Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indus valley civilization and its decline
Mains level: Not Much
DNA samples collected from two human skeletons unearthed at a necropolis of a Harappan-era city site in Rakhigarhi, Haryana have been sent for scientific examination.
Why in news?
- DNA analysis might tell about the ancestry and food habits of people who lived in the Rakhigarhi region thousands of years ago.
About Rakhi Garhi
- The ancient site of Rakhi-Khas and Rakhi-Shahpur are collectively known as Rakhigarhi, located on the right bank of the now dried up Palaeo-channel of Drishadvati.
- It is located in the Ghaggar-Hakra river plain in the Hissar district of Haryana.
- Seven mounds are located here.
- The site has yielded various stages of Harappan culture and is by far one of the largest Harappan sites in India.
- The site shows the sequential development of the Indus culture in the now dried up Saraswati basin.
Major findings at Rakhi Garhi
- Findings confirm both early and mature Harappan phases and include 4,600-year-old human skeletons, fortification and bricks.
- Digging so far reveals a well-planned city with 1.92 m wide roads, a bit wider than in Kalibangan.
- The pottery is similar to Kalibangan and Banawali.
- Pits surrounded by walls have been found, which are thought to be for sacrificial or some religious ceremonies.
- There are brick-lined drains to handle sewage from the houses.
- Terracotta statues, weights, bronze artefacts, comb, copper fish hooks, needles and terracotta seals have also been found.
- A bronze vessel has been found which is decorated with gold and silver.
- A granary belonging to the mature Harappan phase has been found here.
- Fire altars structures were revealed in Rakhigarhi.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rarest of rare case
Mains level: Paper 2- Capital punishment jurisprudence
Context
A recent trend in the evolution of jurisprudence around the death penalty in India may reset judicial thinking around sentencing and have long-term ramifications in the awarding of capital punishment.
New thinking in the jurisprudence around capital punishment
- Capital punishment once delivered by the court of sessions (“sentencing court”) is required under law, specifically Chapter 28 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to be confirmed by the jurisdictional High Court (“confirming court”).
- Over the last six months or so, while dealing with appeals against confirmation of the death sentence, the Supreme Court of India has examined sentencing methodology from the perspective of mitigating circumstances more closely.
- The Court has also initiated a suo motu writ petition (criminal) to delve deep into these issues on key aspects surrounding our understanding of death penalty sentencing.
- Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab (1980), the leading case on this point, calls for mitigating and aggravating circumstances to be balanced against each other and laid down the principle that the death penalty ought not to be awarded unless the alternative of life imprisonment is “unquestionably foreclosed”.
- It is also an equally well-established legal principle that in a sentencing hearing, the accused must necessarily be provided with sufficient opportunity to produce any material that may have bearing on the sentencing exercise.
- When read in conjunction with the ratio decidendi of the Bachan Singh case, it is incumbent upon the sentencing court and the confirming court to ensure that the question of reform and rehabilitation of a convicted person has been examined in detail for these courts to come to a definitive conclusion that all such options are unquestionably foreclosed.
Lack of judicial uniformity
- A report by the National Law University Delhi’s Project 39A (earlier known as the “Centre on the Death Penalty”) titled ‘Matters of Judgment’ found that there is no judicial uniformity or consistency when it comes to awarding the death sentence.
- In the report titled ‘Death Penalty Sentencing in Trial Courts’ (also authored by Project 39A), findings reported from a study of cases involving death sentencing between 2000 and 2015 in Delhi, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have showed that courts have been lax in assessing the aspect of reformation while undertaking the sentencing exercise.
- The Court, in Mofil Khan vs State of Jharkhand (2021), held that the “the State is under a duty to procure evidence to establish that there is no possibility of reformation and rehabilitation of the accused.
- Undoubtedly, the onus has been placed on the State to lead evidence to show that no reformation is possible and for the sentencing courts to be satisfied that a thorough mitigation analysis was done before the death sentence is awarded.
Mitigation investigation
- For a complete mitigation investigation, professionals trained in psychology, sociology and criminology are required in addition to legal professionals.
- Taking cognisance of the value of a holistic approach to mitigation investigation, the Court in Manoj & Ors vs State of Madhya Pradesh (2022) issued directions to the State to place before the court all “report(s) of all the probation officer(s)” relating to the accused and reports “about their conduct and nature of the work done by them” while in prison.
- The order also directs that a trained psychiatrist and a local professor of psychology conduct a psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the convict.
Conclusion
The intervention of the Supreme Court of India in, hopefully, framing guidelines around incorporation of a mitigation analysis and consideration of psycho-social reports of the prisoner at the time of sentencing is timely and necessary.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 239AA, Consititution Bench
Mains level: Centre vs. Delhi Govt
The Supreme Court has referred to a Constitution Bench the battle between the Centre and the Delhi government for control over bureaucrats in the Capital.
What is a Constitution Bench?
- The constitution bench is the name given to the benches of the Supreme Court of India.
- The Chief Justice of India has the power to constitute a Constitution Bench and refer cases to it.
Constitution benches are set up when the following circumstances exist:
- Interpretation of the Constitution: Article 145(3) provides for the constitution of at least five judges of the court which sit to decide any case “involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation” of the Constitution of India.
- President of India seeking SC’s opinion: When President has sought the Supreme Court’s opinion on a question of fact or law under Article 143 of the Constitution. Article 143 of the Constitution provides for Advisory jurisdiction to the SC. As per the provision, the President has the power to address questions to the apex Court, which he deems important for public welfare.
- Conflicting Judgments: When two or more three-judge benches of the Supreme Court have delivered conflicting judgments on the same point of law, necessitating a definite understanding and interpretation of the law by a larger bench.
- The Constitution benches are set up on ad hoc basis as and when the above-mentioned conditions exist.
- Constitution benches have decided many of India’s best-known and most important Supreme Court cases, such as:
- K. Gopalan v. State of Madras (Preventive detention)
- Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (Basic structure doctrine) and
- Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India (OBC reservations) etc.
Why in news now?
- A 2018 Constitution bench decision interpreting Article 239AA had not dealt with an aspect having a bearing on the dispute over services, CJI agreed.
- The proceedings have their genesis in the Delhi HC judgment of August 4, 2017, whereby it held that for the purposes of administration, the L-G was not bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers in every matter.
- On appeal, the SC on February 15, 2017, referred the matter to decide on the interpretation of Article 239AA.
What is the 2018 Judgment all about?
- By a majority decision in July, 2018, the Constitution bench upheld the respective powers of the state Assembly and the Parliament.
- It said that while the CoM must communicate all decisions to the L-G, this does not mean that the L-G’s concurrence is required.
- In case of a difference of opinion, the L-G can refer it to the President for a decision.
- The L-G has no independent decision-making power but has to either act on the ‘aid and advice’ of the CoM or is bound to implement the decision of the President on a reference being made.
- The bench, which limited itself to the interpretation of Article 239AA, left individual issues to be decided by regular benches.
When power tussle began
- Subsequently in 2019, a two-judge bench of the SC dealt with some individual issues arising from the power tussle between the Centre and the NCT government.
- It ruled that the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi government cannot investigate corruption cases against central government officials.
- The power to appoint commissions under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, would be vested with the Centre and not the Delhi government, the judgment said.
Issue over control of administrative services
- The judges, however, differed on who should have control over administrative services.
- This was challenged again in the SC where the Centre contended that the two judges could not take a decision on the question.
- The 2018 Constitution bench judgment had not interpreted the expression “insofar as any such matter as applicable to Union Territories” appearing in Article 239AA.
- The Centre has urged SC CJI Ramana to refer the matter to a five-judge Constitution bench so that the question of law can be settled before the dispute over who has control over services can be looked into.
Back2Basics: Article 239AA
- Article 239AA granted Special Status to Delhi among Union Territories (UTs) in the year 1991 through the 69th Constitutional Amendment.
- It provided a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers responsible to such Assembly with appropriate powers.
- That’s when Delhi was named as the National Capital Region (NCT) of Delhi.
- As per this article – Public Order, Police & Land in NCT of Delhi fall within the domain and control of Central Government which shall have the power to make laws on these matters.
- For remaining matters of State List or Concurrent List, in so far as any such matter is applicable to UTs, the Legislative Assembly shall have the power to make laws for NCT of Delhi.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NFHS and other survey mentioned
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Total Fertility Rate (TFR), the average number of children per woman, has further declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level between National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 4 and 5.
What is NFHS?
- The NFHS is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India.
- The IIPS is the nodal agency, responsible for providing coordination and technical guidance for the NFHS.
- NFHS was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with supplementary support from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
- The First National Family Health Survey (NFHS-1) was conducted in 1992-93.
Objectives of the NFHS
The survey provides state and national information for India on:
- Fertility
- Infant and child mortality
- The practice of family planning
- Maternal and child health
- Reproductive health
- Nutrition
- Anaemia
- Utilization and quality of health and family planning services
Modifications in NFHS 5
NFHS-5 includes new focal areas that will give requisite input for strengthening existing programmes and evolving new strategies for policy intervention. The areas are:
- Expanded domains of child immunization
- Components of micro-nutrients to children
- Menstrual hygiene
- Frequency of alcohol and tobacco use
- Additional components of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
- Expanded age ranges for measuring hypertension and diabetes among all aged 15 years and above.
Highlights of the NFHS 5 Part-II
(a) Fertility Rate
- There are only five States — Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26) Manipur (2.17) —which are above replacement level of fertility of 2.1.
(b) Institutional Births
- The institutional births increased from 79% to 89% across India and in rural areas around 87% births being delivered in institutions and the same is 94% in urban areas.
- As per results of the NFHS-5, more than three-fourths (77%) children aged between 12 and 23 months were fully immunised, compared with 62% in NFHS-4.
- The level of stunting among children under five years has marginally declined from 38% to 36% in the country since the last four years.
- Stunting is higher among children in rural areas (37%) than urban areas (30%) in 2019-21.
(c) Decision making
- The extent to which married women usually participate in three household decisions (about health care for herself; making major household purchases; visit to her family or relatives) indicates that their participation in decision-making is high, ranging from 80% in Ladakh to 99% in Nagaland and Mizoram.
- Rural (77%) and urban (81%) differences are found to be marginal.
- The prevalence of women having a bank or savings account has increased from 53% to 79% in the last four years.
(d) Rise in obesity
- Compared with NFHS-4, the prevalence of overweight or obesity has increased in most States/UTs in NFHS-5.
- At the national level, it increased from 21% to 24% among women and 19% to 23% among men.
- More than a third of women in Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, AP, Goa, Sikkim, Manipur, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Punjab, Chandigarh and Lakshadweep (34-46 %) are overweight or obese.
Also read
National Family Health Survey- 5 Part: I
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)
Mains level: Paddy cultivation in India
The Punjab government recently announced Rs 1,500 incentive per acre for farmers opting for Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR), which is known for saving water.
What is DSR technique?
- In transplanting, farmers prepare nurseries where the paddy seeds are first sown and raised into young plants.
- These seedlings are then uprooted and replanted 25-35 days later in the main field.
- Paddy seedlings are transplanted on fields that are “puddled” or tilled in standing water using tractor-drawn disc harrows.
- In DSR, there is no nursery preparation or transplantation. The seeds are instead directly drilled into the field by a tractor-powered machine.
How much water is required to grow one kg rice?
- Paddy is non-shelled rice that farmers grow and sell in mandis and then after milling paddy rice is prepared.
- According to the studies, around 3,600 litres to 4,125 litres of water is required to grow one kg rice depending upon the paddy variety.
- Long duration varieties consume more water.
- In Punjab, 32% area is under the long duration (around 158 days) paddy varieties, and the rest comes under paddy varieties that take 120 to 140 days to grow.
- So, on an average 3,900 to 4,000 litres water is required to grow one kg rice in the state.
How much water is used in Punjab every year to grow rice?
- In 2020-21, Centre procured 203 lakh tonnes of paddy from Punjab.
- After milling, this procured paddy resulted in 135.98 lakh tonnes of rice.
- Since studies put average water required to produce one kg rice at 4,000 litres, so in one year – based on last year’s estimate – Punjab needed 5,400 billion litres of water to produce 135 lakh tonnes rice.
How much water can DSR help save?
- DSR technique can help save 15% to 20% water.
- In some cases, water saving can reach 22% to 23%.
- With DSR, 15-18 irrigation rounds are required against 25 to 27 irrigation rounds in traditional method.
- Since area under rice in Punjab is almost stagnant, DSR can save 810 to 1,080 billion litres water every year if entire rice crop is brought under the technique.
Are there any other benefits of DSR tech?
- DSR can solve labour shortage problem because as like the traditional method it does not require a paddy nursery and transplantation of 30 days old paddy nursery into the main puddled field.
- With DSR, paddy seeds are sown directly with machine.
- DSR offers avenues for ground water recharge as it prevent the development of hard crust just beneath the plough layer due to puddled transplanting.
- It matures 7-10 days earlier than puddle transplanted crop, therefore giving more time for management of paddy straw.
- Research trials indicated that yield, after DSR, are one to two quintals per acre higher than puddled transplanted rice.
Getting optimum results
- Experts said that with DSR technique, which is called ‘tar-wattar DSR’ (good soil moisture), farmers must sow paddy only after pre-sowing (rauni) irrigation and not in dry fields.
- Further, the field should be laser levelled.
- They said that spraying of herbicide must be done simultaneously along with sowing, and the first irrigation, which is done at 21 days after sowing.
Limitations of the DSR
- Suitability of soil is the most important factor as farmers must not sow it in the light-textured soil.
- This technique is suitable for medium to heavy textured soils including sandy loam, loam, clay loam, and silt loam which accounts for around 80% area of the state.
- It should not be cultivated in sandy and loamy sand as these soils suffer from severe iron deficiency, and there is higher weed problem in it.
- Also, avoid direct seeding of rice in fields which are under crops others than rice (like cotton, maize, sugarcane) in previous years as DSR in these soils is likely to suffer more from iron deficiency and weed problems.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Shukrayan Mission
Mains level: Interplanetary missions
India’s Venus mission has been conceived. The project report for ‘Shukrayaan-I’ – the name given to ISRO’s Venus mission
About Venus
- Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is Earth’s closest planetary neighbor.
- It’s one of the four inner, terrestrial (or rocky) planets, and it’s often called Earth’s twin because it’s similar in size and density.
- Venus has a thick, toxic atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide and it’s perpetually shrouded in thick, yellowish clouds of sulphuric acid that trap heat, causing a runaway greenhouse effect.
- It’s the hottest planet in our solar system, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun.
- Surface temperatures on Venus are about 900 degrees Fahrenheit (475 degrees Celsius) – hot enough to melt lead.
- Venus has crushing air pressure at its surface – more than 90 times that of Earth – similar to the pressure you’d encounter a mile below the ocean on Earth.
Do you know?
Venus rotates on its axis backward, compared to most of the other planets in the solar system. This means that, on Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east, opposite to what we experience on Earth. (It’s not the only planet in our solar system with such an oddball rotation – Uranus spins on its side.)
What is Shukrayaan-I Mission?
- Shukrayaan will be India’s first orbiter mission to Venus after sending similar missions to the Moon and Mars.
- The mission aims to study the surface of the hottest planet in our solar system and unravel the mysteries under the Sulphuric Acid clouds enveloping it.
- The orbiter is the third mission announced to the inferno world of Venus after NASA announced two probes followed by a spacecraft by the European Space Agency.
- The probes will investigate the world looking for clues to understand the destructive past of Earth’s mysterious twin, which scientists believe once had vast reserves of water similar to our planet.
Stated objectives
- Investigation of the surface processes and shallow sub-surface stratigraphy, including active volcanic hotspots and lava flows
- Studying the structure, composition, and dynamics of the atmosphere
- Investigation of solar wind interaction with the Venusian Ionosphere
Delay with the launch
- The ISRO is eyeing the December 2024 window for launch with orbital maneuvers planned for the following year.
- This is when earth and Venus would be so aligned that the spacecraft could be put in the neighboring planet’s orbit using a minimum amount of propellant.
- The next similar window would be available in 2031.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Non-tariff barriers
Mains level: Paper 3- Trade opportunities for India
Context
Slower global growth, an adverse geopolitical environment, the shadow of recurring waves of the pandemic and prolonged supply chain issues are likely to weigh on export growth this year.
Trade growth in 2021 and uncertainties in 2022
- The year 2021 was a record one for trade despite the pandemic.
- In terms of volumes, merchandise trade rose 9.8 per cent, while in dollar terms, it grew 26 per cent.
- The value of commercial services trade was also up 15 per cent.
- India has had a good export run in line with global trends, witnessing record goods exports of $419 billion, while touching $250 billion in services exports.
- However, global growth forecasts have now been pared down.
- Slower global growth, an adverse geopolitical environment, the shadow of recurring waves of the pandemic and prolonged supply chain issues are likely to weigh on export growth this year.
Taping into opportunities
- Ukraine and Sri Lanka are major exporters of agricultural products and the vacuum created by their limited presence in global trade will open up agricultural export opportunities for India.
- This will not only spur overall exports but will also help to support the recovery of the agrarian economy through higher realisations.
- Tea and wheat: As many as 25 African countries import more than one-third of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine and for 15 of them, the share exceeds 50 per cent.
- Sri Lanka is also a major player in the global tea market and produces around 300 million kg annually.
- Almost 98 per cent of its annual production is exported.
- India, the second-largest producer of tea with an annual production of 900 million kg, is in a good position to exploit the opportunity and fill the gap.
- Textile: Apart from tea and wheat, newer export opportunities have arisen for textiles.
- Sri Lanka exports $5.42 billion worth of garments and prolonged power cuts in the island nation will hurt its production and export capacity.
Suggestions
- 1] Work on non-tariff barriers: One, work on non-tariff barriers for agricultural trade with a special focus on harmonising the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements.
- 2] Autonomy in tea sector: To support tea exports, traditional tea boards are seeking a greater role and autonomy for optimising the development, promotion, and research in the sector.
- Quicker implementation of the proposed Tea Promotion and Development Act is of utmost importance.
- 3] Integration with global supply chains: India must double down on its integration with global supply chains.The commerce ministry has negotiated a slew of trade deals.
- 4] Reduce tariff rates for intermediate inputs: Tariff rates for intermediate inputs should be reduced to either zero or should be negligible for India to become an attractive location for assembly activities.
- 5] Realignment of specialisation patterns: India must persist with the creation of an enabling ecosystem that realigns its specialisation patterns towards labour-intensive processes and product lines.
- The labour market reforms must be taken to their logical conclusion.
- 6] Pro-active FDI policy: A continuous and pro-active FDI policy is also critical as foreign capital and technology are key enablers for entry into global production networks even as local firms play a role as subcontractors and suppliers of intermediate inputs to MNEs.
- 7]Power supply and logistical bottlenecks: Lastly, exports could suffer if basic issues such as availability of power and logistical bottlenecks keep rearing their ugly heads.
- The Economic Survey 2019 had recommended that low levels of service link costs (costs related to transportation, communication, and other tasks involved in coordinating the activity etc) are prerequisites to strengthen their participation in GVCs.
- This should not be neglected.
Conclusion
If India were to tap export opportunities in developed markets, it must act on the suggestions above.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Right to privacy
Mains level: Paper 2- Abortion rights
Context
The leak of an initial draft majority opinion of the US Supreme Court voting to overturn the decision in Roe v Wade has sent shockwaves across liberal and conservative quarters alike, globally.
Background of the Roe v Wade case
- Right to abortion: While locating the right of privacy within the guarantee of personal liberty enshrined in the fourteenth amendment of the American constitution, Roe embodies a supervening constitutional right to abortion emanating from this right of privacy.
- The right to abort was held to be a constitutionally protected right within the right of privacy.
- Roe, the 1973 outcome of an unmarried woman’s crusade for bodily autonomy, had declared overbroad, and consequently unconstitutional, a provision of the Texas Penal Code which permitted only those abortions that were “procured or attempted by medical advice to save the life of the mother”.
- The decision simultaneously recognised the state’s interest in protecting the life of the foetus as also the life of the mother.
- Roe is not only relevant as a progressive trailblazer for reproductive rights in the United States but is also fundamental to constitutional jurisprudence globally for the interpretative tools it employed.
Implications of overturning Roe v Wade
- Political considerations vs judicial responsibility: The overturning of Roe is more than the mere abdication of the judicial responsibility to protect individual rights — it signals a dangerous trend of courts making long-standing determinations of legal rights based on transient political considerations.
- Incursion into women’s right to abort: It would also mean legitimisation of state incursions into women’s right to abort and consequently their right to bodily autonomy and liberty, in addition to forcing them to move to states with enabling laws to procure abortions, leading to issues of access and affordability of abortions.
- While the impact of Roe’s absence would most profoundly be felt in the US, it is likely to embolden conservative anti-abortion voices across the world.
- Limits of judicial activism: It will inevitably also raise fundamental questions on the limits of judicial activism aimed at protecting the rights of persons and classes, which do not find explicit mention within a country’s constitutional framework.
- Possibility of a conservative approach to abortion cases: In 2021, the abortion laws in India underwent substantial changes, with the introduction of the Medical Termination for Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021 which, in addition to destigmatising pregnancies outside marriage by introducing the nomenclature of “any woman or her partner”, also increased the upper gestational limits within which pregnancies are legally terminable.
- The Act, however, carries ambiguities and leaves room for both judicial and executive interpretation.
- As cases of subjective determination arise, the Indian judiciary will be called upon to reconcile the right to privacy recognised in Puttaswamy with the permissible limits of abortion in the Act.
How does Roe v Wade apply in the Indian context?
- In KS Puttaswamy v Union of India, Justice Chandrachud referred to Roe and Planned Parenthood while reading the right to privacy into the existing framework of constitutionally protected fundamental rights subject to “just, reasonable and fair” restrictions.
- Recognising derivative rights: In the lifetime of the Indian Supreme Court, recognising derivative rights within the existing framework of fundamental rights has been regularly witnessed — be it rights during arrest and detention, the right to express one’s sexual and gender identity, or rights against harassment at the workplace, to cite a few.
- Setback to transformative constitutionalism: In the Indian context, the overturning could be seen as a setback to the celebrated doctrine of transformative constitutionalism, which sees the Indian Constitution as a “living document” that moulds, adapts and responds to changing times and circumstances.
Conclusion
The likelihood of the overturning of Roe leading to more conservative approaches to judicial interpretation in abortion rights cases, cannot be ruled out.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST slabs
Mains level: Paper 3- Dealing with the shortcomings of GST
Context
The GST has been a remarkable achievement and a unique experiment in cooperative federalism. In this, both the Union and the state governments gave up their tax autonomy in favour of harmonising domestic trade taxes.
Multiple rates: A major shortcoming in the structure of GST
- One of the most important shortcomings in the structure of GST is multiple rates.
- The committee headed by the Chief Economic Adviser estimated the tax rate at 15-15.5 per cent.
- It further recommended that in keeping with growing international practice, India should strive towards a single rate in the medium-term to facilitate administrative simplicity and compliance, but in the immediate context, it should have a three-tier structure (excluding zero).
- The structure finally adopted was to have four rates of 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent besides zero, though almost 75 per cent of the revenues accrue from the 12 and 18 per cent slabs.
- Why single rate structure? The reasons for adopting a single rate structure in most countries are to have a simple tax system, prevent misclassifications and litigations arising therefrom, and to avoid an inverted duty structure of taxes on inputs exceeding those on outputs requiring detailed scrutiny and refunds.
- Why multiple rates? The main reason for rate differentiation is equity.
- But it is argued that this is an inefficient way of targeting benefits for the poor.
- Although the exempted and low-rated items are consumed relatively more by the poor, in absolute terms, the consumption may be more by the rich.
Suggestions
- Focus on the expenditure side: The ideal way of targeting the benefits to the poor is on the expenditure side, through targeted cash transfers to vulnerable groups and providing quality education and healthcare.
- Of course, unprocessed food items have to be exempted for reasons of administrative difficulty, but the list should be kept small.
- Right time to rationalise the rates: Now, in fact, is the opportune time to rationalise the rate structure.
- The economy is in recovery mode and more importantly, GST revenues have shown reasonably high buoyancy with collections of over Rs 1 lakh crore in the last 10 months and touching a record of Rs 1.68 lakh crore in April 2022.
- Role of e-invoicing: The revenue increase has not come about only due to the economic recovery.
- The more important reason seems to be that at last, the GSTN has been able to stabilise the technology platform.
- Mandating the issue of e-invoicing for all businesses above Rs 100 crore has enabled better invoice matching and detection of fake invoices that were used to claim the input tax credit.
- This has helped to improve tax compliance and has also enabled better enforcement.
- With time, the GSTN should be able to enforce e-invoice requirements on all businesses above Rs 10 crore, which will cover more than 95 per cent of taxpayers.
- Dealing with the excessive rate differentiation: The GST council is concerned about the problems arising from excessive rate differentiation and has set up a seven-member ministerial panel .
- But it has been widely reported that the committee is thinking of increasing the lower tax rate from 5 per cent to 8 per cent and moving some essential items from the 5 per cent category to the 3 per cent slab.
- This will be retrograde because a rate category will be added. The need of the hour is to reduce the rate categories.
- Merge 12 and 18 per cent categories: It would be preferable to merge the 12 per cent and 18 per cent categories into a 15-16 per cent slab and move the items in the 5 per cent category to the 8 per cent slab and remove the 28 per cent category altogether.
Conclusion
The merger of 12 and 18 per cent categories will result in the GST structure with two rates and as the cesses will cease after 2026 when the compensation requirement is over, it will really become a “good and simple tax”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges for the middle powers
Context
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to European capitals should help both sides acquire a better understanding of each other’s security concerns. Whether it will fundamentally alter equations remains to be seen.
New India-EU equation
- As “Middle Powers”, countries like France, Germany and India should seek policy space for themselves and not be forced into taking positions by the Big Powers — the United States, China and Russia.
- The EU is understandably concerned about Russian aggressiveness in Europe.
- ndia is equally concerned about Chinese aggressiveness in Asia.
- Even after Russia has sought to tear down the post-Cold War security structure in Europe, India has stayed the course in its equations both with Russia and the European Union.
Division of national and group agenda and its implications for India
- While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the context in which Modi visited Europe and the head of the European Union visited India, the fact is that the agenda at bilateral meetings with individual European countries has generally been very different from the agenda that the EU prefers to focus on.
- While individual European nations, especially Germany and France, focus on their own strategic and business interests, including defence equipment sales, the EU retains the remit for negotiating trade and investment rules.
- Problem for India: This division of national and group agendas has often posed a problem for India because individual countries cannot offer bilateral market access in exchange for bilateral defence deals.
- So the French will sell Rafale jets in the name of strategic partnership but they cannot offer a trade and investment deal that Brussels will not allow Paris to strike with India.
- While the EU and G7 may now wish to derisk, if not decouple, from aggressively rising China, how much they would be able to do in this regard and what they would be willing to do to help a slowly rising India remains to be seen.
Way forward
- For India’s part, it is not clear at the moment how much and what it can unilaterally offer Europe beyond the promise of standing up to China or reducing dependence on Russia.
- Challenge for the three middle powers lies in combine their “strength and stability” to ensure “peace and tranquillity” in their respective neighbourhoods.
- If middle powers like Brazil, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa and others can work together they may well be able to impose some discipline on the three big powers — China, Russia and the US.
Conclusion
At a time when big powers lurking behind in seeking to stabilise and shape the global order middle powers need to act to balance the influence exerted by the big powers.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Delimitation of constituencies
Mains level: Abrogation of Art. 370 and Ladakh
The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission has notified the new boundaries, names and number of Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, paving the way for the first-ever Assembly election in the Union Territory.
What is Delimitation and why is it needed?
- Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of an Assembly or Lok Sabha seat to represent changes in population over time.
- The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
- This exercise is carried out by a Delimitation Commission, whose orders have the force of law and cannot be questioned before any court.
- The objective is to redraw boundaries (based on the data of the last Census) in a way so that the population of all seats, as far as practicable, be the same throughout the State.
- Aside from changing the limits of a constituency, the process may result in a change in the number of seats in a state.
How is it carried out?
- Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.
- Article 170 provides that States also get divided into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after every Census.
- Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission.
- The first delimitation exercise was carried out by the President (with the help of the Election Commission) in 1950-51.
- The Delimitation Commission Act was enacted in 1952.
- Delimitation Commissions have been set up four times — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under the Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.
- There was no delimitation after the 1981 and 1991 Censuses.
Delimitation in J&K
- Assembly seats in J&K were delimited in 1963, 1973 and 1995.
- Prior to August 5, 2019, carving out of J&K’s Assembly seats was carried out under the J&K Constitution and Jammu and Kashmir Representation of the People Act, 1957.
- Until then, the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats in J&K was governed by the Constitution of India.
- However, the delimitation of the state’s Assembly was governed by the J&K Constitution and J&K Representation of the People Act, 1957.
- There was no census in the state in 1991 and hence no Delimitation Commission was set up by the state until 2001 census.
Why is it in the news again?
- After the abrogation of J&K’s special status in 2019, the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in the newly-created UT would be as per the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
- On March 6, 2020, the government set up the Delimitation Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, which was tasked with winding up delimitation in J&K in a year.
- As per the J&K Reorganization Bill, the number of Assembly seats in J&K would increase from 107 to 114, which is expected to benefit the Jammu region.
Next step: Assembly polls
- With the final order now notified, all eyes will be on the EC and the Union government regarding the timing of Assembly elections.
- Though mainstream parties in the Valley have criticised the report, it is likely that this will make space for political engagement in the UT.
What changes have been made?
- ASSEMBLY: The Commission has increased seven Assembly seats — six in Jammu (now 43 seats) and one in Kashmir (now 47). It has also made massive changes in the structure of the existing Assembly seats.
- LOK SABHA: The Commission has redrawn the boundaries of Anantnag and Jammu seats. Jammu’s Pir Panjal region, comprising Poonch and Rajouri districts and formerly part of Jammu parliamentary seat, has now been added to Anantnag seat in Kashmir. Also, a Shia-dominated region of Srinagar parliamentary constituency has been transferred to Baramulla constituency, also in the Valley.
- KASHMIRI PANDITS: The Commission has recommended provision of at least two members from the community of Kashmiri Migrants (Kashmiri Hindus) in the Legislative Assembly.
- Seats for POK migrants: It has also recommended that Centre should consider giving representation in the J&K Legislative Assembly to the displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, who migrated to Jammu after Partition.
Why has the exercise been controversial?
- Jammu vs. Kashmir: Concerns had been expressed over how the delimitation process may end up favoring the Jammu region over Kashmir in terms of the seats.
- Under-representation of Ladakh: Arguments have been made on how Ladakh has been underrepresented, with demands for statehood/sixth schedule.
- Non-proportionate reservations: It is argued that seats for STs should’ve been divided in both Jammu province & Kashmir province, as the ST population is almost equal.
- Frozen till 2026: Constituency boundaries are being redrawn only in J&K when delimitation for the rest of the country has been frozen until 2026. The last delimitation exercise in J&K was carried out in 1995.
- Issue over reorganization: Again, political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have been pointing out that the Delimitation Commission is mandated by the Reorganisation Act, which is sub judice.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: VPN, Cert-In
Mains level: Read the attached story
Recently, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) issued new directives that require Virtual Private Network (VPN) providers to store user data for five years.
What is VPN?
- VPN describes the opportunity to establish a protected network connection when using public networks.
- It encrypts internet traffic and disguise a user’s online identity.
- This makes it more difficult for third parties to track your activities online and steal data.
- The encryption takes place in real time.
How does a VPN work?
- A VPN hides your IP address by letting the network redirect it through a specially configured remote server run by a VPN host.
- This means that if you surf online with a VPN, the VPN server becomes the source of your data.
- This means your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and other third parties cannot see which websites you visit or what data you send and receive online.
- A VPN works like a filter that turns all your data into “gibberish”. Even if someone were to get their hands on your data, it would be useless.
Why do people use VPN?
- Secure encryption: A VPN connection disguises your data traffic online and protects it from external access. Unencrypted data can be viewed by anyone who has network access and wants to see it. With a VPN, hackers and cyber criminals can’t decipher this data.
- Disguising whereabouts: VPN servers essentially act as your proxies on the internet. Because the demographic location data comes from a server in another country, your actual location cannot be determined.
- Data privacy is held: Most VPN services do not store logs of your activities. Some providers, on the other hand, record your behaviour, but do not pass this information on to third parties. This means that any potential record of your user behaviour remains permanently hidden.
- Access to regional content: Regional web content is not always accessible from everywhere. Services and websites often contain content that can only be accessed from certain parts of the world.
- Secure data transfer: If you work remotely, you may need to access important files on your company’s network. For security reasons, this kind of information requires a secure connection. To gain access to the network, a VPN connection is often required.
What does the new CERT-IN directive say?
- VPN providers will need to store validated customer names, their physical addresses, email ids, phone numbers, and the reason they are using the service, along with the dates they use it and their “ownership pattern”.
- In addition, Cert is also asking VPN providers to keep a record of the IP and email addresses that the customer uses to register the service, along with the timestamp of registration.
- Most importantly, however, VPN providers will have to store all IP addresses issued to a customer and a list of IP addresses that its customers generally use.
What does this mean for VPN providers?
- VPN services are in violation of Cert’s rules by simply operating in India.
- That said, it is worth noting that ‘no logs’ does not mean zero logs.
- VPN services still need to maintain some logs to run their service efficiently.
Does this mean VPNs will become useless?
- The Indian government has not banned VPNs yet, so they can still be used to access content that is blocked in an area, which is the most common usage of these services.
- However, journalists, activists, and others who use such services to hide their internet footprint will have to think twice about them.
Why such move?
- Crime control: For law enforcement agencies, a move like this will make it easier to track criminals who use VPNs to hide their internet footprint.
- Curbing dark-net activities: Users these days are shifting towards the dark and deep web, which are much tougher to police than VPN services.
Back2Basics: Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN)
- CERT-IN is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- It is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security threats like hacking and phishing. It strengthens the security-related defense of the Indian Internet domain.
- It was formed in 2004 by the Government of India under the Information Technology Act, 2000 Section (70B) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CPI and WPI
Mains level: Paper 3- Need for the review of inflation targeting model
Context
At the conclusion of the April meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee had already warned that the focus will henceforth be on inflation. Yesterday it raised the repo rate somewhat sooner than was expected by the market.
Discourse on inflation engaged in by the western central banks
- Inflation reflects an excess of output over its ‘natural’ level.
- Inflation targeting refers to the policy of controlling inflation by raising the interest rate over which the central bank has control, i.e. the rate at which it lends to commercial banks, the ‘repo rate’.
- This, it is argued, will induce firms to stay their investment plans and reduce inventories, lowering production.
- As economy-wide output declines, becoming equal to the natural level of output, inflation will cease.
- This story does not just legitimise a policy of output contraction for inflation but sees it as optimal.
- The natural level of output itself is the productive counterpart of the natural level of employment, the level that obtains in a freely functioning labour market.
- So, at the natural level of output, the economy is deemed to be at full employment.
- Salient in the context is the fact that the natural level of output is unobservable.
- Hence inflation as a reflection of an “overheating” economy is something that must be taken on trust.
Inflation control in India
- Not surprisingly for a theory based on an unobservable variable, the proposition that inflation is due to an overheating economy fares poorly when put to a statistical test for India.
- There is not a single demonstration of the empirical validity of the model of inflation presented in the RBI report of 2014, which recommended a move to inflation targeting.
- On the other hand inflation in India can be explained in terms of the movement of the prices of agricultural goods and, to a lesser extent, imported oil.
- How effective is monetary policy in controlling inflation: The implication of this finding is damaging for the claim that monetary policy can control inflation, for neither the price of agricultural goods nor that of imported oil is under the central bank’s control.
- The only route by which monetary policy can, in principle, control inflation is by curbing the growth of non-agricultural output, which would in turn lower the growth of demand for agricultural goods.
- As the demand for agricultural goods slows, so will inflation, but this comes at the cost of output and employment.
- At least, this is the theory.
- Whether this takes place in practice depends upon the extent to which changes in the repo rate are transmitted to commercial bank lending rates.
Way forward
- Focus on supply of agricultural goods: The implication for the policymaker that inflation is driven by agricultural goods prices, as is the case in India presently, is that the focus should be on increasing the supply of these goods.
- Growing per capita income in India has shifted the average consumption basket towards foods rich in minerals, such as fruits and vegetables, and protein, such as milk and meat.
- But the expansion of the supply of these foods has been lower than the growth in demand for them.
- So a concerted drive to increase the supply of food other than rice and wheat holds the key.
- Costly food threatens the health of the population, as people economise on their food intake, and holds back the economy, as only a small part of a household’s budget can be spent on non-agricultural goods.
Conclusion
Monetary policy manoeuvres, typified by the RBI’s raising of the repo rate is not an efficient solution for agricultural price-driven inflation. Any lasting inflation control would require placing agricultural production on a steady footing, with continuously rising productivity.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CRR
Mains level: Paper 3- Inflation targeting by the RBI
Context
The RBI has decided to take the bull by the horns. It has raised the repo rate by 40 basis points and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points to fight inflation.
Why major central banks across the world are hiking rates?
- Across the world, major central banks have of late gone on a rate hike spree, waking up to the realisation of inflationary pressures not being transitory in nature.
- Record high inflation in the US: The US Fed has been on the offensive battling a 40-year high surge in prices.
- It has tapered its bond purchase programme drastically while suggesting in no uncertain terms the pace of rate hikes needed to combat inflation.
- The European Union has been slow to respond but voices are growing to correct the path at the earliest.
- Banks like the Central Bank of Brazil or the Russian Central Bank have increased the interest rate to double digits.
- Emerging economies have been doubly hit — the days of easy liquidity are well behind them even as their economic resources remain constrained to support an uneven proportion of population hit by pandemic.
- Including the RBI’s decision today to push the benchmark rate to align with the current market realities, 21 countries have increased interest rates so far.
Analysing the RBI’s decision to hike interest rates
- To this extent, the decision by the RBI to frontload the rate hikes ahead of the Fed decision is again an attempt to stem capital outflows.
- Accommodative policy stance; The most interesting aspect of the rate hike today is the continuation of the accommodative policy stance.
- The CRR hike may be just an attempt to build up a war chest on the liquidity front.
- Liquidity inflows to the financial system could be either policy induced by the central bank for example changes in reserves, open market operations etc or non-policy induced such as foreign exchange reserves, government cash balances, and currency in circulation.
- Given that non-policy induced liquidity inflows have been recently impacted (outflows of portfolio capital) and given the huge size of the government borrowing programme, the RBI also needs to support the market through some means.
- Impounding bank reserves through the CRR (Rs 87,000 crore) could give some space to the central bank to conduct open market purchases of bonds from banks and thus inject concomitant liquidity some time in the future if the need so arises.
- The CRR rate hike is thus an important tool to possibly manage G-sec yields.
Inflation dynamics in India
- The inflationary pressures can be attributed mainly to adverse cost-push factors, coming from supply-side shocks in food and fuel prices.
- The RBI statement thus cites food inflation as a major source of discomfort.
- Additionally, nominal rural wages for both agricultural and non-agricultural labourers picked up during the second half 2021-22.
- However, such wage growth has remained soft.
- Measures to ameliorate supply-side cost pressures would be thus critical at this juncture, especially in terms of a calibrated reduction of taxes on petrol and diesel.
- On the policy side, however, it would mean that even after rate hikes, inflation may continue to remain high for some time.
- The MCLR (Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate) linked loans have a share of around 53 per cent in the overall loan kitty.
- With the rise in CRR and expected future hikes in the benchmark rates, there would be an increase in MCLR due to a negative carry.
Conclusion
The RBI has acted prudently in responding to market forces that could impact India’s growth prospects if inflationary concerns were not addressed now. At the same time, by pledging to remain accommodative to spur, and reinvigorate growth, it has reaffirmed its commitment to being a trusted partner in the growth of the country.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pardoning Powers
Mains level: Pardoning Powers in India
The Supreme Court has disagreed with the Central government’s suggestion that the court should wait till the President took a call on former PM’s assassination case convict A.G. Perarivalan’s mercy plea referred to him by the Tamil Nadu Governor for a decision.
Why in news now?
- The Bench of the Supreme Court said that the Centre had missed the obvious question posed by the court by a mile.
- The pertinent question was whether the Governor had, in the first place, the authority to refer the mercy plea to the President.
- Under Article 161 of the Constitution, the Governor was bound by the aid and advice given by the TN Council of Ministers in September 2018.
- The Governor prima facie had no authority to transfer the mercy plea to the President.
What does Pardon mean?
- A pardon is a government/executive decision to allow a person to be absolved of guilt for an alleged crime or other legal offense as if the act never occurred.
Why need a Pardon?
- Pardons can be granted when individuals are deemed to have demonstrated that they have “paid their debt to society”, or are otherwise considered to be deserving of them.
- Pardons are sometimes offered to persons who were either wrongfully convicted or who claim that they were wrongfully convicted.
- Pardons are sometimes seen as a mechanism for combating corruption, allowing a particular authority to circumvent a flawed judicial process to free someone that is seen as wrongly convicted.
What does Article 161 say?
- Article 161 of the Constitution provides the Governor with the power to remit or commute the sentence of any prisoner.
- The Governor’s decision will be subject to judicial review by the constitutional courts.
Supreme court’s observations
- The Constitution Bench in 2015, in a majority decision, had held that the States cannot unilaterally remit the sentences of life convicts in cases investigated by a Central agency under a Central law.
- The assassination case was probed by the CBI.
- In compliance with the 2015 verdict, the Tamil Nadu government wrote to the Centre in 2016, proposing the grant of remission to the convicts. The State wanted the Centre to concur.
- After a wait of over two years, the Centre rejected the State’s proposal, saying this was an unparalleled act in the annals of crimes committed in this country.
Arguments in Perarivalan’s petition seeking pardon
- Perarivalan had been pleading for release citing that he was 19 when he was arrested.
- He was the only male child of his parents, there were no records of criminal antecedents, and that he had excellent conduct in his entire prison life.
- His petition also cited UG and PG degrees, and that he was the university topper, Gold medalist in diploma in DTP, and that he completed more than eight diploma and certificate courses during his prison term.
- His probation officer gave a report about lapses in recording his confession statement that handed out maximum punishment in his case.
Basis of his innocence
- Perarivalan cannot be called innocent before the law as he continues to be a convicted prisoner serving imprisonment.
- He was accused of having bought two battery cells for the LTTE man who masterminded the conspiracy.
- He was sentenced to death based on this crucial confession statement.
Significance of the convicts’ release
- The release of seven convicts is a demand raised by not only the ruling party of TN but the main opposition too.
- All TN politicians voiced that the judiciary should be able to reform and let them live as good citizens to uphold the high values of reformatory justice and restitution.
Back2Basics: Pardoning Powers in India
- Under the Constitution of India (Article 72), the President of India can grant a pardon or reduce the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital punishment.
- A similar and parallel power vests in the governors of each state under Article 161.
(1) President
- Article 72 says that the president shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.
- The pardoning powers of the Indian President are elucidated in Art 72 of the Indian Constitution. There are five different types of pardoning which are mandated by law.
- Pardon: means completely absolving the person of the crime and letting him go free. The pardoned criminal will be like a normal citizen.
- Commutation: means changing the type of punishment given to the guilty into a less harsh one, for example, a death penalty commuted to a life sentence.
- Reprieve: means a delay allowed in the execution of a sentence, usually a death sentence, for a guilty person to allow him some time to apply for a Presidential Pardon or some other legal remedy to prove his innocence or successful rehabilitation.
- Respite: means reducing the quantum or degree of the punishment to a criminal in view of some special circumstances, like pregnancy, mental condition etc.
- Remission: means changing the quantum of the punishment without changing its nature, for example reducing twenty-year rigorous imprisonment to ten years.
(2) Governor
- As per Article 161, the Governor of a State has the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law.
- It must be relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.
- Please note that President can grant pardon to a person awarded death sentence. But a governor of a state does not enjoy this power.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NEET Quota row
Mains level: Read the attached story
The CM informed the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly that Governor has forwarded the NEET exemption Bill to the Union Home Ministry to be sent to the President of India for his assent.
What is the TN Bill about?
- The Bill exempts medical aspirants in Tamil Nadu from taking NEET examination for admission to UG degree courses in Indian medicine, dentistry and homeopathy.
- Instead, it seeks to provide admission to such courses on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination, through “Normalization methods”.
- The aim of the Bill is to ensure “social justice, uphold equality and equal opportunity, protect all vulnerable student communities from being discriminated”.
- It seeks to bring vulnerable student communities to the “mainstream of medical and dental education and in turn ensure a robust public health care across the state, particularly the rural areas”.
Why TN is against NEET?
- Non-representative: TN opposes because NEET undermined the diverse societal representation in MBBS and higher medical studies.
- Disfavors the poor: It has favored mainly the affordable and affluent sections of the society and thwarting the dreams of underprivileged social groups.
- Exams for the elite: It considers NEET not a fair or equitable method of admission since it favored the rich and elite sections of society.
- Healthcare concerns: If continued, the rural and urban poor may not be able to pursue medical courses.
Can any state legislate against NEET?
- Admissions to medical courses are traceable to entry 25 of Concurrent List, Schedule VII of the Constitution.
- Therefore, the State can also enact a law regarding admission and amend any Central law on admission procedures.
Why is it going for President’s assent?
- The question is not whether the State government can amend a law falling under the Concurrent List.
- The question is whether the State government can exempt Section 10D of the IMC Act, which is a parliamentary law that falls under the Central List (Entry 66).
- Moreover, the Supreme Court has also upheld NEET as a requirement.
- Mere statistics highlighting that a majority of the stakeholders do not want NEET in Tamil Nadu is not an answer for exempting the examination.
Again, it is State and Centre are at crossroads
- Normally, a Bill requires assent from the Governor to become a law. Stalin’s contention is that this Bill deals with education, which is a Concurrent List subject.
- Admissions to medical courses fall under Entry 25 of List III, Schedule VII of the Constitution, and therefore the state is competent to regulate the same.
- Yet, as far as matters relating to the determination of standards for higher education are concerned, the central government has the power to amend a clause or repeal an Act.
- So, just the passing of the Bill doesn’t enable the students to get exempted from writing NEET.
- Already, Union Higher Education Secretary has held that if any State wants to opt out of the exam, it has to seek permission from the Supreme Court.
Options for Tamil Nadu
- Data is necessary only when there is power to legislate on the subject concerned.
- Since the Bill, which will become an Act only after the President’s nod, will come into effect only from the next academic year, the battle for and against the NEET requirement will continue in courts.
- Hopefully, the courts will determine the legality and have a definite solution to the question of medical admissions within the next year.
- Till such time, students who wrote NEET will fill the seats under the State quota.
Also read:
Bill assent, a delay and the Governor’s options
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST Compensation
Mains level: Read the attached story
The West Bengal CM has said that slashing State levies on petrol and diesel will be possible only if the Centre clears its outstanding dues of over ₹97,000 crore, which includes compensation for implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
What is GST?
- GST launched in India on 1 July 2017 is a comprehensive indirect tax for the entire country.
- It is charged at the time of supply and depends on the destination of consumption.
- For instance, if a good is manufactured in state A but consumed in state B, then the revenue generated through GST collection is credited to the state of consumption (state B) and not to the state of production (state A).
- GST, being a consumption-based tax, resulted in loss of revenue for manufacturing-heavy states.
Compensation under GST regime
- Due to the consumption-based nature of GST, manufacturing states like Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu feared a revenue loss.
- Thus, GST Compensation Cess or GST Cess was introduced by the government to compensate for the possible revenue losses suffered by such manufacturing states.
- However, under existing rules, this compensation cess will be levied only for the first 5 years of the GST regime – from July 1st, 2017 to July 1st, 2022.
- Compensation cess is levied on five products considered to be ‘sin’ or luxury as mentioned in the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 and includes items such as- Pan Masala, Tobacco, and Automobiles etc.
Distributing GST compensation
- The compensation cess payable to states is calculated based on the methodology specified in the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017.
- The compensation fund so collected is released to the states every 2 months.
- Any unused money from the compensation fund at the end of the transition period shall be distributed between the states and the centre as per any applicable formula.
Significance of GST compensation
- States no longer possess taxation rights after most taxes, barring those on petroleum, alcohol, and stamp duty were subsumed under GST.
- GST accounts for almost 42% of states’ own tax revenues, and tax revenues account for around 60% of states’ total revenues.
- Finances of over a dozen states are under severe strain, resulting in delays in salary payments and sharp cuts in capital expenditure outlay amid the pandemic-induced lockdowns and the need to spend on healthcare.
What is the status of the outstanding GST compensation due to the States?
- The Finance Ministry said that outstanding GST compensation dues to States for 2021-22 stood at ₹78,704 crore.
- This means that dues have been remitted to States for the eight-month period of April 2021 till November 2021.
- Normally, compensation for 10 months from April-January of any financial year is released during that year and the compensation for February-March is released only in the next financial year.
- The pending amount will also be released as and when the amount from cess accrues in the compensation fund.
Also read:
[Burning Issue] GST Compensation
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Repo Rate
Mains level: Inflation targetting by MPC
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a sudden move, raised the repo rate by 40 basis points (bps) to 4.4% citing inflation that was globally rising alarmingly and spreading fast.
Why in news?
- The repo rate increase was the first since August 2018.
- The MPC retained its ‘accommodative’ policy stance even as it focuses on withdrawal of accommodation to keep inflation within the target range while supporting growth.
- Due to Ukraine War, persistent and spreading inflationary pressures are becoming more acute with every passing day.
Hues over the REPO spike
- The move — to have such a meeting and to raise the interest rates — is, at two different levels, both surprising and obvious.
- It is surprising because the RBI’s MPC meets once every two months — and the meeting this week was not scheduled.
What is Repo Rate?
- Repo rate is the rate at which the central bank of a country (Reserve Bank of India in case of India) lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds.
- It is used by monetary authorities to control inflation.
- In the event of inflation, central banks increase repo rate as this acts as a disincentive for banks to borrow from the central bank.
- This ultimately reduces the money supply in the economy and thus helps in arresting inflation.
How does the repo dynamics work?
- When there is a shortage of funds, commercial banks borrow money from the central bank which is repaid according to the repo rate applicable.
- The central bank provides these short terms loans against securities such as treasury bills or government bonds.
- This monetary policy is used by the central bank to control inflation or increase the liquidity of banks.
- The government increases the repo rate when they need to control prices and restrict borrowings.
- An increase in repo rate means commercial banks have to pay more interest for the money lent to them and therefore, a change in repo rate eventually affects public borrowings such as home loan, EMIs, etc.
- From interest charged by commercial banks on loans to the returns from deposits, various financial and investment instruments are indirectly dependent on the repo rate.
What is accommodative stance of policy?
- Accommodative monetary policy is when central banks expand the money supply to boost the economy. Monetary policies that are considered accommodative include lowering the Federal funds rate.
- These measures are meant to make money less expensive to borrow and encourage more spending.
What triggered the RBI to take sudden decision?
- Inflation has been rising for over two years: By law, the RBI is supposed to target retail inflation at 4%. Inflation constantly above 4% since last year.
- Inflation has not been “transitory”: The reasons for high inflation have tended to change over the months due to wide range of reasons like war, crude oil prices rise, taxes on fuels etc.
- Spike in crude oil prices is not new: The RBI has pointed to high crude oil prices in the wake of the Ukraine war, as one of the key reasons for high inflation in India.
- High core inflation: The core inflation which is essentially the inflation rate stripped of the effect of fuel and food prices has been rising up. This is more worrisome for RBI since it cannot be altered overnight.
- Monetary policy has lags. RBI waited too long: If the RBI wanted to contain inflation in May, it should have acted in February or at least in April. Raising rates right now may not bring down the inflation rate immediately.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:
Q.If the RBI decides to adopt an expansionist monetary policy, which of the following it would NOT do?
- Cut and optimize the statutory liquidity ratio
- Increase the Marginal Standing Facility Rate
- Cut the Bank Rate and Repo Rate
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here:
Back2Basics: Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
- The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a committee of the RBI, which is entrusted with the task of fixing the benchmark policy interest rate (repo rate) to contain inflation within the specified target level.
- The RBI Act, 1934 was amended by Finance Act (India), 2016 to constitute MPC to bring more transparency and accountability in fixing India’s Monetary Policy.
- The policy is published after every meeting with each member explaining his opinions.
- The committee is answerable to the Government of India if the inflation exceeds the range prescribed for three consecutive months.
- Suggestions for setting up a MPC is not new and goes back to 2002 when YV Reddy committee proposed to establish an MPC, then Tarapore committee in 2006, Percy Mistry committee in 2007, Raghuram Rajan committee in 2009 and then Urjit Patel Committee in 2013.
Composition and Working
- The committee comprises six members – three officials of the RBI and three external members nominated by the Government of India.
- The meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee are held at least 4 times a year and it publishes its decisions after each such meeting.
- The Governor of RBI is the chairperson ex officio of the committee.
- Decisions are taken by a majority with the Governor having the casting vote in case of a tie.
- They need to observe a “silent period” seven days before and after the rate decision for “utmost confidentiality”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Civil Registration System (CRS)
Mains level: Total covid related fatality in India
The Civil Registration System (CRS) report 2020 was released at least a month before its schedule.
What is Civil Registration System (CRS)?
- The CRS collates data on all births and deaths registered with local authorities across India.
- The CRS report is released by the Registrar-General of India.
- It releases its report around 18 months after a year ends.
Significance of the 2020 Report
- The 2020 report was released at least a month before schedule.
- Such data can be of significance during a pandemic as possible covid-19 deaths may not have been categorized as such in official records.
- The CRS can help us reach an estimate by using the “excess deaths” approach.
- It is the difference between the total number of deaths registered in a pandemic year and the number of deaths that normally take place in a year.
Why was the data released ahead of schedule?
- India and the WHO are locked in a tussle over the latter’s excess death estimates that would give a sense of pandemic-linked fatalities globally in 2020-21.
- India has reportedly stalled WHO’s efforts to release the data, claiming flawed methodology.
- WHO is set to release its estimates today, a possible reason that India released CRS data early.
Why is India contesting the WHO approach?
- One key objection by India is that WHO has classified it as a Tier 2 country and hence used a different modelling process to estimate excess deaths from that used for Tier 1 countries.
- WHO says all countries that made available their full all-cause mortality data for the pandemic period were classified as Tier 1.
- India is in Tier 2 because it didn’t share official data with WHO.
- Hence, alternative data and modelling methods had to be adopted, adjusting for factors such as income levels, covid-19 reporting rates, and test positivity rates.
What does the 2020 data show?
(a) Covid deaths
- The CRS report for 2020 has recorded deaths of 8.12 million Indians, 6.2% more than 2019.
- Normally, an unusual increase in deaths would be linked to the pandemic. However, in India, not all deaths are registered.
- Thus, a rise could simply be because of more families getting deaths registered.
- The CRS for 2021, which saw more Covid deaths, may not be out until next year.
(b) Improvements in sex ratio
- Highest Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) based on registered events has been reported by Ladakh (1,104) followed by Arunachal Pradesh (1,011), A&N Islands (984), Tripura (974), and Kerala (969).
- The lowest sex ratio was reported by Manipur (880), followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (898), Gujarat (909), Haryana (916) and Madhya Pradesh (921).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green Hydrogen Task Force
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Germany relations
Context
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Berlin for the sixth Indo-German Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC) is significant for its timing and substantial results.
Strategic and economic importance of India-German ties
- The timing of the IGC, which Germany chose not to delay, showed outreach to India and the Indo-Pacific.
- Impact of pandemic on economy: The pandemic hit German economy and sanctions on Russia will further dent its prospects.
- The country requires new markets for trade and investment.
- India is an important partner in this regard due to its sustained economic growth and market size.
- Ukraine crisis: The Ukraine crisis created an urgency to engage with India as part of Germany’s fledgling Indo-Pacific policy.
Opportunities for India
- As Germany does the reassessment of China’s role in world affairs it creates an opportunity for India.
- The Bundestag will discuss the situation of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang on May 7.
- Any departures from China will bring business engagement to India.
- Germany and India do not have a traditional strategic partnership.
- It is a green partnership based on trade, investment, technology, functional collaboration, skill development, and sustainability.
- There are several initiatives like the Indo-German energy forum, environmental forum, partnership on urban mobility, skill development and science and technology.
- The biggest gain from the IGC has been the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) establishing the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership.
- This will raise the quality and quantum of the existing partnership between the two countries.
- Germany is reaching out with new and additional financing of €10 billion to fund green projects in India under public, private and PPP models.
- To support this, a ministerial segment is being introduced under the IGC.
- The IGC is the only such format that India has with any country.
- Another significant development is the JDI on Triangular Development Cooperation for projects in third countries.
- This will provide avenues to work together in the Indo-Pacific, Africa and beyond.
- The Indo-German Education Partnership, which the German Bundestag passed in 2016 as a New Passage to India, has borne fruit — from about 4,000 students in 2015, there are nearly 29,000 Indian students in Germany.
- The Indo-German Science and Technology Centre has made valuable contributions.
- Now, under the energy partnership, the Green Hydrogen Task Force will develop a Green Hydrogen Roadmap.
- This will attempt to take R&D to the level of commercialisation.
- The JDI on migration and mobility is an important step taken during this IGC.
Conclusion
A new period is reflecting new priorities in view of crises like the pandemic, the economic downturn and now, Ukraine. The German response to India as evidenced through the IGC has been promising. Both sides may justifiably call it a defining moment in the Indo-German partnership.
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