Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Better Than Cash Alliance
Mains level: Not Much
The Government of India, FICCI, and the Better Than Cash Alliance has come under the partnership to achieve the industry level commitment of responsible digitization of merchants.
Make a note here that it is a BTCA is a global partnership with diverse funding, a UN office as its secretariat and Indian being its member.
Better Than Cash Alliance
- The Better Than Cash Alliance is a global partnership of 75 governments, companies, and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to digital payments in order to reduce poverty and drive inclusive growth.
- It was created in September 2012 by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (Secretariat), the US Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Visa Inc. among others.
- Based at the UN, the Alliance has over 50 members, works closely with other global organizations, and is an implementing partner for the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion.
- India became a member of the alliance in 2015 to digitize payments to achieve financial inclusion and to share success stories from PM Jan Dhan Yojana, the world’s largest financial inclusion program.
Working method
The Better Than Cash Alliance partners with governments, companies, and international organizations that are the key drivers behind the transition to make digital payments widely available by:
- Advocating for the transition from cash to digital payments in a way that advances financial inclusion and promotes responsible digital finance.
- Conducting research and sharing the experiences of our members to inform strategies for making the transition.
- Catalyzing the development of inclusive digital payments ecosystems in member countries to reduce costs, increase transparency, advance financial inclusion– particularly for women– and drive inclusive growth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Pakistan-China relations
Three power, India, Pakistan and China need to take a new look at the factors underlying their relationship with each other. The article deals with this issue.
Hope for regional politics to turn a new leaf
- The announcement by India and Pakistan of strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the Line of Control is a welcome step.
- It is premature to conclude what all this will amount to in the long term.
- But if all three powers, China, Pakistan and India, can draw the appropriate lessons in humility, there is hope for regional politics to turn over a new leaf.
Lessons for India
- First, the belligerent use of foreign policy in domestic politics has unintended effects on your international standing.
- In 2019, the official rhetoric was promising India retaking PoK and putting more military pressure on Pakistan.
- In contrast, the discourse on foreign policy since the Chinese pressure on the LAC has been one of marked sobriety scaling back all expectations of a flippant militarism.
- Second, the standoff with China has brought home some stark realities. We can speculate on Chinese motives.
- The LAC standoff considerably released the pressure on Pakistan.
- We were reminded that the LAC and LoC can be linked; that the zone around Kashmir was a trilateral and not a bilateral contest, and that India will need significant resources to deal with China.
- In the matter of the CAA the talk of evicting Bangladeshis has been starkly checkmated by the need to placate Bangladesh, which is vital to our strategic interests.
Lessons for Pakistan
- First, India now has enough weight in the international system that any attempts to internationalise Kashmir are a non-starter.
- Second, the revocation of Article 370 did not unleash the kinds of fissures and cycle of violence within the Valley that Pakistan might have been hoping to exploit.
- Third, the pandemic is a great opportunity for Pakistan to recognise that opening up to the South Asian region is in its interest in the long term than acting on the coattails of China.
Lessons for China
- India may not have, in a literal sense, restored the status quo ante on the LAC, the fact of the matter is that it has stood up with enough firmness to send the signal that it will not be a pushover.
- India signalled a resolve that Chinese military and economic hegemony can be resisted.
- China cannot wish away considerable Indian power.
- In fact, by concentrating India’s mind on the China challenge, it may have unwittingly done India a favour.
Way forward
- So this moment can be a constructive one if everyone understands the one lesson in world politics: There are diminishing returns to belligerence.
- With Pakistan, India should seize the moment and build on the de-escalation.
- The pandemic offers an opportunity for greater economic cooperation.
- Political establishments of both countries will have to think of what is a win-win political narrative they can legitimately offer their citizens.
Consider the question “If all three powers, China, Pakistan and India, can draw the appropriate lessons in humility, there is hope for regional politics to turn over a new leaf. Comment.“
Conclusion
The region will be better off with a humility that tries to align them, rather than a hubris that exults in unilateral triumphalism.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Master of the Roaster
Mains level: Paper 2- Implications of the Master of Roaster power for the independence of the judiciary
CJI’s power as Master of Roaster and issues with it
- The Supreme Court recently closed the proceedings enquiring into a conspiracy to threaten the independence of the judiciary on the basis of sexual harassment allegations against the former CJI.
- The singular power of the CJI as the Master of the Roster – i.e., the vests exclusive discretion in the Chief Justice to constitute benches and allocate cases.
- While the CJI’s other powers such as recommending appointments to constitutional courts are shared with other senior judges, the power of Master of the Roster is enjoyed without scrutiny.
- This power enabled Justice Gogoi to institute suo motu proceedings despite being an accused; label the case as a matter of judicial independence; and preside over it.
- This power lay at the heart of the controversy surrounding the proceedings the Court has now closed.
Implications for independence of judiciary
- From the standpoint of judicial independence, the Master of the Roster power makes the CJI’s office a high stakes one.
- It makes the CJI the sole point of defence of the Court against executive interference.
- However, this has a flip side.
- With the CJI as the sole Master of the Roster, any executive seeking to influence the Supreme Court needs only a pliant CJI.
- Yet, the Supreme Court has been reluctant to dilute this power.
- In Asok Pande v. Supreme Court of India (2018), a three-judge bench of the Court held that Master of the Roster is the CJI’s exclusive power.
- Thereafter, a two-judge bench in Shanti Bhushan v. Supreme Court of India (2018) rejected the plea that the Master of the Roster should be interpreted as the collegium.
Need for the reforms
- The collegium system has failed to keep executive interferences at bay from the Supreme Court.
- This is for two reasons:
- First, as Justice Gogoi’s case shows, there is an attractive lure of post-retirement jobs.
- Second, as the privilege of Master of the Roster shows, the CJI’s allocation of cases is an unchecked power.
- The continuing project of judicial reforms should then address these two issues.
Way forward
- A cooling-off period between retirement and a post-retirement appointment has often been suggested as a way to deal with the first problem.
- For the second, the power of Master of the Roster needs to be diversified beyond the CJI’s exclusive and untrammelled discretion.
Consider the question “What are the issues with the Master of the Roaster power of the Chief Justice of India? Suggest the ways to deal with the issue.”
Conclusion
We need to carry out these reforms make the judiciary less prone to interference from the executive.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NFS Act
Mains level: Assurance of Food Security
The NITI Aayog has recently proposed a revision in the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 for lowering the coverage of both rural and urban population to save up to Rs 47,229 crore annually.
National Food Security (NFS) Act
- The NFS Act, 2013 aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India’s 1.2 billion people.
- It was signed into law on 12 September 2013, retroactive to 5 July 2013.
- It converts into legal entitlements for existing food security programmes of the GoI.
- It includes the Midday Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and the Public Distribution System (PDS).
- Further, the NFSA 2013 recognizes maternity entitlements.
- The Midday Meal Scheme and the ICDS are universal in nature whereas the PDS will reach about two-thirds of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas).
- Pregnant women, lactating mothers, and certain categories of children are eligible for daily free cereals.
Key provisions of NFSA
- The NFSA provides a legal right to persons belonging to “eligible households” to receive foodgrains at a subsidised price.
- It includes rice at Rs 3/kg, wheat at Rs 2/kg and coarse grain at Rs 1/kg — under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
- These are called central issue prices (CIPs).
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to the provisions made under the National Food Security Act, 2013, consider the following statements:
- The families coming under the category of ‘below poverty line (BPL)’ only are eligible to receive subsidized food grains.
- The eldest woman in a household, of age 18 years or above, shall be the head of the Household for the purpose of issuance of a ration card.
- Pregnant women and lactating mothers are entitled to a ‘take-home ration’ of 1600 calories per day during pregnancy and for six months thereafter.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 3 only
What has NITI Aayog asked for review?
- A revision of CIPs is one of the issues that have been discussed.
- The other issues are updating of the population covered under the NFSA, and beneficiary identification criteria.
- Under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act, the term “eligible households” comprises two categories — “priority households”, and families covered by the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY).
- Priority households are entitled to receive 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month, whereas AAY households are entitled to 35 kg per month at the same prices.
Provisions for review
- Under Schedule-I of the Act, these subsidised prices were fixed for “a period of three years from the date of commencement of the Act”.
- While different states began implementing the Act at different dates, the deemed date of its coming into effect is July 5, 2013, and the three-year period was therefore completed on July 5, 2016.
- However, the government has yet not revised subsidised prices.
- The government can do so under Schedule-I of the Act, after completion of the three-year period.
- To revise the prices, the government can amend Schedule-I through a notification, a copy of which has to be laid before each House of Parliament as soon as possible after it is issued.
- The revised prices cannot exceed the minimum support price for wheat and coarse grains, and the derived minimum support price for rice.
The question of coverage
- The Act has prescribed the coverage under “eligible households” — 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population.
- On the basis of Census 2011 figures and the national rural and urban coverage ratios, 81.35 crore persons are covered under NFSA currently.
- This overall figure has been divided among the states and UTs, based on the NSSO Household Consumer Expenditure Survey 2011-12.
- Section 9 of the Act deals with an update of coverage of the population under the Act.
- However, given the population increase since then, there have been demands from the states and union territories to update the list by ensuring an annual updating system under NFSA.
Propositions by NITI Aayog
- The NITI Aayog has suggested that the national rural and urban coverage ratio be reduced from the existing 75-50 to 60-40.
- If this reduction happens, the number of beneficiaries under the NFSA will drop to 71.62 crores (on the basis of the projected population in 2020).
- To make these changes in the law, the government will have to amend sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the NFSA. For this, it will require parliamentary approval.
Implications of the move
- If the national coverage ratio is revised downward, the Centre can save up to Rs 47,229 crore (as estimated by the NITI Aayog paper).
- On the other hand, if the rural-urban coverage ratio remains at 75-50, then the total number of people covered will increase from the existing 81.35 crores to 89.52 crore —an increase of 8.17 crore.
- This estimate by the NITI Aayog is based on the projected 2020 population, and, according to the paper, will result in an additional subsidy requirement of Rs 14,800 crore.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Swiss Neutrality
Mains level: Swiss Neutrality as a foreign policy tool
Switzerland’s traditional foreign policy of neutrality has become attractive again because of the changing political reality in the world, said its Ambassador recently.
Q.In context to foreign policy, discuss the relevance, benefits and limitations of Swiss Neutrality.(150 W)
What is Swiss Neutrality?
- Swiss neutrality is one of the main principles of Switzerland’s foreign policy which dictates that Switzerland is not to be involved in armed or political conflicts between other states.
- This policy is self-imposed, permanent, and armed, designed to ensure external security and promote peace.
- Under this, Switzerland pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world.
Historic significance
- Switzerland has the oldest policy of military neutrality in the world; it has not participated in a foreign war since its neutrality was established by the Treaty of Paris in 1815.
- The European powers (Austria, France, the UK, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Spain and Sweden) agreed at the Congress of Vienna in May 1815 that Switzerland should be neutral.
- But final ratification was delayed until after Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated so that some coalition forces could invade France via Swiss territory.
Swiss moves for the status
- Since World War II, Switzerland has taken a more active role in international affairs by aiding with humanitarian initiatives, but it remains fiercely neutral with regard to military affairs.
- It has never joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the European Union, and only joined the United Nations in 2002.
Relevance today
- Neutrality has become necessary as a foreign policy tool as the phase of power politics has returned in world affairs.
- Now with big power politics, Switzerland’s neutrality and Switzerland as a place to meet is much more attractive again.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 371A
Mains level: Naga customs and their constitutional protection
Some villages in Nagaland are trying to revive a traditional form of punishment that seeks to check crime with an itch in time.
What is Khujli Ghar?
- Social offenders or violators of Naga customary laws have over the ages dreaded a cramped, triangular cage made from the logs of an indigenous tree that irritates the skin.
- The dread is more of humiliation or loss of face within the community or clan than of spending at least a day scratching furiously without any space to move.
- Such itchy cages are referred to as khujli ghar in Nagamese but each Naga community has its own name.
- The Aos, one of the major tribes of Nagaland, call it Shi-ki that means flesh-house.
Terminologies associated
- The cage is usually placed at a central spot in the village, usually in front of the morung or bachelor’s dormitory, for the inmate to be in full public view.
- The cage is made of the logs of Masang-fung, a local tree that people avoid because of the irritation it causes.
- It does not affect the palm but people who make the cages have to be careful.
Naga belief in this
- It is not proper to view the itchy cages from the prism of modern laws.
- They have served a purpose for ages and have often proved to reform offenders, as identity and family or clan reputation is very important to a Naga.
Do you know?
Article 371(A) of the Constitution guarantees the preservation of the Naga customary laws.
The State also funds the customary courts in villages and towns where cases — mostly dealing with land litigation, money-lending and marital disputes — have a high rate of prompt disposal.
Back2Basics: Article 371A
- Parliament cannot legislate in matters of Naga religion or social practices, the Naga customary law and procedure, administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law.
- Parliament also cannot intervene in ownership and transfer of land and its resources, without the concurrence of the Legislative Assembly of the state.
- This provision was inserted in the Constitution after a 16-point agreement between the Centre and the Naga People’s Convention in 1960, which led to the creation of Nagaland in 1963.
- Also, there is a provision for a 35-member Regional Council for Tuensang district, which elects the Tuensang members in the Assembly.
- A member from the Tuensang district is Minister for Tuensang Affairs. The Governor has the final say on all Tuensang-related matters.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mt Sinabung
Mains level: Pacific ring of fire
Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano sent a cloud of hot ash as high as 3 km today, in its first big eruption since August last year.
Mount Sinabung
- It is a Pleistocene-to-Holocene stratovolcano in the Karo plateau of Karo Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia.
- It is created by the subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate under the Eurasian Plate.
- It erupted in 2010 after a 400-year-long hiatus and has been continuously active since September 2013.
Why frequent eruptions?
- Indonesia straddles the “Pacific ring of fire” with nearly130 active volcanoes, more than any other country.
- Sinabung had been inactive for centuries before it erupted again in 2010.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- The Barren Island volcano is an active volcano located in the Indian Territory.
- Barren Island lies about 140 km east of Great Nicobar
- The last time the Barren Island volcano erupted was in 1991 and it has remained inactive since then.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2018)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1 and 3
What is the Pacific ring of fire?
- The Pacific Ring of Fire is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.
- It includes the Pacific coasts of South America, North America and Kamchatka, and some islands in the western Pacific Ocean.
- It is a direct result of plate tectonics: specifically the movement, collision and destruction of lithospheric plates under and around the Pacific Ocean.
- The collisions have created a nearly continuous series of subduction zones, where volcanoes are created and earthquakes occur.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan
Mains level: Disable friendly infrastructure
Union Minister for Social justice and Empowerment has launched the “Sugamya Bharat App”.
Sugamya Bharat App
- The Sugamya Bharat App is a simple to use Mobile App with an easy registration process, requiring only 3 mandatory fields, namely, Name, Mobile number and Email-id.
- Registered users can raise issues related to accessibility being faced.
- The App is made accessible for ease of use for persons with disabilities also with features such as font size adjustment, color contrasting option, text to speech, and having an integrated screen reader in Hindi and English.
- It is available in 10 regional languages, namely, Hindi, English, Marathi, Tamil, Odiya, Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Malayalam.
- The App also has the provision of easy photo uploads with a geotagging option of the premise where accessibility intervention is required.
Its features
- The app, a Crowdsourcing Mobile Application is a means for sensitizing and enhancing accessibility in the 3 pillars of the Accessible India Campaign i.e. built environment, transportation sector and ICT ecosystem in India.
- The app provides for five main features, 4 of which are directly related to enhancing accessibility, while the fifth is a special feature meant only for Divyangjan for COVID related issues.
The accessibility-related features are:
- Registration of complaints of inaccessibility across the 3 broad pillars of the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan;
- Positive feedback of examples and best practices worth emulating being shared by people as jan-bhagidhari;
- Departmental updates and guidelines and circulars related to accessibility.
Back2Basics: Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan
- Accessible India Campaign or Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan is a program that is set to be launched to serve the differently-able community of the country.
- The flagship program has been launched on 3 December 2015, the International Day of People with Disabilities.
- The program comes with an index to measure the design of disabled-friendly buildings and human resource policies.
- The initiative also in line with Article 9 of the (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) which India is a signatory since 2007.
- The scheme also comes under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 for equal Opportunities and protection of rights which provides non-discrimination in Transport to Persons with Disabilities.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with new Rules under IT Act
The article discusses the issues with the new rules issues under the IT Act.
Issues with the new rules
1) No discussion
- Last week, the Union Government issued a set of rules under the Information Technology Act, superseding rules issued under Section 79 of that statute in 2011.
- This has happened in the absence of open and public discussion and without any parliamentary study and scrutiny.
2) Concerns over legal basis
- The Union Government has chosen to pass these rules under the requirement to outline the due diligence that Internet intermediaries have to follow in order to be able to claim their qualified legal immunity under Section 79 of the IT Act.
- These rules at the outset appear unlawful even with respect to whether they could have been issued under the Information Technology Act in the manner chosen by the government, leave alone their constitutionality with respect to fundamental rights.
- The government’s gazette notification has further claimed that the rules were also issued under the legal authority to specific procedure for blocking web content under Section 69A of the IT Act.
- However, rules overseeing government web content blocking powers have already been issued for that section in 2009, and not superseded.
3) Using rule making power to issue primary legislation
- The ability to issue rules under a statute — i.e. to frame subordinate legislation — is by its nature a limited, constrained power.
- The executive branch is subordinate to what Parliament has permitted it and cannot use its rule-making power to seek to issue primary legislation by itself.
- With the present Internet content and social media rules, the Union Government has done precisely that.
- The executive branch has created new rules that apply only to “significant social media intermediaries” — a term that appears nowhere in the Information Technology Act.
- The rules have grown to include a chapter on how digital news sites have to be registered before the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
- However, digital news service registration is not required under the IT Act and streaming video content has not been included under the ambit of the Cinematograph Act.
Consider the question “What are the challenges in the regulation of Big Tech to democracies? Suggest the measures to deal with these challenges.”
Conclusion
Instead of advancing Internet content control, India needs to advancing surveillance law reform or enacting a strong statutory data protection framework.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Road to decarbonisation
The article deals with the common threads running through the recent flash floods in Uttarakhand and the severe cold that snapped the power grid in Texas.
Time-bound net zero carbon target
- Most governments and corporates are in agreement over what needs to be done to reach the target of net-zero carbon emission target. Which include:
- Fossil fuels must be steadily but inexorably replaced by clean energy electricity should be increasingly generated from solar and wind.
- Transport should switch from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.
- Energy demand should be conserved and more efficiently consumed.
- Technology and innovation must remain the centrepiece of all activities.
- Governments and corporates have also to agree on removing the legacy obstacles that lie on the pathway.
3 Legacy obstacles need to be removed
- Two events last month will explain better the reasons for this concern.
- A chunk of the Nanda Devi broke off and triggered flash floods downstream that then washed away or damaged several hydroelectric dams and led to the loss of hundreds of lives
- A severe cold snap crashed the electricity grid system in Texas, plunging a wide swathe of the state into darkness.
- These two events were unrelated, other than possibly by the link of climate change, but on examination of the reasons for the consequential material and human misery, they offer common insight.
1) Poorly designed planing system
- In both cases, the authorities were caught unprepared. This is despite the fact that there had been precedents.
- One reason for this lack of preparedness could be the presumption, based on historical data.
- The lesson is that whilst the past is a useful guidepost, it is an imperfect one especially in view of the spate of natural disasters across the world in recent times, and that planners should be cautious about linear extrapolations.
- Certainly, for the journey of decarbonisation, there is little of the distant past for them to hang onto.
2) Siloed and fragmented physical and regulatory oversight mechanisms
- The tragedy in Uttarakhand reflected the costs of institutional fragmentation and lack of coordination in decision making.
- The suggestions made in the aftermath of the Kedarnath flooding regarding land use and watershed management and the best means of securing an optimal balance between construction and the Himalayan ecology.
- But the suggestion had not been implemented in large part because energy is a concurrent subject and there is no one ministerial or regulatory body responsible for this domain.
- Further, these recommendations required the coming together of various non-energy ministries which, given the current vertically siloed structures of responsibility and accountability in our system, did not happen.
- The glacial burst may have been beyond anyone’s control; the consequential downstream damage was avoidable.
3) The lack of investment in energy infrastructure
- One reason why solar and wind did not pick up the power slack in Texas was because the grid was not resilient enough to absorb the surge in the flow of intermittent renewable electrons.
- India’s transmission system is not capable of managing the energy transition.
- This problem will clearly have to be addressed if decarbonisation is to proceed smoothly.
- But to do so, many issues will have to be resolved.
- Not least, how much will it cost to upgrade the infrastructure? How will it be financed?
- Who will take the lead on driving this change e?
- Questions that are easier to set out than answer.
Way forward
- To ensure that decarbonisation translates into effective action on the ground, policymakers will have to build structures that reflect the woven, multidimensional, interdependent and interconnected nature of the energy ecosystem.
- This means creating mechanisms that facilitate inter-ministerial and inter-state collaboration within the country and multilateral cooperation internationally.
Consider the question “There are legacy obstacles in the road to decarbonisation. What are these obstacles and suggest the pathway to remove these obstacles?”
Conclusion
In order to achieve the targets on carbon emission, India needs to draw on these lessons and build robust systems, regulatory mechanisms and facilitate investment in the creation of resilient energy infrastructure.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Operation Green
Mains level: Paper 3- Expanding Operation Green
The article compares the performance of Operation Flood with Operation Green and offers several lessons for the success of Operation Green.
Operation Green and its expansion
- There were three basic objectives when OG was launched.
- First, that it should contain the wide price volatility in the three largest vegetables of India (TOP).
- Second, it should build efficient value chains of these from fresh to value-added products with a view to give a larger share of the consumers’ rupee to the farmers.
- Third, it should reduce the post-harvest losses by building modern warehouses and cold storages wherever needed.
- The Union budget for the FY 2021-22 proposes the expansion of Operation Green (OG) beyond tomatoes, onions, and potatoes (TOP) to 22 perishable commodities.
- The move reflects the government’s intentions of creating more efficient value chains for perishables.
Comparing performance of OG with horticulture sector
- A closer examination of the scheme reveals that it is nowhere near achieving its objectives.
- ICRIER research reveals that price volatility remains as high as ever.
- It also reveals that farmers’ share in consumers’ rupee is as low as 26.6 per cent for potatoes, 29.1 per cent in the case of onions, and 32.4 per cent for tomatoes (see graph).
- In cooperatives like AMUL, farmers get almost 75-80 per cent of what consumers’ pay.
- Operation Flood (OF) transformed India’s milk sector, making the country the world’s largest milk producer, crossing almost 200 million tonnes of production by now.
- Although OG is going to be more challenging than OF there are some important lessons one can learn from OF.
Lessons from operation flood
- First and foremost is that results are not going to come in three to four years.
- OF lasted for almost 20 years before milk value chains were put on the track of efficiency and inclusiveness.
- There has to be a separate board to strategise and implement the OG scheme, more on the lines of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for milk.
- Second, we need a champion like Verghese Kurien to head this new board of OG.
- The MoFPI can have its evaluation every six months, but making MoFPI the nodal agency for implementing OG with faceless leaders is not very promising.
- Third, the criteria for choosing clusters for TOP crops under OG is not very transparent and clear.
- The reason is while some important districts have been left out from the list of clusters, less important ones have been included.
- What is needed is quantifiable and transparent criteria for the selection of commodity clusters, keeping politics away.
- Fourth, the subsidy scheme will have to be made innovative with new generation entrepreneurs, startups and FPOs.
- The announcement to create an additional 10,000 FPOs along with the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and the new farm laws are all promising but need to be implemented fast.
Consider the question “What are the objectives of Operation Green? How far has Operation Green succeeded in achieving its objectives?”
Conclusion
These lessons from Operation Flood will help in securing the success of the expanded Operation Green.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Lateral entry
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the Indian Express.
Background
- Earlier this month, the UPSC issued an advertisement seeking applications for the posts of Joint Secretary and Director in central government Departments.
- These individuals, who would make a “lateral entry” into the government secretariat, would be contracted for three to five years.
- These posts were “unreserved”, meaning were no quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs.
UPSC begins lateral entry
- The new ad is for the second round of such recruitments.
- Earlier, the government had decided to appoint experts from outside the government to positions of Joint Secretary in different Ministries/Departments and at the level of Deputy Secretary/Director in 2018.
Q.In light of the growing need for Lateral Entry in top secretarial posts, discuss the need for enhancing the professional competence of Civil Servants in India.(150W)
What is ‘Lateral Entry’ into government?
- NITI Aayog, in 2017 had recommended the induction of personnel at middle and senior management levels in the central government.
- These ‘lateral entrants’ would be part of the central secretariat which in the normal course has only career bureaucrats from the All India Services/ Central Civil Services.
What are the ranks invited for this entry?
- A Joint Secretary, appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), has the third-highest rank (after Secretary and Additional Secretary) in a Department.
- It functions as the administrative head of a wing in the Department.
- Directors are a rank below that of Joint Secretary.
What is the government’s reasoning for lateral entry?
- Lateral recruitment is aimed at achieving the twin objectives of bringing in fresh talent as well as augments the availability of manpower.
- Government has, from time to time, appointed some prominent persons for specific assignments in government, keeping in view their specialised knowledge and expertise in the domain area.
- Indeed, the first ARC had pointed out the need for specialization as far back as 1965.
- The Surinder Nath Committee and the Hota Committee followed suit in 2003 and 2004, respectively, as did the second ARC.
- In 2005, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) recommended an institutionalized, transparent process for lateral entry at both the Central and state levels.
Why is lateral entry sometimes criticised?
- Groups representing SCs, STs and OBCs have protested the fact that there is no reservation in these appointments.
- Some argue that the government is opening back doors to bring its own lobby openly.
Mentor’s comment: Why is lateral entry necessary?
For the sake of political economy
- Pushback from bureaucrats, serving and retired, and the sheer institutional inertia of civil services has existed largely unchanged for decades have prevented progress.
- The importance of economic effectiveness has risen concurrently.
- That stagnation means the civil services as they exist today—most crucially, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS)—are unsuited to the country’s political economy in many ways.
- The need for having bureaucrats act as binding agents, no longer exist.
- Others, such as socioeconomic development, have transmuted to the point where the state’s methods of addressing them are coming in for a rethink.
Conclusion
- Pushback is inevitable since every smallest policy change is resisted in our country.
- It is both a workaround for the civil services’ structural failings and an antidote to the complacency that can set in a career-based service.
- The second ARC report points out that it is both possible and desirable to incorporate elements of a position-based system where lateral entry and specialization are common.
Way forward
- India’s civil services need reform. There is little argument about this.
- These are not entirely new in India.
- Domain experts have been brought in from outside the services to head various committees, advisory bodies and organizations.
- Internal reforms—such as insulation from political pressure and career paths linked to specialization—and external reforms such as lateral entry are complementary.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IAEA
Mains level: Irritants in the deal and threats posed by Iran's nuclear programme
The move by the US administration under Biden to revive the Iran nuclear deal has once again turned the spotlight on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which played a key role in enforcing the original nuclear deal from which Trump withdrew the US in 2018.
Try this question from CSP 2020:
Q.In India, why are some nuclear reactors kept under “IAEA Safeguards” while others are not?
(a) Some use Uranium and others use thorium.
(b) Some use imported uranium and others use domestic supplies.
(c) Some are operated by foreign enterprises and others are operated by domestic enterprises.
(d) Some are State- owned and others are privately-owned.
What is IAEA?
- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons.
- As the preeminent nuclear watchdog under the UN, the IAEA is entrusted with the task of upholding the principles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970.
- It was established as an autonomous organisation on July 29, 1957, at the height of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
- Though established independently of the UN through its own international treaty, the agency reports to both the UN General Assembly and the UNSC.
What are its safeguards?
- Safeguards are activities by which the IAEA can verify that a State is living up to its international commitments not to use nuclear programmes for nuclear-weapons purposes.
- Safeguards are based on assessments of the correctness and completeness of a State’s declared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities.
- Verification measures include on-site inspections, visits, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation.
Basically, two sets of measures are carried out in accordance with the type of safeguards agreements in force with a State.
- One set relates to verifying State reports of declared nuclear material and activities.
- Another set enables the IAEA not only to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material but also to provide assurances as to the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in a State.
Why in news again?
- The IAEA and Iranian diplomats struck a “temporary” deal to continue inspection of Iran’s nuclear plants for three more months, which keeps at least the diplomatic path to revive the deal open.
- However, there have always been questions about the Agency’s ability to work independently, without being drawn into big power rivalries.
IAEA success: Civil nuclear solution
- The IAEA is active in championing civil nuclear solution to a number of areas like health, which is one of the main areas of peaceful application of nuclear know-how.
- That apart, in recent years, the IAEA is also active in dealing with climate change, pandemic containment and in the prevention of Zoonotic diseases.
- The IAEA was the first to announce that the North Korean nuclear programme was not peaceful.
- North Korea finally expelled IAEA observers and as a result, there are no on-the-ground international inspectors in North Korea.
- The world is reliant on ground sensors and satellite imageries to observe North Korea’s nuclear actions.
Issues with IAEA
- What the IAEA missed in terms of real authority over sovereign states, it compensated for that by cultivating some tall leadership whose actions kept the issue of non-proliferation on the multilateral table.
- It proved to be ineffective to prevent power politics from influencing nuclear negotiations.
- This was particularly visible when Pakistan pursued a nuclear weapons programme in the 1980s and despite overwhelming evidence in possession of the American authorities.
- They did not pursue the case effectively through the IAEA because of the cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistan on the Afghan front.
- IAEA does not have any power to override the sovereign rights of any member nation of the UN.
- The uneven authority produced results when in the case of Iran when the Agency’s efforts were backed by big powers.
- One major criticism of the IAEA is that it never challenges the nuclear dominance of the five permanent members of the UNSC, who themselves hold some of the biggest nuclear arsenals of the world.
IAEA and India
- The IAEA-certified the nuclear power plant at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan in 2012, which drew criticism as the power plant had two incidents of leakage of nuclear material earlier that year.
- The second incident affected at least four workers who worked in the nuclear power plant and had caused concern among the scientific community.
Iran challenge
- The coming weeks will, however, test the 63-year old organisation as Iran remains suspicious of the exact intentions of the Biden administration.
- The current episode, which involves regional political concerns like Saudi-Iran and Iran-Israel rivalries as well as the American interests in the region, will certainly test the IAEA.
- It will also test the ability of the IAEA to deal with powerful states from its position of “uneven authority”.
- The main negotiation on this front is dependent on Tehran’s demand for lifting American sanctions. Iran has said its compliance will depend on the lifting of sanctions.
Future prospects
- The issues involved between Iran and the U.S. indicate that they are not part of the mandate of the IAEA.
- Iran also requires assurance that once activated, the deal will not be abandoned in future by an American President in the way that Trump had done in 2018.
- Tying all the loose ends of this difficult negotiation will be the biggest challenge for all parties.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TRIPS Agreement
Mains level: TRIPS regulations
India and South Africa have jointly moved a proposal at the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) council for a waiver to help more countries get access to medicines and vaccines during the pandemic.
Q.WTO and multilateralism is dying in the face of a greater reliance on plurilateral and bilateral trade pacts. Discuss. (250W)
What is the TRIPS Agreement?
- The TRIPS is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by national governments of different forms of intellectual property (IP) as applied to nationals of other WTO member nations.
- Its agreement was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between 1989 and 1990 and is administered by the WTO.
- The TRIPS agreement introduced intellectual property law into the multilateral trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property to date.
Why did India move such a proposal?
- TRIPS waiver would deal with the question of equity along with global growth and livelihoods.
- It is not only that we are coming in the way of life but it is very simple economics, asserted India’s ambassador.
- For a commercial business of $30-40 billion of annual vaccine output of a few companies, we are coming in the way of $6-7 trillion of global GDP output in one year.
Premise behind it
- In 2001, developing countries, concerned that developed countries were insisting on an overly narrow reading of TRIPS, initiated a round of talks that resulted in the Doha Declaration.
- The Doha declaration is a WTO statement that clarifies the scope of TRIPS, stating for example that TRIPS can and should be interpreted in light of the goal “to promote access to medicines for all.”
Global response for the move
- Fifty-seven WTO members have backed the proposal brought out by India.
- But the EU, U.S., Japan and Canada have opposed the idea stressing the importance of intellectual property for innovation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Stockholm+50
Mains level: Progress of global climate action
Stockholm+50 is a high-level meeting that the Government of Sweden plans to hold in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the first UN conference on the human environment – the 1972 Stockholm Conference.
The 1972 Stockholm Conference
- The UN Conference on the Human Environment, also known as the Stockholm Conference, was the first UN conference on the environment and was held between 5 and 16 June 1972 in Stockholm.
- The meeting’s outcome document – the Stockholm Declaration – included several principles that are still important for environmental management.
- Another result of the meeting was the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Environment Day, held annually on 5 June.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty drawn at:
(a) United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972
(b) UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 1992
(c) World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002
(d) UN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen, 2009
Background
- It’s been a generation since global leaders met in Stockholm in 1972 to discuss environmental challenges.
- Then the concerns were for the local environment; there was no talk of climate change or even the depletion of the ozone layer.
- All that came later. In 1972, the discussion was on the toxification of the environment as water and air were foul.
Progress for 50 years
- The toxification of the environment is still a pressing concern; countries have indeed cleaned up locally but added to the emissions in the global atmosphere.
- Now, we are out of time as climate change impacts are spiralling out of control.
Perils of Ecological Globalization
- The fact is we stitched up the global ecological framework in terms of the many agreements only.
- During this time, we also signed another agreement on free-trade — the economic globalisation agreement.
- But we never really understood how these two frameworks — ecological and economic globalisation — would counteract each other.
- As a result, we have worked to build an economic model based on discounting the price of labour and of the environment.
Expectations from Stockholm+50
- The aim of Stockholm+50 is to contribute to concrete action.
- It aims at leveraging sustainable consumption and production patterns and nature-based solutions in order to achieve climate-neutral, resilient, circular and inclusive economies.
- The narrative and result will be further developed together with interested governments and other partners.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Amazonia satellite
Mains level: Not Much
The successful launch of Brazil’s Amazonia-1 satellite by the Indian Space Research Organisation marks a new high point in space cooperation between the two countries.
Note why Amazonia-1 Satellite is distinct in itself. It paves for statement based MCQs.
Amazonia-1 Satellite
- The Amazônia-1 or SSR- is the first Earth observation satellite entirely developed by Brazil.
- It is optimized to peer at the cloud-covered region of its namesake, the Amazon forest since it has infrared capabilities that allow it to look at the forest cover regardless of the weather.
- Brazil plans to use the satellite to “alert deforestation” in the region, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said in an Amazonia 1 mission description.
Significance of the launch
- This confirms the infinite potential of the India-Brazil partnership to overcome our development challenges through high technology.
- The launch also marked the first dedicated mission of ISRO’s commercial arm NewSpace India Ltd. (NSIL).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Fifth Science Policy
The article elaborates on the various aspect of the 5th Science Policy.
Scientific publication from India and issues with it
- From the report published by the National Science Foundation of the U.S. in December 2019, India was the third-largest publisher of peer-reviewed science and engineering journal articles and conference papers, with 135,788 articles in 2018.
- This milestone was achieved through an average yearly growth rate of 10.73% from 2008, which was greater than China’s 7.81%.
- However, China and the United States had about thrice and twice the number, respectively, of India’s publications.
- Also, the publications from India are not impactful.
- From the report, in the top 1% of the most cited publications from 2016 (called HCA, or Highly Cited Articles), India’s index score of 0.7 is lower than that of the U.S., China and the European Union.
- An index score of 1 or more is considered good.
- The inference for India is that the impact, and hence the citation of publications from India, should improve.
Patents filed by India
- The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) through their Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is the primary channel of filing international patent applications.
- In its report for 2019, WIPO says India filed a modest number of 2,053 patent applications.
- Compared to the 58,990 applications filed by China and 57,840 by the U.S., India has a long way to go.
- The Indian Government put in place the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy in 2016 to “stimulate a dynamic, vibrant and balanced intellectual property rights system”.
- One of the objectives is human capital development.
- The mission to foster innovation, replicate it at scale and commercialise it is a work in progress consequent to the policy.
India’s Science Policies
- There have been four science policies till now, after 1947, with the draft of the fifth policy having been released recently.
- India’s first science policy adopted in 1958.
- It led to the establishment of many research institutes and national laboratories, and by 1980.
- The focus in the second science policy, Technology Policy Statement, in 1983, was technological self-reliance and to use technology to benefit all sections of the society.
- The Science and Technology Policy 2003, the first science policy after the economic liberalisation of 1991, aimed to increase investment in research and development and brought it to 0.7%.
- The Scientific and Engineering Research Board (SERB) was established to promote research.
- In 2013, India’s science policy included Innovation in its scope and was called Science, Technology and Innovation Policy.
- The focus was to be one of the top five global scientific leaders, which India achieved.
What 5th science policy seeks to achieve
- The draft of the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP2020) has an ambitious vision to “double the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers, Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) and private sector contribution to the GERD every 5 years” .
- It also aims to “position India among the top three scientific superpowers in the next decade”.
- It also defines strategies to improve funding for and participation in research. India’s Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) is currently around 0.6% of GDP.
- This is quite low when compared to the investments by the U.S. and China which are greater than 2% and Israel’s GERD is more than 4%.
- The policy seeks to define strategies that are “decentralized, evidence-informed, bottom-up, experts-driven, and inclusive”.
Solutions to improve funding
- STIP2020 defines solutions to improve funding thus: all States to fund research, multinational corporations to participate in research, fiscal incentives and support for innovation in medium and small scale enterprises.
- The new measures should not become a pretext to absolve the Union and State governments of their primacy in funding research; the government should invest more into research.
Other critical focus areas
- 1) Other critical focal areas ar inclusion of under-represented groups of people in research.
- 2) Support for indigenous knowledge systems.
- 3) Using artificial intelligence.
- 4) Reaching out to the Indian scientific diaspora for collaboration.
- 5) Science diplomacy with partner countries.
- 6) Setting up a strategic technology development fund to give impetus to research.
Conclusion
More specific directives and implementation with a scientific temper without engaging in hyperbole will be key to the policy’s success; and its success is important to us because, as Carl Sagan said, “we can do science, and with it we can improve our lives”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with the challenges of Big Tech
The article highlights the challenges in regulating the Big Techs.
Controlling Big Tech
- Recently, the Indian government announced a sweeping array of rules reining-in social media.
- Specifically, social media platforms are required to become “more responsible and more accountable” for the content they carry.
- India is by no means alone in taking steps to regulate at Big Tech.
- The social media companies would argue that they are self-regulating.
- The problem is that their actions are ad hoc, inconsistent and reactive
Issues
- A user can be removed from the platform if his post threatens the “unity, integrity, defence, security or Sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any foreign States”.
- In other words, the government is giving itself plenty of room to cut Big Tech down to size.
Why the issue needs government intervention: 3 arguments
1) Conflict of interest
- The government intervention rests on the presumption that it is never in the commercial interest of Big Tech to remove offensive speech.
- This is because as such content goes viral more readily, bringing in more eyeballs, more data and more advertising revenue.
- Big Tech proponents would contend that the companies are getting smarter about the risks of allowing such content on their systems and will inevitably find it in their self-interest to pre-emptively kill it.
2) State is the guardian of public interest
- A second argument in favour of government would be as follows: States are the guardians of the public interest.
- In democratic societies, governments are elected to represent the will of the people.
- So if there is a hard choice to be made about curtailing speech or permitting it, it seems only natural to turn to the public guardian.
- The counter to this theory would be that, in practice, even democratically elected governments are far from perfect.
- In fact according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, both India (ranked 53rd ) and the US (ranked 25th) are “flawed democracies”.
- In parallel, the argument for Big Tech to be the upholder of the public interest could rest on the theory that well-functioning markets are superior to flawed democracies in optimising social welfare.
- The counter-argument to this view would be that the tech industry is itself deeply flawed.
- There is a lack of sufficient choice of platforms; there are asymmetries in power between the companies and users and Big Tech is amassing data on the citizens and using this information for its own purposes, which makes the disparity even greater.
3) Bargaining power of BigTech
- A third perspective is to acknowledge it doesn’t matter who is the “true” upholder of the public interest.
- For all practical purposes, the outcome of the struggle between Big Government and Big Tech will be determined by relative bargaining power.
- While governments technically have the ability to take entire platforms offline within the borders of their countries, these platforms are now so enormous that their users would revolt.
- This is why we witnessed the audacity, recently, of Google and Facebook, threatening to de-platform Australia.
Consider the question “What are the challenges in the regulation of Big Techs? Suggest ways to deal with these challenges.”.
Conclusion
While governments technically have the ability to take entire platforms offline within the borders of their countries, these platforms are now so enormous that their users would revolt. This is why we witnessed the audacity, recently, of Google and Facebook, threatening to de-platform Australia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Buddha's Mudra, Vajrayana Sect
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has unearthed a Buddhist monastery, believed to be at least 900 years old, buried under a mound in a village situated in a hilly area of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.
Details of the excavation
- The findings were significant since the monastery is on the old route to Varanasi, 10 km from Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon.
- Archaeologists found four statues of the deity Tara in Varad Mudra and six statues of the Buddha in bhumisparsa Mudra
- So it is a significant finding as deity Tara’s statues mean this was an important centre of the Vajrayana sect of Buddhism.
- Vajrayana is a form of Tantric Buddhism, which flourished in India from the 6th to 11th century.
Tap to read more about Buddhism at:
Chapter 5 | Mauryan Period (400BC – 200BC)
Learning: Various Mudra of Buddha
PC: Pinterest
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: E-Daakhil
Mains level: Consumer greivances redressal mechanisms
The Union Government has informed that the ‘E-Daakhil’ portal for consumer grievance redressal is now operational in 15 states and Union Territories (UTs).
Try this question from our AWE initiative:
What are the objectives sought to be achieved through The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 to regulate commercial transactions? What are the issues with the rules? 10 marks
E-Daakhil
- The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which came into force on July 20, 2020, has a provision for e-filing of consumer complaints in the consumer commissions and online payment of the fees for filing a complaint.
- A web application for e-filing of consumer complaints named ‘edaakhil.nic.in’ has been developed by NIC for the purpose.
- E-filing was launched by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) on September 7, 2020.
- Delhi was the first state to implement it on September 8, 2020.
Features of the portal
- The E-Daakhil portal empowers the consumer and their advocates to file the consumer complaints along with payment of requisite fees online from anywhere for the redressal of their complaints.
- It facilitates the consumer commissions to scrutinise the complaints online to accept, reject or forward the complaint to the concerned commission for further processing.
- The digital software for filing consumer complaints has many features like e-notice, case document download link and virtual hearing link, filing written response by the opposite party, fling rejoinder by complainant and alerts via SMS/e-mail.
- To facilitate the rural consumers for e-filing, it has been decided to integrate the common service centres (CSC) with the E-Daakhil portal.
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