Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- MTP (Amendment) Bill and issues with it
The article discusses the provision of the medical board in the MTP (Amendment) Act and issues with it.
Proposal of medical board
- The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill (‘MTP Bill’) passed in the Lok Sabha is scheduled to be tabled for consideration in Rajya Sabha.
- The Act prescribes the setting up of medical boards in every state and Union territory (UT), consisting of a gynaecologist, paediatrician, radiologist or sonologist and any other members as proposed by that state or UT.
- Each board will be responsible for diagnosing substantial foetal abnormalities that necessitate termination of pregnancy after a 24-week gestation period.
- Medical boards are a form of third-party authorisation and were not envisaged in the MTP Act, 1971.
Issues with the proposal
- In the context of the current healthcare budgetary challenges, this proposal to set up infrastructure across the country to regulate medical termination of pregnancies is both financially unsound and practically impossible.
- India’s healthcare system has neither the financial investment nor the infrastructure to sustain the operation and functioning of medical boards in every state and UT.
- Due to the weak healthcare infrastructure in the country, it would be practically impossible to constitute these boards with the requisite specialists.
- Even where they are set up, the accessibility of such boards for pregnant persons, especially those living in rural areas, remains a major challenge.
- More importantly, subjecting people to multiple invasive examinations is a grave violation of their rights to privacy and dignity.
- Requiring pregnant persons to navigate a bureaucratic web of authorisation will inevitably lead to delays and thereby impede access to safe and legal abortion services.
Poor public financing and privatisation of healthcare
- At 1.6 per cent of GDP in 2019-20 India’s current level of public financing of health is one of the lowest in the world
- This has meant that most health expenditure in the country is out of pocket (OOP) — borne by patients themselves.
- OOP expenditure on healthcare is recorded at 58.7 per cent as per the National Health Accounts in 2016-17.
- The central government has preferred to incentivise private players to set up or offer services, instead of building infrastructural and professional capacity.
- Privatisation drives up costs of care and the handing over of public facilities to the private sector can have catastrophic consequences.
- They additionally remain non-accountable to state authorities in terms of affordability or transparency for instance, through Right to Information enquiries, or to uphold fundamental rights like non-discrimination in treatment or employment, or even the fundamental right to health.
- The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO)’s 75th report shows that less than 20 per cent of the population is covered by health insurance in India.
- According to the National Health Profile 2017, India has only one doctor for roughly 10,200 people in the public sector.
Consider the question “Discsss the changes made by the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill and the challenges its provision could face.”
Conclusion
Poor public health infrastructure and absence of specialists across the country have meant that most abortions do not happen in the public sector, but at private centres or at home. With overwhelming shortfalls in specialist availability, especially in rural and scheduled areas, it would be impossible to constitute boards with requisite specialist representation as contemplated under the MTP Bill.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Foreign policy challenges India faces
The article explains the various choices India faces in the geopolitical landscape shaped by emergence of two Asian giants.
New challenges and hard choices on geopolitical front
- As it moves to becoming the third largest economy in the world, India needs to have a clear-eyed world view and strategy as it makes hard choices.
- It needs to reject the developing country regional mindset that has shaped India’s national aims and foreign policy.
- We have a “special and privileged strategic partnership” with Russia which provides more than three-quarter of India’s military equipment and a “comprehensive global strategic partnership” with the U.S.
- India’s relationship with the U.S.-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), where the others are military allies, has rightly been cautious, as U.S. President Joe Biden sees China as a ‘strategic competitor’ rather than a ‘strategic rival’.
- Realism dictates that India does not need to compromise on its strategic autonomy.
- India faces two sides of the China conundrum: Defining engagement with its neighbour which is consolidating an expanding BRI while remaining involved with the strategic, security and technological concerns of the U.S.
China’s dominance in financial sphere
- In the financial sphere, there is the real possibility of the Chinese renminbi becoming a global reserve currency or e-yuan becoming the digital payments currency.
- China is the world’s largest trading economy.
- It could soon become the world’s largest economy.
- China has stitched together an investment agreement with the EU and with most of Asia.
- Relative attractiveness will determine when the dollar goes the way of the sterling and the guilder.
- China, facing technological sanctions from the U.S., may well put in the hard work to make this happen soon.
China: Partner, competitor, and economic rival
- Some form of the EU’s China policy of seeing the emerging superpower as a partner, competitor, and economic rival depending on the policy area in question is going to be the global norm.
- This broad perspective is also reflected in India’s participation in both the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, designed to resist the spread of Western interests, and in the U.S.-led Quad, with its anti-China stance.
- Within the United Nations, India’s interests have greater congruence with China’s interests rather than the U.S.’s and the EU’s.
- Sharing the COVID-19 vaccine with other countries distinguishes India, and China, from the rest.
India’s engagement with the U.S.
- The congruence between India and the U.S. lies in the U.S.’s declared strategic objective of promoting an integrated economic development model in the Indo-Pacific as a credible alternative to the BRI, but with a caveat.
- Instead of an alternate development model, India should move the Quad towards supplementing the infrastructure push of the BRI in line with other strategic concerns in the region.
- For example, developing their scientific, technological capacity and digital economy, based on India’s digital stack and financial resources of other Quad members, will resonate with Asia and Africa.
India’s role in global governance
- Another area where India can play a ‘bridging role’ is global governance.
- President Xi Jinping’s “community with shared future for mankind”, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “climate justice” and asking how long India will be excluded from the UN Security Council, challenge the frame of the liberal order without providing specific alternatives.
- With respect to digital data, India has recently expressed that there must be reciprocity in data sharing, and this is the kind of ‘big idea’ for sharing prosperity that will gain traction with other countries.
India’s growing influence
- India’s recent policies are gaining influence at the expense of China and the West, and both know this trend will accelerate.
- The steps to a $5 trillion economy, shift to indigenous capital military equipment, and a new Science, Technology and Innovation Policy underline impact, capacity and interests.
- ASEAN remains keen India re-join its trade pact to balance China.
- It is being recognised that India’s software development prowess could shape a sustainable post-industrial state different to the U.S. and China model.
Consider the question “Examine how India’s foreing policy priorities and its role in global governance is shaped by China’s rise.”
Conclusion
As in the historical past, Asia is big enough for both Asian giants to have complementary roles, share prosperity and be independent of each other and of the West.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Rail Plan in the Budget
Mains level: Paper 3- National Rail Plan
The Budget unveiled the National Rail Plan 2030.
Key provision in the Budget for railways
- First, there is a National Rail Plan (NRP) for 2030.
- Second, the Western dedicated freight corridor (DFC) and the Eastern DFC will be commissioned by June 2022.
- Parts of DFC will be in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
- Third, there will be an East Coast corridor (Kharagpur to Vijaywada), an East-West corridor (Bhusaval to Kharagpur/Dankuni) and a North-South corridor (Itarsi to Vijayawada).
- Fourth, all broad-gauge routes will be electrified by December 2023.
- Fifth, there will be safety and passenger amenity measures.
National Rail Plan provisions
- The NRP is meant to increase the share of railways in freight, rectifying the pre-Independence and post-Independence bias
- It also aims to develop capacity that will cater to demand in 2050.
- It provides for mapping of the existing railway network on a GIS platform.
- The primary value addition of the NRP is an analysis of the existing network, with expected additions (such as the National Infrastructure Pipeline) also built in.
- NRP bases decision making on objective criteria.
Pricing and cross-subsidy issue
- In 2018-19, as per the NRP, India’s operating ratio (OR) was 0.59 for freight and 1.92 for passenger traffic.
- The problem is low passenger fares and artificially high freight rates required to cross-subsidise those.
- This is not the complete picture since normally, freight and passenger trains share common sections of track and passenger trains are given preference over goods trains in getting a path (route from point A to point B).
- Therefore, the average speed of a freight train is 24 km/hour — average speed is a surrogate indicator.
- A superior indicator is transit time — the time taken for a consignment to reach from one point to another.
Need for decreasing the cost and increasing the average speed
- Indian Railways has a system of HDN and HUN identification for the present network.
- HDNs are high-density routes.
- HUNs are highly-used networks with multiple origins and destinations and no clear single haul corridor.
- HUNs are primarily for passengers.
- For freight, HDNs are important.
- HDNs and HUNs carry 80 per cent of the traffic and there are sections where capacity utilisation is more than 100 per cent.
- With traffic increasing, capacity utilisation will worsen.
- If the intention is to increase rail share in the total freight carried to 44 per cent, the average speed must increase and costs must decline.
- With the Western and Eastern DFCs, both should happen.
Consider the question “What are the factors responsible for preventing the railways from realising its contribution in the development of the country. How far will the National Rail Plan help railways deal with these factors?”
Conclusion
The implementation of the NRP will help railways deal with the issues faced by it.
Back2Basics: Operating Ratio
- The operating ratio shows the efficiency of a company’s management by comparing the total operating expense of a company to net sales.
- An operating ratio that is decreasing is viewed as a positive sign, as it indicates that operating expenses are becoming an increasingly smaller percentage of net sales.
OR = (Operating Expenses + Cost of Goods Sold)/ Net sales
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Division vote
Mains level: Not Much
Parliament saw the first instance of division voting in times of the pandemic, with Major Ports Authorities Bill 2020 passed in Rajya Sabha as members voted through slips in view of social distancing norms in place.
What is the news?
- The Bill provides for the regulation of major ports and will replace the Major Port Trusts Act of 1963, and a board of Major Port Authority for each major port will replace the current port trusts.
- The Opposition has charged that the Bill is aimed at privatization of ports.
- Opposition members said the legislation would adversely affect states’ rights.
What is Division Voting?
- A motion is a binary question raised in Parliament for a decision to be taken by MPs.
- A division is a type of voting which records how each MP voted on a motion.
- There are three methods of holding a Division i.e.
- By operating the Automatic Vote Recorder
- By distributing ‘Ayes’ and ‘Noes’ slips in the House and
- By members going into the Lobbies
- However, the method of recording of votes in Lobbies has become obsolete ever since the installation of Automatic Vote Recording machine.
- This procedure has not been used for the last two decades
Not a usual practice
In spite of the advantages offered by division, it is not the default method of voting in Parliament.
- The division is only mandated for a set of motions which require a special majority of the house to be passed.
- For example, constitutional amendment bills have to be passed by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of the House “present and voting”.
- To ensure that this condition is fulfilled, a division is called for. On other occasions, individual MPs have to ask for a division.
- During the term of the last Lok Sabha (2014-19), voting by division was held only on 108 occasions. Only half of these were asked for by MPs, the other half related to constitutional amendment bills.
What is the preferred method?
- The preferred method for making decisions in Parliament is through a voice vote.
- In this method, MPs orally convey their agreement or disagreement to a motion.
- It clubs the individual decisions of MPs in one loud chorus of “Ayes” or “Noes”.
- Being an oral vote, it does not put on parliamentary record the stand of political parties and individual MPs on contentious political issues.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Breach of Priviliges in Legislation
Mains level: Parliamentary control
An MP has issued a breach of privilege notice against an MP from Bengal in the Lok Sabha.
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to the Parliament of India, which of the following Parliamentary Committees scrutinizes and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, by-laws etc. conferred by the constitution of delegated by the Parliament are being properly exercised by the Executive within the scope of such delegation?
(a) Committee on Government Assurances
(b) Committee on Subordinate Legislation
(c) Rules Committee
(d) Business Advisory Committee
What is the news?
- The accused MP has cast some aspersions with respect to the conduct of a judge.
- The question is whether the conduct of a judge can be discussed on the floor of the House or not.
- Article 121 of the Constitution does not allow allegations to be levelled against a sitting or a former judge.
Breach of Privilege
- The powers, privileges and immunities of either House of the Indian Parliament and of its Members and committees are laid down in Article 105 of the Constitution.
- Article 194 deals with the powers, privileges and immunities of the State Legislatures, their Members and their committees.
- Parliamentary privilege refers to the right and immunity enjoyed by legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties.
What constitutes a breach of this privilege?
- While the Constitution has accorded special privileges and powers to parliamentarians and legislators to maintain the dignity and authority of the Houses, these powers and privileges are not codified.
- Thus, there are no clear, notified rules to decide what constitutes a breach of privilege, and the punishment it attracts.
- Any act that obstructs or impedes either House of the state legislature in performing its functions, or which obstructs or impedes any Member or Officer of such House in the discharge of his duty, or has a tendency, directly or indirectly, to produce such results is treated as a breach of privilege.
- It is a breach of privilege and contempt to print or publish libel reflecting on the character or proceedings of the House or its Committees or on any member of the House for or relating to his character or conduct as a legislator.
Procedure followed in cases of an alleged breach
- The Legislative Assembly Speaker or Legislative Council Chairman constitutes a Privileges Committee consisting of 15 members in the Assembly and 11 members in the Council.
- The members to the committee which has quasi-judicial powers are nominated based on the party strength in the Houses.
- The Speaker or Chairman first decides on the motions.
- If the privilege and contempt are found prima facie, then the Speaker or Chairman will forward it to the Privileges Committee by following the due procedure.
- At present, there is no Privileges Committee in either House of the state legislature.
- The Committee will seek an explanation from all the concerned, will conduct an inquiry and will make a recommendation based on the findings to the state legislature for its consideration.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Crude oil prices dynamics
Mains level: India's oil import bill
The price of Brent crude crossed the $60 per barrel mark after over a year on the back of oil-producing countries maintaining production cuts due to lockdowns.
What is Crude Oil?
- Petroleum also known as crude oil and oil is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earth’s surface.
- It is commonly refined into various types of fuels.
- Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation, i.e. separation of a liquid mixture into fractions differing in boiling point by means of distillation, typically using a fractionating column.
- It consists of naturally occurring hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and may contain miscellaneous organic compounds.
- The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil.
Why has the price of crude oil risen sharply?
- Major oil-producing countries had cut oil production last year amid a sharp fall in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- However oil-producing countries have continued to limit production despite an increase in prices with Saud Arabia cutting its own oil production by 1 million barrels per day to strengthen crude oil prices.
- Expectations of strong improvements in demand with the global rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine have also put upward pressure on crude oil prices according to experts.
How will this impact India?
- The rise in the price of Brent crude will lead to an increase in India’s import bill.
- India imports of 80 per cent of its crude oil requirements and the average price of Indian basket of crude oil has already risen to $54.8 barrel for January.
- The upward move in crude prices will also put upward pressure on petrol and diesel prices across the country which is already at all-time highs.
Signs of no remedy
- The government had hiked central taxes on petrol and diesel by Rs 13 per litre and Rs 11 per litre in 2020 to boost revenues amid lower economic activity.
- The increase in taxes had prevented consumers from getting the benefit of low fuel prices as international prices crashed during the first quarter of last fiscal.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various labour laws
Mains level: 4-day work and its benefits
The Centre under its new labour codes would soon provide an option for organisations to allow their employees to work for four days in a week.
What is the news?
- The proposed new labour codes could provide companies with the flexibility of four working days in a week.
What does this mean?
- The working hour’s limit of 48 hours for a week will remain unchanged.
- This implies that there will be long working hours if the working days are reduced.
- Having a reduced number of working days does not mean a cut in paid holidays.
- Therefore, when the new rules will provide the flexibility of four working days, it would imply three paid holidays.
Roll out of the proposal
- The Ministry of Labour and Employment is likely to complete the process to finalise the rules for four labour codes soon.
- The provision of flexibility to have reduced working days of four days in the labour code rules will mean that companies will not require prior government nod to enact it.
Why such a move?
- The well-being of employees improves with less workload. Working parents can spare more time for the childcare.
- It helps the economy and the environment since power and fuel consumption is reduced.
Ahead of Labour reforms
- The ministry is in the final phase of amalgamating 44 central labour laws into four broad codes.
- The four Codes include- Code on Wages, Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) and Social Security Codes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Monsoon Mission
Mains level: Determinants of Indian Monsoon
Under the National Monsoon Mission (NMM), Ministry of Earth Sciences has developed the state-of-the-art weather and climate prediction models, which are now in operational use.
Tap to read about the mechanism of Indian Monsoon System at:
The Southwest Monsoon Season (Jun – Sep) | Part 1
National Monsoon Mission (NMM)
- Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) had launched NMM in 2012 with a vision to develop a state-of-the-art dynamical prediction system for monsoon rainfall on different time scales.
- The responsibility of execution and coordination of this mission is vested to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
- Climate Forecast System (CFS) of USA has been identified as the basic modelling system for the above purpose, as it is one of the best among the currently available coupled models.
Targets of NMM
- Development of a seamless prediction system using monsoon mission model, on different time scales, like Seasonal (for whole Monsoon season), extended-range (upto 4 weeks), short-range prediction (up-to 5days).
- Initiate and coordinate the working partnership between Indian and foreign institutes to develop a system for prediction of extremes and climate applications
- Develop and implement the system for climate applications having social impacts (such as agriculture, flood forecast, extreme events forecast, wind energy, etc.
- Advanced data assimilation system for preparing high-quality data for model predictions.
Achievements of NMM during the last 3 years
- Setting up of an advanced prediction system for Seasonal prediction; Extended range prediction and Very high-resolution Short-range prediction.
- Commissioning of a Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) for short and medium-range prediction at 12km.
- The Cyclone track and intensity prediction has also shown a steady improvement over the last three years.
- The operationalization of Monsoon Mission dynamical model (MMCFS) to prepare operational seasonal forecast of monsoon rainfall and temperatures during the hot and cold weather seasons over India.
- Development of an algorithm to monitor and predict the Monsoon Intra-seasonal Oscillations (MISO) and Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) on the extended range.
- Development of an index to predict the genesis and evolution of tropical cyclones and other cyclonic disturbances over the north Indian Ocean.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Shahtoot Dam
Mains level: India-Afghan relations
India and Afghanistan have signed an agreement to build the Shahtoot Dam in Kabul to provide drinking water facility in the Afghan capital.
Try this question from prelims 2020:
Consider the following pairs
| Sr. |
River |
|
Flows into |
| 1. |
Mekong |
— |
Andaman Sea |
| 2. |
Thames |
— |
Irish Sea |
| 3. |
Volga |
— |
Caspian Sea |
| 4. |
Zambezi |
— |
Indian Ocean |
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2 and 4 only
Shahtoot Dam
- It is a proposed dam in the Kabul river basin, one of the five river basins in Afghanistan.
- This project will provide drinking, irrigation and Environmental water for Kabul province.
- The dam will provide potable water to more than 2 million residents of Kabul, in addition to the irrigation of 4000 hectares of land in the district of Charasiab and Khairabad.
- The dam will also provide water for irrigation to nearby areas, rehabilitate the existing irrigation and drainage network and help in flood protection and management efforts.
- The project is expected to produce electricity for the region.
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