Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Cyber warfare threats and challenges
Context
After 100 days of Ukraine crisis, Russia is yet to achieve what can be termed as a decisive victory in any sector of the current conflict.
Reasons for the lacklustre performance of Russia
- Several reasons have been adduced by experts in the West for the lacklustre performance of the Russian army.
- Lack of motivation: There is a lack of motivation and the poor morale of the Russian forces sent to Ukraine.
- Outdated weaponry: Russian weaponry being outdated and ineffective to fight an informationalised war under modern conditions.
- Leadership issue: Russian commanders have also proved inept in devising plans and taking appropriate decisions in battlefield conditions against a determined enemy.
Important role of cyber warfare
- Given that cyber is often touted as the Fifth Dimension of warfare, it may be worthwhile to examine whether this indeed is the first major conflict in which ‘cyber’ is playing a crucial role, allowing a weaker nation with cyber capabilities to use it to its advantage.
- A former Chief of the National Security Agency of the U.S., in his memoirs had said that although cyberspace is a man-made domain, it had become critical to military operations on land, sea, air and in space.
- A former U.S. Secretary of Defence a few years ago,, even talked of a possible ‘cyber Pearl Harbour to paralyze nations and create a profound sense of vulnerability’.
- The Russian military oligarchy is indeed among the world leaders in digital disruption and cyber-methodology.
- One could have reasonably presumed that even before the conflict commenced, Russia would have swamped Ukraine with an avalanche of digital attacks.
- Ukraine, for its part, has its own digital army, including a corps of digital weapons.
Limits of cyber warfare
- There are several publicised instances earlier, of alleged Russian operatives waging a cyberwar against Ukraine.
- Both sides now possess and use malware such as data-wipers which have proved highly effective.
- On the day the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Russian cyber units are believed to have successfully deployed destructive malware against several Ukrainian military targets.
- A series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against Ukrainian banking and defence websites occurred simultaneously.
- As far as the conduct of the war is concerned, the string of small-scale cyberattacks cannot be said to have had any material impact on the conduct or outcome of the conflict.
- Hence, the cardinal question is why given that Ukraine has put up such a heroic defence — and to a considerable extent stalled the Russian offensive — Russia has not embarked on a massive all-out cyber-offensive.
- If that be the case, then much of the speculation that cyberattacks in the event of a war provide a perpetrator the capability to enact another ‘Pearl Harbour’ seems highly unrealistic.
Conclusion
It is very likely, and possibly a fact, that there are major difficulties in planning and executing massive cyberattacks on a short timeline to ensure higher efficacy of kinetic attacks.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Agnipath scheme
Context
Recently, the Agnipath scheme for recruitment of short-term contracted soldiers was announced.
About Agnipath Scheme
- This will be the only form of recruitment of soldiers into the three defence services from now.
- The scheme aims at strengthening national security and for providing an opportunity to the youth to serve in the armed forces.
- Recruits under the scheme will be known as ‘Agniveers’.
- After completing the four-year service, they can apply for regular employment in the armed forces.
- They may be given priority over others for various jobs in other government departments.
- The move is expected to decrease the average age profile of armed forces personnel from the current 32 to 24-26 years over a period of time.
Benefits of the Agnipath Scheme
- Lower the average age: The average age in the forces is 32 years today, which will go down to 26 in six to seven years, the scheme envisions.
- Youthful armed forces will allow them to be easily trained for new technologies.
- Employment opportunities: It will increase employment opportunities and because of the skills and experience acquired during the four-year service such soldiers will get employment in various fields.
- High-skilled workforce: The scheme will also lead to the availability of a higher-skilled workforce to the economy which will be helpful in productivity gain and overall GDP growth
Financial constraints and challenges
- Directing funds towards modernisation: It has been argued that the savings in the pensions bill — which will show up on the books only after a couple of decades — would be directed towards the modernisation of defence forces.
- The armed forces do not have that kind of time available to them to postpone their already long-delayed modernisation.
- Shortage: The Indian Air Force is already down to 30 squadrons of fighter jets against the 42 squadrons it needs, and the Indian Navy is at 130 ships when its vision was to be a 200-ship navy; the Indian Army is already short of 1,00,000 soldiers.
- Instead of expanding the economy to support the military, the Government has resorted to shrinking the military.
Issues with the short-term recruitment
- No theoretical modelling: As the short-term recruitment policy has neither been theoretically modelled nor tried out as a pilot project, the exact consequences of the move will only be known as they play out.
- Adverse effect on professional capabilities: But its adverse effect on the professional capabilities of the armed forces is certain.
- It starts with the very high turnover of young soldiers, the increase in training capacities and infrastructure and the augmentation of the administrative setup for greater recruitment, release, and retention of soldiers.
- An armed forces boasting of a poor teeth-to-tail ratio is further increasing the tail.
- Impact on operational capabilities: The tooth-to-tail ratio (T3R), in military jargon, is the amount of military personnel it takes to supply and support (“tail”) each combat soldier (“tooth”).
- The Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy employ their airmen and sailors in very specialised roles, which require technical skills, and a high degree of training and experience.
- Because the short-term contractual soldier model (the Agniveer scheme) is going to take a few years to fully play out at an organisational level, the actual degradation of operational capability will only be known then.
- Class-based recruitment abolished: In the Agnipath proposal, the class-based recruitment has been replaced with an all-India all-class recruitment.
- It will strike at the core of the organisational management, leadership structures and operating philosophy of the Indian Army.
- Even though the soldiers in the Indian Army are professionally trained, they also draw their motivation from their social identity — where each soldier cares for his reputation among the peers in his caste group or his village or his social setting.
- To replace that with a pure professional identity of a soldier will bring its own challenges in a tradition-bound army.
- Training challenges: There will be major problems in training, integrating and deploying soldiers with different levels of experience and motivations.
- An organisation which depends on trust, camaraderie and esprit de corps could end up grappling with rivalries and jealousies amongst winners and losers, especially in their final year of contract.
- Legal challenges: Even though the Government has kept the contract at four years to deny the Agniveer gratuity and is not counting the contractual period towards regular service, these provisions are bound to be challenged legally.
- Over time, this will lead to the salary and pension budget creeping back up again.
- Political imbalance: The Agnipath scheme also does away with the idea of a State-wise quota for recruitment into the Army, based on the Recruitable Male Population of that State which was implemented from 1966.
- This prevented an imbalanced army.
- Academic research shows that the high level of ethnic imbalance has been associated with severe problems of democracy and an increased likelihood of civil war.
- Impact on motivation: A short-term contractual soldier, without earning pension, will be seen as doing jobs after his military service that are not seen to be commensurate in status and prestige with the profession of honour.
- Impact on motivation: It will reduce the motivation of those joining on short-term contracts while diminishing the “honour” of a profession which places extraordinary demands on young men.
- Social unrest: There are numerous examples of demobilised soldiers leading to increased violence against minorities.
- This could happen in India as the youth who are not given regular recruitment after four year’s service would turn to violence.
Conclusion
The Government’s yearning for financial savings runs the risk of reducing the honour of a profession, the stability of a society and the safety of a country.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Enemy Property
Mains level: Not Much
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered some cases on allegations that huge losses to the exchequer was caused by leasing out prime-value land under the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) on forged documents.
Why in news?
- Hectares of commercial land located in Uttar Pradesh were leased out at nominal rates in favour of the lessees through manipulation.
What is “Enemy Property”?
- In the wake of the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971, there was the migration of people from India to Pakistan.
- Under the Defence of India Rules framed under The Defence of India Act, 1962, the Government of India took over the properties and companies of those who took Pakistani nationality.
- These “enemy properties” were vested by the central government in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India.
- The same was done for property left behind by those who went to China after the 1962 Sino-Indian war.
- The Tashkent Declaration of January 10, 1966 included a clause that said India and Pakistan would discuss the return of the property and assets taken over by either side in connection with the conflict.
- However, the Government of Pakistan disposed of all such properties in their country in the year 1971 itself.
Dealing with enemy property
- The Enemy Property Act, enacted in 1968, provided for the continuous vesting of enemy property in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI).
- The central government, through the Custodian, is in possession of enemy properties spread across many states in the country.
- Some movable properties too, are categorised as enemy properties.
- In 2017, Parliament passed The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which amended The Enemy Property Act, 1968, and The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Making the Parliament inclusive
Context
Due to systemic issues, Parliament continues to alienate women. The number of women representatives is still considerably small, but even more subtly, Parliament as a workspace continues to be built exclusively for men.
Women’s participation in the initial years
- In 1952, when the Indian Republic held its first Parliamentary session, there were 39 strong, intelligent, and passionate women as its member.
- Leading in the world in inclusiveness: At a time when women formed only 1.7% of the total members of the United States Congress and 1.1% of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, India was leading the way in the fight towards more inclusive world democracies with 5.5% women representation.
- Women played an important role in India’s struggle for independence and that contribution was reflected in their presence in the parliament.
- What happened in 1952 was a highly progressive step, but 70 years hence, it seems we have strayed from that path.
Electoral representation of women in India: Current scenario
- 14.6 per cent in current Lock Sabha: In India, women currently make up 14.6 per cent of MPs (78 MPs) in the Lok Sabha, which is a historic high.
- Although the percentage is modest, it is remarkable because women barely made up 9 per cent of the overall candidates in 2019.
- In electoral representation, has fallen several places in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s global ranking of women’s parliamentary presence, from 117 after the 2014 election to 143 as of January 2020.
- In terms of electoral quotas, there were two outstanding exceptions in the 2019 general elections.
- Voluntary parliamentary quota: West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee and Odisha under Naveen Patnaik opted for voluntary parliamentary quotas, fielding 40 per cent and 33 per cent women candidates, respectively.
- Women reservation bill: The bill to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in Parliament and state legislatures was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010, but it was never introduced in the Lok Sabha.
- India ranks a dismal 146th in women’s representation in the national Parliament.
- At the turn of the century, it ranked 66th.
- The decline has come because progress has been piecemeal — several other countries have improved their share of women in Parliament far more rapidly.
Struggle for inclusivity
- Despite a good start in the past, our struggle with inclusivity has not eased.
- Due to systemic issues, Parliament continues to alienate women.
- The number of women representatives is still considerably small, but even more subtly, Parliament as a workspace continues to be built exclusively for men.
Lack of inclusivity in the Parliament
- Absence of gender-neutral language: A closer look at our parliamentary discourse and communication reveals a concerning and disconcerting absence of gender-neutral language.
- After 75 years of Independence, Parliament often refers to women in leadership positions as Chairmen and party men.
- In the Rajya Sabha, the Rules of Procedure continue to refer to the Vice-President of India as the ex-officio Chairman, stemming from the lack of gender-neutral language in the Constitution of India.
- The alarming degree of usage of masculine pronouns assumes a power structure biased towards men.
- Lack of gender-neutral Acts: The issue further extends to law-making.
- In the last decade, there have hardly been any gender-neutral Acts.
- Acts have made references to women not as leaders or professionals (such as policemen), but usually as victims of crimes.
- The root of such instances lies with a gender-conforming Constitution.
- In its present state, the Constitution reinforces historical stereotypes that women and transgender people cannot be in leadership positions, such as the President and the Vice-President of India.
- This represents the failure of the many Union Governments which did not take the initiative of amending it.
- In the past, amendments have been brought about to make documents gender neutral.
- In 2014, under the leadership of the then Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar, the Rules of Procedure of the Lok Sabha were made entirely gender neutral.
Way forward
- Correcting the language: Internationally, even mature democracies that legalised universal suffrage after India, such as Canada (1960 for Aboriginal women), Australia (1962 for Indigenous women), and the United States (1965 for women of African-American descent), have now taken concrete measures towards gender-inclusive legislation and communication..
- Amendments: India can and must begin with an amendment to the Constitution and the entire reservoir of laws.
- Focus on the deeper issues of aspiration: Once the language is corrected, the entire country, including Parliament, can focus on the deeper issues of the aspirations and growth of its woman workforce.
- Women staff in Parliament: Women are not adequately represented in Parliament staff,.
- We need a single, transparent appointment and promotion process for women staff in Parliament.
- We need to make sure that their professional growth is not being hindered by other issues such as harassment and domestic responsibilities.
Conclusion
In the 21st century, when people of all genders are leading the world with compassion, strength and ambitions, the Indian Parliament needs to reflect on its standing.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)
Mains level: Not Much
The PM has hoped to extend the Aspirational District Programme (ADP) to block and city levels.
Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)
- Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative aims to remove this heterogeneity through a mass movement to quickly and effectively transform these districts.
- The broad contours of the program are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a spirit of mass Movement.
- With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.
Behind the name
- PM then negated the idea of naming any scheme based on their backwardness.
- Rather the name ‘Aspirational’ presents a more affirmative action-based execution of the scheme.
Selection of districts
- A total of 117 Aspirational districts have been identified by NITI Aayog based upon composite indicators.
- The objective of the program is to monitor the real-time progress of aspirational districts based on 49 indicators (81 data points) from the 5 identified thematic areas.
Weightage has been accorded to these districts as below:
- Health & Nutrition (30%)
- Education (30%)
- Agriculture & Water Resources (20%)
- Financial Inclusion & Skill Development (10%)
- Basic Infrastructure (10%)
Strategy of the ADP
The core Strategy of the program may be summarized as follows.
- Making development a mass movement in these districts
- Identify low hanging fruits and the strength of each district, to act as a catalyst
- for development.
- Measure progress and rank districts to spur a sense of competition.
- Districts shall aspire to become State’s best to Nation’s best.
Features of the ADP
- It has transformed into a Jan Andolan.
- The ADP is different in trying to monitor the improvement of these districts through real-time data tracking.
- The programme seeks to develop convergence between selected existing central and state government programmes.
- District performance in the public domain and experience building of the district bureaucracy is another notable feature.
- The programme is targeted, not towards any single group of beneficiaries, but rather towards the population of the district as a whole.
What makes this program special?
The program reflects what has become of the development project in India under neoliberalism, especially after the end of planning.
- Long overdue sectors have been given more emphasis.
- It is not a tailor-made program with one-size-fit strategy. More onus has been laid on the districts. It has a district-intervention strategy.
- It works on the principle of SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threats) model and comparison with national best parameters for effective resource management.
- It is the most reviewed programme by the Prime Minister.
- A general idea behind the idea is that a good work never goes un-noticed. It is duly appreciated on social media as well as by the officials.
Programmatic Strengths
- A key strength of the ADP is the collection of baseline data and follow-ups at regular intervals.
- Sustaining this effort would create a robust compilation of statistics for use by both researchers and policy-makers.
- In doing this, the government also brings much-needed attention to human development and a willingness to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Incremental progress being made in the chosen districts as reflected in the rankings.
- The programme also claims to be “non-partisan and unbiased” and geared towards all-India growth.
- The selection of districts indeed suggests that the programme has not favored any bias either regional, political or any other.
- The programme seeks convergence of central and state schemes anchored around specific activities.
Issues with the programme
- Using the case of Bihar, they argue that the programmes selection of districts itself is problematic.
- In fact, it actually excludes the most backward districts because per capita income, the most basic measure of development, has not been considered.
- There seems to be some ambiguity around the issue of whether the programme is concerned only with improved access or also with the quality of service provided.
- The indicators used are not defined relationally, rather they are static human development indicators that do not see people mired in dynamic social relations.
- It is also accused that the state is not making any new or focused public investment (except for possible use of Flexi-funds) into these districts, on the other hand, it is moralizing about their inability to improve (through rankings).
- The programme is carrying the burden of proving the government’s “developmental” work without addressing any of the fundamental issues around achieving equitable development.
- Yet, the NITI Aayog justifies the overall approach as capitalizing on “low-hanging fruit.”
Way forward
- The program has been able to make difference in the lives of citizens of India, in education, health, nutrition, financial inclusion, skill development and this has made a difference to some most backward and most geographically far-flung districts of the nation.
- ADP is ‘aligned to the principle of “leave no one behind—the vital core of the SDGs. Political commitment at the highest level has resulted in the rapid success of the program the report said.
- UNDP has recommended revising a few indicators that are slightly close to reaching their saturation or met by most districts like ‘electrification of households’ as an indicator of basic infrastructure.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Inter-State Council
Mains level: Not Much
Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin wrote to PM asking that at least three meetings of the Inter-State Council should be held every year to “strengthen the spirit of cooperative federalism”.
What is the news?
- TN CM suggested that bills of national importance should be placed before the Council before being tabled in Parliament.
- He said this was because there is no “effective and interactive communication” between the states and the Centre on issues of common interest.
What is the Inter-State Council?
- The Inter-State Council is a mechanism that was constituted “to support Centre-State and Inter-State coordination and cooperation in India”.
- It was established under Article 263 of the Constitution, which states that the President may constitute such a body if a need is felt for it.
- The Council is basically meant to serve as a forum for discussions among various state governments.
Its establishment
- In 1988, the Sarkaria Commission suggested the Council should exist as a permanent body, and in 1990 it came into existence through a Presidential Order.
Functions of the Inter-State Council
- The main functions of the Council are:
- Inquiring into and advising on disputes between states
- Investigating and discussing subjects in which two states or states and the Union have a common interest
- Making recommendations for the better coordination of policy and action
Its composition
- The Prime Minister is the chairman of the Council, whose members include the Chief Ministers of all states and UTs with legislative assemblies, and Administrators of other UTs.
- Six Ministers of Cabinet rank in the Centre’s Council of Ministers, nominated by the Prime Minister, are also its members.
- Its procedure states that the council should meet at least three times a year.
What issues has TN CM raised?
- The leader has flagged the lack of regular meetings.
- The Council has met only once in the last six years — and that there has been no meeting since July 2016.
- Since its constitution in 1990, the body has met only 11 times,
Recent development: Reconstitution of the Council
- The CM appreciated the reconstitution of the Council, carried out last month.
- The body will now have 10 Union Ministers as permanent invitees, and the standing committee of the Council has been reconstituted with Home Minister Amit Shah as Chairman.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, UP, and Gujarat are some of the other standing committee members.
Why did TN raise this issue?
- Many CM frequently disagreed with the central government’s policies on matters of taxation, on the medical examination NEET, and often talked about the rights of states.
- What could be settled amicably among the executive branches is often taken to the doorsteps of the judicial branch.
Role of TN in the Council’s formation
Tamil Nadu has long advocated the need for a Council.
- In 1969, late leader M Karunanidhi, spoke about setting up an expert committee to study Centre-state relations.
- Months later, his government appointed a committee headed by P V Rajamannar, a former Madras High Court Chief Justice, which submitted a report in 1971.
- It then recommended “the Inter-State Council should be constituted immediately”.
What happened in the last meeting of the Inter State Council?
- In 2016, the meeting included consideration of the Punchhi Commission’s recommendations on Centre-State Relations that were published in 2010.
- At the time, M Karunanidhi had criticised then CM J Jayalalithaa for not personally attending the meeting.
- The meeting saw detailed discussion on the recommendations.
- States asked for maintaining the federal structure amid growing “centralisation”.
- Imposition of Article 356 of the Constitution, which deals with the imposition of President’s Rule in states, was a matter of concern.
- Bihar Chief Minister demanded that the post of Governor should be abolished!
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FATF
Mains level: Terror financing and money laundering
Pakistan got a reprieve from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as it announced that the country could be removed from the “grey list” after a visit by a fact-finding team.
What is the news?
- FATF noted Pakistan’s constructive claims of actions to curb terror funding.
- It would formally be taken off the “grey list” in October.
- China is working relentlessly to get Pakistan off FATF ‘grey list’.
India’s stance
- New Delhi has been sceptical of Pakistan’s commitment to completely end terror safe havens in the country.
- Infiltration in J&K continues and small arms and IEDs are being habitually pushed across the LoC.
What is the FATF?
- The FATF is an international watchdog for financial crimes such as money laundering and terror financing.
- It was established at the G7 Summit of 1989 in Paris to address loopholes in the global financial system after member countries raised concerns about growing money laundering activities.
- In the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attack on the US, FATF also added terror financing as a main focus area.
- This was later broadened to include restricting the funding of weapons of mass destruction.
- The FATF currently has 39 members.
Working of FATF
- The decision-making body of the FATF, known as its plenary, meets thrice a year.
- Its meetings are attended by 206 countries of the global network.
- It includes members, and observer organisations, such as the World Bank, some offices of the UN, and regional development banks.
Functions of FATF
- The FATF sets standards or recommendations for countries to achieve in order to plug the holes in their financial systems and make them less vulnerable to illegal financial activities.
- It conducts regular peer-reviewed evaluations called Mutual Evaluations (ME) of countries to check their performance on standards prescribed by it.
- The reviews are carried out by FATF and FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs), which then release Mutual Evaluation Reports (MERs).
- For the countries that don’t perform well on certain standards, time-bound action plans are drawn up.
- Recommendations for countries range from assessing risks of crimes to setting up legislative, investigative and judicial mechanisms to pursue cases of money laundering and terror funding.
What are the Black List and the Grey List?
- The words ‘grey’ and ‘black’ list do not exist in the official FATF lexicon.
- They however designate countries that need to work on complying with FATF directives and those who are non-compliant.
- Black List: The blacklist, now called the “Call for action” was the common shorthand description for the FATF list of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories” (NCCTs).
- Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
Consequences of being:
(1) In the grey list:
- Economic sanctions from IMF, World Bank, ADB
- Problem in getting loans from IMF, World Bank, ADB and other countries
- Reduction in international trade
- International boycott
(2) In the black list:
- High-risk jurisdictions subject to call for action
- Countries have considerable deficiencies in their AML/CFT (anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing) regimens
- Enhanced due diligence
- Members are told to apply counter-measures such as sanctions on the listed countries
Note: Currently, North Korea and Iran are on the black list.
Pakistan and FATF
- Pakistan, which continues to remain on the “grey list” of FATF, had earlier been given the deadline till the June to ensure compliance with the 27-point action plan against terror funding networks.
- It has been under the FATF’s scanner since June 2018, when it was put on the Grey List for terror financing and money laundering risks.
- FATF and its partners such as the Asia Pacific Group (APG) are reviewing Pakistan’s processes, systems, and weaknesses on the basis of a standard matrix for anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime.
Why is Pakistan on the grey list?
- Pakistan has found itself on the grey list frequently since 2008, for weaknesses in fighting terror financing and money laundering.
- It never addressed concerns on the front of terror financing investigations and prosecutions targeting senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terrorist groups.
- However, now steps had been taken in this direction such as the sentencing of terror outfit chief Hafiz Saeed, prosecution of Masood Azhar and seizure of their properties.
- India meanwhile, a member of FATF, suspects the efficacy and permanence of Pakistani actions.
How FATF impacts Pakistan?
- The FATF grey list made it more difficult for Pakistan to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union (EU).
- This will further create an economic crisis for Pakistan which is already struggling to control its financial position.
- Bearing the cost of global politics the impact of FATF grey-listing on Pakistan’s economy has claimed that FATF’s decision has led to a loss of USD 38 billion for Pakistan so far.
Steps taken by Pakistan
- Pakistan is currently banking on its potential exclusion from the grey list to help improve the status of tough negotiations with the International Monetary Fund to get bailout money.
- Pakistan is now making a high-level political commitment to the FATF and APG to address its strategic AML/CFT deficiencies.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IS 17693: 2022
Mains level: NA
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India, has developed an Indian Standard, IS 17693: 2022 for ‘non-electric cooling cabinet made of clay’.
IS 17693: 2022
- BIS standard specifies the construction and performance requirements of a cooling cabinet made out of clay, which operates on the principle of evaporative cooling.
- These cabinets may be used to store perishable foodstuff without the need of electricity.
- This standard helps BIS in fulfilling 6 out of 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like No poverty, Zero hunger, Gender equality, Affordable and clean energy, Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, and Responsible consumption and production.
Why such move?
- Named as ‘Mitticool refrigerator’, Mansukh Bhai Prajapati from Gujarat is the innovator behind the refrigerator which projects an eco-friendly technology.
- It is a natural refrigerator made primarily from clay to store vegetables, fruits, milk, and also for cooling water.
- It provides natural coolness to foodstuffs stored in it without requiring any electricity.
- Fruits, vegetables, and milk can be stored reasonably fresh without deteriorating their quality.
Back2Basics: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
- BIS is the National Standards Body of India working under the aegis of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
- It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986 which came into effect on 23 December 1986.
- The organization was formerly the Indian Standards Institution (ISI), set up under the Resolution of the Department of Industries and Supplies in September 1946.
- The ISI was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- A new Bureau of Indian standard (BIS) Act 2016 has been brought into force with effect from 12 October 2017.
- The Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Agnipath Scheme
Mains level: Issues with Agnipath Scheme
Massive protests are occurring against the Agnipath scheme all across the nation.
What is the Agnipath Scheme?
- This will be the only form of recruitment of soldiers into the three defence services from now.
- The scheme aims at strengthening national security and for providing an opportunity to the youth to serve in the armed forces.
- Recruits under the scheme will be known as ‘Agniveers’.
- After completing the four-year service, they can apply for regular employment in the armed forces.
- They may be given priority over others for various jobs in other government departments.
- The move is expected to decrease the average age profile of armed forces personnel from the current 32 to 24-26 years over a period of time.
Why are aspirants protesting?
- Contractualisation of armed forces: The foundation of this scheme is a four-year contract.
- Jobs for the majority: States such as Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, are where the bulk of the Army recruitment takes place.
- Perks and benefits: Many of these people value job stability, which includes retirement benefits and pensions over competitive salaries.
- Uncertainty after end of commission: Most of them will be forced to leave the job within four years, which doesn’t fit into their hopes and aspirations.
- Casualization of Training: It reportedly takes two to three years to train a member of the army, but as a part of the Agnipath, soldiers will only be trained for six months.
- Threats to national security: Defence analysts have allegedly pointed out that the Russian soldiers who were trained for a limited amount of time before they went to war have performed disastrously.
- Conflicts of interest: Apprehensions have been voiced against how the new recruits will be adjusted in the existing system under which most of the Army units are region, caste or class based.
Reasons behind aspirants’ frustration
- Unemployment: Analysts always cite the crunch of gazetted officers in the Armed forces and there has been no recruitment for the last two years.
- Pandemic impact: Many aspirants lost their chance to join the Armed forces as they are now overage.’
- Unanticipated reforms: In guise of a push for “major defence policy reform”, the scheme is a fuss.
What is the official explanation?
- Once retired, aspirants will be free to pursue other careers, with several departments and governments.
- Aspirants will get preference, educational credits, skill certificates, to help them rehabilitate in other fields.
- Those wishing to be entrepreneurs will get a financial package and bank loans and those wishing to study further will be given 12 class equivalent certificate.
- For job-seekers, the government has already said they will get priority in the Central Armed Police Forces.
Way forward
- The modalities of how this will happen are still being worked out.
- But one thing is very clear, poorly crafted schemes are on the rise.
- For making any scheme a success, pre-legislative consultation and discussion in the public domain is a must.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Stagflation
Mains level: Read the attached story
India’s economy is better placed than many other countries to avoid the risk of potential stagflation worldwide, said the Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor.
Why in news?
- Stagflation remains a risk to the US economy, and there are similarities between the situation in the 1970s and today, a/c to World Bank.
- Surging prices for oil and food are pushing up the cost of living, and business executives are voicing concerns about the outlook for the economy.
What is Stagflation?
- Stagflation is a stagnant growth and persistently high inflation. It, thus, describes a rather rare and curious condition of an economy.
- Iain Macleod, a Conservative Party MP in the United Kingdom, is known to have coined the phrase during his speech on the UK economy in November 1965.
What happens in Stagflation?
- Typically, rising inflation happens when an economy is booming — people are earning lots of money, demanding lots of goods and services and as a result, prices keep going up.
- When the demand is down and the economy is in the doldrums, by the reverse logic, prices tend to stagnate (or even fall).
- But stagflation is a condition where an economy experiences the worst of both worlds — the growth rate is largely stagnant (along with rising unemployment) and inflation is not only high but persistently so.
Possible reasons behind
- Volatility due to war: Global economic conditions continued to deteriorate as commodity prices and financial market volatility have led to heightened uncertainty.
- Monetary tightening: In advanced economies, the war against inflation would entail significant monetary tightening, complicating the growth-inflation outlook.
- Global slowdown: Emerging market economies grapple with the global trade slowdown, capital outflows and imported inflation.
Why is it so unpopular?
- The combination of slow growth and inflation is unusual, because inflation typically rises and falls with the pace of growth.
- The high inflation leaves less scope for policymakers to address growth shortfalls with lower interest rates and higher public spending.
Back2Basics: Inflation and its impact
- Depression: It is Economic depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic
- Deflation: It is the general fall in the price level over a period of time.
- Disinflation: It is the fall in the rate of inflation or a slower rate of inflation. Example: a fall in the inflation rate from 8% to 6%.
- Reflation: It is the act of stimulating the economy by increasing the money supply or by reducing taxes, seeking to bring the economy back up to the long-term trend, following a dip in the business cycle. It is the opposite of disinflation.
- Skewflation: It is the skewed rise in the price of some items while remaining item prices remain the same. E.g. Seasonal rise in the price of onions.
- Stagflation: The situation of rising prices along with falling growth and employment, is called stagflation. Inflation is accompanied by an economic recession.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Theri Desert in Tamil Nadu
Mains level: Desertification of land and preventive measures
Most of us may not know the small desert situated in the state of Tamil Nadu. It consists of red sand dunes and is confined to the Thoothukudi district.
Theri Desert
- The red dunes are called theri in Tamil.
- They consist of sediments dating back to the Quaternary Period and are made of marine deposits.
- They have very low water and nutrient retention capacity.
- The dunes are susceptible to aerodynamic lift.
- This is the push that lets something move up. It is the force that is the opposite of weight.
Mineral composition of Theris
- The analysis of the red sand dunes reveal the presence of heavy and light minerals.
- These include Ilmenite, Magnetit, Rutile, Garnet, Zircon, Diopside, Tourmaline, Hematite, Goethite, Kyanite, Quartz, Feldspar, Biotite.
- The iron-rich heavy minerals like ilmenite, magnetite, garnet, hypersthene and rutile present in the soil had undergone leaching by surface water.
- They were then oxidised because of the favourable semi-arid climatic conditions.
How did they form?
- Theris appear as gentle, undulating terrain.
- The lithology of the area shows that the area might have been a paleo (ancient) coast in the past.
- The presence of limestone in many places indicates marine transgression.
- The present-day theris might have been formed by the confinement of beach sand locally, after regression of the sea.
- When high velocity winds from the Western Ghats blew east, they induced migration of sand grains and accumulation of dunes.
Another story of their formation
- Another view is that these are geological formations that appeared in a period of a few hundred years.
- The red sand is brought from the surface of a broad belt of red loam in the plains of the Nanguneri region (about 57 kilometres) by south west monsoon winds during May-September.
- The winds after draining the moisture behind the Mahendragiri hill and the Aralvaimozhi gap of the Western Ghats become dry and strike the plains in the foothills, where vegetation is sparse.
- Deforestation and the absence of vegetative cover in the Aralvaimozhi gap and the Nanguneri plains are considered to be the major causes of wind erosion.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Black Death
Mains level: NA
In a study published in the Science journal, researchers have claimed that the bubonic plague was originated in modern day northern Kyrgyzstan around 1338-1339 – nearly 7-8 years before it ravaged large parts of the world.
What is Black Death?
- The term Black Death refers to the bubonic plague that spread across Western Asia, Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe in 1346-53.
- Most scholars agree that the Black Death, which killed millions, was caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis and was spread by fleas that were carried by rodent hosts.
- The microorganism Y. pestis spread to human populations, who at some point transmitted it to others either through the vector of a human flea or directly through the respiratory system.
Why this plague was called the Black Death?
- It is commonly believed that the term Black Death gets its name from the black marks that appeared on some of the plague victims’ bodies.
- In the 14th century, the epidemic was referred to as the ‘great pestilence’ or ‘great death’, due to the demographic havoc that it caused.
- The world black also carried a dark, gloomy emotional tone, due to the sheer amount of deaths generated by the plague.
Why is the new discovery significant?
- The geographical origin point of the plague has been debated for centuries.
- Some historians have argued that the plague originated in China, and spread across Europe by Italian merchants who first entered the continent in trading caravans through Crimea.
- Another story argues that Mongol army hurled plague-infested bodies into the city during the siege of Caffa (Crimea) and led to the spread of the disease.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Plugging the gaps in death penalty sentencing
Context
In a judgment delivered last month, the Supreme Court, in Manoj & others v. State of MP, embarked on a significant attempt to reform the administration of the death penalty.
Background: Crisis in the death penalty sentencing
- There has long been a judicial crisis in death penalty sentencing on account of unprincipled sentencing, arbitrariness and worrying levels of subjectivity.
- The crisis has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court, the Law Commission of India, research scholars and civil society groups.
- Crime-centric nature: Death penalty sentencing has been, by and large, crime-centric.
- This approach goes against the requirements imposed on sentencing judges by the Supreme Court in Bachan Singh (1980).
The framework laid down in the Bachan Singh case
- Take into account factors relating to crime and the accused: This framework made it binding for the sentencing judges to take into account factors relating to both the crime and accused and assign them appropriate weight.
- Judges couldn’t decide to impose the death penalty only on the basis of the crime.
- The background of the accused, the personal circumstances, mental health and age were considerations a sentencing judge had to account for.
- Judges were required to weigh “mitigating” and “aggravating” factors to ascertain if a case was fit for the death sentence and also determine if the option of life imprisonment was “unquestionably foreclosed”.
Why there is a crisis in death penalty sentencing?
- The four decades since Bachan Singh have shown us that this framework has been followed more in breach.
- There is utter confusion across all levels of the judiciary on the requirements of the framework laid down in the Bachan Singh case and its implementation.
- Nature of crime a dominant consideration: An important reason for the breakdown is that factors relating to the crime — the nature of the crime and its brutality — are often dominant considerations, and there is barely any consideration of mitigating factors.
- Little discussion on mitigating factors: There has been very little discussion on bringing the socioeconomic profile of death row prisoners as a mitigating factor into the courtroom.
Significance of the SC judgment in Manoj & others v. State of MP
- Efforts to plug the gap: The judgement identifies the lacuna as an explicit concern, states the consequences that flow from such a vital gap, and suggests measures to plug it.
- Recognising reformation: A striking part of the judgment is its commitment to recognising reformation as integral to the Indian criminal justice system, especially death penalty sentencing.
- Procedural threshold: The judgment is clear that certain procedural thresholds must be met for sentencing to be fair and explicitly rejects (once again) the idea that death sentences can be determined solely on crime-based considerations.
- The verdict recognises that aspects of the accused’s life, both pre-offence and post-offence in prison, are relevant.
- As practical steps in this process, the judgment asks courts to call for reports from the probation officer as well as prison and independent mental health experts.
- Right of the accused to present mitigating factors: The right of the accused to present mitigating factors and rebut the state, if necessary, is also recognised.
- Psychological and philosophical aspect taken into account: There is now overwhelming evidence from psychology that criminality cannot just be reduced to terrible decisions by individuals in the exercise of their free will.
- All our actions are a result of a complex web of biological, psychological, and social factors and that understanding has a very significant bearing on discussions on criminality and punishment.
Challenges
- Implementation issue: Apart from this issue of implementation, even if detailed and high-quality sentencing information is to come into our courtrooms, a bigger challenge awaits.
- The judicial treatment of sentencing information is a Pandora’s box that will inevitably have to be opened.
- Requirement for normative basis: The Supreme Court will have to provide a rigorous normative basis for consideration of these factors.
- In the absence of such foundations, death penalty sentencing will continue to be unprincipled and sentencing judges are not going to understand the need for this wide range of sentencing information.
Conclusion
The significance of last month’s judgment, authored by Justice Ravindra Bhat, is that it takes this problem head-on. It identifies the lacuna as an explicit concern, states the consequences that flow from such a vital gap, and suggests measures to plug it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: INSTC
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Iran relations
Context
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s three-day visit to India, last week, was the first ministerial-level visit from Iran since Ebrahim Raisi assumed the Iranian presidency in August last year.
Background
- Bilateral relations between India and Iran span millennia marked by meaningful interactions.
- Both countries shared borders until 1947 and share several common features in their language, culture and traditions.
- The diplomatic links were established on 15th March 1950, when both countries signed a Treaty of Friendship and Perpetual Peace.
- However, Iran’s joining of Baghdad pact in 1954 and the Cold War politics prevented both countries from having closer relations until the 1990s.
- Islamic Revolution of 1979, hostage of US diplomats, Iran-Iraq War and Tehran’s support for Hezbollah and Hamas among others resulted in a range of political and economic sanctions, leading to Iran being isolated at a global level
- In the 1990s, both countries’ interests converged around energy, Central Asia and security, mostly around the Pakistan-Afghan region.
- This resulted in the signing of ‘The Delhi Declaration’, which provided the vision of the countries’ defence and strategic partnership and “Tehran Declaration”, which set forth the areas of possible cooperation
India-Iran relations: A shared vision for equitable, pluralistic and co-operative international order
- The “Tehran Declaration” signed during former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Iran affirmed the shared vision of the two countries for an “equitable, pluralistic and co-operative international order”.
- It recognised then Iranian President Mohammad Khatami’s vision of a “dialogue among civilisations” as a paradigm of international relations based on principles of tolerance, pluralism and respect for diversity.
- Advancing the standing in global order: Two decades later, as India strengthens new partnerships within its regional vision centred on the Indo-Pacific, both countries remain driven by the goals of advancing their standing at the regional and global level.
- Both are keen to project themselves as independent strategic actors determined to play a role in shaping a new multipolar order in their shared Eurasian neighbourhood and also at the global level.
Why does India need Iran?
- Energy security: Conventionally, for energy security
- Iran is amongst India’s top oil suppliers
- Strategic importance: Since the 1990s, Iran’s importance has become ‘strategic’
- Security reasons: Iran’s cooperation is critical for India’s security given that
- Pak supports terrorism in India
- Influence in Afghanistan: India’s influence in Afghanistan is marginal.
- Countering Pakistan: India needs Iran to moderate Pak’s influence in West Asia
- Iran is a leader in the Muslim world.
- Access to Afghanistan and Central Asia
Significance of Iran for India
- Geopolitical logic in relations: The sanctions imposed by the US on Iran after it withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 may have virtually destroyed India-Iran trade, especially India’s energy imports from Iran, but the geopolitical logic underpinning relations between the two countries remains firm.
- Land bridge to Central Asia and Eurasia: Iran has sought to leverage its crossroad geographical location straddling the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, India has come to see it as its land bridge to Central Asia and Eurasia.
- INSTC: Despite the difficulties posed by decades of American sanctions, Iran has, along with India, Russia and a few other countries in the Eurasian region, continued to work on the multi-modal International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
- During Raisi’s visit to Moscow, the two sides had pledged to redouble their efforts to build the railway line between Iran’s Caspian port of Rasht and Astara on the Iran-Azerbaijan border.
- Alternative Caspian Sea Route: The activation of an alternative Caspian Sea route speaks volumes about the positive outlook of Iran, India and Russia on this corridor despite a variety of geopolitical challenges.
- Iran’s Chabahar port, where India is developing two berths that it will lease for commercial operations for 10 years, is also a story of perseverance in the ties between the two countries.
Irritants in Indo-Iran ties
- India’s relations with Saudi Arabia, US and Israel: Growing Saudi-India-US-Israel relations have irked Iran.
- In retaliation, Iran, for the first time, has linked the plight of Muslims in Gaza, Yemen, and Bahrain, with those in Kashmir
- Iran-Pak-China ties: Warming Iran-Pak-China ties have annoyed India.
- Sluggish Chabahar port development: Slow Chabahar port development has annoyed Iran.
- China-Iran strategic partnership:
- An economic and security partnership deal between Iran and China was recently made public, creating a global alarm, especially for India and the US.
- The foundation for this deal was laid during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Iran in 2016
- The draft agreement involves Chinese investments worth $400 billion into the Iranian economy over 25 years.
- Of this, $280 billion will be allocated for the oil and gas sector and the remaining funding will be for other core sectors like banking, telecommunications, ports and railways.
- In return, China would get a steady supply of Iranian oil at a heavily discounted rate during the same period.
- This deal creates a win-win situation for both countries.
- It lifts Iran’s sanction-hit economy and helps China set a firm foothold in the Middle East.
US sanctions:
- Iran’s aim to develop nuclear weapons has come under strong criticism from Trump Administration since the beginning.
- Thus, the US has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 after it was signed in 2015 and imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran.
- The US’ sanctions and aggressive policies have created a situation of economic and geostrategic uncertainty.
- Indian investors are wary of having businesses in Iran for the fear of the US.
- Also, India deviated from the policy of not abiding by unilateral sanctions by ceasing to purchase Iranian oil.
- Due to this, Iran did not back India’s bid to mobilise international support against Beijing’s aggression in the Ladakh.
Other issues:
- Iran is against India’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and 35A.
- It has called on India and Pakistan to show restraint and prevent the killing of innocent Kashmiris, revealing possible close ties between Pakistan and Iran.
- Iran also voiced against “extremist Hindus and their parties” during the 2020 Delhi riots.
- Apart from these issues, Iran also sidelined India’s ONGC from exploration rights at its Farzad B Gas field, stating that it will engage the company at a later date.
Way forward
- As India is treading a fine line in balancing relations with the US, China and Iran while striving to augment its political influence in West Asia, embracing one country over the other is not an option for India.
- Therefore, a multilateral foreign policy is a way forward.
- India must retain its involvement in the Chabahar port development because of the geostrategic significance.
- In the immediate term, India should improve its multi-alignment credentials to absorb investments into the port projects from the public and private sector, boost maritime cooperation among littoral countries to enhance the transit of goods, and foster regional partnership for the Chabahar port development.
- Based on the mutual geostrategic and energy interests, India could collaborate with Japan under the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor.
- Japan’s participation would enhance the multilateral characteristics of the transit hub in the region, unlike the China-owned Gwadar port. This will further enhance multilateral investments to solidify regional economic partnerships that enable the sustainability of the port.
- Also, India needs to evolve a better strategy on Iran beyond waiting to see how the US may react, beyond having to issue a clarification in response to Iran’s sudden provocations and beyond allowing voids of partnerships that China may fill.
- In order to do so, India must create a new alliance of countries having similar geostrategic interests, which are also facing issues with US’ unrealistic and aggressive foreign policy strategy and China’s expansionistic policies.
Conclusion
While the revival of the nuclear deal could give a fillip to India’s economic ties with Iran, India’s interests in continental Asia will be served well by heeding to the calls for developing a long-term roadmap for bilateral relations.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Long term capital gain
Mains level: Paper 3- Rising inequality in India
Context
This upsurge of inflation is affecting the poor more than any other social group because some of the commodities whose prices are increasing the most (like petrol and certain food items) represent a larger fraction of the budget of the most vulnerable sections of society.
Factors fueling inflation in India
- The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) show an upward rising trend, annually, at 13.11 per cent and 6.07 per cent respectively.
- Falling rupee: Inflation is here to stay because it has much to do with the decline in value of the rupee that has fallen to its lowest, which makes imports of oil and gas more expensive.
- Ukraine crisis: The war in Ukraine has the same effect and pushes the price of some food items upward.
Rising inequality
- Impact on the poor: This upsurge of inflation is affecting the poor more because some of the commodities whose prices are increasing the most represent a larger fraction of the budget of the most vulnerable sections of society.
- Rising inequality: As a result, inequalities — which were already on the rise — are increasing further.
- Recently, the State of Inequality in India report showed that an Indian making Rs 3 lakh a year belonged to the top 10 per cent of the country’s wage earners.
- Inequalities are also increasing among salaried people, who are privileged compared to those of the informal sector: The bottom 50 per cent account for only 22 per cent of the total salary income.
- The situation of the lower-middle class and poor is deteriorating.
- The Reserve Bank of India shows slow farm wage growth in nominal terms: From an average of 6.6 per cent in fiscal 2021 to 5.7 per cent in fiscal 2022 (April-November average). This is below the inflation rate.
Inequality in healthcare
- India’s spending on healthcare is among the lowest in the world.
- A decent level of healthcare is available only to the ones who can afford it because of increasing out-of-pocket expenditure — the payment made directly by individuals for the health service, not covered under any financial protection scheme.
- Overall, these out-of-pocket expenses on healthcare are 60 per cent of the total expenditure on public health in India, which is one of the highest in the world.
How policies are contributing to the increasing inequality?
- High indirect taxes: The share of indirect taxes in the state’s fiscal resources has increased from 2014 to 2019 to reach 50 per cent of the total taxes in 2019.
- Higher indirect taxes are the most unfair as it affects everyone, irrespective of their income.
- Taxes on alcohol and petroleum products are cases in point.
- In contrast, the big companies are flourishing, again, partly because of certain fiscal policies.
- Low corporate taxes: The government’s budget in 2015 substantially lowered the corporate tax.
- Withdrawal of enhanced surcharge: In addition to these tax cuts, the government withdrew the enhanced surcharge on long- and short-term capital gains for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) as well as domestic portfolio investors.
- These government policies are clearly promoting the supply side at the expense of demand.
- The central bank has raised interest rates and CRR in an attempt to curb demand, but demand in the country is already choking.
Way forward
- Higher allocation for MGNREGA: A higher allocation of funds for MGNREGS in rural areas, as well as the introduction of similar employment generation schemes in urban areas, should, therefore, be a priority.
- Municipal bonds at state level: At the state level, the development of municipal bond markets could be a plausible alternative.
- Reduction on excise duty on fuel: A reduction in the excise duty on fuel prices and easing the fuel tax burden could also supplement the disposable income and reduce the input cost burden for producers.
Conclusion
Though the government is opting for market-based economics, currently, India needs a mixed solution that comprises price stability via government channels and subsidies.
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Back2Basics: Long and short-term capital gain
- When you buy and sell assets, the profit that you earn is called a Capital Gain.
- Long Term Capital Gains are those that you earn when you sell an asset after 36 months (3 years) from the date on which you acquired the asset.
- Short Term Capital Gains are those that you earn when you sell an asset in under 36 months (3 years) from the date on which you acquired the asset.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Positive externalities
Mains level: Paper 3- What commodities should be distributed for free or subsidised level
Context
The newly elected Punjab government’s announcement of providing up to 300 units of free power to every household has raised questions: What constitutes “freebies”?
Two categories for providing support
- In India government provides two types of support.
- 1] support to low-income households for augmenting their consumption of selected goods and services.
- 2] Government also provides incentives to support selected categories of investors and producers.
- Different objectives: The economic objectives in these two categories are quite different.
- The first category would include the free or subsidised provision of foodgrains and services such as health and education.
- Examples of the second group include the central government’s recent initiative for production-linked incentives to various sectors and tax concessions.
- In the past, incentives in the form of reduction of corporate taxes have been offered to promote investment in general, or in certain regions such as backward areas.
What commodities should be distributed free?
- The key question is to decide what commodities should be distributed free or at a subsidised level and what the level of subsidy should be.
- Essential goods: The provision of foodgrains at a heavily subsidised price to target groups has found general acceptance, particularly among political parties, even though there are some critics of the measure.
- The distribution of commodities which are considered “essential”, primarily foodgrains, faces no criticism.
- Merit goods: There is also a category of goods which are called “merit” goods where significant positive externalities are associated with their consumption — for instance, health and education-related provisions, including mid-day meals and breakfast.
- In such cases, subsidisation is justified: If only market prices prevail, the community will consume less than what is socially desirable.
What should be the suitable mode of providing support?
- The question of a suitable model for providing budgetary support arises in the context of both consumption and production-supporting initiatives.
- 1] In the first case, budgetary support to a targeted segment of the population for augmenting their consumption of essential items may be provided either through direct income support or by a free or highly subsidised provision.
- Procurement set up and distribution system: When the provision of subsidised goods is involved, there may, in general, be a requirement of a procurement set-up and a public distribution system.
- Managing procurement and distribution by government agencies involves additional costs which tend to be higher than the corresponding supply through the market because of leakages and avoidable administrative costs.
- 2] Production-related incentives: In the case of production-related incentives, alternative methods include direct budgetary support and indirect support through tax concessions.
- Both have a differential impact.
- These schemes also require to be carefully designed to avoid their misuse and minimise their costs. The provision of free power to farmers was often misused.
- In the case of tax concessions, there have not been any convincing studies as to whether the stated initial objectives were achieved in line with the large budgetary costs.
- The magnitudes involved amounted to 1.9 per cent and 2.5 per cent of the GDP in 2018-19 and 2019-20 respectively.
What should be a prudent fiscal limit for funding such programmes?
- Let us consider the case of distribution of commodities that are meant to support consumption.
- Limited budgetary resources: This question should be considered in light of our limited budgetary resources.
- Stagnating revenue to GDP ratio: In India, the revenue to GDP ratio has been stagnating over a long period of time.
- During 2010-11 to 2019-20, combined revenue receipts of central and state governments, relative to GDP, have languished in the narrow range of 18.4 per cent to 20.3 per cent.
- In contrast, in many developed and emerging market economies, this ratio tends to be much higher.
- In 2019, these ratios were 36 per cent and 30.1 per cent for the UK and USA.
Suggestions
- It is advisable to limit the distribution of commodities and services at highly subsidised levels to essential and merit goods.
- Infrastructure expansion: Production may be incentivised more effectively by other methods such as infrastructure expansion.
- Determining the total quantum of support: In respect of production-related incentives also, greater care is required for determining the total quantum of support as well as the specific forms of such support.
- Limit of 10 %: It would be prudent to limit overall fiscal support for the distribution of commodities to less than 10 per cent of the total expenditure of the central government and state governments until their revenue GDP or GSDP ratios are successfully increased in a sustained way.
Conclusion
Governments that do not pay adequate attention to the strength of their fisc eventually become exposed to the cost of the choices that they make.
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Back2Basics: Merit goods
- Merit goods are the goods that are provided generally by the government to certain sections of the society.
- Unlike in the case of pure public goods, the merit goods are not provided to the entire society; rather they are given to certain targeted people.
- The government here believe that the deserving people may under-consume such goods and hence provides these to them at low cost or no cost.
Positive externalities
- A positive externality exists if the production and consumption of a good or service benefits a third party not directly involved in the market transaction.
- For example, education directly benefits the individual and also provides benefits to society as a whole through the provision of more informed and productive citizens.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Section 295A
Mains level: Hate speech and blasphemy
The debate surrounding the comments by some political spokespersons has put the spotlight on the IPC Sec 295A which deals with criticism of or insult to religion.
What is the news?
- India does not have a formal legal framework for dealing with hate speech.
- However, a cluster of provisions, loosely termed hate speech laws, are invoked.
- There are primarily some laws to deal with offences against religions.
What is Section 295A?
- Section 295A, define the contours of free speech and its limitations with respect to offences relating to religion.
- It prescribes punishment for deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.
- It calls for imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to [three years], or with fine, or with both.
- It has been invoked on a wide range of issues from penalising political satire and seeking bans on or withdrawal of books to even political critique on social media.
Chapters to penalise religious offences
Section 295A is one of the key provisions in the IPC chapter to penalise religious offences. The same chapter includes offences to penalise:
- Damage or defilement of a place of worship with intent to insult the religion (Section 295)
- Trespassing in a place of sepulture (burial) (Section 297)
- Uttering, words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person (Section 298) and
- Disturbing a religious assembly (Section 296)
Origins of the law
- Colonial origins of the hate speech provisions are often criticised for the assumption that Indians were susceptible to religious excitement.
- Section 295A was brought in 1927.
- The antecedents of Section 295A lie in the communally charged atmosphere of North India in the 1920s.
- The amendment was a fallout of an acquittal under Section 153A of the IPC by the Lahore High Court in 1927 in Rajpaul v Emperor, popularly known as the Rangila Rasool case.
Frequency of use
- The state often invokes Section 295A along with 153A of the IPC, which penalises promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.
- It acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony and Section 505 of the IPC that punishes statements conducing to public mischief.
What about online hate speech?
- In cases where such speech is online, Section 66A of the Information Technology Act was invoked.
- However, in a landmark verdict in 2015, the Supreme Court struck down Section 66A as unconstitutional on the ground that the provision was “vague” and a “violation of free speech”.
- However, the provision continues to be invoked.
Issues with such laws
- The broad, vague terms in the laws are often invoked in its misuse.
- Lower conviction rates for these provisions indicate that the process — where a police officer can arrest without a warrant — is often the punishment.
- Critics have pointed out that these laws are intended for the state to step in and restore “public order” rather than protect free speech.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ASEAN
Mains level: India-ASEAN Relations
The Foreign Minister of Myanmar is unlikely to be part of the 24th ASEAN-India Ministerial summit.
What is the news?
- Myanmar’s absence is the souring ASEAN-Myanmar.
- This is after the coup that overthrew the Aung San Suu Kyi government in Myanmar.
- This shows India’s concern over the junta in Myanmar which has refused to enter into a negotiation
What is ASEAN?
- ASEAN is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia.
- It brings together ten Southeast Asian states – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – into one organisation.
- It was established on 8th August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration by the founding fathers of the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines.
- The preceding organisation was the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) comprising of Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
- Five other nations joined the ASEAN in subsequent years making the current membership to ten countries.
India-ASEAN Relations: A Backgrounder
- Look-East Policy in 1992 gave an upthrust to India -ASEAN relation and helped India in capitalizing its historical, cultural and civilizational linkages with the region.
- India entered into a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in goods with the region in 2003 which has facilitated the bilateral trade which now stands at approximately USD 76 Billion.
- Further, the launch of Act East Policy in 2014 has added a new vigour to India-ASEAN relations.
Significance of ASEAN to India
- ASEAN’s centrality in India’s foreign policy – A cohesive, responsive, and prosperous ASEAN is central to India’s Indo-Pacific Vision and India’s Act East Policy and contributes to Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).
- Economic – ASEAN is the one of the largest market in the world comparative to the EU and North American markets.
- It’s also the 4th most popular investment destination globally.
- Investment opportunities for Indian businesses – Cost of production is lower in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, which means that Indian firms can gain significantly by investing in these countries.
- Countering China – Cooperation between India and ASEAN is crucial to counter China’s power projection in the region. Both have territorial and border issues with China, disputes over the South China Islands and waters for ASEAN and over land boundaries for India.
- Integration with regional and global supply chains – Increasing engagement with ASEAN is pivotal to facilitate India’s integration with regional and global supply chain movements.
- North-East development – Connectivity projects with the ASEAN nations keeping Northeast India at the centre can ensure the economic growth of the land-locked north-eastern states.
- Collaboration with the ASEAN nations is necessary to counter insurgency in the Northeast, combat terrorism, etc.
- Maritime security – The Indian Ocean carries 90% of India’s trade and its energy sources. Presence of choke points such as the Malacca strait makes the South-East Asian region significant for countering traditional and non-traditional maritime threats like piracy and terrorism.
- Indian Diaspora – About 9-8% of the population in Malaysia and Singapore is of Indian origin, in Myanmar-4% and Indonesia about 0.5%.
Areas of Cooperation
- Economic Cooperation – ASEAN is India’s 4th largest trading partner.
- India signed FTA in goods in 2009 and an FTA in services and investments in 2014 with ASEAN.
- India has a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with various countries of the ASEAN region which has resulted in concessional trade and a rise in investments.
- Political Cooperation – ASEAN-India Centre (AIC) was established to undertake policy research, advocacy and networking activities with organizations and think-tanks in India and ASEAN.
- Delhi Dialogue – Annual Track 1.5 event for discussing politico-security and economic issues between ASEAN and India.
- Financial Assistance – India provides financial assistance to the ASEAN nations through various mechanism like ASEAN-India Cooperation Fund, ASEAN-India S&T Development Fund and ASEAN-India Green Fund.
- Connectivity – India has been undertaking several connectivity projects like India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral (IMT) Highway and the Kaladan Multimodal Project.
- India is also trying to establish a Maritime Transportation Agreementwith ASEAN and also Plans for a Railway link between New Delhi in India to Hanoi in Vietnam.
- Socio-Cultural Cooperation – Programmes to boost People-to-People Interaction with ASEAN are organized, such as inviting ASEAN students to India, Special Training Course for ASEAN diplomats, Exchange of Parliamentarians, etc.
- Defence Cooperation – Joint Naval and Military exercises are conducted between India and most ASEAN countries.
- Vietnam has traditionally been a close friend on defense issues, Singapore is also an equally important partner.
- Maritime Cooperation – adopted Delhi Declaration and decided to identify Cooperation in the Maritime Domain as the key area of cooperation under the ASEAN-India strategic partnership.
- India is developing its maiden deep-sea port in a strategically located Sabang port in Indonesia.
REGIONAL COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP (RCEP) AGREEMENT
- RCEP is a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that has been signed between 15 countries including the 10 ASEAN members, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.
- RCEP was first proposed in 2011 with an aim to create a consolidated market for the ASEAN countries and their trade partners.
- RCEP now forms the world’s largest trade bloc, covering over 2.2 billion people and accounting for 30% of the world’s economy.
- Though India was a part of the RCEP’s negotiations, it dropped out in November 2019, citing significant outstanding issues that remain unresolved.
Reasons behind India pulling out of RCEP
- Trade imbalance with RCEP members – India’s trade deficit with RCEP countries has almost doubled in the last five-six years.
- Chinese Angle – From a geopolitical perspective, RCEP is China-led or is intended to expand China’s influence in Asia. India has already signed FTA with all the countries of RCEP except China.
- Signing of RCEP can lead to cheaper products from China flooding the Indian market.
- Lack of adequate protection for domestic industries – India’s proposals for strict Rules of Origin (to prevent routing of products from non-RCEP countries) and an Auto-trigger mechanism to impose tariffs when imports crossed a certain threshold which were not accepted.
- Lack of Service component – Most developed RCEP countries where India can export services, have been unwilling to negotiate wide-ranging disciplines in services that can create new market access for trade in services in this region.
- Concerns by local industries – A large number of sectors including dairy, agriculture, steel, automobiles, etc had expressed serious apprehensions on RCEP citing dominance of cheap foreign goods would dampen its business.
- India’s FTA experience – India’s FTAs has generally led to greater imports than exports, giving rise to high trade deficits with FTA partners like South Korea, Japan, and ASEAN.
Possible Implications of India not joining RCEP
Protectionist image – Withdrawal from RCEP along with other recent measures like call for self-reliance under Atmanirbhar Abhiyan, etc can be perceived as India taking a protectionist stance in terms of trade policy.
Lost opportunity for India’s export sector – RCEP was envisaged to strengthen Asian supply chains, bring in investments and boost the member countries’ competitiveness in global markets.
Effect on bilateral ties with RCEP countries – There are concerns that the decision will hamper India’s bilateral trade with RCEP member countries as they would be inclined to bolster trade within the bloc.
Lost opportunity in securing a position in the post COVID world: RCEP is expected to help member countries emerge from the economic devastation caused by the pandemic through access to regional supply chains.
Arguments for reviewing India’s decision
- Global Economic Stagnation due to Covid-19 pandemic – RCEP can serve as a bulwark in containing the free fall of the global economy and re-energising economic activity.
- RCEP presents a unique opportunity to support India’s economic recovery, inclusive development, and job creation even as it helps strengthen regional supply chains.
- Economic Realism – India should deter seeing RCEP only from the Chinese perspective.
- India can draw inspiration from Japan & Australia, as they chose to bury their geopolitical differences with China to prioritise what they collectively see as a mutually beneficial trading compact.
- Strategic Need – RCEP’s membership is a prerequisite to having a say in shaping RCEP’s rules, which is necessary to safeguard India’s interests and the interests of several countries that are too small to stand up to the largest member, China.
- As the summary of the final agreement shows, the pact does cover and attempt to address some issues that India had flagged, including rules of origin, trade in services, movement of persons. Therefore, this makes the case of India to review its decision and look RCEP through the lens of economic realism.
Challenges in India-ASEAN Relations
- China factor – India’s effort in this regard is meagre when compared to China’s dominance in the region
- China’s assertive military, political and economic rise, as well as the South China Sea disputes have divided ASEAN without unanimity amongst them.
- Economic challenges – India has an unfavourable balance of trade with the ASEAN nations.
- RCEP deal – India walking out of RCEP can become a sticking point between India and ASEAN, since India’s domestic market was considered a key element in the RCEP negotiations.
- India has not signed RCEP for various reasons like non-transparency in RCEP, RCEP’s non-accounting of India’s service sector relaxations, etc.
- By not signing the RCEP India also lose access to new market opportunities created in East Asia.
- Slow development in Bilateral relations – Many bilateral deals with these nations are yet to be finalised, leading to the halting of various aspects of diplomatic ties.
- Delayed projects – Though India has committed to many connectivity projects, they have not been completed at the rate on par with China
- China, on the other hand, through its BRI, is able to gain the trust of these countries.
India’s pulling out of the RCEP deal shows the limitations of the ties with the ASEAN nations. Maintaining cordial ties, both bilaterally and multilaterally with these nations is essential for both India’s economic and security interests.
South-East Asian nations are looking at India to take on a greater role for the economic integration of the region and for ensuring an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Many of the members of the ASEAN perceive India as a much-needed counterbalance to China.
Way Forward
- An alternative economic corridor based multimodal connectivity such as Mekong-India Economic Corridor may be promoted, which will connect Indian coast with unexplored Southeast Asian coast and beyond.
- Strengthening land, air, and sea linkages will enhance people-to-people flows, as well as boost business, investment, and tourism.
- With China having three times more commercial flights than India to Southeast Asia, improving air connectivity between India and ASEAN countries should also be high on the agenda.
- India has proposed setting up of an ASEAN-India Network of Universities (AINU) to enhance our educational ties.
- India can become the military partner after the Atma Nirbar Bharat, Make in India projects are successfully implemented.
- No ASEAN country has close military ties with China as they never trusted China for military alliance.
- Concept of QUAD must be expanded to include the ASEAN countries and become a QUAD+ arrangement.
- Vietnam and Indonesia have expressed a positive note on QUAD in the region.
- Digital technologies – Given the reluctance of ASEAN states to take help from Chinese giants in the field (due to concerns regarding China’s ability to own data), Indian IT sector may take some advantage.
- Strengthening cultural connect – Tourism can be further encouraged between India and the ASEAN with some creative branding by the two sides.
Failure of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has made India look outside South Asia towards countries of Southeast Asia for economic and political cooperation.
The ASEAN region has become strategically important for India due to its growing importance in the world politics. And for India to be a regional power as it claims to be, continuing to enhance its relations with ASEAN in all spheres must be a priority.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 5G technology
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Cabinet has approved the auction of airwaves capable of offering fifth generation, or 5G, telecom services, including ultra-high-speed Internet, and gave its nod for setting up of captive 5G networks by big tech firms.
What is the news?
- The auction of over 72 GHz of the spectrum will be held by July-end.
- Auctions will be held at reserve prices recommended by the sector regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
- TRAI had earlier recommended about a 39% reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of 5G spectrum for mobile services.
What is 5G technology?
- 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
- It mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high-frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.
Three bands of 5G
(1) Low band spectrum
- It has shown great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange, the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
- This means that while telcos can use and install it for commercial cellphones users who may not have specific demands for very high-speed internet, the low band spectrum may not be optimal for the specialized needs of the industry.
(2) Mid-band spectrum
- It offers higher speeds compared to the low band but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
- Telcos and companies, which have taken the lead on 5G, have indicated that this band may be used by industries and specialized factory units for building captive networks that can be molded into the needs of that particular industry.
(3) High-band spectrum
- It offers the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
- Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G have been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.
Where does India stand in the 5G technology race?
- On par with the global players, India had, in 2018, planned to start 5G services as soon as possible, with an aim to capitalize on the better network speeds and strength that the technology promised.
- Indian private telecom players have been urging the DoT to lay out a clear road map of spectrum allocation and 5G frequency bands so that they would be able to plan the rollout of their services accordingly.
- One big hurdle, however, is the lack of flow of cash and adequate capital with some companies due to their AGR dues.
Global progress on 5G
- More than governments, global telecom companies have started building 5G networks and rolling it out to their customers on a trial basis.
- In countries like the US, some companies have taken the lead when it comes to rolling out commercial 5G for their users.
- A South Korean company, which had started researching on 5G technology way back in 2011, has, on the other hand, take the lead when it comes to building the hardware for 5G networks for several companies.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bharat Gaurav Scheme
Mains level: Pilgrim tourism
The ‘Bharat Gaurav’ train service from Coimbatore to Shirdi, a first of its kind in the country, was inaugurated at the Coimbatore North Railway Station.
What are Bharat Gaurav trains?
- Bharat Gaurav express trains are operated by private players, who have the right to use the rail infrastructure provided by the Indian Railways.
About Bharat Gaurav Scheme
- Under this Scheme, theme-based tourist circuit trains, on the lines of the Ramayana Express, can be run either by private or State-owned operators.
- Till now, the Railways had passenger segments and goods segments.
- Now, it will have a third segment for tourism under the Bharat Gaurav.
- The scheme has been developed after extensive stakeholder discussions and a lot of State Governments, including Odisha, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, have shown interest.
Key features
- Service providers, who can be an individual, company, society, trust, joint venture or consortium will be free to decide themes/circuits.
- They will offer an all-inclusive package to tourists including rail travel, hotel accommodation and sightseeing arrangement, visit to historical/heritage sites, tour guides etc.
- They have full flexibility to decide the package cost.
- The service providers will also be able to design/furnish the interior of the coaches based on the theme and put branding or advertising inside and outside of the train.
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