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  • Plastic waste management in pandemic

    The threat posed by plastic waste to the environment is well established. The corona pandemic has led to an increase in plastic waste. This article suggests some ways to deal with the issue.

    Rising plastic use during pandemic

    •  In 2018, a report by McKinsey estimated that, globally, we generate 350 million tonnes of plastic waste.
    • Only 16 per cent of it is recycled.
    • Today, due to pandemic the amount of plastic waste we are generating is much higher than that estimated in the McKinsey report.
    • The Guardian recently reported that there are possibly more masks than jellyfish in the oceans today.

    Management of plastic in India

    • We have the Plastic Waste Management Rules of 2016, which were updated and amended in 2018.
    • In fact, India saw incredible momentum in its fight for effective management of plastic waste in the last year.
    • The Prime Minister made clarion calls for a jan andolan (people’s movement) to curb the use of single-use plastic(SUP).
    • Jan andolan was also to ensure proper disposal of all plastic waste.
    • Also, the entire country rallied together under the banner of the Swachhata Hi Seva campaign.

    Why single-use plastic is different

    • Plastic is not the problem, our handling of it is.
    • We need plastic, but not SUP, which is difficult to dispose of effectively, and that is where the problem lies.
    • It is important to understand this distinction.
    • By understanding this distinction we may change our behaviour and our lifestyles, to balance our need for plastic with effectively managing its waste.

    Way forward

    • One way to approach the issue is to treat it not just as an environmental problem but as an economic opportunity.
    •  We require new business models which are designed for sustainability.
    • In Uganda, they are melting plastic waste to make face shields which are being sold for just a dollar each.
    • But, most of all, we need a tectonic shift in the behaviour of consumers.
    • We need consumers to care about their role in the plastic waste value chain.
    • Under phase 2 of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) village communities are now starting to plan for setting up waste collection and segregation systems, with material recovery facilities at the block- level.
    • Change is possible when we take necessary steps to Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and, when all else fails, Remove, or dispose of plastic waste safely and effectively.
    • Raising awareness amongst the public of the harm caused by plastic pollution through education and outreach programs to modify behavior.
      • A movement against plastic waste would have to prioritise the reduction of single-use plastic such as multi-layer packaging, bread bags, food wrap, and protective packaging.
    • Promote Alternatives, before the ban or levy comes into force, the availability of alternatives need to be assessed, hence the government may:
      • Provide economic incentives to encourage the uptake of eco-friendly and fit-for-purpose alternatives that do not cause more harm.
      • Support can include tax rebates, research and development funds, technology incubation, public-private partnerships and support to projects that recycle single-use items and turn waste into a resource that can be used again.
      • Reduce or abolish taxes on the import of materials used to make alternatives.
    • Provide incentives to the alternative industry by introducing tax rebates or other conditions to support its transition from plastic industry.
    • Expanding the use of biodegradable plastics or even edible plastics made from various materials such as bagasse (the residue after extracting juice from sugarcane), corn starch, and grain flour.
    • Use of microbeads in personal care products and cosmetics must be prohibited.
    • Target the most problematic single-use plastics by conducting a baseline assessment to identify the most problematic single-use plastics, as well as the current causes, extent and impacts of their mismanagement.
    • Consider the best actions to tackle the problem of plastic waste management (e.g. through regulatory, economic, awareness, voluntary actions) given the country’s socio-economic standing.
    • Assess the potential social, economic and environmental impacts (positive and negative) of the preferred short-listed plastic waste management measures/actions, by considering how will the poor be affected, or what impact will the preferred course of action have on different sectors and industries.
    • Identify and engage key stakeholder groups like retailers, consumers, industry representatives, local government, manufacturers, civil society, environmental groups, and tourism associations in order to ensure broad buy-in.
    • Explaining the decision and any punitive measures that will follow, as a result of non compliance of plastic management rule.
    • Use revenues collected from taxes or levies on single-use plastics to maximize the public good, thereby supporting environmental projects or boosting local recycling with the funds and creating jobs in the plastic recycling sector with seed funding.
    • Enforce the plastic waste management measure effectively, by making sure that there is clear allocation of roles and responsibilities.
    • Monitor and adjust the plastic waste management measure if necessary and update the public on progress.

    Consider the question “What are the legal provisions for plastic waste management in India? Suggest the ways to deal with the issue of plastic waste effectively.”

    Conclusion

    The corona pandemic crisis should not blind us to the plastic crisis and we should try to bring about the behaviour change when it comes to the use of plastic and devise the economic model.

  • Webinar | “The Generalist Specialist, and other such tales of Indian Civil Services” – Alok Pandey, ICLS | Details and link inside

    Webinar | “The Generalist Specialist, and other such tales of Indian Civil Services” – Alok Pandey, ICLS | Details and link inside

    Register here for the Webinar

    Dear students,

    Please welcome Alok Pandey an in-service ICLS officer. He’ll be taking a live session on Sunday which will be followed by a Q&A session. In this live session, Alok Pander, ICLS will talk about the various services, their nature, about administration in action, and UPSC preparation in general.

    This is an essential session. You don’t want to miss out on this one.

    • Time: 6:00 pm
    • Date: 5th July 2020, Sunday
    • Link here (Click on the video below, click on “Set Reminder”)

     

    About Alok Pandey, ICLS:

    An Electronics and Communication Engineering graduate from NIT, Kurukshetra, Alok has worked for Nomura (Japanese financial services firm). While working, he prepared for UPSC exams and cleared it in his 3rd attempt with an AIR 571 (UPSC 2016). He got 193 in the personal interview. Alok has been posted as AROC, NCT of Delhi and Haryana. Alok is also an avid reader, a skillful blogger, and a passionate cinephile. Follow him at https://corporatecorridors.law.blog/.

    Register here for the Webinar

    This is going to be a session unlike any, that you may have attended before.

    For any query reach out to us at hello@civilsdaily.com or call us on 8929987787.

     

  • Differentiating FDI and trade

    Differentiating between trade and investment is necessary for reaping the benefits that come with foreign investment in firms. However, the concerns over the source of funds are not unfounded. So, some caution is warranted in dealing with FDI.

    Let’s look into the debate

    • Government is asking its citizens to aim for self-reliance.
    • So, should India continue to allow investment inflows from China? This is the debate.
    • China has invested $4 billion in Indian startups in the past 5 years.
    • This amount would be higher if funds located in tax havens with Chinese ownership are also accounted for.

    Some of the questions raised in the debate

    •  Is trade of products like buttons, crockery same as long-term foreign investments in high-risk new age technology-driven products?
    • Is it economically prudent for a country to fulfil all its capital requirements or compromise on innovation due to lack of thereof?

     Trade vs FDI

    • Trade just helps the country fulfil its requirements of those goods and services (G&S) that may not available in the country.
    • Investments provide the capital to build infrastructure that can plug the G&S deficit, even, sell it to other markets.
    • Trade just provides entry of G&S.
    • FDI inflow is a route for transferring capabilities, technology, building linkages, business capabilities etc.
    • FDI helps generate employment, public assets, tax revenues and develop markets, none of this is contributed by the trade of merchandise.
    • Foreign investment does have an adverse impact on domestic markets in the short-run by crowding out domestic competition or investment.
    • In fact, attracting FDI in employment-intensive sectors can create positive economic and social spillovers.
    • Possibilities to increase exports often arise from companies with significant levels of FDI.
    • Foreign investor exposes itself to regulatory, economic and geo-political risks of the country.

    Foreign investment in Indian firms: Two aspects to consider

    • While discussing the funding composition of the likes of Paytm, OYO hotel chain or Ola, two aspects need to be considered.
    • 1) These companies are Indian companies operating under the law of land, creating economic opportunities for the youth and contributing to the welfare of the Indian community.
    • 2) Success of these ventures is not solely due to the investment, but because of the novelty of the product offering.
    • Investments in start-ups involve high risk; the list of failed start-ups with Chinese investment is bound to be much longer.
    • In the absence of technology giants in India, we may also end up draining the brain to countries with a stronger financial ecosystem for fresh ideas.

    Apprehension over FDI in India

    • Apprehensions related to investments from any country per se, are not unwarranted in India.
    • This is mainly because history suggests foreign investment can potentially lead to economic colonisation.
    • However, times have changed and so has the world order.
    • Steady inflow of investments can exist without impacting the economic or political stability of the country.
    • To do so we should practice some of the following recommendations.

    How to address the concern over FDI

    • Investment funds can be set up outside the home country of the investor or be routed through companies located at tax havens.
    • It is not always possible to map the investor to the country.

    How to solve this problem

    • To solve this identify sectors based on sensitivity, the investment required, technology, employment and social impact.
    • Tighten regulations related to data storage and access by companies through data localisation in these sensitive sectors.
    • Modify the offset policy in defence to ensure a certain portion of the profits is invested in the SMEs.
    • To further India’s interests in nascent sectors such as machine learning, HealthTech, maximum period for an investor to be invested in a greenfield should be limited to 10 years.
    • All firms receiving foreign investment should have a plan to contribute to India’s exports within the product lifecycle and minimum employment generation.
    • Ease listing norms for firms so that funds through public and private placement can be raised by wholly Indian owned companies.
    •  BSE SME & Start-ups Platform has helped 322 companies raise Rs. 3,320.48 crores from the market. Start-ups should be encouraged to make use of the platform wherever possible.
    • Domestic procurement of raw material and intermediate goods has to be non-negotiable as far as possible.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges and opportunities associated with foreign investment and suggest the ways to address the challenges.”

    Conclusion

    From being treated as a ‘dumping bazaar’ to now attracting investors, India does not need to shy away from investments; it certainly needs to be wary of pure trade which limits India’s potential and drive to produce indigenously.

    Back2Basics: Offset policy

    • The offset policy, introduced in 2005, mandates foreign suppliers to spend at least 30% of the contract value in India.
    • It was first revised in 2006 and then again in 2011 and in 2016. Another round of tweaking is currently underway.

     

  • Decoupling pharmaceutical industry from China should be strategic

    Abrupt ban on import from China would harm the India pharmaceutical industry and disrupt the supply of several essential medicines. Any attempt at reducing the dependence on China for APIs should be strategies, argues the author.

    Dependence of Indian pharma industry on China

    •  India is the third-largest producer of finished drugs in the world.
    • However, India relies significantly on China for supplies of active pharmaceutical ingredients APIs.
    • An estimated 70 per cent of API requirements of India’s pharmaceutical industry are sourced from China.
    • For some drugs, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, this dependence is almost 100 per cent.
    • This import reliance has been fuelled by environmental controls in India and competition with China, which has higher volumes of production and lower costs.

    Implications of banning import from China

    • Restricting or banning the import of APIs would cause significant disruption to the Indian pharmaceutical industry
    • The pharmaceutical industry had $40 billion in revenues in 2018-19, according to Pharmexcil.
    • Such a prospect is especially of concern to potential patients.
    •  Indian pharmaceutical industry annually exports $20 billion worth of medicine.
    • An ad hoc or reactive decoupling could disrupt the production of a wide range of medicines in India and globally.
    • Such disruption could affect the availability of Dexamethasone and painkillers, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, as well as antibiotics, such as penicillin.
    • The impacts would be especially high in low and middle-income countries.
    • In many African countries, in fact, India supplies almost 50 per cent of the medicines in value terms.

    Lessons from the past: Policy initiative matters

    • Market share of foreign-owned multinationals in India was 80-90 per cent in 1970 in the pharmaceutical industry.
    • It fell to 50 per cent by the early 1980s, and down to 23 per cent today.
    • The prices of medicines in India fell from being amongst the highest in the world to amongst the lowest.
    • But this did not happen through sudden decoupling from foreign multinationals or a complete boycott or ban on imports.
    •  The 1970 Indian Patent Act removed product patent protection in pharmaceuticals.
    • So, the 1970 Patent Act is widely lauded for facilitating the growth of India’s industry.
    • India also benefited from the 1973 Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) and the subsequent New Drug Policy (1978).
    • Thus, a series of policy initiatives succeeded in tilting the balance in favour of Indian-owned firms.

    But does it mean we have to depend on China forever?

    • No, but reducing dependence on China will not be easy to achieve.
    • In India, any decoupling from China must be strategic, with significant policy support.
    • It will take time for a paced indigenisation.

    Government moves to reduce dependence for API

    • In March, the government announced Rs 3,000 crore to develop three bulk drug parks.
    • The government also announced Rs 6,940 crore to manufacturers of 53 bulk drugs over the next eight years.
    • Planning ahead towards greater domestic production of APIs, as well as reduced dependence on China, is an understandable and sensible policy objective.
    • Despite a decline in recent decades, India has a stronger starting point than most countries given the continued presence of some API production capabilities.
    • Indian firms have capacities, for instance, to produce COVID-19 treatments, including Remdesivir.

    Consider the question “What are the APIs? Why India depends on other countries for it and what are implications of it? Suggest ways to reduce this dependence.”

    Conclusion

    In the short run, boycotts or bans would be counter-productive for the Indian industry, while also affecting access to much-needed medicines to India’s citizens and beyond. In the long run, however, reducing dependence on China would be strategically prudent.

    Back2Basics: What are APIs?

    • Active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), is the term used to refer to the biologically active component of a drug product (e.g. tablet, capsule).
    • Drug products are usually composed of several components.
    • The API is the primary ingredient.
    • Other ingredients are commonly known as “excipients” and these substances are always required to be biologically safe, often making up a variable fraction of the drug product.
    • The procedure for optimizing and compositing this mixture of components used in the drug is known as “formulation.”

  • Ladakh and its Geo-strategic Importance

    With the long-standing border standoff with China, Ladakh, a rugged, high-altitude region that is generally far removed from the lives and imagination of most Indians, has become part of our daily conversations and worries.

    Let’s have a look at a short primer on the region, its history, and some of the places where Indian soldiers are locked in conflict with the Chinese army. Try remembering its geographical features.

    Ladakh through the History

    • Lying between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and Himalayas to the south, Ladakh was originally inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent.
    • Historically the region included the valleys of Baltistan, Indus, and Nubra, besides Zanskar, Lahaul and Spiti, Aksai Chin, Ngari and Rudok.
    • Located at the crossroads of important trade routes since ancient times, Ladakh has always enjoyed great geostrategic importance.
    • At the beginning of the first century AD, Ladakh was part of the Kushan Empire. Till the 15th century, it was part of Tibet and was ruled by dynasties of local Lamas.
    • Later it changed hands multiple times, alternating between the kingdoms of Kashmir and Zhangzhung.
    • In 1834, Gen Zorawar Singh, a general of Raja Gulab Singh who ruled Jammu as part of the Sikh empire, extended the boundaries of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s kingdom to Ladakh.

    Partition, Pakistan and Chinese occupations

    Immediately after India’s Partition, tribal raiders (the disguised Pakistani Army) attacked Ladakh. They captured Kargil and were heading for Leh when they were confronted by the Indian Army, who got back Kargil.

    • Although India has always considered Aksai Chin to be part of Jammu and Kashmir, in the 1950s the Chinese built a highway, called western highway or NH219, connecting Tibet with Xinjiang through this region.
    • It was always more easily accessible to the Chinese than to the Indians, who were across the Karakoram.
    • India learnt of this road in 1957, and it was one of the causes of the 1962 India-China war, after which China strengthened its control over this region.
    • China today claims Aksai Chin to be part of Hotan County of its Xinjiang province.
    • Pakistan ceded the Shaksgam Valley, which was part of the Baltistan region north of the Karakoram, to China following a Sino-Pakistani agreement signed on March 2, 1963.

    Ladakh through the Chinese eyes

    • China’s forays into the region began after the 1949 Communist Revolution, when Chairman Mao Zedong, a veteran of guerrilla warfare, began consolidating China’s periphery as part of his expansionist designs.
    • The PLA occupied Tibet in 1951 and then began to eye Ladakh.
    • The reason was that the road connecting Kashgar in Xinjiang to Lhasa in Tibet had to pass through Aksai Chin, which was held by Indians but was seldom patrolled by them.

    Galwan Valley in the limelight

    • The Tibetan revolt of 1959 and the Dalai Lama’s flight to India saw China further strengthening its military presence in Ladakh to ensure the security of NH 219.
    • India reacted with its ‘forward policy’ as part of which it began setting up Army posts in the region to prevent Chinese expansion.
    • This resulted in the initial clash between the Indian and Chinese forces in the Kongka Pass area in 1959.
    • Later, Galwan Valley became the scene of action when the Indian Army established a post to cut off the Chinese post in the Samjunjling area, marking the beginning of the 1962 war.

    Pangong Tso: The contested lake

    • In the latest face-off, Indian troops first spied the Chinese on the banks of Pangong Tso.
    • This lake, which is one-third in India and two-thirds in China, is of great tactical significance to the Chinese who have built infrastructure along both its sides to ensure the speedy build-up of troops.
    • Chinese incursions in this region aim at shifting the LAC westward so that they are able to occupy important heights both on the north and the south of the lake, which will enable them to dominate the Chushul Bowl.
    • The narrow Chushul valley, which lies on the road to Leh with Pangong Tso to its north, was an important target for the Chinese even during the 1962 war. It was here that the Battle of Chushul was fought.

    Strategic SSN: To the far north

    • The area spanning Galwan, Depsang plateau, and Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO), is called Sub-Sector North (SSN).
    • This enclave that lies to the east of the Siachen glacier is of immense significance given its proximity to the Karakoram Pass, close to China’s western highway or NH 219 going to Aksai Chin.
    • It’s the SSN that provides land access to Central Asia through the Karakoram Pass.
    • Domination of this area is also crucial for the protection of the Siachen glacier, lying between the Saltoro ridge on the Pakistani side and the Saser ridge close to the Chinese claim line.
    • The Galwan heights overlook the all-weather Durbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) Road, which connects Leh to DBO at the base of the Karakoram Pass that separates China’s Xinjiang Region from Ladakh.
    • Domination over these heights allows China to easily interdict this road.

    Why is China stubborn on Galwan?

    • Occupation of Galwan will neutralize the tactical advantage India gained by building the all-weather Durbuk-DBO road over the last two decades.
    • Last year, the Border Road Organisation (BRO) made this rugged terrain even more accessible by completing the 430-metre-long bridge across the Shyok River.
    • With this, the Darbuk route to DBO became available round the year, and the travel time of troops to the SSN was halved.
    • It was this bridge, coupled with the ongoing work on a link road to LAC in this area, prompted the PLA to enter Galwan.

  • What did it take for the Indian Railways to achieve 100% punctuality?

    The Indian Railways has announced that it achieved 100 per cent punctuality of its passenger trains on July 1, a never-before feat.

    Try this question:

    Q.Discuss various issues crippling the punctuality of the Indian Railways.

    A big achievement for Railways

    • Usually, the Indian Railways run over 13,000 passenger trains and over 8,000 freight trains every day.
    • It is important to remember the context – very few trains are running now, and the punctuality of the Railways can hardly be compared with its own performance on this count in pre-COVID times.
    • The 100 per cent punctuality has been achieved when the network is running just 230 passenger trains – along with about 3,000 loaded freight trains and 2,200 empty ones.
    • This is no mean achievement – it is indeed not an easy task given all the constraints that the Railways usually face while running a train on its designated path and time slot.

    Why do trains get delayed in India?

    • There are a number of reasons, which is also why the achievement of the Railways is significant.
    • There are unforeseen situations such as a failure of assets like the signalling system and overhead power equipment.
    • Several types of breakdowns can occur, related to rolling stock, tracks, etc., that make a train lose time along the way.
    • Then there are external unforeseen problems like run-over cattle and humans, agitations on the tracks, and the like.

    And what have the Railways been doing right?

    • The maintenance of tracks was carried out in a quick time during the COVID period in various critical sections, so the average speed increased, and stretches of slowing down were minimized.
    • Better and modern signalling is also making an impact.
    • Another reason is better planning and operations analysis.

    How do the delays impact the overall system?

    • In normal times, these failures take away a lot of scheduled time when the train is detained even for a short time because making up the lost time during the remainder of the journey is a tricky business.
    • It’s not as though a train can just run faster to make up for a lost time. In a network chock-a-block with trains, a train hardly ever has such leeway built into its pre-set path.
    • Any train that gets delayed inordinately due to whatever reason during the journey theoretically eats into the “path” – or time slot allotted on the track – of another train.
    • It then becomes a matter of which train to prioritise. Conventionally, Rajdhanis and premium trains get priority of path over ordinary mail/express trains.
    • Freight trains, whose runs are not exactly time-sensitive, are usually held up to make way for passenger trains.

    But why do the Railways have to juggle operations in this way?

    • It’s a constantly dynamic scenario in which railway operations professionals take calls all the time.
    • At the heart of the problem are network capacity constraints. It basically means that there are more trains than the network can handle in a given time bracket.
    • Around 60 per cent of all train traffic is on the Golden Quadrilateral, even though it represents just about 15 per cent of the total network.
    • There are projects to enhance capacity by building additional lines and modernizing signalling systems, etc.

    Minimizing the delays

    • The Railways are working on what is called a “zero-based timetable”.
    • In this concept, which is to be introduced soon, every train that enters the network is justified based on needs and costs.
    • It is expected to make train operations more seamless.

  • Phobos: The closest and biggest moon of Mars

    The Mars Colour Camera (MCC) onboard ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has captured the image of Phobos, the closest and biggest moon of Mars.

    Try this question from CSP 2017:

    Q.Which region of Mars has a densely packed river deposit indicating this planet had water 3.5 billion years ago?

    (a) Aeolis Dorsa (b) Tharsis (c) Olympus Mons (d) Hellas

    About Phobos

    • Phobos is the innermost and larger of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Deimos.
    • Both moons were discovered in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall.
    • Phobos is a small, irregularly shaped object with a mean radius of 11 km and is seven times as massive as the outer moon, Deimos.
    • Phobos is largely believed to be made up of carbonaceous chondrites.
    • The violent phase that Phobos has encountered is seen in the large section gouged out from a past collision (Stickney crater) and bouncing ejecta.

    Back2Basics: Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)

    • The MOM also called Mangalyaan is a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
    • It aims at studying the Martian surface and mineral composition as well as scans its atmosphere for methane (an indicator of life on Mars).
    • It is India’s first interplanetary mission and it made it the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after Roscosmos, NASA, and the European Space Agency.
    • It made India the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the first nation in the world to do so on its maiden attempt.
    • It was initially meant to last six months, but subsequently, ISRO had said it had enough fuel for it to last “many years.”

  • Prerak Dauur Samman

    The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) announced a new category of awards titled ‘Prerak Dauur Samman’ as part of Swachh Survekshan 2021.

    Try this question:

    Q. The Prerak Dauur Samman recently seen in news is related to:

    a) Swachh Bharat b) Literature c) Health Services d) Visual Arts

    Prerak Dauur Samman

    • The Prerak Dauur Samman has a total of five additional subcategories -Divya (Platinum), Anupam (Gold), Ujjwal (Silver), Udit (Bronze), Aarohi (Aspiring) – with top three cities being recognized in each.
    • In a departure from the present criteria of evaluating cities on ‘population category’, this new category will categorize cities on the basis of six select indicator wise performance criteria which are as follows:

    1) Segregation of waste into Wet, Dry and Hazard categories

    2) Processing capacity against wet waste generated

    3) Processing and recycling of wet and dry waste

    4) Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste processing

    5) Percentage of waste going to landfills

    6) Sanitation status of cities

  • What is the Hagia Sophia?

    Turkey’s highest court this week convened to decide whether Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia museum can be turned into a mosque.

    Try this question:

    Q. The iconic Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage site was recently in news. It is situated in:

    a) Greece b) Turkey c) Israel d) Iran

    What is the Hagia Sophia?

    • The construction of this iconic structure in Istanbul started in 532 AD during the reign of Justinian I, the ruler of the Byzantine Empire when the city was known as Constantinople.
    • The structure was originally built to become the seat of the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church and remained so for approximately 900 years.
    • In 1453, when Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces, the Hagia Sophia was ransacked by the invading forces and turned into a mosque shortly after.
    • For a long time, the Hagia Sophia was Istanbul’s most important mosque.
    • The 1,500-year-old structure, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was originally a cathedral before it was turned into a mosque.

    What is the controversy about?

    • In the 1930s, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, shut down the mosque and turned it into a museum in an attempt to make the country more secular.
    • There have been calls for long from extremists groups to convert the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.

  • [Burning Issue] US Visa Ban and its Impact on India

    We have been having a bad summer! The Nepalese have face-palmed us, the Chinese have taken our territory and let not forget the Covid crisis. Now Donald Trump has dealt a blow to thousands aspiring for a career in the US.

    The US administration extended the 60-day ban on immigration and non-immigrant worker visas till the end of 2020. Popular work visas including the much-coveted H-1B and H-2B, and certain categories of H-4, J, and L visas would also remain suspended until December 31.

    Apart from the suspension of these work visas, the executive order signed by Trump has also made sweeping changes to the H-1B work visa norms, which will no longer be decided by the currently prevalent lottery system. The new norms will now favour highly-skilled workers who are paid the highest wages by their respective companies.

    What are H-1B, H-2B, L and other work visas?

    • In order to fill a vacuum of highly-skilled low-cost employees in IT and other related domains, the US administration issues a certain number of visas each year which allows companies from outside the US to send employees to work on client sites.
    • Of these work visas, the H-1B remains the most popular among Indian IT companies.
    • The US government has a cap of 85,000 total H-1B visas for each year.

    Here are the visas that have been put on hold till December 2020:

    1) H-1B visa

    What is it: The H-1B visa category covers individuals who “work in a speciality occupation, engage in cooperative research and development projects administered by the US Department of Defense or are fashion models that have national or international acclaim and recognition.”

    Who’s covered: The H-1B is most well known as a visa for skilled tech workers, but other industries, like health care and the media, also use these visas.

    2) H-2B visa

    What it is: According to USCIS, the H-2B program allows US employers or agents “to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary non-agricultural jobs.”

    Who’s covered: They generally apply to seasonal workers in industries like landscaping, forestry, hospitality and construction.

    3) J-1 visa

    What it is: The J-1 visa is an exchange visitor visa for individuals approved to participate in work-and-study-based exchange visitor programs in the United States.

    Who’s covered:     The impacted people include interns, trainees, teachers, camp counsellors, au pairs and participants in summer work travel programs.

    4) L-1 visa

    What it is: The L1 Visa is reserved for managerial or executive professionals transferring to the US from within the same company, or a subsidiary of it. The L1 Visa can also be used for a foreign company opening up US operations.

    Who’s covered: Within the L1 Visa, there are two subsidiary types of visas

    • L1A visa for managers and executives.
    • L1B visa for those with specialized knowledge.

    The story of work visas

    • The 1952 scheme: Since it was started in 1952, the H-1 visa scheme has undergone many changes and revisions to allow or disallow certain categories of skilled workers in the US, depending on the economic situation of the country.
    • Harnessing the technology boom: The technology boom coupled with the arrival of the internet and low-cost computers in developing nations such as India and China saw a large number of graduates willing to work at relatively low costs in the US.
    • This is often the win-win situation for both the employer in the US and the employee.
    • Bypassing Americans: However, it has since often been criticised for sending low-cost workers to the US at the expense of domestic workers.

    Trumps in ‘The Protectionism’

    • Donald Trump coming to power: In January 2017, after taking over as the president of the US, Trump had hinted that the low-cost workers were hampering the economy and undercutting jobs of citizens.
    • Delivering election vendetta: The US had then hinted at reforming the “broken” H-1B visa system.
    • COVID uncertainties: Trump seized the opportunity provided by the economic contraction due to Covid-19 by first banning the entry of non-immigrant workers till June 23, and then extending it till December 31.
    • Sudden unemployment: The White House reasoned that the ongoing pandemic has “significantly disrupted Americans’ livelihoods”, to the extent that the overall unemployment rate quadrupled between February and May 2020 to a little over 13%.

    Motive behind the visa ban

    • Breaking the chain: The ban implies that U.S. firms or others with U.S. operations who rely on skilled foreign nationals working in the U.S. will be unable to make new hires as long as the ban stands.
    • Looming slowdown: Many firms are unlikely to do any hiring at this economically depressed time.
    • Upcoming elections’ agenda: As per popular opinion, this is a method by the US President to reach out to the voter base.
    • Yet again- ‘America first’: Trump would take all moves to build political capital in the name of the “America First” mantra — a foregone conclusion given his outspokenness on the subject to date.

    Who all does it impact?

    • The visa ban means those who do not have a valid non-immigrant visa as of June 23 and are outside of the US, will not be allowed to enter the country until December 31.
    • Workers in essential services in the food sector have been given some reprieve, and their entry shall be decided by the consular officer of immigration services.
    • H-1B, H-2B, J and L visa holders, and their spouse or children already present in the US shall not be impacted by the new worker visa ban.
    • H-1B visas are generally approved for a period of three years for a person, but many visa holders change employers to extend their US stay.
    • Foreign nationals outside the US, who were to begin work on an H-1B visa or even L-1 visas (intra-company transfer) – but do not as yet hold a valid visa, as well as dependents who were to accompany them (be it spouses or dependent children) will have to wait longer, till the ban expires.

    Will Indian corporations be hit?

    This visa ban come at a crucial inflexion point for the Indian economy when restrictions on the movement of people and goods slowly will be lifted after India passes its peak viral case numbers. This would create a knock-on effect from IT to other sectors.

    1) IT sector

    • Indian IT companies are amongst the biggest beneficiaries of the US H-1B visa regime and have since the 1990s cornered a lion’s share of the total number of visas issued each year.
    • As of April 1, 2020, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received about 2.5 lakh H-1B work visa applications, according to official data.
    • Indians had applied for as many as 1.84 lakh or 67 per cent of the total H-1B work visas for the current financial year ending March 2021.
    • India’s IT services exports to the U.S., which depend significantly on the H-1B visa, have been an important constituent element of bilateral economic trade.
    • Though the large Indian IT companies have cut down their dependency on H-1B and other worker visas by hiring as much as 50 per cent of staff locally, they still rely on these visas to keep costs in check.

    2) Highly skilled workers

    • Favouring highest-paid worker could result in a significant impact on margins and worker wages of Indian IT companies which send thousands of low-cost employees to work on client sites in the US.
    • This, in turn, impacts their remuneration in the long term.

    Silver lining

    • Newer opportunities for Indian high skilled workers in the IT sector in other countries outside of the US will be explored after this ban.
    • H1B1 has drawn away from the best talent from India for decades. This move may cause reverse brain gain for better growth of the Indian tech industry.
    • These would in turn benefit innovation, R&D for nurturing the growing start-up sector in India.
    • Most of the companies have become capable of handling their work remotely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has provided resilience to the Indian tech sector against international mobility restrictions.
    • With this ban, already employed skilled workers from India may get higher salaries which in turn would increase the inflow of remittances.

    Criticism within the US

    • Google CEO Sunder Pichai has expressed disappointment over the proclamation, and said he would stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all.
    • He said that immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today.
    • The ban on issuing visas will harm employers, families, universities, hospitals, communities, and delay America’s economic recovery.

    Impact on bilateral ties

    • An internal matter for the US: The freezing of non-immigration work visas is more of a US election-related issue rather than an indication of any mutual problems between India and the US.
    • India & the US share global strategic partnership, based on shared democratic values and similarity of interests on bilateral, regional and global issues.
    • However despite this strong bond and despite hectic talks at diplomatic levels between India and the US, the Trump administration decided in favour of implementing the ban.
    • The issue becomes a sensitive one as US cooperation becomes strategically necessary for India amid its border tensions and skirmishes with China.

    Way Forward

    • For its benefits, the US should amend the H-1B programme, not end it.
    • Immigrants have played a crucial role in making the USA a global leader in cutting edge technology.
    • Suspending the visas will only weaken the USA’s economy and its health care workforce at a time when there is a need to strengthen both.
    • Politics should not trump smart policy and the ingenuity of migrant workers should be harnessed to revive an economy in dire straits.

    Conclusion

    • India needs to keep the US on its side for strategic and security reasons.
    • But the immediate future of the relationship depends on the upcoming US presidential elections.
    • If India-US relationship is a defining one for this century, as PM Modi has said, the visa ban decision should not let this sour in.
    • Lastly, we can conclude that the US has maligned its image of being the global ambassador of Liberalism.

     

     

     

    References

    https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/us-h1b-visa-suspension-india-it-companies-6471966/

    https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-hindu-explains-how-will-the-us-visa-ban-impact-india/article31935322.ece

    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/visa-and-immigration/trumps-h1-b-order-makes-it-impossible-for-many-indians-to-return-to-their-lives-in-the-us/articleshow/76663260.cms?from=mdr

    https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2020/06/23/how-will-trump-H1B-visa-ban-affect-indians.html

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