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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • [pib] STARS Project

    The Union Cabinet has approved the sum of Rs. 5718 crore for the World Bank aided project STARS.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q. The STARS Project recently seen in news is an initiative of:

    World Bank/ Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation / UNECOSOC/ UNICEF

    STARS Project

    • ‘STARS’ is an acronym for Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS).
    • The STARS project will be implemented through the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the flagship central scheme.
    • The six states include- Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan.
    • It will help improve learning assessment systems, strengthen classroom instruction and remediation, facilitate school-to-work transition, and strengthen governance and decentralized management,
    • Some 250 million students (between the age of 6 and 17) in 1.5 million schools and over 10 million teachers will benefit from the STARS program.
    • STARS will support India’s renewed focus on addressing the ‘learning outcome’ challenge and help students better prepare for the jobs of the future – through a series of reform initiatives.

    Major components of the STARS

    1)      At the national level, the project envisages the following interventions which will benefit all states and UTs:

    • To strengthen MOE’s national data systems to capture robust and authentic data on retention, transition and completion rates of students.
    • To support MOE in improving states PGI scores by incentivizing states governance reform agenda through SIG (State Incentive Grants).
    • To support the strengthening of learning assessment systems.
    • To support MOE’s efforts to establish a National Assessment Center (PARAKH).

    2)       At the State level, the project envisages: 

    • Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Foundational Learning
    • Improving Learning Assessment Systems
    • Strengthening classroom instruction and remediation through teacher development and school leadership
    • Governance and Decentralized Management for Improved Service Delivery.
    • Strengthening Vocational education in schools through mainstreaming, career guidance and counselling, internships and coverage of out of school children

  • [pib] Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojna

    Union Health Ministry has launched the second phase of “Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojna” for underprivileged Thalassemic patients.

    Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojna

    • This scheme was launched in 2017 under the Coal India CSR funded Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) program.
    • It aims to provide a one-time cure opportunity for Haemoglobinopathies like Thalassaemia and Sickle Cell Disease for patients who have a matched family donor.
    • The initiative was targeted to provide financial assistance to a total of 200 patients by providing a package cost not exceeding Rs. 10 lakhs per HSCT.

    What is Thalassemia?

    • Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder characterized by less oxygen-carrying protein (haemoglobin) and fewer red blood cells in the body than normal.
    • When there isn’t enough haemoglobin, the body’s red blood cells don’t function properly and they last shorter periods of time, so there are fewer healthy red blood cells travelling in the bloodstream.
    • Symptoms include fatigue, weakness, paleness and slow growth.
    • Mild forms may not need treatment. Severe forms may require blood transfusions or a donor stem-cell transplant.

  • Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA)

    The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked all NGOs seeking foreign donations to open a designated FCRA account at the State Bank of India’s New Delhi branch.

    What is the FCRA?

    • The FCRA regulates foreign donations and ensures that such contributions do not adversely affect internal security.
    • First enacted in 1976, it was amended in 2010 when a slew of new measures was adopted to regulate foreign donations.
    • The FCRA 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 happens once registered?

    • Registered associations can receive a foreign contribution for social, educational, religious, economic and cultural purposes.
    • Filing of annual returns, on the lines of Income Tax, is compulsory.
    • In 2015, the MHA notified new rules, which required NGOs to give an undertaking that the acceptance of foreign funds.
    • It ruled that it is not likely to prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India or impact friendly relations with any foreign state and does not disrupt communal harmony.
    • It also said all such NGOs would have to operate accounts in either nationalized or private banks which have core banking facilities to allow security agencies access on a real-time basis.

    Who cannot receive foreign donations?

    • Members of the legislature and political parties, government officials, judges and media persons are prohibited from receiving any foreign contribution.
    • However, in 2017 the MHA amended the 1976-repealed FCRA law paving the way for political parties to receive funds from the Indian subsidiary of a foreign company or a foreign company in which an Indian holds 50% or more shares.

    How else can receive foreign funding?

    • The other way to receive foreign contributions is by applying for prior permission.
    • It is granted for receipt of a specific amount from a specific donor for carrying out specific activities or projects.
    • But the association should be registered under statutes such as the Societies Registration Act, 1860, the Indian Trusts Act, 1882, or Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956.
    • A letter of commitment from the foreign donor specifying the amount and purpose is also required.

    When is a registration suspended or cancelled?

    • The MHA on inspection of accounts and on receiving any adverse input against the functioning of an association can suspend the FCRA registration initially for 180 days.
    • Until a decision is taken, the association cannot receive any fresh donation and cannot utilise more than 25% of the amount available in the designated bank account without the permission of the MHA.
    • The MHA can cancel the registration of an organisation which will not be eligible for registration or grant of ‘prior permission’ for three years from the date of cancellation.

  • E-VIN network to handle COVID-19 vaccine supply

    The eVIN network, which can track the latest vaccine stock position; the temperature at storage facility; geo-tag health centres; and maintain facility-level dashboard, is being repurposed for the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine.

    Try this question from CSP 2016:

    Q.‘Mission Indradhanush’ launched by the Government of India pertains to:

    (a) Immunization of children and pregnant women

    (b) Construction of smart cities across the country

    (c) India’s own search for the Earth-like planets in outer space

    (d) New Educational Policy

    What is eVIN network?

    • The eVIN is an innovative technological solution aimed at strengthening immunization supply chain systems across the country.
    • This is being implemented under the National Health Mission (NHM) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
    • It aims to provide real-time information on vaccine stocks and flows, and storage temperatures across all cold chain points in the country.
    • This system has been used during the COVID pandemic for ensuring the continuation of the essential immunization services and protecting our children and pregnant mothers against vaccine-preventable diseases.

    Components of eVIN

    • eVIN combines state-of-the-art technology, a strong IT infrastructure and trained human resource to enable real-time monitoring of stock and storage temperature of the vaccines kept in multiple locations across the country.
    • At present, 23,507 cold chain points across 585 districts of 22 States and 2 UTs routinely use the eVIN technology for efficient vaccine logistics management.

    Benefits of eVIN

    • It has helped create a big data architecture that generates actionable analytics encouraging data-driven decision-making and consumption-based planning.
    • It helps in maintaining optimum stocks of vaccines leading to cost savings. Vaccine availability at all times has increased to 99% in most health centres in India.
    • While instances of stock-outs have reduced by 80%, the time taken to replenish stocks has also decreased by more than half, on an average.
    • This has ensured that every child who reaches the immunization session site is immunized, and not turned back due to unavailability of vaccines.

  • 15 Years of Right to Information

    Fifteen years after the Right to Information (RTI) Act came into force; more than 2.2 lakh cases are pending at the Central and State Information Commissions, which are the final courts of appeal under the transparency law.

    Try this question:

    Q.“RTI is a tool for empowering ordinary citizens and changing the culture of governance in India.” Discuss.

    Right to Information

    • RTI is an act of the parliament which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
    • It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
    • Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30.
    • In case of the matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours.
    • The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

    Governing of RTI

    The Right to information in India is governed by two major bodies:

    1. Central Information Commission (CIC) – Chief Information commissioner who heads all the central departments and ministries- with their own public information officers (PIO)s. CICs are directly under the President of India.
    2. State Information Commissions (SIC)– State Public Information Officers or SPIOs head over all the state department and ministries. The SPIO office is directly under the corresponding State Governor.
    • State and CIC are independent bodies and CIC has no jurisdiction over the SIC.

    Fundamental status of RTI

    • RTI is a fundamental right for every citizen of India.
    • Since RTI, is implicit in the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, it is an implied fundamental right.

    Limitation to RTI

    • Information disclosure in India is restricted by the Official Secrets Act 1923 and various other special laws, which the new RTI Act relaxes.
    • RTI has proven to be very useful but is also counteracted by the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011.

  • [pib] SVAMITVA Scheme

    Our PM has launched the physical distribution of Property Cards under the SVAMITVA Scheme.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q.The SVAMITVA Scheme sometimes seen in news is related to:

    Urban Employment/ Land records management/ Child Adoption/ None of these

    About SVAMITVA

    • SVAMITVA stands for Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas.
    • Under the scheme, the latest surveying technology such as drones will be used for measuring the inhabited land in villages and rural areas.
    • The mapping and survey will be conducted in collaboration with the Survey of India, State Revenue Department and State Panchayati Raj Department under the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
    • The drones will draw the digital map of every property falling in the geographical limit of each Indian village.
    • Property Cards will be prepared and given to the respective owners.

    Significance of the scheme

    • The scheme paves the way for using the property as a financial asset by villagers for taking loans and other financial benefits.
    • Also, this is the first time ever that such a large-scale exercise involving the most modern means of technology is being carried out to benefit millions of rural property owners.

    Various benefits

    • The scheme will create records of land ownership in villages and these records will further facilitate tax collection, new building plan and issuance of permits.
    • It will enable the government to effectively plan for the infrastructural programs in villages.
    • It would help in reducing the disputes over property.

    Back2Basics:  E-Gramswaraj Portal

    • E Gram Swaraj portal is the official portal of central govt for the implementation of Swamitva scheme.
    • By visiting this portal people can check their Panchayat profile easily. It will also contain the details of ongoing development works and the fund allocated for them.
    • Any citizen can create his or her account on the portal and can know about the developmental works of villages.
    • The user of E Gram Swaraj portal can also access all work of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
    • This single interface will help speed-up the implementation of projects in rural areas from planning to completion.

  • Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)

    The article highlights the importance of CAG in times of disasters to ensure check and balances.

    Context

    • With the nation spending substantial resources to manage the pandemic, the role of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has come into prominence.

    Opportunity for corruption in pandemic

    • Allegations of siphoning off of funds to purchase the inferior quality at prices higher than those prevailing in the market are made.
    • The opportunity to indulge in corruption exists in disaster management.
    •  Emergency procurement to save lives and reduce sufferings are a chance to obfuscate rules and procedures and can happen in all three tiers of governance.

    Role of the CAG

    • If all the major purchases by governments are audited by the CAG, there can be substantial improvement in disaster management.
    • It will usher in better transparency, integrity, honesty, effective service delivery and compliance with rules and procedures and governance.
    • The CAG has issued an order creating a new vertical — health, welfare and rural development, restructuring the office of the Director General of Audit, Central Expenditure.
    • It is necessary that the CAG undertakes performance audits of COVID-19 related procurements, the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and Employee State Insurance (ESI) hospitals.
    •  A beneficiary survey will become part of the audit process to bring out efficacy of service delivery and the availability and quality of drugs.
    • Audit recommendations can contribute improvements in various aspects of disaster preparedness, management and mitigation.

    Benefits of audit

    • The statutory responsibility of CAG includes appraising disaster preparedness, ensuring that management, mitigation operations, procedures are complied with, and proper internal controls are in place.
    • Ensuring that there are proper records, documentation, authentic, accurate, reliable and complete information and data.
    • Providing assurance to people’s representatives, tax payers and the public at large that government resources are being used prudentially as per the law and regulations and safeguarded.
    • Providing assurance that risks are assessed, identified and minimised with established disaster management process and procedures.
    • Offering assurance that resources are being used economically efficiently and effectively for achieving the planned objectives and that benefits have gone to the targeted beneficiaries.

    Conclusion

    All public entities management must be accountable and ensure that resources are managed properly and used in compliance with laws and regulations; programmes are achieving their objectives; and services are being provided efficiently, effectively, and economically.

  • Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill needs a thorough review

    There are several issues with the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill and these issues need consideration before the passage of the Bill.

    What the Bill aims to achieve

    • Union Health Minister introduced the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020 (Bill) in the Lok Sabha.
    • Its aim is to regulate ART banks and clinics, allow safe and ethical practice of ARTs and protect women and children from exploitation.
    • The Bill was introduced to supplement the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 (SRB), which awaits consideration by the Rajya Sabha after review by two parliamentary committees.

    Concerns with the Bill

    1)  Exclusion in the access of ART

    • .The Bill allows for a married heterosexual couple and a woman above the age of marriage to use ARTs.
    • It excludes single men, cohabiting heterosexual couples and LGBTQI individuals and couples from accessing ARTs.
    • This violates Article 14 of the Constitution and the right to privacy jurisprudence of Puttaswamy, where the Supreme Court held that “ the liberty of procreation, the choice of a family life” concerned all individuals irrespective of their social status and were aspects of privacy.
    • In Navtej Johar case, Justice Chandrachud exhorted the state to take positive steps for equal protection for same-sex couples.
    • Unlike the SRB, there is no prohibition on foreign citizens accessing ARTs.
    • Foreigners can access ART but not Indian citizens in loving relationships.
    • This fails to reflect the true spirit of the Constitution.

    2) Consent

    • The ART Bill does little to protect the egg donor.
    • Harvesting of eggs is an invasive process which, if performed incorrectly, can result in death.
    • The Bill requires an egg donor’s written consent but does not provide for her counselling or the ability to withdraw her consent before or during the procedure.
    • She receives no compensation or reimbursement of expenses for loss of salary, time and effort.
    • Failing to pay for bodily services constitutes unfree labour, which is prohibited by Article 23 of the Constitution.
    • The commissioning parties only need to obtain an insurance policy in her name for medical complications or death; no amount or duration is specified.
    • The egg donor’s interests are subordinated in a Bill proposed in her name.
    • The Bill restricts egg donation to a married woman with a child (at least three years old).

    3) Threat of eugenics

    • The Bill requires pre-implantation genetic testing.
    • If the embryo suffers from “pre-existing, heritable, life-threatening or genetic diseases”, it can be donated for research with the commissioning parties’ permission.
    • These disorders need specification or the Bill risks promoting an impermissible programme of eugenics.

    4) Overlap with Surrogacy Regulation

    • There is considerable overlap between ART and SRB sectors. Yet the Bills do not work in tandem.
    • Core ART processes are left undefined; several of these are defined in the SRB.
    • Definitions of commissioning “couple”, “infertility”, “ART clinics” and “banks” need to be synchronised between the Bills.
    • A single woman cannot commission surrogacy but can access ART.
    • The Bill designates surrogacy boards under the SRB to function as advisory bodies for ART, which is desirable.
    • However, both Bills set up multiple bodies for registration which will result in duplication or lack of regulation (e.g. surrogacy clinic is not required to report surrogacy to National Registry).
    • Also, the same offending behaviours under both Bills are punished differently + punishments under the SRB are greater.
    • Offences under the Bill are bailable but not under the SRB.
    • Finally, records have to be maintained for 10 years under the Bill but for 25 years under the SRB.
    • The same actions taken by a surrogacy clinic and ART clinic  attract varied regulation.

    Other concerns

    • Children born from ART do not have the right to know their parentage, which is crucial to their best interests and protected under previous drafts.
    • There is no distinction between ART banks and ART clinics, given that gamete donation is not compensated, economically viability of ART Banks raises a question.
    • In previous drafts, gametes could not be gifted between known friends and relatives if this is not changed, gamete shortage is likely.
    •  The Bill’s prohibition on the sale, transfer, or use of gametes and embryos is poorly worded and will confuse foreign and domestic parents relying on donated gametes.
    • Unusually, the Bill requires all bodies to be bound by the directions of central and state governments in the national interest, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality — being broadly phrased, it undermines their independence.

    Way forward

    • The Bill to maintain a grievance cell but clinics must instead have ethics committees.
    • Mandated counselling services should also be independent of the clinic.
    • The poor enforcement of the PCPNDT Act, 1994, demonstrates that enhanced punishments do not secure compliance — lawyers and judges also lack medical expertise.
    • Patients already sue fertility clinics in consumer redressal fora, which is preferable to criminal courts.

    Conclusion

    The Bill raises several constitutional, medico-legal, ethical and regulatory concerns, affecting millions and must be thoroughly reviewed before passage.

  • Television Rating Points (TRP) System and its loopholes

    Mumbai police are investigating the alleged manipulation of Television Rating Points (TRP) by an extremely right-wing opinionated news reporter.

    Try this question:

    Q.What do you mean by “TRP Journalism”? Discuss the loopholes in the present system of self-regulation in Indian media.

    What is TRP?

    • In simple terms, anyone who watches television for more than a minute is considered a viewer.
    • The TRP or Target Rating Point is the metric used by the marketing and advertising agencies to evaluate this viewership.
    • In India, the TRP is recorded by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) using Bar-O-Meters that are installed in televisions in selected households.
    • As on date, the BARC has installed these meters in 44,000 households across the country. Audio watermarks are embedded in video content prior to broadcast.
    • These watermarks are not audible to the human ear, but can easily be detected and decoded using dedicated hardware and software.
    • As viewing details are recorded by the Bar-O-Meters, so are the watermarks.

    What is BARC?

    • It is an industry body jointly owned by advertisers, ad agencies, and broadcasting companies, represented by The Indian Society of Advertisers, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Advertising Agencies Association of India.
    • Though it was created in 2010, the I&B Ministry notified the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India on January 10, 2014, and registered BARC in July 2015 under these guidelines, to carry out television ratings in India.

    How are the households selected?

    • Selection of households where Bar-O-Meters are installed is a two-stage process.
    • The first step is the Establishment Survey, a large-scale face-to-face survey of a sample of approximately 3 lakh households from the target population. This is done annually.
    • Out of these, the households which will have Bar-O-Meters or what the BARC calls the Recruitment Sample are randomly selected. The fieldwork to recruit households is not done directly by BARC.
    • The BARC on its website has said that the viewing behaviour of panel homes is reported to BARC India daily. Coincidental checks either physically or telephonically are done regularly.

    Vigilance activities by BARC

    • Certain suspicious outliers are also checked directly by BARC India.
    • BARC India also involves a separate vigilance agency to check on outliers that it considers highly suspicious.
    • And as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, these households rotate every year.
    • This rotation is in such a manner that older panel homes are removed first while maintaining the representativeness of the panel.
    • The Ministry guidelines further say that the secrecy and privacy of the panel homes must be maintained, and asked the BARC to follow a voluntary code of conduct.

    What are the loopholes in the process?

    • Several doubts have been raised on many previous occasions about the working of the TRP.
    • As per several reports, about 70% of the revenue for television channels comes from advertising and only 30% from subscriptions.
    • It is claimed that households were being paid to manipulate the TRP.

  • Provisions for platform workers in the labour code and issues with them

    The article examines the provision made for the platform workers and the gig workers in the labour codes passed by the Parliament recently and explains the issues with it.

    Context

    • The three new labour codes passed by Parliament recently acknowledge platform and gig workers as new occupational categories in the making.

    Definition issue

    • The specific issues of working in factories, the duration of time needed on a factory floor, and associated issues are recognised as the parameters for defining an ideal worker.
    • The Code on Wages, 2019, tries to expand this idea by using ‘wages’ as the primary definition of who an ‘employee’ is.
    • Yet, the terms ‘gig worker’, ‘platform worker’ and ‘gig economy’ not defined with in connection with their wages.
    • The new Code on Social Security allows a platform worker to be defined by their vulnerability — not their labour, nor the vulnerabilities of platform work.

    Issues with the code

    • Since the laws are prescriptive, what is written within them creates the limits to what rights can be demanded, and how these rights can be demanded.
    • Platform delivery people can claim benefits, but not labour rights.
    • This distinction makes them beneficiaries of State programmes.
    • This does not allow them to go to court to demand better and stable pay, or regulate the algorithms that assign the tasks.
    • This also means that the government or courts cannot pull up platform companies for lapses[ ex. choice of pay, work hours etc].

    Benefits with no guarantee

    • In the Code on Social Security, 2020, platform workers are now eligible for benefits like maternity benefits, life and disability cover, old age protection, provident fund, employment injury benefits, and so on.
    • None of these are secure benefits.
    • This means that from time to time, the Central government can formulate welfare schemes that cover these aspects of personal and work security, but they are not guaranteed.
    • Actualising these benefits will depend on the political will at the Central and State government-levels and how unions elicit political support.
    • The language in the Code is open enough to imply that platform companies can be called upon to contribute either solely or with the government.

    Consider the question “What are the provisions for gig workers and platform workers in the new labour code? What are the issues with the provision?”

    Conclusion

    The ‘platform worker’ identity has the potential to grow in power and scope, but it will be mediated by politicians, election years, rates of under-employment, and large, investment- heavy technology companies that are notorious for not complying with local laws.