Archives: News

Judicial Reforms

History and debates about ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ in the Preamble

Prelims Only | Polity | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood – Relations
The Supreme Court will hear a petition filed by former MP Dr Subramanian Swamy, seeking the removal of the words “Socialist” and “Secular” from the preamble of the Indian Constitution.

Why in news?
- The petitioners in two similar cases have argued that these words were never intended to be in the Constitution and that such insertion is beyond the amending power of the Parliament under Article 368.
- Similar petitions have been filed earlier too and given rise to debates around the preamble and the role it plays in the Constitution.
How did these words come?
- The two terms were inserted into the preamble as part of the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976 during the Emergency imposed by then PM Indira Gandhi.
What is the purpose of the Preamble?
- A preamble serves as an introduction to a document and contains its basic principles and goals.
- When the Indian Constitution was being drafted, the ideals behind the preamble were first laid down in the Objectives Resolution, adopted by the Constituent Assembly in 1947.
- These ideals emerged out of the numerous debates that took place during the drafting of the Constitution.
Initially, the Preamble said:

“WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

And to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.”

Nature of the preamble
- The Constitution was the product of democratic deliberations and decided upon by the people of India themselves in the wake of freedom from colonial rule.
- The ideals mentioned here were at the core of the newly democratic nation.
- During the Constituent Assembly debates, many suggestions were put forth — including that God should be invoked in the preamble as in the Irish constitution, that Mahatma Gandhi’s name should be included, etc.
Is it a part of the Constitution?
- The question of whether the preamble is a part of the Constitution or simply an introduction has been deliberated upon by the highest court.
- This is because the meaning and weight of the objectives mentioned in it, such as equality of status and opportunity, remained unclear from the perspective of law.
- However, in its judgment in the famous LIC case of 1995, the Supreme Court said and the Preamble of the Constitution which is an integral part and scheme of the Constitution, affirming its position as part of the Constitution.
- Additionally, the violation of any principle mentioned in the preamble cannot be a reason to go to court, meaning the preamble is “non-justiciable”.
- However, judgments of courts can cite it as an additional factor in their reasoning, given that it constitutes the spirit of the Constitution.
How else has the preamble been debated earlier?
- In 2020 a ruling MP has moved a resolution in Rajya Sabha seeking to remove the word socialism from the preamble.
- It said, that the earlier party which ruled the country for seven decades has changed its direction from being socialist to welfare to neo-liberalism.
- Its new liberal policies adopted in the 1990s have negated its own earlier positions.
- Earlier in 2015, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting used an image of the preamble of the Indian Constitution without the words “socialist” and “secular”, leading to some criticism.
What is the right-wing narrative?
- These words were added during the Emergency. Now what is the harm if there is a debate on it?
- In 2008, the Supreme Court rejected a plea demanding the removal of ‘socialist’.
- The apex court asked-Why do you take socialism in a narrow sense defined by Communists?
- In a broader sense, it means welfare measures for the citizens. It is a facet of democracy, said the Court.
- It hasn’t got any definite meaning. It gets different meanings in different times.
Under what circumstances was the preamble amended?
- Over her years in government, Indira Gandhi had attempted to cement her approval among the masses on the basis of a socialist and pro-poor image with slogans such as “garibi hatao” (Eradicate poverty).
- The 42nd Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1976 when the Emergency was in place, replaced the words “sovereign democratic republic” with “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic”.
- It also changed “unity of the nation” to “unity and integrity of the nation”.
Were ‘Secular’ and ‘Socialist’ debated before Independence?
- During the debates in the Constituent Assembly, members such as K T Shah and Brajeshwar Prasad had raised the demand to add these words to the preamble.
- However, Dr B R Ambedkar argued: What should be the policy of the State, how the Society should be organised in its social and economic side are matters which must be decided by the people themselves according to time and circumstances.
- It cannot be laid down in the Constitution itself because that is destroying democracy altogether.
Is it inclusive of the Constitution?
- Indeed, many principles affirming secularism and socialism were contained in the Constitution originally, such as in the Directive Principles of State Policy that is meant to guide the government in its actions.
- Some examples are provisions related to the “equitable distribution of material resources of the community for the common good”, and protecting the rights of workers.
- Similarly, in the fundamental rights that allow the freedom to profess and propagate one’s religion, as well as in the government policies that recognize religious occasions across communities, an Indian version of secularism is followed.
- Unlike western secularism which strictly separates the state and religion, the Indian state has over the years acknowledged and involved itself in matters related to all religions.
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Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

Martand Temple in Kashmir

Prelims Only | History | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture
In May this year, some pilgrims offered prayers inside the Martand Temple, an Archaeological Survey of India-protected (ASI) monument

About Martand Sun Temple
- The Martand Sun Temple is a Hindu temple located near the city of Anantnag in the Kashmir Valley.
- It dates back to the eighth century AD and was dedicated to Surya, the chief solar deity.
- The temple was destroyed by Sikandar Shah Miri in a bid to undertake mass conversion and execution of Hindus in the valley.
- According to Kalhana, the Temple was commissioned by Lalitaditya Muktapida in the eighth century AD.
- The temple is built on top of a plateau from where one can view whole of the Kashmir Valley.
- From the ruins the visible architecture seems to be blended with the Gandharan, Gupta and Chinese forms of architecture.
Why in news now?
- According to ASI, prayers are allowed at its protected sites only if they were “functioning places of worship” at the time it took charge of them.
- No religious rituals can be conducted at non-living monuments where there has been no continuity of worship when it became an ASI-protected site.
What are the living/non-living monument?
- If some activity, like any kind of worship, has been going on for years in the structure, then it is taken over as a living monument.
- But where no activity has taken place, say an abandoned building, then it is declared a dead monument.
- The latter is difficult to restore because it is generally covered by a lot of overgrowth.
- The best-known example of a living ASI monument is the Taj Mahal in Agra, where namaz is held every Friday.
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Land Reforms

What is Kurki, and why is it a big issue in Punjab?

Prelims Only | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Agriculture and related issues
A farmer in Punjab has committed suicide outside the office of the Muktsar DC against kurki orders for his land based on a court case filed against him by the local moneylender for defaulting on loan payment.

What is Kurki?
- Kurki means attachment of a farmer’s land, already pledged to the money lending institution or individual, in case of a loan default.
- Apart from banks, private moneylenders, commission agents also get these decrees against farmers from time to time.
How is kurki executed?
- Kurki orders are executed under Section 60 of Civil Procedure Code, 1908.
- The land which is pledged by the farmer to the bank or money lender gets registered in their name. In some cases, the land is auctioned as well.
- The process begins after the money lender moves court to get kurki orders in case the farmer is unable to pay back his loan.
- In kurki, attachment of farmer’s land as well as his tractor can be done as per the Section 60.
Was kurki not banned in Punjab?
- Both Akali Dal and Congress governments of the past have claimed to have banned kurki.
- Congress fought the 2017 Assembly polls on the slogan ‘karza kurki khatam, fasal di poori rakam’.
- Soon after winning polls in 2017, the then government abolished Section 67-A of Punjab Cooperative Societies Act that enabled cooperatives to recover unpaid loans through auctioning of land mortgaged by farmers.
- However, Section 63-B, 63-C of the Act were not dropped to prevent attachment of land.
- Former Punjab CM has also claimed that kurki was abolished by his government. Activists accuses governments of issuing vague orders on the matter.
Why has a total ban on the century-old kurki law not been achieved?
- A plea filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2018 sought complete ban on kurki.
- However, the Punjab government in its affidavit stated that there was no need to ban kurki as relief was being given to farmers in terms of loan waiver, compensation etc.
- Moreover, it stated that Section 60 of Civil Procedure Code, 1908 – under which kurki takes place — was over 110 years old and needed complete revision.
What is the ground reality?
- Farmers point out that they are made to give post-dated cheques for loan, which are then used to get arrest orders issued in cheque bounce cases.
- They have also accused money lenders of using pronotes signed by them to get kurki orders.
- “Pro-notes” (promissory notes) are written documents taken from farmers, and signed by them at the time of giving the loan.
- In April 2022, over 2,000 arrest warrants were issued against farmers for non-payment of loans to cooperative societies and Punjab agriculture development banks.
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Indian Navy Updates

Exercise Vostok-22

Prelims Only | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates
Russia is holding Vostok exercises. However, India has only sent its army contingent of the 7/8 Gorkha Rifles, and will not take part in the maritime section of the two-part event.

Vostok-2022
- It is an annual, multilateral, strategic and command exercise hosted by Russia.
- This year it will see the participation of more than 50,000 troops from 13 countries such as India, China, Algeria, India, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Syria and many more.
- While the exercises in Vostok-2022 are routine, they are the first such multilateral exercises to be held since the Russian war in Ukraine began.
Why in news now?
- India has only sent its army contingent and will not take part in the maritime section of the two-part event.
- This is because the maritime part of the exercises would be held in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan.
- These are near the disputed South Kuril Islands.
- India’s decision not to take part in the naval exercises is believed to be in deference to Tokyo’s sensitivities.
What does India’s participation mean?

By sending an army contingent to join Russian and Chinese troops in the exercises at this time, New Delhi is aiming to send a four-pronged message:
1. Continuing relationship with Russia despite the Ukraine war: The Modi government has decided not to join the Western sanctions regime, or to curb oil imports and other economic engagement with Moscow.
2. Signal balance and non-alignment in the current crisis: India has mostly abstained from votes at the United Nations seeking to criticise Russia.
3. India also takes part in routine Indo-Pacific exercises: This is with its Western partners including the Quad, as well as in bilateral exercises, like the India-US Ex. Yudh Abhyas.
4. Willingness to conditional engagement with China: The message the government continues to give is that it is willing to engage with China on a number of fronts, even as military talks at LAC (Line of Actual Control) remain stuck.
Conclusion
- There might be some discomfort for Indian soldiers in dealing with their counterparts at a time when they are facing each other off along the LAC.
- But that’s a small price to pay if it means keeping India-Russia ties on an even keel.
- India needs to start communicating its intent better.
- Strategic communication is an art. It’s time to master it.
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Foreign Policy Watch: India-Bangladesh

India Bangladesh Relations

op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India
Context
- Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina’s four-day visit to India to boost bilateral ties.
India-Bangladesh ties background
- India’s links with Bangladesh are civilization, cultural, social and economic.
- There is much that unites the two countries – a shared history and common heritage, linguistic and cultural ties, passion for music, literature and the arts.
- India was one of the first countries, along with Bhutan, to recognise Bangladesh as a sovereign state on 6 December 1971.
- It is also worth recalling that India shares its longest border of 4,096.7 kilometres with Bangladesh, which is also the fifth-longest border in the contemporary world.
Trade between two
- CEPA: Trade will be a focal point during Ms. Hasina’s visit as the two countries gear up to sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
- Bangladesh dependency: Bangladesh imports critical industrial raw material from India on which its exports are reliant.
- Leveraging Indian support: Bangladesh also could improve several manufacturing industries by leveraging Indian expertise in service sectors.
Connectivity
- IMT highway: Bangladesh has expressed its interest in joining the India-Myanmar-Thailand highway project.
- Waterway: India-Bangladesh bilateral waterway trade will get boosted as India can now use the Mongla and Chittagong ports.
- Logistics: India’s Northeast and Bangladesh is important for bilateral cooperation. Currently, three express trains and international bus services operate between Indian and Bangladesh.
Key data to remember

Bangladesh is India’s sixth largest trade partner with bilateral trade rising from $2.4 billion in 2009 to $10.8 billion in 2020-21.

Regional geopolitics
- Chinese influence: Chinese inroads into the neighbourhood have been a cause of worry for India. China has been actively pursuing bilateral ties with Bangladesh. Bangladesh had successfully approached China for a mega project to enhance Teesta river water flow.
- Strategic location: From the perspective of India’s Northeast, Bangladesh is India’s most strategic neighbour, whom New Delhi cannot ever afford to ignore.
- Cooperation needed: India’s dream of ‘Act East Policy’ can only be materialized with the helping hands of Dhaka.
- Gateway to northeast: The bridge ‘Maitri Setu’ has been built over the Feni River which flows between the Indian boundary in Tripura State and Bangladesh. It is set to become the ‘Gateway of North East’ with access to Chittagong Port of Bangladesh, which is just 80 kms from Sabroom.
Way forward
- The future will present itself with an abundance of opportunities to help the two countries to reach a new plane of bilateral relations higher than ever before.
- Both nations should play their diplomatic cards with more maturity and pragmatism, keeping the regional aspirations and nuances of both countries in mind.
- A judicious aggregation of regional expectations on both sides of the border will help in achieving their mutual national objectives.
- To make the recent gains irreversible, both countries need to continue working on the three Cs — cooperation, collaboration, and consolidation.
Conclusion
- For India it will take more than cosy relations with one particular government to have long-term stable relations with its most trusted friend in the neighbourhood.
Mains question

Q. Do you think Bangladesh is most trusted friend in the neighbourhood? Discuss bilateral relations between two in terms of trade, connectivity and geopolitics.

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Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

Issues faced by Teachers in India

op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education
Context
- 5 September is teacher’s day. Teachers’ Day or Shikshak Divas marks the birthday of the country’s first Vice President (1952–1962) who went on to become the second President of India (1962-1967), a scholar, philosopher, Bharat Ratna awardee, a highly-respected teacher and prolific statesman – Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan.
What are the issue with teachers?
- Less attractive career: It seems that teaching the young is no longer an attractive profession because systemic conditions are so discouraging. It points towards the reforms that education now requires.
- Diversion from teaching: Teaching children is not regarded as a serious profession. Non-teaching duties are routinely assigned, and now the digital regime has washed away the few traces of professional autonomy even in the best of private schools.
- Bureaucratic over vigilance: So deep is official suspicion of their integrity that many states have installed CCTV cameras in classrooms. That is not the only form of insult teacher’s face. They have little power to assert their professional dignity in the face of bureaucratic or managerial authority.
- Marginalisation by coaching institutes: The Indian school teacher now faces new social and economic forces. Coaching institutions have marginalised the secondary-level science teacher. All over the country, children are allowed to bunk school to attend NEET and JEE coaching classes. Science and math teachers were, in any case, aware that their pedagogic effectiveness would be measured by an unreformed examination system.
- Reliability issue due to internet overuse: Social Science teachers are coping with a different kind of challenge to justify their knowledge and interpretation. Children’s access to the internet exposes them to a wilderness of socio-political ideas and information. It is not easy for social science teachers to convince children that they are more reliable than a YouTube video or a WhatsApp message.
Catchy line in this context for value addition

Jinke jiwan me guru nahi, unka jiwan abhi shuru nahi.

How to address these challenges
- Supporting teacher control over curriculum and instruction: Classical top-down school leadership needs to be re-examined, and teachers must be recognized as professionals who have expertise to make good learning decisions for their students.
- Establish adequate pay scales and financial incentives: Compensation systems signal what skills and attributes are valued and what kinds of contributions are rewarded.
- Establish and conduct personnel evaluation systems: Teachers need regular feedback and accurate information on job expectations.
- Provide adequate planning time for teachers: While all teachers work under tremendous time constraints, experienced teachers generally are able to complete their planning more quickly. For new teachers, adequate planning time can allay feelings of being overwhelmed.
- Provide a structure for team planning and teaching: Teachers often report feeling isolated in their classrooms. Team planning and teaching can be an important step in retaining a high quality teaching force.
Conclusion
- Since the teacher is the pivot of the entire educational system and is the main catalytic agent for introducing desirable changes in the teaching learning process, all attempts need be made for motivating teachers to become innovative and creative. It goes without saying that a self-motivated and really industrious teacher can utilise his own resources to keep themselves abreast of new knowledge and skills.
Mains question

Q. It seems that teaching the young is no longer an attractive profession because systemic conditions are so discouraging. Critically analyse.

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Policy Wise: India’s Power Sector

Energy Atmanirbharta

op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.
Context
- The Prime Minister has called for “Energy Atmanirbharta” by 2040.
What is Atmanirbharta?
- Atmanirbharta translates literally to self-reliance.
What is the main purpose of Atmanirbhar Bharat?
- The aim is to make the country and its citizens independent and self-reliant in all senses. Five pillars of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat are – Economy, Infrastructure, System, Vibrant Demography and Demand.
How to achieve energy self-reliance?
- Definitional clarity: Atmanirbharta translates literally to self-reliance. Many interpret it to mean self-sufficiency. That should not be our goal. Energy self-sufficiency is infeasible and uneconomic. A better statement of intent would be “strategic autonomy”.
- Affordable access to fuel: Our policy must continue to emphasise affordable and secure access to oil and gas. Part of this objective could be met by intensifying domestic exploration.
- Prioritise access to the building blocks of green energy: The sine qua non for realising this forecast will be cost-competitive access to minerals/components (copper, cobalt, lithium, semiconductor chips etc) required to build EVs, solar panels, wind turbines and batteries.
- Infrastructure development: We must expand our strategic petroleum reserves to cover at least 30 days of consumption and upgrade the transmission grid and battery storage systems to scale up renewables and smoothen its supplies. We will need to develop innovative financing mechanisms to fund green infrastructure. It should be emphasised that all such investments will get impaired if state discoms are financially insolvent.
- Green incentives: The government’s production-linked incentive scheme (PLI) offers benefits for investment in green energy.
- Demand conservation and efficiency: Energy usage norms must be standardised and tightened. Legislation should be contemplated to ensure compliance.
- Energy diplomacy: Our diplomats should add the arrows of energy diplomacy to their quiver. This is because of our dependence on the international energy supply chains. Success in navigating the cross-currents of economic and geopolitical uncertainties will rest greatly on skilful diplomacy.
- Holistic governance: The current siloed structures of energy governance are suboptimal. A root and branch administrative overall is required. Institutions should be created to facilitate integrated energy planning and implementation.
Case study for value addition
- Costa Rica lasted 300 consecutive days on renewable energy alone. Costa Rica set the record in 2017 for most consecutive days with renewable energy. The previous record for this feat was in 2015 when Costa Rica lasted 299 consecutive days on pure, clean energy.
Challenges ahead
- Anti-nuclear public sentiment: The Fukushima-Daiichi accident resulted in growing concern over the safety of nuclear plants in India .The construction of a nuclear plant in Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu, brought the issue directly into the public domain in 2012.
- Management autonomy: Power sector is dominated by public sector companies or PSUs (owned by the central and state government). Some parts of the energy sector have made very little progress in attracting private investment since 2007.
- Pricing: is the key to ensure the commercial viability of business entities and to attract investment into each fuel sector.
- Rigid tariff setting mechanism: Theoretically, prices should be supervised and adjusted in a timely manner and adequately by independent regulators to reflect changing costs. However, in India, regulators including CERC and SERCs operate in a very rigid way due to political considerations. This jeopardises the operational profitability of companies.
Conclusion
- We need leadership that can reconcile temporal differences and balance the short-term pressures of elections with the longer-term imperatives of sustainability in energy security which calls for bold and pragmatic decision making by the leadership.
Mains question

Q. How India can achieve “Energy Atmanirbharta” by 2040 an ambitious target stated by prime minister? What are the challenges in achieving this goal?.

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Cyber Security – CERTs, Policy, etc

Cybercrime in India

op-ed snap | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields
Context
- There has been a steady spike in cases of cybercrime in the last five years.
What is a cybercrime?
- Cybercrime is any criminal activity that involves a computer, networked device or a network. While most cybercrimes are carried out in order to generate profit for the cybercriminals, some cybercrimes are carried out against computers or devices directly to damage or disable them.
What data states?
- India reported 52,974 cases of cybercrime in 2021, an increase of over 5 per cent from 2020 (50,035 cases) and over 15 per cent from 2019 (44,735 cases), according to latest government data.
How many cyber criminals are caught in India?

In 2020, over 18.4 thousand people were arrested on account of cyber-crimes across India.

Who is responsible for cyber security centre or state?
- With ‘police’ and ‘public order’ being in the State List, the primary obligation to check crime and create the necessary cyberinfrastructure lies with States.
- At the same time, with the IT Act and major laws being central legislations, the central government is no less responsible to evolve uniform statutory procedures for the enforcement agencies.
Status of cyber investigation
- There is no separate procedural code for the investigation of cyber or computer-related offences.
- As electronic evidence is entirely different in nature when compared with evidence of traditional crime, laying down standard and uniform procedures to deal with electronic evidence is essential.
What are general guidelines for cyber investigation?
- The broad ‘guidelines for the identification, collection, acquisition and preservation of digital evidence’ are given in the Indian Standard IS/ISO/ IEC 27037: 2012, issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
- This document is fairly comprehensive and easy to comprehend for both the first responder (who could be an authorised and trained police officer of a police station) as well as the specialist (who has specialised knowledge, skills and the abilities to handle a wide range of technical issues).
- The guidelines, if followed meticulously, may ensure that electronic evidence is neither tampered with nor subject to spoliation during investigation.
What is the meaning of digital evidence or electronic evidence?
- Digital evidence is information stored or transmitted in binary form that may be relied on in court. It can be found on a computer hard drive, a mobile phone, among other places. Digital evidence is commonly associated with electronic crime, or e-crime, such as child pornography or credit card fraud.
Arjun Khotkar vs Kailash Gorantyal Judgement
- The Court held that a certificate under Section 65B(4) of the Indian Evidence (IE) Act was a mandatory pre-requisite for the admissibility of (secondary) electronic record if the original record could not be produced.
What is Indian evidence act?
- The Indian Evidence Act, originally passed in India by the Imperial Legislative Council in 1872, during the British Raj, contains a set of rules and allied issues governing admissibility of evidence in the Indian courts of law.
Judicial activism for cyber security
- A significant attempt has been made by the higher judiciary in this field also. As resolved in the Conference of the Chief Justices of the High Court in April 2016, a five judge committee was constituted in July 2018 to frame the draft rules which could serve as a model for the reception of digital evidence by courts.
- The committee, after extensive deliberations with experts, the police and investigation agencies, finalised its report in November 2018, but the suggested Draft Rules for the Reception, Retrieval, Authentication and Preservation of Electronic Records are yet to be given a statutory force.
What needs to be done?
- Upgrade cyber labs: The cyber forensic laboratories of States must be upgraded with the advent of new technologies.
- Digital rupee: Offences related to cryptocurrency remain under-reported as the capacity to solve such crimes remains limited. The central government has proposed launching a digital rupee using block-chain technology soon.
- Empowering states: State enforcement agencies need to be ready for new technologies. The Centre helps in upgrading the State laboratories by providing modernisation funds, though the corpus has gradually shrunk over the years.
- Need for localisation of data: Most cybercrimes are trans-national in nature with extra-territorial jurisdiction. The collection of evidence from foreign territories is not only a difficult but also a tardy process.
Conclusion
- Centre and States must not only work in tandem and frame statutory guidelines to facilitate investigation of cybercrime but also need to commit sufficient funds to develop much-awaited and required cyber infrastructure.
Mains question

Q.With the increasing use of computers in society, cybercrime has become a major issue. Analyse the loopholes in cyber security regime of India by giving suggestions to rectify the same.

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MGNREGA Scheme

MGNREGA

op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies
Context
- The delay in payment of wages has pushed MGNREGS workers in West Bengal to the brink. There are allegations of corruption against the State government, the Centre’s reluctance in releasing payments, and the plight of the workers caught in this tussle.
What is MGNREGA?
- The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005. This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’. The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.
Significant Features of the scheme
- Fixed employment: MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- Assured compensation: The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Locality is ensured: Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Legal backing: Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
What are the issues?
- Non-purposive spending and corruptions: Many works sanctioned under MGNREGA often seem to be non-purposive. Quite often, they are politically motivated hotspots to create rampant corruption by dominant sections of the local population. Even social audits of such projects are locally manipulated.
- Workers penalized for administrative lapses: The ministry withholds wage payments for workers of states that do not meet administrative requirements within the stipulated time period (for instance, submission of the previous financial year’s audited fund statements, utilization certificates, bank reconciliation certificates etc). There is no logical or legal explanation for this bizarre arrangement. It is beyond any logic as to why workers would be penalized for administrative lapses.
- Genuine job cards being deleted: Genuine job cards are being randomly deleted as there is a huge administrative pressure to meet 100 per cent DBT implementation targets in MGNREGA. In states like Jharkhand, there are multiple examples where the districts had later requested to resume job cards after civil society interventions into the matter.
- Too much centralization weakening local governance: A real-time MIS-based implementation and a centralised payment system has further left the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions with literally no role in implementation. It has become a burden as they hardly have any power to resolve issues or make payments.
- Local priorities being ignored: MGNREGA could be a tool to establish decentralized governance. But, with the administration almost dictating its implementation, it is literally a burden now for the people and especially for the local elected representatives. The Gram Sabhas and gram panchayats’ plans are never honoured. This is a blatant violation of the Act as well.
Lack of fund has negative implications
- Delayed payment: Due to this, payments for MGNREGA workers as well as material costs will be delayed, unless States dip into their own funds.
- Livelihood loss: MGNREGA data shows that 13% of households who demanded work under the scheme were not provided work.
- Halt of work: Many workers are simply turned away by officials when they demand work, without their demand being registered at all.
- Fall in demands: This has led to stop the generation of work. There is an artificial squeezing of demand.
What can be done according to rural development committee?
- Utilization of funds: A large amount of funds allocated for MGNREGA have remained un-utilised. For example, in 2010-11, 27.31% of the funds remained unutilised. The Committee recommends that the Department of Rural Development should analyse reasons for poor utilisation of funds and take steps to improve the same. In addition, it should initiate action against officers found guilty of misappropriating funds under MGNREGA.
- Context specific projects and convergence: Since states are at various stages of socio-economic development, they have varied requirements for development. Therefore, state governments should be allowed to undertake works that are pertinent to their context. There should be more emphasis on skilled and semi-skilled work under MGNREGA. In addition, the Committee recommends a greater emphasis on convergence with other schemes such as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, National Rural Health Mission, etc.
- Regulation of job cards: Offences such as not recording employment related information in job cards and unlawful possession of job cards with elected PRI representatives and MGNREGA functionaries should be made punishable under the Act.
- Participation of people with disabilities: Special works (projects) must be identified for people with disabilities and special job cards must be issued and personnel must be employed to ensure their participation.
- Payment of unemployment allowance: Dated receipts for demanded work should be issued so that workers can claim unemployment allowance. Funds for unemployment allowance should be met by the central government.
Some innovation in MGNREGA can address the challenges

1) Looping in the skilled worker
- First, there is a suggestion to use it to meet the wage cost of their employment in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
- Accordingly, skilled migrant workers may be placed in SMEs and their wages would be charged to MGNREGA.
2) Including farm related works
- In the last few years, un-remunerative prices of several crops have been the root cause of widespread agrarian distress.
- The suggestion is to allow farmers to employ MGNREGA workers in agricultural operations like land preparation, sowing, transplantation of paddy, plucking of cotton, intercultural operations and harvesting of crops etc. so as to reduce the cost of cultivation.
- The idea is to pay part of the wages of labour in agricultural operations from MGNREGA.
3) Increasing the number of Work Schemes
- Currently, there are only 2-3 work schemes (say PMAY) running per panchayat, which is leading to the crowding of workers at worksites.
- To prevent this and to ensure that all willing households are able to access employment through NREGA, the number of schemes needs to be increased, and 6-8 schemes must be introduced in each village.
4) Paying Workers Immediately
- Rural households urgently need cash-in-hand, and so the emerging demand is for immediate payment to workers. NREGA payments are frequently delayed by weeks or months.
- Given the circumstances, such delays will be entirely counterproductive.
- It is recommended that in remote areas, wage payments should be made in cash, and paid on the same day.
Conclusion
- Government and NGOs must study the impact of MGNREGA in rural areas so as to ensure that this massive anti-poverty scheme is not getting diluted from its actual path.
Mains question

Q. Large scale social security programmes like MGNREGA are subjected to undergo several stumbling blocks in the times to come due to lack of fund. Analyse these roadblocks and give some innovative measures to tackle these roadblocks.

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

Millet crop is the best solution for climate smart agriculture

op-ed snap | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Agriculture and related issues
Context
- Government push to coarse cereals as climate change affects wheat, paddy cultivation
What are millets crops?
- Millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for human food and as fodder.
Features Millet crops in India
- Big three: The three major millet crops currently growing in India are jowar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet) and ragi (finger millet).
- Examples: India also grows a rich array of bio-genetically diverse and indigenous varieties of “small millets” like kodo, kutki, chenna and sanwa.
- Area of production: Major producers include Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.
What are Advantages of millet cultivation?
- Low input cost: cereals are good for the soil, have shorter cultivation cycles and require less cost-intensive cultivation.
- Climate resilience: These unique features make millets suited for and resilient to India’s varied agro-climatic conditions.
- Drought tolerance: cereals are not water or input-intensive, making them a sustainable strategy for addressing climate change and building resilient agri-food systems.
Reduction in millet production
- Effects of Green Revolution: The Green Revolution succeeded in making India food sufficient, however, it also led to water-logging, soil erosion, groundwater depletion and the unsustainability of agriculture.
- Deficit mind-set: Current policies are still based on the “deficit” mind-set of the 1960s.
- Biased policies: The procurement, subsidies and water policies are biased towards rice and wheat.
- Skewed cropping pattern: Three crops (rice, wheat and sugarcane) corner 75 to 80 per cent of irrigated water.
- Lack of diversification: Diversification of cropping patterns towards cereals, pulses, oilseeds, horticulture is needed for more equal distribution of water, sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture.
What can be done to promote millets as nutri-cereals?

1) Rebranding the cereals as nutri-cereals
- The first strategy from a consumption and trade point of view was to re-brand coarse cereals/millets as nutri-cereals.
- As of 2018-19, millet production had been extended to over 112 districts across 14 states.
2) Incentive through hiking MSP
- Second, the government hiked the MSP of nutri-cereals, which came as a big price incentive for farmers.
- From 2014-15 to 2020 MSPs for ragi has jumped by 113 per cent, by 72 per cent for bajra and by 71 per cent for jowar.
- MSPs have been calculated so that the farmer is ensured at least a 50 per cent return on their cost of production.
3) Providing steady markets through inclusion in PDS
- To provide a steady market for the produce, the Modi government included millets in the public distribution system.
4) Increasing area, production and yield
- The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare is running a Rs 600-crore scheme to increase the area, production and yield of nutri-cereals.
- With a goal to match the cultivation of nutri-cereals with local topography and natural resources, the government is encouraging farmers to align their local cropping patterns to India’s diverse 127 agro-climatic zones.
- Provision of seed kits and inputs to farmers, building value chains through Farmer Producer Organisations and supporting the marketability of nutri-cereals are some of the key interventions that have been put in place.
5) Intersection of agriculture and nutrition
- The Ministry of Women and Child Development has been working at the intersection of agriculture and nutrition by -1) setting up nutri-gardens, 2) promoting research on the interlinkages between crop diversity and dietary diversity 3) running a behaviour change campaign to generate consumer demand for nutri-cereals.
Conclusion
- India should aim for a food systems transformation, which can be inclusive and sustainable, ensure growing farm incomes and nutrition security. As the government sets to achieve its agenda of a malnutrition-free India and doubling of farmers’ incomes, the promotion of the production and consumption of nutri-cereals seems to be a policy shift in the right direction.
Mains question

Q. Promotion of millet crops serves the dual purpose of securing health and supporting farmers. Elucidate.

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