Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Drone use for covid vaccine delivery
Conditional drone use exemption for vaccine delivery
- Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
- The exemption is granted for conducting feasibility study of Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones in collaboration with IIT Kanpur.
- The permission exemption is valid for a period of one year or until further orders.
Entities using drone on conditional drone use exemption basis
- Conditional drone use exemption has been granted to the below entities for said purposes:
- Nagar Nigam of Dehradun, Haldwani, Haridwar & Rudrapur for preparation of GIS based property database & electronic tax register.
- West Central Railway, (WCR) Kota for train accident site & maintaining safety & security of the railway assets.
- West Central Railway, (WCR) Katni for train accident site & maintaining safety & security of the railway assets.
- Vedanta Ltd. (Cairn Oil & Gas) also received the conditional drone usage exemption for data acquisition for asset inspecting & mapping.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vulnerability Index
Mains level: Paper 3- Vulnerability to climate change
About the report
- Published this week, the report on ‘Climate vulnerability assessment for adaptation planning in India using a common framework’ was conducted in 2019-2020 across 29 States.
- It was part of a capacity building programme under the National Mission on Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.
- The report was prepared by IISc, IIT-Mandi and IIT-Guwahati.
Major findings
- Along with Chhattisgarh in central India, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Odisha, Assam, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, and West Bengal are the eight most vulnerable States.
- These eight most vulnerable States require prioritisation of adaptation interventions.
- Jharkhand, with the highest vulnerability indices VI of 0.674, topped the list of States most vulnerable to climate change.
- The major drivers for the vulnerability of all the States included lack of forest area per 1,000 rural population, lack of crop insurance, marginal and small operational land holding, low density of health workers, low participation of women in the workforce, yield variability of food grains, and a high proportion of the population below the poverty line.
- Tamil Nadu and Kerala are among seven States that are the least vulnerable but there’s more to it meets the eye.
- However, the vulnerability indices (VIs) for these seven States range from the lowest of 0.419 for Maharashtra to 0.468 for Uttarakhand, which is on the higher side.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Paper 3- Leaders Summit on Climate
Leaders Summit on Climate
- Leaders Summit on Climate included 40 heads of state and government.
- At the summit, President of the United State and Indian Prime Minister launched the ‘India-U.S. climate and clean energy Agenda 2030 partnership’.
- The goal of the partnership are given below:
- 1) Mobilise finance and speed clean energy deployment.
- 2) Demonstrate and scale innovative clean technologies needed to decarbonise sectors, including industry, transportation, power, and buildings.
- 3) Build capacity to measure, manage, and adapt to the risks of climate-related impacts.
India’s progress on NDC
- Despite development challenges, India has taken many bold steps on clean energy, energy efficiency, afforestation and bio-diversity.
- That is among the few countries whose NDCs are 2-degree-Celsius compatible.
- India is targeting a 2030 GDP emissions intensity ( i.e., volume of emissions per unit of GDP) that is 33%-35% below 2005 levels.
- It also seeks to have 40% of power generated from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.
- India’s per capita carbon footprint is 60% lower than the global average.
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Initial estimates for 2020 energy demand and CO2 emission was released recently in an annual report Global Energy Review by International Energy Agency (IEA).
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- The Global Energy Review is annual update on the latest trends in world energy and CO2 emissions.
- It covers all the main fuels and technologies, providing insights across regions, economies and countries.
Highlights of the report:
- Global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are on course to surgeby 1.5 billion tonnes in 2021 driven by in the resurgence of coal use in the power sector.
- The second-largest increase in history.
- This would be the biggest annual rise in emissions since 2010, during the carbon-intensive recovery from the global financial crisis.
- CO2 emissions will increase by almost five per cent in 2021 to 33 billion tonnes.
- The key driver is coal demand, which is set to grow by 4.5 per cent, surpassing its 2019 level and approaching its all-time peak from 2014, with the electricity sector accounting for three-quarters of this increase.
- Global energy demand is set to increase by 4.6 per cent in 2021, led by emerging markets and developing economies, pushing it above its 2019 level.
- Demand for all fossil fuels is on course to grow significantly in 2021, with both coal and gas set to rise above their 2019 levels.
- Oil is also rebounding strongly but is expected to stay below its 2019 peak, as the aviation sector remains under pressure.
- More than 80 per cent of the projected growth in coal demand in 2021 is set to come from Asia, led by China.
- Electricity generation from renewables is set to leap by over eight per cent in 2021.
- The biggest contribution to that growth comes from solar and wind.
- Electricity generation from wind is projected to grow by 275 terawatt-hours, or around 17 per cent, from last year.
- Electricity generation from solar PV is expected to increase by 145 terawatt-hours, up almost 18 per cent from last year.
- Their combined output is on track to reach more than 2800 terawatt-hours in 2021.
- Renewables are set to provide 30 per cent of electricity generationworldwide in 2021.
- China is expected to account for almost half of the global increase in electricity generation from renewables, followed by the US, the European Union and India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 311
Mains level: Paper 2- Article 311 (2) C
Why the task force
- The Jammu and Kashmir administration has set up a Special Task Force (STF) to initiate action against government employees suspected of activities against security of the State.
- The order has been passed under provisions of Article 311(2) (C) of the Constitution.
- The STF would be headed by the J&K Additional Director General of Police, CID, and include Inspectors General of Police, Kashmir and Jammu, a representative of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, and a representative of the department the employee belongs to.
What are the provisions under Article 311 (2) C
- Article 311(2) says no government employee shall be dismissed or removed or “reduced in rank” except after an inquiry.
- However, its sub-section C says this clause will not apply “where the President or the Governor, as the case may be, is satisfied that in the interest of the security of the State, it is not expedient to hold such inquiry”.
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India has been ranked at the 87th position among 115 countries in the Energy Transition Index (ETI).
- The latest report is based on a revised ETI methodology that takes into account recent changes in the global energy landscape and the increasing urgency of climate change action.
- 92 out of 115 countries tracked on the ETI increased their aggregate score over the past 10 years, which affirms the positive direction and steady momentum of the global energy transition
Highlights of the report:
- The top 10 countries in the index are Western and Northern European countries.
- Sweden is in the first position followed by Norway (2nd) and Denmark (3rd).
- Other countries in the top 10 are Switzerland (4), Austria (5), Finland (6), the United Kingdom (7), New Zealand (8), France (9) and Iceland (10).
- China (68) and India (87), which collectively account for a third of global energy demand, have both made strong improvements over the past decade, despite coal continuing to play a significant role in their energy mix.
- “China”s improvements primarily result from reducing the energy intensity of the economy, gains in decarbonising the energy mixthrough the expansion of renewables and strengthening the enabling environment through investments and infrastructure.
- Zimbabwe is the last ranked country.
India specific highlights:
- India has been ranked at the 87th position among 115 countries.
- India has targeted improvements through subsidy reforms and rapidly scaling energy access, with a strong political commitment and regulatory environment for the energy transition.
About the Energy Transition Index (ETI):
- ETI is a report from World Economic Forum (WEF).
- It is an annual ranking.
- The index tracks nations on the current performance of their energy systems across various aspects.
- The index benchmarks 115 countries on the current performance of their energy systems across three dimensions :
- Economic development and growth
- Environmental sustainability
- Energy security and access indicators — and their readiness to transition to secure, sustainable, affordable, and inclusive energy systems.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- India-US relations
About USCIRF
- U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent bi-partisan commission.
- USCIRF recommendations are non-binding.
- The Trump administration had rejected the USCIRF recommendation to designate India a CPC last year.
- Last year India had denied visas to members of USCIRF who wanted to visit India for their assessment.
What are the key concerns of the report
- The key concerns of the 2021 report include the Citizenship Amendment Act.
- On the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the report says, “The consequences of exclusion – as exemplified by a large detention camp being built in Assam – are potentially devastating…”
- Efforts to prohibit interfaith marriage – such as those in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh – are also highlighted as a concern.
- In an apparent reference to the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in March 2020, the USCIRF says that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, disinformation and hateful rhetoric often targeted religious minorities.
Recommendations of the report to the US Congress
- The USCISRF recommended that the administration impose targeted sanctions on Indian individuals and entities for ‘severe violations of religious freedom’.
- A second recommendation was for the administration to promote inter-faith dialogue and the rights of all communities at bilateral and multilateral forums “such as the ministerial of the Quad].
- Another recommendation – to the U.S. Congress – was to raise issues in the U.S. – India bilateral space, such as by hosting hearings, writing letters and constituting Congressional delegations.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Covaxin and Covishield
Mains level: Paper 2- Breakthrough infections
Breakthrough infection
- ICMR said that a small fraction of those vaccinated with either Covaxin or Covishield have tested positive (i.e. breakthrough” infections).
- However, these instances do not undermine the efficacy of the vaccines.
- The immune response begins to develop usually two weeks after every dose and there are variations within individuals, too.
- Of the 9.3 million who received the first dose of Covaxin, 4,208 tested positive; and of the 1.7 million who received the second dose, 695 tested positive.
- For Covishield, of the 100.3 million who received the first dose, 17,145 tested positive; and of the 15 million who got the second dose, 5,014 tested postive.
What explains infections after vaccination
- Healthcare and frontline workers, who were among the first to be vaccinated, were as a population far more exposed to the virus and therefore more susceptible.
- Secondly, the emergence of “the highly transmissible second wave (newer variants) ” may have contributed to instances of infection among those vaccinated.
- Several variants, which have mutations that have been shown to avoid detection by the immune system, and in some cases reduce the efficacy of vaccines, have been reported globally, including in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Protecting the police from political interference
The article suggests the need for reforms in the process of appointment to the police chief to ensure the political neutrality of the police.
Process of appointing and removing police chief
- A crucial way in which governments exercise control over the State police is through their unregulated power to decide who the chief will be.
- There is no independent vetting process to assess the suitability of qualified candidates, and the government’s assessment, if it is done at all, remains opaque and is an exercise behind closed doors.
- The moot reform issue is in ensuring the right balance between the government’s legitimate role in appointing or removing the police chief with the need to safeguard the chief’s operational autonomy.
Need for reforms
Two elements are vital to reforms in this area.
1) Shift the responsibility to independent oversight body of which government is one part
- The National Police Commission (NPC) (1979), and the Supreme Court in its judgment in 2006, in the Prakash Singh case suggested establishing a state-level oversight body with a specified role in the appointment and removal of police chiefs.
- While the Supreme Court entrusted the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) with a role in shortlisting candidates from which the State government is to appoint the police chief.
- However, the Model Police Bill, 2015 places the responsibility with a multiparty State Police Board, also referred to as the State Security Commission (SSCs) instead.
No compliance with SC directive in the formation of SSC
- While 26 States and the Union Territories have established SSCs, not a single one adheres to the balanced composition suggested by the top court.
- Some do not include the Leader of the Opposition; others neither include independent members nor follow an independent selection process of the members.
- In essence, the commissions remain dominated by the political executive.
- Moreover, in as many as 23 States, governments retain the sole discretion of appointing the police chief. Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Mizoram are the only States where, on paper, the SSC is given the responsibility of shortlisting candidates.
2) Need for transparency
- The second element critical to police reforms is instituting an independent and transparent selection and decision-making process around appointment and removal, against objective criteria.
- On appointments, the Court and the Model Police Act require the UPSC/SSC to shortlist candidates on the basis of length of service, service record, and range of experience and a performance appraisal of the candidates over the past 10 years.
- However, no further guidance has been developed on explaining these terms or specifying their elements.
- Similarly, no scrutiny process has been prescribed to justify removals from tenure posts.
- The National Police Commission had required State governments to seek the approval of the State Security Commission before removing the police chief before the end of term.
- This important check was diluted under the Prakash Singh judgment that only requires governments to consult the SSC.
- Most States omit even this cursory step.
- The Supreme Court has rightly emphasised that “prima facie satisfaction of the government” alone is not a sufficient ground to justify removal from a tenure post in government, such as that of the police chief (T.P. Senkumar vs Union of India, 2017).
- The rule of law requires such decisions be for compelling reasons and based on verifiable material that can be objectively tested.
Way forward
- Clear and specific benchmarks need to be integrated into decision-making processes, both on appointments and removals, to prevent politically motivated adverse actions.
- In improving transparency the United Kingdom provides a useful example by introducing public confirmation hearings as an additional layer of check for the appointment of the heads of their police forces.
Consider the question “Examine the status of compliance of the states to the directives of the Supreme Court with respect to the constitution of State Security Commission in the Prakash Singh case.”
Conclusion
Reforms are needed on urgent to ensure fairness in administrative decisions and to protect the political neutrality of the police. Any further delay in implementing reforms in this area will continue to demoralise the police and cripple the rule of law.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green hydroge
Mains level: Paper 2- Scaling up green hydrogen manufacturing capacity in India
Green hydrogen could help significantly in India’s transition to low carbon future. However, there are several challenges in ramping up its manufacturing. The article suggests measures to deal with these challenges.
Increasing the production of green hydrogen
- India will soon join 15 other countries in the hydrogen club as it prepares to launch the National Hydrogen Energy Mission (NHEM).
- India will soon join 15 other countries in the hydrogen club as it prepares to launch the National Hydrogen Energy Mission (NHEM).
- In 2030, according to an analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), green hydrogen demand could be up to 1 million tonnes in India across application in sectors such as ammonia, steel, methanol, transport and energy storage.
Dealing with challenges
Several challenges in scaling up to commercial-scale operations persist. Following are five recommendations.
1) Decentralise green hydrogen production
- Decentralised hydrogen production must be promoted through open access of renewable power to an electrolyser (which splits water to form H2 and O2 using electricity).
- Currently, most renewable energy resources that can produce low-cost electricity are situated far from potential demand centres.
- Producing oxygen at such locations and then shipped, it would significantly erode the economics of it.
- A more viable option would be wheeling electricity directly from the solar plant.
- However, the electricity tariffs could double when supplying open-access power across State boundaries.
- Therefore, operationalising open access in letter and spirit, as envisioned in the Electricity Act, 2003, must be an early focus.
2) Ensure access to round-the-clock renewable power
- To minimise intermittency associated with renewable energy, for a given level of hydrogen production capacity, a green hydrogen facility will store hydrogen to ensure continuous hydrogen supply.
- Therefore, as we scale up to the target of having 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030, aligning hydrogen production needs with broader electricity demand in the economy would be critical.
3) Blending green hydrogen in industrial sector
- We must take steps to blend green hydrogen in existing processes, especially the industrial sector.
- Improving the reliability of hydrogen supply by augmenting green hydrogen with conventionally produced hydrogen will significantly improve the economics of the fuel.
- This will also help build a technical understanding of the processes involved in handling hydrogen on a large scale.
4) Facilitate investment
- Policymakers must facilitate investments in early-stage piloting and the research and development needed to advance the technology for use in India.
- The growing interest in hydrogen is triggered by the anticipated steep decline in electrolyser costs.
- Public funding will have to lead the way, but the private sector, too, has significant gains to be made by securing its energy future.
5) Focus on domestic manufacturing
- India must learn from the experience of the National Solar Mission and focus on domestic manufacturing.
- Establishing an end-to-end electrolyser manufacturing facility would require measures extending beyond the existing performance-linked incentive programme.
- India needs to secure supplies of raw materials that are needed for this technology.
- Further, major institutions like the DRDO, BARC and CSIR laboratories have been developing electrolyser and fuel-cell technologies.
Consider the question “Even before it has reached any scale, green hydrogen has been anointed the flag-bearer of India’s low-carbon transition. In lights of this, examine the challenges India faces in scaling up its green hydrogen production and suggest the ways to deal with these challenges.”
Conclusion
Hydrogen may be lighter than air, but it will take some heavy lifting to get the ecosystem in place.
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- Scientists have developed a Covid-19 vaccine that could offer protection against not only existing and future strains of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
- The vaccine costs $1 a dose. It uses the plasmid of E-coli bacteria to produce the vaccine.
- A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently.
- They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria; however, plasmids are sometimes present in archaea and eukaryotic organisms.
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Fifth session of Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH)established under Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) inaugurated virtually on 20th April with a series of virtual sessions.
- The session will see nearly 300 experts from 50 countries taking part in the deliberations.
About CCSCH:
- Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs was formed in 2013 with support of more than a hundred countries with India as the host country and Spices Board India as the Secretariat for organising the sessions of the committee.
- The objective was to develop and expand worldwide standards for spices and culinary herbs, and to consult with other international organisations in the standards development process.
- Since its inception, the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs has been successful in developing harmonised global Codex standards for spices and herbs.
- In its past four sessions, the committee developed and finalized standards for four spices, viz. dried or dehydrated forms of black/white/green pepper, cumin, thyme, and garlic.
About CAC:
- The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is an intergovernmental body.
- Set up in 1963.
- It was established jointly by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), within the framework of the Joint Food Standards Programme to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Banning cryptocurrency
Law to ban private cryptocurrencies
- The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 aims to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies.
- It lays the regulatory framework for the launch of an “official digital currency” was set to be introduced in Parliament during the Budget session, but was not taken up.
- A high-powered inter-ministerial committee has also previously recommended the banning of all private cryptocurrencies.
- In April 2018, the RBI banned banks and other regulated entities from supporting crypto transactions after digital currencies were used for frauds.
- In March 2020, the Supreme Court struck down the RBI’s ban on crypto, terming its circular unconstitutional.
- One of the SC’s reasons for overturning the ban is that cryptocurrencies are unregulated but not illegal in India.
Central bank-issued digital currency
- The RBI had said central banks are not only exploring DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) for its application in improving financial market infrastructure but also considering it as a potential technological solution in implementing central bank digital currency (CBDC).
- DLT and blockchain have been explored extensively by the People’s Bank of China as a possible technology for launching CBDC.
- Apart from CBDC, PBoC is supporting research on using blockchain for trade finance, especially after the support from the President of China for the blockchain technology, as an important breakthrough for innovations.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ESIS and EPF
Mains level: Paper 3- ESIS and EPF
The idea of welfare state
- Covid reminds us that a modern state is a welfare state as governments worldwide launched 1,600 plus new social protection programmes in 2020.
- Sustainable social security lies in raising India’s 138th ranking in country per-capita GDP.
- However, on the social security schemes, there is a case for three reforms to our biggest health insurance and pension schemes:
- These schemes are the Employee State Insurance Scheme (ESIS) and Employee Provident Fund (EPF).
Issues with ESIS
- The Employee State Insurance Scheme (ESIS) is India’s richest and biggest health insurance scheme with 13 crore people covered and Rs 80,000 crore in cash.
- Employers with more than 10 employees make a mandatory 4 per cent payroll deduction for employees earning up to Rs 21,000 per month.
- Despite covering roughly 10 per cent of India’s population, a recent working paper from Dvara Research suggests high dissatisfaction.
- The constraint is hardly resources: ESIC’s unspent reserves are larger than the Central government’s healthcare budgetary allocation.
Issues with EPF
- EPF is India’s biggest pension scheme with a Rs 12 lakh crore corpus and 6.5 crore contributors.
- Employers with more than 20 employees make mandatory 24 per cent payroll deductions for employees earning up to Rs 15,000 per month.
- It only covers 10 per cent of India’s labour force and 60 per cent of accounts and 50 per cent of registered employers are inactive.
- EPF offers poor service and pathetic technology despite employer-funded administrative costs that make it the world’s most expensive government securities mutual fund.
Updating the risk-sharing frameworks in society
- In a book titled What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract, Nemat Shafik suggests updating the risk-sharing framework in societies.
- This is because current structures are breaking up under the weight of changes in the role of women, longer careers, technology, globalisation, and much else.
- She suggests a more nuanced social security redistribution across time (the piggy bank function), incomes (the Robin Hood function), and financial burden-bearing (the state, individuals, or employers).
- In India, the answer lies in fixing the problems of EPF and ESIS.
Solution to the EPF and ESIS problems
- Both suffer from poor coverage, high costs, unsatisfied customers, metrics confused with goals, jail provisions, excessive corruption, low expertise, rude and unaccountable staff with no fear of falling or hope of rising, and no competition.
Let’s look at possible solutions.
1) Structure
- EPF and ESIS combine the roles of policymaker, regulator, and service provider.
- Splitting roles is a precondition for performance because goals, strategy, and skills are different.
- An independent policymaker horrified with only 6 lakh of India’s 6.3 crore enterprises covered would create competition.
- An independent regulator terrified by ESIS overcharging would frown on a claims ratio of less than 75 per cent.
- An independent service provider would invest heavily in technology, customer service, and human capital.
- Splitting roles would lead to the following benefits:
- 1) Competition from NPS for EPF.
- 2) Ending VIP opt-out by merging CGHS with ESIS,
- 3) Raising enforceability by making employee provident fund contribution voluntary.
- 4) Improving portability by de-linking accounts from employers.
- 5) Targeting universalisation by simultaneously ending minimum employer head-count and employee salary contribution thresholds while introducing absolute contribution caps.
- The Health and Finance Ministry would be logical homes for ESIS and EPF policy roles.
2) Governance
- The governing board of ESIS and EPFO have 59 and 33 members respectively.
- Such a large group can’t have meaningful discussions, make decisions, and exercise oversight.
- This governance deficit needs smaller boards (not more than 15), age limits, term limits, expertise, active sub-committees (HR, Investments, and technology) and real powers.
3) Leadership
- Health and pensions need complex skills developed over time.
- Yet, ESIS and EPF are led by generalist bureaucrats.
- Both organisations need professional chief executives.
- Philosopher Isaiah Berlin’s framing of the generalist vs specialist debate as hedgehogs (who know one thing) and foxes (who know many things) is important.
- A less generalist, non-transitory, and non-cadred chief executive would create a new tone-from-the-top around performance management, technology, and service outcomes.
Conclusion
Social security — not a borrowing binge that steals from our grandchildren — can blunt structural and COVID inequality when combined with complementary policies like formalisation, financialisation, urbanisation, and better government schools. But a great place to start is three flick-of-pen, non-fiscal reforms at EPF and ESIS.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FDI restrictions on e-commerce
Mains level: Paper 3- FDI in e-commerce
We need a comprehensive FDI policy on trade to take care of the needs of all the stakeholders. The article highlights the issues faced by the e-commerce sector in relation to the FDI policy.
E-commerce as an enabler
- With their efficient, quick and reliable logistics network, e-commerce platforms have nudged consumer behaviour patterns from an offline to an online shopping mode.
- During the pandemic, e-commerce emerged as an enabler in ensuring the availability of essentials to the masses.
- E-commerce is going to be increasingly important in the future of retail shopping in India and the world over.
- It is estimated to become a $100 billion industry by 2024, which was at $38.5 billion until 2017.
- The trend will continue to grow with the government’s impetus on digital literacy, also supported by the increasing penetration of internet and smartphone users.
- However, what the sector lacks is the bandwidth of operation.
Issues with FDI policy for e-commerce
- In addition to the FDI Policy/FEMA, other laws such as IT Act, Consumer Protection Act, and those pertaining to IP and copyright, regulate the e-commerce sector in India.
- Of these, the FDI policy plays an important role as massive investments are needed to build and strengthen the entire ecosystem of the e-commerce sector in the country.
- FDI policies on trade have evolved over time as policy-making was done from time to time mostly responding to the needs of the market coupled with political feasibility.
- Thus, FDI policy in cash and carry or wholesale B2B operations is different (100 per cent FDI allowed under automatic route) compared to highly restrictive FDI policy on retail B2C trade.
- Similarly, an artificial distinction was created between single-brand retail and multi-brand retail as opposition to multi-brand retail was strong: 100 per cent FDI is allowed under automatic route in single-brand retail whereas FDI regime in multi-brand retail is quite restricted.
- E-commerce is not allowed under FDI policy in multi-brand retail.
- The FDI policy on e-commerce is quite different as e-commerce platforms are allowed to work only as a marketplace with permission to provide certain specified services to sellers and buyers.
- However, FDI is allowed in the inventory model when these platforms sell fresh farm produce made in India.
- There is no specific policy on FDI in e-commerce for exports.
Need for comprehensive FDI policy for trade
- The rapid expansion of the retail, organised retail as well e-commerce sector in India in the coming years will create huge opportunities for all.
- The policies that have evolved over time need a relook to balance the interests of all in a win-win policy.
- Today, our small businesses employing an exceptionally large number of workers need to use e-commerce more and more to augment their sales.
- E-commerce provides them with the means to access a much bigger market without having to overly invest in marketing. This should include more and more foreign markets.
- Consumers have benefited enormously from e-commerce.
- Also, the harmonious working of online and offline retailers is essential.
- With GST and the drive towards digitisation, more small traders need to be enabled to make the transition and take advantage of the expanding opportunities.
Consider the question “Why e-commerce sector is important for the economy of a country? What are the issues the sector faces in India?”
Conclusion
Public policy on e-commerce needs to place an equal premium on the views and interests of all the stakeholders in the ecosystem to strengthen our domestic businesses and create many more jobs and livelihood opportunities in the country to fulfil the dreams of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Factors making Naxal moment a complex security challenge
The article explains the issues with the two common themes adopted for explaining the Naxal movement in India.
Two approaches to explain Naxal movement
1) Root cause and alienation approach
- The recent attack in and around Tekulagudem village in Sukma district demonstrates the threat posed by Maoists.
- The post-incident analysis of such setbacks comes in two flavours.
- The most popular theory amongst our intelligentsia and media is the root cause and alienation approach.
- This approach states that it is the failure of the Indian state to provide economic development and social justice to the tribals living in these areas that has fuelled the Naxal movement and sustained it for five decades.
- As a prescription, a development-centric approach and negotiations are suggested as the way forward.
Issues with root cause and alienation approach
- There are several problems with this approach.
- First, it ignores the ideological foundations of the movement, specifically its rejection of India’s Constitution and democracy.
- Second, it fails to see that social and economic deprivation is not unique to the jungles of Chhattisgarh.
- Third, it doesn’t account for the possibility that while alienation and deprivation may help in igniting the spark of revolution, once lit the flames draw oxygen from many sources.
- Fourth, the role of external forces in fomenting and sustaining this movement is deliberately underplayed.
- Fifth, the grubby ground reality of the praxis of revolution is conveniently swept under the carpet.
- The organised extortion racket from all economic stakeholders in the Naxal-affected areas by our alienated revolutionaries seldom gets talked about.
- Sixth, the extensive ideological, financial and logistical ecosystem that provides sustenance to these revolutionaries in the jungle is seldom acknowledged.
2) Leadership issue
- According to this view, our tactical failures against the Maoists are entirely due to the poor quality of leadership provided by the Indian Police Service.
- The when, where, how of a setback simply don’t matter.
- When in doubt, identify the first IPS officer in the chain of command and hoist him on the petard of tactical incompetence.
- This view completely ignores the many successes of IPS leadership in counterinsurgency operations in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and most recently in Odisha.
- Even in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir, where the Indian Army provides the backbone of the counterinsurgency grid, the police forces of the respective states and their IPS leadership play a crucial role in gathering intelligence and in executing operations.
- So, the failures and setbacks in the Naxal areas of Chhattisgarh need to be placed in perspective.
Way forward
- The fact that the Indian state has adopted a broad policy of economic development, military restraint and gradual attrition and rejected indiscriminate violence in the Naxal theatre is the democratically prudent and morally just course of action.
- This hasn’t dissuaded Maoist sympathisers from gaining international attention through relentless propaganda against our security forces.
- However, such attacks also help in exposing their true nature and hardening public resolve against them.
- \We have enough examples of successful, police led CI Ops in our country.
- Why we are not able to replicate these successes in Chhattisgarh is a matter of larger political issues, well beyond the narrow scope of operational tactics and individual lapses of police leadership.
- Not just the politics, the geography and demography of the Naxal-affected areas, make it an even more complex challenge of internal security.
Consider the question “What are the factors that make Naxal movement a persistent threat to India’s internal security? ”
Conclusion
Not just the politics, the geography and demography of the Naxal-affected areas, make it an even more complex challenge of internal security.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Agri exports
Mains level: Paper 3- Agri exports
Consistent trade surplus in agricultural products
- India has consistently maintained trade surplus in the agricultural products over the years.
- The export of Agri and allied commodities during Apr, 2020 – Feb,2021 were Rs. 2.74 lakh Crore as compared to Rs. 2.31 Crore in the same period last year indicating an increase of 18.49%.
- The imports of Agri and allied commodities during April, 2020 – Feb, 2021 were Rs. 1.41lakh Crore as compared to Rs. 1.37 lakh Crore in the same period last year witnessing a slight increase of 2.93%.
Commodities that posted positive growth
- India has witnessed tremendous growth of 727 % for Wheat export.
- On specific demand from countries, NAFED has exported 50,000 MT wheat to Afghanistan and 40,000 MT wheat to Lebanon under G2G arrangement.
- Country has witnessed significant growth of 132% in export of (Non-Basmati) Rice.
- Export of Non-Basmati Rice has gone up from Rs 13,030 crores in 2019-20 to Rs 30,277 crores in 2020-21.
- This increase in exports is on account of multiple factors, mainly being India capturing new markets namely, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico.
- Exports were also made to Togo, Senegal, Malaysia, Madagascar, Iraq, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Vietnam, Tanzania Rep and Madagascar.
- India also enhanced export of Soya meals by 132%. Soya meal has gone up from Rs 3087 crores in 2019-20 to Rs 7224 crores in 2020-21.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Epithelial cell
Mains level: Paper 2-Oxygen requirement in covid patients
How Covid-19 leads to shortness of breath?
- Shortness of breath occurs because of the way Covid-19 affects the patient’s respiratory system.
- When a person inhales, the tiny air sacs in the lungs — alveoli — expand to capture this oxygen, which is then transferred to blood vessels and transported through the rest of the body.
- Respiratory epithelial cells line the respiratory tract.
- Their primary function is to protect the airway tract from pathogens and infections, and also facilitate gas exchange.
- And the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus can infect these epithelial cells.
- To fight such infection, the body’s immune system releases cells that trigger inflammation.
- When this inflammatory immune response continues, it impedes the regular transfer of oxygen in the lungs.
- Simultaneously, fluids too build up.
- Both these factors combined make it difficult to breathe.
- Low levels of oxygen triggered by Covid-19 are inflammatory markers, which include elevated white blood cell counts and neutrophil counts.
Does a patient always show Covid symptoms when their oxygen levels drop?
- No.
- According to the FAQs on Covid-19 from AIIMS e-ICUS, sudden deaths have been reported at presentation to the emergency department, as well as in hospital.
- AIIMS has said that the reasons that have been proposed include a sudden cardiac event, preceding “silent hypoxia” that went unnoticed, or due to a thrombotic complication such as pulmonary thromboembolism.
- In silent hypoxia, patients have extremely low blood oxygen levels, yet do not show signs of breathlessness.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Press Freedom Index
Mains level: Paper 2- Freedom of press in India
Where India stands on freedom of press
- India is ranked at 142 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index 2021.
- India at142th position is same as last year, after it had consistently slid down from 133 in 2016.
- In the South Asian neighbourhood, Nepal is at 106, Sri Lanka at 127, Myanmar (before the coup) at 140, Pakistan at 145 and Bangladesh at 152.
- The index is published by the international journalism not-for profit body, Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
- China is ranked 177, and is only above North Korea at 179 and Turkmenistan at 178.
What the report said about India
- The report released on Tuesday stated that India shares the “bad” classification with Brazil, Mexico and Russia.
- RSF has highlighted that the “campaigns are particularly violent when the targets are women”.
- Further, it said that criminal prosecutions are meanwhile “often used to gag journalists critical of the authorities” with sections for sedition also used.
- Speaking about the larger Asia-Pacific region, the report mentioned that “instead of drafting new repressive laws in order to impose censorship, several of the region’s countries have contented themselves with strictly applying existing legislation that was already very draconian – laws on ‘sedition,’ ‘state secrets’ and ‘national security’.”
- The report has also highlighted throttling of freedom of expression on social media, and specifically mentioned that in India the “arbitrary nature of Twitter’s algorithms also resulted in brutal censorship”
Measures adopted by India to improve ranking
- The Indian government has been concerned about its low rankings in such international indices, and had last year started studying them to understand how to improve.
- Soon after the index was released last year, Union Minister for Information and Broadcast had tweeted on May 2: “Media in India enjoy absolute freedom.”
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 224A
Mains level: Paper 2- Appointment of retired judges in the High Court under Article 224A
Appointment of retired judges under Article 224A
- The Supreme Court cleared the way for appointment of retired judges as ad-hoc judges in High Courts under Article 224A of the Constitution.
- The court ruled that the Chief Justice of a High Court may initiate the process of recommending a name if the number of judges’ vacancies is more than 20 per cent of the sanctioned strength.
- The court said the appointments can follow the procedure laid down in the Memorandum of Procedure for appointment of judges.
- The move will help to deal with mounting backlog of cases.
- Since the nominees have been judges before, the need to refer the matter to the IB or other agencies would not arise, shortening the time period.
Back2Basics: About Article 224A
- It allows the Chief Justice of a High Court to allow a retired judge of any High Court to sit and act as the judge of the High Court for that State.
- Previous consent of the President is necessary.
- The acting retired judge would be entitled to such allowances as the President may by order determine and have all the jurisdiction, powers and privileges of, but shall not otherwise be deemed to be, a Judge of that High Court.
- This Article was not part of the Constitution of India, 1950. It was inserted by the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963.
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