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[Yojana Archive] Strengthening Federalism
Context
- Cooperation and competition are the two sides of the same coin— ‘Federalism’. Both are essential to take the ‘New India’ march forward economically and socially.
- While on the one hand the States need to be assisted with resources and sound policy advice, on the other they need to be encouraged to improve their performance.
- The Budget 2022-23 is a continuation of a series of reforms, policies and measures that have strengthened India’s federal system.
Cooperative Federalism
- Governing Council of NITI Aayoga – NITI’s Governing Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, comprises of all the Chief Ministers and LGs of UTs as equal members and a selected Government of India ministers. The Governing Councilmeets annually to evolve a shared vision of country’s economic development.
- India @75 document – One of NITI Aayog’s major initiative since its inception has been formulating the Strategy document in 2017 (India@75), its preparation followed an extremely participative approach.
- Other steps indicative of cooperative federalism – These steps are showcased in-
  1. Development blueprints prepared jointly with Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, and Madhya Pradesh.
  2. Regular sharing of best practices; policy support and capacity development of State/UT functionaries, etc., are other areas where NITI partners with State governments.
  3. The 17 goals and 169 targets under the SDGs are interdependent and inter-connected, and require concerted and coordinated action within the various departments.
  4. This inherent nature of the goals has forced States to dissolve silo-based functioning prevalent in government institutions.
Various moves for Competitive Federalism

(A) Indicators and transparent rankings
- NITI Aayog stimulates healthy competition among States through developing indicator frameworks and transparent rankings in various sectors.
- States are ranked through various indices measuring ease of doing business to Sustainable Development Goals.
- Some of the indices launched by NITI Aayog are Composite Water Management Index, India Innovation Index, Export Competitiveness Index, School Education Quality Index, State Health Index and Sustainable Development Goals Index.
(B) Aspirational Districts Programme
- NITI Aayog also releases rankings in the monthly changes in the performance of Aspirational Districts.
- The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) of NITI Aayog focuses on 112 of India’s most developmentally challenged districts across sectors such as health and nutrition; education; agriculture and water resources; basic infrastructure; and financial inclusion and skill development.
- Districts are challenged and encouraged first to catch up with the best district in their State, and then aspire to become one of the best in the nation, by competing and learning from others in the competitive and cooperative spirit of federalism.
- Top ranked aspirational district gets Rs 10 crore, second best receives Rs 5 crore and sector wise best gets Rs 3 crore each.
(C) Localization of SDGs
- Starting in 2018, NITI defined the contours of the national progress monitoring on SDGs based on key national development Priorities in its first ever framework for monitoring the country’s progress on the SDGs – SDG India Index and Dashboard.
- Now, it has been institutionalized and established as the country’s principal and official policy tool on benchmarking national and sub-national Progress.
- Most recently, as a part of its localization efforts, NITI published the first regional index — The North-Eastern Region District SDG Index.
- Taking the successful SDG localization model further to the level of urban areas, NITI Aayog developed and released the SDG Urban Index & Dashboard (2021-22).
- This interactive tool is aimed at strengthening SDG localization at the city level.
- NITI Aayog has created strong partnership with States to achieve SDG-oriented development agenda. This enables it to foster cooperative federalism.
Strengthening Fiscal Federalism
- Devolution of finances: The successive Finance Commissions have raised the share of States in tax revenues from 29.5% between 2000 and 2005 to 42% currently.
- Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSCs): In line with Finance Commission recommendations, 130 Centrally Sponsored Schemes have been revamped and restructured into 65, enabling greater flexibility and impact.
- Increased borrowing limits: Among the key fiscal support measures by Centre to States to fight Covid-19, the Centre increased the borrowing limits of States from 3.0% of GSDP to 5.0% for 2020-21.
- GST Collection: GST has been a landmark reform of independent India showcasing the spirit of cooperative federalism. Despite the surge in Covid-19 cases, gross GST collections for the month of January 2022 were recorded at Rs 1,40,986 crore, which is the highest since the inception of GST.
- Special assistance: In her Budget speech, the finance minister pointed out that the ‘Scheme for Financial Assistance to States for Capital Investment’ has been extremely well received by the States.
April 14, 2022
Prelims 2022: How to Reduce Errors and Increase Efficiency || Learn from 120+ scorer in Prelims || Vikas Palwe(IPoS, CSE 2020)|| Register for Free Webinar

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What will you Learn in This Free Live Webinar by Vikas Palwe(IPoS CSE 2020)?

1. What changes should you make in your prelims preparation if you don’t score well?
2. What are the current revision materials, both online and offline?
3. How should I take notes right now from a Prelims perspective?
4. What are the study techniques you must employ in the final 50 days of the Prelims, and which should you avoid?
5. How do you revise a subject in a week?
6. What are the CSAT topics with the highest weightage that will earn you the most points?
7. What are the techniques for recalling information while reading a difficult question in an exam hall? (With an actual demonstration)

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April 13, 2022
The impact of the CUET is likely to be harsher on disadvantaged sections
Context

The introduction of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) can be seen as a step in the direction of aligning India with international standards.

About CUET
- The UGC’s rationale for introducing the test is to address the disparity in the allocation of marks by different examination boards, and provide a “level playing field” to students from different sections of society and diverse regions.
- The CUET has been envisaged as a corrective.
- Of the 48 central universities, 45 seem to have the requirements to institute the test.
- The CUET is going to decide the fate of approximately 1.3 crore students for roughly 5.4 lakh undergraduate seats in 45 central universities.
Issues with the CUET
- Students to contend with two examinations: The marks obtained in the board examination will remain vital for admission to state and private universities as well as job applications.
- The students will now have to contend with two examinations.
- Impetus to coaching classes: Many educationists argue that the new examination is likely to give an impetus to coaching classes.
- Coaching and private tuition will flourish without much concern for quality in the preparation of the study material.
- Not all State Boards prescribe NCERT textbooks: The CUET syllabus will be based on NCERT (under the Ministry of Education) textbooks even though not all state boards prescribe these books.
- The coaching industry stands to take advantage of this situation and students will have a hard time navigating two sets of textbooks.
- The impact is likely to be harsher on disadvantaged sections of the society for whom access to higher education is seen as the only route to upward mobility.
Way forward
- The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is constantly increasing for higher secondary education (51.4 per cent according to UDISE, 2019-20) and higher education (27.1 per cent to AISHE, 2019-20).
- The figures indicate that higher education has acquired a mass base in the country.
- This has important implications for a knowledge-based economy and society.
- Maintaining the momentum of GER would require more teachers, schools and higher education institutions of quality and slow down the rush for a few but highly sought after universities and colleges.
Conclusion

The new examination would put additional pressure on both students and teachers at a time when they are trying to overcome the exactions of the pandemic. It appears to diverge from the objective of the National Education Policy-2020 — equitable access to good quality higher education for all students.

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April 13, 2022
How Civilsdaily Mentorship helped UPSC 2020 AIR 20 P. Srija ?

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P Srija, AIR 20, UPSC 2020, in conversation with Birendra sir shared her mindset and thought process that helped her crack IAS exam. Srija also gave valuable advice to aspirants for prelims as well as mains.

Srija, is an MBBS graduate and secured rank 20 in her first attempt in UPSC 2020 examination. In this series, she has talked about how a hardwork and a true mentor can change the journey of the aspirants.

After got to know from Anudeep Durishetty Rank 1 in 2017, it is clearly mentioned that she started preparing current affairs from Samachar Manthan where there is a discussion and written test every week on the various important issues. Not only the test series but also Sukanya Mam who is among the core mentor in Civilsdaily has helped her to evolve with the art of answer writing and motivated her at every stage of the preperation.

In Civilsdaily, we have a team of such dedicated mentors helping aspirants at every stage of the preparation to understand their weaknesses and approach to overcome them.

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April 13, 2022
Big Tech’s privacy promise could be good news and also bad news
Context

In February, Facebook stated that its revenue in 2022 is anticipated to reduce by $10 billion due to steps undertaken by Apple to enhance user privacy on its mobile operating system.

Move towards more privacy-preserving options
- Apple introduced AppTrackingTransparency feature that requires apps to request permission from users before tracking them across other apps and websites or sharing their information with and from third parties.
- Through this change, Apple effectively shut the door on “permissionless” internet tracking and has given consumers more control over how their data is used.
- Privacy experts have welcomed this move because it is predicted to enhance awareness and nudge other actors to move towards more privacy-preserving options, leading to a market for “Privacy Enhancing Technologies”.
- Google’s Privacy Sandbox project is a case in point, though it remains to be seen whether it will be truly privacy-preserving.
Big Tech dominance and issues related to it
- Privacy and acquisitions: One standout feature of the Big Tech dominance has been the non-price factors such as quality of service (QoS) in general and privacy and acquisitions in particular.
- Acquisitions to kill competition: Acquisitions by Big Tech are regular and eat up big bucks, not always to promote efficiency but to eliminate potential competition, described evocatively as “kill zone” by specialists.
- According to a report released by the Federal Trade Commission, between 2010 and 2019, Big Tech made 616 acquisitions.
- In the absence of a modern framework, competition law continues to rely on Bork’s theory of consumer welfare which postulated that the sole normative objective of antitrust should be to maximise consumer welfare, best pursued through promoting economic efficiency.
- Market structure thus became irrelevant and conduct became the sole criterion for judgement.
- Conduct now predominantly revolves around QoS which, like much else surrounding digital platforms, is pushing competition authorities to fortify their existing regulatory toolkits.
Privacy as a metric of quality
- Companies such as Apple and DuckDuckGo (with its slogan “the search engine that doesn’t track you”) are employing enhanced user privacy as a competitive metric.
- It has been shown that “websites which do not face strong competition are significantly more likely to ask for more personal information than other services provided for free”.
- In 2018, OECD accepted that privacy is a relevant dimension of quality despite the low quality that may be prevalent due to lack of market development.
- Regulators across the globe are recognising privacy as a serious metric of quality.
- For instance, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in 2021 took suo moto cognisance of changes to WhatsApp’s “take-it” or “leave-it” privacy policy that made it mandatory for every user to share data with Facebook.
- In its prima facie order, the CCI inter alia observed that this amounts to degradation of privacy and therefore quality.
Way forward
- Privacy and competition have overlapping boundaries.
- If privacy becomes a competitive constraint, then companies will have the incentive to create privacy-preserving and enhancing technologies.
- Barriers for new entrants: On the other hand, care must be taken so that Big Tech, aka the gatekeepers in the EU’s Digital Markets Act, do not misuse privacy to create barriers for newer entrants.
- Restricting third-party tracking is not novel and other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft’s Edge have already done so.
- But Google, which owns 65 per cent of the global browser market, is different.
- By disabling third parties from tracking but continuing to use that data in its own ad tech stack, Google harms competition.
- The use of privacy as a tool for market development, therefore, has to tread this tightrope between enabling and stifling competition.
Conclusion

An approach that balances user autonomy, consumer protection, innovation, and market competition in digital markets is a real win-win and worth investing in.

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April 13, 2022
How did Arth Jain (AIR 16, IAS) respond to an interview question he didn’t know the answer to?| Schedule your Mock (Limited seats)
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Upcoming Mock interview and session

This week’s mock interview dates have been fixed.
- Mock interview this week 14th April onwards – (Book your slot)
- Time: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
- Mode: Online/Offline
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Interview slots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Panelists for Mock Interviews:
1. Shri Shankar Aggarwal, IAS (retd.), former Secretary
2. Dr. Noor Mohammad, IAS (retd.), former EC
3. Dr. P.K. Agrawal, IAS (Retd.), former Ch. Secy
4. Shri T. N. Thakur, IAAS (retd.), former Dy CAG
5. Shri V. P. Singh, IRPS
6. Mrs.Aditi Gupta, Corporate Leadership Specialist
7. Prof. U.M. Amin, Jamia Milia University
8. Mr. S. D. Singh, IFoS (Retd.)
9. Mr. Kunal Aggarwal, IRS
10. Mr. Debraj Das, IPS
Tentative: Shri Harsh V. Pant (Observer Research Foundation), Shri SN Tripathi, IAS (Director IIPA), Shri Yogesh Narain (Retd. Defence Secretary), Shri Dipankar Gupta (Indian Sociologist), and others.

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Transcend Interview Guidance 2021: Program inclusion
1. Mock interview and detailed analysis + feedback
2. Most important issues coverage – current and structural
3. DAF 2 curation
4. Personalized mentorship
5. DAF analysis and one-on-one sessions with mentors
6. DAF based personalized questionnaire
7. Situational and Roleplay questionnaire
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April 13, 2022
IRMS
Context

A recent Gazette notification regarding the creation of the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) marks a paradigm shift in the management of one of the world’s largest rail networks.

About the merger and IRMS
- A nearly 8,000 strong cadre of the erstwhile eight services is now merged into one.
- Eight out of 10 Group-A Indian Railway services have been merged to create the IRMS.
- The merged services are: Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS), Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS), Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE), Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSS), Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), Indian Railway Service of Civil Engineers (IRSE) and Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS).
- Aims of the restructuring: Besides removing silos, this restructuring also aims at rationalising the top-heavy bureaucracy of the Indian Railways.
Way forward: Training
- Training the future leaders of India’s public transporter in the rapidly evolving logistics sector of the country is the most important task ahead.
- The UPSC will recruit a few hundred IRMS officers each year from now, they will remain much less in number when compared to already serving officers for a long time to come.
- Training of the existing cadre of officers: The fact remains that even after the creation of the IRMS, the 8,000 strong (already serving) officers of the Indian Railways will need to work in coordination and not in silos, as they will be serving in the organisation for decades to come.
- This highlights the importance of training of the existing cadre of officers as they will have to deliver on the ambitious Gati-Shakti projects.
- The task of training such a dynamic talent pool assumes importance in view of India’s aspirations of becoming a $5 trillion economy.
- All this will require a massive revamp of the capacity building ecosystem of the Indian Railways.
- Redesign the training: The merger of services provides an opportunity to redesign the training for newly recruited IRMS officers to make them future-ready. Initial training along with mid-career training programmes may be reoriented.
- The IRMS training needs to be designed based on the competencies required for different leadership roles.
- Mission Karmayogi of the Government of India provides for competencies based postings of officers.
- The Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) programme of the Government of India will be instrumental in shaping the career progression of IRMS officers.
Conclusion

Future IRMS officers should be ready to face the challenges of working in an organisation that is involved in round the clock and round the year operations, has substantial social obligations to meet and, at the same time, which must earn for itself.

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April 13, 2022
What is the ‘2+2’ format of dialogue between India and the US?
The fourth ‘2+2’ dialogue between India and the United States is underway in Washington DC.

2+2 talks between India and allies
- The 2+2 dialogue is a format of meeting of the foreign and defence ministers of India and its allies on strategic and security issues.
- A 2+2 ministerial dialogue enables the partners to better understand and appreciate each other’s strategic concerns and sensitivities taking into account political factors on both sides.
- This helps to build a stronger, more integrated strategic relationship in a rapidly changing global environment.
- India has 2+2 dialogues with four key strategic partners: US, Australia, Japan, and RUSSIA.
Inception of the idea
- The inaugural 2+2 dialogue with Australia was held in September 2021 when Jaishankar and Singh met with their counterparts Marise Payne and Peter Dutton in New Delhi.
- India held its first 2+2 dialogue with Russia in December last year, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited India.
- The first India-Japan talks in the 2+2 format were held on November 30, 2019 in New Delhi.
Dialogue with the US
- The US is India’s oldest and most important 2+2 talks partner.
- The first 2+2 dialogue between the two countries was held during the Trump Administration.
- It hosted then-Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and then-Secretary of Defence James Mattis and the late Sushma Swaraj and then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi in September 2018.
- The second and third editions of the 2+2 dialogues were held in Washington DC and New Delhi in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Defence and strategic agreements
- Over the years, the strategic bilateral relationship with its partners, including the dialogues held in the 2+2 format, have produced tangible and far-reaching results for India.
- India and the US have signed a troika of “foundational pacts” for deep military cooperation, beginning with the:
1. Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016
2. Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) after the first 2+2 dialogue in 2018, and
3. Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) in 2020
Deterrents in ties ahead of the meet
- There is little doubt as to how beneficial this mechanism has been.
- On one side, the ‘two plus dialogue’ is expected to abate, if not resolve, highly problematic issues such as Chinese aggression.
- Even though there is a tonne of expectations from this mutual dialogue between the two countries, the dialogue is also the source of some worry.
- This time, the US is sceptical of India’s mammoth oil import from Russia.
- Another problematic pointer is India’s voluminous weaponry sanctions from Russia.
Why a 2+2 with Russia?
- Russia is one of those countries with which a 2+2 format talk “fits perfectly” in India’s foreign policy.
- India and Russia have shared a strategic relationship since October 2000, which later got upgraded to ‘Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership’ in December 2010.
- To be sure, the India-Russia 2+2 does have a particularly strong signalling component when seen against the backdrop of the S400 controversy.
- Holding the 2+2 talks with Russia is much needed. This gives out a strong message to the world that India sees everyone to be on the same level.
- This is visible messaging that India cannot be compelled to choose partners. India pursues an independent foreign policy serving its national and non-allied interests.
- Having a 2+2 with Russia also means that India is “not in anyone’s camp” and that bilateral ties between Moscow and New Delhi are “traditional and comprehensive”.
Way forward
- India and the US don’t set ‘red lines’ and are pushing for “an honest dialogue”, the ongoing 2+2 dialogue is an opportunity for both India and the US.
- The US also understands that India is one of the few countries that could leverage its relationship with Russia to bring the two warring parties to the negotiating table through a ceasefire and diplomatic resolution.
- For Delhi, it is a season for careful and adroit diplomacy.
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April 13, 2022
UPSC Interview 2021: Mock paneled by former EC, Dy CAG, CEC, and Secretary level bureaucrats | Book your slot
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(click) Register for Mock UPSC Interview 2021 | Slots available for this week

To give you a real feel of the panel that you will be facing in your real UPSC interview 2021, CD has brought together a mix of the most experienced and valued panelists for your mock interview.

Panelists for Mock Interviews:
1. Shri Shankar Aggarwal, IAS (retd.), former Secretary
2. Dr. Noor Mohammad, IAS (retd.), former EC
3. Dr. P.K. Agrawal, IAS (Retd.), former Ch. Secy
4. Shri T. N. Thakur, IAAS (retd.), former Dy CAG
5. Shri V. P. Singh, IRPS
6. Mrs.Aditi Gupta, Corporate Leadership Specialist
7. Prof. U.M. Amin, Jamia Milia University
8. Mr. S. D. Singh, IFoS (Retd.)
9. Mr. Kunal Aggarwal, IRS
10. Mr. Debraj Das, IPS
Tentative: Shri S. Y. Quraishi (former CEC), Shri Harsh V. Pant (Observer Research Foundation), Shri SN Tripathi, IAS (Director IIPA), Shri Yogesh Narain (Retd. Defence Secretary), Shri Dipankar Gupta (Indian Sociologist), and others.

Upcoming Mock interview and session

This week’s mock interview dates have been fixed.
- Mock interview this week 14th April onwards – (Book your slot)
- Time: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
- Mode: Online/Offline
Do You Know That Civilsdaily Has a 75% Success Rate In UPSC Interview?

(click) Register for Mocks and Get your (FREE) Situational Questionnaire, DAF analysis and more for UPSC Interviews 2021

Interview slots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Transcend Interview Guidance 2021: Program inclusion
1. 2 Mock interviews, detailed analysis + feedback
2. Most important issues coverage – current and structural
3. Personalized mentorship
4. DAF analysis and one-on-one sessions with in-service officers and panelists
5. DAF based personalized questionnaire
6. Situational and Roleplay questionnaire
Do You Know That Civilsdaily Has a 75% Success Rate In UPSC Interviews?

(click) Register for Mocks and Get your (FREE) Situational Questionnaire, DAF analysis and more for UPSC Interviews 2021

As a part of Transcend Interview Guidance Program for UPSC 2021 we’ve prepared and compiled a high-quality comprehensive questionnaire.

Download situational questionnaire here
April 13, 2022
Addressing Duty Anomalies in Trade Deals
India has long suffered the anomaly of imported raw material being taxed more than the finished product. Economists call it the inverted duty structure. A spate of free trade agreements (FTAs) in the past have not helped. Are the new ones any better?

What is the inverted duty structure?
- An inverted duty structure comes up in a situation where import duties on input goods are higher than on finished goods.
- In other words, the GST rate paid on purchases is more than the GST rate payable on sales.
Why is it a problem?
- When manufacturers cannot set off the taxes paid on raw materials against the tax on the final product, the excess tax paid on inputs gets built into the price of the product.
- This makes an Indian-made product more expensive than the imported finished product, affecting the competitiveness of Indian makers.
- The issue is acute in sectors like textiles and apparels.
- Correcting duty anomalies is key to attracting investments in manufacturing.
Will new FTAs worsen the problem?
- Looks unlikely. The FTAs under negotiations are structurally very different from those signed a decade ago.
- The FTAs signed in the early 2000s were with manufacturing hubs like the 10-nation ASEAN which includes the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan.
- Most of these countries directly compete with India in a host of manufacturing sectors including apparel, electronics, and engineering goods.
- They largely produced the same goods as India.
- By contrast, the new FTAs being signed by India are with countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that share complementarities with India with respect to trade interests.
How is India addressing duty anomalies?
- India has been increasing import duties since 2014-15 to correct the inverted duty structure for non-FTA countries and the average tariff rose from 13.5% in 2014 to 15% in 2020.
- In fact, the last two budgets sought to correct it by removing duty exemptions and lowering the duty on raw materials.
How did the earlier FTAs impact India?
- In old FTAs, India agreed to lower or eliminate duties on finished goods. But import duty on raw materials remained high.
- That made it cheaper to import the final product than make them in India, hurting domestic manufacturers.
- This can be seen from the fact that the share of ASEAN in India’s total imports has grown from 8.2% in FY11 to 12% in FY21, while exports have stagnated at 10%.
- The share of South Korea rose from 2.83% in FY11 to 3.23% in FY21, while exports are up marginally from 1.5% to 1.6% during the same period.
And how are the new FTAs different?
- The UAE, for example, is a services, oil, and gold-led economy rather than a manufacturer. India benefits from duty-free access for mobile phones, which the UAE does not make.
- Australia, which signed a pact with India last week is again not a major manufacturing economy, but a services one with key interests in wines and minerals, pears, oranges, etc.
- Besides, this time around, the government is holding consultations with the industry during the FTA talks, doing a SWOT analysis to ensure FTAs benefit India’s exports.
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April 13, 2022

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