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  • Historical and Archaeological Findings in News

    Visva-Bharati University

    Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

    The Calcutta High Court has directed that there can be no protest by the students within 50 meters of academic buildings at Visva-Bharati University.

    Visva-Bharati

    • Visva-Bharati is a central research university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India.
    • It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
    • Until independence, it was a college.
    • Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.

    Its history

    • The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, zamindar of Kirnahar.
    • He set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town.
    • The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya.
    • It was established with a view to encouraging people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate.
    • In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.
    • From 1901 onwards, Tagore used the ashram to organize the Hindu Mela, which soon became a center of nationalist activity.

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  • Food Safety Standards – FSSAI, food fortification, etc.

    Why India’s Steady Exports Are At A Record High?

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Context

    First-quarter growth in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) stands at 20.1 %. This however still means that GDP in the first quarter was 9.2 % below its level two years ago.

    Export: Challenges

    • The key driver of growth in the coming quarters will be exports riding on the rapidity of recovery in major markets.
    • There are two serious worries here.
    • 1) Bullwhip element: This could cause an immediate ramp-up in demand for steel and other such upstream elements in global supply chains, with a corresponding damp down in the months to come.
    • In this connection, although the rates under the scheme for remission of duties and taxes on exported products (RODTEP) were finally notified in mid-August.
    • Steel, pharma and chemicals get no rebate at all, although many products using these inputs do.
    • The scheme looks like a subsidy to selected sectors disguised as duty rollback, which can get India into trouble at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
    • These excluded products need the rebate if they are to survive in a fiercely price-competitive global market in the months to come.
    • 2) Container shortage: A crippling shortage of sea-borne containers has afflicted key large-volume products in the Indian export basket (tea, basmati rice, furniture, garments).
    • Sea-freight subsidy: At a time when container rates have shot up, there is surely a case for a sea-freight subsidy (for a limited period).
    • Even more urgently, the estimated 25,000-30,000 containers locked up at different ports owing to customs disputes need to be unloaded into warehouses and these containers freed.

    Can National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) spur growth?

    • Even if the expected ₹88,000 crore of revenue under NMP is realized during the current year, it is intended to feed only a small part of the infrastructure expenditure budgeted for the year.
    • It is the latter that will have to drive growth. Monetization is merely a funding source.
    • The scheme offers a participation incentive to states with a 33% matching transfer from the Centre for revenues that states realize under the scheme.
    • This matching transfer could well have the perverse consequence of states under-achieving the potential value realizable. 
    • Volume II of the NMP document refers to the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure announced in October 2020.
    • It offered states an interest-free loan with bullet repayment after 50 years to complete stalled capital projects, or settle the outstanding bills of contractors.
    • The NMP demands clear and well-thought-through processes, with sufficient transparency and safeguards in the form of regulatory structures.

    Conclusion

    For now, the need of the hour is export facilitation.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Afghanistan

    Afghan exit- not the end of the road for the U.S.

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Context

    The debate has abruptly shifted to the future of the United States after its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

    Background of the US presence in Afghanistan

    • The terrorist attacks of 9/11, which was a game-changing global experience, led the U.S. to enter Afghanistan.
    •  The terrorist attacks transformed the geopolitics of the world.
    • The most powerful country in the world, which had the capacity to destroy the world many times over, became powerless before a few terrorists.
    •  Once the responsibility of the attack was traced to Osama bin Laden and the terrorists in Afghanistan, it was imperative for the U.S. to retaliate by overthrowing the Taliban regime.

    How US presence in Afghanistan benefited the region

    • After accomplishing its mission the US was not able to withdraw because the Afghanistan government was unable to withstand the onslaught of the Taliban and other terrorist groups.
    • Even neighbouring countries, including India, were strongly in favour of continuing the American presence.
    • The US presence helped to provide a certain stability for Afghanistan.
    • The result of their presence was the prevalence of relative peace in the region except that Pakistan fattened the Taliban with American largesse.
    • The U.S. presence in Afghanistan had succeeded in containing the dangers of terrorism for two decades.

    Way forward for the US and the rest of the world

    • The US is still the most powerful economic and military power around which the whole constellation of the world rotates.
    • Democratic world leadership: The world has a stake in ensuring that a democratic nation leads the world rather than an expansionist dictatorship which has no public opinion to restrain it.
    • Maintain the US leadership: The free world has a responsibility to maintain the American leadership of the world till a wiser and more benign alternative is found.

    Conclusion

    Much has been written about a post-American world for some years now. But it looks that the demise of America, as Mark Twain said about the reports of his own death, is greatly exaggerated.

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  • Common Prosperity Drive in China

    | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for China to achieve “common prosperity”, seeking to narrow a yawning wealth gap that threatens the country’s economic ascent and the legitimacy of Communist Party rule.

    What is ‘Common Prosperity’?

    • “Common prosperity” was first mentioned in the 1950s by Mao Zedong, founding leader of what was then an impoverished country.
    • The idea was repeated in the 1980s by Deng Xiaoping, who modernized an economy devastated by the Cultural Revolution.
    • Deng said that allowing some people and regions to get rich first would speed up economic growth and help achieve the ultimate goal of common prosperity.
    • Common prosperity is not egalitarianism. It does not mean “killing the rich to help the poor”.

    Components of the drive

    • The push for common prosperity has encompassed a wide range of policies, that includes curbing tax evasion and limits on the hours that tech sector employees can work to bans on for-profit tutoring in core school subjects, and strict limits on the time minors can spend playing video games.

    Why in news now?

    • China became an economic powerhouse under a hybrid policy of “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, but it also deepened inequality, especially between urban and rural areas, a divide that threatens social stability.
    • This year, Xi has signaled a heightened commitment to delivering common prosperity, emphasizing it is not just an economic objective but core to the party’s governing foundation.
    • A pilot program in Zhejiang province, one of China’s wealthiest, is designed to narrow the income gap there by 2025.

    How will it be achieved?

    • Chinese leaders have pledged to use taxation and other income redistribution levers to expand the proportion of middle-income citizens, boost incomes of the poor, “rationally adjust excessive incomes”, and ban illegal incomes.
    • Beijing has explicitly encouraged high-income firms and individuals to contribute more to society via the so-called “third distribution”, which refers to charity and donations.
    • Several tech industry heavyweights have announced major charitable donations and support for disaster relief efforts.
    • Other measures would include improving public services and the social safety net.

    What will be the economic impact?

    • Chinese leaders are likely to tread cautiously so as not to derail a private sector that has been a vital engine of growth and jobs.
    • This goal may speed China’s economic rebalancing towards consumption-driven growth to reduce reliance on exports and investment, but policies could prove damaging to growth driven by the private sector.
    • Increasing incomes and improved public services, especially in rural areas, would be positive for consumption, and a better social safety net would lower precautionary savings.
    • The effort supports Xi’s “dual circulation” strategy for economic development, under which China aims to spur domestic demand, innovation, and self-reliance, propelled by tensions with the United States.

    Try answering this PYQ from CSP 2020:

    Q.One common agreement between Gandhism and Marxism is :

    (a) The final goal of a stateless society

    (b) Class struggle

    (c) Abolition of private property

    (d) Economic determinism

     

    Post your answers here.

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  • Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

    Vanniyar movement in Tamil Nadu

    Prelims Only | Indian Society | Mains Paper 1: Social Empowerment

    The government in Tamil Nadu has announced the construction of a memorial in Villupuram to people killed in police firing and clashes in 1987, during a movement demanding reservation for the Vanniyar community.

    Vanniyar Movement

    • Vanniyar are one of the largest and most consolidated backward communities in the state.
    • They had raised massive protests in the mid-1980s demanding 20% reservation in the state, and 2% in central services.
    • Their movement was backed by the Justice Party as well as the Self-Respect Movement.
    • The agitation began in 1986 with activists sending hundreds of letters and telegrams to then Chief Minister M G Ramachandran seeking an audience.
    • As there was no response from MGR and the then Rajiv Gandhi government, agitators started demonstrations in community strongholds, then went on to blockading rail and road traffic.

    The 1987 deaths

    • The Vanniyars declared an agitation from September 17 to 23, 1987, which turned violent.
    • At least 21 protesters were killed, mostly in police firing, and also in clashes with members of Scheduled Caste communities.
    • While this shook the state establishment, there was no immediate solution.

    Reservation granted

    • After 1989, the OBC quota was split into two: Backward Castes and Most Backward Castes.
    • Vanniyars were categorized among the MBCs with 107 other communities, with 20% reservation.
    • Three decades later,10.5% reservation was granted for Vanniyars within the 20% MBC quota.

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  • Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

    What is Glue Grant Scheme?

    Schemes | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies

    Forty Central universities will kick off the implementation of innovative measures such as the academic credit bank and the glue grant meant to encourage multidisciplinary in UG courses.

    Glue Grant Scheme

    • Under the glue grant, announced in this year’s budget, institutions in the same city would be encouraged to share resources, equipment and even allow their students to take classes from each other.
    • This is the first step for multidisciplinary.
    • We intend to start this from the second semester of the current academic year.
    • Ultimately, faculty will be able to design joint courses.
    • This also meant that institutions need not duplicate work by developing the same capacities, but would be able to build on each other’s expertise.

    Credit bank

    • The first step would be the academic credit bank, which would have to be adopted separately by the academic council of each university to kick off implementation.
    • To start with, the system would allow students to attain qualifications by amassing credits rather than specific durations on campus.
    • A certain number of credits would add up to a certificate, then a diploma and then a degree, allowing for multiple entries and exit points.
    • Students can earn up to 40% of their credits in online Swayam classes, rather than in the physical classroom. In the future, these credits will hold validity across different institutions.

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  • Historical and Archaeological Findings in News

    Dinosaur Footprints found in Thar desert

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Geographical Features & Their Location

    In a major discovery, footprints of three species of dinosaurs have been found in the Thar desert in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district.

    Details of the footprints

    • The footprints, made in the sediment or silt of the seashore, later become permanently stone-like.
    • They belong to three species of dinosaurs — Eubrontes cf. giganteus, Eubrontes glenrosensis and Grallator tenuis.
    • While the giganteus and glenrosensis species have 35 cm footprints, the footprint of the third species was found to be 5.5 cm.
    • The dinosaur species are considered to be of the theropod type, with the distinguishing features of hollow bones and feet with three digits.
    • All three species, belonging to the early Jurassic period, were carnivorous.
    • Eubrontes could have been 12 to 15 metres long and weighed between 500 kg and 700 kg, while the height of the Grallator is estimated to have been two metres, as much as a human, with a length of up to three metres.

    Key findings

    • The discovery of dinosaur footprints prove the presence of the giant reptiles in the western part of the State, which formed the seashore to the Tethys Ocean during the Mesozoic era.
    • Careful geological observations enabled the scientists to interpret ancient environments in which the rocks of the footprints, which were once soft sediments, were deposited.
    • Geochemical analyses and calculation of weathering indices showed that the hinterland climate was seasonal to semi-arid during the deposition of the footprints.
    • Fieldwork in the Kutch and Jaisalmer basins has suggested that after the main transgression during the early Jurassic period, the sea level changed several times.
    • Spatial and temporal distribution of sediments and traces of fossils and post-depositional structures provided an indication to this phenomenon.

    Significance

    • These trace fossils are significant to ascertain how life started and evolved after the mass extinction of species, including dinosaurs, at the end of the cretaceous period around 65 million years ago.
    • This research also illustrates the evidence of a fluvial freshwater palaeo-environment and tropical palaeo-climate, indicating the presence of a tropical forest and a huge network of rivers.

    No matter what, try this PYQ:

    Q.The term “sixth mass extinction/sixth extinction” is often mentioned in the news in the context of the discussion of (CSP 2018):

    (a) Widespread monoculture Practices agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals in many parts of the world that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems.

    (b) Fears of a possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs.

    (c) Large scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivation in other Parts of the world which may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss of food biodiversity.

    (d) Mankind’s over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss, natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution, and global climate change.

     

    Post your answers here.

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  • Economic Indicators and Various Reports On It- GDP, FD, EODB, WIR etc

    The April-June quarter GDP numbers indicated at 20.1 per cent growth

    | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Context

    The April-June quarter GDP numbers indicated at 20.1 per cent growth.

    Making sense of the numbers

    • The higher GDP growth was driven by high indirect tax collections, largely GST.
    • The more representative measure of economic activity, gross value added (GVA), grew by 18.8 per cent.
    • GDP is derived by adding indirect tax collections, net of subsidy payouts, to GVA.
    • These numbers are over a base quarter that had contracted sharply due to the lockdowns during the first Covid wave last year.
    • The revival of manufacturing GVA was the most robust, with mining and electricity growth somewhat moderate.
    • The overall and sector-specific activity levels need to be evaluated vis-à-vis the corresponding thresholds of (the pre-pandemic) first quarter of 2019-20.
    • Agriculture grew at 4.5 per cent, with cereals, pulses and oilseeds output at all-time highs.
    • As could be expected, the services sector remained vulnerable, with activity even softer than expected.
    • Steel and cement output growth — proxies for construction activity — were also quite robust in the quarter.
    • Demand and expenditure: Private consumption was up 19.3 per cent while investment was at 55.3 per cent.
    • Government consumption was lower by 4.8 per cent.
    • Export: Net exports are typically in deficit, but the gap was much lower in the first quarter.

    How to sustain recovery: way forward

    • Looking beyond the first quarter, the set of high-frequency economic signals suggest a strong recovery in July and August.
    •  But, how can this recovery over the rest of the year and beyond be sustained, and even accelerated?
    • Sustaining 3 growth drivers: The three distinct potential growth drivers — consumption, investment and exports — will need to be effectively sustained by policy initiatives over the next couple of years.
    • Government spending: Centre’s revenues and expenditures during April-July this year suggest that it has significant room to increase spending.
    • National Monetisation Plan will open up further fiscal space to increase spending, in particular, on capex.
    • Credit support to stressed segment: mid-and small-sized enterprises will take some time to restore their pre-pandemic operational levels.
    • An increase in the flow of credit, from banks, NBFCs and markets, particularly to these stressed segments, is a priority, as a supplement to state spending.
    • Opportunity for exports: Global inventories are low and depending on the progression of the pandemic relaxations across geographies, are likely to provide opportunities for Indian exports to fill some of these gaps.
    • Reforms: Multiple reform initiatives, tax and other incentives are in the process of implementation.
    • These need to be accelerated in coordination with states to enable an environment of steady, high growth in the medium term.

    Challenges

    • Global central banks’ are signalling the imminent normalisation of ultra-loose monetary policy.
    • The resulting increase in financial sector volatility will have spillover effects on emerging markets, including India.
    • To keep the process smooth, it is crucial to raise India’s potential growth so that the economic recovery does not rapidly close the output gap, thereby preventing a surge in inflationary pressures.

    Conclusion

    There is a limited window of opportunity for India to leverage the current ongoing realignment of global supply chains and progressively onboard both manufacturing and services entities.

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  • Hydel projects in Ganga-Himalayan basin

    op-ed snap | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Context

    The affidavit filed recently by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in an ongoing matter in the Supreme Court of India has recommended the construction of seven partially constructed hydroelectric projects in the Uttarakhand Himalaya.

    Background

    • After the Kedarnath tragedy of 2013, an expert body (EB-I) was constituted to investigate whether the hydro-power projects in the State of Uttarakhand was linked to the disaster.
    •  In its findings, EB-I said there was a “direct and indirect impact” of these dams in aggravating the disaster.
    • The Ministry formed another expert body (EB-II; B.P. Das committee) whose mandate has been to pave the way for all projects through some design change modifications
    • This affidavit, dated August 17, reveals that the government is inclined towards construction of 26 other projects, as in the recommendation of the expert body (EB-II; B.P. Das committee). 
    • Ministry’s own observations and admissions given in its earlier affidavit dated May 5, 2014 admitted that hydroelectric projects did aggravate the 2013 flood.

    Concerns

    • Sustainability: The sustainability of the dams in the long term is highly questionable as hydropower solely relies on the excess availability of water.
    • Temperatures across the region are projected to rise by about 1°C to 2°C on average by 2050.
    • Retreating glaciers and the alternating phases of floods and drought will impact the seasonal flows of rivers.
    • Sediment hotspots: The most crucial aspect is the existence of sediment hotspot paraglacial zones, which at the time of a cloud burst, contribute huge amounts of debris and silt in the river.
    • The flash floods in these Himalayan valleys do not carry water alone; they also carry a massive quantity of debris.
    • This was pointed out by EB-II alongside its recommendation not build any projects beyond 2,000 metres or north of the MCT, or the Main Central Thrust (it is a major geological fault).
    • Externalities:  Though hydropower is renewable source, there are contentious externalities associated with the construction of dams such as social displacement, ecological impacts, environmental and technological risks.
    • Climate change: these projects exacerbate ecological vulnerability, in a region that is already in a precarious state.
    • The intense anthropogenic activities associated with the proliferation of hydroelectric projects in these precarious regions accelerate the intensity of flash floods, avalanches, and landslides.
    • Failure of mountain slopes: The construction and maintenance of an extensive network of underground tunnels carrying water to the powerhouses contribute to the failure of mountain slopes.
    • Aggravating the disaster: The Rishi Ganga tragedy and the disasters of 2012 (flashfloods), 2013 are examples of how hydroelectric projects which come in the way of high-velocity flows aggravate a disaster and should be treated as a warning against such projects.

    Conclusion

    Considering the environmental and cultural significance of these areas, it is imperative that the Government refrains from the construction of hydroelectric projects and declares the upper reaches of all the headstreams of the Ganga as eco-sensitive zones. It must allow the river to flow unfettered and free.

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    Back2Basics: Main Central Thrust (MCT)

    • The Main Central Thrust is a major geological fault where the Indian Plate has pushed under the Eurasian Plate along the Himalaya.
    • The fault slopes down to the north and is exposed on the surface in a NW-SE direction (strike).
    • It is a thrust fault that continues along 2200 km of the Himalaya mountain belt

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  • Issues related to Economic growth

    How to unleash the entrepreneurial power of 1.3 billion Indians

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Context

    Last Independence Day, the PM announced that 15,000 of our current 69,000+ employer compliances and 6000+ filings have been identified for removal.

    Why India is a development economics outlier?

    • Software industry despite being low-income country: Few models predict a $2,500 per-capita income country with five million people writing software and internet data costs per GB at 3 percent of US levels.
    • Digital identity: In India there are1.2 billion people empowered with paperless digital identity verification.
    • Digital economy: India also witnesses 3.5 billion real-time monthly digital payments.
    • Attraction for Investment: $10 billion in private equity raised in July, and a $3 trillion public market capitalization.
    • Harvard’s Ricardo Hausman believes, the only sustained predictor of sustained economic success is economic complexity and suggests that India’s prosperity is less than our economic complexity would predict.

    India’s software industry

    • Our software industry is an oasis of high productivity — 0.8 per cent of India’s workers generate 8 percent of GDP.
    • The mandatory global digital literacy program and digital investment super-cycle sparked by Covid will double our software employment in five years.
    • Our software industry’s talent, alumni, and global engagement — 50,000 tech startups that have raised over $90 billion since 2014 from 500+ institutional investors.
    • India’s software services industry and tech startups are each estimated to be worth about $400 billion today which is expected to grow to $1 trillion by 2025.

    Why did India’s manufacturing sector fail to perform while its software industry flourished?

    • One of the reasons is the different regulatory thought worlds of the Software Technology Parks India rules of 1991 (STPI) and the Special Economic Zones Act of 2005 (SEZ).
    • STPI’s genius was simplicity. It allowed rebadging existing assets, embraced trust over suspicion, and adopted self-reporting that was largely paperless, presence less, and cashless.
    • SEZs largely replicated the regulatory cholesterol and distrust that has made India unfavorable for employment-intensive industries.

    Way forward

    • Productivity: Raising per-capita needs high productivity manufacturing and domestic services firms that disrupt our low-level equilibrium of labor handicapped without capital and capital handicapped without labor.
    • Opportunities for India: Until recently, China’s tech industry seemed unstoppable — half of their 160 unicorns operate in AI, big data, and robotics. But this is changing.
    • Over 50 recent regulatory actions against China’s tech industry have already cost investors over $1 trillion.
    • This offers an opportunity for India due to its attractiveness to factories, multinationals, startups, venture capital, and pension funds.
    • Replicate regulatory trust and simplicity offered to the technology industry to other sectors: India’s global soft power by reaching revenue and valuation possibilities that felt unimaginable — have come before physical infrastructure, farm employment reduction, and higher women’s labor force participation.
    • Massifying our prosperity needs massive formal, non-farm job creation.
    • Creating the productive firms that will offer these jobs to our young needs replicating the regulatory trust and simplicity that our technology industry enjoys in the rest of our economy.

    Conclusion

    Imagine India@100 if we cut regulatory cholesterol today and spent the next 25 years unleashing the entrepreneurial energies of 1.3 billion Indians — 65 percent of whom are below 35 years old.

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