Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Eight Schedule
Mains level: Paper 2- Eighth Schedule and related issues
The article discusses the issues with excessive attention given to Hindi and how the neglect of another language could lead to the loss of language and the way of life associated with it as well.
Debate in Constituent Assembly and issues in the adoption of Hindi
- The issue of adopting a national language could not be resolved when the Constituent Assembly began drafting India’s Constitution.
- Members from the Hindi-speaking provinces who moved a number of pro-Hindi amendments and argued for adopting Hindi as the sole national language.
- Widespread resistance to the imposition of Hindi led to the passage of the Official Languages Act of 1963, which provided for the continued use of English for all official purposes.
- Hindi became the sole working language of the Union government by 1965 with the State governments free to function in the language of their choice.
- The constitutional directive for the Union government to encourage the spread of Hindi was retained within Central government entities in non-Hindi-speaking States.
Issues with the Eighth Schedule
- According to the 2001 Census, India has 30 languages that are spoken by more than a million people each.
- The Constitution lists 22 languages and protects them in the eighth schedule.
- Many languages are kept out of this schedule even if they deserve to be included.
- This includes Tulu which is spoken by over 1.8 million people and has inscriptions dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries.
- While Hindi, a much younger Indo-Aryan language, has been gaining prominence since before independence.
- When a refined language loses its status in literary and daily interactions, the way of life associated with it also vanishes.
- The Census found that while Hindi is the fastest growing language, the number of speakers of other languages has dropped.
Way forward
- While discussing Hindi and its use, let us also focus on the merit of other Indian languages.
- Instead of focusing on one national language, we should learn a language beyond the mother tongue and get to know a different way of life too.
Conclusion
If we don’t protect and promote other well-evolved or endangered and indigenous languages, our future generations may end up never understanding their ‘real’ roots and culture
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2-Issues with the Code on the Wages
The article discusses the issues in the Code on Wages (yet to be notified) 2019 and how it fails to achieve what it seeks to achieve.
Code on Wages 2019
- The Code on Wages, 2019 seeks to consolidate and simplify four pieces of legislation into a single code. These 4 legislations are-
- 1) Payment of Wages Act, 1936.
- 2) Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
- 3) Payment of Bonus Act, 1965.
- 4) Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.
- Its object and reasons stated that even the Second National Commission on Labour- 2002 suggested consolidating all labour laws into four codes.
Issues with the consolidation
- While the previous four pieces of legislation had a total of 119 sections, the new Code has 69 sections.
- Any consolidation will impact the length of the sections.
- Further, all requirements for enforcing the Act, have been relegated to the Rules.
- As a result, the delegated pieces of legislation (Rules) will be bigger than the Code; this is no way to condense prior pieces of legislation.
- All the four repealed pieces of legislation were enacted historically at different points in time and to deal with different situations.
- The combining of asymmetrical laws into a single code is not an easy task and will only create its own set of new problems.
- The central government will have the power to fix a “floor wage”.
- Once it is fixed, State governments cannot fix any minimum wage less than the “floor wage”.
- The concept should be for a binding minimum wage and not have dual wage rates — a binding floor wage and a non-binding minimum wage.
- Neither the Code nor the Rules (presently, draft Rules) prescribe the qualifications and experience required for appointment of competent authority.
- Anew provision (Section 52) has been introduced where an officer will be notified with power to impose a penalty in the place of a judicial magistrate.
- An essential judicial function is now sought to be vested with the executive in contravention of Article 50 of the Constitution.
Issue of MGNREGA wages
- There were cases as to whether the Minimum Wages Act would have an over-riding effect over the provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005.
- Several High Courts have placed the Minimum Wages Act to override MGNREGA.
- That has been set to rest by excluding MGNREGA from the purview of the Code on Wages.
- That has been set to rest by excluding MGNREGA from the purview of the Code on Wages.
Conclusion
The Code on Wages (yet to be notified) has neither succeeded in consolidation of laws nor will it achieve the expansion of the coverage of workers in all industries in the unorganised sector.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Retrospective legislation
Mains level: Paper 3-Implications of Vodafone tax case ruling
Context
- An Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) tribunal has ruled that India’s imposition of tax liability amounting to ₹22,000 crore on Vodafone is in breach of India-Netherlands bilateral investment treaty obligations.
Background of the case
- This case arose after the Indian Parliament in 2012 amended the Income Tax Act.
- As per the amendment, income deemed to be accruing to non-residents, directly or indirectly, through the transfer of a capital asset situated in India is taxable retrospectively with effect from April 1, 1962.
- This amendment was carried out to override the Supreme Court ruling in favour of Vodafone.
- This amendment dented India’s reputation as a country governed by the rule of law, and shook the faith of foreign investors.
Key lessons from Vodafone case
- 1) All the three organs of the Indian state — Parliament, executive, and the judiciary — need to internalise India’s BIT and other international law obligations.
- These organs need to ensure that they exercise their public powers in a manner consistent with international law, or else their actions could prove costly to the nation.
- 2) India should learn that being a country that values the rule of law is an important quality to win over the confidence of foreign investors and international goodwill.
- 3) It is likely that the government might challenge the award at the seat of arbitration or resist the enforceability of this award in Indian courts alleging that it violates public policy.
- It would mean that India does not honour its international law obligation.
- 4) This ruling might have an impact on the two other ISDS claims that India is involved in with Cairn Energy and Vedanta on the imposition of taxes retrospectively.
- 5) It is quite possible that India might use this award to further harden its antagonistic stand against ISDS and BITs.
- India unilaterally terminated almost all its BITs after foreign investors started suing India for breaching BITs.
- But the fact is that this case and several others are a result of bad state regulation.
- 6) This decision shows the significance of the ISDS regime to hold states accountable under international law when in case of undue expansion of state power.
- The case is a reminder that the ISDS regime, notwithstanding its weaknesses, can play an important role in fostering international rule of law.
Consider the question “What were the issues involved in the Vodafone tax case? What are the implication of Investor-State Dispute Settlement ruling for India?”
Conclusion
If government is serious about wooing foreign investment, India should immediately comply with the decision.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: U.N. and its organs
Mains level: Paper 2- United Nations and the challenges it faces
As the U.N. enters into 75th year of its existence, it faces several challenges. The article discusses such challenges.
Challenges to the multilateralism
1) Withdrawal of the main stakeholders: U.S. and the U.K.
- The U.S. is withdrawing from multilateralism and so it the U.K.
- Brexit has shown that nationalism remains strong in Europe.
- Nevertheless, the most important development is the position of the U.S.
- The U.S., which created the international system as we know today, is no longer willing to be its “guarantor of last resort”.
- U.S. President Donald Trump stressed “America First” and suggested that others too should put their countries first.
2) China’s reluctance
- China has stepped in to take advantage of the West’s retreat from multilateralism.
- But China is not embracing the idea of multilateralism.
- China’s Belt and Road Initiative consists of a series of bilateral credit agreements with recipient countries with no mechanism for multilateral consultation or oversight.
- The European Union’s and U.S.’s sanctions against Russia have driven it closer to China.
- Work of the UN Security Council has been affected by the lack of consensus between its permanent members.
3) Turkey’s interventions
- Turkey has intervened in Syria, Libya, and the Eastern Mediterranean, which is a breach of international law.
- The last was a reference to Turkey sending a drilling ship in Greek and Cypriot exclusive economic zones.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a detailed reference to the Jammu and Kashmir issue.
- As Turkey has assumed the position of UN General Assembly President, statement and its actions matters.
4) Paucity of resources
- Over 40 UN political missions and peacekeeping operations engage 95,000 troops, police, and civil personnel. it suffers from a paucity of resources.
- The UN peacekeeping budget, a little over $8 billion, is a small fraction of the $1.9 trillion military expenditure governments made in 2019.
- Most of the humanitarian assistance, developmental work, and budgets of the specialised agencies are based on voluntary contributions.
- There are calls for increasing public-private partnerships. This is not a satisfactory arrangement.
- The UN provides ‘public goods’ in terms of peace and development often in remote parts of the world.
- There may not be enough appetite on the part of corporations. The UN remains an inter-governmental body.
5) Climate action
- President Trump mentioned that China’s emissions are nearly twice of those of the U.S.
- Despite its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the U.S. has reduced its carbon emissions by more than any country in the world.
- President Xi said that after peaking emissions by 2030, China will achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
- President Macron said that he was determined to see the EU agree on a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Consider the question “As the world is facing the retreat from multilateralism, what are the challenges facing the U.N. in the current global order?”
Conclusion
What does the UN bring to the developing countries? It gives them greater political space. We need to support reform not only to expand the permanent members’ category of the Security Council but also to revitalise the role of the General Assembly. The retreat from multilateralism would undermine the UN’s capacity to face diverse challenges.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Doctrine of colorable legislation
Mains level: Federalism issue raised by the Agricultural Bills
The President has finally given assent to the controversial farm Bills passed by Parliament last week. Amid protests by farmers’ organisations across the country, questions are being raised about the anti-federal nature of these ‘Acts’.
Here we shall only discuss its constitutionality and federal nature. Tap to read more about the theme at:
What is the question over the constitutionality of these laws?
- These are some of the questions that will be raised in the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Acts.
- As per Union of India v H.S.Dhillon (1972), the constitutionality of parliamentary laws can be challenged only on two grounds — that the subject is in the State List, or that it violates fundamental rights.
- As per Ram Krishna Dalmia v Justice S R Tendolkar (1958) and other judgments, the Supreme Court will begin hearings after presuming the constitutionality of these laws.
- The bills (now Acts as they have got the President’s assent) do not mention, in the Statement of Objects & Reasons, the constitutional provisions under which Parliament has the power to legislate on the subjects covered.
Where does the question of federalism come in?
What is federalism, first?
- Federalism is the system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units.
- It is based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and state governments, creating a federation.
- It essentially means both the Centre and states have the freedom to operate in their allotted spheres of power, in coordination with each other.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following federal principles are not found in Indian federation?
- Bifurcation of the judiciary between the Federal and State Governments
- Equality of representation of the states in the upper house of the Federal Legislature
- The Union cannot be destroyed by any state seceding from the Union at its will
- Federal Government can redraw the map of the Indian Union by forming new States
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
a) 1, 2 and 3
b) 2, 3 and 4
c) 1 and 2
d) 3 and 4
Federalism in India
- The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution contains three lists that distribute power between the Centre and states.
- There are 97 subjects in the Union List, on which Parliament has exclusive power to legislate (Article 246); the State List has 66 items on which states alone can legislate.
- The Concurrent List has 47 subjects on which both the Centre and states can legislate, but in case of a conflict, the law made by Parliament prevails (Article 254).
- Parliament can legislate on an item in the State List under certain specific circumstances laid down in the Constitution.
Concretization of the idea
- Federalism, like constitutionalism and separation of powers, is not mentioned in the Constitution. But it is the very essence of our constitutional scheme.
- In the State of West Bengal v Union of India (1962), the Supreme Court held that the Indian Constitution is not federal.
- But in SR Bommai v Union of India (1994), a nine-judge Bench held federalism as part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
- Neither the relative importance of the legislative entries in Schedule VII, Lists I and II of the Constitution, nor the fiscal control by the Union per se is decisive to conclude the Constitution is unitary.
- The respective legislative powers are traceable to Articles 245 to 254… The State qua the Constitution is federal in structure and independent in its exercise of legislative and executive power,” it said.
Where is agriculture in the scheme of legislative powers?
Terms relating to agriculture occur at 15 places in the Seventh Schedule.
- Entries 82, 86, 87, and 88 in the Union List mention taxes and duties on income and assets, specifically excluding those in respect of agriculture.
- In the State List, eight entries contain terms relating to agriculture: Entry 14 (agricultural education and research, pests, plant diseases); 18 (rights in or over land, land tenures, rents, transfer agricultural land, agricultural loans, etc.); 28 (markets and fairs); 30 (agricultural indebtedness); 45 (land revenue, land records, etc.); 46 (taxes on agricultural income); 47 (succession of agricultural land); and 48 (estate duty in respect of agricultural land).
- In the Concurrent List, Entry 6 mentions the transfer of property other than agricultural land; 7 is about various contracts not relating to agricultural land; and 41 deals with evacuee property, including agricultural land.
- It is clear that the Union List and Concurrent List put matters relating to agriculture outside Parliament’s jurisdiction, and give state legislatures exclusive power.
- No entry in respect of agriculture in the State List is subject to any entry in the Union or Concurrent Lists.
What about Entry 27 of the State List that is subject to Entry 33 of List III (Concurrent)?
- Entry 33 of the Concurrent List mentions trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution of domestic and imported products of an industry over which Parliament has control in the public interest.
- This includes foodstuffs, including oilseeds and oils; cattle fodder; raw cotton and jute.
- The Centre could, therefore, argue that it is within its powers to pass laws on contract farming and intra- and inter-state trade, and prohibit states from imposing fees/cesses outside APMC areas.
- However, like education, farming is an occupation, not trade or commerce.
- If foodstuffs are considered synonymous with agriculture, then all the powers of states in respect of agriculture, listed so elaborately in the Constitution, shall become redundant.
So what happens in case of legislation that covers entries in two Lists?
- In cases such as State of Rajasthan v G Chawla (1959), courts have used the doctrine of “pith and substance” to determine the character of legislation that overlaps between entries.
- The constitutionality of legislation is upheld if it is largely covered by one list and touches upon the other list only incidentally.
- But the two new farm Acts go beyond that — they impinge on entries in the State List.
- In interpreting the lists, the Supreme Court in State of Bihar v Kameshwar Singh (1952) invoked the doctrine of colourable legislation, which means you cannot do indirectly what you cannot do directly.
What is the Doctrine of Colorable Legislation?
- This doctrine refers to the question of competency of the legislature while enacting a provision of law.
- If a legislature is prohibited from doing something, it may not be permitted to do this under the guise or pretence of doing something while acting within its lawful jurisdiction and this prohibition is an implied result of the maxim “what cannot be done directly, cannot be done indirectly”
- This doctrine is a tool used to determine the legislative competence of laws enacted by various legislatures.
- Therefore, it is a means to implement the separation of powers and impose judicial accountability.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with medical education in India
The article discusses the issues with medical education in India and how it affects the principle of equality.
Role of private entities
- Due to demand for high-quality medical care on the one hand and constraints on public resources on the other, private entities have been permitted to establish medical educational institutions to supplement government efforts.
- In the field of health care, there is a continuing shortage of health-care personnel.
- The infrastructure required for high-quality modern medical education is expensive.
- The three stated objectives of medical education has been — providing health-care personnel in all parts of the country, ensuring quality and improving equity.
- None of the three stated objectives of medical education has been achieved by the private sector.
- Though they are supposed to be not-for-profit, taking advantage of the poor regulatory apparatus and the ability to both tweak and create rules, these private entities, with very few exceptions, completely commercialised education.
Demand for regulation and equity
- There have been attempts to regulate fees, sometimes by governments and sometimes by courts.
- These efforts have not been fruitful.
- The executive, primarily the Medical Council of India, has proven unequal to the task of ensuring that private institutions comply with regulations.
- When the courts are approached, which issues are seen as important depends on the Bench.
- It was in this situation that led to the introduction of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), or NEET-UG, as a single all-India gateway for admission to medical colleges.
- Challenged in courts, after an initial setback, the NEET scheme has been upheld.
How NEET affected equity
- NEET may have improved the quality of candidates admitted to private institutions to some extent, but it seems to have further worsened equity.
- Under any scheme of admission, the number of students from government schools who are able to get admission to a medical college is very low.
- With NEET, the number has become lower.
- The high fees of private medical colleges have always been an impossible hurdle for students from government schools, whatever the method used for admission.
Way forward
- The basic cause of inequity in admission to higher educational institutions is the absence of a high quality school system accessible to all.
- Allowing government medical colleges to admit students based on marks in Standard XII and using NEET scores for admission to private colleges will be more equitable right now.
Conclusion
Only a resolute government, determined to ensure that economic policy facilitates quality and equity in education, can do it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fiscal deficit and government budget
Mains level: Paper 3- Impact of pandemic on Indian economy
The government faces the challenge of high fiscal deficit and declining revenue. This article discusses the challenge and suggests the way forward to deal with the situation.
Dismal growth prospects
- At (-)23.9% contraction for the first quarter of 2020-21, India’s growth showed one of the highest contraction globally.
- What is most surprising in the Q1 data is that the sector ‘Public Administration, Defence and other Services’ contracted at (-) 10.3%.
- This means that there was no fiscal stimulus.
- The 2020-21 real GDP growth for India is forecast in the range of (-) 5.8% (RBI) to (-) 14.8% (Goldman Sachs).
- The OECD in its September 2020 Interim Economic Outlook has projected a contraction of (-) 10.2% in FY21 for India.
Challenge of decline in revenue
- Due to a sharp contraction in nominal GDP growth, central and State tax revenue, both may contract.
- . In the first quarter of 2020-21, the Centre’s gross tax revenues contracted by (-) 32.6%.
- The CAG-based data pertaining to 19 States show a contraction of (-) 45% in their own tax revenues.
- Given the adverse impact of the lockdown, even the budgeted non-tax revenues are not likely to be realised.
- The revenue calculations of the Budget were made on the assumption that the nominal income of the country would grow at 10%.
- Some estimates indicate that the tax and non-tax revenue and non-debt capital receipts in the current fiscal may fall well short of the budget estimates by an amount higher than ₹5-lakh crore.
- The combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and the States will have to make up for the shortfall in tax and non-tax revenues, if the level of budgeted expenditures is to be maintained.
Challenge of widening of fiscal deficit
- In order for the central government to maintain the level of budgeted expenditure and also provide for additional stimulus, its fiscal deficit may have to be increased to close to an estimated 8.8% of GDP.
- If one adds the Centre’s and States’ fiscal deficit, the combined fiscal deficit amounts to 13.8% of GDP.
- If the nominal GDP actually contracts in 2020-21, the fiscal deficit as the percent of GDP would go up further.
Role of the RBI
- The International Monetary Fund, in its June 2020 update of the World Economic Outlook, estimated the fiscal deficit of India and China at 12.1% of GDP.
- India doesn’t have adequate resources to support a fiscal deficit of nearly 14% of GDP.
- All this will therefore require substantial support from the Reserve Bank of India which will have to take on itself, either directly or indirectly, a part of the central government debt.
- In the direct mode, the RBI takes on the debt directly from government at an agreed rate.
- It took India long to move away from the automatic monetisation of debt.
- Even if the RBI wants to support the borrowing programmes, it should not do so directly.
- The indirect method is preferable as the market still sends out the signals on interest rate.
- In both cases, the RBI is the provider of liquidity.
- The question ultimately relates to the extent of debt monetisation that may be undertaken.
- The country has also to guard against high inflation.
Role of government
- The economic situation warrants enhanced government expenditure.
- It appears that governments are withholding expenditure. That is not the right approach.
- At the same time, there is a limit to monetisation of debt.
Conclusion
Perhaps the best course of action would be to keep the combined fiscal deficit at around 14% of GDP in the current year and find ways to finance it. This will have to be brought down gradually. It may take several years of normalisation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various committees and their roles.
Mains level: Paper 2- Role of parliamentary committees
The article discusses the important role played by the various committees and their significance.
Committee system for legislative scrutiny
- Over the years, the Indian Parliament has increasingly adopted the committee system as did the other democracies in the world.
- This helped in housekeeping, to enhance the efficacy of the House to cope with the technical issues confronting it and to feel the public pulse.
- But the committee approach also helped to guard its turf and keep it abreast to exercise accountability on the government.
Important role played by the committees
- Committees are the guardians of the autonomy of the House: consider the role of committees of scrutiny and oversight.
- In the discharge of their mandate, the committee can solicit expert advice and elicit public opinion.
- Besides the standing committees, the Houses of Parliament set up, from time to time, ad hoc committees to enquire and report on specific subjects which include Select Committees of a House or Joint Select Committees of both the Houses.
- Departmentally-related Standing Committees (DRSCs) were envisaged to be the face of Parliament in a set of inter-related departments and ministries.
Issues
- Committees of scrutiny and advice, both standing and ad hoc, have been confined to the margins or left in the lurch in the last few years.
- While 60% of the Bills in the 14th Lok Sabha and 71% in the 15th Lok Sabha were wetted by the DRSCs concerned, this proportion came down to 27% in the 16th Lok Sabha.
- The government has shown extreme reluctance to refer Bills to Select Committees of the Houses or Joint Parliamentary Committees.
Conclusion
The government must not forget that the primary role of Parliament is deliberation, discussion and reconsideration, the hallmarks of democratic institutions, and not a platform that endorses decisions already arrived at.
Back2Bascis: Parliamentary Committees
Broadly, they are classified into two categories — standing committees and ad hoc committees.
1) Standing Committees
- As the name suggests, these committees cover all the ministries and departments of the Government of India.
- Standing committees are more permanent in nature, and are constituted from time to time in pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
- The standing committees are further divided into financial committees and departmentally-related standing committees (DRSCs).
- There are 24 DRSCs in total — 16 from Lok Sabha and 8 from the Rajya Sabha.
- Financial committees are of three kinds — the estimates committee, the public accounts committee and the committee on public undertakings.
2) Ad hoc committees
- Ad hoc committees are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist after they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report.
- These include advisory committees and inquiry committees.
- Advisory committees include select and joint committees on bills.
- Inquiry committees are constituted to inquire into a specific issue and report on it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sustainable Development
Mains level: Paper 3- Sustainable development
The article explains the importance of focusing on the green supply chain for ensuring sustainability along with the progress of the organisations.
Sustainability as an essential issue
- The U.N’s. Millennium Development Goals and the World Bank Group’s global practices have recognised sustainability as an essential issue of global importance.
- Economic, social and other forms of sustainability have evolved over the years, but it is environmental sustainability that has gained significant popularity.
Economy and sustainability
- Some firms have positioned environmental practices at the forefront due to legislation, and industry and government commitments.
- Several firms have prioritised environmental practices due to compelling regulatory norms, and a potential to manage costs, risks and optimise eco-friendly practices.
- However, organisations in the manufacturing sector focus on waste reduction and energy efficiency improvements excessively and fail to see the big picture of environmentalism.
Adopting green supply chains for long-lasting benefits
- Only through organisational learning can people be urged to work towards long-lasting benefits.
- In this context, green supply chain practices are useful.
- These include green procurement, green manufacturing, green distribution, and reverse logistics.
- With practices starting from acquisition of eco-friendly raw material to disposal/ reuse/ recycle of used products, employees, suppliers, distributors, retailers and customers will be able to integrate environmental concerns in the daily operations of a firm.
- Thus, green supply chain practices enable organisational learning in environmental sustainability.
- Research shows that the positive impacts of environmentalism can only be felt in the long term when they get embedded into organisational learning systems through green supply chain practices.
- The resultant learning system smoothens the knowledge flow in the organisation.
Focusing on linkages
- Linkages between green supply chain practices, corporate environmental performance, corporate economic performance is necessary for an organisation’s progress and environmental protection.
- When the different players of a manufacturing supply chain realise the inherent benefits associated with organisational learning dimensions, their drive towards environmentalism increases.
Conclusion
Policymakers should support this thinking by not merely imposing environmental practices as regulatory norms but by emphasising on the creation of green supply chain-based learning systems in manufacturing.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Social Stock Exchange
Mains level: Paper 2- Social Stock Exchange
Context
- The Securities and Exchange Board’s (SEBI) working group has submitted its report with recommendations regarding the structure, mechanisms, and regulatory framework for the proposed Social Stock Exchange (SSE).
What are Social Stock Exchanges (SSEs)?
- An SSE is a platform which allows investors to buy shares in social enterprises vetted by an official exchange.
- The Union Budget 2019 proposed setting up of first of its kind SSE in India.
- The SSE will function as a common platform where social enterprises can raise funds from the public.
- It will function on the lines of major stock exchanges like BSE and NSE. However, the purpose of the Social Stock Exchange will be different – not profit, but social welfare.
- Under the regulatory ambit of SEBI, a listing of social enterprises and voluntary organizations will be undertaken so that they can raise capital as equity, debt or as units like a mutual fund.
Issues with the idea of Social Stock Exchange
- SSE exists in one form or another in UK, Singapore, South Africa, Canada and Brazil, but it is yet to take off in any country.
- It has been an instrument focussed on social enterprises with rather poor results.
- The proposed SSE in our country could have been an interesting innovation if it was first.
- Replicating an experiment from elsewhere in an extremely complex environment of endemic poverty, high inequality and regional variation does not seem a reasoned decision.
- It is therefore important to analyse why it has been pushed as a key policy.
Why civil society is sceptical
- The 2020-21 Union Budget says that not-for-profit organisations will need to apply every five years for income tax registration to ascertain their charitable status.
- They will also need to renew their 80(G) certificate that provides tax relief to their donors.
- The not-for-profit sector would not be able to survive without the tax-exempt charitable status.
- These restrictions will open the gates to corruption and bullying by the tax and government bureaucracy.
- The SEBI working group was constituted of business leaders, government and SEBI officials with a token representative from civil society.
- Composition of the committee reflects the real intent of the SSE, which is to create instruments for market to enter the social sector.
- However, the way the exchange is envisioned makes it clear that the interests of the private sector are guiding the idea of SSE.
Will the entry of private sector benefit social sector
- The proponents of the SSE argue that it would help set standards and a performance matrix for the social sector.
- SSE is also expected to help bench-marking of sector actors (credibility checks), organise information and data, help in impact assessments, and do capacity building for the sector.
Solving complex social problems
- Poverty or injustice are essentially systemic and political questions that need multi-pronged dynamic engagement.
- Developing set standards of impact assessment and performance matrix has the risk of privileging only one approach to the developmental challenges at hand.
- The SSE would create more intermediaries and benefit larger organisations.
- More than 99 per cent of the three million NGOs in the country are in the small category and will be untouched by the SSE.
Conclusion
The core business of the SSE is to strengthen the social sector and bring new resources to it, SEBI for sure itself would admit that it is not the appropriate anchor.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: RTI
Mains level: Paper 2- RTI and issue of transparency
The article discusses the issue of growing lack of transparency in the functioning of government.
Issues with Transparent Governance in India
1) Electoral bond
- They were introduced in February 2017— they allowed anonymous donations to political parties and, therefore, protected the privacy of the donors.
- The Election Commission of India (ECI) criticised the opacity of this financial mechanism.
- The ECI told the government that this arrangement would prevent the state from ascertaining whether a political party has taken any donation in violation of provisions under Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act.
- Section 29B prohibits the political parties from taking donations from government companies and foreign sources.
- Electoral bonds also made it impossible to check whether a company was giving to parties more than what the Companies Act (2013) permitted, that is 7.5 per cent of the net average profit of the three preceding financial years.
2) Sealed envelopes
- Sealed envelope has become a modus operandi in several Indian institutions, including the Supreme Court (SC).
- In the case of political funding by electoral bonds or otherwise, a three-judge bench in 2019 directed political parties to submit the details of donations received to the ECI in sealed cover.
- The Assam administration had to show the progress it was making in the implementation of the National Register of Citizens by submitting reports in sealed covers.
3) Undermining RTI
(A) Reluctance to fill vacancies
- The government did not appoint a Chief Information Commissioner for a year after the incumbent retired in August 2014.
- Similaryly, government did not fill vacant information commissioner posts in the Central Information Commission (CIC) between 2016 and 2018.
- The backlog of pending appeals had reached 30,000 cases in late 2019 as the CIC has become a rather dysfunctional body.
(B) Government refusing to disclose infromation
- The government refused to disclose information which was previously available under the RTI Act.
- Queries about phone tapping are not responded to anymore.
- In 2016-17, the home and finance ministries rejected close to 15 per cent of the applications they received while the RBI and public sector banks rejected 33 per cent.
- The RBI, for instance, refused to give any information about the decision-making process that led to demonetisation.
(C) Limiting the powers of CIC
- During the 2019 Monsoon Session of Parliament, government amended the RTI Act to limit the power of the CIC.
- The five-year fixed tenure for the Chief Information Commissioner and information commissioners was abolished.
- Their salaries were not fixed any more, but notified separately by the government.
4.Diluting Whisleblower’s Protection Act
- Whistleblowers can now be prosecuted for possessing the documents on which the complaint has been made.
- Issues flagged by them have to be in “public interest”.
- Issues flagged should not be “affecting the sovereignty and integrity of India”, related to “commercial confidence” or “information received in confidence from a foreign government.
5.Issues with statistical information
- The National Statistical Commission and the Chief Statistician of India faced a credibility crisis when the new GDP series was released.
- Similarly, the National Crime Records Bureau has been affected by delays (its 2017 report was released in October 2019) and deletions.
- The National Sample Survey Office has also raised several concerns.
Conclusion
Transparency is not only necessary for maintaining a democratic polity, it is also necessary for making the economy work. Government actions must be informed by this fact.
B2BASICS
Electoral bond
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Online education and issues with it
Pandemic has forced learning to the online mode. But there are several concerns with the online leaning. The article discusses the same.
Providing learning opportunity in pandemic
- The main thrust of providing learning opportunities while schools are shut is online teaching.
- There are several sets of guidelines and plans issues by the government, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for this purpose.
- The Internet space is teeming with learning schemes, teaching videos, sites and portals for learning opportunities.
3 issues with online learning
1) Increasing inequality
- Calamities, be they natural or man-made, affect the underprivileged the hardest, COVID-19 is no exception.
- The COVID-19 shutdown has affected opportunity for the poor even harder than their counterparts from well-to-do sections of society.
- The government began plans for students with no online access only by the end of August.
- But online or digital education is available is for students with only online access.
- Thus, digital India may become even more unequal and divided than it already is.
2) Pedagogical issues leading to bad quality education
- The quality of online teaching-learning leaves much to be desired.
- Listening to lectures on the mobile phone, copying from the board where the teacher is writing, frequent disconnections can hardly and organically connect the child’s present understanding with the logically organised bodies of human knowledge.
- The secondary students are in a better position still because of their relative independence in learning and possible self-discipline.
- The beginners in the lower primary can get nothing at all from this mode of teaching.
3) An unwarranted thrust on online education, post-COVID-19
- All reliable studies seem to indicate that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the classroom helps in already well-functioning systems, and either has no benefits or negative impact in poorly performing systems.
- That does not indicate much hope from IT in our education system.
- Transformation of schools in the current understanding of pedagogy, suitability of learning material and quality of learning provided through IT will further devastate the already inadequate system of school education in the country.
- Of course, IT can be used in a balanced manner where it can help; but it should not be seen as a silver bullet to remedy all ills in the education system.
Importance of institutional environment
- The institutional environment plays an important role online teaching.
- Even when the institutions function sub-optimally, students themselves create an environment that supports their growth morally, socially and intellectually in conversations and interactions with each other.
- The online mode of teaching completely forecloses this opportunity.
Conclusion
Our democracy and public education system should try to address the issues raised here while promoting the online mode of education.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Agri bills related to agri markets and contract farming
The faremers have been protesting against the agri bill. This article explains the rationale behind the bill and how it could help the farmers.
Challenges Indian agriculture face
- Indian agriculture has been characterised by fragmentation due to small holding sizes, weather dependence, production uncertainties, huge wastage and market unpredictability.
- This makes agriculture risky and inefficient with respect to both input and output management.
Recent steps to help farmers
- The government has taken various steps in this direction, for example-
- The implementation of the Swaminathan committee’s recommendation regarding fixing MSP at least 50 per cent profits on the cost of production.
- Increasing the agri budget by more than 11 times in the past 10 years.
- Establishing e-NAM mandis.
- An Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Package, the scheme for the formation of 10,000 FPOs, etc.
What the agri bills seek to achieve
- The bills will create an ecosystem where farmers and traders enjoy the freedom of choice of sale and purchase of farming produce.
- This freedom of choice will help to facilitate remunerative prices to farmers through competitive alternative trading channels.
- This will promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce of farming produce outside the physical premises of markets notified under state agricultural produce marketing legislation.
- The farm bills also lay the ground of a legal framework for fair and transparent farming agreements between farmers and sponsors.
- This framework will facilitate greater certainty in quality and price, adoption of quality and grading standards, linkage of farming agreements with insurance and credit instruments and also enable the farmer to access modern technology and better inputs.
- These recommendations have been made by the Swaminathan Committee, which suggested the removal of the mandi tax, creation of a single market and facilitating contract farming.
Safeguard in the bill
- The bill have several safeguards such as the prohibition of sale, lease or mortgage of farmers’ land and farmers’ land is also protected against any recovery.
- Farming agreements cannot be entered into, if they are in derogation of the rights of a sharecropper.
- Farmers will have access to flexible prices subject to a guaranteed price in agreements.
- The sponsor has to ensure the timely acceptance of delivery and payment of produce to farmers and farmers’ liability is limited to only the advance received and cost of inputs provided by the sponsor.
- Disputes will be resolved through a Conciliation Board, to be constituted by the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), failing which an aggrieved party may approach the concerned SDM for the settlement of the dispute.
Consider the question “What are the changes introduced by the two recent bills passed by the government related to agri markets and contract farming how will these changes be helpful to the farmers?”
Conclusion
These farm bills will bring transformative changes in our agricultural sector and reduce wastage, increase efficiency, unlock value for our farmers and increase farmers’ incomes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indra exercise
Mains level: Paper 2-India-Russia relations
The article analyses the challenges in the India-Russia relations against the background of changing global order.
Context
- India decided to pull out of Russia’s Kavkaz 2020 military exercises, where it was scheduled to participate alongside other Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.
Russia’s role in India-China dispute
- The ongoing conflict between two prominent members, and both close partners of Russia, has given rise to concerns about its impact on India-Russia ties.
- Moscow has been playing a quiet diplomatic role during the recent border clashes without actively taking sides.
- Recent visits by India’s Defence Minister to Russia saw detailed discussions around furthering the India-Russia defence relationship alongside the promise to accelerate certain supplies based on New Delhi’s requirements.
- The September visit coincided with the biannual Indo-Russian naval exercises, INDRA.
India-Russia relations
- India and Russia have spent the past few years strengthening their partnership, particularly since the 2018 Sochi informal summit.
- From substantive defence engagement to regional questions in Central Asia, Afghanistan and West Asia, a conversation with Moscow remains an important element of Indian foreign policy.
- India and Russia are pragmatic players looking at maximising their strategic manoeuvrability,
- Both recognise the value of having a diversified portfolio of ties. .
- India on its part has sought to include Russia in its vision of the Indo-Pacific that does not see the region as ‘a strategy or as a club of limited members’.
- Reports indicate that a proposal for a India-Russia-Japan trilateral is being explored.
Multilateral forums and Challenges in India-Russia relation
- The multilateral forums are important as they foster continued India-Russia cooperation at the bilateral and multilateral levels.
- Increasingly divergent foreign policies of its members pose challenges of agenda-setting and overall scope.
- At this moment of flux, countries such as India and Russia are keeping all their options open.
- We live in a ‘curious world’ where one cannot view engagement with different parties as a ‘zero-sum game’.
- Worsening India-China ties or a burgeoning China-Russia relationship does not automatically mean a breakdown of the India-Russia strategic partnership.
- It is the combination of a changing regional order, closer Russia-China ties and India’s alignment with the United States and other like-minded countries to manage Beijing’s rise that has the potential to create hurdles for India-Russia cooperation in the Asia.
Consider the question “Despite difficulties in pursuing convergent policies, India-China relations retains its relevance. Comment.”
Conclusion
Although the evolving global order makes it difficult for India and Russia to pursue fully convergent policies, it does not preclude the bilateral relationship from retaining its relevance.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Issues with the agriculture bill
The article analyses the issue of farmers opposition to the three agricultural bills.
Context
- Farmers have been protesting against the three bills related to agriculture.
- These three Bills are-
- 1) The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020
- 2) The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.
- 3) The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
What are the aims of the bills?
- The Bills aim to do away with government interference in agricultural trade by creating trading areas outside the structure of Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs).
- One of the bills aims at removing restrictions of private stockholding (under Essential Commodities Act 1955) of agricultural produce.
- One of the bills deals with the regulation of contract farming.
Issues with the Bills
- The government has failed to hold any discussion with the various stakeholders including farmers and middlemen.
- The attempt to pass the Bills without proper consultation adds to the mistrust among various stakeholders including State governments.
- Farmer organisations see these Bills as an attempt to weaken the APMCs and eventual withdrawal of the Minimum Support Prices (MSP).
- Farmers in Punjab and Haryana have genuine concern about the continuance of the MSP-based public procurement given the large-scale procurement operations in these States.
Understanding the role of APMC
- APMCs do play an important role of price discovery essential for agricultural trade and production choices.
- The middlemen are a part of the larger ecosystem of agricultural trade, with deep links between farmers and traders.
- The preference for corporate interests at the cost of farmers’ interests and a lack of regulation in these non-APMC mandis are cause for concern.
- To understand the role of APMC, consider the example of Bihar.
- After Bihar abolished APMCs in 2006, farmers in Bihar on average received lower prices compared to the MSP for most crops.
- Despite the shortcomings and regional variations, farmers still see the APMC mandis as essential to ensuring the survival of MSP regime.
Conclusion
The protests by farmers are essentially a reflection of the mistrust between farmers and the stated objective of these reforms.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST Council, GST compensation etc.
Mains level: Paper 3- GST compensation issue
The article deal with the issue of GST compensation and analyses the various estimates of revenue shortfall given by the Centre.
Context
- The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting has now been deferred to the first week of October due to sharp disagreement between the States and the Centre.
Background of GST
- The Centre had brought the States on board GST by promising higher revenue collection.
- States were lured by the promise of 14% annual growth in GST revenue over the base year of 2015-16.
- Any shortfall from this (for five years) was to be compensated by levying a cess on luxury and sin goods.
What are the options given by the Centre
- The transfers due since April 2020 have been withheld.
- In the last GST Council meeting held on August 27, the Centre gave the States two options.
- First, they could borrow ₹97,000 crore (the shortfall in the GST revenue compensation) from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under a special window at a low rate of interest.
- Second, borrow ₹2.35-lakh crore (the total compensation shortfall) from the market with the RBI facilitating it.
- The burden of repayment would be borne by the future collections from the compensation cess.
- It was proposed that this cess which was to end in June 2022 could be extended to facilitate the repayment of the debt.
Issues with the estimates
- Given the uncertainty, how accuracy of the estimates of ₹97,000 crore and ₹2.35-lakh crore offered to the States is questionable.
- When the Ministry of Finance is refusing to give a figure for growth in 2020-21, how such estimates are arrived at gains significance.
Budgetary calculations
- The Union Budget presented on February 1, 2020 assumed a nominal growth of 10%.
- But optimistically, the Centre’s budgetary calculations will be off by at least 20%.
- Revenue will fall by much more than 20%.
- So, income tax collection will also be short by much more than 20%.
- The direct tax/GDP per cent may be expected to fall from 5.5% last year to less than 4% this fiscal.
- Thus, at an optimistic guess, if the economy declines by only 10%, the total tax collection will be down by about ₹12-lakh crore in 2020-21.
Conclusion
As many predictions are that the economy will be down by much more than 10% used in the calculations above, the revenue shortfall is likely to be far greater. This points to the dire position of the Centre (and the States) and the inevitability of a large borrowing programme. Only the Centre is in a position to do such massive borrowing.
Back2Basics: Two options for the GST compensation
- Option 1 has a special window for states, coordinated by the Finance Ministry, to borrow the projected shortfall of Rs 97,000 crore only on account of GST implementation — and not the Covid-19 pandemic.
- This amount can be fully repaid from the compensation cess fund, without being counted as states’ debt.
- Option 2 takes into account the impact of the pandemic, proposing states to borrow the entire Rs 2.35 lakh crore and bearing the interest burden though principal will be repaid from the cess proceeds.
- The GST shortfall amount (Rs 97,000 crore) will not be counted as states’ debt, while the rest of the amount of Rs 1.38 lakh crore will be counted in the books of the states.
Source:
https://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/gst-compensation-centre-gives-states-2-options-easier-terms-for-lower-borrowing-6575499/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Afghan peace process and India's role
The U.S. objectives
- Following 4 were the states as objectives of the Afghan peace process.
- 1) An end to violence by declaring a ceasefire.
- 2) An intra-Afghan dialogue for a lasting peace.
- 3) The Taliban cutting ties with terrorist organisations such as al Qaeda.
- 4) U.S. troop withdrawal.
Evolving Indian stand in the peace process
- India’s vision of a sovereign, united, stable, plural and democratic Afghanistan is one that is shared by a large constituency in Afghanistan, cutting across ethnic and provincial lines.
- At Doha meeting, India’s External Affairs Ministerreiterated that the peace process must be “Afghan led, Afghan owned and Afghan controlled”.
- But Indian policy has evolved from its earlier hands-off approach to the Taliban.
- U.S. and Russian representatives suggested if India had concerns regarding anti-India activities of terrorist groups, it must engage directly with the Taliban. In other words.
Limited interest of the major powers
- Major powers have limited interests in the peace process.
- The European Union has made it clear that its financial contribution will depend on the security environment and the human rights record.
- China can always lean on Pakistan to preserve its security and connectivity interests.
- For Russia, blocking the drug supply and keeping its southern periphery secure from extremist influences is key.
- That is why no major power is taking ownership for the reconciliation talks, but merely content with being facilitators.
Conclusion
A more active engagement will enable India to work with like-minded forces in the region to ensure that the vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawal does not lead to an unravelling of the gains registered during the last two decades.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Seventh Schedule
Mains level: Paper 2- Federal system
The article analyses the issues of distribution of powers under the Constitution and the issues linked with it.
Debate on the role of Centre and states
- There is an argument for the need to re-examine the distribution of powers under the Seventh Schedule so as to rationalise the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs).
- Under the Centrally Sponsored SchemesCentre extends support in sectors pertaining to the State List.
- Spending by the Centre on a state subject like health and need for states’ contribute to a Union subject like defence is considered.
- However, the constitutional assignments between the Centre and subnational governments in federations, are done broadly on the basis of their respective comparative advantage.
- That is why the provision of national public goods is in the federal domain and those with the state-level public service span are assigned to the states.
3 settled issues in the debate
- The debate seems to have settled on at least three counts.
- One, the federal organisation of powers can be revisited and reframed.
- Two, the CSSs must continue but they should be restructured.
- Three, there is a need for an appropriate forum to discuss the complex and contentious issue of reviewing federal organisation of powers and restructuring of central transfers.
Review of the subjects in lists
- In spite of health being a state subject, the response to collective threats linked to the subject required some kind of organisation of federal responsibilities on a functional basis.
- A typical response is to recommend shifting subjects to the Concurrent List to enable an active role for the Centre.
- The High-Level Group, constituted by the 15th Finance Commission, recommended shifting health from the State to the Concurrent List.
- A similar recommendation was made earlier by the Ashok Chawla Committee for water.
Challenges
- Shifting of subjects from the State to Concurrent List in times of acute sub-nationalism, deep territorialisation and competitive federalism is going to be challenging.
Way forward
- The most collective threats and the challenges of coping with emerging risks of sustainability are linked to either the State List subjects or require actions by states — water, agriculture, biodiversity, pollution, climate change.
- This extended role of ensuring security against threats to sustainability of resources forms a new layer of considerations.
- This should define the contours of a coordinated response between the Centre and States — as it happened during the pandemic.
- In fact, such threats and challenges require the states to play a dominant role.
- At the same time, the Centre must expand its role beyond the mitigation of inter-state externalities and address the challenges of security and sustainability.
Consider the question “The federal organisation of powers under the Constitution’s Seventh Schedule needs review. In light of this, examine the problems faced by the distribution and suggest the challenge the review would face.”
Conclusion
The ongoing friction between the Centre and the states over GST reforms tells us that consensus-building is not a one-time exercise. It has to allow sustained dialogue and deliberation. Perhaps it is time to revisit the proposal for an elevated and empowered Inter-State Council.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Paris Agreement
Mains level: Paper 3- Paris Agreement and India's progress on climate action
The article takes stock of India’s climate action and the issue of phasing out the use of coal.
Context
- The UN Secretary-General called on India to give up coal immediately and reduce emissions by 45% by 2030.
State of India’s climate action
- India’s renewable energy programme is ambitious and its energy efficiency programme is delivering, especially in the domestic consumption sector.
- India is one of the few countries with at least 2° Celsius warming compliant climate action.
- India is also among one of smaller list of countries on track to fulfilling their Paris Agreement commitments.
- India’s annual emissions, at 0.5 tonnes per capita, are well below the global average of 1.3 tonnes.
- In terms of cumulative emissions, India’s contribution by 2017 was only 4% for a population of 1.3 billion.
How West is performing?
- While talking about their phasing out of coal, the global North has obscured the reality of its continued dependence on oil and natural gas, both equally fossil fuels, with no timeline for their phaseout.
- While it is amply clear that their commitments into the future set the world on a path for almost 3°C warming, they have diverted attention by fuzzy talk of “carbon neutrality” by 2050.
- Environmentalists in developed countries, unable to summon up the domestic political support have turned to pressure the developing countries.
- All of these are accompanied by increasing appeals to multilateral or First World financial and development institutions to force this agenda on to developing countries.
Implications of ending coal investment for India
- Currently, roughly 2 GW of coal-based generation is being decommissioned per year.
- But meeting the 2030 electricity consumption target of 1,580 to 1,660 units per person per year, will require anywhere between 650 GW to 750 GW of renewable energy.
- Unlike the developed nations, India cannot substitute coal substantially by oil and gas and despite some wind potential, a huge part of this growth needs to come from solar.
- However, renewables at best can meet residential consumption and some part of the demand from the service sector.
- Currently, manufacturing growth powered by fossil fuel-based energy is itself a necessity.
Conclusion
India must unanimously reject the UN Secretary General’s call and reiterate its long-standing commitment to an equitable response to the challenge of global warming.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India-China relations
Context
- After the skirmish at the border, Beijing started to concentrate troops, armoured vehicles and munitions opposite our posts in Aksai China at Galwan.
2 interpretations of China’s move
- First believes that the Chinese exercise was a territorial snatch in Aksai Chin, which they believe is entirely theirs.
- The move was accompanied by a “lesson” to the Indians on aggressive Indian behaviour in not conceding Aksai Chin.
- The second school of thought in India believes that territory has nothing to do with it.
- They believe that, due to growing economic power, Beijing will lay down the rules of world governance.
How it matters for India
- India contest China’s entire southern border, refuse to join the Belt and Road initiative, create an anti-China maritime coalition, compete with them for influence in South East Asia and Africa.
- India is also unsupportive of their crackdown on Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang and move ever closer to the United States.
- When China assumes hegemonic power after 2030, India is going to get a nasty surprise.
- Secularism, democracy and the rights of man will play no part in Chinese foreign policy.
- China will overturn every international, financial, trade, diplomatic, arms control and nuclear agreement that the world has put together in seven decades.
Way forward
- We in India need to conduct a large and vociferous debate on Chinese intentions.
- If the Chinese intention is to “teach us a lesson” we need a new national strategy, combining diplomatic and military means.
- If our national goal is to concentrate on the creation of wealth and growing GDP, let us proclaim it, tighten our belt, look down and avoid conflict.
Conclusion
What China wants is Indian acceptance of Beijing’s benign superiority, and that is a purely Chinese trait, not to be confused with the known rules of international diplomacy. Talking from a position of inferiority will not lead to an equitable solution. But first, a national debate.
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