Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Corporate Investment, demand situation and related issues
Context
- In September, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was anguished that industry was holding back from investing in manufacturing despite a significant cut in corporate tax rates in 2019.
- Less investment is not the result of losses: The slowdown in corporate investment did not happen because companies were making losses.
- More profit but less investments by corporates: In fact, private companies, boosted by considerable tax cuts, made windfall profits. A State Bank of India analysis shows that tax cuts contributed 19% to the top line of companies during the pandemic. But this did not result in increased investments.
- Dividends to shareholders: Before the pandemic, instead of investing in themselves, companies chose to reward shareholders with higher dividends.
- Investment in equity and debt instead of Infrastructure: During the pandemic, they did not use the profits for paying out dividends; they retained a big chunk of the profits. However, instead of investing in buildings, plants and machinery, they invested in equity shares and debt instruments.
- Corporate cited the slowdown in demand as reason for less investment: So, both before and after the outbreak, they shied away from capital investments. The hesitancy to invest can be explained by a slowdown in the demand side of the economy.
- Corporates didn’t invest in long term returns sectors: Consumer demand started to decline the year before the pandemic and worsened after the COVID19 outbreak. This forced companies to use the increased profits to decrease their debts, pay dividends and invest in financial instruments instead of increasing productivity by making capital investments.
What is The current consumer’s demand situation?
- Average Consumer sentiment index: Private companies invest when they are able to estimate profits, and that comes from demand. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) consumer sentiment index is still below pre-pandemic levels but is far higher than what was seen 12-18 months ago.
- Buoyant Aggregate demand: RBI’s Monetary policy report dated September 30 says, Data for Q2 (ended Sept) indicate that aggregate demand remained buoyant, supported by the ongoing recovery in private consumption and investment demand. It shows that seasonally adjusted capacity utilization rose to 74.3% in Q1 the highest in the last three years.
- High household savings: Along with household savings intentions remaining high, might hold the key to the investment cycle kicking in.
Statistic on demand and investment
- New investment projects: The new investment projects announced as a % of GDP, since FY18, the share has remained below the 5% mark, compared to over 9% between FY05 and FY22.
- Collection of corporate tax decreased: Corporate tax and income tax collected in India as a % of GDP after the cut in 2019, the share of corporate tax declined dramatically, while the share of income tax gradually increased.
- Double burden on tax payers: The shift in tax burden from the corporates to the people came at a time of job losses and reduced income levels. This pushed more people into poverty.
- Corporate profit increased after tax cut: Profit after tax earned by non-financial private companies in ₹ trillion after the tax cut, the profits of these companies rose to ₹4-5 trillion in the last two financial years from ₹1-2 trillion in many of the previous periods.
- Increase and decrease in dividend to shareholders: Dividends paid by non-financial private companies as a share of profits earned after tax, Payouts to shareholders surged in FY20, the year before the pandemic, but reduced in the following years.
- Profit retention increased: Retained profits as a % of profit after tax surged to 63% in FY22 the highest in a decade (limited companies were analyzed in FY22, so data are provisional).
- Profits are invested in equities: In FY21, the debt-to-equity ratio came down to 0.86 the lowest in at least three decades. In FY22 (provisional data), it came down further to 0.71.
- Year on year decline in capital investment: Year on year change in the investments of non-financial private companies in fixed assets such as buildings, plants, machinery, transport and infrastructure have declined in recent years. But the year on year change in investments in financial instruments such as equity, debt and mutual funds have surged.
Conclusion
- Corporates are holding their pockets in hope of demand rise in future. However, this affects the post-pandemic recovery of economy. IMF and RBI was right to revise their growth forecast this year. Unequal recovery of economy have certainly affected the income levels of middle class. Government has taken a lot of step on supply side (corporate side and banking reform) but no intervention in revival of demand.
Mains Question
Q. Analyze the corporate investment pattern before and after the pandemic? What are the reasons for decline in corporate investment in fixed assets in economy since the pandemic?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Russian-Ukraine war, India's strategy, worlds perspective
Context
- As external affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrives in Russia this week for a bilateral visit, there is growing international interest in the potential Indian diplomatic contribution to ending the tragic war in Ukraine which is now in the ninth month and has shaken the world to its core.
- India’s balanced approach: India has reasons to be satisfied that there is a better appreciation of its position on Ukraine in the Western public discourse. In the last few months, the Western media and think tanks had been relentless in their criticism of the Indian approach to the crisis as lacking moral and strategic clarity in the face of Russia’s unprovoked aggression.
- India didn’t criticize Russian nor endorse Russian aggression: Through the last nine months, Delhi was reluctant to explicitly criticize Russian aggression against Ukraine and insisted on a dialogue between the warring parties. At the same time, India refused to endorse Russian aggression, underlined the importance of respecting the United Nations Charter, emphasized the inviolability of territorial sovereignty, warned against the use of nuclear weapons, and sought to draw at tension to the economic impact of the war on the “Global South”.
- America showed sensitivity to India’s position: In the Biden administration there was a measure of understanding of where Delhi was coming from and India’s long-standing equities in the relationship with Russia and the constraints it imposed on India. Official Washington never let the heat of the Ukraine crisis in Europe undermine the longer-term American imperative of engaging India to stabilize the Indo-Pacific. The same can’t be said about Europe, but then the continent was right in the middle of the gravest conflict since the Second World War. The European trauma from a shattered peace is real.
- India’s role in grain shipment and nuclear power station: Recent reports in the US media recount the Indian diplomatic contribution at a few critical moments in the nine-month-long war-in helping overcome issues over the grain shipment deal from Ukraine and in reducing the growing risks of the war targeting the nuclear power station at Zaporizhzhia in eastern Ukraine.
Can India take on a larger diplomatic role?
- India’s role is limited: Good relations with Moscow and Washington do put South Block in an interesting position. But India is not the only channel of communication between the US and Russia. Nor are Washington and Moscow totally reliant on third parties.
Efforts to end war by west and Russia
- Communications between the defence ministers: The defence ministers of the two countries have frequently talked to each other reminding each other of their redlines in the war. Meanwhile, the onset of winter will increasingly limit the possibilities for military operations in Ukraine and would give a chance to both sides to pause, regroup and rethink their strategy and tactics.
- Putin’s strategy: Putin’s current focus on destroying the Ukrainian cities and the occasional threat to use nuclear weapons underline Russia’s weakness in the Ukraine war rather than strength. From a military perspective, there is no easy way for Russia to secure a “victory” in this war.
- Limitations of Putin: Putin might have no option but to consider an honorable draw that will save his political face and secure some territorial gains in Ukraine. Can the same be said about the other Vladimir? (The Russians and Ukrainians both claim Vladimir or Volodymyr the Great of the 10th century as the founder of their nations).
- Ukraine’s strategy: Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has led the country’s fight against Russian aggression with impressive determination. Unlike the Russian troops, the Ukrainian forces are trying to save their nation against aggression and have inflicted significant military defeats on the Russians.
- Limitations of Ukraine: There is a question, can Zelenskyy succeed in liberating all territories occupied by Russia, including Crimea which Russia took by force in 2014? Zelenskyy might like to fight on until he realizes that goal, but there are second thoughts in the Western coalition that is backing him.
- Western effort of sanctions on Russia: The West had bet that the massive sanctions it imposed after Moscow launched its war against Ukraine would bring the Russian economy to its knees. But Russia is still standing and the costs of the sanctions are beginning to have major effects on Western societies.
- Rising energy cost and Ineffectiveness of sanctions: As the economic and energy costs of the war mount, there is growing political support in Europe for a quick resolution of the conflict. In the US, which has emerged as the main supporter of Ukraine, there are both Republicans and Democrats who are questioning the current American “blank cheque” for Ukraine. If the Republicans do well as they are expected to in this week’s midterm elections to the US Congress, the internal polarization could sharpen and cast a shadow over American foreign policy, including the Ukraine strategy.
- USA is repairing its strategy: Although these developments need not be fatal to US strategy, Washington is beginning to recalibrate. In important private advice to Kyiv last week, Washington called for greater flexibility in Zelenskyy’s approach to negotiations with Putin.
Conclusion
- Ending the war in Ukraine is very crucial as global economy especially western, facing energy and inflation crisis. India has a limited impact as mediator in ending the war in Ukraine. West and Russia need to realise their futile pursuit of complete victory is hurting them more. Sooner the war ends better for world.
Mains Question
Q. What role India can play as mediator in Ukraine war? What are efforts by Russia and Western nations to end the war?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Reservation system, SC Judgments and associated concerns
Context
- The Supreme Court has now upheld the validity of the 103rd constitutional amendment. For instance, economic criterion was provided for this new category of affirmative action.
What is the verdict of supreme court?
- SC/ST Excluded in new clause: The Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and non-creamy layer Other Backward Classes were excluded from the newly inserted clauses of Article 15(4) and 16(4).
- The ceiling of 50 per cent reservation was breached: The cap of 50% is breached and the individual rather than the group became the basis of backwardness.
Do you know?
- Indra Sawhney Vs. Union of India -Issued 50% Cap on Caste-based reservation: In the case the Supreme Court held that reservation for beneficiaries should not exceed 50% of India’s population. It was this case that issued a cap limit on caste-based reservations.
- Judiciary is reluctant supporter of reservation: A closer look at the judicial response to reservation policies from Dorairajan (1951) to MR Balaji (1963) to Indra Sawhney (1992) to M Nagaraj (2006) shows that the Indian judiciary has not been quite supportive of such policies.
- New conditions for new category of reservation: In many cases, it created new conditions in the implementation of such policies by introducing several exclusions/doctrines/rules etc. In fact, Parliament had to amend the Constitution through the 77th amendment to overturn Indra Sawhney judgment against reservation in promotions.
- Reservation in promotion cancelled: The 85th constitutional amendment was passed to undo the Virpal Singh Chauhan (1995) and Ajit Singh (1999) judgments that had introduced the “catch up rule” under which general candidates, who are promoted after SC/ST candidates, will regain their seniority over earlier promoted SC/ST candidates.
- Concerns about dilution of merit: Basically, Indian courts have been emphasising merit and have been concerned about the dilution of “merit”. In several reservation matters, the courts have been more interested in protecting the interests of general categories.
- 90% population is eligible under EWS: As a matter of fact, the EWS reservation is for the erstwhile general candidates: The Rs 8-lakh family income provision covers over 90 per cent of our population.
What is the significance of this recent Judgement?
- New category on economic basis: The majority verdict is right in saying that though reservation on economic basis is new it has not made the Constitution unrecognizable. Justice Trivedi said the legislature best understands the needs of the people. The majority does have a point in holding that the basic structure doctrine does not bind Parliament from laying down the economic criterion. Such a basis does not impinge on the equality code of the Constitution.
- Poverty as an injustice: Justice Maheshwari has quoted a number of judgments in which poverty was mentioned as a fundamental source backwardness. Justice Maheshwari held that poverty is not merely a stage of stagnation but a point of regression.
- Identity of constitution will not change: India’s affirmative action programme far was catering to only historical injustices and social backwardness. The extension of this benefit to others, in the opinion of Justice Maheshwari, won’t change the identity of the Constitution.
- Towards the justice: The court observed that the new reservation is in furtherance of the Preamble’s goal of achieving justice – social, economic and political.
- Consistent with FR’s and DPSP’s: The other judges were also of the view that any provision that is consistent with fundamental rights and directive principles cannot be held to be in the teeth of the basic structure doctrine.
- Constitutional amendment upheld: Constitutional amendments are rarely struck down since this can be done only on the narrow ground of the amendment being violative of the basic structure of the Constitution. Since 1973, when the basic structure doctrine was propounded, over 70 amendments had been passed but only five have so far been struck down. The NJAC was the last one in 2016.
Critical analysis of judgement
- Goes to Individual and not group reservation: Economic disadvantage is individual, unlike caste discrimination. It carries no social stigma. The Court has gone against the earlier precedents on this point, which is why Justice Bhat was not able to persuade himself to agree with this reasoning, particularly when SC/ST/OBC categories have been excluded.
- Argument over level playing field for open category: The majority was of the view that such an exclusion was inevitable for the true operation and effect of new policy. If existing beneficiaries are not excluded, it would amount to excessive benefit and advantage. Justice Maheshwari said that in the vertical reservation provided to these groups also, others are excluded. He said that those who are themselves receiving the benefit of others’ exclusion cannot object to their exclusion in the reservation policy made for others.
- Debate on SC/ST exclusion: Justice Bhat observed that since the bulk of the poorest people belong to SC/ST/OBC groups, their exclusion is not right. The majority was also of the view that Parliament is entitled to experiment with new policies.
- 50% ceiling breached: The majority also cited a number of earlier judgments on the 50 per cent ceiling such as NM Thomas (1976), in which Justices Fazal Ali and V R Krishna Iyer observed that the arithmetical limit cannot be pressed too far. In Vasanth Kumar (1985), Justice Chinnappa Reddy observed that “for a court to say that reservation should not exceed 40 per cent, 50 per cent or 60 per cent would be arbitrary and the Constitution does not permit us to be arbitrary”.
- Indira Sawhney judgement is overturned: Even Indra Sawhney had kept a small window for the government to go beyond the 50 per cent ceiling. The real question is would the Court have permitted such a breach at the all-India level if the same had been done for the existing beneficiaries of the reservation policy.
- justice to general categories is not injustice to others: Justice Maheshwari admitted so when he observed that the 50 per cent limit was for the benefit of general candidates and it causes no injustice to the reserved categories. Justice Bhat, though, felt this may open the floodgates.
Conclusion
- Justice should not only be done but should also be appear to have been done. Economical weaker section reservation was an effort to pacify the dissatisfaction among general categories against reservation. However, the merit system will be compromise or not only time will tell.
Mains Question
Q. Does exclusion of SC/ST from EWS reservation is justifiable? How EWS reservation will impact the merit system in India?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Read the attached story
Mains level: 103rd Constitutional Amendment
A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in a 3:2 majority decision, upheld the validity of the 103rd Constitutional Amendment, which provides 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of society.
What else?
- The judgment excludes the “poorest of poor” among Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) from its scope.
What was the 103rd Amendment?
- The 103rd Amendment inserted Articles 15(6) and 16(6) in the Constitution to provide up to 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections (EWS) among non-OBC and non-SC/ST sections .
- In other words, the amendment had changed the Constitution and introduced a quota for the poor among the so-called ‘forward castes’ or ‘general category’.
Quota available to EWS
- The quota is available in:
- Admissions to higher educational institutions and
- Initial recruitment in central government jobs
- The amendment also empowered state governments to provide reservation on the basis of economic backwardness.
On what basis was the quota challenged?
Ans. Violation of Basic Structure
- Violation of basic structure: Essentially, the challenge was based on the argument that the 103rd amendment violated the “basic structure” of the Constitution.
- Socially disadvantage: The primary argument in this case stemmed from the view that the special protections guaranteed to socially disadvantaged groups is part of the basic structure.
- Sole economic criterion: The 103rd Amendment departs from this by promising special protections on the sole basis of economic status.
Key arguments by the Judges
[A] Majority Opinion
Three judges, Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Bela Trivedi, and S B Pardiwala, have upheld the validity of the 103rd amendment.
- Justice Dinesh Maheshwari: He has ruled that reservation based only on economic criteria does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution, and that the exclusion of classes covered in Article 15(4) and 16(4) — that is OBCs and SC/STs — in the 103rd amendment does not damage the basic structure.
- Justice Bela Trivedi: She has concurred with Justice Maheshwari. She ruled that treating EWS as a separate class would be a reasonable classification, and that treating unequals equally would violate the principle of equality under the Constitution.
- Justice Trivedi: He said that 75 years after independence, it was time to revisit the system of reservation in the larger interest of society.
- Justice S B Pardiwala: He concurred with Justice Maheshwari and Justice Trivedi. He observed that “Reservation is not an end, it is means, it should not be allowed to become a vested interest.
[B] Minority (Dissenting) Opinion
- Justice Bhat: He has ruled that while reservation on economic criteria is per se not violative of the Constitution, excluding SC/ST/OBC from the purview of EWS is violative of basic structure. He has struck down Articles 15(6) and 16(6) for being discriminatory and violative of the equality code.
- CJI Lalit: He said he concurs entirely with the judgment of Justice Bhat.
What about the 50% ceiling on quotas?
- The judgment appears to have struck down the ceiling of 50%.
- Justice Maheshwari said that reservations for EWS does not violate basic structure on account of 50% ceiling limit because ceiling limit is not inflexible.
How the judiciary deviated from its earlier judgments?
- However, the dissenting opinion says that permitting breach of 50% would result in compartmentalization, and the rule of right to equality will become right to reservations.
- The apex court has repeatedly underlined the 50% ceiling on reservations imposed by the landmark Indra Sawhney judgment of 1992.
- On that basis, attempts by a number of states have been struck down.
- Several of those issues can now be reopened. Now states can rebel with their populist moves to provide reservations to some communities. Ex. Nomadic Tribes case in Maharashtra.
What is the EWS Quota?
- The EWS criteria for employment and admission was notified on January 31, 2019 by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) based on the 103rd Amendment.
- Under the 2019 notification, a person who was not covered under the scheme of reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs, and whose family had a gross annual income below Rs 8 lakh, was to be identified as EWS.
- The notification specified what constituted “income”, and excluded some persons from the EWS category if their families possessed certain specified assets.
Broad issues with EWS quota
- Reduction within general category: The EWS quota remains a controversy as its critics say it reduces the size of the open category, besides breaching the 50% limit on the total reservation.
- Arbitrariness over income limit: The court has been intrigued by the income limit being fixed at ₹8 lakh per year. It is the same figure for excluding the ‘creamy layer’ from OBC reservation benefits.
- Socio-economic backwardness: A crucial difference is that those in the general category, to whom the EWS quota is applicable, do not suffer from social or educational backwardness, unlike those classified as the OBC.
- Metropolitan criteria: There are other questions as to whether any exercise was undertaken to derive the exceptions such as why the flat criterion does not differentiate between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.
- OBC-like criteria: The question the court has raised is when the OBC category is socially and educationally backward and, therefore, has additional impediments to overcome.
- Not based on relevant data: In line with the Supreme Court’s known position that any reservation or norms for exclusion should be based on relevant data.
- Breaches reservation cap: There is a cap of 50% on reservation as ruled in the Indira Sawhney Case. The principle of balancing equality ordains reservation.
Way forward
- Preserving the merit: We cannot rule out the sorry state of economic backwardness hampering merit in our country.
- Rational criteria: There has to be collective wisdom to define and measure the economic weakness of certain sections of society in order to shape the concept of economic justice.
- Judicial guidance: Judicial interpretation will pave the wave forward for deciding the criterion for EWS Quota.
- Targetted beneficiaries. The center needs to resort to more rational criteria for deciding the targeted beneficiary of this reservation system. Caste Census data can be useful in this regard.
- Income study: The per capita income or GDP or the difference in purchasing power in the rural and urban areas, should be taken into account while a single income limit was formulated for the whole country.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021
Mains level: Not Much
The Centre has opposed before the Delhi HC a petition challenging certain provisions of the surrogacy laws, including the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021.
What is the case?
- The provisions challenged includes the exclusion of a single man and a married woman having a child from the benefit of surrogacy as a reproductive choice.
- It challenged the ban on commercial surrogacy.
- In their plea, the petitioners have stated that commercial surrogacy is the only option available to them.
Invoking Article 21
- The personal decision of a single person about the birth of a baby through surrogacy, that is, the right of reproductive autonomy is a facet of the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- Thus, the right affecting a decision to bear or beget a child through surrogacy cannot be taken away, the petition said.
What rules say?
- Under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, a married couple can opt for surrogacy only on medical grounds.
- The law defines a couple as a married Indian “man and woman” and also prescribes an age-criteria with the woman being in the age of 23 years to 50 years and the man between 26 years to 55 years.
- The couple should not have a child of their own.
- Though the law allows single women to resort to surrogacy, she has to be a widow or a divorcee between the age of 35 and 45 years.
- The law does not allow single men to go for surrogacy.
Distinct features of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021
- Definition of surrogacy: It defines surrogacy as a practice where a woman gives birth to a child for an intending couple with the intention to hand over the child after the birth to the intending couple.
- Regulation of surrogacy: It prohibits commercial surrogacy, but allows altruistic surrogacy which involves no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance.
- Purposes for which surrogacy is permitted: Surrogacy is permitted when it is: (i) for intending couples who suffer from proven infertility; (ii) altruistic; (iii) not for commercial purposes; (iv) not for producing children for sale, prostitution or other forms of exploitation; and (v) for any condition or disease specified through regulations.
- Eligibility criteria: The intending couple should have a ‘certificate of essentiality’ and a ‘certificate of eligibility’ issued by the appropriate authority ex. District Medical Board.
Eligibility criteria for surrogate mother:
- To obtain a certificate of eligibility from the appropriate authority, the surrogate mother has to be:
- A close relative of the intending couple;
- A married woman having a child of her own;
- 25 to 35 years old;
- A surrogate only once in her lifetime; and
- Possess a certificate of medical and psychological fitness for surrogacy.
- Further, the surrogate mother cannot provide her own gametes for surrogacy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NRC, NPR
Mains level: NRC issue
The Home Ministry in its latest annual report has underlined the need to update the National Population Register (NPR) database across the country, except Assam.
What did the MHA say?
- The report said the NPR is prepared under various provisions of the Citizenship Rules, 2003, framed under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
- In 2015, a few fields such as name, gender, date and place of birth, place of residence and father’s and mother’s name were updated and Aadhaar, mobile and ration card numbers were collected.
- To incorporate the changes due to birth, death and migration, the MHA pressed the need to update it again.
What is National Population Register (NPR)?
- The NPR is a Register of usual residents of the country.
- It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level.
- This is carried under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship Rules, 2003 (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards).
- It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.
- A usual resident is defined for the purposes of NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.
Why NPR is under fire?
- Though NPR was first compiled in 2010 and updated in 2015, the new questions were part of a trial exercise involving 30 lakh respondents in September 2019.
- The exercise has perceived the first step toward the compilation of the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) according to Citizenship Rules, 2003.
How are NRIC and NPR related?
- Out of the NPR, a set of all usual residents of India, the government proposes to create a database of “citizens of India”.
- Thus, the “National Register of Indian Citizens” (NRIC) is a sub-set of the NPR.
- The NRIC will be prepared at the local, sub-district, district and State levels after verifying the citizenship status of the residents.
- The rules say the particulars of every family and individual found in the Population Register shall be verified and scrutinized by the Local Registrar.
How NPR is different from Census?
- The census involves a detailed questionnaire — there were 29 items to be filled up in the 2011 census.
- They are aimed at eliciting the particulars of every person, including age, sex, marital status, children, occupation, birthplace, mother tongue, religion, disability and whether they belonged to any SC or ST.
- On the other hand, the NPR collects basic demographic data and biometric particulars.
- While the census is legally backed by the Census Act, 1948, the NPR is a mechanism outlined in a set of rules framed under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Snow Leopard
Mains level: Not Much
The first-ever recording of the snow leopard from the Baltal-Zojila region has renewed the hope for the elusive predator in the higher altitudes of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Why in news?
- Not much is known about the number of snow leopards in J&K and Ladakh.
- The Snow Leopard Population Assessment of India (SPAI) has been concluded so far in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
- The estimated population of the great cat is 50 and 100 in these two States respectively.
Snow Leopard
- Snow leopards live in the mountainous regions of Central and Southern Asia.
- In India, their geographical range encompasses a large part of the western Himalayas, including the UTs of J&K and Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas.
- Project Snow Leopard was launched in 2009 for strengthening wildlife conservation in the Himalayan high altitudes.
- It aims at promoting a knowledge-based and adaptive conservation framework that fully involves the local communities, who share the snow leopard’s range, in conservation efforts.
Conservation status
- In the IUCN- Red List, the snow leopard is listed as Vulnerable.
- In addition, the snow leopard, like all big cats, is also listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).
- In India, the snow leopard is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, giving it the highest protection status under the country’s laws.
Conservation Efforts by India
- The Government of India has identified the snow leopard as a flagship species for the high altitude Himalayas.
- India is also party to the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Programme since 2013.
- HimalSanrakshak: It is a community volunteer programme, to protect snow leopards, launched in October 2020.
- In 2019, First National Protocol was also launched on Snow Leopard Population Assessment which has been very useful for monitoring populations.
- SECURE Himalaya: Global Environment Facility (GEF)-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded the project on conservation of high altitude biodiversity and reducing the dependency of local communities on the natural ecosystem.
- Project Snow Leopard (PSL): It was launched in 2009 to promote an inclusive and participatory approach to conserve snow leopards and their habitat.
- Snow Leopard is on the list of 21 critically endangered species for the recovery programme of the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change.
- Snow Leopard conservation breeding programme is undertaken at Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Darjeeling, West Bengal.
Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Programme
- The GSLEP is a high-level inter-governmental alliance of all the 12 snow leopard range countries.
- The snow leopard countries namely, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
- It majorly focuses on the need for awareness and understanding of the value of Snow Leopard for the ecosystem.
Living Himalaya Network Initiative
- Living Himalayas Initiative (LHI) is established as one of WWF’s global initiatives to bring about transformational conservation impact across the three Eastern Himalayan countries of Bhutan, India (North-East) and Nepal.
- Objectives of LHI include adapting to climate change, connecting to habitat and saving iconic species.
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