Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Paper 2- India's agenda at the UNSC in its 2 year stint
The article highlights India’s challenges at the UNSC in its 2 year stint.
India’s agenda at the UNSC
- India’s two-year non-permanent stint at the UNSC should be viewed as a once-in-a-decade opportunity to clearly identify and pursue its national interests regionally and globally.
- India’s entry into the UNSC coincides with the emergence of a new world order.
- Under new world order, there is systemic uncertainty, little care for global commons, absence of global leadership, the steady division of the world into rival blocs, pursuit of narrow national interests.
- Efforts by Biden administration in the United States may go on to ameliorate some of the harsh impact of this global order.
- The UNSC has also reached a point wherein its very relevance is in serious doubt.
- India too is no longer an ardent believer in the fantastical claims about a perfect world at harmony with itself, nor is it a timid observer in global geopolitics.
- India’s pursuit of its interests at the UNSC should, therefore, reflect its material and geopolitical limitations, and its energies should be focused on a clearly identified agenda.
Factors determining India’s agenda at the UNSC
1) Rivalry with China
- India’s tenure at the UNSC comes in the wake of its growing military rivalry with China.
- China’s opposition to having India chair the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) in 2022 was a precursor to the things to come ahead.
- The next two years will be key to ensure checking further Chinese incursions along the Line of Actual Control and building up enough infrastructure and mobilising sufficient forces in the forward areas.
2) Relations with Russia
- Greater Indian alignment with the West at the UNSC, an unavoidable outcome, could, however, widen the growing gulf between Russia and India.
- It might not be possible for India to sit on the fence anymore.
- Fence sitting would bring more harm than goodwill in an international system where battlelines are sharpening by the day.
3) Terrorism issue
- Terror is likely to be a major focus for India at the UNSC.
- External Affairs Minister’s statement at the UNSC Ministerial Meeting on the 20th Anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1373 and the establishment of the Counter Terrorism Committee has set the stage for New Delhi’s approach on the issue.
- India recently assumed the chair of the Taliban sanctions committee which assumes significance given the fast-moving developments in Afghanistan.
- India must formulate its policy towards terrorism with far more diplomatic finesse and political nuance especially given that it is chairing the Taliban sanctions committee while courting the very same Taliban.
4) Coalition of like-minded states and setting the agenda for next decade
- India should use the forum and its engagement there to build coalitions among like-minded states and set out its priorities for the next decade — from climate change to non-proliferation.
- India should use its bargaining power at the UNSC to pursue its national interests in other forums and domains as well.
- India’s UNSC strategy should involve shaping the narrative and global policy engagement vis-à-vis — the Indo-Pacific.
- Given India’s centrality in the Indo-Pacific region and the growing global interest in the concept, New Delhi would do well to take it upon itself to shape the narrative around it.
- In doing so, it should, through the UNSC and other means, court Moscow once again and assuage its concerns about the Indo-Pacific.
Way forward
- India’s pursuit of its national interest at UNSC must also be tempered by the sobering fact that the UNSC is unlikely to admit new members any time soon, if ever at all.
- A glance at the recent debates on UNSC reforms and the state of the international system today should tell us that bending over backwards to please the big five to gain entry into the UNSC will not make a difference.
Consider the question “What agenda should India pursue at the UNSC in its two year non-permanent stint? What are the challenges in pursuing such agenda?”
Conclusion
India must focus its energies on what it can achieve during the short period that it would be in the UNSC rather than what it wishes happened.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Off-budget borrowing
Mains level: Union Budget
Finance Minister is all set to present the Union Budget 2021 on February 1st with all eyeing on off-budget borrowings to reduce Fiscal Deficit.
Try this PYQ:
With reference to the Union Government, consider the following statements:
- The Department of Revenue is responsible for the preparation of Union Budget that is presented to the Parliament.
- No amount can be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund of India without the authorization from the Parliament of India.
- All the disbursements made from Public Account also need authorization from the Parliament of India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
What are off-budget borrowings?
- Off-budget borrowings are loans that are taken not by the Centre directly, but by another public institution that borrows on the directions of the central government.
- Such borrowings are used to fulfill the government’s expenditure needs.
- Such borrowings are a way for the Centre to finance its expenditures while keeping the debt off the books — so that it is not counted in the calculation of fiscal deficit.
- But since the liability of the loan is not formally on the Centre, the loan is not included in the national fiscal deficit. This helps keep the country’s fiscal deficit within acceptable limits.
- As a result, a CAG report of 2019 pointed out that this route of financing puts major sources of funds outside the control of Parliament.
Eyes on fiscal deficit
- One of the most sought after details in any Union Budget is the level of fiscal deficit.
- It is essentially the gap between what the central government spends and what it earns. In other words, it is the level of borrowings by the Union government.
- This number is the most important metric to understand the financial health of any government’s finances.
- As such, it is keenly watched by rating agencies — both inside and outside the country. That is why most governments want to restrict their fiscal deficit to a respectable number.
- One of the ways to do this is by resorting to “off-budget borrowings”.
How much would the borrowings be?
- According to the last Budget documents, in the current financial year, the Centre was set to borrow Rs 5.36 lakh crore.
- However, this figure did not include the loans that public sector undertakings were supposed to take on their behalf or the deferred payments of bills and loans by the Centre.
How are off-budget borrowings raised?
- Issuance of Bonds: The government can ask an implementing agency to raise the required funds from the market through loans or by issuing bonds.
- Utilizing savings: For example, the food subsidy is one of the major expenditures of the Centre. In the Budget presentation for 2020-21, the government paid only half the amount budgeted for the food subsidy bill to the Food Corporation of India. The shortfall was met through a loan from the National Small Savings Fund.
- Borrowing: Other PSUs have also borrowed for the government. For instance, public sector oil marketing companies were asked to pay for subsidized gas cylinders for PM Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries in the past.
- Bank sources: Public sector banks are also used to fund off-budget expenses. For example, loans from PSU banks were used to make up for the shortfall in the release of fertilizer subsidy.
Its implications
- Given the various sources of off-budget borrowing, the true debt is difficult to calculate.
- For instance, it was widely reported that in July 2019, just three days after the presentation of the Budget, the CAG (cumulative aggregate growth) pegged the actual fiscal deficit for 2017-18 at 5.85% of GDP instead of the government version of 3.46%.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: CSR, SSR
The Corporate Affairs Ministry has amended the rules for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure to allow companies to undertake multi-year projects, and also require that all CSR implementing agencies be registered with the government.
Q.What do you mean by CSR? Discuss the role of CSR activities in social transformation.
What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?
- CSR is a type of business self-regulation that aims to contribute to the societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethically-oriented practices.
- It rests on the ideology of “give and take” i.e. to take scarce resources from the environment for running a business, and in turn to contribute towards economic, social, and environmental development.
CSR in India
- India is the first country in the world to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandatory, following an amendment to the Companies Act, 2013 in April 2014.
- Businesses can invest their profits in areas such as education, poverty, gender equality, and hunger as part of any CSR compliance.
All companies with a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more, a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or more, or net profit of Rs 5 crore or more, are required to spend 2 per cent of their average profits of the previous three years on CSR activities every year.
What are the new amendments?
- The amended CSR rules allow companies to set off CSR expenditure above the required 2 percent expenditure in any fiscal year against required expenditure for up to three financial years.
- There lies an ambiguity whether the rule would apply for expenditure undertaken prior to the amendment.
- The government is thus allowing corporates that have in good faith incurred excess CSR expenditure in the past to set it off against future CSR expenditure requirements.
Other key changes
- The amended rules require that any corporation with a CSR obligation of Rs 10 crore or more for the three preceding financial years would be required to hire an independent agency to conduct an impact assessment of their entire project with outlays of Rs 1 crore or more.
- Companies will be allowed to count 5 percent of the CSR expenditure for the year up to Rs 50 lakh on impact assessment towards CSR expenditure.
What are the changes required for implementing agencies?
- The new amendment restricts companies from authorizing either a Section 8 company or a registered public charitable trust to conduct CSR projects on their behalf.
- A Section 8 company is a company registered with the purpose of promoting charitable causes, applies profits to promoting its objectives, and is prohibited from distributing dividends to shareholders.
- Further, all such entities will have to be registered with the government by April 1.
Impact of the move
- The change would impact CSR programs of a number of large Indian companies that conduct projects through private trusts.
- It would mean such private trusts would either have to be converted to registered public trusts or stop acting as CSR implementing agencies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 'The Inequality Virus' Report
Mains level: Economic implications of COVID
The ‘Inequality Virus Report’ was recently released on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
About the report
- The Inequality Virus Report was released by Oxfam.
- It inquired into different forms of inequities, including educational, gender and health during the pandemic.
Highlights of the report
‘Rise’ in wealth
- Indian billionaires increased their wealth by 35% during the lockdown to ₹ 3 trillion, ranking India after the U.S., China, Germany, Russia and France.
- The wealth of just the top 11 billionaires during the pandemic could easily sustain the MGNREGS or the Health Ministry for the next 10 years, stated the report.
- A person (no citation needed!) who emerged as the richest man in India and Asia, earned ₹90 crores an hour during the pandemic when around 24% of the people in the country were earning under ₹ 3,000 a month during the lockdown.
- The increase in his wealth alone could keep 40 crores, informal workers, out of poverty for at least five months, said the report.
Observations made
Health: Only 6% of the poorest 20% have access to non-shared sources of improved sanitation, compared to 93.4 % of the top 20 %.
Education: Till October, 32 crores students were hit by the closure of schools, of whom 84 % resided in rural areas and 70 %attended government schools. Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims were likely to see a higher rate of dropout. Girls were also most vulnerable as they were at risk of early and forced marriage, violence and early pregnancies, it noted.
Gender: Unemployment of women rose by 15% from a pre-lockdown level of 18 %, which could result in a loss of India’s GDP of about 8 % or ₹15 trillion. Women who were employed before the lockdown were also 23.5 percentage points less likely to be re-employed compared to men in the post lockdown phase.
Recommendations
- It recommended reintroducing the wealth tax and affecting a one-time COVID-19 cess of 4% on taxable income of over ₹10 lakh to help the economy recover from the lockdown.
- According to its estimate, a wealth tax on the nation’s 954 richest families could raise the equivalent of 1% of the GDP.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 19(2)
Mains level: Free speech related issues
The Supreme Court has decided to examine a petition seeking the framing of guidelines outlining the broad regulatory paradigm within which the right to free speech of broadcasters and electronic media can be judicially regulated.
What is the petition about?
- The petition wants the court to consider substantial questions of law, including whether the electronic media enjoys greater freedom than ordinary citizens and whether they could only be subject to self-regulation.
- It has questioned whether free speech entails misinformation, fake news, hate speech, propaganda, paid news, communal and derogatory reportage, incitement, etc.
- It has asked whether regulation will amount to the curtailment of the Press if done within the parameters specified under “reasonable restrictions” of Article 19(2) of the Constitution.
- The plea said the right to life and dignity envisaged the right of citizens to “free, fair and proportionate media reporting”.
What is Article 19(2)?
- This article authorizes the government to impose, by law, reasonable restrictions upon the freedom of speech and expression “in the interests of… public order.”
- To understand the Supreme Court’s public order jurisprudence, it is important to break down the sub-clause into its component parts and focus upon their separate meanings.
- Specifically, three terms are important: “reasonable restrictions”, “in the interests of”, and “public order”.
- Clause (2) enables the legislature to impose certain restrictions on free speech under the following heads:
- Security of the State
- Friendly relations with foreign states
- Public order
- Decency and morality
- Contempt of court
- Defamation
- Incitement to an offense and
- Sovereignty and integrity of India
- Reasonable restrictions on these grounds can be imposed only by a duly enacted law and not by executive action.
The task before the court
- The principal issue before the court is to bring about a balance between the right to freedom of speech and the expression of the media and various other rights.
- These include the competing right to information of the citizenry, the right to reputation and dignity as well as the interest of preserving peace and harmony in the nation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Serological surveys
Mains level: Herd immunity and related health concerns
The initial findings of the fifth round of serological survey conducted in Delhi suggest that over 56 percent of the people have developed antibodies against Covid-19 implying achievement of herd immunity.
Herd Immunity
- Herd immunity is when a large number of people are vaccinated against a disease, lowering the chances of others being infected by it.
- When a sufficient percentage of a population is vaccinated, it slows the spread of disease.
- It is also referred to as community immunity or herd protection.
- The decline of disease incidence is greater than the proportion of individuals immunized because vaccination reduces the spread of an infectious agent by reducing the amount and/or duration of pathogen shedding by vaccines, retarding transmission.
- The approach requires those exposed to the virus to build natural immunity and stop the human-to-human transmission. This will subsequently halt its spread.
Sero-surveys in Delhi
- The results of the latest serosurvey in Delhi have led researchers and experts to surmise that a large section of the city’s population has already developed antibodies against Covid-19.
- The presence of antibodies among a large percentage of the population could be a reason for the decline in the daily number of Covid-19 cases.
- As more people are able to resist infection, it will help to break the chain of transmission of the virus.
- Five serological surveys have been carried out in Delhi so far, including the present one, which was conducted in January.
- The survey conducted by NCDC in July last year suggested the presence of antibodies in 23 percent of those surveyed.
- In August, the survey conducted by the Delhi government showed 29.1 percent had antibodies.
The relevance of such surveys
- Carrying out repeated serological surveillance on the same population gives an idea of how the disease is behaving.
- It is always good to have surveillance regularly to understand the trends.
- Having robust surveillance is always beneficial, it may not be too close, but it may help us in giving an idea, even of the natural history of the disease.
What do the data suggest about herd immunity?
- Many researchers believe that if 60 percent or more of the population has developed antibodies against Covid-19, there is a possibility of acquiring herd immunity.
- In Delhi, it is quite indicative, as the number of cases is also going down. This shows that we are moving closer towards acquiring herd immunity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Thought partnership for informed policymaking
Thought partnership between government and the external players can aid in informed policymaking. The article deals with these issues and suggest forging of more of such partnerships.
Government working together with external partners
- Policymaking requires multiple rounds of consultations and co-working with different entities, including collaboration between the government and external partners.
- Over the last few years, there has been increasing evidence of the government and external partners working together on complex policy problems.
- The government has formalized the induction of private individuals into the system by opening up lateral entry.
- Several central government ministries and entities, such as NITI Aayog, routinely recruit private individuals as consultants, officers on special duty, or young professionals.
- Given the staggering vacancies in the central government, such support is critical since civil servants are generally overburdened and under-resourced.
What is thought partnership and how it works
- Thought partnerships are a structured mechanism for private entities to lend relevant strategic expertise to the government on policy design, evaluation, and implementation.
- It is also not always feasible for the government itself to fund projects involving private partners, more so when such projects are unconventional thought partnerships.
- Several domestic and international philanthropies and impact investing firms are already investing in critical sectors in developing countries including India.
- However, much of this funding goes into supporting projects or interventions that work in limited, contextual settings rather than systemic or sectoral transformation programs.
- It is here that philanthropies and impact investing firms can make a huge difference.
Past thought partnerships
- In 2005, the Ashok Lahiri Committee report stated that there was not enough knowledge about external capital flows and controls in India.
- The committee’s recommendation resulted in the establishment of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Department of Economic Affairs research program.
- The program led to the creation of a rich body of world-class research on capital controls and flows in India that was used to inform government policy on the matter.
- In 2015, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs constituted a research secretariat headed by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, to support the Companies Law Committee to make “informed decisions”.
- The National Institute of Financial Management is working with the Department of Economic Affairs to provide legal research and technical assistance on Indian and foreign financial markets, policy analysis, formulation as well as the conduct of impact assessment studies on decisions taken by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Consider the question “What is thought partnership and how it could help in making informed policymaking? What are the challenges in forging thought partnerships?”
Conclusion
It is in the public interest that more thought partnerships are forged and funded to channel external expertise and skills towards finding scalable solutions to the pressing policy challenges the country faces.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IGN, UNSC
Mains level: India's agenda at UNSC
Seeking urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), India has highlighted the failure of the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) since 13 years of its establishment.
Note various countries in the various groups.
What is the news?
- India, along with Brazil, Japan and Germany are pressing for urgent reform of the UNSC and for a permanent seat in the reformed 15-member top organ of the world body.
- India has said that the UNSC is finding itself unable to act effectively to address increasingly complex issues of international peace and security.
- The UNSC lacks inclusivity of those who need to be members of the powerful organ of the world body.
What is IGN?
- The Intergovernmental Negotiations framework or IGN is a group of nation-states working within the United Nations to further reform of the UNSC.
- The IGN is composed of several different international organizations, namely:
- African Union (55 member states)
- G4 nations (Brazil, Germany, India and Japan)
- Uniting for Consensus Group (UfC), also known as the “Coffee Club” (it aims to counter the bids for permanent seats proposed by G4 nations, includes Pakistan, Turkey, Canada, Spain and Italy)
- L69 Group of Developing Countries ( it includes developing countries from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific)
- Arab League (six members: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria) and
- Caribbean Community ( a group of 15 member countries called CARICOM)
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Non-price competition
Mains level: Data privacy issues
Data privacy can take the form of non-price competition and abuse of dominance can lower privacy protection, a study by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has said.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Right to Privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty. Which of the following in the Constitution of India correctly and appropriately imply the above statements?
(a) Article 14 and the provisions under the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution
(b) Article 17 and the Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV
(c) Article 21 and the freedoms guaranteed in Part III
(d) Article 24 and the provisions under the 44th Amendment to the Constitution
What is Non-price Competition?
- Non-price competition is a marketing strategy “in which one firm tries to distinguish its product or service from competing products on the basis of attributes like design and workmanship”.
- It often occurs in imperfectly competitive markets as it exists between two or more producers that sell goods and services at the same prices but compete through non-price measures.
- Such measures include marketing schemes and greater quality or any sustainable competitive advantage other than price.
What is CCI’s observation?
- The CCI study made observations about non-price factors such as quality of service (QoS), data speeds etc. which are likely to be the new drivers of competitive rivalry between service providers in the telecom sector.
- CCI noted that an aspect of data in the context of competition in digital communications market is the conflict between allowing access and protecting consumer privacy.
Privacy at stake
- Abuse of dominance can take the form of lowering the privacy protection and therefore fall within the ambit of antitrust as low privacy standard implies lack of consumer welfare.
- Privacy can take the form of non-price competition, said the CCI.
- On other non-price factors of competition, CCI found that consumers ranked network coverage at the top followed by customer service despite their Privacy.
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