Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hindu Succession Act 1956 and amendments
Mains level: Paper 2- The Supreme Court judgement making daughters coparcener in her own right
The article highlights the importance of the latest Supreme Court Judgement making daughter coparcener in own right by birth removing the conditions laid down in the previous judgement.
Background
- In Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020), the Supreme Court held that a coparcener’s daughter would become a coparcener in her own right by birth.
Amendment in 2005 and related SC judgement
- There is a difference between rights conferred by the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 and the amendment to that act in 2005.
- In 1956 Act, equal right of succession at par with a son was given to a daughter, but only after the demise of the father or mother.
- The 2005 amendment gave the right to property to a daughter in a joint Hindu family during the lifetime of the father.
- In Prakash v. Phulavati 2005, the Supreme Court decided on the prospectivity or retrospectivity of the law creating coparcenary rights in favour of daughters.
- It created a condition that the rights under the amendment are applicable only to living daughters of living coparceners as on September 9, 2005; however, it gave no reason as to why this was chosen as a condition.
- The status of a daughter to be subject to her father being alive is apparently a mistake.
- The death of an individual should not determine the rights of their heirs.
- If any right had accrued in the daughter’s favour by a legislation, the same can’t be disturbed by death of her father.
What the SC said in latest judgement
- In the present judgment, Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma , the court rightly held that as laid down in Section 6 (1) (a), daughter is to be a coparcener by birth; so there is no question of being prospective or retrospective.
- It is the physical status that matters and should not be linked to a date.
- Even in the case of unregistered partition deeds executed before December 20, 2004, the court has opened a new window for daughters.
- Daughters can claim a right even in an unregistered partition deed which has not been proved conclusively.
Conclusion
There is a need to examine all the existing laws and wherever discriminatory practices exist, they need to be amended appropriately.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Personal data and non-personal data
Mains level: Paper 3- Making open data-society by sharing making open the data collected by the government
The article highlights the importance of non-personal data collected by the government and lack of any reference to it in the Gopalakrishnan Committee report.
Background
- The Committee of Experts on the Non-Personal Data Governance Framework headed by K Gopalakrishnan has recommended making privately held non-personal data “open”.
- This has raised concerns about state interference in the private data ecoystem.
Importance of data collected by government agencies
- The report is a missed opportunity to address the governance frameworks around data created by government agencies.
- Some of the most important non-personal data sets are held by the government, or result from taxpayer funding.
- Such data can be useful in either framing public policy or creating and providing new services.
Why government data should be open to citizens: 5 Reasons
- First, the state should be transparent about information that it has. This will improve accountability.
- Second, if taxpayer money has funded any of the data sets, then it is an obligation of the state to return the fruits of that funding to the taxpayer.
- Third, by permitting the reuse of government data sets, we avoid the need for duplication.
- Fourth, government data sets, curated according to publicly verified standards, can lead to increased confidence in data quality and increased usage.
- Finally, free flow of information can have beneficial effects on society in general.
Government policies promoting openness of data
- The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, mandates the disclosure of government data on a suo moto basis.
- One of the nine pillars of the Digital India Policy is “information for all”.
- The National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), 2012 requires all non-sensitive information held by public authorities to be made publicly accessible in machine readable formats (subject to conditions).
- The government has also set up an Open Government Data Platform to provide open access to data sets held by ministries and other agencies of the government.
- Various States have also either created their own data portals or have provided data sets to the Open Government Data Platform.
Challenges in making the data open to society
- There are two reasons for our failure to create an open data-based society.
- The first is lack of clarity in some of the provisions of the NDSAP or the relevant implementation guidelines.
- The second is the inability to enforce guidelines appropriately.
- Data sets released by governments are often inconsistent, incomplete, outdated, published in non-machine readable or inconsistent formats, include duplicates, and lack quality (or any) metadata, thereby reducing re-usability.
Issues with Gopalakrishnana Committee Report
- The Gopalakrishnan Committee could have evaluated what is going wrong with existing policies and practice pertaining to government data.
- The report is a missed opportunity to address the governance frameworks around non-personal data sets in a country created by government agencies, or those resulting from taxpayer money.
- The report largely focuses on the dangers posed by data collection by private sector entities.
- This has raised concerns about state interference in the private data ecoystem.
- Many of the concerns that should be addressed in the report that are central to the governance of the data ecosystem have remained in the background.
- For instance, India’s cybersecurity framework continues to be inadequate, while even the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee report of 2018 highlighted the need to restrict the growing power of the state to carry out surveillance.
Consider the question “What are the key recommendation made by the Gopalakrishnan Committee for the regulation of non-personal data? What are the shortcomings in of the report in your opinion?”
Conclusion
Since data governance is a relatively new concept in India, the government would be better served in taking an incremental approach to any perceived problems. This should begin with reforming how the government itself deals with citizens’ data.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Question hour, Zero Hour
Mains level: Not Much
The Lok Sabha Secretariat officially released the schedule for the monsoon Parliament session with Question Hour being dropped. Zero Hour will also be restricted in both Houses.
This newscard is very narrative in its form and scope.
Q.Discuss the various instruments of Parliamentary Control in India.
What is Question Hour, and what is its significance?
- Question Hour is the liveliest hour in Parliament. It is during this one hour that MPs ask questions of ministers and hold them accountable for the functioning of their ministries.
- Prior to Independence, the first question asked of government was in 1893. It was on the burden cast on village shopkeepers who had to provide supplies to touring government officers.
- The questions that MPs ask are designed to elicit information and trigger suitable action by ministries.
- Over the last 70 years, MPs have successfully used this parliamentary device to shine a light on government functioning.
- Their questions have exposed financial irregularities and brought data and information regarding government functioning to the public domain.
- With the broadcasting since 1991, Question Hour has become one of the most visible aspects of parliamentary functioning.
And what is Zero Hour?
- While Question Hour is strictly regulated, Zero Hour is an Indian innovation. The phrase does not find mention in the rules of procedure.
- The concept of Zero Hour started organically in the first decade of Indian Parliament when MPs felt the need for raising important constituency and national issues.
- During the initial days, Parliament used to break for lunch at 1 pm.
- Therefore, the opportunity for MPs to raise national issues without an advance notice became available at 12 pm and could last for an hour until the House adjourned for lunch.
- This led to the hour being popularly referred to as Zero Hour and the issues being raised during this time as Zero Hour submissions.
- Its importance can be gauged from the support it receives from citizens, media, MPs and presiding officers despite not being part of the rulebook.
How is Question Hour regulated?
- Parliament has comprehensive rules for dealing with every aspect of Question Hour.
- And the presiding officers of the two houses are the final authority with respect to the conduct of Question Hour.
- For example, usually, Question Hour is the first hour of a parliamentary sitting.
What kinds of questions are asked?
- Parliamentary rules provide guidelines on the kind of questions that can be asked by MPs.
- Questions have to be limited to 150 words. They have to be precise and not too general.
- The question should also be related to an area of responsibility of the GoI.
- Questions should not seek information about matters that are secret or are under adjudication before courts.
- It is the presiding officers of the two Houses who finally decide whether a question raised by an MP will be admitted for answering by the government.
How frequently is Question Hour held?
- The process of asking and answering questions starts with identifying the days on which Question Hour will be held.
- At the beginning of Parliament in 1952, Lok Sabha rules provided for Question Hour to be held every day. Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, had a provision for Question Hour for two days a week.
- A few months later, this was changed to four days a week. Then from 1964, Question Hour was taking place in Rajya Sabha on every day of the session.
- Now, Question Hour in both Houses is held on all days of the session.
- But there are two days when an exception is made. There is no Question Hour on the day the President addresses MPs from both Houses in the Central Hall.
- Question Hour is not scheduled either on the day the Finance Minister presents the Budget.
How does Parliament manage to get so many questions answered?
- To streamline the answering of questions raised by MPs, the ministries are put into five groups. Each group answers questions on the day allocated to it.
- For example, in the last session, on Thursday the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Labour, Housing, and Youth Affairs and Sports were answering questions posed by Lok Sabha MPs.
- MPs can specify whether they want an oral or written response to their questions.
- They can put an asterisk against their question signifying that they want the minister to answer that question on the floor. These are referred to as starred questions.
- After the minister’s response, the MP who asked the question and other MPs can also ask a follow-up question.
- This is the visible part of Question Hour, where you see MPs trying to corner ministers on the functioning of their ministries on live television.
How do ministers prepare their answers?
- Ministries receive the questions 15 days in advance so that they can prepare their ministers for Question Hour.
- They also have to prepare for sharp follow-up questions they can expect to be asked in the House.
- Governments’ officers are close at hand in a gallery so that they can pass notes or relevant documents to support the minister in answering a question.
- When MPs are trying to gather data and information about government functioning, they prefer the responses to such queries in writing.
- These questions are referred to as unstarred questions. The responses to these questions are placed on the table of Parliament.
Are the questions only for ministers?
- MPs usually ask questions to hold ministers accountable. But the rules also provide them with a mechanism for asking their colleagues a question.
- Such a question should be limited to the role of an MP relating to a Bill or a resolution being piloted by them or any other matter connected with the functioning of the House for which they are responsible.
- Should the presiding officer so allow, MPs can also ask a question to a minister at a notice period shorter than 15 days.
Is there a limit to the number of questions that can be asked?
- Rules on the number of questions that can be asked in a day have changed over the years.
- In Lok Sabha, until the late 1960s, there was no limit on the number of unstarred questions that could be asked in a day.
- Now, Parliament rules limit the number of starred and unstarred questions an MP can ask in a day.
- The total numbers of questions asked by MPs in the starred and unstarred categories are then put in a random ballot.
- From the ballot in Lok Sabha, 20 starred questions are picked for answering during Question Hour and 230 are picked for written answers.
- Last year, a record was set when on a single day, after a gap of 47 years, all 20 starred questions were answered in Lok Sabha.
Have there been previous sessions without Question Hour?
- Parliamentary records show that during the Chinese aggression in 1962, the Winter Session was advanced.
- The sitting of the House started at 12 pm and there was no Question Hour held. Before the session, changes were made limiting the number of questions.
- Thereafter, following an agreement between the ruling and the Opposition parties, it was decided to suspend Question Hour.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission Karmayogi
Mains level: Civil services reforms
The Union Cabinet gave its approval for Mission Karmayogi, a new national capacity building and performance evaluation programme for civil servants.
Try this MCQ:
Q.The Mission Karmayogi recently seen in news is related to:
a) EPFO reforms
b) Labour laws reforms
c) Civil Services reforms
d) Artisans and Handicrafts
Mission Karmayogi
- The mission is established under the National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB).
- It is aimed at building a future-ready civil service with the right attitude, skills and knowledge, aligned to the vision of New India.
- It is meant to be a comprehensive post-recruitment reform of the Centre’s human resource development, in much the same way as the National Recruitment Agency approved last week is pre-recruitment reform.
Why such a mission?
- The capacity of Civil Services plays a vital role in rendering a wide variety of services, implementing welfare programs and performing core governance functions.
Major undertakings of the scheme
- The scheme will cover 46 lakh, Central government employees, at all levels, and involve an outlay of ₹510 crores over a five-year period, according to an official statement.
- The programme will support a transition from “rules-based to roles-based” HR management so that work allocations can be done by matching an official’s competencies to the requirements of the post.
- Apart from domain knowledge training, the scheme will focus on “functional and behavioural competencies” as well, and also includes a monitoring framework for performance evaluations.
- Eventually, service matters such as confirmation after probation period, deployment, work assignments and notification of vacancies will all be integrated into the proposed framework.
- The capacity building will be delivered through iGOT Karmayogi digital platform, with content drawn from global best practices rooted in Indian national ethos.
Apex bodies under the mission
- The Prime Minister’s Public Human Resource Council will be set up as the apex body to direct the reforms.
- There will be an autonomous Capacity Building Commission to be established to manage the reformed system and harmonize training standards across the country so that there is a common understanding of India’s aspirations and development goals.
- A wholly government-owned, not-for-profit special purpose vehicle will be set up to own and operate the digital platform and its content.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: OBC categorization
While the ongoing legal debate on sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for reservations is undergoing, a Commission has been examining sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) for almost three years now.
Practice question for mains:
Q.The quota policy for OBCs needs an urgent revisit. Comment.
What is the sub-categorisation of OBCs?
- OBCs are granted 27% reservation in jobs and education under the central government.
- The question of sub-categorisation arises out of the perception that only a few affluent communities among the over 2,600 included in the Central List of OBCs have secured a major part of this 27% reservation.
- The argument for sub-categorisation — or creating categories within OBCs for reservation — is that it would ensure “equitable distribution” of representation among all OBC communities.
Who is examining sub-categorisation?
- The Commission to Examine Sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes took charge on October 11, 2017.
- It is headed by retired Delhi High Court Chief Justice G Rohini.
- Initially constituted with tenure of 12 weeks ending January 3, 2018, it was granted an extension recently.
What are its terms of references?
It was originally set up with three terms of reference:
- To examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of OBCs with reference to such classes included in the Central List;
- To work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation within such OBCs;
- To take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of OBCs and classifying them into their respective sub-categories.
A fourth was added on January 22, 2020, when the Cabinet granted it an extension:
- To study the various entries in the Central List of OBCs and recommend correction of any repetitions, ambiguities, inconsistencies and errors of spelling or transcription.
What progress has it made so far?
- In its letter to the government on July 30, 2019, the Commission wrote that it is ready with the draft report. This could have huge political consequences and is likely to face a judicial review.
- The current tenure of the Commission ends on January 31, 2021.
- Its budget is being drawn from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) which was given constitutional status by the government in 2018.
What progress has it made so far?
- The Commission is ready with the draft report. This could have huge political consequences and is likely to face a judicial review.
- The current tenure of the Commission ends on January 31, 2021.
- Its budget is being drawn from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) which was given constitutional status by the government in 2018.
How do these data compare with OBCs’ share in the population?
- A hurdle for the Commission has been the absence of data for the population of various communities to compare with their representation in jobs and admissions.
- Sources said the data of Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) were not considered reliable.
- The Commission has requested for an appropriate Budget provision for a proposed all-India survey for an estimate of the caste-wise population of OBCs.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NCRB
Mains level: NCRB and its report
The cases of suicide and the number of accidental deaths registered an increase across the country last year compared to 2018, according to the annual National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.
Do you know?
NCRB also released data on hate crimes, fake news, and anti-national activities etc.
(1) Data on Suicides
- Statewise data: The maximum cases of mass/family suicides were reported from Tamil Nadu (16), followed by Andhra Pradesh (14), Kerala (11) and Punjab (9) and Rajasthan (7).
- Unemployed person: Suicides by unemployed persons amounting to 14% were in Kerala (1,963), followed by 10.8% in Maharashtra, 9.8% in Tamil Nadu, 9.2% in Karnataka and 6.1% in Odisha. Of the 97,613 male suicides, the maximum were daily wage earners (29,092), followed by self-employed persons (14,319) and the unemployed (11,599).
- Farmer’s suicide: Majority of victims engaged in the farming sector were reported in Maharashtra (38.2% of 10,281), Karnataka (19.4%), AP (10.0%), MP (5.3%) and Chhattisgarh & Telangana (4.9% each),” said the report.
- Rural-Urban: The suicide rate in cities (13.9%) was higher compared to the all-India average. Family problems (other than marriage related problems)’ (32.4%); ‘marriage related problems’ (5.5%); and ‘illness’ (17.1%) accounted for 55% of the total suicides.
- Gender-specific cases: The overall male-female ratio was 70.2:29.8. Nearly 68.4% of males were married and the ratio was 62.5% for female victims. While 12.6% of the total victims were illiterate, 16.3% had studied up to primary level, 19.6% up to middle level and 23.3% up to Matriculation level. Only 3.7% were graduates and above.
- Defence personnel: In the Central Armed Police Forces, a total of 36 personnel died by suicide, 38.9% were due to “family problems”.
(2) Data on Accidents
- Accidental deaths in the country increased by 2.3%. Compared to 4,11,824 in 2018, the figure stood at 4,21,104 last year.
- The rate (per lakh population) increased from 31.1 to 31.5. The maximum casualties of 30.9% were reported in the 30-45 years age group, followed by 26% in the 18-30 years’ age group.
- The highest rate was reported from Puducherry (72.8), followed by Chhattisgarh (68.6), Maharashtra (57.4), Haryana (54.3), Goa (51.5) and Madhya Pradesh (51.4).
- Maharashtra reported the highest deaths (70,329), amounting to nearly one-sixth of the total figure. UP, the most populous state, accounted for 9.6% cases, followed by MP (10.1%).
- Maximum deaths (85.4%) were in road accidents. While 38% of the victims were two-wheeler riders, 14.6% involved trucks.
- Dangerous/careless driving or overtaking contributed to 25.7% road accidents, claiming 42,557 lives and leaving more than 1 lakh people injured.
(3) Deaths due to disasters
- A total of 8,145 deaths were due to the causes attributable to forces of nature, including 35.3% due to lightning, 15.6% by heat/sunstroke and 11.6% deaths in floods.
- Maximum deaths (400) due to lightning was reported each from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, followed by Jharkhand (334) and Uttar Pradesh (321).
Back2Basics: NCRB
- The NCRB is an Indian government agency responsible for collecting and analyzing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL).
- It is headquartered in New Delhi and is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
- It was set-up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators.
- It was set up based on the recommendation of the Task-force 1985 and National Police Commission 1977.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM)
Mains level: Not Much
As a first step towards Greening the Indian short term power market, the Ministry of Power and New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched pan-India Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) in electricity.
About GTAM
- GTAM is an alternative new model introduced for selling off the power by the renewable developers in the open market without getting into long term PPAs.
- This would promote RE merchant capacity addition and help in achieving RE capacity addition targets of the country.
Benefits of GTAM
- It would lessen the burden on the RE-rich States and incentivize them to develop RE capacity beyond their own RPO.
- It will benefit buyers of RE through competitive prices and transparent and flexible procurement. It will also benefit RE sellers by providing access to the pan- India market
Key features
- Transactions through GTAM will be bilateral in nature with clear identification of corresponding buyers and sellers, there will not be any difficulty in accounting for RPO.
- GTAM contracts will be segregated into Solar RPO & Non-Solar RPO as RPO targets are also segregated.
- Further, within the two segments, GTAM contracts will have Green Intraday, Day Ahead Contingency, Daily and Weekly Contracts
- Green Intraday Contract & Day Ahead Contingency Contract – Bidding will take place on a 15-minute time-block wise MW basis.
- Daily & Weekly Contracts – Bidding will take place on an MWh basis.
- Price discovery will take place on a continuous basis i.e. price-time priority basis. Subsequently, looking at the market conditions open auction can be introduced for daily & weekly contracts.
- Energy scheduled through GTAM contract shall be considered as deemed RPO compliance of the buyer.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Types of e-commerce model
Mains level: Paper 3- Rules to regulate the e-commerce
The article analyses the various restrictions under The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 to regulate all commercial transactions and issues with such restrictions.
Context
- The recent rules relating to e-commerce, issued by the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 needs some changes.
What the recent rules specify
- The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, notified on July 23, regulate all commercial transactions sold over a digital or electronic network.
- The e-com rules currently recognise two e-commerce business models, namely, marketplace model and inventory-based model.
- The rules have separate specified provisions for marketplace- and inventory-based entities.
- The e-com rules require that all information on the return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment of the goods or services being sold, including their country of origin, be provided on the platform.
- Such details enable consumers to make an informed decision.
What the new rules seek to achieve
- The country of origin requirement is significant as India and several other countries are currently re-negotiating their free trade agreements.
- E-com rules prohibit unfair trade practices by entities and sellers on marketplaces and manipulation of price.
- The entities are prohibited from manipulating the price of the goods or services to gain unreasonable profit by imposing unjustified price or charges on consumers.
Issues with the rules
- It remains unclear as to what would constitute price manipulation.
- It also remain unclear how the e-commerce entities and sellers are expected to navigate these roadblocks without falling foul of such provisions.
- Both the marketplace entity and sellers are now required to set up a grievance redressal mechanism, small businesses may not be in a position to comply.
- The rules also prohibit an e-commerce entity from levying a charge for cancellation post confirmation.
- While the provisions may be intended as safeguards that ensure a level-playing field, some of these conditions are impractical.
- Applying identical rules does not convey a business-friendly approach.
Investment restrictions
- The Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 currently recognise the marketplace and inventory model.
- It permit 100% FDI under the automatic route to marketplace entities as also to those engaged in single-brand retail.
- Foreign investments, up to 51%, are permitted in multi-brand retail with prior government approval.
- As per the non-debt rules, entities engaged in single-brand retail are permitted to undertake retail trading through e-commerce.
- However, single-brand retail trading through e-commerce has to open a brick-and-mortar store within two years from the date it commences online retail.
- Retail trading, in any form, by means of e-commerce, is not permissible for entities engaged in inventory-based multi-brand retail trading and having foreign investment.
Consider the question “What are the objectives sought to be achieved through The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 to regulate commercial transactions? What are the issues with the rules?”
Conclusion
The commercial sector is anxious for India to consider relaxing some of these requirements, or extending the time period for compliance, given that brick-and-mortar operations may not be possible in the foreseeable future.
Source-
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/e-commerce-rules-a-one-size-fits-all-approach-some-need-to-be-relaxed/2071953/
Back2Basics: Invenetory model and marketplace model
- Marketplace model of e-commerce means providing of an information technology platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital and electronic network to act as a facilitator between buyer and seller.
- The main feature of the market place model is that the e-commerce firm like flipkart, snapdeal, amazon etc. will be providing a platform for customers to interact with a selected number of sellers.
- Inventory model of ecommerce means an ecommerce activity where inventory of goods and services is owned by e-commerce entity and is sold to the consumers directly.
- The main feature of inventory model is that the customer buys the product from the ecommerce firm.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Financial challenges education sector faces in India
The article delineates the challenges academic institutions in India faces in the wake of Covid disruption and suggests some measures to deal with the challenges.
Context
Disruption in the wake of pandemic raised the spectre of educational institutions shuttering their doors completely or taking unprecedented steps that have invariably affected jobs and livelihoods.
Economics of the academics
- Economics has always been a part of academics; it is only in the present circumstances that it has become all the more apparent.
- Management in private institutions, is going to meet demands on the one hand and availability of resources on the other.
- One may call this new phenomenon “acadonomics”.
- “Acadonomics” would imply a careful allocation of resources keeping in mind the transient nature of the issue of how long it is going to take to come back to the steady state of affairs that it once was.
- ‘Acadonomics’ will also involve seeing the economics of moving on to an online mode of the teaching-learning process.
Comparison with the West
- The academic choices are not the same for all countries across the world.
- In the United States the elite private and state subsidised universities have endowments that can be used for a range of academic activities.
- Top 10 of the U.S. have a cushion of anywhere between $10 billion to $40 billion.
- By contrast, private academic institutions in India do not have any such buffers.
- None of the institutions in India possesses big corpuses from alumni or industry.
- Their survival, for the most part, is on the annual income that comes from tuition and the assortment of other fees collected.
Private education in India
- Private institutions in India are hardly in a position to meet an eventuality such as COVID-19.
- In an educational set-up in India, nothing can be reduced — the norms cannot be lowered nor can the infrastructure be dismantled.
- For the most part, the fixed and operational costs remain the same, and infrastructure once created cannot be shrunk.
- The downside to self-financed institutions is that in the time of the pandemic and loss of jobs, students plead inability to pay the requisite fee.
- Which places additional burden on the management which feels already stretched because of existing commitments.
Dual mode of learning and issues
- 1) Cost for persisting with a dual mode of the teaching-learning process is going to be quite prohibitive for the next few years.
- The scaling of operations that would include the dual modes of online and offline is going to be expensive.
- 2) The online teaching mode brings with it increased costs of IT infrastructure such as network bandwidth, servers, cloud resources and software licensing fees.
- 3) Online teaching means new hiring in the IT sector and increased costs due to engagements with Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, and other online platforms.
- 4) Online teaching means setting up multiple studios and educational technology centres which translate into investments in high technology.
- 5) Creation of virtual laboratories across all domains of studies and examination centres, etc. would add to the woes in terms of already depleted finances.
- 6) Additional funds have to be allocated to train faculty for online teaching.
Way forward
- The Centre and State governments should provide soft loans to students to stay with the educational course.
- Students looking at online instruction would be disinclined to pay the same fee charged for offline instruction.
- It would seem prudent for the government and regulatory bodies to not interfere in the fee structure, and, for the future, even consider a measure of higher degree of financial autonomy.
- It is high time institutions in India are allowed to create coffers or corpuses for a rainy day.
- Educational institutions could come to be treated like any other corporate body, with an allowable small margin of profit.
Consider the question “What are the challenges faced by the education system in the aftermath of the pandemic. Suggest ways to mitigate the impact.”
Conclusion
‘Acadonomics’ of the future will not only decide the fate of the academic sector in India but also its quality, ranking, research, innovation potential and its collective impact on our country’s economy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Widening consumer base to revive growth
The article suggests the widening of consumer base rather than increasing consumption. To augment that, the government should also direct the spending towards such sectors which would help in broadening of the base.
Prescription for long term growth: Broadening the consumer base
- India entered the pandemic with declining growth and limited scope for a conventional and large fiscal stimulus.
- The NSS 68th round consumption survey indicates that in urban India, the top 20 per cent of the population accounted for nearly 55 per cent of discretionary consumption and 45 per cent of all consumption.
- The narrow consumption base coupled with uncertainty over the demographic dividend could belie India’s long-term investment attractiveness.
- With or without the pandemic, the prescriptions for long-term growth remain the same — broaden the consumer base.
- This broadening of the consumer base should happen through empowering the low and middle-income consumers.
Why can’t the government just spend to revive growth
- 1) Temporary incomes coupled with job/income uncertainty will induce precautionary savings without any impact on growth.
- 2) With revenues declined, funding of additional expenditure is through higher borrowings.
- Any incremental debt should be seen in the context of future investments being hampered due to current consumption.
- India’s public debt/GDP will likely reach around 85 per cent and the consolidated gross fiscal deficit to GDP ratio could be around 12.5 per cent this year.
Way forward
- India needs to broaden its consumer base beyond the top 10-20 per cent of the population to improve long-term growth prospects.
- To achieve this we will need well-paid employment for the bottom and middle segments.
- The “safe” group of India’s workforce is extremely small.
- The PLFS 2018-19 report places around 24 per cent of the workforce in the regular wage/salary category.
- Within this segment, around 40 per cent do not have a written contract, paid leaves, or security while 70 per cent do not have any written contract.
- These sharp skews in consumption and labour become a substantial risk for a consumption-led growth in the aftermath of a crisis.
- The PLFS 2018-19 report indicates that around 50 per cent of the rural non-agriculture workforce.
- 35 per cent of the urban workforce is engaged in the construction and manufacturing sectors.
- The rebuild and recover phase should aim for a wider consumer base with infrastructure and manufacturing as the two pillars.
- To make manufacturing easier, the focus should be on labour reforms, fewer/quicker approvals, reducing the compliance burden, and promoting export-oriented sectors.
- Policies should not become too inward-looking such that export promotion becomes difficult.
Directing public spending and policies appropriately
- Most public spending should be directed towards roads, railways, infrastructure, healthcare and educational facilities.
- To promote infrastructure creation along with private sector participation, the government needs to charge an economic price for goods and services such as power, irrigation, and public utilities.
- Establish the rule of law with minimal interference in pricing, streamline processes for quick approvals and ensure timely payments to private operators.
- The government should also signal its vision along with a financing strategy through sharper expenditure management, enhanced market borrowings, setting up of a Development Financing Institution, and an asset monetisation programme.
Conclusion
To achieve economic growth of 7-8 per cent the government needs to start addressing large infrastructure deficit, the weak financial sector, archaic land and labour laws, and the administrative and judicial hurdles.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AGR issue
Mains level: AGR disputes of Telecom companies
The Supreme Court has held that telecom firms will get 10 years to clear their adjusted gross revenue or AGR dues and that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) should decide whether or not spectrum can be sold under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Try this PYQ:
Q. In India, which of the following review the independent regulators in sectors like telecommunications, insurance, electricity, etc.?
- Ad Hoc Committees set up by the Parliament
- Parliamentary Department Related Standing Committees
- Finance Commission
- Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission
- NITI Aayog
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1, 3 and 4
(c) 3, 4 and 5
(d) 2 and 5
Supreme Court rule on AGR dues
- In its judgment, the SC gave all telcos a 10-year timeline to complete the payments of AGR dues, instead of the old 20-year schedule suggested by the DoT.
- It also directed telcos to pay 10 per cent of the total AGR dues by March 31, 2020, following which they can make payments in annual instalments between 2021 and 2031.
- The non-payment of dues in any year would lead to the accrual of interest and invite contempt of court proceedings against such companies.
- A crucial issue of whether the spectrum could be sold under IBC will now be decided by the National Company Law Tribunal.
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 about?
- All the telecom companies that operate in India pay a part of their revenues as licence fee and spectrum charges to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for using the spectrum owned by the government.
- In its definition of AGR, the DoT had said that telcos must cover all the revenue earned by them, including from non-telecom sources such as deposit interests and sale of assets.
- The telecom companies were opposed to this and had challenged this definition of AGR in several forums, including the Supreme Court.
- On October 24, 2019, the SC had upheld the DoT’s definition of AGR.
- Though the telcos sought a review of the judgment, it was dismissed by the top court which had then insisted that telcos clear all the dues by January 23, 2020.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Special Frontier Force (SFF)
Mains level: India's security forces
There have been reports that a Special Frontier Force (SFF) unit, referred to as Vikas Battalion, has been instrumental in occupying some key heights on the LAC.
Try this question for mains:
Q.“It cannot be business as usual with China after the border clash.” Critically comment.
What is the Special Frontier Force (SFF)?
- SFF was raised in the immediate aftermath of the 1962 Sino-India war.
- It was a covert outfit which recruited Tibetans (now it has a mixture of Tibetans and Gorkhas) and initially went by the name of Establishment 22.
- It was named so because it was raised by Major General Sujan Singh Uban, an Artillery officer who had commanded 22 Mountain Regiment.
- He, therefore, named the new covert group after his regiment. Subsequently, the group was renamed as Special Frontier Force.
- SFF now falls under the purview of the Cabinet Secretariat where it is headed by an Inspector General who is an Army officer of the rank of Major General.
Is SFF a part of the Army?
- Strictly speaking, the SFF units are not part of the Army but they function under the operational control of the Army.
- The units have their own rank structures which have equivalent status with Army ranks.
- However, they are highly trained Special Forces personnel who can undertake a variety of tasks which would normally be performed by any Special Forces unit.
- The SFF units, therefore, function virtually as any other Army unit in operational areas despite having a separate charter and history.
Major operations conducted
- There are several overt and covert operations in which SFF units have taken part over the years.
- They took part in operations in the 1971 war, Operation Blue Star in Golden Temple Amritsar, Kargil conflict and in counter-insurgency operations in the country.
- There are several other operations too in which the SFF has participated but the details are classified.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pinaka Multibarrel Missiles
Mains level: India-China LAC tensions
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed contracts with three Indian companies for supply of six regiments of the Pinaka Rocket System to be deployed along borders with Pakistan and China.
Following things are crucial to know about the Pinaka Missile System:
1) It’s development and manufacture
2) Fire Range and other capabilities
3) Latest technology enhancement
Pinaka Missile System
- Pinaka is an indigenously developed rocket system named after Lord Shiva’s mythological bow.
- It is used for attacking the adversary targets prior to the close-quarter battles which involve smaller range artillery, armoured elements and the infantry.
- The development of the Pinaka was started by the DRDO in the late 1980s, as an alternative to the multi-barrel rocket launching systems of Russian make, called like the ‘Grad’, which are still in use.
- After successful tests of Pinaka Mark-1 in late 1990, it was first used in the battlefield during the Kargil War of 1999, quite successfully.
- Subsequently, multiple regiments of the system came up over the 2000s.
Its versions and capabilities
- The Pinaka, which is primarily a multi-barrel rocket system (MBRL) system, can fire a salvo of 12 rockets over a period of 44 seconds.
- One battery of the Pinaka system consists of six launch vehicles, accompanied by the loader systems, radar and links with network-based systems and a command post.
- It can neutralize an area one kilometre by one kilometre.
- The Mark-I version of Pinaka has a range of around 40 kilometres and the Mark-II version can fire up to 75 kilometres.
- The Mark-II version of the rocket has been modified as a guided missile system by integrating it with the navigation, control and guidance system to improve the end accuracy and increase the range.
- The navigation system of the missile is linked with the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Indra
Mains level: India-Russia defence ties
Amid high operational alert by the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) India and Russia are scheduled to hold the bilateral naval exercise, Indra 2020, in the Andaman Sea, close to the strategic Strait of Malacca.
[Prelims Spotlight]: Various Defence Exercises in News
https://www.civilsdaily.com/prelims-spotlight-various-defence-exercises-in-news/
Exercise Indra
- It is a joint, tri-services exercise between India and Russia
- This series of exercise began in 2003 and the First joint Tri-Services Exercise was conducted in 2017.
- Company sized mechanized contingents, fighter and transport aircraft, as well as ships of respective Army, Air Force and Navy, participate in this exercise of ten days duration.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Evolution of India's approach to Asian regionalism and internationalism
The article analyses India’s approach towards regional integration in Asian unity and internationalism and its consequences.
Clash between internationalism and nationalism
- Three current developments reveal the clash between grandiose internationalism and the intractable nationalism.
- 1) India pulled out of the military exercise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which was to herald a new era of Eurasian unity.
- Sharpening contradictions between India and China comes in the way of uniting such a large geopolitical space.
- 2) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s claim to leadership of the Muslim world that has run into resistance from a large section of the Arab rulers.
- 3) The tension between the globalism of the US foreign policy establishment and Donald Trump’s “America First” nationalism.
Internationalism and threats to it
- Western liberalism has had more power than anyone else to promote internationalism.
- But the liberal internationalist effort at constructing supra-national institutions now faces big setbacks.
- The greatest resistance to the liberal internationalist vision has not come within the US.
- Trump channelled the American resentments against the globalist excesses of the Wall Street, Washington and the Silicon Valley.
India’s nationalism
- Indian nationalism was inevitably influenced by liberal internationalism, socialism, communism, pan-Islamism, pan-Asianism and Third-Worldism to name a few.
- Both the Asian Relations Conference (Delhi 1947) and the Afro-Asian Conference (Bandung 1955) showed up the deep differences among the Asian elites.
- India then turned its back on Asianism to claim the leadership of the broader Non-Aligned Movement.
- After the Cold War, India re-embraced Asianism in the 1990s when it unveiled the Look East Policy.
- India also joined the Asian regional institutions led by the Association of South-East Asian Nations.
RCEP joining issue
- Few could have anticipated that Delhi would walk out of one of the most consequential agreements negotiated by the ASEAN — the RCEP — that sought Asia-wide economic integration.
- Delhi believed that the contradiction between India’s domestic commercial interests and a China-led Asian economic regionalism was irreconcilable.
India’s approach toward Asian regionalism
- Eurasian regionalism led by Moscow and Beijing is also facing tensions and there is deepening conflict between Indian and Chinese interests.
- India’s diplomatic finesse on the SCO has become increasingly unsustainable after Chinese aggression in eastern Ladakh.
- India underestimated the economic and political consequences of China’s rapid rise while seeking economic regionalism in East Asia and the multi-polar world with Russia and China.
- India took a benign view of Chinese power and has been shocked to discover otherwise in 1962 and in 2020.
Conclusion
India today needs more internationalism, than less, in dealing with the Chinese power. But it must be an internationalism that is rooted in realism and tethered to India’s economic and national security priorities.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Extended producer responsibility
Mains level: Paper 3- Coupling growth and environmental protection
Growth and environmental protection are not the polar opposites of each other. The article analyses the issue of balancing the two and using pandemic as an opportunity to evolve novel recovery path.
Pandemic: opportunity to new recovery path
- The pandemic presents an opportunity for us to think of a new recovery path, one that can decouple economic growth and environmental degradation.
- It becomes more important as India sees opportunities on the global call to diversify the supply chain and its internal call for Atmanirbhar Bharat.
- For that, we need to strengthen our production and manufacturing capabilities.
Issue of regulatory infrastructure
- Monitoring and implementing environmental regulations is the biggest challenge we face.
- Take the municipal solid waste rules.
- Two decades after the regulations came into effect, their status not in good shape.
- A comparatively recent regulation, centred around Extended Producer Responsibility, has also posed challenges in monitoring and implementation.
- In a recent ruling, the judiciary not only ruled against the industry but also blamed officials responsible for implementing the regulations.
Focus on implementation and monitoring
- In the long run, diluting regulatory norms will create more adverse impacts resulting in greater community upsurge.
- The focus has to be to improve the system’s capabilities to monitor and implement regulatory requirements.
- There needs to be greater transparency and accountability; there is no dearth of technology to facilitate this.
- The intention and capacity to take action, rectify and diffuse is critical.
- The right ecosystem between the industry, community and regulator is crucial.
- If the three stakeholders remain isolated and get activated only in a crisis, we will not make any progress towards solving the issue.
Way forward
- We need to couple growth and environmental protection.
- Environmental health will be the key enabler of socio-economic growth in the future.
- Industry needs to realise that it is a part of an ecosystem and not at the centre of it.
- Communities get impacted, either positively or negatively, they need to empower themselves through education, so that they are not driven by the agenda of individuals with vested interests.
- We have a challenge in implementing environmental regulations.
- The community does not trust that the industry is meeting its compliance requirements, so, the regulatory system’s role is to improve this trust quotient.
Conclusion
As we plan our recovery past the pandemic, we have a good chance to create a new normal. We need to align towards a common cause and goals. We should not miss this chance.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GST
Mains level: Paper 3- GST compensation issue and reforms needed
The GST compensation issue raises the need for reform in the system. The article discusses this issue and suggests reform.
Background
- Three years ago, the Centre and the States of the Union of India struck a grand bargain resulting in GST.
- The States gave up their right to collect sales tax and sundry taxes, and the Centre gave up excise and services tax.
Issue of compensation
- Consent of the states was secured by a promise of reimbursing any shortfall in tax revenues for a period of five years.
- This reimbursement was to be funded by a special cess called the GST compensation cess.
- The promised reimbursement was to fill the gap for an assured 14% year on year tax growth for five years.
Why is the Centre denying GST compensation
- As the economy battles a pandemic and recession, the tax collection has dropped significantly.
- At the same time, expenditure needs are sharply higher at the State level.
- Using an equivalent of the Force Majeure clause in commercial contracts, the Centre is abdicating its responsibility of making up for the shortfall in 14% growth in GST revenues to the states.
Why Central government is wrong in denying the compensation
- 1) The States do not have recourse to multiple options that the Centre has.[like sovereign bond or a loan against public sector unit shares from the Reserve Bank of India]
- 2) The Centre can get loans at lower rates of borrowing from the markets as compared to the States.
- 3) In terms of aggregate public sector borrowing, it does not matter for the debt markets, nor the rating agencies, whether it is the States or the Centre that is increasing their indebtedness.
- 4) Fighting this recession through increased fiscal stimulus is basically the job of macroeconomic stabilisation, which is the Centre’s domain.
- 5) Using the alibi of the COVID-19 pandemic causes a serious dent in the trust built up between the Centre and States.
- It will weaken the foundation of cooperative federalism.
Reforms needed
- GST is a destination-based consumption tax, which must include all goods and services with very few exceptions.
- That widening of the tax base itself will allow us to go back to the original recommendation of a standard rate of 12%, to be fixed for at least a five-year period.
- Some extra elbow room for the States’ revenue autonomy could be allowed by States non VATable surcharges on a small list of “sin” goods.
- In the long term there are many changes in consumption patterns, production configurations and locations, which cannot be anticipated and hence a static concept of Revenue Neutral Rate cannot be reference.
- The commitment to a low and stable rate is a must.
- We must recognise the increasing importance of the third tier of government.
- After 28 years of the 73rd and 74th Amendments, the local governments do not have the promised transfer of funds, functions and functionaries.
- Of the 12% GST, 10% should be equally shared between the States and the Centre, and 2% must be earmarked exclusively for the urban and rural local bodies.
- Fresh approach also calls for an overhaul of the interstate GST and the administration of the e-way bill.
Consider the question “Discuss the issue related to GST compensation to the States by the Central government. Suggest the measures changes in the GST regime to deal with flaws.”
Conclusion
GST is a crucial and long-term structural reform which can address the fiscal needs of the future, strike the right and desired balance to achieve co-operative federalism and also lead to enhanced economic growth. The current design and implementation has failed to deliver on that promise. A new grand bargain is needed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SCRI
Mains level: Global trade tensions with China and its repercussions
With COVID-19 and trade tensions between China and the US threatening supply chains or actually causing bottlenecks, Japan has mooted the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) as a trilateral approach to trade, with India and Australia as the other two partners.
Q.Discuss the efficacy of the idea of Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) initiaited by Japan.
What is Supply Chain Resilience (SCR)?
- In the context of international trade, SCR is an approach that helps a country to ensure that it has diversified its supply risk across a clutch of supplying nations instead of being dependent on just one or a few.
- Unanticipated events whether natural or man-made that disrupt supplies from a particular country or even intentional halts to trade, could adversely impact economic activity in the destination country.
What is Japan proposing?
- The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the assembly lines which are heavily dependent on supplies from one country.
- While Japan exported $135 billion worth of goods to China in 2019, it also imported $169 billion worth from the world’s second-largest economy, accounting for 24% of its total imports.
- So, any halt to supplies could potentially impair economic activity in Japan.
- In addition, the U.S.-China trade tensions have caused alarm in Japanese trade circles for a while now.
- If the world’s two largest economies do not resolve their differences, it could threaten globalisation as a whole and have a major impact on Japan.
- It is heavily reliant on international trade both for markets for its exports and for supplies of a range of primary goods from oil to iron ore.
Japan eyeing India as a partner for the SCRI
- Japan is the fourth-largest investor in India with cumulative FDIs touching $33.5 billion in the 2000-2020 periods.
- It accounts for 7.2% of inflows in that period, according to quasi-government agency India Invest.
- Imports from Japan into India more than doubled over 12 years to $12.8 billion in FY19. Exports from India to the world’s third-largest economy stood at $4.9 billion that year, data from the agency showed.
- It is a clear reflection that the two countries are unlikely to allow individual cases to cloud an otherwise long-standing and deepening trade relationship.
Where does Australia stand?
- Australia, Japan and India are already part of another informal grouping, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, which includes the U.S.
- Media reports indicate that China has been Australia’s largest trading partner and that it counts for 32.6% of Australia’s exports, with iron ore, coal and gas dominating the products shipped to Asia’s largest economy.
- But relations including trade ties between the two have been deteriorating for a while now.
- China banned beef imports from four Australian firms in May and levied import tariffs on Australian barley.
India’s stand to gain or lose
- Following the border tensions, partners such as Japan have sensed that India may be ready for dialogue on alternative supply chains.
- Earlier, India would have done little to overtly antagonize China. But an internal push to suddenly cut links with China would be impractical.
- China’s share of imports into India in 2018 stood at 14.5%. It supplies dominate segments of the Indian economy.
- Sectors that have been impacted by supply chain issues arising out of the pandemic include pharmaceuticals, automotive parts, electronics, shipping, chemicals and textiles.
- Over time, if India enhances self-reliance or works with exporting nations other than China, it could build resilience into the economy’s supply networks.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: C-14, Carbon Dating
Mains level: Scientific management of nuclear waste and its disposal
A California-based company has made a self-charging battery, which can run for 28,000 years on a single charge, by trapping carbon-14 (C14) nuclear waste in artificial diamond-case.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz. gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. With reference to them, which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) Gravity is the strongest of the four
(b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge
(c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity
(d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.
What is C14?
- Carbon-14 (14C), or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons.
- There are three naturally occurring isotopes of carbon on Earth: carbon-12, which makes up 99% of all carbon on Earth; carbon-13, which makes up 1%; and carbon-14, which occurs in trace amounts.
- Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues (1949) to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples.
C14 battery
- The battery works by generating electricity on its own from a shower of electrons as a result of radioactive decay scattered and deposited in the artificial diamond-case.
- The battery can be used in electric vehicles, mobile phones, laptops, tablets, drones, watches, cameras, health monitors and even sensors.
- It is also said to be extremely safe and tamper-proof as it is coated with a non-radioactive diamond which prevents radiation leaks.
Best example of nuke waste recycling
- It is estimated that 33 million cubic metres of global nuclear waste will cost over $100 billion to manage and dispose of.
- And a lot of this waste is graphite that is one of the higher risks of radioactive waste and one of the most expensive and problematic waste to store.
Its applications
- The company says its battery can be used to powerhouses, and that any excess electricity generated can be sold to the grid.
- As the new battery need not be replaced, it can be installed in hard to reach places like pacemakers and implants, where a regular change of battery is not possible.
- Another area of use is space electronics. The battery is said to power space equipment in rockets.
- It can power the electrical needs of space crafts, like providing power to cockpits and assisting launch into the upper atmosphere.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Renati Cholas, Chola Administration
Mains level: Not Much
A rare inscription dating back to the Renati Chola era has been unearthed in a remote village of Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.
Try this PYQ:
Q.In the context of the history of India, consider the following pairs:
Term: Description
- Eripatti: Land revenue from which was set apart for the maintenance of the village tank
- Taniyurs: Villages donated to a single Brahmin or a group of Brahmins
- Ghatikas: Colleges generally attached to the temples
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 1 and 3
Who are the Renati Cholas?
- The Telugu Cholas of Renadu (also called as Renati Cholas) ruled over Renadu region, the present-day Kadapa district.
- They were originally independent, later forced to the suzerainty of the Eastern Chalukyas.
- They had the unique honour of using the Telugu language in their inscriptions belonging to the 6th and 8th centuries.
- The earliest of this family was Nandivarman (500 AD) who claimed descent from the family of Karikala and the Kasyapa gotra.
- He had three sons Simhavishnu, Sundarananda and Dhananjaya, all of whom were ruling different territories simultaneously.
- The family seems to have had its origin in Erigal in the Tunmkur district, situated in the border between Pallava and Kadamba regions.
About the inscription
- The inscription so found was engraved on a dolomite slab and shale.
- The inscription was written in archaic Telugu which is readable in 25 lines — the first side with eleven lines and the remaining on the other side.
- It was assigned to the 8th Century A.D. when the region was under the rule of Chola Maharaja of Renadu.
- The inscription seems to throw light on the record of a gift of six Marttus (a measuring unit) of land gifted to a person Sidyamayu, one of the Brahmins serving the temple at Pidukula village.
- It says the people who safeguard this inscription for future generations will acquire the status of conducting Aswamedha Yajna and those destroying it will incur sin equivalent to causing death in Varanasi.
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