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Air Pollution

Genesis of the Delhi Air Pollution and its mitigation

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Read the attached story

Mains level: Delhi Air Pollution issue

delhi

As the situation becomes an annually recurring one in New Delhi and NCR, here’s a look at how far back it goes and what policies have been adopted by the Centre and Delhi’s elected governments to curb air pollution over the years.

Do you know?

In November 2016, in an event known as the Great Smog of Delhi, the air pollution spiked far beyond acceptable levels. This tagged New Delhi to be world’s most polluted city ever.

Causes of Poor Air Quality

  • Motor vehicle emissions are one of the causes of poor air quality.
  • Badarpur Thermal Power Station, a coal-fired power plant was another major source of air pollution in Delhi.
  • The drift/mist emissions from the wet cooling towers are also a source of particulate matter as they are widely used in industry and other sectors for dissipating heat in cooling systems.
  • Although Delhi is kerosene free and 90% of the households use LPG for cooking, the remaining 10% uses wood, crop residue, cow dung, and coal for cooking. (Census-India, 2011)
  • Fires in Bhalswa landfill is a major reason for airborne particles in Delhi.
  • Burning of effigies during Vijayadashami and bursting of firecrackers burning during Diwali is often accused by the left-wing activists to cause of Delhi’s poor air quality.
  • Agricultural stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab, coupled with north-westerly winds also affects Delhi’s air quality since the 1980s when crops are being harvested.

Evolution of policies

(1) Recognition of the broader issue (1995)

  • In March 1995, the Supreme Court, while hearing a plea by environmentalist and lawyer M.C. Mehta about Delhi’s polluting industries
  • It noted that Delhi was the world’s fourth most polluted city in terms of concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in the ambient atmosphere as per the WHO’s 1989 report.

(2) Identifying major pollutants (1996)

  • The Court took note of two polluting factors — vehicles and industries.
  • In 1996, the court ordered the closure and relocation of over 1,300 highly-polluting industries from Delhi’s residential areas beyond the National Capital Region (NCR) in a phased manner.
  • In 1996, Mr. Mehta filed another public interest litigation (PIL) alleging that vehicular emissions were leading to air pollution and that it posed a public health hazard.

(3) Action plan by Delhi Govt. (1996)

  • The Delhi government submitted an action plan to the apex court.
  • The court recognised the need for technical assistance and advice in decision-making and implementation of its orders.

(4) Establishment of EPCA (1998)

  • The Supreme Court asked the Environment Ministry to establish an authority for Delhi, leading to the creation of the Environmental Pollution Control Authority of Delhi NCR (EPCA) in 1998.
  • The EPCA submitted its report containing a two-year action.
  • The Court subsequently ordered the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus fleet, taxis, and autos to switch to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), and the phasing out of all pre-1990 autos.
  • Coal-based power plants within Delhi were also converted to gas-based ones.

(5) National Air Quality Programme (NAMP)

  • Around the same time, the Centre decided to establish a network of monitoring stations under the National Air Quality Programme (NAMP) to measure key pollutants.
  • The NAMP monitors the four major pollutants as part of the AQI – sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, respirable particulate matter and fine particulate matter.
  • It also checks wind speed and direction along with relative humidity and temperature.

How were air quality standards revised?

  • The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) were specified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
  • It identified pollutants like PM10 (particulate matter with a diameter exceeding 10 microns), sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides were measured.
  • The NAAQS were revised in 2009 to include 12 categories of pollutants including PM2.5 (particulate matter with a diameter under 2.5 microns
  • Particulate Matter (PM) is primarily generated by fuel combustion from different sectors, including transport, energy, households, industry and agriculture.

Arriving finally at: Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)

  • According to the revised NAAQS, the acceptable annual limit for PM2.5 is 40 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/m3) and 60 ug/m3 for PM10.
  • In the winter of 2016, Delhi witnessed one of its worst incidents of pollution-induced smog, with PM2.5 and PM10 levels reaching a whopping 999 ug/m3 in parts of Delhi on November 1.
  • Subsequently, the Supreme Court in November 2016 told Delhi and NCR authorities to form a plan to deal with the air pollution.
  • The MoEFCC in early 2017 came out with the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

 

Try this question from CS Mains 2015:

Q.Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three megacities of the country but the air pollution is a much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so?

 

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Kerala govt. moves to divest Governor of Chancellor Role

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Chancellor

Mains level: States vs Governor at crossroads

chancellor

In the latest escalation of its running battle with Governor, the Kerala government has decided to remove him as Chancellor of State universities, seeking to replace him with “renowned academic experts”.

Who is a Chancellor of a University?

  • In India, almost all universities have a chancellor as their titular head whose function is largely ceremonial.
  • The governor of the state, appointed as the union’s representative of state by the president, is the honorary chancellor of all State owned universities.
  • The de facto head of any government university is the vice-chancellor.
  • In private non-profit universities, normally the head of the foundation who has established the university is the chancellor of the university and is the head of the university.

Role of Governors in State Universities

  • In most cases, the Governor of the state is the ex-officio chancellor of the universities in that state.
  • Its powers and functions as the Chancellor are laid out in the statutes that govern the universities under a particular state government.
  • Their role in appointing the Vice-Chancellors has often triggered disputes with the political executive.

What about Central Universities?

  • Under the Central Universities Act, 2009, and other statutes, the President of India shall be the Visitor of a central university.
  • With their role limited to presiding over convocations, Chancellors in central universities are titular heads, who are appointed by the President in his capacity as Visitor.
  • The VCs too are appointed by the Visitor from panels of names picked by search and selection committees formed by the Union government.
  • The Act adds that the President, as Visitor, shall have the right to authorize inspections of academic and non-academic aspects of the universities and also to institute inquiries.

What is Kerala attempting to do?

  • Education comes under the Concurrent List.
  • In an official statement, the Kerala Cabinet noted the M.M. Punchhi Commission had vouched against granting Governors the power of Chancellors.
  • In many states, the elected governments have repeatedly accused the Governors of acting at the behest of the Centre on various subjects, including education.

 

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GI(Geographical Indicator) Tags

In news: Pashmina Wool

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Pashmina Wool

Mains level: Not Much

pashmina

Traders of Pashmina shawls are complaining that “obsolete testing methods” have resulted in many of their export consignments being flagged for the presence of ‘Shahtoosh’ guard hair, which is obtained from endangered Tibetan antelopes.

Shahtoosh, on the other hand, is the fine undercoat fibre obtained from the Tibetan Antelope, known locally as ‘Chiru’, a species living mainly in the northern parts of the Changthang Plateau in Tibet.  

What is Pashmina?

  • Pashmina is a fine type of cashmere wool. The textiles made from it were first woven in Kashmir.
  • The wool comes from a number of different breeds of the cashmere goat; such as the changthangi or Kashmir pashmina goat from the Changthang Plateau in Tibet and part of the Ladakh region and few parts of Himachal Pradesh.
  • Often shawls called shahmina are made from this material in Kashmir and Nepal; these shawls are hand spun and woven from the very fine cashmere fibre.
  • Traditional producers of pashmina wool are people known as the Changpa.
  • Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has published an Indian Standard for identification, marking and labelling of the already GI tagged Pashmina products to certify its purity.

About Pashmina goat

  • The Changthangi or Pashmina goat is a special breed of goat indigenous to the high altitude regions of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.
  • They are raised for ultra-fine cashmere wool, known as Pashmina once woven. The Textiles are handspun and were first woven in Kashmir.
  • The Changthangi goat grows a thick warn undercoat which is the source of Kashmir Pashmina wool – the world’s finest cashmere measuring between 12-15 microns in fiber thickness.
  • These goats are generally domesticated and reared by nomadic communities called the Changpa in the Changthang region of Greater Ladakh.
  • The Changthangi goats have revitalized the economy of Changthang, Leh and Ladakh region.

 

Try this PYQ:

Q.With reference to ‘Changpa’ community of India, consider the following statement:

  1. They live mainly in the State of Uttarakhand.
  2. They rear the Pashmina goats that yield fine wool.
  3. They are kept in the category of Scheduled Tribes.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

 

Post your answers here.

 

 

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Social Media: Prospect and Challenges

Balancing the Free Speech and Social Media Regulation

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: New developments related to regulation of social media

Mains level: social media advantages and challenges

Social Media

Context

  • Recently Facebook, one of the social media giant set up the Oversight Board, an independent body, which scrutinizes its ‘content moderation’ practices.

What are the IT rules of 2021?

  • Regulating social media intermediaries (SMIs): World over, governments are grappling with the issue of regulating social media intermediaries (SMIs).
  • Addressing the issues of SMI controlling the free speech: Given the multitudinous nature of the problem the centrality of SMIs in shaping public discourse, the impact of their governance on the right to freedom of speech and expression, the magnitude of information they host and the constant technological innovations that impact their governance it is important for governments to update their regulatory framework to face emergent challenges.
  • Placing obligations on SMI: In a bid to keep up with these issues, India in 2021, replaced its decade old regulations on SMIs with the IT Rules, 2021 that were primarily aimed at placing obligations on SMIs to ensure an open, safe and trusted internet.

Social Media

What are the recent amendments?

  • Draft amendments in June 2022, the stated objectives of the amendments were threefold.
  1. Protecting the constitutional rights: There was a need to ensure that the interests and constitutional rights of netizens are not being contravened by big tech platforms,
  2. Grievance redressal: To strengthen the grievance redressal framework in the Rules,
  3. To avoid the dominance: That compliance with these should not impact early-stage Indian start-ups.
  • This translated into a set of proposed amendments that can be broadly classified into two categories.
  1. Additional obligation on SMI: The first category involved placing additional obligations on the SMIs to ensure better protection of user interests.
  2. Appellate mechanism: The second category involved the institution of an appellate mechanism for grievance redressal.

Social Media

Why social media is said to be double-edged sword?

  • Moderation of content by platforms: Social media platforms regularly manage user content on their website. They remove, priorities or suspend user accounts that violate the terms and conditions of their platforms.
  • Excessive power in government’s hands: In today’s online environment, however, the existing government control on online speech is unsustainable. Social media now has millions of users. Platforms have democratized public participation, and shape public discourse.
  • Platforms of democratic freedom: As such, large platforms have a substantial bearing on core democratic freedoms.
  • Hate speech on internet: Further, with the increasing reach of the Internet, its potential harms have also increased. There is more illegal and harmful content online today.
  • Disinformation campaigns: On social media during COVID19 and hate speech against the Rohingya in Myanmar are recent examples.

What could be the balanced approach between free speech and regulation?

  • Government orders must be respected: Government orders to remove content must not only be necessary and proportionate, but must also comply with due process.
  • Example of DSA: The recent European Union (EU) Digital Services Act (DSA) is a good reference point. The DSA regulates intermediary liability in the EU. It requires government takedown orders to be proportionate and reasoned.
  • Platforms can challenge the governments order: The DSA also gives intermediaries an opportunity to challenge the government’s decision to block content and defend themselves. These processes will strongly secure free speech of online users. Most importantly, an intermediary law must devolve crucial social media content moderation decisions at the platform level.
  • An idea of co-regulation: Platforms must have the responsibility to regulate content under broad government guidelines. Instituting such a coregulatory framework will serve three functions.
  1. Platforms will retain reasonable autonomy over their terms of service: Coregulation will give them the flexibility to define the evolving standards of harmful content, thereby obviating the need for strict government mandates. This will promote free speech online because government oversight incentivizes platforms to engage in private censorship. Private censorship creates a chilling effect on user speech. In turn, it also scuttles online innovation, which is the backbone of the digital economy.
  2. Coregulation aligns government and platform interests: Online platforms themselves seek to promote platform speech and security so that their users have a free and safe experience. For instance, during the pandemic, platforms took varied measures to tackle disinformation. Incentivizing platforms to act as Good Samaritans will build healthy online environments.
  3. Outsourcing the content regulation: instituting coregulatory mechanisms allows the state to outsource content regulation to platforms, which are better equipped to tackle modern content moderation challenges.
  • Platforms must follow the due process of law: Platforms as content moderators have substantial control over the free speech rights of users. Whenever platforms remove content, or redress user grievance, their decisions must follow due process and be proportionate. They must adopt processes such as notice, hearing and reasoned orders while addressing user grievances.
  • Transparency in algorithm: Platform accountability can be increased through algorithmic transparency.

Conclusion

  • The GACs must be re-looked because they concentrate censorship powers in the hands of government. A Digital India Act is expected to be the successor law to the IT Act. This is a perfect opportunity for the government to adopt a coregulatory model of speech regulation of online speech.

Mains Question

Q. Social media is a double-edged sword in the realm of free speech. Substantiate. Explain in detail the Idea of coregulation of social media.

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G20 : Economic Cooperation ahead

G20 Presidency: India can be voice for developing world

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: G20 and related facts

Mains level: G20 India's presidency, opportunity and challenges

G20

Context

  • Government of India launched the logo, website and theme for India’s presidency of the G20, setting the tone for the country’s G20 presidency, beginning December 1. Modi’s clarion call was “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, aptly underscored by the phrase “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”.

What is G-20?

  • Formed in 1999, the G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies.
  • It brings together 19 of the world’s major economies and the European Union.
  • Its members account for more than 80% of global GDP, 75% of trade and 60% of population
  • To tackle the problems or address issues that plague the world, the heads of governments of the G20 nations periodically participate in summits.
  • India has been a member of the G20 since its inception in 1999.

Do you know the aims and objective of G20?

  • The Group was formed with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
  • The forum aims to pre-empt the balance of payments problems and turmoil on financial markets by improved coordination of monetary, fiscal, and financial policies.
  • It seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization.
  • Its members account for more than 80% of global GDP, 75% of trade and 60% of population.

G20

Current Global scenario and India’s G20 Presidency

  • War between Russia and west: It must nonetheless countenance a complex geopolitical moment, with tensions between G7 nations and Russia over the war in Ukraine, and growing friction between the US and China.
  • India’s efforts to be a meditator: PM Modi’s recent advice to President Putin that “now is not the time for war” is anchored in the ethos of peace and non-violence, the legacy of Buddha and Gandhi.
  • Energy crisis: The developmental agenda must receive first billing. Differences over energy diversification and the emerging challenges in trade and technology will need reconciliation.
  • Economic crisis: Stagflation in the US, China and Europe threatens to affect the global economic outlook. Policy coherence in macroeconomics and trade is an important imperative.
  • Supply chain disruptions: At the “Global Supply Chain Resilience” meeting in October 2021, Modi advocated cooperation on three critical aspects trusted source, transparency and time frame to improve global supply chains. At the SCO Summit this year, he cited the disruption of supply chains due to the Ukraine crisis and spoke of the unprecedented energy and food crises.

g20

What India can show to the world?

  • Growing economy and rising stature: India’s G20 presidency coincides with its growing confidence, matched by its rising stature and high economic growth rate.
  • India’s digital infrastructure: India’s commitment to digital transformation will be a key element in forging an accessible and inclusive digital public architecture. The country’s exemplary success with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Direct Benefits Transfer and Aadhaar authentication in welfare schemes has growing relevance to the developing world.
  • Efforts for TRIPS waiver on vaccine: The use of the CoWIN platform enhanced vaccine accessibility and equity. India has made a strong pitch for a TRIPS waiver to ensure equitable access to vaccine production.
  • Vaccine assistance to the world: India’s commitment to advancing South-South cooperation is well acknowledged. At the height of the pandemic, India provided 250 million vaccine doses to 101 countries, apart from other medical assistance.
  • SAGAR and Blue Economy: India’s global initiatives in recent years such as SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in The Region), “blue economy”, “clean oceans”, and disaster-resilient infrastructure have the potential to gain traction in the G20.
  • India as true climate leader: PM Modi’s “Panchamrit” announcements at COP26 — net zero by 2070, non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030, 50 per cent of energy requirement through renewables by 2030, reduction of carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, and reduction of carbon intensity in the Indian economy to less than 45 per cent by 2030 — established India as a climate leader.

What should be India’s Priority as President of G20?

  • Open application programming interface: As economies everywhere move rapidly towards digitalization, it is important to develop a consensus on an open source, open application programming interface (API) and an interoperable framework for public digital platforms on which the private sector can freely innovate. This would help maximize the impact of the digital transformation for the global public good, including new data, measurement tools, indicators of economic growth and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  • Promotion of LiFE philosophy: At the COP26 in Glasgow, Modi proposed Mission LiFE, which places individual behavior at the centre of the global climate action narrative. The Mission intends to establish and nurture a global network of individuals known as Pro-Planet People (P3), committed to adopting and promoting environmentally friendly lifestyles. This is based on the idea that responsible individual behavior can undo the damage wrought upon nature.
  • Focus on climate financing: At COP27 as well as during its G20 presidency, India will have to focus attention on climate finance, especially a new quantified goal beyond the existing annual $100 billion pledge by Advanced Economies (AEs) to assist developing nations in climate change adaptation and mitigation from 2020 to 2025. The delayed pledge is expected to be fulfilled in 2023 during India’s presidency and from there on, the G20 needs to raise the bar.
  • Clean energy partnership: The G20 presidency will provide India with an opportunity to give impetus to several of its initiatives for clean energy partnerships especially in solar, wind and hydrogen with the EU, Japan and the US. It will provide a platform to give a fillip to the idea of, “One Sun, One World, One Grid”, first mooted by Modi at the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in 2018.
  • Achieving the Net Zero target: India has the scale and capacity to set a shining example of rapid and decarbonized economic growth to help realize the G20’s global net zero ambitions. A viable international framework for development and international trade in GH2, together with green ammonia and green shipping, is the key. Reliable supplies of critical minerals and technological collaborations for energy storage, including a global battery coalition, could provide answers.
  • Nuclear energy as an alternative: Given the nascent support today for civilian nuclear energy in Europe due to energy market volatility, the G20 could work toward an expanded and robust civilian nuclear energy cooperation framework, including for small modular reactors.
  • Reforming the multilateralism: Multilateral institutions are perceived today as unrepresentative, ineffective, or worse still, both. The call for a new multilateralism and reassessment of the Global Financial Order to ensure adequate credit enhancement and blended finance for sustainable green transitions reflects a popular global sentiment.

g20

Conclusion

  • India’s presidency should represent the widest and most vulnerable constituencies, especially in South Asia. This can truly advance intra-South Asian economic integration, which is so essential for India’s rise.

Mains question

Q. India assumed G20 presidency with a mantra of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. In light of this What should be the India’s Priority as President?

 

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Terrorism and Challenges Related To It

Challenges to International Cooperation on Counter-Terrorism

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Bodies and forums associated with Counter terrorism

Mains level: Terrorism and challenges . International cooperation on counter terrorism, India's Role

Terrorism

Context

  • India’s decision to host the special session of the United Nations Security Council’s Counter Terrorism Committee (UNSCCTC) last month held in Mumbai and New Delhi, it focused on new and emerging technologies is one of a number of events planned by the Government to give its counterterror diplomacy a greater push.

What is Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC)?

  • The CTC is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
  • The 15-member CTC was established at the same time to monitor the implementation of the resolution.
  • In the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, the UNSC unanimously adopted resolution 1373. This among its provisions obliges all States

Terrorism

Read this Key important note: The Delhi Declaration on Terrorism

  • On day 2 of the Special Meeting, the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) unanimously adopted the Delhi Declaration on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
  • Among the listed items in the Declaration include the decision to continue to work on recommendations on the three themes of the Special meeting and the intention to develop a set of non-binding guiding principles to assist Member States to counter the threat posed by the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
  • The declaration aims to cover the main concerns surrounding the abuse of drones, social media platforms, and crowdfunding, and create guidelines that will help to tackle the growing issue.

What are the challenges to build international Consensus on counter-terrorism?

  • Narrow Global War on Terrorism (GWOT): The first challenge is that the “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT), as it was conceived by a post 9/11 United States is over with the last chapter written last year, as the United States negotiated with the Taliban, and then withdrew from Afghanistan.
  • Non-cooperation with India by USA and world: GWOT itself was built on an unequal campaign when India had asked for similar help to deal with the IC814 hijacking (December 1999) less than two years prior to the 9/11 attacks (with evidence now clear that those who the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was forced to release were all terrorists who went on to help with planning, funding or providing safe havens to the al-Qaida leadership), its pleas fell on deaf ears in the U.S., the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and of course, Pakistan, all of whom were hit by the same terrorists in later years.
  • USA and China Escorting the Pakistan: Even after GWOT was launched, Pakistan’s role as the U.S.’s ally, and China’s “iron friend” ensured that the UNSC designations of those who threatened India the most, including Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed, never mentioned their role in attacks in India.
  • FATF is becoming toothless: The maximum India received in terms of global cooperation was actually from economic strictures that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s grey list placed on Pakistan — Pakistan was cleared from this in October indicating that the global appetite to punish Pakistan for terrorism has petered out.
  • Realpolitik over Global problem: In addition, the weak international reaction to the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, and its persecution of women and minorities in the country, demonstrate rising fatigue levels in dealing with “another country’s problems”.
  • Ineffective UNSC resolutions: The hard reality for India is that the future of counterterrorism cooperation is going to be less cooperative, and counterterror regimes such as the UNSC Resolutions 1267, 1373, etc. rendered outdated and toothless.

How polarized world pose a challenge for fight against terrorism and the questions raised?

  • Distraction due to Russia-Ukraine war: War not only shifting the focus from terrorism but is also blurring the lines on what constitutes terrorism. The CTC meeting in Delhi, for example, was disrupted over Russia’s claims that the U.K. helped Ukraine launch drone attacks on Russia’s naval fleet in Sevastopol. The question remains: if drone attacks by Yemeni Houthis on the UAE and Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure were condemned as terrorist attacks, why was the line drawn for drone attacks on Russian ships in a port used for loading grain, or a bridge bombing that put so many civilian lives at risk?
  • Likely recruitment of Afghan soldiers in Ukraine war: On the other hand, Russia squares up the possible recruitment of the former Afghan republic’s National Army Commando Corps into its war in Ukraine, Would not these commandos who once fought Taliban terrorists, now qualify as terrorists themselves?
  • Divided UN security council: Away from the battle field, the polarisation has rendered the body tasked with global peace, paralysed, as the UNSC is unable to pass any meaningful resolutions that are not vetoed by Russia or western members, and China has been able to block as many as five terror designations requested by India and the U.S. Perhaps the biggest opportunity lost due to the UNSC’s other preoccupations has been the need to move forward on India’s proposal, of 1996, of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
  • Convention on International Terrorism is not accepted: While each conference, including the CTC meeting in Delhi, makes passing the CCIT a goal, very little progress has been made on the actual issues such as the definition of terrorism, concerns over human rights law conflicts, and the old debate on ‘freedom fighter vs terrorist’. Despite several changes in the draft made by India in 2016, consensus for the convention is still elusive

What are New and emerging technology in terrorism?

  • Drone attacks: Emerging technologies and the weaponization of a number of different mechanisms for terrorism purposes. Drones are already being used to deliver funds, drugs, weapons, ammunition and even improvised explosive devices.
  • Possible bio-war: After the COVID19 pandemic, worries have grown about the use of biowarfare, and Gain of Function (GoF) research to mutate viruses and vectors which could be released into targeted populations.
  • AI and robotic soldiers: In a future that is already here, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and robotic soldiers makes it even easier to perpetrate mass attacks while maintaining anonymity.
  • Cryptocurrency and terror Financing: Terror financing uses bitcoins and cryptocurrency, and terror communications use social media, the dark web and even gaming centres.

Terrorism

India’s opportunity to build global consensus

  • India is on forefront since long: India has been at the forefront for a call of global action against terrorism which is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon.
  • India will host No money for terror conference: New Delhi will host the third edition of the “No Money for Terror” (NMFT) conference that will look at tackling future modes of terror financing.
  • Using Global Counter Terrorism Architecture: In December, when India takes over the United Nations Security Council Presidency for the last time before its two-year term in the Council ends, India will chair a special briefing on the “Global Counter Terrorism Architecture”, looking at the challenges ahead.

Terrorism

Conclusion

  • With Taliban taking over Afghanistan, USA and west have practically withdrawn from global fight against terrorism. India’s efforts for global consensus on cross border terrorism is getting harder as world is polarizing. Fight against terrorism will be very arduous task for diplomacy of India.

Mains Question

There is no consensus on global definition of terrorism, discuss. How Indian diplomacy is trying to get global attention and consensus for fight against terrorism?

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Child Rights – POSCO, Child Labour Laws, NAPC, etc.

Should the Age of Consent be changed for Adolescents?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Definition of child

Mains level: POCSO Act

The Karnataka High Court has asked the Law Commission to rethink the age of consent under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, or POCSO, Act 2012.

What is the Age of Consent?

  • The age of consent for sex in India is 18 under the POCSO Act.
  • Consent given by a girl aged below 18 is not regarded as valid and sexual intercourse with her amounts to rape.

What did the HC say?

  • The aspect of consent by a girl of 16 years, but who is below 18 years, would have to be considered.
  • This has to be if it is indeed an offence under the Indian Penal Code and/or the POCSO Act, said the HC.
  • The offender should be booked under Section 366 of the IPC, Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Section 9 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

What are the terms of the POCSO Act?

  • Under the POCSO Act, 2012, considers a child anyone below 18 years of age.
  • Even if the girl is 16 years old, she is considered a “child” under the POCSO Act and hence her consent does not matter, and any sexual intercourse is treated as rape.

Issues with such consent

  • Consent is ignored: It thus opens the accused up to stringent punishment.
  • Child abuse charges are ruled out: There have been several instances when the courts have quashed criminal proceedings of rape and kidnapping.
  • Misuse of the provision: The court is often convinced that the law is being misused to suit one or the other party.

Case study

  • In 2019, a study, Why Girls Run Away to Marry – Adolescent Realities and Socio-Legal Responses inIndia, was published by Partners for Law in Development,
  • It made a case for the age of consent to be lower than the age of marriage to decriminalise sex among older adolescents to protect them from the misuse of law.

Is the law being misused?

(1) Foiling consensual relations

  • Sometimes, disgruntled parents file a case to foil a relationship between two adolescents or children on the threshold of adolescence.
  • POCSO is often used by parents who want to control who their daughters or sons want to marry.

(2) Coercion for marriage:

  • The study noted that in many cases, a couple elopes fearing opposition from parents resulting run away to get married.
  • The parents then book the boy for rape under the POCSO Act and abduction with the intent to marry under IPC or the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

Judicial interpretations for lower age of consent

  • In 2021, in the Vijaylakshmi vs State Rep case, the Madras High Court, while dismissing a POCSO case, said the definition of ‘child’ under Section 2(d) of the POCSO Act can be redefined as 16 instead of 18.
  • The court suggested that the age difference in consensual relationships should not be more than five years.
  • This, it said, will ensure that a girl of an impressionable age is not taken advantage or duped sexually of by a person who is much older.

Policy measures so far

  • A parliamentary committee is looking into the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which seeks to increase the minimum age of marriage for women to 21 years.
  • Rights activists feel instead of helping the community, raising the age may force vulnerable women to remain under the yoke of family and social pressures.

Way forward

  • With the courts and rights activists seeking an amendment to the age of consent criteria, the ball lies in the government’s court to look into the issue.
  • In the meantime, adolescents have to be made aware of the stringent provisions of the POCSO Act and also the IPC.

 

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Judicial Reforms

Centre constitutes 22nd Law Commission

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Law Commission of India

Mains level: Read the attached story

The Centre has constituted the Law Commission of India by appointing former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi as its chairperson.

Law Commission of India

  • It is an executive body established by an order of the Government of India. First law commission of independent India was established post the Independence in 1955
  • Tenure: 3 Years
  • Function: Advisory body to the Ministry of Law and Justice for “Legal Reforms in India”
  • Recommendations: NOT binding
  • First Law Commission was established during the British Raj in 1834 by the Charter Act of 1833
  • Chairman: Macaulay; It recommended for the Codifications of the IPC, CrPC etc.

Its’ composition

The 22nd Law Commission will be constituted for a period of three years from the date of publication of its Order in the Official Gazette. It will consist of:

  1. Full-time Chairperson;
  2. Four full-time Members (including Member-Secretary)
  3. Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs as ex-officio Member;
  4. Secretary, Legislative Department as ex officio Member; and
  5. Not more than five part-time Members.

Terms of reference

  • The Law Commission shall, on a reference made to it by the Central Government or suo-motu, undertake research in law and review of existing laws in India for making reforms therein and enacting new legislations.
  • It shall also undertake studies and research for bringing reforms in the justice delivery systems for elimination of delay in procedures, speedy disposal of cases, reduction in cost of litigation etc.

Major reforms undertaken

  • The First Law Commission under Macaulay suggested various enactments to the British Government, most of which were passed and enacted and are still in force in India.
  • These include the Indian Penal Code (first submitted in 1837 but enacted in 1860 and still in force), Criminal Procedure Code (enacted in 1898, repealed and succeeded by the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973), etc.
  • Thereafter three more Law Commissions were established which made a number of other recommendations the Indian Evidence Act (1872) and Indian Contract Act (1872), etc. being some of the significant ones.

Role in legal reforms

The Law Commission has been a key to law reform in India.

  • Its role has been both advisory and critical of the government’s policies
  • In a number of decisions, the Supreme Court has referred to the work done by the commission and followed its recommendations.
  • The Commission seeks to simplify procedures to curb delays and improve standards of justice.
  • It also strives to promote an accountable and citizen-friendly government that is transparent and ensures the people’s right to information.

 

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Primary and Secondary Education – RTE, Education Policy, SEQI, RMSA, Committee Reports, etc.

What is Mother Tongue Survey of India (MTSI)?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: MTSI

Mains level: Mother tounges as a medium of education

mother

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has completed the Mother Tongue Survey of India (MTSI) with field videography of the country’s 576 languages.

What is the MTSI?

  • The Mother Tongue Survey of India is a project that surveys the mother tongues, which are returned consistently across two and more Census decades.
  • It also documents the linguistic features of the selected languages.
  • The category “mother tongue” is a designation provided by the respondent, but it need not be identical with the actual linguistic medium.
  • The NIC and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) will be documenting and preserving the linguistic data of the surveyed mother tongues in audio-video files.
  • Video-graphed speech data of Mother Tongues will also be uploaded on the NIC survey for archiving purposes.

How many “mother tongues” does India have?

  • As per an analysis of 2011 linguistic census data in 2018, more than 19,500 dialects are spoken in India as mother tongues.
  • They are grouped into 121 mother tongues.
  • According to the 2011 linguistic census, Hindi is the most widely spoken mother tongue, with 52.8 crore people or 43.6 per cent of the population declaring it as the mother tongue.
  • The next highest is Bengali, mother tongue for 9.7 crore individuals, and accounting for 8 per cent of the population.

Where does the mother tongue feature in the education of children?

  • The new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) has recommended that mother tongue should be the primary medium of instruction in schools for children up to eight years of age.
  • The new NCF, which deals with pre-school and classes I-II, emphasises the virtues of the mother tongue as the primary medium of instruction.
  • It says that by the time children join pre-school, they acquire significant competence in the “home language”.
  • This push has come after repeated policy articulations in its favour from PM and Home Minister.

Why emphasize more on mother tongue?

  • According to the NCF, evidence from research confirms the importance of teaching children in their mother tongue during the foundational years and beyond.
  • Children learn concepts most rapidly and deeply in their home language.
  • Hence the primary medium of instruction is optimally the child’s home language/ mother tongue/ familiar language in the Foundational Stage.

What is the status of the population census?

  • The forthcoming decennial population census will be the 16th since the first exercise was conducted in 1872.
  • It will be the eighth census since independence.
  • The census was supposed to take place in 2021, but was postponed due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Updates in the new census

  • To ensure efficient processing and quick release of data, the Home Ministry has adopted some new initiatives, which include digital data processing and the use of geospatial technology.
  • According to the report, pre-census mapping activities like preparation and updation of maps that show administrative units will be carried out.
  • Census results will be disseminated via web-based interactive maps.

 

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G20 : Economic Cooperation ahead

PM unveils G20 logo: Significance of the lotus on it

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: G7, G12, G20

Mains level: India's presidentship of G20

g20

PM unveiled the logo, theme and website of India’s G20 presidency.

What is G20?

  • The G20 was formed in 1999 in the backdrop of the financial crisis of the late 1990s that hit East Asia and Southeast Asia in particular.
  • The first G20 Summit took place in 2008 in Washington DC, US.
  • Its aim was to secure global financial stability by involving middle-income countries.
  • Its prominent members are: Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US, and the EU.
  • Spain is invited as a permanent guest.

Presidency of G20

  • The presidency of the G20 rotates every year among members.
  • The country holding the presidency, together with the previous and next presidency-holder, forms the ‘Troika’ to ensure continuity of the G20 agenda.
  • During India’s presidency, India, Indonesia and Brazil will form the troika.
  • This would be the first time when the troika would consist of three developing countries and emerging economies.

How does the G20 work?

  • The G20 has no permanent secretariat.
  • The agenda and work are coordinated by representatives of the G20 countries, known as ‘Sherpas’, who work together with the finance ministers and governors of the central banks.
  • On the advice of the G7 Finance Ministers, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors began holding meetings to discuss the response to the global financial crisis that occurred.
  • Since 1999, an annual meeting of finance ministers has taken place.

Economic significance of G20

  • G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation representing around-
  1. 85 per cent of the global GDP,
  2. 75 per cent of the global trade, and
  3. Two-thirds of the world population

Significance of the G20 logo

  • The logo bears a lotus and the message of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — One Earth, One Family, One Future’.
  • The lotus flower symbolises our Puranic heritage, our aastha (belief) and boddhikta (intellectualism).

 

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ISRO Missions and Discoveries

Vikram-S: India’s first private sector rocket  

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Vikram-S

Mains level: Privatization of space activities

vikram

India’s first privately developed rocket, Vikram-S, is set for launch between November 12 and 16.

Vikram-S

  • Vikram-S is India’s first privately developed rocket and is all set to be launched as part of the Prarambh space mission.
  • It is a single-stage sub-orbital launch vehicle which would carry three customer payloads and help test and validate the majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of space launch vehicles.
  • It was developed by the Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace.
  • The Prarambh mission is aimed at carrying three payloads into space, including a 2.5-kilogram payload that has been developed by students from several countries.
  • Skyroot’s launch vehicles are named ‘Vikram’ as a tribute to the founder of the Indian space program and renowned scientist Vikram Sarabhai.

Significance of the mission

  • With this mission, Skyroot is set to become the first private space company in India to launch a rocket into space.
  • It is heralding a new era for the space sector which was opened up in 2020 to facilitate private sector participation.
  • The Prarambh mission was extensively supported from ISRO and IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre).

Back2Basics: IN-SPACE

  • The establishment of IN-SPACe was announced in June 2020.
  • It is an autonomous and single window nodal agency in the Department of Space for the promotion, encouragement and regulation of space activities of both government and private entities.
  • It also facilitates the usage of ISRO facilities by private entities.
  • It comprises technical experts for space activities along with safety expert, academic experts and legal and strategic experts from other departments.
  • It also comprises members from PMO and MEA of Government of India.

Roles and Responsibilities

  • Space activities including building of launch vehicles and satellites and providing space based services as per the definition of space activities.
  • Sharing of space infrastructure and premises under the control of ISRO with due considerations to on-going activities.
  • Establishment of temporary facilities within premises under ISRO control based on safety norms and feasibility assessment

How is it different from ANTRIX?

  • Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL), Bengaluru is a wholly-owned Government of India Company under the administrative control of the Department of Space.
  • It is as a marketing arm of ISRO for promotion and commercial exploitation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO.
  • Antrix is engaged in providing Space products and services to international customers worldwide.

What about New Space India Limited (NSIL)?

  • It functions under the administrative control of the Department of Space (DOS).
  • It aims to commercially exploit the research and development work of ISRO Centres and constituent units of DOS.
  • The NSIL would enable Indian Industries to scale up high-technology manufacturing and production base for meeting the growing needs of the Indian space program.
  • It would further spur the growth of Indian Industries in the space sector.

 

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Industrial Sector Updates – Industrial Policy, Ease of Doing Business, etc.

Declining Consumer Demand and Reluctant Investors

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not Much

Mains level: Corporate Investment, demand situation and related issues

Consumer Demand

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.

Analyzing the corporate Investment since the pandemic

  • 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.

Consumer Demand

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.

Consumer Demand

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.

Consumer Demand

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

QAnalyze 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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Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Global Implications

India’s role in Russia-Ukraine war

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NA

Mains level: Russian-Ukraine war, India's strategy, worlds perspective

Ukraine war

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.

The story of Ukraine’s war and India’s Strategy so far

  • 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.

Ukraine war

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.

Ukraine war

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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Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

New Category of Reservation, EWS

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Reservation system, SC Judgments and associated concerns

Reservation

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.

Reservation

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.

The Backgrounder: What are concerns over the reservation verdicts so far?

  • 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.

Reservation

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.

Reservation

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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Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

Supreme Court, in a majority verdict, upholds the EWS Quota

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Read the attached story

Mains level: 103rd Constitutional Amendment

ews

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:
  1. Admissions to higher educational institutions and
  2. 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Justice Trivedi: He said that 75 years after independence, it was time to revisit the system of reservation in the larger interest of society.
  4. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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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Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

Centre opposes petition in HC against provisions of Surrogacy Law

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021

Mains level: Not Much

surrogacy

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:
  1. A close relative of the intending couple;
  2. A married woman having a child of her own;
  3. 25 to 35 years old;
  4. A surrogate only once in her lifetime; and
  5. 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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Citizenship and Related Issues

MHA annual report underlines need to update NPR

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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Wildlife Conservation Efforts

Species in news: Snow Leopard

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Snow Leopard

Mains level: Not Much

leopard

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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Banking Sector Reforms

Price regulation of UPI

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: UPI,MDR, etc

Mains level: Digital payment ecosystem, pricing mechanism and associated issues

UPI

Context

  • The recent discussion paper by the RBI on charges in payment systems has triggered widespread public debate, especially on the zero-charge framework for UPI transactions.

Know the basics- What is UPI?

  • UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (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.

Why RBI wants to intervene?

  • Two important reasons:
  1. Goals of financial inclusion: Viewing digital payments as a public good and
  2. Addressing market failures: Such as the presence of dominant firms or externalities that may arise due to the two-sided nature of this market.
  • For both objectives, regulators might want to cap or set to zero the MDR or merchant discount rate (paid by merchants to their payments service provider) or the interchange fee (paid by the acquiring bank to the issuing bank), or both.

UPI

What is the present scenario of Pricing UPI?

  • Subsidies on operational cost: In the case of UPI, the government subsidizes the operational costs of facilitating UPI transactions, which is reportedly inadequate. In January 2022, the Payments Council of India reported that the industry expected a loss of Rs 5,500 crore.
  • Subsidies are inadequate: Even with a public good motive, in the absence of evidence, one cannot assume this to be the best allocation of limited government resources. As per the Indian Digital Payments Report (second quarter of 2022), the average ticket size of P2M transactions (person to merchant) on UPI is Rs 820. RBI’s estimated cost of Rs 2 for processing a Rs 800 transaction, is 0.25 per cent of the transaction value, much lower than the MDR cap set at 0.9 per cent for debit cards and an MDR of 2 per cent being pro- posed for RuPay credit cards on UPI.
  • Presently MDR is Zero: A floor MDR of 0.25 per cent is, therefore, not unreasonable. Arguably, these are substitutable services competing for the same pool of merchants. Policymakers must also bear in mind behavioural challenges in moving from zero MDR to a positive MDR. Anchored at a zero MDR since January 2020, merchants, especially ones with thin margins, may hesitate to accept an increase in MDR, even if they benefit on net terms.

How RBI can regulate price?

  • Understanding what to regulate: In order to understand how and what to regulate, we borrow from the rationale followed for other two-sided markets that exhibit cross-platform externalities. consumers benefit more if the size of the merchant network accepting a payment instrument (for example, debit cards) is larger and, at the same time, merchants benefit more if many consumers use debit cards.
  • Recovering the cost from merchants: Card networks like Visa and Mastercard compete for banks, usually not too many, to issue their cards. Since the acquiring bank must pay the interchange fee, they recover these costs from merchants.
  • Regulating the interchange fee: In most jurisdictions, the interchange fee is regulated to prevent banks from charging exploitative rates and the MDR is left to be commercially determined. This is also done for administrative ease, since banks are fewer, while monitoring bank-merchant contracts can be onerous.
  • Charging the MDR: In the UPI parallel, involving payment service providers of payers and payees, the remitter and beneficiary banks as well as NPCI, RBI could either regulate the inter change fee between payment service providers or the merchant discount rate charged by them.
  • Deciding between MDR and interchange fee: The market for merchant acquisition is usually more competitive and can be left unregulated, and if necessary, the interchange fee between the two payment service providers can be regulated. If both markets are sufficiently competitive, regulation could mean establishing a floor/ cap charge. The decision what to regulate is, therefore, crucial.
  • Example of telecom industry: A related example is available in the telecom industry where facilities provision is regulated through the interconnection fee, while retail prices for the relatively competitive telecom services segment are left to the market. For externalities of the two-sided market to be internalized, the choice of instrument must be carefully evaluated.
  • Determining the actual price: The next step is to determine the price level, which is a lot trickier. Drawing from economic theory, the optimal level would depend on whether the regulator cares only about consumer welfare (as op- posed to total welfare), and whether the issuing and acquiring banks make positive margins on each transaction.

UPI

How digital payment is charged around the world and India’s requirement?

  • Example of PIX of Brazil: Pix, a two-year-old interoperable digital payments system in Brazil, provides a good comparison of how price setting might be considered in the UPI context. Pix does not regulate MDR, payment service providers have the freedom to set MDR, though in practice most banks currently don’t charge an MDR, largely to onboard more merchants on their platforms.
  • MDR appears less attractive: The indicated cost is R$ 0.01 for each 10 transfers, or 16 paise in Indian rupees for every s10 transactions. This is substantially lower than the costs estimated for India and is also perhaps the reason why payment service providers are not immediately inclined to recover costs through MDR.
  • Not hampering the innovation and investment: In general, benefits of regulatory intervention should outweigh the costs of intervening. The costs of intervening not only include the administrative costs, but also potential costs arising from setting the wrong interchange fee or cap, as well as any costs arising from the impact of the intervention on future investment and innovation in the market.

Do you know what is Merchant Discount Rate?

  • Merchant Discount Rate (alternatively referred to as the Transaction Discount Rate or TDR) is the sum total of all the charges and taxes that a digital payment entails.
  • Simply put, it is a charge to a merchant by a bank for accepting payment from their customers in credit and debit cards every time a card gets swiped in their stores.
  • Similarly, MDR also includes the processing charges that a payments aggregator has to pay to online or mobile wallets or indeed to banks for their service.

Do you know what is Merchant Discount Rate? Merchant Discount Rate (alternatively referred to as the Transaction Discount Rate or TDR) is the sum total of all the charges and taxes that a digital payment entails. Simply put, it is a charge to a merchant by a bank for accepting payment from their customers in credit and debit cards every time a card gets swiped in their stores. Similarly, MDR also includes the processing charges that a payments aggregator has to pay to online or mobile wallets or indeed to banks for their service.

Conclusion

  • Policymakers must collect more data on costs of transfer, user preferences, both merchants and consumers, as well as undertake a thorough analysis of substitutability and competition in the digital payments sector, to put our best foot forward in helping achieve the potential of UPI in India.

Mains Question

Q. Explain the reasons for success of UPI in India? Analyze the Role of UPI in financial inclusion in India?

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Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

Unrecognized Madrasas and Government’s role

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Debate on legal and illegal Madrasa and modern education

Madrasa

Context

  • There has been a lot of unhappiness about the UP-government’s decision to conduct a survey of unrecognized madrasas in Uttar Pradesh.

What is the intention of Government behind such survey?

  • The government’s claim: The survey being an exercise to help the madrasas and their students has been less than convincing.
  • Questionable intention: In the past, the government has called into question the patriotism of madrasa students by asking their management to hoist the national flag on Independence Day, record the proceedings, and submit the same to the local magistrate.

Madrasas

Know the History of Madrasa

  • After the birth of Islam in the seventh century, Muslims who wanted a religious education joined study circles in mosques where teachers provided instruction.
  • Over the next 400 years, additional centers of learning, founded and endowed by rulers, high officials and wealthy members of the community, met in public and private libraries. These were early forms of madrasa.
  • By the 11th century madrasas were well-established independent centers of learning with some of the features they retain today.
  • As economies modernized, Muslims who continued to choose madrasas over other schools found that they lacked the training needed for well-paid jobs. Their socioeconomic mobility suffered. Nonetheless, many madrasas refused to integrate nonreligious subjects into their curriculum.

What is the status of unrecognized madrasas?

  • Lack of direction: Most are floundering for lack of direction. Many impart elementary theological instruction through semieducated teachers.
  • Dependence on community funding: If at all there, secular education is, at best, piecemeal. Madrasas depend almost fully on community funding.
  • Funding cut with covid19: With the economic downturn first post demonetization and then postCOVID19, that funding has reduced to a trickle. Under normal circumstances, an institute pressed for funds cuts down on expansion plans or puts new courses on hold.
  • Existential crisis for madrasa: It has become an existential crisis for tens of thousands of students. The dwindling community sponsorship has translated into less food to eat and no warm clothes for them. If that makes it seem as though the madrasas’ prime purpose is to feed and clothe the needy, the reality is not entirely different.
  • Feeding and imparting the literacy: Most students are first generation learners. Many of them are sent by parents with the idea that there will be one less mouth to feed at home. For poverty-stricken parents, the madrasas’ free boarding and lodging is a blessing. The education is often considered a bonus. The Much-maligned madrasas feed the hungry and impart literacy.

Madrasas

What the case studies reveal about education via unrecognizes madrasas?

  • Example of CBSE along with Quran: Jamiatul Hamd in Gautam Buddha Nagar district is a rare madrasa which encouraged its students to take the Central Board of Secondary Education exams alongside learning to be Hafize Quran (one who has memorized the Quran).
  • Shortage of funds: The madrasa is so short of funds that the management does not know where the next meal for the students will come from. In the past, Good Samaritans sent packs of rice, lentils, wheat flour and cooking oil.
  • Decline in sponsorship: Sponsorship has come down drastically, leaving the students with the prospect of going to bed hungry. Also, 40% of the students in this madrasa who went back home during the COVID19 pandemic did not return.
  • Jamia Mahade Noor madrasa in Dadri: Where 30% of the students dropped out after COVID19. Day scholars face an uncertain future. Some teachers could not be retained due to paucity of funds.
  • Closing down of madrasa: The cash-strapped Jamia Naseeriya Islamia in Ghaziabad closed down its wing for outstation students. In mosques across Uttar Pradesh, community aid is sought for unrecognized madrasas after daily prayers.
  • Fear about survey: In almost every madrasa, there are lingering apprehensions about their fate after the survey. Many packed off their outstation students in panic when the survey started. The students may never return.
  • Some student never returned: Incidentally, these schools had also sent back their outstation students after the nationwide lockdown was imposed in March 2020. Many students did not return as their parents got them employed as either farm labourers or at sundry tea shops or eateries. A student who may have at one time dreamed of becoming a scholar of Islam is now a menial worker.

What government can do?

  • Upholding the Constitutional right: According to constitution the Right of a citizen not to be denied admission into state maintained and state-aided institution on the ground only of religion, race, caste, or language [Art.29(2)2]-” No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them”
  • Survey for collecting the data: Aim of survey should not be harassment but the know the status of madrasa and they’re by collecting the data to draft policy for educational and social upliftment of students of madrasa.
  • Recognition of madrasa: Following the due procedure of law government can seek Registration and recognition of madrasa.
  • Financial assistance to madrasa: State government can provide the one-time financial assistance for and after the feedback and review state may continue the funding.
  • Education should be the priority: Government objective should be the modern education of those who are getting poor quality of education. Any constitutional or legal hindrances should not be the excuse to provide the help to needy.

Conclusion

  • While government is duty bound to provide aid to registered and recognized madrasa but not mandatory to provide financial aid to unrecognized madrasa. Government can revamp the unrecognized madrasa into modern education imparting institutions. Whatever government decides, state must provide the quality education without any biases.

Mains Question

Q. What are the cultural and educational rights enshrined under constitution? Explain government can provide the educational assistance to unrecognized religious institutions in India?

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