From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vande Bharat project
Mains level: Vande Bharat, issues with the railways infrastructure
Context
When the Prime Minister inaugurated the latest edition of the Vande Bharat train recently, India made a huge leap into the future of mass transportation. The new Vande Bharat Express trains or Vande Bharat 2.0 are expected to usher in an era of faster, safer and more comfortable rail travel for passengers.
The Vande Bharat Express is a semi-high-speed, electric multiple unit train previously known as Train 18
It is designed, built by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) under the Make in India Initiative
Vande bharat running on 5 routes as of November 2022.
The first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off on February 15, 2019, on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route.
All the coaches are equipped with automatic doors, GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system, onboard hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, and comfortable seats.
Vande bharat running on 5 routes as of November 2022.
Indian Railways hopes to roll out another 25 Vande Bharat train sets by the end of March 2023.
Railways plans to roll out 75 Vande Bharat trains by Independence Day next year
What is Vande Bharat 2.0?
The name may be the same, but this train, the third in the Vande Bharat series, is being dubbed âVande Bharat 2.0â, because of certain upgrades it has received over its predecessors.
What are the notable upgrades and newly added features in 2.0?
Faster and lighter than the previous: This train reaches a top speed of 160 km per hour in 129 seconds, around 16 seconds faster than its predecessor. This is because this train weighs around 392 tonnes, 38 tonnes lighter than the last one, and needs to run almost a km less to attain its top speed.
Improved on Riding Index: It also has a better riding index (lower the better) of 3.26 at 180 km per hour, from the earlier 3.87. At a standard speed of 115 km per, its riding index is 3.26, better than 3.62 attained at the same speed by the earlier. In laymanâs terms, Riding index is a global benchmark to calculate how comfortable and steady the passenger is while the train is in motion.
Fitted with automatic anti-collision system âKavachâ: In terms of safety features, the new train comes fitted with the automatic anti-collision system Kavach, which the previous trains did not have.
Improved on safety features: Coaches have disaster lights and their battery backup increased from the last oneâs one-hour battery backup. The exterior has eight flatform-side cameras, up from four.
Passenger communication facility: There is a passenger-guard communication facility in coaches, which comes with automatic voice recording feature.
Making it flood resilient: The new trainset is higher, making it safe from floods up to 650 mm, up from 400 mm.
Better quality streaming of audio-visual information with improved network: A centralised coach monitoring system, another new addition, through CCTV cameras, and the internal network supports data at 1 gigabyte per second, This means better quality streaming of audio-visual information.
Air purification system: The internal air is filtered through photo catalytic ultra violet air purification system with UV lamp which deactivates 99 per cent of germs, the Railways claims something the earlier trainsets did not have.
Onboard infotainment: It also has a wifi-enabled onboard infotainment system and the LCD display in each coach is now 32 inches, up from the 24-inch screen.
Challenges to the modern railway infrastructure
Tracks are not in sync with the modern age trains: This new-age train slammed head-on into the âold-ageâ country on at least two occasions in its very first week. The train crashed into a herd of cows, damaging the aircraft-like nose of the driver coach car.
Poor fencing along the tracks: The railways built a new-age train but forgot to construct fencing along the tracks to prevent bovine collisions.
Issues with the battery charging units: Occasional Failure in the battery charging mechanism due to a fault in the charging cable as well as tripping of a circuit breaker needs to addressed.
Technical glitches in the alerting software system: Failure to alert the technical glitches in the functioning of the system creating problems and adding up to malfunctioning.
Conclusion
A senior railway official proudly detailed the âsuperiorâ features of the Vande Bharat train, which would provide passengers with an âaircraft-like travelling experienceâ albeit, even quieter than an aircraft, also testified by the Prime Minister But these superior features need superior and resilient infrastructure to achieve the target.
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: Office of governor, appointment and associated facts.
Mains level: Issues with the office of the governor
Context
With the rise in instances of tension, and even standoffs, between State governments and Governors, there is once again a debate on the role of the Raj Bhavan and conduct of Governors, the relation of Governors with the Centre and State government, and whether Chief Ministers should have a say in the appointment of Governors in their respective States.
Nominal Head of the government: These powers are exercised by the council of ministers in the name of Governor. Hence Governor is only nominal head and council of ministers is the real executive.
Head of the state: He is the constitutional head of the state who appoints the leader of majority party as chief minister. He can seek any information from the chief minister. He appoints the advocate general, chairman and members of the respective state public commission.
Can recommend the emergency: He can recommend the imposition of constitutional emergency in a state to the President. During the period of Presidentâs rule in a state, the governor enjoys extensive executive powers as an agent of the President.
Legislative Powers:
He is part of state legislative.
No bill can become a law until the governor signs it.
He can withhold a bill and send it to the President for consideration.
He can dissolve the State Assembly before the expiry of its term on the advice of the Chief Minister or as directed by the President.
He causes the annual Budget to be presented in the Vidhan Sabha.
Judicial Powers:
The governor appoints the district judges.
He is consulted in the appointment of the judges of the High Court by the President
He can, pardon, remit and commute the sentence of a person convicted by a state court.
Financial Powers:
He causes the annual budget to be laid before the Vidhan Sabha;
No money bill can be introduced without his prior approval.
Discretionary Powers:
Selection of CM: If no party gets an absolute majority, the Governor can use his discretion in the selection of the Chief Minister;
Real executive of state: During an emergency he can override the advice of the council of ministers. At such times, he acts as an agent of the President and becomes the real ruler of the state;
Report to president: He uses his direction in submitting a report to the President regarding the affairs of the state; and
Withhold the assent: He can withhold his assent to a bill and send it to the President for his approval.
Sarkaria commission’s recommendation on the role of governor
Chief minister should be involved in appointment: The powers of the President in the matter of selection and appointment of Governors should not be diluted. However, the Governor of a State should be appointed by the President only after consultation with the Chief Minister of that State. Normally the five-year term should be adhered to and removal or transfer should be by following a similar procedure as for appointment i.e., after consultation with the Chief Minister of the concerned State.
Governor should convey assent or dissent in time: There should be a time-limit say a period of six months within which the Governor should take a decision whether to grant assent or to reserve a Bill for consideration of the President. If the Bill is reserved for consideration of the President, there should be a time-limit, say of three months, within which the President should take a decision whether to accord his assent or to direct the Governor to return it to the State Legislature or to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the Act under article 143.
Additional suggestions by NCRWC
Committee to appoint the governor: National commission to review the Working of the constitution (NCRWC) recommendations were similar to that of Sarkaria commission. NCRWC has suggested that a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Minister of the state in question shall nominate the Governor.
Know the basics: Present constitutional arrangement
The Governor of a State is appointed by the President for a term of five years and holds office during his pleasure.
Only Indian citizens above 35 years of age are eligible for appointment to this office.
What is the expertâs opinion?
Vice-president should be involved: Total composition of the committee is of the ruling party at the Centre. It should be the Vice-President, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition, and maybe the Chief Minister of the State.
Governor should be above the chief minister: Getting the Chief Minister involved in the process of selection is not right. The Governor cannot be made to feel that the Chief Minister was one of those responsible for his selection; the Governor has to be above the Chief Minister, be independent, be able to function in a nonpartisan manner, and not be beholden to the ruling party or to the Chief Minister.
Minimum qualification to be the governor: we have no criteria, no minimum qualifications laid out for a Governor. These are often retirement perks or rewards for unstinting loyalty to a particular party. Governors cannot be called before a court of law. These are things which have to be kept in mind.
A guide to chief minister: The Governor is supposed to be a friend, philosopher and guide, helping from the back, sorting out issues and resolving disputes, even between political parties. The Governor has to at times advise the Centre on what is happening and what needs to be done. That brings the Centre and the State together.
Conclusion
Governorsâ role is always in contestation when Centre and state have different government. Governor is a political appointee for political purpose. However, governor should respect the constitutional post he holds and perform his duties and responsibilities without any biases and affiliations.
Mains Question
Q. What actions of governors undermines his constitutional position? What are the recommendations of Sarkaria commissions regarding the governorâs office?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: World wars and Indian Soldiers in World wars
Context
On the eleventh hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the guns fell silent over Europe, bringing an end to a brutal first world war that drew in soldiers and contributions from around the world. Indian soldiers and their contribution are not widely recognized in India.
Background of Indian involvement World War II
Fight against Fascism: Two conflicts and a reticence Indian reticence over these two conflicts arises from the uneasy relationship between the Indian contribution to fighting fascism on a global stage and the nationalist movement for freedom at home.
Betrayal of nationalistic expectation: The success of the first is seen to have come at the cost of the second. It began with the betrayal of nationalist expectations of greater autonomy for India in return for support during the Great War.
No consultation with Indian leaders: This was compounded by the bitterness of Viceroy Lord Linlithgow declaring war on Germany on Indiaâs behalf in 1939 without consulting Indian leaders, and further roiled by the pitting of Indian against Indian when Netaji Subhas Chandra Boseâs Indian National Army sided with the Axis Powers in the hope that this might bring freedom.
Fighting for India and for World: But the failure of Indian independence to follow automatically from Indiaâs participation in the wars does not mean that the war efforts extended colonial rule, or were all about protecting Britain: there was fighting on Indian soil to defend India.
What is Indian soldiers role in World War II
Support of nationalist leaders: Almost 1.5 million men volunteered to fight in the Great War. Indians mobilized four days after Britain declared war on Germany, with the support of nationalist leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi.
War in Europe, Asia and Africa: Indians fought with valor and distinction in the trenches of Europe, West Asia and North Africa, earning 11 Victoria Crosses along the way. Of those men, about 74,000 never came home.
Largest volunteer for war: India raised the largest ever volunteer army, of 2.5 million, for the Second World War. More than 87,000 of those men are cremated or buried in war cemeteries around the world and in India.
Thirty-one Victoria Crosses: 15 % of the total Victoria crosses went to soldiers from undivided India. Without Indian soldiers, non-combatant labourers, material and money, the course of both conflicts would have been very different as acknowledged by Field Marshal Auchinleck, Britainâs last Commander-in-Chief of the Indian.
Indian soldiers are honored by Britain: In Britain, the contribution of the Commonwealth including the Indian subcontinent is memorialized in the Commonwealth Memorial Gates that lead up to Buckingham Palace. The Gates commemorate the campaigns where Commonwealth soldiers served with distinction; there is also a canopy inscribed with the names of the Commonwealth recipients of the George and Victoria Crosses.
Indian soldiers fought the Britainâs war: Much of Indiaâs recent history is encapsulated in these gates, in a spirit of gratitude and equality. Britain, after all, has much to be grateful for, but Indians seem less keen to acknowledge this. British perfidy, however, does not in any way reduce the sacrifices of those who fought for freedom. Those who went abroad to fight alongside white British soldiers returned with the knowledge that they were equal to their colonial masters. In not recognizing and honoring this, we push those men back into colonial subjugation.
Britain betrayed the hopes of freedom: Some of this ambivalence owes itself to the atrocities of colonial history, which must be acknowledged too. Britain may have handed out 11 Victoria Crosses over the course of the First World War, but it betrayed the hopes of nationalists with the imposition of martial law after the war ended, culminating in the horror of Jallianwala Bagh in April 1919.
Does India fought the war for its own sake?
Indian fought the Japanese: These were not just European wars to defend foreign lands. India was threatened in the Second World War by advancing Japanese forces who got as far as Burma/Myanmar. They were repulsed in the battles of Imphal and Kohima between March and July 1944. These were brutal battles. In Kohima, the two sides were at one point separated by the width of a tennis court. A Commonwealth cemetery on Garrison Hill, Kohima, contains this epitaph (by John Maxwell Edmonds): âWhen You Go Home, Tell Them of Us, and Say/For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Todayâ.
Ultimate sacrifice for Indiaâs freedom: The memory of the almost 10 million battlefield deaths in the First World War and the 15 million or more who were killed fighting the Second World War is now honored in countries around the world on November 11, with nationwide silences and the laying of wreaths. Not so much in India apart from in Army cantonments and at the British Consulate in Kolkata even though over 1,61,000 men made the ultimate sacrifice for Indiaâs freedom.
Conclusion
Seventy-five years after Independence, it is time to honor Indiaâs immense contribution to the world wars and move it from a footnote in another countryâs history to the main stage, where it belongs. These were Indiaâs wars too.
Mains Question
Q. What role the Indian soldier played in Second world War? What are the issues regarding non recognition of contribution of Indian soldiers in world wars?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Impact of Pandemic on vulnerable sections of the society
Context
SC/ST and OBC have been impacted disproportionately by the pandemic as various social indicators shows vulnerabilities of this communities.
Impact of pandemic on education
On the one hand, with policies mandating the promotion of students, promotion rates at the secondary school level rose significantly and repetition rates nosedived during the pandemic years (2020-21 and 2021-22).
On the other, the inability to attend physical school and the lack of access to digital education caused a massive drop in learning levels after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Increasing promotion rate: Notably, the promotion rate among Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students increased sharply after the outbreak. The promotion rate among Other Backward Classes (OBC) students continued to rise unabated.
Repetition rate declining: The repetition rates too drastically came down in the pandemic years with some 1% students repeating their class across all communities. Notably, the gap in the repetition rate between SC/ST students and general category students declined greatly after the outbreak.
Declining learning outcomes: While the promotion rate surged and the repetition rate declined, the marks scored by school students in National Achievement Survey (NAS) exams dropped significantly across classes and in most subjects.
Disproportionate impact: There is a disproportionately greater impact on SC and ST students as their learning outcomes reduced the most while their promotion rates saw the highest degree of rise among all the communities.
Impact on livelihood of vulnerable sections of the society
High job loss probability: The researchers found that compared to workers from upper castes, the probability of job loss was three times higher for those who are SC and two times higher for OBC workers.
Comparatively higher unemployment: In December 2019, 39% of upper caste workers were employed and by April 2020, the percentage had dropped to 32%. The fall was more pronounced for SC workers, 44% of whom were employed in December 2019, but only 24% were employed in April 2020. For OBCs and STs the fall was from 40% to 26% and 48% to 33%, respectively.
Poor education poor Opportunities: According to researchers, the upper castes are endowed with higher human capital, i.e. educational achievement, and are in jobs less vulnerable to pandemic disruption. What is surprising is that the impact on scheduled caste is three times worse. Not only has the pandemic exposed the pre-existing inequities but has amplified them.
How women are affected due to the pandemic?
Effect on mental health: Women in low-caste women may be at a greater risk for worse mental health outcomes and higher perceived loneliness relative to high-caste women.
Social exclusion and job losses: Prior research has found that low-caste women have been found to experience greater social exclusion greater job loss and greater barriers to healthcare and thus may experience both worse mental health and higher loneliness.
Rising loneliness: Women in SC/ST and OBC groups will experience worse mental health, and higher perceived loneliness relative to women in the general caste group. We expect that this difference will be robust even when accounting for sociodemographic factors.
Victims of systemic disadvantage: Women in general and women of weaker sections in particular, are victims of multiple systemic disadvantages, which exacerbated during the pandemic. Rural women, especially the female wage workers, endured greater socio-economic difficulties as their livelihood opportunities were abruptly halted by the lockdown.
Visible gendered impact of pandemic: There is nothing natural in the gendered impact of pandemic, but the social norms and behaviour put them at greater risks due to unequal gender preference that is inbuilt in the social structure and culture.
Conclusion
Pandemic have disproportionately affected the Indian society. Whether it is access to healthcare or vaccination SC, ST and OBC had a disadvantage. Lot of studies and research have assessed the caste specific impact of coronavirus and projected the dismal state of vulnerable groups. Government must look all these data while drafting the future policies for vulnerable communities.
Mains Question
Q. Analyze the learning outcome of SC/ST students after the pandemic. Assess the impact of pandemic on women belonging to SC, ST and OBC community.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pollution related facts
Mains level: Air and Water pollution, Impact on health and measures
Context
More than 1,10,000 infants are likely to have been killed by air pollution in India in 2019, almost immediately after being born while long-term exposure to outdoor and household air pollution was estimated to be responsible for about 1.67 million annual deaths amongst the adult population in the country.
What is pollution?
Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land.
Demands for air purifiers: Demand for air purifiers has boomed. Recently, in Delhi, pollution-related curbs were lifted and schools opened, despite air quality continuing to be in the âvery poorâ category.
Health related problems: For the majority of urban north Indians who canât afford air purifiers, life continues amidst dust, cough and breathlessness.
Children are most affected: Our children in urban localities are growing up with stunted lungs, amidst poverty.
High percentage of respiratory problems: Eighty per cent of all families in Delhi are noted to be suffering respiratory ailments due to severe pollution.
How we can reduce the air pollution?
Expand green cover across urban areas to reduce dust pollution: Ahmedabadâs municipal corporation, for instance, has experimented with urban forests, with the cityâs 43rd urban forest inaugurated in June 2021 over 20,000 trees have been in 7,625 sq. metres. Chandigarh has about 1,800 parks. Close to 46 per cent of the city was classified as a green area in 2019.
Use of Miyawaki technique: Civil society could also help in Chennai, the NGO Thuvakkam, with a volunteer force of 1,800, has been able to grow 25 Miyawaki forests, raising over 65,000 trees. Such plantations are now being replicated in other cities including Tuticorin, Vellore and Kanchipuram.
Push for airshed management: With a focus on understanding meteorological, seasonal and geographic patterns for air quality across a large region. In the US, the passage of the Air Quality Act (1967) saw the state of California being divided into 35 districts which had similar geographic and meteorological conditions and pollution was regulated at the state level. This approach was successful in reducing emissions by 98 per cent from 2010 to 2019.
Heavy penalty on polluting cars: Inspiration can also be taken from Londonâs air pollution revolution an Ultra-Low Emission zone has been established in Central London, with hefty daily fees on cars that emit more than 75g/km of pollution.
Water pollution in Indian cities
Untreated water into freshwater bodies: 72 per cent of urban sewage is untreated in Indiaâs urban freshwater bodies. The Central Pollution Control Board reckons that more than 50 per cent of 351 river stretches (on 323 rivers) are polluted. Over 4,000 septic trucks (with each truck having 5,000 litres of human waste) dispose of their waste in the Ganga every day. In Delhi, about 941 MLPD of raw sewage finds its way to the river, killing off fish and preventing rituals on the banks.
Riverine Pollution: Riverine pollution causes due to raw sewage overflowing from sewage treatment plants, untreated waste from unauthorized colonies, industrial effluents, sewer water from authorized colonies and inter-state pollution.
Water scarcity: More than 40 per cent of Indians are expected to face water scarcity by 2050 and close to 35 million will face annual coastal flooding with sea level rise.
Lack of planning: Apathy prevails as of May 2021, only 16 Indian cities had disclosed their plans to tackle climate change to international institutions, with only eight having actual sustainability-related targets in their urban master plans. Only 43 per cent of all Indian cities surveyed actually sought to address climate change adaption as a topic in their master plans, while only five had a GHG emission reduction target.
Do you know this harsh reality?
In India, nearly 7 lakh premature deaths are attributed to water pollution
Globally, 1.5 million children under five years die each year as a result of water-related diseases.
How to fight water pollution?
Improving sewage treatment plant capacity: ensuring linkages with the drainage network. Mangaloreâs City Corporation (MCC) has wastewater treatment plants with end-user linkages. The MCC offered to supply treated water to such industrial end-users in the cityâs special economic zone if the latter agreed to fund about 70 per cent of the operations and maintenance cost of the pumps and the sewage treatment plant.
Developing a sanitation network: The problem of untreated waste and sewer water from unauthorized colonies can be solved by investing in a sewerage network. Consider the example of Alandur, a small suburb of Chennai in 2000, it had no underground sewage lines, with most houses dependent on septic tanks. In the late 1990s, the local municipality in partnership with local resident welfare associations conducted collection drives to gain deposits (ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500) for developing a sanitation network.
Pump house: The project was launched with a push for creating a pump house, setting up over 5,650 manholes and providing sewerage connections to 23,700 households, a sewage treatment plant with a 12 MLD capacity was also set up. Going forward, many other municipalities in Tamil Nadu have sought to adopt this model.
A systems-based approach should be adopted: along with a push for protecting âblue infraâ areas places that act as natural sponges for absorbing surface runoff, allowing groundwater to be recharged. At the household level, we can encourage citizens to take up rainwater harvesting, urban roof terrace greening, urban roof water retention tanks and having a green corridor around residential buildings.
Water permeable roads: Municipalities could be encouraged to make existing roads permeable with a push for green landscaping and rain gardens. At the city level and beyond, policymakers should push for âsponge citiesâ and incorporate disaster planning. A mindset shift, in citizenry and policymakers, is urgently needed.
Conclusion
Urban planning and urban pollution are largely neglected in our governance model. Unplanned cities are facing the various problems. We must embrace the technology to fight the pollution in urban India.
Mains Question
How severe is the problem of Urban pollution? What steps can be taken to fight the urban pollution in India?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: New developments related to regulation of social media
Mains level: social media advantages and challenges
Context
Recently Facebook, one of the social media giant set up the Oversight Board, an independent body, which scrutinizes its âcontent moderationâ practices.
What are the IT rules of 2021?
Regulating social media intermediaries (SMIs): 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 recent 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.
Moderation of content by platforms: Social media platforms regularly manage user content on their website. They remove, priorities or suspend user accounts that violate the terms and conditions of their platforms.
Excessive power in governmentâs hands: In todayâs online environment, however, the existing government control on online speech is unsustainable. Social media now has millions of users. Platforms have democratized public participation, and shape public discourse.
Platforms of democratic freedom: As such, large platforms have a substantial bearing on core democratic freedoms.
Hate speech on internet: Further, with the increasing reach of the Internet, its potential harms have also increased. There is more illegal and harmful content online today.
Disinformation campaigns: On social media during COVID19 and hate speech against the Rohingya in Myanmar are recent examples.
What could be the balanced approach between free speech and regulation?
Government orders must be respected: Government orders to remove content must not only be necessary and proportionate, but must also comply with due process.
Example of DSA: The recent European Union (EU) Digital Services Act (DSA) is a good reference point. The DSA regulates intermediary liability in the EU. It requires government takedown orders to be proportionate and reasoned.
Platforms can challenge the governments order: The DSA also gives intermediaries an opportunity to challenge the governmentâs decision to block content and defend themselves. These processes will strongly secure free speech of online users. Most importantly, an intermediary law must devolve crucial social media content moderation decisions at the platform level.
An idea of co-regulation: Platforms must have the responsibility to regulate content under broad government guidelines. Instituting such a coregulatory framework will serve three functions.
Platforms will retain reasonable autonomy over their terms of service: Coregulation will give them the flexibility to define the evolving standards of harmful content, thereby obviating the need for strict government mandates. This will promote free speech online because government oversight incentivizes platforms to engage in private censorship. Private censorship creates a chilling effect on user speech. In turn, it also scuttles online innovation, which is the backbone of the digital economy.
Coregulation aligns government and platform interests: Online platforms themselves seek to promote platform speech and security so that their users have a free and safe experience. For instance, during the pandemic, platforms took varied measures to tackle disinformation. Incentivizing platforms to act as Good Samaritans will build healthy online environments.
Outsourcing the content regulation: instituting coregulatory mechanisms allows the state to outsource content regulation to platforms, which are better equipped to tackle modern content moderation challenges.
Platforms must follow the due process of law: Platforms as content moderators have substantial control over the free speech rights of users. Whenever platforms remove content, or redress user grievance, their decisions must follow due process and be proportionate. They must adopt processes such as notice, hearing and reasoned orders while addressing user grievances.
Transparency in algorithm: Platform accountability can be increased through algorithmic transparency.
Conclusion
The GACs must be re-looked because they concentrate censorship powers in the hands of government. A Digital India Act is expected to be the successor law to the IT Act. This is a perfect opportunity for the government to adopt a coregulatory model of speech regulation of online speech.
Mains Question
Q. Social media is a double-edged sword in the realm of free speech. Substantiate. Explain in detail the Idea of coregulation of social media.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: G20 and related facts
Mains level: G20 India's presidency, opportunity and challenges
Context
Government of India launched the logo, website and theme for Indiaâs presidency of the G20, setting the tone for the countryâs G20 presidency, beginning December 1. Modiâs clarion call was âOne Earth, One Family, One Futureâ, aptly underscored by the phrase âVasudhaiva Kutumbakamâ.
What is G-20?
Formed in 1999, the G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies.
It brings together 19 of the worldâs major economies and the European Union.
Its members account for more than 80% of global GDP, 75% of trade and 60% of population
To tackle the problems or address issues that plague the world, the heads of governments of the G20 nations periodically participate in summits.
India has been a member of the G20 since its inception in 1999.
Do you know the aims and objective of G20?
The Group was formed with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
The forum aims to pre-empt the balance of payments problems and turmoil on financial markets by improved coordination of monetary, fiscal, and financial policies.
It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization.
Its members account for more than 80% of global GDP, 75% of trade and 60% of population.
Current Global scenario and Indiaâs G20 Presidency
War between Russia and west: It must nonetheless countenance a complex geopolitical moment, with tensions between G7 nations and Russia over the war in Ukraine, and growing friction between the US and China.
Indiaâs efforts to be a meditator: PM Modiâs recent advice to President Putin that ânow is not the time for warâ is anchored in the ethos of peace and non-violence, the legacy of Buddha and Gandhi.
Energy crisis: The developmental agenda must receive first billing. Differences over energy diversification and the emerging challenges in trade and technology will need reconciliation.
Economic crisis: Stagflation in the US, China and Europe threatens to affect the global economic outlook. Policy coherence in macroeconomics and trade is an important imperative.
Supply chain disruptions: At the âGlobal Supply Chain Resilienceâ meeting in October 2021, Modi advocated cooperation on three critical aspects trusted source, transparency and time frame to improve global supply chains. At the SCO Summit this year, he cited the disruption of supply chains due to the Ukraine crisis and spoke of the unprecedented energy and food crises.
Growing economy and rising stature: Indiaâs G20 presidency coincides with its growing confidence, matched by its rising stature and high economic growth rate.
Indiaâs digital infrastructure: Indiaâs commitment to digital transformation will be a key element in forging an accessible and inclusive digital public architecture. The countryâs exemplary success with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Direct Benefits Transfer and Aadhaar authentication in welfare schemes has growing relevance to the developing world.
Efforts for TRIPS waiver on vaccine: The use of the CoWIN platform enhanced vaccine accessibility and equity. India has made a strong pitch for a TRIPS waiver to ensure equitable access to vaccine production.
Vaccine assistance to the world: Indiaâs commitment to advancing South-South cooperation is well acknowledged. At the height of the pandemic, India provided 250 million vaccine doses to 101 countries, apart from other medical assistance.
SAGAR and Blue Economy: Indiaâs global initiatives in recent years such as SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in The Region), âblue economyâ, âclean oceansâ, and disaster-resilient infrastructure have the potential to gain traction in the G20.
India as true climate leader: PM Modiâs âPanchamritâ announcements at COP26 â net zero by 2070, non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030, 50 per cent of energy requirement through renewables by 2030, reduction of carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, and reduction of carbon intensity in the Indian economy to less than 45 per cent by 2030 â established India as a climate leader.
What should be Indiaâs Priority as President of G20?
Open application programming interface: As economies everywhere move rapidly towards digitalization, it is important to develop a consensus on an open source, open application programming interface (API) and an interoperable framework for public digital platforms on which the private sector can freely innovate. This would help maximize the impact of the digital transformation for the global public good, including new data, measurement tools, indicators of economic growth and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Promotion of LiFE philosophy: At the COP26 in Glasgow, Modi proposed Mission LiFE, which places individual behavior at the centre of the global climate action narrative. The Mission intends to establish and nurture a global network of individuals known as Pro-Planet People (P3), committed to adopting and promoting environmentally friendly lifestyles. This is based on the idea that responsible individual behavior can undo the damage wrought upon nature.
Focus on climate financing: At COP27 as well as during its G20 presidency, India will have to focus attention on climate finance, especially a new quantified goal beyond the existing annual $100 billion pledge by Advanced Economies (AEs) to assist developing nations in climate change adaptation and mitigation from 2020 to 2025. The delayed pledge is expected to be fulfilled in 2023 during Indiaâs presidency and from there on, the G20 needs to raise the bar.
Clean energy partnership: The G20 presidency will provide India with an opportunity to give impetus to several of its initiatives for clean energy partnerships especially in solar, wind and hydrogen with the EU, Japan and the US. It will provide a platform to give a fillip to the idea of, âOne Sun, One World, One Gridâ, first mooted by Modi at the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in 2018.
Achieving the Net Zero target: India has the scale and capacity to set a shining example of rapid and decarbonized economic growth to help realize the G20âs global net zero ambitions. A viable international framework for development and international trade in GH2, together with green ammonia and green shipping, is the key. Reliable supplies of critical minerals and technological collaborations for energy storage, including a global battery coalition, could provide answers.
Nuclear energy as an alternative: Given the nascent support today for civilian nuclear energy in Europe due to energy market volatility, the G20 could work toward an expanded and robust civilian nuclear energy cooperation framework, including for small modular reactors.
Reforming the multilateralism: Multilateral institutions are perceived today as unrepresentative, ineffective, or worse still, both. The call for a new multilateralism and reassessment of the Global Financial Order to ensure adequate credit enhancement and blended finance for sustainable green transitions reflects a popular global sentiment.
Conclusion
Indiaâs presidency should represent the widest and most vulnerable constituencies, especially in South Asia. This can truly advance intra-South Asian economic integration, which is so essential for Indiaâs rise.
Mains question
Q. India assumed G20 presidency with a mantra of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. In light of this What should be the Indiaâs Priority as President?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bodies and forums associated with Counter terrorism
Mains level: Terrorism and challenges . International cooperation on counter terrorism, India's Role
Context
Indiaâs decision to host the special session of the United Nations Security Councilâs Counter Terrorism Committee (UNSCCTC) last month held in Mumbai and New Delhi, it focused on new and emerging technologies is one of a number of events planned by the Government to give its counterterror diplomacy a greater push.
What is Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC)?
The CTC is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The 15-member CTC was established at the same time to monitor the implementation of the resolution.
In the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, the UNSC unanimously adopted resolution 1373. This among its provisions obliges all States
Read this Key important note: The Delhi Declaration on Terrorism
On day 2 of the Special Meeting, the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) unanimously adopted the Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
Among the listed items in the Declaration include the decision to continue to work on recommendations on the three themes of the Special meeting and the intention to develop a set of non-binding guiding principles to assist Member States to counter the threat posed by the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
The declaration aims to cover the main concerns surrounding the abuse of drones, social media platforms, and crowdfunding, and create guidelines that will help to tackle the growing issue.
Narrow Global War on Terrorism (GWOT): The first challenge is that the âGlobal War on Terrorismâ (GWOT), as it was conceived by a post 9/11 United States is over with the last chapter written last year, as the United States negotiated with the Taliban, and then withdrew from Afghanistan.
Non-cooperation with India by USA and world: GWOT itself was built on an unequal campaign when India had asked for similar help to deal with the IC814 hijacking (December 1999) less than two years prior to the 9/11 attacks (with evidence now clear that those who the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was forced to release were all terrorists who went on to help with planning, funding or providing safe havens to the al-Qaida leadership), its pleas fell on deaf ears in the U.S., the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and of course, Pakistan, all of whom were hit by the same terrorists in later years.
USA and China Escorting the Pakistan: Even after GWOT was launched, Pakistanâs role as the U.S.âs ally, and Chinaâs âiron friendâ ensured that the UNSC designations of those who threatened India the most, including Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed, never mentioned their role in attacks in India.
FATF is becoming toothless: The maximum India received in terms of global cooperation was actually from economic strictures that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)âs grey list placed on Pakistan â Pakistan was cleared from this in October indicating that the global appetite to punish Pakistan for terrorism has petered out.
Realpolitik over Global problem: In addition, the weak international reaction to the Talibanâs takeover of Kabul, and its persecution of women and minorities in the country, demonstrate rising fatigue levels in dealing with âanother countryâs problemsâ.
Ineffective UNSC resolutions: The hard reality for India is that the future of counterterrorism cooperation is going to be less cooperative, and counterterror regimes such as the UNSC Resolutions 1267, 1373, etc. rendered outdated and toothless.
How polarized world pose a challenge for fight against terrorism and the questions raised?
Distraction due to Russia-Ukraine war: War not only shifting the focus from terrorism but is also blurring the lines on what constitutes terrorism. The CTC meeting in Delhi, for example, was disrupted over Russiaâs claims that the U.K. helped Ukraine launch drone attacks on Russiaâs naval fleet in Sevastopol. The question remains: if drone attacks by Yemeni Houthis on the UAE and Saudi Arabiaâs oil infrastructure were condemned as terrorist attacks, why was the line drawn for drone attacks on Russian ships in a port used for loading grain, or a bridge bombing that put so many civilian lives at risk?
Likely recruitment of Afghan soldiers in Ukraine war: On the other hand, Russia squares up the possible recruitment of the former Afghan republicâs National Army Commando Corps into its war in Ukraine, Would not these commandos who once fought Taliban terrorists, now qualify as terrorists themselves?
Divided UN security council: Away from the battle field, the polarisation has rendered the body tasked with global peace, paralysed, as the UNSC is unable to pass any meaningful resolutions that are not vetoed by Russia or western members, and China has been able to block as many as five terror designations requested by India and the U.S. Perhaps the biggest opportunity lost due to the UNSCâs other preoccupations has been the need to move forward on Indiaâs proposal, of 1996, of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
Convention on International Terrorism is not accepted: While each conference, including the CTC meeting in Delhi, makes passing the CCIT a goal, very little progress has been made on the actual issues such as the definition of terrorism, concerns over human rights law conflicts, and the old debate on âfreedom fighter vs terroristâ. Despite several changes in the draft made by India in 2016, consensus for the convention is still elusive
What are New and emerging technology in terrorism?
Drone attacks: Emerging technologies and the weaponization of a number of different mechanisms for terrorism purposes. Drones are already being used to deliver funds, drugs, weapons, ammunition and even improvised explosive devices.
Possible bio-war: After the COVID19 pandemic, worries have grown about the use of biowarfare, and Gain of Function (GoF) research to mutate viruses and vectors which could be released into targeted populations.
AI and robotic soldiers: In a future that is already here, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and robotic soldiers makes it even easier to perpetrate mass attacks while maintaining anonymity.
Cryptocurrency and terror Financing: Terror financing uses bitcoins and cryptocurrency, and terror communications use social media, the dark web and even gaming centres.
Indiaâs opportunity to build global consensus
India is on forefront since long: India has been at the forefront for a call of global action against terrorism which is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon.
India will host No money for terror conference: New Delhi will host the third edition of the âNo Money for Terrorâ (NMFT) conference that will look at tackling future modes of terror financing.
Using Global Counter Terrorism Architecture: In December, when India takes over the United Nations Security Council Presidency for the last time before its two-year term in the Council ends, India will chair a special briefing on the âGlobal Counter Terrorism Architectureâ, looking at the challenges ahead.
Conclusion
With Taliban taking over Afghanistan, USA and west have practically withdrawn from global fight against terrorism. Indiaâs efforts for global consensus on cross border terrorism is getting harder as world is polarizing. Fight against terrorism will be very arduous task for diplomacy of India.
Mains Question
There is no consensus on global definition of terrorism, discuss. How Indian diplomacy is trying to get global attention and consensus for fight against terrorism?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Corporate Investment, demand situation and related issues
Context
In September, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was anguished that industry was holding back from investing in manufacturing despite a significant cut in corporate tax rates in 2019.
Less investment is not the result of losses: The slowdown in corporate investment did not happen because companies were making losses.
More profit but less investments by corporates: In fact, private companies, boosted by considerable tax cuts, made windfall profits. A State Bank of India analysis shows that tax cuts contributed 19% to the top line of companies during the pandemic. But this did not result in increased investments.
Dividends to shareholders: Before the pandemic, instead of investing in themselves, companies chose to reward shareholders with higher dividends.
Investment in equity and debt instead of Infrastructure: During the pandemic, they did not use the profits for paying out dividends; they retained a big chunk of the profits. However, instead of investing in buildings, plants and machinery, they invested in equity shares and debt instruments.
Corporate cited the slowdown in demand as reason for less investment: So, both before and after the outbreak, they shied away from capital investments. The hesitancy to invest can be explained by a slowdown in the demand side of the economy.
Corporates didnât invest in long term returns sectors: Consumer demand started to decline the year before the pandemic and worsened after the COVID19 outbreak. This forced companies to use the increased profits to decrease their debts, pay dividends and invest in financial instruments instead of increasing productivity by making capital investments.
What is The current consumerâs demand situation?
Average Consumer sentiment index:Â Private companies invest when they are able to estimate profits, and that comes from demand. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economyâs (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:Â RBIâs 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:Â Along with household savings intentions remaining high, might hold the key to the investment cycle kicking in.
Statistic on demand and investment
New investment projects: The new investment projects announced as a % of GDP, since FY18, the share has remained below the 5% mark, compared to over 9% between FY05 and FY22.
Collection of corporate tax decreased: Corporate tax and income tax collected in India as a % of GDP after the cut in 2019, the share of corporate tax declined dramatically, while the share of income tax gradually increased.
Double burden on tax payers: The shift in tax burden from the corporates to the people came at a time of job losses and reduced income levels. This pushed more people into poverty.
Corporate profit increased after tax cut: Profit after tax earned by non-financial private companies in âš trillion after the tax cut, the profits of these companies rose to âš4-5 trillion in the last two financial years from âš1-2 trillion in many of the previous periods.
Increase and decrease in dividend to shareholders: Dividends paid by non-financial private companies as a share of profits earned after tax, Payouts to shareholders surged in FY20, the year before the pandemic, but reduced in the following years.
Profit retention increased: Retained profits as a % of profit after tax surged to 63% in FY22 the highest in a decade (limited companies were analyzed in FY22, so data are provisional).
Profits are invested in equities: In FY21, the debt-to-equity ratio came down to 0.86 the lowest in at least three decades. In FY22 (provisional data), it came down further to 0.71.
Year on year decline in capital investment: Year on year change in the investments of non-financial private companies in fixed assets such as buildings, plants, machinery, transport and infrastructure have declined in recent years. But the year on year change in investments in financial instruments such as equity, debt and mutual funds have surged.
Conclusion
Corporates are holding their pockets in hope of demand rise in future. However, this affects the post-pandemic recovery of economy. IMF and RBI was right to revise their growth forecast this year. Unequal recovery of economy have certainly affected the income levels of middle class. Government has taken a lot of step on supply side (corporate side and banking reform) but no intervention in revival of demand.
Mains Question
Q. Analyze the corporate investment pattern before and after the pandemic? What are the reasons for decline in corporate investment in fixed assets in economy since the pandemic?
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: Not much
Mains level: Reservation system, SC Judgments and associated concerns
Context
The Supreme Court has now upheld the validity of the 103rd constitutional amendment. For instance, economic criterion was provided for this new category of affirmative action.
What is the verdict of supreme court?
SC/ST Excluded in new clause: The Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and non-creamy layer Other Backward Classes were excluded from the newly inserted clauses of Article 15(4) and 16(4).
The ceiling of 50 per cent reservation was breached: The cap of 50% is breached and the individual rather than the group became the basis of backwardness.
Do you know?
Indra Sawhney Vs. Union of India -Issued 50% Cap on Caste-based reservation: In the case the Supreme Court held that reservation for beneficiaries should not exceed 50% of Indiaâs population. It was this case that issued a cap limit on caste-based reservations.
Judiciary is reluctant supporter of reservation: A closer look at the judicial response to reservation policies from Dorairajan (1951) to MR Balaji (1963) to Indra Sawhney (1992) to M Nagaraj (2006) shows that the Indian judiciary has not been quite supportive of such policies.
New conditions for new category of reservation: In many cases, it created new conditions in the implementation of such policies by introducing several exclusions/doctrines/rules etc. In fact, Parliament had to amend the Constitution through the 77th amendment to overturn Indra Sawhney judgment against reservation in promotions.
Reservation in promotion cancelled: The 85th constitutional amendment was passed to undo the Virpal Singh Chauhan (1995) and Ajit Singh (1999) judgments that had introduced the “catch up rule” under which general candidates, who are promoted after SC/ST candidates, will regain their seniority over earlier promoted SC/ST candidates.
Concerns about dilution of merit: Basically, Indian courts have been emphasising merit and have been concerned about the dilution of “merit”. In several reservation matters, the courts have been more interested in protecting the interests of general categories.
90% population is eligible under EWS: As a matter of fact, the EWS reservation is for the erstwhile general candidates: The Rs 8-lakh family income provision covers over 90 per cent of our population.
What is the significance of this recent Judgement?
New category on economic basis: The majority verdict is right in saying that though reservation on economic basis is new it has not made the Constitution unrecognizable. Justice Trivedi said the legislature best understands the needs of the people. The majority does have a point in holding that the basic structure doctrine does not bind Parliament from laying down the economic criterion. Such a basis does not impinge on the equality code of the Constitution.
Poverty as an injustice: Justice Maheshwari has quoted a number of judgments in which poverty was mentioned as a fundamental source backwardness. Justice Maheshwari held that poverty is not merely a stage of stagnation but a point of regression.
Identity of constitution will not change: India’s affirmative action programme far was catering to only historical injustices and social backwardness. The extension of this benefit to others, in the opinion of Justice Maheshwari, won’t change the identity of the Constitution.
Towards the justice: The court observed that the new reservation is in furtherance of the Preamble’s goal of achieving justice – social, economic and political.
Consistent with FRâs and DPSPâs: The other judges were also of the view that any provision that is consistent with fundamental rights and directive principles cannot be held to be in the teeth of the basic structure doctrine.
Constitutional amendment upheld: Constitutional amendments are rarely struck down since this can be done only on the narrow ground of the amendment being violative of the basic structure of the Constitution. Since 1973, when the basic structure doctrine was propounded, over 70 amendments had been passed but only five have so far been struck down. The NJAC was the last one in 2016.
Critical analysis of judgement
Goes to Individual and not group reservation: Economic disadvantage is individual, unlike caste discrimination. It carries no social stigma. The Court has gone against the earlier precedents on this point, which is why Justice Bhat was not able to persuade himself to agree with this reasoning, particularly when SC/ST/OBC categories have been excluded.
Argument over level playing field for open category: The majority was of the view that such an exclusion was inevitable for the true operation and effect of new policy. If existing beneficiaries are not excluded, it would amount to excessive benefit and advantage. Justice Maheshwari said that in the vertical reservation provided to these groups also, others are excluded. He said that those who are themselves receiving the benefit of others’ exclusion cannot object to their exclusion in the reservation policy made for others.
Debate on SC/ST exclusion: Justice Bhat observed that since the bulk of the poorest people belong to SC/ST/OBC groups, their exclusion is not right. The majority was also of the view that Parliament is entitled to experiment with new policies.
50% ceiling breached: The majority also cited a number of earlier judgments on the 50 per cent ceiling such as NM Thomas (1976), in which Justices Fazal Ali and V R Krishna Iyer observed that the arithmetical limit cannot be pressed too far. In Vasanth Kumar (1985), Justice Chinnappa Reddy observed that “for a court to say that reservation should not exceed 40 per cent, 50 per cent or 60 per cent would be arbitrary and the Constitution does not permit us to be arbitrary”.
Indira Sawhney judgement is overturned: Even Indra Sawhney had kept a small window for the government to go beyond the 50 per cent ceiling. The real question is would the Court have permitted such a breach at the all-India level if the same had been done for the existing beneficiaries of the reservation policy.
justice to general categories is not injustice to others: Justice Maheshwari admitted so when he observed that the 50 per cent limit was for the benefit of general candidates and it causes no injustice to the reserved categories. Justice Bhat, though, felt this may open the floodgates.
Conclusion
Justice should not only be done but should also be appear to have been done. Economical weaker section reservation was an effort to pacify the dissatisfaction among general categories against reservation. However, the merit system will be compromise or not only time will tell.
Mains Question
Q. Does exclusion of SC/ST from EWS reservation is justifiable? How EWS reservation will impact the merit system in India?Â
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UPI,MDR, etc
Mains level: Digital payment ecosystem, pricing mechanism and associated issues
Context
The recent discussion paper by the RBI on charges in payment systems has triggered widespread public debate, especially on the zero-charge framework for UPI transactions.
Know the basics- What is UPI?
UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) facilitating inter-bank transactions.
The interface is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.
Goals of financial inclusion: Viewing digital payments as a public good and
Addressing market failures: Such as the presence of dominant firms or externalities that may arise due to the two-sided nature of this market.
For both objectives, regulators might want to cap or set to zero the MDR or merchant discount rate (paid by merchants to their payments service provider) or the interchange fee (paid by the acquiring bank to the issuing bank), or both.
What is the present scenario of Pricing UPI?
Subsidies on operational cost: In the case of UPI, the government subsidizes the operational costs of facilitating UPI transactions, which is reportedly inadequate. In January 2022, the Payments Council of India reported that the industry expected a loss of Rs 5,500 crore.
Subsidies are inadequate: Even with a public good motive, in the absence of evidence, one cannot assume this to be the best allocation of limited government resources. As per the Indian Digital Payments Report (second quarter of 2022), the average ticket size of P2M transactions (person to merchant) on UPI is Rs 820. RBI’s estimated cost of Rs 2 for processing a Rs 800 transaction, is 0.25 per cent of the transaction value, much lower than the MDR cap set at 0.9 per cent for debit cards and an MDR of 2 per cent being pro- posed for RuPay credit cards on UPI.
Presently MDR is Zero: A floor MDR of 0.25 per cent is, therefore, not unreasonable. Arguably, these are substitutable services competing for the same pool of merchants. Policymakers must also bear in mind behavioural challenges in moving from zero MDR to a positive MDR. Anchored at a zero MDR since January 2020, merchants, especially ones with thin margins, may hesitate to accept an increase in MDR, even if they benefit on net terms.
How RBI can regulate price?
Understanding what to regulate: In order to understand how and what to regulate, we borrow from the rationale followed for other two-sided markets that exhibit cross-platform externalities. consumers benefit more if the size of the merchant network accepting a payment instrument (for example, debit cards) is larger and, at the same time, merchants benefit more if many consumers use debit cards.
Recovering the cost from merchants: Card networks like Visa and Mastercard compete for banks, usually not too many, to issue their cards. Since the acquiring bank must pay the interchange fee, they recover these costs from merchants.
Regulating the interchange fee: In most jurisdictions, the interchange fee is regulated to prevent banks from charging exploitative rates and the MDR is left to be commercially determined. This is also done for administrative ease, since banks are fewer, while monitoring bank-merchant contracts can be onerous.
Charging the MDR: In the UPI parallel, involving payment service providers of payers and payees, the remitter and beneficiary banks as well as NPCI, RBI could either regulate the inter change fee between payment service providers or the merchant discount rate charged by them.
Deciding between MDR and interchange fee: The market for merchant acquisition is usually more competitive and can be left unregulated, and if necessary, the interchange fee between the two payment service providers can be regulated. If both markets are sufficiently competitive, regulation could mean establishing a floor/ cap charge. The decision what to regulate is, therefore, crucial.
Example of telecom industry: A related example is available in the telecom industry where facilities provision is regulated through the interconnection fee, while retail prices for the relatively competitive telecom services segment are left to the market. For externalities of the two-sided market to be internalized, the choice of instrument must be carefully evaluated.
Determining the actual price: The next step is to determine the price level, which is a lot trickier. Drawing from economic theory, the optimal level would depend on whether the regulator cares only about consumer welfare (as op- posed to total welfare), and whether the issuing and acquiring banks make positive margins on each transaction.
How digital payment is charged around the world and Indiaâs requirement?
Example of PIX of Brazil: Pix, a two-year-old interoperable digital payments system in Brazil, provides a good comparison of how price setting might be considered in the UPI context. Pix does not regulate MDR, payment service providers have the freedom to set MDR, though in practice most banks currently don’t charge an MDR, largely to onboard more merchants on their platforms.
MDR appears less attractive: The indicated cost is R$ 0.01 for each 10 transfers, or 16 paise in Indian rupees for every s10 transactions. This is substantially lower than the costs estimated for India and is also perhaps the reason why payment service providers are not immediately inclined to recover costs through MDR.
Not hampering the innovation and investment: In general, benefits of regulatory intervention should outweigh the costs of intervening. The costs of intervening not only include the administrative costs, but also potential costs arising from setting the wrong interchange fee or cap, as well as any costs arising from the impact of the intervention on future investment and innovation in the market.
Do you know what is Merchant Discount Rate?
Merchant Discount Rate (alternatively referred to as the Transaction Discount Rate or TDR) is the sum total of all the charges and taxes that a digital payment entails.
Simply put, it is a charge to a merchant by a bank for accepting payment from their customers in credit and debit cards every time a card gets swiped in their stores.
Similarly, MDR also includes the processing charges that a payments aggregator has to pay to online or mobile wallets or indeed to banks for their service.
Conclusion
Policymakers must collect more data on costs of transfer, user preferences, both merchants and consumers, as well as undertake a thorough analysis of substitutability and competition in the digital payments sector, to put our best foot forward in helping achieve the potential of UPI in India.
Mains Question
Q. Explain the reasons for success of UPI in India? Analyze the Role of UPI in financial inclusion in India?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Debate on legal and illegal Madrasa and modern education
Context
There has been a lot of unhappiness about the UP-governmentâs decision to conduct a survey of unrecognized madrasas in Uttar Pradesh.
What is the intention of Government behind such survey?
The governmentâs claim: The survey being an exercise to help the madrasas and their students has been less than convincing.
Questionable intention: In the past, the government has called into question the patriotism of madrasa students by asking their management to hoist the national flag on Independence Day, record the proceedings, and submit the same to the local magistrate.
Know the History of Madrasa
After the birth of Islam in the seventh century, Muslims who wanted a religious education joined study circles in mosques where teachers provided instruction.
Over the next 400 years, additional centers of learning, founded and endowed by rulers, high officials and wealthy members of the community, met in public and private libraries. These were early forms of madrasa.
By the 11th century madrasas were well-established independent centers of learning with some of the features they retain today.
As economies modernized, Muslims who continued to choose madrasas over other schools found that they lacked the training needed for well-paid jobs. Their socioeconomic mobility suffered. Nonetheless, many madrasas refused to integrate nonreligious subjects into their curriculum.
What is the status of unrecognized madrasas?
Lack of direction: Most are floundering for lack of direction. Many impart elementary theological instruction through semieducated teachers.
Dependence on community funding: If at all there, secular education is, at best, piecemeal. Madrasas depend almost fully on community funding.
Funding cut with covid19: With the economic downturn first post demonetization and then postCOVID19, that funding has reduced to a trickle. Under normal circumstances, an institute pressed for funds cuts down on expansion plans or puts new courses on hold.
Existential crisis for madrasa: It has become an existential crisis for tens of thousands of students. The dwindling community sponsorship has translated into less food to eat and no warm clothes for them. If that makes it seem as though the madrasasâ prime purpose is to feed and clothe the needy, the reality is not entirely different.
Feeding and imparting the literacy: Most students are first generation learners. Many of them are sent by parents with the idea that there will be one less mouth to feed at home. For poverty-stricken parents, the madrasasâ free boarding and lodging is a blessing. The education is often considered a bonus. The Much-maligned madrasas feed the hungry and impart literacy.
What the case studies reveal about education via unrecognizes madrasas?
Example of CBSE along with Quran: Jamiatul Hamd in Gautam Buddha Nagar district is a rare madrasa which encouraged its students to take the Central Board of Secondary Education exams alongside learning to be Hafize Quran (one who has memorized the Quran).
Shortage of funds: The madrasa is so short of funds that the management does not know where the next meal for the students will come from. In the past, Good Samaritans sent packs of rice, lentils, wheat flour and cooking oil.
Decline in sponsorship: Sponsorship has come down drastically, leaving the students with the prospect of going to bed hungry. Also, 40% of the students in this madrasa who went back home during the COVID19 pandemic did not return.
Jamia Mahade Noor madrasa in Dadri: Where 30% of the students dropped out after COVID19. Day scholars face an uncertain future. Some teachers could not be retained due to paucity of funds.
Closing down of madrasa: The cash-strapped Jamia Naseeriya Islamia in Ghaziabad closed down its wing for outstation students. In mosques across Uttar Pradesh, community aid is sought for unrecognized madrasas after daily prayers.
Fear about survey: In almost every madrasa, there are lingering apprehensions about their fate after the survey. Many packed off their outstation students in panic when the survey started. The students may never return.
Some student never returned: Incidentally, these schools had also sent back their outstation students after the nationwide lockdown was imposed in March 2020. Many students did not return as their parents got them employed as either farm labourers or at sundry tea shops or eateries. A student who may have at one time dreamed of becoming a scholar of Islam is now a menial worker.
Upholding the Constitutional right: According to constitution the Right of a citizen not to be denied admission into state maintained and state-aided institution on the ground only of religion, race, caste, or language [Art.29(2)2]-â No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of themâ
Survey for collecting the data: Aim of survey should not be harassment but the know the status of madrasa and theyâre by collecting the data to draft policy for educational and social upliftment of students of madrasa.
Recognition of madrasa: Following the due procedure of law government can seek Registration and recognition of madrasa.
Financial assistance to madrasa: State government can provide the one-time financial assistance for and after the feedback and review state may continue the funding.
Education should be the priority: Government objective should be the modern education of those who are getting poor quality of education. Any constitutional or legal hindrances should not be the excuse to provide the help to needy.
Conclusion
While government is duty bound to provide aid to registered and recognized madrasa but not mandatory to provide financial aid to unrecognized madrasa. Government can revamp the unrecognized madrasa into modern education imparting institutions. Whatever government decides, state must provide the quality education without any biases.
Mains Question
Q. What are the cultural and educational rights enshrined under constitution? Explain government can provide the educational assistance to unrecognized religious institutions in India?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Military coup, Troubled neighborhood and issues of refugees crisis
Context
Twenty-one months after a military coup, which derailed a decade old experiment with limited democracy, Myanmar is struggling to cope with the consequences. People are suffering, authorities and opposition forces are locked in a cycle of violent clashes, the economy is deteriorating, and ASEANâs mission to produce a solution has failed.
Background of Present situation in Myanmar
Violation of constitution by Military: When the Tatmadaw (military), unhappy with the victory of the Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy in the November 2020 elections, chose to violate the constitution, it acted in the belief that the people would accept its diktat, as they had done in previous decades.
Civilian opposition continues: Clearly, military junta underestimated public anger and their commitment to freedom and democracy. Even after killing over 2,300 people and imprisoning thousands, including Ms. Suu Kyi, the military still faces a rebellion. Its plan to hold an election next year stands jeopardized.
Imprisonment of Suu Kyi: Suu Kyi, 77, the most popular leader, has been sentenced to 26 years of imprisonment in multiple cases on apparently trumped-up charges. Besides, 1.1 million Rohingya, driven by military oppression to seek shelter in Bangladesh in 2017, continue to languish there. Dhakaâs efforts to arrange their safe return have failed.
Migration crisis in India and Bangladesh: Armed clashes between the military and their ethnic opponents in the border region are having a spill-over effect in Bangladesh. Dhaka continues to show restraint and a preference for diplomacy to manage the situation.
How is the response of civilian opposition against military?
National unity Government: The parallel National Unity Government (NUG) may not be recognized by any state, but it continues to receive political and financial support from abroad. It has effectively channelled popular indignation against military rule, while still being vulnerable due to the paucity of resources and the absence of a visible leader.
Support of ethnic groups to NUG: About 20 ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), located in the east, north and west of Myanmarâs periphery, have divergent approaches towards the postcoup conflict. Many view it as an intra Bamar contestation, an issue of limited concern to them. Some like the Karens and Kachinâs support the NUG, while others, especially those controlled or supported by China, remain aloof.
Strong military but disunity among groups: Those operating in the Chin and Rakhine states are engaged in a fierce armed conflict with the military and have enfeebled it. But overall, due to their divergences and relative weaknesses, the EAOs are unlikely to defeat the military.
No nationwide opposition: While the opposition has performed well, it is unable to turn the tide in its favour, without a nationwide front against the Tatmadaw. National reconciliation between the military and civilian forces, and ethnic reconciliation between the majority Bamars and ethnic minorities, have been put on hold.
UN and International criticism
Criticism of coup: The UN has been forthright in criticizing the coup. It has expressed concern over continuing violence, support for a âdemocratic transitionâ, a release of all political prisoners and dialogue among the parties concerned.
Division among international community: However, the UN Secretary Generalâs special envoy has had little success in promoting peace. The UNâs failure lies in the sharp divisions within the international community on how to deal with this vexed issue.
Sanction on military: The western powers have been severely critical of the military. They have put in place several restrictive measures and imposed more sanctions. They have extended support to the NUG.
Russian support to military: On the other hand, Russia has given considerable backing to the military regime, seeing in its own isolation an opportunity to strengthen bilateral cooperation in defence and energy supplies.
Chinaâs exploiting the opportunity: China is keeping a door open to democratic forces even while doing business with the regime and exploiting every opportunity to ensure progress on the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.
ASEANâs divided response: ASEAN is divided in three ways: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore are prodemocracy; Thailand and Laos are promilitary; and Vietnam and the Philippines are ambivalent. This disunity and the Tatmadawâs refusal to cooperate with ASEAN have led to the non-implementation of the Five Point Consensus. The upcoming ASEAN summit may provide clues on whether the grouping can forge a united stand and devise something that works better.
Refugee crisis in India: India is concerned as the postcoup conditions have adversely impacted its interests and hampered bilateral cooperation. Mega projects stand delayed. Some 50,000 refugees, as per unofficial estimates, have been camping in Mizoram.
Advocating the democracy: Meanwhile, there is an erroneous perception that India has abandoned the Myanmar people. The reality is that India proactively advocates an early restoration of democracy, the release of prisoners, and internal dialogue.
Myanmar under the shadow of India-China relations: Can India do more? It can explore the possibility of a combined mediatory role with ASEAN and likeminded neighbors. Will China have a role in such a group? India-China relations preclude that possibility.
Brokering the political settlement: Through greater unity, external players can help Myanmar in creating a suitable environment for dialogue on a political settlement. Distant countries such as Norway and Japan can play a helpful role as catalysts. But the principal responsibility to construct a solution must rest with the Myanmar elite and leadership of both camps. Through resilience and pragmatism, they crafted a way out in 2011-21. They must recreate that spirit.
Conclusion
India has been walking on tight rope on balancing national interest and restoration of democracy in Myanmar. Sooner the civil war in Myanmar ends better for India and especially for Mizoram. âThe Golden Landâ, where Lord Buddha is revered, needs to be reinspired by his teachings. Else, a prolonged, contested military rule or a failed state seems a distinct possibility.
Mains Question
Q. How situation in Myanmar is affecting the national interest of India? What is the Indiaâs response to the military coup in Myanmar?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Child marriage issue and associated problems
Content
The steering committee of a global programme to end child marriage is on a visit to India to witness state interventions which have helped reduce the prevalence of child marriage.
What are the findings of the committee?
Increase in Child marriage as a pandemic effect: The visit by the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage team is in view of an estimated increase in number of child brides due to the pandemic. The UNFPA-UNICEF estimates that 10 million children could become child brides as a result of the pandemic globally.
Child marriages reduced in India according to NFHS-5: In India, child marriage reduced from 47.4% in 2005-06 to 26.8% in 2015-16, registering a decline of 21% points during the decade. In the last five years, it declined by 3.5% points to reach 23.3% in 2020-21, according to the latest National Family Health Survey-5 data.
What is the situation in the world?
As per the UNICEF data: The total number of girls married in childhood stands at 12 million per year, and progress must be significantly accelerated in order to end the practice by 2030 the target set out in the Sustainable Development Goals. Without further acceleration, more than 150 million additional girls will marry before they turn 18 by 2030.
Progress is Uneven and not enough: While it is encouraging that in the past decade great progress has been made in South Asia, where a girlâs risk of marrying before she is 18 has dropped by more than a third, from nearly 50% to below 30%, it is not enough, and progress has been uneven.
Dire consequences of child marriage: Rights activists and health experts say the consequences of child marriage are dire, not only because it violates childrenâs rights, but also because it results in more infant and maternal deaths. Children born to adolescent mothers have a greater possibility of seeing stunted growth as they have low weight at birth. According to NFHS-5, prevalence of child stunting is 35.5% in 2019-21.
Declining trend in overall child marriage: There is a growing trend for decline in the overall prevalence of child marriage, but 23.3% is still a disturbingly high percentage in a country with a population of 141.2 crore. Eight States have a higher prevalence of child marriage than the national average.
High prevalence in some bigger States: West Bengal and Bihar have the highest prevalence of girl child marriage. States with a large population of tribal poor have a higher prevalence of child marriage. West Bengal, Bihar and Tripura top the list with more than 40% of women aged 20-24 years married below 18, according to NFHS data.
Scenario in Jharkhand and Assam: In Jharkhand, 32.2% of women in the age bracket 20-24 got married before 18, according to NFHS-5; infant mortality stood at 37.9%, and 65.8% of women in the 15-19 age bracket are anaemic. Assam too has a high prevalence of child marriage (31.8% in 2019-20 from 30.8% in 2015-16).
Child marriages reduced in some states: Some States have shown a reduction in child marriages, like Madhya Pradesh (23.1% in 2020-21 from 32.4% in 2015-16), Rajasthan (25.4% from 35.4%) and Haryana.
Several States are pegged just below the national average: In Odisha, 20.5% of women were married off before 18 in 2020-21 from 21.3% in 2015-16.
States on better social indices as a result of high literacy: States with high literacy levels and better health and social indices have fared much better on this score. In Kerala, women who got married before the age of 18 stood at 6.3% in 2019-20, from 7.6% in 2015-16. Tamil Nadu too has shown improved figures with 12.8% of women in the age group 20-24 years getting married before 18 compared to 16.3% in 2015-16.
What are the laws and policy interventions?
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012: These laws aim at protecting children from violation of human and other rights.
A positive debate on raising the age of Marriage: A parliamentary standing committee is weighing the pros and cons of raising the age of marriage for women to 21, which has been cleared by the Union Cabinet. With various personal laws governing marriages in India, the government wants to amend the law, a reform that activists and agencies have said will not be enough to stop the practice of child marriage.
Various schemes: There are no of Centralised schemes like the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, which are performing better on empowering the girl children
Various initiatives by the states: States have launched many initiatives to improve the factors linked to child marriage, from education to health care and awareness programmes. For instance, West Bengalâs Kanyashree scheme offers financial aid to girls wanting to pursue higher studies, though womenâs activists have pointed out that another scheme Rupashree, which provides a one-time payment of âš25,000 to poor families at the time of a daughterâs marriage, may be counter-productive. Bihar and other States have been implementing a cycle scheme to ensure girls reach safely to school; and U.P. has a scheme to encourage girls to go back to school.
What needs to be done?
Need a multidimensional approach: According to Sandeep Chachra, ActionAid Association India, which has been working with UNICEF and UNFPA said the solution lies in empowering girls, creating proper public infrastructure and addressing societal norms.
Awareness not only about the law but also about the dire consequences on Health: Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta, who serves in the IAS, says several thousand child marriage prohibition officers have been notified in Karnataka and 90,000 local gram panchayat members have been oriented to spread awareness on child marriage, not only that it is illegal to get a child married off before 18, but also the dangers to the childâs health and her offspring.
Focusing on the overall girl child development: They stress on an all-pronged approach to end the practice; strong laws, strict enforcement, preparing an ideal situation on the ground to ensure that the girl child girls with either or below primary level education have experienced higher levels of child marriage as data show gets an education and preferably vocational training as well so that she can be financially independent.
Schemes need better implementation: Centralised schemes like the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, which need better implementation on the ground. Various schemes by the states needs through analysis and better implementation at the grass root level.
Conclusion
Data shows that child marriage is a key determinant of high fertility, poor maternal and child health, and lower social status of women. There has been a rise in child marriages during the pandemic, but many have been prevented as well. A lot more needs to be done on factors closely linked to child marriage, including eradication of poverty, better education and public infrastructure facilities for children, raising social awareness on health, nutrition, regressive social norms and inequalities.
Question
Q. Child marriages comes with dire consequences on adolescent mothers and children born to them. Evaluate the status on prevalence of child marriages In India and how to address the situation?
op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.,Ministries & Departments Of The Government
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Issues with unscientific highway infrastructure
Context
In a March 2019 circular, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) raised the subject of premature issuance of completion certificates for national highway works. NHAI had noticed that, in certain cases, completion certificates had been issued even before the completion of works âup to the standards and specificationsâ prescribed by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
Status of National highways and deaths
35 percent of all road deaths: NHAI is the principal organization responsible for construction of National Highways in India. National highways constitute a mere 2 percent of the countryâs road network, but account for close to 35 percent of all road deaths.
Record 37 kms per day: The ministry has been taking credit for the pace at which national highways are being constructed. In the fiscal year 2021, it reached a record 37 kms per day. This has come down to 19.44 km per day in the first six months of the financial year 2022.
What was the circular issued by NHAI?
Issuance of completion certificate: The circular forbade the issuance of such certificates, especially if non-completion resulted in âmaterial inconveniences to usersâ or affected their safety.
Likely cause of fatalities: Items such as road shoulders, road signs, markings, dressing of slopes, and road furniture were explicitly mentioned. circular was not taken with due seriousness by some authorized engineers. This negligence could have contributed to road crashes, probably resulting in fatalities.
Dereliction of duty by NHAIâs officials: The NHAI has now warned the delinquents that such behavior would be treated as a serious dereliction of duty and disciplinary action would be taken against officers issuing such certificates to incomplete road works. Additionally, the officers would be held personally liable in case of serious accidents that occur on such unfinished infrastructure.
Safety is better than pace of construction: The Minister for Road Transport & Highways stressed that it is necessary to build safer roads even if this decelerated the pace of construction.
Case study of NHAIâs road construction?
Death of Cyrus Mistry: Unfortunately, self-introspection by the NHAI in regard to safety failures and the large number of deaths on national highways was not in evidence in the aftermath of the death of Cyrus Mistry on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai national highway in September 2022.
Crash was result of poor infrastructure: In this instance, a seven-member forensic investigation team found that the car crash was the result of an infrastructure issue. The car in which Mistry was travelling happened to tragically hit a bridge that was faultily designed.
Invisible dividers: The bridge parapet was found to be protruding into the shoulder lane. Furthermore, the road with three lanes unexpectedly narrowed to a road with two lanes with a dangerous L-shaped concrete divider that had no proper paint on it.
Inadequate safety signs: Road signages were grossly inadequate, making that road stretch a âblack spotâ. This epithet is used for a road section where accidents are a frequent occurrence.
Expressways are constructed for more speed: The accident also raised issues of the excessive speed of the car that crashed. It was said that the car was travelling at a speed in excess of 100 km per hour. However, the minister himself has been in favour of higher speeds on Indian expressways and national highways. He proposed a speed limit of 140 kmph on expressways and at least 100 kmph on four-lane national highways. This, he stated, was advocated on account of considerable improvements in the quality of Indiaâs highways that permit vehicles to go faster than in the past.
Speed limit safety needs to be revise: The minister was also critical of some judicial rulings that disallowed hiking speeds on national highways. However, in the light of certain facts repeatedly surfacing in regard to safety issues of national highways, it does appear that greater caution in regard to increasing speed needs to be taken.
Critical analysis of NHAIâs road construction and maintenance
Rains and potholes: While the government claims that they are of international standard, a recent report highlighted the plight of road travelers on national highways post Indiaâs monsoons. The rains have left the countryâs arterial network in poor shape as they have become riddled with potholes.
Higher toll but poor roads: The cited report mentioned the Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch of NH-8, which, despite a hike in toll rates, remains incomplete and terribly potholed. The reason for this sorry state of affairs was revealed in a reply by the government to a parliamentary standing committee.
Insufficient maintenance: The budgetary provision for maintenance of national highways was a mere 40 percent of their own estimated standards. Clearly, maintenance of national highways was being discounted in favour of more kilometres of road construction. The shortfall of 60 percent of maintenance money was terribly high and resulted in the resources being thinly spread, making adequate maintenance intervention highly unlikely.
Inadequate budgetary allocation: The parliamentary committee pointed out in its report titled âIssues related to road sectorâ that the shortfall in sufficient budgetary allocation was echoed in the poor quality of national highways often witnessed across the country. The committee emphasized that the maintenance of national highways was vitally significant in regard to safety and good average traffic speeds and ought to be given high priority. The issue had been repeatedly flagged by the committee.
NITI Aayogâs acknowledgement of poor infrastructure: Similarly, NITI Aayog, in its report titled âStrategy for New India @75â, advised that the government should earmark 10 percent of its annual budget for maintenance of roads and highways and move towards the developed country norm of marking 40 percent of the budget for road upkeep. It is evident that if national highways are not in shape, the economy of the country and the states takes a hit.
Conclusion
It is absolutely necessary for citizens to follow road safety norms but government cannot look away from its responsibility. Scientific road construction even at the cost of slow construction rate is non-negotiable for sake of accident prevention. Safety of citizens is prior to any world record.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: implications of fossil fuel ban
Context
The President of Vanuatu, a small Pacific Island, wanted the General Assembly to adopt a universal Non-Proliferation Treaty to ban the use of fossil fuels across the world.
Why such extreme call on fossil fuel ban?
Unlikely discussion on climate change: There is a strong belief in some quarters that the next climate conference, just days away in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt this year (COP27) may not discuss climate change mitigation largely on account of the ongoing energy stress in Europe.
Ukraine conflict and rising energy demand: It is felt that the Russia Ukraine crisis and resulting global energy supply shortages have dented everyoneâs ability to reduce emissions. This may be a legitimate view but the discussion on coal in the United Nations General Assembly, in September, points to an opposite possibility.
Why this demand is significant?
Vanuatu represents the strong voice of island nations: Usually, such a call by a nation whose contribution to the global energy supplies and emissions is negligible would have gone unnoticed. But Vanuatu represents a strong and vocal group of small islands developing states whose voice is heard with attention and empathy in the UN.
Endorsement from various stakeholders: More so, when it is a matter that will affect the global discourse on climate change. The small island group has gone around seeking endorsements from various quarters governments, the corporate world and civil society.
Support from Indian quarters: Interestingly, the Mayor of Kolkata, capital of one of the largest coal producing States in India, has lent his voice of support.
Similar demand of ban on coal use
Demand of coal ban on Glasgow conference: Vanuatuâs plea comes in the wake of a similar call for phaseout of coal which was made last year at the Glasgow climate conference.
From phaseout to phasedown: After strong protest by the Indian interlocutors, the language of the decision at Glasgow was toned down from phaseout to phase down of unabated coal power and inefficient fuel subsidies.
Unfair for developing countries: When India argued that a phaseout was unfair to countries that were heavily dependent on coal power in the medium term, there was consternation among climate enthusiasts. Given this background, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) may be preparing the ground to make the fossil fuel elimination a part of national climate plans at COP 27.
What will be the implications of fossil fuel ban?
No responsibility of polluting countries under UN charter: a call to end fossil fuels through a mandate in the UN has very different implications than when it is presented under the UN Climate Change Convention. A UN mandate of this nature is divorced from the legal responsibility of the polluting countries to reduce their emissions on the basis of responsibility, capability and national circumstances, as required by the Climate Change Convention.
No commitment technological and financial innovations: It also makes no provisions for technological and financial innovations that are necessary to ensure the transition.
Attempt of securitization of climate: A few months ago, a similar attempt had been made in the UN to treat the matter of climate change as that of global security and request the UN Security Council to resolve it. This was dropped because of the opposition of most of the global south, which saw in this an attempt to address climate change not through international cooperation and consensus but by imposing the wish of a select few on others.
Without sacrificing the developing economy: A plan to drastically reduce coal fired power would in fact do very little to arrest the problem of climate change globally but may create insurmountable difficulties in securing the progress of developing economies towards key sustainable development goals.
Just and equitable transition: If the transition to a world of lower emissions has to be sustainable, it must also be just and equitable.
Equal access to alternative energy: It must ensure equal access to energy and secure energy supplies to all, not just to a few. While the developed economies have full access to alternative sources of energy, because of their strength in terms of technology and resources, the developing nations are handicapped. Therefore, a just transition needs to be built on the promise that green energy and a green future will be available to all.
Promoting the philosophy LiFE: It is in this context that the call for Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the UN Secretary General, jointly in India recently, assumes importance. Consumers in countries that consume at an unsustainable pace and contribute to rising emissions have a much greater responsibility to clean up the planet and support the growth of green energy.
Most vulnerable should be attended first: The world today is suffering from the adverse effects of climate change which have devastated homes and the livelihoods of large populations in various parts of the vulnerable world. Addressing these impacts and preparing the world for an uncertain future should be the priority.
Conclusion
It is high time that building climate resilient infrastructure in the developing and growing countries is given as much importance as phasing down coal and investment in energy innovations and alternative technologies.
Mains Question
Q.What will be the implication for developing countries if call on ban on fossil fuel is adopted? Explain the LiFE in the light of climate transition debate.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Assertive china and its implications on India and the world
Context
Chinaâs 20th Party Congress concluded with hardly any surprises, and a predetermined script was implemented without any hitch. Xi Jinping was anointed President for an unprecedented third term, and all six of his acolytes made it to the powerful Politburo Standing Committee.
Why Chinaâs 20th Party Congress is important?
Extension of tenure of Xi Jinping: Xiâs âcoreâ status has been further reinforced, and he is now set to eclipse Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, placing him next only to Mao. Mr. Xiâs Thought on âSocialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Eraâ will be the Chinese Communist Party/Communist Party of China (CCP)âs guiding philosophy for the future.
Xiâs control over party: It was also evident that Mr. Xi enjoys wide, if not overwhelming, support within the Party elite, enabling him to infuse a renewed sense of purpose alongside tightening of controls over it.
High focus on national security: National security would be the key factor dictating all aspects of governance. A common theme that permeated the proceedings was affirmation of the CCPâs historical mission.
Emphasized ideological coherence: There was only a single narrative, crafted in a manner that extolled Mr. Xiâs role in revitalization of the CCP, further enhancing his cult status. Unequivocally rejected was an earlier Xi thesis of a âCommunity of Common Destinyâ which has been replaced by the belief that international public opinion was currently anti-China and also included an incitement to overthrow the existing Communist regime. To counter such disruptive philosophies, it had become necessary for the CCP to emphasize ideological coherence and internal discipline.
Avoiding the soviet style collapse: This would help to avoid the danger of a âSoviet style collapseâ caused by ideological laxity, corruption, divisions within the party and attempts by outsiders to foment unrest.
What are the problematic declarations at 20th party congress?
Undermining the USA: In the realm of geopolitics, the Congress declared that the objective is to effectively reduce the authority and the power of the United States.
Rejecting the Indo-pacific: This was especially true of Chinaâs neighborhood, essentially the Indo-Pacific.
Achieving the lost glory: Also, to be eschewed by China were the vague and contradictory goals of the past, made at a time when China sought to make rapid progress in several directions.
Theory of victimhood of international conspiracy: Implicit in the proceedings was the belief that China was being deliberately denied access, and the ability, to import certain vital technological items, and in this regard, of being a victim of major international conspiracies. Earlier pragmatism was replaced by concerns about western pressures to derail Chinaâs progress.
Possible lifelong tenure to Xi: The Party Congress is indicative of the fact that Mr. Xi is much more than a mere party ârestorerâ, and that he adheres to the belief that the CCPâs role is central to Chinese society and critical to determining Chinaâs role in world affairs.
Raising the national strength and international influence: In terms of Chinaâs world view, the Party Congress reiterated that the goal is to make China a modern socialist power by 2035, boost per capita income to middle income levels, and modernise the armed forces. By 2049, the 100th anniversary of the Peoplesâ Republic of China, China is determined to lead the world in terms of composite national strength and international influence.
What are the implications for the world?
Premature takeover of Taiwan: one can expect that notwithstanding the level of rhetoric and assertions that this is a dangerous phase, China is unlikely to take any premature step to take over Taiwan, and thereby risk a wider conflict with the U.S. and the rest of the world at this point. Mr. Xi is far more likely to devote attention to internal matters within China, since unity within the Communist Party remains ephemeral; while dissent has been stamped out for the present, more consolidation would be necessary.
Short term conciliation with world: Consequently, one might well see China stepping back from its present confrontational posture with the U.S. and several other countries, and adopting a more conciliatory approach in the near future.
Conflicts are likely to happen: There are, of course, certain red lines any attempt at provocation within the âFirst Island Chainâ, or encouraging Taiwan to seek independence or break away from China are certain to lead to a conflict, irrespective of how it would adversely affect Chinaâs 2049 plans and objectives.
Border incursion will rise: In Indiaâs case, further skirmishes between the two countries along the several thousand kilometres of the undefined land border is to be expected.
Conflicts in Indian ocean: China is unlikely to embark on an open conflict with it anywhere else in the Indian Ocean region. This could alter, if India were to pursue a more aggressive policy in support of the Westâs âopen seas policyâ in waters in Chinaâs vicinity.
Prime target in west vs China battle: India is, however, likely to be a principal target of Chinese wrath in the next few years. As Indiaâs economic fortunes steadily improve even as Chinaâs declines, the perception conflict will become more intense.
Chinaâs progress at the cost of India: Moreover, if India is seen as a major recipient of western technology, the kind being denied to China, China would make it a point to use its economic, rather than military muscle, to deter Indiaâs progress. For China to achieve greatness by 2049, subduing India economically, and reducing its image in the eyes of the world would be critically important.
Conclusion
Chinaâs middle kingdom complex, unjustified assertion, paranoic claims on borders and seas and wolf warrior diplomacy is against the international rules and order. China has challenged the USAâs hegemony and entire international system without any tangible punishment. India has to choose its options carefully without compromising national security and ambitions.
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NFHS report findings
Mains level: NFHS, Estimating poverty in India
Context
The recent release of the National family health survey (NFHS) data for 2019-21 allows for a detailed analysis of the progress in the reduction of absolute poverty and related determinants like nutrition.
Poverty estimation in India
Planning Commission Expert Group (1962): It formulated the separate poverty lines for rural and urban areas at âš20 and âš25 per capita per year respectively.
VM Dandekar and N Rath (1971): They made the first systematic assessment, based on National Sample Survey (NSS) data. They suggested providing 2250 calories per day in both rural and urban areas.
YK Alagh Committee (1979): It constructed a poverty line for rural and urban areas on the basis of nutritional requirements and related consumption expenditure.
Lakdawala Committee (1993): It suggested that consumption expenditure should be calculated based on calorie consumption as earlier. State specific poverty lines should be constructed. It asked for discontinuation of scaling of poverty estimates based on National Accounts Statistics.
Tendulkar Committee (2009): The current official measures of poverty are based on the Tendulkar poverty line, fixed at daily expenditure of âš27.2 in rural areas and âš33.3 in urban areas is criticized by many for being too low.
How poverty is estimated under NFHS?
Multidimensional poverty index: The NFHS surveys are part of a multinational attempt to provide estimates of a multidimensional poverty index. Its computation rests on estimates of poverty according to 10 different indicators:
Nutrition
Child mortality
Years of schooling
School attendance
Cooking fuel
Sanitation
Drinking water
Electricity
Housing
Assets
The deprivation index: the deprivation index for each indicator is the per cent poor (deprived) according to that indicator. The aggregation of the 10 indicators into one index involves legitimate issues of weighting, but individual components do not suffer from this drawback.
Multidimensional poverty declined: at a compounded annual average rate of 4.8 per cent per year in 2005-2011 and more than double that pace at 10.3 per cent a year during 2011-2021.
Declining child mortality: There are some issues with the 2011 child-mortality data, but for each of the 10 components of the MPI index, the rate of decline in 2011-2021 is considerably faster than in 2005-2011.
Average decline in overall indicators: The average equally weighted decline for nine indicators was 1.9 per cent per annum in 2005-2011 and a rate of 16.6 per cent per annum, more than eight times higher in 2011-2021.
Consumption inequality decline: Every single household survey or analysis has shown that consumption inequality declined during 2011-2021. This is consistent with the above finding of highly inclusive growth during 2011-2021.
What are the efforts behind inclusive growth and reduced poverty?
A major factor behind the inclusive nature of growth during 2011-2021 is the focus of government policies on each of the individual indicatorâs indicative of a dignified standard of living. A direct impact of this dedicated fiscal push is that slow-moving variables such as housing, access to cooking fuel, sanitation, etc, have witnessed a remarkable increase.
Swachh Bharat Mission: The governmentâs Swachh Bharat mission in 2014-2021 constructed over 110 million toilets even if some were without easy access to water, many were.
Saubhagya Yojana: Similarly, close to one-third of Indians were deprived of electricity till as recently as 2014. It was only after a dedicated push (Saubhagya Yojana) that India managed to electrify every village, and eventually households. Electricity deprivation declined by a 28.2 per cent rate post-2014; between 2005 and 2011, the rate of decline was close to zero.
Jan Dhan Yojana: Another example is the Jan Dhan Yojana which made financial inclusion a reality in India, especially for women.
Ujjwala Yojana: On access to modern cooking fuel (through the Ujjwala Yojana), deprivation was nearly halved from 26 per cent to 14 per cent in just five years. The previous halving (2005/6 to 2015/16) took 10 years.
Awas Yojana: The affordable housing scheme (Awas Yojana) has meant that less than 14 per cent are now deprived, compared to thrice that number in 2011/12.
Jal Jeevan Mission: More recently, government has embarked on an ambitious project of ensuring universal access to piped water under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Rural piped water coverage was a little less than 17 per cent in 2019, but is now well above 54 per cent and expected to at least be near, if not meet, the 100 per cent target by 2024.
Conclusion
Extreme poverty in India is surely on decline but pandemic have pushed people again back to the poverty. Pandemic have put the break on inclusive growth of people. Government must realize these and plan accordingly.
Mains Question
Q. Analyze the data of NFHS for poverty estimation in India? How government policies have helped to reduce the extreme poverty in India?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Read the attached story
Context
On October 31, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court noted that the two-finger test is a sexist medical practice that re-victimizes and re-traumatizes rape survivors. The Court also issued directions to the Union and state governments to implement the 2014 guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for health providers in sexual violence cases.
The two-finger test involves the medical examiner inserting their two fingers into the vagina of a survivor to note the presence or absence of the hymen and the so-called laxity of the vagina.
What is the expert doctorâs opinion?
Misogynistic belief: While a hymen can be torn and its orifice may vary in size for many reasons unrelated to sex, the origin of the two-finger test lies in the misogynistic belief that a torn hymen is an indication that the survivor is habituated to sex and therefore, cannot be raped or is more likely to make false claims about being raped.
What is the law against such infringement of bodily privacy?
SC prohibited test in Rajesh v. State of Haryana 2013 case: âMedicalization of consentâ where womenâs bodies are given precedence over their voices. Recognizing this as an invasion of privacy and a violation of a survivorâs dignity, the Supreme Court prohibited the test in Lillu at Rajesh v. State of Haryana (2013).
Guidelines for medico-legal care for survivors of sexual violence: Shortly after, in March 2014, taking forward the recommendations of the Justice J S Verma Committee Report, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare issued guidelines for medico-legal care for survivors of sexual violence. These guidelines explicitly prohibited the two-finger test and discussed the need for training medical examiners to respond to the needs of the survivors in a sensitive and non-discriminatory manner.
Why the practice of two finger tests still persists?
Lack of political will: Nearly eight years since the guidelines were issued, the two-finger test still remains a reality. Its prevalence is a reflection of the complete lack of political will to address the issue.
No pan-India comprehensive review: While fragmented pieces of narratives and research indicate that the two-finger test continues in rape cases to date, it is incumbent upon the executive to undertake a comprehensive pan-India review to assess the nature and extent of the problem.
Change in format and unclarity: The changed format (introduced after the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013) of the medico-legal certificate used by doctors in rape cases did not require them to make a note of the finding of the two-finger test. However, according to the lawyers, this did not mean that the test was not happening anymore. Some says they it was no longer being recorded as such but was still being conducted.
Poor medical infrastructure: The continued existence of the two-finger test is a result of the overall poor state of forensic medicine infrastructure in India.
Lack of awareness: Lack of awareness amongst the medical community about the unscientific nature of the two-finger test.
What is the opinion of the court?
Government must enforce the protocol: The Court commenting on the sorry state of affairs and issuing directions to the government on enforcement of the protocol including the emphasis on workshops and the medical school curriculum is significant.
Holding a person, a guilty of misconduct: The Court took a step further by holding a person conducting the two-finger test on a rape survivor guilty of misconduct. It is unclear if the Court was making a reference to professional misconduct on part of the medical examiner.
What should be the way forward?
Caregiving to victim: Medical practitioners must see themselves as caregivers when handling sexual violence cases.
Awareness about legal system: Medical practitioners should be made to understand as their role in the criminal legal system, specifically towards rape survivors.
Training of medical examiners: The training in medical school must prepare medical examiners for their role in the justice system.
Police should play an active role: The institution of police should be sensitized on the continued use of the two-finger test in rape cases.
Modules on sexuality: Training and workshops designed for doctors needs to include modules on sexuality and discrimination.
Conclusion
Two finger test is further traumatizing the victim of rape. Despite the directives of courts years ago and unscientific nature, two finger test continues. Women empowerment is not only about the earnings and livelihood its also about the right to privacy and dignity of life.
Mains Question
Q. What is two finger tests? what is the law against the two-finger test? give the reasons for continuation of two finger test?
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Biosphere reserves, WNBR,
Mains level: Issues of concerns and efforts of conservation, India's efforts in biodiversity conservation
Context
November 3 will be the first âThe International Day for Biosphere Reservesâ, to be celebrated beginning 2022. The World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) was formed in 1971, as a backbone for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, and living in harmony with nature.
What is biosphere reserve?
Protected area: A biosphere reserve is an area of land or water that is protected by law in order to support the conservation of ecosystems, as well as the sustainability of mankindâs impact on the environment.
Serves as a Platform to study: Â They are places that provide local solutions to global challenges. Biosphere reserves include terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each site promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use.
Learning places for sustainable development: Biosphere reserves are âlearning places for sustainable developmentâ. They are sites for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity.
Biodiversity conservation programs are carried out: To carry out the complementary activities of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, biosphere reserves are traditionally organized into 3 interrelated zones, known as: the core area, the buffer zone, and a transition zone or âarea of cooperation.
The core purpose: The purpose of the formation of the biosphere reserve is to conserve in situ all forms of life, along with its support system, in its totality, so that it could serve as a referral system for monitoring and evaluating changes in natural ecosystems. Each reserve aims to help scientists and the environmental community figure out how to protect the worldâs plant and animal species while dealing with a growing population and its resource needs.
What is the process of recognition as Biosphere reserve?
All biosphere reserves are internationally recognized sites on land, at the coast, or in the oceans.
Governments alone decide which areas to nominate. Before approval by UNESCO, the sites are externally examined.
If approved, they will be managed based on a plan, reinforced by credibility checks while remaining under the sovereignty of their national government.
Worldwide: There are 738 biosphere reserves in 134 countries, including 22 transboundary sites.
In India:
Presently, there are 18 notified biosphere reserves in India. Ten out of the eighteen biosphere reserves are a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, based on the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme list.
In India, the first biosphere reserve was designated by UNESCO in 2000, namely, the blue mountains of the Nilgiris stretching over Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.
You must know- UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme
The MAB programme is an intergovernmental scientific programme.
It aims to establish a scientific basis for enhancing the relationship between people and their environments.
It combines the natural and social sciences with a view to improving human livelihoods and safeguarding natural and managed ecosystems.
It promotes innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable.
What is World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR)?
Dynamic network of cooperation: The WNBR, an amazing network of sites of excellence, is a unique tool for cooperation through sharing knowledge, exchanging experiences, building capacity and promoting best practices.
Fosters harmonious integration of people and nature: Its members are always ready to support each other. Â It fosters the harmonious integration of people and nature for sustainable development through participatory dialogue; knowledge sharing; poverty reduction and human well-being improvements; respect for cultural values and societyâs ability to cope with change –Â thus contributing to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
A tool to develop sustainable approach: The Network is one of the main international tools to develop and implement sustainable development approaches in a wide array of contexts
The principle of Living with harmony: The best concept for âLiving in Harmony with Natureâ that exists in the United Nations system, is the WNBR, making these places more important today than ever before, where humans are thriving and relearning how to live with nature.
