Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Policy implementation and monitoring
Policy implementation matters as much as the policy itself. The article highlights the importance of monitoring system to track the implementation of the policies.
Implementing policy
- It is taken for granted that a government policy or social-development program, is meant to be perfectly executed.
- Implementation is the key and ends up with sub-par results and uncompleted projects.
- India has had mixed experiences post-Independence, the consolidated development chart will appear rather skewed.
- Millions continue to live in abject poverty, deprived of basic amenities.
Dealing with implementation deficit
- India needs to work on the implementation and reforms processes in a wider manner, with the primary aim of attaining fast-paced development and effective delivery of the intended public benefits.
- The first requirement would be a capable implementing machine — or what has been called the “perfect administration”, driven by passionate team leaders.
- The guiding urge should be to complete the task before schedule.
- Other critical determinants include:
- Unambiguous demarcation of responsibilities.
- Frequent brainstorming sessions to anticipate and take formal note of likely challenges and agreeing upon solutions.
- Ensuring and authorizing a largely freehand with matching resources, and the ability to make on-the-spot decisions.
- The evergreen strategy to make the implementation of a near-perfect process is to build in a vigilant monitoring and evaluation mechanism.
- A dynamic monitoring mechanism makes use of technology, which today is being built into various flagship programs initiated by the present government.
Achieving implementation
- In the interest of achieving wholesome implementation, it would be desirable to set up an autonomous “Monitoring Trust”.
- The trust will act as an integral part of all important public policies and programs.
- The proposed Trust can comprise core technical, administrative, and legal members, along with stakeholders and social activists.
- Engaging stakeholders and implementers, through various methodologies, is fast emerging as an effective strategy.
- Sharing information and progress through dashboards and other technology tools, inviting suggestions through IT portals like MyGov democratize and enrich both policy formulation and execution.
- The institutions and methodologies developed in Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana present an exemplary fusion between human ingenuity and the miracles of customized technology.
Conclusion
The political leadership both at the national and the state level is the most crucial force behind the success of the implementation machinery. An endeavor’s effective implementation alone can provide the converge with good governance, bold innovation, rewarding delivery, and the transformation of marginalized human lives.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ayushman Bharat
Mains level: Paper 2- Importance of public investment in health care
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Lack of resources such as 1:1,700, doctor: citizen ratio, well below the minimum ratio of 1:1,000 stipulated by WHO.
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Rural areas and smaller towns of India are the worst sufferers, where even basic health services remain inaccessible, many cases were reported where ward boys and alone found running the primary healthcare center.
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Inadequate government spending on healthcare and lack of access to health insurance to a large section of society.
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The quality of public health services in India continues to remain below expectations which hamper the economic growth of the country.
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Government’s inability to build sufficient capacity and infrastructure, difficulty in reaching out to poor and vulnerable groups.
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An undersized skilled workforce and the absence of upgraded technology is a major challenge in the health sector.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Custodial torture and challenges in dealing with it
Installation of cameras would help in curbing the custodial torture to some extent but ending the menace requires comprehensive reforms.
Installation of CCTV cameras to curb custodial torture
- The Supreme Court recently mandated that CCTV cameras be installed in police stations and offices of other investigative agencies.
- However, previous decisions with similar recommendations have been poorly implemented.
- The present decision shows a marked difference from the earlier ones in its approach.
- It shows more care by listing out areas of police stations where cameras must be installed to ensure that there are no blind spots.
- It asks for oversight committees to be set up to monitor the functioning of the cameras.
- It also specifies that the cameras must be equipped with night vision and be able to record audio and visual footage.
- The recordings will have to be preserved for at least 12 months.
Issues with installing CCTV cameras
- Alteration of a video to conceal an object, an event, or change the meaning conveyed by the video is a well-documented reality in the United States.
- Indian courts have also expressed their apprehension of police tampering with CCTV footage.
- The judgment does not assuage these concerns.
- Cameras in police stations will not foreclose the possibility of torture in other locations.
- Multiple works on torture in India suggest that torture is often not inflicted in police stations, but in isolated areas or police vehicles.
- Victims are illegally detained and tortured in undisclosed locations before officially arrested and brought to the police station.
Challenges in fixing criminal responsibility
- Since torture is not recognized as an offense per se under Indian law, the judgment refers to the use of force resulting in “serious injuries and/or custodial deaths” unwittingly creates a high threshold for what amounts to torture.
- It fails to acknowledge the existence of forms of physical and psychological torture that leave behind no marks on the body.
- Requiring prior sanction from the government operates as the foremost hurdle in initiating criminal complaints.
- The absence of statutory guidelines mandating independent investigation results in police officers from the same police station investigating the crime and suppressing evidence.
- Between 2005-2018, with respect to 1,200 deaths in police custody, 593 cases were registered, 186 police personnel were charge-sheeted, and only seven were convicted (National Crime Records Bureau).
- Evidentiary concerns frequently arise since often the only witnesses are the victims themselves.
- The Supreme Court (1995) has noted that police officials remain silent to protect their colleagues as they are “bound by brotherhood” and held that courts should not insist on direct or ocular evidence in these cases.
- This position is rarely applied and many cases result in acquittal for want of evidence.
Conclusion
Monitoring the police through CCTVs is an important step towards combating torture but its effectiveness is contingent on broader reforms. The Supreme Court needs to ensure a robust implementation of its order and simultaneously plug the gaps so that incidents of torture are curtailed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: E20 fuel
Mains level: Ethanol blended petrol programme
The government has proposed the adoption of E20 fuel — a blend of 20% of ethanol and gasoline — as an automobile fuel in order to reduce vehicular emissions as well as the country’s oil import bill.
E20 Fuel
- E20 is a blend of 20% ethanol with gasoline (petrol) and can be used as an alternative to the fuels currently available.
- The government is looking at the adoption of mass emission standards for this fuel for transport application.
- Additionally, it also wishes to facilitate the development of E20 compliant vehicles.
- The government believes that the E20 blend will not only curb vehicle emissions but help reduce the country’s oil import bill.
Ethanol – Pros and Cons
- Ethanol is a common by-product that comes from agricultural feedstock like corn, hemp, potato, etc. It can be used as a bio-fuel in Flexi-fuel vehicles.
- It is greener than gasoline because the corn and crop plantations absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.
- While the fuel still releases CO2 when you burn it, the net increase is comparatively lower.
- However, ethanol is less efficient as a fuel. It has lower energy content than energy-rich gasoline and diesel.
- The rule delivers less power when burned, which in return results in more fuel consumption and lower mileage.
- Additionally, blends over E20 (20% ethanol) is highly corrosive for older vehicles as the alcohol can break down old rubber seals and can damage engines.
Vehicle compatibility
- It added the compatibility of vehicles with the percentage of ethanol in the blend would be defined by the vehicle manufacturer, which would have to be displayed on the vehicle with a sticker.
- Ethanol is a biofuel and a common by-product of biomass left by agricultural feedstock such as corn, sugarcane, hemp, potato, etc.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Intentional Genomic Alteration
Mains level: Gene Editing
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a first-of-its-kind intentional genomic alteration (IGA) in a line of domestic pigs referred to as GalSafe pigs.
Try this PYQ:
Q.What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news?
(a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing
(b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients
(c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant
(d) A herbicidal sub
What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?
- Intentional genomic alteration in animals’ means making specific changes to the genome of the organism using modern molecular technologies.
- These are popularly referred to as “genome editing” or “genetic engineering”. However, there are other technologies that can be used to make IGAs in animals.
- Such changes in the DNA sequence of an animal may be carried out for research purposes, to produce healthier meat for human consumption and to study disease resistance in animals among other reasons.
- One example is of using IGAs to make an animal more susceptible to certain diseases such as cancer, which helps researchers get a better understanding of the disease and develop new therapies to treat it.
What does FDA’s recent approval mean?
- The FDA made the announcement this week and allowed IGA in GalSafe pigs to eliminate a type of sugar found in mammals called alpha-gal.
- This sugar is present on the surface of these pigs’ cells and when they are used for products such as medicines or food.
- The sugar is found in red meats such as beef, pork and lamb, the sugar makes some people with Alpha-gal Syndrome (AGS) more susceptible to developing mild to severe allergic reactions.
- IGA will help eventually free these products from detectable alpha-gal sugar, thereby protecting their human consumers from potential allergies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Khudiram Bose
Mains level: Various revolutionary activities
Union Home Minister has visited the native village of Bengali revolutionary Khudiram Bose in Midnapore, West Bengal.
One of the youngest leaders of the Independence movement, Khudiram Bose is highly regarded in Bengal for his fearless spirit. He was just 19 when he was hanged!
Who was Khudiram Bose?
- Bose was born in 1889 at a small village in Midnapore district.
- From his adolescent years, he was drawn towards revolutionary activities, being inspired by a series of public lectures given by Sri Aurobindo and Sister Nivedita, when the duo visited Midnapore in the early 1900s.
- In 1905, when Bengal was partitioned, he actively participated in protests against the British.
- At the age of 15, Bose joined the Anushilan Samiti, an early 20th-century organisation that propounded revolutionary activities in Bengal.
- Within a year, he had learnt how to make bombs and would plant them in front of police stations.
Revolutionary activities
- The deciding moment of Bose’s life came in 1908 when he along with another revolutionary, Prafulla Chaki was assigned the task of assassinating the district magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Kingsford.
- Before being transferred to Muzaffarpur, Kingsford was a magistrate in Bengal.
- His tortuous clamping down on revolutionaries had earned him the ire of this young group of nationalists who decided to hurl a bomb on him.
Kingsford’s assassination attempt
- There were multiple attempts to assassinate Kingsford.
- Initially, the plan was to throw the bomb in the court. However, after much deliberation, it was decided to avoid the court since a lot of civilians might get injured.
- Thereafter, on April 30, 1908, Bose threw a bomb on a carriage which he suspected was carrying Kingsford.
- But it turned out that it was carrying the wife and daughter of a barrister named Pringle Kennedy, who lost their lives, as Kingsford escaped.
Arrest and execution
- By midnight the entire town was aware of the incident and the Calcutta police were summoned to catch the duo.
- Bose was arrested from a railway station called Waini where he had reached the next morning after having walked 25 miles.
- Chaki on the other hand, killed himself before he could get arrested.
- As Bose was brought handcuffed to the police station at Muzaffarpur, the entire town crowded around to take a look at the teenaged boy.
- On July 13, 1908, he was finally sentenced to death.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IMAC
Mains level: India's maritime security
India is looking at integrating more countries into coastal radar network IMAC.
What is IMAC?
- The Indian Navy’s IMAC located in Gurugram which was set up after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks is the nodal agency for maritime data fusion.
- It functions under the National Maritime Domain Awareness (NMDA) Project.
- The NMDA project was launched in accordance with the vision of PM on SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region).
- The IMAC monitors movement of more than 120,000 ships a year passing through the Indian Ocean.
- The cargo carried by these ships accounts for 66 per cent of world crude oil, 50 per cent of container traffic and 33 per cent of bulk cargo.
- Thus, IMAC performs a very crucial role in collecting shipping information, analysing traffic patterns and sharing the inputs with the user agencies.
Mission SAGAR, unlike other missions, can create confusion with the name and its purpose. Make note of such special cases. UPSC can ask such questions as one liner MCQs.
Expanding IMAC
- It is meant to enable real-time monitoring of the high seas for threats as also expand India’s assistance for capacity building to Indian Ocean littoral states.
- Efforts are in advanced stages to set up coastal radar stations in Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
- Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka have already been integrated into the country’s coastal radar chain network.
- Similar plans are in the pipeline with Maldives and Myanmar and discussions are ongoing with Bangladesh and Thailand.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Himalayan trillium
Mains level: Not Much
The Himalayan trillium (Trillium govanianum), a common herb of the Himalayas was declared ‘endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) last week.
Try this MCQ:
Q.Recently, there was a growing awareness in our country about the importance of Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) because it is found to be a sustainable source of-
(a) Anti-malarial drug
(b) Bio-diesel
(c) Pulp for paper industry
(d) Textile fibre
Himalayan trillium
- In recent years, the plant has become one of the most traded commercial plants of the Himalayan region, due to its high medicinal quality.
- It is found in temperate and sub-alpine zones of the Himalayas, at an altitude from 2,400-4,000 metres above sea level.
- Their existence has also been traced across India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- In India, it is found in four states only- Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand.
- Often called Nagchatri, in local areas this herb grows to a height of 15-20 cm.
Various applications
- It has been used in traditional medicine to cure diseases like dysentery, wounds, skin boils, inflammation, sepsis, as well as menstrual and sexual disorders.
- Recent experiments have shown that the rhizome of the herb is a source of steroidal saponins and can be used as an anti-cancer and anti-ageing agent.
- This increased its market value and has now become an easy target for poachers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Investment rate
Mains level: Paper 3- Steps India needs to take to compensate for the economic loss due to pandemic.
To ease the damage inflicted by the pandemic on the economy, India needs to act on multiple fronts. The article suggests the trajectory India should follow to compensate for the economic loss due to pandemic.
Economy picking up
- As the restrictions were slowly withdrawn, the economy has also started picking up.
- There are many indicators such as collection of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the improved output of coal, steel, and cement, and positive growth in manufacturing in October 2020 which point to better performance of the private sector.
- In Q1, the economy declined by 23.9%; it declined by 7.5% in Q2, when the relaxations were eased.
- Reductions in the first half of GDP in 2020-21 as compared to the first half of 2019-20 is 7.66% of the 2019-20 GDP.
- If the Indian economy at least maintains the second half GDP in 2020-21 at the level of the previous year, the full-year contraction can be limited to about 7.7%.
Steps need to be taken
- If the Indian economy grows at 8% in 2021-22 will we be compensating for the decline in 2020-21.
- Thus, it is imperative that the Indian economy grows at a minimum of 8% in 2021-22.
- This should be possible if by that time restrictions imposed because of COVID-19 are withdrawn and the nation goes back to a normal state.
- Some sectors can act as lead sectors or engines of growth with increased government capital expenditures in them.
- The private sector seems to be revising its future prospects.
- Many new issues in the capital market have met with good response.
- The attitude to trade must also change.
- Closing borders may appear to be a good short-term policy to promote growth.
- A strong surge in our exports will greatly facilitate growth, i.e. 2021-22.
- However, much of Indian’s growth must rest on domestic factors.
- Growth must not only be consumption-driven but also investment-driven.
- It is the investment-driven growth in a developing economy that can sustain growth over a long period.
The important role of monetary policy
- The stance of monetary policy in 2020-21 has been extremely accommodating.
- Three major elements in the policy are:
- 1) A reduction in interest rate.
- 2) Providing liquidity through various measures.
- 3) Regulatory changes such as moratorium.
- There has been a substantial injection of liquidity into the system.
- With a large injection of liquidity, one should expect inflation to remain high.
- In the final analysis, inflation is determined by the overall liquidity or money supply in the system in conjunction with the availability of goods and services.
- While there may be sufficient justification for an accommodative monetary policy in a difficult year such as 2020, there will be a need to exercise more caution as we move into the next year.
Role of government expenditure
- Government expenditures play a key role in a situation such as the one we are facing.
- The stimulus policies involving higher government expenditures were expected to arrest the contractionary momentum.
- The government expenditures should be speeded up from now on so that the contraction in the current fiscal year as a whole can be reduced.
- In 2021-22, government revenues should pick up with the rise in GDP.
- The process of bringing down the fiscal deficit must also start.
- What is required is a sharp increase in government capital expenditures which can act as a stimulus for growth.
- A detailed investment plan of the government and public sector enterprises must be drawn up and presented as part of the coming Budget.
Increasing investment
- Over the past decade, the investment rate has been falling.
- In 2018-19, the rate fell to 32.2% of GDP from 38.9% in 2011-12.
- Some of the recent measures including corporate tax rate changes may help in augmenting investment.
- A strong effort must be made to improve the investment climate. The National Infrastructure Pipeline is a good initiative.
- But the government must come forward to invest more on its own.
Reforms with consensus
- Reforms are important in the context of rapid development.
- However, timing, sequencing, and consensus-building are equally important while introducing them.
- Labor reforms, for example, are best introduced when the economy is on the upswing.
Consider the question ” Growth must not only be consumption-driven but also investment-driven. It is the latter which in a developing economy can sustain growth over a long period. In light of this, suggest the policy imperatives that India should follow to make good of the decline in 2020-202.”
To achieve the level of $5 trillion, we need to grow continuously at 9% for six years from now. That is the challenge before the economy. Jobs and employment will come from growth. They are not independent of growth. For that policymakers should eschew other considerations and focus only on growth.
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