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  • Govt incurs revenue loss of ₹1.84 lakh crore

    The opposition has questioned the government over the corporate tax cut that led to a revenue loss of ₹1.84 lakh crore to the public exchequer as per a report of the Parliamentary Committee on Estimates.

    Why in news?

    • The Public Estimates Committee found such a huge revenue loss for the government.
    • The middle class was charged at a peak tax rate of 30% against 22% for the corporates. Quiet antithetical!
    • The centre on the other hand has repeatedly claimed that the corporate tax cut would help increase tax collection.

    What is Corporate Tax?

    • Domestic as well as foreign companies are liable to pay corporate tax under the Income-tax Act.
    • While a domestic company is taxed on its universal income, a foreign company is only taxed on the income earned within India i.e. is being accrued or received in India.
    • For the purpose of calculation of taxes under Income tax act, the types of companies can be defined as under:
    1. Domestic Company is one which is registered under the Companies Act of India and also includes the company registered in the foreign countries having control and management wholly situated in India. A domestic company includes private as well as public companies.
    2. Foreign Company is one which is not registered under the company’s act of India and has control & management located outside India.

    Why has the government slashed Corporate Tax?

    • The corporate tax cut is part of a series of steps taken by the government to tackle the slowdown in economic growth since the start of pandemic.
    • The most immediate reason behind the tax cut may be the displeasure that various corporate houses have shown against the government’s policies.
    • Many investors, for instance, were spooked by the additional taxes on them that were announced by the government during the budget in July and began pulling money out of the country.
    • The government hoped that the new, lower tax rates will attract more investments into the country and help revive the domestic manufacturing sector which has seen lackluster growth.

    Why Corporate Tax?

    • The corporate tax rate is a major determinant of how investors allocate capital across various economies.
    • So there is constant pressure on governments across the world to offer the lowest tax rates in order to attract investors.
    • Tax cuts, by putting more money in the hands of the private sector, can offer people more incentive to produce and contribute to the economy.

    Impact of the rate cut

    • The present cut in taxes can make India more competitive on the global stage by making Indian corporate tax rates comparable to that of rates in East Asia.
    • At the same time, if it manages to sufficiently revive the economy, the present tax cut can help boost tax collections and compensate for the loss of revenue.
    1. Relief to big companies
    • Big companies got a relief of close to 10 percentage points in the effective tax rate including cess and surcharge.
    1. Enhanced competitiveness
    • India was earlier at disadvantage because of a couple of factors and on top of it was the high corporate tax rate.
    • After this cut, base corporate tax rate in India has become competitive and should help boost investment.

    III. Enhanced EoDB

    • Singapore with 17 per cent tax rate, and Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Taiwan with 20 per cent base tax rates are the only countries offering lower rates than India
    • India is now much better than China in terms of rate, transparency, and tax administration so companies can now look at India for setting up new units.

    Criticisms of the move

    • Some see the present tax cut simply as a concession to corporate houses rather than as a structural reform that could boost the wider economy.
    • They believe that the current economic slowdown is due to the problem of insufficient demand which cannot be addressed just through tax cuts and instead advocate greater government spending to boost the economy.
    • Others, however, argue that lacklustre demand faced by sectors like automobiles is merely a symptom of supply-side shocks such as the GST that have affected various businesses and caused job losses.
    • If so, tax cuts and other supply-side reforms can indeed help the economy recover from its slump.

    Back2Basics: Public Estimates Committee

    • The Committee on Estimates constituted for the first time in 1950, is a Parliamentary Committee consisting of 30 members, elected every year by the Lok Sabha from amongst its Members.
    • The Chairperson of the Committee is appointed by the Speaker from amongst its members.
    • A Minister cannot be elected as a member of the Committee and if a member after selection to the Committee is appointed a Minister, the member ceases to be a Member of the Committee from the date of such appointment.

    Term of Office

    • The term of office of the Committee is one year.

    Functions

    • The functions of the Estimates Committee are:
    1. to report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates may be effected;
    2. to suggest alternative policies in order to bring about efficiency and economy in administration;
    3. to examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates; and
    4. to suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament.

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  • Ethanol Blending

    Prime Minister has announced that India has achieved its target of blending 10% sugarcane-extracted ethanol in petrol, ahead of schedule.

    What is ethanol blending?

    • Blending ethanol with petrol to burn less fossil fuel while running vehicles is called ethanol blending.
    • Ethanol is an agricultural by-product which is mainly obtained from the processing of sugar from sugarcane, but also from other sources such as rice husk or maize.
    • Currently, 10% of the petrol that powers your vehicle is ethanol.
    • Though we have had an E10 — or 10% ethanol as policy for a while, it is only this year that we have achieved that proportion.
    • India’s aim is to increase this ratio to 20% originally by 2030 but in 2021, when NITI Aayog put out the ethanol roadmap, that deadline was advanced to 2025.

    Why need ethanol blending?

    • Ethanol blending will help bring down our share of oil imports (almost 85%) on which we spend a considerable amount of our precious foreign exchange.
    • Secondly, more ethanol output would help increase farmers’ incomes.
    • India’s net import of petroleum was 185 million tonnes at a cost of $55 billion in 2020-21.
    • A successful ethanol blending programme can save the country $4 billion per annum.

    What are first-generation and second-generation ethanols?

    • With an aim to augment ethanol supplies, the government has allowed procurement of ethanol produced from other sources besides molasses — which is first-generation ethanol or 1G.
    • Other than molasses, ethanol can be extracted from materials such as rice straw, wheat straw, corn cobs, corn stover, bagasse, bamboo and woody biomass, which are second-generation ethanol sources or 2G.
    • While inaugurating the Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) 2G ethanol plant last week, PM referred to not only the prospect of higher farmer income but also dwelt upon the advantages of farmers selling the residual stubble — left behind after rice is harvested — to help make biofuels.
    • This means lesser stubble burning and therefore, lesser air pollution.

    How have other countries fared?

    • Though the U.S., China, Canada and Brazil all have ethanol blending programmes, as a developing country, Brazil stands out.
    • It had legislated that the ethanol content in petrol should be in the 18-27.5% range, and it finally touched the 27% target in 2021.

    How does it impact the auto industry?

    • At the time of the NITI Aayog report in June last year, the industry had committed to the government to make all vehicles E20 material compliant by 2023.
    • This meant that the petrol points, plastics, rubber, steel and other components in vehicles would need to be compliant to hold/store fuel that is 20% ethanol.
    • Without such a change, rusting is an obvious impediment.

    Are there other alternatives?

    • Auto industry prefer the use of biofuels as the next step, compared to other options such as electric vehicles (EV), hydrogen power and compressed natural gas.
    • This is mainly because biofuels demand the least incremental investment for manufacturers.
    • Even though the industry is recovering from the economic losses bought on by the pandemic, it is bound to make some change to comply with India’s promise for net-zero emissions by 2070.

    What are the challenges before the industry when it comes to 20% ethanol blended fuel?

    • Key challenge is the optimisation of engines for higher ethanol blends and the conduct of durability studies on engines and field trials before introducing E20 compliant vehicles.
    • Storage is going to be the main concern, for if E10 supply has to continue in tandem with E20 supply, storage would have to be separate which then raises costs.

    Sources for ethanol in India

    The plan was to divert its excess sugar production to produce ethanol, 3.5 million tonnes in 2021-22 and 6 million tonnes the next year, in addition to grains like rice, corn, and barley.

    • Using surplus rice: The government’s food department revealed its plans to divert 17 million tonnes of surplus rice from its food stocks of 90 million tonnes to produce ethanol.
    • Sugarcane: This is in addition to the 2 million tonnes of sugar which is already being diverted to produce ethanol.

    How would this benefit the country?

    • Cost saving: A successful biofuels programme can save India $4 billion or about ₹30,000 crore every year by lowering import of petroleum products.
    • Emission cut: Ethanol is also less polluting and offers equivalent efficiency at a lower cost than petrol.
    • Biofuel’s policy boost: Rising production of grains and sugarcane and feasibility of making vehicles compliant to ethanol-blended fuel makes its biofuels policy a strategic requirement.
    • Early rollout: Towards this, govt has put in place interest subsidies for distilleries to expand capacity while auto firms have agreed to make compatible vehicles.

    What are the unintended effects of the policy?

    • Unsustainability of cash-crops: Increasing reliance on biofuels can push farmers to grow more water-intensive crops like sugarcane and rice.
    • Huge water requirement: Currently use 70% of the available irrigation water, negating some positive impact on the environment of using more ethanol.
    • Food and nutrition security: The move could impact India’s hunger situation by limiting the coverage of the food security schemes.
    • Food inflation: Diversion of mass consumption grains can also push food prices up.

    How will it impact crop diversification?

    • Monotonous crops: Although the biofuels policy stresses on using less water-consuming crops, farmers prefer to grow more sugarcane and rice due to price support schemes.
    • Water stress: Growing more of them can lead to an adverse impact in water-stressed areas in states.

    What about food security?

    • It is unethical to use edible grains to produce ethanol in a country where hunger is rampant.
    • India is already a poor performer in Global Hunger Index.
    • Although about 80 crore people are now receiving subsidized food grains, calculations show that over 10 crore eligible households are still excluded.

     

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  • Practice of talaq-e-hasan not so improper: Supreme Court

    The Supreme Court has prima facie observed that the Muslim personal law practice of talaq-e-hasan is “not so improper”.

    What is Talaq-e-hasan?

    • Talaq-e-hasan is a form of divorce by which a Muslim man can divorce his wife by pronouncing talaq once every month over a three-month period.

    Why did the apex court say this?

    • The SC Bench said a Muslim woman has the option to divorce by the process of khula by returning the dower (mahr) or something else that she received from her husband or without returning anything.
    • This can be as per agreed by the spouses or Qadi’s (court) decree depending on the circumstances.

    Petitioner’s contention

    • The petitioner argued that talaq-e-hasan and other forms of unilateral extra-judicial divorce is an evil plague similar to sati.
    • Talaq-e-hasan is arbitrary, irrational and contrary to Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 and international conventions on civil rights and human rights, the petition submitted.
    • There should be a gender neutral, religion neutral, uniform grounds of divorce and uniform procedure of divorce for all citizens, it read.
    • The petitioner argued that the practice in question was “neither harmonious with the modern principles of human rights and gender equality nor an integral part of Islamic faith”.
    • The practice discriminates against Muslim women as they cannot resort to it against their husbands.

    Why in news?

    • The apex court, while striking down triple talaq in the Shayara Bano case, did not address the issue of talaq-e-hasan.
    • The unilateral practice of divorce was is definitely defies morality.

     

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  • African cheetahs still stuck in transit

    India’s ambitious project to translocate African cheetahs has missed an unofficial deadline of August 15.

    Asiatic Cheetah

    • Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal was declared extinct in India in 1952.
    • The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
    • It was expected to be re-introduced into the country after the Supreme Court lifted curbs for its re-introduction.

    Distribution of cheetahs in India

    • Historically, Asiatic cheetahs had a very wide distribution in India.
    • There are authentic reports of their occurrence from as far north as Punjab to Tirunelveli district in southern Tamil Nadu, from Gujarat and Rajasthan in the west to Bengal in the east.
    • Most of the records are from a belt extending from Gujarat passing through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha.
    • There is also a cluster of reports from southern Maharashtra extending to parts of Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
    • The distribution range of the cheetah was wide and spread all over the subcontinent. They occurred in substantial numbers.
    • The cheetah’s habitat was also diverse, favouring the more open habitats: scrub forests, dry grasslands, savannahs and other arid and semi-arid open habitats.

    What caused the extinction of cheetahs in India?

    • The major reasons for the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah in India:
    1. Reduced fecundity and high infant mortality in the wild
    2. Inability to breed in captivity
    3. Sport hunting and
    4. Bounty killings
    • It is reported that the Mughal Emperor Akbar had kept 1,000 cheetahs in his menagerie and collected as many as 9,000 cats during his half-century reign from 1556 to 1605.
    • The cheetah numbers were fast depleting by the end of the 18th century even though their prey base and habitat survived till much later.
    • It is recorded that the last cheetahs were shot in India in 1947, but there are credible reports of sightings of the cat till about 1967.

    Conservation objectives for their re-introduction

    • Based on the available evidence it is difficult to conclude that the decision to introduce the African cheetah in India is based on science.
    • Science is being used as a legitimising tool for what seems to be a politically influenced conservation goal.
    • This also in turn sidelines conservation priorities, an order of the Supreme Court, socio-economic constraints and academic rigour.
    • The issue calls for an open and informed debate.

    Issues in re-introduction

    • Experts find it difficult whether the African cheetahs would find the sanctuary a favorable climate as far as the abundance of prey is concerned.
    • The habitat of cheetahs is needed to support a genetically viable population.

     

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  • Super Vasuki: India’s longest train

    The Railways conducted a test run of its longest freight train, Super Vasuki, with 295 loaded wagons carrying over 27,000 tonnes of coal.

    Super Vasuki

    • The 3.5-km-long freight train covered the distance of about 267 km between Korba in Chhattisgarh and Rajnandgaon in Nagpur.
    • It was run by the South East Central Railway (SECR).
    • The Railways plans to use this arrangement (longer freight trains) more frequently, especially to transport coal in peak demand season to prevent fuel shortages in power stations.

    Feats achieved

    • This is the longest and heaviest freight train ever run by the Indian Railways.
    • The train takes about four minutes to cross a station.
    • The amount of coal carried by Super Vasuki is enough to fire 3,000 MW of power plant for one full day.
    • This is three times the capacity of existing railway rakes (90 cars with 100 tonnes in each) that carry about 9,000 tonnes of coal in one journey.

     

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  • fiscal federalism in India

    Context

    The centralisation of fiscal powers in India has been blamed for the poor fiscal health of the states.

    Centralisation of fiscal powers: A background

    • Jawaharlal Nehru believed that socio-economic inequities could be addressed through the planning process.
    • A degree of centralisation in fiscal power was required to address the concerns of socio-economic and regional disparities.
    • As a result asymmetric federalism is inherent to the Indian Constitution.
    • India was never truly federal — it was a ‘holding together federalism’ in contrast to the ‘coming together federalism,’ in which smaller independent entities come together to form a federation (as in the United States of America).
    • In fact, the Government of India Act 1935 was more federal in nature than the Constitution adopted on January 26, 1950 as the first offered more power to its provincial governments.
    • Historically, India’s fiscal transfer worked through two pillars, i.e., the Planning Commission and the Finance Commission. 
    • But the waning of planning since the 1990s, and its abolition in 2014, led to the Finance Commission becoming a major means of fiscal transfer as the commission itself broadened its scope of sharing all taxes since 2000 from its original design of just two taxes — income tax and Union excise duties.
    •  Today, the Finance Commission became a politicised institution with arbitrariness and inherent bias towards the Union government.
    • Tamil Nadu government constituted a committee under Justice P.V. Rajamannar in 1969, the first of its kind by a State government, to look at Centre-State fiscal relations and recommend more transfers and taxation powers for regional governments.

    Declining fiscal capacity of the states

    • While States lost their capacity to generate revenue by surrendering their rights in the wake of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, their expenditure pattern too was distorted by the Union’s intrusion, particularly through its centrally sponsored schemes.
    • The ability of States to finance current expenditures from their own revenues has declined from 69% in 1955-56 to less than 38% in 2019-20.
    • While the expenditure of the States has been shooting up, their revenues did not.
    • Stagnant revenue: Since States cannot raise tax revenue because of curtailed indirect tax rights — subsumed in GST, except for petroleum products, electricity and alcohol — the revenue has been stagnant at 6% of GDP in the past decade.

    Implications of fiscal centralisation in India

    • Use of non-divisive cess: Even the increased share of devolution, mooted by the Fourteenth Finance Commission, from 32% to 42%, was subverted by raising non-divisive cess and surcharges that go directly into the Union kitty.
    •  This non-divisive pool in the Centre’s gross tax revenues shot up to 15.7% in 2020 from 9.43% in 2012, shrinking the divisible pool of resources for transfers to States.
    • Cut in the corporate tax: The recent drastic cut in corporate tax, with its adverse impact on the divisible pool, and ending GST compensation to States have had huge consequences.
    • States paying high interest rates: States are forced to pay differential interest — about 10% against 7% — by the Union for market borrowings.
    • Centrally sponsored schemes curbing autonomy:  There are 131 centrally sponsored schemes, with a few dozen of them accounting for 90% of the allocation, and States required to share a part of the cost.
    • They spend about 25% to 40% as matching grants at the expense of their priorities.
    • These schemes, driven by the one-size-fits-all approach, are given precedence over State schemes, undermining the electorally mandated democratic politics of States.
    • In fact, it is the schemes conceived by States that have proved to be beneficial to the people and that have contributed to social development.
    • Driven by democratic impulses, States have been successful in innovating schemes that were adopted at the national level.
    • The diversion of a State’s own funds to centrally sponsored schemes, thereby depleting resources for its own schemes, violates constitutional provision.
    • Deepening inequality: The World Inequality Report estimates ‘that the ratio of private wealth to national income increased from 290% in 1980 to 555% in 2020, one of the fastest such increases in the world.
    • The poorest half of the population has less than 6% of the wealth while the top 10% nearly grab two-third of it’.
    • India’s tax-GDP ratio has been one of the lowest in the world — 17% of which is well below the average ratios of emerging market economies and OECD countries’ about 21% and 34%, respectively.
    • Its income tax base has been very narrow.
    • Indirect tax still accounts for about 56% of total taxes.
    • Instead of strengthening direct taxation, the Union government slashed corporate tax from 35% to 25% in 2019 and went on to monetise its public sector assets to finance infrastructure.

    Conclusion

    In sum, India’s fiscal federalism driven by political centralisation has deepened socio-economic inequality, belying the dreams of the founding fathers who saw a cure for such inequities in planning. It has not altered inter-state disparities either.

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  • Labour welfare necessity

    Context

    • One of the biggest economic fallout of the pandemic has been the deteriorating labour market conditions.
    • In the years ahead when the health crisis subsides and the economy witnesses a rebound, the healing of the labour market may take some more time. This is because the impact of recovery on this market is always felt with a lag.
    • Given the ebb and flow of the pandemic, the growth recovery is likely to be fragmented and will weigh on the number and types of jobs available.

    Definition

    • Labour welfare relates to taking care of the well-being of workers by employers, trade unions, governmental and non-governmental institutions and agencies.
    • Welfare includes anything that is done for the comfort and improvement of employees and is provided over and above the wages.

    What are labour rights?

    • Labour rights or workers’ rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labour relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labour and employment law. In general, these rights influence working conditions in relations of employment.

    Why labour law is needed

    • Labour law aims to correct the imbalance of power between the worker and the employer; to prevent the employer from dismissing the worker without good cause; to set up and preserve the processes by which workers are recognized as ‘equal’ partners in negotiations about their working conditions etc.

    Constitutional mandate

    • Article 41 – The state shall within the limits of its economic capacity and development make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of underserved want.
    • Article 42 – The state shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.

    Necessity for welfare

    • There were only 25 million during the initial period of industrial growth, while the strength of the workers is increasing year after year and hence, need for a mechanism to look into the welfare of the labour.
    • Workers put in long hours of work in unhealthy surrounding and the drudgery of the factory work continues to have adverse effect. To counter these welfare measures were felt necessary.
    • As a result of hardwork, they fall prey to alchoholism, gambling and other immoral activities results in absenteeism and other problems in the organisation. Hence the need was felt.

    Scope for labour welfare in India

    • Contribute to the productivity of labour and efficiency of the enterprise.
    • Raise the standard of living of workers by indirectly reducing the burden on their purse.
    • Be in tune and harmony with similar services obtaining in a neighbouring community where an enterprise is situated.
    • Be based on an intelligent prediction of the future needs of industrial work and be so designed as to offer a cushion to absorb the shock of industrialization and urbanization
    • Be administratively viable and essentially development in outlook.

    Government steps in this direction

    • Social Security Measures: The social security measures would help man to face the contingencies as such it is difficult for him either to work or to get work and support himself and his family. Thus social security measure provides a self balancing social insurance or assistance from public funds.
    • Social Insurance: is described as the giving in return for contribution, benefits up to subsistence level, as of right and without a means test, so that an individual may build freely upon it.
    • Social Assistance: is provided as an supplement to social insurance for those needy persons who cannot get social insurance payments and is offered after a means test.
    • Public Service: is a programme constituting the third main type of social security. They are financed directly by the government from its general revenues in form of cash payments or services to every member of the community falling within a defined category.

    Case study of Finland

    • Universal basic income pilot project: For two years Finland’s government gave 2,000 unemployed citizens €560 a month with no strings attached. It was the first nationwide basic income experiment. The concept is slowly becoming difficult for people to ignore.

    Challenges in labour welfare in India

    • Technical glitches: Under the Constitution of India, Labour is a subject in the concurrent list where both the Central and State Governments are competent to enact legislation. As a result, a large number of labour laws have been enacted catering to different aspects of labour e.g. occupational health, safety, employment etc.
    • Loopholes: Because of the predominantly heavy-handed labour regulations (also called as Inspector Raj) with exploitable gaps, the MNCs and domestic organizations have resorted to alternate ways i.e. employing contract labour at less than half the payroll of a permanent employee.
    • Gaps in labour laws: One of the main reasons for labour reforms is the concept of contract labour. Trade Unions suggest that this concept itself should be removed. There is stringent hiring and firing process defined in Industry Disputes Act. It makes it mandatory for the organization to seek Government permission before removing an employee.

    Conclusion

    • Labour Welfare helps labourers improve their working conditions, providing social security and raising their standard of living.
    • Raise the employee’s morale use the workforce more effectively besides removing dissatisfaction help to develop loyalty in workers towards the organization.

    Mains question

    Q.What is labour welfare according to you? Why it is needed? Explain the challenges in front of Indian labour reforms.

     

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  • Justice Lalit appointed 49th CJI

    Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was appointed the 49th Chief Justice of India (CJI) after President Droupadi Murmu signed his warrant of appointment.

    How is CJI selected?

    • Justice U.U. Lalit is the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court now.
    • The ‘Memorandum of Procedure of Appointment of Supreme Court Judges’ says “appointment to the office of the CJI should be of the seniormost Judge of the SC considered fit to hold the office”.
    • The process begins with the Union Law Minister seeking the recommendation of the outgoing CJI about the next appointment.

    What is the time frame?

    • The Minister has to seek the CJI’s recommendation at the “appropriate time”.
    • The Memorandum does NOT elaborate or specify a timeline.

    Making final appointment

    The Memorandum says:

    1. Receipt of the recommendation of the CJI
    2. The Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs will put up the recommendation to the PM
    3. PM will advise the President in the matter of appointment
    4. President of India appoints the CJI

    Chief Justice of India: A brief background

    • The CJI is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India as well as the highest-ranking officer of the Indian federal judiciary.

    Appointment

    • The Constitution of India grants power to the President to nominate, and with the advice and consent of the Parliament, appoint a chief justice, who serves until they reach the age of 65 or until removed by impeachment.
    • Earlier, it was a convention to appoint seniormost judges.
    • However, this has been broken twice. In 1973, Justice A. N. Ray was appointed superseding 3 senior judges.
    • Also, in 1977 Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg was appointed as the chief justice superseding Justice Hans Raj Khanna.

    Qualifications

    The Indian Constitution says in Article 124 (3) that in order to be appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court of India, the person has to fit in the following criteria:

    • He/She is a citizen of India and
    • has been for at least five years a Judge of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession; or
    • has been for at least ten years an advocate of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession; or
    • is, in the opinion of the President, a distinguished jurist

    Functions

    • As head of the Supreme Court, the CJI is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law.
    • In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the chief justice allocates all work to the other judges.

    On the administrative side, the CJI carries out the following functions:

    • maintenance of the roster; appointment of court officials and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court

    Removal

    • Article 124(4) of the Constitution lays down the procedure for removal of a judge of the Supreme Court which is applicable to chief justices as well.
    • Once appointed, the chief justice remains in the office until the age of 65 years. He can be removed only through a process of removal by Parliament as follows:
    • He/She can be removed by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present.
    • The voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proven misbehavior or incapacity.

     

     

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  • Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)

    US firm Microsoft has become the first big tech company to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

    What does Microsoft joining ONDC mean?

    • Microsoft getting on board the ONDC wagon means the project gets its first international marquee name ahead of its Bengaluru launch.
    • A number of participants are currently live on the ONDC network, offering a number of services in the e-commerce supply chain such as buying, selling and offering logistics services.

    Who else is on board

    • Among those that are live are Paytm, which has joined the platform as a buyer, and Reliance-backed Dunzo, which is offering logistics services for hyperlocal deliveries.
    • Companies like Kotak, PhonePe, Zoho and Snapdeal are in the “advanced stage of development”, according to the ONDC website.
    • Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Airtel have already initiated integration with the network.
    • According to some media reports, e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon are also considering joining the network.

    What is ONDC?

    • ONDC seeks to promote open networks, which are developed using the open-source methodology.
    • The project is aimed at curbing “digital monopolies”.
    • This is a step in the direction of making e-commerce processes open-source, thus creating a platform that can be utilized by all online retailers.
    • They will encourage the usage of standardized open specifications and open network protocols, which are not dependent on any particular platform or customized one.

    What does one mean by ‘Open-sourcing’?

    • An open-source project means that anybody is free to use, study, modify and distribute the project for any purpose.
    • These permissions are enforced through an open-source licence easing adoption and facilitating collaboration.

    What processes are expecting to be open-sourced with this project?

    • Several operational aspects including onboarding of sellers, vendor discovery, price discovery and product cataloguing could be made open source on the lines of Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
    • If mandated, this could be problematic for larger e-commerce companies, which have proprietary processes and technology deployed for these segments of operations.

    What is the significance of making something open-source?

    • Making a software or a process open-source means that the code or the steps of that process is made available freely for others to use, redistribute and modify.
    • If the ONDC gets implemented and mandated, it would mean that all e-commerce companies will have to operate using the same processes.
    • This could give a huge booster shot to smaller online retailers and new entrants.

    What does the DPIIT intend from the project?

    • ONDC is expected to digitize the entire value chain, standardize operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics and enhance value for stakeholders and consumers.

    Countering ‘Digital Monopoly’

    • Digital monopolies refer to a scenario wherein e-commerce giants or Big Tech companies tend to dominate and flout competition law pertaining to monopoly.
    • The Giants have built their own proprietary platforms for operations.
    • In March, India moved to shake up digital monopolies in the country’s $ 1+ trillion retail market by making public a draft of a code of conduct — Draft Ecommerce Policy, reported Bloomberg.
    • The government sought to help local start-ups and reduce the dominance of giants such as Amazon and Walmart-Flipkart.
    • The rules sought to define the cross-border flow of user data after taking into account complaints by small retailers.

    Processes in the ONDC

    • Sellers will be onboarded through open networks. Other open-source processes will include those such as vendor and price discovery; and product cataloging.
    • The format will be similar to the one which is used in the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
    • Mega e-commerce companies have proprietary processes and technology for these operations.
    • Marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, BigBasket and Grofers will need to register on the ONDC platform to be created by DPIIT and QCI.
    • The task of implementing DPIIT’s ONDC project has been assigned to the Quality Council of India (QCI).

    Why such a move by the govt?

    • This COVID pandemic has made every business to go digital.
    • India is a country with 700 million internet users of whom large crunch of population are active buyers on e-coms.
    • There are 9 platforms in the world which are billion user platform and all are private. This is the monopoly which the govt aims to hit.
    • No country would ever want a few (foreign) companies to control their domestic e-commerce ecosystem.
    • Countries like US are struggling to control their monopoly over the e-commerce giants leaving no space for Indian legislations to control these overseas companies.
    • In India Amazon, Walmart, Uber are controlling larger crunch of share in the market leaving very less scope for domestic companies to cope up with.

    Scope for ONDCs success

    • Over last 50 years India is dealing with Big Tech companies with responsibility and pragmatic manner. Now it is also coming with new policies to control them.
    • The drafting panel has extraordinary persons like Mr. Nandan Nilekani and others who were in Aadhar, NPCI, MyGov, Retail industry and these make it inclusive and innovative.
    • India has successfully executed various public digital platforms like JAM Trinity, Aadhar linked projects. India for sure can handle its digital ecosystem better in e-coms too.
    • Open-sourcing will benefit society at large as did the UPI.

    Issues that can be raised

    • Draft E-Commerce policy can raise resistance from companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Walmart etc.
    • They may raise hues over operability and ease of doing business.
    • MSMEs have already raised the growing compliance burden for e-commerce.
    • They have argued that the govt is technologically and digitally motivating everybody to get online and on the other hand it is culling their very ability to reach out to the consumer to get more people on board.

    Possible issues with ONDC

    • Every platform has its own challenges so would the ONDC may have.
    • While UPI was ruled out (BHIM being the first) people were reluctant in using it due to transaction failures.
    • With subsequent improvements and openness people and businesses are using it in every walks of life. So it would work with ONDC.

    Conclusion

    • Once adopted, ONDC will make sure consumer and seller interest will be protected as the UPI did.
    • Best is yet to come and we are in 4th industrial revolution where the Govt should strengthen itself accordingly and make businesses inclusive and restrict the monopolies.

     

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  • Medical education in India

    Context

    • The increasing population (1.32 billion ) and the occurrence of diseases, demands Indian medical education and the training approach to be modified and ensure enhancing practical clinical skills, than just sticking with predominantly theoretical or classroom training.
    • The demand for medicine to be taught in language beside English has been made repeatedly over the years, and was reiterated by union home minister recently.

    Definition

    • Medical education consists of training aimed at ensuring physicians acquire the competencies, skills and aptitudes that that allow them to practice professionally and ethically at the highest level.

    Goal of medical education

    • The goal of basic medical education is to ensure that medical students have acquired the knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors that prepare them for a spectrum of career choices, including, but not limited to, patient care, public health, clinical or basic research, leadership and management, or medical education.

    Why medical education in India needs urgent reforms

    • Current Status: Despite being home to one of the oldest medicinal systems in the world, India is still struggling to bring its medical education at par with the leaders around the world. The 541 medical colleges in the country haven’t been able to reach the standard of education that could meet the healthcare needs of the country.
    • Deficiency: The doctor-patient ratio of 1:1655 in India as against WHO norm of 1:1000 clearly shows the deficit of MBBS. While the government is working towards a solution and targeting to reach the required ratio, there is a need to relook at the overall medical education.
    • Post pandemic scenario: The lag in formal medical education has come up evidently post-pandemic when the nation saw the medical fraternity struggling to fill the doctor deficit.
    • Structural issues: It also brought forth the outdated learning methods that most of the medical institutes were using. Due to lockdown and fear of Covid-19 spread, a lot of institutes cancelled lectures and practical sessions.

    Current challenges faced by medical education in India

    • Limited government seats: The number of seats available for medical education in India is far less than the number of aspirants who leave school with the dream of becoming doctors.
    • What data speaks: Of the 1.6 million students who appeared in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in 2021, only 88,120 made it into the 562 medical colleges in the country. Others had to enrol in non-medical courses in India or seek admission to foreign medical colleges. While the number of medical colleges has now increased to 596 (with 89,875 seats), the entry barrier is still high.
    • Lack of skills: Though the institutes are managing to hire professors and lecturers, there is a lack of technical skills. Finding faculties in clinical and non-clinical disciplines is difficult and there are very few faculty development programs for upskilling the existing lot.
    • Lack of infrastructure: The gap in digital learning infrastructure is currently the biggest challenge the sector is facing. There is an urgent need to adopt technology and have resources available to facilitate e-learning.
    • Lack of research and innovation: The medical research and innovation needs an added push as there haven’t been many ground-breaking research here. The education system needs to focus more on increasing the quality of research. Additionally since industry academia partnership is not available, hence innovation also takes a back-seat.

    A recent analysis estimates that India has only 4.8 fully qualified and actively serving doctors per 10,000 population.

    Government steps in tackling these challenges and issues

    • NMC bill: The National Medical Commission Bill, 2019 was passed recently by the parliament. The bill sets up the National Medical Commission (NMC) which will act as an umbrella regulatory body in the medical education system. The NMC will subsume the MCI and will regulate medical education and practice in India. Apart from this, it also provides for reforms in the medical education system.
    • MCI suggestion: The Medical Council of India (MCI) launched the globally recognized Competency-based medical education (CBME) for MBBS students in 2019. The CBME curriculum seeks to step away from a content-based syllabus and more towards one that is more practical and aligned with the country’s increasing health demands.
    • Schemes: 22 new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) were developed under this initiative, and MBBS classes have already commenced at 18 of the new AIIMS.

    About NMC

    The Aim of the National Medical Commission are to (i) improve access to quality and affordable medical education, (ii) ensure availability of adequate and high quality medical professionals in all parts of the country; (iii) promote equitable and universal healthcare that encourages community health perspective and makes services of medical professionals accessible to all the citizens; (iv) encourages medical professionals to adopt latest medical research in their work and to contribute to research; (v) objectively assess medical institutions  periodically in a transparent manner; (vi) maintain a medical register for India; (vi) enforce high ethical standards in all aspects of medical services; (vii) have an effective grievance redressal mechanism.

    Steps to be taken 

    • To cater to any unprecedented demand in the future and to bring up the quality of education, the Indian medical education system undoubtedly needs major reforms.
    • While the focus needs to be put on improving the curriculum to bring competency-based education, there are several ways that can help bring reform in the current medical education system. Some of these are;
    1. Leveraging technology to offer digital learning solutions
    2. Capitalizing on e-learning and facilitating infrastructure to support it
    3. Revising curriculum to have more practical training, competency-based skill development
    4. Inculcating problem-solving approach by situational/case-based examination
    5. A broad-based faculty development program to sharpen the competency of teachers
    6. Eliminating caste-based reservation and paving way for merit-based admission
    7. Industry academia collaboration to facilitate innovation

    Way forward

    • There should be a substantial step-up in public investment in medical education.
    • By establishing new medical colleges, the government can increase student intake as well as enhance equitable access to medical education.
    • Besides, it must allocate adequate financial resources to strengthen the overall capacity of existing medical colleges to enrich student learning and improve output.

    Try this question for mains

    Q. Considering the large diaspora of medical students across the globe do you consider there are problems in Indian medical education system? If there are any ,discuss them along with current health status and steps needed to counter them .

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