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J&K – The issues around the state

Impact of Reorganisation Act on Ladakh’s autonomy

op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Federalism
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Article 370

Mains level: Paper 2- J and K issue

Context

The article deal with the impact of the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019 on Ladakh’s autonomy or participatory democracy.

What has changed?

  • Hill Councils: The Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh and Kargil read along with the framework of J&K’s special status and its bicameral legislative system gave Ladakh autonomy and participatory democracy.
  • The Hill Councils had the powers over land in Ladakh while the majority of the bigger concerns regarding land remained protected under Article 370 and J&K’s robust land protection laws.
  • Power to recruit the officers: Gazetted officers were recruited through the State Public Service Commission.
  • The District Service Selection Board made recruitments at the district level.
  • But today, there is no Public Service Commission in Ladakh and the Hill Councils’ power to make recruitments at the district level has also been affected by the Lieutenant Governor (LG)’s presence.
  • No law to protect the jobs: Technically, there also exists no law in Ladakh now that protects the land or even the jobs.
  • Loss of representation: the Reorganisation Act has taken away the six seats of the Members of Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council and wakened the functioning of the Hill Councils.
  • The only elected representation from Ladakh outside of Ladakh is a lone MP.

Conclusion

Steps need to be taken to address the issues related to the lack of representation in Ladakh in the wake of the passage of the Reorganisation Act of 2019.

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India is keeping an eye on Central Asia

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's relations with Central Asian countries

Context

The government is inviting the leaders of the five Central Asian countries — Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan — as guests for Republic Day on January 26.

Significance of Central Asian region for India

  • Return of Taliban in Afghanistan: The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has made Central Asia a region where great contestations for influence are unfolding.
  • There is a growing awareness that for leveraging influence in Kabul and harvesting that influence in the form of material gains, a firm footing in Central Asia is a prerequisite.
  • Economic dimension: Given the vast untapped mineral wealth of the region encompassing the five Central Asian countries and Afghanistan — estimated to be worth a few trillion dollars — there is a significant economic dimension to the unfolding saga.
  • Geopolitical angle: Washington hopes to create in Central Asia a vector of its Indo-Pacific strategy to contain China and Russia. At the same time, governments in Moscow and Beijing are circling the wagons.

Suggestions for India

  • India needs to work on an intricate network of relationships with the regional states while remaining mindful of the “big picture”.
  • Delhi’s non-aligned mindset needs to be turned into a strategic asset to navigate its long-term interests.
  • India’s membership of the BRICS and SCO will help.
  • Cooperation of  Russia and China: The deepening of the traditional Indo-Russian mutual understanding has injected dynamism into Delhi’s regional strategy on the whole.
  •  It is bound to have a calming effect on India’s tensions with China.
  • Delhi cannot have an effective Central Asia strategy without the cooperation of these two big powers.
  • Regional connectivity: India can use the card of regional connectivity to stimulate partnerships.
  • The time may have come to reopen the files on the TAPI and IPI gas pipeline projects. Both involve Pakistan.
  • Normalisation of India-Russia ties: Russia is well-placed to act as guarantor and help build both these pipelines, while China too will see advantages in the normalisation of India-Pakistan ties.

New geoeconomic partnership

  • Recently concluded third meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue in Delhi served a purpose to sensitise the Central Asian interlocutors that it attaches primacy to geoeconomics.
  • But India will have a challenge on its hands to flesh out the “4Cs” concept that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar presented at the event — commerce, capacity enhancement, connectivity, and contact being the four pillars of a new geoeconomic partnership.
  • The key areas are transit and transport, logistics network, regional and international transport corridors, free trade agreements, manufacturing industry and job creation.
  • They ought to be front-loaded into India’s Central Asian strategy.
  • Certainly, the EAEU integration processes must be speeded up.

Consider the question “With changing geopolitical scenario, India’s stake in Central Asia has drastically increased. In the context of this, examine India’s outreach efforts toward the region and the challenges it faces in it.”

Conclusion

A host of new possibilities open up if India’s initiative on Central Asia runs on a parallel track with an improvement in relations with China.

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What rising inequality means

op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Inclusive Growth & Issues
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 3- Rising inequality and its implications

Context

In the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic, evaluating the state of inequality serves as an eye-opener on the income/wealth divides prevailing across regions.

Income and wealth inequality in the world

  • The top 10% of the global population share 52% of the total income, while the bottom half survives with a mere 8.5% of it.
  • This leaves the 40% in the middle with 40% of the income.
  • This distribution shows the tendency of a rising middle class with lower disparity in income, but it also shows that the status of the poor is worsening day by day.
  • Inequality of wealth: In terms of wealth, the top 10% of the global population own 76% of the total wealth, while the bottom 50% share a mere 2%.
  • Some additional features of this exposition of inequality also relate to imbalance of women’s share in income as well as the ecological inequities indicated by the differential carbon emission levels.

Factors responsible for rising inequality

[1]  Absence of effective measures of redistribution

  • Inequality varies across regions. It is moderate in Europe and sharp in Africa.
  •  The top 10% have an income share of 36% in Europe vis-à-vis the top 10% with a share of 58% of the total income in West Asia and North Africa.
  • Measures for redistribution: This disparity shows that worsening inequalities are avoidable with appropriate measures in place.

[2] The absence of measures discouraging undue accumulation

  • Kuznet’s curve not follower everywhere: While there is an argument in literature that inequalities are a manifestation of the average level of income, as explained by the Kuznets’ theory, the prevailing pattern across countries does not follow the same.
  • Average income level is poor predictor of inequality: The average income levels seem to be poor predictors of the levels of inequality, with high-income countries such as the U.S. having higher levels of inequality as against countries such as Sweden, which have moderate levels of inequality.
  • Similar contradictions are also seen when we contrast middle-income nations such as Brazil, India and China as against Malaysia and Uruguay.
  • Hence, emerging inequalities are not necessarily an outcome of rising levels of income in the post-liberalisation era, but a depiction of poor redistributive policies towards discouragement of accumulation by governments with due sensitivity towards inequalities.

How inequality hurts government finances

  • This prevailing pattern of wealth concentration and differential levels of income around the world has also resulted in rich nations having poor governments.
  • Such a situation has two underpinnings: one, governments have a limited capacity to act on inequality aversion measures and two, private interests overshadow the distributional fairness of wealth. 

Way forward

  • Focus also needs to be placed on reducing disparities in capability domains like education and differential endowments (tangible and intangible) that have the potential to sustain inequalities.

Consider the question “How rising income and wealth inequality could harm us in various ways? What are the factors responsible for the rising inequality? Suggest the way forward.”

Conclusion

The rising levels of income and wealth need to be addresses by policy measures and reducing disparity in capacity domains.

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Roads, Highways, Cargo, Air-Cargo and Logistics infrastructure – Bharatmala, LEEP, SetuBharatam, etc.

How the new Warehousing Policy will transform India’s logistics

| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Logistcs and Supply chain management in India

In order to reduce transportation and logistic cost, the union government along with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is working on warehouse policy.

What are Warehouses?

  • A warehouse is a building for storing goods.
  • Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc.
  • They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, towns, or villages.

Objectives of the New Warehousing Policy

  • Logistics boost: The new policy is aimed at improving logistics throughout the country.
  • Supply chain management: The modern warehouses will house cold-storage chains and will be able to store all kinds of cargo—wet and dry.
  • De-congesting cities: These facilities are expected to come up outside city centres so that large trucks carrying the cargo do not need to enter the city to unload their goods.
  • Fuel efficiency: This will also help boost bulk carrying capacity and save fuel.
  • Curbing air pollution: The idea is to minimize pollution and traffic congestion in major cities.

Who will frame and implement the policy?

  • NHAI: The policy will be framed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). It will also be the implementing agency.

How?

  • Through Land Banks: There are land banks along the highways and expressways of the country with the NHAI.
  • PPP mode: Tenders will be floated for such land parcels, inviting private players to develop warehousing zones in PPP mode on a revenue-sharing basis or for a fixed fee.

What will be the impact on logistic costs?

  • Logistics cost-saving: Warehousing zones will help cut India’s logistics cost, which is 14%-16% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to 8%-10% of GDP in China and 12%-13% in the US.
  • Establishment of MMLPs: The warehousing zones and multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs) are being set up by the NHAI.
  • FMCG sector boost: This will help Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms,  steel and cement makers stock inventory near major hubs.

How will MMLPs aid warehousing policies?

  • Integration of multi-modal transport includes the development of 35 MMLPs.
  • The MMLPs are aimed at fostering inter-modal connectivity through dedicated railway lines and access from highways to provide connectivity to an airport or a seaport or an inland waterway terminal.
  • The aim is to:
  1. Remove deficiencies related to logistics
  2. Draw the associated costs down, and
  3. Strategically integrate highway projects and other connectivity initiatives

Why such move?

Ans. E-commerce boom

  • The e-commerce sector has been driving the demand for logistics and warehousing across global markets.
  • It has emerged as the most prominent driver of Indian warehousing market volumes along with the third party logistics sector.
  • This sector’s share in transactions has grown from 18% in FY17 to 31% in FY21.
  • The Indian market is on the verge of its next phase of growth with domestic groups such as Tatas and Reliance entering the business.
  • Thus far, Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc. have driven the market.

 

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J&K – The issues around the state

Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission

| Polity | Mains Paper 2: Representation Of People's Act
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Delimitation of constituencies

Mains level: Jammu and Kashmir after reorganization

The J&K Delimitation Commission has proposed to increase six seats for the Jammu division and one for the Kashmir division evoking sharp reactions from the regional parties.

What is Delimitation and why is it needed?

  • Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of an Assembly or Lok Sabha seat to represent changes in population over time.
  • This exercise is carried out by a Delimitation Commission, whose orders have the force of law and cannot be questioned before any court.
  • The objective is to redraw boundaries (based on the data of the last Census) in a way so that the population of all seats, as far as practicable, be the same throughout the State.
  • Aside from changing the limits of a constituency, the process may result in a change in the number of seats in a state.

Delimitation in J&K

  • Assembly seats in J&K were delimited in 1963, 1973 and 1995.
  • Prior to August 5, 2019, carving out of J&K’s Assembly seats was carried out under the J&K Constitution and Jammu and Kashmir Representation of the People Act, 1957.
  • Until then, the delimitation of Lok Sabha seats in J&K was governed by the Constitution of India.
  • However, the delimitation of the state’s Assembly was governed by the J&K Constitution and J&K Representation of the People Act, 1957.
  • There was no census in the state in 1991 and hence no Delimitation Commission was set up by the state until 2001 census.

Why is it in the news again?

  • After the abrogation of J&K’s special status in 2019, the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in the newly-created UT would be as per the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
  • On March 6, 2020, the government set up the Delimitation Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, which was tasked with winding up delimitation in J&K in a year.
  • As per the J&K Reorganization Bill, the number of Assembly seats in J&K would increase from 107 to 114, which is expected to benefit the Jammu region.

Factors considered during Delimitation

  • The number of districts had increased from 12 to 20 and tehsils from 52 to 207 since the last delimitation.
  • The population density ranged from 29 persons a square km in Kishtwar to 3,436 persons a square km in Srinagar.
  • The remoteness of the place, inaccessibility etc are also considered during the exercise.

What’s new?

Ans. Reserved constituencies for SC/STs

  • For the first time, in Jammu and Kashmir, nine seats are proposed to be allocated for Scheduled Tribes out of 90 seats on the basis of population.
  • Seven seats are proposed for Scheduled Castes.

Concerns raised over Delimitation

  • Jammu vs. Kashmir: Concerns had been expressed over how the delimitation process may end up favoring the Jammu region over Kashmir in terms of the seats.
  • Under-representation of Ladakh: Arguments have been made on how Ladakh has been underrepresented, with demands for statehood/sixth schedule.
  • Non-proportionate reservations: It is argued that seats for STs should’ve been divided in both Jammu province & Kashmir province, as the ST population is almost equal.

Do not forget to answer this PYQ in the comment box:

Q.With reference to the Delimitation Commission, consider the following statements:

  1. The orders of the Delimitation Commission cannot be challenged in a Court of Law.
  2. When the orders of the Delimitation Commission are laid before the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly, they cannot affect any modifications in the orders.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

 

Post your answers here:

 

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Civil Aviation Sector – CA Policy 2016, UDAN, Open Skies, etc.

UDAN scheme

Schemes | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: UDAN Scheme

Mains level: Aviation infrastructure in India

PM launched the UDAN scheme nearly five years back with the aim to take flying to the masses. However, many routes have launched by airlines have been discontinued.

UDAN Scheme

  • The Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme is a low-cost flying scheme launched with the aim of taking flying to the masses.
  • The first flight under UDAN was launched by the PM in April 2017.
  • It is also known as the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) as it seeks to improve air connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities through revival of unused and underused airports.

Working of the Scheme

  • Airlines are awarded routes under the programme through a bidding process and are required to offer airfares at the rate of ₹2,500 per hour of flight.
  • At least 50% of the total seats on an aircraft have to be offered at cheaper rates.
  • In order to enable airlines to offer affordable fares they are given a subsidy from the govt. for a period of three years.

Present status of working

  • A total of nine rounds of bidding have taken place since January 2017.
  • The Ministry of Civil Aviation has set a target of operationalizing as many as 100 unserved and underserved airports and starting at least 1,000 RCS routes by 2024.
  • So far, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has awarded 948 routes under UDAN, of which 403 routes have taken off that connect 65 airports.
  • Out of the total 28 seaplane routes connecting 14 water aerodromes, only two have commenced.

Issues with the working

  • Discontinuance: In reality, some of the routes launched have been discontinued as most of the routes awarded under UDAN are not active.
  • On-paper Ambitions: UDAN was expanded to provide improved connectivity to hilly regions and islands through helicopters and seaplanes. However, they mostly remain on paper.
  • The reasons include:
  1. Failure to set up airports or heliports due to lack of availability of land
  2. Airlines unable to start flights on routes awarded to them or finding the routes difficult to sustain
  3. Adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Various challenges

  • Lack of funds: Many small airlines await infusion of funds, to be able to undertake maintenance of aircraft, pay rentals to lessors, give salaries to its staff, etc.
  • Maintenance issue: Many players don’t have more than one or two planes and they are often poorly maintained. New planes are too expensive for these smaller players.
  • Availability of pilots: Often, they also have problems with the availability of pilots and are forced to hire foreign pilots which costs them a lot of money and makes the business unviable.
  • Competition: Only those routes that have been bagged by bigger domestic players such as IndiGo and SpiceJet have seen a better success rate.

Way forward

  • The govt offers subsidies for a route for a period of three years and expects the airline to develop the route during this time so that it becomes self-sufficient.
  • Airlines need an extension of the subsidy period for their operational continuity.
  • Due to the rise in COVID cases, travel restrictions and passenger safety too needs to be taken into consideration in the loss-making of such airlines.

 

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Freedom of Speech – Defamation, Sedition, etc.

Govt. disagrees with India’s rank in World Press Freedom Index

IOCR | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: World Press Freedom Index

Mains level: Freedom of press in India

The Centre has shown its disagreement with the conclusions drawn by Reporters Without Borders about press freedom in India for various reasons.

World Press Freedom Index

  • The PFI is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders since 2002.
  • It is based upon the organization’s own assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year.
  • It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom.
  • It is careful to note that the index only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism in the countries it assesses, nor does it look at human rights violations in general.

India’s ranking

  • India is ranked at 142 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index 2021.
  • In the South Asian neighborhood, Nepal is at 106, Sri Lanka at 127, Myanmar (before the coup) at 140, Pakistan at 145 and Bangladesh at 152.
  • China is ranked 177, and is only above North Korea at 179 and Turkmenistan at 178.

What the report said about India

  • Targeting women: It has been highlighted that the “campaigns are particularly violent when the targets are women”.
  • Criminal prosecutions: Often used to gag journalists critical of the authorities.
  • Draconian laws: It termed various Indian laws such as – laws on ‘sedition,’ ‘state secrets’ and ‘national security’, draconian.
  • Curb on freedom of expression: The report has also highlighted the throttling of freedom of expression on social media.
  • Censorship on social media: It specifically mentioned that in India the “arbitrary nature of Twitter’s algorithms also resulted in brutal censorship”

Reservations held by India

  • India along with many nations has reportedly disgusted the outcomes of this report. It stated that media in India enjoy absolute freedom.
  • The government does not subscribe to its views and country rankings and does not agree to the conclusions drawn by this organization for various reasons:
  1. Non-transparent methodology
  2. Very low sample size
  3. Little or no weightage to fundamentals of democracy
  4. Adoption of a methodology that is questionable and non-transparent
  5. Lack of clear definition of press freedom, among others

Why is the report biased?

  • The report is a subjective measure computed through the prism of western liberals.
  • It tends to default to a homogenous view of mass media which then facilitates comparison between countries.
  • There are no questions about media ownership or about their economic concentration in private hands.

 

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Freedom of Speech – Defamation, Sedition, etc.

Phrase ‘Anti-national’ not defined in statutes: MHA

| Polity | Mains Paper 2: Indian Constitution - historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: UAPA

Mains level: Anti-national activities

The phrase ‘anti-national’ has not been defined in statutes, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the Parliament.

Defining Anti-national Activities

(1) Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act  

  • The UAPA is aimed at the prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
  • Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.

(2) Sedition Law

  • Section 124A IPC deals with attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India.
  • This law was enacted by the British colonial government in 1870 with the sole object of suppressing all voices of Indians critical of the government.

 (3) NCRB Reports

  • In 2019, when the National Crime Records Bureau released the annual Crime in India report for year 2017, it included for the first time a new chapter on “Crime Committed by Anti National Elements.”
  • The chapter listed – “North East insurgents, Left Wing Extremists and Terrorists (including Jihadi terrorists)” as the three anti-national elements.

Attempts for defining

  • There are criminal legislations and various judicial pronouncements deal with unlawful and subversive activities which are detrimental to the unity and integrity of the country.
  • In this regard, it is relevant to mention that the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 inserted in the Constitution Article 31D (during Emergency) which defined “anti-national activity”.
  • This Article 31D was, later, omitted by the 43rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1977.

Supreme Court guidelines

  • In the ultimate analysis, the judgment in Kedar Nath (1962) read down Section 124A and held that without incitement to violence or rebellion there is no sedition.
  • It says that ‘only when the words written or spoken etc. which have the pernicious tendency or intention of creating public disorder the law steps in.

Who maintains the data of such individuals?

  • The onus of maintenance of such data lies with the respective states.
  • ‘Public Order’ and ‘Police’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
  • Hence the data about the number of people arrested for indulging in anti-national activities are not maintained centrally.

 

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Festivals, Dances, Theatre, Literature, Art in News

‘Chillai Kalan’ begins in Kashmir

Prelims Only | History and Art & Culture | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Chillai Kalan

Mains level: Not Much

Kashmir is in a deep freeze as the 40-day harshest spell of winter, locally called ‘chillai kalan’ has started with the minimum temperature already sub-zero in the entire Valley.

Chillai Kalan

  • Chillai Kalan is the coldest 40-day period of harsh winter of winter in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
  • It is traditionally defined as a seasonal period of harsh winter accompanied by a change in increase in both frequency and quantity of precipitation usually snow.
  • It begins from December 21 and ends on January 31 next year.
  • It is followed by a 20-day long Chillai-Khurd (small cold) that occurs between January 31 and February 19 and a 10-day long Chillai-Bachha (baby cold).
  • According to Persian tradition, the night of 21st December is celebrated as Shab-e Yalda-“Night of Birth”, or Shab-e Chelleh “Night of Forty”.

Its’ celebration

  • In the Persian tradition, the night of December 21, the longest of the year, is celebrated as Shab-e-Yalda (night of birth) or Shab-e-Chelleh.
  • Dozens of netizens from Kashmir named it the ‘Pheran Day’, after the long woollen gown worn during the winters in Kashmir.
  • Use of a traditional firing pot called Kangri increases.
  • Tap water pipelines partially freeze during this period. The Dal Lake also freezes.
  • The famous tourist resort of Gulmarg receives heavy snow which attracts skier’s from every part of the world.

 

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Seeds, Pesticides and Mechanization – HYV, Indian Seed Congress, etc.

[pib] Seed Village Programme (Beej Gram Yojana)

PIB | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Major Crops & Cropping Patterns
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Seed Village Concept

Mains level: Not Much

The govt is implementing Seed Village Programme (Beej Gram Yojana) since 2014-15 to upgrade the quality of farmers’ saved seeds.

What do you mean by Seed Village?

  • It is a village, wherein a trained group of farmers are involved in the production of seeds of various crops and cater to their needs themselves.

Seed Village Programme

  • This program aims at upgrading the quality of farm-saved seeds.
  • Under this, financial assistance is available for up to one acre per farmer for distribution of foundation/certified seeds at:
  1. 50% of seed cost for cereal crops
  2. 60% for pulses, oilseeds, fodder, and green manure crops

Objectives of the program

  • Increasing the seed production
  • Increasing the seed replacement rate
  • Organizing seed production in cluster (or) compact area replacing existing local varieties with new high yielding varieties
  • Self-sufficiency and self-reliance of the village

Implementation

The present program of seed village scheme is having two phases:

  • Seed production of different crops: The area which is suitable for raising a particular crop will be selected, and raised with a single variety of a kind.
  • Establishing seed processing unit: If the seeds are not processed and handled properly, all the past efforts in production may be lost. Thus seed processing and packaging is a very important aspect of seed production.

Benefits offered

  • Seed is available at the doorsteps of farms at an appropriate time.
  • Seeds are available at affordable costs even lesser than the market price.
  • It has increased the confidence among the farmers about the quality because of known sources of production.
  • It facilitates the fast spread of new cultivars of different kinds.

Back2Basics: Seed Replacement Rate

  • It is the percentage of area sown out of the total area of the crop planted in the season by using certified/quality seeds other than the farm-saved seed.
  • In simple terms, it is a measure of the cropped area covered with quality seed.

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Foreign Policy Watch: India-Russia

Why the Russia-West equation matters to India

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- Implications of Russia-West relations for India

Context

Thirty years ago this week, the Soviet Union collapsed — after seven decades of an expansive global role. Few countries have been as significant as Russia for modern India’s evolution.

Impact of Russian geopolitics on India’s worldviews

  • Russia’s relations with the West have always had consequences for India’s international relations.
  • India’s fear of a unipolar world dominated by the US: After the collapse of the USSR in December 1991, the loss of the long-standing Soviet ally left Delhi in fears of a unipolar world dominated by the US.
  • These anxieties were accentuated by post-Soviet Russia’s quick embrace of the US and the West.
  • However, by the turn of the millennium, relations between Russia and the West had begun to sour.
  • That drew India once again closer to Russia.
  • Russia’s growing closeness to China: Moscow also roped in Beijing to build a new coalition — the RIC — to promote a multipolar world that would limit the dangers of American hyperpower.
  • Improvement in India-US relations: India’s fears of the unipolar moment turned out to be overblown and Delhi’s ties with Washington began to see rapid improvement since 2000.
  • The upswing in India’s ties with America, however, coincided with a steady downturn in the relations between Russia and the US.

Tension between Russia and the West

  • The continuous escalation of tensions between Russia and the West culminated in the last few weeks in Ukraine — at the heart of Europe.
  • Moscow’s military mobilisation on the frontier with Ukraine — that was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 — raised alarm bells of a new war between the forces of Russia and the US-led European military alliance, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
  • Last week, Russia presented several proposals for a new European security architecture.
  • Moscow is calling for an end to NATO’s further eastward expansion.
  • Moscow also wants NATO to rescind its earlier promise to make Ukraine and Georgia — two former Soviet Republics — members of the military alliance.

Major compromises between US and Russia

  • The resolution of US-Russian differences, however, involves some major compromises.
  • Russia aware of the over reliance on China: While Russia has demonstrated that its interests can’t be simply ignored by the West, it also recognises the costs of a prolonged confrontation with the US and Europe and the dangers of relying solely on China to secure its geopolitical interests.
  • Russia seeking accommodation with US and Europe: While Moscow is unlikely to abandon the partnership with China, there is no doubt that an accommodation with America and Europe is a high priority for Russia.
  • US to focus on China challenge: The US, which is now focused on the China challenge, appears interested in easing the conflict with Russia.
  • Despite its extraordinary military resources, Washington can’t afford to fight in both Asia (with China) and Europe (with Russia).

Implications for India

  • Role of ideological sentiment: While coping with the complex dynamic of Russia’s relations with the West has been an enduring element of independent India’s foreign policy, Delhi’s thinking on Russia has too often been coloured by ideological sentiment.
  • In Delhi, the tendency is to over-determine Russia’s contradictions with the West.
  • It is not Russia’s national destiny to forever confront the West.
  • Russia’s current problems with the West are not about ideological principles.
  • It is about the terms of an honourable accommodation.
  • Prior to the 1917 revolution, Russia was a leading part of the European great power system.
  • Delhi can’t influence the new effort to build a mutually acceptable security order in Europe, but it can welcome and support it.
  • Role of Asian geopolitics: That the pressure for this attempted reset in Russia’s relations with the West is coming from Asian geopolitics is of some significance.
  • A reconciliation between Russia and the West will make it a lot easier for India to manage its own security challenges.

Conclusion

Delhi knows that stabilising the Asian balance of power will be difficult without a measure of US-Russian cooperation in Europe. If Moscow — at odds with the West in the last two decades — deepens its current close alignment with Beijing, it will be a lot harder to prevent Chinese dominance over Asia.

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Women empowerment issues – Jobs,Reservation and education

Raising marriage age won’t lead to women’s empowerment

op-ed snap | 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: Paper 2- Age marriage of women issue

Context

The announcement of a cabinet decision to raise the age at marriage for women from 18 to 21 years marks the fruition of a plan that was first revealed almost two years ago when a Task Force was set up for the purpose.

Why the age of marriage of women matters

  • Age of marriage has bearing on maternal mortality rates, fertility levels, nutrition of mother and child, sex ratios, and, on a different register, education and employment opportunities for women.
  • It is also argued that other factors — such as poverty and health services — were far more effective as levers for improving women’s and children’s health and nutritional status.

Issues with the decision

[1] Role of poverty neglected

  •  If women who marry at higher ages seem to have better health and nutrition indicators, this is not caused by their marrying later than others — it is because women from better-off groups tend to marry at higher ages.
  • Conversely, the health indicators of poorer women do not change just because they marry at a higher age.
  • An illustration of this truth is found in the National Family Health Survey (IV) data, which show that levels of anaemia — which is the highest cause of maternal mortality in India and one of our worst statistics — show no change even at ages of marriage up to 25 years, once we control for other factors.
  • World Bank study finds no impact on women: Population control was at the heart of the 1978 amendment to the Sarda Act of 1929.
  • Moreover, reducing fertility rates globally by banning marriage before the age of 18 years is very much on the agenda of international agencies to this very day.
  • A major multi-country study undertaken by the World Bank in 2017 estimated that “savings” of no less than $5 trillion would accrue if marriage before the age of 18 was eliminated.
  • But such savings would be mostly due to reductions in fertility and consequent reductions in public health investments due to fewer births.
  • The same study saw no significant gains from raised age of marriage for women’s decision making, for lowering the levels of violence they face, or helping them find employment.
  • Restriction on the right of an adult woman: Globally, the age of 18 is widely regarded as the age of adulthood.
  • It is also viewed as an upper limit in terms of the physical and reproductive maturity of women, as well as the age of majority by child rights conventions to which India is a signatory.
  • Thus, the proposed move will restrict the rights of already adult women, an issue for legal experts to debate.
  • Law is meant to set minimum age not the right age: Equally important is the crucial slippage in the arguments made on behalf of the government from the minimum age at marriage to the right age at marriage.
  • The minimum age is obviously a floor, not a standard or desirable norm.
  • Laws are meant to set minimum levels, a threshold for triggering legal or penal action, because of the harm that may be done.

Way forward: Address issues that drive empowerment

  • Going by the NFHS 4 data (2015-16), more than half — 56 per cent — of women in the age group 20-24 years marry before the age of 21 years.
  • The problem is that the real reasons that drive empowerment are not being addressed, at least not adequately.
  • Educational attainments have improved enormously in recent years.
  • But the shocking fact (evident in all major data sets) is that decline in early marriages has been accompanied by a fall in women’s employment rates, that persisted even during the 1990s boom.
  • Paradoxical outcomes: The proportion of women not in paid work increases at higher ages of marriage!
  • Complex paradoxes like these are the hallmark of our society.
  • They cannot be addressed by a legal fix, particularly one that will be very hard to implement.

Consider the question “How the age of marriage of women is connected with the issue of women empowerment? What are the concerns with increasing it to 21 years? Suggest the way forward.“

Conclusion

Instead of criminalising our youth, the government must take concrete steps to really empower women. If they are truly in charge of their own lives — through affordable education, meaningful and decent employment opportunities — they will be able to make better decisions about whether, when and whom to marry.

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Foreign Policy Watch: India-Sri Lanka

India- Sri Lanka Fisherman Issue

| International Relations | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood - Relations
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Trawling

Mains level: Fishermen issue in India-SL ties

The Sri Lankan Navy has seized eight Indian fishing vessels and arrested 55 fishermen on the charge of poaching.

What is the issue?

  • As in the past, fishermen from Rameswaram and nearby coasts continue to sail towards Talaimannar and Katchatheevu coasts, a region famous for rich maritime resources in Sri Lanka.
  • Indian boats have been fishing in the troubled waters for centuries and had a free run of the Bay of Bengal, the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar until 1974 and 1976.
  • Treaties were later signed between the two countries to demarcate the maritime boundary — the ‘International Maritime Boundary Line'(IMBL).

Issues for Sri Lanka

  • Proliferation of Trawlers: The overuse of mechanized trawlers in Palk Bay is damaging the marine ecosystem in SL waters.
  • Breach of sovereignty: There were many favorable reasons too for Indian fishermen as their access to Sri Lankan waters was easier at the time of Sri Lankan civil war.
  • Porous borders: Maritime boundaries were never tightly guarded as a result, Indian trawlers continue to routinely enter Lankan waters for fishing.
  • End of Civil War: Everything changed in 2009 with the end of civil war. Arrests and attacks increased on Indian fishermen as they continued entering Lankan waters because of depletion of marine resources on the Indian side.

Fishermen’s concern:

(1) Depletion of fisheries

  • There is a depletion of fisheries on the Indian side, so Indian fishermen cross into Sri Lankan waters thus denying the livelihood of their counterparts.
  • They deliberately cross the territorial waters even at the risk of getting arrested or shot dead by the Sri Lankan Navy.
  • Sri Lankan fishermen across Palk Bay are concerned over similar depletion on their side (where there is a ban for trawlers) because of poaching by Indian fishermen.

 (2) Rights over Katchatheevu Island

  • Tamil fishermen have been entering Sri Lankan waters nearby Katchatheevu island, where they had been fishing for centuries.
  • In 1974, the island was ceded to Sri Lanka after an agreement was signed by Indira Gandhi between the two countries without consulting the Tamil Nadu government.
  • The agreement allows Indian fishermen “access to Katchatheevu for rest, for drying of nests and for the annual St Anthony’s festival” but it did not ensure the traditional fishing rights.

(3) Hefty fines

  • After some respite in the last couple of years, Sri Lanka introduced tougher laws banning bottom-trawling and put heavy fines for trespassing foreign vessels.
  • SL has increased the fine on Indian vessels found fishing in Sri Lankan waters to a minimum of LKR 6 million (about ₹25 lakh) and a maximum of LKR 175 million (about ₹17.5 Crore).
  • Quiet often, the fishermen are shot dead by SL marines.

Fishermen issue in TN politics

  • It has been often a sensitive political issue in Tamil Nadu in the past one decade.
  • In a defiant speech in 1991, late CM Jayalalitha had called on the people of Tamil Nadu to retrieve the Katchatheevu Island.

Way forward

  • Leasing: Two courses of action exist: (1) get back the island of Katchatheevu on “lease in perpetuity” or (2) permit licensed Indian fishermen to fish within a designated area of Sri Lankan waters and vice versa.
  • Licensing: The second course of action would persuade Colombo to permit licensed Indian fishermen to fish in Sri Lankan waters for five nautical miles from the IMBL.
  • Reconsidering old agreements: The 2003 proposal for licensed fishing can be revisited.
  • Looping in fishermen themselves: Arranging frequent meetings between fishing communities of both countries could be systematized so as to develop a friendlier atmosphere mid-seas during fishing.

Conclusion

  • The underlying issues of the fisheries dispute need to be addressed so that bilateral relations do not reach a crisis point.
  • Immediate actions should be taken to begin the phase-out of trawling and identify other fishing practices.

 

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Aadhaar Card Issues

Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021

| Polity | Mains Paper 2: Representation Of People's Act
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021

Mains level: Issue over Mandatory Aadhaar

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that seeks to link electoral rolls to the Aadhaar number has been listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha.

Key Provisions of the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021

(1) Aadhaar authentication:

  • The Bill seeks to empower electoral officers to seek Aadhaar number of people, who want to register as voters, for establishing their identity.
  • It also seeks to allow the electoral registration officers to ask for Aadhaar numbers from persons already included in the electoral roll for the purposes of authentication of entries in the electoral roll.
  • This would also aim to identify registration of the name of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency.

(2) Aadhaar linking with Voter ID

  • Linking Aadhaar with voter ID will be voluntary.
  • The amendment makes it clear that no application shall be denied and no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for the inability to produce Aadhaar number.
  • Such people will be allowed to furnish other documents as may be prescribed.

(3) Amendments to the RP Act for new voter registration

  • Section 23 of the RP Act, 1950 will be amended to allow linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem to curb the menace of multiple enrolments.
  • Amendment to section 14 of the RP Act, 1950 will allow having four qualifying dates for eligible people to register as voters, instead of one that is January 1 at present.
  • As of now, people who turn 18 on or before January 1 can register as voters but those turning 18 after January 1 wait for the whole year to get registered.
  • The Bill proposes to make the 1st day of January, 1st day of April, 1st day of July, and 1st day of October as the qualifying dates.

(4) Imbibing gender neutrality

  • An amendment to section 20 of the RP Act, 1950 and section 60 of the RP Act, 1951 seeks to make the elections gender-neutral for service voters.
  • The amendment will also replace the word ‘wife’ with ‘spouse’ to make the statutes gender-neutral.

 

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

Amendment to the Multi-State Cooperatives Act, 2002

| 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: Multi-state cooperatives

Mains level: Multi-State Cooperatives Act, 2002

The Union Home and Cooperation Minister has announced the decision to amend the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002 to plug the loopholes in the Act.

What is MSCS Act?

  • Cooperatives are a state subject, but there are many societies such as those for sugar and milk, banks, milk unions etc whose members and areas of operation are spread across more than one state.
  • The MSCS Act was passed to govern such cooperatives.
  • For example, most sugar mills along the districts on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border procure cane from both states.

What are Multi-State Cooperatives?

  • They draw their membership from two or more states, and they are thus registered under the MSCS Act.
  • Their board of directors has representation from all states they operate in.
  • Administrative and financial control of these societies is with the central registrar, with the law making it clear that no state government official can wield any control on them.

Why does the government plan to amend the Act?

(1) Issues with Central Registrar

  • The exclusive control of the central registrar, who is also the Central Cooperative Commissioner, was meant to allow smooth functioning of these societies.
  • The central Act cushions them from the interference of state authorities so that these societies are able to function in multiple states.
  • What was supposed to facilitate smooth functioning, however, has created obstacles.
  • For state-registered societies, financial and administrative control rests with state registrars who exercise it through district- and tehsil-level officers.

(2) Multiple checks and balances

  • Thus if a sugar mill wishes to buy new machinery or go for expansion, they would first have to take permission from the sugar commissioner for both.
  • Post this, the proposal would go to the state-level committee that would float tenders and carry out the process.
  • While the system for state-registered societies includes checks and balances at multiple layers to ensure transparency in the process, these layers do not exist in the case of multistate societies.
  • Instead, the board of directors has control of all finances and administration.

(3) Lack of govt control

  • There is an apparent lack of day-to-day government control on such societies.
  • Unlike state cooperatives, which have to submit multiple reports to the state registrar, multistate cooperatives need not.
  • The central registrar can only allow inspection of the societies under special conditions — a written request by one-third of the members of the board.
  • Inspections can happen only after prior intimation to societies.

(4) Lack of infrastructure

  • The on-ground infrastructure for central registrar is thin — there are no officers or offices at state level, with most work being carried out either online or through correspondence.
  • For members of the societies, the only office where they can seek justice is in Delhi, with state authorities expressing their inability to do anything.

(5) Ponzi schemes functioning as MCS

  • There have been instances across the country when credit societies have launched ponzi schemes taking advantage of these loopholes.
  • Such schemes mostly target small and medium holders with the lure of high returns.
  • Fly-by-night operators get people to invest and, after a few instalments, wind up their operations.

What kind of amendments can be expected?

  • The Centre is holding extensive consultations with experts from various fields: bankers, sugar commissioners, cooperative commissioners, housing societies federations etc.
  • The centre might increase their manpower, first in Delhi and then in the states, to ensure better governance of the societies.
  • Also, technology will be used to bring in transparency.

 

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Capital Markets: Challenges and Developments

SEBI suspends Futures Trading in key farm crops

Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Derievatives, Commodity trading

Mains level: NA

Market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued an order suspending futures trading in paddy (non-basmati), wheat, Bengal gram (chana dal), mustard seeds and its derivatives, soyabean and its derivatives, crude palm oil and green gram (moong dal) for a year.

What are Derivatives?

  • A derivative is a contract between two parties which derives its value/price from an underlying asset.
  • The value of the underlying asset is bound to change as the value of the underlying assets keep changing continuously.
  • Generally, stocks, bonds, currency, commodities and interest rates form the underlying asset.

Types of Derivatives

The most common types of derivatives are futures, options, forwards and swaps:

(1) Futures

  • Futures are standardized contracts that allow the holder to buy/sell the asset at an agreed price at the specified date.
  • The parties to the futures contract are under an obligation to perform the contract. These contracts are traded on the stock exchange.
  • The value of future contracts is marked to market every day.
  • It means that the contract value is adjusted according to market movements till the expiration date.

 (2) Options

  • Options are derivative contracts that give the buyer a right to buy/sell the underlying asset at the specified price during a certain period of time.
  • The buyer is not under any obligation to exercise the option.
  • The option seller is known as the option writer. The specified price is known as the strike price.

(3) Forwards

  • Forwards are like futures contracts wherein the holder is under an obligation to perform the contract.
  • But forwards are unstandardized and not traded on stock exchanges.
  • These are available over-the-counter and are not marked-to-market.
  • These can be customized to suit the requirements of the parties to the contract.

(4) Swaps

  • Swaps are derivative contracts wherein two parties exchange their financial obligations.
  • The cash flows are based on a notional principal amount agreed between both parties without the exchange of principal.
  • The amount of cash flows is based on a rate of interest.
  • One cash flow is generally fixed and the other changes on the basis of a benchmark interest rate.
  • Swaps are not traded on stock exchanges and are over-the-counter contracts between businesses or financial institutions.

What are Agri-Futures?

Like equity, currency or interest rate futures, they allows to buy or sell an underlier at a preset price on a future date. All agri contracts end in compulsory delivery.

  • Agri products available for trade include wheat, sugar, chana, soyabean, castor, chilli , jeera futures, etc. Edible oil seeds and oils, spices and items like guar are among the more liquid contracts.
  • An objective of futures trading is gains reaching farmers, by establishing an efficient price-discovery platform.
  • This has been achieved to a large extent on NCDEX, in products such as castor, chana, soy complex, mustard, guar, cumin, etc.

National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) is an Indian online commodity and derivative exchange. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance.

What are the reasons for this ban?

(1) To cool off Food Inflation

  • India’s retail inflation rose to a three-month high of 4.91 % in November from 4.48 % in the previous month primarily because of a rise in food inflation to 1.87 % from 0.85 % over this period.

(2) Double Digits WPI

  • Wholesale Price Index-based inflation has remained in double digits for eight consecutive months beginning in April, mainly because of the surging prices of food items.
  • In November, the wholesale price-based inflation surged to a record high of 14.23 % amid the hardening of prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude petroleum, and natural gas.

(3) To insulate future Price Shock

  • In view of Rabi Output that might be affected morbidly because of fertilizer shortage faced in many parts of the country.
  • By banning future’s trade, the government is trying to insulate any price shock the market might feel in the days to come in case the production is not up to par.

What will be the impact?

(1) The imports in such commodities, especially edible oils, would reduce in the short term as traders will not have a hedging platform.

  • Hedging, which is speculative in nature, has been made difficult.
  • This will lead to the release of blocked local produce supplies into the market, which should cool the prices.
  • Imports of commodities for speculative gains will be discouraged.

(2) It is believed that speculators have a role in jacking up prices and this needed to be discouraged to curb inflation and support growth as the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 impact.

(3) India is the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oil and this measure will make it difficult for edible oil importers and traders to transact business since they use Indian exchanges to hedge their risk.

(4) Agri-futures, driven mainly by NCDEX, have a checkered history with bans often pushing NCDEX back.

  • Such frequent bans are not a good development for the market as it affects confidence levels.
  • Often, a contract that is banned may not return to the table, which were very effective in price-discovery.
  • Even when the contracts are restored, traders hesitate because of the fear of bans.
  • As it involves losses for market participants with open positions as they must square off contracts before maturity.

What are the other steps taken?

  • Supply-side interventions by the Government had limited the fallout of continuing high international edible oil prices on domestic prices.
  • The Union Government substantially reduced taxes on imports of palm, soy and sunflower oil.
  • Union and State Governments had also recently reduced excise duty and VAT on petrol and diesel, aimed at bringing down inflation.
  • It has both direct effects as well as indirect effects operating through fuel and transportation costs.

Way Forward

  • The ban is expected to be lifted by March when the next mustard crop starts hitting the market and prices cool down.
    • If the weather remains benign in the coming weeks, India is on course to harvest a bumper 11 million tonnes of mustard in 2021-22, up from 8.5 million tonnes in 2020-21.
  • The way out is not to ban any contract, but make sure to correct any serious aberration through a combination of higher margins so that if at all the price is getting distorted due to market manipulation, the correction takes place immediately.
  • Further, talking to potential wrongdoers is another way out, provided trading patterns noticed by the exchange reveal such tendencies.
    • Position limits can be changed to ensure undue influence is not exerted by any set of traders.

 

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Can India become a technology leader?

| Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Not much

Mains level: Paper 3- India as a technology leader

Context

Every time a technology giant chooses an India-born techie as its leader, there is a justifiable swelling of pride in the country, but also some disappointment.

Why is India still not a major player in technology?

  • Inability to use opportunities: The popular narrative is that India’s failures are linked to its inability to make use of market-driven growth opportunities.
  • Brain drain: Indeed, as of 2019, there were 2.7 million Indian immigrants in the U.S.
  • They are among the most educated and professionally accomplished communities in that country.

Role of the state

  • Example of the US: An invisible hand of the US government has been there to prop up each of the so-called triumphs of enterprise and the free market in the US.
  • Introduction of new generation technologies: Research by Mariana Mazzucato shows that the state has been crucial to the introduction of the new generation of technologies, including the computers, the Internet, and the nanotech industry.
  • Public funding: Public sector funding developed the algorithm that eventually led to Google’s success and helped discover the molecular antibodies that provided the foundation for biotechnology.
  • The role of the government has been even more prominent in shaping the economic growth of China, which is racing with the U.S. for supremacy in technology.
  • Even while being hailed as the ‘factory of the world’, China had been stuck at the low value-adding segments of the global production networks, earning only a fraction of the price of the goods it manufactured.
  • However, as part of a 2011 government plan, it has made successful forays into ‘new strategic industries’ such as alternative fuel cars and renewable energy.
  • China’s achievements came not because it turned ‘capitalist’, but instead by combining the strengths of the public sector, markets and globalisation.
  • China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were seen as inefficient and bureaucratic.
  • However, rather than privatising them or letting them weaken with neglect, the Chinese state restructured the SOEs.
  • On the other, SOEs strengthened their presence in strategically important sectors such as petrochemicals and telecommunication as well as in technologically dynamic industries such as electronics and machinery.

What went wrong in India’s case?

  • When India inaugurated planning and industrialisation in the early 1950s.
  • Public sector funding of the latest technologies of the time including space and atomic research and the establishment of institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were among the hallmarks of that effort.
  • Many of these institutions have over the years attained world-class standards.
  • The growth of information technology and pharmaceutical industries has been the fastest in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
  • Poor education: However, the roadblocks to progress have been many, including India’s poor achievements in school education.
  • Missed opportunity to strengthen technological capabilities: In 1991, when India embraced markets and globalisation, it should have redoubled efforts to strengthen its technological capabilities.
  • Low spending on research and development: Instead, the spending on research and development as a proportion of GDP declined in India from 0.85% in 1990-91 to 0.65% in 2018.
  • In contrast, this proportion increased over the years in China and South Korea to reach 2.1% and 4.5%, respectively, by 2018.

Positives for India

  • Higher enrollment for tertiary education: The number of persons enrolled for tertiary education in India (35.2 million in 2019) is way ahead of the corresponding numbers in all other countries except China.
  • More graduates from STEM: Further, graduates from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programmes as a proportion of all graduates was 32.2% for India in 2019, one of the highest among all countries (UNESCO data).

Way forward

  • Increase spending on education: India needs to sharply increase its public spending to improve the quality of and access to higher education.
  • An overwhelming proportion of tertiary students in India are enrolled in private institutions: it was 60% for those enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in 2017, while the average for G20 countries was 33%, according to OECD.
  • Improve technological capabilities: The ‘Make in India’ initiative will have to go beyond increasing the ‘ease of business’ for private industry.
  • Indian industry needs to deepen and broaden its technological capabilities.
  • India — which will soon have twice the number of Internet users as in the U.S. — is a large market for all kinds of new technologies.
  • While this presents a huge opportunity, the domestic industry has not yet managed to derive the benefits.
  • This will happen only if universities and public institutions in the country are strengthened and emboldened to enter areas of technology development for which the private sector may have neither the resources nor the patience.
  • Strengthen the public sector: PSUs should be valued for their potential long-term contributions to economic growth, the technologies they can create, and the strategic and knowledge assets they can build.
  • A strengthened public sector will create more opportunities for private businesses and widen the entrepreneurial base. Small and medium entrepreneurs will flourish when there are mechanisms for the diffusion of publicly created technologies, along with greater availability of bank credit and other forms of assistance.

Conclusion

The next big story about Indian prowess does not have to be from the U.S., but could come from thousands of such entrepreneurs in far-flung corners of the country.

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Minimum Support Prices for Agricultural Produce

MSP for all crops is fiscally unfeasible

op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Agriculture and related issues
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: MSP

Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges in legal backing to MSP

Context

Many political parties are demanding to make the minimum support prices (MSP) a legal instrument.

Background of MSP

  • MSP regime had its genesis in 1965 when India was hugely short of basic staples and living in a “ship-to-mouth” situation.
  • Indicative price: It was an indicative price (not a legal price) and procurement of rice and wheat was done to support farmers when they were adopting new seeds (HYV technology) and domestic procurement was to feed the PDS.
  • The government declares MSP for 23 crops: Seven cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, bajra, sorghum, ragi and barley), five pulses (tur, moong, chana, urad and masur), seven oilseeds (soybean, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sesamum, safflower, sunflower and nigerseed) and four commercial crops (sugarcane, cotton, jute and copra).

Need to rethink procurement policy

  • But now with granaries overflowing with rice and wheat, there is a need to rethink and redesign the procurement policy.
  • In the crop year 2020-21, about 60 million metric tonnes (MMTs) of rice and 43 MMTs of wheat were procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and NAFED procured about 0.66 MMTs of pulses.

The increasing cost of PDS

  • The main procurement by the government happens largely for rice and wheat to feed the public distribution system (PDS).
  • The PDS issue prices of rice and wheat are subsidised by more than 90 per cent of their economic cost to the government.
  • In 2020-21, the food subsidy bill was almost 30 per cent of the net tax revenue of the central government, reflecting clearly a huge consumer-bias in the system.
  • Way forward: Unless this PDS is reformed either by restricting this to say the bottom 30 per cent of the population, or raising the issue prices to say half the economic cost of rice and wheat, giving a better deal to farmers is likely to blow up the fiscal position of the central government.

The cost of legal MSP

  • Assuming that only 10 per cent of the production of remaining crops (excluding sugarcane) is procured, it will cost the government about Rs 5.4 lakh crore annually to procure these other MSP crops.
  • This cost is estimated on the basis of economic costs of operation that are usually about 30 per cent higher than the MSP (in case of rice and wheat it is 40 per cent).
  • But it appears that despite this, market prices may stay below MSP, especially during the harvest time.
  • It also raises the question why only these MSP crops, why not other agri-produce, say milk, the value of which is more than the value of rice, wheat and sugarcane combined.

Way forward

  • PDP: One may use price deficiency payments (PDP), implying that the government pays to farmers the gap between the market price and MSP, whenever market prices are below MSP.
  • Income support instead of price support: It may be better to use an income policy on a per hectare basis to directly transfer money into farmers’ accounts without distorting markets through higher MSPs or PDPs.

Consider the question “What are the challenges in providing the legal backing to the Minimum Support Price to the agriculture produce? Suggest the way forward.”

Conclusion

There is no easy substitute to “getting the markets right”. Government need to apply an innovative approach to solve the conundrum of the MSP.

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Police Reforms – SC directives, NPC, other committees reports

Disability in india

op-ed snap | 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: Paper 2- Accessibility Standards for law enforcement

Context

The Draft Accessibility Standards/Guidelines recently released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for built infrastructure under its purview (police stations, prisons and disaster mitigation centres) and services associated with them assume significance.

What are the provisions under the Standards?

  • Models for police stations: The Standards set out models for building new police stations as well as improving upon existing police stations and prisons that are modern, gender sensitive and accessible.
  • The Standards speak to the need to make the websites and institutional social networks of police stations accessible, ensuring that persons with disabilities accused of committing any crimes are treated appropriately, having disabled-friendly entrances to police stations and disabled-friendly toilets.
  • Inclusive police force: the Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
  • Equal protection during natural disasters: Acknowledging that persons with disabilities must receive equal protection as others in such situations, the Standards provide direction on disability inclusion in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery efforts.
  • They also stress on disability inclusive training for persons involved in disaster relief activities, data aggregation, use of information and communication technology (ICT) and enforcing accessible infrastructure models for schools, hospitals and shelters following the principle of universal design.
  • Accessibility norm: The Standards introduce accessibility norms for services associated with police stations and prisons.
  • These norms promote the use of ICTs to facilitate communication, development of police websites, app-based services for filing complaints, making enquiries, etc., as well as encouraging the use of sign language, communication systems such as Braille, images for persons with psycho-social disabilities, and other augmentative and alternative modes of communication.

Shortcomings of the Standards/norms

  • Accessibility of signage not ensured: The Standards call for the deployment of directional signage regarding accessibility features in the MHA’s physical infrastructure as well as to indicate the location of accessible toilets.
  • However, they do not require that such signage itself be accessible to the visually challenged, such as through auditory means.
  • Certain accommodations merely recommendatory: The Standards characterise several reasonable accommodations that are necessary for the disabled as being merely recommendatory.
  • These include having trained police personnel in every police station to assist persons with disabilities and placing beepers at all entrances to enable the visually challenged/blind to locate themselves.
  • Lack of detail on human assistance: In the case of Patan Jamal Vali, the Court suggested connecting special educators and interpreters with police stations to operationalise the reasonable accommodations embodied in the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.
  • While the standards do require developing a mechanism to provide human assistance to the disabled such as sign language interpreters, they are short on specifics on this count.
  • Lack of representation: Interestingly, the Standards state that the police staff on civil duty could be persons with disabilities.
  • This is inconsistent with the Office Memorandum issued by the Department of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities on August 18, 2021, according to which the Centre has exempted posts in the Indian Police Service; the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshdweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Police Service; as well as the Indian Railway Protection Force Service from the mandated 4% reservation for persons with disabilities in government jobs.

Conclusion

In sum, the Standards, when enacted into law, will mark a huge step forward in making our law enforcement apparatus more disabled-friendly. Bolstering the Standards further, by incorporating the suggestions flowing from well- thought-out public comments, will take us closer to the aim of ensuring that India’s disabled citizens truly have the police they deserve.

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Indian Missile Program Updates

Explained: India’s Missile Capability

| Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates
Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: India's missile program

Mains level: Global arms race

The Defence Minister has encouraged scientists to work towards developing hypersonic missile technology after China’s successful demonstration of hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV).

Try this question:

Q. Hypersonic missiles are nothing but weapons of deterrence. Critically comment in context of arms race development for hypersonic missiles.

History of Missile Technology in India

(1) Pre-Independence

  • Before Independence, several kingdoms in India were using rockets as part of their warfare technologies.
  • Mysore ruler Hyder Ali started inducting iron-cased rockets in his army in the mid-18th century.
  • By the time Hyder’s son Tipu Sultan died, a company of rocketeers was attached to each brigade of his army, which has been estimated at around 5,000 rocket-carrying troops.

(2) Post-Independence

  • At the time of Independence, India did not have any indigenous missile capabilities.
  • The government created the Special Weapon Development Team in 1958.
  • This was later expanded and called the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), which moved from Delhi to Hyderabad by 1962.
  • In 1972, Project Devil, for the development of a medium-range Surface-to-Surface Missile was initiated.
  • By 1982, DRDL was working on several missile technologies under the Integrated Guided Missiles Development Programme (IGMDP).

What kind of missiles does India have?

  • India is considered among the top few nations when it comes to designing and developing missiles indigenously.
  • However, it is way behind the US, China and Russia in terms of range.
  • DRDO is working on multiple varieties of missiles:

[A] Surface-launched Systems

ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILE:

  • Nag has already been inducted into the services. Nag is the only fire-and-forget ATGM meeting all weather requirements for its range (around 20 km).
  • Recently Heli-Nag was tested, which will be operated from helicopters and will be inducted by 2022.
  • There is also a Stand-off Anti-Tank (SANT) missile, with a range over 10 km.

SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE

  • Short-range SAM system: Akash has already been inducted in the Army and the Air Force.
  • For Akash 1, which has a seeker, the Army has already got the Acceptance of Necessity from the government.
  • For Akash (New Generation), the first tests were conducted in July this year and a couple more trials are to be done.
  • Medium-Range SAM: Production of MRSAM systems for the Navy is complete, and it is placing its order.

[B] Air-launched Systems

AIR-TO-AIR:

  • Astra, India’s Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), has been completely tested and is under induction.
  • It has a range of around 100 km, and DRDO is trying to now induct it with more IAF platforms, including the domestically developed light combat aircraft Tejas.
  • A long-range Astra is also being developed, for which initial tests have been conducted.
  • The missile uses solid fuel ramjet technology, which enhances speed, and will have an indigenously-built seeker.

AIR-TO-GROUND:

  • Rudram, a New Generation Anti-Radiation Missile (NGRAM), has cleared initial tests and some more tests will be conducted soon.
  • With a maximum range of around 200 km, the missile mainly targets communication, radar and surveillance systems of the adversary, and was tested from the Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet last year.
  • BrahMos, which India developed jointly with Russia, is already operational.
  • It has a 300 km to 500 km range, and is a short-range, ramjet-powered, single warhead, supersonic anti-ship or land attack cruise missile.

India’s crucial missile systems

The two most important are Agni and Prithvi, both being used by the Strategic Forces Command.

  • Agni (range around 5,000) is India’s only contender for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is available in only a few countries.
  • Prithvi, although a short-range surface-to-surface missile with a 350 km range, has strategic uses. India also tested an anti-satellite system in April 2019.
  • A modified anti-ballistic missile named Prithvi Defence Vehicle Mk 2 was used to hit a low-orbit satellite.
  • It put India only behind the US, Russia and China in this capability.

What about Hypersonic Technology?

  • India has been working on this for a few years, and is just behind the US, Russia and China.
  • DRDO successfully tested a Hypersonic Technology Demonstrated Vehicle (HSTDV) in September 2020, and demonstrated its hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology.
  • India has developed its own cryogenic engine and demonstrated it in a 23-second flight.
  • India will try to make a hypersonic cruise missile, using HSTDV.
  • Only Russia has proven its hypersonic missile capability so far, while China has demonstrated its HGV capacity.
  • India is expected to be able to have a hypersonic weapons system within four years, with medium- to long-range capabilities.

What makes India good in missile technology?

  • Missile technology is one field in which India has made very positive and substantial progress.
  • Under the IGMP then headed by A P J Abdul Kalam, later India’s President, first came Prithvi, then Agni.
  • BrahMos, at 2.5-3 times the speed of sound, was among the fastest in the world when developed.
  • After the nuclear blast in 1998, cryogenic etc were not given to us by developed countries. Kalam and others, they made it a point that they developed it within the country.

Where do China and Pakistan stand compared to India?

  • While China is ahead of India, a lot of things about China are psychological.
  • China may have either achieved parity or even exceeded the US in land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missile capabilities.
  • China’s missile development is definitely a concern for us, but we will definitely evolve.
  • It has given the technology to the irresponsible hands of Pakistan. But getting technology and really using it, and thereafter evolving and adopting a policy is totally different.

Must read:

Agni V vs China’s Hypersonic Missile

 

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