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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • [pib] Ease of Living Index (EOLI) 2020

    The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has announced the release of the final rankings of the Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020 and the Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020.

    For any such index, always note the verticals i.e. the various parameters.

    Ease of Living Index (EoLI)

    • It is an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development.
    • It provides a comprehensive understanding of participating cities across India based on the quality of life, the economic ability of a city, and its sustainability and resilience.
    • It examines the outcomes that lead to existing living conditions through pillars of Quality of Life, Economic Ability, Sustainability.

    Municipal Performance Index (MPI)

    • It was launched as an accompaniment to the Ease of Living Index.
    • The five verticals under MPI are Services, Finance, Policy, Technology and Governance.
    • The Ease of Living Index encapsulates the outcome indicators while the Municipal Performance Index captures the enabling input parameters.

    Performance of cities

    • Bengaluru emerged as the top performer in the Million+ categories, followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, and Greater Mumbai.
    • In the Less than Million category, Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere, and Tiruchirappalli.

    Why need such indices?

    • The EoLI primarily seeks to accelerate India’s urban development outcomes, including the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
    • The findings from the index can help guide evidence-based policymaking.
    • It also promotes healthy competition among cities, encouraging them to learn from their peers and advance their development trajectory.

  • India’s migrant workers need better policies

    The article analyses the draft policy document for migrant labourers prepared by the NITI Aayog.

    Draft policy by NITI Aayog

    • The Niti Aayog, on the request of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has prepared an umbrella policy document for migrant labourers, including informal sector workers.
    • The draft policy makes significant strides in providing a perspective on recognising the magnitude and role of migrant workers, their problems and vulnerabilities, and the role and responsibilities of various stakeholders in addressing these.
    •  It states that a sound policy must be viewed from a “human rights, property rights, economic, social development, and foreign policy lens”.
    • It reiterates that policy should lead to the fulfilment of ILO commitments and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 8.8 on the protection of labour rights and providing a safe and secure working environment for all workers, particularly migrants.

    Portability of social protection to address vulnerabilities

    • The policy describes many sources of vulnerabilities of migrant labourers, ranging from their invisibility and political and social exclusion to informal work arrangements, exploitation and denial of labour rights, lack of collective voice, exclusion from social protection arrangements, formal skills, health, education, and housing.
    • Following from this, it identifies portability of social protection, voting rights, right to the city (the collective ownership and participation of citizens in cities they have helped build) and health, education and housing facilities as key issues to be dealt with.
    • It also reflects on the need for pro-poor development and provision of livelihoods in the source areas.

    Governance structure

    • The draft policy proposes a governance structure with the Ministry of Labour as the nodal ministry and a dedicated unit under it which will act as a focal point for inter-ministerial and Centre-state coordination.
    • It also proposes mechanisms for coordinating the effort on inter-state migration, especially on principal migration corridors.
    • The policy document creates a framework under which migrant workers and their families can access entitlements and possibly work in a safer and better environment.

    Issues need to be addressed

    1) Failure to address cause of migration of labour

    • The National Commission for Rural Labour argued way back in 1991 that unequal development was the main cause of labour migration.
    • In the last three decades, disparities in development and inequalities have grown ceaselessly, calling for deep correctives.
    • Without such correction, migration and the adverse inclusion of migrants in labour markets is bound to grow unchecked.
    • The report falls short of acknowledging this.

    2) Exclusion of migrants urban local governments

    • While the report correctly pinpoints the exclusion of migrants by urban local governments in the provision of basic entitlements, it fails to acknowledge the root cause of the lopsided urban development strategy.
    • The urban strategy has catered to national and global capital and the urban middle classes, marginalising the poor, particularly the migrants.

    3) Denial of social security

    • The report also makes a false dichotomy between approaches which rely on cash transfers and special dispensations and a second approach which enhances the agency and capability of migrants and removes constraints on these.
    • The denial of the first approach has led the report to brush aside the migrants’ and informal workers’ right to social security.
    • Social security is acknowledged as a universal human right in international covenants to which India is a signatory and is given due place in the Constitution.
    • The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) showed in 2006 that providing a minimum level of universal social security was financially and administratively feasible.
    • The Commission also recommended a universal registration system and issuance of smart social security cards, but its recommendations have unfortunately remained a dead letter.

    4) Approach towards labour rights and labour policy

    • By putting grievance and legal redressal above regulation and enforcement on which it remains silent, the report puts the cart before the horse.
    • Surprisingly, the report does not take stock of the new labour codes, mentioning only the defunct laws that were subsumed by them.
    • The Codes accentuate the very problems — informality, precarity, the role of contractors and the lack of organisation — which the report itself describes.
    • The Codes, in promoting ease of business, have tilted the balance firmly in favour of capital.

    Conclusion

    In essence, the draft policy framework identifies the problems but fails to address the policy distortions which lie at their root. Hopefully, however, the draft will be opened up for further discussions and feedback to enrich and complete what is already a significant beginning.

  • The IT Act new rules and the challenge of Big Tech

    The article discusses the issues with the new rules issues under the IT Act.

    Issues with the new rules

    1) No discussion

    • Last week, the Union Government issued a set of rules under the Information Technology Act, superseding rules issued under Section 79 of that statute in 2011. 
    • This has happened in the absence of open and public discussion and without any parliamentary study and scrutiny.

    2) Concerns over legal basis

    • The Union Government has chosen to pass these rules under the requirement to outline the due diligence that Internet intermediaries have to follow in order to be able to claim their qualified legal immunity under Section 79 of the IT Act.
    • These rules at the outset appear unlawful even with respect to whether they could have been issued under the Information Technology Act in the manner chosen by the government, leave alone their constitutionality with respect to fundamental rights.
    • The government’s gazette notification has further claimed that the rules were also issued under the legal authority to specific procedure for blocking web content under Section 69A of the IT Act.
    • However,  rules overseeing government web content blocking powers have already been issued for that section in 2009, and not superseded.

    3) Using rule making power to issue primary legislation

    • The ability to issue rules under a statute — i.e. to frame subordinate legislation — is by its nature a limited, constrained power.
    • The executive branch is subordinate to what Parliament has permitted it and cannot use its rule-making power to seek to issue primary legislation by itself.
    • With the present Internet content and social media rules, the Union Government has done precisely that.
    • The executive branch has created new rules that apply only to “significant social media intermediaries” — a term that appears nowhere in the Information Technology Act.
    • The rules have grown to include a chapter on how digital news sites have to be registered before the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
    • However, digital news service registration is not required under the IT Act and streaming video content has not been included under the ambit of the Cinematograph Act.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges in the regulation of Big Tech to democracies? Suggest the measures to deal with these challenges.”

    Conclusion

    Instead of advancing Internet content control, India needs to advancing surveillance law reform or enacting a strong statutory data protection framework.

  • ‘Lateral Entry’ into Bureaucracy: Reason, Process, and Controversy

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the Indian Express.

    Background

    • Earlier this month, the UPSC issued an advertisement seeking applications for the posts of Joint Secretary and Director in central government Departments.
    • These individuals, who would make a “lateral entry” into the government secretariat, would be contracted for three to five years.
    • These posts were “unreserved”, meaning were no quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs.

    UPSC begins lateral entry

    • The new ad is for the second round of such recruitments.
    • Earlier, the government had decided to appoint experts from outside the government to positions of Joint Secretary in different Ministries/Departments and at the level of Deputy Secretary/Director in 2018.

    Q.In light of the growing need for Lateral Entry in top secretarial posts, discuss the need for enhancing the professional competence of Civil Servants in India.(150W)

    What is ‘Lateral Entry’ into government?

    • NITI Aayog, in 2017 had recommended the induction of personnel at middle and senior management levels in the central government.
    • These ‘lateral entrants’ would be part of the central secretariat which in the normal course has only career bureaucrats from the All India Services/ Central Civil Services.

    What are the ranks invited for this entry?

    • A Joint Secretary, appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), has the third-highest rank (after Secretary and Additional Secretary) in a Department.
    • It functions as the administrative head of a wing in the Department.
    • Directors are a rank below that of Joint Secretary.

    What is the government’s reasoning for lateral entry?

    • Lateral recruitment is aimed at achieving the twin objectives of bringing in fresh talent as well as augments the availability of manpower.
    • Government has, from time to time, appointed some prominent persons for specific assignments in government, keeping in view their specialised knowledge and expertise in the domain area.
    • Indeed, the first ARC had pointed out the need for specialization as far back as 1965.
    • The Surinder Nath Committee and the Hota Committee followed suit in 2003 and 2004, respectively, as did the second ARC.
    • In 2005, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) recommended an institutionalized, transparent process for lateral entry at both the Central and state levels.

    Why is lateral entry sometimes criticised?

    • Groups representing SCs, STs and OBCs have protested the fact that there is no reservation in these appointments.
    • Some argue that the government is opening back doors to bring its own lobby openly.

    Mentor’s comment: Why is lateral entry necessary?

    For the sake of political economy

    • Pushback from bureaucrats, serving and retired, and the sheer institutional inertia of civil services has existed largely unchanged for decades have prevented progress.
    • The importance of economic effectiveness has risen concurrently.
    • That stagnation means the civil services as they exist today—most crucially, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS)—are unsuited to the country’s political economy in many ways.
    • The need for having bureaucrats act as binding agents, no longer exist.
    • Others, such as socioeconomic development, have transmuted to the point where the state’s methods of addressing them are coming in for a rethink.

    Conclusion

    • Pushback is inevitable since every smallest policy change is resisted in our country.
    • It is both a workaround for the civil services’ structural failings and an antidote to the complacency that can set in a career-based service.
    • The second ARC report points out that it is both possible and desirable to incorporate elements of a position-based system where lateral entry and specialization are common.

    Way forward

    • India’s civil services need reform. There is little argument about this.
    • These are not entirely new in India.
    • Domain experts have been brought in from outside the services to head various committees, advisory bodies and organizations.
    • Internal reforms—such as insulation from political pressure and career paths linked to specialization—and external reforms such as lateral entry are complementary.

  • Who gets to decide what is legitimate free speech

    The article highlights the challenges in regulating the Big Techs.

    Controlling Big Tech

    • Recently, the Indian government announced a sweeping array of rules reining-in social media.
    • Specifically, social media platforms are required to become “more responsible and more accountable” for the content they carry.
    • India is by no means alone in taking steps to regulate at Big Tech.
    • The social media companies would argue that they are self-regulating.
    • The problem is that their actions are ad hoc, inconsistent and reactive 

    Issues

    • A user can be removed from the platform if his post threatens the “unity, integrity, defence, security or Sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states, or public order, or causes incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any foreign States”.
    • In other words, the government is giving itself plenty of room to cut Big Tech down to size.

    Why the issue needs government intervention: 3 arguments

    1) Conflict of interest

    • The government intervention rests on the presumption that it is never in the commercial interest of Big Tech to remove offensive speech.
    • This is because as such content goes viral more readily, bringing in more eyeballs, more data and more advertising revenue.
    • Big Tech proponents would contend that the companies are getting smarter about the risks of allowing such content on their systems and will inevitably find it in their self-interest to pre-emptively kill it.

    2) State is the guardian of public interest

    • A second argument in favour of government would be as follows: States are the guardians of the public interest.
    • In democratic societies, governments are elected to represent the will of the people.
    • So if there is a hard choice to be made about curtailing speech or permitting it, it seems only natural to turn to the public guardian.
    • The counter to this theory would be that, in practice, even democratically elected governments are far from perfect.
    • In fact according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, both India (ranked 53rd ) and the US (ranked 25th) are “flawed democracies”.
    • In parallel, the argument for Big Tech to be the upholder of the public interest could rest on the theory that well-functioning markets are superior to flawed democracies in optimising social welfare.
    • The counter-argument to this view would be that the tech industry is itself deeply flawed.
    • There is a lack of sufficient choice of platforms; there are asymmetries in power between the companies and users and Big Tech is amassing data on the citizens and using this information for its own purposes, which makes the disparity even greater.

    3) Bargaining power of BigTech

    • A third perspective is to acknowledge it doesn’t matter who is the “true” upholder of the public interest.
    • For all practical purposes, the outcome of the struggle between Big Government and Big Tech will be determined by relative bargaining power.
    • While governments technically have the ability to take entire platforms offline within the borders of their countries, these platforms are now so enormous that their users would revolt.
    • This is why we witnessed the audacity, recently, of Google and Facebook, threatening to de-platform Australia.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges in the regulation of Big Techs? Suggest ways to deal with these challenges.”.

    Conclusion

    While governments technically have the ability to take entire platforms offline within the borders of their countries, these platforms are now so enormous that their users would revolt. This is why we witnessed the audacity, recently, of Google and Facebook, threatening to de-platform Australia.

  • E-Daakhil portal for consumer grievance redressal

    The Union Government has informed that the ‘E-Daakhil’ portal for consumer grievance redressal is now operational in 15 states and Union Territories (UTs).

    Try this question from our AWE initiative:

    What are the objectives sought to be achieved through The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 to regulate commercial transactions? What are the issues with the rules? 10 marks

    E-Daakhil

    • The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which came into force on July 20, 2020, has a provision for e-filing of consumer complaints in the consumer commissions and online payment of the fees for filing a complaint.
    • A web application for e-filing of consumer complaints named ‘edaakhil.nic.in’ has been developed by NIC for the purpose.
    • E-filing was launched by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) on September 7, 2020.
    • Delhi was the first state to implement it on September 8, 2020.

    Features of the portal

    • The E-Daakhil portal empowers the consumer and their advocates to file the consumer complaints along with payment of requisite fees online from anywhere for the redressal of their complaints.
    • It facilitates the consumer commissions to scrutinise the complaints online to accept, reject or forward the complaint to the concerned commission for further processing.
    • The digital software for filing consumer complaints has many features like e-notice, case document download link and virtual hearing link, filing written response by the opposite party, fling rejoinder by complainant and alerts via SMS/e-mail.
    • To facilitate the rural consumers for e-filing, it has been decided to integrate the common service centres (CSC) with the E-Daakhil portal.

  • A fine balance in digital age

    The Digital Media Code seeks to balance the priorities and interests of several stakeholders. The article explains the various aspects of the code.

    Guidelines and ethics code

    • The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (MeitY) has announced the proposed Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code. 
    • The guidelines will cover social networks, digital media companies, and OTT platforms.
    • The guidelines will also make the nation’s sovereign stance clear on matters of ethics and the protection of freedom of expression of creators, publishers, and digital platform companies.
    • The guidelines and ethics code seek to balance the questions of accountability and grievance redressal that are posed by the citizens of the country.

    Balancing many priorities

    • The ministry’s announcement reveals an approach that is aligned with the thinking of today without imposing unreasonable boundaries on the innovation and expression.
    • The guidelines are designed to carefully balance the many priorities and contexts of all stakeholders.
    • With this move, India continues to deepen its position as a leader in digital policy and technological innovation.
    • These guidelines have been intentionally designed so that India’s next-gen digital media innovators can propel the acceleration of value generation and inclusive empowerment of their local users.
    • Global companies that have large user bases in the country can also align with a common framework that protects creators and consumers alike.

    Grievance redressal mechanism

    • The proposal has mechanisms that empower every social and digital media intermediary to self-enforce effective mechanisms to address complaints from users.
    • With a special focus on protecting the online safety and dignity of users, especially women, the guidelines have prioritised affirmative addressal of the most serious issues that have affected India’s digital population.
    • The digital platform companies are empowered to report the first originator of the grievance-causing information.
    • This will ensure that liability is limited while the country’s laws can be fully and effectively enforced on the actual perpetrators.

    Addressing the arbitrary censorship

    • Guidelines provide users with an opportunity to be heard — a vital defence against the arbitrary censorship that several social media platforms are increasingly embracing globally.
    • The need of the hour is for every country to have a body of clearly-defined policy that is consistent with the principles of their democracies.
    • The country’s guidelines will ensure that unlawful information has clear boundary conditions, liability is defined, the process for enforcement of orders is transparent.
    • The guidelines will also ensure that all social and digital media companies can rely on a consistent definition of the ethics code that protects all participants in the digital ecosystem.

    Conclusion

    This light-touch, empowering, and inclusive regulatory architecture is exactly what the country was hoping for, and India’s citizens will applaud this move as a foundational pillar towards an Atmanirbhar India.

  • Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, 2021

    For the first time, the union government, under the ambit of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, has brought in detailed guidelines for digital content on both digital media and Over The Top (OTT) platforms.

    Try answering this

    Q.What is Over the Top (OTT) media services? Critically analyse the benefits and challenges offered by the OTT media services in India.

    Guidelines Related to Social Media

    • Due Diligence To Be Followed By Intermediaries: The Rules prescribe due diligence that must be followed by intermediaries, including social media intermediaries. In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.
    • Grievance Redressal Mechanism: The Rules seek to empower the users by mandating the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the users or victims.
    • Ensuring Online Safety and Dignity of Users, Especially Women Users: Intermediaries shall remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that erodes individual privacy and dignity.

    Additional Due Diligence to Be Followed by Significant Social Media Intermediary:

    • Appoint a Chief Compliance Officer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and Rules. Such a person should be a resident of India.
    • Appoint a Nodal Contact Person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
    • Appoint a Resident Grievance Officer who shall perform the functions mentioned under the Grievance Redressal Mechanism. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
    • Publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken on the complaints.
    • Significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable identification of the first originator of the information.

    Digital Media Ethics Code Relating to Digital Media and OTT Platforms

    This Code of Ethics prescribes the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.

    (a) Self-Classification of Content

    • The OTT platforms, called the publishers of online curated content in the rules, would self-classify the content into five age-based categories– U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).
    • Platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as “A”.
    • The publisher of online curated content shall prominently display the classification rating specific to each content or programme together with a content descriptor.

    (b) Norms for news

    • Publishers of news on digital media would be required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act.

    (c) Self-regulation by the Publisher

    • Publisher shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by it.
    • The officer shall take a decision on every grievance received it within 15 days.

    (d) Self-Regulatory Body

    • There may be one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers. Such a body shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, a High Court or independent eminent person and have not more than six members.
    • Such a body will have to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
    • This body will oversee the adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics and address grievances that have not to be been resolved by the publisher within 15 days.

    (e) Oversight Mechanism

    • Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall formulate an oversight mechanism.
    • It shall publish a charter for self-regulating bodies, including Codes of Practices.
    • It shall establish an Inter-Departmental Committee for hearing grievances.

    Back2Basics: Social Media usage in India

    • The Digital India programme has now become a movement that is empowering common Indians with the power of technology.
    • The extensive spread of mobile phones, the Internet etc. has also enabled many social media platforms to expand their footprints in India.
    • Some portals, which publish analysis about social media platforms and which have not been disputed, have reported the following numbers as the user base of major social media platforms in India:
    1. WhatsApp users: 53 Crore
    2. YouTube users: 44.8 Crore
    3. Facebook users: 41 Crore
    4. Instagram users: 21 Crore
    5. Twitter users: 1.75 Crore
    • These social platforms have enabled common Indians to show their creativity, ask questions, be informed and freely share their views, including constructive criticism of the government and its functionaries.
    • The govt acknowledges and respects the right of every Indian to criticize and disagree as an essential element of democracy.

  • Federalism and India’s human capital

    The article argues for recognising the correlation between human capital and decentralisation in India.

    Low human capital indicators

    • In the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, the country ranked 116th.
    • The National Family Health Survey-5 for 2019-20 shows that malnutrition indicators stagnated or declined in most States.
    • The National Achievement Survey 2017 and the Annual Status of Education Report 2018 show poor learning outcomes.
    • In addition, there is little convergence across States.
    • India spends just 4% of its GDP as public expenditure on human capital:1% and 3% on health and education respectively— one of the lowest among its peers.

    Initiatives to address these issues

    • Investing in human capital through interventions in nutrition, health, and education is critical for sustainable growth.
    • The National Health Policy of 2017 highlighted the need for interventions to address malnutrition.
    • On the basis of NITI Aayog’s National Nutrition Strategy, the Poshan Abhiyaan was launched, as part of the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Scheme.
    • The latest Union Budget has announced a ‘Mission Poshan 2.0’ and the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan has been the Centre’s flagship education scheme since 2018.

    Relation between decentralisation and human capital

    • International experience suggests that one reason why these interventions are not leading to better outcomes may be India’s record with decentralisation.
    • Globally, there has been a gradual shift in the distribution of expenditures and revenue towards sub-national governments.
    • These trends are backed by studies demonstrating a positive correlation between decentralisation and human capital.

    Issues with decentralisation in India

    1) Letting states decide the way of empowerment

    • The 73rd and 74th Amendments bolstered decentralisation by constitutionally recognising panchayats and municipalities as the third tier.
    • The Amendment also added the Eleventh and Twelfth schedules containing the functions of panchayats and municipalities.
    • These include education, health and sanitation, and social welfare for panchayats, and public health and socio-economic development planning for municipalities.
    • However, the Constitution lets States determine how they are empowered.
    • In effect, three tiers of government are envisaged in the Constitution it divides powers between the first two tiers — the Centre and the States
    • This has resulted in vast disparities in the roles played by third-tier governments.

    2) Centralised nature of fiscal architecture

    • While the Constitution assigns the bulk of expenditure responsibilities to States, the Centre has major revenue sources.
    • To address this vertical imbalance, the Constitution provides for fiscal transfers through tax devolution and grants-in-aid.
    • In addition, the Centre can make ‘grants for any public purpose’ under Article 282 of the Constitution.
    • While fiscal transfers that are part of tax devolution are unconditional, transfers under grants-in-aid or Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) can be conditional.
    • Therefore, the increase in the States’ share of tax devolution represents more meaningful decentralisation.
    • Despite some shifts towards greater State autonomy in many spheres, the centralised nature of India’s fiscal architecture has persisted. 
    • Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) have formed a sizeable chunk of intergovernmental fiscal transfers over the years, comprising almost 23% of transfers to States in 2021-22.
    • But its outsized role strays from the intentions of the Constitution.
    • There are issues in the design of CSSs as well, with the conditions being overly prescriptive and, typically, input-based.
    • Against this, international experience reveals that schemes with output-based conditions are more effective.
    • Moreover, CSSs typically have a cost-sharing model, thereby pre-empting the States’ fiscal space.

    3) Lack of fiscal empowerment

    • Third-tier governments are not fiscally empowered.
    • The collection of property tax, a major source of revenue for third-tier governments, is under 0.2% of GDP in India, compared to 3% of GDP in some other nations.
    • The Constitution envisages State Finance Commissions (SFCs) to make recommendations for matters such as tax devolution and grants-in-aid to the third tier.
    • However, many States have not constituted or completed these commissions on time.

    Solution

    • The Centre should play an enabling role, for instance, encouraging knowledge-sharing between States.
    • For States to play a bigger role in human capital interventions, they need adequate fiscal resources.
    • To this end, States should rationalise their priorities to focus on human capital development.
    • The Centre should refrain from offsetting tax devolution by altering cost-sharing ratios of CSSs and increasing cesses.
    • Concomitantly, the heavy reliance on CSSs should be reduced, and tax devolution and grants-in-aid should be the primary sources of vertical fiscal transfers.
    • Panchayats and municipalities need to be vested with the functions listed in the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules.

    Consider the question “There is a positive correlation between decentralisation and human capital. This in part explains India’s low human capital indicators. In light of this, examine the issues with the decentralisation in India and suggest the measures to deal with it.”

    Conclusion

    Leveraging the true potential of our multi-level federal system represents the best way forward towards developing human capital.

     

     

  • NITI Aayog’s Draft National Policy on Migrant Workers

    Spurred by the exodus of 10 million migrants from big cities during the Covid-19 lockdown, the NITI Aayog has prepared a draft national migrant labour policy.

    Highlights of the Policy

    • The draft describes two approaches to policy design:
    1. To focus on cash transfers, special quotas, and reservations
    2. To enhance the agency and capability of the community and thereby remove aspects that come in the way of an individual’s own natural ability to thrive

    A rights-based approach

    • The policy rejects a handout approach, opting instead for a rights-based framework.
    • It seeks to remove restrictions on the true agency and potential of the migrant workers.
    • The goal a/c to the document should not be to provide temporary or permanent economic or social aids”, which is “a rather limited approach”.
    • Migration, the draft says, should be acknowledged as an integral part of the development and government policies should not hinder but
seek to facilitate internal migration.

    Issues with existing law

    • The 2017 report argued that specific protection legislation for migrant workers was unnecessary.
    • Migrant workers aren’t yet integrated with all workers as part of an overarching framework that covers regular and contractual work.
    • The report discussed the limitations of The Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979, which was designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors by safeguarding their right to non-discriminatory wages.
    • It mentions that the Ministry of Labour and Employment should amend the 1979 Act for “effective utilization to protect migrants”.

    Restructuring the institutions

    The NITI draft lays down institutional mechanisms to coordinate between Ministries, states, and local departments to implement programmes for migrants.

    • Nodal agency: It identifies the Ministry of Labour and Employment as the nodal Ministry for implementation of policies, and asks it to create a special unit to help to converge the activities of other Ministries.
    • Resources centre: This unit would manage migration resource centres in high migration zones, a national labour Helpline, links of worker households to government schemes, and inter-state migration management bodies.
    • Migration corridors: On the inter-state migration management bodies, it says that labour departments of source and destination states along major migration corridors, should work together through the migrant worker cells.
    • Labour officers from source states can be deputed to destinations – e.g., Bihar’s experiment to have a joint labour commissioner at Bihar Bhavan in New Delhi.
    • Role for Panchayats: Alongside the long-term goal, policies should promote the role of panchayats to aid migrant workers and integrate urban and rural policies to improve the conditions of migration.
    • Migration management: Panchayats should maintain a database of migrant workers, issue identity cards and passbooks, and provide “migration management and governance” through training, placement, and social-security benefit assurance, the draft says.

    Ways to stem migration

    • Even as it underlines the key role of migration in development, the draft recommends steps to stem migration.
    • The draft asks source states to raise minimum wages to bring a major shift in the local livelihood of tribal that may result in stemming migration to some extent.
    • The absence of community building organisations (CBO) and administrative staff in the source states have hindered access to development programmes, pushing tribals towards migration, the draft says.
    • The “long term plan” for CBOs and panchayats should be to “alleviate distress migration policy initiatives” by aiming “for a more pro-poor development strategy in the sending areas.

    The importance of data

    • The draft calls for a central database to help employers “fill the gap between demand and supply” and ensures “maximum benefit of social welfare schemes”.
    • It asks the Ministries and the Census office to be consistent with the definitions of migrants and subpopulations, capture seasonal and circular migrants, and incorporate migrant-specific variables in existing surveys.
    • Both documents see limited merit in Census data that comes only once a decade.
    • It asked the National Sample Survey Office to include questions related to migration in the periodic labour force survey and to carry out a separate survey on migration.

    Preventing exploitation

    • The policy draft describes a lack of administrative capacity to handle issues of exploitation.
    • State labour departments have little engagement with migration issues, and are in “halting human trafficking mode”, the draft says.
    • The local administration, given the usual constraints of manpower, is not in a position to monitor.
    • This has become the breeding ground for middlemen to thrive on the situation and entrap migrants which leads to potential exploitation and trafficking.

    Specific recommendations

    • The draft asks the various ministries to use Tribal Affairs migration data to help create migration resource centres in high migration zones.
    • It asks the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to focus on skill-building at these centres.
    • The Ministry of Education should take measures under the Right to Education Act to mainstream migrant children’s education, to map migrant children, and to provide local-language teachers in migrant destinations.
    • The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should address issues of night shelters, short-stay homes, and seasonal accommodation for migrants in cities.
    • The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and Ministry of Labour should set up grievance handling cells and fast track legal responses for trafficking, minimum wage violations, and workplace abuses etc.