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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • What is Glue Grant Scheme?

    Forty Central universities will kick off the implementation of innovative measures such as the academic credit bank and the glue grant meant to encourage multidisciplinary in UG courses.

    Glue Grant Scheme

    • Under the glue grant, announced in this year’s budget, institutions in the same city would be encouraged to share resources, equipment and even allow their students to take classes from each other.
    • This is the first step for multidisciplinary.
    • We intend to start this from the second semester of the current academic year.
    • Ultimately, faculty will be able to design joint courses.
    • This also meant that institutions need not duplicate work by developing the same capacities, but would be able to build on each other’s expertise.

    Credit bank

    • The first step would be the academic credit bank, which would have to be adopted separately by the academic council of each university to kick off implementation.
    • To start with, the system would allow students to attain qualifications by amassing credits rather than specific durations on campus.
    • A certain number of credits would add up to a certificate, then a diploma and then a degree, allowing for multiple entries and exit points.
    • Students can earn up to 40% of their credits in online Swayam classes, rather than in the physical classroom. In the future, these credits will hold validity across different institutions.

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  • What is the School Bubble Concept?

    The Karnataka government has proposed the ‘school bubble’ concept to mitigate the spread of the disease among children (aged below 18) attending offline classes at schools and pre-university colleges across the state.

    It takes a village to raise a child.

    -Anonymous

    What are school bubbles?

    • School bubbles are physical classifications made between groups comprising a small number of students.
    • As per the concept, each such bubble will include students who tend to remain as a group during school hours throughout the term or an academic year.
    • The concept would help managements easily isolate a fewer number of students in case anyone gets infected.
    • For instance, a school bubble can include 30 students. If one among them gets infected, the others can self-isolate but the school need not be closed completely.
    • This would allow uninterrupted learning to others as well.

    Why are school bubbles significant?

    • The concept of school bubbles, experts feel, will be more relevant to students studying in primary school or below.
    • These students will have more chances of peer-to-peer interactions on a daily basis.
    • With school bubbles in place, the risk assessment process to identify close contacts of a Covid-positive student will also get easier.

    Is this concept completely new?

    • This has been successfully implemented at schools in the United Kingdom.
    • The government there has further relaxed social-distancing measures for students within a particular school bubble.
    • However, all members of the bubble are mandatorily subjected to RT-PCR tests if a student is infected.

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  • Custodial Violence

    Context

    Earlier this month, Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana expressed concern at the degree of human rights violations in police stations in the country. He said that “the threat to human rights and bodily integrity is the highest in police stations”

    Deaths in police custody

    • Improvement in the situation: A reality check shows that the picture is not so bleak and efforts are being made to improve the human rights protection regime in police stations.
    • National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data reveal that though the number of custodial deaths varies year to year, on average of about 100 custodial deaths have taken place every year between 2010 and 2019.
    • Of them, about 3.5 persons allegedly died due to injuries caused by policemen.
    • A judicial inquiry, which is mandatory for every suspicious custodial death, was conducted in 26.4 cases.
    • Though every death in custody needs to be prevented, suspicious deaths which bring disrepute to the police system must be rooted out completely.

    Measures to reduce the instances of custodial violence

    1) Reduce the number of arrests

    • As per the law, arrest for offences punishable up to seven years of imprisonment should be made only when such arrest is necessary to prevent the person from tampering with evidence, or committing any further offence, etc.
    • The Supreme Court held that each arrest must be necessary and justified; having the authority to arrest is alone not sufficient.
    • In Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar (2014), it was held that despite the offence being non-bailable under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which relates to torture for dowry, arrest is not mandatory as per Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
    • In Special Action Forum v. Union of India (2018), the Court further held that the police officer shall furnish to the magistrate the reasons and materials which necessitated the arrest for further detention of the accused.
    • The purpose of these checks is to ensure that the police does not abuse the power of arrest.
    • NCRB data show that the ratio of the number of arrests to the number of IPC offences has decreased from 1.33 in 2010 to 0.96 in 2019.

    2) Separate investigation from law and order

    • The National Police Commission (1977-81), the Law Commission in its 154th report (1996) and the Malimath Committee Report (2003), and the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh v. Union of India (2006), have recommended that the investigating police should be separated from the law-and-order police to ensure better expertise in investigation.
    • It is believed that a separate wing will do more professional investigation and will not use unwarranted methods to extract confession from the accused.
    • Though efforts have been made by some States in this direction, more resources are required in policing to implement the Court’s directions.

    3) Increase the number of investigating officers

    • Unless investigating officers are increased in proportion to the number of serious offences, the quality of investigation may suffer.
    • The Malimath Committee’s recommendation that an investigating officer should preferably investigate no more than 10 cases every year needs to be implemented.
    • Subject expert officers: With the increase of newer types of crime like white collar crime and cybercrime, subject experts are needed to assist the police in the investigation.

    4) Sensitise Police

    • The police officers must know that their mandate is to protect human rights and not violate them.
    • They need to be sensitised regularly and encouraged to employ scientific tools of interrogation and investigation like the lie detection test, narco test and brainfingerprinting test.

    5) Display board on human rights

    • The CJI’s suggestion to install display boards on human rights to disseminate information about the constitutional right to legal aid and availability of free legal aid services may deter police excesses.

    Steps taken to deal with the issue

    • Much has changed in the police consequent to the judgment in D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1996) in which the Supreme Court laid down guidelines to check custodial torture.
    • Guidelines incorporated in CrPC: Most of these guidelines such as providing information to a friend or relative about the arrest, medical examination, and permission to meet a lawyer have now been incorporated in the CrPC.
    • CCTV Cameras installed:  In Paramvir Singh v. Baljit Singh (2020), the Supreme Court has directed States to cover more area of each police station under CCTV cameras and have storage facility of audio-video recording for 18 months.
    • Actions against guilty:  NCRB data show that on average about 47.2 criminal cases were registered annually against policemen in last 10 years.
    • Departmental action against errant officers is a rule in the police force, rather than an exception.
    • Compensation by NHRC: The National Human Rights Commission also oversees deaths in custody due to human rights violations and recommends compensation in appropriate cases.
    • Incentives linked with police reforms: The Home Ministry has recently linked the ‘police modernisation scheme’ with police reforms.
    • Unless sufficient action is taken by the State governments and the police authorities, incentives in the form of additional funds will not be released.

    Consider the question “Human right violations in police stations is a cause for concerns. What are the reasons for such violations? Suggest the measures to curb it.”

    Conclusion

    Our commitment to the protection of human rights is unconditional and total. Many steps have been taken so far to check custodial violence and no stone shall be left unturned to eliminate such violence in toto.

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  • The National Automated Facial Recognition System

    Context

    On June 23, 2021, the Joint Committee examining the Personal Data Protection Bill (2019) was granted a fifth extension by Parliament. While the Government has been simultaneously exploring the potential of facial recognition technology.

    Automatic Facial Recognition in India

    • To empower the Indian police with information technology, India approved implementation of the National Automated Facial Recognition System (NAFRS).
    • On its implementation, it will function as a national-level search platform that will use facial recognition technology.
    • It will help to facilitate investigation of crime or for identifying a person of interest regardless of face mask, makeup, plastic surgery, beard or hair extension.

    Issues with AFR technology

    • Intrusive in nature: The technology is absolutely intrusive, for the purposes of ‘verification’ or ‘identification’, the system compares the faceprint generated with a large existing database of faceprints typically available to law enforcement agencies.
    • Accuracy and bias: Though the accuracy of facial recognition has improved over the years due to modern machine-learning algorithms, the risk of error and bias still exists.
    • With the element of error and bias, facial recognition can result in profiling of some overrepresented groups (such as Dalits and minorities) in the criminal justice system.
    • Privacy: As NAFRS will collect, process, and store sensitive private information: facial biometrics for long periods; if not permanently — it will impact the right to privacy.
    • Accordingly, it is crucial to examine whether its implementation is arbitrary and thus unconstitutional, i.e., is it ‘legitimate’, ‘proportionate to its need’ and ‘least restrictive’?
    • The Supreme Court, in the K.S. Puttaswamy judgment provided a three-fold requirement to safeguard against any arbitrary state action.
    • Unfortunately, NAFRS fails each one of these tests.
    • Any encroachment on the right to privacy requires the existence of ‘law’ (to satisfy legality of action); there must exist a ‘need’, in terms of a ‘legitimate state interest’; and, the measure adopted must be ‘proportionate’ and it should be ‘least intrusive.’
    • Lack of law: It does not stem from any statutory enactment (such as the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2018 proposed to identify offenders or an executive order of the Central Government.
    • Rather, it was merely approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in 2009.
    • Fails proportionality test: Even if we assume that there exists a need for NAFRS to tackle modern day crimes, this measure is grossly disproportionate.
    • For NAFRS to achieve the objective of ‘crime prevention’ or ‘identification’ will require the system to track people on a mass scale — avoiding a CCTV in a public place is difficult — resulting in everyone becoming a subject of surveillance: a disproportionate measure.
    • Impact on civil liberties: As anonymity is key to functioning of a liberal democracy, unregulated use of facial recognition technology will dis-incentivise independent journalism or the right to assemble peaceably without arms, or any other form of civic society activism.
    • Due to its adverse impact on civil liberties, some countries have been cautious with the use of facial recognition technology.
    • In the United States, the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2020 was introduced in the Senate to prohibit biometric surveillance without statutory authorisation.
    • Similarly, privacy watchdogs in the European Union have called for a ban on facial recognition.

    Way forward

    • Statutory basis: NAFRS should have statutory authorisation, and guidelines for deployment.
    • Data protection law: In the interest of civil liberties it is important to impose a moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology till we enact a strong and meaningful data protection law.

    Consider the question “What are the issues associated with the deployment of NAFRS? Suggest the way forward.”

    Conclusion

    In sum, even if facial recognition technology is needed to tackle modern-day criminality in India, without accountability and oversight, facial recognition technology has strong potential for misuse and abuse.

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  • [pib] E-Shram Portal:  National Database on Unorganized Workers (NDUW)

    The Union Ministry of Labour & Employment will launch the e-Shram portal – National Database on Unorganized Workers (NDUW).

    What is the E-Shram Portal?

    • The government aims to register 38 crore unorganized workers, such as construction labourers, migrant workforce, street vendors and domestic workers, among others.
    • The workers will be issued an e-Shram card containing a 12-digit unique number, which, going ahead, will help in including them in social security schemes.
    • The government had earlier missed deadlines for creating the database, inviting criticism from the Supreme Court.

    How will the registration for workers happen on the portal?

    • The registration of workers on the portal will be coordinated by the Labour Ministry, state governments, trade unions and CSCs.
    • Awareness campaigns would be planned across the country to enable nationwide registration of workers.
    • Following the launch of the portal, workers from the unorganized sector can begin their registration from the same day.
    • A national toll free number — 14434 — will also be launched to assist and address the queries of workers seeking registration on the portal.
    • A worker can register on the portal using his/her Aadhaar card number and bank account details, apart from filling other necessary details like date of birth, home town, mobile number and social category.

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  • Why India needs an NHS-like healthcare model

    Context

    Even after the pandemic, the Indian government continues to budget less than 1 per cent of GDP for healthcare, one of the lowest in the world.

    About NHS

    • Every year, Britain’s legendary health network National Health Service (NHS) cures 15 million patients with chronic ailments, at a fraction of the cost spent by the US.
    • The NHS funded by direct taxes is also the fifth largest employer in the world, after McDonalds and Walmart.
    • One of every 20 British workers is employed as a doctor, nurse, catering and technical personnel.

    Public healthcare in India

    • Even after the pandemic, the Indian government continues to budget less than 1 per cent of GDP for healthcare, one of the lowest in the world.
    • In contrast, China invests around 3 per cent, Britain 7 per cent and the United States 17 per cent of GDP.
    • So, 62 per cent of health expenses in India are paid for by patients themselves
    • This is one of the main reasons for families falling into poverty especially during the pandemic.
    • In India, hospitals are beleaguered with absentee staff.
    • As per a Niti Aayog database, in the worst state of Bihar in 2017-18, positions for 60 per cent of midwives, 50 per cent of staff nurses, 34 per cent of medical officers and 60 per cent of specialist doctors were vacant.
    • Those on the job, despite being handsomely paid, are chronically overworked.

    Conclusion

    In the 21st century, not much has improved in India’s public hospitals. Still, in India doctors are often equated with gods. What India needs in NHS like healthcare model.

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  • [pib] Bhuvan Yuktdhara Portal

    A new portal under Bhuvan “Yuktdhara” has been released to facilitate planning of new MGNREGA assets using Remote Sensing and GIS based information.

    Bhuvan Yuktdhara Portal

    • Yuktdhara is a geospatial planning portal meant for facilitating Gram Panchayat level planning of MGNREGA activities across India.
    • Portal integrates a wide variety of spatial information contents to enable a holistic approach towards planning using open-source GIS tool.
    • Subsequent to pan Indian initiative of geo-tagging assets created under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, harnessing the strength of GIS for identifying upcoming activities and their locations was a natural corollary.

    Features of the portal

    • The current level of integration under Yuktdhara, as part of Bhuvan, incorporates multi-temporal IRS satellite data of better than 3M detail in natural color, digital terrain, thematic layers as wed as locations of MGNREGA works and watershed management assets.
    • The interface currently has a Gram Panchayat-specific logo to address planning as well as approval mechanisms intended to ensure the evaluation and acceptance of proposed activities.
    • This will be enhanced for other levels of users gradually.
    • Access for other Gram Panchayat will be facilitated at the earliest, by addressing the case multiple logins created for geotagging and moderation.

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    Back2Basics: MGNREG Scheme

    • The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
    • This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
    • The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.

    The objectives of the MGNREGA are:

    • To enhance the livelihood security of the rural poor by generating wage employment opportunities.
    • To create a rural asset base that would enhance productive ways of employment, augment and sustain a rural household income.

    Features of the program

    • MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
    • The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
    • Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
    • Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.

  • PM announces Rice Fortification Plan

    PM in his I-day speech has announced the fortification of rice distributed under various government schemes, including the Public Distribution System (PDS) and mid-day meals in schools, by 2024.

    What is Fortification?

    • FSSAI defines fortification as “deliberately increasing the content of essential micronutrients in a food so as to improve the nutritional quality of food and to provide public health benefit with minimal risk to health”.

    What is Fortified Rice?

    • Rice can be fortified by adding a micronutrient powder to the rice that adheres to the grains or spraying the surface of ordinary rice grains with a vitamin and mineral mix to form a protective coating.
    • Rice can also be extruded and shaped into partially precooked grain-like structures resembling rice grains, which can then be blended with natural polished rice.
    • Rice kernels can be fortified with several micronutrients, such as iron, folic acid, and other B-complex vitamins, vitamin A and zinc.
    • These fortified kernels are then mixed with normal rice in a 1:100 ratio, and distributed for consumption.

    Note: Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. It differs from conventional fortification in that Biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during the processing of the crops.

    What is the plan announced by the PM?

    • Malnutrition and lack of essential nutrients in poor women and poor children pose major obstacles in their development.
    • In view of this, it has been decided that the government will fortify the rice given to the poor under its various schemes.
    • Be it the rice available at ration shops or the rice provided to children in their mid-day meals, the rice available through every scheme will be fortified by the year 2024.

    Why such a move?

    • The announcement is significant as the country has high levels of malnutrition among women and children.
    • According to the Food Ministry, every second woman in the country is anemic and every third child is stunted.
    • India ranks 94 out of 107 countries and is in the ‘serious hunger’ category on the Global Hunger Index (GHI).
    • Fortification of rice is a cost-effective and complementary strategy to increase vitamin and mineral content in diets.
    • According to the Food Ministry, seven countries have mandated rice fortification – the USA, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, and the Solomon Islands.

    Advantages offered

    • Health: Fortified staple foods will contain natural or near-natural levels of micro-nutrients, which may not necessarily be the case with supplements.
    • Taste: It provides nutrition without any change in the characteristics of food or the course of our meals.
    • Nutrition: If consumed on a regular and frequent basis, fortified foods will maintain body stores of nutrients more efficiently and more effectively than will intermittently supplement.
    • Economy: The overall costs of fortification are extremely low; the price increase is approximately 1 to 2 percent of the total food value.
    • Society: It upholds everyone’s right to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger

    Issues with fortified food

    • Against nature: Fortification and enrichment upset nature’s packaging. Our body does not absorb individual nutrients added to processed foods as efficiently compared to nutrients naturally occurring.
    • Bioavailability: Supplements added to foods are less bioavailable. Bioavailability refers to the proportion of a nutrient your body is able to absorb and use.
    • Immunity issues: They lack immune-boosting substances.
    • Over-nutrition: Fortified foods and supplements can pose specific risks for people who are taking prescription medications, including decreased absorption of other micro-nutrients, treatment failure, and increased mortality risk.

    Adhering to FSSAI standard

    The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) sets standards for food items in the country.

    • According to FSSAI norms, 1 kg fortified rice will contain iron (28 mg-42.5 mg), folic acid (75-125 microgram), and Vitamin B-12 (0.75-1.25 microgram).
    • In addition, rice may also be fortified with micronutrients, singly or in combination, with zinc(10 mg-15 mg), Vitamin A (500-750 microgram RE), Vitamin B1 (1 mg-1.5 mg), Vitamin B2 (1.25 mg-1.75 mg), Vitamin B3 (12.5 mg-20 mg) and Vitamin B6 (1.5 mg-2.5 mg) per kg.

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    Back2Basics: Public Distribution System (PDS)

    • The PDS is an Indian food Security System established under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution.
    • PDS evolved as a system of management of scarcity through the distribution of food grains at affordable prices.
    • PDS is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and State Governments.
    • The Central Government, through the Food Corporation of India (FCI), has assumed the responsibility for procurement, storage, transportation, and bulk allocation of food grains to the State Governments.
    • The operational responsibilities including allocation within the State, identification of eligible families, issue of Ration Cards and supervision of the functioning of FPSs etc., rest with the State Governments.
    • Under the PDS, presently the commodities namely wheat, rice, sugar, and kerosene are being allocated to the States/UTs for distribution.
    •  Some states/UTs also distribute additional items of mass consumption through PDS outlets such as pulses, edible oils, iodized salt, spices, etc.

    Mid-Day Meal Scheme

    • The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal program in India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide.
    • It is a wholesome freshly-cooked lunch served to children in government and government-aided schools in India.
    • It supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government, government-aided, local body, and alternate innovative education centers, Madarsa and Maqtabs.
    • The programme has undergone many changes since its launch in 1995.
    • The Midday Meal Scheme is covered by the National Food Security Act, 2013.

    The scheme aims to:

    1. avoid classroom hunger
    2. increase school enrolment
    3. increase school attendance
    4. improve socialization among castes
    5. address malnutrition
    6. empower women through employment

  • Ujjwala 2.0 Scheme

    Prime Minister has launched the second phase of the Ujjwala gas connection scheme for the poor and said it would provide the biggest relief to lakhs of migrant worker families in the country.

    Ujjwala 2.0

    • Under Ujjwala 2.0 migrant workers would no longer have to struggle to get address proof documents to get the gas connections, Mr. Modi said.
    • Now migrant workers would only be required to submit a self-declaration of their residential address to get the gas connection.
    • Along with a deposit-free LPG connection, Ujjwala 2.0 will provide the first refill and a hotplate free of cost to the beneficiaries.

    About the PM Ujjwala Yojana

    • Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched in 2016, with the aim to provide Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to five crore women members of below poverty line (BPL) households in the first phase.
    • he scheme was expanded in April 2018 to include women beneficiaries from seven more categories (SC/ST, PMAY, AAY, Most backward classes, tea garden, forest dwellers, Islands).
    • In the second phase the target was expanded to eight crore LPG connections.

    Significance of Ujjwala 2.0

    • LPG infrastructure has expanded manifold in the country due to the Ujjwala scheme.
    • In the last six years, more than 11,000 new LPG distribution centres have opened across the country.
    • The LPG coverage in India is now very close to becoming 100 per cent.

  • The shaky foundation of the labour law reforms

    Context

    The central government has deferred the possible date of implementation of labour codes to October 1, 2021, prolonging the wait before employers and workers could enjoy the benefits extended by the labour codes.

    Labour law reforms: Key provisions

    • The government enacted the Code on Wages in August 2019 and the other three Codes, viz., the Industrial Relations Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code and Code on Social Security (CSS) in September 2020.
    • Universal minimum wage: The codes would extend universal minimum wages and social security, enable enhanced industrial safety and the provision of social security to gig workers, among other things.
    • Recognition of trade unions: The Industrial Relations Code provides for recognition of trade union(s) by employers, a labour right that eluded workers for seven decades.
    • Flexibility to employers: Employers celebrated the extension of tremendous flexibility to them, even those unasked, such as relief from framing standing orders for most firms.
    • The central government has deferred the possible date of implementation to October 1, 2021.

    Issues in implementation

    • State’s have not issued draft rules: Major States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi have not issued the draft rules under any codes.
    • Even though the Code on Wages was enacted in August 2019, it was only in March 2021 that the central government notified the constitution of an advisory committee.
    • Safety concerns persist:  Industrial safety continues to be a grave concern even after the enactment of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code.
    • Lack of clarity on the determination of minimum wage: On June 3, 2021, the government announced an expert committee with a tenure of three years to advise on minimum wages.
    • Then, on July 12, 2021, the government announced that the wage index’s base year would be shifted from 1965 to 2019 to use the revised wage index to determine minimum wages.
    • The Government seems to be facing difficulty regarding the implementation of minimum wages.

    Conclusion

    Despite the gazetting of four Codes, age-old laws are in force. That reflects poorly on the governance abilities of the governments.