Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Right to be forgotten
The article discusses the interplay between right to be forgotten and the right of the public to access courts of record, concepts of fair criticism and accountability.
Context
The Delhi High Court recently ordered the removal of one of its own judgments from easy access. The High Court recognised that the petitioner may have a right to be forgotten, which must be balanced with the right of the public to access courts of record.
Right to be forgotten
- In 2017, the Supreme Court recognised the right to be forgotten as being under the ambit of the right to privacy (specifically, informational privacy) under the Constitution.
- The Supreme Court observed that a lot of personal information may serve no “legitimate interest”, was “incorrect”, or was not “necessary” or “relevant”.
- For now, individuals may request data hosts to take down some content, and it may be taken down based on the policies of the respective hosts.
- There is a general consensus that people should be allowed to modify or delete information uploaded by themselves.
- However, whether this extends to information uploaded by third parties is uncertain.
- The right to be forgotten is, generally, the right to have information about a person removed from public access.
Balancing between right of the public
- The Delhi High Court recognised that the petitioner may have a right to be forgotten, which must be balanced with the right of the public to access courts of record.
- Judgments are published for good reasons.
- Trials held under public scrutiny act as a check against judicial caprices and help in enhancing the confidence of the public in the fairness and objectivity of the administration of justice.
- The Supreme Court has made is clear that the right to be forgotten was subject to reasonable restrictions based on countervailing rights such as free speech.
Consider the question “What is right to be forgotten and how it is related to the right to privacy? Examine the issues related to the implementation of the right to be forgotten.”
Way forward
- The High Court could have ordered that the name and personal details of the petitioner be redacted while maintaining public access to the judgment itself.
Conclusion
The right to be forgotten needs to be studied along with the concepts of fair criticism and accountability.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Electoral bond and issues related to it
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with electoral bond
The article highlights the issues with the political funding through electoral bonds.
Changes made for the electoral bond and issues with them
- Earlier, only profit-making domestic companies could contribute to political parties; now loss-making companies can too.
- Earlier, foreign companies or companies where the controlling stake was held by a foreign company couldn’t contribute; now they can.
- India’s political parties could theoretically be fully funded by a foreign company operating in India or by a foreign entity through a shell company.
- Only the ruling party via the State Bank of India (SBI) has a full account of all donations being made via electoral bonds, to itself and to Opposition parties.
Issues in the Supreme Court verdict
- In March 2021, the Supreme Court refused to stay the sale of electoral bonds before the West Bengal elections.
- Instead, the judgment listed several documents which supposedly establish a paper trail on donations and do some ‘match the following’.
- This is impractical and plainly incorrect.
- The Right to Information (RTI) Act of 2005 enables easier access to information held by public authorities.
- Suggesting a “match the following” is incorrect for three reasons.
1) Full scale of registered entities in unknown
- If we set aside individual donors and focus just on registered entities, we will find that the full scale of registered entities is unknown.
- According to back-of-the-envelope calculations, there are close to 25 lakh potential donors comprising just companies and firms.
- This includes about 12.6 lakh active private limited companies as of January 31, 2021.
- Firms, unlike companies, have no regulatory mandate to submit their annual reports except for filing their annual tax returns, since their functioning is regulated by Acts other than the Companies Act of 2013.
2) No disclosure by companies about donation to political parties
- Even if registered companies filed annual financial statements, many do not disclose political donations.
- Conveniently, the Finance Bill of 2017 amended Section 182 of the Companies Act of 2013 to remove the requirement for declaring disaggregated donations to political parties.
- Even if registered companies filed annual financial statements, many do not disclose political donations.
3) Political parties do not need to disclose their donor
- Crucially, political parties do not need to disclose their electoral bond donors either.
- Strictly speaking, political parties are not even supposed to know their electoral bond donors.
- The only requirement is the annual audit reports with a total of all donations received via electoral bonds.
- These reports are submitted with great delays.
- Even if these reports are submitted on time, there is no way to match a donation of a company to that received by a political party as only aggregate amounts are available.
Implications
- Electoral bonds give political power to companies, wealthy individual donors, and foreign entities, thus diluting the universal franchise of one voter-one vote.
- Every vote is not equally valuable if companies can influence policies through hidden donations.
- The winner of this arrangement is the ruling party, whether at the Centre or in a State, and the loser is the average voter.
Way forward
- Companies and political parties could exercise moral leadership and voluntarily disclose the identity of recipients and donors, as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha recently did.
Conclusion
Opacity in political funding goes against the basic tenets of democracy. What we need is a system of political funding which is transparent and fair.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: What are cryptocurrencies
Mains level: Paper 3- Regulating cryptocurrencies
As India struggles to come up with an appropriate approach towards cryptocurrencies, the growing trend of the adoption of cryptocurrencies across the world offers a lesson.
Rising global trend of embracing cryptocurrencies
- El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.
- The U.K. has classified cryptocurrency as property.
- The U.K. has sought to regulate the functioning of crypto-businesses while still imposing some restrictions to protect the interests of investors.
- On the other hand, while there is no exact legal classification of cryptocurrency in Singapore, there is now a legal framework for cryptocurrency trading.
- In the U.S., the open approach taken by the authorities has resulted in the trade in cryptocurrency being both taxed and appropriately regulated.
India’s approach
- Between 2013 and 2018, the government’s response to the rise of virtual currencies was cautionary, alerting users to the potential risks posed by cryptocurrency transactions.
- Instead of developing a regulatory framework to address these issues, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in April 2018, effectively imposed a ban on cryptocurrency trading.
- This ban was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2020.
- The court reasoned that there were alternative regulatory measures short of an outright ban through which the RBI could have achieved its objective of curbing the risks associated with cryptocurrency trading.
- India’s next move lies in the draft Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021.
- The draft Bill proposes to criminalise all private cryptocurrencies while also laying down the regulatory framework for an RBI-backed digital currency.
What should be India’s approach?
- The global regulatory attitude towards cryptocurrencies offers valuable insights into the alternative ways to achieve balanced regulation.
- In India, the absence of an existing legal classification of cryptocurrency should not be the impetus to prohibit its use.
- The government should use this as an opportunity to allow private individuals the freedom to harness a powerful new technology with appropriate regulatory standards.
Consider the question “As India finds itself at a crossroads of prohibition and regulation in its tryst with cryptocurrencies, globally, the inclination towards permissive regulation recognises the freedom of choice given to people. In light of this, examine the advantages and concerns with the cryptocurrencies and suggest the approach India should adopt towards the cryptocurrencies.”
Conclusion
Regulations to avoid the pitfall and not the outright ban is the right way towards the cryptocurrencies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India-China relations after Galwan valley clash
What happened in Galwan?
- The Indian and Chinese armies are engaged in the standoff in Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie in eastern Ladakh.
- A sizable number of Chinese Army personnel even transgressed into the Indian side of the de-facto border in several areas including Pangong Tso.
- The actions on the northern bank of Pangong Tso are not just for territorial gains on land, but enhanced domination of the resource-rich lake.
- The stand-off at Ladakh’s Galwan Valley has escalated in June 2020 due to the infrastructure projects that India has undertaken in the recent years. India is building a strategic road through the Galwan Valley – close to China – connecting the region to an airstrip.
- China is opposed to any Indian construction in the area. In 1962, a stand-off in the Galwan area was one of the biggest flashpoints of the 1962 war.
- The border, or Line of Actual Control, is not demarcated, and China and India have differing ideas of where it should be located, leading to regular border “transgressions.” Often these don’t escalate tensions; a serious border standoff like the current one is less frequent, though this is the fourth since 2013.
- Both countries’ troops have patrolled this region for decades, as the contested 2,200-mile border is a long-standing subject of competing claims and tensions, including a brief war in 1962.
- Reasons: The violent clash happened when the Chinese side departed from the consensus to respect the LAC and attempted to unilaterally change the status quo.
- It is part of China’s ‘nibble and negotiate policy’. Their aim is to ensure that India does not build infrastructure along the LAC. It is their way of attaining a political goal with military might, while gaining more territory in the process.
The current situation in Ladakh
- With a continued deployment of 50,000-60,000 soldiers, the Indian Army has been able to hold the line to prevent any further ingress by the PLA.
- There has been no progress in talks after the disengagement at Pangong lake and Kailash range in February.
- Outside of Ladakh, the Indian Army remains in an alert mode all along the LAC to prevent any Chinese misadventure but the bigger change has been its reorientation of certain forces from Pakistan border towards the China border.
- The Ladakh crisis has also exposed India’s military weakness to tackle a collusive threat from China and Pakistan.
External balancing
- To deal with the threat of combined China and Pakistan, the Government opened backchannel talks with Pakistan which led to the reiteration of the ceasefire on the Line of Control.
- The Ladakh crisis has also led the Government to relook external partnerships, particularly with the United States.
- The U.S. military officials have earlier spoken of the intelligence and logistics support provided to the Indian forces in Ladakh.
- The military importance of the Quad remains moot, with India reportedly refusing to do joint naval patrolling with the U.S. in the South China Sea, the two treaty allies of the U.S., Japan and Australia, also refused.
Challenges for India
- India attempts to counter the growing Chinese influence in the neighbourhood have faltered, exacerbated by the mishandling of the second wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
- With the widening power gap between New Delhi and Beijing, the challenge is as much economic as it is geopolitical.
- Despite the border crisis and the Indian restrictions on Chinese technology companies, China displaced the U.S. to be India’s biggest trade partner in 2020-21, up to nearly 13% of India’s total trade compared to 10.4% a year ago.
- For the past few decades, Indian planners operated on the premise that their diplomats will be able to manage the Chinese problem without it developing into a full-blown military crisis.
- Militarily, Chinese incursions in Ladakh have shown that the idea of deterrence has failed.
- India has learnt that it can no longer have simultaneous competition and cooperation with China.
- A new reset in bilateral ties, àla the early 1990s, is difficult because China is now in a different league, competing with the U.S.
Conclusion
The events of the past one year have significantly altered India’s thinking towards China. The relationship is at the crossroads now. The choices made will have a significant impact on the future of global geopolitics.
B2BASICS
Line of Actual Control
- Demarcation Line: The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the demarcation that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory.
- LAC is different from the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan:
- The LoC emerged from the 1948 ceasefire line negotiated by the United Nations (UN) after the Kashmir War.
- It was designated as the LoC in 1972, following the Shimla Agreement between the two countries. It is delineated on a map signed by the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of both armies and has the international sanctity of a legal agreement.
- The LAC, in contrast, is only a concept – it is not agreed upon by the two countries, neither delineated on a map or demarcated on the ground.
- Length of the LAC: India considers the LAC to be 3,488 km long, while the Chinese consider it to be only around 2,000 km.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: G-7
Mains level: Paper 2- Opportunity for India to institutionalise its relations with the West
The article highlights the significance of the recent G-7 summit for India.
India’s engagement with the West
- Two important messages emerge from India’s participation in G-7 with the members of the G-7 and three other invited guests — Australia, South Africa and South Korea.
- First is that India is a “natural ally” of the G-7 and its partners.
- The other is the emphasis on shared democratic values that bind India with the West.
- The two ideas are certainly not new to India’s foreign policy, but they acquire special importance at the current juncture.
- In the last few years, India embarked on an expansive engagement with Europe.
- This G-7 summit can be seen as the beginning of an institutionalisation of India’s cooperation with the West.
What makes this G-7 Summit different from the past Summits?
- China factor: After the 2008 financial crisis, the more representative G-20, which includes China, Russia, India and many others, seemed to supersede the G-7.
- But amidst the growing sense that China has gamed the global economic order to America’s disadvantage, there has been renewed interest in like-minded coalitions like the G-7.
- Widening the base of G-7: There is also the recognition of the case for widening the base of institutions like the G-7 beyond the geographic West to include large democracies like India.
- Coalition of democracies: The case for a “coalition of democracies” was certainly gaining ground over the last two decades within American academia and the political class.
- But economic globalisation and the absence of great power rivalry meant there was no compelling policy urgency to construct an “alliance of democracies”.
- That condition has altered radically in the last few years amidst the growing US tensions with China and Russia.
Dealing with the challenges presented by China
- U.S. President Biden declared his main objective as rallying democracies to meet the great challenges of our time, especially those presented by China.
- G-7 summit has responded to Biden’s call in the following forms:
- 1) By offering the outline of a potential alternative to China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
- 2)By calling for a reorientation of global supply chains away from China.
- 3) By demanding a fresh inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in China.
- 4) By reprimanding Beijing policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
- 5) By raising concerns about the conflict across the Taiwan Strait.
- However, there is a strong view that the door must be kept open for engagement with China on issues like climate change while calling out its unacceptable policies.
India’s relations with China: New context for engagement with West
- The rupture in the US engagement with China coincides with the rapid deterioration in India’s relations with China.
- This also sets up a new context for India’s partnership with the West.
- If the Indo-Pacific provides a regional basis for India’s engagement with the US and Europe, mitigating climate change and the management of the Covid-19 pandemic provides a global template for India’s engagement with the West.
Way forward
- The case for renewal and reform of democratic institutions is urgent in both the US and India.
- So is the need for sustained consultations between India and its Western partners on a range of new challenges presented by digital technologies, including radicalisation, disinformation, electoral interference, cyber-attacks and the role of large social media companies.
- The statement on open societies provides a sound basis for such an engagement.
Conclusion
India must begin institutionalisation of its relationship with the West and increase its engagement on various common issues including the China challenge.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BTWC 1972
Mains level: Paper 3- Security challenges associated with synthetic biology
Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the article discusses the national security threat emanating from biological weapons.
Synthetic biology
- Synthetic biology is a revolutionary technology that can help us manipulate biological organisms and processes for human betterment, especially in treating diseases, by re-engineering cells.
- In 2014, the U.S. Department of Defense categorised synthetic biology as one of the six ‘disruptive basic research areas’.
- Unlike the nuclear domain, the fields of biology or synthetic biology are not regulated internationally despite growing military interest in it.
Risks involved
- There is the possibility of deliberate misuse of synthetic biology.
- There is a need to carefully review, especially in the wake of the pandemic, the biosecurity systems in place where such technologies are in use.
- Accidental leaks of experimental pathogens are another concern.
- There has been very little focus on threats emanating from biological sources as compared to the focus on nuclear weapons.
- This is despite the fact that a well-orchestrated biological attack could have serious implications.
- This was before synthetic biology came into play.
- A well-planned attack using highly infectious pathogens synthetically engineered in a lab could be disastrous.
- It would be difficult to pin responsibility on a specific actor if the incubation period is high,
BTWC: An inadequate mechanism for regulation
- Despite being the weapon of mass destruction (WMD) safety and security attention given to bio-weapons is not at par with nuclear and chemical weapons.
- There is an international convention and an implementing body for both nuclear and chemical weapons.
- However, for bio-weapons, all we have is the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) of 1972 with no implementing body.
- The BTWC does not have a verification clause, nor does it have clearly laid down rules and procedures to guide research in this field.
- Article 1 of the BTWC bans bio-weapons but research for medical and bio-defence purposes are allowed.
- While this is understandable, the problem is that there is a thin line between bio-defence research and bio-weapons research.
- An Ad Hoc Group set up in 1994 to negotiate a Protocol to enhance the transparency of treaty-relevant biological facilities and activities to help deter violations of the BTWC submitted a report at the Fifth BTWC Review Conference in 2001 but was not accepted by the member states.
Concerns for India
- India is at a uniquely disadvantaged position in this area given poor disease surveillance, insufficient coordination among various government departments dealing with biosecurity issues, and the pathetic state of the healthcare system.
- India has multiple institutions dealing with biosafety and biosecurity threats but there is no coordination among them.
- Given the rising risk of diseases of zoonotic origin, the traditional ministry-wise separation might not be useful.
- India, with its porous borders and ill-trained border control institutions, will remain vulnerable to pathogens or dangerous biological organisms.
Way forward
- Pandemics have also highlighted that the traditional distinction at the international institutional level between biological weapons (a field governed by the BTWC) and diseases (governed by BTWC) may not be useful anymore.
- There needs to be more conversation between health specialists and bio-weapons/defence specialists.
- The November 2021 BTWC review conference must take stock of the advances in the field, address the thinning line between biotechnology research and bio-weapons research, and consider international measures for monitoring and verification.
Consider the question “How synthetic biology poses security challenges for India and the rest of the world? Suggest the measures to deal with this challenge.”
Conclusion
Covid-19 should serve as a wake-up call to give BTWC more teeth in dealing with the bio-weapons with a suitable institutional mechanism.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ransomware
Mains level: Paper 3- Threat of cyberattacks
The article highlights the threat posed by cyberattacks to our critical infrastructure and suggest the ways to deal with the the ever evolving threat.
Civilian targets of cyberattacks
- Several high-profile cyberattacks were reported from the United States during the past several months.
- These attacks were all primarily on civilian targets, though each one was of critical importance.
- Obviously cyber, which is often referred to as the fifth domain/dimension of warfare, is now largely being employed against civilian targets.
- Most nations have been concentrating till date mainly on erecting cyber defences to protect military and strategic targets, but this will now need to change.
Challenges
- Defending civilian targets, and more so critical infrastructure, against cyberattacks such as ransomware and phishing is almost certain to stretch the capability and resources of governments across the globe.
- The distinction between military and civilian targets is increasingly getting erased and the consequences of this could be indeterminate.
- In the civilian domain, two key manifestations of the ‘cat and mouse game’ of cyber warfare today, are ransomware and phishing, including spear phishing.
- Banking and financial services were most prone to ransomware attacks till date, but oil, electricity grids, and lately, health care, have begun to figure prominently.
- Ransomware attacks have skyrocketed, with demands and payments going into multi-millions of dollars.
- India figures prominently in this list, being one of the most affected.
- Compromised ‘health information’ is proving to be a vital commodity for use by cybercriminals.
- All indications are that cybercriminals are increasingly targeting a nation’s health-care system and trying to gain access to patients’ data.
- The available data aggravates the risk not only to the individual but also to entire communities.
- Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated, and are now engaged in stealing sensitive data in targeted computers before launching a ransomware attack.
- Also, today’s cybercriminals, specially those specialising in ransomware and similar attacks, are different from the ordinary criminals.
- Many are known to practise ‘reverse engineering’ and employ ‘penetration testers’ to probe high secure networks.
Way forward
- The need to be aware of the nature of the cyber threat to their businesses and take adequate precautionary measures, has become extremely vital.
- Cybersecurity essentially hinges on data protection.
- As data becomes the world’s most precious commodity, attacks on data and data systems are bound to intensify.
- With mobile and cloud computing expanding rapidly cybersecurity professionals are now engaged in building a ‘Zero Trust Based Environment’, viz., zero trust on end point devices, zero trust on identity, and zero trust on the network to protect all sensitive data.
- Building deep technology in cyber is essential.
- New technologies such as artificial intelligence, Machine learning and quantum computing, also present new opportunities.
- Pressure also needs to be put on officials in the public domain, as also company boards, to carry out regular vulnerability assessments and create necessary awareness of the growing cyber threat.
Consider the question “Several high-profile cyberattacks across the world have exposed vulnerabilities in the critical infrastructure of even advanced nations. In light of this, examine the challenges posed by cyberattacks and suggest measures to deal with these challenges.”
Conclusion
The threat posed by the cyberattacks highlights the need for improved defences against actual, and potential, cyberattacks by all countries across continents.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with vaccine hesitancy
Reoriented vaccine policy
- The foremost challenge in vaccination in India has been a supply deficit.
- Announcing a reoriented vaccine policy recently, the Prime Minister announced a coherent path forward.
- Starting from June 21, the Union government will take charge of 75 per cent of the total procurement, and provide vaccines to states at no cost.
- The government has reserved 30 crore vaccines with Hyderabad-based Biological-E by facilitating an advance payment of Rs 1,500 crore.
- Fortnightly updates on the supply of vaccines to states are being taken to ensure transparency and efficiency in planning.
Dealing with two complex challenges
- Two other complex challenges that need immediate focus are vaccine hesitancy and the much-discussed digital divide in the country.
1) Challenge of vaccine hesitancy
- Contextualised and curated approaches are crucial.
- The WHO has put forth the BeSD (behavioural and social drivers) vaccination model, which emphasises “motivation” as the vanguard of human psychology during a vaccination drive.
- Vaccination coverage could be increased by incentivising and motivating citizens.
- Unfortunately, in India, misinformation, disinformation and misplaced beliefs have led to fears about the potential harmful effects of vaccines.
- The diversity of India necessitates community engagement at the local level to counter this narrative of misinformation.
- A successful information campaign requires dissemination through mediums that invoke trust.
- Local languages and dialects should be used to engage people via local radio, television channels and regional newspapers.
- Another network that can be leveraged at the district level is that of the ASHA workers and the auxiliary nurse-midwives.
- These are trusted local figures.
2) Bridging the digital divide
- It is important to introduce solutions that bridge the digital divide.
- A toll-free helpline number 1075 has been activated for those without internet.
- Similarly, districts can explore missed-call campaigns, which could ensure that minimal infrastructure is being optimised for processing high-volume user requests.
- Even though the reported adverse events following immunisation stands at only 0.012 per cent, dedicated representatives can provide vaccine-related pre- and post-counselling to individuals.
Way forward
Startups could help bridge digital divide
- The devastating effects of the second wave in rural areas have prompted fintech startups to enable vaccine registration.
- PayNearby has helped over 8 lakh citizens register through its network of agents called “digital pradhans”, who are present in kirana, ration, mobile and hardware stores, frequented regularly by rural users.
Use points of contact for publicising benefits of vaccine and registration
- Almost 81 crore beneficiaries, 75 per cent of whom are in rural areas, procure ration from 5,46,165 fair price shops across India.
- There are over 11 lakh business correspondent outlets in India working mostly in rural areas to advance the mission of financial inclusion.
- A network of around 1,54,965 post offices (as on March 2017) exists in India of which 1,39,067 are in the rural areas.
- Such points of contact can be leveraged as dedicated units for publicising the benefits of Covid vaccines and as physical locations for vaccine registration
Direct engagement with citizens
- The Prime Minister recently described district officials as “field commanders” in our efforts against Covid.
- This ambit should move beyond just the district bureaucracy to the extensive network of public services.
- A stellar example of direct engagement also stems from the success of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
- Direct engagement with citizens contributed greatly to the operational success of previous immunisation campaigns like the pulse polio programme.
Consider the question “What are the factors responsible for vaccine hesitency? Suggest the ways to deal with it.”
Conclusion
Thinking local and utilising established networks to create culturally resonant messages is the need of the hour to reduce vaccine hesitancy, bridge the digital divide and achieve vaccine saturation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: G-7 countries
Mains level: Paper 2- Relevance of G-7
The article highlights the challenges associated with the globalisation and important role G-7 can play in dealing with these challenges.
The context that makes this G-7 Summit significant
- The most significant expectation of the summit is that it will help determine the shape of globalisation.
- There has been much discussion of the possibility of the G-7 pushing for global coordination on minimum corporate taxation.
- The summit also seeks to redefine the broader relationship between states and markets in three ways.
Redefining the relationship between states and market in 3 ways
1) States reasserting the control over markets
- States are reasserting control over the terms on which markets operate.
- The idea of Neoliberalism did convey the idea that states should follow where the market leads, or step in only where there is a market failure.
- However, this account of the relationship between states and markets had four harmful consequences.
- 1) It provided a misleading picture of what makes economies vibrant.
- 2) It led to a sense of loss of collective control over our economic future.
- 3) It led to great inequality.
- 4) In some fields like technology, it created new forms of corporate power.
- To reverse some of these consequences, some coordination at the global level on taxation, or treatment of technology monopolies etc is required.
2) Global interdependence cannot be managed without global public goods
- At one level the global roles of the G-7 or even the G-20 were something like the political steering committee for global capitalism.
- Their most useful political roles were during the financial crisis, when global financial coordination was required.
- But there was relatively little attention to the systemic vulnerabilities that globalisation might create.
- These could be vulnerabilities because of the way supply chains were distributed, or those that arose from the creation of winners and losers within globalisation.
- Most importantly, there was short shrift given to global public goods like health.
- The Covid crisis has reminded us of all of these vulnerabilities.
- The commitment of G-7 to provide one billion vaccine doses is a welcome step.
- But whether this crisis-driven commitment will translate into an enduring and just framework for providing global public goods on health and environment remains to be seen.
3) Geopolitical context
- There are two geopolitical “cold wars” that cast a shadow on the G-7.
- The first involves China.
- In the context of rising geopolitical tensions with China, greater coordination and unity of purpose amongst the G-7 will become more important.
- The second is a threat of authoritarian disruption.
- Greater global disarray strengthens the possibility of giving political support to these political tendencies.
- It is important, therefore, to demonstrate that the G-7 countries are part of a functional democratic civilisation.
Challenges ahead
- Despite the directional changes, many of the central distributive conflicts that beset globalisation are likely to continue.
- The talk of global public goods works only in a context where the advanced economies are at the receiving end.
- Take the G-7 proposal for the coordination of taxation.
- In principle, this is not a bad idea, if it can close off tax havens and prevent a global race to the bottom.
- However, it is sobering to read the Tax Justice Network’s “The State of Tax Justice Report” 2020.
- According to this report, the United States, Netherlands and United Kingdom are three of the top five countries (along with Cayman Islands and Luxembourg) responsible for tax losses inflicted on other countries.
- The US, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong are amongst the highest on the Financial Secrecy Index.
- So, the visible corporate tax rate, or taxing at point of sales, may just be the window dressing the global tax problem that allows countries to hold onto their privileges.
- Similarly, on climate change. There is a lot of encouraging talk of ambitious targets, investment-led transformations.
- Intelligently done, this might be for the good.
- But it could also repeat the familiar pattern of regulation serving to preserve the dominance of advanced economies.
- There is also, in the talk of a new global economic order, the curious absence of discussions on finance.
- But if one is looking at potential sources of vulnerability, the ability to create winners and losers, and possible threats to global resilience, then regulation and coordination of global finance deserve more attention.
Consider the question “What are the vulnerabilities associated with globalisation. Suggest the solutions to deal with these vulnerabilities.”
Conclusion
If the G-7 wants to truly exercise more leadership, it will have to convince the world that all its wonderful new principles, resilience, inclusion, global public goods, are not simply ruses to serve only the interests of the developed world.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Sustainability pressure on companies
The article discusses the three undercurrents that are pushing companies to adopt more sustainable business models.
Demand for sustainable business practices
- Companies across the world are facing pressure to adopt sustainable business practices.
- In a global first, a judicial court in the Netherlands has invoked the principles of human rights obligations of companies to rule that the Royal Dutch Shell will have to further accelerate its targeted reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.
- The shareholders of Chevron forced upon the management a resolution to set strict emission targets from the products that it sells.
- The German cabinet approved a law that requires all coal-fired plants to close down much earlier than the target date set only eighteen months ago.
- In India, the SEBI came out with a new set of Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR).
- BRSR will be mandatory for the top 1,000 companies from the next year.
Three factors driving the change
1) Investors’ pull
- Workers saving for their pension do not want their investments to go to companies whose tailings-dam can burst and cause hundreds of death in Brazil.
- Investors also realise the long-term business risk of companies if sustainability isn’t a focus.
2) Governments’/regulators’ push
- In 2021, the US announced that it will cut emissions by over 50% by 2030.
- Japan has almost doubled its 2030 targets.
- The UK has now announced a target to cut 40-45% by the same time, from the earlier goal of a 30%-cut.
- China has announced that its emissions will peak by 2030, and by 2060, it would have net zero emissions.
- India is expected by the global community to announce net-zero by 2050.
- All of these have huge implications not only for hydrocarbon companies but across multiple sectors.
- Banking regulators are asking banks to include climate in the risk assessment of the companies they lend to.
- Insurance and pension regulators are raising similar questions in their sector.
3) Measurement/reporting
- When sustainability debates picked up, many organisations like CDP, CDSB, PRI, GRI, TCFD, IMP, IIRC, SASB, etc, sprang up to fulfill the need for sustainability reporting.
- Often, these worked at cross purposes and in competition with each other, leading to ‘greenwashing’ and other malpractices and creating confusion in the minds of investors.
- But, the realisation that the investors need a set of comparable and verifiable reporting formats has gathered momentum in the past one year.
- The last excuse to avoid focus on sustainable business practices will also wither away.
Consider the question “Financial capital is just one of the multiple capitals a successful company must possess. This brings sustainability into the focus. In light of this, discuss the factors that are forcing the companies to factor in the sustainability in their business models.”
Conclusion
The decades-old debate on environmental damage and sustainability is now reaching a decisive phase. Companies need to factor in the sustainability aspect in their profit calculus to remain relevant in changing world.
Source:
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/the-sustainability-heat-on-companies/2268494/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tax buoyancy
Mains level: Paper 3- Dealing with the challenge of Covid second wave
The article takes an overview of the fiscal and monetary challenges posed by the second covid wave and suggest ensuring the availability of liquidity.
GDP projections need to be re-examined
- According to NSO’s provisional estimates for 2020-21, the annual contraction in real GDP turned out to be 7.3 per cent.
- The erstwhile GDP growth projections for 2021-22 are being re-examined to take into account the adverse impact of the second wave of the pandemic.
- The RBI has revised down its 2021-22 real GDP growth forecast to 9.5 per cent.
- Some other recent estimates (ICRA) indicate the feasibility of a 9 per cent growth.
- It is also important to consider nominal GDP growth for 2021-22 since that would be a critical determinant of fiscal prospects.
- In the light of supply-side and cost-push pressures, the RBI has projected CPI inflation at 5.1 per cent.
- The nominal GDP growth may be projected at 13.4 per cent, that is, 1 percentage point lower than Centre’s budget assumption of 14.4 per cent.
Fiscal aggregates
- The Controller General of Accounts’ data indicate a gross tax revenues (GTR) of Rs 20.2 lakh crore and net tax revenue of Rs 14.2 lakh crore for 2020-21.
- The likely growth in GTR for 2021-22 may be derived by applying a buoyancy of 0.9.
- This gives a tax revenue growth of 12 per cent, translating that to projected gross and net tax revenues for 2021-22 would mean Rs 22.7 lakh crore and Rs 15.8 lakh crore respectively.
- This implies some additional net tax revenues to the Centre amounting to Rs 0.35 lakh crore as compared to the budgeted magnitudes.
- The main expected shortfall may still be in non-tax revenues and non-debt capital receipts.
- According to the CGA numbers, their 2020-21 levels are respectively Rs 2.1 lakh crore and Rs 0.57 lakh crore.
- Applying a growth rate of 15 per cent on these, a shortfall in 2021-22 to the tune of Rs 1.3 lakh crore may arise in non-tax revenues and non-debt capital receipts.
So, how much would be the Fiscal Deficit?
- The growth rates of non-tax revenues and and non-debt capital receipts average to a little lower than 15 per cent during the five years preceding 2020-21.
- In any case, the large budgeted growth of 304 per cent in non-debt capital receipts for 2021-22 seems quite unlikely because of the challenges posed by the second wave.
- Taking into account RBI’s recently announced dividend of Rs 0.99 lakh crore to the Centre, the main shortfall may be in non-debt capital receipts.
- Together, the overall shortfall in total non-debt receipts may be limited to about Rs 0.9 lakh crore, or 0.4 per cent of estimated nominal GDP.
- This indicates that a slippage, if any, in the budgeted fiscal deficit of 6.7 per cent of GDP, as revised in view of the recently released GDP data, could be a limited one.
Way forward: Prioritise three heads
- First, an increase in the provision for income support measures for the vulnerable rural and urban population.
- Second, in light of the recent decision, the budgeted expenditure on vaccination of Rs 0.35 lakh crore ought to be augmented, at the very least, doubled.
- Third, additional capital expenditure for select sectors, particularly healthcare, should also be provided for.
- Together these additional expenditures would amount to Rs 1.7 lakh crore, about 0.8 per cent of the estimated nominal GDP.
- Thus, we need to plan for a fiscal deficit of about 7.9 per cent of GDP.
Borrowing programme would need RBIs support
- The Centre has announced borrowings of Rs 1.6 lakh crore to meet the shortfall in the GST compensation cess.
- Given the higher fiscal deficit, it would need to add to its borrowing programme another Rs 2.6 lakh crore, taking the total borrowing, including GST compensation, to about Rs 16.3 lakh crore, from Rs 12.05 lakh crore now.
- Borrowing by states would be in addition to this.
- The net result will be an unprecedented borrowing programme by the Centre which may require RBI’s support.
- RBI is injecting liquidity into the system through various channels.
- Banks have sufficient liquidity to subscribe to new debt.
- This is indirect monetisation of debt.
- This is not new, but the scale is much higher.
- Direct monetisation is best avoided.
- The success of the borrowing programme of the Centre depends on the support provided by the RBI.
- The support need not be direct.
- It can be indirect as is currently happening. RBI is injecting liquidity into the system in a big way.
- Despite this, the money multiplier is low.
- This may be attributed to two reasons: Low credit expansion and larger leakage in the form of currency.
- The potential for money supply growth is large.
- The discussion in the monetary policy statement on inflation is focused entirely on supply availability and bottlenecks in the distribution of commodities.
- The output gap is certainly relevant.
- But equally relevant in an analysis of inflation is liquidity in the system, and its impact on output and prices with lags.
- The injection of liquidity has its limits.
Conclusion
With higher expenditure, financed through borrowings, the impact of liquidity expansion on inflation needs to be monitored.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST Council
Mains level: Paper 3- Issues with special treatment to states contributing more to GST pool
The article highlights the issues with the demand for special treatment of states with higher contribution to GST pool.
Debate on GST
- The issue of GST concessions on COVID relief has brought into focus the structural flaws in the GST structure.
- In this process, the structure and design of GST — essentially a tax on consumption — is being questioned.
- The issue of “rich” states versus “poor” ones, the decision-making process in the GST Council, and the representation of various states in the Council have also come into the focus.
Why States should be treated equally in GST Council
1) Consensus on GST
- The structure and design of GST and its basic features, as enshrined in the 101st Constitution Amendment Act, were unanimously adopted and endorsed by Parliament.
- The broader and finer points of the law, were thoroughly discussed and debated and recommended by the GST Council after a complete consensus.
- These were further debated and approved by not only Parliament but also by each of the state legislatures.
- There was complete consensus even on the issue of delegated legislation — something unheard of in a federal environment.
2) Equality of all states
- In this process of consensus building, no state was accorded even the slightest of special privilege.
- That is why the consensus surrounding GST was unprecedented whether in India or any other federation.
- Therefore, arguing for special treatment of some states is a dangerous idea, particularly in governance, and more so in a welfare state.
- For, this would open the gates for elitist arguments such as special rights for bigger taxpayers, unequal voting rights in elections and preferential treatment for a select few.
3) Issues with greater contribution to GST revenue pool
- It is not correct to argue that the GST collected in a state represents the revenue of that particular state for, under the GST mechanism, the tax deposited by a taxpayer in a state is a function of largely the value of supplies made by such taxpayer.
- Approximately 50 per cent at the aggregate level and much higher at the state level of such values are of an inter-state nature.
- In other words, most supplies made from any producing state are consumed elsewhere and the revenue in such a situation naturally and rightfully accrues to the destination state.
4) No transfers based on a formula
- It is equally fallacious to argue that under GST, most of the revenue is collected by the Union and is transferred to the states on the basis of some formula.
- The quantum of IGST revenue that is settled to any state is directly related to the returns filed in that state and the cross utilisation of credit exhibited in such returns; part of this settlement also comprises tax on supplies destined to that state, as exhibited in the returns of such suppliers.
- There is no “formula” as such for “transfer” of revenue collected by the Centre. Instead, such “transfers” are directly relatable to the consumption (whether intermediate or final) in any state.
5) Locational or geographical advantage
- There is another dimension to the higher revenue collection in a few states.
- One may note that such states enjoy locational or geographical advantages, being mostly coastal and immensely suited to the needs of trade and distribution as also manufacturing.
- Also, the disadvantage to such states on account of lower availability of certain vital minerals like coal and iron ore was undone by the principle of freight equalisation resorted to in the years following Independence.
- This contributed, in no small measure, to the development of such states.
6) Unequal transfers of Central receipts
- The argument of unequal transfers of central receipts also does not hold water, either in India or in any other federation.
- As is well known, such transfers are intended for correcting horizontal fiscal imbalances in a federation.
Conclusion
We should thus concentrate on carrying forward the glorious traditions of perhaps the only institution of co-operative federalism that we have been able to build so far.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Need for investment in public healthcare in South Asia
The article contrasts the public healthcare system in South Asian countries with that of their Southeast Asian peers and highlights the shortcomings.
Subpar public healthcare system
- Super spreader events, a fragile health infrastructure neglected for decades, citizens not following health protocols, and logistical mismanagement were the factors responsible for the destruction in the second Covid-19 wave.
- What has exacerbated the situation is a subpar public healthcare system running on a meagre contribution of a little over 1% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
- While the private medical sector is booming, the public healthcare sector has been operating at a pitiful 0.08 doctors per 1,000 people, World Health Organization’s (WHO) prescribed standard ois1:1000.
- India has only half a bed available for every 1,000 people, which is a deficient figure even for normal days.
- Bangladesh and Pakistan fare no better, with a bed to patient ratio of 0.8 and 0.6, respectively, and a doctor availability of less than one for every 1,000 people.
- While ideally, out-of-pocket expenditure should not surpass 15% to 20% of the total health expenditure, for India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, this figure stands at an appalling 62.67%, 73.87% and 56.24%, respectively.
Lack of investment in healthcare
- Major public sector investments by the ‘big three’ of South Asia, i.e., India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, are towards infrastructure and defence, with health taking a backseat.
- While India has the world’s third-largest military expenditure, its health budget is the fourth-lowest.
- Indian government in this year’s budget highlighted an increase of 137% in health and well-being expenditure, a closer look reveals a mismatch between facts and figures.
- In Pakistan, even amidst the pandemic, the defence budget was increased while the spending on health remained around $151 million.
- Not too far behind is Bangladesh, with decades of underfunding culminating in a crumbling public healthcare system.
- Major public sector investments by the ‘big three’ of South Asia, i.e., India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, are towards infrastructure and defence, with health taking a backseat.
- A quick look at pre-pandemic sectoral allocations explains the chronically low status of human development indicators in the three countries.
Learning from Southeast Asia
- Southeast Asia has prioritised investments in healthcare systems while broadening equitable access through universal health coverage schemes.
- Vietnam’s preventive measures focused on investments in disease surveillance and emergency response mechanisms.
- Even countries like Laos and Cambodia are making a constant effort towards improving the healthcare ecosystem.
- All have done much better than their South Asian peers.
Conclusion
Learning from the devastation unleashed by the pandemic, South Asian countries must step up investment in their public healthcare sectors to make them sustainable, up to date and pro-poor; most importantly, the system should not turn its back on citizens.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Scrutinising the States
The article highlights the excessive focus on the Union government and the lack of scrutiny of the functioning of the States in various areas.
Need for focus on the States
- In discussions on reforms or debates about public expenditure, there is an excessive focus on the Union government.
- This focus reflects our mindset that there is a “Centre”, though constitutionally, there is no “Centre”. There is the Union government.
- There is not as much interest in State Finance Commissions and their recommendations as it is in the Union Finance Commission’s recommendations.
- Alternatively, there is limited scrutiny of state-level expenditure, or fiscal devolution and decentralisation of decision-making within states, or tracking functioning of state legislatures.
- Most factor markets we seek to reform are on the concurrent list or the state list.
The Annual Review of State Laws 2020: Key findings
- PRS Legislative Research published this report and it focuses on the legislative work performed by states in the calendar year 2020.
- The annual review has been done in the pandemic year as 2020 saw the first wave of the pandemic.
- It covers 19 state legislatures, including the Union territory of Delhi, which together accounts for 90 per cent of the population of the country.
1) Low Productivity
- As a benchmark, the Parliament met for 33 days in 2020.
- Pre-2020, these 19 states met for an average of 29 days a year.
- In 2020, they met for an average of 18 days.
- When they met in 2020, States passed an average of 22 Bills (excluding Appropriation Bills).
- Karnataka passed 61 Bills, the highest in the country.
- The lowest was Delhi which passed one Bill, followed by West Bengal and Kerala, which passed two and three Bills respectively.
2) States pass Bills without scrutiny
- The report states that the State legislatures pass most Bills without detailed scrutiny.
- In 2020, 59 per cent of the Bills were passed on the same day that they were introduced in the legislature.
- A further 14 per cent were passed within a day of being introduced.
- In Parliament, Bills are often referred to Parliamentary Standing Committees for detailed examination.
- In most states, such committees are non-existent.
3) Information not shared by the legislature
- Information and data on state legislatures is not easily available.
- While some state legislatures publish data on a regular basis, many do not have a systematic way of reporting legislative proceedings and business.”
- Typically, information becomes available when countervailing pressure is generated.
- Reports like this help to do that.
Consider the question “In discussions on reforms, or debates about public expenditure, there is an excessive focus on the Union government. However, on reforms and public expenditures, we also need to focus on scrutinising the states”. Comment.
Conclusion
Scrutinising States on various areas of their functioning is important to hold them accountable. The availability of data from state legislatures is an opportunity to monitor them better.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Tackling disinformation
The article highlights the issues mentioned in the UNHRC report on disinformation and freedom of expression.
UNHRC Report: Upholding human rights helps dealing with falsehood
- The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Special Rapporteur submitted her report on “Disinformation and Freedom of Opinion and Expression” recently.
- The UNHRC report specifically speaks of information disorder that arises from disinformation.
- Impact of disinformation: Such information disorder leads to politically polarisation, hinders people from meaningfully exercising their human rights, and destroys their trust in governments and institutions.
- Human rights provide a powerful and appropriate framework to challenge falsehoods and present alternative viewpoints.
- Upholding human rights is useful in dealing with falsehood in two ways:
- 1) Freedom of opinion and expression enables governance and development.
- 2) Civil society, journalists and others are able to challenge falsehoods and present alternative viewpoints.
- So, the report says that human rights friendly governance is both possible and doable; it is also desirable, as it protects political power against itself.
Review of the business model needed
- The report asserts that reactive content moderation efforts” are unlikely to make any worthwhile difference in the absence of a serious review of the business model that underpins much of the drivers of disinformation and misinformation.
- Problems of inconsistent application of companies’ terms of service, inadequate redress mechanisms and a lack of transparency and access to data re-emerge constantly.
- Aalthough the platforms are global businesses, they do not appear to apply their policies consistently across all geographical areas or to uphold human rights in all jurisdictions to the same extent.
Need for legislative clarity on twin concept of misinformation and disinformation
- The report highlights the lack of legislative and judicial clarity on the twin concepts of “disinformation” and “misinformation”.
- It emphasises that the intention to harm is decisive to the disinformation.
- “Disinformation” is false information disseminated intentionally to cause serious social harm.
- In contrast, misinformation consists in the dissemination of false information unknowingly.
- Nor are these terms to be used interchangeably.
- Acknowledging the fact that “extremist or terrorist groups” frequently engage in the dissemination as part of their propaganda to radicalise and recruit members, the report disfavours any state response that adds to human rights concerns.
Other factors contributing to growth of disinformation
- The growth of disinformation in recent times cannot be attributed solely to technology or malicious actors, according to the report.
- Other factors such as digital transformation and competition from online platforms, state pressure, the absence of robust public information regimes, and digital and media literacy among the general public also matter.
- Moreover, disinformation enhance the frustrations and grievances such as economic deprivation, market failures, political disenfranchisement, and social inequalities.
- Disinformation is thus not the “cause but the consequence of societal crises and the breakdown of public trust in institutions”.
- Strategies to address disinformation will succeed only when these underlying factors are tackled.
Issue of use of disinformation by states
- A 2020 Oxford study of “Industrialised Disinformation” mentions that as many as “81 governments” use “social media to spread computational propaganda and disinformation about politics”.
- Some authoritarian countries like Russia, China and Iran capitalised on coronavirus disinformation to amplify anti-democratic narratives.
- Online disinformation also results in offline practices of violent social excursion on actually existing individuals and communities such as ethnic, gender, migrant, sexual minorities.
Consider the question “Reactive content moderation efforts are simply inadequate without a serious review of the business model that underpins much of the drivers of disinformation and misinformation on the social media platforms.” Critically examine.”
Conclusion
Will future itineraries of human rights in the digital era repeat past mistakes? The report offers grist to the mill for profound thought and conscientious action.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Variants of coronavirus
Mains level: Paper 3- Importance of genomic sequencing in dealing with the pandemic
The article highlights the importance of genomic sequencing in dealing effectively with the pandemic and suggest the scaling up of genomic sequencing.
Why genomic sequencing is important
- An effective COVID-19 pandemic response requires, inter alia, keeping track of emerging variants and then conducting further studies about their transmissibility, immune escape and potential to cause severe disease.
- The success of the United States and the United Kingdom in containing the virus also goes to scaled-up genomic sequencing, tracking the emerging variants and using that evidence for timely actions.
- The data from genomic sequencing has both policy and operational implications.
- Our scientific knowledge and understanding about emerging strains is going to be the key to deploy public health interventions (vaccines included) to fight the pandemic.
- The emerging variants — with early evidence of higher transmissibility, immune escape and breakthrough infections — demand continuous re-thinking and re-strategising of the pandemic response by every country.
Insufficient genomic sequencing in India
- Though the procedural steps such as setting up the Indian SARS-CoV2 Genomic Consortia, or INSACOG have been taken, the sequencing has remained at a very low level of a few thousand cases only.
- The challenge of insufficient genomic sequencing is further compounded by slow pace of data sharing.
Steps need to be taken
- 1) Scale-up genomic sequencing: India needs to scale up genomic sequencing, across all States.
- More genomic sequencing is needed from large urban agglomerations.
- A national-level analysis of collated genomic sequencing data should be done on a regular basis and findings shared publicly.
- 2) Research on vaccine effectiveness: The Indian government needs to invest and support more scientific and operational research on vaccine effectiveness.
- Rethink vaccine policy: There are early indications of immune escape and reduced vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant (especially after one-shot).
- These are the questions that experts need to deliberate and come up with the answers.
Consider the question “What is genomic sequencing and how it could help in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic? Suggest the steps India need to take to use genomic sequencing in curbing the pandemic.”
Conclusion
As India prepares for the third wave, increasing genomic sequencing and use of scientific evidence for decision making are not a choice but an absolute essential.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Quad
Mains level: Paper 2- Pushback against China
The article discusses the future pushback against China in South Asia and Indo-Pacific as Quad gains more momentum.
Context
Recently, the Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Li Jiming, warned Dhaka that there will be “substantial damage” in bilateral ties between China and Bangladesh if the latter joins the Quad.
Bangladesh’s reaction
- Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen promptly and publicly challenged the Chinese envoy’s statement, underlining categorically that Dhaka pursues an independent foreign policy.
- That China’s remarks would reverberate far beyond South Asia was expected and perhaps intended.
- The spokesperson of U.S. State Department remarked, “What we would say is that we respect Bangladesh’s sovereignty and we respect Bangladesh’s right to make foreign policy decisions for itself.”
Implications for South Asia and Info-Pacific
- With its message to Bangladesh, Beijing was laying down a marker that nations should desist from engaging with the Quad.
- This episode captures the emerging fault lines in South Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific.
- For all its attempts to play down the relevance of the Quad, Beijing realises that the grouping, with all its weaknesses, is emerging as a reality and there is little it can do to prevent that.
- And so, it is agitated about Quad’s future role and its potential success in offering the regional states an alternative to its own strong-arm tactics.
About Quad’s agenda
- The Quad member states are figuring out a cohesive agenda amongst themselves and there are no plans for an expansion.
- There is a desire to work with like-minded nations but that can only happen if the four members of the Quad can build a credible platform first.
- Quad has not asked any country to join and no one has shown an interest.
- But China wants to ensure that after failing in its initial attempt to prevent the Quad from gaining any traction.
- Its message is well understood by other states who may harbour any desire of working closely with the Quad members.
Way forward
- Beijing has failed to prevent nations from the West to the East from coming out with their Indo-Pacific strategies.
- It has failed to prevent the operationalisation of the Quad, and now it might be worried about other nations in the region thinking of engaging with the Quad more proactively.
- Even Bangladesh is planning to come out with its own Indo-Pacific strategy and Beijing has now warned Dhaka that a close cooperation with the Quad should not be part of the policy mix.
- As the Quad gains more momentum and the churn in the waters of the Indo-Pacific leads to new countervailing coalitions against China, Beijing’s belligerence can only be expected to grow.
Conclusion
Beijing is more likely to demand clear-cut foreign policy choices from its regional interlocutors, as its warning to Bangladesh underscores. But as Dhaka’s robust response makes it clear, states are more likely to push back than become subservient to Chinese largesse.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Opportunity for India to expand ties with the West
The article takes an overview of the growing convergence of India’s interest with the West in the changing geopolitical scenario and opportunities it offers to India.
Significance of G-7 Summit for India
- Summit of the G-7, the Group of Seven industrial countries, will be hosted by the United Kingdom this week.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate digitally in this summit.
- This participation also marks an important step towards a new global compact between India and the West.
- The global financial crisis of 2008, the rapid rise of China, divisions within the West during the Trump years, and the chaotic response in North America and Europe to the Covid-19 pandemic, were the factors that indicated the decline of the West.
- In his first tour abroad as the US president wants to demonstrate that the collective West is an enduring force to reckon with under renewed American leadership.
- For India, the G-7 summit is an opportunity to expand the global dimension of India’s growing partnerships with the US and Europe.
Convergence of interests between India and the West
- The challenges from an increasingly aggressive China, the urgency of mitigating climate change, and the construction of a post-pandemic international order are generating convergence between the interests of India and the West.
- India’s current engagement with the G-7 is about global issues.
- The idea of a global democratic coalition that is based more broadly than the geographic West has gained ground in recent years.
- And India is at the very heart of that Western calculus.
- For India, too, the G-7summit comes amidst intensifying strategic cooperation with the West.
- This includes strong bilateral strategic cooperation with the US, France, UK as well as the Quad and the trilateral partnerships with France and Australia as well as Japan and Australia.
- India has also stepped up its engagement with the European Union.
China factor
- India’s increasing engagement with the US and the West has been triggered in part by the continuous deterioration of the relationship with China.
- Besides the threat to territorial security, India finds that its hopes for strong global cooperation with China have taken a big beating in recent years.
- China is the only great power that does not support India’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council and blocks India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
- At the end of the Cold War, India believed that China was a natural partner in the construction of a multipolar world.
- India now can’t escape the conclusion that China is the greatest obstacle to India’s global aspirations and the West is an emerging partner.
- India has relied on Western support to fend off China’s effort to internationalise the Kashmir question after the 2019 constitutional changes.
- India walked away from RCEP due to the growing trade imbalance with China and the negative impact of Chinese imports on India’s domestic manufacturing.
- After China’s aggression in Ladakh last April, India has also sought to actively limit its exposure to Chinese investments and technology.
Way forward
- The convergence of interests between India and the West does not mean the two sides will agree on everything.
- There are many areas of continuing divergence within the West — from the economic role of the state to the democratic regulation of social media and the technology giants.
- It will surely not be easy translating the broad convergences between India and the West into tangible cooperation.
- That would require sustained negotiations on converting shared interests.
Consider the question “The idea of a global democratic coalition that is based more broadly than the geographic West has gained ground in recent years. This offers India an opportunity to expand the global dimension of India’s growing partnerships with the US and Europe. Comment.”
Conclusion
While India continues to strengthen its partnerships in Asia and the global south, a more productive partnership with the West helps secure a growing array of India’s national interests and adds a new depth to India’s international relations.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Performance of the current government in the past seven years
The article compares the performance of the present government under Prime Minister Modi with the first seven years of the Manmohan Singh government on various fronts.
Context
The current government completed seven years at the Centre recently. It is time to reflect and look back at its performance on basic economic parameters over the last seven years. It may also be interesting to compare and see how it fared vis-à-vis the first seven years of UPA government (2004-05 to 2010-11) under Manmohan Singh.
Analysing the progress by studying key economic indicator
1) GDP growth
- One of the key economic parameters is GDP growth.
- It is not the most perfect one, as it does not capture specifically the impact on the poor, or on inequality.
- But higher GDP growth is considered central to economic performance as it enlarges the size of the economic pie.
- The average annual rate of growth of GDP under the Modi government so far has been just 4.8 per cent compared to 8.4 per cent during the first seven years of the Manmohan Singh government.
- If this continues as business as usual, the dream of a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 is not likely to be achieved.
2) Inflation
- The Modi government scores much better on the inflation front with CPI (rural and urban combined) rising at 4.8 per cent per annum.
- It is well within the tolerance limits of RBI’s targeted inflation band and also much lower than 7.8 per cent during the first seven years of the Manmohan Singh government.
3) Forex reserves
- Also, at macro level, foreign exchange reserves provide resilience to the economy against any external shocks.
- On this score too, the Modi government fares quite well with forex reserves rising from $313 billion on May 23, 2014 to $593 billion on May 21, 2021.
4) Food and agriculture
- It engages the largest share of the workforce in the economy and matters most to poorer segments.
- On the agri-front, both governments recorded an annual average growth of 3.5 per cent during their respective first seven years.
- However, on the food and fertiliser subsidy front, the Modi government broke all records in FY21, by spending Rs 6.52 lakh crore and accumulating grain stocks exceeding 100 million tonnes in May end, 2021.
- One area in which the Modi government performed very poorly is agri-exports.
- In 2013-14 agri-exports had crossed $43 billion while during all the seven years of the Modi government agri-exports remained below this mark of $43 billion.
- Sluggish agri-exports with rising output put downward pressure on food prices.
- It helped contain CPI inflation, but subdued farmers’ incomes.
5) Infrastructure development
- The Modi government has done better in power generation by increasing it from 720 billion units per annum to 1,280 billion units per annum.
- Similarly, road construction too has been at least 30 per cent faster under the Modi government.
6) Social sector
- Based on an international definition of extreme poverty (2011 PPP of $ 1.9 per capita per day), the World Bank estimated India’s extreme poverty in 2015 to be about 13.4 per cent, down from 21.6 per cent in FY 2011-12.
- Even the incidence of multidimensional poverty hovered around 28 per cent in 2015-16.
- Three key indicators can be used to assess performance on this front:
- One, average annual person days generated under MGNREGA in the first five years since this programme started under the UPA in 2006-07 to 2010-11, which was 200 crore, and under Modi government it improved to 230 crore.
- Two, average annual number of houses completed under the Indira Awaas Yojana and PM Awaas Yojana-Gramin, which improved from 21 lakhs to 30 lakhs per annum.
- Three, open defecation free (ODF) which was only 38.7 per cent on October 2, 2014 and shot up to 100 per cent by October 2, 2019, as per government records.
Conclusion
The current government has turned out to be more welfare-oriented than reformist in revving up GDP growth. How long this welfare approach is sustainable without enlarging the size of GDP pie is an open question.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- One nation one election
The article deals with the issue frequent elections in the country and highlights the need for debate on the idea of “one nation, one election”.
Need for debate on one nation one election
The idea has been around since at least 1983, when the Election Commission first mooted it. The concept needs to be debated mainly around five issues.
1) Financial costs of conducting elections
- The costs of conducting each assembly or parliamentary election are huge and, in some senses, incalculable.
- Directly budgeted costs are around Rs 300 crore for a state the size of Bihar.
- But there are other financial costs, and incalculable economic costs.
- Before each election, a “revision” of electoral rolls is mandatory.
- The costs of the millions of man-hours used are not charged to the election budget.
- The economic costs of lost teaching weeks, delayed public works, badly delivered or undelivered welfare schemes to the poor have never been calculated.
2) Cost of repeated administrative freezes
- The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has economic costs too.
- Works may have been announced long before an election is announced, but tenders cannot be finalised, nor work awarded, once the MCC comes into effect.
- Time overruns translate into cost overruns.
- But the huge costs of salaries and other administrative expenditures continue to be incurred.
- Add to this the invisible cost of a missing leadership.
- Important meetings and decisions get postponed, with costs and consequences that are difficult to calculate.
- A NITI Aayog paper says that the country has at least one election each year.
3) Visible and invisible costs of repeatedly deploying security forces
- There are also huge and visible costs of deploying security forces and transporting them, repeatedly.
- A bigger invisible cost is paid by the nation in terms of diverting these forces from sensitive areas.
4) Campaign and finance costs of political parties
- There is little doubt that the fiscal and economic costs of an election are not trivial, and that two elections, held separately, will almost double costs, including those incurred by political parties themselves.
5) Question of regional/smaller parties having a level playing field
- There are fears about the Centre somehow gaining greater power, or regional parties being at a disadvantage during simultaneously held elections.
- However, fixed five-year terms for state legislatures in fact take away the central government’s power to dissolve state assemblies.
- Until 1967 when simultaneous elections were the norm.
- The Constitution and other laws would need to be amended is obvious, but that is hardly an argument against the proposal.
Consider the question “There are huge costs associated with the frequent elections in the country. Is simultaneous elections a solution? What are the issues involved?”
Conclusion
As the elections in four states and one Union territory in March-April are suspected to have contributed to the second wave of Covid infections, a well-reasoned debate on a concept as important as “one nation, one election” is called for.
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