| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NFHS and other survey mentioned

Mains level: Need for national health data architecture

This article discusses the feasibility of conducting a single comprehensive survey for collecting health-related data in India.

Context

In a country perennially thirsty for reliable health data, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is like an oasis.
It has a large volume of data that is openly accessible.
The report of the fifth round of the NFHS was recently released. Since then, we had many articles covering different aspects (malnutrition, fertility, and domestic violence to name a few).

What is NFHS?

The NFHS is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India.
Three rounds of the survey have been conducted since the first survey in 1992-93.
Currently, the survey provides district-level information on fertility, child mortality, contraceptive practices, reproductive and child health (RCH), nutrition, and utilization and quality of selected health services.
The Ministry of Health has designated the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) Mumbai, as the nodal agency, responsible for providing coordination and technical guidance for the survey.

Issues with health surveys in India

Multiple surveys: The NFHS is not the only survey. In the last five years, there has been the National NCD Monitoring Survey (NNMS), the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) etc.
Huge cost: Each survey funding for different rounds of NFHS costs upto ₹250 crore.
Huge chunk of data: The size of the survey has obvious implications for data quality.
Different estimates: Multiple surveys also raise the problem of differing estimates, as is likely, due to sampling differences in the surveys.
Limited respondents: The respondents are largely women in the reproductive age group (15-49 years) with husbands included.
Global obligations: Some of these surveys are done to meet the global commitments on targets (NCDs, tobacco, etc.).
Undefined purpose The health surveys have confusing research with programme monitoring and surveillance needs. Ex. Questions on domestic violence in NFHS.

Need of the hour

Alignment of purpose: There have been previous attempts to align these surveys but they have failed as different advocates have different “demands” and push for inclusion of their set of questions.
Regularity of surveys: NFHS is the only major survey that India has a record of doing regularly. One does not know if and when the other surveys will be repeated.

One-stop solution

National health data architecture: With diverse aspects of health, there is a need to plan the public health data infrastructure for the country.
Budgetary outlay: We also need to ensure that these data are collected in an orderly and regular manner with appropriate budgetary allocation.
Purpose definition: This requires clarity of purpose and a hard-nosed approach to the issue that randomized activities.
National-level indicators: We have to identify a set of national-level indicators and surveys that will be done using national government funds at regular intervals.

How should surveys be done?

There should be three national surveys done every three to five years in a staggered manner:

NFHS focuses on Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) issues
Behavioral Surveillance Survey (focusing on HIV, NCD, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH)-related and other behaviors) and
Nutrition-Biological Survey (entails collection of data on blood pressure, anthropometry, blood sugar, serology, etc.)

We need to look at alternate models and choose what suits us best.

Way forward

Important public health questions can be answered by specific studies conducted by academic institutions on a research mode based on availability of funding.
States have to become active partners including providing financial contributions to these surveys.
It is also very important to ensure that the data arising from these surveys are in the public domain.

Conclusion

We are ready to establish public health data architecture for our complexity of needs.
We have the technical capacity to do so.
All it requires now is the political will.

UPSC 2022 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

Foreign Policy Watch: India-Myanmar

A chance to tap India’s high equity in Myanmar

op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 2- India-Myanmar relations

Context

The recent short visit to Myanmar by India’s Foreign Secretary had a clearly-etched mandate: to deepen cooperation with an important neighbour. His mission succeeded to a large extent, but challenges remain.

Background of the current political scenario in Myanmar

Transition to democracy and derailment: Since the military coup on February 1, 2021, the international community has stayed divided on how to address the derailment of Myanmar’s transition to democracy.
For a decade, the country’s system based on power-sharing between the military and elected representatives ran well enough.
An overwhelming electoral victory of the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in November 2020, unnerved the military leadership.
The Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military) moved faster, seizing power in violation of the Constitution and putting down the Opposition with an iron hand.
Global reaction: Global dismay was evident in the western sanctions, but others such as Russia saw the opportunity to strengthen ties with the new rulers.
China took urgent steps to stabilise and expand cooperation with the military regime.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) first showed creativity through its ‘Five-Point Consensus’ formula, but later its unity stood damaged once Myanmar’s top leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing refused to cooperate.

India’s position and bilateral concerns

In Indian foreign Secretary Mr. Shringla visit he succeeded in holding substantive discussions with various stakeholders.
India’s position: India’s position, as conveyed to Myanmar, is similar to and supportive of ASEAN: release of political prisoners; resolution of issues through dialogue; cessation of “all violence”; and full cooperation with ASEAN.
Assistance for capacity building: In recent years, India has assisted Myanmar through capacity-building programmes for strengthening the transition to democracy.
This assistance remains available, but it is not an offer of mediation by India in the military-NLD conflict.
This burden will have to be borne by ASEAN.
India’s concerns: India’s principal concerns pertaining to border security and stability in its neighbourhood were clearly conveyed, especially the noticeable escalation of activities of anti-India insurgent groups.
Refugee issue: The second issue — the outcome of Myanmar’s instability — is that of refugees. Several thousands of Myanmar people have sought shelter in Mizoram.
This will only be reversed by a political settlement in Myanmar, through dialogue.
Economic cooperation: Economic cooperation has always been a major agenda item in all bilateral discussions with Myanmar.
Central to this is India’s long-delayed commitment to “expeditious implementation” of mega initiatives such as the Trilateral Highway and Kaladan projects.

Way forward

China is not the only friend: India continues to have high equity in Myanmar, which it must now carefully leverage.
It is reflected in the special gesture made by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to receive Mr. Shringla and hold detailed discussions in Yangon. This is unusual.
The protocol departure for Mr. Shringla revealed current political realities which should be carefully factored in against the argument that China is the only friend Myanmar has.
Leverage the gainst of the visit: India can leverage the gains of this visit and keep up the momentum by inviting Myanmar’s Foreign Minister at an appropriate time as well as other important stakeholders to India for deliberations with their counterparts here.

Conclusion

The single goal should be to put Myanmar back on the path of becoming “a stable, democratic and federal union.

UPSC 2022 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

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

Extending outpatient health care coverage

op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 2- Extending coverage to OP care

Context

Over the past two decades, initiatives announced to extend health care coverage to the indigent sections have come under criticism due to their near-exclusive focus on hospitalisation (inpatient, IP) care.

Significance of outpatient health care

What is outpatient health care: Outpatient (OP) health care, mainly comprising doctor consultations, drugs, and tests, can be called ‘the elephant in the room’ of Indian public health care policy.
OP expenses have the majority share in total out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure on health.

Why do we need to extend OP care coverage?

How IP care differs from OP care? IP care comprises high-impact and unavoidable episodes that are less prone to misuse than OP care, for which demand is considerably more sensitive to price and is thus more prone to overuse under health insurance.
IP insurance prioritised: This logic, among other reasons, has led to IP insurance schemes being prioritised.
[1] OP care and preventive care is neglected: While a price-sensitive demand for OP care entails that it could be misused under insurance, it also means that OP care is the first to come under the knife when there is no insurance.
In India, where there are many public IP insurance schemes but no OP coverage, this incentive is further amplified.
The mantra of ‘prevention is better than cure’ thus goes for a toss.
[2] Against economic sense: It defies economic sense to prioritise IP care over OP care for public funds.
Preventive and primary care services which often come with externalities, elicit little felt need and demand, and must therefore be the primary recipients of public investment.
Not conducive to epidemiological profile: Greater investments in IP care today translate to even greater IP care investments in future, further reduction in primary care spending, and ultimately lesser ‘health’ for the money invested.
None of these are conducive to the epidemiological profile that characterises this country.

Issues with using private commercial insurance to extend OP care coverage nationwide

Some recent policy pronouncements by the Centre have conveyed an inclination to expand healthcare coverage with little fiscal implications for the government.
Challenges:
[1] The OP practices are under-regulated and there is a lack of standards.
[2] The difficulty to monitor OP clinical and prescribing behaviours and the concomitant higher likelihood of malpractices.
[3] Low public awareness of insurance products and a low ability to discern entitlements and exclusions.
[4] Add to it the inexperience that a still under-developed private OP insurance sector brings.
All these entail tremendous and largely wasteful costs and administrative complexity, and it would be of little help even if the government was to step in with considerable subsidies.

Suggestion

Need for fiscal and time commitment: Significant improvements in healthcare are implausible without significant fiscal and time commitments.
No perfect model: There is no ‘perfect’ model of expanding healthcare — the emphasis must be on finding the best fit.
Implementing even such a best fit could involve adopting certain modalities with known drawbacks.
Expand public spending: The focus must be on expanding public OP care facilities and services financed mainly by tax revenues.
For India, wisdom immediately points to successful countries that are (or were, at one point) much closer to its socioeconomic fabric, such as Thailand, than countries like the U.S. which we currently look to emulate.
Now, the sparse number and distribution of public facilities offers various modes of rationing care, and their expansion is likely to result in a considerable spike in demand.
Contracting with private players: Contracting with private players based on objective and transparent criteria would also be called for, with just enough centralised supervision to deter corruption while preserving local autonomy.
To deter supply-side malpractices, low-powered modes of provider payment, such as capitation, may be considered for private providers wherever possible.

Conclusion

There are several compelling reasons for extending outpatient health care coverage even though there are several challenges to overcome to achieve this.

UPSC 2022 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

Labour, Jobs and Employment – Harmonization of labour laws, gender gap, unemployment, etc.

All you need to know about the New Labour Codes

| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Issues relating growth and development, employment

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Labour codes

Mains level: Labour reforms in India

India is likely to implement four new labour codes on wages, social security, industrial relations, and occupational safety by the next fiscal year beginning 2022.

Must read:

[Burning Issue] New Labour Laws

New Labour Codes

The four codes likely to be implemented in FY23 are:

Code on Wages
Industrial Relations Code
Social Security Code, and
Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code

Objectives of the Labour Code

The new labor codes are aimed at facilitating ease of doing business in the country and seek to replace 29 cumbersome laws.
The objective is to encompass over 500 million organized and unorganized sector workers—90% of the workforce which has been outside labour laws.
The idea is to ensure that they receive wage security, social security and health security, gender equality in terms of remuneration, a minimum floor wage, make the lives of inter-state migrant workers easier.

What is the current status of the codes?

The central government has completed the process of finalizing the draft rules, state governments are in the process of drafting the same.
With labor being a concurrent subject, states are in the process of pre-publishing draft rules for these reforms.

How many labour laws do Indian states have?

The simplification of 29 labour laws into the four labour codes is expected be a watershed moment for labour reforms.
India currently has a web of multiple labour legislations, over 40 central laws and 100 state laws involving labour.
The Second National Commission on Labour (2002) recommended simplification to bring about transparency and uniformity.

What are the major goals in these codes?

Social security benefits: With organized sector workers being approximately 10% of the total workforce, the new codes may ensure that social security benefits are for all.
Take-home salary: As per the proposed labour codes, total allowances such as house rent, leave, travel etc. are to be capped at 50% of the salary, while basic pay should account for the remaining 50%.
Four days work: There could also be a permissible four-day work week of 12 hours per day.

How will it affect ease of doing business?

Labour productivity: It is likely to improve with both employees and employers developing a sense of being partners in wealth creation.
Labour reform: A transparent environment in terms of workers’ compensation, clear definition of employee rights and employer duties.
Compliance un-burdening: Simplified labour codes making compliance easier are likely to attract investments.
Formalization of the economy: With more workers in the organized sector, leakage in terms of direct as well as indirect taxes may be plugged.

UPSC 2022 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

Foreign Policy Watch: India-Sri Lanka

Trincomalee Oil Farms Deal

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

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Trincomalee oil field

Mains level: Indian infrastructure projects in SL

After a year of negotiations, Sri Lanka will ink the deal with India to jointly develop the Trincomalee oil tank farms — a coveted project that has remained controversial for decades.

About Trincomalee oil field

The facility, built by the British around World War II as a refueling station, has 99 storage tanks that look like giant wells.
They have a capacity of 12,000 kilolitres each.
Eighty-four of those are in the 800-acre Upper Tank Farm (UTF). For a good part of a century now, these tanks have remained unused, shrouded in a forest.
The Lower Tank Farm (LTF) has 16 tanks, spread across 50 acres.

Historical background

Trincomalee harbor is the second deepest natural harbor in the world.
The British who were in control of the island decided to make this as their primary logistics station in the east after World War I.
It is also a lesser-known but important logistic station during World War II.
British started the oil storage project in 1924 and completed in late 1930s.
After that it was abandoned by the British in 1948 when Sri Lanka gained independence.
In 2002, the development of this tank farm was revived by an Indian company Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

History of India’s interest in Trincomalee

The development of the Trincomalee Oil Tank farm has been a recurring talking point in Indo-Lanka relations since 1987.
It was first mentioned in the Indo- Lanka Accord signed by PM Rajiv Gandhi and President Jayewardene.
Despite that, nothing really took off until 2003, when Indian Oil Corporation set up Lanka IOC, its Sri Lankan subsidiary.
The agreement remained dormant for years, until the Sirisena- Wickremesinghe administration tried revisiting it through the 2017 MoU.

Significance of Trincomalee

Demography: Trincomalee is home to 3.7 lakh Muslim, Tamil and Sinhala people and Trincomalee, in Sri Lanka’s post-war years.
Tourism: It has emerged as a favorite destination for surfers from around the world, gradually transforming with plush resorts and restaurants dotting its coast.
Important sea route: Trincomalee remains in spotlight as a potential transit point for international trade routes, particularly drawing India which has known strategic interests there.
Balancing China: From India’s geostrategic viewpoint, Trincomalee is an important counterbalance to the southern Hambantota Port backed substantially by China.

Hurdles to the Project

Public resistance: India-backed projects in Sri Lanka tend to draw way more public resistance from nationalists among the majority Sinhalese constituency than projects with Chinese or American involvement.
Anti-India sentiments: Observers in Sri Lanka attribute this to the “baggage” that Indian diplomacy carries, years after its intervention during different stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war.

UPSC 2022 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

Labour, Jobs and Employment – Harmonization of labour laws, gender gap, unemployment, etc.

Every third informal worker is now registered on E-Shram Portal

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

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: E-Shram Portal

Mains level: Welfare of the unorganized workers

Every third informal sector worker in India is now registered on the e-Shram portal with registration on the portal crossing the 14 crore mark in four months.

About E-Shram Portal

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has launched the E-Shram Portal for creating a National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW) this year.
The E-Shram portal will cover all unorganised workers of the nation and help link them to social security schemes of the Government of India.
Aadhaar with mobile number linked is mandatory for the registration.

Category of unorganized workers covered:

Construction Worker
Migrant Worker
Gig & Platform Worker
Street Vendor Worker
Agriculture Worker
Others

Broad objectives of this portal

Creation of a centralized database of all unorganized workers (UWs)
To improve the implementation efficiency of the social security services for the unorganized workers
Integration of Social Security Schemes meant for UWs being administered by MoLE and subsequently, those run by other ministries as well
Portability of the social security and welfare benefits to the migrant and construction workers
Providing a comprehensive database to Central and State Governments for tackling any National Crises like COVID-19 in future

Benefits of registration

Under the scheme, Rs 2.0 Lakh Accidental Insurance cover will be provided to every registered (on E-Shram portal) unorganized worker.
Every registered unorganized worker shall be issued an E- Shram card with a unique Universal Account Number (UAN).
He/She will be able to access the benefits of the various social security schemes through this Card anywhere anytime.

Who can register on this Portal?

Any individual satisfying the following conditions can register on the portal:

An unorganized worker (UW).
Age should be between 16-59 years.
Not a member of EPFO/ESIC or NPS (Govt. funded)

What is required for registration?

Following is required to register on the portal:

Aadhaar Number
Mobile number linked with Aadhaar.
Savings Bank Account Number with IFSC code

Registrations done so far

The latest data of the portal shows that the top five States in terms of number of registrations on e-Shram are U.P., West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand.
Gender analysis of the data shows that 52.56% are female while 47.44% are male.
The data show that 42.64% of the registered workers are other backward classes (OBC) followed by 26.45% from general category, 22.54% from the scheduled caste and 8.38% from the Scheduled Tribe.
It also show that over 94% registered workers’ income is ₹10,000 per month or below while over 4% have income in the rage of ₹10,000 to ₹15,000 per month.
About 51% workers are farm laborers, 11% in construction, 10% in domestic and household work and 6.5% in the apparel segment.

UPSC 2022 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

[pib] Good Governance Index 2021

DOMR | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: GGI

Mains level: Not Much

The Centre has released the Good Governance Index 2021 prepared by DARPG (Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances) on Good Governance Day.

Try this question from CS Mains 2016:

Q. What do you understand by the terms ‘governance’, ‘good governance’ and ‘ethical governance’?

What do you mean by Good Governance?

It is the process of measuring how public institution conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the rule of law.

12 Principles of Good Governance:

Participation, Representation, Fair Conduct of Elections
Responsiveness
Efficiency and Effectiveness
Openness and Transparency
Rule of Law
Ethical Conduct
Competence and Capacity
Innovation and Openness to Change
Sustainability and Long-term Orientation
Sound Financial Management
Human rights, Cultural Diversity and Social Cohesion
Accountability

About Good Governance Index (GGI)

The GGI is a uniform tool across States to assess the Status of Governance and the impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and UTs.
The objectives are:

To provide quantifiable data to compare the state of governance in all states and UTs, enable states and UTs
To formulate and implement suitable strategies for improving governance and shift to result-oriented approaches and administration

Components of GGI

GGI 2021 Framework covered ten sectors and 58 indicators.
These ten Governance Sectors are measured on total 50 indicators:

Agriculture and Allied Sectors
Commerce & Industries
Human Resource Development
Public Health
Public Infrastructure & Utilities
Economic Governance
Social Welfare & Development
Judicial & Public Security
Environment
Citizen-Centric Governance

Categorization of States and UTs

The GGI 2020-21 categorizes States and UTs into four categories, i.e.

Other States – Group A
Other States – Group B
North-East and Hill States and
Union Territories

Top performers in 2021

Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa top the composite rank score covering 10 sectors.
GGI 2021 says that Gujarat registered 12.3 percent increase and Goa registered 24.7 percent increase over GGI 2019 indicators.
Rajasthan has topped the Other States (Group B) category in Judiciary and Public Safety, Environment & Citizen Centric Governance.
GGI 2021 says that in the North-East and Hill States category, Mizoram and Jammu and Kashmir have registered an overall increase of 10.4% and 3.7% respectively over GGI 2019.
In the UTs category, Delhi tops the composite rank registering a 14 percent increase over the GGI 2019 indicators.

UPSC 2022 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

International Space Agencies – Missions and Discoveries

Study of distant Magnetar reveals facets of the Exotic Star

Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Magnetars

Mains level: Not Much

An international group of researchers has succeeded in measuring for the first time the characteristics of a flare on a distant magnetar.

What is a Magnetar?

Magnetars are the most magnetic stars in the universe.
It is a rare compact type of neutron star teeming with energy and magnetism.
It is an exotic type of neutron star, its defining feature that it has an ultra-powerful magnetic field.
The field is about 1,000 times stronger than a normal neutron star and about a trillion times stronger than the Earth’s.
Magnetars are relatively rare objects, with only about thirty having been spotted within the Milky Way so far.

What is the recent study?

The studied magnetar is about 13 million light years away, in the direction of the NGC 253, a prominent galaxy in the Sculptor group of galaxies.
Its flare spewed within a few tenths of a second as much energy as the Sun would shed in 100,000 years.
It was captured accidentally on April 15, 2020, by the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor instrument (ASIM) of the International Space Station.
This is the first study to characterize such a flare from so distant a magnetar.

How do magnetars form?

During the course of their evolution, massive stars – with masses around 10-25 times the mass of the Sun – eventually collapse and shrink to form very compact objects called neutron stars.
A subset of these neutron stars is the so-called magnetars which possess intense magnetic fields.
These are highly dense and have breathtakingly high rotation speeds – they have rotational periods that can be just 0.3 to 12.0 seconds.

What characterizes Magnetars?

(1) Violent flares

The observed giant flare lasted approximately 160 milliseconds and during this time 1039 joules of energy was released.
The flare spewed as much energy in a tenth of a second that our Sun will radiate in 100,000 years.

(2) Starquakes

Eruptions in magnetars are believed to be due to instabilities in their magnetosphere, or “starquakes” produced in their crust – a rigid, elastic layer about one kilometer thick.
This causes waves in the magnetosphere, and interaction between these waves causes dissipation of energy.

UPSC 2022 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

Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

Who was Archbishop Desmond Tutu?

Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1:

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Desmond Tutu

Mains level: Anti-apartheid struggle in Africa

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa’s struggle against white minority rule has died on December 26 at the age of 90.

Try this question from CS Mains 2016:

Q. The anti-colonial struggles in West Africa were led by the new elite of Western-educated Africans. Examine.

Desmond Tutu (1931- 2021)

Tutu was a South African Anglican cleric who in 1984 received the Nobel Prize for Peace for his role in the opposition to apartheid in South Africa.
A decade later, he witnessed the ends of that regime and he chaired a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up to unearth atrocities committed during those dark days.
He was considered the nation’s conscience by both, the black majority and the white minority, an enduring testament to his faith and spirit of reconciliation in a divided nation.

His notable works

During South Africa’s moves toward democracy in the early 1990s, Tutu propagated the idea of South Africa as “the Rainbow Nation”.
The term was intended to encapsulate the unity of multi-culturalism and the coming together of people of many different nations, in a country once identified with the strict division of white and black under the Apartheid regime.
In 1995 South African Pres. Nelson Mandela appointed Tutu head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated allegations of human rights abuses during the apartheid era.

UPSC 2022 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

Tribes in News

In news: Tai Khamti Rebellion

Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Tai Khamti Rebellion

Mains level: Various tribal uprisings in India

The Arunachal Pradesh Deputy CM urged the Centre to recognize the Tai Khamti-British war as India’s first for independence.

Tai Khamti Rebellion

The Tai Khamti Rebellion is the first such war took place in 1839 between the Tai Khamti people and the British.
The theatre of this war was some 2,400 km east of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh where the mutiny began.
Tai Khamtis resisted colonization by the British. Some 80 British soldiers, including Col. Adam White, were killed in the resultant conflict.

Who are the Tai Khamti people?

The Tai Khamti people, who follow Theravada Buddhism, number a little more than 1,00,000 today and live in areas straddling Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.

Other revolts in Arunachal

Arunachal Deputy CM also batted for recognition of battles between other communities of Arunachal Pradesh and the British.
They include a series of Anglo-Abor wars from 1858 to 1911 and the Wancho-British war in Tirap district’s Ninu in 1875.
The Abors, now called Adis, inhabit central Arunachal Pradesh, while the Wanchos live in the southern part of the State.

UPSC 2022 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

RBI Notifications

India needs thoughtful legislation on digital currency

op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

Context

The dramatic changes in technology have created new challenges for the law, lawmakers, courts and lawyers to confront.

Challenges posed by technological transformation

Technology has outpaced the law, and lawmakers are being challenged by how quickly “we the people” have embraced technological transformations.
Challenges of regulation: Challenges include regulation of digital media platforms, censorship of Over The Top (OTT) streaming services, fixing accountability for procuring and deploying spyware like Pegasus, dealing with the bias within artificial intelligence etc.
Regulation of cryptocurrencies: In probably no other area are lawmakers required to appreciate science and technology than in cryptocurrency.
With 10 crore users of cryptocurrency and crypto assets in India, this ever-expanding market is almost entirely unregulated.

Practices or legislative models that have been adopted the other countries for regulation of cryptocurrencies

KYC, AML and CFT: Countries where cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets are legal have frameworks that mandate KYC (know your customer), AML (Anti-Money Laundering) mechanisms and demand adherence to CFT (Combating Financing of Terrorism) requirements.

[1] How Singapore regulates crypto-currencies?

Singapore adopted the approach which favours strong regulation rather than ban.
Common law to regulate traditional and cryptocurrencies: Singapore has the Payments Services Act, 2020 that has streamlined both traditional and cryptocurrencies under one law.
Provision for licences: The law also provides a framework to obtain licences to operate crypto businesses.

[2] How Switzerland regulates cryptocurrencies?

Switzerland has also favoured the strong regulation model overseen by an already established financial regulator.
Provision for licences: The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) that oversees the country’s financial markets mandates that all virtual asset service providers, including cryptocurrency exchanges must be licenced.
KYC, AML and CFT procedures must be strictly complied with. These are the checks on the use of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets that could facilitate criminal enterprise.

[3] Approach adopted by the US

Crypto exchanges to be transmitters: The US does not consider cryptocurrency to be legal tender but defines cryptocurrency exchanges to be money transmitters.
Cryptocurrencies as property: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treats cryptocurrency as property for US federal taxation purposes.
Exchanges must obtain requisite licences from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and implement the standard AML and CFT requirements that have become the norm in most jurisdictions that regulate cryptocurrencies.
Revenue potential: One of the most important lessons to absorb from the US is the revenue potential of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets.

Conclusion

In India, the need of the times is thoughtful legislation and rigorous regulation of cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets that are already here and being used.

UPSC 2022 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

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

[pib] Centre declares Soya Meal as an Essential Commodity

| Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Regulation of Essential Commodities

Mains level: Essential Commodities Act

In a bid to cool down the domestic prices of Soya Meal, Government has notified order under the Essential Commodities Act to declare ‘Soya Meal’ as Essential Commodities under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

Essential Commodities Act

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

How ECA works?

(1) Centre notifying stock limit holding

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

(2) States can opt-out

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

What happens for non-compliance?

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

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

What about Food Items?

(1) Items covered:

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

(2) Price Stabilization Fund (PSF):

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

Recent amendments to the ECA

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

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

Exceptions provided:

The government regulation of stocks will be based on rising prices, and can only be imposed if there is

A 100% increase in retail price in the case of horticultural produce and
A 50% increase in retail price in the case of non-perishable agricultural food items

These restrictions will not apply to stocks of food held for public distribution in India.

UPSC 2022 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

Judicial Reforms

Plea in Supreme Court seeks ‘Uniform Judicial Code’ for HCs

| Polity | Mains Paper 2: Executive & Judiciary

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Uniform Judicial Code

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court to implement a “Uniform Judicial Code (UJC)” for High Courts across the country to adopt a uniform set of procedures, especially for virtual courts.

What is the PIL about?

The petition urged the apex court to take appropriate steps to adopt uniform procedure for case registration, use common judicial terms, phrases and abbreviations and make the court fee uniform.
It has, alternatively, sought a direction to the Law Commission of India to prepare a report in consultation with the HC in this regard.

Why need UJC?

Matter of Equality: Judicial equality is a matter of constitutional right, its differentiation based on the jurisdiction of courts violates the right to equality.
Different nomenclatures: All the 25 High Courts have different usage of the phrases when it comes to identifying different cases.
Diverse procedures: The PIL plea highlighted how different High Courts follow different procedures in matters pertaining to virtual courts, started during the pandemic.
Different fees: Unequal court fees in different states discriminate among citizens based on their place of birth and residence. Moreover, it promotes regionalism; hence it is a clear violation of Articles 14-15.

Way forward: Bringing in digitized Judiciary systems

The judiciary needs to develop a well-defined framework supported by an accessible platform and direct e-court system in India.
It also needs to harp on advanced infrastructure to run an e-court system that eradicates the digital divide, simultaneously upping judicial functioning.
While the digitized judicial systems give some semblance of convenience for the people who interact with the court, digitization also brings threats of intrusion etc.

UPSC 2022 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

International Space Agencies – Missions and Discoveries

How James Webb Telescope seeks to unlock Universe’s Secrets

Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: JWST

Mains level: Not Much

Today, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, will be launched from French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America on the European Ariane 5 rocket.

James Webb Space Telescope

JWST is a space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
It is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA’s flagship astrophysics mission.
It will conduct a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including:

Observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe such as the formation of the first galaxies
Detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets

How is it different from other telescopes?

JWST is much more powerful and has the ability to look in the infrared spectrum, which will allow it to peer through much deeper into the universe, and see through obstructions such as gas clouds.
As electromagnetic waves travel for long distances, they lose energy, resulting in an increase in their wavelength.
An ultraviolet wave, for example, can slowly move into the visible light spectrum and the infrared spectrum, and further weaken to microwaves or radio waves, as it loses energy.
Hubble was designed to look mainly into the ultraviolet and visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
JWST is primarily an infrared telescope, the first of its kind.

Special features of JWST

(1) Time machine in space

Powerful space telescopes, like JWST or the Hubble Telescope, are often called time machines because of their ability to view very faraway objects.
The light coming from those objects, stars or galaxies, which is captured by these telescopes, began its journey millions of years earlier.
Essentially, what these telescopes see are images of these stars or galaxies as they were millions of years ago.
The more distant the planet or star, the farther back in time are the telescopes able to see.

(2) Farthest from Earth

JWST will also be positioned much deeper into space, about a million miles from Earth, at a spot known as L2.
It is one of the five points, known as Lagrange’s points, in any revolving two-body system like Earth and Sun, where the gravitational forces of the two large bodies cancel each other out.
Objects placed at these positions are relatively stable and require minimal external energy to keep them there. L2 is a position directly behind Earth in the line joining the Sun and the Earth.
It would be shielded from the Sun by the Earth as it goes around the Sun, in sync with the Earth.

(3) Engineering marvel

JWST has one large mirror, with a diameter of 21 feet (the height of a typical two-storey building), that will capture the infra-red light coming in from the deep universe while facing away from the Sun.
It will be shielded by a five-layer, tennis court-sized, kite-shaped sunscreen that is designed to block the heat from Sun and ensure the extremely cool temperatures that the instruments are built to operate at.
Temperatures on the sun-facing side can get as high as 110°C, while the other side would be maintained at –200° to –230°C.
The extremely cold temperatures are needed to detect the extremely faint heat signals from distant galaxies.
The mirror as well as the sunscreen is so large they could not have fit into any rocket. They have been built as foldable items and would be unraveled in space.

UPSC 2022 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

Swachh Bharat Mission

Meendum Manjappai Scheme

Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Meendum Manjappai Scheme

Mains level: Not Much

Tamil Nadu CM has launched the ‘Meendum Manjappai’ Scheme to promote the use of cloth bags by the public and discourage the use of plastic bags.

Meendum Manjappai Scheme

This awareness campaign on using ‘yellow’ cloth bag or ‘manjapai’ as it is called in Tamil, is aimed at encouraging the people to return to the use of this eco-friendly bag and discard the plastic bags.
Manjal means turmeric in Tamil which has curative power. The manjapai was an integral part of daily life in the past.
Traditionally the manjapais were used for shopping, carrying books, ration and even cash.
The state government had enforced a ban on the production, use, storage, distribution, transportation or sale of 14 types of plastics with effect from January 1, 2019.

UPSC 2022 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

RBI Notifications

What is Tokenization of Debit and Credit Cards?

| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Effects Of Liberalization On The Economy, Changes In Industrial Policy and their effects on Industrial Growth

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Tokenization

Mains level: Read the attached story

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to defer the implementation of tokenization of debit and credit cards for online transactions by a further six months following representations from stakeholders.

RBI decision

RBI has also extended tokenization of Card-on-File (CoF) transactions where card details are saved by merchants — and directed the merchants not to store card details in their systems from January 1, 2022.
A CoF transaction is one in which a cardholder has authorized a merchant to store his or her Mastercard or Visa payment details, and to bill the stored account.
E-commerce companies and airlines and supermarket chains often store card details.

What is Tokenisation?

Tokenisation refers to the replacement of credit and debit card details with an alternative code called a ‘token’.
This token is unique for a combination of card, token requestor (the entity that accepts a request from the customer for tokenisation of a card and passes it on to the card network to issue a token) and the device.

Benefits of Tokenization

Transaction safety: Tokenization reduces the chances of fraud arising from sharing card details.
Easy payments: The token is used to perform contactless card transactions at point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and QR code payments.
Data storage: Only card networks and card-issuing banks will have access to and can store any card data.

How are the transactions currently processed?

There are many players involved in processing one card transaction today:

Merchant
Payment aggregator
Issuing bank
Card network

When a transaction happens on a merchant platform, the data is sent to the payment aggregator (PA).
The PA next sends the details to either the issuing bank or the card network.
Then issuing bank sends an OTP and the transaction flows back.

Which companies dominate card transactions in India?

Is the industry ready to implement this?

Not fully, that is why the RBI had to extend the deadline.
The industry currently can convert CoF into a tokenized number. However, the readiness to process the token is negligible.
About 90% of banks are ready with provisioning of token on Visa. Only 25-30% banks are ready on Mastercard.

Impact on businesses

If the industry isn’t ready, several business models would be impacted.

E-mandates (recurring payments) will stand ineffective from 1 July.
Card EMIs account for 25% of online e-commerce sales. That option will no longer be available.
Cashbacks/discount offers by banks will be impacted, too.
A user may not be able to use Mastercard saved cards on a merchant platform to make a transaction and will have to enter the card details every time a transaction is made.
This could be the same for some Visa cards.

Way forward

The new system is a much bigger disruption to the way digital payments will henceforth be processed.
Integration of systems and the ability to process is one part.
The industry also needs to test the performance and success rate of the tokenization solution.

UPSC 2022 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

Women Safety Issues – Marital Rape, Domestic Violence, Swadhar, Nirbhaya Fund, etc.

Maharashtra govt.’s Shakti Bill

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

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Need of stringent laws for women safety

The Maharashtra government’s Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, 2020, on crimes against women and children has recommended capital punishment in rape cases.

Why have stringent laws have consistently failed to instill any fear in rapists? Discuss.

Shakti Act: Key Provisions

Capital punishment: It proposes stringent punishment including the death penalty and heavy fines for the culprits.
Fast-track trial: Special police teams and separate courts will be set up for investigation and trial of cases against women and children.
Jail term: The perpetrators if found guilty will be punished with imprisonment for life for not less than ten years but may extend to the remainder of natural life or with death in cases which have characteristics of being heinous in nature.
Compensation: A sum of Rs 10 lakh will be given to an acid attack victim for plastic surgery and facial reconstruction and the amount will be collected as fine from the convict.
Rapid investigation: The investigation shall be completed within a period of 15 working days from the date of registration of an offence. This can be extended by 7 days.
In-camera investigation: Some cases will be tried in-camera for the recording of evidence of victims and witnesses who are vulnerable.

Why in news?

(1) Covering acid-attacks

Politicians in Maharashtra have recommended increasing the quantum of punishment for acid attack cases under section 326A of IPC to at least 15 years that may extend to the remainder of a convict’s natural life.
The expenditure of plastic surgery and face reconstruction operations for the victim will be taken care of from the monetary fine to be charged on the accused.

(2) Social media accountability

The panel has also increased the punishment under the IPC section 175A for failure to share data for probe by social media platforms, internet providers.
Also, under Pocso Act, the data must be within three days at the pain of penalty.

(3) Curb on false complaints

Punishment will be increased for false complaints and for giving wrong information to a public servant.
The provisions under the bill are being made more stringent to punish the culprits and set deterrence.
However, it is also necessary that the innocent are saved and so severe punishment is required against people filing false or wrongful complaints.
The committee has also scrapped the provision of not giving anticipatory bail to people making wrongful or false complaints.

(4) Covering trans-persons

Under section 354E, which provides for punishment for any act of intimidating woman and insulting her modesty, the category of offenders has been increased to cover men, women and even transgender persons.

Limitations of stringent laws

Despite several laws, incidences of rapes continue unabated.
In fact, now we hear cases of extreme brutality.
The general perception is that since the laws have been made more stringent, so the rapists resort to extreme measures in a bid to destroy the evidence.

Way forward

What we need is better policing, making public spaces safer for women, ensuring round-the-clock surveillance of isolated areas, and deployment of police at all strategic points.
Prevention and not punishment is the solution and that requires concerted efforts on part of all the stakeholders.
It is not harsher punishments that will deter. It is the fear of being caught and not being spared.

UPSC 2022 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

Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

Who was P.N. Panicker?

PIB | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: P.N. Panicker and his contribution

Mains level: Not Much

The President of India has recently unveiled the statue of Shri P.N. Panicker at Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram.

P.N. Panicker (1909-1995)

Puthuvayil Narayana Panicker is known as the Father of the Library Movement of Kerala.
June 19, his death anniversary, has been observed in Kerala as Vayanadinam (Reading Day) since 1996.
In 2017, PM has declared June 19, Kerala’s Reading Day, as National Reading Day in India.
The following month is also observed as National Reading Month in India

Contributions

Panicker led the formation of Thiruvithaamkoor Granthasala Sangham (Travancore Library Association) in 1945 with 47 rural libraries.
The slogan of the organization was ‘Read and Grow’.
Later on, with the formation of Kerala State in 1956, it became Kerala Granthasala Sangham (KGS).
He traveled to the villages of Kerala proclaiming the value of reading.
Grandhasala Sangham won the ‘Krupsakaya Award’ from UNESCO in 1975.
It became the Kerala State Library Council, with an in-built democratic structure and funding.

UPSC 2022 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

Electoral Reforms In India

Electoral reform is welcome, but shouldn’t be selective

op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Representation Of People's Act

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: ECI and SECs

Mains level: Paper 2- Electoral reforms

Context

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill that seeks to link the electoral rolls with the Aadhaar database has been passed by both the Houses of the parliament.

Three electoral reforms

A wide range of electoral reform proposals has been pending with the government, several of them for over two decades.
The three reforms — common electoral rolls for Vidhan Sabha and panchayat elections, extending the qualifying date for registration of young new voters, and linking of Aadhaar with electoral rolls — taken up by the Union Cabinet on December 15 are, therefore, significant.

[1] Common electoral rolls

For years, the ECI has been advocating a common electoral roll for all elections.
Currently, separate electoral rolls are maintained for elections to the Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and local government bodies (panchayats or municipal).
Role of ECI and SECs: There are two types of election management bodies in the country — the ECI that conducts the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections and SECs that conduct panchayat and municipal elections.
The process for making electoral rolls is laid down in the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
The SECs have the option of either adopting the electoral rolls created by the ECI or preparing such rolls on their own.
Most prefer to use the rolls prepared by the ECI.
Some states, however, develop their rolls independently.
These are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Considering that a voter for all three tiers of elected bodies is the same, why is it that she finds her name missing from one of the rolls, mostly the panchayat rolls?
This is particularly surprising when the officials responsible for making both these rolls are the same.
A common electoral roll is thus a logical solution.

Benefits of common electoral rolls

Tackling stuffing voters: A common experience has been the stuffing of bogus voters in the panchayat/municipal rolls.
Corrupt practices are proportionately higher in PRI polls.
Avoid the involvement of teachers in the non-teaching work: The process of making electoral rolls is usually done by the schoolteachers.
Their involvement in non-teaching work takes its toll.
Cost-saving: A common electoral roll will obviate the need for deploying them repeatedly, besides saving enormous costs.

Suggestions for preparation of common electoral rolls

Issue joint instructions: The ECI and SECs can issue joint instructions for preparing the common rolls. The roll-making machinery stays the same.
Pilot studies may be conducted in random constituencies to identify the discrepancies between two sets of rolls and their reasons.

What are the constitutional and legal changes required?

Amendment in Article 243K and 243ZA: The SECs derive their powers to supervise local body elections from Articles 243K and 243ZA of the Constitution.
Changes in State laws: All state governments would have to change their electoral laws to adopt ECI electoral rolls for local elections.

[2] Eligibility date of new voters

According to Section 14(b) of the Representation of People Act of 1950, only those who have turned 18 on or before January 1 of the year are to be registered.
This implies that all those who turn 18 between January 2 and December 31 of a year must wait till the next year.
This technicality results in the exclusion of a large section of 18-year-olds.

Suggestion by ECI on eligibility date

The ECI had sent a letter to the Law Ministry on November 4, 2013, which recommended the issuing of a voter card to an individual ideally on their 18th birthday, or updating voter rolls every month or quarter.
A committee of the Ministry of Law and Justice under Sushil Kumar Modi has proposed quarterly cut-off dates for voter registration — January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1.

[3] Aadhar linking

The proposal to link electoral rolls with Aadhaar was first mooted by the ECI in 2015 but work on it had to be stopped when the Supreme Court ruled that Aadhaar cannot be used except voluntarily for beneficiary-oriented schemes.
Benefits of linking: The linking will help in identifying duplicate voters, something that ECI has been desperately attempting for years using various “de-duplication” software with limited success.

Consider the question “What are the concerns with linking of Aadhar and electoral rolls? Suggest the way forward.”

Conclusion

Any progress in addressing the vexed issue of electoral reform — even in a piecemeal manner — is welcome. The time has, however, come for the government to consider the 40-plus pending proposals, instead of selectively going for some reforms.

UPSC 2022 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

Electoral Reforms In India

In electoral reform bill’s passing, a missed opportunity

op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Representation Of People's Act

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 2- Linking Aadhar with electoral roll

Context

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in the Lok Sabha recently. It seeks to link electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem.

What are the concerns with linking of Aadhar with electoral roll?

[1] Aadhar is not proof of citizenship

Aadhaar is not meant to be a citizenship proof but only a digital identity for all residents.
Residence of 182 days can make even a non-citizen eligible for an Aadhaar ID.

[2] Aadhar is not address proof

According to public statements by several government functionaries, Aadhaar was only meant to be identity proof but not address proof.
Electoral roll is based on Aadhar: In contrast, the RER clearly stipulates address to be a key index for electoral rolls.
Different enrollment process: Moreover, the enrolment processes for voters’ lists and Aadhaar are completely different.
Whereas Aadhaar enrolment is based on production of existing documents and the “introducer system”, voter enrolments involve physical verification and “house visits” by a registration officer or representative.

[3] No audit report on the efficacy of Aadhaar deduplication or on the authenticity of the Aadhaar database

Even the Supreme Court accepted the Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) claims on the integrity of the Aadhaar database at face value without any scrutiny.
Risk of exclusion error: Using Aadhaar to clean the electoral rolls involved the risk of disenfranchisement, especially of the marginalised communities.
It is to be noted that there is ample publicly documented evidence of large-scale exclusion in PDS and welfare disbursal due to Aadhaar.

[4] Conflict of interest

UIDAI is under government control: Maintenance of the voters’ lists is a primary responsibility of the ECI, which is an independent constitutional body, whereas Aadhaar is a government instrument and UIDAI is under government control.
Since the ECI has no control on either enrolment or deduplication in Aadhaar, it appears inappropriate — and a potential conflict of interest — to use Aadhaar for electoral rolls.
In particular, since Aadhaar is directly used for disbursal of welfare and direct benefit transfers, linking it with voter ID may provide a direct method for the government to influence and manipulate voters.

[5] Risk of profiling and targeting of voters

Aadhaar is a ubiquitous ID that is used in a variety of applications.
Linking it with the voter ID will open up avenues for profiling and targeting of voters.
No audit for purpose limitation: This is of particular concern because neither the UIDAI nor the ECI have publicly audited architectures for purpose limitation and protection against insider attacks.
While profiling using public data is not illegal according to current laws, both the electorate and Parliament need to clearly understand the risks of such profiling.
It is far easier to win elections through digital analysis of electoral rolls than through attacking the electronic voting process, especially when election results are available at booth-level granularity
Both privacy and integrity of the electoral rolls are of paramount importance in the digital age, and the clear tension between the two makes the problem challenging.

Way forward

Use of cryptography: The RER of 1960 clearly opted for transparency as a means to the integrity of the electoral rolls, thereby ensuring that all additions and deletions can be publicly audited.
However, with the possibility of digital processing of electoral data, the risks associated with such complete transparency have increased manifold.
Yet, there are several modern techniques from cryptography and computer science that may help mitigate the risks by enabling both privacy and public auditability.

Consider the question “The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 enable the linking of electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem. What are the objectives of such linking and concerns raised against it?”

Conclusion

An electoral reforms bill at the onset of 2022 needed to explore and address these issues head-on.

UPSC 2022 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