Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Implications of Supreme Court's ruling for GST regime
Context
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the decisions taken by the GST Council are merely recommendations with “persuasive value” and are not binding.
GST as a advisory body
- The court has rejected the Centre’s contention that the entire structure of GST would crumble if the Council’s decisions were not treated as enforceable.
- In some ways, the verdict states the obvious.
- Article 246-A inserted after the 122nd constitutional amendment states, “Notwithstanding anything contained in articles 246 and 254, Parliament, and, subject to clause (2), the Legislature of every state, have the power to make laws with respect to the GST imposed by the Union or by such state.”
- Thus, the power to levy the central GST (CGST) vests with Parliament, the power to levy state GST (SGST) vests with state legislatures and Parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to the GST on items that are part of inter-state trade or commerce.
- Thus, the GST Council is only an advisory body and the actual decisions regarding model GST levies, principles of levy, apportionment of GST levied on inter-state supplies, principles relating to place of supply, exemptions and rate structure and any special provisions will have to be taken by either Parliament in the case of CGST and IGST or the states in the case of SGST.
- In effect, decisions on the structure and operation of the tax can be made by the Centre and individual states without discussion and deliberation in the Council and both can ignore any recommendation made by the Council.
- The judgment reiterates that the sovereign right to levy the tax still exists with the Union and state governments and it is for them to consider the recommendations of the Council.
- The chance of having a harmonised GST and reforms in the tax regime will crucially depend upon continued negotiation and bargaining between the Union and states.
- Intergovernmental cooperation has been kept alive to ensure a harmonised GST and unless both the Centre and the states see the gains, reforms will be hard to come by and if the Centre desires the reforms more than the states, it will have to ensure a “buy in” from the states to agree for the reform.
Implications of the judgement
- Given that the GST Council has been declared as only an advisory body with a persuasive value, what happens to the dream of having a harmonised one nation, one tax, if a state or a group of states decides to deviate?
- But the judgment paves the way for more intensive bargaining and negotiations, placing states on an equal footing with the Centre in taking decisions on the structure and operations of the tax.
- At present, decisions get approved in the GST Council when passed by a majority of three-fourths of the weighted votes of the members present and voting, with the Centre having one-third weight and individual states (and UTs) having an equal share of the remaining two-thirds weight.
- However, in the past, all decisions in the Council have been taken by consensus (except in the case of determining the rate on lotteries), and the Supreme Court decision reinforces this convention.
- The immediate impact of this will be bargaining by states for extending the period of compensation for the loss of revenue.
- As the five-year period of compensation gets over at the end of June, this decision will now help the states to bargain hard for the extension.
Way forward
- Though the period of collecting compensation cess has been extended till March 2026 to meet the interest and repayment requirements of the funds borrowed from the RBI to meet the compensation requirements, the lasting solution lies in increasing the revenue productivity of the tax by pruning the list of exempted items, rationalising the rates and taking administrative measures.
- These reforms will require strengthening the cooperative spirit.
Conclusion
This has come at a time when reforms have to be set in motion and hopefully, the Court’s decision will strengthen the cooperative spirit in reforming the domestic consumption tax system in the country.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Taiwan as a new global flashpoint
The US President made a controversial statement on whether the US will come to the aid of Taiwan militarily in case of an invasion by China.
What is the Taiwan issue?
- Taiwan is an island territory located off the coast of mainland China, across the Taiwan Strait.
- After their defeat to the communist forces in the Chinese civil war (1945-1949), the ruling Kuomintang (Nationalist) government of China fled to Taiwan.
- They transplanted the Republic of China (ROC) government in Taiwan, while the Communist Party of China (CPC) established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the mainland.
- Since then, the PRC considers the island as a renegade province awaiting reunification by peaceful means, if possible.
Game changer: Cold war affiliations
- Meanwhile, the ROC retained its membership at the United Nations and its permanent seat at the UN Security Council (UNSC).
- The cross-strait relations became strained as a result of the Cold War, with the PRC allying itself with the Soviet Union (USSR) and ROC with the U.S.
- This resulted in the two Taiwan Strait crises of the 1950s.
The US and One-China Principle
- With the shifting geopolitics of the Cold War, the PRC and the U.S. were forced to come together in the 1970s to counter the growing influence of the USSR.
- This led to the US-China rapprochement demonstrated by the historic visit of then US President Richard Nixon to PRC in 1972.
- The same year, the PRC displaced ROC as the official representative of the Chinese nation at the UN.
- Diplomatic relations with the PRC became possible only if countries abided by its “One China Principle” — recognizing PRC and not the ROC as China.
Rise of Taiwan
- Taiwan transitioned from a single party state to a multi-party democracy.
- At the same time that China reformed its economic system under Deng Xiaoping, and by the end of the Cold War they became economically entangled.
- Nevertheless, they continue to compete for international recognition and preparing themselves for the worst possible scenario.
How has the US’s stance on the Taiwan question evolved vis-à-vis China?
- The very foundation of the US rapprochement as well as its recognition of the PRC is a mutual understanding on the Taiwan question.
- This has been outlined in three documents — the Shanghai Communique (1972), the Normalisation Communique (1979) and the 1982 Communique.
- According to the 1972 communique, the US agreed to the ‘one China principle’, with an understanding that it “acknowledges” and “does not challenge” that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait.
- It maintained that there is one China and Taiwan is a part of China.
- However, the US also established unofficial relations with Taiwan through this communique in the name of the people of both the countries.
Why is the issue significant today?
- As Taiwan’s democracy flourished, the popular mood drifted towards a new Taiwanese identity and a pro-independence stance on sovereignty.
- The past decade has seen considerable souring of ties across the Strait, as the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) became the most powerful political force in Taiwan.
- The DPP government has been catering to the pro-independence constituency in Taiwan and seeks to diversify economic relations away from China.
- China has always seen Taiwan as a territory with high geopolitical significance.
- This is due to its central location in the First Island Chain between Japan and the South China Sea, which is seen as the first benchmark or barrier for China’s power projection.
Why is China so obsessed with Taiwan?
- Taiwan is at China’s geostrategic calculus.
- Moreover, its reunification will formally bury the remaining ghosts of China’s “century of humiliation”.
- China under Xi Jinping seems to have lost its patience and currently sees very slim chances of a peaceful reunification.
- China usually makes aerial transgressions in Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).
- Also, this build-up of tensions is happening simultaneously and drawing parallels with the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.
Is US strategy towards Taiwan witnessing a major transformation?
- The US strategy towards Taiwan in light of the unresolved nature of the cross-Strait relations has been marked by what has been called “strategic ambiguity”.
- This is under the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) of 1979.
- As per the TRA, the US has stated clearly that the establishment of bilateral relations with the PRC rests upon “the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means”.
- It also states the US policy to maintain the capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardise the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.
- Hence, there is no clear guarantee here that the US will militarily involve in a situation where China attempts to invade Taiwan, short of supplying “defensive weapons”.
Enjoying the ambiguity
- The US has for long utilized this strategic ambiguity with its own interpretation of the ‘one China principle to maintain its strategic interests in the Western Pacific.
- It is in this context that Mr. Biden’s statements have made controversy.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Monkey Pox
Mains level: Rise in zoonotic diseases
With cases being reported from across the world, monkeypox has caught everyone’s attention.
What is Monkeypox?
- Monkeypox is not a new virus.
- The virus, belonging to the poxvirus family of viruses, was first identified in monkeys way back in 1958, and therefore the name.
- The first human case was described in 1970 from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Many sporadic outbreaks of animal to human as well as human to human transmission has occurred in Central and West Africa in the past with significant mortality.
- After the elimination of smallpox, monkeypox has become one of the dominant poxviruses in humans, with cases increasing over years along with a consequent reduction in the age-group affected.
How is it transmitted?
- Since the transmission occurs only with close contact, the outbreaks have been in many cases self-limiting.
- Since in the majority of affected people, the incubation period ranges from five to 21 days and is often mild or self-limiting, asymptomatic cases could transmit the disease unknowingly.
- The outbreaks in Central Africa are thought to have been contributed by close contact with animals in regions adjoining forests.
- While monkeys are possibly only incidental hosts, the reservoir is not known.
- It is believed that rodents and non-human primates could be potential reservoirs.
Does the virus mutate?
- Monkeypox virus is a DNA virus with a quite large genome of around 2,00,000 nucleotide bases.
- While being a DNA virus, the rate of mutations in the monkeypox virus is significantly lower (~1-2 mutations per year) compared to RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2.
- The low rate of mutation therefore limits the wide application of genomic surveillance in providing detailed clues to the networks of transmission for monkeypox.
- A number of genome sequences in recent years from Africa and across the world suggest that there are two distinct clades of the virus — the Congo Basin/Central African clade and the West African clade.
- Each of the clades further have many lineages.
What do the genomes say?
- With over a dozen genome sequences of monkeypox, it is reassuring that the sequences are quite identical to each other suggesting that only a few introductions resulted in the present spread of cases.
- Additionally, almost all genomes have come from the West African clade, which has much lesser fatality compared to the Central African one.
- This also roughly corroborates with the epidemiological understanding that major congregations in the recent past contributed to the widespread transmission across different countries.
Does it have an effective vaccine?
- It is reassuring that we know quite a lot more about the virus and its transmission patterns.
- We also have effective ways of preventing the spread, including a vaccine.
- Smallpox/vaccinia vaccine provides protection.
- While the vaccine has been discontinued in 1980 following the eradication of smallpox, emergency stockpiles of the vaccines are maintained by many countries.
- Younger individuals are unlikely to have received the vaccine and are therefore potentially susceptible to monkeypox which could partly explain its emergence in younger individuals.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Service charges on food
Mains level: Not Much
The Centre has called a meeting of restaurant owners over service charge levied by them on customers.
Why in news?
- The restaurants are collecting service charges from consumers by default, even though collection of any such charge is voluntary and at the discretion of consumers and not mandatory as per law.
What are the components of a food bill?
- A restaurant bill in India comprises food charge (from the menu), with an addition of service charge (anywhere between 5 to 15 per cent) and a 5 per cent GST on this amount (IGST+SGST).
- This is for all kinds of standalone restaurants.
- In case a restaurant is located inside a hotel wherein room rate is upwards of Rs 7,500 (mostly in case of five-stars), the GST would be 18 per cent.
Nature of Service charge
- While the GST is a mandatory component as per law, the service charge is supposed to be optional.
- It is the equivalent of what is known as gratuity around the world, or tip, in casual parlance.
- Most restaurants decide the service charge on their own, and print it at the bottom of the menu with an asterisk.
Policy measures
- The Ministry of Consumer Affairs had come out with “Guidelines on Fair Trade Practices Related to Charging of Service Charge from Consumers by Hotels/ Restaurants”.
- Here it was clearly mentioned that a component of service is inherent in the provision of food and beverages ordered by a customer.
- Hence the pricing of the product is expected to cover both the goods and service components.
- It said that the bill “may clearly display that service charge is voluntary, and the service charge column of the bill may be left blank for the customer to fill up before making payment.”
What do the restaurants say?
- The levy of service charge by a restaurant is a matter of individual policy to decide if it is to be charged or not.
- There is no illegality in levying such a charge.
- Once the customer is made aware of such a charge in advance and then decides to place the order, it becomes an agreement between the parties, and is not an unfair trade practice.
- GST is also paid on the said charge to the Government.
Where does the fund go?
- Restaurants claim that a major chunk of the service charge thus collected goes to the staff, while the rest goes towards a welfare fund to help them out during good and bad times.
- It’s a default billing option, even as customers can choose not to pay it if they don’t want to.
- Of course, they are paid the salaries but the service charge works as an incentive for them.
- Restaurateurs also say that patrons can decide not to pay the charge and tip the server directly, but in this case, the backroom staff doesn’t get anything.
- A service charge ensures all staff members are rewarded evenly.
What is the issue then?
- The issue is that almost all restaurants have put service charge (fixed at their own accord) as a default billing option.
- And if a consumer is aware that it is not compulsory and wants it removed or wants to tip the server directly, the onus is on them to convince the management why they don’t want to pay it.
- The department says they received several complaints saying it leads to public embarrassment and spoils the dining experience since at the end of it, they either pay the charge quietly and exit the place feeling cheated, or have to try hard to get it removed.
- Also, there is no transparency as to where this charge goes.
- The officials also say that collecting service charge on their own and paying GST on it to the government doesn’t make it authorised.
Problems faced by customers
- It is this component which has come under dispute from time to time, with consumers arguing they are not bound to pay it.
- It also said that hotels and restaurants charging tips from customers without their express consent in the name of service charges amounts to unfair trade practice.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges facing wheat economy in India
Context
The ban on the export of wheat was not unexpected. The rather ambivalent approach to agriculture comes out clearly with this move.
Understanding how this ban has come about
- We are not comfortable with market forces operating in agriculture.
- Nor are we quite sure whether we want the farmer to get a better price or the consumer to pay less.
- Governments spend a lot of money in the form of subsidies to ensure farmers are enthused to produce more wheat.
- The Centre keeps increasing the MSP for this purpose and states often pay a bonus for procurement.
- There are political reasons too as the farmer lobby needs to be placated.
- There are political reasons too as the farmer lobby needs to be placated.
- We have been taking credit for the production of wheat and every year we set a new record.
- This year, the Ministry announced that wheat production will touch a record of 111 million tonnes, which has recently been revised downwards.
- With the war, conditions have changed. Russia and Ukraine are large producers of wheat and their supply to world markets has been cut off due to sanctions and supply chain disruptions.
- With supplies interrupted, there is an opportunity for other surplus nations to step in.
- But the disruption has caused world prices to rise significantly.
Opportunity for India
- The World Bank data indicates that the price of US (soft red winter) wheat has gone up from $328/tonne in December to $672/tonne while US (hard red winter) wheat is up from $377 to $496/tonne.
- Countries that produce abundant wheat now have a chance to leverage this opportunity to export.
- However, in case of India it does appear that production will be lower than expected.
- Low wheat stock: The government has also not been able to procure wheat as farmers are no longer selling at MSP (which is at Rs 2,015/quintal) as they are getting higher prices in mandis.
- As of May 10, procurement was just 18 million tonnes against 43 million tonnes last year.
- This is a significant fall.
- But stocks with the Centre and other state agencies are 30.3 million tonnes, way above the buffer norms of 27.6 million tonnes.
- The ban on wheat exports is because of this.
Two constraints on the wheat economy
- In 2007 and again in 2021, the government banned futures trading in wheat on grounds that it led to speculative pressure on prices even though the quantity traded and the open interest were minuscule.
- At that time, it was a decline in expected output which triggered this action.
- It does look like the wheat economy will continue to operate within two constraints that have become barriers to commercialisation.
- MSP and government procurement: The first is MSP and government procurement, which feeds into the public distribution system.
- Arhatiya system: The second is the arhatiya system of trading where middlemen have come in the way of any reform.
Suggestions
- Abolish MSP and procurement system: The MSP and procurement system needs to be dismantled.
- Cash transfers: As the government has successfully expanded both the Aadhaar and Jan Dhan programmes, there should be simple cash transfers to beneficiaries.
- Buffer stocks can be held to ease distress during a crisis, but government involvement should stop there.
- Procuring unlimited quantities of wheat and keeping huge stocks has distorted the wheat matrix.
- The mandi system too needs to be revisited and alternatives have to be made available so that farmers can choose the point of sale.
Conclusion
We have been talking about being a part of global supply chains to augment value addition and accelerate growth. But when it comes to agriculture it is a blow-hot blow-cold approach. This not only affects our credibility but also sends confusing signals to producers as to what is the best way out for them.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indo-Pacific Economic framework
Mains level: Paper 2- Opportunity for Quad plus
Context
On May 23, before the Quad leaders’ summit in Tokyo, the United States launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
Significance IPEF
- The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) will consist of a diverse group of 12 countries initially — Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
- The IPEF — which covers fair trade, supply chain resilience, infrastructure, clean energy, and decarbonisation, among others — is likely to complement the other Indo-Pacific projects like the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) that also seeks to build resilient and secure trade linkages by reducing dependence on China.
- Decoupling from Chinese over-dependence: The US-led economic engagement is a salient attempt to allow countries to decouple from Chinese over-dependence in order to ultimately strengthen the existing free and open rules-based global order.
- Extension of plus grouping: The launch of IPEF signifies the essence of the Quad and its extension as a “plus” grouping.
- It brings together seven critical countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), all Quad states, and dialogue partners, including South Korea, solidifying a case for the “plus” characterisation of the Quad process.
- Thus, it is an encouraging sign that the Quad countries are investing their strategic orientation in this regard.
- Importantly, both the IPEF launch, and the Tokyo summit dispel any remaining misgivings about the Quad disintegrating and certify that it is a cohesive unit where it matters.
- It would potentially represent an amalgamation of the eastern and western “like-minded” countries.
- The expanded grouping and the related Quad initiatives will build a comprehensive and integrated approach to combating shared challenges arising out of Chinese aggression.
- A hallmark of Biden’s latest Asia visit has been South Korea’s embrace of the Indo-Pacific framework.
- This is a long-awaited turn that could potentially lead to South Korea participating in a more meaningful manner in the Quad in the near future.
Importance of Taiwan
- Taiwan is a major economy in the Indo-Pacific region (as also the US’s eighth-largest trading partner in 2021 and a critical partner in diversifying the US supply chains), which is already engaged in the US-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue that includes many of the issues proposed in the IPEF.
- The inclusion of Taiwan, which already has a critical role in the global semi-conductor supply chain network, in the SCRI and the IPEF as well as, by extension, in the Quad format, in some manner would be a welcome addition.
- Geopolitical statement against coercive tactics: Importantly, Taiwan’s inclusion would also be a geopolitical statement against coercion tactics by international actors.
Inclusivity characteristics based on a commitment to the existing international order
- In its current abstract framework, the plus framework includes a wide array of states (which also comprise the IPEF) — developing and developed economies as well as middle and major powers that are committed to maintaining an inclusive, rules-based and liberal institutional order.
- The inclusivity angle is suspect as the grouping is essentially what China calls a US-led “anti-China” tool.
- Therefore, what interested states must envision is a broad, all-embracing, and comprehensive framework that can stand as a pillar for regional security and stability, multilateralism, and defence of global institutionalism and the status quo.
Conclusion
States are showing their willingness, and now it is incumbent on the Quad states to allow for the creation of a “corridor of communication” that ultimately leads to a “continental connect” to strengthen a rules-based order.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: QUAD
Mains level: Read the attached story
Why was it formed?
- While not stated explicitly by the leaders, a major basis for the grouping is to check China’s growing influence in the region.
- After the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 wreaked havoc in the region now called the Indo-Pacific, India stepped up its rescue efforts.
- India provided assistance to its maritime neighbours: Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia.
- Soon, the disaster relief effort was joined by three other naval powers — the U.S., Australia and Japan.
- Then US President George W. Bush announced that the four countries would set up an international coalition to coordinate the massive effort.
- While the charge of the rescue operations was handed over to the United Nations shortly after, it led to the birth of a new framework: the Quadrilateral or Quad.
Development of present day QUAD
- Then Japanese PM Shinzo Abe had been promoting the idea of an “arc of prosperity and freedom”.
- This brought the Quad countries closer together, further developed the concept and discussed it with then PM Manmohan Singh during a summit in December 2006.
- The 2007 Indo-U.S. Malabar naval exercises also saw the partial involvement of Japan, Australia and Singapore.
- The exercises and coordination were seen by China as an attempt to encircle it, which termed the grouping as trying to build “an Asian NATO”.
Descent and revival in its formation
- The Quad lost momentum post the 2007 meeting as the effort “dissipated amidst member leadership transitions.
- The grouping was only revived an entire decade later in 2017, at a time when all four countries had revised their assessment of the China challenge; and India had witnessed the Doklam standoff.
- Leaders of all four countries met in the Philippines for the ‘India-Australia-Japan-U.S.’ dialogue, not referred to as a Quad dialogue to avoid the notion of a “gang-up”.
Basis: Indo-Pacific
- Even at this point, a set of objectives, areas of cooperation, and even the definition of Indo-Pacific were not fixed among Quad members.
- It was in March 2021 that Mr. Biden, Mr. Modi, Australia’s outgoing PM Scott Morrison, and then Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga met virtually, for the first time as an official Quad summit.
- It released a set of objectives for the grouping in a joint statement called the ‘The Spirit of the Quad’.
What were the objectives of the grouping?
- Coming together to foster a free and open Indo-Pacific formed the bedrock of cooperation.
- Now it commits to promoting the free, open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion, to bolster security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
- Emphasis was laid on “rule of law, territorial integrity, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, and democratic values” in the region.
Various initiatives of QUAD
- Quad leaders launched the Quad Vaccine Initiative (QVI) with the aim of manufacturing and distributing at least a billion COVID-19 vaccines for the Asia region by the end of 2022.
- As for emerging technologies, the four countries aimed to work on the development and diversification of 5G telecommunications.
- They aim for creation of supply chains for critical minerals and technologies for making semiconductors used in smartphones, another area where China is a leader.
- Quad nations had also agreed to build joint connectivity projects and transparent infrastructure funding for countries in the region.
- The Quad also created a working group for combating climate change which would oversee efforts to foster green shipping by decarbonising maritime supply chains and promoting the use of clean hydrogen.
What are the future plans of the Quad?
- The Leaders will review the progress of Quad initiatives and Working Groups, identify new areas of cooperation and provide strategic guidance and vision for future collaboration.
- The Quad summit is expected to discuss the Russian war in Ukraine, and the impact of three months of Western sanctions.
- US also unveiled the ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Framework’ (IPEF) which is a programme to bind countries in the region more closely through common standards.
- Quad members also launched a maritime monitoring plan to curb illegal fishing in the Indo-Pacific.
Various challenges
- How to deal with China thus remains the central question for Quad. Each Quad member views the Chinese threat differently.
- For Australia too, trade was the biggest issue until the recent establishment of a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands brought a new dimension.
- Japan and India are closest to China, and both face belligerent Chinese claims to territory.
- The security build-up of QUAD is also yet to materialize.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Qutub Minar
Mains level: Not Much
The Qutub Minar complex is not a place of worship and its character cannot be changed now, the Archaeological Survey of India submitted in a Delhi Court while opposing a plea challenging the dismissal of a civil suit seeking “restoration” of temples on the premises.
What is the case?
- The original suit claimed that 27 temples were demolished to build the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque at the Qutub Minar complex.
- This pleas was dismissed last year under the provisions of Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
- The Additional District Judge (ADJ) has now reserved the order.
- The petitioner said that the dismissal of the original suit based on the 1991 Act was wrong.
- The Qutub Minar complex comes under the purview of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act of 1958.
Why in news now?
- The ASI now submitted that the Qutub Minar complex was not a place of worship when it was first notified as a protected monument in 1914.
- The ASI, explained that the character of a monument is decided on the date when it comes under protection.
About Qutub Minar
- The Qutub Minar is a minaret and “victory tower” that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi’s oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs.
- It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mehrauli area of South Delhi.
- It can be compared to the 62-metre all-brick Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, of c. 1190, which was constructed a decade or so before the probable start of the Delhi tower.
- The surfaces of both are elaborately decorated with inscriptions and geometric patterns.
- The Qutb Minar has a shaft that is fluted with “superb stalactite bracketing under the balconies” at the top of each stage.
Its construction
- The Qutb Minar was built over the ruins of the Lal Kot, the citadel of Dhillika.
- Qutub Minar was begun after the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, which was started around 1192 by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate.
- It is usually thought that the tower is named for Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who began it.
- It is also possible that it is named after Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki a 13th-century sufi saint, because Shamsuddin Iltutmish was a devotee of his.
- Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, to the north-east of the Minar was built by Qutub-ud-Din Aibak in A.D. 1198.
- It consists of a rectangular courtyard enclosed by cloisters, erected with the carved columns and architectural members of 27 Jain and Hindu temples, which were demolished by Qutub-ud-Din.
- This is recorded in his inscription on the main eastern entrance.
Back2Basics:
What is the Places of Worship Act?
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Prithviraj Chauhan
Mains level: NA
There is controversy around a new film where some communities of Rajasthan are laying claim over the 12th century emperor Prithviraj Chauhan.
Prithviraj Chauhan
- Prithviraj Chauhan (1177–1192 CE) popularly known as a king from the Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in present-day Rajasthan.
- Ascending the throne as a minor in 1177 CE, Prithviraj inherited a kingdom which stretched from Thanesar in the north to Jahazpur (Mewar) in the south.
His legend
- He aimed to expand by military actions against neighbouring kingdoms, most notably defeating the Chandela’s.
- Prithviraj unified several Rajput clans and defeated the Ghurid army led by Muhammad Ghori near Taraori in 1191 AD.
- However, in 1192 CE, Ghori returned with an army of Turkish mounted archers and defeated the Rajput army on the same battlefield.
- Prithviraj fled the battlefield, but was captured near Sirsa and executed.
- His defeat at Tarain is seen as a landmark event in the Islamic conquest of India, and has been described in several semi-legendary accounts, most notably the Prithviraj Raso.
Prithviraj in literary works
- The image of Prithviraj as a fearless and skilled warrior that is now etched in the folk imagination can be traced back to his depiction in ‘Prithviraj Raso’.
- This was a poem in Brajbhasha attributed to Chand Bardai, which is thought to have been composed in the 16th century.
- James Mill’s ‘The History of British India’ (1817) categorized Indian history into the Hindu, Muhammadan and British periods.
- In this formulation, Prithviraj Chauhan would be the last ruler of ‘Hindu’ India.
Why is he being revived?
- To a vocal section of the Hindu right, Prithviraj Chauhan appears as “the last Hindu emperor” of India who made a valiant attempt to stop the radical invaders.
- In the popular imagination, he is the heroic figure who symbolises the exalted ideals of patriotism and national pride.
- However the historical evidence demonstrates rather different ways in which Prithviraj has been seen over the ages.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FDI, FPI
Mains level: Read the attached story
The foreign direct investment (FDI) in the financial year 2021-22 has touched a “highest-ever” figure of $83.57 billion.
Get aware with the recently updated FDI norms. Key facts mentioned in this newscard can make a direct statement based MCQ in the prelims.
Ex. FDI source in decreasing order: Singapore – Mauritius – Netherland – Ceyman Islands – Japan – France
What is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)?
- An FDI is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country.
- It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct control.
- FDI may be made either “inorganically” by buying a company in the target country or “organically” by expanding the operations of an existing business in that country.
- Broadly, FDI includes “mergers and acquisitions, building new facilities, reinvesting profits earned from overseas operations, and intra company loans”.
- In a narrow sense, it refers just to building a new facility, and lasting management interest.
FDI in India
- Foreign investment was introduced in 1991 under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), driven by then FM Manmohan Singh.
- There are two routes by which India gets FDI.
1) Automatic route: By this route, FDI is allowed without prior approval by Government or RBI.
2) Government route: Prior approval by the government is needed via this route. The application needs to be made through Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal, which will facilitate the single-window clearance of FDI application under Approval Route.
- India imposes a cap on equity holding by foreign investors in various sectors, current FDI in aviation and insurance sectors is limited to a maximum of 49%.
- In 2015 India overtook China and the US as the top destination for the Foreign Direct Investment.
Features of FDI
- Any investment from an individual or firm that is located in a foreign country into a country is FDI.
- Generally, FDI is when a foreign entity acquires ownership or controlling stake in the shares of a company in one country, or establishes businesses there.
- It is different from foreign portfolio investment where the foreign entity merely buys equity shares of a company.
- In FDI, the foreign entity has a say in the day-to-day operations of the company.
- FDI is not just the inflow of money, but also the inflow of technology, knowledge, skills and expertise.
- It is a major source of non-debt financial resources for the economic development of a country.
Significance of rising FDI
- This is a testament of India’s status among global investors.
Recent amendments in 2020
- The govt. has amended para 3.1.1 of extant FDI policy as contained in Consolidated FDI Policy, 2017.
- In the event of the transfer of ownership of any existing or future FDI in an entity in India, directly or indirectly, resulting in the beneficial ownership, such subsequent change in beneficial ownership will also require Government approval.
The present position and revised position in the matters will be as under:
Present Position
- A non-resident entity can invest in India, subject to the FDI Policy except in those sectors/activities which are prohibited.
- However, a citizen of Bangladesh or an entity incorporated in Bangladesh can invest only under the Government route.
- Further, a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan can invest, only under the Government route, in sectors/activities other than defence, space, atomic energy and sectors/activities prohibited for foreign investment.
Revised Position
- A non-resident entity can invest in India, subject to the FDI Policy except in those sectors/activities which are prohibited.
[spot the difference]
- However, an entity of a country, which shares a land border with India or where the beneficial owner of investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country, can invest only under the Government route.
- Further, a citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan can invest, only under the Government route, in sectors/activities other than defence, space, atomic energy and sectors/activities prohibited for foreign investment.
In response to China
- China accused that India’s recently adopted policy goes against the principles of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
- It tends to violate WTO’s principle of non-discrimination, and go against the general trend of liberalisation and facilitation of trade and investment.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GEAC, SDN
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has issued guidelines easing norms for research into genetically modified (GM) crops and circumventing challenges of using foreign genes to change crops profile.
Guidelines for Safety Assessment of Genome Edited Plants, 2022: Key Highlights
- It exempt researchers who use gene-editing technology to modify the genome of the plant from seeking approvals from the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).
- The environment ministry in March 2022 exempted SDN 1 and SDN 2 genomes from Rules 7-11 of the Environment Protection Act.
- Conventional breeding technique takes 8- 10 years for development of new crop varieties; genome-editing can do this faster.
- The Environment Ministry too has sanctioned this exemption.
What are the SDNs?
The genome edited plants derived from the use of genome editing techniques employing site- directed nucleases (SDNs) such ZFNs, TALENs, CRISPR and other nucleases with similar functions are generally classified under three categories as
- Site-Directed Nuclease (SDN)-1, a site-directed mutagenesis without using a DNA sequence template;
- SDN-2, a site-directed mutagenesis using a DNA sequence template; and
- SDN-3, site-directed insertion of gene/large DNA sequence using a DNA sequence template.
What are GM crops?
- The GM plants involve transgenic technology or introducing a gene from a different species into a plant, for instance BT-cotton, where a gene from soil bacterium is used to protect a plant from pest attack.
- The worry around this method is that these genes may spread to neighboring plants, where such effects are not intended and so their applications have been controversial.
- Genome editing involves the use of technologies that allow genetic material to be added, removed, or altered at particular locations in the genome. Several approaches to genome editing have been developed.
- A well-known one is called CRISPR-Cas9, which is short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee is constituted under the:
(a) Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
(b) Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999
(c) Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
(d) Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
Post your answers here.
About Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)
- The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is a statutory body conotified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
- It was formed as the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee and was renamed to its current name in 2010.
- It functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change.
- The body regulates the use, manufacture, storage, import and export of hazardous microorganisms or genetically-engineered organisms and cells in India.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pravaig Field Pack
Mains level: Not Much
A Bengaluru-based venture has produced a rugged tactical battery that it is now planning to sell to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces in Europe.
Pravaig Field Pack
- It is a heavy-duty power bank that is portable and weighs 14 kilograms.
- It is of great utility to the digitally connected modern military and Special Forces personnel who have to operate in high-risk zones while using gadgets that require constant power back-up.
- These batteries are designed, engineered and made in India.
- The field pack can be used to charge a MacBook 60 times.
Significance of Pravaig
- This supply marks a major shift in the defense landscape of India — a tipping point in the reversal of India’s high technology defense industry, from users to developers, from importers to exporters.
- The field pack can be used to energize a military person’s field duties and it can be used to deploy remote sensors.
- A powerful tactical battery can be used even to operate larger military equipment such as drones and it can even help coordinate tactical operations which involve multiple weapons systems.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 253
Mains level: Paper 2- Parliamentary supervision of trade pacts
Context
India is negotiating and signing several free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries like Australia, the UK, Israel, and the EU. While the economic benefits of these FTAs have been studied, there is very little discussion on the lack of parliamentary scrutiny of these treaties.
Provisions in the Constitution
- In the Constitution, entry 14 of the Union list contains the following item — “entering into treaties and agreements with foreign countries and implementing of treaties, agreements and conventions with foreign countries”.
- According to Article 246, Parliament has the legislative competence on all matters given in the Union list.
- Thus, Parliament has the power to legislate on treaties.
- This power includes deciding how India will ratify treaties and thus assume international law obligations.
- Article 253 elucidates that the power of Parliament to implement treaties by enacting domestic laws also extends to topics that are part of the state list.
Lack of parliamentary oversight and its implications
- No law laying down the process: While Parliament in the last seven decades has passed many laws to implement international legal obligations imposed by different treaties, it is yet to enact a law laying down the processes that India needs to follow before assuming international treaty obligations.
- Given this legislative void, and under Article 73(the powers of the Union executive are co-terminus with Parliament), the Centre has been not just negotiating and signing but also ratifying international treaties and assuming international law obligations without much parliamentary oversight.
- Arguably, Parliament exercises control over the executive’s treaty-making power at the stage of transforming a treaty into the domestic legal regime.
- However, this is a scenario of ex-post parliamentary control over the executive.
- In such a situation, Parliament does not debate whether India should or should not accept the international obligations; it only deliberates how the international law obligations, already accepted by the executive, should be implemented domestically.
- Against the practice in other liberal democracies: This practice is at variance with that of several other liberal democracies.
- In the US, important treaties signed by the President have to be approved by the Senate.
- In Australia, the executive is required to table a “national interest analysis” of the treaty it wishes to sign in parliament, and then this is examined by a joint standing committee on treaties – a body composed of Australian parliamentarians.
Way forward
- Indian democracy needs to inculcate these healthy practices of other liberal democracies.
Conclusion
Effective parliamentary supervision will increase the domestic acceptance and legitimacy of international treaties, especially economic agreements, which are often critiqued for imposing undue restraints on India’s economic sovereignty.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- University branch campuses
Context
India, after half a century of keeping its higher education doors closed to foreigners, is on the cusp of opening itself to the world.
Higher education reforms
- Currently, India does not allow the entry and the operation of foreign university branch campuses.
- The NEP 2020 was a turning point for the entry of foreign universities as it recommended allowing foreign universities ranked in the “top 100” category to operate in India — under somewhat unrealistic conditions.
- Internationalism: The wide-ranging National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 promises higher education reforms in many areas, and internationalisation is prominent among them.
- Strengthening India’s soft power: Among the underlying ideas is to strengthen India’s “soft power” through higher education collaboration, bringing new ideas and institutions from abroad to stimulate reform and show “best practice”, and in general to ensure that Indian higher education, for the first time, is a global player.
- In February 2022, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, announced that “world-class foreign universities and institutions would be allowed in the planned business district in Gujarat’s GIFT City”
- It was reported that in April 2022, the University Grants Commission (UGC) formed a committee to draft regulations to allow foreign institutions in the “top 500” category to establish campuses in India — realising that more flexibility was needed
- Bringing global experience to India: Establishing branch campuses of top foreign universities is a good idea as this will bring much-needed global experience to India.
Challenges
- Globally, branch campuses, of which there are around 300 now, provide a mixed picture.
- Many are aimed at making money for the sponsoring university — and this is not what India wants.
- It will not be easy to attract foreign universities to India and even more difficult to create the conditions for them to flourish.
- Many of those top universities are already fully engaged overseas and would likely require incentives to set up in India.
- Further, there are smaller but highly regarded universities outside the ‘top 500’ category that might be more interested.
- Universities around the world that have academic specialisations focusing on India, that already have research or faculty ties in the country, or that have Non-Resident Indians (NRI) in senior management positions may be easier to attract.
- What is most important is to prevent profit-seekers from entering the Indian market and to encourage foreign institutions with innovative educational ideas and a long-term commitment.
- Many host countries have provided significant incentives, including building facilities and providing necessary infrastructure.
- Foreign universities are highly unlikely to invest significant funds up front.
- A big challenge will be India’s “well-known” bureaucracy, especially the multiple regulators.
Opportunities
- India is seen around the world as an important country and an emerging higher education power.
- It is the world’s second largest “exporter” of students, with 4,61,792 students studying abroad (according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
- And India has the world’s second largest higher education system.
- Foreign countries and universities will be eager to establish a “beachhead” in India and interested in providing opportunities for home campus students to learn about Indian business, society, and culture to participate in growing trade and other relations.
- Benefits of branch campuses: International branch campuses, if allowed, could function as a structurally different variant of India’s private university sector.
- Branch campuses, if effectively managed, could bring much needed new ideas about curriculum, pedagogy, and governance to Indian higher education — they could be a kind of educational laboratory.
Current initiatives
- There has been modest growth of various forms of partnerships between Indian and foreign institutions.
- The joint PhD programmes offered by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay-Monash Research Academy and the University of Queensland-Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Academy of Research (UQIDAR), both with Australian partners, are some examples.
- Another example is the Melbourne-India Postgraduate Academy (MIPA). It is a joint initiative of the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur with the University of Melbourne.
- MIPA provides students with an opportunity to earn a joint degree accredited both in India and Australia: from the University of Melbourne and one of the partnering Indian institutions.
- These partnerships suggest that India could offer opportunities for international branch campuses as well.
Challenges
- Globally, branch campuses, of which there are around 300 now, provide a mixed picture.
- Many are aimed at making money for the sponsoring university — and this is not what India wants.
- It will not be easy to attract foreign universities to India and even more difficult to create the conditions for them to flourish.
- Many of those top universities are already fully engaged overseas and would likely require incentives to set up in India.
- Further, there are smaller but highly regarded universities outside the ‘top 500’ category that might be more interested.
- Universities around the world that have academic specialisations focusing on India, that already have research or faculty ties in the country, or that have Non-Resident Indians (NRI) in senior management positions may be easier to attract.
- What is most important is to prevent profit-seekers from entering the Indian market and to encourage foreign institutions with innovative educational ideas and a long-term commitment.
- Many host countries have provided significant incentives, including building facilities and providing necessary infrastructure.
- Foreign universities are highly unlikely to invest significant funds up front.
- A big challenge will be India’s “well-known” bureaucracy, especially the multiple regulators.
Conclusion
After examining national experiences elsewhere, clear policies can be implemented that may be attractive to foreign universities. Once policies are in place, the key to success will be relationships among universities.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ASHA
Mains level: Contribution of ASHAs in primary healthcare in rural areas
The country’s frontline health workers or ASHAs (accredited social health activists) were one of the six recipients of the WHO’s Global Health Leaders Award 2022 which recognises leadership, contribution to the advance of global health and commitment to regional health issues.
Who are ASHA workers?
- ASHA workers are volunteers from within the community who are trained to provide information and aid people in accessing benefits of various healthcare schemes of the government.
- The role of these community health volunteers under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was first established in 2005.
- They act as a bridge connecting marginalised communities with facilities such as primary health centres, sub-centres and district hospitals.
Genesis & evolution
- The ASHA programme was based on Chhattisgarh’s successful Mitanin programme, in which a Community Worker looks after 50 households.
- The ASHA was to be a local resident, looking after 200 households.
- The programme had a very robust thrust on the stage-wise development of capacity in selected areas of public health.
- Many states tried to incrementally develop the ASHA from a Community Worker to a Community Health Worker, and even to an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM)/ General Nurse and Midwife (GNM), or a Public Health Nurse.
Qualifications for ASHA Workers
- ASHAs are primarily married, widowed, or divorced women between the ages of 25 and 45 years from within the community.
- They must have good communication and leadership skills; should be literate with formal education up to Class 8, as per the programme guidelines.
How many ASHAs are there across the country?
- The aim is to have one ASHA for every 1,000 persons or per habitation in hilly, tribal or other sparsely populated areas.
- There are around 10.4 lakh ASHA workers across the country, with the largest workforces in states with high populations – Uttar Pradesh (1.63 lakh), Bihar (89,437), and Madhya Pradesh (77,531).
- Goa is the only state with no such workers, as per the latest National Health Mission data available from September 2019.
What do ASHA workers do?
- They go door-to-door in their designated areas creating awareness about basic nutrition, hygiene practices, and the health services available.
- They focus primarily on ensuring that pregnant women undergo ante-natal check-up, maintain nutrition during pregnancy, deliver at a healthcare facility, and provide post-birth training on breast-feeding and complementary nutrition of children.
- They also counsel women about contraceptives and sexually transmitted infections.
- ASHA workers are also tasked with ensuring and motivating children to get immunised.
- Other than mother and child care, ASHA workers also provide medicines daily to TB patients under directly observed treatment of the national programme.
- They are also tasked with screening for infections like malaria during the season.
- They also provide basic medicines and therapies to people under their jurisdiction such as oral rehydration solution, chloroquine for malaria, iron folic acid tablets to prevent anaemia etc.
- Now, they also get people tested and get their reports for non-communicable diseases.
- The health volunteers are also tasked with informing their respective primary health centre about any births or deaths in their designated areas.
How much are ASHA workers paid?
- Since they are considered “volunteers/activists”, governments are not obligated to pay them a salary. And, most states don’t.
- Their income depends on incentives under various schemes that are provided when they, for example, ensure an institutional delivery or when they get a child immunised.
- All this adds up to only between Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 a month.
- Her work is so tailored that it does not interfere with her normal livelihood.
Success of the ASHAs
- It is a programme that has done well across the country.
- In a way, it became a programme that allowed a local woman to develop into a skilled health worker.
- Overall, it created a new cadre of incrementally skilled local health workers who were paid based on performance.
- The ASHAs are widely respected as they brought basic health services to the doorstep of households.
- Since then ASHA continues to enjoy the confidence of the community.
Challenges to ASHAs
- The ASHAs faced a range of challenges: Where to stay in a hospital? How to manage mobility? How to tackle safety issues?
- There have been challenges with regard to the performance-based compensation. In many states, the payout is low, and often delayed.
- It has a problem of responsibility and accountability without fair compensation.
- There is a strong argument to grant permanence to some of these positions with a reasonable compensation as sustaining motivation.
- Ideally, an ASHA should be able to make more than the salary of a government employee, with opportunities for moving up the skill ladder in the formal primary health care system as an ANM/ GNM or a Public Health Nurse.
Way forward
- The incremental development of a local resident woman is an important factor in human resource engagement in community-linked sectors.
- It is equally important to ensure that compensation for performance is timely and adequate.
- Upgrading skill sets and providing easy access to credit and finance will ensure a sustainable opportunity to earn a respectable living while serving the community.
- Strengthening access to health insurance, credit for consumption and livelihood needs at reasonable rates, and coverage under pro-poor public welfare programmes will contribute to ASHAs emerging as even stronger agents of change.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Inter-State Council (ISC)
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Inter-State Council, which works to promote and support cooperative federalism in the country, has been reconstituted with PM Modi as Chairman and CMs of all States and six Union Ministers as members.
What is Inter-State Council (ISC)?
Genesis of ISC
- The Constitution of India in Article 263, provides for the establishment of Inter-State Council (ISC).
- The objective of the ISC is to discuss or investigate policies, subjects of common interest, and disputes among states.
Temporary or permanent?
- The articles says that ISC may be established “if at any time it appears to the President that the public interests would be served by the establishment of a Council”.
- Therefore, the constitution itself did not establish the ISC, because it was not considered necessary at the time the constitution was being framed, but kept the option for its establishment open.
Establishment as permanent body
- This option was exercised in 1990.
- The ISC was established as a permanent body on 28 May 1990 by a presidential order on the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission.
- It had recommended that a permanent Inter-State Council called the Inter-Governmental Council (IGC) should be set up under Article 263.
- It cannot be dissolved and re-established.
- Therefore, the current status of ISC is that of a permanent constitutional body.
Aims of the ISC
- Decentralisation of powers to the states as much as possible
- More transfer of financial resources to the states
- Arrangements for devolution in such a way that the states can fulfil their obligations
- Advancement of loans to states should be related to as ‘the productive principle’
- Deployment of Central Armed Police Forces in the states either on their request or otherwise
Composition
The Inter-State Council composes of the following members:
- Prime Minister, Chairman.
- Chief Ministers of all states.
- Chief Ministers of the union territories having legislative assemblies.
- Administrators of the union territories not having legislative assemblies.
- 6 Union Cabinet Ministers, including Home Minister, to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
- Governors of the states being administered under President’s rule.
Standing Committee
- Home Minister, Chairman
- 5 Union Cabinet Ministers
- 9 Chief Ministers
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF)
Mains level: Economic expansion of QUAD
India has signalled its readiness to be part of a new economic initiative led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) by the US for the region.
What is IPEF?
- The grouping, which includes seven out of 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), all four Quad countries, and New Zealand, represents about 40% of global GDP.
- The negotiations for the IPEF are expected to centre around four main pillars, including trade, supply chain resiliency, clean energy and decarbonisation, and taxes and anti-corruption measures.
- Countries would have to sign up to all of the components within a module, but do not have to participate in all modules.
- The “fair and resilient trade” module will be led by the US Trade Representative and include digital, labor, and environment issues, with some binding commitments.
- The IPEF seeks to strengthen economic partnership amongst participating countries with the objective of enhancing resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
Features of IPEF
- US officials made it clear that the IPEF would not be a “free trade agreement”, nor are countries expected to discuss reducing tariffs or increasing market access.
- The IPEF will not include market access commitments such as lowering tariff barriers,
- In that sense, the IPEF would not seek to replace the 11-nation CPTPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) that the US quit in 2017, or the RCEP, which China, and all of the other IPEF countries (minus the US) are a part of.
- Three ASEAN countries considered closer to China — Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — are not members of the IPEF.
Four pillars of IPEF
- Trade that will include digital economy and emerging technology, labour commitments, the environment, trade facilitation, transparency and good regulatory practices, and corporate accountability, standards on cross-border data flows and data localisations;
- Supply chain resiliency to develop “a first-of-its-kind supply chain agreement” that would anticipate and prevent disruptions;
- Clean energy and decarbonisation that will include agreements on “high-ambition commitments” such as renewable energy targets, carbon removal purchasing commitments, energy efficiency standards, and new measures to combat methane emissions; and
- Tax and anti-corruption, with commitments to enact and enforce “effective tax, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery schemes in line with [American] values”.
Reasons for creation of IPEF
- The IPEF is also seen as a means by which the US is trying to regain credibility in the region after former President Donald Trump pulled out of the Trans Pacific Partnership TPP).
- Since then, there has been concern over the absence of a credible US economic and trade strategy to counter China’s economic influence in the region.
- China is an influential member of the TPP, and has sought membership of its successor agreement Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans Pacific Partnership.
- It is also in the 14-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, of which the US is not a member (India withdrew from RCEP).
- The Biden Administration is projecting IPEF as the new US vehicle for re-engagement with East Asia and South East Asia.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Flash floods
Disaster struck Dima Hasao, central Assam’s hill district, in mid-May after incessant heavy rainfall.
Impacts of the disaster
- The 170 km railway line connecting Lumding in the Brahmaputra Valley’s Hojai district and Badarpur in the Barak Valley’s Karimganj district was severely affected.
- The Assam government and Railway Ministry’s assessments said the district suffered a loss of more than ₹1,000 crore, but ecologists say the damage could be irreversibly higher.
How severe has the rain been in Assam?
- Assam is used to floods, sometimes even four times a year, resultant landslides and erosion.
- But the pre-monsoon showers this year have been particularly severe on Dima Hasao, one of three hill districts in the State.
- Landslips have claimed four lives and damaged roads.
- The impact has been most severe on the arterial railway, which was breached at 58 locations leaving the track hanging in several places.
- The disruption of train services, unlikely to be restored soon, has cut off the flood-hit Barak Valley, parts of Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
Why is the railway in focus post-disaster?
- Dima Hasao straddles the Barail, a tertiary mountain range between the Brahmaputra and Barak River basins.
- The district is on the Dauki fault (the prone-to-earthquakes geological fractures between two blocks of rocks) straddling Bangladesh and parts of the northeast.
- British engineers were said to have factored in the fragility of the hills to build the railway line over 16 years by 1899.
- The end result was an engineering marvel 221 km long over several bridges and through 37 tunnels, laid along the safer sections of the hills.
A faulty experiment
- A project to convert the metre gauge track to broad gauge was undertaken in 1996 but the work was completed only by March 2015 because of geotechnical constraints and extremist groups.
- The broad-gauge track was realigned to be straighter, but a 2009-10 audit report revealed that the project had been undertaken without proper planning and visualisation of the soil strata behaviour.
- The report gave the example of the disaster-prone Tunnel 10 on the realigned track that was pegged 8 meters below the bed of a nearby stream.
Is only the railway at fault?
- There is a general consensus that other factors have contributed to the situation Dima Hasao is in today.
- Roads in the district, specifically the four-lane Saurashtra-Silchar (largest Barak Valley town) East-West Corridor, have been realigned or deviated from the old ones that were planned around rivers and largely weathered the conditions.
- The arterial roads build over the past 20 years often cave in and get washed away by floods or blocked by landslides.
- Shortened cycles of jhum or shifting cultivation on the hill slopes and unregulated mining have accentuated the “man-made disaster”.
- Massive extraction of river stone, illegal mining of coal and smuggling of forest timbe has led to the disaster.
- These activities have increased water current besides weakening either side of riverbanks.
How vital are the rail and highway through Dima Hasao?
- Meghalaya aside, Dima Hasao is the geographical link to a vast region comprising southern Assam’s Barak Valley, parts of Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
- Moreover, this track is vital for India’s Look East policy that envisages shipping goods to and from Bangladesh’s Chittagong port via Tripura’s border points at Akhaura and Sabroom.
- These are the last railway station near the Feni River that serves as the India-Bangladesh border.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Need for coherent policy of food security
Context
The Government of India announced a sudden ban on export of wheat on May 13, 2022, a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that “at a time when the world is facing a shortage of wheat, the farmers of India have stepped forward to feed the world”.
What led to the sudden wheat export ban?
- Low public procurement: The sudden turnaround in the export policy appears to be on account of fears that low public procurement would affect domestic food security.
- This summer, procurement of wheat by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been very low.
- Last year, the FCI and other agencies procured 43.34 million tonnes of wheat.
- For the current season, procurement has only been 17.8 million tonnes, as of May 10, 2022.
- Given the low levels of procurement, the Government has reduced the procurement target for the current season from 44.4 to 19.5 million tonnes.
- Low production: While wheat production this year has been lower than estimated on account of high heat and other factors in March, there is not a big shortfall in production relative to previous years.
- Wheat production was 103.6 million tonnes in 2018-19, 107.8 million tonnes in 2019-20, and 109.5 million tonnes in 2020-21.
- The most recent estimate of production for 2021-22, revised downwards from the earlier estimate, is 105.
Public procurement in India
- The system of public procurement has been in place since the mid-1960s, and has been the backbone of food policy in India.
- As part of the liberalisation policy, many other economists suggested that food stocks be run down in India and that needs of food security be met through world trade and the Chicago futures market.
Need for effective PDS
- Higher than buffer stock norm: Stocks of wheat in the central pool as of April 30, 2022 were 30.3 million tonnes, much lower than the 52.5 million tonnes of last year, but comfortably higher than buffer stock norms.
- While the Government procurement in this marketing season has been lower than the previous two years, the stock position so far is similar to 2019, when we had 35.8 million tonnes of stock in April.
- An important role in pandemic: In the two COVID-19 years (2020-21 and 2021-22), the Public Distribution System (PDS) played a stellar role, and, its role showed the wisdom of not dismantling it.
- Total offtake of rice and wheat was 102.3 million tonnes in 2021-22 when distribution through the PDS and other welfare schemes is combined.
- It is essential that the PDS and open market operations be used to cool down food price inflation.
- While most States have high inflation rates, States with better PDS, such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, have low inflation rates.
Way forward
- Provide remunerative prices: To promote production, a key aspect of food policy in India has been to provide remunerative prices to farmers.
- As is well known, after the reports of the National Commission on Farmers, the announced minimum support price (MSP) for wheat has often been inadequate to cover costs of cultivation for several regions and classes of farmers, especially if comprehensive costs (or Cost C2) are taken as the base.
- Over the last two years, costs of production have risen sharply, one important component being the spiralling price of fuel.
Conclusion
India’s flip-flop on the export of wheat is an example of the Government lacking a coherent policy of food security.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Making agri-exports sustainable
Context
In the fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22), agri-exports scaled an all-time high of $50.3 billion, registering a growth of 20 per cent over the preceding year.
What are the contributing factors?
- The all time high agri-export was made possible largely by rising global commodity prices, but also by the favourable and aggressive export policy of the Ministry of Commerce and its various export promotion agencies like APEDA, MPEDA, and commodity boards.
- Sustainability issue: From a strategic point of view, an important question that arises is how sustainable is this growth in agri-exports, given India’s resource endowments and the country’s domestic needs?
- To answer this question rationally, let us first look at the composition of agri-exports.
Composition of agri-exports
- Among the several agri-commodities exported in FY22, rice ranks first with exports of $9.6 billion in value (with 21.2 million metric tonnes (MMT) in quantity).
- It is followed by marine products worth $7.7 billion (1.4 MMT), sugar worth $4.6 billion (10.4 MMT), spices worth $3.9 billion (1.4 MMT) and bovine (buffalo) meat worth $3.3 billion (1.18 MMT) (see figure).
- Concerns with Rice and Sugar: Of these, two commodities, rice and sugar, are water guzzlers and serious thought should be given to their global competitiveness and environmental sustainability.
Competitiveness and environmental sustainability concerns with Sugar and Rice cultivation
- India’s exports of 21 MMT constituted 41 per cent of a global rice market of 51.3 MMT.
- Low export price: When most of the other commodity prices were surging in global markets, the price of rice (Thailand supplies 25 per cent) collapsed by about 13 per cent from $484/tonne in April 2021 to $429/tonne in April 2022, largely due to India’s massive exports.
- This means that India had to export a greater quantity of rice to get the same amount of dollars.
- In trade theory, it is a classic case for levying the optimal export tax of 5 to 10 per cent.
- Optimal export: India should optimally not go beyond 12 to 15 MMT of rice exports, else the marginal revenue from exports will keep falling.
- Subsidised water: Taking an average of about 4,000 litres of water per kg of rice, and assuming that half of this percolates into groundwater, exporting 21MMT of rice would mean the virtual export of 42 billion cubic meters (m3) of water.
- Sugar is another water guzzler, whose exports touched 10.4 MMT in FY22.
- Subsidies crossing WTO limits: It was backed partly by subsidies (including export subsidy) that crossed the 10 per cent limit mandated by the World Trade Organisation, bringing India into a dispute with other sugar exporting countries at the WTO.
- However, from a sustainability point of view, we must note that exporting one kg of sugar amounts to roughly exporting 2,000 litres of virtual water.
- That means in FY22, India exported at least 20 billion m3 of water through sugar exports.
- So, by exporting 21 MMT of rice and 10 MMT of sugar in FY22, India exported at least 62 billion cubic meters of virtual water.
- Much of this water is extracted from groundwater — as is being done in much of the Punjab and Haryana belt (for rice), where the water table is receding by 9.2 metres and 7 metres over the last two decades (2000-19), and in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh for sugar.
- This can lead to a water disaster.
- Anthropogenic methane emission: Rice production systems are among the most important sources of anthropogenic methane emissions, contributing to 17.5 per cent of GHG emissions generated from agriculture (2021).
- This is all because of the distortionary policies of free power and highly-subsidised fertilisers, especially urea.
Way forward: Support farmers smartly
- AWD and DSR: Innovative farming practices such as alternate wetting drying (AWD), direct seeded rice (DSR) that can save up to 25-30 per cent water and micro-irrigation that can save up to 50 per cent irrigation water, could be game-changing technologies in reducing the crop’s carbon footprint.
- Switching to other crops: The real solution lies in incentivising the farmers to switch some of the area under rice and sugar cultivation to other, less water-guzzling crops.
- Haryana has come up with two schemes, Mera Pani, Meri Virasat and Kheti Khaali, Fir Bhi Khushali.
- A closer evaluation of non-basmati rice exports brings out another interesting fact.
- The unit value of these exports was just $354/tonne, which is below the MSP of rice ($390/tonne).
- One possibility is that a substantial part of the supplies through the PDS and PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) are leaking out and swelling rice exports.
- Introduce the option of direct cash transfer: From a policy angle, it may be high time to introduce the option of direct cash transfers in lieu of almost free grains under the PDS and PMGKAY.
- This will help plug leakages as well as save costs.
Conclusion
The best way to tackle this upcoming environmental disaster would be to support farmers smartly, by giving them aggregate input subsidy support on a per hectare basis and freeing up the input prices of fertilisers and power to be determined by market forces and their costs of production.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now