by Taiwan and the TMSC.
Geopolitics over Taiwan
- As its economic heft and political salience rose in the 21st century, China has ratcheted up pressure on countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
- China has also compelled international organisations to push Taiwan out of their activities, even when Taiwan had much to contribute.
- Amidst the deterioration of US-China relations in recent years, President Donald Trump was far more supportive of Taiwan than his recent predecessors.
- The Biden team has also signalled continuity with Trump’s Taiwan policies.
- All indications are that Washington will continue to seek some technological decoupling and diversification of sensitive supplies away from China.
- Taiwan will inevitably be the key element in the American quest for resilient supply chains in the digital domain.
Opportunity for India
- Taiwan’s position as a semiconductor superpower opens the door for more intensive strategic-economic cooperation between Delhi and Taipei.
- Part of the problem is that India’s strategic community continues to view Taiwan as an adjunct to India’s “One-China policy”.
- India’s policy oscillates between keeping needless distance with Taipei when ties with Beijing are warm and remembering it when Sino-Indian ties enter a freeze.
- This changed in the early 1990s, when it began to engage with Taiwan, but the policy remained a restricted one.
- In the last few years, though, there has been a steady expansion of bilateral engagement.
- Trade has increased from about $1 billion in 2001 to about $7 billion in 2018.
- India has made a special effort to woo Taiwanese companies that are moving some of their production away from China.
- India is yet to tap into the full range of commercial and technological opportunities possibilities with Taiwan.
- This is particularly true of semiconductor production.
Way forward
- Delhi must begin to deal with Taiwan as a weighty entity in its own right that offers so much to advance India’s prosperity.
- Delhi does not have to discard its “One-China policy” to recognise that Taiwan is once again becoming the lightning rod in US-China tensions.
Consider the question “India needs to explore the opportunities in relationship with Taiwan even as it pursues and sticks to its One China policy. Comment.
Conclusion
As Taiwan becomes the world’s most dangerous flashpoint, the geopolitical consequences for Asia are real. Although Delhi has embraced the Indo-Pacific maritime construct, it is yet to come to terms with Taiwan’s critical role in shaping the strategic future of Asia’s waters.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: State Finance Commission
Mains level: Paper 2- Conditional grants to incentivise the states for reforms
The article highlights the crucial recommendations made by the 15th Finance Commission and also explains the importance of conditions for grants from the Centre to push the state for reforms.
Crucial recommendations by 15th Finance Commission
- The Fifteenth Finance Commission’s report for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 outlines some crucial recommendations for state governments.
- These recommendations cover tax devolution, grants from the Centre, and the guidelines for the borrowings that they are permitted to incur over the medium-term.
- The commission has recommended that 41 per cent of the government’s divisible pool of taxes be transferred to state governments.
Horizontal devolution formula
- The horizontal devolution formula specifies each state’s share in the overall pie.
- The 15th FC was required to use the states’ population as per the 2011 Census — a highly contentious change.
- It has also introduced a demographic performance criterion.
- Additionally, it has also introduced a new criterion –tax effort.
- Tax effort is measured by the ratio of the three-year average of per-capita own tax revenues and per-capita gross state domestic product (GSDP).
- The net result of the change in criteria is that the share of 10 states in the divisible pool has declined.
- Karnataka is the biggest loser, while Maharashtra is the biggest gainer.
Grants from the Centre conditioned on reforms in states
- Another major set of the commission’s recommendations pertain to grants from the Centre.
- In a major shift, the 15th FC has sharply increased the proportion of grants whose receipt is conditional on specified reforms being undertaken.
- 57 per cent of the 15th FC-recommended grants accepted so far by the GoI are conditional, relative to just 17 per cent for the 14th FC (including J&K).
What are the conditions
1) Setting up of State Finance Commission (SFC) and applicability of SFC’s recommendations for 5 years only
- Constitution requires state governments to set up State Finance Commissions (SFC).
- The 15th FC has asserted that the mandate of any given SFC is intended to be applicable only for five years.
- It revealed that only 15 states have set up their fifth or sixth SFCs, whereas several states have not moved beyond their second or third SFC.
- Accordingly, a staggering 84 per cent of the Rs 4.4 trillion grants for local bodies recommended by the 15th FC are conditional on the states setting up SFCs for the coming five-year period, and acting on their recommendations by March 2024.
2) Availability of online accounts
- Another entry-level condition for availing grants by rural and urban local bodies pertains to the timely availability of their accounts online from 2021-22 onwards.
3) Notiflying floor rate for property tax
- For the receipt of grants by the urban bodies, states are required to notify a floor rate for property tax by 2021-22, and demonstrate consistent year-wise improvement from 2022-23 onwards.
- This will complement the conditions set previously by SEBI for ULBs to become eligible to raise municipal bonds.
Changes in limit on net borrowings of state governments
- The commission has recommended that the normal limit for net borrowings of state governments be fixed at 4 per cent of GSDP in 2021-22.
- This will ease to 3.5 per cent by 2022-23, thereafter reverting to the erstwhile 3 per cent limit till 2025-26.
- The additional borrowing space of 0.5 per cent of GSDP for states is conditional on the completion of power sector reforms.
Prospect of huge gaps in states’ revenue in the future
- The states’ fiscal arithmetic will alter in 2022-23 with the GST compensation set to cease at the end of June 2022 as things stand today.
- The ensuing drop in grants, combined with the tapering of the front-loaded revenue deficit grants is likely to leave a big gap in some states’ revenues.
Consider the question “What are the conditions laid down by the 15th Finance Commission on the states for the central grants? How these conditions could benefit the states?”
Conclusion
The question is whether this revenue gaps will force the states to move on both the power sector reforms, which have proven challenging in the past, and the municipal reforms, so that their resource availability may be enhanced.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Carbon footprints, Ecological footprints
Mains level: Not Much
Chandigarh became the first state or UT in India to launch Carbon Watch, a mobile application to assess the carbon footprint of an individual.
Carbon Footprint
- A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent.
- It corresponds to the whole amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced to, directly and indirectly; support a person’s lifestyle and activities.
- Carbon footprints are usually measured in equivalent tons of CO2, during the period of a year, and they can be associated with an individual, an organization, a product or an event, among others.
- The GHGs whose sum results in a carbon footprint can come from the production and consumption of fossil fuels, food, manufactured goods, materials, roads or transportation.
Note: An ecological footprint, as explained earlier compares the total resources people consume with the land and water area that is needed to replace those resources. A carbon footprint also deals with resource usage but focuses strictly on the greenhouse gases released due to burning of fossil fuels.
How does the app Carbon Watch work?
- As a person downloads the application, they will need to fill details in four parts — Water, Energy, Waste Generation and Transport (Vehicular movement).
- In the category of Water, the person will be required to inform about the consumption of water.
- In the Energy category, the details regarding the electricity units consumed every month at the house, monthly bill etc and usage of solar energy will have to be furnished.
- In the Waste category, the individual will need to inform about the waste generated on their part and their family.
- In the transport section, the individual will have to inform about the mode of transport used by four-wheeler, two-wheeler or bicycle.
Try this PYQ:
As a result of their annual survey, the National Geographic Society and an international polling firm GlobeScan gave India top rank in Greendex 2009 score. What is this score?
(a) It is a measure of efforts made by different countries in adopting technologies for reducing the carbon footprint
(b) It is a measure of environmentally sustainable consumer behavior in different countries
(c) It is an assessment of programs/schemes undertaken by different countries for improving the conservation of natural resources
(d) It is an index showing the volume of carbon credits sold by different countries
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tipraland
Mains level: Demand for separate states
Tripura royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya has recently announced his political demand for a new state called ‘Greater Tipraland’.
Try this:
Q.New-age ethnic politics in North East is driving demands for separate statehood movements in India. Discuss.
What is Greater Tipraland?
- ‘Greater Tipraland’ is essentially an extension of the ruling tribal partner Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura – IPFT’s demand of Tipraland, which sought a separate state for tribals of Tripura.
- The new demand seeks to include every tribal person living in an indigenous area or village outside the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) under the proposed model.
- However, the idea doesn’t restrict to simply the Tripura tribal council areas but seeks to include ‘Tiprasa’ of Tripuris spread across different states of India like Assam, Mizoram etc. as well.
- It seeks to include even those living in Bandarban, Chittagong, Khagrachari and other bordering areas of neighbouring Bangladesh.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NAFLD
Mains level: Health threats posed by Fats
The Union Govt has integrated the Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke.
Try this MCQ:
Q.A Company marketing food products advertises that its items do not contain trans-fats. What does this campaign signify to the customers?
- The food products are not made out of hydrogenated oils.
- The food products are not made out of animal fats/oils.
- The oils used are not likely to damage the cardiovascular health of the consumers.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) Only 1
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
NAFLD
- NAFLD is the abnormal accumulation of fat in the liver in the absence of secondary causes of fatty liver, such as harmful alcohol use, viral hepatitis, or medications.
- According to doctors, it is a serious health concern as it encompasses a spectrum of liver abnormalities.
- It can cause non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL, simple fatty liver disease) to more advanced ones like non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis and even liver cancer.
Why such a move?
- NAFLD is emerging as an important cause of liver disease in India.
- Epidemiological studies suggest the prevalence of NAFLD is around 9% to 32% of the general population in India with a higher prevalence in those with overweight or obesity and those with diabetes or prediabetes.
- Researchers have found NAFLD in 40% to 80 % of people who have type 2 diabetes and in 30% to 90% of people who are obese.
- Studies also suggest that people with NAFLD have a greater chance of developing cardiovascular disease.
- Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in NAFLD.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: One Nation One Standard, BIS
Mains level: One Nation One Standard
It’s time to embark on Mission “One Nation One Standard” and make India the leader in setting global benchmarks in setting standards, highlighted the Food and Consumer Affairs Minister.
One Nation One Standard
- The purpose of setting standards and enforcing them is not to bring back “inspection raj” but to ensure that quality products are made available to consumers.
- The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the only national body that frames standards, has come out with more than 20,000 standards for various products and services so far.
- Besides this, there are about 50-odd agencies that have framed about 400 standards in the country.
- There are multiple standards in the country for a single product/service. The new mission is to converge such standards with the BIS.
Main objectives:
- No one should feel the need to go abroad to get the quality certification.
- Lab testing in India should be of world standards. Modern equipment and the latest technologies would be used there.
Why such a move?
- Having uniform national standards will help in making it mandatory for more products.
- The government proposes to set Indian standards in line with the global benchmarks, just like other countries enforce their standards on imported products.
- The Centre, through this move, wants foreign goods coming into India to comply with Indian standards.
Try this PYQ:
Consider the following statements:
- The Standard Mark of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is mandatory for automotive tyres and tubes.
- AGMARK is a quality Certification Mark issued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
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
Back2Basics: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
- BIS is the National Standards Body of India working under the aegis of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
- It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986 which came into effect on 23 December 1986.
- The organisation was formerly the Indian Standards Institution (ISI), set up under the Resolution of the Department of Industries and Supplies in September 1946.
- The ISI was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- A new Bureau of Indian standard (BIS) Act 2016 has been brought into force with effect from 12 October 2017.
- The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SFURTI Scheme
Mains level: Reviving MSME Sector
Union Minister for MSME has inaugurated 50 artisan-based SFURTI clusters, spread over 18 States.
SFURTI is an off-track scheme compared to other HRD schemes with Hindi acronyms. Similar is the SPARSH scheme for philately.
SFURTI Scheme
- Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) is an initiative by the Ministry of MSME to promote Cluster development.
- Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is the Nodal Agency for the promotion of Cluster development for Khadi.
- Under the Scheme, the MSME Ministry supports various interventions including the setting up of infrastructure through Common Facility Centers (CFCs), procurement of new machinery, design intervention, improved packaging and marketing etc.
Types of clusters
- SFURTI clusters are of two types i.e., Regular Cluster (500 artisans) with Government assistance of up to Rs.2.5 crore and Major Cluster (more than 500 artisans) with Government assistance up to Rs.5 crore.
- The scheme focuses on strengthening the cluster governance systems with the active participation of the stakeholders so that they are able to gauge the emerging challenges and opportunities and respond to them.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Privatisation of PSBs
The article deals with the stark differences in the performance of the public sector banks (PSBs) and private banks and suggests ways to deal with the issues.
Comparing PSBs with private banks
- The performance of PSBs over the years hasn’t been worth the money that the government has invested in them.
- As the Economic Survey of 2019-20 pointed out that over ₹4.3 trillion of taxpayer money is invested as government’s equity in PSBs.
- In 2019, every rupee of taxpayer money invested in PSBs, on average, lost 23 paise.
- In contrast, every rupee of investor money invested in New Private Banks—banks licensed after India’s 1991 liberalization—on average gained 9.6 paise.
- The combined market value of HDFC Bank’s shares is ₹8.56 trillion (as of 18 February), whereas the market capitalization of all PSBs is around ₹6.41 trillion (excluding IDBI Bank, which is now categorized as a private bank).
- Of course, if we add up the assets of PSBs, they are a lot bigger than HDFC Bank’s.
Dual regulation
- The private banks are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
- PSBs are regulated both by RBI and the department of financial services under the finance ministry.
- The P.J. Nayak Committee report of May 2014 had pointed out this issue of dual regulation.
- This is primarily because PSBs are used by the government to fulfil its social obligations and pump-prime the economy when it’s not doing well.
- The stock market discounts these factors while valuing them.
Way forward
- The policies for regulating and promoting industrial growth do not have any social content in them.
- Hence, PSBs should be run as proper banks irrespective of whether they are privatized or not.
- If they are not privatized, the government’s stake in these banks needs to come down to 33%, something which would help them raise more capital.
- Once investors see PSBs being run as proper banks their market capitalization will start to go up.
- Once PSBs are properly valued by the stock market, the government can sell some of its stake in them every year, and use that money to fund its social objectives.
- It can also use some of that money to incentivize all banks, not just PSBs, to deliver some of its social objectives.
Conclusion
The government should take these steps to let the PSBs realise their potential. At the end of the day, nothing improves service delivery more than some good competition.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bicameralism
Mains level: Paper 2- Importance of bicameralism
The article discusses the issue of undermining of the upper house by passing the certain bills through voice vote and use of money bill route.
Passing of the Bill by voice vote
- The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill was passed by the State’s Legislative Council by voice vote without any division.
- The law was passed by the Council despite the lack of a majority.
- There was no division vote based on actual voting as is usual and as the Opposition members had demanded.
A new legislative precedent
- Similar process was followed to pass the controversial farm laws (by the Rajya Sabha) in September 2020.
- The pandemonium in the House caused by heated interventions by the Opposition was used as a pretext to resort to a voice vote.
- The laws passed with a voice vote seem like a new template for bypassing the constitutionally envisaged legislative process.
- Another process repeatedly used over the last few years to bypass the Upper House of Parliament is the Money Bill route.
- The Aadhaar Bill was passed in this manner.
- Other controversial laws such as those pertaining to electoral bonds, retrospective validation of foreign political contributions and the overhaul of the legal regime relating to tribunals have also been carried out through the Money Bill route.
The Rajya Sabha’s role
- The Lok Sabha is seen as directly representing the will of the people, and the Rajya Sabha as standing in its way.
- The countervailing function of the Upper House is rarely seen as legitimate.
- The Rajya Sabha has historically stopped the ruling party from carrying out even more significant legal changes.
- The Rajya Sabha is imperfect, partly because of constitutional design.
- And partly because obviously undesirable practices, such as members representing States they have no affiliation to, have been allowed to flourish.
Importance of bicameralism
- The very questioning of the monopoly of the Lower House to represent the ‘people’ makes bicameralism desirable, argues legal philosopher Jeremy Waldron.
- In India, the fact that the Rajya Sabha membership is determined by elections to State Assemblies leads to a different principle of representation, often allowing different factors to prevail than those in the Lok Sabha elections.
- John Stuart Mill had warned about a single assembly becoming despotic and overweening, if released from the necessity of considering whether its acts will be concurred in by another constituted authority.
- The other merit of bicameralism is significant in a Westminster system like India, where the Lower House is dominated by the executive.
- The Rajya Sabha holds the potential of a somewhat different legislative relation to the executive, making a robust separation of powers possible.
Consider the question “Examine the importance of bicameralism in India. Why passage of certain bills as money bill is causing controversies?”
Conclusion
The important role played by the upper house needs to be recognised and respected in the legislative processess.
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