Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission ‘Lal Lakir’
Mains level: Not Much
The Punjab state cabinet has approved the implementation of mission ‘Lal Lakir’.
Try this MCQ:
Q.The SVAMITVA Scheme sometimes seen in the news is related to:
Urban Employment/ Land records management/ Child Adoption/ None of these
Mission ‘Lal Lakir’
- ‘Lal Lakir’ refers to land that is part of the village ‘abaadi’ (habitation) and is used for non-agriculture purposes only.
- The mission is aimed at facilitating villagers to monetize property rights and availing benefits provided by government departments, institutions and banks in all villages across the state.
- As no record of rights is available for such properties within the ‘Lal Lakir’, the same cannot currently be monetized as per the real value of the property and no mortgages can be created on such properties.
- There are households within the ‘Lal Lakir’, which do not own property other than the areas within the ‘Lal Lakir’, and are thus at a disadvantage.
An extension to SVAMITVA
- Under the mission, the right of record of properties within ‘Lal Lakir’ in the villages of the state will be prepared with the cooperation of the government of India under the SVAMITVA scheme.
- SVAMITVA stands for Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas.
- This will enable mapping the land, households, habitation and all other areas falling within ‘Lal Lakir’.
- It will go a long way in improving the living standard of villagers and boosting their self-esteem.
Back2Basics: SVAMITVA
- SVAMITVA stands for Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas.
- Under the scheme, the latest surveying technology such as drones will be used for measuring the inhabited land in villages and rural areas.
- The mapping and survey will be conducted in collaboration with the Survey of India, State Revenue Department and State Panchayati Raj Department under the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
- The drones will draw the digital map of every property falling in the geographical limit of each Indian village.
- Property Cards will be prepared and given to the respective owners.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Life under Antarctic
Mains level: Not Much
Researchers have accidentally discovered living under the ice shelves of the Antarctic — in extremely cold and harsh conditions.
Life beneath the Antarctic
- Scientists have discovered sessile sponges — a pore bearing multicellular organism and other alien species — attached to the sides of rock beneath the ice sheets.
- The unidentified species are estimated to be related to sponges, ascidians (sea squirts), hydroids, barnacles, cnidarian or polychaete. All of these look like bristle worms.
- Scientists are yet to discover how these organisms access food.
- They would use Environment Deoxyribonucleic acid (e-DNA) technology in future to identify the organisms.
Organisms discovered
Sponges
- Sponges are the members of the phylum Porifera.
- They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them, consisting of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells.
Ascidians
- Ascidians, or sea squirts, are invertebrate chordates that belong to the earliest branch in the chordate phylum.
- Ascidians are found all over the world, usually in shallow water with salinities over 2.5%.
Hydroids
- Hydroids are a life stage for most animals of the class Hydrozoa, small predators related to jellyfish.
- Some hydroids such as the freshwater Hydra are solitary, with the polyp attached directly to the substrate.
Barnacles
- Barnacles are a highly specialized group of crustaceans.
- A barnacle is a type of arthropod related to crabs and lobsters.
Cnidarians
- Cnidarians, also called coelenterate, any member of the phylum Cnidaria (Coelenterata), a group made up of more than 9,000 living species.
- Mostly marine animals, the cnidarians include the corals, hydras, jellyfish, Portuguese men-of-war, sea anemones, sea pens, sea whips, and sea fans.
Now take this chance to revise your biology basics on various phyla. It will be beneficial for state PSC exams. UPSC has also begun puzzling us on core biology questions.
Defying old theories
- The discovery has left many of them baffled for it contradicts earlier theories of non-survival of life in such extreme conditions.
- Until now, scientists believed that sea life decreased with an increase in the depth of the Antarctic ice floor.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Making businesses recognise their carbon footprint
The article explains the global trend in investors and lendors are demanding companies to recognise their impact on environment and act on it.
Accountability on climate change: global trend
- There is a wave of investors pushing large corporations from across sectors, to recognise their carbon footprint and take affirmative action.
- Aviva, the British insurance company announced it would divest stock and bond holdings in 30 of the biggest corporate emitters of carbon, if their boards failed to take affirmative action over climate change.
- MPs in the United Kingdom called on the Bank of England to ratchet up environment standards in its pandemic stabilising, corporate bond programme.
- Swedbank AB, Sweden’s biggest mortgage bank, has taken a decision not to provide fresh loans to new oil and gas projects.
Companies realising social and environmental impacts
- Several large and growing companies, especially in Europe, are realising their social and environmental impacts and making it a boardroom agenda even without investor guns on their heads.
- Schneider Electric, the energy management and automation company, has embedded environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into every facet of its activities.
- The company climbed from 29th to number 1 rank in the 2021 Global 100 ranking in the Corporate Knights index of the world’s most sustainable companies.
- Only one company from India, Tech Mahindra, has made it to the world’s 100 most sustainable list.
Indian scenario
- Indian institutional lenders and investors are simply not demanding enough on sustainability.
- A majority of Indian companies are only meeting compliance norms set out by various state or city authorities.
- Rarely do they go beyond rule-based compliances and implement environment, social and governance or ESG goals with purpose and passion like their European counterparts.
Way forward
- SEBI is putting the final touches on the Business Responsibility and Environment Reporting (BRSR) guidelines.
- The new ESG reporting norm will apply to the top 1,000 listed companies on Indian exchanges.
- Under BRSR reporting guidelines, companies will have to declare their R&D spends on improving environmental and social outcomes.
- They will have to disclose energy and water consumed to turnover ratios, and the percentage of recycled or reused input materials, among many other social and governance disclosures such as CSR, employee skilling and gender diversity.
- It’s time for lending institutions and investors to align with SEBI and use their muscle to drive a deeper change.
Consider the question “Indian institutional lenders and investors are not demanding enough on sustainability from the companies. Rarely do they go beyond rule-based compliances and implement environment, social and governance or ESG goals with purpose and passion like their European counterparts. In light of this, suggest the measures to nudge the businesseses to act on their environmental responsibilities.”
Conclusion
Stepping up green standards to meet Paris Climate Agreement goals cannot be the government’s responsibility alone. Businesses must be part of the movement, or the target of containing global warming to less than 1.5 degrees of pre-industrial levels, will remain elusive.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Catalysing accountability and creative governance in local government
The article explains the innovative approach adopted by the Fifteenth Finance Commission in devolution of funds.
Steep hike in grants
- Local governments are the closest to the people at the grassroots level.
- They provide critical civic amenities such as roads, water and sanitation, and primary education and health.
- With this in view, the Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) has recommended grants of Rs 4,36,361 crore from the Union government to local governments for 2021-26.
- This is an increase of 52 per cent over the corresponding grant of Rs 2,87,436 crore by its predecessor for 2015-20.
Innovation in recommendations
1) Scaling of capacities in municipalities
- The Commission has recommended Rs 8,000 crore as performance-based grants for incubation of new cities and Rs 450 crore for shared municipal services.
- This is designed to foster innovations in urban governance to transform our cities with speed and scale.
- There is an urgent need for synergistically combined area-based development to spur economic growth and job creation, and decongesting through the development of satellite townships.
- Separately, the massive scaling of capacities in municipalities, particularly the 4,000-odd smaller ones, cannot be done by building capacities in each one of them, but through institutional and technological innovations, without compromising their autonomy.
- The shared municipal services model, with mobile internet, maps, platform thinking, and outsourced services all taken together, can help us fast-track the creation of municipal capacities at scale.
- This is one of the innovations in the FFC recommendations.
2) Allocation covers all three tiers of panchayats
- Of grants for all local governments with 90 per cent weightage on population and 10 per cent on area remains unchanged from the Fourteenth Finance Commission.
- For panchayats, the FFC allocations cover all the three tiers — village, block, and district — as well as the Excluded Areas in a state exempted from the purview of Part IX and Part IX-A of the Constitution.
- Funds to all three can improve functional coordination and facilitate the creation of assets collectively across smaller jurisdictions.
- This is the second new aspect of the FFC recommendations.
3) Focus on metropolitan governance
- The FFC calls for a focus on urban agglomerations (UAs) that include urban local bodies, census towns and outgrowths.
- In 2011, out of the total urban population of 377 million, 61 per cent lived in UAs.
- The FFC has emphasised the need to focus on the complex challenges of air quality, drinking water supply, sanitation, and solid waste management in the million-plus UAs and cities.
- Thus, for 2021-26, there is a Million-plus Challenge Fund of Rs 38,196 crore that can be accessed by million-plus cities only through adequate improvements in their air quality and meeting service level benchmarks for drinking water supply, sanitation, and solid waste management.
- This focus on metropolitan governance through substantive but 100 per cent outcome-based grants is the third innovation.
- For ULBs other than the million-plus category, the total grants are Rs 82,859 crore.
- The grants to local governments, both urban (less than a million category) and rural, contain a mix of basic, tied as well as performance grants.
4) Entry-level conditions
- The efficiency, smooth functioning and accountability of local bodies have been plagued by:
- (i) lack of readily accessible and timely audited accounts,
- (ii) absence of timely recommendations of State Finance Commissions and suitable actions thereon,
- (iii) inadequate mobilisation of property tax revenues (especially in ULBs).
- Finance Commissions in the past have drawn pointed attention to these issues, but with limited success.
- These entry-level conditions for availing any grants and their applicability to all local governments is the fourth innovation.
Consider the question “Examine the innovative approach adopted by the Fifteenth Finance Commission for the devolution of funds to panchayats and municipal bodies.”
Conclusion
Hopefully, over the next five years, through a partnership among the Union, states, and local governments, in the spirit of cooperative federalism, these recommendations and innovations will catalyse progress in the accountability and effectiveness of local governments in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various missions on Mars
Mains level: Mars mission worldwide and their success
NASA’s rover Perseverance, the most advanced astrobiology laboratory ever sent to another world has landed safely on the floor of Jezero Crater on Mars.
Last week, separate probes launched by the UAE (Hope Mission) and China (Tianwen-1) reached Martian orbit. NASA has three Mars satellites still in orbit, along with two from the European Space Agency.
Perseverance Rover
- The Perseverance rover weighs less than 2,300 pounds and is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.
- It is a part of the mission named ‘Mars 2020’.
- The rover’s mission will be to search for signs of past microbial life. It will also collect samples of Martian rocks and dust, according to the release.
- All of NASA’s previous Mars rovers — including the Sojourner (1997), Spirit and Opportunity (2004) and Curiosity (exploring Mars since 2012) — were named in this way.
Objectives of the mission
- Looking for habitability: identify past environments capable of supporting microbial life.
- Seeking bio-signatures: seek signs of possible past microbial life in those habitable environments, particularly in special rocks known to preserve signs over time.
- Caching samples: collect core rock and regolith (“soil”) samples and store them on the Martian surface.
- Preparing for humans: test oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere.
Major components
(a) Looking for underground water
- Perseverance will carry the Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX).
- The instrument will look for subsurface water on Mars – which, if found, will greatly help the case for a human mission or the cause of a human settlement on Mars.
(b) Testing a helicopter
- The Mars Helicopter is a small drone. It is a technology demonstration experiment: to test whether the helicopter can fly in the sparse atmosphere on Mars.
- The low density of the Martian atmosphere makes the odds of actually flying a helicopter or an aircraft on Mars very low.
(c) Producing oxygen on Mars
- Perseverance will have an instrument – MOXIE, or Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment – that will use 300 watts of power to produce about 10 grams of oxygen using atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Should this experiment be successful, MOXIE can be scaled up by a factor of 100 to provide the two very critical needs of humans: oxygen for breathing, and rocket fuel for the trip back to Earth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: India Energy Outlook Report, 2021
Mains level: India energy sector
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has recently released the India Energy Outlook 2021 report.
Try this MCQ:
Q.The Global Energy Transition Index recently seen in news is released by:
a) International Energy Agency (IEA)
b) World Economic Forum (WEF)
c) International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
d) International Solar Alliance
Highlights of the India Energy Outlook Report
(1) Energy consumption
- India at present is the fourth-largest global energy consumer behind China, the United States and the European Union.
- It will overtake the European Union as the world’s third-largest energy consumer by 2030.
- It will account for the biggest share of energy demand growth over the next two decades.
(2) Energy demand
- India accounts for nearly one-quarter of global energy demand growth from 2019-40 — the largest for any country.
- Its share in the growth in renewable energy is the second-largest in the world, after China.
- A five-fold increase in per capita car ownership will result in India leading the oil demand growth in the world.
- Also, it will become the fastest-growing market for natural gas, with demand more than tripling by 2040.
(3) Industrial consumption
- By 2040, India is set to account for almost 20 per cent of global growth in industrial value-added, and to lead global growth in industrial final energy consumption, especially in steelmaking.
- The nation accounts for nearly one-third of global industrial energy demand growth to 2040.
(4) Dependence on fossil fuels
- To meet its energy needs, India will be more reliant on fossil fuel imports as its domestic oil and gas production stagnates.
- India’s oil demand is seen rising by rising by 74 per cent to 8.7 million barrels per day by 2040 under the existing policies scenario.
- The natural gas requirement is projected to more than triple to 201 billion cubic meters and coal demand is seen rising to 772 million tonnes in 2040 from the current 590.
(5) Coal trade
- India currently accounts for 16 per cent of the global coal trade.
- Many global coal suppliers were counting on growth in India to underpin planned export-oriented mining investments.
(6) Per-capita emission
- On a per-capita basis, India’s energy use and emissions are less than half the world average, as are other key indicators such as vehicle ownership, steel and cement output.
- India will soon become the world’s most populous country, adding the equivalent of a city the size of Los Angeles to its urban population each year.
About International Energy Agency
- The IEA is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis.
- It was initially dedicated to responding to physical disruptions in the supply of oil, as well as serving as an information source on statistics about the international oil market and other energy sectors.
- At the end of July 2009, IEA member countries held a combined stockpile of almost 4.3 billion barrels of oil.
- They are required to maintain total oil stock levels equivalent to at least 90 days of the previous year’s net imports.
- The IEA acts as a policy adviser to its member states but also works with non-member countries, especially China, India, and Russia.
- The Agency’s mandate has broadened to focus on the “3Es” of effectual energy policy: energy security, economic development, and environmental protection.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Willingness to pay mechanism
Mains level: Air pollution in Delhi
Air pollution claimed approximately 54,000 lives in Delhi in 2020, according to a Greenpeace Southeast Asia analysis of the cost to the economy due to air pollution.
Try this question from CS Mains 2015:
Q.Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three megacities of the country but the air pollution is a much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so?
Deaths due to Air Pollution
- Globally, approximately 1,60,000 deaths have been attributed to PM 2.5 air pollution in the five most populous cities — Delhi, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo.
- Six Indian cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Lucknow — feature in the global analysis.
- An estimated 25,000 avoidable deaths in Mumbai in 2020 have been attributed to air pollution.
- Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad estimated an approximate 12,000, 11,000, and 11,000 avoidable deaths respectively due to polluted air.
The ‘Cost Estimator’
- The ‘Cost Estimator’, an online tool that estimates the real-time health impact and economic cost from fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) air pollution in major world cities.
- It was deployed in collaboration between Greenpeace Southeast Asia, IQAir and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
- Using real-time ground-level PM 2.5 measurements collated in IQAir’s database, the algorithm applies scientific risk models in combination with population and public health data.
Computing the “Lost Years”
- To show the impact of air pollution-related deaths on the economy, the approach used by Greenpeace is called ‘willingness-to-pay.
- It refers to a lost life year or a year lived with a disability is converted to money by the amount that people are willing to pay in order to avoid this negative outcome.
- The cost estimator also sustained the estimated air pollution-related economic losses of ₹1,23,65,15,40,000.
Greenpeace recommends-
- Despite a temporary reprieve in air quality owing to the lockdown, the latest figures from the report underscore the need to act immediately.
- The need of the hour is to rapidly scale up renewable energy, bring an end to fossil fuel emissions and boost sustainable and accessible transport systems.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tree Cities of the World
Mains level: Urban forestry
Hyderabad city has received another feather in its cap by being chosen as one among the ‘Tree Cities of the World’.
Tree Cities of the World
- The Tree Cities of the World programme is an international effort to recognize cities and towns committed to ensuring that their urban forests and trees are properly maintained, sustainably managed, and duly celebrated.
- This status is accorded by the Arbor Day Foundation jointly with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN.
- To receive recognition, a town or city must meet five core standards:
- Establish Responsibility
- Set the Rules
- Know What You Have
- Allocate the Resources and
- Celebrate the Achievements
Try this question:
Q.The Miyawaki Forests technique has to potential to revolutionize the concept of urban afforestation in India. Discuss.
Why it is a great achievement?
- Hyderabad is the only city in the country to have been selected for this recognition in response to its commitment to growing and maintaining urban forestry.
- The recognition stands Hyderabad alongside 120 cities from 23 countries, including developed nations such as USA, UK, Canada, Australia and others.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Blue Economy
Mains level: Blue Economy and its contribution to GDP
The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has rolled out the Draft Blue Economy policy for India in the public domain inviting suggestions and inputs from various stakeholders.
Blue Economy Policy
- India’s draft blue economy policy is envisaged as a crucial framework towards unlocking country’s potential for economic growth and welfare.
- The draft policy outlines the vision and strategy that can be adopted by the govt to utilize the plethora of oceanic resources available in the country.
Objectives:
The policy aims to-
- Enhance the contribution of the blue economy to India’s GDP
- Improve the lives of coastal communities
- Preserve marine biodiversity and
- Maintain the national security of marine areas and resources
What comprises India’s blue economy?
- India’s blue economy is understood as a subset of the national economy.
- It comprises an entire ocean resources system and human-made economic infrastructure in marine, maritime, and onshore coastal zones within the country’s legal jurisdiction.
- It aids the production of goods and services that have clear linkages with economic growth, environmental sustainability, and national security.
- The blue economy is a vast socio-economic opportunity for coastal nations like India to utilize ocean resources for societal benefit responsibly.
Need for such policy
- With a coastline of nearly 7.5 thousand kilometres, India has a unique maritime position.
- Nine of its 29 states are coastal, and the nation’s geography includes 1,382 islands.
- There are nearly 199 ports, including 12 major ports that handle approximately 1,400 million tons of cargo each year.
- Moreover, India’s Exclusive Economic Zone of over 2 million square kilometres has a bounty of living and non-living resources with significant recoverable resources such as crude oil and natural gas.
- Also, the coastal economy sustains over 4 million fisherfolk and coastal communities.
Key areas
The policy recognizes the following seven thematic areas.
- National accounting framework for the blue economy and ocean governance.
- Coastal marine spatial planning and tourism.
- Marine fisheries, aquaculture, and fish processing.
- Manufacturing, emerging industries, trade, technology, services, and skill development.
- Logistics, infrastructure and shipping, including trans-shipments.
- Coastal and deep-sea mining and offshore energy.
- Security, strategic dimensions, and international engagement.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Skill education in India
The article deals with state of the education and its relation with employment in India.
Improving higher education system
- Improving India’s higher education justice and worker productivity needs the broadening of our education ambition.
- Our focus on Gross Enrollment Ratio should also be anchored to Employed Learner Ratio -proportion of our 55 crore labour force in formal learning.
- For enrolling five crore new employed learners, India needs five regulatory changes.
Reflecting on global and domestic education experience
- Multi-decade structural changes include organisations that are less hierarchical, lower longevity, shorter employee tenures, higher competition.
- There is also change in the form of work: capitalism without capital, soft skills valued more than hard skills, 30 per cent working from home etc.
- There change in the form of education in which Google knows everything, so tacit knowledge is more valuable than codified or embedded knowledge.
- These shifts are complicated by a new world of politics, third-party financing viability, and fee inflation.
India faces financing failure in skill
- We have 3.8 crore students in 1,000-plus universities and 50,000-plus colleges.
- We confront a financing failure in skills:
- Employers are not willing to pay for training of candidates but a premium for trained candidates.
- Candidates are not willing to pay for training but for jobs.
- Financiers are unwilling to lend unless a job is guaranteed, and training institutions can’t fill their classrooms.
Steps need to be taken
- For many people the income support of learning-while-earning is crucial to raising enrollment.
- Many students lack employability and workers lack productivity because learning is supply-driven.
- Learning-by-doing ensures demand-driven learning.
- The de facto ban on online degree learning with only seven of our 1,000-plus universities licensed for online offerings.
- That needs to be changed.
- High regulatory hurdles creates an adverse selection among entrepreneurs running educational institutions.
Five regulatory changes
- First, modify Part 3 of the UGC Act 1956 and Part 8 of the UGC Act to include skill universities.
- Second, remove clauses 3(A), 3(B), and clause 5 of UGC ODL and Online Regulations 2020 and replace them with a blanket and automatic approval for all accredited universities to design, develop and deliver their online programmes.
- Third, modify clause 4(C)(ii) of UGC online regulations 2020 to allow innovation, flexibility, and relevance in an online curriculum as prescribed in Annex 1-(V)-3-i) that allows universities to work closely with industry on their list of courses.
- Fourth, modify clauses 13(C)(3), 13(C)(5), 13(C)(7), 18(2) of UGC online regulations 2020 to permit universities to create partner ecosystems for world-class online learning services, platforms, and experience.
- Fifth, introduce Universities in clause 2 of the Apprentices Act 1961 to enable all accredited universities to introduce, administer and scale all aspects of degree apprenticeship programs.
- These five changes would enable enrolling five crore incremental employed learner.
Conclusion
Reforming education requires thinking horizontally, holistically, and imaginatively. The reforms suggested here should be carried out considering these aspects.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Issues of the informal workforce
The article highlights the vulnerabilities of workers in the informal sector and also highlights the issues in the draft rules in the labour codes.
Context
- The budget referred to the implementation of the four labour codes.
- There is also a provision of Rs 15,700 crore for MSMEs, more than double of this year’s budget estimate.
Impact of pandemic on informal workers
- India’s estimated 450 million informal workers comprise 90 per cent of its total workforce, with 5-10 million workers added annually.
- Nearly 40 per cent of these employed with MSMEs.
- According to Oxfam’s latest global report, out of the total 122 million who lost their jobs in 2020, 75 per cent were lost in the informal sector.
- The National Human Rights Commission recorded over 2,582 cases of human rights violation as early as April 2020.
Issues with the draft rules in labour code
- The rush to clear the labour codes and form the draft rules shows little to no intent on part of the government to safeguard workers.
- The draft rules envisage wider coverage through the inclusion of informal sector and gig workers, at present the draft rules apply to manufacturing firms with over 299 workers.
- This leaves 71 per cent of manufacturing companies out of its purview.
- The draft rules mandate the registration of all workers (with Aadhaar cards) on the Shram Suvidha Portal to be able to receive any form of social security benefit.
- This would lead to Aadhaar-driven exclusion and workers will be unable to register on their own due to lack of information on the Aadhaar registration processes.
- A foreseeable challenge is updating information on the online portal at regular intervals, especially by the migrant or seasonal labour force.
- It is also unclear as to how these benefits will be applicable in the larger scheme of things.
Neglect of informal sector
- The draft rules fail to cater to the growing informal workforce in India.
- The growing informal nature of the workforce and the lack of the state’s accountability makes it a breeding ground for rising inequality.
- The workers face the risk of violations of their human and labour rights, dignity of livelihood, unsafe and unregulated working conditions and lower wages.
Consider the question “Assess the impact of covid pandemic on workers in the informal sector. Also examine the issues with the draft rules in the labour code.”
Conclusion
The Code on Social Security was envisaged as a legal protective measure for a large number of informal workers in India but unless the labour codes are made and implemented keeping in mind the realities of the informal sector workers, it will become impossible to bridge the inequality gap.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Criminal Defamation
Mains level: Women safety issues
The Delhi High Court has dismissed former Union Ministers’ criminal defamation complaint against a famous journalist over her tweets accusing him of sexual harassment.
What is the #MeToo Movement?
- The #MeToo movement, with variations of related local or international names, is a social movement against sexual abuse and sexual harassment towards women, where people publicize allegations of sex crimes.
- The phrase “Me Too” was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual harassment survivor and activist Tarana Burke in the US.
- It is aimed at demonstrating how many women have survived sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.
You must know this!
The Vishaka Guidelines were a set of procedural guidelines for use in India in cases of sexual harassment. They were promulgated by the Indian Supreme Court in 1997 and were superseded in 2013 by the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
What did the court say?
- Women have the right to put their grievances at any platform of their choice and even after decades.
- The court also rejected the argument that the former union minister was a man of a stellar reputation.
What is the case?
- The former minister had filed a criminal defamation case against the person in October 2018 since she did not produce any proof.
- The criminal case was initiated to create a chilling effect against women who spoke out about their experience of sexual harassments.
Legal backing of the acquittal
- Criminal defamation is defined in Section 499 of the IPC as making or publishing any imputation about a person intending to harm, or knowing it will harm the reputation of a person.
- Any statement or article criticizing a person or accusing them of any sort of problematic behaviour will obviously lower their reputation.
- Hence this is always emphasised in legal notices and complaints to courts alleging defamation.
- However, the law recognizes that a person’s reputation can’t be a shield against their own bad behaviour and that there can be various circumstances when outing this bad behaviour is in the public interest.
- This is why Section 499 of the IPC also prescribes several exceptions to claims of defamation.
Is it a win for the survivors?
- It should be noted that this does not necessarily mean that a corresponding criminal case for sexual harassment against the man would be successful.
- This is because the allegations of harassment would have to be proved against the man beyond all reasonable doubt.
- Therefore even though the present defence of truth was accepted by Delhi HC, this would not guarantee that the former minister would be convicted, as the standard of proof is different.
Conclusion
- This judgement will set an example for the reluctant or other ousted women who are willing to revisit the cases of sexual misconduct against them.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Money Bill , Art 110
Mains level: Money Bill- Finance Bill issue
In a pre-emptive move, the opposition has written to Lok Sabha Speaker, urging him not to bypass the Rajya Sabha by declaring key Bills as “money bills”.
What is a Money Bill?
- A money bill is defined by Article 110 of the Constitution, as a draft law that contains only provisions that deal with all or any of the matters listed therein.
- These comprise a set of seven features, broadly including items such as-
- Imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax
- Regulation of the borrowing of money by the GOI
- Custody of the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) or the Contingency Fund of India, the payment of money into or the withdrawal of money from any such fund
- Appropriation of money out of the CFI
- Declaration of any expenditure charged on the CFI or increasing the amount of any such expenditure
- Receipt of money on account of the CFI or the public account of India or the custody or issue of such money, or the audit of the accounts of the Union or of a state
- Any matter incidental to any of the matters specified above.
Who controls such bills?
- In the event proposed legislation contains other features, ones that are not merely incidental to the items specifically outlined, such a draft law cannot be classified as a money bill.
- Article 110 further clarifies that in cases where a dispute arises over whether a bill is a money bill or not, the Lok Sabha Speaker’s decision on the issue shall be considered final.
What surrounds the ‘Money Bill’ controversy?
- While all Money Bills are Financial Bills, all Financial Bills are not Money Bills.
- For example, the Finance Bill which only contains provisions related to tax proposals would be a Money Bill.
- However, a Bill that contains some provisions related to taxation or expenditure, but also covers other matters would be considered a Financial Bill.
- Again, the procedure for the passage of the two bills varies significantly. The Rajya Sabha (where the ruling party might not have the majority) has no power to reject or amend a Money Bill.
- However, a Financial Bill must be passed by both Houses of Parliament.
- The Speaker (nonetheless, a member of the ruling party) certifies a Bill as a Money Bill, and the Speaker’s decision is final.
- Also, the Constitution states that parliamentary proceedings, as well as officers responsible for the conduct of business (such as the Speaker), may not be questioned by any Court.
Back2Basics:
What is Finance Bill?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Juvenile Justice Act, 2015
Mains level: Key provisions of Juvenile Justice Act
The Union Cabinet has approved a slew of amendments to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
What are the key features of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015? Discuss the proposed amendments by the WCD ministry.
Juvenile Justice Act, 2015
- The JJ Act, 2015 replaced the Indian juvenile delinquency law, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
- It allows for juveniles in conflict with Law in the age group of 16–18, involved in Heinous Offences, to be tried as adults.
- The Act also sought to create a universally accessible adoption law for India.
- The Act came into force from 15 January 2016.
Key features
- Change in nomenclature from ‘juvenile’ to ‘child’ or ‘child in conflict with law’, across the Act to remove the negative connotation associated with the word “juvenile”
- Inclusion of several new definitions such as orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children; and petty, serious and heinous offences committed by children;
- The Act mandates setting up Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees in every district. Both must have at least one woman member each.
- Special provisions for heinous offences committed by children above the age of sixteen years – Under Section 15, special provisions have been made to tackle child offenders committing heinous offences in the age group of 16-18 years (in response to the juvenile convict in Nirbhaya Case).
- Separate new chapter on Adoption to streamline adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children – To streamline adoption procedures for orphan, abandoned and surrendered children, the existing Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is given the status of a statutory body.
- Inclusion of new offences committed against children – Sale and procurement of children for any purpose including illegal adoption, corporal punishment in child care institutions, use of child by militant groups, offences against disabled children and, kidnapping and abduction of children.
- Penalties for cruelty against a child– offering a narcotic substance to a child, and abduction or selling a child has been prescribed.
- Mandatory registration of Child Care Institutions
What are the news amendments?
The amendments are aimed at strengthening the Child Protection set-up to ensure the best interest of children.
(A) More powers to the DM
- These include empowering the DMs and the additional DMs to monitor the functioning of agencies responsible for implementing the JJ Act.
- The District Child Protection Units will function under the DMs.
(B) Evaluating shelter homes
- Before someone sets up a shelter home for children and sends their proposal for registration under the JJ Act to the State, a DM will have to assess their capacity and conduct a background check.
- A DM could also independently evaluate the functioning of the Child Welfare Committee, Special Juvenile Protection Units and registered childcare institutes, the Minister stated.
(C) Members of committees
- The proposed amendments also define the eligibility parameters for the appointment of members of the Child Welfare Committees.
- These committees are tasked to decide on children in need of care and protection and mandate their background checks.
(D) Definition of Children
- It is also proposed to expand the definition of children in need of care and protection and include those children who have been victims of trafficking or drug abuse or child labour.
- It would also include those children who have been abandoned by their guardians.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: XR
Mains level: Climate activism
Delhi Police have named some environmental activists who are volunteers of a global environment movement seeking to call attention to the climate change emergency, in the Greta Thunberg ‘toolkit’ case.
Q.Climate activism is increasingly turning into a propaganda movement. Discuss.
What is Extinction Rebellion?
- The global movement Extinction Rebellion also referred to as ‘XR’, describes itself as a decentralized, international and politically non-partisan movement using non-violent direct action and civil disobedience.
- It aims to persuade governments to act justly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency.
- XR was launched in the UK on October 31, 2018, as a response to a report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
- It had then declared that we only have 12 years to stop catastrophic climate change and our understanding that we have entered the 6th mass extinction event.
- The movement now has a presence in 75 countries, including India.
What does XR want?
- The group has “three core demands” of governments around the world.
- It wants governments to “Tell the Truth”, to “Act Now”, and to “Go Beyond Politics” in order to confront the climate and ecological emergency that the world is faced with.
- It wants them to communicate the urgency to bring change, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2025.
- XR seeks to “rebel”, and asks groups to “self-organise”, without the need for anyone’s permission, to come up with collective action plans as long as they adhere to the group’s core principles and values.
What activities have XR done so far?
- The group had announced a “Declaration of Rebellion” at launch, involving a public act of civil disobedience in London, demanding that the government reduce carbon emission to zero by 2025.
- The eventual plan was to coordinate actions in other countries and to engage in an “International Rebellion” in March 2019.
- The XR global website, however, states that the movement is “strictly non-violent”, and that they are “reluctant law-breakers”.
- In April 2019, Greta Thunberg, the teenage Swedish climate activist, lent her support to the group by speaking to its members in London.
XR and India
- The movement claims to have been inspired by 15 major civil disobedience movements around the world, including, apart from Women’s Suffrage and the Arab Spring, India’s struggle for Independence.
- It refers to Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt March in 1930.
- XR’s website says there are 19 groups in the country, including in the cities of Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Chennai.
Recent events
- One of the group’s early public events was a “die-in” protest organised at Bandra Reclamation in Mumbai in October 2019.
- Participants at “die-in” protests lie on the ground, pretending to be dead.
- Since the city was already seeing protests against the felling of trees at Aarey Colony for the Metro crashed, police did not grant permission for the “die-in” protest.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NHEM
Mains level: Hydrogen as clean fuel
Recently, the Finance Minister in her budget speech formally announced the National Hydrogen Energy Mission which aims for generation of hydrogen from green power resources.
Background
- With this announcement, India has made an uncharacteristically early entry in the race to tap the energy potential of the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen.
- The proposal in the Budget will be followed up with a mission draft over the next couple of months — a roadmap for using hydrogen as an energy source.
- The mission would have a specific focus on green hydrogen, dovetailing India’s growing renewable capacity with the hydrogen economy.
Hydrogen as an element
- The most common element in nature is not found freely.
- Hydrogen exists only combined with other elements and has to be extracted from naturally occurring compounds like water (which is a combination of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom).
- Although hydrogen is a clean molecule, the process of extracting it is energy-intensive.
- The sources and processes, by which hydrogen is derived, are categorised by colour tabs.
Its types as fuel
- Hydrogen produced from fossil fuels is called grey hydrogen; this constitutes the bulk of the hydrogen produced today.
- Hydrogen generated from fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage options is called blue hydrogen; hydrogen generated entirely from renewable power sources is called green hydrogen.
- In the last process, electricity generated from renewable energy is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Hydrogen for mobility
- While proposed end-use sectors include steel and chemicals, the major industry that hydrogen has the potential of transforming is transportation.
- This sector contributes a third of all greenhouse gas emissions, and where hydrogen is being seen as a direct replacement of fossil fuels, with specific advantages over traditional EVs.
- Hydrogen fuel cell cars have a near-zero carbon footprint.
- Hydrogen is about two to three times as efficient as burning petrol because an electric chemical reaction is much more efficient than combustion.
We already had H-CNG!
- In October 2020, Delhi became the first Indian city to operate buses running on hydrogen spiked compressed natural gas (H-CNG) in a six-month pilot project.
- The buses will run on a new technology patented by Indian Oil Corp for producing H-CNG — 18 per cent hydrogen in CNG — directly from natural gas, without resorting to conventional blending.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2019:
In the context of proposals to the use of hydrogen-enriched CNG (H-CNG) as fuel for buses in public transport, consider the following statements :
1. The main advantage of the use of H-CNG is the elimination of carbon monoxide emissions.
2. H-CNG as a fuel reduces carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions.
3. Hydrogen up to one-fifth by volume can be blended with CNG as fuel for buses.
4. H-CNG makes the fuel less expensive than CNG.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Green hydrogen has specific advantages
- One, it is a clean-burning molecule, which can decarbonize a range of sectors including iron and steel, chemicals, and transportation.
- Two, renewable energy that cannot be stored or used by the grid can be channelled to produce hydrogen.
- This is what the government’s Hydrogen Energy Mission, to be launched in 2021-22, aims for.
Philosophy behind NHEM
- India’s electricity grid is predominantly coal-based and will continue to be so.
- In several countries that have gone in for an EV push, much of the electricity is generated from renewables — in Norway for example, it is 99 per cent from hydroelectric power.
- Experts believe hydrogen vehicles can be especially effective in long-haul trucking and other hard-to-electrify sectors such as shipping and long-haul air travel.
- Using heavy batteries in these applications would be counterproductive, especially for countries such as India, where the electricity grid is predominantly coal-fired.
Back2Basics: How hydrogen fuel cells work?
- Hydrogen is an energy carrier, not a source of energy.
- Hydrogen fuel must be transformed into electricity by a device called a fuel cell stack before it can be used to power a car or truck.
- A fuel cell converts chemical energy into electrical energy using oxidizing agents through an oxidation-reduction reaction.
- Inside each individual fuel cell, hydrogen is drawn from an onboard pressurized tank and made to react with a catalyst, usually made from platinum.
- As the hydrogen passes through the catalyst, it is stripped of its electrons, which are forced to move along an external circuit, producing an electrical current.
- This current is used by the electric motor to power the vehicle, with the only byproduct being water vapour.
Issues with H-Fuel cells
- A big barrier to the adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles has been a lack of fuelling station infrastructure.
- There are fewer than 500 operational hydrogen stations in the world today, mostly in Europe, followed by Japan and South Korea.
- Safety is seen as a concern. Hydrogen is pressurized and stored in a cryogenic tank, from there it is fed to a lower-pressure cell and put through an electrochemical reaction to generate electricity.
- Scaling up the technology and achieving critical mass remains the big challenge.
- More vehicles on the road and more supporting infrastructure can lower costs. India’s proposed mission is seen as a step in that direction.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PLI scheme and various sectors
Mains level: Make in India promotions
The Union Cabinet has approved the production-linked incentive scheme for the telecom sector with an outlay of ₹12,195 crores over five years.
Why such a scheme?
- The scheme aims to make India a global hub for manufacturing telecom equipment.
- The sector is expected to lead to an incremental production of about ₹2.4 lakh crore, with exports of about ₹2 lakh crore over five years and bring in investments of more than ₹3,000 crores.
PLI Scheme
- The PLI scheme aims to boost domestic manufacturing and cut down on imports by providing cash incentives on incremental sales from products manufactured in the country.
- Besides inviting foreign companies to set shop in India, the scheme aims to encourage local companies to set up or expand, existing manufacturing units.
UPSC can directly as the sectors included in the PLI scheme. Earlier it was only meant for Electronics manufacturing (particularly mobile phones).
Benefits for MSMEs
- For inclusion of MSMEs in the scheme, the minimum investment threshold has been kept at ₹10 crores, while for others it is ₹100 crore.
- For MSMEs, a 1% higher incentive is also proposed in the first three years.
Employment generation
- The scheme was also likely to generate 40,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities and generate tax revenue of ₹17,000 crores from telecom equipment manufacturing.
Which equipments?
- The telecom manufacturing would include core transmission equipment, 4G/5G Radio Access Network and wireless equipment, access and Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), IoT access devices, other wireless equipment.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with vaccine hesitancy
Reluctance to take the vaccine has several implications. The misinformation around the vaccines needs to be fought through several measures.
Understanding vaccine hesitancy
- According to the World Health Organization, vaccine hesitancy is defined as a reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccine services.
- To date, two vaccines have been approved for inoculation in India: Pune-based Serum Institute’s Covishield and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.
- An adequate supply of vaccines is in place at least for the first phase, but the trickier part is to persuade the population for vaccination.
- Like Western nations, vaccine hesitancy has been a cause of concern in the past in India as well.
- Social media has seen a rising number of self-proclaimed experts who have been making unsubstantiated claims.
- The debates around hesitancy for COVID-19 vaccines include concerns over safety, efficacy, and side effects due to the record-breaking timelines of the vaccines, competition among several companies, misinformation, and religious taboos.
Need to adopt libertarian paternalism
- It is suggested that we adopt the idea of libertarian paternalism, which says it is possible and legitimate to steer people’s behaviour towards vaccination while still respecting their freedom of choice.
- Vaccine hesitancy has a different manifestation in India, unlike in the West.
- According to the World Economic Forum/Ipsos global survey, COVID-19 vaccination intent in India, at 87%, exceeds the global 15-country average of 73%.
Way forward
- Instead of anti-vaxxers, the target audience must be the swing population i.e., people who are sceptical but can be persuaded through scientific facts and proper communication.
- The second measure is to pause before you share any ‘news’ from social media.
- It becomes crucial to inculcate the habit of inquisitive temper to fact-check any news related to COVID-19 vaccines.
- The third measure is to use the celebrity effect — the ability of prominent personalities to influence others to take vaccines.
- Celebrities can add glamour and an element of credibility to mass vaccinations both on the ground and on social media.
Consider the question “What is vaccine hesitancy? Suggest the measures to deal with it”
Conclusion
The infodemic around vaccines can be tackled only by actively debunking myths, misinformation and fake news on COVID-19 vaccines.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Paper 3-
The article argues for consideration of the regional variation in the conditions of farmers and their concerns in the context of recently introduced farm laws.
Argument against diversification
- In Punjab, Haryana and western UP, minimum support price (MSP)-based agriculture has a logic.
- Not all regions must diversify.
- The region has great alluvial soil, good irrigation and almost a century-long tradition of the application of science to agriculture.
- In south Punjab, with less irrigation, and parts of Haryana not covered by the Indira Gandhi Canal, some diversification to pulses, cotton etc. could work but the solid specialisation in this region remains.
Issue of middlemen
- Arhtiyas (middlemen) are important in Indian agricultural markets.
- They are a part of the supply chain in north-west India.
- Here they are not like the middlemen elsewhere.
- They function simply as agents of the procurement agencies.
- This was done by the past government to reduce overhead costs of procurement.
Steps need to be taken
- The e-markets, forwards and farmer-managed companies are not the dominant mode of rural organisations.
- Agriculture is the one good sector in otherwise dismal year.
- So, we need to strengthen it, not feed off on its glory, even outside north-west India.
- We have the largest spread of agricultural markets in the world according to spatial maps.
- But they are not APMCs.
- With weak markets (outside of grains) and without first-stage processing and other infrastructure, the farmer knows he is at the mercy of the trader and comes out on the streets when that is not understood.
Evolution of MSP
- The MSP played a crucial role in the days of compulsory procurement and zonal restrictions.
- Each crop had its own report then.
- Later separate reports were replaced by two reports, one for kharif and another one for rabi, apart from one for sugarcane (an annual crop).
- The 1982 rabi report stated that relative prices and, in that context, MSP had the role of an intervention mechanism when markets failed, outside the compulsory procurement area.
- Later, the concept of transport costs and managerial costs became important.
Way forward
- The Essential Commodities Act should be ditched.
- Good laws are good because progress starts with them, but not all laws are good everywhere.
- A modified version of the laws with a roadmap can be on the agenda — not everywhere, but most places outside the lands of the five rivers.
Conclusion
The amended laws should be considered in the context of regional variation in the country and necessary changes should be made to address the concerns of the farmers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Finance Commission
Mains level: Paper 2- Recommendations of Fifteenth Finance Commission
The article analyses the various recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission and their impact.
Unique challenges
- Many new and unique demands were placed on the 15th Finance Commission.
- The major challenge being addressing the issue of the 2011 population census evoking a sharp response from the southern states.
- Other issues include the non-lapsable defence fund and the use of certain parameters for performance incentives.
- The Commission was also required to perform the task of assessing and projecting the fiscal roadmap for the Union and state amid an uncertain domestic environment due to shortfall in the GST collection, further accentuated in the year 2020 by the global pandemic.
Key recommendations
The Commission, in its final report, recommended vertical devolution at 41 per cent, adjusting 1 per cent for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
1) Horizontal distribution
- For horizontal distribution, the commission has tried to harmonise the principles of expenditure needs, equity and performance.
- This is achieved by the introduction of efficiency criteria of tax and fiscal efforts and by assigning 12.5 per cent weight to demographic performance.
- Consideration of demographic performance will help in resolving the demographic debate and incentivising states in moving towards the replacement rate of population growth.
2) Principles governing grant-in-aid
- Grants are important as they are more directly targeted and equalise the standards of basic social services to some extent.
- The Commission has recommended a total grant of Rs 10,33,062 crore during 2021-26.
- Grant is broadly characterised into: (a) revenue deficit grants (b) grants for local governments (c) grants for disaster management (d) sector-specific grants and (e) state-specific grants.
- Many of these grants are linked with performance-based criteria, thereby promoting principles of transparency, accountability, and leading to better monitoring of expenditures.
- However, the Commission was asked to examine whether revenue deficit grants should be provided at all to the states.
- Some states stressed that revenue deficit grants have serious disincentives for tax efforts and prudence in expenditure and, hence, these should be discontinued.
- Fiscally stressed states of Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab are regular recipients of these grants due to high debt legacy.
3) Conditional grants to local bodies
- This Commission’s grant for local government is different from that of its predecessors for the set of entry-level conditions:
- (a) Constitution of State Finance Commissions.
- (b) Timely auditing and online availability of accounts for rural local bodies coupled with
- (c) Notifying consistent growth rate for property tax revenue for urban local bodies.
- Secondly, the recommendations are in alignment with the national programmes of Swachch Bharat Mission and Jal Jeewan Mission.
4) Incubation of new cities and urban grants
- It is for the first time that a Finance Commission has recommended Rs 8,000 crore to states for incubation of new cities, granting Rs 1,000 crore each for eight new cities.
- The focus of urban grants for million-plus cities is improvement in air quality and meeting the service level benchmark of solid waste management and sanitation.
5) Grants for health and setting up of disaster mitigation fund
- The commission recommended channelising the health grant of Rs 70,051 crore through local bodies, addressing the gaps in primary health infrastructure.
- The Commission’s recommendation for setting up the state and national level Disaster Risk Mitigation Fund (SDRMF), in line with the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, is both well-timed and necessary.
- For the first time, the Finance Commission has introduced a 10-25 per cent graded cost-sharing basis by the states for the NDRF and NDMF which has not been appreciated by the states.
6) Non-lapsable fund for defence
- The Commission has recommended setting up of a dedicated non-lapsable fund, the Modernisation Fund for Defence and Internal Security (MFDIS).
- Objective of the fund is to bridge the gap between projected budgetary requirements and budget allocation for defence and internal security and to provide greater predictability for enabling critical defence capital expenditure.
- The fund will have four specific sources: (a) Transfers from the Consolidated Fund of India, (b) disinvestment proceeds of DPSEs, (c) proceeds from the monetisation of surplus defence land and (d) proceeds of receipts from defence land likely to be transferred to state governments and for public projects in the future.
- The total indicative size of the proposed MFDIS over the period 2021-26 is Rs 2,38,354 crore.
- The Union government has accepted this recommendation in principle.
Consider the question “Examine the various principles on which the Fifteenth Finance Commission based the horizontal distribution of states share.”
Conclusion
The report starts with the famous quote of Mahatma Gandhi: “The future depends on what we do in the present”. It would be interesting to see the impact of these overarching and revolutionary recommendations in the times ahead.
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