Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MPLADS and its provision.
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with MPLADS.
Since its inception in 1993, MPLADS has continued uninterrupted for 27 years. But COVID-19 came as a roadblock for MPLADS. Recently, it was suspended by the government for two years. As expected it led to huge political drama. However, as an aspirant, it is our duty to cut the drama out and focus on issues that matter. This article discusses MPLADS and argues for its abolition owing to various issues associated with it.
Reason for suspension of MPLADS
- The government suspended the scheme to strengthen the government’s efforts in managing the challenges and adverse impact of COVID-19 in the country.
- It has been suspended for two years.
- BTW scheme in short: Each MP has the choice to suggest to the District Collector for works to the tune of ₹5 crores per annum to be taken up in his/her constituency.
Why should MPLADS be abolished?
1. It goes against the spirit of the Constitution
- The scheme violates one of the cardinal principles: separation of powers.
- Simply put, this scheme, in effect, gives an executive function to legislators or the legislature.
- The argument that MPs only recommend projects, but the final choice and implementation rest with the district authorities is unfounded.
- There are hardly any authorities in the district who have the courage to defy the wishes of an MP.
2. Lacunae in implementation
- Consider some of the observations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India:
- Expenditure incurred by the executing agencies being less than the amount booked.
- Utilisation of funds between 49 to 90% of the booked amount.
- The scheme envisages that works under the scheme should be limited to asset creation, but 78% of the works recommended were for improvement of existing assets.
- Wide variations in quantities executed against the quantities specified in the BOQ (Bills of Quantity) in 137 of the 707 works test-checked. Variations ranged from 16 to 2312%.
- Use of lesser quantities of material than specified by contractors resulting in excess payments and sub-standard works.
- Delays in issuing work orders ranging from 5 to 387 days in 57% of the works against the requirement of issuing the work order within 45 days.
- Extensions of time granted to contractors without following the correct procedure.
- Register of assets created, as required under the scheme, not maintained, therefore location and existence of assets could not be verified.
3. Wide variation in utilisation of MPLADS funds
- A report published in IndiaSpend has some very interesting insights based on data made available to it by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
- A year after they took office, 298 of 543 members of the 16th Lok Sabha— have not spent a rupee from the ₹5 crore.
- Though ₹1,757 crore had been released for MPLADs, only ₹281 crore had been utilised by all the 543 MPs till May 15, 2015.
- This means only 16% of the money had been spent in one year by all the MPs put together, because the Lok Sabha was constituted in May 2014.
- Since the MPLADS began in 1993, ₹5,000 crore was lying unspent with various district authorities by May 15, 2015.
- It is clear from the details above, as well as later experience, that most MPs use money under MPLADS quite haphazardly, and a significant portion of it is left unspent.
4. Misuse of the money under MPLADS
- There is widespread talk of money under MPLADS being used to appease or oblige two sets of people: opinion-makers or opinion-influencers, and favourite contractors.
- There have been cases of the contractor and the MP being financially linked with each other.
5. Legality issue
- The constitutional validity of MPLADS was challenged in the Supreme Court of India in 1999, followed by petitions in 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2005.
- The combined judgment for all these petitions was delivered on May 6, 2010, with the scheme being held to be constitutional.
- The SC seems to have placed an unquestioned trust in the efficacy of the scheme of implementation of MPLADS drawn up by the government without an assessment of the situation prevalent in the field.
- The court should pay more attention to its skewed implementation, evidence of which is available in audit reports.
Contrast and compare the provision of MPLADS with the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. A direct question on the MPLADS could be asked by the UPSC, for instance, consider this question-“There has been the debate around the MPLADS. Discuss the issues involved in the MPLADS.”
Conclusion
Reports of underutilisation and misutilisation of MPLADS funds continue to surface at regular intervals but there seems to have been no serious attempt to do anything about it till now. Some concrete decisions on the future of the scheme is now inevitable.
Back2Basics: What is MPLADS?
- MPLAD is a central government scheme, under which MPs can recommend development programmes involving the spending of Rs 5 crore every year in their respective constituencies.
- MPs from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated ones, can do so.
- MPs do not receive any money under these schemes.
- The government transfers it directly to the respective local authorities.
- The legislators can only recommend works in their constituencies based on a set of guidelines.
- For the MPLAD Scheme, the guidelines focus on the creation of durable community assets like roads, school buildings etc.
- Recommendations for non-durable assets can be made only under limited circumstances.
For example, last month, the government allowed the use of MPLAD funds for the purchase of personal protection equipment, coronavirus testing kits etc.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NDMA, NDMA-2005 and its provisions.
Mains level: Paper 3- Lowering of environment standard is not a good strategy to revive the economy in the wake of corona pandemic.
As the world struggles to restart the economic activities amid the pandemic, various strategies are being advised to salvage the damaged economies. One amongst them is to cut down on the environmental standards to spur the economic activities. This article explains why India should not be short-sighted to lower the environmental standards.
What is this fuss about environment and lockdown?
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The lockdown exit strategies are focused on saving livelihoods.
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But the lockdown is causing fiscal pressures on governments which further motivates it to lower the environmental standards, suspend environmental monitoring requirements and reduce environmental enforcement. (Well to save some bucks.)
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And also in the belief that this is necessary to secure economic growth.
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But it would be a mistake to assume that there is a trade-off between saving livelihoods and protecting the environment.
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The crisis of COVID-19 has highlighted that improving the quality of air in our country is not a matter of choice but an emergency.
How countries around the world are reacting?
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The US announced a significant reduction in fuel efficiency standards for new cars.
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This move could result in increased gasoline consumption by 80 billion tonnes, pumping increased carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
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The US Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it will not be enforcing compliance with routine monitoring and reporting obligations of environmental protection, for an indefinite period.
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13 European ministers have been outspoken about resisting the temptations of short-term solutions in response to the present crisis- need to maintain and strengthen EU’s effective regulatory tools to stick to its 2030 climate goals.
5 Arguments that Indian authorities that look into viz a viz environmental standards
1. Pollution increases risk to COVID-19
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People living in areas with higher levels of air pollution face increased risk of premature death from COVID-19.
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New Delhi was the world’s most polluted capital city for the second straight year in 2019.
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And India was also home to 21 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities, Swiss-based group IQ AirVisual said in a recent study.
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The State of Global Air 2019 Report finds air pollution responsible for over 1.2 million deaths in China and India each, based on 2017 data.
2. The poor are the most affected by air pollution
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There is enormous inequality in the impact of the COVID-19 fallout.
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Those who suffer the most from air pollution are the millions who live and toil in the open, who cannot afford air-purifiers or other mitigating measures, as also the elderly and children.
3. Risk of future pandemics
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There is good evidence that three-quarters of the emerging infectious diseases migrate from wild or domesticated animals into humans.
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This includes Ebola, SARS, MERS and now COVID-19.
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Deforestation, industrial agriculture, illegal wildlife trade, climate change and other types of environmental degradation increase the risk of future pandemics.
4. Public support for environment protection
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From Delhi to Sao Paulo, Bangkok to Bogota, the dramatic improvement in the quality of air and water in the most polluted cities around the world has been transmitted by social media.
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This may well result in a groundswell of public support for measures to protect the environment.
5. The environment will get the value it deserves
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The corona pandemic will jolt the markets into giving a clean, healthy and sustainable environment the economic value it deserves.
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There’s a possibility that the gulf between what markets value, and what people value, will close.
Environment conservation as a silver lining in this Pandemic
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We have never treated air pollution as a national emergency, failing to coordinate between the Centre and state governments.
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The COVID pandemic has been declared a national disaster in India, under the National Disaster Management Act, 2005.
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This legislation mandates the disaster authorities coordinate among themselves and take measures for the prevention and mitigation of the pandemic.
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Preventing and mitigating the risks of COVID-19, therefore, means the mandate for the disaster authorities is also to tackle air and other forms of pollution head-on.
Questions based on disasters have been a recurring theme in the UPSC. In 2014, a question was asked with respect to drought, the same could be asked about air pollution. In 2017 again a question based on role of NDMA and tsunami was aksed. In 2018, a question based on Sendai Framework was asked.
Conclusion
The NDMA is a platform which should be used to combat air pollution as an emergency, similar coordination will be required at an international level to continue to work towards reduced emissions under the Paris Agreement. It is a great pity that it takes a pandemic to bring the realisation that economic growth versus clean air is a false dichotomy.
Back2Basics: NDMA
- On 23 December 2005, the Government of India enacted the Disaster Management Act, which envisaged the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
- It is headed by the Prime Minister, and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by respective Chief Ministers.
- It aims to spearhead and implement a holistic and integrated approach to Disaster Management in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FCI.
Mains level: Paper 3- Role of the FCI.
FCI, indeed, has remained a crucial topic from the examination viewpoint. Mostly it is highlighted for its issues, corruption and wastages in the godowns. Be it MS Swaminathan or the latest Shanta Kumar committee all focus on how to revamp this giant institution. This article, however, points to the relevance of the FCI in the times of pandemic and suggests areas where there is scope for improvement in fulfilling its role. Stay tuned to find out what are the major concerns with FCI which needs consideration by the government.
A background check on FCI
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The FCI was set up under the Food Corporations Act 1964.
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In its first decade, FCI was at the forefront of India’s quest of self-sufficiency in rice and wheat following the Green Revolution.
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Its functions involved managing procurement and stocking grain that supported a vast Public Distribution System (PDS).
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Over time it became a behemoth that had long outlived its purpose and Its operations were regarded as expensive and inefficient.
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Even in the 1970s and 1980s, poor storage conditions meant a lot of grain was lost to pests, mainly rats; diversion of grain was widespread.
What role can FCI play amid Covid-19?
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The FCI has consistently maintained the PDS, a lifeline for vulnerable millions across the country.
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In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, it can play a major role in avoiding hunger and starvation.
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Before the lockdown, with 77 million tonnes of grains in its godowns, the FCI was facing a serious storage problem.
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This was worrying not just because of a shortage of modern storage facilities but also because the FCI lacked a “pro-active liquidation policy” for excess stocks.
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Post-COVID: FCI has opened up the godowns to release food stocks to those affected by the lockdown.
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The FCI has also enabled purchases by States and non-governmental organisations directly from FCI depots, doing away with e-auctions typically conducted for the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS).
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With rabi procurement underway in many States, it seems that the country will secure ample food supplies to cope with the current crisis.
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Given the extended lockdown, the FCI is uniquely positioned to move grain across State borders where private sector players continue to face formidable challenges of transport.
5 suggestions for the FCI to perform better
1. Using roads along with rails:
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In 2019-2020 (until February) only 24% of the grain moved was by road.
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The FCI has long recognised that road movement is often better suited for emergencies and for remote areas.
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Containerised movement too, which is not the dominant way of transporting grain, is more cost-effective and efficient.
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Now, more than ever, it is imperative to move grain quickly and with the least cost and effort, to areas where the need is greatest.
2. Store grain near demand hotspot
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The FCI already has a decentralised network of godowns.
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In the current context, it would be useful for the State government and the FCI to maintain stocks at block headquarters or panchayats in food insecure or remote areas.
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This would allow State governments to respond rapidly.
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It will also provide a sense of assurance and psychological comfort to vulnerable communities.
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This is especially relevant for regions that are chronically underserved by markets or where markets have been severely disrupted.
3. Release stocks over and above existing allocation
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The central government need to look beyond the PDS and the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and release stocks over and above existing allocations.
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This would provide flexibility to local governments to access grains for appropriate interventions at short notice and to sell grain locally at pre-specified prices until supply is restored.
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This would allow the state government to engage in feeding programmes, free distribution to vulnerable and marginalised sections, those who are excluded from the PDS, etc.
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In many States, there is a vibrant network of self-help groups formed under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) which can be tasked with last mile distribution of food aid other than the PDS.
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Consultative committees presumably exist already in each State to coordinate with the FCI on such arrangements.
4. Suspend FIFO principle
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Typically, the FCI’s guidelines follow a first in, first out principle (FIFO).
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FIFO mandates that grain that has been procured earlier needs to be distributed first to ensure that older stocks are liquidated, both across years and even within a particular year.
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It is time for the FCI to suspend this strategy, that enables movement that costs least time, money and effort.
5. Support the farmers trying to reach out to consumers directly
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In many places, farmer producer organisations (FPOs) have been at the forefront of rebuilding these broken supply chains.
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The FCI along with the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), is well placed to rope in expertise to manage the logistics to support these efforts.
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NAFED has already taken the initiative to procure and transport horticultural crops.
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The FCI should similarly consider expanding its role to support FPOs and farmer groups, to move a wider range of commodities including agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, packing materials and so on.
Major concerns regarding FCI’s role
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Cost of food subsidy: The first is a long-term concern regarding the costs of food subsidy.
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An analysis of FCI costs spanning 2001-16 suggests that on average about 60% of the costs of acquisition, procurement, distribution and carrying stocks are in fact transfers to farmers.
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Not all of what is counted as subsidy therefore represents a waste of resources.
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The government needs to address the FCI’s mounting debts — an estimated ₹2.55 lakh crore in March 2020 in the form of National Small Saving Funds Loan alone.
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Depressing food prices: A second concern is that extended food distribution of subsidised grain is akin to dumping and depresses food prices locally.
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The depressed prices, in turn, affect farmers.
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the relevance of the FCI. This makes PDS and Food security in prelims as well as in mains examination focus area. So, questions based on the topic are likely to be asked by the UPSC, for ex- “The FCI’s role in providing succour has been proved many times in the past and it lived up to its reputation amid Covid-19 pandemic as well. In the light of the above statement, discuss the relevance of the FCI and suggest the ways to improve its performance in the times of disasters”
Also consider a question asked by the UPSC in 2019, “What are the reformative steps taken by the Government to make the food grain distribution system more effective?”
Conclusion
In 2015, the Shanta Kumar report recommended repurposing the organisation as an “agency for innovations in Food Management System” and advocated shedding its dominant role in the procurement and distribution of grain. There is no doubt that the FCI needs to overhaul its operations and modernise its storage. At the same time, the relevance of an organisation such as the FCI or of public stockholding, common to most Asian countries, has never been more strongly established than now.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Excise duty, GST
Mains level: Contribution of liquor sale in state revenue
Following the ease of restrictions in the third phase of the nationwide lockdown, some of the most striking images showed long queues outside liquor stores around the country. The Delhi government announced a 70% hike in the price of liquor across categories in the capital.
Aspirants must note:
1. Purview of Excise duty (i.e. Petroleum and Liquor)
2. Excise duty before and after GST regime
3. Sources of state revenue etc.
4. Argument relating to inclusion of Liquor in GST
Why liquor matters?
- Delhi’s “special corona fee” on alcohol underlines the importance of liquor to the economy of the states.
- Manufacture and sale of liquor is one of the major sources of their revenue, and the reopening comes at a time when the states have been struggling to fill their coffers amid the disruption on account of the lockdown.
How do states earn from liquor?
- Liquor contributes a considerable amount to the exchequers of all states and UTs except Gujarat and Bihar, both of which have enforced prohibition.
- Generally, states levy excise duty on manufacture and sale of liquor.
- Some states, for example, Tamil Nadu, also impose VAT (value-added tax).
- States also charge special fees on imported foreign liquor; transport fee; and label & brand registration charges.
- A few states, such as UP, have imposed a “special duty on liquor” to collect funds for special purposes, such as maintenance of stray cattle.
Share in revenue
- A report published by the RBI last year shows that state excise duty on alcohol accounts for around 10-15 per cent of Own Tax Revenue of a majority of states.
- In fact, the state excise duty on liquor is the second or third largest contributor to the category State’s Own Tax revenue; sales tax (now GST) is the largest.
- This is the reason states have always wanted liquor kept out of the purview of GST.
What exactly is State Excise?
- Excise duty on alcohol, alcoholic preparations, and narcotic substances is collected by the State Government and is called “State Excise” duty.
- For most of the states, excise duty is the second largest tax revenue after sales taxes (state VAT).
- Besides, a substantial amount comes from licences, fines and confiscation of alcohol products.
What has changed with the State Excise after the GST regime?
- At the central level, excise duty earlier used to be levied as Central Excise Duty, Additional Excise Duty, etc.
- However, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), introduction in July 2017, subsumed many types of excise duty. Today, excise duty applies only on petroleum and liquor.
- Excise duty was levied on manufactured goods and levied at the time of removal of goods, while GST is levied on the supply of goods and services.
- Alcohol does not come under the purview of GST as exclusion mandated by constitutional provision.
- States levy taxes on alcohol according to the same practice as was prevalent before the rollout of GST.
- After GST was introduced, central excise duty was replaced by Central GST because excise was levied by the central government. The revenue generated from CGST goes to the central government.
What are the other sources of revenue for the states?
- The states’ revenues comprise broadly two categories — Tax Revenue and Non-Tax Revenue.
- Tax revenue is divided into two further categories: State’s Own Tax Revenue, and Share in Central Taxes.
- Again, Own Tax Revenue comprises three principal sources:
1) Taxes on Income (agricultural income tax and taxes on professions, trades, callings and employment);
2) Taxes on Property and Capital Transactions (land revenue, stamps and registration fees, urban immovable property tax); and
3) Taxes on Commodities and Services (sales tax, state sales tax/VAT, central sales tax, a surcharge on sales tax, receipts of turnover tax, other receipts, state excise, taxes on vehicles, taxes on goods and passengers, taxes and duties on electricity, entertainment tax, state GST, and “other taxes and duties”).
Back2Basics: What is Excise Duty?
- Excise duty is a form of tax imposed on goods for their production, licensing and sale.
- It is the opposite of Customs duty in sense that it applies to goods manufactured domestically in the country, while Customs is levied on those coming from outside of the country.
- At the central level, excise duty earlier used to be levied as Central Excise Duty, Additional Excise Duty, etc.
- Excise duty was levied on manufactured goods and levied at the time of removal of goods, while GST is levied on the supply of goods and services.
Purview of excise duty
- The GST introduction in July 2017 subsumed many types of excise duty.
- Today, excise duty applies only on petroleum and liquor.
- Alcohol does not come under the purview of GST as exclusion mandated by constitutional provision.
- States levy taxes on alcohol according to the same practice as was prevalent before the rollout of GST.
- After GST was introduced, excise duty was replaced by central GST because excise was levied by the central government. The revenue generated from CGST goes to the central government.
Types of excise duty in India
Before GST kicked in, there were three kinds of excise duties in India.
1) Basic Excise Duty
- Basic excise duty is also known as the Central Value Added Tax (CENVAT). This category of excise duty was levied on goods that were classified under the first schedule of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.
- This duty was levied under Section 3 (1) (a) of the Central Excise Act, 1944. This duty applied on all goods except salt.
2) Additional Excise Duty
- Additional excise duty was levied on goods of high importance, under the Additional Excise under Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957.
- This duty was levied on some special category of goods.
3) Special Excise Duty
- This type of excise duty was levied on special goods classified under the Second Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.
- Presently the central excise duty comprises of a Basic Excise Duty, Special Additional Excise Duty and Additional Excise Duty (Road and Infrastructure Cess) on auto fuels.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
Mains level: NAM, it's aims and objective, current role of NAM; India's past, present and future link to NAM
PM Modi has for the first addressed the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit since assuming office in 2014.
Possible mains question-
Q. Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has lost its relevance in the new era of multipolar world. Comment.
Highlights of the online summit
- The online NAM Contact Group Summit on “United against COVID-19” was hosted by current NAM Chairman and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.
- The NAM leaders announced the creation of a task force to identify requirements of member countries through a common database reflecting their basic medical, social and humanitarian needs in the fight against COVID-19.
What is the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)?
- The NAM is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.
- The group was started in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1961.
- After the UN, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.
Its formation
- NAM emerged in the context of the wave of decolonization that followed World War II.
- It was created by Yugoslavia’s President, Josip Broz Tito, India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt’s second President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah, and Indonesia’s first President, Sukarno.
- All five leaders believed that developing countries should not help either the Western or Eastern blocs in the Cold War.
- As a condition for membership, the states of the NAM cannot be part of a multilateral military alliance (such as the NATO) or have signed a bilateral military agreement with one of the “big powers” involved in Great Power conflicts.
- However, its idea does not signify that a state ought to remain passive or even neutral in international politics.
Terms of summits
- Unlike the UN or the Organization of American States, the NAM has no formal constitution or permanent secretariat.
- All members of the NAM have equal weight within its organization.
- The movement’s positions are reached by consensus in the Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government, which usually convenes every three years.
- The administration of the organization is the responsibility of the country holding the chair, a position that rotates at every summit.
- The ministers of foreign affairs of the member states meet more regularly in order to discuss common challenges, notably at the opening of each regular session of the UN General Assembly.
Its relevance today
- One of the challenges of the NAM in the 21st century has been to reassess its identity and purpose in the post-Cold War era.
- The movement has continued to advocate for international cooperation, multilateralism, and national self-determination, but it has also been increasingly vocal against the inequities of the world economic order.
- On the contrary, from the founding of the NAM, its stated aim has been to give a voice to developing countries and to encourage their concerted action in world affairs.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Remdesivir
Mains level: Coronovirus and the hunt for its vaccine
A new research has found how Remdesivir treats coronavirus and described the exact mechanism of interaction between the virus and the drug. Remdesivir is an experimental antiviral made by American pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences that was first developed to treat Ebola.
DNA/RNA related terminologies, Genes and Genomes, etc. always find their way in UPSC Prelims. Most recent one was-
With reference to the recent developments in science, which one of the following statements is not correct? (CSP 2019)
(a) Functional chromosomes can be created by joining segments of DNA taken from cells of different species.
(b) Pieces of artificial functional DNA can be created in Iaboratories.
(c) A piece of DNA taken out from an animal cell can be made to replicate outside a living cell in a laboratory.
(d) Cells taken out from plants and animals can be made to undergo cell division in laboratory petri dishes.
How Remdesivir kills coronavirus?
- Remdesivir is designed to obstruct the stage of replication, when the virus creates copies of itself, followed endlessly by the copies creating copies of themselves.
How does replication take place?
- Once the virus enters the human cell, it releases its genetic material, which is then copied using the body’s existing mechanism.
- At every stage of infection, various human proteins, virus proteins, and their interactions come into play.
- At the replication stage, the key viral protein at play is an enzyme called RdRp (an enzyme is a kind of protein that speeds up chemical reactions within a cell).
- It is RdRp that makes the copies, by processing components of the RNA of the virus.
- University of Alberta researchers called it the “engine” of the virus in a paper last week, in which they described the action of Remdesivir against this “engine”.
- In scientific literature, such an enzyme is called a polymerase (the p is RdRp stands for polymerase) or a replica.
- In any case, this is the enzyme that is targeted by Remdesivir.
And how exactly does Remdesivir target this enzyme?
- In order to replicate, the virus processes raw material from the virus RNA, broken down by another enzyme with that specific function.
- When a patient is given Remdesivir — the inhibitor — it mimics some of this material and gets incorporated in the replication site.
- With Remdesivir replacing the material it needs, the virus fails to replicate further.
- These coronavirus polymerases are sloppy and they get fooled, so the inhibitor gets incorporated many times and the virus can no longer replicate.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BoBBLE
Mains level: Indian monsoon and its prediction
A team from IISc Bengaluru and UK based researchers has created a blueprint for accurate prediction of monsoon, tropical cyclones and another weather-related forecast under the BoBBLE Experiment.
Aspirants must note:
1) BoBBLE is headed by which organizations?
2) Its purpose and application
What is BoBBLE?
- The Bay of Bengal Boundary Layer Experiment or BoBBLE in short is a project funded by Union Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Natural Environment Research Council of UK.
- BoBBLE tries to determine, quantify and model ocean-atmosphere interactions that drive variability in the South Asian monsoon.
- The experiment created a blueprint for future weather system observational experiments for accurately forecasting monsoon rainfall.
Why need BoBBLE?
- The Bay of Bengal (BoB) plays a fundamental role in controlling the weather systems that make up the South Asian summer monsoon system.
- In particular, the southern BoB has cooler sea surface temperatures (SST) that influence ocean-atmosphere interaction and impact the monsoon.
- Compared to the southeastern BoB, the southwestern BoB is cooler, more saline receives much less rain, and is influenced by the summer monsoon current (SMC).
- To examine the impact of these features on the monsoon, the BoB Boundary Layer Experiment (BoBBLE) was undertaken.
BONUS:
1) How technology development in monsoon forecasting can benefit realizing the dream of doubling farmers income by 2022?
2) Discuss the role of Bay of Bengal in monsoon dynamics. (Hint: the link between the two lies in Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD))
How is the experiment carried out?
- BoBBLE will deploy two ships, six ocean gliders and eight floats to collect an unprecedented range of oceanic and air-sea flux observations.
- These will occupy locations in the southwest and southeast Bay, as well as tracing east-west and north-south paths between those locations, measuring ocean temperature, salinity and currents.
With inputs from http://www.walker.ac.uk/research/projects/bay-of-bengal-boundary-layer-experiment-bobble/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BharatMarket
Mains level: Not Much
Traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that it will soon launch a national e-commerce marketplace ‘BharatMarket’ for all retail traders in collaboration with several technology partners.
A prelims question with tricky options to throw you off track-
The BharatMarket initiative recently seen in news is-
A. Trade of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
B. Platform for farmer to sell their produce
C. Initiative in power sector
D. e-commerce platform
Here you have to play safe…..
BharatMarket
- The marketplace will integrate the capabilities of various technology companies to provide end-to-end services in the logistics and supply chains from manufacturers to end consumers, including deliveries at home.
- It will include nationwide participation by retailers and aims to bring 95 per cent of retail traders onboard the platform, who would exclusively run the portal.
- It has been already started as a pilot project, initially with a limited number of essential commodities, in six cities — Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Bengaluru.
- This will be an effective way to get essential commodities to consumers during the lockdown period and within containment zones.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UV germicidal irradiation
Mains level: Can always be used as an example
The DRDO has developed an Ultra Violet (UV) Disinfection Tower for rapid and chemical-free disinfection of high infection-prone areas.
GYAN:
We have a UV filter in our home based water filter. Ever wondered, how do UV rays kill viruses/bacteria?
UV Blaster
- The UV blaster is a UV based area sanitizer designed and developed by Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC), the Delhi based premier laboratory of DRDO.
- It is useful for high tech surfaces like electronic equipment, computers and other gadgets in laboratories and offices that are not suitable for disinfection with chemical methods.
- The product is also effective for areas with a large flow of people such as airports, shopping malls, metros, hotels, factories, offices, etc.
How does it work?
- The UV based area sanitizer may be used by remote operation through laptop/mobile phone using wifi link.
- The equipment has six lamps each with 43 watts of UV-C power at 254 nm wavelength for 360-degree illumination.
- For a room of about 12 x 12 feet dimension, the disinfection time is about 10 minutes and 30 minutes for 400 square feet area by positioning the equipment at different places within the room.
- This sanitizer switches off on the accidental opening of a room or human intervention.
Back2Basics: UV germicidal irradiation
- UV irradiation is a disinfection method that uses short-wavelength ultraviolet rays to kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions.
- UVGI is used in a variety of applications, such as food, air, and water purification.
- UVGI devices can produce strong enough UVC light in circulating air or water systems to make them inhospitable environments to microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, moulds, and other pathogens.
- UVGI can be coupled with a filtration system to sanitize air and water.
- It has been used primarily in medical sanitation and sterile work facilities.
- Increasingly, it has been employed to sterilize drinking and wastewater since the holding facilities are enclosed and can be circulated to ensure a higher exposure to the UV.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BRICS, NDB.
Mains level: Paper 2- BRICS's potential for coordination on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief .
“BRICS” is an acronym coined by Jim O’Neill in 2001. In the start of the 21st century, BRICS seemed like the future economic powerhouse. Somehow this picture faded a little with time. This article shows the resilience and potential demonstrated by BRICS in times of Covid-19. It throws light on the latest initiatives of BRICS like New Development Bank. Finally what lies in the future for BRICS?
The “I” in BRICS
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India has reinforced its reputation as a rapidly emerging pharmacy of the world.
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As the world’s largest producer of hydroxychloroquine, India has exported the drug to many countries like Russia, Brazil, Israel, U.S, SAARC and Gulf nations.
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Pharma-alliance: The above developments have set the stage for India to forge an inclusive BRICS-driven pharma alliance, which could also actively explore the production of vaccines.
The “C” in BRICS
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Despite allegations, China has responded strongly in containing the pandemic, leveraging its position as the workshop of the world.
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China, using it’s manufacturing capabilities, responded to the disease by providing the “hardware” — masks, gloves, coveralls, shoe covers and testing kits — to hotspots across the globe.
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Under its Health Silk Road doctrine, the Chinese are reaching out to two of the worst global hotspots, Italy and Iran.
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China has also rolled out a medical air bridge for Europe.
The “R” in BRICS
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Despite fighting the virus at home, Russia too has sent its doctors and virologists overseas including an air mission to Italy.
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At the request of U.S. President Donald Trump, Russia offered help in the form of medical experts and supplies.
The “S” in BRICS
The “B” in BRICS
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Only Brazil’s response may need a course correction.
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In Brazil’s case resistance to breaking the infection chains through travel bans, lockdowns, isolation and testing appear to have led to an infection surge.
Where does the NDB’s model fit in this picture?
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The New Development Bank of the BRICS has already demonstrated the way forward to allocate financial resources to combat COVID-19.
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In April, NDB announced that it is going to disburse a $1 billion emergency loan to China, and subsequently to India, South Africa and Brazil.
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The NDB had the financial heft to provide $10 billion in “crisis-related assistance” to BRICS member countries.
The next step for BRICS – COORDINATION
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BRICS has demonstrated their comparative strengths as providers of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR).
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BRICS countries now need to pool and coordinate their efforts, in partnership with the WHO, and Europe and North America, as part of a global assault on the virus.
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BRICS countries also need to earmark resources and assets to combat a whole range of natural disasters, with special focus on the emerging economies and the global south.
Bodies like BRICS have remained the favourite child of UPSC. Be it questions in prelims or mains. A question based on the regional grouping could be asked by the UPSC, for ex- “BRICS nations have proved to be more than merely an economic grouping. In light of the above statement, discuss the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) potential of the BRICS countries.”
Conclusion
BRICS in future can leverage the coordination among them to work on finding the vaccine and also build on the experience gathered from the pandemic to form a disaster response policy in the future.
Back2Basics: BRICS
- BRICS is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- Originally the first four were grouped as “BRIC” (or “the BRICs”), before the induction of South Africa in 2010.
- The BRICS members are known for their significant influence on regional affairs; all are members of G20.
- Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits. China hosted the 9th BRICS summit in Xiamen on September 2017, while Brazil hosted the most recent 11th BRICS summit on 13-14 November 2019.
New Development Bank and the Fortaleza Declaration
- During the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (2014), the leaders signed the Agreement establishing the New Development Bank (NDB).
- In the Fortaleza Declaration, the leaders stressed that the NDB will strengthen cooperation among BRICS and will supplement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global development, thus contributing to collective commitments for achieving the goal of strong, sustainable and balanced growth.
- The bank was established in July 2015 by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
- The aim of the bank is to mobilize funding for infrastructure and sustainable development.
- Its ownership structure is unique, as the BRICS countries each have an equal share and no country has any veto power.
- In this sense, the bank is a physical expression of the desire of emerging markets to play a bigger role in global governance.
- NDB was created to help fill the funding gap in the BRICS economies and was intended to grow its global scope over time.
- The bank, with its subscribed capital base of US$50bn, is now poised to become a meaningful additional source of long-term finance for infrastructure in its member countries.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Share of informal economy in the country's economy.
Mains level: Paper 3- Huge presence of the informal sector in the Indian economy and ways to formalise it.
The article discusses the issues around the informal workforce in the economy. What are the factors responsible for the high informal sector in India? How is this sector responding in times of COVID? Are there some easy solutions to mainstream the informal sector into our formal economy? These are some of the points one should ponder upon while reading this article.
The vulnerability of the informal workforce
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Developing countries such as India are economically vulnerable to Covid-19 because of the presence of huge informal workforce.
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Lack of protection: This vast informal workforce, which has no labour, social or health protection, is woefully ill-equipped to cope with the medical and economic shocks of the virus.
The humongous size of the informal economy in India
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Share of the informal sector: As per Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2017-18, 90.6 per cent of India’s workforce was informally employed.
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This estimate includes those who are employed in informal enterprises (unincorporated small or unregistered enterprises).
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It also includes informal workers in the formal sector (workers in the formal sector who are not provided any social security benefits by employers).
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Take another example: Between 2004-05 and 2017-18, a period when India witnessed rapid economic growth, the share of the informal workforce witnessed only a marginal decline from 93.2 per cent to 90.6 per cent.
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Covid effect: Looking ahead, it is likely that informal employment will increase as workers who lose formal jobs during the COVID crisis try to find or create work (by resorting to self-employment) in the informal economy.
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Also, formal enterprises are likely to continue hiring informal workers as they seek more flexibility and attempt to cut labour costs to cope with the COVID-19 induced economic uncertainty.
Why is the informal more favourable over the formal?
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The basic reason: necessity to eke out a subsistence living in the absence of alternative employment opportunities.
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The ‘not so basic’ reasons: Some self-employed persons choose to be in the informal economy voluntarily to avoid registration or taxation.
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Many are deterred by the costs of formalisation or don’t see much benefit from formalisation.
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Finally, the phenomenon of informalisation of wage employment in the formal sector is a consequence of formal firms trying to avoid payroll taxes and employer’s contributions to social security or pensions to reduce labour costs.
Some solution to smoothen the crooked road
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A multi-pronged and comprehensive approach is needed to facilitate the transition.
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Labour intensive growth: It requires creating more formal jobs through labour-intensive growth so that informal workers can move to these jobs.
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Registering and taxing informal enterprises: The Indian experience of compelling informal firms to register and become tax compliant through demonetisation and introduction of GST formalised them only in a legal sense.
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There is a need for increasing productivity of informal enterprises and incomes of the informal workforce by providing them with technical and business skills, infrastructure services, financial services, enterprise support and training to better compete in the markets.
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Promoting the path to entrepreneurship in the informal economy.
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Many informal enterprises would welcome efforts to reduce barriers to registration and related transaction costs as they expect to reap the benefits of formalising.
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Reducing decent work deficit: This requires protecting informal workers by providing them a social protection floor, ensuring a set of basic working conditions (adequate living wages, limits on hours of work and safe and healthy workplaces).
A direct question based on the issue of the informal sector can be asked by the UPSC, for ex- “There is a humongous presence of the informal sector in the Indian economy. What are the factors responsible for this? Suggest ways to transform the informal sector into the formal sector.”
Conclusion
Questions around the role of government and who bears the onus of protecting workers deserve careful consideration in the backdrop of the rising incidence of informal employment in the formal sector and the growth of the gig economy. It is apparent that in our relentless pursuit of economic growth, we have ignored the voices of India’s informal sector for too long.
Back2Basics: What is the informal economy?
- An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government.
- Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countries, it is sometimes stigmatized as troublesome and unmanageable.
- However, the informal sector provides critical economic opportunities for the poor.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various economies of the world and their share in the world economy.
Mains level: Paper 3- Impact of pandemic on globalisation.
The article discusses the future of the Globalisation after Covid-19. Globalisation 2.0 which has been dominated by China will see several changes in the post-pandemic world. Investment decisions and Global Value Chains would undergo a paradigm shift. The article is concluded by expressing the hope that pandemic doesn’t end Globalisation 2.0 but it will certainly usher in the new rules of capitalism.
Globalisation 2.0 and issues with the flow of labour
- What is Globalisation 2.0? In strictly economic terms, globalisation is about the free movement of capital, goods and labour across national borders.
- Globalisation 2.0 began in the early 1980s and has lasted for four decades.
- Under the 2.0 phenomenon, the labour flows were never as free as the movements of capital and goods.
- This is because one does not necessarily see who produced the goods or capital coming into the borders.
- But migrants are distinguishable, one can directly observe how ethnically, racially, religiously different they are from the mainstream.
Rise of right-wing politics in the US and UK due to labour flows
- Labour flows is a major reason for triggering right-wing politics of nativism in present times.
- Donald Trump directed his political campaign against non-white immigrants, especially Hispanics and Muslims.
- He criticised businessmen who, in search of lower costs, had made China the destination of their accumulated investments, transferring jobs away from America’s industrial heartland.
- Thus, his policies to levy higher tariffs to curtail freer trade. These policies made sure that the American corporations bring capital back to the US.
- In Europe, a similar politics has been led by the UK, though less vociferously.
How China has benefited from Globalisation 2.0?
- In 1980, China was the 48th largest economy in the world: with GDPs at roughly $200 billion, Indian and Chinese economies were similar in size.
- In 2018, China, with a GDP of $13.6 trillion, was the second-largest economy in the world, behind the US ($20.5 trillion). But far ahead of Japan ($4.9 trillion), Germany ($4.0 trillion), Britain ($2.8 trillion), France ($2.8 trillion) and India ($2.7 trillion).
- Not only in terms of GDP, but China had also become the largest trading nation in the world by 2018:
- Exports: worth $2.5 trillion, substantially ahead of the US ($1.6 trillion).
- FDI in China: In 2018, China attracted over $203 billion worth of net FDI, much more than India ($42 billion), and second only to the US ($258 billion).
Is COVID-19 a sign of ending Globalisation 2.0?
- Despite the pure economic logic of how easy it is to manufacture at scale in China, the global leader today are more concerned about the political overtones.
- Given all the doubts about how China handled the information about the origins of the virus in Wuhan, anger against China in world capitals is evident.
- Such anger can have impact on the rules of globalisation.
- Strict regulation of labour laws: We can expect labour flows will now be more strictly regulated than before.
- Political risks in investment decisions: Western investors will also have to factor in political risks in their investment decision-making.
- National security concern: New concerns like what if China threatens supply disruptions for critical materials.
- Instead of chasing lower labour costs, investors will either bring capital back to domestic shores or geographically restructure their supply chains.
- To summarize it, Globalisation will not end, but it will be pushed into greater retreat. Thus, changing the rules of the BIG game of capitalism.
A question based on the impact of the pandemic on the global trade, issues associated with and opportunities for India could be asked in the Mains Paper 3.
Also the Idea of Globalisation is important from the aspect of paper 1 and Essay. “Globalisation’ vs ‘Nationalism’ was one of the topic in Essay paper in 2009.
Conclusion
For the foreseeable future, economic efficiency, the cornerstone of market-based systems, will not be high on priority. Politics will drive new economic policies, not market-based rationality.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Energy Review, 2020
Mains level: India's emergency demand
Covid-19 is having a ripple effect on the global energy space. Consistent lockdowns have reduced energy demand by almost 30 per cent in India.
Covid-19 shock global energy demand
- The IEA’s Global Energy Review studies the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on global energy demand and CO emissions.
- The projections of energy demand and energy-related emissions for 2020 are based on assumptions that the lockdowns implemented around the world.
- It projects a 6 per cent fall in energy demand in 2020 — seven times the decline after the 2008 global financial crisis.
- Electricity demand is set to decline by 5 per cent in 2020, the largest drop since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Global Energy Demands
- The countries in full lockdown are experiencing an average decline of 25% in energy demand per week, while in those with a partial lockdown, the fall in energy demand is about 18% per week.
- Global energy demand declined by 3.8% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter of 2019.
- Further, it is expected that the impact of Covid‑19 on energy demand in 2020 would be more than seven times larger than the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on global energy demand.
Considering the above scenario the global demand of various energy sources can be analysed as given below
Coal Demand:
- It has been declined by 8% compared with the first quarter of 2019.
- The reasons for such decline include, China – a coal-based economy – was the country hardest hit by Covid‑19 in the first quarter and cheap gas and continued growth in renewables elsewhere challenged coal.
Oil Demand:
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- It has declined by 5% in the first quarter, majorly due to curtailment in mobility and aviation, which account for nearly 60% of global oil demand.
- The report also estimates that the global demand for oil could further drop by 9% on average in 2020, which will return oil consumption to 2012 levels.
- Gas Demand:
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- The impact of the pandemic on gas demand has been moderate, at around 2%, as gas-based economies were not strongly affected in the first quarter of 2020.
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Renewables Energy Resources Demand:
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- It is the only source that has registered a growth in demand, driven by larger installed capacity.
- Further, the demand for renewables is expected to rise by 1% by 2020 because of low operating costs and preferential access for many power systems.
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Electricity Demand:
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- It has been declined by 20% during periods of full lockdown in several countries.
- However, the residential demand is outweighed by reductions in commercial and industrial operations.
Indian scenario
- The declines in electricity and transport demand in India have been among the deepest globally, but the contractions over the full year are likely to be smaller than the global average.
- The impact of the crisis on energy demand is heavily dependent on the duration and stringency of measures to curb the spread of the virus.
- At the same time, lockdown measures are driving a major shift towards low-carbon sources of electricity including nuclear, hydropower, wind and solar PV.
Data on renewables
- After overtaking for the first time ever in 2019, low-carbon sources are set to extend their lead this year to reach 40 per cent of global electricity generation — 6 percentage points ahead of coal.
- Electricity generation from wind and solar PV continues to increase in 2020, lifted by new projects that were completed in 2019 and early 2020.
Back2Basics: International Energy Agency (IEA)
- The IEA is an autonomous organisation which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy, headquartered in Paris, France.
- It was established in the wake of 1973 (set up in 1974) oil crisis after the OPEC cartel had shocked the world with a steep increase in oil prices.
- India became an associate member of the International Energy Agency in 2017.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: e-RMB
Mains level: Cryptocurrency and its feasiblity
China in a significant move has launched a trial of digital yuan in four urban centres of the country for specific services even as the world grapples with the containment of Covid.
What is a cryptocurrency? Discuss how a vibrant cryptocurrency segment could add value to India’s financial sector. (250 W)
Prelims Perspective:-
1. Subtle differences btn digital and virtual currency – e.g. Regulatory issues
2. Which countries have official virtual currency – e.g. Petro of Venezuela
e-RMB
- It will be the electronic form of the renminbi, with a value equivalent to the paper notes and coins in circulation.
- The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, will be the sole issuer of the digital yuan, initially offering the digital money to commercial banks and other operators.
- It will be launched in major cities of Shenzhen, Suzhou and Chengdu, as well as the Xiong’an New Area.
- It aims to change the financial system in big ways — by cutting costs and making transactions easier, more convenient and more transparent.
- The public would be able to convert money in their bank accounts to the digital version and make deposits via electronic wallets.
Back2Basics: Cryptocurrency
- A Cryptocurrency is an internet-based medium of exchange which uses cryptographical functions to conduct financial transactions.
- It leverages blockchain technology to gain decentralization, transparency, and immutability.
- The most important feature of a cryptocurrency is that it is not controlled by any central authority: the decentralized nature of the blockchain makes cryptocurrencies theoretically immune to the old ways of government control and interference.
- It can be sent directly between two parties via the use of private and public keys.
- Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, that allow users to transfer value with no central authority or third party involved, the government-backed digital currency is preferred.
What are Blockchains?
- Blockchain, sometimes referred to as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), makes the history of any digital asset unalterable and transparent through the use of decentralization and cryptographic hashing.
- Blockchain consists of three important concepts: blocks, nodes and miners.
- Nodes can be any kind of electronic device that maintains copies of the blockchain and keeps the network functioning.
- Miners create new blocks on the chain through a process called mining.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: India in Labour Party (UK) manifestos
Mains level: Not Much
The UK Labour party’s newly appointed leader Keir Starmer said Kashmir was a bilateral issue for India and Pakistan to resolve peacefully. These remarks were seen as an attempt to re-position his party’s stance on Kashmir and reach out to the Indian community in Britain.
What was the Labour party’s stance before?
- The party’s relations with the Indian diaspora have been strained, especially after its delegates passed an emergency policy motion in September 2019 criticizing India’s decision to revoke Article 370.
- It maintained that the people of Kashmir should have self-determination rights.
Why is the Labour Party’s relationship with the Indian diaspora important?
- Indians are the largest ethnic community in the UK, numbering over 1.5 million people or accounting for over 2.3 per cent of the country’s population.
- Therefore, they form a significant vote share for any party.
- In the 2017 general elections, 50 per cent of the Indians living in the UK had voted for Labour.
India in Labour Party (UK) manifestos
Over the years, issues relating to India have found various mention in many election manifestos in the UK:
- 1945: India’s freedom had been a campaign promise of the Labour party, its manifesto pledging “the advancement of India to responsible self-government”.
- 1947: The Indian Independence Act, 1947, was passed when Attlee was Prime Minister.
- 1949: all the Commonwealth Prime Ministers welcomed the free choice of India, Pakistan and Ceylon to join the Commonwealth as full and equal members.
- 2019: Issue a formal apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Whaling Commission (IWC)
Mains level: Not Much
Iceland will not be hunting any whales in 2020. Iceland, alongside Norway and Japan, has frequently broken the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 worldwide moratorium, which indefinitely “paused” commercial whaling.
Regarding IWC, we can expect a statement based prelim question asking-
1) If IWC has a UN or any other parent organization
2) If India is a member/observer etc.
About International Whaling Commission (IWC)
- The IWC is an Inter-Governmental Organisation set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) signed in Washington, D.C in 1946.
- It aims to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.
- The main duty of the IWC is to keep under review and revise as necessary the measures laid down in the Schedule to the Convention which governs the conduct of whaling throughout the world.
- The body is the first piece of International Environmental Legislation established in 1946.
- Commercial whaling was banned by the IWC in 1986 after some species were almost driven to extinction.
- 89 countries have the membership of in IWC and all the member countries are signatories to this convention.
- India is a member state of the IWC.
Earlier reference
- Japan has last year withdrawn from the IWC citing domestic reasons.
- Thus, it resumed commercial whaling after 31 years, meeting a long-cherished goal of its traditionalists.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sariska Tiger Reserve
Mains level: Not Much
The Ministry of Tourism’s Dekho Apna Desh webinar featured a presentation and virtual tour of ‘Destination- Sariska Tiger reserve’.
Tourism and tourist sites carry high stakes for possible prelims questions. Take time to quickly revise the Swadesh Darshan , PRASHAD Schemes. Click here for the repository of all such initiatives.
Sariska Tiger Reserve
- It is located in the Aravalli Hills, 35 km from Alwar, 250 km SW of Delhi and 110 km NE of Jaipur.
- The former hunting reserve of the Maharaja of Alwar, the Sariska valley is home to a variety of flora and fauna.
- The park has populations of tigers, leopards, Nilgai, Sambar, chital etc.
- The place is a paradise for bird lovers as it shelters a large population of Indian peafowl, crested serpent eagles, sand grouse, golden-backed woodpeckers, great Indian horned owls, tree pies, vultures and many others.
- It is the first reserve in the world with successfully relocated tigers. It is an important biodiversity area in the Northern Aravalli leopard and wildlife corridor.
Features of this episode
- Alwar is a city dotted with heritage buildings, Forts, tombs and palaces. Some of the important sights not to be missed are Bala Qila, Vijai Mandir Lake Palaces, Fateh Jung ki Gumbad, Moti Doongri etc.
- The sanctuary is strewn with ruins of ancient temples dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries.
- Some of the highlights are the ruins of the Kankwari Fort and the 10th-century Neelkanth temples, which have Khajuraho-like carvings as key features.
- Neelkanth Mahadeva houses the ruins of over 300 Hindu and Jain temples constructed between the 8th and 12th Centuries.
- Chand Baoli (stepwell) at Abhaneri is enormous with 3500 steep steps built by the Nikhumbha dynasty is one of the largest step-wells in the world.
About DekhoApnaDesh
- Under this, a series of webinars will showcase the diverse and remarkable history and culture of India through a documentary series on various cities.
- It will be including various monuments, cuisine, arts, dance forms, natural landscapes, festivals and many other aspects of the rich Indian civilization.
- The objective of the webinar series is to create awareness about and promote various tourism destinations of India – including the lesser-known destinations and lesser-known facets of popular destinations.
- The webinar will be available in the public domain through the Ministry’s social media handles- “Incredible India” on Instagram and Facebook.
Back2Basics: Project Tiger
- Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme launched in April 1973 by during PM Indira Gandhi’s tenure.
- It is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
- The project aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats, protecting them from extinction, and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage forever represented as close as possible the diversity of ecosystems across the distribution of tigers in the country.
- The project’s task force visualized these tiger reserves as breeding nuclei, from which surplus animals would migrate to adjacent forests.
- The government has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and funded relocation of villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Role of the RBI.
Mains level: Paper 3- Role of the RBI and trade-offs involved in its decisions.
The article discusses three things for the RBI to follow in fulfilling its role, these are- 1) Prudence 2) Flexibility 3) Acting within the mandate. Besides that, problems the RBI has been facing are also discussed. These things are discussed against the backdrop of Covid-19.
Role of the RBI
- A central bank like the RBI must replace intellectual certainty with the continuous debate over their actions.
- RBI’s job involves complex trade-offs — next quarter vs quarter century, growth vs stability, and mandates vs expectations.
- A global anthropological shock-like COVID makes these trade-offs — they are not conflicts — even harder.
- The RBI must remember three things — acting prudently to balance the next quarter and quarter century, acting flexibly to blunt this economic cataclysm, and acting within their mandate to ensure institutional legitimacy and immunity.
These three things are discussed below-
1. Acting prudently
- If everybody believed that in the long run we are all dead, we would never sit under trees planted by people who had no chance of sitting under them.
- The coronavirus is a human tragedy but a central bank must not act like a commercial bank because that would compromise the balance between today and tomorrow.
- A narcissism — bordering on solipsism — already reflects in global debt levels that steal from our grandchildren.
- More importantly, India doesn’t have the economic strength to copy the US Federal Reserve’s $2.3 trillion offer to lend to businesses of all sizes and sorts.
- And run anything close to this year’s expected US fiscal deficit of 15 per cent of GDP, or sustain Japan’s public debt levels at 240 per cent of GDP.
- We are all in the same storm but we are all not in the same boat.
2. Acting flexibly within the mandate
- Renaissance physician Paracelsus had important advice for central banks; the dose makes the poison.
- Anything powerful enough to help has the power to hurt; handling the inevitable tensions between the RBI’s dual mandate of growth and stability requires continuous work.
- Our inflation targeting regime is a macroeconomic gift to India.
- But recognising that is hardly inconsistent with acknowledging that inflation’s secular decline has many parents, some economic models are useful but all are incomplete, and the fog of war involves making second-best choices as long as they are reversible, proportional, and accountable.
- Central banks often undertake liquidity management while leaving policy rates unchanged; current actions are not a conspiracy to undermine the MPC or its interest rate corridor (between reverse repo rate and MSF rate with repo rate midpoint targeting and call rate operating target).
- They are a pragmatic encouragement for banks to lend to clients rather than lend Rs 7 lakh crore to the RBI.
- Other virus flexibility includes repayment moratoriums (with 10 per cent provisions), bad loan accounting forbearance (despite past experience of breaking the thermometer doing little for the fever) and bank windows for NBFC/Mutual Fund liquidity.
- Listening is hardly compromise.
- Especially if accompanied by a will to unwind liquidity, asymmetry and forbearance when the planet’s gap year ends.
3. Follow the mandate
- Central bank governance is a fine balance; they function best when they don’t declare separation from the government and they aren’t considered a part of the finance ministry.
- The difficulty of balance isn’t uniquely Indian.
- The RBI must build on its track record of wisely balancing the trade-offs between depositors vs borrowers, companies vs banks, and stability vs growth.
- And it must continue to stay out of the government’s domain.
- The central bank crisis role debate is skewed by the great book, Lords of Finance, by Liaquat Ahamed that shows how central bankers of the 1920s failed to fight the Great Depression.
- History matters but nobody knows if this is the beginning or ending of the virus.
- Yet the global central bank COVID toolbox has been substantial; buying corporate bonds, making corporate loans, cutting interest rates, conducting open market operations, and reducing reserve ratios.
- Additionally, banks have been permitted to grant loan moratoriums, hold less capital, restructure loans, pay lower deposit insurance premiums and delay bad loan recognition.
- The emergency authority under Section 13 of the US Federal Reserve Act being used — prematurely — also exists in Section 18 of the RBI Act.
- But emergency powers are the last resort. We are not there yet.
- The recovery being V-shaped, U-shaped, or Bathtub-shaped is only modellable after the lockdown.
Pre-existing problems facing the RBI
- The RBI’s COVID balm is constrained by pre-existing conditions in Indian banking, which are given below-
- Bad loans which peaked at Rs 14 lakh crore but still large.
- Inadequate competition- scheduled commercial bank numbers have hovered between 90 and 100 since 1947.
- Private bank governance- CEO so powerful that boards and shareholders are weak.
- Public sector bank governance- shareholder so powerful that boards and CEOs are weak.
- And the RBI’s own game (process, technology and human capital in regulation and supervision).
- All these must be tackled with urgency when normalcy returns.
A question based on the role of the central bank can be asked by the UPSC. Consider the following question “Crises have always tested the utility of central banks, be it the Great Depression, 2008 financial crisis or Covid-19. In light of this statement, explains the trade-offs involved in the RBI’s decisions and how shocks like Covid-19 makes these trade-offs even harder.”
Way forward
- Supplementing India’s fiscal and monetary policy interventions by announcing two bold reform plans — 90-day flick-of-pen and one-year structural — that tackle overdue reforms in labour, education, cities, finance, compliance, and civil services, will catalyse hope among employers, employees, banks, and overseas investors.
Conclusion
Creating a prosperous India needs many things. One of them is an independent, accountable, and boundaried central bank that listens.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Food Security Act.
Mains level: Paper 3-Ensuring food security with all its dimension amid corona pandemic.
The article discusses the three dimensions of food security-1)Availability 2)Acces 3) Absorption. The first two are also dependent on job security. All these are now being threatened by the pandemic. Ways to safeguard food security along with its 3 dimensions are suggested at the end of the article.
1. Availability of food in the market
- The first is the availability of food in the market, and this is seen as a function of production.
- Fortunately, thanks to the Green Revolution, today we have enough food in the market and in government godowns.
- This is a great accomplishment by Indian farmers who converted a “ship to mouth” situation to a “right to food” commitment.
- Yet we cannot take farmers’ contributions in terms of sustaining production for granted.
- Some special exemptions have been given to the agricultural sector, farmers are confronted at the moment with labour shortages.
- But many of the inputs, including seeds, are expensive or unavailable, marketing arrangements including supply chains are not fully functional, pricing is not remunerative, and public procurement is also not adequate.
- There is no room for complacency, as in the absence of demand, the lack of storage or value addition facilities, especially for perishable commodities, we do not yet know exactly what the impact of the current pandemic will be on the kharif sowing and food availability in the future.
2. Access to food
- The second dimension is the access to food, which is a function of purchasing power, as unless you are a farmer and grow your own food, others have to buy it.
- Fortunately, the government, through the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the PDS, has assured some additional food to every individual during this crisis.
- Strengthening the food basket: This should be further strengthened and the food basket widened by including millets, pulses and oil.
- Hidden hunger: Steps should also be taken to avoid hidden hunger caused by the deficiency of micronutrients in the diet.
- In light of the closure of schools and anganwadi centres, and the consequent disruptions in the provision of midday meals or other nutritional inputs, it is important to pay attention to the life cycle approach advocated in the NFSA, particularly the first thousand days in a child’s life, when the cognitive abilities of the child are shaped.
- We may otherwise see negative effects on nutritional security in the medium to longer term.
After reading the article you’ll be able to answer the question such as this one- “In the ongoing crisis, maintaining the level of food security has become one of the most essential need. In light of the above statement, critically examine the priority areas for maintaining food security in the country. Suggest measures to make accessibility and availability of food easier for all.”
Job security to ensure food security and access to food
- Food security and access to nutritious, good quality food is also contingent on job security.
- Today, a lot of people employed both on farms and in the non-farm sector are without jobs.
- If job security is threatened, then so is food and nutrition security.
- We have to ensure people do not lose their jobs, and one way of doing this will be to ensure value addition to primary products.
- One example of such value addition is the Rice Biopark in Myanmar, wherein the straw, bran, and the entire biomass are utilised.
- This would mean some attention to and investment in new technologies that can contribute to biomass utilisation.
- The Amul model provides a good example from the dairy sector of improved incomes to milk producers through value addition.
- Similar attention needs to be given to the horticulture sector on a priority basis.
- Women farmers are at the forefront of horticulture and special attention needs to be given to both their technological and economic empowerment during this crisis.
- A second pathway to livelihood security is strengthening the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
- Need to cover skilled work: Given the lack of jobs and incomes during the COVID-19 crisis, it is imperative to expand the definition of work in MGNREGA to cover skilled work related to farmers and their farming activities.
- This is particularly important for women farmers and workers, who should not just be given tasks of carrying stones or digging mud.
- Apart from farming, they engage in a range of essential care tasks, including caring for children, the elderly and sick people.
- These tasks, often invisible, need to be recognised as work and supported with appropriate education, including on nutrition.
3. Absorption of food in the body and its utilisation
- The third dimension of food security is the absorption of food in the body or its utilisation.
- Absorption and utilisation of food is dependent importantly on sanitation, drinking water and other non-food factors, including public health services.
- Ensuring that these services are functional depends on the capacities of the local panchayats and their coordination with other local bodies.
- The lack of adequate clean water, in particular, has come to the fore in both rural areas and urban slums in the context of COVID-19, where one of the key measures for stopping transmission relates to frequent hand-washing.
Food security threatened by pandemic
- If we can ensure food availability, food access and food absorption, then we have a fairly robust system of food and nutrition security.
- All the above dimensions are, however, now threatened by the novel coronavirus, as discussed earlier.
- It is very critical to highlight the linkages between agriculture, nutrition and health.
- The inability to harvest, transport and market perishable fruits and vegetables at remunerative prices during the current crisis has deprived farmers of incomes and livelihoods.
- It has also deprived consumers of micronutrients in their diets.
- Farmers making losses, and agriculture moving from being job-led to jobless, raise questions about the sustainability of the production cycle.
- At the same time, this can have long-term consequences on nutrition and health security.
A question based on the dimension of the food security can be asked by the UPSC for ex- “Food security involved the security of food in all three dimensions, availability of food, access to food and absorption of food. How far the food security act is effective in ensuring security in all three dimensions?”
Conclusion
India avoided what could have been a big famine in the 1960s through the help of technology and public policy, which actively worked with and supported farmers to achieve significant increases in yield. Through a combination of farmers’ cooperation, technological upgrading and favourable public policies in procurement, pricing and distribution, we can deal with the fallouts of the pandemic.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Opportunity cost.
Mains level: Paper 2- Easing the lockdown, strategy that could be adopted.
The article discusses the performance of India so far and the strategy for reopening of the economy. Dividing the districts based on the number of cases and adopting a suitable approach for opening the economy there while keeping the spread of the virus in control is suggested in the article.
India performing better
- While the OECD countries are reeling under the COVID-19 impact, India is clearly ahead of the curve.
- This is not merely in terms of the confirmed cases in the country but is also strongly reflected in very low mortality numbers (8.5 deaths per lakh population) compared to other nations (4,040 in the UK and 1,930 in the US).
- While the first cases were reported in most hotspot countries and India around the same time (last week of January), today, the outbreak is far more manageable in India than in most other countries.
- It was pragmatic for a resource-poor country to be pre-emptive and declare a national lockdown when the total number of cases were still low at 500.
- The subsequent growth of the pandemic clearly shows a perceptible decline in the number of cases due to the lockdown.
- Though stringent, this was much-needed and a timely policy intervention by the government.
- It is important, however, to appreciate the high and growing opportunity costs that are involved during a lockdown.
- We must brace ourselves for long-term pandemic management (18 to 24 months) with significant economic impact on our lives.
Policy interventions by government and two major concerns
- The immediate costs of the lockdown are borne by the most economically vulnerable people in society.
- This perhaps was the rationale behind the first round of economic policy interventions announced by the finance minister within a few days of the lockdown.
- They targeted front-loading of cash transfers through PM-Kisan, support to construction workers, self-help groups, food distribution through the public distribution system, among others.
- Two major concerns: Beyond welfare concerns, there are significant growth concerns that are mounting with every day of economic inactivity in the country.
- Companies are struggling to honour payroll and maintain their workforce against cancelling orders and declining demand for their goods and services.
- These in turn will lead to greater delays and defaults in loan repayments, thereby further weakening the fragile banking sector and struggling credit markets.
The RBI’s intervention and increasing damage to the economy
- The Reserve Bank of India stepped in for some timely monetary interventions.
- However, the longstanding climate of risk aversion within the banking sector will mean that transmission of these monetary interventions is unlikely to be timely or adequate.
- All eyes are set expectantly in one direction.
- Historically, when economies are faced with major calamities, governments step in to stabilise the environment and boost confidence within the business community.
- We have seen this response from all major economies disrupted by COVID-19 over the last several weeks.
- India will not be an exception to this as the government fine-tunes its strategy to support and kickstart our immobilised economy.
- The opportunity cost of time, however, is ballooning with each passing day.
- Just like the spread of the virus, we are up against the full force and power of compounding.
- Mindful policy interventions, when timed well, can cut growing losses and the misfortune of many.
How the states are performing against Covid-19?
- While we have succeeded in slowing the growth of the virus at the national level, the true gains and pains are at the state and local level.
- As the data reveals, currently we have three states that have made remarkable gains and “flattened the curve” of COVID cases.
- These are Kerala, Haryana and Tamil Nadu where recoveries are growing and active cases are rapidly declining.
- States like Karnataka and Telangana are improving their recovery rates consistently, despite fluctuations.
- Every state and local administration has to keep eternal vigil and double down on containment and testing.
- They have to aggressively improve their contact tracing efforts with the help of their police who are trained in debriefing, call record mapping and have more manpower than public health departments of local administrations.
The article contains the policy and governance aspects which are important from Mains Paper-2, and economic issues such as the size of the package and opportunity cost of time involved are important from the Mains Paper-3 perspective. Take note of these issues.
What should be the strategy?
- Given the scale and variation in infection control across the country, our national strategy needs to be informed and calibrated.
- Currently, there are more than 300 districts in the country which have reported zero COVID-19 cases.
- This can be confirmed quickly with some random testing and the lockdown can be lifted effective immediately.
- Then there are about 225 districts which have reported less than 10 cases each.
- With adequate ring-fencing at the level of the block where these cases are reported, these districts too can afford to lift their lockdowns.
- There are, however, approximately 30 districts across the country which have reported large numbers of confirmed cases and are identified as “hotspots”.
- The lockdown in these places needs to continue with some relaxations for basic trade and essential services.
- Not surprisingly, these “hotspots” are also important economic centres of the country.
- The capacity of the local administration to develop and enforce appropriate strategies of containment, contact tracing and testing, should determine their decisions to ring-fence and isolate blocks while allowing other parts of the district/city to resume economic activity.
Way forward
- Given the uncertainty of the virus, we seem prepared for large hospitalisation and care if the need arises.
- The efforts now must be to further contain the growth of the infection.
- Acting against the power of compounding: If the current rate persists, we will reach over lakh cases within three weeks. That is the power of compounding we are against.
- Public health support team: Beyond knowledge sharing across states and adopting successful containment strategies from each other, there is a role for the central government in providing “NSG-like” public health support teams to states that need them.
- Economic package: On the economy front similarly, the central government’s timely economic package should flatten the curve of exponentially rising opportunity costs across the sectors.
Conclusion
Given the relative scale and virulence of the COVID-19 virus in India, the odds seem stacked in favour of a calibrated opening of the economy.
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