Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Bringing in the private capital in Indian railways
Context
On July 1, 2020, the Indian Railways launched the formal process of inviting private parties to run trains on the Indian railway system. Hopes of a large participation were belied as there were no bids for nine clusters and only two bids for three clusters.
Why current model of inviting private players to run trains has failed?
- Lack of equal relationship: IR wants the capital and technology without giving up control, while the concessioner wants a far more equal relationship to be moderated by a regulator.
- Constraints on efficient decision-making: IR has imposed constraints that prevent efficient decisions and adopted an organisational design that does not take into account the characteristics and associated risks that will determine outcomes and investment decisions.
- Lumpiness of investment: The biggest dampener is the lumpiness of investment before a single passenger can be carried.
- High risk involved: Train sets have to be purchased without really knowing how much traffic the service will be able to attract in the face of rising competition from airlines.
- IR does not guarantee the investor that, in case the concession fails, it will acquire the train sets.
- Absence of regulator: The other big dampener is the absence of a regulator for resolving disputes.
Suggestions
1) Remove the lumpiness of investment by establishing rolling stock company
- The central issue is how to align the three interests.
- 1) India’s need to be capable of designing and manufacturing state-of-the-art rolling stock.
- 2) IR’s need for private capital participation.
- 3) Private capital’s necessity of earning a profit.
- Establish a company to lease rolling stock: The above 3 interests can be aligned provided the lumpiness of investment in train sets can be eliminated by establishing a company that leases rolling stock not only to concessioners but also to IR.
- The rolling stock company, apart from leasing train sets, can also be the window for bringing in new technology.
- This will also enable reducing the concession period from 35 years to a more reasonable 10-15 years, bringing in competition.
- For starters, IRFC, which is already into leasing rolling stock, can be that company.
2) Bring in new technology by opening IR’s rolling stock market to international manufacturers
- There is need to move the rolling stock industry up the industrial value chain and bring about a structural change of the Indian economy.
- Long term arrangement with suppliers: This can only be brought about by a vision that encourages long-term arrangements with rolling stock suppliers.
- Open the market for global players: An arrangement that gives access to IR’s rolling stock market is the only way to compel global players to share technology and form joint ventures with Indian companies.
3) Investment in research
- Technology transfer requires understanding the critical elements of the technology and absorbing them into the design-production process.
- This calls for the investment of large sums of money and the involvement of universities, research institutes and national laboratories.
4) Make changes to attract private investors
- For attracting private players, the risks for the concessioners needs to be reduced.
- The period of the concession needs to be reduced to around 15 years.
- Establish regulator: There is a need to establish a regulator and moderate charges like the amount for the maintenance of tracks and stations.
Conclusion
With these changes, the plan may still take off. However, the initiative will remain limited to just running trains if there is no long-term vision.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Quad
Mains level: Paper 2- India-China relations
Context
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a surprise visit to Tibet on July 21, signalling the seriousness with which China continues to take its Himalayan border dispute with India.
Understanding China’s strategic challenges and intensions
- Demonstration of political confidence through aggression: More than a year after the clash at Galwan Valley, efforts to resolve the border crisis continue to move slowly.
- The Chinese side has previously failed to complete troop withdrawals and revert to the status quo that the Indian side believed China agreed to.
- China’s behaviour has been calculated to demonstrate political confidence.
- Worsening strategic environment for China: Seen from Beijing, the strategic environment for China is beginning to worsen in South and Central Asia.
- As the US withdraws and the Taliban advances in Afghanistan, China fears the prospect of instability and an emerging haven for terrorism directed against its policies in Xinjiang.
- Even as China seeks to scale back the debt-laden BRI, such instability may also result in Beijing increasing its already overstretched external commitments — particularly in the security domain.
- Re-emergence of Quad: China is deeply worried by the re-emergence and strengthening of multilateral opposition to China, and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or “Quad”) between the US, Japan, Australia and India.
- For China, this represents a persistent threat not only economically and in foreign policy, but also militarily along its maritime periphery in the South and East China Seas, as well as the Taiwan Strait.
- As US multilateral cooperation with its partners has increased, Beijing has come to increasingly see itself as beset by threats on all sides.
China’s 2 possible responses to strategic challenges and its implications for India
- 1) Wolf warrier diplomacy: So far, the response from China’s new class of “wolf warrior” diplomats to this emerging strategic challenge has been to only grow more assertive in rhetoric and behaviour.
- China’s domestic politics: Response of wolf warrior diplomats may seem perplexing, given that it has served only to alienate other countries and isolate China further.
- China’s domestic politics in the lead up to the 20th Congress will mean that its leaders, diplomats and generals will be displaying maximum nationalistic fervour.
- Implications for India: This may well mean China taking political and policy decisions, which in a normal season they would not because doing so could compromise Beijing’s longstanding diplomatic and strategic goals, including in dealings with India.
- 2) Moderate approach to improve strategic position: But if instead of aggressive posture, China decided that it was better domestic politics to improve China’s strategic position in Asia amid its competition with Washington, Beijing’s diplomats may yet adopt a more moderate approach, including with India.
- Implications for India: If stability can be restored to the China-India strategic relationship, this could provide a window for Asia’s two mega-economies to reopen their markets to each other.
Conclusion
Indeed, the choice China makes between these two alternatives will have implications for India and the rest of the world in their dealing with China.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UDAY
Mains level: Paper 3- Schemes for discoms and issues with them
Context
A recent report of Niti Aayog has assessed the losses of discoms to be about Rs 90,000 crore in 2020-21.
Central government schemes for discoms
- In 2001, the Accelerated Power Development Scheme was initiated.
- This was followed by various other schemes with some differences between them.
- The government had launched the UDAY scheme in 2015.
- UDAY did not involve any monetary assistance to the states, but only promised to help the states in reducing the cost of power through coal linkage rationalization, etc.
- Recently, the government launched a new scheme with a total outlay of around Rs 3.03 lakh crore.
- It seeks to improve the distribution infrastructure of the distribution companies (discoms) with the primary intention of improving their financial health.
- The objective of the scheme is to bring down commercial losses in the range of 12-15 percent and also reduce the difference between the average cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realized (ARR) to zero by 2024-25.
- The problem with all these schemes (including UDAY) is that they have not been delivered and the financial position of the discoms has only worsened.
Why did schemes fail to improve the financial health of discoms?
- Reduction of loss is a managerial issue: Reduction of commercial losses is not really about improving infrastructure, it is more of a managerial issue.
- The average loss (inclusive of technical and commercial) is about 22 percent today.
- But several discoms have losses in excess of 40 percent.
- It is possible to bring down losses from 40 percent to about 15 percent without any significant investments in infrastructure.
- Investments, however, would be required to bring down losses further to a single-digit level.
- The governance issues of the scheme is a complex issue.
- The two most popular parameters which are monitored are the loss levels and the difference between the ACS and ARR.
- There are inherent problems with these parameters since they keep fluctuating and it is very difficult to fathom their trend on a quarter-wise basis, rendering the release of funds to be tricky and cumbersome.
- In the scheme now announced by the government, about 26 parameters will be taken into consideration and assigned a score.
- For some of the parameters, it may be difficult to assign a score across discoms which may lead to some amount of subjectivity.
Way forward: Alternate approach
- Provide transitional financial support: An alternate approach that could be considered by the Centre (in lieu of such assistance schemes) is providing only transitional financial support to all discoms, which are privatized under the private-public partnership mode.
- A transitional support of Rs 3,450 crore spread over five years proved to be exceedingly beneficial in the case of discoms in Delhi.
- Promote privatization: Since in an earlier policy statement the government had mentioned that privatization of discoms is to be promoted, it would make sense to consider this transitional support as a catalyst.
Conclusion
Adopting this approach will ensure that the central government moves away from the micro-management of discoms, which inevitably happens if the release of funds is linked to reform-linked parameters on a quarter-wise basis.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 21A
Mains level: Minority welfare
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has recommended that Minority Schools be brought under Right to Education and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
What is the report?
- The report is titled “Impact of Exemption under Article 15 (5) with regards to Article 21A of the Constitution of India on Education of Children in Minority Communities”.
- It has assessed minority schools (schools run by minority organizations) in the country.
Key recommendations of the report
- Minority schools are exempt from implementing The Right to Education policy and do not fall under the government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
- Through this report, the NCPCR has recommended that these schools be brought under both RTE and SSA, amongst a host of other recommendations.
Developments in RTE
(1) 86th Constitutional Amendment (2002):
- In 2002, the 86th Amendment to the Constitution provided the Right to Education as a fundamental right.
- The same amendment inserted Article 21A, which made the RTE a fundamental right for children aged between six and 14 years.
- The passage of the amendment was followed by the launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) that aimed to provide “useful and relevant, elementary education’’ to all children between six and 14 years.
(2) 93rd Constitutional Amendment (2006):
- In 2006, the 93rd CAA inserted Clause (5) in Article 15.
- This enabled the State to create special provisions, such as reservations for the advancement of any backward classes of citizens like SCs and STs, in all aided or unaided educational institutes, except minority educational institutes.
(3) RTE Act (2009):
- The government subsequently brought the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which centers around inclusive education for all, making it mandatory to include underprivileged children in schools.
- Specifically, Section 12(1)(c) of the Act provided for a 25 percent reservation of seats in unaided schools for admission of children from economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups.
How are minority schools exempt from RTE and SSA?
- Article 30 of the Constitution states the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
- This article aims to provide opportunities to children from different religious and linguistic minority communities to have and conserve a distinct culture, script, and language.
- Subsequently, in 2012, through an amendment, the institutions imparting religious education were exempted from following the RTE Act.
- Later on, in 2014 (Pramati judgment), while discussing the validity of exemption under Article 15 (5), the Supreme Court declared the RTE Act inapplicable to schools with minority status.
- This was in the view that the Act should not interfere with the right of minorities to establish and administer institutions of their choice.
Why has the NCPCR carried out the study?
- The Commission’s objective was to assess the impact of this exemption of minority educational institutions from various guidelines that are mandatory for non-minority institutions.
- It opined that the different sets of rules under Article 21A, Article 30, and Article 15 (5) act as creating a conflicting picture between the fundamental rights of children and the rights of minority communities.
What are the findings of the report?
The Commission has observed in the report that many children who are enrolled in these institutions or schools were not able to enjoy the entitlements that other children are enjoying.
(1) Missionaries schools are elite cocoons
- It has been said that there have been certain detrimental effects of the exemption – on the one hand, there are schools, mostly Christian Missionary schools.
- Such schools are admitting only a certain class of students and leaving underprivileged children out of the system, thus becoming what the Commission has called “cocoons populated by elites’’.
(2) Minorities schools become overcrowded without facilities
- As opposed to this, other types of minority schools, in particular madrasas, have become “ghettos of underprivileged students languishing in backwardness’’ says the Commission.
- The Commission has said that students in madrasas that do not offer a secular course along with religious studies – such as the sciences – have fallen behind and feel a sense of alienation and “inferiority’’ when they leave school.
What are the findings with regards to madrasas?
There are four kinds of madrasas in India:
- Madrasas recognized by the government, which usually impart both religious as well as secular Courses, including the sciences has four percent Mulsim students (15.3 lakh) said the Sachar Committee report.
- There are 10,064 such madrasas in India and the Commission points out that these were the ones taken into consideration by the Sachar Committee when it said four percent of Mulsim students (15.3 lakh) studied in madrasas.
- There are unrecognized madrasas, which the government hasn’t recognized because they do not impart secular education or lack physical infrastructure, including the number and quality of teachers.
- Then, there are unmapped madrasas that have never applied for recognition and function in a more informal setup – there is no data on how many such madrasas exist and how many students study there.
Why bring them under RTE?
- The Commission believes this took place as schools wanted to operate outside the legal mandate to reserve seats for backward classes.
- RTE provides for norms pertaining to basic minimum infrastructure, a number of teachers, books, uniforms, Mid-day Meal, etc., that benefits students in minority schools have not been receiving.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Quality of Life for Elderly Index
Mains level: Old age security
Quality of Life for Elderly Index was released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
Quality of Life for Elderly Index
The Index has been created by the Institute for Competitiveness at the request of EAC-PM and it sheds light on an issue often not mentioned- problems faced by the elderly.
- The report identifies the regional patterns of ageing across the Indian States and assesses the overall ageing situation in India.
- The report presents a deeper insight into how well India is doing to support the well-being of its ageing population.
- The Index framework includes four pillars:
- Financial Well-being
- Social Well-being
- Health System and
- Income Security
- It has eight sub-pillars: Economic Empowerment, Educational Attainment & Employment, Social Status, Physical Security, Basic Health, Psychological Wellbeing, Social Security and Enabling Environment.
Features of the index
- This index broadens the way we understand the needs and opportunities of the elderly population in India.
- It goes far beyond the adequacy of pensions and other forms of income support, which, though critical, often narrows policy thinking and debate about the needs of this age group.
- The index highlights that the best way to improve the lives of the current and future generations of older people is by investing in health, education and employment for young people today.
Why need such an index?
- India is often portrayed as a young society, with a consequent demographic dividend.
- But, as with every country that goes through a fast process of demographic transition, India also has greying cum aging problem.
- Without a proper diagnostic tool to understand the implications of its ageing population, planning for the elderly can become a challenge for policymakers.
Key Highlights from the Report:
- The Health System pillar observes the highest national average, 66.97 at an all-India level, followed by 62.34 in Social Well-being.
- Financial Well-being observes a score of 44.7, which is lowered by the low performance of 21 States across the Education Attainment & Employment pillar, which showcases scope for improvement
- States have performed particularly worse in the Income Security pillar because over half of the States have a score below the national average, i.e., 33.03 in Income Security, which is the lowest across all pillars.
Performance of the states
- Among all the states, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are top-scoring regions in the aged states and relatively aged states categories.
- Rajasthan has a score of 54.61 in the aged states category while Himachal Pradesh has a score of 61.04 in relatively aged states.
- Mizoram has a score of 59.79 among northeastern states while Chandigarh scored 63.78 among the Union Territories.
- Jammu and Kashmir scored the lowest 46.16 among Union Territories.
- Arunachal Pradesh, among the northeastern states, scored the lowest score with 46.16.
- In the aged states and relatively aged states categories, Telangana and Gujarat scored the lowest with 38.19 and 49.00, respectively.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Creamy Layer
Mains level: Reservations for OBCs
A proposal for revision of the income criteria for determining the Creamy Layer amongst the OBCs is under consideration of the Government.
What is the Creamy Layer?
- Creamy Layer is a concept that sets a threshold within which OBC reservation benefits are applicable.
- While there is a 27% quota for OBCs in government jobs and higher educational institutions, those falling within the “creamy layer” cannot get the benefits of this quota.
Basis of Creamy Layer
- It is based on the recommendation of the Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission).
- The government in 1990 had notified 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in vacancies in civil posts and services that are to be filled on direct recruitment.
- After this was challenged, the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case (1992) upheld 27% reservation for OBCs, subject to exclusion of the creamy layer.
How is it determined?
- Following the order in Indra Sawhney, an expert committee headed by Justice (retired) R N Prasad was constituted for fixing the criteria for determining the creamy layer.
- In 1993, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) listed out various categories of people of certain rank/status/income whose children cannot avail the benefit of OBC reservation.
- For those not in government, the current threshold is an income of Rs 8 lakh per year.
- For children of government employees, the threshold is based on their parents’ rank and not income.
- For instance, an individual is considered to fall within the creamy layer if either of his or her parents is in a constitutional post; if either parent has been directly recruited in Group-A; or if both parents are in Group-B services.
- If the parents enter Group-A through promotion before the age of 40, their children will be in the creamy layer.
- Children of a Colonel or higher-ranked officer in the Army, and children of officers of similar ranks in the Navy and Air Force, too, come under the creamy layer.
- Income from salaries or agricultural land is not clubbed while determining the creamy layer (2004).
What is happening now?
- MPs have raised questions about the pending proposal for revising the criteria.
- They have asked whether the provision of a creamy layer for government services only for OBC candidates is rational and justified.
Has it ever been revised?
- Other than the income limit, the current definition of the creamy layer remains the same as the DoPT had spelled out in 1993 and 2004.
- The income limit has been revised over the years.
- No other orders for the definition of the creamy layer have been issued.
- While the DoPT had stipulated that it would be revised every three years, the first revision since 1993 (Rs 1 lakh per year) happened only in 2004 (Rs 2.50 lakh), 2008 (Rs 4.50 lakh), 2013 (Rs 6 lakh), and 2017 (Rs 8 lakh).
- It is now more than three years since the last revision.
What does the government propose to do about the revision?
- A draft Cabinet note has stated that the creamy layer will be determined on all income, including salary calculated for income tax, but not agriculture income.
- The government is considering a consensus on Rs 12 lakh but salary and agriculture income are also being added to the gross annual income.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FEMBoSA
Mains level: Not Much
The Election Commission of India has handed over the Chair of FEMBoSA to the Election Commission of Bhutan for 2021-22.
What is FEMBoSA?
- Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) was established at the 3rd Conference of Heads of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of SAARC Countries in 2012.
- The forum aims to increase mutual cooperation with respect to the common interests of the SAARC’s EMBs.
- The Forum has eight Member Election Management Bodies from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
- The Election Commission of India was the latest Chair of the Forum (now Bhutan).
Its establishment
- The first meeting of the representatives of Election Management Bodies of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in the year 2010.
- It was then decided at the conclusion that an organization representing those countries should be established.
- Consequently, annual meets were held in the member countries and the charter for the organization also was adopted with the aim of fulfilling the objectives of the organization.
- Since the creation of FEMBoSA, Annual Meetings were held in Pakistan (2011), in India (2012), in Bhutan (2013), in Nepal (2014), in Sri Lanka (2015), in Maldives (2016), in Afghanistan (2017) and in Bangladesh(2018).
Objectives of FEMBOSA
- Promote contact among the Election Management Bodies of SAARC countries
- Facilitate the appropriate exchange of experience and expertise among members
- Share experiences with a view to learning from each other
- Foster efficiency and effectiveness in conducting the free, fair, transparent, and participative election
Significant activities under FEMBoSA
- Member organizations celebrate National Voter’s Day in a calendar year in their respective countries
- An initiative of establishing South Asia Institute for Democracy and Electoral Studies (SAIDES) in Nepal
- In order to increase knowledge related to elections, take initiatives to include voter education in the school-level textbooks of their respective countries
- Implementation of recommendations of South Asian Disabilities Organizations for the inclusion of disabled people in the electoral system and the creation of a suitable election environment
Back2Basics: SAARC
- In 1985, at the height of the Cold War, leaders of South Asian nations — namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka — created a regional forum.
- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the goal of contributing “to mutual trust, understanding, and appreciation of one another’s problems.”
- Afghanistan was admitted as a member in 2007.
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