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Type: Prelims Only

  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    [pib] Anushilan Samiti

    Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Anushilan Samiti

    Mains level: Not Much

    Union Education and Skill Development Minister has urged NCERT and the Education fraternity to include enough information about Anushilan Samiti, especially in the upcoming National Curriculum Framework

    Anushilan Samiti

    • Anushilan Samiti was an Indian fitness club, which was actually used as an underground society for anti-British revolutionaries.
    • It was founded by Satish Chandra Pramatha Mitra, Aurobindo Ghose and Sarala Devi.
    • In the first quarter of the 20th century it supported revolutionary violence as the means for ending British rule in India.
    • The organisation arose from a conglomeration of local youth groups and gyms (akhara) in Bengal in 1902.
    • It had two prominent, somewhat independent, arms in East and West Bengal, Dhaka Anushilan Samiti (centred in Dhaka), and the Jugantar group (centred in Calcutta).
    • It challenged British rule in India by engaging in militant nationalism, including bombings, assassinations, and politically motivated violence.

    Revolutionary activities

    • The Samiti collaborated with other revolutionary organisations in India and abroad.
    • It was led by the nationalists Aurobindo Ghosh and his brother Barindra Ghosh, influenced by philosophies like Italian Nationalism, and the Pan-Asianism of Kakuzo Okakura.
    • The Samiti was involved in a number of noted incidents of revolutionary attacks against British interests and administration in India, including early attempts to assassinate British Raj officials.
    • These were followed by the 1912 attempt on the life of the Viceroy of India, and the Seditious conspiracy during World War I, led by Rash Behari Bose and Jatindranath Mukherjee respectively.

    Defiance from militant nationalism

    • The organisation moved away from its philosophy of violence in the 1920s due to the influence of the Indian National Congress and the Gandhian non-violent movement.
    • A section of the group, notably those associated with Sachindranath Sanyal, remained active in the revolutionary movement, founding the Hindustan Republican Association in north India.
    • A number of Congress leaders from Bengal, especially Subhash Chandra Bose, were accused by the British Government of having links with the organisation during this time.
    • The Samiti’s violent and radical philosophy revived in the 1930s, when it was involved in the Kakori conspiracy, the Chittagong armoury raid, and other actions against the administration in British-occupied India.

    Other personalities associated with Anushilan Samiti

    • Legends like, Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das, Surendranath Tagore, Jatindranath Banerjee, Bagha Jatin were associated with Anushilan Samiti.
    • Dr Hedgewar who established the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was also an alumnus of the Samity.

     

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  • Goods and Services Tax (GST)

    What is Transition Tax Credit?

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Transitional Tax Credit

    Mains level: Not Much

    Taxpayers who had missed out on getting the benefit of transitional tax credits during India’s switchover to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime five years ago, will now get a fresh window to avail them.

    What is Transitional Tax Credit?

    • A tax credit is a component of a company’s tax payment that can be applied to offset a subsequent tax obligation.
    • When India moved to the GST regime in 2017, companies had to transition the credit sitting on their books.
    • So, the closing balance in the old tax regime would become the opening credit balance under GST.
    • When India moved from the old indirect tax regime to GST, a one-time transition of credit was allowed.
    • That is, companies could set off part of the taxes paid during the old tax regime against future GST liabilities.
    • Many companies claimed that they had simply forgotten to claim the transitional credit.

    Why in news?

    • The Supreme Court has directed the revenue authorities to facilitate such credits.
    • The move is likely to benefit hundreds of GST assessees who had hitherto not been able to avail such credits.
    • They will be given two-month window to claim during September and October.

     

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Who were Raja Serfoji and Sivaji?

    Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Doctrine of Lapse

    Mains level: Not Much

    A 19th-century painting of Raja Serfoji and his son Sivaji, which was stolen from Saraswathi Mahal, Thanjavur, a few years ago has been traced to the Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts, in the US.

    Who was Raja Serfoji?

    • For long, the rulers of Thanjavur had been devoid of absolute power.
    • Serfoji, placed by the British on the throne over his stepbrother Amar Singh, died in 1832.
    • His only son Sivaji ruled until 1855.
    • However, he had no male successor.
    • Thanjavur became a casualty of Lord Dalhousie’s infamous ‘Doctrine of Lapse’, and it got absorbed into British-ruled Indian provinces.
    • The painting, which has Raja Serfoji and his young son, according to some historians, was probably painted between 1822 and 1827 and kept in the Saraswathi Mahal.

    Back2Basics: Doctrine of Lapse

    • Between 1848 and 1856, Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India, devised the Doctrine of Lapse as an annexation policy.
    • It was an idea to annex those states which have no heir.
    • They lose the right of ruling, and it will not be reverted by the adoption of a child.
    • It was one of the key components that added to the 1857 revolt.

    Features of the doctrine

    • Any princely state or any territory under the direct influence of the British, as a vassal state under the British Subsidiary System, would inevitably be annexed if the ruler was either “manifestly incompetent or died without a direct heir”.
    • It ousted the age-old right of an Indian ruler without an heir to select a successor.
    • Additionally, the British decided whether potential rulers were competent enough or not.

    Annexations made under this policy

    Annexation           Year

    Satara                1848

    Jaitpur                1849

    Sambalpur            1849

    Baghat               1850

    Udaipur              1852

    Jhansi                 1853

    Nagpur               1854

     

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  • Water Management – Institutional Reforms, Conservation Efforts, etc.

    Kali Bein and its cultural significance

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Kali Bein

    Mains level: River water management issues

    Punjab CM has been admitted to hospital, days after he had drunk a glass of water directly from the Kali Bein, a holy rivulet in Sultanpur Lodhi.

    What is the Kali Bein?

    • The 165-km rivulet starts from Hoshiarpur, runs across four districts and meets the confluence of the rivers Beas and Sutlej in Kapurthala.
    • Along its banks are around 80 villages and half a dozen small and big towns.
    • Waste water from there as well as industrial waste used to flow into the rivulet via a drain, turning its waters black, hence the name Kali Bein (black rivulet).
    • Dense grass and weeds grew on the water until a cleaning project started.

    Why did Punjab CM drink water from it?

    • The occasion was the 22nd anniversary of the cleaning project, which had started on July 16, 2000.
    • The project has been slow for years after having made remarkable progress in the initial years.
    • Nevertheless, when Mann drank water from it directly, it was a much cleaner Kali Bein than it was before 2000.

    Cultural significance

    • The Kali Bein is of great significance to Sikh religion and history, because the first Guru, Nanak Dev, is said to have got enlightenment here.
    • When Guru Nanak Dev was staying at Sultanpur Lodhi with his sister Bebe Nanki, he would bathe in the Kali Bein.
    • He is said to have disappeared into the waters one day, before emerging on the third day.
    • The first thing he recited was the “Mool Mantra” of the Sikh religion.

    How did the cleaning project start?

    • It was started by environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal with a handful of followers, without government help.
    • They removed weeds, treated the water and spread awareness among residents.
    • Six years of hard work paid off when then President A P J Abdul Kalam visited the site in 2006 and praised them for their effort.
    • The then government in Punjab then announced that it would take up the project to stop the discharge of untreated water into the rivulet.

    What is its national significance?

    • At one stage, the project had become a role model for river cleaning missions.
    • The ‘Kali Bein Model’ was cited as the blueprint for the National Mission for Clean Ganga.
    • Uma Bharti, then Union Minister for Water Resources, River Project and Ganga Rejuvenation, visited the Kali Bein in 2015, and called it a Guru Sthan for the Ganga project.

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  • Monetary Policy Committee Notifications

    India’s Tenfold Path to manage Exchange Rate Volatility

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Rupee-Dollar relation

    Mains level: Issues with Rupees depreciation

    The RBI is prepared to sell a sixth of its foreign exchange reserves to defend the rupee against a rapid depreciation after it plumbed record lows in recent weeks.

    Must read:

    [Burning Issue] Global Trade in Rupees

    Is there a forex crisis underway?

    • And the way in which India has tackled foreign exchange crises over the years has been quite profound.
    • A forex crisis can be loosely defined as one where the rupee starts depreciating rapidly or when forex reserves slide precipitously.
    • Ever since India’s reforms of 1991-92, the external sector has been liberalized, with even full capital account convertibility being considered at one point.

    In the rupee’s context, let’s look at options that have been used in the last three decades or so:

    (1) Selling dollars

    • The first course of action has been selling dollars in the spot forex market.
    • This is fairly straightforward, but has limits as all crises are associated with declining reserves.
    • While this money is meant for a rainy day, they may just be less than adequate.
    • The idea of RBI selling dollars works well in the currency market, which is kept guessing how much the central bank is willing to sell at any point of time.

    (2) NRI deposits

    • The second tool used is aimed at garnering non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits.
    • It was done in 1998 and 2000 through Resurgent India bonds and India Millennium Deposits, when banks reached out asking NRIs to put in money with attractive interest rates.
    • The forex risk was borne by Indian banks.
    • This is always a useful way for the country to mobilize a good sum of forex, though the challenge is when the debt has to be redeemed.
    • At the time of deposits, the rates tend to be attractive, but once the crisis ends, the same rate cannot be offered on deposit renewals.
    • Therefore, the idea has limitations.

    (3) Let oil importers buy dollars themselves

    • The third option exercised often involves getting oil importing companies to buy dollars directly through a facility extended by a public sector bank.
    • Its advantage is that these deals are not in the open and so the market does not witness a large demand for dollars on this account.
    • It is more of a sentiment cooling exercise.

    (4) Let exporters trade in dollars

    • Another tool involves a directive issued for all exporters to mandatorily bring in their dollars on receipt that are needed for future imports.
    • This acts against an artificial dollar supply reduction due to exporter hold-backs for profit.

    (5) Liberalized Exchange Rate

    • The other weapon, once used earlier, is to curb the amount of dollars one can take under the Liberalized Exchange Rate Management System.
    • This can be for current account purposes like travel, education, healthcare, etc.
    • The amounts are not large, but it sends out a strong signal.

    (6) Forward-trade marketing

    • Another route used by RBI is to deal in the forward-trade market.
    • Its advantage is that a strong signal is sent while controlling volatility, as RBI conducts transactions where only the net amount gets transacted finally.
    • It has the same power as spot transactions, but without any significant withdrawal of forex from the system.

    (7) Currency swaps

    • The other tool in India’s armoury is the concept of swaps.
    • This became popular post 2013, when banks collected foreign currency non-resident deposits with a simultaneous swap with RBI, which in effect took on the foreign exchange risk.
    • Hence, it was different from earlier bond and deposit schemes.

    Most preferred options by the RBI

    • Above discussed instruments have been largely direct in nature, with the underlying factors behind demand-supply being managed by the central bank.
    • Of late, RBI has gone in for more policy-oriented approaches and the last three measures announced are in this realm.

    (8) Allowing banks to work in the NDF market

    • First was allowing banks to work in the non-deliverable forwards (NDF) market.
    • This is a largely overseas speculative market that has a high potential to influence domestic sentiment on our currency.
    • Here, forward transactions take place without real inflows or outflows, with only price differences settled in dollars.
    • This was a major pain point in the past, as banks did not have access to this segment.
    • By permitting Indian banks to operate here, the rates in this market and in domestic markets have gotten equalized.

    (9) Capital account for NRI deposits

    • More recently, RBI opened up the capital account on NRI deposits (interest rates than can be offered), external commercial borrowings (amounts that can be raised) and foreign portfolio investments (allowed in lower tenure securities), which has the potential to draw in forex over time.
    • Interest in these expanded contours may be limited, but the idea is compelling.

    (10) Settlement in Rupees

    • RBI’s permission for foreign trade deals to be settled in rupees is quite novel; as India is a net importer, gains can be made if we pay in rupees for imports.
    • The conditions placed on the use of surpluses could be a dampener for potential transactions.
    • But the idea is innovative and could also be a step towards taking the rupee international in such a delicate situation.
    • Clearly, RBI has constantly been exploring ways to address our forex troubles and even newer measures shouldn’t surprise us.

     

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  • Wildlife Conservation Efforts

    Cheetahs likely to arrive in Kuno before August 15

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Asiatic Cheetah

    Mains level: Cheetah reintroduction project

     

    India came one step closer to bringing back the world’s fastest animal, the Cheetah to the country with an agreement signed in New Delhi with Namibia.

    Asiatic Cheetah

    • Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal was declared extinct in India in 1952.
    • The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
    • It was expected to be re-introduced into the country after the Supreme Court lifted curbs for its re-introduction.

    Distribution of cheetahs in India

    • Historically, Asiatic cheetahs had a very wide distribution in India.
    • There are authentic reports of their occurrence from as far north as Punjab to Tirunelveli district in southern Tamil Nadu, from Gujarat and Rajasthan in the west to Bengal in the east.
    • Most of the records are from a belt extending from Gujarat passing through Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha.
    • There is also a cluster of reports from southern Maharashtra extending to parts of Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
    • The distribution range of the cheetah was wide and spread all over the subcontinent. They occurred in substantial numbers.
    • The cheetah’s habitat was also diverse, favouring the more open habitats: scrub forests, dry grasslands, savannahs and other arid and semi-arid open habitats.

    What caused the extinction of cheetahs in India?

    • The major reasons for the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah in India:
    1. Reduced fecundity and high infant mortality in the wild
    2. Inability to breed in captivity
    3. Sport hunting and
    4. Bounty killings
    • It is reported that the Mughal Emperor Akbar had kept 1,000 cheetahs in his menagerie and collected as many as 9,000 cats during his half-century reign from 1556 to 1605.
    • The cheetah numbers were fast depleting by the end of the 18th century even though their prey base and habitat survived till much later.
    • It is recorded that the last cheetahs were shot in India in 1947, but there are credible reports of sightings of the cat till about 1967.

    Conservation objectives for their re-introduction

    • Based on the available evidence it is difficult to conclude that the decision to introduce the African cheetah in India is based on science.
    • Science is being used as a legitimising tool for what seems to be a politically influenced conservation goal.
    • This also in turn sidelines conservation priorities, an order of the Supreme Court, socio-economic constraints and academic rigour.
    • The issue calls for an open and informed debate.

    Issues in re-introduction

    • Experts find it difficult whether the African cheetahs would find the sanctuary a favorable climate as far as the abundance of prey is concerned.
    • The habitat of cheetahs is needed to support a genetically viable population.

     

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  • Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

    Heat Waves across the Europe

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Heat waves

    Mains level: Read the attached story

    The UK posted its highest temperature ever recorded — crossing 40°C.  Parts of France, Spain and Portugal recorded temperatures between 42 and 46 degrees.

    Why in news?

    • Dozens of towns and regions across Europe reeled under what has been described as a “heat apocalypse”, which has caused widespread devastation this year.
    • Wildfires caused by a combination of extreme heat and dry weather have destroyed 19,000 hectares of forest in southwestern France.

    What is a Heatwave and when is it declared?

    • Heatwaves occur over India between March and June.
    • IMD declares a heatwave event when the maximum (day) temperature for a location in the plains crosses 40 degrees Celsius.
    • Over the hills, the threshold temperature is 30 degrees Celsius.

    How are they formed?

    • Heatwaves form when high pressure aloft (3,000–7,600 metres) strengthens and remains over a region for several days up to several weeks.
    • This is common in summer (in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres) as the jet stream ‘follows the sun’.
    • On the equator side of the jet stream, in the upper layers of the atmosphere, is the high pressure area.
    • Summertime weather patterns are generally slower to change than in winter. As a result, this upper level high pressure also moves slowly.
    • Under high pressure, the air subsides (sinks) toward the surface, warming and drying adiabatically, inhibiting convection and preventing the formation of clouds.
    • Reduction of clouds increases shortwave radiation reaching the surface.
    • A low pressure at the surface leads to surface wind from lower latitudes that brings warm air, enhancing the warming.
    • Alternatively, the surface winds could blow from the hot continental interior towards the coastal zone, leading to heat waves.

    Following criteria are used to declare a heatwave:

    To declare heatwave, the below criteria should be met at least in 2 stations in a Meteorological subdivision for at least two consecutive days and it will be declared on the second day.

    a) Based on Departure from Normal

    • Heat Wave: Departure from normal is 4.5°C to 6.4°C
    • Severe Heat Wave: Departure from normal is >6.4°C

    b) Based on Actual Maximum Temperature (for plains only)

    • Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥ 45°C
    • Severe Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥47°C

    How long can a heatwave spell last?

    • A heatwave spell generally lasts for a minimum of four days.
    • On some occasions, it can extend up to seven or ten days.

    Impact of Heat Waves

    • Heat Strokes: The very high temperatures or humid conditions pose an elevated risk of heat stroke or heat exhaustion.
    • Healthcare crisis: Effects from extreme heat are also associated with increased hospitalisations and emergency room visits, increased deaths from cardio-respiratory and other diseases, mental health issues, adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes, etc.
    • Productivity loss: Extreme heat also lessens worker productivity, especially among the more than 1 billion workers who are exposed to high heat on a regular basis.
    • Risk of Wildfires: The heat domes act as fuel to wildfires, which destroys a lot of land area every year in countries like the US.
    • Prevents Cloud Formation: The condition also prevents clouds from forming, allowing for more radiation from the sun to hit the ground.
    • Effect on Vegetation: The trapping of heat can also damage crops, dry out vegetation and result in
    • Increased Energy Demands: The sweltering heat wave also leads to rise in energy demand, especially electricity, leading to pushing up rates.
    • Power Related Issues: Heat waves are often high mortality disasters.
    • Infrastructure failure: Avoiding heat-related disasters depends on the resilience of the electrical grid, which can fail if electricity demand due to air conditioning use exceeds supply.

    What is behind the extreme heat waves in Europe?

    Ans. Climate change, but exactly how

    • Scientists are near-unanimous that the heat waves are a result of climate change caused by human activity.
    • Global temperatures have already risen by more than 1°C , and studies in the UK had shown that a one degree rise in temperature raises the probability of the country witnessing 40°C by ten times.
    • The rising global temperature, which this year led to deviations above the normal by as much as 15 degrees in Antarctica, and by more than 3 degrees in the north pole.

    Major factor: Changes in old wind patterns

    • In the case of the US, the record temperatures are being linked to changes in the jet stream — a narrow band of westerly air currents that circulate several km above the earth’s surface.
    • While a conventionally strong jet stream would bring cooler air from the northern Atlantic, in recent years the jet stream has weakened and split into two.
    • This has led to intense and more frequent heat waves over parts of the American continent.

     

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Pacific Island Nations

    Micronesia: the remote Pacific Islands

    Prelims Only | Trivia | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Micronesia

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Federated States of Micronesia is one of the latest places on Earth to experience an outbreak of Covid-19, after two and a half years of successfully protecting itself from the virus.

    Where is Micronesia?

    • FSM is located in the Western Pacific, in the Micronesia sub-region of Oceania.
    • It consists of four island states, Yap, Chuuk, Kosrae and Pohnpei (where the capital Palikir is located), all in the Caroline Islands.
    • Also known as the Carolines, it is a scattered archipelago of small islands that are divided between Micronesia and the Republic of Palau.
    • FSM is composed of 607 islands and islets with a total land area of 702 square km.

    Its geography

    • While this area is rather small, the islands stretch across an estimated 2,900 sq. km of sea, giving the nation the 14th largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world.
    • EEZs grant countries special right over marine resources up to 370 km from their coasts.
    • The Federated States of Micronesia shares its sea borders with other small island nations and territories in the Micronesia region like Guam, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati, and the Mariana Islands.
    • Its larger neighbouring states — separated by large swathes of the Pacific Ocean — including the Philippines in the west, Hawaii in the east, Papua New Guinea and Australia to the south, and Japan to the north.

     

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  • Disasters and Disaster Management – Sendai Framework, Floods, Cyclones, etc.

    What are Tetrapods?

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Disaster Management

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Tetrapods

    Mains level: Not Much

    In Mumbai, the unusual vibrations (like earthquakes), coinciding with high-tide times, were the result of the relocation of tetrapods as part of the ongoing Coastal Road Project (MCRP).

    What are tetrapods?

    • Tetra pod in Greek means four-legged.
    • These are four-legged concrete structures that are placed along coastlines to prevent erosion and water damage.
    • Tetrapods were first used in France in the late 1940s to protect the shore from the sea.
    • They are typically placed together to form an interlocking but porous barrier that dissipates the power of waves and currents.
    • These are large structures, sometimes weighing up to 10 tonnes, and interlocked tetra pods act as a barrier that remains stable against the rocks when buffeted by waves.
    • Tetrapods, each weighing about 2 tonnes, were placed along Marine Drive in the late 1990s to break and dissipate waves and maintain the reclaimed shoreline in South Mumbai.

    How do we know that the removal of the tetrapods was responsible?

    • The BMC has provided vibration monitoring instruments at the site to study the impact of the phenomenon.
    • While the corporation has not officially stated that the removal of the tetrapods caused the vibrations, it has agreed to re-install the structures.
    • They would be put back over the next two-three days during low tide.

     

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  • Defence Sector – DPP, Missions, Schemes, Security Forces, etc.

    India’s Defence Exports have grown up 7x: PM

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indigenization Of Technology

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: NA

    Mains level: India's defence exports

    Our defence exports have increased seven times in the last eight years, informed the Prime Minister. We had achieved defence exports worth ₹13,000 crore and of this 70% was from the private sector.

    Why in news?

    • The Indian Defence sector, the second largest armed force is at the cusp of revolution.

    India’s Defence Exports

    • India has put out a range of military hardware on sale which includes various missile systems, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), helicopters, warship and patrol vessels, artillery guns, tanks, radars etc.
    • From 2016-17 to 2018-19, the country’s defence exports have increased from ₹1,521 crore to ₹10,745 crore, a staggering 700% growth.

    Steps taken by the Centre to boost defence production

    • Licensing relaxation: Measures announced to boost exports since 2014 include simplified defence industrial licensing, relaxation of export controls and grant of no-objection certificates.
    • Lines of Credit: Specific incentives were introduced under the foreign trade policy and the Ministry of External Affairs has facilitated Lines of Credit for countries to import defence product.
    • Policy boost: The Defence Ministry has also issued a draft Defence Production & Export Promotion Policy 2020.
    • Indigenization lists: On the domestic front, to boost indigenous manufacturing, the Government had issued two “positive indigenization lists” consisting of 209 items that cannot be imported.
    • Budgetary allocation: In addition, a percentage of the capital outlay of the defence budget has been reserved for procurement from domestic industry.
    • Defence Industrial Corridors: The government has also announced 2 dedicated Corridors in the States of TN and UP to act as clusters of defence manufacturing that leverage existing infrastructure, and human capital.
    • Long-term vision: The vision of the government is to achieve a turnover of $25 bn including export of $5 bn in Aerospace and Defence goods and services by 2025.
    • Push for self-reliance: The govt has identified the Defence and Aerospace sector as a focus area for the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ or Self-Reliant India initiative.

    Issues retarding defence exports

    • Excess reliance on Public Sector: India has four companies (Indian ordnance factories, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL)) among the top 100 biggest arms producers of the world.
    • Policy delays: In the past few years, the government has approved over 200 defence acquisition worth Rs 4 trillion, but most are still in relatively early stages of processing.
    • Lack of Critical Technologies: Poor design capability in critical technologies, inadequate investment in R&D and the inability to manufacture major subsystems and components hamper the indigenous manufacturing.
    • Long gestation: The creation of a manufacturing base is capital and technology-intensive and has a long gestation period. By that time newer technologies make products outdated.
    • ‘Unease’ in doing business: An issue related to stringent labour laws, compliance burden and lack of skills, affects the development of indigenous manufacturing in defence.
    • Multiple jurisdictions: Overlapping jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Industrial Promotion impair India’s capability of defence manufacturing.
    • Lack of quality: The higher indigenization in few cases is largely attributed to the low-end technology.
    • FDI Policy: The earlier FDI limit of 49% was not enough to enthuse global manufacturing houses to set up bases in India.
    • R&D Lacunae: A lip service to technology funding by making token allocations is an adequate commentary on our lack of seriousness in the area of Research and Development.
    • Lack of skills: There is a lack of engineering and research capability in our institutions. It again leads us back to the need for a stronger industry-academia interface.

    Way forward

    • Reducing import dependence: India was the world’s second-largest arms importer from 2014-18, ceding the long-held tag as the largest importer to Saudi Arabia, says 2019 SIPRI report.
    • Security Imperative: Indigenization in defence is critical to national security also. It keeps intact the technological expertise and encourages spin-off technologies and innovation that often stem from it.
    • Economic boost: Indigenization in defence can help create a large industry which also includes small manufacturers.
    • Employment generation: Defence manufacturing will lead to the generation of satellite industries that in turn will pave the way for a generation of employment opportunities.

     

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