Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Tackling air pollution through solar farming
Context
Supreme Court (SC) judges have pulled up the Delhi and central governments for not doing enough to correct the dire air quality situation. They also remarked on what message we are sending to the world.
The pollution problem raises doubt about the quality of urbanisation in India
- If one looks at the capitals of G20 countries, Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) during November 1-15, is by far the worst at 312, as per World Air Quality Index Project.
- India’s distinction goes beyond Delhi.
- As per the World Air Quality Report of 2020, prepared by IQAir (a Swiss organisation), of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, 22 are in India.
- The problem is much deeper, raising doubts about the quality of our urbanisation.
Contributing sources and their share
- Contributing sources: As per the report of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change following sources contribute in the given proportion:
- Energy generation (largely coal-based thermal power) is the biggest culprit with a share of 44 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions,
- Energy generation is followed by manufacturing and construction-18 per cent.
- Agriculture-14 per cent.
- Transport-13 per cent industrial processes and product use- 8 per cent and waste burning- 3 per cent.
Suggestions to tackle Delhi’s pollution
- As per the System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the reasons for poor AQI differ day to day.
- On a particular day, say November 7, stubble burning contributed 48 per cent of Delhi’s air pollution, which fell to just 2 per cent on November 18.
- Reduce rice cultivation: The Centre needs to sit down with neighbouring states and come up with a plan to reduce the rice area in this belt, which is already depleting the water table, creating methane and nitrous oxide, to incentivise farmers to switch to other crops through better returns than in rice cultivation.
- Adopt EVs: To tackle vehicular pollution, we need a massive drive towards electric vehicles (EVs), and later towards green hydrogen when it becomes competitive with fossil fuels.
- Charging stations: Scaling up EVs quickly demands creating charging stations on a war footing.
- Develop carbon sink: Delhi also needs a good carbon sink.
- Rejuvenating the Ridge area with dense forests and developing thick forests on both sides of the Yamuna may help.
Enhancing farmers income through solar farming
- The Prime Minister has done a commendable job in Glasgow to commit that 50 per cent of India’s energy will be from renewable sources by 2030.
- To replace coal in energy generation, solar and wind is the way to go at the all-India level.
- The current model in solar energy is heavily tilted towards companies.
- They are setting up large solar farms on degraded or less fertile lands.
- We can supplement that model by developing solar farms on farmers’ fields.
- This would require solar panels to be fixed at a 10 feet height with due spacing to let enough sunlight come to the plants for photosynthesis.
- These “solar trees” can then become the “third crop” for the farmers, earning them regular income throughout the year, provided the law allows them to sell this power to the national grid.
- The Delhi government’s pilot in Ujwa KVK land on these lines showed that farmers can earn up to Rs 1 lakh per acre per year from this “solar farming”.
- This is on top of the two crops they can keep growing under those solar trees.
- This will double farmers’ income within a year.
Conclusion
As deteriorating air quality grips the whole country, we need to work on multiple levels with coordination to tackle the problem.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: S-400
Mains level: Paper 2- India- Russia ties in the changed geopolitical context
Context
The Russian president is on visit to India. Visits by Russian presidents to India always invoke a sense of nostalgia. The Moscow-Delhi relationship dates back to the Cold War era and it has been strong ever since.
Factors limiting the possibilities for bilateral partnership
- The conflict between Russia and the West: One factor is the continuing conflict between the Kremlin and the West.
- Absence of trade between India and Russia: The other is the absence of a thriving commercial relationship between India and Russia.
- India-US relations: India’s relations with Washington has never been as intense as it is today.
- Russia-China relations: Moscow’s embrace of Beijing is tighter than ever.
- The US-China rivalry: That the US and China are now at each other’s throats makes the great power dynamic a lot more complicated for India and Russia.
Importance of trade ties
- Need for robust business ties: That Delhi and Moscow have problems with the best friend of the other would have been more manageable if business ties between India and Russia were solid.
- Where India and Russia have greater freedom is in the economic domain, but their failure to boost the commercial relationship has been stark.
- India-Russia annual trade in goods is stuck at about $10 billion.
- Slow progress on enhancing trade and investment ties: During the last 20 summits with Putin, the two sides have repeatedly affirmed the importance of enhancing trade and investment ties; but progress has been hard to come by.
- How to fix the problem? The problem clearly can’t be fixed at the level of governments.
- The Russian business elites gravitate to Europe and China. The Indian corporations are focused on America and China.
Russia-US ties and its implications for India
- Implications for India? The structural constraints posed by the great power dynamic and vastly different appreciation of the regional security environment could be reduced if matters improve between Washington and Moscow.
- In Washington, the Biden administration recognises the importance of ending this permanent crisis in US-Russian relations.
- Winning a strategic competition with China: The Biden administration, which is focused on winning the intensifying strategic competition with China, values a stable relationship with Russia.
- Nothing pleases Moscow more than the image of being Washington’s equal on the global stage.
- Relief for India: A less conflictual relationship between Washington and Moscow will be a huge relief for India; but Delhi can’t nudge them closer to each other.
Why the partnership with India matters to Russia
- Dangers of excessive reliance on China: Persistent conflict with the US, Europe, and Japan have moved Moscow ever closer to Beijing.
- But Moscow knows the dangers of relying solely on a neighbour which has risen to greatness — the Chinese economy at nearly $15 trillion today is nearly 10 times larger than that of Russia.
- Sustaining the traditional partnership with India: While resetting Russia’s relations with the West is hard, sustaining the traditional partnership with Delhi is of some political value to Moscow.
- Longstanding defence ties: Russia is pleased that the S-400 missile sale has gone through despite strong US opposition.
- For it signals Delhi’s commitment not to let Washington roll back India’s longstanding defence ties with Russia.
- Russia knows India’s strategic cooperation with the US has acquired an unstoppable momentum; and Delhi knows it has no veto over the Sino-Russian strategic partnership.
- Moscow and Delhi are learning to live with this uncomfortable unreality and stabilising their political ties within that context.
Consider the question “While both India and Russia have drifted apart from the depth of past partnerships, there is a need for stabilising their political ties within the changed context.Comment.”
Context
Delhi and Moscow have no reason to be satisfied with the poor state of their commercial ties. The success of Monday’s summit lies not in squeezing more out of bilateral defence ties, but in laying a clear path for expansive economic cooperation, and generating a better understanding of each other’s imperatives on Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NIRF
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues in ranking HEI based on common framework
Context
The ranking of State-run higher education institutions (HEIs) together with centrally funded institutions using the National Institutional Ranking Framework, or the NIRF, is akin to comparing apples and oranges.
Institute data
- According to an All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20 report, there are 1,043 HEIs.
- Of these, 48 are central universities.
- 135 are institutions of national importance,
- 1 is a central open university,
- 386 are State public universities,
- 5 are institutions under the State legislature act,
- 14 are State open universities,
- 327 are State private universities,
- 1 is a State private open university,
- 36 are government deemed universities,
- 10 are government aided deemed universities.
- 80 are private deemed universities.
Comparison of financial health of State HEI with Central HEIs
- A close study of the above data shows that 184 are centrally funded institutions (out of 1,043 HEIs in the country) to which the Government of India generously allocates its financial resources in contrast to inadequate financial support provided by State governments to their respective State public universities and colleges.
- The Central government earmarked the sums, ₹7,686 crore and ₹7,643.26 crore to the IITs and central universities, respectively, in the Union Budget 2021.
- Ironically, out of the total student enrolment, the number of undergraduate students is the largest (13,97,527) in State public universities followed by State open universities (9,22,944).
How NIRF ranks the education institutions?
- Parameters set by the core committee of experts: The NIRF outlines a methodology to rank HEIs across the country, which is based on a set of metrics for the ranking of HEIs as agreed upon by a core committee of experts set up by the then Ministry of Human Resources Development (now the Ministry of Education), Government of India
- The NIRF ranks HEIs on five parameters: teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practice; graduation outcome; outreach and inclusivity, and perception.
Where do State HEIs lag on NIRF parameters?
- Teaching, learning and resources include metrics viz. student strength including doctoral students, the faculty-student ratio with an emphasis on permanent faculty, a combined metric for faculty with the qualification of PhD (or equivalent) and experience, and financial resources and their utilisation.
- Low faculty strength in State HEIs: In the absence of adequate faculty strength, most State HEIs lag behind in this crucial NIRF parameter for ranking.
- The depleting strength of teachers has further weakened the faculty-student ratio with an emphasis on permanent faculty in HEIs.
- Research and professional practise encompasses a combined metric for publications, a combined metric for quality of publications, intellectual property rights/patents and the footprint of projects, professional practice and executive development programmes.
- Need for modernisation of laboratories: As most laboratories need drastic modernisation in keeping pace with today’s market demand, it is no wonder that State HEIs fare miserably in this parameter as well while pitted against central institutions.
Issues with comparing State HEIs with Central HEIs
- The difference in financial allocations diregarded: The financial health of State-sponsored HEIs is an open secret with salary and pension liabilities barely being managed.
- Hence, rating such institutions vis-à-vis centrally funded institutions does not make any sense.
- No cost-benefit analysis carried out: No agency carries out a cost-benefit analysis of State versus centrally funded HEIs on economic indicators such as return on investment the Government made into them vis-à-vis the contribution of their students in nation building parameters such as the number of students who passed out serving in rural areas, and bringing relief to common man.
- While students who pass out of elite institutions generally prefer to move abroad in search of higher studies and better career prospects, a majority of State HEIs contribute immensely in building the local economy.
- Issues in embracing technologies: State HEIs are struggling to embrace emerging technologies involving artificial intelligence, machine learning, block chains, smart boards, handheld computing devices, adaptive computer testing for student development.
Consider the question “What are the challenges in the ranking of Higher Education Institutions in India? What are the issues faced by State HEI?”
Conclusion
Ranking HEIs on a common scale purely based on strengths without taking note of the challenges and the weaknesses they face is not justified. It is time the NIRF plans an appropriate mechanism to rate the output and the performance of institutes in light of their constraints and the resources available to them.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Contrast between white and green revolution
Context
November 26, 2021 was celebrated in Anand, Gujarat as the 100th birth anniversary of Verghese Kurien, the leader of India’s ‘white revolution’.
Analysing the Green revolution
- Purpose of green revolution: The purpose of the green revolution was to increase the output of agriculture to prevent shortages of food.
- Technocratic enterprise: The green revolution was largely a technocratic enterprise driven by science and the principles of efficiency.
- It required inputs, like chemical fertilizers, to be produced on scale and at low cost.
- Therefore, large fertilizer factories were set up for the green revolution. And large dams and irrigation systems were also required to feed water on a large scale.
- Monocropping on fields was necessary to apply all appropriate inputs — seeds, fertilizer, water, etc., on scale.
- Monocropping increased the efficiency in application of inputs.
- Thus, farms became like large, dedicated engineering factories designed to produce large volumes efficiently.
- Diversity in the products and processes of large factories creates complexity.
- Therefore, diversity is weeded out to keep the factories well-focused on the outputs they are designed for.
The contrast between White and Green revolution
- The contrast between the two revolutions provides valuable insights. Their purposes were different.
- Purpose of white revolution: The purpose of the white revolution was to increase the incomes of small farmers in Gujarat, not the output of milk.
- The white revolution was a socio-economic enterprise driven by political leaders and principles of equity.
Understanding the success of Amul
- Amul has become one of India’s most loved brands, and is respected internationally too for the quality of its products and the efficiency of its management.
- The fledgling, farmer-owned, Indian enterprise had many technological problems to solve.
- That is why they enrolled Kurien, who had studied engineering in the United States.
- Indigenous solutions: Kurien and his engineering compatriots in the organisation were compelled to develop solutions indigenously when Indian policy makers, influenced by foreign experts, said Indians could not make it.
- The enterprise achieved its outcome of empowering farmers because the governance of the enterprise to achieve equity was always kept in the foreground, with the efficiency of its production processes in the background as a means to the outcome.
Increasing productivity and issues with it
- ‘Productivity’, when defined as output per worker, can be increased by eliminating workers.
- This may be an acceptable way to measure and increase productivity when the purpose of the enterprise is to increase profits of investors in the enterprise.
- It is a wrong approach to productivity when the purpose of the enterprise is to enable more workers to increase their incomes, which must be the aim of any policy to increase small farmers’ incomes.
- The need for new solutions to increase farmers’ incomes has become imperative.
- Moreover, fundamental changes in economics and management sciences are necessary to reverse the degradation of the planet’s natural environment that has taken place with the application of modern technological solutions and management methods for the pursuit of economic growth.
Suggestions to increase inclusion and improve environmental sustainability
- Ensure inclusion and equity: Increase in the incomes and wealth of the workers and small asset owners in the enterprise must be the purpose of the enterprise, rather than production of better returns for investors.
- Social side: The ‘social’ side of the enterprise is as important as its ‘business’ side.
- Therefore, new metrics of performance must be used, and many ‘non-corporate’ methods of management learned and applied to strengthen its social fabric.
- Local solution: Solutions must be ‘local systems’ solutions, rather than ‘global (or national) scale’ solutions.
- The resources in the local environment (including local workers) must be the principal resources of the enterprise.
- Practical use of science: Science must be practical and useable by the people on the ground rather than a science developed by experts to convince other experts.
- Moreover, people on the ground are often better scientists from whom scientists in universities can learn useful science.
- Sustainable solution through evolution: Sustainable transformations are brought about by a steady process of evolution, not by drastic revolution.
- Large-scale transformations imposed from the top can have strong side-effects.
Consider the question “Contrast the differences between the White Revolution and Green Revolution in India. What lessons can be applied to Indian agriculture from the success of the White Revolution in India?”
Conclusion
The essence of democratic economic governance is that an enterprise must be of the people, for the people, and governed by the people too.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- What findings of NHFS-5 imply
Context
The second and final phase of NFHS-5 was released which covered 11 states (including Uttar Pradesh (UP), Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Jharkhand, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh) and about 49 per cent of the population.
Major findings
[1] Success of New Welfarism
- Figure one plots household access to improved sanitation, cooking gas and bank accounts used by women.
- The improvements are as striking as they were based on the performance of the phase 1 states.
- In all cases, access has increased significantly, although claims of India being 100 per cent open defecation-free still remain excessive.
[2] Child-related outcomes
- India-wide, stunting has declined although the pace of improvement has slowed down post-2015 compared with the previous decade.
- For example, stunting improved by 0.7 percentage points per year between 2005 and 2015 compared to 0.3 percentage points between 2015 and 2021.
- On diarrhoea too, adding the new data reverses the earlier finding.
- However, on anaemia and acute respiratory illness, there seems to have been deterioration.
- The new child stunting results are significant but also surprising because of the sharply divergent outcomes between the phase 1 and phase 2 states.
- The interesting pattern is that nearly all the phase 2 states show large improvements, whereas most of the phase 1 states exhibited a deterioration in performance.
[3] Catch up by the laggard states
- If the new child stunting numbers are right, a different picture of India emerges.
- Apparently, Madhya Pradesh now has fewer stunted children than Gujarat; Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are almost at par with Gujarat; Chhattisgarh fares better than Gujarat, Karnataka, and Maharashtra; and Rajasthan and Odisha fare better than Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh!
- On child stunting, the old BIMARU states (excepting Bihar) are no longer the laggards; the laggards are Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, and to a lesser extent, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- Indeed, the decline in stunting achieved by the poorer states such as UP, MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan would be all the more remarkable given the overall weakness in the economy between 2015 and 2021.
Conclusion
When commentators speak of two Indias, it is now important to ask: Which ones and on what metrics.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Disconnect between policy and politics in India
Context
Decision-making on virtually all governance issues is disconnected from politics and the mobilisation of public opinion.
Disconnect between politics and policy
- The repeal of the farm laws is thus a notable instance of politics and policy coming together, although in conflict.
- The Opposition speaking in one voice in the Parliament helped, but the heavy lifting of organising in the villages and sustaining the protests was done by the farmers’ groups.
- This disconnect between politics and policy is not a recent development, though it manifests differently across political divides.
- Policy-first lens and its implications: The liberal side has a policy-first lens but is unable to articulate its ideas in a manner which makes for good politics, repeatedly couching its ideas in a bureaucratic framework disconnected from political organisation.
- Bureaucracy is downstream from politics and this approach rather than curbing the state may have instead contributed to undermining the democratic process of political accountability since the political class is, by design, not central to the policy in the first place.
- A politics-first approach: The right, on its side, has a politics-first lens but it derives its politics largely from its social agenda instead of issues of governance.
- The policy imperatives, if any, are ad hoc and appear to be driven by the demands of running the political apparatus instead of a clear governance agenda.
- Despite these differences, what is common across parties is the apolitical harnessing of the state as a disburser of different kinds of economic largesse, especially just before elections, as political parties cast about for simple ideas for easy mass communication.
Reasons for the breakdown of the process
- Weakly institutionalised nature of state and politics: Indian politics and the state are weakly institutionalised to begin with, which leads to an all-around fuzziness in the relationship between politics and policy.
- However, this is as much an effect as it is cause, with the direction of change towards greater deinstitutionalisation instead of the opposite.
- Lack of consensus-building: Another contributing factor is that traditional sites of consensus-building such as media, civil society, and political parties have developed pathologies which have rendered sustained consensus-building almost impossible.
- Centralisation of power: The excessive centralisation of power in party platforms and the head of the government (state and national).
- This renders the individual elected representative extraneous to governance even in their own constituency, where their function is to provide representation and oversight.
Way forward
- There’s too much at stake to allow such a state of affairs to continue.
- It is important to rescue public interest from partisanship and cut through at least some of the bad-faith crosstalk across partisan divides.
- Cross-cutting collaboration: There are many issues which lend themselves to cross-cutting collaboration outside of ideological affiliations.
- Need for reforms: Institutional reforms are required to create such a space but public-spirited individuals across political divides can lay the foundation for such collaboration through issue-based discipline, moderation and intellectual independence.
Consider the question “There has been a growing disconnect in India between policy and politics. Examine the factors responsible for this. Suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
We need to address the disconnect between policy and politics to make the functioning of democracy more meaningful for us.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FAME 2
Mains level: Paper 3- Promoting EV ecosystem
Context
The transition to electric mobility is a promising global strategy for decarbonising the transport sector.
Electricity mobility revolution
- The global electric mobility revolution is today defined by the rapid growth in electric vehicle (EV) uptake.
- This phenomenon is today defined by the rapid growth in EV uptake, with EV sales for the year 2020, reaching 2.1 million.
- Falling battery costs and rising performance efficiencies are fueling the demand for EVs globally.
Significance of India’s transition to electric mobility
- India is the fifth largest car market in the world and has the potential to become one of the top three in the near future.
- India is among a handful of countries that supports the global EV30@30 campaign, which aims for at least 30 per cent new vehicle sales to be electric by 2030.
- Part of global climate agenda: The push for EVs is driven by the global climate agenda established under the Paris Agreement to reduce carbon emissions in order to limit global warming.
- Ensuring energy security: It is also projected to contribute in improving the overall energy security situation as the country imports over 80 per cent of its overall crude oil requirements, amounting to approximately $100 billion.
- Job creation: The push is also expected to play an important role in the local EV manufacturing industry for job creation.
- Strengthen grid operation: Through several grid support services, EVs are expected to strengthen the grid and help accommodate higher renewable energy penetration while maintaining secure and stable grid operation.
Battery storage: Opportunities and challenges
- Promoting sustainable development: With recent technology disruptions, battery storage has great opportunity in promoting sustainable development in the country, considering government initiatives to promote e-mobility and renewable power (450 GW energy capacity target by 2030).
- Economic opportunity: With rising levels of per capita income, there has been a tremendous demand for consumer electronics in the areas of mobile phones, UPS, laptops, power banks etc. that require advanced chemistry batteries.
- This makes manufacturing of advanced batteries one of the largest economic opportunities of the 21st century.
- Concern of absence of manufacturing base: It is estimated that by 2020-30 India’s cumulative demand for batteries would be approximately 900-1100 GWh, but there is concern over the absence of a manufacturing base for batteries in India, leading to sole reliance on imports to meet rising demand.
Government schemes to promote EV ecosystem
- To develop and promote the EV ecosystem in the country, government has remodeled Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME II) scheme (Rs 10,000 crore) for the consumer side.
- It has also launched production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) ( Rs 18,100 crore) for the supplier side.
- Finally the recently launched PLI scheme for Auto and Automotive Components (Rs 25,938 crore) for manufacturers of electric vehicles was launched.
- All these forward and backward integration mechanisms in the economy are expected to achieve robust growth in the coming years and will enable India to leapfrog to the environmentally cleaner electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Benefits of EV ecosystem
- This will not only help the nation conserve foreign exchange but also make India a global leader in manufacturing of EVs and better comply with the Paris Climate Change Agreement..
- Battery demand creation: All three schemes cumulatively expect an investment of about Rs 1,00,000 crore which will boost domestic manufacturing and also facilitate EVs and battery demand creation along with the development of a complete domestic supply chain and foreign direct investment in the country.
- Reduction of oil import bill: The programme envisages an oil import bill reduction of about Rs 2 lakh crore and import bill substitution of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
Conclusion
India’s push for EV ecosystem is in line with the country’s climate change commitments, will help boost manufacturing sector and also help ensure energy security.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- India as a space start up hub
Context
After the launch of Sputnik in 1957, space race is on again, but this time, private players are on the power field. This has huge implications for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the space sector in India and is a promising venture for global investors.
Insignificant share of India in space economy
- 2% India’s share: The space economy is a $440 billion global sector, with India having less than 2% share in the sector.
- While total early-stage investments in space technologies in FY21 were $68 billion, India was on the fourth place with investments in about 110 firms, totalling not more than $2 billion.
Reasons for India’s insignificant private participation
- Absence of a framework: The reason for the lack of independent private participation in space includes the absence of a framework to provide transparency and clarity in laws.
- Brain drain: Another aspect to throw light on is the extensive brain drain in India, which has increased by 85% since 2005.
- Policy bottlenecks: Brain drain can be linked to the bottlenecks in policies which create hindrances for private space ventures and founders to attract investors, making it virtually non-feasible to operate in India.
Suggestions
- The laws need to be broken down into multiple sections, each to address specific parts of the value chain and in accordance with the Outer Space Treaty.
- Dividing into upstream and downstream: Dividing activities further into upstream and downstream space blocks will allow legislators to provide a solid foundation to products/services developed by the non-governmental and private sectors within the value chain.
- Timeline on licensing: With the technicalities involved in the space business, timelines on licensing, issuance of authorisation and continuous supervision mechanism need to be defined into phases.
- Insurance and indemnification clarity: Another crucial aspect of space law is insurance and indemnification clarity, particularly about who or which entity undertakes the liability in case of a mishap.
- In several western countries with an evolved private space industry, there is a cap on liability and the financial damages that need to be paid.
- Need to generate own IP: Currently, many of the private entities are involved in equipment and frame manufacturing, with either outsourced specifications or leased licences.
- However, to create value, Indian space private companies need to generate their intellectual property for an independent product or service with ISRO neither being their sole or largest customer nor providing them IP and ensuring buy-backs.
Possibilities for India and the government’s effort
- India currently stands on the cusp of building a space ecosystem and with ISRO being the guiding body, India can now evolve as a space start-up hub for the world.
- Already 350 plus start-ups such as AgniKul Cosmos, Skyroot Technologies, Dhruva Space and Pixxel have established firm grounds for home-grown technologies with a practical unit of economics.
- Last year the Government of India created a new organisation known as IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) which is a “single window nodal agency” established to boost the commercialisation of Indian space activities.
- A supplement to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the agency promotes the entry of the Non-Government Private Entities (NGPEs) in the Indian space sector.
Consider the question “Examine the factors responsible for hindering the participation of the private sector in India’s space industry? Suggest the ways to increase the participation of private sector.”
Conclusion
To continue the growth engine, investors need to look up to the sector as the next “new-age” boom and ISRO needs to turn into an enabler from being a supporter. To ensure that the sky is not the limit, investor confidence needs to be pumped up and for the same, clear laws need to be defined.
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Back2Basics: The Outer Space Treaty
- The Outer Space Treaty was considered by the Legal Subcommittee in 1966 and agreement was reached in the General Assembly in the same year ( resolution 2222 (XXI)).
- The Treaty was largely based on the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, which had been adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 1962 (XVIII) in 1963, but added a few new provisions.
- The Treaty was opened for signature by the three depository Governments (the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) in January 1967, and it entered into force in October 1967.
- The Outer Space Treaty provides the basic framework on international space law, including the following principles:
- The exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;
- Outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;
- Outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;
- States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner;
- The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes;
- Astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind;
- States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities;
- States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and
- States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TFR and replacement rate
Mains level: Paper 2- Regional demographic variation and its implications for federalism in India
Context
Recent results from National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) suggest that we are entering an era where we will have to tackle these challenges.
A milestone in India’s demographic history: TFR at 2.0
- NFHS-5 places the total fertility rate (TFR) at 2.0.
- With two parents having two children, we have reached a replacement level of fertility.
- Due to many young people, the population will continue to grow, but the replacement level fertility is a significant milestone in India’s demographic history.
- This decline is spread evenly across the country, with 29 states and UTs having a TFR of 1.9 or less, with seven below 1.6.
- All southern states have a TFR of 1.7-1.8, similar to that of Sweden.
- Even states that have not reached replacement fertility — Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — seem to be headed in that direction.
- Part of the original coterie of lagging states, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan both have achieved TFRs of 2.0.
Challenge: Supporting the ageing population
- Supporting ageing population: As fertility declines, the proportion of the older population grows, and societies face the challenge of supporting an ageing population with a shrinking workforce.
- This challenge is greater for leaders at the beginning of the demographic transition — Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
- Interestingly, these are also among the more prosperous states in India, whose economic activities increasingly rely on migrant labour from other states.
- Many industries such as auto parts manufacturing and construction in southern states rely on semi-skilled migrants, often transported under contractual arrangements, from northern and eastern states, particularly Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.
Rethinking the critical dimension of Indian federalism
- Dependence on migrat workforce: Many industries such as auto parts manufacturing and construction in southern states rely on semi-skilled migrants, often transported under contractual arrangements, from northern and eastern states, particularly Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.
- Allocation of political power: While the Indian constitution mandates allocation of Lok Sabha seats across states in proportion to their population via the Delimitation Commission, the Emergency-era 42nd amendment froze seat allocation to the population share of states in the 1971 Census.
- Equity consideration in central allocation to states: The division of central allocation to states is another area where population concerns have dominated equity considerations.
- Much of the Centre-state revenue sharing occurs through recommendations of various Finance Commissions.
- The sixth to fourteenth Finance Commissions allocated resources between states using the 1971 population shares of various states.
- The Fifteenth Finance commission used Census data from 2011, but it also added the criteria of demographic performance, rewarding states with lower TFR.
Type of demographic policy India needs to pursue
- Pursue policy followed by China? Does India want to pursue China’s route of sharply lower fertility, with a large number of families stopping at one child, or are we content with moderately below replacement fertility of about 1.7-1.8?
- If the latter, we are well-positioned to head in this direction.
- Issues faced by China: while very low fertility provides a temporary demographic dividend with a reduced number of dependents to workers, the increased burden of caring for the elderly may become overwhelming over the long term.
- Advantage of Regional demographic variation in India: India is fortunate that its demographic dividend may be smaller, but is likely to last for a more extended period due to regional variation in the onset of the fertility decline.
- As southern states struggle with the growing burden of supporting the elderly, northern states will supply the workforce needed for economic growth.
- Economic expansion: The increasing pace of migration may help shore up economic expansion in the south with its shrinking workforce augmented by workers from other states.
Consider the question “Examine the influence of regional demographic variation on the fedaralism in India? How such variation can help India?”
Conclusion
The Sixteenth Finance Commission and the next Delimitation Commission must be freed from the burden of managing the demographic transition, focused on carrying out their tasks in the best interests of Indian federalism.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AUKUS
Mains level: Paper 2- Implications of China's aggressive policies for geopolitics
Context
One of the many consequences of China’s assertive posture in Asia has been the emergence of geopolitical coalitions to limit the prospects for Beijing’s regional dominance.
Two new coalitions forcing China rethink
- Quad and AUKUS: Two new coalitions that have got a lot of political attention are the Quadrilateral framework involving Australia, India, Japan and the US, and the AUKUS, which brings together Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- Until recently, China was quite contemptuous of the new political formations.
- It had compared the Quad to “seafoam” that is here now but gone in a second.
- China’s dismissive attitude has now yielded place to denunciation.
US’s policy forcing China to rethink
- Two big factors are behind China’s rethinking.
- Consensus in the US on Challenging China: One was the surprising emergence of American domestic political consensus on challenging China.
- Beijing believed that Donald Trump was an exception to the longstanding US policy of deeper economic integration with China and sustained political engagement. But Biden has simply reinforced Trump’s strategy.
- US making alliances critical element of China policy: Trump thought that alliances are a burden on US taxpayers.
- Biden, in contrast, has made alliances a critical element of his China strategy.
- The idea was to create “situations of strength” vis-a-vis China by rebuilding US alliances and developing new coalitions.
- In Asia, the Biden administration moved quickly to strengthen the traditional security ties with its allies in northeast Asia — Japan and South Korea.
- Elevating the Quad to leaders-level: It also elevated the Quad to the leaders-level within weeks after Biden took charge and had a physical summit in Washington six months later.
- AUKUS: It also announced the AUKUS.
- Biden travelled to Europe in June this year to revitalise the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
- Summit with Russia: Biden also decided on an early summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin that took place in Geneva at the end of his European tour.
- Rebalancing relations: Biden’s team believed that the greatest strength of the US was its wide network of allies and partners.
- And that mobilising them was the key to rebalancing relations with China.
How China is making alliances and partnerships?
- While China’s economic reach is now global and deep, political and military alliances have not been part of Beijing’s tradition.
- Relations with Russia at peak: Beijing’s ties with Moscow have never been as close as they are.
- Relations with N. Korea and Pakistan: China also has strong alliance-like relations with North Korea and Pakistan.
- But there can be little comparison though between the kind of strengths that American allies bring to the table with those of China’s partners.
Is Asian geopolitical structure turning in China’s favour?
- Beijing was betting on the proposition that the Asian geopolitical structure was turning, irretrievably, in China’s favour.
- This is based on a number of propositions.
- Location of the US: America, located far from Asia, will have trouble overcoming the tyranny of geography in a conflict with China.
- The economic and military power of China: China’s hard power — both economic and military — relative to the US is growing rapidly and shifting the local balance of power in its favour.
- Location of China: The proximity of China and Asian regional integration have made Beijing the most important economic partner for the whole region.
- Beijing believed that few Asian nations would want to spoil their commercial relations with China and align with Washington.
- Power imbalance: The vast imbalance in military power between Beijing and its neighbours it presumed would dissuade most Asian states from considering armed confrontations with China
- Breaking up coalition: China counted on the fact that it is easier to break up coalitions than build them.
Implications of China’s aggressive policies
- Making the US unfriendly prematurely: Chinese policies have driven the US towards an unanticipated internal consensus on containing Beijing.
- Making a friendly America into an enemy prematurely could go down as one of Xi Jinping’s egregious strategic errors.
- Driving regional countries towards the US: China’s aggressive regional policies are driving many countries like Australia, India, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, towards the US.
- Neighbouring countries pursuing stronger national military capacities: While the military balance of power in Asia has certainly turned in China’s favour, it has not cowed down its neighbours.
- Many are pursuing stronger national military capabilities to limit some of the threats from China.
- Stoked nationalism: China, which never stops to emphasise its own nationalism, appears to have underestimated the depth of similar sentiment in other Asian states.
- Today, it is driving many of China’s neighbours into the US camp.
- It is America and not China that today talks about the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Asian nations.
Consider the question “One of the many consequences of China’s assertive posture in Asia has been the emergence of geopolitical coalitions to limit Beijing’s regional dominance. Critically analyse.”
Conclusion
It has been quite fashionable in the West as well as in the East, to proclaim that China’s hegemony is inevitable, American decline is terminal, and Asian coalitions are unsustainable. Those conclusions are premature at best. For Xi Jinping has squandered many of China’s natural geopolitical advantages.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Changing patterns in saving and investment
Context
We are witnessing the change where the cult of savers has changed into investors. They are looking for a good return and willing to take the risk.
Changing the behaviour of the savers
- There is a new wave of savings and investments in the country that is evolving quite fast.
- Crypto exchanges assure you that they are safe.
- But it is the exchange that is safe, not the value of the coin, which will be driven by the market.
- The equity boom is on, and all the unicorns have delivered excellent results.
- That’s why bank deposits are no longer on our plates.
- Banks discouraging deposits: Interestingly, banks today are discouraging deposits with low rates as this is the only way they can manage their balance sheets.
- Low-interest rate: There are few deployment avenues and paying 5 per cent interest to savers and investing the deposits at 3.35 per cent in the reverse repo auction is a sub-optimal game.
How safe is investment in cryptocurrencies?
- From equities, there has been a swift shift to cryptos, which is still a grey area.
- The regulators/government are wondering what to do. The issue will be discussed in the winter session of Parliament.
- But investments have been made and there is no stopping this global wave.
- Currency with no underlying asset: Making money on a currency that has no underlying asset like a metal or other currency and is traded on faith is unique; especially Bitcoin, whose originator is not known by face but by just a name.
Gaming as a skill
- There is another door to a new kind of gaming where you make money by making teams and following the matches.
- The law was first silent, and then confused.
- But it finally accepted gaming as a skill.
- Logically, soon we should be able to bet on matches too, if all this is in order.
Conclusion
We are witnessing a change in the pattern of holding onto money, where savings get transformed to investment and risk appetite changes from conservative to aggressive. Will this change? Probably not, in the near future, as long as conventional deposits continue to give inferior returns.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Farm laws
Mains level: Paper 2- Repeal of the laws and its implications
Context
Parliament’s “performance” is assessed at the end of a session, typically in terms of bills discussed and passed. It is equally necessary to take stock of the issues facing the country and set expectations about what Parliament should be doing when the session is to commence.
Analysing the repeal of laws from the standpoint of the parliamentary system and the functioning of Parliament
- In the current session, three farm Acts will probably be presented for repeal.
- Not referred to select committee: Three Acts were passed earlier amidst demands to refer them to a select committee.
- This Lok Sabha — increasingly the Rajya Sabha as well — poses a riddle for the theory of representative democracy.
- The ruling majority has a handsome majority — a 300 plus representation in the Lok Sabha — and by the standards of the FPTP system, a reasonable vote share of over 37 per cent.
- Yet, laws passed by Parliament are increasingly being seen as unacceptable.
- This non-acceptance is, perhaps, restricted to a small section. But the arguments put forward by them remain persuasive.
- The “majority” government seems less representative than many minority governments of the past.
- The government may have the majority in numbers, but does not have the capacity to take the majority along.
- At this juncture, an important responsibility lies with the Opposition.
Suggestions
1] Role of the opposition
- Coordinate: In Parliament, the Opposition will need to ensure coordination on common issues, strategise on parliamentary procedures and above all, endeavour to represent voices that have been suppressed by the current regime.
- Avoid disruption: Acrimony might be unavoidable given that the current regime doesn’t give adequate respect to differences of opinion.
- But it is incumbent on the Opposition to avoid creating pandemonium merely as a tactic.
- Noise and sloganeering cannot replace the responsibility to represent.
- Pandemonium is only a cover up for bad coordination and lack of homework.
2] Role of the ruling party MPs
- Probe the executive: The role of ruling party MPs is not merely to ram through the House whatever the government wishes but to also probe the executive delicately.
- Assert the role as a representative: In allowing the government to sidestep all opposition, the MPs from the ruling party create an atmosphere wherein they lose any semblance of authenticity in their role as representatives.
- Independence of ruling party members is connected both to intra-party democracy and to intra-party factionalism.
- Need for intellectual position: It is also important that they have an intellectual position of their own.
- The litmus test to their independence will be in how they express themselves in Parliament.
- In any case, for Parliament to regain its representative character, ruling party members need to be more sincere about the parliamentary system, and unafraid of executive power.
3] Role of civil society
- Protests have played, and will continue to play, a critical role in forcing us to confront the issue of representation.
- It must be reiterated that no democracy can exist without a robust civil society.
- Its tension-ridden relationship with party politics must be recognised.
- In that sense, the rising antinomy between Parliament and protests is more because of the unrepresentativeness of Parliament than due to the rebellious ways of civil society.
Consider the question “What is the significance of the opposition to the laws enacted by the legislature? Suggest the steps need to be taken by the various participants in democracy.”
Conclusion
All the participants in the democracy need to recognise their role and ensure the the smooth functioning of democracy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MFN status
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Pakistan relations
Context
The recent partial opening of land borders between India and Pakistan signals a thaw in the troubled relations between the two South Asian neighbours.
How normalising relations with Pakistan help India?
- Reduce India’s vulnerability to China: From the Indian standpoint, as a Centre for Policy Research report argues, a continuing freeze in relations with Pakistan will “enhance India’s external vulnerability to other actors, in particular, China”.
- Impact on bilateral trade: After the Pulwama terror attack, bilateral trade between the two countries plummeted from around $2 billion in 2017-18 to a paltry $280 million in 2020-21 (April to February).
Steps to normalise relations
1] Pakistan needs to revoke suspension of trade with India
- Pakistan needs to revoke the unilateral suspension of trade with India undertaken in August 2019 due to India’s decision to dilute Article 370.
- Suspension against GATT and SAFTA: The trade suspension by Pakistan is inconsistent with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement — the two international law instruments that regulate trade between India and Pakistan.
- GATT, as part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), allows countries to adopt trade-restraining measures on certain grounds such as public health and conservation of exhaustible natural resources (Article XX) and for national security purposes (Article XXI).
- Neither the WTO nor SAFTA permits a country to suspend trade with another member country on grounds that it disapproves a domestic law enacted by the latter.
2] Pakistan needs to confer MFN status on India
- Pakistan needs to reverse its practice of not according the most favoured nation (MFN) status to India.
- MFN is a principle of non-discrimination in trade given in Article I of GATT.
- Breach of GATT: Pakistan is in breach of Article I of GATT towards India since the formation of the WTO in 1995.
3] India should restore Pakistan’s MFN status
- India should restore Pakistan’s MFN status that it revoked after the Pulwama terror attack by hiking the tariff rates on all Pakistani imports to an unfeasible rate of 200 per cent.
- Such a move by India will put the ball in Pakistan’s court.
- If Pakistan fails to reciprocate, India should exert pressure on Islamabad by mounting a legal challenge.
4] Explore the special trading arrangement under GATT
- Article XXIV.11 allows India and Pakistan to enter into any special trading arrangement without fully complying with GATT conditions that typically apply to countries signing free trade agreements.
- This merciful rule that only India and Pakistan enjoy, out of 160 odd WTO members, was incorporated in GATT to enable the two sides to overcome the economic hardships caused by Partition.
Consider the question “How normalising trade relations will India and Pakistan? Suggest the steps both the countries need to take in this regard.”
Conclusion
India should appreciate that the rise of China, not Pakistan, poses the graver threat. Strengthening bilateral trade can be an important lever towards establishing a working relationship with Pakistan.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Making of Indian Constitution
Mains level: Paper 2- Indian Constitution
Context
On November 26, 1949,72 years ago, India adopted new Constitution. Provisions of the Constitution like those pertaining to citizenship, a provisional parliament and other transitional measures came into force immediately, on November 26, 1949.
Challenges faced by the Constituent Assembly
- Boycott of the members: The body was meant to comprise 296 members but was boycotted by some members who would eventually move to Pakistan.
- Hence, the assembly would be a 210-member body at the initial sessions.
- Deft statesmanship, not rage was displayed in response to the boycott.
- Juristicconcerns: There were other juristic concerns.
- The colonial constitutionalist Ivor Jennings, who long sought to be involved in India’s drafting project but was refused later, asked, why the Constitution of India “plays down communalism?”
- This was a stinging question, for Partition was the result of communalism, how could any of us forget that?
Important feature of Indian Constitution: Addressing historical discrimination
- India’s Constitution is unique in its approach for making reparations for historical discrimination on grounds of caste that defines the present and future of so many Indians.
- By contrast, America’s Constitution makes no apology nor enables reparations for slavery.
- Despite being a body that was not significantly diverse, the founders, having appreciated the concerns of their people, were able to stand outside of their own privilege and conceive of a founding document that would speak for those who have been silenced for thousands of years.
What makes the Indian Constitution enduring?
- After having studied every constitution from 1789 to 2005, Tom Ginsburg of the University of Chicago School of Law and his colleagues concluded that on average a constitution survives for around 17 years.
- France with 14 constitutions, Mexico at five constitutions and neighbouring Pakistan with three constitutions typify the global experience.
- Expansion of freedoms of citizens: India’s Constitution has endured because its founders, its interpreters — the constitutional courts — and litigants in the form of social movements have all ensured that it is used to consistently expand the freedoms of citizens, even if social morality thinks otherwise.
- Constitutional morality: The Constitution’s morality has stood firmly with disadvantaged castes, women, and religious minorities.
- Accommodating marginalised groups: In contemporary times, other marginalised groups like LGBT Indians have been heard by constitutional courts that have unanimously found for their freedoms and for a full equality.
Consider the question “Elaborate on the features that explain the endurance of the Indian Constitution.”
Conclusion
Today, we marvel at the 72nd year of the adoption of our Constitution, and 72 years of our birth as “We the People”. But, as we revel in our good fortune, we must also be aware that its endurance is deeply rooted in the ability of all of us to commit to the project of expanding freedom, not contracting it
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Blockchain technology
Mains level: Paper 3- Approach towards cryptocurrencies
Context
The draft legislation on crypto currency being introduced in Parliament and the stance of the RBI suggest that consideration is being given to banning crypto currencies in India.
What fascination with crypto reveals about our society?
- It is about faith in that value is largely a matter of belief.
- It is about politics because money is always about the allocation of power.
- The money itself may not be material, but it is still embedded in a materiality.
- The fact that money is subject to politics is actually the advantage of money.
- It allows a modicum of collective control over our future, and allows distributive questions to be posed.
- It is mania because the alchemy of creating something out of nothing is always deeply alluring.
- Cheap money: The global economy is awash with cheap money.
- Seeking return: In an Indian context small savers are desperate for return.
- In this context it is easy for the powerful to misallocate money and the small saver to express desperation by speculation.
Background
- Faced with the inflation of the 1970s, thinkers like Friedrich Hayek theorised about reasserting the dominance of private currencies, protected from the state.
- Crypto currencies are a fascinating technological innovation.
- Part of their initial attraction was that they promised a new governance order.
- It is at the confluence of faith, politics, and psychological mania.
- Solving the problem of trust: This project crucially depended on solving the problem of “trust” on which every currency depends.
- Crypto seemed to solve that problem, with its decentralised architecture and community and self-verification protocols.
How cryptocurrency poses challenges to the state?
- No state was going to let go of its power to assert control over the monetary system.
- Significance of fiat money: The sustenance of state-sponsored fiat money is one of the great achievements of modern state formation and the foundation of its power and legitimacy.
- Cryptocurrency requires material infrastructure: There was a delusion, as if crypto is conjured out of thin air: It actually requires substantial material infrastructure, which a state could always control.
- States can shut down mining as China has done.
Way forward
- We allow people to invest in all kinds of things. Why ban this, especially now that so many investors are in it?
- Analyse the risk to the financial system: The answer to this question depends on how much risk the existence of crypto assets pose to the stability of the rest of the financial system.
- Insulate financial system: One answer is if you can insulate the financial system from the gyrations of crypto markets there are few systemic risks.
- This is why it was a good idea of the RBI to prohibit the entanglement of financial institutions with this market.
- Instead of just focussing on issues of fraud, money laundering, and private risks, the RBI’s case would be strengthened if it spelled out the systemic risks that crypto might pose to the stability of the real economy.
- Avoid ban with exception scenario: For political economy reasons, the RBI should avoid a scenario where it bans but then carves out exceptions.
- Ensuring that trade does not go offshore: The second thing is that if it somehow allows Indians to invest then it has to ensure that trade does not go offshore.
- Not fully banning and allowing it offshore will be the worst of both worlds.
Challenges in insulating the crypto market
- In practice the insulation of crypto markets will be difficult to achieve.
- Political economy: The first reason is political economy. Once you have a large number of investors, and some influential ones, they will be a vested interest in their own right, potentially demanding the socialisation or mitigation of losses.
- Impact of volume: The second reason is that it is difficult to pretend that a major new class of assets, especially if volumes grow, does not have systemic effects on the rest of the economy.
Consider the question “What are the risks and advantages provided by the cryptocurrencies? Suggest the approach India should adopt in dealing with cryptocurrencies.”
Conclusion
As the RBI makes the case for banning crypto, we also need to ask, why it is alluring in the first place. What does this mania reveal about our politics and economics?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Role of the parliamentary committees
Context
The Prime Minister has informed the nation that the Government is going to repeal the farm laws. This victory indeed takes India’s politics to a new phase — a phase of robust non-political movements with a certain staying power.
Trajectory of the enactment of the farm laws and its shortcomings
- Farmers not taken into confidence: These laws have a far-reaching impact on the farmers and it was very improper and quite unwise to push them through without taking the farmers into confidence.
- Question on urgency: Under Article 123 of the Constitution the President can legislate on a matter when there is great urgency in the nature of an emergency and the sitting of Parliament is quite some time away.
- Farm laws which make radical changes in the farm sector and affect the life of farmers in very significant ways do not have the kind of urgency which necessitates immediate legislation through the ordinances.
- Bills not referred to committee: It is a wrong impression that Bills which are brought to replace the ordinances are not or cannot be referred to the standing committees of Parliament.
- The Speaker/Chairman has the authority to refer any Bill except a money Bill to the standing committees.
Significance of parliamentary committees
- Consultation with Parliament and its time honoured system is a sobering and civilising necessity for governments howsoever powerful they may feel.
- The accumulated wisdom of the Houses is an invaluable treasure.
- The experience of centuries shows that scrutiny of Bills by the committees make better laws.
- The case of the farm laws holds an important lesson for this Government or any government.
- A proper parliamentary scrutiny of pieces of legislation is the best guarantee that sectoral interest will not jeopardise basic national interest.
- So, in any future legislation on farmers it is absolutely necessary to involve the systems of Parliament fully so that a balanced approach emerges.
Way forward
- Available data shows that Bills are very rarely referred to the committees these days.
- Discretion in the presiding officer: House rules have vested the discretion in the presiding officers in the matter of referring the Bills to committees.
- No reasoned decisions of the presiding officers for not referring them are available.
- Since detailed examination of Bills by committees result in better laws, the presiding officers may, in public interest, refer all Bills to the committees with few exceptions.
- In the light of the horrendous experience of the Government over the farm laws, the present practice of not referring the Bills to committees should be reviewed.
Consider the question ” The experience of centuries shows that scrutiny of Bills by the committees make better laws. In context of this, examine the significance of the parliamentary committees and why fewer bills have been referred to the committees in the recent past?”
Conclusion
Speaker Om Birla has spoken about strengthening the committee system in the recent presiding officers’ conference. One way of strengthening it is by getting all the important Bills examined by them.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Net-zero through sustainable well being
Context
With current per capita emissions that are less than half the global average, India’s pledge to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2070 has cemented India’s credentials as a global leader.
Implication of net-zero by 2070
- The political implication of the date 2070 is that the world should get to ‘net-zero’ by 2050.
- For that, the rich countries will need to do more and step up closer to their share of the carbon budget.
- India’s stand also signals that it will not act under external pressure, as requiring equal treatment is the hallmark of a global power, and will have an impact on other issues.
How focus on coal harms developing countries
- The subject of oil was not touched at COP26, even as automobile emissions are the fastest growing emissions, because it is a defining feature of western civilisation.
- Most abundant source of energy: Coal is the most abundant energy source, essential for base load in electrification, and the production of steel and cement.
- Its use declines after the saturation level of infrastructure is reached.
- Declining role of G-7 in rule setting: That India and China working together forced the G7 to make a retraction has signalled the coming of a world order in which the G7 no longer sets the rules.
- Specific language on finance and adaptation: After 40 years there is more specific language on both finance and adaptation finally recognising that costs and near-term effects of climate change will hit the poorest countries hardest.
Feasibility of the goal of ‘net-zero’ by 2070
- Seeing the challenge in terms of the scale and the speed of the transformation of the energy system assumes that India will follow the pathway of western civilisation.
- Transition to electrification: India is urbanising as it is industrialising, moving directly to electrification, renewable energy and electric vehicles, and a digital economy instead of a focus on the internal combustion engine.
- Most of the infrastructure required has still to be built and automobiles are yet to be bought.
- Investment vs. incurring cost: India will not be replacing current systems and will be making investments, not incurring costs.
Challenge for the West
- The consumption of affluent households both determines and accelerates an increase of emissions of carbon dioxide.
- This is followed by socio-economic factors such as mobility and dwelling size.
- In the West, these drivers have overridden the beneficial effects of changes in technology reflected in the material footprint and related greenhouse-gas emissions.
- The West has yet to come out with a clear strategy of how it will remain within the broad contours of its carbon budget.
- And increasing inequality and a rise of protectionism and trade barriers imposing new standards need to be anticipated.
- This knowledge is essential for national policy as well as the next round of climate negotiations.
Way forward for India
- Climate change has to be addressed by the West by reducing consumption, not just greening it.
- Shifting the consumption pattern: Consumption patterns need to be ‘shifted away from resource and carbon-intensive goods and services, e.g. mobility from cars and aircraft to buses and trains.
- Reducing the carbon intensity: Along with’ reducing demand, resource and carbon intensity of consumption has to decrease, e.g. expanding renewable energy, electrifying cars and public transport and increasing energy and material efficiency’.
- Equal distribution of wealth and affordable energy use: Equally important, will be achieving a’ more equal distribution of wealth with a minimum level of prosperity and affordable energy use for all’, e.g., housing and doing away with biomass for cooking.
- Focused research group: The Government now needs to set up focused research groups for the conceptual frame of sustainable well-being.
- It should analyse the drivers of affluent overconsumption and circulate synthesis of the literature identifying reforms of the economic systems as well as studies that show how much energy we really need for a decent level of well-being.
Role for legislature
- Fundamental duty: After the Stockholm Declaration on the Global Environment, the Constitution was amended in 1976 to include Protection and Improvement of Environment as a fundamental duty.
- Use of provision under Article 253: Parliament used Article 253 to enact the Environment Protection Act to implement the decisions reached at the Stockholm Conference.
- Enabling new set of legislation: The decisions at COP26 enable a new set of legislation around ecological limits, energy and land use, including the efficient distribution and use of electricity, urban design and a statistical system providing inputs for sustainable well-being.
Consider the question “Examine the feasibility of India’s ‘net-zero’ target by 2070, also suggest the way forward for India to achieve the target by focusing on sustainable well being”
Conclusion
For India, in parallel with the infrastructure and clean technology thrust, the focus on a decent living standard leads to behavioural change in the end-use service, such as mobility, shelter and nutrition — for change modifying wasteful trends.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issue of child marriage
Context
Reports suggest that more child marriages have been noticed during the Covid pandemic.
Covid-19 and Girls
Socio-economic impacts of Covid-19 are gendered, evident in the form of educational inequality, sexual violence, and increased household burden.
- Increased domestic violence: In India, the National Commission for Women reported 2.5 times to increase in domestic violence during the initial months of nationwide lockdown.
- Abuse & Trafficking: Closure of schools and pandemic induced poverty has increased the vulnerability of children especially the girl child to abuse and trafficking
- School dropout: UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report (2021) throws light on increased educational inequalities for adolescent girls during the Covid-19 crisis. UNESCO estimates that around 11 million girls may not return to school.
- School Closures pushed Children into Labour: In 2021, says UNESCO, 24 million children may not find their way back to schools after the pandemic. Any child who is not in school is a potential child laborer.
- Child Marriages: India witnessed an increase in the number of child marriages since 2020. Girls are further at risk – married off early, these child brides are also often child laborers.
- Reduced Education Budget: Despite knowing the impact of the Pandemic on the education system & thus on Children’s future, the Union budget has Rs 5,000 crore less to spend on education for children this year.
- Digital gender gap: The digital gender gap deters girls’ remote education and access to information.
Child Marriage
- It is defined as a marriage of a girl or boy before the age of 18 and refers to both formal marriages and informal unions in which children under the age of 18 live with a partner as if married.
- UNICEF estimates suggest that each year, at least 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India, which makes it home to the largest number of child brides in the world – accounting for a third of the global total.
- A recent study by the Lancet shows that up to 2.5 million more girls (below the age of 18) around the world are at risk of marriage in the next 5 years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prevalence of child marriage in India
- Data from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS4) in 2015-16 shows that even before Covid, one in four girls in India was being married before 18.
- Around 8 percent of women aged 15-19 years were mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey.
- The first phase findings of NFHS5 (2019-20) show that the needle has not moved substantially on ending child marriage.
Why did Child Marriages have increased during Lockdowns?
- Lack of Alert Mechanism: Earlier, when child marriages happened at wedding halls, temples, etc, there were people who would alert the relevant authorities or activists who would be able to reach on time to stop it.
- But now, with marriages happening at homes, we may get fewer alerts and our going there could be treated as trespass.
- Pandemic Induced Pressures: Economic pressures due to the pandemic have pushed poor parents to marry off girls early.
- With no schools, the safety of children, particularly girls, was a major reason for the increase in violence against children and child marriages.
Causes for Child Marriages
- Age Factor: Some parents consider the age period of 15-18 as unproductive, especially for girls, so they start finding a match for their child during this age period.
- Further, the Right To Education Act makes education free and compulsory up to the age of 14 only.
- Insecurity: Law and Order are still not able to provide a secure environment for the girls in adolescent age, so some parents get their girl child married at a young age.
- Other Reasons:
- Poverty,
- Political and financial reasons,
- Lack of education,
- Patriarchy and gender inequalities, etc.
Consequences of child marriage
- Violation of human rights: Child marriage violates girls’ human rights. It makes them almost invisible to policy.
- Impact on education and health: It cuts short their education, harms their health, and limits their ability to fulfill themselves as productive individuals participating fully in society.
- The low domestic status of teenage wives typically condemns them to long hours of domestic labor; poor nutrition and anemia; social isolation; domestic violence; early childbearing; and few decision-making powers within the home.
- Malnutrition: Poor education, malnutrition, and early pregnancy lead to low birth weight of babies, perpetuating the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition.
- The costs of child marriage include teenage pregnancy, population growth, child stunting, poor learning outcomes for children, and the loss of women’s participation in the workforce.
What should be the policy interventions to end child marriage?
- CCTs: Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have been the main policy instrument introduced by most states in the last two decades to end child marriage.
- CCTs alone cannot change social norms. We need a comprehensive approach.
- Legislative measures: Legislation is one part of the approach.
- Karnataka amended the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act in 2017, declaring every child marriage, making it a cognizable offense.
- Expansion of education: These include expansion of secondary education, access to safe and affordable public transport, and support for young women to apply their education to earn a livelihood.
- Expansion of education goes beyond access. Girls must be able to attend school regularly, remain there, and achieve.
- States can leverage their network of residential schools, girls’ hostels, and public transport, especially in underserved areas, to ensure that teenage girls do not get pushed out of education.
- Teachers should hold regular gender equality conversations with high school girls and boys to shape progressive attitudes that will sustain them into adulthood.
- Empowerment measures: Empowerment measures, too, are required to end child marriage, such as community engagement through programs like Mahila Samakhya.
- Children’s village assemblies in the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats across India can provide a platform for children to voice their concerns.
- Government actions driving social change: Field bureaucrats across multiple departments, including teachers, Anganwadi supervisors, panchayat, and revenue staff, all of whom interact with rural communities, should be notified as child marriage prohibition officers.
- Decentralizing birth and marriage registration: Most important of all, decentralizing birth and marriage registration to gram panchayats will protect women and girls with essential age and marriage documents, thus better enabling them to claim their rights.
Consider the question “What are the consequence of child marriage? Suggest the measures to deal with the issue.”
Conclusion
We need to adopt a comprehensive approach to deal with the problem of child marriage. The approach should include a focus on education and legal measures.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges facing the telecom sector
Context
Shortly after the Cabinet announced nine structural and procedural reforms in September to address the deep financial woes of telcos, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel hiked their tariff.
About the package for telecom sector
- The telecom relief package announced by the government in September supports proposals that have been repeatedly presented to the government by the regulator, industry associations and think tanks.
- Risk of duopoly: With the risk of a duopoly looming large, the government was pushed to take up these long-pending decisions that included nine key changes.
- Provisions in the package: Besides providing immediate relief on payment of licence fee and penalties due to the government, the package increased FDI limits, extended licence tenure to 30 years from 20, removed charges on spectrum-sharing and proposed timelines for spectrum auctions.
- The package will undoubtedly have a positive short-term impact and perhaps safeguard competition in the future.
Reforms and challenge of addressing the inequality
- From socialist to market-oriented economy: In July this year, we celebrated three decades of India’s 1991 reforms, one that catapulted India from being a socialist economy with a heart but no trickle-down, to a market-oriented economy with a mind but also very little trickle-down.
- Inequality has been a feature of both models.
- The 2018 Oxfam report showed that 10 per cent of the richest Indians took home 77.4 per cent of wealth (compared to 73 per cent the year before).
- Moreover, 58 per cent of India’s wealth was in the hands of 1 per cent of the country’s population.
- Changes in the modes of distribution: In the pre-1991 period, the principal modes of redistribution were taxation and public sector operations.
- In the post-1991 period, it has been a combination of taxation, technology, smartphones and the associated direct benefit transfers.
Role of telecom sector in addressing the challenge of achieving growth and inclusion
- High growth dividend of telecom sector: Every 10 per cent increase in investment in telecom, for example, leads to a 3.2 per cent increase in GDP growth for India.
- Not only is the growth dividend positive, it is large.
- Mobile as a mean of financial integration: At the same time, the mobile phone has become a means for sophisticated financial integration, as shown by the expanding usage of pre-paid payment instruments and mobile banking.
- The Jan-Dhan Yojana (JDY) attempts to include the marginalised and unbanked through technology.
- As of October 2021, a total of 440 million bank accounts have been opened and more than 310 million RuPay cards have been issued under the latter, indicating the large unmet demand for banking services.
- Making transfers predictable and targeted: The Jan-Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity ties the Aadhaar number to an active bank account, making income transfers predictable and targeted.
- There is already evidence that payments through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts have increased efficiency and reduced leakages.
Way forward
- Predictable and less erratic telecom policy: The benefits of digitalisation could have been much larger and more widespread had telecom policy been more predictable and less erratic.
- That Indian reforms more often than not happen on the back of a crisis is true for the telecom sector.
- The principal motive of the New Telecom Policy of 1999 was to rescue the deeply indebted sector of its own reckless bidding by replacing the fixed licence fee system with a revenue-sharing regime.
- In hindsight, it was the right thing to do since it threatened business continuity.
- The move to auction spectrum “for all times to come” in 2008 was necessitated by the administrative bungling in spectrum assignment.
- Quick adaptation: A question we pose is why did it take a crisis — a grave one at that — to push the needle on policy change?
- It is a a reasonable expectation of policy to adapt quickly and not wait for a crisis to emerge.
Consider the question “Telecom sector could play an important role in achieving the growth with inclusion. In context of this, examine the challenges facing the sector and suggest the measures to deal with these challenges.”
Conclusion
The seemingly naïve question about the adaptation in policies may not be as credulous for the intensely dynamic digital markets. For there is no point shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper-Unicorns in Indian economy and issues with their valuation
Context
The biggest-ever initial public offering (IPO) in India fell flat on its face on the first day of its listing in the stock exchange, with shares being traded at prices less than 27% of the IPO price.
Rise of unicorns in India and factors driving it
- Unicorns in diverse sectors: There has been a unicorn gale in India in recent years, covering diverse sectors from fintech to cloud kitchen.
- Growth in digital payment is reflected in the fintech sector that has contributed the most to the unicorn list.
- Factors driving growth: An ecosystem which combines thriving digital payments, a growing smartphone user base and digital-first business models adopted by many start-ups has driven expectations of investors, resulting in large-scale fund flows into new business ventures.
- Growing smartphone user: Expectations are high as the country has around 640 million Internet users, of which 550 million are smartphone users.
- Growing digital payments: Digital payment has seen a growth of 30.19% as of March 31, 2021 and by the end of September 30, the unified payments interface (UPI) registered 3.5 billion transactions amounting to ₹6.54 trillion.
FinTech and EdTech leading unicorns
- American investment firms Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital have been the major investors, providing very quick follow-up rounds of funds across all stages and sectors.
- Fundamental financial performance of the business is not factored in these decisions which could lead to biased valuations.
- Idea of disruptive technologies: The idea of disruptive technologies has become a buzzword for characterising start-ups.
- The idea was that start-ups with limited resources can aim at technology disruption by inventing an entirely new way of getting something done.
- The story is similar in educational technologies (EdTech) as well.
- The novel coronavirus pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for EdTech firms, as it is this external environment that is pushing the industry, giving it an acceleration by four to five years.
- Too many acquisitions with big ambitions to grow inorganically puts pressure on the balance sheet in the years to come as some of the new acquisitions are likely to fail.
- Even, EdTech firms with reasonably good business models are highly overvalued due to abundant liquidity.
- Cost of achieving behaviour change: Almost every second advertisement on primetime television is either of a digital payment firm or EdTech platform.
- New firms in services will have to indulge in this process for a longer period than firms in other industries such as transportation as these firms have to bring about a particular kind of change that customers are significantly comfortable using the service.
- Firms burn cash to give massive discounts to customers in the hope that people will get so habituated to these platforms that they will remain active even when the prices are hiked.
- To some extent this worked in the context of mobile telephone services as Indians have got hooked to mobile phones and reoriented spending to buy more sophisticated smartphones and data.
- But in other services this does not seem to work so easily.
- The projection flaw: Data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) points to this flaw of over-optimistic demand projections as there are just about 23 million households which earn more than ₹5 lakh per year i.e., less than ₹42,000 a month, which is about 7% of all Indian families.
- It is only this class which can be coaxed to behavioural changes — i.e. people who can afford various kinds of goods and services.
- If firms want to go beyond this 7% of households they have to offer bigger discounts, burning more cash, with the possibility that once the discounts are reduced, customers drop off.
Consider the question “India is witnessing the unicorn boom in the starts-ups. However, valuation of these unicorns has raised concerns. In light of this, examine the factors driving the rise of unicorns in India and why their valuation raises concerns?”
Conclusion
We are witnessing new unicorns emerging every month, which are products of inflated valuations to tap more funds to burn more cash. These valuations are solely on the basis of future earnings, with virtually no profits to show in the present.
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