Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OTEC technology
Mains level: Renewable Energy in India
The National Institute of Ocean Technology is establishing an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant with a capacity of 65 kilowatts (kW) in Kavaratti, the capital of Lakshadweep.
What is OTEC Plant?
- Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a process or technology for producing energy by harnessing the temperature differences (thermal gradients) between ocean surface waters and deep ocean waters.
- Energy from the sun heats the surface water of the ocean.
- In tropical regions, surface water can be much warmer than deep water.
- This temperature difference can be used to produce electricity and to desalinate ocean water.
How do they work?
- The OTEC technology uses the temperature difference between the cold water in the deep sea (5°C) and the warm surface seawater (25°C) to generate clean, renewable electricity.
- The technology requires a minimum of 20°C difference between the surface and deep ocean temperatures.
- Warm surface water is pumped through an evaporator containing a working fluid. The vaporized fluid drives a turbine/generator.
- The vaporized fluid is turned back to a liquid in a condenser cooled with cold ocean water pumped from deeper in the ocean.
- OTEC systems using seawater as the working fluid can use the condensed water to produce desalinated water.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Population dividend
Context
The UN report, World Population Prospects 2022, forecasts that the world’s population will touch eight billion this year and rise to 9.8 billion in 2050. What is of immediate interest to India is that its population will surpass China’s by 2023 and continue to surge.
India’s potential workforce and growth as projected by consulting firms
- Deloitte’s Deloitte Insights (September 2017) expects “India’s potential workforce to rise from 885 million to “1.08 billion people over the next two decades from today”, and “remain above a billion people for half a century,” betting that “these new workers will be much better trained and educated,” than their existing counterparts.
- McKinsey & Company’s report, ‘India at Turning Point’ (August 2020), believes the “trends such as digitisation and automation, shifting supply chains, urbanisation, rising incomes and demographic shifts, and a greater focus on sustainability, health, and safety are accelerating” to “create $2.5 trillion of economic value in 2030 and support 112 million jobs, or about 30% of the non-farm workforce in 2030.”
- Four pillarsIn its May 14, 2022 issue, The Economist had this to say about India, “As the pandemic recedes, four pillars are clearly visible that will support growth in the next decade. The four pillars are:
- 1) The forging of a single national market.
- 2) An expansion of industry owing to the renewable-energy shift and a move in supply chains away from China,
- 3) Continued pre-eminence in IT.
- 4) High-tech welfare safety-net for the hundreds of millions left behind by all this.
- The Financial Times in an article, ‘Demographics: Indian workers are not ready to seize the baton’, believes that India’s bad infrastructure and poorly skilled workforce will impede its growth.
Comparing India’s preparedness with China’s in 1970s
- China is enduring an ongoing population implosion, which by 2050, will leave it with only 1.3 billion people, of whom 500 million will be past the age of 60.
- India’s population, by contrast, would have peaked at 1.7 billion, of whom only 330 million will be 60 years or older.
- Simply put, India is getting a demographic dividend that will last nearly 30 years.
- There is so much going on for India today compared to China, the only country it can be reasonably compared to.
- It is still a young country and in a much better position to transform itself compared to China of the 1970s.
- It is still an open society where mass protest matters and produces results.
- Indians have not been traumatised as Chinese were at the time of Mao Zedong’s death.
- IT backbone: The IT technologies now available in India, and most importantly the Internet they run on have matured exponentially.
- Many things right from video conferencing to instantaneous payments and satellite imaging are getting better and cheaper by the day.
- Better administrative system: Creaky and inadequate as they are, India’s administrative systems manage to deliver and its infrastructure is in far better shape today than it was for China at the start of its reforms.
- No rural urban divide: India does not have a Hukou system which in China tethers rural folk to rural parts creating a deep divide between a small and prosperous urban China and a much larger, very deprived rural China.
Way forward for India
- To wring the best out of its demographic dividend, India needs to invest massively in quality school and higher education as well as healthcare across India on an unprecedented scale, literally in trillions of rupees between now and 2050 when it would have reached the apogee of its population growth.
Conclusion
India must seize the moment and not be incremental in its approach. Given the will it can initiate and see through a transformation that will stun the world, even more than China’s has so far.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Issues with Personal Data Protection Bill
The government has withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill from Parliament after several amendments were proposed by the Joint-Parliamentary Committee.
What is Personal Data?
- Data can be broadly classified into two types: personal and non-personal data.
- Personal data pertains to characteristics, traits or attributes of identity, which can be used to identify an individual.
- Non-personal data includes aggregated data through which individuals cannot be identified.
- For example, while an individual’s own location would constitute personal data; information derived from multiple drivers’ location, which is often used to analyse traffic flow, is non-personal data.
What is Data Protection?
- Data protection refers to policies and procedures seeking to minimise intrusion into the privacy of an individual caused by collection and usage of their personal data.
Why was a bill brought for Personal Data Protection?
- In August 2017, the Supreme Court had held that Privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- The Court also observed that privacy of personal data and facts is an essential aspect of the right to privacy.
- In July 2017, a Committee of Experts, chaired by Justice BN Srikrishna, was set up to examine various issues related to data protection in India.
- The committee submitted its report, along with a Draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in July 2018.
How is personal data regulated currently?
- Currently, the usage and transfer of personal data of citizens is regulated by the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2011, under the IT Act, 2000.
- The rules hold the companies using the data liable for compensating the individual, in case of any negligence in maintaining security standards while dealing with the data.
Issues with IT Rules, 2011
- The IT rules were a novel attempt at data protection at the time they were introduced but the pace of development of digital economy has shown its shortcomings.
- For instance, (i) the definition of sensitive personal data under the rules is narrow, and (ii) some of the provisions can be overridden by a contract.
- Further, the IT Act applies only to companies, not to the government.
What the Personal Data Protection Bill sought to provide?
- Collection and storage: The bill regulate personal data related to individuals, and the processing, collection and storage of such data.
- Data Principal: Under the bill, a data principal is an individual whose personal data is being processed.
- Data fiduciary: The entity or individual who decides the means and purposes of data processing is known as data fiduciary.
- Data processing: The Bill governs the processing of personal data by both government and companies incorporated in India.
- Data localization: It also governs foreign companies, if they deal with personal data of individuals in India.
- General consent: The Bill provides the data principal with certain rights with respect to their personal data. Any processing of personal data can be done only on the basis of consent given by data principal.
- Data Protection Authority: To ensure compliance with the provisions of the Bill, and provide for further regulations with respect to processing of personal data of individuals, the Bill sets up a DPA.
Issues with the PDP Bill
- Exemptions to the govt: Section 35 of the bill permits the Central Government to exempt any agency of the Government from the provisions of the law.
- No reasonable exemptions: There is no sufficient reason for government agencies to be exempted from basic provisions of the Bill.
- Easy breach: Though this would be subject to procedures, safeguards, and oversight mechanisms to be prescribed by the Government.
- Executive hegemony: There is no scope for oversight over the executive’s decision to issue such an order.
- Arbitrary and intrusive: As demonstrated by the Pegasus case, the current frameworks for protecting citizens from arbitrary and intrusive State action lack robustness.
Why is the state given exemption?
- Biggest needy of Data: The State is one of the biggest processors of data, and has a unique ability to impact the lives of individuals.
- Welfare objectives: It has a monopoly over coercive powers as well have the obligation to provide welfare and services.
Issues with Exemption to State
- Grounds of expediency: the use of this provision on grounds of expediency is an extremely low bar for the Government to meet.
- Non requirement for exemption order: There is no requirement for an exemption order to be proportionate to meeting a particular State function.
- No oversight on executive actions: There is no scope for oversight over the executive’s decision to issue such an order or any safeguards prescribed for this process.
- State surveillance: Section 36(a) of the Bill provides for an exception where personal data is being processed against criminal investigation. This provision could therefore encourage vigilantism or enable privatized surveillance.
Best practices followed across the world
- The European GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is commonly seen as the pinnacle of data protection regulation worldwide.
- The EU law has in place a separate law that deals with the processing of personal data by law enforcement agencies.
- UK’s Data Protection Act dedicates Part 3 that liberalises certain obligations while at the same time ensuring that data protection rights are also protected.
Way forward
- Balancing privacy interests with those of public needs (such as that of State security) is a difficult task.
- This should undergo rigorous consultations in Parliament taking into confidence all stakeholders.
- Once debated in Parliament, one can only hope that adequate time and attention is given to finding a better balance between competing interests.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Cost of election freebies
The Supreme Court has said that Parliament may not be able to effectively debate the issue of doing away with “irrational freebies” offered to voters during elections, saying the “reality” is that not a single political party wants to take away freebies.
Why in news?
- The freebies were paving the way for an “economic disaster” besides “distorting the informed decision of voters”, CJI said.
What did the CJI say?
Ans. Compose a non-partisan panel
- The court suggested setting up a specialized body composed of persons who can “dispassionately” examine the problem.
- The court directed the parties to make “suggestions for the composition of a body”.
- It proposed that this body could examine ways to resolve the issue of freebies and file a report before the Centre or the Election Commission of India (ECI).
- The court said once the parties come up with suggestions on the composition of such a body in a week, it would pass orders.
What is Freebie?
- The term Freebies is not new; rather it is a prevalent culture in Indian politics (in the name of socialism).
- The political parties are always trying to outdo each other in luring the Indian voters with assorted freebies.
- From free water to free smartphones the Indian politicians promise everything to attract prospective voters in favour.
- This trend has gained more momentum in the recent times with the political parties being innovative in their offerings as the ‘traditional free water and electricity’ is no longer sufficient as election goodies.
Examples of freebies
- Promise of Rs 15 lakh in our bank accounts
- Free TV, Laptops
- Free electricity
- Loan waivers
- Offering free public transport ride to all women in Delhi
Why are such policies popular among the public?
- Failure of economic policies: The answer lies in the utter failure of our economic policies to create decent livelihood for a vast majority of Indians.
- Quest for decent livelihood: The already low income had to be reoriented towards spending a disproportionately higher amount on education and health, from which, the state increasingly withdrew.
- Prevailing unemployment: Employment surveys have shown that employment growth initially slowed down from the 1990s, and then has turned negative over the past few years.
- Increased cost of living: Real income growth of the marginal sections has actually slowed down since 1991 reforms.
- Increased consumerism: The poor today also spend on things that appear to be luxuries; cellphones and data-packs are two such examples which are shown as signs of India’s increased affluence.
- Necessity: For migrant workers, the mobile phone helps them keep in touch with their families back home, or do a quick video-call to see how their infant is learning to sit up or crawl.
Can Freebies be compared with Welfare Politics?
- These freebies are not bad. It is a part of social welfare.
- Using freebies to lure voters is not good.
- Voter’s greediness may lead to a problem in choosing a good leader.
- When we don’t have a good leader then democracy will be a mockery.
Impact of such policies
- Never ending trail: The continuity of freebies is another major disadvantage as parties keep on coming up with lucrative offers to lure more number of votes to minimize the risk of losing in the elections.
- Burden on exchequer: People forget that such benefits are been given at the cost of exchequer and from the tax paid.
- Ultimate loss of poors: The politicians and middlemen wipe away the benefits and the poor have to suffer as they are deprived from their share of benefits which was to be achieved out of the money.
- Inflationary practice: Such distribution freebie commodity largely disrupts demand-supply dynamics.
- Lethargy in population: Freebies actually have the tendency to turn the nation’s population into: Lethargy and devoid of entrepreneurship.
- Money becomes only remedy: Everyone at the slightest sign of distress starts demanding some kind of freebies from the Govt.
- Popular politics: This is psychology driving sections of the population expecting and the government promptly responds with immediate monetary relief or compensation.
What cannot be accounted to a freebie?
- MGNREGA scheme (rural employment guarantee scheme)
- Right to Education (RTE)
- Food Security through fair price shops ( under National Food Security Act)
- Prime Minister Kisan Samman Yojana (PM-KISAN)
Arguments in favour
- Social investment: Aid to the poor is seen as a wasteful expenditure. But low interest rates for corporates to get cheap loans or the ‘sop’ of cutting corporate taxes are never criticized.
- Socialistic policy: This attitude comes from decades of operating within the dominant discourse of market capitalism.
- Election manifesto: Proponents of such policies would argue that poll promises are essential for voters to know what the party would do if it comes to power and have the chance to weigh options.
- Welfare: Economists opine that as long as any State has the capacity and ability to finance freebies then its fine; if not then freebies are the burden on economy.
- Other wasteful expenditure: When the Centre gives incentives like free land to big companies and announce multi-year tax holidays, questions are not asked as to where the money will come from.
A rational analysis of freebies
- Winning election and good governance are two different things. The role of freebies to avail good governance is definitely questionable.
- The social, political and economic consequences of freebies are very short-lived in nature.
- There are many freebies and subsidies schemes available in many States but we still find starvation deaths, lack of electricity, poor education and health service.
- Hence the sorrow of the masses of India cannot be solved by freebies or by incentives.
So are not freebies meant only to attract voters and swing voters by concentrating on a preferential group or community?
Way forward
- It can be agreed that democracy requires popular support for its rule to continue. The sops and freebies to the poor buy it the requisite votes.
- But the democratic process of election and election promises should be clear. It should not control voters thought.
- What some people term as ‘populism’ actually constitutes what real economics should be.
- If you deprive people of what they really need, you will have to throw allurements at them.
- This can only be stopped if political masters try to follow what economist EA Schumacher had conveyed through his seminal work Small is beautiful – “Treat economics as if people matter.”
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NDCs
Mains level: Read the attached story
India ratified pledges made by Prime Minister in Glasgow to accelerate the country’s reliance on renewable energy to power the economy and be effectively free from use of fossil fuels by 2070.
Why discuss them?
- The approved pledges were fewer than those PM committed to.
What is NDC (Nationally Determined Commitments)?
- NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of these long-term goals.
- They embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
- The Paris Agreement (Article 4, paragraph 2) requires each Party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive NDCs that it intends to achieve.
- Parties shall pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such contributions.
- The agreement requests each country to outline and communicate their post-2020 climate actions, known as their NDCs.
India’s NDC
- India’s NDC, or nationally determined commitments, have been updated with these two promises, both of which are enhancements of existing targets, and would be submitted to the UN climate body.
- The 2015 Paris Agreement requires every country to set self-determined climate targets which have to be progressively updated with more ambitious goals every few years.
- India’s first NDC was submitted in 2015, just before the Paris Agreement was finalised.
India’s original NDC contained three main targets for 2030:
- A 33 to 35 per cent reduction in emissions intensity (or emissions per unit of GDP) from 2005 levels
- At least 40 per cent of total electricity generation to come from non-fossil renewable sources
- An increase in forest cover to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent
Commitment made at Glasgow
- At the Glasgow meeting last year, Modi promised to strengthen India’s climate commitments.
- He made five promises, and called it the ‘Panchamrit’, the nectar that Indians prepare using five ingredients.
- Two of these were upward revision of existing targets, the ones that have been made official and put in the updated NDC. Accordingly,
- India will now reduce its emission intensity by at least 45 per cent, instead of just 33 to 35 per cent, from 2005 levels by 2030.
- Also, it would now ensure that at least 50 per cent of its total electricity generation, not just 40 per cent, would come from renewable sources by 2030.
- The forestry target has not been touched.
India’s climate targets: Existing and New
- PM had said that at least 500 GW of India’s installed electricity generation capacity in 2030 would be based on non-fossil fuel sources.
- Also, he had promised that the country would ensure avoided emissions of at least one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent between now and 2030.
- These two promises have not been converted into official targets.
- But these are closely linked with others, and any progress on official targets would get reflected in these goals as well.
What about Net Zero?
- Modi had also announced a net zero target for India for the year 2070.
- Net zero is a situation in which a country’s greenhouse gas emissions are offset entirely, either by absorption of carbon dioxide.
- This may be done through natural processes like photosynthesis in plants, or through physical removal of greenhouse gases using futuristic technologies.
- But net zero is a long-term target and does not qualify to be included in the NDC which seeks five to 10 year climate targets from countries.
India’s progress
- The upward revision of the two climate targets — those relating to reductions in emissions intensity and proportion of non-fossil sources in electricity generation — do not come as a surprise.
- India is on way to achieve its existing targets well ahead of the 2030 timeline.
- India’s emissions intensity was 24 per cent lower than the 2005 levels in the year 2016 itself, the last year for which official numbers are available.
- It is very likely that the 33 to 35 per cent reduction target has already been achieved, or is very close to being achieved.
- A further reduction of 10-12 per cent from here, to meet the new target, does not appear too challenging, even though these reductions get progressively tougher to achieve.
- The other target — having at least 40 per cent of electricity coming from non-fossil fuels — has officially been reached.
Tricky Glasgow promises
Two promises that Modi had made in Glasgow have not been converted into official targets:
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Appointment of CJI
Mains level: Read the attached story
Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana has received a communication from the Union Law Minister seeking his recommendation on the appointment of the next top judge.
What is the news?
- Chief Justice Ramana is retiring this month.
- It is now left to CJI to give the Law Minister his recommendation on his successor.
How is CJI selected?
- Justice U.U. Lalit is the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court now.
- He is in line to be appointed the 49th CJI as per the seniority norm.
- The ‘Memorandum of Procedure of Appointment of Supreme Court Judges’ says “appointment to the office of the CJI should be of the seniormost Judge of the SC considered fit to hold the office”.
- The process begins with the Union Law Minister seeking the recommendation of the outgoing CJI about the next appointment.
What is the time frame?
- The Minister has to seek the CJI’s recommendation at the “appropriate time”.
- The Memorandum does NOT elaborate or specify a timeline.
Making final appointment
The Memorandum says:
- Receipt of the recommendation of the CJI
- The Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs will put up the recommendation to the PM
- PM will advise the President in the matter of appointment
- President of India appoints the CJI
Chief Justice of India: A brief background
- The CJI is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India as well as the highest-ranking officer of the Indian federal judiciary.
Appointment
- The Constitution of India grants power to the President to nominate, and with the advice and consent of the Parliament, appoint a chief justice, who serves until they reach the age of 65 or until removed by impeachment.
- Earlier, it was a convention to appoint seniormost judges.
- However, this has been broken twice. In 1973, Justice A. N. Ray was appointed superseding 3 senior judges.
- Also, in 1977 Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg was appointed as the chief justice superseding Justice Hans Raj Khanna.
Qualifications
The Indian Constitution says in Article 124 (3) that in order to be appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court of India, the person has to fit in the following criteria:
- He/She is a citizen of India and
- has been for at least five years a Judge of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession; or
- has been for at least ten years an advocate of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession; or
- is, in the opinion of the President, a distinguished jurist
Functions
- As head of the Supreme Court, the CJI is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law.
- In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the chief justice allocates all work to the other judges.
On the administrative side, the CJI carries out the following functions:
- maintenance of the roster; appointment of court officials and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court
Removal
- Article 124(4) of the Constitution lays down the procedure for removal of a judge of the Supreme Court which is applicable to chief justices as well.
- Once appointed, the chief justice remains in the office until the age of 65 years. He can be removed only through a process of removal by Parliament as follows:
- He/She can be removed by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present.
- The voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proven misbehavior or incapacity.
Try this PYQ:
- Who/Which of the following is the custodian of the Constitution of India?
(a) The President of India
(b) The Prime Minister of India
(c) The Lok Sabha Secretariat
(d) The Supreme Court of India
Post your answers here.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UN-CTC
Mains level: Counter-terrorism initiatives by the UN
In a first, India will host diplomats and officials from all 15 countries of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), including China, Russia and the US, for a special meeting on terrorism, in Delhi and Mumbai in October.
Key determinants of the meet
The special meeting will specifically focus on three significant areas:
- Internet and social media
- Terrorism financing
- Unmanned aerial systems
What is Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC)?
- The CTC is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
- The 15-member CTC was established at the same time to monitor the implementation of the resolution.
- In the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, the UNSC unanimously adopted resolution 1373.
- This among its provisions obliges all States
- To criminalize assistance for terrorist activities,
- Deny financial support and safe haven to terrorists and
- Share information about groups planning terrorist attacks
Its executive body
- Seeking to revitalize the Committee’s work, in 2004 the Security Council adopted Resolution 1535.
- It created the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) to provide the CTC with expert advice on all areas covered by resolution 1373.
- It was established also with the aim of facilitating technical assistance to countries, as well as promoting closer cooperation and coordination both within the UN.
Its working
- While the CTC is not a direct capacity provider it does act as a broker between those states or groups that have the relevant capacities and those in the need of assistance.
- While the ultimate aim of the Committee is to increase the ability of States to fight terrorism, it is not a sanctions body nor does it maintain a list of terrorist groups or individuals.
Significance of the event
- India has been pushing for the UN members to adopt a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (first proposed in 1996), which is likely to be raised during the meeting.
- The event will showcase India’s role as a victim of terrorism as well as a country at the forefront of global counter-terrorism efforts.
- CTC meeting in India could also pave the way for a possible visit to New York by PM Narendra Modi in December, when India will be the President of the UNSC for the entire month.
Way ahead: Hitting the nerve
- While terror financing was now recognised by FATF, it was necessary to build templates and “codes of conduct” for newer threats.
- Today terror financing now includes financing through cryptocurrency and the use of drones for terror attacks.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FRP
Mains level: Issues with Sugarcane Pricing
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane for sugar season 2022-23 (October – September) at ₹305 per quintal.
What is FRP?
- FRP is fixed under a sugarcane control order, 1966.
- It is the minimum price that sugar mills are supposed to pay to the farmers.
- However, states determine their own State Agreed Price (SAP) which is generally higher than the FRP.
Factors considered for FRP:
- The amended provisions of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 provides for fixation of FRP of sugarcane having regard to the following factors:
- a) cost of production of sugarcane;
- b) return to the growers from alternative crops and the general trend of prices of agricultural commodities;
- c) availability of sugar to consumers at a fair price;
- d) price at which sugar produced from sugarcane is sold by sugar producers;
- e) recovery of sugar from sugarcane;
- f) the realization made from the sale of by-products viz. molasses, bagasse, and press mud or their imputed value;
- g) reasonable margins for the growers of sugarcane on account of risk and profits.
Who determines Sugarcane prices?
Sugarcane prices are determined by the Centre as well as States.
- The Centre announces Fair and Remunerative Prices which are determined on the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and are announced by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which is chaired by Prime Minister.
- The State Advised Prices (SAP) are announced by key sugarcane producing states which are generally higher than FRP.
Minimum Selling Price (MSP) for Sugar
- The price of sugar is market-driven & depends on the demand & supply of sugar.
- However, with a view to protecting the interests of farmers, the concept of MSP of sugar has been introduced since 2018.
- MSP of sugar has been fixed taking into account the components of Fair & Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane and minimum conversion cost of the most efficient mills.
Basis of price determination
- With the amendment of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966, the concept of Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) of sugarcane was replaced with the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP)’ of sugarcane in 2009-10.
- The cane price announced by the Central Government is decided on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
- This is done in consultation with the State Governments and after taking feedback from associations of the sugar industry.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane is approved by the:
(a) Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(b) Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices
(c) Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Ministry of Agriculture
(d) Agricultural Produce Market Committee
Post your answers here.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IDF-WDS
Mains level: India's dairy sector
At a time when several milk-producing centers are battling Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), India will host the International Dairy Federation’s World Dairy Summit 2022 in Greater Noida.
World Dairy Summit
- The World Dairy Summit is an annual meeting of the global dairy sector, bringing together approximately 1500 participants from all over the world.
- The participant profile includes CEOs and employees of dairy processing companies, dairy farmers, suppliers to the dairy industry, academicians, government representatives, etc.
- The summit is composed of a series of scientific and technical conferences and social events including a welcome reception, farmers’ dinner, gala dinner as well as technical and social tours.
- The last World Dairy Summit was organised in 1974 in New Delhi.
Significance of the event
- It is a prestigious event for us as India is now the largest milk producer in the world and we have the highest number of cattle.
- The last time this event was held, India was import-dependent and now we are self-sufficient.
Back2Basics: India’s dairy sector
- Initiated in 1970, Operation Floodtransformed India into one of the largest milk producers.
- The per capita availability of milk in 2018-19 was 394 grams per day as against the world average of 302 grams.
- Today with an annual production of 187.75 million tonnes India accounts for about 22% of the world’s milk production.
- However, India is yet to join the ranks of major milk exporting nations, as much of what we produce is directed towards meeting domestic demands.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Taiwan issue
Context
The US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan evoking strong protest from China.
Brief history of China-Taiwan Tensions
- Taiwan is an island about 160 km off the coast of southeastern China, opposite the Chinese cities of Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Xiamen.
- It was administered by the imperial Qing dynasty, but its control passed to the Japanese in 1895.
- After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the island passed back into Chinese hands.
- After the communists led by Mao Zedong won the civil war in mainland China, Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the nationalist Kuomintang party, fled to Taiwan in 1949.
- Chiang Kai-shek set up the government of the Republic of China on the island, and remained President until 1975.
- Beijing has never recognised the existence of Taiwan as an independent political entity, arguing that it was always a Chinese province.
The US and One-China Principle
- With the shifting geopolitics of the Cold War, the PRC and the U.S. were forced to come together in the 1970s to counter the growing influence of the USSR.
- This led to the US-China rapprochement demonstrated by the historic visit of then US President Richard Nixon to PRC in 1972.
- The same year, the PRC displaced ROC as the official representative of the Chinese nation at the UN.
- Diplomatic relations with the PRC became possible only if countries abided by its “One China Principle” — recognizing PRC and not the ROC as China.
Why does China have a problem with Pelosi visiting Taiwan?
- For China, the presence of a senior American figure in Taiwan would indicate some kind of US support for Taiwan’s independence.
- This move severely undermined China’s perception of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
China’s reaction
- Increased military exercises around Taiwa : Military exercises around Taiwan have been expanded, with Chinese aircraft intruding more frequently across the informal median line which defines the zone of operations on each side.
- Increased naval presence: Chinese naval ships are cruising within the Taiwan Straits and around the island itself.
- Economic sanctions have been announced, prohibiting imports of a whole range of foodstuffs from Taiwan.
- One item which will be left out is semi-conductors, a critical import for a range of Chinese high-tech industries.
- Taiwanese firms like the Taiwan Semi-Conductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) are world leaders in the most sophisticated brands of chips imported by a large number of countries.
- The main target of China’s escalating response will be Taiwan.
- Taiwan is indeed caught in the crossfire between China and the US and being a proxy in a fight between giants.
Implications for East Asia and South East Asia
- Forced into making a choice: Just as Taiwan is caught in a crossfire between the US and China, so are the East Asian and South East Asian countries.
- Prefer US military presence: They feel reassured by the considerable US military presence deployed in the region and tacitly support its Indo-Pacific strategy.
- Strong economic ties with China: However, their economic and commercial interests are bound ever tighter with the large and growing Chinese economy.
- This having it both ways strategy is beginning to fray at the edges with the escalating tensions between the US and China.
- Most do not wish to be forced into making a choice.
What should be India’s approach?
- Advantageous for India: In one sense, China’s preoccupation with its eastern ocean flank of the Yellow Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea is good for India.
- It diminishes Chinese attention toward the Indian Ocean, India’s primary security theatre.
- Adhere to One China Policy: Prudence demands that India hew closely to its consistent one China policy even while maintaining and even expanding non-official relations with Taiwan.
- For the US, Japan and Australia, members of the Quad, Taiwan is a key component of the Indo-Pacific strategy.
- It is not for India.
Conclusion
One should use the opportunity to expand India’s naval capabilities and maritime profile in this theatre before the Chinese begin to look to our extended neighbourhood with renewed interest and energy.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Finance Commission
Mains level: Paper 2- Freebies issue
Context
Concern over ‘freebies’ in Indian politics has recently been expressed by those in the highest offices in the country.
Issue of irrational freebies
- Challenge in defining freebies: There is often confusion on what constitutes ‘freebies’, with a number of services that the Government provides to meet its constitutional obligations towards citizens also being clubbed in this category.
- Distortion of electoral process: A Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India recently heard a public interest litigation in which the petitioner argued against the promise of ‘irrational freebies’ by claiming that these distort the electoral process.
- The bench asked the Central government to take a stand on the need to control the announcement of ‘freebies’ by political parties during election campaigns.
- The Court also suggested that the Finance Commission could be involved to look into the matter and propose solutions.
- The basic argument is that these are a waste of resources and place a burden on already stressed fiscal resources.
- Discussions on ‘freebies’ not only include the free distribution of what may be considered ‘club goods’ such as televisions but also welfare schemes such as free or subsidised rations under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and work provided through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Can we term foodgrain distribution under PDS as freebies?
- It ensures food security: Subsidised foodgrains distributed under the PDS not only contribute to ensuring basic food security but also act as an implicit income transfer allowing the poor to afford commodities that they otherwise could not.
- Price support for farmers: Further, the PDS also plays an important role in our country where public procurement at minimum support prices (MSPs) is one of the main instruments of support to farmers.
- The PDS allows foodgrains to be available for cheap for consumers while assuring remunerative prices to farmers.
- Food security during emergency: The PMGKAY is probably what kept many away from the brink of starvation during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
- From around the mid-2000s, the PDS increasingly became a political issue, with State governments expanding coverage and reducing prices.
- This ultimately led to the National Food Security Act being passed by Parliament unanimously in 2013.
- Despite its shortcomings, it cannot be denied that the PMGKAY and the support that it provided during the pandemic would have been impossible had it not been for the NFSA which expanded the coverage of the PDS to about two thirds of the population.
- In its absence, a much smaller number of people would have had ration cards with high errors in identification.
Other welfare schemes
- At a time when there are few employment opportunities, working under MGNREGA can guarantee some assured wages; if implemented in the true spirit of the legislation this is also demand-based and, therefore, responds to as much need as there is.
- Similarly, mid-day meals in schools have been proven to contribute to increased enrolment and retention in schools and addressing classroom hunger.
- A number of other schemes such as old age, single women and disabled pensions, community kitchens in urban areas, free uniforms and textbooks for children in government schools, and free health-care services play a critical role in providing social security and access to basic entitlements in our country.
Way forward
- Building public pressure towards making welfare delivery an electoral issue is the need of the hour.
- It is important to recognise that most welfare schemes contribute to improving human development outcomes, which also results in higher economic growth in future.
- As suggested by the Supreme Court, the Finance Commission could be tasked with formulating the criterion to come up with the criterion for freebies.
- Sometimes, this process throws up initiatives that seem ‘wasteful’ — while these must be discussed, one cannot deny them completely.
Conclusion
There are a number of lacunae in these programmes which call for expansion in coverage, allocation of greater resources, along with putting in place mechanisms for greater accountability and grievance redress.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CIC
Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges facing RTI
Context
Amidst renewed concern over its functioning across states, the Right to Information Act (RTI) is set to complete 17 years this October.
Issues facing RTI
- Backlog of appeals: Issues include a huge backlog of second appeals, lengthy wait time for hearings, hesitancy in posting penalties and increasing opacity in the working of the commissions.
- As on June 30, 2021, 2.56 lakh appeals were pending with 26 information commissions in the country.
- CICs downgraded rank: Any serious RTI query or one which concerns more than one government department requires intervention by higher officials, but it is the PIOs from junior ranks who attend hearings and are often clueless.
- Often, it requires a notice to higher authorities, in some cases, the secretary of the department, to elicit the right answer.
- With CICs downgraded in rank, there will be fewer and fewer notices served to the heads of departments and senior officers to appear and answer queries.
- Vacancies: The commissions have been plagued with vacancies, poor choice of commissioners, untrained staff and a non-cooperative set of public information officers (PIOs).
- Threat to some RTI activists: Apart from the PIOs’ general inexperience and unprofessionalism, comes the threat to some RTI activists who seek information to expose corruption.
- According to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), across India, 99 RTI activists have lost their lives, 180 assaulted and 187 were threatened since 2006.
- Political proclivity: The attitude of a few commissioners going public with their political proclivities is another cause for concern.
Way forward
- Training of officials: The Indian information law, rated as one of the strongest in the world, needs to be bolstered by raising awareness amongst the people and organising rigorous training of government officials.
- Code of conduct: A code of conduct must be evolved for the central and state information commissioners.
- It is imperative for the commissioners to keep a strict distance from government heads and officialdom.
- A strong political system is a must for the RTI regime to flourish.
- It is imperative to ensure freedom of the press and democratic institutions, punish errant officials and maintain complete autonomy of the information commissions, in the interest of the people and the nation at large.
Conclusion
As India emerges as a global power, the implementation of legislation like the RTI Act will be under the constant scrutiny of the comity of nations.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: One-China Principle
Mains level: India-Taiwan Relations
As US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived upsetting China, India was keenly watching the developments, although it has not yet commented on it.
What is the ‘One China’ policy?
- It is the diplomatic acknowledgment of China’s position that there is only one Chinese government.
- Taiwan’s government was set up by the Kuomintang, whose party logo is reflected in Taiwan’s flag
- Initially, many governments including the US recognised Taiwan as they shied away from Communist China.
- But the diplomatic winds shifted as China and the United States saw a mutual need to develop relations beginning in the 1970s, with the US and other countries cutting ties with Taipei in favour of Beijing.
Why is China obsessed with Taiwan?
- Taiwan is the largest producer of electronic chips, which are supplied to almost all the industries, from phones to laptops, watches to game consoles, industrial equipment to automotive, and aircraft and fighter jets.
- TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is the largest foundry in the world and holds around 65 percent of the global production of chips.
- Any potential conflict with China would completely disrupt the entire supply chain of TSMC and labor availability, and could cause major shortage of electronic chips.
- Additionally, China controls five percent of the global production of chips, which could also be affected.
- This could further impact the already existing supply-demand gap for electronic components.
India- Taiwan Relations
Background
- India does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan yet, as it follows the One-China policy.
- However, during then Chinese premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India in December 2010, India did not mention support for the One-China policy in the joint communique.
- In 2014, when PM Modi came to power, he invited Taiwan’s Ambassador Chung-Kwang Tien, along with Lobsang Sangay, president of the Central Tibetan Administration to his swearing-in.
Diplomatic ties
- While following the One-China policy, India has an office in Taipei for diplomatic functions — India-Taipei Association (ITA) is headed by a senior diplomat.
- Taiwan has the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in New Delhi. Both were established in 1995.
- Their ties focus on commerce, culture and education.
- Now in their third decade, these have been deliberately kept low-profile, owing to China’s sensitivities.
- For example, parliamentary delegation visits and legislature-level dialogues have stopped since 2017, around the time the India-China border standoff happened in Doklam.
The new push
- Any significant development in India-Taiwan relations runs the risk of meeting with a likely stern reaction from Beijing.
- This explains India’s steady, albeit slow, outreach to Taiwan.
- Given that India-China relations are not likely to witness a return to normalcy in the near future, India should consider adopting a bold, comprehensive and long-term approach to engage Taiwan.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: New Start Treaty, INF Treaty
Mains level: Not Much
Russia is ready for talks with the United States on nuclear arms control even as Moscow and Washington have remained locked in a tense stand-off over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
The New START, INF and the Open Skies …. Be clear about the differences of these treaties. For example- to check if their inception was during cold war era etc.
New START Treaty
- The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) pact limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers and is due to expire in 2021 unless renewed.
- The treaty limits the US and Russia to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, well below Cold War caps.
- It was signed in 2010 by former US President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
- It is one of the key controls on the superpower deployment of nuclear weapons.
Background of US-Russia Nuclear Relations
- The US formally QUIT the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF)
- The agreement obliged the two countries to eliminate all ground-based missiles of ranges between 500 and 5,500 km.
When did nuclear disarmament begin?
- In 1985, the two countries entered into arms control negotiations on three tracks.
- The first dealt with strategic weapons with ranges of over 5,500 km, leading to the START agreement in 1991.
- It limited both sides to 1,600 strategic delivery vehicles and 6,000 warheads.
- A second track dealt with intermediate-range missiles and this led to the INF Treaty in 1987.
- A third track, Nuclear, and Space Talks was intended to address Soviet concerns regarding the U.S.’s Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) but this did not yield any outcome.
Success of INF
- The INF Treaty was hailed as a great disarmament pact even though no nuclear warheads were dismantled.
- As it is a bilateral agreement, it did not restrict other countries.
- By 1991, the INF was implemented. USSR destroyed 1,846 and the US destroyed 846 Pershing and cruise missiles.
- Associated production facilities were also closed down.
- INF Treaty was the first pact to include intensive verification measures, including on-site inspections.
How has the nuclear behavior been?
- With the end of the Cold War and the break-up of the USSR in end-1991, former Soviet allies were joining NATO and becoming EU members.
- The U.S. was investing in missile defense and conventional global precision strike capabilities to expand its technological lead.
- In 2001, the U.S. announced its unilateral withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty).
- The US also blamed Russia for not complying with the ‘zero-yield’ standard imposed by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). This may indicate the beginning of a new nuclear arms race.
Implications of the New Start
- The 2011 New START lapsed in 2021. It may meet the fate of the INF Treaty.
- The 2018 NPR envisaged the development of new nuclear weapons, including low-yield weapons.
- China is preparing to operate its test site year-round with its goals for its nuclear force.
- CTBT requires ratification by U.S., China, and Iran, Israel and Egypt and adherence by India, Pakistan and North Korea. It is unlikely to ever enter into force.
Conclusion
- A new nuclear arms race could just be the beginning. It may be more complicated because of multiple countries being involved.
- Technological changes are bringing cyber and space domains into contention. It raises the risks of escalation.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CITES, WPA Act
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Lok Sabha passed the Wildlife (Protection), Amendment Bill, with no significant modifications to the version of the Bill presented in the House for discussion.
What is the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972?
- WPA provides for the protection of the country’s wild animals, birds and plant species, in order to ensure environmental and ecological security.
- It provides for the protection of a listed species of animals, birds and plants, and also for the establishment of a network of ecologically-important protected areas in the country.
- It provides for various types of protected areas such as Wildlife Sanctuaries, National Parks etc.
- The act is also against Taxidermy, which is the preservation of a dead wild animal as a trophy, or in the form of rugs, preserved skins, antlers, horns, eggs, teeth, and nails.
- In the case of wild birds and reptiles, the act also forbids disturbing or damaging their eggs.
- The act was amended in the year 2006 and its purpose is to strengthen the conservation of tigers and other endangered species by combating crimes against them through the special Crime Control Bureau.
There are six schedules provided in the WPA for protection of wildlife species which can be concisely summarized as under:
| Schedule I: |
These species need rigorous protection and therefore, the harshest penalties for violation of the law are for species under this Schedule. |
| Schedule II: |
Animals under this list are accorded high protection. They cannot be hunted except under threat to human life. |
| Schedule III & IV: |
This list is for species that are not endangered. This includes protected species but the penalty for any violation is less compared to the first two schedules. |
| Schedule V: |
This schedule contains animals which can be hunted. |
| Schedule VI: |
This list contains plants that are forbidden from cultivation. |
Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Bill: Key Features
(1) CITES
- CITES is an international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.
- Under CITES, plant and animal specimens are classified into three categories (Appendices) based on the threat to their extinction.
- The Convention requires countries to regulate the trade of all listed specimens through permits.
- It also seeks to regulate the possession of live animal specimens. The Bill seeks to implement these provisions of CITES.
(2) Obligations under CITES:
- The Bill provides for the central government to designate a: (i) Management Authority, which grants export or import permits for trade of specimens, and (iii) Scientific Authority, which gives advice on aspects related to impact on the survival of the specimens being traded.
- Every person engaging in trade of a scheduled specimen must report the details of the transaction to the Management Authority.
- As per CITES, the Management Authority may use an identification mark for a specimen.
- The Bill prohibits any person from modifying or removing the identification mark of the specimen.
- Additionally, every person possessing live specimens of scheduled animals must obtain a registration certificate from the Management Authority.
(3) Rationalising schedules
- Currently, the Act has six schedules for specially protected plants (one), specially protected animals (four), and vermin species (one).
- Vermin refers to small animals that carry disease and destroy food.
- The Bill reduces the total number of schedules to four by:
- Reducing the number of schedules for specially protected animals to two (one for greater protection level)
- Removes the schedule for vermin species
- Inserts a new schedule for specimens listed in the Appendices under CITES (scheduled specimens)
(4) Invasive alien species
- The Bills empowers the central government to regulate or prohibit the import, trade, possession or proliferation of invasive alien species.
- Invasive alien species refers to plant or animal species which are not native to India and whose introduction may adversely impact wild life or its habitat.
- The central government may authorise an officer to seize and dispose the invasive species.
(5) Control of sanctuaries
- The Act entrusts the Chief Wild Life Warden to control, manage and maintain all sanctuaries in a state.
- The Chief Wild Life Warden is appointed by the state government.
- The Bill specifies that actions of the Chief Warden must be in accordance with the management plans for the sanctuary.
- These plans will be prepared as per guidelines of the central government, and as approved by the Chief Warden.
- For sanctuaries falling under special areas, the management plan must be prepared after due consultation with the concerned Gram Sabha.
- Special areas include a Scheduled Area or areas where the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 is applicable.
- Scheduled Areas are economically backward areas with a predominantly tribal population, notified under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution.
(6) Conservation reserves
- Under the Act, state governments may declare areas adjacent to national parks and sanctuaries as a conservation reserve, for protecting flora and fauna, and their habitat.
- The Bill empowers the central government to also notify a conservation reserve.
(7) Surrender of captive animals
- The Bill provides for any person to voluntarily surrender any captive animals or animal products to the Chief Wild Life Warden.
- No compensation will be paid to the person for surrendering such items.
- The surrendered items become property of the state government.
Back2Basics: CITES
- CITES stands for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
- It is as an international agreement aimed at ensuring “that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival”.
- It was drafted after a resolution was adopted at a meeting of the members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1963.
- It entered into force on July 1, 1975, and now has 183 parties.
- The Convention is legally binding on the Parties in the sense that they are committed to implementing it; however, it does not take the place of national laws.
- India is a signatory to and has also ratified CITES convention in 1976.
CITES Appendices
- CITES works by subjecting international trade in specimens of selected species to certain controls.
- All import, export, re-exports and introduction from the sea of species covered by the convention has to be authorized through a licensing system.
It has three appendices:
- Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction. Trade-in specimens of these species are permitted only in exceptional circumstances.
- Appendix II provides a lower level of protection.
- Appendix III contains species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling trade.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2022:
Q. With reference to Indian laws about wildlife protection, consider the following statements:
- Wild animals are the sole property of the government.
- When a wild animal is declared protected, such animal is entitled for equal protection whether it is found in protected areas or outside.
- Apprehension of a protected wild animal becoming a danger to human life is sufficient ground for its capture or killing.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 3 only
Post your answers here.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hellfire R9X Missile
Mains level: Strategic weapons
The US military used its ‘secret weapon’ — the Hellfire R9X missile – to kill Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri on the balcony of a safehouse in Kabul.
What is the Hellfire R9X missile?
- Better known in military circles as the AGM-114 R9X, the Hellfire R9X is a US-origin missile known to cause minimum collateral damage while engaging individual targets.
- Also known as the ‘Ninja Missile’, this weapon does not carry a warhead and instead deploys razor-sharp blades at the terminal stage of its attack trajectory.
- This helps it to break through even thick steel sheets and cut down the target using the kinetic energy of its propulsion without causing any damage to the persons in the general vicinity or to the structure of the building.
- The blades pop out of the missile and cut down the intended target without causing the massive damage to the surroundings which would be the case with a missile carrying an explosive warhead.
When did the Hellfire missile enter active service?
- The Hellfire 9RX missile is known to have been in active service since 2017.
- However, its existence became public knowledge two years later in 2019.
- It is a variant of the original Hellfire missile family which is used in conventional form with warheads and is traditionally used from helicopters, ground-based vehicles, and sometimes small ships and fast moving vessels.
- For several years now, the Hellfire family of missiles, including the ‘Ninja Missile’, are armed on Combat Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones.
What is known about the other Hellfire missile variants?
- Hellfire is actually an acronym for Heliborne, Laser, Fire and Forget Missile and it was developed in the US initially to target tanks from the Apache AH-64 attack helicopters.
- Later, the usage of these missiles spread to several other variants of helicopters and also ground and sea-based systems and drones.
- Developed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, the Hellfire missile has other variants such as ‘Longbow’ and ‘Romeo’ apart from the ‘Ninja’.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Schedule H drugs
Mains level: Paper 3- E-commerce for medical drug
Context
A draft law to replace the 1940 Drugs and Cosmetics Act with a Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill 2022 was uploaded by the Union health ministry in early July, seeking public comments and objections.
Major provisions of the Bill
1] E-commerce for medical drugs
- Presently, online sales of medicines account for a fraction of the total pharma sales in India but are forecast to grow exponentially.
- The first major feature in the new Bill that affects consumers relates to e-commerce.
- Like all online shopping, the consumer gets the advantage of discounts and the comfort of shopping from home.
- In normal times, e-commerce can surmount three uniquely Indian disadvantages.
- Storage condition: The first relates to climatic conditions, which require medicines to be stored at below 30 degrees Celsius and 70 per cent relative humidity — unattainable in most of India.
- It can mandate establishing a back-end brick and mortar store for drug supply having good storage conditions.
- Compliance with regal provision: The second advantage of e-commerce could be fulfilling a legal requirement — providing a bill to the consumer and retaining one copy bearing the batch numbers and expiry dates of the drugs.
- In addition, the practice of accessing prescription drugs over-the-counter would reduce.
- In the case of e-commerce, registration of a pharmacy can require enrollment with the central and state drug control organisations and the practice of uploading a prescription from a registered medical practitioner can be enforced.
- Concern: Shopping for medical drugs on the internet could encourage overuse or incomplete use of drugs, increase dependency on habit-forming medicine — for example, sleep-inducing drugs or self-medication with products for weight loss, male enhancement, even treating mental illness — which is fraught with dangerous consequences.
- A greater focus on medical devices: The draft law also proposes according a greater focus on medical devices, which include thousands of engineered apparatuses like stents, joint implants, pacemakers, catheters, etc, which require quality regulation.
- Provision for advisory board: Rules for medical devices were notified in 2017 but now it is proposed to establish a statutory Medical Device Technical Advisory Board, with experts from the fields of atomic energy, science and technology, electronics, and related fields like biomedical technology to guide the process.
- This is a welcome move that will bring in the required expertise.
Issues not addressed in the Bill
- Mismanagement of trade: What the Bill does not address is the need to stop the continued mismanagement of the wholesale and retail drugs trade in India.
- Requirements for drug license not changed: Rule 64 (2) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945 lays down that a wholesale drug licence can be given to a qualified pharmacist or one who has passed the matriculation examination or its equivalent or a graduate with one year’s experience in dealing with drug sale.
- This is a relic from 80 years ago.
- When the country is reported to have over 7,00,000 pharmacists, this anachronism must be discarded.
- It is essential to introduce a binding and enabling provision to only licence qualified pharmacists and put the safety of millions of citizens before the self-preservation of a few thousand wholesalers and stockists.
Way forward
- There is need for ensuring digitisation of procurement, inventory control and accountability for dispensing drugs into a digital trail.
Conclusion
The debate should not be between e-commerce and retail sale. It should be between being compliant and non-compliant.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TRIPS waiver
Mains level: Paper 3- WTO and India
Context
The 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was concluded recently. A cursory examination of the outcomes of the meeting leaves us in no doubt that the European Union (EU) and some other developed countries are the overwhelming winners, while India finds itself on the losing side.
Background of TRIPS waiver for Covid related treatment
- On October 2020, India and South Africa put forth a proposal seeking to temporarily suspend the protection of intellectual property rights such as patents, copyrights, industrial designs and trade secrets, so that the production of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics could be ramped up to help overcome the crisis and fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The opponents of the proposal, i.e,. Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Switzerland and the United States, found themselves on the wrong side of the global opinion on this issue.
- In June-July 2021, the U.S. gave its support to the proposal, but limited it to vaccines.
- Pushed into a corner, the European Union (EU) made a counter-proposal to undermine the proposal made by India and South Africa.
- This counter proposal provided a cosmetic simplification in certain procedural aspects of compulsory licensing in patent rules.
- By March 2022, India and South Africa were corralled into accepting the EU’s proposal.
- This formed the basis of the final outcome at the MC12.
Gain for EU at MC12
- The ministerial outcome on the so-called TRIPS waiver represents the biggest gain for the EU.
- The ministerial outcome adds very little to what already exists in the WTO rulebook.
- The final outcome is almost unworkable; a big public relations victory for the EU.
- Change in institutional architecture: In the name of WTO reform, the EU sought to make fundamental changes to the institutional architecture of the WTO.
- It also sought to give a formal role to the private sector in WTO.
- Environmental issues: The EU has also managed to create a window to pursue negotiations on issues related to trade and environment at the WTO, an issue of concern for many developing countries.
Disappointments for India
- No solution to public stockholding issue: India, the issue of a permanent solution to public stockholding was identified by the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry as being its top most priority.
- Despite having the support of more than 80 developing countries, this issue has not found mention anywhere in the ministerial outcome.
- Instead, the WTO members have succeeded in diverting attention from India’s interest by agreeing that food security is multi-dimensional, requiring a comprehensive solution.
- No taxing electronic transmission: India has also failed in many of its other objectives, such as securing the right to raise revenues by taxing electronic transmissions.
- In the area of fisheries subsidies, it gets two years to have suitable regulatory mechanisms in place to monitor fish catch and reporting.
- Although it has secured a temporary reprieve to provide subsidies for enhancing its fishing fleets, it will have to fight an uphill battle on this issue in future negotiations.
Conclusion
Overall, the path ahead for India at the WTO is difficult. India’s negotiators need to undertake soul searching to learn lessons from the dynamics at the MC12, and make course corrections.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Back2Basics: Public stockholding issue
- Under the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture, government procurement for public stockholding programs is exempt from discipline if stocks are procured at current market prices.
- If procured at pre-announced administered prices, however, those outlays would potentially be counted toward a country’s overall limits on trade-distorting support.
- Some developing countries are concerned that their procurement of food at fixed prices under these programs may push outlays to exceed allowed limits, thus depriving them of the necessary policy space to meet domestic food security requirements.
- In this context, India and other members of the G33 developing country coalition have called for WTO members to agree to a “permanent solution,” following the 2013 Bali decision to exempt these programs from legal challenge under certain conditions.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 5G technology
Mains level: 5G Rollout and related issues
The much-awaited auction for telecom spectrum, including for 5G airwaves, will begin tomorrow.
Spectrums for auctions
- A total of 72,097.85 MHz (or 72 Ghz) of spectrum with a validity period of 20 years will be put on the block.
- Airwaves across low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands, valued at ₹4,316 billion ($56 billion) at least, will be put up for bidding.
What is (Electromagnetic) Spectrum?
- Devices such as cellphones and wireline telephones require signals to connect from one end to another.
- These signals are carried on airwaves, which must be sent at designated frequencies to avoid any kind of interference.
- The Union government owns all the publicly available assets within the geographical boundaries of the country, which also include airwaves.
- With the expansion in the number of cellphones, wireline telephone and internet users, the need to provide more space for the signals arise from time to time.
Spectrum allocations
- Spectrum refers to the invisible radio frequencies that wireless signals travel over. The frequencies we use for wireless are only a portion of what is called the electromagnetic spectrum.
- To sell these assets to companies willing to set up the required infrastructure to transport these waves from one end to another, the central government through the DoT auctions these airwaves from time to time.
- These airwaves called spectrum is subdivided into bands which have varying frequencies.
- All these airwaves are sold for a certain period of time, after which their validity lapses, which is generally set at 20 years.
What is 5G technology?
- 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
- It mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high-frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.
Three bands of 5G
(1) Low band spectrum
- It has shown great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange, the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
- This means that while telcos can use and install it for commercial cellphones users who may not have specific demands for very high-speed internet, the low band spectrum may not be optimal for the specialized needs of the industry.
(2) Mid-band spectrum
- It offers higher speeds compared to the low band but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
- Telcos and companies, which have taken the lead on 5G, have indicated that this band may be used by industries and specialized factory units for building captive networks that can be molded into the needs of that particular industry.
(3) High-band spectrum
- It offers the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
- Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G have been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.
Where does India stand in the 5G technology race?
- On par with the global players, India had, in 2018, planned to start 5G services as soon as possible, with an aim to capitalize on the better network speeds and strength that the technology promised.
- Indian private telecom players have been urging the DoT to lay out a clear road map of spectrum allocation and 5G frequency bands so that they would be able to plan the rollout of their services accordingly.
- One big hurdle, however, is the lack of flow of cash and adequate capital with some companies due to their AGR dues.
Global progress on 5G
- More than governments, global telecom companies have started building 5G networks and rolling it out to their customers on a trial basis.
- In countries like the US, some companies have taken the lead when it comes to rolling out commercial 5G for their users.
- A South Korean company, which had started researching on 5G technology way back in 2011, has, on the other hand, take the lead when it comes to building the hardware for 5G networks for several companies.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kuznets Curve
Mains level: Read the attached story
In India, there are fewer people employed in agriculture today, but the transformation has been weak. Those moving out of farms are working more in construction sites and the informal economy than in factories.
What is the news?
- India has too many people in agriculture and the inability to move surplus labour from farms constitutes a major policy failure of successive governments.
- In 1993-94, agriculture accounted for close to 62% of the country’s employed labour force.
- Overall, between 1993-94 and 2018-19, agriculture’s share in India’s workforce came down from 61.9% to 41.4%.
- In other words, roughly a third in 25 years. That isn’t insignificant.
- The declining trend continued, albeit at a slower pace, in the subsequent seven as well.
What is our point of analysis?
- Even the movement of workforce from agriculture that India has witnessed over the past three decades or more does not qualify as what economists call “structural transformation”.
- Such transformation would involve the transfer of labour from farming to others sectors – particularly manufacturing and modern services – where productivity, value-addition and average incomes are higher.
- The surplus labour pulled out from the farms is being largely absorbed in construction and services.
- The bulk of the jobs are in petty sectors such as retailing, small eateries, domestic help, sanitation, security staffing, transport and similar other informal economic activities.
- This is also evident from the low, if not declining, share of employment in organised enterprises, defined as those engaging 10 or more workers.
What is the crux of the story?
- Simply put, the structural transformation process in India has been weak and deficient.
- Yes, there is movement of labour taking place away from farms – even if stalled, possibly temporarily.
- But that surplus labour isn’t moving to higher value-added non-farm activities, specifically manufacturing and modern services.
- This is familiar to the ‘Kuznets Process’ named after the American economist and 1971 Nobel Memorial Prize winner, Simon Kuznets.
What is Kuznets’ Hypothesis?
- In the 1950s and 1960s, Simon Kuznets hypothesized that as an economy develops, market forces first increase and then decrease the overall economic inequality of the society.
- This is illustrated by the inverted U-shape of the Kuznets curve.
- For instance, the hypothesis holds that in the early development of an economy, new investment opportunities increase for those who already have the capital to invest.
- These new investment opportunities mean that those who already hold the wealth have the opportunity to increase that wealth.
- Conversely, the influx of inexpensive rural labor to the cities keeps wages down for the working class thus widening the income gap and escalating economic inequality.
Basis of this hypothesis
- The Kuznets curve implies that as a society industrializes, the center of the economy shifts from rural areas to the cities as rural laborers, such as farmers, begin to migrate seeking better-paying jobs.
- This migration, however, results in a large rural-urban income gap and rural populations decrease as urban populations increase.
- But according to Kuznets’ hypothesis, that same economic inequality is expected to decrease when a certain level of average income is reached.
- This process is triggered by the processes associated with industrialization, such as democratization and the development of a welfare state, take hold.
- It is at this point in economic development that society is meant to benefit from trickle-down effect and an increase in per-capita income that effectively decreases economic inequality.
What does the inverted Kuznets Curve mean?
- The inverted U-shape of the Kuznets curve illustrates the basic elements of the Kuznets’ hypothesis with income per capita graphed on the horizontal x-axis and economic inequality on the vertical y-axis.
- The graph shows income inequality following the curve, first increasing before decreasing after hitting a peak as per-capita income increases over the course of economic development.
Criticism of the theory
- Critics say that the Kuznets curve does not reflect an average progression of economic development for an individual country.
- Rather it is a representation of historical differences in economic development and inequality between countries in the dataset.
- It suits to the countries that have had histories of high levels of economic inequality as compared to their counterparts in terms of similar economic development.
- The critics hold that when controlling for this variable, the inverted U-shape of the Kuznets curve begins to diminish.
UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now