💥UPSC 2026, 2027, 2028 UAP Mentorship (March Batch) + Access XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Type: op-ed snap

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Pakistan

    The wider impact of Pakistan’s internal crisis

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood – Relations

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not much

    Mains level: Paper 2- Implications of Pakistan's internal crisis

    Context

    As Pakistan goes through a major political convulsion, India must resist the temptation to see the changes across our western frontiers through the narrow prism of bilateral relations.

    Why Pakistan matters

    • Pakistan is an important regional piece in the power play between the US, China and Russia.
    • Given its location at the crossroads of the Subcontinent, Middle East, Eurasia, and China, Pakistan has always been a vital piece of real estate that was actively sought by contending geopolitical blocs.
    • The internal and external have always been tightly linked in Pakistan.
    • Today, Pakistan’s internal battles are tied to external geopolitical rivalry.

    Two important factors in the political trajectory of Pakistan

    • Any Indian strategy in dealing with the new government in Islamabad would depend on an assessment of Pakistan’s post-Imran political trajectory.
    • Two important factors stand out.
    • 1] First is the changing nature of civil military relations in Pakistan.
    • It is part of a serious intra-elite struggle that transcends the well-known military dominance over Pakistan’s polity.
    • One of the more interesting questions to come out of the current episode is whether the army’s famed internal coherence and unity of command might endure the crisis.
    • 2] Second is the growing fragility of Pakistan’s polity triggered by the deepening economic crisis and sharpening social contradictions.
    • There is no guarantee that the army’s ties with new civilian rulers will be smooth nor can we assume that the civilian coalition against Imran Khan will survive the many challenges ahead as it confronts difficult policy challenges on multiple fronts.

    Geopolitical challenges of Pakistan

    • Engaging India is unlikely to be a high priority for the new government in Islamabad.
    • Today, Pakistan has many other things to worry about — reviving its flagging economic fortunes, stabilising the Durand Line with Afghanistan, and rebalancing its ties with the major actors in the Middle East, including Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
    • Pakistan, which traditionally enjoyed good relations with the West as well as China, is finding it hard to maintain a balance in its great power relations.
    • While the army and the new government are eager to restore ties with the US, Imran Khan has made it hard for them.
    • Imran Khan’s repeated praise for India’s independent foreign policy was in essence a critique of the Pakistan army that has long steered Islamabad’s international relations.

    Way forward

    •  Delhi should focus on the potential shifts in Pakistan’s strategic orientation triggered by the current crisis.
    • The good news from Pakistan is that India is not part of the argument between the political classes or between Imran Khan and the “deep state” represented by the army.

    Conclusion

    An India that gets an accurate sense of Pakistan’s changing geopolitics will be able to better deal with Islamabad.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Monetary Policy Committee Notifications

    Challenges in RBI’s inflation management

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Liquidity Adjustment Framework

    Mains level: Paper 3- Standing Deposit Facility

    Context

    The first bi-monthly meeting of the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) for the current financial year reaffirmed its focus on inflation management.

    Towards the normalisation of monetary policy

    • The MPC voted to keep the policy rate unchanged at 4 per cent and retained its accommodative stance.
    • However, the wording was changed to “remain accommodative while focusing on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth.”
    • This statement sets the stage for a shift to a neutral stance in the next meeting and policy rate hikes in subsequent meetings.
    • RBI has announced the withdrawal of some of the steps taken during the pandemic to support the economy.
    • These will foster the normalisation of monetary policy.

    Inflation challenge

    • The central bank has acknowledged that the disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine crisis have upended their growth and inflation outlook.
    • It has steeply revised its inflation projection from 4.5 per cent earlier to 5.7 per cent now for the current financial year.
    • The projection is based on an average global crude oil price of $100 per barrel.
    • The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) Food Price Index, a gauge of global food prices, posted a record growth of 12.6 per cent from February.

    Formalisation of Liquidity Adjustment Framework (LAF)

    • The RBI has been managing liquidity infused into the system during the pandemic through the Variable Rate Reverse Repo Auctions (VRRR) to withdraw liquidity and Variable Rate Repo auctions to inject liquidity.
    • RBI has now formalised the Liquidity Adjustment Framework (LAF).
    • The LAF is a framework to absorb and inject liquidity into the banking system.
    • The LAF is now a symmetric corridor with a width of 50 basis points.
    • The policy repo rate is at the centre of the corridor, with the MSF 25 basis points above the policy rate and the SDF 25 basis points below the policy rate.

    What is a Standing Deposit Facility

    • The RBI has introduced the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) as the lower bound of the LAF corridor to absorb liquidity.
    • The idea of the SDF was first mooted by the Urjit Patel Committee report on the monetary policy framework.
    • The RBI Act was amended through the Finance Act of 2018 to allow RBI to use this instrument.
    • The SDF will be a facility available to banks to park their funds.
    • The SDF will serve as the standing liquidity absorption facility at the lower end of the LAF corridor.
    • At the upper end of the corridor is the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) to inject liquidity.
    • Through the SDF, the RBI can absorb liquidity without placing government securities as collateral, hence it will give greater flexibility to the central bank.
    • The change also marks a shift away from reverse repo being the effective policy rate.

    Key takeaways

    • While on the face of it, there are no rate hikes, the shift from the reverse repo rate to the SDF signals a tightening of monetary policy.
    • There is a 40 basis points increase in the floor rate.
    •  In the medium run, the call money rate would move towards the new LAF corridor, thus bringing orderly conditions in the money market.
    • As RBI begins to normalise liquidity in a calibrated manner, its ability to manage bond yields will likely be limited.
    • Yields on bonds are likely to inch up and remain above the 7 per cent mark.
    • Going forward, the trade-off between managing inflation and the borrowing programme of the government will become challenging.

    Conclusion

    For now the RBI has rightly decided to place top priority on inflation management. This will help in maintaining the credibility of the inflation targeting framework.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Women empowerment issues – Jobs,Reservation and education

    Care economy

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: ILO

    Mains level: Paper 2- Supporting care economy

    Context

    The importance of care work is now widely acknowledged and covered in various international commitments such as the SDGs. However, the investment in the care economy has not matched the pace.

    Significance of care work

    • Care work encompasses direct activities such as feeding a baby or nursing an ill partner, and indirect care activities such as cooking and cleaning’.
    • Whether paid or unpaid, direct or indirect, care work is vital for human well-being and economies.
    • Unpaid care work is linked to labour market inequalities, yet it has yet to receive adequate attention in policy formulation.
    • Paid care workers, such as domestic workers and anganwadis in India, also struggle to access rights and entitlements as workers.
    • Greater investment in care services can create an additional 300 million jobs globally, many of which will be for women.
    • In turn this will help increase female labour force participation and advance Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.
    • This year, to commemorate International Women’s Day, the ILO brought out its new report titled, ‘Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender-equal world of work’.
    • The report highlights the importance of maternity, paternity, and special care leave, which help balance women’s and men’s work and family responsibilities throughout their lives.

    Gaps in the current policies

    • Bridging the gaps in current policies and service provisions to nurture childcare and elderly care services will deliver the benefits of child development, aging in dignity and independent living as the population grows older and also generate more and better employment opportunities, especially for women.
    • Maternity leave: Maternity leave is a universal human and labour right.
    • Yet, it remains unfulfilled across countries, leaving millions of workers with family responsibilities without adequate protection and support. India fares better than its peers in offering 26 weeks of maternity leave, against the ILO’s standard mandate of 14 weeks that exists in 120 countries.
    • However, this coverage extends to only a tiny proportion of women workers in formal employment in India, where 89% of employed women are in informal employment (as given by ILOSTAT, or the ILO’s central portal to labour statistics).
    • While paternity leave is recognised as an enabler for both mothers and fathers to better balance work and family responsibilities, it is not provided in many countries, including India.
    • Access to quality and affordable care services such as childcare, elderly care and care for people with disabilities is a challenge workers with family responsibilities face globally.
    • Limited implementation: While India has a long history of mandating the provision of crèches in factories and establishments, there is limited information on its actual implementation.
    • Domestic workers, on whom Indian households are heavily reliant, also face challenges in accessing decent work.
    • According to the Government’s 2019 estimates, 26 lakh of the 39 lakh domestic workers in India are female.
    • Ensure decent work for domestic workers: While important developments have extended formal coverage to domestic workers in India, such as the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act and the minimum wage schedule in many States, more efforts are required to ensure decent work for them.

    Way forward

    • Increase spending: India spends less than 1% of its GDP on the care economy; increasing this percentage would unfurl a plethora of benefits for workers and the overall economy.
    • Strategy: In consultation with employers’ and workers’ organisations and the relevant stakeholders, the Government needs to conceptualise a strategy and action plan for improved care policies, care service provisions and decent working conditions for care workers.
    • 5R Framework: The ILO proposes a 5R framework for decent care work centred around achieving gender equality. The framework urges the Recognition, Reduction, and Redistribution of unpaid care work, promotes Rewarding care workers with more and decent work, and enables their Representation in social dialogue and collective bargaining.

    Conclusion

    A human-centred and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that benefits workers, employers, and the government, requires a more significant investment in and commitment to supporting the care economy, which cares for the society at large.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Social Media: Prospect and Challenges

    Fake news in social media

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Not much

    Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with disinformation problem

    Context

    Social media platforms have adopted design choices that have led to a proliferation and mainstreaming of misinformation while allowing themselves to be weaponised by powerful vested interests for political and commercial benefit.

    Problems created by social media and issues with response to it

    • The consequent free flow of disinformation, hate and targeted intimidation has led to real-world harm and degradation of democracy in India: Mainstreamed anti-minority hate, polarised communities and sowed confusion have made it difficult to establish a shared foundation of truth.
    • Political agenda: Organised misinformation (disinformation) has a political and/or commercial agenda.
    • Apolitical and episodic discourse in India: The discourse in India has remained apolitical and episodic — focused on individual pieces of content and events, and generalised outrage against big tech instead of locating it in the larger political context or structural design issues.
    • Problematic global discourse: The evolution of the global discourse on misinformation too has allowed itself to get mired in the details of content standards, enforcement, fact-checking, takedowns, de-platforming, etc.
    • Moderating misinformation vs. safeguarding freedom of expression: Such framework lends itself to bitter partisan contest over individual pieces of content while allowing platforms to disingenuously conflate the discourse on moderating misinformation with safeguards for freedom of expression.
    • The current system of content moderation is more a public relations exercise for platforms than being geared to stop the spread of disinformation.

    Framework to combat disinformation

    • Consider it as a political problem: The issue is as much about bad actors as individual pieces of content.
    • Content distribution and moderation are interventions in the political process.
    • Comprehensive transparency law: There is thus a need for a comprehensive transparency law to enforce relevant disclosures by social media platforms.
    • Bipartisan political process for content moderation: Content moderation and allied functions such as standard setting, fact-checking and de-platforming must be embedded in the sovereign bipartisan political process if they are to have democratic legitimacy.
    • Regulatory body should be grounded in democratic principles: Any regulatory body must be grounded in democratic principles — its own and of platforms.
    • Three approaches to distribution that can be adopted by platforms: 1) Constrain distribution to organic reach (chronological feed);
    • 2) take editorial responsibility for amplified content;
    • 3) amplify only credible sources (irrespective of ideological affiliation).
    • Review of content creator: The current approach to misinformation that relies on fact-checking a small subset of content in a vast ocean of unreviewed content is inadequate for the task and needs to be supplemented by a review of content creators itself.

    Conclusion

    Social media cannot be wished away. But its structure and manner of use are choices we must make as a polity after deliberation instead of accepting as them fait accompli or simply being overtaken by developments along the way.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Why central services cannot be exempted from reservation for disabled

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016

    Mains level: Paper 2- Reservation for disabled

    Context

    In a case that the SC is currently hearing, the petitioner has challenged a notification issued by the Department of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities (Department).

    About the notification

    • The impugned notification exempts all categories of posts in the Indian Police Service, the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Police Service, as well as the Indian Railway Protection Force Service from the mandated 4 per cent reservation for persons with disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 [RPwD Act].

    Issues with the notification

    1] Against combat and non-combat classification

    • On the same day as the issuing of the impugned notification, the Department also issued another notification exempting from the purview of reservation under the RPwD Act posts only of “combatant” nature in the paramilitary police.
    • This classification between combat and non-combat posts was premised on a clear recognition of the fact that persons with disabilities are capable of occupying non-combat posts in the central forces.
    • The Department has offered no justification as to why this classification would not hold good as regards the services covered in the impugned notification.

    2] Against the identification of posts suitable for reservation for the disabled

    • The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had identified a range of ministerial/civilian posts as being suitable for reservation for the disabled.
    • The impugned notification goes against this identification exercise, by virtue of its blanket character.
    • Further, on November 22, 2021, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs released Draft Accessibility Standards/Guidelines for built infrastructure under its purview (police stations, prisons and disaster mitigation centres) and services associated with them.
    • These Draft Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.

    3] Exercise of power

    • As per the RPwD Act, the grant of any exemption has to be preceded by consultation with the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.
    • However, the office of the chief commissioner has been lying vacant for many years, with the secretary in the Department officiating in that role.

    Conclusion

    This case presents the SC with the opportunity to rule that the disabled are not a monolithic entity. Every disabled person is different, and it is unfair to paint all disabled people with the same broad brush, based on a stereotypical understanding of what they can do.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Global Implications

    BRICS and the creation of a multipolar world

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: SWIFT

    Mains level: Paper 2- Implications of Ukraine crisis for BRICS

    Context

    The current crisis in Ukraine will consolidate BRICS as the group will make further efforts to become a real alternative to the West to create a real multipolar world.

     BRICS’ efforts to change world economic system

    • The group was brought together by geopolitical rather than economic considerations and this can be seen in the strategic interests shared by Russia and China.
    • Inclusion of non-Western states in international financial institutions: BRICS is actively involved in the efforts to change the world economic system by increasing the number of non-Western states in international financial institutes.
    • The BRICS countries decided to create the $100 billion BRICS Development Bank and a reserve currency pool worth over another $100 billion to offer an alternative to countries in the non-Western world when it comes to choosing the sources of funding for development or coping with serious economic crises.

    Consequences of Ukraine crisis for BRICS

    •  It demonstrates that the West has not abandoned the idea of a unipolar world and will continue building it up by drawing into its foreign policy orbit issues it calls “international” or even “common to mankind.”
    • Many non-Western states look at this as a new wave of colonialism.
    • This will increase the desire of non-Western countries to enhance their coordination and perhaps the current conflict is already showing signs in this respect.
    • The BRICS states are different in many respects and their disagreements with the West are rooted in different historical and political circumstances.
    • The current crisis in Ukraine will consolidate BRICS as the group will make further efforts to become a real alternative to the West to create a real multipolar world.
    • RIC controls 22 per cent of the global GDP and 16 per cent of global exports of goods and services.
    • The fallout from Russia’s alienation from the G-8 group of nations, raises the prospect that — tactically at least — Russia, India, and China might be playing their own triangular integrationist card within BRICS at Moscow’s initiative.
    • Eurasian integrationist core: This will create a north Eurasian integrationist core within BRICS, whichever way Moscow’s relations with the US and Europe play out.

    Implications for India

    • Both the Asian giants — India and China — may stand to reap the “best of both worlds” as the Ukraine imbroglio plays out.
    • Investment: This could mean greater industrial and energy cross investments between Russia and India as well as between Russia and China.
    • Additionally, the proposed arrangement for rupee-ruble cross currency pairing could result in settlement of payments in non-dollar currencies with more countries looking at India’s sovereign Financial Messaging Systems (SFMS), while also remaining connected with a central system like SWIFT.
    • Dedicated payment mechanism: This should also anchor India’s quest to build a dedicated payment mechanism for energy-related payments and settlements as a long-haul measure.
    • This could change the contours of the global payments landscape and benefit the rupee immensely.

    Spotlight on India

    • As the war progresses, New Delhi has been receiving a stream of high-profile visitors from around the world.
    • This has included delegations from the US, Australia and Japan, India’s partners in the Quad.
    • The foreign minister of Greece has also been to India and the Israeli prime minister is scheduled to visit soon.
    • Even traditional rival China is making overtures to India at this time, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit.
    • Another suitor is Russia, which is now also becoming a supplier of discounted crude oil to India as Moscow recoils from sanctions enforced by western consumers of its natural gas.

    Conclusion

    New Delhi is basking in its well-deserved spotlight with well-crafted diplomacy. India could be looking at a new dawn.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Sri Lanka

    What caused Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis?

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood – Relations

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: UN Human Right Council

    Mains level: Paper 2- Crisis in Sri Lanka and contradictions in its polity

    Context

    Sri Lanka’s ruling Rajapaksa family is facing mounting public anger, calls for resignations and political defections amidst the island’s worst economic crisis in its post-independence history.

    Reasons for the crisis

    • 1] Overnight switch to organic farming and import ban on fertiliser: There was the decision to ban fertiliser imports and switch overnight to organic farming.
    • The decision was reversed after sustained farmer protests but not before damage had already been done to crop yields.
    • 2] Then, precious foreign exchange was wasted in propping up the rupee while imposing controls on key imports that led to shortages and price rise.
    • 3] For several months, as the crisis deepened with rolling power-cuts and shortages of essentials, the government refused to seek IMF assistance.
    • It has now relented on the IMF, but Sri Lanka’s economic distress has been prolonged and deepened by this indecision.

    Contradictions in the Sri Lanka’s politics

    • While the immediate causes of popular anger are explicable, the crisis also reveals a more enduring contradiction at the foundation of Sri Lanka’s politics.
    • Sinhala nationalist-inspired policies: What this crisis shows is that Sinhala nationalist-inspired policies are no longer financially or politically viable.
    • Hardline approach toward Tamils: The Rajapaksas first rode to power in September 2005 on the wave of Sinhala nationalist antipathy against the then-ongoing Norwegian-mediated peace process with the LTTE.
    • Upon his election as president, Mahinda expanded the military and launched a full-frontal military offensive that ended with the LTTE’s total defeat and destruction in May 2009.
    • After the war, instead of seeking a political settlement with the Tamils, Mahinda Rajapaksa unrolled a de-facto militarised siege of the Tamil-speaking areas and population.
    • Assertive foreign policy: The hardline approach to the Tamils and their demands was also linked to a new, more assertive foreign policy.
    •  The government turned away the long-established pattern of alignments with Western states and India.
    • Mistrust of India: There is a long-standing mistrust of India amongst Sinhala Buddhist nationalists who see it as the source of historic Tamil invasions.
    •  The Rajapaksas translated this sentiment into policy, pushing back against Indian attempts to forge closer economic ties and a constitutional settlement of the Tamil question.
    • Ties with China: In place of these ties, the Rajapaksas ostentatiously set out to forge new alliances, principally with China.
    • The Rajapaksas also bet on a new geo-political optimism.
    • They believed that with China’s rise, Sri Lanka’s location on east-west trade lanes would become a prized asset.
    • They were confident that in the global competition for power triggered by China’s rise, international actors would be compelled to seek Sri Lanka’s favour for fear of “losing” it to the other side.
    • With this geo-political calculus in mind, they assuredly rebuffed Western and Indian demands.
    • None of the great powers who were supposed to be competing for Sri Lanka’s favour have stepped up to offer a bailout, although the sums are quite small by global standards.
    • The bid for total sovereign autonomy has crash-landed and yet the alternatives are also politically difficult.

    More leverage to international actors

    • The irony of Sri Lanka’s push for total sovereign autonomy is that it has given international actors more leverage than they had before.
    • Going to the IMF will require concessions on human rights and good governance to secure preferential access to European markets.
    • At the same time, Indian bilateral assistance has conditionalities on clearing controversial investments.

    Way forward

    • Push non-reversible changes: International actors who really want to help Sri Lanka should use this leverage to push for tangible and non-reversible changes in the treatment of Tamils and Muslims whatever leadership emerges in Colombo.
    • Eemilitarisation and normalisation of relations with the Tamils and Muslims: The crisis can serve as a reality check for the Sinhala nationalist leadership and electorate. The model of economic and political governance they have pursued is unsustainable, and the alternatives must be faced.
    • The most pressing of these is the demilitarisation and normalisation of relations with the Tamils and Muslims.
    • Sinhala political attention can perhaps then be turned to the other pressing failures of governance that have brought Sri Lanka to this state.

    Conclusion

    The Rajapaksas may be the principal protagonists of this crisis but the underlying script they have followed is a Sinhala Buddhist one and until Sri Lanka finds a new script it cannot find peace or stability.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-SAARC Nations

    Fulfilling the potential of the Bay of Bengal community

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: BIMSTEC

    Mains level: Paper 2- Key takeaways from BIMSTEC Summit

    Context

    The celebrations to mark the 25th year of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) have been accompanied by the announcement of several new initiatives.

    Important outcome of BIMSTEC Summit

    The summit had several important outcomes: Expanding the grouping’s agenda, deepening cooperation between the member countries and planning systematically for consistency and coherence.

    1] Finalisation of charter

    • The Bay of Bengal Community was launched in 1997. But its charter, finalised last week, was more than two decades in the making.
    • The 20-page document adopted at the fifth BIMSTEC Summit articulates the purpose, principles and legal standing of the organisation.
    • It also delineates the process to admit new members – this requires the consensus of the members.
    •  The emphasis on consensus is important, given the sensitivities of the member countries.
    • One important provision in the charter is to keep regular meetings on track and provide enough scope to the BIMSTEC Permanent Working Committee to keep the process energised.

    2] Development on connectivity issues

    • Amongst the important decisions is the one related to the BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity.
    • The region requires seamless connectivity through multi-modal channels that improve links within and amongst the member countries.
    • These channels should be in sync with the regulatory frameworks of the member countries.
    • There are proposals to extend the trilateral highway project between Thailand, Myanmar and India to Laos and Cambodia. Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal have also evinced interest in the project.
    • Digitisation has enhanced cooperation in customs regulations and facilitated and improved cargo clearance procedures. All this will surely enhance investment linkages and improve regional trade.

    3] A systemic approach to streamline the evolution of BIMSTEC.

    • Establishing an Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG) for formulating a vision document for the region will help in articulating the aspirations of the collective.
    • EPGs have been quite useful in the EU and ASEAN.
    • For instance, the ASEAN-India Eminent Persons Group (AIEPG) was constituted in 2005 after the Eighth ASEAN-India Summit.
    • Its recommendations still guide the grouping’s work.
    • In 2011, the EU constituted an EPG  to suggest a roadmap to address the challenges arising from the resurgence of intolerance and discrimination in Europe.

    4] MoU for legal assistance and mutual cooperation

    • The MoU for legal assistance in criminal matters and additional MoUs for mutual cooperation between diplomatic academics and training institutes would help in creating an ecosystem of deeper knowledge-related cooperation.
    • The technology transfer facility proposed in Colombo is likely to augment these efforts.

    India’s leading role

    • India has promised $1 million to set up a Secretariat in Dhaka.
    • India has identified several other areas where it will support the collective.
    • Delhi will provide a $3 million grant to the BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate, promote collaboration between industries and start-ups, and launch programmes that will help in the adoption of international standards and norms.
    • Agricultural trade analysis: Delhi has also suggested a regional value chain based agricultural trade analysis – this will be conducted by the RIS.
    • The Asian Development Bank and the New Delhi-based ICRIER have stewarded awareness programmes on trade facilitating measures in the member countries.
    • Support to Sri Lanka and Nepal: The pandemic has created fresh challenges and aggravated old ones in the countries of the region, particularly Sri Lanka and Nepal.
    • India’s support to these countries, especially in financial matters, could help in reducing undesirable external intervention in the region.

    Way forward

    • Need for FTA: The early completion of the regional free trade agreement could provide a fillip to the organisation’s efforts.
    • Promote research on cultural and civilisation linkages: Besides economic links, the Bay of Bengal countries share a cultural and civilisational legacy.
    • The role of institutions like Nalanda University in promoting research on cultural and civilisational linkages and improving the adoption of sustainable practices would be equally significant.

    Conclusion

    The collective’s fifth summit that concluded in Colombo showcased member nations’ resolve to facilitate connectivity and security and enhance the prosperity of the region.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Monetary Policy Committee Notifications

    RBI shift on monetary policy

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: LAF corridor

    Mains level: Paper 3- Monetary policy normalisation

    Context

    The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday gave a surprise, with a formal start to policy normalisation. This was contrary to the predominant market expectations of a hold.

    RBI on the path of policy normalisation

    • Focus on target of 4% +/- 2%: While the MPC voted unanimously to remain accommodative, in a change of language, the focus would now be on “withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that (CPI) inflation remains within the target (of 4 per cent +/- 2 per cent) going forward”.
    •  Remember, the RBI had become a (flexible) inflation-targeting central bank since FY17, whose primary objective is price stability, that is, inflation management.
    • The Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) corridor was narrowed back to the conventional 0.25 percentage points from the earlier extraordinary pandemic widening in late March 2020.
    • The cap of the erstwhile corridor was the repo rate and the floor was the reverse repo.
    • Now, while the repo rate was held at 4.0 per cent and the latter at 3.35 per cent, the floor of the corridor was increased by 0.4 percentage points from 3.35 per cent.
    • There was also a change in the monetary policy orientation, of which the stance is one component.
    • The priority for monetary policy now is inflation, growth and financial stability, in that order.

    Reasons for unexpected tightening of policy

    • Inflation concerns: Despite uncertainty over growth impulses and demand concentrated at the upper-income level households, inflation has increasingly emerged as a big concern.
    •  Given that inflation is likely to average 6.1 per cent in Q4 of FY22, this increases the risk of inflation remaining above the 6 per cent upper target for three consecutive quarters, necessitating an explanation to the government by the MPC.
    • One comforting aspect of this scenario is that household inflation expectations remain anchored, with the median of three months to one year ahead expectations (as of March ’22) rising by only 0.1 percentage points from the earlier January readings.
    • Stabilisation of demand: On demand conditions, the RBI scaled-down the FY23 real GDP growth projection to 7.2 per cent (from 7.8 per cent), indicating that a combination of continuing supply dislocations, slowing global economy and trade, high prices and financial markets volatility are likely to take a toll.
    • One possible reconciliation with modest GDP growth is continuing weakness in services, which is also borne out by channel checks.
    • Certainly, continuing high inflation is likely to lead to some demand destruction, which will act as an automatic stabiliser.
    • A relatively loose fiscal policy is likely to offset some of this reduced demand, particularly with continuing subsidies to lower-income households.
    • Financial stability: This has multiple dimensions – interest and foreign exchange rates, market volatility, banking sector asset stress, and so on.
    • An important objective for the RBI is the management of money supply and system liquidity.
    • In a rising rate cycle, with a large borrowing programme of the Centre and state governments, interest rates on sovereign bonds are likely to increase without a measure of support from the RBI through Open Market Operations (OMOs).
    • This will entail injecting more liquidity into an already large surplus, which might add to inflationary pressures.
    • The introduction of the overnight Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) was a significant measure in this context.
    • Unlike the reverse repo facility, the RBI will not need to give banks government bonds as collateral against the funds they deposit.
    • This is thus a more flexible instrument should a shortage of government bonds in RBI holdings actually transpire under some eventuality, say the need to absorb large capital inflows post a bond index inclusion.

    What are the implications?

    • Interest rates will begin to increase but, for bank borrowers, this is likely to be a very gradual process.
    • For corporates and other wholesale borrowers, who also borrow from bond markets, this increase is likely to be faster as the surplus system liquidity is gradually drained.
    • How this is likely to affect demand for credit is uncertain, given the capex push of the government, some revival of private sector investment and likely continuing demand for housing.

    Conclusion

    This cycle of policy tightening will present a particularly difficult mix of economic and financial trade-offs, but RBI has demonstrated the ability to innovatively use the multiple instruments at its disposal to ensure an orderly transition.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Back2Basics: Liquidity Adjustment Facility corridor

    • Liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) is a monetary policy tool which allows banks to borrow money through repurchase agreements or repos.
    • LAF is used to aid banks in adjusting the day to day mismatches in liquidity (frictional liquidity deficit/surplus).
    • The liquidity adjustment facility corridor is the excess of repo rate over reverse repo.

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now

  • Parliament – Sessions, Procedures, Motions, Committees etc

    Criminal Procedures (Identification) Bill violates right against self-incrimination

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters,Parliament & State Legislatures

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Article 20

    Mains level: Paper 2- Right against self-incrimination

    Context

    The Bill proposes to collect “measurements” of convicted persons, those who are arrested (or detained under preventive detention laws) or those who have executed bonds promising good behaviour.

    Dilution of right against self-incrimination

    • The Constitution, under Article 20(3), protects an accused from being compelled to give witness against himself.
    • This fundamental right has been diluted over the years.
    • In 2005, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was amended to allow a magistrate to order any person to give their handwriting samples for the purpose of an investigation or proceeding.
    • In 2019, the Supreme Court, in Ritesh Sinha v. State of UP, held that such handwriting samples could include voice samples.
    • It relied upon its judgment in the Kathi Kalu Oghad case (1962) that held that giving palm impressions or footprints could not be called self-incriminatory because impressions were unchangeable, except in rare cases”.
    • Instead, it held that the Constitution bars the compulsory extraction of a statement — oral or written — from the accused, “which makes the case against the accused person at least probable, considered by itself”.

    Provisions in the Bill

    • While the databasing of convicted persons is not new, the new piece of legislation allows for taking information, including finger-impressions, palm-print impressions, footprint impressions, photographs, iris and retina scan, physical, biological samples and their analysis, behavioural attributes including signatures, handwriting or any other examination referred to in Sections 53, 53A of the CrPC.
    • It also mandates the National Crime Records Bureau to store, preserve and destroy the record of measurements at the national level as well as process and share them with any law enforcement agency.

    Issues with the Bill

    • Right against self-incrimination is unlikely to apply to technologies in use today.
    • Wide scope of under new technologies: The logic that was used in 1962 to interpret what would violate the right against self-incrimination is unlikely to apply to technologies in use today.
    • The Bill is vaguely worded and the nature of the processing, sharing, and dissemination of data it entails will most certainly involve the use of new and emerging technologies. 
    •  Their application to policing and the criminal justice system has new implications for the right against self-incrimination.
    • The compulsory submission of such information could have chilling effects after being subjected to new technologies – in other words, the past of an accused person might be enough to incriminate him.
    • Possibility of coercive data collection: The Bill proposes to collect “measurements” of convicted persons, those who are arrested (or detained under preventive detention laws) or those who have executed bonds promising good behaviour.
    • Only those arrested for petty offences that are punishable with less than seven years may not be obliged to allow the recording of measurements.
    • This rings a warning bell about coercive data collection, especially when seen in the light of the practices used to police oppressed communities.
    • For instance, under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, many nomadic and semi-nomadic communities were labelled hereditary criminals.
    •  Despite the Act being repealed in 1952, these denotified tribal (“Vimukta”) communities continue to be treated as criminals by birth through the “Habitual Offenders” provisions in state-level police regulations that allow local police stations to keep records of such persons residing in their area.
    • It condemns a section of the country’s population to several cycles of arrest, bail, and acquittal.
    • The new piece of legislation could make the practice of history-sheeting, undertaken when a person is merely alleged of a crime, and not convicted, even more coercive.
    • Long storage period and no clear process for destroying information: the “measurements” are to be stored at the national level for 75 years, with no clear procedure outlined for destroying the information.

    Conclusion

    The right against self-incrimination is at the heart of protection against police excess and torture. Record-keeping as mandated by the Bill violates this right. Parliament must make laws that protect against such blatant attacks on fundamental rights and freedoms, rather than enable them.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024

    Attend Now