From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Role of SPCB
Mains level: Issues faced by SPCB and Suggested Solutions to making it effective
Context
In the fight against air pollution in the Indo Gangetic Plain, there are several important protagonists, none more so than India’s frontline environmental regulators, the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), and the Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) in the Union Territories. There is no future with clean air in which the SPCB’s do not perform at the highest level possible.
know about State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB)
Constituted under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974: The SPCBs were initially constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the SPCB mandate was expanded to include air quality management.
New responsibility without capacity: Subsequently, several new environmental regulations added to their roles and functions. Unfortunately, this enhanced mandate has not been matched with increased capacity and capability in the Boards. As environmental indicators such as air quality and water quality worsen in many parts of the country, the Boards are evidently failing to effectively discharge their statutory mandate.
Poor performance of SPCBs: Over the years, several reports that have been published, including those by the parliamentary standing committee and government committees, have identified reasons for the poor performance of the SPCBs.
Experts are excluded from composition: The composition of SPCBs is a matter of serious concern as important stakeholders and those with crucial expertise are missing in most States. Boards are multimember bodies headed by a chairperson and a member secretary. Their decisions and policies guide the day-to-day functioning of the organisation.
Conflict of interest: Over 50% of the Board members across the 10 SPCBs and PCC studied represent potential polluters: local authorities, industries, and public sector corporations. They are subject to the SPCB’s regulatory measures, and their overwhelming presence raises fundamental questions around conflicts of interest.
SPCBs Does not meet the statutory requirement: At the same time, scientists, medical practitioners, and academics constitute only 7% of the Board members. What is even more worrying is that most Boards do not meet the statutory requirement of having at least two Board members who have knowledge of, and experience in, air quality management.
SPCB’s leadership and uncertain tenure: The chairperson and the member secretary do not enjoy a long, stable, and fulltime tenure. In many States, persons in these two posts hold an additional charge in other government departments. Data also show that several chairpersons and member secretaries have held their posts for less than a year. For example, the shortest tenure for a chairperson has been 18 days (Chhattisgarh) and 15 days for a member secretary (Haryana and Uttar Pradesh).
Short tenure with multiple roles: With the focus of the leadership of SPCB spread thin across multiple roles and their tenures being short, often they do not even have the time to understand their mandate fully before they are moved out. In such a scenario, long term policy planning, strategic interventions and effective execution aimed at reducing air pollution substantially are extremely difficult.
Problem of Understaffing: The SPCBs are critically understaffed. At least 40% of all sanctioned posts are vacant across nine SPCBs/PCCs for which there is data. Vacancy levels in technical positions are as high as 84% in Jharkhand, and over 75% in Bihar and Haryana. An inadequate staff strength forces the Boards to recast their priorities among their various functions.
Less regulatory scrutiny: Less staff strength also means weaker regulatory scrutiny and poor impact assessment. For example, given their workload, engineers in Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have less than a day to inspect, evaluate and decide on each consent application. With Board staff running on empty, this is clearly an unsustainable situation.
What are the recommendations for effective SPCBs?
Addressing Leadership and human resource needs: Strengthening manpower at the SPCBs will not only require hiring new resources, but also training existing staff by leveraging institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, NEERI, and others. These in-service training programs would also serve as an incentive for staff both new and existing.
Better Pay structures: The Pay structure need to be revised to align with sectoral norms to ensure that SPCBs are not regularly losing trained manpower to industry and other sectors.
Modern infrastructure: The infrastructure of PCBs also needs to be improved along with manpower i.e., facilities such as adequate computers, improved lab facility etc. The instruments used for monitoring are not maintained properly or outdated. Sometimes labs are also not equipped enough to do the necessary analysis.
Expert should lead the SPCBs: It is imperative for their effective functioning that States should nominate to leadership positions, individuals of technical expertise and distinguished service such that effective decision making can be carried out.
Providing the fixed tenure: They should be appointed for a fixed tenure and in full-time roles, with the sword of removal or termination not hanging over their heads.
Reduction is composition for effective functioning: The size of the boards themselves may also be reduced to aid in effective functioning, with preference in membership given to technical experts, as is the international best practice. These moves would ensure that the Boards function effectively as independent agencies, as envisioned in their foundational legislation.
Read the basics-Air pollution
Air pollution is contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.
Household combustion devices, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are common sources of air pollution. Pollutants of major public health concern include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Outdoor and indoor air pollution cause respiratory and other diseases and are important sources of morbidity and mortality.
Conclusion
Given the scale and causes of air pollution in India, multidisciplinary expertise is needed to tackle it; there must also be an explicit focus on health while designing air pollution policy. The lack of expertise and skewed representation of stakeholders on the Boards can only be a hindrance to effective policy making.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Basics of ASHA workers
Mains level: Strengthening ASHA and basic medical facilities
Context
One of the biggest issues facing rural health services is lack of information. ASHA workers are the first respondents even when there is lack of access to medical aid are threatened with violence and abused on the number of occasions while handlining the prospected patients in COVID19 pandemic.
Evolution of “ASHA” you may want to know
The ASHA programme was based on Chhattisgarh’s successful Mitanin programme, in which a Community Worker looks after 50 households.
The ASHA was to be a local resident, looking after 200 households.
The programme had a very robust thrust on the stage-wise development of capacity in selected areas of public health.
Many states tried to incrementally develop the ASHA from a Community Worker to a Community Health Worker, and even to an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM)/ General Nurse and Midwife (GNM), or a Public Health Nurse.
Who are ASHA workers?
ASHA workers are volunteers from within the community who are trained to provide information and aid people in accessing benefits of various healthcare schemes of the government.
The role of these community health volunteers under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was first established in 2005.
They act as a bridge connecting marginalized communities with facilities such as primary health centers, sub-centers and district hospitals.
Qualifications for ASHA Workers
ASHAs are primarily married, widowed, or divorced women between the ages of 25 and 45 years from within the community.
They must have good communication and leadership skills; should be literate with formal education up to Class 8, as per the programme guidelines.
Involved in Awareness programs: They go door-to-door in their designated areas creating awareness about basic nutrition, hygiene practices, and the health services available. They also counsel women about contraceptives and sexually transmitted infections.
Ensures Mother and child health: They focus primarily on ensuring that pregnant women undergo ante-natal check-up, maintain nutrition during pregnancy, deliver at a healthcare facility, and provide post-birth training on breast-feeding and complementary nutrition of children.
Actively involved in Immunization programs: ASHA workers are also tasked with ensuring and motivating children to get immunized.
Providing medicines and therapies: Other than mother and childcare, ASHA workers also provide medicines daily to TB patients under directly observed treatment of the national programme. They also provide basic medicines and therapies to people under their jurisdiction such as oral rehydration solution, chloroquine for malaria, iron folic acid tablets to prevent anemia etc.
Tasked with Screening tests: They are also tasked with screening for infections like malaria during the season. They also get people tested and get their reports for non-communicable diseases. They were tasked to quarantine the covid 19 infected patients in the pandemic.
Informing the birth and death in respective areas: The health volunteers are also tasked with informing their respective primary health center about any births or deaths in their designated areas.
What are the challenges that ASHA workers face?
Lack of communication threating the job of ASHA Workers: One of the biggest issues facing rural health services is lack of information.
Lack of resources burdening the ASHA works job: Another area of concern is the lack of resources. Over the years, with the closest hospital being 9 km away and ambulances taking hours to respond, ASHA workers had to take multiple women in labour to the hospital in auto rickshaws.
Poor medical health facilities: Medical facilities are understaffed and lack adequate equipment for various basic procedures like deliveries. Simple tests, like for sickle cell anemia and HIV, cannot be conducted in no of respective areas of ASHA workers.
Low wages according to the job they do: The initial payment used to be paid was Rs 250 a month in 2009. Since ASHA’s unionized and agitated for a living wage. Thirteen years on, they earn around Rs 4,000 a month. It is simply not enough to sustain a family of four.
Covid 19 disruptions added to the existing problems: Low wages forcing ASHA’s to work two or more jobs. In the pandemic, no of women lost their husband or the means of earnings and had to revert to farming. Weather fluctuations disrupting the farm produce leaving no of ASHA’s the sole earner for the family. Those who don’t have land are living in miserable conditions.
Delayed payments reduce the morale: Payments are also delayed by months, Desperation for work leaves us unable to focus on the groundwork we do.
What can be done to improve the work conditions of ASHA workers?
Improving the communication channels: Channels of communication between the government and the rural population need to be robust. A deadly pandemic makes the value of these channels obvious but in order to get people on board, information needs to be sent out much more effectively and in a hands-on manner. ASHA workers play a crucial role in aiding this effort. ASHA’s can’t do this alone. They need new systems to ensure the dissemination of life-saving information in remote areas.
ASHA’s should have fixed income: ASHA’s should have a fixed income, giving them the stability in a job where they spend between eight to twelve hours daily.
Role needs to be formalized ensuring the dignity: ASHA’s are recognized as “volunteers” currently. Their role needs to be formalized. Recognizing them as workers provides dignity and protection, and helps them to be taken seriously, by the state, the gram panchayat responsible for the disbursal of funds, and patients.
Recognizing and awarding their role will empower and motivate ASHA’s further: For people in villages, ASHA’s have become lifelines. They have led innumerable immunization drives and are everybody’s first call in a medical emergency. They have labored to build trust and serve as a bridge with the state. Examples shows recognition gives some leverage to circumvent the system and seek funds for people in my community.
Conclusion
ASHA’s are lifelines of rural primary healthcare, they are playing critical role on no of fronts ensuring the basic health of India. A better, stronger India is possible if ASHA’s are enabled to serve people. Giving them due recognition would serve this end, along with making rural India’s needs medical or otherwise a priority.
Mains Question
Q. For the villagers, ASHA has been a lifeline in the last few years. Acknowledge the problems they face on a daily basis and suggest solutions to raise their morale for the primary health of the village community and the nation as a whole.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Economic indicators and related facts
Mains level: Indias Growth story, Status of Growth drivers amidst the challenge of slowing economies
Context
As the COVID-19 pandemic fades and hopes to rise for nations and societies to return to some kind of normalcy, there is effort all around to take stock of where we stand and what our prospects look like. A look back over the last few years at how India performed in terms of its economy.
Present situation of India’s economic growth
Mixed growth story: One group of experts argues, India’s growth story is more mixed. In 2021-22, its GDP growth was 8.7%, which was among the highest in the world. This is good but, against this, we must offset the fact that much of this is the growth of climbing out of the pit into which we had fallen the previous year.
IMF reduced the growth forecast: In 2020-21, India’s growth was minus 6.6%, which placed the country in the bottom half of the global growth chart. For 2022-23, the International Monetary Fund has cut India’s growth forecast to 6.1%.
Structural assessment of India’s growth
Rising inequality and high unemployment: Most of India’s growth is occurring at the top end, with a few corporations raking in a disproportionate share of profits, and unemployment is so high, it is likely that large segments of the population are actually witnessing negative growth.
Slowdown in previous years: What makes India’s growth story worrying is that the slowdown began much before the COVID19 pandemic. It began in 2016, after which, for four consecutive years, the growth rate each year was lower than in the previous year. Growth in 2016-17 was 8.3%. After that it was, respectively, 6.9%, 6.6%, 4.8%, and minus 6.6%.
Status of unemployment: India’s unemployment rate is high. In October, it stood at 7.8%. However, what is really worrying is youth unemployment. According to International Labour Organization (ILO) data, collated and presented by the World Bank, India’s youth unemployment, that is, from among people aged 15 to 24 years who are looking for work, the percent that does not find any, stands at 28.3%.
Know the basics-What is Unemployment?
Definition: Unemployment is a phenomenon that occurs when a person who is capable of working and is actively searching for the work is unable to find work.
Those who are excluded: People who are either unfit for work due to physical reason or do not want to work are excluded from the category of unemployed.
Unemployment rate: The most frequent measure of unemployment is unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is defined as a number of unemployed people divided by the number of people in the labour force.
Labour Force: Persons who are either working (or employed) or seeking or available for work (or unemployed) during the reference period together constitute the labour force.
Other perspectives on Indian economy
The latest GDP numbers suggest: For Q1 FY2022–23 suggest that economic growth is on a healthy track. Consumers, after a long lull, have started to step out confidently and spend private consumption spending went up 25.9% in Q1.
On the production side: the contact-intensive services sector also witnessed a strong rebound of 17.7%, thanks to improving consumer confidence.
Healthy agriculture sector: The only sector that consistently performed well throughout the pandemic, remained buoyant.
Industrial growth: Industrial growth boosted from accelerating growth in construction and electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services sectors.
Manufacturing is not doing well: A sector that has not yet taken off sustainably is manufacturing, which witnessed modest growth of 4.5% in Q1. Higher input costs, supply disruptions, and labor shortages due to reverse migration have weighed on the sector’s growth. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) data on nonfinancial firms, surging raw material costs have stressed the profitability and margins of companies.
High inflation: The biggest worry is that of high inflation (which has persisted for way too long) and all the challenges that come along with it. Inflationary environments increase the costs of doing business, impact profitability and margins, and reduce purchasing power. In short, inflation thwarts both supply and demand. Central banks’ monetary policy actions, in response to rising inflation, can impede credit growth and economic activity, thereby intensifying the probability of a recession in a few advanced nations.
Rising current account deficit: The other challenge is the rising current-account deficit and currency depreciation against the dollar. While a rebounding domestic economy is resulting in higher imports, moderating global demand is causing exports to slow. The US dollar’s unrelenting rise and global inflation are further causing India’s import bills to rise.
Declining forex: The RBI had to intervene to contain volatility and ensure an orderly movement of the rupee. The RBI’s intervention is leading to a drawdown in foreign exchange reserves. Consequently, the import cover from reserves has reduced to nine months from a high of 19 months at the start of 2021 (although, it remains above the benchmark of three months).
The economy’s growth drivers are improving
Exports: Exports, the first growth driver are slowing down and are likely to moderate along with the probable global economic slowdown.
Government spending: Government spending, the second driver, is already at an elevated level, thanks to the pandemic, and the government will likely focus on its prudence in utilizing limited resources. The good news is the share of capital expenses is going up even as the government is reducing revenue expenses. Multiplier effects of this spending will aid in growth in income, assets, and employment for years to come. Strong tax revenues may support further capital spending in the future.
Capital expenditure: According to experts, prospects for capex investments the third growth driver by companies are brighter. Sustained demand growth may be the most-awaited cue for a sustained push for investment.
Consumer demand: Consumer Demand, the fourth, and perhaps the most important, growth driver has improved significantly in recent quarters. However, spending has not grown sustainable despite improving consumer confidence. For instance, retail sales are growing but the pace is patchy, and auto registrations have remained muted. We expect that receding pandemic fears and the upcoming festive season could give a much-needed boost to the consumer sector.
Conclusion
Indian economy should not be looked from isolation. It is very much integrated in global economy. Pandemic, Ukraine war, US- China trade war have given a successive shock to global and Indian economy. Despite that Indian has done well than rest of the world. Our focus should be on curbing inequality, not to allow people to descend into extreme poverty and employment generation.
Mains Question
Q. Analyse the present economic macro-indicators of Indian economy. What are the challenges for growth story of India in the context of global uncertainty?
op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure,Representation Of People's Act
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CAA
Mains level: Indian origin tamils, Debate over granting citizenship
Context
The Supreme Court of India has now posted the 232 petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) to be heard on December 6, 2022. However, there is another issue linked to the subject, i.e., the unresolved status of Indian origin Tamils who repatriated from Sri Lanka.
Present status of Sri Lankan refugees in India
For over four decades, Indian origin Tamils have been classified as stateless persons, based on technicalities. Nations High Commission for Refugees, “Comprehensive Solutions Strategy for Sri Lankan Refugees”, there are around 29,500 Indian origin Tamils currently living in India.
As Indentured plantation workers: Indian origin Tamils were brought in as indentured labourers to work in plantations. They remained mostly legally undocumented and socially isolated from the native Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhalese communities due to the policies of the British.
Denied citizenship led to stateless population: After 1947, Sri Lanka witnessed rising Sinhalese nationalism, leaving no room for their political and civil participation. They were denied citizenship rights and existed as a ‘stateless’ population, numbering close to 10 lakhs by 1960.
Bilateral pacts granted citizenship: As an ethnolinguistic minority without voting rights, this resulted in a double disadvantage till the two national governments addressed this issue. Subsequently, under the bilateral Sirimavo-Shastri Pact (1964) and the Sirimavo-Gandhi Pact (1974), six lakh people along with their natural increase would be granted Indian citizenship upon their repatriation.
Civil wars forcing to seek asylum in India: The Sri Lankan civil war resulted in a spike in Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian origin Tamils together seeking asylum in India. This resulted in a Union Ministry of Home Affairs directive to stop the grant of citizenship to those who arrived in India after July 1983.
Focus on Refugee welfare and rehabilitation: The focus of the Indian and Tamil Nadu governments shifted to refugee welfare and rehabilitation. The legal destiny of Indian origin Tamils has been largely intertwined with that of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, and both cohorts have been relegated to ‘refugee’ status.
Classified as Illegal migrants as per the CAA 2003: Indian origin Tamils who arrived after 1983 came through unauthorized channels or without proper documentation and came to be classified as ‘illegal migrants’ as per the CAA 2003. This classification has resulted in their statelessness and blocking of potential legal pathways to citizenship.
How to overcome the problem of statelessness?
While constitutional courts have not had an occasion to deal with the question of statelessness, there have been two recent judgments (Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, Justice G.R. Swaminathan), taking these issues head on.
Judgment on P. Ulaganathan vs Government of India (2019): The status of citizenship of Indian origin Tamils at the Kottapattu and Mandapam camps came up for consideration. The court recognized the distinction between Indian origin Tamils and Sri Lankan Tamils and held that a continuous period of statelessness of Indian origin Tamils offends their fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The court further held that the Union Government has implied powers to grant relaxation in conferring citizenship and prescribed that a humanitarian approach, shorn of the rigors of law, should be adopted.
Abirami S. vs The Union of India 2022: Statelessness is something to be avoided. The court further held that the principles of the CAA, 2019, which relaxes the conditions for citizenship for Hindus from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, would also apply to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. As such, these judgments have provided categorial judicial guidance to the Union of India on how to utilize an expanded and liberal interpretation of the CAA, 2019 to overcome statelessness.
Supreme Court (Committee for C.R. of C.A.P. and Ors. vs State of Arunachal Pradesh 2015): An undertaking made by the Government of India with respect to grant of citizenship inheres a right in the stateless or refugee population. As such, India has made repeated undertakings, through the 1964 and 1974 pacts, which have created a legitimate expectation among the Indian origin Tamils and would entitle them to be granted citizenship.
Obligatory International customary law: The situation of statelessness of Indian origin Tamils is ‘de jure’, created from the failure in implementing the 1964 and 1974 pacts. De jure statelessness is recognized in international customary law. Therefore, India has an obligation to remedy the situation.
How other nations deals with statelessness situation?
United States: Remedying statelessness is not a novel process in law. While dealing with a similar situation, in 1994, the United States enacted the Immigration and the Nationality Technical Corrections Act to retroactively grant citizenship to all children born to an alien father and citizen mother.
Brazil: Through the Constitutional Amendment No. 54 of 2007 retroactively, Brazil granted citizenship to children under jus sanguinis, which was earlier stripped by an earlier amendment, i.e., Constitutional Amendment No. 3 of 1994.
What India can do?
Any corrective legislative action by the Government of India to eliminate statelessness should necessarily include retroactive citizenship for Indian origin Tamils.
Conclusion
India has provided the one of largest refuge to people in the world including Tibetan, Sri Lankan, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi. Despite not being a signatory to UN refugee convention. any decision of granting citizenship has to be based on national interest rather than emotional connect.
Mains Question
Q. What are rules for granting the citizenship to foreigner in India? What are the hurdles in Tamil Sri Lankan getting their citizenship? How can Sri Lankan Tamil get citizenship by applying the rule of intelligible differentia under article 14?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: freedom of speech and Issues associated with regulating social media platforms
Context
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has notified amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021) on October 28. In June 2022, MeitY had put out a draft of the amendments and solicited feedback from the relevant stakeholders. The draft generated considerable discussion and comment on the regulation of social media in India.
Regulating SMI’s: World over, governments are grappling with the issue of regulating social media intermediaries (SMIs).
Addressing the issues of SMI controlling the free speech: Given the multitudinous nature of the problem the centrality of SMIs in shaping public discourse, the impact of their governance on the right to freedom of speech and expression, the magnitude of information they host and the constant technological innovations that impact their governance it is important for governments to update their regulatory framework to face emergent challenges.
Placing obligations on SMI: In a bid to keep up with these issues, India in 2021, replaced its decade old regulations on SMIs with the IT Rules, 2021 that were primarily aimed at placing obligations on SMIs to ensure an open, safe and trusted internet.
What are the proposed amendments?
Draft amendments in June 2022, the stated objectives of the amendments were threefold.
Protecting the constitutional rights: there was a need to ensure that the interests and constitutional rights of netizens are not being contravened by big tech platforms,
Grievance redressal: to strengthen the grievance redressal framework in the Rules,
To avoid the dominance: that compliance with these should not impact early-stage Indian start-ups.
This translated into a set of proposed amendments that can be broadly classified into two categories.
Additional obligation on SMI: The first category involved placing additional obligations on the SMIs to ensure better protection of user interests.
Appellate mechanism: The second category involved the institution of an appellate mechanism for grievance redressal.
What are the additional obligations placed on social media intermediaries?
Users need to comply with rules of platforms(intermediaries): The original IT Rules, 2021 obligated the SMIs to merely inform its users of the “rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement” that governed its platforms along with the categories of content that users are prohibited from hosting, displaying, sharing etc. on the platform. This obligation on the SMIs has now been extended to ensuring that its users are in compliance with the relevant rules of the platform.
Prevent the prohibited content: Further, SMIs are required to “make reasonable” efforts to prevent prohibited content being hosted on its platform by the users.
SMIs have to respects rights under constitution: Second, a similar concern arises with the other newly introduced obligation on SMIs to “respect all the rights accorded to the citizens under the Constitution, including in the articles 14, 19 and 21”. Given the importance of SMIs in public discourse and the implications of their actions on the fundamental rights of citizens, the horizontal application of fundamental rights is laudable.
Remove the content within 72 hours: SMIs are now obligated to remove information or a communication link in relation to the six prohibited categories of content as and when a complaint arises. They have to remove such information within 72 hours of the complaint being made. Given the virality with which content spreads, this is an important step to contain the spread of the content.
Ensuring the accessibility of services: SMIs have been obligated to “take all reasonable measures to ensure accessibility of its services to users along with reasonable expectation of due diligence, privacy and transparency”.
Provide content in all scheduled language: In this context, the amendments also mandate that “rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement” of the platform should be made available in all languages listed in the eighth schedule of the Constitution.
What is the grievance appellate committee (GAC)?
Composition of GAC: The government has instituted Grievance Appellate Committees (GAC). The committee is styled as a three-member council out of which one member will be a government officer (holding the post ex officio) while the other two members will be independent representatives.
Complaint within 30 days: Users can file a complaint against the order of the grievance officer within 30 days.
Online dispute resolution: The GAC is required to adopt an online dispute resolution mechanism which will make it more accessible to the users.
What are the concerns associated with GAC?
Confusion over GAC and High courts: It is unclear whether this is a compulsory tier of appeal or not, that is will the user have to approach the grievance appellate committee before approaching the court. The confusion arises from the fact that the press notes expressly stated that the institution of the GAC would not bar the user from approaching the court directly against the order of the grievance officer. However, the final amendments provide no such indication.
Apprehensions about appointment by central government: While this makes the inhouse grievance redressal more accountable and appellate mechanism more accessible to users, appointments being made by the central government could lead to apprehensions of bias in content moderation.
GAC doesn’t have enforcement power: Further, the IT Rules, 2021 do not provide any explicit power to the GAC to enforce its orders.
Overlapping jurisdiction of courts and appellate: if users can approach both the courts and the GAC parallelly, it could lead to conflicting decisions often undermining the impartiality and merit of one institution or the other.
Conclusion
Across the world, social media regulation is need of an hour. Fake news, protests, riots are fuelled by social media outrage on petty things. However, government should not usurp the unaccountable power of in the name social regulation. Power of government should also be scrutinized by parliamentary committee.
Mains Question
Q. How social media can disrupt the law-and-order situation? Social media intermediaries have become the master regulators of free speech. Explain. critically analyze the new draft recommendations of IT rules 2021.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GM Mustard
Mains level: GM crops, advantages and risks associated with it
Context
The recent clearance by the government for the release of GM Mustard Hybrid DMH 11 based on the recommendations of GEAC under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change is a bold decision in the best interest of our farmers and the nation.
What are Genetically modified organisms (GMO)
Changes in genetic material: GMOs can be defined as organisms (i.e., plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination
Transfers of genes: It allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, also between nonrelated species.
GM foods: Foods produced from or using GM organisms are often referred to as GM foods
GM Mustard: GM mustard crop was introduced, which was later withdrawn. There is a raging debate going on advantages and disadvantages of GMOs. For a long time, further study was requested by farmers, environmentalist on GMO crops.
Benefits to producers and consumers: GM foods are developed and marketed because there is some perceived advantage either to the producer or consumer of these foods. This is meant to translate into a product with a lower price, greater benefit (in terms of durability or nutritional value) or both. Initially GM seed developers wanted their products to be accepted by producers and have concentrated on innovations that bring direct benefit to farmers (and food industry generally)
Improves crop protection: One of the objectives for developing plants based on GM organisms is to improve crop protection.
Insect Resistance: Some GMO foods have been modified to make them more resistant to insects and other pests. This means the amount of pesticide chemicals used on the plants are reduced, so their exposure to dangerous pesticides is also reduced
Develops stronger Crop: Another benefit that GM technology is believed to bring about is that crops can be engineered to withstand weather extremes and fluctuations, this means that there will be good quality and sufficient yields even under a poor or severe weather condition
Provides Environment Protection: GM crops often requires less time, tools and chemicals, and may help with reducing greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion and environmental pollution
More Nutritious Foods: According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), some GM foods have been engineered to become more nutritious in terms of vitamin or mineral content.
More economic benefits: Larger production leading to increased farm income, reduced poverty, low food prices and thus reduced hunger and malnutrition. Besides new food products are also included, diversifying food varieties
What is the risk associated with GMO?
Contamination of genes: GMOs contaminate forever. GMOs cross pollinate and their seeds can travel far and wide.
Irreversible changes in gene pool: It is impossible to fully clean up our contaminated gene pool.
More herbicides in our food: Genetic engineering allows plants to survive high doses of weed killers, resulting in higher herbicide residues in our food.
Super weeds and super bugs: GMO crops are creating ‘super weeds’ and ‘super bugs,’ which can only be killed with more toxic poisons.
Why there was necessity to grant approval for GM Mustard?
To meet our current challenges: Over-exploitation of natural resources (soil, water, biodiversity), declining factor productivity, urgency to achieve sustainable development goals, especially ending poverty and hunger, and addressing timely the adverse effects of climate change the best option is scientific innovations and their scaling.
The adoption of GM food crops is in our broader national interest: Genetically modified maize, soybean, cotton, tomato and canola are grown across the world and the area currently under GM crops is about 200 m ha. Besides India, these have been grown for many years in the US, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and China.
To meet the existing deficit in edible oils: India is currently importing around 13 million tonnes at a cost of Rs 1.17 lakh crore to the exchequer. Interestingly, of this, 2.0-2.5 mt soybean oil and 1.0-1.5 mt canola oil is already GM. Hence, we are consuming GM oil already, besides, the 1.5 mt of GM cotton oil produced domestically.
Associated health benefits: It is scientifically proven that the consumption of refined oil does not allow any protein to enter the human system. Thus, the consumption of GM oil is completely safe from a health point of view.
High yields to farmers: A major concern of our farmers is that yields of mustard are low and have stagnated for a long time at around 1,260 kg/ha, much lower than the global average of 2,000 kg/ha. Yields of canola in Canada, China and Australia are almost three times higher than in India since they use GM hybrid technology. Mustard is a very important oilseed crop, grown in 6.0 -7.0 million hectares, mostly in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. Thus, the government’s decision to allow the production of GM Mustard hybrids will go a long way in increasing our yields, while reducing the use of pesticides.
What else needs to be done?
Providing enabling environment: The Department of Agriculture (DoA) and ICAR need to move forward fast and provide an enabling environment to test the available seed of Hybrid DMH 11 in the current rabi season.
Encourage public-private partnership: This needs to happen on several farmers’ fields in the mustard belt. It must also encourage public-private partnerships to produce quality seeds to cover more area next year.
Encouraging further innovation: Also, scientists at ICAR institutes must be encouraged to develop new GM Mustard hybrids on a mission mode. Allowing the production of GM Soybean and GM Maize going forward will also be a positive step, increasing both the productivity and profitability of these crops and doubling farmers’ income.
Conclusion
The decision to remove the unscientific ban on GM crops reflects the determination of the government to move towards Atmanirbhar Bharat. It also meets the aspirations of our scientific community and farmers can derive the benefits of innovative technology.
Mains Question
Q. How GM mustard crop are different from conventional crops? What are the benefits and risks of adopting the GM mustard crop?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: prevalence of superstitions, associated problems and preventive laws
Context
The brutal murders of two women as part of “ritualistic human sacrifices” in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala have left the country in shock. Chilling details of the killings have sparked a debate about the prevalence of superstitious beliefs, black magic and sorcery in Kerala. In the absence of a comprehensive law to counter such acts, the call for a strict anti-superstition law has grown louder.
What is Superstition?
Superstition is an irrational belief usually founded on ignorance or fear and characterized by obsessive reverence for omens, charms etc. It is a notion, act or ritual that derives from such belief.
What is Witchcraft?
Black magic is also known as Witchcraft is usage of supernatural power for evil and selfish purposes and to perform malicious practices to destroy someone physically or mentally or financially.
Black magic makes humans victims of baseless fears, reverses fortunes and confusions.
What is the status of such killings in India?
As per the 2021 report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), six deaths were linked to human sacrifices, while witchcraft was the motive for 68 killings.
In 2020, India saw 88 deaths due to witchcraft and 11 died as part of human sacrifices.
The maximum number of witchcraft cases were reported from Chhattisgarh (20), followed by Madhya Pradesh (18) and Telangana (11). Kerala saw two cases of human sacrifice, the NCRB report states.
No central law: In India, there is no central law that exclusively deals with crimes related to witchcraft, superstition, or occult-inspired activities. In the absence of a nationwide legislation, a few States have enacted laws to counter witchcraft and protect women from deadly ‘witch-hunting’.
Anti-superstition Laws enacted by the states
Bihar: Bihar was the first State to enact a law to prevent witchcraft, identification of a woman as a witch and “eliminate torture, humiliation and killing of women.” The Prevention of Witch (Daain) Practices Act came into force in October 1999. Anyone who identifies a person as a “witch” and acts to aid this identification can face a jail term of up to three months, or a fine of ₹1,000, or both.
Jharkhand: A similar law was passed in Jharkhand in 2001 the Prevention of Witch (Daain) Practices Act.
Chhattisgarh: Even though Chhattisgarh is one of the worst-affected States in terms of witchcraft-related crimes, the State enacted the Chhattisgarh Tonahi (witch) Pratadna Nivaran Act only in 2005. As per the law, a person convicted for identifying someone as a witch can be sentenced to up to three years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine
Odisha: Following the directions of the Odisha High Court to frame a law to deal with rising cases of witch-hunting in the State, the Odisha Prevention of Witch-Hunting Bill was passed by the Assembly in 2013. The bill provides penalties for a witch doctor, or a person claiming to be a black magician
Maharashtra: In Maharashtra, the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013 was passed after the murder of anti-superstition activist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar.
Rajasthan: The state of Rajasthan enacted the Rajasthan Prevention of Witch-Hunting Act in 2015 to “provide for effective measures to tackle the menace of witch-hunting and prevent the practice of witchcraft.
Assam: The Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Act, 2015, which received the President’s assent in 2018, prohibits witch hunting completely. The law states, no person shall identify, call, stigmatize, defame or accuse any other person as witch by words, or by signs or indications or by conducts or actions or any other manner or instigate, aid or abet such an act or commit witch hunting.
Karnataka: The latest law was passed in Karnataka where the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Act, 2017 came into effect in January 2020. The law bans several practices related to black magic and superstition, like forcing a person to walk on fire at religious festivals and the practice of piercing rods from one side of the jaw to the other.
Conclusion
States governments are doing their best to criminalize the rituals of human sacrifices by enacting stringent laws. There is need to have a concrete nationwide anti-superstition law and as a society every individual should be made a stakeholder in awareness against human sacrifices based on witchcraft and rituals.
Mains Question
Q. What is Superstition? Are there any anti-superstition laws in India that criminalizes the rituals such as human sacrifices and witch-hunting? Discuss.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Constitutional provisions related to the Governor
Mains level: Issues related to office of governor
Context
A tweet put out recently by the office of the Kerala Governor evoked nationwide attention for all the wrong reasons. It said: “the statements of individual Ministers that lower the dignity of the office of the Governor can invite action including withdrawal of pleasure”. the Governor sent a letter to the Kerala CM asking him to act against the State Finance Minister, who, according to the Governor, had “ceased to enjoy” the Governor’s “pleasure”. The Chief Minister declined to do so.
Who is a Governor?
Parallel to President: The Governors of the states of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the President of India at the Central level.
Nominal head: The governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power lies with the Chief Ministers of the states and her/his councils of ministers.
Similar offices: Governors exist in the states while Lieutenant Governors or Administrators exist in union territories including National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Non-local appointees: Few or no governors are local to the state that they are appointed to govern.
Important Constitutional Provisions related to Governor
Article 153: It requires a governor to be appointed for every state in India.
Article 154: Vests the executive power of the State in the Governor
Article 155: Appointment of the Governor
Article 156: Term of Office of Governor
Article 157: Qualifications for appointment as Governor
Executive functions of Governor include
An important function of the Governor is to appoint the Chief Minister of the State.
Other ministers are also appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister.
The ministers including the Chief Minister hold office during the pleasure of the Governor.
The Governor has the constitutional right to know the decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to the administrative affairs of the State and the proposals for legislation.
Bound by the principle: The function of the appointed Governor is always subject to the policies of the elected government, and not vice-versa. This is a foundational theory of India’s constitutional democracy.
Contradictory Aid and advise and Discretion: Article 163(1) says that the Council of Ministers must aid and advise the Governor. However, according to Article 163(2), the Governor can act in his discretion in certain matters as permitted by the Constitution
Discretion still bounds by cabinet decision: Governor is generally bound by the Cabinet decision except when he has a legitimate right to invoke his discretion, say, for example, in deciding on sanction to prosecute a cabinet minister or in his decisions as Administrator of a Union Territory, as per the orders of the President of India, etc.
Apparatus of interaction: There are no provisions laid down for the manner in which the Governor and the state must engage publicly when there is a difference of opinion. The management of differences has traditionally been guided by respect for each other’s boundaries.
Issues of “Pleasure” of Governor
Constitution Bench judgment of Supreme court in Shamsher Singh vs State of Punjab (1974) case:
In Shamsher Singh, for the purpose of comparison, the Supreme Court extracted Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s introductory statement made on November 4, 1948, in the Constituent Assembly, which said: “The President of the United States is not bound to accept any advice tendered to him by any of his secretaries. The President of the Indian Union will be generally bound by the advice of his Ministers. He can do nothing contrary to their advice nor can he do anything without their advice. The President of the United States can dismiss any Secretary at any time. The President of the Indian Union has no power to do so, so long as his Ministers command a majority in Parliament”.
The same principles apply to the Governors as well, since the Union Minister also holds the office “during the pleasure of the President” as in Article 75(2) of the Constitution.
“Withdrawal of pleasure”, without advice from the Council of Ministers, as indicated by Raj Bhavan is a misconception.
Historical background of Article 264:
The draft Constitution, prepared by the Constitutional Adviser in October 1947, contained Article 126, according to which, “Governor’s Ministers shall be chosen and summoned by (the Governor) and shall hold office during his pleasure”.
This Article, which was made part of the draft of the erstwhile Article 144, was discussed at length in the Constituent Assembly.
The general discretion with the Governor was taken away, and the Cabinet was given the authority to rule. Amendment to the draft Article 144 moved by B.R. Ambedkar resulted in the present constitutional scheme of Articles 163 and 164.
According to the Scholar Subhash C. Kashyap:
The words ‘during pleasure’ were, always understood to mean that the ‘pleasure’ should not continue when the Ministry had lost the confidence of the majority.
the moment the Ministry lost the confidence of the majority, the Governor would use his ‘pleasure’ in dismissing it.
Conclusion
During the deliberations in Constituent Assembly Debates,1949, H.V. Kamath asked if there was any guarantee against abuse of power by the Governor. The immediate reaction by P.S. Deshmukh, another prominent member was: “the guarantee is the Governor’s wisdom and the wisdom of the authority that will appoint the Governor”
Mains Question
Q. What is the role of Rajbhavans in the state government’s day to day business. Analyze the constitutional mandate of the governor’s pleasure and accountability of ministers.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Green Financing, India's Net Zero 2070 objective
Context
Climate finance, or Green Money, remains a critical bottleneck for India in its journey towards the Net Zero 2070 objective and to create a resilient system through climate adaptation and mitigation. The challenge is daunting to make a climate transition for a nation of 1.4 billion people with increasing aggregate national income and individual wealth inequality.
What is the Present arrangement of external financing for climate change
Estimated cost: Finances for climate change were to be channelized through multi-tiered systems in the form of national, regional, and international bodies. It has been estimated that India will need $15 trillion to finance its Net Zero journey.
Concessional loans: In most cases, small amounts flowing now into the developing component of the G20 nations are actually in the form of concessional loans rather than grants.
Technological support from developed countries: There is no doubt that India will need international financial commitments and technological support from developed countries, who have been erratic with their promised deliveries so far.
Green finance is a phenomenon that combines the world of finance and business with environment friendly behavior. It may be led by financial incentives, a desire to preserve the planet, or a combination of both.
In addition to demonstrating proactive, environment friendly behavior, such as promoting of any business or activity that could be damaging to the environment now or for future generations.
Green financing through domestic market
Status of Green Bonds: As for domestic financial sources, according to an RBI Bulletin from January 2021, green finance in India is still at the nascent stage. Green bonds constituted only 0.7% of all the bonds issued in India since 2018, and bank lending to the non-conventional energy constituted about 7.9% of outstanding bank credit to the power sector as of March 2020.
Provision of Green loans: The report also mentioned that the development of green financing and funding of environment-friendly sustainable development is not without challenges, which may include false compliance claims, misuse of green loans, and, most importantly, maturity mismatches between long-term green investments and relatively short-term interests of investors.
What are the challenges to green financing?
No assessment of climate finance risk: Research report indicates that banks in India, like in many parts of the world, are not prepared to adapt to climate change; and have not yet factored in any climate-related financial risks into their day-to-day decision-making. Some of the criteria used to assess the banks include a commitment to phase out investments in coal, disclosing and verifying direct and indirect emissions, issuing green loans, financing climate mitigation, and Net Zero targets for different types of emissions and their implementation plans.
Lack of enthusiasm among bankers: The report is also critical that none of the 34 banks have tested the resilience of their portfolios in the face of climate change. Yet, the bankers’ noise around the green finance topic is euphorically loud, without action.
No standard definition of green financing: These banks and financial institutions are also not geared up for financing green transition. India faces the big challenge of “how to define green”, as there is no uniform green definition and green taxonomy.
Poor debt market for green finance: The green money is generated through largely debt-based products (green bonds, climate policy performance bonds, debt for climate swaps, etc.), while the fund deployment occurs through debt-based, equity-based, and often, insurance-based instruments, apart from grants and loans. However, the Indian market lacks the depth of its debt markets or the heft of the bond markets.
Lack of green data governance: There is an inherent problem with “green data governance” that entails tracking the entire data-chain of a green financing initiative.
Unviable green projects: Like many other private sectors funding, the banks look at rates of return that do not really often make financing “public goods” as viable investments. They are even apprehensive about financing projects with long gestation periods with uncertain returns.
What is way forward for green financing?
Considering social cost of carbon: An economic return alone might not be sufficient to induce green financing. A more holistic rate of return, considering the social cost of carbon, will be appropriate.
Return on green investment should include social returns: A longer time horizon will be needed for the cost-benefit analysis and the estimation of the return on investment. This is because, for climate-related projects, the returns increase over time. The extent to which the particular project could result in CO2 reduction and, eventually reduction in the social cost of carbon need to be assessed. As an example, India intends to reduce 1 billion Tonnes of CO2. The present social cost of CO2 (SCC) is $86/tonne. Therefore, the sheer economic gain is to the tune of $86 billion, or 2.1% of the current Indian GDP. Social cost saving is a public good and is enjoyed by all businesses, including the financial institutions.
Applying the green taxation: Hence, for a stronger business case for climate finance, experts propose to include in its Return-on-investment calculations the cost-benefit returns of the project through NPVSCC20 the Net Present Value of Social Cost of Carbon over 25 years of the project, a time period that compares well with tenor of infra and sovereign bonds. As an incentive, the government could introduce taxation sops for using NPVSCC25.
You may want to know about Net Zero
Net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with remaining emissions re-absorbed by oceans/ forests.
China, US, EU and India contribute 75% of total GHG emissions
However, per capita GHG emissions for US, EU and China are7,3 and 3 times of India
India has set target to achieve net zero emissions by 2070.
Conclusion
The way India finances its journey to Net Zero 2070 could very well be a framework for other nations, for it would need to have contours of social inclusion, economic flexibility, and sustainable financing, while keeping in mind the political compulsions, as well as serving the demographic requirements of creating and sustaining livelihood in decades to come.
Mains Question
Q. Green financing is the most crucial part of achieving Net zero target. Comment. What are the India’s efforts to finance its climate action goals?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Issues over Capital punishment
Context
CJI, Justice Lalit had displayed unique sensitivity to the plight of the condemned ‘death row prisoners’ in Anokhi Lal vs State of M.P. (2019), Irfan vs State of M.P., Manoj and Ors vs State of M.P. (May 2022) and impart corrections in the form of creative directions/guidelines.
What is capital punishment?
Capital punishment, sometimes called death penalty, is execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law for a criminal offense.
It should be distinguished from extrajudicial executions carried out without due process of law.
The term death penalty is sometimes used interchangeably with capital punishment, though imposition of the penalty is not always followed by execution, because of the possibility of commutation to life imprisonment.
Bachan Singh case: In Jagmohan Singh vs State of UP’ (1973), then in ‘Rajendra Prasad vs State of UP’ (1979), and finally in ‘Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab’ (1980) the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional validity of the death penalty.
Punishment according to fair procedure: It said that if capital punishment is provided in the law and the procedure is a fair, just and reasonable one, the death sentence can be awarded to a convict.
Rarest of rare case: This will, however, only be in the “rarest of rare” cases, and the courts should render “special reasons” while sending a person to the gallows.
What is “rarest of rare” case?
The principles of what would constitute the “rarest of rare” were laid down by the top court in the landmark judgment in ‘Bachan Singh’.
Two prime questions, the top court held, may be asked and answered:
First: is there something uncommon about the crime which renders the sentence of imprisonment for life inadequate and calls for a death sentence?
Second: are there circumstances of the crime such that there is no alternative but to impose the death sentence even after according to maximum weightage to the mitigating circumstances which speak in favor of the offenders?
Why existing guidelines are problematic?
Arbitrary sentencing: There has long been a judicial crisis in death penalty sentencing on account of unprincipled sentencing, arbitrariness and worrying levels of subjectivity. The crisis has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court, the Law Commission of India, research scholars and civil society groups.
Crime-centric nature: Death penalty sentencing has been, by and large, crime-centric. This approach goes against the requirements imposed on sentencing judges by the Supreme Court in Bachan Singh (1980).
Nature of crime a dominant consideration: An important reason for the breakdown is that factors relating to the crime the nature of the crime and its brutality are often dominant considerations, and there is barely any consideration of mitigating factors.
Little discussion on mitigating factors: There has been very little discussion on bringing the socioeconomic profile of death row prisoners as a mitigating factor into the courtroom.
What are new guidelines through recent judgement?
Considering Potential mitigating circumstances: The focus here is on reframing ‘Framing Guidelines Regarding Potential Mitigating Circumstances to be Considered While Imposing Death Sentences’, a decision authored by the three judge Bench (the current CJI and Justices Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia, September 19, 2022).
Seeking remedies beyond Legislative and judicial limitation: Such a reference to a larger Bench would constitute yet another step in the direction of death penalty sentencing justice reform such as the legislative limitation flowing from Section 354(3) in the Code of Criminal Procedure; judicial limitation flowing from the ‘rarest of rare’ case; and ‘oral hearing’ after all the remedies to the condemned are exhausted.
Mitigating factors are important: Justice Ravindra Bhat did not stop at paying lip service to ‘rarest of rare’ case limitation, but also required the sentencing court to take the trouble of balancing the aggravating factors and mitigating factors, as per the full Bench ruling.
The following observations of the Court are significant: “It is also a fact that in all cases where imposition of capital sentence is a choice of sentence, aggravating circumstances would always be on record, and would be part of [the] prosecutor’s evidence, leading to conviction, whereas the accused can scarcely be expected to place mitigating circumstances on the record, for the reason that the stage for doing so is after conviction.
Granting real and meaningful opportunity: The three judge Bench decision seems to have gone beyond sentencing incongruities when it observes: “This court is of the opinion that it is necessary to have clarity in the matter to ensure a uniform approach on the question of granting real and meaningful opportunity, as opposed to formal hearing to the accused/convict on the issue of sentence.”
Conclusion
Free, fair and transparent opportunity has been given to accused while awarding the death sentence. Supreme court of India has rightly laid down the guidelines through judgement for sentencing the capital punishment to prevent the arbitrary use and misuse of capital punishment.
Mains Question
Q. What are the issues with death penalty guidelines in India? What are the new guidelines by SC regarding capital punishment?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Telecom Spectrum
Mains level: Spectrum policy, auctions, Digital divide, issues and Solutions
Context
It is widely acknowledged that spectrum policy in India has had ups and downs, regretfully more downs than ups. Despite the recognized failure, India hosts 800 million internet users and host the second-largest telecommunications network in the world. We wonder what might have been achieved with a more reasonable and transparent spectrum policy.
Background
On September 22, the government released the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 seeking to replace the colonial era Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.
The draft bill compares spectrum to aatma: “In a way, spectrum is similar to aatma, like aatma, spectrum too does not have any physical form, yet it is omnipresent.” And yet there is one immutable difference in this material world. While the value of aatma is inestimable, spectrum has always had a banal price tag associated with it.
The draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 is an attempt by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to consolidate various legislations presently governing the telecommunication landscape in India.
The Bill seeks to replace three laws, the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.
The new regulatory framework is to bring the law at par with technological advancements and remove obsolete provisions from the colonial era laws.
What is mean by Spectrum?
In physics, it’s a word that describes the distribution of something, like energy or atomic particles
Spectrum refers to the invisible radio frequencies that wireless signals travel over. Devices such as cell phones and wireline telephones require signals to connect from one end to another.
These signals are carried on airwaves, which must be sent at designated frequencies to avoid any kind of interference. The frequencies we use for wireless are only a portion of what is called the electromagnetic spectrum.
The Union government owns all the publicly available assets within the geographical boundaries of the country, which also include airwaves.
With the expansion in the number of cell phones, wireline telephone and internet users, the need to provide more space for the signals arise from time to time.
The status of Spectrum policy in India?
Host the second largest telecommunications network despite of failures:
It is widely acknowledged that spectrum policy in India has had ups and downs, it has for the most part failed to capitalize on the ubiquity of the electromagnetic spectrum to provide meaningful connectivity to all citizens.
Despite the recognized failure, we boast of a billion plus mobile subscribers, 800 million internet users and host the second-largest telecommunications network in the world.
Ineffective access widening space of digital divide:
The intent of the draft bill is to correct past sins so that the benefits of spectrum and technology are better shared, and the quality of access improved for everybody.
In other words, since effective access to spectrum has remained a significant barrier to facilitating meaningful connectivity for Indians.
Spectrum’s potential is huge but with technical limitations:
The draft bill rightly refers to the spectrum as having the characteristics of a public good. It is also an inexhaustible resource. But while spectrum per se is not depletable, there are technical limitations to its optimum utilization at a given point in time.
Consequently, it is viewed as a scarce natural resource and what’s more, expensive auctions have made the spectrum dear and arguably exclusionary.
High cost of spectrum acquisition:
Since 2010, the government has consistently used auctions for spectrum allocation and in only one of the seven auctions held since then, the government was successful in selling 100 per cent of the available spectrum. One reason for this lukewarm response, barring the 2010 auction, is the high cost of spectrum acquisition.
High cost of auctions leading to revenue loss for the government:
Due to the high reserve price, the most recent auction witnessed spectrum being sold at the reserve price, effectively rendering the basis of an auction moot.
If almost all spectrum was sold at its reserve price, and a significant amount goes unsold, it implies that the price was too high, to begin with. It also implies a loss of revenue for the government for spectrum unsold is spectrum squandered.
Finally, it results in areas being underserved or unserved affecting quality and quantity.
High network charges by operators impacts compromising equal distribution and quality:
According to one estimate, at 7.6 per cent of their aggregate revenue, spectrum cost in India is amongst the most expensive in the world.
Since network operators incur a significantly higher cost for spectrum compared to other emerging markets, the ability to invest in network upgradation and infrastructure is severely impacted, resulting in uneven distribution of service and poor quality to boot.
What Could be the fresh approach?
Acknowledging and addressing the issues:
It must be recognized that the spectrum needs to be combined with other infrastructure to enable service delivery.
The cost of deploying other infrastructure in remote areas is nearly twice as much, while revenue opportunities are far lower, damaging if not destroying the prospects of rural businesses. Plugging the digital divide, therefore, needs a fresh approach.
Correcting the cost of spectrum and boosting investment:
Since licences and spectrum are typically assigned for service areas that are, for the most part, identified by state boundaries.
Since operators predominantly cater to urban markets, the spectrum in remote areas remains under- or in places un-utilized due to a lack of investment in allied infrastructure.
Reviving the old and executing the fresh provisions enshrined in draft bill for equitable sharing:
The draft bill incorporates practical provisions on the spectrum such as use it, share it, or lose it – an awaited policy that, however, needs innovative support to be successful. The idea of “niche operators” providing services including to telecom operators and manufacturers, introduced in 2005, needs revival in this regard.
If licensed operators are unable to utilise the assigned spectrum, the same could be given to local entrepreneurs who understand the needs of rural customers and are better placed to develop a more effective business case more quickly than the larger telcos. Active promotion of the idea of niche operators might just jolt operators out of their lethargy towards rural services.
Adopting innovative methods:
Alternatively, the government may explore innovative methods of spectrum access such as a non-competitive licensing framework for certain specific use cases.
Canada, for instance, has initiated consultations on a non-competitive local licensing framework in the 3900-3980 MHz Band and portions of the 26, 28 and 38 GHz bands to inter alia facilitate broadband connectivity in rural areas.
Emphasizing on Transparency and enhancing healthy competition:
The government should build an ecosystem that inspires trust so that transparency in assignment can be secured at a reasonable price for operators with strict service obligations without the phantasm of auctions.
At the same time, there should be no unsold spectrum. Niche operators should be invoked to engender competition, and government could yet collect revenue for itself.
Conclusion
The telecom is no longer an end in itself. It exists for user industries much more than ever before. The spill over benefits are far greater than what the sector commands within. Thus, to state the obvious, the vision that is “Digital India” can never be realized if affordable broadband connectivity remains only within the reach of a few.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Hunger Index, NFHS report
Mains level: Issues with GHI parameters
Context
The fountainhead is a 16-year-old German and Irish organization, which measures and ranks countries on a hunger index at the global, regional, and national levels, but not at the sub-national level where some Indian states fare better. The Global Hunger Index’s (GHI) stated aim is to reduce hunger around the world. But its methodology focuses disproportionately on less than five-year-old’s.
Mixing the hunger and nutrition: In common parlance, hunger and nutrition are two different things. Hunger is associated with food scarcity and starvation. It produces images of emaciated people holding empty food bowls.
Wrong data collection methods: GHI uses childhood mortality and nutrition indicators. But its preamble states “communities, civil society organizations, small producers, farmers, and indigenous groups shape how access to nutritious food is governed.”
Irony of food grain availability: This suggests that GHI sees hunger as a food production challenge when, according to the FAO, India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of grain and the largest producer of milk; when the per capita intake of grain, vegetables and milk has increased manifold. It is, therefore, contentious and unacceptable to club India with countries facing serious food shortages, which is what GHI has done.
Data according to the latest National Family Health Survey Report
Comparative state level data collection: The sensational use of the word hunger is abhorrent given the facts. But there is no denying that in India, nutrition, particularly child nutrition, continues to be a problem. Unlike the GHI, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) does a good job of providing comparative state-level data, including the main pointers that determine health and nutrition.
Crucial health parameters included: NFHS provides estimates of underweight, (low weight for age), stunting (low height for age) and wasting (low weight for height). These conditions affect preschool children (those less than 6 years of age) disproportionately and compromise a child’s physical and mental development while also increasing the vulnerability to infections.
Undernourishment is included: Undernourished mothers (attributable to social and cultural practices,) give birth to low-birth-weight babies that remain susceptible to infections, transporting their handicaps into childhood and adolescence. NFHS includes undernourishment parameter.
Why nutrition is the best indicator of health?
Link between nutrition and disease: There are links between the nutritional status of young children with the post-neonatal phase when children suffer from acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases. Sanitation and hygiene require much more work.
Diet and food intake is important: Professor V Subramanian at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health writes, “There is a need to declutter the current approaches to child undernutrition by keeping it simple. I advise against a disproportionate focus on anthropometry (body measurements); instead, the need is to have a direct engagement with actual diet and food intake.”
How to overcome the child nutrition challenge?
Improving the breast feeding: The first child nutrition challenge relates to breastfeeding. The WHO and UNICEF recommend that breastfeeding should be initiated within the first hour of birth and infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months. According to NFHS 5, in India, the percentage improvement of children who were exclusively breastfed when under six months, rose from 55 per cent in NFHS 4 to 64 per cent in NFHS 5. That is progress, but it is not enough. By not being breastfed, an infant is denied the benefits of acquiring antibodies against infections, allergies and even protection against several chronic conditions.
Better nutritional practice: The second issue relates to young child feeding practices. At root are widespread practices like not introducing semi-solid food after six months, prolonging breastfeeding well beyond the recommended six months and giving food lacking in nutritional diversity. NFHS 5 shows that the improvement has been marginal over the last two reports and surprisingly, states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam, UP and Gujarat are at the tail end.
Continuation of nutrition programmes: Almost one dozen nutrition programmes have been under implementation since 1975. Several more have been added of late, but most beneficiaries of these food distribution programmes are kids attending anganwadis or schools, adolescents, and pregnant and lactating mothers. This must continue but new-Borns, infants, and toddlers need attention too. Monitoring weight is an indicator, not a solution.
States must be encouraged: States should be urged to examine the NFHS findings to steer a new course to improve the poshan practices for the youngest and the most vulnerable sections of society.
Better child rearing practices: Helping mothers to better the lives of their infants and toddlers right inside the home by measuring and demonstrating how much diet, food intake and child-rearing practices matter.
Conclusion
We should lose no more time over the GHI rankings, which are distorted and irrelevant. India has successfully overcome much bigger problems reduced maternal and child mortality, improved access to sanitation, clean drinking water and clean cooking fuel. Our focus should be on nutrition rather than hunger.
Mains Question
Critically analyze the India’s hunger problem in light of Global Hunger Index. What are initiatives of Government of India to overcome hunger and nutrition challenge?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Brief information about Various welfare schemes
Mains level: welfare schemes, advantages and issues.
Context
Over the past three years, over 50% of existing central government sponsored schemes have been discontinued, subsumed, revamped or rationalized into other schemes. The impact has been varied across Ministries.
Social welfare Schemes which are discontinued, subsumed or revamped
Schemes under Ministry of women and child development: There are just three schemes now out of 19 schemes, i.e., Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0. Mission Shakti itself replaced 14 schemes which included the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme.
Schemes under Ministry of animal husbandry and dairy: Just two schemes remain out of 12. Additionally, the Ministry has ended three schemes which include Dairying through Cooperatives, National Dairy Plan II, etc.
Schemes under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare: There are now three out of 20 (Krishonnati Yojana, Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperatives and the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana), while there is little information on the National Project on Organic Farming or the National Agroforestry Policy.
Government spending on fertilizers
Declining fertilizer subsidies: Subsidies having been in decline over the last few years; actual government spending on fertilizers in FY2021 reached ₹1,27,921 crore. In the FY2122 Budget, the allocation was ₹79,529 crore (later revised to ₹1,40,122 crore amidst the COVID19 pandemic). In the FY2223 Budget, the allocation was ₹1,05,222 crore.
Price rise in NPK fertilizers: Allocation for NPK fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) was 35% lower than revised estimates in FY2122. Such budgetary cuts, when fertilizer prices have risen sharply after the Ukraine war, have led to fertilizer shortages and farmer anguish.
Reduced budget of MGNREGA: The allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) went down by approximately 25% in the FY2223 Budget earlier this year, with the allocated budget at ₹73,000 crore when compared to the FY21-22 revised estimates of ₹98,000 crore. The Economic Survey 2022-23 has highlighted that demand for the scheme was higher than pre-pandemic levels as rural distress continues. Anecdotal cases show that actual funding disbursal for MGNREGA has often been delayed, leading to a decline in confidence in the scheme.
The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan: The GKRAY (June 2020, for a period of 125 days) sought to provide immediate employment and livelihood opportunities to the rural poor; approximately 50.78 crore person days of employment were provided at an expenditure of approximately ₹39,293 crore (against an announced budget of ₹50,000 crore, Ministry for Rural Development). The scheme subsumed 15 other schemes. With between 60 million to 100 million migrant workers who seek informal jobs, such a scheme should have been expanded.
Delayed payments for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA): ASHA, who are the first responders, there have been delays in salaries for up to six months. Regularisation of their jobs continues to be a struggle, with wages and honorariums stuck at minimum levels. There is one more example. Biodiversity has also been ignored.
Less funding or wildlife habitat development: Funding under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has declined: from ₹165 crore (FY18-19), to ₹124.5 crore (FY19-20), to ₹87.6 crore (FY2021). Allocations for Project Tiger have been slashed ₹323 crore (FY18-19) to ₹194.5 crore (FY20-21). A pertinent question is about meeting climate change obligations in the face of funding cuts.
What are the reasons behind slashing of Funds?
Funds lying idle: There are challenges such as funding cuts, disbursement and utilization of funds. As of June 2022, ₹1.2 lakh crore of funds meant for central government sponsored schemes are with banks which earn interest income for the Centre.
Some of the unutilized funds: For instance, the Nirbhaya fund (2013) with its focus on funding projects to improve the public safety of women in public spaces and encourage their participation in economic and social activities is an interesting case; ₹1,000 crore was allocated to the fund annually (2013-16), and remained largely unspent. As of FY2122, approximately ₹6,214 crore was allocated to the Nirbhaya fund since its launch, but only ₹4,138 crore was disbursed. Of this, just ₹2,922 crore was utilised; ₹660 crore was disbursed to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, but only ₹181 crore was utilised as of July 2021.
Various reasons for corruption in implementation of welfare programmes:
Lack of scrutiny: Government schemes are meant to implement at local level. Lack of effective scrutiny through timely inspections, audits lead to unaccountability and gross mismanagement of funds.
Lack of awareness: Due to illiteracy and unawareness of various government schemes and its provisions lead to corruption. False beneficiaries, fake documents are used to misuse funds meant for the benefit of schemes.
Weak enforcement of laws: Weak enforcement of laws for punishing corrupt has led to a sense of fearlessness among corrupts. India’s anti-corruption law has failed to punish the corrupt and instil fears regarding corruption.
Political inaction: Most of the time, officials involved in corruption have political backing. Many times politicians or their family members are involved in corruption. Thus, any effort to punish the culprit goes in vain due to political interference.
Centralised administration: The welfare bureaucracy is deeply centralised that comes at the cost of building a local government system that is genuinely responsive to citizen needs.
Judicial delays: Judiciary in India is overburdened. A case of corruption drags for years. In the meantime, the culprit is able to destroy the evidence against him and influence the judiciary.
Weak local governance: Local governance is must for effective implementation of welfare programmes. Due to absence of strong Panchayats and lack of effective local scrutiny the programmes are used as an opportunity for corruption.
What should be the way forward?
State should get more funding for welfare: Rather than downsizing government schemes and cutting funding, one should right size the government. After the Goods and Services Tax reform, the Centre-State relationship has been transformed, with fiscal firepower skewed towards the Centre.
Need of efficient civil services: Our public services require more doctors, teachers, engineers and fewer data entry clerks. We need to build capacity for an efficient civil service to meet today’s challenges, i.e., providing a corruption free welfare system, running a modern economy and providing better public goods.
Making public service delivery effective: Rather than having a target of fewer government schemes, we should raise our aspirations towards better public service delivery.
Conclusion
Welfare schemes are absolutely necessary where large population still lives under poverty. Inflation and unemployment further exacerbate the problem. Rather than reduction or cutting the funds government should rationalize the spending on welfare schemes.
Mains Question
Why is there continuous decline in spending on various welfare schemes? How can government rationalize its spending on welfare schemes?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LiFE movement
Mains level: climate change, COP, Indias leadership in climate actions
Context
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 20 unveiled the action plan for Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), an India-led global mass movement that will nudge individuals and communities for action to protect and preserve the environment.
What is LiFE?
Importance of individual efforts: Mission LiFE makes environmental protection and conservation a participative process and recognizes the importance of each effort no matter how small or big to save the environment both at the level of the individual and at the level of the community.
Chaning utilization attitude: The idea promotes an environmentally conscious lifestyle that focuses on ‘mindful and deliberate utilization’ instead of ‘mindless and wasteful consumption’.
Creating social networks: The LIFE Movement aims to utilize the power of collective action and nudge individuals across the world to undertake simple climate-friendly actions in their daily lives. The LIFE movement, additionally, also seeks to leverage the strength of social networks to influence social norms surrounding climate.
Creating Pro-planet people: The Mission plans to create and nurture a global network of individuals, namely ‘Pro-Planet People’ (P3), who will have a shared commitment to adopt and promote environmentally friendly lifestyles.
Seeks to behavioral change and individual actions: Through the P3 community, the Mission seeks to create an ecosystem that will reinforce and enable environmentally friendly behaviors to be self-sustainable. LIFE recognizes that small individual actions can tip the balance in the planet’s favour.
Do you know pro-planet initiatives worldwide?
Denmark: Denmark promotes the use of bicycles by limiting parking within the city Centre and providing exclusive bike lanes.
Japan: Japan has its unique “walk-to-school” mandate, which has been in practice since the early 1950s.
Why is the need for such movement?
Wrong perception about conservation: Environment protection, has for far too long been perceived as a policy issue by the general masses. There has been a perception that only national governments and international organizations can do something to protect the Earth and environment.
Mindless consumption of resources: The human race is plundering Planet Earth at a pace that far outstrips its capacity and ability to support life. A recent study says that if the current rate of consumption were to continue, by 2050, humans would need two more planets, in addition to the Earth, to continue to exist.
Declining natural resources and beauty: This means that we could be staring at major climatic crises in the years to come and our future generations may never get to experience the beauty of nature, the glaciers, the oceans, the snow and the rivers, that we have been fortunate to see and experience.
Unsustainable consumption pattern: What threatens our existence more than anything else is the pace at which we are producing and consuming. The consumption pattern of the world is mindless and pays scant regard to the environment.
Attitude change through mission LiFE: Mission LiFE tries to remind the world that the mindset of “use and throw” must immediately be replaced by “reduce, reuse and recycle” so that our scarce resources are not overexploited, and the world doesn’t crumble under the weight of all the waste that it is generating by the second.
Small efforts big Impact: Mission LiFE is a philosophy which shows how this can be made possible. It shows the power of small efforts to make big impacts. It believes in the individual’s capacity to change the world. It is the mantra to reverse historical and cultural wrongs wrecked upon the environment. Mission LiFE is the call to action for citizens and governments to save the planet.
What are India’s efforts for LiFE?
Environment friendly culture: In India, the cultural ethos of limiting needs and treating the environment and its resources with reverence has produced very visible results. India constitutes 17 per cent of the world’s population, but our contribution to global carbon emissions is only four per cent.
Less carbon footprint per head: Against the developed world’s carbon footprint of four tonnes per head, the carbon footprint of an average Indian counts to only 1.5 tonnes.
Multiple global initiatives: Despite not being part of the problem, with numerous global initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance, the One Sun One World One Grid initiative, and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, India has taken the lead in presenting and building solutions for the world by bringing the global community together.
Focus on collective actions of world community: The need to build these global alliances to fight climate change stems from the understanding that only collective action can save the world from the vagaries of climate change that are increasingly becoming a reality and are rising in ferocity.
Mindful utilization of resources: India offering knowledge from its religious and cultural ethos to the world, Mission LiFE aims to pull the world away from a “mindless and destructive” consumerist approach towards a “mindful and deliberate utilization” of resources. It is also, at the same time, an effort to prevent India from heading that way.
Shift towards sustainable policies: India is already working towards building a circular economy and moving towards a stage where all our energy requirements are met through the use of renewables. Our policies are all aligned towards ensuring sustainable development, where nature is not disregarded for development but where the most marginalized are not left to their destiny by denying them development.
Conclusion
Actions against climate change is not just a fervent hope but an emergent necessity. Through mission LiFE India is trying to portray climate crisis from individual perspective. Mission LiFE has a potential to transform climate change movement into the mass movement.
Mains Question
How Mission LiFE will help in conservation of Environment? Critically analyze the India’s efforts to make LiFE a successful mission?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MSP
Mains level: Issues related to MSP
Context
The CACP recommendations on Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for the mandated six Rabi crops wheat, barley, gram, lentil, rapeseed and mustard, and safflower are arrived by considering several factors.
What is MSP?
MSP is a part of India’s Agriculture Price Policy. The MSP for various crops is announced by the central government at the beginning of every crop season on the recommendation of CACP.
MSP is price at which the government purchases crops from the farmers. It is the guaranteed ‘minimum floor price’ that farmer must get from the government in case the market price of the crops falls below the MSP.
The Rationale behind MSP is to support the farmer from excess fall in the crop prices, it is like an insurance policy for the farmers to save them from price falls.
The most important aim of the MSP policy is to save the Indian farmer from making distress sales. In the event of glut and bumper harvest, when market prices fall below the announced MSP, the government through its agencies buys the entire stock offered by the farmers at the MSP.
What are the factors included in MSP calculation?
Factors taken into consideration are as follows:
Cost of production,
Supply and demand situation of various crops in domestic and global markets,
Domestic and world prices along with trade opportunities,
Terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture sector,
Optimal utilization of land, water and other production resources,
A minimum of 50 per cent mark-up over the cost of production.
Though on the surface the list looks comprehensive, there are two missing concerns given the present-day challenges, necessitating a change in the MSP formula.
Acreage
Water usage
Rising MSP leads to water conflict: There is ample data-based evidence to show the causal relation between acreage and MSP movements. Rising MSPs of water-intensive crops has resulted in some of the water conflicts over river basins as shown by recent studies in the Cauvery and the Teesta River basins.
MSP for rice and wheat: This is also because MSP for rice and wheat, where government agencies like Food Corporation of India play a role in procurement, has created a reference for market prices. Ever since the MSP was introduced in the late 1970s, it became the “floor” price-setter for rice and wheat.
Higher MSP for water consuming cereals: Between 1980 and 2000, the MSPs of rice and wheat increased at a much faster rate than those of the “coarse” cereals (like jowar, bajra and ragi) which eventually led to movement of the terms-of-trade (defined as ratio of prices of competing crops, e.g., rice and millets) in Favour of the water-consuming cereals.
Shifting of High acreage to High MSP crop: This led to acreages moving largely in Favour of water consuming staples, whose crop-water requirements are many times of that of the drier millets. In the case of Cauvery and Teesta, the introduction of dry season paddy and its expansion created reliance on irrigation thereby Fuelling demand for water.
Non promotion of rabi millets: Though the MSP formula claims to take into account land and water use, it needs to be noted here that there is a need for Rabi millets (e.g., ragi) to be promoted through MSPs. This is because the millets are less water-consuming as compared to many other alternatives including wheat. However, there does not seem to be any MSP announced for Rabi millets.
Higher MSP for less water consuming crop is needed: In the process, it will be crucial to take into consideration the estimates of irrigation water need for specific crops, redefine the Rabi basket by including millets, and declare a higher MSP for less water-consuming crops vis-à-vis the high-water consuming crops.
Nutritional security in MSP calculation
Nutritional security is not included in MSP calculation: The other consideration that is missing from the MSP formula is the consideration of the nutritional security. Ideally, the MSP regime should remunerate those crops that have a higher nutritional value per unit of resource use.
Rabi crops are more water efficient: Ragi is the most efficient water user in producing calories. Bajra followed by wheat and ragi are the better performers in terms of water efficiency in producing iron. For the case of fiber, ragi is the most water efficient crop followed by barley and maize demonstrating the same water efficiency.
Rabi crops are nutrition rich: Maize is the most efficient water user in producing carbohydrates with ragi being second and wheat third. With reference to fat production, bajra takes the first position followed by ragi and wheat. Ragi is the best performer in the case of calcium production. Wheat and ragi do equally well with phosphorus production per unit of water at the margin.
Missing MSP estimate: However, so far, the MSP formula has not taken into consideration the health and the nutritional aspect. Irrespective of the season, the nutritional aspect needs to be figured into the MSP recommendations, and more nutritional crops should command higher support prices.
Conclusion
Present MSP regime is biased in Favor of rice and wheat. MSP can be utilized as great tool to achieve crop diversification by incentivizing cultivation of water efficient and nutrition rich millets. India can achieve the regional as well as financial balance in distribution of MSP by proper estimation of MSP and promotion accordingly.
Mains Question
How is MSP calculated? Analyse the linkages of MSP and water conflict and suggest the solution to overcome the water inefficiency by MSP.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: private investment in manufacturing and economic growth
Context
Last month, Finance Minister asked captains of industry what was holding them back from investing in manufacturing. She likened industry to Lord Hanuman from the Ramayana by stating that industry did not realize its own strength and that it should forge ahead with confidence. She said, “This is the time for India, we cannot miss the bus”.
What is present situation of private investment?
Tax cut rate of domestic companies: In the hope of revitalizing private investment, the government had in September 2019 cut the tax rate for domestic companies from 30% to 22% if they stopped availing of any other tax SOP (standard operating procedure).
Weak private investment: Expert says that Indian private sector investment has been weak for almost a decade now. If we look at drivers of economic growth right now, there are amber lights flashing. The export story will be under threat because of the global slowdown, the government’s ability to support domestic demand would also be limited as the fiscal deficit comes down.
Impact of k-shaped recovery: Because of the K-shaped recovery, private consumption is only concentrated in some parts of the income pyramid.
Investment to GDP ratio: As in the June edition of the Ministry of Finance’s Monthly Economic Review, the fixed investment to GDP ratio was 32% in 2021-22. However, there is need for caution in reading the most recent data, as they are subject to revision.
The National Accounts Statistics: It provides disaggregation of gross capital formation (GCF) by sectors, type of assets and modes of financing; over 90% of GCF consists of fixed investments.
No change in investment distribution: The investment distribution has hardly changed over the last decade, with the public sector’s share remaining 20%.
Fall in share of agriculture and industry: Between 2014-15 and 2019-20, the shares of agriculture and industry in fixed capital formation/GDP fell from 7.7% and 33.7% to 6.4% and 32.5%, respectively.
Rise in service sectors: Services’ share rose to 52.3% in 2019-20 compared to 49% in 2014-15.The rise in the services sector is almost entirely on transport and communications. The share of transport has doubled from 6.1% to 12.9% during the same period. Within transportation, it is mostly roads.
Decline in the share of investment: Its share in the investment ratio (column 2.1) fell from 19.2% in 2011-12 to 16.5% in 2019-20. This indicates that ‘Make in India’ failed to take off, import dependence went up, and India became deindustrialised. Import dependence on China is alarming for critical materials such as fertilizers, bulk drugs (active pharmaceutical ingredients or APIs) and capital goods. Instead of boosting investment and domestic technological capabilities, the ‘Make in India’ campaign frittered away time and resources to raise India’s rank in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index.
Decline in foreign capital in GFC: The contribution of foreign capital to financing GCF fell to 2.5% in 2019-20 from 3.8% in 2014-15 (or 11.1% in 2011-12). With declining investment share, industrial output growth rate fell from 13.1% in 2015-16 to a negative 2.4% in 2019-20, as per the National Accounts Statistics.
What is Consumer’s demand situation?
Average Consumer sentiment index: Private companies invest when they are able to estimate profits, and that comes from demand. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) consumer sentiment index is still below pre-pandemic levels but is far higher than what was seen 12-18 months ago.
Buoyant Aggregate demand: RBI’s Monetary policy report dated September 30 says, Data for Q2 (ended Sept) indicate that aggregate demand remained buoyant, supported by the ongoing recovery in private consumption and investment demand. It shows that seasonally adjusted capacity utilization rose to 74.3% in Q1 the highest in the last three years.
High household savings: Along with household savings intentions remaining high, might hold the key to the investment cycle kicking in.
Conclusion
Both public and private investment is necessary for sustainable growth trajectory of any economy. Global uncertainty, Ukraine war, oil prices have added to the skepticism of private investors. However, India’s macroeconomic performance is much better than those of developed and developing economies. Private investors must take these into account before holding back their investment.
Mains Question
Q. What role private investment plays in Indian economy? Analyse the post-pandemic private investment situation in India?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FATF
Mains level: FATF, grey listing and blacklisting, Money laundering and terror financing
Context
On October 21, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, announced the removal of Pakistan from its Grey List. The announcement was expected.
What is FATF?
Inter-governmental organization: The FATF, a 39-member inter-governmental organization with its headquarters in Paris, was set up in 1989 by the Group of Seven (G7) countries with the aim of setting global standards for countering the menace of money laundering.
Terror financing included under FATF mandate: Following the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, the objective of countering the financing of terrorism was added to the FATF’s mandate. Later, its objectives were further expanded to counter the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
How FATF functions?
Three level mandate: The FATF seeks to fulfil its three-pronged mandate by drawing up a list of guidelines. Known as the FATF Recommendations or FATF Standards, these are meant to ensure a coordinated global response to prevent.
organized crime,
corruption and
Terrorism
Domestic plus international regulatory measures: They encompass a range of domestic legislative, regulatory and enforcement actions, as well as international cooperation measures, that states are expected to adopt and implement.
Consensus based decision: The FATF and its associate, or regional, members such as the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) take their decisions on the basis of consensus. More than 200 countries and jurisdictions are committed to implementing the FATF’s recommendations.
Monitoring the adherence to recommendations: The FATF monitors adherence to its recommendations by periodic evaluations of the anti-money laundering (AML), combating financing of terrorism (CFT) and proliferation financing (PF) regimes of member countries and jurisdictions which voluntarily submit to its monitoring.
Strategic deficiencies by countries: Countries which exhibit strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT/PF regimes are placed under a scheme of “increased monitoring” informally known as Grey Listing.
Action plan to address the deficiencies: States placed under the Grey List are expected to swiftly put in place the requisite measures to address their deficiencies on the basis of Action Plans drawn up and evaluated through a process of consultation with the FATF.
Serious strategic deficiency: States that exhibit serious strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT/ PF regimes are placed under a Black List formally known as High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action.
Serious economic consequences may follow: While Grey Listing amounts to a warning, Black Listing entails serious economic consequences by making it incumbent on governments, international lenders and commercial entities to conduct enhanced due diligence checks while transacting business with the designated countries and, in extreme cases, apply “counter-measures” against offenders.
Present status of listing by FATF?
Grey listing: Following the removal of Pakistan, there are 23 countries on the FATF’s Grey List.
Black listing: There are only three countries on the Black List, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar. These listing processes of the FATF are driven predominantly by the pulls and pressures of international power politics and not merely by technical parameters.
How Pakistan has been grilled by FATF for Terror financing?
In 2008 Pakistan removed from listing: Pakistan has been placed in and removed from the Grey List in the past too. The first time was from February, 2008 to June, 2010, when it was removed from the list after it supposedly demonstrated progress in improving its AML/AFT regime.
Mumbai terror attack and grey list: The terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 took place while Pakistan was on the Grey List for the first time. The second time was from February, 2012 to February, 2015, by the end of which period it had supposedly made significant progress in improving its AML/CFT regime.
Osama bin laden killing: The elimination of Osama bin Laden in the American raid on Abbottabad on May 2, 2011 took place after Pakistan’s exit from the Grey List for the first time and before its placement on the list for the second time.
From 2018-2022: Pakistan was placed in the Grey List for the third time in June, 2018 and remained there till October, 2022. During this period, it was compelled to put in place several legislative, administrative and regulatory measures to improve its compliance with international AML/CFT standards.
Action against individual and organisations: In recent years, there has been increasing realisation among FATF members that it is the effectiveness of action taken against individuals and entities of concern rather than pro-forma technical compliance” that should form the basis of judging the extent of adherence to FATF standards.
Conviction of hafiz Saeed: It is this more realistic approach coupled with the implicit threat of being moved from the Grey List to the Black List that finally compelled Pakistan to prosecute, convict, fine and jail, on terrorism financing charges, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) Amir, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, LeT’s chief operational commander, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Sajid Majeed aka Sajid Mir, “operational manager” of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, after having pronounced him missing and dead.
Jaish-e-Mohammed: A disingenuous attempt by Pakistan to persuade a visiting FATF verification team in August-September 2022 that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Amir, Maulana Masood Azhar, had escaped to Afghanistan was strongly countered by a spokesman of the Afghan Taliban.
How Pakistan manages pressure form FATF?
with the support of USA: It is well known that much of the diplomatic heavy lifting to place Pakistan in the Grey List in June 2018 and keep it on the list for an extended period of time was done by the US. There had been a feeling among those following developments at the FATF that American pressure on Pakistan would continue till such time as the US needed Pakistan to bring the Afghan Taliban to the negotiating table and once the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was completed, the pressure on Pakistan would ease. Subsequent developments have validated this assessment.
Help of China and turkey: Although the threat of being moved from the Grey List to the Blacklist remained hanging over Pakistan’s head, this was never a realistic possibility, considering the likely opposition to any such move by Pakistan’s staunch friends in the FATF, such as China, Malaysia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia
Conclusion
India will have to continue mustering all available instruments and options to deny Pakistan operating space to wield the jihadi weapon, till such time as there is convincing evidence of a consensus among the generals in Rawalpindi that the weapon has outlived its utility and needs to be renounced once and for all.
Mains Question
How FATF is useful international forum for fight against terrorism? How was Pakistan forced by FATF to take actions against mastermind of 26/11 attack?
op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Promoting Hindi language and associated issues
Context
The unveiling of the Hindi editions of the first professional MBBS books by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Bhopal has stirred anti-Hindi agitations, with the Opposition, especially in the South, contending that the move is nothing more than a poll gimmick.
Example of Non-English countries: Supporters of the move are quoting examples from China, Japan, Ukraine, Russia, and Norway – countries where official languages are the sole medium of instruction in all the technical and non-technical courses.
Education in mother tongue is effective: If they can do so, why can’t we, they argue, especially as it is an established fact that imparting education in a student’s mother tongue is effective for learning.
Why English is best medium of English education?
Teaching in local plus English language: Fifty-two medical colleges, out of the total 170 colleges on mainland China, whose graduates can attempt the USMLE (the entrance exam to practice in the US), teach in both Chinese and English. There has been a steep rise in the number of parents interested in enrolling their children – at just three years old – in ESL (English as a Second Language) courses.
Less resources in Hindi: It is unwise to compare the status of Hindi to Chinese or German, given India’s diversity. Moreover, Hindi, or any other vernacular language, for that matter, offers far fewer resources to support the job-seeking young populace. Learning English, therefore, comes with a promise of roti, kapda, makaan (food, clothes, shelter.)
Higher demand for English Medium: A few years ago, when newspapers reported on the closing down of government schools in Tamil Nadu, one of the major reasons cited was parents’ preoccupation with English-medium schools – leading them to deny free cash and food and admit their kids to low-end, mediocre English schools, instead.
English is a great leveller: When it comes to higher education, English is a great leveller, allowing dialogue to continue with the rest of the world. Medicine, as evidence-based as it is, is constantly evolving with the introduction of novel research. Treating cases sometimes requires consulting multiple books, research papers, and journal articles, for which a sound system of translation needs to be established before we can even begin thinking about phasing out English.
Issue of Translation: The people involved in the translation process spoke of two things, First, instead of “translation”, the books have been transliterated. The medical terminology remains the same; sentences have only been translated for easier reading. That too, in the most mainstream dialect of Hindi. Second, these books are to be used as “bridge books”, and not as replacements for the English ones, designed to address the initial hiccups students are bound to face.
No clarity on roadmap: The initial announcement also fails to account for the necessary infrastructure. There has been no clarity on whether or how these translations will be incorporated as reading materials, and how they will evolve or change with time. Whether standard books like Harrison and Robbins would also be translated is anyone’s guess. Translating these tomes only once would not suffice as newer editions every three to five years incorporate significant changes.
Training of teachers and conferences: Professors and other teaching staff would also need to be trained. Most of all, what about medical conferences, the staple of a medical student? Would they be organised in Hindi moving forward?
Our medical industry is yet to develop: While basing our argument only on language, we often forget that Chinese healthcare is self-sufficient when it comes to research and protocols, or that Germany has primary resources available in their own language. Our focus right now should be to develop primary resources. Our medical industry is at way too nascent a stage to be speaking of language.
Conclusion
Offering extra evening classes as done by AIIMS, Delhi could have been a better substitute given that the strength of students who struggle with English makes up about one to two per cent of the entire batch. Besides, no strict distinction exists between Hindi and non-Hindi-speaking states as most institutions have a portion of seats that are filled up by a pan-India entrance exam. Our focus should be on quality of education instead of medium of instruction.
Mains Question
Q. Medical education in English is more viable than local language. Explain. Why Government of India Supports the Medical education in Hindi?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Rising oil prices and its effects on Economy
Context
The two major irritants for India this year have been oil and the dollar. The two are a heady cocktail that has distorted all economic forecasts creating volatility that has never been witnessed earlier. Their impact is being felt across bond and stock markets, affecting the entire system. As a result, the RBI and the government have had to work overtime to mitigate the adverse effects on the economy.
Unpredictable Prices: When the Ukraine war broke out, oil crossed the $120 mark (in April and again in June). It was expected that $150 was not far off. However, the range of $100-110 was restored and soon enough the price was back to the Nineties as all global commodity prices cooled off, even as the Ukraine war continued.
Rising requirement of Europe: With the winter months approaching and Europe dependent on natural gas for heating, which now appears to be in jeopardy due to Russia turning off the taps, oil has received a boost even though the continent is looking more at coal.
Reduction in production by OPEC: Add to this the fact that OPEC and its allies have decided to lower production by 2 million barrels a day and there is panic again. This shock is external over which neither the government nor RBI have any control.
Growing Import Bills: High oil prices mean many things. Crude has a share of 30-33 per cent in total imports and any hike in prices increases the import bill. With exports declining due to the slowdown in global growth and imports increasing due to oil, the trade deficit and current account deficit will widen further. The trade deficit for the first half is $150 billion and can touch $300 billion this year at this strike rate.
Possibility of Balance of Payment: This creates a problem for the current account deficit with components like software and remittances slowing down due to the recession in the west. Therefore, a balance of payments problem will surface. Ultimately it depends on how high oil will go. The RBI has assumed a $100/barrel. This looks reasonable at this point, but anything higher can create problems on the currency front.
Increasing Inflation: Inflation per se will be an issue when prices are left to the market like ATF or LPG. But in the case of petrol and diesel, it will be a conundrum for the government. If the status quo prevails on price transmission, then oil marketing companies will have to bear the losses. If the government allows the market to correct, inflation will increase as it will also feed into intermediary costs such as freight.
Higher input cost: User industries of oil like chemicals, plastics and fertilizers will face a problem again. Higher input costs will put pressure on profit margins and any pass through will be inflationary.
Windfall tax may increase: The government would probably once again revisit the windfall tax on crude (as has been recently done) to examine if there is any additional revenue to be garnered. Such an environment always tends to spook markets.
Rising bond yields: Bond yields move up every time oil prices rise while stock markets turn volatile normally in the downward direction.
How rising dollar prices affects India?
Rupee is weakening: There is the dollar conundrum which should be seen in conjunction with the oil. The dollar has been strengthening against all currencies. As the Fed tightens rates, which will carry on through 2023, the dollar will become stronger. Other countries are already in a weak economic zone and are tightening rates with a lag. The rupee is bearing the brunt of this development. There is no escape as the RBI intervention in any form can only temporarily support the decline in the rupee. In the last month or so, since the rupee crossed the 80 mark and gone past 83.
Negative sentiment of market: Another factor that will complicate matters is expectations. The recent news, for example, of global players deciding not to include Indian bonds in global indices might add to the negative sentiment in the market and exert pressure on the rupee.
Imported inflation: The rupee depreciation also leads to importing inflation. All goods imported will come in at a higher rupee cost which will in turn push the RBI to act further.
Less possibility of high export: The weak rupee may not quite help exports because the competitive advantage that normally comes along with such depreciation would be low given that other currencies are also declining.
Trade deficit will rise: Imports are unlikely to slow down as a growing economy requires inputs and raw materials. This will mean further pressure on the trade deficit. The government will gain at the margin as customs collections increase.
Volatile investors: The critical reaction will be that of investors. If foreign portfolio investors withdraw then there will be further pressure on the rupee while inflows would help to cushion the rupee.
Centre may lose on revenue: State governments will be better off as their VAT collections would increase automatically. However, the Centre may not gain as the excise duty is a fixed rate.
Conclusion
One can never tell as almost all forecasters have been proved wrong this year. The theory that RBI can intervene and protect certain levels of currency has its limitations. These travails have to be responded to as they cannot be controlled.
Mains Question
Q. How rising dollar and oil prices affects the macroeconomic stability in India? What are the steps taken by RBI and GOI to manage the macroeconomic stability?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CBG
Mains level: Stubble burning, air pollution and solutions, CBG
Context
The beginnings of a renewable energy revolution rooted in agriculture are taking shape in India with the first bio-energy plant of a private company in Sangrur district of Punjab having commenced commercial operations on October 18. It will produce Compressed Biogas (CBG) from paddy straw, thus converting agricultural waste into wealth.
Background
Stubble burning every year in north and northwest: It has become common practice among farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh to dispose of paddy stubble and the biomass by setting it on fire to prepare fields for the next crop, which has to be sown in a window of three to four weeks. This is spread over millions of hectares.
Resultant smog polluting environment: The resultant clouds of smoke engulf the entire National Capital Territory of Delhi and neighbouring States for several weeks between October to December. This plays havoc with the environment and affects human and livestock health.
Stubble burning practice spreading rapidly across the country: Though paddy stubble burning in northwest India has received a lot of attention because of its severity of pollution, the reality is that crop residue burning is spreading even to rabi crops and the rest of the country. Unless these practices are stopped, the problem will assume catastrophic proportions.
What is Stubble Burning?
Stubble (parali) burning is a method of removing paddy crop residues from the field to sow wheat from the last week of September to November.
It is usually required in areas that use the combined harvesting method which leaves crop residue behind.
This practice mostly carried out in Punjab, Haryana and UP contributes solely to the grave winter pollution in the national capital.
How stubble burning impacts environment and Human health?
Deteriorates air quality: The process of burning farm residue is one of the major causes of air pollution in parts of north India, deteriorating the air quality.
Source of various harmful gases: Stubble burning is a significant source of carbon dioxide (CO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrocarbons (HC).
Air Pollution: Stubble burning emits toxic pollutants in the atmosphere containing harmful gases like Carbon Monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOC). These pollutants disperse in the surroundings and eventually affect air quality and people’s health by forming a thick blanket of smog. Along with vehicular emissions, it affects the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital and NCR.
Soil degradation: Soil becomes less fertile and its nutrients are destroyed when the husk is burned on the ground. Organic content of soil is completely destroyed. Stubble burning generates heat that penetrates into the soil, causing an increase in erosion, loss of useful microbes and moisture.
Some of the measures taken by Government for the effective prevention and control of stubble burning
The Commission for Air Quality Management: The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had developed a framework and action plan for the effective prevention and control of stubble burning,
In-situ management: The framework/action plan includes in-situ management, i.e., incorporation of paddy straw and stubble in the soil using heavily subsidized machinery (supported by crop residue management (CRM) Scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare).
Ex-situ management: Ex-situ CRM efforts include the use of paddy straw for biomass power projects and co-firing in thermal power plants, and as feedstock for 2G ethanol plants, feed stock in CBG plants, fuel in industrial boilers, waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, and in packaging materials, etc.
Awareness generation programme: Additionally, measures are in place to ban stubble burning, to monitor and enforce this, and initiating awareness generation.
Project by NITI Aayog along with FAO: NITI Aayog approached FAO India in 2019 to explore converting paddy straw and stubble into energy and identify possible ex-situ uses of rice straw to complement the in-situ programme.
Rice straw for producing CBG: A techno-economic assessment of energy technologies suggested that rice straw can be cost-effective for producing CBG and pellets. Pellets can be used in thermal power plants as a substitute of coal and CBG as a transport fuel.
SATAT initiative: With 30% of the rice straw produced in Punjab, a 5% CBG production target set by the Government of India scheme, “Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT)” can be met. It could also increase local entrepreneurship, increase farmers’ income and reduce open burning of rice straw.
Encouraging private players to produce CBG more and reduce CO2 emissions: Verbio India Private Limited, a 100% subsidiary of the German Verbio AG, got approval from the Punjab government in April 2018 to set up a bio-CNG project that will utilise about 2.1 lakh tonnes of a total of 18.32 million tonnes of paddy straw annually. The plant will use one lakh tonnes of paddy straw produced from approximately 16,000 hectares of paddy fields. Paddy residue will be collected from this year to produce 33 tons of CBG and 600-650 tonnes of fermented organic manure/slurry per day this will reduce up to 1.5 lakh tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
FAO Study on developing crop residue supply chain
Use of Rice straw: In technical consultations with the public and private sectors, the FAO published its study on developing a crop residue supply chain in Punjab that can allow the collection, storage and final use of rice straw for other productive services, specifically for the production of renewable energy.
Required Investment and benefits farmers: The results suggest that to mobilise 30% of the rice straw produced in Punjab, an investment of around ₹2,201 crore ($309 million) would be needed to collect, transport and store it within a 20-day period. This would reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 9.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent and around 66,000 tonnes of PM2.5. Further, depending on market conditions, farmers can expect to earn between ₹550 and ₹1,500 per ton of rice straw sold, depending on market conditions.
Interesting to read: Compressed Bio Gas (CBG)
Biogas is produced naturally through a process of anaerobic decomposition from waste / bio-mass sources like agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc.
After purification, it is compressed and called CBG, which has a pure methane content of over 95%.
CBG is exactly similar to the commercially available natural gas in its composition and energy potential.
With calorific value (~52,000 KJ/kg) and other properties similar to CNG, CBG can be used as an alternative, renewable automotive fuel.
Given the abundance of biomass in the country, CBG has the potential to replace CNG in automotive, industrial and commercial uses in the coming years.
Conclusion
Encouraging private players for producing CBG appears to be a first win-win initiative in the form of environmental benefits, renewable energy, value addition to the economy, farmers’ income and sustainability. This initiative is replicable and scalable across the country and can be a game changer for the rural economy.
Mains Question
Q. What is Stubble burning? Discuss the measures taken by Government for the effective prevention and control of stubble burning and producing CBG could be a win-win situation.
Context
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