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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • 2025 nutrition targets call for a multi-dimensional focus

    The article highlights the issue of nutrition and suggest the ways to achieve nutrition security in the country to drive sustainable growth for India.

    Nutrition in India

    • A recent United Nations report-  The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2020 highlighted that there are 189.2 million undernourished people in India.
    • Even though this number has declined by 60 million over the past decade, the progress is far too slow.
    • While we recorded a drop in undernourishment, obesity amongst Indian adults grew from 25.2 million in 2012 to 34.3 million in 2016.
    • India is likely to miss the 2025 global nutrition targets according to the Global Nutrition Report 2020, unless more is done, soon.

    Impact of POSHAN Abhiyan

    • With the launch of POSHAN Abhiyan in 2018, the government mainstreamed nutrition, with this multi-ministerial and multi-sectoral approach.
    • It converges all existing programs to improve the nutritional status of pregnant women, mothers and children.
    • It brings together several programs such as National Rural Health Mission, Mid-Day meals, Integrated Child Development Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and others to improve nutrition intake in India.
    • The success lies in following an outcome based approach to ensure all the benefits under these interventions are delivered to mothers and children within the first 1000 days, setting the base for healthier lives.

    Micronutrients through food fortification

    • Food fortification is another effective way to deliver micronutrients to Indian masses, through existing food delivery systems such as mid-day meals and the public distribution system.
    • Regulators have already been promoting fortification in food products like salt, edible oil, milk, rice and wheat flour to improve nutritional content.
    • Going forward, we will see more and more food products and crops getting covered.

    Need for innovation

    • It is crucial for the food and beverage industry to make nutrition an integral part of their strategy.
    • Healthier ingredients, fortification, reformulation to reduce saturated and trans-fat content and optimize sugar and sodium content, immunity boosting product is already commonplace across urban markets.
    • This will soon permeate to rural markets.
    • Factors such as product taste, convenience, shelf life, and price – all of which determine consumption – are also important elements that ensure higher intake of nutritious products by consumers everywhere.
    • This calls for more innovation. Innovation in product, pricing, technology, digitalization, and research and development by food companies.

    Rising nutrition awareness

    • Solving the problem of malnourishment has to start with awareness.
    • In rural areas, general nutritional awareness has historically been lower.
    • In urban areas even though people are generally more aware a large percentage still consumes excess sugar and salt, leads sedentary lifestyles coupled with lack of exercise, resulting in lifestyle diseases like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure
    • Consumers everywhere need to be better educated about nutritional benefits of common food items and the importance of including them in regular diet.
    • This can be done effectively through government led awareness campaigns and healthy public food distribution initiatives, industry acting responsibly.

    Conclusion

    Good nutrition is the best investment we can make in human capital. It has the power to drive sustainable economic growth for India.

  • Issues with legal language in India

    Context

    •  Recently, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court regarding the use of legal language.
    • Reacting to the plea, the Supreme Court has asked the Ministry of Law and Justice and Bar Council to respond.

    Wha the PIL is about?

    • The PIL (Subhash Vijayran vs Union of India) wants the legislature and executive to use plain English in drafting laws, the Bar Council to introduce plain English in law curricula and the Supreme Court to only allow concise and precise pleadings.
    • He begins the synopsis to the writ petition in the following way. “The writing of most lawyers is: (1) wordy, (2) unclear, (3) pompous and (4) dull.

    Way forward

    • When asking the Ministry of Law and Justice and Bar Council to respond, the Chief Justice of India referred to Anthony Burgess’s book (1964) Language Made Plain.
    • George Orwell set out six principles, which could be used while drafting.
    • Copy editors routinely use these principles, but not the judiciary.
    • The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy produced a manual on plain language drafting in 2017.

    Conclusion

    The Ministry of Law and Justice make use of the opportunity provided by the PIC to come up with the set of principles to make the legal language easier for all.

  • Governing OTT Platforms

    In a move that will have a far-reaching impact, the Union government has brought Over The Top (OTT) platforms, or video streaming service providers under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).

    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.

    Background

    • The MIB has found a vast swathe of unregulated content, namely news online and Over the top (OTT) platforms which had escaped any architecture of regulation.
    • The print was regulated by the Press Council of India and Television, both News and Entertainment were being regulated by the Cable Networks Regulation Act (2005).
    • However, the content on online, the Government felt, fell into a black hole with no oversight.

    What are OTT Media?

    • An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet.
    • OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content.
    • The term is most synonymous with subscription-based video-on-demand (SVoD) services that offer access to film and television content.
    • They are typically accessed via websites on personal computers, as well as via apps on mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), digital media players, or televisions with integrated Smart TV platforms.

    Regulating OTT

    • Currently, there is no law or autonomous body governing digital content. The recent move will give the government control over OTT platforms, which were unregulated till now.
    • From time to time, the government had indicated the necessity to monitor these platforms.
    • In October 2019, the government had indicated that it will issue the “negative” list of don’ts for the video streaming services like Netflix and Hotstar.
    • It also wanted the platforms to come up with a self-regulatory body on the lines of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority.

    Self-regulation is not sufficient

    • Anticipating the government’s intervention, in January 2019, video streaming services had signed a self-regulatory code that laid down a set of guiding principles for content on these platforms.
    • The code adopted by the OTTs prohibited five types of content:
    1. Content that deliberately and maliciously disrespects the national emblem or national flag,
    2. Any visual or storyline that promotes child pornography
    3. Any content that “maliciously” intends to outrage religious sentiments
    4. Content that “deliberately and maliciously” promotes or encourages terrorism and
    5. Any content that has been banned for exhibition or distribution by law or court
    • The government had refused to support this code.

    What lies ahead?

    • The government had been giving enough hints from time to time that it wanted to regulate digital media but the exact nature of the regulation it wanted to bring was not clear.
    • The government considers digital media and digital aggregators in the same breath but they are different things.
    • It is unclear whether it is looking at licensing or entry barriers, or any other curbs in digital media.
    • However, monitoring content 24×7 has its own challenges. Whether the Ministry will set up a committee involving the public to look into complaints received remains to be seen.

  • Home Ministry amends FCRA rules

    The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has relaxed FCRA norms for farmer, student, religious and other groups who are not directly aligned to any political party to receive foreign funds if the groups are not involved in “active politics”.

    Must read:

    What is Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, and how does it control donations?

    What is the FCRA?

    • The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010 regulates foreign donations and ensures that such contributions do not adversely affect the internal security of our country.
    • The Act, first enacted in 1976, was amended in the year 2010 when a slew of new measures was taken by the Union Home Ministry to regulate foreign donations. It was again amended in September this year.
    • It is applicable to all associations, groups and NGOs which intend to receive foreign donations. It is mandatory for all such NGOs to register themselves under the FCRA.
    • The registration is initially valid for five years and it can be renewed subsequently if they comply with all norms.

    What are the new rules?

    • The new rule says- the organisations specified under clauses (v) and (vi) of sub-rule (1) shall be considered to be of political nature, if they participate in active politics or party politics, as the case may be.
    • The 2011 rules on said clauses dealt with “guidelines for the declaration of an organisation to be of a political nature, not being a political party”.
    • It said that the Central government could specify an organisation as that of political nature based on six criteria.

    Defining ‘Political group’

    • Clause V of Rule 3 (FCRA 2011) qualified a political group as, “organisations of farmers, workers, students, youths based on caste, community, religion, language or otherwise, which is not directly aligned to any political party, but whose objectives or activities, include steps towards advancement of political interests of such groups.
    • The activities include: habitually engagement in or employ common methods of political action like rasta roko, jail bharo, rail roko, bandh or hartal in support of public causes.

    Why such a move?

    • As per the FCRA, members of legislatures, political parties, government officials, judges and media persons are prohibited from receiving any foreign contribution.
    • The new rules make new FCRA registrations more stringent.

  • [pib] Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

    PM will inaugurate the office cum residential complex of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) at Cuttack in Odisha.

    Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

    • Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, also known as ITAT, is an important statutory body in the field of direct taxes and its orders are accepted as final, on findings of fact.
    • ITAT was the first Tribunal to be created on 25th January, 1941 and is also known as ‘Mother Tribunal’.
    • Starting with three benches, at Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta it has now grown to 63 Benches and two circuit benches spread across thirty cities of India.
    • With a view to ensuring highest degree of independence of the ITAT, it functions under the Department of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Law and Justice and is kept away from any kind of control by the Ministry of Finance.

    Did you notice this?

    ITAT was the very first tribunal constituted in India! And it functions under the Ministry of Law and Justice and not the obvious looking Ministry of Finance.

    It’s Functioning

    • It is the second appellate authority under the direct taxes and first independent forum in its appellate hierarchy.
    • The orders passed by the ITAT can be subjected to appellate challenge, on substantial questions of law, before the respective High Court.
    • Monetary limit for deciding an appeal by a single member Bench of ITAT enhanced from ₹15 lakh to ₹50 lakh in 2016 Union Budget.

  • State coverage ratios under NFSA

    The government has initiated the process of ascertaining the new State/UT-specific coverage ratios for rural and urban areas under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA).

    Try this question:

    Q.In the ongoing crisis, maintaining the level of food security has become one of the most essential needs. In light of the above statement, critically examine the priority areas for maintaining food security in the country. Suggest measures to make accessibility and availability of food easier for all. (250W)

    National Food Security (NFS) Act

    • The NFS Act, 2013 aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India’s 1.2 billion people.
    • It was signed into law on 12 September 2013, retroactive to 5 July 2013.
    • It converts into legal entitlements for existing food security programmes of the GoI.
    • It includes the Midday Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and the Public Distribution System (PDS).
    • Further, the NFSA 2013 recognizes maternity entitlements.
    • The Midday Meal Scheme and the ICDS are universal in nature whereas the PDS will reach about two-thirds of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas).
    • Under the provisions of the bill, beneficiaries of the PDS are entitled to 5 kilograms per person per month of cereals at the following prices:
    1. Rice at ₹3 per kg
    2. Wheat at ₹2 per kg
    3. Coarse grains (millet) at ₹1 per kg.
    • Pregnant women, lactating mothers, and certain categories of children are eligible for daily free cereals.

    Why such a move?

    • At present, NFSA covers up to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population in the country.
    • Based on this, state-wise coverage under NFSA was determined by the erstwhile Planning Commission—now NITI Aayog.
    • It was done by using the National Sample Survey Household Consumption Expenditure Survey data for 2011-12.
    • Since then, the state-wise coverage ratio has not been revised.

    Statewise data

    • Currently, Manipur has the highest coverage in rural areas across the country (88.56 per cent), while Andaman & Nicobar Islands has the lowest (24.94 per cent).
    • Manipur is followed by Jharkhand (86.48 per cent), Bihar (85.12 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (84.25 per cent).
    • In urban areas too, Manipur has the maximum coverage ratio (85.75 per cent), while Andaman & Nicobar Islands has the lowest (1.70 per cent).
    • In urban areas, Manipur is followed by Bihar (74.53 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (64.43 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (62.61 per cent).

  • Equity in education matters

    Fairness and inclusiveness are two important aspects of education system. Growing shift toward digital education in India has implications for these two aspects. The article suggests ways to make the education system fair and inclusive.

    Knowledge economy in India

    • The new National Education Policy (NEP) as well as other factors have lately brightened up education landscape in India..
    • The rise of education technology (ed-tech) incorporating VR, AR, ‘gamification’, 3D immersive learning, etc, is contributing to the knowledge economy’s potential for large market size, calling for requisite policy support.

    Barriers to equity in education

    • The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) defines two dimensions of equity in education.
    • First is “fairness”, which means ensuring that personal and social circumstances do not prevent students from achieving their academic potential.
    • The second is “inclusion”, which means setting a basic minimum standard for education that is shared by all students regardless of their background.
    • The barriers that make equity difficult to foster in India are varied and complex.

    Loss of learning during Covid pandemic

    • The latest Annual State of Education Report (ASER) reveals that 20% of rural students lacked textbooks.
    • Only one in ten students had access to online classes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
    • The Survey provides a glimpse into the levels of learning loss that students in rural India, particularly in states like Bihar, West Bengal, UP, and Rajasthan, are suffering, resulting in sharp digital divides in education.
    • Unless remedied with urgency, the digital split may disrupt learning, and jeopardise our hard-won gains resulting in large scale school drop-outs, particularly of adolescent girls.

    How to remove barriers to equity?

    • To remove these barriers we need to look at several aspects like monetary resources, academic standards, academic content and support.
    • Apart from inequality in internet access and access to devices, even the quality of connection and related services and subscription fees exacerbate the digital divide.
    • For education to be availed as a social good, access at an affordable cost and reasonable quality is a precondition.
    • The availability of content in vernacular languages is yet another issue.
    • In digital education along with demand-side issues, supply-side issues need fixing, such as training of teachers in ICT, new learning devices and handling the evolved curriculum.
    • Teachers and academic institutions need to ensure that the content they are using is lucid, appropriate, fact-based and relevant.
    • Access to education loans from banks and financial institutions are a great support in the cause of education, particularly higher education.
    • Education is on the Concurrent List. A cooperative and collaborative spirit will thus be critical to realise the goals.
    • The Centre has a task well cut for building consensus on NEP2020.

    Consider the question “Fainess and inclusiveness are two important dimensions of equity that should be pursued by any education system. However, push towards digital educations threatens these two dimensions of the education system in India. Comment” 

    Conclusion

    With strong corporate commitment, states’ support, backed by strong policy push and intent by the Centre, and value addition by other stakeholders, the roadblocks on the path of equity and inclusiveness in education, though daunting, could be addressed.

    Source-

    https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/equity-in-education-matters/2121998/

  • What is General Consent accorded to the CBI?

    Kerala has decided to withdraw the general consent accorded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to operate in the state voluntarily.

    Try answering this:

    Q. Why the CBI is called as “a caged parrot speaking in its master’s voice”? Critically comment.

    General Consent

    • Unlike the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is governed by its own NIA Act and has jurisdiction across the country, the CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
    • This makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting an investigation in that state.
    • There are two kinds of consent: case-specific and general.
    • Given that the CBI has jurisdiction only over central government departments and employees, it can investigate a case involving state government employees or a violent crime in a given state only after that state government gives its consent.

    When is Consent needed?

    • General consent is normally given to help the CBI seamlessly conduct its investigation into cases of corruption against central government employees in the concerned state. Almost all states have given such consent.
    • Otherwise, the CBI would require consent in every case.
    • For example, if it wanted to investigate a bribery charge against a Western Railway clerk in Mumbai, it would have to apply for consent with the Maharashtra government before registering a case against him.

    What does withdrawal mean?

    • It means the CBI will not be able to register any fresh case involving a central government official or a private person stationed in these two states without getting case-specific consent.
    • Withdrawal of consent simply means that CBI officers will lose all powers of a police officer as soon as they enter the state unless the state government has allowed them.

    Under what provision has general consent been withdrawn?

    • Section 6 of the Act says nothing contained in Section 5 shall be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in any area in a State, not being a Union Territory or Railway, area, without the consent of the Government of that State.
    • In exercise of the power conferred by Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the government can withdraw the general consent to exercise the powers and jurisdiction.

    Does that mean that the CBI can no longer probe any case in the two states?

    • The CBI would still have the power to investigate old cases registered when general consent existed.
    • Also, cases registered anywhere else in the country, but involving people stationed in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal would allow CBI’s jurisdiction to extend to these states.
    • There is ambiguity on whether the agency can carry out a search in either of the two states in connection with an old case without the consent of the state government.

    Why such a move by the States?

    • If a state government believes that the ruling party’s ministers or members could be targeted by CBI on orders of the Centre, and that withdrawal of general consent would protect them.
    • This is a debatable political assumption.
    • CBI could still register cases in Delhi which would require some part of the offence being connected with Delhi and still arrest and prosecute ministers or MPs.
    • The only people it will protect are small central government employees.

    Legal Remedies for CBI

    • The CBI can always get a search warrant from a local court in the state and conduct searches.
    • In case the search requires a surprise element, there is CrPC Section 166, which allows a police officer of one jurisdiction to ask an officer of another to carry out searches on his behalf.
    • And if the first officer feels that the searches by the latter may lead to loss of evidence, the section allows the first officer to conduct searches himself after giving notice to the latter.

    Back2Basics: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

    • Origins of CBI can be traced back to the Special Police Establishment (SPE) set up in 1941 in order to cases of bribery and corruption in War & Supply Department of India during World War II.
    • The need of a Central Government agency to investigate cases of bribery and corruption was felt even after the end of World War II.
    • So, DSPE (Delhi Special Police Establishment) Act, 1946 was brought that gave legal power of investigating cases to CBI.
    • CBI is not a statutory body as it is not established by an Act of the Parliament.
    • CBI investigates cases related to economic crimes, special crimes, cases of corruption and other high-profile cases.
    • CBI comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
    • CBI is exempted from Right to Information (RTI) Act similar to the National Investigating Agency (NIA), National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), etc.

  • Distribution of Fortified Rice under ICDS

    In a bid to combat chronic anaemia and undernutrition, the government is planning to distribute fortified rice through the Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-Day Meal schemes across the country.

    What is Fortified Rice?

    • Rice can be fortified by adding a micronutrient powder to the rice that adheres to the grains or spraying of 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 was the earlier initiative?

    • The centrally-sponsored pilot scheme was approved in February 2019 for a three-year period from 2019-20 onwards.
    • However, only five States — Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh — have started the distribution of fortified rice in their identified pilot districts.

    Need for expansion

    • Currently, there are only 15,000 tonnes of these kernels available per year in the country.
    • To cover PDS, anganwadis and mid-day meals in the 112 aspirational districts, annual supply capacity would need to be increased to about 1.3 lakh tonnes.
    • To cover PDS across the country, 3.5 lakh tonnes of fortified kernels would be needed.

    Regulating fortification

    • FSSAI has formulated a comprehensive regulation on fortification of foods namely ‘Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2016’.
    • These regulations set the standards for food fortification and encourage the production, manufacture, distribution, sale and consumption of fortified foods.
    • The regulations also provide for the specific role of FSSAI in promotion for food fortification and to make fortification mandatory.
    • WHO recommends fortification of rice with iron, vitamin A and folic acid as a public health strategy to improve the iron status of population wherever rice is a staple food.

    Back2Basics: Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

    • The ICDS aims to provide food, preschool education, primary healthcare, immunization, health check-up and referral services to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.
    • The scheme was launched in 1975, discontinued in 1978 by the government of Morarji Desai, and then relaunched by the Tenth Five Year Plan.
    • The tenth FYP also linked ICDS to Anganwadi centres established mainly in rural areas and staffed with frontline workers.
    • The ICDS provide for anganwadis or day-care centres which deliver a package of six services including:
    1. Immunization
    2. Supplementary nutrition
    3. Health checkup
    4. Referral services
    5. Pre-school education (Non-Formal)
    6. Nutrition and Health information

    Implementation

    • For nutritional purposes, ICDS provides 500 kilocalories (with 12-15 grams of protein) every day to every child below 6 years of age.
    • For adolescent girls, it is up to 500-kilo calories with up to 25 grams of protein every day.
    • The services of Immunisation, Health Check-up and Referral Services delivered through Public Health Infrastructure under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

  • Street Vendors in India

    Recently PM distributed loans to nearly 300,000 street vendors under the PM SVANidhi scheme.

    Q. Discuss how Street-vending accounts for significant non-agricultural urban informal employment in India. Also, discuss how the PM SVANidhi scheme will help street vendors.

    SVANidhi scheme

    • The SVANidhi ensures a working capital loan up to Rs 10,000 for vendors and rewards digital transactions.
    • All street vendors who have been in the business on or before March 24, 2020, are eligible to avail the benefits.
    • For this scheme launched in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Centre has earmarked a stimulus package of Rs 5,000 crore for nearly 50 lakh vendors.

    Street vendors in India

    • There are estimated 50-60 lakh street vendors in India, with the largest concentrations in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad.
    • Most of them are migrants who typically work for 10–12 hours every day on average. Anyone who doesn’t have a permanent shop is considered a street vendor.
    • According to government estimates, street-vending accounts for 14 per cent of the total (non-agricultural) urban informal employment in the country.
    • The sector is riddled with problems. Licence caps are unrealistic in most cities — Mumbai, for example, has a ceiling of around 15,000 licences as against an estimated 2.5 lakh vendors.
    • This means most vendors hawk their goods illegally, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation and extortion by local police and municipal authorities.

     

    Identifying street vendors

    • The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 was enacted to regulate street vendors in public areas and protect their rights.
    • The Act defines a “street vendor” as a person engaged in vending of articles… of everyday use or offering services to the general public, in…any public place or private area, from a temporary built-up structure or by moving from place to place”.
    • The Act envisages the formation of Town Vending Committees in various districts to ensure that all street vendors identified by the government are accommodated in the vending zones subject to norms.