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

Civilsdaily

Login

Search results for: “”

  • [Burning Issue] Highlights of Union Budget 2021-22

    “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.”

    – Rabindranath Tagore (quoted by FM in her Budget Speech)

    The Union Minister for Finance has finally presented the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament, which is the first budget of this new decade and also a digital one in the backdrop of unprecedented COVID-19 crisis.

    It was been increasingly seen as a financial vaccine for the infected economy.

    Before proceeding with the budget provisions, let’s brush up our basics of what the Union Budget actually is. Refer the following links:

    [Prelims Spotlight] Important Keywords Regarding Budget, Fiscal Policy and Taxation
    Budgetary procedure in India

    Highlights of the 2021 Budget

    Rupee Dynamics:

    Part: A

    The Budget proposals for 2021-22 rest on 6 pillars.

    1. Health and Wellbeing
    2. Physical & Financial Capital, and Infrastructure
    3. Inclusive Development for Aspirational India
    4. Reinvigorating Human Capital
    5. Innovation and R&D
    6. Minimum Government and Maximum Governance

    [I]  Health and Wellbeing

    • There is substantial increase in investment in Health Infrastructure and the Budget outlay for Health and Wellbeing is Rs 2,23,846 crore in BE 2021-22 as against this year’s BE of Rs 94,452 crore.
    • This is an increase of 137 %.

    PM Aatmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana

    • FM announced this new centrally sponsored scheme, which will be launched with an outlay of about Rs 64, 180 crore over 6 years.
    • This will develop capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary care Health Systems, strengthen existing national institutions, and create new institutions, to cater to detection and cure of new and emerging diseases.
    • This will be in addition to the National Health Mission. 

    Vaccines

    • Provision of Rs 35,000 crore made for Covid-19 vaccine in BE 2021-22.
    • The Pneumococcal Vaccine, a Made in India product, presently limited to only 5 states, will be rolled out across the country aimed at averting 50,000 child deaths annually.

    Nutrition

    • To strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome, Government will merge the Supplementary Nutrition Programme and the Poshan Abhiyan and launch the Mission Poshan 2.0.
    • Government will adopt an intensified strategy to improve nutritional outcomes across 112 Aspirational Districts.

    Universal Coverage of Water Supply

    • The FM announced that the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban), will be launched for universal water supply in all Urban Local Bodies with crore household tap connections.

    Vehicle scrapping

    • A voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles was also announced.
    • Fitness tests have been proposed in automated fitness centres after 20 years in case of personal vehicles and after 15 years in case of commercial vehicles

    [II] Physical and Financial Capital and Infrastructure

    Aatmanirbhar Bharat-Production Linked Incentive Scheme

    Textiles

    • Similarly, to enable the textile industry to become globally competitive, attract large investments and boost employment generation, a scheme of Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA) will be launched in addition to the PLI scheme.
    • This will create world class infrastructure with plug and play facilities to enable create global champions in exports. 7 Textile Parks will be established over 3 years.

    Infrastructure

    • The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which the FM announced in December 2019 is the first-of-its-kind, whole-of-government exercise ever undertaken.
    • The NIP was launched with 6835 projects; the project pipeline has now expanded to 7,400 projects.
    • Around 217 projects worth Rs 1.10 lakh crore under some key infrastructure Ministries have been completed.

    Infrastructure financing – Development Financial Institution (DFI)

    • Dwelling on the infrastructure sector, FM has said that infrastructure needs long term debt financing.
    • A professionally managed Development Financial Institution is necessary to act as a provider, enabler and catalyst for infrastructure financing. Accordingly, a Bill to set up a DFI will be introduced.

    Asset Monetisation

    • Monetizing operating public infrastructure assets is a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction.
    • A “National Monetization Pipeline” of potential Brownfield infrastructure assets will be launched.
    • An Asset Monetization dashboard will also be created for tracking the progress and to provide visibility to investors.

    Roads and Highways Infrastructure

    • FM announced that more than 13,000 km length of roads, at a cost of Rs 3.3 lakh crore, has already been awarded under the Rs. 5.35 lakh crore Bharatmala Pariyojana project.
    • Of this 3,800 km have been constructed.
    • By March 2022, govt. would be awarded another 8,500 km and complete an additional 11,000 km of national highway corridors.
    • To further augment road infrastructure, more economic corridors are also being planned.

    The states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Assam are due to go for Assembly polls by May. So, it is not surprising that budget announcements impacting these states would make headlines.

    Railway Infrastructure

    • Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan for India – 2030.
    • The Plan is to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030. Bringing down the logistic costs for our industry is at the core of our strategy to enable ‘Make in India’.
    • It is expected that Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and Eastern DFC will be commissioned by June 2022.

    Power Infrastructure

    • The past 6 years have seen a number of reforms and achievements in the power sector with the addition of 139 Giga Watts of installed capacity.
    • We have almost achieved last mile connectivity, connecting an additional 2.8 crore households and addition of 1.41 lakh circuit km of transmission lines.
    • Expressing a serious concern over the viability of Distribution Companies, the FM proposed to launch a revamped reforms-based result-linked power distribution sector scheme.
    • The scheme will provide assistance to DISCOMS for Infrastructure creation including pre-paid smart metering and feeder separation, upgradation of systems, etc., tied to financial improvements.

    Also read UDAY Scheme

    Ports, Shipping, Waterways

    • Major Ports will be moving from managing their operational services on their own to a model where a private partner will manage it for them.
    • A scheme to promote flagging of merchant ships in India will be launched by providing subsidy support to Indian shipping companies in global tenders floated by Ministries and CPSEs.
    • This initiative will enable greater training and employment opportunities for Indian seafarers besides enhancing Indian companies share in global shipping.

    Petroleum & Natural Gas

    • The government has kept fuel supplies running across the country without interruption during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
    • Taking note of the crucial nature of this sector in people’s lives, the following key initiatives are being announced:
    • Ujjwala Scheme which has benefited 8 crore households will be extended to cover 1 crore more beneficiaries.
    • Government will add 100 more districts in next 3 years to the City Gas Distribution network.
    • A gas pipeline project will be taken up in Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
    • An independent Gas Transport System Operator will be set up for facilitation and coordination of booking of common carrier capacity in all-natural gas pipelines on a non-discriminatory open access basis.

    Financial Capital

    • The FM proposed to consolidate the provisions of SEBI Act, 1992, Depositories Act, 1996, Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and Government Securities Act, 2007 into a rationalized single Securities Markets Code.
    • The Government would support the development of a world class Fin-Tech hub at the GIFT-IFSC.

    Increasing FDI in Insurance Sector

    • FM also proposed to amend the Insurance Act, 1938 to increase the permissible FDI limit from 49% to 74% and allow foreign ownership and control with safeguards. 

    Disinvestment and Strategic Sale

    • In spite of COVID-19, Government has kept working towards strategic disinvestment.
    • The FM said a number of transactions namely BPCL, Air India, Shipping Corporation of India, Container Corporation of India, IDBI Bank, BEML, Pawan Hans, Neelachal Ispat Nigam limited among others would be completed in 2021-22.
    • Other than IDBI Bank, Government propose to take up the privatization of two Public Sector Banks and one General Insurance company in the year 2021-22.

    [III] Inclusive Development

    Under the pillar of Inclusive Development for Aspirational India, the Finance Minister announced to cover Agriculture and Allied sectors, farmers’ welfare and rural India, migrant workers and labour, and financial inclusion.

    Agriculture

    • Dwelling on agriculture, FM has said that the Government is committed to the welfare of farmers.
    • The MSP regime has undergone a sea change to assure price that is at least 1.5 times the cost of production across all commodities.
    • The procurement has also continued to increase at a steady pace. This has resulted in increase in payment to farmers substantially.

    Land ownership and mapping

    • Early this year, PM had launched SWAMITVA Scheme.
    • Under this, a record of rights is being given to property owners in villages.
    • To provide adequate credit to our farmers, the Government has enhanced the agricultural credit target to Rs. 16.5 lakh crore in FY22.

    Operation Green Scheme

    • In an important announcement to boost value addition in agriculture and allied products and their exports is the scope of ‘Operation Green Scheme’.
    • It is presently applicable to tomatoes, onions, and potatoes, will be enlarged to include 22 perishable products.

    Fisheries

    • FM proposed substantial investments in the development of modern fishing harbours and fish landing centres.
    • To start with, 5 major fishing harbours – Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Petuaghat – will be developed as hubs of economic activity.

    Migrant Workers and Labourers

    • Government has launched the One Nation One Ration Card scheme through which beneficiaries can claim their rations anywhere in the country. 
    • ONORC plan is under implementation by 32 states and UTs, reaching about 69 crore beneficiaries – that’s a total of 86% beneficiaries covered.
    • The remaining 4 states and UTs will be integrated in the next few months.
    • Government proposes to conclude a process that began 20 years ago, with the implementation of the 4 labour codes.
    • For the first time globally, social security benefits will extend to gig and platform workers.
    • Minimum wages will apply to all categories of workers, and they will all be covered by the Employees State Insurance Corporation.
    • Women will be allowed to work in all categories and also in the night-shifts with adequate protection.

    Financial Inclusion

    • To further facilitate credit flow under the scheme of Stand Up India for SCs, STs, and women, the FM proposed to reduce the margin money requirement from 25% to 15% and to also include loans for activities allied to agriculture.
    • Moreover, a number of steps were taken to support the MSME sector and in this Budget, the Government has provided Rs. 15,700 crore to this sector – more than double of this year’s BE.

    [IV] Reinvigorating Human Capital

    Education

    • The FM has said that the National Education Policy (NEP) announced recently has had good reception.
    • More than 15,000 schools will be qualitatively strengthened to include all components of the National Education Policy.

    Welfare of the SCs/STs

    • Government has set a target of establishing 750 Eklavya model residential schools in tribal areas with an increase in the unit cost of each such school from Rs. 20 crore to Rs. 38 crore, and for hilly and difficult areas, to Rs. 48 crore.
    • Similarly, under the revamped Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for the welfare of SCs will benefit 4 crore SC students till 2026.

    [V] Innovation and R&D

    Research

    • The FM has announced the National Research Foundation and added that the NRF outlay will be of Rs. 50,000 crore, over 5 years.
    • It will ensure that the overall research ecosystem of the country is strengthened with focus on identified national-priority thrust areas.

    Knowledge

    • Government will undertake a new initiative – National Language Translation Mission (NTLM).
    • This will enable the wealth of governance-and-policy related knowledge on the Internet being made available in major Indian languages.

    Space sector

    • The New Space India Limited (NSIL) a PSU under the Department of Space will execute the PSLV-CS51 launch, carrying the Amazonia Satellite from Brazil, along with a few smaller Indian satellites.
    • As part of the Gaganyaan mission activities, four Indian astronauts are being trained on Generic Space Flight aspects, in Russia. The first unmanned launch is slated for December 2021.

    [VI] Minimum Government, Maximum Governance

    • Tribunals: FM proposed to take a number of steps to bring reforms in Tribunals for speedy delivery of justice and proposes to take further measures to rationalized the functioning of Tribunals.
    • Healthcare: Government has introduced the National Commission for Allied Healthcare Professionals Bill in Parliament, with a view to ensure transparent and efficient regulation of the 56 allied healthcare professions.
    • Census: FM announced that the forthcoming Census could be the first digital census in the history of India and for this monumental and milestone-marking task, Rs. 3,768 crore allocated in the year 2021-2022.

    Fiscal health

    • On Fiscal position, FM underlined that the pandemic’s impact on the economy resulted in a weak revenue inflow.
    • The FM said fiscal deficit in 2020-21 is pegged at 9.5% of GDP and it has been funded through Government borrowings, multilateral borrowings, Small Saving Funds and short term borrowings.
    • The govt would need another Rs 80,000 crore for which it would be approaching the markets in these 2 months.

    Deficit targets

    • The fiscal deficit in BE 2021-2022 is estimated to be 6.8% of GDP. The gross borrowing from the market for the next year would be around 12 lakh crore.
    • The FRBM Act mandates fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP to be achieved by 31st March 2020-2021.
    • The govt plans to continue the path of fiscal consolidation, and intend to reach a fiscal deficit level below 4.5% of GDP by 2025-2026 with a fairly steady decline over the period.

    Fiscal consolidation

    • The govt hopes to achieve this by-

     the consolidation by first, increasing the buoyancy of tax revenue through improved compliance, and secondly, by increased receipts from monetisation of assets, including Public Sector Enterprises and land etc.

    Part: B

    In Part B of the Budget Speech seeks to further simplify the Tax Administration, Litigation Management and ease the compliance of Direct Tax Administration.  The indirect proposal focuses on custom duty rationalization as well as rationalization of procedures and easing of compliance.

    Direct Tax Proposals

    • The FM provided relief to senior citizens in filing of income tax returns, reduced time limit for income tax proceedings announced setting up of the Dispute Resolution Committee, , relaxation to NRIs, increase in exemption limit from audit and relief for dividend income.
    • FM also announced steps to attract foreign investment into infrastructure, relief to affordable housing and rental housing, tax incentives to IFSC, relief to small charitable trusts, and steps for incentivizing Start-ups in the country.
    • The Budget proposes to make dividend payment to REIT/InvIT exempt from TDS.
    • Stating the resolve of the Government to reduce litigation in the taxation system, the FM said that the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Scheme announced by the Government has been received well.
    • In order to allow funding of infrastructure by issue of zero coupon bonds, the Budget proposes to make notified infrastructure debt funds eligible to raise funds by issuing tax efficient zero coupon bonds.

    Indirect Tax Proposals

    • On the issue of Indirect Tax proposals, the Minister said that record GST collections have been made in the last few months.
    • She said several measures have been taken to further simplify the GST.
    • The capacity of GSTN system has been announced. Deep analytics and artificial intelligence have been deployed to identity tax evaders and fake billers, launching special drives against them.
    • With respect to the custom duty policy, the FM has said that it has the twin objectives of promoting domestic manufacturing and helping India get on to global value change and export better.

    Export promotion

    • The Budget proposes certain changes to benefit MSMEs which include increasing duty on steel screws, plastic builder wares and prawn feed.
    • It also provide for rationalizing exemption on import of duty free items as an incentives to exporters of garments leather and handicraft items.
    • It also provides withdrawing exemption on imports of certain kind of leather and raising custom duty on finished synthetic gem stones.
    • To benefit farmers, the FM announced raising custom duty on cotton, raw silk and silk yarn.
    • She also proposed an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess on a small number of items.
    • The Minister said that the Turant Custom Initiative rolled out in 2020 has helped in putting a check of misuse of Free Trade Agreements.

    Other Highlights of Budget Speech

    Achievements and Milestones during the COVID-19 pandemic-

    Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY)

    • Valued at Rs. 2.76 lakh crore
    • Free food grain to 80 crore people
    • Free cooking gas for 8 crore families
    • Direct cash to over 40 crore farmers, women, elderly, the poor and the needy

    Aatmanirbhar Bharat package (ANB 1.0)

    • Estimated at Rs. 23 lakh crore – more than 10% of GDP
    • PMGKY, three ANB packages (ANB 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0), and announcements made later were like 5 mini-budgets in themselves
    • Rs. 27.1 lakh crore worth of financial impact of all three ANB packages including RBI’s measures – amounting to more than 13% of GDP

    Status of India’s fight against COVID-19

    • 2 Made-in-India vaccines – medically safeguarding citizens of India and those of 100-plus countries against COVID-19
    • 2 or more new vaccines expected soon
    • Lowest death rate per million and the lowest active cases

    2021 – Year of milestones for Indian history

    • 75th year of India’s independence
    • 60 years of Goa’s accession to India
    • 50 years of the 1971 India-Pakistan War
    • Year of the 8th Census of Independent India
    • India’s turn at the BRICS Presidency
    • Year for Chandrayaan-3 Mission
    • Haridwar Maha-Kumbh

    Vision for Aatmanirbhar Bharat

    • Atmanirbharta – not a new idea – ancient India was self-reliant and a business epicentre of the world
    • AtmaNirbhar Bharat – an expression of 130 crore Indians who have full confidence in their capabilities and skills

        Strengthening the Sankalp of:

    • Nation First
    • Doubling Farmer’s Income
    • Strong Infrastructure
    • Healthy India
    • Good Governance
    • Opportunities for Youth
    • Education for All
    • Women Empowerment
    • Inclusive Development

    Reading the budget

    • The Budget, at its simplest, is the government’s tentative income and expenditure statement. Like all financial statements, the devil lies in the fine print.
    • At its broadest, the Budget is a pious statement of the government’s policy and ideological intentions.
    • It is also the government’s statement of how it seeks to tackle the immediate political (electoral) and economic challenges.
    • Hence, any quick assessment of the Budget has to be preliminary.

    An act of balancing

    • The Union Budget 2021-22 is focused on the revival of economic growth and takes cognizance of the need for higher allocation for Covid-19 vaccine development and distribution.
    • The expansionary nature of the Budget was the need of the hour and comes along with a roadmap for fiscal consolidation.
    • Higher allocation to capital expenditure should support growth revival and job creation.
    • All in all, the Budget addresses key issues facing the Indian economy and does the balancing act required in these unusual times.

    Few hits to count

    • The government gave proper attention to fiscal sustainability while increasing the size of the Budget.
    • The budget follows a series of measures as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat packages over the last 10 months, which she said, added up to Rs 27.1 lakh crore or 13 per cent of GDP.
    • The FM in his speech has accepted the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission that 41 per cent of net Union tax proceeds be shared with states, and 1 per cent for the UTs of J7K, and Ladakh.
    • The spending push is directed towards infrastructure sectors including roads and highways, railways, textiles, metro trains, health and water supply.
    • A much-awaited scrapping policy for personal and commercial vehicles is also expected to boost demand for automobiles.
    • The budget puts in place an institutional structure – a bad bank and a developmental financial institution (DFI) – that will enable low-cost funds for infrastructure investments.
    • What really caught the attention of FIIs tracking the Indian economy was the decision to hike the FDI limit in the insurance sector to 74 per cent from 49 per cent now.
    • Budget speech nods for a policy of strategic disinvestment of PSUs barring a bare minimum in four key strategic sectors: from transport and telecom to defence, atomic energy, power, coal, banking and insurance.

    Major misses:

    Job losses ignored

    • The novel coronavirus pandemic and the resultant lockdown led to massive job and livelihood losses.
    • Unlike most advanced countries and emerging market economies, India’s response to address the distress of the masses has been meagre.

    Extreme spendings

    • With its fiscal deficit at 9.5% of GDP for FY21 and 6.8% in FY22 Budget for 2021-22 seems to signal “spend like there is no tomorrow”.
    • For well over a decade-and-a-half, we have tried attaining deficit targets (3%) set out in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act (2003).

    A mirage for farmers

    • The Finance Minister has rightly drawn attention to the fact that the purchases under the MSP Programme have increased 1.5 times between 2013-4 and 2019-20.
    • Thus, the “true” increase in the purchase price was a meagre 19 %in six years.
    • Even this does not translate into a 19 % increase in incomes of the farmer because the costs of inputs such as diesel, labour and seeds have also gone up.

    High on agri-subsidies

    • From a policy perspective, one must point to the huge bias towards subsidies as compared to investments, especially research and development.
    • India spends not even half of what a private global company like Bayer spends on agri-R&D — almost Rs 20,000 crore every year.
    • The expenditure on agri-R&D needs to be doubled or even tripled in the next three years if growth in agriculture has to provide food security at a national level and subsidies on food and fertilizers need to be contained.

    No tax relief

    • Even though the revenue position of the government was tight going into the budget, it must be noted that citizens have also been waiting for a tax exemption relief since 2014.
    • But only compliance issues were dealt with in the budget besides giving tax relief to those above 75 years of age.

    Environment less in focus

    • The budget announces good initiatives like a mission on hydrogen energy, a vehicle scrapping policy and reducing allocation to coal exploration.
    • However, reducing the budget for autonomous institutes under the union environment ministry amounts to a symbolic message that when cash strapped environment takes a back seat.

  • The reason that India cannot afford to go on a debt binge

    The article discusses the challenges associated with the Budget with a high fiscal deficit.

    Change in government’s stance

    • India’s economy has suffered more than most from the covid pandemic and so have its people.
    • Its economic contraction has put pressure on its government, like so many others, to respond.
    • Until this week, government’s response had been relatively restrained.
    • The government implied that any welfare-promoting and growth-enhancing measures had to stand on a solid macro-economic foundation.
    • The federal budget for the next financial year, 2021-22, with the fiscal deficit for the current fiscal at 9.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) has changed that optimistic narrative.
    • The government has effectively abandoned its long-term commitment to bring the deficit down to close to 3% of GDP, pitching instead for a gentle descent to 4.5%—six years from now.

    Implications of high fiscal deficit

    • Once the covid pandemic retreats, India might end up with a debt-to-GDP ratio of about 90%, compared to the low 70s at present.
    • It would be saddled with a permanently elevated fiscal deficit and a financial system bogged down by high levels of bad debt.
    • Consumer price inflation has topped the Reserve Bank of India’s target zone of 2%-6% since the covid lockdown began last year.
    • Unlike the US or China, countries in India’s position—which have neither a reserve currency nor strong growth momentum—cannot grow rapidly while exploding their debt.
    • They can’t afford to ignore rating agencies because of their supposed bias, or cock a snook at bond markets and just run the currency presses instead.
    • They need to grow in order to reduce their debt. That’s a very different dynamic.
    • India isn’t so attractive that it can expect vast sums of investment to arrive even if its macro-economic numbers look bad and its sovereign rating is junk.
    • We don’t have a history of deflation, we aren’t hitting the zero lower bound.
    • It’s quite the opposite; we have an economy prone to sustained high inflation.
    • India is not in a position in which it could build really productive assets using sustained deficit.
    • This is still a developing economy, which especially in bad times should tread carefully rather than throw caution to the winds.

    Rationale behind high spending

    • The government is hoping that increased spending will help India grow out of this predicament.
    • The only way India can pull itself out of this jam is if private investment pours into the country, financing projects that push up the country’s potential growth rate.
    • Yet the government, already monopolizing domestic financial savings, seems to want to go to war with global markets as well.

    Consider the question “Fiscal deficit figures for FY21 marks the end of India’s departure from the path of fiscal consolidation. Discuss the challenges posed by such high fiscal deficit to the Indian economy.

    Conclusion

    India’s greatest strength had been his commitment to fiscal responsibility. The path of fiscal adventurism could end up leaving India’s macroeconomy vulnerable.

  • The unmet health challenge

    The article analyses the allocation for the health sector in the Budget and highlights the need for more allocations.

    Need to increase spending on health

    • The Economic Survey argues for the need to increase public spending on healthcare to 2.5-3 per cent of the GDP — it’s about 1.5 per cent currently.
    • The Survey points out that there is not much difference in terms of outcomes and quality between healthcare services in the private sector and such services in public centres.
    • The Economic Survey, therefore, calls for strengthening the National Health Mission (NHM) along with Ayushman Bharat.
    • NHM was initiated in 2005-06 to strengthen public health services.
    • The Ayushman Bharat provide social insurance, thereby financing private sector services with public funds. 
    • The Economic Survey makes a strong pitch for greater regulation of health services in the private sector.

    Break-up of allocation in Budget on health (and well being)

    • The finance minister described “health and well-being” as one of the pillars of the budget in her budget speech and announcing a 137 per cent increase in allocations for it.
    • She placed healthcare, water and sanitation and nutrition as the key components of this pillar.
    • However, the figures in the budget documents reveal a different story.
    • There is an absolute increase of 9.6 per cent in allocations for the Department of Health and Family Welfare that includes NHM and Ayushman Bharat.
    • A 26.8 per cent increase for the Department of Health Research and 40 per cent increase for the AYUSH Ministry do not add up to much since each of them are only 3-4 per cent of the total health budget.
    • A Finance Commission grant of Rs 13,000-crore and Rs 35,000-crore for COVID-19 vaccination are one-time allocations and, therefore, do not strengthen the overall system.
    • The core health service and research ministries (H&FW and AYUSH) have together received only an 11 per cent increase.
    • Even in COVID times, the health services get only 2.21 per cent of the total central budget — down from 2.27 per cent in the 2020-21 budget.
    • Computing for inflation, the increase in allocation for health services alone disappears and actually becomes negative.
    • Water and sanitation received a 179 per cent increase from Rs 21,518 crore to Rs 60,030 crore already earmarked for the flagship schemes, Swachh Bharat and Jal Jeevan Mission.
    • But allocation for nutrition decreased by 27 per cent, with the “new” Poshan 2.0 merely combining the poorly performing Supplementary Nutrition Programme and Poshan project.
    • Added together, health, water and sanitation and nutrition make up the claimed 137 per cent increase in allocation to “health” services — with a real decline in healthcare and nutrition.

    Pradhan Mantri Atma Nirbhar Swasthya Yojana (PMANSY)

    • Finance Minister also announced a new scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Atma Nirbhar Swasthya Yojana, to support the almost 29,000 health and wellness centres in the country.
    • The scheme also envisages the creation of public health laboratories and critical care hospital blocks and virology institutes.

    Concerns with PMANSY

    • PMANSY has an announced allocation of Rs 64,180 crore over six years, but it does not find a place in the present budget documents.
    • But these additional activities could have been slotted in the NHM.
    • Since 2014, the allocation for NHM has been on the wane.
    • Therefore, even the marginal 1.33 per cent increase (from Rs 27,039 crore to Rs 30,100 crore) is a demonstration of the government’s realisation that public services do matter.
    • The allocations of about Rs 10,000-Rs 11,000 crore each year for the PMANSY is not enough for making the public services capable of “universal health coverage”.
    • The High-Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage had estimated that by 2020, we need a 114 per cent increase in sub-centres and primary health centres, 179 per cent increase in community health centres and a 230 per cent increase in sub-district and district hospitals.
    • Getting anywhere close to this requires doubling of real allocations every year over a five-year period to reach something like 10 per cent of the budget.
    • In the present budget, it declines to a mere 2.21 per cent.

    Way forward

    • If such public provisioning for universal health coverage can’t be done, then effective low-cost rationalised service system options have to be designed.
    • Insurance schemes only create the mirage of affordability of health services while adding to peoples’ expenses.
    • Community and public services are indisputably the most cost-effective for any society.

    Consider the question “Examine the benefits of the idea of health and well being under which health, water and sanitation and nutrition are clubbed together.”

    Conclusion

    Water and sanitation are meaningful for health, but not if it only inflates the allocation to “Health and Wellbeing”. What we need is the real increase in spending on health.

  • 05th Feb 2021 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

    [WpProQuiz 539]

    [WpProQuiz_toplist 539]

  • Sub-categorization of OBCs: Development so far

    The Centre has extended the tenure of the Commission to Examine Sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) headed by Justice G Rohini, till 31st July this year.

    Rs 1.92 crore have been spent on the Commission including salary, consultant fee and other expenses and the report is yet to be publicized. It is can be very well understood that the report will have huge political consequences.

    What is the sub-categorisation of OBCs?

    • OBCs are granted 27% reservation in jobs and education under the central government.
    • In September 20202, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court reopened the legal debate on sub-categorisation of SCs and STs for reservations.
    • The debate arises out of the perception that only a few affluent communities among over 2,600 included in the Central List of OBCs have secured a major part of this 27% reservation.

    Need for sub-categorization

    • The argument for sub-categorisation — or creating categories within OBCs for reservation — is that it would ensure “equitable distribution” of representation among all OBC communities.
    • To examine this, the Rohini Commission was constituted on October 2, 2017.
    • At that time, it was given 12 weeks to submit its report but has been given several extensions since, the latest one being the 10th.
    • Before the Rohini Commission was set up, the Centre had granted constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).

    What are the Commissions’ terms of reference?

    It was originally set up with three terms of reference:

    1. To examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of OBCs with reference to such classes included in the Central List;
    2. To work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation within such OBCs;
    3. To take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of OBCs and classifying them into their respective sub-categories.

    The fourth term of reference was added on January 22, 2020, when the Cabinet granted it an extension:

    1. 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.

    Why so many extensions are being given?

    • This was added following a letter to the government from the Commission on July 30, 2019.
    • In process of preparing the sub-categorised central list of OBCs, the Commission has noted several ambiguities in the list as it stands now.
    • The Commission is of the opinion that these have to be clarified/rectified before the sub-categorised central list is prepared.

    What progress has it made so far?

    • In its letter to the government on July 30, 2019, the Commission wrote that it is ready with the draft report (on sub-categorisation).
    • Following the latest term of reference given (on January 22, 2020) to the Commission, it is studying the list of communities in the central list.

    How smooth has its work been?

    • A hurdle for the Commission has been the absence of data for the population of various communities to compare with their representation in jobs and admissions.
    • On August 31, 2018, then Home Minister had announced that in Census 2021, data of OBCs will also be collected, but since then the government has been silent on this.
    • Many 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 and OBC admissions to central higher education institutions.
    • The findings were: 97% of all jobs and educational seats have gone to just 25% of all sub-castes classified as OBCs; 24.95% 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.

  • Bill coming on Delhi government and L-G functions

    The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is all set to introduce legislation to amend a 1991 Act pertaining to the powers and functions of the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor (LG).

    What is the new bill?

    • The Bill is likely to clearly define the powers of the LG and the Delhi government on the lines of the Supreme Court judgment of February 2019.
    • It is likely to give more teeth to the LG’s office.

    Why need such a law?

    • The Delhi UT government is often at loggerheads with the Centre on administrative matters in the Capital.

    What made it to the news?

    • A Supreme Court Bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan had, other than the question of services, given a unanimous verdict on the role of the two authorities.
    • In the February 14, 2019 verdict, the court upheld as “legal” the MHA’s 2015 notifications authorising the LG to exercise powers in relation to services.
    • It had directed the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) police not to take cognizance of offences against Central government officials.

    SC confirms HC findings

    • The apex court confirmed the Delhi High Court’s finding that the ACB’s jurisdiction is confined to Delhi officials and statutory bodies and does not extend to Central government officials.
    • Last year, the MHA notified the rules for the newly created UT of J&K, where it provided a solution in case of difference of opinion between the LG and a Minister.
    • It ruled that if no agreement could be reached even after a month, the decision of the Lieutenant Governor shall be deemed to have been accepted by the Council of Ministers.

    What are the key propositions?

    • According to changes proposed in the new Act, the LG could act in his discretion in any matter that is beyond the purview of the powers of the Assembly of Delhi.
    • This would be in matters related to the All India (Civil) Services and the ACB.

    Back2Basics: Special Status for New Delhi

    • Article 239AA of the Constitution of India granted Special Status to Delhi among Union Territories (UTs) in the year 1991 through 69th constitutional amendment.
    • It provided a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers responsible to such Assembly with appropriate powers.
    • That’s when Delhi was named as National Capital Region (NCT) of Delhi.
    • As per this article – Public Order, Police & Land in NCT of Delhi fall within the domain and control of Central Government which shall have the power to make laws on these matters.
    • For remaining matters of State List or Concurrent List, in so far as any such matter is applicable to UTs, the Legislative Assembly shall have the power to make laws for NCT of Delhi.

  • The way forward in Myanmar

    The article discusses the five lessons from past experiences as the international community frames its response to the military coup in Myanmar.

    Coup in Myanmar

    • After Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) swept the polls by winning almost 80% of the vote, Myanmar’s military staged a coup and declared a state of Emergency for a year.
    • Myanmar, which started a fragile transition to democracy 10 years ago after decades of brutal military dictatorship, is back in the hands of the Generals.

    Lessons for the international community

    1) Benefits of sanctions

    • The developments in Myanmar will invariably bring back the old debate around the prudence of sanctions.
    • Notwithstanding the western sanctions before 2010 [during military rule], China, Thailand and Singapore were the key trading partners of Myanmar.
    • The present reality is no different.
    • Singapore was reportedly the largest foreign investor in Myanmar in 2020, accounting for 34% of the overall approved investment.
    • Given that the military has been able to economically withstand sanctions by striking deals with Asian countries in the past, sanctions are unlikely to bring any major political change.

    2) Accountability for crime against humanity

    • As political changes got underway in 2010, many generals were on the radar of the international community for perpetuating a regime of human rights abuses, quietly vanished from the scene.
    • This bred a culture of impunity.
    • During the 2017 Rohingya crisis, senior military officials brazenly exploited social media to mobilise public support for brutality against Rohingyas.

    3) China’s influence

    • Three, a critical international player in Myanmar is China.
    • The international community, particularly the West, has to factor in China’s multi-layered influence on Myanmar.

    4) Revival of past international mechanisms

    • Many international mechanisms comprising Western and Asian countries that were formed to coordinate strategies on Myanmar were disbanded after the 2015 election.
    • That the changes in Myanmar were irreversible was the standard thinking.
    • Relevant actors should be brought on a common platform by reviving past mechanisms.

    5) Increasing the engagement with domestic stakeholders

    • The expectation that Myanmar will see a nationwide protest against the military after the coup should be examined with the geographical extent of Bamar, Myanmar’s largest ethnic group, who support the National League for Democracy.
    • The minorities in the country form around 35% of the population.
    • In the current scenario, the military will continue to exploit ethnic and religious fault lines.
    • Engagement with domestic stakeholders, including ethnic minorities, especially from the north, should be pursued by the international community.

    Consider the question “As military hinders Myanmar’s transition to democracy, what are the factors that should be considered by the international community as it form the response to the situation in the country.”

    Conclusion

    There is one consistent lesson, that no change is irreversible, particularly in a context where military leadership scripted the meaning of democracy, and domestic forces and geopolitics continuously fail to deter its actions and impulses to rule.

  • Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)

    The government’s maternity benefit scheme, or Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, has crossed 1.75 crores, eligible women, till the financial year 2020, the Centre informed Parliament.

    PMMVY

    • The PMMVY is a maternity benefit program introduced in 2017 and is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
    • It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age or above for the first live birth.
    • It provides partial wage compensation to women for wage-loss during childbirth and childcare and to provide conditions for safe delivery and good nutrition and feeding practices.
    • Under the scheme, pregnant women and lactating mothers receive ₹5,000 on the birth of their first child in three instalments, after fulfilling certain conditionalities.
    • In 2013, the scheme was brought under the National Food Security Act, 2013 to implement the provision of cash maternity benefit stated in the Act.
    • The direct benefit cash transfer is to help expectant mothers meet enhanced nutritional requirements as well as to partially compensate them for wage loss during their pregnancy.

    Eligibility Conditions and Conditionalities

    The first transfer (at pregnancy trimester) of ₹1,000 requires the mother to:

    • Register pregnancy at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) whenever she comes to know about her conception
    • Attend at least one prenatal care session and taking Iron-folic acid tablets and TT1 (tetanus toxoid injection), and
    • Attend at least one counselling session at the AWC or healthcare centre.

    The second transfer (six months of conception) of ₹2,000 requires the mother to:

    • Attend at least one prenatal care session and TT2

    The third transfer (three and a half months after delivery) of ₹2,000 requires the mother to:

    • Register the birth
    • Immunize the child with OPV and BCG at birth, at six weeks and at 10 weeks
    • Attend at least two growth monitoring sessions within three months of delivery

    Additionally, the scheme requires the mother to:

    • Exclusively breastfeed for six months and introduce complementary feeding as certified by the mother
    • Immunize the child with OPV and DPT
    • Attend at least two counselling sessions on growth monitoring and infant and child nutrition and feeding between the third and sixth months after delivery

    Before judging this factual information, take this PYQ form 2019:

    Q.Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017?

    1. Pregnant women are entitled to three months pre-delivery and three months post-delivery paid leave.
    2. Enterprises with creches must allow the mother a minimum of six crèche visits daily.
    3. Women with two children get reduced entitlements.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below.

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

  • Square Kilometre Array Observatory

    The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) Council held its maiden meeting and approved the establishment of the world’s largest radio telescope.

    Note all important telescopes in news and their features. Some of them are – Thirty Meter Telescope, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, Spitzer, Chandra etc.

    SKAO

    • It is a new intergovernmental organisation dedicated to radio astronomy and is headquartered in the UK.
    • At the moment, organisations from ten countries are a part of the SKAO.
    • These include Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.

    What are radio telescopes?

    • Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can detect invisible gas and, therefore, they can reveal areas of space that may be obscured by cosmic dust.
    • Significantly, since the first radio signals were detected by physicist Karl Jansky in the 1930s, astronomers have used radio telescopes to detect radio waves emitted by different objects in the universe and explore it.
    • According to NASA, the field of radio astronomy evolved after World War II and became one of the most important tools for making astronomical observations since.

    The Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, which was the second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world, collapsed in December 2020.

    Significance of SKA telescope

    • The telescope, proposed to be the largest radio telescope in the world, will be located in Africa and Australia whose operation, maintenance and construction will be overseen by SKAO.
    • Some of the questions that scientists hope to address using this telescope include the beginning of the universe, how and when the first stars were born and the life-cycle of a galaxy.
    • It would explore the possibility of detecting technologically-active civilizations elsewhere in our galaxy and understanding where gravitational waves come from.
    • As per NASA, the telescope will accomplish its scientific goals by measuring neutral hydrogen over cosmic time, accurately timing the signals from pulsars in the Milky Way.

  • [pib] Ropeways and Alternate Mobility Solutions to be under MoRTH

    The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will, from now on, also look after the development of Ropeways and Alternate Mobility Solutions (AMS).

    Q.With growing mobility and diverse terrain across the country, it is imperative that all solutions be enabled and implemented. In this light, discuss various changes adopted by the Transport Ministry in this regard.

    Ropeways

    • A ropeway is a form of naval lifting device used to transport light stores and equipment across rivers or ravines.
    • It comprises a jackstay, slung between two sheers one at either end, from which is suspended a block and tackle, that is free to travel along the rope and hauled back and forth by inhauls.
    • An amendment to the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 has been notified, to enable this step.

    Impacts of the move

    • The move is expected to give a boost to the sector, by setting up a regulatory regime and facilitating research and new technology to come into this sector.
    • This means that the Ministry will have responsibility for the development of ropeway and alternative mobility solutions technology, as well as construction, research, and policy in this area.
    • Formulation of the institutional, financial, and regulatory framework for the technology will also fall under the ambit of this move.

    Expected benefits

    • Last-mile connectivity for remote locations
    • Reducing congestion on mainstream roads
    • Chance to develop world-class ropeway infrastructure
    • Setting up of an organised  and dedicated rope-way and alternative mobility solutions industry
    • New technology, like CPT – Cable Propelled Transit coming to the sector
    • Setting safety norms for unregulated ropeways
    • Allowing freight and goods at remote stations
    • Regulating tariffs structure for the technology

More posts