Day: August 13, 2022

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Freedom of Speech – Defamation, Sedition, etc.

India @75 –Relooking our democracy

| Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NA

Mains level: Read the attached story

Context

  • As we celebrate the nation @75 , we must also reflect on the mixed nature of our democracy

Definition of democracy

  • “Government of the people, by the people and for the people” were the words used by Abraham Lincoln in the year 1863 while talking about democracy.

Purpose of democracy

  • Cornerstones of democracy include freedom of assembly, association, property rights, freedom of religion and speech, inclusiveness and equality, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights.

Background

  • India is a parliamentary democratic secular republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the prime minister of India is the head of government.
  • It is based on the federal structure of government, although the word is not used in the Constitution itself.

How it has performed

(1) Political front

  • India is the world’s the largest democracy proved success in accommodation of group and regional demands in a complex, quasi-federal, polity.
  • During the first general election in the 1951 India had 54 political parties and now it has grown up to 464 in the 2014 general election as an evident of deepening of the democratic process.
  • In the first General election 1951, 173 million citizens were given right to vote.
  • In the 16th general election in 2014, the size of the electorate had increased to 814 million.

(2) Social front

  • The democratic process has brought about a shift of political power from the middle and higher castes and classes of urban society to backward classes who are now the politically most influential ones in the country.
  • They have won reservations for themselves in legislatures and government services as were accorded to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes after independence through Constitutional provisions.

(3) Economic Front

  • These include strategic affairs and security, politico-legal democratic governance as well as society and economy.
  • India has been able to emerge as a regional power in Asia and super power in south Asia backed by its economic, military and nuclear capabilities.

Contradictions in democracy

  • Performance of Bureaucracy: Dishonest officials to protect themselves from the consequences of their wrong-doings have largely exploited constitutional protection for the Services under Article 311.
  • Administration of Justice: Judicial system has not been able to meet even the modest expectations of the society. Its delays and costs are frustrating, its processes slow and uncertain. People are pushed to seek recourse to Extra-legal methods for relief. Trial system both on the civil and criminal side has utterly broken down.
  • Areas of Concern: There is a fundamental breach of the constitutional faith on the part of the Governments and their method of governance lies in the neglect of the people who are the ultimate source of all political authority.
  • Regionalism: Issues of national integrity and security have not received adequate and thoughtful attention. Mechanisms for the assessment of early warning symptoms of social unrest are absent.
  • Corruption: The increasing instability of elected governments is attributable to opportunistic politics and unprincipled defections.

Some positive suggestions to government

  • Feedback: The Government should hear criticism rather than rejecting it outrightly. Suggestions on eroding democratic values need a thoughtful, and respectful response.
  • Freedom of press: The press and the judiciary which are considered the pillars of India’s Democracy, require to be independent of any executive interference.
  • Opposition: strong democracy requires strong opposition. Without an alternative choice, the very objective of election to provide a check on arbitrary power gets defeated.

Way forward

  • The institutionalization of constitutional democracy has helped the people of India realize the importance of democracy and inculcate democratic sensibilities among them.
  • At the same time, it is important that all the government organs work in harmony to uphold the trust people of the country have held in them and ensure the objectives of true democracy.

Mains question

Q.We are celebrating Azadi ka amrit mahotsav India @75, trace the journey of democracy critically by providing some suggestions for robust democracy.

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Economic Indicators and Various Reports On It- GDP, FD, EODB, WIR etc

Reaping our demographic dividend

op-ed snap | Indian Society | Mains Paper 1: Population & Associated Issues
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NA

Mains level: India's demographic dividend

Context

  • India’s biggest strength is its ‘demographic dividend’ and people need to fully leverage it to fast-track the country’s progress in various sectors

Why in news

  • The 2022 edition of the World Population Prospects (WPP) of the United Nations has projected that India may surpass China as the world’s most populous country next year.
  • The report estimates that India will have a population of 1.66 billion in 2050, ahead of China’s 1.317 billion around that time.

What is demographic dividend?

  • Demographic dividend, as defined by the United Nations Population Fund, is “the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population is larger than the non-working-age share of the population”.

Current status for India

  • India entered the demographic dividend opportunity window in 2005-06 and will remain there till 2055-56.
  • This is the period when the working age ratio is equal to or more than 150% and the dependency ratio is equal to or lower than 66.7%, generally taken as the cut-off for the demographic dividend window.

How India can leverage this dividend

(1) Investment in right direction

  • Investments in human and physical infrastructure will need to be scaled up dramatically to promote entrepreneurship and create jobs.
  • Investment in education is crucial for ensuring that working-age people are prepared for the demands of the economy.
  • Increase spending on health
  • Increase investments in Research and Development

(2) Absorption of labour into productive employment

  • Promote entrepreneurship and job creation
  • Service sector like tourism, logistics should be promoted
  • Skill development of the working-age population so that they can turn out to be productive for the country’s economy

Challenges in reaping this

  • Drastic quality improvement: India’s challenge is to create conditions for faster growth of productive jobs outside of agriculture, especially in the organized manufacturing and in services.
  • Severe shortages: India currently faces a severe shortage of well trained, skilled workers. Large sections of the educated workforce have little or no job skills, making them largely Unemployable.
  • Dismal health sector: A closer look implies various factors such as poor health which although obvious, play a major role in the poor performance of working population.
  • Socio economic dimensions: The status of institutions in India regarding caste discrimination, gender inequalities, widening income gap between the rich and the poor, religious differences, inefficient and slow legal system- all contribute to the poor standard of living of the masses.

Government steps

  • National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC): incorporated on 31st July, 2008, is a first-of-its-kind Public Private Partnership (PPP) in India set up to facilitate the development and upgrading of the skills of the growing Indian workforce through skill training programs.
  • National Skill Development Agency: Currently, skill development efforts are spread across approximately20 separate ministries, 35 State Governments and Union Territories and the private sector.
  • National Skill Certification and Money Reward Scheme: encouragement is given for skill development for youth by providing monetary rewards for successful completion of approved training programs.

Way forward

  • Strategies exist to exploit the demographic window of opportunity that India has today, but they need to be adopted and implemented.
  • The dreams of huge income flow and resultant economic growth due to demographic dividend could be realized only when we inculcate the required skills in the work force to make it as competent as its counterparts in the developed world.

Important data for mains

  • India’s working-age population has numerically outstripped its non-working age population.
  • India’s total fertility rate (TFR) has declined from 2.2 in 2015-16 to 2.0 in 2019-21, indicating the significant progress of population control measures, revealed the report of the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5).
  • The TFR is the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime.

Mains question

Q. Do you think the right has come that India should adopt moving away policy from population control towards reaping its demographic dividends? Critically examine.

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Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

Govt. to enumerate Sanitation Workers

| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Laws, Institutions & Bodies Constituted For The Vulnerable Sections
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan

Mains level: Plight of sanitation workers in India

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJ&E) is now preparing to undertake a nationwide survey to enumerate all people engaged in the hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.

Why such move?

  • Cleaning of sewers and septic tanks has led to at least 351 deaths since 2017.

Various initiatives for sanitation workers

  • The ministry now has proper distinction between sanitation work and manual scavenging.
  • The practice of manual scavenging no longer takes place in the country as all manual scavengers had been accounted for and enrolled into the rehabilitation scheme, said the ministry.
  • The enumeration of sanitization workers is soon to be conducted across 500 AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) cities, as a part of National Action Plan for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE).
  • The NAMASTE scheme aims to eradicate unsafe sewer and septic tank cleaning practices.

Manual Scavenging in India

  • 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.
  • National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK): It is currently a temporary non-statutory body that investigates the conditions of Safai Karamcharis (waste collectors) in India and makes recommendations to the Government.

 

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Foreign Policy Watch: India-Pakistan

Explained: Baloch Freedom Movement

| International Relations | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood - Relations
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Balochistan, BLA, Khan of Kelat

Mains level: Baloch Freedom Movement

Baloch separatism under the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has been an ongoing issue in Pakistan since the birth of the nation in 1947.

Who are the BLA fighters?

  • The BLA announced itself in 2005 with a rocket attack on a paramilitary camp in Balochistan Kohlu during a visit by then President Pervez Musharraf.
  • It is a nationalist militant group that has been waging an insurgency for Baloch self-determination and a separate homeland for the Baloch people.

Rise of Baloch nationalism

  • While the BLA’s armed insurgency is about two decades old, demands of Baloch nationalists for political autonomy and threats of secession date back to 1947.
  • The Khan of Kalat (who claimed sovereignty over the four princely states of Kalat, Lasbela, Kharan and Makran) held out for independence, and the Pakistan Army forced his accession in March 1948.
  • Between 1973 and 1977, the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto-led government sent in the Pakistan Army to crush a leftist guerilla war inspired by the liberation of Bangladesh.
  • The tribal sardars of Balochistan, who had been at the forefront of Baloch nationalism, and were co-opted by the state in the late 1970s, grew rebellious again.
  • The insurgency gathered momentum from 2006, after the Pakistan Army killed the Bugti sardar, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, who had been also been a chief minister and governor of the province.

Why it is gaining momentum now?

  • The Pakistan Army’s operations against Baloch nationalists over the last two decades have seen hundreds of disappearances, and other alleged human rights violations.
  • Baloch nationalists also see the sudden influx of jihadist groups in the province as a move by the Pakistan security establishment to counter their nationalist demands.
  • In 2012, the US Congress convened a hearing on Balochistan and supported the demand for a free Baloch land.
  • In a significant shift in policy, back then in 2016, PM Modi had made a reference to the Baloch freedom struggle in his Independence Day speech.

Why does Balochistan matters?

  • Balochistan borders Afghanistan and Iran.
  • The people are mostly tribal with secular principles and are admirers of ties with India.
  • With gas, oil, copper and gold deposits, it is the most resource-rich of Pakistan’s four provinces.
  • It makes up half of Pakistan’s area, but has only 3.6% of its population.
  • Pakistan alleges that the insurgency is backed by India.
  • This is the region where a former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav was abducted from Iran and charged for espionage supporting Baloch activism in Pakistan.
  • Many Baloch activists had been seeking asylum and has applied for Indian citizenship. New Delhi neither confirmed nor deny the reports.

Why did BLA target the Chinese now?

  • The BLA claimed it attacks Chinese nationals because Beijing ignored warnings not to enter deals and agreements regarding Balochistan before the province had been “liberated”.
  • Baloch people see China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a neo-colonist move against their sovereignty.
  • Among China’s major projects in Balochistan is the port of Gwadar, strategically located near the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial oil shipping route in the Arabian Sea.
  • The security of its nationals in Pakistan has become a major issue for Beijing, especially since it launched the CPEC.
  • Such attacks has literally stalled the work in progress of CPEC projects making it a sheer failure.

Significance of recent events

  • It is rare that the BLA deployed female suicide bombers. Recent attack was done by a highly educated lady and mother of two.
  • This is also the first time that a non-jihadist ethno-nationalist group has deployed a woman suicide bomber in the manner of Sri Lanka’s LTTE.
  • According to security experts familiar with the Baloch insurgency, it marks a worsening security situation in Pakistan.
  • As the training camps are alleged by Pakistan to be in Afghanistan, the incident may also be a pointer to Pakistan’s loss of control over the Talibans.

 

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Food Procurement and Distribution – PDS & NFSA, Shanta Kumar Committee, FCI restructuring, Buffer stock, etc.

What is Essential Commodities Act?

Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Agriculture and related issues
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Essential Commodities Act

Mains level: Not Much

The Centre has invoked the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 to ask States to monitor and verify the stocks of Arhar/Tur Dal available with traders.

Essential Commodities Act

  • The ECA, 1955 was established to ensure the delivery of certain commodities or products, the supply of which, if obstructed due to hoarding or black marketing, would affect the normal life of the people.
  • The list of items under the Act includes drugs, fertilizers, pulses, and edible oils, as well as petroleum and petroleum products.
  • The Centre can include new commodities as and when the need arises, and takes them off the list once the situation improves.
  • Additionally, the government can also fix the maximum retail price (MRP) of any packaged product that it declares an “essential commodity”.

How ECA works?

(1) Centre notifying stock limit holding

  • If the Centre finds that a certain commodity is in short supply and its price is spiking, it can notify stock-holding limits on it for a specified period.
  • The States act on this notification to specify limits and take steps to ensure that these are adhered to.
  • Anybody trading or dealing in the commodity, be it wholesalers, retailers or even importers are prevented from stockpiling it beyond a certain quantity.

(2) States can opt-out

  • A State can, however, choose not to impose any restrictions.
  • But once it does, traders have to immediately sell into the market any stocks held beyond the mandated quantity.

What happens for non-compliance?

  • As not all shopkeepers and traders comply, State agencies conduct raids to get everyone to toe the line and the errant are punished.
  • The excess stocks are auctioned or sold through fair price shops.
  • This improves supplies and brings down prices.

Ex: The Union Government has brought masks and hand-sanitizers under the ECA to make sure that these products, key for preventing the spread of Covid-19 infection, are available to people at the right price and in the right quality. Later this move was reverted.

What about Food Items?

(1) Items covered:

Rice, wheat, atta, gram dal, arhar dal, moong dal, urad dal, masoor, dal, tea, sugar, salt, Vanaspati, groundnut oil, mustard oil, milk, soya oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, gur, potato, onion and tomato.

(2) Price Stabilization Fund (PSF):

The government utilizes the buffer of agri-horticultural commodities like pulses, onion, etc. built under Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) to help moderate the volatility in prices.

Recent amendments to the ECA

In 2020, the EC Act was amended for the stock limit to be imposed only under exceptional circumstances such as famine or other calamities.

  • Exceptional circumstances: It allowed the centre to delist certain commodities as essential, allowing the government to regulate their supply and prices only in cases of war, famine, extraordinary price rises, or natural calamities.
  • Commodities de-regulated: The commodities that have been deregulated are food items, including cereals, pulses, potatoes, onion, edible oilseeds, and oils.

Exceptions provided

  • The government regulation of stocks will be based on rising prices, and can only be imposed if there is
  1. A 100% increase in retail price in the case of horticultural produce and
  2. A 50% increase in retail price in the case of non-perishable agricultural food items
  • These restrictions will not apply to stocks of food held for public distribution in India.

 

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Poverty Eradication – Definition, Debates, etc.

SMILE-75 scheme to rehabilitate Beggars

Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Government Scheme/Policies
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: SMILE Scheme

Mains level: Read the attached story

The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry has launched the ‘SMILE-75’ initiative for comprehensive rehabilitation of persons engaged in begging in 75 identified municipalities as a part of the celebrations of 75 years of Independence.

SMILE Scheme

  • SMILE is an acronym for Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise.
  • This scheme is a sub-scheme under the ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging’.
  • It also focuses on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities and intervention, counselling, education, skill development, economic linkages to transgender persons.
  • It covers several comprehensive measures including welfare measures for persons who are engaged in the act of begging.
  • The focus of the scheme is extensively on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, basic documentation, education, skill development, economic linkages and so on.

Its implementation

  • The scheme would be implemented with the support of State/UT Governments/Local Urban Bodies, Voluntary Organizations, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), institutions and others.
  • The scheme provides for the use of the existing shelter homes available with the State/UT Governments and Urban local bodies for rehabilitation of the persons engaged in the act of Begging.
  • In case of the non-availability of existing shelter homes, new dedicated shelter homes are to be set up by the implementing agencies.

 

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Animal Husbandry, Dairy & Fisheries Sector – Pashudhan Sanjivani, E- Pashudhan Haat, etc

In news: Ongole Cattle Breed

Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Economics Of Animal-Rearing
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Ongole Cattle

Mains level: Indigenous cattle breedss

Ongole breed of cattle had remained indispensable for all farm operations for centuries in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh in view of their draught power.

Ongole Cattle

  • Ongole cattle are an indigenous cattle breed that originates from Prakasam District in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
  • The breed derives its name from the place the breed originates from, Ongole.
  • The Ongole breed of cattle Bos Indicus, has a great demand as it is said to possess resistance to both foot and mouth disease and mad cow disease.

What’s so special about this breed?

  • Cattle breeders use the fighting ability of the bulls to choose the right stock for breeding in terms of purity and strength.
  • Ongole cattle are known for their toughness, rapid growth rate, and natural tolerance to tropical heat and disease resistance.
  • It was perhaps the first Indian breed of cattle to gain worldwide recognition.
  • Ongole milk is rich in A2 (allele of Beta Casein).
  • They fetches a premium price of over ₹150 per litre as it enables consumers build immunity against viral and other diseases.

Global Prominence

  • Ongole bulls have gone as far as America, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Indonesia, West Indies, Australia, Fiji, Mauritius, Indo-China and Philippines.
  • The Brahmana bull in America is an off-breed of the Ongole.
  • The population of Ongole off-breed in Brazil is said to number several million.
  • The famous Santa Gertrudis breed developed in Texas, USA have Ongole blood.
  • It has gained global prominence, particularly in Brazil which imported barely hundred animals and produced multiple superior breeds like the world famous Zebu.

 

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