Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Paper 2- India-China relations and increasing convergence
Track 1.5 dialogue
- The third round of India-Canada Track 1.5 Dialogue, comprising senior diplomats, officials and independent experts, will be held on a virtual platform.
- This promising interaction represents a major, deliberate endeavour to boost the bilateral relationship.
Convergence on China issue
- Common challenges of the COVID-19 era accelerated the momentum of bilateral engagement.
- Canada’s travails with China, starting with the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer in Canada in December 2018.
- Later, the ‘hostage diplomacy’ practised by Beijing which arrested two Canadian nationals, has caused huge stress in Canada-China relations, turning Canadian public opinion against China.
- This opened the door to a closer relationship with India.
- In this backdrop, developments concerning the Indo-Pacific — strengthening of the Quad and the growing interest of France, Netherlands and Germany to be active players in the region — are of immense relevance to Ottawa.
- The forthcoming dialogue can deepen the India-Canada convergence on this issue.
Principal area’s of bilateral cooperation
- Canada-India merchandise trade exceeded C$10 billion in 2019.
- Canada’s cumulative investment, including foreign direct investment and by Canadian pension funds, is a substantive C$55 billion.
- Addressing virtually the ‘Invest India’ conference in Canada on Prime Minister pointed out that mature Canadian investors have been present in India for many years and assured them that no barriers would come in their way.
- Indian students are increasingly being educated in Canada, and a quarter million of them spent an estimated $5 billion in tuition fees and other expenses last year, a solid contribution to the Canadian economy.
- Of 330,000 new immigrants accepted by Canada last year, 85,000 i.e. nearly 25%, were from India.
- The Indian diaspora in Canada is now 1.6 million-strong, representing over 4% of the country’s total population.
- The principal areas of bilateral cooperation are best defined by five Es: Economy, Energy, Education, Entertainment and Empowerment of women.
- In particular, the digital domain holds immense potential, given Canada’s proven assets in technology — especially its large investment in Artificial Intelligence, innovation and capital resources, and India’s IT achievements, expanding digital payment architecture and policy modernisation.
Conclusion
Divided by geographical distance but united through clear common interests and shared values, India and Canada will begin their steady journey of progress, this time with a laser-like focus on common goals as well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Dealing with the air pollution through regulations
Despite efforts from several levels, air pollution is getting worse day by day. The article suggests the strategy to deal with the issue of air pollution.
Solvable problem
- Pollution is very much a solvable problem but it cannot be solved on an emergency basis.
- It has to be dealt with firmly and gradually.
- Why gradually? Because there are many sources of pollution and it would be prohibitively costly to stop them or even significantly reduce them all at once.
Replacing existing technologies with existing technology
- The biggest sources air polltion nationally are cooking fires, coal-fired power plants, various industries, crop residue burning, and construction and road dust. Vehicles are further down on the list.
- Dealing with all these sources will require a gradual replacement of existing technologies with new technologies.
- Cooking fires must be replaced with LPG, induction stoves, and other electric cooking appliances.
- Old coal power plants must be closed and replaced with wind and solar power and batteries while newer plants must install new pollution control equipment.
- No new coal-fired power plants should be built — with renewables being cheaper, coal is obsolete for power generation.
- Other industries that use coal will have to gradually switch over to cleaner fuel sources such as gas or hydrogen while becoming more energy-efficient at the same time.
- Farmers will have to switch crops or adopt alternative methods of residue management.
- Diesel and petrol vehicles must gradually be replaced by electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles running on power generated from renewables.
Legal measures and issues
- Governments can make clean investments more profitable and dirty investments less profitable by taxing polluting activities and subsidising clean investments.
- The judiciary is more powerful but has far less scientific and technical competence.
- It tends to act only during crises and focus on past mistakes rather than planning to prevent new ones.
Reforms in regulatory agency
- Our existing laws do not allow the central and state pollution boards to levy pollution fee or cess based on pollution emissions.
- Since closing down an industry is a drastic step, it almost never happens.
- We need a regulatory agency that can levy pollution fee or cess, is that the regulatory decision need not be an all-or-nothing decision.
- Pollution fees can start small, and the EPA can announce that they will rise by a certain percentage every year.
- The regulatory agency should be given some independence,like
- 1) a head appointed for a five-year term removable only by impeachment.
- 2) a guaranteed budget funded by a small percentage tax on all industries.
- 3) autonomy to hire staff and to set pollution fees after justification through scientific studies.
- Three advantages of the regulator with such powers would be-
- 1) Politicians in power can pass on the blame for decisions on pollution fees to the EPA.
- 2) Pollution fees raise revenue for the government.
- 3) If the law establishing an independent EPA is written to require that changes to pollution fees and regulations must be published in advance, and cannot involve abrupt changes, then surprises are avoided.
- Industry opposition will be muted, especially if industry gets a piece of the revenue to invest in new technologies.
Conclusion
Our pollution problem has taken decades to grow into the monster that it is. It can’t be killed in a day. We need the scientific and technical capacity that only a securely funded independent EPA can bring to shrink pollution down to nothing.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: RCEP
Mains level: RCEP and its economy
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a mega trade bloc comprising 15 countries led by China has come into existence.
Try answering this:
Q.Signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement would have given more substance to India’s Act East policy. Analyse.
About RCEP
- Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) between –
- The 10 members of ASEAN
- Additional members of ASEAN +3 = China, Japan, South Korea
- Members with which ASEAN countries have FTA = Australia, New Zealand
- The group is expected to represent at least 30% of the global GDP and will emerge as the largest free trade agreement in the world.
- It includes more than 3 billion people, has a combined GDP of about $17 trillion, and accounts for about 40 per cent of world trade.
India’s reluctance
- India’s ties with China in recent months have been disturbed by the military tension in eastern Ladakh along the LAC.
- In the meantime, India has also held a maritime exercise with Japan, Australia, and the United States for the “Quad” that was interpreted as an anti-China move.
- However, these moves did not influence Japanese and Australian plans regarding RCEP.
Leverage for China
- Despite the pandemic, the RCEP is certainly leverage for China and shows the idea of decoupling from China is not a substantive issue in a regional sense.
- The agreement means a lot for China, as it will give it access to Japanese and South Korean markets in a big way, as the three countries have not yet agreed on their FTA.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Assam-Mizoram Boundary Dispute
Mains level: Interstate boundary disputes in India
The recent violence and tension on the Assam-Mizoram border underline the differences the two States have had since 1972 when Mizoram was carved out of Assam as a Union Territory.
Try answering this:
Q.Assam has had boundary problems with almost all of its north-eastern neighbours. Discuss.
*Also note the states bordering Assam.
What is the Dispute?
- Mizoram was carved out of Assam as a Union Territory in 1972. In 1987, it became a full-fledged state.
- The two states have sparred over where the border lies in the past, leading to the occasional violence.
- The disagreement stems from differing views on which border demarcation to follow.
- Mizoram’s perception of the border is based on an 1875 notification that flows from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873.
- The Act demarcated the Lushai Hills from the plains and valleys in the North East, restricting free travel between the two zones. The hills were deemed to be “excluded areas”.
- Assam, for its part, goes by a 1933 notification by the state government that demarcated the Lushai Hills, as Mizoram was then known, from the province of Manipur.
The Assamese problem
- Assam has had boundary problems with all its north-eastern neighbours, except Manipur and Tripura that had existed as separate entities.
- The primary reason is that the other States, a part of Assam during the British rule, have contested the boundaries since they became States, beginning with Nagaland in 1963.
- Assam has accepted several recommendations of border commissions set up by the Supreme Court, but other States have been sticking to “historical boundaries” that go back to the period before 1826.
- However, the border residents have to bear the brunt of the unrest unless an acceptable solution is arrived at.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sex Ratio
Mains level: Sex ratio in India
A 2018 report on “vital statistics of India based on the Civil Registration System” shows crucial data of sex ratios of major states in India.
Sex Ratio
- Sex ratio at birth is the number of females born per thousand males.
- Sex ratios are among the most basic of demographic parameters and provide an indication of both the relative survival of females and males and the future breeding potential of a population.
Try this PYQ
Q.Consider the following specific stages of demographic transition associated with economic development:
- Low birth rate with a low death rate
- High birth rate with a high death rate
- High birth rate with a low death rate
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 3, 2 and 1 only
(c) 2, 3 and 1 only
(d) 3, 2 and 1 only
Statewise data
- Arunachal Pradesh recorded 1,084 females born per thousand males, followed by Nagaland (965) Mizoram (964), Kerala (963) and Karnataka (957).
- The worst was reported in Manipur (757), Lakshadweep (839) and Daman & Diu (877), Punjab (896) and Gujarat (896).
- Delhi recorded a sex ratio of 929, Haryana 914 and Jammu and Kashmir 952.
- The number of registered births increased to 2.33 crore in 2018 from 2.21 crore registered births the previous year.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Indian diaspora in Gulf region
The United Arab Emirates will extend its “golden” visa system — which grants 10-year residency in the West Asian nation — to certain professionals, specialised degree-holders and others.
Do you know?
India is the world’s top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping $79 billion back home in 2018 a/c to the World Bank.
Golden Visa Programme
- The “Golden Card” programme is open to investors and “exceptional talents” such as doctors, engineers, scientists, students and artists.
- The visa categories include:
- General investors who will be granted a 10 years visa
- Real estate investors, who can get a visa for 5 years Visa
- Entrepreneurs and talented professionals such as doctors, researchers and innovators: 10 years Visa
- Outstanding students — will also be permitted residency visas for 5 years
- All categories of visas can be renewed upon expiry.
Benefits for India
- The Indian expatriate community is reportedly the largest ethnic community in the UAE, constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country’s population of around nine million.
- Though most of the Indians living in the UAE are employed, about 10 per cent of the Indian population constitutes dependent family members, according to the Indian Embassy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Map reading: Tristan Da Cunha
Mains level: Not Much
The isolated UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote human settlement, has been declared the largest fully protected marine reserves in the Atlantic Ocean at 687,000 square kilometres.
Note the location of Tristan da Cunha Islands in the Atlantic.
Tristan da Cunha
- Tristan da Cunha, which is inhabited by less than 300 humans is a small chain of islands over 6,000 miles from London in the South Atlantic and the water around the islands are considered to be the richest in the world.
- The mountainous archipelago is home to tens of millions of seabirds and several unique land birds that are comparable to the Galapagos island finches.
- The island group is also home to the World Heritage Site of Gough and Inaccessible Islands, which is one of the most important seabird islands in the world.
Significance of protection
- After joining the UK’s Blue Belt Programme, it will become the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth largest on the planet.
- This will close over 90 per cent of their waters to harmful activities such as bottom-trawling fishing, sand extraction and deep-sea mining.
- The almost 700,000 square kilometres of the Marine Protection Zone (MPZ) is almost three times the size of the UK and will safeguard the future of sevengill sharks, Yellow-nosed albatrosses and rockhopper penguins.
- MPZs involve the management of certain natural areas for biodiversity conservation or species protection and are created by delineating zones with permitted and non-permitted areas within that zone.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Meteor terminology
Mains level: Not Much
The Leonid meteor showers are currently making their yearly appearance and will reach their peak in India on November 17 and 18. In August this year, there was another meteor called Perseids Shower.
Try this question from CSP 2014:
Q.What is a coma, in the content of astronomy?
(a) Bright half of material on the comet
(b) Long tail of dust
(c) Two asteroids orbiting each other
(d) Two planets orbiting each other
What is Leonid Meteor Shower?
- Meteor showers are named after the constellation they appear to be coming from.
- The Leonids originate from the constellation Leo the Lion– the groups of stars which form a lion’s mane.
- They emerge from the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which requires 33 years to revolve once around the Sun.
- These meteors are bright and among the fastest moving– travelling at speeds of 71 km per second.
- During this year’s showers, peaks of around 10 to 15 meteors are expected to be seen every hour.
- The Leonid showers include fireballs– bright and large meteors than can last longer than average meteors, and “earthgazers”– meteors which appear close to the horizon with colourful and long tails.
What is a meteor shower?
- On its journey around the Sun, the Earth passes through large swathes of cosmic debris.
- The debris is essentially the remnants of comets — great frigid chunks of matter that leave behind dirty trails of rocks and ice that linger long after the comets themselves have passed.
- As the Earth wades through this cloud of comet waste, the bits of debris create what appears from the ground to be a fireworks display in the sky — known as a meteor shower.
- Several meteor showers can be seen around the year. According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually and are observable from the Earth.
Back2Basics:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CERC
Mains level: Paper 3- India's power sector and issues
Reforms in power sector in the UK were extensive and offers some important lessons for India. This article elaborates on the issue of reforms the challenges in introducing such reforms in India.
Background of the power sector reforms in UK
- After living with vertically integrated utilities till 1989, they unbundled.
- Unbundling created markets both at generation and retail end.
- Today, they are back to a situation where 70% of the power generated is sold outside the wholesale market.
- The Electricity Act, 1989, which paved the way for the appointment of a regulator and thereafter, leading to unbundling, both vertical and horizontal.
- Twelve distribution utilities were set up (called RECs) along with three-generation companies and also a national wires company (called NGC).
- All of them were privatised barring Nuclear Electricity.
- Retail competition was introduced in 1990 and was extended to all consumers in 1998.
- A wholesale market was set up for generators.
- The next major step was to fragment the generators because the regulator felt that they were colluding.
- NETA in 2001 was primarily a tie-up between gencos and their consumers with long-term power purchase agreements.
- The Energy Act, 2012, was enacted, which envisaged further changes.
Issues with Power sector reform in India
- The Electricity Act, 2003 is a very cautious and timid exercise compared to what has been done in the UK.
- Through the Act, we have merely unbundled and ring-fenced our utilities so that there is transparency in the accounts; this itself took us several years.
- There has been no attempt to create a wholesale market or a full-fledged retail market where the consumer chooses the supplier.
- Large consumers, having loads in excess of 1 MW, however, have the option of open-access where they can opt to receive supply from some other entity, instead of his incumbent utility.
- The road to open access though has been bumpy, and discoms have opposed it tooth and nail.
- Besides what was possible in the UK may not be possible in India.
- The UK did not have a regime of cross-subsidies where the commercial and industrial sectors subsidise agriculture and low-end domestic consumers and also did not have high commercial loss levels.
- Moreover, in the UK, all consumers were metered, unlike India.
- There is yet another factor: ‘Power’ falls in the Concurrent List.
- The Centre and states rarely see eye-to-eye on several issues concerning the sector, especially on matters relating to distribution.
- Consequently, any major change does not get accepted.
Issues in introducing reform in India
- The CERC floated a discussion paper in December 2018 about the creation of a wholesale market in India.
- This amounts to retrofitting, and retrofitting in an existing architecture has its limitations.
- But the issue is whether India should attempt creating a wholesale market or for that matter a full-fledged retail market in India, especially after the experience of the UK.
- The UK is almost back to the era of vertically integrated utilities, and consumers barely switch their retailer.
Way forward
- We need to privatise our distribution sector by creating joint ventures with the government.
- the government will have to undertake initial hand-holding till such time commercial losses are wiped out.
- This is the model which was followed in the case of Delhi and has proven successful.
- Commercial losses have come down from 50% to single-digit figures within a span of 10 to 12 years.
- Once we reach that stage, we can think of creating a full-fledged retail market where a consumer can choose her supplier.
Consider the question “Despite several reforms in the power sector, India still lacks full-fledged retail. What are the challenges in the creation of such a market. Suggest the ways to deal with the challenges.”
Conclusion
The Indian consumer is only interested in good quality power supply at a reasonable price. We only need to take policy measures so that the incumbent utilities can provide this, since, this will be the least costly path.
Source:-
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/power-reforms-uk-lessons-for-india/2127560/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Freedom of speech and expression
Mains level: Paper 2- Regulation of digital media and issues with it
The article deals with the recent decision of the government to regulate digital media through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and issues with it.
Regulating the press
- Recently, government put the online news and current affairs portals along with “films and audio-visual programmes made available by online content providers” under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
- Through the move, government is clubbing the only sector of the media which has pre-censorship, namely films with the news media which has so far, at least officially, not been subject to pre-censorship.
- The move hijacks matters before the Supreme Court of India relating to freedom of the press and freedom of expression to arm the executive with control over the free press, thereby essentially making it unfree.
- It also hijacks another public interest litigation in the Supreme Court relating to content on “Over The Top” (OTT) platforms not being subject to regulation or official oversight to bring that sector too under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
- The move creates an artificial distinction between the new-age digital media which is the media of the future, the media of the millennial generation — and the older print and TV news media.
Reasons given by the government and issues with it
- The explanation given is that the print media have the oversight of the Press Council of India and the TV media of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA).
- Therefore the digital media needed a regulatory framework — no less than that of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
- However, there is no comparison between the Press Council of India and the NBA as professional bodies on the one hand and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the other.
- The fate of the digital media under the control of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting leaves little scope for hope.
Consider the question “Regulation of digital media while solving some chronic issues gives rise to concerns over the freedom of press and expression. In light of this, examine the need for regulation of digital media by government and issues in it.”
Conclusion
The government regulations would be counterproductive for both the media practitioner and the media entrepreneur and for the startups that have been the new vibrant face of contemporary journalism.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Increasing the income and productivity of labour force
Slowdown in demand
- The bigger medium-term problem facing Indian economy is the slowdown of aggregate demand — private final consumption expenditure (PFCE), investment and exports.
- The largest component of GDP, PFCE, has declined as a share of GDP 68 per cent in 1990 to 56 per cent of GDP in 2019 .
- The consumption of the top socio-economic deciles (top 10%) has stagnated.
- Also the consumption demand of the rest of the demography ( 90%) — mostly in agriculture, small-scale manufacturing and self-employed — is not increasing due to low income growth.
How to increase income and productivity
- Atmanirbhar Bharat depends on improving the income and productivity of a majority of the labour force.
- First, incentivise the farming community to shift from grain-based farming to cash crops, horticulture and livestock products.
- Second, shift the labour force from agriculture to manufacturing.
- India can only become self-reliant if it uses its 900 million people in the working-age population with an average age of 27 and appropriates its demographic dividend as China did.
- That is possible if labour-intensive manufacturing takes place in a big way, creating employment opportunities for labour force with low or little skills, generating income and demand.
- India is in a unique position at a time when all other manufacturing giants are ageing sequentially — Japan, EU, the US, and even South Korea and China.
- Most of these countries have moved out of low-end labour-intensive manufacturing, and that space is being taken by countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Mexico, etc.
- India offers the best opportunity in terms of a huge domestic market and factor endowments.
Way forward
- We need Indian firms to be part of the global value chain by attracting multinational enterprises and foreign investors in labour-intensive manufacturing, which will facilitate R&D, branding, exports, etc.
- There is a need to aggressively reduce both tariffs and non-tariff barriers on imports of inputs and intermediate products.
- Removing these barriers create a competitive manufacturing sector for Make in India, and “Assembly in India”.
- Apart from trade reforms, further factor market reforms are required, such as rationalising punitive land acquisition clauses and rationalising labour laws, both at the Centre and state level.
- We also have to go for large-scale vocational training from the secondary-school level, like China and other east and south-east Asian countries.
Consider the question “Key to faster economic progress of India lies in income growth and productivity of its labour force. Suggest the ways to achieve these.”
Conclusion
The COVID-triggered economic crisis should lead us to create a development model that leads to opportunities for the people at the bottom of the pyramid. A competitive and open economy can ensure Atmanirbhar Bharat.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan
Mains level: Self-reliance measures
Finance Minister has announced a fresh set of relief and stimulus measures for the economy worth ₹1.19 lakh crore, including a scheme to boost re-employment chances of formal sector employees who lost their jobs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assist this newscard with:
[Burning Issues] Atmanirbhar Abhiyan Package
Atmanirbhar Bharat
- Atmanirbhar Bharat, which translates to ‘self-reliant India’ or ‘self-sufficient India’, is the vision of our PM of making India a bigger and more important part of the global economy.
- It doesn’t mean “self-containment”, “isolating away from the world” or being “protectionist”.
- It calls for pursuing policies that are efficient, competitive and resilient, and being self-sustaining and self-generating.
- The five pillars of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ are stated as economy, infrastructure, technology-driven systems, vibrant demography and demand.
Highlights of the Package 3.0
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Terminologies such as Slowdown, Recession, Depression
Mains level: Hurdles to India's economic growth
Latest RBI bulletin projects contraction for a second consecutive quarter, which means the economy, is in a ‘technical recession’.
Nowcasts by RBI
- In its latest monthly bulletin, the Reserve Bank of India has dedicated a chapter on the “State of the economy”.
- The idea is to provide a monthly snapshot of some of the key indicators of India’s economic health.
- As part of the exercise, the RBI has started “nowcasting” or “the prediction of the present or the very near future of the state of the economy”.
- And the very first “nowcast” predicts that India’s economy will contract by 8.6% in the second quarter (July, August, September) of the current financial year.
- It implies India that has entered a “technical recession” in the first half of 2020-21— for the first time in its history.
What is a Recessionary Phase?
- At its simplest, in any economy, a recessionary phase is the counterpart of an expansionary phase.
- In simpler terms, when the overall output of goods and services — typically measured by the GDP — increases from one quarter (or month) to another, the economy is said to be in an expansionary phase.
- And when the GDP contracts from one quarter to another, the economy is said to be in a recessionary phase.
- Together, these two phases create what is called a “business cycle” in any economy. A full business cycle could last anywhere between one year and a decade.
Now try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following actions by the Government:
- Cutting the tax rates
- Increasing government spending
- Abolishing the subsidies
In the context of economic recession, which of the above actions can be considered a part of the “Fiscal stimulus” package?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
How is the Recession different?
- When a recessionary phase sustains for long enough, it is called a recession. That is, when the GDP contracts for a long enough period, the economy is said to be in a recession.
- There is, however, no universally accepted definition of a recession — as in, for how long should the GDP contract before an economy is said to be in a recession.
- But most economists agree with the US definition that during a recession, a significant decline in economic activity spreads across the economy and can last from a few months to more than a year.
Then, what is a Technical Recession?
- While the basic idea behind the term “recession” — significant contraction in economic activity — is clear, from the perspective of empirical data analysis, there are too many unanswered queries.
- For instance, would quarterly GDP be enough to determine economic activity? Or should one look at unemployment or personal consumption as well?
- It is entirely possible that GDP starts growing after a while but unemployment levels do not fall adequately.
- To get around these empirical technicalities, commentators often consider a recession to be in progress when real GDP has declined for at least two consecutive quarters.
- That is how real quarterly GDP has come to be accepted as a measure of economic activity and a “benchmark” for ascertaining a “technical recession”.
How long do recessions last?
- Typically, recessions last for a few quarters. If they continue for years, they are referred to as “depressions”.
- But depression is quite rare; the last one was during the 1930s in the US.
- In the current scenario, the key determinant for any economy to come out of recession is to control the spread of Covid-19.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Contempt of Court and its types, AGI
Mains level: Free speech vs. Contempt of court
Attorney-General gave his consent for the initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against the stand-up comedian for his tweets following a Supreme Court’s decision to grant interim bail to a news anchor.
Note important power, functions and limitations of AGI. A bluff can be created with the dicey statements in the prelims.
Also read:
[Burning Issue] Free Speech Vs. Contempt of Court
What is Contempt of Court?
- According to the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, contempt of court can either be civil contempt or criminal contempt.
- Civil contempt means wilful disobedience of any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or another process of a court, or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court.
- Criminal contempt, on the other hand, is attracted by the publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise) of any matter or the doing of any other act whatsoever which:
(i) Scandalizes or tends to scandalise, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court; or
(ii) Prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with, the due course of any judicial proceeding; or
(iii) Interferes or tends to interfere with, or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of justice in any other manner
- In 2006, the government brought in an amendment, which now provides “truth” as defence provided it is bona fide and in the public interest.
Why is the A-G’s consent needed to initiate contempt proceedings?
- In cognizance of criminal contempt, The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 has a provision under Subsection 1 of Section 15.
- It reads that- in the case of criminal contempt, (other than contempt in the face of the Supreme Court or a High Court), the related court may take action on its own motion or on a motion made by (a) the Advocate-General, or (b) any other person, with the consent in writing of the Advocate-General.
Back2Basics: Attorney General of India (AGI)
- The AGI is the Indian government’s chief legal advisor and is a primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of India.
- They can be said to be the advocate from the government’s side.
- They are appointed by the President of India on the advice of Union Cabinet under Article 76(1) of the Constitution and holds office during the pleasure of the President.
- They must be a person qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court ( i.e. a judge of some high court for five years or an advocate of some high court for ten years or an eminent jurist, in the opinion of the President and must be a citizen of India.).
Functions and duties
- The AGI is necessary for advising the Government of India on legal matters referred to them.
- They also perform other legal duties assigned to them by the President.
- The AGI has the right of audience in all Courts in India as well as the right to participate in the proceedings of the Parliament, though not to vote.
- The AGI appears on behalf of Government of India in all cases (including suits, appeals and other proceedings) in the Supreme Court in which GoI is concerned.
- They also represent the Government of India in any reference made by the President to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of the Constitution.
- The AG is assisted by a Solicitor General and four Additional Solicitors General.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Arsenal of Indian Navy
Mains level: Modernisation of Indian Navy
The fifth Scorpene submarine of Project-75 named ‘Vagir’ has been launched at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.
In a rare case we would see a question based on various classes of Indian Submarines in the CSP. However, we can expect a question based on Project-75 in the CSP and CAPF exam very well.
About Vagir
- Vagir, ex-Russia, named after the Sand Fish, a deadly deep-sea predator of the Indian Ocean, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on December 3, 1973, and was decommissioned on June 7, 2001.
- In true nautical tradition, it is refurbished under the same name – Vagir.
- It is rebuilt with superior stealth features (such as advanced acoustic absorption techniques, low radiated noise levels, hydro-dynamically optimized shape etc.) and precision-guided weapons.
- The attack can be launched with both torpedoes and tube-launched anti-ship missiles, whilst underwater or on the surface.
What is Project-75?
- The Project 75I-class submarine is a follow-on of the Project 75 Kalvari-class submarine for the Indian Navy.
- In the late 1990s, around the time of Kargil war, a three-decade plan took shape for indigenous construction of submarines.
- It was known to have two separate series of submarine building lines – codenamed Project 75 and Project 75I — in collaboration with foreign entities.
- Under this project, the Indian Navy intends to acquire six diesel-electric submarines, which will also feature advanced air-independent propulsion systems.
- This is for enabling them to stay submerged for longer duration and substantially increase their operational range.
Submarines commissioned till date
- The submarines in the current Kalvari-class take their names from erstwhile decommissioned classes of submarines named Kalvari.
- It included Kalvari, Khanderi, Karanj and Vela class — which included Vela, Vagir, Vagsheer.
- Two submarines of the ongoing project, Kalvari and Khanderi, have been commissioned into the Indian Navy.
- The third submarine, Karanj, is in the last phase of rigorous sea trials.
- The fourth Scorpene, Vela, has commenced her sea trials, whilst the sixth and last submarine, Vagsheer, is being readied for boot together.
Strategic importance of these submarines
- India currently operates one submarine each in nuclear-powered Classes of Chakra and Arihant and in addition to 14 submarines belonging to three classes of Diesel Electric category — Kalvari, Shishumar and Sindhughosh, some of which are ageing.
- The nuclear powered and diesel-electric submarines have their designated roles in the Carrier Battle Groups, which are formations of ships and submarines with Aircraft Carriers at the lead role.
- As per the basic principles of submarine deployment and the minimum requirement for India to create a strategic deterrence, there is a specific number of submarines of both types that India needs to have in active service.
- Currently, India has less number of submarines than what is required with some more of those from both types being at various stages of construction.
Back2Basics: Classes of Submarines in India
- In maritime terms, a class of ships is a group of vessels which have the same make, purpose and displacement.
- In the Navy and Coast Guard in India, the ships belonging to a particular class are named in a specific manner.
- Many times the names have the same first letters, prefixes, similar meanings or the names belong to a particular type of words for example names of cities, persons, mythological concepts, animals, rivers, mountains, weapons, etc.
- The class is generally named after the first vessel in the category. In some cases, a particular class of vessels takes their names from an earlier class of vessels which are now decommissioned.
- Like Kalvari – which means Tiger Shark, Vagir has been named after a Sand Fish, a predatory marine species.
- Khanderi has been named after an Island Fort built by Chhatrapati Shivaji, which played a key role in his Navy. Karanj has also been named after an Island located South of Mumbai.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Genus Rohanixalus
Mains level: Eastern Himalayas and its biodiversity
Indian researchers have discovered a genus of tree frog found in the Andaman Islands and the northeast.
A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time find their way into the prelims. Make special note here. Usually, note the species and its habitat location (IUCN status if available), in the purview of a generic prelims question.
Genus Rohanixalus
- Named after Sri Lankan taxonomist Rohan Pethiyagoda, the frogs of the new genus Rohanixalus are characterised by a rather small and slender body (size about 2 to 3 cm long).
- It has a pair of contrastingly coloured lateral lines on either side of the body, minute brown speckles scattered throughout the upper body surfaces, and light green coloured eggs laid in arboreal bubble-nests.
- Based on DNA studies, the new genus is also revealed to be a distinct evolutionary lineage from all previously known tree frog genera.
- It is the 20th recognised genus of the family Rhacophoridae that comprises 422 known Old World tree frog species found in Asia and Africa.
Sub-species of this frog
- There are eight frog species in this genus Rohanixalus.
- They are known to inhabit forested as well as human-dominated landscapes right from the northeast to Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, up to southern China.
Unique features of this genus
- The genus has several unique behavioural traits including maternal egg attendance where the female (mother) attends the egg clutches until hatching and assists in the release of the tadpoles into the water.
- During the first three days after egg-laying, the female sits over the eggs and produces a gelatinous secretion with which she glazes the egg mass through the clock-wise movement of her legs.
- This behaviour provides necessary moisture to the eggs laid on exposed leaf surfaces and protects them from insect predation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges faced by lending financial institutions and the issue of stagnant credit growth in India
The article deals with the issue of credit and financial institutions in India. It also suggests the five changes needed in the lending financial institutions in India.
Financial institutions and credit in India
- India has labour and land but not enough capital.
- The case for foreign financial institutions is also simple — their technology, processes, and experience raise everybody’s game.
- India is open — foreigners own 25 per cent of public equity, 90 per cent of private equity, and Google and Walmart are UPI’s biggest volume contributors.
- India’s challenge over the last 10 years has been bank credit.
- Credit-to-GDP ratio is stuck at 50 per cent, banking concentration measured by flow has increased by 70 per cent, and bad loans exceed Rs 10 lakh crore.
Significance of lending financial institutions
- Foreign institutions are unlikely to lend when needed most and lend to small enterprise borrowers.
- Bank numbers have practically remained unchanged since 1947 despite world-leading net interest margins.
- Nationalised banks that have an eight-times higher chance of bad loan, would save Rs 35,000 crore annually with industry benchmarked productivity.
- regulators prioritise domestic stakeholders.
- The home bias for global bank lending is accelerating.
- UPI crossing 2 billion monthly transactions demonstrates how mandated interoperability, local innovation, and enlightened regulation help insurgents take on incumbents.
5 Changes required in lending financial institutions
- 1) The biggest impact lies in creating a nationalised bank holding company that replaces the Finance Ministry’s Department of Financial Services, has no access to government finances, and is governed by an independent board.
- 2) We must licence 25 new full banks over 10 years.
- 3) We must expect and empower the RBI to deal with bank challenges earlier, faster, and invasively, by reimagining post-mortems, granting listed bank capital induction flexibility and making regulation ownership agnostic.
- 4) We must explore new eyes for banking supervision that include differential deposit insurance pricing.
- 5) Finally, financial stability and innovation are not contradictory; let’s blunt regulatory barriers between banks, non-banks, and fintech.
Conclusion
The opportunities for India arising from the coming Asian century, China’s contradictions and China’s new inward focus strategy come not once in a decade but once in a generation. Let’s empower our financial services entrepreneurs to exploit this opportunity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issue with legal language
Context
- Recently, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court regarding the use of legal language.
- Reacting to the plea, the Supreme Court has asked the Ministry of Law and Justice and Bar Council to respond.
Wha the PIL is about?
- The PIL (Subhash Vijayran vs Union of India) wants the legislature and executive to use plain English in drafting laws, the Bar Council to introduce plain English in law curricula and the Supreme Court to only allow concise and precise pleadings.
- He begins the synopsis to the writ petition in the following way. “The writing of most lawyers is: (1) wordy, (2) unclear, (3) pompous and (4) dull.
Way forward
- When asking the Ministry of Law and Justice and Bar Council to respond, the Chief Justice of India referred to Anthony Burgess’s book (1964) Language Made Plain.
- George Orwell set out six principles, which could be used while drafting.
- Copy editors routinely use these principles, but not the judiciary.
- The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy produced a manual on plain language drafting in 2017.
Conclusion
The Ministry of Law and Justice make use of the opportunity provided by the PIC to come up with the set of principles to make the legal language easier for all.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OTT
Mains level: Need for OTT media regulation
In a move that will have a far-reaching impact, the Union government has brought Over The Top (OTT) platforms, or video streaming service providers under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).
Try answering this
Q.What is Over the Top (OTT) media services? Critically analyse the benefits and challenges offered by the OTT media services in India.
Background
- The MIB has found a vast swathe of unregulated content, namely news online and Over the top (OTT) platforms which had escaped any architecture of regulation.
- The print was regulated by the Press Council of India and Television, both News and Entertainment were being regulated by the Cable Networks Regulation Act (2005).
- However, the content on online, the Government felt, fell into a black hole with no oversight.
What are OTT Media?
- An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet.
- OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content.
- The term is most synonymous with subscription-based video-on-demand (SVoD) services that offer access to film and television content.
- They are typically accessed via websites on personal computers, as well as via apps on mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), digital media players, or televisions with integrated Smart TV platforms.
Regulating OTT
- Currently, there is no law or autonomous body governing digital content. The recent move will give the government control over OTT platforms, which were unregulated till now.
- From time to time, the government had indicated the necessity to monitor these platforms.
- In October 2019, the government had indicated that it will issue the “negative” list of don’ts for the video streaming services like Netflix and Hotstar.
- It also wanted the platforms to come up with a self-regulatory body on the lines of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority.
Self-regulation is not sufficient
- Anticipating the government’s intervention, in January 2019, video streaming services had signed a self-regulatory code that laid down a set of guiding principles for content on these platforms.
- The code adopted by the OTTs prohibited five types of content:
- Content that deliberately and maliciously disrespects the national emblem or national flag,
- Any visual or storyline that promotes child pornography
- Any content that “maliciously” intends to outrage religious sentiments
- Content that “deliberately and maliciously” promotes or encourages terrorism and
- Any content that has been banned for exhibition or distribution by law or court
- The government had refused to support this code.
What lies ahead?
- The government had been giving enough hints from time to time that it wanted to regulate digital media but the exact nature of the regulation it wanted to bring was not clear.
- The government considers digital media and digital aggregators in the same breath but they are different things.
- It is unclear whether it is looking at licensing or entry barriers, or any other curbs in digital media.
- However, monitoring content 24×7 has its own challenges. Whether the Ministry will set up a committee involving the public to look into complaints received remains to be seen.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Viability Gap Funding
Mains level: Not Much
The government has expanded the provision of financial support by means of viability gap funding for public-private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure projects to include critical social sector investments in sectors such as health, education, water and waste treatment.
Note the minutes of VGF, its meaning, funding mechanism, various sectors included and its nodal ministry etc. UPSC can ask static statements based question.
What is the move?
- Now, under this scheme, private sector projects in areas like wastewater treatment, solid waste management, health, water supply and education, could get 30% of the total project cost from the Centre.
- Separately, pilot projects in health and education, with at least 50% operational cost recovery, can get as much as 40% of the total project cost from the central government.
- The Centre and States would together bear 80% of the capital cost of the project and 50% of operation and maintenance costs of such projects for the first five years.
Viability Gap Funding (VGF) Scheme
- Viability Gap Finance means a grant to support projects that are economically justified but not financially viable.
- The scheme is designed as a Plan Scheme to be administered by the Ministry of Finance and amount in the budget are made on a year-to-year basis.
- Such a grant under VGF is provided as a capital subsidy to attract the private sector players to participate in PPP projects that are otherwise financially unviable.
- Projects may not be commercially viable because of the long gestation period and small revenue flows in future.
- The VGF scheme was launched in 2004 to support projects that come under Public-Private Partnerships.
Its’ funding
- Funds for VGF will be provided from the government’s budgetary allocation. Sometimes it is also provided by the statutory authority who owns the project asset.
- If the sponsoring Ministry/State Government/ statutory entity aims to provide assistance over and above the stipulated amount under VGF, it will be restricted to a further 20% of the total project cost.
VGF grants
- VGF grants will be available only for infrastructure projects where private sector sponsors are selected through a process of competitive bidding.
- The VGF grant will be disbursed at the construction stage itself but only after the private sector developer makes the equity contribution required for the project.
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