Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: article 21
Mains level: right to privacy
Context
- Data privacy breaches which result in the loss and theft of personal, sensitive data have not reduced in terms of measurable frequency or their impact.
- It has been 5 years since the nine-judge Supreme Court bench delivered the judgment in the Puttaswamy case. It asserted that Indians have a constitutionally protected fundamental right to privacy.
- A right to be let alone;
- The right of a person to be free from any unwarranted publicity;
- The right to live without any unwarranted interference by the public in matters with which the public is not necessarily concerned.
Definition of data
- Data is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted.
What is Data Protection?
- Data protection refers to policies and procedures seeking to minimise intrusion into the privacy of an individual caused by collection and usage of their personal data.
What is data privacy?
- Data privacy refers to controlling access to the data. Organizations must determine who has access to data. Understandably, a privacy breach can lead to data security issues.
What is data security?
- Data security refers specifically to measures taken to protect the integrity of the data itself against manipulation and malware. It provides defense from internal and external threats.
Why we need data protection?
- Increasing internet use: India currently has over 750 million Internet users, with the number only expected to increase in the future.
- Data breaches: At the same time, India has among the highest data breaches in the world. Without a data protection law in place, the data of millions of Indians continues to be at risk of being exploited, sold, and misused without their consent.
- Individual privacy: Data monetization may happen at cost of individual privacy. The most sought-after datasets are those that contain sensitive personal data of individuals, ex. medical history, financial data.
Issues with the data breaches in India
- Violation of the right to privacy: The right to privacy was recognized as a fundamental right, included under the right to life and liberty by the Supreme Court of India in 2017.
- Absence of legal framework: Without a law in place to regulate data collection and to act as an oversight mechanism, valid concerns about privacy and other rights violations continue to arise.
- High Infrastructural Costs: Technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are costly to implement. The size of stored information is extremely large and requires huge network & data storage facilities, which are currently not available in India.
- The concern of Data Leakage: In today’s world of cybercrime, it is important to put appropriate safeguards in place in order to ensure the integrity of the repository/database, so that it doesn’t leak out the information and is not privatized or monetized.
- Reliability & Authenticity: As the data collected may be used in the court of law during the course of a criminal trial, the reliability and the admissibility of the data along with standards and procedures followed would be taken into consideration. Hence, the authenticity of the data is crucial.
Conclusion
- Today, there is a relentless pace of digitisation that relies on gathering personal data in all spheres of our lives. All of this is done in a legal vacuum without any oversight or remedy. This underscores the urgent need for robust data protection law.
Mains question
Q. What do you understand by the term data privacy? Explain how data leakages threatens the sacred right to privacy?
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Context
- While AFSPA is repealed in 28 districts in Assam, 7 districts in Nagaland and 6 in Manipur, NSF president Kegwayhun Tep said that it should be repealed in all Northeastern states .
- Armed Forces Special Powers Act, to put it simply, gives armed forces the power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas.”
- AFSPA gives armed forces the authority use force or even open fire after giving due warning if they feel a person is in contravention of the law.
- The Act further provides that if “reasonable suspicion exists”, the armed forces can also arrest a person without warrant; enter or search premises without a warrant; and ban the possession of firearms.
AFSPA: A Backgrounder
- The AFSPA, 1958 came into force in the context of insurgency in the North-eastern States decades ago.
- It provides “special power” to the Armed Forces applies to the Army, the Air Force and the Central Paramilitary forces etc.
- It has been long contested debate whether the “special powers” granted under AFSPA gives total immunity to the armed forces for any action taken by them.
What are the Special Powers?
- Power to use force: including opening fire, even to the extent of causing death if prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more persons or carrying arms and weapons, etc are in force in the disturbed area;
- Power to destroy structures: used as hide-outs, training camps, or as a place from which attacks are or likely to be launched, etc;
- Power to arrest: without warrant and to use force for the purpose;
- Power to enter and search premises: without a warrant to make arrest or recovery of hostages, arms and ammunition and stolen property etc.
Who can declare/notify such areas?
- The Central Government or the Governor of the State or administrator of the Union Territory can declare the whole or part of the State or Union Territory as a disturbed area.
Issues with AFSPA
- Power to kill: Section 4 of the Act granted officers the authority to “take any action” even to the extent to cause the death.
- Sexual Misconduct by Armed Forces: The issue of violation of human rights by actions of armed forces came under the consideration of the Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law (popularly known as Justice Verma Committee) set up in 2012. It observed that- in conflict zones, legal protection for women was neglected.
- Autocracy: The reality is that there is no evidence of any action being taken against any officer of the armed forces or paramilitary forces for their excesses.
Recommendations to repeal AFSPA
- Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy Commission: The 2004 Committee headed by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, the content of which has never officially been revealed by the Government, recommended that AFSPA be repealed.
- ARC II: The Administrative Reforms Commission in its 5th Report on ‘Public Order’ had also recommended that AFSPA be repealed.
- Human right violations: The repeal of AFSPA is necessary not just for restoring constitutional sanity, but also as a way of acknowledging dark history of our conduct in Nagaland.
- Need for ensuring individual dignity: The political incorporation of Nagaland (and all other areas where this law applies) will be set back if the guarantees of individual dignity of the Indian Constitution are not extended.
- Not state of exception: We often describe AFSPA in terms of a “state of exception”. But this theoretical term is misleading. How can a law that has been in virtually continuous existence since 1958 be described as an “exception”.
- Lack of human empathy: At the heart of AFSPA is a profound mutilation of human empathy.
Conclusion
- To bring in lasting peace in the North East, the government needs to avoid the trap of watered-down peace accords. While the move to withdraw AFSPA is welcome, it needs to be gradually erased. For that, changes in the ground situation would be crucial. Mere smoke signals or drum-beating can never do the job.
Mains question
Q. Do you think AFSPA is license to kill? Critically examine the utility of AFSPA today.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Network for Greening the Financial System
Mains level: green future ,green finance
Context
- Inclusion of climate change and green finance in policy is crucial for a strong economy.
- Green finance is a phenomenon that combines the world of finance and business with environment friendly behaviour. It may be led by financial incentives, a desire to preserve the planet, or a combination of both.
- In addition to demonstrating proactive, environment friendly behaviour, such as promoting of any business or activity that could be damaging to the environment now or for future generations.
Green finance instruments
- Dedicated fund: A “green super fund” could be established to jumpstart green investments by pooling together international and domestic capital.
- Sovereign green bond (SGB): The sovereign green bond is a novel idea. It will be a part of the government’s borrowing programme. The gross borrowing programme of the government is pegged at Rs 14.95 lakh crore. The SGB (sovereign green bond) raised will be part of the aggregate borrowing programme and has to be used for projects which are ESG (environment, social and governance) compliant.
Network for Greening the Financial System
- The Network for Greening the Financial System is a network of 114 central banks and financial supervisors that aims to accelerate the scaling up of green finance and develop recommendations for central banks’ role for climate change.
- The NGFS was created in 2017 and its secretariat is hosted by the Banque de France.
Purpose
- The Network’s purpose is to help strengthening the global response required to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and to enhance the role of the financial system to manage risks and to mobilize capital for green and low carbon investments in the broader context of environmentally sustainable development.
Significance
- Green goals: Reaching net-zero emissions and other climate-related and environmental goals will require significant investments to enable decarbonisation and innovation across all sectors of the economy. Greening the financial system is key to making these investments happen.
- SDG goals: Green finance initiatives also aim to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shifting the focus from creating value for shareholders (economic) to creating value for stakeholders (economic, environmental, and social).
- Green future: And as we begin to recover from the pandemic, green finance presents a huge opportunity to build back with a greener future, creating new businesses and jobs.
- Robust growth: Supports strong and green growth in all sectors of economy .
The issues in mobilization and effective use of green finance are
- Low incentives: The return on green finance is long term, low in monetary value & many times intangible, so that the ability of the financial system to mobilize private green finance, especially in developed countries is difficult.
- Distribution challenge: Developing countries like India have challenges of development & poverty alleviation, so allocation of resources towards meeting fundamental needs & promoting the green projects which require heavy investment is a challenge.
- Skewed investment: In many countries, green finance & much of the green projects are limited to the investment in renewable energy: India whose 60% of installed capacity is coal based, greening of coal technology is required which is mostly limited to private players in developed countries. It is subjected to IPR & makes them cost prohibitory.
- High risk: Green bonds are perceived as new and attach higher risk and their tenure is also shorter. There is a need to reduce risks to makes them investment grade.
Conclusion
- Our future depends on how we resolve our environmental challenges. Further, we are the world’s third-largest carbon emitter and will play a crucial role in getting the planet to a low-carbon trajectory. Simply put, we must urgently transform our economy to get to the green frontier.
Mains question
Q. As the world copes with the repercussions of carbon emissions, there is growing pressure to achieve climate-compatible growth. In this context What do you understand by the term green finance? Discuss how it will help to achieve climate-compatible growth along with limitations of green finance.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Digital health id
Mains level: National digital health mission
Context
- The covid-19 pandemic has presented a watershed moment, bringing the world’s healthcare systems to a halt, forcing us to rethink existing healthcare delivery models and embrace the digital health transformation of the sector.
Definition of digital health care
- Digital health is a discipline that includes digital care programs, technologies with health, healthcare, living, and society to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and to make medicine more personalized and precise.
Digital Health: A Backgrounder
- The National Health Policy 2017 had envisaged creation of a digital health technology eco-system aiming at developing an integrated health information system.
- A Digital Health ID was proposed to reduce the risk of preventable medical errors and significantly increase the quality of care.
- It recognised the need to establish a specialised ecosystem, called the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).
The National Digital Health Mission
- The NDHM is a digital health ecosystem under which every Indian citizen will now have unique health IDs, digitized health records with identifiers for doctors and health facilities.
- The mission will significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of health service delivery and will be a major step towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.8 of Universal Health Coverage, including financial risk protection.
Significance of digital health
- Prioritizing patients: Say, mortality from Covid-19 is significantly increased by comorbidities or the presence of other underlying conditions like hypertension or diabetes.With digital health records, doctors can prioritise patients based on their test results.
- Portability of health records: Portability of records fairly eases in a patient with the first hospital visit, or her/his most frequently visited hospital. If she/he wishes to change a healthcare provider for cost or quality reasons, she can access her health records without carrying pieces of paper prescriptions and test reports. People will able to access their lab reports, x-rays and prescriptions irrespective of where they were generated, and share them with doctors or family members — with consent.
- Easy facilitation: This initiative will allow patients to access healthcare facilities remotely through e-pharmacies, online appointments, teleconsultation, and other health benefits. Besides, as all the medical history of the patient is recorded in the Health ID card, it will help the doctor to understand the case better, and improved medication can be offered.
- Technology impetus in policymaking: Meanwhile, it is also not just individuals who could emerge beneficiaries of the scheme. With large swathes of data being made available, the government too can form policies based on geographical, demographical, and risk-factor based monitoring of health.
Critical point to remember
In the case of lung cancer, only 18.5 % of patients survive five or more years once diagnosed. These are threats that data-led technology will help address.
- Informed Consent:The citizen’s consent is vital for all access. A beneficiary’s consent is vital to ensure that information is released.
- Data leakages issue:Personalised data collected at multiple levels are a “sitting gold mine” for insurance companies, international researchers, and pharma companies.
- Digital divide:Other experts add that lack of access to technology, poverty, and lack of understanding of the language in a vast and diverse country like India are problems that need to be looked into.
- Data Migration:The data migration and inter-State transfer are still faced with multiple errors and shortcomings in addition to concerns of data security.
Other challenges
- Existing digitalization is yet incomplete:India has been unable to standardise the coverage and quality of the existing digital cards like One Nation One Ration card, PM-JAY card, Aadhaar card, etc., for accessibility of services and entitlements.
- Lack of healthcare facilities:The defence of data security by expressed informed consent doesn’t work in a country that is plagued by the acute shortage of healthcare professionals to inform the client fully.
- Lack of finance:With the minuscule spending of 1.3% of the GDP on the healthcare sector, India will be unable to ensure the quality and uniform access to healthcare that it hoped to bring about.
Conclusion
- With an enabling ecosystem, supported by effective policies for digital healthcare and increased innovation, the promise of digital solutions in healthcare is immense. It’s not long before precision healthcare becomes central to the health and well-being of every citizen.
Mains question
Q. The covid-19 pandemic has presented a watershed moment, bringing the world’s healthcare systems to a halt, forcing us to rethink existing healthcare delivery models. In this context discuss challenges and opportunities of digital health ecosystem in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: sports bodies
Mains level: sport governance transparency
Context
- The judicial push for reforms in sport governance of various sporting bodies, football, hockey, table tennis and the Indian Olympic Association has understandably received mixed reactions.
Why in news?
- The national sports federation’s usual governance practices do not place either the sport or the athlete front and centre; that space is reserved for official egos, whims and political clout.
What is sport governance?
- Sport governance refers to the power a government has over institutions and allows their decisions to be made with due consideration to their influence, authority, and organizational structure.
- Physical activity is fundamental to human beings: The report states that having a fundamental right to literacy would mean identifying the intrinsic value of physical activity to human living.
- Part of elementary education: It would mean not seeing physical activity as an end in itself, and the establishment of physical activity/ physical education as a core component of the education curriculum.
- Supportive to other FRs: A fundamental right to physical literacy would actualise and enhance the enjoyment of other fundamental rights. It would go a long way in enhancing the opportunities and freedom to express oneself.
- Enhancing life quality: A physically literate individual would have a more fulfilling life of higher quality than one who is not. Physical literacy, as a building block, would go a long way in the promotion and realisation of the right to health and the right to education.
Issues with the Current Sports governance
- Lack of check and balance: The biggest concern regarding these bodies so far has been a complete lack of checks and balances.
- Excessive autonomy: In the pretext of autonomy, they have been allowed to function in any manner.
- Less people centric approach: The federations have generally fallen short of public expressions and have failed to carry out their jobs. It has been largely attributed to the way they are governed.
- Accountability: The current sports model faces accountability issues such as that of having unlimited discretionary powers and also there is no transparency in the decision-making.
Sport governance in India is administered by
- Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS)
- National Sports Federation (NSF)
- Indian Olympic Association (IOA)
- State Olympic Association (SOA)
- Sports Authority of India (SAI)
Positive Suggestions
- Legislation: There must be presence of powerful and defined sports legislation in India covering all the nuances of sports and giving no arbiter powers to any authority.
- Transparency-: To maintain transparency with expenditure and fund utilization, Information like a board of members, administrative officials, and remuneration information must be in public domain.
- Women Representation: It is very important to have sufficient women representation in sports as well as in the administrative bodies, and it is the responsibility of these admin bodies to ensure sufficient representation from women in the board too, to maintain the diversity within the board.
- Plans: There should be fix timelines disclosed which are to be adopted by sports bodies for the purpose of growth and development of sports in future, which is to be achieved in a given specific period of time. These kinds of timelines and plans would be motivational for players and bodies to. Goals to be targeted in future must be predecided, which can be well monitored and regulated by the authorities. Effective implementation would bring positive results in future.
- Committees: To set up specific committees for specific activities relating to sports activities, like for planning, financing, research and development purposes. These committees would look after the particular task, which would bring transparency in work and achieving the common objective.
- Rules and Regulations: like other fields, sports also have conflicts regarding disciplinary, administrative and management issues, to solve this issues governing bodies must set up a common judicial system (tribunal) to deal with sports-related conflicts.
Conclusion
- There is a close association of sports with national pride and the kind of influence it has on the psyche of the nation, a role for the State is urgent in sports reforms.
Mains question
Q. The national sports federation’s usual governance practices do not place either the sport or the athlete front and centre; that space is reserved for official egos what do you think on this ? Explain the term sport governance with some dynamic changes needed in it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Action Plan on Forest Fires
Mains level: environment conservation
Context
- Forest fires are becoming more common and wildfires are destroying nearly twice as much tree cover globally as they did in 2001.
Why in news?
- Climate change is driving more intense and widespread forest fire by fuelling more extreme heat and deepening drought, which dries out forests.
- A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation starting in rural and urban areas.
What causes forest fires?
- Human activities: Forest fires can be caused by a number of natural causes, but officials say many major fires in India are triggered mainly by human activities.
- Climate change: Emerging studies link climate change to rising instances of fires globally, especially the massive fires of the Amazon forests in Brazil and in Australia in the last two years. Fires of longer duration, increasing intensity, higher frequency and highly inflammable nature are all being linked to climate change.
- Season: In India, wildfires are most commonly reported during March and April, when the ground has large quantities of dry wood, logs, dead leaves, stumps, dry grass and weeds that can make forests easily go up in flames if there is a trigger.
- Natural reasons: Under natural circumstances, extreme heat and dryness, friction created by rubbing of branches with each other also have been known to initiate fire.
Key fact
7.4 million acres of forest are getting burnt annually now an area roughly the size of Belgium.
What factors make forest fires a concern?
- Carbon emission: They act as a sink, reservoir and source of carbon.
- Livelihood loss: In India, with 1.70 lakh villages in close proximity to forests (Census 2011), the livelihood of several crores of people is dependent on fuelwood, bamboo, fodder, and small timber.
- Destruction of animals’ habitat: Heat generated during the fire destroys animal habitats. Soil quality decreases with the alteration in their compositions.
- Soil degradation: Soil moisture and fertility, too, is affected. Thus forests can shrink in size. The trees that survive fire often remain stunted and growth is severely affected.
Measures to curb Forest fires
1) National Action Plan on wild fires
- The MoEFCC has prepared a National Action Plan on wild fire in 2018 after several rounds of consultation with all states and UTs.
- The objective of this plan is to minimize forest fires by informing, enabling and empowering forest fringe communities and incentivizing them to work in tandem with the State Forest Departments.
- The plan also intends to substantially reduce the vulnerability of forests across diverse forest ecosystems in the country against fire hazards, enhance capabilities of forest personnel and institutions in fighting fires and swift recovery subsequent to fire incidents.
2) Forest Fire Prevention and Management scheme
- The MoEFCC provides wildfire prevention and management measures under the Centrally Sponsored Forest Fire Prevention and Management (FPM) scheme.
- The FPM is the only centrally funded program specifically dedicated to assist the states in dealing with forest fires.
- The FPM replaced the Intensification of Forest Management Scheme (IFMS) in 2017. By revamping the IFMS, the FPM has increased the amount dedicated for forest fire work.
- Funds allocated under the FPM are according to the 90:10 ratio of central to state funding in the Northeast and Western Himalayan regions and 60:40 ratio for all other states.
- Nodal officers for forest fire prevention and control have been appointed in each state.
Way forward
- Awareness should be created among the villagers residing near the forests with respect to the long-term ill effects of forest fires.
- Measures to prevent wildfires have to be taken before summer season when fires are prevalent.
- Local people should be given skills to use online portals or mobile apps in order to monitor the forests for fires and inform forest authorities regarding the same.
Mains question
Q. Climate change is driving more intense and widespread forest fires by fueling more extreme heat and deepening drought. Why forest fires are cause of concern? Discuss our preparedness level for the same in the above context.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: mullaperiyar dam
Mains level: dam safety bill ,DRIP.
Context
- Integrated risk assessment of dam safety required to prevent human-made disasters: Experts
Why in news?
- The recent floods in the Mahanadi basin in Odisha have brought to the fore, the faulty management of dam safety, which were built to mitigate floods and not be the cause of them.
What is a dam?
- A dam is a barrier that stops the flow of water and results in the creation of a reservoir. Dams are mainly built in order to produce electricity by using water. This form of electricity is known as hydroelectricity.
- Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability.
Key facts
India has 5,745 large dams according to the National Register of Large Dams, 2019, prepared by the Central Water Commission. Some 5,334 of them are operational and the remaining 411 are under construction.
- The Act comprehensively postulates for surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of dams to prevent disasters.
Features
- National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS): It will be constituted and will be chaired by the chairperson, Central Water Commission. Its’ functions will include formulating policies and regulations regarding dam safety standards and prevention of dam failures, analyzing the causes of major dam failures, and suggesting changes in dam safety practices.
- National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA): It will be headed by an officer, not below the rank of an Additional Secretary, to be appointed by the central government. The main task of this authority includes implementing the policies formulated by the NCD, resolving issues between State Dam Safety Organisations (SDSOs), or between an SDSO and any dam owner in that state, specifying regulations for inspection and investigation of dams.
- State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO): Its functions will be to keep perpetual surveillance, inspection, monitoring the operation and maintenance of dams, keeping a database of all dams, and recommending safety measures to owners of dams.
- Dam Safety Unit: The owners of the specified dams are required to provide a dam safety unit in each dam. This unit will inspect the dams before and after the monsoon session, and during and after any calamity or sign of distress.
- Emergency Action Plan: Dam owners will be required to prepare an emergency action plan, and carry out risk assessment studies for each dam at specified regular intervals.
- Certain offences: The act provides for two types of offences – obstructing a person in the discharge of his functions, and refusing to comply with directions issued under the proposed law.
Dam rehabilitation and improvement programme DRIP
- Government of India, with financial assistance from the World Bank initiated Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) in April 2012 with an objective to improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams along with dam safety institutional strengthening with system wide management approach. It was a State Sector Scheme with Central component.
Do you know?
Four dams — Mullaperiyar, Parambikulam, Thunakkadavu and Peruvaripallam — located in Kerala but owned, operated and maintained by the Tamil Nadu Government.
Conclusion
- The bill aims to help all States and Union Territories to adopt uniform dam safety procedures which will ensure safety of dams and safeguard benefits from such dams. In order to iron out the differences and issues in the bill, central government should take the state governments into consideration and hold talks with all the stakeholders. This will go a long way in ensuring the safety of dams in India, which ranks third in the world in terms of number of large dams.
Mains question
Q. India, which ranks third in the world in terms of number of large dams. Ageing dams poses several challenges for India. In this context discuss the importance of dam safety bill 2021.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: equitable health and education
Context
- To create the foundation for the next century, we need to invest in equitable education and health care in the next 25 years not just for the elite, but for all.
What is current status of education?
- Expenditure on Education: The expenses on education as a percentage to GDP, India lags behind some developed/ developing nations.
- Infrastructure deficit: Dilapidated structures, single-room schools, lack of drinking water facilities, separate toilets and other educational infrastructure is a grave problem.
- Student-teacher ratio: Another challenge for improving the Indian education system is to improve the student teacher ratio.
What is current status of healthcare?
- Weak delivery: Current health infrastructure in India paints a dismal picture of the healthcare delivery system in the country.
- Unpreparedness: Public health experts believe that India is ill-equipped to handle emergencies.
- Technical glitches in urban areas: It is not prepared to tackle health epidemics, particularly given its urban congestion.
A systemic approach to reforming education system in the country needs
- Dynamic pedagogy: Academic interventions involve the adoption of grade competence framework instead of just syllabus completion.
- Directional efforts: Effective delivery of remedial education for weaker students like after-school coaching, audio-video based education.
- Administrative reforms: that enable and incentivize teachers to perform better through data-driven insights, training, and recognition. Example: Performance based increments in Salary.
A systemic approach to reforming healthcare system in the country needs
- Universal health coverage: Access to healthcare in India is not equitable—the rich and the middle class would survive the COVID-19 or any other crisis but not the poor.
- Increasing healthcare professionals in numbers: India has handled the COVID-19 pandemic exceptionally well. However, India is in dire need of more medical staff and amenities.
- Revamping medical education: If the government wants to stay successful in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, it needs to rapidly build medical institutions and increase the number of doctors.
- Cross-subsidization of health-care: How the poor managed without, or even with, any government insurance scheme is a big question. They can make up for the loss by cross-subsidizing treatments of patients with premium insurance policies.
Recent initiatives
- PLI scheme: In view of these challenges, the government announced various policies like PLI scheme for domestic manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
- National Digital Health Mission: It also announced the National Digital Health Mission.
Way forward
- India’s healthcare system is too small for such a large population.
- There seems to be a long battle ahead. The public healthcare system cannot be improved overnight.
- The country needs all hands on deck during and after this crisis—both public and private sectors must work together and deliver universal health coverage for all citizens.
Conclusion
- Providing expanded access to high quality education and healthcare supports—particularly for those young people who today lack such access—will not only expand economic opportunity for those individuals, but will also likely do more to strengthen the overall state economy.
Mains question
Q. To create the foundation for the next century, we need to invest in education and health in the next 25 years not just for the elite, but for all. Critically examine
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Data localisation
Mains level: Data diplomacy, Data sovereignty
Context
- The government has withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill from Parliament after several amendments were proposed by the Joint-Parliamentary Committee.
Definition of data
- Data is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted.
What is Data Protection?
- Data protection refers to policies and procedures seeking to minimise intrusion into the privacy of an individual caused by collection and usage of their personal data.
What is data localisation?
- Data localization or data residency law requires data about a nation’s citizens or residents to be collected, processed, and/or stored inside the country, often before being transferred internationally.
What is Data Governance?
- Data governance is a collection of processes, roles, policies, standards, and metrics that ensure the effective and efficient use of information in enabling an organization to achieve its goals. Data governance defines who can take what action, upon what data, in what situations, using what methods.
Interesting facts
- Over 90% of all the data in the world was created in the past 2 years;
- The total amount of data being captured and stored by industry doubles every 1.2 years;
- If you burned all of the data created in just one day onto DVDs, you could stack them on top of each other and reach the moon – twice.
Data sovereignty of India
- Definition: India has placed itself at the heart of the battle, its foreign policy vision fuelled by the principle of ‘data sovereignty’—a broad notion that supports the assertion of sovereign writ over data generated by citizens within a country’s physical boundaries.
- Issues: The ideal of “data sovereignty”, and global attempts to leverage it, has come under heavy criticism from various stakeholders who are of the view that the concept violates the principle of “free and open internet”. They also argue that “data sovereignty” hampers innovation and economic growth, and is a ruse for authoritarian digital governance.
India’s Data Diplomacy: Three Pillars
- Pillar 1: India’s data for India’s development
The flagship ‘Digital India’ programme clearly views data as the cornerstone of India’s socioeconomic future—one where the government leverages the Indian citizen’s data for the benefit of the people themselves, and not solely for profit-making.
- Pillar 2: Cross-border data flows and digital trade
In keeping with its foreign policy tradition of actively shaping debates on global trade rules, India has been an active participant in the ongoing contestation on regulating cross-border data flows.
- Pillar 3: Securitising the economic
The final pillar of India’s data diplomacy has been predicated ostensibly on safeguarding its citizens’ data from external threats.
Why data is important?
- Improve People’s Lives: Data will help you to improve quality of life for people you support: Improving quality is first and foremost among the reasons why organizations should be using data.
- Make Informed Decisions: Data = Knowledge. Good data provides indisputable evidence, while anecdotal evidence, assumptions, or abstract observation might lead to wasted resources due to taking action based on an incorrect conclusion.
- Stop Molehills from Turning into Mountains: Data allows you to monitor the health of important systems in your organization: By utilizing data for quality monitoring, organizations are able to respond to challenges before they become full-blown crisis.
- Get The Results You Want: Data allows organizations to measure the effectiveness of a given strategy: When strategies are put into place to overcome a challenge, collecting data will allow you to determine how well your solution is performing, and whether or not your approach needs to be tweaked or changed over the long-term.
Conclusion
- The fulcrum of India’s data diplomacy should be predicated on the rule of law and the genuine protection of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. A commitment to the rule of law and accountability for all actors sets India apart from present adversaries like China and offers an opportunity to burnish its reputation globally.
Mains question
Q.Data is considered as new gold across the globe in this context analyse data sovereignty along with status of data diplomacy of India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Freedom fighters in news
Mains level: Feminist contribution in freedom struggle
Context
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech underlined the role of women veeranganas in our freedom movement. The initiative highlighting the brave women of our freedom struggle, under the broader celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, will mark a turning point in Indian feminist history writing from an Indic perspective.
What veerangana means?
- Veerangana means a brave female, someone who can fight for their rights. A strong woman not only protects herself, but protects others too.
Veerangana’s in freedom struggle
Rani Laxmibai
- The queen of the princely state of Jhansi, Rani Laxmibai is known for her role in the First War of India’s Independence in 1857.
- Refusing to cede her territory, the queen decided to rule on behalf of the heir, and later joined the uprising against the British in 1857.
- Cornered by the British, she escaped from Jhansi fort. She was wounded in combat near Gwalior’s Phool Bagh, where she later died.
- Sir Hugh Rose, who was commanding the British army, is known to have described her as “personable, clever…and one of the most dangerous Indian leaders”.
Jhalkari Bai
- A soldier in Rani Laxmibai’s women’s army, Durga Dal, she rose to become one of the queen’s most trusted advisers.
- She is known for putting her own life at risk to keep the queen out of harm’s way.
- Till date, the story of her valour is recalled by the people of Bundelkhand, and she is often presented as a representative of Bundeli identity.
Durga Bhabhi
- Durgawati Devi, who was popularly known as Durga Bhabhi, was a revolutionary who joined the armed struggle against colonial rule.
- A member of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, she helped Bhagat Singh escape in disguise from Lahore after the 1928 killing of British police officer John P Saunders.
- Later, as revenge for the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, she made an unsuccessful attempt to kill the former Punjab Governor, Lord Hailey.
Rani Gaidinliu
- Born in 1915 in present-day Manipur, Rani Gaidinliu was a Naga spiritual and political leader who fought the British.
- She joined the Heraka religious movement which later became a movement to drive out the British. She rebelled against the Empire, and refused to pay taxes, asking people to do the same.
- The British launched a manhunt, but she evaded arrest, moving from village to village.
- Gaidinliu was finally arrested in 1932 when she was just 16, and later sentenced for life. She was released in 1947.
- Then PM Nehru described Gaidinliu as the “daughter of the hills”, and gave her the title of ‘Rani’ for her courage.
Rani Chennamma
- The queen of Kittur, Rani Chennamma, was among the first rulers to lead an armed rebellion against British rule.
- Kittur was a princely state in present-day Karnataka.
- She fought back against the attempt to control her dominion in 1824 after the death of her young son. She had lost her husband, Raja Mallasarja, in 1816.
- She is seen among the few rulers of the time who understood the colonial designs of the British.
- Rani Chennamma defeated the British in her first revolt, but was captured and imprisoned during the second assault by the East India Company.
Begum Hazrat Mahal
- After her husband, Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled after the 1857 revolt, Begum Hazrat Mahal, along with her supporters, took on the British and wrested control of Lucknow.
- She was forced into a retreat after the colonial rulers recaptured the area.
Velu Nachiyar
- Many years before the revolt of 1857, Velu Nachiyar waged a war against the British and emerged victorious. Born in Ramanathapuram in 1780, she was married to the king of Sivagangai.
- After her husband was killed in battle with the East India Company, she entered the conflict, and won with support of neighbouring kings.
- She went on to produce the first human bomb as well as establish the first army of trained women soldiers in the late 1700s.
- Her army commander Kuyili is believed to have set herself ablaze and walked into a British ammunition dump.
- She was succeeded by her daughter in 1790, and died a few years later in 1796.
Conclusion
- The veeranganas are a potent symbol of nationalism and patriotism. They can overturn oppressive attitudes towards women in society. Their role and celebration in popular culture also refutes the colonial allegations about the suppression of women throughout Indian history. But it is essential to discover, rewrite and reinterpret the role and representation of these heroic women in the liberation of the motherland.
Mains question
Q. The veerangana’s are a potent symbol of nationalism and patriotism. They can overturn oppressive attitudes towards women in society. Discuss examples of them showing how they inspire women’s today.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ICDS
Mains level: Paper 2- Early childhood care and education
Context
- The economic fallout of COVID-19 makes the necessity of quality public welfare services more pressing than ever.
- The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme is one such scheme.
What is ICDS?
- ICDS caters to the nutrition, health and pre-education needs of children till six years of age as well as the health and nutrition of women and adolescent girls.
What is anganwadi scheme?
- The scheme was started in 1975 and aims at the holistic development of children and empowerment of mother.
- It is a Centrally-Sponsored scheme. The scheme primarily runs through the Anganwadi centre. The scheme is under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Need for focus on early childhood care and education (ECCE)
- Low enrolment: The National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) finds only 13.6 per cent of children enrolled in pre-primary schools.
- Weakest link: With its overriding focus on health and nutrition, ECCE has hitherto been the weakest link of the anganwadi system.
- Low awareness: Unfortunately, due to a lack of parental awareness compounded by the daily stresses of poverty, disadvantaged households are unable to provide an early learning environment.
Data to remember
According to government data, the country has 13.77 lakh Anganwadi centres (AWCs).
A meaningful ECCE programme in anganwadis
- Activity-based framework which reflect local context: To design and put in place a meaningful activity-based ECCE framework that recognises the ground realities with autonomy to reflect the local context and setting.
- Remove non-ICDS work: Routine tasks of anganwadi workers can be reduced and non-ICDS work, such as surveys, removed altogether.
- Extend Anganwadi time: Anganwadi hours can be extended by at least three hours by providing staff with an increase in their present remuneration, with the additional time devoted for ECCE.
- Change in policy mindset: ICDS needs a change in policy mindset, both at central and state levels, by prioritising and monitoring ECCE.
- Engagement with parents: Anganwadi workers must be re-oriented to closely engage with parents, as they play a crucial role in the cognitive development of young children.
Case study / value addition
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, anganwadi centres have been geotagged to improve service delivery.
Gujarat has digitised the supply chain of take-home rations and real-time data is being used to minimise stockouts at the anganwadi centres.
Way forward
- Government must act on the three imperatives. First, while infrastructure development and capacity building of the anganwadi remains the key to improving the programme, the standards of all its services need to be upscaled.
- Second, states have much to learn from each other’s experiences.
- Third, anganwadi centres must cater to the needs of the community and the programme’s workers.
Conclusion
- Nearly 1.4 million anganwadis of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) across India must provide ECCE for the millions of young children in low-income households.
Mains question
Q. Some educationists have suggested that owing to the high workload of anganwadi workers, ECCE in anganwadis would remain a non-starter. Critically examine this statement and give dynamic suggestions to improve EECE in anganwadis.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Concept of LiFE
Mains level: Paper 3- LiFE movement
Context
In the midst of a global climate crisis, and as India gets closer to hosting the G20 presidency, it is important to recognise our country’s leadership at both ends of the climate debate: By walking the talk on our climate commitments as well as leading people-powered climate action.
Power of individual and collective action to address the climate change
- Adopting eco-friendly behaviours: According to the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP), if one billion people out of the global population of close to eight billion adopt eco-friendly behaviours in their daily lives, global carbon emissions could drop by approximately 20 per cent.
- Such eco-friendly behaviours include turning off ACs, heaters and lights when not in use, as this, for instance, can conserve up to 282 kilowatts of electricity per day.
- Avoiding food wastage can reduce an individual’s carbon footprint by 370 kg per year.
The concept of Lifestyle for Environment
- In November 2021, at the CoP 26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in addition to announcing the panchamrit, or five climate-related commitments of the country, also articulated the concept of “Lifestyle for the Environment” (LiFE).
- Mindful and deliberate utilisation: The concept advocate for mindful and deliberate utilisation by people worldwide, instead of “mindful and wasteful consumption”.
- LiFE was launched on June 5, 2022, World Environment Day, by PM Modi, with a vision of harnessing the power of individual and collective action across the world to address the climate crisis.
- The objective of the movement is to nudge individuals and communities to adopt simple and specific climate-friendly behaviours in their daily lifestyles.
- For instance, an individual can carry a reusable cloth bag instead of a plastic bag.
- By making such daily actions an integral part of our collective social norms, LiFE aims to activate a global community of “Pro Planet People” and steer the world towards a sustainable model of development.
- Global precedents: There are already precedents of pro-planet initiatives around the world.
- For example, Denmark promotes the use of bicycles by limiting parking within the city centre and providing exclusive bike lanes.
- Japan has its unique “walk-to-school” mandate, which has been in practice since the early 1950s.
- LiFE, however, is planned as a first-of-its-kind global movement, led by India in partnership with other countries, that will provide the world with a unique people-powered platform to relentlessly focus on bringing individual and collective actions to the core of the climate action narrative.
How the LiFE moment can change people’s behaviour
- 1] Consume responsibly: The prevailing perception that climate-friendly behaviour necessarily implies a frugal lifestyle has played a major role in preventing populations worldwide from adopting a sustainable lifestyle.
- LiFE plans to methodically break down this mental model by nudging the world to consume responsibly, rather than consuming less.
- Using behavioural technique: Building on the unique insights from Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), LiFE will deploy a range of tested behavioural techniques, including nudges, social and behaviour change communication and norm influencing to make mindful consumption a mass movement.
- 2] Produce responsibly: Our society reflects our markets and vice versa.
- If sustainable choices are not supported from the supply-side, any change in our consumption patterns will only be temporary.
- By nudging the consumption patterns of the society at scale, LiFE can also trigger a huge boost for the sustainability market.
- Several green industries and a large number of jobs are likely to be initiated as a positive externality of LiFE.
- 3] Live responsibly: The Covid pandemic is a wake-up call to all of us that no matter how much technological progress we make as a global society, we all remain at the mercy of the natural world.
- As a global community of people with a shared natural world, a threat to one is a threat to all.
- In this context, through its multi-dimensional, multi-cultural and global approach, the LiFE movement can play a pivotal role in not merely reversing the effects of climate change but, at a broader level, mainstream a harmonious and mindful way of living.
Conclusion
As the world moves in fits and starts towards its shared commitment to achieve ambitious climate goals, the time is ripe for India to lead the LiFE movement and mainstream it into the climate narrative.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Particulars of KUSUM
Mains level: Doubling farmer income
Context
- By making solar energy the ‘third crop’, promoting this innovation on a mission mode, the government can double farmers’ income.
- The famous slogan of late Lal Bahadur Shastri, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan,” was extended by Atal Bihari Vajpayee to include “Jai Vigyan”. Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended it to, “Jai Anusandhan”.
What is doubling farmer’s income scheme
- Doubling farmers’ income is a target set by the government of India in February 2016 to be achieved by 2022.
- To promote farmers’ welfare, reduce agrarian distress and bring parity between income of farmers and those working in non-agricultural professions.
KUSUM Scheme
- The scheme would provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands.
- It was announced in the Union Budget 2018-19.
Component of KUSUM Scheme
Component-A
- Renewable power plants of capacity 500 KW to 2 MW will be setup by individual farmers/ cooperatives/panchayats /farmer producer organisations (FPO) on their barren or cultivable lands.
Component-B
- Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.
- Individual farmers will be supported to install standalone solar pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP. Solar PV capacity in kW equal to the pump capacity in HP is allowed under the scheme.
Component-C
- Solarization of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps is included in this component, Individual farmers will be supported to solarise pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP.
Expected outcomes of KUSUM
- Welfare: By providing greater financial assistance to smaller farmers, instead of a one¬size¬fits¬all approach.
- Equity: To encourage equitable deployment, the Centre could incentivise States through target linked financial assistance and create avenues for peer learning.
- Addressing inequity within a State – This is addressed by a share of central financial assistance under KUSUM should be appropriated for farmers with small landholdings and belonging to socially disadvantaged groups.
Punchline
Annadata becoming the urjadata – This one policy has the potential to double farmers incomes within a year or two.
Challenges
- Awareness challenge: Barriers to adoption include limited awareness about solar pumps.
- Upfront contribution: The other barrier includes farmers’ inability to pay their upfront contribution.
- Regulatory hurdle: Progress on the implementation front has been rather poor due to regulatory, financial, operational and technical challenges.
Constraints in the path of doubling the income
- Outdated technology: Use of outdated and inappropriate technology is the main reason for low productivity of crops and livestock.
- Affordability: Given the pre-dominance of small and marginal farmers in Indian agriculture, affordability becomes a significant constraint on technology adoption by farmers.
- Low research in agriculture: Agricultural research in the country is constrained by resource inadequacy, regulations and intellectual property rights (IPR).
The Measures Taken by Indian Government
- Institutional Reforms: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Soil health card, and Prampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana- Aiming to raise output and reduce cost.
- Technological Reforms: Various Technology mission like Technology mission on cotton, Technology Mission on Oilseeds, Pulses and Maize etc.
Way forward
- To secure future of agriculture and to improve livelihood of half of India’s population, adequate attention needs to be given to improve the welfare of farmers and raise agricultural income.
- It is essential to mobilize States and UTs to own and achieve the goal of doubling farmers’; income with active focus on capacity building (technology adoption and awareness) of farmers that will be the catalyst to boost farmer’s income.
Mains question
Q. By making solar energy the ‘third crop’, promoting this innovation on a mission mode, the government can double farmers’ income. Critically analyse this statement.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Social impacts of caste system
Context
- Indra Meghwal, a nine-year-old boy from Jalore, Rajasthan, got killed. Indra had dared to drink from the pitcher of Chail Singh, the upper-caste principal of the school, a man so driven by caste entitlement and hatred that it was only death, a hate-filled sacrifice, that could keep the tradition alive.
What is caste system?
- Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution.
How caste system evolved?
- According to one long-held theory about the origins of South Asia’s caste system, Aryans from central Asia invaded South Asia and introduced the caste system as a means of controlling the local populations. The Aryans defined key roles in society, then assigned groups of people to them.
Problem’s created by caste system
- Marriages: Most Indian marriages are arranged by parents. Several factors were considered by them for finding the ideal spouse. Out of which, one’s caste is a significant factor. People do not want their son or their daughter to marry a person from another caste. Just like the word “untouchables” suggests, a Brahmin would never marry a person from an SC or ST caste.
- Education: Public universities have caste-based reservations for students coming from underprivileged backgrounds. A person from this background can secure a seat in a top tier college with par or below par academic scores based on reservation. However, impoverished Brahmans are disadvantaged with this reservation system. For example, a Brahman has to score 100% on certain exams to get into a top tier university. While the lower caste applicant can even bypass the exam for getting a seat in the university.
- Jobs: A significant amount of public sector jobs are allocated based on caste reservation. Impoverished communities from Brahman backgrounds get affected significantly because of this reservation.
Case study / Value addition
Remember the exemplary act of Gopalganj IAS officer, Rahul Kumar, who had set an example by eating at the dalit widow’s house after villagers objected to her serving the mid-day meal to their children in the local school.
How Can the Government Solve this Caste Issue?
- Intercaste Marriage: Cross caste marriage can possibly eradicate the upper and lower caste mentality. Around 5% of marriages in India are between different castes. Around a quarter of the population on matrimonial sites are open to intercaste marriages at the moment.
- Intercaste Dining: Addressing caste-related issues at large public events can contribute to diversity and inclusion efforts. Several dining events were organized by local state governments to incorporate people from all around the country.
Affirmative actions by government
- Provisions in the Constitution
- Reservations in jobs
- Reservations in Centre and State legislatures
- Provisions in panchayats
- Protect stakeholders by various Acts, safeguarding their land, livelihood, and save them from social evils
Way forward
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political agenda includes caste elimination from the country. India has improved to some extent in this 21st century on several fronts.
- However, there is still lots of room to grow. The Indian government has an effective plan of bringing people together from all walks of life. Yet, certain inherent ideological contradictions will stand in the way while solving this issue. Regardless, that should not deter our hope in escaping the shackles of casteism.
Conclusion
- It is just as Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar said, “Caste will stand in your way for political and economical reforms within India.” According to him, eradicating such a strong foundation is extremely difficult yet doable. However, the path to reform has many roadblocks in it.
Mains question
Q. Do you think Caste will stand in way for political and economical reforms within India today? Analyse in context of incidents of social discrimination based on caste hierarchy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Particulars of PMLA , ED.
Mains level: Corruption and transparency
Context
- At least 17 Opposition parties have dubbed as “dangerous” the recent Supreme Court judgement upholding amendments made in 2019 to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), giving more powers to agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
What are the concerns for this verdict?
- Violate fundamental rights: Petitions were filed against the amendments, which the challengers claimed would violate personal liberty, procedures of law and the constitutional mandate.
- Complex process: The petitioners included many veteran politicians who all claimed that the “process itself was the punishment”.
- Coercion of ED: There were submissions that the accused’s right against self-incrimination suffered when the ED summoned them and made them sign statements on threats of arrest.
What is PMLA?
- Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted by the government to prevent money-laundering and to provide for confiscation of property derived from money-laundering.
What is money laundering?
- Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source.
What is ED?
- The Directorate of Enforcement is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India. It is part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government Of India.
What acts it covers?
- Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)
- Fugitive Economic Offenders Act
- Foreign Exchange Management Act
- Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA)
Roles and functions of the ED
- Summon, Search and seizure: The ED carries out search (property) and seizure (money/documents) after it has decided that the money has been laundered, under Section 16 (power of survey) and Section 17 (search and seizure) of the PMLA.
- Arrest and detentions: On the basis of that, the authorities will decide if an arrest is needed as per Section 19 (power of arrest).
- Attachment of property: Under Section 50, the ED can also directly carry out search and seizure without calling the person for questioning. It is not necessary to summon the person first and then start with the search and seizure.
- Filing of chargesheet: If the person is arrested, the ED gets 60 days to file the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) as the punishment under PMLA doesn’t go beyond seven years.
Why ED is making news?
- Selective witch-hunt: The ED has often been attacked for initiating investigations, raiding and questioning leaders of opposition parties, be it under the current regime or under past governments.
Why ED is on target?
- Huge discretions: The ED is the only Central agency in the country that does not require permission from the government to summon or prosecute politicians or government functionaries for committing economic offences like money laundering.
- Used for petty crimes: PMLA is pulled into the investigation of even “ordinary” crimes and assets of genuine victims have been attached.
- Actual purpose denigrated: PMLA was a comprehensive penal statute to counter the threat of money laundering, specifically stemming from the trade in narcotics.
- Violations of Rights: PMLA was enacted in response to India’s global commitment to combat the menace of money laundering. Instead, rights have been “cribbed, cabined and confined”.
Issues with PMLA
- Misuse of central agencies: PMLA is being pulled into the investigation of even ordinary crimes by the Enforcement Directorate.
- Seizing of assets: Assets of genuine victims have been attached. The ED could just walk into anybody’s house.
- Politically motivated raids: In all this, the fundamental purpose of PMLA to investigate the conversion of “illegitimate money into legitimate money” was lost.
- Opacity of charges: Petitioners pointed out that even the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) – an equivalent of the FIR – is considered an “internal document” and not given to the accused.
- Vagueness over evidence: The accused is called upon to make statements that are treated as admissible in evidence.
- Harassment: The ED begins to summon accused persons and seeks details of all their financial transactions and of their family members.
- Against individual liberty: The initiation of an investigation by the ED has consequences that have the potential of curtailing the liberty of an individual.
Way ahead
- It is unlikely that corruption can be substantially reduced without modifying the way government agencies operate.
- The fight against corruption is intimately linked with the reform of the investigations.
- Therefore the adjudicating authorities must work in cooperation and ensure the highest standards of transparency and fairness.
Mains question
Q. The trust in premier investigating institutions, and their credibility, is at stake. Is the ED a tool to investigate financial skulduggery or a stick to browbeat opposition leaders? Critically examine.
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Context
- Over 6,000 Signatories Demand To Reverse Bilkis Bano Convicts’ Release.
Why in news?
- Eleven convicts, sentenced to life imprisonment, released from Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. They had completed more than 15 years in jail.
What is the issue?
- Bilkis Bano was 21-years-old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the violence that broke out after the Godhra train burning. Among those killed were her 3-year-old daughter.
What is remission?
- The duration of the sentence announced by the court can be cut short under special circumstances while the nature of the sentence remains the same, depending upon the nature of the crime.
Indian Judiciary: A Backgrounder
- Saviour of democracy: It speaks truth to political power, upholds the rights of citizens, mediates between Centre-state conflicts, provides justice to the rich and poor alike, and on several momentous occasions, saved democracy itself.
- Visible gaps: Despite its achievements, a gap between the ideal and reality has been becoming clear over the years.
- Slow in speed: The justice delivery is slow, the appointment of judges is mired in controversy, disciplinary mechanisms scarcely work, hierarchy rather than merit is preferred, women are severely under-represented, and constitutional matters often languish in the Supreme Court for years.
What led to under-performance of Indian Judiciary?
- Population explosion
- Litigation explosion
- Hasty and imperfect drafting of legislation
- Plurality and accumulation of appeals (Multiple appeals for the same issue)
Challenges to the judicial system
- Lack of infrastructure of courts
- High vacancy of judges in the district judiciary
- Pendency of Cases
- Ineffective planning in the functioning of the courts
Judicial initiative
- The CJI has pitched to set up a National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation (NJIC) to develop judicial infrastructure in trial courts.
- He indicated a substantial gap in infrastructure and availability of basic amenities in the lower judiciary.
Enrich your mains answer with this
Finland’s criminal justice system was voted the world’s best.
- Under the Constitution of Finland, everyone is entitled to have their case heard by a court or an authority appropriately and without undue delay. This is achieved through the judicial system of Finland.
Dynamic suggestions
- Creating NJIC: It will bring a revolutionary change in the judicial functioning provided the proposed body is given financial and executive powers to operate independently of the Union and the State governments.
- Appointment reforms: There are many experts who advocate the need to appoint more judges with unquestionable transparency in such appointments.
- Creating All Indian Judiciary Services: It would be a landmark move to create a pan-India Service that would result in a wide pool of qualified and committed judges entering the system.
- Technology infusion: The ethical and responsible use of AI and ML for the advancement of efficiency-enhancing can be increasingly embedded in legal and judicial processes. Ex. SUPACE.
Way forward
- It is time for courts to wake up from their colonial stupor and face the practical realities of Indian society.
- Rules and procedures of justice delivery should be made simple.
- The ordinary, poor, and rural Indian should not be scared of judges or the courts.
Conclusion
- India’s capacity to deliver justice has serious deficits with under-capacity and gender imbalance plaguing police, prisons and the judiciary and fund crunch affecting state services like free-legal aid. So there is urgent need of National Judicial Infrastructure Authorityfor the standardization and improvement of judicial infrastructure and robust justice delivery.
Mains question
Q. Do you think there are serious gaps in our judicial infrastructure and justice delivery? Identify these gaps and provide some dynamic suggestions from your end in the context of Bilkis Bano verdict.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Challenges of future.
Context
- PM Modi’s Independence Day speech outlined agenda for a radical transformation of society and nation.
What are 5 resolves given by PM?
- Take pride in India’s history.
- The power of unity.
- Duties of citizens, such as those of the PM and CMs.
- Advance with greater conviction and the determination of a developed India.
- Get rid of any signs of slavery.
Detail analysis 5 resolves of pm
(1)First pran: The first pran is about inculcating a culture of thinking big and at scale.
- The first vow is for the country to move ahead with a big resolve. And that big resolution is of a developed India; and now we should not settle for anything less than that. Big resolution!
- Some examples include the world’s largest financial inclusion programme, the largest vaccination drive, the largest health insurance programme and the largest social security schemes.
(2)Second pran: The second Pran is that in no part of our existence, not even in the deepest corners of our mind or habits should there be any ounce of slavery. It should be nipped there itself.
- Now, 100 per cent this slavery of hundreds of years has kept us bound, has forced us to keep our emotions tied up, have developed distorted thinking in us.
- We have to liberate ourselves from the slavery mind set which is visible in innumerable things within and around us. This is our second Pran Shakti.
(3)Third pran: The third Pran is that we should feel proud of our heritage and legacy.
- Since it is this same legacy which had given India its golden period in the past. And it is this legacy that has an innate capability of transforming itself with time.
- It is this rich heritage that transcends tests of tide and times. It embraces the new. And hence we should be proud of this heritage.
(4)Fourth pran: Fourth pran which is equally important is unity and solidarity.
- Amongst 130 million countrymen when there is harmony and bonhomie, unity becomes its strongest virtue.
- “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” – is one of the unifying initiatives to actuate the dream of the fourth Pran.
(5)Fifth pran: Fifth Pran is the duty of the citizens, in which even the Prime Minister, Chief Minister cannot be an exclusion.
- As they are also responsible citizens and have a duty towards the nation. This virtue is going to be the vital life force if we want to achieve the dreams we have for the next 25 years.
Challenges before India in next 25 years
- Skill development and employment for the future: workforce According to the World Economic Forum’s report “The Future of Jobs 2018”, more than half of Indian workers will require reskilling by 2022 to meet the talent demands of the future. They will each require an extra 100 days of learning, on average.
- Socioeconomic inclusion of rural India: By 2030, 40% of Indians will be urban residents. However, there will also be more than 5,000 small urban towns (50,000-100,000 persons each) and more than 50,000 developed rural towns (5,000-10,000 persons each) with similar income profiles, where aspirations are fast converging with those of urban India.
- A healthy and sustainable future: As India marches forward, it faces new challenges in health and sustainable living, even as it has achieved key health targets such as polio eradication.
Conclusion
- The nation should now only be setting big goals. That big goal is a developed India and nothing less.
Mains question
Q. What are the challenges India will face in next 25 years? Discuss the panch pran resolves of PM showing how they will address these challenges.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Universal basic income.
Mains level: Social security ,Inclusive growth.
Context
- One of the biggest economic fallout of the pandemic has been the deteriorating labour market conditions.
- Given the ebb and flow of the pandemic, the growth recovery is likely to be fragmented and will weigh on the number and types of jobs available.
What is quality and sustainable livelihood?
- “A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base.’’
Sustainable livelihoods objectives
- improved access to high-quality education, information, technologies and training and better nutrition and health;
- a more supportive and cohesive social environment;
- more secure access to, and better management of, natural resources;
Definition of labour welfare
- Labour welfare relates to taking care of the well-being of workers by employers, trade unions, governmental and non-governmental institutions and agencies.
- Welfare includes anything that is done for the comfort and improvement of employees and is provided over and above the wages.
Why labour law is needed
- Labour law aims to correct the imbalance of power between the worker and the employer; to prevent the employer from dismissing the worker without good cause; to set up and preserve the processes by which workers are recognized as ‘equal’ partners in negotiations about their working conditions etc.
Constitutional mandate
- Article 41 – The state shall within the limits of its economic capacity and development make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of underserved want.
- Article 42 – The state shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.
Challenges in labour welfare in India
- Technical glitches: Under the Constitution of India, Labour is a subject in the concurrent list where both the Central and State Governments are competent to enact legislations. As a result, a large number of labour laws have been enacted catering to different aspects of labour e.g. occupational health, safety, employment etc.
- Loopholes: Because of the predominantly heavy handed labour regulations (also called as Inspector Raj) with exploitable gaps, the MNCs and domestic organizations have resorted to alternate ways i.e. employing contract labour at less than half the payroll of a permanent employee.
- Gaps in labour laws: One of the main reasons for labour reforms is the concept of contract labour. Trade Unions suggest that this concept itself should be removed. There is stringent hiring and firing process defined in Industry Disputes Act. It makes it mandatory for the organization to seek Government permission before removing an employee.
Global best practices
- Universal basic income pilot project: For two years Finland’s government gave 2,000 unemployed citizens €560 a month with no strings attached. It was the first nationwide basic income experiment. The concept is slowly becoming difficult for people to ignore.
How will dynamic policies and labour codes respond?
- Labour productivity: It is likely to improve with both employees and employers developing a sense of being partners in wealth creation.
- Labour reform: A transparent environment in terms of workers’ compensation, clear definition of employee rights and employer duties.
- Compliance un-burdening: Simplified labour codes making compliance easier are likely to attract investments.
- Formalization of the economy: With more workers in the organized sector, leakage in terms of direct as well as indirect taxes may be plugged.
Conclusion
- The guiding principle for India’s labour policy reformers should not merely be ring fencing jobs but safeguarding workers through social assistance, re-employment support (such as that which is provided in several Western nations) and skill building, and supporting employers in employee training and development.
Mains question
Q. Why there is need to make labour policies more dynamic? Do you think universal basic income approach will be the best way forward for achieving quality livelihood?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Gender Gap Report 2022.
Mains level: Women issues,Affirmative actions.
Context
- Gender parity is not recovering, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2022. It will take another 132 years to close the global gender gap.
- As crises are compounding, women’s workforce outcomes are suffering and the risk of global gender parity backsliding further intensifies.
Why in news?
- India has one of the world’s lowest female labour force participation rates (LFPR).
- This means the productive potential of half of the population goes unutilized.
What is women’s empowerment all about?
- Women’s empowerment can be defined to promoting women’s sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others.
Why it is needed?
- Human resource: Empowerment of women is a necessity for the very development of a society, since it enhances both the quality and the quantity of human resources available for development.
- Sustainable development: Women’s empowerment and achieving gender equality is essential for our society to ensure the sustainable development of the country.
Constraints in women empowerment
- Illiteracy: Illiteracy has been found as major constraints for the attainment of women Empowerment in the nation. It is the rate of literacy which governs the reservation, takeover and competition among women for their right in country. Female child are less privileged for attaining schools.
- Discriminatory nature of male towards female: In India, since the olden days, the men have been in control of politics, social, economical as well as cultural and traditional spheres of life.
- Religious and cultural beliefs: This is another important constraint of women’s empowerment in India which tightens up the female population. It is because of unknowing believes and following superstitions.
- Less participation of women in political field: In particular, women them self involves less in the political filed. Their participation is very insignificant in political issues and right as compared to male population.
What happens if we don’t act?
- Economical losses: Evidence shows that economic disempowerment of women can result in losses of 10% of GDP in industrialized economies and over 30% in South Asia and in the Middle East and North Africa.
- Work opportunities: India’s GDP could grow by nearly ₹3 trillion if women were brought into the labour market and given access to formal, ‘decent’ work opportunities.
Case study
Mahila Sanatkar a craftswomen cooperative located in Hyderabad.
Economic and social effects: It is noticeable some social results such as skill building, self-confidence enhancement, the mobility acquired by the women.
What is needed to improve women’s welfare?
- Community sensitization: Persistent effort must be directed toward community sensitization to root out patriarchal social norms.
- Directional efforts: In addition to enforcing existing regulations like minimum wages, there must be supportive ancillary policies including childcare; secure transport; lighting; safety at work; and quotas in hiring, corporate boards, and politics to foster more women in leadership.
- Universal social mobilization: Identification and inclusion of the poor remains a challenge. There is need to develop community resource persons for participatory identification of poor.
- Training, Capacity Building & Skill Upgradation: There is lack of appropriate training plans, quality training and availability of expert training institutions.
- Universal Financial Inclusion: Lack of uniform financial management systems at all tiers of SHGs has impacted the growth in bank accounts, improvement in financial literacy, and absorption capacity of community members.
- Multiple & Diversified Livelihoods: There is lack of progressive leadership for inclusiveness of small-sized enterprises at the federal level. Market/ forward linkages, is largely missing.
Conclusion
- If we improve women’s labour force participation, not only do we harness the massive productive potential of half of the population, but their earnings will yield enormous dividends for the future of the country and economy.
Mains question
Q. What do you consider as true women empowerment? Assess the constraints for the same and give directional efforts needed to overcome it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Lessons for India in China-Taiwan crisis
Context
The brief visit by the United States House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan, against stern warnings issued by China, has the potential to increase the already deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and China. For those of us in India watching the events as they unfold around Taiwan, there are valuable lessons to be learnt.
Background
- The crisis that began with the visit of Ms. Pelosi to Taipei is still unfolding and there is little clarity today on how it will wind down.
- For China, its claims about a rising superpower might ring hollow if it is unable to unify its claimed territories, in particular Taiwan.
- For the U.S., it is about re-establishing steadily-diminishing American credibility in the eyes of its friends and foes.
- For Taiwan, it is about standing up to Chinese bullying and making its red lines clear to Beijing.
- Lessons for India: To be fair, there is growing recognition in New Delhi that it is important to meet the challenge posed by a belligerent China, but there appears to be a lack of clarity on how to meet this challenge.
- To that extent, the Taiwan crisis offers New Delhi three lessons, at the very least.
Takeaways for India
1] Articulate red lines
- The most important lesson from the Taiwan standoff for policymakers in New Delhi is the importance of articulating red lines and sovereign positions in an unambiguous manner.
- New Delhi needs to unambiguously highlight the threat from China and the sources of such a threat.
- Any absence of such clarity will be cleverly utilised by Beijing to push Indian limits, as we have already seen.
- Stop confusing international community: Even worse, ambiguous messaging by India also confuses its friends in the international community.
- If India does not clearly articulate that China is in illegal occupation of its territory, how can it expect its friends in the international community to support India diplomatically or otherwise?
- In other words, India’s current policy amounts to poor messaging, and confusing to its own people as well as the larger international community, and is therefore counterproductive.
2] Avoid appeasement
- Taiwan could have avoided the ongoing confrontation and the economic blockade during Chinese retaliatory military exercises around its territory by avoiding Ms. Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, or perhaps even keeping it low key.
- Appeasement of China, Taiwan knows, is not the answer to Beijing’s aggression.
- India’s policy of meeting/hosting Chinese leaders while the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continue(d) to violate established territorial norms on the LAC is a deeply flawed one.
- Unilaterally catering to Chinese sensitivities even during the standoffs between the two militaries is a mistake.
- For instance, the parliamentary delegation visits and legislature-level dialogues between India and Taiwan have not taken place since 2017.
- Soft-peddling of the Quad was a mistake: During the 2000s, India (as well as Australia) decided to soft-peddle the Quad in the face of strong Chinese objections.
- It is only in the last two years or so that we have witnessed renewed enthusiasm around the Quad.
- In retrospect, appeasing Beijing by almost abandoning the Quad was bad strategy.
3] Economic relationship is a two way process
- Given that the economic relationship is a two-way process and that, as a matter of fact, the trade deficit is in China’s favour, China too has a lot to lose from a damaged trade relationship with India.
- More so, if the Taiwan example (as well as the India-China standoff in 2020) is anything to go by, trade can continue to take place despite tensions and without India making any compromises vis-à-vis its sovereign claims.
- India for sure should do business with China, but not on China’s own terms.
Conclusion
The recent crisis offers valuable lessons for India in its dealing with China.
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