Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tax buoyancy
Mains level: Paper 3- Recalibration of growth projections
The article highlights the challenges the second Covid wave poses to India’s path to fiscal consolidation.
Recalibration to growth projection due to second Covid wave
- The growth projections of different national and international agencies and the fiscal projections of Centre’s 2021-22 Budget require recalibration.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had forecast real GDP growth for 2021-22 at 12.5%.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had forecast real GDP growth for 2021-22 at 10.5%.
- The Ministry of Finance’s Economic Survey had forecast real GDP growth for 2021-22 at 11.0%.
Growth rate of 8.7% to keep GDP at same level as in 2019-20
- Moody’s has recently projected India’s GDP growth in 2021-22 at 9.3%.
- Benchmark growth rate: 9.3% is close to the benchmark growth rate of 8.7% which would keep India’s GDP at 2011-12 prices at the same level as in 2019-20.
- This level of growth may be achieved based on the assumption that the economy normalises in the second half of the fiscal year.
- The 2019-20 real GDP was ₹145.7-lakh crore at 2011-12 prices.
- It fell to ₹134.1-lakh crore in 2020-21, implying a contraction of minus 8.0%.
- At 8.7% real growth, the nominal GDP growth would be close to 13.5%, assuming an inflation rate of 4.5%.
- This would be lower than the nominal growth of 14.4% assumed in the Union Budget.
- At 13.5% growth, the estimated GDP for 2021-22 is ₹222.4-lakh crore at current prices.
- Impact: This will lead to a lowering of tax and non-tax revenues and an increase in the fiscal deficit as compared to the budgeted magnitudes.
How much the gross tax revenue would be impacted?
- The budgeted gross and net tax revenues for 2021-22 were ₹22.2-lakh crore and ₹15.4-lakh crore, respectively.
- The assumed buoyancy for the Centre’s gross tax revenues (GTR) was 1.2.
- If, however, the buoyancy of 1.2 proves optimistic and instead a buoyancy of 0.9, which is the average buoyancy of the five years preceding the COVID-19 year, is applied, the nominal growth of GTR would be 12.2%.
- This would lead to the Centre’s GTR of about ₹21.3-lakh crore.
- The corresponding shortfall in the Centre’s net tax revenues is estimated to be about ₹0.6 lakh crore.
- The budgeted magnitudes for non-tax revenues and non-debt capital receipts at ₹2.4-lakh crore and ₹1.9-lakh crore, respectively, may also prove to be optimistic.
- In these cases, the budgeted growth rates were 15.4% and 304.3%, respectively.
- The excessively high growth for the non-debt capital receipts was premised on implementing an ambitious asset monetisation and disinvestment programme.
- Together with the tax revenue shortfall of nearly 0.6 lakh crore, the total shortfall on the receipts side may be about ₹2.1-lakh crore.
Impact on fiscal deficit estimates
- Two factors will affect the fiscal deficit estimate of 6.76% of GDP in 2021-22.
- First, there would be a change in the budgeted nominal GDP growth.
- Second, there would be a shortfall in the receipts from tax, non-tax and non-debt sources.
- Together, these two factors may lead to a slippage in fiscal deficit which may be close to 7.7% of GDP in 2021-22 if total expenditures are kept at the budgeted levels.
- This would call for revising the fiscal road map again.
- Protecting total expenditures at the budgeted level is, however, important given the need to support the economy in these challenging time.
Vaccination policy and role of Central government
- Positive externalities: COVID-19 vaccination is characterised by strong inter-State positive externalities, making it primarily the responsibility of the central government.
- The entire vaccination bill should be borne by the central government.
- If the central government is the single agency for vaccine procurement, the economies of scale and the Centre’s bargaining power would keep the average vaccine price low.
- The central government may transfer the vaccines rather than the money that it has budgeted for transfer.
- Some of the smaller States may find procuring vaccines through a global tender to be quite challenging.
Conclusion
Protecting total expenditures at the budgeted level and mass vaccination are important in India’s pandemic situation.
Back2basics: Tax buoyancy
- There is a strong connection between the government’s tax revenue earnings and economic growth.
- Tax buoyancy explains this relationship between the changes in government’s tax revenue growth and the changes in GDP.
- It refers to the responsiveness of tax revenue growth to changes in GDP.
- When a tax is buoyant, its revenue increases without increasing the tax rate.
- In 2007-08, everything was fine for the economy, GDP growth rate was nearly 9 per cent.
- Tax revenue of the government, especially, that of direct taxes registered a growth rate of 45 per cent in 2007-08.
- We can say that the tax buoyancy was five (45/9).
What is tax elasticity?
- It refers to changes in tax revenue in response to changes in tax rate.
- For example, how tax revenue changes if the government reduces corporate income tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent indicate tax elasticity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Deep Sea Faunal Diversity in India
Mains level: Not Much
India is home to 4,371 species of deep-sea fauna, including 1,032 species under the kingdom Protista and 3,339 species under the kingdom Animalia, a recent publication by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has revealed.
Highlights of the Survey
- India is surrounded by the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea, and the Laccadive Sea (Lakshadweep Sea).
- Of the 4,371 species, a maximum of 2,766 species has been reported from deep-sea areas of the Arabian Sea, followed by 1,964 species from the Bay of Bengal, 1,396 species from the Andaman Sea, and only 253 species from the Laccadive Sea.
RIMS ship investigator
- India is one of the countries that made a pioneering exploration in the deep Indian Ocean region in 1874 by commissioning a RIMS (Royal Indian Marine Survey) ship investigator.
- This conducted enormous studies in seas around India and continued to work till 1926.
Components of the exploration
- The deep-sea ecosystem was the most unexplored ecosystem across the world. It included hydrothermal vents, submarine canyons, deep-sea trenches, seamounts, cold seeps, and mud volcanoes.
- This publication, the first of its kind, provides baseline information on all groups of fauna and biological organisms in the Indian deep seas.
- Not only will this support our knowledge on conserving and managing deep-sea faunal resources, but it will also pave way for their sustainable utilization.
Key findings
(1) Mammals
- There are 31 species of sea mammals that are found in the deep-sea ecosystem of Indian waters, including the Critically Endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin.
- Two other species, the Indo-Pacific Finless Porpoise and the Sperm Whale are recorded as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN classification.
- The list of mammals includes Cuvier’s Beaked Whale and Short-beaked Common Dolphin, which dive as deep as 8,000 meters below the Earth’s surface.
(2) Marine turtles
- Out of the seven species of marine turtles found across the world, five species have been recorded from Indian waters.
- India is known as one of the best and largest breeding grounds for sea turtles, especially for Olive Ridley and Leatherback Turtles, across the world.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 17+ 1 Forum
Mains level: Not Much
Lithuania has decided to quit China’s 17+1 cooperation forum with central and eastern European states that include other EU members, calling it “divisive”.
About 17+ 1 Forum
- The forum is an abbreviation for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries.
- It is an initiative by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote business and investment relations between China and 16 countries of CEE (CEEC).
- The countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
- The format was founded in 2012 in Warsaw to push for the cooperation of the “17+1” (the 17 CEE countries and China).
- Its goals are to promote the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, transportation, and logistics, trade and investment”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG)
Mains level: Not Much
In early March, members of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG), an advisory group to the Central government, warned of a new and contagious form of the novel coronavirus.
What is INSACOG?
- INSACOG is a consortium of 10 labs across the country tasked with scanning COVID-19 samples from swathes of patients and flagging the presence of variants that were known to have spiked transmission internationally.
- It has also been tasked with checking whether certain combinations of mutations were becoming more widespread in India.
- Some of these labs had begun scanning for mutations in April 2020 itself, but it was not a pan-India effort.
- The institutes involved were laboratories of the Department of Biotechnology, the CSIR, the ICMR, and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW).
- The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the MoHFW was tasked with coordinating the collection of samples from the States as well correlating disease with the mutations.
- The work began in January by sequencing samples of people who had a history of travel from the United Kingdom and a proportion of positive samples in the community.
What are the findings?
- The “foreign” variants identified were primarily the B.1.1.7 (first identified in the United Kingdom) and the B.1.351 (first found in South Africa) and a small number of P2 variants (from Brazil).
- However, some labs flagged the growing presence of variants identified in India that were clubbed into a family of inter-related variants called B.1.617, also known as the ‘double mutant’ variant.
- It was primarily due to two mutations — E484Q and L452R — on the spike protein.
- The B.1.617 family was marked as an international ‘variant of concern’ after it was linked to a recent spike in cases in the UK.
- INSACOG labs also found that the B.1.1.7 variant, which is marked by increased infectivity, is distinctly more prevalent in several northern and central Indian States in comparison to southern States.
Beyond identifying patterns, why is genome sequencing useful?
- The purpose of genome sequencing is to understand the role of certain mutations in increasing the virus’s infectivity.
- Some mutations have also been linked to immune escape, or the virus’s ability to evade antibodies, and this has consequences for vaccines.
- Labs across the world, including many in India, have been studying if the vaccines developed so far are effective against such mutant strains of the virus.
- They do this by extracting the virus from COVID-19-positive samples and growing enough of it. Then, blood serum from people who are vaccinated, and thereby have antibodies, is drawn.
- Using different probes, scientists determine how much of the antibodies thus extracted are required to kill a portion of the cultured virus.
- In general, the antibodies generated after vaccination — and this was true of Covaxin, Covishield, Pfizer and Moderna jabs — were able to neutralize variants.
- Antibody levels are not the only markers of protection and there is a parallel network of cellular immunity that plays a critical role in how vaccines activate immunity.
- The current evidence for most COVID-19 vaccines is that they have almost 75% to 90% efficacy in protecting against disease but less so in preventing re-infection and transmission.
Challenges faced by INSACOG
- Given that the novel coronavirus is spreading, mutating, and showing geographical variations, the aim of the group was to sequence at least 5% of the samples.
- For many reasons, this has so far been only around 1%, primarily due to a shortage of funds and insufficient reagents and tools necessary to scale up the process.
- While some of these issues, the INSACOG, in spite of being peopled by expert scientists, is ultimately an advisory group to the Central government and part of its communication structure.
- Warnings about emerging variants were not made public with sufficient urgency and the sharing of datasets, even within constituent groups of the INSACOG, was less than ideal.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mount Nyiragongo
Mains level: Not Much
Thousands have fled a volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo from Mount Nyiragongo on the outskirts of Goma City.
These were some volcanoes in news this year:
Mount Vesuvius, Taal Volcano, La Soufriere
Mount Nyiragongo
- Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 m (11,385 ft) in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift.
- The main crater is about 2km wide and usually contains a lava lake.
- The crater presently has two distinct cooled lava benches within the crater walls.
- It is one of the 16 Decade Volcanoes.
- Nyiragongo’s lava lake has at times been the most voluminous known lava lake in recent history. The depth of the lava lake varies considerably.
- Nyiragongo and nearby Nyamuragira are together responsible for 40 percent of Africa’s historical volcanic eruptions.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Which of the following adds/add carbon dioxide to the carbon cycle on the planet Earth?
- Volcanic action
- Respiration
- Photosynthesis
- Decay of organic matter
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1, 2 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
What are Decade Volcanoes?
- The Decade Volcanoes are 16 volcanoes identified by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI).
- They are considered worthy of particular study in light of their history of large, destructive eruptions and proximity to densely populated areas.
- They are named Decade Volcanoes because the project was initiated in the 1990s as part of the United Nations-sponsored International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Benefits of environmental tax
The article highlights the advantages of environmental fiscal reforms in India.
Status of out-of-pocket spending on health in India
- As per WHO data, in 2011, 17.33% of the population in India made out-of-pocket payments on health that was more than 10% of their income.
- The percentage was higher in rural areas compared to urban areas.
- Globally, 12.67% of the population spent more than 10% of their income (out of their pocket) on health.
- In Southeast Asia, 16% spent more than 10% of their household income on health.
- Similarly, 3.9% of the population in India made more than 25% of out-of-pocket payments on health, with 4.34% of it in the rural areas.
Alternate source of health financing: Eco tax
- The Economic Survey of India 2019-20 has outlined that an increase in public spending from 1% to 2.5-3% of GDP, can decrease out-of-pocket expenditure from 65% to 30% of overall healthcare expenses.
- The National Health Policy of 2017 also envisages increase in public spending from 1% to 2.5-3% of GDP.
- This is where the importance of alternate sources of health financing in India needs to be stressed.
- Fiscal reforms for managing the environment are important, and India has great potential for revenue generation in this aspect.
Environmental tax reforms
- Environmental tax reforms generally involve three complementary activities:
- 1. Eliminating existing subsidies and taxes that have a harmful impact on the environment;
- 2. Restructuring existing taxes in an environmentally supportive manner;
- 3. Initiating new environmental taxes.
- Taxes can be designed either as revenue neutral or revenue augmenting.
- Revenue augmenting model: In case of revenue augmenting, the additional revenue can either be targeted towards the provision of environmental public goods or directed towards the overall revenue pool.
- In developing countries like India, the revenue can be used to a greater extent for the provision of environmental public goods and addressing environmental health issues.
Eco tax
- The success of an eco tax (environment tax) in India would depend on its architecture, that is, how well it is planned and designed.
- It should be credible, transparent and predictable.
- Ideally, the eco tax rate ought to be equal to the marginal social cost arising from the negative externalities associated with the production, consumption or disposal of goods and services.
- This would include the adverse impacts on the health of people, climate change, etc.
- The eco tax rate may, thus, be fixed commensurate to the marginal social cost so evaluated.
- There is also a need to integrate environmental taxes in the Goods and Service Tax framework.
In India, eco taxes can target three main areas
- One, differential taxation on vehicles in the transport sector purely oriented towards fuel efficiency and GPS-based congestion charges.
- Two, in the energy sector by taxing fuels which feed into energy generation.
- Three, waste generation and use of natural resources.
Benefits of implementation of eco taxes
- The implementation of an environmental tax in India will have three broad benefits: fiscal, environmental and poverty reduction.
- Finance basic public services: Environmental tax reforms can mobilise revenues to finance basic public services when raising revenue through other sources proves to be difficult or burdensome.
- Reduce distorting taxes: It can can also help to reduce other distorting taxes such as fiscal dividend.
- Finance research: Environmental tax reforms help internalise the externalities, and the said revenue can finance research and the development of new technologies.
Impact
- Environmental regulations may lead to slow productivity growth and high cost of compliance in private sector.
- This could result in the possible increase in the prices of goods and services.
- However, the European experience shows that most of the taxes also generate substantial revenue and there is no evidence on green taxes with sustainable development goals leading to a ‘no growth’ economy.
- Negligible impact on GDP: Most countries’ experiences suggest negligible impact on the GDP, though such revenues have not necessarily been used for environmental considerations.
- The negligible impact on the GDP may be a temporary phenomenon.
Conclusion
This is the right time for India to adopt environmental fiscal reforms as they will reduce environmental pollution and also generate resources for financing the health sector.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IBC
Mains level: Asset reconstructions with IBC
The Supreme Court has upheld a government moves to allow lenders to initiate insolvency proceedings against personal guarantors, who are usually promoters of big business houses, along with the stressed corporate entities for whom they gave a guarantee.
What is the Judgement?
- The judgment has allowed creditors, usually financial institutions and banks, to move against personal guarantors under the Indian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code (IBC) was “legal and valid”.
- The November 15, 2019 notification was challenged before several High Courts initially.
- The apex court said there was an “intrinsic connection” between personal guarantors and their corporate debtors.
What is a personal guarantee? How do promoters use this route to get funds?
- A personal guarantee is most likely to be furnished by a promoter or promoter entity when the banks demand collateral which equals the risk they are taking by lending to the firm, which may not be doing so well.
- It is different from the collateral that firms give to banks to take loans, as Indian corporate laws say that individuals such as promoters are different from businesses and the two are very separate entities.
- A personal guarantee, therefore, is an assurance from the promoters or promoter group that if the lender allows them the fund, they will be able to turn around the loss-making unit and repay the said loan on time.
Impact of the move
- The apex court ruling will help banks go after those who have offered guarantees to recover dues in case the resolution amount is short of the claims filed by them in the National Company Law Tribunal.
- Over the years, many companies have repeatedly defaulted in loan repayment and got banks to restructure the debt, often citing systemic issues.
- But as part of the clean-up initiated five years ago, the IBC was enacted and banks were told to go after those who were not paying their dues.
About the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016
- IBC is the bankruptcy law of India that seeks to consolidate the existing framework by creating a single law for insolvency and bankruptcy.
- It is a one-stop solution for resolving insolvencies which previously was a long process that did not offer an economically viable arrangement.
- The code aims to protect the interests of small investors and make the process of doing business less cumbersome.
Key features of the code
(1) Insolvency Resolution:
- The Code outlines separate insolvency resolution processes for individuals, companies, and partnership firms. The process may be initiated by either the debtor or the creditors.
- A maximum time limit, for completion of the insolvency resolution process, has been set for corporates and individuals.
(2) Insolvency regulator:
- The Code establishes the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, to oversee the insolvency proceedings in the country and regulate the entities registered under it.
- The Board will have 10 members, including representatives from the Ministries of Finance and Law, and the Reserve Bank of India.
(3) Insolvency professionals:
- The insolvency process will be managed by licensed professionals.
- These professionals will also control the assets of the debtor during the insolvency process.
(4) Bankruptcy and Insolvency Adjudicator:
The Code proposes two separate tribunals to oversee the process of insolvency resolution, for individuals and companies:
- the National Company Law Tribunal for Companies and Limited Liability Partnership firms; and
- the Debt Recovery Tribunal for individuals and partnerships
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Vaccine for covid
A couple of days ago, reports emerged of a Dubai-based tour operator offering a 24-day package tour from Delhi to Moscow that has included two shots of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine.
What is vaccine tourism?
- In India, the term “vaccine tourism” became popular late last year when reports emerged of several tour operators offering packages to the US with the additional benefit of a vaccine shot.
- Meanwhile, South Africans are said to be flying to Zimbabwe, Canadians and South Americans are traveling to the US for jabs, while tour operators in Europe are offering trips to Russia for Sputnik V shots.
- It is said that Russia and the Maldives are already working on programs to offer people abroad the chance to get vaccinated during a visit; similar offerings are sprouting in the US as well.
Why is it gaining popularity?
- In fact, vaccine tourism is an emerging trend in countries where vaccines are in short supply, or where certain groups are still restricted from being inoculated.
- Still, there are only a few countries in the world (parts of the US, Russia, Slovakia, Zimbabwe, etc) that don’t restrict their vaccination policy to local residents.
- Currently, it is not illegal to travel to a foreign country to get vaccinated if air travel is allowed.
- Recently, Seychelles announced that only vaccinated visitors from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh who have completed two weeks after their second dose are permitted to travel to and enter the island nation, with proof.
Can Indians go abroad to get vaccinated for Covid-19?
- There may be no need for anyone from India to go abroad for vaccination since all eligible Indians will be vaccinated in the country by the end of this year – that too, at the most reasonable rates possible.
- However, the idea of vaccine tourism is gaining momentum in India.
- Many Indians, who fled to Dubai just before the international flight ban came into effect last month, are said to be availing of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm shots in the UAE.
Not to be confused with Vaccine Passport
- Sometimes, vaccine tourism is confused with vaccine passports, which is a more regulated practice gaining currency around the world.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SUnderlal Bahuguna
Mains level: Various conservation movements in India
Veteran environmentalist and architect of the Chipko Movement Sundarlal Bahuguna, 94 has succumbed to COVID.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.In India, the problem of soil erosion is associated with which of the following?
- Terrace cultivation
- Deforestation
- Tropical climate
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Sunderlal Bahuguna
- Bahuguna was one of the leaders of the Chipko movement, fighting for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas.
- Chipko means ‘embrace’ or ‘tree huggers’ and this vast movement was a decentralized one with many leaders usually being village women.
- Often, they would chain themselves to trees so that loggers could not cut down forests.
- These actions slowed down the destruction, but more importantly, they brought deforestation to the public’s attention.
His contributions
- From 1981-1983, Sundarlal Bahuguna led a 5,000-kilometre march across the Himalayas, ending with a meeting with late PM Indira Gandhi, to protect some areas of the Himalayan forests from tree-felling.
- Sundarlal Bahuguna was also a leader in the movement to oppose the Tehri dam project and in defending India’s rivers.
- He also worked for women’s rights and the rights of the poor.
- His methods were Gandhian, making use of peaceful resistance and non-violence.
- The Chipko Movement received the 1987 Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kalashetra, Bharatanatyam
Mains level: Classical dances of India
The Central government has appointed 12 eminent artists and musicians to the board of the prestigious institution.
Kalakshetra Foundation
- It is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music.
- Based in Chennai, India, the academy was founded in January 1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale and her husband George Arundale.
- Under Arundale’s guidance, the institution achieved national and international recognition for its unique style and perfectionism.
- In January 1994, an Act of the Parliament of India recognized the Kalakshetra Foundation as an “Institute of National Importance.”
Who was Rukmini Devi Arundale?
- Devi (1904 –1986) was an Indian theosophist, dancer, and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam, and an activist for animal welfare.
- She was the first woman in Indian history to be nominated a member of the Rajya Sabha.
- The most important revivalist of Bharatanatyam from its original ‘sadhir’ style prevalent amongst the temple dancers, the Devadasis, she also worked for the re-establishment of traditional Indian arts and crafts.
- She espoused the cause of Bharata Natyam which was considered a vulgar art.
- She ‘sanitised’ and removed the inherent eroticism of Sadhir to make it palatable to Victorian British morality and Indian upper-caste elites.
Back2Basics: Bharatanatyam
- Bharatanatyam previously called Sadhir Attam is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu.
- It is one of the oldest classical dance traditions in India.
- It has been nurtured in the temples and courts of southern India since the ancient era.
- It is one of eight forms of dance recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (the others being Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Manipuri, and Sattriya).
- The word Bharata is a mnemonic, consisting of “bha”–”ra”–”ta”.
- According to this belief, bha stands for bhava (feelings, emotions), ra stands for raga (melody, framework for musical notes), and ta stands for tala (rhythm).
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 342A (1)
Mains level: Paper 2- Interpretation of 102nd Amendment
The article highlights the issues with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the 102nd amendment depriving the States of power to identify the SEBCs.
How 102nd Constitution Amendment was interpreted by the SC?
- Supreme Court held that the 102nd Constitution Amendment has taken away the power of the states to identify and prepare a list of Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBCs).
- The Supreme Court has interpreted the 102nd constitutional amendment to the effect that only the President can publish a list of backward classes in relation to each state and that only Parliament can make inclusions and exclusions in that list.
- The Supreme Court has also directed the central government to notify the list of SEBCs for each state and Union Territory.
- Until such lists are prepared, the court directed that the present state list would continue to be in operation.
Time-honoured authority of the States
- The states have been exercising the power to identify the list of SEBCs from the beginning of the 20th century.
- In states like the Madras Presidency, Mysore, Bombay, Travancore-Cochin, reservation and other benefits to OBCs were in practice since the 1920s.
- The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951 and the insertion of Article 15(4), empowered the states to make “special provision for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens”.
- In states like Bihar, 26 per cent reservation to OBCs in jobs and educational institutions were provided in 1978 on the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission.
- Similarly, in more than a dozen states, reservation in jobs and educational institutions were provided on recommendations of the respective state commissions.
- Till 1992, there was no central list of SEBCs and no reservation in jobs and educational institutions in the central government.
- In the Indra Sawhney judgment in 1992, the Supreme Court upheld 27 per cent reservation in central government jobs for SEBCs.
- After Indra Sawhney, the Union government was authorised to prepare a central list for reservation of SEBCs in central government jobs and take other affirmative actions.
- Acting on the directions of the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney, the central and several state governments enacted laws for setting up commissions to ascertain and identify the backward class of citizens.
- Therefore, after 1992, there was a “central list” for central government services and a “state list” that was prepared by state governments for state-specific jobs.
Intention of the Union government
- The intention was not to change the status quo and to take away the power of the state governments to prepare and notify a separate state list of SEBCs.
- Even during the discussion in the select committee of Parliament on the 102nd Constitution Amendment, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment clarified that the proposed insertion of Article 342A (1) and (2) did not interfere with the power of state governments to identify SEBCs.
- In the affidavit filed by the central government before the Supreme Court, it was submitted that the power of Parliament to identify SEBCs lay with reference to the central list and states would have a separate list of SEBCs for reservation.
Way forward
- If the review petition fails to convince the Supreme Court, the central government would have to expeditiously bring a constitutional amendment to resolve this crisis.
Consider the question “Examine the issues with the Supreme Courts interpretation of the 102nd constitutional amendment regarding the States’ right to identify the socially and economically backward class.”
Conclusion
The majority judgement by 3:2 has failed to appreciate that Article 15 empowers the states to identify socially and economically backward classes of citizens and that this power has not been changed by the 102nd Constitution Amendment.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TRIPS
Mains level: Paper 3- Ensuring affordability and availability of Covid-19 vaccines
The possibilities of new strain of Covid-19 emerging from any region of the world could derail the global recovery. To prevent that from happening vaccines need to be made available and affordable to all. This article discusses the ways to ensure that.
Ensuring affordability and availability of Covid vaccines
- To achieve global herd immunity and prevent new strains of COVID-19 from emerging, vaccines need to be affordable and available in massive quantities throughout the globe.
- Following three are the ways to ensure vaccine availability and affordability.
- 1) Voluntary linceses: This can happen through patent owners voluntarily licensing their products to other companies, especially Indian producers who are experienced at mass-producing low-cost medications.
- 2) Compulsory licenses: This can also be done by temporarily suspending patent rights for COVID vaccines.
- 3) COVAX option: Some favour ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX programme.
Options to ensure vaccine availability and affordability
1) Voluntary licencing: Lessons from fight against AIDS
- Due to anti-TRIPS activism from low-income countries and low profits from low-income markets some manufacturers placed licensing agreements to produce AIDS drugs for which they owned patent rights in the UN-affiliated Medicines Patent Pool.
- Several India-based companies then used these voluntary licences to manufacture these drugs on a massive scale and sold them at prices they determined.
- This effort brought down the price of key AIDS medications in these countries.
- The United Nations’ Medicines Patent Pool and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool are important tools in an effort to promote voluntary licensing for COVID products.
- Sharing patent rights through voluntary licensing would need to involve India’s large pharmaceutical sector.
Challenges in voluntary licensing
- So far, no patent holders have joined the WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool.
- This is why India and South Africa called on the WTO to temporarily waive patent protections for COVID-19.
- Meanwhile, the UN Medicines Patent Pool stands ready to accept voluntary licences for COVID-19.
2) Compulsory licenses
- Compulsory licenses override patent rights to allow local production or import of drugs by generic manufacturers in the event of a public health crisis.
- Since 2003, this right has been enshrined in the Doha Declaration addendum to the WTO’s TRIPS agreement and this is what India and South Africa are lobbying for.
- The Doha addendum, Section 5c, offers AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis as examples of what qualifies as a health emergency.
- By this standard, COVID-19 should easily qualify.
Issues with compulsory licensing
- Good will: Manufacturers in India say they prefer to work with voluntary licences because there is more good will between companies while compulsory licences often come with a legal battle brought by the patent holder.
- Time factor: Voluntary licences also enable production to begin more expeditiously as they usually are accompanied by “technology transfer” meaning that the patent holder reveals to the licensee how to manufacture the medication.
- No need to reverse engineer: Volunatry licensing spares the licensee the lengthy and costly process of figuring out how to reverse engineer the product.
3) COVAX option and issues
- COVAX programme was established to purchase vaccine doses and donate them to low-income countries.
- It does not involve modifying patent rights.
- Underfunded: COVAX is also currently underfunded.
- Delay: The Director-General of WHO warned that people in the lowest-income countries might have to wait until 2022 to get vaccinated through this programme.
Government aid should entail an obligation
- The billions of dollars in government aid given to companies to help develop COVID-19 treatments should entail an obligation to enable the mass production of affordable vaccines.
- Patents are not ironclad ownership rights, they are a temporary contract that balances the public interest with the claims of the innovator.
Consider the question “What is the importance of ensuring availability and affordability of Covid-19 vaccine throughout the world? What are the options available to ensure that?”
Conclusion
This is not just a question of social justice and ensuring life-saving therapies are available to the world’s poor. It is a necessary step to prevent deadlier, more contagious and possibly vaccine-resistant variants of COVID-19 from proliferating in an under-vaccinated world.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pardoning powers of Governor and President
Mains level: Read the attached story
Tamil Nadu CM has written to the President requesting him to accept the State Government’s to remit the life sentences of all the seven convicts in the Ex-PM’s assassination case.
Story so far
- Tamil Nadu government had recommended to the state Governor for the remission of the rest of the sentence for all convicts and their early release.
- The Governor has then decided that the President was the competent authority to decide on the plea of remission of sentence.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Which of the following are the discretionary powers given to the Governor of a State?
- Sending a report to the President of India for imposing the President’s rule
- Appointing the Ministers
- Reserving certain bills passed by the State Legislature for consideration of the President of India
- Making the rules to conduct the business of the State Government
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Pardon
- A pardon is a government/executive decision to allow a person to be absolved of guilt for an alleged crime or other legal offense as if the act never occurred.
Why need Pardon?
- Pardons can be granted when individuals are deemed to have demonstrated that they have “paid their debt to society”, or are otherwise considered to be deserving of them.
- Pardons are sometimes offered to persons who were either wrongfully convicted or who claim that they were wrongfully convicted.
- Pardons are sometimes seen as a mechanism for combating corruption, allowing a particular authority to circumvent a flawed judicial process to free someone that is seen as wrongly convicted.
Pardoning powers in India
- Under the Constitution of India (Article 72), the President of India can grant a pardon or reduce the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital punishment.
- A similar and parallel power vests in the governors of each state under Article 161.
[1] President
- Article 72 says that the president shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offense.
- The pardoning powers of the Indian President are elucidated in Art 72 of the Indian Constitution. There are five different types of pardoning that are mandated by law.
- Pardon: means completely absolving the person of the crime and letting him go free. The pardoned criminal will be like a normal citizen.
- Commutation: means changing the type of punishment given to the guilty into a less harsh one, for example, a death penalty commuted to a life sentence.
- Reprieve: means a delay allowed in the execution of a sentence, usually a death sentence, for a guilty person to allow him some time to apply for Presidential Pardon or some other legal remedy to prove his innocence or successful rehabilitation.
- Respite: means reducing the quantum or degree of the punishment to a criminal in view of some special circumstances, like pregnancy, mental condition etc.
- Remission: means changing the quantum of the punishment without changing its nature, for example reducing twenty year rigorous imprisonment to ten years.
Cases as specified by art. 72
- in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a court martial;
- in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;
- in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.
[2] Governor
- Similarly, as per article 161: Governor of a State has the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law.
- It must be relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.
- Please note that President can grant pardon to a person awarded death sentence. But a governor of a state does not enjoy this power.
Nature of the Pardoning Power
- The question is whether this power to grant pardon is absolute or this power of pardon shall be exercised by the President on the advice of Council of Ministers.
- The pardoning power of the president is not absolute. It is governed by the advice of the Council of Ministers.
- This has not been discussed by the constitution but is the practical truth.
- Further, the constitution does not provide for any mechanism to question the legality of decisions of President or governors exercising mercy jurisdiction.
- But the SC in Epuru Sudhakar case has given a small window for judicial review of the pardon powers of President and governors for the purpose of ruling out any arbitrariness.
- The court has earlier held that court has retained the power of judicial review even on a matter which has been vested by the Constitution solely in the Executive.
Some traditions
- It is important to note that India has a unitary legal system and there is no separate body of state law.
- All crimes are crimes against the Union of India.
- Therefore, a convention has developed that the governor’s powers are exercised for only minor offenses.
- While requests for pardons and reprieves for major offenses and offenses committed in the UTs are deferred to the President.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cryptocurrency, Blockchain technology
Mains level: Acceptance of cryptocurrency
The cryptocurrency market saw a big correction with prices of major currencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, and others crashing as much as 30% within 24 hours. This came in the backdrop of Chinese regulators announcing a crackdown on cryptocurrencies.
Try this question from our AWE initiative:
What is a cryptocurrency? What benefits and challenges do cryptocurrencies pose? (250 Words)
Crackdown on Crypto Market
- China has barred financial institutions and payment companies from providing any services related to cryptocurrency transactions.
- This means that banks and online payment channels must not offer clients any service involving cryptocurrencies, such as registration, trading, clearing, and settlement.
- China had issued such a ban in 2017 as well, but compared with the previous ban, the new rules have expanded the scope of prohibited services, and surmise that “virtual currencies are not supported by any real value”.
Other reason behind this crash: The Tesla story
- Tesla recently announced that it wouldn’t favor Bitcoin on ‘environmental’ concerns because Bitcoin mining requires electricity which is mostly generated using fossil fuels.
- However, this seems to be motivated and raises a few questions like – didn’t the Tesla management already know about Bitcoin mining before diversifying into it?
What does this fall imply?
- A crackdown by one of the world’s biggest economy notwithstanding, those in the ecosystem has termed this decline as a short-term correction.
- A nearly 40% dip in the bitcoin price from its all-time high looks dramatic but is normal in many volatile markets, including crypto, especially after such a large rally.
- Such corrections are mainly due to short-term traders taking profits.
- Long-term value investors might call these lower prices a buying opportunity.
Back2Basics: Cryptocurrencies
- A cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger existing in a form of a computerized database.
- It uses strong cryptography to secure transaction records, control the creation of additional coins, and verify the transfer of coin ownership.
- It typically does not exist in physical form (like paper money) and is typically not issued by a central authority.
- Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control as opposed to centralized digital currency and central banking systems.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: EWB system in GST regime
Mains level: GST benefits
GST officers have been armed with real-time data of commercial vehicle movement on highways with the integration of the e-way bill (EWB) system with FasTag and RFID.
Why such a move?
- The integration of e-way bill, RFID, and FASTag will enable tax officers to undertake live vigilance in respect of EWB compliances by businesses and will help curb tax evasion.
- It will aid in preventing revenue leakage by real-time identification of cases of recycling and/or non-generation of EWBs.
What are E-way bills (EWB)?
- Under the GST regime, transporters should carry the eWay Bill when moving goods from one place to another when certain conditions are satisfied.
- EWBs are mandatory for inter-state transportation of goods valued over Rs 50,000 from April 2018, with the exemption to precious items such as gold
- In this system, businesses and transporters have to produce before a GST inspector the e-way bill, if asked.
- On average, 25 lakh goods vehicle movements from more than 800 tolls are reported on a daily basis to the e-way bill system.
Benefits of the move
- Tax officers can now access reports on vehicles that have passed the selected tolls without EWBs in the past few minutes.
- Also, vehicles carrying critical commodities specific to the state and having passed the selected toll can be viewed.
- Any suspicious vehicles and vehicles of EWBs generated by suspicious taxpayer GSTINs, that have passed the selected toll on a near real-time basis, can also be viewed in this report.
- The officers can use these reports while conducting vigilance and make the vigilance activity more effective.
- Also, the officers of the audit and enforcement wing can use these reports to identify fraudulent transactions like bill trading, recycling of EWBs.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: A-76 Iceberg
Mains level: Impact of climate changes on Cryosphere
A huge ice block has broken off from western Antarctica into the Weddell Sea, becoming the largest iceberg in the world and earning the name A-76.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.On the planet earth, most of the freshwater exists as ice caps and glaciers. Out of the remaining freshwater, the largest proportion:
(a) is found in the atmosphere as moisture and clouds
(b) is found in freshwater lakes and rivers
(c) exists as groundwater
(d) exists as soil moisture
A-76 Iceberg
- A-76 is the latest in a series of large ice blocks to dislodge in a region acutely vulnerable to climate change, although scientists said in this case it appeared to be part of a natural polar cycle.
- The iceberg, measuring around 170 km long and 25 km wide, with an area of 4,320 sq km is now floating in the Weddell Sea.
- Slightly larger than the Spanish island of Majorca, A-76 had been monitored by scientists since it began to separate from the Ronne Ice Shelf.
- It joins the previous world’s largest title holder A-23A — approximately 3,880 sq. km. in size — which has remained in the same area since 1986.
- A-76 was originally spotted by the British Antarctic Survey and the calving — the term used when an iceberg breaks off — was confirmed using images from the Copernicus satellite.
Note: An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Map marking of Paracel Islands
Mains level: South China Sea Row
A United States warship sailed through the Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea.
Paracel Islands
- The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea.
- The archipelago includes about 130 small coral islands and reefs, most grouped into the northeast Amphitrite Group or the western Crescent Group.
- They are distributed over a maritime area of around 15,000 square kilometers with a land area of approximately 7.75 square kilometers.
- The archipelago includes Dragon Hole, the deepest underwater sinkhole in the world.
- It is surrounded by productive fishing grounds and a seabed with potential, but as yet unexplored, oil and gas reserves.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Magnetosphere
Mains level: Not Much
Indian Scientists have developed a theory that helps understand the complicated nature of Sun-Earth interaction’s happening in the magnetosphere
Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission
- The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission is a NASA robotic space mission to study the Earth’s magnetosphere, using four identical spacecraft flying in a tetrahedral formation.
- The mission is designed to gather information about the microphysics of magnetic reconnection, energetic particle acceleration, and turbulence—processes that occur in many astrophysical plasma.
- Indian researchers have developed a theory that solves every bit of uncertainty regarding the conflict between the observations from MMS Mission.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- The Earth’s magnetic field has reversed every few hundred thousand years.
- When the Earth was created more than 4000 million years ago, there was 54% oxygen and no carbon dioxide.
- When living organisms originated, they modified the early atmosphere of the Earth.
Which of the statements given above is/ are correct? (CSP 2018)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
What is the Magnetosphere?
- The magnetosphere is the region of space surrounding Earth where the dominant magnetic field is the magnetic field of Earth, rather than the magnetic field of interplanetary space.
- It is formed by the interaction of the solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field.
Findings of the Indian Researchers
- The MMS spacecraft observed negative monopolar potential (electric field potentials which can be visualized in the form of single-humped pulse-type structures).
- The scientific community suddenly recognized its importance, and publications were presented.
- However, none of the available theories could explain the characteristics of these structures due to the exotic background conditions.
- Indian theory provides a better understanding of their characteristics and sheds light on the generation of these structures.
- This has lead to the unraveling of nature’s greatest mystery that causes phenomena -plasma transport and heating of plasma- the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid, and gas.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with the bureaucracy
The second wave of Covid has exposed the inherent weakness of the bureaucracy in India. The article highlights the necessity for reforms in the way bureaucracy functions in India.
Features of traditional bureaucracy
- Preference to generalist: Weberian bureaucracy still prefers a generalist over a specialist.
- Preference to leadership of position: The leadership of position is preferred over leadership of function in the traditional bureaucracy.
- The leadership of function is when a person has expert knowledge of a particular responsibility in a particular situation.
- The role of the leader is to explain the situation instead of issuing orders.
- Every official involved in a particular role responds to the situation rather than relying on some dictation from someone occupying a particular position.
- Lack of innovation: The rigid adherence to rules has resulted in the rejection of innovation.
Covid exposed limits of traditional bureaucracy
- A generalist officer IAS and State civil service officials are deemed an expert and as a result, superior in traditional bureaucracy.
- Specialists in every government department have to remain subordinate to the generalist officers.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weakness of this system.
- Healthcare professionals who are specialists have been made to work under generalist officers and the policy options have been left to the generalists when they should be in the hands of the specialists.
- The justification is that the generalist provides a broader perspective compared to the specialist.
Is privatisation and private sector managerial techniques an answer?
- The reform often suggested in India is new public management.
- This as a reform movement promotes privatisation and managerial techniques of the private sector as an effective tool to seek improvements in public service delivery and governance.
- But this isn’t a viable solution in India where there is social inequality and regional variations in development.
- It renders the state a bystander among the multiple market players with a lack of accountability.
- Further, COVID-19 has shown that the private sector has also failed in public service delivery.
Way forward: Collaborative governance
- The most appropriate administrative reform is the model of new public governance.
- Work together: In collaborative governance, the public sector, private players and civil society, especially public service organisations (NGOs), work together for effective public service delivery.
- As part of new public governance, a network of social actors and private players would take responsibility in various aspects of governance with public bureaucracy steering the ship rather than rowing it.
- As part of new public governance, the role of civil society has to be institutionalised.
- It needs a change in the behaviour of bureaucracy.
- Openness to reforms: It needs flexibility in the hierarchy, a relook at the generalist versus specialist debate, and an openness to reforms such as lateral entry and collaboration with a network of social actors.
- All major revolutions with huge implications on public service delivery have come through the collaboration of public bureaucracy with so-called outsiders.
- These include the Green Revolution (M.S. Swaminathan), the White Revolution (Verghese Kurien), Aadhaar-enabled services (Nandan Nilekani) and the IT revolution (Sam Pitroda).
Consider the question “What are the weaknesses of bureaucracy in India? Suggest the measures to improve the quality of public service delivery in India.”
Conclusion
New public governance is the future of governance, especially public service delivery.
Back2Basics: The Weberian Model of bureaucracy
- The classic model of bureaucracy is typically called the ideal Weberian model, and it was developed by Max Weber, an early German sociologist.
- Weber argued that the increasing complexity of life would simultaneously increase the demands of citizens for government services.
- Therefore, the ideal type of bureaucracy, the Weberian model, was one in which agencies are apolitical, hierarchically organized, and governed by formal procedures.
- Furthermore, specialized bureaucrats would be better able to solve problems through logical reasoning.
- Such efforts would eliminate entrenched patronage, stop problematic decision-making by those in charge,, impose order and efficiency, create a clear understanding of the service provided, reduce arbitrariness, ensure accountability, and limit discretion.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Poor public health infrastructure in India and its consequences
The poor public health infrastructure in India hits the poor hard. The article examines the factors responsible for poor public health infrastructure and suggests the measures to deal with it.
Poor state of health infrastructure
- World Bank data reveal the poor state of India’s health infrastructure.
- It reveals that India had 85.7 physicians per 1,00,000 people in 2017.
- In contrast, it is 98 in Pakistan, 58 in Bangladesh, 100 in Sri Lanka and 241 in Japan.
- India had 53 beds per 1,00,000 people.
- It is 63 in Pakistan, 79.5 in Bangladesh, 415 in Sri Lanka and 1,298 in Japan.
- India had172.7 nurses and midwives per 1,00,000 people in contrast to 220 in Sri Lanka, 40 in Bangladesh, 70 in Pakistan, and 1,220 in Japan.
What are the factors responsible for poor health infrastructure?
- Stagnant expenditure: Analysis by the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA), Ashoka University, shows that health expenditure has been stagnant for years.
- Lack of expertise with states: Despite health being a state subject, the main bodies with technical expertise are under central control.
- The States lack corresponding expert bodies such as the National Centre for Disease Control or the Indian Council of Medical Research.
- Inter-State variation: States also differ a great deal in terms of the fiscal space to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic because of the wide variation in per capita health expenditure.
- Kerala and Delhi have been close to top in years from 2011 to 2019-20.
- Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, States that have been consistently towards the bottom of the ranking in the same years.
Out-of-pocket expenditure and its impact on the poor
- Due to low levels of public health provision, the World Health Organization estimates that 62% of the total health expenditure in India is OOP, among the highest in the world.
- Some of the poorest States, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha, have a high ratio of OOP expenditures in total health expenditure.
- Impact on the poor: High ratio of OOP means that the poor in the poorest States, the most vulnerable sections, are the worst victims of a health emergency.
Way forward
1) Coordinated national plan
- The inter-State variation in health expenditure highlights the need for a coordinated national plan at the central level to fight the pandemic.
- The Centre already tightly controls major decisions, including additional resources raised specifically for pandemic relief, e.g. the PM CARES Fund.
- The need for a coordinated strategy on essential supplies of oxygen and vaccines is acute.
- The Centre can bargain for a good price from vaccine manufacturers in its capacity as a single large buyer like the European Union did for its member states.
- Centre will also benefit from the economies of scale in transportation of vaccines into the country.
- Once the vaccines arrive in India, these could be distributed across States equitably in a needs-based and transparent manner.
- Another benefit of central coordination is that distribution of constrained resources like medical supplies, financial resources can internalise the existing disparities in health infrastructure across States.
2) Form Pandemic Preparedness Unit
- There is a need for the creation of a “Pandemic Preparedness Unit” (PPU) by the central government.
- PPU would streamline disease surveillance and reporting systems; coordinate public health management and policy responses across all levels of government.
- It will also formulate policies to mitigate economic and social costs, and communicate effectively about the health crisis.
Consider the question “India has among the highest out-of-pocket expenditure in the world, which is the result of poor public health infrastructure. Examine the factors responsible for poor public health infrastructure and suggest the ways to deal with it.”
Conclusion
As and when we emerge on the other side of the pandemic, bolstering public health-care systems has to be the topmost priority for all governments: the Centre as well as States.
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