Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Wholesale and Retail (Consumer) Inflation
Mains level: Not Much
India’s retail inflation inched up to an eight-month high of 6.07% in February from 6.01% in January, with rural India experiencing a sharper price rise at 6.38%.
What is Retail Inflation?
- When we generally talk about retail inflation, it often refers to the rate of inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI).
- The CPI tracks the change in retail prices of goods and services which households purchase for their daily consumption.
- The CPI monitors retail prices at a certain level for a particular commodity; price movement of goods and services at rural, urban and all-India levels.
- The change in the price index over a period of time is referred to as CPI-based inflation, or retail inflation.
What is Consumer Price Index (CPI)?
- It is an index measuring retail inflation in the economy by collecting the change in prices of most common goods and services used by consumers.
- In India, there are four consumer price index numbers, which are calculated, and these are as follows:
-
- CPI for Industrial Workers (IW)
- CPI for Agricultural Labourers (AL)
- CPI for Rural Labourers (RL) and
- CPI for Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME).
- While the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation collects CPI (UNME) data and compiles it, the remaining three are collected by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour.
- The base year for CPI is 2012.
- To calculate CPI, multiply 100 to the fraction of the cost price of the current period and the base period.
Significance of CPI
- Generally, CPI is used as a macroeconomic indicator of inflation, as a tool by the central bank and government for inflation targeting and for inspecting price stability, and as deflator in the national accounts.
- CPI also helps understand the real value of salaries, wages, and pensions, the purchasing power of the nation’s currency, and regulating rates.
- CPI, one of the most important statistics to ascertain economic health, is generally based on the weighted average of the prices of commodities.
- It basically gives an idea of the cost of the standard of living.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNSC
Mains level: Paper 2- India's vote at the UN on Ukraine
Context
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has placed considerable moral responsibility on India. However, at the United Nations (UN), India has refused to condemn the violation of the rights of the Ukrainians.
Issues involved in India’s vote
1] Commitment to principles
- National interest: One of the arguments justifying India’s stance is that in international affairs, a country must be guided by its national interest and not some abstract principles.
- It is pointed out that due to the very high dependence of India on the Soviet Union for defence equipment and the likely need of support on the Pakistan issue in the Security Council, India must not offend Russia by condemning the invasion.
- Why India should condemn Russia: If a people’s principles are their most deeply held beliefs about how the world must be ordered, then their interest lies in ensuring that their principles prevail in international relations.
- Thus, if India does not want to see itself to be the victim of territorial aggression in the future, it must communicate strongly on the world stage that it condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
2] India-West relations
- In the 1950s the West was clearly unsympathetic to India, playing its card openly on the Kashmir issue at the UN as early as 1947.
- On the other hand, the Soviet Union, the precursor to the present-day Russian state, had rescued India several times by exercising its veto in the UN Security Council.
- Now, close to 75 years later, the situation has changed.
- Public opinion in the West does not favour unconditional support of Pakistan vis-à-vis India while Russia encourages Pakistan.
- Moreover, we know by now that some limited support at the UN matters little, as taking the Kashmir issue to the UN Security Council has not got Pakistan to withdraw from the territory it occupied.
3] India’s dependence on Russia for defence supplies
- It is indeed correct that India relies on the Russians for such equipment and their spare parts.
- At the same time there is a global market for arms. It is not evident that anything withheld by the Russians cannot be sourced from that market.
- For India to base its public stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the assured supply of armaments is to really drag ourselves down to the bottom of the pit in terms of ethics.
4] East-West conflict argument
- Another argument is that this is a conflict between the east and the west, and India should stay out of it.
- To say that this is just another east-west conflict from which India should stay out is tantamount to seeing the Russian invasion and the brave defence of their country by the Ukrainians as a mere marital squabble.
- India had refused in 1956 to condemn the Soviet invasion of Hungary, its action today is much worse.
Conclusion
India must take a long view of how it wants to engage with it. Its actions so far leave it in the company of Russia and China.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Geneva Conventions
Mains level: Read the attached story
As the evidence of casualties in the civilian population continues to mount, the world will increasingly look to the Geneva Conventions in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Geneva Conventions Guidelines for Wartime
- These are a set of four treaties, formalized in 1949, and three additional protocols, which codify widely accepted ethical and legal international standards for humanitarian treatment of those impacted by war.
- The focus of the Conventions is the:
- Treatment of non-combatants and prisoners of war, and
- Not the use of conventional or biological and chemical weapons
What are the four Geneva Conventions?
(1) First Geneva Convention: Health and Medical Issues
- It protects wounded and sick soldiers on land during war.
- This convention extends to medical and religious personnel, medical units, and medical transport.
- It has two annexes containing a draft agreement relating to hospital zones and a model identity card for medical and religious personnel.
(2) Second Geneva Convention: Offshore Protection
- It protects wounded, sick and shipwrecked military personnel at sea during war.
- This convention also extends to hospital ships and medical transports by sea, with specific commentary on the treatment and protections for their personnel.
(3) Third Geneva Convention: Treatment of Prisoners of War (PoW)
It applies to prisoners of war, including a wide range of general protections such as humane treatment, maintenance and equality across prisoners, conditions of captivity, questioning and evacuation of prisoners, transit camps, food, clothing, medicines, hygiene and right to religious, intellectual, and physical activities of prisoners.
(4) Fourth Geneva Convention: Civilian protection of occupied territory ***
- It particularly applies to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces.
- It protects civilians, including those in occupied territory.
- Comprising 159 articles, it outlines the norms for this critical dimension of conflict.
Extent of the Fourth Geneva Convention amid the Ukraine-Russia War
- Along with the Additional Protocols of 1977, the Fourth Convention expounds upon the:
- General protection of populations against certain consequences of war
- Conduct of hostilities and the status and
- Treatment of protected persons
- Distinguishing between the situation of foreigners on the territory of one of the parties to the conflict and that of civilians in occupied territory
- This convention also spells out the obligations of the occupying power vis-à-vis the civilian population and outlines detailed provisions on humanitarian relief for populations in occupied territory.
Which countries are signatories?
- The Geneva Conventions have been ratified by 196 states, including all UN member states.
- The three Protocols have been ratified by 174, 169 and 79 states respectively.
Russia and these conventions
- In 2019, perhaps anticipating the possibility of its invading Ukraine in the near future, Russia withdrew its declaration under Article 90 of Protocol 1.
- By withdrawing this declaration, Russia has pre-emptively left itself with the option to refuse access by any international fact-finding missions to Russian entities.
- Not withdrawing could have find Russia responsible for violations of the Geneva Conventions standards.
- Further, the four conventions and first two protocols of the Geneva Conventions were ratified by the Soviet Union, not Russia.
- Hence there is a risk of the Russian government of the day disavowing any responsibility under the Conventions.
What would be the steps for potential prosecution under the Conventions?
- Under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the ICC, it is the ICC that has jurisdiction in respect of war crimes, in particular “when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes.”
To what extent have Geneva Conventions been upheld worldwide in recent years?
- Amnesty International notes that there has been a blatant disregard for civilian protection and international humanitarian law in armed conflicts where four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are parties.
- Specifically, Amnesty cited:
- US-led coalition’s bombing of Raqqa in Syria, which left more than 1,600 civilians dead
- Destruction of civilian infrastructure and lives in Aleppo and Idlib by Russian forces
- Leading to mass displacement of millions
- War in Yemen where the Saudi Arabia and the UAE-led coalition, backed by the West, killed and injured thousands of civilians, fuelling a full-blown humanitarian crisis
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Blockchain technology, NFTs
Mains level: Blockchain gaming
Many Indian gaming companies have expressed their interest in introducing elements of Blockchain technology into their games in the near future.
What is Blockchain?
- Blockchain is a decentralised database that stores information.
- It relies on technology that allows for the storage of identical copies of this information on multiple computers in a network.
What are blockchain games?
- To revisit our definition of blockchain games: they are online video games that are developed by integrating blockchain technology into them.
- It can be diversified into the following components-
(1) Non-fungible tokens
- NFTs represent in-game virtual assets that can be owned by players, such as maps, armour or land.
- These NFTs act as asset tags, identifying ownership of the in-game assets, and are stored on the blockchain.
- Being on the blockchain allows the player to have a secure record of ownership of the in-game assets and also gives the assets the ability to outlive the game itself.
- Based on the manner in which the games are designed, it also allows for the in-game assets to be transferred from one game to another.
- It also creates transparency, since ownership records can independently be verified by any third party as well.
- In doing so, it makes in-game assets marketable and creates a decentralized market, where they can be bought and sold by people.
(2) Cryptocurrency
- Cryptocurrency, such as tokens based on the Ethereum blockchain, may be used for the purchase of in-game assets.
- These in-game purchases usually enable gamers to buy items like extra lives, coins and so on directly from the game.
(3) Gaming coins
- Gaming coins, such as Axie Infinity (ACS) and Enjin Coin (ENJ), are in-game cryptocurrency which may be acquired and then used for the purchase of in-game assets.
- These gaming coins may be purchased from crypto exchanges (and eventually be traded on these crypto exchanges as well) or, in certain cases, be acquired as winnings in games that have adopted the ‘play-to-earn’ model.
- In such games, gamers are rewarded for dedicating their time and skill to play the game with gaming coins and in-game assets.
Need to regulate such games
- By making in-game assets available for purchase, developers and publishers stand to earn revenue from the sale of such assets.
- They may also embed certain rules when implementing the code for in-game assets such that a fee is paid to them every time a certain action is taken,
- It also involves transfers of assets from one player to another.
- It needs to be ensured that if it is permissible to offer such games in the Indian Territory and also offers protection in the form of intellectual property rights.
- Other concerns, such as privacy and cyber security, along with how financial regulations would apply to blockchain games, would also need to be addressed.
Regulatory aspects in India
Most of the gaming laws were brought into effect prior to the internet era and, therefore, only contemplate regulation of gaming activities taking place in physical premises.
(A) Legality Check
- Since blockchain is merely the underlying technology, there is no express regulation in India.
- It would, however, be relevant to explore the legality of the games from the lens of existing Indian gaming regulation.
- Most Indian states regulate gaming on the basis of a distinction in law between ‘games of skill’ and ‘games of chance’.
- Staking money or property on the outcome of a ‘game of chance’ is prohibited and subjects the guilty parties to criminal sanctions.
- However, placing any stakes on the outcome of a ‘game of skill’ is not illegal per se and may be permissible.
- As per two seminal judgments of the Supreme Court on this aspect, the Supreme Court recognized that no game is purely a ‘game of skill’ and almost all games have an element of chance.
(B) Dominant Element Test
- As such, a ‘dominant element’ test is to be utilized to determine whether chance or skill is the dominating element in determining the result of the game.
- This ‘dominant element’ may be determined by examining whether factors such as superior knowledge, training, experience, expertise or attention of a player have a material impact on the outcome of the game.
- While the outcomes of any ‘games of skill’ are affected by these factors, outcomes of ‘games of chance’ are premised on luck and are largely independent of the skills of the players involved.
(C) Gaming house regulations
- The Delhi District Court has, in the past, held that a gaming portal would be covered within the definition of a ‘common gaming house’.
- This would be subjected to conditions where the gaming developers were to take commission / earn revenue from the game offered.
- This is because such portals merely seek to replace the brick and mortar common gaming houses that Indian law currently envisages and has outlawed.
Where does blockchain gaming lie within this framework?
- There is currently a lacuna in gaming law and there are lingering question marks on its interpretation and applicability to online gaming.
- As the law currently stands, each blockchain game must first pass muster as a ‘game of skill’, as against a ‘game of chance’, to legally be made available in most Indian states.
- In the past, the Supreme Court has rejected the notion of video games being ‘games of skill’.
Possible protections available to blockchain games
(a) Patents:
- For a blockchain game or any of its elements to be patented in India if it meets the requirements of novelty, involving an inventive step, and industrial application.
- In terms of Section 3(k) of the Patent Act, 1970, computer programs are per se not inventions and hence, cannot be patented.
- However, judicial pronouncements in the past have clarified that if an invention has a technical contribution or a technical effect and is not merely a computer program per se, then it would be patentable.
(b) Trademarks:
- A trademark is used as an identifying mark to determine the source of a particular good or service, and is obtained to protect the goodwill and reputation of the brand.
- Any distinguishing mark in a blockchain game or NFT that would allow consumers to identify the source of that particular game or NFT may be trademarked.
(c) Copyrights:
- In India, artistic work, musical work, cinematographic films, dramatic works, sound recordings and computer software are capable being of being protected under copyright law.
- Although there is no specific provision in the Copyright Act that deals with video games, copyright protection of video games may be sought under the category of ‘multimedia products’.
- Similar to the position with trademarks, the process of obtaining a copyright for a blockchain game would be the same as any other online video game.
Future roadmap
- The Finance Ministry had announced in late-2021 that The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 would seek to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies.
- If the legislature does indeed successfully, then, to the extent that existing blockchain games rely on cryptocurrencies, they would be considered illegal in India.
- Independent of this, the Budget announced that the income from the transfer of any ‘virtual digital assets’ (which include cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens) would be subject to income tax at the rate of 30%.
- Policy pronouncements of this nature would need to be carefully considered by publishers of blockchain games while designing their pricing models.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MFN status
Mains level: Global sanctions on Russia
The United States, the European Union, Britain, Canada and Japan are to move jointly to revoke Russia’s “most favoured nation” (MFN) status over its invasion of Ukraine.
What is MFN status?
- The World Trade Organization’s 164 members commit to treating other members equally so they can all benefit from each other’s lowest tariffs, highest import quotas and fewest trade barriers.
- This principle of non-discrimination is known as most favoured nation (MFN) treatment.
- There are some exceptions, such as when members strike bilateral trade agreements or when members offer developing countries special access to their markets.
- For countries outside the WTO, such as Iran, North Korea, Syria or Russian ally Belarus, WTO members can impose whatever trade measures they wish without flouting global trading rules.
Removal of MFN status
- There is no formal procedure for suspending MFN treatment and it is not clear whether members are obliged to inform the WTO if they do so.
- India suspended Pakistan’s MFN status in 2019 after a suicide attack by a Pakistan-sponsored group.
- Pakistan never applied MFN status to India.
What does losing MFN status mean?
- Revoking Russia’s MFN status sends a strong signal that the US and its Western allies do not consider Russia a economic partner in any way, but it does not in itself change conditions for trade.
- It does formally allow the Western allies to increase import tariffs or impose quotas on Russian goods, or even ban them, and to restrict services out of the country.
- They could also overlook Russian intellectual property rights.
- Ahead of MFN status removal, the United States had already announced a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ISS
Mains level: Decommissioning of ISS
Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station (ISS) to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos has warned.
What is the ISS?
- The ISS was launched in 1998 as part of joint efforts by the U.S., Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe.
- The idea of a space station originated in the 1984 State of the Union address by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
- The space station was assembled over many years, and it operates in low-earth orbit.
- Since its inception, it has served as a laboratory suspended in space and has aided multiple scientific and technological developments.
- The ISS was originally built to operate for 15 years.
Why was ISS launched?
- A space station permits quantum leaps in research in science, communications, and in metals and lifesaving medicines which could be manufactured only in space.
- ISS has consistently maintained human presence for the past 21 years, providing astronauts with sophisticated technologies for scientific research.
What is Russia’s role in maintaining the ISS?
- The ISS is built with the co-operation of scientists from five international space agencies — NASA of the U.S., Roscosmos of Russia, JAXA of Japan, Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency.
- Each agency has a role to play and a share in the upkeep of the ISS.
- Both in terms of expense and effort, it is not a feat that a single country can support.
- Russia’s part in the collaboration is the module responsible for making course corrections to the orbit of the ISS.
- They also ferry astronauts to the ISS from the Earth and back.
- Until SpaceX’s dragon spacecraft came into the picture the Russian spacecrafts were the only way of reaching the ISS and returning.
Why does the orbit of the ISS need to be corrected?
- Due to its enormous weight and the ensuing drag, the ISS tends to sink from its orbit at a height of about 250 miles above the Earth.
- It has to be pushed up to its original line of motion every now and then.
- This is rather routine, even for smaller satellites.
- Approximately once a month this effort has to be made.
- The other reason for altering the path of the ISS is to avoid its collision with space debris, which can damage the station.
What is the extent of effort and expense involved in this?
- Manoeuvring the ISS is expensive.
- In a year, 7-8 tonnes of fuel may need to be spent, with each manoeuvre costing nearly a tonne of fuel.
- If a manoeuvre is put off for later, the ISS may sink a little more and the delayed operation would cost more as a larger correction needs to be made.
Risks of crashing
- The orbit of the ISS does not fly over the Russian territory mostly.
- Places that are closer to the equator run a greater risk of it falling in their domain.
- The orbit is at about 50 degrees and so most probably, the ISS will fall in that level.
- But this is only a probability, as it can move or disintegrate.
- But in case of this eventuality, people in the ISS will be brought back, modules can be detached thereby making it much smaller which will ensure that it disintegrates before touching the earth.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vibrant Village Programme
Mains level: Critical border infrastructures
The Union government plans to open the villages along the Chinese border for tourists under the Vibrant Village programme announced in the Union Budget 2022-23.
Vibrant Village Programme
- The program aims to improve infrastructure in villages along India’s border with China.
- Infrastructure will be improved in states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh.
- Under the programme, residential and tourist centres will be constructed.
- It will also provide for improvement in road connectivity and development of decentralized renewable energy sources.
- Apart from that, direct access of Doordarshan and education related channels will be provided. Support will be provided for livelihood.
Key focus areas
- It focuses livelihood generation, road connectivity, housing, rural infrastructure, renewable energy, television and broadband connections.
- This objective will be met by strengthening infrastructure across villages located near the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Why need such scheme?
- The programme is a counter to China’s model villages but the name has been carefully chosen so as to not cause any consternation in the neighbouring country.
- China has established new villages along the LAC in the past few years particularly across the Arunachal Pradesh border.
- While China has been settling new residents in border areas, villages on the Indian side of the frontier have seen unprecedented out-migration.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gold monetisation scheme
Mains level: Paper 3- Gold demand in India
Context
Gold’s appeal as a safe haven is only rising: as tensions escalate in Ukraine, its price is approaching records.
Factors explaining demand for gold in India
- India is the world’s second-largest market for the yellow metal, behind China, though it produces almost none at home.
- This is partly driven by tradition.
- Brides are given jewellery as part of their dowry and it is deemed auspicious to buy bullion around certain religious festivals.
- It is a handy store of undeclared wealth, too, often stashed in wardrobes or under the mattress.
- But the pandemic has also affirmed an investment advice passed on over generations: park savings in gold as a rainy-day fund.
Concerns with such a high demand
- Vast gold imports can destabilise the economy.
- During the 2013 “taper tantrum”, when India’s foreign-exchange reserves were lower than they are now, a rush of gold imports helped push the current-account deficit to 4.8% of GDP and fuelled worries of a currency crisis.
- Savings stashed away as idle gold could be put to more productive use elsewhere.
- Indian households hold 22,500 tonnes of the physical metal—five times the stock in America’s bullion depository .
Policy measures by the government
- Import duties hover around 10%, even after cuts in last year’s budget aimed at keeping smuggling in check.
- The central bank has ramped up issuance of sovereign gold bonds, which are denominated in grams of gold.
- Of the 86 tonnes’ worth issued since 2015, about 60% were sold after the pandemic began.
- And the gold monetisation scheme, which allows households to hand gold over to a bank and earn interest, was revamped last year to reduce limits on the size of deposits.
- Lockdowns inadvertently helped the state’s agenda.
- Mobile payments platforms like PhonePe and Google Pay reported rising appetite for digital gold, which is sold online and stored by the seller.
- Money also rushed into gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
- Their assets hit 184bn rupees ($2.5bn) in December, a 30% rise in a year.
Conclusion
Still, only a sliver of the population, mostly well-off urban types and millennials, invest in complex financial products. A large part of India’s demand for physical gold comes from rural areas, where it seems in no danger of losing its lustre.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: EPR design
Mains level: Paper 3- Issues with the nuclear energy
Context
A fire broke out near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine (Europe’s largest) during the course of a military battle. Had the fire affected the cooling system, the plant’s power supply, or its spent fuel pool, a major disaster could have occurred.
Issues with India’s nuclear expansion plans
- On December 15, 2021, the Indian government informed Parliament that it plans to build “10 indigenous reactors… in fleet mode” and had granted “in principle approval” for 28 additional reactors, including 24 to be imported from France, the U.S. and Russia.
- Capital intensive: Nuclear power plants are capital intensive and recent nuclear builds have suffered major cost overruns.
- Decreasing cost of renewable: In contrast, renewable energy technologies have become cheaper.
- The Wall Street company, Lazard, estimated that the cost of electricity from solar photovoltaics and wind turbines in the U.S. declined by 90% and 72%, respectively, between 2009-21.
- Recent low bids are of ₹2.14 per unit for solar power, and ₹2.34 for solar-wind hybrid projects; even in projects coupled with storage, bids are around ₹4.30 per unit.
- Global trend suggests declining use of nuclear energy: In 1996, 17.5% of the world’s electricity came from nuclear power plants; by 2020, this figure had declined to just around 10%.
- Safety concerns: In a densely populated country such as India, land is at a premium and emergency health care is far from uniformly available.
- Local citizens understand that a nuclear disaster might leave large swathes of land uninhabitable — as in Chernobyl — or require a prohibitively expensive clean-up — as in Fukushima, where the final costs may eventually exceed $600 billion.
- Indemnity clause: Concerns about safety have been accentuated by the insistence of multinational nuclear suppliers that they be indemnified of liability for the consequence of any accident in India.
- India’s liability law already largely protects them.
- But the industry objects to the small window of opportunity available for the Indian government to hold them to account.
- Climate concerns: Climate change will increase the risk of nuclear reactor accidents.
- Recently, a wildfire approached the Hanul nuclear power plant in South Korea and President Moon Jae-in ordered “all-out efforts” to avoid an accident at the reactors there.
- In 2020, a windstorm caused the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in the U.S. to cease operations.
- The frequency of such extreme weather events is likely to increase in the future.
Consider the question “What are the concerns with the nuclear energy expansion plans of India? Suggest the way forward.”
Conclusion
Given the inherent vulnerabilities of nuclear reactors and their high costs, it would be best for the Government to unambiguously cancel its plans for a nuclear expansion.
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Back2Basics: What is EPR (nuclear reactor)
- The EPR is a third generation pressurised water reactor design.
- It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome (part of Areva between 2001 and 2017) and Électricité de France (EDF) in France, and Siemens in Germany.
- In Europe this reactor design was called European Pressurised Reactor, and the internationalised name was Evolutionary Power Reactor, but it is now simply named EPR.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Electoral and non-electoral aspects of democracy
Context
The recently concluded assembly elections have some larger implications that we need to take note of. The consequences are not confined to the five states where the electoral battle was fought.
Undermining of non-electoral dimensions of democracy
- In much of the world, the electoral aspects of democracy are now being used to undermine the non-electoral dimensions of democracy.
- Today, such contradictions exist in Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Russia, to name just a few countries.
- A freely conducted vote can thus be used to cripple the other freedoms that modern democracies also value.
How electoral democracy can be a vehicle of assault on constitutional democracy
- The triumph of such politics can now be used in three ways — in executive decrees, in legislative chambers to formulate laws, and on the street via vigilante forces.
- Though minority rights are enshrined in India’s Constitution, election victories can now be used to create laws, or government policies that begin to attack precisely those rights.
- Role of judiciary: The courts are the final custodian of constitutional proprieties in a democracy and can frustrate a legislative or executive attack on the Constitution.
- But that depends on whether the judiciary is willing to play its constitutionally assigned role.
- Judicial interpretation can go either way – in favour of the government or against it.
Contradictory aspects of democracy from other parts of the world
- These contradictory aspects of democracy do have older roots.
- We can go all the way back to some tendencies that emerged in the democracy of America’s southern states in the 1880s, which lasted till the 1960s.
- America’s Blacks lost their equality as well as franchise, and the courts did not invalidate a majoritarian attack on their rights.
- The history of 1930s Germany is also viewed as an example of how democracy undermined democracy.
- As early as the 1950s, Sri Lanka imposed a “Sinhala only” policy on the Tamil minority of the country.
- In the 1980s, a civil war was born as a consequence.
- In Malaysia, following roughly similar policies, the Malay majority sidelined the Chinese minority.
- Internal tensions and aggravations rose but, unlike Sri Lanka, a civil war did not.
- The minorities pursued their interests by entering into coalitions with political parties within the larger parameters of the polity.
Consider the question “How the electoral aspect of the democracy can affect the non-electoral aspect of the democracy. What are the implications of such phenomenon for the democracy?”
Conclusion
This process can be called the battle between electoral democracy and constitutional democracy. Processes internal to the democratic system can severely weaken democracy itself, even causing its collapse.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Manual scavenging in India
Three laborers in Mumbai, allegedly hired for manual scavenging, died after inhaling toxic fumes in a septic tank.
What is Manual Scavenging?
- Manual scavenging is the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewers or septic tanks.
- India banned the practice under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSR).
- The Act bans the use of any individual for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta till its disposal.
- In 2013, the definition of manual scavengers was also broadened to include people employed to clean septic tanks, ditches, or railway tracks.
- The Act recognizes manual scavenging as a “dehumanizing practice,” and cites a need to “correct the historical injustice and indignity suffered by the manual scavengers.”
Why is it still prevalent in India?
- Low awareness: Manual scavenging is mostly done by the marginalized section of the society and they are generally not aware about their rights.
- Enforcement issues: The lack of enforcement of the Act and exploitation of unskilled labourers are the reasons why the practice is still prevalent in India.
- High cost of automated: The Mumbai civic body charges anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 to clean septic tanks.
- Cheaper availability: The unskilled labourers, meanwhile, are much cheaper to hire and contractors illegally employ them at a daily wage of Rs 300-500.
- Caste dynamics: Caste hierarchy still exists and it reinforces the caste’s relation with occupation. Almost all the manual scavengers belong to lower castes.
Various policy initiatives
- Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020: It proposes to completely mechanise sewer cleaning, introduce ways for ‘on-site’ protection and provide compensation to manual scavengers in case of sewer deaths.
- Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013: Superseding the 1993 Act, the 2013 Act goes beyond prohibitions on dry latrines, and outlaws all manual excrement cleaning of insanitary latrines, open drains, or pits.
- Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan: It started national wide march “Maila Mukti Yatra” for total eradication of manual scavenging from 30th November 2012 from Bhopal.
- Prevention of Atrocities Act: In 1989, the Prevention of Atrocities Act became an integrated guard for sanitation workers since majority of the manual scavengers belonged to the Scheduled Caste.
- Compensation: As per the Prohibition of Employment of Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act, 2013 and the Supreme Court’s decision in the Safai Karamchari Andolan vs Union of India case, a compensation of Rs 10 lakh is awarded to the victims family.
Way forward
- Regular surveys and social audits must be conducted against the involvement of manual scavengers by public and local authorities.
- There must be proper identification and capacity building of manual scavengers for alternate sources of livelihood.
- Creating awareness about the legal protection of manual scavengers is necessary.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)
Mains level: Not Much
India has emphasized on following the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) at the UNSC meeting on Ukraine.
Why in news?
- The meeting came after a request from Russia, who claimed that the US is involved in bioweapon manufacture in war-torn Ukraine.
- However, Washington has strongly dismissed this claim.
What is BTWC?
- The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) was the first multilateral treaty categorically banning a class of weapon.
- It is a treaty that came into force in 1975 and prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological weapons.
- A total of 183 countries are party to the treaty that outlaws bioweapons, including US, Russia and Ukraine.
Obligations of the treaty
- The treaty prohibits the development, stockpile, production, or transfer of biological agents and toxins of “types and quantities” that have no justification for protective or peaceful use.
- Furthermore, the treaty bans the development of weapons, equipment, or delivery systems to disseminate such agents or toxins.
- Should a state possess any agent, toxin, or delivery system for them, they have nine months from entry into force of the treaty to destroy their stockpiles, or divert them for peaceful use.
- The convention stipulates that states shall cooperate bilaterally or multilaterally to solve compliance issues.
- States may also submit complaints to the UNSCR should they believe another state is violating the treaty.
Issues with the treaty
- There is no implementation body of the BTWC, allowing for blatant violations as seen in the past.
- There is only a review conference that too every five years to review the convention’s implementation, and establish confidence-building measures.
Signatories to the BTWC
- The Convention currently has 183 states-parties, including Palestine, and four signatories (Egypt, Haiti, Somalia, and Syria).
- Ten states have neither signed nor ratified the BWC: Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Israel, Kiribati, Micronesia, Namibia, South Sudan, and Tuvalu.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BrahMos Missile
Mains level: Not Much
India has acknowledged a malfunction led to accidental firing of a missile, which Pakistan says landed in its territory.
Conducting Missile Tests: NOTAM and NAVAREA Warnings
- Under the pre-notification of flight testing of ballistic missiles agreement signed in 2005, a country must provide the other an advance notification on flight test it intends to take for any land or sea launched, surface-to-surface ballistic missile.
- Before the test, the country must issue Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) or Navigational Warning (NAVAREA) to alert aviation pilots and seafarers, respectively.
- Also, the testing country must ensure that the launch site is not within 40 km, and the planned impact area is not within 75 km of either the International Boundary (IB) or the Line of Control (LoC).
- The planned trajectory should not cross the IB or the LoC and must maintain a horizontal distance of at least 40 km from the border.
Pre-notifications to the neighbours
- The testing country must notify the other nation “no less than three days in advance of the commencement of a five day launch window within which it intends to undertake flight tests.
- The pre-notification has to be conveyed through the respective Foreign Offices and the High Commissions, as per the format annexed to this Agreement.
What is the recent case of misfire?
- Neither country has spelt this out; Pakistan has only called it a “supersonic” missile.
- Some experts have speculated that it was a test of one of India’s top missiles, BrahMos, jointly developed with Russia.
- Their assessment is based on information that it travelled 200 km, manoeuvred mid-air and travelled at 2.5 times to 3 times the speed of sound at an altitude of 40,000 feet.
| Note: BrahMos has a top speed of Mach 3, a range of around 290 km, and a cruising altitude of 15 km (around 50,000 feet). It can be fired from anywhere, is nuclear-capable, and can carry warheads of 200-300 kg. |
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sohrai Murals
Mains level: NA
Santhali communities of Odisha and Jharkhand are changing their ways of painting traditional Sohrai murals to modernity.
What is Sohrai?
- Sohrai is a harvest festival of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and West Bengal.
- It also called cattle festival. It is celebrated after harvest and coincide with festival of Diwali.
What are Sohrai Murals?
- Sohrai Mural is an indigenous art form is practised by the women of Santhal Community.
- Ritualistic art is done on mud walls to welcome the harvest and to celebrate the cattle.
- The women clean their houses and decorate their walls with murals of Sohrai arts.
- This art form has continued since 10,000-4,000 BC. It was prevalent mostly in caves, but shifted to houses with mud walls.
Features of this art
- This Sohrai art form can be monochromatic or colorful.
- The people coat the wall with a layer of white mud, and while the layer is still wet, they draw with their fingertips on it.
- Their designs range from flowers and fruits to various other nature-inspired designs.
- The cow dung that was earlier used to cake the walls of the house is used to add colour.
- The dark outline is visible due to the previously applied contrasting white mud coat.
- The artists are spontaneous in their drawing. The designs are usually drawn from the artist’s memory.
- The personal experience of the artist and their interaction with nature are the biggest influence.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: India's export
Mains level: Paper 3- Taking stock of Indian economy
Context
This article takes the stock of the Indian economy using the EFGHIJ framework.
Export
- The $400-billion target of goods exports in FY22 appears achievable:
- This is a structural break from ~$300-330 billion per year over the last decade.
- Note that in calendar year 2021, India exported almost $400 billion worth of goods.
- This export growth comes at a time when global shipping and freight markets have been in a tizzy over the last few months as Covid-related supply chain disruptions across commodities and final products reverberated across the globe.
Fiscal growth
- India has significant fiscal headroom in FY23 with a 6.4% fiscal deficit pencilled in.
- The revenue buoyancy, assumed at less than 1, is conservative as is the overall assumption on nominal growth at 11%.
- In as volatile a world as this, the conservatism in forecasting should come to India’s advantage.
- India saw healthy direct and indirect tax receipts in FY22: the GST collections have consistently remained above the `1 trillion-a-month mark for many months now.
- Two aspects need a close watch:
- (a) as the prices of various commodities rise, there can be calls for softening the blow on the final consumer via tax cuts or direct support, and
- (b) the disinvestment programme of the government which could face a market where investor appetite is uncertain.
Growth challenges and opportunities for India
- India’s GDP growth in FY23 is projected to be 7.6-8.5%, making it one of the fastest-growing economies.
- With the newly changed circumstances, it is possible that this tight range and the absolute number may require revision.
- It is, however, too early to say in which direction and by what amounts.
- Opportunities for India: Global dislocations of supply chain or the creation of new supply sources could create divergent challenges and opportunities for India.
- The post Covid rebound in high frequency indicators (air and rail passengers, toll collections, UPI payments, etc.) suggests that the internal consumption economy is currently back on track.
- It is important to note that India continues to be the fastest-growing nation of its size in the world.
Health
- India has now completed almost 1.8 billion doses.
- The Omicron wave, thankfully both due to the inherent nature of the virus and the large vaccination drive, did not cause significant economic upheaval.
- It may be time to think of Covid as endemic and plan accordingly.
Inflation
- The inflation in 2021 was based on a sudden bout of fiscal-support-driven spending meeting with tight supply chain bottlenecks.
- It was expected that as spending normalises and supply chains open, prices will stabilise.
- However, the sharp uptick in the prices of crude, coal, commodities, and chips has created a more sustained scare for inflation.
- Many measures may be taken across the world to curb the impact for the common man: from opening of oil reserves, to cutting of taxes, to direct support, etc—all of which could impact the fiscal.
Capital
- Denoted by K by economists, expect to see a lot of ebb-and-flow here as investors react to evolving, volatile trends.
- Higher public investment in the last two years has supported economic recovery: India has planned for a record `10 lakh crore plus public capex.
- Net FDI has been strong at $25.3 billion up to December in FY2022.
- While FPIs have withdrawn $9.5 billion in FY22, DIIs and retail investors have supported the markets.
Conclusion
With two waves of COVID-19 largely behind us, many macroeconomic factors have changed dramatically, especially in the last fortnight.
Source:
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/efghijk-taking-stock-of-the-indian-economy/2457255/
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Unicorns
Mains level: Paper 3- Start-ups in India
Context
As per the Economic Survey 2021-22, India has become the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world after the US and China.
Start-up ecosystem in India
- India attracted huge investment in startups in 2021: Private equity investment was $77 billion, of which $42 billion went to early-stage ventures.
- Every startup where salaries are paid by investors rather than customers is breathlessly rethinking business plans.
How do startups benefit society?
1] Innovation, productivity and job creation:
- The high failure rate of startups is not a problem per se — society only needs a few successes to harness the gains of innovation, productivity and job creation.
- A new book, The Power Law makes the case that startup investing is unlike public market investing.
- He suggests public markets follow a “normal” distribution like human height — most people cluster around the average with a few exceptionally low or high.
- But venture investments follow a “power law” of distribution, that is, most go to zero but the tiny number that succeeds more than compensate for the losses or mediocrity of the many.
2] Losses caused by startups are not passed on to society
- Startups don’t socialise their losses, Corporate bank loans expanded from Rs 18 lakh crore in 2008 to Rs 54 lakh crore in 2014.
- Such high corporate bank loans created bad loans that needed many lakh crores of government money to recapitalise nationalised banks.
- This money was diverted from government spending on healthcare, education and defence.
- The current venture capital binge will also create many write-offs but this cost will fall on consenting adults with broad shoulders — foreign institutions, angel investors and entrepreneurs with successful previous exits.
3] Startups will solve real problems for Indians:
- Ending our poverty needs higher productivity regions, cities, sectors, firms and individuals.
- A modern state is a welfare state that does less commercially so it can do more socially.
- It needs allies in reimagining financial inclusion, supply chains, distribution logistics, employability, retail, transport, media, healthcare, agriculture and much else.
- Many of our startups shall redeem their pledge to solve these problems “not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially”.
Three issues related to startups
- 1] Fiscal and monetary policy normalisation: The global capital supply fuelling startup funding faces challenges from fiscal and monetary policy normalisation: The rate-sensitive two-year US government bond recently touched a 1.6 per cent yield after being at 0.4 per cent as recently as November — because the risk-free return cannot be return-free-risk forever.
- Investors are returning to weighing financial sustainability and capital efficiency along with addressable markets.
- 2] Excesses: This explosive startup funding has created excesses.
- 3] A different approach of public markets: Private markets are not only delaying IPOs — Amazon went public within three years of starting with less than half the value of a unicorn — but unicorn IPOs’ underperformance suggests that public markets have a different calibration.
Conclusion
The few startups that survive will raise India’s soft power and prosperity by using improbable ideas to solve impossible problems. What we need is to ensure the policy environment for the startups to boom.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global Environmental Change (GEC) programme
Mains level: Paper 2- Water management
Context
The Global Water System Project, which was launched in 2003 as a joint initiative of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) and Global Environmental Change (GEC) programme, epitomises global concern about the human-induced transformation of fresh water and its impact on the earth system and society.
Valuation of water
- It is globally estimated that the gap between demand for and supply of fresh water may reach up to 40% by 2030 if present practices continue.
- SDG 6: The formation of the 2030 Water Resource Group in 2008, at the instance of the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank’s promotion of the group’s activity since 2018, is in recognition of this problem and to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water availability and sanitation for all by 2030 (SDG 6).
- The latest UN World Water Development Report, 2021, titled ‘Valuing Water’, has laid stress on the proper valuation of water by considering five interrelated perspectives: water sources; water infrastructure; water services; water as an input to production and socio-economic development, and socio-cultural values of water.
Need for hydro-social cycle approach
- Designing a comprehensive mix of divergent views about water along with ecological and environmental issues held by stakeholder groups is necessary.
- In this context, a hydro-social cycle approach provides an appropriate framework.
- It repositions the natural hydrological cycle in a human-nature interactive structure and considers water and society as part of a historical and relational-dialectical process.
- The anthropogenic factors directly influencing a freshwater system are the engineering of river channels, irrigation and other consumptive use of water, widespread land use/land cover change, change in an aquatic habitat, and point and non-point source pollution affecting water quality.
The intra- and inter-basin transfer (IBT) of water
- IBT is a major hydrological intervention to rectify the imbalance in water availability due to naturally prevailing unequal distribution of water resources within a given territory.
- There are several IBT initiatives across the world.
- The National River Linking Project of India is one of those under construction.
- Based on a multi-country case study analysis, the World Wildlife Fund/World Wide Fund for Nature (2009) has suggested a cautious approach and the necessity to adhere to sustainability principles set out by the World Commission on Dams while taking up IBT projects.
Issues with assumptions, use and management of freshwater resources in India
1] Contestation on concept of the surplus and deficit basin
- The basic premise of IBT is to export water from the surplus basin to a deficit basin.
- However, there is contestation on the concept of the surplus and deficit basin itself as the exercise is substantially hydrological.
- Besides this, rainfall in many surplus basins has been reported as declining.
- The status of the surplus basin may alter if these issues are considered.
2] Low capacity utilisation
- There is concern about the present capacity utilisation of water resources created in the country.
- By 2016, India created an irrigation potential for 112 million hectares, but the gross irrigated area was 93 million hectares.
- There is a 19% gap, which is more in the case of canal irrigation.
- In 1950-51, canal irrigation used to contribute 40% of net irrigated area, but by 2014-15, the net irrigated area under canal irrigation came down to less than 24%.
- Groundwater irrigation now covers 62.8% of net irrigated area.
- Low efficiency of irrigation projects: The average water use efficiency of irrigation projects in India is only 38% against 50%-60% in the case of developed countries.
- More water consumption for crops: Even at the crop level we consume more water than the global average.
- Rice and wheat, the two principal crops accounting for more than 75% of agricultural production use 2,850 m 3/tonnes and 1,654 m 3/tonnes of water, respectively, against the global average of 2,291m 3/tonnes and 1,334m 3/ tonnes in the same order.
- The agriculture sector uses a little over 90% of total water use in India.
- And in industrial plants, consumption is 2 times to 3.5 times higher per unit of production of similar plants in other countries.
- Similarly, the domestic sector experiences a 30% to 40% loss of water due to leakage.
3] Low use of greywater
- Grey water is hardly used in our country.
- It is estimated that 55% to 75% of domestic water use turns into greywater depending on its nature of use, people’s habits, climatic conditions, etc.
- At present, the average water consumption in the domestic sector in urban areas is 135 litres to 196 litres a head a day.
- If grey water production in the rural areas is considered it will be a huge amount.
- The discharge of untreated grey water and industrial effluents into freshwater bodies is cause for concern.
- The situation will be further complicated if groundwater is affected.
4] Other issues
- Apart from the inefficient use of water in all sectors, there is also a reduction in natural storage capacity and deterioration in catchment efficiency.
Way forward
- The issues are source sustainability, renovation and maintenance of traditional water harvesting structures, grey water management infrastructure, groundwater recharge, increasing water use efficiency, and reuse of water.
- The axiom that today’s water system is co-evolving and the challenges are mainly management and governance has been globally well accepted.
- It is important to include less predictable variables, revise binary ways of thinking of ‘either or’, and involve non-state actors in decision-making processes.
Conclusion
A hybrid water management system is necessary, where along with professionals and policy makers the individual, a community and society have definite roles in the value chain. The challenge is not to be techno-centric but anthropogenic.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Inland Waterways
Mains level: Innlad water transit and its significance
- Month after setting sail on the Ganga from Patna, a vessel carrying 200 metric tonnes of food grains for the Food Corporation of India (FCI), docked at Guwahati’s Pandu port on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra.
- The occasion is believed to have taken inland water transport, on two of India’s largest river systems, to the future.
Why is a Ganga-Brahmaputra cargo vessel in focus?
- There is nothing unusual about a cargo vessel setting sail from or docking at any river port.
- This has rekindled hope for the inland water transport system which the landlocked northeast depended on heavily before India’s independence in 1947.
Inland water service: A necessity for the NE
- Seamless cargo transportation has been a necessity for the northeast.
- Around Independence, Assam’s per capita income was the highest in the country.
- This was primarily because of access for its tea, timber, coal and oil industries to seaports on the Bay of Bengal via the Brahmaputra and the Barak River (southern Assam) systems.
- Ferry services continued sporadically after 1947 but stopped after the 1965 war with Pakistan, as Bangladesh used to be East Pakistan then.
- The scenario changed after the river routes were cut off and rail and road through the “Chicken’s Neck”, a narrow strip in West Bengal, became costlier alternatives.
- The start of cargo movement through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route is going to provide the business community a viable, economic and ecological alternative.
How did the water cargo service through Bangladesh come about?
- The resumption of cargo transport service through the waterways in Bangladesh has come at a cost since the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade was signed between the two countries.
- India has invested 80% of ₹305.84 crore to improve the navigability of the two stretches of the IBP (Indo-Bangladesh Protocol) routes — Sirajganj-Daikhowa and Ashuganj-Zakiganj in Bangladesh.
- The seven-year dredging project on these two stretches till 2026 is expected to yield seamless navigation to the north-eastern region.
- With this, the distance between NW1 and NW2 will reduce by almost 1,000 km once the IBP routes are cleared for navigation.
Policy boosts to IWs
- The Government has undertaken the Jal Marg Vikas project with an investment of ₹4,600-crore to augment the capacity of NW1 for sustainable movement of vessels weighing up to 2,000 tonnes.
- Sailors who made the cargo trips possible have had difficulties steering clear of fishing nets and angry fishermen in Bangladesh.
- These hiccups will get sorted out with time.
Why go for IWT?
- Inland Water Transport (IWT) is a fuel-efficient, environment friendly and cost effective mode of transport having potential to supplement the over-burdened rail and congested roads.
- It is a boon where road transport is least feasible.
Back2Basics: Inland Waterways
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UPI123Pay
Mains level: UPI payments through feature phones
The Reserve Bank of India has launched a new Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments solution for feature phone users dubbed ‘UPI123Pay’.
What is UPI?
- UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by NPCI facilitating inter-bank transactions.
- The interface is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.
What is UPI123Pay?
- UPI ‘123PAY’ is a three-step method to initiate and execute services for users which will work on simple phones.
- It will allow customers to use feature phones for almost all transactions except scan and pay.
- It doesn’t need an internet connection for transactions. Customers have to link their bank account with feature phones to use this facility.
- Feature phone users will now be able to undertake a host of transactions based on four technology alternatives.
- They include calling an IVR (interactive voice response) number, app functionality in feature phones, missed call-based approach and also proximity sound-based payments, the RBI said.
- Such users can initiate payments to friends and family, pay utility bills, recharge the FAST Tags of their vehicles, pay mobile bills and also allow users to check account balances.
- Customers will also be able to link bank accounts, set or change UPI PINs.
Others: ‘Digisaathi’
- A 24×7 helpline for digital payments has also been set up by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
- The helpline christened ‘Digisaathi’ will assist the callers/users with all their queries on digital payments via website and chatbot.
- Users can visit www.digisaathi.info or call on 14431 and 1800 891 3333 from their phones for their queries on digital payments and grievances.
Why UPI123Pay was created?
- UPI, which was introduced in 2016, has become one of the most used digital payments platforms in the country.
- The volume of UPI transactions has already reached ₹76 lakh crore in the current year, compared to ₹41 lakh crore in FY21.
- However, at present, efficient access to UPI is available largely via smartphones.
How will users make payments without internet?
The new UPI payments system offers users four options to make payments without internet connectivity:
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR): Users would be required to initiate a secured call from their feature phones to a predetermined IVR number and complete UPI on-boarding formalities to be able to start making financial transactions like money transfer, mobile recharge, EMI repayment, balance check, among others.
- App-based functionality: One could also install an app on feature phone through which several UPI functions, available on smartphones, will be available on their feature phone, except scan and pay feature which is currently not available.
- Missed call facility: The missed call facility will allow users to access their bank account and perform routine transactions such as receiving, transferring funds, regular purchases, bill payments, etc., by giving a missed call on the number displayed at the merchant outlet. The customer will receive an incoming call to authenticate the transaction by entering UPI PIN.
- Proximity sound-based payments: One could utilise the proximity sound-based payments option, which uses sound waves to enable contactless, offline, and proximity data communication on any device.
How do UPI payments through sound work?
- UPI payments using sound isn’t new. When Google Pay was first launched in 2017 as Tez, the app had a sound-based system of payments built in.
- Google called this ‘Cash Mode’ in which phones would emit ultrasonic sounds that could be used by other Tez users to accept and receive money.
- It’s somewhat like Bluetooth but instead of using radio waves, it uses sound waves to transfer data from one device to the next.
- A company called ToneTag also produces audio-based point-of-sale machines.
Is payment through sound secure?
- Sound wave-based payments are meant to be contactless, but occur within a certain proximity only.
- Ultrasonic waves are outside the usual human hearing range, but such payment systems can also use audible sounds, something that US-based startup Chirp showcased back in 2011.
- Devices using such systems are encrypted, and only the devices involved can recognize the emitted waves.
- The sound waves being emitted are encrypted, meaning the receiving device will need to have decryption codes to complete the transaction.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC)
Mains level: Asset Monetization
The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a new government-owned firm National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) for pooling and monetizing sovereign and public sector land assets.
What is NLMC?
- The National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) is being formed with an initial authorised share capital of ₹5,000 crore and paid-up capital of ₹150 crore.
- The government will appoint a chairman to head the NLMC through a “merit-based selection process” and hire private sector professionals with expertise.
- The NLMC will undertake monetization of surplus land and building assets of Central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) as well as government agencies.
How will it function?
- NLMC will own, hold, manage and monetise surplus land and building assets of CPSEs under closure and surplus non-core land assets of Government-owned CPSEs under strategic disinvestment.
- This will speed up the closure process of CPSEs and smoothen the strategic disinvestment process of Government-owned CPSEs, the statement said.
- NLMC will undertake surplus land asset monetisation as an agency function, and assist and provide technical advice to the Centre in this regard.
- The NLMC board will comprise senior Government officers and eminent experts, while its chairman and non-Government directors will be appointed through a merit-based selection process, the statement said.
- The Corporation will have minimal full-time staff, hired directly from the market on a contract basis.
Stipulated tasks
- CPSEs have referred around 3,400 acres of land and other non-core assets to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) for monetisation.
- Monetisation of non-core assets of MTNL, BSNL, BPCL, BEML, HMT, is currently at various stages of the transaction, as per latest data in the Economic Survey 2021-22.
Significance of NLMC
- The government would be able to generate substantial revenues by monetizing unused and under-used assets.
- The new corporation will also help carry out monetization of assets belonging to public sector firms that have closed or are lined up for a strategic sale.
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