| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Act of God , Force Majeure clause

Mains level: Not Much

Amid disruptions caused by Covid-19, the Finance Minister has referred to an Act of God while businesses are looking at a legal provision, force majeure, to cut losses.

Note the key differences between the Act of God and Force Majeure.

Evoking “Act of God”

The force majeure or “Act of God” clause has its origins in the Napoleonic Code.
The finance ministry had issued an office memorandum inviting attention to the force majeure clause (FMC) in the 2017 Manual for Procurement of Goods issued by the Department of Expenditure.
It clarified that the pandemic should be considered a case of natural calamity and FMC may be invoked, wherever considered appropriate.

What is a force majeure clause?

The law of contracts is built around a fundamental norm that the parties must perform the contract.
When a party fails to perform its part of the contract, the loss to the other party is made good.
However, the law carves out exceptions when the performance of the contract becomes impossible for the parties.
A force majeure clause is one such exception that releases the party of its obligations to an extent when events beyond their control take place and leave them unable to perform their part of the contract.
FMC is a clause that is present in most commercial contracts and is a carefully drafted legal arrangement in the event of a crisis.
When the clause is triggered, parties can decide to break from their obligations temporarily or permanently without necessarily breaching the contract.
Companies in such situations use the clause as a safe exit route, sometimes in opportunistic ways, without having to incur the penalty of breaching the contract.

Difference between the two

Both concepts elicit the same consequences in law.
Generally, an “Act of God” is understood to include only natural unforeseen circumstances, whereas force majeure is wider in its ambit and includes both naturally occurring events and events that occur due to human intervention.

What situations legally qualify for use of force majeure?

While some contracts have clauses with standard circumstances, some contracts would have specific circumstances that are more focused.
For example, a shipping contract would have a force majeure clause that could cover a natural disaster like a tsunami.
If an event is not described, then it is interpreted in a way that it falls in the same category of events that are described.
An FMC is negotiated by parties, and events that could potentially hamper the performance of the contract are catalogued.
It is not invoked just by expressing that an unforeseen event has occurred.
In case a contract does not have a force majeure clause, there are some protections in common law that can be invoked by parties.
For example, the Indian Contract Act, 1872 provides that a contract becomes void if it becomes impossible due to an event after the contract was signed that the party could not prevent.

Global precedents dealing with COVID-19 pandemic

In China, where the Covid-19 outbreak originated, the Council for Promotion of International Trade is issuing force majeure certificates to businesses.
China’s Supreme People’s Court had recognised the 2002 SARS outbreak as a force majeure event.
Singapore enacted the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act in April to provide relief to businesses that could not perform their contractual obligations due to the pandemic.
The Paris Commercial Court in July ruled that the pandemic could be equated to a force majeure event.
In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority has brought in a test case before the High Court to look into business insurance contracts and interpret the standard wordings in such contracts.
The International Chamber of Commerce has developed a Model Code on the force majeure clause reflecting current international practice.

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What is Project Dolphin?

Species | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Project Dolphin

Mains level: NA

In his Independence Day Speech this year, PM has announced the government’s plan to launch a Project Dolphin. The proposed project is aimed at saving both river and marine dolphins.

Project Dolphin

The Project will be on the lines of Project Tiger, which has helped increase the tiger population.
So far, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), which implements the government’s flagship scheme Namami Gange, has been taking some initiatives for saving dolphins.
Now, Project Dolphin is expected to be implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

About Gangetic Dolphin

The Gangetic river system is home to a vast variety of aquatic life, including the Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica).
It is one of five species of river dolphin found around the world.
It is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems.
An adult dolphin could weigh between 70 kg and 90 kg. The breeding season of the Gangetic dolphin extends from January to June.
They feed on several species of fishes, invertebrates etc.

Why is it important to save dolphins?

The construction of dams and barrages and increasing pollution has led to a decline in the population of aquatic animals in the rivers in general and of dolphins in particular.
Aquatic life is an indicator of the health of river ecosystems.
As the Gangetic dolphin is at the top of the food chain, protecting the species and its habitat will ensure

Aquatic life as an indicator of the health of a river system

Globally, there have been such examples. For instance, the Rhine Action Plan (1987) of the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) brought back the salmon.
The return of the migratory fish is taken as an indicator of the river’s improved health.
Salmon used to migrate from the North Sea to the Rhine every year and reproduce, but this stopped when pollution increased in the river.
After a chemical accident in 1986 that caused the death of fish and microorganisms, the Action Plan was launched.
This led to an improvement in the quality of the river water, and the salmons began to return.

What has been done to save Gangetic dolphins so far?

Although efforts to save them were started in the mid-1980s, the estimates suggest the numbers have not risen as a result.
The Gangetic dolphin remains listed as Endangered by the IUCN.
After the launch of Ganga Action Plan in 1985, the government on November 24, 1986, included Gangetic dolphins in the First Schedule of the Indian Wildlife (Protection), Act 1972.
This was aimed at checking hunting and providing conservation facilities such as wildlife sanctuaries. For instance, Vikramshila Ganges Dolphin Sanctuary was established in Bihar under this Act.

Conservation so far

The government has prepared The Conservation Action Plan for the Ganges River Dolphin 2010-2020.
It identified threats to Gangetic Dolphins and impact of river traffic, irrigation canals and depletion of prey-base on Dolphins populations.
On October 5, 2009, the then PM declared the Gangetic river dolphin as the national aquatic animal.
A notification was issued by the MoEFCC the following year. Now, the National Mission for Clean Ganga celebrates October 5 as National Ganga River Dolphin Day.

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

Vitamin-D Deficiency

Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Vitamin D

Mains level: Not Much

The pandemic-induced lockdown has confined people to their houses for five months now. The resultant lack of sunlight, followed by rains, has brought down the vitamin D levels to the lowest.

Try this PYQ from CSP 2014:

Q.Consider the following pairs:

Vitamin Deficiency:: Disease

Vitamin C::Scurvy

Vitamin D:: Rickets

Vitamin E:: Night blindness

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 only

(c) 1, 2 and 3

(d) None

What is Vitamin-D?

Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that has myriad positive effects on several systems in the body.
Unlike other vitamins, it functions like a hormone and every cell in your body has a receptor for it.
It is sparsely found in certain fatty fish and fortified dairy products, and it is extremely difficult to get the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of 600-800 IU from diet alone.

There are two main forms of vitamin D in the diet:

– Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol) — found in plant foods like mushrooms.
– Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) — found in animal foods like salmon, cod and egg yolks.

Common signs and symptoms of the deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency is incredibly common and most people are unaware of it, as the symptoms are subtle and nonspecific.

– Getting sick or infected often with common cold and flu, because of a weak immune system.
– Fatigue and tiredness
– Bone and muscle pains
– Depression
– Impaired wound healing
– Bone loss and osteoporosis

Sources of Vit. D

Sunlight is the best natural source of vitamin D. Sunlight synthesizes cholesterol into Vitamin D3.
Usually, 20 to 30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 am and 3 pm is adequate to meet daily requirements, in places with minimum pollution levels.

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Foreign Policy Watch: India-China

Non-War Military Tactics used by China

| 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: NA

Mains level: India-China Relations

An annual report from the U.S. Department of Defense describes Chinese leaders’ use of tactics short of armed conflict to further the country’s objectives, citing border conflicts with India and Bhutan among the examples.

Try this question:

Q. What are Non-War Military Activities (NWMA)? Discuss how China is using NWMA as a tool for its overtly ambitious expansionist policy.

Various non-war military tactics

The report describes Non-War Military Activities (NWMA) as one of two kinds of military operations (the other is war) used by the PLA. NWMA can be conducted internationally or domestically and encompass activities in multiple domains.

(1) Provoking armed conflict

China calibrates its coercive activities to fall below the threshold of provoking conflict with the United States, its allies and partners, or others in the Indo-Pacific region.
It can notably include operations in which the PLA uses coercive threats and/or violence below the level of armed conflict against states and other actors to safeguard its expansionism.
These tactics are particularly evident in China’s pursuit of its territorial and maritime claims in the South and East China Seas as well as along its border with India and Bhutan.

(2) Neo-imperialist tools

China also employs non-military tools coercively, including economic tools during periods of political tensions with countries that China accuses of harming its national interests.
The Belt and Road Initiative is leading to a greater overseas military presence for China in the guise to protect its economic interests.

(3) Multilateralism as a strategic messaging tool

The report says that China uses multilateral forums and international organisations to generate new opportunities to expand its influence, strengthen its political influence.
It promotes strategic messaging that portrays China as a responsible global actor, advances its development interests, and limit outside interference in and criticism of its initiatives.
The Brazil Russia India China South Africa (BRICS) grouping and Shanghai Cooperation Organization are among those cited as examples of this alleged phenomenon.

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J&K – The issues around the state

New Official Languages in J&K

States | 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: Official languages

Mains level: Not Much

The Union Cabinet has approved a Bill to introduce Hindi, Kashmiri and Dogri as official languages in Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to Urdu and English. As of now, the official language is Urdu and Kashmiri is recognised as a regional language.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Consider the following languages:

Gujarati

Kannada

Telugu

Which of the above has/have been declared as ‘Classical Language/ Languages’ by the Government?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Languages in J&K

In the undivided Jammu and Kashmir state, various ethnicities spoke Kashmiri, Pahari, Gojri, Ladakhi, Dogri, Balti and Punjabi as their mother tongues.
Urdu and Hindi had become a means for inter-community communication.
In 1889, Maharaja Pratap Singh, the third ruler of the Hindu Dogra dynasty, replaced Persian with Urdu as the court language.
It was an anomaly that the three languages — Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri — which are spoken by nearly 70 per cent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir were not approved for use in official business.

Official languages in India

Article 343 of the Indian constitution stated that the official language of the Union is Hindi in Devanagari script instead of the extant English.
Later, a constitutional amendment, The Official Languages Act, 1963, allowed for the continuation of English alongside Hindi in the Indian government indefinitely until legislation decides to change it.
The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union is “the international form of Indian numerals”, which are referred to as Arabic numerals in most English-speaking countries.
Despite the misconceptions, Hindi is not the national language of India; the Constitution of India does not give any language the status of the national language.
The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists 22 languages, which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement.

Other classical languages

In addition, the Government of India has awarded the distinction of classical language to Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu.
Classical language status is given to languages which have a rich heritage and independent nature.

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Gravitational Wave Observations

Black Holes Merger

Explained | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Black Holes

Mains level: Black holes merger

Billions of years ago, a collision between two black holes sent gravitational waves rippling through the universe. In 2019, signals from these waves were detected at the gravitational wave observatory LIGO (United States) and the detector Virgo (Italy).

Try this PYQ:

Q.Recently, scientists observed the merger of giant ‘blackholes’ billions of light-years away from the Earth. What is the significance of this observation?

(a) ‘Higgs boson particles’ were detected.

(b) ‘Gravitational waves’ were detected.

(c) Possibility of inter-galactic space travel through ‘wormhole’ was confirmed.

(d) It enabled the scientists to understand ‘singularity’.

Why in news?

The cause of curiosity is the mass of one of the parent black holes, which defies traditional knowledge of how black holes are formed.

What exactly was detected?

It was a signal from a gravitational wave, a relatively new field of discovery.
Gravitational waves are invisible ripples that form when a star explodes in a supernova; when two big stars orbit each other; and when two black holes merge.
Travelling at the speed of light, gravitational waves squeeze and stretch anything in their path.

Detecting gravitational waves

Gravitational waves were proposed by Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity over a century ago.
It was only in 2015, however, that the first gravitational wave was actually detected — by LIGO. Since then, there have been a number of subsequent detections of gravitational waves.
The signal detected at LIGO and Virgo, as described by the LIGO Collaboration, resembled “about four short wiggles” and lasted less than one-tenth of a second.

Where did it come from?

Subsequent analysis suggested that GW190521 had most likely been generated by a merger of two black holes. The signal likely represented the instance that the two merged.
It was calculated to have come from roughly 17 billion light-years away, and from a time when the universe was about half its age.

Some questions to verify

The findings led to further questions.
One of the two merging black holes falls in an “intermediate-mass” range — a misfit that cannot be explained by traditional knowledge of how black holes form.

Why is it unusual?

All the black holes observed so far belong to either of two categories.
One category ranges between a few solar masses (one solar mass is the mass of our Sun) and tens of solar masses. These are thought to form when massive stars die.
The other category is of supermassive black holes. This range from hundreds of thousands, to billions of times that of our sun.
According to traditional knowledge, stars that could give birth to black holes between 65 and 120 solar masses do not do so — stars in this range blow themselves apart when they die, without collapsing into a black hole.

Observing for the first time

In the merger leading to the GW190521 signal, the larger black hole was of 85 solar masses —well within this unexpected range, known as the pair-instability mass gap.
It is the first “intermediate-mass” black hole ever observed. (In fact, the smaller black hole to is borderline, at 66 solar masses.)
The two merged to create a new black hole of about 142 solar masses. Energy equivalent to eight solar masses was released in the form of gravitational waves, leading to the strongest ever wave detected by scientists so far.

Possible reasons for its formation

The researchers suggest that the 85-solar-mass black hole was not the product of a collapsing star, but was itself the result of a previous merger.
Formed by a collision between two black holes, it is likely that the new black hole then merged with the 66-solar-mass black hole — leading to gravitational waves and the signal received by LIGO and Virgo.

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Interstate River Water Dispute

Kalasa-Banduri Dam Project

Prelims Only | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Federalism

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Kalasa-Banduri Dam Project

Mains level: Inter-state water disputes

India is on the brink of an acute water crisis, which has, to an extent, fabricated a looming threat of trans-boundary water conflicts. The conflict on the Mandovi / Mahadayi River— flowing through Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra— is one such example.

Try this PYQ:

What is common to the places known as Aliyar, Isapur and Kangsabati?

(a) Recently discovered uranium deposits

(b) Tropical rain forests

(c) Underground cave systems

(d) Water reservoirs

Kalasa-Banduri Project

The project undertaken by the Karnataka government proposes to divert Mandovi river water from Kalasa and Banduri canals into the Malaprabha river in the state.
The project received clearance from the Centre in 2002. It aims to construct a total of 11 dams on the river Mandovi.
The diversion of water from Kalasa and Banduri nullahs, however, has been the point of contention between Karnataka and Goa, with the latter claiming it would strip the state of its flora and fauna.

The conflict

The Mandovi originates from Karnataka’s Belgaum district.
The Mandovi river basin falls into the states of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The river is 81 kilometres (km) in length; 35 km of which flows in Karnataka, 1 km in Maharashtra and 45 km in Goa.
The seeds of the conflict were sowed over 40 years ago: In 1985, Karnataka initially explored a 350 megawatt-hydro-electric project to divert 50 per cent of the Mandovi river water in Karnataka for irrigation.
The plan was also to allow a steady flow of water from the power project’s storage dam after using the water for irrigation purposes in Karnataka.
This would have served to drinking water and irrigation purposes in Goa as well.

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Start-up Ecosystem In India

[pib] NIDHI-EIR Programme

PIB | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Issues relating growth and development, employment

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NIDHI EIR

Mains level: Not Much

A brochure featuring Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) under the National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) programme was launched by Dept. of Science and Technology (DST).

Try this MCQ:

Q.The NIDHI-EIR Programme sometimes seen in news functions under the:

a)Ministry of Science & Technology

b)Ministry of Commerce and Industry

c)Ministry of Finance

d)Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

About NIDHI-EIR

DST has announced a National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) is an umbrella programme for nurturing ideas and innovations into successful startups.
EIR programme is one of the programs introduced under NIDHI to inspire the best talents to be entrepreneurs, to minimise the risk involved in pursuing start-ups, and to partially set off their opportunity costs of high paying jobs.
It provides tremendous opportunities for innovative entrepreneurs to expand their networks and get critical feedback on their ventures in order to promote their entrepreneurial career goals and aspirations.

The opportunities under NIDHI-EIR program include:

Guidance from experienced, innovative and highly successful entrepreneurs on the business concept, strategy or venture and insight into specific industries or markets.
Best practices for starting a business and broaden the professional network.
Co-working spaces for developing the idea into a marketable product.

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Innovation Ecosystem in India

[pib] Global Innovation Index 2020

IOCR | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Global Innovation Index

Mains level: Innovation ecosystem in India

India has climbed 4 spots and has been ranked 48^thby the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the Global Innovation Index 2020 rankings.

Try this PYQ from CSP 2016:

Q.India’s ranking in the ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ is sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following has declared that ranking?

a) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

b) World Economic Forum

c) World Bank

d) World Trade Organization (WTO)

About the Global Innovation Index

The GII is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business a British magazine.
It is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the WIPO, in partnership with other organisations and institutions.
It is based on both subjective and objective data derived from several sources, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
The GII is commonly used by corporate and government officials to compare countries by their level of innovation.
The theme of the 2019 GII is Creating Healthy Lives – The Future of Medical Innovation, which aims to explore the role of medical innovation as it shapes the future of healthcare.

Components of GII

Five input pillars capture elements of the national economy that enable innovative activities under GII are:

Institutions,
Human capital and research,
Infrastructure,
Market sophistication, and
Business sophistication.

Two output pillars capture actual evidence of innovation outputs:

Knowledge and technology outputs and
Creative outputs

India’s performance this year

In midst of the COVID -19 pandemic, it comes as uplifting news for India and is a testament of its robust R&D Ecosystem.
India was at the 52^nd position in 2019 and was ranked 81^st in the year 2015.
The WIPO had also accepted India as one of the leading innovation achievers of 2019 in the central and southern Asian region, as it has shown a consistent improvement in its innovation ranking for the last 5 years.

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Coronavirus – Economic Issues

Reforms that will lead to economic Poorna Swaraj

| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 3- Long term prospects for Indian economy and reforms needed

The article discusses the long term and short term strategy to deal with the disruption caused by the pandemic and using it to bring about the reform in various sectors.

Context

The pain of COVID is real, GST shortfall of Rs 3 lakh crore, expected new bad loans of Rs 3 lakh crore, and a 25 per cent first quarter contraction of GDP.
COVID will end, the last quarter was unique, and COVID has created a policy window for overdue reform.

3 Questions to be answered to determine short term measures

1) Are we at the start, middle, or end of the virus?
This matters because life will be tentative until companies and individuals know where we are.
2)Will companies will they save for a rainy day or live for today?
This matters because lower demand is fantastic for the environment but fatal for the economy (the paradox of thrift).
3) Do we have an effective solution for professions that can’t be done without social distancing until the vaccine arrives?
All policy can do in the short run is ensure that disease doesn’t lead to death, unemployment doesn’t lead to hunger, and working capital problems don’t lead to bankruptcy.

Factors in favour of India in the long run

Our post-COVID, post-Trump, post-China, post-GST, and post US Federal Reserve economic strategy must recognise factors in our favour.
China’s territorial arrogance may be premature.
China’s credit to GDP is an unsustainable 300 per cent, many of its big companies will not survive when faced with open market, and its domestic consumption is not sufficient to substitute for global trade.
China’s military overreach is unifying the region and creating coalitions and alliances that they will regret but India will enjoy.
Muted global growth means oil prices will remain low; this is a huge macroeconomic gift for a country like India.
The global digitisation supercycle creates insatiable demand for software talent which would be big advantage for India.
Over the next few decades, most rich countries will struggle to grow.
This forces investors to overprice growth. And because of our past sins, India is the only big country with decades of growth left.

Reforms India need

Our problem is not jobs but productivity.
This needs compliance reform-taking an axe through our 67,000 compliances and 6,700 filings.
Labour law reform.
Banking reform: raising our credit to GDP ratio from 50 per cent to 100 per cent by licensing more banks and fixing existing ones.
Education reform.
Ease-of-doing-business reforms: reduce the number of ministries from 52 to 15.
Civil service reform:cut the number of people in Delhi with the rank of Secretary from 250+ to 50, a risk-averse bureaucracy must be sidestepped or overruled.

Consider the question “The disruption caused by the pandemic offers a window for India to create enduring change through economic reforms to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the pandemic. Discuss.”

Conclusion

We should focus on creating climate change for our entrepreneurs, firms, and citizens with reforms that will give them economic Poorna Swaraj. And take our per capita income of $2,500 to $10,000 in five years. If not now, then when?

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Women empowerment issues – Jobs,Reservation and education

Examining the legislative error of disentitling daughters

op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Hindu Succession Act 1956 and amendments

Mains level: Paper 2- The Supreme Court judgement making daughters coparcener in her own right

The article highlights the importance of the latest Supreme Court Judgement making daughter coparcener in own right by birth removing the conditions laid down in the previous judgement.

Background

In Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020), the Supreme Court held that a coparcener’s daughter would become a coparcener in her own right by birth.

Amendment in 2005 and related SC judgement

There is a difference between rights conferred by the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 and the amendment to that act in 2005.
In 1956 Act, equal right of succession at par with a son was given to a daughter, but only after the demise of the father or mother.
The 2005 amendment gave the right to property to a daughter in a joint Hindu family during the lifetime of the father.
In Prakash v. Phulavati 2005, the Supreme Court decided on the prospectivity or retrospectivity of the law creating coparcenary rights in favour of daughters.
It created a condition that the rights under the amendment are applicable only to living daughters of living coparceners as on September 9, 2005; however, it gave no reason as to why this was chosen as a condition.
The status of a daughter to be subject to her father being alive is apparently a mistake.
The death of an individual should not determine the rights of their heirs.
If any right had accrued in the daughter’s favour by a legislation, the same can’t be disturbed by death of her father.

What the SC said in latest judgement

In the present judgment, Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma , the court rightly held that as laid down in Section 6 (1) (a), daughter is to be a coparcener by birth; so there is no question of being prospective or retrospective.
It is the physical status that matters and should not be linked to a date.
Even in the case of unregistered partition deeds executed before December 20, 2004, the court has opened a new window for daughters.
Daughters can claim a right even in an unregistered partition deed which has not been proved conclusively.

Conclusion

There is a need to examine all the existing laws and wherever discriminatory practices exist, they need to be amended appropriately.

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Digital India Initiatives

Issues with the Gopalakrishnan Committee Report

op-ed snap | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Personal data and non-personal data

Mains level: Paper 3- Making open data-society by sharing making open the data collected by the government

The article highlights the importance of non-personal data collected by the government and lack of any reference to it in the Gopalakrishnan Committee report.

Background

The Committee of Experts on the Non-Personal Data Governance Framework headed by K Gopalakrishnan has recommended making privately held non-personal data “open”.
This has raised concerns about state interference in the private data ecoystem.

Importance of data collected by government agencies

The report is a missed opportunity to address the governance frameworks around data created by government agencies.
Some of the most important non-personal data sets are held by the government, or result from taxpayer funding.
Such data can be useful in either framing public policy or creating and providing new services.

Why government data should be open to citizens: 5 Reasons

First, the state should be transparent about information that it has. This will improve accountability.
Second, if taxpayer money has funded any of the data sets, then it is an obligation of the state to return the fruits of that funding to the taxpayer.
Third, by permitting the reuse of government data sets, we avoid the need for duplication.
Fourth, government data sets, curated according to publicly verified standards, can lead to increased confidence in data quality and increased usage.
Finally, free flow of information can have beneficial effects on society in general.

Government policies promoting openness of data

The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, mandates the disclosure of government data on a suo moto basis.
One of the nine pillars of the Digital India Policy is “information for all”.
The National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), 2012 requires all non-sensitive information held by public authorities to be made publicly accessible in machine readable formats (subject to conditions).
The government has also set up an Open Government Data Platform to provide open access to data sets held by ministries and other agencies of the government.
Various States have also either created their own data portals or have provided data sets to the Open Government Data Platform.

Challenges in making the data open to society

There are two reasons for our failure to create an open data-based society.
The first is lack of clarity in some of the provisions of the NDSAP or the relevant implementation guidelines.
The second is the inability to enforce guidelines appropriately.
Data sets released by governments are often inconsistent, incomplete, outdated, published in non-machine readable or inconsistent formats, include duplicates, and lack quality (or any) metadata, thereby reducing re-usability.

Issues with Gopalakrishnana Committee Report

The Gopalakrishnan Committee could have evaluated what is going wrong with existing policies and practice pertaining to government data.
The report is a missed opportunity to address the governance frameworks around non-personal data sets in a country created by government agencies, or those resulting from taxpayer money.
The report largely focuses on the dangers posed by data collection by private sector entities.
This has raised concerns about state interference in the private data ecoystem.
Many of the concerns that should be addressed in the report that are central to the governance of the data ecosystem have remained in the background.
For instance, India’s cybersecurity framework continues to be inadequate, while even the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee report of 2018 highlighted the need to restrict the growing power of the state to carry out surveillance.

Consider the question “What are the key recommendation made by the Gopalakrishnan Committee for the regulation of non-personal data? What are the shortcomings in of the report in your opinion?”

Conclusion

Since data governance is a relatively new concept in India, the government would be better served in taking an incremental approach to any perceived problems. This should begin with reforming how the government itself deals with citizens’ data.

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Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

What are Question Hour and Zero Hour?

Explained | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Parliament & State Legislatures

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Question hour, Zero Hour

Mains level: Not Much

The Lok Sabha Secretariat officially released the schedule for the monsoon Parliament session with Question Hour being dropped. Zero Hour will also be restricted in both Houses.

This newscard is very narrative in its form and scope.

Q.Discuss the various instruments of Parliamentary Control in India.

What is Question Hour, and what is its significance?

Question Hour is the liveliest hour in Parliament. It is during this one hour that MPs ask questions of ministers and hold them accountable for the functioning of their ministries.
Prior to Independence, the first question asked of government was in 1893. It was on the burden cast on village shopkeepers who had to provide supplies to touring government officers.
The questions that MPs ask are designed to elicit information and trigger suitable action by ministries.
Over the last 70 years, MPs have successfully used this parliamentary device to shine a light on government functioning.
Their questions have exposed financial irregularities and brought data and information regarding government functioning to the public domain.
With the broadcasting since 1991, Question Hour has become one of the most visible aspects of parliamentary functioning.

And what is Zero Hour?

While Question Hour is strictly regulated, Zero Hour is an Indian innovation. The phrase does not find mention in the rules of procedure.
The concept of Zero Hour started organically in the first decade of Indian Parliament when MPs felt the need for raising important constituency and national issues.
During the initial days, Parliament used to break for lunch at 1 pm.
Therefore, the opportunity for MPs to raise national issues without an advance notice became available at 12 pm and could last for an hour until the House adjourned for lunch.
This led to the hour being popularly referred to as Zero Hour and the issues being raised during this time as Zero Hour submissions.
Its importance can be gauged from the support it receives from citizens, media, MPs and presiding officers despite not being part of the rulebook.

How is Question Hour regulated?

Parliament has comprehensive rules for dealing with every aspect of Question Hour.
And the presiding officers of the two houses are the final authority with respect to the conduct of Question Hour.
For example, usually, Question Hour is the first hour of a parliamentary sitting.

What kinds of questions are asked?

Parliamentary rules provide guidelines on the kind of questions that can be asked by MPs.
Questions have to be limited to 150 words. They have to be precise and not too general.
The question should also be related to an area of responsibility of the GoI.
Questions should not seek information about matters that are secret or are under adjudication before courts.
It is the presiding officers of the two Houses who finally decide whether a question raised by an MP will be admitted for answering by the government.

How frequently is Question Hour held?

The process of asking and answering questions starts with identifying the days on which Question Hour will be held.
At the beginning of Parliament in 1952, Lok Sabha rules provided for Question Hour to be held every day. Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, had a provision for Question Hour for two days a week.
A few months later, this was changed to four days a week. Then from 1964, Question Hour was taking place in Rajya Sabha on every day of the session.
Now, Question Hour in both Houses is held on all days of the session.
But there are two days when an exception is made. There is no Question Hour on the day the President addresses MPs from both Houses in the Central Hall.
Question Hour is not scheduled either on the day the Finance Minister presents the Budget.

How does Parliament manage to get so many questions answered?

To streamline the answering of questions raised by MPs, the ministries are put into five groups. Each group answers questions on the day allocated to it.
For example, in the last session, on Thursday the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Labour, Housing, and Youth Affairs and Sports were answering questions posed by Lok Sabha MPs.
MPs can specify whether they want an oral or written response to their questions.
They can put an asterisk against their question signifying that they want the minister to answer that question on the floor. These are referred to as starred questions.
After the minister’s response, the MP who asked the question and other MPs can also ask a follow-up question.
This is the visible part of Question Hour, where you see MPs trying to corner ministers on the functioning of their ministries on live television.

How do ministers prepare their answers?

Ministries receive the questions 15 days in advance so that they can prepare their ministers for Question Hour.
They also have to prepare for sharp follow-up questions they can expect to be asked in the House.
Governments’ officers are close at hand in a gallery so that they can pass notes or relevant documents to support the minister in answering a question.
When MPs are trying to gather data and information about government functioning, they prefer the responses to such queries in writing.
These questions are referred to as unstarred questions. The responses to these questions are placed on the table of Parliament.

Are the questions only for ministers?

MPs usually ask questions to hold ministers accountable. But the rules also provide them with a mechanism for asking their colleagues a question.
Such a question should be limited to the role of an MP relating to a Bill or a resolution being piloted by them or any other matter connected with the functioning of the House for which they are responsible.
Should the presiding officer so allow, MPs can also ask a question to a minister at a notice period shorter than 15 days.

Is there a limit to the number of questions that can be asked?

Rules on the number of questions that can be asked in a day have changed over the years.
In Lok Sabha, until the late 1960s, there was no limit on the number of unstarred questions that could be asked in a day.
Now, Parliament rules limit the number of starred and unstarred questions an MP can ask in a day.
The total numbers of questions asked by MPs in the starred and unstarred categories are then put in a random ballot.
From the ballot in Lok Sabha, 20 starred questions are picked for answering during Question Hour and 230 are picked for written answers.
Last year, a record was set when on a single day, after a gap of 47 years, all 20 starred questions were answered in Lok Sabha.

Have there been previous sessions without Question Hour?

Parliamentary records show that during the Chinese aggression in 1962, the Winter Session was advanced.
The sitting of the House started at 12 pm and there was no Question Hour held. Before the session, changes were made limiting the number of questions.
Thereafter, following an agreement between the ruling and the Opposition parties, it was decided to suspend Question Hour.

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Civil Services Reforms

Mission Karmayogi for Civil Services Capacity Building

Schemes | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Civil Service

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Mission Karmayogi

Mains level: Civil services reforms

The Union Cabinet gave its approval for Mission Karmayogi, a new national capacity building and performance evaluation programme for civil servants.

Try this MCQ:

Q.The Mission Karmayogi recently seen in news is related to:

a) EPFO reforms

b) Labour laws reforms

c) Civil Services reforms

d) Artisans and Handicrafts

Mission Karmayogi

The mission is established under the National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB).
It is aimed at building a future-ready civil service with the right attitude, skills and knowledge, aligned to the vision of New India.
It is meant to be a comprehensive post-recruitment reform of the Centre’s human resource development, in much the same way as the National Recruitment Agency approved last week is pre-recruitment reform.

Why such a mission?

The capacity of Civil Services plays a vital role in rendering a wide variety of services, implementing welfare programs and performing core governance functions.

Major undertakings of the scheme

The scheme will cover 46 lakh, Central government employees, at all levels, and involve an outlay of ₹510 crores over a five-year period, according to an official statement.
The programme will support a transition from “rules-based to roles-based” HR management so that work allocations can be done by matching an official’s competencies to the requirements of the post.
Apart from domain knowledge training, the scheme will focus on “functional and behavioural competencies” as well, and also includes a monitoring framework for performance evaluations.
Eventually, service matters such as confirmation after probation period, deployment, work assignments and notification of vacancies will all be integrated into the proposed framework.
The capacity building will be delivered through iGOT Karmayogi digital platform, with content drawn from global best practices rooted in Indian national ethos.

Apex bodies under the mission

The Prime Minister’s Public Human Resource Council will be set up as the apex body to direct the reforms.
There will be an autonomous Capacity Building Commission to be established to manage the reformed system and harmonize training standards across the country so that there is a common understanding of India’s aspirations and development goals.
A wholly government-owned, not-for-profit special purpose vehicle will be set up to own and operate the digital platform and its content.

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Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

OBC categorization: findings, progress by a panel so far

| Governance | Mains Paper 1: Population & Associated Issues

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not Much

Mains level: OBC categorization

While the ongoing legal debate on sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for reservations is undergoing, a Commission has been examining sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) for almost three years now.

Practice question for mains:

Q.The quota policy for OBCs needs an urgent revisit. Comment.

What is the sub-categorisation of OBCs?

OBCs are granted 27% reservation in jobs and education under the central government.
The question of sub-categorisation arises out of the perception that only a few affluent communities among the over 2,600 included in the Central List of OBCs have secured a major part of this 27% reservation.
The argument for sub-categorisation — or creating categories within OBCs for reservation — is that it would ensure “equitable distribution” of representation among all OBC communities.

Who is examining sub-categorisation?

The Commission to Examine Sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes took charge on October 11, 2017.
It is headed by retired Delhi High Court Chief Justice G Rohini.
Initially constituted with tenure of 12 weeks ending January 3, 2018, it was granted an extension recently.

What are its terms of references?

It was originally set up with three terms of reference:

To examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of OBCs with reference to such classes included in the Central List;
To work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation within such OBCs;
To take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of OBCs and classifying them into their respective sub-categories.

A fourth was added on January 22, 2020, when the Cabinet granted it an extension:

To study the various entries in the Central List of OBCs and recommend correction of any repetitions, ambiguities, inconsistencies and errors of spelling or transcription.

What progress has it made so far?

In its letter to the government on July 30, 2019, the Commission wrote that it is ready with the draft report. This could have huge political consequences and is likely to face a judicial review.
The current tenure of the Commission ends on January 31, 2021.
Its budget is being drawn from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) which was given constitutional status by the government in 2018.

What progress has it made so far?

The Commission is ready with the draft report. This could have huge political consequences and is likely to face a judicial review.
The current tenure of the Commission ends on January 31, 2021.
Its budget is being drawn from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) which was given constitutional status by the government in 2018.

How do these data compare with OBCs’ share in the population?

A hurdle for the Commission has been the absence of data for the population of various communities to compare with their representation in jobs and admissions.
Sources said the data of Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) were not considered reliable.
The Commission has requested for an appropriate Budget provision for a proposed all-India survey for an estimate of the caste-wise population of OBCs.

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NCRB data on Accidental Deaths and Suicides

DOMR | Trivia | Mains Paper 1: Population & Associated Issues

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NCRB

Mains level: NCRB and its report

The cases of suicide and the number of accidental deaths registered an increase across the country last year compared to 2018, according to the annual National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.

Do you know?

NCRB also released data on hate crimes, fake news, and anti-national activities etc.

(1) Data on Suicides

Statewise data: The maximum cases of mass/family suicides were reported from Tamil Nadu (16), followed by Andhra Pradesh (14), Kerala (11) and Punjab (9) and Rajasthan (7).
Unemployed person: Suicides by unemployed persons amounting to 14% were in Kerala (1,963), followed by 10.8% in Maharashtra, 9.8% in Tamil Nadu, 9.2% in Karnataka and 6.1% in Odisha. Of the 97,613 male suicides, the maximum were daily wage earners (29,092), followed by self-employed persons (14,319) and the unemployed (11,599).
Farmer’s suicide: Majority of victims engaged in the farming sector were reported in Maharashtra (38.2% of 10,281), Karnataka (19.4%), AP (10.0%), MP (5.3%) and Chhattisgarh & Telangana (4.9% each),” said the report.
Rural-Urban: The suicide rate in cities (13.9%) was higher compared to the all-India average. Family problems (other than marriage related problems)’ (32.4%); ‘marriage related problems’ (5.5%); and ‘illness’ (17.1%) accounted for 55% of the total suicides.
Gender-specific cases: The overall male-female ratio was 70.2:29.8. Nearly 68.4% of males were married and the ratio was 62.5% for female victims. While 12.6% of the total victims were illiterate, 16.3% had studied up to primary level, 19.6% up to middle level and 23.3% up to Matriculation level. Only 3.7% were graduates and above.
Defence personnel: In the Central Armed Police Forces, a total of 36 personnel died by suicide, 38.9% were due to “family problems”.

(2) Data on Accidents

Accidental deaths in the country increased by 2.3%. Compared to 4,11,824 in 2018, the figure stood at 4,21,104 last year.
The rate (per lakh population) increased from 31.1 to 31.5. The maximum casualties of 30.9% were reported in the 30-45 years age group, followed by 26% in the 18-30 years’ age group.
The highest rate was reported from Puducherry (72.8), followed by Chhattisgarh (68.6), Maharashtra (57.4), Haryana (54.3), Goa (51.5) and Madhya Pradesh (51.4).
Maharashtra reported the highest deaths (70,329), amounting to nearly one-sixth of the total figure. UP, the most populous state, accounted for 9.6% cases, followed by MP (10.1%).
Maximum deaths (85.4%) were in road accidents. While 38% of the victims were two-wheeler riders, 14.6% involved trucks.
Dangerous/careless driving or overtaking contributed to 25.7% road accidents, claiming 42,557 lives and leaving more than 1 lakh people injured.

(3) Deaths due to disasters

A total of 8,145 deaths were due to the causes attributable to forces of nature, including 35.3% due to lightning, 15.6% by heat/sunstroke and 11.6% deaths in floods.
Maximum deaths (400) due to lightning was reported each from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, followed by Jharkhand (334) and Uttar Pradesh (321).

Back2Basics: NCRB

The NCRB is an Indian government agency responsible for collecting and analyzing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL).
It is headquartered in New Delhi and is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
It was set-up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators.
It was set up based on the recommendation of the Task-force 1985 and National Police Commission 1977.

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Renewable Energy – Wind, Tidal, Geothermal, etc.

Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM)

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

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM)

Mains level: Not Much

As a first step towards Greening the Indian short term power market, the Ministry of Power and New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched pan-India Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) in electricity.

About GTAM

GTAM is an alternative new model introduced for selling off the power by the renewable developers in the open market without getting into long term PPAs.
This would promote RE merchant capacity addition and help in achieving RE capacity addition targets of the country.

Benefits of GTAM

It would lessen the burden on the RE-rich States and incentivize them to develop RE capacity beyond their own RPO.
It will benefit buyers of RE through competitive prices and transparent and flexible procurement. It will also benefit RE sellers by providing access to the pan- India market

Key features

Transactions through GTAM will be bilateral in nature with clear identification of corresponding buyers and sellers, there will not be any difficulty in accounting for RPO.
GTAM contracts will be segregated into Solar RPO & Non-Solar RPO as RPO targets are also segregated.
Further, within the two segments, GTAM contracts will have Green Intraday, Day Ahead Contingency, Daily and Weekly Contracts
Green Intraday Contract & Day Ahead Contingency Contract – Bidding will take place on a 15-minute time-block wise MW basis.
Daily & Weekly Contracts – Bidding will take place on an MWh basis.
Price discovery will take place on a continuous basis i.e. price-time priority basis. Subsequently, looking at the market conditions open auction can be introduced for daily & weekly contracts.
Energy scheduled through GTAM contract shall be considered as deemed RPO compliance of the buyer.

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e-Commerce: The New Boom

E-commerce rules 2020

| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Types of e-commerce model

Mains level: Paper 3- Rules to regulate the e-commerce

The article analyses the various restrictions under The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 to regulate all commercial transactions and issues with such restrictions.

Context

The recent rules relating to e-commerce, issued by the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 needs some changes.

What the recent rules specify

The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, notified on July 23, regulate all commercial transactions sold over a digital or electronic network.
The e-com rules currently recognise two e-commerce business models, namely, marketplace model and inventory-based model.
The rules have separate specified provisions for marketplace- and inventory-based entities.
The e-com rules require that all information on the return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment of the goods or services being sold, including their country of origin, be provided on the platform.
Such details enable consumers to make an informed decision.

What the new rules seek to achieve

The country of origin requirement is significant as India and several other countries are currently re-negotiating their free trade agreements.
E-com rules prohibit unfair trade practices by entities and sellers on marketplaces and manipulation of price.
The entities are prohibited from manipulating the price of the goods or services to gain unreasonable profit by imposing unjustified price or charges on consumers.

Issues with the rules

It remains unclear as to what would constitute price manipulation.
It also remain unclear how the e-commerce entities and sellers are expected to navigate these roadblocks without falling foul of such provisions.
Both the marketplace entity and sellers are now required to set up a grievance redressal mechanism, small businesses may not be in a position to comply.
The rules also prohibit an e-commerce entity from levying a charge for cancellation post confirmation.
While the provisions may be intended as safeguards that ensure a level-playing field, some of these conditions are impractical.
Applying identical rules does not convey a business-friendly approach.

Investment restrictions

The Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 currently recognise the marketplace and inventory model.
It permit 100% FDI under the automatic route to marketplace entities as also to those engaged in single-brand retail.
Foreign investments, up to 51%, are permitted in multi-brand retail with prior government approval.
As per the non-debt rules, entities engaged in single-brand retail are permitted to undertake retail trading through e-commerce.
However, single-brand retail trading through e-commerce has to open a brick-and-mortar store within two years from the date it commences online retail.
Retail trading, in any form, by means of e-commerce, is not permissible for entities engaged in inventory-based multi-brand retail trading and having foreign investment.

Consider the question “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?”

Conclusion

The commercial sector is anxious for India to consider relaxing some of these requirements, or extending the time period for compliance, given that brick-and-mortar operations may not be possible in the foreseeable future.

Source-

https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/e-commerce-rules-a-one-size-fits-all-approach-some-need-to-be-relaxed/2071953/

Back2Basics: Invenetory model and marketplace model

Marketplace model of e-commerce means providing of an information technology platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital and electronic network to act as a facilitator between buyer and seller.
The main feature of the market place model is that the e-commerce firm like flipkart, snapdeal, amazon etc. will be providing a platform for customers to interact with a selected number of sellers.
Inventory model of ecommerce means an ecommerce activity where inventory of goods and services is owned by e-commerce entity and is sold to the consumers directly.
The main feature of inventory model is that the customer buys the product from the ecommerce firm.

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Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

Economics of education

op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 2- Financial challenges education sector faces in India

The article delineates the challenges academic institutions in India faces in the wake of Covid disruption and suggests some measures to deal with the challenges.

Context

Disruption in the wake of pandemic raised the spectre of educational institutions shuttering their doors completely or taking unprecedented steps that have invariably affected jobs and livelihoods.

Economics of the academics

Economics has always been a part of academics; it is only in the present circumstances that it has become all the more apparent.
Management in private institutions, is going to meet demands on the one hand and availability of resources on the other.
One may call this new phenomenon “acadonomics”.
“Acadonomics” would imply a careful allocation of resources keeping in mind the transient nature of the issue of how long it is going to take to come back to the steady state of affairs that it once was.
‘Acadonomics’ will also involve seeing the economics of moving on to an online mode of the teaching-learning process.

Comparison with the West

The academic choices are not the same for all countries across the world.
In the United States the elite private and state subsidised universities have endowments that can be used for a range of academic activities.
Top 10 of the U.S. have a cushion of anywhere between $10 billion to $40 billion.
By contrast, private academic institutions in India do not have any such buffers.
None of the institutions in India possesses big corpuses from alumni or industry.
Their survival, for the most part, is on the annual income that comes from tuition and the assortment of other fees collected.

Private education in India

Private institutions in India are hardly in a position to meet an eventuality such as COVID-19.
In an educational set-up in India, nothing can be reduced — the norms cannot be lowered nor can the infrastructure be dismantled.
For the most part, the fixed and operational costs remain the same, and infrastructure once created cannot be shrunk.
The downside to self-financed institutions is that in the time of the pandemic and loss of jobs, students plead inability to pay the requisite fee.
Which places additional burden on the management which feels already stretched because of existing commitments.

Dual mode of learning and issues

1) Cost for persisting with a dual mode of the teaching-learning process is going to be quite prohibitive for the next few years.
The scaling of operations that would include the dual modes of online and offline is going to be expensive.
2) The online teaching mode brings with it increased costs of IT infrastructure such as network bandwidth, servers, cloud resources and software licensing fees.
3) Online teaching means new hiring in the IT sector and increased costs due to engagements with Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, and other online platforms.
4) Online teaching means setting up multiple studios and educational technology centres which translate into investments in high technology.
5) Creation of virtual laboratories across all domains of studies and examination centres, etc. would add to the woes in terms of already depleted finances.
6) Additional funds have to be allocated to train faculty for online teaching.

Way forward

The Centre and State governments should provide soft loans to students to stay with the educational course.
Students looking at online instruction would be disinclined to pay the same fee charged for offline instruction.
It would seem prudent for the government and regulatory bodies to not interfere in the fee structure, and, for the future, even consider a measure of higher degree of financial autonomy.
It is high time institutions in India are allowed to create coffers or corpuses for a rainy day.
Educational institutions could come to be treated like any other corporate body, with an allowable small margin of profit.

Consider the question “What are the challenges faced by the education system in the aftermath of the pandemic. Suggest ways to mitigate the impact.”

Conclusion

‘Acadonomics’ of the future will not only decide the fate of the academic sector in India but also its quality, ranking, research, innovation potential and its collective impact on our country’s economy.

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

Aiming for wider consumer base and directing public spending accordingly

op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 3- Widening consumer base to revive growth

The article suggests the widening of consumer base rather than increasing consumption. To augment that, the government should also direct the spending towards such sectors which would help in broadening of the base.

Prescription for long term growth: Broadening the consumer base

India entered the pandemic with declining growth and limited scope for a conventional and large fiscal stimulus.
The NSS 68th round consumption survey indicates that in urban India, the top 20 per cent of the population accounted for nearly 55 per cent of discretionary consumption and 45 per cent of all consumption.
The narrow consumption base coupled with uncertainty over the demographic dividend could belie India’s long-term investment attractiveness.
With or without the pandemic, the prescriptions for long-term growth remain the same — broaden the consumer base.
This broadening of the consumer base should happen through empowering the low and middle-income consumers.

Why can’t the government just spend to revive growth

1) Temporary incomes coupled with job/income uncertainty will induce precautionary savings without any impact on growth.
2) With revenues declined, funding of additional expenditure is through higher borrowings.
Any incremental debt should be seen in the context of future investments being hampered due to current consumption.
India’s public debt/GDP will likely reach around 85 per cent and the consolidated gross fiscal deficit to GDP ratio could be around 12.5 per cent this year.

Way forward

India needs to broaden its consumer base beyond the top 10-20 per cent of the population to improve long-term growth prospects.
To achieve this we will need well-paid employment for the bottom and middle segments.
The “safe” group of India’s workforce is extremely small.
The PLFS 2018-19 report places around 24 per cent of the workforce in the regular wage/salary category.
Within this segment, around 40 per cent do not have a written contract, paid leaves, or security while 70 per cent do not have any written contract.
These sharp skews in consumption and labour become a substantial risk for a consumption-led growth in the aftermath of a crisis.
The PLFS 2018-19 report indicates that around 50 per cent of the rural non-agriculture workforce.
35 per cent of the urban workforce is engaged in the construction and manufacturing sectors.
The rebuild and recover phase should aim for a wider consumer base with infrastructure and manufacturing as the two pillars.
To make manufacturing easier, the focus should be on labour reforms, fewer/quicker approvals, reducing the compliance burden, and promoting export-oriented sectors.
Policies should not become too inward-looking such that export promotion becomes difficult.

Directing public spending and policies appropriately

Most public spending should be directed towards roads, railways, infrastructure, healthcare and educational facilities.
To promote infrastructure creation along with private sector participation, the government needs to charge an economic price for goods and services such as power, irrigation, and public utilities.
Establish the rule of law with minimal interference in pricing, streamline processes for quick approvals and ensure timely payments to private operators.
The government should also signal its vision along with a financing strategy through sharper expenditure management, enhanced market borrowings, setting up of a Development Financing Institution, and an asset monetisation programme.

Conclusion

To achieve economic growth of 7-8 per cent the government needs to start addressing large infrastructure deficit, the weak financial sector, archaic land and labour laws, and the administrative and judicial hurdles.

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