| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Serological surveys

Mains level: Herd immunity and related health concerns

The initial findings of the fifth round of serological survey conducted in Delhi suggest that over 56 percent of the people have developed antibodies against Covid-19 implying achievement of herd immunity.

Herd Immunity

Herd immunity is when a large number of people are vaccinated against a disease, lowering the chances of others being infected by it.
When a sufficient percentage of a population is vaccinated, it slows the spread of disease.
It is also referred to as community immunity or herd protection.
The decline of disease incidence is greater than the proportion of individuals immunized because vaccination reduces the spread of an infectious agent by reducing the amount and/or duration of pathogen shedding by vaccines, retarding transmission.
The approach requires those exposed to the virus to build natural immunity and stop the human-to-human transmission. This will subsequently halt its spread.

Sero-surveys in Delhi

The results of the latest serosurvey in Delhi have led researchers and experts to surmise that a large section of the city’s population has already developed antibodies against Covid-19.
The presence of antibodies among a large percentage of the population could be a reason for the decline in the daily number of Covid-19 cases.
As more people are able to resist infection, it will help to break the chain of transmission of the virus.
Five serological surveys have been carried out in Delhi so far, including the present one, which was conducted in January.
The survey conducted by NCDC in July last year suggested the presence of antibodies in 23 percent of those surveyed.
In August, the survey conducted by the Delhi government showed 29.1 percent had antibodies.

The relevance of such surveys

Carrying out repeated serological surveillance on the same population gives an idea of how the disease is behaving.
It is always good to have surveillance regularly to understand the trends.
Having robust surveillance is always beneficial, it may not be too close, but it may help us in giving an idea, even of the natural history of the disease.

What do the data suggest about herd immunity?

Many researchers believe that if 60 percent or more of the population has developed antibodies against Covid-19, there is a possibility of acquiring herd immunity.
In Delhi, it is quite indicative, as the number of cases is also going down. This shows that we are moving closer towards acquiring herd immunity.

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Leveraging government-private thought partnerships

op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 2- Thought partnership for informed policymaking

Thought partnership between government and the external players can aid in informed policymaking. The article deals with these issues and suggest forging of more of such partnerships.

Government working together with external partners

Policymaking requires multiple rounds of consultations and co-working with different entities, including collaboration between the government and external partners.
Over the last few years, there has been increasing evidence of the government and external partners working together on complex policy problems.
The government has formalized the induction of private individuals into the system by opening up lateral entry.
Several central government ministries and entities, such as NITI Aayog, routinely recruit private individuals as consultants, officers on special duty, or young professionals.
Given the staggering vacancies in the central government, such support is critical since civil servants are generally overburdened and under-resourced.

What is thought partnership and how it works

Thought partnerships are a structured mechanism for private entities to lend relevant strategic expertise to the government on policy design, evaluation, and implementation.
It is also not always feasible for the government itself to fund projects involving private partners, more so when such projects are unconventional thought partnerships.
Several domestic and international philanthropies and impact investing firms are already investing in critical sectors in developing countries including India.
However, much of this funding goes into supporting projects or interventions that work in limited, contextual settings rather than systemic or sectoral transformation programs.
It is here that philanthropies and impact investing firms can make a huge difference.

Past thought partnerships

In 2005, the Ashok Lahiri Committee report stated that there was not enough knowledge about external capital flows and controls in India.
The committee’s recommendation resulted in the establishment of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Department of Economic Affairs research program.
The program led to the creation of a rich body of world-class research on capital controls and flows in India that was used to inform government policy on the matter.
In 2015, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs constituted a research secretariat headed by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, to support the Companies Law Committee to make “informed decisions”.
The National Institute of Financial Management is working with the Department of Economic Affairs to provide legal research and technical assistance on Indian and foreign financial markets, policy analysis, formulation as well as the conduct of impact assessment studies on decisions taken by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Consider the question “What is thought partnership and how it could help in making informed policymaking? What are the challenges in forging thought partnerships?”

Conclusion

It is in the public interest that more thought partnerships are forged and funded to channel external expertise and skills towards finding scalable solutions to the pressing policy challenges the country faces.

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India’s Bid to a Permanent Seat at United Nations

Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) at UNSC

IOCR | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: IGN, UNSC

Mains level: India's agenda at UNSC

Seeking urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), India has highlighted the failure of the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) since 13 years of its establishment.

Note various countries in the various groups.

What is the news?

India, along with Brazil, Japan and Germany are pressing for urgent reform of the UNSC and for a permanent seat in the reformed 15-member top organ of the world body.
India has said that the UNSC is finding itself unable to act effectively to address increasingly complex issues of international peace and security.
The UNSC lacks inclusivity of those who need to be members of the powerful organ of the world body.

What is IGN?

The Intergovernmental Negotiations framework or IGN is a group of nation-states working within the United Nations to further reform of the UNSC.
The IGN is composed of several different international organizations, namely:

African Union (55 member states)
G4 nations (Brazil, Germany, India and Japan)
Uniting for Consensus Group (UfC), also known as the “Coffee Club” (it aims to counter the bids for permanent seats proposed by G4 nations, includes Pakistan, Turkey, Canada, Spain and Italy)
L69 Group of Developing Countries ( it includes developing countries from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific)
Arab League (six members: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria) and
Caribbean Community ( a group of 15 member countries called CARICOM)

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Right To Privacy

What is Non-price Competition?

Prelims Only | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Non-price competition

Mains level: Data privacy issues

Data privacy can take the form of non-price competition and abuse of dominance can lower privacy protection, a study by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has said.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Right to Privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty. Which of the following in the Constitution of India correctly and appropriately imply the above statements?

(a) Article 14 and the provisions under the 42^nd Amendment to the Constitution

(b) Article 17 and the Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV

(c) Article 21 and the freedoms guaranteed in Part III

(d) Article 24 and the provisions under the 44^th Amendment to the Constitution

What is Non-price Competition?

Non-price competition is a marketing strategy “in which one firm tries to distinguish its product or service from competing products on the basis of attributes like design and workmanship”.
It often occurs in imperfectly competitive markets as it exists between two or more producers that sell goods and services at the same prices but compete through non-price measures.
Such measures include marketing schemes and greater quality or any sustainable competitive advantage other than price.

What is CCI’s observation?

The CCI study made observations about non-price factors such as quality of service (QoS), data speeds etc. which are likely to be the new drivers of competitive rivalry between service providers in the telecom sector.
CCI noted that an aspect of data in the context of competition in digital communications market is the conflict between allowing access and protecting consumer privacy.

Privacy at stake

Abuse of dominance can take the form of lowering the privacy protection and therefore fall within the ambit of antitrust as low privacy standard implies lack of consumer welfare.
Privacy can take the form of non-price competition, said the CCI.
On other non-price factors of competition, CCI found that consumers ranked network coverage at the top followed by customer service despite their Privacy.

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Port Infrastructure and Shipping Industry – Sagarmala Project, SDC, CEZ, etc.

Shipping sector in india

op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Sagarmala

Mains level: Paper 3- India's shipping industry and challenges

The article deals with the problems faced by India’s shipping sector and suggests the measures to improve the shipping sector.

Importance of shipping for economic growth

The major economies of the world have always realized the potential of shipping as a contributor to economic growth.
For instance, control of the seas is a key component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
However, geographically, China is not as blessed as India, yet, seven of the top 10 container ports in the world are in China, according to the World Shipping Council.
What aided China’s growth are strong merchant marine and infrastructure to carry and handle merchandise all over the world.

Lack of carrying capacity

All the shipping infrastructure in peninsular India only helps foreign shipping liners.
India has concentrated only on short-term solutions.
Foreign ship owners carry our inbound and outbound cargo. This is the case in container shipping too.
As a country, we have still not optimized our carrying capacity.
Much of foreign currency is drained as transshipment and handling costs every day.
Due to this, members of our maritime business community have also preferred to be agents for foreign ship owners or container liners rather than becoming ship owners or container liners themselves.
As a result, there is a wide gap between carrying capacity and multi-folded cargo growth in the country.

Way forward

1) Regional cargo-specific ports

Instead of creating regional cargo-specific ports in peninsular India, we allowed similar infrastructural developments in multiple cargo-handling ports.
As a result, Indian ports compete for the same cargo.
We need to make our major ports cargo-specific, develop infrastructure on a par with global standards, and connect them with the hinterlands as well as international sea routes, they will automatically become transshipment hubs.
We need to only concentrate on developing the contributing ports to serve the regional transshipment hubs for which improving small-ship coastal operations is mandatory.

2) Sagarmala

Sagarmala aims are port-led industrialization, development of world-class logistics institutions, and coastal community development.
Sagarmala will help in increasing domestic carrying capacity.
Shipbuilding, repair, and ownership are not preferred businesses in India and the small ship-owning community in India also prefer foreign registry instead of domestic registration.
If this has to change, there needs to be a change in the mindset of the authorities and the maritime business community.
‘Make in India’ will result in multi-folded cargo growth in the country, we need ships to cater to domestic and international trade.
Short sea and river voyages should be encouraged.
Shipbuilding and owning should be encouraged by the Ministry.
The National Shipping Board is an independent advisory body for the Ministry of Shipping, where the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) is a member.
The NSB should be able to question the functioning of the DGS, which is responsible for promoting carrying capacity in the country.
Coastal communities should be made ship owners.
This will initiate the carriage of cargo by shallow drafted small ships through coast and inland waterways.
Sagarmala should concentrate on consolidating the strength of the coastal youth and make them contribute to the nation’s economy with pride.

Consider the question “How shipping contributes to the economic prosperity of a country? Suggest the steps need to be taken to develop its shipping sector.”

Conclusion

Shipping plays an important role in the economic development of a country. India needs to focus on developing it to achieve the economic prosperity.

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RBI Notifications

The formidable challenge of reversing a liquidity glut

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

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Monetary policy measures

Mains level: Paper 3- Dealing with the excess liquidity

The article highlights the challenge in dealing with the excess liquidity in the economy after the central banks injected liquidity by persuing unorthodox policies.

Overview of policies adopted during 2008 financial crisis

Days after the crash of Lehman Brothers, the United States Congress approved an emergency bailout package of $700 billion in September 2008.
The amount was used to buy off mortgage-backed securities from banks, hedge funds and pension funds to avert further Lehman-type bankruptcies.
As a result, fresh money was injected into the banking system for it to resume normal credit operations and clean up balance sheets.
Subsequent actions of the US government and Federal Reserve blurred the distinction between fiscal and monetary policy.
‘Quantitative easing’ was a term coined to describe unorthodox measures like a central bank buying off mortgages and loans, and thus taking credit risk onto its balance sheet.
So, quantitative easing was pursued by all the major central banks of the developed world.
Central banks embarked upon an aggressive money-printing spree. Assets on their books ballooned.

Monetary response during pandemic subsequent liquidity glut

During the pandemic year more than a decade after the 2008 crisis, the West’s monetary spigots have been opened even more.
A liquidity glut has ensued.
While the rate of monetary expansion over this period has been healthy, neither employment nor economic output grew by even a fraction of that rate.
Central bank finds itself in the maze.

RBI in a similar situation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) too finds itself in a similar predicament, where the way out of its liquidity glut is hazy.
Due to purchases of foreign exchange externally and of government bonds domestically, RBI’s balance sheet has ballooned by more 30% by August last year.
RBI has injected liquidity through long-term repo operations, which essentially provide long-term money at low overnight rates.
The Indian central bank has also provided implicit liquidity support to mutual funds.
However, the RBI has not quite ventured into taking credit risk onto its books, nor has it signalled a readiness to buy toxic assets.

Liquidity glut and challenges associated with it

As a result of India’s liquidity glut, money is flowing in and out of the central bank to the tune of ₹7 trillion on a daily basis.
This has resulted in an anomaly: market lending rates have gone below RBI’s reverse repo rate, which is supposed to be the de facto floor.
Cheap money encourages to do foolish and risky things, which, if done widely and voluminously enough, can spell disaster for financial stability.
But, any hint of reducing the rate of money expansion threatens to cause panic and burst the bubble it blew.
So, when RBI tentatively tried to move market rates higher by announcing a reverse repo auction,the market reaction was one of panic all the same, and there was a spike in interest rates.
This caused the central bank to rethink its strategy.
To calm nervous bond traders, the governor has categorically said that liquidity support will continue as long as necessary.

Way forward

We need to plan an exit from the current glut.
One way out could be loan ₹5 trillion to the central government against shares of public sector undertakings, at a low rate of 3% for a period of five years to fund its huge deficit.
That will bypass markets and not cause any disruption to interest rates.

Consider the question “Why the challenges posed by liquidity glut caused by the unorthodox policies adopted by the central bank in the aftermath of the pandemic? What are the challenges in reducing the liquidity?”

Conclusion

Whatever the way out of this whirlpool of liquidity, it’s not going to be easy.

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Agricultural Sector and Marketing Reforms – eNAM, Model APMC Act, Eco Survey Reco, etc.

Agriculture credit

op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Issues Related To Farm Subsidies & Msp

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Agriculture Census

Mains level: Paper 3- Exclusion of small and marginal farmers from agri-credit

India’s agriculture credit increased by 500% in the last decade, however, this increase in the credit has not been reflected in the condition of the farmers. The article deals with the issues with the agri-credit in India.

Impact of credit on agriculture

Providing credit to small farmers at a reasonable rate has been the agenda of the Centre, the States, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for decades.
However, the volume of credit has improved over the decades, its quality and impact on agriculture have only deteriorated.
In 2011-12, the target was ₹4.75-lakh crore; now, agri-credit has reached the target of ₹15-lakh crore in 2020-21 with an allocated subsidy of ₹21,175 crores.
Agricultural credit has become less efficient in delivering agricultural growth.

Issues with agri-credit: small farmers left-out

In the last 10 years, agriculture credit increased by 500% but has not reached even 20% of the 12.56 crore small and marginal farmers.
95% of tractors and other agri-implements sold in the country are being financed by non-banking financial companies, or NBFCs, at an 18% rate of interest.
The RBI has also questioned agricultural households with up to two hectares getting only about 15% of the subsidized outstanding loan from institutional sources (bank, co-operative society).
As per the Agriculture Census, 2015-16, the total number of small and marginal farmers’ households in the country stood at 12.56 crore which makes up 86.1% of the total holdings.
As in the Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the share of institutional loans rises with an increase in land possessed.
This shows that the bulk of subsidized agri-credit is grabbed by big farmers and agri-business companies.

What are the reasons

A loose definition of agri-credit has led to the leakage of loans at subsidized rates to large companies in agri-business.
The RBI had set a cap that out of a bank’s overall adjusted net bank credit, 18% must go to the agriculture sector, and within this, 8% must go to small and marginal farmers and 4.5% for indirect loans, bank advances routinely breach the limit.
A review by the RBI’s internal working group in 2019 found that in some States, credit disbursal to the farm sector was higher than their agriculture gross domestic product (GDP) and the ratio of crop loans disbursed to input requirement was very unevenly distributed.
This shows the diversion of credit for non-agriculture purposes.
One reason for this diversion is that subsidized credit disbursed at a 4%-7% rate of interest is being refinanced to small farmers, and in the open market at a rate of interest of up to 36%.

Way forward

The way forward is to empower small and marginal farmers by ‘giving them direct income support on a per hectare basis rather than hugely subsidizing credit.
Streamlining the agri-credit system to facilitate higher crop loans to farmer producer organizations, or the FPOs of small farmers against commodity stocks can be a win-win model to spur agriculture growth’.
With mobile phone penetration among agricultural households in India being as high as 89.1%, efforts to improve institutional credit delivery through technology-driven solutions can reduce the extent of the financial exclusion of agricultural households
There is a need to reforming the land leasing framework and creating a national-level agency to build consensus among States and the Centre concerning agriculture credit reforms.

Consider the question “Growth in the agriculture sector in India has not been commensurate with the growth in the agriculture credit. What are the reasons for this disparity? Suggest the measures to deal with the challenges in agri-credit delivery.”

Conclusion

Improving the access to credit at a reasonable rate will help in increasing their income but to do that reforms in credit delivery is the need of the hour.

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

What is The Great Reset?

IOCR | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Inclusive Growth & Issues

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: WEF

Mains level: The Great Reset

This news card is an excerpt from the original article published in The Indian Express and is articulated by C. Raja Mohan.

The Great Reset

The Great Reset is a proposal by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to rebuild the economy sustainably following the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was unveiled in May 2020 by the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles and WEF director Klaus Schwab.

The basis for the said reset

It is based on the assessment that the world economy is in deep trouble.
Schwab has argued that the situation has been made a lot worse by many factors, including the pandemic’s devastating effects on global society, the un- folding technological revolution, and the consequences of climate change.
He demands that the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions.
Every country must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed.

Agenda behind

The agenda of The Great Reset touches on many key issues facing the world a/c to C Raja Mohan. Three of them stand out as:

First is the question of reforming capitalism

The WEF has been at the forefront of calling for “stakeholder capitalism” that looks beyond the traditional corporate focus on maximizing profit for shareholders.

Second, it is certainly right to focus on the deepening climate crisis

Climate skeptics have been ousted from Washington and President Biden has rejoined the 2015 Paris accord on mitigating climate change.

The third is the growing difficulty of global cooperation

The era of great power harmony that accompanied the liberalization of the global economy at the turn of the 1990s has yielded place to intense contestation. The contestation is not just political but increasingly economic and technological.

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Electric and Hybrid Cars – FAME, National Electric Mobility Mission, etc.

Green Tax for personal vehicles older than 15 years

| Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Green tax

Mains level: Vehicular pollution and its control

The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways has approved a proposal to levy a ‘green tax’ on old vehicles.

Do read about Green Mobility, India’s FAME-I and II Scheme.

Green Tax

Personal vehicles will be charged a tax at the time of renewal of Registration Certification after 15 years.
The policy will come into effect from April 1, 2022.
The levy may differ depending on fuel (petrol/diesel) and type of vehicle.
The proposal will now go to the States for consultation before it is formally notified.
It includes 10-25% of road tax on transport vehicles older than eight years at the time of renewal of fitness certificate.
The proposal on green tax also includes a steeper penalty of up to 50% of road tax for older vehicles registered in some of the highly polluted cities in the country.
Revenue collected from this tax will be kept in a separate account and will be used for tackling pollution, and for States to set up state-of-art facilities for emission monitoring.

Why such a move?

To dissuade people from using vehicles which damage the environment
To motivate people to switch to newer, less polluting vehicles
Green tax will reduce the pollution level, and make the polluter pay for pollution

Exemptions to this tax

Vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles and alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol, LPG etc to be exempted;
Vehicles used in farming, such as tractor, harvester, tiller etc to be exempted;

Other proposals

The Ministry also approved a watered-down policy of deregistration and scrapping of vehicles, bringing only those vehicles owned by government departments and PSUs and are older than 15 years under its ambit.
In 2016, the Centre had floated a draft Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernization Programme that aimed to take 28 million decade-old vehicles off the road.

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Judicial Reforms

Appointment of the Law Commission

| Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Law Commission

Mains level: Law Commission and its function

The Supreme Court has asked the Home and Law Ministries to explain the nearly three-year-long lapse in making appointments to the Law Commission.

Try this PYQ:

Q.The power to increase the number of judges in the Supreme Court of India is vested in

(a) The President of India

(b) The Parliament

(c) The Chief Justice of India

(d) The Law Commission

What is the news?

The posts of Chairperson and Members have been vacant ever since the 21st Law Commission under the former Supreme Court judge, Justice B.S. Chauhan completed its tenure in August.
The government approved the constitution of the 22nd Law Commission on February 19 last.
However, it has not appointed the Chairperson and Members to date.

What is the Law Commission?

It is an executive body established by an order of the Government of India. The first law commission of independent India was established post Independence in 1955
Tenure: 3 Years
Function: Advisory body to the Ministry of Law and Justice for “Legal Reforms in India”
Recommendations: NOT binding
First Law Commission was established during the British Raj in 1834 by the Charter Act of 1833
Chairman: Macaulay; It recommended for the Codifications of the IPC, CrPC etc.

Composition

The 22nd Law Commission will be constituted for a period of three years from the date of publication of its Order in the Official Gazette. It will consist of:

a full-time Chairperson;
four full-time Members (including Member-Secretary)
Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs as ex-officio Member;
Secretary, Legislative Department as ex officio Member; and
not more than five part-time Members.

Terms of reference

The Law Commission shall, on a reference made to it by the Central Government or suo-motu, undertake research in law and review of existing laws in India for making reforms therein and enacting new legislations.
It shall also undertake studies and research for bringing reforms in the justice delivery systems for elimination of delay in procedures, speedy disposal of cases, reduction in the cost of litigation, etc.

The Law Commission of India shall, inter-alia: –

identify laws that are no longer needed or relevant and can be immediately repealed
examine the existing laws in the light of DPSP and Preamble
consider and convey to the Government its views on any subject relating to law and judicial administration that may be specifically referred to it by the Government through Ministry of Law and Justice (Department of Legal Affairs);
Consider the requests for providing research to any foreign countries as may be referred to it by the Government through the Ministry of Law and Justice (Department of Legal Affairs);
take all such measures as may be necessary to harness law and the legal process in the service of the poor;
revise the Central Acts of general importance so as to simplify them and remove anomalies, ambiguities, and inequities

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Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

Global Climate Risk Index 2021

IOCR | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Global Climate Risk Index 2021

Mains level: Climate change vulnerability and the economics behind

India was ranked the seventh worst-hit country in 2019 in the Global Climate Risk Index 2021.

The report holds much significance for prelims as well as mains. Just for the sake of information, we must be aware of India’s performance.

Global Climate Risk Index

The GCRI is released annually by the environmental think tank and sustainable development lobbyist Germanwatch.
It analyses to what extent countries have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.).
It pushes for the need to support developing countries in coping with the effects of climate change.

Highlights of the 2020 year

Global prospects

Mozambique, Zimbabwe and The Bahamas were the worst-affected countries in 2019.
While hurricane Dorian ravaged The Bahamas; Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi were affected by the single extreme weather event of cyclone Idai.
Japan and Afghanistan were the other countries that fared worse than India on the Index, while South Sudan, Niger and Bolivia fared better in comparison but still made it to the top 10 worst-affected countries.

The burden of development

Eight of the 10 countries most affected between 2000 and 2019 were developing countries with low or lower middle income per capita.
Vulnerable people in developing countries suffered most from extreme weather events like storms, floods and heatwaves, whereas the impact of climate change was visible around the globe.
Poorer countries are hit hardest because they are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of a hazard and have the lower coping capacity.

Data about India

According to the Index floods caused by heavy rain in 2019 took 1,800 lives across 14 states in India and displaced 1.8 million people.
Overall, the intense monsoon season affected 11.8 million people, with the economic damage estimated to be $10 billion (Rs.72,900 crore at $1=INR 72.9).
A total of eight tropical cyclones meant that 2019 was one of the most active Northern Indian Ocean cyclone seasons on record. Six of them intensified to become “very severe”.
The worst was Cyclone Fani in May 2019 which affected a total of 28 million people, killing nearly 90 people in India and Bangladesh, and causing economic losses of $8.1 billion (Rs.59,066 crore).

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Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

Ayushman Bharat for CAPFs

Schemes | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Ayushman Bharat

Mains level: Universal health coverage

Union Home Minister has rolled out the ‘Ayushman CAPF’ scheme, extending the benefit of the central health insurance programme to the personnel of all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in the country.

Who are the CAPFs?

The CAPFs refers to uniform nomenclature of five security forces in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Their role is to defend the national interest mainly against the internal threats.
They are the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)

Ayushman CAPF

Under this scheme, around 28 lakh personnel of CAPF, Assam Rifles and National Security Guard (NSG) and their families will be covered by ‘Ayushman Bharat: PM Jan Arogya Yojana’ (AB PM-JAY).
For the CAPF, the existing health coverage was not comprehensive as compared to other military forces.

Do you know?

The goal of universal health coverage (UHC) as stated in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs no. 3) is one of the most significant commitments to equitable quality healthcare for all.

About Ayushman Bharat

PM-JAY aims to provide free access to healthcare for 40% of people in the country.
It is a centrally sponsored scheme and is jointly funded by both the union government and the states.
It was launched in September 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The ministry has later established the National Health Authority as an organization to administer the program.

Key features:

Providing health coverage for 10 crores households or 50 crores Indians.
It provides a cover of 5 lakh per family per year for medical treatment in empanelled hospitals, both public and private.
Offering cashless payment and paperless recordkeeping through the hospital or doctor’s office.
Using criteria from the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 to determine eligibility for benefits.
There is no restriction on family size, age or gender.
All previous medical conditions are covered under the scheme.
It covers 3 days of pre-hospitalization and 15 days of post-hospitalization, including diagnostic care and expenses on medicines.
The scheme is portable and a beneficiary can avail medical treatment at any PM-JAY empanelled hospital outside their state and anywhere in the country.

Note these features. They cannot be memorized all of sudden but can be recognized if a tricky MCQ comes in the prelims.

Must read:

[Burning Issue] Ayushmaan Bharat

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Wildlife Conservation Efforts

Places in news: Sundarban Biosphere Reserve

Places in news | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Sundarban Delta

Mains level: Not Much

Indian Sunderbans, which is part of the largest mangrove forest in the world, is home to 428 species of birds, a recent publication of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) States.

Sundarban Biosphere Reserve

Sundarbans is the largest delta and mangrove forest in the world.
The Indian Sunderbans, which covers 4,200 sq km, comprises of the Sunderban Tiger Reserve of 2,585 sq km is home to about 96 Royal Bengal Tigers (2020) is also a world heritage site and a Ramsar Site.
The Indian Sunderbans is bound on the west by river Muriganga and on the east by rivers Harinbhahga and Raimangal.
Other major rivers flowing through this eco-system are Saptamukhi, Thakuran, Matla and Goasaba.
Recent studies claim that the Indian Sundarban is home to 2,626 faunal species and 90% of the country’s mangrove varieties.

What is the latest research?

The scientists have listed 428 birds, some, like the Masked Finfoot and Buffy fish owl, are recorded only from the Sunderbans.
India has over 1,300 species of birds and if 428 species of birds are from Sunderbans.
The area is home to nine out of 12 species of kingfishers found in the country as well rare species such as the Goliath heron and Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

Try this PYQ:

With reference to India’s biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith barbet, Gray-chinned miniyet and White-throated redstart are–

(a) Birds

(b) Primates

(c) Reptiles

(d) Amphibians

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Right To Privacy

New WhatsApp Privacy Policy

op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Executive & Judiciary

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: The principle of purpose limitation

Mains level: Paper 2- WhatsApp privacy policy update and issue of privacy

Privacy policy update by the WhatsApp recently led to widespread protest from the user forcing company to put the update on hold. If India had made Personal Protection Bill into the law, the privacy policy update would have been illegal. The article deals with this issue.

About WhatsApp

WhatsApp’s unique blend of text, audio, and voice messaging and calling platform.
In November 2014, WhatsApp adopted the Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption after its acquisition by Facebook.
WhatsApp has two billion users worldwide, of which 400 million are in India, the largest in any country.

What the privacy policy update is about

The updated policy seeks consent from users to allow the platform to share their data with Facebook and its companies,
It means that WhatsApp would share transaction data, mobile device information, IP addresses, and other metadata on how users interact with businesses on WhatsApp.
Such sharing would be done with the user being notified before the start of a chat if the business uses Facebook to store and analyze data and the user would have the option of blocking the business.
The update would defy the principle of purpose limitation that has been the yardstick of addressing privacy concerns at a global level.

What is the principle of purpose limitation

The Indian government has also sent a strong note to WhatsApp, seeking the company’s response to 14 queries.
This note has sent a clear message to WhatsApp to not subject Indian users to greater information security risks and vulnerabilities with the consolidation of data from WhatsApp and Facebook.
In the note, the government referred to the principle of purpose limitation provisions in the Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) currently being discussed by a joint select committee.
Had the bill been passed by now, WhatsApp’s move would have been illegal.
Provisions in the bill required that every data intermediary has to take explicit permission from the user whose data would be harvested.
Even the method of data classification into sensitive personal data and critical data has been defined and their processing possibilities mentioned in the bill.

Way forward

The government should make the Personal Data Protection Bill into law so that such restrictive practices can never be introduced in the first place.
It is due to such law, WhatsApp did make an exception for its users in the European Union.
The Competition Commission of India should take note that this is a classic case of an organization using its near-monopolistic power to push through something that is not in the consumer interest.

Consider the question “What is the principle of purpose limitation in the Personal Data Protection Bill? How it can help user protect its privacy?”

Conclusion

As Digital India expands and brings in more users from the current base of 70 crores, and more take to social media for communications and business, they must be ensured a safer digital space, given that most wouldn’t be aware of the reach of the data being generated.

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A new framework around caste and the census

op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Difference between SECC and Census

Mains level: Paper 2- SECC and Census data

The article suggests the ways to make the most of the data collected through Census and the SECC.

Census and issues with it

The synchronous decennial Census has evolved over time and has been used by the government, policymakers, academics, and others.
Though Census is both a data collection effort and a technique of governance, it is criticized for not being useful enough for a detailed and comprehensive understanding of a complex society.
There is a lack of depth in the Census where some issues are concerned.

The debate around full-scale Caste Census

Since Independence, aggregated Census data on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on certain parameters such as education have been collected.
There is a growing demand for a full-scale caste census to capture contemporary Indian society and to understand and remedy inequalities.
While others believe that this large administrative exercise of capturing caste and its complexities is not only difficult but also socially untenable.
There have been concerns that counting caste may help solidify or harden identities, or that caste may be context-specific, and thus difficult to measure.
The other concern is whether an institution such as a caste can even be captured completely by the Census.

Socio-Economic Caste Census: how it is different from Census

Following debate over full-scale caste census, the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) was conducted in 2011.
The SECC, which collected the first figures on caste in Census operations since 1931, is the largest exercise of the enumeration of caste.
Questions remain on whether the SECC is able to cover the effects of caste as an aspect of Indian social structure.
This was a distinct exercise from the Census of 2011.
The Census and the SECC have different purposes.
Since the Census falls under the Census Act of 1948, all data are considered confidential, whereas the SECC data is open for use by Government departments to grant and/or restrict benefits to households.
The Census thus provides a portrait of the Indian population, while the SECC is a tool to identify beneficiaries of state support.

Way forward

What is needed is a discussion on the caste data that already exists, how it has been used and understood by the government.
Linking and syncing aggregated Census data to other large datasets such as the National Sample Surveys or the National Family Health Surveys that cover issues that the Census exercises do not, such as maternal health, would be significant for a more comprehensive analysis.
This linking of the Census with the National Sample Survey data has been suggested in the past by scholars such as Mamta Murthi and colleagues.
Census operations across the world are going through significant changes, employing methods that are precise, faster, and cost-effective, involving coordination between different data sources.
Care must however be taken to ensure that digital alternatives and linking of data sources involving Census operations are inclusive and non-discriminatory, especially given the sensitive nature of the data being collected.
Delay in the release of data needs to be reduced.
There needs to be a closer and continuous engagement between functionaries of the Census and SECC, along with academics and other stakeholders concerned.

Consider the question “How Socio-Economic and Caste Census is different from the Census? How linking and syncing of these data with other databases could help in the governance?”

Conclusion

Data collected through both the exercises serve an important purpose in the governance of the country, however, there is scope to widen the use of data if the steps suggested here are implemented.

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Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

Making a Law ‘Operational’

| | Mains Paper 2: Parliament & State Legislatures

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Art. 111, Presidents assent

Mains level: Law-making process

In the ongoing stalemate between protesting farmers and the Centre, the government has repeated its offer of keeping the three contentious farm laws on hold for one to one-and-a-half years.

Bringing/removing a law

Parliament has the power to make a law and to remove it from the statute books (a law can be struck down by the judiciary if it is unconstitutional).
But the passing of a Bill does not mean that it will start working from the next day.
There are three more steps for it to become a functioning law.

Try this PYQ:

Q.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

Making a law operational

The first step is the President giving his or her assent to the Bill.
Then the law comes into effect from a particular date. President Kovind signed the three farm Bills into law within a week of their passing in September 2020.
And finally, the government frames the rules and regulations to make the law operational on the ground.
The completion of these steps determines when the law becomes functional.

Presidents’ actions

Article 111 of the Constitution specifies that the President can either sign off on the Bill or withhold his consent.
The President rarely withholds their assent to a Bill.
The last time it happened was in 2006 when President APJ Abdul Kalam refused to sign a Bill protecting MPs from disqualification for holding an office of profit.
A Bill is sent to Parliament for reconsideration if the President withholds his or her assent on it.
And if Parliament sends it back to the President, he or he has no choice but to approve it.

A curious case of date of effect

The next step is deciding the date on which the law comes into effect.
In many cases, Parliament delegates to the government the power to determine this date.
The Bill states that the law “shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act”.

Example: Parliament passed the Recycling of Ships Act in December 2019. In October 2020, the government brought Section 3 of the law into force. This section empowers the government to designate an officer to supervise all ship recycling activities in India.

Giving effect to the implementation

There are also instances when the government does not bring a law into force for many years.
Two examples are the National Environment Tribunal Act and the Delhi Rent Control Act, which Parliament passed during PM P V Narasimha Rao’s tenure.
The government never brought these laws into force, which were passed in 1995 and cleared by the President.
The NGT Act finally repealed the environmental tribunal law in 2010. And a Bill to repeal the Delhi Rent Control Act introduced in 2013 is still pending in Rajya Sabha

Rules & regulations to be made

For the law to start working on the ground, individuals need to be recruited or given the power, to administer it.
The implementing ministry also needs to finalise forms to gather information and provide benefits or services.
These day-to-day operational details are called rules and regulations. And Parliament gives the government the responsibility of making them. These regulations are critical for the functioning of law.
If the government does not make rules and regulations, law or parts of it will not get implemented.

Example: The Benami Transactions Act of 1988 is an example of a complete law remaining unimplemented. For 25 years, such properties were immune from seizure in the absence of framing relevant government rules. The law was finally repealed in 2016 and replaced with a new one.

A final word on implementation

Parliament has recommended that the government make rules within six months of passing a law.
But parliamentary committees have observed that this recommendation is being followed in breach by various ministries.
The government not only has the power to make rules but can also suppress rules made by it earlier.

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Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Produce

The Cost of Guaranteed MSP

| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Issues Related To Farm Subsidies & Msp

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: MSP system

Mains level: Economics of MSP

The row over legally guaranteed MSP doesn’t seem to be settled down in near terms.

Farmers’ demand

Farmer unions protesting are raising two fundamental demands.

The first is for repealing the three agricultural reform laws enacted by the Centre.
The second is to provide a legal guarantee for the minimum support prices (MSPs) that the Centre declares for various crops every year.

Currently, there is no statutory backing for these prices or any law mandating their implementation.

Note: The MSP is now applicable on 23 farm commodities: 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, bajra, jowar, ragi and barley), 5 pulses (chana, arhar, moong, urad and masur), 7 oilseeds (groundnut, soyabean, rapeseed-mustard, sesamum, sunflower, nigerseed and safflower) and 4 commercial crops (sugarcane, cotton, copra and raw jute).

Can MSP be made legally binding?

Yes. There are two ways it can be done.

(1) To force private buyers to pay it

In this case, no crop can be purchased below the MSP, which would also act as the floor price for bidding in mandi auctions.
There’s already a precedent: In sugarcane, mills are required by law to pay growers the Centre’s “fair and remunerative price” – UP and Haryana fix even higher “state advised prices” – within 14 days of supply.
In no other crop is the compulsion to pay the government-announced MSP thrust on the private trade/industry.

(2) The government itself buying the entire crop that farmers offer at the MSP

Various govt agencies such as the Food Corporation of India, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India, and the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) do procure a large chunk of commodities on MSP.

But how much produce can the government procure at MSP?

The MSP value of the total production of the 23 crops worked out to around Rs 10.78 lakh crore in 2019-20.
Not all this produce, however, is marketed. Farmers retain part of it for self-consumption, the seed for the next season’s sowing, and also for feeding their animals.
The marketed surplus ratio for different crops is estimated to range differently for various crops.
It ranges from below 50% for ragi and 65-70% for bajra (pearl millet) and jawar (sorghum) to 75% for wheat, 80% for paddy, 85% for sugarcane, 90% for most pulses, and 95%-plus for cotton, soyabean etc.
Taking an average of 75% would yield a number of just over Rs 8 lakh crore.
This is the MSP value of production that is the marketable surplus — which farmers actually sell.

So, is this MSP money paid out of the government’s pocket?

Not really!

To start with, one must exclude sugarcane from the calculations. The onus for paying cane MSP, as earlier pointed out, lies on sugar mills and not the government.
Secondly, the government is already procuring many crops – especially paddy, wheat, cotton, and also pulses and oilseeds.
Thirdly, government agencies don’t have to buy every single grain that comes to the market. Mopping up even a quarter or third of the market arrivals is usually enough to lift prices.
Fourth, the crop bought on government account also gets sold. While such sales in wheat and paddy – which are distributed at super-subsidized rates under the National Food Security Act.
This entails heavy losses, but those are far less in the remaining MSP crops. The revenues realized from sales would partly offset the expenditures from MSP procurement.

All in all, the additional fiscal outgo, from the government undertaking the maximum required procurement for guaranteeing MSP to farmers, may not be more than Rs 1-1.5 lakh crore per year.

So, is the MSP system all okay?

Nope!

The government undertaking to buy at MSP is definitely better than forcing private players. Their going out of business would ultimately hurt farmers most.
However, even assured government MSP-based procurement is fraught with problems.
The coverage of MSPs today does not extend to fruits, vegetables, and livestock products that together have a 45% share in the gross value of the output of India’s agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector.
The value of milk and milk products alone is more than that of all cereals and pulses combined.

Limitations for govt.

Extending MSP to all farm produce and guaranteeing it through law is hugely challenging, fiscally and otherwise.
It also explains why economists increasingly are in favor of guaranteeing minimum “incomes” rather than “prices” to farmers.
One way to achieve that is via direct cash transfers either on a flat per-acre (as in the Telangana government’s Rythu Bandhu scheme) or per-farm household (the Centre’s PM Kisan Samman Nidhi) basis.

Back2Basics:

(1) Rythu Bandhu Scheme

Under Rythu Bandhu, the Telangana government gives every beneficiary farmer Rs 4,000 per acre as “investment support” before every crop season.
The objective is to help the farmer meet a major part of his expenses on seed, fertilizer, pesticide, and field preparation.
The scheme covers 1.42 crore acres in the 31 districts of the state, and every farmer owning land is eligible.

(2) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi

Under this program, vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land up to 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year.
This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal installments of Rs. 2,000 each.
Around 12 crore small and marginal farmer families are expected to benefit from this.

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Climate Change Negotiations – UNFCCC, COP, Other Conventions and Protocols

India’s Draft Arctic Policy

| Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Arctic Council

Mains level: Exploration of the Arctic

India has unveiled a new draft ‘Arctic’ policy that and is committed to expanding scientific research, “sustainable tourism” and mineral oil and gas exploration in the Arctic region.

Note: Five Arctic littoral states — Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russia and the USA (Alaska) — and three other Arctic nations — Finland, Sweden and Iceland — form the Arctic Council (estd. 1996).

Try mapping them.

Caution: India became an Observer in the Arctic Council for the first time in 2013. And, India isn’t a full-time observer.

India at the Arctic

India launched its first scientific expedition to the Arctic in 2007 and set up a research station ‘Himadri’ in the international Arctic research base at Ny-Ålesund in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway.
It has two other observatories in Kongsforden and Gruvebadet. Himadri is manned for about 180 days a year.
Since its establishment, over 300 Indian researchers have worked in the station. India has sent 13 expeditions to the Arctic since 2007 and runs 23 active projects.

Draft ‘Arctic’ policy

The draft policy discusses the importance of understanding the impact of climate change in the Arctic region and its connection with India’s monsoon, which is crucial for its economy.
India also proposes to focus on vast resources of the Arctic region including hydrocarbons, minerals and renewable power to ensure its energy security.
The policy is cautious in framing its involvement in the Arctic as “common heritage of mankind” but its priorities are similar to that of other non-Arctic states.
This policy roadmap draft rides on five pillars:

Science and research activities,
Economic and human development cooperation,
Transportation and connectivity,
Governance and international cooperation, and
National capacity building.

Nodal bodies

The Goa-based National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research to lead scientific research and act as a nodal body.
It would thus coordinate among various scientific bodies to promote domestic scientific research capacities by expanding earth sciences, biological sciences, climate change and space-related programmes, dove-tailed with Arctic imperatives.

Why study arctic?

The Arctic is home to almost four million inhabitants, of which approximately one-tenth are considered as indigenous people.
Climate change has meant that seasons in the Arctic influence tropical weather.
The Arctic influences atmospheric, oceanographic and biogeochemical cycles of the earth’s ecosystem.
The loss of sea ice, ice caps, and warming of the ocean and atmosphere would lower salinity in the global oceans.
This could increase the temperature differential between land and oceans in the tropical regions, dry subtropical areas and increase precipitation at higher latitudes.
Arctic research will help India’s scientific community to study melting rates of the third pole — the Himalayan glaciers.

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Banking Sector Reforms

Tighter regulatory framework for NBFCs

DOMR | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Mobilization Of Resources

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NBFCs and their regulations

Mains level: Not Much

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has suggested a tougher regulatory framework for the non-banking finance companies’ (NBFC) sector to prevent the recurrence of any systemic risk to the country’s financial system.

Try this PYQ:

Which of the following can be said to be essentially the parts of Inclusive Governance?

Permitting the Non-Banking Financial Companies to do banking

Establishing effective District Planning Committees in all the districts

Increasing government spending on public health

Strengthening the Mid-day Meal Scheme

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 and 4 only

(c) 2, 3 and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

What are NBFCs?

Nonbank financial companies (NBFCs) are financial institutions that offer various banking services but do not have a banking license.
An NBFC in India is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 engaged in the business of loans and advances, acquisition of shares/stocks/bonds/debentures/securities issued by a government or local authority, or other marketable securities.
A non-banking institution that is a company and has principal business of receiving deposits under any scheme or arrangement in one lump sum or in installments is also an NBFC.

What is the difference between banks & NBFCs?

NBFCs lend and make investments and hence their activities are akin to that of banks; however, there are a few differences as given below:

NBFC cannot accept demand deposits
NBFCs do not form part of the payment and settlement system and cannot issue cheques drawn on itself
The deposit insurance facility of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation is not available to depositors of NBFCs, unlike in the case of banks

What are the new RBI regulations?

The regulatory and supervisory framework of NBFCs will be based on a four-layered structure — the base layer (NBFC-BL), middle layer (NBFC-ML), the upper layer (NBFC-UL), and the top layer.
If the framework is visualized as a pyramid, at the bottom of the pyramid will be those where least regulatory intervention is warranted.
It can consist of NBFCs currently classified as non-systemically important NBFCs.
Moving up, the next layer may comprise NBFCs currently classified as systemically important NBFCs (NBFC-ND-SI), deposit-taking NBFCs (NBFC-D), HFCs, IFCs, IDFs, SPDs, and CICs.
The regulatory regime for this layer shall be stricter compared to the base layer.
The next layer may consist of NBFCs identified as ‘systemically significant’.
This layer will be populated by NBFCs having a large potential of systemic spill-over of risks and the ability to impact financial stability.

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Coronavirus – Economic Issues

[pib] Shramshakti Portal

PIB | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Shramshakti Portal

Mains level: Welfare of the migrant workers

The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs has launched the “ShramShakti” Portal.

Earlier we had ONORC move, now a repository for migrant workers. Keep a tab on all such updates for the welfare of migrant workers.

Shramshakti Portal

It is a National Migration Support Portal.
It will record various data including demographic profile, livelihood options, skill mapping, and migration pattern.
It would effectively help in the smooth formulation of state and national level programs for migrant workers.

Why need such a portal?

Migrants all over the country had to face after the lockdown was announced due to the pandemic caused by a coronavirus.
The migration of the tribal population is distress-driven and the migrants are exposed to difficult and unsafe conditions.
Sometimes they face trafficking or wage harassment issues including many occupational hazards at the workplace.
The lack of real-time data of migrants was the biggest challenge for governments in formulating effective strategies and policy decisions for the welfare of migrant workers at both source and destination states.

Benefits of the portal

The tribal migration repository would be able to successfully address the data gap and empower migrant workers who generally migrate in search of employment and income generation.
It would also help the government for linking the migrant population with the existing Welfare Scheme- under Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

A move for tribals

Tribal migrant workers often have low awareness about their rights and entitlements and ways to access services and social security in source and destination areas.
With this, they will be able to demand and access services, rights, and entitlements related to livelihood and social security at their village before migration, as well after migration at destination towns and cities.

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