Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rare earth elements
Mains level: Not Much
To counter India’s reliance on China for imports of critical rare earth minerals, industry has urged the government to establish ‘India Rare Earths Mission’.
What are Rare Earth Metals?
- The rare earth elements (REE) are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium.
- Rare earth elements are an essential part of many high-tech devices.
- They have a wide range of applications, especially high-tech consumer products, such as cellular telephones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles, and flat-screen monitors and televisions.
- Significant defense applications include electronic displays, guidance systems, lasers, and radar and sonar systems.
- Rare earth minerals, with names like neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium, are crucial to the manufacture of magnets used in industries of the future, such as wind turbines and electric cars.
Applications of REMs in various fields:
- Electronics: Television screens, computers, cell phones, silicon chips, monitor displays, long-life rechargeable batteries, camera lenses, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), baggage scanners, marine propulsion systems.
- Defense Sector: Rare earth elements play an essential role in our national defense. The military uses night-vision goggles, precision-guided weapons, communications equipment, GPS equipment, batteries, and other defense electronics. These give the United States military an enormous advantage. Rare earth metals are key ingredients for making the very hard alloys used in armored vehicles and projectiles that shatter upon impact.
- Renewable Energy: Solar panels, Hybrid automobiles, wind turbines, next-generation rechargeable batteries, bio-fuel catalysts.
- Manufacturing: High strength magnets, metal alloys, stress gauges, ceramic pigments, colorants in glassware, chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powders, plastics creation, as additives for strengthening other metals, automotive catalytic converters
- Medical Science: Portable x-ray machines, x-ray tubes, magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) contrast agents, nuclear medicine imaging, cancer treatment applications, and for genetic screening tests, medical and dental lasers.
- Technology: Lasers, optical glass, fiber optics, masers, radar detection devices, nuclear fuel rods, mercury-vapor lamps, highly reflective glass, computer memory, nuclear batteries, high-temperature superconductors.
DO YOU KNOW?
Metals such as cadmium, lead are often used in manufacturing plastic and over time can enter coastal waters. These are acutely harmful for coastal wildlife and humans.Different kinds of plastic releases different kinds of metals that may release when exposed to water and UV lights.
What are the challenges in accessing Critical minerals?
- Deposits in geopolitically sensitive regions: Reserves are often concentrated in regions that are geopolitically sensitive or fare poorly from an ease of doing business perspective.
- Controlled production: A portion of existing production is controlled by geostrategic competitors. For example, China wields considerable influence in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo through direct equity investments and its Belt and Road Initiative.
- Agreements in advance from outside: Future mine production is often tied up in off take agreements, in advance, by buyers from other countries to cater to upcoming demand.
A step taken by Indian government for sourcing strategic minerals
- For sourcing of strategic minerals, the Indian government established Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) in 2019 with the mandate to secure mineral supply for the domestic market.
India Rare Earths Mission
- Industries in India have urged to set up a Mission, manned by professionals, like the India Semiconductor Mission and make their exploration a critical component of the Deep Ocean Mission plan of the government.
- It would seek to encourage private sector mining in the sector and diversify sources of supply for these strategic raw materials.
- The industry group has mooted making rare earth minerals a part of the ‘Make In India’ campaign, citing China’s ‘Made in China 2025’ initiative that focuses on new materials, including permanent magnets that are made using rare earth minerals.
Why such move?
- Though India has 6% of the world’s rare earth reserves, it only produces 1% of global output, and meets most of its requirements of such minerals from China.
- In 2018-19, for instance, 92% of rare earth metal imports by value and 97% by quantity were sourced from China.
What lies ahead?
- There is a need to harness the potential of the country’s own rare earth reserves.
- This would help build domestic capability and broad-base supply sources for such an important and strategic raw material.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Darjeeling Tea
Mains level: Not Much
Tea Board officials admitted that Indian tea had not been able to establish itself globally, and that one of its key brands, Darjeeling Tea, was under acute stress.
About Darjeeling Tea
- Darjeeling Tea, called the ‘Champagne of Teas’, was the first Indian product to get the GI (Geographical Identification) tag in 2004 for its distinctive aroma and flavour.
- About 87 gardens in Darjeeling which employ about 55,000 workers produce approximately 7 million kg of tea, most of which is exported.
Why is it under distress?
- Garden owners are reeling under higher costs of production and other issues.
- Inferior quality tea from Nepal is being imported, and then sold and re-exported as premium Darjeeling Tea.
- Nepal shares similar climatic conditions and terrain, produces tea at a lower price because of less input costs, particularly labour, and fewer quality checks.
- In 2017, the production of Darjeeling Tea hit a low of 3.21 million kg. Since a substantial market of Darjeeling Tea switched to cheaper varieties of tea, including the imported variety from Nepal.
- Tea planters and industry experts admit that the tea industry in Darjeeling has not recovered from the damage it incurred in 2017.
Is climate change impacting production?
- The decline in production is due to multiple factors, which include climate change, declining yields, and high absenteeism among workers.
- Because of the hilly terrain of Darjeeling, there is no land left for expansion of tea gardens.
- The tea bushes are older than other parts of the country.
- Uprooting and planting them is both time and cost-intensive.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Shiveluch Volcano
Mains level: Not Much
The Shiveluch volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East has increased its activity and is now in danger of erupting violently.
About Shiveluch
- Shiveluch is one of the largest and most active volcanoes in Kamchatka, having erupted at least 60 times in the past 10,000 years.
- Kamchatka is home to 29 active volcanoes, part of a vast belt of Earth known as the “Ring of Fire” which circles the Pacific Ocean and is prone to eruptions and frequent earthquakes.
- It has two main parts: Old Shiveluch, which tops 3,283 metres (10,771 ft), and Young Shiveluch – a smaller, 2,800-metre peak protruding from its side.
- Young Shiveluch lies within an ancient caldera – a large crater-like basin that likely formed when the older part underwent a catastrophic eruption at least 10,000 years ago.
- It is this part that has become extremely active; the lava dome continues to grow and that stronger “fumarole activity” has been observed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sankaradeva
Mains level: Bhakti Movement
‘Gurujana’ a musical tribute to 15th–16th century Assamese polymath Srimanta Sankardeva was recently released by the PIB.
Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568)
- Sankardeva was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath; a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, dancer, actor, musician, artist social-religious reformer and a figure of importance.
- He is widely credited with building on past cultural relics and devising-
- New forms of music (Borgeet)
- Theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona),
- Dance (Sattriya)
- Literary language (Brajavali)
Literary works
- He has left extensive literary trans-created scriptures (Bhagavat of Sankardev), poetry and theological works written in Sanskrit, Assamese and Brajavali.
Political influence
- The Bhagavatic religious movement he started, Ekasarana Dharma and also called the Neo-Vaishnavite movement, influenced two medieval kingdoms – Koch and the Ahom kingdom.
- His influence spread even to some kingdoms as the Matak Kingdom founded by Bharat Singha, and consolidated by Sarbananda Singha in the latter 18th century endorsed his teachings.
- The assembly of devotees he initiated evolved over time into monastic centers called Sattras, which continue to be important socio-religious institutions in Assam and to a lesser extent in North Bengal even today.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Constitution facts
Mains level: Evolution of the Constitution of India
Context
- On November 26, 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted our Constitution. Hence, every year we celebrate this day as Constitution or Law Day. India’s Constitution has now endured for almost 73 years.
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Did you know?
- The original constitution of India was handwritten by Prem Behari Narain Raizada in a flowing italic style with beautiful calligraphy.
- 2,000 Amendments were made to the 1st draft of the Constitution before it was finalized.
- Era of constitutional democracies: Constitution-making itself is a relatively unexceptional endeavor. Ginsburg, Elkins and Blount note that in the period from 1789–2005, 806 national constitutions were promulgated.
- Shadow of partition: It was written under extraordinarily difficult conditions, The partition of India which resulted in the displacement of millions of people on both sides of the border.
- Mass death and refugee crisis: Partition was accompanied by mass deaths, devastation, violence, and brutality. Amid all this, as refugees flowed into Delhi, our dual-purpose assembly, a parliament by morning and a constituent body in the afternoon drafted our enduring founding instrument. One that would remain relevant not just for the turbulence of that present, but also would be meaningful for future generations to come.
- A lengthy process: Of the 148 cases, which were randomly chosen from 806, on average, the constitution-making process took 16 months. India’s constitution-making project took about three years from 1946 to 1949.
Legitimacy of the constitution
- Constitution narrates the story of people: It’s not only the text, but also the story crafted of the birth of a constitution that is critical in the internalization of a constitutional order by a people.
- Legitimacy of constitution makers: The drafters deployed the considerable political goodwill enjoyed by key national leaders who were members of the assembly to give legitimacy to the Constitution.
- Egalitarian foundation for decent nation: The Constitution reflects the will of the people, and how its egalitarian foundation would create a better, more decent nation.
Influence of freedom movements on the crafting of the Constitution
- Rise of constitutionalism: The freedom movement and resistance to colonial power was also good training for constitution-crafting. Dietmar Rothmund highlights the unique evolution of Indian constitutionalism, each set of reforms introduced by the British coloniser, while being designed to fulfil certain demands, leads to inspiring new agitations.
- Tilak’s Swaraj Bill of 1895: As the legal historian Rohit De writes, the Constitution, had its inspiration in sources like Tilak’s Swaraj Bill of 1895 (which included rights to free speech, free press, equality before law) and the Declaration of Rights of 1918 (where the Indian National Congress demanded that civil and political rights to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of press and association and for all this to be included in the Government of India Act 1919).
- Resolution of Fundamental Rights and Economic Changes:
- Constitutional development that drew from the Resolution of Fundamental Rights and Economic Changes at the Karachi Session of the Congress in 1931. This resolution argues that “in order to end exploitation of the masses, political freedom must include economic freedom”.
- Along with fundamental rights, it provided for ending of bonded and child labour, free primary education, expansion of labour welfare, regime protection labour unions, women workers, providing for redistribution of resources through state control over key industries and national resources, recognizing the communal problem and laying out protection of minority rights.
Consensus based approach
- It was also the consensus-oriented method that found favor with the Constituent Assembly that has helped our Constitution endure.
- The framers appreciated the link between consensus in adoption and the legitimacy of the Constitution. For instance, when debating the adoption of Hindi as a national language, Rajendra Prasad, president of the Constituent Assembly, said that the choice of national language would have to be “carried out by the whole country”.
- Even if a majority of the Assembly made a choice that was not approved by a section of the people, then, implementation of the Constitution would be rendered perilous. Hence, Hindi was made “the official language of the Union”, while English was retained to be used for all “official purposes”.
Conclusion
- India’s drafters and the methodologies they adopted to craft their glorious product, hold lessons for contemporary politicians and law makers. Consensus, craft and vision are invaluable while making an instrument to endure.
Mains Question
Q. Explain the impact of colonial legacy and freedom movement on drafting of constitution? What were the extra ordinary circumstances during the partition of India?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Election Commission
Mains level: Issues with the Election Commission and Appointments
Context
- A vital issue of national importance dominating the headlines for the last three days is the PIL in the Supreme Court regarding the autonomy and neutrality of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Constitutional mandate for Election Commission of India (ECI).
- The Constitution intended the Election Commission to be fiercely independent and vested it with enormous powers of superintendence, direction and control over all elections.
- The apex court has repeatedly adjudged these powers to be absolute and unquestionable.
- It has declared Article 324 to be the reservoir of all powers of the ECI and has repeatedly declared free and fair elections to be part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
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- The President has the power to select Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
- They have tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
- They have the same status and receive pay and perks as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of India.
- The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through accusation by Parliament.
- Election commissioner or a regional commissioner shall not be removed from office except on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner.
What are the issues regarding the appointment of the Election commissioners?
- Flawed system of appointment of the Election Commissioners: They are appointed unilaterally by the government of the day.
- B. R. Ambedkar’s remark on tenure: Tenure B R Ambedkar’s statement to the Constituent Assembly “the tenure can’t be made a fixed and secure tenure if there is no provision in the Constitution to prevent a fool or a naive or a person who is likely to be under the thumb of the executive”
- Uncertainty over the elevation: Uncertainty over the elevation of an Election Commissioner to the post of CEC, which makes them vulnerable to government pressure. They consider themselves on probation, always conscious of how their conduct is viewed by the government, which can exploit this fear. Since all three members have equal voting rights and all decisions in the commission are taken by the majority, the government can even control an independent-minded CEC through the majority voting power of the two Election Commissioners.
What are the demands for the appointment of EC’s?
- Appointments through a broad-based consultation: There has been a demand for appointments through a broad-based consultation, including parliamentary scrutiny.
- The Proposed mechanism: A collegium consisting of the Prime Minister, leader of the Opposition (LOP) and the Chief Justice of India (CJI).This system is already in operation for the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner, Chief Information Commissioner and Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
- The probable benefit of this mechanism: This will obviate the possibility of allegations against the incumbent of being partisan to the government. Opposition parties would not be able to raise a finger against the incumbent since the LOP would be a party to the selection.
- Collegium system for appointing Election Commissioners: In its 255th Report, the Law Commission of India also recommended a collegium system for appointing Election Commissioners. Political stalwarts and many former CECs including BB Tandon, N Gopalaswami, TS Krishnamurthy supported the idea.
- Extending protection to Election Commissioners: At present, only the CEC is protected from being removed (except through impeachment). One has to remember that the Constitution enabled protection for the CEC as it was initially a one-man Commission. Logically, this should have been extended to the other two Commissioners, who were added in 1993, as they collectively represent the ECI.
Memory shot: Constitutional Provisions in short
- 324: Functions of EC and its composition.
- 325: One general electoral roll and equality among the citizens.
- 326: Adult suffrage.
- 327: Power to Parliament: To make provisions with respect to elections to federal and State Legislatures.
- 328: Power to State Legislature: To make laws with respect to elections to such legislature.
- 329: Bars interference by courts in electoral matters. Notwithstanding anything said in the constitution i.e., validity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies or the allotment of seats to such constituencies shall not be called in question in any court.
Added Information: Conditions for filing an Election Petition
- No election to either House of Parliament or either House of the Legislature of a State shall be called in question except by an election petition.
- Any elector or candidate can file an election petition on grounds of malpractice during the election.
- In respect of elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures, they can only be filed before the High Court.
- In respect of elections for the offices of President and Vice President, such petitions can only be filed before the Supreme Court.
Conclusion
- The recent questions raised about the ECI’s credibility are certainly worrisome. An ECI in office with the express consent of both the ruling and opposition parties is a great opportunity to convince the country and all the parties contesting the elections of its neutrality and impartiality.
Mains Question
Q. Election Commission of India, the most powerful in the world, is said to have the most flawed appointment system. What are the concerns and demands raised from time to time? Discuss
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cess, Surcharge
Mains level: Not Much
Several States, including some governed by the Centre urged to rein in its reliance on raising revenues through cesses and surcharges which reduce their share in the divisible pool of taxes.
What are Cesses and Surcharges?
The Union government has the authority to collect money through a variety of levies referred to as a tax, fee, cess, and surcharge.
(A) Cess
- Cess is charged on the tax amount and is levied for a specific purpose.
- In India, cess is applicable to all the taxpayers, and it is calculated over, and above the base tax liability of the taxpayer, cess taxes initially go to the consolidated fund of India (CFI) that has to be used for the purpose for which it was collected.
- Education Cess, Swachh Bharat Cess
(B) Surcharge
- The surcharge is levied on the tax payable and not on the total income.
- It directly goes to the CFI, and after that it can be used for any purpose, just like the normal tax.
- Surcharge applies to the taxpayer whose income is more than Rs 50 lakh.
- In simple terms, surcharge is a tax on tax that is not collected for any particular cause, and the union government may use the proceeds of surcharges for any purpose it sees as important.
- The objective behind the surcharge is to put a high tax burden on people with high incomes.
Difference between the two
- The rate of cess under income tax is fixed at 4%, whereas the rate of surcharges varies from 10%, 15%, 25% & 37% based on the taxpayers’ total income.
- Cess is calculated on total tax and surcharge amount; surcharge is calculated on total tax amount only.
- In a nutshell, while both are taxes, cess is collected from every taxpayer to meet a certain purpose, and the surcharge is an additional tax collected from the taxpayers who have higher slab income.
Key difference over which states dispute
- Major difference is that each can be shared with the state government, the surcharge can be kept with CFI, and it can be utilised for other taxes.
- However, cess should be utilised for a particular reason. This restricts the states expenditure.
- Tamil Nadu noted that the share of cesses and surcharges had grown from 10.4% of gross tax revenue in 2011-12 to 26.7% in 2021-22.
- This has deprived the States of their legitimate share of revenue collected by the Union Government.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGA
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Central government has constituted a panel to review the implementation and assess efficacy as a poverty alleviation tool of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme.
About the review committee
- The committee is headed by former Rural Development secretary Amarjeet Sinha.
- It had its first meeting on November 21, 2022, and has been given three months to submit its suggestions.
- It is tasked to study the various factors behind demand for MGNREGA work, expenditure trends and inter-State variations, and the composition of work.
- It will suggest what changes in focus and governance structures are required to make MGNREGA more effective.
What is MGNREGA?
- The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
- This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by V. Narasimha Rao.
What is so unique about it?
- MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Any Indian citizen above the age of 18 years who resides in rural India can apply for the NREGA scheme. The applicant should have volunteered to do unskilled work.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
Why is MGNREGS under fire these days?
- Not enough work: Bihar despite its levels of poverty, does not generate enough work to make a concrete difference, and on the other end of spectrum we have Kerala which is economically better but has been utilising it for asset creation.
- No asset creation: There is a lack of tangible asset creation. The committee will study if the composition of work taken up presently under the scheme should be changed.
Issues in implementation
- Insufficient budgetary allocations: Increase in the nominal budget but actual budget (after adjusting inflation) decreased over the years.
- Approved Labour Budget Constraints: The Centre through the arbitrary “Approved Labour Budget” has reduced the number of days of work and put a cap on funds through the National Electronic Fund Management System
- Not so attractive wages rate: Currently, MGNREGA wage rates of 17 states are less than the corresponding state minimum wages.
- Delay in wage payments: Under the MGNREGA, a worker is entitled to get his or her due wages within a fortnight of completion of work, failing which the worker is entitled to the compensation.
- No-work situations are rising: None of the states was able to provide full 100 days employment as mentioned in the scheme.
- Data manipulations by authorities: A recent study has found that data manipulation in the MGNREGA is leading to gross violations in its implementation.
- Non-purposive spending and corruptions: Many works sanctioned under MGNREGA often seem to be non-purposive. Quite often, they are politically motivated hotspots to create rampant corruption.
- Centralization weakening local governance: A real-time MIS-based implementation and a centralised payment system has further left the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions with literally no role in implementation.
Conclusion
- Large scale social security programmes like MGNREA are subjected to undergo several stumbling blocks in the times of ongoing pandemic.
- Government and NGOs must study the impact of MGNREGA in rural areas so as to ensure that this massive anti-poverty scheme is not getting diluted from its actual path.
- We must view MGNREGA as an opportunity and explicitly include it in a broad-based strategy to tackle any socie-economic crisis.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q. Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee act”?
(a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.
(b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households.
(c) Adult members of households of all backward communities.
(d) Adult members of any household.
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Capital Gains Tax
Mains level: Not Much
The Finance Ministry is looking at rationalizing long-term capital gains tax structure by bringing parity between similar asset classes and revising the base year for computing indexation benefits.
What is Capital Gains Tax?
- Capital gains tax is levied on the profits made on investments (Base Year: 2001).
- It covers real estate, gold, stocks, mutual funds, and various other financial and non-financial assets.
- Under the Income Tax Act, gains from sale of capital assets — both movable and immovable — are subject to ‘capital gains tax’.
Types of CGT
(A) STCG (Short-term capital asset)
- An asset held for a period of 36 months or less is a short-term capital asset.
- The criteria is 24 months for immovable properties such as land, building and house property from FY 2017-18.
- For instance, if you sell house property after holding it for a period of 24 months, any income arising will be treated as a long-term capital gain, provided that property is sold after 31st March 2017.
- The reduced period of the aforementioned 24 months is not applicable to movable property such as jewellery, debt-oriented mutual funds etc.
Some assets are considered short-term capital assets when these are held for 12 months or less. This rule is applicable if the date of transfer is after 10th July 2014 (irrespective of what the date of purchase is). These assets are:
- Equity or preference shares in a company listed on a recognized stock exchange in India
- Securities (like debentures, bonds, govt securities etc.) listed on a recognized stock exchange in India
- Units of UTI, whether quoted or not
- Units of equity oriented mutual fund, whether quoted or not
- Zero coupon bonds, whether quoted or not
(B) LTCG (Long-term capital asset )
- An asset held for more than 36 months is a long-term capital asset.
- They will be classified as a long-term capital asset if held for more than 36 months as earlier.
- Capital assets such as land, building and house property shall be considered as long-term capital asset if the owner holds it for a period of 24 months or more (from FY 2017-18).
Whereas, below-listed assets if held for a period of more than 12 months, shall be considered as long-term capital asset.
- Equity or preference shares in a company listed on a recognized stock exchange in India
- Securities (like debentures, bonds, govt securities etc.) listed on a recognized stock exchange in India
- Units of UTI, whether quoted or not
- Units of equity oriented mutual fund, whether quoted or not
- Zero coupon bonds, whether quoted or not
Why is it so complicated?
Capital gains tax is complicated for a few primary reasons.
- First, the rate changes from asset to asset. LTCG tax on stocks and equity mutual funds is 10% but on debt mutual funds is 20% with indexation.
- Second, holding period changes from asset to asset. The holding period for LTCG tax is two years in real estate, one year for stocks, and three years for debt mutual funds and gold.
- Third, exemptions available against it come with their own complex conditions. For instance, buying a house after selling one can get you an exemption, but the new house must be bought in two years or built in three years of the sale.
Stipulated reforms by Finance Ministry
- Currently, shares held for more than one year attract a 10% tax on long-term capital gains.
- Gains arising from sale of immovable property and unlisted shares held for more than 2 years and debt instruments and jewellery held for over 3 years attract 20% long-term capital gains tax.
- Also, a change in base year for computing inflation-adjusted capital gains is being contemplated.
- The index year for capital gains tax calculation is revised periodically to make it more relevant. The last revision took place in 2017 when the base year was updated to 2001.
- Since the prices of assets increase over time, the indexation is used to arrive at the inflation-adjusted purchasing price of assets to compute long-term capital gains for the purpose of taxation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nuclear Enrichment
Mains level: Not Much
The Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom has offered a more advanced fuel option to India’s largest nuclear power station at Kudankulam, which will allow its reactors to run for an extended 2-year cycle without stopping to load fresh fuel.
What is the news?
- Rosatom’s nuclear fuel division, TVEL Fuel Company, is the current supplier of TVS – 2 M fuel for the two VVER 1,000 MWe reactors generating power in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).
- This fuel has an 18-month fuel cycle, meaning that the reactor has to be stopped for fresh fuel loading every one-and-a-half years.
- TVEL has now offered the more modern Advanced Technology Fuel (ATF), whose fuel cycle is a whopping 24 months.
Benefits of the move
- This fuel will ensure more efficiency and additional power generation due to the prolonged operation of the reactor.
- It will result in sizable savings of the foreign exchange need to buy fresh fuel assemblies from Russia.
What is the Nuclear Fuel Cycle?
- The nuclear fuel cycle consists of front-end steps that prepare uranium for use in nuclear reactors and back-end steps to safely manage, prepare, and dispose of used—or spent—but still highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel.
- Uranium is the most widely used fuel by nuclear power plants for nuclear fission.
- Nuclear power plants use a certain type of uranium—U-235—as fuel because its atoms are easily split apart.
- Although uranium is about 100 times more common than silver, U-235 is relatively rare at just over 0.7% of natural uranium.
Steps involved in fuel enrichment
- Uranium concentrate is separated from uranium ore at uranium mills or from a slurry at in-situ leaching facilities.
- It is then processed in conversion and enrichment facilities, which increases the level of U-235 to 3%–5% for commercial nuclear reactors, and made into reactor fuel pellets and fuel rods in reactor fuel fabrication plants.
- Nuclear fuel is loaded into reactors and used until the fuel assemblies become highly radioactive and must be removed for temporary storage and eventual disposal.
- Chemical processing of spent fuel material to recover any remaining product that could undergo fission again in a new fuel assembly is technically feasible.
Back2Basics: Uranium Enrichment
- It is a process that is necessary to create an effective nuclear fuel out of mined uranium.
- It involves increasing the percentage of uranium-235 which undergoes fission with thermal neutrons.
- Nuclear fuel is mined from naturally occurring uranium ore deposits and then isolated through chemical reactions and separation processes.
- These chemical processes used to separate the uranium from the ore are not to be confused with the physical and chemical processes used to enrich the uranium.
Why is enrichment carried out?
- Uranium found in nature consists largely of two isotopes, U-235 and U-238.
- Natural uranium contains 0.7% of the U-235 isotope.
- The remaining 99.3% is mostly the U-238 isotope which does not contribute directly to the fission process (though it does so indirectly by the formation of fissile isotopes of plutonium).
- The production of energy in nuclear reactors is from the ‘fission’ or splitting of the U-235 atoms since it is the main fissile isotope of uranium.
- Naturally occurring uranium does not have a high enough concentration of Uranium-235 at only about 0.72% with the remainder being Uranium-238.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: RTI
Mains level: Online dispensation of RTI
The Supreme Court has launched an online portal that will help citizens file and access applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in matters related to the court
What is the online RTI portal?
- The online RTI portal has been initiated to make it convenient for people to access information about the Supreme Court.
- So far, RTI applications at the Supreme Court had to be filed only via post.
- Various public interest litigation (PILs) had been filed before the Supreme Court seeking an online RTI portal for the Court.
- The online portal is likely to streamline responses of the Supreme Court under the Right to Information Act.
How does the online portal work?
- The online portal can be accessed at a dedicated url.
- Essentially, the process of filing an RTI in the Supreme Court is the same as how one normally files the application.
- This web portal can be used only by Indian citizens to file RTI applications, first appeals and to make payment for fees, and copying charges, under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act).
- An applicant must first register themselves in the web portal.
Fees prescribed
- The applicant can pay the prescribed fee through internet banking, credit/debit card of Master/Visa or UPI.
- The fee per RTI application is ₹10.
- Any applicant who is Below Poverty Line (BPL) is exempted to pay the application fee under the RTI Rules, 2012.
Expected time for response
- By law, RTIs must be replied to within 30 days.
- In fact, in life and death cases, RTIs must be responded to within 48 hours.
Back2Basics: Right to Information
- RTI is an act of the parliament which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
- It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
- Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30.
- In case of the matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours.
- The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Preventing cruelty to animals
A draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill, 2022, prepared by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, has been opened for public comment.
Why in news?
- Recently, instances of animal cruelty in India witnessed a surge.
- The same has ushered the debate around animal rights and the extent of legal protection that the current laws provide them.
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill, 2022
- The Centre has proposed to overhaul The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, introducing 61 amendments in the law.
- It includes stringent penalties of three years’ imprisonment for committing “gruesome cruelty” including “bestiality” with animals.
Main changes proposed in the law
- Cruelty as a cognizable offence: Several offences have been made cognizable, which means offenders can be arrested without an arrest warrant.
- Recognizing gruesome cruelty: The proposed law describes “gruesome cruelty” as any act involving animals which leads to “extreme pain and suffering” and is “likely to leave the animal in life-long disability”. It includes mutilation or killing of animals by the use of strychnine injection in the heart or any other cruel manner.
- Stringent penalties: Essentially, the law is proposed to be made tighter, with more stringent punishments. The draft proposes fines from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 “or the cost of the animal. For killing an animal, the draft Bill proposes a maximum punishment of five years in jail.
What are the existing penal provisions?
- An offence such as this — fairly common in India — would currently attract charges under Section 428 (mischief by killing or maiming animal) IPC and Section 11 (treating animals cruelly) of The PCA Act, 1960.
- It prescribes some rubbish penal provisions.
Need for such law
- Barbarism: In September, a doctor in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur allegedly tied a dog to his car and dragged it across the city.
- Non-deterrence: Present provisions are incapable of acting as any deterrent for potential offenders.
- Ridicules penalties: First-time offenders under the PCA Act are punished with a fine of Rs 10-50. If it is found that this is not the offender’s first such crime in the past three years, the maximum punishment would be a fine between Rs 25 and Rs 100, a jail term of three months, or both.
Key propositions for such law
- Along with animal welfare organisations and several political leaders have in the past called for the law to be amended.
- In 2014, the Supreme Court, in ‘Animal Welfare Board of India vs A Nagaraja & Others’, had said that “Parliament is expected to make proper amendment of the PCA Act to provide an effective deterrent.
Government response
- In April 2021, the Centre had proposed changes where the penalty can go up to Rs 75,000 per animal or three times the cost of the animal as determined by the jurisdictional veterinarian.
- It proposed imprisonment of three years which may extend to five years or both.
- The government has finally moved in this direction with proposed amendments.
Legal remedies in India
- The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 recognises that animals can suffer physically and mentally, and is applicable to ‘all living creatures’.
- The Constitution also enshrines the principle of ahimsa and mandates to all citizens of India to ‘have compassion for living creatures’.
- The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) is the central body responsible for animal welfare in the country.
- The National Institute for Animal Welfare created in 1999, has the broad mandate to improve animal welfare through research, education and public outreach.
- According to Section 50(4) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, a Wildlife Offence Report (WLOR) can be filed.
Apart from increasing penalties, what else is proposed?
(1) Freedoms to animals
- “It shall be the duty of every person having charge of an animal to ensure that the animal in his care or under his charge has freedom from:
- Thirst, hunger and malnutrition;
- Discomfort due to environment;
- Pain, injury and diseases;
- Fear and distress, and the
- Freedom to express normal behaviour for the species
(2) Protection to community animals
- The draft defines “community animal” as “any animal born in a community for which no ownership has been claimed by any individual or an organization, excluding wild animals as defined under the wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (53 of 1972).”
- The proposed law also says that in case of a community animal, the local government such as municipality or panchayats shall be responsible for taking care of the community animals in a manner developed by the State Government or by the Board.
Latent issues with the law
- Simply increasing the quantum of punishment may not be enough to stop cruelty against animals.
- Some already marginalised communities like ‘madaris’ (who perform with animals) and ‘saperas’ (snake charmers) may be disproportionately affected.
- Others have argued that focusing on the individual act of ‘cruelty’, such as farmers putting up electric fences around their fields, is an incomplete approach.
Conclusion
- Steps are needed to mitigate the larger issues of vanishing animal habitats and climate change exacerbating man-animal conflict.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Urban Agriculture, Use of technology and food security
Context
- As per the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization, urban and peri-urban agriculture have a significant role in global food and nutritional security, and so it is seeking to encourage such activities through the Urban Food Agenda.
What is Urban Agriculture?
- Urban agriculture refers to agricultural practices in urban and peri-urban areas. Peri-urban areas are those transitioning from rural land uses (such as for agriculture or livestock production) to urban ones (such as the built environment, manufacturing, services, and utilities), and are located between the outer limits of urban and regional centres and the rural environment.
- Cultivating food and non-food product: Urban agricultural practices are geared towards cultivating or growing a wide range of food and non-food products, and include activities such as rearing livestock, aquaculture, beekeeping, and commercial-scale floriculture.
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Urban Agriculture and Technology
- Farming using software: In France, for instance, certain software gives farmers access to cross-referenced information on their smartphones about the weather, spraying dates, seeds, fertilization plans, and regulatory compliance.
- Use of mobile applications: In India and the US, mobile applications can help connect urban growers and local consumers. Technology also helps food growers in precision farming, which involves mapping and monitoring geological and plant data for a field so that inputs can be adapted to suit ultra-localized needs. Local communities can be helpful in the gathering of such data.
- Aeroponics: Aero Farms in Newark, US, builds and operates vertical indoor farms to enable local production at scale and increase the availability of safe and nutritious food. The company uses aeroponics to grow leafy greens without sun or soil in a fully controlled environment. The technology enables year-round production with less water consumption and high yields per square metre.
- Container system: In Paris, a start-up called Agricool grows strawberries in containers across the city. The company retrofits old, unused containers to accommodate LED lights and aeroponics system to grow strawberries year-round. These ‘cooltainers’ are powered by clean energy and use about 90 percent less water than traditional farming activities. This can also create job opportunities for city residents in the agricultural sector.
- Small area large population: India’s total urban area has been estimated at around 222,688 sq. km, or about 6.77 percent of the country’s geographical area. This small area is home to around 35 percent of India’s population, around 500 million Indians.
- less area to convert into green spaces: If Indian cities were to allocate 10 percent of their geographic space for greens (gardens, playgrounds, public parks and the like), as suggested in the Urban & Regional Development Plans Formulation & Implementation guidelines, this would mean 22,268 sq. km of the total urban area is available to convert into public green spaces.
- Space constraint hinders the urban agriculture: Even if half of this area (111,34 sq. km) were used for urban agriculture instead of parks, gardens, playgrounds, and horticulture, this is a mere 5 percent of all urban area and 0.56 percent of all land under agriculture in the country. This showcases the space constraints that urban agriculture must tackle.
Urban constraints and use of technology
- Raised bed farming: Raised bed farming is the agricultural technique of building freestanding crop beds above the existing soil level. In certain instances, raised beds are covered with plastic mulch to create a closed planting bed. The method helps reduce soil compaction and allows better control of the soil. The planted area also gets protected in case of excess rainfall. This method affords far greater productivity than regular farming.
- Container gardening: Container gardening refers to the practice of growing plants in containers instead of planting them on the ground. Containers could include polyethene plastic bags, clay pots, plastic pots, metallic pots, milk jugs, ice cream containers, bushel baskets, barrels, and planter box bottles. Most vegetables grown in backyard gardens can be grown in containers.
- Aquaponics: A closed-loop aquaponics system is an organic strategy that draws on the strengths of the basic ecological foundations of the nitrogen and carbon cycles. Nutrient-rich fish water is used to fertilise and water plants. This system requires only a few inputs primarily energy and some of the basic plant nutrients.
- The vertical farming: The vertical farming model essentially aims at increasing the amount of agricultural land by stacking many racks of crops vertically, thereby having many levels on the same space of land.
- Rooftop Plant Production: Under rooftop plant production (RPP) systems, food crops can be grown using raised beds, row farming, or a hydroponic greenhouse. Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants in a nutrient solution with or without a soilless substrate to provide physical support. RPP systems maximize the cultivation area with artificial lighting. RPP can be used to grow crops that require higher light intensities and more vertical space.
Conclusion
- Urban agriculture faces several constraints, but each of these can be overcome by adopting a range of technologies, establishing urban agriculture initiatives in peri-urban areas, launching community initiatives in common spaces, and altering planning parameters and city regulations to include urban agriculture as a ULB activity.
Mains Question
Q. What is the urban agriculture? What are constraints in urban agricultural practice and how to overcome those constraints?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: COP 27
Mains level: Loss and damage fund
Context
- All 197 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to enable financing for loss and damage to those that need it the most.
What is Loss and damage (L&D) fund?
- Adverse impact of climate change: Loss and damage (L&D) refer to the adverse impacts that vulnerable communities and countries face as a result of a changing climate.
- Making the rich countries pay: Rich countries had resisted L&D payments for years. Under pressure, they could no longer duck their responsibility.
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- Formation of Transition committee: The COP27 decision includes the development of a Transition Committee dedicated to L&D, with equal representation from rich and poor countries.
- Operationalizing the funding arrangement: The committee has been tasked with configuring institutional arrangements, identifying and expanding sources of funding, and coordinating with existing funding arrangements — by COP28 in the UAE next year.
What role India can play in facilitating the Loss & Damage?
- Develop a Global Vulnerability Index: Last year, CEEW developed a Climate Vulnerability Index for India. It found that over 80 per cent of Indians are highly vulnerable to extreme climatic disasters. Such data in the public domain helps map critical vulnerabilities and plan strategies to build resilience by climate-proofing communities, economies and infrastructure.
- South-led research consortium: India would do well to convene experts and encourage the development of a South-led research consortium dedicated to scientific exploration of “event attribution” science. This would enrich climate science, draw attention to the more vulnerable regions, build research capacity in developing countries, and strengthen the L&D framework.
- Champion the Early Warning Systems Initiative: The Executive Action Plan for the Early Warnings for All Initiative, unveiled at COP27. It aims to ensure every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems within five years. It has called for targeted investments of $ 3.1 billion during 2023-27, which could avoid annual losses of $3-16 billion against natural hazards in developing countries.
- Leverage the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI): India founded the CDRI “to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development”. CDRI is currently undertaking a Fiscal Risk Assessment study to support the development of a comprehensive disaster-risk financing strategy in more than 35 countries and multilateral entities.
Other strategies for Loss & Damage funds
- Pressurizing the developing countries: Pressure must also be put on large emerging economies, with rising emissions, to contribute to L&D financing. Limiting L&D compensation depends on increasing adaptation spending.
- Global Resilience Reserve Fund: The global resilience reserve fund is capitalized by IMF Special Drawing Rights, to create an insurance cushion against severe physical and macroeconomic shocks that climate risks would impose.
- Enhanced and accelerated emissions mitigation: While countries around the globe released its long-term low-carbon emissions development strategy last week, it must use scientific methods to quantify its long-term targets, to give direction to industry and investors.
Conclusion
- Loss & Damage financing is just a band-aid. Global emissions must reduce by 50 per cent by 2030 but there is no opprobrium for failing to present credible plans to do so. India drew attention to sustainable lifestyles via its Lifestyle for Environment mission. World must change its attitude towards climate change because it is already too late.
Mains Question
Q. What is Loss and damage fund agreed Under COP 27? What role India can play for global south for facilitating the L&D fund?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Measles and other contagious diseases
Mains level: Measles outbreak, Immunization program and the concerns
Context
- A measles outbreak in Mumbai has raised concerns amongst the country’s public health authorities. The city has reported more than 200 cases in the past two months and at least 13 children have lost their lives.
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Measles: A memory shot
- Measles is a highly contagious viral disease.
- Measles is caused by a virus in the paramyxovirus family and it is normally passed through direct contact and through the air.
- The virus infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body.
- Measles is a human disease and is not known to occur in animals.
All you need to know about Measles
- Signs and symptoms include:
- The first sign of measles is usually a high fever, runny nose, a cough, red and watery eyes, and small white spots inside the cheeks can develop in the initial stage.
- The most serious complications include blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea and related dehydration, ear infections, or severe respiratory infections such as pneumonia.
- Who is at risk?
- Unvaccinated young children are at highest risk of measles and its complications, including death.
- Unvaccinated pregnant women are also at risk.
- Any non-immune person (who has not been vaccinated or was vaccinated but did not develop immunity) can become infected.
- Transmission:
- Measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases.
- It is spread by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions.
- Treatment:
- No specific antiviral treatment exists for measles virus.
- Severe complications from measles can be reduced through supportive care that ensures good nutrition, adequate fluid intake and treatment of dehydration with WHO-recommended oral rehydration solution.
- All children diagnosed with measles should receive two doses of vitamin A supplements.
- Prevention:
- Routine measles vaccination for children, combined with mass immunization campaigns in countries with high case and death rates, are key public health strategies to reduce global measles deaths.
- The measles vaccine is often incorporated with rubella and/or mumps vaccines.
Reasons sought behind the sudden outbreak of Measles in India
- A backslide in the universal immunisation programme during the pandemic:
- By all accounts, the outbreak seems to have been precipitated by a backslide in the universal immunisation programme during the pandemic.
- According to the state government data, only 41 per cent of the eligible children have been inoculated against measles in Mumbai.
- Vaccine hesitancy:
- Parents, reportedly, are showing a disinclination to continue the inoculation regime for their children after they developed fever on being administered the first jab.
- Overworked public health professionals, including ASHA workers, have also had to combat vaccine hesitancy.
- Mission Indradhanush: In recent years, the Centre’s Mission Indradhanush project has improved vaccine coverage and reduced delays between shots.
- Low coverage in last two years: WHO and UNICEF studies have shown that immunisation programmes especially those focusing on DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus) and measles have taken a hit in low- and mid-income countries, including India, in the past two years.
- Missed shots during Pandemic restrictions: Early in the pandemic, the National Health Mission’s information system reported that at least 100,000 children missed their shots because of the restrictions on movement.
- India speeding up the immunization after the pandemic: Anecdotal reports do indicate that India’s universal inoculation programme picked up during the latter part of the pandemic. But measles is a highly contagious disease. Experts had cautioned that even a 5 per cent fall in the vaccination rate can disrupt herd immunity and precipitate an outbreak. The surge of the disease in Mumbai indicates that their fears are coming true.
Countries with lower per capita incomes are more at risk
- Measles is still common in many developing countries particularly in parts of Africa and Asia. The overwhelming majority (more than 95%) of measles deaths occur in countries with low per capita incomes and weak health infrastructures.
- Measles outbreaks can be particularly deadly in countries experiencing or recovering from a natural disaster or conflict. Damage to health infrastructure and health services interrupts routine immunization, and overcrowding in residential camps greatly increases the risk of infection.
- Measles outbreaks can result in epidemics that cause many deaths, especially among young, malnourished children. In countries where measles has been largely eliminated, cases imported from other countries remain an important source of infection.
Conclusion
- Studies have shown that child vaccination had suffered during the pandemic as attention shifted towards adult vaccination. Now that the pandemic has waned, governments must carefully evaluate at the grassroots how many children fell out of the vaccine net during this period and take countermeasures.
Mains question
Q. Measles is a highly contagious disease with a high mortality rate in unvaccinated children. Discuss the reasons behind the recent outbreak of measles in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chabahar Port
Mains level: Read the attached story
India and Iran held Foreign Office level consultations to continue cooperation for development of the Shahid Beheshti terminal of the Chabahar Port.
Chabahar Port
- In 2016, India signed a deal with Iran entailing $8 billion investment in Chabahar port and industries in Chabahar Special Economic Zone.
- The port is being developed as a transit route to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
- India has already built a 240-km road connecting Afghanistan with Iran.
- All this were expected to bring cargo to Bandar Abbas port and Chabahar port, and free Kabul from its dependence on Pakistan to reach the outer world.
- Completion of this project would give India access to Afghanistan and beyond to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Europe via 7,200-km-long multi-modal North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
Why is Chabahar back in the news?
- The visit is a chance to strengthen ties and the maritime relationship between the two countries.
- Due to pandemic, there were less number of visits from India to Iran and vice-versa and the pace of the project is also allegedly slower.
- This visit will also highlight the importance of Chabahar as a gateway for Indian trade with Europe, Russia and CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] countries.
- India is keen in developing the Shahid Beheshti port as a “a transit hub” and link it to the International North South Trade Corridor (INSTC), that also connects to Russia and Europe.
What is India’s strategic vision for Chabahar?
- When the first agreement for Chabahar was signed by then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003, the plan had a three-fold objective:
- To build India’s first offshore port and to project Indian infrastructure prowess in the Gulf
- To circumvent trade through Pakistan, given the tense ties with India’s neighbour and build a long term, sustainable sea trade route and
- To find an alternative land route to Afghanistan, which India had rebuilt ties with after the defeat of the Taliban in 2001
- Subsequently, PM Manmohan Singh’s government constructed the Zaranj -Delaram Highway in Afghanistan’s South.
- It would help connect the trade route from the border of Iran to the main trade routes to Herat and Kabul, handing it over to the Karzai government in 2009.
- In 2016, PM Modi travelled to Tehran and signed the agreement to develop Chabahar port, as well as the trilateral agreement for trade through Chabahar with Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani.
Commencement of operations
- Since the India Ports Global Chabahar Free Zone (IPGCFZ) authority took over the operations of the port in 2018, it has handled 215 vessels, 16,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and four million tons of bulk and general cargo.
Why is it gaining importance?
- In the last few years, a fourth strategic objective for the Chabahar route has appeared, with China’s Belt and Road Initiative making inroads in the region.
- The government hopes to provide Central Asia with an alternate route to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through Iran for future trade.
Why is the Chabahar dream taking so long to realise?
- India’s quest for Chabahar has hit geopolitical road-block after road-block; the biggest issue has been over Iran’s relationship with western countries, especially the United States.
- In years when western sanctions against Iran increased, the Chabahar project has been put on the back-burner.
- However, the nuclear talks resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015 came into being, the Chabahar port has been easier to work on.
- In 2018, the Trump administration put paid to India’s plans by walking out of the JCPOA and slapping new sanctions on dealing with Iran.
- This led to the Modi government “zeroing out” all its oil imports from Iran, earlier a major supplier to India, causing a strain in ties.
- India also snapped ties with Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, which put an end to the humanitarian aid of wheat and pulses that was being sent to Kabul via Chabahar.
- When India restarted wheat aid this year, it negotiated with Pakistan to use the land route to Afghanistan instead.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has notified the draft Aircraft Security Rules, 2022 which enable the aviation security regulator, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to impose penalties upto ₹1 crore on airports and airlines for violation of security measures.
Why such move?
- India’s civil Aviation Sector is facing a unique crisis a crisis of credibility and safety.
- Some of the issues are-
- The windshield of a go air flight cracks mid-air, two go air flights suffer engine snags, a flight could not take off because of a dog on the runway.
- A bird was found in the cockpit of an Air India Express cruising at 37 000 feet.
- One flight suffered an engine snag another noticed smoke in the cabin.
- Luggage is not being loaded or is going missing.
Draft Aircraft Security Rules, 2022
- The rules will supersede Aircraft Security Rules, 2011 and were necessary after Parliament passed Aircraft Amendment Act, 2020 in September 2020.
- It gives statutory powers to BCAS, along with the Director General of Civil Aviation and Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
- These allow them to impose penalties which could only be imposed by courts earlier.
- The amendment were necessary after the UN aviation watchdog, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), raised questions about the three regulators functioning without statutory powers.
Key features
- Hefty fines: Once the draft Rules are finalised, the BCAS can impose a fine of ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore (depending on the size of the company) on airports and airlines if they fail to prepare and implement a security programme.
- Security clearance: They can commence operations only after seeking a security clearance.
- Regulating passenger behaviour: Individuals will also face penalties ranging from ₹1 lakh to ₹25 lakh depending on the nature of offence.
- Data security: In order to deal with cyber security threats, the rules also require each entity to protect its information and communication technology systems against unauthorised use and prohibit disclosure.
- Unburdening the CISF: The draft rules now authorise airports to engage private security agents instead of CISF personnel at “non-core areas” and assign security duties as per the recommendation of the National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016.
Tap to read more about: India’s ailing Civil Aviation Sector.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ETCA
Mains level: India-Australia relations
After 10 years of negotiations, India and Australia have finally agreed an interim free trade deal called the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA).
What is the news?
- Australia’s parliament has ratified the ECTA.
- The two countries has signed the ECTA on April 2 this year.
- The trade deal will now come into effect on a mutually agreed date.
Key terms of the India-Australia ECTA
- Under the India-Australia ECTA, duties on 100 percent tariff lines will be eliminated by Australia, covering 6,000 broad sectors.
- Meanwhile, India’s tariffs on 90 percent of Australian goods exports, including meat, wool, cotton, seafood, nuts, and avocados, will be removed.
- From day one, Australia will offer zero-duty access to India for almost 96.4 percent of exports by value. Presently, many of these products have a 4-5 percent customs duty imposed by Australia.
Key benefits offered
- Exporters, businesses, workers, and consumers in both markets are set to benefit from the trade liberalization, market opening, and freer movement of people.
- Implementation of the trade agreement will create an estimated 1 million jobs.
- The India-Australia ECTA agreement is expected to increase bilateral trade to about US$45-50 billion in the next five years from the existing US$31 billion.
- India hopes to increase its merchandise exports by US$10 billion BY 2026-27.
Special benefits to India
- IT sector to be a big gainer as it contributes significantly to both economies
- Visas to be offered to Indian chefs and yoga instructors
- Work opportunities for Indian students pursuing education in Australia
- Cheaper raw materials from Australia will make Indian goods more competitive in the global market
- Medicines approved under rigorous US and UK regulatory regimes will benefit from a fast track mechanism to get approval in Australia (improving market prospects for India’s patented, generic, and biosimilar medicines)
Volume of India-Australia Trade
- Australia is the 17th largest trading partner to India and India is Australia’s ninth largest trading partner.
- In 2021-22, India’s goods exports to Australia valued US$8.3 billion and imports were about US$16.7 billion. Two-way trade in goods and services in 2020 were valued at US$24.3 billion.
- India’s merchandise exports to Australia grew 135 percent between 2019 and 2021.
- India’s exports consist primarily of a broad-based basket largely of finished products. Around 96 percent of Australia’s exports are raw materials and intermediate products.
How will Indian IT firms benefit from the deal?
- Along with ECTA, the Australian parliament has also approved an amendment to the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) – a long-standing tax issue for Indian companies operating in Australia.
- As per industry estimates, Indian IT firms lost more than $1 bn in taxes due to the existing provisions in DTAA.
- Most IT firms take up projects where they do some portion of work on-site, and some from India.
- However, Australian courts had ruled that even the work done from India can be taxed as per local Australian laws.
- The same income was subject to taxes in India too.
What’s in it for pharma companies?
- ECTA says Indian drugs that have already been approved in the UK and US will get faster approval in Australia too.
- India has the highest number of USFDA-approved sites and other stringent regulatory agencies approvals too — which will yield results once ECTA comes into effect.
- India exported $387 mn worth of pharma products to Australia registering a growth of 11.58% FY22.
- India can now expect share in Australia’s US$ 13 billion pharma market to go up.
Will ECTA give a push to labour-intensive industries?
- Getting easier access for apparel, textiles, leather, footwear, gems & jewellery, furniture, machinery and electrical goods in western markets is India’s key aims in trade deals.
- ECTA will see India getting zero duty on 98.3% of tariff lines from the day the agreement comes into force and on 100% of tariff lines within five years.
Can India cut its trade deficit with Australia?
- At the moment, Australia exports much more to India than it imports.
- During the last financial year, India had a trade deficit of $8.5 billion with Australia with $8.3 billion worth of exports and $16.8 billion worth of imports.
- Entering the Australian market is not just about lower tariffs as Australia is already a very open economy.
- There already are firmly established players in Australia and displacing them would need cutting trade costs and signing a comprehensive deal.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Inflation
Mains level: Inflation and the concerns
Context
- The recent data seems to indicate that retail inflation has possibly peaked and is now likely to trend downwards. But, it would be wise to exercise caution. The latest data, while providing useful nuggets of information about price trends in the economy, challenges some of the widely held conceptions about inflation, and gives mixed signals about its trajectory.
- Inflation is an increase in the level of prices of the goods and services that households buy. It is measured as the rate of change of those prices. Typically, prices rise over time, but prices can also fall (a situation called deflation).
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Inflation Rate
- Inflation Rate is the percentage change in the price level from the previous period. If a normal basket of goods was priced at Rupee 100 last year and the same basket of goods now cost Rupee 120, then the rate of inflation this year is 20%.
- Inflation Rate= {(Price in year 2 – Price in year 1)/ Price in year 1} *100
Five broad trends emerge to consider as reasons behind high inflation.
- Russia- Ukraine war:
- The sharp rise in commodity prices as a consequence of the war is considered to have been largely responsible for the spurt in inflation this year, pushing it beyond the upper threshold of the RBI’s inflation-targeting framework.
- For instance, India’s crude oil import price rose from $84.67 per barrel in January to $112.87 in March, and further to $116.01 in June. The ripple effects of higher commodity prices have been felt across the economy.
- Inflation generalized in formal and informal sectors:
- There are indications that inflation is getting more generalized across both the formal and informal segments of the economy.
- One indication of this comes from the clothing and footwear category, a highly fragmented industry with the presence of both formal and informal segments. Another possible indication comes from rentals.
- Rental inflation in India had tended to remain largely range-bound over much of the past few years. But as this category has the highest individual item-wise weight in the inflation index, any movement in either direction, however small, would have a large impact on core inflation.
- Supply side disruptions during the pandemic: During the pandemic, supply-side disruptions had caused goods inflation to rise, even as services inflation remained relatively muted owing to risk-averse behaviour by consumers and restrictions on high-contact intensive sectors.
- Competition and the pricing mechanism in the economy:
- Prices are rigid on the downside will depend not only on how demand fares now with monetary conditions having been tightened, but also on the extent of competition in the economy, among others.
- After all, greater market concentration creates conditions for greater pricing power. A badly damaged non-corporate sector (MSMEs) would have led to ruptures in the low-cost economy, increasing the pricing power of the corporate sector during this period.
- Wage- price spiral:
- Inflation in India is not a consequence of a strong economy. Wage growth in the large informal rural economy has been lower than inflation.
- While some skill-intensive segments of the urban formal labour force may be able to exercise some bargaining power, the labour force participation rates suggest continuing slack in urban labour markets.
What are the concerns?
- Commodity should have come down over the period: If high core inflation in the months after the beginning of hostilities was an outcome of the passthrough, either in part or completely, of the Ukrainewar, then the decline in commodity prices since then should have led to a moderation in core inflation
- Services inflation vs goods inflation: But as activities normalised, there was an expectation that services inflation would see a strong pick-up. The recent data indicates that this has not been the case. While services inflation has risen, it remains considerably lower than goods inflation, perhaps owing to a combination of lower cost-push pressures, more slack and less demand.
Conclusion
- While inflation may have peaked, it is far from being quashed. The RBI expects inflation to edge downwards from 6.5 per to 5 per cent in the first quarter of the next financial year (2023-24). But RBI ca not afford to underestimate the price pressures in the economy.
Mains Question
Q. What is inflation? Some of the new emerging trends are considered while measuring rising inflation in the current scenario. Discuss.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CIC and RTI
Mains level: Central Information Commission, and issues with the effectiveness of Right to Information Act
Context
- The most vital mandate of the Central Information Commission, the apex body under India’s transparency regime, is to decide the disclosure or the non-disclosure of information. But the commission has seemingly relinquished this primary duty in cases of larger public importance.
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All you need to know about Central Information Commission (CIC)
- Chief Information commissioner (CIC): Chief Information commissioner who heads all the central departments and ministries- with their own public information officers (PIO)s. CICs are directly under the President of India.
- Composition: The Commission consists of a Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten Information Commissioners. At present (2019), the Commission has six Information Commissioners apart from the Chief Information Commissioner.
- Appointment: They are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the PM as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM.
- Office term: The CIC/IC shall hold office for such term as prescribed by the Central Government or until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. They are not eligible for reappointment.
- Power and functions:
- It is the duty of the Commission to receive and inquire into a complaint from any person regarding information request under RTI, 2005.
- The Commission can order an inquiry into any matter if there are reasonable grounds (suo-moto power).
- While inquiring, the Commission has the powers of a civil court in respect of summoning, requiring documents etc.
Procedure of RTI and the role of CIC
- Provision to File and application and seek guaranteed reply: Citizens can file applications under the Right to Information Act with any public body and are guaranteed a reply from the public information officer of that public body within 30 days.
- Provision of appeal in case of dissatisfaction:
- In case of a no reply or dissatisfaction with the response, the citizen can file an appeal at the departmental level and then a second and final appeal with the Information Commission.
- Each State has its own State Information Commission to deal with second appeals concerning State bodies. At the Centre, it is the Central Information Commission (CIC).
- Before the amendment to the Until the 2019 amendment to the RTI Act, Information Commissioners (ICs) appointed to the CIC were equal in status to the Chief Election Commissioner, and that of a Supreme Court judge. They had a five-year fixed term and terms of service.
- After the amendments of 2019, the Centre gave itself powers to change and decide these terms whenever it wished, thereby striking at the independence of the commission and those who man it.
What are the concerns raised over the changed approach of CIC?
- Decreasing accountability: Records show that not a single order for disclosure has been forthcoming in matters of public importance. The present set of Information Commissioners have together adopted a new jurisprudence that has created additional hurdles in a citizen’s quest for accountability.
- Systematic ignorance to the mandate of non-disclosure: The Commission has adopted a new way of delegating its mandate to decide cases to the Ministry before it. In most cases, the Ministries reiterate their earlier stand of nondisclosure, most often under vague grounds of national interest.
- Refusing to its duty: After these public authorities pass fresh orders, which are usually a reiteration of their earlier stand against disclosure, the CIC refuses to accept any further challenge to such orders, therefore, refusing to do its duty of deciding the cases.
- Ignoring the principle of natural justice: One of the cardinal rules of natural justice is that no one should be a judge in their own cause. However, the commission now allows, or rather wants, the very Ministry that stands accused of violating the RTI Act to act as the judge in their own cause and decide whether a disclosure is necessary.
- New instruments such as pending cases and stay orders: A case to keep pending for final order or a stay order is unheard of and there is no provision in the RTI Act for the same.
- Officers have no fear of any penal provisions: Bureaucrats reject RTIs with glee with no fear of facing penal provisions outlined in Section 20 of the RTI Act, knowing fully well that they have a free hand under the Information Commissioners.
Back to basics: The Right to Information
- RTI is an act of the parliament which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
- It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
- Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30.
- In case of the matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours.
- The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.
Conclusion
- Dark clouds surround India’s transparency regime. Citizens have to mount intense pressure on authorities to act and appoint commissioners of integrity. Lawyers have to help willing citizens take matters to court and seek justice.
Mains question
Q. What are the role and functions of Central Information Commission? CIC’s deviance from its duty may undermine citizens’ power of right to information.
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