In the intro, mention Indian leading the tech giants.
In the body discuss the issues such as role of government, missed opportunities after economic reforms etc.
In the suggestions, mention increasing public spending on education and R&D, focusing on electronic manufacturing, strengthening PSUs etc.
Conclude by mentioning that the next big story about Indian prowess does not have to be from the U.S., but could come from thousands of entrepreneurs in far-flung corners of the country.
The Sri Lankan Navy has seized eight Indian fishing vessels and arrested 55 fishermen on the charge of poaching.
What is the issue?
As in the past, fishermen from Rameswaram and nearby coasts continue to sail towards Talaimannar and Katchatheevu coasts, a region famous for rich maritime resources in Sri Lanka.
Indian boats have been fishing in the troubled waters for centuries and had a free run of the Bay of Bengal, the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar until 1974 and 1976.
Treaties were later signed between the two countries to demarcate the maritime boundary — the ‘International Maritime Boundary Line'(IMBL).
Issues for Sri Lanka
Proliferation of Trawlers: The overuse of mechanized trawlers in Palk Bay is damaging the marine ecosystem in SL waters.
Breach of sovereignty: There were many favorable reasons too for Indian fishermen as their access to Sri Lankan waters was easier at the time of Sri Lankan civil war.
Porous borders: Maritime boundaries were never tightly guarded as a result, Indian trawlers continue to routinely enter Lankan waters for fishing.
End of Civil War: Everything changed in 2009 with the end of civil war. Arrests and attacks increased on Indian fishermen as they continued entering Lankan waters because of depletion of marine resources on the Indian side.
Fishermen’s concern:
(1) Depletion of fisheries
There is a depletion of fisheries on the Indian side, so Indian fishermen cross into Sri Lankan waters thus denying the livelihood of their counterparts.
They deliberately cross the territorial waters even at the risk of getting arrested or shot dead by the Sri Lankan Navy.
Sri Lankan fishermen across Palk Bay are concerned over similar depletion on their side (where there is a ban for trawlers) because of poaching by Indian fishermen.
(2) Rights over Katchatheevu Island
Tamil fishermen have been entering Sri Lankan waters nearby Katchatheevu island, where they had been fishing for centuries.
In 1974, the island was ceded to Sri Lanka after an agreement was signed by Indira Gandhi between the two countries without consulting the Tamil Nadu government.
The agreement allows Indian fishermen “access to Katchatheevu for rest, for drying of nests and for the annual St Anthony’s festival” but it did not ensure the traditional fishing rights.
(3) Hefty fines
After some respite in the last couple of years, Sri Lanka introduced tougher laws banning bottom-trawling and put heavy fines for trespassing foreign vessels.
SL has increased the fine on Indian vessels found fishing in Sri Lankan waters to a minimum of LKR 6 million (about ₹25 lakh) and a maximum of LKR 175 million (about ₹17.5 Crore).
Quiet often, the fishermen are shot dead by SL marines.
Fishermen issue in TN politics
It has been often a sensitive political issue in Tamil Nadu in the past one decade.
In a defiant speech in 1991, late CM Jayalalitha had called on the people of Tamil Nadu to retrieve the Katchatheevu Island.
Way forward
Leasing: Two courses of action exist: (1) get back the island of Katchatheevu on “lease in perpetuity” or (2) permit licensed Indian fishermen to fish within a designated area of Sri Lankan waters and vice versa.
Licensing: The second course of action would persuade Colombo to permit licensed Indian fishermen to fish in Sri Lankan waters for five nautical miles from the IMBL.
Reconsidering old agreements: The 2003 proposal for licensed fishing can be revisited.
Looping in fishermen themselves: Arranging frequent meetings between fishing communities of both countries could be systematized so as to develop a friendlier atmosphere mid-seas during fishing.
Conclusion
The underlying issues of the fisheries dispute need to be addressed so that bilateral relations do not reach a crisis point.
Immediate actions should be taken to begin the phase-out of trawling and identify other fishing practices.
The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that seeks to link electoral rolls to the Aadhaar number has been listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha.
Key Provisions of the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021
(1) Aadhaar authentication:
The Bill seeks to empower electoral officers to seek Aadhaar number of people, who want to register as voters, for establishing their identity.
It also seeks to allow the electoral registration officers to ask for Aadhaar numbers from persons already included in the electoral roll for the purposes of authentication of entries in the electoral roll.
This would also aim to identify registration of the name of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency.
(2) Aadhaar linking with Voter ID
Linking Aadhaar with voter ID will be voluntary.
The amendment makes it clear that no application shall be denied and no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for the inability to produce Aadhaar number.
Such people will be allowed to furnish other documents as may be prescribed.
(3) Amendments to the RP Act for new voter registration
Section 23 of the RP Act, 1950 will be amended to allow linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem to curb the menace of multiple enrolments.
Amendment to section 14 of the RP Act, 1950 will allow having four qualifying dates for eligible people to register as voters, instead of one that is January 1 at present.
As of now, people who turn 18 on or before January 1 can register as voters but those turning 18 after January 1 wait for the whole year to get registered.
The Bill proposes to make the 1st day of January, 1st day of April, 1st day of July, and 1st day of October as the qualifying dates.
(4) Imbibing gender neutrality
An amendment to section 20 of the RP Act, 1950 and section 60 of the RP Act, 1951 seeks to make the elections gender-neutral for service voters.
The amendment will also replace the word ‘wife’ with ‘spouse’ to make the statutes gender-neutral.
The Union Home and Cooperation Minister has announced the decision to amend the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002 to plug the loopholes in the Act.
What is MSCS Act?
Cooperatives are a state subject, but there are many societies such as those for sugar and milk, banks, milk unions etc whose members and areas of operation are spread across more than one state.
The MSCS Act was passed to govern such cooperatives.
For example, most sugar mills along the districts on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border procure cane from both states.
What are Multi-State Cooperatives?
They draw their membership from two or more states, and they are thus registered under the MSCS Act.
Their board of directors has representation from all states they operate in.
Administrative and financial control of these societies is with the central registrar, with the law making it clear that no state government official can wield any control on them.
Why does the government plan to amend the Act?
(1) Issues with Central Registrar
The exclusive control of the central registrar, who is also the Central Cooperative Commissioner, was meant to allow smooth functioning of these societies.
The central Act cushions them from the interference of state authorities so that these societies are able to function in multiple states.
What was supposed to facilitate smooth functioning, however, has created obstacles.
For state-registered societies, financial and administrative control rests with state registrars who exercise it through district- and tehsil-level officers.
(2) Multiple checks and balances
Thus if a sugar mill wishes to buy new machinery or go for expansion, they would first have to take permission from the sugar commissioner for both.
Post this, the proposal would go to the state-level committee that would float tenders and carry out the process.
While the system for state-registered societies includes checks and balances at multiple layers to ensure transparency in the process, these layers do not exist in the case of multistate societies.
Instead, the board of directors has control of all finances and administration.
(3) Lack of govt control
There is an apparent lack of day-to-day government control on such societies.
Unlike state cooperatives, which have to submit multiple reports to the state registrar, multistate cooperatives need not.
The central registrar can only allow inspection of the societies under special conditions — a written request by one-third of the members of the board.
Inspections can happen only after prior intimation to societies.
(4) Lack of infrastructure
The on-ground infrastructure for central registrar is thin — there are no officers or offices at state level, with most work being carried out either online or through correspondence.
For members of the societies, the only office where they can seek justice is in Delhi, with state authorities expressing their inability to do anything.
(5) Ponzi schemes functioning as MCS
There have been instances across the country when credit societies have launched ponzi schemes taking advantage of these loopholes.
Such schemes mostly target small and medium holders with the lure of high returns.
Fly-by-night operators get people to invest and, after a few instalments, wind up their operations.
What kind of amendments can be expected?
The Centre is holding extensive consultations with experts from various fields: bankers, sugar commissioners, cooperative commissioners, housing societies federations etc.
The centre might increase their manpower, first in Delhi and then in the states, to ensure better governance of the societies.
Also, technology will be used to bring in transparency.
Market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued an order suspending futures trading in paddy (non-basmati), wheat, Bengal gram (chana dal), mustard seeds and its derivatives, soyabean and its derivatives, crude palm oil and green gram (moong dal) for a year.
What are Derivatives?
A derivative is a contract between two parties which derives its value/price from an underlying asset.
The value of the underlying asset is bound to change as the value of the underlying assets keep changing continuously.
Generally, stocks, bonds, currency, commodities and interest rates form the underlying asset.
Types of Derivatives
The most common types of derivatives are futures, options, forwards and swaps:
(1) Futures
Futures are standardized contracts that allow the holder to buy/sell the asset at an agreed price at the specified date.
The parties to the futures contract are under an obligation to perform the contract. These contracts are traded on the stock exchange.
The value of future contracts is marked to market every day.
It means that the contract value is adjusted according to market movements till the expiration date.
(2) Options
Options are derivative contracts that give the buyer a right to buy/sell the underlying asset at the specified price during a certain period of time.
The buyer is not under any obligation to exercise the option.
The option seller is known as the option writer. The specified price is known as the strike price.
(3) Forwards
Forwards are like futures contracts wherein the holder is under an obligation to perform the contract.
But forwards are unstandardized and not traded on stock exchanges.
These are available over-the-counter and are not marked-to-market.
These can be customized to suit the requirements of the parties to the contract.
(4) Swaps
Swaps are derivative contracts wherein two parties exchange their financial obligations.
The cash flows are based on a notional principal amount agreed between both parties without the exchange of principal.
The amount of cash flows is based on a rate of interest.
One cash flow is generally fixed and the other changes on the basis of a benchmark interest rate.
Swaps are not traded on stock exchanges and are over-the-counter contracts between businesses or financial institutions.
What are Agri-Futures?
Like equity, currency or interest rate futures, they allows to buy or sell an underlier at a preset price on a future date. All agri contracts end in compulsory delivery.
Agri products available for trade include wheat, sugar, chana, soyabean, castor, chilli , jeera futures, etc. Edible oil seeds and oils, spices and items like guar are among the more liquid contracts.
An objective of futures trading is gains reaching farmers, by establishing an efficient price-discovery platform.
This has been achieved to a large extent on NCDEX, in products such as castor, chana, soy complex, mustard, guar, cumin, etc.
National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) is an Indian online commodity and derivative exchange. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance.
What are the reasons for this ban?
(1) To cool off Food Inflation
India’s retail inflation rose to a three-month high of 4.91 % in November from 4.48 % in the previous month primarily because of a rise in food inflation to 1.87 % from 0.85 % over this period.
(2) Double Digits WPI
Wholesale Price Index-based inflation has remained in double digits for eight consecutive months beginning in April, mainly because of the surging prices of food items.
In November, the wholesale price-based inflation surged to a record high of 14.23 % amid the hardening of prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude petroleum, and natural gas.
(3) To insulate future Price Shock
In view of Rabi Output that might be affected morbidly because of fertilizer shortage faced in many parts of the country.
By banning future’s trade, the government is trying to insulate any price shock the market might feel in the days to come in case the production is not up to par.
What will be the impact?
(1) The imports in such commodities, especially edible oils, would reduce in the short term as traders will not have a hedging platform.
Hedging, which is speculative in nature, has been made difficult.
This will lead to the release of blocked local produce supplies into the market, which should cool the prices.
Imports of commodities for speculative gains will be discouraged.
(2) It is believed that speculators have a role in jacking up prices and this needed to be discouraged to curb inflation and support growth as the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 impact.
(3) India is the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oil and this measure will make it difficult for edible oil importers and traders to transact business since they use Indian exchanges to hedge their risk.
(4) Agri-futures, driven mainly by NCDEX, have a checkered history with bans often pushing NCDEX back.
Such frequent bans are not a good development for the market as it affects confidence levels.
Often, a contract that is banned may not return to the table, which were very effective in price-discovery.
Even when the contracts are restored, traders hesitate because of the fear of bans.
As it involves losses for market participants with open positions as they must square off contracts before maturity.
What are the other steps taken?
Supply-side interventions by the Government had limited the fallout of continuing high international edible oil prices on domestic prices.
The Union Government substantially reduced taxes on imports of palm, soy and sunflower oil.
Union and State Governments had also recently reduced excise duty and VAT on petrol and diesel, aimed at bringing down inflation.
It has both direct effects as well as indirect effects operating through fuel and transportation costs.
Way Forward
The ban is expected to be lifted by March when the next mustard crop starts hitting the market and prices cool down.
If the weather remains benign in the coming weeks, India is on course to harvest a bumper 11 million tonnes of mustard in 2021-22, up from 8.5 million tonnes in 2020-21.
The way out is not to ban any contract, but make sure to correct any serious aberration through a combination of higher margins so that if at all the price is getting distorted due to market manipulation, the correction takes place immediately.
Further, talking to potential wrongdoers is another way out, provided trading patterns noticed by the exchange reveal such tendencies.
Position limits can be changed to ensure undue influence is not exerted by any set of traders.
Why has Civilsdaily Student and Aspiring UPSC 2022 Civil Servant, Ashish Renewed his Program for One More Year With Us?
“Unlike other students in my batch, Ashish has been a dedicated and hardworking UPSC aspirant even before joining us. Since he is unable to prepare for UPSC fulltime, he compensates by studying for 6-7 hours everyday after he completes his work as a bank officer. He is always able to complete the weekly targets assigned to him 2-3 days in advance.”, says Ashish’s Civilsdaily Mentor Pravin sir as he sets the tone of our interview. Pravin sir has been mentoring Ashish for more than a year. Satisfied with his guidance, Ashish has upgraded his program once again for 2022 prelims.
Ashish had started his UPSC-CSE preparation in March 2020. For 6 months, he prepared without comprehending what was written in the books. He followed random videos on Youtube for a topic he didn’t understand and read all the pages of many books recommended by different toppers. Ashish struggled to study a topic concisely. He did not know what was the relevant information he had to gather for a topic. Hence, though he studied hard he was unable to score well in test series. As a result of which, Ashish in his first Civilsdaily Mains Test was able to score only 50 marks out of 250 and 40 out of 200 marks in prelims.
Challenges of Ashish When He Studied Without Mentorship
By July 2020, Ashish decided he cannot waste anymore time and wanted a personal mentor for his UPSC-CSE preparation. He knew he had no time to attend coaching classes so he was particular about the kind of mentor he preferred. Ashish wanted a mentor who could help him minimize his study materials, guide him on how he could judiciously utilize the available time for preparation and set weekly targets for him. “I wanted to do the studying by myself, it’s not classes that I wanted. I wanted someone with whom I can develop micro and macro study plans, someone who evaluates test series frequently and assesses my performance. Someone who motivates me to stay focused when I feel like taking long breaks.” This on surface, might appear as trivial requirements, but let’s not forget that on a daily basis many aspirants grapple with motivation, consistency and time-management issues.
Ashish was unable to find the right mentor till he approached Civilsdaily. ” I was a regular reader of the current affairs compilation at Civilsdaily. That’s when I thought of enrolling in its mentorship program as well.” Under it’s mentorship program, Pravin sir has analyzed the previous year questions from year 1994 onwards for every topic in the syllabus. He will then suggest which book or online source Ashish can read for a particular topic. This way, Ashish is able to read about 2-3 books per subject, but not waste time by reading every page of those books.
Pravin Sir, Civilsdaily Mentor and Two-Time UPSC CSE Interview Aspirant
“To give an example, I asked Ashish to read Ramesh Singh for Fundamentals of Economy but for certain key concepts I asked him to read only from Shankar Ganesh.”, Pravin sir says and continues, “If there is any current affairs in Samachar Manthan that corresponds to what Ashish is reading this week, I will bring it to his notice.” Pravin sir conducts weekly counselling session where Ashish is free to discuss anything that bothers him personally even if it’s not related to his studies. Every aspirant has had those days when it’s been hard to just study. It happens to the best of us sometimes and for some of us, it happens more frequently. And it is understandable, Civil Service preparation is a long and often lonely process. Every aspirant, from toppers to those who have quit have been overwhelmed by this process at some point in time. Working alone is monotonous and that’s why regular counselling is required. “I believe that during this tough preparation phase, an aspirant is vulnerable to the smallest of the negative distractions. Counselling helps them stay on track and not react to anything going around them in an impulsive manner.” Pravin sir has also included all his students in the Habitat Club where he posts inspirational quotes and invites everyone for a weekly zoom session to conduct live answer writing practice sessions. “I conduct this zoom session right before and after the weekly prelims and mains test series. I feel its important for everyone in a group to discuss and debate on how they can improve an answer for a question. Over here, I also show the answer writing copies of other UPSC toppers”
When Ashish first wrote the test series, he had a problem of writing vague points which were not backed by relevant factual data. He also did not give current affairs examples of the points he discussed in his answers.
By November 2020, Ashish learnt how to improve the presentation of his answers by writing shorter points and backing it up with examples wherever necessary. He also highlighted sub-headings as boxes to get the attention of the examiner. However, while concluding, he still made vague points and did not offer solutions to the issues.
In the recent test series conducted on December 9 2021, Ashish improved his answer writing in terms of presentation, valid specific points and solutions, examples and statistics. However, he missed on giving an introduction that could have fetched him 1-2 marks extra by mentioning about the recent cryptocurrency bill.
Right now, Ashish is able to score 105 in advanced prelims test series, 120 in basic prelims test series and 100 out of 250 in advanced mains test series. “I feel reassured when I get timely support from Pravin sir and always look forward to our weekly interactions when I can inform him I completed the modules of the week.” When asked about one particular instance of mentorship that he cherishes, Ashish says, “I did not understand parliamentary committee topic once. Pravin sir was on call with me for half an hour and explained the whole topic till I understood. I really appreciate that from his end.” Ashish told us that Pravin sir directs him to the right videos and sources when he is unable to get conceptual clarity. “This often happens to me when I am reading any topic in international relations. Because of Pravin sir’s support, I am able to understand a topic in lesser time.” Due to the weekly topic wise prelims and mains test series, Ashish has improved his speed and accuracy to a large extent. “While before, I used to take 15-20 minutes to write an answer, now I am able to do so within 10 minutes.”
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We want to understand you better to help you optimize your journey so you can focus on the right things and not waste time on the wrong ones. We are asking you to tap into the valuable experiences of mentors who underwent the same grind and realize the pitfalls and understand the shortcuts to make it.
In the first counselling session, we will understand your weaknesses. Over 80% of students who claimed to have revised NCERTs twice were unable to answer basic questions. Many were not comfortable with at least 1 GS subject and Optional. Many struggled with ‘What went wrong’ after 2-3 years of hard work. Our mentors will provide free preliminary assignments so that we can assess your preparedness and suggest accurate strategies. We then help you to stick to one plan or strategy throughout your preparation.
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Child marriage ends childhood. It negatively influences children’s rights to education,health and protection. These consequences impact not just the girl directly, but also her family and community.
Context
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday (December 15) took the decision to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. With this decision, the government will be bringing the age of marriage for both men and women at par. The Cabinet’s decision to raise the legal age of marriage for women is based on the recommendation of a panel led by Jaya Jaitly.
The proposal to raise the legal age for the marriage of women carries “enormous” economic and social gains for India, according to a State Bank of India report. The report counts benefits such as lowering maternal deaths and improving nutrition levels in the near term to putting more girls in college and enabling women to achieve greater financial independence in the long term.
Let us look at the menace of child marriage in India and the rationale behind the govt’s move in detail.
Facts and figures about the prevalence of child marriage in India
Widespread across India: Nearlyhalf of brides married as girls. Every third child bride in the world is an Indian.
Slow improvement: There has been a decline in the incidence of child marriage nationally (from 54% in 1992-93 to 33%) and in nearly all states but the pace of change remains slow, especially for girls in the age group 15-18 years.
Prevalence in Rural areas: Child marriage is more prevalent in rural areas (48 percent) than in urban areas (29 percent).
Variations across different groups: particularly excluded communities, castes and tribes – although some ethnic groups, such as tribal groups, have lower rates of child marriage.
Role of Education: A girl with 10 years of education has a six times lower chance of being pushed into marriage before she is 18.
International Center for Research on Women: India has the 14th highest rate of child marriage in the world. As many as 39,000 minor girls are being married every day in India
Fourth National Family Health Survey (2015-16): There are 26.8% of brides in the country who were married below the age of 18. 40% of the world’s 60 million child marriages take place in India
Variations across states: State In West Bengal, the mean marriage age is only 20.9 years and almost 47 per cent of females get married before the age of 21 years, even worse than Bihar and Rajasthan.
Marriage laws in India
Personal laws of various religions that deal with marriage have their own standards, often reflecting custom.
For Hindus and Christians: The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 sets 18 years as the minimum age for the bride and 21 years as the minimum age for the groom.
Islam: The marriage of a minor who has attained puberty is considered valid according to the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.
Now, the govt will have to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the Special Marriage Act and personal laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
Factors leading to child marriage in India
(1) Social Factors
Lack of education: A big determinant of the age of marriage is education. Around 45% of women with no education and 40% with primary education married before the age of 18, according to NFHS-4.
Social background: Child marriages are more prevalent in rural areas and among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Value of virginity: It is believed that husband needs virgin wife and if the daughter had premarital sex it will dishonor their family. Some societies/castes have social stigma against girl married after puberty.
Gender norms: Males are more valued in Indian family and women primary role is to produce son.
Practice of dowry: If the girl is married at lower age they may not demand dowry as the girl is pure and believed to be incarnation of goddess Laxmi. Families see it as protection against sexual assault.
The dowry amount increases with the age and the education level of the girl. Hence, the “incentive” of the system of dowry perpetuates child marriage.
Low awareness about social protection programs: These schemes are often limited to providing cash transfers without the accompanying messages to address the multi-dimensional nature of child marriage.
Child marriage is seen as custom which has been borrowed from past and people do not want to change it.
(2) Economic Factors
Seen as a burden: Economically, child marriages work as mechanisms that are quick income earners. A girl child is seen as a leeway to a large dowry, to be given to her family upon her marriage.
Poverty: Women from poor households tend to marry earlier. While more than 30% of women from the lowest two wealth quintiles were married by the age of 18, the corresponding figure in the richest quintile was 8%.
Trafficking: Poor families are tempted to sell their girls not just into marriage, but into prostitution, as the transaction enables large sums of money to benefit the girl’s family and harms the girl.
More working hands: Child marriage means more children and more children will earn more and save family from financial problems.
More importance to male child: Family do not want to invest on girls education as there is no return from her and rather trained to become a good wife till the age of 13 or 14 and then they are married.
Undervaluation of economic importance of Girls: Girls are often seen as a liability with limited economic role. Women’s work is confined to the household and is not valued.
What is the Jaya Jaitly Committee?
In June 2020, the Ministry of WCD set up a task force to look into the correlation between the age of marriage with issues of women’s nutrition, prevalence of anemia, IMR, MMR and other social indices.
The committee was to look at the feasibility of increasing the age of marriage and its implication on women and child health, as well as how to increase access to education for women.
Key recommendations
The committee has recommended the age of marriage be increased to 21 years, on the basis of feedback they received from young adults from 16 universities across the country.
The committee also asked the government to look into increasing access to schools and colleges for girls, including their transportation to these institutes from far-flung areas.
Skill and business training has also been recommended, as has sex education in schools.
The committee said these deliveries must come first, as, unless they are implemented and women are empowered, the law will not be as effective.
Reasons behind the decision
Gender-neutrality: With this decision, the government will be bringing the age of marriage for both men and women at par.
Motherhood complexities: An early age of marriage, and consequent early pregnancies, also have impacts on nutritional levels of mothers and their children, and their overall health and mental wellbeing.
Mother and Child Mortality: It also has an impact on Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate.
Women empowerment: The decision would empower women who are cut off from access to education and livelihood due to an early marriage.
Protection from abuse: This will essentially outlaw premature girls marriages and prevent the abuse of minors.
Socio-economic Fronts: Increasing the legal age for the marriage of women has enormous benefits including:
Lowering the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)
Improvement of nutrition levels
Financial front opportunities will be opened up for women to pursue higher education and careers and become financially empowered, thus resulting in a more egalitarian society.
More female labor force participation: Increasing the marriage age will lead to more females doing graduation and hence improving the female labor force participation ratio. The percentage of females doing graduation will increase by at least 5-7 percentage points from the current level of 9.8 per cent.
In a landmark judgement of Dhannu Lal v. Ganeshram ,the Supreme Court ruled that two individuals cohabiting and staying in a live-in relationship are not criminal offenders. Raising the legal age of marriage for women will further promote live-in relationship culture.
Challenges in raising the legal age of marriage for women
Illegal marriages: Such legislation would push a large portion of the population into illegal marriages leading to non-institutional births.
Ineffectiveness of existing laws: Decrease in child marriages has not been because of the existing law but because of an increase in girls’ education and employment opportunities.
Unnecessary coercion: The law would end up being coercive, and in particular negatively impact marginalized communities, such as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, making them law-breakers.
Rights of the girls are threatened: Increasing the age of marriage to 21 years would mean that girls will have no say in their personal matters until they are 21.
Exploitation of law by parents: The law has been used by parents against eloping daughters. It has become a tool for parental control and for punishment of boys or men whom girls choose as their husbands.
Social validity of marriages: Even if the law declares a marriage before the specified age as void, in the eyes of the community, arranged marriages will have social validity.
This worsens the condition of the girls who are widowed even before reaching the new legal age for marriage.
Increased female infanticide: Raising the female marriage age in India that have high son preference and high poverty may have the unintended consequence of increasing the prevalence of female infanticide and sex-selective abortion.
Way Forward
(1) Need to address the root of the problems: While children born to adolescent mothers have a higher prevalence of stunting and low weight, experts argue that the underlying cause is poverty.
There is also a need to improve access to education, skill training, and employment opportunities which are some of the barriers for girls in pursuing higher education.
It is also important to ensure a safe environment free from the constant threat of rape and sexual assault which is why girls are married off early.
Legislation to increase the age of marriage is superficial and does not go to the root of the problems faced by young women.
(2)Steps must be taken to address early pregnancies instead of focusing on the age of marriage by extending family planning and reproductive health support which focus on preparation for pregnancy and delaying the first birth.
(3) Improving educational reach: The answer to delaying child marriages lies in ensuring access to education since the practice is a social and economic issue.
(4) Increasing Accessibility to Schools: The government needs to look into increasing access to schools and colleges for girls, including their transportation to these institutes from far-flung areas.
(5) Need for the awareness programs: An awareness campaign is required on a massive scale on the increase in age of marriage, and to encourage social acceptance of the new legislation, which they have said would be far more effective than coercive measures.
Every time a technology giant chooses an India-born techie as its leader, there is a justifiable swelling of pride in the country, but also some disappointment.
Why is India still not a major player in technology?
Inability to use opportunities: The popular narrative is that India’s failures are linked to its inability to make use of market-driven growth opportunities.
Brain drain: Indeed, as of 2019, there were 2.7 million Indian immigrants in the U.S.
They are among the most educated and professionally accomplished communities in that country.
Role of the state
Example of the US: An invisible hand of the US government has been there to prop up each of the so-called triumphs of enterprise and the free market in the US.
Introduction of new generation technologies: Research by Mariana Mazzucato shows that the state has been crucial to the introduction of the new generation of technologies, including the computers, the Internet, and the nanotech industry.
Public funding: Public sector funding developed the algorithm that eventually led to Google’s success and helped discover the molecular antibodies that provided the foundation for biotechnology.
The role of the government has been even more prominent in shaping the economic growth of China, which is racing with the U.S. for supremacy in technology.
Even while being hailed as the ‘factory of the world’, China had been stuck at the low value-adding segments of the global production networks, earning only a fraction of the price of the goods it manufactured.
However, as part of a 2011 government plan, it has made successful forays into ‘new strategic industries’ such as alternative fuel cars and renewable energy.
China’s achievements came not because it turned ‘capitalist’, but instead by combining the strengths of the public sector, markets and globalisation.
China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were seen as inefficient and bureaucratic.
However, rather than privatising them or letting them weaken with neglect, the Chinese state restructured the SOEs.
On the other, SOEs strengthened their presence in strategically important sectors such as petrochemicals and telecommunication as well as in technologically dynamic industries such as electronics and machinery.
What went wrong in India’s case?
When India inaugurated planning and industrialisation in the early 1950s.
Public sector funding of the latest technologies of the time including space and atomic research and the establishment of institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were among the hallmarks of that effort.
Many of these institutions have over the years attained world-class standards.
The growth of information technology and pharmaceutical industries has been the fastest in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Poor education: However, the roadblocks to progress have been many, including India’s poor achievements in school education.
Missed opportunity to strengthen technological capabilities: In 1991, when India embraced markets and globalisation, it should have redoubled efforts to strengthen its technological capabilities.
Low spending on research and development: Instead, the spending on research and development as a proportion of GDP declined in India from 0.85% in 1990-91 to 0.65% in 2018.
In contrast, this proportion increased over the years in China and South Korea to reach 2.1% and 4.5%, respectively, by 2018.
Positives for India
Higher enrollment for tertiary education: The number of persons enrolled for tertiary education in India (35.2 million in 2019) is way ahead of the corresponding numbers in all other countries except China.
More graduates from STEM: Further, graduates from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programmes as a proportion of all graduates was 32.2% for India in 2019, one of the highest among all countries (UNESCO data).
Way forward
Increase spending on education: India needs to sharply increase its public spending to improve the quality of and access to higher education.
An overwhelming proportion of tertiary students in India are enrolled in private institutions: it was 60% for those enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in 2017, while the average for G20 countries was 33%, according to OECD.
Improve technological capabilities: The ‘Make in India’ initiative will have to go beyond increasing the ‘ease of business’ for private industry.
Indian industry needs to deepen and broaden its technological capabilities.
India — which will soon have twice the number of Internet users as in the U.S. — is a large market for all kinds of new technologies.
While this presents a huge opportunity, the domestic industry has not yet managed to derive the benefits.
This will happen only if universities and public institutions in the country are strengthened and emboldened to enter areas of technology development for which the private sector may have neither the resources nor the patience.
Strengthen the public sector: PSUs should be valued for their potential long-term contributions to economic growth, the technologies they can create, and the strategic and knowledge assets they can build.
A strengthened public sector will create more opportunities for private businesses and widen the entrepreneurial base. Small and medium entrepreneurs will flourish when there are mechanisms for the diffusion of publicly created technologies, along with greater availability of bank credit and other forms of assistance.
Conclusion
The next big story about Indian prowess does not have to be from the U.S., but could come from thousands of such entrepreneurs in far-flung corners of the country.
Why has Civilsdaily Student and Aspiring UPSC 2022 Civil Servant, Ashish Renewed his Program for One More Year With Us?
“Unlike other students in my batch, Ashish has been a dedicated and hardworking UPSC aspirant even before joining us. Since he is unable to prepare for UPSC fulltime, he compensates by studying for 6-7 hours everyday after he completes his work as a bank officer. He is always able to complete the weekly targets assigned to him 2-3 days in advance.”, says Ashish’s Civilsdaily Mentor Pravin sir as he sets the tone of our interview. Pravin sir has been mentoring Ashish for more than a year. Satisfied with his guidance, Ashish has upgraded his program once again for 2022 prelims.
Ashish had started his UPSC-CSE preparation in March 2020. For 6 months, he prepared without comprehending what was written in the books. He followed random videos on Youtube for a topic he didn’t understand and read all the pages of many books recommended by different toppers. Ashish struggled to study a topic concisely. He did not know what was the relevant information he had to gather for a topic. Hence, though he studied hard he was unable to score well in test series. As a result of which, Ashish in his first Civilsdaily Mains Test was able to score only 50 marks out of 250 and 40 out of 200 marks in prelims.
Challenges of Ashish When He Studied Without Mentorship
By July 2020, Ashish decided he cannot waste anymore time and wanted a personal mentor for his UPSC-CSE preparation. He knew he had no time to attend coaching classes so he was particular about the kind of mentor he preferred. Ashish wanted a mentor who could help him minimize his study materials, guide him on how he could judiciously utilize the available time for preparation and set weekly targets for him. “I wanted to do the studying by myself, it’s not classes that I wanted. I wanted someone with whom I can develop micro and macro study plans, someone who evaluates test series frequently and assesses my performance. Someone who motivates me to stay focused when I feel like taking long breaks.” This on surface, might appear as trivial requirements, but let’s not forget that on a daily basis many aspirants grapple with motivation, consistency and time-management issues.
Ashish was unable to find the right mentor till he approached Civilsdaily. ” I was a regular reader of the current affairs compilation at Civilsdaily. That’s when I thought of enrolling in its mentorship program as well.” Under it’s mentorship program, Pravin sir has analyzed the previous year questions from year 1994 onwards for every topic in the syllabus. He will then suggest which book or online source Ashish can read for a particular topic. This way, Ashish is able to read about 2-3 books per subject, but not waste time by reading every page of those books.
Pravin Sir, Civilsdaily Mentor and Two-Time UPSC CSE Interview Aspirant
“To give an example, I asked Ashish to read Ramesh Singh for Fundamentals of Economy but for certain key concepts I asked him to read only from Shankar Ganesh.”, Pravin sir says and continues, “If there is any current affairs in Samachar Manthan that corresponds to what Ashish is reading this week, I will bring it to his notice.” Pravin sir conducts weekly counselling session where Ashish is free to discuss anything that bothers him personally even if it’s not related to his studies. Every aspirant has had those days when it’s been hard to just study. It happens to the best of us sometimes and for some of us, it happens more frequently. And it is understandable, Civil Service preparation is a long and often lonely process. Every aspirant, from toppers to those who have quit have been overwhelmed by this process at some point in time. Working alone is monotonous and that’s why regular counselling is required. “I believe that during this tough preparation phase, an aspirant is vulnerable to the smallest of the negative distractions. Counselling helps them stay on track and not react to anything going around them in an impulsive manner.” Pravin sir has also included all his students in the Habitat Club where he posts inspirational quotes and invites everyone for a weekly zoom session to conduct live answer writing practice sessions. “I conduct this zoom session right before and after the weekly prelims and mains test series. I feel its important for everyone in a group to discuss and debate on how they can improve an answer for a question. Over here, I also show the answer writing copies of other UPSC toppers”
When Ashish first wrote the test series, he had a problem of writing vague points which were not backed by relevant factual data. He also did not give current affairs examples of the points he discussed in his answers.
By November 2020, Ashish learnt how to improve the presentation of his answers by writing shorter points and backing it up with examples wherever necessary. He also highlighted sub-headings as boxes to get the attention of the examiner. However, while concluding, he still made vague points and did not offer solutions to the issues.
In the recent test series conducted on December 9 2021, Ashish improved his answer writing in terms of presentation, valid specific points and solutions, examples and statistics. However, he missed on giving an introduction that could have fetched him 1-2 marks extra by mentioning about the recent cryptocurrency bill.
Right now, Ashish is able to score 105 in advanced prelims test series, 120 in basic prelims test series and 100 out of 250 in advanced mains test series. “I feel reassured when I get timely support from Pravin sir and always look forward to our weekly interactions when I can inform him I completed the modules of the week.” When asked about one particular instance of mentorship that he cherishes, Ashish says, “I did not understand parliamentary committee topic once. Pravin sir was on call with me for half an hour and explained the whole topic till I understood. I really appreciate that from his end.” Ashish told us that Pravin sir directs him to the right videos and sources when he is unable to get conceptual clarity. “This often happens to me when I am reading any topic in international relations. Because of Pravin sir’s support, I am able to understand a topic in lesser time.” Due to the weekly topic wise prelims and mains test series, Ashish has improved his speed and accuracy to a large extent. “While before, I used to take 15-20 minutes to write an answer, now I am able to do so within 10 minutes.”
Get Your First 30 Min Counselling session By a Mentor for Free
At the core of Samanvaya lies the fact that each one of you will have a unique journey while preparing for the exam. Some will get through on the first attempt without much effort while others will take both more time and more effort.
We want to understand you better to help you optimize your journey so you can focus on the right things and not waste time on the wrong ones. We are asking you to tap into the valuable experiences of mentors who underwent the same grind and realize the pitfalls and understand the shortcuts to make it.
In the first counselling session, we will understand your weaknesses. Over 80% of students who claimed to have revised NCERTs twice were unable to answer basic questions. Many were not comfortable with at least 1 GS subject and Optional. Many struggled with ‘What went wrong’ after 2-3 years of hard work. Our mentors will provide free preliminary assignments so that we can assess your preparedness and suggest accurate strategies. We then help you to stick to one plan or strategy throughout your preparation.
Samanvaya Code of Conduct to be followed
However, before you fill the form and get your first 30 minute counselling with us for free, please keep in mind the following —
Be honest with your mentors about your preparation levels and stage.
Follow their advice and participate in tests and assignments that they set for you
Stay active in the telegram groups, ask doubts, don’t hold yourself back.
Don’t expect spoonfeeding. You have to drive the initiative.
Why has Civilsdaily Student and Aspiring UPSC 2022 Civil Servant, Ashish Renewed his Program for One More Year With Us?
“Unlike other students in my batch, Ashish has been a dedicated and hardworking UPSC aspirant even before joining us. Since he is unable to prepare for UPSC fulltime, he compensates by studying for 6-7 hours everyday after he completes his work as a bank officer. He is always able to complete the weekly targets assigned to him 2-3 days in advance.”, says Ashish’s Civilsdaily Mentor Pravin sir as he sets the tone of our interview. Pravin sir has been mentoring Ashish for more than a year. Satisfied with his guidance, Ashish has upgraded his program once again for 2022 prelims.
Ashish had started his UPSC-CSE preparation in March 2020. For 6 months, he prepared without comprehending what was written in the books. He followed random videos on Youtube for a topic he didn’t understand and read all the pages of many books recommended by different toppers. Ashish struggled to study a topic concisely. He did not know what was the relevant information he had to gather for a topic. Hence, though he studied hard he was unable to score well in test series. As a result of which, Ashish in his first Civilsdaily Mains Test was able to score only 50 marks out of 250 and 40 out of 200 marks in prelims.
Challenges of Ashish When He Studied Without Mentorship
By July 2020, Ashish decided he cannot waste anymore time and wanted a personal mentor for his UPSC-CSE preparation. He knew he had no time to attend coaching classes so he was particular about the kind of mentor he preferred. Ashish wanted a mentor who could help him minimize his study materials, guide him on how he could judiciously utilize the available time for preparation and set weekly targets for him. “I wanted to do the studying by myself, it’s not classes that I wanted. I wanted someone with whom I can develop micro and macro study plans, someone who evaluates test series frequently and assesses my performance. Someone who motivates me to stay focused when I feel like taking long breaks.” This on surface, might appear as trivial requirements, but let’s not forget that on a daily basis many aspirants grapple with motivation, consistency and time-management issues.
Ashish was unable to find the right mentor till he approached Civilsdaily. ” I was a regular reader of the current affairs compilation at Civilsdaily. That’s when I thought of enrolling in its mentorship program as well.” Under it’s mentorship program, Pravin sir has analyzed the previous year questions from year 1994 onwards for every topic in the syllabus. He will then suggest which book or online source Ashish can read for a particular topic. This way, Ashish is able to read about 2-3 books per subject, but not waste time by reading every page of those books.
Pravin Sir, Civilsdaily Mentor and Two-Time UPSC CSE Interview Aspirant
“To give an example, I asked Ashish to read Ramesh Singh for Fundamentals of Economy but for certain key concepts I asked him to read only from Shankar Ganesh.”, Pravin sir says and continues, “If there is any current affairs in Samachar Manthan that corresponds to what Ashish is reading this week, I will bring it to his notice.” Pravin sir conducts weekly counselling session where Ashish is free to discuss anything that bothers him personally even if it’s not related to his studies. Every aspirant has had those days when it’s been hard to just study. It happens to the best of us sometimes and for some of us, it happens more frequently. And it is understandable, Civil Service preparation is a long and often lonely process. Every aspirant, from toppers to those who have quit have been overwhelmed by this process at some point in time. Working alone is monotonous and that’s why regular counselling is required. “I believe that during this tough preparation phase, an aspirant is vulnerable to the smallest of the negative distractions. Counselling helps them stay on track and not react to anything going around them in an impulsive manner.” Pravin sir has also included all his students in the Habitat Club where he posts inspirational quotes and invites everyone for a weekly zoom session to conduct live answer writing practice sessions. “I conduct this zoom session right before and after the weekly prelims and mains test series. I feel its important for everyone in a group to discuss and debate on how they can improve an answer for a question. Over here, I also show the answer writing copies of other UPSC toppers”
When Ashish first wrote the test series, he had a problem of writing vague points which were not backed by relevant factual data. He also did not give current affairs examples of the points he discussed in his answers.
By November 2020, Ashish learnt how to improve the presentation of his answers by writing shorter points and backing it up with examples wherever necessary. He also highlighted sub-headings as boxes to get the attention of the examiner. However, while concluding, he still made vague points and did not offer solutions to the issues.
In the recent test series conducted on December 9 2021, Ashish improved his answer writing in terms of presentation, valid specific points and solutions, examples and statistics. However, he missed on giving an introduction that could have fetched him 1-2 marks extra by mentioning about the recent cryptocurrency bill.
Right now, Ashish is able to score 105 in advanced prelims test series, 120 in basic prelims test series and 100 out of 250 in advanced mains test series. “I feel reassured when I get timely support from Pravin sir and always look forward to our weekly interactions when I can inform him I completed the modules of the week.” When asked about one particular instance of mentorship that he cherishes, Ashish says, “I did not understand parliamentary committee topic once. Pravin sir was on call with me for half an hour and explained the whole topic till I understood. I really appreciate that from his end.” Ashish told us that Pravin sir directs him to the right videos and sources when he is unable to get conceptual clarity. “This often happens to me when I am reading any topic in international relations. Because of Pravin sir’s support, I am able to understand a topic in lesser time.” Due to the weekly topic wise prelims and mains test series, Ashish has improved his speed and accuracy to a large extent. “While before, I used to take 15-20 minutes to write an answer, now I am able to do so within 10 minutes.”
Get Your First 30 Min Counselling session By a Mentor for Free
At the core of Samanvaya lies the fact that each one of you will have a unique journey while preparing for the exam. Some will get through on the first attempt without much effort while others will take both more time and more effort.
We want to understand you better to help you optimize your journey so you can focus on the right things and not waste time on the wrong ones. We are asking you to tap into the valuable experiences of mentors who underwent the same grind and realize the pitfalls and understand the shortcuts to make it.
In the first counselling session, we will understand your weaknesses. Over 80% of students who claimed to have revised NCERTs twice were unable to answer basic questions. Many were not comfortable with at least 1 GS subject and Optional. Many struggled with ‘What went wrong’ after 2-3 years of hard work. Our mentors will provide free preliminary assignments so that we can assess your preparedness and suggest accurate strategies. We then help you to stick to one plan or strategy throughout your preparation.
Samanvaya Code of Conduct to be followed
However, before you fill the form and get your first 30 minute counselling with us for free, please keep in mind the following —
Be honest with your mentors about your preparation levels and stage.
Follow their advice and participate in tests and assignments that they set for you
Stay active in the telegram groups, ask doubts, don’t hold yourself back.
Don’t expect spoonfeeding. You have to drive the initiative.
Many political parties are demanding to make the minimum support prices (MSP) a legal instrument.
Background of MSP
MSP regime had its genesis in 1965 when India was hugely short of basic staples and living in a “ship-to-mouth” situation.
Indicative price: It was an indicative price (not a legal price) and procurement of rice and wheat was done to support farmers when they were adopting new seeds (HYV technology) and domestic procurement was to feed the PDS.
The government declares MSP for 23 crops: Seven cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, bajra, sorghum, ragi and barley), five pulses (tur, moong, chana, urad and masur), seven oilseeds (soybean, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sesamum, safflower, sunflower and nigerseed) and four commercial crops (sugarcane, cotton, jute and copra).
Need to rethink procurement policy
But now with granaries overflowing with rice and wheat, there is a need to rethink and redesign the procurement policy.
In the crop year 2020-21, about 60 million metric tonnes (MMTs) of rice and 43 MMTs of wheat were procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and NAFED procured about 0.66 MMTs of pulses.
The increasing cost of PDS
The main procurement by the government happens largely for rice and wheat to feed the public distribution system (PDS).
The PDS issue prices of rice and wheat are subsidised by more than 90 per cent of their economic cost to the government.
In 2020-21, the food subsidy bill was almost 30 per cent of the net tax revenue of the central government, reflecting clearly a huge consumer-bias in the system.
Way forward: Unless this PDS is reformed either by restricting this to say the bottom 30 per cent of the population, or raising the issue prices to say half the economic cost of rice and wheat, giving a better deal to farmers is likely to blow up the fiscal position of the central government.
The cost of legal MSP
Assuming that only 10 per cent of the production of remaining crops (excluding sugarcane) is procured, it will cost the government about Rs 5.4 lakh crore annually to procure these other MSP crops.
This cost is estimated on the basis of economic costs of operation that are usually about 30 per cent higher than the MSP (in case of rice and wheat it is 40 per cent).
But it appears that despite this, market prices may stay below MSP, especially during the harvest time.
It also raises the question why only these MSP crops, why not other agri-produce, say milk, the value of which is more than the value of rice, wheat and sugarcane combined.
Way forward
PDP: One may use price deficiency payments (PDP), implying that the government pays to farmers the gap between the market price and MSP, whenever market prices are below MSP.
Income support instead of price support: It may be better to use an income policy on a per hectare basis to directly transfer money into farmers’ accounts without distorting markets through higher MSPs or PDPs.
Consider the question “What are the challenges in providing the legal backing to the Minimum Support Price to the agriculture produce? Suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
There is no easy substitute to “getting the markets right”. Government need to apply an innovative approach to solve the conundrum of the MSP.
The Draft Accessibility Standards/Guidelines recently released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for built infrastructure under its purview (police stations, prisons and disaster mitigation centres) and services associated with them assume significance.
What are the provisions under the Standards?
Models for police stations: The Standards set out models for building new police stations as well as improving upon existing police stations and prisons that are modern, gender sensitive and accessible.
The Standards speak to the need to make the websites and institutional social networks of police stations accessible, ensuring that persons with disabilities accused of committing any crimes are treated appropriately, having disabled-friendly entrances to police stations and disabled-friendly toilets.
Inclusive police force: the Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
Equal protection during natural disasters: Acknowledging that persons with disabilities must receive equal protection as others in such situations, the Standards provide direction on disability inclusion in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery efforts.
They also stress on disability inclusive training for persons involved in disaster relief activities, data aggregation, use of information and communication technology (ICT) and enforcing accessible infrastructure models for schools, hospitals and shelters following the principle of universal design.
Accessibility norm: The Standards introduce accessibility norms for services associated with police stations and prisons.
These norms promote the use of ICTs to facilitate communication, development of police websites, app-based services for filing complaints, making enquiries, etc., as well as encouraging the use of sign language, communication systems such as Braille, images for persons with psycho-social disabilities, and other augmentative and alternative modes of communication.
Shortcomings of the Standards/norms
Accessibility of signage not ensured: The Standards call for the deployment of directional signage regarding accessibility features in the MHA’s physical infrastructure as well as to indicate the location of accessible toilets.
However, they do not require that such signage itself be accessible to the visually challenged, such as through auditory means.
Certain accommodations merely recommendatory: The Standards characterise several reasonable accommodations that are necessary for the disabled as being merely recommendatory.
These include having trained police personnel in every police station to assist persons with disabilities and placing beepers at all entrances to enable the visually challenged/blind to locate themselves.
Lack of detail on human assistance: In the case of Patan Jamal Vali, the Court suggested connecting special educators and interpreters with police stations to operationalise the reasonable accommodations embodied in the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.
While the standards do require developing a mechanism to provide human assistance to the disabled such as sign language interpreters, they are short on specifics on this count.
Lack of representation: Interestingly, the Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
This is inconsistent with the Office Memorandum issued by the Department of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities on August 18, 2021, according to which the Centre has exempted posts in the Indian Police Service; the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshdweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Police Service; as well as the Indian Railway Protection Force Service from the mandated 4% reservation for persons with disabilities in government jobs.
Conclusion
In sum, the Standards, when enacted into law, will mark a huge step forward in making our law enforcement apparatus more disabled-friendly. Bolstering the Standards further, by incorporating the suggestions flowing from well- thought-out public comments, will take us closer to the aim of ensuring that India’s disabled citizens truly have the police they deserve.
The Defence Minister has encouraged scientists to work towards developing hypersonic missile technology after China’s successful demonstration of hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV).
Try this question:
Q. Hypersonic missiles are nothing but weapons of deterrence. Critically comment in context of arms race development for hypersonic missiles.
History of Missile Technology in India
(1) Pre-Independence
Before Independence, several kingdoms in India were using rockets as part of their warfare technologies.
Mysore ruler Hyder Ali started inducting iron-cased rockets in his army in the mid-18th century.
By the time Hyder’s son Tipu Sultan died, a company of rocketeers was attached to each brigade of his army, which has been estimated at around 5,000 rocket-carrying troops.
(2) Post-Independence
At the time of Independence, India did not have any indigenous missile capabilities.
The government created the Special Weapon Development Team in 1958.
This was later expanded and called the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), which moved from Delhi to Hyderabad by 1962.
In 1972, Project Devil, for the development of a medium-range Surface-to-Surface Missile was initiated.
By 1982, DRDL was working on several missile technologies under the Integrated Guided Missiles Development Programme (IGMDP).
What kind of missiles does India have?
India is considered among the top few nations when it comes to designing and developing missiles indigenously.
However, it is way behind the US, China and Russia in terms of range.
DRDO is working on multiple varieties of missiles:
[A] Surface-launched Systems
ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILE:
Nag has already been inducted into the services. Nag is the only fire-and-forget ATGM meeting all weather requirements for its range (around 20 km).
Recently Heli-Nag was tested, which will be operated from helicopters and will be inducted by 2022.
There is also a Stand-off Anti-Tank (SANT) missile, with a range over 10 km.
SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE
Short-range SAM system: Akash has already been inducted in the Army and the Air Force.
For Akash 1, which has a seeker, the Army has already got the Acceptance of Necessity from the government.
For Akash (New Generation), the first tests were conducted in July this year and a couple more trials are to be done.
Medium-Range SAM: Production of MRSAM systems for the Navy is complete, and it is placing its order.
[B] Air-launched Systems
AIR-TO-AIR:
Astra, India’s Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), has been completely tested and is under induction.
It has a range of around 100 km, and DRDO is trying to now induct it with more IAF platforms, including the domestically developed light combat aircraft Tejas.
A long-range Astra is also being developed, for which initial tests have been conducted.
The missile uses solid fuel ramjet technology, which enhances speed, and will have an indigenously-built seeker.
AIR-TO-GROUND:
Rudram, a New Generation Anti-Radiation Missile (NGRAM), has cleared initial tests and some more tests will be conducted soon.
With a maximum range of around 200 km, the missile mainly targets communication, radar and surveillance systems of the adversary, and was tested from the Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet last year.
BrahMos, which India developed jointly with Russia, is already operational.
It has a 300 km to 500 km range, and is a short-range, ramjet-powered, single warhead, supersonic anti-ship or land attack cruise missile.
India’s crucial missile systems
The two most important are Agni and Prithvi, both being used by the Strategic Forces Command.
Agni (range around 5,000) is India’s only contender for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is available in only a few countries.
Prithvi, although a short-range surface-to-surface missile with a 350 km range, has strategic uses. India also tested an anti-satellite system in April 2019.
A modified anti-ballistic missile named Prithvi Defence Vehicle Mk 2 was used to hit a low-orbit satellite.
It put India only behind the US, Russia and China in this capability.
What about Hypersonic Technology?
India has been working on this for a few years, and is just behind the US, Russia and China.
DRDO successfully tested a Hypersonic Technology Demonstrated Vehicle (HSTDV) in September 2020, and demonstrated its hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology.
India has developed its own cryogenic engine and demonstrated it in a 23-second flight.
India will try to make a hypersonic cruise missile, using HSTDV.
Only Russia has proven its hypersonic missile capability so far, while China has demonstrated its HGV capacity.
India is expected to be able to have a hypersonic weapons system within four years, with medium- to long-range capabilities.
What makes India good in missile technology?
Missile technology is one field in which India has made very positive and substantial progress.
Under the IGMP then headed by A P J Abdul Kalam, later India’s President, first came Prithvi, then Agni.
BrahMos, at 2.5-3 times the speed of sound, was among the fastest in the world when developed.
After the nuclear blast in 1998, cryogenic etc were not given to us by developed countries. Kalam and others, they made it a point that they developed it within the country.
Where do China and Pakistan stand compared to India?
While China is ahead of India, a lot of things about China are psychological.
China may have either achieved parity or even exceeded the US in land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missile capabilities.
China’s missile development is definitely a concern for us, but we will definitely evolve.
It has given the technology to the irresponsible hands of Pakistan. But getting technology and really using it, and thereafter evolving and adopting a policy is totally different.
The wholesale inflation in India has grown by double digits. This is the highest year-on-year increase recorded in any month since the start of the 2011-12 data series.
Context
It is surprising policymakers are not looking as concerned as the inflation figures show.
The Finance Ministry has largely focused on the trend in retail inflation — or the inflation rate at the level of retail consumers.
It is not just the policymakers within the government who prefer to focus on retail inflation but also the RBI.
Wholesale and Retail (Consumer) Inflation
The wholesale and retail (consumer) inflation rates are based on the wholesale price index (WPI) and the consumer price index (CPI), respectively.
In other words, we make two separate indices — one each for wholesale prices and retail prices — and see how the index values have gone up in a particular month as against the same month last year.
The percentage change is the rate of inflation.
The CPI-based inflation data is compiled by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (or MoSPI) and the WPI-based inflation data is put together by DPIIT.
The tables alongside detail how the two indices — WPI and CPI — differ in their composition. There are two key differences.
[A] Wholesale Price Index
Component
Weight (in %)
Inflation rate (in %);
Nov 2021
All Commodities
100.00
14.23
Primary Articles
22.62
10.34
Fuel & Power
13.15
39.81
Manufactured Products
64.23
11.92
[B] Consumer Price Index
Component
Weight (in %)
Inflation rate (in %);
Nov 2021
General Index
100.00
4.91
Food and beverages
45.86
2.60
Pan, tobacco and intoxicants
2.38
4.05
Clothing and footwear
6.53
7.94
Housing
10.07
3.66
Fuel and light
6.84
13.35
Miscellaneous (services)
28.32
6.75
A Comparison
(1) Manufactured Goods Vs. Food Items
WPI is dominated by the prices of manufactured goods while CPI is dominated by the prices of food articles.
As such, if the year-on-year increase in the prices of food articles is subdued, as is the case at present, chances are that the overall (also called headline) retail inflation will be within reasonable bounds.
In WPI, if manufactured products are getting costlier at the wholesale level then that would likely spike wholesale inflation regardless of how food prices are doing at the wholesale level.
(2) Accounting Service
Two, WPI does not take into account the change in prices of services. But CPI does.
If services such as transport, education, recreation and amusement, personal care etc. get significantly costlier, then retail inflation will rise but there will be no impact on wholesale price inflation.
Why do policymakers prefer targeting retail inflation instead of wholesale inflation rate?
RBI’s limitations: RBI is the monetary authority that has little ability to control food and fuel prices. Ex: raising the repo rate (rate at which RBI lends money to banks) is unlikely to contain the price of vegetables if any disruptions have led to a sudden spike.
Non-commodity Inflation: Wholesale inflation does not capture price movements in non-commodity-producing sectors like services, which constitute close to two-thirds of economic activity in India.
Large revisions in WPI: Movements in WPI often reflect large external shocks and as such, the wholesale inflation rate is often subject to large revisions.
Arguments in favour of CPI-based inflation targeting
Commodity basket: A crucial reason why CPI-based inflation could not be ignored is the fact that it has almost 57% dominance of food and fuel prices.
Affecting general public: Since most people use retail inflation as a way to arrive at their real earnings, and use it for wage negotiations etc., it makes more sense for policymakers,
Public faith: The choice of CPI establishes ‘trust’ viz., economic agents note that the monetary policy maker is targeting an index that is relevant for households and businesses.
Inflation affecting people: True inflation that consumers face is in the retail market. It is for this reason that almost all central banks in big economies use CPI as their primary price indicator.
Impact of Wholesale inflation on Retail
The Urjit Patel committee analysed the relationship between WPI and CPI based on monthly data from January 2000 to December 2013 — a total of 14 years.
When they looked at the impact of an increase in WPI-food inflation on CPI food inflation, they found it to be “significant”.
It stated that higher food inflation in wholesale markets leads to an increase in retail food inflation “till two months”.
An increase in retail food inflation leads to a corresponding increase in WPI-food inflation.
The “informal interaction” of the CEC and two other Election Commissioners with the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary has raised questions about the neutrality of the Commission, especially when elections to crucial States are around the corner.
About Election Commission of India
The ECI is a constitutional authority whose responsibilities and powers are prescribed in the Constitution of India under Article 324.
In the performance of its functions, the Election Commission is insulated from executive interference.
It is the Commission that decides the election schedules for the conduct of elections, whether general elections or by-elections.
ECI decides on the location of polling stations, assignment of voters to the polling stations, location of counting centers, arrangements to be made in and around polling stations and counting centres and all allied matters.
Litigations against EC
The decisions of the Commission can be challenged in the High Court and the Supreme Court of India by appropriate petitions.
By long-standing convention and several judicial pronouncements, once the actual process of elections has started, the judiciary does not intervene in the actual conduct of the polls.
Issues with PMO meeting
Executive interference: ECs are expected to maintain distance from the executive — a constitutional safeguard to insulate the commission from external pressure and allow it to continue as an independent authority.
Violating official channels: The EC’s communication with the Government on election matters is through the bureaucracy — either with its administrative ministry — the Law Ministry or the Home Ministry.
Breach of protocol: The Law Ministry spells the fine print on law for the country and is expected not to breach the constitutional safeguard provided to the commission to ensure its autonomy.
Recent incidence of criticisms
Ans. Partiality in Elections
Over the last couple of years, several actions and omissions of the commission have come in for criticism.
Nearly 66 former bureaucrats in a letter addressed to the President, expressed their concern over the working of the Election Commission.
They felt was suffering from a credibility crisis, citing various violations of the model code of conduct during the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
Importance of ECI for India
Conduction of Election: The ECI has been successfully conducting national as well as state elections since 1952.
Electoral participation: In recent years, however, the Commission has started to play a more active role to ensure greater participation of people.
Discipline of political parties: It had gone to the extent of disciplining the political parties with a threat of derecognizing if the parties failed in maintaining inner-party democracy.
Upholds federalism: It upholds the values enshrined in the Constitution viz, equality,
equity, impartiality, independence; and rule of law in superintendence, direction, and control over electoral governance.
Free and fair elections: It conducts elections with the highest standard of credibility, freeness, fairness, transparency, integrity, accountability, autonomy and professionalism.
Issues with ECI
Flaws in the composition: The Constitution doesn’t prescribe qualifications for members of the EC. They are not debarred from future appointments after retiring or resigning.
No security of tenure: Election commissioners aren’t constitutionally protected with security of tenure.
Partisan role: The EC has come under the scanner like never before, with increasing incidents of breach of the Model Code of Conduct in the 2019 general elections.
Political favor: The opposition alleged that the ECI was favoring the ruling party by giving clean chit to the model code of conduct violations made by the PM.
Non-competence: Increased violence and electoral malpractices under influence of money have resulted in political criminalization, which ECI is unable to arrest.
Many things have been said about the necessity for mandatory iron fortification of foods in India.
Iron fortification
Iron fortification of food is a methodology utilized worldwide to address iron deficiency.
A critical problem in some food fortification programs is the lack of bioavailability of iron compounds.
Why need iron fortification?
Ans.Prevalence of Anaemia
Iron deficiency anaemia is due to insufficient iron.
National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 provides insights into anaemia prevalence in the country, indicating that 57.2% of women ages 15 to 49 are anaemic, up from 49.7% in NFHS-4.
Without enough iron, the body can’t produce enough of a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen (hemoglobin).
Severe anemia during pregnancy increases your risk of premature birth, having a low birth weight baby and postpartum depression.
Some studies also show an increased risk of infant death immediately before or after birth.
Concerns over iron fortification
Ans.Fear of diabetes and heart ailments
Iron increases the risk for many non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension and even high blood cholesterol.
A US based survey shows that high ferritin level had a four-fold higher risk of having diabetes.
The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey of Indian adolescents to resulted in such scary outcomes.
There was a clear and significant risk for each of these conditions as serum ferritin increased.
India’s vulnerability
Ans.India is world capital of diabetes and hypertension
No less than 50% of Indian children, aged 5-19 years, already had a biomarker of either high blood sugar or high blood lipids, even when thin or stunted.
Thus, the risk of chronic disease is already very high in our children.
Thus mandatory cereal fortification has severe hazards for India.
Why mandatory fortification is not a feasible option?
Occurrence of deficiencies: We do not even know if anaemia is as rampant to warrant such mandatory measures.
Manipulating food choices: When mandatory fortification is enforced in parts of the population that do not need this, it removes their choice of foods, or autonomy.
Morbidities due to excess: It could even be unethical if the risk of other morbidities is increased.
No successful example: Rice fortification has not been shown to work in a combined analysis.
Conclusion
Food fortification is not a magic bullet.
It should be viewed as a complementary strategy for the prevention and control of micronutrient deficiencies.
As dietary patterns and deficiency states change, monitoring and periodic evaluation will be essential in helping to make necessary changes.
Gharial ( Gavialis gangeticus ) have been successfully reintroduced the in the Beas River of Punjab where it had become extinct half a century ago.
One may often get confused between the Mugger, Gharial and the Saltwater Crocodile. Note the differences about their IUCN status, habitat (freshwater/saltwater) etc..
Gharials
The Gharial is a fish-eating crocodile is native to the Indian subcontinent. They are a crucial indicator of clean river water.
Small released populations are present and increasing in the rivers of the National Chambal Sanctuary, Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Son River Sanctuary.
It is also found at the rainforest biome of Mahanadi in Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary, Orissa.
Gharials are ‘Critically Endangered’in the IUCN Red List of Species.
The species is also listed under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
Into the wild
A major chunk of gharials in India is found in the Chambal River, which has about 1,000 adults.
The Ghaghara acts as an important aquatic corridor for gharials in Uttar Pradesh. The river is a major left-bank tributary of the Ganges.
Like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar too is releasing gharials in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve as part of restocking the wild population. Unlike crocodiles, gharials do not pose any danger to humans.
Ambitious project in Punjab
The gharial reintroduction in the Beas Conservation Reserve is an ambitious programme of the Punjab government.
The reptiles were commonly sighted in the Beas River till the 1960s but later became extinct.
Back2Basics:
Mugger
The mugger is a marsh crocodile which is found throughout the Indian subcontinent.
It is a freshwater species and found in lakes, rivers and marshes.
