Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 243X
Mains level: Paper 2- Making urban local bodies financially strong
The inability of ULBs’ to raise revenue
- Although it is envisaged that municipal revenue should be 1% of GDP, between 2010 and 2018 revenues declined from 0.48% to 0.43%.
- As against the municipal revenue of Rs 4,624 per capita, own-source revenue was only Rs 1,975 in 2018 (ICRIER, 2019).
- This affects the low-levels of municipal services and translates into salary delays for employees.
8-way strategy to increase the revenue of ULBs
1) Increasing the property tax base
- In India, property taxes only account for 0.15% of GDP, whereas in developing economies they account for 0.6% and the global average is 1.04%.
- To double the property tax collection the property tax base needs to be expanded using GIS mapping, cross-checking with building licenses, ration cards, mutations, electricity/gas accounts, and review of exemptions.
- This also needs to cover government properties as per GoI circular 2009 and the SC judgment in Rajkot Corporation vs Railways.
- Similarly, rates need revision in the guiding value for rent or unit area; for instance, in Delhi, rates are fairly low.
- The collection process needs to be automated too.
- ABC (Always best Control) analysis should be done to target the top 10-20% properties, and measures such as attaching bank accounts must be implemented.
2) Upward revision of various fees
- The value capture taxes need to include upward revision of building license fee and new sources like impact fee, as imposed in Telangana, exactions, and betterment levy like the one imposed in Gujarat.
3) Levy advertisement fee
- An advertisement fee needs to be levied.
- Thiruvananthapuram listed the sites and plugged leakages for 33,170 unauthorized boards to double its income from 2018 to 2019.
- South Delhi MC has achieved a three-time increase with revision of rates in a ratio of 1:8 as per location and by dividing the city into clusters.
4) Local fee
- Local fee/charges also have immense potential such as (i) recovery on user charges (water, etc) which is only 20% (ii) right of way from gas/electricity and fiber optic lines, (ii) cell tower, (iii) leasing electricity poles, etc.
5) Participatory funding
- The potential of participatory funding (private sector, CSR, and local community) needs to be tapped.
- This has been done by Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mathura (Hybrid Annuity project), Indore, and Pune.
6) Special attention for assigning and activating the fiscal instrument
- Sixth, small and medium-sized municipal bodies need special attention for assigning and activating fiscal instruments.
- Better mobilization of own sources may also lead to revenue account surplus.
- This has been achieved in Ahmedabad, Pune, etc and it also enables access to the capital market.
7) Revision of Article 243X
- Article 243X needs suitable revision to allow larger inclusion of fiscal instruments above within the scope of a municipality’s own sources.
8) Creating ULBs as per MoHUA’s advisory
- Over 3,000 census towns not having city government need special attention to create ULBs in line with MoHUA’s advisory in 2016.
- It will create an innovative and effective financing framework for sustainable urban development.
Conclusion
Financially strong local bodies hold the key to the development of the country. The steps mentioned here needs to be implemented effectively to make the ULBs financially strong.
Source:-
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/bolster-ulbs-capacity-to-raise-revenue/2157171/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Paper 2- Reforms in the Governing Council of the Central Universities
Central Universities need reforms in their Governing Councils to make them realise their potential.
Central Universities in the need of reforms
- There are 55 central universities.
- These are endowed with prime land, extensive funding from the central government and there is a long line of students waiting to get in.
- However, they are in turmoil. In recent years, six vice-chancellors (VCs) of central universities have been sacked.
- Some of these institutions have seen their glory days, yet increasingly, the energy is going out of the system.
- However, not a single new private university has so far been able to create a true broad-based Vishwa Vidyalaya with the full range of humanities, social and natural sciences, and professional disciplines.
- Therefore, to save academia in India, central universities must be saved.
Organizational structure
- Each of the 55 central universities is governed by a separate Act. but the broad structure is as follows.
- The Visitor of the university is the President of India.
- On his behalf, the Ministry of Education recommends an eminent citizen as the chancellor, whose role is mostly ceremonial.
- The Ministry also constitutes a search committee for the post of VC, which comes up with a list of 3 candidates.
- From this list, the government picks a VC.
- Separately, and through a different process, the governing council (GC) is chosen.
- The governing council (GC) of the university usually have nominees from various stakeholders, including the government, faculty, students, and citizens.
- The university’s work is carried out by the executive council chaired by the VC, who also appoints the registrar.
- A separate finance committee is constituted, headed by a chief finance officer, who is often a civil servant on secondment to the university.
- This arrangement is designed to maintain financial checks and balances.
Issues with the governance
- The GC has no say in the selection of the VC.
- The GC typically meets only once a year and its size is usually very large.[Delhi University has 475 members]
- In theory, the VC presents and gets approval for the annual plan of the university from the GC.
- In practice, after much grandstanding on both sides, the plan is rubberstamped.
- After that, throughout the year, there is the minimal direction or monitoring from the GC, which may or may not meet again.
- There are typically no quarterly updates, and there is little oversight.
- Under the circumstances, the high number of failures should not come as a surprise, since effectively, there is minimal governance.
Comparing with provisions in IIM Bill
- The new IIM Bill very sensibly limits the GC to at most 19 members.
- They are expected to be eminent citizens, with broad social representation and an emphasis on alumni.
- This GC chooses the director, provides overall strategic direction, raises resources, and continuously monitors his or her performance.
- Within the guidelines provided by the GC, the director has full autonomy but also full accountability.
Way forward
- The governing councils of all central universities, IITs, and all other central institutions, need to be restructured by an Act of Parliament.
- The most eminent alumni of these institutions must be brought on their boards.
- The dynamism and exposure that these alumni bring to the table will promptly lead to world-class innovations.
Conclusion
To allow central universities, the IITs and other public institutions to truly blossom, we need to reform their Governance. There is no time to waste.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Provisions related to sessions of legislatures
Mains level: Paper 2- Declining number of sittings of state legislature
Recently, Governor turned down the recommendation of the Kerala government to convene the session of the state legislature. It also points to the trend of declining seating of the state legislature and issues with it.
Governor-Government conflict
- The Kerala government made a recommendation to the governor for summoning the state’s legislature for a one-day session.
- The government wanted to discuss the situation arising out of the farmers’ protest in the legislative assembly.
- Media reports suggest that the governor turned down the government on the grounds that there is no emergent situation for which the state assembly should be called to meet at short notice.
- Earlier this year, the Rajasthan governor had rejected the recommendation of the government to call a session.
- The chief minister wanted a session of the legislature called so that he could prove his majority on the floor of the house.
Constitutional provisions
- The Constitution is clear: The government has the power to convene a session of the legislature.
- The council of ministers decides the dates and the duration of the session.
- Their decision is communicated to the governor, who is constitutionally bound to act on most matters on the aid and advice of the government.
- The governor then summons the state legislature to meet for a session.
- The refusal of a governor to do so is a matter of concern.
Declining sittings of the state legislature
- In the last 20 years, state assemblies across the country, on average, met for less than 30 days in a year.
- But states like Kerala, Odisha, Karnataka are an exception.
- The Kerala Vidhan Sabha, for example, has on average met for 50 days every year for the last 10 years.
- The trend across the country is that legislatures meet for longer budget sessions at the beginning of the year.
- Then for the rest of the year, they meet to fulfill the constitutional requirement that there should not be a gap of six months between two sessions.
Why is it a matter of concern
- Close scrutiny: Continuous and close scrutiny by legislatures is central to improving governance in the country.
- Voice to public opinion: Legislatures are arenas for debate and giving voice to public opinion.
- Accountability institutions: As accountability institutions, they are responsible for asking tough questions of the government and highlighting uncomfortable truths. So, it is in the interest of a state government to convene lesser sittings of the legislature and bypass their scrutiny.
- Prevent ordinance: Lesser number of sitting days also means that state governments are free to make laws through ordinances. And when they convene legislatures, there is little time for MLAs to scrutinize laws brought before them.
Way forward
- Convening legislatures to meet all around the year.
- In many mature democracies, a fixed calendar of sittings of legislatures, with breaks in between, is announced at the beginning of the year.
- It allows the government to plan its calendar for bringing in new laws.
- It also has the advantage of increasing the time for debate and discussion in the legislative assembly.
- And with the legislature sitting throughout the year, it gets rid of the politics surrounding the convening of sessions of a legislature.
Conclusion
Continuous and close scrutiny by legislatures is central to improving governance in the country. Increasing the number of working days for state legislatures is a first step in increasing their effectiveness.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Positive Pay System
Mains level: Positive Pay System
With the New Year, a new concept of Positive Pay System for Cheque Truncation System (CTS) will be introduced by the Banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking to further augment customer safety in cheque payments.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following is the most likely consequence of implementing the ‘Unified Payments Interface (UPI)’?
(a) Mobile wallets will not be necessary for online payments.
(b) Digital currency will totally replace the physical currency in about two decades.
(c) FDI inflows will drastically increase.
(d) Direct transfer of subsidies to poor people will become very effective.
Positive Pay System
- The concept of Positive Pay involves a process of reconfirming key details of large-value cheques.
- Put simply, cheques will be processed for payment by the drawee bank based on information passed on by its customer at the time of issuance of the cheque.
- When the beneficiary submits the cheque for encashment, the cheque details are compared with the details provided to the drawee bank through Positive Pay.
- If the details match, the cheque is honoured. In case of mismatch in cheque details, the discrepancy is flagged by CTS to the drawee bank and the presenting bank, which would take redress measures.
For cheques above 50k
- The banks are advised to enable it for all account-holders issuing cheques for amounts of ₹50,000 and above.
- While availing of this facility is at the discretion of the account-holder, banks may consider making it mandatory in case of cheques for amounts of ₹5 lakh and above, the RBI had said.
Benefits of the system
- Under the Positive Pay system, the drawee bank is already aware of the issuer the details of the high-value cheque (above ₹50,000) he has issued.
- Without this intimation, if a cheque gets presented, then the drawee bank can reject payment and examine the case. Positive Pay is going to benefit both the issuer and the beneficiary.
- For the issuer, the benefit from this concept is that there cannot be fraudulent cheques encashed out of issuer’s account.
- For the beneficiary, the benefit is that the cheques handed out to him will mostly get honoured.
Is Positive Pay the same as ‘certified cheque’?
- The concept of ‘certified cheque’ was there long back — about 30 years back, long before technology swept across the Indian banking landscape.
- Whenever anybody issued a cheque, banks used to certify that money is there in their customer’s bank account and, therefore, the cheque will get honoured.
- This provided comfort to a beneficiary that cheque payment will get honoured and therefore did not insist on a pay order or demand draft.
- Drawee banks used to earmark the amount in the account of the issuer and then certify the cheque.
- This was adopted in an era when the cheque instrument used to travel physically for clearing.
Why need such a system?
- The RBI says the Positive Pay system is to augment customer safety in cheque payments and reduce instances of fraud occurring on account of tampering of cheque leaves.
- Banks had recently witnessed a rise in frauds involving high-value cheques.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Visva-Bharati University
Mains level: Nationalist education during freedom struggle
The Visva-Bharati University established by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore has completed its centenary.
Do you remember the scheme of education by Gandhi Ji, called Nai Talim?
Visva-Bharati University
- The university was set up by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1921 at Santiniketan, Bolpur in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
- It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
- Until independence, it was a college. Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.
Its establishment
- The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, the zamindar of Kirnahar.
- He set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town.
- The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya.
- It was established with a view to encouraging people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate.
- In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.
What makes it special?
- Rabindranath Tagore believed in open-air education and had reservations about any teaching done within four walls.
- This was due to his belief that walls represent the conditioning of the mind.
- Tagore did not have a good opinion about the Western method of education introduced by the British in India; on this subject, Tagore and Gandhiji’s opinion matched.
- So he devised a new system of learning in Visva-Bharati. He allowed students to continue their course till the student and his teacher both are satisfied.
- At Visva-Bharati, if a course demanded by a student is not available, then the university will design a course and bring teachers for that course.
- The university would not be bothered by the consideration of whether there is a demand for the course.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fastag
Mains level: RFID technology
From January 1, all lanes of National Highways will accept only electronic payments through FASTag.
Fastags work on a unique technology called RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). This has gone unnoticed in several competitive exams. Hence it is still relevant for the aspirants.
Also read
Fastags
- As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since 1st December 2017, the FASTag had been made mandatory for all registered new four-wheelers and is being supplied by the Vehicle Manufacturer or their dealers.
- It has been mandated that the renewal of fitness certificate will be done only after the fitment of FASTag.
- For National Permit Vehicles, the fitment of FASTag was mandated since 1st October 2019.
What is ‘FASTag’?
- FASTags are stickers that are affixed to the windscreen of vehicles and use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to enable digital, contactless payment of tolls without having to stop at toll gates.
- The tags are linked to bank accounts and other payment methods.
- As a car crosses a toll plaza, the amount is automatically deducted, and a notification is sent to the registered mobile phone number.
How does it work?
- The device employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it.
- It is affixed on the windscreen, so the vehicle can drive through plazas without stopping.
- RFID technology is similar to that used in transport access-control systems, like Metro smart card.
- If the tag is linked to a prepaid account like a wallet or a debit/credit card, then owners need to recharge/top up the tag.
- If it is linked to a savings account, then money will get deducted automatically after the balance goes below a pre-defined threshold.
- Once a vehicle crosses the toll, the owner will get an SMS alert on the deduction. In that, it is like a prepaid e-wallet.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tso Kar Wetland Complex
Mains level: Ramsar wetlands in India
India has added Tso Kar Wetland Complex in Ladakh as its 42nd Ramsar site, which is a second one in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. With this, India now has forty-two Ramsar sites.
Try this PYQ:
In which one among the following categories of protected areas in India are local people not allowed to collect and use the biomass?
(a) Biosphere reserves
(b) National parks
(c) Wetlands declared under Ramsar convention
(d) Wildlife sanctuaries
Tso Kar Wetland Complex
- It is a high-altitude wetland complex, consisting of two principal waterbodies, Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake of about 438 hectares to the south, and Tso Kar itself, a hypersaline lake of 1800 hectares to the north.
- It is situated in the Changthang region of Ladakh.
- It is called Tso Kar, meaning white lake, because of the white salt efflorescence found on the margins due to the evaporation of highly saline water.
Ecological significance
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.
- They are, in fact, a major source of water and our main supply of freshwater comes from an array of wetlands which help soak rainfall and recharge groundwater.
- The Tso Kar Basin is an A1 Category Important Bird Area (IBA) as per BirdLife International and a key staging site in the Central Asian Flyway.
- The site is also one of the most important breeding areas of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) in India.
Back2Basics: Wetlands
- A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail.
- The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other landforms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.
What is the Ramsar Convention?
- The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is a treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of such sites.
- The convention, signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accords for preserving the ecological character of wetlands.
- Also known as the Convention on Wetlands, it aims to develop a global network of wetlands for the conservation of biological diversity and for sustaining human life.
- Over 170 countries are party to the Ramsar Convention and over 2,000 designated sites covering over 20 crore hectares have been recognised under it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Caspian Sea
Mains level: Ecocides and their impact
The Caspian is actually a lake, the largest in the world and it is experiencing a devastating decline in its water level that is about to accelerate.
Note the countries bordering the Caspian Sea: Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Or else remember the acronym ‘TARIK(h)’ (Hindi word for date).
You can frame a mnemonic statement of your choice. Do similarly for major lakes and inland seas. But dont let it move over TARIK pe TARIK!
Caspian Sea
- The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
- As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia.
- An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal that equilibrates through evaporation
- Its level is the product of how much water is flowing in from rivers, mostly the mighty Volga to the north, how much it rains and how much evaporates away.
- At the end of the century, the Volga and other northern rivers will still be there.
- However, a projected temperature rise of about 3℃ to 4℃ in the region will drive evaporation through the roof.
Now try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/ dried up in the recent past due to human activities?
- Aral Sea
- Black Sea
- Lake Baikal
Select the correct option using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 and 3 only
Why in news?
- By the end of the century, the Caspian Sea will be nine metres to 18 metres lower. That’s a depth considerably taller than most houses.
- The Caspian’s surface is already dropping by 7 cm every year, a trend likely to increase.
- It means the lake will lose at least 25 per cent of its former size, uncovering 93,000 sq km of dry land.
- If that new land were a country, it would be the size of Portugal.
Past strides in its level
- The Caspian Sea has a history of violent rises and falls.
- In Derbent, on the Caucasus coast of Russia, submerged ancient city walls testify to how low the sea was in medieval times.
- Around 10,000 years ago, the Caspian was about 100 metres lower.
- A few thousand years before that it was about 50 metres higher than today and even over spilt into the Black Sea.
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