Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: WBL index
Mains level: India's poor performance and reasons behind
The Women Business and the Law (WBL) 2020 index to measure the economic empowerment of women was recently published.
WBL Index
- The WBL report released by the World Bank.
- It is based on the countries’ formal laws and regulations that have a bearing on women’s economic participation, covering eight areas (eg, parenthood, equality of pay).
- It tracks how laws affect women at different stages in their working lives and focusing on those laws applicable in the main business city.
India’s poor performance
- India placed 117th among 190 countries on the index.
- India, the world’s most populous democracy scored 74.4 on a par with Benin and Gambia and way below least developed countries like Rwanda and Lesotho.
- The global average was 75.2 — a slight increase from 73.9 in the previous index released in 2017.
Global Performance
- Only eight economies scored a perfect 100 — Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Sweden.
- Those countries have ensured equal legal standing to men and women on all the eight indicators of the index.
- No economy in ‘East Asia and the Pacific’, ‘Europe and Central Asia’, or ‘Latin America and the Caribbean’ were among top reformers, the report claimed.
- Countries in ‘Middle East and North Africa’ and ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’ accounted for nine of the 10 top progressing countries on the WBL Index:
- Saudi Arabia
- The United Arab Emirates
- Nepal
- South Sudan
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Bahrain
- The Democratic Republic of Congo
- Djibouti
- Jordan
- Tunisia
Significance of the Index
- Legal rights for women are both the right thing to do and good from an economic perspective.
- When women can move more freely, work outside the home and manage assets, they are more likely to join the workforce and help strengthen their country’s economies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Right to Business
Mains level: Various mover for the MSME sector
The Punjab Cabinet this week gave its approval to a Punjab Right to Business Bill, 2020, a law aimed at ensuring ease of doing business for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.
Punjab Right to Business Bill, 2020
- Under the law, an MSME unit can be set up after ‘In-Principle’ approval from the District Bureau of Enterprise, headed by the Deputy Commissioner, working under the guidance of the State Nodal Agency, headed by the Director, Industries.
- Approval for units in approved Industrial Parks will be given in three working days.
- For new enterprises outside approved Industrial Parks, the decision on the Certificate shall be taken by the District Level Nodal Agency within 15 working days, as per the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee.
What is the timeframe for unit owners to comply?
- Unit owners will have three and a half years after setting up the unit to obtain seven approvals from three departments: the sanction of building plans; issuance of completion/occupation certificate for buildings; registration of new trade licences.
- The industries involving hazardous processes will have to obtain a Fire NOC and get approval for the factory building plan before setting up the unit.
- All units will have to get environmental clearance from the Pollution Control Board beforehand.
Why was a law needed, rather than an executive order?
- According to the government, the Act will have overriding powers over various Acts of different departments that make approvals necessary before the setting up of small and medium units.
- This purpose could not have been achieved by an executive order.
- How the law actually works on the ground remains to be seen, however.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GSAT-30 and its applications
Mains level: Not Much
India’s first satellite of 2020, the GSAT-30 was successfully launched. The launch vehicle Ariane 5 VA-251 lifted off from Kourou Launch Base, French Guiana.
GSAT-30
- GSAT-30 derives its heritage from ISRO’s earlier INSAT/GSAT satellite series and will replace INSAT-4A in
- In the days ahead, orbit-raising manoeuvres will be performed to place the satellite in Geostationary Orbit (36,000 km above the equator) by using its onboard propulsion
- During the final stages of its orbit raising operations, the two solar arrays and the antenna reflectors of GSAT-30 will be
- Following this, the satellite will be put in its final orbital . The satellite will be operational after the successful completion of all in-orbit tests.
Utility of the satellite
- GSAT-30 will provide DTH Television Services, connectivity to VSATs for ATM, Stock-exchange, Television unlinking and Teleport Services, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and e-governance applications.
- The satellite will also be used for bulk data transfer for a host of an emerging telecommunication
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Assam Inland Water Transport Project
Mains level: Inland water transport in India
India and the World Bank signed a loan agreement of $88 million for Assam Inland Water Transport Project.
Assam Inland Water Transport Project
- A majority of Assam’s more than 361 ferry routes cross the Brahmaputra or serve its islands, providing a crucial means of transport to thousands of commuters in both the urban and rural areas of the Brahmaputra Valley.
- The project will draw guidance from ‘working with nature’ principles that aim to design new infrastructure or rehabilitate existing infrastructure in a way that works with natural river processes.
- The terminals will have better access, lighting and signage while the new vessels will allow for individual seats, and separate toilets. Moreover, a strengthened regulatory regime will ensure reduction in overloading, adherence to time schedule and better crew standards.
- The Project will help Assam improve the passenger ferry infrastructure and its services and strengthen the capacity of the institutions running the inland water transport.
Significance
- Inland Water Transport is also a more sustainable mode of transport. And Assam has the largest network of navigable waterways in India.
- It provides low-carbon and low-cost options when compared to the cost of constructing and maintaining flood-resilient roads and bridges across the long stretches of the Brahmaputra river.
- Technically better-designed terminals and energy-efficient vessels (both new and retrofitted) will make the ferry services more sustainable with least disruption to nature.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Adoption of policy of auctioning of resources and periodic review of the policy.
Context
Governments regulations and restrictions in the markets, believing that policies could artificially restrict either supply or demand, or both, often results in unrealistic or unworkable prices.
Adoption of the auctioning process to allocate resources
- Design of process makes the difference: While auctions may be the cleanest way to allot scarce natural resources to private parties, their design makes all the difference.
- Three things needed to get the desired results from auctions:
- Clear policy goal: Define clear policy goals for the allotment of the resource whether coal blocks, spectrum or land.
- The proper process of periodic review: Define a proper process for periodic review of the design itself, since it may not be possible to get everything right in the first instance.
- Make the process non-partisan: Make the political oversight process as non-partisan as possible, so that regime changes do not keep upending policies.
What went wrong in spectrum allocation case?
- Arbitrary tweaks in policy: Arbitrary tweaks were made in the telecom licence and spectrum allocation policy.
- Which is what forced the apex court to intervene and cancel those licences.
- The claim of revenue loss: Cancellation followed a claim by the CAG that the “presumptive” revenue losses may have been as high as ₹1.76.
- Result of the two events-policy of revenue maximisation: The net result was that all subsequent auctions were designed to maximize spectrum bids.
- Winner’s curse: The policy finally ended up becoming a winner’s curse, evident in the pile of debt incurred by the telecom sector.
- Why did this happen? This happened because of the absence of a clear policy goal.
Real estate sector
- High land prices: The same goes for real estate, which is struggling right now due to high land prices because the bureaucracy prevents price reduction in land.
- Unaffordable to middle-income buyers: That make most properties unaffordable for middle and lower-middle-income buyers.
- Low FSI issue: Urban land prices are high due to artificial constriction of supplies through the fixing of low floor space indices (FSIs) even in land-scarce localities.
Technology and periodic review of policy
- Technology can lower costs: Spectrum or land or coal mines are not always in short supply, for new technology lowers costs.
- Efficient spectrum use: The same spectrum can, with the use of newer technology, be used more efficiently.
- 3D printing in construction: Better infrastructure and improved building technologies (even 3D printing techniques for mass housing projects in non-urban areas) can lower housing costs enormously.
- Automated coal mining: Automated coal mining can lower coal production costs, enabling higher profitability even with relatively high auction bids.
- Need for periodic policy review: Technology can reduce the prices of the resources and hence the periodic review of the prices at which the resources are allocated need to be taken to for balanced pricing.
Conclusion
- Policies on the allocation of scarce resources need to evolve based on actual experience and changing technologies and processes.
- The success or failure of a specific policy cannot be judged purely from a revenue or transparency point of view.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3-Indian power sector-Problems faced by the Discoms and their solutions.
Context
Five years after the launch of UDAY, power-sector once again seems to be going deep into the troubles.
Where the Discoms stand now?
- Losses increased: The losses of state-owned distribution companies (discoms) risen.
- Dues increased: Discom’s dues for power purchases have also surged.
- Dues owed by discoms to power producers, both independent and state-run entities, stood at Rs 80,930 crore.
- Of these, Rs 71,673 crore extends beyond the allowed grace period of 60 days.
- Rajasthan leads the states with the most dues, followed by Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Components of UDAY and progress made
- The UDAY scheme, which involved state governments taking over the debt of discoms, had three critical components
- First-Reduction in AT&C losses: While progress has been made on some of these fronts, it hasn’t been in line with the targets laid out under UDAY.
- AT&C (Aggregate Technical and Commercial) losses have declined in some states, but not to the extent envisaged.
- Under UDAY, discoms were to bring down AT&C losses to 15 per cent by FY19.
- Second- Timely revision of tariffs: While some states have raised power tariffs, the hikes have not been sufficient.
- In tariff revision decisions political considerations prevailed over commercial decisions.
- Third- elimination of the gap between per unit of cost and revenue realised: The gap between the average cost per unit of power and the revenue realised has not declined in the manner envisaged.
- Because of this discoms were forced to reduce their power purchases and delay payments to power producers.
Way forward:
- The new plan, being formulated by the government reportedly, aims to address these issues by-
- Reducing electricity losses.
- Eliminating the tariff gap.
- Smart metering.
- Privatising discoms.
- Having distribution franchisees.
- Altering incentive structure: Along with the above, the Centre should also look at altering the incentive structures of states in order to ensure compliance.
- Provision of penalties: Stiff penalties need to be imposed for not meeting the targets laid out in the new scheme.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- Socio-economic upheaval in Indian economy and its consequences for the Indian economy.
Context
With the Indian economy caught in the middle of a socio-economic upheaval, the government needs to make its focus on the economy clear and pronounced.
India in the middle of a socio-economic upheaval
- Weakening economy: The economy has been weakening for a couple of years now.
- Social upheaval: The social upheaval is new but its seeds have been fermenting for a while.
- Consequences of the two: The social and economic sides of an economy are not divorced from each other.
- Each influences the other and the current quagmire threatens to unleash the worst type of feedback between the two.
Consequences for the employment
- Most severe consequence due to the interaction between the social and economic sides is unemployment.
- Rising unemployment disproportionately affects the young.
- India’s job market: India whose median citizen is in the 30s and which is inducting 10 million new young people to the job market every year.
- Demographic dividend turning into a curse: This dynamic, popularly hailed as India’s demographic dividend, can rapidly turn into a demographic curse if the employment situation doesn’t improve.
Falling investment rate, increased risk perception
- Where will the jobs come from? The job creators are entrepreneurs, conglomerates, and multinationals.
- It is in their nature to take investment risks as long as the returns are high enough.
- Investment rates below 30: In India, investment rate fell well below 30 per cent a while back.
- Falling returns: The returns on investment were not compensating entrepreneurs for the risk.
- The recent social upheaval is only adding to the perceived risk.
- Wait and see approach: The more investors adopt a “wait-and-see” approach, the worse the job situation will become.
Way forward
- Structural reforms: The government needs to announce a clear plan and timeline for structural reforms.
- Prioritising domain competence in staff: The government has to start staffing technical positions by prioritising domain competence and empowering these hires with policy relevance.
- Maintaining the integrity of institutions: The government need to maintain the integrity of institutions tasked with the regulation of corporations and banks, monetary policy management, data collection/dissemination and law enforcement.
- Accommodate dissent: The government also needs to desist from trying to drown out protesting voices with state muscle power.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NIA Act
Mains level: Policing Issues with NIA
The Chhattisgarh state govt. moved the Supreme Court against the 2008 National Investigative Agency (NIA) Act, stating it is violative of the Constitution. In its civil suit, the government told the apex court the NIA should have no power over state policing matters.
What is the NIA Act, 2008?
- The NIA Act, 2008 governs the functioning of India’s premier counter-terror agency.
- It was introduced by then home minister P Chidambaram in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks and was passed in Parliament with very little opposition.
- The Act makes the NIA the only truly federal agency in the country, along the lines of the FBI in the United States, more powerful than the CBI.
- It gives the NIA powers to take suo motu cognizance of terror activities in any part of India and register a case, to enter any state without permission from the state government, and to investigate and arrest people.
Objections made by CG
- In its petition, the Chhattisgarh govt. said the Act is “ultra vires the Constitution” and “beyond the legislative competence of the Parliament”.
- According to the state, the 2008 Act allows the Centre to create an agency for investigation, which is a function of the state police.
- ‘Police’ is an entry in the State List of the Constitution’s 7th Schedule.
- The petition says the 2008 Act takes away the state’s power of conducting an investigation through the police, while conferring unfettered, discretionary and arbitrary powers” on the Centre.
- The provisions of the Act leave no room of coordination and pre-condition of consent, in any form whatsoever, by the Centre from the State govt. which clearly repudiates the idea of state sovereignty as envisaged under the Constitution.
Changes made to the NIA’s powers last year
- The 2019 NIA Amendment Act expanded the type of offences that the investigative body could investigate and prosecute.
- The agency can now investigate offences related to human trafficking, counterfeit currency, manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, cyber-terrorism, and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.
- The amendment also enables the central government to designate sessions courts as special courts for NIA trials.
- The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment (UAPA), also passed in 2019, allows an NIA officer to conduct raids, and seize properties that are suspected to be linked to terrorist activities without taking prior permission of the DG of Police of a state.
- The investigating officer only requires sanction from the Director General of NIA.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IOT
Mains level: Citizenship issues of Indian origin Tamils in Sri Lanka
Recently an MHA spokesperson wrote on Twitter that about 4.61 lakh Tamils of Indian origin were given Indian citizenship during 1964-2008. The reference was to the Indian Origin Tamils (IOTs) of Sri Lanka, and the Lal Bahadur Shastri-Sirimavo Bandaranaike Pact of 1964.
The Indian Origin Tamils
- Different from Sri Lankan Tamils who live predominantly in the North and East, the IoTs are descendants of indentured Tamil workers.
- The British had shipped them to the island in the mid 19th century to work on tea estates in the five hill districts of the Central and Uva provinces.
- These people now call themselves Malayaha (hill country) Tamils — because of the historical stigma attached to being “Indian” Tamils.
- At the time of Sri Lanka’s independence, the IOTs numbered around 800,000.
- They were the backbone of the tea industry, politically active, and keen to ensure their rights in independent Sri Lanka through strategic alliances with unions and left parties.
- Determined to blunt their political rights, the ruling parties described IOTs as “birds of passage” with no loyalty to the country, as India’s fifth column in Sri Lanka, and as people who stole the locals’ jobs.
SL’s 1948 Citizenship Act
- Sri Lanka’s Nov. 1948 Citizenship Act was the first in a series of divisive moves by the Sinhala rulers to consolidate their political base in the majority Sinhalese (Buddhist and Christian) community.
- It was aimed at excluding IOTs — then as now, the predominant workforce in the upcountry tea estates — whose numbers and growing association with leftist parties were proving to be politically inconvenient.
- The IOTs that India accepted through the 1964 agreement were not “fleeing” Sri Lanka.
- Most were, in fact, reluctant to leave the country in which they had lived for three generations or longer.
- Those that remained, were stateless in Sri Lanka for decades until their status as citizens was settled ironically because the ruling party now wanted their votes.
What did the Act provide?
- Under the Act, citizenship could be only by patrilineal descent or registration.
- For citizenship by registration, umarried persons had to show 10 years of uninterrupted stay in Sri Lanka from the date of application; married persons had to show 7 years.
- Most IOTs were unlettered and poor, with no documents. Effectively an entire community was rendered stateless.
- Soon afterward came the Indian & Pakistani Residents’ Act of 1949, which opened a window for those above a certain income level.
- Only 1,40,000 had been granted citizenship under the Indian & Pakistani Residents’ Act, and 2,50,000 were accepted by India as its citizens.
- Finally, the 1949 Ceylon (Parliamentary Elections) Amendment was passed, under which only citizens could vote.
- The IOTs were stripped of voting rights, and the fallout was immediate: in 1947, there were 7 Indian Tamils in the legislature; in 1952, there were none.
Issues with the Act
- This Act sharply delineated ethnic differences, and distorted the political system to weight it in favour the Sinhalese majority.
- This created an intractable dynamic of ethnic outbidding between the two major Sinhalese-dominated parties to attract Sinhalese voters at the expense of the Sri Lankan Tamil minority.
- This directly contributed to the latter’s alienation, support for secessionism, and the outbreak of ethnic violence and civil war in the 1970s and 1980s.
India’s response
- The treatment of Indian Tamils had cast a shadow on India-Sri Lanka relations even before independence; post-independence, the citizenship laws became a major irritant.
- They were denounced in India, and the Madras legislature passed a resolution against them.
- In 1947, PM Nehru had tried unsuccessfully to persuade Senanayake to give citizenship to all Indian Tamils who had lived in the country for 7 years prior to January 1, 1948.
- The two countries corresponded on this issue until Nehru’s death in 1964.
- Nehru rejected the Sri Lankan position that the “stateless” IOTs were automatically Indian citizens, and would have to be shipped to India.
Repatriation of IOTs
- After the 1962 war with China, PM Shastri was eager to mend fences with Sri Lanka. He gave in to Bandaranaike’s demands, and it was agreed that Sri Lanka would accept 3,00,000 IOTs and their natural increase, while India would accept 5,25,000 IOTs and their natural increase.
- The status of the balance 1,50,000 IOTs was to be decided later.
- Some 4,00,000 reluctantly applied for citizenship of India; 6,30,000 applied for Sri Lanka’s.
- By the time the window agreed upon in 1964 closed, only 1,62,000 IOTs had been given Sri Lankan citizenship. In the same period, India gave citizenship to over 3,50,000.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: India-China Relations in context of Tibet
The People’s Congress of Tibet passed a law that makes ethnic unity in the region mandatory, reflecting the significant role that the autonomous Himalayan region plays in its economic and social development.
About the Law
- The law makes it clear that Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times.
- It states that it is the common responsibility of the people of all ethnic groups to safeguard national reunification and take a clear stand against separatism.
Ethnic Unity in China
- This is not the first time that the phrase ethnic unity has been mentioned by China.
- In October 2019 the Communist Party of China published a guideline for enhancing ethnic unity.
- It stressed on efforts to improve the governance of ethnic affairs, guaranteeing the legal rights and interests of citizens of ethnic groups.
- It called for cracking down on “criminal acts” that sabotage ethnic unity or cause ethnic separation.
- Before this, in 2016, China began a campaign in the autonomous territory of Xinjiang to promote ethnic unity and called for people to respect the cultures of the minorities who call the region home.
Why such Law?
- There are more than 40 ethnic minorities in the region, which account for 95 per cent of Tibet’s population of over three million.
- Like Tibet, Xinjiang is another region of China that houses multiple ethnic minorities.
- A similar legislation was passed there four years ago and in recent times, China has faced criticism for detaining at least a million Uighur and other Muslims, along with some ethnic Kazakhs and Uzbeks.
- China has began “re-education camps” in Xinjiang, a region that has been claimed by China since 1949.
- China has denied these allegations and maintains that the facilities where the detainees are housed are vocational training centers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: About the Index
Mains level: Global visa policies for Indians
The Indian passport is closer to the bottom, ranked 84th in the world, according to the 2020 edition of the Henley Passport Index.
Henley Passport Index
- According to Henley & Partners publishes the ranking and the Index of the world’s passports “according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa”.
- The ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association of some 290 airlines, including all major carriers.
- The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.
- The data are updated in real time as and when visa policy changes come into effect.
India’s performance
- Since the index began in 2006, the Indian passport has ranked in a band of 71st to 88th. (The number of passports ranked has, however, varied from year to year.)
- The Indian passport’s 2020 ranking of 84th translates into visa-free access to 58 destinations, including 33 which give Indians visas on arrival.
- It ranked higher in both 2019 (82, with visa-free access to 59 destinations) and 2018 (81, with visa-free access to 60 destinations).
- Twenty of the 58 visa-free access destinations in the 2020 list are in Africa, and 11 each in Asia and the Caribbean.
- Serbia is the only European country to which Indian passport holders can travel visa-free. There is no major or developed country to which Indian passport holders have visa-free access.
Global performance
- The top 10 most powerful passports this year are ranked in this order: Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Finland, Spain, Luxembourg and Denmark.
- Japan has been topping the Index for three straight years; according to the 2020 index, its citizens are able to access 191 destinations without having to obtain a visa in advance.
- Afghanistan at rank 107 is the weakest.
- Singapore, in second place (same as in 2019), has a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 190.
- Germany is No. 3 (same position as in 2019), with access to 189 destinations; it shares this position with South Korea, which dropped from the second place it held a year ago.
- The US and the UK have been falling consistently over successive Indices.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IDH
Mains level: Virtual and Augmented Reality, IDH
The Union Ministry of Culture and Tourism launched a month-long special exhibition titled Indian Heritage in Digital Space. This special exhibition showcases the adaptation and infusion of technologies being developed under the Indian Digital Heritage (IDH) initiative.
Indian Digital Heritage (IDH)
- This initiative is undertaken by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in the cultural heritage domain of the country.
- The exhibition demonstrates the outcome of two flagship projects viz., A digital mini-spectacle to showcase the glory of Hampi and Augmented Reality based interactions with physical models of monuments.
- The goals of these projects are to create digital installations using 3D laser scan data, AR, holographic projections and 3D fabrication,to provide interactive and immersive experiences showcasing the glory of Hampi and five Indian monuments namely Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi; TajMahal, Agra; Sun Temple, Konark; Ramachandra Temple, Hampi ; and RaniKiVav, Patan .
- These projections are driven by cutting-edge technologies such as 3D fabrication, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality, Holographic Projections and Projection Mapping etc.
ViRaasat
A special installation named ‘ViRaasat’, consisting of a scaled-down 3D printed replica shall provide a mixed reality experience to visitors for selected monuments, using laser-scanning, 3D modelling and rendering, 3D printing, computer vision and spatial AR.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ‘Saksham’ Campaign
Mains level: Fossil fuels conservation
‘Saksham’ Campaign for fuel conservation has been launched.
‘Saksham’ Campaign
- It is an annual one-month long, people-centric fuel conservation mega campaign of Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
- PCRA and Oil & Gas companies carry out various interactive programs during this month-long campaign.
- Activities like ‘Saksham’ Cycle Day, Cyclothons, Workshops for drivers of commercial vehicles, Seminars for housewives/cooks on adopting simple fuel saving measure.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: HSN Code
Mains level: India's Import regulation
No imports will be allowed without HSN code into the country clarified the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry.
What is HSN Code?
- HSN code stands for “Harmonized System of Nomenclature”.
- This system has been introduced for the systematic classification of goods all over the world.
- HSN code is a 6-digit uniform code that classifies 5000+ products and is accepted worldwide.
- It was developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and it came into effect from 1988.
- The main purpose of HSN is to classify goods from all over the World in a systematic and logical manner. This brings in a uniform classification of goods and facilitates international trade.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’
Mains level: NA
Exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’
- Indian and Japanese coast guards participated in a joint exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ on January 16.
- The aim behind ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ is to strengthen the bond between the two countries.
- One ship of the Japanese Coast Guard and four ships and an aircraft of the Indian Coast Guard participated in the joint exercise.
- The drill is a five-day event.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- GST-below expected collection, and problems associated with it.
Context
In theory, the shift to GST made eminent sense, yet in practice, some of these expectations have been belied.
Why have GST collections not measured up to expectations?
- This could be due to a combination of three factors:
- First: The tax rates under GST are lower than in the earlier regime-GST was not revenue neutral, to begin with.
- Second: There has been massive tax evasion due to under-reporting, input credit scams and fake invoices
- Third: A slowing economy has impacted firm revenues, and thus tax collections.
GST should have been revenue-neutral but it is not
- Fitment exercises not carried out: The fitment exercise should have been undertaken in a manner so as to ensure that collections pre and post GST are the same.
- But, this fundamental principle was not adhered to, and other considerations dominated.
- Revenue neutrality Vs. Multiple objectives: The GST council began its deliberations not with the single objective of revenue neutrality, but with multiple objectives in mind.
- Closeness to existing tax: Council wanted to ensure that rates were close to the existing tax incidence (accounting for cascading); to ensure minimal impact on inflation.
- Not regressive: The council also wanted the proposed rate structure was not regressive in nature.
- The council wanted that items of mass consumption were not taxed at a higher rate.
- Achieving all these objectives simultaneously proved a difficult task.
The issue of tax evasion
- It is difficult to arrive at firm estimates of the scale of the problem but there are some indications of its size.
- In West Bengal, it was estimated that the value of goods (July 2017 to March 2018) entering a state appeared to be under-reported by around Rs 50,000 crore.
- Rs 60,000 crore in Madhya Pradesh, and Rs 1,50,000 crore in Maharashtra.
- Numerous cases of tax fraud and fake invoice scams have also been detected since then
Problems involve and possible solutions
- Invoice matching: It is argued that invoice matching will help if implemented it from the beginning.
- It could have helped plug the loopholes.
- Issue of under-reporting: It is debatable whether invoice matching can end under-reporting (collusion) and fake invoices.
- Limit of state capacity in handling cases: The Central and state administrations can intervene in only about 3 lakh cases in a year.
- Their capacity to track lakhs of transactions on a daily basis is questionable.
- Slowing economy: Already existing structural issues have been compounded by the slowing economy.
Way forward
- There are certain options available to the government.
- First: Either recalibrate the expectation or carry on the efforts to plug the loopholes and the shortcoming in the system.
- Second: Lower the cut-off for composition scheme. A higher level simply encourages business “splitting”.
- Third: Reduce exemptions.
- Fourth: The council must deliberate on the rate structure, bringing it in line with pre-GST levels.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- Rising inflation-slowing growth rates and its consequences for Indian economy.
Context
High inflation has reduced the fiscal space available for a rate cut.
RBI target of 6% breached.
- CPI at 7.35 %: Retail inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), has surged to 7.35 per cent in December 2019.
- Latest inflation data seems to corroborate fears articulated by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in its December meeting.
- In the meeting, MPC refrained from cutting the benchmark repo rate.
Consequences for the economy
- Reduced scope for fiscal slippage: High inflation reduced the space for further easing of policy rates.
- Even after clarity over the extent of the Centre’s fiscal slippage emerged.
- Rise in yield for 10-year securities: The 10-year G-sec yields have reacted sharply to these developments, rising to 6.67 on Tuesday.
- Offsetting operation twist: Rise in yield resulted in offsetting the impact of the RBI’s recent open market operations.
- Inflation targeting under stress: The combination of weak economic activity and higher than expected supply-side inflationary pressures has put the inflation-targeting regime under test.
Reasons for the inflation rise and chances of easing
- Food prices rise: Much of the rise in the headline inflation number can be traced to higher food prices.
- Food inflation has risen to a near six-year high of 14.12 per cent in December 2019, up from 10.01 per cent in the previous month.
- Vegetable prices have surged to 60.5 per cent in December, contributing nearly 3.7 percentage points to the headline numbers.
- Chances of ease in coming months: While vegetable crop cycles tend to be short, and supply-side pressures may ease in the coming months.
- The stickiness in prices of protein items is likely to provide a floor for food inflation.
Bleak outlook for inflation easing
- No short-term return to normal level: Food inflation is unlikely to revert to previous levels in the short term.
- Household inflation expectations, a key metric in the MPC’s assessment, are more responsive to food inflation, this will further exert upward pressure on MPC.
- A factor of hostilities in the Middle East: The uncertainty over oil prices on account of hostilities in the Middle East, adds to the bleak outlook for inflation.
Conclusion
With limited fiscal space for a meaningful stimulus, the government intends to support the economy during this rough patch, and return growth to a higher trajectory.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2-National Education Policy and ASER 2019 report , emphasis on the preschool education and issues associated with it.
Context
The draft NEP (National Education Policy) document points out that close to five crore children currently in elementary school do not have foundational literacy and numeracy skills.
Severe learning crisis: The document cites several possible reasons for this crisis.
- First reason: Many children enter school before age six.
- Lack of options: This is partly due to the lack of affordable and accessible options for pre-schooling.
- Therefore, too many children go to Std. I with limited exposure to early childhood education.
- Consequences for the poor: Children from poor families have a double disadvantage -lack of healthcare and nutrition and the absence of a supportive learning environment on the other.
- Second reason: Lack of developmentally appropriate activities by age and phase.
- The misplaced focus of ICDS: School readiness or early childhood development and education activities have not had a high priority in the ICDS system.
- Acting as an extension of pre-school education: Private preschools that have increased access to preschool but are often designed to be a downward extension of schooling.
- Thus, they bring in school-like features into the pre-school classroom, rather than developmentally appropriate activities by age and phase.
Three clear trends in ASER-2019 data
- First trend: Scope for expansion of Anganwadi network.
- Expansion network: There is considerable scope for expanding Anganwadi outreach for three and four-year-old children.
- All-India data from 2018 shows that slightly less than 30 per cent children at age three and 15.6 per cent of children at age four are not enrolled anywhere.
- Second trend: Under 6 students in class I.
- ASER 2018 data show that 27.6 per cent of all children in Std I are under six.
- It is commonly assumed that children enter Standard I at age six and that they proceed year by year from Std I to Std VIII.
- The Right to Education Act also refers to free and compulsory education for the age group six to 14.
- However, the practice on the ground is quite different.
- Third trend: There are important age implications for children’s learning.
- Association with learning output: ASER-2019 indicate the higher learning output associated with age in the same class.
- In Std. I, the ability to do cognitive activities among seven-eight-year olds can be 20 percentage points higher than their friends who are five years old but in the same class.
- In terms of reading levels in Std. I, 37.1 per cent children who are under six can recognise letters whereas 76 per cent of those who are seven or eight can do the same.
- Age distribution in Std. I vary considerably between government and private schools.
- Private schools in many states have a relatively older age distribution.
Way forward
- Understanding the children: Understanding the challenges that children face when they are young is critical if we want to solve these problems early in children’s life.
- Providing for developmentally appropriate skill: Instead of focusing on the pre-school years as the downward extension of school years there is a need for providing developmentally appropriate skill in these years.
- Pedagogy: On the pedagogy side reworking of curriculum and activity is urgently needed for entire age band of four to eight.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Art. 131, 32, 226
Mains level: Original Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Courts
- The Kerala government moved the Supreme Court against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act becoming the first state to challenge the law.
- It filed a petition under Article 131 of the Constitution and asked for the law to be declared unconstitutional and in violation of Articles 14 (equality before law), 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) and 25 (freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion).
What is Article 131 of the Constitution?
- The Article vests the Supreme Court with original jurisdiction over disputes occurring between states or between states and the Centre.
- The original jurisdiction of a court means the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, in which the court reviews the decision of a lower court.
- Unlike the original jurisdiction under Article 32 (which gives the top court the power to issue writs, etc.), the jurisdiction in Article 131 is exclusive, meaning it is only the Supreme Court which has this authority.
- Under Article 226, the High Courts too have the power to issue writs, directions etc.
Original jurisdiction
- Article 131 reads, “Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. — Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Supreme Court shall, to the exclusion of any other court, have original jurisdiction in any dispute —
(a) between the Government of India and one or more States; or
(b) between the Government of India and any State or States on one side and one or more other States on the other; or
(c) between two or more States,
if and in so far as the dispute involves any question (whether of law or fact) on which the existence or extent of a legal right depends:
- The said jurisdiction shall not extend to a dispute arising out of any treaty, agreement, covenant, engagement, sanad, or other similar instrument which, having been entered into or executed before the commencement of this Constitution.
- However they continue in operation after such commencement, or which provides, that the said jurisdiction shall not extend to such a dispute.
What kinds of disputes are covered under Article 131?
- In ‘State of Rajasthan vs Union of India’, 1977, the Supreme Court ruled that the existence or extent of a legal right is a precursor before a suit under Article 131 is entertained. But mere wrangles between governments have no place in the scheme of that Article.
- Similarly, in the 1978 case, ‘State of Karnataka vs Union of India’, which involved the Centre’s authority to order an inquiry into a state Chief Minister’s conduct, jurisdiction under Article 131 was held valid.
- In the present case filed by Kerala, central legislation (CAA) is being challenged. In 2011, a two-judge Supreme Court Bench in ‘Madhya Pradesh v Union of India’ had held such a suit was not maintainable.
- Later in 2013, another two-judge Bench in ‘State of Jharkhand v State of Bihar and Another’ disagreed with the previous verdict and referred the matter to a larger Bench. Kerala’s plaint relies on the 2013 verdict.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rare Diseases
Mains level: Highlights of the saif policy for ‘Rare Diseases’
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has published a national policy for the treatment of 450 ‘rare diseases’.
About the Policy
- The Centre first prepared such a policy in 2017 and appointed a committee in 2018 to review it.
- It was created on the direction of the Delhi High Court to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- This was in response to writ petitions for free treatment of such diseases, due to their “prohibitively” high cost of treatment.
- Hence, a policy was deemed necessary to devise a “multipronged” and “multisectoral” approach to build India’s capacity for tackling such ailments.
Why need such a policy?
- As per the policy, out of all rare diseases in the world, less than five per cent have therapies available to treat them.
- In India, roughly 450 rare diseases have been recorded from tertiary hospitals, of which the most common are Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle-cell anemia, auto-immune diseases, Gaucher’s disease, and cystic fibrosis.
Features of the policy
- While the policy has not yet put down a detailed roadmap of how rare diseases will be treated.
- It has mentioned some measures, which include creating a patient registry for rare diseases, arriving at a definition for rare diseases that is suited to India, taking legal and other measures to control the prices of their drugs etc.
- It intends to kickstart a registry of rare diseases, which will be maintained by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
- Under the policy, there are three categories of rare diseases — requiring one-time curative treatment, diseases that require long-term treatment but where the cost is low, and those needing long-term treatments with high cost.
- Some of the diseases in the first category include osteopetrosis and immune deficiency disorders, among others.
- As per the policy, the assistance of Rs 15 lakh will be provided to patients suffering from rare diseases that require a one-time curative treatment under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi scheme.
- The treatment will be limited to the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
What are rare diseases?
- Broadly, a ‘rare disease’ is defined as a health condition of low prevalence that affects a small number of people when compared with other prevalent diseases in the general population. Many cases of rare diseases may be serious, chronic and life-threatening.
- While a majority of rare diseases are believed to be genetic, many — such as some rare cancers and some autoimmune diseases — are not inherited, as per the NIH.
- According to the policy, rare diseases include genetic diseases, rare cancers, infectious tropical diseases, and degenerative diseases.
Definition
- India does not have a definition of rare diseases because there is a lack of epidemiological data on its incidence and prevalence.
- While there is no universally accepted definition of rare diseases, countries typically arrive at their own descriptions, taking into consideration disease prevalence, its severity and the existence of alternative therapeutic options.
- In the US, for instance, a rare disease is defined as a condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people.
- The same definition is used by the National Organisation for Rare Disorders (NORD) in India.
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