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  • Coronavirus – Economic Issues

    Economic liberalisation and its faults

    | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

    The article describes the problems economic liberalisation has created. Covid-19 has exposed these problems even as developed countries faced shortages of masks and ventilators. The focus is on China’s dominance as a manufacturing hub and its implication for the world and India.

    Background of the end of the ‘Licence Raj’ in India

    • Manmohan Singh’s 1991-92 Budget speech marked the beginning of the end of the ‘Licence Raj’ in India.
    • The Budget also announced the reduction of import duties and paved the way for foreign-manufactured goods to flow into India.
    • Following this, most of the manufacturing sector was opened up to foreign direct investment.
    • India’s industrial policy was virtually junked, and policymakers and the political leadership became contemptuous of the idea of self-reliance.

    Shifting of the base in developing countries

    • In the late 1980s, transnational corporations started shifting the production base to smaller companies in developing countries, especially Asia.
    • The reason for this shift was cheap labour and raw materials.
    • Developed countries supported the move because shifting the polluting and labour-intensive industries suited them as long as ownership remained with their companies.
    • Development of global supply chains: The world witnessed the development of global supply chains in many products starting with garments.

    The dominance of China in the global supply chain is at the root of trade war between the US and China. The outbreak of Covid-19 has added it a new dimension and has forced many countries to reframe their trade policies. And India is no different. This makes it an important topic for UPSC. A question can be framed from an impact angle or the US-China trade war angle.

    The emergence of China as a global manufacturing hub

    • Though many developing countries participated in the global production/value/supply
    • The substantial value addition in developing countries happened in a few production hubs, of which China emerged to be a major one.
    • Decentralised to localised production: Manufacturing shifted from a decentralised production system spread across different counties to just a few locations.
    • The countries like China defied the logic of supply/value chains ensuring substantial value addition for themselves.
    • They even carried out backward integration and thus emerged as global manufacturing hubs for certain products.
    • In the case of health products, China became the global supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), personal protective equipment (PPE), and medical devices diagnostics.

    What were the implications of China’s dominance in a fight against Covid-19?

    • China’s dominance has major implications for the  COVID-19 outbreak.
    • The resultant loss of manufacturing base has affected the ability of many governments, including of developed countries, to put up an effective response to the crisis.
    • The U.K. Prime Minister asked the country’s manufacturers to produce ventilators in order to provide care for critical COVID-19 patients.
    • Similarly, the U.S. President invoked the Defense Production Act of 1950 to ramp up N95 mask production.
    • Under this legislation, the U.S. President can direct U.S. manufacturers to produce goods according to the directions of the government.
    • Similarly, the French Health Minister stated that the country may nationalise vaccine companies if necessary.
    • Spain nationalised all its private hospitals.
    • Israel and Chile issued compulsory licences to ensure that medicines are affordable.
    • Lack of preparedness and dependence: This exposes the poor state of preparedness and dependence on imports for essential goods required to meet the challenge of any major disease outbreak.
    • This shows that what is good for the company may not be good the country in all circumstances.
    • So, the overwhelming objective of private sector-led economic growth has proved to be disastrous.

    Pay attention to the impact on India. The following two points are very important.

    How economic liberalisation affected India’s ability?

    • In India, economic liberalisation has damaged the government’s capacity in two ways.
    • 1. It incapacitated the government to respond to emergencies based on credible information.
    • The dismantling of the ‘Licence Raj’ resulted in the elimination of channels of information for the government, which is crucial to make informed policy choices.
    • For example, it took the government several meetings to determine the production capacity of various pharmaceutical companies.
    • Similarly, there were difficulties in finding out India’s production capacity of PPE, medical devices and diagnostics.
    • 2. The logic and policies of economic liberalisation seriously undermined the manufacturing capabilities of health products in India.
    • The short-sighted policy measures, with the objective of enhancing profitability of the private sector, allowed the import of raw materials from the cheapest sources and resulted in the debasing of the API industry, especially in essential medicine.
    • According to a report of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), nearly 70% of India’s API import is from China.
    • The CII report lists nearly 58 API where the dependence is 90% to 100%.
    • The disruption in the supply of API due to the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted the production of not only medicines required for COVID-19 patients, but also of other essential medicines in India.
    • As a cost-effective producer of medicines, the world is looking to India for supply, but it cannot deliver due to its dependence on China.
    • This dependence has also forced India to impose export restrictions on select medicines.
    • Similar dependence exists with regard to PPE, medical devices and diagnostic kits.
    • The 100% dependence on Reagents, an important chemical component for testing, is limiting the capacity of the government from expanding testing because the cost of each test is ₹4,500.
    • Dangers of dependence: In the name of economic efficiency, India allowed unconditional imports of these products and never took note of the dangers of dependency.

    Loss of jobs and poor working conditions

    • Destruction of manufacturing base: Global supply/production chains destroyed the manufacturing base in developed and developing countries.
    • That also resulted in the loss of jobs and poor working conditions in these sectors.
    • Developing countries were asked to ease their labour protection laws to facilitate global production and supply chains popularly known as global value chains.
    • As a result, people were forced to work in precarious working conditions without any social security net.
    • This created an unorganised army of labourers and is preventing many developing country governments from effectively offering relief.

    Conclusion

    A virus has made us rethink our obsession with the economic efficiency theory. It implores us to put in place an industrial policy to maintain core capacity in health products so that we can face the next crisis more decisively.

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

    Government must fix an upper limit for fiscal deficit

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

    D. Subbarao in this article discusses how the government is facing the hard choice of choosing between saving lives and saving the economy. On the government’s response on economic front he argues that the government, unlike the rich countries should keep an upper limit on its spending because of the dangers involved in unrestricted spending.

    Why the dilemma is sharpest for India?

    • This dilemma is arguably the sharpest for India.
    • Because of our high population density and poor medical infrastructure, any laxity in prevention can result in a huge health disaster.
    • On the other hand, an extended lockdown will force millions into the margins of subsistence, push small and large firms alike into bankruptcy, seriously impair financial stability and land us in a humanitarian and economic disaster.

    Why is the relief package criticised as too little?

    • After the lockdown, the government announced a relief package amounting to 0.8 per cent of GDP, that’s been criticised as being too little.
    • From a study of a sample of countries, the latest issue of The Economist reports that India’s lockdown has been the most stringent while its fiscal relief package is the smallest in proportion to GDP.

    What could be the reasons for a cautious approach in the relief package?

    • A possible explanation for the government’s timid fiscal response may be the fear of spooking the market.
    • For years, every economist and analyst has been warning the government of the dire consequences of fiscal irresponsibility.
    • And that warning message must have been so hardwired into the government’s collective mind that it was unable to get over the mental overhang.

    We should be aware of the reasons from the macroeconomic point of view that force the government to limit its fiscal deficit. In this case, India government is exercising the caution owing to the same constraints.

    Uncertainties in the crisis

    • Uncertainty is a defining feature of every crisis.
    • During the global financial crisis, a big uncertainty around the world was about how much risk there was in the system, where it lay and who was bearing it.
    • The uncertainty of the corona crisis is much deeper.
    • There are far too many known unknowns not to speak of unknown unknowns.
    • Uncertainties in corona crisis: We just don’t know enough about the effectiveness of the lockdowns, the age and gender profile of susceptibility to the virus.
    • We also don’t know about the process of recovery, the tipping point if any for mass immunity, whether the virus will attack in waves.
    • And most importantly, when we might have a vaccine and a cure.
    • Governments are, for the large part, having to fly blind.

    Issues over relief and stimulus package

    • There are many issues to be decided and planned on the way forward.
    • A big issue will be an expenditure plan for relief during the crisis and stimulus after some normalcy is restored.
    • Borrow more spend more: Even the most ardent fiscal hawks are now agreed that the government needs to abandon its fiscal reticence, and borrow more and spend more.
    • Even the most extreme monetary purists are agreed that the RBI should fund the government borrowing by printing money.
    • Even the staunchest advocates of financial stability are agreed that more regulatory forbearance is necessary.
    • And virtually everyone is agreed on where additional spending should be directed.

    Debate on how much additionally the government should borrow

    • There is disagreement on how much additionally the government should borrow.
    • There are two opposing views in this regard, which are discussed below.
    • 1. Fiscal risk without preset fiscal deficit: One view is that the government should err on the side of taking a fiscal risk without any preset fiscal deficit number.
    • It should simply determine what needs to be done and borrow to that extent, acting as if there were no fiscal constraint at all.
    • In other words, act as per the diktat of the now famous three words — “whatever it takes”.
    • 2. Set a limit: An opposing view is “whatever it takes” is not an option for India.
    • Many analysts have estimated that just the loss of revenue due to the economic shutdown will take the combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and states beyond 10 per cent of GDP.
    • The borrow and spend programme will be in addition to the above loss.
    • Unlike rich countries, we can’t afford to ignore the risks of fiscal excess of that magnitude, no matter the compelling circumstances.
    • What are the risks involved? There will be a heavy price to pay down the road by way of inflation and exchange rate volatility.

    From the UPSC point of view you must pay attention to the both the arguments made here, question can be asked in UPSC based on the suggestions and their pros and cons. Both the arguments cited above have their merits and demerits.

    Way forward

    • It’s important to keep in mind that we have resources and capability in the near future should there be another wave of the virus later in the year.
    • It will be advisable for the government to fix an upper bound for fiscal deficit and operate within that. For now, the borrow and spend programme should be restricted to 2 per cent of GDP.

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  • Innovations in Sciences, IT, Computers, Robotics and Nanotechnology

    Making use of technology to trace Covid-19 cases

    op-ed snap | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    The article argues for the greater adoption of technology in tracing the Covid-19. Taking a cue from the success of JAM and UPI, recently launched app Aarogya Setu could also be the next game-changer in the fight against the pandemic. However, there are several challenges that are also discussed here.

    Success story of domestic digital platforms

    • The success of two domestic digital payment platforms offers us an opportunity to show how the tracing of COVID-19 cases can be done at scale and with greater speed.
    • The JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity for DBTs (Direct Benefit Transfers) and UPI (Unified Payments Interface) have made India a technology leader in money transfers.
    • The JAM has lent efficiency to the transfer of funds to the needy.
    • It was drafted into action recently to channel payments to the more vulnerable who need help in dealing with the adverse economic consequences of the lockdown.
    • The UPI is emerging as a transaction vehicle of choice for all retail payments.
    • In March, 148 banks were on the UPI platform, helping process over 120 crore transactions worth over Rs 2 lakh crore.

    The success story of the UPI and JAM is important from the UPSC point of view. Riding on the success of these two, the Aarogya Setu could also become the third and help in the fight against the epidemic. So, we should be aware of the basics of its working and problems the app could face.

    How the Aarogya Setu works?

    • Widespread adoption is required: The success of India’s Aarogya Setu mobile application will depend on its widespread adoption.
    • Based on bluetooth technology: The app relies on bluetooth technology to map and deconstruct the contact history of individuals who may have come in contact with potential carriers of the coronavirus.
    • Exchange of information between apps: If two individuals are at the same place at the same time, their apps can exchange information-up to a maximum distance of about 15 feet.
    • Exchange of the above information is without the server knowing anything about it.
    • The app notifies users and authorities of individuals who are at risk.
    • Privacy safeguards: Some privacy safeguards have been put in place to ensure that individuals do not share personally identifiable information with each other but only with authorities — that too, in select cases.
    • A confidence-building measure would be to release the code for public scrutiny with the aim of further bolstering privacy standards.

    What are the possible challenges in the success of Aarogya Setu?

    • The distribution of the detection framework necessitates a rethink, beyond an app.
    • Issues with app download in India: Nandan Nilekani has underlined that app downloads in India are perhaps the most expensive compared to any other developed or fast-developing nation.
    • Despite the falling cost of data, Indian users consider several factors before downloading an app such as required storage space, the potential impact on battery and data usage.
    • Given India’s open internet, several publishers from across industries and geographies are vying for smartphone real estate.
    • Challenge involved: In such a situation, drawing attention to particular use-cases i.e. Aarogya Setu-howsoever urgent-is challenging.

    Following are the suggestions to overcome the shortcoming of the Aarogya Setu. Though they are for Aarogya Setu, we can apply these in other situations in which mobile technology bases app is used by the government in the larger public interest such as rescue operation or warnings in case of disaster.

    So, what could be the alternate strategy?

    • The alternative strategy involves using the reach of the other famous apps (for ex. Paytm) to do what we want to do i.e. tracing by delinking.
    • Delinking involves separating the technology we want to use for tracing (the backend) from the channels (the front end).
    • A fine-tuned backend can be pushed to, and used by, publishers (other apps) who already have the reach.
    • Similarity with UPI: This is akin to the UPI being used by several banks and technology firms for payment.
    • The government did build its frontend in the form of the BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app but mostly for signalling purposes.
    • In the current context, the government can consider using its own app for tracing and for additional use-cases such as passes and approvals for movement when the lockdown is gradually eased out.
    • It could even host other health-related features.
    • Expanding its ambit and making it a conduit like JAM will likely increase the incentive for people to embrace it.

    Limitations of using GPS and Bluetooth for tracing in India

    • Another area where improvisations are called for is the tooling for tracking.
    • While reports have indicated that the developers are using bluetooth for tracing and are also capturing GPS coordinates, both users and device manufacturers limit their usage of these technologies in favour of other optimisations.
    • Users are concerned with both data and battery usage while device manufacturers kill background jobs even if the publishers have sought and secured permissions from users.
    • These tendencies are pronounced on Android, the dominant mobile operating system in India.
    • What are the other options? In such a scenario, developers ought to think about using other techniques.
    • For instance, using cell tower data and WiFi identifiers to bolster tracing efforts.
    • This is especially important in a context where only a third of our population has smartphones and even fewer people have devices with bluetooth capability.
    • Even the recently announced Google-Apple partnership may not have meaningful results in this setting.

    Conclusion

    With the potential ramifications of COVID-19’s spread in India and across the globe, the nation’s recent history of technological successes and a government committed to agile governance, the pandemic presents an opportunity for the country to show its people and the world how technology is a force of good.

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Ambedkar and the Poona Pact

    | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

    Yesterday was the birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of our constitution. On that occasion, author of the news (originally published in TH) highlights the significance of Poona Pact in the formation of our Constitution.

    The Poona Pact of 1932 is a landmark event in India’s struggle for independence. It marked the start of social justice movement in the country under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar.

    What is Poona Pact?

    • In late September 1932, B.R. Ambedkar negotiated the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi.
    • The background to the Poona Pact was the Communal Award of August 1932, which, among other things, reserved 71 seats in the central legislature for the depressed classes.
    • The Award was made by then British PM Ramsay MacDonald on 16 August 1932 to extended separate electorate.
    • It aimed to grant separate electorates in British India for the Forward Caste, Lower Caste, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans and then Untouchables.
    • Gandhi, who was opposed to the Communal Award, saw it as a British attempt to split Hindus, and began a fast unto death to have it repealed.

    How Poona Pact defeated the Communal Award?

    • Reserved seats: In a settlement negotiated with Gandhi, Ambedkar agreed for depressed class candidates to be elected by a joint electorate.
    • More representation: On his insistence, slightly over twice as many seats (147) were reserved for the depressed classes in the legislature than what had been allotted under the Communal Award.
    • Doors opened for Public Services: In addition, the Poona Pact assured a fair representation of the depressed classes in the public services while earmarking a portion of the educational grant for their uplift.
    • Social acceptance: The Poona Pact was an emphatic acceptance by upper-class Hindus that the depressed classes constituted the most discriminated sections of Hindu society.
    • Increased political say: It was also conceded that something concrete had to be done to give them a political voice as well as a leg-up to lift them from backwardness they could not otherwise overcome.

    Significance of the pact

    • The concessions agreed to in the Poona Pact were precursors to the world’s largest affirmative programme launched much later in independent India.
    • It would also not have been lost on him that Muhammad Ali Jinnah, with the separatist tendencies strongly backing him, was watching and waiting to take advantage of the evolving situation.
    • A slew of measures was initiated later to uplift Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

    Major outcomes

    • The Poona Pact emphatically sealed Ambedkar’s leadership of the depressed classes across India.
    • He made the entire country, and not just the Congress Party, morally responsible for the uplift of the depressed classes.
    • Most of all he succeeded in making the depressed classes a formidable political force for the first time in history.

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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    What is pooled testing, recommended by the ICMR?

    | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued an advisory for using pooled samples for testing of COVID-19 in order to increase the number of tests conducted by laboratories across the country.

    COVID-19 containment measures are pacing up across the country. However, it is argued that we are lagging in the number of tests to be carried out.  With certain limitations, pooled testing promises an edge over individual testings of suspected patients.

    What is pooled testing?

    • In a pooled testing algorithm, samples of multiple individuals are put together in a tube and screened through the PCR test.
    • In case the pooled test turns out to be positive, individual samples are tested, which is referred to as pool de-convolution.
    • If there’s no positive result, all individual samples in the pool are regarded as negative, resulting in substantial cost savings.

    What the ICMR has recommended?

    • ICMR has advised that while more than two samples can be pooled together, the number should not exceed five samples to avoid sample dilution, which can lead to false negatives.
    • This method can be used in areas where the prevalence of COVID-19 is low, which means a positivity rate of less than two per cent.
    • In areas with a positivity rate between two to five per cent, sample pooling of PCR screening may be considered in a community survey of surveillance among asymptomatic individuals.
    • Samples of individuals with known contact with confirmed cases or healthcare workers should not be included in the pooled samples.
    • Also, ICMR has said pooling of sample is not recommended in areas or population with positivity rates of over five per cent.

    Benefits of pooled testing

    • Using this method, substantial costs and testing kits are saved.
    • For instance, if a pooled sample consists of the samples of five individuals and it tests negative, the cost of four testing kits is saved and more number of people are covered with fewer resources.
    • Significantly, pooled screening can also help in tracking down the asymptomatic cases of the disease, thereby tracking community transmission.
    • But in case the sample tests positive, all individuals need to be tested separately.

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  • Digital India Initiatives

    [pib] CollabCAD tool to create 3D Computer Aided Designs

    PIB | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Achievements Of Indians In S&T

    Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog and National Informatics Centre (NIC) jointly launched CollabCAD.

    CollabCAD

    • It is a computer-enabled software system which provides a total engineering solution from 2D drafting & detailing to 3D product design.
    • It helps the user to build models in virtual 3d space and create and engineering drawings for the shop floor which makes it a complete package for smart manufacturing.
    • The aim of this initiative is to provide a great platform to students of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) across the country to create and modify 3d designs with free flow of creativity and imagination.
    • This software would also enable students to create data across the network and concurrently access the same design data for storage and visualization.

    Back2Basics: Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)

    • The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a flagship initiative set up by the NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country.
    • AlM’s objectives are to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country at school, university, research institutions, MSME and industry levels.
    • At the school level, AIM establishes Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in all districts across India. ATLs provide tinkering spaces to children to hone their innovative ideas and creativity.
    • At the university, NGO, SME and Corporate industry levels, AIM is setting up world-class Atal Incubators (AICs) that would trigger and enable successful growth of sustainable startups in every sector.

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  • Tourism Sector

    [pib] “DekhoApnaDesh” Webinar

    PIB | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

    The Ministry of Tourism has launched its “DekhoApnaDesh” webinar series to provide information on the many destinations and the sheer depth and expanse of the culture and heritage of India.

    Tourism and tourist sites carry a high incidence of possible prelims questions.  Take time to quickly revise the Swadesh Darshan , PRASHAD Schemes.   Click here for the repository of all such initiaitives.

    About DekhoApnaDesh

    • Under this, a series of webinars will showcase the diverse and remarkable history and culture of India through a documentary series on various cities.
    • It will be including various monuments, cuisine, arts, dance forms, natural landscapes, festivals and many other aspects of the rich Indian civilization.
    • The core of the webinar is based on tourism awareness and social history.
    • The webinar will be available in the public domain through the Ministry’s social media handles- “Incredible India” on Instagram and Facebook.
    • The first webinar, which was part of a series that shall unfold, touched upon the long history of Delhi as it has unfolded as 8 cities.

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  • Digital India Initiatives

    [pib] Swayam Prabha TV Channels

    PIB | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The HRD Ministry has taken several prompt, new and unique initiatives to ensure that the education of learners should not get affected by the challenging situation arising out of COVID 19. One of them is Swayamprabha TV channels.

    There are various web/portals/apps with peculiar names such as YUKTI, DISHA, SWAYAM etc. Their core purpose is similar with slight differences. Pen them down on a separate sheet under the title various digital HRD initiatives.

    SWAYAM Prabha

    • The SWAYAM Prabha is a group of 32 DTH channels devoted to telecasting of high-quality educational programmes on a 24X7 basis using the GSAT-15 satellite.
    • The channels are uplinked from BISAG, Gandhinagar. The contents are provided by NPTEL, IITs, UGC, CEC, IGNOU, NCERT and NIOS.
    • The INFLIBNET Centre maintains the web portal.
    • Every day, there will be new content for at least 4 hours which would be repeated 5 more times in a day, allowing the students to choose the time of their convenience.

    The DTH Channels shall cover the following:

    Higher Education: Curriculum-based course contents at post-graduate and under-graduate level covering diverse disciplines such as arts, science, commerce, performing arts, social sciences and humanities, engineering, technology, law, medicine, agriculture, etc.

    School education (9-12 levels): Modules for teacher’s training as well as teaching and learning aids for children of India to help them understand the subjects better and also help them in preparing for competitive examinations for admissions to professional degree programmes.

    Curriculum-based courses: These channels can meet the needs of life-long learners of Indian citizens in India and abroad.

    Back2Basics: SWAYAM Portal

    • SWAYAM is a Hindi acronym that stands for “Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds” is an Indian Massive open online course (MOOC) platform.
    • It is an initiative launched by the Ministry of HRD, under Digital India to give a coordinated stage and free entry to web courses, covering all advanced education, High School and skill sector courses.
    • It was launched on 9th July 2017 by Honorable President of India.
    • The platform offers free access to everyone and hosts courses from class 9 till post-graduation.
    • It enables professors and faculty of centrally funded institutes like IITs, IIMs, IISERs, etc. to teach students.

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  • Panchayati Raj Institutions: Issues and Challenges

    Removal of AP State Election Commissioner by ordinance route

    | Polity | : Executive & Judiciary,Panchayats & Local Bodies

    The removal of the SEC by the ordinance route raises the question over the legality of the move. And if it passes the judicial scrutiny it would harm the independence of the body.

    The legality of the removal and its implication for free and fair elections

    • The fact that it was the culmination of an open conflict between the Election Commissioner and Chief Minister makes it a glaring instance of misuse of power.
    • The State government got the Governor to issue an ordinance to cut the SEC’s tenure from five to three years.
    • The ordinance also amended the criterion for holding that office from being an officer of the rank of Principal Secretary and above to one who had served as a High Court judge.
    • This automatically rendered the SEC’s continuance invalid.
    • Last month, just days before the local body polls were to be held, the SEC postponed the elections, citing the COVID-19 outbreak.
    • The State government approached the Supreme Court, but the court declined to interfere.
    • Having exhausted its legal remedy, the government should have waited for the ongoing fight against the disease to be over.
    • The Chief Minister has no legal right to terminate the SEC’s tenure.
    • The Constitution makes the holder of that post removable only in the same manner as a High Court judge.
    • If courts uphold this means of dislodging the head of an independent election body, it would mark the end of free and fair elections.

    Past judgements on the issue

    • The State government seems to have gone by legal opinion that citedAparmita Prasad Singh vs. State of U.P. (2007).
    • Cessation of term vs. removal: In that judgement the Allahabad High Court ruled that cessation of tenure does not amount to removal, and upheld the State Election Commissioner’s term being cut short.
    • The Supreme Court, while dismissing an appeal against the order, kept open the legal questions arising from the case.

    UPSC can frame the question based on the judgement in case by the SC and its implication for the independence of the body in conducting the fair, free and impartial election.

    Issues arising out of the past judgements

    • The judgment seems erroneous, as it gives freedom to the State government to remove an inconvenient election authority by merely changing the tenure or retirement age.
    • This was surely not what was envisioned by Parliament, which wrote into the Constitution provisions to safeguard the independence of the State Election Commission.
    • It is a well-settled principle in law that what cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly.
    • Therefore, the removal of an incumbent SEC through the subterfuge of changing the eligibility norms for an appointment may not survive judicial scrutiny.
    • Prohibition on the variation of condition of service: Further, the Constitution, under Article 243K, prohibits the variation of any condition of service to the detriment of any incumbent.
    • Even if the State government argues that a change of tenure does not amount to varying the conditions of service, the new norm can only apply to the successor SEC, and not the one holding the office now.

    Conclusion

    In order to ensure the independence of the SEC and free and fair elections, legality of the move should not pass the legal scrutiny. Even if it passes the legal scrutiny the government should amend this provision avoid such instances in the future.

     

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  • Rural Distress, Farmer Suicides, Drought Measures

    Using knowledge-era technology to bridge the urban-rural gap

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 1: Urbanization, Their Problems & Remedies

    This article puts forward the idea of using knowledge-era technology to minimise the difference between rural and urban areas. In the first part, it elaborates the reasons and circumstances that led to the neglect of rural areas and development in urban areas. In the next part, the idea of using knowledge-era technologies to close the gaps between rural and urban areas is explored.

    Why Urbanisation is spreading and how it led to the neglect of rural areas?

    • Better opportunities: The tendency to migrate to urban areas has been a natural consequence of better opportunities that got created there — in contrast to life in rural areas becoming increasingly unsustainable.
    • Centralisation: The industrial-era dynamics that led to centralisation in support of mass production or massive scale-up was clearly a major one.
    • This, in turn, also led to the concentration of higher education/capacity building processes to urban centres where there was job growth, quite to the detriment of the much larger rural area.
    • Problems in education and training: The education and training environment became myopic, essentially meeting the manning requirements to run systems created by others.
    • Our education with its inherent problems led to little confidence in creating one’s own systems to address needs independent of others.
    • Demographic dividend: India’s importance grew primarily because of her demographic dividend and the large market that her people constituted and not because of the systems and technologies.
    • Neglect of rural India: Rural India suffered severe neglect in the process, probably as a result of poor job opportunities there and education having lost its role as an enabler of local development.
    • However, the country is learning to create systems and technologies to address her needs. The exercise is, by and large, urban-centric.

    UPSC asked about the quality of urban life in 2014, and the trends of labour migration in 2015. This article touched upon both of these themes.

    Using the knowledge-era technology to close the urban-rural gap

    • We are now in the knowledge era.
    • And knowledge-era technologies, in contrast to industrial-era technologies, promote democratisation (social media, for example) and facilitate decentralisation (work from home).
    • It should thus be possible for an adequately educated and trained youth residing in a rural domain to support a significant part of the manufacturing and service needs of urban areas.
    • Just as an urban youth can support a significant part of the knowledge and application needs in rural areas.
    • With technologies like additive manufacture, internet of things, and artificial intelligence, well-trained people can address needs in both urban and rural areas from wherever they are.
    • Thus, the knowledge era should, in principle, become a significant income leveller between the urban and rural domains, with a large rise in the overall national income.
    • As we focus on capacity building of rural youth, the opportunities in rural areas should, in principle, become higher than those in urban areas since the rural segment can now benefit from all three sectors of the economy- agriculture, manufacturing and services.

    The idea of “cillage”

    • In the knowledge era, with emphasis on capability and capacity building of rural youth in terms of holistic education, appropriate technology and enhanced livelihood, there is a possibility for a more balanced distribution of income as well as population.
    • This would, however, need knowledge bridges to be built between cities and villages, and the creation of an ecosystem which has been conceptualised as a “cillage” — a synergistic combination of city and village.
    • Bridging the knowledge gap between a city and a village would also bridge the income gap between the two.
    • This will also lead to a faster bridging of the gap between the average individual income in India and that in industrially advanced countries.
    • Democratisation promoted by knowledge technologies, if properly leveraged, can in principle reduce disparities, which, unfortunately, are on the rise today.

    How to realise the idea of cillage?

    • Integrated and holistic approach: Developing a “cillage” ecosystem would need a rooted and integrated approach to holistic education and research, technology development and management, as well as technology-enabled rural livelihood enhancement.
    • It would take a while for the rural youth to become empowered enough to convert the challenges into opportunities in rural areas.
    • The emergence of a new-age society is an inevitability.
    • How soon the rural domain can embrace it and how concurrently, comprehensively that can happen, is the real challenge.
    • That will decide whether India will gain in the knowledge era or lag as it did in the industrial era.

    Look at one more question from 2015-“Smart cities in India cannot sustain without smart villages. Discuss this statement in the backdrop of rural-urban integration”.  The ideas discussed here in this article help us to deal with such questions.

    Can Covid-19 speed up the realisation of cillage?

    • The process could also be seen as the migration of a set of experiences and skills to villages.
    • We can look at this as a potential two-way bridge for a new relationship between cities and villages.
    • It will be the bridge in which not all need to return to cities, but can rather meet the needs of cities as well as villages by remaining in villages.
    • Several initiatives will be needed to realise such a possibility.
    • Facilitating a number of new skills, technologies and support systems that can further leverage current capabilities of these people for starting a new enterprise would be important.
    • Immediate arrangements to facilitate their livelihood, and leveraging their present capabilities could help retain at least some of these people in villages.
    • It could trigger a faster movement towards an inevitable long-term equilibrium.
    • Going forward, we should take knowledge activities to a higher level so that the products and services created by these people become more competitive.
    • Looking at disruptive technologies for exploiting local opportunities should follow.

    Conclusion

    Given that the new normal after Covid-19 would, in any case, be quite different, the right course would be to channelise the stimulus caused by this crisis towards accelerating the shift to a new normal. This will not only help a more dispersed population, but will also reduce disparities and lead to faster growth of the economy.

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