💥UPSC 2026, 2027, 2028 UAP Mentorship (March Batch) + Access XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Archives: News

  • Wildlife Conservation Efforts

    Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986

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

    The Union Environment Ministry proposes to soften the provisions of the EP Act (EPA) by replacing a clause that provides for imprisoning violators with one that only requires them to pay a fine.

    Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986

    • EP Act was passed under Article 253 of the Constitution, which empowers the Centre to enact laws to give effect to international agreements signed by the country.
    • The purpose of the Act is to implement the decisions of the UN Conference on the Human Environment.
    • They relate to the protection and improvement of the human environment and the prevention of hazards to human beings, other living creatures, plants and property.
    • It was enacted in 1986 on the backdrop of Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
    • The Act was last amended in 1991.

    Why this Act?

    • The Act is an “umbrella” legislation that has provided a framework for the environmental regulation regime in India.
    • It covers all major industrial and infrastructure activities and prohibits and regulates specific activities in coastal areas and eco-sensitive areas.
    • The Act also provides for coordination of the activities of various central and state authorities established under other environment-related laws, such as the Water Act and the Air Act.

    Key provisions

    • The Environment (Protection) Rules lay down procedures for setting standards of emission or discharge of environmental pollutants.
    • The objective of Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989 is to control the generation, collection, treatment, import, storage, and handling of hazardous waste.
    • The Manufacture, Storage, and Import of Hazardous Rules define the terms used in this context, and sets up an authority to inspect, once a year.
    • The Cells Rules,1989 were introduced with a view to protect the environment, nature, and health in connection with the application of gene technology and micro-organisms.

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    The Environment Protection Act, 1986 empowers the Government of India to

    1. State the requirement of public participation in the process of environmental protection, and the Procedure and manner in which it sought.
    2. Lay down the standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants from various sources.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

    Post your answers here.

     

     

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Services Sector

    What is Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)?

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

    India’s services firms saw growth in new business and output accelerate to a 11-year high in June, as per the survey-based S&P Global India Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI).

    What is the news?

    • The index rose to 59.2 last month, from 58.9 in May, signalling a strengthening in demand across the services sector, which had borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)

    • PMI is an indicator of business activity — both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
    • It is a survey-based measure that asks the respondents about changes in their perception of some key business variables from the month before.
    • It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is constructed.
    • The PMI is compiled by IHS Markit based on responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 400 manufacturers.

    How is the PMI derived?

    • The PMI is derived from a series of qualitative questions.
    • Executives from a reasonably big sample, running into hundreds of firms, are asked whether key indicators such as output, new orders, business expectations and employment were stronger than the month before and are asked to rate them.

    How does one read the PMI?

    • A figure above 50 denotes expansion in business activity. Anything below 50 denotes contraction.
    • Higher the difference from this mid-point greater the expansion or contraction. The rate of expansion can also be judged by comparing the PMI with that of the previous month data.
    • If the figure is higher than the previous month’s then the economy is expanding at a faster rate.
    • If it is lower than the previous month then it is growing at a lower rate.

    What are its implications for the economy?

    • The PMI is usually released at the start of the month, much before most of the official data on industrial output, manufacturing and GDP growth becomes available.
    • It is, therefore, considered a good leading indicator of economic activity.
    • Economists consider the manufacturing growth measured by the PMI as a good indicator of industrial output, for which official statistics are released later.
    • Central banks of many countries also use the index to help make decisions on interest rates.

     

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Innovations in Sciences, IT, Computers, Robotics and Nanotechnology

    Three new ‘exotic’ sub-atomic particles discovered  

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

    The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment has observed three never-before-seen particles.

    What is the discovery?

    • CERN was investigating the slight differences between matter and antimatter by studying a type of particle called the “beauty quark”, or “b quark”.
    • The three “exotic” additions — a new kind of “pentaquark” and the first-ever pair of “tetraquarks” — to the growing list of new hadrons were found.
    • This discovery will help physicists better understand how quarks bind together into these composite particles.

    What are Quarks?

    • Quarks are elementary particles that come in six “flavours”: up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom.
    • They usually combine together in groups of twos and threes to form hadrons such as the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei.
    • But they can also combine into four-quark and five-quark particles, called tetraquarks and pentaquarks.
    • These exotic hadrons were predicted by theorists about six decades ago — around the same time as conventional hadrons — but they have been observed by LHCb and other experiments only in the past 20 years.

    What about tetraquarks and pentaquarks?

    • Most exotic hadrons discovered in the past two decades are tetraquarks or pentaquarks.
    • They contain a charm quark and a charm antiquark — with the remaining two or three quarks being an up, down or strange quark or their antiquarks.

     

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Nobel and other Prizes

    What is Fields Medal, the ‘Mathematics Nobel’?

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

    Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska was named as one of four recipients of the prestigious Fields Medal, which is often described as the Nobel Prize in mathematics.

    What is Fields Medal?

    • The Fields Medal is awarded by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organisation.
    • It is awarded every four years to one or more mathematicians under the age of 40 in recognition of “outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement”.
    • The winners are announced at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), which was supposed to be held in Russia this year, but was moved to Helsinki.

    Belongings of the award

    • The honour carries a physical medal of 14K gold, 63.5 mm in diameter and weighing 169 g, and with a unit price of approximately 5,500 Canadian dollars.
    • There is also a cash award of CAD 15,000.
    • The obverse of the medal is embossed with the head of Archimedes facing right, and some Latin quotes.

    History of the Medal

    • According to the IMU website, the 1924 ICM in Toronto adopted a resolution that at each conference, two gold medals would be awarded to recognise outstanding mathematical achievement.
    • The Canadian mathematician Prof J C Fields, who was secretary of the 1924 Congress, later donated funds to establish the medals, which were named in his honour.
    • In 1966, it was agreed that, in light of the great expansion of mathematical research, up to four medals could be awarded at each Congress.

    Indian-origin winners

    • Among the more than 60 mathematicians who have been awarded the Fields Medal since 1936, there are two of Indian origin.
    • Akshay Venkatesh of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, won in 2018, the last time the honour was announced.
    • Manjul Bhargava of the Department of Mathematics at Princeton University was awarded in 2014.

     

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Mother and Child Health – Immunization Program, BPBB, PMJSY, PMMSY, etc.

    Malnutrition in India

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies

    Context

    More than seven decades after independence, India still suffers from the public health issues such as child malnutrition attributing to 68.2% of under-five child mortality.

    What is malnutrition?

    • Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients.
    • The term malnutrition covers 2 broad groups of conditions.
    • One is ‘undernutrition’—which includes stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), underweight (low weight for age) and micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals).
    • The other is overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer).

    Marginal improvement on Stunting and Wasting

    • The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) has shown marginal improvement in different nutrition indicators, indicating that the pace of progress is slow.
    • This is despite declining rates of poverty, increased self-sufficiency in food production, and the implementation of a range of government programmes.
    • Children in several States are more undernourished now than they were five years ago.
    • Increased stunting in some states: Stunting is defined as low height-for-age.
    • While there was some reduction in stunting rates (35.5% from 38.4% in NFHS-4) 13 States or Union Territories have seen an increase in stunted children since NFHS-4.
    • This includes Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Kerala.
    • Wasting remains stagnant: Wasting is defined as low weight-for-height.
    • Malnutrition trends across NFHS surveys show that wasting, the most visible and life-threatening form of malnutrition, has either risen or has remained stagnant over the years.

    National Nutrition Mission (NNM): Focus on essential nutrition interventions

    • Government appears determined to set it right — with an aggressive push to the National Nutrition Mission (NNM), rebranding it the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition, or POSHAN.
    • Window of opportunity: The Ministry of Women and Child (MWCD) continues to be the nodal Ministry implementing the NNM with a vision to align different ministries to work in tandem on the “window of opportunity” of the first 1,000 days in life (270 days of pregnancy and 730 days; 0-24 months).
    • POSHAN Abhiyaan (now referred as POSHAN 2.0) rightly places a special emphasis on selected high impact essential nutrition interventions, combined with nutrition-sensitive interventions, which indirectly impact mother, infant and young child nutrition, such as improving coverage of maternal-child health services, enhancing women empowerment, availability, and access to improved water, sanitation, and hygiene and enhancing homestead food production for a diversified diet.

    Key findings of NHFS-5 data

    • Data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 2019-21, as compared to NFHS-4 2015-16, reveals a substantial improvement in a period of four to five years in several proxy indicators of women’s empowerment.
    • No progress on nutritional intervention: Alarmingly, during this period, the country has not progressed well in terms of direct nutrition interventions.
    • Preconception nutrition, maternal nutrition, and appropriate infant and child feeding remain to be effectively addressed.
    • India has 20% to 30% undernutrition even in the first six months of life when exclusive breastfeeding is the only nourishment required.
    • Neither maternal nutrition care interventions nor infant and young child feeding practices have shown the desired improvement.

    Suggestions

    • Child undernutrition in the first three months remains high. Creating awareness on EBF, promoting the technique of appropriate holding, latching and manually emptying the breast are crucial for the optimal transfer of breast milk to a baby.
    • Complementary feeding: NFHS-5 also confirms a gap in another nutrition intervention — complementary feeding practices, i.e., complementing semi-solid feeding with continuation of breast milk from six months onwards.
    • The fact that 20% of children in higher socio- economic groups are also stunted indicates poor knowledge in food selection and feeding practices and a child’s ability to swallow mashed feed.
    • Creating awareness: So, creating awareness at the right time with the right tools and techniques regarding special care in the first 1,000 days deserves very high priority.
    • Revisit nodal system for nutrition program: There is a need to revisit the nodal system for nutrition programme existing since 1975, the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) under the Ministry of Women and Child and examine whether it is the right system for reaching mother-child in the first 1000 days of life.
    • Alternative way to distribute ICDS supplies: There is also a need to explore whether there is an alternative way to distribute the ICDS supplied supplementary nutrition as Take- Home Ration packets through the Public Distribution (PDS) and free the anganwadi workers of the ICDS to undertake timely counselling on appropriate maternal and child feeding practices.

    Conclusion

    It is time to think out of the box, and overcome systemic flaws and our dependence on the antiquated system of the 1970s that is slowing down the processes.

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Global Implications

    The perils of multilateralism

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Context

    At a time when the world is trying to grapple with the impact of unprecedented problems which arose in the first two decades of the 21st century, the various intergovernmental organisations and groupings, which are undergoing fundamental changes, may not be fertile places for building peace.

    Contradiction in the BRICS

    • The 14th virtual BRICS summit hosted by China (June 23-24) was a clear attempt by China to hijack the grouping, going by a blueprint it has prepared for the new world order.
    • Not a political grouping: BRICS was not meant to be a political grouping when the acronym, BRIC, was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001.
    • Economic grouping: Seeing the possibility of developing a non-western global economic system, China welcomed the idea of BRICS as the nucleus of a new economic grouping and invested energy and resources in building it.
    •  Two permanent members of the Security Council together with three aspirants to permanent membership underscored the contradictions in composition.
    • No support for permanent membership: The fundamental question of support for the three countries to secure permanent membership was fossilised on China’s position that the role of the developing countries should be enhanced, implying that there shall be no expansion of the permanent membership of the Security Council.
    • But the grouping focused on possibilities of cooperation among them by developing institutions such as the New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement and cooperation in certain sectors.
    • India-China relations: The entire fragile framework of limited cooperation was shattered with the bloodshed at Galwan, when China unilaterally sought to alter the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
    • China showed no enthusiasm to bring India into the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) even after India met the criteria of a liberalised economy.
    • Expansion for friends: The way China brought in 13 like-minded countries through the back door for a high-level dialogue on global development smacked of unfair means to expand the group with their friends.

    What was achieved by India at G7 meeting

    • India’s presence at G7 meetings are not rare and Germany invited the India to attend the G7 summit in Bavaria.
    • The G7 made its own statement on the Ukraine war on expected lines and India was only involved in other issues such as environment, energy, climate, food security, health, gender equality and democracy.
    • Since it was a war summit, it did not produce any results on other major issues.
    • Curtailing energy supplies from Russia would hurt Germany, France, Japan and others, but they could not get any exemption.
    • India’s gain has been the opportunity it got to interact with world leaders, though it was tinged with the disappointment that India, as a Quad member, did not condemn Russia’s action in Ukraine.

    Conclusion

    Multilateral negotiations will be increasingly difficult in the present chaotic global situation. It is only by working bilaterally with potential allies that India can attain the status of a pole in the new world with steadfast friends and followers.

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Poverty Eradication – Definition, Debates, etc.

    The extent of poverty

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Context

    There has been an uproar about the working papers of the IMF and World Bank, reporting no or low poverty for India in the pandemic year or just before that.

    About the IMF paper

    • The paper by Roy and Weide (2022) for the World Bank explores the possibility of using CMIE (unemployment data) in poverty calculations after correcting for the unrepresentative character of its panel data by modifying the weightages of households for aggregation.
    • These adjustments carried out to remove the non-convergence of the CMIE data with other macro statistics have resulted in a poverty figure of 12 per cent.

    What does the poverty index measure or attempt to capture?

    • Its construction involves complex calculations — to identify a poverty basket of consumption, working out price indices for updation of the poverty line and then applying it to the income or consumption of households for determining their poverty status.
    • Absence of consumption expenditure: The computation becomes far more challenging in the absence of data on consumption expenditure as is the case in India and several developing countries.
    • Intending to provide inputs for policy making, researchers have evolved ingenious methods of estimating the data, using past datasets and those that have not been designed to get robust expenditure estimates.

    Background of poverty line in India

    • A nine-member working group set up by the Planning Commission proposed the poverty line at Rs 20 per capita per month in the early Sixties, loosely ensuring the adequacy of minimum requirements.
    • Poverty line based on calorie needs: Dandekar and Rath (1970) went into detail about minimum calorie needs, based on the average consumption pattern.
    • Issues with calorie based poverty line: During the Eighties and Nineties, it was realised that this linkage is getting blurred due to changes in the consumption pattern, microenvironment for living, etc.
    • Sukhatme argued that the emphasis on calories and nutrition is misplaced as the absorption of nutrients depends on physical health, particularly the presence or absence of gastrointestinal diseases.
    • Water and sanitation facilities were noted as important in determining the poverty line.
    •  It was accepted that the state, through poverty interventions, cannot and should not try to guarantee adequate nutrition to people.
    • Delinking the nutritional norms: The Tendulkar Committee formally announced delinking of nutritional norms from poverty in 2010.

    Extrapolating the consumption expenditure on NSS 2011-12

    • Bhalla, Virmani and Bhasin (2022) in their IMF Working Paper have developed a method of interpolation and extrapolation of the consumption expenditure of the NSS 2011-12 and building a series up to 2019-20.
    • They use the growth rate of private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) but bring in the distributional changes by allowing household consumption to grow as per the nominal per capita income in each state.
    • Takes into account rural-urban price difference: Rural-urban price differences are also introduced through separate poverty lines.
    • The method is reasonable except that it assumes the distributions to remain unchanged both within the rural and urban segments in each state over 2014-20.
    • Also, the growth rates of different commodities in the PFCE are significantly different and hence commodity-wise adjustments can be done to give higher weights to the items of consumption by the poor.
    • Taking into account the role of state: The most significant contribution of the study is its bringing in the differential engagement of the state in the provisioning of the essentials to the poor into poverty calculations.
    • This opens up the possibility of changes in the level of state engagement in poverty estimation, including free gas cylinders, etc.

    Conclusion

    People find the World Bank paper figures pegged at 12% more acceptable not because of the methodology but the magnitude. One does not know whether the poverty estimate would be a bit higher had the adjustments been carried out for a few other parameters and also at the state level.

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • ISRO Missions and Discoveries

    Outer Space

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

    Recently, the UK hosted the fourth summit for Space Sustainability in London in collaboration with the Secure World Foundation.

    What does Sustainability in Outer Space mean?

    • One of the hot issues when it comes to space sustainability is orbital crowding.
    • With the emergence of large constellations and complex satellites, there is a risk of collisions and interference with radio frequencies.
    • It poses a direct threat to the operations and safety of a mission and is likely to cause legal and insurance-related conflicts.
    • Space debris is another prominent issue.
    • After the completion of a mission, an ‘end-of-life protocol’ requires space objects to be moved to the graveyard orbit or to a low altitude.
    • Other causes of concern are solar and magnetic storms which potentially damage communication systems.
    • Such space weather threats need to be addressed along with the efforts to identify the terrestrial carbon footprint of outer space missions.

    Why was a conference held in the UK?

    • Long-term sustainability looks toward space research and development of technology to ensure the reuse and recycling of satellites at every stage.
    • The UK plan proposes active debris removal and in-orbit servicing.

    Policy measures so far

    • As the outer space is considered a shared natural resource, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in 2019 adopted a set of 21 voluntary, non-binding guidelines.
    • They aim to ensure the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.

    What does the UK plan for space sustainability entail?

    • The UK calls for an “Astro Carta” for space sustainability, based on the Artemis Accords model for sustainable space exploration.
    • The UK Space Sustainability plan mentions four primary elements:
    1. To review the regulatory framework of the UK’s orbital activity
    2. To work with organisations such as the G-7 and the UN to emphasise international engagement on space sustainability
    3. To try and develop safety and quality-related metrics that quantify the sustainability of activities; and
    4. To induce additional funding of $6.1 million on active debris removal
    • The UK also confirmed investments in its National Space Surveillance and Tracking Programme, which works on collision assessment services for UK-licenced satellite operators.

    Where does India stand on space sustainability?

    • India is well on its way to create a subsystem that addresses global sustainability questions.
    • The headquarters of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (In-SPACe) was formally inaugurated last month.
    • One can expect an increased role of the private sector in India’s space activities.
    • The ISRO has initiated ‘Project NETRA’ to monitor space debris.
    • To provide in-orbit servicing, ISRO is developing a docking experiment called ‘SPADEX’.
    • It looks at docking a satellite on an existing satellite, offering support in re-fuelling and other in-orbit services while enhancing the capability of a satellite.

    Way forward

    • Outer space in the 2020s can no longer be considered a ‘space race’ because of the cost, when compared to the beginning of this century.
    • Today, any entity (government or private) with the necessary access to resources and technology can invest in outer space.
    • Sustainable practices in outer space would directly help reduce orbital crowding and collision risk while nurturing future technologies.
    • As the natural course of evolution, the Plan for Space Sustainability, which includes private industries, is a timely move.
    • This would serve as a model for other space programmes.

     

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Tax Reforms

    Hotels cannot force customers to pay Service Charge: Centre

    | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued guidelines asking hotels and restaurants not to collect service charge from customers.

    We often get to hear in news. Once a person had used a loo at a hotel in our national capital. She was charged ₹499 as a service charge in return of purchasing a water bottle!

    What is the news?

    • Under the guidelines, consumers can lodge complaints against hotels and restaurants by calling the number 1915.
    • The CCPA has issued guidelines under Section 18 (2) (I) of The Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
    • The CCPA was established in July 2020 to promote, protect, and enforce the rights of consumers as a class, and to investigate, prosecute, and punish violators.

    What are the guidelines?

    • The CCPA has issued five major guidelines regarding the levy of service charge by restaurants and hotels, which has for long been a contentious issue and has periodically triggered complaints from consumers.
    • The guidelines say:
    1. No hotel or restaurant shall add service charge automatically or by default in the bill;
    2. Service charge shall not be collected from consumers by any other name;
    3. No hotel or restaurant shall force a consumer to pay service charge and shall clearly inform the consumer that service charge is voluntary, optional, and at the consumer’s discretion;
    4. No restriction on entry or provision of services based on collection of service charge shall be imposed on consumers; and
    5. Service charge shall not be collected by adding it along with the food bill and levying GST on the total amount.

    What can a consumer do in case of a violation of these guidelines?

    • The consumer has four options at different levels of escalation in case she spots the levy of service charge in her bill.
    • First, she can make a request to the hotel or restaurant to remove the service charge from her bill.
    • Second, she can lodge a complaint on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), which works as an alternative dispute redressal mechanism at the pre-litigation level.
    • The complaint can be lodged by making a call on the number 1915, or on the NCH mobile app.
    • Third, the consumer can complain to the Consumer Commission, or through the edaakhil portal, http://www.edaakhil.nic.in.
    • Fourth, she can submit a complaint to the District Collector of the concerned district for investigation and subsequent proceedings by the CCPA.
    • A consumer can complain directly to the CCPA by sending an e-mail.

    What are the components of a food bill?

    • A restaurant bill in India comprises food charge (from the menu), with an addition of service charge (anywhere between 5 to 15 per cent) and a 5 per cent GST on this amount (IGST+SGST).
    • This is for all kinds of standalone restaurants.
    • In case a restaurant is located inside a hotel wherein room rate is upwards of Rs 7,500 (mostly in case of five-stars), the GST would be 18 per cent.

    Nature of Service charge

    • While the GST is a mandatory component as per law, the service charge is supposed to be optional.
    • It is the equivalent of what is known as gratuity around the world, or tip, in casual parlance.
    • Most restaurants decide the service charge on their own, and print it at the bottom of the menu with an asterisk.

    What do the restaurants say?

    • The levy of service charge by a restaurant is a matter of individual policy to decide if it is to be charged or not.
    • There is no illegality in levying such a charge.
    • Once the customer is made aware of such a charge in advance and then decides to place the order, it becomes an agreement between the parties, and is not an unfair trade practice.
    • GST is also paid on the said charge to the Government.

    Where does the fund go?

    • Restaurants claim that a major chunk of the service charge thus collected goes to the staff, while the rest goes towards a welfare fund to help them out during good and bad times.
    • It’s a default billing option, even as customers can choose not to pay it if they don’t want to.
    • Of course, they are paid the salaries but the service charge works as an incentive for them.
    • Restaurateurs also say that patrons can decide not to pay the charge and tip the server directly, but in this case, the backroom staff doesn’t get anything.
    • A service charge ensures all staff members are rewarded evenly.

    What is the issue then?

    • The issue is that almost all restaurants have put service charge (fixed at their own accord) as a default billing option.
    • And if a consumer is aware that it is not compulsory and wants it removed or wants to tip the server directly, the onus is on them to convince the management why they don’t want to pay it.
    • The department says they received several complaints saying it leads to public embarrassment and spoils the dining experience since at the end of it, they either pay the charge quietly and exit the place feeling cheated, or have to try hard to get it removed.
    • Also, there is no transparency as to where this charge goes.
    • The officials also say that collecting service charge on their own and paying GST on it to the government doesn’t make it authorised.

    Problems faced by customers

    • It is this component which has come under dispute from time to time, with consumers arguing they are not bound to pay it.
    • It also said that hotels and restaurants charging tips from customers without their express consent in the name of service charges amounts to unfair trade practice.

     

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Waste Management – SWM Rules, EWM Rules, etc

    Enforcing the Single-Use Plastic Ban

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

    A ban on the use of single-use plastics that was notified by the Union Environment Ministry on August 2021 came into effect on July 1 this year.

    What is the news?

    • The national and State-level control rooms would be set up to check illegal manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of banned single use plastic items.
    • The Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, will also prohibit manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags.
    • This is for plastics having thickness less than 120 microns with effect from December 31, 2022.

    What is Single-Use Plastic?

    • The Centre defines it as an object made of plastic that is intended to be used “only once” before being disposed off or recycled.
    • Single-use plastic items such as these had “low utility and high littering potential,” it noted.

    What is now included in SUPs?

    • For the purposes of the ban, there is a list of 21 items that come under the definition of single-use plastic including ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, thermocol for decoration etc.
    • It also includes plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 microns, stirrers.
    • These objects were listed by the Environment Ministry in August when it notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.

    How will the ban be implemented?

    • So far 32 States/UTs have reportedly constituted a dedicated Task Force to eliminate the use of single-use plastics.
    • Of these 14 states/UTs and 12 Central Ministries, as of March, had developed action plans describing how they would be enforcing this.
    • A few States, for example Maharashtra, already have legislation banning the manufacture and storage of such plastic.
    • But implementing it wasn’t always successful as there was regular supply from States where such bans were not in force.
    • An all-India ban, it’s hoped, would make enforcement more effective.

    Penal provisions

    • According to the Environment Protection (EP) Act, violating the ban could invite “punitive action”.
    • Manufacturers and distributors of single-use plastic goods were directed to have zero inventory by June 30.
    • The EP Act says that violating the ban could invite a five-year imprisonment and a fine of upto ₹1 lakh, or both.
    • If the violations are repeated, it could mean additional fines up to ₹5000 for each day.
    • There are different penalties for companies, organisations, and government departments under the EP Act.

    What is the history of the single use plastic ban in India?

    • The Environment Ministry told the Rajya Sabha last July of its plan to phase out some categories of single use plastic by 2022.
    • A draft outlining the manner in which the ban was to be implemented was issued in March and involved amending the PWM Rules, 2016.
    • Before the amendments came into force, the Rules only prohibited the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of carry bags and plastic sheets less than 50 microns in thickness in the country.
    • There is a ban on sachets using plastic material used for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala.
    • Since October 2021, there is a ban on carry bags made of virgin or recycled plastic less than 75 microns as opposed to 50 microns under the earlier version of the rules.

    Is there popular support for the ban?

    • The All India Plastic Manufacturers Association has said that the ban would shutter 88,000 units in the plastic manufacturing business.
    • These employ close to a million people and contribute to exports worth ₹25,000 crore.
    • Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies (FMCG) would be severely affected by the the ban due to their dependence on plastic straws, plates.
    • Their replacements, industry representatives say, are available but cost much more than their plastic alternatives.
    • There is also limited capacity in India to provide biodegradable replacements.

    What is the environmental damage from SUPs?

    • Unlike thicker and denser plastic material, single-use plastic objects being light and flexible are less amenable to being recycled.
    • While 99% of plastic is recycled, they constitute heavier plastics that are likely to be collected by ragpickers and plastic waste recyclers.
    • Single use plastics do not provide an incentive enough for the effort needed to collect them and hence they lie around, leach their toxins into the soil and cause environmental damage in both land and sea.

     

    UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plannow! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

Join the Community

Join us across Social Media platforms.