Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Issues with allowing operation of passenger trains by private players
Indian Railways has launched the process of opening up train operations to private entities on 109 origin-destination (OD) pairs of routes using 151 modern trains.
Objectives of privatisation
- To introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance.
- Reduced transit time.
- Boost job creation.
- Provide enhanced safety.
- Provide world-class travel experience to passengers.
- Reduce demand-supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector.
Issues with the move
1) Responsibility issue
- Railway crew will work the trains (151 trains in 109 routes) which will be maintained by the private investor.
- All the other infrastructure, track and associated structures, stations, signalling, security and their daily maintenance owned by the Railways will be fully utilised in running trains.
- Thus, the responsibility of the private investor ends with investment in the procurement and maintenance of coaches.
- Train operation, safety and dealing with every day problems rests with the Railways.
- In case of an unfortunate event, fixing responsibility will be an issue.
2) Day-to-day problems
- Provision of an independent regulator to resolve disagreement, discords and disputes.
- But this regulator will not be able to solve day-to-day problems of dichotomy unless the basic issue is resolved.
3) Speed issue
- Nearly all trunk routes in the existing network are speed limited to 110 kmph very few permit speeds of upto 120-130 kmph.
- To raise it to 160 kmph, as proposed, there has to be track strengthening, elimination of curves and level crossing gates and strengthening of bridges.
- There is no appreciable reduction in transit time for most proposed trains, when compared with the timings of the fastest train now operating on that route.
4) Passenger fare issue
- In the proposal, the Railways or government have no role in fixing passenger fares.
- Fares will be beyond the common man’s reach.
- Fare concessions extended to several categories of people will not be made available by the private investor.
- The very objective of commissioning the Railways as a public welfare transport organisation is defeated.
5) Reservation in Jobs
- The private investor is not bound to follow reservation regulations in employment.
- This, in turn, will deprive employment opportunities for those who are on the margins of society.
6) Limited Coverage:
- An advantage of Indian Railways being government-owned is that it provides nation-wide connectivity irrespective of profit.
- Privatisation of railways would mean the railways will become a profit-making enterprise, this would lead to the elimination of railways routes that are less popular.
- Thus, the privatisation of railways can have a negative impact on connectivity and further increase the rural-urban divide.
7) Impact on the Economy:
- Indian Railways is the backbone of India, it provides low fare transportation to agricultural and industrial trade.
- Therefore, privatisation of Indian railways shall definitely affect the Indian economy at large.
- Way forward
- There should be no need for the government to take a dual role of a facilitator as well as a participant.
- In the case of the metro railway services, Hyderabad, for example, an ideal PPP project, the concessionaire is solely responsible for daily maintenance, operation, passenger amenities and staff issues.
- The State government steps in when it comes to land, power, permissions, law and order, etc. Fare determination is in consultation with the government.
- Instead of a private entrepreneur, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, a government undertaking which has gained experience in running the Tejas Express trains, could have been given the role.
Consider the question “Indian Railways often hailed as the lifeline of the country continues suffering from several issues. In light of this, evaluate the pros and cons of the privatisation of railways.”
Conclusion
This project of privatisation of trains should not result in the common man being deprived of travel facilities. The Indian Railways is a strategic resource for the nation hence it should not be judged solely on its profit-generating capability or market-based return on investment.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: APMC Act
Mains level: Paper 3- Issues with the APMC Act
The APMC Act, which is often blamed for the woes of the farmers is not the main problem. This article argues that the root of the problems of Indian agriculture lies somewhere else.
Agriculture post-1991
- The priority post-1991 has been given to industry as well as services.
- Middle-class consumers have been favoured by at the expense of farmers.
- This neglect of agriculture resulted in an equally unprecedented gap between the standard of living in the rural and urban parts of the country.
- As a result, the urban/rural ratio, in terms of monthly per capita expenditures, has jumped from 1.84 to 2.42 between 2012 and 2018.
- This means that an average urban-dweller today can consume almost 2.5 times more than an average person in a village.
Reforms by the government
- Government has decided to liberalise India’s agriculture by amending the APMC Act and the Essential Commodities Act.
- Contract farming will also be introduced in such a way that the buyer can assure a price to the farmer at the time of sowing.
APMC Act in the context of Shanta Kumar Committee report
- The argument against the APMC Act is that it does not allow the free market to function due to government intervention.
- It denies farmers the opportunity to determine the prices of crops in the marketplace.
- In theory, this is a valid argument.
- But, Shanta Kumar Committee observed in 2015 that only 6 per cent of farmers get the Minimum Support Price (MSP).
- This is because of barriers to access for farmers as only 22 crops are procured under MSP.
- Infrastructure is also inadequate as there are only an estimated 7,000 APMC mandis across India.
- Procurement depends on the stocks required by the state.
Why the APMC Act is not the problem
1) Farm Pricing is the problem
- The living costs of farmers was considered while determining agricultural pricing by the Agricultural Prices Commission (APC).
- CACP that replaced the APC in 1985 added a 10 per cent mark-up over the MSP to account for entrepreneurial costs.
- Such practices have been gradually eroded post-1991.
- The problem, therefore, is not state intervention but the way the government deals with agriculture.
2) APMC Act helped India build up food stocks
- India managed to weather the 2008 global food crisis only because it had enough food stocks as Indian agriculture was not linked to the international futures market.
- This was possible due to the procurement done through the APMC Act.
3) APMC Act reformed already by States
- Since agriculture is a state subject, the Act has been modified in 17 states.
- On the contrary, the condition of peasants has often been affected when the APMC Act has been diluted.
- Bihar is a case in point.
- The APMC Act was revoked in 2006 with the same rationale that further deregulation will attract private investment in infrastructure.
- Not only has that not materialised, but the existing APMC market infrastructure was also dismantled.
Reforms that Indian Agriculture needs
1) Subsidy Reforms
- Indian Agriculture is still too heavily subsidised in favour of the big players.
- In the Union Budget 2019-20, the allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture was Rs 1,30,485 crore and the fertiliser subsidy alone was estimated at Rs 79,996 crore.
- But these subsidies are concentrated on a few crops.
- Agriculture economist Bruno Dorin has shown, only three crops receive more than 60 per cent of the so-called “non-product-specific” support to agriculture — rice, wheat and sugarcane.
- This has led to environmental degradation like the depletion of groundwater levels and monocultures which are a threat to biodiversity.
- It has also led to the industrialisation of agriculture, that results in the strengthening of a handful of multinational companies, which supply chemical inputs.
- Liberalisation would only strengthen the role of large companies — including those in the agri-food sector.
2) Agriculture needs to be ecologically viable
- Structurally, farming needs to be made economically and ecologically viable in India.
- State intervention for better pricing, investments in water harvesting and an agroecological transition could ensure a more resilient system to weather shocks like the current one.
- The government could draw inspiration from the Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Farming model.
- It promotes agroecological principles with the use of locally-produced, ecologically-sustainable inputs focusing on soil health..
- Since the agro-ecological system of farming is more biodiverse in nature, it will make the system more resilient overall.
- It will provide a safety net for farmers in case of crop damage due to various factors such as climate change or droughts.
Consider the question “Though the APMC Act has been blamed for the farmers’ issues, it has historically been part of the solution. Critically analyse.”
Conclusion
By investing again in agriculture and following, at last, the recommendations of the M S Swaminathan Committee, the Government of India would also help bridge the drastic urban-rural divide.
To read more about the issue:
Marketing of Agricultural Produce in India: Definition; Role; APMC Act, Model APMC Act, 2003
Original article:
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rural-india-coronavirus-farm-trade-ordinance-apmc-act-6515414/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Arab Countries
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Arabian countries, balancing relations with Iran
The article contrasts the over-emphasis put on the ties with Iran with the neglect of ties with Arab countries in India’s foreign policy. It explores the inherent difficulties in dealing with Iran. And opportunities for India in Arab countries.
Context
- Iran is accorded high priority in India’s foreign policy.
- This stands in stark contrast to the under-appreciation of relationship with Arab countries.
Reasons for a special relationship with Iran
- Historical connections.
- Civilisational bonds.
- Energy supplies.
- Regional security.
- Geographic and demographic size, the geopolitical location next door.
- Natural resources and the extraordinary talents of its people.
Importance of Arab countries for India
- Millions of Indian immigrants in the Arab nations.
- Massive hard currency remittances from them, and the density of commercial engagement with the Arab Gulf is important for India.
- The UAE and Saudi Arabia have, in recent years, extended invaluable support in countering terrorism and blocked attempts to condemn India in the Muslim world.
Let’s analyse the issue of railway contract in Iran
- Large countries with major foreign investments and projects win some and lose some.
- Then there is no escaping the political risk associated with foreign projects.
- And politics, both domestic and international, is all-consuming in Iran.
- The sanctions regime imposed by the US has crippled the Iranian economy.
- India is careful not to attract the US sanctions.
- India did gain an exemption from the US sanctions regime for its participation in the Chabahar port project in Iran.
- But they don’t apply to some of the partners suggested by Iran in the railway project.
- So, Iran would like India to break the US sanctions regime.
- A prudent India is resisting that temptation.
- It would rather lose the railway contract than get into the raging crossfire between the US and Iran.
Issue of balancing the relations with Iran and U.S.
- India’s Iran policy cannot be seen as a test of India’s “strategic autonomy”.
- Some expect Delhi to conduct its relationship with Iran without a reference to either a cost-benefit calculus or Iran’s troubled relationship with others with whom India has important partnerships.
- No government in Delhi can buy into that proposition.
- Criticism of the government policy is similar to what happened in 2005 over India’s stance on Iran’s covert nuclear programme.
- Delhi’s vote against Iran in the International Atomic Energy Agency drew criticism.
- But governments stand proved right when Iran concluded a nuclear deal of its own with the US and major powers, a decade later.
- Iran surely can take care of its own interests, and there is little reason why Delhi must back Tehran in every one of its fights with Washington.
India should focus on Arab countries
- The Arab world has had its doors open for political, economic and technological cooperation with India.
- Three moderate Arab nations — Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — are confronting radical forces in the region and are valuable partners for India in countering forces of destabilisation.
- There is real Chinese economic action in the Arab world as the region embraces China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
- India is no minor economic force in the Arab world, having had a much longer engagement with the region than China.
- Delhi must up its own commercial game in the Arab world, and one of the new possibilities for India lies in the domain of new technologies.
- There is emerging sentiment among the Gulf Arabs to reduce the over-dependence on oil, promote alternative energy sources, invest in higher education, and develop technology hubs.
Consider the question “India’s relations with Iran has always been driven by the geopolitical contexts. This poses an inherent challenge for both countries. In light of this examine the importance of Iran for India and challenges India’s foreign policy faces in dealing with Iran.”
Conclusion
India must focus on elevating India’s economic partnership with the Arab world to the next level. For India, the costs of neglecting the new possibilities for wide-ranging Arabian business are far higher than a lost railway contract in Iran.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Features of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019
Mains level: Consumer protection legislation in India
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has come into effect from July 20, replacing the earlier Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
What are the Rights of the Consumers?
Try this question from our AWE initiative
Compare and contrast the Consumer Protection Act 1986 with that of the Consumer Protection Bill 2018. How far do you think the changes made are consumer centric towards benefiting the consumer more? Examine. (250 W/ 15 M)
Consumer Protection Act, 2019: Key Features
1) Definition of consumer
- A consumer is defined as a person who buys any good or avails a service for a consideration.
- It does not include a person who obtains a good for resale or a good or service for commercial purpose.
- It covers transactions through all modes including offline, and online through electronic means, teleshopping, multi-level marketing or direct selling.
2) Rights of consumers
The following consumer rights have been defined in the Act, including the right to:
- be protected against marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property;
- be informed of the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services;
- be assured of access to a variety of goods or services at competitive prices; and
- seek redressal against unfair or restrictive trade practices.
3) Establishment of Central Consumer Protection Authority
- The central government will set up a CCPA to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers.
- It will regulate matters related to violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and misleading advertisements.
- The CCPA will have an investigation wing, headed by a Director-General, which may conduct inquiry or investigation into such violations.
4) Penalties for misleading advertisement
- The CCPA may impose a penalty on a manufacturer or an endorser of up to Rs 10 lakh and imprisonment for up to two years for a false or misleading advertisement.
- In case of a subsequent offence, the fine may extend to Rs 50 lakh and imprisonment of up to five years.
- CCPA can also prohibit the endorser of a misleading advertisement from endorsing that particular product or service for a period of up to one year.
- For every subsequent offence, the period of prohibition may extend to three years.
5) Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
- CDRCs will be set up at the district, state, and national levels.
- A consumer can file a complaint with CDRCs in relation to: unfair or restrictive trade practices; defective goods or services etc.
- Complaints against an unfair contract can be filed with only the State and National Appeals from a District CDRC will be heard by the State CDRC.
- Appeals from the State CDRC will be heard by the National CDRC. Final appeal will lie before the Supreme Court.
6) Jurisdiction of CDRCs
- The District CDRC will entertain complaints where value of goods and services does not exceed Rs one crore.
- The State CDRC will entertain complaints when the value is more than Rs one crore but does not exceed Rs 10 crore.
- Complaints with value of goods and services over Rs 10 crore will be entertained by the National CDRC.
7) Product liability
- Product liability means the liability of a product manufacturer, service provider or seller to compensate a consumer for any harm or injury caused by a defective good or deficient service.
- To claim compensation, a consumer has to prove any one of the conditions for defect or deficiency, as given in the Act.
With inputs from: PRS
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), NATO
Mains level: Relevance of NAM
Non-alignment is an old concept today, and India has adopted an approach of “issue-based alignment”, according to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
Try this question for mains:
Q.“The gradual exit of the US from institutional geopolitics has created an ocean of opportunity for small nations”. Discuss.
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.
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.
The geopolitics of opportunity
- Non-alignment was a term of a particular era and geopolitical landscape. One aspect was independence, which remains a factor of continuity for India.
- The consequences of global shifts, including the US and the assertiveness of China, are opening spaces for middle powers like India, Japan, the EU and others.
US repositioning has impacted everyone
- The consequence of repositioning of the US, that the big umbrella is now smaller than it used to be, has allowed many other countries to play more autonomous roles.
- India needs to take more “risks”, as the world expected it to take a more proactive stance on various issues including connectivity, maritime security, terrorism, climate change and terrorism.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AGR
Mains level: AGR disputes of Telecom companies
The Centre and telcos assured the Supreme Court that they would not conduct any re-assessment or re-calculation of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues, which now stands at ₹1.6 lakh crore.
Try this question for mains:
Q.What are the various challenges faced by India’s telecom before the upgradation to 5G technology?
What is AGR?
- Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) is the usage and licensing fee that telecom operators are charged by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
- It is divided into spectrum usage charges and licensing fees, pegged between 3-5 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.
What is the issue?
- The Bench observed that 15 or 20 years was not a reasonable time period and the telcos must come forward with an appropriate time frame.
- The Centre had earlier urged the court that up to 20 years be given to the firms for the payments.
- The telcos said they were in no position to give fresh bank guarantees for the payments.
Why is AGR important?
- The definition of AGR has been under litigation for 14 years.
- While telecom companies argued that it should comprise revenue from telecom services, the DoT’s stand was that the AGR should include all revenue earned by an operator, including that from non-core telecom operations.
- The AGR directly impacts the outgo from the pockets of telcos to the DoT as it is used to calculate the levies payable by operators.
Read the complete issue here at:
Explained: Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) in Telecom Sector
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Malwares
Mains level: Data privacy issues
Various security firms have alerted about new malware, called BlackRock.
Try this question from CSP 2018:
Q.The terms ‘WannaCry, Petya, Eternal Blue’ sometimes mentioned news recently are related to
(a) Exoplanets
(b) Cryptocurrency
(c) Cyberattacks
(d) Mini satellites
BlackRock
- BlackRock isn’t exactly a new malware. In fact, it is based on the leaked source code of the Xeres malware, itself derived from a malware called LokiBot.
- The only big difference between BlackRock and other Android banking trojans is that it can target more apps than previous malwares.
How does it work?
- BlackRock works like most Android malware. Once installed on a phone, it monitors the targeted app.
- When the user enters the login and/or credit card details, the malware sends the information to a server.
- BlackRock uses the phone’s Accessibility feature and then uses an Android DPC (device policy controller) to provide access to other permissions.
- It can be used to send and steal SMS messages, hide notifications, keylogging, AV detection, and much more.
Threats posed
- The new malware can steal information like passwords and credit card information from about 377 smartphone applications, including Amazon, Facebook, and Gmail.
- It is so powerful that it makes antivirus applications useless.
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NASA has issued a warning that a huge “Asteroid 2020 ND” will move past Earth on July 24.
Try this question from CSP 2014:
Q.What is a coma, in the content of astronomy?
(a) Bright half of material on the comet
(b) Long tail of dust
(c) Two asteroids orbiting each other
(d) Two planets orbiting each other
What are Asteroids?
- Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. They are leftover from the formation of our solar system.
- Although asteroids orbit the Sun like planets, they are much smaller than planets.
- There are lots of asteroids in our solar system. Most of them live in the main asteroid belt—a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
- Some asteroids go in front of and behind Jupiter. They are called Trojans.
- Asteroids that come close to Earth are called Near-Earth Objects, NEOs for short. NASA keeps a close watch on these asteroids.
Asteroid 2020 ND
- The 2020 ND is about 170 metres-long.
- It will be as close as 0.034 astronomical units (5,086,328 kilometres) to our planet and is travelling at a speed of 48,000 kilometres per hour.
- Its distance from Earth has placed it in the “Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs)” category.
How are PHAs defined?
- PHAs are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth.
- NASA classifies objects like these as ‘near-Earth objects’ (NEOs) as they get nudged by other planets’ gravitational attraction resulting in their proximity to our solar system.
- It is not necessary that asteroids classified as PHAs will impact the Earth. It only means there is a possibility for such a threat.
Can they be deflected?
- Over the years, scientists have suggested different ways to ward off such threats, such as blowing up the asteroid before it reaches Earth or deflecting it off its Earth-bound course by hitting it with a spacecraft.
- The most drastic measure undertaken so far is the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA), which includes NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission and the ESA’s Hera.
- Both mission’s target is Didymos, a binary near-Earth asteroid, one of whose bodies is of the size that could pose the most likely significant threat to Earth.
- In 2018, NASA announced that it had started the construction of DART, which is scheduled to launch in 2021 with an aim to slam into the smaller asteroid of the Didymos system at around 6 km per second in 2022.
- Hera, which is scheduled to launch in 2024, will arrive at the Didymos system in 2027 to measure the impact crater produced by the DART collision and study the change in the asteroid’s orbital trajectory.
Back2Basics: Near-Earth objects (NEOs)
- NEOs are comets and asteroids nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits which allows them to enter the Earth’s neighbourhood.
- These objects are composed mostly of water ice with embedded dust particles, and occasionally approach close to the Earth as they orbit the Sun.
- NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Study (CNEOS) determines the times and distances of these objects as and when their approach to the Earth is close.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Manodarpan Initiative
Mains level: Mental health concerns raised by the COVID-19 pandemic
The Union HRD Ministry will launch the Manodarpan Initiative, today.
Try this question from CSP 2016:
Q.’Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan’ is a national campaign to:
(a) rehabilitate the homeless and destitute persons and provide them with suitable sources of livelihood
(b) release the sex workers from their practice and provide them with alternative sources of livelihood
(c) eradicate the practice of manual scavenging and rehabilitate the manual scavengers
(d) release the bonded labourers from their bondage and rehabilitate them
Manodarpan Initiative
- ‘Manodarpan’ covers a wide range of activities to provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing during the COVID outbreak and beyond.
- It contains advisory, practical tips, posters, videos, do’s and don’ts for psychosocial support, FAQs and online query system.
- It aims to provide psychosocial support to students for their mental health and well-being.
- It has been included in the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, as a part of strengthening human capital and increasing productivity and efficient reform and initiatives for the education sector.
- A toll-free helpline will also be launched as part of the initiative for a country-wide outreach to students from schools, colleges and universities.
- Through this helpline, tele-counselling will be provided to the students to address their mental health and psychosocial issues.
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