The recent split in Shiv Sena and the subsequent political slugfest in Maharashtra has brought into focus the legal and constitutional framework to deal with issues when a party splinters and rival factions assert themselves as the recognised political party.
Culture of functioning political parties in India
What is a political party? A political party is an organised group of citizens who hold common views on governance and act as a political unit that seeks to obtain control of government with a view to further the agenda and policy they profess.
Political parties maintain a continuous connection between the people and those who represent them either in government or in the opposition.
Political parties in India are extra-constitutional, but they are the breathing air of the political system.
There are reportedly 2,598 registered political parties, eight national parties and 50 state parties.
The regulation of these parties and elections in the country is a crucial segment of India’s constitutional imagination.
Yet, the proliferation of political parties also means that established parties splinter.
A battle ensues for recognition of one faction or group as the recognised political party and securing the party symbol.
Legal and Constitutional framework
There is a legal and constitutional framework to deal with issues when a party splinters and rival factions assert themselves as the recognised political party.
Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the superintendence, direction and control of elections is vested in the Election Commission.
Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, Rule 5 specifies that the Commission shall specify the symbols that may be chosen by candidates at elections in parliamentary or assembly constituencies and the restrictions to which their choice will be subject.
Choice and allotment of symbol: The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968 provides for the choice and allotment of symbols in Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies and for recognition of political parties and matters connected.
Power to recognise party from splinter group: Paragraph 15 of this Order specifies that the Commission has the power to recognise as the party, from amongst splinter groups or rival sections.
Important case on recognition of faction
The classic case on recognition of a faction and accrual of the party symbol is Sadiq Ali v the Election Commission of India (1972).
Here, the Supreme Court was confronted with the case of the Indian National Congress which had split into two factions.
The Commission ruled in favour of Congress (J) being the recognised political party and the case reached to the Supreme Court,
The SC relied on the figures presented to the Commission and found that a substantial majority of the members of the Congress in both its legislative wing as well as the organisational wing supported the Congress (J).
The SC concludes that “numbers have importance in a democratic system of government or political set up, and it is neither possible nor permissible to lose sight of them. Indeed, it is the view of the majority which in the final analysis proves decisive in a democratic set-up.”
It was also concludes that paragraph 15, which gives the Commission power to settle such disputes pertaining to symbols between factions of a party, is entirely legal, for this power accrues from Article 324 that creates the Commission and vests in it the power of superintendence over elections.
Conclusion
In India’s 72nd year as a constitutional democracy, the free and fair regulation of political parties by the Election Commission and the courts is a crucial part of our political success as a nation. The Supreme Court’s thoughtful judgment decades ago is a realisation of the importance accorded to judicial oversight of our political parties.
The ‘States’ Startup Ranking 2021’ was recently released.
‘States’ Startup Ranking 2021’: Key Highlights
Gujarat and Karnataka are the top achievers in creating startup ecosystems for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Gujarat was recognized as having the best performance for the third time in a row.
The top performing states included Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Telangana.
The leaders’category includes Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, and Goa.
Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Puducherry, and Nagaland are among the states and UTs that fall under the category of aspiring leaders.
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Mizoram, and Ladakh are among the states in the category of developing startup ecosystems, according to the study.
What are Startups?
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable economic model.
While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend to become registered, startups refer to new businesses that intend to grow large beyond the solo founder.
At the beginning, startups face high uncertainty and have high rates of failure, but a minority of them does go on to be successful and influential. Some startups become unicorns.
Why do we need start-ups?
Start-ups make an indispensable contribution in the economic growth of a nation.
(1) Employment Generation
Entrepreneurship creates more avenues for new job in the economy. This would help harness the readily available employment in our country. This mission will reduce the burden from service and agricultural sector and enables condition of balance in economy.
(2) Creation of Wealth
Since entrepreneurs are attracting investors by investing their own resources, the people of the nation would get benefit when startups grow. Since the money is sharing with the society, wealth is creating within the nation.
(3) Better standard of living
Startups can implement innovations and technologies to improve the living of people. There are many startups who are working for rural areas to develop the community.
(4) Economic growth
GDP plays a vital role in enhancing the economic growth of a country. By supporting and encouraging more startups, it is possible to generate more revenue domestically and consumer’s capital will also flow around the Indian economy.
(5) Source for FDI
It has been noted that in recent years, the volume of foreign investments made in the Indian startup is quite huge. The foreign investments in the startups act as an easy capital raise and technological investment for the startups which makes them readily accept the investments coming towards them.
(6) Culture of Entrepreneurship
Startups encourage a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation which leads to create new job opportunities and provide support to the economy. Success stories motivate talented youth to start their own ventures and help them to become a job provider instead of a job seeker.
(7) Advancement in technology
Startups are more focused on new technologies and cutting-edge innovation. Free from a multilayered corporate bureaucracy, startups are more agile and able to build an idea into a product and improve it upon consumer demand with faster decision-making communications.
About Startup India Scheme
Startup India is an initiative of the Government of India.
The campaign was first announced by PM Modi during his speech on 15 August 2015 address from the Red Fort.
The action plan for this initiative is focusing on three areas:
Simplification and Handholding.
Funding Support and Incentives.
Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation.
An additional area relating to this initiative is to discard restrictive States Government policies within this domain, such as License Raj, Land Permissions, Foreign Investment Proposals, and Environmental Clearances.
It was organized by the Department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPI&IT).
An evaluation of the Scheme
(A) Successes
Investment: $63 Bn has been invested in Indian startups in the last five years.
Growth: Between 2016 and August 2020, Startup India programme has recognised over 34.8K startups.
Rise of Unicorns: Unicorns are privately held, venture-capital-backed startups that have reached a value of $1 billion. From 17 Unicorns in 2018 the number went up to 38 in 2020 and it’s 71 and counting in 2021.
IPRs: Among these, 8.3K startups received intellectual property rights (IPR) fee benefits, while over 2.6 lakh people enrolled in the entrepreneurship-focused learning courses.
Gender inclusion: In terms of gender diversity across workspaces in India, just 9% of the board members of the top 20 unicorn startups in India are women.
(B) Failures
Clearances: The Startup India scheme had received around 1368 applications by mid-December last year out of which DPIIT has only accepted 502 application forms and recognized them as ‘startups’.
Delay: The delay and lack of efficiency is a cause for the startup plan to fail in some cases.
Funding: The concerns of domestic angel and VCs on capital gains tax remain largely unaddressed.
EODB issues: Venture capital firms and angel investors are more cautious while investing in Indian startups. It is because the conditions, the ease of capital flow and doing business are not stable enough.
Some lacunae of the scheme
Definitional issues: The scheme is criticized by professionals because of the definition of Start-up provided in the scheme. The definition states that a mere act of developing products or services that do not have the potential for commercialization or have no or limited incremental value for customers would not be a start-up.
Test of ‘Innovation’: Each startup is scrutinized by an Inter-Ministerial Board (IMB) to see if the startup is ‘innovative’ – i.e. if it is unique or a world first. Most of start-ups would lie outside the purview of this definition.
Red tapism: Further eligibility of start-up, lies under definition or not, shall be approved or certified by an inter-ministerial board which is a retrograde step and against the government policy of ‘Min Government Max Governance’.
Taxation mirage: A tax break of three years has been given in the scheme. Anyone who has business sense knows that only a few of start-ups will be profitable in the first three years and so this handful can avail them of the tax break.
Patenting terms: The other option for startups to get tax benefits is to get a patent. And we all know that it takes several years to register a patent in India, and if royalty profits accrue before then, the tax benefits will be denied.
Heavy concentration in megacities: Entrepreneurship continues to be “highly concentrated” in three megacities, namely, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi NCR. Such concentration can lead to increased economic inequality and hinder the emergence of entrepreneurs from industries other than those belonging to the clusters.
Inherent challenges to Start-ups in India
Financial scarcity: Availability of finance is critical for startups and is always a problem to get sufficient amounts.
Lack of Infrastructure: There is a lack of support mechanisms that play a significant role in the lifecycle of startups which include incubators, science and technology parks, business development centers etc.
Regulatory bottlenecks: Starting and exiting a business requires a number of permissions from government agencies. Although there is a perceptible change, it is still a challenge to register a company and exiting it.
Compliance hurdles: For example earlier Angel tax, which stands removed no, falls under corruption and bureaucratic inefficiencies as it takes the focus of entrepreneurs away from building a product or service to responding to tax notices and filing appeals.
Low success rate: Several startups fail due to poor revenue generation as the business grows. As the operations increase, expenses grow with reduced revenues forcing startups to concentrate on the funding aspect, thus, diluting the focus on the fundamentals of business.
Lack of an Innovative Business Model: To be successful a startup must be innovative. Unfortunately, Indian startups are less innovative than startups elsewhere. Many Indian startups don’t have an original business idea that is disruptive and by which consumers will be provided with better service.
Non-competitive Indian Markets: Too many startups serving too few consumers are saturating the Indian market. Most startups serve the fraction of Indians who live in urban India. The majority of Indians who live in rural areas and small towns remain untouched by most startups.
Recent challenge: Downtime for Edu-techs
Pandemic accelerated edtech’s ascent:
Massive funding
High rates of enrollment and
Positive word of mouth
However, the metric that the tech companies are using to show their growth is the number of paid enrollments that they achieve by their army of salesmen and NOT the results or true learning outcomes.
They never cared to track learning outcomes through some randomized control trial which would take a lot of money and time.
Edtech companies sell their products without putting a thought if a particular student really needs them.
Their one-size-fits-all sales strategy is now backfiring. It helped them boost their revenue, but without results.
Various initiatives by the Govt.
There are numerous government initiatives to assist start-ups,
MUDRA Scheme: Through this scheme, start-ups get loans from the banks to set up, grow and stabilize their businesses.
SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilization) Fund: Government has allotted Rs 1,000 Cr in order to create opportunities for self-employment and new jobs mainly in technology-driven domains.
E-Biz Portal: Government launched e-biz portal, India’s first government to business portal that integrates 14 regulatory permissions and licenses at one source to enable faster clearances and improve the ease of doing business in India.
Credit Guarantee Fund: launched by the GoI to make available collateral-free credit to the micro and small enterprise sector. Both the existing and the new enterprises are eligible to be covered under the scheme.
Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS): 10,000 Rs corpus fund established in line with the Start-up India action plan under Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for extending support to Start-ups.
Tax Sops: Tax exemption on Capital gain tax, Removal of Angel tax, Tax exemption for 3 years and Tax exemption in investment above Fair Market Value.
Way Forward
The best of the Indian startup ecosystem still lies ahead.
There is a need for policies and progressive strategies from governments to encourage startups and provide access and assistance in key areas including tax clarity, incubation, affordability and licensing.
In any case, governments should be well prepared and dedicated to creating a culture of startups to impact the entrepreneurial ecosystem in their cities, countries and citizens.
Innovation and economic growth depend on being able to produce excellent individuals with the right skills and attitudes to be entrepreneurial in their professional lives.
It is critical, therefore, that nations set out to develop entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and behaviour in the school systems at all levels as a part of the lifelong learning process.
To produce effective entrepreneurs who can initiate change, governments need to cut ‘red tape’ and streamline regulations.
Funding, another daunting and difficult challenge, has to be resolved at earliest with liberal funding mechanisms.
Apart from all these concerns, Start-up India has potential to solve India’s problems and create jobs. Nonetheless, the challenges and changes are not to be dreaded but defeated.
Conclusion
The current economic scenario in India is in expansion mode. Indian Startups are now spread across the length and breadth of the entire country.
The Indian government’s policies like Make in India, Digital India, Atmanirbhar etc. shows the enthusiasm of centre to imbibe reforms.
With the government going full hog on Startups, it could arrest the brain drain.
Efforts are being made by diverse stakeholders in the Indian startup ecosystem to elevate domestic policies in concurrence with global trends.
The monumental indirect tax reform, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), has completed five years in existence. The article analyses the impact of GST on inflation.
Background
Before the implementation, it was said that it would be a boon to the economy in terms of higher revenue buoyancy, lower inflation, higher revenue, higher growth etc.
During the 12 months preceding GST implementation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation was 3.66%, while it increased to 4.24% post-GST in the next 12 months.
A similar pattern was observed in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission study showed that GST initially increases inflation.
How GST can affect prices
In theory, implementing GST should not lead to a change in overall inflation.
The revenue-neutral rate (RNR) is calculated so that it would not cause higher inflation.
But revenue neutrality does not mean that prices would not go up or down in the economy.
This is because the weight of goods in the consumption basket and their contributions to indirect tax collections are not the same.
Importantly, the effect of GST on the prices of certain goods and services depends on the structure and design of taxation.
The RBI, in a 2017 report, showed that about half of the groups of items that GST covers are not in the CPI basket.
So, the effect of GST on prices was expected to be small.
Finally, prior to the GST implementation, it was expected that prices would go down because GST harmonises indirect tax rates and eliminates the cascading effect.
Thus, whether GST has any effect depends on how different factors affect each other.
So, how can we ascertain whether GST has had an inflationary impact in India?
Inflationary impact can be assessed by turning to statistical modeling?
Statistical results provide us with an interesting picture of the impact of GST on price levels.
First, we look into the overall price index (CPI).
Here, the actual CPI growth in the study period is 4.61%, whereas the counterfactual estimate of inflation is 3.24%.
This implies that without the GST implementation, the CPI inflation would have been 3.24%.
This indicates that with the implementation of GST, CPI increased by 1.37 percentage points (pp).
Second, CPI core inflation (which strips off volatile components such as food and fuel from the headline inflation) increased by 1.04pp in the post-GST period (actual inflation was 4.57%, counterfactual inflation was 3.53%).
Third, GST is found to have a significant positive impact on inflation of commodity groups such as paan, tobacco and intoxicants, clothing.
What explains rise in inflation post GST?
Rise in tax rate of some goods: The rise in inflation post-GST implementation could be due to the rise in the tax rate of some goods and services, the inclusion of business activities that were not taxed earlier, or the market structure.
The average weighted GST rate was designed to be neutral, so it might not have contributed much to the observed higher inflation.
Coverage of business activities under GST not taxed earlier would result in higher prices since the firms would pass on the cost to the consumers.
Market power: There is another possibility which would cause result inflation after the GST implementation.
As Joseph Stiglitz opined, rising market power is bad for the economy as it raises economic inefficiency and inequality and lowers the economy’s resiliency.
Further, taking advantage of market power, it is possible that most firms would have passed the taxes to end consumers.
With the existence of market power, firms’ price includes a significant mark-up over marginal costs.
Some results point out the possibility of profiteering in select segments after GST.
To pre-empt this possibility, the government set up National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA).
Way forward
NAA should monitor the prices of critical or essential goods and services to see the price impact of GST.
Similarly, the Competition Commission of India should observe anti-competitive producer behaviour that hurts consumers via excessive price increases.
These measures may ensure that producers do not take advantage of the GST.
Conclusion
Statistical results suggest that GST implementation has resulted in a decrease in inflation of food items and raised inflation of non-food items.
All emerging markets (EMs), including India, are facing outflows of foreign portfolio investment as the US Fed tightens.
Inflatioon and exchange rate
Exchange rate as response to capital flow: Canonical inflation targeting wants exchange rates to float as the correct response to capital flows.
Policy should respond to exchange rate fluctuations only after they affect inflation or output.
Any interest rate defence of the exchange rate would reduce the focus on inflation.
But most EMs intervene in foreign exchange (FX) markets in order to reduce volatility.
A research paper by Edward F Buffie and co-authors indicate that FX intervention greatly enhances the efficacy of inflation targeting.
Two instruments for two targets work better than trying to do everything through the interest rate.
Excess depreciation of currency can raise inflation.
Other researches such as from the IMF, argues for the use of prudential capital flow management techniques and finds reserve accumulation and its use reduces risks and crises in EMs.
Policies followed by RBI to reduce volatility
Not fully convertible: RBI’s sequenced approach to capital account convertibility, where, for example, debt inflows are only allowed as a percentage of domestic markets, saved it from the kind of interest rate volatility Indonesia experienced during the taper tantrum and is helping it now.
More liberalisation measures can be taken when needed.
India’s large foreign exchange reserves have allowed rupee depreciation to be lower than most other countries as the dollar strengthens.
The cost of holding foreign exchange: There are costs of holding large reserves and of too much intervention.
The central bank ends up supporting the US and not its own government borrowing and it sacrifices interest income.
But holding reserves and then not using them when required is the most costly.
Again use of multiple instruments can mitigate over-reliance on intervention.
Much research and recent experience suggest that all available instruments should be used to moderate volatility in nominal variables.
Why increasing interest rates will be ineffective in reducing capital outflow
A common suggestion is to raise policy rates to maintain a historical gap with US Fed rates.
But such an interest rate defence did not prevent outflows during the taper tantrum or in 2018 and only triggered a slowdown.
It forgets that interest-sensitive flows are only about 8 per cent of India’s foreign liabilities.
There have been no debt outflows in 2022 despite a narrowing interest differential.
Equity outflows also seem to be tapering.
Monetary tightening that dampens expectations of growth, induces more outflows as country risk-premiums rise.
Issues with less intervention
Some want less intervention and more rupee depreciation in order to improve the current account deficit.
But less intervention can lead to a chaotic fall and jittery markets as we saw in 2011.
It is best for policy to prevent over-depreciation due to global risks.
After about 4 per cent nominal depreciation, India’s real effective exchange rate against a basket of 40 countries is approaching 100.
That implies the real exchange rate is too depreciated since India has had relatively more structural reform and productivity growth.
Future corrections toward equilibrium will require a rise of the rupee.
High oil prices are a risk for India’s balance of payments, but multiple types of adjustments have the best chance of succeeding.
Why sometimes policy changes are introduced as surprise?
Market participants want clear communication and no surprises for markets.
Forward guidance is an important part of inflation targeting. But when markets tend to overreact and are influenced more by the US than by Indian policy, the best way to introduce a policy change may be by surprise.
Thus markets had priced in excessive rate hikes after the US Fed began tightening.
The steep surprise hike in Indian repo rates prevented additional rate hikes from being priced in as domestic rate-rising began.
Conclusion
Inflation targeting is an art that requires skill, attention to context and an open mind.
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1. About Shruti Sharma- Her UPSC Journey & Hobbies
She started preparing for UPSC in JMIR coaching academy.
Name
Shruti Sharma
Age
26
Resident
Bijnor District, UP
Exam
UPSC 2021
AIR
1
Attempts
2
Optional Subject
History
Hobby
Reading Books, Watching Movies, Etc.
Shruti always desired to serve Indian by entering IAS. However, she couldn’t achieve success in her first attempt. After facing failure once, she realized her missteps and worked stronger in her second attempt to secure All India Rank 1 in the UPSC-CSE 2021. she was confident enough in the 2nd attempt about qualifying for the exam but was surprised when she found out that she topped it. She followed, from the beginning, her own strategy under her mentor’s guidance.
2. Family and Education
Father
Sunil Dutta Sharma. He is an architect engineer. Runs a school
Mother
An MSc. graduate.
Brother
A state Level Cricketer
Grand Father
Doctor
Her family consists of her parents, brother, and grand mother. Though all of them studied science but only Shruti pursued Arts.
Shruti’s Educational Background:
Early schooling from Cambridge Primary School. After that she passed 12th standard from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya.
Shruti completed her graduation in History honors from St. Stephen College
She pursued a Master’s Degree in Modern History from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
3. UPSC Strategy
Shruti has really gone through a different journey as a UPSC examinee. He did not blindly follow the advice of others. Rather, he followed his own strategies and methods that were appropriate for his level of intelligence.
My strategy was simply to focus on her own notes, emphasizing her practice of writing answers for the main exam. she was satisfied with her performance on the test and optimistic about a good result but it was excellent to be at the top of the merit list.
For prelims she practiced a lot.
For mains she regularly gave some effort to make answer structure better.
She started UPSC preparation 4 years ago by studying NCERTs.
Since current affairs are possibly the most significant part of the IAS exam She backed her preparation with day-to-day newspaper readings to give sufficient focus to the happenings nationally and internationally.
She joined a few online mock test series for Prelims and mains.
She was meticulous about study materials. she consolidated her study materials and revised them as many time as she could.
Be patient and stay focused all the time.
Always tried to improve her performance.
made her own notes.
From very starting, she carried her preparation under a senior teachers and mentors.
She didn’t follow any super different strategy of planning. She executed the same strategy differently.
4. Shruti Sharma’s Notes & Booklist
5. Motivation and inspiration
Shruti didn’t search for outer motivation. Her family was the biggest one. Shruti’s family dreamed of her being an IAS officer, so she fulfilled their dream of becoming an IAS officer. Passing the UPSC exam is not easy as it is the most difficult exam in the country and a person has to clear three rounds to become an IAS or become a collaborative service like IPS, IFS, etc. Besides her family, she showed her gratitude to her teachers and mentors who were the real torch bearer all along the crooked path of UPSC.
The Centre has extended the tenure of The Commission to Examine Sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) headed by Justice G Rohini, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court.
Why in news?
The Commission, constituted nearly five years ago, has got 10 extensions so far.
It now has a deadline until January 31 next year to submit its report.
Who are the OBCs?
Other Backward Class is a collective term used to classify castes which are educationally or socially disadvantaged.
It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General Class, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs).
The OBCs were found to comprise 55% of the country’s population by the Mandal Commission report of 1980, and were determined to be 41% in 2006.
What is the Sub-Categorization of OBCs?
The idea is to create sub-categories within the larger group of OBCs for the purpose of reservation.
OBCs are granted 27% reservation in jobs and education under the central government.
This has been a legal debate for other reservation categories too.
In September last year, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court reopened the debate on sub-categorization of SCs and STs for reservations.
Establishment of Rohini Commission
Only a few affluent communities among the over 2,600 included in the Central List of OBCs have secured a major part of the reservation.
Sub-categories within OBCs would ensure “equitable distribution” of representation among all OBC communities.
It was to examine this that the Rohini Commission was constituted on October 2, 2017.
What is the Commission’s brief?
It was originally set up with three terms of reference:
To examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of OBCs
To work out for a scientific approach for sub-categorization within such OBCs
To take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of OBCs
To study the various entries in the Central List of OBCs and recommend correction of any repetitions, ambiguities, inconsistencies and errors of spelling or transcription.
When was it meant to submit its report?
At the time it was set up, the Commission was given 12 weeks to submit its report, but has since been given 10 extensions.
There is a lot of work to be done.
The NCBC until December 2020, over Rs 1.92 crore had been spent on the Commission including salary, consultant fees and other expenses.
What progress has it made so far?
The Commission is ready with the draft report on sub-categorization.
Among the challenges it has faced, one has been the absence of data for the population of various communities to compare with their representation in jobs and admissions.
The Commission proposed for a all-India survey to estimate caste-wise population of OBCs.
Since then the government has been silent on this, whereas groups of OBCs have been demanding enumeration of OBCs in the Census.
What have its findings been so far?
In 2018, the Commission analysed the data of 1.3 lakh central jobs given under OBC quota over the preceding five years.
It examined OBC admissions to central higher education institutions, including universities, IITs, NITs, IIMs and AIIMS, over the preceding three years.
The findings were:
97% of all jobs and educational seats have gone to just 25% of all sub-castes classified as OBCs;
95% of these jobs and seats have gone to just 10 OBC communities;
983 OBC communities — 37% of the total — have zero representation in jobs and educational institutions;
994 OBC sub-castes have a total representation of only 2.68% in recruitment and admissions.
Conclusion
Thus it is visible that a small chunk of communities is enjoying almost the entire OBC reservation.
Hence it is a cause of worry and needs due cognizance at a larger level.
The Odisha government is chasing an ambitious target of completing the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) by granting all kinds of rights mandated under the historic Act by 2024.
What is Forest Rights Act (FRA)?
The symbiotic relationship between forests and forest-dwelling communities found recognition in the National Forest Policy, 1988.
The policy called for the need to associate tribal people in the protection, regeneration and development of forests.
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, was enacted in this regard.
It aimed to protect the marginalised socio-economic class of citizens and balance the right to environment with their right to life and livelihood.
Provisions of the 2006 Act
The Act recognizes that tribal and other traditional forest-dwelling communities would be hard put to provide documentary evidence for their claims.
Rule 13 of the Act, therefore, stipulates that the Gram Sabhas should consider more than one evidence in determining forest rights.
The rule sanctions a wide range of evidence, including “statements by village elders”, “community rights” and “physical attributes such as houses, huts and permanent improvements made to land such as levelling, bunds and check dams”.
Why in news now?
The forest rights claims of these tribes and forest-dwellers are mostly rejected by the States.
Being poor and illiterate, living in remote areas, they do not know the appropriate procedure for filing claims.
The gram sabhas, which initiate the verification of their claims, are low on awareness of how to deal with them.
Why are forest rights important for tribals?
Aimed at undoing the “historic injustice” meted out to forest-dependent communities due to curtailment of their customary rights over forests, the FRA came into force in 2008.
It is important as it recognises the community’s right to use, manage and conserve forest resources, and to legally hold forest land that these communities have used for cultivation and residence.
It also underlines the integral role that forest dwellers play in the sustainability of forests and in the conservation of biodiversity.
It is of greater significance inside protected forests like national parks, sanctuaries and tiger reserves as traditional dwellers then become a part of management of the protected forests.
Try answering this PYQ
Q.Under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, who shall be the authority to initiate the process for determining the nature and extent of individual or community forest rights or both?
(a) State Forest Department
(b) District Collector/Deputy Commissioner
(c) Tahsildar/Block Development Officer/Mandal Revenue Officer
States of Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois in the US were hit by a storm system called a Derecho which turned the skies green.
What is a Derecho?
A derecho is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line windstorm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms.
The name comes from the Spanish word ‘la derecha’ which means ‘straight’.
Straight-line storms are those in which thunderstorm winds have no rotation unlike a tornado.
Being a warm-weather phenomenon, a derecho generally – not always – occurs during summertime beginning May, with most hitting in June and July.
However, they are a rare occurrence as compared to other storm systems like tornadoes or hurricanes.
Why does the sky turn green during the derecho?
Severe thunderstorms result in a ‘green sky’ due to light interacting with the huge amount of water they hold.
The big raindrops and hail scatter away all but the blue wavelengths due to which primarily blue light penetrates below the storm cloud.
This blue then combines with the red-yellow of the afternoon or the evening sun to produce green.
Are there different types of derechos?
They fall into three categories – progressive, serial and hybrid.
Progressive derecho is associated with a short line of thunderstorms that may travel for hundreds of miles along a relatively narrow path. It is a summer phenomenon.
Serial derecho, on the other hand, has an extensive squall line – wide and long – sweeping across a large area. It usually occurs during spring or fall.
Hybrid derecho are that ones have the features of both progressive and serial derechos.
Where do derechos usually occur?
They mostly occur across central and eastern parts of the United States.
Derechos have also been documented elsewhere across the world.
In 2010, Russia witnessed its first documented derecho.
They have also swept through Germany and Finland, and more recently in Bulgaria and Poland.
