Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Expenditure on education in India
Mains level: Paper 2- Increasing the expenditure on education
Context
Faced with an unprecedented education emergency, this is the time to substantially ramp up public spending on education and make it more effective.
Low allocation for education
- UNESCO’s 2030 framework for action suggests public education spending levels of between 4% and 6% of GDP and 15%-20% of public expenditure.
- A recent World Bank study notes that India spent 14.1 % of its budget on education, compared to 18.5% in Vietnam and 20.6% in Indonesia, countries with similar levels of GDP.
- But since India has a higher share of population under the age of 19 years than these countries, it should actually be allocating a greater share of the budget than these countries.
- Public spending on education in most States in India was below that of other middle-income countries even before the pandemic.
- Most major States spent in the range of 2.5% to 3.1% of State income on education, according to the Ministry of Education’s Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education.
- This compares with the 4.3% of GDP that lower-middle-income countries spent, as a group, between 2010-11 and 2018-19.
- In the 2021-22 Budget, the Central government’s allocation for the Education Department was slashed compared to the previous year, even though the size of the overall budget increased.
- Of the major States and Delhi, eight either reduced or just about maintained their budget allocation for education departments in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21.
Way forward
- The vast majority of the 260 million children enrolled in preschool and school, especially in government schools, did not have meaningful structured learning opportunities during the 20 months of school closures.
- Infusion of resources: The education system now needs not only an infusion of resources for multiple years, but also a strengthened focus on the needs of the poor and disadvantaged children.
- What it is spent on and how effectively resources are used are important.
- It is clear what additional resources are required for.
- The needs include: back-to-school campaigns and re-enrolment drives; expanded nutrition programmes; reorganisation of the curriculum to help children learn language and mathematics in particular, and support their socio-emotional development, especially in early grades; additional learning materials; teacher training and ongoing support; additional education programmes and collection and analysis of data.
- Focus on teacher training: How does expenditure on technology compare with the amounts spent on teacher training, which represents just 0.15% of total estimated expenditure on elementary education?
- Teachers are central to the quality of education, so why does India spend so little on teacher training?
The opacity of education finance data in India
- The opacity of education finance data makes it difficult to comprehend this.
- For instance, the combined Central and State government spending on education was estimated to be 2.8% of GDP in 2018-19, according to the Economic Survey of 2020-21.
- This figure had remained at the same level since 2014-15.
- On the other hand, data from the Ministry of Education indicates that public spending on education had reached 4.3% of GDP in the same year, rising from 3.8% of GDP in 2011-12.
- The difference in the figures is due to the inclusion of expenditure on education by departments other than the Education Department.
- Including expenditure on education by, for example, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (on Anganwadis, scholarships, etc.), the Ministry of Science and Technology (for higher education) is of course legitimate.
- However, the composition of these expenditures is not readily available.
Conclusion
The questions for this Budget should be clear. How much additional funds are being allocated for different levels of education by the principal departments in 2021-22? Are the funds being spent on the specific measures required to address the education emergency facing the children?
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Marginal propensity to consume
Mains level: Paper 3- Growth prospects for Indian economy
Context
The adverse effect of the third wave of COVID-19, which is mainly affecting the last quarter of 2021-22, may call for a further downward adjustment in the growth rate to about 9%.
Growth in FY 2021-22
- As per the NSO’s advance estimates, at the end of 2021-22, the magnitude of GDP in real terms is estimated at INR₹147.5-lakh crore that is only a shade higher than INR₹145.7-lakh crore in 2019-20.
- Thus, due to the three waves of COVID-19 that India has experienced, two years of real growth in economic activities have been wiped out.
- As per the advance estimates, the gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) relative to GDP at current prices stands at 29.6% in 2021-22.
- Capacity utilisation in India continues to have considerable slack.
- Private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) also shows a low growth of 6.9% in 2021-22.
- Any pick-up in demand would continue to be constrained by low-income growth in sectors characterised by a high marginal propensity to consume (MPC) such as the trade, transport, et al. sector and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector more broadly.
- It may thus be prudent to expect a real GDP growth in the range of 6%-7%.
- Growth in 2022-23 would also continue to be constrained by supply-side bottlenecks and high prices of global crude and primary products.
- Growth in 2022-23 would depend on the basic determinants such as the saving and investment rates in the economy.
Suggestions
- Extend GST compensation period: The GST compensation provision would also come to an end in June 2022.
- This would cause a major revenue shock at least for some States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
- While this matter may be considered by the GST Council, the compensation arrangement should be extended by two years in some modified form.
- With respect to non-tax receipts, the scope of the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) may be extended to cover monetisation of government-owned land assets.
- Disinvestment initiatives may have to be accelerated.
- Expenditure prioritisation in 2022-23 should focus on reviving both consumption and investment demand.
- Urban counterpart to MGNREGA: Since consumption demand remains weak, some fiscal support in the form of an urban counterpart to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) may be considered.
Focusing on fiscal consolidation
- It would be appropriate now to consider a graduated return to fiscal consolidation while using fiscal policy to lay the base for faster growth in the years to come.
- The Fifteenth Finance Commission had suggested a fiscal consolidation path where the Centre’s fiscal deficit was benchmarked at 5.5% of GDP for 2022-23.
- In their pessimistic scenario, it was kept at 6% of GDP.
- It may be prudent to limit the reduction in fiscal deficit-GDP ratio to about 1% point of GDP in 2022-23.
- This would imply a fiscal deficit in the range of 5.5%-6% of GDP.
- From here on, a stepwise reduction of 0.5% points per year would enable a level of about 4% of GDP by 2025-26.
- By this time, as suggested by the Fifteenth Finance Commission, a high-powered inter-governmental group should be constituted to re-examine the sustainability parameters of debt and fiscal deficit of the central and state governments.
Conclusion
Expenditure prioritisation in 2022-23 should focus on reviving both consumption and investment demand while aiming for the gradual return to the fiscal consolidation.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TSR Subramanian Committee Report on Environment
Mains level: Need for creation of IES
The Supreme Court has asked the Government if it will create an Indian Environmental Service (IES) as recommended by a committee headed by former Cabinet secretary T.S.R Subramanian in 2014.
Why is the IES debate back in the news?
- The Supreme Court was responding to a petition whose counsel pointed out that the matters of environment required special expertise.
- Currently, matters of environmental regulation rest on scientists of the Ministry of Environment and Forests as well as bureaucrats from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS).
- The apex court expressed reluctance at getting into administrative matters of the Government but nevertheless asked the Centre if it expects to go about constituting such a mechanism.
TSR Subramanian Committee Report on Environment
- The Subramanian committee was set up in August 2014 to review the country’s green laws and the procedures followed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
- It suggested several amendments to align with the Government’s economic development agenda.
- The report had suggested amendments to almost all green laws, including those relating to the environment, forest, wildlife and coastal zone clearances.
- The committee suggested that another committee, with more expertise and time, be constituted to review the environmental laws.
Key recommendations
(a) Establishment of Environment Management Authorities
- The report proposed an ‘Environmental Laws (Management) Act’ (ELMA), that envisioned full-time expert bodies to be constituted at the Central and State levels respectively:
- National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA)
- State Environmental Management Authority (SEMA)
(b) Project clearances
- These authorities evaluate project clearance (using technology and expertise), in a time bound manner, providing for single-window clearance.
- It suggested a “fast track” procedure for “linear” projects (roads, railways and transmission lines), power and mining projects and for “projects of national importance.”
- It also suggested an appellate mechanism against the decisions of NEMA/SEMA or MoEF&CC, in respect of project clearance, prescribing a three-month deadline to dispose appeals.
(c) Expanding Environment Protection Act
- The Air Act and the Water Act is to be subsumed within the EP Act.
- The existing Central Pollution Control Board and the State PCBs, which monitor and regulate the conditions imposed on the industries to safeguard environment be integrated into NEMA and SEMA.
(d) Evaluating Environmental Reconstruction Cost (ERC)
- The report also recommends that an “ERC” should be assessed for each project on the basis of the damage caused by it to the environment and this should be added into the cost of the project.
- This cost has to be recovered as a cess or duty from the project proponent during the life of the project.
(e) Research and Development
- It proposed the establishment of a National Environment Research institute “on the lines of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education”.
- It would bring in the application of high-end technology in environment governance.
(f) Establishment of Indian Environment Service (IES)
- Finally, an Indian Environment Service should be established to recruit qualified and skilled human resource in the environment sector.
How were the recommendations received?
- The Centre never formally accepted this report and neither constituted a new committee as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
- The Parliamentary rejected the report on the grounds that it ended up diluting key aspects of environmental legislation designed to protect the environment.
- However, many of these recommendations are implicitly making their way into the process of environmental regulation.
Back2Basics: All Indi Services
- The All India Services (AIS) comprises three civil services: the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service.
- A unique feature of the AIS is that the members of these services are recruited by the centre (Union government in federal polity), but their services are placed under various State cadres.
- They have the liability to serve both under the State and under the centre.
- Officers of these three services comply to the All India Services Rules relating to pay, conduct, leave, various allowances etc.
- The All India Services Act, 1951, provides for the creation of two more All India Services, namely, the Indian Engineering Service and the Indian Medical Service.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: INA Mutiny, INC and Bose
Mains level: Netaji and his contribution in immediate freedom attainment
In public discourse, the popular imagination of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is increasing all across the length and breadth of our country these days.
Back in 2016, when there was ruckus over de-classification of some files associated with Netaji, a question too appeared in UPSC CSE Mains:
Q. Highlight the differences in the approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for freedom.
We can expect a repetition again considering the scale of ongoing debate around Netaji and the vitality of his INA leading to immediate withdrawal of British rulers from India.
Also read:
Celebration of Parakram Diwas
Context
The Bose-Gandhi rivalry is frequently understood as the biggest dichotomy of the Indian nationalist movement.
Bose: A complex character of freedom movement
- Bose was a complex character. His complexity comes alive when one realizes his disagreement with the Congress leadership, when Bose took over the Indian National Army (INA).
- He constituted four regiments, three of which were named after Gandhi, Nehru and Maulana Azad.
- He had profound respect for his colleagues.
- In 1943, while Gandhi was in jail, Bose on the former’s birthday gave a moving address over the Azad Hind Radio where he referred to Gandhi as ‘father of the nation’.
- This was probably the first time this epithet was used for Gandhi, and soon it became ubiquitous.
Bose and his association with INC
- Bose was a key member and a frontline leader of the Indian National Congress.
- He plunged into the anti-colonial movement under Gandhi’s leadership in 1921 and rose to be the president of the Congress in 1938 and 39.
- There were certain differences of opinion with the Gandhian high command in 1939, but he remained true to the Congress ideal of freedom.
Joining the Indian National Congress
- On July 16, 1921, Bose had returned to Bombay from London where he had gone on his father’s insistence to prepare for the Indian Civil Services examination.
- Despite qualifying for the services he had refused to take up the opportunity.
- Such was Bose’s zeal to join the freedom struggle that on the very afternoon he arrived in India he went to meet Gandhi at Mani Bhawan.
Relations with the mainstream leaders
(A) Bose vs. Gandhi
- Bose wanted to know how the different aspects of the movement were going to culminate in the non-payment of taxes, the last stage of the campaign.
- Secondly, he wanted to know how the non-payment of taxes would eventually force the British to leave and thirdly how Gandhi could promise Swaraj in one year.
- On Gandhi’s advice Bose moved to Calcutta, where he worked closely with the lawyer and Congress leader C R Das.
- As president of the Congress, his first disagreement with Gandhi happened in December 1938 when Bose was eager to form a coalition government in Bengal along with the Krishak Praja Party.
- The following year, Bose was hopeful for re-election as Congress president. A second term was very rare and Gandhi was pretty much against the idea of re-electing Bose.
- Bose found support from the younger and left leaning members of the Congress and also from the literary giant Rabindranath Tagore.
- Tagore had personally written to Gandhi requesting a second term for Bose. However, Bose was aggrieved to know that Gandhi saw this as a ‘personal defeat’.
(B) Bose vs. Nehru
- Both leaders were of same age, similar political leanings and often finding themselves frustrated by Gandhi’s commitment to non-violence.
- However, while Nehru was starry-eyed in his reverence for Gandhi, Bose though immensely respectful of Gandhi, found his political strategies to be ambiguous.
- Bose and Nehru had been in prison at that time and both expressed disappointment and anger over unilateral withdrawal of non-cooperation movement over Chauri Chaura incident.
- Both were left-leaning radical men, unswerving in their commitment to ‘purna swaraj’ and to the forming of a socialist state in independent India.
- When Bose sought the support of the Nazi government in Germany, he found himself ideologically at the farthest end to Nehru’s views.
(C) Bose vs. Patel
- In response to Bose’s re-election, several members of the Congress Working Committee resigned including Vallabhbhai Patel and Rajendra Prasad.
- Patel had an old rivalry with Bose, which was both personal and political.
- Their relationship had deteriorated rapidly with the death of Patel’s elder brother Vithalbhai in 1933.
- Bose had been very close to Vithalbhai and had nursed him during his last days.
- In his will, Vithalbhai had left a substantial portion of his property to Bose.
- Vallabhbhai had cast aspersions on the authenticity of the will and a long legal battle had followed culminating in the victory of Patel.
As Congress president
- In February 1938 Bose had taken over as president of the Congress and the next two years would be defining in creating his political profile as a Congressman and in drawing the rift with Gandhi and Nehru.
- At the Haripura session of the Congress, Bose made his presidential address, which is known to be the lengthiest and most important speech he ever made to the party.
- He made it clear that he stood for unqualified Swaraj.
- However, it needs to be noted that nowhere in the speech did Bose suggest any criticism or deviation from Gandhi’s methods.
Resignation from INC
- On April 29, 1939 Bose resigned from his post as president of the Congress Party.
- In a statement to the press, he mentioned the efforts he had made to find a common ground with Gandhi.
- These having failed, he felt his presidency may be a sort of obstacle or handicap in the path of the Congress as it sought to reconcile its two wings.
Life after leaving Congress
(A) World War II
- In September 1939 German tanks invaded Poland, marking the beginning of the Second World War.
- The war was to have a most significant impact in the history of modern India.
- Bose was a special invitee in the three-day meeting of the Congress Working Committee from September 9 to decide India’s position on the war.
- For Bose, the war served as a golden opportunity for India to launch a civil disobedience movement in order to win independence.
- For Bose the stance taken by the resolution to support British was completely unacceptable.
- Nehru had nothing but hatred towards Fascism and Nazism and sought for some concessions from the British government to fight Mussolini and Hitler.
(B) Escape to Germany
- Bose organized mass protests in Calcutta for the removal of the Holwell monument that stood in Dalhousie Square as a memorial to those who died in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
- He was arrested by the British government for the protests, but was released soon after he went into a seven-day hunger strike.
- Bose’s arrest and the subsequent release set the scene for him to escape to Germany via Afghanistan and the Soviet Union.
After Netaji’s demise ( rather disappearance)
- It is also worth noting that at the end of the Second World War, Nehru put on his barrister’s gown and joined the defense team for the INA prisoners at the time of the Red Fort trials.
- In the several speeches of Nehru after Bose’s death, the former referred to Netaji in the most affectionate way.
- In August 1947, in his first speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Nehru mentioned only two people by name and were Gandhi and Bose. It was quite a warm reference.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Suspension of MLAs
Mains level: Read the attached story
- Some legislators were suspended for one year by the Maharashtra Assembly for alleged disorderly conduct.
- The unusually long period of suspension has been questioned by the Supreme Court, which is hearing a challenge to the Assembly’s action.
A case in apex court
- The court has reserved its judgment after hearing elaborate arguments.
- The main question before the court is whether suspension for a whole year is valid.
Suspending MLAs: A fact check
- Each state has their individual rules for the conduct of assembly. These rules provides for the suspension of MLAs.
- Under Rule 53 of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules, 1960, only the Speaker has the power to suspend MLAs indulging in unruly behavior.
- Therefore, the motion to suspend cannot be put to vote as this would allow the Government to suspend as many Members of Opposition as it sees fit.
Constitutional ground behind this suspension
- The Court referred to Article 190 (4) of the Constitution which says that if for a period of 60 days, a member of a House, without its permission, is absent; the House may declare his or her seat vacant.
- Suspension of MLAs beyond this period would lead to their disqualification.
What did the Supreme Court observe?
- Suspension of the MLAs would amount to punishing the constituencies as a whole.
- Each constituency has equal amount of right to be represented in the House, observed the court.
- The apex court observed that any state cannot create a constitutional void, a hiatus situation for any constituency.
- It said the House cannot suspend a member beyond 59 days.
What does the State government say?
- Counsel for the State government has argued that there is no limitation on the power of the legislature to punish for breach of privilege or disorderly conduct in the course of its proceedings.
- Once the power to punish a member for disorderly conduct is recognized, there can be no judicial review of the manner in which it is exercised.
- Further, during suspension, a member continues to hold office, but only loses their voice in the legislature.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA)
Mains level: Not Much
The Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA), the first-of-its-kind State-level bird atlas in India, has created solid baseline data about the distribution and abundance of bird species across all major habitats, giving an impetus to futuristic studies.
Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA)
- The KBA has been prepared based on systematic surveys held twice over 60 days a year during the wet (July to September) and dry (January to March) seasons between 2015 and 2020.
- It was conducted as a citizen science-driven exercise with the participation of over 1,000 volunteers of the birdwatching community.
- The KBA accounts for nearly three lakh records of 361 species, including 94 very rare species, 103 rare species, 110 common species, 44 very common species, and 10 most abundant species.
- It was found that the species count was higher during the dry season than in the wet season while species richness and evenness were higher in the northern and central districts than in the southern districts.
Significance of KBA
- The KBA offers authentic, consistent and comparable data through random sampling from the geographical terrain split.
- It is arguably Asia’s largest bird atlas in terms of geographical extent, sampling effort and species coverage derived from the aggregation of 25,000 checklists.
- The KBA is considered to be a valuable resource for testing various ecological hypotheses and suggesting science-backed conservation measures.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Root Bridges
Mains level: NA
The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has underlined some green rules for the living root bridges of Meghalaya to get the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag.
Living Root Bridges
- A living root bridge is a type of simple suspension bridge formed of living plant roots by tree shaping.
- They are common in the southern part of the Northeast Indian state of Meghalaya. Such a bridge is locally called jingkieng jri.
- They are handmade from the aerial roots of rubber fig trees (Ficus elastic) by the Khasi and Jaintia peoples of the mountainous terrain along the southern part of the Shillong Plateau.
- Most of the bridges grow on steep slopes of subtropical moist broadleaf forest between 50m and 1150m above sea level.
Why is it so unique?
- As long as the tree from which it is formed remains healthy, the roots in the bridge can naturally grow thick and strengthen.
- New roots can grow throughout the tree’s life and must be pruned or manipulated to strengthen the bridge.
- Once mature some bridges can have as many as 50 or more people crossing, and have a lifespan of up to 150 years.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramanuja, Vishishtadvaita
Mains level: Not Much
Work is going apace on the 216-ft tall ‘Statue of Equality’ of the 11th century reformer and Vaishnavite saint, Sri Ramanuja, to be unveiled by PM Modi next month in Hyderabad.
Statue of Equality
- The ‘Statue of Equality’, as it is called, is being installed to mark the 1,000th birth anniversary of Sri Ramanuja.
- It was built of panchaloha, a combination of gold, silver, copper, brass and zinc, by the Aerospun Corporation in China and shipped to India.
- It is the second largest in the world in sitting position of the saint.
- The monument will be surrounded by 108 “Divya Desams” of Sri Vaishnavite tradition (model temples) like Tirumala, Srirangam, Kanchi, Ahobhilam, Badrinath, Muktinath, Ayodhya, Brindavan, Kumbakonam and others.
- The idols of deities and structures were constructed in the shape at the existing temples.
Who was Sri Ramanuja?
Ramanuja or Ramanujacharya (1017–1137 CE) was a philosopher, Hindu theologian, social reformer, and one of the most important exponents of Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism.
- His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement.
His works
- Ramanuja’s philosophical foundation was qualified monism and is called Vishishtadvaita in the Hindu tradition.
- His ideas are one of three subschools in Vedanta, the other two are known as Adi Shankara’s Advaita (absolute monism) and Madhvacharya’s Dvaita (dualism)
- Important writings include:
- Vedarthasangraha (literally, “Summary of the Vedas meaning”),
- Sri Bhashya (a review and commentary on the Brahma Sutras),
- Bhagavad Gita Bhashya (a review and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita), and
- The minor works titled Vedantapida, Vedantasara, Gadya Trayam (which is a compilation of three texts called the Saranagati Gadyam, Sriranga Gadyam and the Srivaikunta Gadyam), and Nitya Grantham.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now