Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BBB
Mains level: Paper 3- Bank Investment Company for governance reforms in the Public Sector Banks.
Banks, especially the Public Sector Banks have to play an important role in the pandemic afflicted economy. With that aim, the government has been envisaging the Bank Investment Company (BIC) for the improvement of PSB governance. The article discusses the issues with the BIC.
Background of the BIC
- Recent reports suggest that the upcoming budget may include proposals for a Bank Investment Company (BIC), anchoring the government’s shareholding in its banks.
- The BIC was proposed by the P J Nayak Committee constituted by the RBI in 2014 to examine governance at public and private sector banks.
- The committee had offered two options — privatisation or a complete overhaul of bank governance.
- The overhaul of bank governance is envisaged in the form of a gradual disassociation of the government from the operations, management and governance of PSBs.
- The BIC is a welcome step in as much as it signals the government’s intent to pursue reforms to improve the governance and performance of PSBs.
Concerns with the BIC
- The ownership and governance of the BIC itself will be crucial.
- BIC will need to be allowed to garner the requisite talent and expertise and operate with freedom.
- In the absence of this, it would merely add another layer while preserving the status quo.
- The less than encouraging experience of the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) that was to precede the BIC is instructive.
Why BBB failed to achieve its objectives
- The BBB was set up in 2016 to advise on the selection and appointment of senior board members and management.
- However, in practice, the BBB’s advice has not always been heeded to, and appointments have not always been made on time.
- The BBB, as originally conceived, was to consist of three senior bankers.
- However, it was expanded to include representatives from the RBI and the government.
- The BBB was also originally envisaged by the committee as a temporary arrangement.
- However, no further steps have been forthcoming after its establishment.
Way forward for BIC
- The government would need to ensure the necessary freedom for the BIC to operate while circumscribing its own role.
- The ultimate success of these reforms will depend on how the government disassociates itself and empowers the BIC.
- The objectives of the BIC would have to be clearly defined too.
- If capital raising is one of the goals, the structure of a holding company — with a portfolio of comparatively better performing and non-performing banks — to attract investments must be assessed.
- In this regard, the RBI has reportedly, in the past, expressed reservations on the BIC structure being a potential challenge for investors to assess the relative risks, returns and performance of the banks.
- This raises the question of whether privatisation would not be a better alternative, particularly as the transition of the government from an owner to a pure financial investor in its banks is likely to take time.
Conclusion
Given these concerns, privatisation may be a better alternative. The budget could signal this intent by announcing the first step — the repeal of the Bank Nationalisation Acts and the State Bank of India Act.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UGC
Mains level: Paper 2- Impact of UGC's criteria in evaluation of research on social sciences and humanities
The article highlights the issues with the criteria applied by the UGC to evaluate the faculty research.
Impact of UGC standardisation on social sciences and humanities research
- UGC has been the regulatory body responsible for maintaining standards in higher education, while addressing challenges of globalisation.
- Processes of UGC mandated standardisation have in particular impacted social sciences and humanities research in Indian universities.
- Over the years, UGC has linked institutional funding to ranking and accreditation systems like NAAC and NIRF.
- In order to evaluate institutions, these bodies have evolved criteria, which rank universities based on faculty research measured by citations in global journal databases like SCOPUS.
- In comparison, importance granted to research outputs like books or other forms is declining.
Issues with the criteria
- The insistence of publication in journals fails to distinguish between the varied trajectory of disciplines.
- While in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Management) disciplines, research is often highly objective and quantified.
- In social sciences and humanities research is subjective, analytical and argumentative.
- In disciplines like history, sociology, politics, philosophy, psychology and literature, researchers spend years writing books that engage with ideas in complex ways.
- In devaluing books as authentic forms of research, UGC does major disservice to scholars of social sciences and humanities.
- Due to emphasis on publication, teachers spend most of their productive time writing articles and getting them published, thereby missing out on quality engagement with pedagogy and research.
Issues with the process of peer review
- The process of peer review itself is subjective, and depends upon the knowledge, inclination and availability of time of the particular reviewer.
- It is often quite challenging for scholars to meet peer-review standards of A-listed journals.
- This has actually required the UGC to expand its own list, ending up including and subsequently deleting a large number of locally published journals.
Issue of inaccessibility
- Publication of research in paywalled journal databases makes research inaccessible for students as universities continue to cut down library budgets.
- Students and teachers, access articles through pirated sites like Libgen and Scihub, prone to be shut down at any point of time as evident from the litigations.
- Clearly, access to knowledge is structurally made inequitable in favour of the elite and/or moneyed institutions and their constituents.
Way forward
- The above arguments maintain for the possible multiplicity that can emerge as the end-result of research.
- Interdisciplinary and practice-based research can throw up social and ecological experiments, artworks and performances, and numerous new outcomes yet to be conceived as research outputs.
- While the UGC hopes to raise the standards to global levels, precarity of employment, longer teaching hours, a dismal student-teacher ratio, lack of sabbaticals, research and travel grants, access to research facilities and office space, adversely impact the research potential of teachers.
- Regulating research needs to be replaced with facilitating research, allowing minds to think and gestate.
- Regulations without facilitation will merely bureaucratise the governance of knowledge without generating any pathbreaking insights.
Conclusion
The UGC needs to widen its criteria which values publication of a book as much as a research paper in the mandated journal to widen the research in social sciences and humanities.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Open Skies Treaty (OST)
Mains level: Open Skies Treaty (OST)
Russia has announced that it was pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty, saying that the pact had been seriously compromised by the withdrawal of the United States.
The New START, INF and now the OST …. Be clear about the differences of these treaties. For example- to check if their inception was during cold war era etc.
Open Skies Treaty (OST)
- OST is an agreement that allows countries to monitor signatories’ arms development by conducting surveillance flights over each other’s territories.
- The idea behind the OST was first proposed in the early years of the Cold War by former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.
- It came to existence decades later and was signed in 1992, during the George H.W. Bush presidency and after the Soviet Union had collapsed.
- The OST came into effect in 2002 under the George W. Bush administration and it allows its 34 signatories to conduct unarmed reconnaissance flights over the territory of treaty countries.
Issues with the OST
- The U.S. has used the treaty more intensively than Russia.
- Between 2002 and 2016, the U.S. flew 196 flights over Russia (in addition to having imagery from other countries) compared to the 71 flights flown by Russia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kalapani Region
Mains level: India-Nepal Border Issues
Nepal has raised the Kalapani boundary dispute with India during the Joint Commission meeting of the Foreign Ministers.
Q.The India-Nepal bilateral relations these days are increasingly seen through the lens of China factor. Examine.
Kalapani Boundary Issue
- Mapped within Uttarakhand is a 372-sq km area called Kalapani, bordering far-west Nepal and Tibet.
- A treaty signed between Nepal and British India in 1816 determined the Makhali river, that runs through Kalapani, as the boundary between the two neighbours.
- The Treaty of Sugauli concluded between British India and the Kingdom of Nepal in the year 1816, maps the Makhali River as the western boundary with India.
- But different British maps showed the source of the tributary at different places which were mainly due to underdeveloped and less-defined surveying techniques used at that time.
- However, the river has many tributaries that meet at Kalapani. For this reason, India claims that the river begins at Kalapani but Nepal says that it begins from Lipu Lekh pass, which is the source of most of its tributaries.
- While the Nepal government and political parties have protested, India has said the new map does not revise the existing boundary with Nepal.
- India claims that the river begins at Kalapani but Nepal says that it begins from Lipu Lekh pass, which is the source of most of its tributaries.
Legal Dimension of Issue
According to International Laws, the principles of avulsion and accretion are applicable in determining the borders when a boundary river changes course.
- Avulsion: It is the pushing back of the shoreline by sudden, violent action of the elements, perceptible while in progress. Also, it can be defined as the sudden and perceptible change in the land brought about by water, which may result in the addition or removal of land from a bank or shoreline.
- Accretion: It is the process of growth or enlargement by a gradual buildup. It is the natural, slow and gradual deposit of soil by the water.
If the change of the river course is rapid – by avulsion – the boundary does not change. But if the river changes course gradually – that is, by accretion – the boundary changes accordingly.
Since, the Gandak change, of course, has been gradual, India claimed Susta as part of their territory as per international laws.
- On several occasions, India has tried to resolve the issue through friendly and peaceful negotiations, but the Nepali leadership has always shown hesitation in resolving the issue.
- In Nepal, the issue has become a tool for arousing strong public sentiment against India. Therefore, resolving the issue may not be in the best interest of Nepal’s domestic politics.
Significance for India
- The Lipu Lekh pass serves strategic importance for India as a key point to monitor Chinese troop movement.
- The link road via Lipulekh Himalayan Pass is also considered one of the shortest and most feasible trade routes between India and China.
- The Nepalese reaction would probably have triggered in response to Chinese assertion.
An undefined boundary claimed by Nepal
- Nepal’s western boundary with India was marked out in the Treaty of Sugauli between the East India Company and Nepal in 1816.
- Nepali authorities claim that people living in the low-density area were included in the Census of Nepal until 58 years ago.
- Five years ago, Nepali Foreign Minister had claimed that the late King Mahendra “handed over the territory to India”.
- By some accounts in Nepal, this allegedly took place in the wake of India-China War of 1962.
Must read:
[Burning Issue] India-Nepal Border Row
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: India's trade deficit
Mains level: Atmanirbhar Bharat
India’s trade with China last year fell to the lowest since 2017, with the trade imbalance declining to a five-year low on the back of a slump in India’s imports from China.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Among the following, which one is the largest exporter of rice in the world in the last five years? (CSP 2019)
(a) China
(b) India
(c) Myanmar
(d) Vietnam
India-China Trade
- Two-way trade in 2020 reached $87.6 billion, down by 5.6%, according to new figures from China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC).
- India’s imports from China accounted for $66.7 billion, declining by 10.8% year-on-year and the lowest figure since 2016.
- It, however, rose to the highest figure on record, for the first time crossing the $20 billion-mark and growing 16% last year to $20.86 billion.
What constitutes India’s import from China?
- While there was no immediate break-up of the data in 2020, India’s biggest import in 2019 was electrical machinery and equipment, worth $20.17 billion.
- Other major imports in 2019 were organic chemicals ($8.39 billion) and fertilizers ($1.67 billion), while India’s top exports were iron ore, organic chemicals, cotton and unfinished diamonds.
India’s exports to China
- The past 12 months saw a surge in demand for iron ore in China with a slew of new infrastructure projects aimed at reviving growth after the COVID-19 slump.
- China’s total iron ore imports were up 9.5 per cent in 2020.
A friction-induced low
- The trade deficit, a source of friction between India and China, declined to a five year-low of $45.8 billion, the lowest since 2015.
- Whether 2020 is an exception or marks a turn away from the recent pattern of India’s trade with China remains to be seen.
- While India’s imports from China declined, so did India’s imports overall with a slump in domestic demand last year.
- There is, as yet, no evidence to suggest India has replaced its import dependence on China by either sourcing those goods elsewhere or manufacturing them at home.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Thiruvalluvar
Mains level: Sangam Literature
The Prime Minister has extended his venerations to Thiruvalluvar on the Thiruvalluvar Day.
Read everything about Sangam Literature from your basic sources.
Who was Thiruvalluvar?
- Thiruvalluvar is fondly referred to as Valluvar by Tamils was born during 4th -5th century CE.
- His ‘Thirukkural’, a collection of 1,330 couplets (‘kurals’ in Tamil), are an essential part of every Tamil household.
- It holds importance in the same way the Bhagavad Gita or the Ramayana are in traditional North Indian Hindu households.
- Thiruvalluvar is revered as an ancient saint, poet, and a philosopher by Tamils, irrespective of their religion.
- He is an essential anchor for Tamils in tracing their cultural roots; Tamils are taught to learn his couplets word-for-word and to follow his teachings in their day-to-day living.
Also read:
Sangam era older than previously thought, finds study
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PMKVY
Mains level: Skill Development
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 3.0.
Note the differences between all three versions of PMKVY.
PMKVY 3.0
- PMKVY 3.0 envisages training of eight lakh candidates over the scheme period of 2020-2021.
- This phase three will focus on new-age and COVID-related skills.
- The 729 PM Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs), empanelled non-PMKK training centres and more than 200 industrial training institutes under Skill India will be rolling out under it.
- On the basis of the learning gained from PMKVY 1.0 and PMKVY 2.0, the MSDE has improved the newer version of the scheme to match the current policy doctrine and energize the skilling ecosystem.
Implementation
- PMKVY 3.0 will be implemented in a more decentralized structure with greater responsibilities and support from States/UTs and Districts.
- District Skill Committees (DSCs), under the guidance of State Skill Development Missions (SSDM), shall play a key role in addressing the skill gap and assessing demand at the district level.
- The new scheme will be more trainee- and learner-centric addressing the ambitions of aspirational Bharat.
- PMKVY 2.0 broadened the skill development with the inclusion of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and focus on training.
- With the advent of PMKVY 3.0, the focus is on bridging the demand-supply gap by promoting skill development in areas of new-age and Industry 4.0 job roles.
Back2Basics: PMKVY 1.0
- PMKVY is a skill development initiative scheme of the Government of India for recognition and standardization of skills launched on16 July 2015;.
- The aim of the scheme is to encourage aptitude towards employable skills and to increase the working efficiency of probable and existing daily wage earners, by giving monetary awards and rewards and by providing quality training to them.
- For this qualification plans and quality, plans have been developed by various Sector Skill Councils (SSC) created with the participation of Industries.
- National Skill Development Council (NSDC) has been made coordinating and driving agency for the same.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CRAR
Mains level: Paper 3- Recapitalisation of PSBs
The article suggest the approach to deal with the problems banking in India faces.
Banking sector under stress
- Along with the other sectors, pandemic dealt a severe blow to the banking sector.
- Stress tests reported in the Financial Stability Report (FSR) indicate that the low ratio of capital to risk-adjusted-assets (CRAR) is likely to decline further.
- To revive the economy and resume sustained high growth, bold structural reforms will have to be combined with strong fiscal and monetary measures.
Declining credit growth: monetary challenge
- India’s credit-to-gross domestic product ratio is around 51%.
- 51% not too low compared to other countries at comparable levels of per capita income.
- However, the worry is that credit growth is declining rapidly.
- It is mainly attributable to rising risk aversion among lenders, reflecting the high and rising level of NPAs.
- Risk aversion spiked during the economic contraction.
Rising NPA of Public Sector Banks
- The FSR stress tests now indicate that the gross NPA ratio is likely to go up to as much as 13.5% by September 2021 in the report’s baseline case and 14.8% in the ‘severe stress’ case.
- Within the banking sector, conditions are much worse in public sector banks (PSBs) compared to private banks (PBs) or foreign banks (FBs).
- The gross NPA figure is forecast to rise to 16.2% for PSBs as compared to 7.9% and 5.4% for PBs and FBs in the baseline case.
- Clearly, high NPAs are primarily a problem for PSBs, which still account for 60% of India’s total bank credit.
Expanding banking sector: bypass PSBs and give a big push to private banking
- The recent report on Ownership and Corporate Structure for Indian Private Sector Banks submitted by an RBI internal working group (IWG) espouses this approach.
- The IWG’s main recommendation is to enable large corporations and industrial houses to acquire banking licences.
- The proposal has been strongly opposed by former governors and deputy governors of RBI, several former chief economic advisers, a former finance secretary, and, most significantly, all save one of the many experts the IWG consulted.
Four issues with the push to private banking
- 1) With an industry CRAR of only 12%, the proposed raising of the promoter share cap to 26% could potentially leverage the promoter’s investment by 32 times.
- The very high risk appetite generated by such leveraging would subject depositors to a high level of systemic risk, given the limited deposit insurance provided in India.
- 2) Excessive risk appetite would lead to imprudent lending, especially connected lending to group companies. Conglomerates always find ways around regulatory restrictions against such connected lending.
- 3) Three, a conglomerate’s bank would have access to insider information on borrower companies that compete with its group companies.
- 4) Conglomerate banks would lead to massive concentration of economic power and political influence against not just competing companies, but even the regulator.
Way forward
- A safer and cleaner option would be to help the country’s banking sector grow through simultaneous privatization and recapitalization of PSBs.
- However, these options do not change the ownership and governance structure of PSBs, which is what primarily is to blame for their poor performance.
- A better option is for PSBs to recapitalize themselves by raising fresh equity.
- It would be more prudent financially and also more acceptable politically to test this approach with one or two small PSBs.
Conclusion
Government should try to adopt the approach which reduces the risks associated with giving push to private players in the banking sector while making the PSBs more efficient.
Back2Basics: CRAR-Capital to risk-adjusted-assets
- The CRAR is the capital needed for a bank measured in terms of the assets (mostly loans) disbursed by the banks.
- Higher the assets, higher should be the capital by the bank.
- A notable feature of CRAR is that it measures capital adequacy in terms of the riskiness of the assets or loans given.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Working of HAM
Mains level: Paper 3- Hybrid Annuity Model and risks involved
The article explains the working of Hybrid Annuity Model in the road construction and the risks involved in the model.
Investment in road sector
- The central government has set a target of increasing the investment in infrastructure to over Rs 111 lakh crore over the period FY20-FY25.
- Within the transportation segment, projects worth Rs 36.7 lakh crore, constituting 55% of transportation infra, are for the road sector.
- The large investments planned in the road sector signifies its importance—it has a multiplier effect on the economy and provides large employment opportunities.
Models for the road sector
- Out of HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model) and BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer)—toll developers prefer the relatively lower risk HAM model.
- This is due to its various positives like lower equity requirements, provision for mobilisation advances, better right of way availability, inflation-linked adjustments for bid project cost, termination payments during the construction period and de-linking construction and operations.
- These HAM features have garnered a favourable response and mix of HAM awards has increased from 10% in FY16 to 48% in H1FY2021.
How HAM works and risks involved
- During the operations period for a HAM project, the recovery from authority is in the form of fixed annuity payments along with interest on balance accumulated annuity payments (calculated @300 bps over prevailing bank rate)
- The only major risk for HAM is the prevailing low bank rates adversely affecting the overall project viability and returns.
- Such interest receipts account for around 45% of total inflows.
- Low bank rate would thus reduce the overall inflows for a HAM project, thereby adversely affecting its debt coverage metrics and returns to the investors.
- The second problem is related to delayed and inadequate interest rate transmission—there is a transmission lag for the project loan (linked to MCLR of banks).
Changes in model concession agreement
- As per revised concession agreement dated November 10, 2020, interest rate on annuities will be equal to the average MCLR of top 5 scheduled commercial banks plus 1.25% instead of bank rate.
- With the average MCLR replacing the bank rate, there will be a natural hedge between the annuity inflows and interest costs,
- This will reduce the interest rate risks to a large extent, and that too without any delay.
- The other major revision is the grant payment from the authority which will now be paid in 10 instalments instead of five.
- The other major revision is the grant payment from the authority which will now be paid in 10 instalments instead of five.
- Thus, the spacing between the payment milestones is reduced.
- This will improve the cash conversion cycle for the contractors executing the HAM projects as their payments are back to back in nature.
- However, these changes will be applicable for new awards, and the fate of the existing HAM projects is hanging in the balance.
Conclusion
With improved attractiveness, HAM is expected to remain the mainstay for public-private partnership projects in the road sector.
Source:-
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/hamsome-gains/2171329/
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Global perception of India's image
A UK think-tank ‘Royal Institute of International Affairs’ has listed India in ‘Difficult 4’; clubs India with China, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
This newscard helps analyse the Western esp. that of the EU’s perception of India and its global image under the present regime.
What is the news?
- A report called ‘Global Britain, Global Broker’ has warned the UK government to consider India as more of a rival that a cooperative partner.
- It accepts the fact that India is set to be the largest country in the world by population very soon and will have the third-largest economy and defence budget at some point in this decade.
- But it cautions that gaining direct national benefit from the relationship, whether economically or diplomatically, will be difficult for the UK government.
- The report also accepts India’s importance to the UK as being “inescapable”.
The ‘Difficult Four’
- Clubbing India with China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as the “difficult four”, the report says the Johnson government should be more realistic about developing deeper ties with India.
- They may be important to the UK’s commercial interests, but they will be rivals or, at best, awkward counterparts on many of its global goals, the report warns.
- India is now classed as a country, destined to count among the UK’s “rivals” or “awkward counterparts” as it pursues its global goals.
India has had bitter (colonial) past
- The think-tank strikes a note of caution over the two countries’ shared colonial history proving a stumbling block to the promise of a deeper relationship.
- India has a long and consistent record of resisting being corralled into a ‘Western’ camp.
- As a result, India is always on the list of countries with which a new UK government commits to engage.
- But it should be obvious by now that the idea of a deeper relationship with India always promises more than it can deliver.
- The legacy of British colonial rule consistently curdles the relationship.
Indian flaws
- The report points to India’s “complex, fragmented domestic politics”, which make it one of the countries resistant to open trade and foreign investment.
- It highlights concerns raised by domestic groups as well as the UN over a “crackdown on human rights activists and civil society groups” not being actively challenged by the judiciary.
- It raises concern over India’s pursuance of extreme right-winged policies. Indian domestic politics also has entered a more ethnic-nationalist phase, the report argues.
- Against this backdrop, the report reflects on the prospect of including India within any new Democratic 10 or D10 coalition of 10 leading democracies.
Try this question from 2019 CS Mains:
Q.What are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism? (150W)
UK’s resentment
- In a critique of India’s diplomatic behaviour, the report points out that despite border clashes with China, “India did not join the group of countries that criticized China at the UN in July 2019 over HR violations in Xinjiang.
- India has also been muted in its criticism of the passage of the new national security law in Hong Kong.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sect 497 of IPC
Mains level: Adultery Laws and the associated gender bias
The Supreme Court has admitted a petition filed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) seeking to exempt armed forces personnel from the ambit of a Constitution Bench judgment of 2018 that decriminalized adultery.
Q. Personnels of the Indian Armed Forces constitute a ‘Distinct Class’.
Discuss this statement in context to the extension of IPC section 497 to the Armed forces.
What was the 2018 historic Judgment?
- The Supreme Court had struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalized adultery.
- It also declared Section 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code as unconstitutional, which deals with the procedure for filing a complaint about the offence of adultery.
Important observations of the judgment
- Section 497 was unconstitutional and is violative of Article 21 (Right to life and personal liberty) and Article 14 (Right to equality).
- The court observed that two individuals may part if one cheats, but to attach criminality to infidelity is going too far. How married couples deal with adultery is absolutely a matter of privacy.
- Besides, there is no data to back claims that abolition of adultery as a crime would result in “chaos in sexual morality” or an increase of divorce.
- Any provision of law affecting individual dignity and equality of women invites the wrath of the Constitution.
- It’s time to say that a husband is not the master of the wife. Legal sovereignty of one sex over other sex is wrong, ruled the court.
- Marriage does not mean ceding autonomy of one to the other. Ability to make sexual choices is essential to human liberty. Even within private zones, an individual should be allowed her choice.
What about Armed forces?
- The judgment of 2018 created “instability”. It allowed personnel charged with carrying on an adulterous or illicit relationship to take cover under the judgment.
- The bench had then referred the case to the CJI to pass appropriate orders to form a five-judge Bench to clarify the impact of the 2018 judgment on the armed forces.
- This case is now being under the observation of the apex court.
Govt. stance over this
- The MoD has sought for an exemption to this decriminalization in the petition.
- It said that there will always be a concern in the minds of the Army personnel who are operating far away from their families under challenging conditions about the family indulging in untoward activity.
- The petition goes on to say that personnel of the Army, Navy and the Air Force were a “distinct class”. They were governed by special legislation, the Army Act, the Navy Act and the Air Force Act.
- Adultery amounted to unbecoming conduct and a violation of discipline under these three Acts.
- Unlike Section 497, the provisions of the three Acts did not differentiate between a man and a woman if they were guilty of an offence.
Constitutional backing for an exception
- These special laws imposed restrictions on the fundamental rights of the personnel, who function in a peculiar situation requiring utmost discipline.
- The three laws were protected by Article 33 of the Constitution, which allowed the government to modify the fundamental rights of the armed forces personnel.
The core idea behind govt. proposition
- One has to remember that the armed forces exist in an environment wholly different and distinct from civilians. Honour is a sine qua non of the service.
- The provisions of the Acts should be allowed to continue to govern the personnel as a “distinct class”, irrespective of the 2018 judgment.
- This is because, the discipline necessary for the performance of duty, crucial for national safety, would break down.
- It said the court would not, at the time, have been appraised of the different circumstances under which the armed forces operated.
Back2Basics: Article 33 of the Indian Constitution
- It deals with the power of Parliament to modify the rights conferred by this Part III in their application etc.
- Parliament may, by law, determine to what extent any of the rights conferred by this Part shall, in their application to-
(a) the members of the Armed Forces; or
(b) the members of the Forces charged with the maintenance of public order; or
(c) persons employed in any bureau or other organisation established by the State for purposes of intelligence or counterintelligence; or
(d) persons employed in, or in connection with, the telecommunication systems set up for the purposes of any Force, bureau or organisation referred to in clauses (a) to (c), be restricted or abrogated so as to ensure the proper discharge of their duties and the maintenance of discipline among them
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Curiosity rover, Martian Day
Mains level: Quest for extraterrestrial life
The Mars rover ‘Curiosity’ has completed 3,000 Martian days.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which region of Mars has a densely packed river deposit indicating this planet had water 3.5 billion years ago?
(a) Aeolis Dorsa
(b) Tharsis
(c) Olympus Mons
(d) Hellas
Curiosity Rover
- Curiosity is an SUV-sized Mars rover designed to explore the Gale crater on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission
- The main mission of Curiosity was “to search areas of Mars for past or present conditions favourable for life, and conditions capable of preserving a record of life.”
- It has a suite of instruments:
- A gas chromatograph, a mass spectrometer, a tunable laser spectrometer, X-ray diffraction, fluorescence instrument help study the rocks
- The Mars Hand Lens Imager (for close-up pictures) and a Mast Camera (to take photos of the surroundings)
- An instrument named ChemCam to vaporize thin layers of Martian rocks.
- Radiation Assessment Detector to study the radiation environment at the surface of Mars
- Rover Environmental Monitoring Station to measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, winds, plus ultraviolet radiation levels
- Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument to measure subsurface hydrogen
Back2Basics: Martian Day/ Sol
- Coincidentally, the duration of a Martian day aka ‘Sol’ is within a few per cent of that of an Earth day, which has led to the use of analogous time units.
- A sol is slightly longer than an Earth day. It is approximately 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 seconds long.
- A Martian year is approximately 668 sols, equivalent to approximately 687 Earth days.
- Mars has an axial tilt and a rotation period similar to those of Earth.
- Thus, it experiences seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter much like Earth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sulawesi Cave Paintings
Mains level: Not Much
A team of archaeologists in Indonesia has discovered what may be the world’s oldest known cave painting dating back to more than 45,000 years.
Try this PYQ:
Q.There are only two known examples of cave paintings of the Gupta period in ancient India. One of these is paintings of Ajanta caves. Where is the other surviving example of Gupta paintings?
(a) Bagh caves
(b) Ellora caves
(c) Lomas Rishi cave
(d) Nasik caves
Sulawesi Cave Paintings
- The cave painting depicts a wild boar endemic to the Sulawesi island of Indonesia, where the painting was found.
- The central Indonesian island, which occupies an area of over 174,000 sq. km, is situated between Asia and Australia.
- It has a long history of human occupation.
Significance of the painting
- The archaeologists’ note that the dated painting of the Sulawesi warty pig seems to be the world’s oldest surviving representational image of an animal.
- The painting was made using red ochre pigment and depicts a pig with a short crest of upright hairs and a pair of horn-like facial warts in front of the eyes.
- These pigs have been hunted by humans for tens of thousands of years and are the most commonly depicted animal in the ice age rock art of the island.
- It suggests that they have long been used as food and form a “focus of creative thinking and artistic expression” for people of that time.
Must read:
Chapter 1 | Stone Age – Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic
How did the archaeologists date it?
- The painting was first discovered in 2017 as part of surveys the team was carrying out with the Indonesian authorities.
- For these painting archaeologists used a method called U-series isotope analysis, which uses calcium carbonate deposits that form naturally on the cave wall surface to determine its age.
- They used a calcium carbonate deposit, also referred to as “cave popcorn” that had formed on the rear foot of one of the pig figures.
- They were able to figure out a minimum age for the painting at around 45,500 years, which means the painting was made before this.
Sulawesi: Oldest human habitat
Try memorizing these Islands of the Indo-Pacific in their East-West alternations.
- Sulawesi island contains some of the oldest directly dated rock art in the world and also some of the oldest evidence for the presence of hominins beyond the southeastern limits of the Ice Age Asian continent.
- Hominins include modern humans, extinct human species and our immediate ancestors.
- Homo sapiens are the first modern humans who evolved from their hominid predecessors between 200,000-300,000 years ago.
- It is estimated that these modern humans started migrating outside of Africa some 70,000-100,000 years ago.
- Even so, it is not yet clear as to when modern humans first colonised Sulawesi.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kashmiri papier-mache
Mains level: NA
This newscard is an excerpt of the original article published in The Hindu.
Tap to know about other Geographical Indicators in news.
Kashmiri papier-mache
- It is a handicraft of Kashmir that was brought by Muslims saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani from Persia in the 14th century to medieval India.
- It is based primarily on paper pulp, and is a richly decorated, colourful artefact; generally in the form of vases, bowls, or cups (with and without metal rims), boxes, trays, bases of lamps, and many other small objects.
- These are made in homes, and workshops, in Srinagar, and other parts of the Kashmir Valley, and are marketed primarily within India, although there is a significant international market.
- The product is protected under the Geographic Indication Act 1999 and was registered by the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks.
Back2Basics: Geographical Indication (GI)
- The World Intellectual Property Organisation defines a GI as “a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”.
- GIs are typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, handicrafts, industrial products, wines and spirit drinks.
- Internationally, GIs are covered as an element of intellectual property rights under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
- They have also covered under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vaccines for Covid-19
Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges in vaccination for Covid-19
The article explains the challenge in the vaccination program for the Covid-19 vaccine.
Issue of lack of data about the vaccine
- In the COVID vaccine roll out, there is no clear data for either of the two vaccines proposed for use in the programme.
- We do not know if they provide protection for life, for a year or six months, its efficacy among the elderly or the very sick or in stopping new infections.
- Getting such data requires at least three years and cannot be obtained in a few months.
Guidelines for implementing vaccine programme
- Given these limitations, the government has drawn up strategic guidelines for implementing an vaccine programme covering 30 crore people by July.
- The guidelines draw upon the knowledge of running national campaigns acquired over three decades of implementing the Universal Immunisation Programme.
- These guidelines detail the skills, roles and responsibilities of the required human resources, logistics for delivering vaccines at point of use, physical infrastructure, monitoring systems based on digital platforms and feedback systems for reporting adverse events.
- The approach involves 19 departments, donor organisations and NGOs at the national, state, district and block level.
- The guidelines also mention the priority criteria — caregivers, front line workers of the departments of health, defence, municipalities and transportation; persons above the age of 50 and those below 50 having diabetes, hypertension, cancers and lung diseases.
Issues with the guidelines
- Of the 28,932 cold chain points, half are in the five southern states, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
- Combined with poor human resources — doctors, nurses, pharmacists — a weak private sector, poor safety and hygiene standards, frequent power outages, poor infrastructure, the capacity to implement with the expected speed, quality and accuracy is daunting.
- The immunisation can disrupt routine health service delivery — antenatal care, national programmes like those pertaining to TB or other immunisation drives.
- While data for the above-50-year-olds is available in the electoral rolls, line listing of the under 50s with comorbidities can be challenging.
- Not only are urban-rural variations substantial, but urban areas have weak public health infrastructure and a multiple number of private providers due to the poor implementation of the Clinical Establishment Act, 2010.
- Patient tracking can be problematic.
- The non-availability of efficacy data could also impact the procurement and supply of vaccines, result in huge wastage, and can introduce scope for errors and duplication.
Way forward
- Central to the success of the roll out will be the confidence of the people in the vaccines.
- Coming out of this messy situation is necessary and one option — as adopted for the polio eradication programme — is to establish an independent team of experts under the aegis of the WHO to ensure the safety of the vaccine.
- This will create confidence in the community and international authorities as well.
Conclusion
it is important to understand that vaccination is an incomplete solution to ending the epidemic, since the virus is mutating. Adopting safe behaviour is.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kisan Credit Cards
Mains level: Paper 3- Enhancing credit flow to small and marginal farmers
The budget could be an opportunity to increase the consumption which has been impacted by the pandemic and still continues to show the declining trends.
Continuing decline in consumption
- The first advance estimates of GDP for 2020-21 are much better than the earlier market consensus.
- The demand side, however, continues to be in a decline with private consumption falling by 9.5 per cent and its share in the overall GDP reducing by full 100 basis points.
- Per capita private consumption has contracted by 10.4 per cent, while capital formation has contracted by 14.5 per cent, with imports and exports also contracting.
- Only government consumption remains in positive territory.
What should be the growth in nominal GDP for 2021-22?
- In terms of specific numbers, the average growth in nominal GDP for the decade ending in 2013-14 was 15 per cent, but the average GDP deflator at 7.6 per cent far outpaced average real GDP at 6.8 per cent.
- For the six year period ending in 2019-20, average nominal GDP growth was 10.4 per cent, with real GDP growth of 6.8 per cent far outpacing the GDP deflator at 3.6 per cent.
- It is thus extremely important that we ensure that the current inflation trajectory is kept under control through policy interventions.
Policy recommendations for the farmers
1) Changing condition for renewal of loan on Kisan Credit Cards
- Out of the outstanding bank credit of about Rs 12 lakh crore to the agriculture and allied activities sector, Rs 7 lakh crore is for Kisan Credit Cards.
- The KCC portfolio of banks is under stress over the years due to a variety of factors like crop losses, unremunerated prices, debt waivers and the rigidity of the KCC product.
- Currently, the renewal of KCC loans with payment of both principal and interest ensures interest subvention.
- It is proposed that for renewal of KCC loans of small and marginal farmers and for loans of other categories of farmers for amounts up to Rs 3 lakh, the payment of interest must be a sufficient condition for renewal as with other loans.
- The above measure has the potential to reduce the credit cost for banks considerably on KCCs as NPAs can be prevented more easily and the interest rate on KCC loans can be further reduced.
2) Formalise tenancy and provide credit to tenant farmers
- There are 11.5 crore farmers who are PM-KISAN beneficiaries — 6.5 crore farmers have KCC.
- Thus, the remaining 4-5 crore could be land owning cultivators and at least 3-4 crore of such could be tenants/lessees/landless.
- Currently, such tenant farmers are not formalised into the credit deliveries of scheduled commercial banks.
- As of now, it requires state interventions for tenancy certificates which is only available in Andhra Pradesh.
- Formation of a SHG model under the Deen Dayal Antodoya Yojana will formalise tenancy even without formal documentation of tenancy.
- This will enable formal lending to take place to three crore landless farmers.
3) Increasing investment in health and education
- For health, it government could introduce medical savings account with a defined scheme to deduct interest from the savings account and pay towards a Mediclaim policy.
- For the record, the size of the health insurance is Rs 32,000 crore and the savings bank interest is Rs 1.15 lakh crore.
- The government should also consider exempting all retail and health insurance products from GST.
Three suggestions on the fiscal situation
- First,Withdraw all tax appeals.
- Second, accept all domestic arbitration decisions against government departments/agencies.
- Third, clear all outstanding dues to all parastatal agencies within a stipulated time.
- This will be a milestone structural administrative change that could be even thought of as a one-time balance sheet entry recognising liabilities and paying them off.
- As a consequence, we could jump multiple positions on the Ease of Doing Business rankings.
Conclusion
By implementing these steps in the budget the government could use this opportnity to stimulate the economy and aid the economic recovery.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Digital Lending and associated issue
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a working group on digital lending to study all aspects of digital lending activities in the regulated financial sector as well as by unregulated players.
NPAs are rising in India. And one may find some irritating ads and texts on our smartphones, which desperately wants to disburse easy loans (that too in a limited offer period)!
Digital Lending
- Digital lending is the process of offering loans that are applied for, disbursed, and managed through digital channels, in which lenders use digitized data to inform credit decisions and build customer engagement.
- It consists of lending through web platforms or mobile apps, by taking advantage of technology for authentication and credit assessment.
Why in news?
- The move comes in the backdrop of the three borrowers in Telangana committing suicide over alleged harassment by personnel of such digital lenders.
- There were many more complaining of being subjected to coercive methods after defaulting on repayments.
Why regulate Digital Lending?
- Digital lending has the potential to make access to financial products and services more fair, efficient and inclusive.
- From a peripheral supporting role a few years ago, FinTech-led innovation is now at the core of the design, pricing and delivery of financial products and services.
- While penetration of digital methods in the financial sector is a welcome development, the benefits and certain downside risks are often interwoven.
- A balanced approach needs to be followed so that the regulatory framework supports innovation while ensuring data security, privacy, confidentiality and consumer protection.
Risks associated
- A growing number of unauthorized digital lending platforms and mobile applications are threats to consumers.
- Such lenders charge excessive rates of interest and additional hidden charges.
- They adopt unacceptable and high-handed recovery methods and in turn misuse agreements to access data on mobile phones of borrowers.
What will the working group do?
- The RBI working group will evaluate digital lending activities and assess the penetration and standards of outsourced digital lending activities in RBI regulated entities.
- They would thus identify the risks posed by unregulated digital lending to financial stability, regulated entities and consumers; and suggest regulatory changes to promote orderly growth of digital lending.
- It will also recommend measures for expansion of specific regulatory or statutory perimeter and suggest the role of various regulatory and government agencies.
- It will also recommend a robust fair practices code for digital lending players.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GGW Project
Mains level: Combating Desertification
The Great Green Wall (GGW) Project to address desertification, land degradation and climate change in the Sahel region of Africa has hit a new low due to funds crunch.
Note the countries swept by the GGW project on the African map.
GGW Project
- The Great Green Wall project is conceived by 11 countries located along the southern border of the Sahara and their international partners, is aimed at limiting the desertification of the Sahel zone.
- Led by the African Union, the initiative aims to transform the lives of millions of people by creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across North Africa.
- The initial idea of the GGW was to develop a line of trees from east to the west bordering the Saharan Desert.
- Its vision has evolved into that of a mosaic of interventions addressing the challenges facing the people in the Sahel and the Sahara.
Why was such project incepted?
- The project is a response to the combined effect of natural resources degradation and drought in rural areas.
- It aimed to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land by 2030; only four million hectares had been restored between 2007 and 2019.
- It is a partnership that supports communities working towards sustainable management and use of forests, rangelands and other natural resources.
- It seeks to help communities mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as improve food security.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MICE tourism
Mains level: Various initiaitves tourism promotion
Gujarat CM has announced the tourism policy for 2021-25, seeking to position the state as the country’s foremost tourist destination, with a focus on investment and livelihood opportunities.
The policy seeks to make Gujarat a hub of “MICE” tourism.
Q. Given the vital importance of the tourism industry in the Indian economy, there is a need to address underneath challenges and adopt a suitable policy for overall growth. Discuss the need for a comprehensive National Tourism Policy.
What is MICE tourism?
- The acronym “MICE” stands for “Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions”, and is essentially a version of business tourism that draws domestic and international tourists to a destination.
- The policy aims to make Gujarat one of the top five MICE tourism destinations in the country.
How does the policy proposals to attract MICE tourism?
- To incentivise international events, the government has announced an assistance of Rs 5,000 to the event organizer per foreign participant staying overnight, subject to an upper limit of Rs 5 lakh.
- For domestic events, the policy promises financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh per event, capped at three events per organizer per year.
- For Gujarat to emerge as a venue of big national and international conferences, large convention centres are required.
- The policy promises special incentives for building big convention centres, including 15% capital subsidy on the eligible capital investment.
- The government has also promised land on the lease if required.
- A precondition to avail the incentive is that the convention centre should have at least one hall that can seat a minimum of 2,500 persons.
Why is there a specific focus on MICE tourism?
- MICE events are major tourism generators, and there is significant scope to tap into it.
- By incentivizing the organising of MICE events and construction of convention centres in Gujarat, we are trying to plug the gaps.
- The organizer of an international event can prolong the stay of guests by one or two days, and visitors can visit tourist attractions, of which Gujarat has many.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mutual Funds
Mains level: Mutual Funds and associated market risks
The capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made it mandatory for mutual funds to assign a risk level to schemes, based on certain parameters.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following is issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who want to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly?
(a) Certificate of Deposit
(b) Commercial Paper
(c) Promissory Note
(d) Participatory Note
What are Mutual Funds?
- A Mutual Fund is a trust that collects money from a number of investors who share a common investment objective.
- Then, it invests the money in equities, bonds, money market instruments and/or other securities.
- Each investor owns units, which represent a portion of the holdings of the fund.
- The income/gains generated from this collective investment are distributed proportionately amongst the investors after deducting certain expenses, by calculating a scheme’s “Net Asset Value or NAV.
- It is one of the most viable investment options for the common man as it offers an opportunity to invest in a diversified, professionally managed basket of securities at a relatively low cost.
- All funds carry some level of risk. With mutual funds, one may lose some or all of the money invested because the securities held by a fund can go down in value.
What is the risk-o-meter?
- All mutual funds shall beginning January 1, assign a risk level to their schemes at the time of launch, based on the scheme’s characteristics.
- SEBI’s decision on the “risk-o-meter”, characterizes the risk level of the schemes on a six-stage scale from “Low” to “Very High”.
- The risk-o-meter must be evaluated on a monthly basis.
A compulsory mandate
- Fund houses are required to disclose the risk-o-meter risk level along with the portfolio disclosure for all their schemes on their own websites as well as the website of the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) within 10 days of the close of each month.
- Any change in the risk-o-meter reading with regard to a scheme shall be communicated to the unit-holders of that scheme.
How will the level of risk be assigned?
- Which one of the six risk levels — low, low to moderate, moderate, moderately high, high, and very high — would apply, would depend upon the risk value (less than 1 for low risk to more than 5 for very high risk) calculated for the scheme.
- So if the risk value of a scheme is less than 1, its risk level would be low, and if it is more than 5, the risk will be very high on the risk-o-meter.
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