With Less than 60 days remaining for UPSC 2022 Prelims, your preparation must revolve around revision and attempting tests. At this stage, aspirants become more stressed and anxious than when they first started their preparation. Having a foolproof strategy for the last few days can work wonders — especially for those falling on the borderline, scoring between 80-90 marks in the mock test series. Now is the time to focus on improving your performance and boosting your scores.
While many of you, would have felt easier following a timetable for an entire year, you might not be sure how to revise every topic in the syllabus along with test series and current affairs of 1.5 years in last few days.
Open to all, Free Live Webinar by IPoS Officer Vikas Palwe (CSE 2020)
Vikas Palwe has a special command over UPSC Prelims. In all his 5 attempts, He scored 120+ marks consistently. Now, with prelims coming up in few days, he would be happy to share his mantras and techniques to scoring high in prelims with future aspirants.
If you are attempting this year’s prelims then do not miss this opportunity. Attend the webinar to gain topper’s insights on prelims and clear your personal queries with him.
Webinar Details
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Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), is a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States (until 23 January 2017) and Vietnam
The TPP began as an expansion of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPSEP or P4) signed by Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore in 2005
The TPP contains measures to lower both non-tariff and tariff barriers to trade and establish an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism
The agreement will enter into force after ratification by all signatories if this occurs within two years
APEC members may accede to the TPP, as may any other jurisdiction to which existing TPP members agree. After an application for membership is received, a commission of parties to the treaty negotiates conditions for accession.
BRICS
BRICS is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Originally the first four were grouped as “BRIC” (or “the BRICs”), before the induction of South Africa in 2010.
The BRICS members are known for their significant influence on regional affairs; all are members of G20.
Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits. China hosted the 9th BRICS summit in Xiamen on September 2017, while Brazil hosted the most recent 11th BRICS summit on 13-14 November 2019.
New Development Bank and the Fortaleza Declaration
During the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (2014), the leaders signed the Agreement establishing the New Development Bank (NDB).
In the Fortaleza Declaration, the leaders stressed that the NDB will strengthen cooperation among BRICS and will supplement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global development, thus contributing to collective commitments for achieving the goal of strong, sustainable and balanced growth.
The bank was established in July 2015 by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
The aim of the bank is to mobilize funding for infrastructure and sustainable development.
Its ownership structure is unique, as the BRICS countries each have an equal share and no country has any veto power.
In this sense, the bank is a physical expression of the desire of emerging markets to play a bigger role in global governance.
NDB was created to help fill the funding gap in the BRICS economies and was intended to grow its global scope over time.
The bank, with its subscribed capital base of US$50bn, is now poised to become a meaningful additional source of long-term finance for infrastructure in its member countries.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a trade deal that was being negotiated between 16 countries.
They include the 10 ASEAN members and the six countries with which the bloc has free trade agreements (FTAs) — India, Australia, China, Korea, Japan, and New Zealand.
The purpose of the deal is to create an “integrated market” spanning all 16 countries.
This means that it would be easier for the products and services of each of these countries to be available across the entire region.
RCEP – India
It comprises half of the world population and accounts for nearly 40% of the global commerce and 35% of the GDP. RCEP would have become the world’s largest FTA after finalisation, with India being the third-biggest economy in it.
Without India, the RCEP does not look as attractive as it had seemed during negotiations.
Divided ASEAN – ASEAN has been keen on a diversified portfolio so that member states can deal with major powers and maintain their strategic autonomy. ASEAN member states have tried to keep the U.S. engaged in the region.
Act East policy has been well received. With China’s rise in the region, ASEAN member states have been keen on Indian involvement in the region.
Indo-Pacific – India’s entire Indo-Pacific strategy might be open to question if steps are not taken to restore India’s profile in the region.
Rejected China’s dominance – India signalled that, despite the costs, China’s rise has to be tackled both politically and economically.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the then security and economic architecture in the Eurasian region dissolved and new structures had to come up.
The original Shanghai Five were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
The SCO was formed in 2001, with Uzbekistan included. It expanded in 2017 to include India and Pakistan.
Since its formation, the SCO has focused on regional non-traditional security, with counter-terrorism as a priority:
The fight against the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism and extremism has become its mantra.
Today, areas of cooperation include themes such as economics and culture.
India’s entry to the SCO
India and Pakistan both were observer countries.
While Central Asian countries and China were not in favour of expansion initially, the main supporter — of India’s entry in particular — was Russia.
A widely held view is that Russia’s growing unease about an increasingly powerful China prompted it to push for its expansion.
From 2009 onwards, Russia officially supported India’s ambition to join the SCO. China then asked for its all-weather friend Pakistan’s entry.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. This sub-regional organization came into being on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
The regional group constitutes a bridge between South and South-East Asia and represents a reinforcement of relations among these countries.
BIMSTEC has also established a platform for intra-regional cooperation between SAARC and ASEAN members. The BIMSTEC region is home to around 1.5 billion people which constitute around 22% of the global population with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.7 trillion economies. In the last five years, BIMSTEC Member States have been able to sustain an average 6.5% economic growth trajectory despite a global financial meltdown.
SAARC & SAARC Countries
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union in South Asia. Its member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. SAARC was founded in Dhaka in 1985.
Its secretariat is based in Kathmandu.
The organization promotes the development of economic and regional integration.
It launched the South Asian Free Trade Area in 2006.
SAARC maintains permanent diplomatic relations at the United Nation as an observer and has developed links with multilateral entities.
Observers Of SAARC: – States with observer status include Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius Myanmar, South Korea and the United States.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising ten Southeast Asian countries
It promotes Pan-Asianism and intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational and socio-cultural integration amongst its members and other Asian countries
It members are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam
ASEAN shares land and maritime borders with India, China
ASEAN is an official United Nations Observer.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of two sets of Guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.
One of the critical elements for inclusion into the NSG is that the member countries need to signatories of the NPT, a proposal which India has categorically disagreed.
However considering India’s history of nuclear non-proliferation, the US and subsequently the NSG have shown some recognition and granted India with the waiver of dealing with other countries for nuclear technology.
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
OPCW is an intergovernmental organization and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force on 29 April 1997
The OPCW, with its 193 member states, has its seat in The Hague, Netherlands, and oversees the global endeavour for the permanent and verifiable elimination of chemical weapons
The organization promotes and verifies the adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of chemical weapons and requires their destruction
Verification consists both of evaluation of declarations by member states and onsite inspections
The OPCW has the power to say whether chemical weapons were used in an attack it has investigated
The organization was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize “for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons”
The Australian Group
The Australia Group is a multilateral export control regime (MECR) and an informal group of countries (now joined by the European Commission) established in 1985 (after the use of chemical weapons by Iraq in 1984) to help member countries to identify those exports which need to be controlled so as not to contribute to the spread of chemical and biological weapons
The group, initially consisting of 15 members, held its first meeting in Brussels, Belgium, in September 1989. With the incorporation of India on January 19, 2018, it now has 43 members, including Australia, the European Commission, all 28 member states of the European Union, Ukraine, and Argentina
The name comes from Australia’s initiative to create the group. Australia manages the secretariat
The initial members of the group had different assessments of which chemical precursors should be subject to export control
Later adherents initially had no such controls
Today, members of the group maintain export controls on a uniform list of 54 compounds, including several that are not prohibited for export under the Chemical Weapons Convention but can be used in the manufacture of chemical weapons
In 2002, the group took two important steps to strengthen export control
The first was the “no-undercut” requirement, which stated that any member of the group considering making an export to another state that had already been denied an export by any other member of the group must first consult with that member state before approving the export
The second was the “catch-all” provision, which requires member states to halt all exports that could be used by importers in chemical or biological weapons programs, regardless of whether the export is on the group’s control lists.
Delegations representing the members meet every year in Paris, France
WTO
US, UK and a few other countries set up, an interim organisation about trade named GATT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade) in 1947
GATT was biased in favourof the developed countries and was called informally as the Rich men’s club.
So, the developing countries insisted on setting up the International Trade Organisation (ITO)
That’s the reason, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was set up in 1964 as an alternative, on the recommendation of the UN committee
Next development comes in Uruguay Round of GATT, it sought to expand the scope of the organisation by including, services, investment and intellectual property rights (IPR)
Agreements were ratified by the legislatures of 85 member-countries by year-end 1994.
On such rectification, the WTO started functioning from Jan 1, 1995, < Marrakesh Agreement>
Functions of WTO
The WTO deals with regulation of trade in goods, services and intellectual property between participating countries.
It provides a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants’ adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.
G20
Formed in 1999, the G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies.
Collectively, the G20 economies account for around 85 percent of the Gross World Product (GWP), 80 percent of world trade.
To tackle the problems or the address issues that plague the world, the heads of governments of the G20 nations periodically participate in summits.
In addition to it, the group also hosts separate meetings of the finance ministers and foreign ministers.
The G20 has no permanent staff of its own and its chairmanship rotates annually between nations divided into regional groupings.
Aims and objectives
The Group was formed with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
The forum aims to pre-empt the balance of payments problems and turmoil on financial markets by improved coordination of monetary, fiscal, and financial policies.
It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organisation.
Member Countries
The members of the G20 consist of 19 individual countries plus the European Union (EU).
The 19 member countries of the forum are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
The European Union is represented by the European Commission and by the European Central Bank.
Who are the G20 Sherpas?
A Sherpa is the personal representative of a head of state or government who prepares an international summit, particularly the annual G7 and G20 summits.
Between the summits, there are multiple Sherpa conferences where possible agreements are laid out.
This reduces the amount of time and resources required at the negotiations of the heads of state at the final summit.
The Sherpa is generally quite influential, although they do not have the authority to make a final decision about any given agreement.
The name is derived from the Sherpa people, a Nepalese ethnic group, who serve as guides and porters in the Himalayas, a reference to the fact that the Sherpa clears the way for a head of state at a major summit.
G7
The G7 or the Group of Seven is a group of the seven most advanced economies as per the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The seven countries are Canada, USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan and Italy. The EU is also represented in the G7.
These countries, with the seven largest IMF-described advanced economies in the world, represent 58% of the global net wealth ($317 trillion).
The G7 countries also represent more than 46% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) based on nominal values, and more than 32% of the global GDP based on purchasing power parity.
The requirements to be a member of the G7 are a high net national wealth and a high HDI (Human Development Index).
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After weeks of economic turmoil, Sri Lanka announced that it would be defaulting on all of its external debt worth $51 billion.
After running out of foreign exchange for imports, Colombo called the move a last resort.
The island nation is grappling with its worst economic downturn since independence, with regular blackouts and acute shortages of food and fuel.
Sri Lankan Crisis: A backgrounder
(1) Fragility of Sri Lankan Economy
Post-independence from the British in 1948, Sri Lanka’s agriculture was dominated by export-oriented crops such as tea, coffee, rubber and spices.
A large share of its gross domestic product came from the foreign exchange earned from exporting these crops. That money was used to import essential food items.
Over the years, the country also began exporting garments, and earning foreign exchange from tourism and remittances (money sent into Sri Lanka from abroad, perhaps by family members).
Any decline in exports would come as an economic shock, and put foreign exchange reserves under strain.
(2) Series of BoP Crises
For this reason, Sri Lanka frequently encountered balance of payments crises.
From 1965 onwards, it obtained 16 loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Each of these loans came with conditions including that once Sri Lanka received the loan they had to reduce their budget deficit, maintain a tight monetary policy, cut government subsidies for food for the people of Sri Lanka, and depreciate the currency.
But usually in periods of economic downturns, good fiscal policy dictates governments should spend more to inject stimulus into the economy. This becomes impossible with the IMF conditions.
Despite this situation, the IMF loans kept coming, and a led the economy soaked up more and more debt.
The last IMF loan to Sri Lanka was in 2016. The country received US$1.5 billion for three years from 2016 to 2019.
The conditions were familiar, and the economy’s health nosedived over this period. Growth, investments, savings and revenues fell, while the debt burden rose.
(3) Terror attack changed the course
A bad situation turned worse with two economic shocks in 2019.
There was a series of bomb blasts in churches and luxury hotels in Colombo in April 2019.
The blasts led to a steep decline in tourist arrivals – with some reports stating up to an 80% drop – and drained foreign exchange reserves.
Second, the new government under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa irrationally cut taxes.
Growth demands stability and stability lies on effective leadership which is totally blurred in Sri lanka which is suffering from ongoing financial crisis.
(4) Pandemic
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
In April 2021, the Rajapaksa government made another fatal mistake. To prevent the drain of foreign exchange reserves, all fertiliser imports were completely banned.
Sri Lanka was declared a 100% organic farming nation.
This policy, which was withdrawn in November 2021, led to a drastic fall in agricultural production and more imports became necessary.
A fall in the productivity of tea and rubber due to the ban on fertiliser also led to lower export incomes.
(5) Immediate triggers of the crisis
Leadership issues: Another instance that proved detrimental for Sri Lankan leadership is government where few members of the cabinets were immediate relatives of the Prime Minister (Rajapaksas).
Ukraine War: The invasion of Ukraine has further exacerbated the economic calamity of the country as Russia is the second biggest market to Sri Lanka in tea exports and its tourism sector is heavily reliant upon these two nations as most of the tourist arrivals are from Russia and Ukraine.
All these factors led to the implosion of Sri Lankan economy.
Is China the real culprit behind?
Many believe Sri Lanka’s economic relations with China are a main driver behind the crisis. The United States has called this phenomenon “debt-trap diplomacy”.
This is where a creditor country or institution extends debt to a borrowing nation to increase the lender’s political leverage – if the borrower extends itself and cannot pay the money back, they are at the creditor’s mercy.
A reality check
Sri Lanka’s economy, in recent months, started experiencing, what economists refer to as a ‘twin crisis’: in form of a combined balance of payment and sovereign debt crisis.
(1) Debts
The most “burdensome debt” in terms of maturity and rates is typically owed to international sovereign bonds.
Loans from China accounted for only about 10% of Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt in 2020.
The largest portion – about 30% – can be attributed to international sovereign bonds.
Japan actually accounts for a higher proportion of their foreign debt, at 11%.
(2) Losses from Ports
Defaults over China’s infrastructure-related loans to Sri Lanka, especially the financing of the Hambantota port, are being cited as factors contributing to the crisis.
But these facts don’t add up. The construction of the Hambantota port was financed by the Chinese Exim Bank.
The port was running losses, so Sri Lanka leased out the port for 99 years to the Chinese Merchant’s Group, which paid Sri Lanka US$1.12 billion.
Repercussions of the crisis
Sustenance crisis: For Sri Lankans, the crisis has turned their daily lives into an endless cycle of waiting in lines for basic goods, many of which are being rationed.
Energy sources exhausted: Soldiers are stationed at gas stations to calm customers, who line up for hours in the searing heat to fill their tanks. Some people have even died waiting.
Sacking of the public savings: Even members of the middle class with savings are frustrated, fearing they could run out of essentials like medicine or gas.
Public outrage: Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has imposed several curbs on social media and news flow, its stock market and currency is sharply down. Unrest is brewing, so police action, possibly brutal, looks inevitable.
What’s next for Sri Lanka?
In all probability, Sri Lanka will now obtain a 17th IMF loan to tide over the present crisis, which will come with fresh conditions.
Sri Lanka is now seeking financial support from the IMF and turning to regional powers that may be able to help.
Earlier, President Rajapaksa had weighed the pros and cons of working with the IMF and had decided to pursue a bailout from the US.
Sri Lanka has also requested help from China and India, with New Delhi already issuing a credit line of $1 billion in March.
Lessons to be learnt
(1) For India
While the Sri Lankan economic crisis may not directly impact India for now, the crisis itself offers useful political economy lessons for the Indian government.
Populist freebies has a dear cost: A majoritarian government announcing populist measures amidst a low-growth performance cycle creates macroeconomic crisis scenarios over time.
SL had fared better than India: Unlike Sri Lanka, India’s per capita income and performance in social sectors like healthcare, education and social security is worse.
Long term inflation is risky: India’s unemployment and joblessness crisis is far worse – in aggregate. Inflation too has remained high with the RBI struggling to keep consumer prices low.
The idea here is not to compare Sri Lanka with India as like-with-like. They are two different and geographically distinct nation-states with different social, political and economic features.
(2) Other SAARC members
Nations are collapsing: From Afghanistan and Pakistan, and now, Sri Lanka (with Nepal in queue), each nation’s political economy landscape appears to be in a depressing situation.
SAARC has become dysfunctional: Besides India, no other South Asian countries have offered any form of support or assistance to Sri Lanka, which raises alarm over the absence of regional cooperation in South Asia.
Way forward
Fiscal consolidation and discipline: What the Lankan economy would need is a robust path towards revenue based fiscal consolidation.
Near-term monetary policy tightening: It is needed to ensure that the recent breach of the inflation target band is only temporary.
Institution building reforms: such as revamping the fiscal rule, would also help ensure the credibility of the strategy, as the IMF report suggests.
Flexible exchange rate policy: Other (longer-term) reforms would need to include the creation of a flexible exchange rate policy and a medium-to-long-term debt reduction strategy, while ensuring most government spending in targeted social areas continues for developmental objectives.
Conclusion
It is no doubt that the over-dependence on China for economic development could be a miserable option for any country, and the latest examples of it, are Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Also, Sri Lanka is a prime example of a third world country led by a post-colonial elite on the brisk of collapsing as a nation.
With Less than 60 days remaining for UPSC 2022 Prelims, your preparation must revolve around revision and attempting tests. At this stage, aspirants become more stressed and anxious than when they first started their preparation. Having a foolproof strategy for the last few days can work wonders — especially for those falling on the borderline, scoring between 80-90 marks in the mock test series. Now is the time to focus on improving your performance and boosting your scores.
While many of you, would have felt easier following a timetable for an entire year, you might not be sure how to revise every topic in the syllabus along with test series and current affairs of 1.5 years in last few days.
Open to all, Free Live Webinar by IPoS Officer Vikas Palwe (CSE 2020)
Vikas Palwe has a special command over UPSC Prelims. In all his 5 attempts, He scored 120+ marks consistently. Now, with prelims coming up in few days, he would be happy to share his mantras and techniques to scoring high in prelims with future aspirants.
If you are attempting this year’s prelims then do not miss this opportunity. Attend the webinar to gain topper’s insights on prelims and clear your personal queries with him.
Webinar Details
This Ask me Anything session is free for all aspirants to attend but is perfect for anyone looking for a refreshing break from their grueling studies. Only limited slots are available, so register ASAP.
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Building an inventory of antiquities should be the first step in dealing with the problem.
Measures taken by the worldwide organisations
CAG in its 2013 Report stated that “131 antiquities were stolen from monuments/sites and 37 antiquities from Site Museums from 1981 to 2012″
It added that in similar situations, worldwide, organisations took many more effective steps:
1] Checking of catalogues of international auction house(s),
2] Posting news of such theft on websites.
3] Posting information about theft in the International Art Loss Registry.
4] Sending photographs of stolen objects electronically to dealers and auction houses and intimate scholars in the field.
Lack of legal provisions: The report also stated that the ASI had never participated or collected information on Indian antiquities put on sale at well-known international auction houses viz. Sotheby’s, Christie’s, etc. as there was no explicit provision in the AAT (Antiquities and Art Treasures) Act, 1972 for doing so.
International conventions and treaties
India is a signatory to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. (We ratified it in 1977).
Perhaps we should also sign the 1995 UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.
Lessons from Italy
Italy also suffers and several stolen antiquities have been returned by the US to Italy.
That being the case, it shouldn’t be surprising that many best practices originate in Italy.
The following list is illustrative.
(1) A specific law on protecting cultural heritage, with enhanced penalties;
(2) Centralised management before granting authorisation for archaeological research;
(3) Specialisation in cultural heritage for public prosecutors;
(4) An inter-ministerial committee for recovery and return of cultural objects;
(5) MOUs and bilateral agreements with other countries and international organisations to prevent illegal trafficking;
(6) Involvement of private organisations and individuals in protection;
(7) A complete inventory of moveable and immoveable cultural heritage, with detailed catalogues;
(8) Monitoring and inspection of cultural sites; and
(9) Centralised granting of export requests.
Way forward
One could say the 2013 CAG Report did a bit of (8), but that was a one-off and isn’t a permanent solution.
This isn’t a binary, nor is it possible to accomplish everything overnight. However, incrementally, one can move towards (1), (3), (4), (5), (6), (8) and, especially, (7).
We should start with that inventory.
Conclusion
While fingers can rightly be pointed at Western museums and auction-houses (this isn’t only about the colonial era), there is internal connivance.
Language sensitivity has been a feature of selfhood in the case of every Indian language.
Sensitivity to language
From ancient times, a sensitivity to language difference has almost been the core of Dravidic self-hood.
A similar sensitivity existed among the speakers of Prakrits in ancient times.
It was in one of the Prakrits that Mahavir had presented his teachings in the sixth century BCE.
Eighteen centuries later, Acharya Hemachandra, a major Jain scholar, poet, mathematician and philosopher, produced his Desinamamala, a treatise on the importance of Prakrit words used in Gujarat of his times as against those from Sanskrit.
Mahatma Gandhi, who defined the idea of selfhood for India in Hind Swaraj (1909), chose to write this iconic book in Gujarati.
Constitutional provision
The official language used for communication between the States shall be the language that has been in use at the time of adoption of the Constitution.
The move from English to Hindi can take place only if, ‘two or more states agree’ for the shift.
Article 344 (4) provides for a ‘Committee consisting of thirty members’, ‘twenty’ from the Parliament and ‘ten’ from State assemblies, for safeguarding language-related provisions.
The distribution between two ministries
The functions and the scope of the committee, as laid down by the Constitution, are further clarified by the practice of distribution of language as a subject between two Ministries, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry and the Home Ministry.
The scope of the HRD Ministry extends to education and the promotion of cultural expression.
The Home Ministry’s scope extends to safeguarding relations of the States with the ‘union’, protecting the linguistic rights of language minorities and the promotion of Hindi.
The last of these, the Constitution states, has to be ‘without interference with other languages.
Data on language decline
In 2011, Hindi speakers accounted for 43.63% of the total population, with a total of 52.83 crore speakers.
In 1971, the number was 20.27 crore, accounting for 36.99% of the total population.
Between 2001 and 2011, the growth in proportion of the population was 2.6%.
The next most spoken language, Bangla, had negative growth.
It was spoken by 8.30% of Indians in 1991, 8.11% in 2001 and by 8.03% in 2011.
Telugu, which slid from 7.87% in 1991, to 7.19% in 2001 and 6.70% in 2011, has a similar story to tell.
Tamil recorded 6.32% of the total population in 1991, 5.91% in 2001 and 5.70% in 2011.
The only major language to show decadal growth (though small) was Gujarati.
And the only small yet scheduled language to show good growth was Sanskrit.
Reasons for Hindi’s growth
The 52.83 crore speakers of Hindi (as recorded in 2011) included not just the speaker of ‘Hindi’ but also those of more than 50 other languages.
Bhojpuri and most languages of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand have also been pushed into the Hindi package.
Had the Census not included these other languages under Hindi, the strength of Hindi speakers would have gone down to about 39 crore, — just a little under 32% of the total population in 2011 — and would have looked not too different from those of other scheduled languages.
The data for English speakers is far more truthful. Census 2011 reports a total of 3,88,793 Indians as English speakers (2,59,678 men and 1,29,115 women).
Hindi in comparison to other languages in the Eighth schedule
Among the languages included in the Eighth Schedule, Hindi falls within the younger lot of languages.
On the other hand, Tamil, Kannada, Kashmiri, Marathi, Oriya, Sindhi, Nepali and Assamiya have a much longer/older history.
As a language of knowledge too, Tamil, Kannada, Bangla and Marathi (with their abundance of encyclopaedias and historical literature), quite easily outshine Hindi.
Conclusion
A language evolves slowly and cannot be forced to grow by issuing ordinances.
In an unusual development, the Nepali PM sacked the head of its central bank accusing him of leaking sensitive information and for failing to perform his duties.
What is the news?
Nepal’s forex reserves have plummeted by 18.5% to $9.58 billion in March from $11.75 billion in July 2021.
The current forex reserves are not enough to pay the government’s import bills beyond the next seven months or so.
Nepal’s central bank recently announced a ban on the import of vehicles and other luxury items, citing liquidity crunch and declining foreign exchange reserves.
It is rumoured that the Nepali economy will go into a crisis like Sri Lanka.
Why have Nepal’s forex reserves fallen?
Nepal’s forex reserves situation appears healthy as of now as the country, unlike Sri Lanka, is not burdened by external debt.
There are, however, concerns that the lower middle-income economy is being battered repeatedly by external factors and that may precipitate a crisis sometime soon.
Nepal which is blessed with one of the finest tourism sectors in South Asia, because of the Himalayan mountain range, suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic as global tourist flow fell.
This is followed by the global energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This has put extraordinary inflationary pressure on the economy.
How bad is the situation?
Nepal’s economy is highly dependent on imports as the country buys a range of merchandise goods apart from fuel.
The prevailing weak economic indicators mean that Nepal is spending from its forex reserves faster than it can save.
Economists contend that Nepal will soon have double-digit inflation. All economic indicators are declining.
The real shortfall in forex reserves is because of the decline in foreign remittances which suffered during the pandemic when the Nepalese workforce abroad suffered job losses.
Can the energy scene in Nepal escalate economic woes?
Nepal’s history shows that any uncertainty regarding fuel can trigger serious internal problems as was visible during the 2015-16 blockade when disruption of fuel supply from India.
Nepal’s primary supplier of energy is Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) pays IOC in two installments every month, on the 8th and the 23rd.
The NOC has been in crisis for months as high global prices depleted the company’s savings, prompting it to approach the government for a lifeline.
The Government of Nepal has agreed to provide NOC the necessary amount to continue supplies from IOC.
NOC’s financial status makes it unattractive for banks and as a result the public sector company does not enjoy confidence in the market.
Paradoxical situation
The government is in a paradoxical situation: It has to control imports of products from which it earns the highest amount of tax revenue.
Luxury items are the country’s major source of revenue.
If revenue shrinks, an economic crisis could be imminent.
Impact on elections
Nepal will hold local level polls next month which will be followed by general elections towards the end of the year.
The election process requires considerable financial allocation and Nepal has received support in the past for elections from international donors like the USAID.
These donors help in carrying out pre-election staff training and logistics that are part of any democratic process.
But there are uncertainties considering the bleak financial situation.
It will require at least 10 billion Nepali rupees for the election process and that will mean diversion of a large amount of resources for the democratic process.
Quick recap: Sri Lankan Crisis
Like Nepal, Sri Lanka is a country with a small economy. The Sri Lankan economy is around 1.5 times bigger than Nepal’s.
Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was in the making since it suffered a terrorist attack in 2019 which hit its tourism industry, a major contributor to the GDP.
Then came the pandemic, which further wiped out tourism incomes. Then there were debt burdens in dollars.
The political leadership failed to act to address the looming crisis.
The Rajapaksha dynasty made some wrong moves—it cut taxes and started printing money, hugely devaluing the currency.
In what looked like a well-intentioned move towards organic farming, the county banned imports of chemical fertilisers. Paddy production failed. The country ran out of money to pay its bills.
Is Nepal really going the way of Sri Lanka?
In Nepal, the situation is not as bleak.
Nepal’s current forex reserves are enough to pay for imports of goods and services for about seven and a half months.
Tourism, one of the major foreign currency earners, was hit hard by the pandemic, but its gradual revival has given a glimmer of hope.
Since Nepal’s currency is pegged to the Indian rupee, a massive devaluation shock is unlikely. Tourism is also rebounding, giving a fillip to foreign currency reserves.
Back2Basics: Foreign Exchange Reserves
Foreign exchange reserves are important assets held by the central bank in foreign currencies as reserves.
They are commonly used to support the exchange rate and set monetary policy.
In India’s case, foreign reserves include Gold, Dollars, and the IMF’s quota for Special Drawing Rights.
Most of the reserves are usually held in US dollars, given the currency’s importance in the international financial and trading system.
Some central banks keep reserves in Euros, British pounds, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan, in addition to their US dollar reserves.
India is likely to miss its 2022 target of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity a/c to a report. This is because of rooftop solar lagging behind, the authors say.
India’s Solar Policy
Since 2011, India’s solar sector has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 59% from 0.5GW in 2011 to 55GW in 2021.
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), also known as the National Solar Mission (NSM), was commenced in January 2010.
It marked the first time the government focussed on promoting and developing solar power in India.
Under the scheme, the total installed capacity target was set as 20GW by 2022.
In 2015, the target was revised to 100GW and in August 2021, the government set a solar target of 300GW by 2030.
Solar energy: India among the peers
India currently ranks fifth after China, U.S., Japan and Germany in terms of installed solar power capacity.
As of December 2021, the cumulative solar installed capacity of India is 55GW, which is roughly half the renewable energy (RE) capacity (excluding large hydro power) and 14% of the overall power generation capacity of India.
Within the 55GW, grid-connected utility-scale projects contribute 77% and the rest comes from grid-connected rooftop and off-grid projects.
What does the new report say?
As of April, only about 50% of the 100GW target, consisting of 60GW of utility-scale and 40GW of rooftop solar capacity, has been met.
Nearly 19 GW of solar capacity is expected to be added in 2022 — 15.8GW from utility-scale and 3.5GW from rooftop solar.
Even accounting for this capacity would mean about 27% of India’s 100GW solar target would remain unmet.
A 25GW shortfall in the 40GW rooftop solar target, is expected compared to 1.8GW in the utility-scale solar target by December 2022.
Thus, it is in rooftop solar that the challenges of India’s solar-adoption policy stick out.
What is Solar Rooftop?
A solar photovoltaic (PV) system mounted on a rooftop of a building is a mini-power requirement or feed into the grid.
The size of the installation varies significantly depending on the availability of space, amount of electricity consumed by the property and the ability or willingness of the owner to invest the capital required.
In December 2015, the government launched the first phase of the grid-connected rooftop solar programme to incentivise its use in residential, institutional and social areas.
The second phase, approved in February 2019, had a target of 40GW of cumulative rooftop solar capacity by 2022, with incentives in the form of central financial assistance (CFA).
As of November 2021, of the phase 2 target of 4GW set for the residential sector, only 1.1GW had been installed.
Reasons for rooftop solar adoption not meeting targets
In its early years, India’s rooftop solar market struggled to grow, held back by lack of consumer awareness, inconsistent policy frameworks of the Centre/ State governments and financing.
Pandemic-induced supply chain disruption to policy restrictions
Regulatory roadblocks
Limits to net-metering (or paying users who give back surplus electricity to the grid)
Taxes on imported cells and modules
Unsigned power supply agreements (PSAs) and banking restrictions
Financing issues plus delays in or rejection of open access approval grants and
The unpredictability of future open access charges
Other issues: India’s storage capacity
About 34 GW / 136 GWh of battery storage is expected to be installed by 2030, according to the Central Electricity Authority of India.
This capacity would be used for RE integration, demand-side and peak load management services.
Present state of progress
Recently, there has been a sharp rise in rooftop solar installations due to falling technology costs, increasing grid tariffs, rising consumer awareness and the growing need for cutting energy costs.
These factors are expected to persist giving a much-needed boost to this segment.
Going ahead, rooftop solar adoption is expected to proportionally increase as land and grid-connectivity for utility solar projects are expected to be hard to come by.
Significance of solar power to India’s commitment
Solar power is a major prong of India’s commitment to address global warming according to the terms of the Paris Agreement, as well as achieving net zero, or no net carbon emissions, by 2070.
PM at the COP Glasgow, in November 2021, said India would be reaching a non-fossil fuel energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030 and meet half its energy requirements via renewable energy by 2030.
To boost the renewable energy installation drive in the long term, the Centre in 2020 set a target of 450GW of RE capacity to be achieved by 2030, within which the target for solar was 300GW.
Given the challenge of integrating variable renewable energy into the grid, most of the RE capacity installed in the latter half of this decade is likely to be based on wind solar hybrid (WSH).
Way forward
Supportive policies and innovative technological approaches are needed for the sector to achieve its potential.
Indian policymakers need to plan for rooftop solar plus storage, rather than rooftop solar alone with the grid as storage (net / gross metering).
The declining cost of storage solutions, along with that of rooftop solar solutions, is likely to change the future of the Indian power sector.
Several countries such as Australia, the United States, Germany, among others have already endorsed solar power with battery storage.
Energy storage, therefore, represents a huge economic opportunity for India.
The creation of a conducive battery manufacturing ecosystem on a fast track could cement India’s opportunity for radical economic and industrial transformation in a critical and fast-growing global market.
This newscard is an excerpt of an article originally published in the Down To Earth.
Defining Work
‘Work’ was defined by Spanish economist Lourdes Beneria in 1999 as a paid economic activity linked to the market.
Both paid and unpaid work, however, are constituents of our economic life.
This leads to an ecosystem where unpaid and care work, performed for long hours, becomes invisible.
Narrative of Unpaid Work
Women perform 75 per cent of the world’s unpaid care work, and unfortunately it is not accounted for in a nation’s gross domestic product.
The largest source of women’s unpaid labour is domestic work.
These include household chores like grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning as well as caregiving to the children, elderly and infirm.
In the absence of this, survival is perceived as a challenge for both individuals and society as every economy is dependent on unpaid labour and care services.
Time Poverty and unpaid work
This share of labour has a cost not only in terms of the unrecognised monetary value but also time poverty.
Time poverty is defined as “not having enough time” to pursue interests beyond unpaid domestic / care work.
Time poverty has a direct bearing on the ability of women to contribute to or participate in the labour market and / or public or political life.
Time poverty is also responsible for insufficient political participation of women globally.
Issues with unpaid work
Unpaid labour is not considered ‘real work’ and is often devalued by the men and society, who directly benefit from it.
The situation leads to emotional strain and combined with the time poverty, the costs often outweigh the benefits.
Often, women do not find enough time or motivation to participate in activities outside the household.
Female labour force participation rate is on a declining trend in major economies.
The conception of Time Banking
Time banking comes forward as a social innovation for increased empowerment of women.
Traditionally, household chores are expected to be performed by women. Women in general are more time poor than men.
Empowerment of women is limited by time poverty. In this context the concept of time banking was introduced.
Time banking can be viewed as an opportunity cost of an unpaid activity in terms of the time sacrificed.
How does time bank function?
In time banks, one hour equals one time credit, regardless of the service being performed or the level of each person’s skill or gender.
The time banks are time-sharing cooperative among women, with people helping each other meet their day-to-day needs and address challenges in their community.
For each hour of a service exchanged, the service provider receives one, time credit and the beneficiary pays one, time credit.
The time bank networks tap into unused resources of people in the community to fill unmet needs of each other.
Significance of time banking for women
Time-banking can benefit women, their families and their communities by alleviating time poverty through the system of exchange services through time credits.
The system has the potential to improve the livelihoods of women and their families, thereby increasing overall economic activities.
There were time banks operating in more than 30 countries in the Americas, Africa and Europe as well as in Russia and China.
Most case studies showed that time banks have functioned most as community-building tools, economic drivers or within elder care.
They can also be utilised to prioritise women’s political participation.
This has a direct impact on women empowerment and entails benefits to individual women, their families and communities.
Time bank networks can be utilised for increasing political participation of women in the following ways:
Directly: Through utilisation of time credits for campaigning for office
Indirectly: By educating themselves or others on local issues or understanding their rights, accessing government programs and mobilising others.
Way forward
Across the world, there are examples in our everyday life of intra- and inter-family examples of informal time-sharing.
However, for tangible results on a community or economy scale, the concept needs scaling up and formalisation.
Time banking, if made a formal arrangement, has the potential of community building, civic inclusiveness and increasing economic activity.
Above all, it has the potential to act as the catalyst to women empowerment by formally recognising the economic value of unpaid labour and tapping the same across communities.
Temperatures have shot up across many parts of the country with the early onset of summer, leading to a rise in the demand for power. Instances of power outages have been reported in several states.
Why is there a concern around power supply?
The demand for power has soared.
Several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, and Maharashtra, are facing power outages.
The coal stock with power generation companies (gencos) is not adequate to meet the rising demand.
How bad is the coal shortage?
Normally, a power plant must maintain 26 days of coal stock.
However, at present, several power plants are reporting critical levels of coal stock.
Data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) shows that 97 power plants out of the 173 that the CEA tracks have critical levels of coal inventory.
Of the 173, there are 155 non-pithead plants or power plants that are not near coal mines.
These have an average of 28% of the stock compared to the normal scenario.
The 18 plants that are near coal mines have an average stock of 81% of the normal requirement.
Note: Non-pithead plants are power plants where the coal mine is more than 1,500 kilometres away.
Is coal shortage the only reason for a power crisis?
The lack of railway rakes to transport coal is also a major problem.
The state power distribution companies (discoms) have also not been able to clear their dues to power generation companies.
The covid-19 pandemic has now weakened the finances of many states, raising doubts about the ability of state-owned discoms to clear their dues.
What has led to the coal shortage?
Several factors have led to the shortage, including the stagnation of production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) after the bumper production in FY15 and FY16.
There seems to be a tussle between the Centre and coal-rich states, which delay environment and land acquisition clearances.
High dues of discoms towards gencos and the eventual delay in gencos paying CIL has complicated the scenario.
How has the Centre responded?
CIL has made efforts to raise supply to the power sector by reducing its dispatch to other industries.
The power ministry said that to avoid long-distance transport, a ‘tolling’ facility would be allowed.
In this system, state gencos can allow other thermal power plants near a coal mine to utilize their coal linkages to generate and transmit power back.
This is an easier alternative compared to transportation.
Further, the states need to ensure that imported coal-based plants operate at reasonable tariffs.
Try answering this PYQ:
Consider the following statements:
Coal sector was nationalized by the Government of India under Indira Gandhi.
Now, coal blocks are allocated on lottery basis.
Till recently, India imported coal to meet the shortages of domestic supply, but now India is self- sufficient in coal production.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a proposal to continue the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), a scheme for improving the governance capabilities of Panchayati Raj institutions, till 2025-26.
What is RGSA?
The RGSA, a centrally sponsored scheme, was first approved by the Union Cabinet in 2018 for implementation from 2018-19 to 2021-22.
It is a unique scheme proposed to develop and strengthen the Panchayati Raj System across India in rural areas.
The objective of the campaign is to promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of the government, and reach out to poor households to enroll them as also to obtain their feedback on various welfare programs.
The main central components of the scheme included incentivization of panchayats and mission mode project on e-Panchayat including other activities at central level.
Scope of the scheme
RGSA is extend to all States and Union Territories (UTs) of the country. It includes institutions of rural local government in non-Part IX areas.
Part IX provides for a 3 tier Panchayat system, which would be constituted in every state at the village level, intermediate level and district level.
This provision brought uniformity in the Panchayati Raj structure in India.
Areas where Part IX is not applicable:
As per Article 243M of the Constitution, provisions of Part IX of the Constitution are not applicable to:
Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas referred to in Article 244.
The States of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
The hill areas in the State of Manipur for which District Councils exist. (In these areas, district councils and various types of village-level bodies are in existence)
Panchayats at the district level to the hill areas of the District of Darjeeling in the State of West Bengal.
Provision of the Article 243D with respect to reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes is not applicable to the State of Arunachal Pradesh.
Purpose of extension
The scheme would work towards:
Poverty-free and enhanced livelihood in villages
Healthy villages, child-friendly villages
Water-sufficient villages
Clean and green villages
Self-sufficient infrastructure in villages
Socially-secure villages with good governance and engendered development
Almost everyone vaccinated for Covid-19 over the last 16 months will remember that he or she received a quick prick in the upper arm.
Why vaccines are generally administered into muscle?
This is because most vaccines, including those for Covid-19, are most effective when administered through the intramuscular route into the upper arm muscle, known as the deltoid.
There are several reasons, but the most important one is that the muscles have a rich blood supply network.
This means whenever a vaccine carrying an antigen is injected into it, the muscle releases the antigen, which gets dispersed by the muscular vasculature, or the arrangement of blood vessels in the muscle.
The antigen then gets picked up by a type of immune cells called dendritic cells, which function by showing antigens on their surface to other cells of the immune system.
The dendritic cells carry the antigen through the lymphatic fluid to the lymph node.
Role of T Cells
T Cells also called T lymphocyte, type of leukocyte (white blood cell) that is an essential part of the immune system.
T cells are one of two primary types of lymphocytes—B cells being the second type—that determine the specificity of the immune response to antigens (foreign substances) in the body.
Through the course of research over the years, it is understood that the lymph nodes have T cells and B cells — the body’s primary protector cells.
Once this antigen gets flagged and is given to the T cells and B cells that is how we start developing an immune response against a particular virus.
It could be any of the new viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, or the previous viruses which we have been running vaccination programs for.
Other options for vaccination
Conversely, if the vaccine is administered into the subcutaneous fat tissue [between the skin and the muscle], which has a poor blood supply, absorption of the antigen vaccine is poor and therefore one may have failed immune response.
Similarly, the additives which could be toxic, could cause a local reaction.
The same thing could happen when the vaccine is administered intradermally (just below the outermost skin layer, the epidermis).
Hence, the route chosen now for most vaccines is intramuscular.
Also, compared to the skin or subcutaneous tissue, the muscles have fewer pain receptors, and so an intramuscular injection does not hurt as much as a subcutaneous or an intradermal injection.
But why the upper arm muscle in particular?
In some vaccines, such as that for rabies, the immunogenicity — the ability of any cell or tissue to provoke an immune response — increases when it is administered in the arm.
If administered in subcutaneous fat tissues located at the thigh or hips, these vaccines show a lower immunogenicity and thus there is a chance of vaccine failure.
Why not administer the vaccine directly into the vein?
This is to ensure the ‘depot effect’, or release of medication slowly over time to enable longer effectiveness.
When given intravenously, the vaccine is quickly absorbed into the circulation.
The intramuscular method takes some time to absorb the vaccine.
Wherever a vaccination programme is carried out, it is carried out for the masses.
To deposit the vaccine, the easiest route would be the oral route (like the polio vaccine).
However, for other vaccines that need to be administered intravenously or intramuscularly (enabling wider field-based administration), the intramuscular route is chosen from a public health perspective over the intravenous route.
Which vaccines are administered through other routes?
One of the oldest vaccines that for smallpox, was given by scarification of the skin.
However, with time, doctors realised there are better ways to vaccinate beneficiaries.
These included the intradermal route, the subcutaneous route, the intramuscular route, oral, and nasal routes.
There are only two exceptions that continue to be administered through the intradermal route.
These are the vaccines for BCG (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) and for tuberculosis because these two vaccines continue to work empirically well when administered through the intradermal route.
The Madhavpur Mela was recently inaugurated by the President of India.
In the entire country, there is no other fair which the President and host of Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of a number of states visit.
What is the Madhavpur Mela?
The Mela is a religio-cultural fair taking place every year in Madhavpur, a village on the Porbandar coast, also known as Madhavpur Ghed.
The village has temples of Madhavraiji, or Lord Krishna, and his consort Rukmini, believed to have been built in the 15th century.
It is also known for its sandy sea beach, the turquoise waters of the Arabian Sea, a sea turtle hatchery and the Osho Ashram
The fair begins on Ram Navami, Lord Rama’s birth anniversary falling on the ninth day of the month of Chaitra in the Hindu calendar, and culminates on Tryodashi, the 13th day of the month.
Mythology behind the fair
The fair celebrates the marriage of Lord Krishna with Rukmini around 4,000 years ago, as per Hindu mythology.
The fair begins on Ram Navami, Lord Rama’s birth anniversary falling on the ninth day of the month of Chaitra in the Hindu calendar, and culminates on Tryodashi, the 13th day of the month.
According to mythology, Lord Krishna had established his kingdom in Dwarka near Porbandar.
Rukmini, daughter of King Bhimak of the present-day Arunachal Pradesh, wanted to marry Krishna, while her brother wanted to marry her off to Shishupal, Krishna’s cousin.
Therefore, Krishna abducted Rukmini, brought her to Gujarat and tied the knot with her at Madhavpur village.
Today, to mark the wedding, marriage rituals go on for five days.
They culminate with the idols of Lord Krishna and Rukmini being taken out in a procession through Madhavpur for ‘samaiya’, a ritual to welcome the bridegroom back home with his bride.
Significance of the fair
The President observed that fairs and festivals have bonded the people of India for ages and that Madhavpur Mela also integrates Gujarat to the Northeast of India.
This fair reflects that, despite our languages, dialects and lifestyles being different, Indians, since time immemorial, have been one culturally.
Do you know?
There is one such festival called ‘Pushkaram’ which is celebrated by the people of Tamil Nadu. Devotees from Tamil Nadu perform rituals at the banks of Brahmaputra River.
With Less than 60 days remaining for UPSC 2022 Prelims, your preparation must revolve around revision and attempting tests. At this stage, aspirants become more stressed and anxious than when they first started their preparation. Having a foolproof strategy for the last few days can work wonders — especially for those falling on the borderline, scoring between 80-90 marks in the mock test series. Now is the time to focus on improving your performance and boosting your scores.
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Prelims Spotlight: Budget and Economic Survey
14th Apr 2022
The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs has presented the Economic Survey 2021-22 in Parliament.
[1] State of the Economy
Economic growth: Indian economy estimated to grow by 9.2 percent in real terms in 2021-22 (as per first advanced estimates) subsequent to a contraction of 7.3 percent in 2020-21.
GDP growth: GDP projected to grow by 8- 8.5 percent in real terms in 2022-23.
Agriculture and allied sectors: In line with the longer term trend, the area sown in the Kharif cycle of 2021-22 was again higher than in the previous year. In contrast to the steady performance of the primary sector, the industrial sector went through a big swing by first contracting by 7 per cent in 2020-21 and then expanding by 11.8 per cent in this financial year.
[2] Fiscal Developments
Revenue receipts: These have gone up by 67.2 percent (YoY) as against an expected growth of 9.6 percent in the 2021-22 Budget Estimates.
Gross Tax Revenue: It registered a growth of over 50 percent during April to November, 2021 in YoY terms.
Borrowings: With the enhanced borrowings on account of COVID-19, the Central Government debt has gone up from 49.1 percent of GDP in 2019-20 to 59.3 percent of GDP in 2020-21.
[3] External Sectors
India’s merchandise exports and imports rebounded strongly and surpassed pre-COVID levels during the current financial year.
Net capital flows: These were higher at US$ 65.6 billion in the first half of 2021-22, on account of continued inflow of foreign investment, revival in net external commercial borrowings, higher banking capital and additional special drawing rights (SDR) allocation.
India’s external debt: It rose to US $ 593.1 billion at end-September 2021, from US $ 556.8 billion a year earlier, reflecting additional SDR allocation by IMF, coupled with higher commercial borrowings.
Foreign Exchange Reserves: It touched US $ 633.6 billion in Dec 2021 making India the fourth largest forex reserves holder in the world after China, Japan and Switzerland.
[4]Monetary Management and Financial Intermediation
Repo was maintained: The liquidity in the system remained in surplus. Repo rate was maintained at 4 per cent in 2021-22.
GSAP: RBI undertook various measures such as G-Sec Acquisition Programme and Special Long-Term Repo Operations to provide further liquidity.
NPAs declined: The Gross Non-Performing Advances ratio of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) declined from 11.2 per cent at the end of 2017-18 to 6.9 per cent at the end of September, 2021.
[5] Prices and Inflation
Control over food inflation: The decline in retail inflation was led by easing of food inflation. Proactive measures were taken to contain the price rise in pulses and edible oils.
Supply constraints eased: Effective supply-side management kept prices of most essential commodities under control during the year.
Fuel price reduction: Reduction in central excise and subsequent cuts in Value Added Tax by most States helped ease petrol and diesel prices.
[6] Sustainable Development and Climate Change
Sustainable development: India’s overall score on the NITI Aayog SDG India Index and Dashboard improved to 66 in 2020-21 from 60 in 2019-20 and 57 in 2018-19.
Rise in forest cover: India has the tenth largest forest area in the world. In 2020, India ranked third globally in increasing its forest area during 2010 to 2020. In 2020, the forests covered 24% of India’s total geographical, accounting for 2% of the world’s total forest area.
Plastic waste management (PWM): In August 2021, the PWM Amendment Rules, 2021, was notified which is aimed at phasing out single use plastic by 2022.
Extended Producer Responsibility for plastic: Draft rules for plastic packaging was notified.
Pledge on Net-Zero Emissions: The PM participated at COP-26 in Glasgow. He announced ambitious targets to achieve net-zero by 2070.
[7] Agriculture and Food Management
Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy: It is being used to promote crop diversification.
Allied sector growth: Allied sectors including animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries are steadily emerging to be high growth sectors and major drivers of overall growth in agriculture sector.
Food security: Government has further extended the coverage of food security network through schemes like PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY).
Income Support: Timely release of PM-KISAN Funds.
[8]Industry and Infrastructure:
Index of Industrial Production (IIP): It grew at 17.4 percent (YoY) during April-November 2021 as compared to -15.3 percent in April-November 2020.
Extent of road construction per day: This has increased substantially in 2020-21 to 36.5 Kms per day from 28 Kms per day in 2019-20 – a rise of 30.4 percent.
Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme: It gave a major boost to infrastructure-both physical as well as digital.
In contrast to the steady performance of the primary sector, the industrial sector went through a big swing by first contracting by 7 per cent in 2020-21 and then expanding by 11.8 per cent in this financial year.
[9] Services Sector
Growth despite pandemic: Overall service Sector GVA is expected to grow by 8.2 percent in 2021-22.
Opening up of space sector to private players: Major government reform.
India becomes start-up hub: India has become 3rd largest start-up ecosystem in the world after US and China.
Unicorns in India: 44 Indian start-ups have achieved unicorn status in 2021 taking overall tally of unicorns to 83, most of which are in services sector.
[10] Social Infrastructure and Employment
Universal vaccination: 157.94 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered (as on 16th January 2022).
Employment recovery: As per the quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PFLS) data up to March 2021, employment in urban sector affected by pandemic has recovered almost to the pre-pandemic level.
Expenditure on social services (health, education and others): This expenditure by Centre and States as a proportion of GDP increased from 6.2 % in 2014-15 to 8.6% in 2021-22.
National Family Health Survey-5:
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) came down to 2 in 2019-21 from 2.2 in 2015-16
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), under-five mortality rate and institutional births have improved in 2019-21 over year 2015-16
Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM): Under this, 83 districts have become ‘Har Ghar Jal’ districts.
Continuance of MGNREGS: Increased allotment of funds to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) to provide buffer for unorganized labour in rural areas during the pandemic.
[11] Investment: Gross Fixed Capital Formation
Statistically it measures the value of acquisitions of new or existing fixed assets by the business sector, governments and “pure” households (excluding their unincorporated enterprises) less disposals of fixed assets. GFCF is a component of the expenditure on gross domestic product (GDP), and thus shows something about how much of the new value added in the economy is invested rather than consumed. GFCF is called “gross” because the measure does not make any adjustments to deduct the consumption of fixed capital (depreciation of fixed assets) from the investment figures.
Investment, as measured by Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) is expected to see strong growth of 15 per cent in 2021-22 and achieve full recovery of pre-pandemic level. Government’s policy thrust on quickening virtuous cycles of growth via capex and infrastructure spending has increased capital formation in the economy, lifting the investment to GDP ratio to about 29.6 per cent in 2021-22, the highest in seven years. BARBELL STRATEGY, SAFETY NETS & AGILE RESPONSE:
“Barbell Strategy”: It combined a bouquet of safety-nets to cushion the impact on vulnerable sections of society/business, with a flexible policy response based on a Bayesian updating of information. This is a common strategy used in financial markets to deal with extreme uncertainty.
The Agile approach is a well-established intellectual framework that is increasingly used in fields like project management and technology development. In an uncertain environment, the Agile framework responds by assessing outcomes in short iterations and constantly adjusting incrementally.
The Waterfall approach entails a detailed, initial assessment of the problem followed by a rigid up-front plan for implementation. This methodology works on the premise that all requirements can be understood at the beginning and therefore pre-commits to a certain path of action. This is the thinking reflected in five-year economic plans, and rigid urban master-plans.
Cooperation and competition are the two sides of the same coin— ‘Federalism’. Both are essential to take the ‘New India’ march forward economically and socially.
While on the one hand the States need to be assisted with resources and sound policy advice, on the other they need to be encouraged to improve their performance.
The Budget 2022-23 is a continuation of a series of reforms, policies and measures that have strengthened India’s federal system.
Cooperative Federalism
Governing Council of NITI Aayoga – NITI’s Governing Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, comprises of all the Chief Ministers and LGs of UTs as equal members and a selected Government of India ministers. The Governing Councilmeets annually to evolve a shared vision of country’s economic development.
India @75 document – One of NITI Aayog’s major initiative since its inception has been formulating the Strategy document in 2017 (India@75), its preparation followed an extremely participative approach.
Other steps indicative of cooperative federalism – These steps are showcased in-
Development blueprints prepared jointly with Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, and Madhya Pradesh.
Regular sharing of best practices; policy support and capacity development of State/UT functionaries, etc., are other areas where NITI partners with State governments.
The 17 goals and 169 targets under the SDGs are interdependent and inter-connected, and require concerted and coordinated action within the various departments.
This inherent nature of the goals has forced States to dissolve silo-based functioning prevalent in government institutions.
Various moves for Competitive Federalism
(A) Indicators and transparent rankings
NITI Aayog stimulates healthy competition among States through developing indicator frameworks and transparent rankings in various sectors.
States are ranked through various indices measuring ease of doing business to Sustainable Development Goals.
Some of the indices launched by NITI Aayog are Composite Water Management Index, India Innovation Index, Export Competitiveness Index, School Education Quality Index, State Health Index and Sustainable Development Goals Index.
(B) Aspirational Districts Programme
NITI Aayog also releases rankings in the monthly changes in the performance of Aspirational Districts.
The Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) of NITI Aayog focuses on 112 of India’s most developmentally challenged districts across sectors such as health and nutrition; education; agriculture and water resources; basic infrastructure; and financial inclusion and skill development.
Districts are challenged and encouraged first to catch up with the best district in their State, and then aspire to become one of the best in the nation, by competing and learning from others in the competitive and cooperative spirit of federalism.
Top ranked aspirational district gets Rs 10 crore, second best receives Rs 5 crore and sector wise best gets Rs 3 crore each.
(C) Localization of SDGs
Starting in 2018, NITI defined the contours of the national progress monitoring on SDGs based on key national development Priorities in its first ever framework for monitoring the country’s progress on the SDGs – SDG India Index and Dashboard.
Now, it has been institutionalized and established as the country’s principal and official policy tool on benchmarking national and sub-national Progress.
Most recently, as a part of its localization efforts, NITI published the first regional index — The North-Eastern Region District SDG Index.
Taking the successful SDG localization model further to the level of urban areas, NITI Aayog developed and released the SDG Urban Index & Dashboard (2021-22).
This interactive tool is aimed at strengthening SDG localization at the city level.
NITI Aayog has created strong partnership with States to achieve SDG-oriented development agenda. This enables it to foster cooperative federalism.
Strengthening Fiscal Federalism
Devolution of finances: The successive Finance Commissions have raised the share of States in tax revenues from 29.5% between 2000 and 2005 to 42% currently.
Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSCs): In line with Finance Commission recommendations, 130 Centrally Sponsored Schemes have been revamped and restructured into 65, enabling greater flexibility and impact.
Increased borrowing limits: Among the key fiscal support measures by Centre to States to fight Covid-19, the Centre increased the borrowing limits of States from 3.0% of GSDP to 5.0% for 2020-21.
GST Collection: GST has been a landmark reform of independent India showcasing the spirit of cooperative federalism. Despite the surge in Covid-19 cases, gross GST collections for the month of January 2022 were recorded at Rs 1,40,986 crore, which is the highest since the inception of GST.
Special assistance: In her Budget speech, the finance minister pointed out that the ‘Scheme for Financial Assistance to States for Capital Investment’ has been extremely well received by the States.
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The introduction of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) can be seen as a step in the direction of aligning India with international standards.
About CUET
The UGC’s rationale for introducing the test is to address the disparity in the allocation of marks by different examination boards, and provide a “level playing field” to students from different sections of society and diverse regions.
The CUET has been envisaged as a corrective.
Of the 48 central universities, 45 seem to have the requirements to institute the test.
The CUET is going to decide the fate of approximately 1.3 crore students for roughly 5.4 lakh undergraduate seats in 45 central universities.
Issues with the CUET
Students to contend with two examinations: The marks obtained in the board examination will remain vital for admission to state and private universities as well as job applications.
The students will now have to contend with two examinations.
Impetus to coaching classes: Many educationists argue that the new examination is likely to give an impetus to coaching classes.
Coaching and private tuition will flourish without much concern for quality in the preparation of the study material.
Not all State Boards prescribe NCERT textbooks: The CUET syllabus will be based on NCERT (under the Ministry of Education) textbooks even though not all state boards prescribe these books.
The coaching industry stands to take advantage of this situation and students will have a hard time navigating two sets of textbooks.
The impact is likely to be harsher on disadvantaged sections of the society for whom access to higher education is seen as the only route to upward mobility.
Way forward
The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is constantly increasing for higher secondary education (51.4 per cent according to UDISE, 2019-20) and higher education (27.1 per cent to AISHE, 2019-20).
The figures indicate that higher education has acquired a mass base in the country.
This has important implications for a knowledge-based economy and society.
Maintaining the momentum of GER would require more teachers, schools and higher education institutions of quality and slow down the rush for a few but highly sought after universities and colleges.
Conclusion
The new examination would put additional pressure on both students and teachers at a time when they are trying to overcome the exactions of the pandemic. It appears to diverge from the objective of the National Education Policy-2020 — equitable access to good quality higher education for all students.
